why should I even try?

I’m getting worn down. Worn down by unemployment, humping my butt for work, rejection and still having bitterness towards ex bosses and friends. [I hate them, btw]

I did a small job last week in between teaching a mid-week motorcycle class. It was work but, honestly, it’s not a real job that pays the bills or that I have insurance or financial security. Just little piddly-ass shit in between unemployment checks. I’m just so sick of it.

I’ve been working on my book a lot because it takes my mind off of all of the above. But, despite getting it finished it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean someone will pick it up, that I sell it or get an agent. It only means that it temporarily takes my mind off of what’s going on.

I own three business and am writing a book and I still feel like I’m not getting anywhere.What does it matter, anyway? I feel like I am getting nowhere.

I was interviewed for the magazine this weekend. It went really well and I liked the lady that is writing up the article. But, her and the editor have been hounding me about pictures for it and it has frustrated me. I am supposed to be professionally photographed for the magazine next Friday but they want all these other photos. Before and after’s of client’s places I have done. Me in front of some landscape that is mine. The only photo’s I have are the ones I [secretly] put on the site while I was working my ex friend’s company and I sure don’t want to use those. It’s all I need for her or someone else to see those and claim some proprietary thing. No – F-them. I don’t ever want them to have anything to use against me. Anyway, it got under my skin a little. I had a meeting with the owners that I cleaned their lot last week and got paid and then took my notebook to the local pub and wrote about five pages of stuff to add to the book. I don’t know if it’s just that I cannot think of anything else right now or that it’s all that I feel that I have going on. Like I said, so what if I finish it. So what if I send it out and it never get’s published. I feel like everything I do at this point is a dead.end and why the hell should I even try.

Why the hell should I even try.

Mystery beer, Rocket Popp and an achy back

Last night was the weekly mystery beer at favorite place. This time it was a friend of mine’s birthday and I asked her to join me. This was one of my beers:

I liked the label [a lot] but it tore when I tried to rip it off the bottle. Later, another friend showed up and joined us. It was a fun night but I wished Joey could have joined us as well. She had a doctor’s appointment that day and was worn out by the time we got home. I probably shouldn’t have stopped off at the Salvation Army as that contributed to what little energy she had left.

Today, I had a major clean-up to do for a new client. I wasn’t looking forward to it especially since I was a tad bit hung over. But, I thought it went better than expected. Although, getting the mower in and out of the truck wasn’t easy and my back is letting me know it’s not happy with me.

After emailing both Laura and Ellen and informing them that I would hang out with them separately [Which, I think Elizabeth has not problem with] I kept getting texts from Laura wanting to know when we could talk. I realized that I really in the mood to talk wasn’t ready as I was still angry with her. She kept on and I ignored her kept her at bay a few days when finally I relented because she wouldn’t stop bugging me texting and asking when I was available. Finally, we spoke on the phone it was all about her not feeling well, getting some results she didn’t like back from the doctor [this was the same line of tests she underwent at Christmas and looking back the same thing happened but we cut her slack because of it] and that she wasn’t in any state to be around anyone [except Elizabeth] on her birthday. I forgave her but she still could have been more honest about what was going on with her last week on her birthday instead of making Elizabeth deal with it be the bearer of “party’s off”.  I guess when I get to a point with a friend where I’m asking myself why should I f*ing try what the hell am I getting out of this friendship? Then, it’s time to step back for a little while. That’s what I intend to do for awhile.

I put some new things on Rocket Popp so be sure to stop by and check them out. If you order now then you’ll most likely have it in time for VALENTINES DAY! Whoo-hoo!

Anyway, that’s all that me and ma achin’ back has got today.

snippets

1. Watching yesterday’s American Idol I recorded I almost cried when they said “Yes” to the guy with turrets syndrome.  Rock on, dude! I know who I’m rooting for!
2. Ok, Project Runway. I feel so bad for the model who PICKED idiot weird Ping and then Ping threw this girl:

under the bus by not picking her in the next challenge, therefore, she got voted out of the competition even after the poor thing had to wear this horrible potato sack dress that showed her butt crack on stage and to an industry party. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I was happy when Ping got voted off. I can’t even believe she made it as far as she did.

