And The Car People Say...

that they cannot find what is making the high-pitched metallic rattle that happens when I don't commit to full acceleration (read: in-town driving and you're stuck behind a slow numbnut). They checked out everything under and in the guts of the car, two mechanics took it for a whirl, I took a mechanic for a whirl, and NOTHING.

Of course, when I got back to my town - 30 minutes away from the place the car gets serviced- my car was doing it again.

I don't have voices in my head or hallucinations, but I have noises in my car that are possibly made by a car gremlin that only I can hear.

The Vet Recommends...

that I have Moomin on wet food for the rest of his natural born life. I just finished a 20 minute phone call with her. It was this long because I wanted her to EXPLAIN this recommendation to me in full detail, coz I'm high maintenance and all but also a bit of a budget-minded girl and special cat food is expensive and if I don't have to, I won't.

Upshot is that "statistically speaking", male cats who have this bladder/urinary tract episode when they are young, will have this issue for the rest of their lives and "statistically" wet food has been shown to be effective in preventing it from cropping up again.

So this means Moomin has now become high maintenance himself.

Crying In Public

Tom Hanks' character in the movie A League of Their Own said "there's no crying in baseball" to a sniveling sniffling blond fluffy girl.

Well, my dentist practically said the same thing to a sniffling blond fluffy me at my Tuesday afternoon dental appoinment coz I cried in public. In front of a lot of people. Crying in public. Painful.

First, the bite-wing Xrays which weren't bad.

Second, I had an unfamiliar dental hygienist (coz my familiar one was out unexpectedly) named Sunday (Sunday?!) who was nice but ROUGH and she poked me quite a few times. Thank god I had Taz to hold onto or she would have been decked the same number of times she poked me. However, I do have to give her credit for coming up with an alternative way to polish my two bottom front teeth because the vibration of the polisher when pressed hard against those two particular teeth makes me incredibly nauseous and squicky feeling - much like when you bang your funny bone only add mucho nausea to that tingly not-so-good feeling.

Third, the dentist, in examining me and the Xrays, determined that there is enough decalcification (read: decay, I asked!) to merit having a filling and some restoration work to close the gap between the teeth to keep food out and have the floss make the appropriate SNAP it's supposed to.

I cried on being informed of this.

I didn't bawl, I just had silent tears running down my face.

He asked me if this was an emotional breakdown, because he "couldn't handle this right now".

Then as he left the room and I could hear him (while I wiped my face) say to the others outside the room, "I have my limits."

??????

Apparently he did not remember that I'm a "red star" patient (read: major phobia, be careful and very very very gentle and kind) or the two hour filling he gave me last time in order to not hurt me or frighten me more than I already was.

I helped his memory along when he came back into the examining room, he offered me Valium. When I told him the Valium did not work last time, he then offered Valium plus Nitrous Oxide (sp?), the happy gas. He said "you will really like this stuff, it totally excentuates the Valium but you don't lose control, all you have to do is breath thru your mouth and the effect wears off quickly." It was almost like he takes the stuff himself and was "pushing" it on me. I also reminded him that last time he let me have a "dental buddy". He did not remember that and was resistant to this as he told me there was no room in the room. I told him I needed a dental buddy and was not going to get the procedure done unless I had one and he let me have one last time and and and, possibly more tears welled up at this point.

He folded and I get to have a dental buddy.

I tried to get the same buddy as last time but she's going in that morning for her bi-monthly spinal injection. No go. I'm asking my dad and if he is not able to, I have a back up buddy.

My appointment is first thing in the morning sometime in April. I plan on not coming in to work the rest of the day so that I can recover mentally.

My supervisor informed me today that I can take it as a sick day as it is "outside the realm of the annual visits". Nice.

Per a Book Voyeur's Request

Red Shoe Ramblings had posted pictures of her bookshelves and broke the titles and authors down for one of her commenters. She requested I show a close up of the third bookshelf down on my left-of-TV shelves.

