Friends and Vacations and Weddings

I don't take many vacations; I rarely even take time off from work except for the occasional Doctor's visit. The main reason for this is that I'm pretty much flat broke. Losing my job in 2008 caused a serious set back in my financial situation, and not being able to find a job for almost 5 years depleted the coffers down to zero. I'm not sure I'll ever recover financially. Vacations are just not in the budget as there is no budget except to stay alive, keep my house and pay the bills. There's nothing left over.

One thing I'm filthy rich in however, are the friends I have.

I have a friend I never even met face-to-face until September of last year, although we worked together for many years at the company that laid me off. She lives in Oregon and I live in Texas. She retired about 3 months before I was laid off, but we remained friends, talking about our cats and other news of the day as we exchanged weekly emails, birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, and, after my finances hit rock bottom, birthday cards and Christmas cards. It was a most pleasant surprise when she emailed me she was getting married to her partner of 49 years and wanted me to be at their wedding. With her help, and the help of another friend I'll write about next, I was able to fly to Portland, OR. There she greeted me with a sign that just said 'CAT' and I was able to see these two remarkable women finally able to cement the bonds they swore oh so many years ago and, more importantly, be recognized. I had an amazing time, although not nearly long enough, but it included a wonderful stay at Seaside, OR, (which reminded me how much I miss the scent of the sea) and a tour of downtown Portland - with the added bonus of an amazing play/film produced by a company at the Young Vic in England of 'Streetcar Named Desire' with Gillian Anderson (wow - amazing production!). I flew back feeling I'd been gone much longer than I really was. It was wonderful.

I have a friend I've known since the 7th grade when we were in Sunday School together. Steve wore these large, black glasses and was a skinny guy with a wicked sense of humor. One day, and I don't remember what prompted this, but he jumped up in the middle of a Sunday School class and whipped off those black glasses with one hand and his tie with the other. A few of us recognized it as a 'Superman' move and cracked up. We were both journalists on our high school newspaper and at one point he began dating the Editor of the paper. His best friend was my boyfriend and the four of us would double date. As most often happens when you graduate and move away to whatever college or university you've chosen for your higher learning, the four of us went separate ways. Somehow through some miracle Steve and I stayed in contact - he tells me I'm the sister he never had. He's the one who anted up the remainder of my trip to Oregon, making it possible to attend the wedding last year. Then several years ago I reconnected with Marian, the woman Steve dated way back when and we renewed our friendship. I helped her move back from Florida about 4 years ago - just her and I, plus an orange cat named Murray, in a Prius, furiously trying to outrun a hurricane. I will end this narrative by saying at a point a couple of years ago, I got them back together and they were married on May 2 of this year.

So, where's the vacation in this story? Well, she was offered a job, no - a huge career boost - at her old company in Florida as a Vice-President and Chief Legal Officer. (BTW - did I mention she's a lawyer?) So, yeah, on July 3rd we loaded up in two cars this time, stuffed a cat carrier between boxes (different cat - this one a smokey-grey - named Boo) in the back seat of that same Prius and drove back to Florida. I then stayed for another week, walking beaches, helping him look at prospective houses, shopping, swimming and eating way too much good food. It was perfect. The perfect vacation until the last day when I had to bid them farewell, get on an airplane (with a ticket he paid for - oh, did I mention he's a retired publisher and entrepreneur?) and come back home. To work. What a tremendous let down.

This, and several other people/incidences I haven't mentioned, have helped me 'get by with a little help from my friends'. I've got some of the absolutely best friends anyone could hope to have in the world and I'm so grateful for them all. They bring me joy and a sense of companionship and camaraderie and love. I hope to be able to go back to Oregon someday. I also have tentative plans to head back to Florida in the somewhat near/distant future with yet another friend who's been nothing but supportive of me as well (someday I'll tell the story of Duchess and I going to the State Fair of Texas last September...a story not to be missed...). Maybe in January of 2016. To the Florida Keys. I'm already trying to save a little every month for it. I want to smell the sea again. And walk on the beach. And be with friends I love.

Offended!

Well, my staff person is in the back doing laundry and the guy in the front room is gone to the lake to cat-sit (grr, I'm offended about that too!)...I've been biding my time to get on this computer-thingy so I can let the world know how SERIOUSLY OFFENDED I am by recent activities here in my personal domain!!

My staff person is feeding another cat! Gah! This bedraggled, unworthy cat wandered up a few months ago and decided the front porch was his new home. Of all the nerve!! My staff person thinks he looks like me only he has a tail, which I don't since I'm a manx. She and the guy in the front room feed him, and pet him and water him. I am SO deeply offended by all of this!

I admit he's kinda cute, but he's a scrapper - I hear the loudest howls and growls out there when he chases other cats off from his food. My staff person even put together a little house for him when it was cold and put something in there that kept it warm...how dare she? She says he's asstray not ferrul, but I have no idea what either of those words mean. To me it just means someone's horning in on MY territory. Here's picture of him stretching after a nap on MY FRONT PORCH!


Of course, she still says I'm number one in her heart, and she still plays with me lots and feeds me lots and lets me out in the backyard lots. And he comes and goes and isn't out there all the time. And they were going to try and catch him for the trap and neuter in the 'hood, but he's pretty wiley and they couldn't get close to him, and forget it if you do get close enough to try and pick him up...I saw the scratches on my staff person's hands when she tried that. I guess I really shouldn't grumble, since I'm inside living the life of Jypsy, but I WILL! I smelled him once on her hands and hissed at her. They call him 'Buddy', which is so-way-not-as-cool as my wonderful name! Oh, and one time the guy in the front room didn't shut the front door all the way and it opened and this...this...OTHER cat walked right up and into the doorway a bit and we had this staring contest! I was winning and was 'bout to go kick his butt, but my staff person walked in and saw what was going on. She called my name several times and said if I even moved she would beat MY butt! Honestly! But I knew better than to move, and she came up and swooped me up in her arms and told me she loved me.

