This morning we said goodbye to Cuervo. In the last few days he took a serious turn for the worse and last night he was just barely able to walk, hardly able to eat, and just so draggy and sick we made the hard choice. *is sad*

It colored my day, and all little annoyances turned into big ones, and I had to take a time out for myself and go cry in the bathroom.

This morning they were talking to us about how FMLA (medical leave) works, and while the nurse was there, a brief mention was made of whether or not same-sex partners were covered; she "thought they were." Then we get a "clarification email" which contained this line:

“Immediate family members” (for Category A absences) include the employee's:

· Spouse - a husband or wife as defined or recognized under State law for purposes of marriage in the State where the employee resides, including common law marriage in States where it is recognized

Sounds like, for all my company's touting "diversity and inclusion," when it comes to brass tacks it's all bullshit. This also made me very unhappy.

Word Count: 12,115

I liked the first episode of V. Still loving FlashForward. (Ooo! Ooo!!! OOOOOO!!!!) Am filled with a certain amount of satisfaction that, apparently, the only team who can prevent the Yankees from taking the World Series are the Arizona Diamondbacks (at least, our 2001 team could).

Tomorrow is Friday. Saturday I walk the Cancer Walk with Barb and then I'm getting my hair cut because I want it to look nice for the cruise. Only one week away, and I have lost no more weight. At least I think I look pretty good, anyway; and I have a whole week!

Cuervo (points to icon) had his checkup today. I took him in fully expecting to say goodbye to him -- he is down to five pounds and is basically a walking, eating, pooping skeleton... but the vet wants to run some tests and see if there is anything we can do that won't break the bank, so she's keeping him tonight (fasting) and tomorrow he gets a full run of blood work and a poop scan, especially since she said he was still bright-eyed and not lethargic at all (despite the watery eyes and sneezing, which, considering Phoenix air, isn't that unusual), and he's eating and drinking well, SO... there may actually be hope. Plus, he was being his usual adorable self, rubbing his head and nose and self against the vet and the tech, so... he's spending the night there so he can fast for the blood work (and fasting here, with the other two bottomless food machines, would not be easy).

I did seem to regain a pound over the weekend, but overall prognosis is good. I was in the gym first thing this morning and had a good workout, but I was feeling snacky/deserty this evening so had some chocolate. Sometimes you just gotta have a little chocolate. Otherwise, not bad. Had some leftover chicken with rice & gravy and a salad, much the same as we had on Caturday with the gang -- I make a danged good roast chicken, I do.

A year ago today marriage for same-sex couples was legal in California, and on a bright, clear, beautiful October morning, I said "I Do" in front of a justice in the old Orange County Courthouse to my partner of 20+ years. Less than a month later this right was changed for others who hadn't jumped to the altar as we did; new lawsuits are being brought against Prop 8, and someday all the laws may change and, perhaps, "equality" will mean something. In the meantime, I have a marriage license from the State of California.

And now, I also have a stomach full of really nommy sushi, a killer Mai Tai, and am waiting until I have a little space to have some of the pumpkin bread pudding we got today at CostCo. Mmmmmmm.

I finally got around to looking at my flist manager, and noticed several folks have friended me lately -- thanks, and welcome! I have friended you back.

We're making some progress on making the office into a real room. Also cleaned the living room. Did some little shopping, got some stuff at Costco, a new tablecloth at Tuesday Morning, and made a quick trip to Trader Joe's. And yes, a cozy romantic evening for me and my lovely wife is lazing around on the sofa in our jammies with our computers. (Well, it HAS been 20+ years.)

We broke down and turned the air conditioner back on. It's been 100 degrees the last two days. While it's snowing in other places. Yeeg.

A goodly part of the day has been spent also cleaning up after a sad, sick, incontinent cat. Poor Cuervo. Poor us. Then the toilet backed up, too. But on the whole, a pretty good day.

* * * * *

Pumpkin bread pudding + homemade hard sauce = YUM.

sillymagpie turned me on to this, and I share it here with anyone who hasn't seen this marvelously silly cat (I thought nutmeg3 might enjoy, since Maru is reportedly part Scottish fold) -- go forth, and watch as many Maru videos as you can!






