Holy Lost Week!

I can't even tell you what went on last week!

I know there was a lot of craziness and a lot of stress. The stress wasn't the day job, writing, or immediate family, so that's a good thing.

We did have our great-niece's first birthday party! She's so stinking cute. Her cake face was awesome! We took the B's. They wore us out and they had a blast.

This week is going fast. I mean it's Tuesday already.

The rest of the week is crazy, so you won't hear from me again until at least Sunday.

Behave!

A New Week...

So the snow was pretty disappointing. We spent the morning talking about how we could have gotten the branches down and mostly taken care of before people needed to go home so they weren't driving in the freezing rain. But... it is what it is. Who knows what would have happened had we proceeded? Maybe something bad? I'm going with that.

We have rescheduled, but there's still always a chance of inclement weather, so we'll just take things as they come. Again, it is what it is... The bonus is the delay of the hit to the checkbook, so there is that... Ha!

Anyway. We did stay in our jammies all day. Watched movies, read, took naps, did laundry, cooked, and generally goofed off. We made chicken cheesesteaks for dinner and went to bed super late. And we didn't go outside other than to take the dog out. It was a good day.

Sunday we made a quick trip to the grocery store because we had a dinner epiphany. Did some more napping, though it was interrupted by this weird smell... We'd smelled it on Saturday, but couldn't pinpoint it. By Sunday, it was so bad we thought we had a break in the furnace. It was a exhaust-type/burning smell. We kept walking around sniffing and finally figured it out. They make these plug in diffusers for cat anxiety. My sister had given me the ones she'd gotten (they turned their one cat into a demon - it happens, rarely, but it does happen) for Fred. Both were super, super hot and the one was leaking the oil into the outlet. One of them was starting to burn the plastic. Holy Fire Hazard!! Yikes!

The sad thing is that I think it actually worked. On Saturday and Sunday morning, all of the cats were in the living room all chill. They were sleeping together and there was no stress. No one is crazy now, so I can't say that it did really work or it didn't. I don't think we had enough time with it to know for sure... So now I don't know what we're going to do. I won't plug them in again because I don't want my house to burn down. (Read some reviews and found that it is a common problem with this brand and of course, there are no other brands that appear to work and not catch on fire.)

Other than that... Today was Monday again. It was a weird day at work because I thought I was only on the phones for the morning and I had planned my day around that, but it turned out to be all day. I screwed up my check run - twice, and have a crap ton of research to do tomorrow on three problems that started before I did. (That part is fine...I like the research)

I got my words done. Took laundry downstairs, but didn't start it. Ha!

And that is all...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday....

Yay for Friday! Right now, with no immediate holidays to look forward to, Fridays are all we have... Ha! It's what we talk about at the office.

We had to reschedule our tree trimming! It was supposed to be tomorrow. We had all of the "crew" on board - brothers, brothers-in-law, kids, adopted kids - they were all going to be here. Some of them are calling us "wussies" for rescheduling, but it's all about their safety. (They are joking, but...) I am not a happy person about this weather. Everything was planned. Food was purchased. My day was scheduled. Ugh. I even bought first aid supplies, just in case. But the Tree Trimmer made the call so we can't feel bad.

Now That Man and I are looking forward to a "jammie day". We have decided that we are staying in our jammies all day and take a literal day off for a change. We will read. I will write. We will do laundry (because we have to, or maybe we won't) and we will cook amazing food. I am definitely looking forward to staying in my super soft jammies all day. And sleeping in.

I am really looking forward to that!

We, unfortunately, had to stop at the store tonight. Mainly because we were so sure about our weekend plans that we stopped last night. So while everyone else was buying bread, milk, and toilet paper, we were buying hamburgers, perogies, beer, and snacks. We went to the store that only the old people go to and got out of there pretty quickly. Still brutal...

I am spot on with my writing goal! I didn't write last night because I felt like utter Hell, but I made up for it tonight, which is awesome. And I have the weekend since I generally don't count weekends in my writing goals.

That is all...

Behave!

Update on Fred

Fred is still being skittish and standoffish. But he's still hanging out in the common spaces with us, so that's good. He seems to be more mad at That Man than me, though That Man had nothing to do with the trip to the vet, or what happened to him. I'm the one who put him into his cage, drove him to the vet, and left him there.

I haven't gotten him on my lap for more than a few seconds yet, but he is taking his meds. Currently he is sacked on the couch. Thanks to my brother, I was able to get his pain meds into him. He gave me the best way to do it and it worked!

There has been no pee though, which is good. You can tell that the bladder meds really make him feel better. Within twenty minutes, he's himself again. That Man has taken over administering the meds since Fred wasn't being the friendliest to him before staying at the vet. That Man would rather Fred be himself and in my lap. Sweet.