I'm still miffed. And highly offended another cat is sitting right outside my front door. I just don't know what to do about it. So I think I'll go take a nap.

December Endings

Here we are at the time again. My, my, how time flies. My staff person decorated the house again several weeks ago, and now is mumbling about dragging boxes and bins out of the attic again to put it all away...again. I think the house looks just fine, you know with a tree covered with lights and stuff, and other lighted up stuff around the house, and lights and stuff even in that tiny room she calls a 'bathroom', but I sometimes call it the other place I can get water in when I'm not cringing at the word 'bath'. Yikes! But I guess it's all going back in boxes and bins and put back up in the attic. That's okay too, I like the house however it looks, lighted up and decorated or just normal. Here's some photos I stole from her Christmas folder on the desktop so you can see what all she gets to box up...again.

This is me, checking out the tree as she puts it together.

This is me, sleeping on the back of the chair with some lights and that nice thing I also sleep on that goes under the tree.

Here I am sleeping on the ornament box.Do you see a pattern here?

I decided to take a breather from all that hard work and take a nap out on the deck in the sun.

The tree. I haven't climbed it at this point. I'm at the bottom there, playing with an ornament I thought would look much better on the floor however.

She even decorated the table!

This is the 'bathroom' (cringe again).

Here I am resting again in my own Christmas bed.

And here's the outside of my place!

Well, I hope all my four-footed friends had a very yummy Christmas and got lots of treats like I did. My staff person says a new year starts this next week, so, although I'm not sure about that new year thingy, I'll wish everybody a great year anyway.

Roller Coaster Ride

I do NOT know where the time has gone...

Let me catch you up just a bit.

Seems like I just put Jypsy on her new food; but it's been 4 months. Seems like it was just Spring, but we managed to zoom through Summer. Seems like it shouldn't be, but we are now, technically, in Autumn. Although you couldn't prove it by Texas temperatures. Just last week we were having 90° temps. We have what my father would refer to as a "Blue Norther" coming through tonight and maybe, just maybe, the temps will be more Fall like.

Fingers crossed!

I did get to go on a short trip in September - up to Portland, OR to see two friends of mine get married. This was my friend that clued me in to using the flower essences to ease Jypsy's paranoia when she got so sick, which you'll remember if you've been following this blog for a while. We've been friends for many years but we had never actually met face to face. We exchange gifts and cards for birthdays, Christmas and 'just because', not to mention we manage to talk on the phone occasionally too. She and her partner met me at the airport and Jan was sporting a sign that simply read 'CAT'. I had seen a few pictures of her, but really, how on earth would I miss someone with a sign that says 'CAT' on it? Right. I wouldn't. It was an amazing time, although too short. We spent the first 2-1/2 days at Seaside, where I fell in love with the ocean all over again - I'd forgotten how much I love the scent of the sea. The wedding was small, simple and sweet but oh-so fitting. If you've been together for 49 years, the ceremony is nice, but fancy is sort of mundane in my opinion. It was the first wedding I've never cried at and that was because Jan stuck a camera in my hands and said, "Here. Take pictures." Which I was glad to do and I think some of them turned out okay. I didn't cry until after the ceremony when a friend of theirs started telling me how much I had helped Jan get through a tough time with the company where we were both employed at that time. THAT's when the tears started. Such an amazing time - there was a trip to downtown Portland where I was able to cross off an item from my to-do list; I got to browse in 'Powell's Bookstore'! We saw an amazing version of 'Streetcar Named Desire' with Gillian Anderson as Blanche, presented through the British 'National Theatre Live' series. I sat in awe the whole time. There were so many other things (like finding the Flashback Malt Shoppe in Seaside where I discovered 'Caribou Chocolate Ice Cream') - oh my, I just can't write it all down because I would have writer's cramp for a week.

My roommate returned from his cat-wranglin' job out at a local lake to take care of Jypsy for the 5 days I was gone. I'm not really sure if she even missed me, although she was very affectionate when I arrived home. That could just be because I resumed being the chief disher-upper of food. Food makes for best friends in the cat world.

I had a promo on my first book and actually sold quite a few copies this time. Sales have been fairly constant since, but I'm not going to quit my day job anytime soon.

My boss took another job in another district of the State office I work in and left in April. It was a crushing blow, but understandable. He needed to keep moving up the ladder, but I sure do miss him. The new boss is working out fine, but she's not the old boss. It's hard to make the transition, but I'm trying. You are missed, Michael.

I lost my swim friend in April as well - she was the one who was always at the pool before I got there, and I got/get there at 5am. She took another job in New Orleans, as it has been her most fervent dream (for years!) to live there. I seem to get more swimming in during these crazy, early morning swims, but it sure isn't near as much fun. I miss you bunches, Cindy B!

It still seems to me life is zipping by much too quickly, and I can still remember when summers seemed to last for at least 6 months or so, and Christmas took forever to come. Birthdays only came once every two or three years, but they've sure picked up the pace as I've gotten older. Now I swear I'm having birthdays every couple of months. Remember the old musical, "Stop the World I Want to Get Off"?

Yeah, that, I want to get off and chill for a while. Alas, I'm thinking that isn't going to happen for a while. Could be worse, right? I'll take what I get. Cheers!

cold...spring...'n hypo ally jean ic food

Hi folks! It's been a while since I could sneak on to the computer to send you an update.

