First Responder Friday

Wet Dog Wednesday

Blog Note

I just wanted to let y'all know I'm starting a different blog to keep tabs on my MCTD flares and other symptoms. It will be full of little note on how I feel throughout the days to come as this thing progresses. It will be my record book of everything so I won't be complaining about my aches and pains on my regular blog.

Monday, I Hate You

I trust everyone had a nice Thanksgiving? We certainly did. David and I have made a pact to go to The Honey Baked Ham Store for all our holiday ham, turkey and goodies from now on. The ham we bought was out of this world. It was a small regular sliced, not spiral sliced ham and the taste was awesome. I know they are expensive but hey, they do all the work for you. They bake it with honey and then slice it evenly so you don't have to fight with it and then pack it in a heavy foil wrapper so all you have to do is reheat it when you're ready. You can even dress it with pineapples and cherries like I did. I froze some of the ham two slices per bag for sandwiches for later and that has worked out great too. David said no more hunting for a frozen fatty ham at the grocery store from now on. Not as long as these guys are in business. One more thing, since my flares have been coming and going and not knowing how bad I'm going to feel during the holidays, having everything all done for me like baking and slicing and all was a great relief for because I was really not doing so great over the holiday this time. They saved my biscuits and I'm grateful for that. Okay, enough said of that.

David almost finished the kitchen this week. He was off of work because of the holiday shutdown at the plant. He will also be off two weeks for Christmas and New Years. He had a butt load of repair work on the kitchen floor and then the new sink he installed the weekend before started leaking so he had to fix that. Now to finish all the kitchen off he has to go buy the baseboards. Also, he has to put the door frames on. He also has to install the floor edging on the thresholds of the doorways. At least I have my new floor and yes, I christened it this morning with a coffee spill. Really the floor looks awesome. 

Religion in a Nutshell

First Responder Friday

Wet Cat Wednesday

Monday

What David would do with the turkey...

David came into the bedroom and woke me up with a thermos mug of coffee this morning. I woke up right away and got dressed and we went to New Braunfels to the Honey Baked Ham store to pick up a carrot cake. We ended up picking up our order for the ham and turkey breast too. The gentleman told us it's best to pick everything up today because there are over 800 people picking up already cooked hams and turkeys and all the fixings on Wednesday. He said the lines will be unbelievable. So we ended up picking up our order for the meat too. At least this is a great idea because we won't have to brave the long line in the cold. David wanted to pick up turkey gravy too so I gave in even though the turkey is for sandwiches before Thanksgiving. So yeah, that's the reason why I'm posting late this morning.

I have most of the Thanksgiving cooking done so I can relax. I've baked all the cakes and cookies and bread that I could bake. All the neighbor platters are made and wrapped. David said he will deliver them tomorrow for me. He has the whole week off for the holiday. He is busy right now trying to get the kitchen flooring in before Thanksgiving. He wants to get it all done before he goes back to work next week. I'm sitting in the living room listening to his grunting, cussing and groaning and what not. He makes a lot of noise when he does renovating. 

Friday last week, I had an appointment to see my doctor who diagnosed me with MCTD, to let him know I'm having weakness in my arms and legs now. The past few weeks have been hard for me. Some days I can't even lift my arms over my shoulders and walking is very cumbersome. It's so bad that I tend to almost fall over. I have little or no strength at all. Since there is no cure for MCTD, I'm basically fucked. All he can do is prescribe drugs to make my life comfortable. This really sucks.

Religion in a Nutshell

Something I Can Relate To

I know all y'all have seen this before on the web but I'm posting this because I used to have a cat and this is so relatable to what I once went through. Now I have a dog. I rest my cast.

How to Give Your Cat a Pill

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill in mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.
6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paw. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat
   vigorously.
7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
10. Retrieve cat from neighbor’s shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard and close door on to neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss another shot. Throw Tee shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.
13. Tie the little bastard’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
15. Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

How to Give a Dog a Pill

1. Wrap it in bacon.
2. Toss it in the air.

First Responder Friday

Wet Dog Wednesday

It's Monday

Hey y'all, hope you had a great weekend. Sorry I'm late posting. There is a vicious cold front coming through at around noon for us and I'm having trouble getting around. Walking is so hard when the nerves are pinched in my back so, because of this wonderful bitchin pain, I need to let all y'all know again that I'm not going to post as much as I usually do. I will be only posting on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. I will post on Tuesday and Thursday only if I feel better.  Sorry, but this is only temporary for the late fall-winter season until the weather warms up and the wet weather drys up a bit. It has gotten noticeably colder and it's been raining almost every other day

old ugly yellow kitchen sink

David installed the new kitchen sink on Saturday. He had to take out the old double one which was a bitch because it was an enameled cast iron mother. Taking up the trim which turned out to be the only thing holding it up on the countertop via the clips. the second David turned the last clip, the sink almost fell. David knew the fucker was going to fall and he didn't want that 80+lbs falling on the pipes or his head since he was under it moving those clips, he placed a metal broom handle across the counter over the sink and attached my hanging basket wire through the two drains and around the handle. We didn't know it would hold it or not but it did. After wedging the metal rim off the countertop and pulling that off and out of the counter, David was able to lift the sink out of the hole from where it was and put it on the trolly cart he had and wheel it out of the kitchen door. Now the hard part was over. All he had to do was take out the double pipes from under where the double sink was and make it one. He also had to cut the round edges into corners on the countertop.

new stainless steel sink

Putting the new stainless steel sink in was a dream. David only had to make one trip to Home Desperate to get a longer PVC pipe because the one that was under the sink was too short. The great thing I love about this sink is that it's much deeper than the old one and it has cleaner lines. David still can't believe he installed that new sink. I found him in the kitchen last night admiring his handy work before we went to bed. He just can't get over it. So, now all that is left to do to the kitchen is replace the flooring reinstall the baseboards and then later maybe next year we will install the new countertop.

