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I have to admit, it’s been kind of nice for the past few days to not feel pressured to post something just for the sake of posting, but at the same time, I find myself constantly thinking “gee, I should really write something.” I guess that’s the point of NaBloPoMo, to get yourself in the habit of writing on a regular basis, so you don’t end up posting once a year (hi, DaveM! I totally just called you out!).

Anyway, while Catie and I were in Mississippi, Dave mentioned that Teenie had some bald spots on her back. She tends to groom excessively when she’s stressed out; she actually has permanent hair loss on her belly because she licked herself bald every time I moved (which was once a year for a few years in my early 20’s). I figured that she was just upset because I was gone, poor kitty. I felt bad, but I didn’t worry about it too much beyond that.

When I got home, however, I realized that Dave was actually making light of the situation. She has two huge bald spots on her back. I started to freak, and Dave said, “yeah, it seems like something’s wrong with her skin too, we’re probably going to need to take her to the vet.” Now, it was 1 a.m. and we’d had a hellishly long day, but I still sat down on the floor and called her to me to try to check her out. And I realized that her skin wasn’t just bumpy, it was… moving. My cat is quite literally infested with fleas. Besides all the fleas crawling all over her, she was also covered with these tiny black grains of sand, which didn’t take me long to figure out were flea larvae. Oh my lord, I wanted to vomit.

Our cats never go outside, so I really don’t understand how they got fleas in the first place, except that we must’ve brought them in somehow. But Ive never seen anything like this before. I’ve seen cats that had a flea or two, but nowhere near this level. The poor thing must’ve been in absolute misery. It’s probable that Beaumont has them too, but his hair is so long and black, it’s impossible to tell. We’re treating him as if he has them too.

There wasn’t anything we could do about it in the middle of the night, but the next day we trooped off to PetSmart and stocked up on anti-flea stuff. We got both the spray to kill them now, plus the maintenance anti-flea stuff to use in the future.

Today I went to re-wash everything in the laundry room, since Teenie’s been sleeping in the laundry basket for the past several days. The basket and the floor surrounding it are also covered with black sand/flea larvae. So. Unbelievably. Gross. I would take pictures, but seriously? Y’all don’t want to see this. I’m about to go scrub the whole laundry room down with bleach, because that’s the only way I’ll actually believe that it’s clean.

Here’s a question: any of y’all know what we’re supposed to do next? I’m sure there must be other fleas in the house, and I have no idea how to get rid of them. Do I call an exterminator? I thought about getting one of those foggers, but both Dave and Catie have asthma, so I’m sure that even if we leave the house for hours, it would still mess with their lungs when they come back to those fumes. Surely there must be some sort of “natural” way to get rid of fleas? Anyone? Help?

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Last night, one of my neighbors hosted a party at her house. It was basically just for the ladies, there was a rep there from some company that sells silver jewelry, which was the main purpose of the party. I went into it thinking that I might be able to find Christmas gifts for people, but everything was crazy expensive, so I didn’t buy anything.

As soon as I got there, Margaret (the neighbor who was hosting the party) offered me a glass of wine. And I thought, well, I’ve had a long week and I deserve a break, so sure, why not? Then I had another glass. And another. I’m not sure how much I drank in total; I felt fine while we were standing in the kitchen talking. Then I left to walk home (it was two houses down from us), and as soon as I started walking, I realized that I was drunk. Not buzzed, but full-on, “ok let’s concentrate really hard on left foot, right foot so I don’t fall down” sloppy drunk. Um, oops? That hadn’t been my intention.

Cate had been hanging out with Dave while I went to the party, and she was happy to see me when I got home, but I was scared to pick her up. I sat on the floor and hugged her instead. I took a shower while Dave changed her into her pj’s, and we got her to bed. I promptly passed out.

Today, I have been so. freaking. sick. All day. Oh my lord. I think wine hangovers are worse than almost any other form of alcohol.

This is why I almost never drink at all anymore, because Mommy doesn’t get a day off to lounge around and feel miserable. I just have to suck it up and deal, because this little girl of mine still wants to play and she wants my undivided attention. I know, I know, I totally brought it on myself, so I’m not asking for sympathy, I’m just whining because I feel bad. Also, Dave has a big deadline next week and he’s been working all day today, so it’s been just me and Cate on our own while he’s been slaving away in his office. It’s been a pretty rough day for everyone around here.

Right now, we’re waiting for some pizza to get delivered to our house, because I think we earned just a little bit of laziness.

