remember the first one?

OK - so y'all remember our first referral? As we called him "April 12th baby"

He's now in the special needs program with our agency, and here he is! Awwwww, it would have been a HUGE challange, but he's such a cutie!

John

Public Service Announcement

The idea is that you store the word " I C E " in your mobile phone Address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be
contacted "In Case of Emergency".

It was thought up by an ambulance man/paramedic who found that when they went to the scenes of accidents there were always mobile phones but they didn?t know which numbers to call and he thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name to file "next of kin" under. Following the disaster in London, East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national
"In Case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign with the support of Falkland's war hero Simon Weston.

In an emergency situation, ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please do. E-mail this to everybody in your address book, it won't take too many 'forwards' before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest.

For more than one contact name use ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.

November 18th is WAY too far away!

November 18th is WAY too far away!, originally uploaded by shellipsm.

harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Trailer

these United States

us_of_ra, originally uploaded by shellipsm.

http://www.tremble.com/scribblins/meet021027.html

gotta love it!

Stef in Oliver

Stef in Oliver, originally uploaded by shellipsm.

Stef was the BEST part about Oliver, truly! the chick who played Nancy SUCKED ASS. Oliver was too nasaly and not waifish AT ALL, Faigin was horrid, but the kids who played Noah and The Artful Dodger were great, too.

Go Stef!

I'll write more later about it, but I had to share this picture.

Monday's quiz...

Monday Meme 10 : 2005-07-25 : List Three

1. List three things on your desk:

Picture of my dead cat, cell phone, lotion

2. List three things you are wearing:

red shirt, birkenstocks, necklace

3. List the last 3 things you ate:

popcorn, yogurt, weight watchers cereal

4. List the last 3 people you touched:

Roman, Kim, Stef

5. List three things you'd love to own:

built-in bookshelves, granite countertops, crown moulding

I was the 41st person to take this week's Monday Meme!

feeling like a mom for 20 minutes

Our friends Liz and Lisa moved a couple of weeks ago, and I went and helped them. I got in some time with their yummy son, my favorite almost 2 year old, too.

We were cleaning out a closet, and out comes the mcClaren XT

And they offer it to us, gratis, saying that some friends of theirs had given it to them, and since they have the bugaboo (drool) they didn't need it and do we know of anyone who wants it.

Imagine the scene, if you will, Hermione Granger (you KNEW I'd get a Harry potter reference in here somehow...) in class, knowing the answer to a question. So if course, I blurt out - us! We'd LOVE it! So they then also haul out a baby backpack - not just ANY baby backpack, but this one deos windows! It's a hiking baby backpack. (And to get around all of the Jewish superstition, we are putting it into our storage unit in the basement, which Liz and Lisa own, and we can buy it back from them when we need it, for a dollar!)

So after I'm all sweaty and gross from to move them, I take my goodies on the subway, and people stood out of the way as I entered the subway car! NEW experience! AS I leave the subway, I open the stroller and put the backpack inside, to make easier maneuvering to our apartment. I got looks and SMILES!

It was a FUN adventure, that was oh, too short, and the first time I drove a stroller to our house. It felt GREAT. And I can't wait for a bi-pedal to be sitting in it.

For now, whenever I need to get more toilet paper, I get a little sneak peek at the stoller, and my heart leaps a little.

15 minutes

Dooce's entry for July 22nd

If you read this tomorrow, scroll down to the entry for 7/22/05


Cheers,
Shelli

Johnny was faboo!

it Is SOOOO not a movie for children!

It was kind of creepy in that "Escape to Witch Mountain" kind of way. But we loved it. And did anyone else pick up on the "sheep love" scene? Hmmmm...

And I loved the one Oompa Loompa dude.

I was compelled to take my camera out and get a picture of Johnny, but I didn't want to copy Dooce...Dooce's picture of Johnny

but the best part....

The trailer for The Goblet of Fire - my Goodness, puberty has hit Harry, Ron and hermione HARD! Harry is handsome as ever, Hermione pretty, and Ron, well, he's not so cute anymore, kind of dorky lookin, so I hope he grows out of it - but I was rivited to that trailer - I cannot WAIT for November 18th!

