Sadness

Life's been hectic for me over the last several weeks, so my apologies for not being an active poster!

This time of year is pretty hellish for me with regard to my job. It's when everything happens at once, you know? Then there are the students...oy. Plus I was sick all last week with what seemed like the flu, but I know it wasn't actually the flu. Since moving to Delaware, I've developed painfully severe allergies and they flair up big time in the fall and spring.

I haven't really been doing much knitting lately, only enough to finish one generic sock of a pair that I'm using the Deborah Norville yarn to knit. And I'm almost finished one sock of that houndstooth pair (Talbot pattern). I just haven't had the energy to cast on either of complementary socks to finish either pair. Sigh. Maybe this weekend.

Now, I must try to muster the emotional energy to post about my deep sadness. The short story is that Todd and I had to have our lovely, sweet Sophie euthanized on Monday, 3/29. Painful as the decision was, I know deep down that it was the right thing to do for her. I just could not bear the thought of her in pain, suffering, and wasting away.

The long story is:

Sophie had been ailing with hyperthyroidism for the last few years. She was once a 22-pound cat, which I know is appallingly overweight for a house cat. We noticed right around the time we moved to DE that she looked, well, good! We took her in for her annual check-up and she was down to about 18 pounds. On another vet visit several months later she was down another 1.5 pounds. (She was prone to respiratory infections because as a stray in the years before we got her, she had a horrible case of pneumonia, which left her with a chronic respiratory issue.) Then she needed to have several of her teeth removed because they were so bad, 8 or so. Down another 1/2 pound or so. Blood work indicated that she had hyperthyroidism, so we began giving her medication to get that under control. Over the last 2-3 years, she'd been on a steady decline of weight loss, infections, UTIs, cataracts, dehydration, etc. It's hard to imagine any human being, let alone a cat, dealing with all of these problems without any complaint at all. Yet that is just what Sophie did. She was exceptionally smart and often a solitary animal, despite the other 5 beasts that she ended up sharing her home with. Sophie had a gentle and charming disposition; she was a lady, though certainly not aloof or haughty.

Because of her thyroid condition, she required quarterly blood work to check her T4 levels. Every time we did this, she weighed less and less. We never seemed to be able get the dosage right, despite tweaking is several times, as recommended by the vet. She had another series of blood tests done in February (by a vet that we don't usually see, and never will again if I have anything to say about it) and, for the first time ever, all seemed normal with regard to T4 levels. A minor victory, though, as she was now down to 10 pounds, 15 ounces. March 15th was her "birthday," as we celebrated it. We also had to take Sophie and all her siblings into the vet that day for their annual check-up and shots. Sophie was down to 10 pounds 3 ounces. "Is she eating," our vet asked? Most certainly. Sophie had a voracious appetite and ate pretty much whatever you put in front of her, unless you tried to conceal medication in the food. She could sense it there and would not eat it. Smart cookie, my Sophie. But even lately, when we powdered up her tiny thyroid pill and put it in her food, she ate it. I don't know why this didn't set off any alarms in my head. In retrospect, it should have (as you will see).

At this time Todd noticed rather curious lump in her neck. It didn't feel like a tumor or growth of any kind. It was sort of soft and could easily be shifted around. Our vet aspirated the contents and it reduced its size by 75%. What the hell was it?? All blood. Our vet asked, "Did she have an injury to her jugular? Because this is a large hematoma." We couldn't for the life of us figure out what happened to her to cause that. Then our vet asked, "When she had blood work a month ago, did Dr. ^&$*%)@ (not mentioning the name here) take it from her neck?" And after thinking on it a little I realized that the other vet DID take it from her neck! So, that other vet DAMAGED MY SOPHIE'S JUGULAR VEIN. I can't tell you how infuriated I was, and still am, about this.

In the two weeks between her annual vet visit and her last day, she seemed completely normal, by Sophie standards. The night before, she crawled up on top of me while I was asleep and sat with me for a while. I was only vaguely aware that a cat was on me, Todd was awake and confirmed that it was Sophie. She hadn't done this in quite a while. Maybe she was trying to tell me something? While getting ready for work in the morning, I happened to be in the hallway and noticed fresh, pink, wet spots on the carpet in a couple of places. I saw Sophie sitting up near the guest bathroom cleaning herself. Then I saw more pink droplets on her fur. She had been attempting to urinate and it was blood. She would walk a few steps, then stop and try to pee again, only to have a dime-sized amount of pink fluid released. She laid on her side at one point and I was petting her. She must have been in agony because she kept contracting up her back legs, almost like a spasm, and she was breathing heavily. I think I knew at that moment that she would be leaving me forever that day. I broke down and cried as Todd called the vet.

