Finally!

Spring has sprung! It feels like it's taken ages to come this year, but we've finally hit 70+ degree days, and the cherry blossoms are at peak. WOO HOO!

J and I are planning (well, I'm planning and J will be coming along for the ride and the margaritas) to go down to the Tidal Basin tomorrow to see the blossoms for the last time, and then we'll head up to the Cactus Cantina, one of my favorite DC restaurants, for dinner and drinks. I can't wait!

In other news, I think my subconscious is telling me that I need a break. I had a dream last night about going to the Burger King near my office (where I've never eaten) and getting into a fight with the cashier when she tried to charge me $42 for my hamburger. In the end, I also screamed at her manager for not taking me seriously when I complained.

I'm dreaming about verbally bitchslapping someone. Either I need a vacation or it's just been too long since I've made a really satisfying consumer complaint.

Being right

Class last night was awesome. There were seven of us plus our instructor, and while the primary focus of the session was to introduce us to some meditation techniques and talk about the overall goals of the series, one thing our instructor said really resonated with me. "There is more right with you than there is wrong with you."

One of the most startling things about the last 11 months has been coming to hate parts of my body. I've never been too concerned with my weight (I'm not exactly physically fit, but I consider myself to be on the slim side), and the only thing I've ever really wanted to change about how I look is my skin. I have terrible skin. But since we started TTC, and since we realized that hey, this isn't as easy for us as it is for most people, I've started hating my reproductive organs. I tell J sometimes that I'd like to beat up my ovaries, or give my uterus a good kick in the rear. Mostly it's in jest, but there's more than just a hint of seriousness too.

Last night, when my instructor made a point of emphasizing that for the most part our bodies are RIGHT, it hit a nerve, and I haven't been able to get that sentence out of my head since. I even wrote it on a sticky note and put it above my computer monitor. If nothing else, it's making me feel better today, and on some level that's all I can really control.

Personal Achievements

After all of yesterday's controversy (my stats went through the ROOF! Clearly I need to post controversial things more often) I decided that I really had to do some actual work at the office today. And what a day it was! Out of the three big projects I've had looming over my head all month, I finished two today, and will complete the third tomorrow.

Say it with me people, WOO-freaking-HOO!!! It felt so good to hit that "Send" button and cross them off my To Do list. Next up: getting on my boss's case to find my replacement, since there's no way I want to be in the office after my scheduled quit date of May 12.

In other news, I'm accomplishing a more personal goal tonight--getting some help for my not-pregnant-yet-blues. A good friend recommended a mind-body fertility class she attended while TTC, and I decided to sign up. The first session is tonight, and as usual, I have no idea what to wear. I decided that you really can't go wrong with nice yoga pants and a knit top.

Unfortunately, class tonight will keep me from obsessively checking what people are willing to pay in the final hours and minutes of my latest eBay auction. I listed a bunch of old crap last week, and much to my surprise people actually wanted most of it. Who knew that you could sell Bath and Body Works shower gel (unopened, of course) for $6.00 on eBay? Now that this experiement has proved to be so successful, I think it's time to take a serious look at some of J's random boxes-o-computer cords.

5 Things I Really Don't Love About Utah

I've hesitated a bit about writing this entry because it's impossible to talk about the things I really don't like about my home state without getting political and risk offending some very dear friends. That said, I've decided to write it because it's important to me.

So, what's not to like about Salt Lake? Quite a few things, actually.

Reason 1: The Politics

I could probably write a Top 10 list just about Utah politics, but I won't. I'm a liberal Democrat, Utah is a very conservative Republican state. Naturally I disagree with a lot of positions local politicans take. That's not the biggest problem I have with Utah's political climate, though. My biggest problem is one a lot of people in many states face: the majority party does everything in its power to crush the opinions of the minority party. In Utah's case, that includes gerrymandering the 2nd Congressional District to within an inch of its life, just to unseat Democrat Jim Matheson for no other reason than that he decided to run with a D next to his name rather than an R.

I may be a Democrat, but I strongly believe that our government works best when ALL sides of an argument can be heard. No one party can lay claim to all the solutions to our country's (or our state's) problems. Crushing a minority opinion doesn't just mean that you don't hear the things you don't like, it means that you CAN'T hear good ideas you hadn't thought of before.

