Much better today

There was no midnight stinky-poop-fest last night, and Minnie seems to feel just fine today.  Yay!

Worms and other unpleasant, poop-related things

Minnie ate an errant flea recently and got a tapeworm for her troubles; I saw it waving from her Spot #13 last Wednesday. (Curious about what fleas have to do with tapeworms? Here's some info.) We got her a little bottle of three tapeworm tablets (praziquantel) from PetSmart, along with a bag of Pill Pockets, and she snarfed up 2.5 of the tabs like a good girl (the last two loaded Pill Pockets got licked a lot, but not eaten). The tapeworms should be dead.

I expected her to have some soft poops as a result of the Pill Pockets, which are basically Greenies, which, unfortunately, don't agree with her. But it's two days since she had the last pill and the last Pill Pocket, and she's still having this sort-of diarrhea. The last episode went past the very smelly soft stage to a very smelly liquid with a few bubbles in it.

The smell--my gawd.... It wakes me up in the middle of the night and I have to get up, cover the mess (Minnie's not very diligent about that), wait for it to harden a bit, and scoop.

I think it may be V-E-T time. And, of course, it's Sunday and snowing like mad off & on.

My furry girl is 7 years old (officially) this year. Her cousin, Sammi (Sister A's kitty), is officially 8 years old. I totally missed blogging their joint Gotcha Day last month, so sue me.

Anyway, keeping an eye on Minnie....

New Year's resolution (a bit late)

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: Gimme a break, nobody keeps those things, ya make a resolution on January the first and it's broken by the fifth. Well, this isn't a big one, and I think I can keep it.

My New Year's resolution is to not eat any more food that messes with my head (i.e., has way too much salt, thus threatening a fit of Meniere's) or makes me feel like a hippo in a tutu.

This is the hippo in question (thank you, Walt Disney):

Notice that I did not actually resolve to lose weight--those resolutions are frail as dandelion fluff. I'm just going to quit eating overly salted, fatty, swimming-in-gravy things that I know will leave me feeling guilty, too full, and woozy in the head. Like the chicken friend steak dinner I ordered last night at IHOP. Good grief, what was I thinking?? All I can say in my defense is that I was ravenous and we hadn't gone to IHOP for maybe two years, so when Sister A. offered me a choice between three places for which we had coupons (we love our coupons), I went a little nuts.

In IHOP's defense, they do have lighter meals on the menu. And if we ever go there again, that's the section I'll order from. Ditto any other place we go.

It's nearly impossible to avoid salt at restaurants, but there are usually some dishes that are less salty than the rest. That requires checking menus and nutritional content ahead of time, of course, a task made infinitely easier by the Internet and sites like CalorieCount. (Seriously, check 'em out--look up your favorite fast food meal there and see how much it's packing in the way of fat, cholesterol, and sodium. It'll make you cry.) I was doing pretty well about checking that sort of thing (we'll ignore the almost weekly trips to Wendy's that I used to make...not for salads), but I've gotten lazy.

Now it's time to get back on track.

Cheese doodles do not make my tummy happy. Neither does food so salty I can count each crystal, or anything swimming in grease, or desserts that are way too rich. If that kind of thing doesn't make me feel good, I don't need it.

Sounds simple enough to me.

It's CURTAINS for you!

Sister A. finished the last of the drapes last night. This is a ridiculously huge project--curtains for every major room in the house--that she set for herself shortly after we bought the new house. We had picked colors to repaint the various rooms, and in a moment of insanity, A. volunteered to make drapes for the entire house. So then we went even more bananas picking out way-spiffy fabrics for the drapes. This is what she picked for her room:

White striped damask with big peonies and greenery to go with her green wall color. And last night, in a burst of industry, A. finished this last set of drapes. Et voila!

Trés spifferoo, huh? And with this last set of drapes, everything we wanted to do to the inside of the house is DONE.

A genuine white Christmas

Merry Christmas!

I have photographic proof that we do occasionally have a white Christmas around here....

The crepe myrtles were covered with white blobs this morning.

The neighbor's pine tree.

Snow-laced trees across the street from us.

Grumpy old man with beard? Devoted sentinel? Wicked Witch's henchman?

More lacy trees.

We've had a lovely Christmas day, with an exchange of stockings, oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, a cherry pie waiting on the oven while dinner cooks, and general laziness all around. And, of course, chocolate!

Never shop while punchy

Replacing my queen bed with a full bed back in July, during the Big Remodel, was a reasonable decision--the queen-size sleigh bed I'd bought for a larger bedroom in my old house was way too big for my smaller bedroom in this house. The bed I bought to replace it, however, was not such a hot decision. We were exhausted with work and lack of sleep at the time we bought that cheap thing and probably should not have been driving, much less shopping for furniture. Oh well, live & learn. Less than half a year later, the no-name mattress already has a sizeable dip in the center. The headboard, of course, was shit from the get-go.

Well, I spotted (online) an all-wood bedframe on sale at what I consider the best furniture store in town. We went to have a look at its construction. It's a good, sturdy bedframe, what they call a panel bed--I guess because the head- and footboards are basically square with basically square designs on 'em. It looked great in the store; it looks even better in my bedroom.

Sammy snoopervised the bed-changing process, of course. Minnie was hiding in the den.

The new bedframe is very close to matching the nightstand and dresser I bought with the queen sleigh bed; the n. & d. are just a little bit redder. Close enough for gub'mint work.

Now all I gotta do is find a sale on a good mattress (top only; I can still use the crappy set's box spring), then I'll be happy.

In kitty news, Gram is doing better and was moved to a nursing home a few days ago, so Annabelle may get to keep her person for a while longer. I know Gram is hoping to move back home soon. We're rubbing our lucky kitty feet for her continued improvement, but we've told her daughter and granddaughter that we'll still be here for Annabelle if/when necessary.

Our little refugee

We're getting an addition to our household soon, and we won't even have to hire a handyman for it. This one is short and fuzzy and upset right now that her person has disappeared. Meet Annabelle.

Annabelle with her person, "Gram".

Look at that silly face!

She belongs to the grandmother of one of Sister A's friends. The grandmother is in the hospital and it's not looking good for her, so she's worried sick about her kitty. The granddaughter contacted A., describing Annabelle as "a sweet little kitty....She is a smart girl ~ doesn't care too much for men. ;-) ...She's an indoor/outdoor ladies' cat, litter trained and a true snuggler." She's also been spayed and is caught up on her shots.

A. and I talked about it, and we decided to take Annabelle in. I know Sammi would like a playmate (Minnie still interprets her chasing as aggression). We would love for either of our kitties to have a cuddle-mate. We hope the interactions of our trio won't morph into a huge, jealousy-charged cat fight. There's no way to tell how this will go, but we've got room and we'd like to help this little girl. I don't know when Annabelle will arrive, but it'll probably be soon.

We're going to start her out in the sewing room and try to introduce everyone gradually. Wish us luck!