We went to the vet, and thankfully it was our usual vet who we like very much. First thing: the scale. Down to 9 pounds 11 ounces. She lost half a pound in 2 weeks. That is a disastrous amount of weight for a cat to lose in 2 weeks, especially one that eats very well. She had a fever. Her hematoma had filled up again, too. Our vet examined her and told us that Sophie's kidneys were failing, basically breaking down from the inside. They were hard, misshapen, and atrophied. This is what was causing her urination problems. There was little they could do to alleviate that situation, as no antibiotic or medication could improve failing kidneys. Then she took an x-ray.

After an agonizing wait for the results, the vet showed us the x-rays. She pointed out 2 masses in 2 different places in Sophie's stomach. Cancer. I felt like someone stabbed me in the neck. One mass was quite large (about the size of a mouse) and the other was smaller, like a large olive. It all became clear to me why she was hungry all the time and eating as much food as possible. Sophie was, essentially, starving all the while feeding her tumors. She was getting little to no nutrients from her food intake. This news hurt worst of all, I think. Sophie looked forward to feeding time and I always assumed that her healthy appetite meant that she was healthy in general. So not only was she having severe kidney problems that we were unaware of, but also she was eating and never feeling full for God only knows how long. :-(

Todd asked the vet about 1000 questions to see if there was any other viable option to help Sophie get better. There wasn’t. It was time to let her go. After her initial sedation Sophie became very relaxed and calm. It was as if I could feel her pain slipping away from her as she stretched out her front paws a little. Sophie’s loving, gentle heart stopped beating within seconds of the lethal injection and she was finally at peace.

I am only now just accepting that she’s gone from my life. We loved her like a child, especially since she was our "first-born," per se. We had Sophie for nearly 10 years. She was 14.

My beautiful Sophie, as I will always remember her:

Sophie in her younger, sillier days:

Updates

Hello all! I have good news and bad (well, not seriously bad) news. Good news first: I am happy to report that my attempt to destash some yarn and make a little cash in the process has been successful so far! It's been really nice to have a little bit of a balance in my PayPal account to buy a skein of "must-have" yarn, or a knitting notion or two, or a little something special from etsy.

So far I've made $131 from selling yarn in my etsy shop; and another $61 selling directly from my Ravelry "will-trade-or-sell" list. So $192--- not too shabby! That total does not include the shipping amounts, either! There's still more that I want to get rid of. Given the good results so far, I am very encouraged!

Some more good news: I did finish the pair of socks for Jen (the orange striped ones). And I am on track to finish the slate blue "Data Socks" for Josh, hopefully at some point this weekend! So I'll be all set for them come the Valentine's Day weekend.

Now the "bad" news. Remember that wedding wrap that I started for my future sister-in-law? Yeah, well there is no way that I am ever going to get that thing finished. In yesterday's mail I got the invitation to her bridal shower, which is March 13. ACK. I didn't expect it to be that soon. Although, I must admit that I don't know where my brain is! I mean really, it IS already the end of the first week of February and the wedding is early May. Sigh. Anyway, it's not going to happen. I only just found where I stashed it away (to keep it from feline influence). Talk about out of sight, out of mind!

And here's some potentially actually bad news: we need to take Sophie to the vet again for a thyroid check-up. These never turn out well. First of all, she's always half a pound lighter than she was the time before. Not good. Sophie used to be a 22-pound cat. Seriously. One day a few years ago I happened to be paying closer attention to her and realized that she looked great. A routine vet visit confirmed that she had lost a lot of weight; she was down to about 16 pounds. But since that time, which was not more than 3 years ago, she's consistently lost about 1.5 pounds a year. This is a lot for a cat. So in less than 3 years, she's gone from 16 to 11.5 pounds. :-(

She started on a thyroid regime about the same time we first noticed the weight loss. So, obviously, we're STILL not getting the dosage right. I just want her to stop losing weight. Thankfully, her appetite is still good. She doesn't drink as much water as I'd like. In fact, the last time we brought her in to the vet, Sophie was pretty dehydrated and they gave her some fluids. The sight of the bag of fluids makes me very sad. That was the last step before euthanasia for Mr. Chesterfield.

