Blog Archives
A Box and Some Plans
I research, plan, change my mind, become obsessed and repeat when I’m working on projects… from home stuff to sewing, cooking to gardening. Last night I actually bought what I had been planning.
Hence, the box:
Brad has yet to realize that when I say, “Here take my picture” it’s going to appear in a blog…
The box contains a piece of furniture, it’s not terribly exciting but that will wait until another day. I stopped on my way home last night to pick up my box, fully expecting to be drenched by the derecho somewhere in the process. I figured I would spend a rainy evening assembling its contents. I was half right… I assembled the contents but it remained a reasonably nice weather evening and didn’t start to storm until much later.
As you can see, the box is about a head shorter than me, and I would approximate it’s weight at about 45 pounds. Not terrible, but awkward. Since I stopped on my way home, I was wearing the above outfit, plus a cardigan and wedges. I took my box out to the car in a cart, popped open the hatch and laid down one of the rear seats. I then proceeded to slide the box out of the cart while trying to keep the cart from dinging the car and the box from hitting the ground. This was not a graceful process.
Once I had closed up the car, I noticed a little old man in a car parked in a handicap space, watching me and chuckling. All I can say is that I hope he was impressed by my small, yet mightiness!
Anyway, onto the plans… Read the rest of this entry
The Weekend I Partied Away
On Friday, we headed south for my brother-in-law’s high school graduation party. We had beautiful weather for most of the party, my in-laws’ deck and yard were full of high-school students and the recently graduated, as well as several family members and friends.
Making Graduation Caps
The party to celebrate the end of Brian’s childhood chapter was complete with what became known as the “bouncy castle,” which was actually and adult-sized inflatable obstacle course. All-in-all, it was good food, good fun, good company and a little bit of rain toward the end of the night.
The “Bouncy Castle” took up most of their yard!
We stayed with the K-fam on Friday night and headed from there to a party that the guest of honor had no idea was happening. My mom turned 50 on Saturday and my sister organized a surprise party for her. Brad and I met some of my family members at our pavilion and decorated as much as the wind would allow us to. Read the rest of this entry
Things I’ve Learned About Pet Ownership
Holmes and Watson officially turned 1-year-old yesterday. Even though they found their home with us in August this is kind of a big deal, because they are no longer kittens… despite what they may think.
They think they’re helpful
Having pets as an adult is totally different than having pets as a child. When we adopted Holmes and Watson, we were prepared to be responsible for these creatures but there are some lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Read the rest of this entry
Crazy Ohio Spring
Yesterday my car said it was 86 degrees on my drive home. The sun was shining and when I arrived home Brad was mowing the lawn and our weeping cherry trees had spontaneously blossomed. I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of the trees to show you all today, so look at the tree below and think about two of them that are about 4-feet-tall.
This is a weeping cherry tree {Image via Tree Facts}
Our house was actually quite hot inside so we switched on the air conditioning. Holmes and Watson curled up near the living room vent most of the winter so they were at first shocked to find the vents blowing cool air. Holmes sat with his nose to the vent for a good hour last night:
Real life has prevented me from blogging as much as I’d like to this week. Hoping for some more time to post next week.
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Friday Five: Reasons to love April
At the end of my rope… or power cord
Last night, when left alone in the living room for five minutes, Holmes chewed through the power cord on Brad’s Macbook Pro… while it was charging.
I thought that he had gotten his chewing under control a few months ago, but I guess I was wrong. I He used to chew on everything and we thought it was teething (it very well could still be) so I bought the cats a set of baby keys that helped for awhile but then became a game of hiding the keys in my slippers.
Watson rarely chews on anything, instead he’s a compulsive padder, which is way more cute than destructive. Holmes has now ruined two iPhone cords, an optical cable, a surround sound wire and now the expensive power cord to Brad’s computer. He tries to chew on every wire he sees, which puts our lamps and every single electronic device at risk. In our house, it is not an option to not have cords around. Not a single cord is left dangling that would catch his attention, the power cord was actually covered and he pulled it out to chew through it.
