Well, something came over me a couple days before Christmas; call it the Christmas spirit, but I decided last minute to get my haircut as I was desperately overdue! This is how desperate I was; I ventured into CostCutters; yup, desperate times call for desperate measures. Anyway, it was the 23rd and as I figured many people may be getting the last minute cuts, I got their early; about 15 minutes early. So, I had time to kill and decided, eh, I'll poke around PetSmart. Why? I don't know, I don't even have a pet right now, but it was something to do. Well, I'm poking around and there I see cats for adoption from the Humane Society; they were sooo cute! So, I go back to get my haircut and I can't stop thinking about them. I call Kevin and say, OMG, I almost got a cat; he tells me I"m dangerous out on my own shopping, but does admit, about as dangerous as him in Lowe's or Home Depot :) I get my haircut and proceed back in to check them out a bit more and I see my friend Jen; a cat AND dog lover heading to her car. I call her over and tell her my thoughts and she accompanied me back inside; clearly to be a good? ;) influence. I ask to see the cats and the salesperson says, "are you considering adoption?" in a bit of a tone I might add. I instinctively say yes; what has come over me? Consider this, I've never owned a cat; I grew up with dogs AND I'm allergic to them!
Well, we get brought into this room and they bring out 2 cats for me to play with; Tala (1-2 years old) and Petunia (8 weeks old). I play with both and enjoy both. I fill out an application for adoption; seriously! What am I doing? I fill out the form and head home shaking my head to tell Kevin. Christmas Eve day, Autumn and I head out to Starbuck's. After getting my fix, I say, hey, do you want to see the cute cats that I played with yesterday. Of course she's interested! We go in and after watching them, I tell her that I put in for adoption; I think she almost hit the floor! I asked her if she'd like to play with them and she was definitely in. She played with both, though definitely there was more comfort (on both her and the cats' ends) with Petunia, the little one. As we're leaving, I call Kevin to tell him and he says, the Human Society just called, the application was approved (even with the little white lie answer to "Does anyone have allergies?"; "Put no" Jen said, "Its what Kristen did" :) Kevin tells me the lady needs to know by 2pm which cat we definitely want to consider. We go home, have lunch, get Kevin and Abbie and head BACK OUT to Petsmart to have them play with her. They tell us they're much too busy. Kevin and Abbie watch them both and we decide as a family; definitely Petunia! I call the Humane Society from the car and tell them Petunia and set up an appointment for Sunday at 10am to go over everything; OMG I'm adopting a cat?! The girls are crazy excited, so I guess its worth it. Friday morning I buy generic Zyrtec and start taking it Saturday morning.
Sunday morning we head out to PetSmart. The rep says, you must be Petunia's new family. Somehow the finality of that freaked me out a bit, but I said, yup. Next thing I know, I'm reviewing medical history, promising to spay and writing out a check for $85 thank you! :) The holiday special however, allowed for PetSmart to donate $10 to the Humane Society too from my adoption; double plus :)
Then comes the set-up shopping. Isn't it true about any new venture? You know you're supposed to consider all the costs, but never really add it up until its done; Another $175 later and I'm loading a kitten, bed, carrier, litter box, litter, dishes, mat, cat food, toys and a collar into my minivan; OY! Then its home to set up everything.
The first day we hold Petunia a bit and pet her, but she skimpers off most of the time. My allergies bother me slightly; I wheeze a teeny bit Sunday night and that's it. Monday she becomes more adventurous; then comes the offering of wet cat food (the vet informed me today that I just created a high end addiction!) and she went ballistic. Now apparently, we're all best friends! Hey, I guess if someone fed me high end food every day I might get pretty friendly too! :) Now she's becoming more comfortable and letting Autumn and Kevin pet her. I suppose she'd let me too, but I'm trying hard not to do it so much, which brings me to the amazing part...
I kind of like this cat.
Yup, me, the person who never had a cat, has had full dlown allergy attacks with them, is really liking this cat; and amazingly, allergies are holding down pretty well.
I just called her Petunia Calegari; in all seriousness; in the same way as my girls! We're getting a new tv too and Kevin was removing the old one and repainting and she went over to the wires and paint to poke around and I had to say, "Petunia Calegari!".
