Going Home Again

Well, I've been moved out from my parent's house for a whole two and half weeks and already I'm back home, though it is just for a night! I came back up to visit and watch chick flicks! My poor mama is outnumbered by Dad and Troy so she can't watch girlie movies. I decided to stay and sleep in my old bed and snuggle with my cats, so that they don't crowd mom and dad like they have been. I hear that once the cats snuggle in--usually one between your feet and one by your side and one by your head--mom has an impossible time moving without disturbing kitties!

We are watching the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, set in Botswana, a TV series based on a book series. It is simply adorable.

Vaccine Nightmare

You may recall that I was laid off two weeks ago from the veterinary clinic where I worked for three and a half years. One of the most difficult parts of this laying off (aside from my boss not saying good-bye or giving me a heads up) is that now I have to pay full price for everything for my animals. Add to that some horrendously unlucky timing since I was laid off right when I was planning on bringing in all the animals for their vaccines and heartworm/lyme disease tests . . . and I was looking at a few hundred dollars instead of less than fifty. 

Since I'm a cheapskate, I decided to take them to the County's Spay and Neuter where it costs less, yay! Also, I'm not ready to see my old boss yet. I don't know if he didn't say bye because he would miss me and get sad--I'm wanting to think that but don't think it's very probable. 

We left the house at eleven. I hauled the two cats in their two carriers into the tiny crowded office and waited twenty minutes to get checked in. The tech said it would be fifteen minutes so I took the cats outside and got the dogs from the hot car (it's in the nineties today) and we waited on a bench in the shade. For at least thirty minutes. Finally it was our turn! Everything went spiffingly. We waited again for our test results and then paid $148 (zomg) and left in my car that needed gas to go fill it up and drive to the foster kittens veterinary clinic so I could drop off a fecal test for Nellie, our black foster baby girl. But by now we'd been out for over two hours and I had two hot dogs and two upset cats, so I decided to postpone those other errands. 

Two minutes later I look over and see Oz panting. Like a dog. Mouth open, tongue out, quick breaths. I grab the form the clinic gave me about vaccine reactions and difficulty breathing is one of the emergency ones. I hang a U-y and call the clinic to tell them and they say come back right away. We park, I grab Oz, leave the dogs and Io in the hot car with the windows down, and high-tail it back into the clinic where a tech takes him and whisks him into the back room for a doctor to examine him. I sit down, practically wringing my hands and trying not to be too upset because I'm feeling like I might cry, worried that my baby boy is gasping for air and not liking being on the client side of a veterinary clinic at all. I'm also worried that my animals in the car are too hot so I tell a lady I'll be outside when they need me. I turn on the car but don't have enough gas to be comfortable doing that for however long they will have Oz, so I take the carrier and the two dogs back up the stairs to the waiting area while the lady pops back in and out and asks me how long Oz has been in the carrier, how long in the car, etc. Finally she comes back out with him in his carrier and tells me that he's okay, probably just in shock and that they gave him some benadryl at no charge, and to watch him carefully all day. 

I can't get outta there fast enough. I reload the animals and take off watching Oz, who is calmer but still occasionally panting and then licking his paws. I'm still upset and not sure that Oz is okay and trying to convince myself that he's okay and then belatedly remembering to check on Io, who is stuffed in a tiny carrier and has been for nearly three hours now. I had this terrible urge to get home--I think a teeny anxiety attack as well--because I was trembly and trying not to cry and just knew that if I got home it would all be okay, which is totally irrationally. But it was true. As soon as I got back home and let the cats out I saw Oz acting normally and could pick him up and smoosh him and kiss him, I was better. And he was better. 

All in all, much more of a hair-raising vaccine experience than I'm used to. All of us were exhausted and went upstairs and collapsed on my parents bed and the cats snuggled close. All better. 

Helping Mom Pack

. . . is exhausting work. His arm is flung out in protest. (On mom's new silk skirt.)

Does that match? Katie says yes, Oz says sleeeepy.

