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      Sunday, November 01, 2009


otherstuff
12:44 PM - 11/01/2009

The topic: Our fave breakfast restaurant
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No longer carries sweet potato pancakes.  I guess it wasn’t a big seller and the owner got tired of throwing out over half the batter each day.  So, they no longer have them on the menu.

Earlier this year, due to financial constraints, we cut our Saturday morning breakfasts out back to once a month, not every week.  We figured we were saving at least $75.00 a month by doing so.  Imagine my surprise the first time we went in and my beloved sweet potato pancakes were no longer being made. They were on the menu, but not in the kitchen.  *sigh*

I found some mix on Amazon.  Just ordered some.  It’s not cheap, but I’ll have my sweet potato pancakes on Saturday morning, once again.



12:51 PM - 11/01/2009

The topic: My poor, poor nose
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The inside of my nose really hurts. The humidity here is 17%.  The repeated blowing of my nose has dried the inside of my nose out, badly.  You know, when you get a little bit of blood on the tissue from the little broken capillaries or whatever and you get little tiny scabs inside the nose that when they dry pull on the skin. Scabs are not at all stretchy.

I’ve put lotion up there, it helped, but didn’t last long. 

Last week I put Neosporin up there. Major, major mistake, what a horrid smelling ointment.  It doesn’t smell on your finger, but it sure smells in your nose. This morning I tried some Vicks.

I seriously thought I was going to puke.  I got a couple of Q-tips out and got them wet, put some Method liquid soap on them and washed out the interior of my nose.  I rinsed it out thoroughly.  The Vicks smell is gone.  But just to make sure I didn’t keep smelling it (you know how smells can be) I spritzed a little Shalimar on my left wrist. And if I think I smell any of the Vicks, I’ll just sniff my wrist.

I hate being sick.

      Monday, November 02, 2009


otherstuff
09:41 AM - 11/02/2009
We found five pennies and one nickel on our walk this morning

The topic: I’m rich!
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I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm rich! yippee

The Shell National Lottery. Customer Service/Claims Department
file XYL26510460037/09

Shell Final Notification,

We are pleased to inform you today 2nd Nov 2009 of the result of the winners of the SHELL INTERNATIONAL ONLINE LOTTERY PROMO PROGRAMME in conjunction with the chevron Texaco company annual lottery/donation promo. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out $1,000,000.00 (One Million United State Dollars), in cash credited to file XYL26510460037/09.

Contact Our fiduciary Agent company via email.
Contact Person: Sir Johnson Cole
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Provide him with the following information to claim your prize

Full Name:
Residence address:
Phone Number:
Country:
Sex:
Age:
Occupation:

Congratulations On behalf of all members of the Lottery foundation.

Yours Truly,
Sir Gregory Harris.
Online Lottery Co-ordinator

 

Oh, wait, you think it's a scam? Damn it. Just my luck. Well, I did find ten cents on our walk this morning, there's that.


otherstuff
02:24 PM - 11/02/2009

The topic: Do you ever do something really stupid
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And by the time you realize that you did something stupid, you’ve heaped more stupid stuff on top of it?

I haven’t been getting my email.  I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting my email.  I contacted the people who run the domain that I get my email through.  I checked all of my filters. I checked everything I could think of. 

I sent mail this weekend to a company, a little put out that they hadn’t sent me mail letting me know when my widget shipped.  I wondered why I wasn’t getting my facebook updates.

After four mails back and forth with my domain manager, I went into my main email, where it all comes together and checked the filters there.

I have my email being deleted before I even see it.

*sigh*

There were three criteria and I just let them all stay checked on the newest filter.  One of them was my email address.

banghead

I was very apologetic and very embarrassed.

      Tuesday, November 03, 2009


catstuff
09:44 AM - 11/03/2009
We found two dollar bills on our walk this morning

The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #150!
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I had the pictures, I just wasn’t up to posting them the past few weeks.  So, today, I’ve got three for you to enjoy.

Rory snoozing with Katie.  I love the “attempt” at modesty:


click for a larger pic

Sammy Bammers:


click for a larger pic

Richie on the sofa:


click for a larger pic
 

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If you've got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!