It's Wednesday. Today was a rough day at the day job. Probably my roughest yet. But I got through it and it's good. My immediate coworkers are amazing and so is my boss. I'm still 100% sure I made the right decision. Though, I am still adjusting. I guess when you think about the length of time I worked like a crazy person, it makes sense that it's going to take more than 60 days to work through it all.

I'm sitting at almost 3,500 words for the week so far and it's Wednesday. That's awesome to me. It's been a long time since I've written like this and I love it. I am over halfway to my goal for the month! My brain actually is working again. For the first time in a very long time, I have random story thoughts and ideas throughout my day and during the night and when I wake up. Brain healing?

I had a dream last night that I don't remember much of, but I do remember that my mom was in it. And so was my Suburban. I remember being freaked out about something and then I got into the Suburban with my mom. As soon as I closed the door, everything was good. What does that mean?

That is all!

Behave!

Freddie is Home!

He's not a happy kitty, but he's home and I'm glad.

He has an inflamed bladder and severe anxiety. Geesh!

There are so many factors that can cause this. We're still researching and hopefully can figure out how to connect the dots. I mean, he was only three weeks old when we found him.

The vet put him on pain meds because it hurts when the bladder is inflamed. And they have him on a bladder med. We have a few things to try as far as lessening his stress - who knew there's wet food for stress? We're also going to try the cat calming diffuser.

But the ultimate thought is that he's still very young and it's really possible that he'll grow out of it. That's what we're hoping for.

When we got home, we took him to K4's room since we had to go to the grocery store. None of us wanted him to be alone roaming around the house and there was a huge chance he would hide and we wouldn't be able to get his meds into him. K4 got the liquid med into him and then we let him come downstairs. He only took part of his pain meds, but it seems to be enough. He's currently laying on the living room floor all stretched out.

He's with his people and his buddies and that seems to be what he needs.

That's about it... I did my words and some other household administration duties and now I'm ready to close up shop and relax - hopefully with my orange kitty on my lap. We'll see if he's mad at me or not...

Oh! Snow is forecasted for the weekend! While I'm happy about the possibility of snow, I'm not happy about the way it could change our plans. We'll see.

That's all...

Behave!

Monday...

Oy! It's Monday...

The book singing was good! I sold a few. Got to talk to my author and bookseller friends. My sister came. I met some cool people. It was good...

Mr. B came in fourth in the pinewood derby. He's such a good sport. He was supportive of his pack mates and had the right attitude when it came to the end. He's such a good kid. Then, they had a family race. K1 put little Mr. B in to race with one of K1's old pinewood derby cars. (Little Mr. B fell asleep so wasn't a part of any of the thing) The old school bus was K1's entry when he was like 8. He lost horribly this time, but it was a blast. So many jokes and much obnoxiousness! When they found out how old the schoolbus was, one of the leaders brought out his oldest car and they raced. It was awesome. And then they sat at our table and discussed cars and races and scouts. It made me miss our time in scouts.

Sleeping in was marginal this weekend... that's all I have to say about that.

The most important thing today is that my Freddie boy had a vet appointment tonight. He's still at the vet...I am sad. They think he might have a urinary tract infection, which would explain the peeing on everything (occasionally) that is going on. We took him because of the peeing. It's not terrible, but it's not good either. But he peed on K4's coat right in front of me and didn't run away when I caught him. Something is wrong...

And he's at the vet still. I am distraught. I miss my baby. They wanted to give him fluids and get him to pee and check him out. Trust me, the kitty wasn't sick in any way when we went. The boy weighs 15 pounds!! He's only like seven months old!

I don't know what tomorrow will hold yet. They will call me... and I will leave work to pick him up...or whatever they suggest.

I miss my boy though. By now, he is in my lap, purring and wanting love. I feel so bad for him being stuck in a cage at the vet's office...

That is all I have...

Behave!!

Feel Good Friday!

Let's just get to the list!!!

1. Friday! Whoot!

2. K4 taking care of dinner & clean up tonight. No cooking. No cleaning up. Nice!

3. Getting to see Mr. B on his birthday for a few minutes. They are in Cub Scout pinewood derby preparations and stopped by for some advice on the car. I asked Mr. B how he could possibly be seven already and he told me that I hadn't been paying attention. LOL! He's a crack up!

4. Sleeping in tomorrow! Yes! It's been a rough sleeping week. I don't know why.

5. Dinner with "the boys" last night. We had K3 & A, K3's best friend and his partner, M, over. K3's best friend just found his mother deceased. It was super bad. We assisted as "pseudo-parents" at the funeral home since the poor guy has no one with experience around. (He and K3 have been best friends since early high school so he is like our son, too.) He's an only child and has absolutely no close family. So dinner was a way to catch up after the horrific time and make sure he's okay. He's doing well. He's a great guy. M is also a great guy, and we had a really awesome time getting to know him. We approve. I was going to ask K3 to bring a game to play, but as it turns out, we didn't need one. We laughed our butts off just talking about random stuff. 

