Looking For A Little Blog Post Direction

Hi blog readers! The ones of you who are still popping in from time to time. I was just checking my stats and there have been quite a few page views, surprisingly, since I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.

While I haven't been here, I have actually been thinking about and planning the future for my blog posts, where to take this blog from here, blog post ideas, etc. Since I began writing this blog two years ago, I've sort of let it go wherever it wants to go with no real planning, just whatever comes to mind and is a part of my day or life.

That's probably what will continue to take place, but at least I have good intentions on direction now or at least I'm trying to obtain some direction.  Anyway, here's kind of what I have in mind for future blog posts:

1. For all you Asperger/autism parents that follow my blog, you have probably all left by now  because I have been writing very little about autism or adventures with my Aspie son. Since he's away at college and I am several hundred miles away from him right now there is very little to write about lately that I feel wouldn't violate his privacy. You may remember the bed bug incident (Here) that happens to be the most popular post of all time I think because of those computer robot things. Go figure! When new issues arise, however, you may find a blog post here about it. Surviving bed bugs is important!
2. Triathlon training and races will continue to be a part of this blog since it's a huge part of my life. Fitness is actually going to be an even bigger part of my life because we just purchased a gym franchise and will open two gyms in the St. Petersburg area within the next 6 months that I will run. This should keep me pretty darn busy in the days ahead. Don't be surprised to see some blog posts on this. Hopefully, not stressed out, pulling out my hair kind of blog posts.
3. Fashion, especially shoes, will always be a small part of this blog. I love clothes, but hate shopping. If I loved shopping, there would be many more fashion posts, but one very unhappy husband. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my photographer got another job and quit on me (Read about it Here) and I'm terrible at selfies so this limits the fashion posts too.
4. What I eat, places I frequent, travel, etc. will always be a part of this blog. I have so many places already that I need to share but haven't had the time. We just moved to a new city that has much to offer and I like to share my discoveries here. Expect to see more of this soon. Doesn't everybody like pictures of food? Aren't you all just dying to see what I'm eating?
5. Cats. That's a given. Whether you like those posts or not, my cats are the coolest, most talented supreme cats ever so expect lots of blog posts about their awesomeness. You're welcome!
6. The Murph, my husband, who continually cracks me up and gives me lots of fodder to steal from. He hates it when I pick up on his little, sort of obnoxious sayings and idioms and overuse them. Why? Because they ARE obnoxious and funny to strange people like me who have a dry sense of humor and are full of sarcasm in general. Expect to see lots of it here and any other things he does that amuses me.

Well, I think that takes care of just about everything I write or plan to write about here. I promise to get back to regular postings. You've probably enjoyed the break from my crazy randomness, but then again, you keep coming back for more.

It must be the cat pictures. I hate to disappoint so here you go... One more Cadence, the photo bombing freak cat, picture. 

You're welcome!

I Confess - I Turned The Alarm Off And Went Back To Bed (And Other Important Things)

What a week! I don't even know where to begin. The Murph's job offer in St. Pete? The Boy's eviction notice from his college apartment? Phantom, the cat's, bad, good, trying to get him to eat, drink and take his pills and supplement days? My half ironman training (that's not) days?

The 15 hours of continuing education real estate license classes I have to take so I can activate my Alabama license, so I can then get a reciprocal Florida real estate license without having to take the 60 hour pre-license class again. Searching online for a place to live in the Tampa/St. Pete area before we head back down there in a couple of weeks so we can see them in person.

That doesn't include all that's coming up next week. We are going back to Birmingham to clean out and pack up the house and then turn it over to a Birmingham realtor to sell for us. Hopefully, she will sell it quicker than we were able too. Being there to show it is key. That's hard to do when you're 4 hours away like we are. We weren't all that concerned about it until we discovered we were moving several more hours away. Any way, that's all next week.

