Cats, Plants and Video Games (the little joys of my life)

Almost time...

2011-03-22T09:11:00.004-06:00

I so can't wait for the end of the month. I'll be done work on April 1st. Within 30 days after that, I get to meet my son :D I can't wait to go into labour. I'm tired, sore and uncomfortable. It's been a hell of a ride and I don't think I've got much left to give in the way of energy and I know he's running out of room in there lol.

I'll have to change the name of my blog as well. My son has become one of my biggest "little joy in life" For all the discomfort this pregnancy has caused me, I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world :)

I can't wait to be a mom.

edit it later

2009-05-31T21:49:00.000-06:00

gonna do a post tomorrow morning on some stuff...

Italian Pot Roast

2009-03-26T16:30:00.003-06:00

Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast

3 lb beef chuck roast, trimmed and halved crosswise

1.5 lbs small white potatoes (I used golden potatoes)

1- 28 oz. can tomatoes in puree (I used diced canned tomatoes)

1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges

4 garlic cloves, halved lengthwise

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)

salt and pepper

With a sharp paring knife, cut 4 slits in beef roast; stuff slits with half the garlic. Generously season beef with 1.5 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. in a large skillet, heat oil over high heat, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook beef until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.

In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine beef, onion, potatoes, tomatoes with puree, rosemary and remaining garlic. (layer everything exactly as ordered here)

The recipe says to cover and cook on high about 6 hours and then remove and thinly slice. Alternatively on low 8 hours instead. Separate the meat from the potatoes and put juice/gravy in a gravy boat. Serve it with warm biscuits.

Gonna try this one on Sunday, more to come later on how it turned out!

Lasagna recipe

2009-02-19T11:10:00.002-06:00

Basic lasagna recipe and technique
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
36 ounces tomato sauce
22 ounces ricotta cheese
20 no-cook lasagna noodles
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a frying pan over medium high heat, brown the ground beef. Drain off any excess fat. Add the onions, garlic, basil, oregano and pepper to the beef, stirring to combine. Stir in 24 ounces of tomato sauce.

2. Layer a 9×13-inch baking pan, beginning with four lasagna noodles, then 1/4 of the ricotta and 1/4 of the meat sauce. Repeat, ending with final layer of lasagna noodles. Pour the last 12 ounces of tomato sauce over the top of the lasagna.

3. Bake for 45 minutes. Sprinkle the Parmesan and mozzarella over the top and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes to set. Slice and serve warm.

For this lagsagna recipe, I swapped out the ricotta and parmesan cheeses and put in more mozza and cheddar. I also used fresh basil and oregano from the fun aerogrower that mom bought me for christmas.

OMG it was sooooo good. I need more time to make it again! Terence enjoyed it thoroughly as well.

Shooting the Cannon...

2008-12-03T11:11:00.002-06:00

I can now say that Dad's gun is rediculously loud.

We were out at Gerald's in the tree fort, waiting for the deer to come out and play. Way far across the field, we see a doe and two fawns wandering around. They keep looking back at the bush line, so we figure there's gotta be something else over there. Sure enough, we're rewarded for our brilliant deduction. A spike horn buck walks out and eats his way down the tree line, but doesn't seem to want to come any closer to us. Dad keeps telling me that if I want that one, I have to shoot it with his gun, as mine will never make the shot. So I sigh dejectedly and kiss my hearing and shoulder good bye. As I lay down on the cold, snowy deck and prepare myself for the blast, Dad keeps saying wow that's really far and are you sure you want to shoot that one, we can wait.... I'm already wet and cold, that deer's going to get shot at one way or another. I line up and take the first shot... My brain takes a few seconds to recover from being kicked by a mule before I can ask Dad, Did I hit it? He says, nope try again. I'm thinking why not? I'm already deaf... Three shots at him and the third sprays him with dirt, I was aiming too low :(

Hunting!

2008-10-29T12:43:00.003-06:00

My first attendance of the annual hunting trip to Dad's land of sand went well. The weather sucked but we got a doe and a bull. Warren is going to make deer bacon and salami out of the doe and I told him to do something tasty with my portion of the bull. Everything about my weekend went well, even the timberwolves that tried to eat me. I'm sittin' on my rock in the middle of the slash, waiting for the moose to come out. I can hear this weird noise really faint in the distance. I think to myself, what the hell is that?? I hear it again a bit closer and off to my left and realize it's the wolves! Thinking they're way off, I feel pleased that I finally got to hear the timbers howl. All of a sudden, one of them lets loose a howl from behind me in the trees no more than 100 yards away. Scared the crap right out of me!! Let me tell you, I loaded my gun in a hurry...

Terence's plant website is awesome and I can't wait to get some statistics out of it. I've been faithfully entering the data for it each time I water the plants. Most of the plants are doing well. I'm kinda worried about the polka dot ones though. I transplanted them and I don't think they liked it...

Mom's Surgery, my birthday and Kailee's baby

2008-10-16T11:16:00.003-06:00

Mom's breast reduction went well. She went from a size M to a size D. The surgery itself was a bit of an ordeal but she's now at home and on the mend. They had to open her up twice to get the wounds to drain properly. :( Poor mommy. The anesthetic made her very nauseated and she didn't eat very much for a few days. One good way to lose weight, go for an operation! They removed 8 pounds of breast and she didn't eat for 3 days so needless to say Mom's a little skinnier these days.

My birthday was fun. Terence and I went for a hike up Sioux Mountain. We had a bit of excitement while walking across the train bridge. On our way out, a train came, so we waited patiently while it crossed the bridge and then it stopped after it finished crossing. We assumed that it was done and started across the bridge. When we got about halfway across, the train started to back up! It only backed up for a few meters though luckily, so we were still ok. Scared the crap out of us though! We thought we might have to run for our lives like the kids on Stand By Me lol. Sioux Mountain is gorgeous and we'll for sure go again. The "Goat Trail" is a bit steep on the way down though so we might drive out to Hudson and see what we can find for trails on that side of the mountain instead. We met a couple with their grandkids up there that said there is another way down on the Sioux side as well, so some exploring is in order to find all the bits and pieces.

Kailee's little guy, Anthony, is doing great! Growing like a little weed, he is. He weighed over 8 pounds last week and is gaining steadily. He sleeps well and eats ALL THE TIME according to Kailee hehe.

Bebee!!!

2008-09-14T11:33:00.003-06:00

Yay! Kailee had her baby boy. They named it Anthony Benjamin Serson. He was born on September 11, 2008 @ 11:28 :) He's soooooooooooo cute, I just love him! But enough gushing... He seems to be all together, 10 fingers, 10 toes, very alert and eats well. I hope he grows like a little weed and gives them lots of good memories :)

Gencon!

2008-08-29T21:58:00.004-06:00

OMG gencon was awesome this year! I got to meet RA Salvatore and he signed my books! Terence was oh such a good mate and stood in line for me for over an HOUR!!! while I was at a seminar so I could get an advance copy of one of Salvatore's new books :D I love my Terence, he's so good! The new book that I got is called The Reader's Guide to Drizzt Do'Urden and it's signed by RA and his editor. We also got books signed by Ed Greenwood and some lady he's writing a book with.

Terence took a terrain building class and loved it! He wants to make a little city to put all our miniatures we bought in lol. It should be nifty to see what he learned put to use. I took a painting class on how to paint wood and stone realistically. Was very interesting to see and the stone painting example was very appealing to me. I'll probably use the idea lots when decorating my minis.

We also went to a video games live concert while in Indianapolis. It was very neat to hear some of our favourite music come to life. The Final Fantasy segment on piano and the sephiroth music was my favourite parts. The metal gear solid skit was pretty funny too, Tommy Telerico scooting along in a cardboard box will stay in my mind and make me giggle for a long time ehehehe.

Some of the goodies we got are: a new painting, two battlehives, a chainmaille dice bag, metal dice, paths card game, and a bunch of little stuff (dice, books, buttons, etc.)

Heh, yeah I'm MIA again.

2008-08-25T10:29:00.002-06:00

Ok so it's been a while again. Lots new to report, Gencon was awesome, plants are doing fairly well, Kailee looks like she ate a watermelon whole lol. But I'll report more on that later. This is just a little plug post that I'll add stuff to in the next few days.

Mom's birthday and gaming

2008-06-08T15:06:00.004-06:00

We had a barbeque for Mom's birthday. Terence helped my Dad redo the screening on the veranda and remove their old clothesline. The clothesline pole was interesting to get out, the bottom was covered in a foot of cement... He-man Terence got it out and carried it away though lol. His gym time is really paying off, he looks so good and says that he feels really good too. I'm glad his blood pressure went down, it was worrying me.

DnD's been going kinda slow with all the family events but it should pick up after next weekend (father's day and kailee's moving). We've gotten back into Diablo 2 and FFXI again, heh. Gonna do it oldschool for a while I guess. I'd like to play Pharoah again too. It was an awesome game.

Aquarium stuff!

2008-06-05T20:59:00.003-06:00

All my stuff for my aquarium is in and accounted for. I had to order the goodies from three different sites lol. The lights don't quite fit but I think that can be worked around. I'll have to acquire a hood somewhere or hang them from the ceiling or something. I've got all my rocks picked out for my waterfall and some driftwood, but I'm not quite satisfied with the wood. I'll find it eventually though.

The sites I ordered from are JL Aquatics
Mail Order Pet Supplies
pets and ponds

Everything arrived intact and on time. I was very pleased with all my purchases from these Canadian companies (US companies seem to have an issue with shipping across the border :( )

Time to start building!

bedding plants

2008-05-24T18:54:00.003-06:00

Terence & I have had a good weekend so far. My friday was very relaxing for the most part. I did a few loads of laundry and tidied up in between researching stuff for my tank and meetings & lunch. Gaming was fun yesterday but I think Dustin is getting a bit big headed with his character. Boat or no boat, he's pushing his luck.

I bought some bedding plants today for the back deck. Yellow and orange marigolds, two types of pansies, something that looks like a red marsh marigold and a fun little purpley and white flower should look very nice out there with the black eyed susans that I picked up from timbermax. The strawberries are coming along good so far too.

I think I've got most of the aquarium stuff figured out for my tank now. I just have to figure out the ground plants and how to deal with them. I got some good ideas from one of the guys at plantedtank forums so I'll go to Rona tomorrow when Terence is up north and have some fun ;p

Strawberries! AND OMG HE'S GONNA BE THERE!!!

