such and such

I have a bunch of fun videos to upload but for some sh*t smack reason blogger will not allow me to upload. I've tried a bunch of times using different browsers and I keep getting the same blasted error message. Annoying. But I'll try again later because they are Chum and Wrigs videos and who doesn't want to see those!?!?

So I'm kind of getting sick of having 6 litter boxes in the house for this cat. Actually, no. It's not the amount of litter boxes, it's the fact that 3 of the 6 are placed on top of our living room furniture and you know how sometimes you walk into someone's house and you can just tell they have a cat because you catch a faint whiff of a litter box? Well when you walk into our house it's like we have litter box potpourri simmering on the stove along with litter scented air fresheners plugged into every socket. It's obnoxious and I wish I could take them off the furniture but we know what the repercussions are to that so it's just got to be this way. I love this aging cat, and he's had another scare in the last month actually put him on another round of very strong antibiotics a few weeks ago because he peed on top of the shower curtain on the chair (not even IN the litter box) and the pee was like a thick syrup, rusty brown in color. So the vet called in a prescription to the compounding pharmacy in North Seattle and off we went in rush hour traffic on July 3rd rushing to get there before the pharmacy closed for the weekend. I gave Chum the meds for a few days and then one day he was fighting it soooo bad and I accidentally squirted the liquid on the side of his cheek, thank God it didn't hit him in the eye, because a couple days later all his fur was gone on that side. So that's when I opted not to give him that medicine anymore. Just too potent and I can't even imagine what it's doing to his little esophagus and tummy and intestinal tracts.

Wrigs and I had quite a weekend exploring all sorts of dog friendly events all over town. A new friend of mine owns a yoga studio and actually has developed a class called DOGA where you bring your dog to class. It is not hoky or trendy in a way one would think, or over the top pampering, instead it's about bonding with your dog while you learn to relax and do simple stretches to quiet your mind and heal your body. In fact, she wrote a book about it called Barking Buddha: Simple Soul Stretches for Yogi and Dogi and I recommend it for anyone with a dog who is looking for ways to relax and connect with their pooch on a peaceful level. At the start of class Wrigs was a wild man, running and twisting and sliding all around, he could not control his body, and all the other "dogis" looked at him like, "Who the hell is this maniac?" But by the middle of class he really did settle and there are so many calming movements that relaxed him like the heart to hound pose where you put one hand on your heart and the other on your dog's heart and you breathe together. Wrigs would just stare into my eyes and it was as if our souls were connecting through each breath. It may sound corny to some and that's ok, because if I hadn't experienced the class and just read about it second hand I probably would think the same thing. But for dog lovers it's definitely worth a try. And I'm really not one who enjoys yoga, but incorporating your canine pal makes it a completely different experience and we plan on doing this regularly. Now if only there was something like this to calm kitty cats!

On Sunday Wrigs and I went to a dog friendly wine tasting benefit. How cute is that??? Seattle is the most dog friendly city I've ever lived in and because of that we have met some awesome people through the dogs. Wrigs and I also got our picture taken for the local paper and were interviewed on public access tv about the event.

Here's a pic of Wrigs with his buddy Bailey on the way back from the festival:



There were a ton of local artisans selling their work and I ended up getting a couple great pieces. Of course you'll notice the thing that appealed to me most, based on my purchases:

wall art:



pendant:


And speaking of sunshine our dear friends have returned from spending 7 months in New Zealand and look what they brought back as a souvenir:


Do you think if I wear these 2 pendants together the odds of the sun coming out will double?? I wish. It's been an ok summer, not very consistent in the sunshine department, typically it starts out cloudy and 50 something degrees but then by noon or 1 it burns off and warms up a bit. And so far we've only had 5 days in the 80's or above. And it's not that I prefer it hot hot hot, I'm still just hoping for some back to back days of consistent sunshine because after all, it is summer. At least according to the calendar.

This morning it was so chilly I wore a hat cuz my ears were so cold:



On another note, there are a few stressful situations going on at the senior center. You sort of know going into any type of work with the elderly that there are going to be challenging moments - you expect and prepare yourself for illness, sad stories of loss and the inevitable, death. But I was not prepared for some of the struggles many of these seniors are dealing with now. Stories of abuse from their own family members, mentally ill children who are no longer in their care, cancer and its treatment, a favorite pet who has gone missing - all of these just from last week alone. That's not even including Rose, the homeless woman. It becomes a bit overwhelming because it's hard to hear the stories and not let them emotionally affect you. I'm doing my best to set the boundaries because again, there is not much anyone else can do but listen, and sometimes cry with them and offer a hug. Ok I definitely don't have the mental capacity to delve into all of this right now so I'll stop. On yet another note, Tom's dad is still in the hospital. It's been 6 months now since his stroke and while things have improved from where he was months ago, it's still not great. The diabetes has inhibited the healing process due to the complications around medication and treatment. So that's been a source of stress in Tom's life because we really would have thought that by now things would have been much improved. He hates to see anyone suffer, especially his Dad and it's so hard when there's not much you can do to make things any different.

Ok don't want to end on a heavy note so let me post this pic of Wrigs sleeping.


I love how he gathers all his blankets and favorite things when he sleeps. Sweet little golden hoarder.