Reason 2: Rude People

This reason actually has just as much to do with Utah as it does with rude people outside the state. Whenever people ask me where I'm from, I hesitate for a moment before saying, "Salt Lake City". Mostly this is because I know that inevitably the next question they ask will be "Are you Mormon?" In one way I can understand why people ask, since most Utahns are Mormon and it's considered an "unusual" religion by much of the world, but I still think it's a pretty invasive and personal thing to ask. I'd never ask what someone's religion is because it's one of those questions that's Not Very Polite To Ask a Total Stranger.

A girl I know here in DC (who is Mormon) is routinely asked by people "How many moms do you have?" and once even, "Where are your horns?" Why? Why would someone think those questions are appropriate?

Of course, that's not to say that people in Utah aren't sometimes rude about religion too. There, it's almost understood that if you're clean-cut and friendly, you must be Mormon. The question of whether you "are" or whether you "aren't" becomes part of your identity because every.single.person seems to think that categorizing people according to their membership in one particular church is okay.

Reason 3: The Snow

I'm not a snow person. I don't like to ski, snowboard, or do anything that involves strapping things onto my feet and heading down a hill when there's snow outside. In spite of the kickass ski resorts just 30 minutes from where I grew up, my favorite winter activity to do in Utah remains curling up in front of the fire with a good book and a hot drink. Give me sun, not snow.

Reason 4: High School

Most people who grow up in Utah stay there. Out of my high school graduating class, maybe 20% went to college out of state, and I'd guess that about the same number have permanantly moved away. Thus, it's almost impossible not to run into people I went to high school with at the grocery store, the mall, or a restaurant. Frankly, high school was fun, and I still keep in touch with some of my high school friends, but mostly I'd rather not see the majority of my former classmates on a daily basis.

Reason 5: The Politics Part II

I really can't stress enough how much I dislike local politics in Utah. For everything there is to love about the state, you see stories about how local movie theater/car dealership/Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller pulled the plug on showings of "Brokeback Mountain" hours before they were scheduled to begin at one of his theaters because someone told him that it was about two gay men.

There's also this story that ran on the front page of the Washington Post the morning before President Bush's State of the Union address. It was about Randolph, a small town in Northern Utah where 95% of the city voted for Bush, but virtually no one planned to listen to his plan for the country that evening.

Or this story which ran in the Salt Lake Tribune the week I was in town. The mayor of Kanab (pronounce Kah-nab) Utah attacked a 17 year old high school student for criticizing a controversial city resolution on "natural" families. The mayor even went so far as to write letters of complaint to the boy's church leader and his high school's superintendant.

If nothing else, these stories (and I really could go on and on with more of them, but you get the idea) make Utah look like the backwards state many people think it is. Utah is growing and changing, but the above examples only serve to remind me of why I never really want to move back there.

Okay, that's it for me and politics for now. Next up: T-minus 8 days and counting until my first RE appointment. Will I go completely insane waiting for the next week to pass? Stay tuned.

Unexpected delays

This weekend isn't exactly turning out the way I'd planned. My uncle and cousin were supposed to arrive today from Colorado for a week of touristing around the DC area. They planned the trip months ago, and were really looking forward to it. Apparently something got screwed up with their tickets though, because when they showed up to the airport this morning the airline had no record of their reservation.

Oops.

So, they tried to rebook for a flight later today. No can do. It's spring break, so everyone and their dog is trying to fly this weekend. The first flight they could get won't land until midnight Sunday night, which means that Juan and I won't get to spend much time at all with them since we have to work all week. I'm bummed, and I know they are too. Hopefully they're able to get standby seats on an earlier flight tomorrow and we can still salvage some of the weekend.

EDITED 3/26:

They made it on an earlier flight! Arriving around 2:00 this afternoon, which will give us a nice chance tonight to visit and plan how they're getting downtown tomorrow. Yay!

Much Improved

Last night definitely made up for my crappy, crappy day.

After posting on my blog, I got a flood of e-mails and phone calls from friends and family wishing me a happier birthday. It meant a lot. After we got home, J volunteered to take me to dinner anywhere I wanted even though we hadn't really planned to go out until Friday, and we ended up getting takeout from one of my favorite places. Then we hung out at home, watched "Monk", and went to bed. After the day I had, it was exactly what I needed.

