How'm I gonna survive POE's puberty??

My beautiful feline daughter, JoJo. She's on my lap now, convincing me that I am not the worst Momma in the world. The way my two~legged daughter is acting this week, I was starting to have some doubts!

I keep reminding myself that I was a difficult kid, too. I'm amazed my Mom didn't kill me in my sleep after one of my dramatic tirades! In fact, I have called my mom dozens of times after a dramatic moment at my house, just to THANK her for not killin' me!!!

POE's 11. That means I have....what? Another 6 or 7 years of this? She is so much like I was. I see myself in her mannerisms. I hear myself in her speech. Such a sensitive and passionate soul :) Hope we survive this phase!!

Another pet funeral

My poor POE is having a rough week. Her toe is feeling better and the swelling has gone down. She's able to walk (on her heel) today. She spent the day working on the schoolwork I picked up for her this morning.

This evening she went to feed her hamster, Puddin. He had died. :( Tomorrow we'll got to Mom & Dad's and bury Puddin beside the 5 fish and Miss Buddy. At the moment he's in a plastic container in my freezer. POE wrote on the lid "DO NOT OPEN!! AND DO NOT SNIFF! Been dead at least 2 days" Hubby says Puddin was in his wheel runnin' like mad Wed night when he came home from work. But neither of us heard him last night so it's possible her estimate is correct! Poor kid. And poor Papaw...has to dig another hole. I think I'll declare a moratorium on pets who live in containers. In fact, POE has a kitten, C has a puppy, hubby has Angel, I have JoJo & Moe. I think we're at the limit for pets period!

Speaking of my JoJo, she's now on my lap and demanding attention! Night all!

The cat came back.....

In Sep 1998 I left my 1st husband (MDM) and moved into a small trailer in the country with my 6 month old POE and 4 year old C. I left my cats at the house with MDM because I couldn't have pets. There were 2 scrawny female cats living in the park and I began leaving them scraps. By Jan of 99 I was buying them cat food and they had a bowl on my porch :) Of course, they started having babies! By the fall of 2000 POE & C & I had moved up the hill into a larger trailer. The colony of feral cats numbered 22 regulars at the feeding bowls. I found Alley Cat Advocates and in Oct 2000 we trapped and fixed 17 cats! One of the original 2 momma cats had 3 kittens, about 6 mos old at the time. When we moved further out into the country this May we had 4 remaining colony cats. Miss Buddy and DeeDee, and 2 of that last litter of kittens, now 9 yrs old, THC (Triangle Head Cat) and Moe.

Within a week of moving the 4 cats out here Moe had taken off. We saw him from time to time at the goat farm on the corner. We haven't seen him for about 6 or 7 weeks now. Last week hubby and I went house hunting. On our way out of our road, I saw Moe on a neighbor's porch. I pointed him out to hubby and said out the car window "Moe! Go home already!" All week I've been looking for him and calling his name when I feed the other animals in the morning and at night. No luck at all.

Today I picked up an injured, bloody POE from school. (More on that later, this is Moe's story!) After I got POE up the steps, put the car in the garage, and got Charquil into his pen, I was focused on getting POE some Tylenol and not on cats. I looked up and saw THC and DeeDee at the top of the steps and Moe on the picnic table. I walked into the laundry room and put my shoes on the shelf before it registered in my brain. MOE ON THE PICNIC TABLE!!!!! I ran back out and loved on him. He's super skinny. He was probably 7 or 8 pounds when we moved here (estimating based on how heavy the trap was with him in it! LOL!) He's only about a pound now....I can pick him up.....not that he LIKES it any better than any feral cat enjoys being handled. He just isn't hefty enough to keep me from doing it!

I let him in the house and gave him pouch food. Right now he's sacked out on a blanket with JoJo watching him sleep. She and Angel haven't reacted any differently to him than they did before. The other outside cats don't act like he's been away either. POE's kitten on the other hand......NOT happy at all! As far as Frisky's concerned, Moe's the interloper. He'll be fat & happy in no time.

