Friday, May 22, 2009

Going unplugged.

Alrightee, it's that time again. I'm going unplugged for the weekend, so no more computering. If you need me urgently, feel free to call the house or my cell. You're also more than welcome to text me, too.

I'm hoping to 1) enjoy the holiday weekend, 2) get several projects done around the house, and 3) give my right elbow a break, as it's developing a pretty intense repetitive stress injury from both work and constantly using the computer mouse.

See y'all on the flip side!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A.J.'s new look!

A.J.'s new look


OMG, he's SO excited about these! Then again, I can't blame him, because I remember myself what it was like the first time I put on glasses and could see CLEARLY again!


A.J.'s new look

A.J.'s new look


I'm glad he likes them. It makes the transition so much easier. He picked out a special case, and he's happy to have them. It's only been an hour, and he keeps running up to say, "Mom! Guess what I can see from here now! And from here! Oh, and I can read this from all the way over here now!"

Sunday, May 17, 2009

GRR.

In writing down all of my receipts and whatnot, I'm not balancing with the bank website. I'm off by $2.

$2.00 even.

It. Is. Driving. Me. Crazy!

I'm giving up for now, but I'm sure I won't be able to help trying to find it again a bit later. I like to be exactly even, thankyouvermuch, and this is super-irritating.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Philip on the news.

[info]lilmissriss called me a few days ago to let me know that her dog, Nanuk, had run away from the family that is watching her while her husband is deployed and she's out of state. Nanuk is their only dog, and Philip has been actively searching for her these past several days. He's been to the house several times, calling for her, and hoping she would have tried to travel back home, but no luck. He's also gone to the Humane Society to search among the 'found' dogs (and he said that was heartbreaking).

But Nanuk is still missing.

Marissa contacted the local news station, and they agreed to run a feature on the missing dog. Marissa gave them our information, and for the past two days, we have had nonstop calls from the news station, reporters, tech guys, and more. Philip printed pictures for the reporter to display and use of Nanuk, and the website is sporting a family photograph I took for them last spring. The story aired last night. Some links for you:

Online print story: here
Video footage from last night's story: here


Man's Best Friend Is Missing While The Owner Is Defending Our Country

Bellevue, NE -The past five days have been very difficult for the family of Sgt. Brian Woods, who is currently deployed overseas. While his wife is staying with family out of state, their dog ran away from the dog's baby-sitter. Sgt. Phillip Kleghorn is one of a handful of sergeants stationed at Offutt Air Force Base who has been looking for the Woods' dog named Nanuk.

There is a special story behind the dog. About five years ago, Sgt. Woods and his wife Marissa were stationed in Japan. They were both active in animal rescue there. That's when they rescued the abandoned dog. Nanuk took to the Woods family, and they adopted her and brought her 7,000 miles to the states to live with the family. The dog has been through enough, and now they are afraid something bad has happened. "Their greatest fear is that the dog will never be found. It's like a family member for Marissa, so it's like losing a kid, says Sgt. Kleghorn.

The dog weighs about 50 pounds, has a microchip, and is wearing red and silver tags around her neck.

If you happen to see this dog, please contact Sgt. Kleghorn at (402) 291-0619 or the Nebraska Humane Society at (402) 444-7800. Reported by Devon Patton, devon@action3news.com


As you can see, they've butchered Philip's name, and they also videotaped him in a few moments that he didn't realize (the angle taken from his sunglasses was while the cameraman had the equipment in his lap - sneaky!). As of this afternoon, I've gotten a few phone calls, but nothing that sounds terribly promising. Hopefully, Nanuk will turn up soon!

Playing with our food.

Last night's dinner was about food play. I crushed up walnuts and cereal, then rolled chicken fingers into the mixture for the main dish. And we all had a TON of fun with dessert - Dirt Pudding!

Nutty Chicken Fingers Dirt Pudding!
Nutty Chicken Fingers and Dirt Pudding.



Mmmm, gummy worms.
Mmmmm, gummy worms. :-)


After eating his dinner, Jack wanted me to take a picture of him next to the pudding. So I did. And he was a goofball, making a funny face. Gah, but he looks SO DIFFERENT with all this longer hair now!

