Real Life Isn't Always Sunshine and Roses

Every have one of those days? One of those weeks, or maybe even one of those months when things just aren't coming together as you'd hoped?

Before gloom and doom descend upon this blog, let me first say that we are thankful for so many things in our lives. Shane's work has been consistent and no lay-offs are anticipated. Except for the headaches and allergies that are normal for us, we are all healthy. The big picture looks great. It's the little pictures that are starting to wear on us.

To begin with, Kat has been...how should I say it?...a holy terror...for the last two or three weeks. I guess it may be a case of spring fever at play, but she's been nerve-wrackingly* defiant, mouthy and stubborn lately. No form or amount of discipline seems to have any affect on her behavior. However, Shane and I have developed the strange habit of pulling out some of our hair every evening just before it's (finally) time to send Kat to bed.

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago I posted that we had taken in a new kitten? This poor kitten has issues. She is a Manx (tail-less) kitten and they are known to have bowel and bladder difficulties. Unfortunately, we didn't know this before we adopted her. Bunny has been to the vet twice already, is now on daily medication, but continues to have issues with both bowel and bladder and only makes it to her litter box semi-consistently.

Shane is a even more of a cat person than I am, and has been in a constant state of worry over Bunny, not knowing if her problems will become more serious -- or even fatal. I'm have my hands full playing nurse to her, giving her medication, making sure the right cats have the right food, trying to get her more successfully litter box trained and cleaning up after her when she's unsuccessful. I feel as if my daily workload has doubled. As it is now, we will not be able to go away for weekend trips or even a single overnight trip, without either boarding her or having someone come in to administer her medication.

We are trying to make this work, knowing that with pet ownership comes a lot of responsibility, but we are wondering where we draw the line. The physical, emotional and yes, even financial, responsibilities are becoming taxing. For now, we will continue with her because she seems healthy and happy in every other way, and because she has done wonders to calm and mature our 1-year-old cat, Siesta. But how much longer do we go on with a kitten who might not ever be well or able to live a normal life? And if we decide not to keep her, then what? How likely is it that she will find a home with her special needs? Do we take her to a no-kill shelter or have her put down? None of these are easy questions to answer.

On a somewhat related note, Bunny had an accident on our bed (again) this morning. As I was stripping the bedding, I noticed that the urine had soaked through the mattress pad onto the pillow top cover of the bed. We have a Select Comfort Sleep Number bed, so the pillow top can be unzipped and, I believe, machine washed. Unzipping it exposes a convoluted foam pad that sits on top of the two air chambers that are what makes the Sleep Number bed adjustable. That foam pad was dry, but for some reason I decided to flip it up. When I did, I saw mold on the bottom of the foam and and on top of the canvas-covered air chambers. It's on both sides, although there is more of it on Shane's side of the bed, and his side was also damp. My first thought was "WTF?!" We've had our bed for seven years, and when we moved to this house three years ago, there was no mold on it when we reassembled it. My second thought was "No wonder Shane's allergies have been so bad this year."

After a few minutes online, I came to realize that this is a known problem with the Sleep Number beds. There are many consumer complaints about the mold and other issues. Response from Select Comfort is inconsistent. We love the bed and have found it to be more comfortable than any other we've tried. It's in good condition otherwise, so we'd rather keep it than get rid of it. I suppose our next step will be to try to kill the mold, disinfect the areas involved, and try to keep it from coming back (removing the mold stains is probably not possible, and not even necessary since they aren't in a location anyone but us will ever see). If we are lucky, we may be able to get replacement foam from Select Comfort, but I seriously doubt they will replace the air chambers.

So, that's real life with the Joneses. To anyone still wants to try to keep up with us, I say, "Have at it!"


*Who knew nerve-wracking and nerve-racking are both acceptable? I thought only the first variation was correct.