Kitty Update

Figure it's been a long time since I gave updates on all the kits. ;) From eldest to youngest:

Kittanna is sweet 16 now. She's beginning to show her age with some extra white hairs. She's also recently diagnosed borderline hyperthyroid and three weeks ago had to have some teeth removed. She came through the surgery well and has mended beautifully. She's still my soul kitty and I hate seeing her get skinny and wobbly with age, but love the hell out of her none the less.

My Lilly monster. Never thought she'd see 8 and she just turned 10. The years of tests and blood work finally showed what at least some of the problem may be. She's borderline hyperthyroid, too, but closer to the mark than Kittanna. She's still holding at around 6 pounds and gets three different medications twice daily. They're not making her better, but they keep her from getting much worse. While her T4 (thyroid) levels are high, they're not yet high enough for medication. She and Kittanna both still need occasional blood work to monitor them. There's a Go Fund Me HERE if you can help to cover some of the costs. Thanks!

My tiny baby, Gaia Rose. Gaia is doing beautifully!! She runs and keeps up with all the other kits with no problem. Anyone who's been here and seen her run does a double-take when I tell them she's only got three legs. She'll always have a runny/snotty nose, but otherwise, she's in perfect health. She just had her fifth birthday and still weighs barely six pounds. :D

Chiara, the duchess of the house at 4 years old. Once upon a time, light as a feather and hell on my curtains. Spay surgery in February solved that!! LOL! She's over 10 pounds now and getting lazier by the day. Running her with the laser light toy has slowly stopped working as she just flops down and watches it now.

Pewter, my 4 year old purple kitty. Spay surgery for her was last year, done quickly due to a urinary issue. She was already a hefty nine pounds at surgery. She is now the proud owner of almost 20 pounds of pudge. I feed her as little as I feel she can stand and still... the pudge is like super glue. She still has a purr smooth as a rusty nail and is beginning to learn she can't sleep on mama's chest anymore.

Speckle, my bunny, so called due to her colouring being that of a wild rabbit. If you ever wonder what this colouration is called it's agouti. ;) She's maintained around 11 pounds since her spay and still has a lot of attitude. She's begun to become a sort of lap cat, though. At three years old, it was a late development. She doesn't like to share and often gets on the arm of the chair and flops over on my arm and sprawls. 

Miska, my little chunkabunk. She's pudged up since her spay, too, though mostly around her chest. Worries me that she'll develop breathing problems somewhere down the line. She's only 3 so hoping the weight gain slows down. I try not to feed her too much, but, despite the added weight, she can still get on the counter, so it's hard to keep her out of the other kits' food if I can't stand right there until they're done. She's my bug monitor. Hardly a fly, gnat, or crawly thing can get in here without her hot on it's antennae. ;)

My man, Rateelae. Rat is a right little mess. He's about a docile as anything you've ever seen until you try to cut his claws. I can play with his feet all I want, but once I reach for clippers, he's a wild man! He makes the trip, when I can afford it, to have his nails trimmed at the vet. Way less traumatic for the both of us that way. He's 3 years old and has never tolerated his nails trimmed by me, but he's a perfect angel at the vet! He's a big boy at just over 11 pounds and he's not overweight. He's very tall and long and that just makes more of him to scoop up and cuddle. He has claimed the sleeping spot on my chest. 

And the baby, one year oldTrysten. He got his name at a friend's suggestion after I talked about his personality as a kitten. LOUD!! He screamed almost constantly while he was in isolation for a bad cold when I brought him home. Tore his way through the zipper on the kitten kennel twice before I gave up. Serenades me constantly to the vet AND back. The name Trysten means: NOISE. It was perfect!! He's not built as big as Rat, but they weigh about the same. He upholds the orangie tradition and is a right little love bug. :)

And those are my babies! My Taillee went to the Bridge January 7, 2014 at approximately 23 years old. She'd lived a long, good life and was ready to rest, but refused to go on her own. Thankfully, my nephew came the last night and stayed with her. Work also let me come home during the night to check on her and come home early that last morning. She was wrapped in a towel in my arms from 6 am until almost 11 when I let her go, except for the few minutes it took me to get dressed. My sister took us to the vet and Taillee stayed with us until the end. One tiny shot, a small gasp, and two twitches and my furry little dishrag was gone. But she left a legend behind no one has lived up to yet. Docile and cuddly with a mean streak when she got really stubborn. And I doubt I'll ever have another cat where I can flip her on her back, trim all her claws, and then file them smooth, while she purrs the entire time. ;)

I still miss my Zilla very much. I'm still not over her sudden passing. She was my little attitude kitty and I sometimes miss her bitchiness and I miss her purr. She's at the Bridge with my angel Tigger now and I'm sure she's loving being back with her adopted furmom.