Last night Brad was ready to give the cat away. We’re both concerned that his affinity for cords is going to get him electrocuted. Right now, the cats stay in our third bedroom while we’re working or away from home, there aren’t any cords in that room except the one on my sewing machine that is stored away when it’s not in use. This seems unfair because Watson suffers as well. We can’t separate them for the whole day, Watson is co-dependent and when they were sick and separated, he didn’t get better until we had them both back and together. Obviously Holmes doesn’t understand that if he doesn’t chew cords, he can roam the house all day.
This crazy cat lady need advice help. Is there something else that we can do to stop the cord-chewing?
Here’s what we’ve tried:
- Distracting him with a cat toy when he starts sniffing at cords
- Squirting him with water
- Putting hot sauce on the cords
- Spraying bitter spray (that’s sold at the pet store to stop cats from scratching or chewing on things)
- Making loud, startling noises to scare him away from cords
- Positive reinforcement when he chews on his toys instead of the cords
- Tucking the cords out of sight the best we can
- Physically moving him elsewhere when he goes toward cords
We can train our cats to stay off the table and not scratch furniture, why can’t we stop the chewing? Help?
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Checking In
The other night we got a call from the animal shelter to see how things were going with our cats. I can’t believe it’s already been five months since we brought Holmes and Watson home with us (in fact, I can’t believe we’ve lived in our house for five months already!).
Brad spoke with the shelter for a few minutes and mentioned that after the little scare we had when we first brought them home, everything was going well. Even though the shelter took care of the vet stay, the lady on the phone wasn’t aware of what happened. Brad briefly summarized that the day after we brought them home, the cats would not move from their carrier. They weren’t eating, drinking, using the litter box or purring. They also flopped over when we stood them up on their feet. There was obviously something wrong so we called the shelter and took them to the vet that works with the shelter.
Our kittens had to be kept there for two days and given IV fluids and medication. They had calicivirus. Something that they’d been vaccinated for, but much like the flu there are different strains and the stress of moving to a new environment made their immune systems unable to fight it off without some help.
It was sad to have them for one night. Then have them “hospitalized” for the next two, be allowed to bring one home, then have to wait a day for the other to come home.
The shelter volunteer who called was happy to hear that Holmes and Watson were active, affectionate cats and that we enjoy having them around. When Brad got off the phone I asked him, “Can you imagine what it would be like to be her if our cats hadn’t made it?” It would have to be the worst feeling to check-in on adopted animals to find that some form of tragedy had struck.
It made me thankful for our healthy little guys.
[and now is the part where I post cute kitty pictures]
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Thankful in November
There are a lot of people posting daily one thing that they are thankful for. I haven’t been one of them, seeing as it’s November 6th, I think I can catch up a little and spread some thanks once a week.
- My husband. It’s a typical number one on the list, but for very good reason. I write about him a lot so you probably already have some idea why. I’m thankful for the past six years that he’s been in my life (even though he told me it was seven the other night) and I’m thankful for the future we have together.
- Electricity. I’m thankful that we have this amazing thing to power our homes and lives. I’m especially thankful that we were able to keep ours throughout the storm and that many have had theirs restored. I hope that those still living without, have it back soon.
- My kitties. It’s no secret I love animals, by Holmes and Watson really turn on the charm. They’ve shown many people already that not all cats are aloof and give affection to anyone who we welcome into our home.
This picture would be better if he were actually sitting with a Sherlock Holmes novel
Friday Five: Safari Edition
We live in a city. On our street, if anyone backed out of their driveway haphazardly they would either hit their own house or their neighbors. It’s cozy. My commute to work is 100% in-town. So the insane amount of contact I’ve had with wildlife makes me shake my head and proclaim to be on safari on a regular basis.
- I took the trash out and got barked at by a squirrel. It popped right up on top of the fence not two feet away from me and barked. Nor chattered, squeaked or clicked at me. It barked. Like the neighbor’s dog, but with more passion.
- I have had to stop and wait on rabbits, geese, deer and children to cross a very busy street.
