December Pussycat - Living life like it's a movie since 1974!

This BLOG is written by December Pussycat. If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please feel free to voice them HERE.

There's not much in the way of blog here anymore. Sorry, but life is a wild ride - what more can I say? Plus, I have a facebook problem. Ya, me and 20 billion other people...

7:30am Wake up to a little dog-whining and scuffling in the bedroom. Tell London to "Lay down!". Hear the dog slump back down with a big sigh. Cuddle Yubu closer under the covers and fall back asleep.

7:45am Wake up to more whining accompanied by some dog-whistling and more scuffling. Then get a cold wet nose on the face and maybe a lick on the nose. Tell London to "Lay down!". Hear the dog slump back down with a big sigh.

8:00am More whining, scuffling, and now a desperate plea for me to get up. I'm warm and cozy under the covers but I can't sleep through any more whining so it's time to face the morning. Kick poor Yubu out of bed. Get up. Shoo everyone out of the bedroom and lock the door so Tutu won't pee on my bed.

8:05am Let Tutu out of the office so she'll stop crying. Close the baby gate on the office so the dog won't be able to eat the cat poo from the littler box. Let London outside on her rope for a pee.

8:10am Make coffee. Fill the dog bowls. Stand in the kitchen amidst a herd of seven cats, all mew-ing for me to open a can of tuna. Open the cupboards. Tell everyone there is no tuna left and fill their bowl with biscuits. Watch their disappointment as they are forced to swallow more bland cookies. Close the door on the kitchen so London won't eat all the cat food.

8:15am Hear barking in the yard. Look out the window to see that London has, as usual, wound herself around a tree and cannot get un-wound. Put on a coat and some shoes and head outside to free her. Get pounced on and covered in snow.

8:20am Go for a pee. Try to be fair about whose turn it is to sit on my lap and get a massage while I pee. Try to read a page from Readers Digest but put it away because there are too many cats on my lap who don't like it when I read.

8:30am Get in the bath. Hear gnawing and yell at London for stealing my underpants and chewing on them. Cup water in my hands for Yago, Zumi and London to take turns drinking. Scold London for trying to push Zumi in the tub. Save Zumi from drowning when she falls in anyways.

8:45am Try to get out of the bathtub. Step gingerly over 3 cats and a large dog who are hoarding my bathmat. Stand on the cold floor while they enjoy the warm bathmat. Break up a squabble about who gets to lick off the edge of the tub. Go get dressed.

9:00am Come out of the bedroom to find London and Yago sleeping together on London's bed. Almost die of cuteness overload and run for the camera. Take a million pictures.

9:10am Try to check my email but give up because there are too many cats on my lap and in front of the monitor.

9:22am Get sick of the barking. Put on a coat and some shoes and head outside to free her. Get pounced on and covered in snow.

9:30am Do a quick cleanup of cat hair on tables, cat hair on the floor, cat hair on the couches. Scoop the litter pans, make sure all the baby gates are fastened. Sweep up the chewed bits of shoe, dryer sheets, and anything else that was dangling anywhere in my room over the course of the evening. Check if Tutu is hiding and planning her ambush in the bedroom and lock the door. Gulp down the last of the coffee. Yell at London for chasing the cat and licking his head.

9:50am Tell everyone I love them very much and I will be back in a few hours. Leave for work and hope for the best!

OK this photo SO NEEDS an explanation, doesn't it? LOL
WELL.... my precious orange cat Yubu is... let's say, a bit off-kilter. He's mildly retarded due to losing some oxygen to his brain when he was 2 weeks old. Anyways, as a result of this retardation he does a lot of weird shit INCLUDING sometimes in his sleep he has nightmares and wakes up extremely suddenly and jumps up or kicks out.... basically he FREAKS into coherance.

Tonight I was fast asleep with my face nuzzled in his belly when he had one of his episodes, his back legs and claws legs thrust violently outwards with crazy force, and RIGHT SMACK into my mouth. Talk about a rude awakening.

I covered my mouth and ran to the bathroom only to find my hand and face covered in gore. What you see here is only a small part of the damage... my mouth was actually full of blood in that moment as well. My lips and top gums are all cut up, and I'm expecting major puffage by morning. Of course the first thing I did was grab the camera LOL. The second thing I did after washing out my mouth with water was call Volga to tell him all about it and msn him the pics.

Well, the past couple of weeks I've been joking around about my little indoor farm, singing "seven adult cats, three orphaned kittens, four swimming fish, one giant dog... and a partridge in a pear tree".

Of course there was no partridge in a pear tree to speak of, but I guess I put it out there to the universe so it only makes sense that I would come across an injured pigeon and have to rescue it yesterday.

Well, in it comes, and it's now living in a dog kennel in the kitchen trying to heal.

Be careful what you put out to the universe people, and rest assured, there is no part in that song where an elephant is mentioned.

OK so I'm writing this blog for some specific individuals out there in blog world who I know check in here from time to time and are probably wondering where the heck I've been since May. I've been so busy!!!

My move to Penticton has proven to be the best move I have made in years and I have not been this happy in as long. I'm managing a new, professional live theatre here and every day is interesting and exciting and filled with drama. Go figure. Drama in a theatre! I run the box office and handle the marketing and promotions as well as ony other thing that pops up on a day to day basis. It's the perfect job for me and I'm having a fantastic time with it.

My house is amazing; I just love it. I haven't done much to it yet, there just hasn't been any time! But thanks to my wonderful and talented Auntie Lynda who is an incredible interior designer, I have now chosen the colors for the upstairs and am anxious to get painting. As far as getting my basement suite fixed up to rent and all my electrical work done, I've been at the bottom of a stack of work orders for an electrician for the past four months! The funny thing is, my dad owns the company so you'd THINK I would have SOME kind of priority but alas I think it goes the other way. So I'm hoping to get to the top of that stack really soon. Particularly because I have set a date for my housewarming and I must have SOMETHING done around here by then.

