Sick Kitties, homework, and getting crafty again.

All three of the cats are sick. We suspect the recent changes in food. Skoora's Mom decided to get the cheap stuff since we couldn't afford the food Yoda is supposed to be eating. So they had Fancy Feast and when that ran out, they had to ear Iams. That's where the trouble started in that the boys began to have diarrhea and vomiting. We were finally able to get the good food, the low carb food for Yoda (the diabetic kitty) but now it seems that Ellie is sick too. I am really beginning to worry about them. Aside from be awoken from an already restless sleep the last couple of nights (back and body pain make it difficult for me to sleep a lot of the time) due to being hot, I really don't enjoy the stench from the litter box. But can we move it from the hall way? No, that's where Skoora's mother likes it to be and of course we are forced to deal with the smell if we want any air conditioning. Also, I couldn't shut a door to save my life. Galen and now Yoda both cry if the door to the bathroom and bedroom are closed. We are going to give the cats a few more days on the good food and if they don't get any better, then I am going to have to call the vet.

Homework. What can I say about it, I have nearly half of it finished for this week. I am a bit peeved because we've started the unit in my humanities called on Postmodernism. Yuck! I will sum this chapter up with a wise saying from my Great Grandma Ireland "An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure". I find most modern and postmodern art to be nonsensical, packed full of pretension, and completely annoying and worthless. Sorry, that's just how I feel. Now I am not talking about everything. Especially since there seems to be a debate about whether or not recent art can be umbrella-ed under postmodernism. I honestly don't think it can. Nor would I insult some of my favorite artists of this time with such a label. 

On the Fiction writing workshop side of things, I have to read my text book and rewrite my story again. Shouldn't take too long to do either, a day for the story and half a day to read the text-assuming I don't lose my patience with it (I will get to that in a minute). 

I've haven't been working on too man crafts lately, mostly because I've been trying to crochet two separate afghans. I get a little burnt out after a day or two of that but I am feeling another crochet day coming on. I have also been working on a making a small scrapbook for my Grandparent's 61st or 62nd (I have to ask my Dad or my Grandma) wedding anniversary. I've got the background paper glued down and I think the cover is finished. I also did a page for my Grandma when she was younger and I've mostly mapped out the rest of the pages. I still need to print some things out and see if I can't find a few more pictures for the book. And I need to have it done pretty soon so I can send it to them. I won't have it done by their anniversary but I want it to at least come that week! I can't post picture of the book just yet because I need to ask Grandma's permission first. She said something once about not wanting her picture on the internet. But if it is an old one... We will see. 

Now, for the awful mood swings. It's that damned birth control the doctor gave me to stop that horrendous period! I've got three more days of this medicine and it's no picnic. I'm more nauseated than usual, the mood swings border on ridiculous- I cry over to stupidest of things-, and I have no patience whatsoever for just about anything. When I was bleeding, I could barely get through homework because I could't focus and stay awake. Now, I can't focus and and get pissed and impatient because there's more to read than I want to read, or I have to answer stupid questions over something I could care less about... Normally, I this kind of stuff wouldn't bother me so much. But I'm at the point where I have to read things out loud to make them stick and if I come across a word that looks funny, as they often do (I have a kind of sister form of dyslexia where I switch letters and number around, sometimes whole words- like 456 might look like 465 me), I just get down right pissed because I have trouble pronouncing it. Well duh, if the letters aren't in the right order then it's going to sound funny, haha. No, it's not really funny because then I have to repeat everything and that takes more time and I want to cry all over again because I can't read aloud effectively, at least not like I usually can. Really, it's very frustrating. So, I'm not really having a good time of it at the moment. But, I am trying to get at least most of my homework finished tonight so I can go watch Game of Thrones with a friend tomorrow.  

The Kindle, Vampire Academy 'the movie', and I have been so sick

Dimirti and Rose

The last couple of days have been so weird and hectic! We've run so many errands, had to go back and forth between Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, and Hayden, and back, and if you can believe it, we still have more errands to run! And despite our best efforts to make the best of everything, we've really just had a couple of shitty days.  But there is some good news, yay!

