Happy 2018

Personally, I welcomed the new year quietly and alone. But it was good.

2017 was an awful year that worsened with every passing month. Worldwide, nationally, personally; I have more bad than good to say about it and I’d gladly give up the good for the bad to have never happened. I’d erase the year if I could.

Too much hate. Too much fear. Too much death. Not enough schnapps.

Not enough smiles.

2018 is a beautiful baby new year, but born from a crack whore we need to as a planet, a nation, as individuals, nurture it with love and protect it so it can have the hope and beauty a new year promises.

*** Christmas 2 will be posted soon pending getting a few photos I want for that blog.

*** Coming soon - 2018 Projects and Goals

We Are A One-Cat Family Now

Carla Yastrzemski Patch

“The Good One”

*September 9, 2008 - December 1, 2017

*observed

December started for us with our second visit this year to that room at the vet’s office with the soft blanket and a box of tissues. They couldn’t perform the scheduled mastectomy on Carla. They shaved her up to get her ready, and discovered the cancer had moved into her armpits, it was just too aggressive to operate. We thought we would have to go in the next morning to say goodbye. I called David that afternoon and told him I wanted him to bring Carla home at least for that night. In 2008 when we brought her home from the shelter and promised her a forever home, we rescued her from living in a cage. I didn’t want her last night to be in a cage.

They sent her home with pain medicine. We would be able to allow her to let us know when she was done. She wasn’t really a lot weaker yet, she could still jump up on the bed to curl up with her daddy until he fell asleep and she could still come downstairs. to jump up on the foot rest of the recliner and sleep to relax her mommy to sleep. She was still eating and enjoying treats and in the evening she still spent part of the time attached to daddy's side on the couch and the other part on her armrest on the recliner making Carlaccino.

Marco and Carla- one last sun bath in the front window together

That lasted just over two weeks. At the end of two weeks she was moving very slow, sleeping a lot and not able to get up to the places she liked to be. Three days before it was over we had given her one of the painkillers in the morning. It was very sunny and it took her two tries to get on top of the chest by the window. She sat confused and Marco sort of guided her in to the cat hammock in the window so she could sit in the sun. It broke my heart that night after David went up to bed and she didn't follow upstairs, she crawled off the couch and sat in front of the recliner and cried up to me begging to be picked up. I wanted so badly to be able to pick her up and comfort her. She crawled back up to the couch and curled up back to sleep and I cried. The next day we gave her a painkiller in the morning and she pretty much slept all day with no interest in food or any of the other things she normally liked to do. She knew it was time.

We'll remember Carla in many special ways. She was a year-old when we adopted her and after having a rough first year, including having had kittens when she was still a kitten herself, she was adult cat size but had the happy kittenhood with lots of love she was owed. We were happy to give that to her and she never stopped being grateful. In so many ways she never stop being a kitten.

But to everyone that met her, Carla was a kitty of sounds. Her shelter name at Paws and Whiskers was Sassy. It wasn't too long after she came home that we realized how such a sweet girl could be called sassy. Carla had no problem letting us know when she needed petting. She had a very distinct, loud and plaintive meow when she demanded attention. But more than that meow, I worried the first time I heard the happy meow. She would yell loudly but muffled when she had a toy in her mouth and was walking around with it. We came to call that muffled meow singing, "I got I toy, I got a toy, I got a toy!” We call her purring “Carlaccino” because it sounded like the espresso machines in the coffee shop. When you pet her on her sweet spot; right on the top of her head between her ears, her purr would start low and quiet and get louder, building just like an espresso pot.

But what turned out to be the most distinctive Carla sound was there in other parts of the house but it really came to life when we removed the carpet over the hardwood floors in the living room. She had her clumsy moments jumping up on things, but when she walked through a room she had a fluid elegance and when she walked on the hardwood floor her claws made a rhythmic clicking sound like a lady in high heels. My weekend aide always celebrated her when she came downstairs welcoming her as “Miss Fancy Feet.” The friends, aides and nurses who are here most often noted they missed the lady like clicks of her feet on the floor when she came home for hospice care. In prepping her for this surgery she ended up not having, they clipped her claws.

Now all of Carla’s sounds, warm cuddles and the eternal kitten who never stopped playing in the eight years she was with us are gone. Last year at Christmas time, gifts to the canine family and friends came from "the three wise cats." This year Marco will be an only cat for the holidays. He left his litter mates when he was a kitten and instantly had two sisters so he's never been an only cat. It's different for all of us in a little emptier house this year.