I was hoping to find Maru vs. the tiny plastic box, but there are dozens of Maru vids and the titles are in Japanese, so it's hit and miss. This cat is seriously addicted to boxes...

Hope everyone has something to make 'em smile today! Maybe I'll be able to write something sometime soon! *grin*

* *

Today has been productive.

I finished a review for J.B. Beverly & The Wayward Drifters' newest CD, "Watch America Roll By."

We drove north to check the used furniture place in our still-fruitless quest for a curio cabinet to display our stemware so we can take it out of the bar and put the ALCOHOL in the bar and get it off the floor. Then we checked out the Big Lots w/furniture place, and I got an idea for CD towers, but didn't buy anything, then we just missed the Farmer's Market at Roadrunner Park and had lunch at Island Burger before heading home, where I wrapped up and submitted my review.

I cleared off the entire DVR. I did go and get interested in The Unusuals after all; and sadly, it was canceled. (Of course it was. ABC cancels everything I like except LOST). Finished doing all the laundry.

Will be taking framefolly out for dinner tonight to celebrate the anniversary of her birth (last week).

Am now watching the last disc of Ellen -- have rented the entire series over the last few weeks and while the first season was pretty rocky, the last season was not as uneven as I remembered. But now I cleaned it off my wish list, anyway. I don't think I need to OWN it.

I HAVE to update my website. I've started actually blogging on my MySpace page and I need to link it from my home page (and update it anyway -- Dave Insley isn't in Arizona anymore); mostly it's been a combination of computer crashes and laziness that has kept me from updating, anyway...

No cat stories, other than we tried pouch food rather than canned for Cuervo -- and he sucked it all up, leaving the plate (and the floor around the plate) clean instead of filthy. WOW.

And a lovely Caturday it was, too.

Up early, out and about; we went to Chompie's for breakfast (Jewish deli - I had corned beef & eggs with a toasted REAL bagel), then I went to pick up my tax papers at the accountant's office, we did some shopping for Barb's mom, hit the Home Depot for some wood for shelves, and ended up finding a whole lot of really cool address tiles and spent some time picking out the ones we wanted.

Then we went to see Watchmen, and while I can see what some of the complaints are about... I LOVED IT. I thought it was pretty freakin' awesome, and enjoyed it so much it really didn't FEEL like it was nearly three hours long. Having just re-read it, I was wowed by just exactly how frame-by-frame loyal it was to the comic -- and felt the NY times review was more than a little unfair, especially this passage: Indeed, the ideal viewer — or reviewer, as the case may be — of the “Watchmen” movie would probably be a mid-’80s college sophomore with a smattering of Nietzsche, an extensive record collection and a comic-book nerd for a roommate. The film’s carefully preserved themes of apocalypse and decay might have proved powerfully unsettling to that anxious undergraduate sitting in his dorm room, listening to “99 Luftballons” and waiting for the world to end or the Berlin Wall to come down. . . .

I’m not sure that this hypothetical young man — not to be confused with the middle-aged, 21st-century moviegoer he most likely grew into, whose old copy of “Watchmen” lies in a box somewhere alongside a dog-eared Penguin Classics edition of “Thus Spake Zarathustra” — would necessarily say that Mr. Snyder’s “Watchmen” is a good movie. I wouldn’t, though it is certainly better than the same director’s “300.” But it’s possible to imagine that our imaginary student would at least have found some food for thought in Mr. Snyder’s grandiose, meticulously art-directed vision of blood, cruelty and metaphysical dread. As it is, the film is more curiosity than provocation, an artifact of a faded world brought to zombie half-life by the cinematic technology of the present.

Speaking as a female nerd who not only owns a copy of the bound graphic novel but also the original comics -- and in a place where I could find them easily for re-reading -- and an original 1985 "happy face with blood spatter" pinback button, also easily found and pinned to my "Han Shot First" t-shirt, some of these pretentious writers who think they know something about the nerd culture need to actually discover that not all comic book geeks are MALE.

Anyway, as I said, I liked it a whole lot, and don't think it was nearly as graphic as some have said. I'm assuming these are people who never saw Dead Alive.

Then we came home and had pot roast that had been in the crock pot all day, and it was overall a good day.

Caturday pictures, of course:

As usual, Friday the 13th was actually a pretty darned good day. I got my work done early, took a little personal time to get some shopping done, and made an appointment for a massage on Monday.