After many ups and downs over the past year and a half with my long distance sweety pie, he has finally decided to move here and live with me. Yay! Now it is just a matter of him selling his new apartment in Vancouver; hopefully making a tidy little profit, and then in he comes! It's amazing we have managed to get this far as everyone knows that most long distance love affairs fail as they are extremely difficult to hold on to. But there is something magical and deep between us that I won't even bother trying to explain and so it would appear we have survived all the hardships our short but sweet relationship has had to endure. (and there were some hardships, but you'll have to wait for the book to come out.) At any rate I'm really happy that we will finally be together just the way I have always wanted us to be. He will continue to work abroad, but when he comes home afterwards, he will be coming home to ME! Maybe now he will finally introduce me to his family lol.... there's always hope for a miracle. He's a wonderfully strange, unusual and incredible person: kind, sensitive, thoughtful, generous, loves my animals, handy around the house, devillishly handsome, and madly in love with yours truly. He's just the right man for weird little me!

My puppy is all grown up, well she's six months old now and about 45 lbs, still about 30 lbs to go, but she is really turning into a wonderful doglet. I love her to death. The cats are all healthy and wonderful and used to the dog for the most part, although someone is obviously still upset enough to pee on my bed every time I put clean blankets on. <sigh> I pray that things will settle soon. I had six orphaned kittens but am now down to three as the others were adopted to wonderful homes. They are really sweet little things and I adore them but I hope they go soon because ten cats is just too many and London always wants to play with them and they're still too small.

A few weeks ago I discovered that I have a huge massive cyst on my thyroid, a hereditary curse of all women on my mother's side, although she says hers was never nearly as large as mine, so I'm off to see a specialist in Vancouver on August 7th to have it aspirated YUCK! Then it will be a matter of time before I make an appointment with a surgeon to have it cut out. Yippee, how exciting!

So life has been flashing by me in a blur... never a moment to sit and think of sad things, which is a pleasant change from my pre-Penticton existance which was filled with loneliness and way too much time to ponder the craziness of my world.

Yubu just tried to frame the dog. He jumped up on the kitchen counter and tossed down the roll of paper towels which of course, London proceeded to begin to rip to shreds. When I got in the kitchen there she was, tearing through it like dinner and Yubu was hanging over the edge of the counter, watching with a wickedly amused glint in his eye and thinking to himself "Ha! You're gonna get it now dog!". Most likely payback for all the times poor Yubu has been pinned down, sat on, and slobbered all over in the past month. Luckily for London I've seen the movie Lady & the Tramp and I know all about how cats frame dogs.

I haven't gone running since.... well since just after I did the CIBC Run for the Cure last summer in Victoria. I had surgery shortly after that run and couldn't exercise for about 3 months and by then all my discipline had waned lol. It takes a helluva lot to get any kind of discipline GOING in my life and once I let it slide even for a moment, well I can pretty much kiss it goodbye and count on having to start over. At any rate, that's neither here nor there.

The point is, I decided, since I quit smoking 2 weeks ago AND since I plan to sport a bathing suit at some point this summer, I'd better start running again a.s.a.p. so tonight seemed about as good a night as any to begin.

Because I want my precious pup to be my running companion I decided to take her along and see how it went. Oh. My. God. I am such a proud mama. My little London ran alongside me the entire way, never missing a beat. She didn't criss cross in front of me and cause me to spill on my face, nothing! We ran together way down South Main Street and then back home. I couldn't BELIEVE it! I will have my jogging companion after all! She's amazing, really. And so begins the running ritual and hopeful shrinking of the ass.

Well, London finally outgrew her cat collar and has graduated to her very first actual dog collar and it's SO CUTE it's red with white surfer-esque flowers on it.

Not only that, but I had to take away her sleeping kennel because she's getting so darned big that she just couldn't stretch out in there anymore and it was causing her to be very uncomfortable all night. So I sectioned off the entire area beside my bed on the floor, made her a nice soft place to sleep and suddenly - no more 3am wake ups! Now she sleeps from 11-7 without a pee break! I guess she was just miserable and now she's a happy pappy and well, if my London is happy then so am I.

So in keeping with all our moving ahead, I took away her car kennel today and replaced it with a nice blankie on the back seat. She was pretty shocked at first, but due to her extensive car kennel training up to this point, she was totally well behaved and just sat on her blankie on the backseat like a good little doggy.

So things are looking up in the puppy rearing department. I still can't get London to stop playing with Yubu though lol, and Yubu seems to almost LIKE it, well he follows London around and doesn't get out of the way and never never hits her so I guess he'll just have to live with the fact that his super fluffy mane is always stuck in clumps with dog saliva from now on.

The cats are mad, or at least one of them is.
The day before yesterday someone expressed their feelings about the dog. Unfortunately that's not all they expressed. Try their bladder too.
Someone peed in London's sleeping kennel. Nasty. No-one has ever done something like that in my house before, but I guess I've never brought a dog into their life before either.

Well, I wish I could say that was their only attempt at self expression but alas it was not. I crawled into my bed that very same night, laid back on my pillow and had to jump swiftly back up when I felt something cold and oddly out of place touching me. It was a nice, tidy pile of cat turds, right on my pillow. It must have been pretty fresh because although the turds were hard, and I must say, rather well-formed (thank you Medi Cal!!), they were still glossy. And so the transfer of turd gloss from cat to pillow to my arm ensued.

Let's just hope they have gotten their point across. I'm scared to go home now, afraid of what they might do next. Maybe I should sleep with the lights on for a while until things calm down.

Thursday, April 26, 2007 --- Who Knew A Cat Lady Could Love a Dog This Much?