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I got a North Carolina driver’s license yesterday, and oh lord, it was awful. I now have to give it up for Washington’s DMV, because I never knew just how good I had it before. Washington’s DMV has a website where you can look up your branch and see how long the wait time is, so you know whether or not it’s a good idea to head over. And it’s one of those “take a number and sit down” environments. I’ve never, ever waited more than 20 minutes at the DMV in Washington.

And yesterday? Oy. There is no place to sit, so I had to stand in line. For an hour and a half. It felt like it was about 90 degrees in there with everybody packed in like sardines. (Get all nice & sweaty for your photo - cute!) Then about halfway through it, I found out that you must have either cash or an in-state check. No plastic, and of course, my checks still have my old Washington address on them. So I asked the girl behind me to hold my place in line (she did, God bless her) while I literally ran across the street to the ATM. Oh! And I had to take a written driving test, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I barely passed, I made a couple of lucky guesses, and that’s the only way I got through it. And it turned out that this place was for driver’s licenses only, so I couldn’t even get our license plates while I was at it. I have to go to a different DMV location and stand in line all over again for that. So yeah. Annoying.

The one perk of all this is that I left Cate with Dave while I went to the DMV, and the whole thing screwed up her routine so much that she took a very shortened nap, only about an hour. So she went to bed last night at 11:00 instead of midnight, and I figured that hey, at least we’re moving in the right direction, yes?

She woke up at 8:30 this morning; usually it’s 9 or 9:30, so again, going in the right direction. After breakfast, she and I headed over to the gym. It was normally at the time of day when they’d have the toddlers outside on the playground, but it was raining, so instead they had part of the gym sectioned off for the kids. I walked/jogged on the track above the gym and kept an eye on Cate while I was working out. She didn’t really engage with the other kids at all. She found a little ride-on car, climbed on it, and then just sat there, looking down and kind of watching the other kids out of her peripheral vision. I was getting annoyed that none of the daycare teachers did anything to involve her, but I know they were busy keeping the other kids from killing each other. Finally Cate started to cry, and one of the ladies walked over and picked her up. It was kind of upsetting to watch it all from a distance. I wanted to go comfort her, but I know that this is just an adjustment and she needs to get used to it.

At noon, the toddlers went from the gym back into the nursery, and I went to do some crunches and lift some weights. (And incidentally? OUCH. I am so, so sore.) I finished my workout about 20 minutes later, and by the time I got to the nursery, she had fallen asleep in one of the ladies’ laps. She woke up when I picked her up, and because she got a 15-minute power nap, she’s all refreshed and perky now. It’s after 3:00 and she’s showing no signs of slowing down. I have a feeling she’s going to fall asleep on the living room floor around 5:00 this evening. Sigh.

She’s really lucky that she’s so darn cute.

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So… my car. My caaarrrr. I wrote about this before, but the movers? They are PISSING. ME. OFF.

After FIVE WEEKS of having no driveable car, I have made absolutely zero progress with these people. After harassing them mercilessly, they said that they mailed us a check for some completely bizarre amount: $2,424, because we were insured for 60 cents a pound. Apparently it’s based on my car’s weight. So, if it had been totalled, I would’ve only gotten 2 grand? WTF?

Anyway, they said they mailed the check on August 21st, and we never got it. I called them back and asked the address that it went to, and they said the wrong zip code. We asked them to send a new check, but then they backtracked and said that no no no, actually, it DID go to the correct zip. What? Freaking liars.

Oh, and my Progressive claims guy? Kinda useless. He called them a few times, called me back and said he could understand why I was frustrated because he couldn’t get anywhere with them either. Um…? Yeah, great, thanks for your help, dude!

I finally went back to the franchise moving company - the people that we actually hired in the first place, which is a small company based in Seattle. They were mortified, and called the headquarters to tell them to send us a new check. They said they sent it last Tuesday. So it’s been a week, and we still don’t have it. They’re based in Chicago, it really should only take maybe 2-3 days for something to get to us through the regular mail.

Want to know how angry I am? These are the movers we used: National Van Lines. I was trying not to say their name because I don’t want to badmouth specific companies on my blog, but seriously. Enough is enough. Avoid these people at all costs.

I’ve just filed complaints with both the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. We’ll see if THAT helps me make some progress with these jackasses.

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Rather than writing another whiny post about our lack of sleep and how miserable we are because of it, I have something completely different to whine about today.

This is what the movers did to my car.

(Buries face in hands and sobs)

The story that the movers told us is that they were driving the car up the ramp onto the truck, and apparently the ramp wasn’t hooked up correctly, because it collapsed when the car was halfway up. So, the front end of my car + the back end of the moving truck x high velocity = smoosh.

