Hack hack cough cough

I don't like being sick. Thankfully I don't come down with anything more than once every 3-4 years. Evidently it's my time to be under the weather with something. My intuitive sense says this is a combination of whatever the current bug is running around, latent stuff being flushed out of my kidneys, and my willingness to take on an upper respiratory so the cats didn't have to. So yeah, I'm sick.

I'm not the only one. My tai chi teacher called me last night to call off tonight's class. He's got the hacking cough I do and his wife won't let him out of the house. Wise woman.

All of this seems to be centered around my throat. I've had a sore throat for most of last week. Started sneezing on Saturday and it all hit on Sunday. I'm taking grapefruit seed extract and Sambucol to counter it, and will add echinacea and goldenseal if an infection starts.

Since it's all throat centered, I wonder what I'm not speaking that needs to be said?
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I'm starting to leave the door open to my office during the day. Charmin has stuck her nose out a few times and Kona has come in the office a few times. More hissing and growling ensues. Eventually these two will figure it out and get along.

Kona does not like being held. That's a problem when I need to brush her, cause she won't sit still. Doesn't help any with all the static she's carrying. I got her to sit for a minute yesterday. I kept my hand on her back while I combed her with a metal comb. Every stroke I got shocked. If that's what she's feeling, no wonder she doesn't like being brushed. I need to find a cat safe conditioner or detangler that I can leave on her that takes the static out. Time to go fish on the net.

Charmin doesn't come out much. She's found a new place to hide, so I may tear things apart and make a new nest for her back there. Something a bit more comfy than laying on papers and books.
Her eyes have finally cleared themselves up, so no more daily dosing with the ointment. Means I need to make time to spend with her, play with her, bring her out of her shell.
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Lo and behold, Thing 2 came through with an emailed list of dates for consideration for all of us adults. There are some conflicts, so they will have to figure that out. At least we have something to work from through the end of summer - it's a step in the right direction.

Another week, another cat

So this bundle of white is Charmin. She's the newest foster to the house. I apologize for the not so good pix - the poor kid has conjunctivitis - pink eye to the rest of us. I've had her quarantined in my office since I picked her up last Tuesday night. Thankfully the ointment I have to put in her eye three times a day is working - the swelling has come down, her eye almost back to normal like her other one.
She's also recovering from bite wounds. Not sure what happened at her first foster home. They had dogs and little kids, and I suspect one of the dogs got to her. She wouldn't eat for them, but she's been eating and drinking for me.

This is one of those heart breaking cases. When I picked her up to transfer to my crate to bring her home I was overwhelmed with grief and heartbreak. Once we got home and I got the office organized... wow. I picked her up out of the crate, she curled up in my arms and I sobbed. She felt like she'd been emotionally abused as well as the physical.

For the most part I've let her eat and sleep in peace for the last week. When I do come in to do meds, I pick her up and just sit and pet her for a while. Eventually she'll relax and start purring. I have to bundle her up to put the ointment in, so she stays put and doesn't shake it out of her eye.

The debate is, do I keep her or hope that she goes to someone that will have just her and appreciate that they have a really mellow lap cat.
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Still nothing on the work front. That's OK. I suspect I'm getting this time off for a reason.

What's that reason? So I can have time to concentrate on myself. Did the liver & gallbladder flush, which surfaced more anger and resentment. For the next three weeks I'm doing a kidney flush, moving not only the kidney stones and sand out, but also moving the fear as well.

Better to move this stuff now while I have the time off, cause when I do go back to work who knows when I'll get a break again? Go through an intense growth period while I have time, space and peace to process.

And yes, I do realize just how lucky I am that I get to do this and not have to juggle a job on top of it. Yes, I'm still working on the TCM nutritional guide, but I can do that when I want to - be it in the middle of the night or whenever.
The universe works the way it is supposed to.
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Now if we can just get that concept through to one of my nieces... Thing 2 was supposed to find a way for her boyfriend here in the Cities to come out and stay out there this past weekend. When she couldn't find a place for him to stay, they changed plans for her to come here. She didn't bother to ask me if she could stay until noon on Friday, and only after prompting from both her mother and I.

