Life update: We're still in the process of moving.

It's been weeks but we are still at it. I'm tired. I wake up, have my tea and cuddle the cats, then get moving. By the time I sit down hours later I am EXHAUSTED.

I have *most* of my plants de-bugged, moved, and re-potted. The sun room is pretty complete save for a few details. We have one bathroom how we want it (again, but for the details) and the other is very close to being done. Living room is done-ish. As for the kitchen, we've only cleaned out the fridge and moved into the top cabinets. Haven't gone through some of the lower cabinets or any of the drawers. That's a whole chore. We haven't even given a thought to the kids' bedrooms because they're moving into our place first. We've more or less focused our attention on our bedroom. Yes, OUR bedroom.

This is the first time since I moved out on my own around 17 years ago that I haven't had my own bedroom. I don't know what to say except that I am territorial and I like my own space. I want a room to myself (I'm not saying that others are never welcome in there but they need to be invited to enter). Shaun has also been used to having his own space, as he grew up an only child and when we met in 2008 he had an apartment to himself. A couple of years later he bought a house and when I moved in with him (6 months after we got married in 2018) I moved into a separate bedroom. I mean I had a whole ass house before so I at least needed a room of my own. 😂😂😂 Maybe it's weird but it works for us.

So... sharing a bedroom is new for me. It's a pretty large room and a pretty large bed and I think that's why it is ok. I mean, it's not a perfect situation for us but we can live with it for now. I'm a pretty light sleeper and sometimes Shaun snores. I know that I snore sometimes, too, but he never seems bothered by it. He also likes to listen to music or audio books while falling asleep which will keep me up. The largest problem for me is that Shaun is a very animated sleeper. He has an active imagination and more than once has physically acted out some of his dreams meaning I need to sleep away from him to make sure I don't get hit or kicked or scratched or whatever. He also talks in his sleep. Thankfully, the size of the bed allows a good amount of space between us.

As for the audio incompatibilities he ordered a Bluetooth headband that is meant for sleeping that he listens to things with and that is working out ok (well, since he put a band-aid over the bright blue led that flashes all night). Not to mention he honestly really pulls the head-wrap look off quite well. 😉 My sleepy-time ear-plugs arrived in the mail today so I will be trying those to see if they'll block out his talking and / or snoring. Hopefully they'll help, but truly sleeping in the room with him hasn't been too bad so far.

We usually fall asleep holding hands from across the bed. It's nice seeing how the shadows accentuate his muscles because he has always been really good-looking to me, but damn. I like waking up in the morning and seeing his face. I don't know if that feeling is mutual but I do know that at the very least I am entertaining to look at first thing because my hair is about 4 inches long all over and just doing whatever it wants, so there's that. 😂😂😂 We are nothing if not silly together so it's all good. It is an adjustment, but it's going pretty well. We're not grumpy or at each others throats or anything like that about it.

I don't have much else to report. We had several cats that threw up for like, 2 days and then stopped (oddly, Tobi who gets shots for barfing was not one of them). We have no idea what they got into but it was an awful couple of days for us all. I'm really glad to see everyone feeling better. Teyla (bearded dragon) has been wanting to spend time with us so we've been letting her. The cats find her interesting but mostly leave her alone. She just likes to come out and explore and maybe pause in a puddle of sun. It's adorable. Other than that - business as usual. Moving things, fixing up things, going through things... We're really going to need to have a garage sale or something when the weather and the virus are both better.

Anyway, I hope you all are doing well. I really am, and I'm happy and grateful to be able to say that. I just can't wait for us to be settled finally so I can get on with getting my certification and pursuing the job I want. Maybe another week or two of steady effort and we'll be all good. We'll see! 🤎

I'm in this photo and i don't like it. 😂😂😂

I'm in this photo and i don't like it. 😂😂😂

An update and a grievance aired:

An update and a grievance aired:

We started to suspect that Sindar (cat) had a UTI because we found some bloody spots in what we think was her pee.  It's alarming to see, but we went though this with Booka (dearly departed doggie) and know that it is common in older pets so we didn't freak out; we just made her a vet appointment.  Because of her age we wanted to get her in ASAP, so I called Animal Medical Center (the clinic that is usually open on weekends) on Saturday to get her an appointment.  They were already closed, so I called again on Sunday and they said that due to a staff shortage they are only seeing emergencies / urgent patients on the weekend and that they could see her Monday (yesterday) morning.

We took her to the appointment.  Here is the grievance:  Despite us being very clear why we were there, the vet tells us he thinks that she has an ear infection and wants to test for that.  He tells us he thinks the urination and bloody spots are due to anxiety from moving (Sindar was the first cat that Shaun brought over here, so I feel like that is unlikely), and of course wants to test her ears, urine, and blood.  We're like "Ok.  I guess we could have missed signs of an ear infection."  Turns out that she didn't have an ear infection but of course we got to pay for that test.  Then he sent home 3 medications plus a flea medication (she doesn't have fleas and that wasn't even mentioned).

I'm just irritated.  This same doctor did a similar thing when he saw Faith before.  I feel like he makes up shit to get us to pay for tests; he makes us second-guess our pet-parenting and since we want them to be ok we just go with it.  Then when the tests come back negative we've got confirmation that the thing wasn't wrong and he's got our money.  But when we need someone to see a pet fast, Animal Medical Center is our go-to because they are usually open the longest hours and on weekends.

