Where’ve I Been?

Not that a whole lot ever happened to me on a regular basis, but that never stopped me from blogging about the trivial stuff back in the day. I don’t have many followers and that’s okay. I wrote because I enjoyed the writing even if it wasn’t very interesting or if it was a little silly. It was fun. I miss it. Every now and then, I’ll glance at the computer behind me and think I should turn it on and write a blog…. Then, I go back to zombie mode in front of the TV. I really gotta work on that.

 

So, where’ve I been? Here… I’m always here. Maybe not on the computer here, but still alive and haven’t moved. I wish we could move, but that might require a winning lottery ticket. :-P I haven’t done much. The mental To-Do list grows with all these little projects to organize the house, the computer, or my life. But I can’t seem to find my damn Round Tuit. Instead, I watch a lot of TV. Mom and I watch way too many shows and I have a bad habit of having show marathons….well for my favorite shows anyway. :-P Also I’ve done a good job of collecting stuff. When we move, I will need soooooo many boxes. :-P

 

I know I had more to say when I left Compy on for the purpose of blogging….but after the flurry of activity that usually follows Daddy Day (putting away groceries/stuff, changing into comfy clothes, blah blah), I seem to have forgotten what else I was going to add in this post. Ah well… Have I mentioned I’m more forgetful these days? I’m going to blame TV vidiot disease. :-P Time to get my brain working again. Sudoku puzzles… Words with Friends…. WRITING!

 

Wish me luck!

Christmas Finally Arrived

I can’t say for sure what held me back this year. I wasn’t really bah humbugging as much as I was meh humbugging. Distracted? Lazy? A tad depressed? Some combination of the above? I don’t know. It took me way too long to get the oomph to get up and decorate. I generally decorate anywhere between the 1^st and 5^th. But I didn’t get around to starting until late last night and into this morning… making this the latest I have ever decorated for Christmas.

 

Laziness I get. It usually takes me a while to get started. But that doesn’t usually hold me back as once I get started the Christmas elf in me comes out with joy. Distraction came from Mom and I trying to clear our way too full DVR so we can replace it as it is screwing up and deleting shows or not recording them correctly at random. It’s hard to decorate and watch shows, especially ones with subtitles or clues the audience is supposed to catch. As for the depression….I don’t know if it was there first or the passing days without the decorations bummed me out. Now that it’s mostly done, I feel way better. Heck, I started to feel less depressed the moment I started unpacking the decorations. I still have a few finishing touches before I consider the decorating done, but it looks very Christmassy and I am happy.

 

I hope Mom doesn’t worry anymore. That is I think I was starting to worry her. While she doesn’t always want them up, she knows I do. A few days ago, she offered to help me decorate. She even asked if we were getting a tree, something we haven’t been able to afford for years. She hasn’t helped decorate since possibly Anaheim (11 years ago) or maybe as late as Long Beach (9ish years ago). That to me screams her seeing something was up with me. I have to remember to write her a card, because while I didn’t feel like taking her up on the offer that day, the fact that she offered meant a lot to me.

 

Now to tackle the Christmas cards! I already sent the international mail out, as I always send that earlier. Not as early as I wanted as the jerk postman walked right by my house the day I put them out, but oh well. :-P I’ll get started on those tomorrow along with getting a jump on some series holiday movie watching. :-D 

Nothing Spooky

Dunno why I feel like sharing this in a blog, but the thought popped in my head so here I am.

 

Apart from enjoying Halloween wrapped candies or going to Knott’s Scary Farm, I’ve never really done anything special for Halloween. Still don’t. At best I bring out my Halloween themed Mickeys to decorate my play space….a mini Halloween party. :-P Occasionally, I try to get Mom to watch a scary movie. But we like creepy and “scary” movies so nothing is really all that scary. Last year we attempted to watch Silent Hill with all the lights off. That’s one of the few movies that just creeps us out and she chickened out midway through. :-P At previous apartments, I used to like to watch trick-or-treaters and sometimes even handed out candy. But no one comes here except cats and skunks.

 

ANYWHO…. This year was no more special than any other, but it was a nice simple day. :-) Last night, after watching Grimm, I began a Walking Dead marathon that went on until mid-morning. After cleaning the kitchen and showering, I had intended on continuing my zombie marathon all through the night. But Mom came home with Costco pizza and the desire to watch a movie. Neither one of us could think of new scary movie we hadn’t already seen in our DVD collection, so we went with Jurassic World. Add that to our usual silly interactions with each other and the cats and it was a fun evening.