There are other potential issues with Sophie, too. For one thing, I'm starting to doubt the accuracy of her date of birth, something we have long thought to be March 1996. My sister adopted Sophie in November of 1997 and was told at that time that Sophie was "a year and a half old." Given the debacle with Mr. Chesterfield's age when we adopted him, I have an ever increasing terror that Sophie isn't approaching 14, but 19 or 20. Also, she was in bad shape when she was initially rescued. She had a really bad case of pneumonia, the effects of which still plague her today. She is prone to respiratory infections and has had fluid around her heart and lungs a couple of times. Plus at her last vet check-up we learned that she has fractal cataracts. She can still see, but she might see as if she were looking through a kaleidoscope or faceted glass. Great.
AND she's been having accidents again around the house, which is really disconcerting. We had to move a small litter box into the front foyer for her to use because she was just randomly peeing on the floor right there for no reason. Todd is very diligent about keeping the boxes in good order and no other cats take issue with them.

I just don't want her to suffer along, getting skinnier and skinnier, sicker and sicker. Sometimes I truly wonder if the vet's office has Sophie's best interests at heart. She's a veritable goldmine for them by way of check-ups, medicine, tests, shots, fluids, etc. Maybe that's crazy talk, but....

Mr. Chesterfield Needs Your Good Karma!

Most of you who read this blog know that Todd and I have expanded from 1 cat to having 6 cats over the last 3 years or so. Our most recent addition is Mr. Chesterfield. We acquired him last year in September.

Even though he's only been in our family for less than a year, we adore Mr. Chesterfield. Last week (while I was away in NC) Todd needed to bring Mr. C and Sophie in for a check-up. Both of them are on medications---Sophie for thyroid and Mr. C for high blood pressure. You can imagine how concerned and sad I was Todd told me that the vet said that Mr. C was not doing well. He lost about 3 pounds. He was severely dehydrated. He had ulcers in his mouth that were infected. And his blood pressure didn't seem to be any better either.

Todd (the saint that he is with animals) made three visits to the vet with Mr. C, all during the week I was away. The initial visit with a blood test, then a visit for a urine sample/test, then a visit for an enema. Results of the blood and urine tests showed problems. Low levels of something-or-other. High levels of such-and-such. Whatever they were, they were definitely not good.

Now Mr. C is on a medication for the infectious ulcers, a stool-softener, his BP meds, and Todd has to give him an I.V. of fluids every night at dinner. :-(

The verdict? Well, we have one more visit to the vet today, to see how he's responding to the fluids and such. Probably another blood and/or urine test. Here's what the vet thinks. It's one of the following things:

1) Mild kidney toxicity caused by ingesting some chemical (like soapy water from our shower or worse, a cleaner for the shower). This most likely can be flushed through his system. This is the best-case scenario.

2) Averse reaction to his BP meds. Now, he's been on these for almost as long as we've had him. However, in January when he went in for a check-up, the vet said that his BP wasn't coming down enough so they raised the dose. It's possible that this higher dosage is too much for him and has caused the other problems.

3) Acute renal failure, or cancer, or liver failure. This means euthanasia. :-( :-( :-(

Mr. C doesn't seem to be showing any of the typical signs of a cat with kidney or liver failure. I know because I've had cats or have seen other's cats with these conditions. For one thing, he eats whatever you feed him. He drinks normally. He never throws up. He uses his litterbox without issue. He doesn't seem lethargic or abnormal in any other way. However, I believe that he is OLD. Whatever the folks at Forgotten Cats said was tragically incorrect. I think I recall that they aged him between 5 and 8. Our eye specialist vet said "at least 10." I think he's 15 or 16. I've always suspected that he was an old guy.

Anyway there are 2 things that we noticed that are different than normal.

One, he's been meowing or calling out a lot, especially in the evening. He's always done this. It will be 2:00 am and suddenly you'll hear "Meow! Meow! Meow!" Well last night it was noticeably more frequent and with greater intensity and length of time.

Second, on his right side towards the upper thigh, he is suddenly missing a patch of fur. We noticed it 2 days ago. Last night this bald patch seemed 3 times the size that it was when we first noticed it and the skin underneath was very flushed and hot. Maybe this is a reaction to the anti-biotic? Or maybe he's just stressed?

We have no idea. But all we know is that he's a sick kitty and we want him well again. As soon as I know anything about his condition from the vet, I'll post it here (good or bad).

So please send some love to Mr. Chesterfield today. <3

If I Were To Ask You...

...How many cats are on this bed?



First you'd say, "Um...too many?" Then, you'd say, "Three." From top clockwise: Hercules, Sophie (near my pillow, GORRAMIT), and Ophelia.