Johnny! Swoon...

OK, I will admit it here, to the whole wide internet - I *heart* Johnny Depp - I have *hearted* Johnny Depp since his days in 21 Jump Street.

And today, after work, and the gym, my friend Cat, her husband and I are going to see Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Now let me explain a little bit. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is my FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME. EVER. It was the FIRST video I ever bought with my own money, I religiously watch it on TV, commercials and all, whenever it's on.

I've loved the movie since childhood, and that has never changed.

NOW, add Johnny Depp to the mix, and well, WOW.

Narda thankfully understands that sometimes you have to have a celebrity crush, even if it IS a man... :)

You may discuss

I finished it last night at 1am. NEW theories below...
































Snape could have killed Harry if he wanted to. I STILL believe that he is good, but that Dumbledore told Snape that if he ever had to make a choice, that he should save Harry.

I'm WAY sad at D dying, but I know that he'll live on in his portrtaits.

OK - discuss away...

(I have LOTS more theories, but I have to get back to work...)

Happy Potter predictions (I'm only up to chapter 6)

OK, if you don't want to know about the book, or my predictions, wait for the next post.

If you do, Scroll WAAAAAY down... :)




























































































OK - I think that Snape is double agenting himself - I DO NOT believe that he has returned to being a Death Eater - I think he's fooling Voldomort for Dumbledore.

I think something funny is up with Dumbledore. - He's not himself, and I don't like it.

I think Sirius may come back

I think Neville Longbottom is the half blood Prince

I think JK rowling needs to write a zillion more books.

I think I need to pay more attention on the subway, as I almost missed my stop.

I think Hermione and Ron will get together, but that Harry stays alone - sadly, he has to in order to save the world.

Oh yeah, and I think that the French Chick, Fleur is bad news. but that would be bad news indeed, as we are all trying not ot be mean to teh French right now, in terms of world politics, so it would be a bad thing, politically, if she were bad "peeps" - but I still think she is.


OK - I'm about to eat lunch and read chapter 7.

I'll keep y'all posted if my predictions are correct.

must clean before reading H.P.....

I read the first chapter of Harry Potter last night at midnight.

I want to read more, but I have de-cluttering to do, plus Bobby closed on his apartment on Thursday, and today his folks are in town, so there's some obligation of my time in there.

hence, this is a brief entry, as I have laundry to sort, a vacuum to run, and an office to de-clutter.

Ciao!

Bugger

4th time isn't the charm. We got a call on Monday from our Social Worker, and the PERFECT situation had come up (therefore, it was doomed NOT to happen...)

A White Birth mother, 27, well educated, healthy, only smoked a few cigarettes a day, and a black birth father. 9 pound baby boy.

perfect.

She chose us, and 5 other families, and in order of selection, we were #3.

I was completely certain that it wouldn't work, but damn it all if I didn't allow myself to get the tiniest bit excited.

Today our SW calls to tell us that she did indeed pick the 1st family, a single mother. Oddly, the last one where the BM picked the other family, it was a single mother, too.

The BM is also struggling with the idea of parenting herself, so she's taking the weekend to decide.

I was going to get so much done today, as I called in sick, after suffering a head cold, and feeling kind of blah anyway, but I've just sat around, played playstation, and cooked.

I HAVE to do laundry, veggie chopping for salads, and some serious de-cluttering and house cleaning.

I won't be able to get much of that done tomorrow and Sunday, as Bobby finally closed on his apartment, and we have to tape out the walls for the painter on Sunday, plus his folks come Sunday night.

So I'm just feeling kind of depressed today. And angry with myself for taking the time to be a lazy butt, although, my therapist would say that my time being "good to myself" today was healthy - yeah, yeah, whatever....

I'm off to shul in aobut 45 minutes, and then perhaps I'll wander on over to a Barnes and Noble to catch all of the Harry Potter Excitement.

