The Adventure Begins...

Well, here I am... a blogger! Imagine it! Now the whole world can peek inside this bizarre cataclysm I call life! What an awesome responsibility I am about to undertake! Can I handle it? Can I make it interesting? Probably not, but I face interesting challenges every day, so why not throw caution to the wind and make a fool of myself in public?!

Wedding June 2006

My name is Joyce and I turned 50 this year. I am unemployed and a full-time caretaker for an 87-year-old mother with dementia, a psychotic overweight belligerent dog, and a husband who is a recovering alcoholic biker. Now, I grew up a shy, quiet, small-town Wisconsin fat girl. I didn't know from alcoholics, or bikers, or men, when I met this wild city boy Willie Nelson look-a-like through an online personals ad. Well, that changed quick! Before I knew it, I was driving 180 miles in the middle of the night to the gritty side of Rockford, Illinois, getting out of my car to use a pay phone on winos row outside of a drug-dealer's hangout, and calling him for directions to his house because I was lost. Did I mention I was naive? Within months I was sitting in on AA meetings, attending Recovery biker events, and hangin' with tattooed, leather-clad, Harley riders on a regular basis. We got married at a camping weekend, surrounded by 500+ bikers in various stages of recovery. And so it began...

After my dad died of cancer ten years ago, the family decided that Mom, whom had been showing signs of early Alzheimer's symptoms for some time, needed someone to care for her, so the hubby and I moved into her house. She's grown progressively worse, and every day has become a little crazier than the last. Enter Tucker...

Baby Tucker June 2010

I've always wanted a puppy, but hubby insisted we couldn't have a pet because Mom might stumble over it. I realized he was right, and resigned myself to teasingly whining about how cute every puppy and kitten was. Then came the day when he found an ad for a puppy he wanted. It was the same breed he owned in his younger years. So, we brought an adorable little fuzzball home to live. I knew as little about dogs as I had about drunks and bikers, and he was the dog expert, so when he chose a half-Border Collie, half-Australian Shepherd for a house dog to live in town, I trusted his decision. Do you all realize that a Border-Aussie is a herder? They love to chase things... cars, trucks, ambulances... and they bark at them... a LOT! How fortuitous that we live right on a busy state highway! Tucker soon earned the nickname "Satan Jr," for reasons which shall become apparent as I let you glimpse deeper into my crazy universe.

That's probably enough revelation for this time. I hope you'll join me again soon for further Chaotic Adventures of Everyday Life.