Introducing Murphy

Since bringing Murphy home on Friday afternoon, she has spent most of her time on the top bunk of the bunk beds in one of our spare bedrooms.  Saturday AM we could not find her anywhere!  We both searched for a couple of hours and every place you can imagine!  And I mean, EVERY place!  I'm sure she was hiding right in front of us and laughing as we walked by a bazillion times.  About 9:00 Chuck and Gus left for work.  At 10:00 or so, I heard the jingle of her collar and was so pleased to finally see her make an appearance!  We spent about 1/2 an hour playing and having kitty treats and then she needed a nap, of course.

Later in the day, Chuck & I both went up to visit her and give her some treats.  I attempted to take some pictures of her, but I didn't get very good ones.  I will share them here, however, so y'all can get an idea of what this new kitty is all about.

This 1st one I am posting so you can see how long her tail is. I haven't measured it yet, but Chuck figures it's about 16" long, but I'm going for 18"! I have never seen a cat with such a long tail! Hee hee.

This one isn't a great shot, but I'm posting it cuz it shows the cool markings on the top of her pretty leedle head. Chuck was about to give her some treats.

And this last one? Yep....she knocked the treat off the bed and they're both looking for it. It does give you a good look at her pretty colors. From the picture I saw of her online, I thought she was gray, but gray she's not! She is what they call a Tabico color. Combination Tabby and Calico. Whatever it is, she sure is pretty!

Someone along the line thought that she was about 2 years old, but I'm guess that she is about a year old. She had a litter of kittens 2 months ago and since they come into heat their 1st time at 6 months of age, and their gestation period is approximately 65 days....I'm pretty sure she's only about a year old. She's still just a kitten herself! I haven't weighed her yet, but I'm thinking that she's only about 8 or 9 pounds. Very skinny, probably from recently nursing and sharing food at the foster home with several other cats. She has eaten a ton of food since she's been here! {all in secret, of course}

My other Maine Coon cat was about 10 months old when I got him and he certainly kept growing after that! He got up to about 18-20 lbs. Typically they average about 13-15 lbs. She also doesn't have her Maine Coon coat of hair yet. Their coat is shorter towards the front and longer down their backs and rear half. Of course, it is possible that she is mixed with something else and that she won't change much and that works for me, too! So far, she seems to be a keeper!!

Last night while we were watching TV she decided to honor us with her presence and explored every inch, nook and cranny of the living room! She would hop up and visit us during her investigation, but had no time for cuddles. Hopefully that will change once she gets used to this big ol' house. For right now, she is simply way too busy!

Kitty Visitation and Casinos

Well, this morning I get to go to Fayetteville and meet "Rosey", my potential new kitty!  If she and I hit it off, and if the foster mom approves of me, I may have a fun new friend this weekend!  WooHoo!!  I'm not sure exactly how this adoption thing works.  I'm meeting them at Petsmart and really don't know if I will be bringing her home with me or what.  I'll find out in a couple of hours! 

My friend, Deb, conned me into going to a Casino in Oklahoma last night to play.........are you ready for this????  Bingo.  yep.  Bingo.  I haven't played Bingo since I was 8 years old and used to go with my Great-Grandmother at the fire station on Friday nights.  Wow!!  Has the world of Bingo changed big time over the years!! I muddled through, with much help from Deb.  She LOVES to play, LOVES the slots and is usually very lucky at it.  She did win $200 at Bingo last night.  I did not win anything :(.  I did get a Player Club card from the Casino and since it was my 1st time there, it had $10 loaded on it.  I used that and got up to $18 on the slot machines, but then went thru that pretty quickly.  So I put in one dollar of my own money and won $29.  Played $2 of that and quit and cashed it in.  The Bingo pack was $27.50, so I broke even.  Not very exciting, let me tell ya.  Deb was disappointed because I didn't have a very good time {as in, win anything}, but it was cool.  She loves to go and used to go once a week, back when times were a bit better for them.  It's been a very long time since she has felt she could splurge and she wanted me to go so badly, that I couldn't refuse! 

Truthfully, I would have rather stayed home and watched Big Bang Theory, but don't tell her that!  LMAO

Kitty Rescue in the Works!

