Last Free Day

Monday is the start of classes. This is Friday. I know, Saturday and Sunday are still free but they don't count. See, there is a class free weekend every week but this is the last day of the last free week. No classes, no homework, no getting up early.

5 Am was never meant to be seen unless you are just going to bed! I am a night owl. I used to work the 2-11 shift. I went to bed around 4Am and got up around noon. I loved it. I kept the same schedule even on my days off. Now I drive a school bus. Irony anyone?

My only complaint about the 2-11 was that my family was always saying that they never got to see me. In retrospect I think that had very little to do with my shift and more to do with the fact that I was going through a brain dead period in my life. It was a time of severely bad judgement on my part. But still, I love that shift. I like the quiet at night.


Things with Nanny are looking bad. She is spending more and more time not in her right mind. We think this could be due to poor blood supply to her brain. We think that because her feet turn black after less than two minutes of sitting up. As a result she now has to spend most of her time in her bed. It's a hospital bed so we can sit her up a little and move the level of her legs around. We moved her big screen tv into the bedroom so she can watch tv.


I have biology this semester. (I'm repressing a scream of terror right now.) I keep telling myself that if I can pass algebra I can pass anything. I've never actually taken biology before, not even in high school. I took physical and life science. I'm really regretting that right about now. But Karen is taking it too so maybe we can help each other through it.

I'm also taking a psych class in development, speech, and philosophy. I took philosophy last semester but was forced to drop in due to the fact that the instructor only had one lecture which he repeated every class period and which taught nothing about philosophy. I did enjoy reading the book though. It was really interesting. So much so that I finished reading it even though I had dropped the class.

New School Year and Some Other Junk

Well, we had our back to school meeting and I will be getting a regular route when school starts. This means that my health insurance will kick in. Yippee for me! I will have to change doctors but because mine is not on the health plans list. Karen's doctor is and I have gone with Karen for doctor visits in the past and I like her doctor very much so we will both be seeing the same doctor, which is cool.

I don't know which route I'm getting yet but that's okay. It will be the same route everyday instead of never knowing from day to day what route I'll be driving and almost always feeling lost. Even in an area you're familiar with you can feel lost driving an unfamiliar route because you don't know which house to look for and so on. It will be nice to be able to get to know the kids too.



On to the other junk and boy do I mean junk.

A situation has come up that I feel compelled to weigh in on. It regards blogging and the ethics and just plan courtesy thereof.

Before anyone starts screaming that I should mine my own business and leave them out of my posts - the following is my opinion and no real names or user names will be used here.

It is fine to post about a similar topic as seen on someone else's blog, put your own spin on it and get your own circle of readers to chime in on it.

It is not however, okay to flat out copy the post from another blog whether a link is provided or not. Reference the original post so that your readers can post on the original or post your own idea's with a link to the blog that spurred the thought but don't just copy the words and try to make it seem that you have improved upon the original idea in some way.

Firstly - it is unethical (not to mention in violation of copyrights) to copy someone else's work and ideas without permission.

Secondly - it is just plain, out and out, rude. (Especially if you are a person who would hit the roof if another blogger did the same to you.)


Thirdly - It is made still worse an offence when the section of the blog copied includes the words of someone other than the original blogger - let's say for instance the original blogger's spouse. The spouse no doubt agreed to having their words used in the original blog. But did the copy cat blog gain such an agreement from the spouse? I highly doubt it. This is an invasion and a violation.

Fourthly - When the aforementioned spouse is insulted by a commenter on the copy cat blog the copier should (assuming of course that they know the spouse and disagree) defend the spouse rather than waiting around for the original poster to defend their spouse on your blog.

Okay, that's my rant for now.

Been awhile!!!!

So much has happened in the last couple of months. I don't really know were to start. I just read back through some old posts and realized that I really don't keep up with this thing at all.

Nanny was getting unbearable again, saying that everyone was stealing from her and that she doesn't need any help. So Karen and I went to Mom's for a two weeks. We went to check on Nanny every other day during this time. She finally left a message asking Karen to come back because she needs help. For this woman to admit that she needs help is huge.

So Mom came with us to check on her that day because Nanny's not mean when there's anyone around that she doesn't know real well. When we got here she was way dehydrated and she wasn't acting normally. We called 911 to take her to the hospital. While we were waiting Mom told Nanny about how she used to sit with people who needed the kind of help she needs now and she would be willing to stay and help her. Nanny thought that was just great. In fact, at the hospital she tried to argue her way out of staying overnight by saying, "But I've got a nurse and home, I've got Dolly." We keep telling her that Mom's not a nurse but she doesn't seem to get the difference.