 

A lil bit ago, I walked into the kitchen with my empty plate after having my seventh slice of the day (over three different meals) and smiled. Zombies, pizza, dinosaurs, and silliness….not a bad way to spend Halloween. :-)

Mama’s Home

Almost four months ago, my neighbor was helping me catch some of the strays in the area. She noticed the kittens from Spumoni’s latest litter and wanted to see if I could catch them for rescuing. Since the shelter seemed to discourage me when I last brought in a cat with the whole “they’re strays and allowed to roam free” line, I was worried we wouldn’t be able to take the kittens there this time around. Thanks to Dorothy those kittens were rescued and put up for adoption. We also caught Harpo, one of Spumoni’s kittens from the previous summer. We thought Harpo was a girl and that was the main reason to catch “her” before she was old enough to get pregnant. Turns out, he is a he and also too feral to be adopted. He’s never been really mean to me. Spumoni either. But then what can ya really know when the only contact is through a screen door when I put plates out or talk to them. Anywho, he was fixed and released here, well in our yard.
 
I’ve been trying to catch Spumoni for years. She was always so small and kept getting pregnant. I thought if we could catch her and took her to the shelter, she might be spared that over and over again even if she wasn’t adoptable. But she never let me lure her in like the others. I almost didn’t bother trying until Dorothy showed up and encouraged me to try again. I got really lucky one day. I used my big carrier like I’ve always done. So Dorothy and her friend had to transfer her into one of their cages at Dorothy’s friend’s house and, unfortunately, Spumoni escaped their grasp. Mom and I were so worried for her, lost in some foreign neighborhood with possibly no food source. Yes, I know it’s ridiculous. Strays know how to find food one way or another or move on to where they can. But day after day, Dorothy said they were unable to find her. I felt horrible. We caught her for nothing…..
 
As it turns out…. Spumoni was hiding under the house next to Dorothy’s friend. That neighbor feeds strays too. Just leaves bowls of it out. Spumoni was well fed there and sheltered under the house. Well enough to get pregnant again…. Seven kittens this time around! Yikes! Poor lil mama. Thankfully, they caught her and some of the kittens already. She’s home now. She’s been spayed, tested clean, flea prevention dosed, and vaccinated. She’s not exactly happy yet as she’s still in one of their trap/cages on my porch. But as she was operated on late tonight we thought it best to limit her movement for a while. An old sheet off my bed has been draped over the cage to provide my familiar scent. And while I know she’ll bolt as soon as she’s released….I hope she like Harpo won’t take too long to forgive us. I’m just glad she’s back home and safe from getting pregnant. We really did miss her. I wish we didn’t get so attached to these strays. I still think about and miss the ones we left in Norwalk.

Welcome Home, Compy

Okay, not really. I mean my computer’s been home and fixed for a while now. Actually, it’s been fixed again and home for a while now. But the first time it was fixed, not everything was fixed or something. I dreaded turning on the computer or further breaking something. Geek Squad didn’t catch the alert sound I kept hearing when I brought the comp in last year or whenever it is I had to have it repaired. I never did put all the programs I used to use back on it. Still can’t even now… well, I haven’t tried this past month since it’s been fixed. Maybe there is a way to do it without a tech savvy friend to walk me through hacks and cracks… Of course, that might mean purchasing full versions of them but whatever.

  

Anywho… I upgraded the comp to Windows 10. Compy got taken to Geek Squad shortly after to get fully cleaned up and fixed. I had them check EVERYTHING hardware and software. The alert I heard according to the sounds directory was for “hardware failure to connect” and the Geeks said all was well there. Meh. A couple viruses were found and removed. I made the restart my comp several times there to make sure that alert didn’t happen. And I checked for a week after I brought it home. Nada. So I dubbed my comp fully and properly fixed. :-)

  

Now all I have to do is to get in the habit of using it again. :-) It does feel like mine again, which is progress. And now that the summer is almost over it won’t be too hot to sit in front of the computer or more specifically the warm monitor (since I have to lean closer to it to see). So I am looking forward to fun times ahead with Compy….starting with blogging. :-P

And Then There Were Three….

The strays still come to our door. Spumoni seems to have a litter of kittens every summer. This year it even looked like she got pregnant twice, but the first time never produced kittens. Maybe the swollen belly was the result of illness or something. Poor thing has given birth three or four times now.