Jack wanted me to take his picture with the pudding. He sneaks a worm from the dirt... Yum.


It was so very yum, all of it. I paired the Nutty Chicken Fingers with fresh tomato slices, green beans, and cottage cheese, and everyone gobbled it up. Then the dessert - oh my, was it rich! But so wonderful! It's been YEARS since I've had dirt pudding, and I'm not sure I'd ever made it myself before! :-)

The dish was so full that the "dirt" fell everywhere when I dipped Jack's serving.
The dish was so full that the "dirt" fell everywhere when I tried to dip a serving for Jack.


In case you can't tell, I'm having a great time with meal planning lately. :-D

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Playdate with the next-door neighbors.

The boys played all afternoon (in their hats!) with the next-door neighbors. As evening approached, we had Andrew and Natalie come over for a movie, dinner, and dessert. Tonight was Jack's Choice in the meal plan, so he was super-excited to share.

Mouse-In-The-House Cupcakes
Mouse-in-the-House Cupcakes.


([info]butterflymama3, I'll put the recipe for the Cupcakes in the comments for you.)


Jack had chosen to make Tic-Tac-Toe Pizzas. The ingredients needed were simple: pita bread (we chose wheat), pizza sauce, mozzarella string cheese, and toppings (we used green pepper strips for the X's and pepperoni for the O's).

Making Tic-Tac-Toe Pizzas Andrew and Natalie add their cheeses Having fun decorating their pizzas

Jack poses *with* his pizza
Jack poses with his pizza.

Finished pizzas
From left to right: Andrew's, Jack's, Natalie's, and A.J.'s pizzas.

Grown-up pizzas, baked
From top to bottom: Philip's, then mine.

Posing before digging in
All the kiddos before digging in.

Jack's cheese is super-stringy!
And Jack's cheese was super-stringy!


They were watching Hotel For Dogs together (none of the kids had seen it yet), and we stopped it halfway through to assemble the pizzas. Once they were baked, the kids ate them on the floor in the living room. Once finished, they each picked a Mouse cupcake for dessert.


There were two Cupcakes with each color "eyes.")


Our boys had a great time, and Andrew and Natalie were so sweet and well-behaved. I'm sure we'll get together with them again soon! :-)

LOL - a pic for mom.

Check this out - hilarious!

A pic for mom.

~ yanked from Ashton Kutcher (Twitter)

A real-life internet story.

Yesterday we were trying a new recipe. Lasagna made from scratch, but in the slow-cooker instead of the oven. All afternoon while it baked, I worried about whether the top layer of noodles would really get soft or not. Philip and I were discussing the probabilities of this, but I was in the kitchen, and he was in the living room.

Even as I was taking the lid off the dish, I was explaining why I thought certain little "points" of noodles might not be. Then I paused, realizing that he wasn't seeing what I was, and that he wasn't going to understand what I meant (or, truth be told, even be interested... because, really? What guy cares about the way in which his lasagna cooks, only that it is cooked, right?). But I stood there for just a moment, and then I said:

"Why don't you come in and look at this? 'Cuz this conversation is useless without pictures."

And we laughed together. :-D

My costumeers.

The boys play outside every single minute that they can. On weekdays, this means from about 3:30 (after we've gotten home and they've scarfed down a snack) until dark (or dinner, whichever comes first). There are times that we have to call one of them in for soccer practice, but then they'll happily go right back out as soon as we've gotten home again.

Yesterday, they both quite quite pink from the day's play. *insert Mom guilt* Today, they're outside playing with sunscreen on, as well as wearing hats. They were given choice of their own hat, but it had to be one that covered the face and ears.

A.J. chose his Indy hat. (Of course.)
Jack chose his leprechaun hat, but then promptly switched to his pirate hat. (Both were adorable.)

Such cute guys they are out there, romping around and being the only children in hats. :-)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

What are we going to do with this cat?

Tuck has been pooping outside of the litterbox.

