With so many posts floating around the Internet about how to budget and/or have nice things, I thought I'd weigh in on my experiences. So, how do you not budget and/or have nice things? Simple! Have pets. Or probably kids, but I don't have any experience with those yet. This is the culprit responsible for today's anti-budgeting-and-nice-things:
He's a little monster, but he's my (our) little monster.
Last weekend, this handsome little monster decided to eat a baby squirrel. Shortly thereafter, he developed a cough. My thought was that something crunchy from his tasty tasty kitty treat got lodged somewhere in his system. My hubby is of the "lets wait and see if it gets better on its own" school of medicine (likely from his years of experience as a Doc in the Navy). So we waited, until this morning, when we were tired from a night of listening to the little monster coughing, when I made an appointment to take him to the kitty doc this afternoon.
Even though my hubby and I have 3 kitties, we don't have a kitty carrier. Luckily for me, the little monster is the "good" kitty. Last time he needed a trip to the kitty doc, he did fine loose in my car, so I figured we'd do the same thing this time. I plopped him on the passenger seat with the words "please don't poop" (we have a history of cats pooping in cars).
He didn't poop. He did get car sick and puke. Twice. The first time, he started yowling so I stopped on the side of the road in time to witness the little monster puking on the backseat. The second time, I identified the yowling sooner, stopped the car sooner, and pulled him onto my lap to try to settle his stomach with soothing and looking out the window. It was a great plan, until it wasn't. When he started making the sound (you know the one I'm talking about), I had little choice but to catch his puke. In my hand. And then roll down the window and glop it onto the ground.
And that is the last time I put a kitty in the car and don't bring a towel. Actually, I should probably just ALWAYS have a towel in my car.
After the little monster successfully emptied his stomach onto me and my car, the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We spent over $200 to learn that he most likely has asthma and/or seasonal allergies. On the plus side, the kitty doc accidentally took extra X-rays of his abdomen and didn't find any trace of last weekend's tasty tasty kitty treat, so no negative consequences there. Except for the baby squirrel.
And there you have it: how to NOT stick to a budget or have nice things.