Good answer!


But WRONG:



Yes, that's Titus holed-up in there. (Love Fi-Fi's surprised/concerned look there, too.)

Come out of there, you goofy Squinty McFootball Head!



Here's Mr. Chesterfield poking around. He's really found his way around the house well. He's a lovely cat and super smart too.



And now, some close-ups:

Ophelia, looking very, very concerned (as usual):

Hercules, looking very, very confused (as usual):

And Luna, looking positively evil (as usual):

What's wrong with this photo?:




If you said that it has obscene amounts of yarn in it, then you are only partially correct.

Keep looking...

...see it yet?

This next picture will help....



Yup, Titus again. He just thinks everything is for him, you know?

Cats, OY!

Babies, Cats, and Knitting

Hey, everyone. So I just returned from visiting my sister and my new baby niece, Aubrey, in North Carolina. Oh my DOG, she is so cute. I took TONS of pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Here's Aubrey having a "chat" with her mom. She is so alert and really wants to communicate with all of us. She is only 3 weeks old, but she really wants to talk to us!

YAAAAAAAWN...

Awwwww.

Here she is with the hat I made her as part of that kimono/hat/booties matching ensemble. It fits her perfectly! Now I am going to make her more hats. Because, hey, babies with hats are like over-the-top cute:

Yeah, so, my sister recently got a pure-bred Siamese (the cute, apple-head, non-cross-eyed kind). They named him Neko, which is the Japanese word for cat. I think he's about 5-6 months old now. He is awfully cute, and a very sweet cat too. And he has THE bluest eyes I've ever seen. Just magnificent. He also...well...really loves the baby....

He would periodically sneak in there with her whenever we weren't looking!


Here are my sister's 2 other cats:

Molly

Mitzy

(who is actually a boy, but, well, it's a long story....)

And here is the baby blanket that I had been working on for the last few months. I finished it and did a semi-block on it the day before I left. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I think my sister really liked it, too.


While I was in North Carolina, I made a dishcloth to match my sister's kitchen. I happened to have with me the cotton yarn that my Dishcloth Swap spoiler from the last round gave me! The dishcloth is actually the same pattern as the blanket above. I absolutely love that pattern. It was a free one from the Dishcloth Boutique website.


I also managed to finish one sock out while there! I switched to Addi Turbo needles (size 2 on 12" cables) and it was infinitely easier. Like, WHOA. Now I am working on the gusset portion of the second sock in this pair. So it looks like I will actually finish my first pair of socks ever! And I DO see more sock knitting in my future. Thank you, Addi Turbos!!! My only beef with the sock is that I made the foot portion too long for me by about 3/4 to 1 inch. But, hey, for the first pair ever? I think that's ok! :-)



And I leave you now with pictures of a couple of my cats being very, very silly:





Sophie

Hercules











Titus

Where's Gina?

So I will be MIA for about a week or so starting tomorrow, August 4. Todd and I will be in East Fairfield, Vermont, right on Metcalf Pond for a week's vacation. I can't believe it's here! I really need the time away, too. Work has been making me insane. Yeah, more so that usual. Scary, right?

Also, before I forget, Sophie had some blood work done to see how her thyroid meds were working and she came through with flying colors! So the meds are working (she's gained back 15 ounces) and there has been no negative effect on her kidneys or anything from taking the medicine, either. So, all good news.

AND, speaking of good news, Lorna finally reached level 67 today on World of Warcraft, the very same day Blizzard confirmed that there will be yet another expansion coming out, albeit not soon, called "Wrath of the Lich King." This expansion will bring another round of additions and improvements, most of which are pointless and gay. To wit: Um...a Shadow Night? This is Blizzard's cop-out way of giving us gamers a new class. It is, unfortunately, not good enough because it's not really a new class. This is rumored to actually be a "path" that either a Warlock or a Paladin might take upon reaching level 40. So...how is that a new class? Lucy! You got some 'splainin' to do! Most infuriating and worth noting that the level cap will be raised, yet AGAIN, to 80. Sigh...I always feel like I am playing catch-up! Hopefully, by the time this expansion comes out, I will have hit level 70. I think so. I had better! GRRR

My sister called me on Wednesday to let me know that she was at the doctor's on Monday and the baby (Aubrey) is weighing in just over 6 pounds. So...we think she's coming early! If she were to carry her until her due date (Aug 23), Aubrey would weigh over 10 pounds. I have a feeling I might get a call towards the end of my vacation.... :-)

So, that's it for now. I'm tired and I want to read some of that damnable Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which, by the way, is only...well...just...kinda...meh. You know? I'm like whatever. I'm a little over halfway through and it's...not great.

