What's floating around in Kim's little brain?

Days 11-13

2011-04-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

Over the hump. I ate pretty well on Day 11 and Day 12, having just tiny cheats in the evening, like a Luxe Milk Ghirardelli Square.

Then I found an AMAZING TOOL. If you have a Droid, go to the market and find a free app called MyFitnessPal. It’s a calorie counter, and it lets you input foods and it tells you how many calories there are. It even tallies things like Miso Salmon at the Cheesecake Factory (which I’ve been curious about because I’ve been craving it.

I’ve been logging my food intake there, so I probably won’t keep up with it here anymore. I will just say that I ate my normal, calorie-restrictive chunk of foods

*Normal meals*

and some 7-grain crackers and peanut butter.

This morning’s weight, 162.7.

Grrr. I can’t take it anymore.

2011-04-18T17:08:00.001-07:00

Did great today. Went to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I made my packed lunch, ate it, and life was good. We came home and got ready to watch Pirates of the Carribean, and I just lost it. I started to cry, and said to Curtis “If I don’t have chocolate soon I’m going to lose it!!” Life is really boring without food, which is essentially what is happening to me.

So I ate. I ate and ate. Crackers, Peanutbutter, a little chocolate. Peeps, ramen noodles, and a cadbury egg. Curtis tried to make me 1/2 cup of green olives and a little bit of onion soup to help me with my cravings without too much fat (before I ate all of that) but it just didn’t cut it.

I’m starting over tomorrow. Today sucked.

Day 10 morning–Booby Traps

2011-04-18T06:39:00.001-07:00

It almost seems like I sub-consciously don’t want to do this diet. I was SO good yesterday; didn’t cheat at all. Then I forgot to take my homeopathic drops last night that stimulate weight loss. The result? 162.3 yesterday morning, this morning 163. GRRR.

Day 9… continued

2011-04-17T20:43:00.001-07:00

Dinner:

1-3.5oz Buffalo Steak, seasoned by my wonderful husband and it was DELICIOUS
1 cup brussel sprouts (which were also delicious)

Evening snack:

1 rice cake, and later a small apple

I ran across a recipe for Pear French Toast in my recipe box, and wow. I really wish I had it. And I also want a Hot Pocket because Curtis was quoting Austin Powers. I’ve never even had a Hot Pocket. But I want one, and I want one now.

Day 9. So. Hungry.

2011-04-17T15:36:00.001-07:00

I don’t think I’d mind dying right now because I think heaven has food. It was my deepest wish to have this diet become my new way of life, and to realize the error of my ways with all of the foods that I eat. I was confident that I would learn a new way, where I could have an avocado and a rice cake for lunch and be satisfied. I’m not wanting that idea right now. I want a big fat plate of Mexican food from Jardin Corona. I want a giant Tablespoon full of Nutella. Even a spoonful of peanut butter would be incredible. I’d like some chocolate chip cookie dough, and perhaps some whipped cream on top. For dessert, Cheeseburger Helper.

I had a 5-Hour-Energy yesterday morning, and those usually last me about a day and a half. I still have the energy and clarity of mind today, but the weird, not-wanting-food feeling is still in my stomach, disguising itself as dire hunger. They’re just a step away from each other anyway.

I had no breakfast; good for me. Just like I’m supposed to.

Lunch:

6 pieces of butter lettuce with 4 grape tomatoes and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos as a dressing
3.5oz turkey lunch meat with mustard
1 rice cake
1 small apple

I would really like for my dinner to be a Cinnamonster cinnamon roll with extra butter and some movie theatre popcorn with extra butter. But it probably won’t be.

Days 7 & 8. Better, but not perfect.

2011-04-16T19:52:00.001-07:00

On Day 7 (Friday) I only cheated a little, and (I thought) safely.

About 10am I had my lunch carb (1 rice cake) because I had a headache, and wanted to take some ibuprofen. Having tried taking ibuprofen on an empty stomach before, I decided it was better to just eat my carb early. So I did.

Lunch:

unremarkable (I forgot to blog about it last night, but I know I was good)

Dinner:

unremarkable (see above.)

evening snack: hungry as hell, so I ate about 15 little grape tomatoes, thinking that would hopefully fill me up and be a fair splurge.

Morning of Day 7 (the day after the tortilla chips): 164.2lbs

Morning of Day 8 (the day after eating a morning carb and a bunch of little tomatoes): 164.1lbs.

I guess they really have this damned diet down to a science. I need to just quit cheating, because I was dropping about a pound and a half per day before that.

Day 8:

Weight check in a.m.: 164.1lbs

a.m. Five-Hour Energy. Doc said not to, but I was really feeling sluggish, so I did anyway.

Lunch:

3.5oz buffalo burger
1/2 cup mushrooms on top of it.

Wasn’t terribly hungry (presumably because of the 5-Hour Energy) so I decided to put off my carb and fruit until I felt like I needed it.

Dinner:

I skipped dinner. I ate my lunch carb (10 pretzels) around 4pm, then my lunch fruit (1/2 pear) around 7:30pm.

I’m in bed now. I better have lost some weight tomorrow morning or I’m going to feel like this is for naught!

Day 6–off the wagon again. But planned.

2011-04-14T19:49:00.001-07:00

Ick. I knew tonight would be a challenge, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t get angry at myself if I cheated. Today was Tiffany’s last day at the Cat Hospital and we took her out for drinks after work as a last hurrah. I know that the only “right” way to do this diet is to stay away from places like Jardin Corona, my favorite local Mexican hangout. But what am I going to do? Ask Tiffany to stay for another month because I am short on willpower? No. So I cheated a little. But I think tomorrow will be fine.

Lunch:

3.5oz of fat-free cottage cheese
1/2 cup yellow bell peppers
10 pretzels
1 kiwifruit

Mid-afternoon snack:

1 rice cake

Dinner:

3.5oz of turbot (a white fish that I’ve never heard of before)
1/2 cup of yellow bell peppers (I do love my bell peppers)
1/2 cup red grapes

After-dinner cheat: about 12 tortilla chips and about 1/4 tsp of Queso. Not a horrific cheat, really… I mean, 12 tortilla chips was fairly over the top, and I feel a little gross now after eating them. But I kept the queso well under control.

I’ll have to upload a photo next time I go, but I went for my first vibration/detox foot bath appointment today. The vibration machine helps to shake mobilized fat loose, and then I do an ionized foot detox. I soak my feet in a saltwater with an ionizer machine in there, and it basically sucks the toxins out the soles of your feet. I seriously thought I was going to barf when I saw what the water looked like after 20 minutes. It started out clear, but looked like used motor oil with stuff floating in it. It seriously made me nauseous.

I’ve been so perky at work, but so tired at night when I get home. I don’t know if that’s because there are new trainees at work and I’m emotionally drained, or if the detox is beating me up. I guess time will tell.

Day 5–I fell off the wagon. But I jumped right back on.

2011-04-13T19:56:00.001-07:00

Lunch:

3.5oz sliced nitrate-free deli turkey
1/2 pear
10 pretzels
1/2 cup Yellow bell pepper

I could have stopped after the turkey. My stomach is finally shrinking in size, and I didn’t need anything else. But I ate it anyway. I wished, later in the afternoon, that I had saved it for a mid-afternoon snack.

Dinner:

3.5oz Buffalo Steak (with salt, pepper, and garlic juice)
1/2 cup Broccolette
1 rice cake
1/2 cup strawberries, and I dug into the “if you must” part of the diet and added a little bit of Agave nectar. Yumm.

Then I fell off the wagon. I remembered that I had a bucket of mostly-gone cotton candy on the counter that I didn’t kill before I started my detox. And I was really having a craving. So I ate it. It tasted really, really good. I feel off the wagon. But the good part is that with this diet, they say “you might mess up. If you do, just start again tomorrow.” I like that attitude, because expecting me not to mess up is unrealistic. But I had my mess up. Now I’m going to resume my healthy eating tomorrow. So there.

By the way, the sludgey detox biproducts must be getting flushed through, because I felt great today. Not just good, but extra good… with lots of extra energy. It was certainly a contrast to yesterday. I was super cranky yesterday afternoon.

Day 4= Wearing a Horcrux

2011-04-12T17:49:00.001-07:00

Harry Potter fans will know that wearing a Horcrux stinks. A horcrux is an object full of dark magic, but most importantly, it sucks the life out of you and makes you feel absolutely dismal. It makes you depressed, angry, and everything in between.

I have found in the past (especially after having a long period of poorly taking care of my body) that detoxes are absolutely GAH. They dump all of the toxic sludgey bi-products of the crap I’ve been eating into my bloodstream, and it makes me feel awful. In a couple of days, I’ll feel great. But right now, I’m wearing a horcrux.

I want candy. I want lots of candy. Snickers would be good; and a few Cadbury eggs.

My meals today were distressfully UNlike candy.

Lunch:

3.5oz chicken breast boiled in spinach water, garnished with a little bit of stone-ground mustard
2 pieces of celery
1 rice cake
1/2 cup strawberries

Mid-Afternoon snack:

1 rice cake

Dinner:

2 scrambled eggs
1 cup brussel sprouts (which are remarkably good just steamed with a little bit of salt and pepper)
1/2 cup red grapes

Detox. Beginning, Days 1-3

2011-04-11T16:21:00.001-07:00

I’m starting a detox. It’s a weight loss detox. The portions are very specific, and the “allowed” foods are also very specific. It might just kill me, but I’ll be dead and skinny.

It’s a 42-day detox. It involves supplements that help the body drop excess fat reserves, and it involves foot cleanses as part of the detox. I’m going to do my best to chronicle my journey, just because.

Day 1 was Saturday. On the first two days, you’re supposed to eat as much fat as you can. The idea behind this is that you intake a bunch of fat while beginning the supplements and the body is stimulated to start dropping large loads of fat. Day 1 was weird. I took my drops (the supplement) at 6:55am, and by 7:30 I felt really weird. I felt a lot like I used to feel when I took pseudophed; almost like a racing heartbeat without the racing heartbeat. I don’t even know how that is supposed to makes sense; it’s just a feeling of tenseness in my chest. I pretty quickly didn’t want food. By 10am or so I was tolerating food again, and snacked on nachos that we had at work. By the time I got off of work, I was interested in food again, and ate everything I can get my mouth on. I took my drops around 7pm.

