Back. Now with less anger.

The holiday is officially over. Yes, New Year's is this week, but that is the holiday that SB and I actually get to celebrate since all the girls are back in town and there are less cats to be visited anyway. So, now we get a few days of repose after a few days of craziness and several weeks of anxiety-laden planning.

As usual, SB and I thoroughly spoiled each other. For him: a new Ultra-Zoom compact digital camera that also shoots HD video. This is because every single time he uses our Canon Elph (nothing against Canon, the new camera is a Canon too) he curses and swears and curses some more so I did some research and I think the replacement is fabulous. A very nice compliment to our DSLR, which is not the handiest thing to bring to concerts and such.

For me: a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I have wanted one of these for many many many years, and when SB witnessed the near meltdown of our wee handmixer at Thanksgiving (literally, I'm pretty sure I smelled some smoke coming off of it) when I made cheesecake, he was inspired to procure me one of these bad boys. I am excited to use it, but at the moment the pantry is a bit bare so I'll pick up some ingredients tomorrow to make some treats.

We also got many many many games for the Wii, which is fun! Except that SB has been playing Call of Duty all day, and while I *think* he's having fun, he seems to swear at the TV a lot more than I do when I'm having fun.

And finally, we used some of our gift cards from the wedding, along with Xmas money from my mom and grandfather to hitch ourselves to the HD bandwagon. We are now the proud owners of a gigantical HD TV which fits absolutely perfectly in the nook of our TV stand/bookshelf unit, so I know it was meant to be. So far the TV itself is pretty great, but what is really blowing my mind is the HD PVR that we sprung for to go along with it.

It's really an embarrassment of riches - we are so very, very lucky. And aside from all the material things we indulge in at this time of year, while we don't get to celebrate the holiday with our family and friends, they all love us very much, and we love them.

venting. apology in advance.

I am a people pleaser. I feel bad when I can't make someone happy. I love to give gifts.

This is one of the many reasons why my particular line of work is sooooo bad for me. Almost daily I receive comments via phone message, email, and text about how amazing I am, my employees are. How thankful people are to have us there for them, to relieve their stress of having to be away from their pets, either because they are working in the case of the dogs we walk, or have to be out of town in the case of the cats. I love these emails - they make me feel good. (and they also make me feel like leaving this business would cause serious strife for a lot of people, but that is a whole other matter entirely).

However, a few times a year I get the "I am absolutely infuriated" email. Some people are legitimately infuriated - we did something wrong. I feel bad, whoever did it feels bad (could be me, or one of the girls, we all make errors sometimes), we do what we can to make it right. Some people are just complaining because they like to complain, or because they're cheap and they know we'll offer them some kind of compensation. Whatever, I usually play along, make it better, and they get happy again and love us again, and it's all okay.

But then about once a year, oddly enough usually close to the holiday season (hmmm, correlation here), they are not only "absolutely infuriated" but they are impossible to please. I feel like if no one has maliciously lashed out at them, human error is human error - we made a mistake, we for sure didn't do it on purpose, we're sorry, and we want to make up for it. But these people take it as some sort of personal offense that we made a mistake. And it's never over anything big. We have never killed a cat by accident. No one's home has ever been broken into because we did something dumb.

My personal favorite thing is when they fall just short of calling me a liar. That is my very favorite thing ever. Yes, I have nothing better to do with my life than to make up stories to try to cover up something that is NO BIG DEAL. AT ALL. (yes, I am yelling these things to myself.)

I don't want to give too many details about specifics, because, well, it's the internet after all. All I will say is that one of my girls made an error, and I take it as a personal offense when someone can't accept her apology, AND my apology, and a gesture to work it out, and be happy with it. Because, just let it be known that when we do something wrong, we own up to it, we apologize, we try to make it right. But we are human, and things do go wrong sometimes. And not realizing that makes you a moron, and I predict a very lonely and very unhappy life ahead of you.

And also, thank you so much for ruining my day, a day in which I was told three times how fantastic I am and how lucky my clients are to have me and my team. Huh.

**the previous post was brought to you by the fact that I need to vent, and that while I would totally love to argue with this now ex-client (because I will never accept her business again) until she realizes she is an idiot, it is not worth my energy. But I am still stewing over it, so had to get it out. sorry.

Osha goes to the vet

Hahahahaha - bet you thought you wouldn't see me for a while, didn't you?!

I thought I owed an update to anyone who is still paying attention as to B'Goshie's* health.

Brought him to the vet tonight - he was NOT pleased to go in the car. He was yowling and yowling and yowling in his little carrier. But when I put on some Killers and starting singing along, he quit it (he actually loves a little Dustland Fairytale).

They put us in the exam room to wait for the vet and Osha was allowed to roam freely. He got on his Goshy Big Eyes and was really into checking everything out. I was a little worried because he was barely sniffling at all, so I thought the vet wouldn't get a real sense of his symptoms.

SB arrived for some moral support, then the vet came in shortly after. She commented on how soft Osha is (duh!), how young he seems compared to how old we were told he is (16-19, we aren't really exactly sure), how great his teeth look for any kitty age (we epically fail at taking care of dog teeth, but kitties seem to be no problem for us), how hard it was to hear his heart because of all the purring. We chatted about his symptoms while she felt him over, all the while he's purring and staring at her adoringly. Then she pulled out the thermometer.

Simon is NOT a fan of the thermometer - the last time he was at the vet (which was an obscenely long time ago, and we'll bring him for a checkup in the New Year, I think, since he's ten now and we should start paying attention so we can keep him around FOREVER) I thought he was going to rip the vet's arm off when she poked him with that thing. So, when the vet pulled the thermometer out tonight, I was preparing myself to grab Osha, who bites me when I brush him.

This is not what happened. Not at all. He started purring EVEN LOUDER. It was ridiculous. He is a ridiculous cat. I will not be surprised if someone tries to steal him from us at some point because he is just toooooo much.

Anyway, so she does all of this, and we tell her his symptoms, and we decide to try an antibiotic. She isn't sure it's an infection, but from what we describe it sounds like it could be. We're wrapping up the visit, and she puts Osha on the floor so she can see the raccoon walk he does because he has some arthritis. I could hear the rattle in his nose/throat as soon as his feet hit the floor. He had for sure been holding it all in trying to impress the vet. Within about two seconds he sneezed out two giant loogies (seriously, they were the size of quarters, and his nostrils are NOT that big). He sneezed a bit more on his face which he promptly licked up (gross) and the vet determined that, yes, indeed, this must be an infection and the antibiotics should be fine.

Now comes the fun part: pilling him twice a day for two weeks. Ugh.

* Osha, as he is commonly known, has about 100 nicknames. Among them: Oshie. Big Osha. B'Goshie (pronounce b'GO-shee), Oshalicious, Go-sha, B'Goshus, Oshus, Cookie Monster, The Wee One.