I guess if I want to be truthful - um - there's just not a whole lot to update about. I made it through a pretty cold and crummy winter. It would get so cold I didn't even want to go outside since I don't happen to have any shoes to keep my toesies warm. My staff person would occasionally open the door and offer me the chance, and I'd ponder on it for a minute or two until she'd growl, "In or out, make up your mind!" I'd go over and stick my head out the door and I'd see the sunshine, but the breath I took in was, wow, can you say really, really cold? Well, of course, that's pretty silly since it's very easy for you to say 'really, really cold'. Just take my meow for it, it was really, really cold.

Then we got to warmer days, for a few days at least, and then it would get really, really cold again. Then warm. Then cold. Then warm. Then cold. Finally everything started to change colors and get green. Mom's Larkspur is up and, boy oh boy, is there a lot of it. One's so tall it's almost ready to bloom! I like the pretty flowers on them, but I guess I would since I'm a girl. Some of her iris thingies are bloomin' too - they smell really good.

I guess the only real news about ME is that my vet thinks I may be ally ergic to regular prescription kitty food. He caught Mom when she went to buy me more food and tole her he'd been to somethin' called a cemenar and heard this guy talk about my, uh, problem, and he immediately thought of me! Isn't that just too sweet that he thought of me??? I'm just so touched! Anyway, this speaker said my problem could be because I'm ally ergic to certain stuff in this cat food I've been eating for, oh,like,forever. The speaker has had really good luck with hypo ally jean ic food and the vet man suggested Mom try it. So, guess what I'm eating now? Yep, hypo ally jean ic food! It tastes all right, and I've found I get filled up on just a little bit of food. That other stuff? I just couldn't seem to quit my craving for food and kept meowing pathetically for 'More food! More food!' I'm hoping, and I know she is, that this will fix my, uh, problem so she can quit takin' me in to see that guy all the time and pay him to stick his finger up my, uh, oh, well shoot - my butt. 'Course, she's pretty miffed at the price of this new stuff. Guess it's really 'spensive. Then she sighs and says, "I would do anything for you, my queen." Well, not really, but that's what I hear anyway.

Here's a current picture of me out on the deck. Check out my amazin' eyes! As you know, some of us have it. And then everyone but me don't.




Toodles!

Can Spring be far behind?

We are steadily inching towards March, which in Texas pretty much means all the cold weather is behind us for a while. We've had a, um, shall we just say, a 'stranger than normal' Winter. Warm, sun-basking days three days away from 18° accompanied by ice and snow. We don't have snowplows in these parts, and are lucky to have a few sand trucks. We had some terrible ice which just shut us down. Tonight the low temp should be somewhere in the low 30's...but Friday it's going to hit 70. My poor eccentric car with a schizophrenic sensor buried deep in it's innards, pops the 'Check Engine' light on whenever the temps change. For only 3 days mind you (or until the weather smooths back out), but since the weather has been so crazy, it's having problems. We had a stretch of warm weather over the weekend up to yesterday when it went down by 30°; light came on as soon as the temp dropped. Poor thing. I'll be glad when the weather evens out and the light stays off. My larkspur is starting to come up and I'm hoping for another banner year. Jonquils are already blooming. Daffodils should show up in another couple of weeks. Trees look like they want to bud out, but I hope they hold off for this last gasp of winter.

The kitty gave me a scare a few weeks ago - she just stopped eating. Got her to the vet asap, but bloodwork came back great. We decided to wait on x-rays because she didn't seem to be in any pain, and treated her with some antibiotics, a few de-stress pills and 5 huge syringes filled with this white stuff I swear was Mylanta, or the pet version of it anyway. Ever try to squirt a lot of stuff down a cat's throat? The only positive I chalk up is to say I got 'most' of each syringe down her throat for five nights. A day and a half after the first pills and mylanta, she was wondering where dinner was and being quite vocal about it. Vet said it was an upset stomach - probably something disgusting she ate out in the back yard, but it was a really expensive tummy ache. She's fine now.

I've reached a new milestone - 4 Mexican-food dinners in less than a week. Visiting with friends and family over dinners and lunches made every bite worth it. Thanks Gary, Rosalia, Cecil, Justin and Jamie. The last Tex-Mex indulgence was with some of my high school friends I've reconnected with in the last few years. We gathered for a birthday party for Georgia, our amazing actress in the bunch. I do have to say this, it's amazing how all the petty things that separated some of us in high school have fallen down a cliff somewhere and stayed there. Guess we finally grew up. I can just hear all of our dearly departed parents now..."'Bout time!"

Ho Hum

Well, my staff person pulled all those boxes and bins down from the hole in the ceiling a while back and decorated the house like she does every year. That tree thingy got put back up over by the front window, but my personal sleeping tower got moved over between the living room and the room with a big table where my staff dines, called the 'dining' room (I on the other hand, 'dine' in the kitchen...from a bowl on the floor...) and the only good thing about my tower being moved is it was right under a heating vent so I could stay warm. (It gets cold this time of year and there was this awful ice stuff on the ground too.) It was fun to bat at the colored balls and other hangy-downy things on the tree she insists on putting up once a year. I must admit I'm really proud of myself - I only knocked two of them off completely and I was able to restrain myself so I didn't bring the whole tree down down to the floor even once this year. Oh, my. I hope this doesn't mean I'm turning into an adult cat. Find me some toilet paper to unroll!

