Green Smoothies with Aloe Juice, Weird Fruit Things and Christmas Trees

We have finally unpacked everything that we were planning on unpacking at our new place and are slowly getting acclimated. One side of the garage is packed to the ceiling with the other stuff that we aren't going to unpack, but there's plenty of space for one of the cars on the other side of the garage. That's "Little Red's" spot when we bring him down after Christmas.

I have found a new hair place, new nail place, two new vets for Phantom (one is a cancer specialist), new places to shop, etc. There's an overabundance of grocery stores and pharmacies in the area in all directions around us. Take your pick. We also found a farmer's market that is very, very close. The produce is AMAZING! My green smoothies have never tasted better.

While at the farmer's market we discovered this Aloe juice drink. It comes in different fruity flavors that are all good, but I really like the pineapple flavor the best. We have been adding this to the green smoothies. The Murph takes his produce and protein powder to work and makes his smoothie for lunch sometimes.

I really love this New Zealand whey protein powder made from grass fed cows. I feel healthier just reading the label!

We decided to try these for the first time. They are like grapefruits, only sweeter and were very good, but I have no idea what they are called. Pommelo or something... maybe.... ??

Yes, Pomelo. (I had to google it) They are the grandparents of the grapefruit. (that's what google said)

I still add cilantro and kale and a few different fruits, usually a banana and pear or strawberries. I add the cilantro because it helps remove toxins, such as mercury, from the body and I had high levels when I tested two or three years ago. I haven't retested yet to see if the mercury levels have gone down, but hopefully they have.

 It doesn't hurt continuing to eat the cilantro and I still have one silver filling left in my tooth so until I get it out, I will assume I am still getting mercury leaching out of it. I can't wait to have NO silver fillings left in my mouth. I had no idea the dangers of them when I had them put in.

Finding a local dentist is another thing on my list!

The cats have settled in somewhat. Phantom is okay wherever we are. Ed is pretty cool and laid back too.

 Cadence - not so much! He disappears up under the box springs during nap time and we don't see him for awhile. He feels safer there.

I put two Christmas trees up over Thanksgiving weekend. These are the only two trees I moved down here. All the others were given to charity. I really miss my big, gynormous tree, but it was too heavy to move and was over 10 years old anyway. Time to buy another big tree when we purchase our own house down here. After this move, I'm all for getting rid of everything rather than moving it. Packing, moving it, then unpacking it....

Next time I think I'll just get rid of everything, move with nothing and start over with all new stuff!

Yeah!

The House, Disturbing Pet Stories and The Irish Kitty

We are now counting down the days until the big move! Four separate showings on the house this weekend with one couple extremely interested who already live in the neighborhood, but need a larger home to house them, their grown daughter and grandkids and an elderly mom. They also already have somebody interested in purchasing their house.

If we don't have an actual offer in a few weeks, we'll list with a realtor. The house is cleaner than ever and looking great. The Murph is starting to feel a little nostalgic about this house that he's been living in for 20 years. I warned him this would happen and he didn't believe me until now. I went through the same thing when I sold the house I had been living in for 18 years in December 2011 to move here.

Really he's doing much better than I did so far since I had minor anxiety attacks and was literally shaking at closing. I was freezing cold that day too so that may have been what caused the shivers. Even though he's ready for a change and has been for a while, it is still difficult. The Boy called today and asked when are we moving down there. He's ready for me to be closer even though he's doing much better than I expected. He's doing great actually!

The house looks great though! The lawn guys came this morning and got all the leaves and the handy man/remodeler guy came and repaired some doors, installed a new toilet and did some caulking. Oh and repaired the shower doors of course. No more getting stuck in the shower from hell!

Ed's "room" minus the couch he use to hide under
note - no hairballs!

Notice no kitty throw up stains on carpet now!

Phantom is doing better, but I'm taking him to a kitty cardiologist to get an echo cardiogram to find out what's going on with his heart. Then we'll know what steps, if any, to take with him before we move. He's on a diuretic and special easy-to-digest food with probiotics sprinkled on to help keep him from throwing up, which would be really bad since the carpets are all cleaned!

Phantom's "room"

With everything that's going on around here with

the cats and the move, doing a spring marathon is 

out of the question. I can't even focus long enough to train for one! I didn't even do a long run this weekend and last weekend I struggled through 11 miles. I was doing good a couple of weeks ago, but now I just can't focus. I am going to pick it back up once we move and just try to hang in there with the basic minimum for now.

When I first got Cadence from the humane society, they had already micro chipped him just in case he ever got lost. Both my cats are microchipped, which the Murph totally doesn't understand because if they ever got "lost" why in the world would you want them back, he says. Neither of his cat's were micro chipped or updated on shots or anything. They are "just cats," he says. Now he's down to one since Boo died at age 12 last year of natural causes. I'm still trying to figure out how to sneak Ed to the vet for a thorough check up when the Murph's not around.

