A little of this, a little of that....

Cat nap...

Gus Kennedy!

Catnapping...

In a rare occurrence, the two boys were sharing the same napping spot...

My little patient...

Yesterday was a big day for Chingy... we took him at 7:30am and dropped him off to get a dental cleaning. He got an EKG, anesthesia, and catheter IV.  I was worried all day. I knew he was scared and didn't know what was going on. We picked him up last night at 7:20pm and the Vet Tech said he was not happy. She said they had eight puppies also back there that were barking all day, so he was very stressed!  My poor little man! She brought him in the room and I held him and he started to purr right away.  The Vet Tech said "Well he's glad to see you!". Yep, he just needed his mama!  He had a bandage on his arm and he looked like he'd been crying all day.  The Vet Tech said they put cream under their eyes so they don't dry out in surgery (she said animals don't close their eyes while they're under anesthesia).

We brought him home and within 30 seconds, he was walking around with his tail swishing- he was definitely glad to be home! Gus smelled him about three hundred times- I guess Chingy had too many strange smells on him. Chingy purred the entire evening and scarfed down some food right away. He's on antibiotics because they said the tarter is all bacteria and they don't want that in his blood stream.

Here's my little patient...

See that place on his right arm? They shaved his arm to put in the IV catheter.  They said he didn't do well when they took it out and it bruised.  Poor baby! 

Here's a close-up of his arm... he stretched it out when I was trying to take a picture of it like he was saying "Show everyone what they did to me"

Get well soon Chingy!

Can Obama tackle pet health care next?

We took Gus and Chingy to the vet on Saturday.  Chingy has had one of those fatty deposits on his back for about nine months now, so I wanted to get it looked at.  Also, Gus seems like he's had a cold for the past four months. 

The vet took a needle to extract cells out of Chingy's mass and it turned out to be all liquid!  Great news.  If it had been a solid mass, he would have had to have surgery to remove it.  Chingy also got his 3-year rabies shot and a distemper shot.  He also had blood drawn because he has a heart murmur.  Oh, and he has too much tartar on his teeth and needs to have his teeth cleaned.  This teeth cleaning procedure means he has to be put under with anesthesia.  Oh, and he's six pounds overweight.  He weighs 16.4 pounds and the vet said he should be at 10 pounds.  No more shredded cheese as snacks for Chingy!

Gus has an upper respiratory infection (chronic), so he got an antibiotics shot.  He also got his 3-year rabies shot.  And a $15 little bag of vitamin supplement treats to help him combat his constant cold.  Gus weighs 12.4 and the vet also wants him to be around 10 pounds. 

We need to decide if we're going to take Chingy in for his teeth cleaning procedure.  I want to do it, but it's so much money.  But I feel guilty and wonder if I don't do this now, will his teeth fall out and then he won't be able to eat, etc... Plus the vet said cats are living to be around 20, and I want Chingy (and Gus) to live as long as possible! 

The Daily Mews...

Chingy became a traitor awhile ago.  He definitely seems to like Jim better than me.  Apparently it doesn't matter that I'm the one that brushes him, or puts ice in his water bowl, or cleans his litter box- he likes Jim more.  Chingy loves to curl up by Jim on the couch and if Jim doesn't pay attention to him, Chingy puts his paw on him until he gets noticed. 

Gus is still my baby boy... he'll only curl up on my lap, not Jim's.  Anytime I sit to watch TV, Gus is usually right there curl up in my lap.  He's usually right there other than when he's waiting by the door so I can let him down in the basement...

Mom's cat Bella looks just like Gus (except Gus is much, much cuter).  Here is Bella on Christmas day with her present from Chingy and Gus...

Meow!

Wheat grass...

The other day at the grocery store, I bought the cats this container of wheat grass.  They loved it.  Gus especially went crazy over it.  I got it to try to stop Gus from eating my house plant.

I have to put it inside a cabinet at night though or else Gus tries to get on the counter to get to it.

Settling in...