Day 2: I took the drops around 8am on Sunday. Same thing as Saturday, but not as bad. I went and did Cat Care at work, then picked Curtis up and went shopping at Whole Foods. On the detox, it is recommended (for maximum cleansing and weight loss) that you eat all-natural, hormone-free, preservative free foods, as chemicals, pesticides, antibiotics and steroids slow weight release. I definitely didn’t have anything like that in the house, so a trip to Whole Foods was definitely in order. I had forgotten, or perhaps I never really knew, what the advantages of eating organic food are. This detox will teach me a lot, I trust. While in Whole Foods, Curtis went to get a coffee, and brought me back a hot chocolate made with half and half, extra chocolate, and extra whipped cream. It must have been delicious! But it just didn’t taste that good to me. After Whole Foods, we went to Jason’s Deli. I got a reuben (the fattiest thing I could think of) and Broccoli Cheese soup. And a chocolate chip cookie. I made it about 2/3 of the way through one half of the reuben and was just totally grossed out. It was like trying to eat something that you don’t particularly like on al already-full stomach. I like reubens normally, but it just made me want to gag. So I left the other half for Curtis to take home. I moved on to the Broccoli Cheese soup and was able to finish it, and then finished the chocolate chip cookie reluctantly. Rudy’s for dinner, and still wasn’t enjoying much, but I ate as much as I could choke down. What I thought was going to be the two most fun days of eating ever turned into “eh.”

Day 3: Here’s where the “fun” begins. Supplements around 9am. No breakfast, as per the food plan. For lunch, I had a 1/2 cup of steamed mushrooms and a 4oz chicken breast for lunch that had been cooked in the mushroom water for flavor, then 1 rice cake and 1/2 cup of strawberries. It’s a good thing that I actually really love healthy food. (I just also really love crappy fatty cheesey bacony sugary food. But I digress.) Strangely, the lunch was much more ample than I expected. It still left me hungry until I ate the rice cake, and then I felt pleasantly full. Didn’t think to take a picture. For dinner, I had a 3.5 oz buffalo steak. I can’t cook with any fat, so I left it to Curtis to figure out how to cook it, because he’s super creative and a great cook. He’s brilliant, too… I have a jar of minced garlic in the fridge that’s packed in water. He put about 1/2 teaspoon of the garlic water on the steak, then salt, pepper, and some dill. He cooked it in our NuWave oven to a perfect medium-rare, and it was DIVINE (I think that NuWave is going to be my best friend through this journey). Along with that, I had 1/2 cup of fresh red bell pepper and 10 pretzels. For dessert, a half cup of grapes was just right. All of this counting seems ridiculous to me, but it’s a good way to monitor portions. And with the 90ish oz of water I’m supposed to be drinking per day, I feel pretty full anyway. I didn’t make that today; only got to 60 oz. But oh well. Rome wasn’t built in a day, I guess. I’m trying to hold myself accountable without beating myself up.

I admit that there were several times today when I had random horrible foods on my mind. I hadn’t thought of Cheeseburger Macaroni in a long time, but today, while chewing on my red bell pepper, I couldn’t get that taste out of my brain. I could have Cheeseburger Mac anytime I wanted it, but the minute I can’t have it, I can’t quit thinking about it!

For now, I’m going to lay my neck back on this warm, fuzzy pillow and say goodnight.

Creamy Turkey and Spinach Pie

2010-12-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

4 oz Multi-grain pasta (or regular) pasta
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
3 eggs
1/2 cup light sour cream (I used Tofutti)
1/4 cup snipped fresh basil or 1 Tbsp dried basil, crushed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cups chopped cooked turkey
1-10oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and well-drained
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Montery Jack Cheese (4 ounces)
1/3 cup chopped, bottle-roasted red sweet peppers.

Set oven to 350 Farenheit.

1. In a bowl, beat cream cheese (or Tofutti) with a hand-mixer until smooth.
2. Gradually beat in eggs and sour cream. Stir in basil, garlic powder, and crushed red peppers, turkey, spinach, shredded cheese and roasted peppers. Spread mixture into a prepared (greased) deep-dish baking pan.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 to 50 minutes or until heated through. Remove from heat, let sit for 10 minutes for maximum cohesion.

Now eat with abandon!!!!

I actually admit that I haven't tasted this yet, though Curtis was kind enough to wake up and go downstairs and taste it. He always says something is "really good." But over the next few days it may morph into "disappointing" or "spectacular", given the dish. We'll have to get back to you on this. In the meantime, make it yourself and see what YOU think.

Homemade Caramels

2010-12-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

I learned something very important this evening. Never put the pan of caramels in the fridge to cool. Now I have to wait for the damned things to warm back up because they're un-cut-able. :)

Stress, Grumpiness and Fear.

2010-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

First of all, I just loaded a Facebook app called "My Year in Statuses." I'm surprised to find that I'm not nearly as positive a person as I thought I was. I need to work on that. I grumble about damn-near everything. I am a happy person most days, and fun to be around, I think. I enjoy my work, I enjoy my kids, and I enjoy my life. But I bitch quite mercilessly on my statuses. Seems like I only notice the negative.

I think I should do some kind of stress-relief group. I need it. Curtis would probably be quick to agree with me. My happy-go-lucky day-to-day demeanor isn't at all consistent with what's apparently on my mind, though I guess my mind fights to cover it up to myself? I think I'm a master of disguise where my brain is concern. I'm concerned that my conscious and my subconscious are not nearly as well-acquainted as I thought.

As far as the rest goes, I don't subscribe to fear. Fear is stupid and counter-productive. There's no point in it. It doesn't help us, and it severely sends the wrong energy toward something. The worst thing you can do is think "I'm afraid I'm going to get in a car wreck" because then all you're doing is focusing on getting into a car wreck, and you will.
That being said, my sub-conscious is practically a different person. If I don't take something at night like Benadryl to shut my mind off, I fear all night. My dreams are about my animals getting sick, getting hurt, or dying. I worry about my Cat Hospital clients incessantly. I worry about keeping my house clean. I worry about stupid crap. Mostly I don't remember my dreams, and I don't know why I wake up with tension in my shoulders. But occasionally I do remember, and I think to myself, "why the heck did that feel so important at 3am?"

My cat might have cancer. I found 2 lumps today, and Dr. Percival thinks there might actually be 5. I'm trying not to be afraid. But I bet I will be when I sleep tonight.

Day End.

2010-10-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

Something happened. He came back.

There was trouble... trouble in the water from a few days after he arrived. Tiffany's little heart-patient kitten was in love with him, and it was delightful. Then he started swatting at her to play. Then his playing got stronger, and she couldn't keep up. Then his playing got strong enough to be unacceptable. He hit her and pummeled her and wouldn't leave her alone. Tiffany's other cat, Button, was part of the game, and fought right back with Plymouth. But Annabelle isn't strong enough for that. He got to the point of making her life miserable.

Sean, Tiffany's boyfriend, was wonderful with him. He and Tiffany both dealt with Plymouth sucking on their ears, and drooling down their necks at night... sleeping on their faces, etc. They were wonderful and tolerant and patient.

On Monday, 8 days after I took Plymouth to Tiffany's house, she texted me at work. She apologized profusely, after having kept me updated nearly every day on Plymouth's progress (or lack thereof), and said that she was going to have to bring him back. I asked if I could come get him after work, and she said no, she already had him loaded up in the car and was on the way.

She tried so hard... she was so wonderful... but he's just such a butt. And she had no choice.

So that's that. It feels both wonderful and strange to have him back, knowing that I love him so dearly, but that he makes my life partner so miserable. I don't know how to make him more tolerable. The point is, he's back. My little boy is back home with me.

Day 4

2010-10-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to get easier. It just isn’t.

Day 3

2010-10-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Getting easier still. I can leave Mya out of her cage now, because there’s no one to jump on her. The house doesn’t smell as much, because Mya mostly potties outside. The kitchen counter is messier than before, because I have no reason to clean up after myself. And when Violet pops the back door open, I don’t have to freak out because now everyone in the house is allowed outside.

I spoke with Tiffany this evening. She says that Annabelle loves Plymy, and is trying to rub all over him like she did with Tiffany’s Mr. Kitty. Plymy still isn’t warming up to her, but has been out of the bedroom and into the kitchen and living room, but every time the dogs see him, they perk up in their crates and wag their tails and it scares him and he runs back. He and Tiffany’s little black cat Button don’t seem to have much of a relationship yet.

So there we are. I know what’s best for Plymy, which is probably living with Tiffany. I think he’ll be happier there, and I think that in the end, not having Curtis’ frustration and dislike pointed at him every day will probably help him be a better and happier cat. But right now, every day of his being scared and growing used to the new place is a day that I feel all of the fear and pain right along with him. I miss his silky fur, and petting down his head and neck and back when he was laying on my chest. It will be a long time until I feel that again, as I have decided not to visit him for a while, to avoid his getting confused. Oh, I miss that little boy of mine. Mom really was right. It’s the pains in the ass that worm their way into your heart. And that’s what it feels like… like I’m a dog with heartworms, and the heartworms are being pulled out by the ends, and taking chunks of my heart with them.

Day 2

2010-10-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

This is actually a little bit easier than I thought. Most of the day I haven’t thought about him, but then I go downstairs, and the couch, the top of the snake tank, and the top of the refrigerator are all empty. No orange cat there.

He was the softest cat I ever petted.

Tiffany says he stayed under the bed. He tried to come out a time or two, but the dogs scared him. He came out to eat and to knock a photo frame off of the dresser, but other than that, he’s stayed under the bed. She says Annabelle is trying to make friends with him, but he’s not having it. But he did get up in the middle of the night and use the litter box like a good boy, even though she hadn’t shown him where it was.

