Getting Back on Track

I just cleaned my carpets with my Bissel carpet cleaner. Did I ever think I could love a carpet cleaner so much? No, I did not. But I do.

My life has come to the point that I am overjoyed the the intoxicating scent of CLEAN in my house right now. In addition to my drying carpets, I discovered that the carpet scrubbing attachment works to.... wait for it... WASH WALLS!! Ah, the convenience! The cleanliness! A spray and a once-over with the scrubber/sucker and waaa-laaa, sparkly clean dry walls!!!

Yes, this is the stuff of 2009 Thanksgiving joy.

To anyone who has come and stayed in the past two months (and there are quite a few of you), I am so sorry if you spotted the little patches of cat puke in corners that I missed... I must reassure you that at least your sheets were clean. As far as I know, anyway. JUST KIDDING!!

Now I am going to write about some things I normally wouldn't write about... We typically have lots of fun and truly interesting things going on in our lives. Well, at least I think they are fun and truly interesting, generally... But the last few weeks we've really focused on getting life back in order and putting wrong things right. So here are some of the things that are getting back on track.

I believe the bed-peeing cat is over his problem. He did have a urinary tract infection, poor guy, and he hasn't done it again. I hope he won't. TRULY.

On Friday I took our other cat, Bobcat, to the vet. I am on veterinarian #3 with him trying to find someone who can thoroughly address all his issues - those being his skin lesions and difficulty breathing. We finally hit the jackpot with the gem of a woman we saw Friday. A series of labs, chest x-rays, skin tests, a $220 bill, two hours, and a sack full of medications later I was out the door with questions pending test results, but hopefully he will be feeling better soon. Near the end of the visit when the veterinarian told me his x-rays needed to be sent to a radiologist at the University of Minnesota for additional interpretation of his misshapen heart I found myself wondering how fair it is so spend even more money on a cat when some people don't even have medical care, and when many cats don't have homes at all... Then sweet Bobcat looked up at me with his peaceful owl-eyes and proceeded to lick and love up the very woman who had just pricked him, stuck a thermometer up his butt and picked at his sore, itchy skin. In that moment I was thinking - this is why we have pets - these creatures are far more forgiving, unconditionally loving and trusting than the vast majority of humans will ever be... Of course we will get him all the care he needs.