Uuuugh, I just want to visit Japan already. All this waiting is bugging me. 

I have some sort of chest cold right now. Awkwardly, I'm going to have to use this blog to track how often I'm sick, so please forgive my future posts that are going to just be me saying how sick I am over and over. I'm trying to figure out if I'm really sick as often as I feel I am, because at this point I feel like I'm sick way too damn often. 

Recent days being sick:
11/11/2019-11/30/2019 - Bladder Infection, Intestinal Infection, large-ish ovarian cyst. Temp of 99-100. Confirmed by ER and Primary, went on 2 rounds of antibiotics. 
12/15/2019 - 12/24/2019 mild fever, body aches, nausea (no vomitting) insane sinus pressure headhaches, a gnarly cough, & shortness of breath

Muffins went to her vet visit, and the poor baby had a semi-poor reaction to her shots. She was droopy and listless for about a day and a half. The vet said that that can happen, but it isn't considered an actual "poor" reaction unless she throws up or has other bad symptoms. She's feeling 100% normal now, and has finally forgiven me for letting the vet take her temperature!

Today I have been a very productive panda! I have:

• Scheduled Muffin's first vet visit
• gathered all the paperwork I will need to take Muffins on the airplane with me and to have her move with us to Japan
• attended my class
• attended a doctor's appointment
• modified my school schedule so I will be attending more classes while in Japan and less classes while here
• scheduled my appointments with my allergy doctor (I have to go get shots once a week, because apparently I'm allergic to everything in the world... including my pets and literally every plant growing around my house)
• did laundry
• did the dishes
• gathered all the required paperwork for

All in all, I have been very productive and I am pleased.
My psch doctor also offered to label Muffins as a comfort animal, possibly because I started panicking when she mentioned I might not be able to keep Muffins in the cabin with me, and partially because I have agoraphobia and was already panicking about being in an enclosed space with lots of people so close to me for so long with no viable escape. I objected at first, but she pointed out that calming me down when I would otherwise be panicking is literally what a comfort animal is (duh).

It's been many many years since we were all on Mindsay, and much has changed in that time! 
I have bought a house, and gotten married! My husband is absolutely wonderful, and every day I love him more and more. We have been together for about 9 years, and married for 4! 
We have 2 dogs (Leela and Roux) and 1 cat (Muffins). I love them all very much as well!
I currently work as an Office Adminstrator at a construction company (we remodel kitchens), and am almost done with my MS in Legal Studies.

The very exciting thing right now is that Alex and I are planning to move to Japan in about a year! Moving to a new place (especially one where you don't know the language very well) is scary, so we have set up some guidelines for ourselves. 

• We must visit Japan prior to moving there (we will be going there in May)
• We must stay in Japan for a full year
• After the full year we must return to America
• If we decide after we return that we want to move there for longer, we can do that after returning to America! 

A large part of the reason we decided that we must return to America after a year is because although we will be taking our kitty, we won't be able to bring our dogs with us at first. Leela is a big girl (she's a great pyranees) and is not able to live in a small apartment. If we decide to move there long-term we will come back and get our sweet doggos, and we will have had time to arrange for somewhere that will be able to handle them. 
Don't misunderstand me, we are not ever getting rid of our fur-babies! We have several different plans for their care while we are abroad, and we will figure out which one works best for our babies sooner to our departure date. 

Options for Doggo Care (In order of preference):

1. Our friend Vik, who our dogs love and loves our dogs, will move into our house for a year while we are gone and live rent free in exchange for taking care of our babies and house. We will pay for all the dog medical care and food, and he will only have to pay household utilities and love our babies. Vik is also the person who dog sits for us while we are out of town, and we know that he and our doggos get along exceptionally well. He is also ultra reliable, and would love to move away from his current rental situation. 
2. Our friends Carol and Duane who love all dogs in the world will move into our house for a year while we are gone, and will have the same setup as Vik. Our dogs don't love them as much as they love Vik, but they are also extremely trustworthy and reliable. 
3. Our furbabies go live with their grandparents for a year! Their grandparents have already agreed to this, but insisted that we must try the other options first. I agree that the other options are better, because then they can still be in a place the are comfortable in. I feel like it would be too intense to change where they are living and who they are living with all at once. It's already going to be stressfull enough to not have Alex and I there. 

I will post more about our plans later! I have much more to write about, such as the steps we will need to take to get Muffins (our cat) ready to move to Japan, as well as our job hunt struggles, passport struggles, and the difficulty I'm going to have with my visa!

I am beyond excited! 
So far, I am loving the interface!