Rough Week

It has been a rough week. A week ago one of our cats was not acting his usual self and we had an emergency visit to the  vet. They can't figure out what was wrong with him and he does seem to be better. But still scary.

I contacted an old friend I hadn't talked to in a long while and found out she had surgery to remove cancer cells. So I have been worried about her. 

I have had the stomach flu. I am not sure I have ever been this sick before as an adult. Nothing is staying down. I went to the doctor and they ran some tests and everything is pointing to a virus. He explained to me that the stomach flu will last 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days or 10 days. I am coming up on 7 days. 

Then today I found out a friend from Ohio died. I am sitting here typing this and still in shock. My friend was suffering and fighting a very hard battle with cancer. But she died from an unrelated issue. I can't believe this vibrant, beautiful soul isn't here with us. I sent her a card just a few weeks ago...it had a red party dress on the front and inside I wrote that she would be dolled up, high heels on and dancing again soon. I hope she is now. 

Just feeling incredibly sad and grateful at the same time for knowing her and being able to share so many good memories with her in them. 

The Good and The Bad

The Good: Today we ran to see if my phone could either be repaired or replaced.  We decided on the replacement of it with an upgraded phone. So I now have my camera back. I too this photo before bed.  It is Caesar wrapped up next to me.

The Bad: We came home from replacing my phone and there was water in the laundry room.  We thought the cat's water dish that is around the corner in the kitchen tipped. But when we looked at where the water was actually in the laundry room - we realized that wasn't the cause. Michael went into our bedroom and as soon as he stepped near our walk in closet his feet were wet. Our water heater sprung a leak. Luckily the people that installed it 17 years ago were the ones that were available to come out right away.  Tomorrow we have to go out of town for work and now after needing to pay for a new water heater we will need to go so Wendy is amazing and offered to come be there while the new one would be installed. The bedroom looks like it has been hit by a cyclone because I had to empty the walk in closet, but at least we will have water back tomorrow by the time we get home.

52 Week Photo Project: Week 11

Midday

Touch

You can see the edge of my finger under my baby girl's chin....she is annoyed I have the camera in her face.

52 Week Photo Project: Week 30

52 Week Photo Project: Week 25

Proof that you can bathe a cat

As many people know, we have to bathe our boy cat Caesar every once in awhile to keep his allergens in check. He gets bad allergy attacks where he constantly works on a single area until he reaches his skin ... think what hives are to a human and you get the equivalent for a cat -- except that his condition makes him even try to dig or claw at his skin. The result of his condition is pretty miserable for the poor guy, but we have a medication that works for him and the bathing does help break the cycle a bit.

Darby and I have gotten the system down pretty good though:

1.) I cue Darby that the boy needs to bathe and I'll usually keep a close eye on him where I know where he's at.
2.) She'll clean out the bathroom sink and fill two large pitchers full of water and get towels -- a LOT of towels....
3.) She'll cue me and I'll scoop the boy up ... well ... he knows immediately what that means -- and he instantly becomes an unhappy camper.
4.) We start by putting him in the sink and dousing him with one of the pitchers of water to get his coat very soaked... yes - he complains during this time very LOUDLY I might add.
5.) Next comes the soap. We use a Neutrogena hypo-allergenic hand soap which works pretty well. We lather the affected spot as well as his remaining coat and give it a good once through.
6.) Next comes the rinse and by this time he is a VERY unhappy camper and wants OUT of the bathroom. We struggle and try to get all of the soap off of him.
7.) Finally after I'm done rinsing him -- I pick him up and bounce him up and down to get the bulk of the water off of him. Darby is preparing the towel for the wrap ....

and viola'!



Instant kitty burrito.

In all - I know we help him out - even if he really doubts that part of it. Ultimately though - as what happened today a few hours later - he comes for loves and I think deep down he understands. He's very unhappy about it - but he gets it.

Kitty Cat Christmas

We give our kitty cats presents in stockings for each. I wrap them and then we unwrap them for them of course. But I wrap them because they love sniffing and playing with the wrapping paper.

