Sophie Has Left the Onesie!

I know you're going to remember that my precious little girl, Sophie has been having skin issues on her tummy resulting in her overgrooming the area and her having to wear the cone of shame and then be mercifully transferred to a onesie. 

Before I go into Sophie's exciting (recent) adventure, let me paws (hahahaha!) to tell you about Breaking Cat News a webcomic by Georgia Dunn - it's about her three cats, and other hangers on, as they have news updates about the odd comings and goings of the "People" in their life.  I've found this comic recently, and I cannot express how much joy it gives me.  The other day I was reading the back catalog of comics and I came across this one that was pretty much on topic re: today's topic, (i.e, Sophie).  Enjoy.  (Oh, the white cat is Lupin, the black cat is Puck, and Elvis is the Siamese in the cone.)

Of course one of my concerns about Sophie being in the cone of shame, and then the Onesie, was the ridicule she would receive from her housemates.  Myself included.  She was darned funny in that cone!  I tried to get video of her loping around the condo like a drunken sailor, but I was laughing too hard, and the lighting conditions in the condo that evening were not conducive to producing viral-quality video. 

Anyway, back to the present.  Over the summer, my baby's poor little belly would get better and then get worse.  We went to the vet again during one of the flare-ups, and the doctor basically said this condition - eosinophilic disease - is chronic and she may fight it for the remainder of her life.  As to the instant problem, though, we either deal with it, or we have surgery to remove the area. 

After almost losing her five years ago, I took out a pet insurance policy on Sophie, so the cost would be minimal (assuming insurance paid).  Also I figured the stress and trauma for a finite amount of time for surgery would be less than the stress and trauma of us continually having to nab her and shove her in and out of the Onesie and spray the stuff on her little area.  Plus, if we went ahead and had her surgery, she could recupe and be (sort of) back to normal for Emily when she comes over and cat/condo sits for us at the end of the month when we go to the beach.  I mean, she's being gracious enough to watch the cats for us, the least we could do would be to not make her deal with Sophie and the Onesie!

So the surgery was on!  But first she had to get over the immediate flare-up.  Once that spot cooled down, we had our surgery.  A couple of months ago, I read online about this vet's office that would send a text (with picture) to the owner from the pet once it was out of surgery.  I thought, oh, that's nice!, never thinking that anyone in our house would be having surgery.  While Sophie's vets office did not send me a text or a pic, they did call me to let me know she was out and doing fine, which I thought was very nice.

The surgery was on a Friday.  We chose that day because then I could be home to monitor her over the weekend.  We quarantined her in the upstairs bedroom, and I slept up there with her.  I don't think Gizmo - her litter mate/main source of stress (as only siblings truly can be) - fully understood why not only was I sleeping in a totally different room, but I'd shut him out.  He slept (and tossed a hairball in protest) on the carpet outside the upstairs bedroom door.  I only gave her pain meds Friday night, and then again Saturday morning, mostly to help her sleep and rest, so I could sleep and rest!  I can't afford to have my cat become a drug addict any more than I can afford for me to become one!  Plus, it's just not easy getting oral meds down a cat's throat!  I have the scars to prove it!

The weather that Saturday and Sunday was perfect and when we weren't doing other higher priority stuff, me and the kids were on the balcony lolling in the sunshine.  (Not that the kids ever have higher priority stuff!)  Sophie joined us Sunday, even sleeping in my lap. 

She got her stitches out last Friday, meaning that she could once and for all exit the Onesie!  I told mom that I'd gotten so used to seeing her in cammo that I wouldn't see her when I'd look into a room or  wherever.  Of course, she is solid black, so even in daylight, she blends in with shadows and such.

We now seem to have gotten over our surgery.  Basically she had a little tummy tuck, they used the skin from that floppy area left over as a result of when she was spayed to cover the area they removed.  I'm gonna miss that wobbly bit, though.  It was always so cute swaying in the breeze as she'd jog down the hallway.  Sigh.  Now, though, I can look forward to the beach without the guilt of leaving her!  (Yeah!)

Sink Me!

