The Case of the Convulsing Cat
Our quiet breakfast was interrupted by Nala’s “distress cry” (the one that sounds like Ed McMahon’s “AYoooooo”), despite the fact that she was laying on the rug right next to us, safe and sound. This was followed immediately by Nala vomiting all over the rug.
Nala vomiting is certainly nothing out of the ordinary, especially lately. Ever since we switched her food, she’s had a bit of a setback on the hard-won, anti-vomit front. I jumped up to clean up the vomit, cursing Nala under my breath for doing it on the rug rather than 6 inches away on the hardwood floor. Nala, wisely, decided to get out of my way.
She took one tentative step and then collapsed, arms going rigid and locked, convulsing on the floor.
This only lasted a few seconds, but they were tense seconds. I didn’t know what to do. I was right there with her, petting her the whole time and stupidly repeating, “Nala, are you okay?” Anna shepherded the kids from the room, but they obviously picked up from my tone and body language (and the fact that they were being shepherded from the room) that something was up. I was surprised that the kids weren’t more upset by all of this. I assumed they didn’t understand what was going on, but Evie later quite matter-of-factly stated she thought Nala was dying, because she was “very old”.
After a short time, Nala was able to get up, after which she hid under the table for awhile, until she regained her bearings. After that I was able to coax her out, pet her, and then she returned to normal. In less than 5 minutes, you would never have known anything was wrong.
Naturally, I was a little concerned. My cat doesn’t seize every day. I couldn’t help but think this was related to the recent diagnosis of hyperthyroidism. I thought perhaps the food was not controlling it properly, and maybe things had gotten worse.
I took her to the vet, and the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her. Everything checked out normally. Furthermore, there is no correlation between hyperthyroidism and seizures, nor were seizures a side effect of the prescription food. It is also apparently very rare for an older cat to develop seizures, other than from eating something toxic.
“Has she gotten into anything lately? Eaten anything she shouldn’t have?” the vet asked me repeatedly. “No, not as far as I know,” I answered repeatedly. I mean, there’s always the chance; she does a lot of things I don’t know about (most of them involving peeing on something). The final result was “keep an eye on her” which made me feel distinctly foolish while paying the vet bill.
This was all quite the mystery. Nala was acting totally normal, but it seemed awfully foreboding. One doesn’t just have seizures. It felt like when your car starts making a weird noise and you just ignore it and hope it goes away, even though you know it *always* means something is terribly wrong.
The next day, Nala threw up on the bathmat, consisting entirely of flower blossoms. I have to say, there are worse things than a cat who magically vomits flower blossoms, but it got me thinking: could I start a band named Magical Flower Blossom Vomit? And also, although we’ve had this flower for months, I’d caught the cat eating it only over the past week. Could that be significant?
(not my picture)
It could! The flower is a kalanchoe, and it does not agree with cats:
This plant contains components that can produce gastrointestinal irritation, as well as those that are toxic to the heart, and can seriously affect cardiac rhythm and rate.
and
Animals may develop severe weakness and cold extremities, collapse, and eventually die because of cardiac arrest.
Of course, only my cat is dumb enough to keep eating a flower that makes her sick, day after day after day. I really cannot conceive of how this cat ever could have survived in the wild. I don’t know. But I do know that the cat has neither seized, nor vomited since I moved the plant. That plant has sat in the same place since September, why did Nala suddenly decide it needed to be eaten?
Has she been chased around by screaming children one too many times? Is she trying to end it??
Nala Update
As some of you were quite concerned about Nala after my last post, despite my assurances that she’s an awful nuisance, I just wanted to give you an update.
We did take Nala to see the vet, which is the most *amazing fun thing in the world* if you’re a child, but not so much if you’re a cat. She had basically a clean bill of health, other than some fairly significant weight loss, but they took some blood for some testing.
Survey says? Hyperthyroidism!
This is apparently quite common in cats of a certain age, and Nala happens to be of a certain age, so there you go. Hyperthyroidism is associated with a number of things, including behavioral changes. However, the vet was skeptical that it could explain the refusal to drink from her bowl (if anything, hyperthyroidism should cause more drinking, not turning your nose up at the stuff) or constantly biting Sara. But, she allowed, every cat is different, so maybe it was related after all.
