My wish/bucket list

So I started typing up this list about a year ago.  And I've actually started in on one of the items, did another and actually may do a third on the 26th.

The way this list is going maybe I should have a vacation/site seeing list all by itself. Geesh

Go to Ireland, Scotland and England

Go to Germany and Austria (for HDT more than me)
Get back down to 135-140 and maintain - I'm trying, AGAIN, down 7 pounds.  Got rid of the elliptical and got a water rowing machine that I like more
Paint my walls something other than white
Get some shelves or have them made for the living room - have book shelves finally
Get out of debt and stay out - on my way, canceled two cards and paid them off.  HDT's Jeep just got paid off and will be using the monthly payment from that towards other cards now
See our nation's capital
Go to New York City
And see a Broadway show
Own a cabin in the woods or on a lake/pond or both
See Vermont and/or New Hampshire in the fall
Take a fall scenic train ride
Go to Starved Rock basically in my backyard, mainly want to see in the fall of course
Have a "grown-up" house - i.e. a living room that doesn't have Saints stuff as decorations. Or at least only a few items. - On our way, most Saints items in the finished basement now. Bookshelves displaying books, just need a few more pieces of art on the walls.
Go on an architectural boat tour in Chicago - done in August 2014
Learn how to drive a motorcycle, whether I own one or not
Go to Niagara Falls - done 10/5-6/2012
Go to the Grand Canyon
Go to at least one of the many many caves we have throughout our many states
Get my engagement/wedding rings fixed or remodeled (requires loosing the weight so they're the correct size)
Skydive at least once
Go to Disneyworld
Retire in Kentucky (or somewhere in that area)
Get another orange tabby (miss my Tody) - Didn't add an orange tabby but got a golden one and a black/brown one, brothers named Merry and Pippin from Lord of the Rings
Get back down to Gulf Shores Alabama.  Not an easy thing to do since HDT isn't thrilled with "beach" activities.
See the Saints in every stadium - on our way, 8 so far including the Superdome: Bears/Chicago, Packers/Green Bay, Bengals/Cincinnati, Browns/Cleveland, Lions/Detroit, Rams/St Louis (now need to see 'em in LA), 49er's/San Francisco

Updated 11/15/16

As I think of other stuff, if I do that is, I'll add to it and of course as I actually do these things I'll update it.

I don't wanna be here

So, is it wrong of me to wish I had a migraine right now so I could leave work and go home? 

Yes, yes it is.  No, I really don't want a migraine.  I just wish I weren't at work.

But I am so here I'll stay until 5:00.  Blech

Actually, I'm quite glad I don't have a migraine and quite surprised too.  It's that time of the month and it's all rainy/stormyish outside.  My two main triggers so really it's quite amazing I don't have one. 

I certainly hope I'm not jinxing myself either, because I really don't want one no matter how much I'd like to go home. 

Whales and the Rest of the Menagerie

So not much has been happening with me, as usual, since the last post. 

Had the first two week follow up appointment after putting on the bottom braces.  As promised he upped the pushing together of the teeth.  The tooth to the left of the space has a much larger gap now between it and the next tooth.  The tooth to the right is moving as well just not as accelerated, I guess he wants the ones to the left to move in more than the ones on the right. 

It's a pain in the ass to eat just about everything.  But does that stop me?  Nope.  

A couple weeks ago I went to do my grocery shopping and as I'm walking into the store I look up into the sky and see a whale there.  Yep, you read that right, a whale.  Look see for yourself.....



Don't know where it was going though.  Maybe to Lake Michigan as it's headed east.  I believe if you click on the picture you'll get a larger version.

So, the following picture is what I put up with most nights, or some version thereof.

My head is that tiny brown spot in the bottom left corner of the picture.  In order from my head up is Merry, Pogo, Pippin and Banderling.  Merry and Pippin are the kittens who are brothers and Pogo and Banderling are 13 year old brothers.

Normally Pogo is the first on the pillow, there sometimes before my own head hits it.  He doesn't quite do what my beloved Tody would do which was race me to bed.  Somehow that cat knew when I was going to bed as opposed to just going to the bedroom for something. He'd actually take off running and jump up and settle on the pillow before I had a chance to climb in.  No, Pogo follows me in and sometimes even waits for me to settle before jumping up.  And other times he's there already.  I guess it just depends on his mood.

So anyway, he settles in and sometimes that's it all night but most of the time at least one of the kittens if not both will follow.  Usually it's Pippin first and he always goes above like he is now, between Pogo and the headboard.   

Merry always plops down in between Pogo and my head/face.  Usually my face.  Just puts his belly right in my face so I can barely breath.  Which is what he did this night.  He was the second one in.

That's usually it because Bander prefers to either be in my face and if he can't because of Merry he'll go to his second favorite spot which is nestled against my stomach.  I'm a side sleeper with my legs bent.  So he's in the lap spot usually.  But for whatever reason this night he decided he wanted up where Pippin usually goes and settled in between Pogo and the headboard.

Then next thing I know up comes Pippin stomping up the side of the bed and with no hesitation plops down on top of Pogo and Bander and slowing because of being so heavy squished them to the sides.  Which of course made Pogo squish Merry just a little more against my face. 

I knew this had to be quite a sight so I reached over to the table and grabbed my phone to take a picture.  It's not the best as Pippin's face is cut off a bit but it's still pretty darn good and definitely represents how I end up with just a tiny patch of pillow for myself.

And this picture of Poydras was one morning after I woke up.  He was all snuggled in against my side where Bander usually goes looking all adorable.



The red comforter just swallows him up.  Ah the joys of having animals.

This morning I woke up to Bander being the only one on the pillow above my head, Pogo stretched out along my back and the kittens at my feet.  One of them was sort of on top of them.  And Poydras was in between me and HDT with his head resting on my arm.  Too bad I couldn't get a picture of that.

No media quote today.  Can't think of anything off the top of my head and don't feel like researching anything that would go with.

Pulled tooth, braces and the good times to go with..... NOT

So, it finally became time to pull the problem tooth (#25) and get the bottom braces put on last week.

The week before that I had my monthly appointment for the top braces, on the 17th to be exact.  So last month in April at the end of that appointment the dr says that next month we'll do the mold for your retainer for your top teeth.  So I said to him, "So that sounds like we're getting close to do the bottom teeth.  Should I make the appointment to get the tooth pulled the same day or what?"  He says to me and I quote, "No, no, no, I'm not even ready to talk about that yet, don't do that yet!"  I said, "ok, but when the time comes should I..." and he interrupts and says again that he's not ready to even talk about that yet don't do it.   OOOOKKKK

So on the 17th they're fitting me for the retainer/bite plate and the assistant is saying how next Friday when you come back we'll have this ready for you and the top braces will come off and the bottom ones will go on.  By the time she was done taking the mold out of my mouth so I could speak she was now talking to the doctor about something then his hands were in there doing the new wire and by the time all was said and done I completely forgot about what she had said.

So on my way into work I remembered she said the bottom ones would be put on so I called them up asking about the tooth, should it be pulled or what.  He apologized and said he had forgotten all about it but even if I hadn't pulled it before hand the oral surgeon I'd be seeing is good enough that he'd be able to do it with them on.  But of course pulling it before hand would be best. Ya think!?! So I asked him since my appointment with him isn't until the middle of the afternoon should I do it the same day so that way I can take the whole day off and get it done all at once.  He said no, because if I do it the same day it'd still be bloody and the blood would get in the way of what he's doing.  I should do it at least a day if not more ahead to give it a bit of time to heal over.

