Cooper

As many of you may know, I've been kind of looking for a ragdoll cat. I think Trinket needs a companion of her own, and I've always liked the looks and personality of ragdolls. They are cats with puppy dog personalities, and that seems like something that would fit in with the rest of the menagerie.

Thursday I saw this guy on Petfinder.com and called about him. They had named him "Chatter" because he's a little bit of a talker, not bad, but he likes to tell you stories. Chatter had been found as a stray and picked up by a rural animal control. They kept him for whatever amount of time they do for their owners to claim them, but nobody ever did. Nor did anyone adopt him, which shocks me, because he's truly the most stunning cat I've ever seen. I guess it's "kitten season" so all the cute babies get adopted, and the adults are "throw away" animals. He was scheduled to be put down on Tuesday, May 26th, but lucky for him, and for me, a rescue came and got him out of the pound. Two days after his scheduled euthanasia I saw him on Petfinder, two more days after that, I made the 97 mile trip to Rochester MN to pick him up and now he's a member of our family.

I had filled out the adoption forms on Thursday night after I spoke with the person at Camp Companion who told me I was the first to inquire about him. I was told to try to be at the PetSmart at 10:00am because that's when he would be there and since he's so beautiful and a purebred ragdoll, they thought he would be adopted pretty quickly. So, I left my house at 8:15 Saturday morning to make the trip. I took Harvey's kennel so I had something to put him in if I did end up falling in love and adopting him. When I arrived at 9:57, I went over to the adoption area and saw a crowd of people around one of the little cages, and saw that inside that cage was Chatter. I went up to the adoption volunteer and asked to see Chatter. I was told that he was not up for adoption anymore, and that someone had finalized his adoption last night. In my mind I was thinking "Oh hell no! I didn't drive almost 100 miles to be told this...if I have to I'm snatching that cat and running for it!" I told her that I had put an application in on Chatter on Thursday, and was told I was first in line for him. She asked if I spoke with anyone on Friday. I said I hadn't. So told me that the adoption was finalized on Friday, so if I hadn't had any contact with them, that it was likely not going to be me adopting him, but she said she would call Michelle because she didn't know the name of the person they adopted him out to. So, of course they called Michelle and she didn't answer the phone. In the meantime I took Chatter into a visitation room to play with and pet him, only to find out that he's the biggest sweetie. One of the volunteers came up to me and said, "I still can't get a hold of Michelle, but I just remembered something she told me about the person who she is adopting him out to. Do you have dogs?" I told her I have two. She asked me what type I have, and I told her that I have a greyhound and a poodle/terrier mix. With that, I won the kitty lottery, because Michelle told her that he was going to a home with a greyhound! :) Yay me! So, I paid the $90.00 adoption fee for him, loaded him into his carrier, and headed out for my 1 1/2 hour drive home with him. He lived up to his name Chatter with the drive. He meowed constantly. After about an hour, I let him out of his carrier, and he rode in the car like a pro, and was nice and quiet.

We got home and I set him up with food and water, and a litter box in the basement, so he could settle in a little bit before being exposed to the whole gang.

Once he was set up, I went to make a phone call, and noticed our home phone had 3 messages on it. I'm terrible at checking my home messages. I figure most people who need me just call my cell phone. The second message was from Michelle from Camp Companion on Friday telling me she had called and spoken with my vet, and after a glowing report about how well I care for my pets, and Dr. Hedges telling her he couldn't think of a better home for a pet to live in, she was approving my adoption of Chatter. Guess I probably should have listened to this beforehand and I would have spared myself the anxiety of worrying about whether or not someone adopted him from underneath me.

I didn't like the name Chatter, so both Matty, and Diane recommended naming him after Anderson Cooper with his dreamy blue eyes. So I decided he was going to be Cooper.

So far he's really sweet and getting along well with everybody. Trinket isn't sure about him yet, but she's coming along pretty well. The dogs want to sniff him, and that's about it. He's handling it all like a champ, and is really easy going.