I ache for him. I miss him so. Everything but the floor of the house seems so empty without him. All of the counters and the back of the couch, and … well, just everywhere. There are a hundred ways in which life is easier without him. The bedroom door can be open at night now because he won’t come in and walk all over Curtis. I left a bit of food on the kitchen counter today, and realized that I didn’t have to dispose of it immediately because there’s no one around to steal it. I left a cup of water on the coffee table and realized that when I got up and left the living room, there was no reason to take it with me. There was no one around to put his big clubby paw in it and to knock it over and watch the water spill.

Oh, I miss him. I’m walking a very fine line between wanting what’s best for him and being completely and utterly selfish. I want him back. I want him to sit on my lap right now. But in reality, he wouldn’t be on my lap if he were here. He might possibly be around my neck on my pillow, but he never was a lap cat. And the more I wanted him there, the less likely that he’d be there. What a little prick he was. 80% of the time he was an absolute ass. But the other 20% of the time he was my sweet little boy, and all he wanted was my love. I cherished those moments.

I want to go visit him, but it doesn’t seem like that would be fair to him. I need to give him time to adjust. It’s the right thing to do, I know. But all of this “right” and “selflessness” feels like crap.

Plymy

2010-10-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I just did the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I’ve never cried so much at one time.

I just took my beloved Plymouth to my friend Tiffany’s house, presumably for good.

Curtis and I had a long discussion about Plymouth, who was supposed to be adopted out from the very beginning when he was 3 weeks old. Then I put my foot down and said “no, we’re keeping him” because I was so attached to him. Curtis never wanted a cat. In fact, Curtis always did NOT want a cat. So, after two and a half years, I am attempting to keep my agreement. Plymouth has gone to live with a new owner.

I feel like the worst failure in the world. First of all, I was raised that when one takes responsibility for an animal, one takes on that responsibility for the life of the animal. Animal comes in, animal doesn’t go out until it’s time for it to pass on to the next life. Second, I work in the animal industry. Everyone knows this anyway, but those of us in the animal industry especially know that there are way too many animals out there without a good home. To take an animal with a great home and re-home him is just … well, it’s just shameful. Third, and finally, I work in animal rescue. I feel like it’s one of the reasons that I’m on this planet. How could I get rid of one that I raised from infancy, fed him a bottle, and lived with for 2 years? And I got rid of him why? He wasn’t peeing inappropriately; he wasn’t sick, and he didn’t cost a bunch of money to keep around. I got rid of him why? I got rid of him because I agreed to a long time ago, and because he makes Curtis miserable. He drools, he demands attention…. He breaks stuff. He spills glasses of liquid just to watch the liquid flow, he gets into the trash. He’s just generally a pain in the ass. He jumps on my head while I’m trying to make his breakfast and dinner… it’s totally cute, but hurts my neck. He jumps on my head when I’m cooking people-food, and he drools so much that it drips into my dinner. Cute, yes…but totally gross.

Still, I will miss a thousand things about him. I will miss the way he jumped on my stupid head. I will miss the way that he was always waiting for me outside my bedroom door in the morning. I’ll miss the way he always liked to sit on the glass on the lid of Mary Jane (my boa)’s tank and drive her crazy. I’ll miss how he wrapped himself around my head when I slept, and how he’d try to nurse on my earlobe. I’ll miss how he liked to sit on top of the refrigerator. I’ll miss how I could never hold him because he’d bite my face, but he’d lay on me and cuddle as long as it was his idea. I’ll miss how I could never keep him out of anything in my house, and how I had to put magnets on all of my cupboard doors that contained food so that he didn’t get into them and tear through plastic bags to eat it all.

I think that Tiffany’s house might be better for him anyway, because s he has two young, playful female cats, and Plymouth could really use someone to play with. Annabelle has a heart condition and won’t be a good playmate, but Button is very spunky, and they may be wonderful playmates. His feline housemate here was an old lady cat with a bad back and a grumpy intolerance for young, playful boys.

I wonder how many times I’ll cry tomorrow. Tiffany has the day off, which is why I took Plymy over tonight. They will have tomorrow to spend together at home. I’m off work on Tuesday, which means that I won’t be able to talk to Tiffany about things on Tuesday, either. That ought to give me a couple of days to calm down over the whole thing and think rationally. I want Plymouth to come back here immediately. But maybe he IS better at someone else’s house.

I have so much to think about. For now, I’m going to try to get some shut-eye, and try not to think of my little boy, the only little boy I ever had; the only little one that I bottle-raised from infancy… the only animal I ever had that couldn’t fend for itself when I got it. My Mom always told me that when she was teaching, the most difficult students were the ones that you grew the most attached to. And that seems to be translating to the cat world. He’s the most difficult animal I’ve ever had. And this is absolutely, unequivocally, ripping my heart out through a sieve.

Florentine Feta Quiche

2010-09-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach
4 eggs
3/4 c. cream
1 1/4 c. milk
Salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/16 cup of kosher salt in the mix and about 1 tsp black pepper)
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
1/4 lb. Feta cheese, crumbled
1 quiche crust (pie crust) - store-bought, from the freezer section
3 tbsp. fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Drain spinach and squeeze out as much moisture as possible; it should be fairly dry. Mix the eggs, cream and milk. Add the salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Stir in spinach and Feta cheese. Fill uncooked (but thawed) quiche crust and place the grated cheese on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out dry. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Can also be served at room temperature.

***********************

Curtis and I tasted this and it's delicious. I rate it a 9/10. Here are some tips, though. I placed the store-bought pie crust (including the foil pie plate in which it came) in a stoneware pie plate for stability. It did not fit perfectly; there was some air between the pie plate and the stoneware. I took the quiche out of the oven at 40 minutes, and let it cool for 20-25 minutes. I decided it wasn't done, so I put it back in for 10. I then cut it and tried it. The taste was delightful, but it was still a little soupy. So I put it in for 10 more. I'm thinking that in the future, if I use a stoneware, I'll probably cook it for 55 to 60 minutes. Or I could have just put the pre-made crust in its metal pie pan on a cookie sheet for stability, and reduced the cooking time considerably.

Delicious Creamy Zucchini Soup

2010-09-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is a yummy 5-ingredient quickie.

The following version is vegan, and delicious!

2 T vegan margarine
1 medium onion, finely chopped (avoid removing any part of your thumb when chopping the onions. I'm just saying.)
2 lbs zucchini, grated with peels (about 5-6 small to medium, which have better flavor than large ones)
2 T minced fresh dill
1 cup Tofutti "Sour Supreme" soy sour cream (you could use regular sour cream)

1. Heat the margarine in a soup pot. Add the onion and saute over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden.
2. Add the zucchini and continue to saute, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes. Add 4 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently until the zucchini is tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add additional water if the soup is too thick, and heat through. Remove from the heat and stir in the dill and Sour Supreme. Season with salt and pepper and serve, or cover and let stand off of the heat for an hour or so before serving. Heat through as needed. When re-heating, heat very slowly without boiling.

Old-fashioned Oatmeal Bread - traditional recipe, and for the breadmaker

2010-09-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

2 cups boiling water
1-1/2 cups uncooked rolled oats
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cake yeast (or 1 packet of active dry yeast)
1/4 cup water
5 cups flour

Traditional recipe:

Put the rolled oats in the boiling water, but do not cook. Let cool until luke-warm. Soften the yeast in 1/4 cup water. Stir the salt and sugar and yeast into the oatmeal mixture. Add 5 cups flour until a soft dough is formed. Let rise until doubled in bulk. Make into 2 loaves and place in greased bread pans. Let rise again and bake at 350 for a half an hour.

Breadmaker recipe:

Put the rolled oats in the boiling water, but do not cook. Let cool until luke-warm. Soften the yeast in 1/4 cup water. Stir the salt and sugar and yeast into the oatmeal mixture. Dump into bread machine with 5 cups flour. Press Start.

*I did this in just this way, and I feel like the ingredients could have been mixed a little bit better. I think it would come out a little better if you mixed the flour into the yeast-oatmeal mixture and then put that into the bread machine.

This makes a very heavy bread, and it's gently sweet. I think it would be outstanding as a chunky bread dipper for my pumpkin dip, which I'll share with you at a later date. It's also good for a hearty peanut butter sandwich with a gently sweet edge to it.

Cajun Mushroom Loaf

2010-09-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

I've been on a cooking spree lately. Since the wonderful AcuSteve (my acupuncturist, whose name is actually Stephen) has cleared out my head and fixed so many of my allergies, my house has been clean and my kitchen has a vessel for lots of yummy dishes.

So I thought I'd share them with you.

Let's start with the Cajun Mushroom Loaf. This is one of my all-time favorite recipes, and it's vegetarian, though not vegan. It's absolutely hearty and meaty-like and delicious, provided you like mushrooms. (Dr. P, this is not for you.)

Cajun Mushroom Loaf

1 stick butter
1 cup diced yellow onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1-1/2 lbs sliced mushrooms
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 T cajun seasoning blend
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Melt butter in 4 qt. pot, then add onion, garlic, and thyme.
2. Saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms to pot and raise heat to medium high. Cook mixture until liquid has cooked off; about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk well. Add the cream, parsley, and cajun season. Whisk to combine. Add the mushroom mixture to the egg mix one spoonful at a time and mix in well. Add breadcrumbs and mix in well.
5. Spray loaf pan with non-stick spray, and line with parchment paper. Pour mix into pan. Set in a large roasting pan and fill with water to 1/2 way up the loaf pan. This helps the loaf to cook evenly. Please in top half of oven and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until center is set. Remove from oven and let cool for a half hour at least before turning out on a plate to set.

*I flipped these out at 15 minutes last night and the middle didn't want to stay together; it needed more time to set. So give it a good half hour of cooling.

This recipe makes ONE loaf pan full. The photo you see above is a doubled recipe.

