Hello! The following will be a bit of a rant. There will be more blog that is not ranting underneath the rant, so if you're not interested in reading me complain, scroll on down. If you'd like to read my rant, be my guest!

So, the foster kittens are doing very well. They're getting over their upper respiratory infections, but their conjunctivitis seems to be getting worse. Naaiya and her family (the official foster parents) are on vacation this week, so that leaves me and Fwirrel (who lives next door to them) to take care of them. Well, Fwirrel got some sort of flu-bug-virus-thingy and couldn't help me at all this weekend, which was extremely stressful because I had another petsitting job I had to drive across town to get to. And the dog was a crazy black lab, but that's a whole different story.

Anyhoo, it's my responsibility now to go to the kittens in the morning, around 8, and feed them and give them meds. Then I drive back (it's about a 10 minute drive) to the kittens around lunch time to give them more food. Then I stay for a while and let them play and climb all over me and poop all over the place (well, they poop in the litter box, but they step in it and track it all over the place). Then I can leave, but I have to drive back over around 5 or 5:30 to feed them again and give them more meds. Then I can go home, but I have to go back over around 8:30 PM to give them more food. This is a lot of driving and a lot of responsibility.

So I decided this morning that I couldn't handle this back and forth, and I called Naaiya and told her I couldn't handle it and I needed to bring the kitties back to the shelter. She didn't answer her phone, so I left a message that went something like "Hey...I'm having trouble doing all the kitty-stuff by myself, Fwirrel is still sick, and I don't think I can handle this. Please call me back. I'm getting really stressed out. I think I should bring them back to the shelter. I mean, it's not fair to them to be cooped up in the bathroom all day and only get food and attention every few hours. I feel so sorry for them. Please call me back." So she called me back an hour later, after I'd taken a short nap that temporarily relieved my pounding headache.
-"Hey," I answered.
-"Don't bring the kittens back," she said.
-"What? Why not?" I asked.
-"Just don't bring them back."
-"But I'm having trouble with this. It's just me taking care of them, driving back and forth. It's a lot of driving and a lot of work for just one person. I'm stressed and I have a headache and I haven't been feeling well for a couple days," I said. Surely she'll understand, I thought.
-"Mom doesn't want you to bring them back. And besides, it's not that inconvenient for you."
-"Not inconvenient? I have to drive to your house. And at night! If Fwirrel wasn't sick and could help out at night, I wouldn't be as stressed, but I have to drive to your house at 8:30 at night to drop food down for the kittens and leave? That's not convenient."
-"Oh, it's not inconvenient. Just don't bring them back," she said. I didn't say anything. If I'd opened my mouth, I would've burst into angry tears. They think they can take advantage of me. They think they can just tell me what to do and I'll do it, no matter how inconvenient or stressful it is for me. Naaiya said, "Okay? Just keep them."
-"Fine. Whatever. Have fun at the beach," I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. I hung up my phone and burst into tears. Now, I'm not normally one to cry when I'm angry (let alone at all...), but I hadn't slept well the night before (had a creepy dream about flying werewolf monkeys that were attacking me - no, I'm not kidding, I really dreamt that) and I had to get up early, drive across town to walk and feed the dog I was petsitting for, then drive over to her house and take care of the kittens, then over to Mass to listen to a priest from Sudan beg for money, and then home for a quick breakfast, then over to the kittens again. I could feel the breakdown coming, and I'm not surprised that that was the trigger.

I called Naaiya later to ask her how I should go about getting more eye-gel for their conjunctivitis, but she never called me back. I texted her, but she won't text me back. I guess she's mad at me. *shrug* I think I have more right to be mad than she does, but I suppose I did interrupt her vacation with my concerns about being able to care for her foster kittens. *grumbles*

My parents were upset that I was still going to take care of the kittens even though they're pretty much using me. I know they're using me, but the kitties need care and they'll get more love and attention if I'm caring for them, rather than if the shelter is caring for them. The shelter workers don't really have the time to give attention to the animals; they're always so busy cleaning and preparing food and doing all those important employee things. I know they're using me, but I'm doing it for the kitties, not for them. I'm also kind of taking care of their actual pet cats, dropping food in the bowl for them and letting one of them (the other one scares me...it's possessed or something) outside every once in a while.

And I don't really even like cats! Though I have found a place in my heart for the clawing, furry, meowers, I doubt I'll ever truly be considered a "cat person." *shrug* They're okay. But I love the dogs more!

Well, I started listening to a Gaelic Storm station on Pandora. Have you heard of Pandora? If not, go here. It's great. I love the music; something in it speaks to me, as weird as that sounds. It inspires all sorts of stories and such.

I watched a great movie last weekend called Unknown. It's great. Five guys wake up in a warehouse with absolutely no memory of who they are, why they're there, or how they got there. I won't summarize it because it's really hard to summarize and not give away the ending. You should definitely watch it. It's fantastic. And I hadn't heard of it before I found it at the local used book store for $3. Great buy, and great movie. I also bought Shergar, an Irish movie about an Irish racehorse. It was surprisingly good for one of those sappy-inspiration movies. I recommend that one too.

Hope you're all doing well. I'm going camping again next week. I'm finally getting new hiking boots! I've been using a pair of Vasque men's size 8, which are too big for me. They were on sale..haha! But I'm getting womens shoes this time. I'm buying them when we're up there, so I don't know what kind I'm getting yet. They're either going to be Keens or Vasque. I'm excited!