Meet Rosie.  She is a 2 year old Maine Coon cat that is in a foster home in Fayetteville.  The organization that rescued her, requires you to fill out a rather extensive application and submit it for their approval.  I think that's pretty cool.....unless I'm not approved, of course!  LOL  I should know later today.  Hopefully their information online is current and she is still available!  If not, I will continue the search as 'my kitty' is out there somewhere :)

I was hoping to find a male, but she looks so sweet!  I will be changing her name, if I get her!  Rosie simply won't do.....although it does seem to suit her, from her photo.  It's one of those things....like when we got Susie, our 1st horse.  Chuck's ex-wife is named Sue, so I was all about changing her name (yeah, after 42 years I still didn't want a horse named Sue!  LOL) but, heck, Susie was 16 years old at the time and who am I to up and change her name?  It does suit her, so she is still Susie.

My first Maine Coon cat was a male that I had rescued from the animal shelter in Fairbanks.  He was about 10 months old when I got him and he had been named Mittens.  I kept the name, but it always seemed silly.  He became this 20 lb totally macho, great hunter kitty and had such a wimpy name!  What an awesome cat he was tho'.  Great hunter by day and a great cuddle kitty by night.  And he was EVER so smart!  Chuck used to pick on him a lot and one day, Mittens  had finally had enough.  On this particular day, Chuck was outside doing yard work and happened to spot Mittens in one of my empty flower tubs.  He was digging away and had just honkered down to take a little kitty dump for himself, when Chuck snuck up behind him with a shovel and banged it down on the ground behind him!  Mittens flew off that flower pot like a shot!!  Chuck got such a big laugh out of that.  BUT......come bed time, Mittens and I were laughing louder.  I went in that night to get ready for bed and couldn't believe my eyes.  I called Chuck to come in the bedroom as there was a present for him.  What he found was a nice big pile of cat poop, right in the middle of HIS pillow!!!  Can you believe it?!?!?!  I literally rolled on the floor laughing!!  AND.....Chuck never messed with Mittens again.  Hee hee.

On another positive note for the day, my change in dosage on my meds is definitely a good thing!  What a difference in the way I feel and my attitude in general.  Now if I could just do something about the back and leg pain.  At least it seems to be "only" nerves and muscles and rarely as bad as it was pre-surgery, but at least once or twice a week I would KILL for a Vicodin!  Oh, well.  I must simply deal with it and smile, damn it!  Weeeeeeeeeee...........

Cleaning Up My Act

So did I tell you that my good friend {and neighbor}, Deb, came and helped me clean my house?  A couple of weeks ago, this amazing lady came by every afternoon at 4:00 after working all day, and worked for about 3 hours a night for 3 nights.  My house looks amazing.  She has been offering to help me since before my surgery and I always declined.  Chuck offered to hire her to do some of the heavy and difficult stuff for me and I told him that, no way was I gonna have my friend clean my house. {As a side note, she works for Chuck cleaning houses that he remodels and repairs for a local bank after they have to repo them}

Anyway, since we have all tile and hardwood floors thru the whole house, it requires sweeping and mopping.  Vacuuming would be easier for me.  Sweeping is difficult because of the twisting motion of my body as I do it.  But between Chuck, Gus and daily visits from Deb's grandsons, there is much dirt, hay, leaves, etc, etc tracked in and so I do sweep fairly often.  It's a daunting task, but I suck it up.  But Deb comes in one night after work, sat down and said I'm gonna smoke a cigarette with you and then I'm gonna mop your floor and I won't take no for an answer.  And she did!  She moved the table and chairs and stools and everything else and "mopped" the floor on her hands and knees!  I busied myself putting all the odd things away that end up out of place and just sitting around.  When she was done with that, she scrubbed all of my kitchen cabinets and oiled them.  And that was just the 1st night!  She was an inspiration, for sure.  The next night, she did the laundry room and downstairs bathroom, while I oiled the coffee table and end tables.  During the day, I managed to get all of my curtains down and washed and got the windows washed, as well as washing up all of my 'treasures' that have been sitting collecting dust on my shelves in my sewing/computer room.
 My house looks wonderful, and it's surprising how easy it is to keep it that way now. 

Chuck unearthed my Dirt Devil that I totally forgot I had, and I've been using that instead of sweeping {easier on my back doing the forward motion thing} and using my wet Swiffer mop afterward. It was just too easy to let some things go undone, because I knew I would be hurting before I was finished.  But....I'm afraid that it's time to admit that I might not get much further than I already am and I just need to suck it up and do it!  It'll be a hell of a lot easier now.