She had five kittens this last time. One of which we didn’t see for almost a week or two after the others showed up and according to Mom looked like it had a limp or bad limb. I nicknamed them Chico, Elmo, Fabio, Harpo, and Nemo (guess which one Nemo was :-P ). They were as always adorable. One of the neighborhood kids took a liking to one of them. We think she was the one who put a flea collar on it. At least I think it was a flea collar. Nice thought, but unless you can monitor it to adjust the collar as the kitten grows, it’s a hazard for the animal. They grow so fast. Once it looked snug, Mom had me catch it and cut it off.

We’ve had some issues trying to catch them this year. One, we didn’t always have a car we could use. Mom let the car battery die again and again this summer. Nana bought a second car off of a friend then decided to sell it so had it parked at our place some of that time…. But parking around here sucks so we couldn’t risk moving the car and not having a spot when we returned from the shelter. Two, Mom’s still recovering from the surgery pains…. internal scarring that takes forever to heal as it gets pulled and stretched over time. Not to mention back pains that makes it hard to drive even for short distances. And some mornings she is just too tired, either because pain is exhausting or she had a sleepless night. Finally (and here’s the biggie), Mom keeps overfeeding them so they’re not hungry enough to be lured into the carrier.

I caught four of the kittens, two one week and two the next week. We have to show I.D. at the shelter to prove residence. Well we’re apparently in the system because of it. One of the ladies at the shelter basically said “oh yeah, you’re here a lot” and suggested we get a trapping license. But then we’d need to put up notices to warn the neighbors in case their pets get caught I guess… And then there’s the stronger likelihood of catching other creatures. I do NOT want to find a skunk trapped in a cage. Also we’d have to find the traps.

Sadly, I did not catch Harpo who was always more skittish than the others. Unfortunately, he/she is getting bigger and bigger and more independent. I almost caught him/her. Half way into the carrier and I tried to close the door on it. Harpo squirmed out and jumped back into the screen door. Haven’t been able to lure him/her or Spumoni or Tom into the carrier or even close since.

Hopefully, we can catch them before cooler nights. Hopefully, Harpo isn’t a girl so at least there won’t be twice as many litters next summer. Hopefully, we can catch them before they are beyond saving. Or if we can’t catch them at all, hopefully, they find homes elsewhere or find lasting peace in their sleep. I’m tired of the added expense, even though we get them the cheaper stuff. I’m tired of the extra bugs drawn to the leftovers. I’m tired of the yard that has become the neighborhood litter box. It was never a well kept grass patch as I never watered, but it was safe to walk on before. Mostly, I’m tired of seeing their sad faces looking in as if they want to come in or want love and Mom and I feeling bad for whatever they’re enduring out there. It breaks my heart. Recently, the thought popped into my head. If only Spumoni had let us catch her in the beginning, maybe she would have been the new addition to the family instead of two of her babies. >.< I hope God helps me catch them soon.

Could Have Lost Her....

Pixie has always been my problem child. When she moved in, she brought worms which she of course shared with Oreo. She had an infection here and there. And then there were repeated trips for UTIs. It sounds like she might have trouble breathing but the vets haven’t picked up on it or it isn’t serious. We teased that she was always the problem child. But it was never major….until this year.

Eating and drinking habits changed. Mom said Pixie seemed lethargic. Until we could afford a full work up at the vets, we kept putting it off. It didn’t help that Oreo got a simple infection so the funds went to him, since he’s a senior citizen and at higher risk of issues….. Turns out he was perfectly healthy for a sixteen year old cat and didn’t need the full check up. I mean we’re glad we got it and found out, but Pix needed it more. I wish vets weren’t so expensive.

I don’t remember what prompted the urgency. But we finally took Pixie to the vet mid August on a Saturday appointment. Monday morning they called with the results from the blood work. I remember feeling as if I’d been hit with a blow and as the conversation went on a sense of dread gripped me. She had high blood sugar levels….diabetes. He said if she did well on insulin she could live another five years with no problems. It was the part where he mentioned some cats didn’t do well and didn’t last more than a few months that had me so scared I’d lose my baby. As Dad pointed out, I’m usually more positive about situations. And it’s true. Faith has led me to be more positive in the outcomes of whatever came our way. Maybe because it wasn’t our usual vet who is so reassuring or still getting over hearing she had a major problem that took my mind to worst case scenario mode.