So my appointment for the tooth pulling was on the 23rd at 10:30.  After the 40 or so minutes of letting the Novocain take affect it lasted all of 5 minutes to pull the damn thing.  I did feel it when he had to push down on it to try to loosen it and he said I may hear cracking but not to worry it'll just be the tooth.  Sure enough 3 cracks were heard but he got it out and then he said he could see the bit of real tooth that was still there with the fucked up root.  Fucked up - my words not him.  Heh  That came right out, then all he had to do was stitch it up and I was out of there.

I fully expected to go into work that afternoon at 1:00.  HDT kept telling me I shouldn't but I felt fine.  Well sort of.  I woke up with a headache and both my legs were aching as well and they didn't get any better for quite awhile.

When the dr was done he put a big piece of gauze on it and told me to bite down for 45 minutes.  If after taking it off it was still bleeding put the new piece he gave me on it and bite down for 30 more minutes.  Luckily I didn't have to do that.  It was all to help the blood clot form.  Because my mouth was slightly open and everything that had just been done was done I was salivating pretty heavily.  So I was constantly swallowing.  After being home for about 15 minutes my stomach started to get queasy from all the saliva with some blood mixed in that was going into it.  Also Poydras started sniffing at me and at one point his nose was hitting my chin.  I went to swipe him away telling him to stop and my hand brushed my chin and felt wetness.  I had been drooling for who knows how long right down my chin and it also had been dripping and with all the numbness I didn't notice it.  But you'd think HDT would've being right in front of me and all but NOOOO he didn't.  My shirt had a big ole wet spot on it from the drool.  Damn man.

So anyway, while we're sitting on the bed discussing what had happened, or sort of anyway, I couldn't really talk all that well what with the big ole piece of gauze and numbness, he's also looking at the paper they gave for what's to be done right after and up to a week.  He reads where I was to take the first dose of antibiotics the night before.  Of course I didn't because I didn't have the prescription.  So he calls them up and they say I should've gotten three at the time of my consultation.  Sure, yeah, but that was way back in December people.  Thanks a lot for the reminder when I called to make the appointment a week ahead and their call to confirm it the day before.  Hell, even at the appointment you'd think someone would have asked if I'd taken the pill the night before.  So the lady tells HDT that they'll call one in for me and call him back when it's done.

After about 5 minutes I think I might know where they are if I hadn't thrown them away and sure enough I find them.  He calls them back to let them know we're good.  I ask him to fill them for me up the street at Walgreens so he could get back in time for me to go to work at 1:00.  After another 10 minutes he FINALLY gets out of bed to go to the bathroom.  While he's in there I say to him again to hurry up, don't take a shower, it's now 12:30 and I have to be leaving soon.  While saying that I all of a sudden got a huge flair of pain in the right side on my brain.  And it barely let up.  So I said, ok, he's won I'm not going in.

He called my boss to let her know and she laughed and told him she fully expected me to be calling in, said she thought I was wishful thinking it about coming in.  By the time we got the prescriptions filled and I took the first 800mg Ibuprofen (rather than the hydrocodone they also gave) the Novocain was just starting to wear off.  The pain pill took care of that right away but the leg pain took almost another two hours to go away and the migraine didn't go away until almost 5:00.  Which by that time I was practically falling asleep.  Don't know what wiped me out but man I could barely keep my eyes open.  So yeah, it was a good thing I ended up staying home.

Friday morning I was all better though so I was able to go into work with no problems.  Chatted with my boss for the first half hour or so and then as I'm leaving her office she tells me to take it easy.  Just do easy work until I had to leave for the day.  She's so damn awesome.  I'm so grateful my last place of employment layed me off and I found this place.

So I'm sitting in the chair at 2:00 and the dr's other assistant is working that day and she's preparing my bottom teeth for the braces and she says how he'll show me the retainer/bite plate.  So I ask her if the top ones are coming off then.  And she acted surprised and said no they'll be staying on probably for the whole duration.  There's a small chance he might decide to take them off early but doubtful.  I'm getting the retainer/bite plate now because they still come down about halfway which means they could be hitting the bottom braces and he wants to make sure that doesn't happen.  He tells me I'm to wear it all the time except for when I eat.  Yeah, that doesn't really happen.  I definitely do while I'm sleeping but only partly during the day.  At rest my teeth don't even touch unless I'm actually biting down and really why would I do that unless I'm eating. So yeah, not too worried about wearing it during the day when I'm at work and talking on and off.   But don't worry I do wear it periodically throughout the day.

Within two hours of the braces being on there was already a slight space between the teeth that are moving in to replace the gap and the other teeth on their other sides.  Damn that's fast.  He did say he wanted to accelerate the process too so instead of a monthly appointment I'll be going in every two weeks for an adjustment.

And I have to say that although there is some pain and discomfort it's nothing like the top teeth were which made me very surprised.  I thought for sure with a tooth being pulled and the others moving in to take it's place there'd be all kinds of pain.  Maybe that'll come but right now I'm not hating it.  And I am very happy that it's all finally gonna be done and over with.  I mean, don't get me wrong, eating still isn't pleasant but it's bearable.  Although being that it has just been a week I still can't bite into things unless it's very soft. 

And I wasn't allowed to spit or drink through a straw until today. Which made "spitting" out my toothpaste not very easy. I had to sort of just push it out. And we went to see three movies over the weekend and I had to keep taking the lid off our drink rather than using the straw which was a big pain in the ass. Every time I took a drink I was afraid I was going to spill either the drink all over me or my popcorn all over the floor from balancing on my legs. But neither happened and I was able to enjoy the movies.

We saw Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and 42. Gotta say Star Trek in 3D on the IMAX was pretty damn awesome but between it and Iron Man I actually like Iron Man more. It had more "story" to it. Meaning there was more down time inbetween all the action. Don't get me wrong, I like action but I like story with my action. And 42, wow, what an awesome movie. And if even half of it was true, being based on a true story and all, I learned quite a bit. But I agree with HDT that even though I very much enjoyed the movie and I love me some Major League and A League of Their Own they still don't make me like baseball.  I'm a Cubs fan that doesn't care for baseball.  Heh

Media quotes of the day:

From Iron Man 3
So, uhh, who's home? - Tony Stark
Well, my mom already left to the diner, and dad went somewhere to get scratchers... I guess he won, 'cause that was six years ago. - Harley Keener
Hmm... which happens, dads leave, no need to be a pussy about it, here's what I need... - Tony Stark

From Star Trek Into Darkenss
Are you drunk?  - James T Kirk
What I do on my private time is my business, Jim. - Scotty

From 42
You want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight back? - Jackie Robinson
No. I want a player who's got the guts *not* to fight back. - Branch Rickey
You give me a uniform, you give me a number on my back, I'll give you the guts. - Jackie Robinson

My home away from home for 6 years

So I go to my Statcounter every few days to see who's stopped by and from where.  I have a few people that come by on a semi regular basis.  Hey there people - *waves*.  Most get here through google searches of Douglas Ketcham and Brendan Dolan who I did the 9/11 tribute posts to.  Or just doing the navigation from blog to blog.

Yesterday someone did the navigation way and wouldn't you know it, they are out of Gonzales, Louisiana.  That's the town we moved to back in 1985 when my mom married the asshole and I had to move from Illinois to there because I was only 16.  Other than about 9 months or so when I lived in Baton Rouge that's were I was for 6 years until I was able to move back home to Illinois.

Although I have no desire to ever live in Louisiana again I love going to New Orleans for vacations and to see my Saints play.  One of our trips down I took HDT to Gonzales to show him where we lived.  It hadn't changed much in the 7 years or so from the time I left till then.  I wonder what it's like now 20 years later.  Next time we get down to New Orleans maybe we'll swing through again to see.  As long as we're there long enough and not just there to see a game.

