chochiyo_sama: (Default)
 I had set the alarm for 8:30, so I could get a few things done before Cynthia arrived.  I caught up on my journal entries first as I was falling terribly behind.  I keep a prayer journal that I write in every night, and what I write in that reminds me of the events of the day so I can record them in my regular journal here.

I cleaned the toilet and the sink in the bathroom as I don't want Cynthia to have to clean my toilet--and since I was already in the cleaning spirit in there, I did the sink too.  She later did the floor and polished the mirror and took the rugs outside and shook them, so the bathroom is sparkling clean now.

Cynthia returned my bar pan and thanked me again for the pumpkin bars.  They didn't last long at her house.  I wasn't sure if my aunt wanted Cynthia today or next week, so I called her to find out.  It is next week, so she can have her house nice and clean for Rachelle's baby shower.  My aunt is a talker, so I had a hard time getting off the phone.  Cynthia got right to work, hauling out my garbage and recycling to the bins, shaking the small rugs, and vacuuming the area rugs and the upholstered furniture.

She wiped down the mats under the cats' dishes and swept and scrubbed the floors in every room.  She washed the washer and dryer in the laundry room--they were pretty grungy--I hadn't done anything with the since I moved in.  I have to do something about the inside of the washer--the former owners didn't use the water softener, so there is like a scum coating the inside of the porcelain parts of the washer.  I don't know if running a cycle with bleach or maybe vinegar would take care of it.  It just looks dirty.

Mom had run across the three ceramic butterflies that my grandmother had painted at my aunt Darla's ceramic studio years ago--when she died, no one wanted the butterflies, so I took them.  They are painted in pinks and purples.  She had sent them home with me a few days ago, and I had Cynthia hang them up in the bathroom on the wall over the toilet.  They look really cute there.  The bathroom is a real dull yellow.  I would like to paint it a very pale lavender.  My bathroom rugs are pink, but I don't want a pink bathroom.  Eventually the rugs will have to be replaced.

My cats refused to use the deep litter boxes with the covers on them, so I had Cynthia put them in the tote in the garage that I am saving for Tammy.   She can give one to Sadie for the SunMan (Sadie's cat) and keep the other for her upstairs.  These litter boxes are just great as the litter doesn't get kicked out all over everything, and in Tammy's case, they prevent the Chihuahuas from eating the cat poop.

She polished all the wood furniture with Orange Glow, which really makes the furniture shine, and spritzed the linen closet with a lavender linen spray that I got years ago at the Crown Plaza where I attended a teachers' workshop.  She carried a few things to the basement for me--just a handful of Barbie stuff--and moved all my cookbooks into the kitchen.  I have to locate a short bookcase that I can put in the kitchen under the windows in the corner so I can have my cookbooks handy.

She worked just under two hours.  Then we had roast beef and cheese sandwiches on Kaiser rolls and just chatted for a while.  She is such a good kid and a very hard worker. 

When she left, I sat in my recliner and enjoyed the sparkling, fresh beauty of my house.  It looks so nice when she is done.  I worked on the little butterfly dresses for a while, then Mom called and I talked to her for a while.  Both cats came out and took turns sitting on Momma's lap and getting snuggles.  They hide when Cynthia is here because she runs  the vacuum cleaner--they hate the vacuum cleaner. 

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  I watched some television and went to bed fairly early and watched a bunch of videos on YouTube before going to sleep.










 

chochiyo_sama: (Default)
After a puke-free Fourth, I discovered a slimy puddle of puke on my desk chair in the craft/laundry room--the cloth one, of course.  It couldn't be the vinyl one that would have been an easy wipe up.  No.  It had to be on the fabric where I had to scrub it for 15 minutes to get it off--and having t o live with the knowledge that no matter how much I scrubbed it, there will be puke residue deep in the fiber for the rest of its life.

My aunt called and wanted to stop by so I could help her figure something out on her FaceBook account.  I tried, but I couldn't find what she was looking for.  She and her daughter and her granddaughters are going on a "Girls' Week" vacation soon, and one of them set up a private FaceBook thing to discuss it.  I couldn't find anything.  We tried to call my cousin Rhonda to see how she could get into it, but she didn't answer her phone or return the call--at least not to me.  She may have called her mother later. 

After my aunt left, I decided I would clean my litter boxes and actually replace the scoopable litter as I have used the same stuff since I moved in, just adding more as it got low.  I've noticed that it has been smelling more pissy lately, so it was time to go totally fresh.  I went into the kitchen to get a big black garbage bag to empty the boxes into, and felt something wet under my foot.  Yes.  A huge pile of chunky cat vomit--and I stepped right in it. Ugh.

So, I had to change my socks and clean up that nastiness. 

Then I cleaned the cat boxes and hauled the big bag of dirty litter out to the garbage bin--only to discover that there was still some garbage in the bottom of the bin.  Apparently the garbage man didn't fully empty my trash bin.  There was still a white kitchen bag at the bottom of the bin.  Why?  I hope it will get completely emptied next Monday.

Then my mother called.  I had expected to take her to her eye doctor appointment at 3 pm, but it turned out that her cousin had an eye appointment at 2:45, so they decided to go together.  I was glad as it was supposed to be 92 degrees this afternoon, which means that I would have been miserably hot waiting in the car in the parking lot.  I was so happy to have a day totally to myself! 

I was taking a break from housework, messing around with my computer, when my doorbell rang.  I thought it might be my aunt coming back to try finding that private group again.  Nope.  It was the three Dahlbeck girls, Emily and the twins, Brenna and Bailey.  These are the little girls I tutored while they were in Kindergarten and first grade for  the twins and second and third for Emily.  They are going into fourth and fifth next year. 

They had gone to the park across the street from my house for a picnic and decided to stop in and visit me.   I do love these little shits, but I do not especially want them turning my house into their club house.  They hung around for about two hours, then Christine, their step-grandma showed up in my driveway--apparently they didn't have permission to go visiting. They scattered like cockroaches when the lights are turned on.  Christine didn't come to the door, so I hope she isn't mad at me. If she is, it doesn't matter much.  But, I'd just as soon not have an uproar in the extended family with me in the middle of it all.

I gave the girls a bunch of fingernail polish I had acquired while I lived at my mother's house.  I never use it, and they might have fun with it.  I saw that they all had nail polish on, so I figured it was okay to give it to them.  I had six bottles, so each of them got two.  There was a little dispute over one bottle, but I told them that there was enough nail polish in each bottle to do a thousand paintings, so they could share all six bottles amongst themselves.  That seemed to settle them down.

I wouldn't mind their visits if they don't stay too long and if they don't pester my cats.  My cats are not used to being teased, and that seems to be their idea of "playing" with them.  I will have to educate them about proper cat treatment. 

When they left, I had a brief rest in the recliner and cuddled my poor, traumatized kitties. 

When we had all recovered, I went into the kitchen and mixed up a batch of pumpkin bars.  Cynthia is coming on Thursday, and I am going to send a pan of pumpkin bars home with her along with a note offering this batch as a token of my love and promising another batch as a reward if her dad will come and hang up my globe lamp for me.  When he comes, as I am sure he will as he is a good guy, I will see if he will also hang up the little coat hook bar in the breezeway and my two small shelves. 

