BFFs

We had a great family weekend and are currently watching Gremlins for our Sunday family movie. L has never seen it, so M decided it was time. I wanted a Gremlin (Gizmo, the good one) so badly when this movie came out. I still do.

Dej, Luke, and I went to see Paranormal Activity 2 last night. We really enjoyed the movie, but not so much the crowd (young, rude, and loud). I think we'll avoid a late Sat. night showing in the future--at least in town here.

Dej took this pic of my cute little snuggle bunnies, Petey and Jezebel, with her phone. I never have my camera close at hand when they snuggle up so adorably. Of course if I got up and walked upstairs to get it, they would have to be nosy and follow me, so I miss so many good pics. Fortunately, Dej was here and snapped a quick shot for me.

Jasper is scheduled to get his stitches out tomorrow, though I'm not convinced that it's healed enough for them to come out. Petey is urinating blood, so I think he has stones or crystals. I'll have to get him in tomorrow for tests. It's always something.

Jasper's reprieve

Jasper got to enjoy a nice long, supervised collar-free time tonight. He ate, groomed himself on the bed, took a nap on the bed, groomed himself in his favorite windowsill, and relaxed. Sadly, it will have to go back on until his supervised free time tomorrow. My poor little guy!

L & I are working on new bedtime book. I really like when she doesn’t have a book ready and I get to pick it! This is the third book in a row she has let me select, and I love it! I was trying to decide between Kafka and Dostoevsky this time. I went with Kafka, because I think we will enjoy Dostoevsky more when her brain is a little more ready to handle more of the complexities and subtleties in a year or so, which will make it much more fun for both of us. We are working on Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, which is a very trippy work. It’s been so many years since I read it, that I was a little concerned that it may start out too slowly and then I would lose her. I know that it’s critical for her to be drawn into the book, especially the classics. Some of them really require a lot of boring foundational material before they get off the ground, and then by the time the book gets really interesting to her, she has already mentally checked out. I was thrilled to see that Kafka jumps right into the matter at hand on the first page, so she was enthralled right away.

As I was typing the above, it just occurred to me that she is probably ready to get into another one of my faves, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, after we finish Kafka. I’m sure she will enjoy the book immensely, at the very least, at a literary level. I’m not sure she is able to appreciate all of the deeper themes of the book, but I do think she will get a good portion of it and we can have fun philosophical discussions based on the book. While I love the book, it is very sad and usually makes me cry. She will enjoy mocking me for that.

Growing up, we were constantly amused by my mother’s propensity to weep for no apparent reason. It was completely incomprehensible to my brother and I how the woman could cry at commercials, Disney movies, happy occasions… absolutely anything! I still don’t understand it, yet I have now become THAT person, and my inexplicable weepiness now entertains and puzzles my children. It irritates me that it’s illogical and seemingly beyond my control! I still don't know how it happened!

Family photos

Last night was one of those rare nights that L wandered in to climb in bed between us. She was having bad dreams, and every time she would wake up and go back to sleep, she would go back to that same bad dream. I’ve had nights like that, and it’s pretty rotten!

She and Jasper had to press their hot-furnace-like little bodies along my back for the majority of the night. Hot flashes, which seem to be worse at night, combined with two hot little furnaces make for a rough night. As if that weren’t quite enough, Jasper still has the GIANT collar on. Every time I or L bump the collar, it is very loud. When he moves, it always rubs on things and makes noise.

Then Jasper, who today is my least favorite cat (though I just had to give him an extra cuddle and treat for typing that), decided about 90 minutes before my alarm was due to go this morning, that he needed to eat his crunchy food and noisily shake his head (and thus the stupid e-collar) every few bites. Of course after a good meal, one needs to visit the litter box, and turn around at least 68 times, making sure to scrape the loud plastic collar against all four sides of the damn box. And being the thorough little guy he is, he had to scratch the sand loudly for about three minutes straight to cover up his business. Then the next 10 minutes or so he proceeded to groom himself, by licking the e-collar with his loud, scratchy tongue, repeatedly while contorting around (again, dragging the collar loudly on every surface in the vicinity. Yelling, “Shut up. Shut up you little fucker!”, did not improve the situation, but it did lead into another hot flash. Needless to say, I remained awake and was not able to enjoy the last, sweet 90 minutes of sleep that should have been mine.

