adventures of a crazy cat lady

hello everyone!

so, nano. don’t worry. I think zombies have still eaten my brain (or maybe you should worry about that). either way, I’ve got an idea for nano.

years ago when I 1st started nano, I found a dare in the dares thread that I thought was great. basing the novel on the saying, "a picture’s worth a thousand words". so you collect 50 pictures and write 1000 words inspired by each picture, and complete a novel that way. and I always thought this was a neat idea, and that I’d do it if ever I didn’t have an idea. so this year I’m not writing in my universe. I reached 50000 but not the end of my novel last year, so I have no idea where my universe is headed right now. so I decided to do something different. I debated it for a while, and I finally decided to go ahead with the picture idea.

so I’m collecting pictures. which isn’t easy, since I don’t have a digital camera. also, my laptop is so antique I don’t have the memory (of any kind) or the hardware to load that many pictures on to it. plus it would never run Word if I had the picture open, let alone display the picture correctly. so I’m going to save all the pictures to a disk and go to walgreens and get them printed out.

I’ve got a few pictures I know will be great. I even have what I think will be my cover (that picture will also either be the 1st or last picture in the novel; haven’t decided yet). but what I need is more pictures, since there’s only a little more than a week till nano.

so I come requesting pictures. from some people I have specific requests. starandrea, may I use that beautiful sundog pic of Whinnie, please? nikkisilver, may I ask you to setup a picture of lnoe for me please? (if you’re willing, I’ll send you the details.)

from everyone else (and you two of course :) ), send me anything you think would be cool. I’d really like pictures you took yourself (not public domain pictures) because *you* will know the story behind the pictures and I’ll be amused by how far off my own story will probably be. (I may ask you questions about the pictures though.) and I’m trying to use pictures without people in them, so I’m not restricted on my characters (except for Whinnie of course). :)

all I know so far plot-wise is that my novel will involve a warehouse, sports, gaming, and zombies. and beer. I’m starting to think there will be much discussion on one’s perception of reality. nano should be very amusing. *grin*

thanks, everyone, for all your happy thoughts and support for Binkley. :) he made it through the surgery! he's home, and has already been eating!

his throat was clear, and so were his sinuses. (they really didn't think that was the problem, but they needed to check while he was under.) once they got through the gum issues, plaque buildup, and crap, they saw he did have several rotten and loose teeth, as was suspected. and the really bad ones were on the left side, which is the side he was favoring. in all, he had 5 rotten or broken or loose teeth pulled. (the loose teeth weren't a problem yet, but the idea is that we don't want to have to do this again in 2 months when they might become a problem, ya know?) the rest of his teeth were cleaned, and things look good. at least for a cat that's 19.

for now he stays on the pain medication and antibiotic. hopefully he will continue to eat better as his mouth feels better. he still has the iv in his leg, so in case he doesn't eat they can give him fluids quickly. I should be able to take him back in a couple days and have it removed. (Marsha said I could remove it myself. but as much as I've done medically with shots and things, I don't think if I'd know what I was doing enough to take out an iv.)

Binkley's sick, so I'm trying to remember other things before I forget them completely.

like there are a few owners from last year's Power Rangers Fantasy Football League I haven't heard from yet. whether they want to return, or when they are available to draft. the season starts in 9 days.

also, if anyone would like to join the league, we have openings. it's a no pressure, all fun league. we'll teach you how to play.

I was on a real roll there this year. I was finishing a blanket a month, which is very cool as I so love making blankets. then I started on the Big Project, which is awesome but is taking longer to complete. as a side project I made this amigurumi for tcwildstar. Cthulhu! his eyes are a little too small, I think. I really prefer to use yarn instead of felt, buttons, plastic eyes, etc. but I didn’t know if I could make yarn eyes small enough (what with the massive hook I use). so I used plastic eyes.

( TCWildstar’s Cthulhu! )

this blanket was made for my previous supervisor, Mike's, baby, Hadley. it was the 1st time I used this yarn ("I Love This Yarn"), and it was super soft. they had done the baby's room in pink and green, so this pink camo yarn matched the perfectly (to the pictures I had seen of the nursery). this pattern is quick and easy, and the yarn made it very pretty.

