Poop scoop

I have decided to get up off my ass and do something. I have been unemployed since February, and have become almost agorphobic. Not that I have any fear of people or being outside of the house, per se, only that I have it in my head that I HAVE to be home. Oh, so much to do and not enough hours in the day to get it all done. Anyway, I have begun volunteering at the Stillwater Animal Shelter. Walking dogs, playing with the kitties, cleaning cages etc... I feel good about doing something good for the community, and even better, soing something for the communities animals. I'm slowely pulling myself out of this funk that has been plaguing me for years. Yes, YEARS. I didn't realize it really. It's insidious, like a cancer. It starts with a bad day, and then, before you know it, the bad days are the norm.
Think of me as I am shoveling poop this afternoon. LOL

It's National Cat Day!!!

Treat them like the royalty they think they are. (Picture of Buddy, the best cat I have ever known)

Porcine Influenza

Just found out that Lashell cannot come to the Halloween party due to her little one, Morgan having been diagnosed with the Swine Flu. Poor little thing.

We are the Knights who say "knee"

Yes, I know it's spelled "Ni", but heres the story...

It had been raining much of the day yesterday, and of course as a result the ground was wet. I tell you this, because last night I went outside to have a smoke, and upon entering the house, my wet shoe slipped on the tile and I landed full force on my right knee. Nothing is broken, but it hurts like mo-fo. I am hobbling around today, but I really think it will be in better shape tomorrow.
Because my job requires me to be on my feet, I had to call in. Not something I like to do at all. But, I do not want to risk making it worse either.
What a Stu is I!! LOL

Party preparations are almost complete, but there is still plenty to do. Heather and I both have our costumes completed, but I don't know about Beau. He either has something planned and has not told me, or he doesn't have a clue. LOL
You would think, considering we do this every year, that we would have our costumes planned out way in advance. But for some reason, we both usually do not have anything planned until the last minute. This year especially, since with all my surgeries, the year seemed to fly by even faster than normal. Oh well, no matter, we will all have a blast no matter what we are wearing.

Finally defunkified

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny and warm day. I got quite a bit done. Cleaned the house, finished finding all I need for my costumefor thie weekends party and then I took a nap. Todays weather has been dark, drizzly and downright crappy. As a result, I slept in way to late, which of course caused me to feel like shit for hours. Even so, I did somehow manage to drag my ass out of the house and get the last of the party shopping done.

I will be honest. I almost canceled this years party due to complete and udder apathy. This year has been so full of suck, I just found it hard to get motivated. But, then I thought, we ALL need this party. We need a blow out. A reason to shout "Fuck it!! Let's have some fun!!" Now I am really geared up and looking forward to it again. Even the cats seem to be in an extra fun mood.

Beau got a new job, got laid off, got another job, laid off again. Now working again. Keeping fingers crossed.

I had major surgery. Then 2 minor surgeries. We adopted yet another kitten. Ambrosias is a medium/long hair tuxedo. ( pics later)

Heather (Nettl no e's youngest daughter) moved in with Beau and I. We LOVE LOVE LOVE having her here. She is the closest thing I will ever have to having a kid. A kid that is 19, but still...

I quit my job at Express and now work part time for a local drug store.

That's all the big news that has happened in the last 8 months.

Now we are gearing up for our annual Halloween party which is next weekend.

It's hard to believe 2009 is circling the drain. It's been a rocky one, but alas, we are still here.

Knowing me, who knows how long it will be until I write again. Tonight I just had the urge I guess.

Kiss kiss

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I can has hope??

I told myself yesterday "Self, you are not going to stay up late to watch the election coverage. What ever will be will be and staying up will not change anything." Well, Self ended up staying up until nearly 1 a.m. So needless to say, I was dragging said Self out of bed this morning. But, I woke up with a new sense of hope. Change is coming!!

I was so proud to be an American last night. I have never been ashamed of it, per se`. But, actual pride? That hasn't happened in a very long time. Watching the faces of the folks in the crowds in Chicago and New York. The tears, the absolute joy, the astonishment and even the looks of disbelief. The close ups were heart warming, but I was really observing the wide shots. There was one man that struck me. Middle aged, white, thin and tallish, balding with glasses on. He was in the forefront of a crowd shot, when the announcement was made that Obama was now President Elect, his hand went up to his face, and covering his mouth with the tips of his fingers on his right hand, his eyes wide in astonishemnt, then he squeezed his eyes shut and cried. Another crowd shot (several actually) of people just ...hugging, dancing. Total strangers black, white, brown you name it, hugging dancing, laughing, crying. It was beautiful. I wanted to be there. I wanted to hug them all!!!!

I'm happy.

