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      Saturday, February 06, 2016


otherstuff
12:30 PM - 02/06/2016

The topic: Just to let you know
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Everything is fine here. I've been busy since last entry, closing out the year 2015 (which usually I'd put off, but the State Board of Equalization wants their money, sales tax for sales made in California and we all know how much I love not doing paperwork...had a couple of months' worth and I'm still not caught up, but I was able to get the paperwork for the state done).

Then Richie got sick, he's still not doing well. He was breathing pretty hard (he always breathes fast, that was the reason I'd taken him in when he was first diagnosed with a thyroid problem). I took him in on a Wednesday afternoon last month and x-rays were taken. His heart and lungs were good, he had some gas in his tummy. Other than dehydration (he was also given fluids) they couldn't find anything wrong with him.

I took him back in the next morning. More x-rays and the owner (my vet has expanded, has two new vets) looked over the x-rays with Richie's vet. He enlarged the x-ray and you could see allergens on the wall of the chest. So, I came home with a bottle of predisolone (steroids) to help the inflammation. It's been a horrible couple of weeks. He keeps getting dehydrated (I've okayed it with the vet to give him fluids), he isn't eating much at all and I'm going nuts. He'd probably do better if I left him be instead of checking on him every half hour. At least the Xanax helps me to not be a nervous wreck.

We've had a couple of storms, and there's nothing I like more to do during a storm than stand at the window and watch the rain, wind, weather.  I realized I have a favorite window, it's the one in the laundry room. There's a stool I keep in there to help me get stuff out of the pantry and I stand on the stool in front of the open window and just feel the breeze and smell the clean air (until I get too cold). I spent a lot of time staring out of that window.

My mother-in-law's birthday is Monday and I spent this past week making her card. And Brian is going on a little trip and he's in desperate need of new shirts, so I've also been cutting out vinyl and doing the tedious weeding of said vinyl. I'll be making the shirts later today.

But all of this stuff takes up my time and I have to be in the mood for it. I haven't really been in the mood and that slows me down. I can't get on the interwebs or I'd get nothing done. *grin*

Hopefully, I'll have videos of Richie posted next week, I've been taking them often. On the iPad, on the Kindle Fire, on the camera....lots of short videos of my little boy.

 

      Monday, February 08, 2016


otherstuff
03:27 PM - 02/08/2016

The topic: Watching tv
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And an anti-smoking PSA comes on.

Which reminded me of my doctor's visit last year, that yearly wellness health check visit.

I told the doctor "I smoked for one year. When I was twenty-three. I haven't smoked since, well, not tobacco anyway. I haven't smoked for almost forty years, yet my health profile says 'former smoker'. That bugs me."

When I got my blood values and test results in the mail a few weeks later, I noticed I'm a non-smoker.

Way to go!

      Wednesday, February 10, 2016


catstuff
11:05 AM - 02/10/2016

The topic: Richie is gone
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These past few weeks have been hell. Is he doing better? Is he doing worse? Why does he need so many fluids, why does he keep getting dehydrated? Why isn't his breathing slowing down?

It was awful. One hour he'd look horrible, the next he'd be eating and purring. But always, the labored breathing. In all honesty, I was never very optimistic, not since his initial diagnoses of allergic bronchitis.

Yesterday I called the vet clinic to make an appointment with the owner. That appointment was at 10:15 this morning. Richie cried at me as we waited. Around 10:30 the vet came in and checked him out. A lot had changed since last month. Instead of having a good heart rate, Richie's was all over the place. And while I described what Richie had been doing at home, laying on the sofa and hanging his head over the edge, laying on a chair and hanging his head over the edge, laying on the big pillow on the patio and hanging his head over the edge, the vet shook his head. "That's bad."

We talked about options, but the balance between Richie's thyroid problem and heart problem is a very difficult thing to maintain. He's not had much luck at all in the past with this. I asked what were the chances Richie could get better. He replied "ten percent". Yeah, no, I'm not putting Richie through that.

I said goodbye to my sweet Richie. He was one of the best cats ever.

richie    goodbye   

      Saturday, February 13, 2016


geekstuff
02:22 PM - 02/13/2016

The topic: Three hours later….
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I realized this morning that I could no longer view mov files on the internet. You need Apple's Quicktime for this. I have Apple's Quicktime. I have Apple's Quicktime Pro as a matter of fact. So, why can't I see mov files on the internet? I can see them on my computer. But when I tried to view one on the interwebs, it downloaded to my computer.


14110117

I do my Google research. What I'm not understanding is why there isn't more about this problem. Am I the only one having it? It would appear so. I was trying to check out some of my Disney videos in a private directory, the ones I set up last year of all of our meets, using a program by the name of Shadowbox. It works like Lightbox. If you're on Facebook and have clicked on a video or GIF, I'm sure you know the type of thing I'm speaking of. The background turns dark and the video is in the middle of the page. At first I thought it was the Shadowbox software and I was more sure of that when I found that the author is no longer supporting it, the website is dead, gone, available for purchase. Hmmm...

But after I found a website that had the entire old website in its entirety and videos worked for me there, but some files did not, it became obvious it was something on my end. For some reason, there were no Quicktime plugins in Firefox, IE or Chrome. Odd. Very, very odd. In my research I found that you don't download these plugins because they come with the Quicktime download. Okay....

I removed the old, albeit an up to date version, of Quicktime. I rebooted. I downloaded a clean version of Quicktime. I clicked on it to install. I had a choice of automatic or custom installation. Just for kicks, I chose custom. And what do I see? An X by the browser plugins option. I uncheck that box, reinstall Quicktime.

And three hours later.....

I have my Quicktime back.

