12/14/07

If you can view MPGs, you can see the movie (the picture’s a lot better) here. (That’ll be up for the next week, then I’m going to take it down and upload another one!)

 

Why does Fred hate us so? He hasn’t posted a thing since December 1st. We miss you Fred. Your wife has posted everyday for a month and a half. Please, Robyn, make Fred post more often. I’d ask Fred why he hasn’t posted since the 1st, except I already know he’d say “I have nothing to write about!” He’s been working on the new chicken coop, and it’s keeping him pretty busy, and then he was sick. He thinks that things have to “happen” before he can write an entry, and I think I’ve proven perfectly well that you can write entire entries about NOTHING. It’s nothing personal. He doesn’t hate YOU, he’s just a hater in general. And I think we all know that I can’t make that man do anything he doesn’t want to do unless I bitch and whine a lot, and I just don’t have the energy. Hang in there, he’ll post again eventually!

 

Did you see Oprah’s Favorite Things show? I watched that off the DVR today. That was like ten grand worth of stuff! I know that personally, I will never feel truly fulfilled until I have a refrigerator with a built-in HDTV and dvd hookup. I started to watch Oprah’s Favorite Things show because I always find something interesting even though she won’t come and give me all that shit for free (bitch), but the hysterical screaming from the audience pissed me off so much that I deleted it. I cannot stand the goddamn screaming, it makes me want to hunt down every audience member and bitch slap them.

 

Did you see the previews for next week’s RHWOC and apparently Vicki and Jeana get in a bitchy fight? Bring it on!!! I can’t WAIT. I just wish Tamra would get between them, and they’d break her in half and she’d end up with her jaw wired shut and unable to speak. I bet she knows how to simper “I’m the hottest housewife in Orange County!” in sign language already, though. RE: RHWoOC – I always thought Lauri must be really good in bed b/c why else would George want her? Sure she’s decent looking in a completely fake way, but he’s so filthy rich I can’t imagine he’d have any problem getting a much younger version of her with newer fake boobies. But lately I’ve been obsessed with how over-Botoxed Lauri is and her upper lip does.not.move. Hmmm, I think the lack of lip mobility throws my “good in bed” theory out the door. & seriously, if George was not a gazillionaire, Lauri would not want him. He is in no way cute or charming. Yuk. & doesn’t the nearly incestuous relationship with the new one (Tamra) and her oldest son sort of creep you out? Someone on a message board somewhere said they really wanted to see a picture of Lauri before the plastic surgery, but all you’ve gotta do is look at her oldest daughter to see what she’d look like if her face could MOVE. She wasn’t that bad in the very beginning, was she? Because I remember thinking she was kind of pretty in Season 1, but now I just can’t even look directly at her because it hurts too much. Also, I have serious doubts about her “relationship” with George. I have one word: Beard. Tamra and her son ABSOLUTELY creep me out. That boy has the dead, flat eyes of a serial killer, and the way they hang out together in a bar with the son and husband getting all competitive is just ICK.

 

What’s up with your knee? I am asking because just about a week ago I woke up one morning and out of the blue, my left knee was hurting so badly I could hardly walk. No swelling or redness, and I couldn’t imagine why it was hurting so badly. I normally work out for an hour every morning and walk four miles in the afternoon – the day before I had actually only walked two miles, so it doesn’t seem to have been overuse. Anyway, it got progressively worse and worse, to the point where I could hardly bear weight on it, couldn’t bend it much, and it was keeping me awake at night. I totally planned on seeing the doctor first thing Monday morning … but when I got up the pain was gone. Completely gone, no problems, nada. And it’s been fine now for three days … I am completely back to working out and walking. What the hell? Do you or anyone have a clue as to what it could’ve been? A virus? All in my head? A curse? I did a graceful stumble-klutz on my way to the car the day before it started hurting, so I think I pulled something. It never hurt too much to walk around normally, just was uncomfortable and I didn’t want to stress it by exercising (does that sound like an excuse? Shaddup.). Today it hurts just the tiniest bit, but I’m going to be headed out here for walkin’ in a little while. As for your knee – well, sometimes our bodies go to drastic measures to get us to relax a little. Maybe your knee was sending up the “Time off, pls. Thx.” flare, and it certainly got its way, didn’t it? Stupid body parts. Obviously, if it comes back you’ll go to the doctor, right? Right. Okay, I’m done being your mother. Drink your milk and eat an apple with lunch, COMB YOUR HAIR, GOD, loveyoubye!

