I stole this from Breanna over at Counting Blessings. I'm not great at coming up with creative blog posts on my own (which is probably why I have about 40 followers) but I thought this looked like a lot of fun! The bolded are things that I have done...hopefully I'll get to cross a few more off the list in the future.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Have Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (Does it count if it was an indie short film?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Have Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
May 6, 2012
May 5, 2012
I really, really hate my cats.
So, at what point is it acceptable to give these demons from Hell back to the Humane Society?
I am so sick of the destruction. Nothing is safe from them. Want to have tissues? Screw that, they'll rip them to shreds and leave it for you to clean up. Shoes? They'll rip those up, too. (Thought that was just dogs, right? Wrong.) Books, houseplants, electrical cords, a doll from Korea that someone brought me, the trashcan in the bathroom, are all fair game in their eyes. No matter how high of a shelf I put something on, they'll get it if they want it.
Today was the final straw. I am honestly thinking about relinquishing ownership because of this. (And I know that's awful, because pets are supposed to be a lifetime commitment, but what else can I do when they're literally destroying our belongings?) I have a record player that was FIL's back in the day. I have to keep the cords piled up on top of it and covered with a box, because I know the cats have a tendency to shred anything they can get their paws on. But today, I was in the kitchen doing dishes, and I wanted to listen to the "Thriller" album. So I set up the record player, and cleaned the kitchen. Within about 10 minutes, they had gotten a hold of one of the cords on the turntable, stripped it, and ripped it into three separate pieces. It's beyond repair. This record player has a lot of sentimental value to me because I'm very close with my FIL, and I am in tears, I'm so furious. It's only 11:50 and it's already been a sucky day, and this just makes it even worse.
I just don't know what else to do at this point. We have tried spray bottles of water as a deterrent to bad behavior, and they don't care. We've tried vinegar in the spray bottles. They don't care. We've tried spanking. They don't care. We've tried everything we can think of, but they still just do their own thing and destroy our stuff, no matter how hard we try to give them second and third and fortieth chances. I'm so frustrated that I could just pull my hair out.
Can anyone offer ANY solutions? Is there anything left that I can do to keep them from being so destructive so that I don't feel like my only option is to get rid of them? I know we could try the claw cap things, but honestly, the problem is their teeth, not their claws. They're good about only scratching the scratching post and their climbing tower, but if it can fit in their mouth, they'll chew it to pieces before you even realize they've got it. (My record player parts, for example...) We can't afford cat behavioralists or any crap like that...we're having a very hard time financially and that alone has made me consider getting rid of them, so the cost of care (with a strained budget) and their bad behavior is not making them very secure in their living arrangements. I don't want to get rid of them, I really don't. But I also cannot deal with the anxiety of waking up every morning and literally going to check and see what they've done during the night. Can you crate train cats? Shock collars? Anything?
Between our finances, waiting for test results to see if our little boy has Down's Syndrome, and badly behaved pets, I am feeling incredibly worn out and stressed. I just want to crawl in bed and sleep until everything magically resolves itself and I don't have to deal with a bunch of junk.
ETA: Now that I've calmed down, I'm probably not going to get rid of the little beasts. (I think.) They get all pathetic and apologetic and I just feel too guilty. But still, if anyone has any advice at all, I'd love to hear it. If they tear up more stuff I might change my mind again.
I am so sick of the destruction. Nothing is safe from them. Want to have tissues? Screw that, they'll rip them to shreds and leave it for you to clean up. Shoes? They'll rip those up, too. (Thought that was just dogs, right? Wrong.) Books, houseplants, electrical cords, a doll from Korea that someone brought me, the trashcan in the bathroom, are all fair game in their eyes. No matter how high of a shelf I put something on, they'll get it if they want it.
Today was the final straw. I am honestly thinking about relinquishing ownership because of this. (And I know that's awful, because pets are supposed to be a lifetime commitment, but what else can I do when they're literally destroying our belongings?) I have a record player that was FIL's back in the day. I have to keep the cords piled up on top of it and covered with a box, because I know the cats have a tendency to shred anything they can get their paws on. But today, I was in the kitchen doing dishes, and I wanted to listen to the "Thriller" album. So I set up the record player, and cleaned the kitchen. Within about 10 minutes, they had gotten a hold of one of the cords on the turntable, stripped it, and ripped it into three separate pieces. It's beyond repair. This record player has a lot of sentimental value to me because I'm very close with my FIL, and I am in tears, I'm so furious. It's only 11:50 and it's already been a sucky day, and this just makes it even worse.
I just don't know what else to do at this point. We have tried spray bottles of water as a deterrent to bad behavior, and they don't care. We've tried vinegar in the spray bottles. They don't care. We've tried spanking. They don't care. We've tried everything we can think of, but they still just do their own thing and destroy our stuff, no matter how hard we try to give them second and third and fortieth chances. I'm so frustrated that I could just pull my hair out.
Can anyone offer ANY solutions? Is there anything left that I can do to keep them from being so destructive so that I don't feel like my only option is to get rid of them? I know we could try the claw cap things, but honestly, the problem is their teeth, not their claws. They're good about only scratching the scratching post and their climbing tower, but if it can fit in their mouth, they'll chew it to pieces before you even realize they've got it. (My record player parts, for example...) We can't afford cat behavioralists or any crap like that...we're having a very hard time financially and that alone has made me consider getting rid of them, so the cost of care (with a strained budget) and their bad behavior is not making them very secure in their living arrangements. I don't want to get rid of them, I really don't. But I also cannot deal with the anxiety of waking up every morning and literally going to check and see what they've done during the night. Can you crate train cats? Shock collars? Anything?
