Category: Fostering

New month, new banner! This one was made by Christine, who’s saved my bacon so many times in the past.

Thank you, Christine!!!

Jake of the l’Unervilles.
(with apologies to Thomas Hardy)

Way back when we first got Martin, I said something about his sweet, squeaky little meow. Someone asked for a movie, and I did make the movie, I just never got around to getting it off the camera. ‘Til now.

Poor, lonely Martin on July 22, before he met his sisters and became lonely no longer.

Previously
2009: Jon Armstrong was all “HEATHER INVENTED MAYTAG WHEN SHE WASN’T BUSY INVENTING BLOGGING AND BEING THE FIRST EVER TO EXPERIENCE NATURAL CHILDBIRTH.”
2008: I know. I’m an unreasonable monster.
2007: No entry.
2006: The truth is, Fred has been excitedly pricing tractors every minute of every day since our offer on the house was accepted.
2005: Ahhhhh, smell that fresh, crisp autumn air! Why, it’s down to 90 degrees today. I almost need a sweater.
2004: She turned 86 last Thursday. She’s the only grandparent I’ve ever really known.
2003: (and you KNOW he insisted on it, was all temper tantrumy, screaming and beating his fists on the floor, wailing “ACTOR AND NOVELIST! ACTOR AND NOVELIST!”)
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

Several weeks ago, I cleaned out and straightened up the garage. We’d bought some shelving units at Lowe’s a few weeks previous to that to help out with the organizing of the garage, and I finally got them put together and put in place and the garage looked pretty damn good.

There was even room in the garage for my car, but rather than actually parking in the garage, I kept parking in front of the garage. It was just so handy to be able to toss stuff in that nice open space of the garage rather than deal with it immediately, you know?

Finally, this past weekend Fred decided it was time to just get my damn car in the garage, and he went out and moved stuff and rearranged, and before I knew it, my car was parked in the garage.

And how many times in the past two days do you suppose I’ve glanced out the window toward the garage and had my heart skip a beat when I realized my car wasn’t there (“MY CAR IS STOLEN!”) and then for a brief moment I’m caught up in the excitement (“I COULD GET A HYBRID!”) before I remember what’s going on (“Oh, right. In the garage. Duh.”)? Approximately one million and thirty times, that little sequence of stupidity has taken place.

Fred, as you guys know, is a computer programmer. He loves – LOVESLOVESLOVES – the work he’s doing right now, and he comes home all filled with excitement about the work he’s doing. He goes on at length about this thing or that thing, and honestly it really goes right over my head. I understand the broad strokes of what he’s doing, but as for the details, despite many hours of listening (pretending to listen), it’s neither interesting nor exciting to me.

Look, he KNOWS I don’t really get the details of what he’s doing, but I’m pretty sure he appreciates my pretending to listen and understand what he’s talking about, just like I appreciate it when he pretends to listen to me yammer on about the cats. Marriage is give and take, y’know, and pretending to listen to his shit so that he’ll pretend to listen to my shit is a pretty good trade-off as far as I’m concerned.

I have picked up two words in the course of “listening” to him talk about the vastly fascinating details of coding, and they are words that amuse me, so when he’s been going on for a long time and I haven’t contributed anything to the conversation, I use them.

He’ll be going on, all “Blah blah this” and “blah blah that”, and I hold up my hand to stem the tide of words, and I give him a very serious and concerned look.

“But is it ROBUST?” I ask him. “And more importantly, is it ELEGANT?”

I don’t know why, but using the words “robust” and “elegant” to describe code makes this know-nothing crack UP.

Okay, take a deep breath. Take my hand. We’ll get through this together, I promise.

Bolitar and Rhyme are off to the adoption center later today. Room has come available, and it’s time for the first two to go. I know, I know. I don’t want them to go, either. But it’s time. Don’t think of this as a sad time – think of it as a happy time! They’re going off to find their forever homes!

(Don’t think I won’t be crying like a great big baby when I leave them there.)

Bolitar and Corbett get in some snuggling.

Something does not agree with Reacher, it appears.

