Dieting…

Well, Pixie’s gonna live. But as the doc suggested our first visit, she needs a dietary change. To get her under control, we need to switch her food to this expensive prescribed diet food. Joy. She likes the wet food okay. Not a huge fan of the dry though. As suggested on the packages, we’re transitioning her food with a blend of old and new brands of dry food. What hurts most is she’s not allowed anymore treats. And she’s a HUGE fan of “cookies”. Thanks to Mom’s spoiling, she probably eats as much cookies as she does dry food.

According to the doc, Friskies (the brand we give her), Whiskas (old treats that Oreo still eats), and Meow Mix (old dry food we stopped buying) are the three worst brands out there. Fabulous. My theory is that it was probably the new dry food and treats. Because she was fine on the Meow Mix dry food and Whiskas Temptations treats. But when we switched to the new Friskies flavors of dry food and Friskies Party Mix treats she like devoured them and whines all the time for them, eating more for taste than hunger I think. But it’s only theory and we’ll play it safe. So after the six weeks of prescribed brands, we’ll switch to the cheaper but healthier brands. And all the food we have now will go to Oreo (until he notices he’s not getting special treatment) and then the strays. So we’re set for cat food for the strays for a while. >.<

As if that wasn’t bad enough, doc says no more pet grass for Pixie. Oy… She LOVES that stuff! She whines all the time for it. And she’s smart, so she knows where I keep it and where I serve it to her so she watches those spots. :P Ah well. For now, the grass remains on the window shelf over the sink, pushed as far back as possible so it’s not as visible, and left there for Oreo to nibble on until it’s ready to be tossed.

I’ve decided I need to work on my diet too. Well, not diet diet. But like, I need to stop “starving” myself because I’m too lazy to get up and make something or think I might be eating something better later. They say you should eat within half hour after waking up or something… Well I tend to wait hours. Partially cuz I really am not hungry and partially for the aforementioned reason. Plus, I can cut back on portions. I don’t need to eat ‘til I’m ready to explode just because something is tasty. And as suggested by my fwend, I will not be eating just before going to bed. And now that I’ve broken in my shoes some, I can start the whole going for walks thing. I’ve never been a huge exercise and diet person, but these are things I can do. Maybe when/if I start losing weight, I can do a real diet to help lose more. But I’m in no huge rush, just a bit of an attempt to be a little healthier.

Oh, it’s official. I’m ordained. I got the certificate today. I can now perform marriages and whatnot.

The Who What When and Wheres

Week before last I barely saw Dad as timing was off with work and what not. This past weekend made up for that and then some! :P

Friday, Dad came over and brought pizza from Nick’s. Pizza and nummy Greek salads….

Saturday, Dad and I hung out for the day. Breakfast at Huffs for my Greek omelet, a visit to the Dollar Tree to raid them of their Sudoku books :P, ice cream and movies on TV at his house, and then McDees for dinner at my place. :P We actually planned to watch a movie he’d recorded on SyFy, but I caught the beginning of Resident Evil and we ended up watching the whole thing even though we both own the DVD. :P And Save the Last Dance was just starting, so we ended up watching that one too. Soon enough there was no time to watch the four hour SyFy movie. :P

Sunday, Dad didn’t end up working like he thought about doing, so we went back to Huffs. This time I ordered something different, a nummy avocado and bacon omelet. That area is like a hot spot for dollar stores, so this time we went to the 99cent store before heading back to his house for that SyFy movie. Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island was an okay movie. I forgot about some of the more irritating characters in it. Heck, I completely forgot about the pirate portion of the movie. :P We picked up Subway on the way back to my place, cuz sometimes ya just want a sammich. :D

I actually started off the day calling Nana. I guess she and Mom talked on Saturday and because Mom didn’t know what I was up to for the day (specifics), Nana got all frustrated or something. She feels the need to know the who, what, when, and where’s about our every move. I guess she was that controlling with Mom when she was younger and doesn’t understand why Mom doesn’t keep tabs on me. Mom’s attitude is if I wanted her to know, I’d tell her. And it’s not that I don’t want her to know, she just doesn’t ask so I don’t say anything. :P When I do tell her I’m going with Dad, she’s all “oh okay, have fun!” So yeah, I had to call Nana and appease her before she called Mom again and asked her again over and over what I was up to despite Mom telling her she didn’t know over and over. :P

Oh, I also called the vet’s office (or answering service, rather) and got some info so we could drop off Pixie. Mom was concerned as the poor baby’s bottom is raw from over licking. >.< Anywho, we figured we’d drop her off Tuesday at Mom’s lunch break. There was only a $45 dollar test fee to worry about.

