Tuesday Has No Phones

For those who asked, a picture of Mac taken mere minutes ago. He was bribed with treats to put up with this. I'm not sure if the picture gives proper perspective but he is a big kitty. I call him my panther kitty because that's what he looks like. I've had contractors come to my house, see him, and go "Woah!" because they assume he could easily bite their heads off. Little do they know that he is a purr monster and all he wants is to make sure my lap is clear so that he can snuggle in it.

( Mac! )

Also a picture of Luna so she is not left out. I apologize that she's not facing the camera. Every time I tried she would squint thanks to the flash and it gave her a look like she was terribly cross with you all, which is not her usual demeanor. She has BIG! YELLOW! EYES! if you want to fill that in with your imagination. But she is also made entirely out of fluff, which this picture shows clearly.

( Luna! )

It is turkey day here in the States. I'll be heading over to my folks' in a bit for food, food, and more food.

Amongst the things I'm grateful for this year is all y'all. Particularly, but by no means limited to, the way so many of you offered love, support, and practical help and information when Mac got sick. Everyone's generosity with that simply blew me away. I can't begin to say how much it meant.

Right now Mac and Luna are bookending me while doing synchronized kitty bathing. No, wait, I lie. Perhaps sensing that he's the topic of conversation, Mac has now climbed into my lap. He sends purrs, though he's loud enough that I'm sure you can hear him.

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving/Thursday!

Today was cool enough that I could open my windows. Then when I got home it was so cool I had to close them a bit so I wouldn't be too cold.

Bliss, I tell you. Bliss.

In other news, Mac continues to be at home and taking meds and other things that we don't talk about too much for fear of jinxing things. There's ups and downs, is the short version. One day he's happily playing with a toy mouse, the next he's sending me into panic attacks because he's not eating.

Supposedly these ups and downs are to be expected, according to what the vet told me. Personally I'd rather not have them.

I'd also like to upgrade Mac and Luna to the immortal option, while I'm at it.

As I type this I have a kitties taking turns on my lap as they say, in their own ways, "OMGNEVERLEAVEAGAIN!!!!"

The chaos of work turns into chaos of travel as I found out at 8:30pm last Friday that I was heading out to California for more work stuff. Which caused a bit of flailing on my part as I tried to get everything ready in time. But on the good side it meant I got to see an airawyn who was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and hang with me not just that night but on Tuesday, which meant I had company for the Joss/NPH episode of Glee!

Otherwise it was non-stop work stuff until Wednesday, when M-sis came to get me so that I could spend a few days with her, Elder Brother, and the hobbit children. The kids continue to be aggressively adorable so all in all it was a great few days.

I got back home around midnightish last night, and today has been about sleeping late, unpacking, cleaning, and reminding the cats that I still love them even if I abandoned them for SEVEN WHOLE DAYS.

So hi! =)

It is violently nice outside. Seriously. The sun tried to mug me when I was bringing my stuff to the recycling bin. I've always said you can't trust that big, glowing bastard.

Still, it's doing that thing where it's neither too warm nor too cold. All my windows are open, which the cats are thrilled about. Particularly as the birds are being quite vocal in their efforts to make it clear that 1) they are birds 2) they have the ability to make noise and 3) they would like to do so VERY LOUDLY.

Mind you that I don't speak bird. It's probably more likely that this is mating season and what they're actually saying is chirpy variations on "What's your sign?"

I have made dessert for tomorrow's dinner. It is Nutella cake, which if nothing else smells very good. I'll let you know tomorrow how it tastes.

There I was, on Tuesday, minding my own business, enjoying my Mardi Gras, maybe having a tiny bit of a headache but not thinking too much of it -- yanno, usual kind of stuff.

Then at around... ohh... 7:30pm? 8? My plans for the week changed.

As I emailed my boss later in the week "This blows. Sadly literally."

On the upside the woman who answered at the 24 hour nurse hotline was very kind, informative, and way more patient than perhaps any non-saintly person has a right to be when talking to someone at 1am a) at all and b) while said person is doing things that cannot possibly sound good over a telephone.

