Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AM Northwest, animals, bird, cat, dog, Easter, fish, kids, pets, rabbit, zoo
Three years ago something happened in my household that changed the kids and I forever……we got a new cat, her name is Gypsy. I’ll bet that you thought I was going to say that MFH came into our lives! Although that was also monumental and oddly enough also happened 3 years ago, that was not as pivotal as the addition of this animal.
It was Easter weekend and FS, FD and myself went down to my dad and HC’s for the holiday weekend. HC loves to paint and decorate Easter eggs, she’s and artist and very talented. When we arrived dad announced that there was a little surprise and took us to the back window to show us this extremely cute little white kitten. Immediately I knew that this kitten had not been placed in that spot purposefully since HC hates cats (hence the HC), dad on the other hand is a cat lover and explained that this cute little kitten had shown up out of nowhere a few days prior and that he had been feeding it and that he had gone to all of the neighbors (he lives in the boonies!) and that no one knew of a missing white kitten and that he knew we were coming and oh by the way, could WE give it a home? Are you kidding me………..
When the kids and I moved into our own home a few months prior to this we had what I like to refer to as a small urban zoo. We had a rabbit, a parakeet, a large German Sheppard dog, a cat and 9 Koi fish…..I feel like I’m leaving something out. You get the picture, we didn’t need another animal let alone another mouth to feed! As you may imagine I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of taking this kitten home. But then it happened. Dad threw open the sliding glass door and the kids were out like a shot and before I knew it, it was too late, instant love; and this kitten wouldn’t let them go. She climbed up the leg of their pants to get them to hold her, she purred louder than a full grown cat and I would have been more evil than the devil had I told the kids no……plus I kind of liked her myself.
So we brought her home and the rest is history, sort of. We’ve had several cats and since this one had been used to being outside and I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of getting another cat de-clawed (I do think it’s wrong but I also like my furniture) I decided that she would be an indoor/outdoor cat. While most neighborhood outdoor cats are not thought of very highly, this one is loved! Our neighbors tell us that she’ll spend the day on their patio, that she’s so friendly, that she eats the field mice (and they’re thankful), and they miss her in the winter when it’s cold and wet. She also talks to us when we talk to her and although she sheds all over everyone it’s hard not to want to pick her up and give her a squeeze. So we’ve become very attached to our Gypsy.
A couple of days ago I was watching AM Northwest and there was a nutball lady on their talking about how destructive cats (and domesticated animals in general) are to the environment and that we should make them all stay indoors. Her issue was with the fact that they eat birds…….hello????….and destroy natural habitats…..what?? I was yelling at the TV, this woman was a loon! Had she never heard of the circle of life….Darwin…..does she want the world to be over populated with birds and mice and moles?? Then it hit me, I was defending my cat. What had become of me? And I don’t really like birds at all, they deserve to get eaten by cats. Oh my, now I’ve lost it!
You get the picture. It’s amazing how pets can mold their people, it’s working! We no longer have the German Sheppard, I gave him to a good friend, the cat killed the parakeet (it got into the cage while we were out of town!), the rabbit died (it’s not what you think) and we sold the house that had the Koi pond. We’re down to only 2 cats, our urban zoo has dwindled. I used to think that MFH had something to do with this but now looking back I think that it must be that little white cat, after all her name is Gypsy, there’s mystery in her, and things started dying and disappearing when she came along…..weird.
Gypsy
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: appreciation, chores, family, humor, kids, spouse, surgery
This last week has been a true test of my family’s ability to “step up” and help out more around the house and with me in general. Since my elbow surgery on Friday the 3rd, I haven’t been able to do much around the house and have had very limited use of my right hand and arm. Even the simplest of tasks is a chore for me and I’m not used to being an invalid so I have been hopeful that the other members of my household would take on a few more tasks, willingly……but as you may guess that has not always been the case…..at least not the “willingly” part.
Rather than launch into a long diatribe of how disappointed I am I would prefer to make this post about some of the comedic observations that I’ve noted this last week. In an effort to boost my morale and offer something humorous to my readers here are a few noted items:
- Other members of my household have no problem sitting at a table that has not been wiped off after 3 or more uses. They also do not have a problem preparing food on a kitchen counter that hasn’t been wiped down for 4 days. This makes me cringe.
- It’s taken me about 5 days but I am an ace at brushing my teeth with my left hand. If you haven’t tried brushing your teeth with the hand that you don’t usually use I would challenge you to try it. It’s not easy at first.
- Washing hair and body with one hand is next to impossible. Having a spouse do it is more fun for them than for you, trust me.
