Day 283

From early November, the completed kitchen

 I have no clue what was happening at the last entry, I should reread before posting, I suppose.

The cats are doing well.  Shy-Guy is my buddy, and loves snuggling.  (I have to keep removing him from the laptop).  Oona is still a loud purr-er, and sleeps with Bertram most nights.  

Bertram has had more good days than bad recently.  He is very unpredictable.  I think screentime is the basis for most of his bad behaviour.  We limit it to some extent, but it's pandemic  time, so there are only so many options for him.  He has chores he has to do (get newspaper, feed cat, make bed, wipe table, do a worksheet).  Most days the first 3 will get done.  For some reason, he really hates worksheets.  They are mostly for handwriting, because his is awful.  He just goes to fast.

He got student of the month at school.  He was so excited he ran all around the house.  The teacher said she can see that he is improving in paying attention, and not shouting out.  We've been trying, so I'm glad he is getting some recognition. 

Bron has had some evals.  She started speech a couple weeks ago.  And will be starting ABA sometime soon.  Everything is ready, but the scheduler hasn't called yet.  And it's the end of the year, so I'm not sure who is in the office anyway.  She has her school district evals at the end of January and beginning of February.

We took the rail off Bron's crib a week (or so) ago.  She was climbing out consistently, so it made sense to take the front off.  The first night was a little rough. Most night's now she'll play in the dark (she has a little nightlight in her bed) and then put herself to bed after a while. But she hasn't been coming out, so that is a win.  And she usually is quiet when she plays. 

I started working on a calico/tee shirt quilt for Bron.  It's twin size, for when we move her to the big bed. The squares are all cut, and I've started assembly on the top.

Aaron has continued to work from home.  Most of the time it's great, because I have a second set of hands most of the day, or as needed.  He took most of this week off, because why not?  We don't need to save the vacation time for anything.  Who knows when travel will be safe?  He helped his dad take a lemon tree from their neighbour's house.  The house between us and his folks has been sold to  developer. The same one that did Grandma Street's house.  Hers turned out fine, I guess.  It's giant.  And there are no windows facing the front (except one over the garage that always has the shade closed.) So it seems very foreboding and unfriendly.  I saw the wife once, walking a baby.  But she made no effort to look at me, or smile, and seemed to hurry  back into the house. 

This was the model/drawing.  I've marked the differences in how it actually looks.  There is no lower right window, that's all that stone wall.  There is no chimney.  That front gate (which goes to a patio), then the front door is a half gate, not full sized.  Those two upstairs windows don't exist.  I don't think the wall comes out that far.  And, you can kind of see, how huge it is compared to the houses beside it.

That is what, essentially, will be going in next door to us.  Thomas James builders have been redoing a lot of houses in the area, and most of their designs are similar to this, though, this is the least inviting.  With the exception of this and one other house, all the houses on the street are single story, and look small from the front.  Most have been added onto in the back, but generally fit the look.  I'm just grumping I guess.  I'm not thrilled about living by a construction site either.

Day 135

We moved into the next phase of reopening for a whopping 2 days before everything closed again.  Not sure why the powers that be thought reopening as the numbers rose would be a good idea.  So things are continuing in the same direction.  Numbers keep going up.

School is going to be completely online through (at least) 2 August.  They are expected to be available/on the computer (?) from 8-2.  I was hoping it would be a little more open form like the end of last year.  I'm not sure how it will go, I guess it's supposed to be a mix of online class, individual teacher time, and possibly small groups (online).  (Though there has been some talk about doing small pods in addition to this, but we'll see how it all shakes out).  So, due to this new schedule we needed to change Bertram's time and day for speech.  And his time for ABA will change, and he will likely have to get a new tech, which sucks.  But to keep the same one we'd have to do 5:30-8:30, which is too late (as bedtime is 8).  But maybe the school schedule won't be so rigid, but it's all in flux.  We don't have his class assignment yet, and thus haven't heard from the teacher about her plan.  It's all stressing me out.  And I know this is going to be difficult for Bertram too. 

I stopped taking Remeron. It wasn't helping, and it made me hungry all the time.  I will be trying BuSpar. We'll see how that goes.  I kind of feel like I want to switch the Wellbutrin+Zoloft combo, but the shrink seems to be hesitant to do that.  I feel like I'm in a bad head space.  Like having a base level of anxiety all the time.  Plus, I feel like I'm failing at everything.  And I'm just on edge all the time. 

We adopted two kittens that we abandoned, and malnourished.  (Aaron's cousin's neighbour found them under her deck).  Originally I just wanted the girl, since we've had issues with boy cats spraying.  But they were bonded, so we took them both.  They were born at the beginning of June, so they're about 8 weeks old.  Bertram named the boy Shy-Guy (which is a character in Mario), and Aaron and I named the girl Oona.

Oona

Shy-Guy

They're been confined to our bedroom and bathroom.  They are super friendly and very playful.

Our washer died today, which a barrel full of water and wet clothes.  It was 14 years old. Fortunately, we're in a position that replacing it wasn't a huge burden.  Really more of an annoyance than anything.  But we got a nice LG washer.

We've (Aaron, Bertram and I) have been learning to play pokemon cards.  It's pretty fun.  Bertram keeps trying to cheat, which is weird because he doesn't actually care about winning.