      Wednesday, November 04, 2009


catstuff
10:16 AM - 11/04/2009

The topic: Having a nice relaxing day and what happens?
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Ron Howard will not leave Ross Geller alone.  I mean, he’s full on going after him.  I’ve chased him twice in the house, squirt bottle in hand.  Hours later, the two of them are into it down by the pool.  I go down there with the squirt bottle. Because of the way it’s designed, I can’t get away from the pool as quickly as they can.

They fought on the lawn. They fought in front of the office. Everytime I squirted Ron, who was obviously the aggressor, Ross ran. And when Ross ran, Ron was right there behind him. 

Damn it.  I hate it when this goes on and on.

Ronnie came into the house, he walks a little, then lays down.  I think he sustained some damage. 

This just sucks. I hate when one cat decides s/he hates another one.

      Sunday, November 08, 2009


otherstuff
07:18 AM - 11/08/2009

The topic: Keep your fingers crossed
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because at some point today, I will be shutting down Brian’s computer, opening it up, removing the current RAM and installing two 1G each RAM cards, quadrupling his current RAM.  And his system should run much more quickly. 

I know it’s not a big deal to do this, I’ve played around on the insides of my other computers.  But it’s not something I do often enough to be comfortable doing.

But I know he’ll sure like it when he starts up the next time.  He’s not home today, just left for the property.  It’s easier to do things I need to concentrate on when he’s not home.

I went to the Dell website to buy the memory and the next day got an email that they’d cancelled the sale. No reason why, just cancelled it. So, I spent an hour or so online looking for another place that sells memory. My order to Dell was for one gig.  For an additional twenty dollars, I was able to double the amount (this is max for his machine) of RAM.  The thing that kind of has me worried is their website came up with a different type of RAM than I found on the Dell website for that machine (which I’d registered and it shows what the machine came with and what I need to upgrade).  I went with a comparable mem card to the one on the Dell site, not the one on the site where I ordered the memory.  I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me on my backside.

I need about three more cups of coffee before I begin. 

So, keep your fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.


otherstuff
07:25 AM - 11/08/2009

The topic: Did I mention I got a new computer?
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Well, not exactly "new". I got it on the last Woot-off, a refurb HP machine. I had a coupon for ten bucks, so that brought the price down to $339.99 plus an additional $5.00 for shipping. Such a deal. In anticipation of this, I bought another KVM switchbox, this one a four port since my current one is only two port. And I’ll have three computers.  A KVM switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) allows you to share (what else?) a keyboard, video and mouse between machines. 

Since I’ve got enought speakers set up, don’t need anymore of those, but I do need a way to share, I ordered two (even though I only needed one) of these. The male ends will attach to the speaker input on both computers and the one female end is where I’ll input the actual speaker.

I’ve been unhappy with my monitor for a while, it’s an LCD and it has lines across the top. They annoy me greatly.  Not actually looking to buy a monitor, I did look at them.  Brian caught me looking and saw the price, under $150 and said go for it.  I did a little more research and came up with this little gem .And, as I always do, I searched for coupon codes for hitting the “order” button.  Got ten percent off of the $112.99 price.  And what’s really nice about Geeks.com, is they’re a local company.  I had my stuff the next day. There was a small learning curve with this monitor, but I like it a lot.

Some people would never buy a refurbished machine.  But as someone said on the Woot boards about the computer with new computers, there’s a human looking at random machines down the line.  Most never get a once over by a human. But a refurb?  You know a refurb has been looked at by a person. 

I was a little anxious about the computer, since reading the comments from others who got theirs before mine arrived, some were really, really happy, machines looking brand new and others were very disappointed, because there were a lot of cosmetic problems with the computer case. 

Mine was just beeeyoooteeful! 

These computers also came with a free upgrade to Windows 7.  I wish I’d been able to pay a nominal fee to upgrade to the pro version, but I’m not complaining about a free upgrade.