Sometimes I think that I take J for granted. I know that he doesn't fully understand why I'm feeling the way I am, but he tries. I'm not the easiest person to live with these days, and in spite of that he does his best to keep me happy. Right now, keeping me happy is a really tough job. Some days (like yesterday) are bad, others (like today seems to be) are better. Hopefully the good days will continue to outnumber the bad ones.

Still coming: the political Utah post. I'm working on it, but it's proving to be harder than I thought.

In which I feel monumentally sorry for myself

Today is my 25th birthday. Happy quarter-century to me. Unfortunately, this is turning out to be one of my crappier birthdays, in spite of a boatload of cheerleading I did for myself yesterday about not getting upset and not being sad on my favorite day of the year. I love my birthday--it's the one day of the year that's all mine--and for a variety of reasons, this one is just sucking.

Maybe it's because all of the celebratory things like getting my presents and having a cake have already happened. Maybe it's because a lot of friends and family members who usually send cards haven't, and I'm feeling neglected. And maybe it's because I've gone a week without crying about not being pregnant, and all those tears just needed to come out. I don't know. But whatever it is, it's turned my birthday into one big suck-fest.

10 Things I Love about Utah

I love being from Salt Lake City. I love the mountains, love the local culture (Utahns have the best sense of humor about our peculiar state), and love the people. When you walk down the street, people smile and say hello, even if they don't know who you are. There's a big emphasis on family togetherness, and while the city is growing (the metro area population is nearing 2 million) it still feels like a small town.

I've lived in the DC area for almost three years now, and I know that I'll never move back to Salt Lake, but in a lot of ways it will always feel like home. These are some of the reasons why:

Reason 1: My Family

I have an awesome family. I can't really describe them in any other way. I'm very close to my parents (they even read this blog) and feel like I can really tell them anything. No matter what, they'll always support me in whatever way they can.


This is me with my mom and my sister because my dad didn't come to lunch with us. His bike ride was clearly much more important than spending time with his favorite daughter. :-P

Like I said, my parents are always there for me, acting in my best interest. Except when it comes to fries, because they'll both unabashedly steal them from me the second my back is turned.



My sister is really cool too. We've both done a lot of growing up in the last couple of years, and we can finally relate to each other as friends rather than just as siblings who don't especially get along.



Reason 2: My Friends

Marcie, Michele, and I have been friends for almost a decade. We went to high school and college together, met and married our husbands at around the same time, and basically have stayed just as close as we were back in high school even though we don't see each other very often anymore.



How could I not stay in touch with these girls? They're so pretty!

Reason 3: The Mountains

Will you look at these things? They're amazing! I think it took moving to an area with no mountains to speak of (Sugar Loaf Bump doesn't count) to make me appreciate how spectacular the Wasatch mountains really are.




Reason 4: My Cat

This is Checkers, who may not be very photogenic, but has been our family's cat for 14 years. She's a little slower now than she used to be, but still comes running when she hears the plastic bag of cat treats opening. She's one of the first pets I ever had, and it always kills me to leave her when I have to go home.



Reason 5: The City

Salt Lake consists of a very small downtown area and sprawling suburbs. When I was growing up, downtown wasn't a very cool place. There was a mall, the Temple, some hotels, and office buildings. Very little in the way of public art or "street culture" that can make a downtown area feel more hip. All that has started to change in the last few years, though.


Cool artistic windmill thingys near the Salt Palace


Kids playing in the in-ground fountain at the Gateway--note the 2002 Olympic Winter logo

Getting the 2002 Olympics was huge for Salt Lake. Not only was it an event that would turn the world's attention to our little city, but it was an opportuinty to make the area (especially downtown) more appealing to visitors. Today, over two years after the Games ended, you can still see the huge impact the Olympics had on the city. We have a new lightrail system, new public art, a citizenry that has now seen what a difference some investment in the downtown area can make, and even relaxed liquor laws. Wine lists are now routinely given to customers when they sit down at restaurants! Amazing! Radical! Plus, the metro population increase has drawn a lot of new developers and retailers to Salt Lake.



This is a trendy new condo building on the West side of town that wouldn't ever, under any circumstances have been built there 5 years ago. These days parts of Salt Lake could be mistaken for Portland or Seattle (or even Washington, DC) if you didn't know where you were. The city is growing and changing, and it's a wonderful thing.