Speaking of "just cats", we went out with some friends S and C Saturday night and suddenly I'm seeing them in a new light. Just when you think you know people! C told a tale of having a sick old cat who had diabetes and his ex was spending thousands of dollars on the cat who C felt should be put out of his misery. One day he took the cat to a different vet far, far away from his regular one and had the cat put down while his ex was at work. If this wasn't enough, he then took the dead cat and put it in the garage. When the ex came home she was upset of course and he came in and acted surprised and upset too. But the ex was sure the cat wasn't dead so she made C take him to their local vet to check him out.

Of course, C was afraid to do this because he knew the cat was dead and didn't want his ex to know what really happened. The vet would be able to tell what had happened and C would be busted. The ex insisted so C reluctantly wrapped the cat in a towel and took him to the vet, but once there he refused to hand the cat over to the vet.

C acted incredibly upset and told the vet, "No, no, you can't have him. Nooooo...."and refused to hand him over or unwrap the dead cat. I guess the vet just listened for a heart beat through the towel and determined that the cat was indeed dead and the ex never knew any better.

Upon hearing this story, The Murph was all "YES! When it's time for them to go it's time for them to GO! No spending tons of money on treatments! They are "JUST CATS!" Upon which I give the Murph the stink eye and warn him to keep his paws off my cats and if something "mysterious" happens to one of them, I would be on to him and get an autopsy. Also, no matter what happens with Phantom's heart murmur, he's getting treatment until and ONLY until his quality of life is so bad it's no longer feasible to keep him alive and that would be for ME to decide and nobody else.

Image from remodelista.com

And then upon finding out that I had looked into getting baby chicks last year so we would have fresh, organic eggs and putting them in a fancy Martha Stewart chicken coop in the back yard where the play area use to be, S tells her disturbing baby chick story. When she was a little girl living on a chicken farm (the kind of chickens you eat, not the egg laying farms), her job was to feed the chickens and clean out the coop. She also had to weed out the little baby runt chicks that didn't look like they would make it so they wouldn't eat all the food that was for the healthy chicks. She did this by picking them up by the their little legs and "pinging" their little heads against the side of the coop. This killed them instantly and then she dropped them in a bucket and fed them to the hogs.

The perfect spot for the chicken coop except for the neighborhood covenants

I know!

I'll never look at "sweet" S the same way ever again! I now have nightmares of poor baby chicks getting pinged on the head and dead cats wrapped in towels in the middle of the garage.

Anyway back to micro chipping! Cadence's information is stored at Homeagain.com. I was going through all his papers from the humane society as I was attempting to update his information on the Homeagain website and discovered for the first time that his birthday is March 17. A St. Patrick's Day kitty! And we missed the opportunity to give him a serious St. Paddy birthday bash! He's 7 years old, which makes him 40 something in human years. How could I not have noticed that birth date all these years!

Image from zazzle.com

Happy Belated Birthday to Cadence, my little Irish kitty!

It Got Worse Before It Got Better

Just when I thought this painting job was not an inconvenience in any way, it suddenly became one. The painters started upstairs and that was no problem. Then they moved to the Boy's "apartment" downstairs. Still no problem.

But today they hit the main floor area. Big inconvenience. We were dodging around plastic all day.  And they covered up my phone so I couldn't find it. Phantom was a little unsure when he had to walk over the stuff to get downstairs to his litter box. He seems a little more off today than he has been since he got back from the vet.

All the other cats ran for cover the minute the doorbell rang.

The painters finished today and tomorrow the cleaning service and the carpet cleaner are coming. All the carpets upstairs are cleaned. The only thing left is the downstairs carpet where Phantom was puking all last month. I've gone through two cans of Resolve, but the carpet is going to be a challenge! Good thing we waited to clean it last because the carpet cleaner would never come back if he had to clean that one first.

The worst part about carpet cleaning is that the first thing one of the cats did after the upstairs carpet was cleaned was run up there and puked a big hair ball up. That was Ed this time, not Phantom. The Murph can't be mad at me if it was his cat that puked, not one of mine!

Phantom hiding out but not puking

Friday we start showing the house. We already have several people who want to see it and the inventory in this area and price range is extremely low now so I don't think it will take long to sell. Hopefully it will be under contract before we move to the coast and we won't have to list it with a realtor. Especially since I am a realtor, just one who has her license inactive right now.

When I sold my own house last year I listed it with a friend I use to work with because I was inactive and living at the coast to be near the Boy as he started his first semester in college. I paid the commission. I guess it was worth it at the time since I really didn't have a choice if I wasn't in town. Maybe this will make up for it.

Tonight is a two plus glass of wine night! I think I've pulled a muscle in my back from all the heavy moving. Boxes and furniture. We have another load to go to charity. Probably won't be the last. I must be doing pretty good on the sorting of the stuff and deciding on what I'm keeping and what is going to charity because the Murph hasn't complained too much.

