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      Saturday, December 03, 2005


otherstuff
10:41 AM - 12/03/2005

The topic: I haven’t been keeping up
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I haven’t been keeping up with the journal because I’ve been incredibly tired ever since the Disney trip.  I’m thinking maybe it’s because I haven’t been taking my vitamins and supplements. 

And I’m not getting the quality of sleep that I should be.  The cats.  It’s the cats.  Last night, I woke up at least once an hour.  And it wasn’t a wake up that I just rolled over and went back to sleep.  It was a wake up that I was wide awake.  Not good.

So, today I’m going to set up that little airbed in the extra room.  I’m going to make it up.  I’d been waiting until I got the frame that I ordered at the beginning of last month, but that’s apparently on back order for who knows how long.  Every time I contact them, it’s “we’ll see that your order is processed within the next 48 hours”.  I could cancel the order, but I want the frame, so I just wait.

And tonight, if I have a hard time going to sleep, I’ll just go into that room and lay down on the bed and see if I can sleep through the night on that.

For right now, I think I’ll go take a nap. cwm33

      Sunday, December 11, 2005


otherstuff
09:20 AM - 12/11/2005

The topic: Ah, it’s still here!
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My diary hasn’t disappeared!  *lol*

I’m alive.  Taking my daily supplements daily is helping.  The fact that the weather has significantly cooled off has helped, too.  Good sleeping weather.

I’ve been having some mighty strange dreams, though.

I dreamed my father was trying to molest me.  No, this isn’t old subconscious realities coming to the front, my father never molested me.  In the dream, I was an adult and my father was old.  It was more a thing that he didn’t know who I was, he had Alzheimer’s.  I just kept smacking him away from me and saying “stop it, Dad”.  (By the way, my father died in 1987 at the age of 58.)

Another night, we were staying up at Disneyland.  I had my room key and was wanted to get back to the room. Well, I couldn’t find the damned room.  I was on the right floor and I kept going around and around looking for the door that held the lock that would accept this key.  The halls were crowded with activities for children because it had been so rainy (ha! I wish).  My mom even showed up to help me look for the room and I was snotty to her because if I couldn’t find it, I knew there was no way in hell she was going to help me find it.  (By the way, my mother absolutely hates the Disneyland experience, so she would never have been there to help me find anything.)

And on still another night, once again we were at Disneyland and they put in some humongous maze type thing.  I mean, this maze would take days to complete.  I found out after wandering through it for hours that you could leave the maze at any point and rejoin it later.  Even if it was at a different area.  I took advantage of that.  Brian joined me at one point, then I left to get something to eat and he stayed.  Really strange dream.  The walls were of concrete, but made to look like smooth rock.  Some of it was under cover, most was not.  And throughout, there were larger areas that held cast members putting on little shows, like snake charming.  Where on earth is this stuff coming from?

The fact that I remembered the dreams means that I was awake shortly after having them.  I’m lucky in one thing, though.  When I’m dreaming, I know I’m dreaming.  That if the dream is too disturbing, I can easily change the direction it’s going by knowing I can do that.

Oh, did I ever mention I dreamed once that I had sex with Kevin Costner?  He wasn’t very good.  jesterA

Oh, the bed frame is finally supposed to be here tomorrow!  yippee

Now, for other goings on.

I don’t think I mentioned that we ordered an oven to go with the stove.  We liked the look of the stove so much and the fact that it had the electronic ignition, that we went online and ended up getting an oven from the same place that sent the stove.  And amazingly, the oven took much less longer to get here than the stove.  The stove took weeks, the oven took about a week.  Brian installed it last Sunday.  It’s very, very nice.  I’m so happy with my new kitchen that I spent over an hour one day last week scrubbing the sink.  It’s white!  It was so stained and had so many black marks from pots and pans over the years that it amazes me when I clean it.  I don’t know why I don’t do it every couple of days instead of every couple of years.  Maybe it’s because it dries out my lovely model hands.  Ha. 

No, I’m so pleased with how everything looks, I’m doing a much better job of keeping up with it now.

Even Brian is asking where things go when he empties out the dishwasher.  Before it was just put stuff wherever it fit.

Also last weekend, while Brian was installing the oven, I got some of these and redid two of the drawers in the kitchen.  The drawer with the utility type stuff, you know, screwdrivers, tape measure and the drawer with my food prep helpers, you know, measuring cups and spoons, whisks, rolling pin.  They both turned out nicely.  A couple of weeks ago Brian was giving me grief because it appeared that many of the screwdrivers from the little kit he made up for me were missing. Well, I found out last Sunday that all are still there.  The drawer had been such a mess, you just couldn’t find them.  One thing I’m finding out as I age is that if I keep things organized and in their place (which only takes a couple of minutes), I save time in the long run.  Because I’m not searching for them and I don’t get frustrated about not being able to find them.

Back before my birthday, I was bugging my mom for a new camcorder. I’d ask her everytime I spoke with her “did you get my camcorder yet?”  Well, last week, she asked what I wanted for Christmas.  I laughed.  I said “a new camcorder!”  She said “not that again!”  Well, last Thursday night, Brian and I headed for Santee. He needed stuff from Henry’s (health food stuff) and we needed to hit the petstore and we needed to go to CostCo.  At CostCo, I said I wanted to look at the camcorders.