The other day when we picked up some toys for them Caesar instantly found the bag of them amongst our other purchases that day. He was a little frantic to get into the package, as there was a toy with some pretty potent catnip toy in the sack. I had to take the sack and put it on a high shelf in my studio to keep them out. But Chessie still smelled it and would stretch up on the shelving unit knowing it was around there somewhere.

So last night I wrapped the kitty cat toys. Caesar and Chessie had went to bed with Michael but as soon as I started to wrap here comes Caesar and he WOULD NOT leave me ALONE. I scooted him out of the room and close the door to wrap. I didn't dare put their stockings out as I feel they would have been ripped apart to get at that toy. So I again put them on the shelving unit. And sure enough as soon as we pulled them down this morning they were circling. Who ever says catnip isn't addictive...is on drugs themselves because oh my the stuff in this toy was potent catnip and they went crazy for it. We only got one toy like it was there was some fighting over it. Thankfully we bought a little container of the same type of catnip so sprinkled that around too.

So between the catnip and the wrapping paper and tissue that the cats love we had an amusing Christmas morning just watching them. They love wrapping paper and tissue. They hide under it and attack each other and toys. Michael filmed some and streamed it online to his parents. And they enjoyed watching our crazy kitty cats.




Photos: from top to bottom - Caesar with toys sprinkled with catnip, Chessie playing with the catnip toy, Caesar rolling on the wrapping paper from the catnip toy, Caesar on playing on the tissue paper, Chessie really getting at the catnip toy, and the last two are Caesar under tissue paper hiding and about to attack Chessie

Christmas Tree Ornaments - Part 3

Pets are important to us so they get their own ornaments on the tree too. One for each the year we got them. And then we picked up that kitty cat ornament in 2005. It is the closest we have found to both of our kids.

Thanksgiving Eve

Well pumpkin pie is cooling on the counter. Dough for rolls is in the fridge and I will make first thing in the morning. Everything else (that is non-perishable) is on the counter ready for me to use. So I think we are pretty much ready. It really is going to be a low-key Thanksgiving. I am not decorating and going crazy. Being sick really has put my energy level so low that I can't do more then what I am doing.

One of our cats has allergies. I am sure I have mentioned it before. Anyway, he was healing and doing so much better. All the fur growing back and we actually were starting to wean him off his meds (per vets orders). But tonight I saw him scratching the same spot he had it before that was really bad so Michael checked and sure enough it is back. We will need to put a call into the vet on Friday as we leave on Sunday for Denver for a week. I believe he is going to say up the meds again. Because of the spot we found Caesar had to have a bath. He was thrilled as I am sure you can imagine bathing a cat. But we do know it helps him so we have to stay on top of things.

Really tired so going to go get some sleep!

Describing the psyche of a cat: addendum

I was doing some editing tonight in the office tonight - when Caesar jumps off the small table I have in the office. His toy was in the room as he had brought it to me when I was doing some voice over work. (yes, a little hard to be recording and have a meowing cat in the background...)

I didn't think anything about the toy -- except when he jumped down -- I happened to look over to see if he was still in the room, but he wasn't .... and neither was the yellow toy he usually carries in his mouth around this time of night. At that particular moment I made a mental note because I thought it was strange that here just just *left* the office and took his toy with him.

No sooner that I file that mental note away and here comes the yeowling golden boy with ... the yellow toy in his mouth that was in the office ... meowling along and the spits out the toy nearly to the spot where he had just taken it from.

While all of this might not seem like much to the casual viewer -- it transpired in what couldn't have been more than 30-45 seconds..... Of which gave me quite the chuckle because he was *just* in here along with his toy.....

He and the girl got some treats and they seem content. :)

Describing the psyche of a cat

Which do you think our cats prefer:

• A $7 toy that you pull the string and it goes walking across the floor

or


• A crumpled up piece of aluminum foil??

Answer: The crumpled up piece of aluminum foil or course....