Well, I sure do love my little London. She's incredible. I can't get over how she follows me everywhere, I mean, all she wants is to be with me. She's only just over ten weeks old and she knows her name and sits on command. People are always shocked by how well she listens for such a young pup, but I think it's because we have an understanding between us.

She stays all day at the office with me, and after work she gets a couple hours of no-holds-barred play time, usually at the dog beach or at my mom's house. She looks forward to this playtime, and already has our schedule figured out.

She loves her kennel in the car and gladly gets in and out whenever necessary. She loves other dogs and all the people we meet, but she always seems to be aware that she is my dog, and she's always watching out for me.

I discovered nasty pigs ears, the ultimate puppy sitter. She loves them! Funny little bugger will take it and hide it away in some secret place when she's had enough. I don't know who she's hiding it form, I certainly don't want to lick it.

She, unfortunately thinks the cats are dogs and tries to gently wrestle with them, but her idea of gently is not the same as the cats. She had a little wrestle with my darling Yubu this morning, gawd he's so precious, he never hisses or scratches at her, he just tries to ease himself away as gracefully as possible. Jett on the other hand is not so polite. I heard some serious growling, followed by scattering of nails on floor, followed by a giant hiss, and ending in a screech of bloody murder by the pup as she tried to wrestle with Jett. Jett is a fierce warrior and he has finally taught her who is boss.

Anyways, I adore my little London. I'll have to get some photos of her next time we are at the beach and she is covered form head to toe in water and sand with a huge happy puppy grin on her face. She's adorable.

Well, I had a boyfriend who I loved a lot and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I thought and hoped we would end up together, but it turns out that is not the case. BLA BLA frickin BLA. He won't move here and I can't move there and what's the damn point. I want to have a boyfriend/best friend to hang with and be with on a daily basis. I want to settle down and make a family and just be happy. So now he hates me and I feel terrible. I love him, and he hates me. It makes no sense.

Back to the drawing board I guess. Maybe I should just give up on men altogether and become a lesbian. Yuck.

I have such a good little dog! She walks with me on her leash like a dream, and sometimes she picks up her end of the leash and carries it in her mouth lol. I guess she likes to feel like she's walking herself. She was good all day at work, I took her outside quite a bit, but when we were in the office, she just lounged around or snoozed in her kennel.

She's tried playing with my littlest cat Zumi a couple of times, and somehow hasn't managed to completely alienate her yet. Yubu and Zumi are still living upstairs, infatuated with watching London's every move and testing themselves to see just how close they can get without freaking out and bolting the other way in a mad fury of cat nails on hardwood and hisses. It's so funny how one sudden bolt triggers a chain reaction among the cats and almost always results in a full-on stampede of madness, even though no-one really knows why they are running!

The rest of the herd are hanging out downstairs most of the time, but last night as London was asleep by my feet near the couch, all the cats came up for a snack and a peek at the crazy black thing passed out on the living room floor. That's progress I guess.

At night London sleeps in her own bed on the floor, next to my bed. This is the perfect arrangement for us, because my greatest joy in the world is my ritual of nightly snuggles with Yubu and I don't want to lose those. Turns out I don't have to. Yubu is quite happy to continue to spoon with me in bed all night in spite of the proximity of "the creature".

London still needs to go for a pee every 4 hours or so, but she's such a good girl. She always wakes me up to let me know if her bladder is going to give out. After each pee she is usually quite restless and hyper, so I've taught her already that if she does that, she goes in the kennel until she calms down. This only takes about 30 seconds now. She's a fast learner! After I let her back out she totally gets the idea, and puts herself back in her bed and goes to sleep. But she still loves her kennel. I wanna make sure it stays that way.

Yesterday after work I took her out to my mom and dad's so she could romp freely around their yard. So far she has not seemed to like other dogs, but she took to Barkley right away and they played together for a couple hours.

This morning, brave Zumi, unwilling to give up her bathtub ritual for a silly dog, threw caution to the wind and joined London at the edge of the tub and together they lapped water from my cupped hands. Omg she was SO cute and so courageous. I wished I'd had a camera for that one! (But as a rule, cameras and baths generally don't mix!)

I'm just amazed by what a loyal, well mannered little sidekick London is and I can totally tell she's going to be an awesome dog when she grows up. I got lucky with London!

Well, I added another member to my happy little family.
Meet "London", my sweet new little (big!!) pup! She's awfully hard to get a photo of because she moves a lot and really fast!

She's very polite with the cats so they are slowly starting to come around and it's only been a few hours since I brought her home. The first thing we did once I picked her up was get her fitted for a pretty pink collar and leash. I was going to get her a harness but she's so good that I think a collar will do. She follows me everywhere! What a difference this is from raising a kitten. I gave her a bath and I didn't end up with arms full of scratches. Now she smells really pretty and she's fluffy and soft.

I'm gonna take her with me to work and everywhere else I go I guess cuz I think thats the only way to make her happy. She doesn't seem too interested in the cats but she sure is excited about playing with their toys! It will be very interesting to see what she looks like when she grows up as she was part of a rescued litter which supposedly were the products of a shepherd x rottie mom and a wild boarder collie papa. She has huge feet!

So far we've only had one piddle on the floor and I've learned that puppy-proofing a house is a little different than cat-proofing one.

I went out to the Critteraid Cattery in Summerland this afternoon to get a tour and learn how to clean the "Yellow Room". I'm going to go out there every monday and volunteer.

I've never seen such a place. Anyone who thinks I'm a crazy cat lady needs to take a drive out there with me and you'll be set right pretty quickly.

The house is filled with cats. Every room has cats, 10... 20... 30 to a room. Each room has a kitty door leading to an enclosure outside. One room has a small tv which is left on for the cats. All the rooms are decorated in tasteful cat style. Every room is filled with cat beds, cat cradles, cat nooks and cat crannies. There are over 100 cats there I think. There are cats of every size and shape, all orphans, abandoned one way or another, and all taken in by the lady who runs Critteraid. The cats are all up for adoption, but the adoption process simply isn't going fast enough!