One of the things I plan on doing with this new computer with it’s 6GB of RAM, is graphics and movies.  I read a caution to not install new programs to a Vista machine that you’ll be upgrading to Win 7. I found a new Corel Suite that does photo editing and movie making that runs on Vista and Win7 that I planned on getting in the future, once I had upgraded to the new system.  But doing a search for coupons (I spend WAAAYYY too much time online), I found one for fifty percent off the price, that expires on the 23rd.

So, I bought it. 

And I think that’s it for spending money on this.

I’ve got it up and running and on the internet. I have things to figure out on it, but it seems pretty good.

I’m happy.


catstuff
08:26 AM - 11/08/2009

The topic: On a less stinky note
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Earlier this year, I started adding a can of Friskies to the nightly can of California Naturals, thinking the extra canned food would be a welcome addition to the nightly meal.

I didn’t think too much of it until last month.  I remember one of the petsitters remarking that Jackie’s poop was really nasty, because it was so runny.

But when I’d clean out litterboxes, there was a lot of loose stool.  And in the yard, there was a lot of loose stool. And in the morning, the food bowls weren’t emptied so, adding the Friskies was obviously just a waste.

I quit adding Friskies when we got back from Disneyland last month. And I cut back on how much water I added.  And I didn’t put as much dry into it as I had been. 

And the bowls were empty in the morning.  Every morning. And the stools got firmer.  Instead of the stuff I’d been finding in the litterboxes, I found those nicely formed stools as we expect from a healthy cat. And I watched Jackie poop.  Each time, it was a little less loose (it had been close to water).  And he’s starting to fill out again.  He’s looking better.

Friskies?  I still have it. Kirby likes it, he gets a can a day.  And we feed it to KittyMeeze, he doesn’t have problems with it.

But I’m not adding it to their dinner any longer. Because not every cat can handle it.

And I’ve found that the only food we’ve got on hand that doesn’t upset Miss Elizabeth’s functions, is Fancy Feast Tuna Feast.  I buy it by the case at Wal-Mart.  She likes it.  She eats it. She doesn’t puke it up. And it doesn’t run out the other end.

I think we’ve found a balance.  A healthy cat is a happy cat.  Well, for the most part anyway.


otherstuff
04:37 PM - 11/08/2009

The topic: All done!
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It went very smoothly, the worst part was all the dust and stuff inside of the case.  I blew most of it out.  It blew back in my face, that was pretty unpleasant, but there’s a lot less dust in there now. And it sounds quieter than it did.

I also switched out the monitor for my old one, but he really needs to get rid of some of those file things he’s got from when he used to work a lot and had a lot of paperwork. All he has now are tractor manuals and catalogs.   I just counted, he’s got two columns with eleven each, one with twelve. And no paperwork.  The cable from the monitor to the computer is so tight, there’s no give at all.  So, he’s got a little work to do when he gets home.

And I’m so happy with the way it works, that I ordered additional RAM for the other two computers in here.  This should be fun. 

The only sucky thing was when I went to Trend Micro to get an additional license for the fourth computer, there was no discount.  So, I did a little online search and found another website that has it for cheap and it covers three computers.  Is it legal?  I dunno.  But I’ll be damned if I’ll pay forty bucks to cover one computer when I’ve been spending over seventy a year to cover three, you know?  Just didn’t seem fair, especially since I’m the only person using three of the computers.  One has three webcams, very little surfing on that one.  And this one, the one I do everything from. And the new one will most likely be used for graphics and movies since it’s made for stuff like that.

Anyway, my back is stiff from bending over and doing this stuff, I’m sure my nose is packed with old computer fuzz.  I should take a shower.

      Saturday, November 14, 2009


catstuff
08:35 AM - 11/14/2009

The topic: What I dread with an aging population
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is the deathwatch.

You know, when the cats start actually showing signs of age.  DeeJay and Annie were the last cats that I considered old when they passed.  Diseases took others, Handsome, Wally, Lisa, just to mention a few.  They weren’t what I considered “old”, even though, technically, they were.  Seems that anything over eleven or twelve is considered geriatric with cats.