3. After I wrote the previous post Joey and I both kept getting calls from Laura. (It was almost as bad as that night when Ellen and I were out) She left a message appologizing for “being a bi-otch” BUT that she had been going through some stuff and wasn’t feeling well. Ok, I get not feeling well but she’s been saying this since Christmas and it only goes so far with me. Especially, since I live with a someone who has two chonic illnesses who I can count on one hand how many times she’s been grouchy because she’s not felt well. So, Laura doesn’t get any sympathy in that department as far as I’m concerned. I wrote her back an email tonight acknowledging her phone calls and kind of told her off. I basically said that I only wanted to do things with her and Ellen saparately and that I wouldn’t talk about Ellen with her. That I felt that she was using me to vent about Ellen and that it put me in a bad spot because Ellen is my friend, too.

4. The boy and I went out today. He was shopping with Joey last week and saw a chain wallet he wanted. [a boy after my own heart] So, I gave him one of mine [just saying that makes me sound so butch] We went out with our chain wallets on and had coffee and ran around Decatur while Joey enjoyed some peace in the house and took a nap.

5. I’ve sent out 250 post  cards advertising my landscaping business and hope I get clients soon.

6. It’s cold and rainy here and I hate it.

7. Tomorrow we are having breakfast in bed, watching The Goonies and then going to the museum! Can’t wait! I love The Goonies……

Mystery beer and mystery friends

Here are the beers from last Tuesday’s mystery beer night. As you can see $2.50 per beer gets you quite a bit of bang for your buck!  [Except the Old Chub tasted like @ss to me but Joey seemed to like it.]

The week is almost over and it was very hectic. I guess I will start back at the beginning  - last weekend and work my way up to today [Thurs] for you all. Saturday was Joey’s birthday and I had planned a surprise party for her at a restaurant in Midtown. I can’t tell you how many times I almost stuck my foot in my mouth and gave it away but I somehow managed not to and she was surprised. Everyone said afterwards it was so much fun and I was very happy with the mix of people who were there.  I had also booked a room in the hotel next door for that night.  It was nice not worrying about driving or taxing home. Although, the hotel was very old, historic, even and had steam heat. When we walked into our room (the room that I chose after looking at 5 others before that, I might add) it was a sauna. [In fact, if I had the foresight I might have also booked a couple of naked women to give her a massage in the nude while I watched] We opened the ancient window and was happy it didn’t fall out of the frame and cranked up the air conditioner. I had brought along a bottle of Rogue Hazlenut Brown that I had been keeping for a special occasion and cracked it open for us to share. I was hoping we would kill some time before heading down to the restaurant. But, we were sweating within minutes and I suggested that we take the party next door to have a mojito.  I needed to give everyone time to set up at the restaurant before our grand entrance. After some wonderful empanada’s and drinks we went next door and everyone was already at the table and yelled “SURPRISE!” when we walked in.

Sometime during the party my buddy K texted me and asked if I wanted to teach class with him this week and I said, “Sure, why not.” Unemployment be damed. Which, made the week very hectic. In fact, I’ve been out late almost every night and up at dark-thirty. We managed to have a pretty good class but one of my best riders dropped his motorcycle during his skill evaluation. We were all pretty sick about it. (Dropping the bike during an evaluation is an instant unsatisfactory).

In other news, I’m not sure if I ever wrote about Ellen and her ex gf wanting to “borrow” her dog for a week. This is the ex that’s a poloygamist that Ellen finally broke up with. I guess years ago when they lived together for about a minute they had decided to adopt a dog together. Then, the poly-girl-gf (thats what I’m calling her) decided she needed to go to Hawaii to find herself (I could, too, in Hawaii) and lived over there for three months before moving back to the continental US only to relocate to NC because of her so called budding film career. (when I say film I mean she’s RUNNING the camera not being FILMED. Probably a good thing bc I’ve seen pics of her and…. I’m shutting up now.) Poly left Ellen with the dog, the house mortgage and a long distance relationship. Now, lets fast forward about 3 years, shall we? Poly-girl-gf has never lived with Ellen since then. And, early last year year Ellen decided she didn’t want to have anything more to do with her. She then met Laura and they saw each other for a mili-second short while long enough to have sex a few times and then BAM poly-girl-gf wanted Ellen back. Ellen dropped Laura like a hot potato and RAN back to poly – blah-blah. Laura was livid and didn’t speak to Ellen for a long time. Until Ellen came to her senses and dropped poly again. But, Ellen and Laura were only friends after that. This whole 2009 year, in fact. Never any sex anymore, no sex, nada, no kissing or nuthin’.

