Monday Already?

This is Samson.  This shelf used to hold knick knacks but

now instead holds 15 pounds of cat and a blanket.

Oops.  At the start of the year, I made a commitment to blogging five days a week, and for the most part, I've been pretty good about sticking to it.  Because I know myself (and my ability to not finish what I start--ugh), I allow myself few excuses for not getting a blog post in each weekday.  And, because I'm a morning person by nature, I prefer to write and post just after breakfast each morning.  (I also can't function before eating--this goes for just about anything--I feed the dogs and cats, then I feed myself)  Imagine my surprise, when I realized this afternoon, that, GASP! today is Monday!  I forgot to post this morning!  Is forgetting it's a weekday an acceptable excuse for not blogging?  I like to think it is.

Anyway, I've been wrapped up in a remodeling project the last few days.  On Saturday, a small vanity cabinet in our master bathroom fell off the wall.  Well, it didn't exactly fall, but it came apart, requiring us to physically remove it, after which we found water damage from the nearby shower.  Which reminded us that a tile in the shower was coming off the wall, another indicator of water damage.  So now our shower is getting a remodel.  Which means new tile, new paint, new a lot of stuff.  And because I'm a glutton for punishment, I can't just replace the wallboard and tile, oh no, I have to do this baby right!  Let's put in a tile bottom!  And get custom glass doors!  And, hey, let's make them round!  And let's put in glass tiles!  And travertine!  And since the shower is getting new tiles, the whirlpool area needs matching tile too.  But not the floor.  Good heavens no, I am not ripping up 150 square feet of perfectly good tile.  I'm crazy, but not nuts.

What was probably going to be a small project has now turned into a pretty big (read: expensive) deal.  I am going into this whole remodel fully expecting more problems than I anticipate.  I did build a whole house, by the way.  I know how these things work.  Nothing is ever as simple as you think they're going to be.  Always be prepared.  Expect the unexpected.

Then I realized this was totally an allegory to real life--and, quite conveniently, a perfect blog post subject.  As a pet parent, heck, as a human being, you never know what's going to come up.  Life throws you curve balls, and sometimes a lot of them.  And while we can't ever be prepared for some of them--who's ever prepared for death? or cancer?--we can take some of the smaller things in our lives in stride.  Some days, I feel tempted to feel overwhelmed.  I have a lot of animals, a lot of time-consuming animals, and when one or more of them is sick, it can be hard to deal with.  But not all illnesses are life-threatening, and I have to learn to take those with stride.  Yes, my dog getting fleas sucks, but it's not the end of the world.  Wash the bedding, vacuum the floors, use the chemical/natural treatment of choice, and the dog won't know any different. 

Put everything in perspective, and go with the flow.  So while I'm not overjoyed at having to redo my bathroom (though the planning part can be fun), I'm lucky that I have the time and resources to do it.