And for anyone from Louisiana that may see this post.  I love the state, obviously or I wouldn't keep going back and telling everyone I know they need to at the very least go to New Orleans once in their lives.  No, the reason I don't ever want to live there again is the weather.  I hate the heat and humidity.  It's bad enough here in the far north of Illinois.  And there's no "real" winters there.  I love me some snow.  And although it did snow a couple times in my 6 years it didn't stick around.  So yeah, it's the weather, no other reason.

no media quote today, got a migraine and don't feel like thinking beyond what I already did to do this post.  heh

I shudder

So I received a question a few weeks ago in the comments that I didn't see until today.  Sorry about that.  I did respond there but figured I'd put it here as well just in case it's not seen there.

Melanie Alger said...

Does getting braces hurt? I have to get them soon, and I'm kind of scared... :P

March 03, 2013 3:58 PM

Katrina said...

Sorry, I just saw your comment. Hopefully this isn't too late getting to you.

They do hurt, not gonna lie about that. Let's see, when they were first put on I think it took just about two weeks for the teeth to finally not hurt so much. I actually lost a few pounds because I couldn't eat much more than soup and potatoes without it hurting. Although it didn't stop me from some things such as pizza. Heh

Since then with the adjustments every month it usually just hurts for a couple days. Until this last time because he "doubled up" on the wire. Hurt almost as bad as the very first time. But it only lasted about half the time so that was nice.

I just keep telling myself that when it's all over I'll be a happier person. It helps, sometimes.

So yeah, since my last post it did take about a week for the pain to finally ease up.  Now I just feel that some are loose again so they're moving still.  But at least they don't hurt.  I guess you could say one or two are sensitive but not really painfull.  And then it's usually just when I brush my teeth.  I use a Sonic brush so the vibration sometimes hurts them a bit.  In fact when they were first put on in December for about a week I couldn't even use the vibration mode, had to brush like it was just a regular brush and even that was pretty tender.

_________________________________

So what's been going on in the last week and half?  Not much really.  The money for the auction still has never come out of our account.  I've asked HDT to get ahold of them to find out what's going on but he hasn't yet.  I hate, hate, hate being on the phone so unfortunately for him most of these types of things fall to him.  He hates it but really only because he doesn't think I should so much.  He actually LIKES talking on the phone.  Shuuuuudddddeeeeerrrr.

We're pretty boring people really.  Not much else has happened.  Oh one thing did.  I finally decided to watch the first episode of Vampire Diaries that's been in the Netflix queue forever.  And I've completely gotten hooked.  I watch the show when HDT is at work or going on raids in Star Wars, the online RPG that he plays.  But he still catches things every now and then.  So I'm able to "talk" to him about it from time to time.  It helps with the crazy.  HAHAHA   Yep, totally hooked.

We watched an episode with our friend Manon when we were up in Canada visiting her and Mark back in October.  It was in my queue then but we had/have so many things to watch already that I just never got around to watching until now.  She was very willing to answer my and HDT's questions.  I never knew Ian Somerhalder was a bad boy, always thought he was a good vampire.  But I guess that's because he was such a good boy in Lost.  She said he's been the bad boy since the beginning.  And sure enough he has. 

That's really about it.  We may or may not have company over tonight.  Jim's sister's birthday is this week and they were wondering if we'd want to hang out tonight, maybe play some games.  I'm leaving it up to HDT on whether we'll do it or not.  I'm good either way although I am leaning more towards no but that's just because I get antisocial sometimes.

Media quote of the day:  From the Pilot of Vampire Diaries

For over a century I have lived in secret, hiding in the shadows, alone in the world, until now. I am a vampire. And this is my story.  -  Stefan Salvatore

I shouldn't have come home, I know the risk, but I had no choice, I have to know her. - Stefan Salvatore

Dear Diary, today will be different, it has to be, I will smile and it will be believable. A smile that will say "I am fine, thank you... Yes I feel much better." I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her parents, I will start fresh, be someone new. It's the only way I can make it through.  - Elena Gilbert

I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word. - Damon Salvatore to Stefan

Birthdays, braces and auctions

So, wow, it's been quite awhile since I last posted.  Didn't realize it's been that long.  A few things have happened since then.

HDiTty's birthday happened in Feb.  We went out to our favorite Chinese place, Plum Garden, for a late lunch/early dinner.  Then got him a game.  Then went to Chili's for desert and a drink.  I follow them on twitter and they tweeted about a new chocolate chip cookie molten desert.  Unfortunately it wasn't until after we were served our drinks that we found out our local Chili's doesn't have that desert.  At least not yet.  So we got a different one and called it a night.  He didn't really want to do much else since it wasn't a "big one" so we didn't. 

My birthday happened just 11 days ago on the 4th.  All I wanted to do was go to dinner and a movie.  Ended up just getting the movie done.  But that's ok.  We eat out so much that it wasn't a let down.  We did the movie the weekend after since he worked the weekend before and I had a migraine on the day itself.  Actually it started on Sunday and lasted until Wed. when I left work and promptly vomited once I got home.  Which I was fighting not to get sick the whole drive home so I knew it was gonna happen pretty much once I walked in the door.  Yeah, not a fun birthday week.

In between our birthdays was his mom's.  We took her out to Plum Garden and then to Red Lobster for their version of the molten chocolate chip cookie.  Which is just to die for.  Then went back to our house to hang out for the evening.

For both our birthdays she made us a dinner.  Separately that is, his on his day and mine on the 9th.  He wanted tacos and both sisters were able to make it with their kids.  It was a good time.  No drama which is nice.  My birthday we had steak and potatoes.  Garlic mashed, so damn good.  His youngest sister was able to make it with her daughter.  Later in the evening his other sister was able to swing by but it was late so she came without her kids.  Over all it was another successful evening.  Even with the discussion of the all the Popes and Mother Theresa getting heated.  Heh

Let's see, what else.  Oh yeah, another birthday just happened.  The oldest nephew on HDT's side just turned 11 on the 12th.  We went up to his house for cake and gift giving.  Stayed later than I would have liked because HDT was setting up the Xbox Live account for him.  That took way longer than it should've.  But it's set up now and we had one happy kid on our hands so it's all good.

I've had a monthly adjustment for my braces since they were put on in December.  Today was this month's adjustment.  And I gotta say they're almost as tender now as they were when they were first put on.  I had chicken nuggets for lunch and couldn't bite into them.  I had to tear them in half so I could just pop them in my mouth.  I had to bite the fries off to the side as well.  They hurt so much they've caused a headache.  I told HDT that we'll have to have soup or mac and cheese for dinner, just something that I don't have to bite into.  Maybe Chinese, but I doubt Plum Garden since it's not a quick drive.  They were slightly tender with the other adjustments, nothing like this time.  Ugh!

Let's see what else.....

Oh yeah.  A couple weeks ago we went bowling for a charity event at our local bowling alley.  We signed up with several other dispatchers, HDT's coworkers, and a cop or two.  They had a silent auction going on as well.  I bid on three items and got them all....



You can click on the picture for a larger view. 

The one on the far right was given to his mom as a very early Mother's Day gift although she's displaying it as her Easter basket.  Keeping the wrapping on as well.  The artist is Jim Shore.  She loves his stuff.  They're nesting dolls.

The one next to it with the green bow is another basket but it's full of decorative items for the garden.  It's for my mom.  We haven't yet taken it over there.  There are three little plants in there so I was worried at first but turns out they're fake.  They sure look real though.  So we may hang on to it until Mother's Day actually comes around.  Or the next time we get over to mom's to visit which who knows when that'll be.  We're not the best of kids when it comes to visiting.

All the rest were one item.  But I didn't know it at the time I was bidding.  That huge tin of popcorn and the small bag in front of it were both sort of hidden by the big ticket item in the middle.  I thought I was just bidding on it which it's hard to see but the ticket is a tin plaque that looks like an oldtime movie ticket.  We've hung it up on the wall at the bottom of the stairs to the basement.  In the bag it's surrounded by boxes of candy, the kind bought at movie theaters.  And then in each corner is a movie - The Princess Bride and The Goonies. 