Firstly, I ran out and got Vampire Academy (the movie) the day it hit stores. I've read all of the books, loved them, and couldn't wait to see the movie. Besides, there was a tons of hype and given that the story line is really good, that the main character actually grows and learns from her mistakes, and you know, does something other than mope around, I thought this movie would really be something special. There just aren't a lot of truly good, quality Vampire movies and I really think there should be. Anyway, on to the point. This movie was one of the biggest disappointments. If not for some of the actors, I almost think I would have returned the movie. The movie was the first book on speed (the pacing was way too fast), they told/explained way too much, you never really got to see characters develop, and it felt way too scripted. You couldn't even get a chance to connect with the characters. I spent most of the movie screaming "What the fuck"?! The only thing they got right, was Dimitri (thankfully because he's my favorite character), and Rose's attitude.  They really blew the pooch on this and I will be surprised if they get a second film. Which is terribly unfortunate because this story is a million times better than Twilight and the Twilight films were actually done well.  How the hell could Hollywood slight Rachelle Mead and us, her fans like this? What fucktards!

(The next part is something that is something that most people will probably find gross, but I'm not going to skirt around this issue. I think more people should know about this and need to understand what women like me, who have this problem, have to go through. But if you find that you don't care or don't want to read it, skip on down.)

Secondly, I know I have mentioned that I have PCOS (Polyscystic Ovarian Syndrome) and I might have mentioned that with that sometimes comes menorrhagia- menorrhagia is heavy menstrual bleeding. I am sort of on a marginally regular cycle but this time the cramps are so terrible that I've been nauseated and the bleeding is so heavy, I've basically been hemorrhaging and it's been going on for the last four days. The last time I went to the ER for this, nothing was done. So I am reluctant to ever go back. So I called my doctor because she is the only one who has actually tried to help me with this. She gave me a kind of strong or high powered birth control in which I have to take three of "you are not to bleed during this time' pills a day for seven days and then stop. We've tried this before and it's shut me off and kind of restarts the whole system. The draw back is that I am pretty much knocked on my ass for seven days. I delayed taking them today so I could get some homework done, but honestly, I don't know if it was worth it. I had to have Skoora read over all of my discussion forum posts for class just to make sure that they actually made sense. But the worst part of all of it, is that I've been so weak today I haven't been able to do much, I just want to sleep, and this is the first time all day that I've really had any mental clarity. Trying to read my text books earlier was awful, it was like the words bounced off my brain and refused to be comprehended. Most of the time, I've been stuck in the bathroom or laying in bed with the heating pad and Yoda-chan to cuddle. And I still have homework to do, peer critiques to write and I want to give the people in my critique group the best reviews possible. 

I am not the only one in the house who has been sick. Galen, my demon kitty, has been having some tummy issues. At first we couldn't figure out why and then, a few minutes ago while Skoora was on the phone, I realized that we had to change the cat's food until we could afford the good stuff. Duh! No wonder we've had hairballs and the other ick, it was like we had them on grill chicken and then suddenly they had deep fried chicken, all the grease would make anyone ill. That's okay, we're getting the proper food tomorrow.

Well, on to the good news. I finally broke down and bought a Kindle. Okay, it's a refurbished Kindle Fire, but it's pretty. It came in the mail today and I've sort of been playing with it. Mostly I've tried to stay awake long enough to look through some of the apps. I did, however, manage to get facebook, goodreads, my e-mail, the weather, and a couple of games on it. But I don't want all of that stuff running all the time, so I've got a few tutorials open on how to sign out of stuff or shut certain apps off so they aren't running in the background all the time, because mainly I got the thing for reading. By the way, not having a smart phone or a tablet before, I had no idea how many apps there are. I found an app for grammar, some for learning different languages (Skoora likes and knows a little bit of German and my friend Emma speaks Swedish, both languages are of interest to me), found one for astronomy-or rather finding constellations in my location's night's sky, oh and a couple of words games. It's going to be fun to play with this stuff. But that will have to wait. I am just too tried, need to take some medicine, and lay down.  

