Dear Family and Friends,
It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? Somehow the year is already over, and yet at the same time it feels like it should still be March, when time started to stand still. Matt and I have been very fortunate this year. Neither of us caught Covid, Matt got a new job, I lost a sucky one, and we adopted a new kitten! Oh! We also got engaged in February, but that feels like years ago now somehow. Let’s start at the beginning shall we?
In February, Matt proposed on our Valentine’s Day-After date. I won’t go into further details about that as you already read about it in our Engagement Letter.
In March, I had a nasty work injury where I sliced my left thumb open. It healed fairly quickly, but the scar isn’t pretty and the nerve damage isn’t totally repaired yet. Days after I returned to work, Covid shut down my workplace and everyone was sent home to work. I figured my days were numbered as my job was basically run the cutting tables and 3D printers, and I couldn’t take those home with me. In April, I was furloughed, and in July, I was let go. I was honestly glad of it, that job was a poor fit for my skill set and I had been working on an escape plan of my own for a while.
In June, Matt and I held a small commitment ceremony for ourselves, a year and a day before our wedding next year. With Covid canceling so much of our wedding plans and shower events, we wanted to do something special for ourselves. We went to the same park where we took our engagement photos and hired the same photographer again. We promised to stick by each other, and to keep our wedding date, regardless of what changes that will mean to our ‘dream wedding’ plans. It felt good to do something for us in the midst of all the craziness happening in the world.
In July and August, I signed up for Project Management courses and once I finish cataloging enough Project Management hours from previous projects, I can submit them, and assuming I don’t get audited (most people do though), I can sit for my PMP exam! The end goal is to eventually get a job working from home as a remote project manager. With this year being so crazy and that being a very lengthy process, I’ve back-burner’d it while I ramp up my online business.
September was spent fostering a mama cat and her five kittens! At the end of August, we discovered that a mama cat had kittens in the garage across from our apartment. For about a week, I’d go spend a few hours with them, bringing food and water to gain their trust. Eventually Mamacat let me pet her and pick her up, but the kittens were hard to catch and pet. We let our leasing office know and called Animal Control ourselves, but even after two days, no one came. The kittens were starting to get pretty brave and adventurous, and since three of them were pavement colored (black), Matt allowed me to rescue them inside for their safety. It took a bit of doing, and a laundry hamper, but we eventually captured all six, even Mamacat, and got them all upstairs to our kitchen, which we barricaded. The board was tall enough for the kittens to be trapped, but not much will keep an adult cat contained, so we didn’t try. Every time Mamacat escaped, either I or Kirie would scold her and tell her to go back over the wall to her babies, and she always promptly did.
After a few days of not having access to our kitchen, and both of our allergies in high-gear, Matt and I agreed we needed help. Being terrified that I’d have my new babies taken away from me, I hadn’t yet made the call to the DuPage County Animal Shelter. I shouldn’t have worried. I spoke with a wonderful woman in charge of the foster program and she told me how to register as an emergency foster parent. She had me bring the whole family in the next afternoon to be seen by their intake staff, get a brief physical, and get micro-chipped. Then, I was provided with all the supplies needed to care for my new family until they were big enough to be adopted. I went home with six cats, wet and dry cat food, toys, litter and litter box, towels, and a giant pet carrier.
Mamacat and I cared for them all for about a week, but by that time they were just getting to be too much. A few of them had upset tummies, and two were still too shy and skittish to be petted. It was the HARDEST day when we split them up. I made sure the three kittens we were keeping all saw their mom and siblings in the carrier before they left so they could say goodbye. Mamacat stayed at the shelter for medical treatment and for her upcoming fixing appointment, while the two kittens, Minnie and Padfoot, went to separate foster families for more intense cuddling. With half as many cats in the house, we could breathe a little easier, literally, and we focused on playing with Axel, Zeppelin, and Whisper more.
About a week or so after that, they were all scheduled for adoption interviews, and once again, I couldn’t deal. Matt and I had been thinking long and hard about the kittens and deciding which ones and if any we needed to keep. In the end, the shelter decided for us. Our apartment lease says no more than two cats per apartment, and to adopt to us, they had to check our lease. We could only keep one. The pair of black kittens were rambunctious and adorable, but the little grey one had captured my heart from the beginning. We kept Whisper. Kirie still hates him.
While the weather was still nice, I took Kirie out on walks. I even bought a cat stroller for her! She’d ride for a bit, then walk on a leash for a bit. It took us a very long time to do the short trail around the apartment complex, but the point wasn’t the exercise, it was more for the fresh air. A few times we took Whisper for a walk, and despite being born in a garage, he was instantly terrified of the outside. The goal was a 5k charity walk and we wanted to bring the cats along. It was virtual, so it was just us, and we mapped out a path along our walking trail and looped it behind the apartments. We were given team shirts, and I made both cats matching team capes. So cute! We took them and the stroller out for the walk at 10am, and completed it just past noon. Cats walk very slowly! Kirie walked about half and rode half, Whisper rode half and was carried the other half. Both cats complained the whole way.
October had two large events; the first was Matt’s new job! He had spent two years to the day at his previous job and knew it was time to move on. He got a new job doing the same thing at a national security company. He gained more job autonomy, and has received all the training he has ever asked for and then some. “Death by PowerPoint” he has called it. He does love his new job though. He has the ability to schedule his own route, has the ability to make on the spot decisions, and even decide when he is done for the day. He also got benefits and a new work truck!
I, meanwhile, spent a fair amount of October working on my Bachelorette Zoom Party details. As Halloween is my favorite holiday, and it was on a Saturday and a Full Moon, my besties and I planned a Zoom Halloween Bachelorette party for me, complete with jam-packed witchy bachelorette favor boxes, party games, and cocktail recipes. Having a virtual bachelorette party isn’t ideal, but it’s better than nothing. We have a Party Part 2 in the works but that hasn’t happened yet.
November and December have been all about family, the holidays, and my small business, Smallhouse Models. With everyone staying home and having so much more time on their hands, my dollhouse miniatures business has seen a significant uptick in sales. Back in spring I added nearly 500 new downloadable wallpaper and flooring patterns and that has greatly contributed to my recent success. I’ve also been expanding my physical product line, and I found a new target market with the extremely glamorous and extra #BarbiesOfInstagram.
Well, that’s been our year in a nutshell! Thank you all for your lovely letters and cards, we can’t wait to see you all in June – either in person if it’s safe, or virtually, for our wedding!
Love, Faye and Matt (and Kirie and Whisper)