They had three. Two Sony’s and one JVC.  Well, my old camcorder is a JVC and I never liked the way it did the sky or things that were light blue.  Because they’d be white and become blue on the camera.  Looking at something on a hill, the background would be white instead of blue, gradually turning the proper shade.  That always bugged me.  So, the JVC was out.  That left the Sony’s.  I walked out of CostCo with the Sony DVD103.  One of the nice things about CostCo is that if you don’t like something, you can take it back. 

Well, I like it.  It’s lightweight and easy to use.  And it has…ACCESSORIES!  Which I bought online.  A microphone and a light source that does infrared!  It came with one disk, so I had to order more.  I did a search and found mini RW DVDs that can be burnt on both sides, giving me twice as much time to record.  I went with the rewriteable ones because I won’t store information on them.  I’ll transfer that over to regular sized disks here at home.  I got additional batteries and an additional battery charger that can be plugged in to a wall outlet or a car outlet.  I’m set.  I’d really like to get up to Disneyland and record all of the Christmas stuff as well as the fireworks. 

And I could never return it now anyway. The cats barfed all over the manual yesterday afternoon.   

plain

During my cleanup of the kitchen and pantry over the past month, I found some large bottles of liquid color fast bleach.  I’m not a fan of liquid detergents.  Brian got these for me by mistake. I’d asked for Clorox bleach and he brought home the color safe stuff.  I figured I’d use them up, then just not get them again. Well, they screwed up my washing machine.  They put out way too many suds, even though I was using well below half of what was called for.  The machine got so bad that I called Sears, ready to make an appointment for the repairman.  He asked about detergent, said that the wrong stuff could interfer with the workings of the pump and the machine wouldn’t work properly and it just might break it altogether.  He said to give it a while for the suds to go down, then it should work okay. 

It did.  When I first called, it wouldn’t even drain.  Then it was really loud when it hit the spin cycle.  Now, days later, it’s back to normal. And the liquid color safe bleach is ready to go someplace else.  I won’t use it ever again.  The repairman did tell me that now they tell folks who buy frontloading washing machines that if they don’t use the correct detergent, that it will void the warranty.  Well, we weren’t told that and if my machine dies because of it, I’ll expect them to fix it properly, at no cost to us.

Today’s chore is ironing.  Brian left for the property not too long ago and I really should get started.  The mornings have been chilly and he really needs his long sleeved shirts.  And the shirts being ironed makes him look a little more professional.  I just doesn’t look good to show up at jobs in Coronado all wrinkled.

      Monday, December 12, 2005


otherstuff
01:27 PM - 12/12/2005

The topic: My favorite holiday song
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"Sleigh Ride"

otherstuff
06:09 PM - 12/12/2005

The topic: My new stove
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Some kitty peed in it this past weekend. Lovely. At least it was much easier to clean than the old one.

      Tuesday, December 13, 2005


otherstuff
01:17 AM - 12/13/2005

The topic: Can’t sleep
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The bed frame came for the airbed.  I set it up this afternoon and it takes up what little space is left in the exercise room.  I really have to rethink this situation.

I’m seriously considering kicking the cats out of the bedroom at night.  I need to sleep and if I’m having an iffy night, having the cats all over me doesn’t help.  I was sleeping fine, the DeeJay came into bed smelling of shit (sorry for the crudity, but it’s late and I’m crabby).  And of course, he has to sleep right by my face, which happens to be where my nose lives.

So, I figure I’ll sleep on the sofa.  Don’t want to make what little life DeeJay has any harder than it has to be.  I went into the kitchen, looking to take some Excedrin.  Last month I did something to my upper left arm and it’s been hurting like a sonuvabitch when I turn it just so.  It was hell earlier when I slid the airbed into the envelope above the frame today.  That’s the problem with the arm getting better, it doesn’t take much to make it hurt again.  I can’t even imagine wearing a sling to keep from using it.

I walked into the kitchen and turned on a light because it smelled.  I figured the laundry room floor must be pretty bad.  It wasn’t the laundry room floor, it was the kitchen.  It would appear that DeeJay has the runs, which he hasn’t had in weeks.  I cleaned up the mess and took my pain reliever.  Then I tried laying down on the sofa.  Sagwa was at my feet and he kept grabbing at the blanket, attaching his claws to my toes in the process.  This didn’t make me really happy.

(I’m on the laptop right now, on the airbed in the exercise room and I hear the possum walking on the fencing above the gate outside of the window here.  There’s also a windchime hanging from the fencing, and every so often, I hear the chimes banging together.  He’s probably on his way out to finish whatever food is left in the entryway.)

This airbed is lopsided.  It’s cold, too.  I think it needs more air.  And the cats are hanging around outside of the door.  I’ve left a couple of times, sleep is avoiding me.  Mystie is just sitting there.  She cried a little.  She loves me and she is one of the cats who makes sleep so difficult for me in the bed, because she sleeps right up against me and I can’t move.  I want to be in my own bed right now.  This room isn’t familiar at night.  It looks like there was a major explosion of boxes and stuff and I’m not at all comfortable.  One good thing is it is cold in here, which should help me sleep a little better.  If I could just get my mind to shut the hell up.