Oh, they just drive me NUTS when they do this. Just stroooooll out there like they’re supposed to be out there! Roll around on the concrete, chew some grass, and give me the looks like “What?”

Rhyme spies a chicken through the fence.

I don’t even remember what was going on here, but Rhyme, up in the air, makes me laugh and laugh.

Marty loves chewing on a good straw.

Miss Melodie, relaxing.

Note, please, that Martin does not seem to be too impressed by Melodie’s foot defense action, here.

Pretty Sheriff Mama takes a moment to relax.

Previously
2009: Thank god for patient geeks who put up with difficult women.
2008: No entry.
2007: I don’t get the Winehouse lurve, but y’all just rock on with your bad selves, I s’pose.
2006: That part where McMurphy is trying to take off her scrubs and the back of her shirt is glued to her back with dried blood brings me to tears every single time I watch it.
2005: Is it just me, or does Eric Schaeffer play an inordinant number of characters named Sam?
2004: My day, in progress.
2003: This entry is comprised of nothing but cat pictures, because I’m clearing off the memory stick to start September fresh, with an empty memory stick.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: He said “Maybe you’re losing slower than me because you BELIEVE you’ll lose slower than me!”

So the doctor’s office finally called Friday afternoon with the results from my lab tests from Monday, and from my blood test on Thursday (to check my potassium level). My potassium was improved but still low, so she prescribed another round of potassium supplements.

The labs showed that I do NOT have worms or giardia or coccidia, thank you very much for those of you who guessed that (Fred was predicting giardia), but that there were a whole load of white blood cells present in, y’know. The items. That I dropped off. At the lab. For testing. Don’t make me say it, we don’t need to be talking in detail about that stuff so early in the morning, so early in the week, right?

The nurse asked if things were improved, and I told her “improved some, but not all the way”, and she conferred with the doctor, who put me on an antibiotic and wants the nurse to schedule me with a gastroenterologist. The nurse should be calling today to make those arrangements.

Saturday morning, late, I picked up my antibiotic and potassium supplements, and I took my first antibiotic Saturday night.

“This might make you just a wee bit dizzy,” the label warned me.

Well. That antibiotic didn’t make me dizzy – it knocked me for a fucking loop. We sat down to watch TV around 5:30 that evening, and I stayed awake during the first show, but I dozed through about half the second show. Then we got Clash of the Titans on Pay Per View, and I was maybe awake for ten minutes total of the movie. I’d wake up, squint at the screen, and Fred would say “You’re going to be up all night!” and I’d grunt and shift around a little, and go back to sleep.

When the movie was over, we did our usual bedtime stuff downstairs, then went upstairs and hung out with the kittens, and we went to bed to talk – as we do every night – and I could barely keep my eyes open. Fred went off to his room after about ten minutes, and I fell asleep and slept like a baby through the night.

My Sunday morning dose of the antibiotic still didn’t make me dizzy, but it gave me a bit of a buzz. I swear to god, I’ve never had antibiotics have this sort of effect on me, but it’s a pretty strong one that I’m pretty sure I’ve never taken before. (Do you note that I’m not telling y’all exactly which antibiotic it is so you can’t tell me I shouldn’t be taking it because your cousin’s husband’s sister’s friend’s nephew took that exact antibiotic and died the next day? Let’s just say that if I get a case of anthrax in the next week, I should be all set.) I double-checked the informational sheet I got with the antibiotic, and one of the cautionary points it lists is “if dizziness occurs, drive with caution.”

You’d think they’d tell me not to drive at all, wouldn’t you?

The biggest pain in the ass with this antibiotic is that I can’t take a multi-vitamin or iron 6 hours before or 2 hours after I take the antibiotic, so there’s this whole thing where I take the antibiotic, set the timer for 2 hours so I can take my multi-vitamins and such. Then set the timer for 6 hours so I know when it’s safe to take my evening antibiotic, then another 2 hours before I can take my evening probiotic and magnesium.