POE tripped at school and gouged her big toe really badly, on top, just below the cuticle. It's gross and bled a lot. She left a trail down the hallway at school. Since I only faint at the sight of my OWN blood, I was able to clean her up and bandage her without losing consciousness. It doesn't look like it needs stitches. But she may lose her toenail. We jinxed her by discussing last week how long it's been since POE needed a trip to the emergency room! Poor kid's just as clumsy as her momma!

My parents came over today to reinforce Charquil's pen yet again! Last modification made his pen smaller, but higher on one side. One side is the garage wall, and the other two sides are the landlord's cow fence, wooden slats. Dad put fencing 4 feet high along the two fences. Charquil figured out how to climb over the slat above the fencing, shimmy through the cow fence, then run down the pasture til he can shimmy through again into the back yard! As of today the fencing is 6 feet high and goes above the top of the cow fence. Charquil hasn't managed to defeat the new measures. Yet. Damn dog is too smart! When we move I'll have to keep my Daddy with me for a week to make sure we can contain Charquil! I won't have my parents 15 minutes away anymore.

Okay, all my dark chocolate is gone and I have no further excuse to put off the dishes. HUGS and LUV!

OCD

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an illness that causes people to have unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and to repeat certain behaviors (compulsions) over and over again. We all have habits and routines in our daily lives, such as brushing our teeth before bed. However, for people with OCD, patterns of behavior get in the way of their daily lives.
Most people with OCD know that their obsessions and compulsions make no sense, but they can't ignore or stop them.
What are obsessions?
Obsessions are ideas, images and impulses that run through the person's mind over and over again. A person with OCD doesn't want to have these thoughts and finds them disturbing, but he or she can't control them. Sometimes these thoughts just come once in a while and are only mildly annoying. Other times, a person who has OCD will have obsessive thoughts all the time.
What are compulsions?
Obsessive thoughts make people who have OCD feel nervous and afraid. They try to get rid of these feelings by performing certain behaviors according to "rules" that they make up for themselves. These behaviors are called compulsions. (Compulsive behaviors are sometimes also called rituals.) Performing these behaviors usually only makes the nervous feelings go away for a short time. When the fear and nervousness return, the person who has OCD repeats the routine all over again.
What are some common obsessions?
The following are some common obsessions:
Fear of dirt or germs
Disgust with bodily waste or fluids
Concern with order, symmetry (balance) and exactness
Worry that a task has been done poorly, even when the person knows this is not true
Fear of thinking evil or sinful thoughts
Thinking about certain sounds, images, words or numbers all the time
Need for constant reassurance
Fear of harming a family member or friend
What are some common compulsions?
The following are some common compulsions:
Cleaning and grooming, such as washing hands, showering or brushing teeth over and over again
Checking drawers, door locks and appliances to be sure they are shut, locked or turned off
Repeating, such as going in and out of a door, sitting down and getting up from a chair, or touching certain objects several times
Ordering and arranging items in certain ways
Counting over and over to a certain number
Saving newspapers, mail or containers when they are no longer needed
Seeking constant reassurance and approval
How common is OCD?
For many years, OCD was thought to be rare. Some recent studies show that as many as 3 million Americans ages 18 to 54 may have OCD at any one time. This is about 2.3% of the people in this age group. OCD affects men and women equally.
What causes OCD?
No one has found a single, proven cause for OCD. Some research shows that it may have to do with chemicals in the brain that carry messages from one nerve cell to another. One of these chemicals, called serotonin (say "seer-oh-tone-in"), helps to keep people from repeating the same behaviors over and over again. A person who has OCD may not have enough serotonin. Many people who have OCD can function better when they take medicines that increase the amount of serotonin in their brain.
Are other illnesses associated with OCD?
People who have OCD often have other kinds of anxiety, like phobias (such as fear of spiders or fear of flying) or panic attacks.
People who have OCD also may have depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), an eating disorder or a learning disorder such as dyslexia.

I thought I'd do my part to further mental illness awareness today. I appreciate those of you who keep me in your Upward thoughts. Some of you love me even when I'm unmedicated and "crazy." You let me know that you care and are thinking of me. You tell me to "hang in there" and understand when I just can't. You empathize with me, understanding that I did not choose to be "wired" this way. You don't judge me based on what I can do for you. In fact, you don't judge me at all! For this, I thank you. When I am feeling sad and lonely, I know that you are thinking of me and wishing me well.