2008-05-20T10:09:00.007-06:00

I picked up some strawberry plants at Timbermax on Sunday and potted them. I put one in the ground just to see how he does. I hope it warms up soon (the weather network says 25C around mom's bday (june 1), so it should stop freezing at night by that point...) as I'd like to be able to stop moving my plants in and out. The temp on my deck this morning at 9 was 3.6C (brrrrr) so I decided to wait until lunch time to move the plants out.

The hibiscus looks like it's going to be ok so far. Two days out of the water and it's still nice and perky. I'll give it a week or two and then give it to the kiddo. The transplant for the wandering jew looks like it took as well, although it might take a bit longer to wilt as an adult plant. I took some cuttings just in case. If it roots, I'll plant it in the other hanging basket and put it in the office. The philodendron still hasn't rooted yet, neither has the grape ivy (slow as molasses in january...) They haven't died yet though, so I'm still optimistic.

And now for the big news....

R. A. Salvatore is going to BE AT GENCON!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited ehehee! They haven't released what time or day but it's been announced that he will be there and will be signing books with his son, Geno. They wrote a new book together and it looks really good! He'll be signing one of his other series which I think I'm going to order and read and then get him to sign and OMG I'M EXCITED!

may long & paludarium

2008-05-19T16:23:00.011-06:00

May long weekend went fairly well. Camping didn't happen but that's not a suprise to me. Everyone says that camping is the thing to do on may long but I think they're on dope. It snows or rains every may long that I can remember, including this one lol. We did have a very nice bonfire and barbeque at Michelle's house though. Bad part was, it was cold enough to freeze Michelle's steps and one of the kids took a tumble.

I got to do lots of good shopping on the weekend. I picked up my power squid and two timers for my tank, some shirts and a new pair of pants and some other random stuff for around the house.

Terence and I set up the stand for my paludarium. Now I just have to figure out where to put it. I'm thinking where the dresser is, but that might be cold in the winter. I'll make a post on planted tank to see what they think.

On another plant note, the hibiscus is rooted and planted and we transplanted the wandering jew. Hopefully both will take to their new pots. Kailee's wandering jew is ready to go to her house. She's told me to give her as many plants as I can as she'll have some nice big windows in her new trailer that she's buying. She's in for a suprise now that she's turned me loose hehehe!

wow, where did my week go?

2008-05-13T14:34:00.005-06:00

Ok, it's been a bit crazy this week. I went to Dryden on Friday and didn't come back until Sunday. It was a fun weekend but holy crap I'm tired. We had a texas holdem tournament for my Dad's birthday. I kicked butt ehehee :P and then donated the winnings to Mom & Dad's boat fund. I hope they get enough money to buy the motor Dad wants. He deserves it. Mother's Day went well I think, we mostly just putted around the house and pampered Mom. I took some very nice pictures of Kailee's puppy and a video of pookie pushing around a baseball. Funniest thing I've seen in a long time heh. Pookie snorting and running after this baseball bigger than her head. Terence kept stealing the ball and throwing it and Pookie would run as fast as her little legs would take her. Dog's tongue was hanging down half a mile when she was done.

The animals have been bad this week. The cats broke two branches off the hibiscus and knocked my rubber tree off the table. Grr.... They're lucky I love cats. Misty is now being tied up again as the neighbours left some hotdogs out this winter and Misty decided rotted, 4 month old, frozen and rethawed (repeatedly) hotdogs might taste yummy.... (so very very gross!!) Needless to say, she was sick most of thursday/friday.

Terence has been playing Grand Theft Auto 4 non-stop since we bought it last week. He's thoroughly enjoying himself smashing cars and shooting people and stealing everything that isn't nailed down. I can't say I'll play the game at any point in time. The missions are interesting enough but I get to see them while Terence plays so not much need for me to do them again myself. The graphics are nice though.

office is semi-clean

2008-05-04T21:49:00.003-06:00

Friday went well. Paul's taxes are all done. My office is semi-cleaned up. I'll finish it off tomorrow or the next day. I'm really tired tonight. I think I'll go to bed fairly early. We only got 5 hours sleep last night and mine was broken. Kailee's place is still unfamiliar enough that I wake up at all the little sounds.

Kaileeis trying her hand at gardening. Her angel wing begonia is getting a bit spindley looking so she's going to trim it and root the cuttings. :)

We had a good weekend. It was Stewart's birthday on Friday. We had a little dinner for him and a bonfire. Kailee's puppy, mugsy, had WAY too much fun. She ran and dug holes in the garden and chewed sticks (and broke my poker stick! Rotten little dog!) and played with a frisbee and knocked over Stu's and Kailee's pop and drank some and ate pop-covered grass and dirt lol. Needless to say, she was exhausted. She played until she couldn't play no more and then flopped herself down by Kailee's feet and went to sleep. Funny funny little dog.

Gaming was fun, too. Greg helped Kailee finish off her character. My god that kid is loaded to the teeth. She has so much magic, it's coming out her ears. I know who I'll be following around in game from now on. I'd like to make a campaign or two but I don't know if Greg will allow Terence and me to DM at his house. We'll see though.

Gencon is all booked! We have an awesome room, an awesome flight, our badges are bought and the time is booked off and approved at work. Both Terence and I are SOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!

Woot! My audit's done!

2008-04-30T20:30:00.002-06:00

Yay! The audit is done for NGFC. There's still a few things to document and discuss but I think it will pretty easy from here on in. I was so pleased to hear Michele say that I had accomplished lots in the 2 months of being at the Centre. Made me feel good :) I have a few more changes that I'd like to make before the next year comes around as well. But that will come in time. Now that year end is done, I can relax for a few weeks and then get into the changes I want to make.

We cleaned up the house tonight. Did the floors, vacuumed and cleaned out the fridge. I watered all the plants as well. The hibiscus was getting a itty bitty flower bud but it died. It's almost time for flowers though. The datura is in full bloom and looks gorgeous. The angel wing begonia is doing awesome too, sprouting all over the place!

Friday's project will be the bathroom and the office, I think. I promised Terence that I would clean it up before I set up my tank, and I WANT my tank!

it's almost audit time...

2008-04-27T10:54:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow is my audit at work. It should go smoothly I think, but I can't help being just a bit nervous! lol I'm really looking forward to it being finished and being able to relax. I've got one more set of taxes to do and a bit of work for mom and then tax season is officially done! I can get on to the fun stuff I've been neglecting, like housework (bleh) and gardening (yay!) and my paludarium (woot!!!) I think it will be set up in that order too. I HAVE to clean my office soon. It's a disaster and I'd like to use the space for other things.

I made ribs today, I hope they turn out alright. I'm not sure if they have enough sauce. I cut back as the last batch had too much. Ah well, we'll find out in 5 hours how it will be.

My parts came in for my aquarium stand. I can't wait to put it all together and set it up! That will probably be my project after I get the garden set up and growing. I'm thinking two weeks from now. Can't wait!!!

delays!

2008-04-22T21:52:00.003-06:00

Sigh... I went to put together my aquarium stand and one of the pegs is bent. Now I have to wait until Friday for the spare piece to come in. I hate delays! I revised my list of equipment that I need to incorporate the advice of the people on plantedtank forums. (the planted tank) That place is a mountain of knowledge, it's got advice on everything!

The more I think about my amazon river scene I'd like to create, the more I think it will work. I'm excited to see what kind of plants and aquatics I can put in it.

I watered all the plants today. The hibiscus is doing well in it's new stand. I think the one set of cuttings from it is going to root. It's got lots of little root buds and one of them has an actual little root (lol only like 1/4 of an inch long but it's there). I bought a three new ones, not sure what kind they are though. I'll do some research and then update my plant list :)

eeehehehe got my tank :)

2008-04-20T21:18:00.003-06:00

I went to the pet store yesterday to talk to Cheryl (Florence remembered her name for me lol) The individual that had claimed the 29 gallon tank didn't come in to pay for it, so she sold it to me! Yay!!! I bought the tank and stand right there and will go pick up some testing equipment and the lighting and some plants and other fun stuff after the end of april.

We went gaming again this weekend, it was lots of fun! I think Mom is starting to calm down about us doing stuff with people other than them. She was ok once we all got chatting about stuff. I think it'll just take some time.

She who hesitates is lost...

2008-04-15T10:22:00.002-06:00

Well fAck... I hummed and hawwed about buying the 29 gallon tank and someone else bought it instead. That's what I get for not making a decision. Ah well, I guess that means I'll just have to buy a bigger and better one heehehe (Terence is going to kill me ;P ) I'm going to go in and talk to the Critters Cuts and Huts lady (can't think of her name right now) on Friday when she returns from travelling. Hopefully she can help me decide on size and type of tank and we can order it in with a nice stand. I'd really like to get this project started soon after tax time is done.

Mom's statements are tentatively done. I don't think she'll want any major changes but I've got them saved so I can edit if I need to. Now on to Florence and then I can relax for a day or two and then do Mom's first quarter. Busy girl, eh?

We bought a new stand for the hibiscus as the other coffee table was already starting to bow down in the middle lol. I think this stand will hold up to it's weight, it's a nice wrought iron one with sturdy legs. I'm going to do some photography of my plants later and post them around. Spring is coming and they are all doing nicely with the added sunshine so I'd like to get some good pics while they are growing and happy.

fish tanks on sale....

2008-04-09T21:59:00.004-06:00

The pet store here has fish tanks on sale and I soooooo want one. Sucks that I'm so busy right now :( I have no time to set up my paludarium right now. I'm going to check some prices and see if it's a good deal or not though. If it is, I'm going to buy it and call it done. I'll store it until summer when I have more time. She has a gorgeous 30 gallon tank for $100, so very tempting!

Kailee's birthday went very well, she was happy with all her presents I think. She really liked her little plant I grew for her. We had lots of fun playing laser tag, I was really tired for the second round though. All that running for 7&1/2 minutes is hard lol... I know, I'm pathetic. I've been walking more now though. I hope it eventually pays off. Exercise is good for me but it's hard to stay motivated sometimes.

I am very tentatively hopeful for the cuttings I took for Kailee from the hibiscus. They look like they MIGHT take. At least, they haven't wilted and died yet hehe. The wandering jew slips I took for her rooted and have transplanted to dirt fine. Once they start growing a bit, I'll give them to her to take care of. The datura, that isn't a datura (lol I know, I know, I need to get it identified) is flowering again but one of the shoots is dying for some reason. It's leaves are turning yellow and falling off, but only on one of the branches. I don't have a clue as to what is wrong with it. Time will tell though, the younger shoots seem to be doing fine, and it's flowering so, I'm just going to leave it the way it is. It may be that it got damaged while being transplanted.

