Naughty Kittens

Last night, I did my volunteer shift at the Kitten Nursery.  They asked me to work in the purple room.  I've not worked in there for several weeks.   The purple room used to have tons of bottle babies and sick kitties...but no more!  There is only 1 kennel of bottle babies (and they were so cute) but the rest were older.  The first kennel I worked on were a litter of 4 that were removed from the adoption center and brought back because they were losing weight.  There is a white board with notes on each kennel. This kennel said "Door Dashers - WILD".  They weren't shitting.  This kittens are huge by the nursery standards.  Well over 1000 grams which is when they usually leave the nursery.

I am no slouch around kittens and figured I could carefully open the door to grab the first kitten.  I was sitting on a stool when I did this.  As I reached for the first kitten, one jumped right up my arm and around my neck.  Now keep in mind, we aren't suppose to have the kittens touch our skin so this was not a good thing.  I was able to get the kitten I grabbed back in the kennel while I weighed the back climber.  That kitten would not sit still to be weighed.  And there was no patient waiting on the table.  If I wasn't practically bolting him to the table, he was ready to bolt and run around the room (which is a HUGE no no).  No kittens should be on the floor or outside their kennel/table area.  I cuddled him a bit and then went to put him back.  As I put "Mustard" in the kennel, I was very careful to only open the door a crack.  But another kitten jumped up my arm and around my back, a black kitten fell to the floor, and another kitten jumped into my arms!  I have now contaminated myself again, the kitten on the floor, and all the kittens.  I picked up the black kitten from the floor before he could dash under the kennels, then I squished him with the one in my hand while trying to grab the one off my neck.  All this time, there was 1 nice kitty in the group that sat in the kennel patiently watching the antics.  This continued for probably 30 minutes of menagerie and kitten wrangling.

Finally, the other lady working offered to help.  As I held the 3 kitten offenders while she gloved up and pulled out the bin from the kennel.  We were able to get them all in the bin and shut in.  And I took a big sigh!  I was able to clean the kennel up and get it set up for them.  All the while, these kittens were sticking their paws out the breathing holes in all directions.  The bin was thumping on the steel table.  I got the bin of kittens put back in their kennel and had to hurry and release the kitten bundle from the constraint of the small bin.  They came bounding out like they were spring loaded.  Another on the floor, another up my arm and around my neck.  At that point, it becomes a frustrating game to see who is going to win this battle.  As I got them all back in the kennel, and I was literally slamming the door shut, I know there were kitten parts trying to get out again.  I don't think I hurt them as the door was finally closed and all kittens inside.  I'm usually much more gentle than that.

I've never worked with such a wild litter.  I have NEVER dropped a kitten on the floor nor had one touch my bare skin.  I took a deep breath and felt like a huge failure when I was done.  Plus they scratched the crap out of me.  The staff gets nervous if they draw blood but I didn't report it.  They have rubbing alcohol pads for just this type of thing so I wiped my wounds and moved on.  I had to disinfect the floor and all over the extremes of the table.  What was most frustrating is those naughty kittens trashed their kennel within a few minutes of me finishing.  I can honestly say, I hope I never have to do this litter again.  I'm not cut out for that sort of thing.  Naughty kittens for sure!

Halloween 2015

Last night was the annual Halloween party thrown by the Peterson's. They didn't have a party last year so I had 2 years to plan my costume.  I had a few choices but decided to go as Flo, the Progressive insurance girl.  I found the apron and buttons on Etsy.  I decided to not do a wig (I hate to be uncomfortable) so I bought some black temporary hair spray coloring.  I also had to find some bright red lipstick.  I thought I had but it was lip gloss.  And boy was it glossy.  I had to roll with it because I didn't any any other choice at that point.

I ratted my hair as much as I could and used so much hairspray to keep it in place, my hair actually closely resembled a wig!  It was....straw like!  I put on  my white jeans, white polo, apron and accessories.  Then I grabbed the beer from my fridge and headed out.

These people don't disappoint.  They always have the best costumes and we had a great time laughing and playing our roles.  I didn't practice  my "Flo-isms" well but I did my best.  Here are some photos.

Meet Flo.  Unicorns and Glitter!!

Full swing party.

Some of the ladies - Jamie, Rhonda, Amy, Lesley, and Kim

Craig as a viking cheerleader.  I think he just wanted to wear a dress.

Lynn as the "Breaking Bad" guy.  He went all night without
 pants.  I kept making him do jello shots.  Haha.