Cover Share!!

For the few who have read anything here, you know I like gay romance. Adult or YA, I like the innocence, the smut, the sweetness, the adventure, all of it. One writer, Belinda McBride, has a great series called An Uncommon Whore. It sounds like a raunchy title, but it's a great set of books. The third book is due out soon and I'm sharing the cover art for it.

Here's the blurb about the book:

Falsely accused of treason, Markus Dayspring was abandoned on the slave planet of Warlan, and then sold to a brothel barge. The mysterious bodyguard Caius has spent months searching for the lost Dayspring. When he finally rescues Markus, he finds a man kept alive only by an iron will and the need for vengeance. Can a tiny seed of faith teach two damaged men to recover their trust in life?

The other books in this series are:
An Uncommon Whore

When I Fall: An Uncommon Whore 2

There is also an off-shoot from the series:

The Bacchi

And Another One

Lilly on the left, Kittanna on the right

A bit of an update on Lilly first. Finally, after three years of tests, she's been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Her thyroid is working overtime and that's why she's lost all the weight and is having other health issues. She's barely over 6 pounds now, but is maintaining. Medication isn't an option as yet. Her values are still borderline.

Took Kittanna to the vet for a loose tooth. Wanted them to run blood work, too, since she's getting older (16) and has lost some weight. She's approaching borderline hyperthyroid, too. And the tooth needs to come out, but it's a fang so it's a serious surgery. The vet said he'll have to cut into her gum line some and create what he called a bone flap to protect her sinus cavity. These teeth run very close to the cavity and that can be a problem if not treated carefully. If it breaks on its own, it could break into that cavity. So it MUST come out. The surgery will be $600 to $700. The only way for me to get it is to charge it on the Care Credit card I have for vet use. The balance is already over $3000 from all the work to save Gaia and to diagnose Lilly.

Lilly is going to need further blood work to monitor her. Kittanna will be needing that now as well. All that on top of the huge amount needed for removal of Kittanna's tooth.

I've created a Go Fund Me account and am begging. If anyone can donate something towards this, I would be deeply appreciative. Any donation of $10 or more, I'll make the donor one of the blank journal books I have on etsy. I started trying to sell stuff there to help with vet bills, but it's not generating much interest.

I'm doing my best by my kits, but I need some help.

Go Fund Me: Vet Expenses

Paper Paw Crafts

I Saw the Reflection

Walking into the hospital where my mother was about to have another catheterization, I saw my reflection in the glass.

Not too long ago, I got rid of the majority of my clothes. I've faced that they'll never fit again. I sold what I could at a yard sale and donated the rest. Nice clothes, worn out clothes, fancy bras, and beautiful heels. Some stuff barely worn. One item still with the tag. Some shoes in boxes with barely a scuff. Fat people don't dress fancy.

A lady at the yard sale traded me a bunch of her stuff for mine so I got several items in larger sizes. Some really pretty stuff. Thing is, the neck is larger and my bra shows. I'm not quite the size needed to fill a few of them out. No biggie. I'll probably get there whether I want to or not. Most of the pants and capris fit. But I know capris look stupid on fat people. Still. They fit.

Bought a few things on ebay too. Got a tshirt, on a site, that the image on it is made by a writer friend. So I've got clothes that fit me now.

I knew the day would be a long one, so I wore a set of dark blue capris. The back of them is really, really baggy. Despite my size, I have no butt whatsoever. Thanks Daddy. And I wore a white top that has little cartoon hearts and stuff on it. Didn't look too bad and it was comfortable for all the sitting and waiting I'd be doing.

Then I saw the reflection when I walked into the hospital. I wanted to run back home and hide. It's not a new feeling. Dieting does nothing for me. Diet medicine does nothing after one round built up a tolerance in my system after three months. Exercise is damned near impossible. After 16 years in my job, my feet and ankles are shot. One knee is bad and the other is going to follow soon. My back bothers me to the point I don't even sleep in my own bed anymore. I sleep in a recliner.

Between this, and genetics, I'm screwed. I remember when I had a jaw line. Now I hate pictures of myself. I remember when I had a waist line. Now I try not to look in full length mirrors. I remember when getting laid wasn't a miracle.