Ahhh... Blessed Fridays :)

2008-04-04T09:59:00.005-06:00

I spent this morning relaxing and listening to spa music. I love my job, 25 hours a week, every Friday off and awesome money! My cheque this week was over $900 ::drool::

It's a good thing I'm making extra money now too. One of my plant stands took a nose dive! O.O The one leg on it finally gave out when the screws tore themselves out of the plywood bottom. Some how it doesn't suprise me though, we bought the stands 6 years ago in Kingston second hand. Five dollars each seemed like such a deal lol. The hibiscus slid off and cracked it's bottom plate (which I tried to glue, and had absolutely no success) and the peace lily crashed to the floor. No serious damage was done but it scared the crap out me and the cats. Terence, as always, wasn't really phased by it. It did break off two branches of the hibiscus so I'm attempting to root them for Kailee. Hopefully it works this time. It would make up for the crash. I'm going to try rooting them in water with some rooting hormone and see how that works. The special rooting dirt didn't do squat last time.

We booked our tickets for gencon yesterday! eeeEEEeeehehehehe :D I'm excited, can you tell? lol I've been trying to get a decent room booked but no such luck yet. All we have so far is friday saturday at the omni, not what I wanted but I'll take it for now. I imagine something will come up closer to the day of.

Excellent long weekend and some new pics

2008-03-25T18:02:00.005-06:00

The weekend was awesome. We ate way too much food and paid dearly for it. The spread was at Michelle's house. I made an apple pie and cut up Kailee's salad ingredients as my contribution to the meal. Terence realized what was in pie dough and vowed to never eat it again lol. So I'll be making my pie dough out of olive oil or butter from now on instead of lard.

Everyone in the family seems to be doing fine, except for Stewart, he was "sick" all weekend. Kailee and Stewart got a new puppy and supposedly it kept him up all night, causing him to be ill for two days.... WTF is he going to do when the baby comes along???

I downloaded all of the camera's pictures and have uploaded my favourites to flickr. I'll post some highlights of the pic spread shortly.

Easter weekend and Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2008-03-21T10:25:00.003-06:00

It's Good Friday today, so everything is closed (which sucks) but I get to spend the day with Terence (which is awesome). We don't really have much planned this weekend except dinner on Sunday with the family. The cool part is we both get Easter Monday off as well! I might have to go into the TIC office to straighten out the Blueberry books on Monday though (bleh). I really hope it doesn't take too long.

I think today will consist of cleaning up, some laundry and

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread!

The recipe I'll be using is as follows:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup mashed ripe banana(2 to 3 medium)
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup HERSHEY'S Mini Chips Semi-Sweet Chocolate
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan.

2. Combine all ingredients except small chocolate chips and walnuts in large bowl; blend well on medium speed of mixer. Stir in small chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

The recipe comes straight off of the Hershey's website

Tasty Banana Bread nomnomnom lol

Final Fantasy 12 is done!

2008-03-20T07:47:00.002-06:00

I finally finished FF12. It was a very good ending and made me wish there was more. I'll probably still do the rest of my hunts just to get the final trophies but for all intensive purposes, the game is done. I won't spoil the ending for anyone else (I hate it when people do that :# )

On another gaming note, a new update came out for FFXI. Which I think I'll be thoroughly ignoring... They didn't really fix anything with the jobs, in fact, they broke it more! I swear they're retarded, they gave samurai another tp ability and gave thf a weaker version of an ability they already have, but it shares a timer with the stronger version.... um yeah that was a really good idea... Now I'll never use that ability, EVER. Gee thanks SE.

What a crazy week!

2008-03-18T09:22:00.003-06:00

Last week was nuts but very good. I got lots done and feel good about everything except the condition of the house. It's a disaster area, I got some of it cleaned up this weekend but it's still messy.

My new job is going very good! I really like the people here. I know a few from my work at the bank. The next few weeks are going to be a bit haywirey as it's year end and I'm still learning the ins and outs of the books here but I think it'll go pretty good. Might not be the smoothest year-end ever seen, but it'll get done.

Carmelly kitten got fixed on Friday. She was really groggy and tired for the rest of Friday and most of Saturday, but she perked up and is now back to her little playful self. She can go outside and run free now too! She had grand fun with her sister outside watching the birds and chippy run around at the feeder. I don't think it will be long before she's in the feeder just like her siblings. They are going to teach her so many bad things lol.

I made a chicken and rice dish in the slow cooker on Sunday. It wasn't all that great. I don't think I'm even going to put up the recipe for it. I'll find another one that's more tasty. I still have to put up the chili recipe. I'll do that when I get home for lunch today.

Chili recipe and warm weather

2008-03-10T12:24:00.002-06:00

I made Chili on Sunday again. It was awesome! Terence says he loves slow-cooker sundays :) I'm glad that he enjoys my cooking. In the grand scheme of things, the slow cooker is easy to do and it's awesome for us. No preservatives or extra crap, just good fresh food. I hope it improves his blood pressure.

We went to Walmart this weekend with Kevin and stopped at their little BP checker in the pharmacy. Terence's was 146/90something... I'll admit that mine was a bit high too (136/87) but holy crap! that's high! I got reading online and blood pressure is supposed to fluctuate during the day so little spikes is ok after eating and during excercise or stress but not all the time. I'll make sure he gets lots of sleep and excercise before we donate blood in april/may. If his pressure is still high, I'm making him see a doctor.

The snow is melting! I was gorgeous on Sunday when I went to the grocery store. Beautiful sunshine and warmth pouring down from the sky. The wind is still a bit cool but I think winter is releasing it's cold cold grip from the land. The cats and dog are very glad. Grizzy went out for a good hour or so, Mephit was in and out all day and Marbles was out all afternoon (which is REALLY rare). Carmel was just itching to escape, but we kept a close eye on her. She can start exploring after Friday when she gets snipped.

Yay! No more Candace! Rib recipe and repotting

2008-03-08T14:43:00.005-06:00

Muahahahahah! I'm done at the bank and my gods it feels good. I'll miss some of the people that I served but that's about it. Even the good bye card the staff gave me is only half-assed and bland. I was so not meant to work with those people. It's done and time to move on though. NGFC has it's share of problems too, but nothing compared to what was going on at BMO.

As promised in my last post, here is the rib recipe that I used. I was right, every bite was lip-smacking, finger-licking awesome.

Sweet and Sour Ribs

3 lbs Ribs
1/4 c. flour
1 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. water
1/2 c. vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 c. ketchup
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Combine all the ingredients except the ribs in a sauce pan on medium heat, mix thoroughly and allow to thicken. Cut ribs into 3 of 4 bone sections, lay flat in the crockpot and cover with sauce. I made two batches of sauce and it may have been a bit much. I might try making like, one and a half batches next time.

I transplanted the rubber tree, now just for the Grape ivy. I can't decide whether to put it in a new pot or put it in it's old pot with new dirt. I'll figure something out though.

book book book :)

2008-03-01T13:08:00.003-06:00

Hehehe I just ordered 6 books for $5! I love free gift cards :) I ordered two cat books by Erin Hunter, two books of the Drizzt books for Terence by R. A. Salvatore, an older book I've been looking for called Factoring Humanity and a gardening book they had on sale. It's scheduled to arrive in two weeks or less (probably less, chapters is awesome for shipping fast)

As for where I got the free gift card? My last cashout for bravo points at work was for a blender and $50 at chapters :) Still haven't used the blender yet though. I might have to pick up some fruit and make a smoothie or a milkshake this afternoon. I have to go in to pick up the stuff for slowcooker sunday tomorrow! Going to make ribs mmm mmmmm tasty! I'll post the recipe I plan on using later on tomorrow.

So tired...

2008-02-28T21:52:00.003-06:00

The past few days has been really hard on me. Monday went well at the doctor and physio's place. My follow up appt went very well. Dr. Fidler says the methotrexate seems to be holding well. I've been off the prednisone for over a week now. I still get little twinges here and there but I think this might work for a while. I didn't shop much, just bought some books and some planting materials.

My new job is awesome! This is going to be so easy :) I'm even able to teach my teachers stuff like how to search on the computer and accpacc lol. I really like Laurie as a teacher, Evangeline is a bit of a flake and very slow but I guess it won't matter in a few weeks as I'll be replacing both of them. Teddy seems to remind me lots of Annabelle heh, but maybe a little more easy to tame. Hopefully, I can keep her on track with spending, the budget there is way bigger than PAL's ever was so it should be ok.

Only 6 more days with Candace! I'm so glad! ;)

transplanting and growth

2008-02-23T14:49:00.003-06:00

I transplanted the Ficus Benjamina and the German Ivy. Both seem to be doing well. I lost the plant that I got from the restaurant, the frost was too much for it. The hibiscus seems to be doing better, it's got some new growth coming. Hopefully, it's adjusted to being by the heater and it'll be ok. I think I'll transplant the grape ivy next. It's still in it's original pot from 6 years ago and probably is in dire need of some new dirt. Other than that, all the plants are doing very well, lots of new growth on the polkas and datura. I think I'll post some pics of the datura on the ubc website. Mom seems to think it's not a datura like she originally thought. Maybe they can confirm one way or another and if it's not, help me identify it.

Lunar Eclipse and ngfc new job!

2008-02-21T09:31:00.004-06:00

Last night was a very nice show. A lunar eclipse on a full moon. We didn't get to see much of a blood moon though. It must have been cloudy around us. An article I found on NASA's website details what causes a blood moon or Hunter's moon as it's called in some parts of the world.

NASA article on Blood Moon

I found out when the next total solar eclipse is for North America, lol August of 2017. Terence said we could go but it's so long into the future that I'll just put it into the back of my head and forget about it for a little while at least. It would be a neat family trip to take into the states. It's also right around Gencon time so that would be convenient if we're still going to that for our vacations.

I got my job at the NGFC! It's $20 per hour for my probation and $22 after that. I'm very excited about it, I start on Tuesday. It will be good to get away from Candace. I've had enough of her bullshit. I do have to ask Teddy about Gencon in August though. I'd imagine it will be fine. I will offer to work some Fridays to make up for the hours. I think if I ask for Wednesday to Monday off, that's not too much to ask for (only three days when you take into account I get Fridays off)

T4s, Deer and Family Day

2008-02-18T00:09:00.004-06:00

Mom's T4s are done. (one more thing off my long list of crap to do) Yay! I brought them up to Dryden today and had a nice visit with the family. We went to Tacotime for a bite to eat and poor Kailee didn't eat much lol. Her morning sickness is more like all-day sickness.