The Murph was outside talking to the Larry across the street today while I ran to Home Depot to get more drawer pulls for the cabinets in the bathroom. He bought some several years ago because his interior designer told him too but he never changed them out. All this time he's had ugly white knobs circa 1970's.

Old knobs

New knobs

I knew he was talking about me when I pulled in and Larry made what looked like a cross sign like back away vampire girl. I interrogated the Murph about it when he came in and he admitted that he was indeed talking about me and wondered how the heck I knew. He was complaining to Larry about my "hoarding" tendencies and Larry actually defended me and told the Murph that I wasn't hoarding I was "nesting"'. Women tend to do that according to Larry.  Larry's wife does this and poor Larry has a houseful of stuff. Some of the stuff belongs to his son and daughter who are now grown. He also pays $200 a month for a storage unit for the stuff that won't fit in the house and has been doing this for years.

The Murph did NOT want to hear that. No way!

So there you go! I'm not a hoarder, I'm just doing what comes naturally to women. I'm "nesting".

Busy

Last week was busy, but this one is starting out that way too. The Boy is back at school without his comforter or his meds so I had to UPS them to him yesterday. I still don't know what he's is going to do with his car that he hasn't driven in three years. It's still sitting in our driveway. Uninsured with an expired tag. It will have to be towed to it's next destination if these things aren't taken care of. It's not on me or the Murph to take care of this time. We've done our part in the car saga.

It is a never ending saga and I'm sick of it at this point!

Phantom is doing well. He's on a diuretic for his heart and probiotics for his stomach issues. He's very light weight now and easy to carry around which is something he doesn't let me do very often. The painters are here painting this week so all the cats are in hiding during the day. I'm hoping the stress doesn't make Phantom's murmur worse.

The Murph and I are having to juggle our workouts around the painters and I'm working on sorting through the mess in the Boy's area. He took what he wanted and the rest is left up to me to decide whether to store or give away to charity. I finished one room yesterday and will start the bedroom today. It's not as bad as I thought it would be since I already got rid of most of it when I sold my house and moved in here. This is the second go around. The Boy said all his games can go. He doesn't play them anymore. His cousin looked through them but already had most of them and once you get to the top level apparently they are done with them forever. No reason to play them after that.

The Boy has gone through computer games like Flight Simulator and the Sims, Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii, and  Xbox (I think that's it, no there's the small gaming thing but I don't remember what it was called), a long time ago. He moved on to online games from there and now he says he done with them. He doesn't have time to play them now anyway. That's a good thing!

If I could just get him to remember things like his meds, his toiletry items and his bedding that would be good.

Crazy Week!

This week has been a busy one around here, getting the house cleaned up and ready to be shown. We've had several calls with people interested and wanting to see it, but we have stuff everywhere. The truck came by today to pick up round one and take it off to a local charity. Round two will happen next week after my family looks through the other stuff and get what they want of it.

The Boy has been home from college for spring break and has been very disagreeable. He started the week not wanting to do anything, not even change some light bulbs in his bedroom, but has gotten better as the week went on. He has all his computer stuff ready to take over to his dad's house and store for now and all his laundry has been washed and folded and ready to go.  He heads back to school Sunday.

The Boy's old car, the one that has been sitting neglected in the driveway for two years now, is going to have to be stored at his dad's house. We got someone over to start it and as we were letting it run so the battery would charge large clouds of smoke started coming out from under the hood. It looked like it was on fire so the Murph panicked and called the fire department. Looks like it was just the radiator and steam, not smoke, but it was very scary! We have the battery hooked up to a battery charger now, but who knows what will happen when we start it again. I'll just be glad when it's out of here! The Boy actually washed it today. His dad ordered him to clean it up if it was going to be stored in his garage until they find a buyer.

Good luck with that!  We've found two buyers, but the Boy didn't want to sell it at such a low price.

I had a pretty hefty vet bill when I went to pick up Phantom. We still don't know exactly what caused his problem, but he has a heart murmur and is on a diuretic and on special food for his GI issues (vomiting). The two possible issues are a virus or a heart worm that died and his body is getting rid of on it's own. Hopefully, his heart will get stronger and this was just some random thing.

The carpet cleaner guy came to clean the upstairs today and the electrician was here so the cats ran and hid all day. Cadence refused to eat breakfast and is not eating dinner so I'm worried about him now. It's dangerous for cats who don't eat all day, especially him because he's so tiny.

The electrician was cleaning the outside lights which had a bird's nest with several little eggs in it. The Murph was determined to clean the lights and get them working again, but I didn't want to disturb the birds. It had to be done though. The electrician felt bad too. He gave me the nest and I put it in a nearby bush that just happened to have an empty nest already in it, but I don't think the parent birds will find it. They were flying around all day looking in the light fixture for their nest that was no longer there.

Poor birds! I tried to take a picture after I put the next in the bush, but only got half of one egg and some weird looking rope that the birds had used to make the nest.

That's only the highlights of the week. We are all exhausted and still not finished.

I can't wait to get this all done and get to the coast. I need to de-stress!

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!