Chuck was so insistent about paying her, that they got into a big old fight and she wouldn't speak to him for 3 days! God knows, they could use the money, but she wouldn't take it! It was pretty comical, actually.  But she wanted to do it for ME.  She knew how badly I wanted the house to look nice for Terri and RH's visit and had been watching me struggle trying to get things accomplished and she had just had enough of me refusing her help!  She is an awesome friend, indeed. 

Now if I could just get Gus to quit leaving his toys all over the house! LOL

I'm still trying to get used to wearing one contact lens.  It's been a week and a half and it's not happening yet.  I know some people that got used to it that quickly, but it can take several weeks for others.  I'm not sure I'll have that much patience!  But I will give it a bit longer.  It sure is nice under many circumstances, but not for everything. 

Here's to a Better Me.

It's been a pretty good week so far.  I'm adjusting fairly well to my new contact lens, I got my new glasses and love them and had a terrifically enlightening appointment with my regular Doctor. 

The problem with my new glasses is that I like them so well, I didn't wear my contact for 2 days!  Heh.  So that 'set me back' on my adjustment period a bit.  I went with Chuck yesterday for his eye exam (to make sure he didn't leave with dorky new glasses, LOL) and I talked to her about the difficulty with reading the computer.  She said she could adjust the prescription, but that she set it for regular reading and I decided I would leave it as is.  I'll just do most of my computing in the AM before I put in my contact, and in the evening after I take it out.  Or, maybe I'll simply adjust.  For all other applications, it's totally awesome!  Now I just have to break the habit of grabbing my chest every time I go to read something {since I've worn my glasses on a chain around my neck for the last 4 or 5 years!}.

As for my Doctor appointment....I went to see him thinking that I maybe needed to go back on Premarin (HRT).  I haven't written about it.....but, hell, I haven't written much of anything in so long it's ridiculous.  Part of the reason is the old "snoopy reader/prying eyes" thing, but I don't think there's anyone reading me anymore that I don't want here, and if there is.......tough noogies.

I think I wrote about going OFF Premarin many months ago, in my old blog {the one that got swallowed up into the blogoshere), but that did happen not long before my surgery (which was March 30th).  He figured that since I had been on it for 10 years, he wanted me to think about going off it and see what resulted.  I joked at the time that if I grew a mustache I was going right back on it, but that never happened so I didn't give anything else much thought.

Shortly thereafter, I was caught up in the whirlwind of preparing for, having and recovering from my Spinal Fusion Surgery.  Between the various and severe pain involved, the emotional drama induced by being slapped in the face with limitations that I couldn't have fathomed and the whole process in general......let's suffice to say that I have been a train wreck for a very long time!  Now that I am 7 months post-op and am {sorta} feeling a bit like my old self {sometimes}, even tho' it is too soon to know exactly what my permanent limitations will be.....I'm just not happy with where I am right now.  Here's a peek into a Day in the Life of Yankeechick.

Well, mayhaps I won't do that.  Let me just say that I have been having horrendous mood swings and have been SO emotional that I have been making myself crazy, as well as a couple of my dear friends that have to deal with me on a daily basis....neither of whom I will talk to about what my problem is, because most of the time I don't even know myself.  Or, even worse....I DO know, and it's so ridiculous and petty that I'm ashamed to admit it.  {which of course makes me more emotional}.  My anxiety levels are off the charts, partially due to putting so much energy into trying to suppress and hide my feelings.  I spend so much time doing that, even when I'm by myself, that I can't make myself do anything else.  I don't even call my babies or lovely daughter, because I know I'll hang up the phone and literally cry for hours.  All I do is cry.  When I'm not crying, I am pissed off at the world.  And I mean PISSED.  One of my friends is like my own personal little punching bags and why this person puts up with me, I have no idea. 

In addition to all that, there have been mini hot flashes {more like 'flushes'}, night sweats, not sleeping and the worst thing (along with the uncontrollable emotions) is not wanting to do ANYthing.  No quilting, no knitting, no reading.  I can't stand sitting in the house, so I drive into town with a list of several things to do....and then don't wanna do them.  So I drive.  Driving helps.  I like to drive.  One day I just kept driving and found myself halfway across Missouri before I snapped out of it. 

