So I decided to do the cruise in January . . . and then the Karma Chameleon Monster bit. Today when I got home, Moo Kitty had accidents all over the house. At first I thought he was puking, but it was more. It seemed he was leaking a lot of nasty fluids. I took him back to the vet . . . . yup he’s got an infection! They drained as much as they could, and now he’s on 14 days of antibiotics. He is unfortunately over taking pills, so I have to find ways to get them in. One is particularly bitter, and on first attempt he chocked on it and his mouth foamed and what was left eventually came back out. This is going to be fun! Oh and on Tuesday he has to have another operation to clean up this infection and have the inner incision checked and possibly replaced. This was MORE money I had NOT anticipated spending . . . .

Let’s enjoy some photos of Moo Kitty when he was a kitten, and when he first met Percy.

So the deadline to pay for the cruise is fast approaching, and I have not fully made up my mind. Each day I lean one way more than the other. More than just trying to get the dissertation done by the end of the year is now affecting my decision. There was Moo Kitty’s unexpected and expensive trip to the vet, as well as my work schedule for the spring. I’m teaching at least 2 classes, one I’ve never taught before (but it’s archaeology so I’m excited at the same time). There is possibly a 3rd as well. The 3rd however may not happen for many reason, my choosing not to take it being one of them. While the money would be nice, I’ve quickly learned the hard way the amount of driving I’ve been doing is taking its toll on me right now with everything else going on.

John and I briefly discussed vacation alternatives should we not do the cruise, and it would be something local. I really would love to see Salem as well as Plymouth Colony . . . . however January might not be the best time of the year to do so! I also suggested Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos. Heidi and I went to one in Wisconsin and it was so much fun. It’s basically a giant indoor water park/hotel. Plus there would be other things to do nearby, such as skiing. I’ve never done it, but think it would be fun. John is not a fan of the cold, and said I’d probably be over it in about an hour. Emily said I’d probably break my leg. Truth be told, both are probably right 🙂

John suggested New York and Broadway. “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” hits Broadway early next year. Broadway is always fun, but NY is a day trip at most. I have a hard enough time relaxing on vacations as is (my mind thinks about what I need to be doing and should be doing instead). Add in NY and you just have too much stress. I like NY, but it’s as I said a day trip. NY in January really isn’t much fun. It’s cold, windy, miserable and god forbid it snows. You can’t go anywhere because you can’t get a taxi.

While I have a good number of reasons to just cancel the cruise this year, many of them also become reasons to go oddly. I’m so stressed right now, that a vacation will be wanted and possibly needed by January. Plus it’s the only time of the year John and I can get away together and just both relax. Okay I try to relax as much as I can, but it would be easier honestly if we could go away during the summer like normal folks rather than the week before another school semester starts!

Aside from vacation ponderings, I have yet to motivate to decorate inside. John’s brother, who is now regularly here on the weekends, noticed I didn’t have the Halloween village out. I carried some of it up last night, and it sits in boxes in the living room right now. My friend Keith comes this weekend, so I figured I better put some of it out. Only a few pieces are going up this year, just on the mantel I think. In years past I’ve put pieces all over the living room. Truth be told, I just don’t wanna deal with taking it all down this year 🙂 I might motivate to decorate while watching my shows tonight.

Our house currently smells like cat piss. Moo Kitty apparently has some abdominal swelling from the surgery the vet thinks is putting pressure on his bladder, which makes him feel like he has to pee a lot. So rather than making it to the litter boxes downstairs, he just pees wherever. I am however developing an alternate theory. I think Moo Kitty is just angry and is pissing anywhere out of spite. Given how much I paid to save his life, I am hoping the swelling theory is correct and this stops soon. Cat piss SMELLS and it never comes out. He has pissed on brand new carpet John put down on our steps and the kitchen nook, which now needs to be replaced. I am spraying and shampooing it as much as I can, cause it’s not going to be replaced till January when John is off . . . and the SMELL!

