Why is "armoire" not in Blogger's spellcheck?

Charlie's motto:  "Play hard; sleep harder."

I got all of my DE lectures recorded and published last week.  The lectures are done, so now all that's left is the student interaction/support (yay!) and grading (ugh!).  

Something happened with my course website request at central (Madison), so the work I normally get done the first week in January couldn't be done until they got my courses up at the end of last week. It was an extremely distressing experience, because I always have all of my prep work done and the courses loaded the first week but was unable to do so. I really need that 2-3 week break between getting everything loaded and returning to classes. It allows me to catch up on life and the many projects/tasks that fall by the wayside during the busy semester. It also allows this extreme introvert to recharge and prepare for another semester full of intense human contact. I'm starting this semester off at a bit of a deficit, but it's a new semester with new faces (and friendly familiar faces), and the adrenaline will keep me going.

I made it through my first day (today), but this is my easy day (only a Java class).  Tuesday & Thursday are my brutally long days (3 classes plus office hours), so tomorrow will be much more stressful than today.

This weekend, I tried to stock up on prepping my supplies, so I don't have to worry about running out of staples.  By the end of yesterday I:

• made a big batch of post-workout smoothies for the week
• pressure-cooked and froze the equivalent of 5 cans of chickpeas, 4 cans of black beans, 4 cans of kidney beans, and 8 cups of quinoa
• peeled and cleaned 2 heads of garlic (I use so much that I always keep a container full of "ready-to-go" cloves.)
• made a spicy peanut soup mix that we got as an Xmas gift from my brother-in-law & his wife; It was very rich, and I wanted it to go further, so I fried up some small tofu triangles to throw in; Glad I did, as the tofu's texture really added to the soup.
• made Tortilla Soup (from my Thug Kitchen cookbook); We won't eat it until Tuesday, but I sampled it, and it's divine!
• made spicy chickpea wraps (actually, I made the spicy chickpeas and will assemble the wraps when I serve the meal)
• made dressing for the spicy chickpea wraps
• made seasoned, baked tofu chips to go with spicy chickpea wraps (We don't normally have tofu very often, and only organic of course. I pressed two blocks of tofu, not knowing how much I would need for the soup. I only needed one block for the soup, so I used the other for this)
• made (raw) caramel apple cobbler (last night's dessert)

I also got everyone up to date with their toenail and beak trimming. As my hand function and vision continue to degrade, this gets more and more difficult for me. I've been doing this for over 30 years, but now I put it off, because it stresses me to have to face how much functionality I'm losing. Anyway, I've been having Luce come in and watch as I do these tasks. I need the second set of eyes, and if my hands malfunction (they randomly jerk and drop things), I need her there to help with any messes/issues I may cause. I need to start training her to do these things, but even then, she's not going to be here forever.  Aging is quite unpleasant.

What I should have done but didn't was make another batch of dog food.  I have enough to get me through Thursday, so I will have to find time Friday to make a big batch.  If they didn't love it so much, I may be tempted to skip it--it's not like I needed another kitchen chore in my life.  They are so good at positive reinforcement, though. Every single night, they become almost as excited for dinner as they do for their walks (and everyone who lives on our street can hear how excited our dogs get before every walk).  All three of them stand there, staring at me, making involuntary whines, grunts, etc., while salivating puddles onto the kitchen floor.  No matter how fast I try to serve it up, it's never fast enough for them. It clearly brings them so much joy, I will never be able to stop and deprive them of that.

As I type this post, I'm watching Jasper rearrange my husband's clothing armoire.  M has a habit of opening the doors to get his clothes out and leaving the doors open while he showers. Jasper loves to be inside the armoire (also our closet, suitcases, and any other very small, confined spaces) and usually takes advantage of the open doors. He often has to rearrange things, though, so it suits him better. We frequently come in to find stacks of M's t-shirts or socks piled on the floor underneath, with Jasper snuggled inside.

M came in from his shower, opened the sock drawer, and Jasper relocated to his favorite drawer (after kicking a pile of socks onto the floor).  If you look at the wood along the top of the drawer and behind Jasper, you can see the claw marks from him trying to open it himself. Sigh.  This is why we can't have nice things. ;)  (True, but who cares! Living beings are always better than stuff.)

Fiona & Przemek, Part 2

These two continue to be adorable. Most of the time when I enter the room, I find Przemi snuggled under or alongside of Fiona. Sometimes he's in the middle, between Fiona & Fergus. It's hard to get pictures, because he's really fast, and if he hears the door open and looks up and sees someone walking in, he runs and hides in his little "home".  He's unbelievably fast--seriously, he looks like a blur, and I lose sight of him, because my eyes can't keep up with him. He's like a miniature road runner. He even skids to a stop, like Road Runner. It's astounding. I can see all of these adorable snuggle sessions through the windows of the room, but can't get good photos through them because of the screen/wire on the windows. I've tried many times to sneak in and get photos before he notices me (and I have to stay far away, right in the doorway, and zoom in), but so far have only gotten the two.  I'll keep trying.


