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

33rd and Blah St.

Huzzah another birthday rolls on by. I'm well past the age of having little birthday parties and all the normal kid hoopla, but I did have a lil plan for the day that never happened. The whole week kinda sucked. I mean it had its little highs and it had a few lows, but mostly it was just blah.

Since my birthday fell on a Monday (a work day for my parents), I figured I'd just make the usual Daddy Daughter day festivities more fun. I even went to bed early and woke early (partly unintentionally) to start the fun earlier. But with a slight bump in the road mood-wise and errands to run, it was closer to the norm. I DID get my balloons from the Dollar Tree though. :-) Sadly, they didn't last as long as they normally do. Ah well. :-P They brought me smiles for the few days they were still high in the air. And their deflating-ness still amuses me today. :-P We watched Life of Pi. I really enjoyed the movie. We didn't leave early enough to pick up Chinese food for dinner (they close at 9 pm  and we didn't leave his place til about then :-P ). S'okay. By the end of the night I dunno that I still wanted Chinese, it was just the thought I had had at the beginning of the day. :-P

The plan for Monday.... Since I normally stay up all night and call dad at 4:15 for his wake up call and stay up long enough to see him when he comes by with breakfast for the three of us a couple hours later, I knew I'd go to bed late. Mom's usually winding down and in and out of sleep before finally giving in to sleep properly by the time I wake up (around 4-5 pm). So I figured I'd just treat myself that day with a favorite movie of mine (Avatar).

Love this one! :-D

But alas.... Plans didn't go right at all that day. For anyone.

Mom's been having pains other than the normal back pains and by Monday morning it was REALLY bad. More than that, there was panic at not knowing what it was and the imagination running wild. So before Dad could even come by for his Monday morning visit, we were calling Nana for a ride to the hospital. With the pain getting worse and probably panic levels for all of us, it was kind of a scary morning. Dad called for a replacement on his job and joined us at the hospital. While the staff was all super friendly, it took FOREVER to find out what was wrong. Nothing major, just painful. She's still gotta go to a specialist to see if it needs follow-up care. Oh and she was apparently I'm glad Dad was there, he helped with the comic relief. I'm sure if I hadn't been soooooo tired (I had been up since 7-8 am Sunday!), I might have been even more freaked/worried than I was. I mean I was reasonably sure it wasn't major major, but I didn't like seeing her hurting. She stayed in for a few hours as they pumped her full of blood. Dad took me home and fed me (by then I was STARVING and beyond tired). I think I napped at some point.

Somewhat fuzzier on the details of Tuesday morning. Dad dropped by after trying to pick up a job and not like what was available. He came by after he ate I think, with pizza and pastries from a bakery(?). Mom woke me so I wouldn't miss the visit. I ate a slice of the cheese pizza. Num! After he left I went back to bed for a couple more hours...well I tried to. When I woke and got ready it was like just another Target Tuesday. :-D I even wore one of my presents for the day....

Wednesday.... I hadn't planned to leave Mom all alone on his birthday or to not call Dad. But I didn't go to bed til super late and since Mom had the rest of the week off, I didn't see much in the morning-noon time. She was off in her room and I was sitting here. I napped. Woke to give the kids dinner. Then crashed for quite a while. Screwy sleep schedule (or lack there off) finally caught up with me. I woke at 1:30 am. Ha! So his birthday passed by with little to note on my end.

Thursday. Blah.

Friday, Mom, for my birthday, drove out to the OC to our Persian restaurant, Hatam's. Num num num. We brought it home and feasted for days! Seriously! They give you VERY generous portions (mostly rice, which is sooo delicious and addictive). And we watched one of our old favorites... Finding Nemo! :-D

Birthday greetings started the week before with a package from Sarah! I'd like to say I was gonna wait until my birthday to open the package, but I didn't have to be grown up.....cuz Mom was urging me to open it up! :-D And FB friends and family posted greetings on my wall. :-) And spookily, Issi's card arrived on the day! I meant to take pics of the gifts and the beautiful card Issi made me and balloons I got from Dollar Tree, but I didn't and I didn't want to put off this blog any longer than I already did just for a few more pics. :-P

So even though the week could have turned out rather sucktastic (not even counting the hospital run),  greetings from loved ones, fun and silliness with family here and there made the day and week pass by with some highs. Thank you!

Survived the Day

Today being the anniversary, I kinda dreaded the day. Not so much for myself. Not that I don't get sad thinking about it or get a little haunted by the memory of that night... But praise God, I've managed to...I guess get past some of the grief that still grips my parents. I don't expect them to ever be 100% okay with the loss, I mean not even I will be. But it's a date in our heads that just seems to make that loss feel all the worse.

