I am a bad, bad wife.  Even after our vows of poverty.  Even after my blog this morning.  I had to stop by Tarjay to buy some kitty litter.  Several kitty treats, dog treats, husband treats, eyeshadow, cool silk cargo pants, shorts, sunglasses, t-shirt, goldfish snacks and a Star magazine later....I've been very, very bad. 

2:01:58 PM    

Two things on my mind today.

Thing 1:  Thanks to G from work for pointing out how expensive kidlets are going to be.  G pointed out that with our wonderful, fantastic UNC insurance options (whoops, I mean OPTION singular), adding a child to our policy will take our net income down about $5000 per year.   Dave's non-profit place of employment offers pretty much the same health care plan as the university.   Add to that child care which is likely to cost $800 to $1000 per month at absolute best, and we are going to think outfits from Tarjay are high fashion and a once a year splurge.  Holy Puck.  (I can't cuss on the blog yet;  really not a problem in real life.  See the Cats and Dogs category)  A house cleaning service is SO NOT AN OPTION.  Money shit is the one thing that makes me anxious beyond all others.  People who haven't had financial insecurity in their lives have no idea how it can rock your foundation.  I know we'll figure it out. We'll both be taking on additional paid work to make ends meet.  And we're in a completely better situation than we'd have been in Los Angeles. But lop off $5000 of your NET salary and see how that feels.  That doesn't even include all the cute toys and clothes we KNOW we're going to buy!  Bleaaaaah. 

Thing 2 feels very trivial after thing 1.

Thing 2:  Doggie class was fine last night.  Again Patches did well on the first Heel, but then it went down hill from there.  We asked T, our trainer, about how to prevent Patches from barking at the cats when they come in the room at night.  She advised us to take him out of our bedroom.  "I love dogs more than anybody else does," she said "But they can't mess up your house or your sleep."  It occured to me during one bark fest last weekend that we have to stop this problem before we have a baby, 'cuz that shit ain't gonna fly.  (Unless we aim it correctly, and then Patches may well stop barking.)  So last night, we moved Patches' crate out to the dining room.  And nothing happened!  He barked once early on at the cats, but that was it!  And for the first time since Savannah died, Scarlett came in for kitten cuddles.  Patches really goes after her, and she has not felt secure enough to come in with him in our room.  We're going to have to put some real effort into getting him to stop barking at them.  And we may move him back into our room or we may not.  It's really much nicer to have the cats purring away on us than him in a barking frenzy at 4 am. 

I wish it was dry enough to stay home and stain the deck but it isn't.  Must go read thought inspiring stuff.

8:24:39 AM