A bit of magical ken in the sky

2010-08-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

l used to be afraid of the bumps and turns and noises of an airplane, but then Curtis took flying lessons and now has the knowledge enough to explain to me what they are. I find that I can handle almost anything as long as I understand it. Today, between the bumpy air pockets and meowing critter under my seat (I'm transporting Sadie to her new home in Pennsylvania), I was completely taken aback by a bit of everyday magic: for an hour already, I had been sitting 3 rows behind my dearest friend. How could I have missed it? Familiarity is usually like a magnet to me; I notice things that are dear to me very quickly. So why, when flying the friendly skies, did I miss the most important friend of all?

Well it goes without saying that on this flight from Austin, TX to Detroit, MI there was literally a snowball's chance in hell that it was actually my bestie. This occurence, though, did remind me that even when he's not in front of me, he's always part of my day; he's always an important ingredient in the recipe of my life. A real friend is never actually as far away as it seems.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.10

Stratford musings

2010-08-01T10:20:00.001-07:00

One of the things that makes Stratford so incredible is its diversity. Here I sit, on a bench on the main street, listening to a lad of no more than 20 years old play Bach on his old, beat up classical guitar. I think he must love me by now because I can't resist the urge to empty my pockets every time I walk by. Though there are passersby with varied life stories, I can't help but being transported to a beautiful English garden full of butterflies and fragrant blooms. Stratford is a town that always brings out the best in me. Not only does it remind me that there are still gentle, quiet places in the world, but it also always reminds me that there are endless possibilities for us all. Stratford always fosters my every ambition, be it childish or lofty. Being here always reminds me that it's ok to strive to be a better person. When I'm here, I want to plant a garden. When I'm here, I remember to believe in faeries.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

I Do Believe in Faeries. I Do. I Do.

2010-07-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

I Do Believe in Faeries. I Do. I Do.

I am with my parents at the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario this week. The Festival does a variety of Shakespeares, modern playes, and musicals. Tonight I watched Peter Pan.

Done well, and played through the eyes of Sir James Barrie, the writer; it was an interesting adaptation. Scrims were used to separate reality from narration. A thin veil showed us his dreams and visions, but in reality, Sir James poured into his story the heart of what’s left of a little boy who had a troublesome childhood from which he wished he could escape.

I learned something by watching this play, and that is this: I do believe in faeries. I believe in them because faeries are that which is unexplained. And that a thing is unexplained does not mean that it is not.
It simply means that it hasn’t yet been discovered. As our world grows smarter, we lose our faith in faeries, feeling quite confident in those things of which we are certain. But in reality, our loss of faith in the being of faeries simply erodes our sense of wonder, and therefore removes our strife to find truth.

He who says a thing cannot be would do well to learn that, instead, it is simply that which has not YET been.

The Death of the Bear

2010-06-20T14:01:00.001-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Yeomen of the Guard closes today. Barring strike, at the end of Act II I will be crying tears of joy, rather than tears of sadness. It was a good show, it has good music, and it had a great cast. But to quote a stage direction in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, it is now the appropriate time to “Exit, pursued by a bear.”

I look forward to a future relationship with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin, and my butt will be firmly planted in the audience, enjoying the work that others are doing.

I’ve made some great friends. I hope to be able to figure out a way to keep in touch with Russel and Art, neither of whom are on Facebook. I’m thrilled that Robert, Derek, Rebecca, Janette and several others have Facebook pages so that I can keep in touch with them. I’m excited that Rebecca (and potentially Derek) may have some delightful affiliation with Acoustalyn in the near future, but that’s a story for another day.

I learned a lot from this production. And that’s all I have to say about that. I know only that, as the final act curtain goes down, the Bear is dead.

Thunderstorms and Dancing in the Rain

2010-06-17T19:37:00.002-07:00

I met this quote today. It spoke to me. And it's particularly appropriate in my life right now.

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

The Perils of Being an Only Child

2010-06-17T19:37:00.001-07:00

I was raised an only child. I never had brothers or sisters to play with, and I didn’t live on a block with a lot of kids. The result? I’m just not good with people. I’m not saying that all only children have social problems. But I definitely do.

The fact is, I don’t like dealing with people. I am comfortable with people who have an obvious rank above or below me. In other words, someone who is my elder, or someone to whom I am an elder. I am very comfortable with any one person or small group of people that truly interests me. But small talk to me is just a horrid waste of time. There are so many intelligent things in the world to discuss and ponder, and if someone doesn’t want to do that with me, then I generally don’t have any reason to plug-in and “connect.”

So that’s what I’m learning is one of my displeasures with Yeomen. I’m full of a cast of opera women who want to chit-chat about cute bras and undies from Victoria’s Secret, and then what kind of makeup they’re using. They want to talk about their boyfriends and where they bought the dress they’re wearing, and whether or not they’re going to the after-show party. I don’t understand this. There are men in this cast; they seem far away to me. Almost all are straight, which is completely out of the realm of most productions to which I’m accustomed. A whole lot of gay boys who have strong convictions seem to make me happy in general. But girls that are around my age I just don’t get along with.

There are a number of older cast members that I’m really enjoying… they’re real people, with real discussions.

I feel like I’m putting the ladies down. I’m not intending to. They’re doing what they should be doing at their age. I just don’t “get” it. That’s probably my dysfunction… they certainly are free to be themselves.

So wherein lies this problem in my psyche? And is it actually a problem, or am I just a cranky old goat?

Complainy Complainerton

2010-06-12T19:42:00.001-07:00

So The Yeomen of the Guard opened last night, officially, with a preview Thursday night. All in all, I’ve realized that I just need a break from theatre. I really, really wish I hadn’t done this show. There are a million reasons that it should have been a great experience. The cast is delightful, the director is expeditious, although we did rehearse it to death. The technical staff is great, and the orchestra is just fine. But then I get annoyed because I miss professional theatre, not for the “professional” part of it necessarily, but more because things like equity house rules are not even thinking about being observed here. There’s music blasting in the dressing room, our call is a full hour before half-hour, and things are just bugging me because I’m under-rested and irritable.

So I need to get out of this rut of sadness; my co-worker Lauren would call me “Complainy Complainerton.” And that’s damn straight.

Curtis’ parents were just in town for a week. OH how they helped. When I have a schedule of working 7 or 8:30 am to 6pm, and then a show schedule of 6pm to midnight, that leaves little time for anything else, including sleep. They cooked and had meals ready for me as I breezed through to get them, they cleaned, they cared for my kitties and my plants, and just generally were incredibly helpful and kind. I’m so thankful for their visit. It was good to see them, if only briefly!!

My Mom and Dad arrive in town tomorrow. They are just as wonderful, and an added bonus is that since my Mom is my Mom (and I grew up in her house, getting her programming about where things “go”) she always seems to know my choices and she always seems to know where to put stuff. It must be some umbilical cord thing. Except for grape jelly, which is the subject of a legendary family story, she and I see eye to eye on most things regarding running a house. And the things we don’t see eye-to-eye on, we agree to disagree. They will be meeting my Mary Jane for the first time this visit. I don’t think they’re terribly looking forward to that, but it is not altogether unexpected of me. I’ve been prone to bringing home strange creatures since I was a little kid. Mom always thought I’d be a vet.

Updates

2010-06-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

WOW. It’s been a long time since I’ve updated. A lot has been going on in general lately. The Cat Hospital keeps getting busier and busier. We’ve hired an extra technician on to keep up with the fact that we have a second doctor. It’s good business, but some days are overwhelming! But as time goes on we’ll find better ways to streamline and get more efficient, and before long we’ll have a bigger practice with more space.

At home, there are now 5 critter members of our family. Of course, there will always be the Divine Miss Mollywobbles. We also have Ultra-Violet the wonder Frenchie, Plymouth K. Car (a.k.a. Rocky Balboa, a.k.a. The Orange Menace) and miss Mya, the beautiful Manx kitty. The newest addition is Miss Mary Jane, a beautiful Columbian Red-Tailed Boa. Her tail is more of a brownish hue, but she’s still quite beautiful. She is 12 years old, and she’s a rescue. We spent nearly 2 weeks custom-building a cage for her that had padlocking lids, as she is big enough to be a threat to little Mollywobbles, and potentially the cats. I can’t even relay how many people asked me “what if Mary eats Mollywobbles?” Well, pardon my irritation, but Duh. If you don’t know me well enough to know that I would have made intense preparations to keep Mollywobbles safe, then you don’t know me very well at all.

The Yeomen of the Guard is nearly ready to open. It’s only a week now. It’s going to be a fantastic show. I am thankful to have been a part of it, but I learned a very important lesson through the rehearsal period of this show, and that is this. I am useless to myself and others without my requisite dose of Kim-Time. I have done community theatre throughout my life, and I enjoyed it. Then I moved to professional theatre, which took less time AND I got paid for it. Now that I’m back to community theatre, and there are 6 weeks of rehearsal, I don’t know how everyone else is doing it. My kids are suffering… Mollywobbles and Violet have been at boarding for a week already, and will be so for two more weeks. They’ll be fine there…. Taurus takes excellent care of them. But I’m guessing they miss home. I sure miss them. But I don’t even have time to feed them.

Pet Question time....

2010-01-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

Alright, friends... several of you have expressed an interest in my pet psychic abilities. Yes, I'm new at this, and yes, I'm still working on developing them, but yes, I do seem to be able to communicate with animals.

One of the things that Debbie stressed at our workshop was that psychic awareness is like a muscle... you must use it to keep it strong. So I'm very VERY happy to get any experience that I can, and I'm very, very happy to read anyone's animal that I can. But there are a couple of rules that I'll insist on for now. THE FIRST RULE is this: I will not yet read animals that I know well. In the beginning stages of learning to tune into animals' communications, it is of utmost importance that I don't allow what I know of an animal to cloud the information I'm receiving from them. So I'll need to stick to critters that I don't know well. I'll do ones that I've met, as long as I don't know them well enough to know their daily habits or their personality very well. THE SECOND RULE is this: I will want feedback, and I'll expect for you to tell me me what I get right, and what I get wrong. Some things you won't know, of course, but if there's anything you can verify as right or wrong I want to know. You won't hurt my feelings by telling me I got something wrong! You'll just give me an opportunity to learn that I'm interpreting things incorrectly, as often animals send images instead of words, and some things are up for interpretation.