It first began about three years ago. I wrote back then that we were frustrated to no end, that he was pooping right in front of the litterbox, but not IN it. He would pee in there just fine, but he would only poop outside the box. We would clean and clean the floor, as well as use the pet odor neutralizing sprays. The spray only succeeded in him pooping in a slightly different spot than the time before. At the time, we had one very large box for all three of our kitties, and several folks suggesting that he might no longer be willing to share with the girlies. We bought another giant litterbox and immediately all was well.

Until about a year ago, when he began doing it again. By then, we had moved into this house. Once again, we used the sprays and cleaned up everything immediately. We had also begun buying completely new boxes and rugs for the cats' room (they have a rug beneath the two litterboxes, helping to catch the litter from their paws before tracking it all over) every six months. When he started with the behavior last year, we realized it was about time to replace everything again, and we did so. He immediately began using the boxes again.

A little over three weeks ago, he began pooping outside the box again. Twice a day, he would poop in either the office or a little-used corner of the living room. We replaced the boxes and rugs - no success. We tried extra positive attention and loves. We would literally talk to Tuck throughout our entire day, and we would constantly call him up onto the couch or bed to snuggle with us, ignoring the girl kitties in the process. It didn't help at all, either.

And it wasn't like something was physically wrong with him, as if he just couldn't hold it any longer. No, each episode was well-planned. For example, he would come meowing into the office, and I would invite him into my lap while I worked. He would snuggle with me for an hour, and then when my legs fell asleep, I'd move to the floor to be with him some more. Then I would begin reading a book on the floor, and Tuck would settle into a catnap. Then - oops! - the phone would ring, and I would leave the room to get it. When I would come back less than two minutes later, he would have pooped right where we had been sitting, and he would be hiding somewhere else.

Another time, I camped out in the office in the afternoon, and A.J. sprawled on the living room floor to do his homework (instead of the table in the dining room). He purposely was in the living room so that he could keep an eye on Tuck if the cat decided to go in the corner again, while I was on the watch for him to enter the office. In that instance, Tuck chose to poop in the dining room instead.

I practically tore my hair out, I swear. And Philip was just as, if not more frustrated. After almost two solid weeks of him pooping twice a day somewhere in the house, we began to shut him into the cats' room while we were away. I was working from, roughly, 10-2, and I would shut him in the room right before I left the house. Then when I arrived back home, I would set him free once more (and the girl kitties would RUSH into the room, having been forced to hold their own pees and poops in the process!). I would love on Tuck for half an hour, and then I would leave to pick up the boys from school...

and he would poop in the house in that fifteen minutes while I was gone. Doing so AFTER he had just been shut in a room with his litterbox for OVER FOUR HOURS.

So one night, right after another incident, Philip put him into the garage. We were upset, and we'd intended to leave him there until morning, but I felt so guilty as we talked about it in bed, and I was crying. We caved, and we let him back into the house within just a couple of hours, and he slept soundly on our bed most of the night.

And we woke to poop in the office in the morning.

This pattern continued for about two more days. On Tuesday afternoon, I was helping A.J. to make his dessert for that night in the kitchen, and Philip was watching television in the living room. Tuck wandered in, and Philip called to him, trying to get him to snuggle on the couch. Instead, Tuck only walked by for some petting, but then sat a few feet away from Philip on the floor. When Philip "watches" TV, he really falls asleep, and within minutes of him drifting off, A.J. and I were suddenly assaulted with the smell of fresh poop. The dining room windows and the living room sliding screen were open, and there was a massive draft - it alerted us to the poop almost instantly.

I yelped as I discovered it in the corner of the living room, and Philip jumped up from the couch mid-doze. He was groggy, yet mad. Tuck was nowhere to be seen, having hidden immediately (as he'd been doing). Philip found him in the cats' room, and he pulled him from his hiding spot. As he picked him up to take him straight to the garage, Tuck struggled and scratched Philip's left arm with one of his back claws. Philip nearly dropped him, and sort of "squatted" as he went down, in order to get a better grip on the cat. Instead, just as he reached for a better hold, Tuck turned and bit Philip fiercely on his right hand and arm, several times. Philip dropped him completely, and then had blood running down his arms and all over the carpet.