This past week the Boy, who has Asperger's, called me from college while we were still in St. Pete saying he got an eviction notice from his apartment. This is after the fact that the Boy had gone down to the office several times to get this vendor form filled out for Alabama Rehab. AL Rehab has to have the form before they can pay the apartment complex. The Boy is eligible for a part of his rent to be paid by Alabama Rehab. Without their help, the Boy can't afford to live there. There have been a series of phone calls, emails from the Boy, me and Alabama Rehab to the apartment complex, but nothing has been done. I even called the corporate office and the Boy has been to the apartment office several times. Despite all of this, since rent is past due because the form hasn't been filled out, the Boy got an eviction notice.

This has FINALLY been straightened out (I think) so the Boy's okay for now. His classes were dropped also, when his financial aid wasn't applied to his account because of me. That was back a few weeks ago when I didn't know the difference between an income tax return and a transcript. This was taken care of as well so he's okay there too. Finally!

The Murph accepted the job offer and we are still waiting for everything to be finalized. We should know something this week. We already have a realtor trying to help us find a place to rent in Tampa/St.  Pete and I've been looking online. What a headache!

Me and Miss Mary

Phantom is doing pretty well. We had dinner with Miss Mary, an energy healer, who has been helping Phantom, last night. She's been sending Phantom healing energy and giving me other suggestions for him. She thinks he might be dehydrated. He was drinking tons of water when we were in St. Pete and not so much now that we are back in Pensacola. If you want to keep up with how he's doing he has his own facebook page here and blog here.

The Murph and Miss Mary

I had to upgrade my computer system so I could take the online CE Real Estate classes. That was a pain since I thought I could do it myself and wasted several hours attempting it. Who knows what all I've downloaded on this thing now. I have a dinosaur of a computer! I've only gotten halfway through the first risk management class and have 5 classes (15 hours) total that I have to take. Boring!

Half Ironman training? Well, uh, yes, I'm sucking at it! I haven't swam in a couple of weeks or been on my tri bike. I've been indoor cycling, weights and lots of running, but shorter runs of between 3 - 9 miles. Okay, mostly just 3 miles.

Sunday was the Trigulfcoast's club members only practice triathlon for the Santa Rosa Island Sprint that is coming up in a couple of weeks. I was signed up to do the practice race which was going to be officially timed with a chip and everything. It would have been a great practice race and good overall brick workout. The night before I pumped up my bike tires, set my tri clothing out and packed all my gear into my transition bag. I set the alarm on my IPhone for 5:30 a.m and was all set to go!

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. just as scheduled. It was still dark outside at 5:30 a.m. That totally sucks because I terribly dislike getting up when it's still dark outside knowing that I have to swim. In the ocean!!

I got up, turned my alarm off, fed a snack to two of our curious, demanding cats, who were probably wondering what the crap I was doing, then I crawled back into my nice warm bed between my sexy husband (he has incredible body heat at 5:30 a.m) and our other four legged furry kitty, Ed, who likes sleeping on my side of the bed.

A few hours later, the Murph woke up, looked over at my sorry sleeping ass, laughed and asked me how I did on the race.

I told him it was an incredibly tough race! I had to stumble 10 feet to turn my alarm off, followed by a couple of hours of some marathon sleeping. It was grueling, just grueling! I even shortened my Sunday long run because of how exhausted It was from getting up at 5:30 a.m.

And did I feel guilty about being a no show?

Heck no!

Accommodations, Appointments And An Open House

This week has been a bit hectic. Since the Boy is away at school most of the time, I'm just not use to it anymore. I can barely remember those crazy days when I was a single mom trying to get the Boy to school on time and me to work on time.

Rarely happened! I still patted myself on the back every single day that we made it to where we were suppose to go. It didn't matter if we were a little late, a little wrinkled and more than a little stressed out.

My bar was set low. How else could I be successful! A bar too set to high back in those days and I would have failed miserably.

It all started Saturday. We made our biweekly trip to Birmingham with the sick cat. Our mission this time was:

1.  To do an Open House on Sunday in hopes to find a buyer for our Birmingham house.

2.  Meet with AL Rehab with the Boy regarding his accommodations for Fall semester.

3.  Appointment with the Boy's doctor to go over ADD med and anxiety meds before Fall semester.

4.  Take Phantom to Auburn University on the way back to Pensacola for another round of blood testing to make sure the chemo was doing what it is suppose to and not doing anything it's not suppose too.

