Good Vibes

My house seems very empty at the moment. TV watching time at the end of the day is usually spent with my two furry kitties sitting with me on the couch.

I only have one furry kitty tonight.

My little babe Ebenezer is spending the next 24-48 hours at the animal hospital. An ultrasound this afternoon showed a considerable amount of debris in his bladder. This debris has blocked his urinary tract resulting in him being unable to urinate.

He is currently sedated and having his bladder and urinary tract flushed.

I am currently a basket case. And my credit card is in flames.

I miss my dude. Big time.

Please send good vibes his way.....

Thank you :)

Love Is....

....My office floor (thank God it's hard wood) being completely covered in pungent cat urine because Ebenezer is sick again. On the bright side, the floor being covered in cat urine is actually a GOOD thing: a very, very good thing. Urine coming out of his body means his urinary tract IS NOT blocked, which means he isn't running the risk of kidney failure and death. I will take urine soaked floors over kidney failure and death any day.

I was concerned all day for my little guy as he was going in and out of the litter box frequently without producing any urine. I called the vet, and she recommended I give him a dose of his anti-anxiety medication - yes cats have anti-anxiety medication. Apparently anxiety in cats has a direct correlation to urinary tract inflammation thus the anti-anxiety meds.

In case you were wondering.

Love is having a house call vet appointment already set up for tomorrow at 8 am.

Love is being excited to FINALLY be able to collect enough urine from his box for a proper sample to give to the vet tomorrow.

Love is not caring that my office smells like I own 49 cats that urinate everywhere.

Love is laying on the urine soaked floor with Ebenezer so that he feels comforted and not alone.

Love is the fact that I smell like the bottom of a litter pan and I could give two sh*ts - as long as my baby feels better.

I have an insane love for my kitties.

Please keep all crazy cat lady judgments to yourselves. I can't be fabulous ALL the time.

Geesh.

Bridal Wars Part Deux

I had narrowed my wedding gown favorites down to three fabulous gowns.

"Time for the big mirror," my consultant excitedly exclaimed.

Oooh. The big mirror. Bring it on. I scooped up my skirt and sauntered out of the little dressing room so that I could compare all three of my choices in the large 3-fold mirror that resided in the central location at the bridal salon.

As I turned the corner, I saw her. A shlumpadinka bride in a shlumpadinka dress, with her three shlumpadinka bridesmaids and her shlumpadinka mother. She was standing in the middle of the mirror contemplating the addition of a chocolate brown sash to her dress. For 15-20 minutes hogging the big, fancy, 3-fold mirror. Over a sash.

I could have saved her the time - the sash looked stupid. The sash looked more than stupid - it looked like someone decided to wipe their poop laden bunghole across the waist of her dress. My consultant politely asked if she could scoot over so we could share the mirror - which most absolutely was big enough for all of us to twirl and admire ourselves in. Ms. Brown Poopy Sash looked at me, and my fabulous mother and my fabulous sister and scooted over.

An inch.

It didn't help that her zoo exhibit of a bridal party didn't budge AT ALL so she really didn't have much room to scoot over.

That's when I got really angry and resorted to child like pouting. My consultant could read the dissatisfaction that this frumpalicious bride was causing me, and brought me over to my own smaller mirror over by the register. This didn't help since standing in front of this mirror meant I was also standing in the path to the ladies room.

More pouting.

I couldn't appreciate my choices in this mirror. I kept seeing the reflection of women that were on the way to the bathroom. I kept overhearing the conversation behind me in the big mirror. My vision of having the best day trying on the best dresses and standing in the best mirror was slowly being destroyed.

"Oh my goodness, the brown sash makes the dress. Like Omigod totally get the sash, it's so beauuuuuuuuuuutiful. You look amazing. Oh wowwwwwwww."

And then I overheard this question:

"What color Chucks are you going to wear?"

Oh Helllllllll No.

Not only was Ms. Brown Poopy Sash super ugly, she was sporting an ugly dress, with an ugly sash AND planning on wearing lame sneakers to complete her fugtastic wedding ensemble.

