12 minute wrong number

I listened to/ watched a leagle show earlier where the atty stated that no one makes a 12 minute wrong number. Well I have. About 2-3 moths ago I called my guy to have a nice chat. He's gone a lot teaching various things at various places. Anyway, we were having a nice chat about what we did that day whe he suddenly said "wait, you're carla, right?" and I said "Who the Hell is Carla?" Apparently I had dialed the wrong number, neither of us realized it and he thought I was his woman and I thought he was my guy and we had a chat for 12 minutes not realizing that I'm not carla and he wasn't my guy. Yep, it took us 12 minutes. When he was done laughing, my guy was perplexed how this dude thought I was "carla" because I have a unique voice. Perhaps Carla is my voice double? Who kows, but if you ever need a reason in court, there are people who infact do spend 12 minutes on a wrong number.

that's all for now, i burnt my hand on the toaster oven and it hurts.

Plans

Well, I was better for a week and now I'm ill again, just in time for the holiday. Thanks god I'm done Christmas shopping.

It was cold and rainy today and I went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving. I got everything except for buttermilk (the store i went to was out) and I need a bundt pan. I think I'm just going to add a cup of milk to some white vinegar instead of hunting down the buttermilk. It's not quite the same, but it'll do.

Thursday's menu:

• Large salad (spinach, romain hearts, peppers, carrots, celery, various beans and as many other veggies as I can fit in it)
• 13 lb turkey that i'm going to try and brine. we'll see how it goes.
• 2 lbs green beans cooked in the pressure cooker (I bought a ham hock to toss in, but a big momma at the store told me to get the pig tail. I refrained).
• 2 lb pork roast for the non-turkey people (again with the pressure cooker)
• cranberry, apricot and coorn bread dressing (I'm going to make it in the muffin tin)
• roasted garlic mashed potatoes (made with chicken broth instead of milk and butter)
• roasted veggies (sweet onion, red and green peppers, yellow squash, zuccini, garlic, and asparagus)
• greenbean casserole (the same old thing for people who want it, not me)
• mac 'n cheese (not for me, I'm not a big fan, so I'm not even making it, it's a bring along)
• can of cranberry sauce (I HATE the stuff, so I just buy the can and hope it's magically gone)
• onion gravey made from turkey drippings
• beef gravey from the jar for the MIL who is allergic to all thing poultry
• brown n serve rolls (I don't eat them, so I didn't bother with homemade
• pumpkin spice cake with cool whip topping (I dislike most pies and didn't want to bother with making 2-3 when one cake would do)

Notice how everything was done with me in mind or someone else made it? That's a great Thanksgiving for me. Word spread that my family was't coming and some other people asked to come instead. We have an open house policy that anyone who wants to eat can come on by as long as they behave.

After dinner, the womenfolk are all going to take a long walk in the cemeteries and let the menfolk clean up. I usually get roped into the planning, housecleaning, shopping, cooking and cleanup. "Not this year" is my mantra.

What are you going to eat/do for Thursday?

Sketti

My daughter is under weight for her age, and it doesn't help that she lost a lot of weight, she really had no business losing, last week when ill. She ate maybe 2 ounces of yougurt a day for 5 days and that was it. Therefore, when we can get her to eat, we're supposed to get her to eat as much as possible and try and get her to eat fatty foods that are full of protein. She prefers diet yogurt, raw fruit and veggies, which aren't the best weight gaining foods. Sometimes she'll eat cheese or meat, but she doesn't really like breads or most carbs. However, she will eat "sketti" about two times a week. It's one of the foods she'll ask for and I don't feel bad about pumping her full of.

I have meetings Friday afternoons/nights and she has to go with me because babysitters are rare and terribly expensive weekend nights. After the meeting, we usually go to dinner with friends and then maybe shop. Mandolin loves going to the friday meetings because she feels like a big girl and often joins in and shakes her head or claps depending on what the people around her are doing. Tonight we went to a local joint called Olive Branch, like a knock-off Olive Garden with a very different menu. My friend got muscles, i got spaghetti maranara and got Mandolin lasagna (she asked for it and I was hoping she'd be in a cheese mood and pack on some fat). Mandolin decided she wanted "sketti" after all and sat in my lap and ate my dinner for me. I cannot wait for her to be older so she can tell me what she really wants to eat. I think that'll happen when she's about 15 right?

Gus-Gus

Tonight we went to a no-kill shelter and got a cat. I wanted three things 1) a young cat/kitten that wasn't baby lookiong but wasn't a month from being an adult 2) a male, i'v found boys to be nicer 3) one that didn't look like any of my previous cats. i don't want to replace an old cat with a new one, i wanted a new one.

at shelter number one, they just had a large adoption event, so there were only 4 kitties there. One was being adopted and two looked like a previous cat. Cat number 4 was my gal. I was willing to overlook the male requirement because she was sweet and such a lady. However, this kitty had some kennel cough and I was a little worried that the staff seemed oblivious to the fact that the animal was ill. I just lost one kitty and didn't want to pay all that money for a new one to then have to go to the vet and spend more money and possibly be told that this kitty isn't going to make it. I was sad and the staff weren't very helpful when it came to an ill animal. So, we left and had dinner and then went to shelter #2.

