Cat Conundrum

For the cats to travel in one pet carrier on AA, the carrier must weigh less than 20 pounds in all.  This is what I found out in the last hour by doing research online.  Of course, it's 1 in the morning, and I'm a little too tired to round them up and do the scale right now.  BUT, I will absolutely be doing that tomorrow before I pack a carry-on bag that may not actually be going on the trip because the cat carrier counts as one carry-on for us.  Positive thinking here.  We will be able to take both in one.

Today we got Adam and Eve their first collars, tags, and harnesses.  Here is Adam with his new bow-tie collar.

Isn't he handsome?  And here is Eve with her collar and harness on.

Dressed for Success! Also, I learned in my reading that we have to actually take the cats out of the carrier and walk them through the metal detector.  This could spell disaster.  I guess you can ask for a private screening room at security.. but who knows if that is true.  We'll just have to see what happens when we get to the airport Wednesday!

Countdown: 7 days

Where did the last few weeks go?  I've started the dual packing process: storage and luggage.  Currently, I'm worried about how everything we need is going to weigh less than 70 pounds each.  I think it will all fit, but the weight is adding up quickly.  Packing is the worst. 


Today we went to LA and got the USDA certificate for the cats.  Glad that is all taken care of.  And we found a renter!  What a relief!  Now I've gotta finish packing the house up, get our luggage under control, take care of changing our address at umpteen places, move our stuff into storage, and not lose my sanity.

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

If you liked The Time Traveler's Wife, read this book. Although more reincarnation than time travel, the story is written with the same transitions between past and present. A little confusing at the get go, the story unfolds in a beautiful way that makes you want more of the past and more the present at the same time. I love how the author switches between first person and third person when changing times. This is a love story between Daniel who has ability to remember past lives and his soul mate who does not. The ending felt a bit unfinished, but I wouldn't want to ruin it for you. Overall, My Name is Memory was an enjoyable read with an original story that left me wishing for more chapters.

Countdown: 5 weeks

 We're off to Dominica in just 5 short weeks!

Thanks to Ross Spouses Organization, and Samantha, I am now being Sponsored! What exactly does that mean? No, I'm not part of an AA program.. it means that Samantha has volunteered to help answer all my questions about Dominica! Not only did she answer a hundred questions, she also did some housing research for me, and helped us pick out our future apartment. We're going to be living at Silver Lining on MooCow!

haha.. don't you love the name? The choices were Lizard Trail, Banana Trail, or MooCow. Although we would have preferred to be at Lizard Trail which is super close to campus, not a single place would accept pets!  Thankfully, the landlord at Silver Lining agreed to let us have pets even though he doesn't normally. $850: which includes a $50 charge per month for the cats, and $50 more per month because there are two of us living there. Talk about taking advantage... The cats, again, are making our lives tricky. Did I mention that because we each are taking a cat, it means that we don't get carry on luggage?! Only a "personal item". Uggh.. But, at least it's done with!

Housing.. check!
Plane tickets.. check!
Immunizations and Tests... check!

What's left? renting our house, packing up the house, packing our luggage, finishing the VISA process, and hopefully keeping my sanity!

Plane Tickets

It took about 2 hours of talking to people to finally book our tickets to Dominica this morning. In my experience, people either want to help you, or they don't. You have to find the right person sometimes to get things to work out in your favor. This morning, the first girl I talked to was not interesting in working with me and helping. She was helpful in picking the flights, but when it came to adding the cats to the flight she stopped being helpful. The computer wouldn't let her add the cats and she basically said we could not bring our pets into the country. I know that to be false and I told her as much, but she didn't want to listen. I asked her to please ask her manager and after 5 minutes on hold she said that she still could not book us the ticket with the cats because the last leg of the flight, from Puerto Rico to Dominica doesn't allow pets in the cabin. But that didn't make sense because I had read several stories of people bringing their pets on the airplane to Dominica. So.. after a frustrating few minutes of arguing with the girl that yes, people do bring their pets I finally put the tickets on hold. Then I started looking into pet shipping services and those cost about 1500 for 2 cats. Which just made me even madder, and so I called the airline back hoping for a more kind agent. This time, I hit the jackpot. Not only did this agent want to help me, but her niece is actually going to Ross University right now for veterinary medicine! She got the computer to override the 'no cat' policy, and bang! we have 2 tickets to DOM with 2 pet reservations.

A harrowing morning on the phone, in 100 degree weather with my laptop burning on my legs and my phone plugged into the wall while i'm leaning over trying to get this all finished.

$2500=2 tickets