As everyone knows The Princess Bride is mine and HDT's "movie," we watch it every year on our Anniversary.  So when I saw it I wanted to bid on it but wasn't sure if I should since the starting amount was $35.00.  But I had HDT come look at it and he agreed since it's our movie I should bid, especially since the auction was more than half over and nobody had placed a bid.  So I did.  But the next time I went to check on them all I see some person by the name of Erin had her name down under mine.  So I immediately put mine down again and now it's for $45.00.  I go back a little later and she's bid again, it's now $50.00.  I wasn't sure if I was truly willing to bid $55.00 on just some candy, a couple movies we already own (PB in blue ray even) and a tin ticket.  But I thought what the hell I'm gonna do it anyway.  So I did. 

When they announced just a couple minutes left on the auction I went to check on them all again and my name was the last of them all.  But the only one I was truly worried about was this one since I clearly wasn't competing with anyone else for the others.  So I hovered.  LOL  And that's when I saw the big popcorn tin but still didn't see the other bag. 

When we went to pay and collect and they handed the smaller bag along with I was surprised.  In the bag is another bag of white chocolate covered popcorn, chocolate covered pretzel rods and some English toffee.  And then as we're leaving and I'm checking everything out I see a menu in that little bag.  Turns out there's a gift certificate to a little cafe for a dinner and a 20% off coupon to a candy making shop which is were the goodies are from.  Both in a small town not to far from us.  In fact a town we go to all the time because that's where we get our pet food.  Literally a half block from these two places. 

So turns out what I thought wasn't really worth $55.00 but I did it anyway is all worth far more than that.  Pretty cool. 

Media quotes of the day:

As you wish - Wesley from The Princess Bride

Booby trapped, that's what I said - Data from The Goonies    I hope this is right, I'm going from memory rather than looking it up.  Ah well, if not it's close enough.

Moving teeth

So it's been a month and 11 days since I got my braces.  The teeth have definitely moved.  I can now see the bottom of the bottom teeth where as before - nothing. 

I also started to develop a gap between the two front teeth so he put a band to bring them together.  Which has worked so well that they're now touching.  I don't go back again until the 15th so hopefully they won't start to overlap before then.

He worried me when he put a new wire on saying this one I'd feel but other than the two front teeth I really haven't had much pain.  Just a little in one of the ones on the right side. 

But... I can feel when they're getting lose and "moving" into position.  I can't help but play with them.  Which of course for the more sensitive ones it certainly doesn't help because that just makes eating painful. 

Ah well. 

Snuggle time

So, since the kittens were fixed there does seem to be some calming down happening.  Oh, they're still getting into things they shouldn't but that's as much our fault as theirs for leaving things where they can get to them.  Meaning food of course.  But the good thing is I haven't seen or woken up to either of them chasing Pogo and being aggressive towards him.  So that's a good thing.  It's what finally made us get off our asses and get them taken care of.  It was stressing Pogo out to where he'd hiss at them when they just walked in his general direction. 

Although they'd chase him during the day and sometimes in the middle of the night they'd still all end up on my pillow at some point basically pushing me off it.  And since the neutering the snuggling as gotten even better. 

This happened the other night.

Look how much Pippin covers Pogo.  And Pip is not a light cat, in fact he weighs 12.3 pounds.  Where as Pogo is probably only around 8 or 9.  Haven't weighed him in awhile but the kittens were just weighed at the vets.  Pip is 12.3 and Merry is 10 even.  And Pogo definitely doesn't weigh as much Merry does.  Size wise they're about the same but Merry is a very solid 10 pounds.  Pogo isn't.

They don't ever seem to snuggle with Pogo any other time but when it comes to my sleep time they're all over each other trying to get the best spot on the pillows.

Media quote of the day:  Monty Python's The Holy Grail

I fart in your general direction - John Cleese (can't recall which character said it though)

Finally neutered

So, yesterday the kittens went to the vet to FINALLY get neutered.  HDT dropped them off a little after 8am.  They had told him last week when they went in for their initial checkup and shots, when he made yesterday's appointment, that he needs to drop them off between 8 and 8:30 and then he could pick them up late afternoon, close to 5. 

So he drops them off then goes and does some errands.  Just a couple hours later he gets a phone call from the vet and for those first few initial seconds between seeing their number on the screen and having the person talk to him he got really scared.  We had a cat, Alanis, that passed away after being taken in for a tooth pulling.  We came in to pick her up but she wasn't quite ready yet.  She was only just coming out of the anesthesia.  They said that it would probably be at least an hour before she'd be ready.  They asked us if we'd like to see her, we did so we did.  She was awake but barely, we each gave her some love and told her we'd be back in a little while.  We had plans to see a movie and were gonna do that but then decided not to because that'd be longer than the hour they were saying so we went home.  Good thing we did, pretty much right after we walked in the door they called to say she passed away.  Very very sad.  I'm glad we were able to see her and give her some love before it happened though.  So anyway, at that moment he couldn't remember if it was for that or for fixing, he thought fixing though.  So yeah, for about 10 seconds he was really worried that he was getting a call to say one or both passed away.  Because it just seemed too soon for them to be calling.

But luckily that's all it was.  They were doing just fine and he could come by and pick them up any time.  So he got there shortly after the call.  In between doing his other errands he was home and said they pretty much were just sleeping the whole time, when they would get up they moved slowly.  Which is what I observed when I got home.  Normally they're sitting at the back door when I walk in at 5:30 ready for their dinner.  Yesterday only Merry and Pogo were there.  And I was there for a good two minutes before Pippin showed up.  Coming slowly up the stairs from the basement. 

After eating they kind of wondered around a little bit while I made dinner and HDT unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher.  But nothing like normal that's for sure.  I picked Pippin up a couple times and he just sort of laid in my arms blinking slowly.  Too cute really.

When we settled on the couch to eat dinner and watch tv Merry jumped up and settled down next to my legs on my blanket.  After awhile Pippin showed up and nestled in with him.  And that's where they stayed for the rest of the night.  Even through me getting up a couple times.  They just sort of looked up at me when I disturbed them with these sad eyes.  But once I came back they did the slow blink at me and then went back to sleep.

When I went to bed they came up and settled on my pillow with Pogo as usual. I'm lucky if I get just enough of the pillow for my head. I can't even think about moving because if I do at least one of them, usually Merry, will slide right in where my head was because he's usually leaning on me. Love those little monsters.

Media quote of the day:  Shrek 2

I say we take the sword and neuter him right here! Give him the Bob Barker treatment! - Donkey - he's saying it to Shrek about Puss-n-Boots.  Heh

Christmas 2012

So our Christmases went pretty well.  My family got together on Sunday the 23rd.  Everyone brought a little something for the food and desserts.  I brought the usual carrot cookies and blueberry fluff. 

Yeah, the cookies.  I made approximately 310 of them.

This is the the majority of them

 

This is the last couple of batches

 

This is now all of them frosted

 

 

HDiTty had a few before they were frosted and a couple more afterward.  I didn't want to try any because my teeth were still hurting with every bite I took.  So it wasn't until we were putting them away into the fridge to keep away from the cats, who had been locked up all day, that I finally broke down and had one.  They were good as usual.

 

I'd fill up one of those circle plates and take it to each house and one to work.  Actually I took two to my mom's knowing the boys would take some home as well.  Also gave a couple dozen to Jim and his girls.  We luckily only had about 25 or so left for ourselves.  I was worried we'd have a lot more but nope.  Although it took me all day to do them, I started around 2ish and didn't finish until almost 1am I believe it was worth it.

