Since last Friday evening, I have been housesitting for my aunt, who is globetrotting across Europe (okay, really only Italy and France) for the next two weeks. While normally I wouldn't consider this a noteworthy event, it is a significant change in my living situation (apartment to house, harder to experience "TV time with T-Rav") and, more importantly, she has a cat. And I'm pretty allergic to cats.

In preparation for the next two weeks, my aunt decided there were three major necessities: food (she went on a grocery shopping semi-spree), more food in the form of desserts (cheesecake, cookies, and ice cream sandwiches), and two 10-pill boxes of Claritin-D. In the past when I've roomed with a cat for several days, Claritin-D has been a life saver, sparing me the horrors of incessant sneezing and runaway nasal fluids, which I detest.

A further precaution that I, myself, have implemented is the "two room" system of living. This is a system I used during my adolescent years when I would sleep in the bonus room above our garage, while all of my clothes and various other possessions were housed in another room on the other side of the house. Being an only child, I could take advantage of the split second-floor architecture of our house in this way. In my current temporary living situation, I sleep in my aunt's master bedroom, where the cat is used to having free roam, while dressing myself in a designated "clean room" (so as to keep my clothes as dander and hair free as possible). This is one of my aunt's spare bedrooms which the cat is only allowed in when she sneaks her way in (this has happened several times during the first few days of my stay, leading to a moment of irrational frustration this morning). The only reason I don't just sleep in this room (which I said I was going to) is because it contains only a terribly uncomfortable day-bed without proper pillows or linens, a fact I first discovered as I prepared for bed the first night too exhausted to try to remedy the situation.

At first, I was a little worried about the whole situation, especially when I found out it was two weeks (I originally thought just one). But I must say, so far it has been quite fun. Her cat, Sasha, is probably the most outgoing and fun cat I've ever met (with the exception of your outgoing and fun cat I'm sure) and I honestly haven't had too many problems with sneezing, runny noses, or other such allergy symptons while I've been here. There have been a couple of quick fits of sneezing and fogginess, but nothing bad enough to warrant opening the boxes of Claritin yet.

So that's that. Just thought I'd give you a little update about what I've been up to for the last couple of days. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some cheesecake to devour.