Lucy is fighting me for my heating pad. She is trying to wiggle her little body in between me and the pad. She has been so uncomfortably cold since she woke up this morning. I had to fight her for my blankets when David let her jump on the bed. She refused to budge and I gave up and left her bundled up. She only unrolled herself from the blanket when she realized I wasn't there anymore. She found me sitting on the sofa under the fake fur blanket with my heating pad and now she is trying to take that over too. I told David he needs to come get this little piggy hog and throw her outside for a minute to show her what real cold feels like.

Religion in a Nutshell

Short Note

Hey everybody, because my weekends are getting hectic now that we are renovating the kitchen and with the wet colder weather change causing more pain in my back, I will be cutting down my blogging posts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. This I hope will be only temporary. If the weather goes into a dryer phase I will go back to posting more often. But for now, I am very sorry that I won't as often as I want.

In other news, the puppies are much better. Spunky is his old grouchy man self again and Lucy is back to teasing him as always. Well, I need to go help David. He's installing the kitchen sink this morning. That should be fun. He has to take out the old one first. This is going to be fun.

First Responder Friday

Short Post - Sick Puppies

I hate to do this but I lost a lot of sleep last night because Lucy was sick. Spunky had some sort of tummy flu and now Lucy has it so I have lost a lot of sleep in the past few days. So the post today will be very short. We also had a minor cold front through here last night and it's raining off and on. There will be a major cold front coming through here tonight which will drop the temperatures significantly into the 40's and 50's for the next few days. Yes, I am feeling that fucker as it makes its way through Texas.

I made some chicken broth last night in case we catch cold in the house so yeah, that's preventive medicine. I poured it into ice cube trays and froze it like that and then put the cubes into a ziplock freezer baggy so I can pull whatever amount I needed for soups, gravies or whatever I need a broth for. I also did my veggie broth like that. It's so convenient. I also made a special broth stew with carrots and chopped up chicken for the puppies if they finally feel like eating. I swear they are like little kids when they get sick. They want their mommy to hold and comfort them all night long while their tummy hurts and growls. Poor little babies. 

Well, I need to go and take care of the sick one, she's whining for me. All y'all play nice and try to have a magical day.

Wet Cat Wednesday

It's Tuesday

Today is the day. if you haven't done so and you are registered, get your ass out there and vote you lazy fucker! I can't say it enough, please, go vote. Yesterday my brother called me and complained that he can't wait until all the commercials for all the lying candidates are over. I agreed. I'm tired of all the lies and backbiting too. Thank the Goddess it will be all over tonight. 

It's a foggy morning. A fitting morning to the weather that will be blowing through here soon. Yes, my back is feeling it. We have 2 cold fronts screaming through here in the next 2 days. The temperatures are supposed to drop substantially into the mid 40's to 50's. Not happy right now though. I'm living on my heating pad and pain meds. Hopefully, this will pass quickly by Thursday.

This time change has taken a toll on the puppies. Yesterday, Spunky was standing in the recliner in the TV room and howling for his dinner. I also had Lucy staring me down. I could almost hear her thoughts yelling at me, "MOM! It's dinner time! I'm starving to death!" Yeah right. These little fuzzy butts have never starved a day in their lives. I know they are on a regular time schedule and all but this happens every time Daylight Saving time is over. I might be a little devious by sticking to the time change and making them wait an hour for dinner but I tend to melt a little when they whine at me. Whining always sound like they are in pain.

Jeeze this is a long post. David just called me to say he ordered the honey ham and the turkey breast for Thanksgiving. We were thinking of just the ham but I wanted the turkey and since David hates turkey, I asked him if I could at least have the turkey breast instead of the whole bird. So he ordered the two items and we will be picking them up on Wednesday. This saves us from having to hunt around for a good ham that is frozen through leaving you to defrost it for days in the refrigerator. When we order from the butcher at the meat market it tends to be much cheaper and I can bake the ham the next day. Not a problem.

Well, I need to clean house and get a couple of loads of laundry done. All y'all play nice, have a magical day and go VOTE. 

It's Monday

Did anyone see The Walking Dead last night? It was awesome! I knew the producers of the show wouldn't let Rick Grimes die. The reasoning for that is if he did die the fanbase would stop watching the show and there would be no reason to keep the show going. So they whisked him off with Jada in a chopper and left it open to another storyline possibly in the future. But the episode was pretty damned good.

David dominated in the kitchen over the weekend. He finished painting and sealed up the openings behind the baseboards. Old houses from the 1930's and 40's tend to have a lot of openings. It's amazing people were able to keep warm during the winter with this drafty old place. Before we started renovating the closets had no baseboards in them and you could actually see under the house through the holes. After I started work back in 2002 when I moved here we were able to save up and pay off the house and car and his truck inside of 2 years, then we started renovating each room on a weekend when we had time. It took 2 more years to do that and now we are starting on the kitchen. But because I'm not able to work and I'm not pulling in any money, we are forced to renovate the kitchen more slowly than if I was working. So we have been buying things when we get the cash to do so. We have everything now except the kitchen countertops. That is going to have to be put on hold until maybe next year. David and I want reclaimed but we are also looking into recycled glass and maybe even a butcher's block. We definitely don't want marble.

So, because he was taking up space and making a mess I was unable to do any cooking or baking. I did get a few things done Saturday but that was because I couldn't sleep so I baked bread and cookies and I made a few more rum soaked mini bundt cakes. I'm making a few extra cakes and cookies in the coming weeks for David to take to work before the plant shuts down for Thanksgiving. 

Remember, tomorrow is Primary Voting day. Please vote if you haven't done so already.

Religion in a Nutshell