 

Anyway.  Christmas at mom's went well this year, no drama as we had last year.  Scott's stepkids (ex I guess I should say) came back so we were all very happy to be able to spend the holiday with them.  I believe all the kids were very happy with all their gifts.  From what I could see they all pretty much got what they asked for.  We adults didn't exchange as we gave that up last year.  But mom had a game that she did that included the kids as well.  We all ended up with 30 bucks.  It was fun and nice.

 

Monday, Christmas Eve, HDT and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing cribbage making a couple jugs of iced tea waiting for an update from his mom on how his youngest sister was doing.  He got a call in the morning that she was doing badly and his mom was taking her to the ER to get checked out.  Around 2pm we got the call that they're back home and both Jess and her daughter are sick, running fevers.  So HDT made calls to his other sister and uncle who both have kids and let them decide not to go over to keep from getting sick.  We decided we're hearty stock and packed up the gifts, the pulled italian beef that had been warming in the two crockpots all day and Poydras and head over.

 

The niece was feeling better by the time we made it over there, no fever but his sister was still feeling down.  But well enough to eat a little bit and play a board game, so that was nice.  In between her turns my MIL was wrapping gifts.  Finally when she was done we went into the front room and opened presents.  The niece got a karaoke machine from grandma so we all had a blast singing songs with it.  Unfortunately for the niece there weren't any songs she new but she still had fun with it.  When we realized it was getting late we called it a night and headed home.

 

Christmas morning we made it up to his other sister's house by 8:15am to see Santa come in for the youngest nephew.  Then he left and grandpa finally made it.  Heh  We opened gifts, ate some more italian beef that we brought with, hung out for a little while then headed out around noon.  HDT had to work from 2 - 6 for overtime. 

 

So on our way home we bought tickets for Monsters, Inc. 3D to go see after he got off work.  We made it up there to meet his dad, stepmom, sister and her two boys.  Her husband ended up not coming.  Very happy to see Monsters, Inc. in the theater again.  Love, love, love that movie.  So much so that I actually have a Boo doll.

 

After the movie we went home and watched a little tv then I went to bed since I had work the next day.

 

Wednesday I had an eye appointment after work and by the time I made it home Jim and his girls were walking in the door to get their Christmas gifts.  We got them a kinect to go with the Xbox they already have.  Since we have the same game that came with it we put it in and had them try it out.  The younger was having a blast, the older who's 15 was a little more shy about it but she still had fun.

 

So yeah, all the Christmases ended up ok, not as planned completely but still ok and fun for the most part.

 

Media quote of the day:

 

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas



Yep, 12/20/12 forever will be a sad day

So, not only did I get my braces this morning.  Sad but not tragic.

My grandma-in-law passed away as well.

We knew it was coming, it's actually a blessing.  She's been out of it, no response/talking, for at least a couple weeks now.  Last time she had anything to eat was Monday and then it was barely a 1/2 a can of ensure.  I'm surprised she lasted until this morning.

Yesterday my MIL had a harpist (through hospice) come in and play for her for awhile. 

Sad day.

Is it ok to not like a 12 year old girl? One I don't remember even?

So, I will forever hate Thursday December 20, 2012.  Well, at least for two years anyway.  HA!

And here's why.  Way back when I was 12 years old and in the 6th grade during gym glass one day we were playing floor hockey.  Some bitch girl high sticked and hit me square in the front of my mouth.  She knocked out, shattered really, one of my front bottom teeth.  There was just a little jagged piece left sticking out.

I went to an oral surgeon who did a root canal and put a crown on it.  I continued to see him for my dental needs for the next several years.  Until we moved to Louisiana and I got a new dentist that is.

That dentist took a whole new set of x-rays as the ones that were transferred to his office were outdated.  When he came back into the exam room (I'm 16 at this time by the way) he asked me if I had been having any pain in my chin/jaw area.  I told him no.  He asked me if I had any strange tastes in my mouth, that had nothing to do with food.  Again I told him no.  He then put my x-ray up into the light thingy and pointed at a large black spot.  He then told my mom and me that I have had an infection for who knows how long going on inside my gums that has been slowly eating it away.  That since I hadn't had any pain or tasted anything odd that it had been draining into my system internally.  And I was lucky I had no pain.

So, I had yet another root canal done along with a root canal for the teeth on either side of it.  A new crown, this time permanent (he was completely amazed that the crown I had on hadn't fallen off at any time because apparently it was a temporary one) was put on and that's what's been there ever since.

Now several years later I actually did start to feel pressure every now and then.  No pain, just pressure on the teeth.  And then a little puss pocket would show up on the outside of the gum under that tooth. I'd pop it like a pimple, soak up the puss and go about my way.  Because, as you all know, I'm the Queen of Procrastination.

This has gone off and on now for several years.  Last December during a routine cleaning my dentist says it's time, that tooth has got to go.  She gave me a referral to an oral surgeon and an orthodontist.  She says my bottom row of teeth are so close together that once the tooth is gone that she believes the spot will be small enough that I could do braces to slowly bring the remaining teeth together to fill the gap rather than put another crown in.  This should alleviate any lingering problems that are causing the infections to happen.

So, my husband puts aside money in a Flex account and we haven't used any of it fully planning on it going towards this whole tooth issue.  A year later and we're about to lose the money if I don't go in.  So the Queen of Procrastination has made her appointment for Thursday at 10:00am to have braces put in on her top row of teeth.

Top row?  What, wait, isn't it the bottom tooth I've been talking about this whole time you ask.  Yep, sure is.  But I have a major overbite.  I don't have buck teeth but I do have a major overbite when I close my mouth all the way.  Any braces the orthodontist would put on the bottom my top teeth would destroy. So I have to correct the overbite which means braces on the top to move my teeth back enough that he then could put braces on the bottom. 

That's going to take about four months.  Then once he's satisfied I'll make the appointment to have the tooth extracted and then get the braces on the bottom right away.  Over all I'll have to wear braces for up to two years.  TWO. YEARS.

Hence why I will forever hate December 20, 2012, or at least for two years anyway.

I'm going to be 43 in just over two months.  43 - 45 wearing braces!!!  UGH!!!!!

And I've heard it's going to hurt like hell.  That for adults to get them hurts worse than kids because our mouths are done growing/changing.  And I already am prone to getting mouth ulcers.  Now I'm guaranteed to have them all the fucking time.  Yep, so not looking forward to this.

Media quote of the day:  The Goonies.  Ah, I love this movie.

[Andy has accidentally kissed Mikey] OK, you kissed. Now tell. - Stef
There's something weird. - Andy
What? What is it? - Stef
Does Brand wear braces? - Andy
[Stef bursts into laughter] Why are you laughing? Stef, it was beautiful. - Andy
Next time you kiss him, do it with your eyes open. It's a whole different experience. - Stef

Merry is being not so Merry lately

So the latest....

We were going to be total geeks and see The Hobbit at 12:00 this am.  I even bought tickets for the 12:02 showing since the 12:01 was already sold out Wednesday when I went online.  I had told HDT that we shouldn't be going because I had to work the next day and our company end of year party (so called because one of our employees is a Jehovah's Witness and she couldn't attend if we called it a Christmas party) is tonight.  And then he ended up having two appointments today, one as early as 10:30am.  The movie is just under three hours long.

So yesterday around 5:00 he gets a call from his mom saying she thinks his grandma is about to pass.  She has labored breathing, she hadn't eaten anything all day and she was pretty much comatose all day.  His mom is watching her granddaughter so HDT left work right away to go pick her up because she doesn't need to be there for that.  By the time he got there she was sleeping peacefully and was breathing just fine.  He was able to wake her up and drink some water with some thickener in it.  Then she went back to sleep. He still took K though and told him mom to call if things got worse again.