My sister Kim called while I was mixing up the bars, and we talked for about two hours.  I finished the bars and turned the hamburger I had in the refrigerator into meatballs.  We have a family recipe called Porcupine Meatballs which is basically hamburger mixed with rice and covered with tomato soup.  I have been hungry for meatballs, but I made my own version of Porcupine Meatballs.  I mixed the hamburger with finely chopped onions, two eggs, and a cup of Minute rice.  Then, I formed them into balls and put them in my roaster.  I mixed two cans of cream of mushroom soup with a can of chicken broth and poured it over the top of the meatballs, put on the cover, and stuck it into oven. 

About this time, Mom tried to call me, so I got off the phone with Kim and talked to her for a little over an hour.  Mom was extremely happy as it looks like her eye doctor has found a way for her to avoid going to Rochester to have her eyes examined by them twice a year. 

When my timer went off, I took the meatballs out of the oven and ate three of them for a late supper, washed my dishes, and put the leftovers into the fridge.  I have enough meatballs to feed an army.  I will give some of them to my mom, and maybe Cynthia will have a couple as a snack when she is done cleaning for me tomorrow.  She enjoyed the lasagna last week.

That's about it for Wednesday--I started a list of chores for Cynthia--I am going to have her sweep out my garage and throw all the little strips of crap left over from the installation of the vertical blinds that the former owners left in the garage and break down the two TV boxes and put them in the recycling bin.  I think I will also have her take every single thing out of the linen closet and put things back in a more orderly way.  Things are just jammed in however they fit right now.  I may wash up a couple of the afghans in there too, as there is a smell in there that reminds me of sweaty man bodies.  Yuck.  I will have her scrub down the shelves with Clorox Clean Up water which should eliminate any odors. 

I am so thankful for Cynthia's help.

chochiyo_sama: (Default)
I was quite grateful to discover there were no puke piles anywhere in the house today.  Yay! 

I took a shower and put on my new outfit in honor of Independence Day.  It was not patriotic in theme, though.  The capri pants are bright pink, and the shirt is pale pink with bright pink flamingos on it.  It was on sale really cheap in Woman Within, so I got it--even though it probably makes my ass look five miles wide.

I like bright pink.

It's such a cheerful color.

I had a nice chat with my sister Tammy on the phone.  She was working on her basement, which is full of Sadie's toys and her deceased mother-in-law's stuff.  She and Bert have rented a storage unit and are moving a lot of their stuff over there to get rid of clutter until they know whether or not they are selling their house and moving. 

Bert is swinging like a pendulum on the moving issue--some days he is gung ho to move and others you'd swear he'd sunk roots to China to hold him there.  It is a beautiful place.  But pretty isolated, and Tammy needs to make more human connections to ease her loneliness.  I have told her I would go take some art classes or college courses if I were her--there are lots of colleges within driving distance of her place.  I wish there were something like that close to me.  The nearest college is over an hour away.  There are a couple of community colleges nearby, but I don't know if they'd offer anything I would be interested in.  If they offered Spanish classes, I wouldn't mind taking a few more Spanish classes. 


I suppose I could get one of those Rosetta Stone programs and try to learn it on my own.  I think it is easier to learn, though, if you are in a class.  I had a lot of fun at my Spanish classes that I took through Mankato State years ago.

At about 1:30, I picked up my mother and took her to Owatonna where we picked up my sister Kim and got burgers at Wendy's.  Then we went to Mineral Springs Park and had a little picnic.  It is so beautiful there.  We hung out with Kim till about 4 pm,  then went back to Mom's where we watched two movies--Doris, starring Sally Field and Hidden Figures, about the black women mathematicians who worked for NASA in the 1960s.  I was a little shocked that NASA was so backwards regarding women and race in those days--you would think they would have valued the mind above any other consideration.

Mom made popcorn for supper, and I headed back to my house a little after 9 pm.  It was a quiet night.  Except for the neighbor kid shooting off loud fire crackers.  Stewie and Peaches are normally not freaked out by stuff like that, but those fire crackers made them very uneasy.  Ultimately, they both hid under the bed until the middle of the night.

That's about it for the Fourth of July. 

It would have been my Dad's birthday.  He would have been 86.  Hard to believe he's been gone so long already--and that in about a year and a half, I will be the age he was when he died.  I am not ready to be dead yet--there are so many things I want to do.

He did have a lot of good adventures in his life--he went on lots of trips and even got to Hawaii.  He never saw any part of Europe, but I don't know that he had any burning desire to go there, either. 

Thursday

Sep. 22nd, 2011 11:27 pm
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
I had to be up and out early today as I had to take Mom back to the doctor's office to have a bone density scan.  I have never seen the parking lot at the clinic as full as it was today.  There was literally not ONE open parking space.  We had to park across the street in a lot.  I stayed in the car again and sewed.  I finished the plaid flannel outfit except for snaps and buttons.  I also sewed the polka-dotted black shorts and got the bodice of another summery dress partially done. 

When Mom got done--really quickly today--we went to Perkins for breakfast.  She had a ham and cheese omlette and I had my favorite mushroom, asparagus, and cheddar cheese omlette with two link sausages.

When we got back to Ellendale, I  took Mom to Steve's Meat Market to buy bacon for Cora and Caleb who will be with us tomorrow night while Jack and Kari celebrate their anniversary.  Our family is weird.   Tammy and Burt's anniversary was Wednesday, Kim and Kevin's was today, and Jack and Kari's is tomorrow.  They were all married on different years, but all within a couple days of each other on the calander.

Joni and Jeff are the odd balls.  They got married in July.

Anyhow, when we got home, we watched a movie that mom had recently bought.  I cannot think of the name of it to save my soul.  All I can think of is "Just Go With It."  But that is wrong.  It's about this young couple and their best friends who each love their friend and the friend's husband, but hate each other passionately.  They become God parents to the couple's child and then the couple gets killed in a car accident.  It turns out that they have left guardianship of their daughter Sophie to these two together.  It's sweet, kind of a tear jerker, and extremely predictable. 

While we watched that, I sewed a bit.  When that was over, Mom watched the tape from Dancing with the Stars, and I retreated to my Lair to snuggle my kitties and mess with my computer.  I came out later and watched some dumb Campus PD realtiy show while I ate my Jimmy Jones from yesterday.  Then I returned to the Lair, caught up with all my Scrabble games, and poked around on my computer. 

Tomorrow I meet DeAnn for brunch at Perkins in Owatonna, which will make four days in a row that I have had a meal at Perkins...twice in Albert Lea, once in Rochester, and now in Owatonna.  LOL.  I hope to get up early enough to take a bath before I go--I feel crusty.

Not much else is new.  Tomorrow I would like to do my laundry.  Mom did hers today.  My bedding really needs to be stripped, washed, and my bed remade. 

Sadly, that's about all I have for today.  Stewie is snuggled tight against my thighs and stomach, purring and smiling.  He is such a little sweetie.  Peaches is licking Tyger Lilly's tail, and Tyger Lilly is licking her own paw.  LOL.

Cats.

Monday

Sep. 19th, 2011 11:54 pm
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Monday
 
Pain in the ass.  My computer is not hooking up to my mother’s wireless again.  Sigh.  It doesn’t take much to fix it, but I am in  bed and the wireless connector is across the house and I would have to turn on all the lights and make a big production to get to it.  It requires moving her printers and all kinds of shit.  So, I will just write in a word document and copy and paste it in the light of day. 
 
