This post brings good and bad news. We will start with the good. Last weekend I got to go out with E and a friend and I had so much fun. It had been far too long since I'd interacted with people my own age just for fun. We went out for a while and then came back and played the wii for a while (even ending in Just Dance...yes, I got a few videos of the dudes looking pretty silly dancing a duet).
I also was encouraged when a fellow caregiver suggested we hang out some time. We have plans for a girls night in a couple of weeks! That is so exciting!
Even more exciting is the fact that my mom booked tickets for my family to come visit me in JULY!!! They will be here on June 30th! 2.5 months!! And as of this morning a friend from college booked a ticket out here for a few days IN TWO AND A HALF WEEKS!!! You guys! So excited! Plus, my first regatta out here is in 2 weeks!...looks like I should really go get that special liscense since I don't have a passport and the regatta is in Canada...
Now for the bad/sad news. We have been having a really hard time with Katniss lately. A few months ago she got a UTI. We assume it was because the dog was always chasing her/eating out of the cat box and disturbing the peace in there. We got the UTI cleared up, but a little while later we noticed that she still occasionally marked our clothes, towels, and blankets if they were left in the bathroom, doorways, or bedroom. We have been trying very hard not to leave anything cloth on the floor and have been keeping all bedroom doors shut and have been working extra hard to train Harper to leave the cat (and her box) alone. It just doesn't seem to be working. After doing quite a bit of research we think it's stress related. She isn't getting the kind of attention she needs, and when Harper isn't locked up she's always on guard and has to sneak by fast wherever she goes so the dog won't see her. She really only marks E's clothes (could possibly be because I'm better at not leaving them on the floor) and occasionally blankets. We have been tolerating this for months and trying to work with it. We don't want her to be put down because she is such a sweet kitty and we love her so much, but we can't keep a cat who is ruining our belongings. We have recently decided that it would be best for everyone (including Katniss) if she were in a more relaxing environment. As much as we love her, we want her to get the love and attention that she needs. This has been a really hard decision because we don't want to be irresponsible pet owners, and like I've said several times, we really do love her so much.
I suppose a big part of why I feel terrible about giving her away is the fact that we had her before we got Harper. So I feel like I betrayed her when we got the dog, and now I'm choosing the dog over the cat...I don't want to get rid of either of them. Harper gets me outside and active which is a big reason why we are keeping her. Also, I see several more moves in our near future with E's new job and I want Katniss to have a stable home. She has done so much moving...I'm sure there are a lot of people reading this thinking "I told you so" right now because we were discouraged from getting both our pets. But I don't regret either of them. Katniss has brought us so much love and comfort. She is the best at cuddling, which is what I'll miss most...even as I type this I don't know if I can go through with it.
If anybody has any helpful suggestions we are more than open to trying more things so that we don't have to get rid of her.
That is it for now...sorry to leave you with a bummer.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Getting the swing of things
Really the title of this post says it all. Finally all of the newness of our jobs have worn off and we are really getting into the swing of things.
We have started actually venturing out now that we have to plan our weekends. A few weeks ago I had to work on a Saturday morning and E planned a fun day trip. He told me we were going to the beach...I thought, okay, I've looked at the map, I think E is planning to go to one that is an hour or two away. I asked if I should bring food and he said no, because we'll grab lunch there. So we packed up the dog and headed to the beach...Well, I found out 2.5 hours into the trip that we were actually going ALL THE WAY AROUND the Olympic Peninsula...ALL THE WAY AROUND! We circled the entire Olympic National Forest, people! What I thought was a 2hr there and 2hr back car ride was more like 7-8 hours in the car.. As we were about 3 hours in we reached Port Angeles, a bigger town and we had plans to stop for sea food, since we've been here 6 months and not had any. But every time we passed a restaurant he asked me if we should stop, I said yes, and he kept driving. I don't know about all of you, but I get "hangry" (that's hungry-angry...I get grumpy when I need food) and I had only had one doughnut all day. Then we continue to drive and see things along the road, E asks if we should stop I say sure, he keeps driving...I was pretty cranky by the time we stopped (about 4.5 hours in) at Ruby beach. It was misting but we had fun at the beach anyway. Harper loved it. We spent a while looking in tide pools and then wandered down the beach where nobody else was and let Harper run free. She was in doggy heaven. Luckily this beach experience made up for the lousy car ride so far. After an hour or so of frolicking we piled back into the car and had sea food on the brain...However, as before, every time we passed a place that had food (including Forks, yes, the Forks,WA from Twilight...) we drove right through. Basically we got home at 9pm starving and stopped at Taco Bell. So much for sea food! Luckily there is no shortage of sea food here. The next morning after church we had brunch by the sound and had some delicious sea food.
The weeks alone have gotten kinda boring for me, not having a whole lot of human interaction and having been in a slump work wise. I was so excited to get a text message from my uncle saying he would be in town! I was looking forward to it all week! Then, the day before he was supposed to meet up with us he sent me a text saying that he couldn't make it after all because he was flying to Tazmania that night! Well, the gullible person that I am fell for that April Fools joke! The following afternoon he showed up and we had a nice time chatting while we waited for E to get home. Then we went to a nice restaurant that overlooked Tacoma. What a nice dinner it was! It was so thoughtful of him to think of us while he was here on business, and even more kind that he treated us to dinner too!