Reason 6: Salt Lakers

As I mentioned before, the people in Utah are terrific. They're so FRIENDLY! It always strikes me how abrupt and rushed people on the East Coast are after I've been back to Salt Lake for a visit, because the contrast is so striking.

Reason 7: HOME

I don't like change very much. I've written before about how I'm a bit of a stick-in-the-mud and dislike trying new things even though they might be good for me. That said, I'm so happy I can go back to the house where I grew up, sleep in my old room (even though it's been painted pink and filled with different furniture), and eat dinner at the same dining room table where I worked on junior high science projects and celebrated holidays for over 20 years. There's something indescribably comforting about knowing that my house is waiting for me anytime I come back to visit.

Reason 8: Green Jell-O

According to some statistic someone once calculated, Utahns consume more green Jell-O per capita than any other state in the nation. We're obsessed with it. What other state has an official flavor of Jell-O?

Reason 9: More Mountains

I just have to bring this up again, LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS, PEOPLE!!!



Reason 10: Fry Sauce

Admit it, you've been reading this entire entry just to see when I'll get to the damn fry sauce already.



Utahns take fry sauce very seriously. Depending on where you go, fry sauce is a mixture of ketchup, mayonaise, pickle juice, barbeque sauce, and Thousand Island salad dressing. Every burger joint in the state carries it, even McDonalds. My favorite place for fry sauce is a burger joint called Shivers, but it was closed so we went to Crown Burger instead.

Where else can you get a really good burger with fries and a drink for only $6.00 and be surrounded by statues and tapestries?



Let's face it, Salt Lake is kewl.

Tomorrow: 10 Things I Really Don't Love about Utah, or This Sorta Fairytale Gets Political.

Update on my brother-in-law: He came out of sugery yesterday morning, and though he'll probably be in the hospital until Friday or Saturday, he's doing very well. Thanks for the kind thoughts!

I'm back!

The trip was wonderful. I hung out with my parents and sister, spent an evening with two of my best friends, and just RELAXED. I almost didn't want to come home.

We did get one piece of bad news while I was visiting. My brother-in-law, who's had one collapsed lung before, found out that he has to have surgery tomorrow to repair another hole in his lung. It's for the best, and it'll keep him healthy in the future, but it's still upsetting and I wish I could have stayed an extra couple of days to be with him and my sister. Any good wishes sent his way on Tuesday would be much appreciated.

Tomorrow: Salt Lake City: The Photo Essay, or, A Study in Fry Sauce

I'm lea-ving on a jet plane!

By this time tomorrow I'll be in Salt Lake City, chilling with my parents and sister, and RELAXING! I can't wait. Plans for my 5-day stay include: shopping with my mom and sister, a girls night with two of my best friends, eating a burger and fries (with fry sauce!) at my favorite hamburger joint, and test driving my parents new Prius.

Come on, who wouldn't want to visit this place?


photo from the University of Utah




photos from www.saltlakecityutah.org

Feeling much better this morning

J and I talked last night and we looked seriously at what the hospital in our new hometown offers. Basically, we'll be able to get all the diagnostic testing we need there, and if it turns out that we have to do IUI or IVF, then we'll figure out how we'll manage it. That feeling of things spiralling out of control is gone because we have a plan for what we're going to do once we leave the DC area.

Feeling much better now.

Breakdown

The RE can't see me until April 5. That's 4 weeks away, and while I understand that it's not unusual for new patients to have to wait awhile for apppointments, I'm having a breakdown right now. I'm so frustrated. I'm so angry. This move is screwing everything up. We'll only have one cycle under the RE's care before our move, only one cycle before we go somewhere with NO RE we can use with our insurance. One cycle before J's schedule means that he can't leave town for a year.

Part of me wonders if I'm being irrational. If I'm blowing things completely out of proportion. But I feel so out of control right now. It's taken us this long just to get a referral, and now they tell me that we won't even be here long enough to get past the initial diagnostic phase of treatment. It's like the universe is playing a cruel joke on me--letting me experience hope, and then snatching it away and laughing at me.

Why can't just one part of this process come easily?

Waiting...

The RE's office I have to go to isn't great about returning phone calls, so J is going to go there in person this afternoon to see about getting an appointment scheduled for me. I'm nervous as hell because there's a fair chance I won't be seen for 6 weeks at which point we'll be just a few weeks away from moving. If that happens I just don't know what we're going to do.