BTW. The image you see above is the newest member of our family. He has not been named yet. Next to him is my size 9 shoe, so you can see how small he is. That's 5, count em' 5 cats.

Kicked in the gut

Beau went to work this morning, like he does every Monday. After he had been there for a couple of hours, he recieved an IM from his supervisor.

They closed his office.

Once again, he is without employment.

4th of the 4th

Steph over at The Incurable Insomniac tagged me for this fun little meme. Go to your 4th photo file and choose the 4th picture, post it and explain what it is. Well, I don't really have photo files, so I went to the 4th page of my mySpace page and found the 4th photo there.

This is a picture of one of my dearest friends Cteev. I believe this is his senior High School pic. Circa 1986. Cteev was one of the original "Bohemites" back in good old Ventura County California. I met Cteev in the summer of 87, "pimping" alcohol outside of a liquor store in Ventura (for those of you unfamilar with the term "pimping"..in this context, it means trying to get someone to buy alcohol for you because you are under 21) Anyway, a couple of weeks later, another friend of mine took me to the house his boyfriend was living in at the time. He was living with a family of 6, plus a few other "street urchins" Lo and behold, there was Cteev, living in the house as well. We became the tightest of friends from there on out. Even going so far as to become engaged. After we broke up, we stayed close, actually I do believe we became even closer. He was one of the loves of my life. Cteev contracted HIV in the late 90's and on October 23rd 2001, a blood clot found its way to his heart, and he lost his battle.

OMG..... it seriously just occured to me.

He died 7 years ago today.

Wow.

A case of the Ruttles

I go to work, I come home, I feed the cats, have dinner,I play video games or I watch T.V. Blather, rinse, repeat.

Then the weekend comes. I feed the cats, do laundry , dishes etc... Have dinner, feed the cats again, Play video games or watch T.V.

I think about weekends while at work, and think about work on the weekends.

Stuck in a serious rut and don't know how to get out of it. I know there are other things I could be, SHOULD be doing. I'm just so drained that I cannot seem to get motivated. I want to come back as a pampered and well loved house cat. Sleep, play, eat, repeat. Yeah, that's the life.

The perils of being a crazy cat lady

So, I have this "pride" of cats that live in the neighborhood. They are here much of the time, because being the crazy cat lady that I am, I feed them, regularly. Every morning, and in the evening when I get home from work, they are there, waiting for me. I don't want to go into how many there are, because I really don't want to see the number myself.

Anyway, last weekend, one of the mother cats (she has 4 kittens) was injured badly.(She is in the picture here, near the center of the photo, the patchwork Calico) We think the back half of her body was run over by a car. She lost the use of her back half entirely. She has been dragging herself around with her front legs only. We called the police, and an officer came to the house, he was going to help us catch her so we could take her to OSU animal hospital. Well, who knew a 2 legged cat could run so damn fast!!! Our neighbor, who feeds them on occasion as well, called Animal Control on Tuesday. Well, even they couldn't catch her. So, she has been dragging herself around like that for an entire week.

My husband, Beau, saw her this morning and called me to let me know she was in the front, dragging herself to bathe in the sunshine. I went out side about 2 hours later, and saw her lying in the grass. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the inevitability that we knew was coming. The poor little mama kitty had died. Heart broken, I found a plastic bag and a small box and lifted her from her happy sunny final resting place and put her empty vessel in the box. Now, she is happy and whole once again and chasing blue-jays under the trees in our backyard. At least, that's what I am telling myself. She was a tough little cat. Over the summer she had been attacked by a hawk and had a big chunk of the front of her neck torn out. I didn't think she would survive that. But she did, and she had 4 cute fluffy mouths to feed shortly thereafter. Her kittens, while not fully weaned, are big enough to eat dry cat food on their own. Thank goodness for that, or I would be nursing kittens around the clock. ( Oh, no, seriously, I would have done it too.) It is emotionally draining to have to clean up the debris left behind by the circle of life, but I had to be strong and take care of it. Then, I had to break the sad news to my neighbor. With tears in his 80 year old eyes, he said "Thank you , friend" I just smiled and told him to take a nap and think about her chasing those damned blue-jays." He smiled and nodded and closed his door, and I walked off with the box and came home. That was about 30 minutes ago.

It's Johnny's birthday.....

Happy Birthday Johnny L. We still miss you.

Slightly disjointed thoughts and ramblings

Exactly when did this government lose it's way? When did our elected officials forget that they work for the taxpayer? When did "Position of Power take the place of "Position of responsibility"? The governmental leaders of this country have a responsibilty to serve it's people. Not the other way around.

The masses have been slowely brainwashed to reveal their necks to the government. "For the good of the people" they spout, while all the while going for the jugular to take every last right, every last shred of freedom and every last penny away from us. For. Our. Own. Good.