Oz wishes my mom and dad an awesome trip, reminds them to bring him some fish treats, and is now going to take a nap on this convenient pile of folded clothes.

Love you!

Kitten in a Fort

I had a lot of fun making a fort for Oz to explore. We received two huge boxes that had new lanterns for our front door--and also lots of neat cardboard and plastic!

'What is this? Can I eat it?'

Looking pensive. Possibly hungry.

'Must. Search. For. Fooood.'

'Yikes!'

STARVING

'SO HUNGRY. SOOOOO HUNGRY. Stoopid human goes away all day without putting enough food out and now I'm STARVING.'

'NOMNOMNOM.'

'Whut?'

Full disclosure: I do not starve my cats. I fill that bowl up like two times a day and my darn kitten goes through it like I go through chocolate. He just got really impatient this time and couldn't wait for Io to finish eating so he could have his turn.

Why You Can't Leave a Drink Unattended in My Home

Because this happens.

'Oooh. What is this? Tasty food, perhaps? I love food!'

'Hmm. Not food. Still, the human was drinking it. Maybe I'll like it!'

'OMG this is the most deeelicious water ever!'

Aaaaaand this is why there are like three or four glasses in the background. I drink something, he jumps up and sticks his head in it. If it wasn't so cute, it would drive me nuts!

Wondering . . .

. . . If I should stop playing hair-tie fetch with my kitten and figure out what exactly a nucleoside triphosphate that is missing a hydroxyl group that is normally located on the 3' carbon of a sugar ribose is called. (Gah!) How do you think my microbiology teacher would react if I told her my homework wasn't done because I had to play with my kitten? (Better than the "My dog ate my homework" excuse, though, right? . . . Right?)

Sweetie-Pie Kitten

Warning: This post contains mushy, gushy, potential baby-talk because this just happened a few minutes ago and I'm still in shock.

Guys, Oz just jumped up onto my lap! He never, ever has voluntarily jumped up on my lap and right now as I type this he is curled up on my lap purring quietly as I type on my laptop that is situated on my knees.

Here! Proof!

Me looking goofy, Oz looking cute.

Oz thinking that Man, that chick sure takes a lot of photos. She should pet me!

He has always preferred sitting close to us, but never on us. (Exceptions: he will sit on mom's chest when she is wearing her fuzzy navy blue bathrobe with the moons on it. He will also sit on her laptop keyboard).

He seems to think it's a pretty good deal; he gets a warm cushion and also scritches. What else is there to want? Unless I were to start feeding him some of my dinner. (Hint: I totally have before).

I'm still excited! My sweet little smushy-baby-cutie-pie happy purring fluffy warm kitten jumped up on my lap and curled up and is now happily napping. Except . . . now I'm stuck. There's NO way I can get up.

I should probably stop drinking water, otherwise that tiny bladder thing will be an issue.

And start buttering up my brother to make a bagel for me. Maybe he could bring me a toothbrush. And my pillow. Maybe a book?

Thank God for the entertainment factor of the internet!

Holy Shiznit on Toast

The air is crisp, the leaves are turning orange, and the Halloween decorations are decorating our house. We have scarecrows, pumpkins, snakes, and spiders all around. 

One of the plastic spiders is Oz's new favorite toy! He took it off the counter and ran around the house with it, scaring me silly half a dozen times. I'd see the creepy long black legs and freeze in terror before realizing it was fake. Eventually, I got used to seeing the plastic spider around. (Do you see where this is leading?)

Half an hour ago, I got up from the couch to go slide some banana nut bread (eggless! part of the dairy/egg fasting from my doctor to see if that helps my stomach! Hint: Hasn't yet.) and walked past the spider. I glanced down, about one foot away from it. And the disjointed black legs moved. 

"HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT HOLY SHIT OHMIGOD HOLYSHIT!" I jumped about three feet in the air, and somehow moved about ten feet away, and kept screaming and hopping up and down, pointing as the live spider started crawling towards me. 