One of the biggest complicating factors right now is that our insurance only covers certain REs and there aren't any in the town we're moving to. There's one six hours away, but if it comes down to doing IUI or IVF, we're pretty much going to have to put TTC on hold for at least a year before J's schedule will allow us to make multi-day trips 6 hours away. Our options (as I see them) are:

1) Start the testing process with this RE, pray that they'll be able to do some tests before we leave, and then figure out how (if) we can continue the process once we're in Texas.
2) Start the testing process with this RE, then pay out $$$ to go to an RE our insurance doesn't cover in Texas because putting everything on hold for a year really isn't something I'm willing to do.

Neither is very appealing at the moment, and I wish that the stupid clinic would just pick up their damn phone so I could get some answers. What kind of place is this where they don't return calls, anyway? Are these the people I really want to trust with my reproductive health and already fragile emotional state? All I want are some answers so I can start planning out a strategy for dealing with this!

Ready for a Break

I'm ready for a break. The last month or so of work has just been awful. I'm not interested in it anymore, half the projects I'm working on won't be finished until after I quit, and I do everything I can to leave by 5:00 every day, which is something I've never done before. The good thing is that I only have ~60 days until I'm not working in the office anymore (my last day isn't actually until June 6, but I'm off except for emergencies starting May 12). The bad thing is that my lack of motivation is resulting in sloppiness on my part. Last week I forgot about a meeting I'd scheduled, and it could have been very, very bad if the person I was meeting with hadn't been nice about reschduling. I've never screwed up like that before.

I suppose I could blame my lack of interest in work on all the drama in our lives right now (between a sick cat, starting infertility testing, and selling our house, we do have a lot on our plates) but I know that's not the problem. The problem is that I'm tired of my job, I'm lazy, and I just don't really care anymore. I HAVE to care, though, at least until May 12, so the only thing I can do right now is to focus on what I'm doing right now as opposed to thinking about where I'm going to be in two months. Maybe that means I need to take a break from the internet, and maybe it means that (as my dad would say) I need a serious attitude adjustment. Regardless, this level of disinterest isn't acceptable as long as I'm drawing a paycheck, and it definitely doesn't bode well for my level of motivation at my next job.

So, I've decided to take the entire month of June off. I won't look for a job, I won't obsess over money (I hope), and I won't be miserable. I also won't just be lazing around the house, since we'll need to unpack, decorate, and settle in to our new house. I can't wait for that. I'm sure I'll get bored by the end of the month, and I do want to get another job or go back to school (haven't decided which yet) but I need a break. Not just because I'm tired, but because I want to excell at whatever I do next, and I don't think that I'll be able to in my current frame of mind.

A preview of my new life

We had one of J's classmates and his wife over for dinner tonight. They're moving to Texas too, and it's very likely that we'll be spending a lot of time together for the next few years. J and his classmate are good buddies, but his wife and I didn't know each other at all before tonight. They also brought their 13 month-old daughter, who is just cute as a button.

The dinner was fun, and we spent most of the evening watching how the baby interacted with our cats. Codi and Arcadia did extremely well with her--they let her "pet" them, didn't freak out when she screamed in excitement, and generally acted like model pets. Little stinkers clearly had their best manners out for company.

It was hard to be around a baby, especially one who was all smiles and giggles and who decided towards the end of the night that I was the only one she wanted to play with. Still, I did better than I expected, and I'm really glad that they brought her. My current philosophy is that I can't just shut myself off from the rest of the world--dealing with my feelings in isolation isn't going to make me feel better. Tonight was important because I didn't let the fact that a baby was there keep me from enjoying myself. Knowing that I can do that is definitely helping me keep my sprits up at the end of this eleventh month of TTC.

I am disgustingly normal

All my blood tests came back and showed that absolutely nothing is wrong with me. That doesn't mean that there ISN'T something wrong, but just that some of the usual suspects they look for early on (low progesterone, insulin resistance, STDs, etc...) have been eliminated.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I'm glad that the tests came back normal. I'm glad that I don't have any of the conditions they've eliminated. On the other, some things (like low progesterone) can be fixed pretty easily, and now I have to go in for more diagnostic testing to see what (if anything) is wrong with me.