But, despite not dating they acted like it with no sex, no sex, no sex Ellen and Laura have been INSEPARABLE. For awhile it was maddening because they would only do things with EACH other and never with anyone else. This has loosened up some because there is someone new on the horizon that Ellen is interested in (I don’t think Laura really knows about it how much, though) and it’s easier to BREAK them loose from the other. SO, [yawn, stretching, neck crack] Joey and I have been revolting against the wonder-twin-powers-activate-into-a-REAL-couple doing things with each of them separately. Well – dunt, dunt DAH! [Like a scary movie before someone gets stabbed - literally] Ellen gets a call from poly.

[are you ready?]

Poly INSISTS on seeing the dog. She’s not been able to sleep, eat or film naked women missing the dog. [that she was without for how many years?] AND! Her hands have cracked open and swollen up and she can’t masturbate run the camera. So, what does Ellen do? We all know where this is going she caved. Poly’s coming to get the dog this weekend. Laura had a huge @ss, f-ing hissy fell in a hole fit. In fact, has done nothing but yell and scream at tell Ellen what a f-ing idiot she is and blah, blah, blah. Ok, while I don’t agree with Ellen’s decision I am still not going to yell at her and tell her she’s an idiot. This happened all last week right before Joey’s birthday and I swear I was going to fillet both of them alive not talk to them for a long, long time if they brought any of this sh*t drama up at Joey’s party. Which, thankfully they didn’t.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Joey and I have been telling Laura this whole year for MONTHS now “That dog won’t HUNT for her crotch and that she needs to get on with it and start thinking about dating someone, stop pining over hanging out with Ellen 7-1/2 days a week all the time and possibly make some plans with anyone else some other people for a change and try to get laid. But, Laura never listened and now is livid over the whole poly/dog thing. [Wow, that sounded kinda weird] So, this all came to even more of a head this week and is still rolling.

Monday I asked Ellen to go out and grab a bite to eat with me. [We had gone out with Laura previously and let her bitch about Ellen air out her stuff and now it was Ellen's turn to bitch about Laura air out her stuff.] Joey was was not well and because of that I didn’t go far and kept my phone right in front of me in case she called. Although, when I got to the bar I realized that I only had one bar left on my phone and needed  to conserve power in case she called. In short, I wasn’t answering for anyone but her. Needless to say Laura called both Ellen and I three times each endlessly during our dinner together. We both thought that if it was urgent that she would have left a message. I almost felt like she thought we were having some sort of tryst and knew about it. Later, we both got yelled at by her for not answering our phones. Later, Ellen told me that when she got home that night Laura met her in the driveway and started yelling at her. Her excuse was that she thought something had happened because she didn’t answer her phone got worried. I just love it when people use concern to replace control freak tendencies. I got bitched out via text but I thought, “whatever, you ain’t my momma or my old lady!

Wednesday, I subbed for Laura on her and Ellen’s bowling team. I kind of thought she was quitting and that I was going to be subbing every week from now on. [she still may quit the way things are going] I taught class all day, had a meeting after class and literally rushed to the bowling alley grabbing some beef jerkey, a banana and bottled water on the way for dinner. I no more got to the alley, went into the restroom to remove the long underwear from under my jeans (because I’d been teaching in the cold all day), put on my bowling shoes and grabbed my ball to go warm up when Laura shows up. Good hell! I BUST my @ss to get there on time, I hadn’t really seen Joey all week because of work and she frickin’ shows up anyway. I mean, I could have been home taking a hot shower and laying next to my girl. But, I let it go because I knew that she had a broken foot [because of this time] and possibly couldn’t bowl. So, I bowled – 5 strikes in my second game, I might add. I was on fire! Sheila showed up and bought a pitcher and we all hung out. Except Ellen and Laura weren’t speaking. Laura wasn’t speaking to me, either. I asked Ellen what was wrong and she said that Laura was in a really bad mood and still angry with her. I told her she didn’t have to take her shit and to just ignore her. She agreed with me and promptly went over to Laura and they started having an intense discussion. So much for ignoring her.

