I was searching for boot trays and came across these leather clogs, and I am smitten. They look so cute and comfortable. I really want the red pair!

This x-ray of Spritel was taken this morning.

Monday night, Spritel started acting odd. He’d make this ‘gak’ sound like he was going to throw up, then just run away and hide. Tuesday, he was still acting odd. He’d tolerate hugging and cuddling, even purring, but if you stopped, he’d slink away and hide. I remembered that a few days ago, I saw a miniature Reese’s Peanutbutter Cup on the floor, intact. I figured a cat got it out of the bag on the desk. Dale got rid of it, but we also found bits of foil wrapper. We thought maybe he’d eaten one and some foil was lodged in him, so Dale called the vet and I took him in yesterday afternoon.

The preliminary physical exam turned up nothing. Spritel’s temperature was only at the high end of the ‘normal’ range. Since we have so many cats, we couldn’t tell if he’d been throwing up, eating, or going to the bathroom. His breathing was noisy, which concerned the doctor who thought he might have a respiratory infection. The doctor suggested we x-ray Spritel before doing anything else, so I agreed.

The x-rays (neck to tail, side and posterior views) showed no foreign objects in his digestive tract, but there was more air/gas than normal. A few very faint speckles appear over one of his kidneys in the side view, but the posterior view showed them to be much further to the side, possibly just kitty litter stuck in his fur. The x-rays were going to a radiologist for further review. (Standard, the doctor told me.) Since the x-rays looked ok, the doctor sent me home with Amoxycillin to give him twice a day with orders to isolate Spritel and watch for any other symptoms.

We put Spritel in the master bedroom with his own litterbox, food, and water, then kicked out the other cats. I put Spritel in front of his food bowl and he started to eat, then promptly hid under my dressing table. The rest of the night whenever we checked on him, he was either curled up on the bed or hiding under it. He did may a couple of trips to the litterbox but only peed. He’d happily enjoy being petted and hugged, but when we stopped, he’d jump off the bed and hide under it. He still did the ‘gak’ thing occasionally and would skulk and hide after each instance.

Later, when I was working on a project, I picked up a spool of thread from the coffee table and discovered the threaded needle I’d pushed through the paper end was missing. Dale and I began an immediate search of the area. Between the coffee table and the bed, all I found was two small pieces of frayed thread. We checked Spritel’s mouth again but saw nothing.

Just before he went to bed, Dale was petting Spritel then called me into the bedroom. He told me to feel his neck. I felt a small, pointed, hard lump on his throat, just to the left of his esophagus. Dale said, “you found it right away, didn’t you?” Spritel swallowed while I was feeling his throat, and the lump jerked and felt like something thumped it from inside. He hadn’t eaten any more food nor drunk any water, but he had peed more and hadn’t thrown up. It was after 2am. We couldn’t believe he could have swallowed a sewing needle, so we decided to wait until morning then call the vet again.

Dale came in and woke me up this morning, telling me Spritel had a 10:30am appointment. I took him to the vet, gave them the new info about the needle, and showed the vet the lump. The doctor felt it and said, “that definitely isn’t normal.” He wanted to x-ray again and I readily agreed. Poor Spritel was carried off again. I fought off tears while waiting for the doctor to return. While he was gone, I could hear staff in the back talking about cats that had swallowed needles and things before. Someone mentioned palpitating a cat’s abdomen and a needle pushed out. Or something. I coudn’t hear everything that well. I don’t think I wanted to.

When the doctor returned, he said, “we have a needle.” I said, “yesterday’s x-rays began just below it, didn’t they?” and he said, “yes.”

He took me down to another room and showed me the x-rays, then explained what he wanted to do. First, they were going to sedate Spritel and just try to pull the needle out through his mouth with a hemostat (basically, long slender forceps that can lock closed). If that didn’t work, then they’d give him a general anesthetic and remove the needle through an incision in his neck. If that was all right with me.

Then he handed me a box of tissues so I could wipe my eyes and blow my nose. Of course, I immediately agreed to whatever they’d need to do. I kinda wanted to stay and wait, but they had another patient they had to deal with first. The timeline I got was that they’d start around 11:30. If the hemostat didn’t work, then surgery would be 30-45 minutes, depending.

I asked if I could take a picture of the x-ray to show Dale. I kind of laughed (one of those “I can’t fucking believe this” laughs), and the vet said, “yeah, someday this will make a funny story.” Maybe, but we’re not laughing yet.

I signed a release then came home. Dale met me at the back door and asked what happened. I handed him my camera. He said, “pictures?” I said, “Spritel’s x-ray.” When he saw it, tears just welled up in his eyes, and I burst into tears again. I wailed, “I’m sorry!” and “It’s my fault!” while he hugged me and we cried. He told me it’s not my fault and he doesn’t hold me responsible, but I feel otherwise. I thought the needle would be secure inside the spool, but I knew better than to leave string or ribbon lying around.

Around 12:00 the vet called and talked to Dale. They’d had to go in through Spritel’s neck. The needle came out with more thread still attached. Spritel was just waking up but they needed to keep him for observation for a bit longer. We could pick him up between 4 and 6:30. He’ll continue the antibiotics and we’ll have to keep an eye on him, but he should be completely fine. Dale asked and the doctor said there should be no permanent damage. We’ve been counting the minutes until we can go get him.

I still can’t believe this happened. And no matter what Dale says, I will always think this was all my fault.

So far, I’ve only managed to watch Disk 1 of Red Dwarf Season 5 and The Incredibles.