   

Packed week, the treacherous garage, light heat stroke and sun burns, and the damned cat won't stop talking! Oh and a craft/bake/garage sale?!

So, it's Saturday. Half of me can't believe it while the other half thinks it took long enough to get here. How that manages to work, I will never know. But, I suppose I should start off with the beginning of this rather hectic week.

Sunday I went to my friend's house with plans to be there until Tuesday afternoon. My visit was great until Tuesday when I awoke with a splitting migraine. Knowing that I was either going to have to go to the ER for a migraine shot (which I can't afford) or camp out in front of her toilet, I opted to clear out and head home, because at least the hospital is closer to home if I needed it. My friend lives about 45 mins from a decent hospital, the one in the valley in which she lives has a reputation for being terrible. When I came home, I took a hot shower in the hopes that the water would help soothe the tension, then I ended up in bed, in the dark, with a cold rag on my face, and the fan blowing on me. Took some Advil too and ended up falling asleep. That helped so much and I was feeling well enough to work on homework for the rest of the evening and into the middle of the night.

Wednesday we picked up a another friend and went to the U.U. Church to spend some time with the pagan group and participate in the full moon ritual. It was wonderful and I had a lot of fun. Also met someone who reminds me so much of a friend from high school that it's almost scary, in a good way. Maybe. After that we came home and watched Game of Thrones. I also did a lot of homework that night too.

Thursday we took our friend home and came home and went through the garage. Did I mention that Skoora's parents are terrible about keeping stuff separated? Well, if I didn't, they are. We had a hell of a time trying to even get to half of our stuff and ended up dragging half the garage out to even begin to make sense of anything. I managed to hurt my back a couple of times and by the middle of the afternoon, the wasps were finding me far too interesting. I don't know if I am allergic to them yet or not, but since I don't have a new epi pen, I wasn't about to take that chance. I also got sunburned in the few minutes I was actually out in the direct sunlight. Not cool! We went through a few things inside the house after that and then I tackled the rest of my homework and turned it in. Went to bed early because we had to get up early the next morning.

Which brings me to yesterday, Friday. We took things over to an Aunt's house for a big park wide garage sale. More sun burn for me, despite how much I tried to stay out of it. There was a lot of back and forth of errand running. Skoora and I managed to find a really nice desk from another sale in the park for ten dollars. We snatched it up quick and the best part, we can both work at it and still have some room to spread out stuff out a little, not much, but a little. I also managed to get mild heat stroke, which happens far more often than I would like.

Today, I skipped going to the garage sale at the park. I was just too tried and I'm still not feeling so great. Skoora did come home to pick me up for a small lunch date at Denny's where I learned that she, her mother, and her aunt have conspired to have another garage sale, this time with baked goods and any crafts I want to sell. I don't have any at the moment. Skoora suggested I make double sided tote bags like the one I made her. Sewing the tote bags are the easy and fast part. The embroidery, not so much. But I could do some without... maybe. Not sure what else I would do at the moment but I will be thinking about it.

I got online to check my messages from school and my grades. I'm doing okay, but it seems like I can't seem to make my damned writing teacher happy and on almost everything I turn in or any posts in the discussion boards I do, he tells me to look at the rubric. Really? He gave me a 15/15 on an assignment and still told me to look at the rubric! Now, as far as the story goes, I don't mind his criticism, I'm just really disappointed. I really worked my ass off on that story, picked at every single sentence and he's still bitching about how it begins like a 'long leisurely novel'. This is me tapping my foot in annoyance. No shit! I want to be a novelist, I am writing novels, novels are kind of my thing. I am not a short story writer and I have never wanted to be. Rawr! Well, now I am going to have to destroy what would have been a decent story. I just get the feeling that I'm going to ruin it.

I don't know what's going on with Yoda-chan. He has been so incredibly needy and he will not shut up! I love my cat, don't mistake me, but holy shit! He started to lick my eyelids in the morning to wake me up a couple of months ago and it's kind of cute... except that he bit my eyelid yesterday! He acts like that's okay, like this is the new status quo, but I beg to differ and since I am the Mommy person, I win... most of the time.