Between our finances, waiting for test results to see if our little boy has Down's Syndrome, and badly behaved pets, I am feeling incredibly worn out and stressed. I just want to crawl in bed and sleep until everything magically resolves itself and I don't have to deal with a bunch of junk.
ETA: Now that I've calmed down, I'm probably not going to get rid of the little beasts. (I think.) They get all pathetic and apologetic and I just feel too guilty. But still, if anyone has any advice at all, I'd love to hear it. If they tear up more stuff I might change my mind again.
May 2, 2012
Half baked, and it's a boy!
Our anatomy scan was yesterday, and we're having a SON! I'm so incredibly happy to know who's in there and to be able to call him "him" and "he" now.
The scan didn't go as flawlessly as I had hoped. He's got an ecogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) which is basically a bright spot on his heart. It's not considered a birth defect and is actually pretty common, but it can be a soft marker for Trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome). On top of that, he has a choroid plexus (brain) cyst, which again, isn't a birth defect and is pretty common, but can be a soft marker for Trisomy 18 (which is, terrifyingly, "incompatible with life"). If he had only had one or the other, they wouldn't have really been concerned at all. But since he had two different soft markers for (albeit unrelated) chromosomal disorders, they told us that we have the option of doing some testing to rule out the possibilities of Trisomy 18 and 21.
DH and I met with a genetic counselor after our prenatal visit, and she was wonderful. She really thoroughly explained to us that we are still at a pretty low risk for either condition, partially because of my age and partially because baby boy has NO other markers for either condition. His musculoskeletal system is perfect, no holes in his heart or stomach, brain is perfectly formed, both kidneys are there, etc. We also had the chance to watch him swallow a few times in our ultrasound, and to see him splay his fingers out, which are two things that Trisomy 18 babies struggle with and can't do, respectively. But, even though we're still fairly low risk, I cannot rest easy until I KNOW that my little boy is safe and sound. We're going to do a test called MaterniT21, which is extremely new (only been around since October, I think) but also extremely accurate. At worst, we'll have a 99.8% shot at a correct diagnosis. And that's at worst. It's a really expensive test...our insurance will still be paying well over a thousand dollars, but our "copay" is going to be $230-something. That's a lot for us, especially at this point, so DH's mom graciously is footing the bill for the test. This is her first grandbaby...I think she's just as anxious to know that he's ok.
So, as scary as that all is for me, I'm still elated to know that I'm carrying a sweet, tiny, beautiful little boy. Even if he has some kind of condition that we are going to have to prepare for when he's born, he's mine and I am so in love. We haven't picked a name yet, and we might not settle on anything until he's born. I'm notoriously bad about making decisions so I'm afraid to commit to anything at this point.
Here are a couple pictures of our "wee laddie",(lol) as my mom is calling him. We're 20 weeks along today, which is exactly halfway! Woohoo for progress, right?
I know the 3D ones will look better when we're further along but I still think his little nose and lips are the cutest thing!
The scan didn't go as flawlessly as I had hoped. He's got an ecogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) which is basically a bright spot on his heart. It's not considered a birth defect and is actually pretty common, but it can be a soft marker for Trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome). On top of that, he has a choroid plexus (brain) cyst, which again, isn't a birth defect and is pretty common, but can be a soft marker for Trisomy 18 (which is, terrifyingly, "incompatible with life"). If he had only had one or the other, they wouldn't have really been concerned at all. But since he had two different soft markers for (albeit unrelated) chromosomal disorders, they told us that we have the option of doing some testing to rule out the possibilities of Trisomy 18 and 21.
DH and I met with a genetic counselor after our prenatal visit, and she was wonderful. She really thoroughly explained to us that we are still at a pretty low risk for either condition, partially because of my age and partially because baby boy has NO other markers for either condition. His musculoskeletal system is perfect, no holes in his heart or stomach, brain is perfectly formed, both kidneys are there, etc. We also had the chance to watch him swallow a few times in our ultrasound, and to see him splay his fingers out, which are two things that Trisomy 18 babies struggle with and can't do, respectively. But, even though we're still fairly low risk, I cannot rest easy until I KNOW that my little boy is safe and sound. We're going to do a test called MaterniT21, which is extremely new (only been around since October, I think) but also extremely accurate. At worst, we'll have a 99.8% shot at a correct diagnosis. And that's at worst. It's a really expensive test...our insurance will still be paying well over a thousand dollars, but our "copay" is going to be $230-something. That's a lot for us, especially at this point, so DH's mom graciously is footing the bill for the test. This is her first grandbaby...I think she's just as anxious to know that he's ok.
So, as scary as that all is for me, I'm still elated to know that I'm carrying a sweet, tiny, beautiful little boy. Even if he has some kind of condition that we are going to have to prepare for when he's born, he's mine and I am so in love. We haven't picked a name yet, and we might not settle on anything until he's born. I'm notoriously bad about making decisions so I'm afraid to commit to anything at this point.
Here are a couple pictures of our "wee laddie",(lol) as my mom is calling him. We're 20 weeks along today, which is exactly halfway! Woohoo for progress, right?
I know the 3D ones will look better when we're further along but I still think his little nose and lips are the cutest thing!
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