November 11 - Random

Beginning Word Count:   20,996

So today was an interesting day, to say the least.   I expected to sleep in, given that it was a holiday and all; however, Sam had other plans.  I woke up because he was on the book case beside my bed, making some weird nose.  There he was, clearly struggling to breathe and having to do so through his mouth.  Yippee.  Another visit to the vet.  Wa Hoo.   It was six thirty in the morning, and I have no idea if my vet is open or if we're going to get to go on an adventure with my eldest cat to find the emergency vet recommended by our veterinary clinic...or if our vet is open.  

Anyway, as soon as he realized I was looking at him, he jumped onto the floor.  And threw up.  Oh joy.  This is among my favorite ways to be awakened, as I am sure every person with a pet cat can attest.   Cat puke before sunrise.  YAY!  Who doesn't love that!

Still, he was sick and he was nice enough to tell me before it (in my mind) got really serious.  I decided to see if he was eating still, because having just gone though this with Thames, I was not wanting to let another cat try to starve himself.  So out came the canned food, and Sam meowed just as loudly as the rest for his share -- which he ate.  Good.

This translated to: if the vet is not open today, I will wait until tomorrow to take him in.   It's a cold, not an emergency.

There is another unfortuante side effect to the wet food being put down so frequently (thanks in part to Thames being sick last week.)  They think that they get wet food when I get up!   Silly cats.

My vet opens at seven in the morning, if they are open.  So I called.  And they were.  They were also booked, so I had to do a drop off for the wee mite.  I don't really like doing that; however, if it is a choice of him seeing someone without us present or him not seeing someone at all, I'm going with him seeing the vet by himself.

Poor John woke up to hear me on the phone calling the vet and arranging to drop off Sam.  So he had to get up and get ready.  Then came the fun part.  See, Sam is the hardest of the four cats to crate.   He does everything in his power to prevent this from occuring, and he's a pretty powerful cat. 

First, he'll do what he can to sink those claws into you.  This is not so he can scratch you.  He is trying to get some leverage to leap as far away as he can to get a head start.  That you get to bleed is a secondary issue.  So, there are particular ways to hold him to minimize the impact of the claws.  You will be pleased to hear that I did not get scratched.  

Secondly, he's a nervous piddler.  The vet assistant called him a 'submissive urinator' but I call it nervous piddling.  When he gets scared, nervous, startled, he piddles.  This is why I did not get dressed before I crated him.  It is not my first Sam Crating, and I have had to, on one occasion, change my clothes afterwards.  There is no sense in getting ready for the day before crating Sam.   This is also why he gets crated in the bathroom.  And yes, he piddled.   Not on me, but the floor, so it had to be cleaned.

Lastly, he howls.  It's amazing the power of the meow that his nine pound cat can produce.   And keep on producing.   He was seriously louder than some of the dogs I've heard.

So anyway, Sam got crated.  I got dressed.  And we went off to the veterinary clinic where I told them what was going on with Sam. 

Then John and I had an adventure!

Firstly, we were now hungry, so we figured that we would go get breakfast.  To that end, we decided on a place called The Crestline Bagel Company .   John and I split an Eggel, which I'd never heard of, and I bet most of you haven't either.   Take your bagle dough and stuff it with egg, cheese and sausage.    So, it's a stuffed bagel, and it was really really good.  John had a latte and I had a masala chai tea.  We also got bagels to go.   It was really good, and we would definitely return.  

After leaving the Crestline Bagel Company, we decided to see what was where and drove around until we got to a cute little shopping area I had found earlier.  We went to the Western Grocery store and picked up a couple of items which we'll take to Thanksgiving.  I also bought the item I had decided on a few weeks ago as part of my mother's Christmas present, and introduced John to this adorable store.  they have everything (and I mean that. Kitchen gadgets, office supplies, party supplies, classic toys, new fangled toys, sewing notions, ribbons, bows, glasses, seasonal, candy....It's a really cool store.) 

Then we decided to visit an area of Homewood we've been wanting to see for a bit.  We looked at two awesome stores (Get Organized, and Toy Factory), then headed to Office Depot because our adventure was not yet done.  