2017: We lost our ‘Queen” and our “Good One.” 2018 has to be better.

Mommy's Comfy Chair

Behind Dark Eyes

Hi there! It's been busy times and lazy times here. Mommy has been in her comfy chair a lot but that’s good because the motor chair scares me. It's quietet than vaccuuzilla and it doesn't eat everything it runs over like vaccuuzilla, but it still scares me because it runs over cats! It ran over Marco when he was just a kitten and it even ran over Kaline! Well, Kaline says she hissed at it because it got too close to the fur on her tail, but it's the same thing. If it hadn't come close to running over Kaline's tail she wouldn't have had to hiss at it.

So I sit on the arm of Mommy’s comfy chair and she pets me. Mommy and Daddy say I’m Carlaccino when I purr real loud when they pet me, I like being Carlaccino! I get very cozy on Mommy’s chair. A lot of times I fall asleep on the chair arm or roll over and fall asleep in her lap. Some times she falls asleep too!

Mommy took some pictures of me on the chair. She likes it when I’m on the chair with her because she says it’s hard to get good pictures of me. I’m a little sleepy now, so I guess I’ll go make Mommy sleepy.

It's Gonna Be A Great Week

Good Monday! A little variety is a good thing now and then. Saturday morning David left on just over a week’s vacation. I didn't. Yesterday Kelly arrived with her bags for a long stay. Oh nothing is wrong, this was all quite planned this way.

First thing’s first Happy Birthday to Carla! Our middle child is 6 years old today! Okay, we don’t know the exact day but she was born in September in 2008. We gave her the 8th because that was Carl Yastrzemski’s number and she was named for him.

An important part of chapter one of the book I haven't written yet, The Proper Care And Feeding Of Your Caregiver, is making sure the caregiver gets the rest they need. To borrow a tern from my most beloved book of all think, the seven habits of highly effective people, make sure your caregiver, sharpens the saw, or get pre breaks to relax and rejuvenate. When your caregiver is your spouse, that means that sometimes travel needs to be that spouse and his/her friends without you. Of course in my case at least it means I need a babysitter while my spouse is gone. That's where the ever important best friend comes into play!

This week David is chasing trains. Sometimes he's meeting up with other railfans sometimes solo, and calling me to say goodnight and tell me how the trains were today. Yes, he reports that he misses me, but he needs some time to not worry about wheelchairs at break stops or accessible rooms at hotels. It also helps me receive a little stress relief knowing he’s getting that time to recharge. The “sharpen the saw” concept is that if a saw isn't sharpened, renewed, it does at do its job well anymore, it doesn't saw wood. If a Hum an doesn't rest and renew they don't work as well either.

Kelly is officially my PCA, personal care assistant, right now. She's helping with pretty much everything this week. Yesterday we were on the bus at 1 headed to Books, Baked Goods, Crafts and Fun at Paws and Whiskers, the annual open house. We came home with some books, sweets and silent auction winnings as we left a nice donation for the cats! It was a decent haul more than I could have brought home alone. Groceries will be interesting this week as I’ll likely have more bags than usual there too. Of course groceries will have to be from the froo-froo Kroger this week. Gotta have that girl time at Starbucks you know!

We really took no photos yesterday as day one together was talking, lots of buffs who needed to catchup talking. I see much. coffee and talking today too! Although we can talk about rocket science over coffee, it wasn't required to predict that part of our day,

Behind Dark Eyes: I’m A Graduate!

Happy June to everyone especially ME! I’m officially a Acme Feline Obedience School Class of 2014 grad! Woo Hoo! Cat treats for Carla!

Now I didn’t graduate a valecatorian like Kaline did but I did get the highest grade ever on my final school project! At home I’m known as “The Good One.” I took a tough situation and made it good for me. I mean what bad luck that Mommy and Daddy brought a kitten in the house when I was halfway through school. How does a 5-year old even get noticed let alone make the staff obey?? Well, you let the kitten be obnoxious, like kittens are, and let him pick fights with the queen. When they don’t see what you knock over because the other cats are louder, they’ll do anything for you! Total obedience and I didn’t have to work for it!