I'm also experiencing a fair amount of anxiety over the logistics of my RE appointments. The hospital I have to go to is in one of the most inconvenient locations possible, and will mean that I need appointments at the butt-crack of dawn or late in the afternoon so I don't miss a lot of work. My boss knows that I have a "medical issue" and will need time off for appointments, and he's very understanding, but I have no idea how I'm going to make this work without (literally) driving myself insane over the transportation problem. Things would be so much easier if I could just go to the hospital near us, but they don't have an RE.

In other news (since I can't go a day without posting a medical update about Arcadia) the cat is spending the day at her vet's office for tests. Bloodwork is normal, though, so the vet thinks that it could just be reflux or hairballs, neither of which she's ever had before. I'm skeptical, and very tempted to ask them to do x-rays in case she ate something that's causing an obstruction, but it's $200.

Successes and Setbacks

Success--the Miami meeting was a hit! In spite of all my worries, things couldn't have gone better. The only negative part of the trip was that the hotel we stayed at sucked royally. I had noisy neighbors and the front desk blew me off when I asked for a different room, my boss's room wasn't cleaned and they tried to bill him for another guest's 5-night stay, and the other guy we were traveling with never got his wake-up call and almost missed our big meeting. We happened to run into the hotel manager this morning, so we were able to tell him about the problems (he was appropriately mortified). He asked for our contact information, so maybe we'll get our rooms comped.

Setbacks--Arcadia is still throwing up, so I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow morning for some more tests. J thinks she might be getting nauseous from pain (the bladder crystals can really hurt) but she can keep down most of the dry and wet food she's eaten, so we know she's not starving or dehydrated. Poor little girl. I can't really be mad at her for pretty much ruining our sofa because she's clearly sick. Tonight she's subdued, but still participating in normal Arcadia behaviors like stalking and chasing Codi and playing with her toys.

My life is just a non-stop party, isn't it?

STRESS!

I have to fly to Miami this afternoon for an event tomorrow morning (the planning of which is not going well, ergo the STRESS) and all I can think about is Arcadia who not only peed on the sofa again last night, but also threw up in several places this morning. I'm worried that she's really sick, and I can't take her to the vet because I have to go to stupid Miami.

J is trying to get off work early to take her in, but in truth he probably won't be able to leave until his shift is almost over anyway.

I swear, this blog should be retitled "My Cat Pees on My Couch"

*****

To my Snarkies--happy 2nd Snarkiversary! Hugs and kisses to you all!

I want a puppy

I want a puppy. A little squirmy, happy, gets-too-excited-around-the-cats puppy. Some days I think that getting another pet will make me feel less sad about not being pregnant yet.

A few months ago I was obsessed with getting a kitten. J said no, and his reasons were good (not enough space, we don't really want to move with three cats, Arcadia and Codi are more than enough to handle right now) but I was mad at him for quite awhile about it. Now I want a puppy, even though we still don't have enough room, we still don't want to move with another pet, and we both work long hours, so no one would be around to let the puppy out or take it on walks every day.

And a puppy needs those things.

Mark my words. The first thing we'll do when we get to Texas is adopt a puppy. And I will spoil it rotten.

Confession Time

I'm about to say something that may shock you.

Ready for it?

I'm....a bit of an airhead

(waits for family members to stop laughing their heads off)

(still waiting)

it's true. I, C, am kind of an airhead. I don't mean to be, but somehow I end up saying and doing things that are, well, ditzy. For example, this afternoon I called our realtor and set up a meeting for 7:00 tonight. I called Juan, made a little note in my Outlook calendar, and then promptly forgot all about it. I only remembered the meeting when Juan called my cell at 7:00 to find out why I wasn't home yet.

As Homer Simpson would say, "D'oh!"

Sadly, I do things like this all the time. It's common knowledge that if I don't write something down, I WILL forget about it. Heck, even if I do write it down, there's only a 50% chance that it'll get done. I'm a very frustrating person to talk to because I tend to repeat things over and over again, not remembering that we've already covered them. I also don't remember things like J's schedule (which, in my defense, changes frequently), plans that I've made (see above for a case in point), etc...