 

What does “fleein’ the interview” mean? It’s a line from the movie… hello. What the fuck. Why can I not think of the name of that goddamn movie? Waiting… waiting…. FARGO! It’s a line from the movie Fargo (god, I thought I was going to have to go google Steve Buscemi, because his is the only name I could think of. AM OLD.). In the movie (in case you haven’t seen it), Francis McDormand plays the Chief of Police, and she’s interviewing William H. Macy, whose character is responsible for hiring a couple of idiots to kidnap his wife because he’s in financial straits and needs the money her father will pony up for ransom, only of course it all goes awry. Anyway, she’s got a few questions for William H. Macy, and she’s sitting in his office at a car dealership waiting for him to bring back some information, and as she looks out the window, he goes driving by in a car and she says “He’s fleein’ the interview!”, and it’s a line we quote often here at Casa And3rson. But in the case of yesterday’s entry (everything in his body was fleein’ the interview), what I meant was that everything in his body that could find an exit was doing so. In other words, he was one with the toilet for a few hours. Lucky man.

 

What are you going to do with your OFB site? And if you know Fred with his OPM site? Seems like you guys don’t need them anymore and sure are too busy to update them frequently. I had planned to keep on ignoring OneFatBitchypoo, actually. Ha! No, I don’t know. I occasionally think about updating, but I don’t wanna. And then I think about taking it down, then I get an email from someone who’s read every single entry and found it educational or entertaining and I think I’ll just leave it up at least for the time being. Probably what I’ll do is ignore it until I hit the two-years-from-surgery point (end of January), update it with an entry and pictures, update it a few more times during the plastic surgery process (sometime before Spring, I’m hoping), and then just update it a time or two every year. I think Fred’s just planning to keep on ignoring OnePhatMan, though.

 

Robyn, have you seen that Haven Kimmel (of a Girl Named Zippy) has a new novel out? I’ve just picked it up from the library – it’s called The Used World. I did not know that! I’m a little leery, though. I tried reading The Solace of Leaving Early and then Something Rising (Light and Swift), but didn’t care for either of those at ALL. I adored Zippy – it’s one of my favorite books, ever – and I liked She Got Up Off the Couch, so I don’t know why I can’t get into her novels. Let me know how this one is, maybe third try will be the charm!

 

Some information for those of you who feed your cats Purina Cat Food: I thought I would share this bit of information about Purina Cat Food that I know I wasn’t aware of. I had to rush my one year old neutered male cat to the animal hospital yesterday morning for emergency surgery due to a complete urinary blockage. I am sure you have all heard of that..the crystals that develop in the bladder, and if one moves into the urethra as the cat tries to urinate, it blocks it and the toxins back up into the bladder, the cat can’t pee and is in horrible pain. It is a life threatening situation and scared the heck out of me to see my little guy in so much pain. Now, about the Purina. My veterinary office staff told me that 90% of neutered male “blocked” cats (and I guess the neutered male is most likely to become blocked) are on Purina cat food. I know Gusgus was. I was told that the fibre and vegetable content, which sounds like a good thing, often leads to these crystals being formed. Apparently (and I am only quoting what I was told at the vet’s..I haven’t Googled it) Purina is the sole brand of cat food with those ingredients. They suggest Iams. Anyway, Gusgus had his intravenous and catheter removed this morning and I am to leave him there until this evening to make sure he is peeing on his own. He is probably very scared and I am sick about all this. He is an indoor cat, very spoiled and never been alone at night. Poor baby. And as a side note? $800.00 to fix it. yikes. He started out on Kitten Chow, then to the Cat Chow , and more recently he was eating Fancy Feast Gourmet Gold (dry). He doesn’t like human food of any sort so the only other treats he got were Whiskas Temptations. I really don’t want to alarm anyone but just felt it was worth passing along. I am going to be nervous for a very long time yet since the problem doesn’t go away with a switch in food from what I understand. It should stop new ones from forming though. He likely still has crystals in his bladder and its not uncommon for another to work its way down. Hopefully it won’t get to this point ever again though! And then someone added: “They suggest Iams.” My guy was exclusively on Iams and developed a partial urinary crystalization blockage. My vet switched him to Royal Canin Urinary SO – this food has a higher sodium content that makes cats drink more, to help flush out the crystals, plus it’s formulated to help prevent or minimize several kinds of crystals from forming in the first place. It’s expensive, and where I am, only available through vets. But it has helped my guy get better. I just wanted to add this info as a cautionary tale about Iams. It’s not necessarily the best alternative (although I know cats who have never had a problem on it too). YMMV! Thanks for sharing, y’all! I don’t feed our cats Purina, but I’m sure lots of people out there do, and appreciate the information.

 

Nosy question for Friday’s Q&A…… Fred has a boss? I could’ve sworn that he and 2 other guys owned their company, but maybe I’m thinking of somebody else. Heh – no less than six of you asked this same question! Yes, Fred owns his own company along with two other men, but they do contract work for a government agency, so as contract workers, they have to answer to (and mostly avoid pissing off) higher-ups. So “boss” maybe wasn’t the correct word to use there – “customer” would be more appropriate.