Now everything's back the way it is for most of the year. Frankly, it's really kind of boring. I miss the lights on the trees (yes, she has several little ones too) and the lights and stringy green things (um...I heard the word 'garwands' or something like that?) in the bathroom and behind the little man in the sleigh with the big dogs hitched up in front that was on top of a cabinet in the dining room and was all lighted up as well. The best thing though? Since the guy in the front room wasn't through building a greenhouse out back, the Orange tree had to come into the kitchen! Mom...er...my staff person...put lights on it as well! Truly - the house just was very festive and fun. Here's a picture of the Orange tree. Isn't it cheery? Now? The house is, well, just kinda blah.

Anyway, I guess I should wish everyone a Happy New Year. Of course, I didn't get to go to any parties or anything, Oh nooooo, although my staff person went to one just around the corner. She didn't get home until REAL late, like after all the fireworks went off. I'd been sleeping for hours, but when she came in I was ready to play. She wasn't. Go figure.

Happy New Year, all!

A little reminder

As a child, the days seemed to be long, summer vacations lasted forever and time drifted slowly from one bip of the clock hand to the next.

What the heck happened?

I pulled up this page to write something and am amazed to see my last entry was in August! I think even Jypsy does better than I do...well, maybe not - her life is much like mine was back when I was, oh, 8 ...and time seemed endless. By the box to the right there, I see the number of blogs I manage to get online slowly decline with each year, but I want to think the ones I'm writing are much better now (ahem).

A lot has happened since August, but most of it is trivial. My two significant achievements during these past months were getting my book on Amazon.com, and then shortly after that, my SECOND book. (Picture buttons bustin' out all over, please.) Sales, sadly, are few and far between. Still. I feel a sense of accomplishment as this is something I've wanted to do, again, since I was a child.

There's also been a birthday, pushing me ever older, but I'm not so fond of the alternative - so bring it on! This might have been my best birthday ever...or at least, again, since I was a child. A little back story: In the last 4 or 5 years I have reconnected with some of the people I graduated with from high school. We are now coming together as adults with a lot of fond memories of each other and find we've turned into pretty darn awesome adults. We get along well; perhaps it's because we're past the point of trying to impress anyone, and we can simply enjoy the company of friends. 5 of these wonderful people came together and treated me to an amazing birthday dinner. We laughed, we talked, we ate wonderful food, we commiserated and we decided we're going to do this more often. I was thrilled to have these people help me celebrate making it another year! So, Marian, Steve, Duchess, Gail and Georgia - thank you so much for making my birthday so wonderful!

Three days later, I was treated to another dinner, which was special for quite a few reasons - the most important one that it was my family. My brother, my sister-in-law and my cousin joined in another celebration of making it another year and still kickin'. Thank you Joey, Brenda and Gary for putting the icing on my 'day'. I received cards from out-of-town friends that touched me and made me laugh - I still have them displayed on my dining room table, but guess Thanksgiving is going to necessitate me putting them away. (Oh, yes, I save cards for years! I re-read them and get the same glow as the first reading.) I received many phone calls, texts and Facebook posts from out-of-town family and friends as well. Thank you all!

I believe I never would have made it this far if it wasn't for the love and support of my family and friends. Another birthday has given me a subtle reminder of just how lucky I really am.

What I did this summer

Hi there folks! I thought I'd steal my staff person's computer and write about what I did this summer.

I...uh...well, let's see. Well, there was...no, I take that back. Oh, I went...well, shoot, the only place I went was to the vet.

Oh, forget it. You know what I did. I slept a lot, whined a lot, went outside a lot (when it wasn't too hot), and then slept some more. I bugged my staff person by waking her up at odd hours of the night (THAT's always fun!) I walked around the house with Mousie in my mouth moaning and groaning because she was ignoring me. Oh, not really, but sometimes she gets on this computer thingy and starts writing...it's HOURS before she deigns to notice me! Okay, that's not true either - it's more like 10 minutes, but what do I know about time? It sure seems like it's hours.

But it was a nice summer - I enjoyed it. As you can tell by this photo mom snapped when I was just waking up from a nice nap out on the back deck.

So, we're now into cooler temps. That must mean pretty soon all those boxes will come down out of the attic and mom will be in a decorating frenzy. I'm excited! There's always some box I can jump on, lay on, sleep on and generally make a nuisance of myself on. And the tree! Maybe I can bring the tree down again with all those things hanging on it that break...good times are a comin' for a cat like me.

Life

As summer's go, it's been quite pleasant here in Texas. We've had the occasional rain up until a week or so ago, and it's August. The temperatures have not gone in the triples and stayed there for weeks at a time. That's very unusual. My roommate/cousin has been cat-sitting for the summer again, so I've had the house to myself, which truthfully has been really nice. Of course, I did try and remove an appendage a few weeks ago due to my own stupidity (Hint - don't hold a half of an avocado in your hand and attempt to stab the seed, which split in half when you originally smacked it, with a very sharp knife to flick it out! It took hours to stop the bleeding and the cut went deep and should probably have had stitches, but it was late so I just wrapped it in bandages and paper towels, put clear wrap around it and taped it. Finally healing and good as new...sorta.) Jypsy has stayed well, although we need to go the vet once a month now to get her checked out. She's been so sweet and loving, sleeping on the bed next to me at night although it's probably because she doesn't have my cousin to harass. I made my probation and got a small raise (very small), but there's supposed to be another on the October 1 paycheck. I got my second book on Amazon.com and received a 5 star rating from someone who bought it and read it. The first book still has a 5 star rating. I'm working on the next one. Life is pretty good for the most part.

