The Newest Addition To Our Family

As most of you who know me already know...G and I have many kids. Furry ones, that is. We have 2 dogs - Dixie and Sammy. And we now have seven cats. Yes...that's right. Seven. Nermil, Isabella, Rowdy, Sola, Spunky, Angel and introducing.......Emiko!!

I know, I know! G made me promise that I wouldn't bring another kitten into this household. In fact, I think his exact words were, "If you bring another cat in this house...I'm breaking up with you." Yeahhhhh well. See...what happened was...our neighbor has two cats that she lets run around outside. Two female cats. That aren't fixed. Well, it just so happened that both of them got pregnant about 3 weeks apart. Well, our lovely, neglectful, irresponsible neighbor decided to just leave every one of those baby kittens outside even though she "claims" that she's going to find homes for all of them. So, of course, me being the sap that I am...I've been going out there every single day with kitten food and fresh water. *sigh* I know...I should have just left it alone. But I can't help it!! I've always been a sucker for baby kittens (obviously), and these little balls of gray fur were just to die for! So...here I am...going outside twice a day feeding these kittens and playing with every one of them for a few weeks. Well, 2 of the kittens were exactly the same...both of them were all gray with no other way to tell them apart. But I started to notice that every time I went outside, one of the all gray ones would come running up to me and just meow and meow until I picked her up. The other ones were kind of skittish and didn't like to be held, but without fail, this little one would literally climb up my pant leg to get the attention she wanted. I was hooked.

So, I started bringing her in to "just play with her" for about 30 minutes here and there. G was none too happy about the whole thing. I kept telling him that we were NOT going to keep her...I just had SO much fun playing with her! Heh. Of course, as soon as I showed her to G's mom, she fell in love with her. (Score one for my team!!) Slowly, I started bringing her inside more and more. And then it happened. Something that has never happened in all the times we have brought kittens into this household. We discovered that this kitten...is a Daddy's Girl!

Mmm Hmm!! Yep! Mr. "You-Better-Not-Bring-Another-Cat-In-Here" is now talking baby talk every 3 seconds to this little one. She is obsessed with him!! Every time he lays down on the futon in the living room she runs over to him and curls up on him. If he tries to put her off to the side while she's sleeping, she'll just get right back up and climb back on him. If he's sitting up on the laptop and not paying her any attention, she will sit by his leg and literally scream at him until he picks her up. It's absolutely hilarious.

Needless to say, we have another kitten...another "baby" I should say. Her name is Emiko which means "smiling, blessed, beautiful one" in Japanese. We LOVE unusual names. We just call her "Miko" and it seems like she's already starting to learn it. The other cats are getting used to the whole thing pretty well, although they should be used to new kittens by now!! She LOVES to play...I've brought out every single toy that the cats own, and I think she's played with every single one of them. She plays so hard and then she'll sleep like a log for a few hours. It's like clockwork...play for 2 hours, sleep for 2 hours. So funny. She's one of the sweetest kittens I've ever seen! And I'm not being partial or anything.

Welcome to the family, Miko! Enjoy it because you're the last one for a loooooong time!

Sleepless In The South

I've been in so much pain lately. Not that I'm not in pain every single day as it is...but for the past week or two...it seems as if my pain has increased significantly. I've talked about this before, but I hate complaining about my pain. I mean...I do complain about it...but I try my best to make it a rare occurrence. And seeing as I literally feel this crap 24 hours a day, it's a little tough not to every once in a while throw a whine out there. I have a guilt complex...but that's beside the point. I've had a lot of people ask me what the pain feels like. Whether it's sharp, dull, stabbing, throbbing, etc. It's honestly impossible to describe. The best way I could come close is to tell you that it feels like having the worst migraine of your life...but in your bones. It's a very "unique" kind of pain. It's between a stabbing and a dull pain. Sometimes it's throbbing and sometimes it's steady. But one thing remains the same........it's always there!! Without fail, like the sun coming up every day, like the Auburn-Alabama rivalry...it is always there. It is a constant in my life...and has been for over 3 1/2 years now.

Because my pain level has been so much worse lately...the time I'm able to sleep has drastically been diminished. Ever since I was diagnosed with this disease in 2004, I've had tons of trouble sleeping. Since the disease affects the blood supply to my joints, I have a really hard time finding a comfortable position in bed. Usually, even if I can get to sleep, my circulation gets all screwed up and cut off to my legs. Then I'll shift or move and my legs and feet will get those creepy crawly hard tingly feelings when they wake up from being "asleep." And of course that wakes me up! So...that went on for quite a while. It would take forever for me to fall asleep, and then I would wake up 20 times a night. The amount of time I slept per night got shorter and shorter as time went on until I was averaging about 4 to 5 hours a night. Maybe. Well, this past week has just been a nightmare...and not a sleeping nightmare either. I'm lucky if I get to sleep before the sun comes up!! And that's with me taking a prescription sleep aid! By the time I finally pass out from sheer exhaustion, I usually get about 2 or 3 hours of somewhat decent sleep before my body shocks itself awake from pain or circulation problems again.