I did take some valerian just a little while ago.  I’ve had it in the cupboard for a while now, along with l-tryptophan.  If I had some pot, I’d probably smoke it. But then, I might lose my husband, so maybe I wouldn’t.  Nix the pot idea.

The valerian didn’t smell so strongly of buttcrack, that was nice. I’m wondering how long it will be before I start burping it up.

And I’m incredibly hungry.  I don’t know why I’m hungry, but I am.

*sigh*

UPDATE:


Well, I finally fell asleep on the sofa.  The last time I’d looked at the clock it was 2:15.  Then, something woke me up and there was a cat at my head.  I reached up and petted the cat and thought “Hmmm…Handsome”. Then I petted the cat laying on my side.  That cat was Handsome.  So, the cat on my head was DeeJay.  Not good.  Don’t get me wrong, I love this boy, but if he’s close to you and you move at all, he grumbles and it’s just plain annoying. I got up and went to bed.  It was 2:46.  So far, I’d probably gotten an hour’s sleep all night long.

Brian wasn’t in bed and I knew he wasn’t in the family room and I said “are you there?” and he answered from the bathroom.  I told him what a rotten night’s sleep I was getting.  I fell back to sleep shortly after.  Between four and four-thirty something jolted me out of a sound sleep.  I thought it was people walking down the street.  It wasn’t.  It was dogs barking and yipping at the coyotes.  I didn’t realize this at first and I asked, alarmed “what was that!?”  Brian said “coyotes”.  I asked where they were and he said probably in the field at the top of the hill we were supposed to be walking up this morning.  I lay there and listened to the noise for a good half hour, following the sounds of the dogs barking and the coyotes yipping down the hill.  Then they stopped.  I said a prayer that our two ferals would be safe. 

I woke up again at five, and let the cats out.  I woke up when the heater came on at 5:45, I also looked out front and KittyMeeze and Carla were both there.  I fed them, unblocked the garage door and unlocked it and went back to bed. And promptly fell back to sleep.  Brian didn’t wake me up for our walk, which was really nice of him.

We got up at 6:45 and I got dressed and booted up the computers, then into the kitchen and got the slicer out to slice the roast I cooked for Brian’s lunch this week.  I like that slicer.  I like having the meat all the same thickness. Then I made Brian’s lunch, ate my cereal, then came back here.
Now, he’s gone, I have to call my mom, then I think I’ll go back to sleep.  Or something. cwm33

      Tuesday, December 20, 2005


catstuff
06:09 PM - 12/20/2005

The topic: A sad anniversary
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We lost Hollywood twelve years ago today. Damn dogs.

disneystuff
06:13 PM - 12/20/2005

The topic: The happiest place
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We went to Disneyland last weekend, spent the night at the Hilton.  I’m very impressed.

We’re going again tomorrow.  Brian is dropping me off as he has business in the Los Angeles area, so I’ll be there by my “onesie” as Captain Jack would say for about four hours. Then he’ll be joining up.

I took a bunch of video last weekend with my new Sony Handycam.  I got the fireworks, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise in their entirety. I’m very happy with the resolution.  I’ll be taking the cam again tomorrow and get some more ride video.


otherstuff
06:19 PM - 12/20/2005

The topic: Tired….
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I think I figured out why I’ve been tired.  First off, when we got back from the October trip, I was sick.  Then when I went to get my pap smear, my blood pressure was really high.  So, I figure that it’s my brain telling my body to slow down. 

I was seriously considering making an appointment with a doctor so that I could get my blood pressure under control.  I mentioned this to Brian and he said to say something to the chiro at the next appointment.  I forgot, but Brian remembered and the doc took my blood pressure.  And he asked “now, what’s wrong with your blood pressure?” 

It was 135/80.  My pulse was 71.  The 135 could easily be explained by recent physical activity. There was nothing wrong with my b/p.  What a relief that was.  And I did start taking my supplements on a more regular basis which I’m sure is helping. 

And I’m sleeping well.  I actually slept until about 6:20 yesterday morning, well past the time I usually get up.  Now that the heat comes on, I usually get up with it.  Not the past two days.

It’s nice to sleep.

I’ve been baking the past week, getting stuff ready to give out for Christmas.  And once this season is over, I’m pretty sure I’ll be more regular about making blog entries.

So, if I don’t post again in the near future, have a great Christmas and stay safe.

      Friday, December 23, 2005


catstuff
09:30 AM - 12/23/2005

The topic: Prayers for Annie?
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If you think about it, could you send some prayers/healing thoughts her way? 

She doesn’t have a fever, but she definitely is not feeling good.  I’m giving her fluids to keep her hydrated, but I’m thinking there’s a very strong possibility she’ll end up at the vet’s office. 

Please keep this old girl in your thoughts.

Thanks.

      Saturday, December 24, 2005


catstuff
12:51 PM - 12/24/2005

The topic: Annie update
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I think she’s doing a little better.  Not much, but anything is better than nothing or the alternative.

I think something I gave her last night wasn’t such a good idea.  Her eyes got very runny and her face actually looked like it was swollen.  At one point, she started rubbing her eyes, so I know they itched.  I gave her some artificial tears to help soothe them and this morning put some Terramycin in them. 