He had serious puncture wounds to attend to, and I was frightened. A.J. had been doing his homework at the table during this, and he was distraught. He saw Philip bleeding everywhere, and he began crying, asking what would happen if Tuck tried to bite poor Kiki or Baby?

It took over 40 minutes for Philip to get the bleeding under control, and in that time, I was on the phone to the vet. I was frantic, and I called the one closest to us, rather than the one our kitties had seen. After fully explaining the situation and speaking to the vet for half an hour, we'd devised a plan:

- leave the cat alone for 48-72 hours. No one was to handle him, and we were supposed to basically ignore him. We were to give the cat a chance to calm, settle down, and mellow out a bit.
- because a bite was involved, begin a 10-day at-home quarantine. Do not introduce the animal to new pets or people. (This was easy, as all our cats are completely indoor animals.)
- buy a giant new litterbox. (The vet explained that some male cats just really become sensitive to odor as they age, and that the covered-style boxes hold the odors in. We were to buy a large Rubbermaid container and just forget the lid.)
- try pheromones therapy. (The pheromones would mellow all the cats the same, but we specifically wanted to try them in the hopes that whatever was stressing Tuck would be alleviated.)
- bring the cat in on Friday for a behavioral consultation.

Philip was already ready to head to the Urgent Care Clinic for treatment of his puncture wounds, and the vet definitely recommended it as well. He left, and returned about two hours later.

With a different game plan, as per military regulations:

- take Tuck to the vet on-base for the first appointment the next morning

(And, by the way, I was so aggravated to learn that the military docs did not prescribe Philip antibiotics for his puncture wounds, nor did they even wash/sanitize them! Grrr. WTF did he even go for, then? Oh, right - because we both knew that puncture wounds are potentially serious biz, and because you can't be too careful with them. Guess the UCC team didn't get that memo. *mad*)

...

We were both concerned. Not only had the one vet told us not to bother Tuck for a few days, Philip was quite chewed up, and I didn't want him to risk getting hurt further trying to put Tuck into a kennel the next morning. Also, having seen the wounds and having been the one who scrubbed blood out of the carpet for an hour, *I* did not want to risk getting hurt trying to kennel him myself, either. But we had no choice, so we hoped for the best.

We headed out to get the giant new litter "box", and returned home with two huge Rubbermaid bins with no lids. These things are so much larger than what we had, even though we had the biggest litterboxes available. We readied the boxes and fed the kitties. Tuck would not come out for food, and he stayed well-hidden under our bed.

The next morning, Philip somehow managed to crate Tuck, and then he left for work. (This was at 4:30am.) The boys and I got up for school a few hours later, and I entered the dining room to chat with Tuck while they dressed. He was meowing so very sadly, and he had tears in his eyes. I choked up, feeling so bad for him, and knowing that he was so scared. I dropped the boys off at school early enough for breakfast so that I could be at the base vet right when they opened at 8am.

And everything went downhill from there. :-(

Because Tuck had bitten someone, we had to prove his rabies vaccinations were current. I didn't bring anything with me (I didn't know I had to, and I'd not even been told that by the other vet when we were discussing the original plan). Even so, I'm a crappy keeper of kitty records (I know, I know), and Tuck doesn't wear a collar because he is 1) an indoor cat, and 2) is such a large, large kitty that collars always rub off the fur on his neck, and it looks painful. So I gave them the name of the clinic we take the kitties to, and they called.

Only to find that the clinic had NO records for us. Well, that's not true. They had records for us for a cat named Max, and that's useless - we have NEVER had a cat named Max. I called Philip to be sure of the correct vet, and he knew it to be the one that I had mentioned. I also called Heather, and while she thought it might have been this other one, I was still SO CONVINCED that I was remembering it correctly. The receptionist was kind enough to call a handful of places, but she had no success. And because records couldn't be located at all, the base regulations require a 10-day quarantine at a boarding facility, meaning that we had to surrender Tuck to the Nebraska Humane Society.

