Evil cat and the vet

The regular home check up on evil cat rolled around again.  Every three months they check and see what she is up to and how she is doing.

The first two vets that saw evil cat at home now have pressing reasons not to attend (one actually left the country!) so the third vet saw evil cat for the first time.  Apparently the notes are very clear.  This is a cat that is not nice.  This is a cat that uses bad language.  This is a cat that will draw blood even though she is a scraggy old girl that weighs less than a bag of sugar.  Do not be fooled by size, or age, or apparently calm.  The apparent calm is just evil cat waiting for any thought at all to turn up.  The vet turned up with a veterinary nurse in attendance, just in case.  Our lovely neighbour weighed in with his welding gloves.

Poor old girl (the cat, not the vet), even though she used the sort of language that bleaches hair, she couldn't put up much of a fight.  She is just too old and frail.  However, the vet didn't press the examination, so I suspect if the new vet had made more of an exploration then the battlescars may have been more extensive. 

The verdict is that evil cat is physically stable.  I suppose she could be considered mentally stable as well as she has been the same psychopath since she was a kitten, but physically she is getting a little bit older, getting a little bit creakier, but still battling (definitely the fighting spirit there!).  She still has quality of life, still manages to sit in front of the sensor switch for the tv, sleep on clean washing, push me off the bed, steal shamelessly, enjoy tormenting next door's dogs by sauntering past them every time she is let out and she can still sleep in the sun. 

Long may this continue. 

Little bear is Wonderful

Little bear saw me feeling poorly and a bit low.  So he gave me his ratatouille to cuddle.  It is a soft stuffed rat that is little bear's bestest friend in the world and he is very protective of it.  The only other person ever to be allowed to cuddle it is his girlfriend. 

I felt like I was covered in cuddles, and little bear got a lot of leeway from it.  This included him bringing down all of his stuffed toys and telling me that they were his kids.  They overflowed the sofa, and desperately need thinning out..  But how can I take his kids away from him - especially after I've had a cuddle from his rat?

Food intolerance

I spent last night throwing up.  It wasn't pleasant.  Especially as I had managed to split a bag of bath salts and generously distribute the dratted, smelly stuff in every nook and cranny of the bathroom.  It didn't help.

I have been having a bad reaction regularly over the last few months and I think it may be cheese.  I have always had a vicious reaction to Low Fat Horlicks (imagine telling that to the doctors) and I suspect that it is getting worse. 

Last night we got a takeaway.  I thought that I would go for pasta, which was described as being in a pizza sauce.  It wasn't in the tomato sauce I expected, however, but a cream sauce, which I had anyway as there was no evidence of cheese.  It was an error of judgment.

So now I am going to try and persuade my GP to test for food intolerances (not enthusiastic) and I am bidding a very sad farewell to cheese.  I actually quite like cheese, it is a cheap food, great for stretching a budget and also it fills you up so that you don't eat so much and thus great for dieters.  I haven't had that much but with darling father around and little bear having cheese stuff for his lunches, I have been gradually upping my intake. I am devastated. 

And I now have to be so much more responsible about food.  I have to check packaging.  I did anyway as OH is intolerant to cheese, but now so many of my favourite things are being ruled out. I used to love a dish of pasta with just a wallop of ketchup and a large handful of grated cheese.  Never mind, I can still have the pasta and ketchup. 

Little bear is being lovely, however, and I am getting far more than my ration of cuddles.  This is great!

Knock Knock

Darling father has bought little bear a joke book full of knock knock jokes.

I may sue

Blues versus Reds

Or, if you are not from the UK, Interesting Soccer

Darling father loves his football.  He played semi pro back in the 1950s, played his last competitive match at the age of 50, coached, directed, helped out, was on committees and in many ways lived football for years.  So he watches a lot of football on tv.  I don't have a problem with that.  I was about six months old when I went to my first football match.

Little bear did not enjoy his brush with attempting to play football, but tolerates darling father watching football.  Darling father supports Liverpool FC passionately and deeply and is still recovering from their defeat yesterday.  Little bear also has been supporting Liverpool FC as his favourite colour is red, and Liverpool play in red, which is as logical as anything to do with supporting a football team.  Today they watching Manchester City against Southampton.  Apparently it was an exciting match, I was cooking at the time.

Little bear was thoughtful as I put down his tea in front of him.  Then he announced, 'I supporting Mansity now.  They are a great team."
"I thought you liked the colour red?" OH asked.  "Manchester City play in blue."
"Blue is my second favourite colour." LIttle bear said airily.  "And I like Mansity."

I can't fault his choice of a team that show a wonderful battling spirit, a determination to keep fighting no matter what, and often really elegant football.  All I can do is brace against the inevitable discussions between little bear and darling father about exactly who should have won the match.  Little bear is not known for being moderate when he likes something.  And Liverpool play Manchester City on 26 August. 

I may hide in the kitchen again.

Creaky evil cat

For the last week evil cat has been creakier than normal.  She is still jumping up to quite decent heights, still stealing and still trying to push me out of bed.  However I think she is having trouble with her hip.  There are times when she is definitely limping, and times when it looks like her hip is stuck.  Today she looked at a place she normally claims as hers and seemed to think better of jumping up.

I'll try and get a vet's appointment soon.  I don't think it is serious, and I do think that evil cat is still managing quite a good quality of life, but I do think she is finding things a bit of a challenge.  I'd like an opinion on that. 

Reality check

I took a free online typing test last night, just to see.  I currently (after six years out of the workforce) average around 55 wpm at 97% accuracy.  Which is okay.  It would get me a job in a lot of offices. 

Except I can't seem to go a month without some sort of bug.  I am sick, or I have a bad cold (definitely not flu but definitely disgustingly gruesome), or I have some sort of ear infection or throat infection or chest infection. 

I got some test results from the Doctors today.  They tested liver/thyroid/kidney/diabetes/cholesterol/blood pressure etc.  I am grossly overweight but apart from that, all is normal.  Absolutely no clinical problem whatsoever. 

My feet are still so swollen I can't get on socks.

So I am going back for further tests for protein in my urine and heart failure.  I suspect that the Doctor is stalling as he is a bit baffled.  I can understand this.  However I do feel low, and I haven't even had the water tablets so I still can't get socks on.

And the thought of a job keeps nagging at me.  It makes absolutely no financial or logistical sense for me to go out to work, and lots of sense for me to try and get an ordered home and use my writing skills to up my income.  It means I am home when little bear is poorly, or it is raining, or he is fed up.  He gets tired if he has a full 8-6 day with the school plus school club, which is what he would need if I went back full time, and if I went part time I couldn't afford the holiday school club.  It makes no sense for me to get a job until I at least have a handle on my health.  I still would like one.  Sigh. 

I am going to have a self indulgent day, then pick myself up, dust myself down and keep on keeping on. Things could be a lot worse.