Someone mentioned to me recently I need to get out of my comfort zone. I was somewhat taken aback by that - what comfort zone might they be referring to? I haven't been comfortable since getting laid off five years ago, and am only now realizing I might possibly be able to get back into some sort of 'comfort zone' in maybe the next year. Or two. Life has a way of sending you zingers just in case you get to feeling too pleased with yourself. Every time I think things are easing up and there might be just a smidge of money left at the end of the month, I have to do something like, oh, buy new tires. Or get a brake job. Or fix the roof. It's crazy, isn't it? The thing is - I've finally accomplished something I've wanted to do my whole life. Being laid off gave me an opportunity to sit down and type words on a page. Page after page. Until I had a book. Then two books. And another. My greatest accomplishment from losing my job is becoming what I've always wanted to be. A writer.

It's Life. You deal with it or you go crazy. I have a plaque at work someone gave me that says "Gone crazy. Back soon." Which is cute, but since I'm really not so hep on going crazy, I think I'll just do what I can and let the rest slide. It is what it is. I'm still here. I've got a job and a house to live in. I have some of the most amazing friends in the world. My family is beyond belief - they are so cool. I'm still able to make time to write. And most importantly, I've got a cat who makes me laugh every single day and let's me know what's really important. Ya gotta sleep. Ya gotta eat. And ya gotta go out in the back yard and chase birds and squirrels. Life is good!

Is it still Spring? Prolly not

It's gotten warm here, so yeah, I think Spring is over and Summer is here. My staff person lets me out early in the morning for a bit before she goes to work, and then won't let me out after she gets home until waaay later. The sun's almost down and I can ONLY go out while she waters those green things that sometimes bloom. When she first gets home and I whine to go out she just says, "Too hot." I'm a cat! I can take it! Just between you and me though, when she occasionally gets fed up with my frequent requests to go outside and lets me out it is even a little warm for me. And even though I protest when she makes me come back in, and I take my own sweet time walking in the door (you know - so she understands this is not my idea) I'm really kinda glad. When the cool air hits me, and I collapse on the chilly kitchen floor - wow - it's like kitty heaven! I think she's on to me though, 'cos she just laughs.

She's been pretty excited. Apparently she put her first book (which is NOT about me, by the way, and I'm miffed) on something called amazon.com, and it's running for free until midnight tonight. She's already had 82 downloads she sez. I heard her on that talky thing saying she doesn't make any money off it, since it's free, but she's hoping to get some 'expohshure', whatever that is. She said if people like it and recommend it to friends that's good, and maybe it will make people look for her second book (which isn't about ME either! of all the nerve!) and buy it.

Well, I gotta go - I have to start whining again to go out. I know she's only going to tell me "No!", but hey, a cat is nothing if not persistent. I thought I'd leave you with this lovely picture of moi after just coming back in on a hot evening. It's not the kitchen floor, but it's a nice wood floor that's nice and cool too.

What happened to May??

Time is really starting to be on a fast forward. It was just the middle of May, and you turn to your left and it's almost the middle of June. We've been really lucky in Texas - usually the temp hits 100 degrees for the first time in April or early May. We've gotten in the 90's, but no triples yet. I woke up yesterday to a rousing thunderstorm with lightening and torrential rain. Yes! (As I like to say, every drop that falls out of the sky is a drop that doesn't come out of my faucet that I have to pay for.) Today it hit 90 and Friday is finally supposed to hit 100. Well. It was nice while it lasted.

Here's all the news -

Huh. Well, guess Jypsy told you I've been really sick. Some sort of upper respiratory thing going around and wow, did it kick my butt. My doctor wanted to call in a prescription for antibiotics, but I told him to forget that and just get me some cough syrup....and make it the good stuff. Jeez. It was definitely the good stuff. The dosage was a teaspoon every 12 hours. Since I was at home I took a teaspoon, and didn't wake up for about 4 hours (which was actually good for me as I hadn't slept in about 3 days). I started dialing the dosage down until I hit a quarter teaspoon. That seemed to work to keep me from coughing like an emphasemic cigarette smoker and didn't knock me out. It took three weeks, but I think I'm finally well. I finally swam last Friday morning and didn't do too badly - my guess is all the coughing acted like exercise and I now have Ahhnold lungs. Went in this past weekend to do a workout, and today I feel like I got hit by a truck. Everything seems to be sore. Which in a way is a good thing. I guess. (ooh. Ouch!)

I am two and a half months from making my probation. The other admin on our team retired and so it's been a little difficult to keep up, but I'm doing it. It's so much more pleasant w/o my former co-worker around - this is a piece of cake.

This week the roommate/cuz is going out to take care of the cats at the lake. I'm looking forward to having the house to myself and Jypsy for the next three months. I might even be able to get the house clean. What a novel concept :o ! I'm going tomorrow to protest my property taxes and think I've developed a pretty good defense. We'll see. I'm also going to try and get my book onto Amazon this weekend. It's going to involve taking it off the other indie site and getting my 'webmaster' to take it off my web site (funny how Amazon is about being the only seller...) and see if it goes anywhere. Wish I could find an agent in this area to help, but am doing what I can.

Now. If you're a follower of this blog and have kept up with my posts, I have to admit something. I...am not writing 30 minutes a day. I have writers block and sit down to write and just sit and stare at the screen. When I swim I sometimes come up with some good plot lines, but cannot figure out how to get from where I am now to where I want to be. Of course if I really wanted to whine, I'd say, "I've been siiick!" Which I have been. But I was also home a couple of days and sure could have used the time to write. Except for the fact that I was knocked out by the uber cough syrup, of course. Lately I've been doing research to protest my property taxes, which I have to do tomorrow at 4pm.The cat got sick again too (don't worry though, she's fine now). There's been other things that have come up that seemed much more preferable to sitting staring at a screen trying to come up with the next line of a book. Remember Roseann Roseannadanna? That's my life in a nutshell. "...it's always somethin'..."

