This is not a moment of Zen...

So the last week before the big trip has been manic. Mainly "s" started to hit the fan Thursday at 7:30am (this is a good time to freak out if your parents are educators and you can call them beofre school). So things that contributed to the freak out-

1) I applied for the wrong visa, my application was completely "Mickey Mouse", was denied and completely freaking out that I am going to get detained, some coke smuggler in the detained room will plant drugs on me, I will be deported and never allowed to ever visit England again... Oh and in that application that has been yet to be returned is my passport- no passport no getting on the plane.

2) After 7 months of planning for Cobalt to come with me- at the very last step- All of his original documents get lost in certified mail. Everything. And the UK is bonkers about letting dogs in because of rabies, and he looks like a funny miniature chinese deer now with his haircut, oh and on top of that the snow removal from our roof Thursday morning made him go mental barking for 2 hours straight.

3) I know I will be paying for extra luggage but I get 50lbs out of each bag- however some bags packed to the brim are far less... hmmm (also I am still going through everything again and again and getting rid of more and more).

So after calling my father, the boy practically ready to put me in a nutter hospital and good old Auntie Lisa I needed to stop freaking out and begin to clean the crap up. Within 24 hours a lot had been taken care of. Luckily I have a great job and boss and they understood that I would be off the radar until settled in Brum.

1) Got my passport and Visa back from the consulate via the UPS man in the AM. Along with it is a letter detailing how I have failed to meet any of the requirements for the visa (I agree). Now I will just take this with me, show them how retarded I am, confused I was and show them a letter from my boss and plane tickets to other places- I am here to attend conferences and hop around Europe before I get knocked up. Oh and here is my ticket back to the states so you only have to worry about me for three months. (In all fairness I still freak out about this sometimes but I am better with it- however I have now completely freaked out my father, stepmom and aunt- I believe this has to do with my theory of the "Conservation of Stress"- but alas that is another post)

2) Call the vet and USDA, both are amazing. Take the rare white chinese Cobalt deer to the vet again to fill out the form, rent a car and drive out to Sutton, MA to USDA for certification, pay $50 and explain the urgent situation to the Kansas lab who re-issues his Rabies certification and also notifies Heathrow animal receiving about the issue.

3) Borrow larger suitcases from parents so I can pack my bags inside of bags and game the system. :)

All I can say is thank God that VirginAtlantic has free drinks on board. After getting Cobalt, the bags and myself on the other side of the gate I will need one!

The Elusive Chinese Cobalt Deer