When all else fails, throw stuff

Work sucked baaaaaaadly today. Got rained on, it was only 46 degrees, and only 3 of my 12 deliveries tipped $1 or more. I got 2 cents, 22 cents, 56 cents and 65 cents in a row. Followed by ZERO and ZERO back to back. I can keep doing this for a little while, but only because I know it won't be much longer!!

POE has a friend over. Gonna take them out to eat and shop. That'll make the day turn out okay! HUGS and LUV!

Looking back and looking forward

I was reading some of my blog posts from before the closing of Yahoo! 360. This string made me chuckle. At the time I typed them, I can assure you I was NOT even a li'l bit amused!

~~~~~
(01-29-09)
We are without power since Tues 5 AM. Don't expect to have it back for a week. YIKES!! Keep us in your upward thoughts please!

(02-03-09)
*screams a primal scream from way down deep inside*
*!&@^#%$*
Still without power. Will share the whole saga once power has been restored.
Will share the part that irks me the most at this moment with you now.
I live in a trailer park in the country with 22 trailers. Our power went out in the park on Jan 27th before 6 AM. Power came back on in the park last night, the 1st........in all but TWO trailers. *sigh* yup, you know you guessed it......one of them is OURS. grrrrr
Out of oomph, out of patience, out of wit, out of here.
Upward thoughts requested!

(02-06-09)
Okay, I'm over this now! Let there be power!!! Keep us in your Upward thoughts please as we continue to exist in a cold, dark place! Also keep hubby in your Upward thoughts, he lost an uncle yesterday. And especially keep all the power people in your Upward thoughts as they continue to labor into the night to restore power in our county.

(02-09-09)
Apparently we're Amish now. I give up. Just gonna lay around in my dark house and wait for death.
Grrrrrrrrrr
Hangin in there......by a thin and unravelling thread.
~~~~~

We had power back the 16th day after we lost it. That was a rough couple weeks. Feels like it was longer than 8 months ago! Hopefully this coming winter won't be as brutal.

Fall has painted the trees around us some beautiful colors. Today was rainy and we have a pond in the front yard again. I think it's pretty with the weeping willow touching the reflection of itself. The two tulip poplars in the front yard don't get water around them. They are fragile trees, though. Every high wind breaks at least one limb off.

The outside cats are starting to put on their winter bellies. I can't tell if Charquil's putting on any extra weight......he's already a moose! He was 5 months old on the 10th of Oct. I took him over to my friend Stef's house to show her how big he's gotten (he was born there) and he's the same size as her 11 month old puppy. His daddy must be a horse. Or maybe we fed him too much when he was a baby? Either way, that's gonna be one massive dog when he's full grown.

Hubby and I packed up part of our closet last night. We'll be looking for the perfect place to move for the next few weeks. We want at least as much house as we have now and enough yard to keep a horse-moose-dog hybrid happy. I plan to keep working 5 or 6 days a week until we move. Then I'm gonna sit on my ass and eat bon-bons...errr...be a housewife and stay~at~home mom for a bit. I think changing schools mid-year might be a little bumpy for the kids. I need to be able to spend as much time with them as possible once we've moved. But until then, I gotta earn money for deposits and dog pen materials! LOL!


Okay, I worked all day and need to not be on the computer all nite! This house won't clean itself, unfortunately. HUGS and LUV all!

Time to start packing!

This is a pic of me and POE (Princess Of Everything) in our matching jammies. At 11 she's outgrown the children's department. Not that I think we'll start wearing matching clothes all the time.......but we are cute in our matching PJ's!

We are going to be moving. UGH! I still haven't gotten everything UNpacked from our move in May! LOL! This will be our first move over 20 minutes away. Guess we'll have to get a moving truck.

Now comes the fun part. We gotta find a place we can live with 5 cats and a 50 pound puppy! And we'll have to build a new pen, then find all the weak spots and REbuild it! Maybe we'll find a place with a front yard that doesn't flood :)

Time to get motivated. Laundry to finish, then get ready for work! HUGS and LUV all!