The open house went well. Lots of people came by, including coincidentally, the AL Rehab counselor that we were meeting with the very next day. She had no idea it was our house until she came inside and the Murph recognized her name. I overheard from the office/man cave and came out. She's downsizing too so our house was a little too much. It's a family house. It's too much for us now that the "kids" are grown. Her kids are grown too.

It's strange, but we get several empty nesters who want to "downsize" come look at our house. I guess downsizing is relative.

Phantom was very happy to be back. I started Phantom on the Advanced Immunity Protocol and it worked wonders overnight. It's a three part system that has so many different immunity building things in it that it blows my mind. All I know is after one dose, I got my Phantom back. Purring and happy and spending time with us instead of under the bed.

The meeting with AL Rehab went well. They provide some of the Boy's college financing and make sure he gets the accommodations he needs, such as extended test taking time, taking his tests in another room or at the Special Student Services building if needed. He can have a recorder, his laptop, etc. The Special Student Svcs Counselor provides a letter for him to give to all of his professors every semester. I have to get the letter or the list of accommodations to AL Rehab so they will continue to provide support. They will also transition him from college to the work force if needed.

The only snag came because the apartment the Boy lives in will no longer be billed through the university so the only way AL Rehab will provide a portion of the rent is if the management fills out a vendor application. That way AL Rehab will pay them directly. They never give the money directly to the students. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to get in touch with the apartment management!

I think it was finally taken care of after many phone calls, emails and faxing and refaxing, but I really don't know yet because they never answer the phone. Now that the Boy is back, he can go by the office in person and make sure it's done.

The doctor appointment was fast and basically we just got another 1/2 years worth of prescriptions. I'm hoping the Boy weans off the anxiety meds and starts something more holistic. The doctor said there isn't anything as good as the conventional meds. It has made a tremendous difference on the Boy's entire attitude so I'm good with him taking them for now.

The Boy didn't stress me out one single time. He has matured so much! No more meowing, biting me, poking me, getting all in my personal space until I just want to scream! We actually had adult like conversations and I really enjoyed being around him. He got a new car and his dad taught him how to drive a stick shift in one day. I rode with him most of the way back to school because he was nervous about driving with the manual transmission. Also, he hasn't driven in almost a year!

My job was to keep him relaxed, he said. He also warned me that it was going to be a bumpy ride.

He did great! We all made it safely home and the Boy is ready to start another school year. This Fall he actually has a paid internship. This is one reason why he needed a car.

Because of all the things going on with the Boy, we had to reschedule the trip to Auburn for Phantom. Instead I made an appointment with a local vet in Pensacola to do the blood work. They will fax it to Auburn. I have conflicted feelings about giving Phantom the chemo type drug, Palladia. He seems to be doing great on it, but I have concerns about long term use. His appointment with the local vet is tomorrow so I will decide then if I am keeping him on it or going entirely holistic.

It's a tough call. I hope I do the right thing!

How Far Behind I Am - A Comparison

Image from iamtri.com

Last week was the 2nd week of my Ironman 70.3 training plan. I didn't exactly do a great job following it. To see just how far behind I am in training, I decided to do a comparison of what was on the plan to what I actually did that day.

Below is the comparison of the actual training plan and what I actually did...

                          The 70.3 Plan                                        What I actually did that day

Monday           1000 yd swim                                          8 miles on spin bike = 30 minutes
                         20 mile bike                                             Treadmill brick run .5 miles = 5 min.

Tuesday           1250 yd swim                                          Nothing
                          45 min run

Wednesday       25 mile bike                                             2 mile run aprox 20 minutes
                                                                                       

Thursday          1000 yd swim                                          6 miles on spin bike aprox 20 min                            
                           35 min run                                               4 mile = 40 min run

Friday                                                                              .5 mile run on treadmill = 5 min

Saturday           55 min run                                               Run 1 hr

Sunday             30 mile bike                                             Bike on spin bike 1 hour = aprox. 17 miles

I did core and weights on Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday which is not included on the plan.