Finally the rest of my family came over, laughing at me for being so girly and scared of a spider. Dad walked over to look at it, and Troy followed, still chuckling at me for overreacting.

"Holy crap! That's a big spider!" "Whoa!"

Yeah. So, Dad took it outside, since nobody wanted to squish it. It took about five more minutes before the adrenaline wore off and my heart rate went back to normal. I still feel kind of twitchy when my hair brushes my neck. (*shudders in revulsion*)

Happy Halloween!

For the Love of Hair Ties

Hello, hello!

Oz, myself, and Oz just wanted to say hi. ^_^

My kitten was just cut off, cold turkey, from his beloved hair ties. He loved to trot around carrying them before chewing them in half, and then discarded them to go and find a new hair tie. He found them in drawers, and even would take them out of candles (where I hid them) and out of the trash (if they were broken). He would keep his "treasures" in his food bowl or even the water bowl! He's so spoiled, Mom even bought a big pack of hair ties just for Oz! 

Alas, it was not to be. This morning Oz threw up a hair tie that he had chewed in half before eating. (I'm afraid he's going to give himself a blockage!) I spent part of today tracking down all of the mangled hair ties he's tossed around our house and hiding the few whole hair ties left. Now here's a challenge: finding the new favorite toy! 

What's New!

A series of interludes in our lives. 

1) The Symington's have Netflix! I am already making lists of movie that I want to see (or re-see, as I am a re-watcher and re-reader).

2) Oooh, a segue! I am feverishly re-reading Diana Gabaldon's addicting series of "Outlander" so that when "An Echo in the Bone" arrives soon (ordered from Amazon two days ago--released from Amazon yesterday! EEEEEEE!!!) I am up to date on the very complex happenings in the lives of Jamie and Claire Fraser in the late 1770's. 

3) I bought freshly squeezed apple juice today! An a caramel apple! Deeelicious!

4) I had a bad night last night. Needed to take pepto-bismol and four antacids before I could sleep. Felt a little nauseated. Feeling better today but still not right. 

5) I had my blood drawn yesterday for the Helicobacter pylori test (a bacteria that burrows into your stomach lining and can cause gastritis) and will have the results in a few days. 

6) Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a baby girl today! Charlotte Grace joins Willow and Wesley's daughter Seraphina. Yay!

7) I cried a little while reading a blog post by one of my favorite blogs. I've been getting all emotional lately! A few weeks ago, while ordering my microbiology book from Amazon, I spent like an hour trying to buy it and when I finally did I was so upset I cried on Nick. Gah! 

8) School is going well. Chemistry I just got a 92% on my first test, and I am acing the Microbiology lab tests but need to study more for the lecture tests. Music is pretty easy but I need to remind myself to actually do them online. 

9) Quentin's English is improving dramatically. He is on the high school's soccer team and we've gone to watch some of his games--they are very good! He has made friends and we hear that all of the high school girls are ga-ga for him!

10) Oz keeps growing more and more! He sticks by his people all day long. Right now he's napping about 2 feet away from me on his rocking chair. He is such a sweet boy!

Introducing the Newest Symington

Meet Oz Symington, our newest member. I finally bit the bullet and decided to adopt him! The deciding factor was finding Oz snuggled up with Io underneath my dresser--Io's favorite hangout--and I was so surprised to see them together that I stood there dumbstruck for a moment. My cat doesn't usually take to kittens, but he and Oz have been playing and eating and exploring together, so I knew it would work.

Our new tuxedo boy loves to play with "presents"--or rather bows for wrapping presents. He carries them around and plays and jumps and then drops them in his food dish--his favorite place for his toys.


He also gets along well with my hamster Gus-Gus. Never fear, the hamster is not in the cage. I took Gus-Gus out to let him roll around in his ball, and Oz hopped right on in!


He is a pretty adorable kitten. My family likes him too, but my mom has made it clear that Io and Oz come with me when I move out. Good thing Nick likes him a lot!