I was up until 3 am again, so I slept in until 10 am.  I would liked to have slept longer, but I  want to get my days and nights back under control.  Mom went to help LaVonna can pears today, so I was on my own for most of the day.  The day began with cleaning litterboxes and filling cat dishes with food and water. 
 
In the night, the cats had knocked over a stack of small totes, so I spend a lot of time putting all the stuff back into the proper totes and stacking them up, hopefully in a more sturdy arrangement.  I had thought of doing laundry, but I don’t really have a ton of it.  I need to wash my bedding, but it’s such an ordeal to strip all the stuff off the bed. 
 
I went upstairs and warmed up some left over spaghetti and had a piece of the apple cake I baked on Saturday.  It is extremely delicious.  I got a couple of totes out of the porch and brought them down in hopes of getting some more stuff put in order.  I also hauled down my “My Friend Jenny” doll and a big baby doll from my youth.  They both need to be scrubbed up and dressed.  My bride doll and the Saucy Walker doll are still up in the porch.  They need a good scrubbing too—and redressing. 
 
I took a break and watched some of the stupid judge shows, since there wasn’t anything else worth watching on.
 
When I went back to the basement, I  scrubbed the Tammy family with Joy dishwashing soap and a nail brush.  They all look much perkier after their scrub.  I stripped off all their clothes to wash them.  I believe I will be sewing them all a new outfit soon.  I need to dig out some of the Fashion doll patterns which I haven’t used in quite a while.  I’ll probably make them all something warm, for fall. 
 
Tomorrow I have to take my mom to the doctor, so I have to get up early.  I have been looking for my billfold and I am not finding it anywhere.  I have no idea where it could be.  All of the places I thought it WAS, it WASN’T.   The only place I can think of where it might be is in my car, under the seat.  I often stick it there when I drive.  I have to get in a better habit—I need to keep it in my purse.  I don’t often carry my purse when I shop, but when I take people places, I like to carry the purse as it is large enough to hold a pencil box which I use as my traveling Sewing Box.  It contains a pin cushion, a small pair of embroidery scissors, a card of snaps, a spool or two of thread, some precut elastic, and a few outfits that have already been cut out of the fabric.  It’s amazing how much you can get done while waiting for people to get done with an appointment or with their shopping.
 
In my sewing box right now, I have a flannel long-sleeved shirt and long pants, a pair of shorts to go with the outfit I made earlier, a pair of culottes in the pirate pattern.  It will go with the pirate outfit I made as an alternate “bottom.”  I also cut out a little dress with a gathered skirt in the stars and strips pattern I had made a shorts out fit of.  I think it will be very fresh and cute.  I’d like to make a sailor style collar for it—if I can find any plain white fabric.  That should be far more than enough to keep me busy tomorrow.
 
On Wednesday, I meet Ben at Perkins for lunch so we can visit about whatever is on his mind.  He’s a good kid, and I miss him.  He is very talented in creative writing.  I was happy to hear that he is meeting with a former teacher for mutual support in the writing area.
 
On Thursday, I have to go to the Jobs Services place.  Yuck.  Not looking forward to that.  But it is all a part of jumping through the fucking hoops to collect unemployment.  Sigh.
 
On Friday, I meet DeAnn at Perkins for Brunch.  It will be good to see her. 
 
On Saturday, Ingrid wants me to come over for a late lunch and to watch a movie.  I haven’t seen anything of her in a very long time, so I guess it is about time to spend some time with her.  I look forward to seeing her little Missy again.  She is a very sweet little doggie.
 
Nothing is happening, as far as I know, on Sunday. 
 
My brother-in-law Jeffrey is getting out of the hospital on Wednesday.  Supposedly.  It depends on how well his foot is doing. 
 
Now, in more bizarre news…apparently a semi driver went a little nuts in Rochester today and nearly killed one of my former students.  According to the Rochester Post Bulletin, the truck driver had been driving along like a normal person when he suddenly veered across three lanes of traffic, crashed through the barrier and through a bunch of trees, and slammed into the Service Master Cleaning Service.  One of the drivers on the road said the truck driver flashed her a peace sign as he barely missed her vehicle.  Crazy.
 
Unbeknownst to me, one of my former Triton students now works there:  Lindsay Kanable (pronounced can-ABLE.  Not cannibal).  Her desk was right in the path of the truck as it crashed through the building.  Fortunately, she was at a co-worker’s desk or she would be dead right now.  As it was, she was buried under debris and the emergency people had to dig her out.  I hope she was not too badly hurt.  I always thought a lot of her.  She was a sweet kid when I knew her.

A witness who worked in a nearby business said the truck was going around 80 miles per hour.  It was a big belly dumper kind of semi, filled with sand, apparently.  It busted up that building like it was made out of paper. 
 
The truck driver was dead on impact, apparently.  Damn fool.  One of my ROC kid’s Mom worked there too.  Thankfully, no one else was killed. 
 
All this happened at about 4 pm, and it happened very near ROC.  I’m glad none of my kids got involved in it.  It could have been much much worse.


chochiyo_sama: (Default)
This was actually written on Wednesday night, but the computer was acting weird, so I typed it in a word document and saved it until today. The computer is still being a little pissy, but I am hoping I can at least get this posted.

I slept well last night, but I had weird, anxious dreams. The first dream I recall is shopping for groceries and spending $159, writing a check, and being terribly worried that there was not enough money in the bank to cover it. As I recall, there were a lot of perishable, dairy-type products in my bags. By the way, I had brown paper bags instead of my nice reusable blue bags with handles. I had a lot of yogurt and those individually packaged pudding cups and chip dip and cottage cheese and stuff like that.

I suppose this was dreamed as a result of how hungry I was yesterday. I was wishing that I had enough money to be able to purchase more stuff to keep down in my lair or in the refrigerator in the basement, so on days like yesterday when there was nothing to eat, I could make do with that sort of odds and ends. I should get some microwave dinners—there is a microwave down here.

Then, I dreamed that I went to ROC to visit the kids. When I got there, they were having an overnight lock-in. Sometimes when I dream about ROC, the setting is different than it is in real life, yet in the dreams it is pretty consistent. Any how, it was this alternative ROC setting—where there is nothing behind the school and a big area of open meadow-like land in front with homes over a block away.

Also, the school was sort of a combination of ROC and Triton.

When I went down to “my” classroom (which is now Blair’s classroom), it had a huge bed in it…and the white board had been replaced by a very old chalkboard which was in crappy condition. The room looked nothing at all like it was when I had it, and I felt very sad, thinking, “Jeez, they couldn’t wait to rub out every reminder of my existence.”

I was very very tired, and I wanted to lie down on that giant bed and go to sleep, but I knew that all those dairy products were in my vehicle (which was a huge pickup truck instead of my little green Buick), so I started saying good-bye to the kids. In the dream, the faculty seemed anxious to see me gone. No one in the faculty talked to me, and in the dream, Tracy wouldn’t even lift her head to look at me.

I suppose this is more of my anxiety—that I am not welcome there anymore, even though everyone seemed very happy to see me when I went there, and many faculty made a point of seeing me and talking with me.

