Well, he has been losing more weight. His bones are kind of sticking out in places, and we only recently noticed it. I have an appointment for him at the vet on Monday, and am trying to not get too nervous before we go.
Both cats have been pretty uninterested in their cat food lately. I don't know if the company changed their recipe or what. I had started giving more dry food again, and they aren't too much into that either. We grabbed some cans of another brand to try and they are similarly disinterested. They will eat a bit, but not ravenously suck it all down (we would give some wet in the AM, some wet in the PM, and then a little dry to supplement at some point). The only thing they have been super excited about has been their Trader Joe's cat treats, which we give to them at night in Mina's bedroom.
So who the hell knows. Given that Jayne is the older cat and the one with the health issues, he is the one we were expecting to go first. Our cat longevity expectations are a bit unreasonable too I think, given that all of ours lived to 20+ (the last one, Max, had diabetes for his last 5 years).
I hope I am overreacting. I'm dreading facing this whenever it comes, with Mina. :(
I've been working on cleaning up and cleaning out the garage. I'd love to get my car in there this winter, when snow is predicted. I've been putting a ton of stuff out front, and the good thing about being on a main street, is that things end up walking away and reporposed pretty quickly. The easier work is done, so the harder stuff to tackle (Brian's workshop half of the garage) is up next. I told him my awesome organizational skills will make his life so much easier, and bring all the boys to the garage. :)
I have yet another 3-day week this week. Originally we had a dentist appointment scheduled for Mina this Friday, but with the terrible pain she was having we ended up scheduling a second one a couple of weeks ago. Since Brian and I had both taken the day off, we'll spend it together doing whatever. Maybe going up to Salem to walk around sans-kid, before the Halloween crazy begins. We want to check out a friend's store, too.
I'm scheduled for barre tonight and Dance2B (the new name of DanceEnergy, for some reason) on Thursday. I went for a nice walk with a neighbor along stretches of the Riverwalk in Newton yesterday. If I can get more walking/hiking in during the week and do some more at-home strength/yoga kind of workouts, I would have a nice balance of things.
No sewing this week. I want to start cutting out and working on holiday outfits. I've been itching for a new Star Wars costume (maybe I'll finally tackle a jedi) and I had great ideas of making Wonder Woman for Mina, and Hippolyta for me (based on the DC SuperHero Girls movie).
We sold our old home in Framingham in 2004, and moved to the house we are in today. It was a choice we made after learning the hard way, that less space and more awkward space closer to 'stuff' for more money was way worth the larger/nicer home further away. We got rid of quite a bit of stuff before our move. I can't remember if I had read this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GNF6T2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 before or after that time. I happened upon it when it first came out, and it was very inspiring.
Since then I am constantly weeding things out. I go through my own stuff as I encounter it during the day. I will ask Brian if we can rid ourselves of things that I know we haven't used in a long time (sometime he complies and sometimes he doesn't - he would be the packrat in this relationship, or just has hobbies that require a lot of stuff). I will ask Mina for permission before weeding her stuff out. Clothes that don't fit, toys she just doesn't seem to care about anymore. I will always respect her desires is she wants to keep something, but most times she will think for a minute, and tell me it is OK to let go. Sometimes, she even comes to me and gives me something, and asks me to donate it. She knows that we donate things "to kids that don't have enough toys or clothes". She is also used to hand me downs, and buying thrift more than we buy new. Most times, we end up buying new because it is a particular item that's hard to find thrifted (like cotton PJs or a particular kind of shoe, not very worn).
I'm rambling, though. Since reading that Scaling Down book, I have read others of that topic. I guess over time I've figured out a couple of things about me. First, I'm a dancer. Even though my studio is closed and I may not perform as much anymore, it is part of who I am. It is not what I do, it is who I am. Second, I'm a translator. I have done well professionally being able to speak to both the techies and the non-techies, being a bit of both. This is a rare thing, and it has served me well. I enjoy being in both worlds, and I guess I sort of did the same thing in the cliquish world of high school (was with the metalheads, the geeks and also the popular kids via dance/theater). It served me well when I worked in psych as an undergrad. I am perceptive generally and can 'get' where folks are coming from, and can clue others into that. It helps us immensely (imo) with trying to manage Mina. The 3rd thing I am, that I've only recently really come to understand (though I always knew it on some level) is that I am an Organizer. It is funny to think of this as something that's key to my identity, but it is what it is. As a kid I was always cleaning and reorganizing our house. I would rearrange furniture and ask my parents to buy tables or containers or whatever. I would play school (by myself), pretending I was the teacher, and reveled in the act of carefully curating books and writing supplies and whatever. At a time my parents told me I should be an interior designer, because I always enjoyed decorating our spaces. But when they told me that it was an artistic endeavor and I would need to go to art school I was all out. I love a pleasing space and I have fun making it my own visually, but for me it is all about the function, and the peace that comes with that. It is all just organization.
I'm rambling again. Given my penchant for reading things about getting rid of crap and organizing and simplfying one's life, I came across the blog http://www.theminimalists.com/ at some point. And then their podcast. I love listening to podcasts while I'm commutting or doing dishes or whatever, and theirs has grown to be one of my favorites. Their documentary came out this week on Vimeo, and if you preordered it (as I did) it came with something like 6 hours of additional footage. Basically, all of the stuff that got cut from the movie. I enjoyed watching it on Tuesday night, though it was a lot of the stuff I had seen. It was slow moving and kind of repetetive. Still, it was good food for thought. I'm looking forward to watching all of the other footage. A lot of it is interviews with other blogs I've come to follow, and podcasts I've added to my list. It was again, inspiring. That night I went into my closet and pulled out some things that I never wear, that I don't absolutely love. It (for me) is very freeing.