I forgot to reserve a book, but I'm hoping that there will be one available, and I'll ask Amy to send me the one from the UK as well.

for Jen and Tricia

I've SO had this for AGES!

Neener, neener, neener! :)

time zones

Narda is in California, and I am in NY. EVERY time she goes off to do a show somewhere, some stupid part of me likes to block out unpleasant experiences, so I always say: "Sure, take the job, it'll be great for us - the money's good, it's so and so, and you love so and so, it's adventure, etc. etc. etc."

I need to write it down so that I REMEMBER the next time and instead say - NO, don't go - remember how we HATE being apart for these long stints?

Communication is horriffic at best - I'm going to sleep when she's getting off work. She's NOT a morning person - did I mention that she's NOT a morning person? OK - let me be clear here - she's SO NOT a morning person - so when I get to work and call her to give her a wake up call, well. Remember the movie Frankenstein? The part where he "comes to life" via lots of electricity? And he grunts and groans and stumbles around? Well that would be FUN compared to Narda before coffee. Now I overexaggerate a bit to illustrate the point - actually, she's just not very good at mornings, and is fine once she's had some coffee. I'm sure she'd be happy to chat about my "gotta get to bed, because I'm turning into a pumpkin" syndrome, but this isn't about me right now...

So all of this to say when we DO chat, it's for about 5 minutes at a time, and never anything of substance, so little spats are WAY more common, since we aren't having any "real" conversations right now. We did actually have a nice conversation the other day, as she had the day off, and she had mentioned that she was talking to her friends out there about the same thing I'm writing about now.

I'm SOOOO glad the temproary "long distance relationship" part is almost over - I go to LA on the 3rd to see her, and will stay until the 16th. Then she comes home on the 18th. For good.

Yea.

Then I'll be writing about the "re-entry" fights - but those are always fun.

OK, I'm turning into a pumpkin and MUST go to bed.

Be well all, and thanks for reading, and thanks for posting notes, I love reading your notes!

it says it all

Evening Standard, originally uploaded by murky.

the juxtaposition is incredible.

words cannot express...

From behind, originally uploaded by Nicholas Shanks.

the fear, sadness, anger and worry that pours out of me...

back from the vet

We are back from the vet, and our FABULOUS, DEAR Doctor Cotter said the "new graduates that intern at the kitty hospital are a little gung-ho" - Cougs Did NOT have a heart murmur OR a thyroid issue, he probably just had a bug, and we came home with some more sub-q fluids and some ever popular antibiotics! Thos kitty ER folks had me all in a tizzy, thinking that Cougs had thyroid cancer or something.... Cougie DID lose an entire pound since his last visit on june 9th, but that may have been from not eating for a few days. he said to keep an eye on him, and if he doens't improve, to bring him back in, but he thought Cougs was getting better....

(doing a little happy dance!)

thank you for the meows!

The GOOD news, is that I woke up at 5am to a Cougar face on my pillow, and we then proceeded to have a ten minute chin rub session - the kind where when I stop, he inserts his head under my hand. Then of course, since Juno ssensed that I was up, she decided that it was time for me to feed her royal self (she's SOOOO sassy!) so I fed the other two furry beasts, and was going to get the syringe for Cougs, then decided to give regular feeding a go - I mixed his food with a little bit of water, and put it on his regular plate and he ate about 5 or 6 licks!

I went to get the syringe, and Cougs went behind the couch! :)

He recently just came out to see what I was doing, and snuggled for a bit. I was able to give him a bit of water via syringe, and will continue to supplement his efforts with the syringe today. I'll still bring him to see his vet tomorrow, and hopefully, we can figure out what happened. Narda thinks that his teeth might be a culprit. I hope it's not his thyroid.

But all of this to say, he's getting better. He still has a ways to go, but the nightmarish fantasy of having to put him to sleep tomorrow is no longer a nightmarish fantasy, and not even an option, based on his rate of improvement. He just started a mild form of self grooming - which is another improvement!

Please continue to send good meaowful thoughts his way, I thank you for the earlier ones - I really think it helped...

