A quick note before I turn into a pumpkin. Whew! This week has kept me busy with selling stuff online, keeping up with Josh, and preparing for the trip. Oh, and today I spent about 2 hours trying to get rid of Darwin, our adorable yet needs-a-more-tolerant-home cat.

I called my grandmother's nursing home in Kansas thining they probably would say no thanks to adopting an in-house cat (which would prepare me for calling homes in Dallas) or they would say yes and I could just ship the cat. Well, damned if nothing works out the way you'd expect. They said yes, they'd love a young cat for one of their residents. I was feeling good about this. I was going to send a great cat to someone who could no doubt appreciate the companionship. So I called around for how to ship an animal. FedEx does not do live animals. That figures. They recommended three numbers, of which two worked. One guy quoted me $375 and soemone would have to pick up the cat from the nearest airport, which is in another city. That doesn't work. Another company said they don't deliver animals if the climate is over 85 degrees. That means I'd have to wait until late October at the earliest. That doesn't work either. I tried another guy but he was in Mexico delivering a dog and couldn't talk when I called. I'll try him again tomorrow.

That leaves two options, neither of which I'm keen to. One option is to drive the cat to Kansas as a personal delivery. It's an 8 hour drive there and I'd be taking the cat and Josh with me. The other option is to call the home back tomorrow, explain that sending the cat isn't feasible, and begin finding someone in Dallas to take him. I did call six senior homes in the Dallas area, and they all said no in some manner. Isn't that just the way it is! I wasn't expecting the Kansas home to say and it turns out they are the only place willing to take him.

Meanwhile, I'm prepping the house for our trip today. It's clean. Tomorrow I'll pack, do laundry, take a good long shower, and triple check my packing and to do list. Luckily I have Melissa coming over to watch Josh for three hours. That will give me a chance to do everything and be ready to leave on time! I got her a small gift to say thanks for baby sitting.

I'll bet you anything I don't sleep well tonight. I'll probably be thinking of everything to do, what I expect the trip to be like, what if this or that, rehearsing my schedule, double checking everything. I guess I better get started. My night will be over before I know it! :)