Today, two weeks after the first onset of the symptoms of whatever the fuck I had, I feel just about 100% better (if a little bit buzzed from the antibiotic). In total, I lost 16 pounds at my lowest point, and I’ve gained back 10 pounds since the middle of last week. Thursday I ate, in total, one bagel and two cups of Gatorade, and the next morning I was up three pounds. I know it’s all water weight, and I know I’m going to gain back to my starting point and I’m okay with that, but it is still MADDENING to gain three pounds on a bagel and some Gatorade.

I still haven’t gone back to Diet Coke yet. Not that I don’t want to – believe me, I do! – but another of the cautionary points on the sheet of information I got with the antibiotic is that I should avoid caffeine. I’m doing okay with water and Gatorade and the occasional cup of orange juice for now, so I guess I can wait.

Stay alive, my beloved Diet Coke! You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you.

The MMMs and Dodger will probably be going this week to be spayed and neutered. Actually, Moxie’s already spayed, so just Melodie, Martin, and Dodger need to be done. They’ve all been well over two pounds for more than a few weeks, but there’s no rush due to the slowdown of adoptions, so I decided it wouldn’t hurt to wait.

They’re having a good time with the run of the upstairs. Most of the time when I go up to hang out with them, they’re in various places in my room. Martin and Moxie really like to hang out on my bed, Dodger likes the little kitty condo near my bed, and usually Melodie goes running when she hears me coming up the stairs, but comes out pretty quickly from her hiding place in the bathroom.

Moxie in the window.

I think maybe her eye color changes with her moods. Sometimes they look this pretty golden brownish color, and other times they’re gorgeously orange.

Martin and Melodie battle it out.

The Bookworms were hanging out in the back yard with me. Suddenly, the meter reader went tromping through the side yard and scared the heck out of them. Bolitar went and hid beside the steps and kept an eye on him.

SOMEONE’s super-annoyed by the fact that he was trying to sneak out the door and found that I was already out there, yelling at him to get his butt back inside.

“What? I’m trying to fold this laundry, lady.”

Spanky’s already annoyed by me and the camera, and I’ve only taken one picture of him!

Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Jessica Simpson, if I want to see you doing the Tush Push for an entire song, I will go out and buy Nick & Jessica porn that your father will SURELY be flogging any day now.
2004: “SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE SOUND OF THAT TELEVISION!” I bellowed.
2003: Sometimes.
2002: Basically, I’m just a freak.
2001: Now I’ll never know if Lance was going to put the moves on me!
2000: Insects are invading our house at an alarming rate.

I’m alive! Sorry this is going up so late, first I had to edit down the movies a little and then I had to upload them, and then I had to wander off to Publix to buy more Gatorade and OJ.

Aside from the fact that I’m tethered to the bathroom (figuratively speaking) and as weak and wobbly as a newborn kitten (I just ate breakfast and need to go take a nap to sleep off the exertion), I actually feel pretty good. Maybe that’s the first step to ending this nonsense.

Today, kitten movies for you!

First, someone requested a movie of Bolitar doing his Godzilla thing. It just so happened that I had the camera upstairs with me yesterday afternoon, and got some footage. I’m sorry about the shakiness; I’m apparently a 95 year-old woman with the palsy.

Three things to keep in mind:

1. I was so upset that he smacked Melodie (by the basket of toys) because I don’t like it when he actually makes contact with them, and she’s a sweet girl. I’m kind of protective of her, whereas I think Martin can hold his own if need be.

2. When I pick Bolitar up and he’s hissing and whining? He does that WHENEVER you do anything he doesn’t like. What a princess.

3. I DID NOT toss Bolitar over the door, even though it sounds like it. I set him gently down on the other side – but I banged my leg against the door as I did so, so it kind of sounds like I tossed him. Which I didn’t, even though he DESERVED IT.

(Or see it directly at YouTube here.)

That Marty, he’s a fighter AND a lover:

(Or see it directly at YouTube, here.)

Previously
2009: The only excitement is watching the show to see if Kim gets so excited that her face almost moves.
2008: “I’m trying to recall the many houses we’ve driven by and seen Mennonite children scrubbing down the pigs and cows. Thinking… thinking…”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: I haaaaaaaaaate having to deal with strangers.
2003: I guess when your boss (the Supreme Court) tells you to do something and you tell him to go fuck himself, shit tends to fly.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: The thrills and chills around here just never stop, folks.