Ahhh. Spring!

Mom's home sick today and was up most of the night. She's going to call in to work and go back to bed, but she's moping around, coughing, sneezing, and just, well, she's miserable. It gives me a chance to catch all my peeps up though, 'cos she turned this computer thing on and then went to make a cup of tea. I haven't been on here in a while, mainly because it's Spring, and I have such a fun time in the Spring! I mean, what's not to like about it? Number one, it's not hot. That's a real plus right there. Number two, there's fresh, new grass to munch on out in the back yard so I can throw up later and do a 'cleanse'. Number three, even my staff people join me in the back yard in the late afternoons and sit around and drink that wine stuff. I like the back yard, but I love it when my people are out there with me. I like to zoom around sometimes, but mostly I just check everything out to make sure it's exactly how it was the last time I was out there. Which it usually is, but you just never know if something might have moved overnight. Then I sidle over and just barely brush against mom's leg so she knows I'm still there. Sometimes she'll reach down and run her hand along my back. That feels good. Then I'll go check something else out, and rub my face all over it because you can just never claim things too many times! Like a chair leg. Seriously. It's mine. As is the whole chair. I do however, allow my staff to sit in one sometimes.

Yesterday she found my favorite toy! Well, not the exact one, because, really, any will do. There was this little tree branch, see, that she picked up and swished around in front of her, er, MY chair. I crouched down, did my butt wiggle, and POUNCED. But I missed. So I chased it around for a bit and then subdued it. Victorious! Yeah, I know she's the one making it move, but hey, that's one of the best parts of being a cat - we have tunnel vision. We can only see the end of the stick moving, and home in on it as an intruder, or a bug, or a snake - something that must be conquered! It's fun. You should try it sometime!

And then sometimes, I just hop up in one of my chairs and sit with my staff. Or, my personal favorite, take a nap on the deck. Like this:





Oops. Here she comes, gotta scoot....

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

A little over a year ago I flew to Florida to help a really good friend move back to Texas. She had divorced her husband several years before, and with her two grown children off trailblazing their own lives, decided it was time to come 'home'. (I did the same thing about 15 years ago, I came back 'home'.) Home is Texas, and even with all it's warts, bad politics and incredibly hot summers...it's still the best place for a Texan to be. My mother always said a Texan is never happy anywhere but Texas, and darned if she wasn't right!

My friend moved to Amarillo, where she had been offered a job, and we had gone to high school together. It turned out to not be much of a job, especially for a good lawyer like she is. Plus it's Amarillo. First off, and a huge black mark for me...it snows there...a lot. It gets really, really cold during the winter. The wind blows almost all the time, year round. There's a distinct odor when the wind is coming off the stockyards...but mostly, it's Amarillo. So, she's back in Texas which is a good thing, but in case you haven't looked at a map lately, it's just a wee bit big. For either of us to drive to visit the other was a little over 6 hours. To fly was better - only 55 minutes, but I was, and am, broke, so I made three trips up there; two driving, one flying. She's made several down here, and got to fly each time, lucky duck! She also has family over on the Big D side of the 'plex, so she's made more trips than I have. We have another friend, who happens to be the oldest friend I've managed to hang on to from those early days, who prefers to drive and has made several trips to visit. Only it's a lot longer than 6 hours. More like 9.

Low and behold, a job popped up here in the Metroplex where I live. She interviewed for it. Twice. They offered her the job and...well...I got the pleasure of helping her move in last weekend. The three of us 'old' friends, and I can say that because we've known each other forever and we don't really consider ourselves old yet, all feel sort of the same way; we're old enough that we can't afford to not keep our friends close. I'm inordinately pleased she's here. It's a better career fit for her, she's got family and friends and, well, I guess that's it. But it's amazing. And glorious. And I'm just tickled pink.

I've lost several good friends over the past few years, mostly due to the changing dynamics in our friendships, but the friendship with these two friends is the stuff mountains are made of. It's such a nice feeling. I believe in friends almost more than anything else. Certainly more than job security. Even more than the idea that what you buy this week will not be discontinued at the grocery store next month. And much more than the consistency of the weather in Texas.

So an excited welcome to my friend Marian! Huzzah! I'm thrilled you are here and only 20 minutes away. I foresee many, many happy times to be shared. More makeovers at Neiman's. More bbq at Riscky's. More wine. More talks. Yep, I'm a happy camper!

Now Jypsy wants to ease Midnight the cat into your life. But yes, get settled first. Start your job tomorrow. Learn your way around to all the good shopping spots, grocery stores and movie theaters. And invite me over a lot. Hugs!

On the Verge

So, I decide maybe I should go in and check the email I established for my book. There hasn't been much going on lately (read that as no purchases), so it sort of slipped my mind. First I had to remember the password for the account; that caused me a moment or two of panic. I did remember it however, and got in to find over 30 messages! Of course, 30 were spam, but there was one from a woman in Ohio who had purchased and read the book. She truthfully overwhelmed me with praise for the book. We've had a little bit of an email conversation going back and forth, and I found out the book is on the Barnes and Noble book site. She had also written a wonderful review, giving the book 5 out of 5 stars, and in all caps ended with 'HIGHLY RECOMMENDED'. Go ahead, just ask me if I got all tingly!