So Nanny, Mom, Karen, and I are all living here right now. Plus Nanny's beagles Jigsaw and Trixie. Mom's chihuahua whom Nanny has dubbed Peanut. Banjo, the cat that we got after Candy disappeared. Oh, and soon my cockatiel, Charlie. It's a petting zoo. But they all get along.

Candy, unfortunately was never found. There was a bob-cat seen in the neighborhood and a greyhound breeder down the way lost 6 full grown dogs to it. That is the only explanation we could come up with. After searching for several weeks we gave up and got another cat.

We went back to fuzzy friends were we found Banjo (they named him) the sign said born the first week in January, American domestic long hair. Yeah. Right, Banjo is now 6 months old and looks like a full grown cat, a LARGE full grown cat. Our vet says that he is a Maine Coon. Yep, the little tiny thing we brought home could get as big as 30 pounds. I looked it up on the web and most sites say 25 pounds but our vet has another one that goes there and it is well over 30 and is not at all fat. They also take 3-5 years to reach their full size so we won't know for awhile yet. But if his current rate of growth is any indication, he is going to be one big cat. He is soooo gentle though, he plays with the dogs and he never puts his claws out. A one year one baby stepped right on his stomach (by accident) and he didn't scratch he just wiggled away! He is also a great fly catcher. Fly's and those rings off the milk jug are his favorite toys.

Not doing much right now, mostly cleaning. Nanny hasn't really let anyone clean in years. She can't see the dirt so it must not be there. So there is a lot of cleaning that needs done as you can imagine.

Waiting to hear back from some emails I sent. My cousin, hasn't been in touch with anyone for several months and Gram asked if I could try to get a hold of her. The last email she answered was in April. So I don't know if she's moved of doesn't have web access or what. She was using the computer of the woman she babysat for but maybe she doesn't work for her anymore.

Watching and reading Harry Potter, waiting for the new movie and the new book. I ordered it months ago and now I can't wait to get it.

Mostly I just have a lot of time right now to sit and think and talk with Karen and Mom. We've been having some really good talks lately. Mom spent hours the other day trying to convince us that it was a good idea for us both to get pregnant, at the same time, like right now!

I think we convinced her that now is just not a good time. Maybe some time in the not too far off future, but not just now. And not both of us. Two pregnant woman in the same house is just a bad idea. Besides, the word childbirth almost makes Karen pass out! So when we're ready, it would be me, not us. Karen can be the 3am ice cream getter.

Missing

Candy is missing. I last saw her at 3am Friday when she woke me up to play with my fingers for a few minutes and then curl up in the window behind the bed.

When Karen got up a 5am she didn't see her. After I had been up for a little while Karen asked if I'd seen Candy that morning. I hadn't seen her since I got up.

We searched the house. We searched the yard. We had to leave or be late to work. We figured she'd come back. She's gone out the doggy door and played with bugs and things since we got her.

After work I came straight home to look for her but she still wasn't back at 8:00 when I got home. Karen arrived within the hour and we both searched high and low. We wandered out through other peoples yards and pastures. I followed the creek as far as I could before the marshy area started to take my shoes off.

We gave up after several hours and went back to work that afternoon. We looked again when we got home until it got dark. Then the storm blow in and we were both standing there looking at the wind and rain and crying. So we took flashlights and went back out and looked until neither of us could feel our fingers and toes anymore.

We've called the local shelters and all the neighbors, we have an add coming out in the paper tomorrow.

One of the neighbors told us that his friend who lives not far from here just lost 6 greyhounds to what they think is a large cat of some kind. The lady at the shelter told me that a lot of people in our area have reported missing animals in the last few weeks and that as far as she knows none of them have turned up.

I think this has been about the worst weekend I've ever had.

P.S. We are getting rid of the doggy door, the dogs will just have to adjust.

Gotta Get Goals

Okay, Kristyn tagged me for this thing so this is all her fault.

My goals:

1. Graduate College. This is first because I want to not only have the magic piece of paper that can get me better jobs but also the knowledge that comes with it. I love to learn but once I graduate I can focus more on those subjects that really interest me.

2. Have no money worries. I want to be able to own a comfortable home and not have to worry about everyday expenses. I'd like to have investments that will see me through retirement without having to worry about whether or not I will outlast the money.