We were presented with 4 choices:
- Be referred to a specialist and treat Nala with radioactive iodine therapy
- Give Nala a pill every day
- Rub a cream into Nala’s ears twice a day
- Buy special food
My reactions were:
- Do what now? We’re still talking about the cat, right?
- Okay, I’ve had to give Nala pills before, and it is a nightmare. Practically impossible. She can isolate the pill and eat whatever’s around it, saving only the pill in her mouth for an hour before discretely spitting it behind a house plant. And now I have to do this every day??
- I guess that’s better than giving her a pill, but sheesh.
- Wait, one of the options was to do everything the same except give her different food? And you saved that option until last?
So, yeah, we’re getting her special food now.
Hopefully it will make a difference. Sara pointed out that in the long run it’s probably actually cheaper to give her radioactive iodine therapy, even though it seems expensive. But it just seems….wrong somehow. On the other hand, giving her special food has practically *no chance* of turning her into a giant, super-cat with magical powers. Then again, let me take a look at that ingredient list…
Grumpy Cat
Nala has acquired a taste for human flesh. Specifically Sara’s flesh. Every opportunity she gets, she sinks some fang into the back of Sara’s feet. Sara can be just walking around, minding her own business and then out of nowhere, fang in the achilles. She sometimes attacks me, but very rarely. She’s too frightened of the kids to try it with them.
Nala is about 13 now, and I think she is getting grumpy in her old age.
It’s not just the attacking either, she has suddenly become very particular. She will no longer drink water from a bowl. For a long time she has been gradually turning her nose up at her water bowl. At first I thought it was something to do with the bowl, so I tried several different bowls and different schedules for replacing the water. She continued to drink out of it less and less until now she refuses altogether. Instead, she either drinks out of the toilet, sometimes trying to jump in as soon as you lift the lid, or out of the bathtub, sometimes while you are taking a shower. I have to admit, at first I was worried about her hydration, since she seemed so desperate to get a drink. But then I remembered that she had a big bowl of fresh water sitting there that she was refusing on principle to drink. Makes it hard to feel bad for her.
However, I think we have finally crossed the line. Nala has suddenly decided that she no longer wants to go to the bathroom in her litter box. If I clean the litter box, she will deign to give it one use, but after that she’s done, usually preferring the bathmat.
Well I’m sorry, but I’m not cleaning the litter after each use, Mrs. Queen of Sheeba.
I’m not sure what to do about this exactly. You can’t really reason with a cat. Combine all of these things with a return to meowing outside our door before 6 every morning, and I’m kind of at wit’s end. I understand that the older generation may be entitled to a little bit of persnicketiness, but this is going too far.
Why is my life just a series of showdowns with my cat?
Is this the line for the piggy-back rides?
Because sometimes it’s not as much about finding a comfortable place to sit, as it is about displaying dominance.
Grumpy Cat
In the past month or so, our cat Nala suddenly got old.
She’s eating a lot less. She’s a lot less active, sleeping more during the day and being grumpier about moving (for example, when you want her to get out of the chair you want to sit in or when you want her out of a room so you can shut the door). She’s just grumpier in general: more likely to try to attack your ankles (well, Sara’s ankles…she knows better than to go after *my* ankles), more grumble-y about getting kicked out of a room, more likely to yowl at you, more likely to have a grumpy-looking, scowly face, etc.
Now traditionally, my relationship with Nala can be described as rocky at best. But it’s funny, but all this grumpy old lady behavior actually makes me like Nala more, not less. This may seem a bit counter-intuitive (why would I like bitey-cat more than non-bitey-cat?), but there’s really two reasons:
- I kind of feel bad for her, getting old and all. It seems like the least I can do is give her a scratch under the chin now and again. She deserves the same respect any old person gets, just for making it this long if nothing else.
- Seeing her like this reminds me of the fact that she’s going to die some day, and that’s going to be hard on the kids. For both of them, their first words all centered around Nala (I think Oliver’s was “Nala” and I think Evie’s was “Meow”, but she said “Nala” pretty quick too). I think, like many kids with pets, Nala’s demise will probably be their first real experience with death.
Dear Maids
If you are going to come while we are on vacation (so that we have to stress about picking up our house while we are trying to get ready to go) and won’t be home for a week, then please make sure with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY that you do not leave the door to the litter box shut. Because that would be bad. Almost like the opposite of cleaning our house.