Caturday was also Valentine's Day, and I know there are those who poo-poo Valentine's Day, and I'll admit that at times it was bad for me, too (I never had a boyfriend until college, and then the one I cared most for BROKE UP WITH ME on Valentine's Day--something a girl just doesn't forget), but now I have a lovely wife and we had a really nice, wonderful day. We did a little shopping, then got dressed and went out for sushi, which was delicious (I'm SO glad I let her talk me into trying the stuff--I was OH so missing out before). YUM. I got a little toasted on a lovely rich rum drink because I haven't been drinking much lately, and overall had a nice time.

( Pictures, indeed! )

I got one of the new eggies:

It was easier than I thought to get one of each of the new ones.

I'm finally watching the PBS version of Cyrano de Bergerac I DVR'd a few weeks back. It was a play I did in high school; I've forgotten a lot of it (I played something like five or six small parts with a lot of costume changes). Kevin Kline is an excellent Cyrano (better than he was as Bottom, honestly); finally realizing that it's Chris Sarandon playing DeGuiche explained why I was having serious Princess Bride flashes every time he's on stage... but dang it, I'm not at all impressed with Jennifer Garner as Roxanne.

Good Caturday to all.

First up, Cairo:

I has bag


I has another bag, I loves it




Cuervo:

I can has chocolate almonds?



Seriously, this cat has taken to stealing any food he can carry. He tried to take one of the chocolate almonds out of my fingers (and, really, if you feed him anything he CAN eat, pull your fingers back fast, 'cause you might lose one).

I've been watching episodes of Craig Ferguson all morning since I was so far behind. Laugh overload.

I balanced my budget. Insofar as I ever "balance" it, that is. Usually when I say "I have no money," that means I have some, but shouldn't spend it. This time -- nothing. Really. I'm going to have to figure out how I'm going to get gas in my tank (I do have some in savings, but I shouldn't touch that, but if I HAVE to...). But I decided to get the window fixed after just driving to the gym and back; the saran wrap was LOUD and FLAPPY as soon as I topped 30 MPH, and I'm apparently just not redneck enough to deal with a window covered in saran wrap.

So instead of going out and making the most of my Caturday, I'm sitting around clearing off the Tivo and herding cats. And diddling around with some edits on the Billy book (I suppose I should stop calling it the NaNo project, or whatever). What I really need for it is a good title; of course, most of the time my main character doesn't KNOW he's Billy the Kid, so I don't want to use that as part of the title...

There is now a cat sitting across my arms. This makes typing difficult.

The week in me:

I found my necklace - it was hanging on the back of the door leading into the spare room/attic/office, lost amidst the folds of an empty tote bag also hanging there. Said door is always propped open because otherwise it swings shut and that's where the cat's bathroom is, and they need to use it. Anyway, it was tarnished but fine, so I polished it up and have been wearing it ever since. In the meantime, the other bezels I ordered arrived, so now I can also wear Arizona, Wyoming, and New Mexico in addition to Texas (all the states I've lived in, and my adopted state). Texas got to be made first because 1) it came out first, and 2) Sean Patrick made me.

Speaking of cats, I finally fixed the drain in said bathroom (we never use the shower, that's where the catbox is, and the drain's been clogged with clay litter for ages). Now it drains, hooray. We went out today and got a new bath mat that hopefully will prevent such a thing again (although now we use wheat litter instead of clay, and it won't clog quite as badly).

Then we got up today after one of those nights when there was much barfing (I worry that Cuervo may not be with us much longer; we always have known he was FIV positive, but lately he can't seem to keep any nutrition from any of the food he eats; and if Sam hadn't cost so much between insulin and the emergency visits, we'd get him to the vet sooner). Anyway, we're once again trying him on some sort of schedule/rationing, just to see if the food will stay for a while in his belly. I don't think he weighs more than five pounds. *fret*

There is a chicken roasting in the oven. I am toying with whether or not I should bake some brownies (it being my "free" calorie day); I did not do well last week other than getting in four good workouts. Some pants are still a bit too tight and I have to keep reminding myself that it's only Week Three, and I'm doing just fine.

