I've been a very bad blogger

Bless me, interwebs, for I have sinned. It has been almost 2 weeks since my last entry. I've meant to post a couple of times ( no, really) but have lacked motivation among other things. So let's have a recap of what's been going on:

My sister-in-law got laid off. Not good. Since she is on an H1B visa she needs to find something soon or she's forced to go back to India. Going from being a fun-loving, educated, single 27 year-old woman thousands of miles away from home to moving back to an ultra-conservative community she hasn't lived in in over 5 years would not be fun to say the least. I really hope she gets something so she doesn't have to go back; I know she feels the same. We don't see each other very often but I genuinely like her. Plus, she is my hubby's only relative in the US; he would be so lost without her.

We had our first sizable snow storm the weekend before Christmas; about a foot in total. And although we live in New England & should be used to & well prepared for such weather, the local & state plows did a super shitty job clearing the roads. It's gone now thanks to a couple of very strange 60 degree days but I'm sure there will be more to come.

Christmas was good; everyone was well behaved & Santa gave a lot of nice presents. It was the first Christmas since my mom's mom died & her absence was noticeable. Also odd was that we did not go over my dad's friend Rick's house for dessert on Christmas night; I can't believe he's been gone 4 months now.

My cousin who is a year younger than me & also got married earlier this year announced she is expecting her first child @ the end of July bringing the total to 2 cousins pregnant without even trying. Also, one of my mom's oldest friend's daughter announced she is expecting baby #4 even though she is unmarried & not stably employed. Meanwhile we're still trying without success. As we come to the 6 month point I am beginning to freak out; I literally bawled when I got my period last week. But on a happy note my best friend asked me to be the Godmother of his son that is due to be born in about 5 weeks. What an honor!

So that's that. This will probably be my last post of 2008; time sure does fly. As far as what's on tap for 2009, well, we're still working on the whole getting pregnant thing. And we'll start looking to buy a house soon too. Will achieving both of these finally make me feel like an adult? I somehow doubt it; that's so not me!

We had our immigration interview

As Borat would say "Great success!". Vid was approved for a permanent green card & will be eligible to apply for citizenship by the end of 2011. So, he may actually be able to vote in the next presidential election.

Vid spent most of the morning pacing our apartment; thank God we live on the first floor or if we had downstairs neighbors they surely would have complained about the noise of size 13 feet clomping back & forth! He was wearing the new shoes I bought for him @ the factory outlets in Maine. There were black marks from the soles all over my kitchen linoleum! So guess who's scrubbing the floor when he gets home from work tonight?

The interview was in the afternoon; the guy who interviewed us was really nice. He himself told us he is working on his PhD & married to a non-American. We gave him copies of all things joint (lease, insurance, etc.) & photos of the wedding. He quizzed us on who's who in each other's family. We were done in under an hour.

What a great end to an otherwise pretty suck ass year full of death, lay offs & health issues!

I can haz kitteh

My mom came to take Romeo out for a walk last night & found 1 of the stray kittens stuck between our fence & our neighbor's. She rescued it & put it in our bathroom; I stopped @ the grocery store on the way home & bought some kitty stuff (food, etc.). She said it was shivering cold & it snuggled up in her armpit. It hid under our clawfoot bathtub for a few hours & came out when I gave it food. It climbed up my leg & buried its head in my armpit it which I took as a good sign.

I called this morning & got an appointment @ the vets for tonight. It's a boy; we named him Chilly since he was so cold when we found him. The vet thinks he's about 5 weeks old; far too little to be out in the cold winter on his own. He was well behaved @ the appointment & the vet said he looks pretty healthy. He goes back @ the end of the month for his first series of vaccinations.

Our dog is very accepting of the new addition. They played for a bit tonight (the vet said it's fine for them to be in contact with each other since my dog is up to date on his vaccinations) & are now sleeping side by side on the couch.

Tomorrow I will call some rescue groups to see if I can get some humane traps & try to gather up his littermates. I obviously can't keep them all but there are several no-kill shelters around here who would take them in a heartbeat, especially if they're as sweet as Chilly.