So here's what I need from you. Please tell me the following:

Animal's name
Animal's location (city, state, and country, if you're outside the US)
Animal's sex
Animal's approximate age

Then, I'd love a list of your questions! Here's a list of common questions that I pulled off of Debbie's website:

* How does your body feel - does anything hurt?
* How do you like your barn, kennel, trainer, rider, pet sitter etc.?
* Do you have a message or any advice for me?
* How does your saddle, blanket, bit, collar, shoes, etc. feel?
* Do you have any advice on how I ride, train, communicate, etc.?
* What are some of you likes?
* What are some of your dislikes?
* What is your purpose?
* What do you like about me?
* What can I do better?
* Do you like showing, racing, jumping, visiting...
* What do you think of your stable mates, neighbors, house mates, etc...
* Does my animal want a companion?
* Is my animal ready to pass over?
* You can also use this time to convey a message or information to your animal(s).

Questions aren't required, but so far I feel like they help me connect and help the animal communicate with me. If you don't send me questions, I'll ask some of these same ones myself, just for verification purposes.

Probably the best way to get this information to me is via email. Please send it to MelodyRoseAnimalCommunicator @ gmail.com. I do have several requests, and I’ll take them in the order that I receive them, so please be patient. I want to give your animal all of the attention and focus that he/she deserves and I won’t skimp on their reading.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do this! I appreciate your patience and your help in this process.

The Italian Stallion

2010-01-09T18:08:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, and somehow I forgot to mention something incredibly important in my former post. When talking to another lady at the workshop, Plymouth told her (in NO uncertain terms): "I don't like the name Plymouth. I'd rather be called Roooccckkkyy Bal- boooaaaaaa.
(How could I make something like this up?)

KimTime and the Pet Psychic Weekend

2010-01-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

Well hello, old friends. Golly it’s been a while since I’ve spewed my guts to a pink blog. But this is a great weekend to do so.

Due to working too much and getting into overtime at work, I was given the gift of having to leave at 4:30pm on Friday. This was an outstanding this because I was heading out of town for two very important things: first, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do a weekend study intensive with renowned pet psychic, Debbie McGillivray. See animaltelepathy.com for more information. Opportunity number two? Some much-needed KimTime.

I stopped at home after work to change clothes and grab my stuff, then got on the road. I mostly beat traffic, too. It started to get dark as I reached the southwest side of town and started to get out of the city limits. It was then that I remembered that it’s been roughly 10 years since I spent nearly any time driving on two-lane roads after dark. And I hate it. Thankfully, in the 70 miles between southwest Austin and Comfort, TX, not a single soul ended up on the road behind me. And that’s good. Because I was going 40.

As I drove out through the country I noticed how black the night sky was, and how many stars there were. I haven’t seen a sky like that in a long time. I don’t even usually see that in Canada because I never take the time to go out on the lake and lay in the boat after dark to look at it. We can’t see a lot of the sky from the campground because we’re in a circle of trees that block most of it out. Curtis invites me sometimes, but I never want to go. I’m usually always well tucked-in for the evening by the time he thinks of it. I usually go to bed pretty early in Canada, too.

Speaking of my darling husband, as I was driving through the black and deserted Texas prairie I thought to myself, “if Curtis were here, what would he do?” After searching for 30 minutes or so for a safe place, I pulled my car over to the side of the road and did what Curtis would’ve done. I killed the engine, shut off the lights, and got out of the car. I walked to the back of the car to lean on the trunk and slowly looked up at the stars. The sky was like something you’d see in a planetarium… I don’t think I’ve ever been out in such open country on so dark a night. The moon was nowhere to be found; millions of stars were looking down at me. It’s a shame that they watch over me so faithfully and ignore them every single day. I saw the Milky Way galaxy, and Orion’s belt was pointing to a little cluster of stars with which I’m unfamiliar… anyone into astronomy? Before long the sounds of the traffic miles away in Boerne died down, and the chilly breeze that was chapping my cheeks went away. All of a sudden everything was quiet. And not just quiet, but silent. Dead silent. This is the part where my appreciation for nature and the things that my husband has taught me flew out the window. All I could think of is all of those slasher films I’ve seen over the years, and that there is always dead silence before the guy comes out of the woods with a knife, or a chainsaw. SO I very bravely turned and walked to my driver’s side door, got into the car and hit the door lock button about 5 times, just to be sure. Then I put it in Drive and floored it out of there.

I arrived at The Executive Inn in Comfort, TX around 7:15pm, with plenty of time to find some dinner and load in. I loaded in first, then realized that there was no deadbolt on my door! No thanks, Mr. Motel. So I moved to another room. This one has a fully intact deadbolt, and is just like the other. The rooms are huge; it was $49.95 for a king-sized bed, with room on the floor to sleep about 10 people in sleeping bags. It’s even pet-friendly! Alas, I have no pets in tow. What a lovely evening full of KimTime I had. I lounged around in my pajamas, curled up in my down comforter that I brought, and enjoyed the free wi-fi. I also wrote an incredibly long blog post which my computer deleted. I’ve basically replicated it above.

This morning I went to my workshop. I met Debbie and the other folks at the conference. There were 9 of us total. We worked through the morning discussing the psychic process and how to develop it, and in the afternoon we did several readings. First we worked on Debbie’s own animals (who have become great animal teachers for her, and who are good at hand-holding with new people learning how to do readings.) The key when learning is to have someone available who can verify what you’re getting, so that you know you’re actually connecting with the right animal. We began by looking at a photo of Debbie’s boxer, Lucky. She asked us to connect with her energy and talk to her for a while, and then we’d all get back together and share what we thought we had learned about Lucky. Well it didn’t take me 30 seconds to discover that Lucky is a sassy, dominant lady. She’s a very in-your-face kind of dog who does NOT like to be ignored. She prefers sleeping on her dog bed, second only to mom and dad’s bed, and she is the boss of the house. All of which Debbie confirmed to be true. We each read several more animals and I did well, if I do say so myself. One of which is a beautiful little kitten named Mirabella that Debbie just adopted; she’s around 3 months old and has lost her eyes. She’s completely blind. Mirabella told me that she remembered being able to see at one time, but everything was pretty hazy, and then her eyes just quit working. Debbie confirmed that that was accurate. (GROSS ALERT** skip to the next paragraph if you think you’re going to get grossed out about how she lost her eyes.) Someone had dropped off a litter of kittens in Debbie’s barn and all had very severe upper respiratory infections. Mirabella was the weakest and the sickest and her eyes both ruptured.

The vet was called out and he said she could live if her eyes were removed, so he removed them, and she’s fine now. Her stitches just came out this past week. Debbie explained something interesting, too. Two of us read Mirabella, and she showed Eve (the other woman) a horrible scene regarding an animal. I won’t go into detail about it, but it couldn’t have been her, because the animal in the scene was injured too severely to recover. Eve asked Debbie about it, and Debbie communicated with Mirabella herself, and she believes that this was an experience that Mirabella had in one of her past lives. Then on a side note she mentioned an interesting correlation: often, animals who have witnessed horrific things in a past life will choose to be blind when they come back again because they just can’t bear to see anything like that again. I thought that was interesting.

So I head back tomorrow for the second day. I’m anxious to learn more, because tomorrow we talk to animals who have passed, and who are now in spirit. I spoke with Debbie about doing her 6-month intensive, and she said that she didn’t think I needed that. She thinks that I could start with the 3-month Advanced Intensive and skip the 6-month. That made me feel good. She also said that she saw me doing things with this in the future; perhaps even teaching it. She said that she can see me being a sort of pioneer in combining Western medicine with telepathic communication to help animals heal both physically and spiritually. I like the idea of that. I want to make that happen. Whether or not it does, she’s given me the confidence to think it’s possible, and I really appreciate that. I did ask someone to take a photo of me with Debbie, so I'm thankful that I got that.

So I’m going to go read a cat named Rosie, whose Mom, Janice, is part of the workshop too. We didn’t get a chance to do all of our animals, and Janice said that when she chose her cat Tigger to be read first she almost instantly knew she had made the wrong choice. So I am going to read Rosie tonight so that she won’t feel slighted. You may be wondering… if Janice is at the same workshop as I am, why can’t she read her own cat herself? Well it’s rather like a vet not treating their own animals. You’re too involved and don’t necessarily make objective observations. Until we have a higher level of skill (like Debbie does), it’s more accurate to let someone else read your animals.

I’m off for the night to enjoy my KimTime and my new laptop. Thanks for reading.

Mystery Bird

2009-10-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

Here are three photos of a mystery bird that I saw in the parking lot of Chuy's Mexican Restaurant at 183 and Duval in Austin, TX. Any takers?

A moment to breathe

2009-03-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Today is another day. I woke up early this morning and had a bright energy for doing some things that need to be done.

I've been having trouble finding moments to breathe lately. My job keeps me occupied for more than 10 of my daily hours (though part of that is lunch, but I'm still away from home due to work) and that leaves me with 2 to 2-1/2 hours to myself in the evening in which to get everything else done. Sadly, I'm a person who needs 10 hours of sleep a night to function well, so that seriously cuts into my spare time. I've become great friends with the veterinarian at my work, and I'm really enjoying the company of both she, her wife, and their little boy. It's a welcome friendship because we're working through a lot of clique issues in my office and at the moment, there's the clique, and then there's me. I'm quite excluded, and it wears me down sometimes. Other times I deal quite well, though. Strangely enough, one of my greatest sources of comfort in this world is 16,000 miles away, but thanks to the wonders of internet phones, I can talk to him and see him for free. Yay, Skype.

Acoustalyn is going well; we have some challenges, but we're growing and improving bit by bit. We're having more shows, and more opportunities.

I'm doing my laundry at the moment so I'm off to get that in a few. Today I meet up with the owner of Northwest Rescue to transfer a little grey FIV+ kitty that I rescued. He's a dear... anyone interested in adopting a very handsome and friendly kitty?