I knew after I finished my makeup that I was still looking pretty rough this morning, but I discovered just how rough at my 11 meeting. I don’t usually think much of it when my mom or a female co-worker comments that I look tired. Women pick up on subtle details like that. When my male user walked into the room and said, “YOU look TIRED!” I know that I’ve crossed into the optically offensive territory—my looks are so disturbing and hideous that I probably shouldn’t be out in public.

Also my hair was in on the ugly today. I almost always wash my hair shortly before bed. I go to bed with my hair wet, wake up with it almost dry, comb it, and that’s it. This morning I woke up to find my hair had tried to commit mutiny overnight. I can’t even describe what was going on or how it happened, but it made my head shape strange and lumpy looking, with one section that shot straight out to the side. I don’t have “hair time” in my morning routine and had no extra time to accommodate it. I pulled the worst of it back, stuck a barrette in and left the house with hair that was less of a disaster, but a lumpy disaster nonetheless.

I’m too tired to come up with any more excitement than that for this blog entry and too lazy to take any pictures. Since we just got our family pics back last week, I will post them tonight. We had them taken at LIV Photography. We had the traditional, more formal shot taken for the relatives. The cow t-shirts & jeans shots are for us. Those are definitely a more accurate depiction of our family. They will probably be the last family photos we have taken, because my children do not make it a very pleasant experience. L would only give a fake smile, and Dej found it entertaining to make strange faces and flare her nostrils randomly in the photos. I was amazed that Sarah (the photographer) found any that were decent!

First dress rehearsal

M finally made it home from his week in NY/NJ. It was a very rough week, as it always is when he travels. It's more work than I can handle, and the dogs are always particularly naughty when he's gone. He's been mostly sleeping, doing chores, or blogging since he's been back, though he did find time to run to work yesterday. :-P Maybe this week he will be all caught up and things can get back to normal.

L's dance continues to take up a huge chunk of time as we get closer to the performance and are working on costumes and making sure we have everything we need. Crazy! I can't begin to tell you how difficult and stressful these costumes are. They are even tricky for the Indian moms--just imagine how lost I am! We have two huge rectangles of white cloth (in this case, a veshti and a dhotti) that need to be folded, wrapped, pleated and tucked to make these elaborate costumes that will stay on through the rigorous dancing. I have to go buy some "rope", which is black and more similar in diameter to a thick shoelace than what we call a rope. I have to find a place to get some of that. It will all be over Nov. 7. And it will all be worth it.

When I asked her to let me take a quick photo of her costumes details today at dress rehearsal so I could get it right in the future, I got this lovely attitude. She was completely pleasant today other than that two-minute period.

And for the record, a side bun, with hair parted in the middle is a complete PITA to do! It's nearly impossible. It's the hairstyle all the girls are required to wear. Next time L will have to wear the full hair jewelry (as seen on Shreya in the background) with it, and that will be another challenge.

More victims of our "christian nation"

Muskrat Love

I’m multitasking tonight. As I type this, my students are taking a test (a test so well written that there surely won’t be any questions…I can dream. It may happen someday) and my grading is caught up for now. Today is a very busy day, so I'm using this time to accomplish something that otherwise wouldn't get done today. I’m really enjoying the little break from teaching tonight. Okay, semi-break, as I’ve already had to jump up and run over to answer a question.

L is enjoying a girls’ night with Grandma until I pick her up after class. My dad is working at the homeless shelter tonight, so L was happy to have a night with Grandma all to herself!

Jasper and I put in a long night last night, which made for a long day today. He hates the collar, but it’s for his own protection. I’m only supposed to take it off for five supervised minutes per day to allow him to groom. So I took it off last night for his five minutes of grooming. As soon as he started on his wound, I made a noise and told him “NO”. He stopped. We did that about three more times. Then he started eating, so I allowed him to continue his meal without the nasty collar. I went to put it back on after he finished his food, and he growled when he saw it. Jasper is not a growly cat at all. He’s so laid back and chill—a very sweet, mellow guy, so it was a surprise to hear such a reaction from him. I decided as long as I was home, I would just watch him every minute and leave it off until I had to give up and go to bed. He was so happy! He relaxed and slept much more peacefully than he has since the surgery and ate much better too. After a few hours, it was time for me to go to bed, but he still hadn’t tried to pick at his wound, so I was having a really hard time with the idea of putting that collar back on him.

