2/4/09 On Sun And Sand And Cat Barf

Oh ya'll, the writer's block? It mocks me. I've started about a dozen posts over the last few days, and I'd get about halfway through each one and then go, "This is the dumbest thing I've ever written". And then I'd just shut the computer down and go away because ya'll just don't deserve to be subjected to that kind of literary torture.

Except while that works for a day or two, I've let it drag on long enough that I'm now getting random email messages like, "Hey! Are you dead?" and "Did you lose your fingers in a tragic combine accident?" To which you will all be relieved to know that the answer to that is no, although come to think of it, that would give me something interesting to blog about.

Hmmmm.

Anyway, the truth is that things have just been annoyingly normal around here, what with the laundry and the running to the bank and the cat barf and all. (What's with the cat barf, you ask? Well, not to be horribly graphic or anything, but apparently there is a feline stomach flu parading shamelessly around my house, and each of the cats have caught it in turn. So for the past week or so, the house has been filled with the peaceful, symphonic melodies of "HORK! HORK! HORK! BLARF!")

I know. It's just been magical around here.

I've been fulfilling my cat-mommy duty by thoroughly marking each spot so that I can tell Tony where to scrub when he gets home. (What? You think I have the stomach to get down on my hands and knees and pick up cat barf? Pffft!) I will, however, make a point to blog about it, which I distinctly promised myself I wouldn't do because "This is the dumbest thing I've ever written". And not to mention kinda gross. But there you go.

In other, non-vomiting news, Tony and I have booked our vacation for the year. Originally, it was Tony's turn to pick where we were going since I picked the cruise last year, and he immediately chose Alaska. (He's always wanted to go. Personally, I'm not sure what the draw is for a place that has snow and glaciers and entire months were the sun doesn't shine, but it was his turn, so what can I say?) The easiest way to get to Alaska is to cruise there, but cruises don't start heading that way until May or June, and we were afraid that I would have started work again by that time and I wouldn't have access to vacation yet. So rather than shorten the trip, Tony decided to postpone his Alaskan cruise until next year and go somewhere else this year. And because I'm suffering mightily from winter-itis at the moment, I was all too happy to substitute a warm, tropical beach getaway in place of grizzly bear tracking through the polar ice caps.

Our next choice was the Dominican Republic, which I hear is just lovely this time of year, but at the last minute we read about several outbreaks of dysentery in the area, and even I'm not willing to risk a week of vomiting and bloody stool for some warm tropical sunshine. (Hmm. We seem to be back to discussing vomit again. And you thought the part about the cat barf was bad. Sorry about that).

Anywho. Right as it seemed that all was lost and Old Man Winter would have us locked in his icy grasp forever, we found a lovely deal to an all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and since we loved Jamaica the first time around, we immediately signed up for some fun, sun, and copious amounts of (dysentery-free) jerk chicken at this place:

So in less than a month, while the rest of the world suffers through blah February, we'll be off enjoying sand and surf in sunny Paradise. And may I just take a moment to say "In your face, Winter!" (followed by a lovely victory dance involving lots of arm flapping and strutting like a chicken) because I have been snowed in long enough.

And the cat barf is really starting to get to me.