This lady, incidentally, also lives in the house. She used to have a huge master bedroom but has since moved her sleeping quarters into the smaller of the rooms and once you go in the master bedroom its easy to see why. There are about 30 cats living in there. Every inch of space is covered in cat beds and cats.

There's even a semi-feral orange fellow who was recently rescued from the top of a telephone pole, living in the bathroom.

This morning I got a hairball in the shape of an egg! Woo wee! They didn't make me a trail of clues though, it was just sitting out there in the middle of the parque floor. Not much of a hunting challenge! But at least I didn't get a dead easter bunny which would have been a real gift, coming from the cats.

Had a lovely fantastic and delicious dinner last night at Jamie and Melissa's with the family. What a treat that was since I usually have to miss those events due to being geographically challenged 'n all, which I'm not anymore. I only had to roll down a hill to get home afterwards too. BEAUTIFUL.

Life is great, I just gave the introduction speech for the play at the theatre where I manage and I got two, count 'em TWO laughs from the audience. Damn I really should start my own comedy club.

Well, here we are, all moved in to our brand new house in Penticton. It's been quite a journey, let me tell you.

Everything happened so fast, one day I was sitting at the vet clinic working away, the next I was a first-time homeowner. My parents found me the place; it's a fixer upper, but a smokin' good deal, and nothing that about 10 coats of paint can't fix! I have a hot tub and a view of the city, and a great suite in the basement which I will be renting out a.s.a.p.

The day after I got the house, I also got a job managing a brand new live theatre owned by some friends of the family! I happened to be on holiday from my usual job just then so I burned home to Penticton to check out my new pad and train for my job. Everything was falling wonderfully into place.

I got back to Vic and the next 3 weeks were a whirlwind of visiting with friends and packing and shutting down my life of 12 years. A lot of drinking went on.

The big day came and I began the daunting task of moving. Thank God for Volga, that's all I can say! With some help from my dear friend Bernie to move the big furniture, Volga loaded up the back of his giant truck and the UHaul trailer I had rented, and after much tension due to his constant taunting that I would surely have to leave some things behind, he somehow magically managed to squeeze every last thing I own into that thing. He worked his ass off and we somehow got it all done.

The cats were extremely on edge upon seeing that all their furniture was gone. As we camped out on an air mattress on the floor they managed to keep us from getting any sleep which was great since we'd just lifted and carried 7.5 million tons of shite and I had stayed up cleaning until the wee hours of the morning.

The next day I loaded up the cats, 5 in my car (and the fish that just won't die) and two in Volga's truck and we headed out. The journey itself was mostly uneventful until about 2 hours from home when Zumi began warning me that she had to go potty. She hung on as long as her bowels would allow and then about 20 minutes from home they caved and she had a nice shit in her kennel. Poor Yubu, my obsessive-compulsively clean cat was pretty miffed about having drawn the short end of the straw and been kenneled with the shitter. He was so upset. He always tries to clean messes when he finds them by covering them up in imaginary dirt, so he was doing that and he looked so forlorn trying to stick his face out of the bars to get air. But we made it to my mom's place and got everyone all cleaned up and things ended well.

The next day was move-in day, and that's what we did. Mom and Jamie helped and the vehicles were emptied in short time.

My house seriously rocks. I love it. The guys who lived in it before were total pigs so the house was filthy, but a lady we know has spent the past 2 days cleaning it so I can't wait to get home tonight and start putting more things away.

The first night in the house was interesting. Little Zumi disappeared. Every time the central air came on I could hear her screaming bloody murder from inside the walls. I discovered an uncovered air vent that I had missed and realized she was trapped inside. I tried calling and calling but she wouldn't come out. She just kept screaming. I felt awful, and was super relieved when we finally figured out what had happened! She had fallen down, down, down into the very bottom of the furnace downstairs. Volga took off the panel and let her out. The only thing that had stopped her from getting whisked into the propeller was a thin filter but I think the suction was freaking her out as it drew her against the filter every time it came on. Anyways my poor dear survived yet another potential disaster, and the vents were covered up. We slept like logs.

The next morning I was woken up at 6am by my very own woodpecker! He was working on the lovely big hole he'd started in the siding on the front of my house. I had to shoo him 4 times (every 15 minutes) before he finally took off. Turns out he likes to come every morning to work on the hole. David suggests the only cure for this habit of his is to get a woodpecker's head on a stick and stick it on the house. Anyone know where I can find a woodpecker head on a stick?

So I've started my wonderful job at the theatre today, life is freaking fabulous. Volga headed back to Vancouver this afternoon. Tonight I think I'll rush home after work as it's my very first night alone in the house. I plan to fire up my brand new BBQ that Volga bought me and cook me up some veggie dogs and unpack the kitchen. LIFE IS GREAT.

I just had a rather fascinating adventure. And you thought my winter dramas had come to an end.... silly little darling....

It snowed a lot last night so although I tried to make it into work this morning, I only made it halfway and had to turn back. The roads were treacherous and there were more cars stuck on the side of the road then there were actually driving. Those that weren't yet stuck soon would be as was evident in their dance de-la-fishtail all along the road.

At any rate, another day's pay down the tube, I stayed home. The snow stopped, the day warmed, and the roads cleared. By the time 3 o'clock rolled around I felt confident I could make it in to town for my 4pm shift at the vet clinic.

The snow began to fly at about 7pm as the temperature plummetted to a wicked freeze. We closed early and headed out, trying to beat the ice that was sure to be forming on the wet roads, which would soon be covered in a lovely layer of new flakes.

