Thursday, July 30, 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Shout Out

I just took a few pictures right after I posted my last blog entry, so I dedicate this one to my friends here, here, and here - my cat pals!

I know the first pic is dark, but I only got one shot at this pic. There wasn't a repeat...

...Obviously!


No, ma, focus on ME!


Yes, my handsome-ness rules. I AM the prince after all!But not so selfish to have to be FAR from anyone else...

Ok, please put the attention on ME now... Look at me, now I am handsome. I AM King Curzon, after all!
See how handsome I am, and how long I am. I make her shoes look small!

Poppy's been doing nicknames, so I guess I'll share one of each of the cats' least-known nicknames.
Curzon - Count Chocula (because of his fangs)
Jadzia - Punkin (because she's sweet as a pumpkin)
Nimbus - Soldier (a recent nickname because of the way he's handled all he's been going through)

This picture was taken a few weeks back when it flooded, after the creek went back down. This is a case of a picture speaking a million words - or in this case - two million! They fight a lot, but the twins DO love each other!

A little more...

I've had several people tell me along the way that depression's "all in my head" - and they're kinda right. It IS all in my head - in the brain chemistry! There were events along the way that triggered a lot of it, but I can't pinpoint a time in my life when I had no clue what depression was. I merely didn't have a name to put on it, and even if I had, it was NEVER admitted to. I even had a teacher once in high school tell me that kids "have no reason to be depressed" - obviously he'd never been stressed out to the max, harassed inside and outside of school, starving and alone. OBVIOUSLY! He probably had plenty of siblings, decently well-off if not wealthy parents, and didn't have to even think about where dinner was going to come from. Oh I wish I had that life - wait, no I don't. I could've done without the people telling me I was worthless just like my Mom supposedly was. I could've done without all the nights of going to bed hungry or worrying if we were going to have a roof over our heads the next month. But everything I went through taught me how to be self-reliant, though it took me a little while longer than normal to put all the pieces together. I just wish I'd had someone along the way to sit down with me and give me some advice as to how to deal with all of the shit!
So here's my point.
With all the budget cuts and crap we're all going through as a country, we really cannot afford to cut back in our schools. Our kids are already falling behind, and we've completely abandoned teaching them coping lessons. We've all but given our teachers a free pass to teach as they wish and not as best suits the children. Kids are forced to "work together" and then the teachers ignore when one or two kids do all the work and the rest just sit back and watch, doing nothing or when one or two kids get shut out of the project. Kids need to know how to work together AND individually. They need to be guided along stressful times so they have something to fall back on when times get tough later on in life.
But all the blame doesn't lie solely on the teachers. Parents need to wake up. Quit spoiling your kids, for pete's sake. I know you want to, but for their sake, DON'T. They won't have everything handed to them in adulthood, quit teaching them they will by giving them everything they want now. Make them work for it. Tell them, for example, you can only have the new gaming console if you keep your room clean. Make them help you around the house in exchange for that lunch out on Saturday. Get my point?
Now I know, I don't have kids, blah blah blah. Trust me on this one, ok? I truly appreciated what I had more when I had to work for it than the stuff that was just given to me, even when it was just that rare candy bar. The rare time when someone just GAVE me something became that much more special too. And trust me, when I'd finally earned that telephone in my bedroom, I was estatic. But because I'd grown up without it, when Mom had to take it back out because we just couldn't afford all the hassles that it brought up (poor apartment wiring, etc), I wasn't devastated either. Giving children some control over their situation goes a long way. Granted, hopefully, that control doesn't include packing an emergency bag every spring like it did for me, but at least I had some FEELING of helping make a bad situation better. (By the way, the emergency bag was a couple day's worth of clothes for me and Mom and something for me to do, and my school backpack if school was still in session. The plan was that I'd grab the bag and Mom'd grab the hamster and we'd run over to Grandma's apartment, which was on the bottom floor and had an interior closet.) Those were the days. *sigh* After I started driving, plans changed, of course. We watched the weather close, and when it got too close, we tore out of there "like a bat out of hell." We had our spots where we would run, depending on where the storm was, etc. But most of my life, though Mom was final judge and jury, I was included in a lot of the decision-making, and though it was stressful sometimes, it taught me to look at the big picture, not just my piece of the picture. Great lesson!
Man, did I get off on a tangent! Anyways, back to my original thought.
This week has been one of those stressful weeks at work that, if you're not careful, can drag you down into the deep gutters of depression. There have been days I just had to claw myself out of bed because I didn't want to go to work so badly. Talk about picking yourself up by the bootstrap! Not sleeping well almost all week surely hasn't helped, but pain tends to keep even the deepest sleepers awake. Luckily, *knock on wood* that's on its way out hopefully. I've taken more Aleve in the last week than I usually do in a good month or two, and that's not good for someone who adapts easily to pain medicine! But it's been a day or two since my last dose, and while I still faintly feel it now and then, it's not enough to make me take more. It's just enough to keep me from sleeping in my normal position, though that is even starting to change a little bit. There's been enough going on the last week and a half (some of which will not ever be mentioned here) to make me want to dive into a deep glass of Pepsi - but alas, I can't stand the taste of it much anymore! WAAAHHHHH! So much for that! Oh well, I don't need it anyway.
Before I wrap up, a few things.
To all of you I usually keep up on, I'm sorry I haven't kept up lately. My poor Google Reader is overflowing. I'll try to stop by later on today individually. But the two of you (or three, I can't remember) that show your kitties, thanks because now and then first thing in the morning, I need a smile to get me started. I will try to send out emails too this week, but don't count on that - I've been horrible on that front too, and that's how you know I've had a busy week! And Lin, if ya ever git yer rear over here and read this, thx - ya brat! LOL
Hugs to all of you my dear pals, and to my Aussie pals, you may borrow my blankies if you need them, I just washed them last Monday - along with every last article of clothing I could find. Oofah, 7 loads is a lot of laundry, even at the laundromat! I hope all of you enjoy your week and stay warm/cool. And Soul, I will TRY to send you some rain, but I can't promise anything!
And P.S.: don't worry about me, I know the beginning sounded gloomy, but I'm really not. Not sad, not depressed, just EXHAUSTED, tired, and plum-out done for the week already. Can't be depressed when Nimbus had the best week he's had in MONTHS!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Quick Blog

