Where I kick my own butt just a little

So, as the title of this blog states, in addition to being a writer, I am also a designer and a crazy cat lady.  In a perfect world, I can juggle all 3 in total harmony.  Sadly, the world is not so perfect, and sometimes things have to take a backseat.

All month (more than that, really), one of my cats (Ana) has been having an allergic reaction to something.  Most likely a flea bite, but really, it could be anything, even the pollen in the air.  Whatever it is, it's making her extremely itchy, and she's licking off a good amount of her fur.  The other cats have also been somewhat itchy, but not to the extent she has.  I've tried everything: flea collars, other flea treatments, bug bombs in the house.  Finally, this week I decided to bite the bullet and take her to the vet.  She'd been getting worse, and was clearly miserable.  She'd taken to sleeping on top of me every night, as though she was trying to find solace from her troubles in me.  It was sweet, but also heartbreaking to know she was suffering and I couldn't help her. Then she started shaking her head all the time, sometimes rather violently, and I figured it was time to get medical attention.  Her sister had also had a weird balance thing, so I thought maybe there was an ear infection going around, and hauled them in.  They were not happy.  And at the end, neither was I.  $400 spent, and no real answers.  Just a few shots (for the cat, not me) to help the itching and heal some scabs from all the scratching, a box of Revolution flea treatment, a couple of ear tests that came up with nothing substantial, and a bottle of ear medication to give them anyway, just in case.




I guess it wasn't all for nothing.  The ear stuff does seem to have made the head shaking less, and ever since the steroid shot, Ana hasn't been sleeping on me.  She's still licking some, but not as much.  I put the Revolution on all but one today (Princess is super skittish and takes a lot work to get anything on her.), so maybe in a few more days, they'll be even better.  Maybe, finally, Ana's hair can grow back.

In addition to that, I had a last-minute design job come up today that will probably take a good chunk of my weekend.  Part of me wants to whine about it because of the last-minute nature, but it's money, and after working shorter hours this week, I need it.  Though it's kind of a government job, so who knows how long it'll take to get paid.  (Local government- it's a poster design for the city's business development group, or something like that.  It's late, and I can't remember exactly.) I also had to spend a good portion of last week redesigning invoices for my dad's company.  And in the middle of that, it was my birthday, so I allowed myself a few days of goofing off to celebrate the fact that I'm another year older and still have yet to send out a single damn query.

So. Queries.  Maybe next week?  I'm hoping if I keep writing up my laziness and procrastination here, I might eventually see how pathetic I am and finally DO SOMETHING. Because I can have these great excuses for why I didn't get around to it this week, but really, they're just excuses. Given the amount of time I also spent working on my genealogy (major time suck, but soooo addicting), I could have easily sent out a query or two.

It occurs to me that writing every week about how lazy I am may not be the best way to endear myself to potential agents, who may one day check out this blog.  But hey, at least I'm honest, right?  Besides, if I'm being completely honest with myself about it, it isn't really laziness that's delaying me from sending out those query letters.  It's good old-fashioned fear of rejection.  Easier to focus on other things, like itchy cats and missing branches on the family tree, than admit I'm afraid to take that first big step and start sending my work out there.

I did get some decent reading done, though. The new House of Night book, Burned, was pretty good (though I have to admit, not my favorite of the series), and the third book in Nora Roberts's (Roberts'?) Bride Quartet, Savor the Moment, was pretty awesome.  I also read the first book in a werewolf/vampire series I've been wanting to check out for a while, Kitty and the Midnight Hour.  I'm not usually as into werewolves as I am vampires, but I really liked it.  I'll definitely check out the rest when I can.  But next up is something a little different from my usual fare: a nonfiction book about the 2008 Presidential campaign.  I'm not usually big on politics, but it sounded interesting.  In fact, I'm goin gto go start that now.  It's Friday  night, I plan on sleeping in - a little bit - tomorrow, so I'm going to read for the rest of tonight... after I watch the latest Doctor Who episode, that is. :D

Posted in: cats,design,life,reading