So...for about a week and a half now, the most I've slept is about 5 hours straight. And that was only one night. The rest were about 3 hours. Last night, as I saw the light starting to show up outside...I almost had an anxiety attack. How much longer can my body take this? I honestly don't know how much more I can deal with. Every night, I lay awake shocked that my body doesn't just crap out on me from pure sleep deprivation and delirium.

Time for me to stop whining...at least for this blog entry. Ha. Unfortunately, I have a feeling my night is just beginning...and it's after 2 AM.

Sleep well, my friends!

Where Have All The Normal TVs Gone?!?

We've been needing a new TV for a while now. Funny that I use the word "need." I really don't "need" a new TV. I "need" food and shelter. But whatever. I don't know what exactly I did before Grey's Anatomy. So, G and I have been shopping around, which basically means we've been going to Walmart once a week for our regular trip and veering our shopping cart into the electronics department to ogle at the televisions and mumble to each other about how we really don't need one of those new LCD slash HD slash ABCDEFG TVs but that we do need a 32" and definitely not a 31". There has always been one section of televisions that were "normal" so to speak that weren't LCD HD blah blah blah and were in our price range of about $200. I mean, really...all we want to do is watch TV...not cook a turkey with the damn thing.

We haven't actually bought a TV so far because neither one of us would actually be able to bring the stupid thing home. G had his back surgery, and I'm in no shape to lift a 200 pound television and bring it in from the car and set it up in the living room all by myself. Yet, every week...without fail...we keep looking. This week, however, was a different experience altogether. We made our usual rounds through the toothpaste and cat litter aisle and cut down past the toys toward the electronics. Ahh...gotta love creatures of habit.

Usually, I can spot the "normal" TVs right away. I can see them when we round the corner and pass the light bulbs and digital cameras. What I saw today made me screech my shopping cart to a halt and nudge G with my elbow. He gasped with astonishment. "What the hell?!?" All the normal TVs were replaced with LCD HD Plasma TVs. And the smallest one was 42". WE HAD WAITED TOO LONG!!!

We tried to look as calm as possible as we searched the entire electronics department, but to our utter disbelief there was not a SINGLE "normal" television to be found. After about 10 minutes we found ourselves...shoulders slumped...standing in front of the cheapest of the LCD HD 32" TVs...........$558. *sigh* We better find someone who can carry a television for us pretty quick before the only ones available are 70 inches and two thousand bucks.

I mean...I really do need to watch Grey's Anatomy though.

The Happy List

So, I've always been a little OCD about making lists. Okay, maybe more than just a little bit. I love making lists. I even own books about lists. Not just about them, but books of lists. Yeah. To-do lists, grocery lists, decorating lists, gratitude lists, Christmas lists and cleaning lists. I make lists on what lists I need or want to make. I am a list writing fool. So here I sit on my semi-comfortable futon at almost 2 AM, and I'm thinking about what makes me happy in life. Those random things that are out of the ordinary that make me smile. And what better way to let everyone know what those things are than by making a list?? Why...I can't think of another way! Buckle your seat belts ladies and gents...it's gonna be a random ride.

• When I'm driving down the interstate in some hellacious traffic and all of a sudden I see the taillights in front of me start to blink in a rhythmic manner. That's when I realize that whoever is driving is tapping their brakes to the radio or CD they're listening to. It always makes me grin because I know that someone is jamming out and having a little bit of fun in an otherwise stressful situation.
• Watching kids cartoons. I love watching Spongebob Squarepants or Fairly Odd Parents or something like that. Not only does it take me back to being a kid and watching cartoons on a Saturday morning, but I love how the writers of the cartoons sometimes use vocabulary and humor that only adults would understand. Some of the puns they put in there are hilarious. The other day I was watching an episode of Spongebob and they were on "Karate Island" and Sandy Squirrel had to fight an enemy. His name was "The Tickler" because his technique was tickling, and he spoke in a french accent. Get it?? HA!! It totally cracked me up. The french tickler. Too funny. Maybe I'm just too easily amused.
• Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter in it. I think that's pretty much self explanatory.
• Magazine subscriptions. I literally have about 6 of them. I love magazines. I love reading in general, but there's something about being able to read fun articles about human interest stories, makeup, health, sex, boys, and Oprah's dogs that just tickle me pink. And looking forward to getting something in the mail is pretty great, too.
• Babies' belly laughs. There are several commercials out right now in which little kids are just letting it rip...and you can't help laughing right along with them. It's contagious. Not to mention insatiable. That yummy sound coming from the mouths of babes. The sound is just so pure and innocent and real. I'm not exactly sure what it is...but if someone could bottle and sell that stuff, they'd be bazillionaires.
• Making lists. Seriously. If you haven't quite grasped the reality of the list situation...come to my house. They could probably do an Oprah show on me or something.

Now, time's a-wastin'! Go make your own "Happy List!" You never know...it could be the start of a whole new obsession!

