Always Around the Holidays.

A streak of bad luck.

First, Todd and I finally make the decision to put in a new boiler. We felt better when the decision was made and the darn thing was in, even though it was a HUGE purchase on a tight budget. It's done (well, almost-a couple tweaks are needed that required the heating company to hire a chimney guy). We can't take it back and get our old one back...$cha-ching$.

Steve, our male cat, started peeing in our bathtub. FIVE WEEKS AGO. Ew! At first I was mad, and then I took him to the vet. After two weeks of struggling to give the darn cat two medications (that never helped him), secluding him to the uncarpeted areas of our house (basement and kitchen-poor thing), he spent a full day at the vet while they tried to collect a sterile urine sample which eventually came back negative. After this test, MET VET SOUTH dropped the ball on caring for our sick pet with unreturned phone calls and a lack of urgency in taking the next steps to helping our cat (I guess they were tired of trying to figure out what was wrong with him), we have finally discovered that the problem is bladder stones. All it took was one trip to a new vet(which so far I am SO happy with), a x-ray, and now we have a cat that needs surgery. Not cheap. Surgery is tomorrow at 8:30am. $cha-ching$

A flat tire. Todd and I take it to Sam's to (hopefully) get it fixed (rather than buying a new one) while we did some shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. A five hour wait. We don't have that time. We go home and Todd takes the car to 3 different places, all not having any time to fix the darn tire. While Todd is driving around a piece from the bottom of the car falls off (not completely) and is dragging on the ground. Now the car sits at the shop waiting to be fixed. $cha-ching$.

Not having a car today, I have to cancel the appointment I have at the vet to have a blood sample drawn from Steve for pre-surgery blood work. Having this blood work done the day before surgery is much cheaper than having it done immediately before the surgery. Jocelyn and I also had a 4:00 appointment at Studio M for the Strasburg Children photo shoot. Had to cancel that too.

Did I mention we have another car (a 15-year-old car), but that it is not reliable enough to even count on to start up. I could in all likelihood take it out, get somewhere fine, and then when we go to leave, it just not start. That would be fun with a baby. What would I do then? Hold Jocelyn on my lap while we take a ride in a tow truck? We are staying put.

I'm glad I already have a couple Christmas presents for Jocelyn. It doesn't look like much shopping is in our future.

I realize that these things, although annoying, are quite small, and it being the season of giving and thanks, I am looking at all the things I have to be thankful for and remembering that there are people out there who have much harder things to deal with and would be happy to trade their problems for a new boiler, a sick cat and a car in the shop. Sometimes it just makes you feel better to bitch a little. I won't let it ruin my holiday-that's for sure, and I will be thankful that we can handle these problems (kinda)and hopefully it will all be over soon.

But I still have to ask, "Why always around the holidays?"