And it had to be done immediately. As in, I couldn't even take him home while I worked and then take him in later that afternoon/evening. No, now - RIGHT now. I called both Philip and Heather sobbing while the vet did some more paperwork before sending us over. I felt SO BAD for Tuck. I knew he was scared, and I felt terrible that now he'd been packed up in his fear, and he wasn't even going to get to go home. I was being forced to strand him. :-(

I cried all the way out to the Humane Society (the receptionist was sweet and printed me directions from Mapquest). I fervently hoped that [info]treehuggies would be working right then. At least then, I would feel like Tuck would have a friend on the inside, and I would be able to take some much-needed hugs from her as well. But when I arrived and asked for her, she'd just gone home sick for the day. :-(

I sobbed while filling out the paperwork, having to sign papers that also talked about destroying the cat if not picked up on the appropriate day, etc. It was heartbreaking. I talked and talked to Tuck, and he looked so very sad and so very scared. Too soon, a lady said she'd take him, and I couldn't even choke out the words. I tried to say, "Goodbye Tuck, I love you," but my throat closed completely over after the "bye."

And so he's gone for 10 days. We can't pick him up until the 16th, and we're not-so-patiently counting the days. I've called to get a status check each day (it would break my heart to hear that he's so scared he's not eating or drinking), and he's doing alright. They say that he stays smushed in the back corner of his cage and just stares, giving everyone the "evil eye" as they pass him, but that he's eating well.

Poor, poor Tuckster. Stuck in jail, and I'm sure, wondering why we just deserted him. :-(

When I arrived home again after work that afternoon, I tore my office apart looking for some sort of file for the vet. Sure enough, it was EXACTLY the vet I'd been sure it was earlier. And I called for an hour to get through (it was busy forever), and then chewed them out royally for losing our records.

Meanwhile, Kiki went to the base vet the very next day to get her records re-established and current, as well as to get micro-chipped, and Baby has an appointment next Thursday for the same. And I started a new file system for the kitties, and have been tracking down information from here to Alaska (where we adopted Kiki and Tuck), trying to rebuild their files. I've also called and been extremely angry with the vet clinic that lost/tossed records, and the best they can offer is, "We'll keep an eye out for your files, and we're sorry."

Meanwhile, we went to Petco and bought the pheromones stuff and have it installed now (and I am *not* a fan of the smell), as well as new collars for all the kitties. We bought Tuck a small dog collar, and hope that it will fit him a little better, and we'll never be without current tags and vet info again.

*sigh*

WHERE ARE ALL MY TUNES?!

I just realized that my iTunes library is practically depleted! I had over 30gb of stuff in there, and now it's done to about 4gb.

Hundreds of albums are missing, all my playlists, movies, and even my purchased tunes...

WHERE DID ALL MY MUSIC GO?!

ETA: I tried tons of fixes, but nothing worked completely. The best I've got is a back-up of my files from October. I've probably got about 8 weeks of work ahead of me to find and restore all the files that are missing. I'm just sitting here crying.

*curses*

Leftovers Lunch.

I had a lunch of leftovers today.

Leftovers Lunch
Honey-Garlic Angel Hair Pasta with Carrots


Blueberries with Cottage Cheese


White Chocolate Tarts


SO YUMMY!

An afternoon to catch up.

A.J.'s soccer game was this morning (they lost 11:1 - yikes!), and Jack has a bye this weekend. It is gorgeous outside, but looks are deceiving, as it is quite windy, and we were very cold at the game.

We've had lunch, and the boys are playing outside (though dressed a bit warmer than earlier!). I've had requests from a friend, so I've got some catching up to do online. While I'm doing that, I also hope to make some sense of my desk. It has gotten covered this week in kitty papers (a separate entry coming about that), and I can't find anything.

So. If you need me, I'm right here for the next several hours. Last night after supper, I put together the lasagna for dinner tonight, so all I have to do is turn on the slow-cooker in a bit. Should be a nice, relaxing, wind-free afternoon.

Monday, May 4, 2009

You know I've got to...

May the Fourth be with you.

:-)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The menu.