He was very comfortable, and with his head covered, he couldn't hear as well, so I was able to grab my camera, and get back in the room and snap two photos before he noticed me and took off. I noticed him there, because in my peripheral vision, it looked like something was wrong with Fiona's back foot. As soon as I turned to look at it, I could see that it was her little birdy buddy.  I went in the next day, and it looked like she had two tails, with one tail being his back end.  It was very funny, but I missed the shot. :(

Cat psychology

Something is changing in the social order of the cats. This happens from time to time, and it's always a bit stressful and puzzling. Sometimes I can identify the cause of the shift but more often than not, I can't.

Having a multi-cat household is challenging.  Having a mega-multi-cat (> 5 cats) household is insane. In order for everyone to stay happy and healthy, relationships and territory must be constantly watched and managed. As with any species, tensions arise  when sharing space with others. No matter how much you like/love someone, irritations are inevitable when sharing living space for an extended period of time.  Just like humans, cats have moods, feelings, strong preferences, and this can lead to conflicts.  Just like humans, cats form relationships with one another--sometimes distant-but-friendly, sometimes extremely close, sometimes antagonistic, they have back histories with one another, some hold grudges. These relationships can change and ebb and flow; it would be so much simpler if they remained stable.

Ivan and Lila (Oliver also eats at this station).
*Time to re-rope the cat tree.

Because of this complexity, our house, and the placement of furniture, feeding stations, window access, litterboxes--all of this is carefully planned, based on the cats' relationships with each other. For example, all of the cats (we've had 11 at our max) need a food dish. They need to be fed on an elevated surface or the dogs will eat their food, so floors are out. These feeding dishes need to be left out. We feed twice a day (dry kibble in the morning, wet in the evening) but leave the food out to accommodate their different meal preference times. Some like to eat all at once. Some eat a bit when I feed and like to snack frequently throughout the day. Their food dishes need to be arranged such that those who hate each other don't have to see each other during meal time. I don't want any food aggression or blocking, and worse, some cats will simply avoid eating if it's a stressful environment and can make themselves quite ill. This is why we currently have 5 feeding dishes in the dining room (2 separate areas in the room), 2 in the kitchen, 1 in the cat room, and 2 in our bedroom. This allows everyone to eat in a room in which they are comfortable, without having to encounter anyone they dislike.  

Petey eating from Mimosa's dish

 

Jasper eating from his dish on our/his bed

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a few feeding position changes, and I can't identify why. It usually indicates a shift in relationships/territories, so there is always more fallout than just feeding changes will be coming soon.  Petey and Mimi get along, and they both eat in the kitchen, Petey has been eating from Mimi's dish. Upstairs in our bedroom, Jasper is rejected his dish in favor of Carrie's. She is not comfortable in the area of our room where Jaspy's dish is, so I can't just switch them. Jasper is happy to eat on the bed, but that only works when I'm present, because the dogs will help themselves if it's unattended. Neither Mimi or Carrie is happy with the situation. I have to figure out a rearrangement that makes everyone happy at mealtime, and I have to closely monitor everything else, watching for other ripples and trying to identify a cause.

Poor Charlie eats alone since his brother Basil died.

We just got Charlie's urinary problem resolved (prednisone and pain meds) last weekend, and now Petey has bloody urine, so we'll be back at the vet this week for drugs. These problems are usually caused by stress, and since Petey is one of the food-dish shifters, this is another potential puzzle piece.  

I've been going in to record my class, so I've been gone much more recently than normal (and perhaps that's a part of the stress for the cats, too), I haven't had the time needed to watch for territory shifts/conflicts, but I'm sure they are occurring.  Territory, with cats, isn't really as simple as "this is Jasper's room" or "this is Ivan's chair", because they don't so much care about permanent ownership of territory. They really only care about it when they want to use  it, so their territories are both space and time based. For example one of the high shelves in our bedroom (highest shelves are the most desirable "real estate" for the cats) belongs to Jasper for the first part of the night, but he transfers, after a few hours, to our bed next to me. The other cats know and respect this and won't try to use his shelf when we go to bed. It's Tica's shelf from about 3AM to 8AM or so.  Again, it's all very complicated with cats. Dogs are much easier.

When territory challenges occur, they are very unpleasant for all of us. They tend to start out small and infrequently and quickly start to increase in both intensity and frequency. They can result in nasty physical altercations, non-physical "fights" that involve much hissing, spitting, and growling and much sleep loss for the humans, but worst of all are the silent altercations that consist of an intelligently-engineered bullying campaign where the more timid cat is blocked from areas/resources repeatedly and becomes depressed and sick because of it. That's why I have to watch these slight shifts so carefully. The earlier I identify and resolve these issues, the quicker we return to a healthy and happy state.  Also, most of the cats are vicious little grudge holders, and the less time they spend engaged in a war with someone, the more likely they are to give it up and move on.