Last year I saw people around Austin sporting bright yellow rubber bracelets. I found out they were LIVESTRONG bracelets sold by the Lance Armstrong Foundation to raise money.

I’m currently wearing a blue “Save the Children” tsunami relief bracelet that I got at 7-11. (Portions of each bracelet sale go to the Save the Children organization.)

I just received an email from Urban Decay promoting their How Could Anyone? anti-animal testing bracelet. Proceeds go to the Humane Society. I might get one of those.

Are these the new red AIDS ribbon? A Google search on rubber charity bracelet turned up more than 24,000 hits including an interesting news article about the trendiness vs. the merits of these bracelets.

Well, our little gamer-to-be turned 2 months old on Saturday. To celebrate, Dale and I took her on her first trip to Fry’s. She was somewhat interested but not very impressed. I’m sure she’ll learn to appreciate that mecca of geekiness.

Saturday, Dale, Olivia, and I went back to Austin to get the last of our stuff out of the garage. We had dinner with Aaron and Wil, then just crashed in our hotel room. Sunday we went to Home Depot and spent two minutes debating whether to buy a dolly or just rent one. We decided to rent.

U-Haul was our next stop. Dale had made a reservation for a truck, but when we got there, the place was packed. I sat in the car with Olivia for at least thirty minutes before Dale came out with keys to a truck. He’d wanted to rent their second-largest truck but they didn’t have any available, so he got the largest size.

It turned out to be overkill. Massive overkill. We could have easily gotten away with a truck half the size of the one we rented.

Anyway, Wil and Aaron were nice enough to come out and help Dale load the truck. I think it took all of 30 minutes, way less time than I’d anticipated, so Dale and I were able to get on the road and head back to Houston by 2:30.

We hit the first delay in Bastrop. They’re doing massive construction on the highway at the east end of town and it took us nearly 45 minutes just to make it through the town. The next delay happened when we got to Sealy. Dale had been warned by his brother that I-10 was a nasty logjam, so Dale (driving the massive U-Haul truck) called me (driving our wonderful Murano) and told me we were going to detour in Sealy, heading south, east, then back up north, to avoid most of the construction traffic. After exiting I-10, Dale turned into a shopping center parking lot just off the highway. Confused, I pulled in next to him. He got out and told me that he’d nearly plowed through the stop sign on the access road because the power brakes had gone out on him, along with the power steering.

He turned off the truck for a few minutes, and when he tried it again, the brakes and steering were still shot, so he ended up calling the U-Haul 800 number. Whoever he spoke to contacted a mechanic and told us he’d arrive in 60 minutes. So, Dale and I got to sit in the Sealy Wal-Mart shopping center parking lot for an hour.

The sun was setting, the temperature was dropping, and the breeze was getting stronger. We actually watched a shopping cart blow several yards across the parking lot, past the front of the moving truck, and then turn to face us in our car, parked a row behind the U-Haul. It was liked it was trying to stare us down, threatening to charge us.

After the mechanic arrived and checked the engine, he said that the pump for the power brake fluid was probably shot. He added more fluid then test drove the truck around the parking lot to see if the brakes would work properly. His method of testing was to floor the gas, rocketing the 26 foot truck loaded with our belongings across a lot scattered with parked cars, then slamming on the brakes. Then he sped up again, made a fast tight turn, and sped back towards us. I just about wet my pants watching him.

Fortunately, the power brakes and steering worked.

The mechanic ended up following us most of the way to Katy, just in case anything happened. Nothing more did and Dale and I made it home without incident, just two hours later than we should have. The mechanic called me after he turned off on his own exit. I thanked him and he asked me to inform U-Haul about the truck’s problem when we returned.

Oh, you bet we will.

I love this photograph that Dale took of me and Olivia!

I don’t actually scrapbook, but I sometimes make my own cards, and scrapbooking stores are a great suppy source. I found one less than 1 1/2 miles from my house and got the chance to check it out today. I browsed thoroughly and picked up assorted supplies to experiment with making Olivia’s birth announcements. While I was at the store, I saw this awesome hand-held die cutting system. Unfortunately, it’s rather expensive. The tool itself was $50 and the alphabet I wanted was another $112. That’s a little too much to spend for birth announcements, but if I decide I’ll really use it enough, I may go back and get it.

It really is quite nifty! You can also punch out tons of shapes and even emboss them with a variety of patterns.

Hm, the more I look at this, the more I want it!

I picked up a flyer today for the 2005 Scrapbook Expo.

Date: Fir & Sat / May 13-14
Hours: Fri - 11-6 & Sat - 10-5
Loc: Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez - Austin, Tx)
Cost: Admission is $8.00

Events:
*Demonstrations and Makes & Takes
*Educational Workshops
*Crop Night Fri & Sat ’til Midnight
*Enter a Page Layout Contest / Win Prizes
*Buy Tickets Online Today!
*Free Baggage Check (Only umbrella strollers on show floor)

More Info: (888) 252-3976 and www.scrapbookexpo.com

The flyer is also a coupon for $2.00 off the admission price. I picked it up at a Katy scrapbooking store. If you can’t find one, let me know and I’ll try to get one and mail it to you.

An Exquisite Corpse has been revived! I participated in a few corpses in the past: “the monkey ghosts/started singing again/hot runny eyes/smoking circle/early on,” “care know monkees/my bionic valentine/scenic road/the eighth wreck,” and persistent revolution mechanism/book of love/vision lock/vibrant life.” (Bolded titles are my sections.)

Now I’m signed up to play again!