I leave you now with a picture of a cotton/linen bath mitt that I made for myself to use in Vermont:

I Have Returned

Todd and I went on a mini-vacation for about 4 days to his parents' place in Hague, VA. It was nice to get away from work and vomiting cats for a little while. But alas, I am back at the grind.

Just a couple of things to update everyone who might read this:

1) The car, I think --- I mean, I hope against all hope--- is fixed, finally. For reals.

2) Sophie has been taking her anti-biotic in liquid form mixed in with straight-out-of-the-can-real tuna fish. So she's on the mend in that regard. However, we learned that she has Hyperthyroidism. For the last 2 years or so, Sophie's weight has been steadily, although not dangerously, decreasing. Keep in mind that Sophie was once a 23-pound cat; and not too long ago, either. Yeah. Sophie the Hutt. Anyhoo, when we took her to the vet last week to get her looked at for her 3rd respiratory infection this year (nice), she weighed in at 13 pounds. Actually, weight-wise, she looks awesome. Not fat, but not all scrawny either. Well, some blood work revealed that the weight loss is attributed to the over-active Thyroid, but that we were catching it early. So she's going to be fine. Now, I know I should not say this, but...

WTF? I WANT THAT. It's SO freakin' unfair! Why not me?? No, see, I have to get the OTHER thyroid problem: Hypothyroidism. The one where your joints ache and you feel exhausted all the time and can't lift your arms above your head and you can't tolerate temperatures below 40 degrees or over 80 degrees and you have virtually no libido at all. No. Shut up. I mean it. NONE. AT. ALL. I feel like a ficus tree. And you gain about 10-15 pounds a year despite eating like 800 calories a day because your metabolism is that fucked up. Yeah, THAT one. Welcome to my shitty world.

Sigh. Whatever.

Also, I am about 1/3 done yet another baby blanket for my sister. It's done in a mock cable pattern that I found on the Dishcloth Boutique site. This is it. It looks super as a blanket. When I get a little further along, I'll take some pictures. I might just abandon the houndstooth one. Well, it's a real big pain to knit because it is curling up something awful. I honestly do not feel like picking-up and knitting a border around all that, with no guarantee that it will make the curling stop. And you can probably tell how much I want to start it over....

Oh! I got my match for the Dog Days of Summer Dishcloth Swap. This is going to be awesome. I am so looking forward to it. I love making dishcloths! They take no time at all and it's a great way to try out a new or more-advanced pattern without wanting to rip your hair out.

Can't believe my Vermont vacation is less than a month away! Man this summer is flying by.

I Augered Into My Thigh and Other Atrocities and Annoyances

J'ever have a stretch of a about a week's time where you just wonder how you haven't yet managed to accidentally remove your own head from your body? Yeah. Well, that's me.

I have had the most bizarre few days as of late.

First of all: the weather. WTF? Excuse me, Mother Nature? Yeah, hey, I've been operating under the assumption that Spring had actually arrived about 3 weeks ago on March 21. Yes? Why, then, when starting my car in the morning, does the temperature gauge on my rear-view mirror warn me that "ICE" is present outside? Hmmm? And why, pray tell, is it 40 degrees outside in the middle of the afternoon on April 9? Can you like work on that a little? Just 10-15 degrees is all I ask, really. K? Thx!


Second: Yes, I did auger into my thigh. Todd and I were putting up towel racks and hooks in all the bathrooms (FINALLY) on Saturday. Well in order to properly "install" the one towel rack, I needed to use an anchor in the drywall. Fair enough. So I had to change the drill bit. Ok, short story: The house we just moved from in Philly, was sold to us by an elderly lady whose husband (long deceased), was a carpenter. She left us all his tools. Which was super nice. Some of the tools, however, maybe should be given to a museum. One such item is the drill. It's made of metal, probably steel. It weighs about 649 pounds...ok, 7. And it's very old fashioned. No safety mechanism on it whatsoever. Come on! This thing HAS to be from the late 40s, early 50s. Well, I had a little skinny drill bit in there, probably something like 3/64ths. Anyway, trying to change it is easy enough, but unwieldy. Well, the weightiness of the drill combined with my Saturday morning agility (think agility -20) caused me to lose my grip on the damn thing. It swung out of my hands, and arced down into my left thigh. Yeah. Made about a 1/8-inch deep (at least) puncture wound there. Ah, the beautiful colors of a bruise....


