Curtin Call

I’ve always known that Frosty has become the most spoiled cat that has ever resided in my household but this weekend was just the icing on the cake!

You see, awhile back, I’d brought him to a groomer to have his nails clipped. He DID NOT like this – in fact, it took 3 people to hold him and I still had to bring him back twice because they couldn’t get them all the first time.

Well, we determined that it was time to get them clipped again and Brian INSISTED that he would take him this time because Frosty would let them do this if HE were holding him. 🙂

Well, Frosty was scheduled to go this past Saturday and, of course, Brian asks me in the morning, “Are you taking him or am I?” to which I, of course, responded “you’ve been saying all along that you can handle him – you take him!”

So I go off to do errands and return around noon. His appointment was at 12:30 and it was quite clear that Brian was not planning on taking him. So, I said “well, I guess I’m taking Frosty, huh?” To which Brian responds “I don’t want him to go. I don’t want him to get all mad and upset!” So, I ask you, “How spoiled can one be?”

(Okay, I have to admit that I agree with him. His last visit to the vet was a nightmare, he got all freakish and sick when we got him home. So I am perfectly happy with him having not gone, but can you stand it???)

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Most know that our vacation didn’t exactly turn out as planned as my husband’s sick uncle passed away. We’ll be dealing with the legal aspects of this for a long time to come but life will go on!

The time that we did get to spend in Maine was excellent! A dear friend allowed us the use of her cottage and it was just adorable! We got in a couple of Sea Dogs games which was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time shopping in Portland and also took a lighthouse cruise. Frosty went with us and was a bit hesitant on day one but he adjusted just fine!

Yesterday, I got some wonderful news! My friend, Brenda, has gone through all of her post-cancer tests and they have declared her CANCER FREE!!! You don’t know how happy this makes me! You go girl!!!

So overall, life is good! Did I mention that I go on vacation again in two weeks???

I’m having a really happy day today. People are making me laugh. I feel surrounded by good people. The sun is shining. People are being goofy (and I like goofy people). Oh, yeah, did I mention I’m going on vacation next week? Yup, I bet that’s the REAL reason I’m giddy! Yay!

Our oldest cat, Sneakers, has really been showing signs of aging lately. She loves to lay on my lap when I’m on the couch but lately she’s been having a hard time even just jumping up. I will pick her up but even when I do that, you can see that she has pain inside.

Lately, she’s been having accidents around the house. This has been very stressful as we have new carpeting in nearly every room and, of course, the carpet is so much more comfortable, why would she have them on the tile or hardwood floors?

I feel badly for her too as Frosty still thinks she wants to be his friend and he insists on wrapping his paws around her neck and hanging on for dear life as she tries to run away. We’re convinced that he doesn’t realize that she does not want to play with him because he, of course, can not hear her hissing and growling at him! Fortunately, she is an outdoor cat so she’ll spend much of her day lounging on the lawn furniture.

This has been tough on me because Sneakers is “my” cat – she was a birthday gift from Brian some 16 years ago. We’ve lost another cat since we’ve been together (she was my first “real” pet, other than gold fish!) and that was very tough but she went very quickly so we didn’t have to watch her suffer.

Sneakers has had a good life. If it’s time for her to join her sister in kitty heaven, I hope that she, too, will go somewhat quickly. I just can’t stand to see her suffer!

Well, here we are just 4 days away from Christmas and, as usual, I’m NOT READY!!!!! It’s been a heck of a couple of months on this end. As my last post stated, I’ve finally recovered from the cold symptoms of which I’d suffered for some time! The down side is, that very afernoon, my hip decided to “let go”. Needless to say, I’ve spent the past 6 weeks or so visiting doctors, specialists, etc. and they’ve finally decided that it’s time to just replace the darn thing! That may sound like bad news but in all honesty, I consider it good! 2-1/2 years of back and forth is enough for me and the good news is that I’ve found a really good specialist at N E Baptist Hospital and he’ll be performing the surgery on January 25th! I consider this quite a holiday gift for myself!

So, at that, I’d better go and decorate my house, write out Holiday cards, shop – yikes! I’ll never get this all done in 4 days but…

I WISH ALL OF MY FRIENDS A HAPPY AND SAFE HOLIDAY SEASON!!!

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth but now that I notice that September 27th was my last post, I see where some folks might think I have. Truth is, that’s probably the last day that I actually felt good! I’ve been battling viral/sinus infections, laryngitis, sore throat, ear ache, etc.

However, this morning, I think a miracle happened! When Brian departed at 5 a.m., I was lying in bed eating cough drops, as I’d done most of the night. I finally fell back to sleep for about an hour and when I awoke, the sore throat/ear ache that’d kept me awake most of the night was gone!!! I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe, this will be the end of it all!

So, stay tuned! Hopefully I’m back at it and will update here again soon!

