CafeChatNoir

Cause I’m not feeling it just yet. Could just be the sucky weather reports for the next couple days, but it’s just not been a whole lot better than 2009.

The back window in my car has decided that it doesn’t want to work anymore, which would normally be something that I’d simply leave alone for another time, but unfortunately, the window is open about an inch and a half, and as such, actually needs to be tended to. So, I’m looking at being carless for a couple days and that annoys me, too.

There was a 6.1 magnitude aftershock in Haiti today. WTF, Mother Nature, didn’t have enough fun with the first one?

It’s sounding more and more like the health care legislation may be dead, so yay, I can look forward to my premiums continuing to rise unabated, despite my decent health and fabulous looks, and then being cancelled if I ever have to actually use it.

I have taken to turning off the ringer on the phone in my bedroom and leaving my cell phone downstairs at night because I’m done with answering tax question calls from my grandmother at 3AM. (She has a little problem with boundaries and bothering to look at clocks.) I’m pretty sure this makes me a bad person, but I need sleep to effectively be the CEO of “Keep Grandma out of a Nursing Home, Inc.” and she certainly has no problems picking up the phone during the day.

On the upside, the animals are all quite well. Carmen decided to have herself a good old fashioned feline crazy this morning and was chasing me, the dog, invisible bugs, and anything else that caught her eye. However, the Christmas tree is a little worse for the wear for her fun this morning. She is happily sleeping on my lap as I type this, which thrills Moxley to no end, because it means she is not in his crate. He was not having a super awesome time this afternoon as he couldn’t sleep in his crate because Carmen was in it (why he won’t just walk in and sit on her is beyond me) and Lily kept trying to sleep on his tail and feet. (She LOVES him and is also just a little obsessed with his feet.)

So yeah 2010 – I’m just not impressed so far. We’re stuck with each other for 11+ more months, so let’s get it together, shall we?

Yeah, I know, it’s technically Tuesday, but the muse is still on PHX time.

– Carmen is about 91% back to normal. She still looks at the ceiling fans with a suspicious eye, but is back to hanging out in the living room, and decided food was the winner in the fear of ceiling fan vs. eating in the bedroom. It may seem silly that it worried me as much as it did, but it’s just a tiny bit heartbreaking to not be able to explain that the ceiling fan is not a predator. Lily still looks at the ceiling fans and then looks at me with an expression of, “Seriously, I don’t get the issue here.” Or it’s, “WTF, why is the fan off?” I’m not quite sure which it is.

– Is it wrong that when I come in and want to know where the kittens are I say, “Where are my single ladies?!” and then sing a few bars from Beyonce’s Single Ladies song? They do show up when I sing it. (And I use the term “singing” loosely.)

– Sharyn* called today, and I’ll admit my first thought when seeing her number on the Caller ID was, “WTF has my grandmother done???” Yes, I know I’m going to hell for that. But, it was just an update. First being that the hot water heater is ON – and to expect some calls about that. (I couldn’t even get her to voluntarily leave it on when we stayed with her. So I just turned it on and didn’t tell her.) But, she’s not been super great about showering of late, for several understandable reasons that I am completely speculating upon because she won’t actually tell anyone:

a) Afraid she’ll fall & hurt herself
b) Not like she’s out running a marathon
c) Doesn’t give a rat’s ass, cause she’s 87 years old
d) Hot water costs money

But Sharyn is getting her a shower seat (the shower has a built in bench, but she could quite easily slide right off it it – hell, *I* could slide off it were I not paying attention) and will be there so my grandmother knows if she has any issues, help is immediately there. (And as Sharyn said, “Hell, if she wants me to get naked too, I’ll do it.” God bless this woman.)

Additionally, we’d previously talked about Meals on Wheels for more hot food options**, but they’re kind of insistent on “coming in & helping” and my grandmother just is NOT comfortable having strangers about (which I think is a good thing) and Sharyn did a little more poking around and one of the local hospitals does a pretty kick ass meal plan that can be picked up, which is better for all helping out. Given my grandmother’s good financial situation***, it will cost……$4 a meal. Christ, our Chinese takeout tonight cost way more than that. And she was reading one of the menus to me – Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad & milk. Hell, where do *I* sign up for that?

I’m very glad she found this, cause she has been cooking up things to take over to my grandmother, which is awesome, but I’m really glad to have this off her plate (so to speak) because I do worry that she’s doing too much already, despite her protestations to the contrary.

* The angel sent from heaven to Sun City to prevent me from tossing my grandmother into the middle of traffic on Bell Road.
** My grandmother would live on sandwiches & ice cream if left to her own devices. I am at the point of “Whatever the hell she wants” but I am outvoted, LOL. She will eat *anything* you put in front of her, but will never admit that she’d like anything beyond sandwiches & ice cream. As I have said before, she’s taken self deprivation to an art form.
*** I have told my grandmother on more than a few occasions that if I had her resources at her age, I’d be ordering Lobster Thermador & a Cabana Boy every night. I will be getting the contact info for this hospital meal plan and a nice donation will be made so they can help a few more people who *can’t* afford it, because frankly, she’s being ridiculously undercharged for this service.

