The 8th and 9th of July

Let me just start this by saying, "ugh".
My back pain is off the charts... searing, hot pain.
I feel like I have cotton stuffed in my chest. Not coughing... just tight, in an asthmatic way.
I am having major anxiety about the disability paperwork. It is so overwhelming.

Austin came upstairs at midnight last night to tell me his carpet was wet. The kid spills so many drinks, I assumed that was the cause. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor. He has had a bed. More than one bed. He tears them up. After the fire he refused the free bed frame that came with his new mattress and box springs that the insurance was paying for and since we were moving into a smaller apartment, I didn't have anywhere to store a bed frame so we went with box springs and mattress on the floor. It took only a few months for him to completely break the box spring which left him just this (once very nice, expensive) mattress which he has drug from pillar to post with him over the past two years. And now this (once very nice) mattress is laying on damp carpet that... we have no idea how long it's been damp. And you don't have to be a genius to figure out what happens when you have water on cloth for a long time. It's been wet long enough that the springs in the mattress are rusted. So. Midnight crisis = adrenaline = not sleeping.

Fortunately I figured out that Big Brother After Dark is on a channel that we actually have here and so I watched that until 2am. It's pretty fun because it's like just watching the live feed, not the edited tv show. I rather enjoyed it. But then enjoying tv show = not sleeping.

Because of the water in Austin's room he slept on my couch in the Whine Cellar and I meant to sleep on my bed in Pop's room but... fell asleep on the couch in the living room which doesn't sleep well at all. I woke up in a heckuvalot of pain. I went to sleep around 4am, slept until 7am moved to the recliner and slept until 9am.  When I woke up I was feeling the whole elephant on the chest/chest stuffed with cotton thing and it took a long time before I felt like I could breathe freely which increases anxiety which makes it hard to breathe.

I finally gathered my wits enough to make lemon poppyseed muffins (from a mix, you know, add milk and stir) and got dressed but I didn't do makeup. I had enough deodorant to scrape out again today and so far I don't stink. I know you're all wondering about the state of the deodorant crisis.

I settled in to edit the photos I've taken around the house for the past few days and the exterminator came. I spent an hour showing him the creepy crawlies we've found and he told me things he had found over the time he's been servicing the house - and of course mentioned the teenage hoarder. He has an 18 year old with some learning delays and speech issues so he understands that not all teenagers are created equal and that we have to choose our battles. Fortunately there is no infestation as a result of his mess (other than his penicillin farm).

Little Kitty is hilarious. My mom says he's scary smart/intuitive. He actually went around with me, found bugs and would meow when he saw them. What's odd about that is that Little Kitty hardly EVER meows. He has more of a tiny little whine but nothing assertive like a pointed meow. He pointed out a spider, a moth and a june bug to the exterminator (who also thought the cat was pointing things out - I'm not imaging things).

Enough of my exciting life. Here are a few more captioned photos for you. Hope you enjoy.

We just had round two of "can the girlfriend move back in" and rather than get into the semantics I just honestly said I can't see a scenario where it will be ok for her to live here. It's sometimes easier to do it that way rather than give conditions. The conditions - and the clarification of the conditions - were given before and during her stay here before. I'm just unable to think of any angle where it makes sense. Austin's mad. Life sucks sometimes. Mine does. I mean, I know it's all relative but at the same age I worked like a dog to make sure me and my baby daddy were able to live together in wedded bliss. And it wasn't all bliss and it sucked rotten eggs to try to motivate a teenage dad who wanted to get drunk and sleep all day more than he wanted to be a dad. The point is that my experiment with young love was on my dime. If he wants to live with his girlfriend he needs a job where he can pay for a place for them to live.

And now I am exhausted. Happy Tuesday. Love and hugs.

The Seventh of July

I actually left the house today... first time since Tuesday, I think. I had to pick up a few necessities (but forgot the deodorant. there's enough to scrape it out and use it and once that runs out I'll go back into town). It was amazing to see the world after the storms of the past week. Everything is extreme green, muddy and soggy. All these dirt roads up here have flooded out onto the main road leaving a trail of mud and gravel on the paved roads. There was a huge branch across the road at the entrance to our private road (with enough room for me to drive past it without having to move it).

I'm having one of those *must medicate* pain days. Bad enough that the brief trip to town (about twenty minutes total) had me in tears on the way home. It stinks. It really does. I got a ton of paperwork in the mail - the stuff that I'll have to fill out over the phone with the disability attorney. I'm going to have to do some research to find the names of the doctors who have treated me for all my respiratory stuff. So many doctors over the past five years that I can hardly remember who is who. The sooner I have the info together and the more prepared I am for my next phone call with the attorney, the quicker this process will go.

I started the night last night on my couch down in the Whine Cellar but woke up with not one but TWO cats on top of me. Eddie the Ginger Cat has finally gotten up the courage to venture downstairs and even though he doesn't much like people ... he likes me. I woke up because Little Trouble Kitty was trying to wrestle Eddie off of me. Nothing like a literal cat fight on your BELLY.. so I decided to go upstairs and sleep on the bed so there would be room for all of us. Wouldn't you know... they both stayed downstairs. Goofy cats.