Then we met up at his dad's house to celebrate his stepmom's birthday.  His sister was there with her two kids so K was excited to spend some time with them until they left. 

While there he starts to get really sleepy and says to me that maybe we shouldn't go to the movie after all.  He's tired, been up since 5 a.m. By the time we drop off K and then get home it'll be after 9:00 and then we have the things to do today.  Yeah, that's why I said we shouldn't go in the first place dude. 

So yeah, he called to find out what we can do about getting a refund.  Unless we went up to the theatre to state we wouldn't be able to make it we couldn't get a refund (which I also told him).  But we could use it as credit towards another showing of the same movie or another.  So we'll probably make it up there some time this weekend.  At least that's the plan.

And so far today he hasn't gotten a call from his mom about grandma so she must be doing ok today.  Fingers crossed. 
___________________________

Merry is being a terror towards Pogo way too much.  Twice that we know of he's chased Pogo up the stairs and around the living room.  In there Pogo gets away and runs into the bedroom closet to hide.  The first time it happened it was at 3 a.m. earlier this week.  He had a tuft of white fur in his mouth and we saw the spot that it was taken from on Pogo.  So we quickly clipped nails that we had been neglecting and gave Pogo lots of love to calm him down.

Then the other day he does it again around 5:30 p.m.  I'm sitting in the kitchen waiting for my mom to come pick me up to do some shopping.  It's nice and quiet, I'm playing Song Pop on the iphone and next thing I know I'm hearing hissing and spitting and running up the stairs.  Pogo goes flying past me with Merry close on his heals.  And as they're running around the coffee table Pogo gets ahead of Merry and makes it into the bedroom closet before Merry knows what happened. 

I pick Merry up by the scruff and sternly give him a talking to.  Then I go find Pogo and give him love and comfort. 

Who knows how many times he's done this when we haven't been home.  He and his brother really need to get neutered.  Because of different reasons we haven't been able to get it done.  But HDT is planning on taking them in for the initial exam next Wednesday and then from there he'll make their appointment.  So hopefully within the next two weeks it'll be done.

Damn kittens.

Media quote:

None right now, don't feel like researching.

Got my hair did and other stuff

So I got my hair trimmed last night.  I gotta say I have a love/hate thing with getting my hair cut.  I hate having to get it done.  Mainly because I never know what I want to do with it so I keep the same style forEVER.  It's fine and fairly thin and has the very slightest of body to it so there's not a whole lot I can do with it without having to use a curling iron and I don't really like using them. 

But, when I actually make myself get it done I'm happy I do.  It's usually got split ends for days and is looking fairly raggedy.  So the end result is always so much better.  But, that's not the main reason.  The main reason is the pampering.  I love having someone else wash and rinse it.  Then when they're fixing it and the blow dryer is going and the brush is going through it and I'm not the one doing it, yeah that's nice.  The guy (and by the way that's the very first time I've ever had a guy do my hair in my 42 almost 43 years of life) last night would stick his fingers and swish it around while blow drying then run them through every so often.  He then actually did use a curling iron on it, which I can't remember the last time a hair stylist did that, maybe for my wedding in '05.  And it came out all curly and fluffy and I looked nothing like my self.  Which is also nice.

I told HDT not to expect to ever see it that way again since I'd never be able to it myself.  Heh
_________________________________

So I was looking forward to having several days to relax this holiday weekend.  I'm finally working for a company that takes Friday off.  Haven't had that for seven years or so.  So I figured we'd have three days to take it easy and recover from Thursday.  But since my FIL and StepMIL will be going to her families for Thursday they've decided to do Thanksgiving with us and HDT's sister and her family on Saturday. 

Friday we booked a movie marathon that starts 11:30ish and doesn't end until after 6:30ish.  Although it's still sitting on our asses it's still getting out of the house and not sitting on our asses there. 

So Sunday right now is looking like the only day that will truly be relaxing.  At least for now.  It is football day and the Saints are playing the 9ers.  So if they play like they did last night we're in for a fight which isn't relaxing.

Ah, but we'll still have to leave the house on Sunday anyway.  HDT's grandma is in a nursing home recovering from a fall in September.  And we need to go there in the evening to have her drink her protein shake and vitamin c drink that we're using to supplement her meals with to ensure she's getting all the vitamin's and protein she needs since she doesn't eat her meals very well.  Since HDT's mom is out of town through Sunday (at least) we're doing the evening drinks.  But that only takes about an hour or so since she drinks them so slowly and we do like to get some visiting time in while doing it.

Media quote of the day:  From Bones (2008) The Passenger in the Oven

[Seeing Bones wearing glasses] Right. What I want you to do is take off your glasses, shake out your hair and say "Mr. Booth, do you know what the penalty is for an overdue book?" - Booth
Why?- Brennan
Never mind. - Booth

Playing catch up on goings on since the last post

So, yeah, it's been awhile again, just about 2 months.  A few things have happened since my last post.  We went to the Saints/Packers game at the end of September.  Then went on vacation for our anniversary in October.  HDiTty's grandma fell and fractured her pelvis bone in September.  She's been in the nursing home recovering ever since.  But we're hoping she'll be home by Thanksgiving.  If so that'll be the best thing to be thankful for. 

Hmmm, what else?  Oh yeah.

The Saints kicked the Falcons asses on Sunday!!!  Damn dirty birds couldn't hang on to an undefeated season, not against the Saints and the Saints Nation.  Woohoo!!

So, let's see, I'll back up to the Packers game.  I forgot to take pictures while there so none to share.  Unless of course you'd like to see one of Clay Matthews.  My niece and Jim's daughter loves him so I took several of him for them.  But other than that no pictures.  The fly over was awesome as always.  I did get video of the fly over though.  Hmm, I wonder if I can get it in here, I've never tried to do a video before.

Hey, looks like I did it.  Heee  By the way that deep voiced singer is NOT HDiTty, it was one of the guys right behind us.  The high pitched wooooo was me though.  As you can see we were in the end zone.  We were only 6 rows off the field, pretty nice actually since most of the scores were done on this side of the field.  Unfortunately the Saints lost but we still had a great time.  The first time that we've gone without having any assholes to deal with.  Normally we have drunk hecklers.  I don't mind some good hearted ribbing but it's usually pretty nasty.  I have to say, everyone we were sitting around were really cool. 

A week later we were on vacation.  We went to Niagara Falls for the 5th - 7th.  The 6th was our anniversary.  It was both our first times there.  We did the Maid of the Mist and the Sky Wheel (a large Ferris wheel).  I got a couple pictures from there.

The second one was when we were sitting at the top for a little bit looking pretty much straight down.  And as you can see the trees were turning quite nicely.  Unfortunately the glass wasn't a true glass and was all scratchy and dingy. 

We also went to the botanical gardens which were nice.  Gotta say I was glad we only paid $5.00 for parking because although it was nice it wasn't worth more than that.  When I was researching all the places to go it was always on the list of top places to see.  Maybe during the height of summer but in the beginning of October it wasn't all that great.  I was expecting these terrific fall colors but none of their trees had even begun to turn.  We're assuming they must water them which kept them greener for much longer than normal.  There were still a lot of flowers in bloom but it just wasn't what I was expecting after all the hype.

Saturday night we went to a comedy club for dinner and a show since that's what we did for first date.  They said there would be door prizes so we filled out our names and put them in the bucket.  Mine ended up being called but it wasn't just for a door prize, oh no, I actually had to get up on stage and be a contestant in the guy's "game show."  He had 3 questions about Thanksgiving.  I got the first two correct so I won.  I got his 20th anniversary DVD.  We watched the first 30 minutes or so of it but it wasn't that great and a lot of it we already saw that night.  He was pretty funny in person though and the food was good so we had a great time anyway.  The video is way too long otherwise I'd put it here as well.