My hurdle to survive is trying to be there for them. But I inadvertently cheated. I stayed up later than usual, busy dong kitchen and other chores, which only made me nod off in front of the comp or TV tons until I gave in and went to bed at like almost 1 p.m. and then slept til 6 p.m. ... So I was asleep more than I was awake while Mom was up. This morning when she got up (at like 2:30 in the morning! cuz she's always a super early riser and a nut :-P ), she seemed okay-ish. We talked and joked some...a little like normal. And she goes to bed early (cuz of the whole waking ridiculously early), so she was in bed an hour or two after I got up. She'd been watching tapes (of our recorded shows as she's WAY behind), which is a good sign she wasn't super depressed all day (she'd have vegged on crap reruns otherwise).

When I talked to Dad earlier tonight, he sounded okay. Well, distracted, but then he was busy making food. We didn't talk too long, so I dunno how well he fared.

I think we all kind of held our breath and braced ourselves. I hope one day, today will be just another day. I mean his birthday is one thing, but I don't want an anniversary of his death day.

Name Change

We decided to change our littlest kitty's name. At the time when the kittens were all still outside, I had started giving them all temporary names before we took them to the shelter or adopted them. I only remember three of the names, or maybe I never named the black and whites. Eh, anywho.. Cuz she looked a lot like her mother I called one of the girls MiniMe. But Mom doesn't really care for the name and it doesn't go with our theme. :-P

It wasn't like we planned to have a theme. Not at first anyway. Oreo came to us already named. Pixie Styx I was named cuz she was crazy and it made me think of an episode of Dharma and Greg where Dharma had had too many Pixy Stix candy. But the other strays in Norwalk were given a variety of names and when we first came here the first cat was called Tundra. After that, we went out of our way to come up with food related names. Okay, I joked about it and then it got stuck in Mom's head.

ANYWHO.... After going through the cupboard and recipe books and whatever other food popped into our heads, we finally settled on a new name. And I think it's cute. :-D Paprika or Rika for short. Now to call the vet and have her name changed in their records.

Rescued.... Sorta

It's Friday. Ordinarily this shouldn't matter, given my lack of a proper schedule. But I keep it special by treating myself to my french bread pizzas and Merlin. :-)

That said. The happy specialness of the day has been kinda deflated. Cuz it's kinda cold out for the furry customers, I've been trying to catch Spumoni and Snickers. Both cats have been leery of my attempts. Spumoni probably saw all five of her kittens caught in similar tricks and she escaped an almost capture. Snickers was a shelter rescue, so I'm sure she's no stranger to being put in a carrier. Anywho. Tonight, I caught Snickers. This should be good news.

After waking Mom, we drove to the shelter to drop Snickers off. Her owner or maybe the shelter chipped her before adopting her out. Well because of the chip, they now have info to call her loser owner. The b**** who "rescued" two cats and expected her CHILDREN to be completely responsible for their well-being without making sure they're doing what they should. HOPEFULLY, we don't see Snickers back on our doorstep again. HOPEFULLY, they don't give her back to that crappy family. >.<

And now....before my sense of happy Friday is completely ruined. I'm going to let it go and leave it in God's hands and go watch Merlin to cheer me up.

Not With a Bang But a Fizzle

I've been trying to write this for weeks. And maybe I shouldn't write it as the reason I didn't was because it was a downer. But in holding back, I didn't bother to write anything else either. Well, until today.

Christmas came and went without much fuss. I never got around to doing any baking. Don't even know if we had enough supplies. Though Nana had offered to pay for some and pay me to bake her some. Cards weren't sent en masse, nor did I receive very many. Nana was sick on Christmas so she didn't stop by. We did go to her house one of those days to pick up something. She got me a used computer chair from a closing  factory or something. It's actually just like the chair I had before. It's nice not to have to share a chair anymore. But, anywho, cuz she was sick it was a short trip. Mom's cousin Debbie never dropped by either....a visit I looked forward to each holiday. Sometimes she came with lil gifts (she sells Avon) or some of her fresh baked cookies or sometimes nothing but her fun stories and good times.... No matter what, it was always fun to have her over.

The only signs of Christmas were in the decorations I put up, which I know Mom always mentally ignored when she was out here....and the Christmas movies I half heartedly watched. I still didn't watch the favorites I reserved for closer to the day.

Even New Years' came and went without any fuss. Not that we ever really did anything. But due to the whole sick thing, Nana never made her menudo. We had can stuff later that week. Meh.

If I could leave Mom, maybe I'd just plan to be away for the holidays. If....