You can tell that the local wildlife knows that the doggies have left the building. I watched a bunny and a beautiful deer hang out in the front forest this morning. They wouldn't do that with Oscar The Guard Dog in residence. I didn't get a decent picture of either.  I guess I should make sure Mr. Deer doesn't avail himself of the garden. Little Kitty is still stalking visiting with the squirrels on the front porch. He tapped on the window with his claws again today while one was on the bird feeder. Totally cracked me UP! Funniest cat ever. Besides pathetic Stubby the Three Legged Wondercat who waits on the counter for his food. Actually. The only reason we have cat food on the counter is because if it's on the floor the dogs eat it. I guess I could put it on the floor until the dogs come back and save Stubby from having to haul his fat belly up to the feeding trough.

Speaking of feeding trough...the kid came home today. Woohoo. I mean , "WOOOHOOO!!!" Lots more groceries being used today than yesterday. I had oatmeal for breakfast today and watermelon for lunch. Seriously. It's amazing that I can maintain my weight with as little as I eat some days... but then again, I make up for it by having gigantic bowls of ice cream at other times. The kid, likewise, will sleep for twelve hours and wake up famished and eat half the pantry in one sitting. There's a good bit of food here. A lot of ingredients, I should say. Nothing quick and easy, really, but that's ok. I could seriously live on watermelon. I just wish the tomatoes would start coming in. My body knows that it's tomato time and is wondering why I'm holding out on it.

For the rest of the day I have dinner, more TV watching ahead and then bed. And that was the seventh day. Captioned photos ahead:

 

Ok... see the gutter there on the deck past the screen porch? It's overflowing and the water is running down between the porch and the house and it's going into the ceiling of my bedroom. All it needs is for somebody to clean out the gutter.

Have a great week! Love and hugs!

The Sixth of July

Can you tell that I've grown weary of coming up with titles for blog entries? After 8 and a half years of blogging (yes, it's been THAT long!) I've used just about every cute and creative title I can think of. I thought of using the Friends episode format (The One With....) but every day it would be some variation of "The One  With Cat Pictures"... so we're doing this for now. Subject to change on my whim.

The parents and the goggies left town this morning and the kid is still off with his friend so it's just me and the cats today. "Just take those old records off the shelf... " As a result it's been super quiet here and I have loved every blessedly boring second of it. Having grown up as one of five kids and then immediately going into the mothering of three kids - I'm sort of like those people who lived through the Depression and as a result are extremely frugal - I'm never ever bothered by solitude. I consider it a reward for my years of living with chaos.

Meals for one are so easy! I made myself a batch of cranberry orange muffins for brunch and had leftover stir fry for dinner. I loaded the dishwasher... did a load of laundry... watched a lot of tv - Pollyanna, the news coverage of the airplane crash in San Francisco and a Big Bang Theory marathon. Yes, I'm living large. Envy me. No really.

My brother replaced the screen door on the screened porch and now we don't have to build a barricade for the cats to be able to go on the porch unsupervised. I let them sun themselves for most of the afternoon and they appeared to be grateful. I understand there is more rain to come and - again - one of those "surviving the Depression" things - although it's been quite a rainy week, I've lived through too many Georgia Summers to complain about mild temperatures in July, even if it comes with rain. I figured I should let the cats enjoy the sun while they can.

The rain has caused some leaking in my bedroom in the basement. I'm not using that room since my bed is in my parents room for now but I do have lots of books and photos and out of season clothes in there. A few photos got damp and some clothing got wet but otherwise, no real damage is done. It seems to be coming from clogged gutters on the main level of the house overflowing down the wall and coming in through onto the ceiling of the bedroom. I would take a picture to demonstrate but... it's dark.

I do have some cat pictures to share, of course.

 Little Kitty is looking out the window at a squirrel on the front porch. HA! I couldn't figure out how to get the video working on my camera in time to catch it but kitty was actually TAPPING on the window to get the squirrel's attention. It was hilarious! You can tell they're making eye contract.

 He was balanced between the couch and the window... quite the hunter... check out that concentration!

Can you tell he misses Mawmaw? He's laying on the couch like she usually does. He's been there for about two hours now.












And.... after standing strong and tall through a week of rain... Myrtle the Mushroom has left us.

It's a poor quality photo (because I was so grief stricken) but you can tell... she's flattened out. I'll have to find some other sort of wildlife to observe for entertainment. Or I could actually go into town and observe the natives. I don't know. I'm out of ice cream and deodorant and (Depression mentality) you don't want to be without either in the Summer. Of course... the cats don't mind how I smell as long as I keep the kibble coming. But I think a trip to town would be a good diversion. It would give me something to take photos of besides cats.

I will, of course, be obsessing over the Royal Baby who is due to arrive this week! Weee!

Anyways... so that's what's happening here on the Sixth of July. Hope you're having a great and safe holiday weekend! (except for Wendy in Oz who isn't having a holiday weekend... and in that case, I hope you're just having a great Sunday.)
Love and hugs!