So, as I prepared to leave, I hugged many of my kids and even kissed a few of them on the cheek. I got into my vehicle and checked my billfold. In my dream, I had three twenty dollar bills in my billfold, and I had not locked the vehicle, so I was nervous that someone may have gone in there and taken my money—which was the ONLY money I had. (Shit, I WISH I had $60 in cash!)

As I drove away, I realized it had snowed, and snowed a lot! I couldn’t even see the roads! I was driving on a mountainous road that was covered with snow and ice. I went down a steep hill and found that the bridge over a narrow stream had been washed away—there was a steep embankment down into the little river then the river, which was partially frozen, but still flowing rapidly. I briefly considered driving into the river and across, but the banks were so steep and so rough that I was afraid I would get hung up going down or be unable to get up the bank on the other side. So, I carefully turned the truck around and went back up the hill. I figured I would have to find another way home. There was so much deep snow I couldn’t see anything. It was about then that I either woke up or the dream ended or I just don’t remember what happened next.

My alarm went off, but I turned it off and went back to sleep. I was so tired. I got up at about noon—and I could have kept sleeping ALL FREAKING DAY again…but I forced myself to get up and get dressed. Mom had wanted me to work in the porch yesterday, but I worked in my room all day instead.

So, today, I planned to work on the porch stuff. When I got upstairs, mom had made chili. She was already eating when I came up, and we talked for a little while before she headed over to Lily and Jerry’s house to pick the green beans they had told her she could have.

After she left, I had an enormous bowl of chili and a couple of pieces of toast. I ate this while I watched some judge show on tv. When I was done eating, I put the remaining chili in a plastic container in the fridge, put my dishes in the dishwasher, washed the chili pan and scoop in the sink, and wiped down the stove, counter and table. Mom had baked some Amish friendship bread, so I cut a slice of that and ate it.

The last thing I felt like doing was working in the porch, but it has to be done. So, I went out to the porch and put a bunch of stuff in the consignment shop pile—including my two suitcases and my jigsaw puzzles. I hated to get rid of them, but there is no place to keep them, and I never seem to make the time to put them together anyway.

I emptied out four shoe box-sized plastic bins as well as two shallow but large under-the-bed totes. I packed up several of the blue Walmart bags with stuff to be taken downstairs. Some of it was doll accessories. One was my Tammy doll family from IDEAL. I have Tammy, Pepper, Tammy’s Mom and Dad, and either Tammy’s brother or her boyfriend. I cannot tell those two apart. I think the Tammy dolls are actually more attractive than Barbie was at that time, but I hated (and still hate) the way their legs spraddle out like “V” shapes when they sit instead of modestly straight ahead. I gave serious thought to getting rid of my Tammy dolls, but I just couldn’t do it. I want to give them their own home in my doll world—I think I owe them that. Actually, only Tammy herself is from my childhood dolls. The mom, dad, and boyfriend/brother I got at Uncle Tom’s Antiques in Owatonna—they were about $35 apiece. Her little sister Pepper came from Miller’s Second Hand and Antiques in Kasson. I think I paid about $20 for her.

I also found one of my vintage doll families…in that family the only original members of my childhood collection are the skipper and the tutti. The dad is a dark-haired Ken doll without a thumb that I got at the flea market in Winona. The Mom is a Midge with dark, short hair. I traded some vintage cocoa-cola Christmas coasters to Chuck Hoffman for her. He collected Coke stuff, and his first wife collected Barbie stuff. She had two of these dark-haired Midge’s, so I was lucky enough to get her. Both Midge and Ken are vintage.

Another thing I found was a pair of jeans I had worn in college when I had lost so much weight. I look at these jeans—which I thought were HUGE back in the day—and I think how small my butt was then, to fit in these tiny things. LOL. Well, as far as social pressure goes, they were considered big (size 14) in those days…but shit! I’d be very happy to be THAT HUGE again—any day!

I am saving them, along with one adorable little embroidered muslin top which I loved back then. Someday, maybe, I will wear them again.

I sorted through a bunch of books. I am keeping most of them—at least until I get a chance to read them. A lot of them will go somewhere else once I have read them—unless they are so good that I feel I must keep them.

Mom was gone for so long that I was beginning to worry about her. I was just about ready to get into my car and go see what was up—I had visions of her unconscious in the bean patch—when she came home. She had stopped by Jack and Kari’s to give them some green beans to eat and got interested in the movie Unstoppable and stayed to watch it. Her cold sounded pretty bad again today—her lungs are very congested. If she isn’t better by next week, I think she should go to the doctor. It might have turned into pneumonia.

She complained of being very hot, and I suggested perhaps this would be a good afternoon to go to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. She agreed. She also suggested I fill my car up (meaning SHE would fill my car up since I have no money at all—I had to shake a bunch of quarters and dimes out of my piggy bank to get enough money to buy ice cream!) I told her I could wait until I get the check from unemployment so she didn’t have to put gas in my tank.

However, she had volunteered me to go to Owatonna tomorrow to pick up the McDonalds lunches for Kim’s day care kids. She always gives them a McDonald’s picnic a day or two before they have to go back to school. I did not mind this in the least as I am always happy to do whatever for my dear sister whose life is basically hell on earth due to her worthless asshole husband.

She had asked him if he would run to McDonald’s and pick up the food for her, since he NEVER works and he cruises around town all day long anyhow, and SHE was paying for everything—including anything HE would like…but he said he would have to “CHECK HIS SCHEDULE.” Anyhow, she called mom, crying, and asked mom if we could possibly do it for her as he couldn’t be depended upon to do anything. He seems to be the happiest when he can make her the most miserable.

So, Mom and I and Cora and Caleb will be going to Owatonna tomorrow to get McDonald’s for the day care kids. Kim said she would buy our meals too, but Mom said, “NO WAY.” We can buy our own meals.

Anyhow—I had a very heavy tote full of framed pictures that neither Mom nor I could carry (I can’t carry anything that takes two hands anyhow since I have the damned cane). Kari had said she would come over and carry it to the basement for me—and she called and said she could come tonight. Mom told her that we were going to the DQ and asked if she and the kids would like to come too. She said no, but she would wait for us to come back as she and the kids all wanted to ride their bikes over here.

So, Mom and I took off for Blooming Prairie—where the closest DQ is—and while we were stopped at the gas station, my cell phone rang…it was Kari. She said the children were devastated as THEY wanted to go to DQ also—and why hadn’t we waited for them and could we bring them back some blizzards? So I said we were only at the gas station, which is just outside of town. We could easily go back and get them, then their ice cream would not be all melted and gross by the time we got back. Then I handed to phone over to Mom to work out the details since I had to put the gas in my car.

At first Cora did not want to go to Blooming with us. She wanted to ride her bike to Grandma’s with her Momma. But, by the time we got there to pick up Caleb, she had decided to come too. They had decided that I could drop them back off at THEIR house, then they would all ride their bikes to Grandmas!

So, off to Blooming we went with our little monkeys in the back seat. All the way there, they were singing inappropriate songs and telling inappropriate jokes.. LOL. They were the same inappropriate songs and jokes I had known as a child, so I am quite sure their father taught them to them. One was “Look down your shirt and spell ATTIC.” Another is “Spell PIG backwards, then say ‘funny.’” There was a song about “Boobs” as well, but that one was unfamiliar to me.