Anyway, Sindar was sent home with anti-anxiety medication, an antibiotic, and something that didn't even look like a legit medication that was supposed to help with inflammation because she pooped and peed while she was there and there was no blood in her urine, but a spot of blood in her poop although a test for worms was negative.  We gave her the medications last night and decided to allow her in our bedroom and bathroom / laundry area since she's the eldest.  I'm not usually fond of sleeping with animals but I'll do it for our old girl.

We woke up this morning and she was drunk as hell.  It would have been funny except that it wasn't.  We decided that since she's in a cat-less area we would not be giving her the anti-anxiety anymore.  We know our cats and she didn't seem anxious before so with her being alone in a quiet area that she likes to be in she is definitely not anxious now.  We'll give her the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory since there was blood in her poop and hopefully that will help.  The doctor was supposed to call us today with the results of her bloodwork but we haven't heard anything.  I will call them tomorrow, I guess.

In other cat news:  I took Tobi and Adrian for their steroid shots today.  It's SUPER FUN driving with two unhappy cats in the car so they can cry in stereo.  😂😂😂  On the bright side Dr. Long's office is running so efficiently that we were in and out in no time.  I was thinking about asking Dr. Long if I could start picking up the shots and injecting the cats myself (I've done this before), but I didn't see him.  But from the new house to his office is a long drive and it's something we'll have to do monthly so it would be a lot easier to do errands and such in town without unhappy cats in tow.

Well, that's all I have right now.  I tried potting some plants and barely got anything done.  One of the cats got into my utility sink and when I was getting him out I knocked a freshly potted plant into the cat fountain.  I had to stop and clean that out because the cats probably shouldn't drink potting soil water.  That was time-consuming.  Then Shaun had dinner finished and I ate it and now I just want to sleep.  I probably shouldn't, but I bet a Sindar kitty could use some cuddles.  🙂

I'm off, friends.  I hope your day was good.

Been moving stuff today.

Plant shelf in progress.

Plant shelf in progress.

When you see it, leave a 😂.

Update:

Update:

Nom came out to eat yesterday. He walked around for a bit. Maybe he just needed to know he was missed. I don't know, but I'm keeping a close eye on him.

Sindar looks like she might have a UTI. I called the vet that we normally use on the weekends and they are only doing emergency visits today. She has an appointment for tomorrow morning.

Tobi didn't throw up again yesterday so that's great. I'll call his regular doctor when they open tomorrow and get him an appointment ASAP.

Shaun got magnetic closures installed on the lower cabinets yesterday. I got the upper ones contact-papered and lined, and put away the dishes that Shaun brought home. He also brought Anansi home, so I'm happy about that.

I woke up this morning to a bad headache. I think it's hormonal. I've taken Tylenol twice already and it's not helping. I'm about to take a nap.

A pipe in the well burst (we're guessing last night). We have city water in the house so we're fine, but the basement and garage got a relatively small bit of water in them. More to deal with so that sucks, but we're really glad it wasn't worse.

That's all I have right now. I gotta go deal with my head. I still have a lot to do, but I'm not doing anything else until I feel better. 😕

We're having a rough animal day here. 🙁

We're having a rough animal day here.  🙁

To start it off, Tobi (cat) needs a steroid shot regularly or else he vomits uncontrollably.  I made an appointment for his shot and he was going to be seen the 24th very early in the morning, but we didn't make it to his appointment.  We were EXHAUSTED from moving stuff and slept through our alarms.  He's usually ok going for slightly longer than monthly, so I figured I would get him in early this coming up week.  Unfortunately, he started throwing up this morning.  Poor guy.  He's going to be getting some wet food and TLC for the next few days.

After that I heard one of the kitchen cabinet doors slamming.  Sindar (the eldest cat) likes to go in there to hide so I didn't think much of it.  I was heading into the kitchen and it smelled AWFUL.  Shaun was making an upset face and said "I think someone shit in there."  Thankfully, we haven't moved our food / dishes into the cabinets yet so it wasn't hard to clean, but it turns out that someone peed, pooped, and puked up a hairball in there.  Me (being the smallest person in the house) got the super fun job of cramming myself into the cabinets to clean it up.

It would be alarming if it was any other cat, but Sindar is very old and despite multiple trips to the vet has had issues with her potty habits in the past.  Nothing is ever physically found wrong with her and we have multiple litter boxes, all of which we keep clean.  The vet believes it is behavioral.  Thankfully, it's not a constant issue.  Regardless, Shaun is buying some cabinet locks today so that at least if it happens again it won't be in such a hard-to-clean area.

While that would be enough going wrong for one day it sadly is not all.  While making my rounds feeding everyone I've found that Nom (large tortoise) looks like he doesn't feel well.  I'm unsure what could be wrong with him; his setup is better than it's ever been in that he's finally spending time in his humid area like he should.  His nose is no longer whistling which is good.  But he's not consistently active and his food doesn't look touched.  I'm going to try to hand feed him in a bit.  Maybe give him a nice warm bath.  I know that moving is a big transition so I'm hoping that's all that's going on with him.  If he doesn't get right pretty soon we'll be taking a trip to the vet.

And finally (jeez, I hope this is the last bad animal thing to happen today), I found my little Koopa (horned lizard) passed away.  🙁  Their life spans are 5-8 years and I got him in 2013 with no indication of his age, so I think he had a pretty good run.  I'd been thinking he looked thin lately and that he probably wasn't long for this world, but I had no way of knowing when his time would come.  He was still eating and enjoying being sprayed with water up until last night.  I am sad but not surprised by his passing.

Well, I am off to bathe a tortoise and then work on the house some more.  I hope you all are doing well.  Not all of us are at the moment, but we're working on it.  That's all we can do.  ❤