Oh, Enid.

Our cat Enid has not taken well to the new house. She doesn't like the new Cat Genie, so she's been peeing all over her cat area and pooping on the rug directly in front of the catbox. In addition, she's figured out how to get out of her cat corral, so she's started peeing in our living areas too. She also stays up all night howling and yelping. She's obviously not happy.

Rather than spend more money and energy trying to accommodate her further, we've decided to get rid of her. One lady who loves special needs cats expressed interest, but backed out later. We called all of the no-kill shelters in town, but they were all full.

Then yesterday morning, Brian came up and said, "Enid is officially an outside kitty." She had once again escaped from her cat corral and peed all over the house: under the couch, under the table, all over the kitchen. It was a pee-bath. So he put her outside. It broke our hearts, but it's what had to be done. We were all miserable with her in the house.

So far, she doesn't like being an outside cat. She sits outside the sliding glass doors and stares at us. Sometimes she yelps and cries. When she's not staring us down, she's hiding behind a bush. The good news, I suppose, is that she hasn't run away.

So yeah. If you want a fat, crazy, smelly cat that poops and pees in inappropriate places, let us know.

That's it. I'm buying a handgun.

The people we bought the house from had a garden gnome in the front yard. We were hoping they'd leave it when they moved, but, alas, they took it with them. My good friend Vanessa was very thoughtful and got me one as a housewarming present. I was so excited to put it outside. It was the perfect accessory for my lovely front yard. Every time I came home to the gnome, it made me smile.

Well, then some little fuc$er stole it. I see now why homeowners hate kids. I agree with the mayor that vandals should have their thumbs chopped off. Bastards.

Anyway... my birthday is in about a month, and I will gladly accept happy garden gnomes for my padlocked back yard.

I'm spinning. Oh-oh-oh, I'm spinning.

The last 30 days have been absolutely crazy. I don't think I've watched more than an hour or two of TV the whole month. Those that know me know that's insane for me.

We closed on the house July 31st. So the whole week before that was spent dealing with appraisals, repairs, final walk-throughs, and contracts contracts contracts.

Since then, we've been packing, having utitlities switched, having hardwood floors put into the new place, having built-ins built, picking paint colors, painting, picking furniture, picking and moving mattresses, building furniture, waiting for stuff to be delivered, finding a pool guy, getting Jesse's immunizations, having his saxaphone repaired, buying school supplies, figuring out bus routes, etc. etc. etc. IT'S BEEN FREAKING CRAZY.

We finally had our big move-in day this past Saturday. And Jesse had his big first day of high school yesterday. The stressful days will continue for at least the next 30 days, I'm sure. We have to get our old place ready to sell and unpack at our new place. But at least we're halfway there now.

We brought the cats over to the new place last night too. That didn't go so well. Moka was so stressed during the car ride over, he wet himself in his cat carrier. So we had to dunk him in the tub almost immediately. Not a good way to spend his first hour at the new place. Poor traumatized kitty.

The cats are at home alone right now. I'm kind of scared to see what happens when I get home.

No kitty, that's a bad kitty!

Last night, I was crawling into bed when I noticed my side of the bed was wet. I moved the blanket and noticed my Burberry perfume bottle was part of the wet mess. Oh no, did it leak onto the bed? I picked up the bottle and sniffed it. Hmmm.... no powerful perfume smell. What could it be? Not having the best sense of smell, I woke up Brian to help me investigate. He confirmed immediately that it was cat piss. Enid strikes again.

Stupid cat. She picked the wrong time to piss on the bed. We're looking at $2,000-$4,000 mattresses to take to the new place right now. Essentially, we're at a cross roads. Do we take the retarded cat with us to the new place or send her to the glue factory?

Brian is terribly upset by the thought of giving her up. He keeps saying that it's like having a retarded kid. We just have an obligation to deal with it. But I disagree. She's a pet, not a human, and we've given her a great life for more than 7 years. Even our vet told us that most people would not keep a cat with so many behavioral problems. Besides, I think she'd get adopted right away anyway. She's very beautiful, and she might do better in a home with no children and no other cats. That's my theory anyway.

So that's where we're at. Should she stay or should she go?

Closing Time

All the paperwork's been signed. We get our house on July 31st!

Sigh of Relief

Ok, the contract for the house is finally signed. The purchase is a go. Escrow is set to close at the end of July. YAY!

Halt!

Hold the phone. There may be a holdup with the house. No celebrating for right now. Let's just wait a few days and see how it goes.

Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

We bought a house! I mean, it's not a done deal yet, but it's pretty much a done deal. We'll formalize everything and go into escrow Monday. YAY!! Here are a few pics of the new digs:

My heart is broken

We didn't get the house. They accepted an offer last night. It's possible it was sold even before they got our offer.

:-(

OMG!

We put an offer in on a house last night. It's so nerve-racking! It's a foreclosure, so there are multiple bids. You don't know what other people are bidding and you don't know whether your offer is good enough until it gets rejected and someone else's gets accepted. We're totally psyching ourselves out. Should we go $20k more? $40k more? Are we just overthinking it and throwing money away or is there another couple who wants an old house with a pool and an open floor plan in that area as bad as we do? So scary...

Anyway, here's a bad picture of the house at issue. The street view on google maps is way better. Email me and I'll give you the address. I don't want to post it here.