Total workout hours on plan = Swim aprox  1 hr 15 min to 1hr 30 min
                                                   Bike aprox    4 /12 to 5 hrs
                                                   Run  aprox   2hrs 10 min

                                                     Total aprox 7:30 to  8 hrs

Total I actually did last week = Swim aprox   0 hrs
                                                   Bike aprox    1 hr 50 min (all on spin bike)
                                                   Run aprox     2hr 10 min
                 
                                                     Total aprox 4 hrs

With weights, core workouts and elliptical added in I did aprox 7 1/2 hours last week so I got the number of training hours in, but not in the areas I was suppose to be working on. (which is very important when you are in the middle of a half ironman.)

It's clear I've got a lot of work to do especially swimming and biking. Not surprising that I have the run hours down plus some (since I ran 13 miles a couple of weeks ago already), but 0 swim hours.

That's so me!

Actually I don't feel so bad now that I've done the above comparison because I'm not as behind as I thought I was. The training plan doesn't include weights, which I do four times a week and core too. The plan also doesn't include brick (bike then run) workouts which I do every Thursday and sometimes after I do a long bike on Saturday or Sunday as well.

The 70.3 Ironman isn't until the end of October so I still have plenty of time. It was tough for me to focus last week because I was so worried about my cat, Phantom. He is doing great this week and seems to be handling the chemo drugs well. I've actually gotten some sleep the past three days. And when I sleep, everybody around here sleeps, husband and cats. (well maybe not the cats at 5 am).

Image from quotesvalley.com

Sleep helps me train better too. Maybe I should add it to the training plan!

Image from zazzle.com

Back Home And Already Behind On The 70.3 Training Plan!

We drove back home from Birmingham yesterday and I have to say it's great to be back. The sunset last night was incredible as well as the sunrise this morning. Phantom is doing great, but I'm an anxious mess. I've developed a huge, painful cold sore (I call it fever blister) from all the stress and worry about that cat! I've been putting Abreva on it in large amounts, too large according to my husband. It's suppose to work fast, but I can't tell right now that it's done anything.

What do you do when you have a cold sore? I'm getting desperate!

One good thing about the fever blister is that my lip is all nice and plump. That's a bonus! It's not going to be nice when it gets all crusty and scabby though!

Cadence and Ed are sure glad we are back! Here's Cadence looking at me right now as a type. This is where he hangs out except when he's on my lap, walking all over my keyboard, sticking his tail in my face.

Why do cat's love sticking their butts in your face? Or swatting their tail at you?

The vet shaved the hair off Phantom's belly to do the ultrasound Tuesday. He doesn't seem to mind though. It's probably cooler for him with all that hair gone. Also, less hair to cause hair balls or in his case, hair logs. Huge ones!

This week starts week 1 of my 18 week Ironman 70.3 training plan. I've already missed two swims and a bike ride. Not starting off so good! I don't even have my Google calendar all filled out with the work outs yet. This may be a good thing because I'm not getting email reminders of all the work outs I'm missing!

I may need to look for a 16 week to Ironman 70.3 training plan!

The Boy's Visit

This morning I got up early to drive the three hour round trip to get the Boy from college and bring him back to stay with us for the weekend. These visits seem to keep getting more and more rare as he would rather stay at school most of the time. I figured he must be running out of food and/or money and he knows we will feed him when he's with us. He did make sure we were taking him out to eat before he decided to visit us and I got him breakfast this morning on the way back. It really wasn't that difficult getting on the road early since the last few weeks I've been up with the cats watching the sun rise.

On the way back I asked the Boy if he was out of any toiletries are anything and he said no. We stopped at Walmart Marketplace anyway because he wanted something to drink, meaning soft drinks because he knows we don't buy them and keep them in the house. He wanted Dr. Pepper and ended up getting Walmart's version, Dr. Thunder.

 Just kind of scary if you ask me. Why Dr. Thunder? How does Dr. Pepper translate into the Walmart Dr. Thunder version.

While I was there I thought of the Murph and got him another 12 pack of his drink of choice. At least that is one of them. 