I’m an insomniac and light sleeper anyway, so I just decided that I would stay on duty through the night. He snuggled over my arm and went to sleep. Every time he moved though to get up and shift position or go to his box or eat more food, I woke up to supervise him. We made it through the night that way. When my alarm went off to get ready for work, I wanted to cry! The worst part, though, was that I had to put the damned collar back on before I could leave him all day for work. It will have to stay on until 8:45 tonight, when I get home from class, because I can’t give him my undivided attention until then. My poor little guy!

Sunday afternoon the in-laws drove up for a visit. They will be heading off to Europe shortly and will miss her dance performance, so she had to put on an impromptu performance for them. It’s not nearly as cool without the costume and makeup, but still impressive.



We went for a nice little hike through the UW Artboretum—one of our favorite spots, but the in-laws have never been there. It was a perfect day for it! The high point of the day, unquestionably, was the muskrat L & M spotted along the pond. We watched that her/him eat duck weed for the longest time. That little muskrat was so damn adorable! I wanted to take it home with me forever, but of course I couldn’t, so I did the next best thing—took tons of pictures.

We were planning to take the in-laws out for lunch/dinner at the Green Owl for MIL’s birthday. We arrived shortly after 3 to find a sign saying they closed at 3. On a Sunday! WTF?!? Then we decided to go up the street a bit to Dobhan instead. Same situation there. Again…WTF?! Don’t people eat out after 3pm on Sundays in Madison? On to plan C, which was Taj. We discovered only after we had nearly finished our very delicious meal there that they were actually closed between 3-5 pm! Their open sign was lit up and the door was open. As soon as we walked in, they seated us and never said a word. We had to leave an extra generous tip to try to repay their very kind accommodation. Great food, great service at Taj in Madison! I even have some leftovers to look forward to for dinner tomorrow night.

From now until L's performance in November, we have at least one three-hour rehearsal every single weekend. Add the nearly two-hour round-trip drive on, and there goes the majority of the day!

L just informed me on the way home from yesterdays three-hr rehearsal that she would like to "trade" her gymnastics for an extra dance class. She said she likes dance better and would really rather have more dance instead. Gymnastics is five minutes away. Dance is so much farther! M & I have been discussing it since yesterday, but still haven't come to a conclusion.
After another painful and scary urinary blockage, Jasper had to spend Thursday night in the hospital. We decided after much thought and discussion to have the PU surgery (the same one Oliver had a few years ago), because without the surgery, he would continue to have these problems in the future. Every blockage has the potential to be fatal if not caught immediately, so rather than wait to try to catch the next blockage in time and do it then, we just opted to get it done. It's an extremely delicate surgery, basically removing most of the penis and widening the remainder so that it's unlikely to become blocked. It's also extremely expensive. Extremely! It will take us many months to recover from this expense, but it was so very worth it to have Jasper safe and healthy!

We went to visit him in the hospital on Friday night, and though he was heavily drugged, he was still happy to see us. Dej came to see him as well. She had to bring Tillie and Allastair in for their annual shots, so we all went together.

Tillie & Allastair came over after their appointment for a play date with their brothers, Basil & Charlie. We were curious to see how they would react to their siblings after a year of separation. The four cats, L, Dej & Luke, and I all piled into the cat room to see what would happen. There was a lot of sniffing and exploring the room. While they didn't run up and hug each other, they also didn't react like they would if put into a room with two completely strange cats. There were no fights or ugly cat noises, with the exception of a couple of small hisses in response to over-vigorous sniffing. I didn't get any great pics, though, as none of them held still long enough to get a decent shot.

It was a peaceful reunion but we are still uncertain as to what, if anything, they remembered about one another. Next Friday we are going to bring Basil & Charlie over to Dej's, to give them another chance to visit their siblings. More importantly, we are excited to see how they all respond to the reunion with their mommy, Sparta.

Though the vet normally would have kept Jaspy hospitalized over the weekend, he let me take him home on Saturday. He's known me long enough to know that my neurotic obsession with my animals' health would ensure that he would receive better care at home with me than in a cage there. He was SO happy to see M & H, who picked him up while I was at dance rehearsal with L.

