To vet, or not to vet...

Something is wrong with Mindi, the fat kitty.

It could just be that she's old and has arthritis or something - but she's been favoring her right hind leg, and instead of trotting down the stairs, she hops like a bunnyrabbit.

Lately when she goes to lay down, it becomes a major production number, very slowly lowering herself to the floor as if it were painful.

I know I have to take her to the Vet. I'm actually afraid of what he/she will tell me, however. I can't afford to spend 1000's of dollars on a cat - but Mindi is such a honeylove - she cuddles, she looks up into my face with those big blue trusting eyes... she slobbers all over my shirt...

Ok, the slobber part isn't all that great, but she's done it like forever. And she's not so far gone that she couldn't knock over the trash can while I was eating dinner and try to steal the skin from the salmon filet...

If it's something bad like cancer, I'll have to have the vet put her down. I went through that horror with Sasha, and I'll not allow vets to chop hunks off my cats anymore.

167 days

Connectivity Issues

3 minutes of connectivity - modem resets.
5 minutes of connectivity - modem resets.
20 minutes of connectivity - modem resets.
25 seconds of connectivity - modem resets.
1 minute of connectivity - modem resets.

This is a bit of a bitch, especially when you are trying to accomplish something online that requires surfing from page to page in short-order.... or trying to play a little bit of WoW.

So yesterday I contacted Comcast to find out if they can fix it. Got a really nice gal on their "chat in realtime" online feature (from work!) (yes, my boss knew...) and she said it should fix up just as soon as I got home and rebooted everything. Cool beans.

Got home, rebooted everything, went downstairs to have dinner, came back upstairs - no connectivity. Modem reset. 2 minutes of connectivity....

So I called from home, and talked to a really nice guy who said it was something "in the line"' and they'd have to send out a techie. I asked if it was possible if the coax had been damaged, would that maybe cause it? He said yes. I told him not to send anyone until I had a chance to check the cable inside the house, as I can replace that myself.

Cats. Chewed. Almost THROUGH.

*le sigh*

So tonite on the way home I will stop at the CompUSA store and pick up some coax cable, and then I'll see if the problem was this - or something more yet.

I wonder if there is a nice Korean restaurant anywhere near my house....

171 days

New Things

Obviously many of my "old things" havent' been working. The DR. wants to put me on cholesterol meds and I plan to fight it. The possible side-effects scare the bejebus out of me. I know he means well, but after 3 months of eating horribly - almost all red meat, soft buns and cheese - while Leandra was sliding downhill, I'm really not overly surprised to find out that my cholesterol and triglycerides are a bit out of whack.

So yesterday I went to the market to get lunch, instead of a drive-thru. I bought a big salad with loads of fresh veggies on it, another bag of cherries, some OatNut bread (I love oatnut bread...) and this cereal that I can't remember the name of it, but it had flaxseed and pumpkin seeds in it.

Now, to be honest, my first thought was UCK. I love pumpkin pie, but pumpkin cereal sounded cloying and unpleasant. However, it was labeled "Organic" - which has certain labeling restrictions as opposed to "all natural" and stuff like that - so I figured, WTF, right? Flaxseed is supposedly good for the heart and arteries, so I'll try it. I'll try ANYTHING once. (Except gross stuff like brains or tongue...)

It was GOOD! They had these little puffball things in it that kind of resembled rice krispies, and it tasted rather cinnamony, which is nice. There was enough crunchy/chewy balance to make it great with just a bit of milk on it. So, this is a "new thing" that I'll probably have more often.

I need to find some kind of exercise to do too. My bike has flat tires (again!) and I'm too puffy and wheezy to run, too broke to join a gym and too Raphaelite to be seen in a swimsuit outside of my Dad's retirement village.

174 days

Books and stuff

The books I've read that were written in/about the 1700's and 1800's are different.

There seems to be a lot more emphasis on the everyday stuff - laundry, cooking, gardening - as action, and a lot less emphasis on plots, subplots, sub-subplots and car chases.

I suppose the lack of emphasis on car chases can be taken as a "given". Ahem.

Whenever I run out of cleaning/housework steam due to laziness or videogame addiction or whatever (this latest due no doubt to my fears of reinjuring my back/leg), reading Little Women or Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables or damn near anything by Jane Austen is a sure guarantee that I'll get housecleaning/knitting/quilting fever for at least a few days.