I went to the doctor yesterday, but all I can tell you so far is that I don’t have an infection, according to my blood work. My potassium’s low (I got a potassium supplement and she told me to eat potassium-rich food), and she gave me a probiotic. She ordered a fecal (do they call it a “fecal” for humans?), and I got the containers from the lab, brought them home, did all that, and dropped them off yesterday afternoon. It takes three days to get the results from that.

She suggested that it’s a possibility that I had a virus, and my guts are still feeling the effects from that. If the lab results show nothing and I’m not feeling any better, they’ll send me to a gastroenterologist.

I remembered last night that I had an egg mcmuffin from McDonald’s last Monday morning before all this shit (har har) started. Fred thinks it would be absolutely the HEIGHT of hilarity if I got salmonella from an egg from McDonald’s, what with all the eggs we grow ourselves. Oh, yes. FUNNY.

Hey, guess what? ‘Nother cat pic entry for you.

The face is cracking me UP.

Over the weekend, Fred finally got around to fixing the door at the end of the hallway so that we could pull it across the hall and let the babies have a little more space to roam. Now, during the day, they have their room, the bathroom, and my room to run around in. At first, they weren’t quite sure what they thought about that, but after a few days they decided it was pretty cool. I can hear them up there racing around as I type.

The only problem is that bratty Bolitar can jump to the top of the door (it’s a half-door) with his ridiculously long and lanky legs, and he runs into the hallway and hisses and growls and just generally acts the big bully. He’s kind of like Godzilla, all flailing around growling while tiny Martin and Dodger and Melodie and Moxie go running for their lives.

Martin thinks he’s big and bad ’til he comes face to face with Godzilla, I’m telling you. Then he just kind of squeaks in terror and runs so fast his legs blur.

The up side is that Bolitar only comes over the door when I’m in there, so most of the time the poor babies can run and play without fear.

“I just has to teach ’em that I’m the boss!”

Exhibit A: ridiculously long and lanky legs.

Corbett does not condone bullying.

Corbett’s a lovah, not a fightah!

Da Sugs.

Previously
2009: He was a regular fucking Pop Goes the Weasel.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: SqueeSqueeSQUEESQUEE! the bird squealed.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: My computer is getting so freakin’ slow that it’s driving me absolutely batshit, and I’m spending way too much time swearing at it.
2000: No entry.

Given that I still feel like crap and I’m still unable to eat anything with any flavah and anything I do eat flees the interview, post-haste (or at least after a brief interval of racing through my digestive tract) AND I haven’t had a Diet Coke in five days because it tastes horrific to me, in fact I can’t drink anything but water and I have a constant bad taste in my mouth and I feel weak due to the fact, I’m sure, that I’ve lost 12 pounds in the last week, I suppose it’s time to call and make a doctor’s appointment.

What does this mean for you? No real entry aside from the cat pictures, SUCKAHS.

“Who, me? What? Nothing!”

At least once a day, Fred looks around at the Bookworms (or looks at one moseying by) and says “I think this is the prettiest litter we’ve ever had.” There’s no arguing – they are one gorgeous bunch.

Melodie, playing. Just after I snapped this picture, she fell onto her side and gave that toy a few bunny kicks for good measure. I guess that toy knows who the boss is now!

“Who, me? Just sitting in this cat bed that I flipped upside down. That’s all.”

::thlurrrrp::

Martin and the toy that Melodie had just bunny-kicked. He’d like it known that HE is actually the boss ’round these parts.

Paws up, y’all!

These two are just so sweet with each other. They’ll walk across the room just to rub up against each other. It’s mighty sweet.

I was going out to run errands one day, and looked over to see Newt taking it easy under one of the upside-down tubs we can’t seem to find a storage place for.

Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: Bye, bye gallbladder.
2005: No entry.
2004: Fucking toes.
2003: No entry.
2002: Evil.
2001: Cat pics.
2000: I know you women out there are jealous since I got me one o’ them SENSITIVE guys who can cry.