She is walking a little better, I’m sure it wouldn’t look so bad if she weren’t squinting so much.  She did start lapping a little water and she found it was easier for her to drink from the faucet in the tub.  Today is the most I’ve seen her sleep since she started showing signs of not feeling well.  And she’s sleeping soundly.

And as the day wears on, her eyes are getting better, too.  They aren’t runny and she’s opening them more when she opens them. 

She ate a little this morning, not really much.  She half heartedly lapped at some soft food.  Late this morning, I took her into the bathroom and put A/D on my finger and put it in her mouth and she’d eat it down, not spit it out or fight me.  I prolly gave her about an ounce or so, not a lot, but so far she’s kept it down.

If her face continues to get better and she keeps getting some much needed good sleep (which is one of the best things for when you’re sick, it gives the body a chance to heal), I think she’ll be okay. 

Thanks for all of the prayers and healing wishes.  Please, don’t stop.  She still needs them.

I think she knew she wasn’t feeling well earlier this week.  She’s not much for cuddling, but the days before she came down with whatever, she really wanted to be held.  Which we both did for her, so I’m glad about that.  I think it was easy to do because it was such a rare thing for her to do. 

And her brother, DeeJay, just keeps going and going and going…...

      Sunday, December 25, 2005


catstuff
10:05 AM - 12/25/2005

The topic: Annie update
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Well, it’s going to be a Merry Christmas afterall.  I was really worried that Annie and I would be at the emergency hospital, but this morning she’s showing a marked improvement!

I started her on fluids Friday and yesterday I upped the dose.  I gave her 120cc in the morning, 60cc in the afternoon and another 120cc last night.  She wasn’t happy about any of it, but I think it helped her out a lot.  I didn’t give her any more pills or meds or anything like that.

I also got her to eat some A/D, by putting it on my finger and putting it in her mouth. She’s swallow it, then.  As soon as she started turning her head or fighting me, I’d stop.  I did this a couple of times.  Last night, after we got home from my mom’s, I watched Annie poop in the litterbox and she tried covering it up.  She still seemed pretty weak, though. 

I gave her a little turkey last night and although she showed some interest in it, she had a hard time chewing and it would just fall out of her mouth.  Her eyes still looked bad to me. 

I did have a moist washcloth in the office and every so often I’d wipe her eyes off. She liked that.  After I gave her the last 120cc of fluids, she laid down and rested her head.  I turned off the lights and spent about a half hour in here just petting her and giving her gentle scratches under her neck.  I knew if she wasn’t doing better this morning, we’d be off.

Well, this morning when I got up to let the cats out, Annie was up and she walked into my bathroom.  I opened the shower door and she jumped up on the edge.  She was reluctant to jump into the tub, so I helped her.  I turned on the water and she put her paws up on the edge of the tub and started lapping.  Full on lapping.  This was good.  Then she went back into the office and I followed her. 

When I got up to feed KittyMeeze and turn on the cameras, I gave her some Fancy Feast, which she showed interest in. I had to shut the office door to keep Walter out of the food.  He’s magic, just appears whenever something smells good enough to eat.  She lapped at the food, then actually started eating it.  She didn’t eat very much at all, but the fact that she was biting it, was good. 

I took the leftover food out to KittyMeeze, then went back to bed. When I got up for the day, she wanted more to eat, so I heated up the 9Lives I’d opened early yesterday.  She liked that.  (She’s never really eaten much at a time, she’s always been more of a nibbler, so I’m not real concerned about the fact that she’s not eating a bunch.) After she had her fill of food, she wobbled over to the bowl of water I have for her on the desk and started drinking.  Not just sniffing the water and trying to lap, but she drank.  It was a good thing.

I told Brian it looked like there’d be no vet visit in today’s schedule! 

I gave her more fluids, since I know she’s not completely over whatever was going on with her, but I know she’s over the worst of it.  Last year, she spent the first week of the new year at the animal hospital.  I’m going to do what I can to prevent that from happening this year.

Thank you all for the prayer and good thoughts for our little Annie.  I know they made the difference.


otherstuff
06:30 PM - 12/25/2005

The topic: Hahahahaha!
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But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!

      Monday, December 26, 2005


catstuff
07:48 AM - 12/26/2005

The topic: Super Kitty!
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This past weekend, I started a new game with Ciara.  I set her on my left shoulder, facing forward. I take her front paws in my right hand and hold them out straight.  I keep her back stable with my left hand on her back.

Then I run through the house, yelling “Yay! Super Kitty!  Super Ciara!” the entire way.  Brian even super kittied her last night.  I don’t think she quite knows what to think of this new game.

jesterA

      Tuesday, December 27, 2005


otherstuff
08:17 AM - 12/27/2005

The topic: My new stove
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One of the bad things about my new stove is the cats pee in it. One of the good things is it's very easy to clean up. I don't know if they peed in my old one, because there were openings around the burners and a catch bucket thing below that you could clean by lifting up the top piece of the stove. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Unless you can smell it, then it's piss.

One of the bad things about my new stove is the cats pee in it.  One of the good things is it’s very easy to clean up.

I don’t know if they peed in my old one, because there were openings around the burners and a catch bucket thing below that you could clean by lifting up the top piece of the stove.

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.  Unless you can smell it, then it’s piss.