This went on all the way to Blooming, along with funny stories of what new and crazy thing Mojo had done.

Once we’d been through the drive-through, it got remarkably quiet in the back seat.

OH—on a happy note, Mom said that since she was buying treats for the kids, she would buy my ice cream as well. So I can hang onto my quarters and dimes. LOL.

When we got home, we dropped off the kids as planned and they all rode their bikes to Grandma’s house. I enslaved poor Caleb who carried 3-4 Walmart bags of books and notebooks and stuff like that to the basement for me. Kari carried down my little metal drawer thing that used to contain filmstrips. I pulled it out of the garbage back when Triton remodeled the high school. Ever since then, I have regretted not taking the other two as well. Sigh. Anyhow, it is down in my lair now—along with several other bags and totes. I had just got everything put away, and now I have a new bunch of stuff to find homes for down here. It’s good, though, because Mom’s porch is almost emptied of my stuff.

Kari and I put my microwave in a big plastic garbage bag and put it on the new shelf in the garage—my brand new toaster oven, still in the box, went out there as well. My large hanging globe lamp is in a sturdy tote and out on the shelf too. I would rather have it in the house, but there is no place for it, and just sitting around, I am afraid it would get broken.

I suppose I could sell my set of three matching globe lamps, but I love them sooo much. They are sort of a pale tan color and they have pretty, delicate apple blossoms on the globes and the glass bases. I don’t WANT to get rid of them.

When they left, Mom watched America’s Got Talent, and I came downstairs to watch Ghost Hunters. I wait all week for that show, then, once again, I fell asleep watching it! I did work pretty hard today, and that porch was so hot and humid! I spent several hours out there, and I was pretty dang beat when I quit.

Mom came down and chatted for a while at about 10 pm—mainly to be sure I was still willing to get that McDonald’s stuff for Kim…duh. Of course I am!

When she went back upstairs, I grabbed a diet Coke and came into my lair—I carried the two totes I had finished filling yesterday into the furnace room and put them on the top shelf. Since I was in there, I cleaned the cat boxes and gave them more food. I also had to fish two of their toy mice out of the drain…The shit would really hit the fan if they plugged up the drain with their toys!

I need to get up as early as possible tomorrow as I MUST take a bath before I go to Owatonna tomorrow…I should have taken one today, but I just didn’t have the life-force to do it.

Mom’s wireless is giving me issues tonight, so I am putting my daily entry on a word document. When the fucking server decides to allow me on line again, I will copy and paste. I do not know why it does this. It will be fine for weeks and weeks. Then, suddenly, it will boot me off and refuse to let me on again three or four times a day.

Saturday

Aug. 21st, 2011 12:30 am
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Mom was down in my area early this morning to take a shower--and Stewart was worried she was going to drown herself of something--he set up a caterwauling that woke me up.  Mom said while she was sitting on the toilet, he put his paws on her knees and yowled and yodeled for a long time, then purred his little heart out.


It makes me happy that the cats are bonding to Mom.  She is fondest of Peaches, and she doesn't click too much with Tyger Lilly.


She went to the fair with Jerry and Lily early this morning.  She was gone until mid afternoon.  She said it was fun.  Each of them bought a $50 magnetic bracelet--supposedly good for arthritis and such.  I wish I had a couple of ankle bracelets.  Maybe they would help my knees.


I slept late then got up and took a nice long bath.  It felt so good to soak in that nice hot water.  My knees have hardly hurt today because of that.


Basically, I have been ravenous all day.  I had peanut butter and jelly for a late lunch, and nothing after that until about 8 pm when mom made some popcorn.  That was good, but I am hungry for bacon and eggs or chicken and biscuits and gravy.  I considered driving into Owatonna and going to Perkins for lunch, but eh.  I have to go to West Concord tomorrow to see the people living in my house about the house payments  and give them the rest of my keys.


I might go to Kasson afterwards to the little vintage theater where it only costs $3 for the matinee and watch Captain America as I have not seen it yet.


Late this afternoon and during the early evening hours, I sorted through a lot of my small craft materials--beads and buttons and small appliques.  I had (and possibly still have more) many ziplock bags full of buttons, beads, snaps, appliques, ribbons, elastic, snaps, and all kinds of other stuff.  If nothing else, I will be very organized by the time all this is done.


Mom came down and cleared off my desk.  I told her where stuff had to go and she put it there. 


After that, we ate popcorn and watched Mrs. Doubtfire.  I haven't seen that show in a long time, and I still find it very good.  They cut quite a bit out of it, though.  There was no "drive by fruiting" and there where a few other parts that I noticed were missing.


It's funny that that show happened to be on tonight because this morning while I was bathing, I was thinking about the movie Tootsie, with Dustin Hoffman.  I used to own the VHS, but I have gotten rid of almost all of my VHS movies.  They just take up way too much room.  I  would like to find it on DVD some day--I love that movie.  I can still hear Bill Murray saying, "You SLUT," when that lust-crazed old fart follows Dustin Hoffman's character home.  Ha ha ha.


Tomorrow I am going to try to sort out all my loose pattern pieces and get them filed into the appropriate folders.  Then I will head to West Concord to see my "tenants."


I cannot think of anything else of significance to report.  I hope to have all my stuff--at least all that is already down here--stowed away by September 1 as I would like to start working on my writing and a few other projects by then.


I also need to find a way to make some money as mine is rapidly running out.


Sigh.

Friday

Aug. 12th, 2011 10:43 pm
chochiyo_sama: (Default)

Stewie and I had a good long happy cuddle this morning.  Right in the midst of it, Mom called me and asked me to bring my dish pan to Lily and Jerry's house as they were freezing sweet corn and did not have a decent bowl for doing it.

I was dressed except for my shoes and bra (I don't wear them if I don't have to).  So I made myself a quick PBJ and took my pills then went over there.

Their cat Franklin has been terribly sick for a long time.  They actually took him to the vet to have him put down one day--but the vet, seeing how desperately they loved him, decided to try one last heroic measure and put a feeding tube in his neck.

I was afraid that he would look like death warmed over, but he looks great!  He seems to be recovering--he's been eating a little bit on his own, but they have to feed him every five hours and it takes an hour to feed him through the feeding tube.  I guess he is pretty cooperative about it.

He even managed to push the screen door open and have a little stroll outside.  LOL. 

I got to give him a little kitty lovin' and he tolerated it pretty well.


Mom and Jerry were in the basement cutting the corn off the cobs.  Lily has been having a lot of trouble with her shoulders and neck.  Apparently the doctor told her she had "frozen shoulders" and has been giving her shots for them.  I suppose it is cortizone.  That's what they put in my knees.

They hurt her so bad that she was gasping and crying out every time they "grabbed" her.  I felt her arm and what it felt like to me was huge masses of knotted muscles.  I told her she should consider therapeutic massage as getting those knots rubbed out would help ease the pain considerably.

Then Mom told her how I was really good at massaging knots out and how I had helped her when her back was so bad.

So, I helped a little by putting the corn in the freezer containers, and when we were done with that, we went upstairs and I massaged her neck, back, shoulder and arm for probably about an hour.

I started really gentle and soft because I knew how much pain she was in...I felt the knots loosening almost right away except for one really nasty stubborn one that was just above her elbow.  By the end, I was able to go a lot deeper without hurting her excessively, and the knots were much reduced.