A couple of nights ago I went in and googled my name and found there are 5 other sites that list the book, including one in the U.K. This is all news to me, but apparently the indie book publishing site I signed up with a year ago has finally gotten the book to some other sites. I want to get the book on the Amazon site as well, so I've printed out the 'Terms and Conditions' for publishing. It's 19 pages of legalese, so I'm going to try and go through it carefully before I click on the 'I Agree' button. I know the book is funny and I know it's got some good drama as well. It's not the next Great American novel by any stretch of the imagination, but everything I've heard so far has been positive. One of my closest friends showed me a post her adult nephew had written on her Facebook page saying he had read about the book on her page, purchased and read it, loved it and is looking forward to the sequel.

Ah, yes. The sequel. It's finished; has been finished for a long time. I've been through it once to edit it, but think I might go through once more. I went through the first one about 4 times, and each time found something that needed to be changed, be it a typo, misspelling or some other inconsistency. I re-read it few weeks ago, and still found mistakes. Guess it's just the nature of the beast. Anyway, I'm hoping to get the second book, finally with a title of 'Space Dude - The Trouble with Travels', online soon.

Otherwise things are moving forward, which, of course, is a good thing. Here's hoping everything is moving forward for you as well. The cat sends you greetings, or would if she was awake. She got me up a little after 6 but it's Saturday after all - weekdays she tries for 4am. She's now sound asleep.

Cheers from here...

Cold, Beds, and Swimming

Well, cat's whiskers! What the heck is wrong with this crazy weather? I mean, I've been going outside and lazing around in the warm sun, rolling in the dirt, chasing bugs and eating fresh, new grass for a couple of weeks now. All of a sudden today turns dark and dreary, the house gets colder, outside is even colder, the dirt patch is cold and there's no rays to even faintly warm my tootsies.

I mean...really.

For all her writings about writing, my staff person has been coming home every day and being a slug. She did get a really good review from someone who read her book and is looking forward to the next one, but she's still only sold a few copies. Of course, if she would write about me, it would be an instantaneous bestseller, doncha think? She's really tired; sometimes she falls asleep for 30 minutes or so before dinner. I wish I could tell her if she didn't get up at 4 something a couple of mornings a week to go to the gym and swim, and instead stay home and SLEEP, she might notice a difference. I'm an expert and know the benefit of numerous naps throughout the day, but I also know she has to buy my kibble. I don't care if she sports a few extra pounds, but for some reason she does. And water? Why on earth would someone want to voluntarily jump in a bunch of water? Ehhh. Whatever.

The guy that lives in the front room bought me a bed about 4 years ago. I disdained it (Target? Reaaaaallllly?). But I jumped up on the table/tin/flat thingy where the bed has been, and well, dang, it was actually quite comfortable, so I've been napping there recently. Of course, you know us cats...we have to keep our staff people guessing. I suppose I'll need to find another place to sleep here soon. . It's so tough being an adorable, 'unpredictable predictable' kitty, ya know?

Sometimes I just sits

A gazillion years ago, when I was in college, I had a poster on my dorm wall I dearly loved. It was a picture of a wooden stool, and at the top it said, "Sometimes I sits and thinks" and under the stool it said, "And sometimes I just sits".

Although I did love that poster, I've discovered I do a lot of just 'sits'. I feel like I'm rapidly approaching a time in my life where I'm going to be forced to slow down, and I know I haven't accomplished even a tiny bit of what I've always wanted to. In my self-reflecting, I see that I have done way too much 'sitting'. I've let a lot of things get away from me; things I wanted to do, but felt I didn't have the time, or most probably the money, to do. I guess I could put part of the blame on my mother as she raised me to always do the right thing,and by that I mean to make sure the things that need to be taken care of are taken care of, but I know it's mostly my fault - I settled for doing what needed to be done, not what I wanted to do. I've worked hard, but not at what is most important to me.

My one huge dream, since I was quite young, was to become a writer. I've finally done that. I've written one book, which is now online (although I've only sold about 12 copies). I have another finished that's half edited, another one started that is all stand-alone stories, and I've just started my fourth one - which looks like it's going to be the hardest one I've done yet. My books aren't very thought provoking by any means; they are simply simple stories of families and friendships and what happens when you look for something you really already have.

I enjoy writing however. It makes me feel good to write. In my search for a job after being laid off and working temp jobs for 5 years, I still found the time to write. Upon finding a job, finally, I threw myself into learning the job, worrying about what I didn't know, dealing with a building full of differing personalities and came home exhausted every day to sit like a log on the sofa watching recorded shows. My weekends have been taken up with doing all the things I 'should' be doing: laundry, cleaning house, running errands I couldn't do during the week...things you don't have to really think about, you just do them. And then your weekend is *pfft* gone.

I've decided I need to do more 'sits and thinks'. Sitting in front of the keyboard, making up new plot lines, inventing new characters and situations. I also need to temper that with 'sits' that are part and parcel of 'sits and thinks'. I need to sit outside on good days and watch Jypsy run around the back yard like a hooligan, leaping at bugs and burrowing her head in piles of leaves. I need to spend more time with good friends and talk and laugh. I need to be there for my friends; dog-sitting, plant-sitting, errand-running, consoling on any myriad of stressful situations that needs a sympathetic ear. Most importantly, I need to spend 30 minutes a day writing. If I only get a couple of pages written, that's two pages more than I had. Hmmm. That sounds really good. I think I'll sits and think about it.

Snow-y Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I got a new bird with feathers filled with catnip - I mean, what could be better?

It's been a kinda quiet day here; it was raining, A LOT, this morning - loud thunder which made me a little jumpy. I'm fine when I'm in the house however. After a while it got quieter. My staff person looked outside and said, "Well, it's snowing now."

