]]>Show us what you wish you were doing right now.
Extra snuggles if you can guess who is napping in the background.
]]>Show us what you wish you were doing right now.
Extra snuggles if you can guess who is napping in the background.
In the morning I take 5 to 10 minutes to wake up, read my emails, drink Diet Coke, and surf the web. I stumbled upon this today, if you like cats you MUST see this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muLIPWjks_M
Enjoy!
]]>What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
This QotD sounds familiar. My answer hasn't changed much in the past two years, although the aforementioned fiancé is now my husband, and he'll now drink teas other than peppermint. Spiced chai, no milk, and lots of honey is a favorite of his, but I take it sans honey because I'm strange and don't much care for sweet tea in hot or iced form. I'll also add that having a purring kitty on one's lap is another fine addition to rainy day activities.
We had some pretty serious afternoon downpours both yesterday afternoon and the day before. Lucky for us that they each occurred after we had returned home from Rosh Hashanah services for the day, but we did miss out on Tashlikh. Who needs to travel to a body of water when the road is looking distinctly river-like right outside your door? M and I might still go do our own version out at the duck feeding area near the botanical garden. I wonder what might be the implications of ducks and geese gobbling up the breadcrumb "sins" we cast into the water. Pretty wacky stuff, ritual, but Homo religioso (as we are somewhat whimsically denoted by those scholars that view spiritual tendencies as neurobiological imperatives, evolved as surely as the ability to distinguish color or develop language) seems to thrive upon it.
New kitty first.
Phil and I found a cat on our corner. A marmalade baby (I would guess
under a year) that was full of fleas and skin lesion, with hip bones so
sharp you could get cut on them. Phil wants to find out if this kitty
belongs to anyone around here. I say if it does and they didn't treat
the fleas on Jonas (temp name) they don't deserve to get him back. One
shot of depomedrol and a flea treatment later he is looking so much
better. His skin sore are healing and he is gaining some weight. He is
so loving and sweet. I am all for keeping him. He is unafraid of Sarah.
In fact, quite the reverse. Sarah is afraid of him. She knows about the
pointy end of kitties. We will see if we find his family then he will
go back to them, if not he will be a part of our family. In the
meantime, Gomez and Morticia are hissing and calling names at Jonas who
then hisses and calls names back.
Korea.
As people who read my blog know I went to Korea in July. It was
wonderful and horrible. Korea is a beautiful country; the people are
wonderful. I was simply in the wrong tour group. As the only one going
on this tour in my Dojong, I was placed with another group and their
Master. They were simply not interested in the things I was. Even their
Master was not terribly interested in the old parts of towns or the
museums. He was interested in the foods. We had long lunches and longer
dinners. His wife and the other women in the group were interested in
cheap fake designer purses. More on that later. Perhaps they would have
been interested but there simply was not enough time. There were so
many ceremonies put on by the Kukkiwon, the World Taekwondo
Headquarters, that one had to rush through a tour then rush back to the
gym where the event was held for another ceremony. I tried to leave the
group and go on my own but the Master of the other group and the tour
guide was having none of that. Despite the fact I had traveled in other
countries where I did not know one shred of the language. Despite the
fact that Korea has an incredibly low crime rate and we were out in the
boondocks. Taxis were amazingly cheap. Even my instructor asked me why
I did not go out on my own. I should have. What I saw though was
awesome: Green mountains with waterfalls; Fields of rice; Little
shrines; Exotic (to me anyway) buildings with fancifully painted eaves;
Lakes; and of course some really excellent Taekwondo demos. We hiked
down a stream where I slipped and broke my toe. It is still bent a bit
funny. It wasn't too painful though. We were rushed through the
cultural museum. It would have been very cool.
We went to Lotte World which is kind of the Korean Disneyland. Some
of the rides are similar. We only had a few hours there but I managed
to go on a ride very similar to the Indiana Jones ride. We watched a
parade. The performers were all yound and the girls were scantily
dressed. They were also not Korean.
We got to spend the night in a Korean bathhouse. It was great. The
other ladies I was with had a problem with taking their clothes off. I
was amazed as it was an all girl bath. The men went to the other side.
I said to hell with it and peeled. I had to buy some shampoo as I was
not aware I needed to supply my own. I luckily had a bottle of soap to
wash with. I scrubbed myself down and proceded to relax. I even got a
massage. After the extended ablutions, I got dressed the pajamas they
handed me when I came in and found a mat to sleep on. It was excellent.
There were some big rooms were people talked, ate and slept. There were
also some smaller rooms. I found myself thinking about Spirited Away. It was for me one of the highlights of the trip. For some others in my group it was a horror that they would rather forget.
I am hoping to go again next year and drag Phil along. He is great for
long days in a museum. He looks at stuff longer and harder than I do.
There should be a group coming along from my dojong so at least I won't
be stuck with a bunch of strangers who have such dissimilar interests.
ROFL -> the Comedy Central.
click on "The Colbert Report" clip and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" clip on the left for some LOLs!
aaah there's been such 'exciting' episodes with this Global Financial Crisis and the US presidential election campaigns, couldn't have scripted this better!! XD still, finger-crossing for the economy to recover and finger-crossing for Obama too, 'cause Palin is a dangerous lunatic!
oh, there's more: The Colbert Report and The Daily Show xDDD
Btw art-thieves suck. I'm not sad, just uber angry.