After Mom and Dad went to bed, I was watching TV with the lights off and was treated to a wildlife display outside the living room window. Five deer came to the feeder and snacked on the sunflower seeds while I watched in awe. I tried to snap some pictures but am not sure how they will turn out as the lighting was pretty much non-existent. We'll see though, I hope at least one or two turned out. They were very tame and allowed me to get right up close to the glass without spooking much at all. The one doe was very agressive towards the other doe and her fawn. I think there was a bit of a territorial issue going on there.

I forgot my brace for my wrist for sleeping which sucks, but I wonder if the damn thing makes it worse anyways. I don't think it fits quite right. I feel like I'm gripping it in my sleep trying to change the position of it. I'll ask them next week whether or not it needs adjusting.

I'm really getting discouraged at work. For the most part, I just really feel like I don't fit in. I try and try to have conversations with customers and my co-workers and it just never comes out right. I fumble on what to say, I speak too softly and half the time they can't hear me or don't understand. I wish I wasn't so nervous all the time. I really wish I had got that job at the NGFC. Everything happens for a reason though and I'd imagine there's a good one for me not getting it. I just can't think of one right now. Ah well. Maybe a greenhouse will open up and I'll get a job there lol. We all need our dreams though, so I'll keep that one nestled safely in the back of my thoughts where no one can dash it to pieces. Back with my garden and paludarium and my cat sanctuary. Someday...

Tomorrow is lolFamily Day. What a joke of a holiday. I lost my floater so they could create a fake holiday in the middle of the coldest month of the year. I'm so not impressed with the Government on this one. I would have rather worked and picked when I wanted my floater.

Baby....

2008-02-13T23:22:00.004-06:00

Yes I'll say it one more time so it can sink in real slow.... Baby... My sister is going to have a baby... Not sure if that's a yay or a OMGWTF thing. We'll see, I'm suspecting it will be a good thing but ya never know.

Found a fun little game online about geography. Link for it is:

Fun with world geography

I think my plant from the restaurant might, and that's a huge might, live. It's growing small root tendrils and some of the leaves have a small amount of greenness still. I'm hoping really lots that it survives. It's a nice little plant and I was very glad when the lady said I could have some.

I did my interview today and it went awesome! I'm so very glad it did. The questions were super easy, and I really liked the people. One of them is Terence's second cousin so that might be a good thing. I get my answer on Friday. ::fingers crossed::

weekend fun and ngfc

2008-02-12T10:08:00.000-06:00

The weekend was pretty good. We went to Dryden to pick up Mom's T4s and to have a visit. Saturday night, we went to the Queen St. Station to play pool and listen to the karaoke singers. Mom's friend, Charles, won the karaoke contest (could be because she voted for him 10 times lol) Mom, Dad and Terence had a little too much fun (beer) so I drove home. Kailee and I were the only sober ones as Stewart declined to join us. Sometimes that guy drives me nuts. He phoned my cell, Dad's cell and the house repeatedly after she asked him if he wanted to join us. Why not come with us instead of repeatedly phoning a bazillion times trying to get her to come home. Jealousy is a huge relationship killer, I hope he realizes that. What makes me really laugh, is he's worried about her hanging around her family. What happens if she makes some new friends??? Ah well, enough bitching about Stewart.

Dad, Terence and I went for breakfast on Sunday. I got a new plant from the restaurant :) Unfortunately, I think it may have gotten frostbite on the way into the house as the doors were frozen and we were outside for a good 3 or 4 minutes before we got inside :( We'll see though. I hope at least a small piece lives.

The NGFC called me and requested an interview tomorrow YAYAYAY! I'm so excited and hope hope hope that I get the position.

NGFC, clean up and plants

2008-02-07T16:28:00.000-06:00

I called the Nishnawbe-Gamik Friendship Centre and confirmed that they received my application (yay they did, and Teddy sounded very friendly on the phone!) I should know something by the 14th (sweethearts day :D maybe my love will bring me luck) It made me feel so good to hear from her that they were probably interested and that they received it, especially after work. I just really can't be bothered to put effort into BMO any more. Candace just keeps dishing it out left right and centre for the stupidest reasons.

Of course, because I was upset because of work, I went on a bit of a cleaning spree lol. Two loads of laundry and vaccuuming done, I might have to clean out the dresser and the closet just to make me feel good though. It's about the only thing that I appreciate about getting upset, it makes me want to clean! I like the results, just not how they were produced.

I'm going to check all the plants this evening, too. I'll report in later which were watered and which were left.

Edit: The plants are doing good. I watered all of them except the String of Pearls, Ficus Alii, the prayer plant and the African Violet.

I figured out the camera!

2008-02-06T18:55:00.000-06:00

Yay for new pictures! I got the camera to talk to the laptop properly, turns out I was missing a driver. I inserted the XP home disc and voila! Unfortunately, I think I accidentally deleted the funny video we took of Carmelly kitten making her fun chirpy noise at the dishtowel :(:(:( Ah well, it won't take much to get her to do it again. This time we won't have barkey in the background to be let in lol (dog was barking during the clip making it hard to hear Carmel's fun noise) I'll upload the photos to flickr later for everyone's browsing pleasure!

mmm cookies and repotted plants

2008-02-03T20:19:00.000-06:00

We had a good weekend, very productive. I made cookies and repotted the datura and parlour palm. Terence did the dishes and some laundry while I baked and gardened (good deal as far as I'm concerned lol, I enjoyed both of my tasks) I watered all the other plants except for the Ficus Benjamina. One thing I did forget to do was call Mom and let her know we weren't coming to town. I think she knows that now though, considering it's 8pm on sunday...

Terence and I are leveling Pld/Whm, just to 42 for me (for the teleports), and not sure how far for him maybe to 75, maybe not.

so f**king tired of it...

2008-02-01T18:17:00.000-06:00

I really can't care less about my job these days. My manager has got to be retarded, either that or she's trying to drive me out. I work my ass off to get referrals and do a good job but of course, that's what I'm supposed to do... I miss one (1), I'll say that again, ONE name during my side-by-side and she goes off on me. I mean right goes off, asking me if I think this is McDonald's and it's just in, serve the customer, out again. How she would expect that kind of stuff from a rookie CSR and it won't be tolerated here, etc, etc. No mention of my 200% referral score, no mention of balancing to $3.00, no mention of anything else other than I missed addressing one person in 10 by their name while she was standing there.

I really can't be bothered any more. It made me incredibly discouraged and really not want to be there. There's an advert in the paper for a part-time bookkeeper. I'm seriously thinking of applying just to get away from her. I just can't win with her, if it's not one thing it's something else. And when she can't find something, she makes up stuff to yell at me for. No one else there likes her. They all think she's crazy and nasty. Ah well, on to other things...

We finished the Wings of the Goddess missions for ffxi, interesting storyline so far. I hope they hurry up and update soon! I think Binbi's going to start leathercraft as his next craft. I've got to update my spreadsheets for crafting. Not all of them are up to date. He's started fishing again, going for the Lu Shang's Rod. I bought a bunch of moat carps for him to help him on his way :)

Testing Embedded Spreadsheets

2008-01-30T22:03:00.000-06:00

Gonna try to embed some spreadsheets to see what I can do.

Yay it worked! Tada, here are Magrayne's merits :)

And it's a little bare but a crafting sheet that I'll update later. (updated it, not so bare now ;) )

Cashed out at Netwinner!

2008-01-29T10:43:00.000-06:00

Hehehe I had a good day at netwinner yesterday. I won a 1000 point prize and a 5000 prize! They gave me more than enough to cash out for the first time. Now to wait the 60 days for my ecard... Hopefully it arrives in one piece and on time. By the time it gets here, I'll be ready to cash out again lol.

I watered the peace lily yesterday, it was getting droopy. I think I'll repot the parlour palm and the datura. I like the pot they're in but I don't think the parlour palm is having a good time there. Hopefully with a new pot it'll sprout up a bit. If I can keep the cats away from it that is lol.

Plant propagation fun

2008-01-27T00:16:00.000-06:00

Almost done with mom's books (yay!) I still have to find those cheques to deposit tomorrow. Can't figure out for the life of me where I put them... I hope I didn't wash them in the laundry :( Ah well, if I did, I did. Nothing I can do about it now.

I watered all the plants Friday except the prayer plant so they should be good for a few days. The angel wing begonia rooted nicely and I now have two of them! With luck and some good care, I'll be able to give Kailee a nice little plant for her birthday in April. I might see if I can find propagation techniques for the Datura just for fun.

I got another email for a fish tank, but no pictures and she wants $300 for it... Which sucks, I'd really like to try making a Paludarium. It might have to wait until after tax season, though. I just don't have the energy right now. Soon though, maybe when I have my garage sale and get extra money from it, I won't feel so queasy about dishing out $300-$500 all at once.

I found out something interesting about Netwinner. They are just now getting to the payouts cashed in for end of September... I'll try to be patient but holy crap that's a long time to wait for a cashout. I'd like to start tracking my balance to see how much I win each day. I know it's not much but hey it doesn't take much to play either.

work ffxi and the kitties

2008-01-24T21:54:00.000-06:00

I'm still plugging away at Mom's stuff, about halfway done though. I have to remember where I put her cheques she gave me though, I need to deposit them before the first.

We're going for Binbi's egg on friday **crosses fingers** I hope he gets it! I need to figure out how to post my stats online for merits and crafting without using ffxi community (as there are supposedly security issues that are mixed in with it.) I think I might try to figure out how to use GoogleDocs. That would probably do the trick. I wish I had more time to craft :(

I set up Carmel's appointment for her to get spayed. March 19th is the day that she goes under the knife o.O I'd also like to see if there is anything that can be done for Marbles' eye. It isn't dialating and contracting properly on the side closest to her nose. I knew I should have brought her in... Not that they would have been able to do anything here in dryden probably, but I feel bad for not trying.

work, work, and more work... and some birds and flowers!

2008-01-22T17:25:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again! So many books, so little time. I finished the Barker stuff (just have to print and bill it :) , that's the fun part though) and have moved on to Mom and Dad's. I'll be doing that for a few more days, hoping to get it done by Friday. Then I've got the blueberry festival to deal with and Anne at the TIC is interested in getting a review done. That should keep me busy well into February.