We had to take her in that afternoon so they could regulate her blood sugar levels and figure out what dosage of insulin to prescribe. Since I’m usually awake all night out in the living room, Pixie and I are usually keeping each other company. A.K.A. she spends a lot of the night in my lap off and on all night. But those two nights were the most depressing nights in a long time. Even with the mini distraction of Target Tuesday with Dad, it was sad without Pixie in the house. Our minds went to thoughts of what if…..

Wednesday Dad took me to pick her up. I wish it had been Mom with us. A med tech had to show me how much meds to give her…. Me… Tiny needle measurements… Yeah. I didn’t see a thing. I told Mom the dosage and relayed what he had said as best as I could recall. Something was lost in translation. Not that we discovered that until much later.

That first evening Mom said Pixie looked so much better. She had more life in her eyes. We could breathe again. Faith she would be okay returned. Thank God. We didn’t really enjoy the learning process of injecting insulin every day. And by “we”, I mean all three of us. I had to hold her down. With shaking hands and obvious nervousness, Mom would try and inject her between the shoulder blades the way we were told. Pixie of course squirmed and bucked every time. Some of those times before the insulin made it inside. Sometimes the needles got bent. Sometimes the needles nearly broke. Some of those times meant giving up on dosing her that day because Pix was too freaked or Mom was too shaky to try it again. Or Pixie would hide until we gave up trying and ended up skipping a day here and there. As we would later find out, it was just as well. We were over dosing her. So the fact that we only gave her meds half as often as we were supposed to may have saved her life.

Sunday night a month ago, Mom called me while I was still at Dad’s house. Pixie had a seizure and Mom had to find a pet ER. Dad and I packed up our stuff and the groceries I’d bought and rushed to meet Mom there. Pixie seized again en route. Mom was freaked and they didn’t fully know what had caused the seizure. It might have been blood sugar that was too low. Since they had overnight care, Pixie stayed there to be monitored and get her electrolytes balanced or something. If she was okay by morning, she could and was moved to our vets’ for monitoring during the day. She had another seizure there. We brought her home Monday night, since they don’t have overnight staff. At least she could be comfortable. And I got to experience what Mom went through. It was not fun watching my baby suffer another seizure. It was the same report for Tuesday, day and night. Wednesday she was seizure free. Without seeing a specialist, we didn’t get an official cause. Low blood sugar may have started it, but the other seizures happened at normal to high levels.

It was a very sad and scary week. Because of it, her insulin dose got adjusted. And since Mom was in with me, she was shown how much. Mom now feels like it was all her fault. I don’t think it was and I tell her so. Giving Pixie her injections is much easier now, because it is much less medicine now and vet said we can stick her anywhere. SOOO much easier now. I think we’ve finally stopped watching and expecting another seizure. Pixie is so full of life and activity now and loving. Mom says her coat is shiny and soft compared to the dull and dry look it had been before.

I hope we don’t have any more scares like that in the future with her or the others. That week took us down a dark road too. I mean if she didn’t stop, we didn’t want her to suffer. And we certainly couldn’t afford a specialist. I mean if Dad hadn’t helped we wouldn’t have afforded the ER. We momentarily discussed putting her down to spare her. Thank God the seizures stopped. And the vet said they weren’t doing serious damage to her because they were less than a minute long.

And I realize I’ve just been babbling on and on about my cat, but she’s my baby. I’ve never wanted children. I mean as a kid I thought that desire would come when I became an adult and I even kind of considered it when I was dating Ken. But if I were completely honest with myself, I never really wanted kids. But these cats…. They ARE my kids. The thought of losing them before their time (or even when it’s time) scares me….depresses me. Prayers were answered in Pixie’s case. I hope my prayer for strength when it is time to say goodbye to any of my babies is also answered favorably.

Anywho… I’ve babbled enough. For now, all I can say is that I am so grateful for the blessings these four fur babies are to me and Mom….And to Dad and Nana even though they’re dog people. :-D

Where to Start?

I haven’t written a blog in over a year. I only recently started getting online (as in on the computer and even turning on messengers) for more than just bill paying once a month or checking TV Guide for what I’ll be recording once a week. Even those two activities occasionally get done via iPad. I’m not sure how it started or why. Maybe it was the computer issues. Maybe it was because with the whipping of the hard as result of those issues that the computer didn't feel like mine again. Maybe it was just plain old laziness. But computer inactivity started long before that. Role playing used to eat up sooo much of my time. Once that stopped, there just wasn't much fun to be had on the computer. Even before RP died amongst my friends, people weren't on Y!M anymore. It was almost like we all collectively decided to stop playing without telling each other.