Erik and Stacy

Rocket Rangers (?) from Pokemon

Mike and Kim as the Eww girls from the Jimmy Fallon skit.

Lesley and Jason as babies.  These babies were bad and doing jello shots.

Robert and Christine as Ricky and Lucy Ricardo

Me and Kim

Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts.  These were super awesome costumes!

Erny and Gayle as Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton

Eww.  "My name is Sara without an H because H's are EWWW."

Very scary Dracula.  His eyes freaked me out!

Gumby and Pokey with a Ewww photo bomb

 

EEEkk.  Scary spider on the hot tub!

I had lots of fun.  It was tough to ramp myself up to go but I knew being around my friends would be good.  I admit I drank more alcohol than I should but it was worth it.

Happy Halloween!

And the wind blows another direction

This morning, I got up so excited I didn't need to clean the house for surprise showings.  I went with Mars and John to a meeting at the U and while there, My agent called and said the offer was cancelled.  The family decided the basement was too low.  Not sure how that happens when they were so aggressive in wanting the home and pushing  me quickly.  But the husband is over 6' tall and decided it was a no go.  So we are moving to plan B.....the investors.  And I am back on the  market.  Next showing is tomorrow evening.  In the meantime, we are looking at condos this afternoon.

Change of Seasons

I'm sure we all feel the change of seasons coming and cold weather just around the corner.  I decided to do one more run to Idaho before bad weather arrives.  It was Fritz's birthday so that is perfect timing.  We had lots of fun going out to eat and hanging out.  For his birthday, we met several of his family and friends for a nice steak dinner.  The weather was a little rainy but it was really beautiful.  I'm sorry to say, we've decided to take a little break from our relationship while Fritz works out some things.  I'm not going to go into to details here but we both care for each other and hope that we can pick up where we left off down the line.  It is bittersweet for me.  I am doing as well as can be expected.

On Fritz's birthday, we took a drive to look at Malad Gorge by
Hagerman.  We took another car photo while we were out.

Looking South from the farm by the irrigation ditch.  Fritz grew cantaloupes
 in this area which we totally enjoyed over the weekend.  Delicious!

This photo doesn't do it justice.  The fall leaves were beautiful.

Along with the change in seasons also came a big push on my house last week.  I dropped the price yet again and we marketed it heavily.  My realtor did a big open house on Saturday morning which was well attended for being on the market for 60 days.  It resulted in 2 low ball offers by the end of the weekend.  One dropped out but the other was interested enough to go back and forth until we came to agreement.  I was a little lower than I hoped ($395,000) but they are well qualified and anxious to close.  In fact, I have to find another place quick as I will be moving over Thanksgiving weekend!  That isn't very desirable.  In order to do that, I need to find a place this week so I can close on that at the same time.

I have very mixed feelings about leaving my house that I've poured my heart and soul into for almost 11 years.  It has been a good house for me and provided me a sanctuary from life's journey.  But I am very happy to sell to a couple with a  young son.  It feels good to know someone will be following the footsteps I laid out for Philip and me.  I hope they enjoy it as much as we have.  It is a chapter of my life that is coming to a close quickly.  I am looking forward to finding a condo that is more mobility friendly for me and reduces my stress significantly...both financially and a list of honey dos.  I trust I can create a new sanctuary that I love just as much somewhere else.

All is well here.  Lots of change.  They say change is necessary to move forward.  Can't wait to see what is next.

Beating the odds

October  might be breast cancer awareness month but for me, it is the month I seem to have follow up appointments with my oncology team so it is like Alexis' Cancer Awareness month.  It is always a little scary to go for follow up appointments but I had a good feeling this time because I'm feeling pretty good and haven't felt any new lumps or bumps.  I also didn't have any new scans which keeps a level of calm around.

I started with an appointment with Dr. C, my radiation oncologist.  It had been a year since I saw him last.  He was mainly interested to see any residual side effects left from the radiation.  I have him trained well as he came bounding in with a smile on his face and an optimistic view.  He was basically thrilled with the eye.  He was so excited I regrew eyebrow and eye lashes.  He said he was really hoping that would be the case and was thrilled everything stayed basically symetrical.  He asked about the dry eye which I told him is still an issue.  In fact, I had tear duct plugs installed (a surprised to me) at my last eye appointment.  But I can live with that and it seems to be helping.  I still have a slight dent, most likely from the surgery than radiation.  But I can sort of live with that.  And most important, my vision was not impacted.  Well actually, most important is that there is no sign of cancer lumps in there.  He said sometimes they can be very stubborn.  I reminded him we "fried the shit out of my eyebrow" so we did a good job and obviously it did the trick.  All really good stuff.