We went to CostCo for some essentials, then got our hair cut, then browsed through one of those clothing resale places where, I'm sorry, I can find brand-NEW designer stuff CHEAPER at Ross! How can they charge $40 for a pair of jeans that would be marked down to $14 - $20 at Ross?

If the whole gang comes over tonight, we might break out Killer Bunnies again (curse you, fenchurche and rackham! *LOL* ) - we need some expansion sets, though. Terribly fun and addicting game.

Cuervo in his usual pose, waiting by the food:



Silly staring at me:



I seem to have gathered to myself a veritable army of Winter dragons... still can't get a gold or a silver, though:

* * *

Your result for The Chakra Test...

The Enlightened One

You have scored 100% Spirituality - Your dominant Chakra is the "Crown or Violet Chakra"

Take The Chakra Test at HelloQuizzy

I hope that is mostly true...

This is probably the worst review I've ever read (and I have to admit, just the clips I've seen tells me it's likely worth it) - even more so than one I posted on last year, but don't feel like plowing through past posts just now to see which movie THAT one was...

I also enjoyed reading these, adorable letters from kids to Barack Obama. Very cute!

( And this one )

I should be doing something useful, but instead I'm lounging here watching Ellen season two (it is ASTOUNDING the difference between S1 and S2 on this show - today it would have been cancelled first season and never made this shift to being, you know, funny) and poking around on LJ and reading the last week's worth of NY Times. But yesterday I did at least steam clean the floor and vacuum the living room, as well as did all the laundry, so I guess I'm mostly accomplished for the weekend. We also got some grocery shopping done and I actually still have a little money left (knock wood). I hope gas doesn't go up again before tomorrow morning, when I will fill up on the way to work.

Silhouette has just climbed on my lap to share it with my computer. He's making it very hard to type... But at least he purrs.

It occurred to me the other day that if Americans still celebrated Christmas properly, instead of starting in August, today is the eleventh day of Christmas, and the Feast of Epiphany on Tuesday. One of the girls in my office is Eastern Orthodox, and she hasn't been able to eat anything with meat, milk, or any dairy the entire season, with the fast ending, of course, with said feast. Instead of being tired of Christmas and having boxed everything up and put it away already, it would just be winding down.

I didn't plan to, but I ended up spending today cleaning up in the office here, because it was turning more into an attic than anything else. I wish I could figure out how to make this computer fit in Willie's old case, because PART of what I don't like about this one is the case, which is snazzy looking but hard to open and because of the curved front it's hard to seat new drives (which is why I opted for the DVD drive instead of the CD burner, but I may have to salvage the CD burner from Willie, too, since it seems I need it). I need to also back up my music folders again to the external drive, since I've added a lot of files lately. I suppose what I ought to do is program iTunes to automatically use the external drive, 'cause then I could move it between computers easily (theoretically).

As I recall, the main reason I stopped using the desktop is because Tivo is in the living room, so most of my stuff from the last year is now on the laptop...

Anyway, I do wish cats would barf where it can be seen, so you don't discover quite so much of it when you move things you haven't moved in a while...

Now it's time for a new desk and filing cabinet in HERE.

Much junk has been cleared out and tossed, many things cleaned, two boxes ready for Goodwill. Because of Barb's new desk, we have recycling material for at least three weeks' worth of pickups (last week the smallest box went out; but the bin is full of regular stuff and the two BIG boxes are still out there).

Still have a lot to do, though. The de-junking process is very hard...

Putting Die Hard with a Vengeance on television forces writers to be MUCH more creative with their insults than they were originally. I'm fairly certain Zeus did not just call John McClane a "melonhead."

I've been sitting here eating junk food since about 4:30 this afternoon. Bad Kathy.

Cuervo is apparently hooked on petit fours. Why a cat would want to eat petit fours is beyond me, but we caught him eating one the other day and assumed it had just been left there when Sam broke loose and came treacherously close to attacking the candy dish (again); we took it away from him and didn't think about it again -- until today, when we caught him STEALING ONE OFF THE DISH. Then I began to wonder if, indeed, we've eaten as many as it appears. And can it be good for cats to eat petit fours? (He appears to favor the white-fondant ones.)

We finished putting up Barb's new desk. It's really gorgeous. (Pictures when she finishes putting everything together and hanging things up.) Especially since we also repainted the wall behind it. So the bedroom is HALF newly painted.