The computer may never feel like mine again. There are programs still yet to be put back on but they require a crack or hack or whatever….so basically a tech savvy friend to walk me through it. I may never feel fully confident using my computer even if it did feel like mine. I am still afraid it may have unresolved issues. I occasionally get the “hardware failure to connect” alert upon start up. Peachy! Surely, I know how to fix that. >.< And that’s persisted even after Geek Squad supposedly fixed another issue. Something get disconnected/loose there or on the way home? I don’t know.

That aside… I MISS getting on the computer. I miss writing. Blogs… Role Plays… Anything… I miss talking to my friends. I don’t even interact that often with them via Facebook, though half the time I get tired of FB. Too much clutter there and no way to really filter it out… Honestly, I could care less that so-and-so added a new friend or watches this show or went for a smoothie. But I could go on and on about FB’s faults. Another day… My hours don’t help with regards to interacting with friends. And by my hours I mean my non-existent schedule which usually tends to be really late. Even still, I want to try to be online more to be available for live chatting when my friends ARE online.

We’ll see. Maybe being online more will lead to writing more. And writing more will lead to role playing? Who knows? Maybe I may even take up Vampires again. I confess I miss that too. I may have completely forgotten how to be any of my old characters, but I still want to try. In the meantime, I will try blogging more. Let’s see if my brain still works... if I can even manage to keep up writing.

I still think it’s kind of funny that a fellow blogger picked up the whole blogging thing about the same time I had started thinking about doing the same thing. :-P I’m pretty sure he knows I wasn't trying to jump on his band wagon though. If I hadn't been so lazy, I may have even posted this before he started up again. Anywho! Here’s to a new beginning.

Progress.... :-)

Cleaning/De-cluttering:
Okay, so I haven't made a complete job of cleaning the house as thorough like as I would like. But lil by lil I am cleaning out cupboards and getting rid of old or unused stuff. I actually threw away a big box of expired food goods from the cupboard and some from the fridge. We sorta stopped cooking real food when we moved here. This kitchen sucks. Anywho... Maybe by the end of the year, I'll have gone through all our cupboards and closets and storage tubs. Out with the old! Mom and I have gathered up all the old cell phones to give to someplace that may be able to reuse them like some charities do? Why do we keep them? Usually this sorting out kinda gets done when we move... Which for a little while was every two years. We've been her for like five years now. We are WAY overdue for a good clean out.

Strays:
This month I was successfully able to catch all (or the rest as I forget when I caught the first two exactly) of the kittens and take them to the shelter. The first two were easy. Walked right into the carrier with the tempting food plate at the back. I closed the door with almost no problems and they didn't mind once they remembered there was food to eat. But when the food was gone, well, they whined a little. They were the calico kittens...which I've been told are always girls so they were priority. The tabby mix was next. Boy did he whine and scramble around in the carrier A LOT. I don't think he/she even ate.... Fluffball did make a complete mess of the carrier with smeared food all over the place. And Saturday I was FINALLY able to catch the kitten we were worried about.... poor thing had been limping for weeks. Lured him/her in like the others but Tablet panicked when I started to close the door. Tried to get out and I had to fight with this little kitten to get it back in the carrier or at least not let it loose in my house. At one point I just held it against me cuz it was squirming so much. Got some flesh wounds. I was literally shaking after that. Freaked I almost let it loose inside or hurt it. Oy and the fighting didn't stop there either! After it ate it fought around in the carrier as we took it to the car. Oy.... Just gotta catch Spumoni (the mama) and Tom (the daddy?) before he gets her pregnant again... Also they're both getting thinner and thinner no matter what amount of food we give....so we want to catch them both not just to prevent stray population again but also to put them out of their misery. Spumoni spends most of her time on our steps and part of that time is looking in...like she wants in or love or something... It's a shame she never really trusts us.

Outings:
Mom and I went to a movie. Not the first time no. But it still felt good to get out of the house with her for something other than her pain management doctor. And afterwards....and here's the important part... MOM went out to lunch with her long time friend. The two hung out for hours. Ever since my brother... heck ever since Tata,...getting Mom to go out and just live has slowly come to a halt. One by one her friends are giving up on her. Thankfully, Becky is not one of them. Mom finally said yes to meeting up and catching up. I hope she gets out more. I don't expect weekly plans... but maybe once every other month? I told her I was proud of her.