One thing that caught me off guard is he reviewed my medical history before coming in the room.  He was floored with what I had been through this year.  I had practically wrote it all off.  It was like I needed a reminder.  Starting with Johns Hopkins in January and again in June.  Throw in a hysterectomy in March.  And an adjustment in my diagnosis for my muscle disease to include a terrible and detrimental diagnosis of IBM (inclusional body myositis).  That is alot.  And I guess it is.  I just seem to take it all in stride.  Maybe it is a case of denial but I think I am living it all.  I just choose to not focus on it.  I can't let all this crap define me.  And honestly, I've been feeling really good all summer.  I credit that with the weight loss and removing my uterus.  Both very positive things that I had no idea were weighing me down so much.  He mentioned I was "Beating the Odds" with my cancer.  I knew that inside but it made me a little emotional to hear an member of my cancer team celebrate that as well.

Thursday, I saw my most favorite oncologist, Dr. L.  In the cancer world, going 6 months between appointments is huge!  Since then, the MA that I usually see had a baby (and lost all the weight).  There are new people at the front and back desk.  And there are new nurses in the infusion area.  What is not new is Dr. L and the great relationship we have developed over the years.

Since I don't have an cancer concerns, we spent time talking about IVIGg which was the recommended option from Johns Hopkins for my Myositis.  Dr. D  had done some pre-labwork that showed my immune system is "low" (tell me something we don't know) but she wasn't positive what would cause that and asked that I ask Dr. L.  Dr. L frankly didn't know either.  He said sometimes you see it low in people with active lymphoma or people that have had heavy duty chemotherapy.  Neither of those fit me.  So we just agreed that my immune system is weird and doing weird things and as long as it isn't getting worse, we are probably okay.  He said he would support IVIGg for me but agreed with me in the thought of "why rock the boat?" when I am doing relatively well.  If I change my mind and decide to try it, he will partner with Dr. D on the plan to make sure I am doing as good as possible.  He also said he has options for infusion centers we could use.  That made me feel pretty comfortable since he knows the IVIGg process better than Dr. D.

On the cancer front, there are no lumps or bumps.  Blood work looks great (I'm doing okay even with a cocktail once in awhile) and feeling pretty good for a girl with a messed up immune system.  No scans this time and no reason to do scans since things seem well.  I will see Dr. L again in 6  months unless we have anything "lump" up on me.

I am beating the odds like a BOSS!

Family filled weekend

This past weekend was filled with lots of family and love.  Not only did Philip come home for his Fall break, my aunts and Mom came to town for a visit.  We had lots of fun catching up with each other.  I had to share my time with Philip with his Dad too but we worked it all out.  It is clear from my photos, one of my favorite things to do is go out to eat!  Haha.  I'll share my story through photos.

When Philip came into town,  I picked him up at the airport and we decided to have a
late dinner at Litza's Pizza.  It is always nice to reconnect over our traditions.

Still my Cutie Patootie.

Saturday, we met the "aunts" for lunch at Citrus Grill.  We
 had a great time and everyone thought it was delicious.
(Marsha, Shirley, Me, Mom Philip)

They headed up to help John and Mars and I joined them for
family dinner and visiting  in the evening.

Mars, John, Marsha, Me, Shirley.

Sunday night, Philip  came home from his Dad's house and we went
out to dinner at Market Street.  We love the fresh fish brought in daily.

Our beautiful Wasatch Mountains from the restaurant.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

We went to see "The Martian" in 3D at the Sugarhouse theater with recliners.
I don't usually go to late movies but it was the only time the seats were good for
the recliner theater.  It was a great movie.  I highly recommend it...even in 3D.

The "aunts" went home on Sunday.  Philip hung out with Tiffany on Monday while I caught up on work and such.  Tuesday, he slept in and we got ready to send him back to college.  It is always bittersweet.  I enjoy my calm life without "kids" but I also miss him terribly.  We did whip out some cookies for him to take  home and went to lunch on our way to the airport.  I keep telling myself that he will be back very soon for Thanksgiving.

Until next time.....