The girls in those books are so VIRTUOUS!! Mending, sewing, working on their samplers, cleaning, shining, cooking... For some odd reason, it makes me want to emulate them for a while. In fact, I'm glad that I have this almost-guaranteed impetus providing trick.

Oh heck. I think "J" from the cubicle next-door is having leftover beer-soaked-bratwurst for lunch. All I have is a tuna sandwich. DAMN that smells heavenly..... (NOT the tuna...)

Anyhow - I think it is about time for me to break out the Louisa May Alcott again. I would like to see significant improvement in my environment after this weekend. Wish me luck. Or wish me impetus - that would be even better than luck - as impetus accomplishes more!

178 days

Birthday Wishes (Now with SUBLIMINAL mom-nag messages...)

Ok, so I'm a day late. Phlllhhbbbhhttt.

Amanda - your new address so I can mail you things please?
I wish I knew how to macrame without screwing it up. My ex hubby made this awesome hanging table back years and years ago - I loved how it looked, natural jute and (IIRC) a smoked-glass top. I'd like to make a set of hanging shelves - but my macrame "talent" sucks. I can do it, but it looks like crap because I cannot maintain an even tension. I can knit, I can crochet, I can do most fiber arts - but macrame totally defeats me.

Amanda, I think Brad's Postcards are brilliant! You could send me your address on one?
I wish Herbie the Garden Gnome would pull the weeds in the flowerbed, because there are bajillions of them and it's too hot and humid outside to stay out long enough to make a significant dent before NEW ones grow overnite!
Of course, you could CALL me with the address... phone number hasn't changed, altho voice mail is full.
I wish I knew enough about this new digital tv thing to make an informed decision about purchasing a new TV - As it is, I'm afraid to do so in case I buy one that won't work next year. And does this affect Radio too? Will I need all new tuners for freaking everything??

Yes, I know I'm being an obnoxious git. It's a mom thing.
I wish I had cheekbones. *sigh. And dimples.

So - I went out to dinner last nite at Outback Steakhouse. It was good - tasty as ever, but the menu has changed some so it took a lot of perusing in order to decide on dinner. I also got a small stack of books for a birthday present - which is nice.

Lunch over. Back to work.

179 days

Insomnia... The only way to fry.

Ok, so the pain in my back is gone. The PAIN down my leg is gone. I can stand on tip-toe without agony. I took out the trash bin without pain. These are all good things.

Unfortunately - I still am having trouble sleeping. Last night and the night before it was jumpy legs. I lay there - in peaceful comfort... and all of a sudden, for no apparent reason - my leg decides to twitch.

I actually made it to sleep one time - and dreamed I tripped as I went up the stairs, waking to the twitchy jumpy leg - adrenaline pumping and grabbing for the handrailing - which was actually my night-stand.

Part of the problem is still the back - so saith Dr. Brad. Part of the problem is the weather. It's so darn muggy and humid that I can't stay in one position for any length of time or the downside 1/2 gets too warm and sweaty, so I roll over to make the "downside" the "upside" and have to reposition all the pillows, which is an entire production number of itself.

The damn mourning doves killed my blueberry bush - AGAIN. This is getting farking ridiculous. Every year I get a baby bush, I plant it properly, put it in a nice spot - and every year at some point when the doves are nesting, they pull it out of the dirt and try to make a nest out of it. The plants don't like being uprooted, and die.

I need a BB gun. Squab anyone?

Made another step on my way to getting a new office chair at home. I FINALLY threw out the old one this morning. I was so afraid that one time I'd forget the back was almost broken and lean back and throw my back out permanently as well as bust my scalp open (scalp wounds bleed like crazy!), give myself a concussion and put a hole in the wall.

So I went last night to Office Max after seeing Dr. Brad, and sat in all their chairs. Well, all their "executive" and "manager" chairs. I will not EVER purchase a "task" chair - they're hideously uncomfortable, and blatantly sexist/classist.

You know which ones I mean - the ones with the tiny little backrest that barely covers a portion of your lower back - allowing all the men in the office to ogle your ass? Fuck that.

