deer in the headlights day

I had a very poor nights sleep last night.  I kept waking up and tossing and turning, and around 4am one of the cats was howling like crazy. It was at 6am that I realized what I was tossing and turning to was one of the cats pounding on the dog door that was locked shut because he'd been locked outside! No wonder I kept waking up. Poor thing.

So I started my day already exhausted.

Then.....well....I'm still dealing with the court crap regarding the BadManNeighbor who shot my dog with a bb-gun in the eye.  Every time I get close to a court date, I get wiggy.  Actually, I get DeerInTheHeadlights-Like.  I get sort of "stuck" around the house. I get to where I am not functioning well.  Not getting anything accomplished. Frozen.

Today was another court date. Today was the twice-rescheduled Pre-Preliminary (I still cant get over how stupid that sounds).  And if BadMan didn't accept the plea bargain or change his tune today, the preliminary was going to be tomorrow, and I had received a subpoena to appear.

It turns out that today at the pre-preliminary, BadMan changed his tune. Or more specifically, he changed his plea from non-guilty to guilty, and has now pled guilty to felony animal cruelty. He'll be sentenced March 11th, and he's supposed to pay restitution for my vet bills before then. On the day of sentencing, if restitution has been paid, his attorney is going to request that the conviction be reduced to a misdemeanor. Because it is a first offense of any type for the BadMan, the court will likely give it to him.  I am told that even if they reduce the conviction to a misdemeanor, what will still stand is the punishment of a couple of weeks of in jail, 3 years probation, and some sort of anger management course. 

I somehow don't feel secure in that actually happening, but I guess I'll know more on the 11th.  It sounds like terms of his probation can also include him having no contact with me, which would be great, because then if he does anything stupid, he'd be violating his probation. I'm supposed to be given more information by the probation department soon.

But to my day today....there I sat. Deer. Headlights. 

I did make it out for my commitment to teach knitting at the local senior center.  I also managed to make it to dance class, where we opened up the class to new students for the first time in months.  I led the first portion of class, KarenTheDancingLurcker led the second portion, and then, in honor of my birthday, I performed a solo.  It was a rather emotional solo to go with my rather emotional day....so now...

I'm emotionally wiped out. 


Off to bed and very happily will go to hook up with the Friday morning knitters tomorrow where I can laugh and be with friends and forget about it all as I bury myself in garter stitch. :-)