June 04, 2003 - 11:52 a.m.

simon had an rdo (rostered day off) yesterday, so i begged him to go property hunting with me instead of working on his radio show. most of the time i let the radio show win because i know it's important to him. finding a cheaper place to live, however, is tops on my list, and we don't usually have a day off together during the week. saturday is too hard for thorough property scouting, seeing as simon works every other saturday, and real estate offices are open limited hours. oh yeah, we like to sleep in, too.

we did a few drive-bys and actually inspected one property, but it was pretty grotty. the places we really wanted to see won't be available for at least two weeks (no prior inspections), so our timing wasn't the best.

i think we have to give 30 days notice before vacating our current house, but who knows where they'll be moving to that far in advance? i don't want to pay rent for two places. there's the catch-22: if we notify the real estate agent that we want to move, then we have to find a place within 30 days. if we don't give notice until we find a place, we have to pay double rent for a month or hope the new landlord will wait a month for us to move in and start paying. am i missing something here? i wonder how other people handle this situation.

after the hunt, we had lunch at the tin pot, the cafe just around the corner from our house. we were about to get up and pay the bill when lu walked past. (and, just before we saw her, tidy from the secret life of us rode by on his bicycle!)

lu came over for tea and met miko (pronounced MEEK-o), aka the new kitty. she jumped in lu's lap with no prompting, so we'll take that as a good sign.

we dropped lu off to run an errand and took miko to the vet to get antibiotics for her kitty cold. i had never taken my own pet to the vet before, so i couldn't help but be nervous for her when she was examined.

when we got home, i used a wire brush to groom her coat for the first time. my family has always had cats (21 at one time in a freak multiple-pregnancy that we discovered one summer). however, we've never had a long-haired cat before, so i didn't know what to expect when simon and i discovered the weird cocoon-like alien thing near her butt. it was at least two inches (5 cm) long but hidden because her fur is so long. we both took turns cutting it out of her fur, little snips at a time because we weren't sure if it was connected to her skin.

simon inspected it and thinks it's a piece of chewing gum that turned into some sort of kitty dreadlock by getting mangled up in her fur. !! who knows how long she's been without proper care - pound animals are always a mystery. i can't wait to discover what's in the rest of her fur when i do a thorough examination later, ha ha.

today's goals:
* mail forms to u.s. govt to defer student loans for another year
* head to smith street to pick up the following:
����- bar soap (avocado and orange are our favorites)
����- yummy-tasting natural toothpaste (i hope)
����- a few miscellaneous items i'm hoping to find in op shops / thrift stores
* put together the june birthday packages and prepare for mailing
* the usual dishes/laundry/ironing/dinner etc