Now that school is done I can do some of the fun stuff that Kaline and Marco do but I hada study. They like to go on the porch because it’s warmer and kinda like going outside. I go sometimes but I don’t play and sleep out there like they do. It’s not really outside, but I get nervous and scared they’ll shut the door. I don’t really remember why it scares me, but I like being inside with Mommy and Daddy, not outside with a door between me and them. I’ll stay in and let them remind me I’m the good one with extra scritches!

I gotta go tell Mommy to put kibble in our bowls now.

Meow,
Carla

Back to the cold?

Brrrrr! I had to make an executive decision Friday morning. It was an easy one though. Wake up temperature was 63° IN THE HOUSE! It was 39° outside and the expected high was 55. I turn on the heat. I didn’t get any grumbles from David. That’s good; I needed to not be chilled like a fine ice wine.

It’s been pretty much highs in the high 50s/low 60s all weekend. Today, it’s a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning, but still chilly. We expect a high of 66, so the heat will still be on and doing its thing. After today it’ll be back in the 70s and I’d like to think that this time the furnace gets its long break until fall. I’m keeping my fingers crossed! There is one good thing I can say about the chilly past few days; they’ve given me the chance to try out my present from last week.


Edna (Miss Edna’s Place) had been teasing about an Afghan that she'd been working on in green. She wasn't showing pictures or giving lots of detail because it was a gift and she didn't want the person for whom she was making it to see it or know too much about it before was finished. I was thinking what a super gift that would be for the person receiving it! Then again green is my favorite color so something handmade in green would be an awesome gift for anyone, right? Well, a week ago Friday afternoon I went to get the mail and there was a box on the steps at the side door. It was addressed to me from Edna. The gift-Afghan she’d been teasing about was for me!

I just love it! It's a beautiful shade of green, thick and warm, and gorgeous! And the contrast stripes match half of my wardrobe. It was a perfect match for the pink shirt that I was wearing when I got the box and another perfect match for the orange MS T-shirt that I wore Saturday morning when David took the photos. Thank you so much, Edna. When I cuddle close to my afghan I can feel the warmth and love a wonderful friend.

Thank you, Edna; I love it!!

While I'm talking about blanket things, I might've mentioned some time ago my white fleece blanket with the multicolored polka dots. That blanket stays on the loveseat downstairs because Carla adopted it and it became known as the Carla-blanket. I think maybe she heard me mention it’s difficult to get great photos of Carla because of her dark fur. She must've figured that white blanket/black cat perfect photo op.

Carla and the Carla Blanket

Credits: Old School by the Designers at Digital Scrapbooking Studio

Earlier this week the blanket came upstairs with laundry from the dryer and was sitting on top of one of the baskets to eventually go back downstairs. I was sitting on the bed reading and out of the corner of my eye I saw the blanket move. My first thought was maybe the Carla was complaining about her blanket being upstairs instead of downstairs. But I saw Marco pushing the blanket with his head and trying to pull it with his claws, finally grabbing it with his mouth and moving. It made me laugh but then the three cats got together to play chase and left the room. I didn't really think too much of it until a couple nights ago when the blanket was missing and David found it. Marco had drug it under the bed where he often likes to play. Kaline and Carla share the kitty-afghans that Grandma made for Kaline and Azzie. But Marco's not so good at sharing and Carla is too passive so I think we may need to find Marco a blanket of his own.


In other good news, we officially have a meeting place for our MS Support Group! There was a senior center on my list of places I was going to call last week, but just before the weekend I got a call from an interested new member who suggested the same senior center and made the introduction for me. Talk about great karma pulling everything together! I met with a rep there earlier this week and by the time I left I had signed a contract for the monthly donated space. YAY! By mid-week I’d gotten that information to the chapter office and sent out an email to our existing members. I can’t wait until we all get together again next month! Now, I’m working on finding a pizza place that delivers to our new location and is in budget! I can’t pick up $5 pizzas and bring them in on the bus!


Well, I need to refill my coffee mug since I need scrapbooking fuel and I’ve declared this a scrapbook-day. There are so many “Christmas in July” events, how about Thanksgiving in June and Halloween in May? Most of the folders I have in my catchup files now are from September on with the exception of the June Vacation from 2012 and our August honeymoon in 2009. I’ve been working on the June Vacation this week, but maybe some September stuff today; fits the temperature! We’ll see what the coffee cup tells me after it’s full again.

Happy Sunday everyone!