We've been in our new house three weeks and two days.  It's feeling a lot like home and Jim's kinda getting used to where I put everything.  Last night we went over where the skillets and pans live.

I never blogged about the big move, so I thought I'd catch up on all things about the move and our new house.   We moved out of Jim's 900SF condo on Saturday, October 10th.  We got up early that Saturday morning and went to pick up our 26' Penske truck.  By the way, our Penske rental experience was great- much better than our UHaul experience.  We'll never rent from UHaul again.

We had lots of family members show up around 9am to help us.  Jim's Mom and Dad, Mom and Granny, Jim's sister Debbie and her boyfriend Jack, plus Jim's nephew Alex.  We had everything loaded into the moving truck by 1:00pm.  We also had everyone's cars loaded with lamps, hanging clothes, refrigerator/freezer stuff and food.  We had a caravan of cars (there were eight cars, plus Jim was driving the Penske truck) headed towards our new house.  

I went and picked up subs for lunch and then we all unloaded the truck.  Jim's sister Lisa and her husband Ed came to help too.  It seemed fast-paced... lots of people moving around, going upstairs, going downstairs, going this way, going that way.

There were only a couple of comments made (thanks Mom) about all of the boxes marked "SCRAPBOOK ROOM" and only a couple of comments about how heavy some of the boxes were (I love my scrapbook paper!).  

Everything was unloaded and everyone was gone by 5pm.  Now it was just Jim and I and a hundred boxes to unpack!

We didn't have any major mishaps during the move- the only bump in the road was our dryer.  It was gas and our new house had an electric hook-up. 

We took the Penske truck back Saturday night and then went to pick up the cats at the empty condo.  I'd left them there so they wouldn't be scared during all of the commotion at the new house.  Once we got to the new house, they acted as expected- Chingy was fine within five minutes, but also as expected, Gus was crazy scared and was hiding behind everything.  But withing thirty minutes, they were both exploring the big new house and all of the new smells.  My only fear was they would soon discover the half-wall in the loft that overlooks the living room.  I knew at one point they would both jump up there, and sure enough- they both were up there within an hour of being in the new house. 

While we didn't have any moving mishaps, we definitely had a BIG mishap during our first night in our new house.  At 12:22am, Jim and I both heard a loud noise and woke up from sleeping.  We came downstairs and were desperately trying to figure out what had fallen over or what the cats had knocked down.  The only thing we noticed that was different was the bowl of the halogen light was now sideways.  What?  How could that have happened?  I know it wasn't like that during the move.

Jim went up to the loft area and on the ledge directly in line with the halogen light, these claw marks were discovered...

Keep in mind that the cats only have their back claws.  One of the cats had jumped off of the ledge ONTO the halogen light.  It's a HUGE jump.  Here's a picture of the loft area and then you can see the the bookcase that's in the living room.  That's Chingy laying on his blanket in front of the bookcase.

Since we couldn't figure out who the ledge-leaper was, we went back to bed.  The next morning, Chingy had a very very slight limp with his front paw.  Maybe he was trying to conceal his daredevil stunt from the night before, but we concluded Chingy was the jumper. 

Also sometime Saturday night, one of the cats peed on a blanket that was on the couch.  What had happened Saturday night?  I figured they must've been acting out in anger.  They don't like car rides, or changes and Saturday was full of unpleasant experiences for them.  What I couldn't figure out was if Chingy's jump was planned or an accident. I scolded him several times "Why did you do that?!?" and "You could have gotten seriously hurt!".  I'm lucky the halogen light bulb didn't break and cut him on his fall.  I wonder if Gus double-dogged dared him to jump and when Chingy actually jumped, Gus peed the blanket?  Who knows what happened.

The cats have adjusted though and since that night, I haven't seen either one back up on that ledge.  I guess it was a lesson learned and I'll chalk it up to that.  They love to sleep at the top of the stairs, right outside our bedroom.  It's a good spot in the house because they can see as much of the house as possible from this view.  They also LOVE the basement for some reason, especially Gus.  He'll wait at the basement door waiting for one of us to open it up so he can go down there.  I've seen him go downstairs, make a beeline over to the sump pump, smell it, and then go and lay down in a random spot on the basement floor.  I don't know if he's assigned himself some sort of 'sump pump monitor', but he loves it.