What's On YOUR Kitchen Table?

I truly believe that one of these days my house could look beautiful. I unabashedly admit that I have a pretty good eye for interior design. There have been many times that I've come up with some crazy idea that have made people shrink in fear at the sound of it, but once completed they've been quite pleased with the results. However...interior design is one thing. Cleanliness is entirely another.

My home will one day be beautiful. Today, however, will NOT be that day. I honestly don't know what the problem is. Let me give you a quick sampling of what my home is like at the moment. Here is a list of what is currently on my kitchen table. My kitchen table.

• 2 pairs of pajama pants and 2 t-shirts (but they are folded!)
• a twin pack of toothbrushes with one of the toothbrushes missing
• a can of bug spray
• a can of carpet deodorizer
• 3 empty cans of Vault and one 1/4 full 20 oz. bottle of Vault
• an automatic cat food feeder thingy (it's cute and pink though)
• a small bag of cat food
• birth control pills (yeah)
• 2 lighters
• a smattering of bills
• a travel size bottle of BOD spray for men (Really Ripped Abs scent - it smells great!)

So...this is just my kitchen table. This is not counting my kitchen counters, my coffee table, my entertainment center, my bathrooms, hell...just everywhere. And the thing is...G and I are the only ones that even USE the whole house!! Are we seriously that messy? Well, apparently we are. I can clean the heck out of this house and it seems like 2 days later it's in the same condition it was in before I cleaned it. It's like we have 3 kids or something! It's so hard for me to get motivated to keep it straight and clean when I'm hurting all the time and it's just going to get friggin' messy again.

I seriously wish I could be like Martha Stewart and wave my magic oven mitt and make it all go away. I really do want the kind of house that looks so beautiful and put together and can just be so wonderfully inviting that I can invite 30 people over at 5 minutes notice.

But...I'm not Martha. I'm Mary. And I have pajama pants on my kitchen table. Sue me.

Insomniac Catch Em Up

Okay, okay...so it's been forever and 4 days since I've written anything. Which is somewhat weird because I think about writing every day. I'm way too overanalytical because instead of just brain-barfing what I'm thinking about and what's going on in my life...I sit and think about how I need to perfect what I want to write about. And of course I never write anything. Seriously...I'm one of those nerdy, ridiculous people who will go to CVS and buy a $5 Five-Star 3-subject college-rule notebook with the pockets in the front "just in case" I come up with writing ideas. And let me tell you my lovely friends...I have 923847329847392876101836756 writing ideas. I believe I've written down 2 of them. And I have bought 45 notebooks. You know. "Just in case." If I wrote down everything that my crazy brain came up with, I truly believe that I would either be the most famous and beloved author on the planet. Or, I'd be locked up in the psych ward chewing on straws. Ahhh...the life of an overthinker.

My life has taken on a bit of a weird twist lately. G had to have back surgery 3 weeks ago and has been home ever since. Yep. And before that he couldn't lift, bend, twist, push, pull...basically do anything because he had a ruptured disk. This proved difficult in our household seeing as I have one fake hip, one collapsed hip, 2 bad femurs and a bad knee...and now G can't function either. And we have a house full of animals and his disabled mother to take care of. Usually, G works 65 hours a week.............minimum. Add sleep to that and I barely saw him! Now we've been together 24/7 for over 3 weeks. Honestly...when the doctor informed me that he would be out of work for 4-6 weeks I thought to myself, "This is it. After all we've been through together in the past 8 years...his mom's stroke, my mom's cancer, my bone disease, us living a state apart for a year and a half...and other numerous issues...we've always hung in there. But THIS...this is going to do us in. Spending 4-6 weeks in the house together 24/7 is going to do it. I WILL KILL HIM!"

Amazingly...he is still breathing. No worries...all the animals and his mother are still breathing and functioning normally as well. I think this actually has proven that we can make it! We have spent all this time together...non-stop...and we haven't quite gotten sick of each other. Granted, we still have a week or so to go...so, I may be jumping the gun, but I think we just might survive this. Oh...and G's back is doing great too in case anyone was wondering. Heh. They cut about a 2 inch incision along his spine, went in and cut a very small sliver of his disk off and cut the rupture out. Again, he hasn't been able to bend, twist, push, pull, or lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk...but he's doing well. He didn't even take any pain meds (not even a TYLENOL!) after the day of surgery!! Crazy, I tell you. It's kind of weird pouring your man his bowl of cereal every morning though. Talk about pampering. *sigh* It just occurred to me that I should have bought HALF gallons of milk. DANG IT!

Anyway...that's the only exciting thing going on at the moment. We've been completely lazy...I think I've seen every episode of Spongebob there is. (Did I mention that G is a cartoon maniac?) And I'm actually catching up on my magazine reading. Hooray! I should be writing, I know...but of course...I psych myself out and find reasons not to. But hey...here I am at least giving some kind of update, right?? Gotta love that! I hope to be back up to par soon in writing some much more entertaining stuff.

~Love to all~