Back in the halcyon days of 1982, the Barger family had been on the VCR bandwagon for a while because Dad worked for RCA and when VCR’s first came out in the mid-to late-70’s, he was able to get one and pay for it through payroll deduction.   Consequently, when the “Made for TV” movie of the book, The Scarlet Pimpernel, starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour was advertised, we set said VCR to record the movie.  I’m guessing that we were away from the house for some reason the night it was on because I don’t know why else we would have recorded it – I doubt we had a premonition of the vital importance the movie would play in our lives – and it wasn’t like now where I record everything just in case I’m not going to be able to watch it live. 

Now, some of you out there may know the story.  We recorded this movie, mostly because at the time I had a thing for Anthony Andrews similar to the thing I currently have for Gerard Butler.  We watched it - it’s a really enjoyable movie!  And we watched it again.  And again.  When I say “we,” I’m pretty much referring to me and Holly, who was, even though she was “away” at UE, she was close enough to be home every so often, and you have to remember, kids, this was back in the days before cable.  There were literally the three networks and PBS.  So if there was nothing on, “Hey, let’s watch the Scarlet Pimpernel!”

For those of you who either a) know that I have another sister; or b) are savvy enough to have read my Cast of Characters on the right of this page, yes, there is another sister - Haley.  But she went “away” to school at DePauw in Greencastle and I know from my own painful, personal experience, having attended DPU for a couple of years myself, it was too far for casual visits home (or vice versa – humpf!).  I’m sure we shared this Masterpiece-of-Made-for-TV-Moviedom with Haley, but I don’t recall that she quite appreciated it (at least not at the time) for the work of art that it truly is.  I am sure that she has since drunk the Kool-Aid and adores the movie like the rest of the family, but…  My point is, I’m not purposefully excluding her from this story.  Back to the main plot.  

Now, for a little background, as it were, regarding The Scarlet Pimpernel:

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a piece of “classical literature.”  As we’ve discussed previously, I’m shallow, so I don’t really like “deep” thoughts or the type of literature that inspires them.  But this is my kind of “literature” with “the odd death-defying leap and a modest amount of dental torture” along with beheadings and such.  Written by the Baroness Emma Orczy.  It takes place during the French Revolution.  Oddly enough, another of my favorite pieces of “literature” takes place during this time period – A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens – so I’m thinking that makes me a blood-thirsty thing.  Hmm.. another topic for therapy?  Or, maybe I should just start a list of words that describe me.  I’ve got two so far:  “shallow” and “blood-thirsty.”   

Anyway, the hero is Sir Percy, an Englishman, who disguises himself and his band of merry men and traipses into Revolutionary France and rescues some of the French aristocrats from getting their noggins knocked off on the guillotine.  Meanwhile he meets and falls in love with a French actress, marries her, thinks she had someone sent to the chopper, so he has to hide his true (?) identity from her lest she send him to the chopper.  Misunderstandings ensue until it all comes out in the end.  (NOTE: I do NOT like books/stories/movies, etc that do not end happily.)

Enough background, back to the future!  Or, 1982.  Holly and I, and probably some varying combo of the ‘Rents proceed to watch this movie time and time again.  I can’t really say how many times we watched it through completely, I’d guess about 20 times, knowing that it was probably more like between 5 and 10.  At some point, Dad said that enough was enough and decreed that we were going to tape over this movie.  Now, keep in mind, it was a three hour movie (with commercials).  At first, we might have taped over the first hour (say, for example, an episode of Magnum PI).  Later, we would watch that episode of Magnum, and when it was over, the movie would pick up an hour into it, and we’d watch it to the end!  I have no clue how long this went on or how many times we proceeded to watch the continuously shortened.   I do know that at one point, there was only 15 minutes of the movie left.  The thing was, after enough time went by, it got to the point where we didn't realize which tape it was, so whenever we came across those precious 15 minutes, there was joy and happy laughter, and we’d plop down immediately and finish the movie.  Ultimately, the whole movie was taped over or the tape shredded or whatever.  Obviously I now own it on DVD.