Third: Dear Amazon.com:

If you even try to get away with sending me that book for my secret pal on freakin' MAY 27TH, I will hunt you down. You understand me? Capisce? M.A.Y. 2.7.T.H = NO. I ordered it on April 3.

PS: DIE IN A FIRE.

Thx!


Fourth: My cats. After a $335 emergency vet bill, we learned that Luna somehow managed to sprain her ACL in her right back knee. (At first they thought she TORE it!) The vet told us that this is a "football injury" and is very common among athletes. Uh huh. So I've nicknamed Luna "John Elway." She seems to be doing better, which is a good thing because if she didn't improve it meant an $1800 surgery. The vet gave us meds for her that we give her twice a day. She takes them well, unlike Luna's polar opposite with regard to medicine, Sophie. And lucky ME, Sophie is sick again. Respiratory infection nonsense. There are no words to describe how insanely difficult it is to get any kind of medication into Sophie. I...just...it's...impossible. I mean I've had Todd put her in a headlock and I've done a quarter Nelson on her and still need the jaws of life and a couple of locksmiths to pry her mouth open. This is while she is trying to claw us to bloody pulps, too. Sigh.


Fifth: Work! Aside from the usual oddities and frustrations, I arrived at work to day to find a rather cryptic email from one of the professors in my department. This professor --- an aging, half-deaf, Korean man --- is notorious for sending bizarre, somewhat nonsensical correspondence over e-mail, usually to the department secretary. Well, today was my turn. Here it is:

DEAR GINA,

ARE YOU HAVING MICHAEL?

RK

Yes. That's it. No, no abridging or editing took place. That is the entire e-mail. Dear friends, it took every ounce of restraint in my body not to write back: "For what? Dinner?" Or: "Yeah, I'm dilated 9 centimeters; it should be any minute now...."


Sixth: World of Warcraft. I love it. There's no changing that. WARNING: I am about to discuss some geeky, RP, online-gaming stuff. Ok? One of my characters joined a guild. I am really enjoying being in said guild. BUT...there is this one guild member that just drives me bat-shit crazy. The best way to explain this is to just post the IM conversation I had with Nicole about this. I've removed or changed names, and I tried to clean up our sailor-mouth swearing a little, so take that as a warning too :

me: ok I am going to rant for second here about WOW and my guild
nicole: LOL ok
me: if that's ok
nicole: go for it, dude!
me: ok
nicole: LOL
me: One of my characters, my "main," is in a guild.
nice guild. I like it there.
ok.
there is this one guild member named XXXXXX that drives me f'n nuts
I can't explain it but she makes me BONKERS.
I'm assuming it's a she; the character is a female night-elf something-or-other.
Like every f'n time she has to go away from her computer, instead of putting up an /afk
nicole: she poops in the house?
me: she has to tell you what she's doing
LOL!
So it's like "Phone call, brb!"
nicole: "i'm going to go feed my cats, and then poop a little, and then do some other crapzoid!"
me: "Visitors! BRB" LMFAOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
nicole: "putting on a tutu and dancing with Leslie Neilson! brb!"
me: "Oops nature calls! BRB!"
EXACT-F'ING-LY
ok
THEN she's like "ok I'm back!" when she comes back
and I'm like OH GOODIE!!!
nicole: OH GREAT I'M SO EXCITED TO SEE YOUR F'ING STUPID FACE
me: Then one time I was in the Un'Goro Crater with Todd's character
and she was there
and sees me
nicole: and you were like noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
me: and says "What are you working on? You need any help?"
And I told her what I was doing (A quest called "Chasing A-Me", which involves rescuing a mechanical gorilla in a cave with other mean-ass douchebag gorillas around it)
ok
nicole: LMFAO WTF
me: CRYING LMFAO
I am so blogging this convo
anyway
So she goes "Oh I can totally help you! Meet you at the cave!"
So I invite her to our group and we get to the cave
nicole: LOL "i'm blogging this!"
and she's like BRB MONKEY POO!
me: LMFAO I go in there with Todd and we kill like 2 angry douche gorillas
and she goes "Oh I have to go do some stuff for this other quest, you all will be ok right?"
And we were like "Um...I guess so?"
nicole: why the frack did she offer to help????
me: EXACT-F'ING-LY
nicole: what a whore!
me: Poor Todd died like 4 times
nicole: OMG kick her in the tooth
me: Then the other night---ok first of all
I am a hunter, I am a Dwarf, so I use guns
and there are these things you can attach to your guns (and bows, I think) that increase damage, called scopes
ok
so I bought a sweet-ass, level 59 gun on the auction house
and I wanted the top-of-the-line scope for it.
It's an Adamantite Scope.
ok
to buy one outright from the auction house is 35 f'ing gold .
the gun only cost me 9 or 10 gold
so I was like NO WAY
nicole: JEEZ that's ridiculous!
me: SO i looked up what materials are needed to make the scope
And I bought the materials instead. Total was about 12 gold
nicole: "first ingredient: annoying girl. woo i know one!"
me: LOL Well I can't make the thing. You have to be an engineer, which I don't have as a profession.
nicole: shit!
me: and you have to be a very advanced engineer anyway.
So I ask in guildchat:
"Hey folks! Can anyone make me an Adamantite Scope? I have the mats."
Like 2 seconds later she goes
"I can't!"
nicole: I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO CAN'T I WANT TO KNOW WHO CAN
me: THX! YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HELPFUL!!!!
nicole: RTARDFACE
me: I wanted to f'n log off, log on as one of my Horde characters, go to wherever she was, and go PVP on her ass.

