Saturday, March 26, 2011

Thank Jesus for Steam Cleaners

We have kept a home-type steam cleaner on hand for years. When you have pets, I don't see how you could live without one. When our old one gave up the ghost, we went out and bought another one pretty quickly. And while its true that the cats are much cleaner and I have needed it a whole lot less than when the dogs were running around the house, still....an occasional disaster just requires a steam cleaner. Jesus gave us steam cleaners as soon as man domesticated animals into pets. I am sure of it.

Thursday afternoon, I got home from work and spotted one of those disasters right away. The cats have been having a blast in their new outdoor enclosure, and they eat grass outside. Somebody had puked right in the middle of the hall, a huge brownish green puddle sitting on the carpet. Why does puke or poop or pee never seem to happen discreetly behind a chair? Why is it always smack in the middle of the floor? I tackled it with carpet cleaner, with pet enzyme cleaner and I felt like it was going to be ok. When I got up yesterday morning and could still kind of see where the spot had been I tried to convince myself that it was only because it was still damp from all the cleaning. Surely with another day of drying it would disappear.

No such luck. It was still visible this morning. Bone dry and I could still tell distinctly where it was. Time to drag out the steam cleaner. And now, after running practically a whole entire tank over a small 2 foot by 2 foot square, I think its gone. When I couldn't tell exactly where I was supposed to be cleaning, I declared it good enough.....hopefully when it dries it will stay gone....

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I love this

Funny Pictures - Pygmy Goat Stampede Gifs
see more Lolcats and funny pictures,

It makes me miss my goats! Don't you just love how the dog in the background is all cool about it like having goats tromp all over you is completely normal? LOL!

Feeling Lucky

So, not only have we booked tickets to visit Stephen and Hannia in May, AND gotten leave approved for those days off work (you can't even imagine how much of a miracle that is right now...), but the lucky streak just keeps going. Now Erica is going to be able to join us AND she is on the same (second leg) of our flight both coming and going. All of that makes me one happy Mama. Its really special whenever we get the chance to have all 5 of us together in one place at one time. Christmas was great, but I ended up not having any time off of work. This helps make up for it though.

One not so lucky thing is that for some reason I am having the darndest time trying to sleep here lately. Mostly just in the past week or so. Maybe since the time change, so I keep thinking that I just haven't fully adjusted to that yet. You would think its time to get adjusted though. Its just weird for me because I rarely have insomnia. Sleeping is one of my best talents. And right now, even when I do finally fall asleep I am having strange, vivid dreams. Not necessarily bad but the kind you wake up tired from like you had to work all night long. Nothing is bothering me. I'm not particularly worried about anything or stressed out or sick or in pain. Its probably just the time change. And surely this too shall pass. I am way too talented at the sleeping thing for this to go on for too long. Really!

We had a consult yesterday with a new team of pet sitters. We have used the same people for at least 10 years. But this time, during our trip to visit the kids, our regular sitters are off on their own (much deserved) vacation. I did a google search and found another sitter who lives really close by. And they seem to have a thriving business with over 150 clients that they sit for. Seriously, whenever I think of walking dogs and playing with animals all day versus my own job, it gives me pause. Why didn't I think of that first???? So anyway, Heather, the owner, came by to meet the cats and check out the routine and locations of food/litter/water and stuff. I was really impressed. The main thing was that even Vixen, our most skittish cat seemed to like her. Vixen tends to run and hide whenever somebody new comes over. Sometimes she finds any disruption of her daily routine a good reason to hide under a bed for hours....for months when we brought Samantha and her new kittens into the household. But she let Heather bend down and pet her, and Vixen stayed fairly calm and chilled out like it was no big deal....so....yeah. I feel pretty good about that. I think this is going to work out well. Plus, it never hurts to have plenty of options when you have pets.