In other news, does anybody know what about 7 days of cat urine and feces does to a treadmill?
More Search Terms
As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, I am endlessly fascinated by some of the things that people google which result in them landing on my blog. So here are some of the highlights. These are broken down into a few categories of amusement, 1) what the heck was that person searching for, 2) how did that search land on my blog, 3) I don’t know why someone was searching for that, but amazingly, I have a blog post for them!
What the heck was that person searching for?
- ‘tactical mayonnaise’ – Lunch tactics? Or war tactics?
- ‘resplendent start with the dead’ – I don’t know what that means, but I’ve had that one no less than 4 times!
- ‘pull out fingernails’ – Yeesh. No thank you!
- ‘human zombie cat’ – Yeesh! NO THANK YOU! Stitch together your sick creations on someone else’s blog thank-you-very-much. I have enough trouble with a living, non-human-hybrid cat.
- ‘jelly fish hunting fighting boats’ – What could that even mean? It conjures images of sea battles with giant mutant jelly fish.
How did that search land on my blog?
These are usually things that I don’t believe I’ve ever talked about, but I do in fact agree with or support. So it’s like Google detected that these people think like me and led them to my blog, despite me never mentioning anything of the sort.
- ‘are “two question” marks aggressive’ – I don’t know how they found me, but for any future searches on this topic: Yes. Yes they are.
- ‘awesome cat’ – Okay, I had a couple of hits on this one, but I’m not sure how those found me. I have the opposite. But I did get a hit on ‘nusiance cats’, so that one I understand.
- ‘what do zombie pirates say?’ – I really don’t know. But I kind of feel like, if anybody should know, I should know, right?
- ‘where there be pirates’ – Was this a search by an actual pirate?!
- ‘i grit my teeth when i pet my cat’ – My favorite, hands down. It describes my position exactly. I don’t think I ever said that on my blog though, so how did they end up here?
I don’t know why someone was searching for that, but amazingly, I have a blog post for them!
- ‘big headed chiquita bananas’ – Lead to this post, in which I mention the chiquita banana lady, but not the size of her head.
- ‘bacon evie’ – Now those are good search terms for finding me! I get a lot of ‘erith1 is this thing on?’ searches, but those are more obvious. What if ‘bacon evie’ was looking for someone else?
- ‘litter box in bathroom curtain AND cat peed on curtains why’ – I soo feel for the desperation of the person searching for this. Now, my cat didn’t pee on my curtains, but my story did involve both cat pee and a curtain. So I wasn’t too far off.
- ‘picklerita’ – Wow, I actually had a good post for them! There can’t be that many picklerita posts out there.
- ‘she toot on me’ – ::sigh:: but I did get a ‘toot hole’ search, so maybe the phrase is catching on!
Nusiance Cat, Part II
Updating my previous post, since I blocked off the area Nala had been using as a toilet, Nala outsmarted me by simply climbing onto the next higher shelf and going bombs away from up there. The ironic thing is that the shelf she used holds diapers, meaning that 90% of her pee was absorbed by probably the best possible thing for absorbing urine.
So the bad news is, she’s still making an attempt to pee on my floor. The good news is, she’s sort of polite about it (even if by accident).
One Nusiance Cat for Sale
I am not very happy with the cat.
Just with her general day-to-day activities, the cat always hovers just below my annoyance threshold. I’m talking about the way she constantly begs for food, the way she steals your seat even if you’re only going to be gone for 1 microsecond, the way she’s constantly pestering you for attention, or the way she sometimes gets in a “I’m going to eat your arm when you’re not expecting it” mood. But most specifically, the problem is the way she wakes Evie up every morning by intentionally meowing outside her door at 5 a.m. until she wakes up. At least once a day that cat causes me to grit my teeth. Literally grit my teeth.