January Birthdays

Mom, Nana, and Uncle David all have birthdays this month. Nana on the 7th. Mom on the 17th even though she kept trying to forget. And Uncle David on the 21st.

Nana wanted the three birthdays to be celebrated all together out to eat someplace. We hadn't really hung out as a family for years. David wasn't super supportive or comforting when Mom needed it most and she's held a grudge ever since. Not that we were ever overjoyed to visit him with his bratty brood. Anywho. Nana REALLY wanted everyone together. So for her, Mom agreed to play nice. So we all went to Sizzlers this last Saturday after Mom got off work. It actually turned out to be kinda nice with some pretty good grub considering the restaurant. The kids while older were still on the bratty and noisy side. Poor David made a question/comment as we were all leaving. "Maybe we'll do this more often?" I dunno if he meant for Mom to get out more or for the whole family getting together thing. I hope he meant the former and not the latter, cuz I think Mom still has a ways to go before she's there. I pray she gets there soon. It kills me that she voluntarily has lost a brother.

While out and about playing with Dad on the Sunday before Nana's birthday, I picked up a card and some balloons for Nana. Mom drove me after work and I'm so glad we did cuz she was surprised and so happy. :-) It wasn't a lot, but it was still nice to be able to make her smile.

For Mom's birthday.... :-) I was gonna either make a card on the computer or by hand.... Time sorta ran out on me cuz I thought it was a day earlier than it was (crappy sleep schedule will do that to ya). Luckily, I had bought her a funny/mean card earlier in the year and forgot. Well, I kinda thought I might of but I lose track of who I buy cards for in advance and who I plan to buy. Anywho, I wrote her a note, cuz I hate just signing a name to a card and leaving it at that, and I sticker-pated the envelope with some cute frog stickers I knew she'd love. She called me a brat when she read it but hugged me anyway. :-D I planned to go to bed early (for me) so I could wake before Mom got off work. I woke a lil late, but not too late. After a shower, Mom and I got ready to watch some movies. :-) I can't give her much but it was nice to give her my time and some silliness. We watched both Expendables movies. Great fun with lots of cool action and some funny lines to boot. :-) Also, Mom had to go into the office on Tuesday to take a test in order to get a promotion and she found out on her birthday that she had passed. :-D All in all, Mom had a good day. :-)

I intend to buy a card to mail Uncle David when I go with Dad on Sunday. Though maybe it's a little too late for that. I guess I could make a card and mail  it out tomorrow, but even that won't make it in time. Le whoops. E-card it is, I guess.

Epic Fail

Finally packed up the Christmas cards after having only sent out a handful of cards that may or may not even make it to their destinations in time. >.< Once upon I used to start them so early in the month. Now, as the years pass, I start later and later despite tha fact that now I have international addresses to mail to which require more time. And it's not that I don't want to send cards. I love getting mail so I love to share that with my friends and family. Le sigh. Maybe I'll try e-cards or something for the ones I missed....well the ones I'm able to anyway. Not all my family are net savy. :-P

Also.... I had a sorta thought that this year I might do some baking at the holiday time. I can only make two of Mom's famous cookies but, still that's two very yummy cookie/treats! But alas, finances being what they were this year, I didn;t even bother looking into buying the necessary ingredients. It's a wonder Mom was ever able to give us Christmas presents at all with the amount of baking she did and the expense of some of those ingredients! But then back then, we bought in bulk a lil at a time for months prior. Maybe next year, I'll try the same. And Nana had even offered to pay me to bake her some acorn cookies. But Mom reminded her we didn't have all the stuff and how expensive that stuff was. I think Nana offered to get the stuff. Shoulda checked with her again before it got too late I guess. Then again, maybe it's a good thing. I have soo many cuts on my hands from the cats and the day the almost broken mop pinched my fingers a few times when I was cleaning. Not to mention how dried out my hands are from the dish washing and the lack of proper moisturizing. Never was very good with that whole skin care crap. The thought of rolling buttery dough into a million balls or chocolate in the case of truffles sounds painful. Ah well....

And finally.... I wanted this month to catch up on back reading of RP characters so I could revive them after the holiday. Also, K hasn't moved in RB in months, nor have her pets. Would be kinda hard to get back into guild hunting if they're all idle and broke. :-P Still a lil time for that though.

Bleh. Next year will be better... 

This That and Everything

Been a while since I blogged...again..... Not for lack of desire or content. As I'll often have stuff (not just the latest cat related stuff too) that I want to share. But I'm usually not in front of the computer when that happens and I forget or get to tired to think straight when I do...or more often than not, I get distracted. Seriously, some days it takes twice as long to watch my shows cuz I can't just sit stil and watch (watching shows live as they air helps due to the commercial breaks :-P ).

