Small Change, Big Difference

I'm dog sitting for my sister-in-law's two dogs at their house. I've been here since Friday and this is the first time I've been able to get my laptop hooked up and such. It's always strange staying at someone else's house and taking care of their pets and this is the first time I've done this since I've been married, which has made it feel even stranger. I'm in the same area as my husband and my pets but I'm staying somewhere else.

Living with chronic pain has just made doing something like this all the more complicated. My routine is all messed up. Clearly I'm not as flexible as I used to be because this is already taking a toll. Yesterday was a tough pain day and today I woke up with a cold. Again. My body had been threatening me for several days with a cold but today I'm actually sick.

The dogs are super sweet and taking care of them is not difficult. I grew up with all kinds of animals including 5 dogs and have dog sat for my mom's multiple dogs many times in my adult years. Taking care of dogs is just not difficult for me and these dogs are no exception. This isn't a difficult thing so I wasn't expecting it to challenge me at all.

The thing is, it is not actually difficult to feed them, I feed our dog and rabbit. It is not actually difficult to let them outside, I take our dog outside. It is not difficult to sit on their couch and watch TV, I sit on our couch and watch TV. It is not difficult to get ready for bed, I do that at home. The only real difference is that I'm not in my house, with my husband and my pets. The pets here have a slightly different schedule than our pets but not by much. I guess I've been taken by surprise at how this slight change in routine and environment has proven to tax me so.