Living in Texas I have to admit I totally forgot what 'snow' is. However, I do not like to go outside after it's rained, because, well, you know....it's WET. I really hate for my tender little paws to touch the damp, ya know? So I took a couple of naps and then this afternoon I decided it was time to go outside - surely everything was dry now, right? So, I started whining. And meowing. And moaning. And groaning. And finally my staff person could. not. STAND it anymore so she got up and said, "Fine. We'll see how you like your toes being frozen." First she just opened the door and that cold blast of air hit me in the whiskers and I changed my mind (Women are allowed to do that, you know....).

So, I took another nap. When I woke up I had forgotten about the weather outside, and only wanted to BE outside. So I started up again, and she didn't say a word, just walked to the back door and let me out. Well, I zipped out this time...only to suddenly realize...the deck was now an inch deep in that cold stuff. Well, I tried to act like it really didn't matter, and I was going to go over, go down the stairs and go out into the yard. Only, my toes kept getting colder and colder.

I got to the top of the stairs and decided that, really, this was NOT what I wanted to do. I gingerly turned around and carefully picked my way back to the door, where my staff person was, sorta, well, smirking at me! She opened the door and I ran in to the kitchen where the warmth felt soooooo good!

Anyway, that's my Christmas story. I hope all you felines and canines (oh, okay, the two-footed staff people too, I guess...) have had a wondermous day, and enjoyed spending it with those near and dear to you. Oh, and got special treats, too! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good mouse!

Tis the season

Well, it's been a little busy here; hope you'll cut me some slack. My wonderful nephew married his sweetheart on November 2, which entailed a trip to Austin. The wedding was wonderful and the weather was perfect. However, I'm sure glad I don't live there - the traffic is worse than horrific.

I was next privileged to get a quick weekend trip up to Amarillo to see one of my dearest friends for two days, then came back on Sunday and dumped the suitcase only to repack for an 'official' business conference Monday morning in, wait for it, Austin. The hotel was closer out than in, and I never left the hotel vicinity until time to head back home. I also was not driving this time. Managed to miss a dental appointment while in Austin.

For some insane reason I invited my brother and sister-in-law for Thanksgiving, volunteering to cook. Now, you must first be apprised of the fact that I do NOT like to cook, yet I put together a complete Thanksgiving meal with home-made Pumpkin-Ginger Soup, a Turkey, dressing, baked sweet potatoes, rolls and desert. My sister-in-law brought broccoli for something green. We had wine with the meal, and hot tea with the desert. It was mahvelous and I think I surprised them. ("You mean you did all this by yourself?") Oh, I can cook. I just don't like to and choose not to so much.

The day after Thanksgiving I had out of town company, including the dear friend I had seen only two weeks before (Yay!), and my oldest friend - someone I've known since we were in 7th grade Sunday School together. We did the town, ate some barbeque, drank way too much wine, met another friend...for drinks...had pizza, saw the largest liquor store I've ever been in and just had a great time. Oh, and did I mention I was also frantically trying to put up Christmas decorations?

I almost didn't decorate this year, because, well, it's an ordeal getting everything down the tiny attic stairwell, putting everything up (including my almost 20 year old tree that looks almost brand new), and then carting all the empty boxes back up to the attic to yet come down again after Christmas to be stuffed full and taken back up. Whew. But I did it. My main reason this year is I received a substantial Macy's gift card last year and 'misplaced' it. After searching downstairs, I finally decided it must be up in one of the boxes. Today I went up to put some empty boxes away. There are still boxes up there...just let me say I have a LOT of decorations. I started going through more boxes and found a little box with an ornament I received last year. I opened it and VOILA! My gift card. I need to get my Christmas stuff a little more organized. ☺

So. Christmas has arrived at my house and I love the way it looks. I'm glad I put some of it out. Oh, and I had a lot of good help...see for yourself...

Of course, she needs plenty of little, um, 'cat' naps too...

Hope everyone's Christmas Season is wonderful and brings peace and joy to your heart.

Life in the very fast lane

I'm settling into my new job. I know it takes a while (up to a year has been mentioned) before you feel comfortable. My current problem is I don't know what I'm doing. The State software is intensely confusing and non-user friendly. I've just come off of 2-1/2 days of training and am still sketchy on the whole thing. I did discover that what I thought I knew is mostly wrong and so most of the stuff I've already done is, likewise, mostly wrong. No chance to redo it at the current time, so...oh, well! The training was geared as a refresher course for employees and everyone else in the class was there for that reason only. Being new, I didn't 'get' a lot of what was being said and the instructor was on a tight timeline to get it all covered in the time he had. I never could get the exercises completed either, which was a frustration at best and didn't allow me to follow through. I do have manuals, which will help as a resource. Anyway, I'm guessing I'm just going to have to work through the 'exercises' in real time with real cases, which if done incorrectly will come back to bite me later. I'll just claim lack of knowledge, which is true.

The drive to work and back has been, um, well, let's just say 'Fast'. I'm amazed at all the traffic, and even though I'm on the road sometimes before 6am, I'm amazed at the bumper to bumper traffic. I can't help but wonder if there's anyone in the entire area who's not on the roads going somewhere. It's amazing. And then when I think that each of those vehicles takes $30-70 to fill up...my mind boggles.

Roommate is due back today from his Summer cat-sitting gig. I certainly enjoyed having my house back to myself for a little bit. I've been musing about looking for a bigger house after I get my finances back in shape. Also thinking about seeing if it's a possibility to build a master suite up in the attic. Comments from anyone who's done the attic construction aspect would be very welcome.

Cheers, everyone!