I made it to the first hill where Burnside becomes Prospect Lake Road, and just as I was about to close my eyes and make a run for the incline, I saw the strangest sight. A car, it's interior light still illuminated, was on its side in the ditch. The poor young man who had been driving couldn't have been more than 18 and he flagged me down and asked to use my phone. Of course I gave it to him and he sat in my car and called for help. He said he had been going no more than 10 km/hr down the hill when he began to slide, right to the bottom, through the guardrail, and into the ditch. Poor little thing was quite shaken up.

As he spoke to his people, I watched several other drivers do their thing on the hill. The 4X4's made it with minimal squealing; the rest of the lot were not so fortunate and had to turn back. Somewhere during the show I decided I would not attempt the hill and would instead, opt to hitch a ride with a passerby.

Two lovely ladies in a 4X4 pulled up beside me, and upon hearing my plight offered to drive the 10 or so kilometres out of their way to drop me safely at home.

The boy's friends arrived, I grabbed my groceries and my purse, locked my car up tight on the side of the road, and hopped in the back seat thanking both ladies profusely. It felt very odd to leave my poor little car, all alone on the side of the road.

As we commenced our cruise up the hill, there was a young woman, her hazards ablaze, stopped right in the middle of the road. As we slowly passed by her we noticed that she was also in need of some help. So we stopped, added her to our brigade, and we were on our way. Two young, car-less girls, and two god-sent angels in a reliable vehicle. We chatted and drove about 20km per hour.

I was dropped at the bottom of my street, and hoofed it up to the house, patting myself repeatedly on the back for not forgetting my housekeys in the car. So here I am. Safe again, at least for another day...

Well it turns out that ticks are going to be an on-going problem in these here woods, so rather than drive all the way in to the clinic every time I accidentally pet one of the nasty buggers, I've had to become a bit of a tick head-hunter. Jett got another tick, and I dealt with that one on my own too. So woo wee! Decee will now wear the tick plucking hat. My drawer is getting a little stuffed of these ridiculous hats, but if it's in style, well, ya gotta go with the fashion flow.

Well im proud to say, with a little support over the phone from my mother, I plucked Jett's ginormous tick off his head and flushed it down the toilet all by myself. YAY! I have a HUGE FEAR of ticks so it was a triumphant moment. Anyhoo, I'm more than a wee bit concerned about the fact that I couldn't see anything on the HUGE TICK that resembled a head... and I didn't see one on Jett's neck afterward but there IS a huge lump on his skin where it was attached so I need to find out if the stupid tick-head was buried inside his neck and is still there. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!!

Well I finally made it home on Christmas afternoon, at around 4:30, just in time to sit down for the incredible dinner my mom had prepared. It was ma and pa, me, Jamie & Melissa, Ryan & Jessica, and Melissa's mama Loretta. After dinner we exchanged gifts (They waited for me to arrive instead of opening Christmas morning without me yay!). I got spoiled ROTTEN as always, and one of the things I got was a sewing machine!!! I'm so excited to start making things. Does anyone need a catnip pillow?

It was a wonderful night! The next day I lounged around all day, visited with Nanny & Doug and then went to Jamie and Melissa's place for the evening.
There was a massive snow storm taking place so bets were made as to whether or not I would fly home as scheduled the following morning.

Of course my flight got cancelled, all flights out of Penticton did! They said they couldn't get me out of there until the 30th! But I had left all the cats home alone to fend for themselves so there was no way I could stay that long. I decided I would have to take the stinky-bus ugh!

So I got to have breakfast with Tash, David & Baby Rio which was a blessing, and me and the folks played scrabble and hung out and it was actually really great to have an extra day with them. I MISS THEM!!!!!!!!!!!

It took me two buses, a ferry, a taxi, a car and about 12 hours to get home but I made it! The bus nearly crashed on the highway between Summerland and Peachland, but the driver saved us all by slamming on the brakes and swerving into the oncoming lane.

I'm heading out for a quick bite with Bernie for New Years and then it'll just be little old me and the cats bringing in the new year with wet rough kisses and purrs. Love and peace to all y'all!

WELL. The last two months have been really.... interesting. There was the emergency surgery, then the long power outage and subsequent strandation of myself and my cats in my house in the woods, followed by a couple more crazy storms and power outages and a giant tree that nearly fell on the house but was luckily stopped mere feet from the roof by the branches of another tree, and then of course, the hitting of the poor deer. So I guess I should have expected that the crazy weather would flare up again and put a stop to my trip home for Christmas. Yep, that's right, I went to the airport today and my flight got cancelled. I can't try again until tomorrow at noon so wish me luck.

I swear, a lesser woman would have lost her mind a loooooooooong time ago. But not me!

Aaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm supposed to be eating and drinking with my faaaaaaaaaaaamily right now and I'm home alone with my cats!!! This is the first Christmas I have ever been alone in all my 32 years on this planet. Red wine and beans on toast are the order of the day.

Volga came over yesterday, thank goodness, and luckily he made it back across on the ferry this afternoon. I'm surprised the ferries were running, it's so windy!!!!!!

Merry Christmas! (And please pray my power doesn't go out tonight, I don't think I could take it!)

Well it's that time again. I'm spending the day vaccuumming and cleaning the house getting ready to head to Penticton on a plane tomorrow. I always like to leave a clean house so I have a clean house to come home to. Well, relatively clean, since there will be seven predators living here while I am away!

My Christmas shopping is all done thank God; everything is wrapped and packed in a suitcase. I'm soooo excited about seeing my family even if it is only for a couple of days.

I turns out it's only gonna cost me $100 deductible to fix my bumper from hitting the poor deer so that was a refreshing bit of information. I'll worry about that after the holidays. I'm off work for almost a week now so it's time to relax and enjoy myself for a little bit.

My Shmoopy is heading home to Saskatoon to spend the holidays with his family too. I'll miss being with him over Christmas, but he has been informed that if we are to be in a serious relationship, there will be no more Christmases apart LOL so in future years we will find a way to be together. Maybe Christmas with my family and New Years with his? He says they celebrate more around New Years than Christmas anyways so ya never know, it just may work out. But we are both very family oriented people so it is crucial that we spend time with the most important people in the world during the holidays so we'll definitely have to find a way to do it that works for all of us.

