<Now that summer has arrived in the capital (because really, who can call it spring with +27 degree Celsius days?) and we're sweating in the house, things are starting to look up. Earlier in the year it was pouring. Quite heavily. Thor was sick and needed several vet visits and special medicated food, the vet wanted Loki in for a second ultrasound (he has a heart murmur - first ultrasound was last year before we got him fixed), I was swamped at work (but really, when aren't i?) and sleep was not coming very easy. The car required new brakes and a few other repairs. Winter seemed to drag on quite cruelly, draining everything we had. Tempers were short as was the money. 

As winter dragged on into spring, hope seemed to remain buried under the snow that stubbornly lingered into April. I tried to be positive through it all but failed miserably most days. There were moments where I thought I was going to go insane from the stress of all the chaos in our lives. I think I could have handled everything much better if I was getting a full night's rest. But sleep deprivation was a common thing and I'm only now getting back to my regular sleeping habits (which still involves me waking up two or three times before the alarm goes off). I'm a night owl by nature. Its hard enough getting up early during the week to go to work, tougher on the weekend when there's no set bedtime. Thor was waking me up anywhere between 5:45 am and 7:00 am by sitting at the bedroom door yowling and jiggling the door handle. If we had the flat door handles instead of the standard round knobs, he'd open the door whenever he wanted in.

The ridiculously early morning wake up calls had to go. So we moved their night feeding two hours later and now they are quite patient in the morning. The other difficult thing was that we were used to the cats being in the room with us. When Thor got sick and started peeing everywhere we had to ban him (and Loki) from the bedroom to save our mattress and clothes. He wasn't happy with that. Both like to curl up with us at night. But Thor is healthy again and we've resolved his peeing outside the litter box issue (by getting two additional litter boxes and cleaning them twice a day). He's a much happier cat now. Both are more affectionate with us. Especially since I'm up with them in the mornings on the weekend.

The good news is Thor is on his last few cans of the medicated food and we're switching him back to his regular food on Monday. Its funny watching him eat the medicated food. He stands as far away as possible, pulls his gums back and picks at the food. If he gets any on him he freaks out and good luck with getting him to eat it again. But he knows its making him feel better and he gives me his kitten eyes and starts purring as soon as I pick up the fork and feed him. I am totally wrapped around his paw; but he's just too cute to say no to! 

So Thor's health issue, which gave us great stress, is resolved. Now we can save up the money to take Loki in for his ultrasound. Loki seems to be in good spirits and I don't expect anything to have changed from last year's. But its still good to take him in. I'm expecting a big pay raise at work (sending good vibes out to the universe!) and when that goes through we'll be able to go on our honeymoon and start saving to buy a house in four or five years.

And its gardening season. Very soon I'll be able to start planting! That's good because my front yard is dirt and yellow, dead flowers and my back yard is dirt with trillium and other random plants (I'm not sure what they are). There's a patch around our spruce tree i'm going to put plants in. Can't wait! So many cool ideas.