( Hadley’s blanket )

this blanket was made for my co-worker, Stacy's baby, Keri Gwen. it was a neat little pattern that zigzag-ed in and out creating a ruffled trim at the top and bottom, and a flat trim on the sides. the pattern also called for a pocket with an amigurumi toy in it. but I thought the pocket made it less functional, and more decorational. so I omitted both pocket and toy.

( Keri Gwen's blanket )

hello everyone!

it’s nearly that time of year again! football season! isn’t it wonderful? (actually I’m more than a little late this year setting this up, but I’ve been psychotically busy. and technically this Sunday is the biggest fantasy football drafting day of the year, so it’s not too bad. but I digress…)

last year I started a Power Rangers Fantasy Football League, and much fun was had. I’ve had requests to reform our league this year (many thanks to tcwildstar for reminding me to post this).

so here’s the call to all members, new and old. if you were in the league last year and would like to return, please reply! if you weren’t in the league and would like to join, please reply with an email addy I can send the invite too. (we didn’t have a full league last year, and I’d really like to fill it this year!) it’s okay if you’re new to this and know nothing about fantasy football. we can teach you. this is an all-for-fun, no-pressure league.

also please let me know when is good for you (days of the week & time) for us to schedule the draft! the season starts on Thursday, 09/10/09, so we have a week or so left.

I’ve also had inquiries about making this a keeper league. that would mean you would designate players on your team that you would like to have next year. so that means this league would be a reoccurring thing, and people would be coming back. if anyone is interested in this, please comment on that as well.

thanks in advance! yay football! :)

hey! so I’m hearing it’s all over the national news and weather channel that we flooded yesterday. so I wanted to check-in with everyone. it’s true, we flooded bad. we got an unbelievable amount of rain in a very, very short amount of time. I was at work at the time, and went to watch the storm out the window. I swear, the skies looked apocolyptic. the clouds were actually moving in the wrong direction. it was weird.

depending on where you are in the city and county, you’re either damp or underwater. I live and work very close to the river, and the water has receeded around my area. my house is thankfully mostly dry. my crappy roof leaked like crazy, but I was able to clean it up. the basement is damp, but not flooded. and thank God I have most everything down there sitting on skids so they were above any water. more limbs fell in my yard, because my yard apparently doesn’t feel right without giant limbs falling to the ground.

updates from around the city and county:
--the next town over (which is just a few streets from me) has portions underwater.
--downtown is underwater.
--whole sections of the expressway/interstate are completely shutdown because they’re underwater.
--just found out one of my friends at work who had been reporting an inproperly installed sewer drain in their (and their neighbors’ yard) for a couple weeks got flooded with sewer backup. everyone’s sewers around them flooded their house. she’s trying to see if there’s anything they can salvage. it took her 2 hours yesterday to get home in the storm, when she only lives 20 minutes away.
--she lives near the humane society which flooded too. they had people running everywhere trying to rescue all the animals. last I heard of the 600+ animals they had at the facility, 12 of them drowned before they could be rescued.
--9 buildings at UofL flooded.
--the basement of the main library flooded. the bookmobiles are trashed, as are all the computers for one of the branches that were being stored there. my brother told me how many books were lost, but I forgot the exact number. I know it was in the tens of thousands.

that’s about all I know. I didn’t feel very good yesterday, so I went to bed early. I did just receive a link to a slideshow of some of the flooding at UofL if you’re curious. UofL campus


eta update: my local hospital was evacuated yesterday, and I heard it's closed for the next 6 weeks. I need to find out if this is true. and as an update on the animals at the humane society, I'm now reading that it was 10 kittens and 1 dog out of 500 animals. I'm also hearing the horse barns at Churchill Downs are bad, and the horses were moved.

bless them, Dreamwidth are psychics. because I was just wondering yesterday how I could ask about or report the issues I’m having using IE6 at work. and since I don’t have the option of upgrading or downloading a different browser here, I’m kinda screwed.

then I see the Dreamwidth weekly update this morning, and they decided to list the link where you can check on problems. and I was like, awesome! I was just wondering where to go! thank you!

so I clicked the link and dug around a little, and then I find it! the IE6 incompatibility is a known issue! yay! not yaying the issue, but yaying that they know. because they have possible workarounds! so I’m going to spam and test them now.

test#1

it saddens me that I still can't post to dreamwidth from work. I don't think it works well with our browser (IE6) since nothing displays right, and you've basically got a big white screen and you're guessing where the 'post' button might be. I don't have the option of updating or downloading a new browser, so I'm kinda screwed there.

but yeah, I wrote this Tuesday night at a write-in, and I was going to post it yesterday at work. but that didn't work out. then I fell asleep last night. yay sleep! but that makes this kinda old. oh well. yesterday and today in this thing refer to Monday and Tuesday.