Because I steal from Larry Klye.

Hey....

Remember me? Yeah, didn't think so. Well, here I am. Still doing my thing. Still working 4 days a week. I like the hours, but dislike the paycheck. However I am grateful to still have a job with so many people laid off.

Somehow I think the economy is improving. It seems like some things are starting to stabilize. Maybe that's wishful thinking, or maybe it's true. The stock market has been holding steady and going up, so that's good news. It seems like less jobs are being lost than before, and houses seem to be a little more stable...so let's cross our fingers. My company has been much busier the past week or two, so that seems like a really good sign! (Buy jewelry--makes a great gift!)

I really think Barack Obama is doing a pretty good job. I don't agree with every decision he's made, but I think he's got a handle on things. I really don't envy his job. How do you even start to sort out the mess he walked into less than 3 months ago? I wouldn't even know where to begin. I also don't understand the "tea baggers". First, maybe do a little Urban Dictionary search before you decide to call what you're doing "tea bagging"...unless you mean you want someone's balls in your mouth...if that's the case, then go for it, right wingers! But the thing is, they're protesting taxes? Obama cut taxes for 95% of them. In all honestly, it seems like a lot of people were protesting a lot of different things. Some of it was very thinly veiled racism, and just hate mongering. Comparing him to a Nazi? Saying he's not legally the President because he's "foreign born". His birth certificate is available to be seen for yourself. That's all just hate speech and fear mongering. It really saddens me, because he really isn't even being given a chance, and I don't think that's fair because I tried my best to give George W. Bush a chance. I wasn't critical of him for the first couple of years. I always try to withhold judgement until I've seen their leadership or lack there of. I think generally George W. Bush wasn't criticized until after he'd been President for 2 years. Anyway, I didn't intend to get political...and it's late, so I suspect I make little sense.

I've been recording WMBYS fairly regularly again. I have Larry Klye as my new co-host, and we've been having fun. We had a little technical difficulty the past 2 weeks. I loaded the newest version of skype and it chose not to allow Pretty May to record the podcast. So Episode 71 guest starring Kevin in Danbury went down the drain. Then tonight Larry and I recorded Episode 71.1 with special guest star Ricky from Foul Monkeys, and same thing. It didn't record, either. It gave the illusion of recording. It said it was and it counted the time you "recorded". It even gave you a file and pretended it had a show...until you click on it and it says "File not Found!" Sadzies. It was really funny, too. Guess we just amused ourselves. So hopefully soon we will record episode 71.2. Hopefully Larry is still talking to me after all the SNAFUs. :) (Love you, Larry)

So that's what's been going on in a nutshell. :) Thanks for reading my drivel. Later!

Daylight savings time, I think you suck

Any guesses what I'll be doing at work tomorrow? Yeah...napping.

I have a problem

I'm sure this comes as no shock to many of you, but I have a problem with food. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but from Thursday-Sunday last weekend, I ate myself sick every single day. I consumed about 3x my daily allowance of calories. I binged on lots of chocolate, candy, cookies, movie theater popcorn, and literally anything I could get my hands on. I just kept stuffing it all into my big fat pie hole until I literally was to the point of almost throwing up. (if only I'd have eaten just a little more, and thrown it all up, I'd be better off right now, but that's a different eating disorder)

Every morning I woke up, weighed myself, saw the damage done on the scale and felt so ashamed and miserable. So full of self loathing. I promised that this would be a new day, and I'd take control again....only to binge eat another day. I've gained over 5lbs this weekend. I'm so angry with myself. I behaved all through the holidays, and since Jan 1st (including this weekend's binge) I'm up 9 lbs. I can't believe how out of control I feel. I even looked up Overeaters Anonymous, but feel too embarrassed and ashamed to go to a meeting. Partly I don't want to face a bunch of strangers with my problem (yet I'll blog about it, go figure) and part of it is, most people in Overeaters Anonymous are heavy and I worry they won't be very kind to the "skinny" girl at the meeting. In addition to my binge eating, I'm a compulsive exerciser, so I'm not heavy. (although I didn't touch my treadmill last weekend, and I'm furious with myself for that)

I think it's the stress of the lay offs at work, the economy, and a variety of personal things that just have me feeling like I'm spiraling out of control.