Bart will be eighteen this month. The arthritis is taking its toll on him. And when he takes a tumble or a stumble, it’s takes days or weeks for him to recover.  We’ve got a pain management plan for him, but he’s supposed to take the meds with food.  And his appetite isn’t all that great right now, when he’s hurting, he doesn’t want to eat.  I’ve started giving him deli beef and right now I’m cooking up a chicken breast for him.  To look at him right now, as he is on the futon, you’d never guess he has problems. He looks alert, he’s vocal, he pees (never misses the litterbox, always is able to make it there), he poops.  He responds to affection, so, in spirit, I don’t think he’s ready to go.

But his poor body is just so worn out. 

I started him (again) on the glucosamine and chondroitin.  That takes a couple of weeks to kick in.  I hate that I do this, I give him this stuff to help him, it does, I think ‘he’s okay’ and stop giving the pills.  And then the hurt starts creeping up on him again and one day I look at him and just feel so bad.  This cat is just so full of love and I’m going to miss him like hell when he’s gone. 


otherstuff
10:32 AM - 11/14/2009

The topic: So, today I’ll add RAM
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to two of the computers.  Since Brian’s did so well, you know.

I’ve turned off the computer that runs the backyard, office and patio cams.  I’m letting it cool a little before I open it up.  It only has 256MB of RAM.  I’ll be upgrading it to 2G.  A huge difference.

I’m getting myself mentally prepared. And I’m going to drink a Zipfizz. We get the powder at CostCo. It comes in a box with three different flavors.  Each flavor has a different colored plastic container.  There’s an orange container, which is orange flavored, a pink container, which is pink lemonade flavored, and purple container, which is purple flavored.

The box says it’s “grape” flavored.  No, it isn’t grape.  Like the grape soda in a can isn’t grape.  Like the “grape” flavored candies are not grape. They’re all purple.  But they are not grape.

In my fifty-six years of life, I’ve never tasted a grape that tastes like these things that are purported to be “grape flavored”.  I do not like these purple flavored things. I really like grape juice.  I like grape jelly.  Hell, I even like grapes.

But I do not like “purple” flavoring.  It’s just nasty.

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UPDATE: 11:12AM
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I’m done.  From opening up the computer case, removing the old RAM and installing the new RAM, to closing the case and hooking everything back up, it took less than fifteen minutes.  Right now I’m installing the TrendMicro security upgrade. The old one needs to be removed, the computer rebooted, the new one installed, the computer rebooted and it will be good to go. I love it when something goes so smoothly.

One more computer to go.


otherstuff
02:32 PM - 11/14/2009

The topic: If you do stuff inside your computer
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and you push a lever by mistake, don’t just wonder what it was and close up.  After I had the new memory installed (runs good), the fan just kept running and running.  Very annoying, yet it didn’t do this before I installed the new RAM.  So, I unplugged the power cord, pushed the on button to release any electrical remnants or whatever you call them (the light came on, albeit very shortly).  I laid the thing on its side (with all other cords still attached, I know, my bad, should have all powered things off) and checked out the fan.  It wasn’t seated.  Pushing that lever moved the fan.  And it was very, very dusty.  I covered up the open computer with a towel and got a straw and blew out the fan.  Brian saw what I was doing and went out to start the big air compressor, brought the compressor hose in and blew that sucker out.  No more dust, no more dirt.  I put it back into place, shut the computer up, plugged it in and we have quiet.

It’s so nice.

It’s so quiet, I actually started wondering if the fan was even working.  Did a quick Google search to find out the computer won’t start up without a working fan.  So, we’re good.  And we’re fast. And maybe now, when I play a game, it won’t crap out like they used to.

One can only hope.

      Sunday, November 15, 2009


catstuff
11:56 AM - 11/15/2009

The topic: I’m going to take Bart to the vet this coming week
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Because I’m concerned about him. And I want him to be comfortable.

Last night, I did the hydration test (where you pick up skin and if it tents, there’s a problem; try it on your hand…do a little pinch and if the skin bounces back into place, you’re sufficiently hydrated, if it doesn’t, start drinking water and try it again later).  I gave him 60cc of fluids.  It seemed to help.