I've never been small. The least I've weighed as an adult was 180 lbs. That was after nine months in college and some serious use of speed-type pills. But now I have a job that does drug tests. Can't go there anymore. It might show and then I'd be out of work. I've smoked for years, but now it's more a way to not eat to at least not completely turn into a whale. A hippo's ass is big enough. That's what I saw in the reflection.

Today was the follow-up appointment for my mother and I was going to go with her. I wore the jeans I'd gotten on ebay. Boot cut, but they don't look too awful. And the tshirt I got with my friend's cartoon pic on it. It says "Beautifully f*cked up never looked so good." It has the star, not the full word. Mama doesn't like it, but I'm trying not to look too bad in public. Normal people don't like seeing fat people. If I wear something kind of loose, maybe it'll just look like big clothes and not a big person. Mama got all ill that I was wearing it. I was trying to look halfway decent to be seen in public with her, but guess I failed. Guess the reflection doesn't care what I wear. It'll never be good enough.

Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Kids

I came across a blog several weeks ago. Raising My Rainbow. It's the story of life with a gender non-conforming child. It's wonderfully written and an amazing peek inside the world of a family trying to let their child be what she wants. It got me looking around and I came across a few more sites. He Sparkles and Trans Kids Purple Rainbow. He Sparkles is about another gender non-conforming child who was born a male, but prefers feminine things and behaving as a female, like Raising My Rainbow. The Purple Rainbow is geared more towards children who literally feel they were born into the wrong body, that a mistake was made somewhere along the line.

I don't have biological children. I never will. But I find myself thinking of if I did have a baby. What would I want for them? I'd want them to be able to be anything they wanted in life. I saw an article a while back about tweets that people wrote to their (potential) children saying they would kill them if they were gay. I know it must be hard for the parents of a gay, non-conforming, or transgender child, but I also see so much joy. To have a child so wonderfully unique! To see them come to know themselves and be who they feel they are inside. I cannot imagine being a parent who rejects their child when confronted with something a little outside the norm.

Reading these blogs and articles, I imagine that once the parents accepted who their child says they are, there had to be so many wonderful moments. A 20/20 with Barbara Walters talked about the first time a dad took his biologically male daughter shopping for girl clothes and the joy she expressed at finally, finally being able to be who she felt she was. Not only did these people bring a new life into this world, they're now able to help that life find it's way in so many more ways than if they solely identified with their biological sex. The difficulties the children have to deal with are things no child should have to suffer, trans or not. To have parents that stand by them, support them, and love them is such a blessing.

I know this post may be a bit confusing, but I've just found myself thinking over the last few weeks how wonderful it must be to have a child like this. A child so special and one-of-a-kind.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

You can't put something on Pinterest unless it's already on the web. ;)

I remember making this as a kid. Cheaper than buying a bottle. These days, I make it because what comes in a bottle just doesn't taste right. It always seems to taste like vinegar to me. So I thought I'd share. :) I've got a niece who doesn't even like Thousand Island dressing and she'll eat this!

No precise measurements. You can just make it in proportion to approximately what I have listed. It's according to taste and the kind of mayo you use. A stronger tasting mayo may require a bit more ketchup to balance the taste.

2T mayonnaise

2t ketchup

1t dill pickle relish

paprika

Just put it all in a cup or bowl, mix, and pour on the salad. You can add a tiny bit of water if it's too thick for your liking. Depending on the size of your salad and how much dressing you like, that's enough for one or two salads... one for me.

(DUH! I actually LOOK and the next button over on Pinterest is to upload the thing... lol!)

Lilly Update

This is my Lilly. :) She looks big in this photo, but she's not. She's between 6 1/2 and 7 pounds, about three pounds below her normal weight. She's just really fluffy and kind of squinched up in my lap.

She's been through a rough year but it hanging in there. For a while, I thought I was going to have to let her go, but she's surprised me. While there isn't an exact diagnosis yet, she's being treated for hepatomegaly (enlarged liver) and cardiomegaly (enlarged heart). The heart issue is very recent, like two weeks ago. In addition to being on Reglan (anti-nausea), prednisolone (steroid) and a multi-vitamin, she's now on Enalapril. This is a vascular medication that opens her vessels so her heart isn't having to work so hard to pump blood. After months of watching her to see if she was still breathing, I was an expert on her breathing patterns. A week before her appointment, I'd noticed her breaths were quicker than normal and informed the vet. He seemed surprised I caught it so early, but it's a good thing. While her heart is slightly enlarged, there's no damage or major issues yet. She's on a very tiny dose of Enalapril, just .25ml. At least this one comes in chicken flavour... lol!