ZOMG kittehs, uber-emotionality & behbehs

Vid went to take the doggy out for a good night pee last night @ arounbd 10:30pm. It was cold; in the teens. We had had our first snowfall in the morning; only about an inch, thank God. When he opened the door, he jumped back & yelled. I came running, thinking there was a skunk or something. Nope, there were 5 itty bitty kitties huddled in a row between the storm door & wooden door. They didn't look big enough to be away from mom & out & about on their own. They were probably trying to keep warm. I reached down to try & scoop them up but the storm door was open ever so slightly & they ran in 5 different directions down our steps & through the bushes into my neighbor's yard.

I started tearing up. Vid looked @ me like I was on crack & asked why the tears. I told him they were too little to be away from their mom. I told him their mom is probably a street cat, unfixed, who keeps popping out babies nobody will adopt since there's a cat overpopulation problem. I told him if they were the babies of a cat that has owners, then the owners are stupid for letting their cat out to get pregnant & have her babies in the cold outdoors.

What can I say? I love animals. If I could be a crazy cat lady I would. When we buy a house I fully intend to get more pets (that will be fixed & kept in the warm indoors, TYVM). It angers me & makes me sad when I find itty bitty kitties huddled together in between my doors for warmth.

I'm just super emotional lately. I don't know what's up. Just a few hours beforehand I went off the deep end when my husband asked me why I was making him go outside to put salt on the walkway while I was busy swapping out the winter clothes from storage. Then I started sobbing. Then Vid started crying too because seeing me cry makes him cry. I felt so bad that I made him cry.

Speaking of being emotional, Vid had his checkup on Friday. He's put back on some of the weight he's lost since his diagnosis of diabetes (non-insulin dependent) last fall. He is now a salad eating machine in the hopes of losing it again (& then some) & has an appointment with the nutritionist @ the doctor's office.

We also talked to his doctor about our TTC & were given a referral to see a urologist since diabetes can cause low sperm count &/or quality. We've only been trying for 4 months but the doctor gave it to us anyways since he said it can take a while to get an appointment. Well, he was right. Our appointment is February 13; not quite what I had in mind for an early Valentine's Day present.

So now Vid has made it his mission to get me pregnant by then. Well, he's been on a mission since day 1 of TTC. It bothers him it's "taking so long" for this to happen. I told him friends of mine who have a 22 month old tried for 11 months before they got pregnant; he was not amused.

I try to remember that he was brought up in a place where a person's worth is very much tied to their ability to produce children. A woman should be visibly pregnant by the time she reaches her 1st wedding anniversary; even if I got pregnant tomorrow I would merely still be fat by the time that date rolls around in 7 weeks. I remind him we didn't start trying right away since he was unemployed for the first 6 months of our marriage but it doesn't help.

Christmas is only a few weeks away & his birthday is next month. I can think of no better gift to give him than a positive pregnancy test. I just hope Mother Nature can provide.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Well, not yet. But we may get our first batch of giant white turds, er, snow flakes, on Sunday. Being a lifelong New Englander (sans a few years in the Midwest & Africa during grad school) one would think I enjoy winter but I don't. Mainly because despite the fact we northerners have lived with the reality of snow & ice forever, nobody can drive in it. The state dept. of transportation also has yet to learn how to properly plow the roads here. Also, most people are incapable of shoveling their effing sidewalks which makes taking the dog for walks quite the adventure.

Also, my dog is not a fan of squatting his fuzzy butt near the snow covered ground to do his thing; he requires grass or dirt. Since he is a Pekingese he likes the cold weather & will therefore trot about to his heart's content looking for the lone piece of lawn in neighborhood while I'm freezing my ass off holding an empty poo bag waiting to be filled. I'm proof positive that just because you're obese doesn't mean you don't get frostbite. In fact, as I type this I am covered with a fleece blanket while wearing a sweatshirt sitting in the living room.