      Wednesday, December 28, 2005


otherstuff
01:11 PM - 12/28/2005

The topic: I called Sears this morning
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Again about the washer.  See, I never did change detergent, I just lessened the amount I was using and quit using the liquid color safe bleach.

And last night, the SOB gave me the SUD message. And it would stop the cycle, set a while, then start it back up.  It would have done this for hours and hours, probably all night long, if I hadn’t ended up unplugging the POS (which is what I was calling it last night).  The first time I called, I was told to let it set.  Well, I let it set all damned night and the expletive thing did the same thing this morning when I started it back up.

So, I call Sears.  I told the guy who answered the phone that my washing machine wasn’t working and I was just about ready to go get a big hammer and make sure it had a real reason not to work.  *lol*  He quickly transferred me to a service tech and he walked me through the process of getting it working again.  I was told that using regular detergent was not a good thing and that this would start happening more and more.  Even using less than usual, wasn’t good enough.  He said if I must use it on a rare occasion, to only use a sixth of what is called for.  He said that I had been misinformed when we purchased the machine.  Grrrr…......

First thing was to get the soaking wet towels out of it.  I couldn’t do that because the POS, SOB, frikking door was locked to keep little kids from climbing in during the spin cycle.

Unplug it for two minutes.  Plug it back in.  If the “screen” isn’t blank, press “end cycle”.

Take soaking wet laundry and put it somewhere outside of the washer drum. (I put it in the dryer, great place, for it, huh?)

Put a gallon of cold, clean water into the washer drum.  Shut the door.  Unplug the machine (not necessary, but I did it anyway).

Let it set for at least an hour for the cold water to get down into the pump and dilute the suds.

Plug it back in, turn it on.  Select the spin/drain cycle.

And voila, it should work.

And it does.  Later today, I will be heading off to the grocery store to buy some HE (high efficiency) laundry detergent.  And just save the old stuff for emergencies.


catstuff
01:25 PM - 12/28/2005

The topic: Annie…..*sigh*....
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I made a vet’s appointment for her.  I’l be taking her in tomorrow at 10:45.  I don’t know what’s going on with her at all.  Yesterday, I thought she was making progress.  She had more of an appetite, she was drinking more from the tub faucet. 

Then, late yesterday afternoon, I noticed her left paw was swollen.  It was better this morning, but I didn’t think it should be that swollen that long after I’d given her fluids. Whenever I looked in on her during the night, she looked like she was fast asleep.

Then this morning, she wasn’t doing nearly as well.  She did drink from the faucet.  I gave her a quarter of a tab of periactin and it did perk up her appetite.  But her head tilt looked like it was coming back.  So, I called and made the appointment.  I tried for today, but there were no openings.

Shortly after this, she started the frequent trips to the litter box, showing the signs of those bladder infections she gets.  And the only thing that helps those are the amitriptyline pills.  She went outside a couple of times, trying to pee and I was able to get a pill down her.  About a half hour after I dosed her, she started sleeping.  She just got down to pee again and now she’s back on her towel.

*sigh*

I know she’s old.  I know she’s had a good life.  In cat years she’s a few months shy of 18.  In human years, that would be 80.  And I have to remember this when I look at her.  Not see a human eighteen year old, but a human eighty year old.  It makes a difference.  Her eyes are clear and with any luck, this won’t be her time, just like it wasn’t her time last year.  She’s a good old girl and I’ll surely miss her when she’s gone, which hopefully, won’t be for a while yet.


otherstuff
01:57 PM - 12/28/2005

The topic: Christmas
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The week of Christmas I spent hours in the kitchen making cookies.  Lots and lots of cookies.  Snickerdoodles, two kinds of peanut butter cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, milk chocolate chip cookies with chopped walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate cookies, milk chocolate chip with Santa chips cookies and some fudge.  Lots of cookies.

I gave some to the trashman, the mailman, a friend of my mom’s, a ton to the vet’s office and to my mother-in-law. 

Brian was kind of disappointed that all that were left after I had packaged them were snickerdoodles.  Oh, well.  I guess I misunderstood him when he complained about all of the chocolate chip cookies being too sweet.  *sigh*

Anyway, when we moved into our house, Brian brought this old Atari console with him.  He said the game didn’t work.  Earlier this year, I tried to fix it, but wasn’t able to.  For Christmas, I found a retro Atari game, with forty games on it. Games that looked just like the old Atari system.  I bought it, wrapped it and put it under all of my mom’s presents that I stacked in a box for easy carrying. 

He didn’t like it.  On the way home he said “I can’t believe you bought that.  I can’t believe you don’t know I hate games like that”.  Huh?  If you hated it so much, why didn’t you just throw out your old broken console instead of bringing it to our house?  I told him it was the thought that counted, he could consider my feelings hurt and as a matter of fact, I was ready to cry.  He said he was sorry.

Anyway, I’ve been collecting stuff for my mom all year long.  I got her (and my mother-in-law) these really nice socks they sell at CostCo, they come three to a pack and they’re called “the world’s softest socks”.  They aren’t only soft, they’re very, very warm.  When we were up at Disneyland last week, we picked up assorted chocolates for both of them.  For my mom, I got a singing leprechan for St. Pat’s day, a clock that has what day of the week it is on it, as well as the time (I can’t count the times she’s asked me “what day is it?”).  I bought her a sweater that has kitties embroidered on it.  And a six pack of Spam meat.  And a gift card for Wal-Mart.  Her kitty cats got four flavors of Greenies cat treats, some shiny mousies and an electric cat bed.