My friend Tiffany lost her dear Lab a few weeks ago; she's been devastated. But the Universe moves on, as always, and here's a webcam of her new puppy. Which one? She hasn't chosen yet. But it'll be the dark blue ribbon, the light blue ribbon, or the gold ribbon.

www.justin.tv/texaswhitelabs

Clearing away the cobwebs and sorrow (til there's none)

2008-12-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Well all, it's been a while since I've updated what's going on in the innerworkings of Kim-dom.

Yesterday Curtis and I took about 10 boxes of stuff to storage. It's annoying, but it needed to be done, from my point of view. Curtis' hopes, when we moved this last time, was to use this time for down-sizing and for getting rid of things we don't need. I've given away a lot of things that I don't use anymore, and a lot of clothes that I don't wear. But now I'm down to only having things that I'm either too fat to wear right now, or I don't have room for. But what's left are still things that I love, and I'm not getting rid of anymore. So back it goes into storage. My apartment is now (almost) completely devoid of boxes, and it's soon going to actually be clean. I'm going to feel 100% better when my nest is complete.

On top of that, I have some rather exciting news in that I'm now singing for an acoustic group. Our name is Acoustalyn, and we're two guitars, and sometimes a mandolin or violin thrown in. It's a folk-type flavor, and I'm really loving it. I'm a singer, and I'm pretty much only a singer. I don't know anything about the music business, and I'm not very driven to move ahead. Our organizer, Richard (who is also our songwriter) has a good business head with history in the music business, and he's always trying to push us harder to move forward. I need that, for sure. Lauren is the other guitarist. She's somewhat quiet, but I find that she's the voice of objectivity and reason when the three of us are trying to decide on things like which album cover we like, and whether Richard and I should both sing on a song or just one of us. I dig them both. It's a great union. We're recording our demo on December 13th and we already have some gigs lined up around the city. And that's just cool.

Curtis and I spent Thanksgiving day with Steven and Michele at their annual Misfit Thanksgiving (for folks who don't have anyone to celebrate the holiday with, or who don't get to go home for it.) That was WONDERFUL and we met some great new people. Then this past Saturday I had the good fortune to spend about 5 hours with my dear Ken and be part of his Thanksgiving preparations in Melbourne, AU. This hadn't occurred to me, but Thanksgiving is a very American holiday, so they don't do it over there. Ken wanted to introduce his friends to one of his own traditions, so he cooked them a Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to be on a webcam with him for 5 hours and chit chatting as if we were across the table at iHop together. He was chopping his vegetables and mixing up ingredients and we both talked about life. There were even several lags in the conversation.... those comfortable sort of lags that one only has with close friends; the ones where no one might say anything for 5 minutes but that's just okay.

It was nice to get to spend some time with him; I try to do so every weekend, but I don't often get THAT much time. And I will likely have to do without him for the next few weeks while he grows acclimated to the gift of time with his new friend Jaret. In my experience, Ken has a rather jaded history with love. It's not that he has anything against it, it's simply that relationships have been fleeting for him. They've either started out like gangbusters and quickly faded, or they've just not been that interesting to begin with. Ken has so much to offer. I have never quite understood how he could have that much trouble with love, but the truth is, most of the relationships I've personally witnessed of his have been rather lukewarm. And then enters Jaret. I got the pleasure of meeting Jaret on the webcam the other night, and quite honestly, I'm completely smitten with him. He's sweet, he's handsome, he's intelligent, and ... well, I've just never seen anyone yet who I thought would be better for Ken. Jaret's chivalrous... and he's sensitive. He's not the type to play games or to lay blame to make himself feel better. Though I only talked to him for about an hour, it is already compellingly apparent that he's the type that if you were to lash out at him, he'd probably say "I'm sorry that I've hurt you enough to make you want to lash out at me." I may be exaggerating, but I truly get an awesome feeling about him. I've begged Ken for a picture of the two of them together, because the idea of Ken having someone like that in his life just makes me smile. Yay, Jaret.

Moving on... the Cat Hospital is awesome. I learn new things every day. I very much enjoy my boss, and I very much enjoy her partner and the other people that I work with. I learn more and more every day, and I wonder how many amazing things I'll learn before the year is through.

Curtis is working downtown at a bar called Annie's West, and though he's mostly only bartending for Happy Hour, he's getting lots of experience behind the bar. He barbacks and does the door sometimes in the evening, too... he's such a renaissance man. :)

Runner the Rooster

2008-11-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

The strangest thing happened to me today at work. I was covering reception for my co-worker who had to take lunch, when in came a customer. He told me that he had found a very friendly rooster and was now keeping it as a pet. (Huh?)

The back story is this: about 2 months ago, a shop closed nearby. It was a Mexican family who owned some sort of Automotive shop, as I understand it. They had pet roosters, hens, and peacocks. When their shop closed, they opened their gates, let all the animals out, and packed up and left. All of the animals were left roaming the streets, abandoned.

This gentleman- Craig was his name- was at a nearby shop buying some fish food when his son said “Hey Dad! There’s a rooster in the yard!” Craig said, “remember that movie ‘Rocky’ that we watched the other day with Sylvester Stallone? Remember how he was chasing chickens to build up his strength?” The son thought about it and ran outside and started after the chicken. It took him an hour, but this 8-year-old kid caught the chicken. They named him Runner, and took him home. He has turned out to be the nicest chicken in the world!! He loves the family, he loves to be petted, and he even sleeps with the son IN HIS BED at night with him. You’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking, I’m sure… so I’ll tell you now that I immediately asked him. “OK, so ….. what about potty-training?” Craig said “you’re not going to believe this, but Runner actually sleeps with my son in his bed, and then when he has to get up to go to the bathroom, he wakes my son up and my son takes him outside. He does his business and they come right back in and snuggle back down in bed and go to bed.” Wow. The son and Runner have developed quite a relationship and they love each other dearly. The son even carries Runner around like a football under his arm as his primary means of carrying him, and Runner is just fine with that.

The reason Craig came in in the first place, though, is that Runner crows every morning at sunrise. Usually it’s around 5:30am. Craig’s neighbors love what they did in rescuing the rooster, but Runner’s crowing is getting on their nerves. He came to ask if one could de-crow a rooster. I said that I didn’t know, but I did a google search and apparently you can. Now it’s definitely not without it’s drawbacks, and I think it would be a tough choice to make, but this rooster LOVES this little boy. So I think that a life of enjoyment might be worth the de-crowing, depending on how difficult a procedure it is.

Anyway, here’s Runner. I met him, and I pet him for quite a while, and I feel very honored to know this young rooster.

Please have patience.

2008-11-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Friends, please have patience with me. I have recently forgotten what it's like to have enough time to breathe. I'm still figuring out how to get anything done, ever, with this much going on in life. I Have things to update you on and I will do so soon.

Thanks for your patience. And thanks, Ken, for always making me smile.

xoxox

Violet & Mollywobbles Dancing

2008-11-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

I have spoken repeatedly about the beautiful and budding new relationship between my Violet and my Mollywobbles. Here's a video that you may enjoy, narrated by the fabulous and talented Bruce Dow.

Plymouth - Kitten Moments

2008-11-01T23:28:00.001-07:00

I found some old footage of Plymouth tonight, and assembled it into a coherent and fun few moments. This is him around 7 weeks old, in May of 2008.

Friends and Life

2008-11-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have the good fortune in my life to have two best friends.

The first, Erin, just got married in Seattle. She looked spectacular, and she glowed from every pore. She's a natural beauty anyway, but I've never seen her look so amazing. I'm so thankful to have been able to attend. Clinton is a wonderful guy and I think they'll be very happy together. They're currently living in Pittsburgh, PA with their two sassy cats and their one adorable dog. I'm thankful that I'm able to see them when I head back home to visit. They are the ones who took care of Violet this summer while we were in Canada, and she loves them to death.

My other best friends just happens to have moved to Australia. I met Ken when I first stopped by Wagville with Mollywobbles, and through some initially rocky times, we became best friends. We did a million things together; we travelled to Pennsylvania more than once, he shared Christmas with us in Franklin, and Applefest. We drove to Texas. We took a road trip to Vegas. We saw a building implode. None of those things was particularly more special than the other (except maybe Christmas and Applefest in Franklin) but it's always a good time when we're together. And now he's gone. It's very strange to have him so far away. I am glad that he went, as the trip and the lack of support system are something that he very much needed. But it still seems awfully weird to be without him. Tonight I was on Skype with him for a very long time (which, for those of you who don't know, is a free internet-based phone system) and we both had our webcams on. I talked to him for the longest time, and then his roommate came on camera to meet me. I said Hello to him, and he said hello back, but with an Australian accent. How weird. For a moment in time, I was talking to just Ken. I guess in the back of my head I think he's in Kansas or something, but nearby. It took hearing the roommate say 'ello for it to sink in. Ken's in Australia. He's probably not coming back, at least not for a very long time. He may not ever come back, and that may be the best thing for him. But oh how I miss him. Sometimes I wonder what in the hell it is about the world that I have to have money to go see my best friend!!! What a screwed up system when I can't afford to go see someone I love.

Regardless, I'm lucky to have two wonderful best friends. Throw the world's greatest husband into the mix and I might just be one of the luckiest people alive. There's nothing like a good friend. I'm finding that out more and more.

Violet and Wub go to Taurus

2008-10-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

My girls go to Taurus Doggie Daycare (http://www.taurusdogtraining.com/.) They have fun running in the yards, and Violet immediately showed them her jumping, bouncing Frenchie trick. The other day I got an envelope from them in the mail, and in it were two refrigerator magnets with pictures of my girls. Mollywobbles is extraordinarily photogenic, but Violet is another story. This is probably the best picture I've ever seen of her au naturale!!

2008-10-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video of our apartment in Austin.

Meet my friend Vaclav

2008-10-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

I have a new friend. He is an older fellow, over 100 years old. He is handsome, dashing, and full of love. His name is Vaclav. He is actually only 16 in human years, but in cat years he's an old-timer. He likes breezes, paper bags, and long walks on the beach. He also very much enjoys black and white cows. He has various black and white cow toys, which he kills over and over again every night, and perches over them and shouts "MaCOW!" My friend Vaclav is always good for a snuggle when I visit, and when I've stayed overnight at his house he has presented me with a cow-kill more than once. I'm one of Vaclav's "special friends" (or so I like to think) and I love him dearly.

