Back home from Poznan

... after 4 days spent at my aunt, grandma and Co. Lovely time. My grandma is 97,5 and doing fine... an amazing person. We celebrated her namesday and made it as nice for her as possible. My aunt suggested I bring Toska the cat queen to her for the summer and I did. She put one condition: I had to promise I won't take another cat in the fall (I was considering doing so). She's absolutely right, I am very blocked when it comes to travelling. However, when I think that for a few years I had a big dog and a medium dog in this small flat, I personally think that with Happy (small dog) and Toska, there's room enough for one or even two cats more. Now if I did that, my family would think I have officially lost my mind. The only problem is that Toska didn't feel good in the pets' pension and she can stay home alone a couple of days, but when it comes to longer travelling, it would be insane to travel to Poznan on the train with two cats and ask my 70 y.o. aunt to take care of them. She is a pet lover but there are some limits ;-)
Okay, so Toska is there. My aunt already has one *huge* female hunting dog, one small god-knows-what dog and two female cats. Toska is okay with the dogs, she's not impressed, barely sees them and they behave the same. However my aunt told me on the phone today that she started to dominate and 1) one of the cats has to hide constantly 2) the other, an ex-wild cat, is not showing up or when she shows upshe doesn't enter the house. I heard in her voice that she's not very happy with that but she won't say so. I honestly there's nothing to worry about for the moment. The only thing I worry about *terribly* is that Toska was a home cat who never went out. Seing the world was a first experience. She was a little bit anxious the first day but the next, she was already making small expeditions in the huge garden. Unfortunately, she tends to go in the direction of the road - and there's permanently a heavy trafic. If she goes there, she's dead. The third day, the neighbor to the left found her in their house (gulp!) and a moment later, I found her slightly scared in their garden, close to the road. Problem is that their son, in the house to the right, has some sort of huge firm with trucks going in and out all the day long. She goes there, she's dead too. It will be hard to wait over two months now worrying like something. I LOVE THAT CAT, with all her humors, bad temper and all!
, Now, even my aunt says that's a clever kitty. She opens doors easily, so she goes in and out of rooms whether you like it or not. And she comes running very fast when I call her by her name.
She has changed a lot since I brought her from the shelter (where she's only been for 2 months) but she's still not a "warm" cat and she probably never be. But I love her just the way she is! She never ever came on my knees by herself but she started to come to sleep and to get hugged tightly in the mornings. And she purrs then... She's a highly temperamental nature but I miss her sooooooo much :-)
The special cargo pet cage for Happy will be delivered in the morning, I just had to pay over 200 usd for it! ^$#%#^%#%$# It's now only two weeks and four days till the big travel.
Money is still a big issue. I am in a huge stress and this is the reason why I am not active on my groups. These problems are really eating me from the inside. That should be solved by the end of the summer, but in the meantime, I am in deep pooh-pooh. And the tax office wants a huge sum *now*, a sum I don' have and won't have any time soon. And I don't know what to do. I got a big payment today but I need to pay many, many smaller bills tomorrow.
So now real vacation for us both this year. We would love to take at least 10 days off in August and drive 6 hours to the place in the wilderness where we go each year in Norway but with Norwegian prices, I can't let H. pay for us both this time with all the expenses he has this year. Still trying to find a solution because I will feel a little bit like on holidays while there, but he absolutely needs a moment to relax totally this summer. I will be working normally while at his place, but when there will be less work during the week days, I plan to go walking alone with Happy in the woods, bike, have walks around, take the commute train to Oslo and discover the region anyway. H. will do his best to have week-ends free so we can spend them together in the nature but Monday to Friday, he usually is home no earlier than 6 pm because of tons of little things and shopping for food if needed. I hate it and I wish he could be home eralier, but then I realize I am lucky to work from home and that my lifestyle is not a normal one in the working world LOL.
Diet gone to the loo, if you want to know how to add 9 pounds (4 kgs) in 4 days, ask me. I was at minus 12,5 kgs, I am at minus 8,5, but I will start afresh tomorrow morning. It is better then it was, but I need to go on and on... This time, I will win the battle.