So, the cat is already pushing its limits with me on a daily basis and any extra thing, any minor infraction, just pushes me over the top. This was not a minor infraction. What happened was, the litter box is in the downstairs bathroom, hidden discretely behind a curtain. The bathroom upstairs has the same layout as the downstairs bathroom, but we hadn’t installed the curtain because we used to use that area as a diaper changing station. So when I installed the curtain, Nala said, “Hey! Good on ya! I hate walking all the way downstairs for my wonderfully private bathroom!” (No, she did, I actually heard her say that)(Actually, I wish I had, it could have saved me from what came next)
But it is even worse than you are imagining. Because of the curtain to contain the smell, it took a while for us to notice. Because the dirty diaper bin is behind the curtain, when we did start noticing a smell, we didn’t think too much of it. And because Nala was using A BAG OF EVIE’S BATH TOYS as a potty, the smell was also somewhat contained. So when I finally did get curious enough to investigate, I discovered probably a weeks worth of bathroom usage covering the floor and pouring out of a bag of my daughter’s toys.
If you don’t have a cat, rest assured that there is something particularly awful about the smell of cat urine. It claws into your brain and won’t let go. I have tried every chemical we have to get rid of the smell, and it is still there. And this wasn’t helped by the fact that after I would get done cleaning it, I would open the curtain up for it to dry out and Nala would help herself to the bathroom again. You see, once a cat decides where it wants to go to the bathroom, you can’t convince them otherwise.
Let me ask you, what value does a cat add? We used to use her as our main form of guest entertainment, but we have a kid for that now. What does a cat do that’s so fantastic that I have to take a shower in urine smell every morning? How does it balance out?
Why do I have to put up with this??
Teleportation Cat
This is a veeery sneaky cat. And creepy! It almost reminds me of The Ring or something.
Link courtesy Ichiban
You know you’re a dad when…
Today in the span of 5 minutes, I cleaned from the floor pee, vomit, poop, and pee. In that order.
Almost jumped out of my skin
I was working on the couch, minding my own business. Evie was taking a nap and Nala was napping in the window. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bird flies into the window *TWACK* and somehow manages to grab onto the screen. It’s flapping its wings like crazy *flip flip flip flip flip flip flip* and Nala says, “In all the windows in all the condos, you had to fly into mine” and starts meowing and leaping at the bird and batting at the window. Finally the bird got loose and flew away. This entire scene unfolded in about 2 seconds but let me tell you, in the silence that preceded it, I about leapt of my shorts.
Now I don’t think Nala can ever leave that window again, just in case.
Showering with Axe Murderers
I was taking a shower today and I heard the door open and close. I said, “Hello?” assuming it was Sara…but nobody answered. So I waited awhile but it was completely silent and then I started to get nervous so I said, “Are there any Axe Murderers out there?” Still no answer and I thought, “Geez, I’m so stupid! Why leave them a loop hole??” I don’t want someone later to say, “Well, you asked about Axe Murderers and I’m really more of a Knife Murderer.” (“I have a hacksaw.” “Oooh, I’m an axe murderer” See below) So I said, “Are there any murderers of any kind out there?” Still nothing. Then I started thinking, “What if I am actually their first victim? So they wouldn’t actually be a murderer yet…” So I was formulating another question, but then I just decided to get out of the shower.
And p.s. it was just the cat.
Animal Abuse or why I shouldn’t have kids
I was playing with the cat on Saturday night and all of a sudden she sort of ran away a little bit and started freaking out. She was pawing at her face and going crazy. So we went over to see what was up and we saw blood flying out of her mouth! So we started panicking and I grabbed her and I could see that she was licking her tooth and it was wiggling all over. This was like one of the two major fangs in her mouth! And when she closed her mouth I could see that tooth was hanging lower than the other one. So I freaked out and I ran upstairs to get the vet’s number and in the meantime Sara was watching Nala and saw her tooth fall out. Oh man, I felt so bad! I don’t really remember hitting her head but we were sort of rough housing. I called the vet’s emergency number and he said to watch her and see if she was okay and bring her in on Monday. Well, she didn’t seem to be in pain at all, she let us pet her and she even wanted to keep playing! I gave her food and she dug into it with her usual gusto. But I still felt really bad.
So yesterday I took her to the vet and they came up with something that I didn’t even think of…what if that tooth broke off and the root is still in there! So we have to have some surgery on Friday. 
Her doctor said that it was probably just a rotten tooth, but I still feel responsible. So now I have to pet her all the time and give her whatever she wants. Also, I have the fun of giving her antibiotic pills twice a day!
This is neither here nor there, but my brother called me tonight to tell me that he’s on his way to a bar in Madison that serves bacon on Tuesdays. I’ve had popcorn and hotdogs, but never bacon! Brilliant idea, but kind of strange. Only in Wisconsin kids. Only in Wisconsin.