I know this post is getting long, but I wanted to write about a couple more "new house" happenings before I forget.

The first is what I like to call "getting used to a new security system".  So the Monday after we move in, Jim and I accidentally went out the front door while the alarm was still set.  The alarm, needless to say, went off.  LOUDLY.  I quickly entered our code and turned it off.

Jim went on outside to mow the yard, and I went about unpacking more things.  Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang.  I look outside and it's a police officer at the door.  There is another police officer standing with Jim out by the curb.  The police officer asked me "Ma'am, we had a report your alarm went off.  Do you know that man?" and points to Jim.  I said "Yes, he's my husband."  The police officer said "OK, we're just making sure he's who he says he is."  I quickly explained we just moved in and we're getting used to our security system.

Jim and I both laughed after they left and I told Jim he better be glad I wasn't mad at him, or else he would've been thrown in the slammer!  It's good they responded so fast, although if someone broke in to our house, why would they go outside and mow our front lawn?  Turns out, the security system company tried calling both Jim and I's phones, but since we didn't answer, they sent the police. 

The second little "new house" story is one I like to call "How come I don't see any of my stuff out?!".  So they say buying and moving to a new house is a very stressful experience.  I agree 100% with that statement.  With the weeks leading up to our closing and all the headache involved with that, along with all of the setting up utilities, scheduling service appointments, there's a lot going on with moving and buying a new house.  So also on that Monday after we move, I was putting stuff away downstairs, while Jim took some things upstairs.  He spots his two bathrobes over by the hall closet and asks "Why are my robes over here".  I explain to him that those two huge, BULKY robes (that I'd never seen him wear) will not go in our closet and there is no where else to put them.  He then makes a comment like "I see an awful lot of your stuff being put out and none of mine!".  From here, it went downhill and we were smack dab into our first little argument in our new house.  We bickered about this the rest of the day until we went to sleep.  While we were laying in bed, still bickering about this topic, I finally had figured it out- Jim was homesick.  He'd lived in his condo for fourteen years, in a little place that was all his, in a place where everything was 100% all of his stuff, exactly how he liked everything.  It wasn't until I'd moved in with him the end of July did any of this change.  And even then, I didn't unpack any of my stuff, so mostly everything was all still his stuff.  Plus, we'd recently donated LOTS of stuff to the Salvation Army- LOTS of stuff that happened to be Jim's (his recliner, his couch, his grey pinstripe suit he wore in high school.  Yep, in HIGH SCHOOL.).  I'd gotten rid of some of my stuff too, but I think Jim was going through a little separation anxiety... not just from material things, but from separating from his condo, where everything was routine and comfortable.  Moving to this house was a big change for both of us, we each just dealt with it a little differently, and we had some challenges understanding how the other one was dealing with all of the changes.  After that Monday, we were both fine about everything.

We still have lots to do around the house to change it and make it ours, but we're working on it.  Jim has changed out all doorknobs in the house- from those cheapie brass ones to fun brushed nickel ones.  He's also changed all of the door hinges and door stoppers to match.  And that's a lot of work- we have FIFTEEN doors in our house, so that kept him busy for awhile. 

We've been to Home Depot and Lowe's more in the past three weeks than in our entire lives.  Someone should come out with a list of "Oh, so you're moving to a new house?  Here's all the stuff you won't think of that you need..."  Things like a ladder, a rake, yard waste bags, an edger/trimmer, new rodent/bird guards for the outside vents.  You know, all those fun things to spend your money on.  We're lucky that Jim's Dad had an extra push mower and gave to us, so we were all set with a lawnmower.