Later, I asked what we were doing for Laura’s birthday [today] the next day. We had tentavely made a plan to go to favorite place for a beer of the month and wings. But, I have my insurance meetings/recruiting on Thursday evenings and if I had clients coming I couldn’t go until later. So, Ellen told me that Laura was bummed that we may not go so, therefore, she didn’t want to do anything. I went over to her and talked to her a bit telling her why I couldn’t answer the phone the other night, and asked her if she wanted to go out for her birthday to favorite place and she said that she did. So, we all rallied around, made plans with the other couple on the team, Sheila, a few other friends and set a time to be there. Plan made, discussion closed. If I had clients coming then I would just reschedule. The fact was, I was willing to reschedule for my friend’s birthday.

This morning I got a text from Ellen saying that we were meeting at 7:30 tonight at the designated place. Both Joey and I knew we needed to take naps before going because we were both very tired. (She’s been up with me all week and going to doctors appointments). Later, I got a text from Ellen saying that Laura only wants the two of them to have dinner together for her birthday, at a different restaurant and that she’d catch up with us later. By this point, I was too tired of their drama to even give two sh*ts. But, I did text Ellen to say that I felt like we were blown off and that her getting yelled at by Laura all night didn’t sound like very much fun for her. Ellen made some excuse for Laura’s bad behavior and I let it pass because I can’t help doormats.

The other night when Joey and I had beers with Laura we had given her her birthday present. She said she didn’t want to open it until her actual birthday. I’m almost tempted to tell her to shove it up her butt when she calls to thank us.

That should be interesting, too, because it’s a spy pen that records two hours of audio and takes pictures.

Misc. Chex Mix

I don’t really have anything specific that I want to talk about, just a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. So, here goes….

1. We actually went to our favorite place last night and had bottled beer. [Ok, I know you are you feeling my forehead to see if I’m feeling ok] They are rotating their bottled beer selection and offer a “mystery beer” for $2.50 on Tuesday nights. That’s good as long as it’s not Coors, Miller Light, Bush, Budweiser, Schlitz generic, mainstream beer – which, it wasn’t. I took a picture of our first two:



2. We especially needed to go for $2.50 beers because I never got that interview. [Ok, F-you corporate america] and Joey spent all day at DFCS because they sent her a nasty-telegram saying they never got her last form and threatened to cut off her benefits. Once she waited all day and they finally called her up and she told them why she was there the woman just pointed to a stack of FORMS (probably Joey’s was sitting in that pile) that hadn’t been processed yet and said that they may or may not have gotten it that they haven’t processed it yet and that letter she got was automated. So, she basically wasted all afternoon sitting around to be told that.
3. I have Coulrophobia. I think reading Stephen King’s IT heightened it. Although, it is my all time favorite book by him.
4. I have been sending out flyers for my landscaping business like crazy the past few days. I’ve sent out 100 so far. I’m also going to do advertising with this local magazine and they are going to do a page bio. So, after that I will definitely no longer be the Covert Landscaper. I will post the article when it comes out. It will be in the March/April issue.
5. It’s Joey’s birthday on Saturday so pop on over there and wish her a happy one!
6. I’ve updated the Rocket Popp site and added more products and international shipping. Email or leave me a comment if you want a 10% off coupon. (And, I know Mags wants one particular item really bad
7. Some people get 80+ comments actually WORRY  that no one will read their posts. Well, I read, Brandy, so don’t you worry your pretty head about it any.more.
8. Some people are so funny and they recently said they are taking a TRIP to visit her blog fans and do a NO-book tour. (kinda sounds like my 36,000 word novel-wanna-be book). I was all ready to email and say “Come on down Bossy!” until I read the gas money part. Oh, that. Hmm, free room and board, possibly? [And, if you come on a Tuesday then perhaps a $2.50 mystery beer.]
9. The runway on “Launch my Line” makes “Project Runway”s runway look like a Goodwill aisle. Plus, Launch my Line actually has an audience, too! Come.On.Heidi and Tim! Get it together! Perhaps to the HP Touchsmart laptops they gave all the designers to do their 3 second sketches on? My question: if and when they get asked to pack up their stuff can they take the PC with them? “I s*ck at sewing but I got this fabulous $2000 computer just for staying up all night and piecing this sh*t together!
10. It was 62 degrees today and I was outside working in a T-shirt! Goddess, I love this weather! Rock on!