I did my first Sudoku puzzle today. Am I the last one on earth?
Hmm
Okay, this must be my cat in another life! She doesn’t look that fat, but it’s only because she doesn’t have an unlimited food suply! I can totally imagine her doing that!
In keeping with the animal theme, doesn’t this just totally creep you out??? Dogs should not walk!!
Aaaanyway, not much going on here. Didn’t really do much for my birthday, just went out to eat. Going to my mom’s for her birthday next weekend. Sara’s parents are coming first week of Feb. and her sister is coming a different weekend in Feb. Going to lunch with Dabuki tomorrow…havent seen her in awhile. There is tons of stuff to do around here, but we just haven’t been able to get things done lately it seems like.
Great football games last weekend and this weekend! That Colts/Ravens game was just fantastic.
Does drinking by yourself mean you are an alcoholic? Even if it’s during the playoffs??
Poor Starving Cat
We just walked in the door from our Christmas trip and there was something on the floor in the kitchen. When we turned the lights on we were able to piece together the mystery…
We measured out 4 days of food for Nala (even though we were only going to be gone for 3 days) and of course she ate it all (probably like the first day) and then decided she was going to starve unless she took drastic measures…
So she pulled down a package of hamburger buns from the shelf and shredded them all over the floor.
Time to update!
Okay, kind of a lot happened so I need to throw down a quick update here.
First off, Tuesday was
I didn’t miss it, but I forgot to blog about it. So, let’s see. Really the big thing was that we went to Janesville over the weekend. My uncle was visiting from Colorado so there was a big thing at my Grandma’s house and she called us to invite us to come! I just think that was really nice of her. I definitely got the feeling that she was excited that we lived so close so we could come to something like that. So anyway we went on Saturday and ate like maniacs! Grandma made a turkey and her famous homemade buns and a pan of apple crisp (I had 3 slices)…to say nothing of the full jar of her homemade pickles!! Oh man…heaven. I’ve decided that if I was trapped on a desert island and I could only pick 1 food to have, I would pick Grandma D’s homemade pickles.
Anyway, we played 1 game of acquire and several games of Apples to Apples and much fun was had by all. 2 people immediately put the game on their Christmas lists! Then Sunday we went over to my Aunt Lois’ house and watched the Packer’s game with some good ole Packer’s fans. And they even won!! My Grandma came with so that her and Sara could play Scrabble instead of watching the game. Oh also, everybody has gardens and stuff, so we got some fresh pears from Uncle Lenny and fresh raspberries from my Uncle Roger. Uncle Lenny has a pseudo-farm that my dad would *love*. He grows pears, apples, cherries, all manner of vegetables and has chickens and turkeys. Finally, Grandma gave me 3 jars of pickels to take home!! But she made me promise not to tell anybody, so it’s a good thing this isn’t public or anything.
Quote of the weekend:
Len: “The cat had a hernia so I just pushed it back in there.”
Pat: “How did you keep it in? Did you stitch it up?”
Len: “No…I just wrapped some duct tape around it. By the time the cat got it off, it was healed.”
Uncle Len, Veteranarian. What is it with my family and cats?
Steaming Hot Magma
Today Nala was sitting on the arm of the couch and, instead of jumping down to the floor and walking over to the rug, she jumped waaay over the coffe table to land on the little corner of the rug that is over there.
I can only assume that the floor was hot lava and she couldn’t touch it.
Just recovered from my food coma
Happy (late) Thanksgiving!
Pretty good Thanksgiving, we played TONS of games. Hands and Feet, B.S., Taboo, Catch Phrase, Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition, Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture, and Scene It. There might have been more and some games had repeat performances. We bought “card-playing food” at Trader Joes (chips, chocolate covered peanuts, etc.) and snacked until we almost puked. Come to think of it, the next morning Sara’s sister puked in a pillow case in the car on the way home, so I guess we DID eat until we puked! 
The in-laws left early Saturday morning and we didn’t do a THING all day Saturday. Just lounged around and watched T.V. and ate leftover turkey sandwiches (mmmm leftover turkey sandwiches) and didn’t even get out of our P.J.s. This is some much needed vacation.
Dad: “Our cat Rita died.”
Me: “Did she get hit by a car?”