She was just tickled. She said it was the best Christmas she’s ever had, she didn’t think she’d ever gotten that much stuff (I don’t believe that, my dad was a great gift giver).  She’s been showing off stuff to her friends since. 

My mother-in-law didn’t get her gifts until this morning.  I wish it could have been sooner, but since Brian’s brother and wife live at my mother-in-law’s house now (well, they’ve got their own home elsewhere, but moved in with Brian’s mom until they get their rental remodel finished since he needs to be up here to work on it) and my sister-in-law absolutely hates my guts (don’t think that’s gonna change any time soon), I won’t go over there.  Just too much tension and too hard on everyone’s nerves.

She called here this morning thanking me for the cookies and the socks.  And she said the card we gave her brought her to tears, it touched her so. Then she told me how she helps the neighbor ladies out by bringing out their trash and bringing it back in. She was going over to sweep the leaves off of one of their driveways after we finished our conversation.  Her neighbors are 93 and 95.  My mother-in-law is eighty.  I wonder if she’ll ever be able to have her own life, to be able to live for herself.  She had it for a while after my father-in-law died and her youngest grandson would go back to live with his mom.  I know she really enjoyed being able to just sit there and read a book and not have to worry about cooking dinner or doing laundry.  I hope she does get a chance to rest before she dies.

I also got a call from my mom’s friend who I sent a tin of cookies.  I gave her cookies last year, the first time I started doing this.  And she told me this morning that every Christmas, her mom made cookies for her.  And that her mom had died early in December 2004.  She said she missed her mom and missed her mom’s cookies. And when she got them from me, it was a complete surprise and it brightened up her holidays.  That was nice to know.  I gave them to her because I felt sorry for her because she’s all alone. 

So, my Christmas is done now. And this New Year’s eve will be our twentieth anniversary.  Hard to believe.

      Thursday, December 29, 2005


otherstuff
09:23 AM - 12/29/2005

The topic: Never one to learn an easy lesson
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I just had to do one last load with the old detergent. I just had to do it.  I used a third as much as I’d been using.

And guess what?  Yep.  The machine quit again.  Okay, I give up.  I cried “uncle”.

I got the machine door open, unplugged it, dumped some clean, cold water into the drum. 

Then I put on socks and shoes, grabbed my car keys and went down the the grocery store where I planned on buying HE detergent.  Once inside the store, I got some goat’s milk (I used my last can trying to get Annie to lap, ended up dumping it down the garbage disposal as well as a bunch of partially eaten cans of cat food and jars of baby food), replenished my stock of baby food (always good in a crunch for a sick kitty), some 409 orange spray for Brian, then stopped in front of the detergents. 

Hmmm…HE, HE, HE, where are the HE detergents?  The guy on the phone said Tide makes some.  I go to the powders.  The only Tide HE they had was a little box that would do 32 loads.  Well, on a good day I can get five or six loads done, multiply that by say two or three days a week and that box wouldn’t last very long (I’m always amazed at how much laundry I have;  I don’t know where it comes from - I’ve got four tall trashcans that we use as laundry baskets, one for jeans and sweatpants, one for clothes, one for towels, and one for the wash towels, like for the car and my dustrags).

So, I check out the liquid detergents. I found more Tide HE and the largest one they carry does over fifty loads and it was on sale for $12.99.  I picked up two of those and got some new Snuggle fabric softener, this has an “emerald” scent.  I checked out of the store, came home and went directly back to the laundry room.  I started the drain/spin cycle and when it was done, put in a load of laundry. 

No problem.  Not one.  Machine ran like a dream.  I did another load, this time adding some Oxyclean for a prewash cycle (socks and underwear).  Once again, not a problem.  Smooth as silk.  I did two more loads last night and I’m on my second this morning (my God, where does all this laundry come from?  there are only two of us here, how on earth do we get this much stuff dirty?). 

And I like my machine again.  I’m now glad that I did not attack it with a big hammer yesterday.

Sometimes, restraint can be a good thing.


catstuff
09:30 AM - 12/29/2005

The topic: Annie update
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Well, she’s doing much better this morning.  I gave her fluids last night.  She ate a little. 

I had put a heating pad under her towels, but it was a sucky heating pad that went off after ninety minutes.  So, early this morning, a little after three, I switched it out for one that didn’t have an automatic shut off.  The auto one worked okay yesterday afternoon, I know the amitriptyline helped with her nap, but I think the heating pad helped, too.  So, when I peeked in on her this morning, she didn’t look all that comfortable.  I set the heating pad up and placed her on that part of her bed.  When I checked at four-thirty, when I opened the doors to let the kitties out, she had moved and was still laying on the heat, so I know she liked it.  And this morning, she’s doing better.

She’s actually lapping more water.  Before it was like watching a dragonfly lighting on the water in a pond or pool.  She’d just graze it with her nose.  But this morning, she’d lap.  And lap.  I’ve seen her do this at least four times since I’ve been up.  And she nibbled on a little catnip, too.  She’s always liked catnip.