The good news is that I have been keeping track of how many books I've been reading this year since Good Reads is broken and can't do it right. So far, I've got 14 read and am almost done with the 15th. Yay! maybe I will get 30 read this year instead of my usual almost 20. I usually shoot for 20 a year.

   

Receipt with scribbles

Charm of Magic by Anndr

Just because, I am going to try a little something different and center everything.

I'm in the library again and I keep looking up to stare at the books in the young adult section. I want to go look at them but I a restraining myself. I have so many books to read at home (they vary across subjects) and I just got into two series' from Jeaniene Frost. I also have two text books to read now. Thankfully, I've managed to read the assigned reading for this week in both of my classes and now have the rest of week to work on the revision of my short story.

Speaking of that, the two guys in my group are amazing! Both are enthusiastic and helpful and both of their short stories are really fucking cool! I am so glad that I not only get to read them but help workshop their stories with them, the bounce ideas back and forth. It feels good. I haven't heard anything from the two other girls in the class. I read their stories and sent them my critiques but neither of them have said anything to the guys or me. So either they are waiting to the last minute, are very busy, or are getting ready to drop the class. All of which are fine, but at the same time, I am supposed to turn in peer reviews this week and I don't really have anything to review. I certainly don't want to give them a bad review. I want to be fair. 

With all of the reading both for pleasure and for school, I've been scribbling words I either want to remember or look up on the back of a library check out receipt. Most of the words I already know the meanings of, but I had forgotten about them. But even better there are little phrases that I found appealing or felt like I needed reminders of how people touch or their mannerisms, all things that could bring characters to life and give them depth. Or even little things about settings.  I tried to take a picture of the receipt but it came out fuzzy so I won't be posting it.  You didn't want to see my hastily written scribbles anyway. 

Apart from school work, I have manged to edit the pictures from Beltane, but of course I left my camera at home with the memory card in it so I can't post them at the moment. I wanted to make a separate blog about Beltane anyway. We had such a great time at Beltane that we are going to the Summer Solstice: Frolicking with the Fairies cap out in June. It's at a park not far from us over in Washington State. I will post more on that later as well. 

For now, at the moment, I think I might pack up and go home. I am feeling a bit sick, feverish and achy all over and it is not the usual fibromyaliga pain. My throat is a bit sore as well and there that awful pressure in my head. Despite Skoora's Mom's warring that she would kill me if I bought any more tea (I am sort of a half restrained compulsive tea buyer), I bought three boxes and Mint Magic sounds really good about now. Oh, and I also have some new music to listen to, some from Lisa Thiel and some from Ominia. Wow, I just remembered Mother's day is this week! I need to make something for my Mom and something for my Grandma! Skoora's Mom I have covered, I'm making her my chicken enchiladas. 

Oh one last thing before I go. We've had a couple of deaths in our family this week. My Mother's foster father passed. He was 95 and had Alzheimer's. His wife passed some time last year and for once I'm actually not sad about someone passing. He had a long life with love, did so many wonderful things for people and while I didn't know him very well (he and his wife kind of hurt my Mom, she forgave them sort of), I feel as though he must have been tired and ready to go. Where ever he is, he is with his wife and in a place of love and comfort. 

On the same day I got the call about my Foster Grandfather, Skoora's Mom got a call from her sister Lola saying that their sister Marty had lost her son very unexpectedly. Aunt Marty has a bad heart and has been diagnosed with sudden death syndrome, meaning she could go anytime. Aside from that she just lost her son and is hurting so bad, as expected. I feel for her and I am really worried that we're going to lose her too and at the same time I wonder if that wouldn't be for the best, if only so she won't be in pain anymore. I don't know, things happen as they happen and there's not much you can do but make food and lend sympathetic time, understanding, and comfort. 