This morning, the hydration was awful, so I gave him 120cc. That was about an hour and a half ago and already, he’s doing better.  So, I’m wondering if maybe his kidneys are starting to fail, or if he’s just in so much pain from the arthritis that he’s not drinking and because he’s not drinking, he doesn’t want to eat and he just feels like crap.  My vet explained that being dehydrated you feel bad. This is how humans feel, translate that over to kitty cats. 

So, I figure the wisest thing to do at this point is to take him in.  If there’s anything I can do to help him feel better, I’ll do it.

Poor old guy.  He did just eat a little boiled chicken for me. And the fluids are hanging in his elbows right now (it can take a while for them to be asborbed into the system).  But I think he’s not feeling nearly as punky as he was twenty=four hours ago.



12:11 PM - 11/15/2009

The topic: Scary stuff
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I got an 8GB Sansa Fuze from the last woot-off.  I needed another MP3 player like I needed another hole in the head, but there ya go.

So, I opened the box this morning and plugged it into one of my computer’s USB ports to see if there was anything on it (it’s a refurb).  Nothing on it.  Then I noticed my back button on my mouse didn’t work, so I rebooted my computer.

It wouldn’t reboot.  Came up with a message that system32\ntoskrnl.exe was missing or corrupt.  Fortunately, I’ve got other computers, so I did some research and I tried doing what they said. Problem was the recovery disk didn’t work as it should have. I was getting frustrated and, I admit, more than a little nervous.  Because one of the problems could be a bad hard drive. And I wondered what if I screwed something up yesterday?

So, I’m worried about Bart, my work computer won’t boot.  This isn’t looking good. And I started going over what I’d read online.  A bad keyboard could result in this message.  There was this, there was that.  The computer worked fine when I booted up first thing, why not now? 

I mentally backtracked what I’d done.  And I retraced those steps.  One of them was to disconnected the refurb Sansa from the computer.

Then I rebooted. 

Worked like a dream.

*sigh*

Although that’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back, I’ve still got my hard drive. And what more could ya ask for?  Two hours or a hard drive that doesn’t need to be reformatted? What a nightmare that would have been.

And I’m going to make those boot disks today.  You can count on that.  Just in case this happens again and there’s no Sansa connected to the system.  *lol*

      Tuesday, November 17, 2009


catstuff
10:52 AM - 11/17/2009

The topic: Bart update
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So, after getting the fluids Sunday mid-morning and starting to perk up, he actually started eating a little more.  I took the magic Fancy Feast Tuna Feast into him and he’d eat small amounts. Because Mickey was being such a pest, I ended up putting him out of the bedroom and closing the door.

Bart would eat until I turned the bowl around so he could get to the food. So, I quit turning it and let him eat as much as he wanted.  Each time I fed him (every couple of hours) he’d eat a little more.

Even though he never ate as much as I wanted him to, he was eating. And yesterday, before noon, after he’d eaten, I gave him more metacam.  We went to the chiropractor last night and were supposed to go shopping but we just went to Denny’s for dinner, then went to the petstore, got cat food and came home.  Because I was so worried about him. 

When we got back, he was on the sofa, I started getting the cats in and he had jumped over to the coffee table, waiting for the evening kibble!

And this morning, when I made the bed, and Mickey was “helping” me, he and Bart started to wrassle. First time I’ve seen him play like this in years! I was just amazed at how much better he’s feeling today than he was four days ago. 

I’m still going to take him in this week, haven’t made the appointment yet, but it looks like he’s not ready to quit just yet.

Way to go, Bart!

      Friday, November 20, 2009


catstuff
12:38 PM - 11/20/2009

The topic: Buh-buhbuh-buh-Bart-Thalomew
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So, I call the vet’s office yesterday morning.   I asked for an appointment for today or Monday.  “Let me check the book.”  She comes back on the line.  “You can bring him in at three this afternoon.”  Today?  I hadn’t planned on taking him in today, I thought. There’s a Woot-off, for heaven’s sake, you don’t leave the house during a Woot-off.

She told me the vet was pretty booked for today.  So, I said “okay”.