Who knew?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The "I don't know what this will be about, but I haven't blogged in a month" Post
Okee dokee; so, its been over a month since I last posted. Isn't that crazy? Quite a bit of things have happened since the Prom episode. Myself and my co-workers have had lots of meetings with our boss and our second line supervisor. We've been challenging ourselves to rework our system within our bounds. One thing I think we've done, especially my returning colleagues and I, is start advocating for ourselves. Maybe we still don't do it as often as we should, but we're standing up more when we need something, or, in fact, don't need something. I'm proud of us. I was just discussing with one of my friends and colleagues that "we've come a long way baby" from this time last year as a team; truly we have. Sharing is becoming easier too; sharing the spotlight, sharing the trouble, sharing a lot. And I think, this is really making us more successful and more professional. I'm also developing different kinds of friendships with my colleagues and I appreciate those friendships perhaps in a way I didn't before. Let me explain.
When I left Massachusetts to move out here to New York, I had a much harder time leaving the couple that Kevin and I had become best friends with; Tim and Tina, than anything else. Our families are farther away now, but they were still an hour to an hour and a half away then. I don't think I realized how critical friends right where you are locally are, until my friendship with Tim and Tina. We had high hopes for maintaining the friendship once we moved away; you know, we'd email, still visit and the girls would be email pen pals one day. That worked for about a year. Now, its relegated to a Christmas card and once in a GREAT while email. There's parts of my that are sad about it, but...it is what it is :) as I always say.
Here's what I realized that I didn't have right about friendships as an adult though; that they have to be an exact match. Why did I think they did? I think I felt like; unless I became friends with another married couple, with two kids, almost exactly the same age, that it just wouldn't work. I was searching for a needle in a haystack. I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the concept that friendships change. I'm becoming even more comfortable that I can expand upon the above definition of a friendship want ad and have really fulfilling friendships with younger people, people with more kids, no kids, single people, etc. etc. Sometimes the way we have to plan our friendship time might change slightly, but these new friends I'm developing are local (read #1 that I realized you need) and truly care about me, who I am and the important people in my life; Kevin and the girls. I'm so happy I've found them.
This is not to say that I don't wish my life was easier in terms of friendships. I still want the girlfriend right next door, that also works full-time outside the home and can go for walks in the neighborhood without a crazy adjustment of a schedule. I am starting to realize though as I am at this third/middle age range, that this is really an image. Our generation is different. We're juggling more, we' struggling financially, we're busy, busy people in a society that values human contact less and less. I'm not saying we should completely acquiesce to society in this regard, but again, it is what it is. For example, a young childless couple move in next door to us. We thought, oh fun! Younger neighbors RIGHT NEXT DOOR; they move in during mid-October. We barely ever see them!
I think maybe when we're then in our early t0 mid 40's; careers more established, further education started or completed, kids older if we have them, things may be easier. For now though, my developing friendships are enough. The commonalities we do share, and the care people express is enough. I look forward to how these friendships change and develop too over the next decade.
When I left Massachusetts to move out here to New York, I had a much harder time leaving the couple that Kevin and I had become best friends with; Tim and Tina, than anything else. Our families are farther away now, but they were still an hour to an hour and a half away then. I don't think I realized how critical friends right where you are locally are, until my friendship with Tim and Tina. We had high hopes for maintaining the friendship once we moved away; you know, we'd email, still visit and the girls would be email pen pals one day. That worked for about a year. Now, its relegated to a Christmas card and once in a GREAT while email. There's parts of my that are sad about it, but...it is what it is :) as I always say.
Here's what I realized that I didn't have right about friendships as an adult though; that they have to be an exact match. Why did I think they did? I think I felt like; unless I became friends with another married couple, with two kids, almost exactly the same age, that it just wouldn't work. I was searching for a needle in a haystack. I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the concept that friendships change. I'm becoming even more comfortable that I can expand upon the above definition of a friendship want ad and have really fulfilling friendships with younger people, people with more kids, no kids, single people, etc. etc. Sometimes the way we have to plan our friendship time might change slightly, but these new friends I'm developing are local (read #1 that I realized you need) and truly care about me, who I am and the important people in my life; Kevin and the girls. I'm so happy I've found them.
This is not to say that I don't wish my life was easier in terms of friendships. I still want the girlfriend right next door, that also works full-time outside the home and can go for walks in the neighborhood without a crazy adjustment of a schedule. I am starting to realize though as I am at this third/middle age range, that this is really an image. Our generation is different. We're juggling more, we' struggling financially, we're busy, busy people in a society that values human contact less and less. I'm not saying we should completely acquiesce to society in this regard, but again, it is what it is. For example, a young childless couple move in next door to us. We thought, oh fun! Younger neighbors RIGHT NEXT DOOR; they move in during mid-October. We barely ever see them!
I think maybe when we're then in our early t0 mid 40's; careers more established, further education started or completed, kids older if we have them, things may be easier. For now though, my developing friendships are enough. The commonalities we do share, and the care people express is enough. I look forward to how these friendships change and develop too over the next decade.
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