Howdy my friends.

I know I've been quiet lately, I've not had much to say.

It's been one hell of a week this week, and today was the worst of it. Everyone left their brains at home, and it was driving me insane. Stupidity does that – let me rephrase that – IGNORANT STUPIDITY does that to me. It's the stupidity that can't be explained away.

Nimbus is doing GREAT – finally. Whew maybe, just MAYBE he has turned the corner and he will continue to improve? Tuesday morning I started him on the down trend on his insulin, and while a half-unit may not seem to be a lot, it is. I don't dare go down any faster, afraid of creating another tailspin I won't be able to get him out of. Yesterday afternoon we went down another half unit, this after me accidentally giving him old, incorrect insulin yesterday morning in my near-asleep haze. That'll teach me – I threw out the old crap since it's not the stuff we use anymore. I should throw out the needles too, since I can't use them for the new insulin, but hey, fish and chicken juice injector lol! The vet and I agreed it's time that we put him – and the other fluffballs – on a diet, so soon Nimbus will start the slow transition from the low-calorie diabetic prescription to the even lower-calorie diet prescription food. This will be another trial too, as I will have to even more closely monitor his glucose levels. He has been a constant source of irritation, frustration, and amazement all in one bundle of furry love. He was so zonked out this afternoon I was able to poke his ear twice (I didn't get enough blood the first time, stupid me) and give him his shot while he was crashed out on the desk chair. He obviously doesn't mind the poking and prodding. I think he just wishes his ears could be left alone. But it's the only safe place for me to test him. Testing him on his paws would only start infection after infection. And he's got way too much fur to be trying to test anywhere else.

I'm going to be testing the twins a couple weeks after we start the switch from the diabetic to diet food. Even though they're not diabetic, I still need to watch them to make sure they don't get out of whack during the switch. But they're not my main concern, not in this case – they're my strong healthy babies. They adapt quite well. I just worry – a lot.

I'm… I'm out of things to write about! See, I told you!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

*drip* Sorry if it stinks of sweat...