After Office Depot, we went to Big Lots, where we got our Christmas Tree.  I'm very excited to see how it will look, since we're decorating strangely.  We have four cats.  Cats tend to view Christmas ornaments as cat toys.  So that is what we will use. 

When we left Big Lots, we called our vet to talk about Sam.  Sam had an upper respiratory infection, so they put him on antibiotics and gave him some fluids.   But he is not really in bad shape.  I'm just keeping an eye on him to make sure he's eating and drinking.  So long as he's not striking on either of those, he's good.  And I get to have fun giving him a pill for five days.  Oh joy.

By this time, it was rather tending towards hungry, so we decided to visit a restaurant near our house that we just have not tried.   Moe's Original BBQ .   I had a fried shrimp sandwich, and it was extremely good.  John thoroughly enjoyed his chicken sandwich.  

Then we got Sam. 

It was a long and fun day for us, although I'm sure Sam would totally disagree.

When we got home, I figured it was past time to start on my annual holiday tradition:  the Christmas CD.  I make one of these every year.  Last year was the 10th anniversary, and it was a double edition.  

The hardship on this year's was the iTunes account.  About a year and a half ago, I bought a new computer, but I kept the old one around for one reason:  the iTunes account.  I had not updated my new computer with iTunes.  And trust me, if you've never done this, it is annoying.  Even worse:  iTunes has updated the software and it is NO where near as user friendly.  In short: they broke it.
I donated my old computer earlier this year (after stripping it down to programming) to a friend who needed it more than I did, and part of what really took me so long to make that decision was iTunes.  

However, it seemed pointless to keep a computer which was taking up space for just that reason, especially when someone truly needed one.  So, I gave it to her.  but the downside was that I had to reinstall iTunes.

And import my Christmas music.

Okay, let me explain about my Christmas music.  I collect Christmas CDs.  I suspect that I could give WalMart and Target both a run for their money in the variety.  Today, I uploaded twenty nine Christmas CDs.  I have a few CDs in my car which are not currently uploaded into my computer yet.  So yeah, I have a lot of Christmas CDs.   They are a mixture of contemporary and classic, ranging from new age to to jazz.

Unfortunately, the number of people who receive this CD has gotten completely out of hand.   I gave out fifty last year (one hundred if you count the fact that last year was a double edition.)   I am going to try to reel it back in.  I know that there are a couple of people who will be disappointed, but it has gotten very expensive and time consuming to produce this CD.   John has to do his artwork for the cover, and then it has a double burn.  First the music, then the image.   I do enjoy handing them out, and I work very hard to give the CD a good mix of music and tell a story with what is selected.  So, for those of you I have cut this year.  I am sorry.   I really want to try to get this down to twenty-five CDs.   

I am proud of the 2013 edition though.  It has a really lovely feel.   And I'm going to do something unusual and actually publish the playlist of the 2013 Christmas CD prior to distribution.   Most of the versions of these have not appeared on the CD in the past (although there are a couple of returning favorites)

1.  River - Sarah McLachlan
2.  Let It Snow - Michael Buble
3.  First Snow - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
4.  Christmas Wish - Straight No Chaser
5.  Christmas Can't Be Very Far Away - Amy Grant
6.  Home On Christmas Day - Kristin Chenoweth
7.  Merry Christmas, Baby - Rod Steward, Cee Log Green, & Trombone Shorty
8.  Christmas Pipes - Celtic Woman
9.  In The Bleak Midwinter - Julie Andrews
10.  Gounod's Ave Maria - Barbra Streisand
11.  Silent Night - Jewel
12.  O Holy Night - Celtic Woman
13.  Winter Wonderland - Liz Phair
14.  Sleigh Ride - Clay Aiken
15.  Jingle Bells - Diana Krall
16.  Christmas on My Radio - Olivia Newton-John
17.  The 12 Days of Christmas - Straight No Chaser

So, now that I've made the song choice, I've got to start burning the music, and John has to come up with the cover art for Meowy Christmas 2013.

Today's Word Count:  1,734
Total Word Count:  22,730