Monday, being Labor Day, was an automatic day off for Dad and we did something shocking…. We hung out for a third day in a row! Gasp! We went back to Huffs. What can we say, we like the place. :P I ordered a French toast meal and they were pretty tasty. :) We made a pit stop at Dad’s to start laundry (I did mine last minute the night before so I could be able to play), then headed for the mall. We went to a shoe store so Dad could buy a pair of shoes he wasn’t able to get (out of stock) last time we were there (when he bought five pairs of shoes :P ). Since he knows I want to walk more and my everyday shoes aren’t good for walking, he bought me some tennis shoes! I can’t even remember the last time I had tennis shoes! Probably back in 10th grade, when I needed them for PE. :P So, now I own two new pairs of shoes. Kinda spiffy actually. I was a primarily Payless Shoes girl, so these shoes are rather nice and better made. :P We went back to his place to watch The Story of Ruth, but stupid TBN was screwy the day it was recorded and so their Praise show was what got recorded instead. Ah well. An episode of I Love Lucy and the Crazies was a happy substitute. Okay, not “happy” as lotsa folks died in the Crazies. :P But it was an enjoyable afternoon.

As we were packing up to leave, Mom texted me to tell me something I already knew. Our neighbor is an asshole. Because they wanted to work on something they shut off the power. Not a huge deal right? But they didn’t even tell Mom they were doing it! So she goes outside to look at the breaker box and through the open windows asks them if they lost power and dumbass (yes he really is dumb) tells her they were working on something. She’s like thanks for the warning, and some old man tells her they’d be done in ten minutes. Total, the power was maybe off for 30 minutes and wouldn’t have been an inconvenience IF he’d only been a considerate neighbor. Anywho, to cheer her up, we picked up her favorite food…. Quesadillas from El Taco.

Tuesday, for the fourth day in a row, I woke up early (by early I mean any time before noon :P). Had to call the vet to let them know we were dropping her off as soon as they opened (well an hour after they opened :P ). I got ready and checked e-mails ‘til it was time to catch her. Twenty minutes before we planned to leave, I tricked her into going into her carrier and closed the door behind her. She was fine until ten minutes in she realized she was trapped. Anywho, we went out to the car and discovered the car battery was dead. >.< Joy. Le sigh. All that trouble for nothing… I had to clean her up and let her out of her cage. She raced to hide under Mom’s bed. Couldn’t answer my phone with Pixie and wipes in hands, so I missed Dad’s first attempt to call. Bummer, cuz he was off and available to take me and Pix to the vet. Mom had to lure Pixie out with cookies while I was practically outside and out of sight (cuz she didn’t trust me, dunno whyyyy… :P ). After she ate, Mom grabbed her and passed me the football. :P I put her in so fast she didn’t even have time to fight back. Poor baby cried all the way there. :( On the way back, we stopped at a donut shop. We enjoyed a quick bite before Dad had to go back to work.

Would you believe, Mom actually missed Pixie’s non stop whining while she was gone! And initially, Oreo whined and whined and wondered the house looking for her. Such a sweet big brother. With the car battery still dead, we hoped Dad would get off before they closed rather than having to call Nana. Apparently, Nana was in a good mood or something when Mom called and would have been happy to take me though. But I’m still glad Dad took me. Big carrier in the back seat of Nana’s little car might have been a tight squeeze. :P After a bank and pharmacy run, we picked her up just before they closed. They said we could call after nine the next day for results. As it turns out, it was a good thing Mom's car battery was dead. She forgot to put on her new registration tags and we'd have gotten a big ticket for that one. God as always is watching out for us. Back to my place, cleaned her again, moved laundry, programmed VCRs, and headed back out to resume our regularly scheduled activities….. Target Tuesday!

Seeing as how Dad was gonna have to wake up early the following morning, we were supposed to go in and out. :P Buuuttt…. He’s him and we’re us so that didn’t happen. Picked up the DVDs he wanted and we proceeded to do what we usually do, look at all the books, straighten the shelves, and generally dilly dally before going on to the market section of the store. :P I picked up a few items, but mainly we just needed cat food. So while Dad dilly dallied in the produce section, as usual :P, I went and looked at cat food. The vet mentioned Pixie might need a dietary change, so I looked at the options in case that’s what Pixie would need. And as if we weren’t taking long enough, there were fairly long lines at the cashiers. Ah well, so much for a quick trip. :P We went to Fantastic Café and then home where we thankfully had parking. A nap here and a nap there and Dad ended up leaving just as late as always. Hehe. :P And thus concludes the longest consecutive stretch of Daddy Days in ages. :P

After he left, Mom and I were talking and I was laughing at how Dad kept saying he had wanted to leave early to get enough rest for his early morning but still ended up leaving late. :P Mom again brought up the idea of maybe the three of us finding a place together. The idea has its pros and cons. Mom’s thinking of the emotional and financial support we’d offer each other. A shared rent would be able to afford a decent place with four rooms and savings on only one cable bill and so on and so forth is appealing. And we’d be right there for each other to hang out whenever. We do enjoy each other’s company, always have. We might even cook more, as he doesn’t cook for one too often, and I don’t always feel like cooking just so she can take two bites that night and get full. But the constant exposure to pet hair and dander wouldn’t be good for Dad. And Mom and I get on each other’s nerves. I imagine A the three of us might do the same, or B he and she might get on each other’s nerves over each other’s habits or the way she gets on my case. Still, a fresh start for all of us would be nice. Here, there, somewhere in the middle… One of those thoughts that sounds nice, like me one day moving out on my own.