Egh, I didn't want to leave off with such depressing news. So how about this, yesterday, while doing my homework, I had Yoda and Ellie on the bed with me. Both kitties were taking their daily afternoon nap and Ellie started snoring. She is a Persian and has a flat face and with that she also seems to have some allergy issues. Well, let's just say, I never thought anything so small could snore louder than Skoora, my sleepy foghorn!   

Panic at the desk, a sliced finger, and a hot, stale-air night.

A lot has been going on this week! We've have all been in and out of the house more than usual. Part of that was because home wasn't quiet enough or interruption free enough for me to get homework finished. Skoora's mother made it clear last Sunday that she doesn't see my homework of import. So, I drug a friend who has been staying with us to the library twice this week in effort to get some reading and work done. That works until the middle and high school vagabonds get out of school. There was actually a kid who sat near us detailing to a girl who he was apparently trying to impress, how much he'd cheated on his last girlfriend and he was spewing bullshit personal and religious philosophy. I didn't hear everything since I was trying to concentrate but I just want to go up to this kid and ask him if he could hear how utterly idiotic he sounds and then tell the girl that if she was impressed by this, then she was a complete moron and needed to get her head examined. I didn't. But I did leave when a gaggle of girls ran around giggling and chatting between the shelves with no respect for anyone else. My local library isn't that large so eventually someone would catch them so I didn't feel the need to report them to the front desk. 

If there is one thing that I hate most it's that I have panicked over homework. Yes, I got a head start on some of it. No it's not particularly hard or even out of my range of capability. But I could not seem to figure out what to write for my workshop class and as much as I love thee text book, I hate it too. It's made me far more self conscious than I should have been for a first draft. It actually took a panic attack, that release of emotion, and a phone call to my Mom for my head to clear out enough for me to even get an idea. I've been like this for quite awhile now and it's really disconcerting.

All of that said I've managed to get half of my humainities homework finished, read what I needed to read for my fiction workshop class, and even get an outline and first draft of a story written. However, I don't like the end and want to do some edits to clean the story up as well as tighten it. Of course, I need to fix the ending as well and I absolutely must do it tonight! I also need to finish the humanities homework tonight too. Why? Because a couple of friends, Skoora, and I are going to Medical Lake for Beltane tomorrow! It'll be a whole day of play and relaxation. I'm a little nervous of how many people are going to be there but at the same time, I really want to spend time with a few people I've been getting to know recently. Plus, MAYPOLE! Who can say no to that?! Lots of people, I know. Buy they are missing out! 

Going to the library hasn't been the only errands we've been running or will be running today. We've gone to Liberty Lake to pick up a bed for a friend, done general errands, and been to the grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store on the first of the month but when you haven't any food in the house, it's pretty much a necessity. So I braved the crowds and thankfully no one got too close or touched me this time. When I got home, we put groceries away and I split up the meat for meals to put in the freezer for later. I ran out of tin foil so I had to use parchment paper and saran wrap for wrapping and ended up slicing my finger on the serrated edge on the saran wrap box. I wasn't cut too deep but it stung and bled pretty well for a bit. Skoora had to come and help me with band aids and to finish with the meat. 

Last night our bedroom fan broke in the middle of the night. I was so upset. The weather is getting warmer here and Skoora is a freaking furnace! I did not sleep very well to say the least and with the humidity and no air currents in the room, I felt as if I couldn't breathe many times. Skoora checked the fan for me, it's toast!

Today I am buying a new fan either from a second hand store or from wal-mart. Probably from wal-mart because I just don't have the time to run to every second hand store in town trying to find a fan. I also have to take our friend that's stayed over home to drop off her groceries and laundry and then take her to work. After that, I am driving to Kellogg to pick up another friend and bring her into town for the weekend. She needs to run to a pawn shop and to wal-mart also. After all of that, we'll be donating plasma at 7 tonight and then I get to come home and make dinner. And finally after all of that is said and done and I can sit and relax, I'll be finishing up homework and trying to get to bed early so I can get up early and cook tomorrow before we head out.

Even now, I have to book it to get off here, eat, get dressed, and get out of here. ACK!