My menu for the next couple of weeks:


Grilled Hot Dogs
- leftover Strawberry Margarita Squares

Chicken Pockets
- cream of chicken gravy
- lima beans
- salad

A.J.'s Choice:
Pizza Snakes
- corn
- strawberries
- Chocolate-Dipped Confetti Cones
- ice cream

Taco Salad
- mandarin oranges
- White Chocolate Tarts

Chicken with Blueberry Sauce
- Honey-Garlic Angel Hair Pasta
- carrots

Slow-Cooker Lasagna
- salad
- ice cream sandwiches

Jack's Choice:
Tic-Tac-Toe Pizza
- salad
- red grapes
- Mouse-in-the-House Cupcakes

Cheesy Ham Chowder
- Kids' Breadsticks

Taco Mac
- pineapple

Southwest Marinated Grilled Chicken
- rice
- broccoli
- fruit cocktail

Salmon Macaroni Bake
- peas
- tomato slices

Ham and Swiss Pie
- butter beans
- carrots

Nutty Chicken Fingers
- green beans
- tomato slices
- cottage cheese
- Dirt Pudding Cups

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta
- broccoli
- Kids' Breadsticks
- Cannoli Pudding

I tried really hard to choose recipes that would use up bits of things I had on hand. With these choices, we'll use up the grated Parmesan cheese, whipping cream, maraschino cherries, chopped walnuts, Cool Whip, leftover cubed ham (which I froze after Easter dinner), marinades, and graham cracker crumbs we've had for a while. This makes me immensely happy. :-)

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The game is just now ending.

I'm so very tired of being so stupid with maps and directions. Some folks find it funny, but I hate that I can't figure these things out, and it actually makes me really sad and disappointed.

A.J.'s game was at noon today, and it was here in Bellevue. We made it just fine. His game ended at 1pm, and we stopped by the house for dessert/snack.

Jack's game was scheduled for 2:30pm in Plattsmouth. When we got home, I studied directions online for several minutes. I tried to Mapquest the park where the fields are located, but the search engine didn't know what I meant, and I couldn't input any more information than just the park's name. I had a color print-out map from the coach in the car, and I studied it for several minutes, trying to make some sense of it in correlation to the few directions located on the website.

Finally, at 1:40, I took a deep breath, hoped for the best, and we got on the road. I drove and drove, and nothing looked at all like the stoplight intersections the coach's map told me to look for. I was supposed to be on Hwy. 75-S, and then I needed to turn left at the intersection (with a stoplight) for Hwy. 34-E. I looked and looked and looked. I drove forever, and the minutes just keep ticking by on the clock. At 2:20pm, we had just hit Union, Nebraska, and the road signs on the side of the road said 75-S:34-E - that we were on BOTH roads at the same time. I was so frustrated because I can't even understand how we can be on two ENTIRELY DIFFERENT roads at the same time!

I turned around and traveled back up 75 going north. I turned right at the first stoplight we came to (several miles down the road), and then I was able to find the right roads to lead me to the soccer fields. Finally!

Only, it was then 2:40, and his team was nowhere in sight. In fact, there were only a few families of a girls' soccer game that had just ended. I asked for help from a set of parents, and I showed them my map. They weren't sure where to go, but they did live in Plattsmouth, and their best estimates placed the field I needed to find at a completely different park complex - about 15-20 more minutes away, and back down 75-S.

So I tried again. Finally, at 3:00pm, I was so very lost from where they had said I probably needed to be, and there was just no hope of making it. The game would've already been at halftime, even. I told the boys that it was too late, and that I was just going to head back home. Jack seemed fine with that, knowing that I had really, really tried.

I wasn't fine, though. About a minute after telling them, and the two of them sinking happily back into song in the car, I started crying. I felt so frustrated, so stupid. I mean, this isn't a new thing for me - I'm constantly lost - and I hate it. I hate just not understanding maps even though I try SO HARD. I hate missing out on something because I'm too stupid to find the location. I just feel so dumb.

I pulled myself together, but then the tears started again a few more times. I am just so disappointed in myself. I'm crying even now, as I type this entry. And I'll be fine in a bit, of course, but then when Philip gets home at 5pm, and he asks how Jack's game went...

I know I'll cry and feel sad, frustrated, stupid and disappointed again. :-(