Monday, November 24, 2008

Double Argh.

Days of cat medicine administered: 5. Days remaining: 8. Scratches received: many - most are easily covered up, thankfully.

But! I think we may have figured out a system that not only gets the medicine into the cat, but also minimizes the pain of kitty scratches and frustration of being spit up on. We were at Petco this weekend anyway (you get a free book with all kinds of coupons when you adopt a pet) so we picked up some pill pockets. We were initially unsure they’d work, but they seem to do the trick. Adam’s figured out just how far down Carly’s throat he has to stick his finger so she can’t spit out the pill but doesn’t barf. We then swap and give her a breather. I inject the orangesicle liquid in small squirts into the side of her mouth and she licks it off her face. We generally have to take another break halfway through the orange stuff because she starts struggling. It still takes some time, but nowhere near the 40-50 minutes it took the first few days. We try to get it done while the other cats are eating. I can only imagine that nothing’s worse than being forced to take gross medicine while JC gloats at you from the floor.

Friday night was pretty low-key. We ate dinner, watched some TV. Saturday morning we went out for some shopping. A lot of shopping. We stopped at Menards so Adam could check out a tool kit he was considering swapping his Christmas gift out for. We went to Petco, Walmart, Walgreens, Target, grocery shopping. We spent pretty much our entire weekly cash. Which is ok – we’ve been under for the past few weeks. We were out the whole morning. We grabbed some lunch at KFC while we were on the road. When we returned home Adam changed the oil in my car. He started a fire in the garage (on purpose) that he had to put out with the fire extinguisher (not on purpose.) We re-filled the indoor wood storage area by the fireplace. Adam made scallops and stuffed mushrooms for dinner. I had leftovers.

Sunday morning we went up to Menards when it opened so he could make sure he got one of the tool sets. It was on sale and had a $75 rebate. We also picked up a new fire extinguisher. We then stopped by his parents’ house. He bought a new laptop and was giving his old one to them. Unexpected wireless router issues turned a “quick stop” into a much longer visit. We then headed back home. I ate a quick breakfast before heading back up to church. The bells did play, albeit a truncated list of songs. We were not at our best. It went alright I guess. I snuck out early after the bells were put away and still only managed to get out at noon.

I stopped at Walmart and Pick ‘n Save on the way home (to return things and get a good deal on milk.) I returned home to a house full of baking smells. Adam made two pecan pies, two pumpkin pies, and a loaf of sourdough bread. And a sinkfull of dishes. I had a headache and was feeling generally awful so when I went to drop receipts off in the office I just laid down on the bed in there and took a nap with Carly for a little while. When the neighbor started chopping firewood I moved to our bedroom and took a nap with JC. Adam finished watching all his DVR programs so we put in Deception. Reminded me a lot of Derailed and The Last Time. Decent movie I suppose. I’ve also got The Darwin Awards waiting in the wings. We ate dinner and caught up on the most recent SNLs. Then it was clean-up time. Adam got pay-per-view wrestling so I retreated to the bedroom to watch Hannah Montana (I wish I were kidding, but I’m totally not.)

This morning we awoke to this:



Gah. I guess we should have watched the weather at some point. My reaction included a few four-letter words not suitable for reprinting. Adam shoveled the driveway out but had to go back over the end when he got home from work (thanks plows!) The drive this morning wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t being run over by irresponsible drivers and while things were a bit slow, it wasn’t unbearable.

This week is a short one with the holiday. The Paalman Thanksgiving is on Thursday afternoon. We plan to exchange names for Christmas again. The “secret” Santa deal works out pretty well although we seem to keep getting the same people each year. We both also have Friday off. No plans to do anything that I’m aware of. I’m going to throw some ribs in the crock pot and hope to start working on our Christmas cards.

On a sadder note, we lost Julie again for bells. She came back a month or so ago and we were so glad to be a full crew again. She was not doing so well yesterday but made it through. But she won't be coming back in the forseeable future. She is starting another round of chemo. I don't even know which round number this is. She's a fighter, but has been fighting for so long now... We're not sure what we'll do for Christmas yet. Make do, as that's all we can really do. So that's a bummer.

On a happier note, here are some Carly pictures:



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