One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It's summer again and, just like last year, you don't need a thermometer to tell. Just take a glance at Bunny and you'll see the unsightly tufts of winter undercoat working their way out. He looks awful... There is no way he can impress the ladies looking like that, so I went to the pet supply store and bought a couple different grooming tools in an attempt to combat the mass of shedding fur that has accumulated all over his back and hind quarters. I bought a rubber brush with short stubby rubber bristles and a menacing looking metal loop with teeth then I went home and spent as much time as Bunny would tolerate grooming out a bunny-size pile of fur. I thought he was going to go bald! By the time he was fed up with the fur removal, he looked about 90% better and I was content with that degree of progress. Well, the next day I got home from work and Bunny looked worse than he did the day before! This fur removal business is like swimming upstream!


Not only is The Bunny a solid indication of summer, but my car is too. I'm still driving around in a black car in hundred degree weather, nearly 6 months pregnant, on the verge of passing out in a fit of heat exhaustion. We completely expected to be able to save enough money over the winter to install air conditioning in our car until the tax pickle foiled all our plans. I have been talking to Art about selling his parked '89 Camaro to finance the AC installation, because I don't see any other way that we can save a thousand dollars before the end of summer, his car is worth just about $1,500 and my tolerance for heat is quickly diminishing due to my pregnant state. Now, you must understand that asking Art to sell his Camaro is like asking him to put his child up for adoption. I have never before witnessed such a strong emotional attachment between a human and an inanimate object (let alone a beastly, worthless hunk of metal), and the fact that he was considering selling it showed a lot of sacrifice. I was really proud of him, and ready to start the selling process when Art tells me that suddenly he believes we can come up with a thousand dollars without selling his car. OMG. There is no way that is going to happen. The baby will boil to death in my amniotic fluids before we come up with that kind of money! I thought the end of the tunnel was in sight with the thought of selling his Camaro, and now I don't know what to do.

Art and I have been trying to clear space in the bedroom for the crib and dresser so we brought the boxes out into the living room and he went through them and reduced two boxes down to one. I bought a couple large storage bins so that we could store the remainder on the patio, then discovered a note on our front door informing us that we had to bring everything from the patio inside the house because they were repainting the apartments. Just as soon as we made some progress inside the house, in came two bikes, a barbecue, garden bench, ice chest, and an assortment of other things.

Then I haven't been able to finish painting my crib and dresser because it's been too hot and windy and you can't spray paint when it's hot and windy and I found out my ladybug knobs that I was so excited about are on backorder until the end of July, but I guess it doesn't matter since there isn't space in the bedroom yet and I can't finish painting the furniture! ARG! All this frustration is making me resort to run-on sentences!

I have desperately been trying to find a name for Baby Martinez, and thought I was onto something when I told Art I like the name Kyra (pronounced like Tyra) and he agreed. So for the past couple weeks, I have gotten pretty comfortable with that name. Then Art said he wanted to buy another baby name book and I said, "Well, what about Kyra?" and he said, "No, I like it pronounced KEERA better." DOH!!! Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, I find out I'm back to square one.

That's how I feel about a lot of aspects of my life right now, like I'm taking one step forward and two steps back, and truthfully my patience is just about maxed out. And just to push my buttons, another roach appeared on my kitchen floor last night! I am just feeling very stressed and overwhelmed, and for once in my lifetime, I would just like for something... ANYTHING... to be easy. I wish I could say it was downhill from here, but I know this is only beginning of many challenges to come.