* *
* *

Especially this cat, who sits here by my side and pokes at me with one paw while he stares, COMPELLING me to cater to his every whim. I'm trying to ignore him. We're attempting to feed them little bits at a time, so they digest a little between meals -- this leads to discontented cats but, we hope, less barf. It may be a fruitless effort.

( Some of our ornaments )

We've moved furniture and pulled up carpet in the bedroom, and are now waiting for the joint compound filling in all the holes in the wall to dry. It takes a LOT longer this time of year. And yes, the high in Phoenix today was 53F, which is DANGED COLD, DANG IT.

We went to Macy's to spend one of Mom's gift certificates, but really, there was nothing there we wanted. We picked up a few random kitchen geegaws. Then to Border's to browse a little, but we didn't end up getting very much. Picked up a few necessities at CostCo. Have not mailed presents yet, just walking all over the boxes in the kitchen. That's the some total of Caturday around here.

* *
*

It was Monday.

I got my lazy @$$ out of bed this morning and got to the gym. I didn't weigh myself because SOMEONE BARFED ON THE SCALE. I hope it works when it's dried off... But when I got home and tried to dress, I found I couldn't even slide into my black pants. #$%@! I knew I'd put a few pounds back on, but I think I'm getting ridiculous now. *sigh* Good thing I'm back to the workouts. I'd better stick with them if I plan on wearing CLOTHES (because of course I got rid of all my fat clothes).

So it was a normal Monday at work. Nothing horrible, nothing great; just normal Monday. Reasonably pleasant. They DID give us an extra two hours off to use between now and the end of the year, the tough part is EVERYONE wants to use it Wednesday or next Wednesday, plus there's already a ton of people out on both Wednesdays, so I'll be lucky if I get to use it at all. I will try, though. Maybe tomorrow, if possible.

It was raining when I left work. I didn't bring my umbrella because it was crystal clear this morning. I did see a surrey (with a fringe on top, even) being hauled in a trailer on the freeway, but the driver of the truck hauling it was not a very good driver, so I hastened past him.

I can't find my favorite champagne locally. I found one website that ships to Arizona, but to make the shipping cost effective I'd have to order six bottles... I'll give the local Basha's a try, and maybe A.J.'s, and see. Trader Joe's told me they aren't ordering any more. I KNEW I should have bought it the last time I saw it there, but I kept putting it off.

( Cut for possibly TMI )

So I'm a little cranky, my shoulder/neck/back/arm hurts, I can barely lift anything, and I didn't even get any overtime today, since we finished just before 4:00 (so of course the folks who leave at 3:15 DID get overtime).

And it boils down to I'm still trying to be happy today. Maybe the surrey will have to do it.

ETA: I just watched last week's The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Those made me very happy (at least, I laughed a whole lot!).

*

* *

I was made happy by my cat today again. He's been being very silly and kittenish lately, and he climbed into the bag I had on the floor:



We got up early and went to take Barb's mom to the airport, she's spending Christmas up with Barb's sister and the grandkids, leaving just me and Barb for Christmas. Then we did some shopping; and while some of that did make me happy, I was VERY put out to find that a gift I'd planned on for nutmeg has been sold, after sitting in Tuesday Morning for two months. I knew I should have gotten it sooner, but now it's gone and I was very thwarted. But much of the Christmas shopping is completely finished. Whew! Everything we have is at least wrapped. We also got the cards in the mail. No cookies have been made yet. *panic*

Hopefully there will be something more happy-making here this evening, because I'm starting to think using the cats is kind of a cheat.

A supremely uninterested cat during the tree-trimming:



Tree trimming:



Tree trimmed (if blurry):



Sleeping Christmas Cats:




( Movie Quote Quiz )

And now to get other Caturday things done...

I went over to Mervyn's Going Out of Business sale because I wanted to get a new strapless bra. The parking lot is rather crowded, but I can see there are plenty of spaces in the west lot. So I spin around, avoiding the long line of cars coming in, and go around, only to find a woman parked in the middle of the lane, waiting for another woman in an SUV to leave. Only the woman leaving has three or four kids she's loading, as well as a stroller to fold and her purchases to load, as well. I wait a moment or two, then give up and drive around the idiot. I park in an empty space about three steps from the door, lock up, and go inside. The woman is still waiting for that space.