Around 2:45 (after I missed the legendary BOC on the Woot-off), I started getting him ready, but he wasn’t on the bed.  I found him in the litterbox, peeing.  I left him there, went out the garage and wiped off the litterbox (it was dusty) and brought it inside and by then, he was done.  I put him in and off we went.


click for a larger pic

Bart was put on the scale and he’s lost a little weight since his September 2008 exam.  Still has the slight heart murmur.  The vet turned Bart over on his back and stretched out his back legs, one at a time.  He palpated the knees and ankles.  He did the same to Bart’s forelegs.   He set Bart upright and started gently squeezing down Bart’s back. He said Bart looked pretty good for his age (Bart turned 18 on Wednesday).  Then they took him in the back for his blood draw. One of the reasons I took him was for a blood panel.  The vet said that was a smart thing to do.  At Bart’s advanced age, best to catch things early.  I told him about the scare I had last weekend with Bart and wanted to know if it was kidney disease or just an aberration.

We discussed pain management for the arthritis and if Bart does have kidney disease, there will be no more metacam.  He told me something that he’s had good luck with, a compound of glucosamine, chondroitin and bioflavonoids that’s added to food.  And the longer Bart gets it, the better he should do on it.  We did discuss the shot.  I wasn’t sure what it was called.  He said “Ativan?” He said if that was it, he wasn’t overly impressed with it. He said it was expensive.  He said Bart would get a shot once a week for four weeks, then a maintenance shot once a month.  He said that I’d be able to give the shot, but he’d rather we tried the powder first.  As for his bad episodes, there’s a med that he gives to animals after surgery, you put it in their cheek and that would help.  He gave me a large bottle of the powder and said to give it to Bart each day (only a level half teaspoon mixed with canned food) and to bring him back in three weeks to see how it did.  He would call me with the results of Bart’s blood draw.


click for a larger pic

We came home, Bart got some of the powder in Fancy Feast and he didn’t have a problem with it.  He was glad to be home, that’s for sure. 

The phone rang shortly before six and Bart is in the beginning stages of renal failure. So, no more metacam.  He said he wanted Bart to start on Calcitriol, the same thing Miss and Ollie are on. He checked their prescriptions and Bart can share with Ollie. 

So, that’s it.  That’s the latest scoop on Bart.

      Wednesday, November 25, 2009


otherstuff
06:47 AM - 11/25/2009

The topic: This and that
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So, we go for our walk yesterday morning, all the way to the top of the hill and are halfway down.  We still have to head over to the school.  It’s about a 2.5/3.0 mile walk when all is said and done.

We’re talking about glass etching. See, one of my BFFs turned me on to a QuicKutz SILHOUETTE-1 Digital Craft Cutter on my birthday earlier this year. She’d made one of the sweetest photo books, full of pictures of six years of Disney memories.  I was really impressed with her work (the book is where I can look at it often, what the hell was with my hair in 2003? What was I thinking?  OMG!). 

So, when we got home, I did some research and ended up getting one of these sweet machines. And as anal as I am, I wanted all the supplies I’d need before I began to play with it.  I don’t plan on using it for scrapbooking, I don’t have the patience for that (and not that many people to scrapbook for, sad as that sounds).  But the vinyl possibilities intrigued me.  You know, the vinyl wall stickers? And the vinyl decals on vehicles? This thing will do it. Yes, the size is limited, but I’m not looking to do great huge things. 

One of the thing it will do is etching glass. Well, it doesn’t etch the glass, but you can use the machine to make a “stencil” and put that on whatever you want etched, use the etching solution and voila! Etching!

So, on our walk we were discussing glass etching. And how the gummint and EPA have cracked down on using sandblasting as a method of etching glass. And as we were talking, my left foot came down on a loose piece of asphalt.  My ankle gave way, you could hear it pop. And I went down.  Knees first.  Hands second.  It hurt.  I scraped my right knee pretty much, but my sweatpants were intact (go figure). And my right palm hurt, it started to swell up.  I could put a small amount of weight on my foot, so I didn’t think anything was broken, just sprained.  Lovely.  We made it home okay, didn’t finish the walk because I was in hobble mode.