Our crotchety old neighbors are moving. Or they are trying to I should say. They are LOADED, have a nice house (set far back on their large property) and are either 1) going to get taken to the bank in this poor housing market or 2) just not be able to sell it right now. John says whether they can sell or not, they are moving. They had originally thought of dividing the land up into four plots and selling them as well as the plot their house is on (and thereby resulting in 4 new houses going up), but that hasn’t happened and probably won’t (because of the market I guess). However the option is there for whomever might buy it, the land has officially been divvied by the county to make it possible. To be honest, I expected to be asked to “take down some of my decor” outside, but wasn’t. These are the people that planted a row of pine trees, sending our house into eternal shadows and cutting off our sunlight, simply because when they drove in and out of their driveway they didn’t want to look at our house. They had an open house today . . . . I don’t think anyone actually came by from what I could tell.

Anyway, I leave you with some photos of myself, John and Princess I made with some monster morphing app I got off iTunes. Hey, these days, I have to get my fun where I can find it 🙂

The past few years I’ve really wanted to carve pumpkins for the front yard. After finally doing so, I can put that desire to rest for several years. What a pain!

Moo Kitty came through the surgery fine, and assuming all is well in the morning, he’ll be coming home tomorrow.

Here is a quick video I made of the house 🙂 It survived the first major storm last night!

Sadly yes, the Christmas Snowflakes are still on the house, cause someone won’t bring back the ladder to remove them 🙂

So here the weather was nice, I thought I could finish decorating, and that I’d get a lot of work done school wise. Of course the universe had other plans.

Moo Kitty is in the pet hospital this weekend. Thursday night he was clearly not feeling too well. Friday morning he was not feeling well and clearly was not moving much. He didn’t eat, and it was obvious he was having some “back end” issues. We thought he had a UTI, so made an appointment for him.

Unfortunately it’s much worse. Moo Kitty was in hypothermic shock and full on kidney failure. It seems he has kidney stones and they got stuck. He’s been on fluids and a catheter. As of today his kidney’s seem to be almost back to normal, which is good, as if they weren’t then we were looking at kidney disease that had been progressing for awhile.

He needs to have surgery on Tuesday to remove the stones so this doesn’t happen again. Then he’ll be on a special diet as well. He’s a big cat, I’m sure he won’t like that. However I suspect his gross over eating is also what lead to this. I had the week before removed the never ending dry food bowl because he eats too much from it.

So most of this weekend I’ve spent with a headache from all this. I did finally get almost everything outside decorated. As for the inside, I think I’m not doing much inside this year unless the mood strikes me sometime this week.

Send Small Children! Must Have Brains!

I did begin decorating this weekend, with the one day of sun and nice weather we had that is. Last week rain (okay a monsoon) took my ghost in the trees down. I knew he shouldn’t go there, as he was made of a lot of carboard and paper. But I thought the trees might shelter him enough. Nope! He was a blob of goop one morning. I rebuilt him with plastic table covers and now he’s a little more water proof.

I ended up, however, putting Jason in the woods. I thought he was more water proof, but monsoon #2 drenched him and he fell down as I didn’t have him tied up very well. Here is hoping he’s now secure.

I got the majority of the stuff up on the porch, and put the graveyard out as well. I hopefully have everything secured so things won’t blow down the street like they did last year!

I still have a lot to do, like restring the bushes with lights, cobweb them, oh yeah and take down the snowflake Christmas lights from last year 🙂 This week looks to be wet all week, so who knows when I’ll find time to finish it all. Hopefully we’ll have a few more dry days coming up soon.

I posted this over on my TV blog, but for those who don’t read it . . . . here it is (again for some).

Producer David E. Kelley, known for shows like “Chicago Hope,” “Boston Legal” and “Ally McBeal” has signed on to produce a new modern take on “Wonder Woman” for the WB.

It would seem that the show will probably fill the gap “Smallville” leaves when it goes off the air after this season.

A movie version of the heroine has been in the works for 10+ years now, with everyone from Angelina Jolie to Lucy Lawless rumored to be up for the role at times.

Who will play her on TV is unknown, or if the show will even make it past the pilot stage. Given all the trouble the movie has had becoming a reality, I won’t hold my breath for the TV show.

Should it make it to TV, it will be a really hard sell. Who could actually play Wonder Woman? How will they make the character their own, when comparisons to Lynda Carter are going to be inevitable.

Source: Yahoo/Hollywood Reporter