Celebrations

Daisy 

Where do I even start? It's been a busy month--not exciting, but busy.  I'll make a very long story short. Due to scheduling conflicts, I have had to work full time plus over my break.  After I got semester grades entered, I spent a few days in the kitchen getting the holiday cooking done. We survived the holidays, and I did treat myself to two full days of reading mindless fiction right after the holidays.  Other than that, I've worked my ass off.  I developed all the materials for a 4-credit programming course to be taught online (distance ed.), and had to get 45 hours of lecture recorded over break.  I still have 18 hours to record next week, and then I return to my full time classes on 1/26.  I'm exhausted, burned out, frustrated (with some technology hold ups at central IT that have delayed me and made things extremely difficult), and will be starting a semester at a deficit. I struggled keeping up last semester, and my load this semester is significantly heavier. I can do it. I will do it, but I am a little nervous about what kind of shape I will be in by the end of the semester.

The recording has been challenging.  I've spent most of my life avoiding cameras--especially video cameras.  Only in the last few years have I started to relax and allow more still photos to be taken of me.  The video recording is quite traumatic.  I've discovered that I'm much more facially animated that I would have thought, and I'm not very happy about that.  That's just one of several things I've discovered in watching my videos, and I'm working on changing the over animation, as well as some verbal tics ("so", "okay") that occur too frequently.  It's hard to change things like that!  I hate the sound of my voice.  I hate it in person, and I hate in on recordings. It's rather strange, though, because I apparently have the same voice as my mom and daughters, because people very close to us can't distinguish who's who over the phone very easily.  Their voices sound just fine to my ears, but my own is horrifying.

More distressing than my personal angsty issues, is the pedagogical problems with this delivery method.  Of all the tools and methods available in teaching, the least effective, hands-down, is a long, blathering lecture.  I am required to provide a three-hour lecture every week.  Of course I have activities planned to go along with the lecture (reading, lab assignments, programming assignments, discussion boards, etc.), but nonetheless, that three hours of lecture about programming, doesn't lend itself to being exciting or compelling enough for a brain to listen to one person drone on for three hours. In a classroom, I'm constantly watching the students for feedback. I can tell by their faces and questions if they're with me, if I need to slow down, change directions, etc.  I have nothing to guide me on this.  I'm doing the best I can to make these lectures effective and interesting, but UGH!  there's only so much I can do with just me, a camera, and C++.  I've spent many hours brainstorming on how to make this better for the students.  This is my first DE class, so I'm looking forward to getting some student feedback that I can use to refine and improve things the next time around.

Petey

We continued our tradition of non-materialistic holidays, so there weren't many gifts to open Xmas morning.  We had a couple of items for each child, and then the girls had gifts from my in-laws to open. It became apparent, though, when I grabbed and distributed the first gift from under the tree, that Damon had been part of Xmas in his past life.  Each gift I pulled out, he tried to put is head in and/or grab. He was sure one of those gifts were his.  Each gift that was opened, he positioned himself as closely as possible, offering to "help" open from time to time. We gave him some dog treats and then let him throw, chew, and shred some boxes/containers. He really enjoys demolishing cardboard boxes!  He had a blast.

As always, we headed over to my parents' for Xmas dinner with my dad's brother (and wife) and my mom's sister (and partner).

Luciana turned 15 this month.  Her birthday was on a Saturday, and she was vehement about reserving the day for her own pleasure.  She got her Saturday chores done on Friday, so she didn't have to do any work on her sacred day. M & his brother Dan wanted to see The Hobbit in the afternoon.  L declined going, because she, Dej, Russ & M had just gone to see it the previous weekend. (I chose to stay home and cook while they went. I would choose to stay home and scrape the sewage pipes clean with my fingernails rather than sit through that movie!)  The guys went to their movie, and Dej & Luce camped out in the family room with dogs, cats, and snacks, and watched Korean dramas.  I spent the afternoon making pizza for everyone (along with some sliced fruit and homemade "nutella"). L did not want me to make a birthday dessert, as she and her sister had purchased a bunch of junk food to snack on for their Korean drama marathon (which continued after everyone left until 2 or 3 in the morning), and she didn't want to have any more temptation.  This was the first birthday where she really took control over her birthday (and the surrounding days) and celebrated how, when, and where she wanted to. Many of our birthday traditions were "broken", but that's part of the process. I'm glad to see her taking charge and making plans that make her happy, rather than just waiting around for others to make her day special and ending up disappointed.  Much to my dismay, she chose to go to Red Robin (!!) for her birthday dinner. Much money was spent, no REAL food was consumed.

We are thrilled that M's work situation should improve dramatically over the next month or so.  They have finally hired a co-director, so on 2/1, he will go back to doing one very taxing job instead of two.  Also, the person that they hired is awesome! She is perfect for the position and will bring a skill set and knowledge set to the position that will be very beneficial.  She and M work well together and mutually respect one another.  It's really unfortunate that she has to inherit the absolute mess that the last mistake of a director created.  Really, it's similar to poor Obama walking into the Whitehouse in 2008, inheriting Bush's unjust war, devastated economy, complete loss of world respect, a country more divided and angry than ever, etc.  I hate to see such a good person walk into such a mess, but on the other hand, there are few who could successfully resolve the mess and move on, but she can.  It's a new and happy era, and I'm looking forward to seeing my husband calmer, happier, and back to absolutely loving his job.  Maybe I'll even see him a bit more often.