3. Contribute. I want the freedom (both in time and finances) to give to causes I believe in. Examples would include literacy programs like http://www.reachoutandread.org/ and human rights causes like http://www.hrc.org/

4. Lose weight. I don't want to be skinny (I really don't) I just want to be healthy.

5. Help people. As a Psychology major I want to help people. I want to help those with family troubles or with depression. I also want to be listed in the gay yellow pages as a therapist. This will help me reach out to and help people in the coming out process as well as their families. I would like to set up groups for gay people to talk about their issues with one another. I would also like to start a chapter of PFLAG http://www.pflag.org/ for parents and friends of gay people to talk to one another about what they are going through.

Well, those are my main goals in life.

Snowing

Yes, snowing. In central Texas, in April.

This is so freaky! It is coming down fast and in huge flakes. What's more is that it's sticking. It doesn't just melt when it touches the ground.

The Weather Channel says that this is the first April snow in Dallas... ever. Yesterday, the local forecast for here in the Waco area called for a chance of rain and mid 50's today. This morning they changed it to chance of snow and mid 30's. At 2:00 PM today they changed it again to say low 30's and a low of 29 tonight and 1-3 inches of snow.

They don't measure snow in inches in Texas. It's just "a light dusting" or "snow flurries". Today they are calling for 1-3 inches.

Ironically, I recently watched An Inconvenient Truth which is a documentary about global warming. Strange weather (even cold weather) is a warning sign of global warming. Think The Day After Tomorrow without Dennis Quaid saving anybody. The documentary was so interesting to me that I got some books on the subject. This kind of weird weather is exactly what scientist have been predicting for years. But anyway...

It's snowing! How freaky is that?

Pics of The Crazy Guard Cat Candy

SOOOO SWEET!!!

Crazy Guard Cat Candy

The mice thing was getting way out of hand (see post titled Quick)

They were in everything including the bedrooms the dressers and the living room sofa! We tried traps (the bait and trap to release later kind 'cause Karen can't stand the snap noise the other ones make) which worked until they seemed to realize what those were and stopped going near them. Tried the things you plug in that make a noise that you can't hear but is supposed to drive mice away. Still mice in everything and on everything. Sitting in the living room watching TV we could hear them in the kitchen. And this was even after we cleaned out the cupboards and put stuff in plastic containers. When I say they were everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE! Clean the kitchen put everything away and wipe down all the counter and in the morning? Fresh dropping ALL over the place. Can I just say icky?

It was like they called out, "In here guys! Mousy houses and mousy roads and mousy parties and mousy nude nude nudes! Now open: Mousy town, come on down!"

Karen had talked to Nanny before about getting a cat because a friend had one she was trying to find a home for. Nanny said no because the dogs might gang up on a cat and hurt it. The dogs are 4 year old beagles. The dogs are afraid of their own shadows.

So with Nanny in rehab for her hip, Karen decided that with the mice here and Nanny gone it was time to test the dogs eat cat theory. We went to fuzzy friends. We looked in the cages and didn't see one that we really liked that well. So we went into the "free room" were it's basically 4 giant litter boxes and 30 cats just running all over the place. We walked around looking at cats and petting them and after we got to the back of the room and started to head back out we saw this crazy insane freaky cat chasing... nothing. Not even a little tiny piece of pocket lint. Just nothing. Going totally berserk over nothing, just making her own fun. I thought 'that is one spazzed out crazy cat!'

Karen rubbed Crazy Cat's head and then went to the desk to ask about which ones got along with dogs and all that.

I talked to the Crazy Cat. I said "watcha doin Crazy Cat?" and Crazy Cat came running over to me and rubbed on my ankles. So I bent over and scratched Crazy Cat's ears and she seemed to like that so I tried picking her up. Crazy Cat snuggled in my arms and immediately rolled over and showed me her belly. Karen got back and held Crazy Cat and got snuggled and shown the belly too. In the words of Ellen DeGeneres, "Ya gotta reward that!" So we took Crazy Cat home.

They were calling her Priscilla. She is 1 and a half and has had kittens but is now fixed.

After 2 hours we settled on calling her Candy because she is SO sweet. She loves to snuggle and lives to show you her belly for a tummy rub. She is though, as I first thought, crazy. But we figure that's good cause she has lots of mice casing energy. She rips through the house casing whatever. Sometimes a toy, sometimes a dog, sometimes nothing.