Our little Frosty is such an entertaining little man! On Saturday, my brother-in-law came in from Vegas for a surprise birthday party for my other brother-in-law and we had him hiding out at our house. Brian had to be somewhere and I had errands to do so Tom said that he was content with just chilling out for awhile so I left for about 30 minutes. When I returned, Tom informed me that “that cat is crazy!” (which, of course, we knew!). Apparently, he ran in circles, chased air, and ran up and down from window sills the entire time I was gone!

Then yesterday, our good friends Brenda and Jay stopped by for a visit. Again, Brian had to go somewhere so he went out through the garage door downstairs. Well, as we also know, Frosty doesn’t like it when we leave him so he was downstairs having a meowing fit (and he is VERY loud cause he’s deaf). Jay was like “what’s wrong with him? does he need food?” and I said “no, he’s upset because Brian left”. After a few more minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore and he said to me “Would you PLEASE go down and let him know you’re home???” It’s so nice to be loved!

Then, of course, he decided to perform for Brenda and Jay. For some reason (one friend says maybe cause he lived in the streets early on and had to drink out of puddles???) when you give him fresh water, he goes over to the bowl, whacks the side of it so the water spills out and proceeds to drink off the floor. Once he’s had a taste of it, he will then drink out of the bowl but those first few sips have to be of the floor.

Is he crazy, or what?????????

My husband and I went up to Old Orchard Beach in Maine for a long weekend this past weekend. We were staying with another couple that rents a condo every year. Of course, the big question was “what do we do with the cats?” My sweet mother-in-law offered to take them but there was no way I could do that to her so I just had her take the older one, Sneakers.

Our friends were nice enough to let us bring Frosty with us. Of course, we had NO idea how this was going to work out! Well, I always knew he was a “goo’ boy!” but he proved it to us all the more. On the ride up (which is about 1-1/2 hours plus a stop in NH), he laid in his cage with the door to it open and stayed there all the way to NH. When we left NH, I let him lay on my lap and he stayed there so nice! I couldn’t believe he didn’t sleep at all!

When we got to the condo, he spent some time sniffing the place out. Our friends were kind enough to allow him to have the run of the place the entire time (I’d bought a BIG carrier for him to sleep in, etc) so we decided it would be best if we slept on the lower level while they slept on the third floor so if he should go into one of his meowing fits, they’d still sleep. Although there was NOTHING keeping him from roaming up to their room , he stayed downstairs with us all night!

The ride home went just as smoothly only this time, we barely made the Maine Turnpike and he was sound asleep in his carrier! He must have been exhausted from all the excitement of the weekend! When we got home, he went straight to the bay window and went to sleep in his favorite sunny spot!

He’s such a goo’ boy!!!!!!

The painters were at the house yesterday and they’ve primed one side and the front on the house! It was REALLY strange to come down the street yesterday and see my house a different color! They tint the primer to be just a bit lighter than the actual paint and I am VERY pleased with the way it’s looking! We’re very happy with the painters, too. They were really laying the primer on! Some of the people we got estimates from actually spray the house versus rolling/brushing and I just can’t imagine that you’d get as good a coverage that way???

Anyway, I’ve been taking pictures as we go along and will post them when all is done! (You all know me, no high-tech digital camera here, just my CVS disposable!!!!!)

Well, out of respect for Nomar, I really should give it a 5 however, trying to be the optimist that I like to be, I’m going to give it an 8 (hmmm, that’s his new number with the Cubs!)!

On Saturday morning, as we continued to work on the criss crosses on the windows, getting ready for painting, I was suddenly stung by a bee on my hand. Having no experience with bee stings, I had no idea what to expect. Within just a short period, my left hand began to swell up as though I had just punched a wall! I called the Winchester Hospital to be sure this was normal and they said that swelling is to be expected, I should keep plenty of ice on it, and watch for signs of an allergic reaction (rash, closing of throat, etc). Good news…. no allergic reaction and my hand was back to normal in just a few days!

Later that day, I heard the sad news that my favorite Red Sox player, Nomar Garciaparra, was traded to the Chicago Cubs. This didn’t come as a total surprise, as there’s been talk of a trade since before the season even started. However, the reality of seeing him in a Cubs uniform on Sunday was very depressing – there’s just something not right about that!!!!! Oh, well, life goes on! I still love ya, Nomar!

On Sunday, we managed to finish up the bulk of the preperation of the windows (what a relief – what will we do with all our time now???) and it couldn’t have been more timely as that night, the painters came by and did a walk around of the house and we gave him the info on the paint colors, etc! He’d said they’d start either Monday or, more likely, Tuesday. They didn’t show up yesterday so now the anticipation of seeing what my house is going to look like when I get home is killing me! Soooo exciting!

So all in all, it was a pretty good weekend! Stay tuned for updates on the house!