Doings around here.

Well, didn't I just disappear?  I wish I had excuses like an exotic vacation or  moving to a fancy, new home but alas...mostly it's been due to my complete obsession to the Casey Anthony trial.  And I don't use the term "obsession" lightly...I'm probably an expert on all this stuff now.  My obsession started the first night the news reported Caylee missing (this is all going on the next county over from me) and hasn't let up since. The funny thing is how this whole area is obsessed...any medical office you go into, the trial is on.  Traffic is noticeably lighter while it's on. People are discussing it in great detail in checkout lines and running errands during lunch recess.  Most of us say we're on jury duty, lol, since we are there for everything the jury is and we deliberate amongst ourselves.  The moment recess is called, friends and neighbors begin calling and texting to discuss what just happened.  I've had 2 neighbors tell me church was near empty today (well, yesterday), since Belvin had court in session on a Sunday. I just don't know what I'm going to do with  myself when this is over, y'all.  Sleep in some?  Mop, finally?  Watch People's Court again?

But, I have had other things going on.  A couple of weeks ago, we noticed Beatrice, The Casserole Cat's eye looked funky, like it had a murky, clumpy film on it.  She's not a cat that looks you in the eye often (she's a shifty thing) and we keep the house very dark inside day and night, so it could have been that way for awhile.  I took her to the vet, only to find out her eye was ulcerated.  I felt awful.  :-(  See her poor eye?  It's her left one, the one to your right.

The vet gave me several possibilities, from injury to herpes to toxoplasmosis to cancer.  A week on antibiotics held it at bay but it was no better so now we're trying 2 weeks on antibiotics and an anti-viral drop. The assumption (hope? prayer?) now is that it's herpes or toxoplasmosis and considering I keep her litterbox *very clean, the vet leans to herpes, carried in from outside on hour shoes or hands.  Seriously?  Only in our family...only in quirky-assed Beatrice...could eye herpes come about.  The anti-viral drops are working, proving this theory to be correct, though, since her eye looks some better.  Jeeez, eye herpes in a cat.  Between this and me having had cat scratch fever  (no, really, I did in my early 20's and with every ridiculous complication possible),  Beatrice and I have about covered all the possible STD-y sounding things that can happen between cats and humans. You want to talk fun, though?  Try putting all this in a cat's eye and mouth daily:

2 doses of oral antibiotics, 3 doses of antibiotic ointment, 2 doses of anti-viral drops and 4 doses of Systane a day, none of which can be done together in one burrito-wrap of Bea.  We spend all day burrito-wrapping and dosing, it seems like.  I'm not bitching, though, *really...hell, I'm just grateful I didn't have to burrito wrap Miss Arse during her disturbingly similar ordeal.  Let's see...what else?  Well, I flooded.  Well, not *me; that's not happened in years.  Anyway, it didn't get in the house, so that's good and just ignore that semi-painted door and messy back patio. For the record, a few minutes after this was taken, that stray umbrella stand was in water.  Ooooh, let's play "Find The Item"...can you find the shovel still in the ground?   If you can, your prize is knowing that's where we buried Gina and forgot to put the shovel away.  *twitch*

 

I made a 5 minute craft project.  Jake was going to go to a Southern Pride festival and needed a hair bow.  Whaaaaat?  That strikes you as weird?  ;-)  I sacrificed a small Rebel flag for the event, cut the side off panel off where the stick goes in and tied it into a bow, then sewed a hair clip the the underside.  Not too bad for a fast project, I thought.  See? 

 

He wound up not going to the festival but wore it to Walmart the next day to shop for jeans...with a Tennessee t-shirt cut up and a lycra tank underneath, a la Flashdance, Dixie-style. Have I ever mentioned how much I adore my son?  Because I do. I guess the only other excitement is that anti-social me had a drop-in dinner guest and it was fun.  She's an old friend from high school (hi, Tracey!) and didn't even know I lived here. She was driving by just to get away from family she was visiting the next street over, recognized me as she drove by and stopped to say hi.  I was in a social mood, invited her in and shared dinner that was already planned with her.  I did use my pretty fish plates, since she was company...see?

Tracey was a little disturbed to discover it was a seafood mix that contained squid and octopus along with shrimp, mussels and clams, but she was a good sport and insisted on trying it.  I made a coconut and saffron basmati rice with scallions to go with it and she wound up loving it all!  We had fun playing with the parts...

...I see a tentacle!  By the way, I told her I had a sweet red wine to go with dinner, even though red wine doesn't go with seafood.  She asked what kind of red wine it was.  I repeated, it's *sweet and showed her. 

Once she stopped laughing, she had to admit it's really an amazingly decent wine for under $3 a bottle. We went through two bottles.  *nods*  It was an unexpectedly lovely few hours and I hope we can repeat it next summer. :-)  And lastly, as if anyone needs more proof that my son is allllll mine, we went to Blockbuster to rent a couple of movies.  We each picked one, he handed me his as I checked out and I didn't even look at it.  Once in the car, we examined the other's choice and this is what we each picked, his to the left and mine to the right:

How telling.  :-D

PS:  It's 4am and Blogger is being a pain my ass, not letting things space correctly between pictures and text.  I give up and am going to bed.  Just know I tried.