And esp angry
'cause I don't want my art to be associated with scalpers groups, which
I believe that taobao #%&@ is one of them >"<
Catch up and reply later! I'm still going through those Colbert Report and DailyShow videos xD
Oh, some bonus:
(I like cats <3)
FDaddy took off his collar a couple of hours ago. I vigorously skritched his neck and he loved it so much he was in an altered state of consciousness for several minutes. He's eaten his gooshyfood, tortie's food, and has done some bathing.
Here's the video we took last night of the silly boy trying to bathe his cone.
Tortie is rightly worried and in a hidingk place, poor girl. Mommy is now going to nap.
Sorry folks.. I meant to get more ROT examples, but my weekend has been spent for some part at work and for the most part doing some technical photos for Pooky (game-related stuff).
BUT, I did manage to get out yesterday afternoon and nab one of the cat.
Yeah...ANOTHER cat photo. Gee whiz I need to get out somewhere and pick on somebody besides my cats.
And the reader may note that the Canon XSi does a superb job of eliminating redeye.
| Camera: | Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi |
| Exposure: | 0.005 sec (1/200) |
| Aperture: | f/5.6 |
| Focal Length: | 55 mm |
| ISO Speed: | 400 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| Flash: | Flash fired |
I want to say thank you to the people who messaged and commented on my kitty :) The love and good wishes really means a lot and the good energy was put to good use!
Cheesecake went in and had the pressure bandage removed from her tummy this morning and while there is a little bit of fluid in there, the veterinarian is very pleased with the incision site and says she's healing beautifully.
The tumor that was removed from her tummy was a big nasty malignant growth. The good news is that it didn't appear to have gotten up into the muscle wall and the vet doesn't think that it's moved to the lungs or anything. Hopefully, if we're lucky, they got it all and the cancer hasn't spread elsewhere. In the meantime, we just let her play and be a happy cat (and work at paying off the hefty vet bill).
I've had some flack from my 'rent, thinking that she should have been put down, especially considering it's cancer. As I told her - cancer is not a death sentence. It's an illness and, one day, we'll find a way to beat it. In the meantime, Cheesecake was a 2 1/2 - 3 year old cat who still loves to race around the house, terrorize the dog, and stick her tongue out of her mouth, cross-eyed with pleasure, as you scratch her. She is not in any pain and, according to my vet, there's a good chance that she may live out a full, normal life. She's my babycat. If there's a chance of that, and she's not in pain or discomfort. then it's my duty to do all I can to help her. Wouldn't it be terrible to have put her to sleep when she'd only been alive 3 years, when there was a chance for her to get better and enjoy a full, long life?
Yeah, I don't have $600+ to shell out for a cat when I'm paying for my own radiation treatments but, in the end, how can I put a dollar value on the life of one of my furry friends? I tell her all the time that it's a good thing she's cute because she's definately an expensive little Princess. LOL!
My vet, in the end, is the hero in all of this - I am amazed and soooo grateful that he agreed to help us out by letting me make payments on the vet bill. He a wonderful job helping her and is definately a hero!
In 2 weeks, Cheesecake goes to get her stitches out. I'll update on her situation again then :)
]]>Tux-Boy has to wear his cone till Monday, they say; him hasn't healed up quite enough yet. Then we also have to supervise him to keep down excess lickage.
TK didn't know he was going to the vet till FDaddy put him in the box, but Tortie had picked up on the vibe and oh-so-casually hid in the closet. Him such a stupid and oblivious kitteh sometimes.
The good news is, if nothing else happens, TK won't have to go to the vet till whenever!
The brat had to spend a lot of time shut up in his room last night for attacking HRT, once right after I told him "NO! BAD CAT!" and separated them. So tortie got to enjoy sitting in the open window and door and nom nom nomming her gooshyfud. TK played with the toys in there and occasionally banged his cone against the door.
I will be so glad not to hear the THUD of the cone against things, and the sound of cat claws scratching on it -- he tries to skritch his earz even though he can't reach them, so he vigorously scratches the plastic. It wakes me up!
My cat Kelee is finally coming home today. We went to see her at the vet last night and she seemed a little too comfortable. As soon as she saw me she started purring and kneading her paws. I told her that the vets office is not a vacation and that she needs to come home. She's costing me a ton of money. So far my bill is estimated around $1500. Yikes!
I went to my Jazzercise class this morning. I had no energy before going in there but I gave it my all. It's very energizing. A lot of people assume that there's just a bunch of old ladies in the class but that's not really true. I'm in a class with someone I went to college with. The workout is not too strenuous, everyone is really nice and it's fun. You can't beat that!
Next up is lunch with the mother and then picking up Kelee. Later is tennis with my dear friends Sue Ann and Coreen. It's going to be another relaxing night at home. I haven't had much of those lately.
Soundtrack: Brooke Fraser - Shadowfeet
So I created this account back in December and then totally forgot about it. That's not unusual for me. Life gets busy and stuff (blogs) get put on the back burner.