Sunday the 7th we hit the road to head to Ottawa to visit our friends there for the rest of the week.  Sunday night we went to one of the couples houses to watch the Saints game and have dinner.  After it was over we headed over to the other couples house that we were staying with for the rest of the week.  We didn't do much other than hang out having good food, good conversations and good rest. 

We did go bowling one night though.  But not your normal bowling, oh no, it was Canadian bowling.  Instead of 10 pins there were only 5 pins.  And instead of a regular bowling ball you got much smaller balls that fit in your palm with no holes.  And instead of two turns you get three.  There are still strikes and spares but you only get a spare if you knock the remaining pins down on your second turn.  If you knock them all down in your third turn you just get the equivalent of whatever they add up to.  The five pins all total 15 points.  It. Was. Crazy.  Again the video of HDT is too long but suffice it to say it was a trip.  We went with both couples, so we asked them if any had gone "real" bowling and only one on them had and he didn't like it much.  Crazy.

So, what else.  Ah yes.  The kittens are growing up nicely.  They're causing issues just like they're namesakes.  Merry decided he wanted to go behind the tv and in doing so he knocked down a shadowbox that then hit a huge fleur-de-lis that then hit a little Saints gnome.  The fleur-de-lis and gnome both broke beyond repair.  Pippin has knocked things down as well but hasn't broken anything luckily and gotten into food items he shouldn't.  But we love 'em.

This is Pip in his best camouflage outfit. 

And although you can't really see him, that black mass is Merry going after Pip.

What, I'm innocent, innocent I say.....

Yep, I'm innocent too.  See, so innocent I can relax completely.

The two hooligans with Bander keeping watch

And this shows how much they've grown.  Pippin is just as big at 7 months as Pogo who's 12 years, actually he's bigger in the fact that he's a very solid cat.  Pogo is tiny really.

So that's it really.  Other than a UFC fight that the boys came over for and some other family get togethers here and there we really haven't done much. 

Media quotes of the day:

Fool of a Took. Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity. - Gandalf to Pippin in Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

And in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King:
Why did you look? Why do you always have to look? - Merry
I don't know. I can't help it. - Pippin
You never can. - Merry
I'm sorry, all right? I won't do it again. - Pippin

I can't concentrate

So, we're going on vacation in two weeks.  From tonight actually.  I can't concentrate at work at all.  My mind is on vacation. 

We didn't go anywhere last year and I'm really looking forward to this.  Especially since our last trip in 2010 wasn't the best.  We went to New Orleans with his youngest sister and two of his coworkers.  We were there for a total of 3 days and other than the Saints opener which was also the opening night of football it wasn't that great.  Too much to go into as to why it wasn't that great of a trip so I won't.

Suffice to say we haven't had a real vacation in 3 years and I'm excited that we finally will be.  We're going to Niagara Falls first then to Ottawa.  Our anniversary is the 6th.  The plan is to head out Thursday night after we both get out of work and take Poydras to a friend's house for the week.  Jim will be taking care of the cats at the house.  We'll drive to Niagara and get there early Friday morning.  Have all day Friday and Saturday to sight see and then Sunday morning hit the road again to Ottawa to stay with friends for the rest of the week.

We haven't seen them since our wedding in 2005.  The following year within a day (can never remember if it's the 5th or 7th) they had their son.  They also built a house.  They of course haven't been able to come down and with me changing jobs a few times with several months out of work between them we definitely haven't been able to go up there. 

Finally, we have a little money and the time to be able to go. 

Neither of us has ever been to Niagara so we're really looking forward to it.  I've been doing a lot of research on places to go.  We both knew we wanted to do the Maid of the Mist for sure but that was about all we knew of things to do there.  With my research I've found a bunch of places to go to.  And HDiTty mentioned going to a comedy club on the 6th since that was our first official date.  I hadn't even thought of that.  Sure enough, there's one less than 2 miles from our B&B that also offers dinner.  Since we both agree that we don't need an expensive, fancy dinner we agreed doing dinner and a show at the club would be just fine.

Other than those two things we're just gonna wing it and whatever we do we do.  Although with everything I've read going to the Botanical Gardens sounds like a really good thing to see, especially with my love of fall foliage.  And they have a carriage ride for only 20 bucks.  So maybe if we go I'll be able to get a carriage ride too.  We shall see.

We're staying at a B&B which I didn't think I would ever do.  But with everything I've read about it it sounds really nice.  There were very few complaints and one of the biggest was that the towels were scratchy.  Hell, I can handle scratchy towels for a couple days.  Or we just bring our own, no biggy.  And I believe the female owner is German.  So HDT will be able to practice speaking.  He took 3 years in high school and still knows some.  And what I read she puts on a big spread at breakfast, including Belgian waffles sometimes so that sounds really good.

As far as what we'll do when we get to Mark and Manon's I have no idea.  No plans for then other than hanging out with good company.  I'd like to do a corn maze but again, we shall see.  We did one once when we were up there in '99 or 2000, and had a lot of fun.  I think their son, Tristan, would really like it.

TWO WEEKS!  CAN. NOT. WAIT.

Gandolf is gone, I'm sad

So we did actually take back the silver/grey kitty, took him back early last week. We did debate for several days on whether we'd keep him or not but in the end we took him back to my MIL.  She says she won't keep him either, that he'll go to the no kill shelter, which I then told HDT that if that's the case we should take him back. Don't think he'll agree to that though. But there's always the possibility she'll keep him.  She's getting pretty attached to him. 

My SIL still hasn't picked up the momma kitty yet, at least as far as I know.  As of last Friday she hadn't anyway.  She was given until yesterday to come pick her up.  I wonder if that happened.  I don't know what the outcome will be if she hasn't.

This is him nursing.  Ridiculous.  He's almost as big as she is.

When we first brought him over I told HDT that there will be hissing going on before they're ok with each other.  He didn't really think that would happen.  Told him it definitely would.  We had him for about 3 weeks, just long enough for the memory of each other to start to fade.  Also, even if she did remember him right away she'll let him know there won't be any nursing going on.  Ha!  So yeah, when we first brought him and I set him down near her she arched her back, fluffed her tail and hissed.  For the next 15-20 minutes she would hiss at him when he'd get too near.  But at the same time she was very curious.  As he started to roam around the house she'd follow him.  Within 30-40 minutes the hissing had stopped unless he came up on her without her realizing it.  But by the time we left, just over an hour later, they were already starting to chase each other around having fun.

The next day we went back, can't remember why now, but there they were all curled up together in the bed.  At some point he woke up and started to nurse.  There's no way she had any milk left, not after being fixed and not nursing for 3 weeks.  But she let him do it so he would.  Silly momma.

I don't think the brothers even realized he was gone.  They're still running around having fun with each other without a care in the world.  And getting big.  I keep telling them to quit growing but they're not listening to me.  And I just realized I haven't taken any pictures of them since before their brother was taken back.  I'll have to do that.

Poydras is finally getting better with 'em.  He's actually even tried playing with Pippin.  He'd hop around Pip and lower down in the front with his butt up in the air wagging his little stump of a tail.  But then as soon as Pip would actually reach for his muzzle he'd go under the couch and then whine/whimper.  As soon as Pip would back off he'd come back out and start all over again.  It was too funny.  I kept trying to get a video of it but every time I'd start the video he'd go under the couch.  Oh well.

And they've taken to Pogo.  Although they have no issues with Bander, nor he with them, they seem to like Pogo more.  At least for the sleeping together part.  Pogo likes to sleep on a corner of our bed and quite often I'll find a kitten or two (and three before) sleeping very near him if not right up against him.  Gandolf really liked to sleep with him there.  While Merry and Pippin will sleep up on my pillow with me, Gandolf would be at the foot of the bed with Pogo.  But yeah, when I'm not there they're sleeping with Pogo quite a bit. 