Dad: “No, she got sick. She had a…what do you call it? A protruded asshole.”
Sharon: “John! Say bowel.”
Dad: ”A protruded bowel coming out of her ass. She had one and we took her to the vet and it cost $25 to fix it. Then about a week later she got two more, each bigger than an apple. You could tell she was in a lot of pain. I didn’t want to pay $50 for another operation so I shot her in the back of the head.”
Me: ”You shot her?? With your pistol??”
Dad: ”Yeah. Sharon better hope she never gets hemorrhoids.”
This my shit, this my shit
This shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s
Well okay, I’m back for some more mad phat blogging action. I can’t believe it was almost exactly a year in between posts there. Time flies. I re-read all of my old posts today. Good times. I’m a psycho! Sara always tells me I’m moody, but holy crap. I don’t know how she put up with me. The big take away was that I was really really freaked out about getting married. I totally didn’t remember that, but it’s obvious when re-reading this.
Okay, so what’s up? Like I said, I just got done with my capstone project. We made a pluggable card game. Essentially someone could create a few files and have a totally new card game that they could play in our framework. We implemented Euchre and Hearts. Stacy would have loved the Euchre!
Speaking of Stacy (LJ still reminds me of her), on the new Ben Folds CD there is this great song called Late. Its about a guy Sam Elliot who he kind of knew but he really liked his music and then that guy killed himself. It’s just like this really great song about things he’d like to tell the guy if he could. I just think it’s a really nice song because he’s just talking to the guy like he would if the guy were still around, not making this rediculous romanticized version of the guy. I used to think of Stacy and cry every time I heard it, but I’m over that now. I still like the song though.
Anyway, we went to NYC for our 1 year anniversary. It was a really great trip, although short. We saw Wicked and Avenue Q. They were both FANTASTIC shows. You can’t really compare them because they were very different, but I would strongly recommend either one to anybody.
Before that Sara’s mom came out to visit us for a week. It was a really nice visit even though we had to work during some of it. But here’s the weird thing. So I got this call from my friend Casey who I haven’t talked to in a long time. I called him back and he was like “Hey, we’re coming to see you, we’ll be there tomorrow.” So he ended up coming while Sara’s mom was here, which was kind of weird, and also he brought his new girlfriend Margret which was also weird because I knew her from high school but haven’t seen her since then. But she’s like suuuuper nice and I think they had a good time here. It was kind of strange though.
I didn’t really give the England trip justice in the blog here, but it was too big and too long ago to bother with now. It was the second biggest trip of my life and it was very nervewracking driving for a week on the wrong side of the road. But I only drove on the wrong side 2 times when we came back and I think I was even starting to master the round-abouts!
I’ve been listening to Tenacious D like a mad man lately. Best. Band. Ever. Sara bought me the new Dave Matthews Band CD because I was like insane-o fanboy, but I didn’t have the cd. So I got it and it was pretty much what I expected, by which I mean not all that good. It’s alright I guess, but I just feel like they’ve gotten away from what made them good. This album is too predictable.
Nala used to always sleep with me on the bed, by which I mean she used to let me sleep in the bed with her. But then when Sara moved in, there wasn’t room for the 3 of us. So Nala really kept us up a lot at night. Then last Thanksgiving we had left her alone while we went to visit Sara’s family and when we came back she was just flipping out because she was so attention starved. She’s such a needy cat. Anyway, we weren’t getting ANY sleep so we kicked her out of the bedroom and closed the door. Man did she not like that. She just banged on the door and cried so much that that was even worse as far as getting sleep. So then we tried putting her in the bathroom with the door closed and also closed our door, but even that didn’t work. She went so crazy in the bathroom that she started ripping chunks out of the door even though she has no front claws!! So we decided she was never allowed back in the bedroom. For about 6 months we tried EVERYTHING to shut her up, including wearing earplugs, running a fan, etc. Also I kept the spray bottle by my bed and about 3 times per night when she woke me up I went out and sprayed her. I thought that my sleep was going to be disrupted for the rest of my life and then one day, like magic, she just stopped! That was a few months ago and now she just doesn’t wake us up at all!! It’s like the craziest thing ever, it was seriously like magic. So the moral of the story is, stick to your guns and eventually the other person will have to give in.