So, since only my friends and family read this blog, I'm going to pre-emptively apologize to all of you for anything important that I forget about in the future. I wish I could change, I really do, but shy of hiring a personal assistant to follow me around and make sure I don't forget anything, it's probably not going to happen.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good: replacement cushions for the couch are only $50 each. We ordered two, and they'll be here in 4 weeks. I'm not thrilled that it's going to take a month to get them, but I almost kissed the saleswoman when she quoted the price to me.

The bad: because it's going to take a month to get the replacement cushions, we've had to make our own vinyl covers for the old cushions so Arcadia will (hopefully) not be able to damage them further. Thanks to the awesomeness of Petzyme, the smell is gone. We looked and looked online for ready-made covers that would fit, but ended up just buying two cheap shower curtain liners from Target and taping them around the cushions. It feels a little weird to sit on them now, but I can definitely live with that until April.

The other bad: At least one person came to tour the condo between Thursday and Saturday and didn't leave a card or call. We only noticed that someone had been here because two of the three "home for sale" flyers we had on the dining room table on Wednesday were gone when J looked last night. It bugs me that whoever it was clearly disregarded the instruction on our MLS listing to call us prior to coming over, AND that they didn't leave a card. This wouldn't be anything more than a minor annoyance except for the fact that the condo has literally been a mess for most of the last week. I'm mad at myself about that, especially since I certainly wouldn't be interested in buying a place with dirty dishes in the sink and a living room that's torn to bits.

The ugly (confidential to my body): Spotting? Really? At 5 dpo? You've got to be fucking kidding me. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS, DO YOU HEAR ME? NOT ALLOWED!

We're going to feed her to the wolves

She did it again. On the other couch cushion.

(ripping hair out)

Her vet appointment isn't until tomorrow, and I'm really not sure how to wait that long knowing that she might wreck any other piece of furniture in the house. We're seriously debating locking her in the laundry room with her litter box and some food until then. I just don't know what else we can do at this point. We now need two new cushions which will probably be so insanely expensive that we'll just end up buying an entirely new couch and praying that she doesn't pee on it.

I'm crossing my fingers and toes that no one wants to see the condo this weekend because we're clearly not at our best.

The many joys of pet ownership

Warning--if you don't want to read about the bodily functions of my cat, you might want to skip this entry.

Apparently Arcadia didn't get the memo that the Month of Suck is over because she peed on the couch again last night.

(sigh)

She might still be feeling sick and is doing it to show us that she's not well. She also might still be able to smell where she did it last time and now she thinks that it's an okay place to pee. I really don't know. We're taking her back to the vet this weekend to make sure that she's getting over her infection, but I'm not sure the couch is salvagable. At the very least, we probably need to buy entirely new cushions, and I have no idea if you can get them separately.



Little girl, why are you doing this???

Random Thoughts (or The Crappiest Entry Ever)

-I have eight boxes of Girl Scout Cookies sitting under my desk. There used to be nine, but my coworkers and I managed to eat an entire box in under 10 minutes.

-My fingernails are really long. I don't know if it's the OPI Nail Envy I've been using every week for about a month or not, but I don't think my nails have ever looked this good.

-I am in desperate need of new black dress shoes. The ones I'm wearing now are scuffed nine ways from Sunday and the soles are coming off. Sounds like a good excuse for a DSW trip to me.

-My next blood test is on Monday, then we get the official RE referral. I'm not exactly looking forward to it, even though I know we need to take this step.

-I think my mood would be a lot better if it was sunny outside.

-We found some crazy cheap tickets to Texas last night, so we're headed there next month to look at houses. Now I'm just nervous that we won't be able to make any offers because our condo still hasn't gotten any offers.

-My intern is far too eager for new projects. She needs to learn the fine art of SLACKING when the boss is out of town.

-This is probably the lamest entry I've ever posted, but unless you want to hear a detailed description of how much I want to go home, curl up under the covers, and watch dumb movies, this is as good as it's going to get today.

Say Hallelujah!

February is OVER! The month of suck has officially ended, and there are already signs that March will be an awesome month.

-The temperature today is a balmy 51 degrees
-I was able to finish a project at work by noon, and originally I thought it was going to take all day.
-My trip to Utah is in only 15 days
-My birthday is in only 22 days
-Kyt is moving to her new apartment this weekend!
-Girl Scout Cookies arrived today
-Part 1 of the Project Runway season finale airs tonight! Go Daniel V.!

Clearly, March rocks.