- Teenage daughters do not like to be asked to help mom hook her bra, but they do like doing mom’s hair!
- It is possible to apply deodorant to the armpit connected to the arm, connected to the hand of the same arm. It’s not a pretty look ( a bit monkey-like) but it works.
- It’s a bit embarrassing going to dinner and asking someone to cut your meat. It’s even more embarrassing to try to eat the meat uncut.
- It takes three to four times as long to write down a phone number with my left hand. As a side note I understand that I’m challenging my brain, so that’s good!
- Tweenage boys get a lot of entertainment value out of seeing how close I can come to touching my nose and/or hair with my bad hand/arm, but encouragement is everything “go, go, go, go, go mom, you can do it!”
So this last week has made me learn to appreciate my right arm…..that sounds really weird but I think that you get the picture. I’m not sure that my family has learned to appreciate me at all. The laundry is overflowing, the floors need vacuuming and dust bunnies are making homes in every corner of the living room (I know this because my daughter pointed it out, and laughed). I’ll be the last one laughing though, the kid’s chore board is filled today, they’ll be up till midnight!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: care, Chuck E. Cheese, daughter, doctors, drugs, funny, girls, horses, injury, kids, laughter, mother, nurses, surgery
I am a complete mess! I’m typing with my left hand only and my brain is going much faster than my hand can work and it’s making me nuts!!
Yesterday I had surgery on my right arm/elbow to repair a torn tendon. The injury occurred last July when i fell off of a horse, but on the advice of my primary care doctor (who diagnosed me with tennis elbow) I suffered through therapy and a shot. When the shot wore off I bypassed my doctor and went directly to a specialist who gave me a proper diagnosis and wa-la, I have a 70-90% chance that I’ll be all better, eventually.
But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about my FD. How could this have anything to do with FD you ask? Well, my biggest fear with this surgery was I had to go under anesthesia and that reminded of the time that FD got her adenoids removed.
She was only 5 years old and had been having chronic ear infections since she was 2 months old. After years of antibiotics I reached a boiling point, insisting that her pediatrician send her to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. He did and it was determined that the tonsils were fine but the adenoids had to go and she would be fitted with tubes to help her ear drums drain. This is a pretty standard procedure so we weren’t too worried, just happy that she would find relief!
The day of the surgery we arrived at the hospital. Both of my kids are pretty brave but FD is the most stoic, she wasn’t worried at all. The nurses were wonderful and took us both to the day surgerical prep room so that I could help her get into her gown. I kept assuring her that she would be fine and she kept telling ME that I had nothing to worry about and that she was fine. I reminded her again about our “deal’…..when she was all better I would take her to see the Italian rodent (aka: Chuck E. Cheese).
After she was prepped the nurse brought in a little shot glass of pink juice (happy medicine) and asked me to get her to drink it all down. I was told that this medicine was to help her “relax”, I didn’t know that she was getting high before my very eyes until she mentioned “Mommy, you have three heads”. “Really?” I responded, “and how many fingers am I holding up?” As I showed only one she responded that there were three! I began to chuckle which made her chuckle which made me laugh which made her laugh which made me cry and made her stop and say “wasso funnnnyyy?” which made me split my side open!
At this point the surgical nurse arrived and saw tears streaming down my face. She was so calm and caring when she tried to comfort what she thought was a mother in fear for her child’s life. She tried to tell me that “everything will be alright. This is a routine procedure and we’ll take very good care of your daughter.” As you can imagine this only made me laugh harder, which the nurse mistook for sobbing wails. I could hardly catch my breath enough to tell her that I was in hysterics because FD was higher than a kite and I hadn’t expected that at all! The nurse was not amused by this (apparently they come into contact with more crying parents than laughing) and she whisked my daughter away for her surgery.
She did great that morning! She was only in surgery for about an hour and when they came to the waiting room to bring me to see her the nurses were gushing about how great she was. they told me that most children wake up frightened but not FD, she woke up and announced “Now I get to go to Chuck E. Cheese!” The nurses were pretty impressed by that.
So I’m not going to Chuck E. Cheese anytime soon and it will be awhile before I go riding again….I think I like having the use of my right arm more than I like horses! When FD came home from school yesterday to see me laying in bed with my arm immobile and wrapped with a brace she was glad to see that I was OKand helped me get pillows to prop it up with. She’s 14 now and the tables have turned; I may need her more than she needs me or perhaps we’re even now. Either way we enjoy sharing funny memories like this one and I enjoy watching her grow into an amazing young woman!