Do I sound totally crazy or what?  "Unstable" is the word that keeps popping into my head.  Not so, says Dr. H.  He began to analyze my history with my anti-depressants.  He had switched me from Zoloft to Cymbalta about a year ago or more.  The transition went well, but it still wasn't cutting it.  The usual dose of Cymbalta is 30 or 60 mg.  He had me on 60, which is pretty much the max.  I knew someone that was taking 90, however and it was extremely helpful, so he agreed to give me 90 and try that.  It was a huge success!  Until the samples he gave me ran out.  You see, my insurance doesn't cover Cymbalta and it runs about $350 for 30 pills.  I found a Discount RX place on line that I joined and I can get my 60mg at Walgreens for $135.  BUT the price for 30 of the 30mg to add to the 60mg is $335.00.  That didn't fly with a certain person in this house.....so after going thru hell for a few days after the 2 times I did get it filled, I finally just dropped back to taking 60mg and figured it would be better than nothing.

Anyway, Dr. H was thinking that I had been doing better on Zoloft than on the 90mg of Cymbalta and maybe I should switch back.  So, I confessed my story about the Cymbalta and it all became very clear to him, because he was amazed that it wasn't helping me more.  He also said that all of my symptoms went along with the depression and he really didn't think my hormones were involved here at all.  He left the room and came back in with a bag full of samples of the 30mg.  3 months worth to be exact.  Of course, I started crying....and he started laughing!  He said, "I'll take care of you.  You've been going thru too much for too long and it's high time you got feeling better.".  So I thanked him profusely, but then asked him what would I do at the end of 3 months.  He said, you come back and see me to check your progress and we do this again.  Simple.

What a guy.  And so.....I am well on my way to getting my life back and to being ME again.  Being a better mother, grandmother, friend and wife (even if I'm not worth an extra $350 a month, LOL.) I shouldn't say that because I'm sure if I wasn't so emotional (which he hates) I could explain it and make him understand that it's not "all in my head".  But now I don't have to :). 

Now.....if I can find a Maine Coon cat, life will be good!

Visitors and Birthdays

Friday was a big day! In fact my whole week, plus, has been a world wind of activity and although I intended to blog as I went, as usual I neglected writing and reading.

The first big news is that my teeny beautiful first grandbaby, Riley, turned 18 on Friday!

Such a beautiful teeny baby has grown into a gorgeous, wonderful young woman!  And absolutely NO ONE could be more proud of or full of love for their grandchild!

The other BIG news is that I had company!!  One of my very dearest friends, Terri T {aka MySeniorMoments, aka My5Cents} and her hubby, RH, came to visit!!  They were only here for the day, as they were on their way to visit a couple of Terri's sisters, but we had a terrific afternoon and evening together.  The day went by so incredibly fast, though.  Why does that always have to happen??  It was their first time to visit my home and to meet Chuck and Gus and The Girls.  RH loves horses and he really enjoyed getting a little one on one time with them.  Hopefully next visit, Dixie will be fully recovered and the boys can go riding, and Terri and I can do some Girl Stuff :).

One of the other 'adventurous' happenings of the week was my visit to the Eye Doctor.  It has only been 9 months, but for some reason my prescription had changed quite a bit.  I could tell it had and I also was interested in finally pursuing the use of  Mono-Vision contact lenses.  I should say 'lens', as I am only wearing one, in my right eye, for reading.  My distance vision is fine....at least it has been for the past few years.  Oddly enough, I used to have to wear glasses to drive, but could read just fine.  Ahhh....the changes that come with age.  Anyway, when I was at my last appt with her, the Doc has suggested that I was a perfect candidate for this Mono-Vision contact lens thing, but I really had to think about it.  I never thought I would be able to insert and remove something onto my eyeball!  LOL  But it really is a piece o' cake :).  It can take a week or two for your eyes to adjust and I'm still at the 'blurry stage', but only for distance.  For reading, it is amazing!!  And so far, it really sucks for the computer, but time will tell.  I also got an awesome new pair of glasses that I LOVE, so mayhaps I will just have to resort to early mornings and late evenings for doing most of my computer stuff.  Time will tell.

My other big thing this week is that I am really REALLY wanting a cat.  I miss my Princess terribly and there is no replacing her, that's for sure.  But I have been wanting another cat for ages anyway and especially now.  Kittens are cute, that's for sure, but I really want to 'rescue' an adult cat.  But it has to be just the right cat, know what I mean??  I had a wonderful Maine Coon cat years ago and would dearly love to have another.  Hopefully there is one out there just 'waiting' for me :)