We are recovering from paying the most we've ever done (I think) for a home remodel. We did pay a lot in cash, but we also took out a HELOC to pay some of it, and are gradually paying it off. After working so hard to pay off debt (minus our mortgage, and then adding a couple of car payments), taking out the HELOC made me feel a bit like a poser. But we have good jobs and will pay this down, relatively quickly. We have had vet bills for Jayne (echo) and will have more (teeth cleaning/extraction), have our weekend vacation to pay for, and Disney in October. We had Mina at the vet with a filling, and will probably have her back again to get it revised/repaired. We have been bad about spending, with all of the remodeling we are doing (paint/carpet/hooks/stuff).
I guess this movie, these books, these podcasts help bring me back from the anxiety of OH MY GOD SO MUCH MONEY SO MUCH STUFF SO MUCH WORK. They center me again. Because at my heart, I'm an organizer. I'm a dork, but that's who I am.
(so if you ever need help cleaning out a closet or organizing a space or packing to move, I'm your gal)
There is a lifetime of records and tapes and CDs.
Furniture emptied
A Lane Home Chest, filled with old hand-made costumes
Antiques to find homes for (an old ticket window and a baby grand piano)
Two ancient sewing machines
People are trying to help, and trying to take home mementos of their own
Folks are going through and finding things they never new existed, like old photos or autographs from celebrities (Eleanor Powell!)
My friends L and S own a Kung Fu studio, and will take the red and white mats, and some mirrors, so history lives on a bit. I'll be back up tonight to help sorting again, and will cart a lot of the trash to my friend's house for pickup tomorrow.
I'm ending up with a neat piece of modern art sculpture for my office, because Miss Patty thought of me when she saw it.
Craziness.
The dance studio year-end party was last night. Pizza is ordered, snacks come and we watch the recital video. This time pictures came off the walls to go home with former students, folks took home holiday decorations. I ended up with a framed puzzle that hung on the wall for many years, of Miss Piggy, Kermit, some art deco buildings in the background and a bunch of tuxedoed rats, all dancing. Miss Peggy was called Miss Piggy in error by many young kids in the 70s/80s and era of Jim Henson. It will hang on my bedroom wall. I'll be helping them clean things out early next week (must be all emptied out by the end of July). My good friends who own a kung fu studio will take the old red and white striped mats, and maybe some mirrors. Craziness.
Our porch is almost all closed in with fancy new windows and doors! I can't wait to paint and decorate. We need to get some carpet tiles for it. We also need to repair our broken concrete steps and put railings up. I got a new house # and some solar sconces. Very exciting!
My cousin's wedding is Saturday in CT, so Mina is going to sleep over at my brother's house (they are going to the wedding) and we will have some time to ourselves before we head out. It will be FUN! I had a blast dancing at his older brother's wedding in DC last year. We don't see each other a lot, but we were quite close as kids. It is fun now, getting together when we have our own kids and drastically different lives.
Company is in the paper today:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/24/hallmark/VZFx1mhDxx8b7E7TABOxqL/story.html
We shall see where that goes!
We went for the orientation at the new school yesterday. I went up to get Mina settled into her new classroom at around 9:30 (after their drop-off/breakfast period) and then once she was comfortable with that, went down to fill out papers/answer surveys. It is amazing how much different this place is in its formality and involvement with the families. We talked about volunteer opportunities and regulations that the program is held to. They actually operate the town's Head Start program (though they aren't exclusively Head Start), and as such receive Federal Funds, and have to meet the requirements related to that. As a private-pay student, Mina/we don't need to adhere to a lot of the rules, but we had to do things like fill out WAY more paperwork, and get dental reports, which aren't typically required. After meeting with an administrator I sat with her teacher, Miss Danielle, and went over another long survey so she could get to know our family, traditions, styles and Mina's nuances. I am way, way, over the moon impressed, and kind of feeling silly that we hadn't found these folks earlier.
I ran into 2 people I knew there. One used to be a teacher at Mina's school, and I think isn't a teacher or aide there, but has a daughter there in the school. The other was someone I worked with at Burger King in High School! I went to her young daughter's 3rd birthday party or something in her old, shitty subsidized apartment. There were plaques on the wall indicating "PLEASE KEEP THIS AREA TIDY AND CLEAN". Talk about demeaning. Said daughter is now 26, and she went on to have 3 more kids. Still married to the same guy she was married to. At 17. She works there in the kitchen, and the kids all know her. She said we will love it. It the short time I was away from Mina she played with all of the things, made some friends and made a few art projects to take home. Mind = blown.
I'm looking forward to getting back to the normal routine. Between the school transition, visiting Justin and his wake and funeral and then Brian's NJ trip it has been very crazy for us all. Yay for mundane routines, sometimes.
Justin's services were full-on Catholic, but they were perfect for him. It was a tribute to his reach to see all of the folks at the funeral home for the wake and also at the funeral. It was nice to see old geek friends who have long pulled away, but just sad it was for this reason. The family hosted a luncheon at The Chateau Norwood after the cemetary, and it was nice again to catch up with "The Star Wars" (as the priest at the funeral said) friends.
I had to be at work for a 7:30 meeting this morning, but despite Mina's late (terrible) sleeping last night, she was up early enough that I could see her. During such an odd week, it kills me to leave her that early in the morning. I'm excited to have a lot of snuggle time with her over the weekend. I'm relieved that we won't be too hard hit with the snow, because managing snow blowing just won't happen with just me and a Mina in the house.
On next Monday I'll bring her to spend a couple of hours at the new school. It is awesome and mind-blowingly different from what we are used to.
Comments
As for the home…
I will be a blubbering mess when we lose Henry Rollins. :'(