1 Preschool starting
2. The cat
3. The carpet
4. Work. Oh yeah, work.
5. Halloween
6.closet
7. My feet
I have a lot on my mind. Not a lot of it is good. None of it is earth shaking bad news, but it's all I got right now. This, plus a few unbloggable things are at the root of the lack of updates around here.
William starts preschool next week. It is the right thing for him to do. He needs to be around other kids and he is super excited about going. I'm excited for him. But, I'm also a little "My baby is growing up and he'll be at preschool away from me for 2.5 whole hours.....". He'll attend two days a week for two and half hours at a time. I also currently have myself crabby about their "healthy" snacks, but I think that is my own personal issue. By personal I mean that it probably isn't a big deal and I need to get over it. Or something. Will put it on my list of things to do next week.
Ooooo that cat. That darn cat. I haven't said anything about the cat here for several reasons. a) I was hoping it would resolve itself quickly b) people have strong feelings about their pets c) I don't know exactly the best way to deal with it and I don't need outside opinions (yet, I'll let you know). d) Ewww. e) most of you are here to hear about the kids, not listen to animal woes.
So anyhow, the cat has been either a sick cat or a bad cat or both depending on how you look at it. The problem has been going on for roughly six months and the treatment has been ongoing since the middle of JUNE. I feel terrible that the only workable solution for both of our cats has been to keep them shut in our basement for the time being. I also hate how frustrating it is to not be able to help our cat because we don't know entirely what is wrong. We've spent hundreds of dollars (and quickly rising) on medical care without much resolution of the problem. Without going into a lot of detail (because, ewww), I'll tell you this has been incredibly stressful. Both John and I are very worried about how this will end up - and it stinks.
The year old carpet in our basement probably needs some replacing (see above). I'm angry at the [sick, unhappy] cat that couldn't get it together to ruin our poor quality carpet in our upper level. Not only has the medical problem been costly, but I know this carpet replacement is going to come with a big price sticker too. Yet, the carpet issue cannot be resolved until the medical problem is resolved. We cannot solve the cat issue because WE DON'T EXACTLY KNOW WHAT IS WRONG. Argh.
Stress number four: I start working in another week. What? You didn't have any idea? Actually, I've been looking for part time employment since William was about four months old. I've followed a lot of leads and applied for a few jobs. Nothing was panning out and I was feeling pretty frustrated after three years. However, I had a lot of requirements of a job and I have the luxury of being picky. I'll spare you the details leading up to my new job, but I've just been hired by our local community college to teach GED preparation courses. It is very part time and still uses my degree/s. I will work a regular schedule and work close to home. I'm excited about the opportunities this will bring as well as the challenges. At this moment though, I'm feeling stressed about William starting preschool and going back to work in the same week. I only work mornings a week - which coincidentally are the two days a week William will be in preschool. The timing is going to take some thinking in order to be workable. How will we juggle it all?
Halloween is creeping up and William wants nothing to do with costumes. And although it isn't quite September, I'm stressing out. HEY, quit shaking your head! I didn't say I was worrying about things that are worthwhile, did I?
John continues to work on improving our master bedroom closet organization. He is putting shelving/new closet rods into our closet. However, this means the closet has to be empty so the work can occur. The work needs to happen when John has a chunk of time to devote to working on finishing installing the organization system. Read: Bedtime/naptime on weekends. The progress is slow. Which means our room is a mess. When the kids are in there every day, the mess is spread a little thinner and a little wider. And since most days I feel the need to get dressed, the mess continues to expand.
I haven't talked about my feet in quite some time. That is because there hasn't been much change. That isn't exactly true. I have several pain free days followed by a few days that I have pain. Enough pain running isn't an option. I've been back to my doctor who has only one more trick in his back. A trick that isn't covered by insurance because it is still considered experimental. An expensive procedure that isn't without risk (what medical procedure is?) ? I really would give just about anything to run again and find my inner peace. Just for a few moments to be lost in the beat of my heart and the rhythm of my breathing. I miss banging out all the worries and negatives on the track and leaving them behind. I'll say it again, running is just as much (or more) for my mental health as my physical health.
On top of it all, Amelia is teething. Maybe. Or it could be the cold she is fighting. Or....I don't know, but I can tell you that patience is lacking after only 3 hours of sleep. William would probably agree. We're going on week two of a few very bad nights and I'm paying for it.
See? There isn't anything terribly wrong. Just a lot of things piled up to make life stressful right now.
Handsome boy
His sidekick puppy friend
Sweet puppy
Sweet puppy
The kids together. You'll see I've learned from last year: take the kids outside for a picture BEFORE IT GETS DARK. Duh.
We took the kids to a few friends' houses to trick or treat before coming home for dinner. No one was overtired, hungry or cold. Perfect. After dinner, I was shocked when William wanted to go out again with HIS COSTUME ON. Turns out, he put it all together. Costume+Halloween= CANDY. I thought we would maybe get to 2-3 houses. I wanted to keep the bar set low so I wouldn't be disappointed if we went home early. However, William RAN exuberantly to 12 different houses before I decided we needed to go home. He was AWESOME. It is so much more fun now that he understands!
After the second round of trick or treating (to different houses! I swear!), William was delighted to be the official candy distributor. No one else was allowed near the bowl. He had a serious job to do!
I convinced Amelia out of the puppy costume by offering up the kitty hat. $0.10 at a garage sale - BARGAIN!