I told her she should take a nap after that as her muscles would be relaxed and she should be able to sleep...also, in sleep her muscles should relax even more.  She said she has been having a terrible time sleeping due to the pain.

While we were working on the corn, Jerry offered me a beverage--I said, "Nah, I have my water bottle."  Then he said, "Well, I was going to offer you a marguerita."

"Oh!"  I said, "Well, in that case..."  I was just joking, but he made a couple of margueritas, one for me and one for him.  I'm not generally a big fan of regular margueritas--I prefer the fresh fruit strawberry ones that are blended.  But this was pretty good.  It had just the right amount of "pucker power."

He said the secret to his success as a marguerita maker is an orange liquor that he can only get in Mexico.  They spend every winter in Texas, so they always go into Mexico too.  That's where I get my supply of REAL vanilla.  There is nothing to compare to good Mexican vanilla.

He gave me a book to read--he said everyone was telling him how good it was but he just couldn't get into it.  It's called Black Wind and it was written by F. Paul Wilson.  I have never heard of him before.  However, I started reading the book and got into it right away. 

It is set during World War II and is about a young Japanese boy and a young white boy growing up together in California.  Both are picked on by a bully named Mick, and the Japanese boy seems to be a member of some strange secret society...but he knows very little of it himself.  However, his grandfather (or guardian--not sure what he is exactly) is training him in all the ways of the Japanese culture.

At about 6 pm, I retreated to my lair and worked on the mess from my desk.  I sorted a lot of paper stuff out--I have  recipes in a wire basket and a bunch of patterns in a blue Walmart bag.  Hopefully I can get those straightened out and put away properly tomorrow. 

I folded my dark clothes and threw my whites into the dryer.  I scrubbed up my Mickey Mouse doll and my "My Friend Mikey" doll.  I did my best with Chatty Baby's hair, but it looks terrible.  I see cute little bonnets in her future.  Mikey's jeans were freshly washed and dried, so I put those on him.  His shirt and jacket are in the dryer now, I believe.  I looked on EBAY for some "My  Friend..." doll patterns, but didn't find anything much.

I put Chatty Baby in a newborn t-shirt I bought at Target some time ago--after Halloween.  It has a baby Frankenstein face on it and says "Little Monster."  It looks cute on her.

Mickey and Minnie are just standing around in their painted on underpants, poor things.  I need to  sew them some clothing.  I think I will make them both a pair of bib-overall shorts.  Just something so they don't have to stand around naked.

I'm hungry right now--no lunch and no supper.  When I got back from Lily and Jerry's house, Caleb was practically on my heels.  Mom made us all popcorn, and I guess that was supper.  I have some yogurt in the fridge down here, and I also have bread and peanut butter and raspberry jam.  I could have another PBJ sandwich...but I just don't feel like making the effort.

The next time I go to town, I will buy myself some granola bars or something that are easy to eat.

Right now, I wish I had some potato chips and sour cream with chives.  *drool*

Not much else is new.  Stewie is sleeping on my feet right now.  The girls are at the end of the bed snuggling with each other.  Once I fall asleep they will all be snuggling up tight to me.  LOL.  My babies.  I love  them soooo much.

Friday

Aug. 5th, 2011 11:42 pm
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Once again, I sorted, organized, and found homes for my stuff in the underground lair.

Jeff and Joni took a lot of canning jars on Wednesday, and Mom did some rearranging in there so that my board games could fit on an empty shelf. There is still more room on those shelves, so I will use it up as effectively as I can.

I put my slightly-larger-than-shoe-box sized tote full of doll-sized Christmas stuff next to the board games. I'm putting extra fabric for my quilts in the bottom drawer of the dresser in the bathroom as well as some yarn.

Mom and I had two ears of sweet corn each and a glass of milk for lunch. It was quite delicious.

For supper we had fresh beets, cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini. And hot dogs. Can't be completely healthy, can we?

All of this was garden fresh produce--some from my mom's cousin LaVonna's garden and some from my sister Tammy's garden.

I am really jonesing for a fresh-from-the-garden tomato. As I was moving and in a continuous state of chaos this summer, I did not plant my customary two tomato plants in pots. Mom has a couple of tomato plants in her tiny garden, but none are close to ripe enough to eat yet.

I'm now over half done reading the book Outlander. It's good and I appreciate that it doesn't go into complete gory detail in the sexy passages and there has been no use of terms like "his pulsing manhood" or "her heaving bosom." Less is more. Much more.

I do not know if I will be able to read the entire series...seven books of this? But, maybe I will. One of the things I promised myself when I landed in this fucked up situation is that I would read many many books--all the books I did not have time to read while I was teaching.

Not much else today--Mom and I went to my brother's house to feed and water and give affection to their three cats while they are on a short vacation up north.

Apparently they were up at the Canadian border today. I texted and asked how it was going. Jack texted back and told me that.

It was cooler today--but still hot when you are working.

Tomorrow I am going to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes with Ingrid. We will probably get something to eat afterwards. I've really been looking forward to this movie. I read the book when I was in high school, watched the orignal movie with Charlton Heston, and watched the TV series. I really loved it.

I always like Roddy McDowell. He played one of the apes..."cornelius" I think. Though I could be wrong.

I'd like to get Net Flix so I can watch some of those old tv series again. TV is filled with crappy reality shows. I can hardly resist vomitting copiously when mom watches them.

Wednesday

Aug. 4th, 2011 12:46 am
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Busy day today...

I woke up feeling greasy and gritty, but I don't like my mom's shower. It is very narrow and I feel claustrophobic. Also, my knees are so bad that it is hard to stand up for the full length of a shower. So, this morning while mom was at Bible study, I went up and cleaned out her tub which was a disaster due to sitting unused for eons. It was so dusty that when I rinsed it out, it actually made little streamers of mud.

I got it all cleaned up and then took a nice, relaxing bath. It felt so good to feel really clean again.

I made a couple slices of toast for breakfast/lunch and watched some judge shows for a while.

When mom came home, we chatted for a bit, then I sorted out some of the cleaning supplies from my house and brought some of them downstairs to use in my bathroom.

When I got back to my room, I began going through stuff and straightening stuff out. I packed a bunch of barbies into a flat under-bed storage tote and slid them under the bed. I picked up all the crap that had accumulated on the side of the bed, threw all the garbage into a garbage sack, and started a bag of recyclables.

There was a big orange tote full of books, magazines, and miscellaneous stuff. I sorted that out, put the books and magazines in appropriate spots, and put several of my blankets and afghans in the big tote. I may have to take something out as the lid won't seal, but I figured they would store better on the shelf in the top of the closet if they were inside something rather than just laying up there loose.

My Kelly doll, a boy doll which is a relic of my early childhood, was all sticky and dirty, so I took him into the bathroom and scrubbed him down with dish soap and a nail brush. His head is still discolored and a little sticky, but he is a hundred times better than he was. He is lying on my table right now, wrapped in a green hand towel. I just recently ran across some of his clothes, but I have no idea where they are at the moment.

All of my big dolls need a good scrubbing. They got pretty dusty in that spare room.

Once they are all clean and I have some order created in this sea of chaos, I will try to get each of them dressed. I'd like to make them all some new clothes--each having at least one outfit that is appropriate for summer, one appropriate for winter, and then seasonal garments for Halloween, Valentine's day, Christmas, and Easter.