------------------

• An $8 crumple sack from PetsMart

or


• A sack from WalMart??

Answer: You guessed it -- the WalMart sack...

------------------

• The $12 pet bed

or


• The small box you get from Sam's Club??

Answer: Yep -- the Sam's Club box...

------------------

It has to be a human thing we try to instill on our furry felines: that somehow getting the pretty fancy feathered toy from the PetsMart shelves is going to be better than the dangling shoelace when I take my shoes off.

Nope.

They dive bomb for the shoelace the moment it comes in view.

It doesn't take a lot to entertain them sometimes -- sometimes it merely takes a little creativity and the ability to think like a cat ... which usually means: think small, think quick, think lightweight.

The boy will come to me around 10pm tonight -- we got them some new shoelaces so I think they'll be glad to have more toys to play with ... even though we could conceivably wrap up the same toys they have now and give it to them and they'll act just like they did on Christmas morning.

Bottom line though: cats just love the attention they receive ... regardless of the toy you give them.

We love them!

Missing Due to Sickness

I still have the cold. It seems better but that might be me just wanting it to be better. As I really can't manage much. I had a fever on and off all day which was annoying going from hot to cold -- robe on - robe off - socks on - socks off. I should have been the karate kid and done wax on wax off instead - it would have been more fun.

I haven't accomplished much this weekend - watched lots of movies (Princess Diaries, Love Actually, The Bodyguard, Westside Story and The Missing). Well I did get some work done yesterday but this weekend for the most part I have been so incredibly tired. I do hope to get more done this week.

We are going grocery shopping tomorrow. I also have the last book in the Outlander series ready for me at the library so need to pick that up. I actually should request a few more as Michael leaves to go out of town this week for several days and if I finish a book I am going to have a hard time at night with him gone and no book to read.

Our cats have been sitting next to the vent in the bathroom. It was kind of freaking me - that we might have a mouse again. But Michael took the vent off and looked down it and there is no evidence of mice at all. So not sure what is up with them but it has been a little nerve racking since mice are my one of my biggest fears.

100 Things | Mice

2. I am scared of mice.

I don't like to see mice in movies, commercials, photos. I don't like rubber mice or cat toys that look like mice. The thought of mice even right now writing about them as I am will make me jumpy for a bit. That is how scared of mice I am.

When I was just a little girl of 2 or 3, we lived in a house that had mice, mice mice every where. Yes I know it is odd that I remember something from that little - I think because it was so scary to me that it stuck. It was rental house as my dad was transferred quite a bit those first years of working with the company he works with. The house had a dirt cellar/basement. One that could be accessed from the inside of the house. Our house backed to fields thus we had lots of field mice in our house. When my sister and I would play on the floor, the mice would be running around the edges of the living room. When my Mom would open cupboards and sometimes they would be just they would sitting there. When I opened my drawers, they would be in them and at time jump out because I startled them but it was like they were jumping at me.

So I am very scared of them even after all these years. Logic doesn't seem to play into it as I know I am bigger them. But even as typing this and thinking of them I shivered. It doesn't matter that I am bigger then them. It doesn't matter that they are probably "more" scared of me then I am of them (I doubt that they are though). I know they are teeny tiny. I don't like them. I am scared of them. It is irrational that I still have this fear after all these years.

In January 2005, Michael, our cats and I came home from being on vacation. The cats found mice. Here is a fairly humourous account of it that I can read and laugh but I know that if I found a mouse here right now in the house I would be screaming and diving for the first available place to get off my body and feet off the floor.

Mouse in Our House - January 7, 2005

We have 2 cats so really I never worried about mice here, but felt since where we live that chances of mice is probable because we are out next to some fields. Well my carefreeness because of the cats, has been thrown out the window today.

Right before we left for vacation our little girl cat Chessie became obsessed with a few points in the kitchen especially in front of the stove/oven. She would sit,look, sniff and try to get under it for hours. Well, I did not think much about it as she has gotten lots of toys under there before. But the thing is now that I think about it she never has been this obsessed about it when a toy got under there. So that should have been my first clue.