Curious and Curiouser

So Dad tells me again that his car stereo displays my name differently when he places a call to my cell phone. Cell to cell, my name is however he entered it into his contacts. But using the car stereo's speaker function and my name becomes one I created oh so long ago. Weird, right?

First of all, I haven't used Yasminalia Zoya Relas as a name in ages. Like probably before I even left Anaheim. Second of all, I hadn't recalled associating that name with my cell phone. And finally, to my knowledge, I removed it from any profiles and whatnot. So unless there's an account out there that I've completely forgotten about, it's just ghost data out there.

After some searching, I was able to find a couple matches. Yahoo/Bing gave me nada, but Google found a blog I placed a couple comments on using that name (no links to a profile used to make the comment though) and a Pipl search with no real contact info. Well, the first time it had no contact info. I did the whole name search via Google again and today the Pipl search listed two things. One led to my MSN profile, which after a moment's thought I do remember having used that name as the display name oh so long ago. The other was to link me to a Daniel Newkirk (who I THINK was the author of that blog I commented on), but his name doesn't come up with anything on Pipl.

Now that I know the name is linked to MSN, I can see why it might be attached to my cell number. But that still doesn't answer why Dad's car stereo displays that name. I mean that is still a mystery. MSN's profile system has changed and even before that I had changed the display name. So the stereo is seriously drawing from some ghost data somewhere. Which is weird. And why?? Cuz that's the weirdest thing.

UPDATE: Dad tells me when he got his phone and uploaded contacts, he uploaded contacts from all his accounts, including MSN. And since he added me oh so long ago, he'd have the Yasmina name. :-P I guess the stereo just has more room for displaying stuff, so it shows up on the screen when he's using the speaker. Mystery solved.

Out the Window

I'm bummed to say the various plans I'd made last week did not happen.

One was a minor plan and so not a huge deal. It just sort of spoiled the little bit of fun I was going to have with Dad. Sunday before last, while at Dad's house, I had planned to hide his birthday card in his house. I can in no way afford to buy Dad a spiffy gift, and he tends to get his cool toys throughout the year himself even if I could. :-P So, I thought I'd be clever and hide his card and then send him a text or whispered call/voice mail message guiding him to it. So, after our usual breakfast and shopping fun and we're back at his house, I wander around while he's in the potty. Had to find a spot he wouldn't easily stumble on and was also simple enough for me to guide him to it. I mean it had to remain hidden until Thursday. Time was running out and I thought I'd found the perfect place. A stack of TV series box sets, stacked high on a shelving unit. I shoved it in between two seasons of the West Wing. I tried to hide it as best I could, but again with the time running out thing.

Alas. The edge of the envelope was sticking out. That combined with the fact that Dad made way more trips than usual past that stack led to him finding it like the next day! Grrr.... Punk. Le sigh. So much for a fun way to surprise him. Ah well. I was able to find a cute and funny pic to post on his wall on the day. Maybe next year, I'll get more creative or sneaky. :-P

The other plans were for this past weekend. Mom and I were interested in seeing the new Trek movie almost as soon as it came out. For whatever the reason, we still hadn't gotten around to it. After talking to Sarah and joking about being bad Trekkies for not having seen it yet, I told Mom we had to see it. So we watched the first one with intent to see it on Saturday. And as I had mentioned it to Dad before and he'd given me his usual vague answer as to whether he'd like to see it, I asked again to see if he'd want to join us. I said we should see it soon because the showtimes were fewer the longer it was out and new movies were pushing older ones out of the theatres.

Sooo.... The plan was we'd meet Dad at the same theatre on Saturday. Whether we ate afterwards or just went our separate ways didn't matter to me. I guess I should have known something was off when I went to bed "early" and Mom asked if I was going to bed like she didn't know why. I got up on my own (go me) and Mom was snoozing. I figured she was napping before we went to prevent last trip's sleepiness. :-P I got in and out of the shower and as I was getting ready I noticed she was still not moving. I woke her and she started to get ready. But since she wasn't fully awake and the lateness gave her a sense of urgency she was darting around fast. The motion while tired and anemic made her dizzy I guess. She was stumbling around, which happens when she goes through the laundry room with clothes on the floor like she did that day, so I didn't think too much of it. Not until I heard a loud thud. She'd completely lost balance and fell on the floor in her room. Safe to say plans were cancelled.I called Dad....or tried to....before it got too, too late. Alas, he was already en route and had to turn back.