Several of the chairs were quite cozy. I absolutely do NOT want a chair with a leather seat, because I spend too much time in that chair and have no desire to do the leg-to-chair bonding that occurs when sweaty thighs sit on leather or plastic for too long.

They weren't near as pricey as I'd feared either. This is a very good thing. Perhaps next weekend I'll do some more chair-sitting at a couple other stores then make up my mind.

181 days

Cleanliness is next to....

*grumble*

Wouldn't it just figure that I've got all this farking ENERGY to do stuff, but Dr. Brad still says no bending, lifting, twisting, vacuuming...

The cats see these restrictions as carte blanche to vomit hairballs all over the place. Making me have to clean them up surepptitiously bending - as the vacuum is still off limits. I think they (the cats) do this on purpose.

So I got my prize for winning the caption contest over by Mr. Farty's. It is a Dalek!! A red Dalek with silver spots. If you tap him on the head, the talks in Dalek, and if you drag him backwards, he drives himself around for a bit. For the time being, he is living on my monitor - but I may have to find him a new home shortly because C my Co-Worker is green with envy and I don't trust the cleaners. Here he is sitting next to "Peacecat" at work, but I may take him home on Friday to protect him from the evil janitors.

187 days

Blog Blarg

Some weeks are harder than others in which to blog.

This last weekend I had promised myself to update - yet another in a long string of things I've promised to me and conveniently forgotten.

I did, however, get a number of other things done, some of which I'd been procrastinating for quite a while. For instance - went to see the Hospital Vampires and got blood tests drawn - Met a very nice phlebotomist named Ruth who got me in one almost-painless stick! No call from my Dr. office so I must be near-normal. They always call quick when there is a problem. I procrastinated on this one because you had to do it "12 hours fasting" which I kept forgetting on the weekends, and couldn't be bothered over driving to the hospital real early on weekdays. In the end, got there RIGHT as they opened, 15 min. later I was out of there and on my way to:

The AIR TEAM facility, where I went and got my car's emissions tested. They sent me this scarey yellow notice that said if I didn't do it, they wouldn't sell me updated license plate stickers, and since my plates come due in September, it seemed curiously ambitious of me to handle this so early - BUT I DID!! and all this before:

Breakfast at Omega Restaurant. They make really FLUFFY omelets. I usually don't like the fluffy ones at other places because they're generally partially raw in the centers, but the ones at Omega are just lovely. Big glass of grapefruit juice and a couple of sausage links and I was good-to-go to:

Costco! Where I got my latest drugs picked up and replaced my cheap crappy DVD player that died after only a year, with one that was only marginally more expensive, but made by Sony and has a warranty.

Went home, paid my mortgage online - ON TIME - and then:

Watched National Treasure 2. It sucked. It was National Treasure 1 with a less credible plot, and too many of exactly the same stunts, visual FX and cliche's. Nicholas Cage is NOT aging well.

Missed Lea a lot because of that. It's the kind of thing we would have discussed to death for at least 15-20 minutes, laughing at each other's impressions.

189 days

"Courtesy" calls

I hate telemarketers. I despise ANYONE who telephones me whom I do not know. I want them ALL to die in a fire.

I hate collections calls (both making them and getting them!), but at least I understand them. Now, I'm not complaining about my Dr's office that gives me a Courtesy Call to let me know I have a Dr. appointment (since it's usually 3 months between appts, and I have the attention span of a gnat and a memory like a steel seive)

What I am ranting on right now is these so-called "Courtesy Calls" from vendors. My mortgage company was the first and worst.

Me: Hello?

ST(Stupid Twat): Hi, I'm calling from Sewmouse's Mortgage Company, is Ms. Sewmouse available?

Me: This is Sewmouse, is there a problem with my mortgage?

ST: Before I can tell you anything, I have to verify that you are, in fact, Ms. Sewmouse - I'll need you to answer these Very Personal Questions.

Me: Look, your phone number comes up in my caller ID as "Unavailable" - YOU called ME - I think that it is imperative that YOU prove to me who YOU are, before I give you my Very Personal Answers. Now - IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH MY MORTGAGE?

ST: I'm sorry, but until you answer these Very Personal Questions, I cannot answer that. Here is a telephone number you can call to verify that I am calling from Sewmouse's Mortgage Company.