Ales and want not

As you know, Joey and I got to this wonderful place that has 93 92 beers on tap. (We learned just the other day that another location has 120 on tap but we’re still not willing to go down the street further for 27 more beers…just yet) This is the place where we frequently run into those lesbians that want to talk our ears off. Recently, we haven’t ran into them and that’s a good thing. This place always has featured beers of the month and if you go on a Thursday night and drink one of those beers you get to take the glass home for free. I think I have turned Joey on to this as she has said to me, “Oh oh! We HAVE to go on Thursday so we can get this glass!” This has been a good thing and a very bad thing. The good thing is that we have broken out of our comfort zone and have tried all these wonderful beers that we would normally not drink. Discovered them like Columbus and…well, now I’m getting cheezy but you get the gist. One of my favorites is Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar. Oh.My.Goddess! It is yummy! And, on tap. There are not too many places that can tout having this beer on tap. The other happens to be the beer of the month and that’s Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.

The bad thing is that because we belong to the passport club we can only drink one of each beer to count towards our free t-shirts, gift certificates and eventually when we become real drunks a Brew University jacket. But, I say jacket be damned – I may try a new one but I’m going back to my two favorites until they are no longer on tap.

I did manage to find a 24 oz bottle of Rogue. I stuck it in the fridge and as I was grabbing a beer out tonight I waffled on opening it. Then, I thought, “No, I will wait until Tuesday to open it. Either in celebration or necessity – if I don’t get the interview.” That way I will either be celebrating or well, cheering myself up.

I will want it either way.

Fridays….

I always make Friday’s my favorite day. I know most of you out there think Friday’s are your favorite day because you’ll be getting off work soon, maybe meeting up with friends for a happy hour and then heading in to the weekend. Me, I always work my landscaping job on Fridays. One, because my clients want their yard and patio to look good in case they entertain outside over the weekend, and two that I actually feel that I have a goal, a job to go to on Fridays. It gives me a sense of purpose. This morning, I had coffee and got all my resume/cover letters ready to be sent out. Went to the post office and then to my client’s house to work. I missed the beagles today  - don’t know where they were but obviously not at home as they didn’t come bounding out of their little doggie door to greet me.

When I’m finished I always use the rest of the afternoon to go prospect for new clients. Whether it’s just leaving a card on their door or actually asking if I can write up a proposal. I do both and today I did just that.  I am hoping all this prospecting and proposal writing is going to pay off by summertime. I have new postcards coming in advertising my services that I plan on both hand delivering and mailing. Afterwards, I ended up going to get my hair cut and then meeting Shelia for a drink to discuss some work she wants to have done. All in all it was a good day.

I wish they could all be like that.

waiting

Weeks go by and I feel like I am constantly trying to find work.  I had a phone interview with a major power company on Wednesday but I won’t find out if I made it into the inner sanctum for a sit-down until Tuesday. Ugh. The interviewer had four questions he wanted me to answer. All of which I felt good about except the last one which, I felt I stumbled through. So, we’ll see. I’m trying not to think about it.

I’ve also been writing landscape maintenance proposals and delivering them to recipients that I feel need my services. (isn’t that funny?) One recipient felt that my bid was too high and hung up on me practically before I could say anything. [Yeah, it’s too high because you would have to pay someone to do some work]This particular property is in terrible shape and they even rent it out for weddings and ceremonies. Joey and I are supposed to have our ceremony there but are having second thoughts now. I think another visit to the person in charge renting the space out to us (separate from the lady from the property management company that hung up on me) is in order. Another recipient was glad to get my proposal. Recently, they had asked for a bid to do some work from the company they already retain and they said it was too high and that they had raised their prices. So, I may have a chance there. I’m still looking at other places, making calls, writing proposals and so forth. But, it’s all this “wait and see business” all the time. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of waiting, waiting, waiting. I want to get out and do. I’m frustrated by it, can you tell?

Today we finally saw 50 degrees again and welcomed it. I actually felt human again and not that I was a giant ice sickle. The ice and snow leftover from our 1/16” is finally melted and gone. I am happy about that. I loathe seeing white on the ground. I didn’t move down here from Indianapolis for nothing. I want my Hot-lanta back.