Since the Boy is always complaining about being hungry, the Murph planned ahead of time and put a plate of pasta and chicken parm in the fridge with the Boy's name on it, complete with heating instructions.

On the hour and 1/2 drive back to the beach, the Boy and I got to catch up on things. We talked about several things like....

1. The possibility that Phantom might have cancer and what to do next

2.  How the Boy liked his student assistance job (He likes it)

3. If his room mate was still eating the Boy's food (Not anymore)

4. Phantom

5. The importance of the Boy keeping a clean and sanitary apartment, especially bathroom

   (He thinks it's clean, but when I saw his bath room it was pretty gross)

6. What we were going to do about Phantom

7. There's no way Phantom has cancer (says the Boy)

8. The fact that Phantom's bedroom is where the Boy sleeps and there's cat hair all over the bed, but I didn't think the Boy would mind since it's still a cleaner room than what he's been living in for the past several months because he refuses to do what I say and CLEAN his apartment! (He thought I was joking about that part (because he knows I usually clean everything for him) until he saw the cat hair)

9. The possibility that Phantom might have cancer and what to do next

As you can tell, we talked about Phantom ALOT. I did hear from the vet yesterday and had another call today and we are still unsure what is causing the high calcium levels in Phantom's blood. His thyroid is good. We've ruled out pretty much everything but cancer. The vet called some specialists at Auburn University and Michigan State to try to find out if they had blood test to detect cancer in cats. Michigan State has one and so now I just have to arrange for Phantom to get blood taken and shipped to them to be tested. He's also going to get another physical to check his mouth and glands in his neck since he keeps licking his lips and his breath smells really bad. 

Now I just have to decide if I should wait 2 weeks until we get back to Birmingham for the tests or take him to a new vet in Gulf Breeze next week. I'm thinking I should go ahead and take him next week and try to coordinate all the tests with my Birmingham vet and the new Gulf Breeze vet that a friend recommended.

Today Phantom's doing much better. He seems to love having the Boy back. Sometimes I wonder if he's just depressed when he seems to be feeling really bad. It's hard to tell with a cat! We know he's sick though because he does have heart disease and something causing this high calcium in his blood.

 It was a good day. I love having the Boy visit and we now have more options on what to do with Phantom instead of  "just wait and see." Phantom has been such a great pet for the Boy. I plan to do everything I can to help him get better if that is possible.

Another awesome sunset this evening!

It's One Thing Or The Other

When we stuck the for sale by owner sign in the yard a few weeks ago, before we list with a Realtor, we knew we still had a few things to do to the house before it was ready to show. The sign was meant more as "coming soon" to let folks know the house was going on the market. We then got busy and cleaned the house out and got rid of all the extra unnecessary furniture and other items we had since we had just combined two households, not to mention the children are now grown and one is on her own and the other is off at college.

One of the biggest problems was a leak somewhere in the fireplace that had ruined the upstairs drywall in the bonus room and then ran down to stain the popcorn ceiling in the downstairs great room in the finished basement area.

We had the Fireplace Dr's come out and they replaced some rusted out things in the fireplace and patched up things up there. I'm not sure what they did but when we had the next rain it seemed to have worked. No more dripping or leaks. Sooooooo...

We got the painter/drywall guy out here. He spend 4 or 5 days here putting new drywall in upstairs, painting and repopcorning the ceiling then he repaired the main floor ceiling stain then he repaired the downstairs ceiling. Two thousand dollars later we thought everything was repaired.

Then it rained again.

And the leaking started back! We held our breath as we watch the downstairs ceiling. Luckily, no damage but we had to get somebody back out to find and fix the leak once and for all. The Murph called some other company who sent a guy out late one day last week who looked at it gave us an estimate and said he'd be back the next day. We waited two days but he didn't show up.

Finally, someone from his company showed up day before yesterday after the Murph made several calls. He took one look and said it's a lot more complicated than what the first guy said and it would cost more and they couldn't do it that day but they would be back Friday (today - and they are still a no show as I'm writing this).

That's wasn't good because as anyone who lives in Birmingham knows we had monsoon level rains yesterday. The roof guys did agree to put a tarp on the roof/fireplace Wednesday at the Murph's urging. The Murph wasn't going to let them leave without doing something to stop any leaks since we knew it was going to rain yesterday.