Anywho... Catching up.... One by one, we caught all three of the remaining kttens and took them to the shelter. We're still not sure if the mother got pregnant again...still pregnant...lost the babies (God forgive us, but that's actually one of the hopes of ours)...or maybe was nevrt pregnant (the primary hope). Either way, gonna wait and see if babirs can br hrard before taking her in so we don't leave them stranded. In the new year, we'll try to catch her and Snicers. I still shoo away Tom-Dick-or-Harry. Mom says not to be mean, buy I don't want him to get used to eating here. Once the two girls are gone, that's it.  Maybe after they're gone, I'll try to catch him too.

Claening and decorating finally got finished. Decorating last week and the last bit of cleaning this week (major floor cleaning and vacuuming). And since furr wasn't all over the floors, Mom didn't have to be embarrassed and so she called the landlord (finally) about fixing the heater. Which a good thing, cuz turning on the oven to use as a heater isn't as effective at heating up the whole house.

Still behind on things I wanted to get done. >.< Like Christmas cards. So I'll be working all night to fill 'em out and take them to the mailbox up on Western to make sure they get picked up, cuz if I wait to the unpredictable mailman, it could be days. He comes everyday, but at random times and since our mail gets put into a slot on our wall with no place to leave out going mail, I won't risk them getting left behind or falling to the ground.

Dad got a new keyboard for his iPad so I get his barely used "old" one, which I am using right now since I haven't gotten up from movie watching in my room to go turn on the computer. Tis really handy. :-D May even make blogging on the fly a little easier.  We'll see. :-P

I started thinking about my old vampy occupations... And so have others. RB folk asked if I still did the whole guild hunting and list compiling thing and I realized I really missed that. The whole race to get all the guild locations and post them before anyone else...trying todo it without needing to include other people's sightings wass a fun challenge. Also, from RB and other RP vampy games and forums folks have been asking if I wanted to revive the caharacters I had in each respective game/forum... And yes I want to. But at the same time I've been out of that head space for sooo long, I don't know if I remember how to "be" those characters anymore. I do miss it, sso I will try. Can't hurt to try right?

Eggnog Ice Cream and Pumpkin Pie

Holiday season means holiday treats and fun. :-) Like eating eggnog ice cream and pumpkin pie while watching a holiday movie Saturday. Like wearing reindeer antlers and Christmas light (non operational) or jingle bell earrings and watching people smile or giggle or whatever. In a week or so, I'll be in full holiday get up with my ginormous Santa hat and bell necklace. I'm starting to pay attention to when the holiday movies are on and planning on watching some of the old favorites I own. I don't watch EVERY single one anymore....yeesh, that's be almost impossible if not completely sickening cuz some of them are utter crap. :-P

Anywho... Sunday, Dad and I hung out again for our usual Sunday fun. Breakfast at our place with my Greek omelette.... Dollar tree for stuff I don't need need (but mostly useful :-P )... Best Buy for MIB3. :-) ... Then back to Dad's house to just chillax. I don't remember if we watched anything specific or just whatever was on TV. But it was just nice to simply hang out. Of course between losing track on hanging out and Dad's comp not cooperating when he was trying to check something real quick slowed our departure down. We stopped at Food 4 Less WAY later than usual so no broccoli cheese soup from Subway was out of the question, since they were closed before we even made it to the market. Dad left my house soooooo late. Heck, if he'd stayed a smidge longer, Mom would have been up and taking her morning shower (she gets up at 2:30-3:00a.m.). :-P

Monday night I started the thorough cleaning process. I keep letting myself get distracted so it's taking longer than it should...slowly but surely all will be clean and halls will be decked by Friday.

Tuesday, I woke up way later than intended and even though Dad had the day off, we still didn't leave the house until the usual time. Le whoops? Okay... no whoops... My fault entirely. We got the new Batman movie. :-) Looking forward to seeing that. Mom made brownies (at my request) after she got off work so Dad could have some fresh brownies (we'd given him some of the last batch a day or two later). He said they tasted good with eggnog ice cream. Must try that sometime. :-)

Today? Er... Yeah.. Still trying to get my butt in gear. Gonna start a load of laundry in a minute and finish the dusting of the living room before pulling out the decorations, while watching TV Christmas movies of course. Most of the time consuming dusting and putting away was done on Monday, so at least there's that. I think I can handle two end tables and changing the covers on the futon thing. Man I wish we had a real and proper couch.

TTFN