Nikki and I had our little Christmas thingee yesterday. She and her family spoiled me rotten as usual. It's nice having a family away from home. Her mother Donna is the best baker in the world however, so it's a miracle I don't have a giant ass.

My wish for all my friends and family this year (and anyone else who finds themself reading this) is to feel peace inside your hearts. Peace in the world may be too much to ask at this point, but you can find peace in your heart if you just give it a chance.

I hit a deer on the way home tonight. It jumped out right in front of my car from the right hand side like I mean RIGHT IN FRONT, I never drive over 40 clicks on that road. Anyways I slammed on the brakes and swerved but it was RIGHT THERE so I heard and felt the thud as I hit it.

I stopped and jumped out. Oddly enough, Darren, my neighbour was right behind me. He's never once been behind me on the road in the whole year I've lived here.... so he stopped too.

I went over to the deer, it was laying in the bushes and when I got close it jumped up and darted away and just stood there and stared at me while I blessed it and apologized profusely.

Then I cried all the way home, I feel SO BAD for hitting him and I hope he didnt break anything.

I LOVE animals and hurting one is the worst thing i can ever do. I keep having flashbacks to seeing his precious little face in front of the car and then SMASHING into him!

Well, it started innocently enough. A gentle November blast of evening snow, unusual for this time of year in Victoria yes, but not entirely unpleasant. The next morning I awoke to find myself completely trapped by a foot of the lovely white stuff. Trapped by a foot you laugh? Do let me explain.

I live in the woods. I drive a civic and she's a lovely car, but not really cut out for 4X4'ing, so a foot of snow, wind-blown into drifts two feet high around my tires can be quite incapacitating.

The landlord who lives in the suite upstairs had already abandoned ship. I guess he saw the flakes coming and hit the road. Even if I had thought of that in time I couldn't have left. Firstly, where would I go? And secondly I couldn't bear to leave the cats. And anyways, how bad could it get? We rarely get any snow worth crying about and even if the power went, surely it wouldn't last more than the day.

The power went off as expected on Sunday morning, followed promptly by the cable. Since my phone is on Shaw, that meant no phone either. Since my home is on a well, that meant no water. I wasn't panicking though. Everything would be ok. The snow kept coming.

Darkness arrived at around 4:15 as usual, and out came all my IKEA tealights. I peed by candlelight and let it sit in the bowl. I couldn't cook, so I nibbled on cheese and crackers and drowned them with bottled water. As the snow waged on I could hear trees cracking in every direction, and later, huge branches laden with snow plummeting to the ground. The air in the house was chilling quickly and I ended up bundled in layers of clothes, confined to my bed under 8 blankets, just to stay comfortable. It was cold! I read a few books to keep from going insane and played with the cats to keep warm. The only communication I had with the outside world was via text messages on my cellphone, but even for that I had to be standing in just the right spot and re-send each message several times. Because I have barely any reception out there the phone kept going into analog and draining the battery. Obviously I couldn't plug it in, so I threw on my boots and a heavy jacket and headed out to the car a couple times. The car was swallowed up in snow and my car charger was a piece of crap, so it was an exhausting experience. But I just couldn't fathom being completely cut off from the world. There had to be some link.

That night was a cold one. Thank God I had the cats to cuddle but even so, I could feel my blood beginning to freeze in my veins. The whole "crackers and cheese thing" was getting old. I ate some cold No-Chicken Noodle Soup from a can.

The next morning the snow was two feet high and the earth was frozen solid. Most of my neighbours had long given up and moved into town. The trees were hunched like old men by the weight of snow and ice, the ominous silence frequently broken by huge masses of snow falling from over-extended branches. I was shocked. I hadn't seen so much snow since the infamous Storm of 1996. But this time I didn't live downtown near a convenience store. I had no next door neighbours to chat with, drink wine with, stay warm with. It was just me and the seven furry predators.

My dear friend Bernie responded to my text S.O.S. by making the treacherous treck out to my house to deliver water, cigarettes and a propane campstove. He couldn't make it up the driveway in his truck any more than I could make it down. He said there were several trees down in the road that had been cut away for passage, as well as some trees laying on wires and one loose cable across the road just down from my driveway. He stayed only long enough to set up the campstove and then smartly high-tailed it back to town. What a sweetheart to do that for me.

Now came the problem of heat. I needed some. I needed it bad. I knew that Darren my landlord had a brand new generator, so why didn't he get his butt out here and hook it up for me? I txt'd my parents in Penticton who called Darren, and by that evening he was out at the house with two tanks of gasoline. My mama musta lit a real fire under his ass!

Once the generator was up and running, everything changed. My house turned from a dark den of icey despair, to a home again. Well, a campsite really, but a homey one. I got some pasta going on the Coleman, hung a curtain over the living room door to keep the heat in, plugged in a nice little lamp, and ta-da! We were in business. Me and the herd watched a couple movies and sat around warm with farfalle and red wine. And it really wasn't so bad. One might even go as far as to suggest it was somewhat romantic. I slept solidly on Monday night.

Every six hours I had to run outside and refuel the generator. So picture me if you will, unshowered, bundled up in sweats and hoodies topped with a fluffy blue housecoat, my black winter coat, a toque to restrain my horribly greasy mop of hair, and big black boots, outside in the forest at two in the morning, balancing over a roaring generator and trying not to spill a drop of gasoline. I felt like a serious bush woman. I was afraid of nothing. I was self sufficient. It was fabulous.