Idaho/Fritz update

I realize I've been a slacker on the blog and have not been keeping up on a regular basis.  In an attempt to get up to speed, I thought I would do one blog about Fritz/Idaho/dating adventures together.  So this is the update on recent activities with Fritz.

We both realize the nice weather will soon come to an end so we've been busy getting together as much as we can before snow flies and we can't easily make that drive any more.  We've had some great fun and I thought I would share some photos.

Recently, Fritz came to Salt Lake and we decided to go for a drive and take a picnic up the canyon.  Fritz hadn't been to the canyons of Salt Lake and was very interested in seeing them.  We were a little early for the leaves but we enjoyed it anyway.  We had hoped to go up Millcreek Canyon but they had a small fire and closed the canyon so we ended up at Silver Lake.  We found a cute picnic table and sat down to enjoy our treats.  We brought wine, cheese, crackers, sandwiches, chips, and watermelon from Fritz's garden!  Super delicious and we enjoyed it.  We had company from a squirrel, chipmunk, and a blue jay!  It was absolutely beautiful.  I think Fritz's favorite thing about the picnic was spitting watermelon seeds.  We laughed so hard, my tummy hurt.

 

During Fritz's visit, I took him to El Chihuahua for dinner and mostly for a Death Star.  It is one of the few places in Utah where you can get a drink over 1 oz.  The Death Stars are something else.  They knock you on your butt if you aren't careful.

I also headed up to Idaho again for a visit the end of September.  It is easier for me to head to Idaho because I can take my work computer and work from there.  Plus I can clean my house and leave it for people to come see.  I am getting used to the drive to Idaho.  If I am efficient, I can make it in 3 hours to Twin Falls.  I got there in time to meet Fritz and his friends for a "Duck Dinner".  They take the ducks they shot to a local restaurant and have them cook a dinner for you and your friends.  We went to Thai restaurant for dinner.  I don't eat duck and I still don't eat duck.  But I ate around the duck and enjoyed it and enjoyed meeting some of Fritz's friends.

 

 

This is one of his cats, Whiskey.  He is an outside cat and a little wild but seems open to
being a house kitty and loves to come be loved at night when it is dark.  He is a pretty boy.

 

I got used to the tall corn fields across the street but this visit is during harvest and the corn
fields were being cultivated.  The equipment is huge!  The fields are all different
fall colors and remind me of a patchwork quilt.

  
These are horses in Fritz's pasture.  They really are beautiful animals.  I haven't walked down to the pasture to look at the horses closely until this visit.  And that was not by choice.  The horses got out and we found them in the front yard.  I went to grab Fritz and by the time he got out there to round them up, they were down the street.  I know nothing about rounding up horses and I am certainly not mobile enough to do much but Fritz and I both jumped in our cars and with a little help, corralled them.  My role was to park across the road so they would turn down the driveway while Fritz drove down to get them mosing back down the road.   I was impressed we got them put back.

Fritz left for work and I started working when I noticed they were out again.  Luckily, Fritz had called his Mom to come check on them and she got them back in the pasture again, threw some hay for them to munch (see photo) and found the hole in the fence.  The owner of the horses sent someone over to fix the fence.  Betty (Fritz's Mom) is amazingly nimble.  She just crawled right over the gate and threw hay like she was 20.  Made me feel like a pokey city girl standing there in flip flops and a stick I was waving.

I am absolutely and completely amazed by the sunrises and sunsets at the farm.  One night we had the most beautiful sunset.  I jumped up and tried to capture the sky.  It was purple, pink,  yellow, and orange.

Just a few minutes later, as the sun set further, it became even more purple and pink. The room was basked in gorgeous colors.  So I jumped up again and tried photos again.  These photos really don't illustrate how beautiful it was but it gives a good idea.  If I ever live in Idaho, I recommend you come visit and see for yourself.

I'm enjoying getting to know Fritz more.  We have lots of fun and laugh often.  We are still enjoying our times together and things are good.  I'm hoping I can make at least one more run to Idaho before the snow comes.  Maybe he will be able to make one more trip to Salt Lake.

House Update - October

So I had an offer on my house but it was contingent on the guy selling his house.  And it was just not selling.  I was still able to show the house and could accept another offer but alas no other offers came in over the month.  Last Friday, the offer was cancelled for failure to perform so we are back to ground one.