We get back from vacation and the cats immediately act weird in the bedroom. Such as stalking or hunting but there was nothing (as in toys) in there to stalk or hunt at the moment. I just thought they lost a toys somewhere that I had not seen in there.

The last few days it has been near the fridge and especially the pantry door. I would open the pantry door and both cats would be right inside sniffing around. And our girl cat even climbed on things on the pantry floor. (We store cases of diet coke, toilet paper, packages of bottled water, mulit-packs of kleenex). Our cats never climb on things in there. It is like they know that is not something they should do. But every time I have opened the door the last few days they are there climbing and nosing at things. So today they were acting weird around the door again - being obsessed about it. I busy cleaning and I said okay go for it. I opened the door and I went to clean the bedroom. I can see the pantry from the bedroom so I heard them both in there. And girl cat was meowing. I went and moved something she was pawing at and set it in the kitchen but went back to the bedroom. It left little room for the hiding mouse now. I heard Chessie really scrambling and I turn around to tell them okay that is enough. I step into the kitchen and that is when I see it -- running from the pantry into the kitchen. It is heading towards the stove.

I SCREAM! I keep screaming! And I scare our boy cat, Caesar. His tail got huge. And he was freaked from me screaming - not from the mouse. I jumped on the bed grabbed the phone and called Michael. The boy cat went to look but then came back to look at me still pretty much screaming and now crying which freaked him out more. Yes, I know it is a little mouse.

Michael had only been at work maybe 40 minutes if that. I punch in his extension. He answers and all I can do is cry out, "REAL MOUSE REAL MOUSE!" I am not sure how many times I said it but I know it was at least two.

He says, "Okay honey take a deep breath calm down."

I said, "real mouse real mouse," quieter this time.

He said, "where is it?"

I said, "in the kitchen I think under the stove."

He said, "What did the cats do?"

I told him that I scared Caeser and that Chessie did not get that the mouse was not in the pantry anymore so she was in there still.

He said, "Okay I am on my way home."

I know he was ready to try to reason with me but I was crying and sobbing. And well frankly out of control. But he tried just a little.

He said, "you do know that you probably scared the mouse?"

I cried, "yes." But I kept on crying.

His co-workers know that I have a fear of them as they have them at the office and I have seen one there. I did not freak out like I did at home, but I got a little shaken there. So he went to tell the office manager and then his immediate boss that his girl was crying and screaming and scared because she saw a mouse in the house. A REAL mouse.

When I moved in with Michael, I took all the cat toys that looked like real mice and put them in a box. Because even the fake mice that looked like real ones scared me. Now all the cat toys that are mouse shaped are in bright colors - hot pink, lime green, purple and orange. So that is why I was screaming real mouse so that he knew I wasn't freaked out from a fake mouse that looked like a mouse because when I first moved in I did jump a few times seeing a couple of the cat toys that looked real.

So I stayed on the bed holding the phone until Michael came home. He was laughing, but at the same time very understanding of my irrational over the top fear.

He moved things and tried to find the mouse, but he couldn't. But he did discover where it is probably living or the path that it keeps to...so he went and got some traps and put them in places along the path. It is my hope we get it soon and then we can look for how it got in - in the first place.

Also when he got home I had not taken my shower yet but was scared to go in there. He had to scope things out for me before I went to take my shower. He then got my slippers checked to make sure mice were not in them. I knew I needed to have my feet covered as I would totally freak out if the mouse ran over my bare feet. So I have been in my slippers all day.

The whole day when I have had to move towards the kitchen I would make LOTS Of noise so that it would stay hidden from me. I know it is stupid that I have this fear all these years later but I hope that the little story might give someone a good laugh. I know it gave Michael and his co-workers had a laugh. And I know one day I will laugh at it even though my fear probably won't be going away anytime soon - now.