The above picture is the request. Sorry, Deb, I misled you in my email to you. I thought it was going to be a shelf of horror. It turns out the horror is the next shelf down and this one is "speculative nonfiction". Read: any crackpot theory or fringe science or unsolved mystery. I love this stuff. I refer to it as "book crack". You can click on the pic for a bigger image to see titles. If you have any trouble, let me know in the comments and I will clarify. I can't right now, mucho work to do.

Shelf of Josephine and related subjects. Moomin decided he wanted to be in the pic too.

Shelf of single author science fiction books - short story collections.

All my paperback horror books.

The Asian influenced shelf.

Paperbacks: mixed bag of sci-fi authors short story anthologies, old school, nothing recent or modern.

This representation of my books is just the tip of the iceberg that is my library.

Look Who's Feeling Better!

Not 100% but better better better. I played feather with him so hard he zonked for the rest of the night after bedtime snack and meds.

This is pic of him panting. I decided it was time to stop at that point, seeing how he's ill and all and I'm the responsible adult even though he wanted to keep going. The Energizer Bunny he ain't.

Moomin News

The vet is right across the street from my neighborhood so after I popped Moomin in the cat carrier on Friday, we walked there and on the way, Moomin and a neighborhood dog got to visit with each other (just sniffed each other thru the door of the carrier). We arrived on time at the vet's and preceded to wait for a good 30-40 minutes while the vet and all the techs worked on a dog that had been run over by a car and came in two minutes after we got there (not good shape, sort of stablized enough to be driven to the emergency vets). That was okay with me, but poor bladder-boy was not okay with the wait because he felt he had to "go" and there was no where to "go" in the carrier. I flagged the receptionist down and they managed to get Moomin in one of the things out back with a litter box so he could squat to his heart's content. When she came back, she said Moomin "is just like a seal - sleek and shiny". I agreed. About 5-10 minutes later, the vet came out of one of the examining rooms with Moomin in her arms (he was so calm and just looked at everything) and asked "who is Moomin's mommy". I got up and we went back in the room. She manipulated all his innards and let me know that "they don't really know what he's got." That is not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear, "this is what it is, jam this pill down his throat, and all will be good." No, I got "well, it could be bacterial which the two-week regimen of antibiotics should take care or it could be some disease he will have for the rest of his life and he will require special expensive food". So I walked out of there with both antibiotics and special food to be given to Moomin for the next two weeks and "I might see improvement within a week's time." I just wanted to go home and cry. I was also instructed to separate Moomin from the other cats so that I could make sure he continued to pass urine because blockage is not good. So all weekend I have been on pee patrol. Friday night and Saturday day were the worst. If he wasn't asleep or having me distract him by any means possible, he was squatting in his litter box every 5 minutes. Sunday was better. More time between visiting the box and he had a 4 hour nap, sniffing out open windows, and slept all Sunday night with me. He's taking his meds like a trooper but he's having issues with the wet food. Licks it down into a solid immovable paste in the bottom of his bowl and once he can't get anymore up, he's done eating. So much for the vet's recommendation of a can and a third of a can a day. He barely gets thru a third of a can at one sitting. I called the vet's today with this concern and I was told to continue the wet food and put it on a saucer. We'll see.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Happiness is an ephemeral and fleeting objective. People who think they can “find” happiness and have it last a long time are sadly mistaken.

Happiness is a blend of contentment, peace, security, joy, and harmony. Each component of happiness can last for extended periods of time, but having them simultaneously blended together, that’s fleeting. By fleeting, I mean it’s not going to last for days, weeks, months, or years on end.

True pure happiness is when all’s right in the world at that particular moment in your life and that doesn’t happen often.

It’s easy to recognize but hard to keep. Cherish those moments when they happen.

One of my happy times happened yesterday. I went to my parents’ house to visit with the new puppy (to see pics, go to Wednesday’s Child) and my dad. I was happy; spending time with my dad and seeing his joy at having a puppy, the puppy responding to early training and clearly “getting it”, the weather was balmy and beautiful, and no worries intruded. It wasn’t earthshaking, but quiet, almost mundane, and I was happy.