I've dropped the price of the house.  We've had another open house.  I still get up every morning and clean up, make the bed, clean the cat box, and wait for someone to come see the house.  Since Labor Day, things have slowed way down.  I used to have at least 1 showing a day but now I get 1-2 a week.  I'm discouraged.  The biggest issue seems to be the height of the basement and lack of egress.  I knew it was low but I still enjoy the space down there.  It appears I am the only one.  My agent explains that in my price range, we are not attracting singles like me, we are looking at families and families need the space for daily living.  I still don't think it is an issue as long as you are under 6 feet tall.  But it continues to be the obstacle for each group.

Everything sells at the right price.  I'm not sure if I am willing to drop to that price but I do have a little more room to drop the price.  I'm going to coast a week and then give it one last ditch effort next week to see if I can get a good offer.  If nothing comes up, I will probably stay over the winter and try again in the Spring.  Not ideal at this point but I am getting prepared for that mentally.

I've found 2 condos I've loved but neither would take my offer because of the sketchy offer on my house.  So I keep my eyes open on the MLS but I quit going out to look.  I think there is no use until I get an offer.  I hope when that happens, the perfect condo will come up on the MLS.  Right now, it is pretty dismal and there is nothing on the market that thrills me in my price range....even at the highest point of my price range.

Working at the "Cat House"

I thought you would like an update on the Kitten Nursery.  I still continue to volunteer for the Kitten Nursery with Best Friends Animal Society.  I find the work difficult at some times but it is also so rewarding.  I love what the kitten nursery is all about and how they are saving lives every day.  I heard statistics last week that 1,400 kittens have come through the nursery this summer!  That is 1,400 kittens that would have been put to sleep without the kitten nursery.  

Kittens are hard.  They need feeding every 2 hours when they are on a bottle.  They need help with their bowels (usually Moms do this for them).  They need love and attention.  Each stage has its own challenges.  The weining babies are ready for more solid food but they aren't necessarily ready to give up the bottle.  Learning to eat food takes time and patience.  And the older "independent" eaters can eat on their own.  But they like to play and they need as much socialization we can afford to give them.  In addition to feeding them, we clean the kennels and weigh ever single kitten, every feeding.  We also make notes on their health.  There is a veterinarian and several medical staff on the team that keep a close eye on the kittens to keep them healthy.  That is quite a feat considering we often have 200 kittens in the nursery at any given time.  The goal is to get the kittens big enough for immunizations and hopefully out to foster homes to be socialized before adoption.  The great news is they all eventually find forever homes - it is a no kill shelter.

It truly breaks my heart each week when I go in and see new babies in there.  It means another mother kitty got pregnant and had yet more babies.  They can have babies every 6 weeks.  We can't even churn out a litter for adoption that fast!  I really hope people are getting the message to spay and neuter their pets!

I thought you would like seeing some photos.

This is the proper position to bottle feed babies.  We suit up in a gown and gloves for every single litter in an attempt to avoid cross contamination of any disease a litter might have.  We call this the superman pose.  They are on a heating pad covered with a puppy pad so they stay warm.

Look at this darling cross-eyed seal point Siamese!  Such a sweetheart.

This is Popcorn.  He is a big sweetheart.  Some of the kittens enjoy stuffed animals. 
Especially when they are in a kennel alone, it is like their mom is there.

 

Check out these cuties.  They are small enough, they are in a bin in the kennel so they stay close and cozy.  They have a "snuggle disk" which is a heated circle that stays warm about 4 hours.  Keeping kittens warm is critical while they are tiny.  I think these guys are about 200 grams each.  I fed them just last Saturday.  They are really hungry.  The tiger one likes to comfort feed so he latches on the bottle and then falls asleep without eating.  I let him hang out for about 25 minutes Saturday although I'm not supposed to spend that much time on one kitten.

This is Vanilla Ice.  He is one of the Nursery rock stars.  Everyone loves Vanilla Ice.  He is such a pretty kitten and his spotted tail is just too cute.  We don't mean to have favorites but sometimes you just can't help it.  (He is in his litter pan)

We will keep volunteering for the nursery until litters quit coming in.  They said last year, it was until about Thanksgiving.  We had tons of volunteers over the summer but it has cut to almost none showing up.  There are full days without volunteers signed up.  So we all go in and do what we can that day to help.  I fear I will be dedicating much more time over the next month or so to help these kittens.  I can't stand to see them hungry and crying for food.

It is probably a good thing the house is on the market or I would be fostering for sure.  I'm pretty sure I would own Vanilla Ice or even Popcorn in due time!  They are so sweet.