The 5th of July

Two years ago today our duplex got struck by lightning and we had to move. It was a time of real discouragement for me - having been newly diagnosed with all my back issues, struggling to work full time at least one more year to get Austin through school, barely able to function at work and definitely not able to function AFTER work. Thank God for Renters Insurance... we found a new place... they cleaned all the stuff that could be kept and returned it to us at the new place... they gave us an inventory of the items that were lost forever and we were able to be reimbursed. It was a lot of work but it could have been soooo much worse.

Two years ago today is the day that Little Trouble Kitty came into our lives. My Cousin Christie picked him out from a litter at  her vets office... my daughter-in-law Marquee kept him at her house until my friend Tami was able to bring him up from Riverdale to Cleveland for me. And before I ever even laid eyes on him... the fire. I had five minutes to be concerned about a cat. Noway he could go where we were going (Jim and Angie's - Jamie's allergic) so my parents drove up from Riverdale and picked up him and Stubby (and Austin) and took everyone back home with them that night. Ten days later we were moved into the new apartment and I could have my fur babies back home with me. From the moment we settled into the new apartment that kitty was MINE! He has cuddled with me from day one. He is wherever I am. He's a great companion and I love him about as much as you can love any other living thing.

Miss Myrtle Mushroom has survived yet another day in the shady fairy forest land right in front of our house. This picture is blurry because it's raining and if I waited until post-rain -it would be dark.  Tomorrow I'll try to go up in the fairy forest land and get an upclose and personal expose of Myrtle and how she came to stardom in the midst of our front yard. One of her friends lost her top last night... she went from umbrella head to looking like she was carrying a flat sheet of poster board on top of her head... and then... she completely lost her head. It wasn't pretty. That's the thing... we know that Myrtle is only with us for a short time. She will have fulfilled her duty and I know, sadly, that she will be commended back to the earth. From earth she came, to earth she'll return. 

We also have a baby mater hangin' on the vine... praying that it will grow big enough to make it into my belly. I made this one all artistic so you could see JUST the baby mater. 

And then, at the bottom, that's our cucumber plant. I could live on maters and cucumbers all summer and be happy as a lark. Or a crow.... since that's what seems to be nabbin' our nibble's before we get to them. 

The thing about these mountains... this town... these people... is that people are real. They grow their food in their yard. They share with neighbors. They aren't trying to be trendy, hipster folks... they're just country folks feeding their families the same way their grandparents and great-grandparents did. I'm a lousy gardener but I totally support the importance of having one, of supplementing what we can buy in the store - with no knowledge of what kind of farm system grew it, not knowing what type of soil, what type (if any) chemicals they put on it. The taste of home-grown vs. store bought is unbelievable! I just can't wait for this little garden to start growing my dinner!

Speaking of eating... I finally got my food stamps approved and although it was a heckuva pain in the rear to wait on hold for over an hour, get approved and then since I didn't have the little EBT card where they load your benefits, I had to order one. And since once, in 2000, when I was out of work and the kids' dad wasn't paying child support and it was just me and my three boys and the grace of God getting us through, I had one of those cards and lost it... well, apparently, I should have hung on to that card. I would have had it all approved and money loaded today. But since I moved six times since then and suffered a fire in our home two years ago today and lost all kinds of random records... I didn't have that. HECK... I married well, I thought I was never going to have to be poor again. You just never know, do you? When I called to order the new card I had to be able to give them the address they had on file for us at the last time I had this card. It was the trailer. I. COULD. NOT. Remember that address. I mean, it's been 7 years since I moved out... I've slept a few times since then. I wiped my memory of all things trailer park. Since I couldn't give the correct address I have to go to our local DFCS office and get them to authorize the issue of a new card. I put my thinking cap back on and finally remembered... called back... on hold for another fifteen minutes... and got it worked out by giving the correct prior address so now they're mailing the car to me. I should have it soon. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a bad trade off. As long as my income remains under $1500 a month, even after I get the disability, I'll still qualify. So thank you, my friends and family members who are hardworking, taxpaying Americans. I would much rather be free of pain and be able to work but since I can't... I appreciate the generosity and I promise to be a good steward of what has been given me. 

In other news...

Austin is still with Logan. Guess he'll be back Sunday like he said. 

Mama is heading back to Riverdale tomorrow. It will be lonely here without her and the goggies. 

I'm just settled in, trying not to get stressed by all that is involved in the disability process. There's a ton of paperwork that will have to be processed with my attorney next week... all the nitty-gritty of symptoms and problems and drugs I take... there's so much wrong that I feel like it sounds like I'm exaggerating. I wish I was. It's the elephant in the room, wondering if/when the disability will be approved but I'm trying not to let that elephant stink. I'm doing what I can... trusting God for the rest. 

We had a bit of sun today but around 6pm it started raining again. I'm not minding the rain. I mean, I hate that it increases car accidents and causes flooding and that ugly aspect of it but I really like the milder temps. 

I'm really hurting tonight. I think it's time for me to wrap this up and cut it loose. Hope you all have a beautiful, safe weekend. 

Love and hugs!