Mom emailed me a nice picture of a junko (I think) at her feeder. I've had some good luck at my feeder. Lots of nice grosbeaks, chickadees and one nuthatch. And one less squirrel to worry about hehehe... There was two squirrels at the feeder, eating all the seeds (little gluttons) so I decided to let Grizzy have some fun :P I let him out the front door so they wouldn't see him and he snuck around to the back. I went about my business in the house, getting breakfast ready and happened to glance outside to see how he was progressing. There was one squirrel about halfway up the tree, looking down under the deck. Grizzy was no where to be seen (I'm assuming under the deck) and neither was the other squirrel lol. Needless to say, he wasn't very hungry for kitty crunchies for the rest of the day :P

The datura plant is in bloom! Very pretty reddy-pink flowers. I'll see if I can post a picture of it to my flickr account later on. The fact that it's highly toxic sill kind of scares me but ah well. It's been in the house for 6 months now, if the cats were going to eat it, they'd have done it by now.

breakfast and beef stew

2008-01-19T16:12:00.000-06:00

We went out for breakfast today, was very nice to get back to our regular weekend routine. I'm making beef stew for supper, made some changes to the recipe.

1 lb. beef chunks
4 green onions
4 medium potatoes
two handfuls of baby carrots chopped in half
3 stalks of celery
4 mushrooms
1/2 tsp of thyme
1/4 tsp of paprika
1/2 tsp of garlic
1 can of beef broth (used the 25% less salt kind this time around)
1 can of tomato paste
1/4 tsp of pepper
3 cups of water

3 tbsp of cornstarch
1/3 cup of water

Veggies chopped on the bottom of the crockpot, brown the meat in a skillet. Add the water and broth and paste and spices on top of the veggies and then add the browned meat. Cook on high for 4 hours. 1/2 hour before it's done, add the cornstarch and 1/3c of water to help thicken.

We'll see what that does for the recipe. Hopefully it's tasty!

my time in TBay

2008-01-18T09:39:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been a long two weeks. I'm glad I went though. I learned all kinds of things about arthritis and my treatment. The following post will be my journal while in the hospital. It may take me a day or two to get it all entered.

Day 1 - January 2nd

We arrived at the hospital at 9 and I checked in. I share my room with a little Finnish lady who had a hip replacement. She doesn't speak much english but seems relatively friendly. The nurses came and asked me a bazillion questions about my check in. Then Terence came at 12 and we had lunch in the cafeteria. I did my initial assessment with Joanne and Noel? (I think that was her name) and started some exercises with Joanne. She wants me to work on my shoulder to help increase mobility. After my assessment, I rested and read my book until supper (roast beef and potatoes) and then went to safeway. I called Terence at 8 and we chatted for a bit. He made it home safe, no animals on the road :)

The showers here are ok, I think I'll shower at night when it's not busy. The only odd thing that happened was the tv for the empy bed beside me kept turning on randomly by itself =O Made me kind of creeped out.

Day 2 - January 3rd

POOL! Yay for pool :) It's bathtub warm and soooo good. My instructor Nancy seemed kind of standoffish at first but she warmed up after a little bit. The assessment for my lower body was fun lol round and round the mulberry bush hehehe. They put out these little pylons in the hallway and made me walk around them for 6 minutes. I did like 15 laps by the time I was done. Lunch kind of sucked, cabbage rolls and mushroom soup, but I ate some extra granola crunchies to top it off. I really like the nutrition class. It was very informative and Julie was very friendly. Joanne jave me a booklet with some good exercises for helping my shoulder and some for every day to help keep my range of motion and keep me fit. Nice light stuff to do while at home. Noel also gave me a little block of wood to squeeze to help strengthen my grip as it's below functionality level. I will make it a point to work hard on this lots as it has been a point of annoyance for me. They will do another assessment at the end and hopefully I can make it a little better by then.

Supper kicked ass today. Chicken! mmmmm tasty chicken :P Dessert was no hell though, pineapple cake, uck for pineapples. I met a nice man named Wayne Hodges. He has a big barn kitty just like Grizzy that is waiting for him at home. He's for a car accident that took his arm and broke his leg. I am glad that all my people are whole and safe and sound. We had a good talk about solar panels and being off the grid. Turns out he knew Charlie when he used to drive truck 30 years ago and he might have worked with Gerald about 10 years ago. I hope I get to meet his kitty some day, he sounds like a nice kitty.

Terence is doing pretty good, he merited today and is doing some assaults. Carmel is doing ok, being a chatty little kitten. He says Misty might have a cold, she was coughing earlier. I told him to make sure he keeps her in and only lets her out to pee and stuff real quick. He said he's watch her close. I'm kinda tired today. They ran me pretty hard during my assessment and exercises heh. The pool was good and I'm looking forward to tomorrow again. I'll read for a bit and then probably go to bed early. Wayne came to show me his pictures of his buddies. His big boy looks just like Grizzy! Made me miss my buddies even more ::sniff sniff::

Day 3 - January 4th

My god I love the pool! I have to find a way to either put in a hot tub or convince the town to add a heated pool lol. After pool I had a chat with Jane the social worker. Suprise suprise she made me cry... We got talking about Mom and Dad and family and self image issues. I'll have to really work on some of the issues I have there but we all know how good I am at self expression HA. We did some hot wax treatment and ultrasound on my hands today mmm the hot wax felt good :) I also talked to Noel about some of the tools for my hands. She gave me some good ideas on where to get some of them. I got some good hand exercies from Nancy and we talked about our buddies and cars and all kinds of stuff. Joanne did some more tests on my shoulder and is going to find me some movements to help "floss my nerves" hehehe. Nancy gets to go to Vegas and Arizona next week (lucky girl) and she's all excited about it :) I remember how exciting Indianapolis was for me.

My lecture about Coping with change and loss was hard, but good. I learned some things about myself and where I am with my disease. I also learned that it's ok to be mad but to make sure I'm mad at the arthritis and not at me. It's not my fault, it's no one's fault, it's just crappy ass life's fault. It's ok to grieve for things but to try to understand and move past and over the grief. But there's still lots there that I need to deal with. Tai Chi was lots of fun. I really think its like swimming, very fluid, very relaxing. I'd like to learn lots more about it. My nurse today kind of sucks but I guess you can't win em all. Kind of a crappy day to get a crappy nurse though :( Hopefully tomorrow is a better day, I get to spend the day out and about. I'm going to take the but down town and to the mall. It should be a good day :) Terence is doing KS99 right now. Pray for the BT to drop!

And it dropped!!! Only one more piece to go! Now if he could get the egg-egg to drop. He's having fun watching Silent Hill right now on DVD. He says he needs it in Bluray so it's that much more splattery lol.

Day 4 - January 5th

I woke up at 6 am today, guess that's what I get for going to bed at 10. Doing my exercises and #5 on the hand chart makes my middle finger tight but that could be from my wrist though. I finished Road of the Patriarch. Poor Artemis... :( I hope he finds some happiness in Calimport. He's so sad and angry all the time :( My exercises are done, time to shower and head to town! I looked at all kinds of fun things today, cameras, fish tanks and plants. I talked to the people at Petsmart about my paludarium. They said a $40 filtration system with some pvc piping would do the trick for my waterfall and circulation. They sell live plants there too!

I also checked out some Tai Chi stuff at Chapters and picked up a video. New shoes, a tea mug, a puzzle book and a plant for my room rounded out the day nicely. I met a crazy (or at least my table did lol) at lunch today. I was eating my burger when this old guy comes over and starts gibbering away at me in some foreign language. I glance up and he's not really looking at me. He's staring at the vacant seat across from me >.> So I watch him for a minute or two and yup he's talking to my table??? Needless to say, I picked up my tray and slinked away to another table. Mr. Crazy just stood there jabbering away at my table heh. The bus rides were ok. Walking from Chapters to CTC was dumb though. I'm tired now and a little sore. Gonna get some drugs from my nurse to help it. Yay for drugs! lol.

Terence got his monk pants today. 5 for 5 lucky guy! He also got three pieces of elshimo marble o.O TH4 ftw! I played cards with Wayne, his daughter and one other patient. Wayne's daughter and I kicked butt! She's gonna bring his kitty in to visit some time next week. I hope I get to see him.

Day 5 - Jan 6th

I hardly slept last night ;( I got a new room mate named Carol. She's not doing so good after her back surgery and kept us up most of the night so I may nap today. Pancakes for breakfast! So tasty with yummy sausages. I played some cards with Wayne again this afternoon until some cranky old man came in. I really hate being around them kind of people. They just never stop whining about stuff. I went and checked out some of the stuff on kitchenstock.com. The cutting board looks interesting but I'm not sure it's what I'm looking for. I'll have to poke around online a bit more.

Kailee's coming to visit me on Tuesday :) Stewart has to go to court to testify about some crap from a few years ago. I just hope nothing happens while he's here. He's got so much history here. Mom had a look at the tanks on the CKDR site. She says offer him $75 and see. I don't know if he'd take it though and I don't want to sound cheap but I can't see it being worth much. I really liked the archer fish idea the petsmart lady had. Hehehe little spitting fishies lol. Mom says I'll need to get a suckerfish to deal with the algae. I like the suckerfishes so that's fine.

Beef Stew!

2007-12-30T13:21:00.000-06:00

I made the stew and omg it was good! There are a few things I'd do differently next time, but practise makes perfect as always. My rough recipe I used was as follows.

1 lb. beef chunks
1 small onion (no bigger than a tennis ball)
2 medium potatoes (little smaller than a softball)
three handfuls of baby carrots chopped in half
2 stalks of celery
4 mushrooms
1/2 tsp of thyme
1/4 tsp of garlic
1 can of beef broth (I used consumme, had an old can in the back of the cupboard)
1 can of tomato paste
1/4 tsp of pepper
2 cups of water

3 tbsp of cornstarch
1/3 cup of water

Veggies chopped on the bottom of the crockpot, brown the meat in a skillet. Add the water and broth and paste and spices on top of the veggies and then add the browned meat. Cook on high for 4 hours. 1/2 hour before it's done, add the cornstarch and 1/3c of water to help thicken.

The general concensus was too many carrots and a little too salty (I'm thinking from the consumme) I think next time I'll add more mushrooms and onion in place of some of the carrots, add beef broth instead of consumme and maybe a bit more garlic for flavor. Some recipes call for paprika too, that might be tasty.

crockpot cooking!

2007-12-29T09:34:00.000-06:00

Gonna make some beef stew today in my new crockpot! I'll probably mix and match from a bunch of recipes I found as none of them is exactly what I want.

I stumbled upon some very interesting sites regarding composting and worm farms! If they can ship the worms in the winter, I think I'm going to order one when I get back from Thunder Bay. The one that I'd like to order comes from this site here:

Cathy's Composters

A site that shows how to build a farm (which looked kinda cool) is here:

Build a worm farm

Depending on the response I get from an email I sent to Cathy's, I'd like to either buy a farm or build one and order the worms. We'll see though. Terence will probably make me promise to clean another part of the storage out before I can have it lol. I still haven't gotten any response from my classified ad on cdkr for aquariums. /sigh I'd like to try a paludarium someday though.