The next day the snow finally stopped. The view outside my window was a cross between a scene from a Dr. Seuss book, and The Shining. I started to feel just like Jack and silently chanted "redrum! redrum!" as I paced my own halls longing for some human contact. A couple people did drop by throughout the day: the girl who lives in the cottage stopped in briefly to visit her cat, and a couple hours before her, a young man I recognized as her friend. He drove his 4X4 truck up and down the driveway, creating a path for my car. I could not thank him enough. I found out later that he was not her friend, he was her ex-boyfriend-turned-stalker and was not supposed to be out at the house. Oh well, as long as he didn't show up in the middle of the night with a hacksaw, at least I had my driveway plowed.

The solitude was finally starting to get to me. Anytime lights flashed in the driveway I was up and out the door in mere seconds, just dying for the sound of human voices no matter who it was or how lame the conversation. Noises outside that, before now, were just the sounds of snow and good old nature, now took on menacing personas as images of crazy stalker men with chainsaws in the dark flew back and forth through my mind. I couldn't let those thoughts manifest however, cuz I was gonna have to go back outside to refuel the generator eventually, and if I let my imagination wander too far toward the macabre, I was gonna have a helluva time getting back! So I curbed the nasty fantasies and got back with the program. I was a bushwhacker, it was in my blood. Bushwhackers don't act like wussies when they see shadows in the dark! Darkness is made almost entirely of shadows, so good luck with that!

I heard from my parents' text messages that power would not be restored yet, possibly not for several days, (my heart finally sank) and since the gas was only going to last me one more night and the food and water were low, I decided I was going to have to take affirmative action and create a Plan B. I would have no choice but to abandon the cats and head to a friend's house in town. If I could only get my car down the driveway to the sufficiently-plowed roads, I think I could pull it off. I had already missed two days of work as well, and knew that if I didn't get to work at some point, I would never be able to pay my rent, so Plan B was set into action. I spent my last night alone bundled up on the couch again, 3 or 4 cats on there with me, wishing the power would just magically ignite and I wouldn't have to leave my home in the morning. It didn't happen.

Bernie, being the darling that he is decided he was going to come out at 8:30am and see me safely into town. There were no problems getting down the driveway after all, and I made it into town with only a couple minor fishtail-esque moments. Now here I am at Nikki's house knowing I left a ton of cat food and water, wondering if I forgot to close the sliding door tightly, feeling absolutely terrible for abandoning my babies in the cold, and watching a brand new sky-full of snow fall gracefully from the heavens. We're supposed to get another 5cm tonight. Great. I guess I won't be going out to the house to visit the cats tonight as i planned. But it's fabulous to feel my laptop again, extending from my fingertips.

I had to have some "emergency" surgery on Thursday. I lived. My mother came to stay with me and I'm SO GLAD!

Zumi fell in the bath today. It was hot and it was deep and she went all the way under.

Have you ever had to end a relationship with someone because you loved them TOO much?

Why does everything good always seem to fall apart? Maybe you think I make it happen but I don't mean to.

It poured last night. I left my window open a couple inches so I could listen as I slept. I love the sound of the rain.

Lately I've been waking up with a stiff left hand. It aches to curl my fingers when I first wake up, and it has been getting progressively more stiff as the days go on. Could it be I'm showing signs of early arthritis? I guess anything's possible.

I came home on Saturday evening expecting my usual loving, purring greeting from my darling Yago. He's always the first one to run to my car upon my arrival and he didn't come. I began to expect the worst and walked around the yard calling his name for several minutes. I finally spotted him crouched by the porch. He was injured, and could not use his back legs much at all. He had heard me calling and managed to drag himself out from under the deck, but that was all he could muster and he just sat there, shivering, waiting for his mama.

So I put him to bed with a quarter gravol to help him sleep. Poor baby, he was wet and cold and dirty and in agonizing pain. He wasn't even able to speak to me, and he's usually the biggest talker in the bunch.

The next morning I whisked him to the vet clinic for x-rays which showed no breakage, so bed rest it was for several days on pain medication.

Anyways, he's doing better now, has more energy and doesn't cry out quite as badly when he tries to move. He's got his purr back and shows me so much gratitude for acting as his nursemaid. I can tell he really appreciated the attention and the bedside table service. I also helped him go to the loo a couple times because he couldn't drag himself to the box. The other cats helped in his care too by surrounding him in love and licks and respecting his privacy as much as they were able.

Precious Yago, I wish I knew what happened to him but I'm just grateful as heck that he didn't disappear altogether. I could not imagine my life without him, he's an angel.

Long distance relationships are just too hard. But once you've fallen in love and found the person you know you want to be with, what are you to do? Try to make changes? Or just try to make do? I wish I knew the answer. God, how I wish I knew so I could stop suffering so much inside.

I don't sleep for just anyone
And the sounds I make are secrets
But I sleep beside you soundly
And you've never said a word a word till now

Oh my diamond in the smooth
There's nothing rough about you
Except perhaps the way you talk sometimes
I could not stand to lose
My diamond in the smooth

I would trade it all for everything
If only you’d invite me
How those lips that warm my heart with words
Can easily ignite me
Anger fueled from love is bitter sweet
And you're my sour little treat

Oh my diamond in the smooth
There's nothing rough about you
Except perhaps the way you talk sometimes
I could not stand to lose
My diamond in the smooth

Don’t put your hackles up I’m
Only trying to fix you baby
Trying to show you what love’s about

So what’s this all about? Nobody’s perfect
But we’re made to match and passion reigns
My diamond in the smooth
There’s nothing rough about you
Except the way you love me sometimes…

Some people say they want you to be happy. But they don't actually want to do whatever it is that would make you happy, they would just rather you be happy without them.

Last night i dreamed about prostitutes and drug addicts. There was dirty water everywhere, and needles, and human defacation. People were living in shit and squalor and for some reason, unknowlingly, I had purchased a condo right smack in the middle of all that mess and was trying desperately to figure out how I was going to sell it.