Vaclav has an unnatural (but very funny) attraction to paper bags. He likes to play with them, but mostly he likes to crawl inside of them. If, however, someone has the audacity to place a paper bag on top of him rather than his crawling into it on his own, it instantly renders Vaclav completely immobile. See here:

Cat Hospital of Austin

2008-10-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

I've been talking about work a lot, and I figured that if you're reading me rambling about it, you must be at least a teeny bit interested in what's going on there. So I'll show you! I took some photos today around the work place. They uploaded in sort of rearranged order, but oh well. You get the idea.

*This is Tom. Tom is a flame-point Siamese. He's an out-door cat, and his name describes his personality to a T. You can't see it in the photo (and believe me, you're glad that you can't) but he was in a neighborhood cat fight around his house, and he needed some repair to his left ear this week.

*Below Tom is our boarding area. This is where boarding kitties stay when they are visiting with us. There are pass-throughs in between each condo so that the kitties have more room.

Here is our delightful signage. I love the cute little kitty-cat face on the white background that's Dr. P's logo.

And below the sign is our lovely little cat hospital. We are a cat-only facility, which is a great idea for many of our clients. It helps nervous cats who can't stand the barking in the waiting room at the vet, and it makes many cat owners feel more comfortable. Dr. P is like the Cat Whisperer... she speaks cat better
than anyone I've ever met.

This is our cute little cat hospital. It's small enough to be personal, but big enough to work. I feel incredibly fortunate to have joined the team here.

Here's where I get the opportunity to play with my chemistry set. Above is the lab. I do lots of things like blood and serum tests, thyroid tests, fecal floats (gross, but not actually that gross) and more. The formatting is off between these photos and my text, but hopefully you can keep up, because I don't know how to fix it. Below the lab is the surgery room. It's pretty straight-forward, and much simpler than I thought it might be.

The next photo down is the back area. Many things are done here, like dental cleanings and general bloodwork, fecal samples, medicating, shave-downs, etc.

Here's a close-up look at the countere on the front wall of the back area.

This is our sick kitty area. It can be used for boarding, too, but it's primarily for the cats we treat each day (like Tom. See him there?)

I'm really LOVING my job. My boss is wonderful, my coworkers all know what they're doing and they have great work ethics, and things are good. Sometimes some of the evil cats scare me, but I'm getting over that. It took me a bit to grasp, but I'm learning to understand that a pissy cat is a scared cat. It's all fear or pain. I'm about to fall asleep in my computer chair as I write this, so for now I'll go. More later.

A car crash killed Lily and James Potter!?!???

2008-10-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

It's an outrage. I've had yet another car accident that tried to kill my car. Luckily, it didn't try to kill me. This is two accidents in 6 months that were completely not my fault. The first killed my Tercel when a large tire was in the middle of the road. The second was last Wednesday, and some dumb broad t-boned my car while I was driving down the road. I was on a main road, having just pulled out of the Cat Hospital, and not 50 yards from our driveway some woman pulled out from a side road and right into my passenger side. The car is a tank, luckily, and I was safe and fine. But I am rather annoyed at being without a car again. Luckily, dumb chic had insurance, so Geico is getting me a rental car while my car is in the shop. Thanks, Geico. Otherwise this would be VERY grrrr.

Work is cool-i-o

2008-10-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

I'm totally digging my new job. I've learned how to do at least 100 cool things, and though some of them were rather grody (like totally gag me with a spoon) most of them have been really cool. I know how to hold/restrain a cat for pretty much anything... even evil mean cats. I'm learning to speak cat bit by bit, and I'm really beginning to enjoy it. My boss is great, and her partner is super, too.

Here are a couple of pictures of my evil little devil kitty to whet your appetite until next time. He photographs horribly, and looks evil at every click of the shutter. I'm going to try to take him outside to take some good daylight shots of him, as the flash always causes him to squint.

Curtis is 35 and Wub & Violet are friends.

2008-09-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well Happy Birthday to Curtis; he's 35 today. We went to The Oasis for dinner, which is an Austin restaurant that has several balconies and they all overlook Lake Travis, which is beautiful.

Steven and Michele went with us, and we had a great time. Fun times and painful abs always abound when the four of us are together; we're so glad they're in Austin.

I want to mention my kids now.... it is of particular note for those of you who know Molly, Violet, or Plymouth, or all three. Molly has finally decided that Violet is trustworthy. This seems to have happened sometime over the summer when they were away from each other. I asked Molly repeatedly if she missed Violet, and every time she mustered, "oh a little bit, I guess." Well when they got back together they were fairly blase, but now things have changed. Molly at some point realized that even though Violet is 5 times her size and weight, Violet wouldn't hurt her if her life depended on it. And that's true. One of the things that always impressed me about Violet was how maternal she was to both Molly and her boyfriend Farq. Molly now finds time at least daily, but often more often, to go to Violet and whack Violet in the face with her tiny paws and say "Play with me! Right NOW!!" Violet always feigns annoyance, but she's quickly persuaded. Most often I see them on the couch with Violet wrestling with Molly's spritzes of neck hair, and Molly chewing on the underside of Violet's chin (where Violet has a big wart that Molly apparently loves to grab onto.) Why Violet doesn't fuss about that is beyond me, but I like to think that it's just because Molly is just as careful with Violet as Violet is with her. They've gone from the love-hate sister thing to just a love-play sister thing. They aren't tightly bonded, and if one is without the other they don't really care, but when they're together they're much more comfortable now. I'm thankful that Molly finally feels like she can let her guard down.

Plymouth, on the other hand, views both of the dogs as moving toys. It's his favorite game to sit somewhere high-up and lay in wait, and when the dogs walk by under him he jumps out and grabs them. He's now 8lbs, so about half of the time Molly "schools" him and screams and chases him away, and the other half she runs away herself. Then she turns around and starts following him curiously. Violet mostly looks at him the same way she looked at the puppies Farq and Molly who were tumbling all over her: "oh Lord. There's the young kid again. Boy he's annoying. Maybe if I just close my eyes and wait it will pass." She has a great attitude about his behavior. I love watching the thoughts behind her eyes.

R.I.P. Bowl

2008-09-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad got Curtis and I a beautiful, hand-thrown pottery bowl for Christmas last year. They bought it from an artisan at Applefest. Cream, with brown vines and tiny red berries... so cute!

And now, thanks to Plymouth, it is in about 78 pieces on my cement kitchen floor. R.I.P., pretty bowl.

And now, a job!!

2008-09-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Oh, friends... life is coming together. I feel happier today than I have in seemingly forever. My new employer called this morning and told me that I got the job. I had applied at the Cat Hospital of Austin (cathospitalofaustin.com) and I've been nursing that relationship for well over a week. I sent a resume first, then went in for an interview, then went in for a second "working" interview. The working interview, I think, was designed to weed out the faint at heart. I arrived for my shift and she said "ok, we're doing a neuter and declaw on a cat." I won't go in the gory details, but she didn't give me any room to be faint-hearted. I watched that whole double-surgery, which (by the way) was completed in less than 10 minutes. This was last Tuesday, the 16th. At the end of my shift she thanked me and said that she was doing working interviews every day that week, so she'd let me know at the "first of the week." Eeegad... more waiting. So on Monday they arrived bright and early to a message on their answering machine from me, saying that I am looking forward to hearing from them and that I'd really like to work for them. On Tuesday I got a call from Dr. Percival (KIM Percival, ironically) to tell me that she's just getting a hold of my references, but she'll be in contact with me soon. She called me this morning to tell me that she wanted to offer me a job. She said that she had gotten a good feeling about me from the beginning, and so had her partner, and then when she talked to Wagville, Julie's words were "I'll pay you to send Kim back to California." God Bless Julie Shine. She is pretty much the entire reason I got the job. So to work I go tomorrow, to discuss specifics, and to start my first day at Cat Hospital of Austin. Yay. I'm uber-excited.

Life in Austin has been fun as well. Tonight I do a gig with Mandy Lauderdale (mandylauderdale.com) who is a terrific cabaret performer, and our dear friend. We do Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy together and we have a great time with it. It's been years since I've really sung; actually it's been since the summer of 2003. I'm out of shape and out of practice, and my ear isn't as good as it used to be, but it feels great to be back on stage again, if only for one song.

Steven and Michele are here in Austin. Some of you know that Steven was our musical director at Lincoln Amphitheatre for two of the seasons that we were there, and it has been our absolute pleasure to get to know his wife Michele better. I think she's something like a wood sprite. She's little and cute with big brown eyes that could entice you into doing anything, and on top of that, she's a gem of a human being. We are so blessed to know them both! Michele is teaching grade school now (I think grade 3?) and is getting rave reviews from her supervisors. I can only imagine the outstanding memories her classroom children are going to have of her.

Okay, so I must go now. My dear husband is taking me to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch for DUNGENESS CRAB, my favorite! We're celebrating my new job, and his new potential jobs. He has a bar full of people downtown pulling for him, because he's been hanging out with him and of course they think he's a great guy. I'll update that as things become available.

Yay, Universe!

Ahhh... a home.

2008-09-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Well, things are very much looking up. I feel better than I have in a year and a half. Curtis and I found a delightful, earthy little apartment that we like very much. We chose carefully, and got an apartment with beautifully color-stained cement floors, so the kids are enjoying their rubber balls bouncing high in the air when I throw them. Though much of it is still in boxes, everything I own is finally in the same apartment in which I live (rather than in storage) and I'm unpacking it bit by bit. Curtis sometimes doesn't really grasp why having my things makes such a big difference, and he jokes, "so you're defined by what you own?" I thought about that, and yes. Maybe it's selfish, or maybe it's shallow, but yes. I'm defined by what I own. I'm defined by the things that I enjoy having around me. And I'm okay with that.

The job search continues. I did a second interview (which was a "working interview") for the Cat Hospital of Austin the other day for a position as a vet tech, and I enjoyed myself tremendously. I got to assist in three neuter/declaw surgeries, and watch a lot of other things. I'm looking forward to getting the job. Curtis has applied at just about every bar in town, and he's waiting patiently for them to call.