No PS3 controllers!?!?

2007-12-27T16:48:00.000-06:00

We forgot the ps3 controller at Terence's Mom's house. So I decided might as well buy another one. Then we have two when we get the other one back... Unfortunately, no one in town has any left to sell me ;(

/sigh no Drake's uncharted for me today, I'll have to wait until we go to dryden again.

I think I'll look for some recipes for my crockpot tonight and set it up tomorrow morning for some tasties for supper. Maybe something with chicken and potatoes, roasted garlicky potatoes, mmmm tasty!

Christmas is all done.

2007-12-26T20:05:00.000-06:00

And what a Christmas! Lots of fun, lots of phat lewt, lots of good visiting. I think everyone liked their gifts Terence and I got them.

My goodies were

crockpot (mmm tasties :P)
digital picture frame
electric blanket (hurray for toasty warm!)
dishes and baking pans
drakes uncharted (yay!)
transformers movie
three nice sweaters
panties and socks
some lotion and hair stuff and other random stuff in my stocking

It's hard to say what my favourite gift is. Its a toss up between my crockpot, blanket and drake's uncharted. I like my sweater really lots too. Time will tell which gift is the best.

It's Christmas!

2007-12-24T10:38:00.000-06:00

The presents are wrapped, the cookies are made. Now all I have to do is survive 3 hours of work (2 if I can make a miracle happen and they let me off early lol) and we're off like a herd of turtles for Dryden. I gave Terence his list of stuff to do while I'm at work. I hope we can get it all done and leave by 330 at the latest, I don't want to drive in the dark. Plus I still want to stop at Walmart in Dryden. Ah well, we'll figure it out heh.

Sloppy Joe's, Marbles' Eye and present wrapping!

2007-12-23T12:25:00.000-06:00

The sloppy joes were ok. Terence really liked them, I was impartial (but I'm not a big ground beef eater so...). I'll probably make them again though, just for him :)

Marbles' eye looks much better, I'm thinking maybe she'll be ok without a vet appt. I'll keep a close eye on it though. I think we'll seperate them for the christmas holidays when we go to Dryden. I don't need to come home to dead or maimed cats.

And now, it's present wrapping time! I might try to make some goodies as well, maybe some cookies (Terence's favourites) and cinnamon buns (cuz Daddy likes them oh so much).

Sloppy Joe's

2007-12-22T16:02:00.000-06:00

This is the recipe I'm using for supper tonight, I hope it's tasty!

1 lb ground beef
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar

1. In a large skillet, brown ground beef, celery and onion.
2. Drain the fat
3. Stir in remaining ingredients, simmer covered, 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. If Joes appear too'loose', leave cover off and let moisture evaporate.
5. Cook until it's the consistency you like for serving on toasted buns.

Cat fights :(

2007-12-22T12:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I gave the cats a quick snack before going to exercise and pick up Terence. Unfortunately, with no supervision to eat it, they must have gotten into it pretty bad. Marbles' eye was swollen shut when I got home. She's got a little kitty shiner lol, poor old girl. I called the vet to see if there was anything I should do and they said that if it's scratched, they could give me some antibiotic ointment but that was about it. I was kinda worried about her late last night, she wouldn't open her eye at all and it looked really really bloodshot. I let her sleep in my spot on the couch (her favouritest spot to sit) and petted her and fed her some extra crunchies. If it doesn't improve by monday, I'm going to take her in for them to have a look. I searched and searched for some information about it on the internet last night and couldn't find hardly anything ;( It's a shame that cats are so hard to document and treat.

The landlord is coming to fix the hot water tank hopefully some time today. I'll be glad to be able to have a regular shower again! We cleaned up and made the house pretty just for them lol.

carmel's vaccination

2007-12-21T10:03:00.000-06:00

Carmel got her shots a few weeks ago. She still has a little lump on her back where he gave her one of the needles. I've read about this happening before in my Cat Fancy magazines. On very rare occasions the lump will progress into something called a Sarcoma which could be cancerous O.O!!!!! You can bet I'll be keeping a close eye on this over the next few weeks to make sure it goes down. I found a link to a vet site explaining some of the symptoms and what to do about it.

http://www.avma.org/vafstf/ownbroch.asp

I found a lump where my cat was vaccinated. What happens now?
It is quite common for a small, firm, painless swelling to form under the skin at the site where a vaccine was injected. The lump is almost always of no consequence and disappears after several weeks. Rarely, however, the swelling may progress to a sarcoma. To be on the safe side, your veterinarian will suggest that you periodically check the vaccination area for several months after vaccination. If you detect a lump, you should contact your veterinarian as soon as possible. Small samples of the lump will be sent to a laboratory for diagnosis if any of the following are true:

* The lump persists for more than three months after vaccination.
* It is larger than two centimeters in diameter (about the size of an olive)
* It is increasing in size one month after vaccination.

If the lump is found to be a sarcoma, your veterinarian may confer with or refer you to a veterinary oncologist (a cancer specialist) for management.

Scary stuff!!

mmm... Striders... tasty boots lol

2007-12-20T19:05:00.001-06:00

Today has been a crappy (because of work and I've had a headache all day) but productive day so far. I got some book work done this morning and did some crafting in Final Fantasy. Both Magslittlekitty and Magsbigbuddy are coming along nicely in their crafting. I spotted some Strider Boots for sale in the Rolanberry mall ::drool drool drool:: Hopefully I can speed up the selling of stuff and get some BCNMs done, I want my Striders and Mandau!

Work sucked but that's par for the course these days. The last week has been crappy but it's almost done. I hope I can get at least one referral tomorrow or Candace will be eating my head next week. I hate it when one boss tells you one thing and the other says something else. It really drives me batty trying to follow both Candace and Gwenda's orders and then Michelle will turn around and give me shit for something else... Ah well, it's only 3 hours a day.

day late and a dollar short :(

2007-12-19T16:32:00.000-06:00

Blooming Wildflowers was sold out of the thing that I wanted. So was the two other places I checked for gifts today. I'm disappointed but it's mostly my own fault. I should have bought it when I saw it. Lesson well learned I hope. Don't leave crap to the last minute!!! Ah well, I'm just glad they were just stocking stuffer stuff and not major gifts.

I'm still classed as a spammer for ckdr.net and they can't figure out why lol. They're going to post my ad for me though so that's good. I hope I can get an aquarium soon! I'm excited to make a paludarium, they look so interesting. I found a whole bunch of great sites with all kinds of instructions and examples on plants and stuff to put in them. I hope I can get some of the plants listed up here in Sioux. Being so far up north sucks some times :(

mini-greenhouse and exercise

2007-12-19T09:25:00.000-06:00

I talked to Mom yesterday and she has a really small tank, which I'll take and make a greenhouse out of but she already gave her big tank away. I tried to put an ad in the ckdr.net site but they seem to think I'm a spammer... I sent the webmaster an email saying wth??? but who knows how long that will take to come back.

We went to exercise again last night. I did 30 mins of walking and 10 mins on the bike. My feet weren't sore and it was a good workout. I'll do that a few times and maybe up the time on the bike slowly (good cardio, doesn't hurt my feet).

My shopping is almost all done, just gotta get that one thing from Blooming Wildflowers (I hope they still have it!) Hopefully, I'll get a chance to stop in there on the way to work today.

polka dot plant propagation methods

2007-12-18T09:38:00.000-06:00

From what I gather, the best way to propagate polkas is to cut and place them in dirt and keep them in a green house environment. I might have to see if Mom still has her aquarium that she's not using. If I can get a big enough tank, I'd like to start a Paludarium (mini eco-system with water and land) I don't think I'd put animals in it though, just plants.

camera's busted

2007-12-17T19:41:00.000-06:00

My battery eating camera finally kicked the bucket. It won't take pictures or zoom in and out any more. I think I'm going to go the extra mile and buy a good one this time. Not sure which one yet though. I'll have to do some research and see what I can find.

We had our Christmas party for work at Candace's house today, was kinda fun. I brought a veggie tray. Trevor brought meatballs, Ryan chicken, Gwenda brought these awesome spring rolls that her maid made (I wish I had a maid...) and Michelle brought some little our dheurves from M&M meats. The spring rolls were awesome! I'm going to try to get the recipe from her tomorrow. Candace gave all of us a bar stool that she painted, mine has roses on it, very pretty. Not sure what I'm going to do with it just yet.

The slip that I cut for Kailee of the polka dot plant didn't make it. I'll have to try again ;( Hopefully I can find some information on how to propogate them.

Shopping and Cookies again lol

2007-12-17T10:27:00.000-06:00

Some stuff I didn't get a chance to mention yesterday about my weekend. Walmart sucks for customer service and Ginger Sparkles are slippery after they are sugared heh. I went to walmart to find some presents. I was unable to find the stuff I wanted so I asked a rep if they could help me... Her exact words were "We don't do that here..." O. M. G!!!!!! I said so "I'm on my own then, I'll just have to look for it" She said, "You could try asking that guy over there" pointing at the other rep down the aisle. I'm thinking to myself, what a lazy little bitch! The rep down the aisle let me know that they don't track certain types of stock and are shipped crates of items with no real clue as to what specifics are on the crate, so he had just as much chance of finding it as I did. Which I thanked him for and told him that I understood. Why oh why did the first girl not tell me that!

As for the cookie adventure, we were making Ginger sparkles yesterday. First of all, make sure your margerine is cold if your going to sub it in for butter (it makes the cookies really liquidy if you don't). Secondly, after you get them rolled up into balls and sugarcoated, make sure you move the pan slowly and levelled. Them little suckers slide just as slick as snot (simile couresty of my mother lol)! We lost two cookies to the floor gods before we could react lmao. The sacrifice was worth it though, the rest of them were tasty.

Christmas cookies and shopping!

2007-12-16T19:45:00.000-06:00

I had an awesome weekend in Dryden! Finished all my shopping except last minute stuff like sock chocolates and lotto stuff. Mom and I made ginger sparkles and some other tasties for christmas. MMMmmmMMM they were sooooo good! Mom brought home some kind of candy-like graham bar from the brownie christmas party. I'm so getting the recipe from her when she gets it from the other lady, it was omg so very good.

Kailee and I had a good talk about Abby cat. He's pushing 18 (I think) now and can't hear, or see, or jump... It's time to say goodbye I think. He hardly eats at all and he's a little skeleton ;( I feel bad for her, and Abby, it's hard for her to accept that her first cat is going to die soon and that the decision may need to be made for him. As pet owners, we have to take responsibility for their quality of life and need to recognize when that quality of life is gone. I'm starting to consider when enough is enough for Misty. I don't think it's time for her yet, she still has lots of fun. But her hearing and sight are going quickly, she spooks very easily no matter what you do or how you approach her. We'll see how things progress though. I'm not sure if I want to get her teeth done or not. I don't really see the benefits outweighing the risks and money involved.