I tried to take it easy yesterday, but litter boxes needed cleaning and the futon cover had to be washed. The night before some kitty had had explosive poo on the covers and I’d already washed those, they were in the dryer. But during the night, some kitty decided to pee on the blanket.  Luckily, it was over pee pads (do I know these cats?) but these blankets also needed laundering.  Into the wash with them. I got the dishes done and didn’t do a lot of walking around the house yesterday, no more than necessary (I really need to run the sweeper).  Brian made dinner last night and also did the dishes.  Yay!

He helped get the cats in (had to chase Little Bit in, she had been in earlier, but went back outside before they were in for the night, she cruises down by the pool and has to be chased back up to the house).  I got them fed, got Miss Elizabeth, Bart and Oliver medicated, then settled down to watch television.

The ankle is why there was no occasional cam or dinner cam yesterday.  Or today. 

So, we went to bed a little after nine last night.  I felt something crawling in my hair, limped into the bathroom to check it out. Oh, joy, a flea. This isn’t a good thing, means I’ve got Advantage to dole out, never my most fun cat job. But it would explain the itching and chewing and hairballs we’ve had coming back up.  Sent the flea down the bathroom drain and went back to bed.

At four this morning, I asked Brian if he would open the door to let the cats out.  He did. At five, we heard a cat retching. At five-thirty, I think I will get up, take some Excedrin and go back to bed and let it start to work on my ankle pain.  I notice the clock on the filing cabinet is askew.  I hopped/limped into the office to see what was up with that.  Great.  I see a pile of company paperwork on the floor in front of the litter box.  It’s been peed on.  Stuff that needed to be filed.  Great.  We’re having an audit next month, I hope nothing that’s wet will be needed.  I go back to the bedroom, put some clothes on and back to the office to clean up the mess. Take some of the stuff to the bathroom and rinse it off. It’s drying right now. 

Then I head to the kitchen, planning on taking that Excedrin.  I see the futon covers are all messed up. What went on in there, I wonder. I start to straighten it up and oh, I see what they were doing. They were covering poop!  At least it wasn’t runny this morning.  I had to go into the kitchen, grab some papertowels, clean up the poo, strip the covers off the futon.  I threw the stool out into the garage trash and took the covers into the laundry room, putting them in the washer on a heavy wash setting, hot wash, cold rinse.  I’ll re-rinse after the machine runs it’s course.

I finally got my Excedrin and went back to bed.  Sleep was gone.  I got up for the day and turned on the computer, went outside to get the paper and then fed KittyMeeze (NotWally has not been around since last week, I don’t like this). 

Brian has to go do the shopping today, I can’t.  He has to get pies for tomorrow (I gave up on pies, can’t even make a decent crust with a store bought one), I need marshmallows and powdered sugar. We need more canned cat food from the pet store, only have three cans left.

I’m making a carrot cake for tomorrow at his mom’s house, which I’ll do this morning.  Then I’ll roast some garlic. Tomorrow, I’ll make a bunch of mashed potatoes and split them, putting the garlic in one half for garlic mashed potatoes.  I’m also making the sweet potato casserole, which I’ll do first thing tomorrow. 

I just hope my ankle holds out.

And today will be a good day.  I just know it will.

And just after I put the top two futons covers in the dryer, I walk through the living room to go back to the office, I see someone pooped on the remaining two covers.  Which are now in the washing machine after being rinsed off in the tub. Arrgh!!!!!

      Thursday, November 26, 2009


tales from the parkside
09:07 AM - 11/26/2009

The topic: This is unexpected
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I’m really missing my mom right now. Because of the parade.  Mom loved the Thanksgiving parade. She’d always ask me “are you watching the parade?” 

No, I wasn’t. But she never missed one.

And even though we didn’t spend Thanksgiving with her all that often, because of the parade, I’m missing her.  A lot.  My eyes keep tearing up.

Whooda thunk?

Well, mom, wherever you are, I hope you can watch your parade today. I’ll watch it, too and imagine that we’re watching it together.