Anyway, this is not much of a post but a rant. Just a rant of having no patience for waiting. For work, for warmth, for Spring.

boundaries and creative outlets

I manage to see my therapist about once a month just to keep the rails on the track. [Yeah, I hate derailment] They commonly start off with her asking what’s new, what I’m currently working on and working through [there is a difference]. Most of the time recently I tell her the various business contacts I’ve made and what I’m doing to find work. Which, is a very frustrating process, I might add. This time around after I told her those things I also said that I had been working on my book. She seemed surprised by that. I guess I had never told her that I had been writing a book. Silly me.  She encourage me to keep up the creative outlet. She was nodding her head in approval and saying that I seemed calmer not cursing or crying than I normally was when I came into these sessions.

Next, we go to the working through portion which, always includes the topic of friendships and/or relationships I struggle with. I commonly have rather lofty high expectations of my friends that most cannot fulfill. I’m working on that. But, these days I have dropped lowered my expectations. I have stopped always extending invitations, instead stepping back being open to receive invites. “And now if the thought of going out and having a beer by myself and reading a good book is more attractive than the invite then I turn it down.” I think my therapist about fell out of her chair at that statement. Here was the person who had always talked about the desire to be social every night of the week. “I think I’m starting to set some boundaries with some of my friends and it feels good.” She, again, was nodding her head in approval. I realize that I have never set boundaries before in many of my friendships and that because of that it may be the cause of a lot of my frustrations.

I kind of thought I’d hit the nail on the head with that session. What about you, dear readers? Do you have friends that you often have to set boundaries with?

UPDATE: A casual friend just won some money from her fantasy football league and invited me out for beers at a new Irish pub. No book is better than that and I am very touched by the invitation. So, here’s to setting boundaries!

baby it’s cold outside…..

Wintertime is like an extended gynecological appointment.

I have cabin fever in a bad way these days. The fact that the weather is not cooperating is not helping, either. Tuesday evening I tried to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to our defunct trivia night. I managed to get two peeps out along with Joey and I and the looser trivia guy didn’t show. Wednesday night was to be the bowling league sign-up with a free game only to discover the alley was crowded with another league, we couldn’t bowl and everyone just signed up and went home. Blah – I was hoping to bowl a game, drink a few beers and hang out with the girls. But, everyone wanted to go home stopping off at the grocery on the way since the weather was supposed to get nasty the next day. I didn’t think that was that was too bad of an idea so decided to do the same. I sent out a few last chance texts to meet friends but one was already downtown and the other two were out in Tucker somewhere. I picked up some steaks, beer, potatoes, coffee, milk and yogurt and headed for home. When I walked in Joey couldn’t believe I was home so early and I explained that it was a bust.

Today, we managed to get out for a little while – Joey to get a haircut and go to the pharmacy, me to drop off a proposal to try to get some landscaping work and then ending up at the coffee shop. We started to try to make a dent in the disability appeal paperwork over coffee and tea. Joey ran out of steam so we headed home. The minute we drove up to the house the billowy snow from before turned sleety. We had made it just in time.

Inside, I cracked a beer, prepped the potatoes, threw them in the oven, called my sister back and talked to her leaning against the warm stove. I had turned on the space heater and the cats started to circle it for warmth. The potatoes were starting to get close so I went outside to light the grill. [Yes, I was grilling while it was sleeting outside] While it was warming up I pulled the storm windows out of storage, wiped them off to put them in the bedroom windows – standing on the bed above Joey’s head putting them in. I ran out to check the filets and brought them into Joey to look at. They were still a bit rare so I turned down the grill and put them on for two more minutes and took them off. They turned out perfect with a little bit of pink inside. I put the steaks, potatoes and all the fixings on trays and took them into the bedroom so Joey and I could eat dinner in bed while we watched Kinky Boots. After dinner we paused the movie to make tea for Joey and decaf espresso with a shot of scotch on the side for me. We ate gingerbread cookies and continued the movie.

It’s supposed to get down to 17 degrees tonight so we decided to put the space heater with the thermostat on it in the back room and close it off so the cats could stay warm tonight. I put both of their beds in front of the heater but they still insist on lying in the chair. I grumbled “So much for cat beds!” and Joey said, “They have to think it was their idea.”

So, sleeting be damned. We’re holed up and warm cats n all.