Anywho… I’ve babbled far longer than I intended to. And sadly no pictures this time as I forgot to take any. It’s now past the time I wanted to be in bed and I still have dishes, water bottle filling, litter cleaning, kitty feeding, and normal getting ready for bed stuff before I can get in bed, which means it will be WAY past the time I wanted to be in bed. In four hours I can call the vet. Hopefully it’s nothing serious, or at least nothing a little medication and/or dietary change can’t fix. And HOPEFULLY it’s something that can be fixed soon as I am DYING to get my house back to a non-smelly state and tired of washing extra loads of sheets and blankets used to protect the beds. And, y’know, it’d be really nice to know I could sit anywhere in my house without worrying if that spot is contaminated or not. I mean I know even when healthy the house is “contaminated”. It’s not like they wash their hands with soap after the litter box or use TP to clean themselves. :P But so long as it doesn’t stink, I’m okay. And here I go again... See... Need to go now before I ramble on. :P

Ups and Downs and All Arounds…

We prematurely celebrated Pixie’s health or something. After the day or two of seemingly wellness, she had a couple mini accidents. I prayed they’d end, and they did. But she still stinks and hits the litter box frequently. So, basically, same sitch only she’s got better bladder control. We want to call the vet, but it’s not like we’ll get to talk to the vet. Most times in the past we’d speak to a receptionist who could only say bring them in. And the last time, the vet told me if Pix didn’t get better by “Monday” (which she didn’t get better as quickly as he said to begin with), to call and they’d probably have to run tests. But we had to borrow just to take her the last time for the simple visit ($50 for just the appointment!) and the meds he gave her. I have faith she’ll be well in time. I just wish God’s timing was our timing. And yes, I know he could say no to my request to help her get well, but I also know he knows we couldn’t handle the loss if Pixie was to be really sick. If any of my readers could also pray for Pixie’s good health and or think positively, I would be muchly appreciative.

I’m glad I didn’t get around to the house cleaning… sorta… I’ve washed lots of sheets though. Layers of old sheets are draped over Mom’s bed and old washable (fits in the washing machine) blankets are draped over my bed and the couch. So I’m doing lots of laundry now. Yay. All the chairs have something on them, to prevent Pixie from sitting on them. She’s not having accidents, but she still stinks. And yes, I do clean her once or twice a day. Poor baby hates being dragged to the bathroom. Well, she hates it initially, but she’s a girl and loves to be clean. I do feel bad though. Mom and I are kiiiiinda used to the smell, as we have no choice. But I almost dread when anyone else walks in. Sorry Issi! Sorry Daddy!

Speaking of Issi… Went dress shopping with her this past Sunday and hung out at her place. Wow, there are A LOT of UGLY wedding and formal evening gowns out there!! :P I seriously think the whole fish tail or whatever look to a gown should be banned, unless it’s a mermaid costume. :P We did see a few really pretty dresses. Rude sales girl aside, it was nice to be out and about even if we did go home empty handed. Well not completely. An alternate idea came up while at another store. At any rate, Issi will be a purdy bride. :D We (Issi, her mom, her mom’s friend and I) went to eat then back to Issi’s house after dropping off the friend. We (just the three now :P) played Golf! I like that card game. Hadn’t realized how much I missed playing till we got started (and I remembered the rules :P ). AND I actually won a round or two! Lots of laughing, a bit of cursing and almost cursing, and three rounds of Golf made it a nice end to the evening. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Issi’s mom laugh that hard. And I think we were all laughing hard enough to bust our guts. :P Good times.

After depriving us of it last week, Dad came after work for our weekly Target Tuesday adventures. :D Actually, I think this trip was actually more shopping than silliness, but as always we squeeze in silliness everywhere else. And after we went to Fantastic Café, where we go EVERY Tuesday now cuz I love it so much :D. At the restaurant, we ran into my cousins. Sadly, I did not recognize my own cousins… Well one, I can’t remember the last time I’d seen him and probably only saw him a few times in my entire life. :P But Alex, I should have recognized, despite it having been over a year since I’d seen him last. But with me, unless I see you everyday enough to make out your facial features in the distance, I don’t recognize ya. His voice sounded familiar and I knew enough it was cool to hug him but like couldn’t put the name. Meh. Ah well. Anywho, we ate GOOD. Like I guess we really missed the food or they made extra tasty food that night. :P

I have yet to finish a letter to a sweet friend of mine. It’s rather stupid actually. I feel super guilty for not writing and at the same time can’t seem to make myself finish the letter. We exchange really long letters to each other, which I love. But for some reason I keep putting it off. I really can’t let another month go by though. It’d be one thing if we texted like we used to, but her phone went on the fritz according to her last letter and as she hasn’t replied to my texts it still hasn’t been fixed. Gotta stop procrastinating on like EVERYTHING. Sooo many little projects and things I wanted to do ages ago. This summer has just been one big “I’ll do it later” season for me, hence quiet in the blogging department. :P But I’ll try harder.

And now for some silliness… I got this from my fwend on her facebook and thought I’d share it here. :D