Monkey

Time

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I need more time. Or maybe just better time management…

The puppets are feeling sorry for themselves since they’re still only just a body with a head (although I have made George a leg to go with his solitary arm, and I attached said arm).

My Book Club books are also feeling neglected. I haven’t finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms yet (although I’m far enough in that I can finish that tonight) and haven’t even started on Chill. Saving grace on that is that I’ve read it before so I should be able to do a post about it and discuss along a bit.

My blog is lonesome since I’ve only been doing the regular theme posts of late (weekly four, P365) and not very much personal blogging or one of the other varieties of theme blogs I have going on.

On the up side, I’m no longer sick, I’ve a reasonably uncluttered house these days and Monkey’s paw is as good as better. That counts for something right? 😀

It’ll right itself next month, I expect. New years usually start of a bit rough 😀

The Saga of the Toes, Part Two

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Took pictures of Monkey’s paw today and sent them off to the vet so she can decide whether we need to come back for a check-up or it’s going well enough that we can just go on with the antibiotics and wait it out. I love living in the future 😀

The picture taking was an adventure on itself. I was wrestling the cat into not moving in my lap with one arm, all the while holding his paw out and spreading the toes with the other arm. Nienke then took some pictures. They’re not the best quality, but I hope they’ll do.

His paw looks much better already, I think it was indeed the soaking that was slowing down the healing process. While the stuff disinfects the infection, it also made Monkey lick and clean the paw even more. And with the rough tongue cats have, he was continually making it worse again.

Over the past week I’ve noticed him cleaning the paw much less, and the sore has diminished in size considerably. On the top of his foot, where you could see the edges of the sore at first, almost all the hair has come back. I’m hoping the vet will not have us come back, my bank account would be grateful, but if we must, we go.

The Saga of the Toes, Part One

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So Monkey’s been having a wound/infection kinda thing between the middle toes of his back leg for a while now. I took him to the vet in early December to have it looked at, and she gave me some antibiotics and told me to soak the paw in sodium carbonate.

So I soaked his paw every day, and finished the antibiotics treatment (about a week), but the wound didn’t really change. So I gave it some more time, kept soaking the paw once every day and then the holiday preparations hit and I got distracted. But last week, as excitement ebbed away, I took notice again, and saw that there were still barely any changes.

So today I took him back to the vet, and just like last time he’s turning out to be quite medical marvel. The vet was surprised it hadn’t healed yet and took a swab to have it checked out to see what kind of infection it is. She also said to stop the soaking, it seems as if the wetness isn’t helping, so we’re trying keeping it dry. She also gave me another antibiotics treatment, this time ten days worth. We probably have to come back, like last time, on a weekly basis, unless I manage to get good pictures of the paw to send to her. Will have to try doing that.

I know the cat will be pleased that there’s no more soaking. He absolutely hated it! The first few times, as I was trying out how best to do it, I got scratched all over. Then I figured out how to roll him in a towel tight enough that he would stay confined, and calm enough, to soak the paw for a minute or so. But as the days went on, he started realising what it meant when I put the bow with the solution on the floor and came at him with the towel so he’d hide in corners 😀

And today he decided he really didn’t want to go to the vet, so as we (Nienke drove us) were just a couple hundred yards away from the vet’s office, he decided to poop in the carrier…

The smell was horrible, and as he was squirming about in the carrier, trying to get out, and away from the poop, he managed to spread it over the bottom, and into the towel, and some on himself too. The vet was heroic, in that she cleaned out the worst in the carrier while I held the cat in a stranglehold. The carrier got at least cleanish enough to take Mr. Poop home without making it worse.

Back home I cleaned the cat, which he did not like. But serves him well for the crap he gave me (pun intended). Then spent fifteen minutes minutely scrubbing the carrier since poop had been in all the corners and crannies. Joy.

Weekly Four: week 52

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I’m grateful for renewed inspiration.