Prostitute: To dream you are in the company of a prostitute denotes that you will incur the righteous scorn of friends for some ill-mannered conduct. For a young woman to dream of a prostitute, foretells that she will deceive her lover as to her purity or candor.

Water: To see water in your dream, symbolizes your unconscious and your emotional state of mind. Water is the living essence of the psyche and the flow of life energy. It is also symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment.

To see muddy or dirty water in your dream, indicates that you are wallowing in your negative emotions. You may need to devote some time to clarify your mind and find internal peace. Alternatively, it suggests that your thinking/judgment is unclear and clouded.

Feces: To see or come in contact with feces, signifies aspects of yourself that are dirty and negative and which you believe to be undesirable and repulsive. You need to acknowledge and express these feelings, even though it may be shameful. Release the negativity in your life. Alternatively, it may also refer to someone who is anal retentive.

To dream that you are unable to dispose of the feces, suggests that you are unwilling to let go of your emotions. You have a tendency to hold in and keep your feelings to yourself.

According to Freud, feces is related to possession, pride, shame, money/financial matters, or aggressive acts. So to dream that you are playing with feces, symbolizes your anxiety over money matters and financial security.

Syringe: To see a syringe in your dream, signifies that you need to inject more enthusiasm, fun, or determination into your life. Consider also the contents of the syringe and how it would effect you.

From a Freudian perspective, the needle and its contents represents the penis and intercourse.

Selling: To dream that you are selling something, signifies changes and your feelings toward these changes. You may be experiencing difficulties in letting go or parting with something.

Well I ran my 5K today. It was awesome. I did it in 35 minutes. Then I ate two jelly doughnuts and a banana and went home. End of story.

Nikki's little Abby doesnt chew her treats, she started choking, had a freaky seizure, I was "pounding" her chest and back to try and dislodge it while she started turning blue, pissed herself, went stiff, then went completely limp. I was yelling and swearing at her as I pounded her and hung her upside down gently but firmly shaking her, I swear she died for a second, I'm sure she was gone, then suddenly she started breathing again.

I recently received this annoying email, I won't say from whom, but I was compelled to send a response due to my agitation of the matter, and I just thought I'd share.

The Jihad...... Interesting this appears to sum up what we are faced with. Muslim religion in the fastest growing religion per capita in Canada and the United States especially in the minority race.

Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of their belief systems.

I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with video. After the presentations, time was provided for questions and answers. When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked, "Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?"

There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, "Non-believers!"

I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."

I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr. Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to Heaven. The Imam was speechless. I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"

You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame. Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification' training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the Islamic Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.

I think everyone in the US and Canada should be required to read this, but with the liberal justice system, liberal media, and the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized.

This is a true story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well known leader in prison administration.

All religions are flawed. Not because of the fundamentals of their core belief systems necessarily, but because of certain individuals: extremists, hypocrites, etc who corrupt the systems by interpreting the holy writings in such a way that facilitates their own selfish hunger for the destruction of their fellow man.

Also, all the religions of the world were created so long ago, at a time when mankind was terribly uncivilized and each individual race and religion was trying to establish itself in a world where there was very little knowledge of the REST of the world. It was a time when tolerance, world unity and passivity were unheard of and it is only through our growth as a species, both spiritual and mental, that we have the wherewithall to see that some of the things that have been passed on to us from generations of our ancestors are WRONG and tradition is NOT the only answer. There has to be a balance. There are corrupt activists and extremists in every religion, INCLUDING Christianity and Catholicism, in fact I dare say they may be the worst since they have such a strong belief that everyone should conform to their belief system instead of propogating love and peace and tolerance of all the millions of different and diverse people that make up this crazy planet we all share.

It is our duty and our RIGHT as civilized members of this earth that we take all that we have learned over milleniums of supposed growth and lead by example. Instead of pointing out the flaws of the Muslim religion as a whole, why don't we just single out the INDIVDUALS who have a hate-on for the so called infidels of the world. They are the real culprits here. INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE and even they have their reasons for feeling the way they do. We are supposed to be intelligent enough to be able to have EMPATHY and COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING and at the very least TOLERANCE of all the people of the world. Not just the ones who agree with our opinions.

My boyfriend is Turkish, raised Muslim and still has his core belief system firmly planted in the Muslim religion, so I take serious offense to the propogation of hatred, WHATEVER the target but for this moment, on this day, PARTICULARLY the defamation of the Muslim religion. My boyfriend does not want to kill me or anyone else for that matter, nor does any member of his family or their extended network.

Can we PLEASE try and stay our focus on the things that MATTER: peace, acceptance, pure love for God whatever his name may be, and an end to the horrors of war and hated all over the world.

December

My life seems so interesting on paper. If I make a list (or maybe that's too ambitious) if I THINK about all the things I do and all the interesting things that make up this thing I call my life, I am left to wonder why I still feel so bored all the time. I look fondly back on the days when weekends were something to aspire to: a time to let loose, whoop it up, get nuts. Now weekends are just comprised of more weekdays.

I don't party. If I want to drink I have to get a cab and I'm not about to pay the guestimated fifty dollars one-way that I'm sure it would cost to get there. And who the hell would pick me up or drive me home. Furthermore, who would I go out with anyways? I don't have any friends anymore! Jeez, it sounds bleaker and bleaker by the second.

But the fact of the matter is I don't really want to party anyways. I'd much rather spend my time and money in more wholesome and productive ways. Now, instead of party favors, I pay for cat food and laptops and the occasional new outfit. I make a different kind of party here in my living room. A cat-laptop-outfit party.

It seems like all I do is work and work, and get further and further behind. Ya ya I could cut back on my shopping but I don't think so. I'll just have to work harder to pay for all this shit.

I guess my life really is more full than I give it credit for. Maybe it's just a matter of attitude, and I have lots of that. It's just not always good, and that may be part of the problem.