Of course, the Universe had to balance me out and have me experience supreme unhappiness later yesterday night during “Grey’s Anatomy”, because now my kittencat is sick. And I’m worried and strung out from lack of sleep and trying really hard things to keep things in perspective.

The constant news articles, self-help books, TV programs, and “happily ever after” movies promote an illusion and a fallacy that you can plan for and obtain happiness and this causes much stress and angst for people "chasing the rainbow" of happiness. And you know what happens when you chase a rainbow, it keeps moving away from you or it disappears.

Happiness just falls into and out of place.

Being happy just happens.

Moomin is Sick

He has bloody urine and is making constant trips to the litter box. It’s so hard to see him make a dime-sized pee clump and then just squat there coz he feels like he’s still going. He was so patient with me last night as I kept attempting to get an untainted-by-litter urine specimen. He didn’t even flinch or move when I slid the lid underneath him to try to catch the few drops he made. Unfortunately, litter got into every one of them. And the vet said the litter sediment would screw the tests up. Damn!

The earliest I could get him to the vet (without going to the emergency vets) is 4:00pm. I cancelled my 7:30am car appointment, have come to work, and am waiting for a call to let me know there has been a cancellation and I can bring him in earlier. Until then, I’m just a barely contained mess because my be-furred kiddo is ill.

ArtyIce Pictures

I came home from work yesterday and saw the bush next to the garage had been decorated with ice which resulted from the melting of the snow on the roof of the garage dripping onto the bush. I couldn't resist taking some pictures. The sun was shining and it looked all sparkly and arty. Here's the best of the bunch...

This one is my favorite, dried mini-flowers encased in globs of ice.

Mr. Moomin's Birthday

was on Saint Patrick's Day (Saturday, 3/17/07) so we celebrated with bubbles and treats. Here's a few of my favorite birthday bubble pics!

It's like he's wearing a space helmet or a fishbowl like Spongebob Squarepants does when he visits Sandy.

See, bubbles bigger than him!

Doodle joined in the fun at the end. Then she promptly got wrestled and stalked off all miffy.

Reviews of Weekend Reading

My reading runs the gamut as evidenced by this past weekend’s book selection. Despite the Friday into Saturday snowstorm and resulting 3 hours of non-stop shoveling of heavy wet snow while it was still raining and all neighbors around me having issues with their snowblowers on Saturday (thank God for Aleve!), I managed to complete 4 books and start #5.

First, I finished my already started “from the fringe” book about UFOs. I can’t say that I am a believer, but I’m not really an all-out skeptic either. Something is going on but what exactly it is is not something I can even begin to explain. It’s fun to read about though and to look at the pictures. This book had plenty of sightings to peruse, but overall, it was pretty dry reading as the authors were trying to be scientific and all. I understand, it’s a fringey topic and loading on the science will hopefully reduce that aspect, but I prefer a more gossipy, sensational, Fate magazine approach with science sprinkled in but not as the main course. Maybe that makes me shallow and superficial, but I don’t understand physics and math and never will.

Next up was short story mysteries by all women authors. Nothing too modern here, all old school. Just the way I like it. The only thing, the print was HUGE, so that meant the book was finished quickly despite how thick the book was. And I skipped the stories I’ve already read in other anthologies, about 5 of them. That’s one of the problems with the mystery anthologies. They typically have about half to a third of the same stories you’ve already read. Unless you stick to just a few editors (like Hitchcock and Ellery Queen), your chances of re-reading a story are pretty good.


Then I cleared my book palate with a nice piece of Hollywood fluff from Anita Loos, the woman who wrote “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “But They Marry Brunettes”. This was supposed to be a biography on Norma and Constance Talmadge, but seemed to be more of a hodge-podge of their lives. It was a funny but disjointed read. Anita does have a very humorous turn of phrase and the quotes from the Talmadge sisters’ mother made me laugh out loud a few times. You don’t come across characters like that very often anymore.


