kitcat75

Today's entry made me laugh and so I thought I'd share http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

So Molly has a friend and I really wish that they would be able to play together, but I'm a mean mommy and poor Molly will remain and indoor cat (I lost far too many pets way too early in Bermuda having outdoor cats).

I don't know when the friendship started, because I do know that the cat has been roaming the neighbourhood at least since last spring. It is a white cat, very skittish, but looks like it gets fed well enough. The other night Drew and I went to bed and shortly after we got in bed we heard a loud crash from the living room. Drew went to investigate and discovered that Molly had crashed through the vertical venetians and broken the link that holds two of the slats together, such that the metal weighting down one of the slats had come crashing to the floor, along with Molly. Molly was fine and I believe busy trying to get through the glass windown to chase after something.

I'm not sure if we saw the white cat that night, but every night since then, around 9:30pm the white cat shows up sitting on the grass outside our front window and she/he and Molly stare at each other. There is no hissing or other territorial behaviours, just a genuine interest in each other. If Drew or I approach the window such that the white cat can see us it will bolt. If a cute neighbourhood couple takes a stroll past the house, the cat will bolt and the woman will point out to her partner Molly in the window and then point at where the other cat dashed off to (okay so that only happened once, but I found it very amusing). The other morning when Drew got up the other morning at 4:50 for swimming he discovered the white cat up on the ledge of the window outside with Molly on the inside ledge just staring at each other.  Molly has not come to sleep on our bed in a couple of nights and I wonder whether they spend much of the night together.

Now I am equally sad, as I usually start going up to where the blinds are closed and peer out between the slats to see if I can see her so as not to frighten her off.

I've been reading a bit about Traditional Chinese Medicine and Accupuncture recently, and had found that in reading the sympton of certain conditions that they treat for that I likely had a Kidney Yang deficiency. I was curious about going to see someone to see if it could maybe help me with various ailments.
 
Some of you may remember that I looked into this in 2007 when I was training for the Disney half-marathon and having hip and knee issues. I found someone at an athletic center who had accupuncture training, but was not a TCM practitioner. I never really stuck with it because she never really seemed to give me the attention I thought that sort of process would require.

Last week the pain in my lower back and lower abdomen was getting to the point of distracting, so I finally really gave it some consideration and looked for a TCM Practitioner who was located an easy commute from either work or home. I found someone who deals with herbal and accupuncture treatments and had my initial consult and treatment this afternoon starting at 4pm. I left his office at 6pm. A regular doctor would never give me this much of his time on any visit and would likely just keep sending me off for different diagnostic tests.

Anyway he did a thorough history, read my pulse and looked at my tongue, and has determined that I have a Kidney Yang deficiency, brought about by a Spleen difficency. There is also minor blood deficiencies, which are also likely the result of the spleen deficiency. The spleen deficiency is likely the reason for my general sense of ongoing fatigue. So that's what the accupuncture and herbs will be focusing on for the immediate future. I'll be going once a week for the foreseeable future and then hopefully will get it down to monthly or even bi-monthly sessions for maintenance.
 
It's a bit of an expense since not covered by OHIP or my extended health coverage at work (although herbalists and chiropracters are both covered), but I'll just reduce my spending somewhere else for a while.

It was interesting in my search for a TCMP, as I came across one that is pretty much a referral business from IVF clinics.

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

My five from chutchings

1. Blue
    My favourite colour to be sure, although I have now decided that our bedroom is too blue! Who knew ;-). I think the colour used to make up about 75% of my wardrobe, too. You will be proud to know that I have branched out to reds/pinks as well. Perhaps the influence of dwilton who loves red?

2. Kitty cats
    I love all animals, but cats definitely rank as my favourite. Drew feels that it would be dangerous to own some of my favourite kitty cats like tigers and panthers and the like. Oh well! A small part of me believes in reincarnation and I am about 95% sure that if it does exist I was a cat in a previous life. How else do you explain the fact that birds are terrified of me?

3. Fussy eater (not so much now, but I still associate it with you)
You are right, I am less fussy than I used to be (I willingly eat broccoli and cauliflower now), but still pretty fussy. I was about to say that I don't even like white meat in pasta dishes, but then I remembered that I made a chicken in mushroom sauce with spaghetti and I quite liked that, so I'll say I don't even like white meat in tomato based pasta dishes ;-). I actually think Drew may be fussier than me.

4. Bermudian
In the process of becoming Canadian ;-). Just sent in the citizenship application a week or so ago. But I will retain my Bermudian citizenship too.

5. An interesting route to your education, which worked to my benefit multiple times. ;)
I am glad that I took that interesting route to getting where I am, because it certainly allowed us to become even better friends :). I still am not sure I know what I want to be when I grow up ;-). Maybe its my Scottish gypsy background, just can't stay doing one things for too long, I get bored.

Thanks Cathy, that was fun!

Not sure how many of you saw my post this morning before I yanked it. I was complaining about a researcher who had been a bit patronizing in requesting that I search again for two baptisms, which I couldn't locate. This after going out of my way and initiating research for him that he didn't even initially request. I had searched and searched in the last couple of days. Looking for other possible churches they might have been baptized in since we knew that they had lived elsewhere at least for a short time after the birth of these two children. No luck.

