And not only because I am on PTO this week, it’s legit really nice out there to boot! Got my coffee, been to the farmers market, and I’ve got Sean-A-Rama sitting happily between my feet. Pretty good day so far!

This fall’s staycation isn’t going to be quite the whirlwind that last year was, but it’s all good – nothing wrong with just chilling out a bit. There will be a DC day – just need to pick the museum, and I’m gonna check out one of the botanical gardens in the county, and a nice dinner somewhere. I also have a knitting project I want to get started on, and this is a good week to do it if I want it done by Christmas.

Invariably, the week before I go on PTO is an utter shitshow, and when round 2 of the dumpster fire reared it’s head Friday before last, I was in a wee bit of despair. But Monday morning I said I couldn’t help, cause I had multiple deadlines and round 1 of the dumpster fire had put me way behind on everything else.

Mind you, just saying that damn near gave me a panic attack, but no one was pissy, and consulting said they would help.* But because I spoke up for myself, I was able to get everything done that I needed to get done, and even got a little bit ahead of where I needed to be by the end of the day yesterday, and I didn’t even have to work 12 hour days to do it.

I did get pulled back into the dumpster fire for a bit yesterday with my dev & product manager for some brainstorming, but it was OK, because I was actually caught up on everything.

And I left on time, not stressed out, and had a great PTO kickoff with a field trip to the new Trader Joes that is SIX MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE!* I have loved this place since we were getting flyers from them back in the 80s even though there wasn’t a store anywhere nearby. It seemed so fancy and cool. And then I went to one – and it WAS fancy and cool – AND CHEAP! And now I have one right nearby!! And a freezer full of good stuff. Spent $60 that would have been near $100 at my regular market.

And according to my brother, TJ’s Green Chile Chicken bowl makes great tacos.

My furry buddies continue to be awesome. Jorge occasionally does try to assassinate me with love via flinging himself on me when I’m sleeping – fine until I inhale a lungful of fur, LOL. Sean has still got the itchybritches, and I talked with the vet yesterday and we’re doing another round of prednolisone. The first round was a really short course, and it helped, but it just wasn’t long enough to get him to the point where his little bumps were healed over. Thankfully we have the transdermal gel, he gets his meds and I don’t bleed. I’m also supplementing with the occasional half of a gabapentin – it also stops itching, works pretty quick, and isn’t enough to knock him out, whereas the pred is going to take a little while. (They are not contraindicated, I checked multiple sources.)

Little dude is just stuck in a cycle of “the bumps itch, he overgrooms them and they get kinda raw, they start to heal, they itch because they’re healing, he overgrooms, lather, rinse, repeat” – so if we can stop the itching while they get fully healed, we can hopefully stop the cycle.

The vet I talked to wasn’t the same one that first saw Sean & Jorge, and I loved that she was “Oh, this is a new friend you just brought home recently!” and I talked her ear off about how awesome he was doing outside of the dermatitis.

And here are some Caturday shots!

Not much else on tap for the day – I do need to hit up Walmart and see what they have in the way of fleece – need to make another long, skinny blanket to go in front of the sofa for the kitties, and see if I can make some kind of a cover for the bins Sean likes to sleep on. Sunday is looking like an “arts & crafts for cats” day.

Have a great weekend, tell your pets I said HI! and check your voter registration.

* Narrator: Apparently they were not in fact, very much help.
* Yes, I did just look on maps to confirm, LOL.