That was the episode we watched this morning and it’s fitting; I am indeed frustrated/peeved/annoyed by most of what is gong on lately. I can blame it on pregnancy hormones but in general, things just seem to keep piling up.
For one, Ash is sick. Which prompted me to finally go get my flu shot, except it’s not that easy and it costs 25 bucks. So I have to wait. For another, our usual Halloween plans seem to be falling through. We normally go to a friend’s house with all of the friends in this group, plus their kids, dress up and trick or treat. But not this year. And I don’t have a back up plan; plus our neighbourhood really sucks for getting candy/anyone decorating for Halloween. Which makes me sad, since it’s my favorite holiday. On the other hand, this is kind of good because I don’t think Ash and I will dress up, which saves money.
And there are the little things: my dad being reluctant to come up here for Christmas, because he gets annoyed by my dogs. We’re going there for Thanksgiving and since Ash’s side of the family bailed on us, it’d be nice if my family could do a trade-off. For now, the plans are up in the air; which I hate.
Also, there’s the whole CAT issue. I know I might offend some people here but my concern is real and true, valid. So, pregnant women can apparently contract this disease from cats, Toxoplasmosis. It can make your child retarded or even die in the womb. (With something so deadly, why the fuck would anyone want to own a cat? But that’s just me. I apologize to cat owners.) From what I have read, you’re supposed to avoid changing your cat’s litter box. Well, I obviously don’t have a cat. BUT, my fat, slovenly neighbours feed the strays, who shit in my yard and my dogs get into it. Yesterday, I forgot about this problem and cleaned them up. I used paper towels and didn’t touch it, since I wouldn’t want to do that anyway. But then Ash reminded me about the cat shit issue. So I am slightly worried about that. If my kid comes out fucked up, I won’t be able to forget that it’s because of the people who live next door – who let their house go to shit and feed feral cats – who are to blame. In a way. So yeah, back of my mind, stewing.
But I guess I should stop bitching because I won in both Fantasy Football leagues this week, I am actively working on some fiction, I have a decent amount of money in my bank account, my parents are coming up to watch the Boy so Ash and I can take a short vacation, and things could be a hell of a lot worse. It’s so easy to get carried away with the bad stuff and just wallow. And sleep it off. And eat away the pain. In the end, you still have to deal with it all. And then it’s all dealt with and you can move on.
I’m ready to deal and move on.
incognitusscriptor.com 
To the best of my knowledge, the toxoplasmosis issue comes from the cat litter itself, not what goes in the litter. Though I’m sure that doesn’t make the cats less annoying, I wouldn’t worry about having cleaned up their mess.
On the contrary; Ash and I read about it last night and it comes from the actual feces. Fun, right??
Fascinating. I read the wiki on the disease and it appears to be one of the many diseases that can afflict one with a weakened immune system, such as a pregnant woman. It sounds extremely rare however.
In defense of felines, why would you want to own an animal that you are required to train to shit? Shit of all kinds, cat and dog is full of bacteria much worse I would wager to say (e. coli) – from the sounds of your dog throw-up episodes and the stays it sounds like you’ve got your hands full 🙂
Don’t handle any meat either! In France, for example, around 88% of the population are carriers, probably due to a high consumption of raw and lightly cooked meat.
Interesting fact: If you contract this disease as an adult, you become antisocial, start hoarding cats and become incredibly lazy. I think I know a guy who has it, he was unemployed for two years. Sponged off his girlfriend and played WOW constantly. Though come to think about it, if those are the symptoms than a lot of young adult males must have this illness.
If The Wikipedia is to be believed, you can get a test if you’re worried. Wear rubber gloves when doing yard duty (doo-ty?) or better yet, make Ash do it!
Yeah, I’ll have to blog about that Blue’s Clues – I can SO relate!