So right now we have a bright blue huge tarp on the roof. It might as well be a bright red flag to potential buyers as they drive past the house. Probably as fast as they can!

It seems like the more things we fix around here, the more other things that were working fine have decided to not work anymore. We've already had to replace a toilet that decided out of the blue to just stop working. Then there were the shower doors that the maids broke with their thorough cleaning job and the outside door that was pulled off the hinges by the carpet cleaning guy. And then there's the vendors that just don't show up.

We were suppose to move last week, but know we've committed to staying here till the first of May to try to get everything repaired and hopefully find a buyer before we leave. We've spent more money to put the house on the MLS so we'll see what happens. Hopefully, we'll find a buyer soon so we don't have to list with a Realtor, which is nuts because I am a Realtor. I just have my license inactive right now because I don't know where we'll end up.

Also, the cat was recently diagnosed with heart disease and has another vet appointment next week to check his blood/kidney levels since he's on a diuretic. He can't be left alone at either place as we move back and forth (we were going to move in two trips and take half the cats and leave the other until we come back) because I have to give him medicine. I also want to have his meds under control by the time we take him to the new place. He's on Atenolol for his heart as well as Lasix, half a pill of each in the morning and 1/4 of Atenolol at night. Try halving one of those already tiny pills! The vet tech was nice enough to do if for me for now, but I still have to halve the halve of Atenolol for his night time dose.

Our plans have kind of changed a little for the moment. Delayed is probably a better word to describe our situation.

As you are driving down the main street in our subdivision toward the house you can't help but notice the bright blue tarp over the roof. I tried to reasure the Murph that it's really not that noticeable. Well, maybe just a little bit, but not too bad.

At least it doesn't leak right now.

April's New Cat Yoga Pose and Phantom's Diagnosis

The Murph turned the calendar page today to April and a new kitty yoga pose. This pose is called Lord of the Dance. There's no way I can do this one without falling over or seriously doing some bodily injury so I'll stick with the "safer" yoga poses. The Murph got a good laugh when he flipped the calendar and saw it. I think Mr. March kitty was funnier though. This cat sort of looks like Cadence.

On a sadder note, Phantom's cardiologist appointment was today to find out the condition of his heart and why he suddenly developed a heart murmur. The vet did an echo cardiogram on him. Phantom did really great and was purring most of the visit. The vet diagnosed him with heart disease. Looks like he didn't have a heart worm after all.

He has mild to moderate hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is a thickening of the heart wall. He has to take Atenolol, a beta blocker and continue on Lasix, his diuretic. Prognosis is fair. She said some cats  get better, some get worse and some stay the same with the medication. It is usually genetic, but Phantom is still overweight even though he's lost 5 pounds since he got sick a couple of months ago with all the vomiting. He is a big cat too. I'm cutting back even more on his food intake. He's a beggar when it comes to table food and he loves cookies. He's been known to steal them if he can get his paws on them. But no more!

Hopefully he will be one of the ones who get better! I gave him half of a pill tonight and tomorrow he will take another half and some Lasix. He was very glad to get back home and not left behind at the vet. I carried him in my arms since he didn't want to be in the carrier. The minute I brought his carrier inside after we got home he ran downstairs and hid! Ed and Cadence started playing on it and going inside it.

Poor Phantom! He's had enough vet visits!

Sick But Still Full of Piss and Vinegar

Sick Kitty!

Phantom had been throwing up off and on for several days and since he's an eater, I thought maybe he had just eaten something that upset his stomach and it would go away.  Well, it didn't go away.  Then Sunday he got really sick, threw up and instead of feeling better right away, he spent the rest of the day laying on the bed looking miserable.  I decided he needed to be taken to the vet and was going to take him Monday morning.

Monday came and he seemed fine.  He was eating and drinking and didn't seem too sick. The Boy said he did throw up once though. Tuesday was the Boy's dentist appointment and as we were getting ready to leave, Phantom was looking miserable again so I called the vet and they told me I could bring him in and drop him off.  The vet is near the dentist office so we grabbed Phantom and left him at the vet while we went to the dentist.