I’m happy with the book I’m reading, it’s awesome!

I’m sad the cat’s paw infection is turning out to be something quite alike the Saga of the Spots a few months ago.

I learned, for the nth time, that cat claws are sharp *glares at kitty* and the angrier the kitty, the sharper they seem to get 😀

That Was The Year That Was: 2010

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January

  • I started Working at KPN
  • We had a very severe winter, which resulted in public transport being down frequently, which is very! annoying
  • Had a tea party with friends at Mellien’s place, it was very fun

February

I’ve got nothing for this month. For some reason I only took 3 pictures in the whole of February… And I didn’t blog that month either. Sadness. Here, have all three February pics to cheer you up from this huge, huge let down 😀

March

  • Spring was on its way! Not that enthusiastically yet, but I saw the first real flowers peeking their heads above ground
  • Finally found a good design starting point for my future tattoo
  • Chocolate fondue with Eva & Ingrid, yum!
  • Bought new plants for my back yard
  • Found an awesome stick to turn into a staff. So far it’s still standing unused in my mudroom, but this year I strive to actually make something out of it 🙂
  • Went balfolking for the first time (no, it’s probably not a proper verb, and yes, I’ll tell you what it is; it’s dancing old ball and folk dances on medieval-and-slightly-later type music)

April

  • With Eva, Ingrid and Nienke to Lauwersoog, which was hilarious since we got stuck in the parking lot for two hours due to no traffic regulators being present
  • This was also the month mom turned 60, Happy Birthday!
  • Nienke and I added a garden door to our shared backyard to keep the neighbourhood kids from using our space as a shortcut path

May

  • Went to see the Men’s Choir of Warffum (of which my uncle is a member) perform at the museum estate Verhildersum
  • Spent Liberation Day in Parentville, where the whole street came together to decorate it for the festivities, great sense of community then, it should be like that more often
  • Ingrid came by, time for scrabble in the sun. Eva & Mellien dropped by a little later, on horseback.
  • Saw a hedgehog in the yard, awesome little critters
  • Joined the LifeLines research project about long term health

June

  • Dad’s birthday, 67 for him. Happy Birthday!
  • With the summer in full swing, Nienke and I tried outdoor computing
  • It was also the time for the yearly full family visit to my aunt and uncle in Harderwijk
  • Went to visit Soestdijk Palace with Mom and a friend of hers, it was awesome! I’m very glad I got to see the place before they closed it down

July

  • Celtic Midsummer Fest! Need I say more? An awesome weekend in which I went re-enacting for the first time. Great friends, great environment, great things to see and do, in short, a great time!
  • Also, aforementioned festival will (for me) henceforth always be connected to ‘that time I banged my toes into oblivion on a tent peg’ 😀
  • It got so warm I regularly spent my free time lounging outside with my feet in water. At first in two buckets (one for each foot) and later in a giant tub-like thing. Monkey approved of this, always enough water to drink nearby
  • I bought my binder this month, which turned out to be a huge step on the road of self-discovery and gender identity

August

  • Castlefest! Again, need I say more! Another awesome weekend! I’d not been able to go to Castlefest for some years, so it felt great to be back here. I love the atmosphere at this particular fest, plus being able to see Omnia live again for the first time in a couple of years as well was great, too.
  • Nienke had a BBQ in honour of her birthday, it was tasty!
  • Mom started knitting socks, after a conversation about how the warm socks we had were not getting any better.
  • Went out for a sudden and unexpected pizza with Eva & Nienke
  • Dad, on request, cut off the hedge in my front yard
  • Monkey got weird spots on his back leg, he ended up with a salve treatment and antibiotics and return appointments at the vet three times in a row. Fortunately, they have cleared up completely
  • And finally, this was the month I decided to continue blogging here, instead of trying to maintain both this blog and a LifeJournal

