Where have I been?

File Under: Missing In Action

I haven't blogged in a few days. Perhaps you became worried about me, wondering if I ran off to become a Scientologist. Well no, not yet at least.

I cooked a turkey for Easter. It was my first turkey and it came out very well. See?

At the same time, I've been dealing with a sick cat. Millie went to the vet recently and it was discovered that she needed to have some teeth pulled. The Tuesday after Easter I took her in and three teeth were pulled. She did fine, was a bit disoriented when she came home and she had lost her voice. As of Friday, she had yet to poop and yet to meow. I had a constipated cat. I called the vet and was told to give her some Metamucil. Saturday morning, it worked. She was happy, and was trying to meow again. Then, she sneezed. And wheezed, and sniffled. Millie had a cold. For the next 4 days she slept a lot and made a lot of noises that sounded like a baby with a cold.

This morning she woke up, stretched, meowed and went about her day like nothing was wrong. Millie is finally feeling better. So much better that tonight she lunged at me, just like she's been doing for the past month, leaving ugly scars on the back of my legs. I'm considering introducing her to more cold germs.

Here she is lounging on top of a laundry basket:

Lastly, my friend Andy paid me a visit. Andy lives in Ohio. We've never met in person, until Monday. He and I chat on a message board and we've talked on the phone bunches of times. When he said he was being sent here for a conference, I insisted that I would show him around. Monday evening was stellar. We drove around, I gave him my tour of Chicago, showing him my neighborhood and the places I visit. We even stopped at Target.

On Tuesday we decided to actually get out of the car and have a drink and be social. We ended up at Sidetrack, a popular video bar here in the Lakeview (aka Boystown) neighborhood. Our friend Anthony joined us and the three of us had a lovely visit.

Tonight it was back to my regular routine. It was laundry night. Nothing exciting to say about that.

My Problem Child

File Under: Agressive Pussy




This is my cat, Millie.

Millie came into my home in August 2002. She was a shelter rescue and is small and loveable and entertaining. She has also become a bit of a problem.

Call it boredom, call it bottled up energy, call it play...she has developed a bit of an agressive streak. Twice she has launched into attach mode and focused her assault on the back of my leg. Through thick denim, I have a gouge and two long scratches on the back of my leg and a gouge and some smaller scratches on the front of my leg. Being the drama queen that I am, I was convinced that she had a brain tumor and it was causing this agression. She hasn't been acting herself in the evenings though at night she's just as sweet and loving as can be, she curls up and falls asleep on my legs through the night. Okay, not the most comfortable place for a cat but she weighs all of 8 pounds so it's not so bad.

I decided today to take her to the vet. At the very least they would trim her nails and tell me she's okay. She was very good at the vet. Since she's small, she is pretty powerful but she didn't try to bolt, instead she looked around a lot but stayed on the exam table. The doctor listened to me describe her symptoms and behavior. She examimed Millie and suggested bloodwork, jut to rule things out. She thinks that Millie is fine, which is a relief and I brought her home with trimmed nails. Tomorrow I will learn the results of the blood tests. I also came home with some brochures on dealing with agressive cats.

I'll deal with it alright...Xanax. If this keeps up, kitty's going to be on pills.

Ah, the joys of parenthood.