Me: How the fuck do I know this isn't some phishing scam and this phone number belongs to Nat Pagle* who will CLAIM to be Sewmouse's Mortgage Company just to get my Very Private Answers???

The last 6 exchanges continue in the same vein for about 5 minutes... then
ST: (Hangs up on me)

The next morning I called my mortgage company direct (from the phone number on my little mortgage-payment-slips). The very polite lady there told me there was nothing wrong with my mortgage, but that it had been a "courtesy call" to let me know my payment was due in a few days. I asked her to name me ONE PERSON who would have considered that call to have been "Courteous". She failed.

Yesterday a ROBOT PHONE VOICE called our office to ask us to return their call to Federal Express - the COLLECTIONS division - and to MAKE SURE WE HAD OUR ACCOUNT NUMBER READY. Excuse me??????? Do I REALLY look like the type of person who can be pushed around by a disembodied robot phone voice????

Not to mention the fact that with more than one location, and several FedEx services, we have a number of Fedex account numbers. Would have been nice if the dipshit phone voice had indicated WHICH ONE.

So, in an effort to be obnoxious back, I returned the call to the Fedex Revenue Dept - and began dealing with what STARTED OUT as a snotty little collections agent. Of course, I quickly took the upper hand by demanding that he tell ME what account number concerned him, as I had several and really had no time to deal with this nonsense. SLCA lost a bit of his bluster.

Oh - then he wanted my phone number. Well, I can TRY to do that, although we DO have a 12-number hunt-group, so if it's not the main number, we're SOL. About this time SLCA started to become almost human. "Oh, here it is - this was just a COURTESY CALL - to let you know your Fedex bill is a little overdue"

So I told him that there was nothing at all "COURTEOUS" about having a robot telephone voice call - in fact it was downright RUDE - and that if they couldn't manage the COURTESY of having an actual PERSON make the call, then I usually do not bother to return them.

He hung up on me too. How COURTEOUS is that?


*WoW players will probably get the reference.

193 days

The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said...

to talk of many things:

Herbie and Roger

Roger is a goose. Roger lives in my back garden behind ze Lilies. Roger is made out of plastic, and at one time had a dapper little red velvet bow tie, but it has succumbed to the elements over the years. This is Roger:

Roger got his name from... I have no freaking clue. I only remember one day when Amanda was maybe 4 or 5 years old, and we were driving around and saw a bunch of geese. And somehow we named one of them Roger, and for years thereafter Amanda would ask for a "Roger" story, which always began with "Roger was a silly goose...." and I'm not 100% certain, but I believe that somewhere along the line we added in the bit about how trees eat squirrels, then poop them out as acorns, which the mean ducks with teeth eat.... Don't ask me. I don't remember. Stupid nonsense rambling stories were my forte. Still are. Q.E.D.

This is Herbie, my terra-cotta garden gnome in his Natural Environment - in the unusual circumstance of being laying on his BACK instead of on his face.

This is Herbie sitting on top of the Ginormous blue and white drinks cooler that I use instead as a garden shed, as my garden is far too small for a real shed, and the housing association won't allow them anyway. Herbie is standing next to a hand trowel and an 8" diameter potted plant for size comparison. Also because I was too lazy to move the trowel and plant. Meh.

Heads up to Kalshassan and Amanda - I need new mailing addresses!!! Not just e-mails, but snail-mails too! Phone numbers?.......................

So - we did the 4th of July thing - Brats, Beer and BOOM BOOM BOOM.

Kitties do not like firecrackers. Or roman candles set off in the street outside our condo. Or M80's. Kitties hide under the chairs, then come out and give me dirty looks as if I were responsible.

The cats were NOT HAPPY. They kept looking at me like " Mom. Make it stop. NOW"

I have GOT to find a way to listen to the video/audio of the people heckling Bush at a recent event. *grin* Seems like more people are "getting it"!!

This week is factory shut-down week for our company. So how come machines are running and the guys in shipping are working? Hmmmmmmmm???? (Don't answer. I'm sure there is a very good reason that I am just not getting, per usual.)

I am this [] close to getting a new chair for the upstairs office area. The old chair is broken, and the folding chair I've been using as a temporary replacement suxxors. Hurts my back. Maybe I should get a wireless mouse and a recliner...

195 days