My mom graduated with her masters, so congratulations to her. My mom, brother and sister are all up at the family reunions this week and I’m sooo jealous. But even more so, they’re going to NOAH’S ARK (the happiest place on Earth) this week. Ugh, I’m so jealous.
Alright I’m going to commit this because it’s getting long.
Not a very interesting day
But a nice one nonetheless! A very lazy day, but I still managed to get the wedding pianist finalized, dishes and vacuuming done and state and local taxes figured out. I know that sounds like a lot of stuff, but in a whole day with literally NOTHING else to do, I still had plenty of time to read, watch bad sci-fi movies (my favorite thing to do on the weekend!) and talk on AIM. Sara had the bridal shower today so I spent hours on the phone with her, my mom and my sister. At the shower one of the games they played was where they asked Sara a bunch of questions about me to see how well she knew me. She did pretty good…even the ones she got wrong were good answers in general.
Question: What was your first pet?
My response: I had a dog named Heather.
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed my dog Lady which I had in high school. Not a bad guess, but Heather moved with me from WI.
Question: What was your first car?
My response: Light Blue Chevy Celebrity
Sara’s Response: Sara got it, including color. Sadly that car was still around when we started dating (my Sister had it).
Question: What is your favorite music group?
My response: The Dave Matthew’s Band
Sara’s Response: Sara got it. This was pretty easy, but my mom thought Ben Folds which is actually a great guess…lately I have definitely been listening to Ben Folds a lot more. Overall I’d still have to go with Dave though.
Question: Who is your favorite author?
My response: Stephen King
Sara’s Response: Sara got it, too easy. My mom didn’t though.
Question: What is your favorite movie?
My response: The Big Lebowski
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed Clerks. That’s a pretty good guess considering I have a giant Clerks poster signed by Kevin Smith hanging over my bed. None of the old ladies at the shower had heard of either movie.
Question: What is your favorite TV show?
My response: Scrubs
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed West Wing, which is definitely right up there. Last year, maybe West Wing was my favorite, but I like Scrubs more and more every time I see it.
Question: What is your favorite season?
My response: Fall
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed summer because that’s when girls wear tank tops! 
Good reasoning, but I prefer fall.
Question: What is your favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie?
My response: Samoas
Sara’s Response: Sara got it; this was a no-brainer.
Question: What is your favorite kind of candy bar?
My response: Milky Way
Sara’s Response: Sara got it, which I’m impressed with. I didn’t like nuts much, so Milky Way is like a Snickers with no nuts!
Question: What is your favorite food?
My response: Bacon
Sara’s Response: I have to admit, cheese is a fantastic response. I don’t just love cheese, I’m IN love with cheese. In fact, from now on, I might say cheese is my favorite food. This doesn’t excuse her from getting this right though because this question was the one question she missed from the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” game I programmed for her for Christmas a few years back.
Question: What is your favorite snack food?
My response: Popcorn
Sara’s Response: She got it, too easy.
Question: What is your favorite restaurant?
My response: Maggianos, but I’ll accept Mancinos or Banditos.
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed Peace-A-Pizza. This was a pure panic move for her. First off, she only had to guess 1 of 3 answers and second, even my mom got it right!
Question: What is your favorite type of cologne?
My response: Eternity for men
Sara’s Response: This one was a gimmie!
Question: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
My response: Edy’s Cherry Chocolate Chip or Samoa
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed Mint Chocolate Chip because ONE TIME I wanted to get it and she didn’t. It was just a craving!
Question: What is your biggest pet peeve?
My response: People calling me Shawn.
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed messiness because I’m always harping on her about her messiness. I don’t enjoy messiness but it’s not as bad as people calling me Shawn. Besides, it would have been rude to point out her faults at her own shower.
Question: What is your lucky number?
My response: 8
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed 21. She had no idea, so she just pulled some number out of her ass. I picked 8 when I was super little because my birthday is Jan. 8th, 1980. (TWO 8’s in there!) Okay, I know that’s a lame reason, but I was very small when I picked it and it just stuck after that.
Question: What is your favorite department store?
My response: Kohl’s
Sara’s Response: Sara got it, even though it’s a stupid question.
Question: How old were you when you had your first kiss?
My response: 14 and her name was Shari Pentangelo.