Cougar update

His spirit and demeanor seemed a little better when I came home. He's still a bit lethargic, and the same old, but his head is more erect. He LOVES the taste of the salmon juice mixed in with his water, food and medicine, but he HATES the syringe feedings....

I WAS able to get about 10cc's into him though, and usually I can get only about 5 in before he freaks out.

I pray it's a good sign. We are pretty set in the fact that we will not spend a bunch of money on making him better - how much could they give him? Another year? At half his present quality of life? It's just not worth it - for dear Cougs, or for us. We're not the kind of kitty mommies that will have a cat dragging around a feeding tube and a urinary cathetar just to make us feel better - it's so unfair to the cat! So we will hope that this is something that medication can help him out with, and if not, I pray that he tells us that it's his time, that he's ready.

I am oddly very calm right now; I did spend the better part of the last 72 hours crying, so perhaps I have reached a state of clarity? Maybe getting out of the house and going to not ONE, but TWO bar-b-ques today helped me to talk to some friends about the situation (and two vets were at the second one!) and perhaps it gave Cougar a break from my insessant checking on him, and allowed him a really good nap. But he does look a little better - he is still lethargic, etc, but he is holding his head more erect.

I pray it's a good sign...

Meanwhile, Juno and Quincy couldn't be HAPPIER that I opened up a can of canned salmon - Cougs gets the juice, and guess who got a little salmon snack tonight? And guess who is the mom that rocks the house! (Let's hope the salmon makes up for a bit of the lesser attention I've given them over the past few days, poor things) Quincy did, however, as usual, jump up onmy lap while I was going to the loo - one of his favorite activities, and he was purring up a storm - and this was all "pre-salmon" - so perhaps he simply understands...

photos

The Cougar update...

Friday, 7/1/05
We are off to the Kitty ER at 7pm tonight (in an hour) - he's just not himself - he's refusing to eat, he even refused TUNA.

He just walks from area to area and gently lies down - I'm not sure if he's drinking either.

He peed on the futon last night, too, which is unusual for him.

OY. I'm a mess.

He just got a picture purrrrfect bill of health from his vet just a few weeks ago, so I PRAY oh PRAY it's a passing thing.

But I've never seen him this bad, NOR have I EVER seen him refuse tuna.

Thanks in advance for all of the meaows.


Friday night:
So we are back - all of his gastro-intestinal stuff is fine, well, for Cougar, anyway - he has fluids, which should be slowly absorbing over the next few hours, as he was dehydrated from not eating or drinking, and they did an abdominal x-ray, which showed typical Cougar stuff. His stomach had air in it, but that's probably from all of the huffing he did at the vet's.

She found a heart murmur, and wanted to keep him over night, and do an ekg, and blood work - for a grand total - are y'all sitting down - $2,500.00!

So I said what’s s option B? - Abdominal x-ray and fluids, take him home, watch him over the next 24 hours, and bring him back in if he doesn’t improve.

I PRAY he does. It was 250 bucks as it was...

He was all Meow-y at the vet, so that was good. Back here at home, however, he's back to the same lethargic actions. I'll check on him again after he's had some fluid absorption. He did go to his food bowl in the kitchen, but then changed his mind, and went into the bedroom and just laid down for a bit.

The vet is concerned about heart failure, and I'm hoping that's not it.

We have a stethoscope here, and I'll listen to his heart tomorrow, to see if I can hear a lub-dub or a woosh-woosh...

oy.

thanks for letting me share, and thanks for the meows...