Now he's home with his e-collar (conehead), and he is miserable in it. He has to be kept very quiet and inactive, so when I'm not able to directly watch him, he has to be locked in the cat room upstiars, which makes him extremely unhappy. It's the only safe choice, though, so we're stuck with it for now.

I put him away last night at around 2, because I can't really watch him while I sleep. He spent the night crying, and flinging himself against the door. I didn't sleep well and I felt very guilty for sleeping at all while he was so unhappy. This is going to be a LOOOONG ten days of recovery! I really wish there were another option.

TattoosDay...

Finally! I got a super quick and easy one on Friday. It's on my left forearm and doesn't require much explanation. My big pretty ones are still in the works and will be coming when Allegrea gets them drawn up. Like the rest of us, she's very short on time, so it could be a while. I always planned to get the word, "Liberate", and am heavily contemplating getting "Vindicate" on my other arm. Still thinking on that one, though.

Additionally, I have to vent. I've been extremely irritated lately by a series of idiotic phrases that I can't seem to get away from! I would like to ban the following stupid phrases, which are cluttering up Internet discussions and conversations everywhere and more importantly they have begun to irritate the piss out of me.

Just Sayin’- (Thanks for clearing that up for me moron. I though perhaps you were acting it out.) The subtext of this is that you're saying something offensive and don’t want to be held accountable for it.

It is what it is - (Without your deep, philosophical ponderings, I wouldn’t have been able to figure that one out, because…you know…sometimes it is what it isn’t?) What does this add to the topic? Five syllables wasted to state the fucking obvious. Don’t waste my time.

IMO / IMHO - (I thought perhaps you were stating someone else’s opinion until you blazed out that little acronym for me.) If it’s not a fact, and it’s not cited, it’s your bloody opinion by definition. I made it through high school and am fairly adept at distinguishing between facts and opinions. **Oops...ETA this is in regard to people who use this constantly, not every now and then. :)

Infidel

Anthony drove away last night, making all of us very sad. It will be at least another year until we see him again. It’s easier for the adults to take than for L. M & Anthony even violated the straight-man rule last night with a four-second hug, rather than the acceptable three-second or less hug.

Though I feel so lucky to have the Internet, which makes keeping in touch over long-distances very easy and painless, it’s not the same. It can’t replace hiking together or a big group of us piled in our family room with the dogs and cats trampling across us and our laptops. I’m sure A will miss Daisy’s special vomits most of all, and though we could send daily pics, it’s just not the same without the sound effects and scent!

**Parents can skip this paragraph**
So last week, Sep. 30, was National Blasphemy Day. Of course the girls and I participated, but it was a busy few days. We didn’t get videos posted in time, and I didn’t have time to blog. Though tardy, I want my blasphemy counted and on record. I whole-heartedly and permanently deny the holy spirit and the rest of the bunk that goes along with it. Though the video of me gesticulating and shouting, “Suck it, Holy Spirit” (in my best Kathy Griffin voice), would be much more entertaining, this works just as well.

L & I made slime for her science lab on Thursday. We were talking about chemical reactions and polymers/monomers. She’s become addicted to making slime, and I must admit it is fun to touch and play with and ridiculously simple to make. She returned to the kitchen on her own several times throughout that day and Friday to make more slime on her own. She did a great job and was having fun choosing different colors to make. She’s been testing her slime under various conditions, which has given us even more science fun to discuss. Whether you’re into science or not, it’s a really fun, cheap experiment. L loves blowing air into it to form giant bubbles. It ends up being very similar to the Flarp that is sold in stores.

On a piece of wax paper, mix one TBSP Elmer’s school glue or glue all, one TBSP liquid starch, and food coloring of your choice, with a spoon until it starts to mix and separate itself from the wax paper. Let sit for 3-4 minutes. Then knead with hands for about a minute. Store in Ziploc bag when not using.

L and I are in the midst of reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, Herland, for our bedtime reading. I LOVE CPG, who is the author of my favorite short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Herland is another of her great works, and L and I are both enjoying it tremendously. We end up having very interesting conversations and philosophical discussions after we read most nights. I love sharing my favorite works with her and being present while she experiences them for the first time. I love looking at my favorite works from her perspective.