Happy Thanksgiving.


foodstuff
01:21 PM - 11/26/2009

The topic: What I found out
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If you overstuff the garbage disposal with sweet potato peels, it won't run.


foodstuff
01:24 PM - 11/26/2009

The topic: Hmmm….
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The sweet potato casserole calls for four large sweet potatoes.  That you peel and chunk and put in a “medium-sized” pot.  I’m doubling the recipe.  So, I figure one large pot should do it.

It didn’t.  I needed to put them into two large pots.

I’m thinking that russet potatoes aren’t the only thing CostCo carries that are three-four times the normal size.

This oughta be fun.

      Friday, November 27, 2009


catstuff
08:35 AM - 11/27/2009

The topic: Some good thoughts, please?
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I just got back from dropping Sammy off at the vet’s office.  He started vomiting Wednesday.  At first there was kibble in it, but as the day progressed and all day yesterday, just white foam.  I’d usually let it go another day, to see if it resolves, but it’s just too close to the weekend and I don’t want to put him through a trip to the emergency vet.  He’s not lethargic and he does react, but seeing him on my pillow this morning, wasn’t a good sign.  He just doesn’t feel good.

At least he got off the bed when he threw up.  I followed him when he left the bedroom and he wanted to go outside, via the garage door. I opened it for him and he walked outside, and just looked at me and cried. I went into the bedroom to get some shoes and something warmer to wear, in case I needed to follow him, but when I went back out, he was sitting in the family room.  I picked him up and cuddled him in my arms, then sat in the rocking chair, slowly rocking with him on my shoulder. And he didn’t purr. Sammy, one of the purringest cats every, didn’t purr for me.

I’m hoping it’s a hairball.  I’m hoping that’s all it is. Yes, they can be pretty bad, but I think the outcome is a lot more positive than some of the other things it might be.

So, keep your fingers crossed that’s as bad as it is.


catstuff
03:04 PM - 11/27/2009

The topic: Sammy’s home
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His bloodwork is fine, the vet took a full body x-ray, that’s fine.  Well, the bloodwork did show an elevated WBC, but his organs are all functioning properly.

What didn’t look fine were his teeth.  He’s on a week of Clindamycin to knock down the infection (elevated WBC) and then the vet wants him in for a dental.

He also got a shot for the vomiting. 

The teeth thing really didn’t surprise me.  Because Richie, Opie and Daniece have all had dental problems. I know that Angel most likely needs her teeth checked, too.  So, that would be all five kittens of Little Guy. Sister to Katie and Mystie. And if you recall, Mystie went in earlier this year for dental problems. She had four teeth pulled.

So, nothing life threatening, but the whole thing was pretty scary to us.  Both Brian and I had upset stomachs and headaches this morning.  I know it happens to me, but I didn’t know it happened to him, too.

Sammy jetted from the carrier when I opened it when we got home. I have no idea where he is right now.  lol

Thanks for all the good wishes, I know they helped with better news that I expected.

      Sunday, November 29, 2009


catstuff
07:16 AM - 11/29/2009

The topic: Sammy came out of hiding
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For a while I was worried he might go the way of Gracie Anne and live under the loveseat, but yesterday afternoon, when I lowered myself to the floor, gently putting my knees (and weight) on the cold, hard tile floor so I could put my hand under the sofa, I got no feel of fluffiness.  And instead of looking for him elsewhere, I got the flashlight and looked under the loveseat.

No Sammy.  He was in the living room on one of the cat trees.

He was in the garage this morning when I shared the morning kibbles with them. He was on the cat trees looking for more.  I know he’s trying to eat, don’t know if he’s getting much, but I’m sure his mouth, even though his teeth are still bad, is feeling a little better after last week.  And he’s not so horrible about taking his meds.  Even though they’re nasty. I figure I’ll try to get him in for the dental the first of next week.  Not this week, next week.

And that should go a long way to make him feel better in the long run.

      Monday, November 30, 2009


catstuff
09:30 AM - 11/30/2009

The topic: Saw this on Facebook
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It was just too cute not to share.

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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.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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