Every Saturday before Labor Day, Aunt Debi invites the family up to her cabin in Midway for a BBQ. This year we went up early and had a chance to visit Swiss Days with Joey’s Mom, Sister and Nephew.

Swiss Days is a craft fair with tons of handmade crafts and home decor. It was a lot of fun to walk around to the different booths. We didn’t have much time and that was probably a good thing because we (excluding Joey) probably could have stayed all day! I bought this cute fall decoration right before we had to leave:

When Joey saw it he said “I could just cut you out a block of wood and paint it if you want.” Gee, thanks honey!

I am excited to put it up in October. Although, I am not quite sure where I will put it since the cats seem to knock everything over!

Anyway. I look forward to going back next year. Hopefully with more time and money to spend.

Lately I have looked at quite a few pictures on Facebook and I am finding that a lot of people are labeling their pictures incorrectly and it is driving me nuts!

For example, I find people using the subjective pronoun “I” when they should be using the objective pronoun “me”. So I see pictures labeled “Joey and I” when it should be labeled “Joey and ME“

It’s not really a big deal but for some reason it bothers me. Does it bother anybody else?

Here are some links about pronouns if you want to learn more: How to Fix Improper Use of Pronouns, Pronouns and Objective Pronouns.

Here are some pictures of Coco’s litter box:

I am not quite sure why she does this but it is so messy and noisy when she uses the litter box.

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much since she is using the litter box.

Joey and I got a new kitten last Friday from a lady my sister worked with. We have been talking about getting another cat so Pumpkin would have someone to play with during the day and just because it might be kind of fun to have two cats. When we heard about this kitten we asked ourselves a million questions and went back and forth as to whether we wanted to get another cat right now. We decided to meet the cat first and saw that she was very shy and got scared a the littlest things. That made us a little worried but the lady informed us that if it didn’t work out we could bring her back so we finally decided to take her home.

When Joey brought the kitten home she spent most of the night under the bed. She eventually came out and explored the room but was very, very timid. After a couple of days she has gotten more and more comfortable around us - when we open the door to our bedroom she doesn’t run and hide as much. However, she still only likes to be touched on her terms and she will not let us pick her up. I am a little concerned but I am hopeful that this will get better too.

We introduced Pumpkin to the kitten Sunday night and it was interesting. Pumpkin did a lot of hissing and the kitten just sat in her carrier looking at Pumpkin. When we let the kitten out we had a squirt bottle in hand just in case they started fighting (a tip from my sister). The kitten just wanted to play and it took Pumpkin a while to warm up to her. Over the past couple of days they are getting better around each other and Pumpkin seems a lot more relaxed when the kitten is out. I don’t hear as much hissing and I am starting to hear Pumpkin make her “playful meow” like she does when she wants Joey to chase her.

We decided to name the kitten Coconut and we have been calling her “Coco” for short. She has the prettiest blue eyes and is so soft. She is however, one of the hardest cats to take pictures of that is why I had to post the poorer-quality picture from my cellphone at the top of this post. Here are a few of my attempts trying to show off her blue eyes:

What a stinker!

In January I wrote a couple of posts about why I do not enjoy going to the dentist and why I wanted to change dentists and here is an update on my latest dental adventures (I’ll try to keep it short).

Well, I made an appointment with my old dentist and it was great to see him again. I don’t think I have ever looked forward to going to the dentist before but I was excited for this appointment. It was great to have a dental hygienist again and it was kind of nice to be able to watch TV while someone worked on my teeth. Everything was going great until the dentist looked at my x-rays. While he was looking at them we were having a conversation and he stopped mid-sentence and said “It looks like we’ve got a problem here…”

“WHAT?”

So they took a couple more x-rays and the dentist informed me that I had internal resorption on tooth #19. He then informed me I would need to see an endodontist for a root canal. Lucky me.

So, Monday Joey accompanied me to my root canal procedure. After they explained what they were going to do they asked if I needed anything and I jokingly said “How about a valium?” They laughed and then offered me some sedation options. After discussing it with Joey and the endodontist, I decided to go with the Versed so I could just “take a little nap” (I’d be conscious but wouldn’t remember anything). Before Joey had to leave the room he said “Let’s try an experiment. Try and remember green elephants”. As they were preparing me for the procedure I kept saying “green elephants” over and over in my head.

Well, the Versed worked great. I didn’t feel anything and I didn’t remember anything. Poor Joey had to deal with me all morning/afternoon asking him the same question over and over or telling him the same thing over and over (he said I kept telling him “I remembered green elephants”).

Joey left me in the car while he filled my perscription and I found this note the next day:

“Sweetheart, Stay in the car. I will be right back!”

I swear that was the first time I had seen the note. Man was I out of it.

Anyway. I slept most of the day and around 3:00 I was finally more “with it” and learned that they actually didn’t finish the root canal. I guess they ran into some complications (too much bleeding) so they did what they needed to and I have to go back in a month.

I am not sure what will happen next but whatever does happen I hope it comes with more Versed. Just kidding.

On Friday, July 18th, we were informed via letter that our apartment complex would be installing washer and dryer hookups in our apartment. The letter stated that they would start construction on Tuesday, July 22nd and it would take approximately 7 days. They stated they would need access to our apartment from 8:00am to 5:00pm and asked that we empty one of the closets in our bedroom (which happened to be Joey’s closet) and under the sink and that was basically the extent of the letter.

When I received this letter I began to panic. What was I going to do with the cat on such short notice? I called the front office and they said I should put the cat in the bathroom (not so fun for Pumpkin but that will work). I was also upset that we had only THREE days to figure out what to do with all of Joey’s stuff (do I really have to share my walk-in closet now?).

So, the construction process was a joke. They started Tuesday, July 22nd and did not finish until Tuesday, August 5th. That is not 7 days. That is a total of 15 days (or 11 working days)!!!

We also had a “situation” happen on Thursday, July 24th. I had the day off that day so I got to stay home and watch the construction. In the late morning a couple of guys came in for 20 minutes tops and did what they needed to do and left. I left the apartment in the afternoon to go to lunch and saw a set of keys stuck in our door. I thought maybe somebody would be coming by shortly so I just left them. However, when I came back 2 hours later the keys were still in the door and it appeared as though nobody had been in our apartment working! What was going on? I spoke with the construction guys and they appeared very nervous that this had happened. They also seemed to not know what was going on or who was doing what. HELLO?! No wonder it took them so long to finish our apartment. Anyway. They assured me this would not happen again so I handed them the keys back. I also called the manager of the apartment complex and told her my “situation”. She said that she would speak with their boss and figure out what was going on. Gee, thanks for your concern. My apartment could have been robbed! How about offering to change my locks or something? Maybe I’m being unreasonable and should just understand that this is apartment living but REALLY? Anyway.

Here are some pictures of the whole process.

BEFORE:

DURING:

Where Pumpkin hid while they worked in our apartment:

(Every time they entered our apartment she ran and hid under the bed so we didn’t need to lock her in the bathroom. I think she was a little traumatized every day they came but she survived.)

And finally, the AFTER picture:

Something their letter failed to mention was that the washer and dryer will cost an additional $30 a month. Do we really want to go through the pain of them installing the washer and dryer?

I want to move!