They have kept us just on the edge of panic. Dangling "Death is only a finger away" since the 50's. "Listen to US! We are the only ones that can save you!!" McCarthy said that free thinkers were communists, George W. calls us terrorists. I grew up with such messages screaming from every corner of the country. "America, Love it or Leave it." "You are either for us, or against us."

G.W. was caught on film saying "This isn't a dictatership, but it would be easier if it were."(insert familiar condescending smirk here) Am I the only one that was truly enraged and mortified by this Freudian slip? Keeping the American people, frightened and on the verge of poverty. Only granting us what the government thinks we need. Isn't that the definition of communism? "Don't question, just do as we tell you and everything will be OK."

This unbelievable joke of a presidency has never taken it's role seriously. Like a bratty child, "Well I got away with that...lets go one step further." Oppression in small doses. Like a slow acting drug, hoping we won't notice the effect until it's too late. Privacy violations are now in place For.Our. Own.Good. Criticizm of our president in considered a terrorist act. Helmet laws, seatbelt laws, smoking bans......For. Our. Own.Good. Right? More like conditioning the American people. Conditioning us to get used to being told how to live our lives.

Too many of us are content to shrug it off "Well, that's just how it is."

Changes have to be made....or is it already too late?

Lol Shat #1

Why I like animals better than people

A trial has begun in the case of a baseball player-turned-actor accused of brutally killing a cat in a jealous rage after complaining that his ex-girlfriend cared more for the feline than she did for him.
Assistant District Attorney Leila Kermani said the cat named Norman died with broken teeth, broken ribs, a broken leg, a torn tongue, massive internal injuries including bruised lungs and a bruised liver and a chest cavity filled with blood.
"The defendant, in a fit of anger and rage, beat a defenceless animal to death," Kermani told the jury in her opening remarks Wednesday. "The defendant killed Norman simply because he was an angry, jealous and drunken bully."
Former New York Mets baseball minor leaguer Joseph Petcka, 37, is on trial on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals for killing Norman on March 27, 2007, after a night of heavy drinking. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
Petcka's lawyer, Charles Hochbaum, admitted his client kicked the eight-year-old tabby and "swatted him really hard" after the cat bit him, but he said his client did not mean to kill him.
"This was a tragic accident," Hochbaum said. "It was not intentional."
Hochbaum complained the district attorney's office never offered his client a plea deal. He said outside court he believes that was because of the publicity the case attracted and the urgings of cat fanciers.
Norman's owner, Lisa Altobelli, testified she had dated Petcka about six weeks before he killed her cat. She said one night they quarrelled and he began drinking heavily. She said she went to bed to avoid him but he woke her around 3am by putting his knee in her ribs and complaining that Norman had attacked him.
Altobelli, a Sports Illustrated reporter, said she left the apartment after Petcka refused to calm down.
She said Petcka had complained, "You love that cat more than you love me," but she had no idea Norman would be in danger. When she returned home Norman did not meet her at the door as usual. She found his body under her bedside table.
Petcka, a pitcher briefly in the Mets' minor league system in 1992, later appeared in a paper towel commercial and had small roles in Sex and the City and other television shows. Hochbaum said his client had more recently worked as a bartender and waiter.

Did I tell you?

We kept the little dude. We renamed him though, well the husband did. He called him "Buddy". He pretty much wriggled his way into our hearts, and found a way to stay. Even I think 4 cats is too many!! But oh well. He is a warm and welcome addition to the family and we love him very much.

Insomniac

• Eine
• Zwei
• Drei

Over medicated and under the weather

It's freaking nuts how many meds I take in one day now. And still, I feel like crap on a cracker.

Here's the run down

Morning

Metformin 2 tablets

Glimiperide 1 tablet

Avapro 1 tablet

Lyrica 1 tablet

Januvia 1 tablet

Prevacid 1 tablet

Fexofenadine 1 tablet

Noon

Lyrica 1 tablet

8 p.m.

Lyrica 1 tablet

Metformin 2 tablets

Crestor 1 tablet

65 u Lantus injection

***sigh***

I looked in the mirror....

.... and I'm not happy. I am bigger than I have ever been in my whole life, and I am not going to take it anymore. I put my foot down on myself. It wasn't easy. I didn't even think I could get my foot that high.

But I did.

I got apples, carrot chips, banana's and other healthy options to keep here at work.

Ever since I quit smoking, I have been filling the void with all the wrong things. Now, I have better options.

I am also planning on joining a gym that is just about 1/2 block from my home. As soon as I can afford the fee. Hopefully at the end of the month. Anyway, I have already lost about 12 lbs in the past month. Not going to say how much I need to lose. Nor will I say how much I weigh now. I will however, try to keep some kind of log as to how much I am losing. Wish me luck.