The bulk of my week has been spent in various cycles of bed/bathroom/couch/clear liquid drinking/plain soft food eating/hey maybe I'm finally feeling betzzzzzzzzzzzzzz huh? where did those five hours go?/cat-cuddling/Olympics watching with the duration of each cycle changing as the week has gone on, and some aspects happening at the same time. (Cat cuddling in bedroom or couch = ok. Cat cuddling in bathroom = not so much. Bless them for trying, however.)

To all reports I seem to be on schedule for getting better. I'm now at the stage where I'm able to eat things and have just enough energy and/or appetite to try to put some thought into what those things might be.

In related news you have no IDEA how often diary products show up in your diet when you are not allowed to have them. I don't even like milk unless it's in cereal or tea - which are naturally two things I'd love to be partaking of right now if not for the pesky "NO DAIRY PRODUCTS FOR AT LEAST A WEEK OR YOU WILL SO REGRET IT WE SWEAR TO GOD" advice I've been given. (And also found in multiple places on the web, not that I was looking for an out or anything. Ahem.)

(I realize soy or rice milk could possibily be a substitute, but I've never had them before and somehow I suspect "recovery from stomach flu" is not the timeframe to be trying any new food products.)

So that is the state of me. My plans are to continue to go slow and take it easy in the hopes that I'll be better enough to go back to work on Monday. Anyone who has any suggestions on things that someone recovering from stomach flu can eat in that murky "more advanced than cream of wheat" but "not yet back on the saddle of dairy or raw vegetables" stage would be most appreciated. Especially since I'm drawing blanks on what to do for lunch while I'm at work.

If you need me I'll probably be asleep. Just look for the lump under the two kitties.

Apparently when I'm in a bad mood I am more inclined to buy things for my cats.

On the upside, they both like the new toy I got them.

Luna just walked into the living room with a buttermilk biscuit in her mouth.

Oh the mighty hunter!

Decorations! Decorations of a Christmas nature! I have my decorations up! I was able to do that today, which makes me happy. Luna is currently underneath the tree trying to eat it, so she's happy too.

That's about it or news on my end. It was a very busy weekend for me, but all in good ways. I'm rather lucky that way.

Mac is in my lap now and says hi.

Came back yesterday from my wee getaway. The getaway itself mostly involved shopping in terms of specific things done. But in general it was a few days of "Drive in a direction and stop when something looks interesting." It's the first time I've done something like that and I liked it a lot. I had a bed and breakfast for my base of operations, I had conversations with folks around the breakfast table as well as folks who owned the local businesses that I went to, and all in all it was really fun. I definitely want to do something like it again.

What's nice is that it was a fairly short trip, so it's not like it involved massive prepwork or packing. Also? GPS is your friend. It's really easy to have a plan of "Turn right and then do whatever" when you don't have to worry about finding your way back again. Yay technology, I say.

So for next time the question is where. Which is something I can figure out when the time comes. Though I may go back to that specific B&B again someday too. When I get a chance I'll upload pictures of my room so you can see why. (HUGE BATH OMG)

When I got home the house had not been destroyed, so if Mac and Luna had a party they cleaned up well after. However? I could swear I saw a mouse last night. Possibly I was hallucinating, but even so. A mouse? In a house with two cats? Clearly this poor little thing is part lemming. Haven't seen anything since yesterday, which could mean I was seeing things, could mean Mac and Luna (probably Mac) have already snarfed it, or it's smart enough to lie low until it comes up with a suitable cat bribe. Or it was smart enough to move.

Today was an insanely busy day with prep for a BBQ this Sunday, as well as cleaning out my closets for items to toss/donate (2 big garbage bags of the latter) to make room for the new clothes that I bought. It was also a day of approving of my choice to come back on a Thursday, so that it felt like having a 3 day weekend at the end of it as well. (It's really all about sleeping in, with me.)

So it's all good on this end, really.