And it would seem that it’s Carmen. Yesterday morning I heard her go skittering off the little food table in the bedroom and under the bed. Didn’t really think anything of it, as she’s not always graceful and she splits her time about 50/50 between under the bed and on the bed.

What I did not realize until later was that apparently she looked at the ceiling fan and went “OMG, spinning blades of death from above!” I figured this out when she wouldn’t come into the living room, and when she got near the entry to the room, she wouldn’t take her eyes off the ceiling fan…

She will come into the living room briefly and look up and then decide, “Um, no, this isn’t working for me” and back to the dining room she goes. Other than that, she’s acting completely normally. With the bedroom, she’s now splitting her time between the walk-in closet and under the bed with the dog.

I really, REALLY hope she can get over this soon, because
a) I will need to have the fans on when summer comes around,
b) I miss having my lapcats, cause Lily is enjoying the dining room with Carmen, and
c) I don’t want her to be scared for the rest of her life – she’s too sweet to be scared.

First, I have to thank my dog for always making me feel better about myself.  This morning as I made my coffee, I looked at the dog & kittens and said, “OK, what shall we all work on this year?”

Kittens: “What is this ‘work on’ thing you speak of?  We are perfectly cute, there is nothing to ‘work on’.”
Me: “Good point.”

I looked at Moxley.
“Well Mox, you’re the awesomedog and really, there isn’t a thing you need to work on either.  Guess it’s just me that needs to improve.”
Mox: *UUURRRRRPPPP* as he barfs.  (Fortunately in the kitchen, easy cleanup.)
Me: “Aww, OK, that’s nice of you.  You can work on not drinking your water too fast and then running around like a banshee and barfing.”

Beyond the dog not barfing up his water and the cats continuing their quest for world domination via cuteness, there are some other things I’d love to see in 2010.

– Lord Stanley’s Cup coming home with the Washington Caps.  (Who should be playing in the Winter Classic today, but NBC and the NHL are full of morons.)

– Civility in the political arena.  There is this really nifty concept where people “agree to disagree” on various subjects that works quite nicely in lieu of ridiculous name calling.  (Note to all parties: The minute you play the Nazi card, you automatically lose the argument.)

– For the economic recovery to actually make it down to regular people and not just Wall Street.  It’s great that the markets have come back, but until people can go to bed at night without worrying that they will lose their house/job/everything, the recovery isn’t complete.

– More reading.  I need to find my library card again.  (Or just suck it up and pay the $2 for a replacement, which will guarantee I find the old one.)

– More patience with my grandmother.  Things are only going to deteriorate, and she’s never going to get that prescription for Valium that the rest of us so very much need her to have.  On the flip side, I also need to remember she has never, ever called with an actual emergency, and she hasn’t died as a result of getting my voice mail instead of me, so the guilt needs to go out the window.  (Probably all easier said than done.)

– For the awesomedog & superkittens to continue to get along so incredibly well.  And for Moxley to not be quite so nervous when Lily is in “Oh Moxley, I LOOOOOOOOVE you!!” mode.   (Right now she is cuddled up next to him, on her back, fast asleep.  Shame she doesn’t feel secure around him.)

– To learn how to clip the cats’ nails.  I chickened out and had the kennel do it while we were in PHX.  (Which also reminds me, the kitty clippers were the item I forgot to get at PetCo yesterday.)  I suspect this may be the easiest of my 2010 endeavours.

– Improve my housekeeping skills.  OK, the skills are there, just getting off my lazy ass and doing it.  I just have a knack for finding a million things that are more interesting than cleaning.

– Finally, to find a bit of direction in my life beyond just keeping my grandmother from calling 911 to ask what day of the week it is.  I think this will be the most challenging task of this year, as my grandmother’s situation has become a bit all-consuming to me as I have been having a very hard time convincing myself that I do not have to make myself available 24/7, and this has put a real dent in my doing anything new or different.

My Moxley The AwesomeDog has had a rough couple of days.

To begin with, he has to deal with two tween girl cats.  (Seriously, if they were human, they’d be in the “OMG, TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!”  stage of life and having serious arguments over being Team Edward vs. Team Jacob.)

That in and of itself is rough for any happy, laid-back canine.  Then the other insults came along.