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getting very tired of playing phone tag with the doctor’s office.

so I hurt my foot somehow while I was at Origins. don’t know what I did or what’s wrong. just know it hurts and when it started hurting. and I hurt it bad enough that I went to the doctor the day after I got home. I’m not one who goes to the doctor much at all. but I called and scheduled an appointment for that Monday since I was already off work and it was hurting that bad. I couldn’t get it with my doctor until July 6th, and since it was June 29th, I really didn’t want to wait a week. so I accepted an appointment with another doctor in the office. though I wonder if I had waited for my real doctor, even though I would have been in pain for a week, if the rest of the mess would have been avoided.

long story short, we’ve been trading messages and test results back and forth. and the doctors’ office can’t seem to call the correct phone# for me. I told them I’m not allowed to have my cellphone at work, so they have to call my work phone until 3pm. after that they can call my home phone or cellphone. and yet they KEEP ON CALLING my home and cellphone during the day. it’s infuriating. because then I have to call them back and sit on hold forever and still not get any answers. because after sitting on hold I get the receptionist who takes my information and questions, and puts a note in the doctor’s box. then the doctor’s nurses call me back AT THE WRONG PHONE # the next day, and since I’m not there, they either hang up or leave a message for me to call back to get the answers to my questions (instead of just leaving them in the message). if they called my damn work # like I asked UMPTEEN TIMES, I’d actually be there to get the message in the 1st place. (and for the record, I have checked the box on my file saying they can leave messages about my health.)

yesterday was especially infuriating. last Friday I had gotten 2 different messages on my cellphone during work, saying that if I was still in pain to make another appointment. still in pain? why the hell would I still be calling and badgering them if I wasn’t? so I made an appointment for yesterday. I went straight to the doctor from work, only to find out the doctor had called in! and they had called my HOME PHONE while I was at work, wanting to reschedule! WTF!

so I demanded to see a doctor – any doctor – then. they gave me a doctor I hadn’t seen before, but hey, it was someone to listen. I got a new anti-inflammatory medicine, a new, expanded note for work (that will prevent a repeat of the horrible error of my being forced to work on the floor (not my regular job) last Saturday for 6 hours – not good, me limping around unloading semi trucks), and a promise that someone would call me today (presumably at the CORRECT phone #) to schedule an MRI.

of course, they didn’t call today. I called the office right before they closed, wanting to talk to someone about the MRI. my call got transferred to Scheduling, who told me very nicely and apologetically that they wished that nurses didn’t tell patients they would get a call the next day. that they have to make the appointments in the order they receive them, unless they are a rush and handed to them personally by the nurse. this is all perfectly understandable to me. only mine wasn’t given to them as a rush, despite the fact that my work is restricted pending the MRI appointment, and the Scheduling Lady said mine should have been a rush.

so since it was the end of the day, she said she would put my chart on the top of the stack. due to my insurance, she has to call them (the insurance) and get permission for me to get an MRI, then she will call me to schedule it.

here’s to hoping the insurance company says yes. I’m am SEVERELY SHORT on funds, and it’s only getting worse. and with me on desk duty at work, I’m not allowed to work overtime unless there is seated overtime work to do. so I might be missing out on the work this Saturday (I’m already missing out on the overtime during the week this week). and money would be a good thing. besides the umpteen other bills looming largely, and the roof which is going to give me a nervous breakdown, now the MRI will be between $600-$800.

at this rate I need a 2nd job.
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as an update, Scheduling Lady did call me (at the correct phone#!!) yesterday afternoon. I have an MRI for Friday night. yay!