Now, this really shouldn’t be a big deal, right? The moving company is clearly liable, and they’re insured, so they’ll pay for the repairs, yes? Cue the corporate foot-dragging!

First, the truck driver told Dave that it was just “cosmetic damage,” but when I tried to start the car, it sounded really scary, so I turned it off and I refused to drive it. I called the claims department at the moving company and told them that they were going to have to pay to have it towed. They said no, but they’d send out an adjustor to decide for them whether or not the car is driveable. The adjustor was here for about 5 minutes - he looked at the car and said, “well, I wouldn’t drive it, so I certainly wouldn’t expect you to do so.” Fine. He also said that since the repairs would probably take a while, the movers should pay for me to have a rental car in the meantime. Which is a good point, because with Dave going into the office every day, and me with no driveable car, Cate and I have been going stir-crazy with no means of transportation during the day. I don’t think it bothers her as much as me, but I’ve been feeling more than a little trapped. So thank you, Mr. Adjustor Man.

I called the claims people for the next several days, while they continued to say that they hadn’t gotten the adjustor’s report yet. (He told me he’d have it to them within 24 hours.) Yesterday, the claims lady acted all happy and said, “well, I don’t want to make any promises, but I think you’re going to see something this week.” Um, sorry, I’m going to see… something? What does that even mean? She said that they were going to send me a check for the cost of the repairs. Wait a second, we haven’t even gotten the car to a shop to get an estimate, and they’re going to send me a check? How do they know how much the repairs are going to cost?

I mentioned to the claims lady that I need a rental car and that they should be the ones to pay for it, and she said, “well certainly, if you need a car, go ahead and rent a car, and when you fill out your claim form, we’ll consider reimbursing you for it.” You’ll consider reimbursing me? We can’t afford any extra expenses right now, so if the tab isn’t being picked up by the movers, we really can’t get a rental. The fact that I can’t get a straight answer out of these people has me at the end of my rope.

So I caved in and called Progressive, our car insurance people. I probably should’ve done it the first day, but I didn’t think we needed them since it was the moving company’s fault. At this point, I figure that if nothing else, they can talk to the movers’ insurance people and act as advocates on our behalf to figure out what the heck is going on. They were very nice and seem like they’re on our side, but seriously? I have no idea what our recourse is after this. I just want to cry when I see that picture of my car. Poor little Subaru.

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This allergy-sinus-cold-whatever thing that’s been driving me bonkers for the past week and a half is getting worse, so I’m off to the doctor this afternoon to get some drugs. I usually try to avoid antibiotics when they aren’t absolutely necessary, but it’s been going on since last Sunday. That’s ten freaking snot-filled days. I can’t take it anymore, and I gots stuff to do, man.

Baby stuff: last night and this morning, Cate has been in a totally foul mood. Lots of tantrums, and (this is perhaps a bigger clue) she was gnawing on her hands a lot. Oh boy. Could this be the start of the molars that I’ve been dreading for so long? Last night she started screaming for no reason; she wasn’t hungry, she wasn’t tired, she was just angry. It wasn’t even crying-screaming, she was just pissed. I gave her some baby Motrin, and she cheered up after about a half hour or so. Same thing this morning: mean as a snake until she got some pain meds.

I’m scared, y’all. I’ve heard nightmare stories about molars, I’m sooo not looking forward to this.

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For a few days there, I was really kicking butt with the house stuff, and making so much progress. I spent more time in the garage than I have since I moved into this house. And now, it’s caught up with me. All the dust in the garage that I stirred up (and inadvertently inhaled) brought on a killer allergy attack, which has now transformed into a full-blown cold. Ugh.

And you know, it’s really hard to get much work done when you’re all loopy on over-the-counter cold medications.

To be fair, though, I have done a lot. All of the boxes that I’ve packed have been moved to the garage and stacked neatly in one corner. It’s just that the house is still so cluttered, and there’s still so much that needs to be packed up and moved out.

You might notice that I keep saying “I” and not “we”? Well, Dave was a huge help with cleaning out the garage over the weekend, but his work schedule is insane right now, so he doesn’t really have time to do any house stuff during the week. The poor guy is working on his laptop all the time. He stops for meals and to sleep, but that’s about it. I, on the other hand, have all the time in the world, since Cate is at daycare and I’m still waiting for my next work project to start. I thought it was supposed to start Monday, but apparently there was some miscommunication about that. No big deal, and I’m fine with having the free time, I just wish I was feeling better so I could really take advantage of it. I’m still trying, it just feels like I’m moving in slow-motion.

In other news: Sally had a baby yesterday! Or maybe she’s having it today, but god, I hope for her sake that she’s not still in labor. Can’t wait to meet Baby Spike!

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