They're Baaa-aaaaaack!

Hi all. I'm back. It's been a rough summer. At this point, I'm just glad it's over, trying to pick up the pieces, and trying to find a new definition of normal and just get on with life.

To catch everyone up: I was cat-sitting three cats for someone who was out of their home for MONTHS due to a flood and insurance issues and bank issues and a work crew that was all crew and no work. Their lives sucked. The cats, however, pissed. And pissed. And pissed. One of these days, I'll quit finding tinkle spots, and my nose can come back to life. I hope. LOL

Just before my birthday, I found I was unexpectedly pregnant. However, before I had even really begun to process it, I miscarried. On my birthday. Each year, I tentatively begin to celebrate my birthday figuring it just can't be THAT bad, can it? And it is. Every year. This past May, a friend called me to wish me happy birthday. After she said it, she asked "It is a happy one, isn't it? Yours get weird." Yes, they're really like that. So I'm done now. I have learned my lesson. From now on, it's a day. Just an ordinary day, although, it will probably be an ordinary day which I will spend in bed with a mixed drink in one hand and a few bottles of wine under my pillow, just in case it should be one of THOSE again.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, the house began to fall apart: a glass door got broken, and our carpenter has gone MIA, so we don't know when it'll get replaced. The front porch post came down due to a dog. The drain in the bathtub broke. The hot water heater has begun to act weird. The house filter assembly (we're on a well) is acting screwy and keeps trying to spray water around the utility closet. The un-stretched carpet has gone from beginning to wrinkle to HORRIBLY wrinkled - like don't walk across the livingroom in the dark, for fear of tripping and dying. We had to replace the couch, the baby's mattress, his playpen, several items of clothing from everyone, shampoo all three of the other mattresses, shampoo the chairs, the chaise, the carpet, the carpet and the carpet, find a gentle way to clean the felt on the pool table, and throw away more than half of my shoes from cat pee. The two outdoor dogs got into a huge fight, leaving one of them pouring blood onto my kitchen floor and the other with a roughed up neck and a hole in the skin of his chest that nearly killed him. One of my cats was bitten on her back, which led to an abscess and a very sick kitty. One of the cat-sat cats was allergic to something in the house and ended up half-bald on her neck and legs. I still don't know what it was that got to her, but I felt SO BAD! And then we hit the middle of an Oklahoma summer, and started to have to fight fleas. Urgh.

In June, I began to feel strange. I figured, no way. We've been SO CAREFUL. No way. Well, yeah, way. I was again pregnant. I wanted to sit on it and not tell anyone, but I started showing really early. So I started to tell people, started to get happy, started to feel hopeful. And then, the day pesimst first referred to my pregnancy with the words "The Baby," I started to bleed. It was twins, and I lost them. I was 8.5 weeks along.

At this point, I've come to the conclusion that we won't be having any more children. We had tentatively begun discussing the possibility of trying in a year, and then pesimst's job went rather south. Things there are not good, not stable, very frustrating and very frightening. Plus, I need some serious dental work done. We had planned on doing it a year ago, but we had a baby, instead. So we're planning on it before too long, but I honestly don't know if it'll happen, what with the job problems and the cost of gas and groceries (amended: and the phone just rang. It was pesimst, and we're going to the dentist tomorrow to schedule the first part of the dental fix!). So, since I want to go back to school to finish a library degree, and I don't want to wait too long, since pesimst wants to retire early, and I don't want to work through his retirement. When he retires, I wouldn't mind working a bit longer, but I want time with my husband. We never had time with "just us" in the beginning like so many people have, we came into this marriage with kids already in tow. So we're planning on, and working towards that as a goal.

Anyway. I'll stop rambling now. Long story short: the summer sucked. It's over. School is back in session, and I like both kids' teachers. I'm back at the keys on this blog. Hope to "see" you all back here soon, too!