Sunday in the Sun

Our little girl cat thinks that if something is put on the floor -- that it was placed there just for her. If we put a piece of paper, a box, or a sock....it is all made for her to lay in or on. So I had thrown this pillow on the floor when cleaning and she thought of course that I put it there JUST for her. She had a perfect spot for warming in the sun yesterday.

Randomness

This is going to be post of randomness thus the bullet points as nothing connects. That kind of day you know.

• We had dinner with friends last night. Michael made a retirement video for one of the friends and we weren't able to be a the party when the showed it as we were in Shreveport so got together last night. We watched the video last night with them and the friend got all teary watching it again. And he has watched it several times already but still affected by it. I know it makes Michael feel good that his work touches people. It is hard not to be touched by his videos. I know I feel the same way about my parents video.
  
  We all watched the Rockies win so that was fun and had great food. We had really good wine. One wine though I really liked even though I only had a sip as migraines still lingering but it had a grapefruit undertone that was very nice. Of course though I had to do something to make myself blush a million shades of red....I broke a spoon.



• At Frank and JoAnne's last week we watched the first disk from Planet Earth. And that was so amazing! I loved it. But really what was the cutest is when the birds came on to their big screen high definition tv and Caesar immediately jumped from his slumber to go get them. He was reaching up touching the screen with his paw. He finally jumped up on the speaker next to the tv and sat on it reaching over to the tv to try to get the birds. We didn't get a picture because as soon as we would have moved he would have stopped. But it was SO cute!



• Going to get my hair cut this morning. I will be having probably about 4 to 5 inches taken off - it is a length Michael really likes. Then tomorrow I will dye it black cherry. I have been trying to hold out in getting it cut because I wanted to donate to locks of love again. But I am just really getting frustrated with it - the tangles and it is just so dry. So I need to get some taken off. I want it couple inches past my shoulders.



• Talked to my parents yesterday to get plans more firm for what we are doing and staying. We are going to the art museum Thursday. Friday we will probably take a little day trip. And then the rest of the time will be for shopping. I want new shoes - new mary janes to be exact. And there are DSW's in Denver so probably hit one of those.



• Made Chili and cornbread on Saturday. And then yesterday I made a pie to bring to our friends - chocolate buttermilk. (links are to recipes over on my cooking blog)
  

We have a film shoot this afternoon. I am feeling really out of today though so I hope I can snap out of it before then.

Need to find my sister's birthday card to give to my parents....her birthday is on the 20th.

Home Again

Home. So glad we are home. But I am feeling really drained it was a stressful drive home as the cats were not really calming down at all....acting freaked out really. So we were worried.

We actually go back to Denver next week again as my parents are flying in for my birthday. We are just going to hang out there in Denver instead of them coming over to Grand Junction. We will leave next Wednesday(10/17) and be back Sunday (10/20).

More later....

Kitty Cat Love!

Just some cute pictures Michael took of our kitty cats!

Christmas Randomness

Sound of Music is on....it is a favorite musical of mine. I love the music and sing along to it.

There is a song that plays this time of year that always always makes me cry. It is The Christmas Shoes by Newsong (link to lyrics). I hadn't heard it this year until just the other night while wrapping gifts. And of course I had to reach for kleenex. (Mom if you haven't heard this song you need to hear it....you will need kleenex too.)

Silly Christmas link....Mt. Dew Christmas Tree

Yes! A wonderful Christmas gift

Been cleaning house most of the day as I have neglected it with the holiday preparations.

I was just thinking yesterday while unloading the dishwasher that I have had lots of depression this year but I can honestly say this Christmas I haven't felt it. The holidays can get me blue and this year doesn't seem to have hit me that hard.

Michael just called me into this office. He has video tape his Dad took of when Michael when got Chessie for Christmas. She is just a little kitten and she is so her. All the things that make her darned adorable now were there in the video of her from her baby days.

Well going to go find my slippers because my feet are cold. And then maybe fold clothes...I know the excitement is too much!

But tomorrow will be good - we are going to brunch to one of our favorite places, then deliver presents. Tomorrow night will be a nice dinner followed by going out to look at Christmas lights.