She hasn't had to case any mice though because from the day we got her we have had no new mice evidence except one lone little dropping one night. It's like they smelled cat ran from the house screaming "Run for your lives! Mousy town is closed!"

As far as the dogs? They are indeed, afraid of the cat. Candy never even gave the dogs a glance. They hid in the corner while she explored. Her favorite game now is to bat at their noses. Not with claws out or anything, it's just her paws and their response is to run away.

When they try to sniff her, she bats at them and they run away.

She lies in wait for them to come around the corner, then jumps out and she bats at them and they run away.

When the dogs go outside she guards the doggy door from the inside, waiting for them to try to come in and then she bats at them and they run away.

She guards my bed at night, 'cause the dogs try to get in bed too, and she bats at them and they run away.

I give you: The Crazy Guard Cat Candy!

Nanny

Well Crap! I just spend 20 minutes typing a post only to have IE freeze up on me and lost the whole thing. Oh well, I'm over it.

So Nanny's fall: this is one of many, the fourth resulting in a break. This time it's her right hip. Before it has been her tail bone, left hip and pelvic ring. The fall that broke her pelvic ring broke it in three places. After each of these prior breaks she spent a few days in the hospital before being sent to a nursing home for rehab for about 6 weeks. All of this BTW in the last 3 years. Also in that time she has lost a drastic amount of weight. She is 5' 7" and now weighs 103.4 pounds. She won't eat - Karen has tried all of Nanny's favorites and she only ever eats a few bites of anything. They have her on meds now that are normally for cancer patients to help her appetite.

After this break however, they saw fit to send her home directly from the hospital after only one night. She was unable to walk at all or even stand with help. She had to be lifted from the wheelchair or bed onto a potty chair. Karen and I did that with no complaint except that it was causing her pain and we didn't understand why this didn't merit rehab. ***Not to mention we were pissed at the hospital for bringing her downstairs to Karen's minivan to go home - with no pants! She had a little blanket on her lap but when the nurse picked her up out of the wheelchair to get her in the van the little blanket fell down and she was NAKED from the waist down on a cold windy day at the main entrance to the hospital in front of many people coming and going. --- Yep, I said naked from the waist down - don't even get me started about that.

After one week at home and home aids and nurses visiting from time to time she had gotten worse. While one of the aids was helping her wash Nanny's feet swelled (a lot!) and turned blue. Back to the hospital she went and a few days later, into rehab she went.

It has been almost 5 weeks since she started rehab and she has made almost no progress. The other times it was only about a week before they had her up and walking the halls (with a walker and a PT walking along with her) during her therapy sessions. By the time 5 weeks rolled around it was like "okay, i think she can go home now, she's moving better than before the fall!" This time at past 4 weeks and she still can't take more than 1 step, MAYBE 2 if she's feeling frisky.

Also, before this fall she had started over the last couple of years to have some confusion here and there but for the most part the woman was sharp as a tack. Especially considering she is 79 years old. But since this last fall she is having more and more confusion. It seems that there are more "off" days than good ones now.

Things like asking about pets that died 30 years or more ago. And when her son-in-law asked if she wanted him to call to get the yard guy to come out to the house she told him to "wait until George gets home and talk to him about it." -George was her husband and he died in 1983.

Day before yesterday we were visiting and she asked how Pam was (her daughter, Karen's mother, who BTW had a heart attack less than two weeks ago but is home now and doing okay)
Karen,"Mother's doing okay she called me this morning and she's feeling much better."
Nanny, "Called from where?"
Karen,"From her house, she went home three days ago member?"
Nanny "What house?"
Karen "Mother's house, Nanny. You know, the trailer house?"
Nanny "I thought they gave that up?"

They have been living in that house for years. When Karen asked what she meant Nanny shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and said "never mind I'm thinking of something else."

She also has in the last 6 weeks gotten to where no matter how we or the aids or nurses get her seated in her wheelchair, bed, or recliner (we took it to the nursing home so she'd be more comfortable) within a few minutes she is slumped over to her right side. She doesn't notice when this happens.

At first when we told the nurses the confusion had gotten way worse they said not to worry it was just from the surgery (after the second trip the er they decided it was a good idea after all) and that older people take longer to rid they bodies of the anesthesia but after this long that is so not even possible. They are going to run some evals this week for psych and nerve stuff and see if they can't figure out what's going on.

Hopefully they will be able to do something for her.