Shelter #2 was full of kitties and all of them were quite vocal that they wanted to come home with me. The staff wouldn't let us hold a cat until we proved that we were in fact taking an animal home with us tonight. I understand why they don't want to open up the cages for people just fooling around, but it took them 20 minutes to get to the opening portion of the event, and we had a hyper 2 year old to calm. After much thought, we got a little guy that's got a white tummy and odd orange patterns on his back that look like targets. He's unlike any cat i've ever seen or owned before, so he fit ALL THREE requirements. I had to fill out more paperwork to adopt the cat than I had to fill out when we bought the house, but after writing a check and promising to take the cat to the vet within thenext week, we were off home.

After much talk between me and Mandolin, we named him Gus, after the fat mouse in the Disney Cinderella movie. Gus was a fat, happy and sweet mouse, and our cat has the makings of a fat, happy, and sweet cat. He's a dude's dude. The other cat (Tubby) who lives with us (but isn't our cat) decided he liked being an only cat right about the time we opened the carrier, but after some hissing and a slap to the head, things look to be calming down. Gus doesn't like the dog I dog-sit and they had some words, but I think they'll work it out in time too. Poor Gus doesn't quite know wht to do about Mandolin, but once she gets ahold of him, he's done for. Tubby's tail still twitches funny after the last time Mandolin got ahold of it.

So, we got a new cat and he's nothing like our Lovely Lily, but that what I wanted and what we needed. As soon as I get a new camera battery (damn you lithium ion batteries!) I will share pictures. I know Bert, if I knew how to use my cell phone camera, I could take a pic with that, but I don't know how to use it, so there's no point in wishing is there?

Things are Looking up

Mandolin is better, though her voice is still scratchy. I am still under the weather but feeling better today than yesterday etc.

I host thanksgiving every year, this is because we're usually away for christmas and it's been deemed important to see relatives for at least one of the holidays. Anyway, my sisters requested my guy to buy them an edible arrangement. (they asked him because they're both miserably single and when they aren't single, they only date broke losers, so a lot of the neat husband stuff comes from my guy). Anyway, they wanted chocolate covered strawberries and he bought a fruit medly but got chocolate sauce on the side as a compromise to those of us who don't want to weigh as much as a large marine mammal.

I called my family to let them know about the fruit and they informed me that they aren't coming to my place for thanksgiving. I'm okay with that. My issue here is that they weren't going to tell me. They were just going to stay home that day and not call. Man what a bunch of white trash. I have no idea where I came from but I really feel like I've been raised by wolves. My mom gave me some backhanded reason why they weren't coming. They don't want to come to my house because we don't eat deep fried fat, whole milk and lard stuffed food.

After two seconds of thought I remarked that them not coming makes my life easier because we were actually going to make two dinners, one for people who aren't lardasses and one for the rest of us. Now, I only have to make the non-lardass foods and won't have to spend the day with them.

Fever

Mandolin's been fighting a fever for a few days now. I've been struggling to make her drink, but she really hasn't had any food. She mostly lies around on the couch whining and muttering "mommy, ouch" over and over. my throat is starting to hurt, so by the time she's back at top speed, i'll be knocked on my butt with this bug.

"sorry for your terrible loss"

i was sitting crying over my poor dead kitty, when my guy informed me that one of his kids at school died from cancer today. i felt so petty being sad over my cat after that. i won't be offering up anything beyond "sorry for your terrible loss" because like bert said, there's nothing to really say after that. i don't think parents (good one anyway) ever get over the deep fear that they'll have to bury a child someday. a few months back i took mandolin, my niece and my nephew on a hike in one of the cemeteries my house is i the middle of. my niece was facinated by the infant graves and kept asking me what the babies dies of and why there were so many of them. i could't tell her the first, but the second was easy. we live in a time and place where children are expected to live to be elderly, and when they don't, it's a large shock. I think we're blessed by this, but in another way we're not, because expecting a long life means we're not prepared when life is cut short in childhood. so today i am sad. i am sad because of my dead cat. i am sad that my guy has to go to a funeral for a child he'll miss. i am sad that family will miss that boy for the rest of their lives. i am sad thinking of that mother's pain and fear it could one day be my own. i am sad i don't feel guilty about this, because i grew up thinking that "good people" felt guilt. but i am happy too because my daughter is happy and healthy and gave me a hug and kiss when she saw me crying and said "momma, i mouve you. don't cry. smile."

reflections on loss

it's 3 pm and i'm waiting for my guy to get home from work so we can take the cat to the vet, chances are very high that she won't be coming home with us. she's been pretty ill and is in a lot of pain and suffering. I can't take it anymore and am unsure of how she's managing to hold on as long as she has. You know, people say such stupid shit when someone's sad because of death all in the name of "making it better." i asked a friend to watch mandolin so that we could take the cat and her response to my heartache was "well, you have tubby, so you can't be too sad." that the same as telling someone who lost a child "well, you have other kids."