Our dear friend Bob got a good report on his dog Keady recently, so that's good news, too. Yay good friends and good vets. :)

Catching up from then until now.

2008-09-07T22:22:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this, you're wondering. You're wondering what in the hell has been going on in my life, and I'm happy to catch you up.

Life has been hell. I've always considered myself to be an optimistic person, but here we are, having been basically homeless since April of 2007. I've just recently begun to believe in purgatory. We've had a roof over our head, it's true. And I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful that I didn't have to pitch a tent on Skid Row in downtown L.A. so that I could find shelter from the elements.

We moved out of our beautiful loft (which we were lucky enough to find while prices were still low) because of a fight we had with our landlord, who had previously been our good friend. We still wonder what percentage of the equation was the landlord's OCD and his need for things to be in specific "compartments" and what part of it was his desire for someone who would pay him higher rent. This was our first and biggest lesson about friendships in L.A. He consistently reminded us that though he was evicting us, this was "just business." It had no effect on our friendship. Curtis has since forgiven him, and he still spends time with him. I, being severely protective of my husband, have forgiven the landlord, but he has lost my trust.

So we spent time in Canada that summer, and some time in Pennsylvania with our parents. We returned to L.A. in the fall with certainty that we just had to look to find an apartment. Our friends offered us a tiny little place in the back of their house that had a bedroom and a small kitchen and bathroom and there we stayed, with a very solid roof overhead. It was very kind of them and we're very thankful, but it was very difficult to go from a 1400 sq. foot earthy loft to a 300 sq. foot studio in which our best hope at alone time was turning away from each other so that we were facing opposite walls. Most of you know that I'm an only child, and I grew up with my own room. We didn't have a family room while I was growing up... well, we had one, but no one ever used it. I came home from school and mom and dad came home from work; Dad did his thing, mom went to her sewing room and I went to my bedroom. I grew up with a healthy amount of alone time, and I like it that way. I'm realizing now that I need it that way.

The little studio was only ever supposed to be very temporary while we searched for other housing. Unfortunately, affordable housing was more difficult to find than we imagined. We ended up being in that little studio for over 2 months, and about half way through that it was clear that we had worn out our welcome. We were also storing Curtis' old 1966 Bonneville in their driveway, so we were inconveniencing them in a multitude of ways. It was incredibly kind of them that they didn't get fed up sooner than they did. Finally, we were able to find a still-too-expensive rental just a few blocks away on Marengo Avenue and we moved into it on December 1st, 2007. It felt good to get just a few things out of storage, though we didn't get much.

Before long, we decided that since this was a 3-bedroom apartment, it would be much smarter to move all of our things out of storage and put them in our third bedroom so that we could save the storage unit rental $. We did that, so all of our things were now in our apartment with us. Unfortunately they were separated from us by cardboard and some rather strategically-placed strapping tape. In the end, when it was time to move out, it seemed as if we had taken exactly one thing out of every box in the room. Matching the apartment stuff with the similarly-sized holes in the boxes proved to be tedious. Packing felt impossible to me.

During our time in the Marengo apartment I did have a few little gifts from the universe. My dear friend Ken, who is the entire reason I began to work at Wagville (which ultimately changed my life for the better in many, many ways) was in need of a place to live. We had a 3-bedroom apartment now after all, so we offered for him to live with us. As far as I'm concerned, that was one of the nicest gifts the universe could have given me. He rode to work with me, and he was always there in the evenings when Curtis was tending bar. He helped me with the dogs (he knows a TON about dogs) and he loves to do dishes. We weren't able to get our dishwasher out of storage and the dishes are the only chore that has ever threatened to end Curtis' and my relationship, so in exchange for our third bedroom, Ken did the dishes ever day. We joked that he was our Cabana Boy. Also during the time that we were at Marengo I was blessed with one of the most amazing additions I could ask for: a little French Bulldog named Ultra-Violet. This dog won my heart the first day I began working at Wagville, and she held on tight. Her parents informed my boss that with their new baby, and an impending move, and since they were moving from a good-sized house to a one-bedroom studio, Violet wasn't getting the attention or exercise she deserved. She was depressed, and they just didn't have the right life for her anymore. So they were hoping to find a good home for her through Wagville. Through a serendipitous moment, my boss typed up a memo saying that Violet was in need of a new home. Those things which my boss typed from her office came out of the printer behind our front desk. My receptionist's assistant saw it as it was printing out and (knowing that Violet had always been my favorite) called me immediately, before it was seen by anyone else. The rest is history. On January 10, 2008 our little Ultra-Violet came home to live with us. Mollywobbles was rather annoyed, but quickly got accustomed to the idea of no longer being an only child once she realized that she was the boss, and Violet listened to anything Molly told her to do. Summary: the Marengo apartment had two really wonderful moments. They were Ken and Violet.

Our lease expired June 1st, but we were able to stay later. On July 16th I took Ken to the airport for his flight to Melbourne, and off he went on a one-way trip to Australia. I miss him dearly, but I know that Australia is a good place for him to be at this time in his life. He needed to get out and away from his security blankets (me, his mom, and his brother) and stretch those wings of his that have so needed real-world experience. On July 20th we left Los Angeles and headed east for our yearly trip to the lake in Ontario, this time via Austin. There we dropped off our moving truck full of nearly all of our worldly posessions, and headed on to our next "via point", Pennsylania. We had a car full of summer stuff and 3 animals: The Princess Mollywobbles, the fabulous Miss Ultra-Violet, and Mr. Plymouth K. Car, who is the crankiest kitten I've ever known. Curtis found him in a junkyard car back in April when Plymouth was only 3 weeks old. His eyes had only opened a day or two before. Violet wanted desperately to make him lunch. Transporting the three of them together in a car packed full of stuff was a challenge. Thank God for crates and car harnesses and seatbelts. If you look closely, you can see the edge of Plymouth's crate behind the seat on Violet's right, on your left.

After dropping Plymouth off with my Mom and Dad (if anyone could fix him they could), and after dropping Violet off with my best friend Erin (who I knew would take care of Violet exactly as I would take care of her; she's a bit of a freaky naturalist like I am) we headed with little Mollywobbles to the lake. The lake is a beautiful place, and I enjoy it for a few days, but I get restless very quickly. I spent a lot of time driving into town to get internet access so as to get some work done for the dog website I work for, which is DogExplorer.com. I spent more time on the road than at camp, I think. I spent yet another birthday at the lake.

At the end of the summer we came home to spend a week and a half between our parents' house. In between Carlisle and Franklin we went to Homer City, PA to attend the funeral of our friend Kevin's father Sam, who we both loved very much, and who passed suddenly of a massive heart attack. The autopsy revealed that he had a severely enlarged heart. It was twice the size that it was supposed to be, and it just quit. Sam was one of the best people that either of us knew, and his daughter said to us that it was comforting to know that Sam died "because he had too big a heart." Sam really did have a huge heart; he was everyone's friend. He'd do anything for anyone. It was a terrible blow to both Curtis and I. We wanted to be there to support Kevin and his family, but Sam was very dear to both of us as well.

We arrived in Austin very early on the morning of September 5th. As it was 2am we went straight to bed, but we awoke in the morning to a feeling of something that I couldn't quite identify. It's comforting that we've finally arrived in our new city, but there's a fear that we have no idea what in the hell is in store for us. I don't think Curtis is as worried as I am. I freak if I don't have a plan.

In the few days we've been here we've discovered that Violet no longer wants to kill Plymouth, who is almost 8lbs now, and can quite nicely fend for himself. Mom and Dad fixed him while he lived with them, and Curtis, who was adamently against keeping him can now be overheard saying things like "you'd better quit making me love you so much" to the cat.

We have had a few neat experiences since arriving in town. Curtis and I found a wonderful vegetarian Indian restaurant with a large Indian grocery store beside it, and Violet and I found a good dog park. I helped break up a dog fight at said dog park and ended up meeting one of the dogs' mother, a real-estate agent who just moved here from Venice, which is south of L.A. The next evening we were invited to Steven and Michele's apartment, who are two of the huge reasons we moved to Austin. They're great people to be around, and they've helped us tremendously. It's going to be quite excellent to live in their city. They are life-friends... you know, the kind that you can not see for 25 years and then when you see one another again it's as if no time passed? Though we hated it, we always assumed that was just the way our relationship would always be. It's a gift to now be here, in their city.

Though we've had some wonderful things along the way, the feeling of purgatory still exists for me. I thought that if we could just get here I'd feel better. But I almost feel worse than I did before. We're here, but we're not here yet, you know? We have no place to call home still... life in the Motel 6 is already getting crampy after only 4 days. We have begun looking for a home to buy. That's one of the primary reason we moved here: good friends, neat city, affordable housing. I know that I need to be patient, but my need to "nest" is growing to be overwhelming. Thank you Larry for helping me understand that I'm not alone in that feeling. Your explanation of how women get to a certain point and they just need to "nest" is the most accurate thing I've heard anyone say. I want a counter for my Kitchen Aide mixer. I want a place to put my good dishes that people bought us for our wedding. I so crave a place to call my own. But it just still feels like it's a million miles away.

I've put in several emails to prospective employers and haven't heard a thing back from a single one of them. I think I'd prefer "you look stupid and we're not even considering you" to completely being ignored. Michele tells me that this is a town where the internet doesn't work, and I have to meet people face-to-face. I hope she's right. I'm sure she is; she did it herself three years ago when they moved here, but she had no friends here, and had to figure it out on her own. Tomorrow morning I'll put on some nice clothes and go paper Austin with my resumes. I really found my niche with the Cage-Free Doggie Daycare/Boarding. There are several here, so that's where I'll start.

Please forgive me if I haven't written, or if I've seemed like I don't care. I do care, but Curtis and I have both been so depressed during the last year that we've lost touch with several people that we care about. Please feel free to drop us a line and check in. We love you even if you haven't heard from us. I'll update as things progress for us.