Later that afternoon the vet called and told me everything looked normal except Phantom had developed a heart murmur, lost four pounds since last time he was there in June (Phantom NEVER loses weight!) and his chest xray wasn't clear. The vet asked me if Phantom had gotten outside.  He hadn't been outside since June when he got fleas.

Heart worms were mentioned. Apparently, it takes about 8 months for a heart worm to reach adulthood and migrate to the heart. Phantom had all the signs.

Heart worms aren't as common in cats as they are in dogs, but when they get them, it's deadly and there's really no treatment for cats. The treatment can be just as deadly as the heart worm. The vet, of course, didn't tell me that.  I googled it after I got off the phone with him which was a BIG mistake because I totally panicked. It's times like that when I realize I need to be on an anti-anxiety medication.  I don't handle things like that well.

There was good news today when the vet said it didn't look like heart worms or maybe if it had been a heart worm then it was dead.  That's when it can go to the lungs which can be deadly. The vet still isn't sure what is wrong with Phantom so they are keeping him another night and looking for signs of partial blockage in his intestines that isn't showing up on the xray and a possible virus which could cause the chest issue. I don't think the vet has totally ruled out that he had a heart worm that his body destroyed on it's own.  I think that could still pose a danger to Phantom until it has cleared out of his system.

The Boy and I went to visit Phantom today for a little while so he would know we haven't abandoned him and everything is okay. We took his favorite cat bed so he would be comfy in his kitty "condo" at the vet.

Once they gave Phantom something for nausea he perked up and doesn't seem to like it at the vet in his kitty condo. The vet said he was full of piss and vinegar today.

Yes, that sounds just like Phantom!  He's full of piss and vinegar on most days!

Most of the time we were visiting him he sat by the door looking at it and then looking at us.  I think he was ready to get the heck out of there.

Hopefully, he will be able to come home tomorrow and will be okay and have nothing serious wrong with him. We should know tomorrow after more tests are done. With all the commotion going on at the house today, the painter came to give us an estimate, the maid service came to give us an estimate, the carpet cleaner came and cleaned the main floor, the pool guy came and we have boxes everywhere down in Phantom's area, Phantom is much better off at the vets than here. I haven't seen the other two cats all day. They ran and hid at the first sign of strangers.

We put the house on the market "For sale by owner" for now and already have people wanting to see it even though it isn't ready to be shown yet. That has really forced us to speed up the process. We are moving in April and it would be great if we had an offer on the house by then.

Fingers crossed!

It Was The Tequila That Screwed Up My Training Plan

This week starts my taper for the Mercedes marathon which is coming up this Sunday.  I'm doing the half marathon, not the whole, but I'm still going to cut back on my volume of training this week.  Last week was a big training week for me.  I've started putting more time either on the spin bike or my bike trainer and still doing the same amount of running and weights.

My long run is usually on Sunday, but this past weekend I decided to run with the group on Saturday morning instead since the Murph and I were going out with friends Saturday night and that would involve adult beverages.

 I still tentatively planned to do a short run with L and M on Sunday morning too, but the longer run was Saturday so I didn't have to worry about what I ate or drank (or so I thought!).  The only problem was that I got up in the freezing cold Saturday morning, ran 8 miles with the group, then went to the gym with the Murph and put some time in on the exercise bike, then got on the bike trainer at home for another hour and a half and THEN back to the gym for weights.

I guess I didn't eat enough during the day Saturday or before I got the drinks because after about three frozen margarita's later, I suddenly wasn't feeling very good.  And the drinks were only about this size.

photo from foodio54.com

The Murph said I didn't eat enough, but I was shoving chips and salsa down the entire night.  This reminded me of that time last March when we were in New Orleans doing the Rock and Roll New Orleans marathon and I got a little ill. ( New Orleans Blog Post)

All I remember is I was feeling really good and having a great time and we were about to get burgers at midnight in Harrah's casino and then BAM!  It hit me out of the blue.  And I can usually hold my liquor, especially tequila.  No problemo!