- A stray cat in the neighborhood decided that we aren’t able to hunt for our own food and left us a dead chipmunk. When we didn’t graciously accept the offering and grill it for dinner, the cat took it back.
- I pulled into the driveway last Friday night and shined my headlights on a very large opossum stationed at my garage (potentially considering taking up residence inside). Not knowing a thing about these creepy creatures, I kept my headlights fixed on it, hoping it would go away so I would feel comfortable getting out of my car. It did, but not after staring eerily at me for awhile.
- I received a text message from my friend letting me know that they had spotted a wolf or coyote in the area that morning. (This could potentially decrease more wildlife sightings!)
There are many reasons why Holmes and Watson are indoor-only cats. And they are not limited to keeping them from being hit by cars on our street. I’m pretty sure that my barking squirrel could even be a threat.
They’d rather be inside where they can lay awkwardly on the couch anyway
In college, I spent a couple of summers living with my aunt and uncle. My aunt used to tell me every time before I left, “Be careful! Watch out for bears, deers and ducks!” I was supposed to watch out for ducks because there were a lot of them around the creek behind their house and I used to feed the ducklings. I was supposed to watch out for deer because I got hit by a deer one evening on my way back from work (I did not hit the deer, it hit me. We were both fine). And finally, one year a student at a nearby high school hit a black bear on the route that I frequently took. I don’t think we can extend the “Watch out for” list to include all of my new creatures.
What kind of wildlife have you encountered recently?
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You’re Allowed to Have Bad Day
It seemed that a lot of my friends were having a rough go of it today. My heart goes out to you all for everything you’re dealing with today.
I recently heard someone say that they were taught that you’re allowed to have a bad day, but you’re not entitled to ruin anyone else’s. I really liked that. And it seemed that a lot of you, my dear friends, are dealing with the bad days that others are having.
Things are going pretty well at the moment, so I feel like sharing some sunshine (even though it’s a cloudy day in Cleveland).
Here are some things that are making me happy today and how they can help you be happy:
- Things are going well for the people that I love, my husband is happy, my mom is thriving, etc (being happy for others makes you happy)
Helpful Kitty
- My kittens are adorable (it’s been proven that petting an animal reduces stress, let me know if you need to borrow a snuggly kitty) Read the rest of this entry
probablyrachel 
I dropped a glass
Jul 7
Posted by Probably Rachel
After things were finally dry enough outside, Brad mowed the grass. While he showered, I cleaned up the clippings then launched a last minute assault on the morning glories and other assorted weeds that were taking over the shrub out back. It was warm and muggy outside so when I came in I was craving a nice glass of iced tea.
A finger stick found me at 82mg/dL so I grabbed a couple of pretzels and poured the two of us some nice, cold iced tea and settled in the living room. When I picked up the glass for my second sip, it slipped out of my hand, bounced off the corner of the coffee table (shattering) and sent tea, ice and glass everywhere.
The sound of the glass falling and breaking frightened Holmes and Watson out of their standard afternoon naps and they ran away from the sound… then in their frenzy ran back across the glass (that had somehow managed to send shards flying nearly across the room) to hide behind the couch. Brad sprang into action, grabbing his slippers and the trash can, then tried to capture the cats and take them upstairs. In the chase process that I watch while helplessly trapped on the couch, the cats both ran through the ice/glass/tea mess a total of three times before being successfully wrangled into an upstairs bedroom.
Hurts worse than it looks
After ascertaining that my leg was bleeding due to a cut from falling glass and not a piece lodged in it, we cleaned up the mess. Brad asked me while searching for shards in the carpet, “Was it low blood sugar?” For all of the annoying, frustrating and inconvenient things in my life that I can blame diabetes on, this was not one of them. This was a sweaty glass in an unstable hand.
I cleaned up and bandaged my leg then checked the cats’ paws. Both of them were fine but still scared. Watson still hadn’t come downstairs over an hour later even though Holmes has resumed his nap right where he left off.
In other news, I revamped my About Rachel page… it was probably time.
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Posted in Commentary, Type 1 Diabetes
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Tags: accidents, cats, Conversation, Diabetes, K-Couple, Type 1 Diabetes