Henry's Horror

It seems like Henry (the cat) should be comfortable in his own home; it's been his home for some time. But, he is not. He cowers behind the couch, appearing only when Sedwick is home or when there are two other people on the couch since his safety zone is in the middle of the couch between those two people. The other cat perches his kingly self on top of the loveseat, effectively ruling the roost. This grates on my nerves. Meanwhile, the dog gets upset every time any of the cats walk anywhere near her. If she could, I think she would crawl right up in someone's lap - but that would be difficult for a 50 lb dog to do.

Someone (and I'm not saying who because I don't know) decided to use the loveseat or perhaps the blanket on top of the couch for a liter box. And by that, I do not mean the type of problems we've been having recently. No, I mean little pellets. Bigger than little, but not huge. This has not been a happy morning thus far, though happily it was not a big mess, and the loveseat has been sprayed and the blanket is in the wash.

NoL had a very bad day the other day; I thought she was going to take off and never come back. This is more my immediate reaction to things than hers, although she's also had the reaction before. But, I was concerned enough to stay and talk with her, and I therefore ended up missing my class. Happily, I am not taking said class for credit, so it wasn't that much of a tragedy.

The situation here is incredibly tense. At this point, there is no talking between two people in the house. I don't see how that's going to change, either, so I don't know for how long any of us will be able to stand it without someone blowing up (or someone leaving, really). As is typical, money is probably at the root of the problem, though there are many other possibilities. On Monday night, there were all kinds of discussions between various people, although many of those discussions were via IM. Happily, I was not here - and not part of the major problems, I think.

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Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat

Well, HE may not be smelly... but his PEE that he leaves all over the damn place is. So, today, I got up to get a few cookies for everyone. I got back, sat on the couch, moved around a little, and realized something was not right. Something seemed unusually warm. Something seemed unusually wet. I was not happy.

No idea what we are going to do about this problem.

Fantastically Frustrated

It is very difficult for 8 people to juggle their schedules such that we could schedule a meeting in advance. It should not be surprising, however, to the VP that the only time we can really come up with a decent time to meet is a Friday. Just saying.

Some other things are very frustrating. They also result in an anger that I cannot express for fear of losing it completely, but I will not share those here. Suffice it to say, however, that I have basically lost it.

New Plan

Well, I've thought of a new plan for my sabbatical. Granted, it is partially over (damn it). I wish I had learned of it before. There's an online program in measurement offered through the University of Illinois. Rather than auditing courses, I believe I might enroll in a course in this program next semester. If it goes well, I might continue to enroll in courses until I have taken all that I'm interested in. I don't believe I'll work towards the Master's Degree, because I don't believe I'd need another Master's Degree, and I'm not sure that I'd want to take all of the courses in the program - some of them I believe I already have the background for. Generally speaking, I'm hoping this will be good for me should I have to go home for a while next semester for whatever reason.

Getting Nervous

Ever get nervous because someone else is doing so much work? I feel like NoL is getting things done while I am just sitting around doing nothing. I can't get my act together. Yesterday, though, I found an online program in measurement through the University of Illinois that I might actually try to do (well, I won't do the M.A. degree, but I will take courses). This way, I will not have to drive to Amherst, though I will actually have to do all of the work and pay for the courses. I am not sure exactly how much I want to invest in taking courses, but for next semester, taking at least one course this way would be doable... especially since my parents are interested in my spending a month in PA so that they can visit my brother in Florida during that time. Plus, I'd like to go to Florida too... So, we'll see.

Stairway to Hell

So, I fell down a stair (one stair) and sprained my foot today. Not my ankle. My foot. It hurts. Hopefully it's better by Friday, b/c I do not want to go to an orthopedic surgeon. I did go to the hospital, because although I figured it was not broken, I was not sure. I'm tired and in pain.

Seeking Solutions

The cat pissed on the couch last night. The previous two nights, he pissed on our roommate's chair, which is now outside waiting to be taken away with the garbage (the big ass chair, Russia, as it was named by me). We are seeking solutions to this problem since at this point I'm worried he'll piss on my couch, and we are not sure that we can keep the other couch, depending on whether we can get the stench out. I just don't know if it will happen. We can't take the couch apart to clean it, so it's a 50-50 chance.

The obvious solutions are likely not going to work. It's not fair, we think, to get rid of the cat since he's been living in upheaval since the arrival of the other two cats. It would be hard to ask our roommate to get rid of her cat (only one is a problem), especially since it's not our house. The only other two things we can think of are (a) to get a new liter box and throw it and the cat into the basement at night and (b) to get plastic to cover the couches each night. Both of these options would incur a cost, and we are getting tired of putting money into a cat situation that hasn't been a problem before. Plus, these aren't our cats. The extensive air filtering system we now have - a bunch of little ones and an enormous one - are enough, we think. In fact, I'm going to have to buy more air sanitizer thingies soon.

The vacuuming and air sanitizers help a lot, but obviously do not address this problem of the cat pissing on the furniture. Anyone have any other ideas???