I started back on Weight Watchers in July when I found out I was going on a cruise to Mexico for my birthday. I started walking and midly working out 3 times a week until the day I was moving a couch and ripped the top of the nail on my big toe. It was nice while it lasted but the results were slow and I wasn't doing well as far as dieting went. On Sept. 8th I started taking fitness classes through the City of Santa Clarita. I now take Jazzercise and Weight Lifting 4 days a week. So far the results have been amazing. The first week I lost 4lbs. The second week I lost 3. I'm on my third week and I've already lost 3lbs and my weigh in isn't even until Tuesday. I wanted to lose 30lbs before the cruise and so far I have 14 more pounds to lose in 7 weeks. I'm positive I can do it.
On Tuesday before class I walked into my mom's room to visit my cat Kelee (aka Chairman Meow) and I noticed a big bloody growth on her foot. I knew something was up with her because for the past week she would hide in a random place and sleep more than usual. She would also hide her foot whenever she was laying down so we never saw this big growth until that night. We decided to take her to the vet the next morning.
According the the vet the "growth" was actually a tumor. He told us that he'd run tests but it's possible that she could have them all over her body and that we should be prepared to put her down if that were the case. As you can imagine, I lost my shit. I wasn't prepared to seperate with my "child" after 11 years. Who would be? Pets become family members and losing them is almost as hard as losing an actual family member.
Thankfully, the vet called back later that night and told us that the blood work came back completely normal and that they would be doing surgery to remove the tumor the following day. So yesterday, she had the tumor (and a toe) removed. I went to visit her last night and she wasn't fully off the anestesia yet so we couldn't take her home. He showed us that she couldn't even lift her head or open her eyes fully. I bent down and said, "Hi Chairman Meow" and she opened her eyes and started purring. She almost had me in tears again. We left her there over night and got a phone call this morning saying she still wasn't totally back to normal yet so they are going to keep her until 4 today and give us a call. I'm not too concerned because after we had her spayed she slept for days afterwards. I just can't wait to bring her home. Her son Cheech misses her dearly.
And that's all for now. Until my next update...
]]>
Honey is still on the mend and is doing really well. She's had the staples out of her leg, the vet is happy with how it feels and she seems to be able to walk OK although she isn't allowed to do much of that. She finishes her "cage rest" next week so I'll get my broody cage back. She will then be allowed out but confined to one (large) room to minimise jumping etc. After a week I will give her the run of my part of the house then a couple of weeks later she will get to see the outside world again.
She is being a good girl when she comes out to cuddle - she likes to just lay next to us on a quilt, actually she's next to me now, having a good wash!
]]>I have a bunch of pictures that I never uploaded. I finally decided that I would, so here they are in order from oldest to newest. This goes back about 2 years or so.
I had to begin with a puppy-Barley picture...
Barry and his doggie Rusty!!!
Animals! By the beach! Barley's first trip to Santa Cruz beach!!! Too bad it was overcast.
Check out these gnarly bug bites.... gross! I think I've become allergic to mosquitoes through these last few years because when I was a kid, I never got swollen like that. I rarely got bitten. Now, I get bitten all the time when there are mosquitoes around and the bites swell up for days and leave marks for weeks, even months. :( Lame...
My dad's side of the family and our immediate family took a cruise to Hawaii (I know, I just went the year before) to celebrate my grandma's birthday (about 12/18/2007 - 12/23/2007). I do love to travel, but I wish we switched it up a bit. Plus, the cruise was super rocky and at night I literally slid around in my bed.
Some pictures of my daily life in California, such as walking Barley to the park, inviting friends to come play (yay, Seattle kids!), luring Barley to me with wonderful smells of food, taking him to the dog park, teaching him tricks with Cashew nuts, and snuggling him. (Barley consumes my life...)
Celebrating my graduating in Seattle as well as in California (because Barley couldn't make it to Washington). Even the pretty flower (Tan Hua 探花) bloomed!
So, after graduation when I got back to California, my family took me out for dinner at Alexander's Steak House to celebrate both my graduation and my birthday. It's a fancier place and the food is pricey but really, really good.
Okay, here are two normal Barley pictures and two puffy-faced Barley pictures. He was digging at the park and I think he was allergic to an animal/an animal's den or something -_- Poor guy...
San Francisco - I went to the Asian Art Museum with my mum and dad during the Ming Dynasty art exhibit. The museum is right across the street from City Hall, and in front of City Hall, they planted this organic garden thing where all the grown food will be donated to the food drive. Impractical, but a good publicity effort.
Jennifer adopted Bubba when she was in college. She loved having him around, but admits that it was pretty irresponsible of her to think that she could handle the costs and of a dog while in school, not to mention being able to dedicate the time to take care of him. When you are studying, going to class, working part-time and keeping up with your college social life, when do you spend time with your furry friend?
What do you think?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/09/24/dorm.life.pets/index.html?iref=newssearch
]]>Went in the bathroom to check on Mormel and found her lying so happily in the dryer!
It's a nice surprise for me :) It's good that she stayed inside long enough for me to take a few shots of her hee