That brings us to about Easter. We had been invited to a couple from church's house for Easter. We volunteered to make dessert, so E and I made a cake together. I had a lot of fun doing it together and the cake was quite delicious. We also had a lot of fun with their family. It was very low key. It was really nice for me to be around people other than my husband for a change, and I really missed being in that big warm family atmosphere.
Then there's this week! Things are finally picking up for me at work! Monday I spent many hours calling and calling and calling apartments because my client is running out of time and I found just the perfect one! So I set up an appointment for a tour. Yesterday I took the client for the tour, and LOOOONG story short, he ended up applying to this apartment! Yay!! I have been looking for an apartment for this gentleman since the middle of February. I was beginning to feel very discouraged. My co-worker was so generous and spent some time with me on Monday showing me how to do things and talking things out with me. Now I'm busy with all of the things that happen after an apartment has been found. Such a huge weight off my shoulders, and it boosted my confidence.
Also, earlier this week I took Harper to get spayed. She didn't see it coming and I felt so bad leaving her there and thinking about how scared she must be. I should probably never have actual human kids. Yesterday's and today's challenge has been trying to keep her from licking the incision and not playing too rowdy...which is next to impossible.
Last night E took me out for dessert because he got his tips from his last week at Starbucks. Tonight he is going to make me dinner! He even volunteered to do it himself! I am so excited!
Really that's all I've got! I'm excited for the summer months to be here for sailing, family visits (ANYONE is welcome to come visit!!), and going home to MN for a wedding!
That's all I've got for now!
We have started actually venturing out now that we have to plan our weekends. A few weeks ago I had to work on a Saturday morning and E planned a fun day trip. He told me we were going to the beach...I thought, okay, I've looked at the map, I think E is planning to go to one that is an hour or two away. I asked if I should bring food and he said no, because we'll grab lunch there. So we packed up the dog and headed to the beach...Well, I found out 2.5 hours into the trip that we were actually going ALL THE WAY AROUND the Olympic Peninsula...ALL THE WAY AROUND! We circled the entire Olympic National Forest, people! What I thought was a 2hr there and 2hr back car ride was more like 7-8 hours in the car.. As we were about 3 hours in we reached Port Angeles, a bigger town and we had plans to stop for sea food, since we've been here 6 months and not had any. But every time we passed a restaurant he asked me if we should stop, I said yes, and he kept driving. I don't know about all of you, but I get "hangry" (that's hungry-angry...I get grumpy when I need food) and I had only had one doughnut all day. Then we continue to drive and see things along the road, E asks if we should stop I say sure, he keeps driving...I was pretty cranky by the time we stopped (about 4.5 hours in) at Ruby beach. It was misting but we had fun at the beach anyway. Harper loved it. We spent a while looking in tide pools and then wandered down the beach where nobody else was and let Harper run free. She was in doggy heaven. Luckily this beach experience made up for the lousy car ride so far. After an hour or so of frolicking we piled back into the car and had sea food on the brain...However, as before, every time we passed a place that had food (including Forks, yes, the Forks,WA from Twilight...) we drove right through. Basically we got home at 9pm starving and stopped at Taco Bell. So much for sea food! Luckily there is no shortage of sea food here. The next morning after church we had brunch by the sound and had some delicious sea food.
The weeks alone have gotten kinda boring for me, not having a whole lot of human interaction and having been in a slump work wise. I was so excited to get a text message from my uncle saying he would be in town! I was looking forward to it all week! Then, the day before he was supposed to meet up with us he sent me a text saying that he couldn't make it after all because he was flying to Tazmania that night! Well, the gullible person that I am fell for that April Fools joke! The following afternoon he showed up and we had a nice time chatting while we waited for E to get home. Then we went to a nice restaurant that overlooked Tacoma. What a nice dinner it was! It was so thoughtful of him to think of us while he was here on business, and even more kind that he treated us to dinner too!
That brings us to about Easter. We had been invited to a couple from church's house for Easter. We volunteered to make dessert, so E and I made a cake together. I had a lot of fun doing it together and the cake was quite delicious. We also had a lot of fun with their family. It was very low key. It was really nice for me to be around people other than my husband for a change, and I really missed being in that big warm family atmosphere.
Then there's this week! Things are finally picking up for me at work! Monday I spent many hours calling and calling and calling apartments because my client is running out of time and I found just the perfect one! So I set up an appointment for a tour. Yesterday I took the client for the tour, and LOOOONG story short, he ended up applying to this apartment! Yay!! I have been looking for an apartment for this gentleman since the middle of February. I was beginning to feel very discouraged. My co-worker was so generous and spent some time with me on Monday showing me how to do things and talking things out with me. Now I'm busy with all of the things that happen after an apartment has been found. Such a huge weight off my shoulders, and it boosted my confidence.
Also, earlier this week I took Harper to get spayed. She didn't see it coming and I felt so bad leaving her there and thinking about how scared she must be. I should probably never have actual human kids. Yesterday's and today's challenge has been trying to keep her from licking the incision and not playing too rowdy...which is next to impossible.
Last night E took me out for dessert because he got his tips from his last week at Starbucks. Tonight he is going to make me dinner! He even volunteered to do it himself! I am so excited!
Really that's all I've got! I'm excited for the summer months to be here for sailing, family visits (ANYONE is welcome to come visit!!), and going home to MN for a wedding!
That's all I've got for now!
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