And Pogo is finally playing with them.  Seems to be more with Merry than Pippin, at least that I've seen anyway.  There are times that it seems Pogo is really biting down hard on Merry's back but he doesn't cry out at all so I guess it can't be that bad.  And he comes back for more so....

I haven't seen Bander playing, but then he was never a real big player anyway.  Once he and Pogo grew out of the kitten stage he pretty much quit playing unless it was chasing a laser or jumping up for a feather toy.

So that's the update since the last entry.  Nothing much has gone on really, pretty dull lives we lead. 

Kitty Sitters

So, we got the 3rd brother.  But only for a week or so.  At least that's what's supposed to happen anyway.

Their momma got fixed and her front paws were declawed.  Which per HDT's sister's apartment manager's rules needed to be done before she could have her.  Now we shall see if she actually does take her or leaves her with their mom.  Anyway.

So while she's recovering we took the last kitten so she wouldn't be tempted to run, jump and play with him or let him try to nurse still.

At first he and the brothers didn't seem to remember each other, although there wasn't any hissing going on between them.  But now they're all running around playing and sleeping together.

The sliver/grey one is like a muted version of Pippin. 

Unfortunately I can't rotate the picture.  But I still thought it cute enough to include anyway.  This was shortly after the top picture was taken.  One of them moved and they all just rearranged themselves into this pile.

We have of course fallen in love with him as well.  So if things don't work out the way they're supposed to we probably will be keeping him. 

If that happens, HDT is lobbying to change their names to the Three Muskateers' names as I had mentioned would be good if we had taken all three the night we were trying to come up with names for just the two.  But we can't decide which one should get which name. 

But it's all a moot point if we don't keep him anyway.

Media quote of the day: The Three Musketeers (1993)

Champagne? - Porthos
We're in the middle of a chase, Porthos. - Athos
You're right - something red. - Porthos

As morning hues of sun swept fire caress your passion face. Alone with thee in pure desire, to worship your untold grace. My soul would cry in silent prayer, for hours spent apart. Your essence warms the evening air, as I dance into your heart. - Aramis

New family members

So, whirlyball was a lot of fun.  As mentioned in my last post my nephew was in town for a week and one of the things we did was play whirlyball.  Seems to me we were a lot more violent than what we were for work.  I broke my thumb nail.  It actually split down the middle and tore back from the side.  I kept playing with it until we got home and I was able to clip it.  But at least this time I didn't get a bruise on my inner thigh.  There were several injuries spread around the group.  My nephew got his hand all chewed up.  Wayne kept pushing the racket into Dean's side while Dean was trying to get the ball.  Dean kept trying to push the racket away and got his hand all chewed up for the effort.

HDT ended up not playing because he had a headache and the only people that offered to give up their car were me and Wayne.  He didn't want to take me away from playing because he wanted to play with me.  And Wayne is the dad of Dean (the nephew in town) and the one that planned the whole thing so it wouldn't be right to make him leave.  But he had a lot of fun watching and he did help out when the cars would get stuck near him (he'd go over and give a shove) or the ball ended up where no one could get it.

Then later that week on Saturday we all got together at mom's house for some good food and good company for several hours.  Then several of us headed over to my house for the UFC fights.  Good times.
______________________________

We've made two new additions to the household.  We debated for awhile, even decided that we weren't going to do it.  Then we both caved.  So now besides Banderling (always known as Cry Baby throughout the years here), his brother Pogo (always knows as Pretty Boy throughout the years) and Poydras we have Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuc and Peregrin "Pippin" Took.  For those who don't know they're two hobbits from The Lord of the Rings who were always getting into trouble.

Merry is the dark brown (so dark looks black) kitty and Pippin is the striped one, they're brothers.  There is a third brother but he'll either be staying with HDT's mom or going with his sister.  Don't think that's been decided as of yet.  The third is a silver tabby, looks a lot like their momma.

Bander and Pogo have accepted them already.  Didn't take long and only a little bit of hissing and swatting of heads took place.  Although sometimes they get a little over zealous with the playing with Bander and he has to take them down a notch.

This picture was right before Pip started in on Bander.  He at first was just smelling and licking on him, giving him love.  But then he decided he wanted to play and started biting Bander's ear so Bander reached up, pushed Pip's head down and gave a love bite to the neck.  Stopped the little pipsqueek in his tracks.

They haven't tried playing much with Pogo yet, at least not that I've seen.  But the little bit they've done has been met with about the same reaction.  Paw of doom with a well placed bite.  Mostly they just try to lie down next to him.

They were like this for a long time.  Pretty much until Pippin jumped up on Merry to have a play fighting session.

When we first brought them home we put them in Poydras' kennel so the residents could have access to them but no fighting could happen.  Poydras had already met them over at HDT's grandma's house where they've been since before they were born.  So we knew there wouldn't be anything to worry about with him.  In fact he's quite scared by them.  They come up where he is and he tries to get away, whining the whole way usually.

When the two older cats came up to them in the kennel the kittens would reach out trying to touch them.  But there was very little hissing, more curiosity than anything on all their parts.  So the next day we let them out and all was well.  We put a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep them in the basement and also to allow Bander and Pogo a place to escape if they needed it. 

After just a couple days Pippin had already climbed over it.  I was at work and HDT had let them out of the kennel when he got up (they were put back in there at night) and they were having a good time in the basement.  But then HDT went upstairs to get some food and next thing he sees when he turns around is Pippin coming into the kitchen. 

At first he only climbed over when one or both of us would go upstairs but then after a day or so he started to do it all the time.  We decided that once Merry followed suit and went over we'd take the gate down.  Took a few days but he finally did it.  I was sitting on the stair right in front of the gate trying to prevent Pip from going over.  Bander was on the other side of it up a stair and they both were fascinated by him. 

Next thing I know as I'm trying to keep Pip from going up the steps I hear to my right the gate move.  I look and it's Merry climbing up.  By the time I got my camera up on the iphone he was already over it which chased Bander away.  But I got this shot, you can see that he's actually dark brown here.

He got up a couple steps and then sat there all "Hmmm, what did I just do?"  By the time I took the picture, got the gate down and took a step towards him he was all "Freeeeedommmm" and took off up to the top after Bander.

So we got them collars with bells so we'd know where they are.  That worked for a couple days until they learned how to get them off, they're breakaways.  Yesterday they both got them off and so far we've only found one of them.  Ah well.

And Sunday night HDT decided to let them loose overnight as well.  When he came to bed at 3:30am he decided to let them run free rather than put them in the kennel.  While he was up they hadn't come into the room at all, or if they did I was so out of it they didn't wake me up.  But when he came up he of course woke me up then they proceeded to keep me awake playing on the bed jingling away.  Took about 15-20 minutes until they finally settled down, on my pillows no less.  Merry curled up in the crook of my arm and Pippin lied on top of the back pillow leaning up against the headboard.

Soooo cute they are.

Media quote of the day:  From The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

You're taller. - Merry
Who? - Pippin
You! - Merry
Than what? - Pippin
Than *me*! -Merry
I've always been taller than you. - Pippin
Pippin, everyone knows *I'm* the tall one. *You're* the short one. - Merry:
Please, Merry. You're what, three-foot-six? At the most? Whereas me, I'm pushing three-seven, three-eight. - Pippin
Three-foot-eight? You did something. - Merry

Now in our kitty world this is actually true.  Pippin is bigger than Merry.  Merry was the runt of the litter.  There's about 6oz difference between the two.  Pip is just over 4lbs as of yesterday.  It's time to get them to the vet for neutering.  Soon, very soon.