The other night I discovered a mat behind his ear.  For being a dog made of fun-fur, the fact that he only gets mats behind his ears or on his front elbows still surprises me to no end.  (And I do try very hard to keep those areas brushed and mat-free to begin with.)  But a mat behind his ear has to be at least somewhat uncomfy when he goes to scratch behind his ears.  So, I got out the blunt-end kindergarten scissors to tend to it.  That right there was 10 rounds, because he kept deciding to leave the area, and I pick my battles.  But, we finally got the mat clipped out.

Then tonight Donald discovered a tick on his head.  Great.  Being the coward that I am, I gave my brother the tweezers and said, “Knock yourself out – I’ll help hold him still if you need it.”  (The last time he had a tick when it was just me, I *tried* to get it out, and ended up taking him to the vet to get it out because I was sure I’d rip out half his little scalp in the process.  God bless my vet who only laughed a little bit at me – he would have been justified in laughing so hard he needed to change his undies.)  But little bro removed it and all was good.

And then I came home this evening and discovered that Mox had eye-goobers.  I don’t really know any other way to describe it, but if you have had pets, then you know what eye-goobers are.  They’re not gross, they just are what they are.  But, I had to remove said eye-gunk.  And Oh My God, the dog was so NOT PLEASED.  Not angry, not aggressive, not pissy.  Simply NOT PLEASED.

On top of all of these indignities, last night we let the kittens out to have the run of the upstairs and main level during sleeping hours.  It went something like this, “Run, Run, Run, Bark, Bark, Bark, Run, Run, Run.”  Donald came upstairs at a rather late hour and was greeted by an exhausted dog wondering WHY AREN’T THE KITTENS IN THEIR ROOM??”  He finally got to sleep when they woke me up at 4AM after knocking a plastic bowl of change off the counter in the bathroom that sounded way too much like shattering glass, so I brought them back into my room for the remainder of the night.  Tonight, they stay in – we ALL need to sleep and I’d prefer not to burn the turkey tomorrow due to sleep deprivation.

And despite all these indignities, all I have to do is look to the muppet dog to my right on the loveseat and say, “Howya doin’ Moxley?” and I get a tail wagging so fast it’s a blur and a pup who wants nothing more than to give kisses and get his tummy rubbed.

And that my friends, is why he’s not just a good dog, or a great dog, but the AwesomeDog.

So, the kittens are big enough they can be out and about in the house for a while each day.  Moxley feels the need to supervise their activities.  This results in a fair amount of barking.  Not barking *at* the cats, but *about* the cats.

In short, Moxley is a big tattletale.

It goes something like this…

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

“The kittens are fighting!”

“They’re running in the house!”

“They’re standing near the bicycle!”

“Lily’s in my spot on the couch!”  (Though he did attempt to take care of this himself by jumping on the couch and sitting on her.  Lily was unfazed.)

“Carmen is laying by the front door!”

“Lily is on my chair!”  (Followed by his jumping on the chair and Lily headbutting him.)

“Lily’s touching me!”

“Carmen went under the shelf by the door and I can’t see her now!”

The kittens have gone back upstairs for lunch and a nap.  The dog is utterly exhausted.

As you can see, the kittens are terribly intimidated by the dog.

More after the jump, including zombie kittens!

Continue Reading “All three together!”

Damn they move fast.  And the lighting in my room sucks to boot.  But I got 2 pics today!

They are so sweet.  Their personalities are definitely starting to emerge – Lily stops for attention before going off to conquer the universe and if Carmen is getting cuddled, she’s right there going, “What about ME?!”  She’s a leg climber and does a lovely impression of a parrot on my shoulder.  The minute she hears me coming in the room she’s off the top of the carrier and right there waiting when the door opens.  Carmen has already established her “waking up from a nap” routine.  There’s some rolling around on top of the carrier, then she slides off it, works on her nails on the little mat, then comes sauntering out to see what’s going on.  She’s figured out that the big wide world isn’t going anywhere, so she can take her time.

The minute I pick up either one, they start to purr.  Their incisions are really starting to heal nicely, thank you Dr. Alt, Clavamox and hydrogen peroxide.  This is a good thing because they’re getting more active every day and keeping them in check is getting very, very difficult.

Cat TV is awesome, they found yesterday’s episodes to be particularly compelling because of the wind – lots of leaves blowing around and the trees were moving.  Since I’ve shown them the windows, at night they look at them and look at me with this “Turn it back ON!” look.

Moxley is happy they are here, but doesn’t quite know what to make of them.  This morning Lily marched right up to him and headbutted him and then laid down right next to him.  I thought his head was going to explode.  But he stayed perfectly still, and didn’t even flinch when Lily went after his tail.  He did definitely want to go ahead and return to his station down on the couch after that.  Carmen will walk up to him and give him a, “Hey dog.” look but then goes on to patrol the master closet.  (She finds it quite interesting despite there being nothing she can get into in there.)

And on to the pics!  (Nope, didn’t make my bed this morning.)