Where have I been?

I always amazes me when I stop by to chat about something, and I see I haven't stopped by in a week. Where does time go? Oh, yeah, I remember. I've had my head stuck in dirty litter boxes for the last week.

Seems as though I frequently have nothing to say other than only three cats lost their breakfast this morning, and I'm downgrading their food because it's getting too darned expensive to feed twenty growing kitties. I advertise them regularly for adoption, and only get a few disinterested responses. Color me stupid, but asking a $40 adoption fee for bottle-fed kittens who have been spayed/neutered and vaccinated seems extremely reasonable. While I'm running a deficit of $35 to $60 per cat, I'm keeping in the price range of the budget clinics that (listen up) don't vaccinate against feline leukemia. OK. I'll stop bitching about the cats.

What have I done this past week?

Yesterday
I don't have a clue. I wasted a lot of time. I took the dancing daughter to the dollar store to buy eggs so she could make a "Double Decker" brownie recipe she found at allrecipes.com. The recipe didn't turn out very well (dry, but it's sweet and chocolate, so it won't go to waste). I had to make a late-night run to PetsMart to stock up on litter and cat food for the cats to throw up. $108 (this included yet another litter pan) that will be either scooped up off the carpet or scooped up and put in the trash. Where did I go wrong???

Sunday
Another wasted day. I couldn't tell you what I did, other than mess with pbase.com trying to upload some dance pictures. Apparently the new birthday present takes very large format photos, to the tune of 4-5000 kb per photo. The sum and substance of the upload is that I used 400 of my 500 meg that is alloted to me. Wow. My experience with digital cameras has been limited to pocket pals. Beyond that, I've always been a film-photo girl.

Saturday
Dance day! No, the dancing daughter didn't dance, but she did go, and was bored out of her gourd. I took a lot of pictures (see Sunday), and Hubby and I moved, assembled, disassembled, moved, assembled, disassembled, and moved the dance floor. We went to to assisted living centers and had a really good time. Afterwards, Hubby managed to get me to go to Hideaway for pizza, quite an accomplishment as I think Hideaway is gross. However, it was nigh on to 5 pm and none of us had eaten since breakfast; Hideaway was close, not too busy, and I just wanted food. Hot, cheesey, greasy food.

The headless dancer in the photo isn't Ala, so I figured I shouldn't post her face. Look at her stand on her toes, though! Those shoes don't have blocks in them like ballet toe shoes. She's standing right on her toe tips.

Friday
I took the dancing daughter to a new doctor to have a look at the leg problems. She's been off dance since mid-November and still hurts. This just ain't right. Know what? The new doctor agreed! He said for her to be having problems for 17 months indicated an underlying problem. At her age, she should heal faster than that. We're waiting for an MRI to be scheduled, and he outlined actual treatments that could be beneficial based on what he could see in xrays and her bone scan. At last! Someone who didn't look puzzled and say, "Huh."

Thursday
I have no idea. But, whatever I did, it most certainly involved food and the couch.

Wednesday
Dance night. Ala didn't go, but I did. It was parent meeting night. Lots of fun. You think men are territorial? Just try mixing Type A personalities with estrogen.


That's pretty much it. If you made it this far, congratulations! You've had enough coffee to sustain you though anything today!

One last thing: take a gander at the GoodSearch button to the left. If you'd use that as your search engine (it uses Yahoo) and list Ala's dance school as the organizaiton, you would help raise money to keep the school going, and I'd really, really appreciate it! (You can shop there, too!)

Another Monday out of the way

We had to stop cleaning house when Cocoa decided to come out and pose for photos.

Today was back adjustment and cortisone shot day. I hadn't been in three months, and my back popped like squeezing bubble wrap. I'm pretty sore this evening. Note to self: don't wait so long next time.

My Christmas present for S-MIL arrived in the mail today, the one that was supposed to ship on Dec 28. I'm quite disappointed in it. The "serving platter" is sandwich platter size, and the "serving bowls" are just right for a big bowl of soup. They're not at all what I thought would be a "3 Pc. Serving Set."

Mom's present was just plain ol' not available. I have to rethink that one, too. Sigh. December 26, here I come!

No fire in the fireplace tonight. :)

No News Is Good News?

I finally got in to see the doc and get the official results of my blood & circulation tests. Results: Old, fat, and in pretty good shape considering. Unfortunately, nothing showed up that might be the culprit causing my neuropathy. Doc said he thinks micro-vas treatments would help, and if not that, then hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

Ka-ching!

I stopped in the dollar store and visited with the manager a bit. She took me all over the store and showed me the new things that are going on at the DG. More name brand grocery items, for starters. It looks like a real grocery store, not a haven for generic labels. She also inquired about the second job, to which I replied that I was about to tell 'em to take a hike. She asked me to come back if I left the other place. Nice to be wanted!

Tomorrow is the big day: Braces come off. Stay tuned for pictures of Alatariel's teeth.

Leaving Friday afternoon for OKC, the feis is all day Saturday, then Sunday we're cremating bratwurst on the grill at my brother's house. Dear sweet Hubby is staying home with the animals, bless his heart. Ala wants to take movies to watch; I'm considering packing up a sewing machine or two and leaving strings all over the hotel room as we'll have Friday and Saturday evenings to knock around. It all depends on how I feel when it comes time to pack the car.

Thanks, but No Thanks?

I received a curt response from my job application to the effect of, "we'll contact you if we want to talk to you." How encouraging.

<<<--Alatariel feeding Logan. Their ears wiggle back and forth as they nurse. It's sooo kyewt! Yesterday was doctor day. He popped my back and neck, gave me my quarterly cortisone shot (really helps the back, but also the rest of the aches and pains), x-rayed my knees and told me that the one that doesn't have the painful knot on it was in worse shape than the one that does have the painful knot. OK - this is the fourth different doctor I've asked about the knot on my knee. No one will give me an answer!!!!

The second job is getting more relaxed. I still don't know when payday is, nor do I know when benefits start (I get health & retirement benefits, even though I'm part time - cool!). I seem to be permanently paired with the same assistant manager (I have had no contact with the store manager since I started! Unbelievable!). Seems like she's loosening up a bit and I'm starting to enjoy working with her.

I got my Eleanor Burns books the other day. I need to find the kitchen table top so I can spread out some fabric to cut. Such a daunting task - it may never get done.

Storm Blowin' In

This was from one of last week's storms. You should have heard Hubby yelling at me as I headed out the door with the camera - something about if I get struck by lightening, he wouldn't come drag me in out of the yard.

Ya, sure.

My sound slumber last night was rudely disrupted by hail, lightening, thunder, and lots of rain. I sat up with Alatariel for a while as her bedroom is on the SW side of the house and she wasn't keen on having hail crash through the window and on to her head. We only got a little small hail. Up the road in Glenpool, I was told they got the baseball hail. Would have been cool to see, but I'm not in any hurry to do so.

Everything was under water - again - this morning for my pilgrimage into Jenks to see the doc. I had another neck-popping session. I'm a little sore after this one. Surely it couldn't be from spending the afternoon hunched over my laptop?

That was all the fun for today. Tomorrow I shall tackle the sink full of dishes that have piled up. Hand washing gives me an awful back ache so I let them go until I absolutely have to do them. Then I stand at the sink for so long that the old back is screamin'. You'd think I'd figure out that washing as I go would be easier. Hmmm. I'll have to think on that one. ;)