Pool Tournament Fun

2007-12-14T10:06:00.000-06:00

Terence and I went in a little tournament down at the local bar. I played well right up until my first match... It's been a while since I've played in tournaments so I guess I got the jitters. :( Terence on the other hand, took second! Such a shark lol.

We joined the local gym, him to lift weights and me to walk more often. It's too cold outside so it's nice to have an indoor track and some extra machines to play on. Now if only I could figure out how to mount my laptop to a stationary bicycle lmao! My feet were very sore when we got home though. I'll have to cut it down to 30 minutes until I get used to it and work my way up.

I made my xmas list but mom says she's done shopping! Dammit! Ah well, I'll just keep it as a generalized wish list and add stuff to it come my birthday. Terence can do the same.

I watered the hibiscus, polka dot plants, ficus alii, peperomia and german ivy yesterday. I'll check the rest this afternoon.

The puppy....

2007-12-11T10:23:00.000-06:00

My neighbours puppy has now crossed over from curiousity to nuisance. I went to go pick up Terence from work monday night and it ran around and around my car. I almost hit the stupid thing. Then yesterday morning, Misty hadn't been outside more than like 2 minutes and the puppy was there bugging her so she couldn't go to the bathroom. I got out the extra leash and marched the puppy home, but there was no one home to confront... I did find a crate outside their door with blankets in it. I can't believe they'd make the puppy sleep outside in winter time! I finally managed to catch one of the neighbours outside and mentioned that he should keep an eye on her or she's going to get hit by a car. He agreed but said that it wasn't his dog but he would pass on the message to the owners.

Last evening was Terence's company christmas dinner. The food was excellent and the people enjoyable, we got to sit with Lyle and his wife (I can't remember her name). Lyle's always a fun person to be with.

I need to check the plants again today and make my xmas list. Terence made his so it's time for me to stop dragging my feet!

physio in January

2007-12-10T17:03:00.000-06:00

I got my letter for the rheumatic diseases program in Thunder Bay and it looks like I'll be in the program from Jan. 2 to Jan. 15. I'm interested to see what they can teach me about managing my arthritis. They must have a few tricks up their sleeves. I'm going to have to bring lots of books though, no laptop for a whole two weeks is going to drive me batty!!

The sun setting today as I came home at 4pm (depressing isn't it, it gets dark at 4 in the afternoon, /sigh) was gorgeous! It looked all bright red and neon pink, I've never seen anything quite like it. Of course I didn't have my battery eating camera with me, so no pictures to be had :(

Terence mentioned something interesting today. Instead of buying wrapping paper that can't be recycled and waste trees and the environment, blah, blah, blah (he got on his soap box at this point and I couldn't hear him any more from his head being in the clouds lol), use the flyers for wrapping paper. It's just as colourful and better for mother earth. I think I might try it just to see what everyone's reaction will be!

no wrapping paper?

2007-12-10T00:02:00.000-06:00

Today was a pretty good day, Terence and I played Final Fantasy for most of the afternoon, leveling Paladin (him) and Thief (me on a mule lol). He needed a friend to help him through the dunes. It went well, no deaths (which is amazing for the dunes).

I was going to wrap presents after supper today, but I hunted the house high and low and can't seem to find our Christmas wrapping paper anywhere. I even checked the garage! We must have left it at Mom and Dad's house last year.

Carmel is learning quickly the sound of the water sprayer lol. Terence went to squirt her for scratching the couch and she ran before he even got the sprayer going. Such a smart kitten :) We're in so much trouble if her and Mephit team up on us. I'm so glad they don't have thumbs.

Christmas tree and cookies!

2007-12-08T18:42:00.000-06:00

I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies last night while Terence had to work late. He was very happy to see the cookies when he got home :)

My methotrexate was pretty mild today. I didn't really feel any side effects at all I think. Yay for no yuckies!

I watered and misted the hibiscus, polka dot plants and the ficus alii today. I took some slips from the red polka dot plant for Kailee, we'll see how they grow. If they root, I'll cut some from the pink and white and maybe give it to her for christmas in a nice pot.

We decorated the tree and house today. Carmel's going to be a handful when it comes to the tree heh. She's already taken two of the ornaments and ran around the living room with them. I'm quite sure the tree will end up on it's side repeatedly but that's why I only have a 4 foot tree lol. I'm going to have to wrap some presents tomorrow, the tree looks bare without them underneath. I think this is going to be a good christmas this year :)

Wah, wah, wah! Does some one need a whambulance??

2007-12-06T22:36:00.000-06:00

I got to go into work early today, Michelle was off sick. It seems every second person had something to complain at me for or rant about today. I kind of wondered if it was a full moon coming up making everyone crazy, but nope, I checked www.weathernetwork.ca and it's a new moon. I just managed to get all the whiners today... It was an interesting day though, went by pretty fast too. I'll be glad to sleep in tomorrow, full time work just isn't in my blood any more. I'm really tired this evening and will probably go to bed early.

Misty had a run-in with the neighbour's german sheperd puppy again. It's so funny to see it jump and wiggle at her while she barks and tries to hold her head above it's licking range hehe. Carmel was wired for sound this evening, ran around getting into all kinds of stuff, plants, papers, wires, the other cats' food, whatever she could get her little paws on. Little brat! :P

Milbemax is awesome!

2007-12-04T20:18:00.000-06:00

I watered all the plants today. The hibiscus is still distressed about being near the heater. I'll have to remember to mist it more often. My polka dot plants flowered, little white and purple flowers, was very nice to see.

One thing I forgot to mention about the vet appt on Saturday, Grizzy's worm medication, they made it smaller!!! No more crushing it up or cutting it into pieces to force feed it to him. Just one little pill the size of a grain of rice! I'm so glad they did that, makes it WAY easier to give to him. lol no more foaming at the mouth scratching biting craziness! He can eat all the tape worm infected mice he wants now, I'm ready with my new little pills hehe. Hurray for Milbemax!

The people at work gave me a gerber daisy and a nice vase for my one year anniversary of being a BMO employee. I also got a cute little form letter from the VP of BMO lol. Ah well, the flower and vase brightened my day. I just hope they appreciate the little things that I do, like staying 15 mins late today to help with the 3 'oclock rush. I think Terence was a little ... put out (for lack of a better term) that I was later than usual. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do except apologize and try to make it up to him later on.

I think I'll make my Christmas list later on this evening, that always something fun to do! :P.

Cat asthma?

2007-12-03T11:13:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I wonder if Mephit has asthma. She had another of her coughing fits today. They don't last very long, a minute at best, but it doesn't sound like a hairball or a sneeze or any other noise I've ever heard a cat make. I looked it up and found this article on catchannel.com, the link for it is

http://www.catchannel.com/vetlibrary/article_13267.aspx

Very interesting article, I laugh every time I think of a kitty with a little gas mask on though hehe :P

Muffy had always been a healthy cat. For years, the diminutive, longhaired calico was a fixture on the desk of Steve Beerstein, editor of a New York newspaper. However, Beerstein noticed that Muffy's breathing seemed slightly labored, and he could hear a gentle wheeze as she napped. He wasn't concerned, though, as her appetite and activity remained normal, and she continued to act like her usual self: queen of the newsroom.

Then one day when Beerstein arrived at work, he found Muffy crouching in the corner, coughing. Neck extended, she glanced up at Beerstein with a panicked look in her eyes. Beerstein tried to comfort her, to no avail. Between coughs, Muffy's chest was heaving.

"I'd grown accustomed to the occasional sound of her coughing up a hairball," Beerstein said. "But this was clearly no hairball."

In five minutes, Beerstein was hailing a cab and heading to his vet's office. "There are several possible reasons for coughing and labored breathing in cats," his vet said. "At the top of the list, though, is asthma."

What Is Asthma?
Feline asthma is a clinical condition characterized by recurrent bouts of coughing, wheezing, and labored breathing. The condition affects "approximately one percent of the general cat population, and over five percent of Siamese cats" said Rhonda Schulman, DVM, assistant professor of small animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Cats exhibiting these clinical signs usually behave normally between episodes. Some cats have only a brief history of coughing episodes before presented with an acute, severe respiratory compromise - the so-called "asthma attack."

Asthma is a type of allergic bronchitis. The allergen acts as an irritant, triggering a hypersensitivity reaction, and the airways respond with constriction, mucus and cough. If the environmental factors triggering the asthma can be identified and eliminated, the coughing and wheezing usually resolves. But, in most cases, no underlying allergen can be identified.

"People should not smoke or apply perfume around asthmatic cats, or use dusty cat litters," Schulman said.

A diagnosis of feline asthma is usually made based on the history, physical examination findings and chest X-rays. Increased bronchial markings on an X-ray are highly suggestive of asthma. Other helpful tests include a complete blood count and a heartworm test.

"Bronchoscopy, which involves using a tiny fiberoptic camera to actually examine the inside of the lungs and collect specimens, may also be useful in some cases," Schulman said.

Treatment Options
The most effective long-term treatment consists of high doses of oral steroids. Steroids lessen the inflammatory response, reducing the severity of symptoms.

Steroids are given twice daily for 10 to 14 days, and then the steroid dose is tapered slowly over several months. Most newly diagnosed asthmatic cats will feel and act much better within the first two weeks. Even though cats are fairly resistant to the undesirable side effects of steroids, a few have adverse reactions, making treatment a challenge. Steroids inhibit the action of insulin. While most cats can tolerate steroids with minimal ill effects, some fall victim to the side effects.

Bronchodilators are drugs that reverse airway constriction, allowing the air passages to open. Because steroids have potential side effects, it is tempting to choose bronchodilators as the initial treatment option. Since chronic inflammation is the root of the problem, treatment of this inflammation using steroids is the cornerstone of therapy. Bronchodilators may be used as adjunct therapy. Antihistamines and another class of drugs called anti-leukotrienes have been used in asthmatic cats with varying success.

Muffy's chest X-rays and blood tests confirmed the diagnosis of asthma. Oral prednisone was prescribed. On re-examination 10 days later, Muffy's cough had disappeared, and she seemed to breathe easier during sleep.

However, a new problem arose. "I found myself having to refill her water bowl twice as often as before," Beerstein said. "She even began to drink water out of my drinking glass." Steve told this to his veterinarian, and a urinalysis and blood sugar measurement confirmed that Muffy had become temporarily diabetic from the steroids.