Bleh. Mom tried to get him to come get me I guess. Mostly cuz she felt guilty for ruining the day's plans. All the talking to and fro between her and Dad and her and me.... plans were made for the next day. I mentioned that before she went to bed and she seemed okay. I mean she protested a smidge with not wanting to intrude on Father's Day of all days, but not much..... Until the next morning. >.< Still tired and probably grumpy as a result, she again protested not wanting to intrude. And then later admitting she just didn't feel like going anymore. Okay fine, I'll call Dad and just tell him we're back to normal Daddy Daughter Day plans. Oy. That made her feel guilty and she suggested we go alone. :-| Some days....

Needless to say. We won't be doing that again. Star Trek may have to wait til DVD now because I have no interest in trying organize that again nor does Dad. I'll probably not even mention it again til it's out of the theatres.

Irksome though the morning was, the rest of the day was filled with Daddy fun and antics. :-)

My Job or Yours?

I realize my not working means I'm not contributing monitarily my fair share. I pay for half the utilities (water and power is a BIG bill that Mom has to pay) as my rental contribution. I also wash the dishes everyday, do all the laundry, water bottle washing/rinsing and refilling (since we drink bottled water which we freeze for extra coldness), throw out trash, Mom's clean sheet bed making, litter duty, and, when awake and home, I also take care of all kitty duties (feeding, cleaning messes on floor or kitty). Neither one of us cook much anymore other than quickie foods, but I was the one who did more of that for however infrequently it was done. Oh, and since Mom rarely leaves the house, I also do all the shopping, carrying in, and putting away.

Now I'm a terrible housekeeper, and I know that. The house is a mess and I know it needs a good thorough cleaning. But when it gets done, it is me who does it. She offers, but there are some things I don't want her doing cuz of her bad back. I mean her back first went out cuz she was sweeping pine needles on the carpet. Sweeping is out. Moving a heavy vacuum about is out. Bending over to clean and scrub is out... So yeah, I may deny help there, but she only started offering help recently cuz the house is a mess.

So whether my chores and bill paying offer a even trade or not I don't know. But somehow I got one more chore tacked onto my list. I get to warm up the car every other day for twenty minutes to make sure her car battery doesn't die.... cuz she's an idiot who has essentially killed her car from lack of use! I kind of want to just say, it's not my car, not my job. But since I don't pay half our share, money-wise, I keep my mouth shut.

I wish I was a better housekeeper, then those little things wouldn't bug as much. Or had a job to contribute more. Heh, but then I wish I could just skip over the job hunt process, because that I'm completely useless at. Like my boyfriends, my jobs just sort of fell in my lap. But now with the gap in work history and sucky credit, they look at me funny. And with vision and transport limitations, I'd be more choosy, a luxury I don't really have.

Bleh... Can I just fast forward to a point where the house is clean and I have a job and Mom and I are doing great?

Family Fun Time

Sunday's Daddy Daughter Day turned into a family outing, or at least the first part of the day did. :-) Movie and breakfast with all three of us and then usual shopping and hanging at Dad's with just two of us. :-)

Game plan was for Mom and I to drive to our old theatre and Dad would meet us there. After the movie we would go to Huff's so Mom could finally taste the Greek omelette I always brag about. :-D We both left a smidge late, but arrived about the same time. Since it was the first showing and not the opening weekend, the theatre was fairly empty. I dunno why, but I always prefer an empty theatre. I mean space to spread out if I want, naturally, but less munching noises during the movie is always a plus! Of course, some moron still brought a baby. Kudos for it not crying throughout the whole movie, but towards the end, it wouldn't shut up and the moron didn't even bother to take it outside!

Despite not sleeping as much as I should have, I didn't nod off once! Mom had been up since 2:30-3a.m. like usual (cuz she's a nut!), so she struggled here and there. :-P And Dad nodded a smidge too, but then he usually does that while watching movies at his place. Hehe. Nodding and baby crying aside, it was a fun movie with lots of OMG moments. :-D And of course, it set it up for the next movie. :-) Mom of course said she was game to see it again! :-P I told her, sure....when it comes out on DVD.

