Category Archives: general-post

general-post

Our new “furbaby”

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Smokey and the laptopMeet Smokey, our newest addition to the family. He looks annoyed, but actually he’s a total sweetheart. We adopted him today from the Nashville Humane Association.

My  husband and I had been talking about getting a second cat for a little while now. Ever since we lost Sully a year ago, I haven’t had much interest in a second cat. Bailey does just fine as an only cat…

…or he did. In about the last month, he’s become Mr. Needy. Perhaps its because we’ve had so many houseguests come and go. Perhaps its because its tour season, and my husband is gone regularly. But, its like he has to be under foot non-stop, or be in my lap while I want to work or eat. He sleeps almost on top of me at night.

I love my cat, but seriously?

He was just screaming, “I need a playmate.”

Holding us back was the cost. Shots. Spay/neutering. Etc. How could we put that kind of expense out on a pet? Especially when we need to be saving for later this year, and we want to start focusing on kids.

Then. I saw a news report.

Humane Society focuses on 30 day cat adoption campaign

“All adult cats are ranging from $0 to $28 and all kittens have been reduced to $65 adoption fees,” explained Lisa Reeves with the Nashville Humane Society.

According to Reeves all of the felines up for adoption have already been spayed or neutered and have already undergone their first round of vaccinations.

Nashville Humane AssociationMy ears perked up. I called my husband on the road. We agreed as soon as he got home, we’d go pick up a kitten. We could NOT beat that price!

So we went today to pick out our new family member.

Our attention was first drawn to a grey tabby that demanded to be loved. Precious!! It was a female, though, and we really wanted to stick with males.  Very vocal, also, and that made me shy away as well. Bailey is vocal enough! I didn’t want another super-vocal cat on my  hands!

Plus, this sounds terrible, but when we adopted my parent’s dog, it was a similar situation. She jumped out of the kennel into my arms… we thought it was that she picked us. No, she was just over rambunctious, and while we love her… she’s not the brightest tool in the shed. So. Lesson learned. Look around and decide what you want more than which pet demands your attention first.

We kept looking, and one headbutted his case as I walked by… I had kinda wanted a black cat, and there were those orange eyes staring back at me. Purring up a storm, I took him out of his cage. I liked him right away. My husband wasn’t as sold, so we kept looking.

We wanted a kitten so we could raise it in our world, versus try to adapt to how an adult cat was raised previously. A few of the other cats caught our eye, but our choice of males was slim.

So we went back to Smokey — as he was named at the Association, and as we decided to keep him named — and my husband held him this time. He snuggled down into his arms, and my husband said, “Okay.”

We filled out our paperwork, paid the $65 fee, and left with a new kitten, a box of cat litter, a coffee mug, two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies (Thin Mints, for the WIN), cat toy, cat treats, and a voucher for coupons to Pet Smart. All we have to do is get his next couple rounds of shots. Otherwise… the only expense now is to feed him! I am so blown away by what all we got for the fee. I remember when we got Bailey neutered… Around $150 on top of what we’d paid to adopt him in the first place! I feel like we practically stole Smokey! LOL!

Ahhh… He and Bailey are still getting to know each other. There’s not hate there, just distrust on both sides. It took Bailey and Sully a few days to get to know each other when we got Bailey, so I know to just be patient. They’ll be best friends in no time, and we’ll be one big happy family!

First meeting of the new brothers

 

general-post, motivational

A date with myself

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I did something yesterday I have never done before… I took myself to the movies.

Now, its not that I have an issue with going and doing things on my own. In fact, I’m someone who will rarely actually call a friend to go with me somewhere. I always figure friends have other plans, and why expect someone to go with me to do something I can just as well do myself?

No, it was because I am not a movie-going person. My husband will mention going to the movies, and I usually wrinkle my nose. It’s just SO EXPENSIVE, and do you know how much I can get in done in those two hours? I can probably count on one hand the number of movies I’ve gone to see in the last five years.

However, this weekend, I kept seeing on Twitter people posting about going to the movies. And suddenly… I wanted to go. I wanted to go see a movie. But still, I was on the fence. It just costs so much…

I decided to sleep on it, and yesterday morning I woke up still wanting to go to the movies. It was a very dreary and cold day, so it just seemed to fit. I had some house chores I wanted to get done, though, so I decided that if I got my work done, I would go. So after breakfast, I got to work on the house… and I finished with plenty of time to shower and get to the theater.

I made it to the theater with about 10 minutes to spare before the movie I wanted to see. I walked up, asked for my ticket, and almost walked away when the lady told me how much it was. I kept my cool, but what I wanted to say was, “Seriously!? I can pay that to get into a concert!” or “I can spend that on Broadway and go home with a buzz!” I remembered in that moment why I never go to the movies.

But, like I said, I kept my cool. Got my ticket. Went inside and found the concession lines ridiculously long. I squinted up at the prices and decided I most definitely did not need anything. For a bottle of water, I could almost get dinner out after!

I grabbed a seat in the theater and for once actually stuck my phone down in my purse and ignored it for two hours straight. I laughed at the movie and completely lost track of anything else.

The movie? Not worth the price of admission. It was funny! It wasn’t BAD. It just wasn’t great. I am glad I went to see it, but I am not going to be wanting to rent it or anything later. Saw it once and that was enough. However, the experience of just letting go and getting lost in the crazy world of the movie? Yeah, that was worth the money. Getting out of the house and enjoying myself? Worth it.

I left the theater, and I was HUNGRY. I went to a little Mexican cantina for supper, and when the woman behind the counter asked me how I was, I replied, “Great! I am taking myself out on a date!”

After a delicious meal, I headed home. I just felt so good about myself for going and doing what I did. It really is okay to spoil yourself sometimes.  Movies are still expensive, so maybe next time I’ll take myself to a bookstore or something. But, hey, I’m glad I went, and ultimately… that’s what matters most.