And can I say how HORRIBLE it was to be there? There were injured animals all over the place, and this one woman came in with her husband, and their cocker spaniel in a blanket, and he (dog) was in distress and lethargic, and they rushed him in, and the "parents" were in the waiting room - so I let them rub sweet-pea's collar for good luck (I still carry it with me...) and then Cougs and I went in. We came back out, sat down for a bit, and they were there, then the vet came out to talk to them and said "your dog is dying, should we try to resuscitate him? " She didn't understand English very well, so her husband is translating to Spanish, and she nods yes, and starts crying. The vet comes back out about 15 minutes later, and tells them the bad news, and the woman loses it. It took about 10 seconds for everyone else in the waiting room to start crying, too. It's AWFUL I really don't know how they do it, and I said as much to our vet - I told her how much respect I had for her and all vets - Humans can talk to you and animals can't - and so we feel more pity for them when they are in distress - I can't even watch Lassie for that whole empathic reason, so I was a mess in the waiting room.... OK I have to go eat some dinner, and keep an eye on Cougie.

This sucks.


Saturday, 7/2
We went back this morning, as Cougie seemed to be in distress still, and had not eliminated, despite LOTS of fluids and an already overfull bladder.

I listened to his heart this am with a stethoscope, and his heart seemed fine - I think they heard "$$More$$" than they really did perhaps?

So my armchair diagnosis was a uti, and I told cougie that we'd go back, get them to express his urine, and give him some antibiotics, as he did look s a little better this am after the fluids last night.

So there we are in the cab, the threat of a needle into his bladder and the bumps of NYC potholes, and voila! Cougar decides on THAT moment to pee. All over me and his cat carrier. Well, he certainly felt better, and so did the cab driver after I gave him a HUGE tip...

He did MUCH better at the vet's and he even pooped, but he's still not eating. He did lick his chops after I smeared some food on his mouth, which he didn't do last night, so that's a good sign. And we only had to pay 12 bucks for the sub-q fluids.

He was dehydrated, and they are concerned about his heart and his thyroid - they think that the thyroid can contribute to his frequent puking, and the heart murmur, and the "flutd" (Feline urinary tract disease" - but he is much better, and he sends a hearty meow to all of you for your thoughts and well wishes.

I'll call his regular vet on Tuesday, and monitor him over the weekend - from all I've read, it seems that the flutd symptoms seem to clear themselves up in about 5 days, so we have about 2 more days to go - if he's still not doing so hot, I'll take him to his regular vet, and see what to do.

But I am hopeful, and tired, so I have to go take a catnap myself. I woke up a million times last night, just to check on him, and Quincy, bless his heart was ALL over me this morning, starving for attention, since all of it has gone to Cougs...

thanks for "listening" and for sending good thoughts his way - he's not out of the woods yet, but he is MUCH better, and my nightmarish fantasies have subsided...


Saturday afternoon
They gave us some new food, and some syringes, and told me to mix his food with water, and squirt it in. So he got about 12cc's of the stuff, and he has the sub-q fluids, so he should be Ok today.

I changed the litter boxes, and will just keep an eye on him.

His feistiness is coming back a bit, or perhaps that's because I just took his temperature! :)

Which is back down to 102.1, as it was 103.7 at the vet - but I take all of his fussing and meowing and stress to elevate his temp.


Sunday, 7/3
I can usually get about 5cc's of food/liquid into him at a time. He still won't eat or drink on his own, and he is a little dehydrated, and now his urine has a green tinge to it, which is bad news – usually associated with impending liver problems.

We just can't afford a huge vet bill right now, and admitting him to the hospital would be 2,500! So we're just going to keep doing what we're doing, and bring him to his vet on Tuesday morning, first thing.

He only goes to the bathroom when I hold him over the litter box and massage his bladder.

He does meow something awful at me when I do that and when I feed him, so THAT’s good - but I fear the worst - the Internet is a wonderful and horrible place, with too much information sometimes.

Please continue to pray for him.

Send good thoughts to Cougie

link to the details

Basically, Cougs went to the ER last night - he's doing a little better, but could use ALL meows sent his way.

The full story is on one of the FLICKR groups I belong to - a bunch of cat folks.. and groovey ones at that.

Thanks,
Shelli

oh no!

Dear President Bush:

"This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor.

"It has been a great privilege, indeed, to have served as a member of the Court for 24 terms.

"I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the Court and its role under our constitutional structure."

Sincerely,

Sandra Day O'Connor




*Sigh*


Now we're REALLY fucked.