Discontinuing the steroids caused her asthma symptoms to return. Fortunately, a new treatment that has essentially no side effects is available: inhaled medications.

A New Approach
Philip Padrid, DVM, associate professor at the University of Chicago, began investigating the possibility of using inhaled medications about 4 1/2 years ago. Steroids and bronchodilators can now be given effectively by inhalation to asthmatic cats.

Both types of drugs are available for humans, as metered dose inhalers (MDIs). In the human world, adults quickly learn to coordinate the inhaling of the medication. However, this is much more difficult for children and impossible for infants or cats. An alternative was developed to allow children, infants, and cats to use the MDIs without having to coordinate their breathing. A spacer - a plastic chamber roughly the size of a toilet paper tube - is attached to the MDI, and a facemask is attached to the other end. The spacer acts as a temporary storage area for the misted medication to sit, until the individual breathes it in.

"The original idea was to copy the way infants were treated," Padrid said. We then modified it when we found that it worked, but [it] was very expensive since the inhaler apparatus and mask used for humans was very inefficient, causing the drug to be wasted and increasing the expense."

Cat owners are taught to attach the MDI and the facemask to the spacer, and then to actuate the MDI twice, filling the spacer with the mist. The facemask is gently placed over the cat's mouth and nose, and the cat is allowed to inhale and exhale seven to 10 times with the mask in place.

Inhaled steroids are the most potent inhaled anti-inflammatory drugs available. Fluticasone is a steroid of large molecular size, preventing it from passing into the bloodstream when inhaled. "Inhaled steroids do not cause the unwanted side effects that the pills or injections do," Padrid said. Many cat owners find that giving inhaled steroids is faster and seems to bother the cat less, than trying to administer oral medication.

Bronchodilators are also available as MDIs. Albuterol is the one most commonly used in asthmatic cats. It acts more rapidly than oral or injectable forms. It can be used daily, or as needed for asthmatic cats that are already on daily steroids, yet still have occasional episodes of coughing, wheezing or increased respiratory effort at rest.

Muffy's Reaction
Muffy hated being pilled, and side effects precluded the use of oral steroids. Beerstein agreed to have Muffy try the inhaler and spacer. After demonstration of the proper technique, Beerstein quickly mastered the application of the inhaler and spacer to Muffy's muzzle. "She really resented the pills, but didn't mind the facemask," he said. "I think she realized that it was making her feel better."

Feline asthma is not a curable disease, but recent advances in our understanding of the disorder have allowed veterinarians to devise more effective treatment plans, and cats are breathing with greater ease as a result.

Methotrexate fun

2007-12-02T11:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my second time taking methotrexate and it threw me for a loop again. On the car ride home, I felt like I had stayed up for three days straight and then went drinking. I couldn't keep my eyes open at all. Luckily, Carmel was sleepy as well from her shots. Once I got home and moved around a bit it wasn't so bad but I went to bed a good 2 hours earlier than Terence (which is highly unusual, he's the one that's always telling me to come to bed cuz it's late). I don't mind the side effects but I hope that it improves over time. I'm glad that Dr. Fidler was willing to change my meds around. My wrist is almost back to normal mobility and my morning stiffness is now just a slight annoyance instead of agony.

Vet appt today for Carmel

2007-12-01T19:16:00.000-06:00

Wow my baby kitty is 3 whole months old. She had to get her immunizations today and didn't appreciate the car ride AT ALL... Listening to her squawk for an hour wasn't much fun for me and Terence either. The appt went well, she weighs 3lb 7oz and he said she was a very healthy kitten with very nice markings, Abyssinian similarities. Makes me feel like a good kitty-mom when people say things like that about my kitties.

I'm glad we decided to come home early today though, we've got a big storm moving in from the states. The weather network is calling for more than 10cm of snow o.O

Carmel pictures

2007-11-30T23:10:00.000-06:00

Here's my little Carmelly kitten. Isn't she a cutey! She's getting so big compared to when I brought her home. She's a very vocal little cat, squeaks and mews all the time while playing or just to say hi :) I love my little brown cat.

Carmelly Kitten :)

2007-11-30T19:22:00.000-06:00

Work went by fast today! It was really busy in the bank, lots of people gearing up for their christmas shopping. I think I might try to learn some sign language for one of our deaf customers. He has to write any requests he has down on a piece of paper and it would be nice to make it easier for him to communicate.

Carmel's 3 month immunizations are tomorrow, should be fun... I wonder if she'll like her new kitty carrier we got her. Mom phoned and left me a message the other day and marked it urgent, but still hasn't phoned me back to tell me why it was so urgent :/ Hopefully it isn't something too nasty. I'll bug her about it tomorrow.

My linkshell wiped twice to Jailer of Love today. What a waste, at some point in the last two weeks, SE ninja updated him to spawn more adds ;( no torque for me. Terence finally ordered Wings of the Goddess (bout time too...) I'm looking forward to getting some new content, been kinda bored with it recently except for crafting. Final Fantasy 12 is still lots of fun though! I'm stuck on this one part in the Pharos Lighthouse, I might need to go do some leveling before trying the boss again.

Wow been a long time... I almost forgot I had this lol

2007-11-29T20:13:00.000-06:00

Well let's see, lots has changed in the last 10 months. Work is ok (i'm now parttime 12-3) my RA sucked until a few weeks ago, playing ffxi again hehe, got a new kitten in October (her name is Carmel) and Kailee moved home from TBay during the summer.

I'm now on Methotrexate (with Folic Acid to prevent side effects, ha... ya right), Prednisone and Melicoxicam for my arthritis. lol could start my own pharmacy with the bottles in my cupboard.

Carmel is getting bigger every day! Weighed 3 whole pounds at the vet few weeks ago. I'll post some pics later.

family visiting, gaming and work

2007-01-15T20:06:00.000-06:00

We went to visit my parents and some friends in Dryden this weekend. Terence and Geno traded Guitar Hero games so I get to listen to a whole new list of fun songs being played :) Dad had to work all weekend so that kinda sucked but we got a good visit in with Mom. She's been wanting pasta for a while, so we took her out to lunch at the Restaurante pizzaria. She was happy with her shrimp and chicken penole or something like that, either way, she enjoyed it :P Terence has decided that we should feed my mom every time we come to town, she's much more pleasant that way lol.

On a gaming note, FF12 kicks ass. I wish I had more time to play it. I've sold almost all of my random stuff in FFXI. Xalwyn wanted me to come do assault tonight but, suprise!, I have no time. Have to make supper and do some posting for TNT. Then do some emails and make some notes for the tutorials I'm putting on for Simply Accounting for the chamber of commerce later on this month. I miss video games ::sniff sniff:: I want to play some more Pharaoh as well. I'll get to them later though. Soon I hope!

Work has been really busy with tax time coming and T4's around the corner. Add full time at BMO and two new possible clients and I no longer exist aside from work. But it means we're $120.00/month closer to that house on the lake. I can't wait! We'll have enough down payment soon I think. There's a house on butterfly lake for sale, but it's really close to the highway so I'm not so sure if I want that one.

happy new year!

2007-01-09T19:55:00.000-06:00

Christmas went well, I had lots of fun with my family and friends over the holidays. Best gifts this year were a bird feeder from my dad and my power box from Terence. Now I just need a solar panel to hook it to :) (yay for free power) My job's going well, I like all my co-workers except my manager (figures) but that's ok because she travels lots.

My ficus benjamina is looking better, but I'm still not sure if I want to transplant it yet. I bought a few new plants, not sure what they all are. I might post some pics later if I can figure it out.

Mephit caught her first bird this weekend, she was sitting in, yes, you read that right, IN the bird feeder waiting for them to land lol. Needless to say, she got a tasty tweety snack right shortly. I'll have to move the feeder and mount it a bit higher to prevent it from becoming a slaughter house.

very tired but happy

2006-12-08T19:20:00.000-06:00

It's been a bit since my last post, I started my new job and it's kinda eating up my time. I wasn't supposed to start until the 4th of dec, but they called me in on the 28th to start my training early. I figured why not, extra hours are good. The training is very interesting, I've always wanted to know how the inside of a bank works, the only part that creeps me out are the hold up procedures ::shivers:: I pray we never ever have to use them. I think BMO will be a fun place to work, I like both my managers and Trevor is fun. Lol, Terence thinks he's gay, but I'm pretty sure he's got a girlfriend. Not that that confirms it one way or the other though, heh. I hope I can get all my Christmas shopping done next friday, I really don't want to have to be running around the weekend after.

On a kitty note, Mephit has been especially bad this week, Terence attributes it to the full moon. I agree and think some of it might also be the fact that I'm not home during the day now. Poor little buddies are all alone for 6 hours a day now. I'd imagine that's a bit of a shock to them. Usually I'm here to take care of them and keep them entertained. Ah well, such is the way of life, the money will help out in the long run.

I replanted my little rubbery plant, the people at the UBC forums called it a pepromia scandens. I separated it into two pots by division and then took some slips to see if I could get them to root. My ficus benjamina isn't doing very good. I think I gave it a bit of a chill by the window, but hopefully something will recover out of it. I'd like to repot it but don't want to shock it any more than it already has been. Time will tell, maybe if it looks better in the spring.

2006-11-26T13:07:00.000-06:00

Here is the recipe I use for my cookies and my god, they're tasty! It's from www.cooking.com (where I get most of my recipes) http://www.cooking.com/recipes/static/recipe5856.htm

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups (11.5 ounce package) Nestle Toll House Semisweet Chocolate Chunks

3/4 cup chopped cocktail peanuts

RECIPE METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chunks and peanuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets; press down slightly.

Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Breakfast, Cookies and some kitty fun

2006-11-26T12:52:00.000-06:00

We went for breakfast after Grizzy woke us up wanting out. Both of us ordered the exact same thing we always do lol. Truckers omelette for him, Egg Muffin with hashbrowns for me. I'm suprised the waitress didn't guess what we were having. After we picked up my prescription at the pharmacy, we came home and relaxed for a bit. For the afternoon, Terence sorted some DnD papers while I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. I like it when he keeps me company while I cook. Hell, I just like his company :) I hope we can stop fighting soon, it's driving me batty. Life with no FFXI doesn't sit well with either of us I think, but it's for the best.

After supper, Terence and Mephit played with some string. He got the bright idea of running away with her string after she tried to drag it up onto the top of the fridge in an attempt to hide it. Back and forth from the bedroom to the kitchen, I thought I was going to pee my pants laughing at them run back and forth with a little red shoelace in between.