And last is the best of the bunch. I loved reading this book. I forgot I was reading and just floated along with her prose like a leaf in a brook. I was a bit hesitant as the flap doesn’t do justice to the story. The reason I bought the book was because I did some dipping (test reading of several paragraphs) in the store, liked the writing, the book was on sale, and so I took a chance on it. I’m glad I did. Suffice to say, if you are at all interested in Japanese culture (1800’s to early 1900), smooth yet descriptive writing, and like a strong female lead character who’s thought by others to be simple but is actually very complex, you’ll like this story. Briefly – it’s about a girl from New York with a bent for learning languages who ends up in Japan through circumstances beyond her control and her life takes a 180 as a result of a fire. She becomes part of a Japanese family’s household who is renowned for teaching the Tea-ceremony (“way of Tea”) to noblemens’ and merchants’ sons (no female is allowed to teach the ceremony) and entertaining members of the Emperor’s family. Changes in women’s roles in Japan as a result of the influx of barbarians and the impact on both the lead character (who knows she is a foreigner and is trying to make her way in the Japanese world) and her “older sister” (who is Japanese) are covered in the story. I can’t go in much more detail or I’d end up giving away the many plot twists and my favorite “figurative metaphorical bitchslap” that the lead character indulges in near the end. I very much recommend it. I finished it in one sitting, that's how much I liked it!

Flotsam-Jetsam

First, a commercial that's been playing in my head ever since I've seen it.
Driver: I’d like an order of Love Handles and Double Chins with a side of Blubber.
Drive-thru: Would you like Double Blubber?
Driver: Sure.
Passenger: I’d like the same but instead of the Blubber, I’ll have the Thunder Thighs and Badonkadonk Butt.

Every time I see this commercial I laugh out loud. The couple orders these items in such a matter-of-fact manner, like what they are saying is actually the fast food item instead of what the item causes.

And seeing a typical sedan-driving-suburban wife say “Badonkadonk Butt” is just too funny.

Hey, OJ may actually get his book published but he wouldn’t get the money from it, I think the victims' families might. At least that is what I gathered from the channel-surfing flash. My thought - innocent people don’t publish a book-length fantasy of how they would have done the murder. They spend their time wondering why they were suspected and why the victims were victims and "oh my god what will this do to my kids" instead of dwelling long and hard on how they would have committed the crime. I wonder what John Douglas (Mind Hunter – profiler extraordinaire) would say about this. I think there is some connection between serial killers writing to the newspaper and police and OJ writing/publishing this book.

I got this massive Bunny Bubble Wand at Wal-Mart (as well as assorted chocolate-covered marshmallow treats, coz I can’t pass those up for the life of me and it's close to Eastertime and all). It makes bubbles that are bigger than Moomin. I will try to take pictures this weekend. He makes me laugh when this huge bubble floats down and he tries to “sniff” it and it pops all over him. Doesn’t faze him a bit, he goes and sniffs the next one and the next one and the next one… until he’s covered in bubble scum.

I ran into an old family of mine when I went to Wal-Mart on Tuesday. I saw the mother, thought I recognized her, and almost did the “look away and walk by” thing when I realized that was just ridiculous. So I stopped her with, “do I know you?” She said the same thing and I listed off all my professions and she picked the preschool one and remembered my name with that memory jog. God, took me way back to the late ‘90’s. I used to teach the little girl, so in my mind she’s this tiny waif-like little girl that only comes up to my waist. Now she’s a taller-than-me 13 year old who is wonderfully pretty and polite. And her mother still has her whacky sense of humor. The girl said she remembered all the fun she had with me as her teacher. That’s so good to know! That not only she remembered me but that I made learning fun for her. Makes my teacher side want to jump to the forefront and take over my career...