There are not very many people who want to read, analyze, and discuss the classics with me, so this is so much fun! I am so looking forward to continuing this and revisiting old faves with her as her mind continues to develop and grow. It does bum me out a bit when she doesn’t get as excited about a particular book or poem as I do (or anticipated that she would), but that’s not uncommon. She and I have very different literary preferences, so there will always be different outlooks, but that also makes for some fun discussions, too.

Now I understand how one of my favorite Lit professors felt when I (an A student with a passion for 19^th century lit.) was disgusted, repulsed and completely turned off by Moby Dick, which was one of his true loves. I suddenly feel very guilty for raining on Dr. B’s literary parade. I know, I know—it’s a classic, blah, blah, blah. Still hate it with every bone in my body! Not just Moby Dick either, pretty much anything by Melville makes me want to hurl. I don’t like Steinbeck either. I may now be expelled from Sigma Tau Delta (honor society, NOT a sorority—I was able to make friends in college without help) for literary blasphemy.

Poor M didn’t have fun at the wedding reception Sat. and now is sick. He appears to have gotten the virus that L & I had a couple of weeks ago. He was so bummed about not having fun at the reception! He had big plans of drinking too much and having a blast. He was saddened and disillusioned about learning that his sweet, ‘good girl’, much younger cousin had morphed into a trashy bar chick who married a less-than-impressive guy. I was a little surprised by the depths of his disappointment, though I totally understand it. I wish he hadn’t gone, and she could remain the sweet, classy young woman in his mind forever. And though I do feel bad for him, I’m a little happy that I’m not the only one with relatives that are fairly embarrassing. For the most part, his family has been appallingly normal, which is not so true of my family, so it’s about time they start to catch up.

Tilonque

Tilonque is the lead character in L's newest wolf story. These are the latest drawings she's hung up in the family room downstairs.

M is out of town until tomorrow, attending his cousin's wedding. That leaves me home with L & H to get all of the weekend chores done. I've been working on them since this morning and finally have enough done that I can take a little break. It's such a huge ordeal for us to all go out of town, especially on a weekend. We have to inconvenience people to help care for the animals, and still have to try to figure out when we can get the cleaning all done. Between that and Anthony still being here, it was just not possible for all of us to go.

Though I like his cousin and her family well enough, I really don't think I would have gone had we not had the animal issues. I will not go into a Catholic church for any reason, and it was a Catholic wedding. I don't see me entering any church, for any reason, ever again. Life is too short to spend even a minute in such an insane, destructive environment! I have also recently come to the decision that I will not attend any parties/events where I have to watch humans callously suck down the flesh of living beings. It disgusts me, and I have held my breath and diverted my eyes from their disgusting corpse eating enough for a lifetime. I'm done with it. That would also be an issue there.

M attended because he is much more concerned with what others think of him than I am. It's quite freeing not to care about how most folks perceive me. I'm perfectly okay with any ugly opinions those I don't respect may hold about me.

L & H have been working furiously on rearranging L's bedroom furniture. The whole second floor is looking a bit disastrous right now, but her room is really shaping up. She's very excited about it, and I am excited that maybe this will be the time that she keeps her room clean!

I went to my Friday afternoon lunch with Denny & Orinda, as usual. L went to Rotary Gardens with Allegrea & Anthony. Sounds like they had a lot of fun. Both A & A got some gorgeous pics of the gardens and some very cute pics of L, but they haven't yet gotten them to me.

Friday afternoon, after lunch, Allegrea, Anthony, Dej, and I took a little trip to Austin's shop (Baldwin Body Art). I got another tattoo--my quickest, easiest one. Anthony has never seen the process before, so he watched. We've been trying to encourage him to get his own ink. Maybe next time he comes, he will be up for the big adventure. Dej got an industrial piercing. She still wants tattoos, but can't quite commit to a design at this point.

We came back home and hung out for a while, until Anthony had to leave for his dinner engagement. We've all had lots of time together this week, and it's been great! Anth., Allegrea, and I have so much fun together--we can talk for hours on end, and they are both very entertaining, so there's lots of laughter.

a quickie

Tonight's post will be very quick. Anthony is still in town visiting, so I'm running into a major time deficit.

Last night, after we sent L to bed, I received an e-mail from her with her latest digi pic attached. It made me (and Dej) cry. Hallie is the cat on the upper left. Delilah is on the lower right. Hallie, Lila's mommy, died almost a year ago. We all still miss her a ton, but Lila suffered the greatest loss.