I’m not the type of person who can quote movies or television shows.  I’ve always been sort of in awe of people who can.  I have a lot of esoterica in my brain, but there's no room for memorizing stuff like that.  However, this is one movie that I can quote – one of my favorite quotes being, “..the north country in the middle of the night?  How bizarre.”  (I realize that probably meant nothing to most of you, but certain members of my family were chuckling as they read that.)

One other cool aspect of the movie is that it stars an incredibly young looking Ian McKellen.  To many, he may be Gandalf and/or Magneto.  To me he's the baddie who gets outwitted by the Scarlet Pimpernel!

There is more to my epic tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but I'm thinking this may be better as a two-parter, so I'll just end it here with a final quote from the movie:

They seek him here.   

They seek him there. 

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.  

Is he in Heaven? Or is he in Hell?  

 That damned, elusive Pimpernel!

No Purchase Necessary

I have a habit of signing up for freebies, sweepstakes, frequent customer cards, etc.  The result is mainly an awful lot of junk mail and junk email that I send directly to my spam folder.  However, this month, July, has made all of that junk mail/email worth it.  Why?  Well, let me tell you.

As my long-time fans are well aware, July is the month of my birth – which is entirely appropriate …

Ex. A – July’s birthstone is the Ruby and according to Proverbs 8:11 – “wisdom is far more valuable than rubies..” (NLT) … And I am nothing if not a smart cookie (although my cookie probably contains its fair share of nuts).

Ex. B – my Zodiac sign is Cancer the Crab.  I don’t follow horoscopes and such and, while I am usually a pretty happy person, I’ve been known to have crabby moments. 

Ex. C – also regarding Crabs – I adore them… especially the cartoon variety! (I know that isn’t a very strong reason and should be party of Ex. B, but I needed a third one and couldn't think of one and I wanted to be able to use both the Lucy pic and the crab cartoon.)

Now, I’ve long said that the ONLY good thing about summer in general, and July in particular, is my origin.  Otherwise, since I’m not longer a student who has a summer break to look forward to, the calendar might as well go straight from May to October.  I would say June to September, but we can have some pretty hot weather even in those months and Rose doesn’t like the heat.

Any who, it started about two weeks ago, when I received a postcard in the mail from Shoe Carnival wishing me a Happy Birthday and containing a coupon good for $5 off on any purchase in the month of July. 

Then I received another postcard – we aren’t sure how or why I received it, but I must’ve signed up for something somewhere, they had my correct birth month – from three local restaurants (Wolf’s Bar-B-Q, Acropolis, and Highland Pizza something I’d never heard of) wishing me Happy Birthday and containing coupons for each restaurant good for a free meal at each.

Last weekend, Mom and I knocked out the Wolf’s coupon after going to see the Terminator movie (more on that in another blog, possibly).  Then on Sunday, after church, we invited Aunt Marilee and our “adopted family member for the summer or until her mother returns from Iowa and she’s no longer an orphan” Amy to join us at the Apocalypse.  It just so happened that the coupons said that if I (the birthday girl) brought three or more of my friends with me, we’d get a free appetizer!  

Meanwhile, an email from Kohl's - $10 off my next purchase!   And that was on top of my $30 in Kohl's bucks and $10 Kohl's Rewards!  Which was nice, since I was on the lookout for some new work clothes.  

Just today, I printed out coupons from Dairy Queen (buy one get one Blizzards - will come in handy for my traditional birthday Blizzard); O'Charley's (free piece of pie); and Schnucks (free cookie from the bakery).

I also received an email from the Ahh Spa, the place where Jennifer and I go for our birthday massages - her birthday is the day before mine, so instead of exchanging gifts, we celebrate by going out to eat and then going and getting massages.  From them, I get a free aromatherapy foot scrub with the purchase of my massage.  Oddly enough, poor Jennifer doesn't receive these emails, even though she has signed up.  Fortunately, when we make the appointments, she points out that it's her birthday too and why didn't she receive the same email? and she gets the freebie too. 

Anyway, the lesson of this story is that I'm having a great birthday so far!