Why did she need the big fabulous mirror to project her nastiness all over the store? Why couldn't she just be ugly in the single mirror that was near the bathroom? Why couldn't she just pack it in, corral her cattle bridal party, and get the F*CK out of the big fabulous girl mirror so that a fabulous girl (meaning me) in a fabulous dress (my dress) could admire herself?

So I crossed my arms, pouted some more, and waited for the wildebeast stampede to move on.

And when it moved on, I was able to stand in front of the big mirror and admire how freaking AMAZING I looked in my dress of choice.

No nasty brown sash of course.

Holla.

Back To Life. Back To Reality.

I heard this phrase over and over again over the course of the past weekend.

Summer. Is. Over.

Officially over.

Like, OVER, over.

I know, I know - I said in my last post that I was looking forward to fall and winter, which I am, but I am still sad that summer is gone. To be honest, I'm not even sure where the summer went. Looking back, Brian and I didn't go anywhere or really do anything together this summer.

Don't get me wrong, we had plenty to do - weddings, showers, baptisms, wedding planning, house crap, work crap, and on, and on, and on.....what we never really did this summer was to stop and smell the roses and exist in the moment. We unfortunately spent our summer checking off the boxes of our social and errand calendar.

I hate, actually I loathe, living life that way.

So starting tomorrow I'm starting fresh - vowing to savor and breathe in every moment of every day. I'm so bored with rushing through every event in order to get to the next event.

It's going to be a challenge because I usually plow full speed ahead through everything.

Not anymore.

Stop.

Breathe.

Enjoy.

Missing In Action

Well hello there! I've been terribly neglecting my blog, and I have no real reason why.

It's Monday morning again, and It's August 23rd.

August 23rd.

Ewwww. August 23rd. Summer is almost over. The rain and the cool weather today makes me think of fall.....which is obviously right around the corner.

To be honest, I'm looking forward to fall and winter this year. Mainly because this is the last time I'll be spending these seasons as a single gal. I'm technically not single single but I am unmarried. This will be my last year as unmarried.

Weird.

And speaking of married, most of the big wedding plans are completed. We are meeting with the DJ this week, and then the last big plan we have to make is finding a florist. Everything else is done.

The wedding ball is officially in motion.

Happy Monday!

Controversial

I struggle with topics to talk about on this blog. Not that I don't have tons to say - it's just that I'm very concerned about offending people. I suppose it's MY blog, and I'm allowed to write what I see fit - but with friends and some family reading - I dread the day when the phone rings and one of them is on the other line stating, "Whoa, you were out of line."

I've had one particular topic floating in my head for months. I've been dying to talk about it, but have been reluctant for fear of the backlash that might come my way. At the same time, I've never been one to NOT speak my mind, and my "big mouth" has gotten me into hot water more times than I can count. I also love to get people talking - and talking in a passionate way. I have the knack of either bringing out good passion or bad passion - either way it's passion just the same and I love to get people going.......

So I'm going to go there. For those of you easily offended, I advise to skip this post. For those of you interested in my slightly controversial post, read on....

Prior to purchasing my home approximately one year ago, I lived (rented) in a very affluent town about 40 minutes north of Boston. I wanted to remain in this town but could not afford to purchase a home. Wait, I take that back. I could afford a home - but one that was small and lacking all the amenities that my current home has. So I ventured about 15 minutes north of said affluent town and that is where I ended up purchasing. The town I currently reside in has a mix of people - predominantly middle class and lower class.

I am fortunate enough to have a grocery store right down the street which makes food shopping extremely easy.

Prepare yourselves....this is where I get slightly nasty.....

I've been shopping at this grocery store for about a year now, and about 6 months ago I noticed that everyone around me was purchasing their groceries with government assistance.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN.

Now, every time I go to the grocery store I play a little game of "who is buying their groceries with my hard earned money." Yesterday the shopper in front of me, the shopper in back of me, and the shopper in the next lane over all whipped out their little handy dandy Massachusetts government assistance card.