So, I think she’s going to be okay, but we’re still going to the vet’s office this morning.  I don’t want a replay of the beginning of this year, where she spent all that time in the hospital.


catstuff
11:38 AM - 12/29/2005

The topic: Well, we’re home from the vet
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The vet did some tests on Annie and said that Annie’s head tilt could be one of three things.

  • Vestibular problem
  • Inner ear infection
  • Brain tumor

He’s going with door number one.  *whew* 

He checked her ears and found no sign of an infection, her ears look clean.  He did some sort of testing on her legs where he held her and put one of her paws on the table and dragged her to see what she did with her paw.  He did this on all four paws and all four paws reacted the way they should.  And she shows no other signs that would point to a tumor.  *bigger whew*

Now, he was concerned with how thin she is and how rapid her heart rate is.  He took her blood pressure and it was normal, but her heart rate was not.  When you take this information and take into consideration how very laid back and calm she was, he said it would look like she also is hyperthyroid.  They took her into the back and took blood for geriatric testing and I should know the results later this afternoon. 

He did say that I’d done a good job of supportive care for her vestibular problem.  That helped her a lot.

      Friday, December 30, 2005


catstuff
11:31 AM - 12/30/2005

The topic: Test results
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Annie on Christmas Eve


The vet called last night after 5:30.  He didn’t like what he saw.  “What you have here is a pretty sick kitty” was basically the gist of the call.  She does have thyroid problems.  She is in the middle of kidney disease.  Not beginning, not end, but right smack in the middle.  And she’s anemic.  Her bilurubin showed the wrong kind of protein values (remember when Ciara was diagnosed with IBD, her bilurubin was way off, her body wasn’t absorbing any protein at all).

 

Annie Christmas Day

So, this is what we’re doing (he said it was going to be work).  She’s to get fluids twice a week, 120cc each time.  She gets tapazole twice a day.  She’ll be getting Lotensin once a day.  I’ll be adding Epakitin added to her food twice a day.

I’m glad I have so many of those gelcaps.  I can fit both the tapazole and lotensin doses in one.  So, she’ll get two caps a day, one with two pills, one with one. And both she and DeeJay are eating the kidney food, and they both like the Epakitin additive. So, that’s good. 

 

Posing with her medications



Annie will have to go back in ten days for retest.  If she’s still anemic, she’ll probably be started on Procrit (my vet said “you’ve seen the commercials for people who’ve been on chemotherapy saying “I’ve been so tired since my treatment and my doctor prescribed Procrit, now I’m feeling much better”).  He said you can usually only find it in five packs and a single tube will last a long time.  The problem is it’s hard to find in single tubes and when you do, the companies charge a substantial amount for it.  Something like sixty dollars.  But we’re not worried about that right now, because she may not need it.

So, that’s the status.  He said either this will help, in which case she’ll be with us for a while longer.  Or it won’t.  In which case her time with us will be considerably shortened.


catstuff
11:49 AM - 12/30/2005

The topic: Lost sleep?
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Do you suppose this might be one of the reasons that sometimes I can’t get a good night’s sleep?  This was in the daylight when the sun was up and the heater was on.  There are more at night, when it’s dark and the house cools down.


catstuff
12:02 PM - 12/30/2005

The topic: Christmas Eve at my house
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Last Saturday I took the camera outside before the sun went down and started taking some pictures of the kitty cats. It’s always funny how they come outside to be with me, to watch what I’m doing and to show off a little bit. (And as usual, clicking on a picture will open up a new window with a larger image.)
 


Phoebe

 


Chandler

 


Sagwa

 


Lots of kitties



There are more over at my family album website.
 



For more kitty cat stuff, check out the Friday Ark and on Sunday, don’t miss the Carnival of the Cats.


disneystuff
12:47 PM - 12/30/2005

The topic: We’ve been to Disneyland twice this month
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The first time, we went up on the 17th and stayed at the Hilton.  It was great, I’m really impressed with the hotel.  Lots of walking, though.

I really wanted to get video of the fireworks and snow.  I took my new little Sony Handycam with me as well as the Canon I got last year.  I’d played around with the settings during the week, interested in getting some nice night shots.  (More about the recorder in an upcoming entry.)  We got up there fairly late afternoon, checked into the hotel, then went over to the parks.  We hit DCA first and I took video of the decorations to put on the DVD I make of our annual October trip.  Brian was getting hungry, so we headed over to Downtown Disney to find a place for dinner.

The lines were all tremendously long at all of the eateries and we settled on Tortilla Joe’s.  I left the line and went walking around and found that besides indoor seating, they also had a little cantina to the right of the main entrance, where you could eat outside and also order drinks.  I didn’t see any empty tables, but there were some vacant seats at the bar.  I went up and asked the barkeep if we could order dinner there and he said we could.  I called Brian on his cell and he came over, we parked our butts on a couple of bar stools and proceeded to drink too much and have a pretty decent meal.  Brian had three margaritas and two Mexican coffees.  I had three margaritas.  These were strong drinks.  I had my cell and started calling my friends.  At one point while I was on the phone, I panicked when I noticed my phone was not on the counter.  *lol*  This is what one could consider “a margarita moment”. 