I laid into both kids when they got here Friday night. Lack of planning ahead, lack of respect, the lying about contacting me, lying about a whole mess of stuff.

I'm really glad, when I got my Verizon iPhone, that I paid the $5 for unlimited texting. Friday morning alone I blew through that and then some if I'd still been paying 25 cents a pop. (and yes, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my iPhone).
Between texts from his dad, her mom and her...

Saturday morning his parent and I chatted about what was going on and how to handle things moving forward. We then brought the kids in and laid things on the line. From now on everything has to be planned out ahead of time. As soon as you know, you start running things up the flag pole. I asked about prom and spring formal, graduation, any summer doings and started putting them on my calendar as we talked.

We'll see how that goes. I asked for emails to all involved so that everyone is on the same page at the same time. If I don't hear something soon about spring formal plans, I'm going to start prompting.

I didn't have kids for a reason and I still have to deal with this stuff. Oy. Preparing me for my own some day, if menopause doesn't hit first?

Now meet Kona

Meet the newest addition to the family. This is Kona, a big pouffy furball. Picked her up from P Saturday night and so far we've been getting along pretty well. Other than learning about what side of the bed to sleep on, I think we're pretty well settled.

Since she's a long haired cat, I need to look at either finding a groomer I can trade services with or buying a clippers. Come summer she's going to be boiling with all that fluff, and I'm not going to have the time or patience ever night to brush her and keep the mats down. I figure if I get her a belly and butt trim now, come summer she'll get an all over buzz cut and keep that until fall when we go back to butt and belly trims.

Other than that, not much doing. I did hear about another potential exec admin job at the last place, running from next Monday through the end of April. See what happens. Still waiting to hear on the year long one.

KK

Got a call today from the adoption coordinator I've been working with on KK. Someone wants to adopt her.

Thankfully we seem to have things under control again. Sunday I went and got different litter and a gallon of Nature's Miracle specifically for cats and went to work on the areas she'd pooped and pee'd on. I made a second box and put it right outside my bedroom door since that was where she was leaving deposits. That worked for a day or so until she did it again. So this time I put down a puppy pad over where I'd cleaned up. That seemed to do the trick - she's consistently used the box for the last 48 hours.

Some of the box issues may have to do with a sensitive nose. I have to scoop the box daily, then she will use it. If I miss a day, she misses the box.

Tomorrow at 12:30 I take her up to the adoption center and she goes home to her new family.

I am a little sad. In some ways, after losing Raini and Shad, I'm not as open to letting anyone in. I don't get as attached as I did to the first two.

Sometime this weekend I will be getting another cat. My friend P took in a cat, but the poor thing is scared of her two dogs. My house is quiet now that the construction is done, so Kola should have a better time here. Even if I do foster another cat, Kola will still be the primary cat.
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Still nothing on the work front. I am up for an exec admin job for the enterprise applications group at the company I've been at. Since that is IT, I may see if I can do some job share to keep my fingers in the software licensing. If a full time perm job opens up in licensing, I'll drop the contracting job.
Much as I hate to say it, admin jobs are a dime a dozen. There are plenty of others that can fill in. Software licensing, not so much. I created the job and can still work circles around the Boy.

Been crocheting like a mad woman and have 75% of the graduation afghan done. So far I've only had to buy one skein of yarn. I'll let it go for a few days, give my arms a rest, then start filling in between the points of the star.

Still waiting to see if unemployment will come through for me. Been three weeks with no payment, so things are getting tight money wise. Some of it is my fear of even opening the unemployment letters, waiting to find out why I'm not getting paid, or if it's a rerun of what I went through in 2008.

If I get the admin job, that starts the 14th, so I won't get paid until the 25th. OUCH. I'll find a way to survive.

One way is to start selling stuff on Craig's List. I've got a list going, time to start selling. I've got a bike carrier going out the door tomorrow. I need to get pictures of some other stuff and get that listed. If I can get some of that stuff out the door that will help tide me over until the money starts rolling in again.

Patience. This will all work out like it's supposed to. Between now and then I can beat on the Wave Master. I found one on Craig's list for $65, brought it home yesterday. Better to take out my frustration on that then on a living human being.