Mom and I followed Dad (or tried when other cars weren't in our way) to the restaurant. As Dad and I regulars, we usually get our favorite server to wait on us even if it's not in her station. :-D So Mom got to meet the famous Judy. And Judy and the hostess (whose name I rarely hear so always forget) both seemed to love Mom. And Mom enjoyed her Greek omelette when she wasn't falling asleep. Hehe.

I moved my stuff from Mom's car to Dad's and Dad gave her directions (or tried to :-P ) to make her way back. But seeing as how she was sleepier than she realized, she almost got lost and had to keep calling to get new directions or confirm the routes. But she DID make it home safely.

Meanwhile, Dad and I headed off to Wally World...a.k.a. Wal-Mart and did some of the quickest shopping we've ever done there. Unloaded the car and spent some time trying to pick ONE of Dad's hundreds of movies to watch. It's sooo much easier when I know before I get there, like when he buys a new one I want to see. I should keep a list of movies I haven't seen that he has. Anywho, we ended up watching the Total Recall remake.

I was perfectly alert all morning. Surprisingly... But I guess for payback on teasing Mom, the sleepiness hit me. I probably only saw half of the movie. :-P From what I did see, it was enjoyable. I mean it was mostly just a spruced up version of the old one. The ending was a bit less something. But overall it looked cool.

Sleslaxed some more while watching (snoozing to) the rest of Finding Nemo, before heading off to a market trip and grub pick up. Subway sammiches with there oh so nummy broccoli cheese soup. Even Mom woke up some to eat that. :-)

So it was a funtastic family morning and a nice relaxing afternoon-evening with Dad. I hope we do it again. Not like all the time, but now and then would be nice. Maybe next time, we can treat Dad. :-D

Hot Dog into a Frozen Wave

Let's see.... what have I been up to this month.... 

Lots of the same.

Sundays are spent with the Daddy. :-) Sadly, we spend way more time shopping than movie watching. Late starts to the day, lots of dawdling (on both our parts :-P ), and multiple errands tend to cut movie watching time down. Doesn't mean fun isn't had along the way!

Monday mornings (and the occasional Tuesday morning), Dad brings breakfast after picking up his job for the week. :-)

Tuesdays are always fun filled with fun and silliness at Target and dindin picked up from Fantastic Cafe. This last Tuesday I rescued a fallen hero.....Some fiend had carelessly left the Batman (stuffed toy :-P ) on the floor. I swooped in (sadly no cape) and picked him up. He didn't even say thank you. Hero work is thankless. Le sigh.

The rest of the week is well quiet apart from the occasional moments of silliness with Mama and the antics of our four fur-balls.

K... Now for the highlights....

The kittens showed up. Spumoni had four kittens (that we know of). She looked bigger this time around, so we thought she'd deliver more than last time (Kumquat and Paprika were two of five). But either she just ate better this time or some of them didn't make it. Poor baby. I've of course temporarily nicknamed them. Tablet (another orange tabby), Calicket/Caliquette (a calico I clearly haven't figured out how to spell the name of), Cottonball (a mostly white kitten with calico coloring on her head and tail), and Fluffball (a fluffy orange and white kitten). They've been living in our landlord's shed, next to our house. They're still skiddish, but Tablet and Calicquette are brave enough to play with my fingers under the security door. Along with feeding them, we kinda have to feed Tom-Dick-or-Harry as he won't let them eat otherwise. Oy.

Mom and I spent last couple of weekends watching movies. :-D Weekend before last she had Friday off due to shift trade, so we watched movies after her appointment. And then another the next day after she got off work. Last weekend, she had a three day weekend and we spent one of them watching the last two movies. Oh, we were watching the entire Fast and Furious series in preparation for going to see the new one (more on that another time). We plan to make movie watching a habit again. Been too long.

Spiffiest highlight of the month? Mom and I got new phones! :-D THANK YOU, DADDY! Late b-day gift for moi and Mama's Day gift for her. We have now entered the world of smartphones. Real smartphones not just the sorta smart ones we had before. Woohooo! SOOOOO many bells and whistles on them. Two weeks in and we're STILL discovering this fun thing or that cool trick, I love it. Samsung Galaxy S4..... Newer and spiffier than Dad's, so he whines. Hehehe... I love it even more now that I worked out how to Doctor Who-ized it. Yay.

ANYwho... Babbled on long enough. I'm sure I'll have more to babble about later. But it's almost midnight and I had wanted this to be May's post not June's. :-P