I am astounded.

The crowds are pretty thick, and people aren't just shopping, as far as I can see, lots of people are buying -- and it was only 30% off, pretty much storewide. In addition to bra, I also got a pair of nifty jeans and slippers for both me and Barb. Yay slippers!

It's that time of year in November when I'm unpacking my sweaters and long-sleeved shirts from the space bags under the bed, but still hanging tank tops on the line.

One of the cats was spectacularly sick on the bed this morning, either when I was out or vacuuming, because I didn't hear it, I found it later. Bleah. So bed is stripped and quilts are all out on the line. *sigh*

Speaking of cats, Cairo was checked out by his vet today, his leg was drained and he was given an injection of antibiotics. He has some pills to take and some painkillers, but on the whole, the leg is doing well. Although the doc said if he keeps licking at it and keeps it open, we may have to put him in a cone or a kitty sweater.

Total: 7,703

Wow, am I behind.

It's on SALE!

** **

Things which I have learned about traveling to Disneyland:

1) The sign on Splash Mountain which reads "you may get wet" should be modified to read, "You WILL get wet, nay, drenched, if you sit in front." It would have been a lot more fun if a) it hadn't been so cold, and b) my purse hadn't been cloth. If my purse had been waterproof (or even resistant), then everything I owned wouldn't have been drenched and my cell phone wouldn't have died. And if I hadn't then been freezing for the next few hours. For a brief time, all I wanted to do was lay in the sun. Instead I discovered the joy of collecting Disney crack pins.

2) Peak season is fun, but when it's packed to the rafters it's hard to get around and even with Fast Pass the waits are incredible. I've been used to non-peak, mid-week times. The weekend in October? Sardines! And a 65-minute wait for Space Mountain.

3) The Matterhorn is not nearly as scary as I remember from my childhood (for one reason or another, I've always managed to go to Disney when the Matterhorn has been either down for maintenance or refurbishment; this was the first time since I was something like seven years old that I've been able to ride it).

4) I was WAY more scared of the Tower of Terror than I should have been. I was very nearly panicked, and shaking, when it was done. I've done the lift-and-drop rides before and never been that scared. Don't get it.

5) If you want to eat at the Blue Bayou at a reasonable time, call WAY in advance. We managed to get a table at 8:50 Sunday night.

The drive home was uneventful. I finally found out about the old race track way out on I-10 just outside of Goodyear, which has intrigued me for some twenty years. I've always been fascinated by abandoned buildings/ruins.

Cairo has hurt himself somehow and we don't know what he did. There are scabs under his fur on his sides and belly, and he's limping on his left front paw. He wouldn't let me touch it on Monday, but he seems better today. I fret more, since he's my spoiled baby. The old boys are doing fine, for all their cries that we're deliberately starving them to death.

Back to work today. Apparently I am rather needed -- nothing in my research queues was touched; I spent today trying to whittle down the paper research and clear out last Tuesday and Wednesday. I almost finished Wednesday. Job security, indeed. While I wiled away my time at the office, Barb got a lot of work done on the bathroom. Hopefully we'll have everything ready for Saturday evening. *fret*

I have to get a new battery for my phone and see if it works - it came on again after it dried out but now the battery won't hold a charge, and I HOPE it's just the battery and not the phone itself.

( And a picture, just 'cause )

Silhouette is being very obtrusive. He sits right here by my computer and licks my arm (he wants more fuhd, of course). Of course, he scorned the last spoonful I gave him, as well as the spoon of chicken gravy which he previously LOVED. Stoopid catz.

Picked up from cornerofmadness:

1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.

My answers for her letter of A:

1) Aragorn. That's a no-brainer. He was my first imaginary boyfriend.
2) Angel. My favorite heavy-browed brooding vampire.
3) Aslan. The great lion himself, Son of the Emperor-Over-The-Sea, not a tame lion, one of my earliest and favoritest heroes of all time.
4) Aral Vorkosigan. My favorite hero of my favorite SF romance story!
5) Amanda. Okay, she's one of my own; Sean Patrick's sire. But she came to mind, and her names (whichever one she's going by) always started with the A sound.