Let the nastiness begin.

I'm getting angrier and angrier each and every time I stand in the check out line. Now, as a disclaimer, I did not come from an affluent home. My mother was a single mother, my father did not pay child support, and we actually qualified for government assistance. My mother was too proud to go on welfare, HOWEVER, I did take advantage of the free breakfast and free lunch programs that were offered at school. So technically, I've sucked at the teat of government assistance.

I feel extremely fortunate to have everything that I have - but I have all I have because I've worked so hard for it. It took me six years to complete my undergraduate degree because I worked for the University full time in order to take advantage of their free tuition for employees program. I received my Masters degree by taking advantage of tuition reimbursement programs from my employer. I've rolled coins, I've clipped coupons, I've shopped sales, I've worn used clothing, I've worked two jobs at any given time so that I can afford the things that I have.

So when I see these women with perfectly manicured nails handing their government assistance card over to the cashier that they retrieved from their Coach purse, I get irate. They notoriously have two carts stuffed FULL of sodas, and cakes, and candies, and CRAP and I'm the one paying for it. I watch them as they pay cash for toys for each one of the 3, 4, 5 children they have tugging along. I've had this conversation with friends that will ask, "don't you feel bad for the children?"

I do feel bad for the children - but I feel bad for them because they're the children of parents that are setting a horrific example for them. They are teaching them to have lots of babies, and to rest assured, the government will take care of them.

To top it off, Brian's sister is a teacher in this town, and has many of these children in her classroom. Most recently one of the students, a 12 year old girl, became pregnant - allegedly by one of her mother's boyfriends. She is keeping the baby and most likely going on government assistance.

Government assistance isn't the answer. Mandatory adoption placement maybe? Sterilization?

If you can't afford your children - it shouldn't be up to me to afford them for you.

Bring on the hate comments.....I can take it.....

Romance?

Life around our household is business as usual.

Brian and I aren't very romantic. I wouldn't necessarily say that we're not romantic people, we're just not engaging in romantic activity as of late.

A typical Monday for us:

Brian gets up, takes the dog out and heads to work. I get up, take the dog out again, feed the cats, feed the dog, get ready and go to work. Brian gets home from work and takes the dog out. I get home, change and pack up my things for spin. Brian does some housework while I'm gone and feeds the dog. I teach spin. I chat with a few students, and head home. I shower, we make dinner, we eat. I feed the cats. Sometimes I throw in a load of laundry or empty the dish washer.

Each weekday is a variation of this routine. In. Out. Errands. Second job. Take the dog out. Feed the animals. Work.

When the weekend rolls around we usually have some sort of commitment to attend. I go to a bridal shower, Brian mows the lawn, takes the clippings to the dump and watches the dog. He has a golf tournament. I have a bachelorette party. I come home and take care of the dog. If we amazingly have the weekend off he'll fix something that needs fixing around the house, and I scrub. Scrub something. Because something in the house always needs to be scrubbed - the tub, the dog, the floor, the dishes....scrub, scrub, scrub.

Romance - or anything resembling romance - has flown out the window.

We've recently even resorted to eating off of paper plates in order to reduce the amount of dishes (scrubbing) that needs to be done.

Lately, we've even been going to bed at uneven times. I passed out at 9:30 last night. A bridal magazine to my left, a book on my chest, a cat on my head, a hair clip on Brian's side, and the light on.

We're not married yet, we're still relatively young, and we haven't even added kids into the equation. I'm thinking if the romance has vanished this early in the game, then we're really sca-rewd!

So what is the secret? How do you keep the spark alive? Our spark is definitely still here and we - ahem - do still embrace the spark (if you know what I mean) on a frequent basis. It just seems that the spark embracing has become another task that needs to be penciled into our schedule instead of it being a spontaneous act of, well, romance.

I'm assuming that this is a normal part of life that every couple encounters. Are we happy? Absolutely - We're just exhausted. We need to somehow create a better of balance of work and play. We have the work part down - we just need to work on the play.

Suggestions?

Happy Monday.