September

  • I burned my arm a wee bit by splashing hot olive oil on it. Fortunately I washed it off right away, so it didn’t go much further than some light second degree burning one one spot and some intenser first degree burning on the others. The second degree spot left a scar, it’s pretty 🙂
  • Had Tessa over to dog-sit, and got both her and Monkey in the same room without Tessa trying to eat Monkey, and without Monkey trying his best to hide as far away as possible
  • Had my own birthday, turned 26. Happy Birthday me!
  • Got the flu right after the birthday parties, ended up having to stay home for about a week, and had noticeably less energy the weeks after that while I was recovering further, not fun 🙁

October

  • Became obsessed with Glee 😀
  • Got my iPhone
  • Mom started knitting gloves, nice and warm for the winter
  • Went out to wok with Eva & Ingrid, yum!
  • Attended Julius’ birthday, which was a sort of High Tea type thing with a whole bunch of cakes he and his mom made, it was awesome (and very, very tasty!)
  • Bought two awesome pumpkins for Halloween and carved them; one a face, the other a sort of cheese with holes kinda idea with mice in the holes

November

  • Was a bit down for a good part of this month, a combination of Daylight Savings Time ending, winter coming up and some other random shit. Took a while before I saw the colours of the world in full shine again, instead of dulled
  • Mom knit me a pretty hat to match the gloves she made, my mom rocks 🙂
  • Discovered the Instagram iPhone app (among many, many other apps; I <3 apps 😀 ) which is fun to play with

December

  • Had a St. Nicholasmas (a combination of St. Nicholas and Christmas) party with Nienke, Eva, Mellien and Ingrid. It was fun and very nice to have a group get together again.
  • CATACLYSM! W00t!
  • The snow really hit. It looks awesome, but just like last year, it’s wreaking havoc on the public transport system. Which is kinda ridiculous as they spent the whole year winterproofing their systems and all, and they were sure it would be better this year… And then the first few days we have heavy snowfall, everything falls apart, again.
  • December was good, even though in the beginning of the month I wasn’t sure about that (residual gloominess from November)

Weekly Four: week 47 / voice

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I’ve a cold, and as a result I’ve been having some issues with my voice the past week or so. And somehow it also transferred over to having problems with my writing voice, hence the lack of posts lately. For now, the Weekly Four.

I’m grateful for being on the e-mail team which lets me work even if my voice doesn’t work instead of having to call in sick because of not being able to talk (which kinda sucks in a call centre 😀 )

I’m happy in general. I’ve started to actually enjoy the world around again, instead of moping around because of dark and greyness. I love the fresh wind that smells of snow, I love the start of the holiday decorating in my house. I even made a wreath, of which I will post a pretty picture later this week, I only have an evening shot on the phone and that doesn’t do it justice. I also love cake, and friends, and music, and books. Especially books. I’ve been rereading Eddings’ Belgariad books. I read them first when I was about 12, and while I had read some fantasy and sci-fi before, this series was THE one that pulled me in and made me a fantasy fan for life. And an epic fantasy fan specifically. Back then I read it in Dutch, I’m reading the original now, and it’s even better than I remembered, I’m falling right back into the story, just as I did then, and the characters walk with me in my day and night dreams.

I’m sad that my voice isn’t back yet 😀 I downloaded a Glee karaoke type app on my iPhone, and as long as my voice is still off, I don’t wanna play with it. So I’ve had to wait, and I don’t wanna wait anymore.

I learned cats can be worse hogs of bed and blanket space than humans 😀

Weekly Four: week 45

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I’m grateful for those colourful, puffed rice thingies, they’re awesome 😀

I’m happy my cat and my bed are nice and warm.

I’m angry at my knitting, I’d gotten to a nice little square and then I lost a stitch and recovered it wrong. It annoyed the crap out of me so I tore out the knitting again. And now I have to look up how to start again. Bugger.

I learned it sucks sometimes. And sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s mostly about trying to make the things that suck be less than the things that don’t. And vice versa.