Me, in my ragged company

[lizblackdog]

The last day or so I've been puzzled by Spike continually snuffing and staring at a point on the wall in the hallway. Yesterday I realised what that was about - that's where the kittens are, just the other side of the interior wall inside the wardrobe. (The wardrobe is built-in - a section of bedroom partitioned off with a sliding door, not a piece of furniture). My sweet obsessive boy! The dogs have been allowed into the bedroom during litter changes and feeding and they've seen the kittens from a distance, but I have a barrier of boxes (full of stuff) around the wardrobe door so they haven't been close to the wardrobe. Cassie makes it clear she doesn't want them inside that barrier, so they're only in the room when I'm there to stop them jumping it.

Mum phoned me this morning, sounding very weak and sorry for herself. She's still unable to keep anything down, and her nose feeding tube (she says it's like she's a horse with a nosebag) came out in the night. They're putting her on a drip again and she was waiting to be taken down to X-Ray when I phoned - it seems she may not be there when I visit.

Sister T still hasn't gone into labour and is highly fed up.

I really need to get some cleaning done here. I've been so tired the past two weeks that the flat's slipped to an unprecedented degree of disgustingness. It's so bad that I'm putting off calling the Council about the dribbling tap because I don't want anyone to see the place when it's this revolting. That's classic Mum behaviour right there and it needs to stop. Except I have to go out the door in a minute to go to the hospital and when am I going to do it? Arghh! I also forgot to turn the oven off after heating a half-pizza last night. KITTENS ATE MY BRAIN.

In the meantime, I've defused the tap's water torture effect by keeping either the coffee pot or one of the dogs' water bowls under the drip at all times - it stops the nerve-shredding noise and that way at least the water doesn't all get wasted. The weather is much more bearable as well - we didn't get the storm here but there was some rain, and it's cool and grey and soothing again today. Small victories!

Comments

[chose.livejournal.com]

haha, kittens ate my brain. love it.
I freak out when the cats spend a lot of time sniffing one spot. I start imagining there are insects there, or maybe one of them had some kind of accident or whatnot. did I mention I'm a big OCD freak?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

You and my cat-loving dog both!

I have obsessive tendencies myself but they're balanced nicely by my ADD tendencies. The end result is lots of short intense obsessions in quick succession.

hey, it works for me!

[chose.livejournal.com]

*spews coffee all over the monitor*
that's hilarious! I know it cannot be comfy in the long run, but seeing how I can definitely relate, I'm allowing myself to have a laugh at our pathetic-ness here. :P

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

That's the only way to deal with mental shit - laugh at it, use it to make others laugh and force it to work in your favour. It guts it and makes it lose its power, like Riddikulus on a Boggart.

Plus, y'know, I'm old. I'll be forty in three months or so. I've lived in this brain long enough now to know the most effective way of operating it.

[chose.livejournal.com]

forty is not old! DAMMIT!
I'm getting up there too. :)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It's fairly old set against the rest of LiveJournal. It doesn't feel old from where I'm sitting, but it does feel like having been around long enough to get a feel for how to deal with shit. I like that. It's a good age to be.

[chose.livejournal.com]

I think so too. and POOHPOOH to the rest of livejournal. those youngins. :P

[kiss-kass.livejournal.com]

You'll survive! You're a big, strong grown up now, remember? ;)

Really though, just try to do one thing each day and the flat will shape up.

I'm keeping your mom in my prayers.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

Yes, I will. I may be crap at grown-up stuff but I am tougher than rawhide and adaptable as a virus, and if there's one thing I know all about it's survival.

And I just phoned Mum and I'm staying home today since it's a bit pointless to go when she's not there because she's being X-rayed. I'll go tomorrow and I'll vacuum today. There's enough hair on the floor to knit two more dogs.

[ex-ramona222.livejournal.com]

Okay I don't know what kind of taps you have - if you have a two-in-one deal this definitely won't work - but if you have seperate old fashioned turney type hot and colds there's a small chance it might. When the tap is shut of you can try pulling it forward (toward the on position) a wee bit to see if that stops it. Some taps have two holes for the water to come through, and when they start turning too far into the off position the water starts getting through the second hole. Odds are it's something else I think, but what the hell, it's easy to try, right?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

*goes and tries it*

...damn, nope, I guess it's not that.

ah well. This makes it much easier not to forget to refill dog water bowls, because there's permanently one in the sink being filled with fresh water. The drip fills the bowl (and they're big plastic salad bowls) in about an hour so I'm just swapping them over whenever I go in the kitchen. Almost as good as having automatic water drop systems!

[ex-ramona222.livejournal.com]

Haha - that's exactly what I did the last time I had a drippy tap. I think it was the first time in my dogs' lives that they didn't have to keep reminding me to fill the bowls!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

That's one reason I have great big water bowls, and also why I have two in the same room - even though it's a pain in the arse when one gets kicked over during a zoomie session. If I forget, the worst that'll happen is the water gets a bit stale and hair-filled. I usually manage to avoid that but no one's perfect...

[ex-ramona222.livejournal.com]

I have the biggest that money can buy - it's so big and heavy it's hard to carry when it's filled. I'll fill it, Mackie will empty it and ask for more. This is but one of the joys of owning an arctic animal.

[randomyst.livejournal.com]

I guess one of the advantages of being hearing-impaired is that low level (torturous) noises like faucet drips are beyond my capacity to hear. LOL See, silver linings people. ;-)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

ha! that is so true!

two or three people on my f-list have been having teeth issues lately, and that makes me feel the same way about my dentures. Obviously I'd rather have natural perfect teeth, but they work as well as my real teeth ever did and I will never, ever, ever have to be drilled or have toothache again - that does make me happy!

[huntingdon.livejournal.com]

The relief after it rained was simply wonderful!

Unfortunately it's been unbelievably humid since. I keep having to change clothing.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Summer is just crap all round. We hates it, we hates it forever!

[hellfire82.livejournal.com]

erm...

does this mean i won't be needing my piles upon piles of fluffy winter clothing?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Depends, darling. I don't have a clear picture of what the climate's like where you are and what's too hot for me may still be a lot cooler than you're used to - and I have a low tolerance for heat, I'm not happy at temperatures higher than 60F or so. And British weather is gentle compared to American, but unpredictable.

I'd bring one or two sweatery things just in case.

[hellfire82.livejournal.com]

right now, it's 96f and humid like whoa.

around 60 or so sounds like a great temp; if i get hotter, i tend to get sick.

oh, speaking of sick... is there anything more fun than sitting in the car for an hour with a sick dog, because the vet staff won't let you in the clinic?