Although I was mightily irritated by his suggestion that I had not looked hard enough and the implication (in my mind) that I don't know how to do my job, I did have a look at the baptism register again. Lo and behold I did find the two baptisms. One was on a page that had become loose from the binding and someone had misplaced in another part of the register. When I really looked at the dates of baptism for the years I was looking at I noticed there was a big gap, so I went looking to see if this page was in the wrong place and it was. The second really does have me wanting to question my research abilities. The second one was done at the same time as the last baptism that I had found initially, which was 4 years after the birth and recorded under her younger sister's name. They had entered "do" (same as ditto) under the parents names, occupation and location, of which I am aware of the meaning. But I guess I was so centered on finding the surname, I just didn't clue in. Feel a bit dumb now, but life is nothing, if not a learning experience.

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 am the DE installer is supposed to arrive to install our new side door. Due to my experience so far with this installer, I can safely say that I will not be contacting DE for any of my future needs. I will say that we had a good experience with the furnace, but most of the home repair things I can tell you that I have not been that impressed (window installers excepted). The roofers did not cover/protect my deck as promised by the sales person, they also did a piss poor job of cleaning up the old nails (I was still finding them months later). The door installation has been the worst so far. The installer called and set up an appointment to confirm measurements and never showed. When I called him he apologised and said he had forgotten and we set up another appointment. Agaian he forgot, but he came over later that evening.

As he was leaving I confirmed that it would be 4-6 weeks. He said 4 weeks if not sooner. I still hadn't heard from him7 weeks later so I contacted the sales guy. Sales guy says he'll look into it and later contacts me to say that it just came in (my arse) and that the contractor will contact me within the week. End of the week still no word. I let the sales guy know and he and DE both contact us to tell us the installer will contact us by the end of the day. Still no word at the end of the day. The next day (Nov 1) DE calls and books our appointment for tomorrow (Nov 11).

I booked it because I want to get this done, but it's a really inconvenient time at work as we have to pack up to move back to our old office next week (when I am away on vacation). I even asked the DE person if I could call and confirm the day before and they said it wasn't necessary. But needless to say I don't want to be waiting at home if this guy isn't going to show up. I have sent an e-mail to the sales guy instead reminding him that we have this appointment and letting him know that I am concerned about the appointment being kept.

If the guy does not show up tomorrow, I will be requesting my deposit back and cancelling the order. I probably should have done that when he didn't show up the first time.

These guys are more expensive because they offer a 25 year warranty that is transferrable, but seriously, I now realise that it's not worth it. The problem is just that I'm a chicken who doesn't want to get stuck with someone who does a crap job so I go with the established company that I think I know.

Well, it looks like I may have to change the bus route that I take home. This morning there was a woman on the bus with her 2 year old, who she practically ignored and let cry for 20 minutes to the station. This evening same woman. Someone else on the bus was clearly just as frustrated as me, but let the woman know her dspleasure in very offensive terms, which I am against.

I know babies cry and I am generally very sympathetic. I also appreciate that some times you have to just let them cry themselves out. However, I do not believe that this should be the case in a public venue, such as a bus, where no-one else can do anything about the situation if they do not like it. Not everyone loves your child as much as you do. I would have no issue if she had attempted to calm her child (taken her out of the stroller and tried to comfort her in her lap, given her a toy to try and distract her - something, anything really). But just letting her scream while you chat with your friend about people giving you unsolicited advice when you know what works for our kid, is very frustrating for people who are tired and just want to relax on the way home from work.

The poor bus driver was clearly near his wits end as this kid was screaming. This is a new development and I can only hope it is temporary while her car is being fixed or something!

I just e-mailed my brother and sister-in-law to get ideas of what to get my niece and nephew for birthdays and Christmas. I feel absolutely awful, right now. How do I not know anything about my niece and nephew and their likes and dislikes? I love those kids and hold them very dear to my heart. What happened to me that I have been so absolutely lousy at keeping in touch with my family and friends? I used to think that I was good at this as a child, but I guess that's because I lived within a 30 minute bus ride of everyone I knew and only had a few people outside of Bermuda who I kept in touch with. Now people are farther away and I seem to have retreated completely from people who are hugely important to me. I have to wonder if there are some harbored grudges (I tend to hold these for a stupidly long time) that I've now forgotten that have programmed me to be so bad at keeping in touch.

I need to start making others besides myself the focus of my world.

On a completely different note, does anyone remember how Magnum PI ended their series. Well, I saw half of this episode on Sunday and was in tears. Drew just laughed at me, but it was so sad. I'm verklempt just thinking about it. Of course I cry at the smallest thing anyway - the last book in the Anne of Green gables series, Steel magnolias, Friday Night Knitting Club, the Secret Life of Bees.

So having a 40 year old maple tree in your backyard may be beautful to look at, but the fall raking and bagging has me vowing never to purchase a house with such a tree in the yard, again. However, we may just go and buy one of those leaf blower/vacuum things.