Today, I just found out my aunt is retiring on Friday, and decided to drive to Iowa to surprise her at her retirement party. I almost don't want anyone to see me because I feel so huge and gross. The funny thing is, I weigh 120 lbs. I'm ridiculous. In my head I know this isn't fat, but it feels so disgusting and awful. I hate myself so much right now.

I ate appropriately today. I guess that's all I can do. Take it one day at a time, and try to keep myself in line. Try to fight off the urge to stuff my face.

It's my 15th year

So, I'm doing the Walk For Animals again this year. As I'm sure most of you know, I love animals. I love them more than most people. The Animal Humane Society gets no government assistance, they take in ALL animals with no waiting list unlike some of the shelters who pick and chose which animals they'll take. They really do a wonderful service in the community here in Minnesota, and throughout the country, as other shelters often send their "excess" animals here. They do all the cruelty investigations in the area and do so much with relatively little resources.

Here is my blog post from last year....I think it pretty much sums up how I feel about the Humane Society, and my dog Misty.

This year is going to be my 14th year doing the Walk for Animals benefiting the Animal Humane Society. I usually bring River (my parrot) and whomever else I think will behave themselves. Which means Harvey rarely goes along. It's usually River and Sunshine. I've been doing it so long, that my original walking companion at this event was actually the same "person" who introduced me to the Humane Society, my dog Misty. She walked with me from 1995-1999.

I got Misty 6/4/83. I was 11 years old and that was the day my father left us. He wouldn't let me have a puppy, so the day he left, my mother took me down to the Humane Society to pick out a puppy. As soon as I spotted her, I knew this was the dog I wanted. She was tiny, and adorable. At the time, she was all of 6" long, and looked like a tiny beagle. (Later we would learn she was actually a Beagle/Lab mix, and she topped out at about 50 lbs) There was a family there looking at her and playing with her. The mother in that family told the kids to put the puppy back in the cage, and they would go look at the adult dogs, and come back and adopt her. I saw my chance, and as soon as they put her back, I waited until they were out of sight, and I grabbed my new puppy, and brought her up to the adoption desk. She was $50.00 and I paid with my own money, since we were now going to be strapped for cash with my father gone. She was officially mine.

Misty had been abused, and didn't like men, even though she was only about 12 weeks old when we got her. In her whole life, she met 2 men she ever liked. One was my Grandpa, and one was Nick. She and I grew up together, and she was there for me in a way no one else ever was, or honestly, ever has been since.

She was fiercely protective of me, and would always stand between me and any visitors to our house. She also got between my mother and I, when my mother would get abusive with me. Even when I was an adult and married, and she was a feeble 16 year old dog, she would stand on shaky legs between me and Nick's friend Sean who she deemed a shady character. She would never let anything happen to "her girl." If I went to bed before Nick, she would lay in front of the door to the bedroom, and wait until Nick came to bed, once he came to bed, she must have decided it was his responsibility to protect me, and she would go lay on her doggie bed at the foot of our bed.

I had her from when I was 11 until I was 27. Her body had just given out and I had to make the most horrible decision of my entire life. I had to put my best friend in the whole world to sleep. She had a good, long life, and I will always be grateful to have known her. She was the only constant thing I had in my childhood besides my grandparents. She protected me, and comforted me through all the hard times in my childhood, and I will always miss her.

She is the reason I started doing the Walk for Animals, and the reason I will always do it. To help all the unwanted pets like her, who may just be someone's best friend.

New Rule.

I let people treat me badly. It's partly my own fault because I put up with it and don't usually say anything about it, probably because of my crazy parents. Well I'm not playing that way anymore. The new rule is very simple; if you want to be in my life you will treat me fairly and with respect. The end. I don't think that's asking too much.