We still have lots of furniture to buy, but we have to space those purchases out.  We did our first big IKEA trip on October 17th, but I want to go back and get a couple of smaller things.  We also have some other home-improvement projects... painting all of the rooms (to get the house "show ready", the previous owners painted all of the walls off-white.  While this was nice and everything was neutral, it looks like the entire house was dipped in off-white paint) and switching out all of the lighting fixtures in the house.  All of the lighting fixtures are all those standard plain fixtures that come with a cookie-cutter house and we want to switch them with ones that we really like.  We're anxious to add our style to the house and really make it feel like it's ours.  Next spring, we also want to add a patio and/or a sunroom.  We also want to finish the basement so Jim's "man-cave" can come to fruition.  We'll get to all of these things eventually, we know we just have to be patient.  

So the past three weeks have been good.  We're excited to really settle in and have things calm down.  With moving and then getting ready for our Open House, we've been so busy. 

And yes, I've set the alarm off a couple more times, but I've learned how to not have the police show up at your house.

It's my goal this week to finish posting pictures from our Maui trip, so get ready for lots of pictures! 

P.S... I just went and checked the laundry and sure enough- Gus is waiting by the basement door.  What a weirdo.

What's out there?

So as you can see, I'm trying to get caught up on posting pics on my blog before we leave.  We won't have internet access while we're there.  My laptop is far too sick to make the journey, so we won't have a computer to take.  Plus, I found out that our hotel charges $24 PER DAY for internet usage.  $24 PER DAY.  Seriously?!?! 

Here's a picture of the cats that cracks me up.  They love sitting and watching whatever is going on out there.  I have no idea what they stare at for HOURS.  Of course, they probably wonder the same thing about me staring at the TV and watching hours of "What Not To Wear".

My Sophie...

I've been dreading posting about this because I still cry.  On Friday, April 3rd, I had to put Sophie to sleep.  It's been very hard for me and I still miss her so much.  I know she's was just a cat, and I tried to keep things in perspective.  People lose human loved ones, and I only lost of little 9lb cat.  But she was my cat for ten years and she loved me unconditionally.  She's been with me through four different addresses, and through some tough and lonely times in my life. 

She had a tumor on her paw and it had gotten worse.  She had it for about three years and the blood work they'd done on her about a year ago pointed to cancer.  At that time, they wanted to do more testing and then amputate her leg (since a cat's paw doesn't have extra skin to graft, they would just have to take off her leg).  I didn't want her to lose her leg so I told myself once she got too bad or if I felt she was in pain, I would not let her suffer.

I had started to admit to myself it was time and I finally knew in my heart I needed to do it.  I was off that Friday, so that Thursday evening, I held Sophie on my lap all night and cried.  The next morning I called to get the first appointment they had.  I knew I couldn't have made an appointment other than right before... I knew would just count down the days and minutes.  That Friday morning, I got up and fed her and then sat on the floor with her while she looked out the sliding glass doors, as she did every morning.  I told her she was a good cat and I cried and cried.

I took her in wrapped up in her favorite blanket.  It was such a hard thing to do, taking her in there.  I knew she didn't know what was happening and I didn't want her to be scared.  I said my final goodbyes and left without her. 

I came home and dropped my purse and Sophie's blanket on the floor.  When I turned back, Chingy and Gus were both on the blanket just smelling and smelling it.  I think they knew she was gone. 

I know in my heart it was the right thing to do.  I know she's not suffering now.  And I still have the other two cats, Chingy and Gus.

I miss her, and all of her annoying habits, like biting my ankles while I'm getting her food ready and waking me up every morning.  I miss not having to hold my plate above my head if I try to eat something while watching TV on the couch because she's trying to eat something off of my plate.  I miss her wanting to get on my lap every time I sat down and I'm sorry I pushed her off all of those times.  I miss her getting up on the side of the bathtub when I would take a bath and hold up handfuls of warm bath water and let her drink out of my hand.  I miss her going crazy over strawberry cream cheese.  I miss her being the first one at the bottom of the stairs when I got home.  I miss her purring just because she was laying beside me.  I miss her.

 

O Christmas tree...

I finally stopped for a minute to take a picture of my Christmas tree this year.  I pulled a chair over to the living room to use as a tripod and well...