 

I saw on Oprah today how people who’ve had weight loss surgery divert their eating addiction over into a different addiction like sex or booze. I was wondering…do you think you’ve become an eggaholic? My name is Robyn, and I am a lifelong eggaholic. It started with scrambled eggs, moved on to omelets, and now I can be found in front of the refrigerator at all hours, nibbling hard-boiled eggs, deviled eggs, and egg salad! I love eggs, but it’s nothing new. I always have! And eggs? They are not only incredible, but edible. Better an addiction to eggs than booze or pot, I always say. (Well, I don’t “always” say it. In fact, that would be the first time I’ve ever said it. But I’ll say it more in the future!) Too much egg salad won’t lead to me waking up in an alley with vomit down the front of me. Or I hope it won’t!

 

I know this sounds goofy and maybe you already tried it, but why don’t you put the baggies in the muffin pans, put the egg in and then freeze them? Because that is an obvious solution and thusly (of course) never occurred to me. I’ll be doing it in the future, though. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

How cold is it getting out there in the country? Will the Chickens make it through the winter as-is or will Fred be heating their coop? I know your “not-ours” cats have a heated house, what about Frick and the girls? Also… do you have a “must-have” item on your Christmas List? Family is asking me for a list and I can’t come up with anything practical. It’s been pretty warm for the last several days, actually – it got up very close to 80 at one point! It’s cooled off a lot (it’s 45F outside right now), and I expect our surprise touch of summer is over. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe the overnight temperature will be regularly going down into the 30s and 40s, with an occasional dip into the 20s. Fred did put a heat lamp in the chicken coop when it got cold last month, but after some discussion with the people he talks to regularly on a forum he frequents, it was decided that was unnecessary (and the heat lamp was spooking the chickens, too), as chickens get along pretty well in the cold. And the not-ours cats don’t even need that damn heated house; they’re spending every night inside, now. Last night, Newt opted for a middle of the night game of “Who’s gonna bite The Momma’s toes?” (Answer: He is!) I don’t have any “must-have” items on my Christmas list, no. Anyone who asks gets directed to my Amazon wish list, which is four pages long. Yeah, it’s not particularly fun to shop for someone off their wish list, but hey – at least you know they’re getting something they wanted! (However, if cost was not an issue, I’d be asking for a Roomba!)

 

Over the years that you’ve been sending cards to blog readers, what is your sent to received ratio? Has it fluctuated from year to year, or steadily increased/decreased? I’ll need to do some research on this one, and will answer it in Monday’s entry!

 

So Stinkerbelle seemed okay yesterday morning, then she vomited a few times (but no blood, thank god) and then we realized that she was hungry and eating, but every time she got something in her stomach, she vomited it back up within a few minutes. I called the vet and asked if there was any over-the-counter stuff we could give her, and they said there was really nothing they could recommend. It was 4:30 by the time I called, and so I asked if I could make an appointment to bring her in, assuming they’d tell me to bring her in this morning, but they said I could bring her in right then, and so I told Fred to box her up and we’d go, and he was all “But the CHICKENS! The chickens can’t be out after DARK!” and I got mad and took the cat (HIS CAT) to the vet my own self and the vet looked her over carefully, did a thorough exam, said The Stank wasn’t acting like a cat who had a blockage and she tended to agree with the emergency vet’s opinion that it was a virus, gave her subcutaneous fluids with anti-nausea medicine added, and some oral medication to take home with me. The Stank ate at snack time and kept it down (THANK GOD) and we shot her with some anti-nausea medication this morning just in case (and she fought like the hellion she is), and so far she’s acting fine. I’ll be keeping an eye on her, but hopefully she’s about over this. Last night Spanky and Sugarbutt both barfed. This morning, Spanky barfed again. We hit him with the anti-nausea medicine. I think that’s all we can do for the next few days. I suspect it’s going to go through the cats like wildfire and I’m gearing up my barf-wiping arm as the Stank Virus takes down the And3rson kitties one by one. All we can do is get them through it – there’s nothing we can do to prevent it. Ugh. Hey! Know what would be the BEST thing EVER in the week and a half before Christams? If I got a really bad cold AND the cats made it a 24-hour barf-o-rama around here. That would be FABULOUS. Happy holidays! We can barf if we want to We can leave your friends behind Cause your friends don’t barf And if they don’t barf Well they’re no friends of mine

 

Previously 2006: “MY BABY IS IN PAIN, MAKE IT STOP!” 2005: I’m impressed with myself, if you couldn’t tell. 2004: It is in the 20s here today, IS IT OKAY FOR ME TO BE COLD NOW? 2003: (”Thanks, me! I’m so thoughtful!”) 2002: No entry. 2001: Trust me, it was far more horrifying-looking in person. 2000: Babbling. 1999: No entry.

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