Anyway, after we had our fill, we made our way over to Disneyland and found a decent spot in the hub where we could watch (and I could record) the fireworks.  When they were over we walked around the park a bit.  When things had started to clear out some, we went back to the Main St hub and I took the picture below (click on it to get the fullsized image) of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.  I’m really pleased with the way it turned out.

 



We were back at our hotel by midnight and we both got a great night’s sleep.  The next morning we tried the restaurant at the Hilton and were very pleasantly surprised by the price, the quality and quantity of food.  We will be staying at the Hilton again.

We checked out, then got into the car and went back to the park where I took video of Pirates of the Caribbean and of the Jungle Cruise.  We came home in the afternoon and overall had a pretty nice time of it. 

The next Wednesday, Brian had to take some templates up to one of the places in LA and he dropped me off in front of the parks.  I had a pretty nice time, the first thing I did was buy some 50th Anniversary/Birthday shirts and put them in a locker, then I just kind of cruised around the parks.  I went on Soarin’ Over California using the single rider line and got on almost immediately.  Both parks were pretty crowded, so I didn’t do much riding.  I did make it onto Small World and recorded the holiday themed ride. It was pretty warm Wednesday and I was sweating by the time I got in the boat. When Brian showed up, we had an early dinner,  went on a ride or two, then had dessert and came home. 

I’m looking forward to next year, after the 50th celebration and the holidays when the crowds hopefully die down.


catstuff
02:31 PM - 12/30/2005

The topic: Outfronts
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The past few mornings when I’ve looked outside, I’ve seen KittyMeeze on the blanket in the entryway.  It’s always a warm fuzzy.

This morning I got a bonus.  Carla was curled up next to him. 

Big “AWWWWW” here.  I let them sleep a little longer, then I fed them.

      Saturday, December 31, 2005


otherstuff
01:43 PM - 12/31/2005

The topic: Ya ever get into a shouting match with a stranger?
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I did this afternoon.  You all know that one of my pet peeves is people who don’t take their empty carts back to a cart rack.  It just irritates the snot out of me.

So, today, we go to CostCo.  First we got cat food (120 lbs), then went to CostCo.  We got what we needed and while Brian was unloading the cart, the two people next to us just left their carts.  Now, one of them pushed her cart next to a really, really nice BMW.  And I said to Brian “do you think the owner of that BMW will be a little upset to see the cart so close to his car?”  Brian said “probably”.  So, I moved the cart to the cart rack.  As I was doing this, a woman in her early thirties, driving a large lifted Ford, an Expedition I think, was unloading her cart.  I went over and got the empty cart that was in the space next to hers and walked it over the the cart rack.  As I did this, she pushed her empty cart into the space that was next to hers, putting the wheels up onto this little thing where there was a tree.  I just looked at her.

I went over and took her cart (very dramatic) and walked it over to the cart rack and yelled “lazy, stupid people”.  Now, her window was up, but she could tell that I was just a little bit irritated.  By this time, Brian had unloaded our cart.  I kept shooting nasty looks at this woman who just left her cart in the space.  Honestly, it just irritates the hell out of me.  I don’t know why it does, but it does.

So, I take our cart to the cart rack, still shooting daggers and she rolls her window down as I’m getting ready to get into our car.  She yelled out “do you work here?”  I say “no”.  She says “then it’s not your job, you shouldn’t worry about it.”  Excuse me?  I yelled back that she’s lazy and inconsiderate.  She said she didn’t see the rack.  I’m like WHAT!?  Anyway, I think I made her day.  *lol*

When I got into the car, I told Brian about it (he was there and didn’t catch some of it, he doesn’t always pay attention).  When I repeated the part about “it’s not my job” Brian was just as amazed as mine.  Can you imagine a world where nobody did anything above and over “their job”?  What if this woman’s kid fell into a pool and nobody jumped in to save her because it wasn’t “their job”?  Where do you draw the line?  In the time it took her to push that cart up onto the little berm, she could have very well taken it to the rack.

Damn, this irritates me.

Brian didn’t use to say things to people, but he does now.  And he makes a point to them that I never even considered. 

He’ll ask of someone who just leaves their cart “have you ever been hit by one of these things?  Had one shoved into your car in a parking lot?  Well, I have and it cost me fifteen hundred dollars to get the damage taken care of.”  That would probably work a whole lot better than my way.

*snicker*

I do wonder if that woman will push her cart back the next time, just in case some old fat broad starts shouting at her.  And it would be good if she actually started a dialog with others.  Maybe some people might start being a little more considerate.


otherstuff
01:47 PM - 12/31/2005

The topic: This blog
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In the next few weeks, I’m going to change the software that I’m using for it, so the URL will be changing.  I’ll try to make it as painless as possible, but there might be some glitches.

Although I really like the software I’m currently using, it’s outdated and has very little support. And it’s really hard on my server when I try to rebuild various parts of it. As a matter of fact, I can’t do it, it won’t rebuild (I tried changing the footer so that the date reads 2006 yesterday and I tried for hours to get it to work and nothing I did worked and I couldn’t find a reason why on the forums that no one goes to anymore).

So, I’m going to WordPress.  It came with my website and moving the entries is not a problem, but I have to figure out the templates so that I can get it to look like this journal, instead of the millions of others out there with sidebars and stuff like that.

All Archives


lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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