I spent my morning in CPR training yesterday. They’ve made some significant changes since I took it last year. Less to remember so that’s good – 30 chest compressions for every 2 breaths and you don’t have to find the zyphoid thing anymore. But informing the class that people in physical distress could vomit in our mouths when we’re doing rescue breathing was just TMI in the morning. Makes me want to be the person that calls 911 and waits for the ambulance. I also felt like one of my clients. I had a very difficult time sitting still. Fidget-city. Could have been that we were going to have to take a test as well as be observed doing the proper procedure on the mannequin – not my favorite part of the whole ordeal at all.

Well, we are due for a “major” snowstorm tonight into tomorrow. Significant snowfall followed by rain which means shoveling is going to be grueling and I’ll be soaked thru.

Here’s hoping the new vitamin regimen helps with sleeping better and remembering more besides general overall good health. It’s only been two days so far. We shall see.

Oh, sorry to leave you all hanging, but I did finally hear that my brain is normal. No funky places and every thing where it’s supposed to be and looks like it should. So that’s good news. It just means that the headaches are still rather mysterious as to why they occur. I know what makes them occur but not why.

Have a super duper weekend!

Cat Tree Fun and Games

This weekend, the Boys (Moomin and Hobbes) took over the cat tree while the sun was out. I just had to take pictures of them on it at the same time as that is a rare occurence in my household.

Moomin at the top, his usual spot.

Hobbes, gettin' on with his bad self!

Action shot without flash, so paw is nicely blurred indicating a fast jab at girl holding camera.

Lovin' the cat tree so much he had to give it a hug!

Hobbes looks like he should have a frosty beverage.

You know, they never actually ever made contact with each other, just a lot of vogueing and posturing.

Rassin' Sassin' Frassin' Time Change

Yeah, "spring forward" my ass!

I just got myself used to waking up early to get to work early coz staying an extra half hour is too ridiculous when you get to work at 9:00am and have to stay until 5:30pm to accomodate the "legal must take unclocked half-hour lunch for employees' health and mental well being".

And now I have to "spring forward" and wake up even earlier to accomodate said unclocked half-hour.

Gahhhh!

I tried, really tried hard this morning to get up when my alarm went off at 6:30am (read: 5:30am) but I couldn't do it. It was dark and I KNEW it was really 5:30am - a time I do not wake up at by any means, unless travelling.

UGGGH!!!

Tiny Bubbles, Big Ass Cat

So as a single thirty something with inordinate amounts of time on my hands when I'm not making no-bake cheesecakes and Spaghetti Pie, I blow bubbles for cats and attempt to take action shots of them. Here are the best of the best of the bubble/cat pictures. The last one is my all-time favorite.

Tiny Cheesecakes

Two co-workers celebrated their birthdays at the end of February and I offered to be in charge of the edibles for the office celebration today. I figured I'd give the new Philly Cheesecake Filling a try coz I didn't actually want to bake anything and I have to tell you... this filling ROCKS!! It kicks ass! What a great-tasting fast treat! I totally endorse using it in a pinch or if you have no idea how to make a cheesecake. This whole edible idea was all about "ready made". I just divided the filling up and mixed in the M&Ms and ChocChipCaramel Swirls for the fun ones and the plain ones will have strawberries another co-worker is in charge of bringing. I had a "tester" last night, you know, a broken crust one, and it was FAB!

Visa/Mastercard Commercial

Cat litter - $30

Cat food - $60

New energy efficient windows - $4,700

Curling up on TOP of owner's lap - Priceless

Office Tidbits

This is what I look at on a daily (non-weekend) basis.

This is one of my office toys, a mini fake fish aquarium nicely displayed in front of my blue-screened computer. This is fun to flip over for a quick visual break from the computer.

This is one of my gel timers. You turn them over and they bubble and drip. I discovered them when I was working directly with children with Autism. They are Zen-like and fun to flip when on the phone with an incessant talker.

And this is my computer with pictures, stickies, and toys galore with a small helping of a chocolate from a co-worker.

This what I see on the ceiling when it's a sunny day.