Hope you are not bleeding from the eyes after that tirade of vitriol. It was worse, believe me!


Finally: I hate the USPS. Can you please stay open past 6:00pm? PLEASE? My poor secret pal's package is still sitting in my dining room because I can't get to the post office when it's open, which is for like 1.25 hours a day and only 2 days a week.


What IS right with me???

The Ides of March

Well, today is the Ides of March, and it just so happens that today is the official start of Secret Pal 10! Yay! I heard from my spoiler and she is so nice. I am in Shelby's group, who is also super nice. I contacted my spoilee yesterday, too and that went really well. I am so looking forward to the SP10 exchange. I love buying cool stuff for people (and receiving some 'aint so bad either)!

Today is also my Sophie's birthday. She's 11 years old. Here's my big girl:

Tomorrow we go to settlement for our house in Philly that we're selling. Then it's all over. Mostly. I think. I just want to NOT have to initial 47862 documents in a row ever again. Really, that's all I care about.


We are coming along with settling into our new house. The kitchen is mostly done; I'd say about 85%. Marsha helped me arrange the yarn stash that we could find! It looks really cool! She arranged it by color and did a really super job. Here's a picture that she took of my new knitting/sewing room (which is one of the upstairs bedrooms). Pardon all the crap around:




I later found a few boxes with more yarn, so I added all of that in there. And I found the boxes that contained my knitting books. I arranged all the books alphabetically by title across the bottom 3 cubes. So I need to take an updated photo. (If I can ever find my digital camera, that is.)







I must confess: I haven't done much knitting lately. My sister learned yesterday the she is having a girl. So that will make the knitting plans a lot easier! I find that it is much easier to knit things for baby girls as opposed to baby boys. Anyway, I hope to get back into the knitting soon. This weekend might be a good time because I think we're supposed to have crappy weather. So maybe I can squeeze in a couple of hours of knitting in between emptying boxes!

Anyhow here are a few more pictures of the house, courtesy of Marsha.


Here's another bedroom that we are using for something else: Todd's office.



And this the guest bedroom.



This is the master bedroom and the bathroom attached to the master bedroom.



This is the entryway/foyer.



I'd like to pause here to say how much I freakin' HATE Blogger. I mean can it be any MORE inconvenient and time-consuming to have to continually drag pictures down through the composing window (which is only like 2-inches wide to begin with --- RAGE) to the place where you want them? JEEZ. Hey, um, excuse me, Blogger? Yeah, can someone work on making the "insert photo" button actually work? That'd be nice. K? Thx. Buh bye!


Ok, whew. This is the dining room.



This is me being all fat in the kitchen. Seriously, people, I gotta lose some
weight, STAT.



Here is the living room.



And a close up of Todd dealing with a cat. Looks like Luna, probably.

All My Children

Here they are, all in one place at the same time --- a rare event, to be sure. They are all looking out the back door into my yard. Oh, actually, I should write it as: "yard." Yes, in Philadelphia, your backyard is in actuality an 18' x 10' concrete rectangle, which contains your central air-conditioning unit, a trash can, and a few weeds and is enclosed by a chain-link fence.

I have no earthly idea why these animals (the boys in particular) are so intrigued by the yard. Todd has let them out there a few times. The girls choose to stay inside. Thus proving that girls are smarter even in the animal kingdom. But Titus and Hercules can't wait to run out there, especially Hercules. Sometimes, he cries and paws at the back door when it's closed because he wants to go out there.