I have tons of fabric. It should be fairly easy to get them all appropriately clothed. I will certainly have enough time on my hands.

My hand drill, dremel, and extra stength power cord are all under the sink. I have not put my cleaning supplies under there yet, but I may do that before I go to sleep, if I can dig myself out from under the pile of cats I seem to be buried alive in.

I came across a ton of laundry that needed to be washed up, so I sorted that. Two loads are washed. One is dry in the dryer. I have two more loads of clothes and then a bedspread and mattress pad and a blanket.

And an afghan. I forgot about that.

I cleaned off my bedside dresser and put my TV with the dvd player built in on it and plugged it in. I watched (really, listened as I was too busy to actually watch) the Planet of the Apes while I worked. I had a basket of clean towels from the last time I did laundry that I had not put away yet, so I got those put away. I cleaned out the bathroom sink, too, as it was pretty grungy.

I wrote out a check for the garbage service and put it in my purse to mail the next time I am out and about.

I feel pretty good about what I got done today. I did a lot of dusting as I put things away.

I noticed that Tyger Lily was licking her butthole today, so that means she has already lost a little weight since I took all the treats away. She wasn't able to reach around to clean herself before because she was too tubby. I feel happy about that.

Peaches is completely her old self again--playful and feisty. I am very happy about that. I was worried about my baby Peach when all she wanted to do was hide and sleep. I would hate to lose her.

I have not had anything for supper and I am rather hungry right now. I may go and commandeer the other half of my mom's Jimmy John's sandwich from yesterday. She went out to lunch with her Bible study group today, and I don't know if she ate anything upstairs or not for supper. If she did, she probably just had toast or cereal.

I wait eagerly all week for Wednesday so I can watch Ghost Hunters. At 6 pm, I left my little lair and set myself up in my recliner for my show. I watched maybe fifteen minutes of it and fell asleep. I woke up after both episodes were all over and the next lame show was on. Sigh.

At least I had a nice rest.

I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow, but I think I am going to reschedule it. I was on such a good roll today that I want to keep going. I barely had a walk way through my room at the beginning of the day and it has opened up considerably now. I want to get everything organized so I can begin actually feeling like a normal person again.

Can't think of anything else at the moment. If anything super important comes to me, I will post again. LOL.

Sunday

Aug. 1st, 2011 12:05 am
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Peaches is so much better. Today she even jumped on Tiggy and wrestled with her a little. Her incision doesn't seem to be troubling her at all. It's sealed up and she's been leaping onto things and stretching.

When I had MY hysterectomy, every move I made pulled on the incision and caused me pain--for well over six weeks.

I tried to work in mom's porch today, going through my stuff, but it was so unmercifully hot that I was nauseous and light-headed. I suppose I worked out there more than an hour, but then I came back into the air conditioning and worked in my room for a while.

I finished folding the laundry and got most of it put away. I cleared off the TV stand and put the VCR on it. Haven't plugged it in yet, but that's okay. I will move the TV over there in the morning.

Tammy and Kari are coming over tomorrow to help work on the porch--getting through my stuff and getting rid of a lot more of it. This shit is so difficult.

I will be glad when it is finally done.

I'll have practically nothing of my own any more, but at least I can be at peace.

I think I am going to try to work two hours in the porch every day and at least an hour in my lair every day till things are as they should be.

I would just as soon wait until the weather is cooler to work on the porch, but it is a big deal to mom to have my stuff out there, so everything must go.

I am tired tonight and feeling kind of low. I didn't accomplish a lot today--mainly due to the heat and just feeling down.

I cleaned the cat boxes, sorted through a bunch of Barbie accessories, and watched a couple episodes of Auction Hunters. Mom and I had leftovers for lunch--I had the left over fish and asparagus from Perkins and she had her left over chicken penne from Applebys. We had popcorn for supper.

All my cats are in bed with me right now--snuggled up and exuding "Loving Vibes" from every pore of their fuzzy little bodies.

They are so cute. When I pet them, they reach out a little paw and lay it on my body somewhere.

Tomorrow is my target date for beginning to write every day. I have to at least do that. I was going to start eating better Aug 1 also, but I don't know if I am organized enough to do that right now. I will be going to the store on Tuesday to pick up a few things. Then I can invest in some good groceries for starting on my return to good health trail.

I'll just do the best I can, I guess.

Time for sleeping now. Perhaps I will write a more coherent entry tomorrow.
chochiyo_sama: (Default)

Today at around 10 am, Caleb and I headed to West Concord to get the last of my stuff out of my house.

We stopped in Owatonna at Walmart so I could pick up some kitty litter and cat food.  No treats, as my cats are too fat, according to the vet.  I picked up some lightbulbs for mom, some extra toy mice for the kitties, and a couple of bags of Bliss Milk Chocolates for myself.  Yum. 

When we got to West Concord, Caleb dragged some stuff to the curb for me and packed the last of my stuff in the car.  I swept and scrubbed the kitchen floor, scrubbed off the stove and counter tops, and packed up the last of the small stuff.

I took a few minutes to say good-bye to the house and asked it to provide a happy home for the new residents.  If houses have souls, mine has a pretty good one, I think.  It's only downfall was existing in West Concord.

When we left the house, we stopped at Ingrid and  Jim's house and dropped off a large kitchen garbage bag full of containers--some were like cool whip and sour cream containers that I had washed up, and some were the cheap reuseable Walmart plastic containers.  Some were a little nicer.  Ingrid loves to cook tons of food and then distribute it to various hungry folks.  I have been the recipient of her bounty many times, and she is a great cook.

Then we went to Ginny's drive-in where I got a twist cone in a cup and Caleb got a cone and an icee type drink. 
Then we dropped off a big container of cat food that my cats no longer could eat at Joni's house near her barn.  From there, we dropped off my vacuum cleaner at Kim's house.  She will use it in her upstairs so she doesn't have to drag her vacuum up and down the steps to clean. 

We came straight home after that.  Kari happened to call to see where we were, and we joked with her, telling her that we were in a bar having shots of tequila.  LOL.  I said we told the bartender that Caleb was my 47 year old midget boyfriend.  Caleb got quite a charge out of that.

When we got to Mom's house, Caleb unloaded the whole car himself.  Well, I did take two blue bags out, but he did everything else--including a 35 lb. pail of kitty litter, which is about a third of his weight!

Since he had carried that down, I cleaned my litterboxes and added fresh litter to them, filled their food and water bowls, and tidied up their area in the furnace room a bit.

Peaches is still sleeping a lot, but she seems much better today than previously.  Her eyes are bright; she actually played with a pipe cleaner for a while, and she let me see her tummy.  The incision seems to be healing up real nicely. 

When Mom walked through with a laundry basket, Peaches growled at her.  LOL.  I suppose she thought the laundry basket was a cat carrier and she figured there was no freakin' way she was getting back into one of those!

She curls up beside me the minute I sit down and purrs her little heart out when I pet her.  I haven't tried to pick her up yet--I am going to wait until she climbs into my lap on her own.

My own bed is finally set up in my bedroom...and I slept great in it last night.  I haven't actually made it yet, but I have a sheet laid across the mattress and a blanket that I covered myself with.  The cats are thrilled to have their own bed back too.  We all slept in it together last night.  It was wonderful.