Bronwyn's birthday was a couple weeks ago.  My baby is 3.  We didn't do much for her in terms of a party.  I made a cake, and we gathered on grandma and grandpa's lawn. 

16. All the animals

Growing up, we always had animals.  Actually, my parents had animals for most of their marriage before kids.  And my mom grew up on a farm, so there were always animals.

My dad, I would say, is an animal person; especially cats.  I don't think he had pets growing up, but I could be wrong.  But he loves pets.  He said if he didn't always out live them, he'd have a cat.  It's too hard (emotionally), he said.  My mom is not really an animal person.  She likes animals, but wouldn't seek out any of her own (especially now that she's retired and likes to travel).

When I was little (and before I was born) my dad (the family) had a cat called drummer.  He was a smooth black cat.  He wasn't overly friendly, but not mean either.  Just a normal cat.  After he died (I think I was 7, maybe), Jessica and I each got a kitten.  Two grey tiger cats.  I named mine Tiger (how unoriginal).  Jessica called hers Smokey.  Smokey was especially anti-social, though, to be fair, we were very enthusiastic pet owners.  They were meant to be inside cats, but gradually became indoor/outdoor.  And back then, the flea medicines weren't great.  They became outdoor cats, and then semi-feral cats.  I think they lived to be 17ish.  We had a cat that adopted us, we called him BooBoo.  He was a super skinny, mangy, black and white tuxedo cat.  He had been de-clawed, which I assume means he was abandoned, since de-claws cats can't do well outside.  We tried to bring him in, as he was a very lovey cat.  But he was either incontinent, or too dumb to use a little box, and peed in the heat vents.  So then he only came in if he was under direct surveillance.  He disappeared (died) a few years later.

We also had hamsters, and a few birds in those years.  

In college, my friend Anna adopted a cat named Lilac (We renamed her Phantom, aka Phantos Mantos, because she was super sneaky).  She was going away on a trip, and brought the cat to my house.  Then the cat never left.  I think my friend's mom didn't like the cat.  This isn't surprising, as she was a mean cat.  She loved to claw at people and news papers.  When Aaron and I moved out, we left her with my dad.  But as he became increasingly ill, the cat wasn't doing well either.  And he couldn't take care of her well.  She died one day before we came home for Christmas break.  (We couldn't take her to Utah, no apartments there allow pets.  Seriously, it's impossible to find a place that takes pets).  We both still feel bad about that.

When we were in Utah we got two rats, Winston and Dexter.  They were good guys.  It's funny, but they had distinct, and unique personalities.  Winston died on the fourth of July, after being sick.  (We took them to the vet for various issues, as one would with any animal).  We got a dumbo rat called Floyd shortly there after, and moved back to California.  After a year or so, Dex died.  So we got Stanley (because rats are social).  One night while we were asleep, Stanley attacked Floyd so badly, we thought Floyd died.  Aaron rushed him to an exotics vet, where we paid $500 to put a rat back together.  (Stupid decisions made highly emotional moments).  Stanley had essentially castrated Floyd.  Then they were separated, and we got no more rats.  

This is getting too long, but I think I've written about the current round of pets more recently.

Another pet blog

Zelda:
She was our first dog (as in neither of us had ever had a dog before).  We had wanted a greyhound for sometime, and where matched up with her.  She has lived with us for nearly 6 years.  Zelda is the sweetest dog.  She loves all people, and cats!  And she is an easy dog, she sleeps all day.  She has deep brown eyes with Egyptian-looking eyeliner.  She loves walks, holding hands, zoomies, sleeping on the couch and treats.  She will be 11 in October.  Her full name is Zelda Belle.  Aliases: Zelly Belly, Zoody, Zooby, Zelby, Zella, Noodles, Big Dog, Dogzilla, Belly, and Zoo.

Fiona:
Thinking all dogs were awesome, like Zelda, we got Fiona at a chihuahua sale, at the local shelter. She is not full chihuahua, but possibly has dachshund, or terrier as well. She tricked us, she acted very quiet and friendly.  Neither of these things have been true.  When she first came home, she peed on the floor a lot.  That, fortunately, has stopped.  But she barks all. the. time.  And she hates all dogs that aren't Zelda, and is not fond of many people either.  But she is a snuggly little idiot, and we love her.  The age estimate from the shelter puts her about the same age as Zelly.  She still acts like a much younger dog.  Her full name is Fiona Josephine.  Her aliases are: Yoie, Yoie Joey, and Small Dog,

Julius:
Juli is possibly the most handsome, and troublesome cat we've ever had.  He is friendly, and loves to be a lap cat.  But he also sprays whenever he is in the house, and after trying many things, he had to be an outside/garage cat.  Juli got along with our previous cat (Moss) but doesn't like any other cats.  He gets along with the dogs without any issues. He is a jerk, but we still love him.  He is likely about 7 years old.  Neither cat has a middle name.  Aliases: Juli, Jules, Juli-Booli, Julius-Boolius, and Juli-Cat.

Priya:
Priya has only been with us since January.  She is a shy cat, but likes snuggling once she knows you.  She is missing one of her rear feet, so she hops a bit.  Her name was Tinsley when we adopted her.  She doesn't like dogs, but likes hissing and swiping at them.  Priya has Bertie get along fairly well; she likes to sit by him in the big recliner.  She doesn't have many aliases: Pree, Pree-Cat.