This was me right before the fun stopped.  Never before published picture.  As you can see I am already looking a little pale.

And then things started spinning and I got really, really sick.   It's all fun and games until you get on that merry-go-round from hell that just won't stop.  That wasn't a fun night.  I vowed to never, ever drink tequila again.  EVER!  Okay, well at least not on the day I run a marathon.

It was almost the same feeling Saturday night.  I was feeling great and not even that hungry, but I did eat anyway and only had those three very, very small margaritas.  Needless to say, by the time I got home I was hugging the toilet and the room was spinning.  Cadence, my cat was looking at me like, "geez, mom's got a hair ball too!  I can so relate!"

 The Murph missed all of it because he was downstairs eating a roast beef sandwich, but knew something was wrong when I didn't want anything else to eat and he had gone through Arby's drive thru to get some more food.  (at least I think it was Arby's)

The cat followed me to bed and The Murph tucked us in.  I didn't make it to run with L and M like I had planned, but at least I had already done my long run for the week and now it's taper time.  I'm going to have to take tequila off the list of safe foods/drinks during my intense training weeks/days.  Maybe forever.  I know, I've said that before!

Sunday morning I woke up to find the Murph standing over me and Cadence, my cat, saying, "Oh, what do we have here?  The VomiTER (that would be me) and the VomiTEEE!  (that would be Cadence because he's usually the one doing all the vomiting).

My training plan wasn't too screwed up Sunday though.  I still made it to the gym later to do 30 minutes on the exercise bike.  The Murph thought I was too sick to do doubles at the gym yesterday so he was a little surprised when I did 40 more minutes on my bike trainer and then 1/2 mile on the treadmill while I watched Honey Boo Boo's Christmas special last night.  I think he got a little upset that he missed his workout because of me and then I ended up doing doubles anyway, just not at the gym.

I've tried to explain that a little vomit doesn't stop workouts.  It can just delay them or make them less intense.  I mean how many times have I felt like throwing up after a race.  I can't count the number of times.  A 5k race has more throw up potential than a full marathon does for me.

I can't blame that on the tequila though.

Too Busy To Do A Real Blog Post So...

I've been too busy today to do a real post so I'm just gonna post some kitty pics.  I don't really know why I was too busy but I was just too busy being busy.  I don't know what I got accomplished, but it must have been something big because it took up my entire day.

I didn't have the heart to pack away the ho ho ho Christmas throw in the picture above because Phantom seems to enjoy napping on it.  I wish he'd been on it the other night when I spent almost an hour looking for him before I went to bed.

As always I have to lock him down in the Boy's room at night so he won't attack Ed.  I thought he was already down there but I couldn't find him.  I called him.  I walked around shaking a bag of kitty snacks attempting to lure him out of hiding.   I looked EVERYWHERE.  All over the house.  High and low, but no Phantom.

Finally, I remembered that I had seen Cadence come out from under the couch in the Boy's area.  The one that the ho ho ho Christmas throw is on top of.  But Cadence is tiny and can fit just about anywhere.  Phantom is huge!

Cadence chewed the bottom of the couch cover and made a little bed

I didn't think Phantom could squeeze his big butt under that couch, but since I was out of places to look, I tentatively reached my hand under the back of the couch and brushed up against something warm and furry.  The furry thing didn't budge.  I jerked my hand out, but put it back under and felt around.  I was pretty sure it was Phantom when I grabbed a tail.

Yes, it was Phantom's tail, but I panicked when he didn't move even though I had his tail in my hand. Was he dead?

A couple of tugs on the tail and he jumped up.  One very pissed off cat.  I guess he had been asleep and didn't hear me shaking the bag of snacks.

I was very relieved that I had found him, he was okay and he was in the Boy's area where he was suppose to be.

So I could go bed.  Phantom, however, was completely awake now and wanting a snack.  Sorry Phantom!

Ed prefers the pink snuggy.  I know this is totally unrelated to the above story, but I'm tired and I think my kitties are cute.  Even the ones that cause trouble.  Which would be most of them.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to do a real blog post.  Until then I'll just post some cat pictures.

Meow and Good Night!