Updates

- The kitty girls are doing fine. Everything worked out like everyone said it would, and they are getting along really well. So well, in fact, that sometimes WE feel left out. They play their kitty games, chasing and running and wrestling, and they barely notice that we exist. Until feeding time. We are just these big, mostly useless animals that conveniently put down food several times a day. And speaking of my kitties, Bruce read a quote to me the other day (and I have NO idea the source, just so you know it wasn't me) that went something along the lines of:
"Dogs think they are human. Cats think they are Gods!" I'm pretty sure there is some truth in that.

- Barbara is having surgery this coming Friday to have some nodules removed from her vocal chords. I knew about the surgery, but only from what Bruce told me (which was not much....because he is a man). Then I heard that Barbara is scared out of her wits about this surgery, and so I got scared thinking Bruce was either NOT telling me the whole story, or just innocently NOT understanding the whole story. I called today. Unfortunately, Barb was out buying plants for the garden, but I got to talk to Dad. Bruce wasn't leaving anything out, the doc feels that there is very little chance that this is anything bad (cancer), and it is a pretty common surgery that a lot of people have to have. I just know that everything is going to turn out just fine. I hope that Barb can just get in there and get it over with so that she can relax. I hate that she is so scared about this (although having had plenty of surgeries before, I also completely understand where she is coming from. Surgery sucks. Period.)

But please, please send your thoughts, prayers, and happy vibes Barbara's way that she has a successful surgery and a speedy recovery. The surgery is outpatient, so she should be home and resting peacefully by Friday evening. The part that I found so disturbing is that she can NOT talk, like at ALL, for a full week. Can any of you imagine Barb being absolutely silent for a full day, much less a week? Haha....I can't. But we love you Barb, and if you need anything, anything at all...just let us know and Bruce and I will be up there as fast as we can. Do you need us to come take care of you next weekend? Or will that make you too tempted to talk to us? We will be talking to you in the next day or so, I'm sure....

- Allergies...blech. Is anyone else having a devil of a time with allergies this year? We are having this beautiful weather this weekend, but every time I go outside, even for just a few minutes, I have sneezing fits, watering eyes, and my throat is all scratchy. Its NOT a cold, because it comes and goes. I have been taking Claritin all this past week, and that has helped to some degree. But I forgot to take it today until after lunch, and right now, I am paying the price for my forgetfulness. I want to get out there and do some stuff in the yard, but apparently will have to wait until the Claritin has time to take effect.

- Tomorrow, Hannia and I (and maybe Bruce, but he hasn't decided yet) are going to try out one of the newest classes at our gym called "Body Combat". I know that its an aerobic kick-boxing/Taebo kind of thing that promises to benefit your whole body from head to toe. I am a little bit nervous just because I haven't done this before.
I only hope I don't attempt a high kick and end up falling on my #ss. Or worse, breaking a leg, or dislocating a hip....LOL. Ok, ok, enough negative thinking. Its going to be fun, and its going to be good for me. Right....???

Dog Bite

So, I was bitten by a dog last Monday. And no, it was NOT one of MY dogs. The bite wasn't the absolute worst thing in the world. But it did break the skin, with a large long scratch, several deeper puncture wounds, and a really nasty looking bruise. It also scared the hell out of me. But anyway, it was bad enough that I had to report it, as it happened during the course of work. Which made animal control get involved, and forced me to go to the Doc for a tetanus shot. I couldn't remember the last time I had one, so.....fun times.

The issue was that the dog wasn't current with his rabies shots. The woman, his owner, lied and told me that he was vaccinated. Animal control found out otherwise.
So I have been in limbo, just having to wait it out while this dog has been in quarantine to make sure he doesn't start to exhibit any symptoms of rabies. Honestly, I tried hard not to think about it. I don't know the full details of what rabies involves (for me...for the dog I am pretty sure it would have meant he had to be destroyed). But everything I have heard goes something along the lines of a long series of painful shots, and I refused to even contemplate it. I didn't research it, read about it.....in my mind, for the past 10 days it was like it never happened.

But anyway, I got the good news today that the dog is fine. Which means I am fine, so both the dog and I plan to keep on living for a quite a while longer. That makes me happy. The bite is pretty much healed, the bruise is looking a whole lot better, and I can now go back to pretending that this never happened. I love dogs. I love animals in general, so I really really REALLY hated having animal control get involved. But all is well that ends well, so.....yeah. I am having an excellent day!

Just saying....

- My search for the perfect biscuit recipe is OVER! Barb told us about this Southern Biscuit mix, and I found it at the grocery store this weekend. I tried it last night, and Bruce and I both agree that the biscuits are amazing! Much, much better than any of my other attempts. All you have to do is add buttermilk, so there is no more cutting in lard (which really grosses me out, cuz no matter how you look at it, lard is basically animal fat). This will be my "biscuit recipe" from now on.

- Our brunch at Chef's 505 was delicious. There was so much food!!! They had breakfast stuff like pancakes, bacon and quiches. But there was also all kinds of salads, vegetables, shrimp, salmon, prime rib, ham and pork tenderloin. There was a separate bar set up with all kinds of fresh fruit and desserts. Oh my Lord, the desserts. We had to taste as many as we could but my favorite was this pecan/lemon pie. It had a crust and pecans like a regular pecan pie but the filling part was lemon. It sounds a little weird, but it was indescribably delicious. And they were serving some particularly yummy mimosa's that left me in desperate need of a nap.

- Vixen seems to have made peace with the fact that she has a new sister. After several days of hissing and growling, she has decided that having a friend to play with is a good thing. The cats seem completely at ease with each other now and that makes everything a whole lot more peaceful. They eat together,(not out of the same dish, but at least in the same space), they share a litter box (I had a separate one set up for Omen, but they both seem to insist on using the original one, so I finally good rid of the spare), and they run and chase each other all over the house for hours at a time. I spent last weekend wondering if I had made a mistake. Now I'm glad I got a second kitty.

- Its TAX week, so don't forget....

What the Easter Bunny brought this year

Since our children are too old for Easter Baskets, and Egg Hunts, and since they are all off doing adult, sophisticated things like brunches, and wine-tastings at picturesque vineyards, the Easter Bunny came to see our precious Kitty girls instead.
He brought some cool kitty toys like this cat play-house:



It has 2 stories, lots of in and out holes to explore, and best of all a noisy "crinkle tunnel" to chase each other through. The crinkle tunnel wasn't part of the actual house, but Bruce made it fit into one of the bottom floor openings, and the kitties seem to love it.



So far, the kittens have spent almost all of their waking hours in there (Stephen's room is where it all got set up. Sorry, son) playing their little kitty hearts out.





The Easter Bunny also brought this cool ball rolling toy that has been quite a big hit:



All in all it was a fun holiday. In fact, so much fun was had that everybody needed a nap to recover.