I bought a pizza and some BBQ chicken "wings" for me and Mom tonight for supper.  We were both tired and hot and no one felt like cooking.  We watched a couple of episodes of NCIS, then she went upstairs to watch one of her reality TV shows, and I turned off the TV and came in to spend a little time with my babies.  I have been messing around on the internet a little bit...but as soon as I finish this entry, I need to spend a little time creating some order out of the chaos that my room is right now with all  this crap in it. 

Caleb and I had a very nice time today--we chatted and sang and giggled the whole time.  And he worked like a little trooper.  He is saving money to buy himself a lap top, so I gave him $20 for helping me.  It was well worth it.

I had my first real sting of rejection today--it was the ROC preschool picnic, and I wasn't invited.  Some of my homeroom kids texted me and asked if I would be there.  I told them I hadn't heard about it, and now was busy with my nephew.

It hurts.  But I am continuing to continue regardless.








chochiyo_sama: (Default)
I have always  considered the butterfly my "totem animal" or my "spirit guide," maybe.

It has a deep symbolic significance to me.

Other important animals to me are the cat and the fox. 

One of my doll collecting friends gave me a link to a site that discusses the traditional Native American beliefs about specific totem animals.  It was interesting and sort of exciting (in a pale way) to read about some of the animals I feel special connections with.

http://www.sayahda.com/cycle.htm

Here is what it had to say about the butterfly:

The Butterfly

Throughout history the butterfly has been admired for their delicate beauty.  Most adult butterflies live just one or two weeks except for the monarch and angel wing which can live for six months or more. This is very symbolic.  It suggests that a person with this medicine will experience tremendous soul growth in their earlier years.  A difficult childhood is common.  Life lessons are revealed to the consciousness while in the womb of the mother - the cocoon stage -  and are completed when the caterpillar emerges into the butterfly and takes flight.  Butterflies are symbols of freedom and creativity. They hold the gift of transformation and soul evolution.

Butterflies have a pair of large compound oval eyes made up of thousands of individual lenses.  They can see a single image clearly and are able to perceive ultraviolet wavelengths of light.  This suggests clairvoyant abilities for those that hold this totem.

Whenever an eco system is damaged, butterfly is usually the first to leave. They are especially sensitive to the harmony of earth. If butterfly comes to you in a hurt, trapped or ill way, you are being asked to stop disturbing the natural design of life and to flow with events in a more gentle, natural way.

The antennae of the butterfly has small knobs on each end which is said to play a role in orientation.  When one antennae is missing the butterfly will fly in circles unable to find its way.  Those with this medicine need to stay consciously connected to spirit at all times in order to arrive at their desired destination.

The butterfly represents the process of transformation and shape shifting. When butterfly shows up, make note of the most important issues confronting you at the moment. What state of change are you at in regard to them?

To the Native Americans the butterfly is a symbol of joy. They remind us not to take life so seriously. They feed on flowers that they help pollinate, thereby further spreading beauty. They represent the element of air, quickly changing and ever moving, so gracefully.  Butterflies are messengers of the moment. They come in a variety of colors. To understand the message that the butterfly holds for you a study of its colors can be helpful.

 

The Cat

According to author Ted Andrews of Animal Speaks, cats,  wild or domestic, have certain qualities in common.  They are associated with myth and lore, magic and mystery.  Nine lives, curiosity, independence, cleverness, unpredictability and healing.  Those with this medicine should also study its color, size and breed for a deeper understanding.

Cats have more rods in the retinas of their eyes which enable them to see effectively in the dark.  The dark is often associated with mankind's fears.  Since the cat is at home in the dark, it serves as a valuable ally into the world of the supernatural and the unknown and can help those with this totem move through their fears efficiently.

The energy field of a cat rotates is a counterclockwise direction, the opposite of a human energy field.  Because of this, cats have the ability to absorb and neutralize energy that affects humans in a negative way.  This is part of the healing medicine that the cat holds.

If something affects you in a negative way place a cat on your lap or find a cat to pet.  Your energy field will immediately realign itself and inner balance will be restored.

Because of their x-ray vision, acute hearing and high intelligence they were used throughout history as guardians and protectors.  In ancient Egypt cats guarded the temple gates and were used to ward off evil.

If cat appears in your life the blending of magic and mystery is at hand.  A trustworthy teacher, the cat will guide you into the world of self discovery and transformation.


 


 

The Fox

There are several different species of fox, but they all share the extreme cleverness and cunning that gave rise to the expression, "sly as a fox." Fox speaks of the need to develop the art of camouflage, invisibility, and shape shifting. It is agile, skilled, and unpredictable.

A fox being pursued by hounds will run across the tops of walls, cross streams diagonally, double back on its trail, run in circles and do anything to break the trail of its scent. It has a great ability to outwit both predators and prey. Fox teaches us how to slip out of unpleasant situations quietly and unnoticed.

Those with fox as a totem are often clever and witty but must remember to keep their crafty and clever nature balanced or it could backfire. Fox can also suggest that your actions might be too obvious and you need to learn to be more discreet.

Fox is one of the most uniquely skilled and ingenious animals of nature. Because it is a creature of the night, it is often imbued with supernatural powers. Author Ted Andrews states that fox are usually seen at dawn and dusk.  Dusk is the beginning of its day, and the dawn its ending. These are the in between times, when the world of magic and the world in which we live intersect. It lives on the edges of forests and open lands, the border areas. Because it is an animal of the between times and places, it can be a guide into the faerie realm. The fox has a long history of magic and cunning associated with it. It can move in and out of situations restoring order or causing confusion depending on the situation. If fox is your totem pay attention to the way it moves and follow its lead. This is a powerful medicine to have and those that it belongs to should learn to use its skills for the benefit of all, including you.

chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Stolen from jubal51394  http://jubal51394.livejournal.com/1230462.html

I made the ones I really like red.  LOL.  They are all true though. 


1. "Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will pee on your computer." --Bruce Graham

2. "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." --Unknown

3. "Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." -- Anonymous

4. "Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." --Jeff Valdez

5. "In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." -- English proverb

6. "As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat." -- Ellen Perry Berkeley

7. "One cat just leads to another." -- Ernest Hemingway

8. "Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message -and get back to you later." - Mary Bly

9. "Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia." --Joseph Wood Krutch

10. "People that hate cats will come back as mice in their next life." - Faith Resnick

11. "There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats." -- Anonymous

12. "I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." -- Hippolyte Taine


13. "No heaven will not ever Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me." -- Unknown

14. "There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats" -- Albert Schweitzer

15. "The cat has too much spirit to have no heart." -- Ernest Menaul

16. "Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God." -- Unknown

17. "Time spent with cats is never wasted." -- Colette

18. "Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well." -- Missy Dizick

19. "You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats." -- Colonial American proverb

20. "Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want." -- Joseph Wood Krutch

21. "I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic." -- Unknown (but probably a woman)

22. "My husband said it was him or the cat ... I miss him sometimes." (same woman ?)

23. "Cats aren't dirty, they're just covered with cat spit." (Cat lovers everywhere)

chochiyo_sama: (Default)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/junku/sets/303691/show/

 

This is completely amusing and adorable. 

 

And stolen from another LJ.  :p

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