*drip* Hot enough for ya? OMG poor Soul, I know she's BAKING down in TX, I shouldn't even complain! But it's just I'm not ready for the humidity I guess... But we did know it was coming, it IS summertime afterall!
Hello my friends.
Well this week went smoother. Thank goodness too. I'm much too tired to fuss with these people right now. I'm fed up with people. I'm fed up with children especially. I guess I was just raised differently. You didn't act up at all or you didn't get anything AND you didn't get to go with the next time. You sure as heck didn't wander off or grab at things, or you were guaranteed a beating. Luckily I knew and understood it early and it wasn't an issue for the most part. So I have no tolerance for kids running around the store like its their home. It's not!
I'm so tired of the Michael Jackson talk. We all knew he was drugged up. But it was so sad to see his children so heartbroken, but that's to be expected. But the tv coverage is OLD.
I got sick this week, but I'm feeling better. I'm glad too, because it was rough trying to work as sick as I was! But it was more pain than illness... OOFAH that was hell!
Nimbus is doing better it seems... *knock on wood* things are starting to look like he's stabilizing. But having to get all his shit at once was expensive - and nerve-wearing! Last week right around the time I got sick I walked down to the pharmacy after calling them to refill the needle prescription. Well, over an hour later I got up there and THEN they told me that they didn't have a box. So Friday I went to the grocery store pharmacy and got business taken care of (which I'll get to in a minute - another story lol). That saved me like 3 bucks in the long run too, never mind the walk! His test strips came in Saturday, for not much more than I paid for them the last time. The insulin is in the mail - and hopefully it arrives soon - for a good 15 less than I pay at the pharmacy. So once it arrives, I'll be fully stocked - for a little while!
Now onto the drama that was the attempt to get the needles. As I said, I'd gone to the pharmacy, only to return home empty handed, and then went to the grocery store pharmacy Friday to get the prescription transferred (I'm STILL a wee angry with Rite-Aid for that crap). Well I literally had like 40 minutes to get the script filled, get dinner, and get the old needles disposed of and still make the bus. Well I got the ball rolling on the script and walked over to the little vet clinic inside PetsMart to get them to dispose of the old needles (which they really didn't want to do). I got back to the grocery store where I learned the pharmacy wasn't going to let the transfer go through until they got their money for the ONE BAG from me. So I had to call them (on my prepaid cell, costing me more money) and haggle with them, finally getting them to charge the whole 3 bucks on my card over the phone, and then I had to wait on them to call the grocery store themselves. So while I'm waiting on that I'm tearing through the grocery store rounding up dinner. Got that paid for, and then had to beg the grocery store pharmacy to hurry it up, since I was trying to catch the bus to save myself the mile and a half walk home (luckily she understood). So, I got out of there with the needles, tore out of there and started tearing across the parking lot as fast as I could. I got to the other end and noticed the other bus hadn't come yet which meant the one I needed hadn't either. So I finally got across the street (it's a busy bitch you cross half at a time - not safe but better than praying for two breaks). I had called home and told my man that I was going to be able to catch the bus home, and once I got to the bus stop, quick unzipped my backpack and got my work stuff off so I wasn't baking in all my layers (that's how much of a hurry I was in - I usually do that at work). No sooner than I got all the clothes and the needles stuffed in the backpack and got it zipped back up, I see the bus! Talk about good timing! But by the time I got home, I was exhausted from all the running. Never mind I was still feeling a little under the weather!
I'm happy to say the least that all the legwork for Nimbus is under the weather. He's looking good too, except he's gaining way too much weight. He's not supposed to be this big - but no matter how much I cut back their food, he doesn't seem to lose the weight. Their food intake has been cut in HALF in the last month or two. He's still not losing weight! So this week I'm going to discuss with the vet whether the diet food is going to change his count as compared to the diabetic food. The caloric content has to be at the right level for the insulin to be at maximum efficiency. And considering I just spent a lot of money on this cat's stuff (85 for the insulin, 55 for the test strips, and 33 on the needles), I really, REALLY want to make sure I'm not going to screw him up when I drop another 45-50 on food. I just hope we find a solution that will be as good if not better than the one we currently have. This is the most optimistic I've been about Nimbus' condition in a very long time. But I've had to learn a lot along the way. Heck he's SUPPOSED to adapt to the change in insulin dosage within a few days - he takes weeks, which means weaning him down will take more patience and time than originally expected. Wet food is completely out - even the prescription sends him into a tailspin. Luckily, I understand the need for patience and I'm not willing to give up on this cat - for better or for worse, I'm giving it one hell of a fight - he deserves it. He's been through so much the last 7 months, he's come so far, to give up on him now would be insanely stupid.
Now my body on the other hand - that's a completely different story! My body is rejecting butter and mayo, and now Oreo's! I ate TWO and my stomach gave me fits for a few minutes. That is SO not fair! Luckily I've not been in a mood for them lately, but still. I've been on a major cereal kick lately, just not when you NORMALLY eat cereal. But I'm not getting up at 3 to eat breakfast. 4am is too damn early as it is! I see all these people lounging around at 7 or 8am, I just want to scream in jealousy! I tell you, if I hit the lottery, I'm paying someone to come in at 4am to give Nimbus his morning shot - no, wait, I won't have to work so we'll make his shots at 8am and pm. I'll have a semi that comes once a year to deliver my cat litter so I don't ever have to haul it home myself. I'll hire a kid to come in every day to scoop the box. Oh please, what am I saying... I have a hard time letting anyone else take care of my cats NOW, that won't change! I'll still be waking up at 4am pampering the Boo, scooping the cat box before I head off to work... "Work" will just be going out to the farm to take care of all my sick rescue kitties instead! Dangnabit, I need to hit the lottery bad! No kitty will ever have to be put down for getting sick again! Just give me the "kitty sucker" sign now, I know, I know... Blame Curzon! He melted me from the moment I laid eyes on him and it ain't stopped since. But if you stared deep into his big beady eyes, you'd understand. There's more soul in those two eyes than there is in a lot of humans' eyes. I don't need children to have my "family" - my furry brood is entertaining enough for me, thank you very much!
Well folks, I'm off for now, as I should try to kick back and relax as it's my day off! I hope everyone is having a good weekend, and hey, if you Aussies want some heat, I'll do my best to send some down. But you gotta take some of the humidity too... It's the cost of doing business with me! LOL Peace!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

ANOTHER Bites the Dirt

Former NFL superstar quarterback Steve McNair (Ravens) MURDERED