Sara’s Response: Sara was close with a guess of 15 and Addie Nickelson. I actually only dated Shari for like 2 weeks in the summer and then started dating Addie right after that. Very good guess. This was news to my mom by the way.
Question: Who was the first musician or group you saw in concert?
My response: My dad took me and Dan Brand to see Carmen, some Christian singer.
Sara’s Response: Sara guessed Dave Matthews (who I’ve seen 8 times I think) but I knew she wouldn’t get that one. Even my mom was like, “huh?” Hey sorry, that was my first concert, nobody said it was a good one!
Question: What brand are your favorite pair of shoes? What year did you get them?
My response: Birkenstocks! Everybody should know that one. I believe I got them in ’95.
Sara’s Response: Of course she knew it was my Birkenstocks. I love those things! She guessed that I got them in ’94 and it was ruled that with my memory she was probably the one who was correct. One whole decade spent with them. I should throw a party.
Final results, Sara got 9 out of 20. Not too bad!
Nala has this new thing she does now when I’m riding the exercise bike…she gets up on the coffee table right by me and stands up on her hind legs and just reaaaches for me with her front paws. It is so cute that I have to stop riding and pet her, which only convinces her to do it more and more. That’s okay though, it’s definitely a good habit to encourage.
Tomorrow I need to go shopping to get my brother’s groomsman present. I was going to get a wedding present for Sara as well, but my sister helped me convince myself to wait until it gets closer so that 1) she doesn’t get one before I give her this one and 2) she can take it back if she needs to.
Well, it’s way past my bed time. Good night internet!
Insomnia
So I’ve been having mild insomnia lately. I walk around all day so exhausted that I can hardly stand up and then when it comes time to go to bed, I just can’t. So I end up staying up until 2 and then getting up at 7 again the next morning and starting it all over again. This might not seem that bad, but seriously nothing like that has ever happened to me before!! I mean this is the guy who had to get tested in a hospital for narcolepsy and sleep apnea in high school on account of all the sleeping, including a little problem I have of falling asleep while I’m driving. The sleep study found that my average time to fall asleep is under a minute. No matter how much stuff has ever been going on in my life, its lights out as soon as I hit the pillow.
Okay, had to take a timeout because my cat that was sitting in my lap apparently got fed up with my typing and just sank her teeth in my arm and held on! What the fuck? She got a nice bath with the spray bottle. I’m changing my mood icon.
So anyway…I don’t know if it’s because of the wedding, all the school stuff, the stuff going on at work, or because I’ve been thinking about Stacy so much lately. Maybe I’ve screwed my body up good with the weightless thing. (Side note, lost 7 lbs. this week for a total of 21 in 4 weeks!) Maybe the work with the night school is just getting to me…maybe I just need some time to relax.
Speaking of class, I think did well with the presentation tonight. One more class, then a week off!
I still don’t know what to do about the work situation. I had meetings with both sides today but neither helped make up my decision. Both sides paint the other position as being really unstable. I know it’s just political crap. I hate it. Right now I’m leaning towards going downstairs though, because they stuff they are working on is really cool and they have tons more development coming up than we do upstairs.
I felt lonely tonight, but only for a little bit because I didn’t really have time to be lonely. I’m really glad I’m going to get to see Sara already this weekend. I can’t imagine how great it’s going to be when she actually lives here. Oh wait, yes I can, when we were in college I saw her everyday all the time.
Oh yeah, I just remembered! I think we’re going to be able to go see Jesus Christ Superstar this weekend! TOO EXCITED!
I’ve had some lame mardi gras, but this might take the cake. I should think of something to give up for lent. Before tomorrow.
Again, it’s time to go to bed and I’m getting more awake by the second. I guess I have no choice but to go lie in bed and stare at the ceiling.
Boo.
My Cat
My cat is driving me crazy today. I tell everybody that I have the loudest cat there ever was and everybody says, “Yeah my cat is really loud too.” Which only proves they really don’t understand. Then when they actually meet my cat they say, “Holy crap, that’s the loudest cat ever!”
She wakes me up over and over again in the morning because she needs constant attention. I’ve had dogs my whole life and they never demanded as much attention as this cat does. I thought cats were supposed to be independent??
Don’t get me wrong, I love the cat, but sometimes after I get home from work after a long day I just need 10 minutes of peace and quiet. You should be able to have that in your own home.
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