One of us is usually there to supervise when they go out. We have to, because of Titus. See, the cold fact is that Titus is smarter than Hercules. When Titus goes out there, he scopes out the confines of the yard and examines the perimeter for any weaknesses he can exploit. Yeah. One time, he tried to jump the fence. I caught him, though, before he could do it. Hercules just wanders around sniffing the air. When we go over to him to pick him up and bring him back in, he runs over to us, tail all up, happy to see us. When we go over to Titus to pick him up and bring him in, it's another story entirely. He wriggles out of your grasp and out of reach, then he flips himself over onto the ground, completely stretches out, and stiffens up so that you can't pick him up without like jamming your fingers into his soft belly, which he KNOWS I won't do because I don't want to hurt him. See? Smart(er). Yet, as smart as he is, Titus is still too dumb to realize how good a life he has in my house. I let him get away with murder, seriously.

This morning, in fact, I discovered that sometime in the middle of the night he stole one of my nice earrings. I have no idea where he put it. He probably ate it. Sigh...I guess I have to keep an eye on the contents of the litter boxes during the next couple of days. Swell.

Speaking Of Evil...

Check this out:



Poor Sophie. Once the stalwart epitome of docile cat behavior, she has succumbed to the pure evil that is Ophelia and Titus, evidenced by the huge glowing eyes. Sigh. Why don't the BAD cats pick up the behaviors of the GOOD cat? WHY? Must it always be the bad influence that reigns?

Awww, Look At My Sophie

I mean really, she is such a sweet animal. And how can anyone not love her girth?:


Here she looks like she is suckling the felted mice!:

The Velvet Mafia

Well first off let me introduce you to my four furry, feline children, or as my husband Todd refers to them, "The velvet Mafia."


This is Sophie. She's our oldest at age 10. Sophie is a sweet cat and for a long time she enjoyed the privilege of being the only cat in our house. As with all our cats, Sophie was once a homeless stray. I believe very strongly in adopting homeless pets. My sister and her family actually adopted Sophie in November 1997. Sophie joined their family which had another cat already there named Claude. Claude did NOT like Sophie and was very mean to her. So Todd and I adopted her in October 2000. Anyway, now Sophie is --- ahem--- living large, so-to-speak, weighing in at about 18 pounds. I am actually VERY proud of Sophie because she used to tip the scales at around 22 pounds! She's my pretty one!

This is Hercules. Herc just turned 2 on July 1. He can be a handful, but he is probably the most lovable cat on the planet. Todd found Herc outside one bitterly cold, sub-freezing January morning in 2005. He was about 6 months old. Poor thing. We HAD to take him in. Hercules is a poor eater; he prefers drinking water from our bathroom sink. He actually really has taken to the bathroom sink; we find him in there practically every morning. He also likes to lay in-between Todd and I in our bed at night. One of his most favorite things in the world is the laser pointer. Hercules also likes to bug Sophie. Then she puts the smack-down on him and he wonders why....

This is Titus ---the cat of 1000 nicknames. Such as: Squinty, Titus McSquintleface, Sean Connery, Fuzzimus, Mr. T., Football Head, and Tituclees to name a few. He is probably our cutest cat. He really has the most adorable face and very interesting fur markings. It's a good thing too because he's BAD. He loves to chew on our mail and any packages we get. Often, we notice that our mail has "the Titus seal of approval," which means that it looks like Dracula got to our mail before we did. He also likes popcorn and the plastic bottle-cap wraps that you get from bottles of Snapple. If you so much as pick up a bottle of Snapple, he'll come from wherever he is and stand there, waiting for you to open it up and give him the plastic seal. We got Titus from PACCA in February 2005 to keep Hercules company and away from Sophie. He'll be 2 in November.


And last but not least, this is Ophelia, or Fi Fi for short. She just turned 1 in April. We noticed her on the way to work one morning in May of 2005; she was a just little gray puff. In fact, I had mistaken her for a dirty pair of lost rolled-up tube socks! Then the socks looked up at me! We couldn't spare the time to stop and get her in the morning. So we went after work to look for her. We were very doubtful that we would find her. But Todd spotted her in the parking lot of a firehouse. She was difficult to "capture," but thankfully, we finally did. We took her to our vet and she weighed less than a pound! We had to keep her separated from the rest of the cats for a few weeks because she was not old enough to be tested for those nasty feline diseases. Once she got a clean bill of health, we let them all interact. Now she is a vibrant, playful cutie who loves attention.