6. Book Signing tomorrow! I'm excited to go with my new books!

7. I did not write last night, which I had planned for. I did a few words tonight - not as many as I have been doing, but enough to keep me on track. And there's always the chance I'll not sleep again and decided to get some words down...

8. Did I mention sleeping in? K4 is taking the dog tonight, which means I won't have to share my blankets, share my leg space, or fight for air since I'm stuck in the middle. Don't get me wrong, I normally don't mind the dog sleeping with us, but sometimes it's nice to have a break.

9. Going to see Mr. B's  Pinewood Derby race on Sunday and giving him his presents. That Man is super excited to go to a derby race. It's been a long time. We've done countless derby races - served food, made french fries, carved out cars, painted cars, did last minute weights on cars, baked cookies and pies, organized, cleaned up, gone to the next level with some pretty cool cars. In fact, Mr. B took home several of his dad's old pinewood derby cars for inspiration. It will be interesting to see what has changed.

10. Also Sunday... Oh wait... Laundry... nevermind...ha!

That is all!

Behave!

Mid-Week Mayhem...

Okay, so there's no mayhem. I made that part up... Ha!

It's, so far, been a pretty quiet week around here.

We did have some most beautiful snow yesterday. It's still pretty, but now it's freaking cold and blustery. Which is fine. I mean, it's winter, it's supposed to be cold. And with snow on the ground, I don't mind it so much. Well... I do mind the cold wind. That's pretty much bullcrap.

The day job is good. Still learning new stuff. Obviously that's going to be the case for a while. Went to the dentist for a cleaning for the first time in a long time, which was good. Not as bad as I expected, at all. I also made an eye doctor appointment, which also hasn't happened in a long time. (Do you see the thread here? Hmm...) (I have, however, had my mammogram regularly...)

I feel like I'm becoming a regular, whole person again...

I got my print books for Redemption: Sector One! They are so beautiful and I am so happy! I have my first book signing with them on Saturday! I'm so excited! And then, the next event is the annual greenhouse thing next month, which I am also excited for.

And... the writing is going spectacular! I have written every single day since last Friday, and not just a few words either. I made a pretty lofty monthly goal, and I am overachieving that so far! The story is going well and falling into place. In fact, I finished my words about a half-hour ago, which gives me time to goof off on the Internet. As I increase my stamina to normal proportions, I will be writing more and more words each night and still have goof off time. Oh! And I need a good chair for my office, so... I need to put that on my list!

The crap going on with the national writing organization is so epically ridiculous that it's like riding a crazy train through a ten-ring circus, or maybe worse than that... Today was especially crazy. It's like watching a superbad and cringey tv show that never has any kind of redemption or understanding. And I am not kidding at all.

Other than that... It's Wednesday...

And that is all...

Behave!

First Feel Good Friday of 2020...

It's 2020...

First Friday of 2020...

Let's get to the list.

1. New Year's was good. Lord of the Rings all day. Perfect. I was in bed early and up early the next day.

2. Back up... New Year's Eve was also good. We stopped downtown to see Funeral Bob's new gathering place. Hung out and talked to him and a bunch of people. Went to the grocery store (horrible mistake). Went for food. Visited friends. Visited more friends. Stayed up too late.

3. Back to work on Thursday. It was a long gruesome day of boredom. Seriously. I kept thinking it was Monday, which sucked.

4. Today was inventory day at work. We all made side dishes for the subs work ordered. I had to run checks this morning, but as soon as I was done, I went and helped count. Then lunch. Then entered as much inventory as I could before the end of the day. I was busy, and it was good. We left almost a half-hour late because That Man and I were both caught up in what we were doing and it was hard to tear away. But it will be there on Monday.

5. Chilling tonight. We brought leftovers home from today, so no cooking. I caught up on emails, paid the bills, and talked to my aunt.

6. Tomorrow's Writing Group meeting. Looking forward to it. There's a crapstorm going on with our national organization right now. We have only questions and no decent answers and everyone is ticked off and confused. It should be an interesting meeting.

7. After that... there is hope for lunch with some non-writing friends...

8. Taking the tree down either tomorrow night or Sunday. It's time for it to go. I also need to run the vacuum and clean this pigsty. It's not horrible, but it's not great either.

9. Writing goals... Getting back into the game. I fell short of my goals, but not that short, so I am still on the right track...

That's all I have... January is supposed to be a quiet month, but we're finding every weekend is full... Crazy.

Behave!