How to handle a mini disaster (the time our foster dog destroyed the office)

The week started off great. I was headed to Salt Lake City for the week for work. This city is gorgeous city by the way. Salt Lake is surrounded by mountains on 3 side, nestled at the base of 2 different mountain ranges. You should definitely visit.

I was also excited because an old friend from Milwaukee lives there and we were meeting up to check out a local vegetarian restaurant! So all in all it was gonna be a good week.

And that is when real life came a-knockin'! "Excuse me Ashley, everything seems to be going pretty darn well for you. Here is a little curve ball. Have a good one!" -Life.

Tuesday evening I get the following pictures from my husband...

Our sweet foster dog, who had been living with us for almost 3 weeks with no incident, escaped from her kennel while Jake was at work and must have freaked out! She tore up the carpeting and ate our blinds!

When I opened the texts I felt shock. Then a little moment of relief (not my finest moment, I know) that I didn't have to clean it up, then anger, then the the onslaught of how the heck are we going to fix this? We don't have the money! I then spent the next day wallowing in a shallow pool of pity and anger. Not healthy. And definitely not helpful.

So I spent a little time thinking and realized a few things. I learned a lesson on how to better handle a mini disaster like this in the future. This is what I learned:

1) Allow yourself to feel all the emotions. It's normal to have a reaction to something bad. Allow the feelings to wash over you instead of pushing them away. By allowing yourself to feel the anger or hurt or whatever else you feel (because everyone reacts differently to any scenario), you can move past them faster. Just don't stay stuck in those negative emotions.

2) Vent then move on. Sucky stuff happens. And sometimes you just need someone to listen and empathize. Call your significant other, call a friend, vent and commiserate then move on. Again, don't wallow in the pity, or sit in the anger because it will only hurt yourself.

3) Try to figure out where the feelings are coming from. After thinking about why I was so upset about what happened, I realized my issue was my ego. I started thinking: What would other people think if they came to my house and it looked like this?! Would they judge me for living like this? Then I realized that the people who matter to me don't care what my house looks like!

4) Perspective. In the whole big scheme of things, a little damage to one room is nothing! The dog was not hurt, we still have a roof over our heads and I can still use the office. Things are good. Yeah we didn't want to have to spend money on fixing the office but we do have the means to make it happen.

5) Keep a positive attitude. Jake and I never liked the flooring in our house. Now we have a reason to finally get the flooring we always wanted! Home improvement project here we come!

Who knows, perhaps this was actually God or the universe telling us it's time for some new floors! We get the message loud and clear! Thank you!

Now, does anyone know of a great flooring sale coming up?