Now, one of the things I checked when doing my research was I tried viewing the iTunes movie trailers. And they didn't play. Because Apple disabled the automatic installation of the Quicktime plugin for browsers. What kind of sense does that make? Ah, well, it's running now.

14110408

 


tales from the parkside
02:42 PM - 02/13/2016

The topic: If you’ve inherited furs
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From a family member and you don't know what to do with them, Jen of Forever Home Pet Rescue just alerted me to Coats for Cubs. You donate the furs and they're sent to wildlife rescues to help with with rehabilitation.

This is a seasonal thing and donations will be accepted through April 2, 2016.

Now I can finally get rid of those nasty coats and feel good about it.

      Sunday, February 21, 2016


otherstuff
07:58 AM - 02/21/2016

The topic: If you’re wondering where I am
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I'm busy. I'm busy. (I usually say this in a really snarky voice to Brian when he asks me to help him do something; I should record it someday, it's kinda funny. And then I help him, because I'm really not busy.)

But, really, I am. Kinda. Busy. I'm slowly getting into the spring cleaning thing, I have no idea where I used to get all of the energy to do it in a week. Well, I never hit my closets or my dresser, which is sad, because now I only wear what I can pull out of the front of the drawers. *lol* Seriously. I have clothes in my closet, just sweet, cute adorable little tiny outfits that I wore before I got married (with the weight gain that goes with that marriage certificate for so many of us, the reality of ever wearing this stuff again is long past). And I have no progeny to go through this stuff when I die saying "what the hell, mom, why did you save this?"  (Which reminds me, yesterday was the anniversary of my mom's passing. Hope she's having fun.)

But, closets and drawers be damned....

NEW SPRINGTIME BOX CARDS!!!! NEED TO BE MADE!!!

I love every single one in Mary's new kit and by golly, I'm gonna make every single card in that kit and send them all out to various people I know. Not sure who yet, but I will send them out.

First up will be the bunny card. I have the pieces cut out, well, multiples because I want to do some experimenting embossing with glitter. This card so much reminds me of the little Easter egg dioramas I'd get as a child, I never wanted to eat them, I just wanted to look at them in amazement. How did that bunny and those eggs and flowers get into that sugar egg? I want the "outside" of the card to look sugary. I'll be doing this today, because this coming week, I'm gonna clean the floors and walls (up to the level where Bob can spray on them - have I ever mentioned how high this little cat can spray his urine?  A good foot and a half. No wonder the coyotes never ate him when he was at my mom's house, they smelled his scent and ran away with their tales between their legs at the very idea of this huge kitty). It's supposed to be warm, so it's a good time to wash floors and walls, they'll dry quickly.

So, that's my week. Cards and cleaning. Woohoo!

14110111

      Monday, February 22, 2016


craftstuff
06:43 AM - 02/22/2016

The topic: The latest card
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I've got more photos and will be taking more to show the actual depth of this card (because it is deep) as well as materials used and what I'd do differently, but here is the card I made this weekend from SVGCuts.com Springtime Box Card Kit. I'm really thrilled with how it turned out. Clicking on a picture will take you to a bigger photo in my family album; clicking on that picture will open a larger photo.

My attempt at sugaring the egg went well. It has the look and feel of a sugared egg.

14110136

      Thursday, February 25, 2016


craftstuff
10:22 AM - 02/25/2016

The topic: So I tried making a video tutorial
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Showing how the Sizzix Big Shot works for embossing. Not something I'll do very often, that's for sure.

 

      Friday, February 26, 2016


otherstuff
07:46 AM - 02/26/2016

The topic: Conversations..
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So, when we get a payment via credit card, I get the notification and forward the information over to Brian. This starts a chain of events. He pulls his quote sheet, fills in information (like shipping address) and puts the order on the board.

I have an email client on my tablet for my work email address, but it's not set up right so that I can forward mail from it. When I get notification of a payment and I'm not on the computer, I verbally tell Brian, then will forward the mail to him when I start up the PC.

I forgot to do this last weekend. We received a payment on Saturday and I never forwarded the mail. The person who ordered called at the beginning of the week, wanting to know if he'd done everything right. Brian could find nothing on it. I did find it.

So, I'm sitting here while Brian is talking to the customer. "She never forwarded the mail to me, I'm sorry." And I started yelling out "Fire me! Fire me! Just fire me!"

The guy laughed and told Brian he probably couldn't afford to fire me.

141031060

conversations   


mrs. crankypants
11:11 AM - 02/26/2016

The topic: Gee whiz
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So, you're on a drug that makes life normal, the rage that used to build up over little piddly ass things has finally subsided and you've been on it for four months, as well as your newest blood pressure med, you call the doctor's office three days before you run out, so the script can get filled in time. I called because I wanted to see if I can get more than 30 days at a time. It's cheaper and a lot more convenient to buy in bulk.

Then you get a call the next day that you haven't seen the doctor in a while, you'll need to come in. A while? Last October? Four months is a while now? Seriously?

My mother-in-law who is in her late 80s goes to the same doctor. Once a year. Brian goes to the same doctor. Once a year. I've been going to this doctor. Once a year. Why four months?

I tell her (it's not her fault, she was just passing on the information) that my insurance will not pay for the visit. That surprised her. I told her they'll pay for my annual wellness exam, but anything other than that, we have to pay for until we reach our deductible ($6K each), then we can pay the co-pay of $70. A new thing this year since we're on the cheapest plan we can have that allows us to see this doctor. That was at 11:30 yesterday morning.

So, I called CostCo this morning to see if my prescriptions had been called in. They have! Yay! Both of them.

Not cooking dinner tonight! Shopping trip!

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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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