"...no dead end in sight..."

the possible onset of respiratory failure

 Come on, little BrenRat. Breathe! Very...slowly.

The meds the vet gave her do not work sometimes. Or sometimes they work but then she gets all riled up. Am not taking her back to the vet again. The first time wore her out enough.

She's started shoving away the syringe. I don't know if this means that she just doesn't like the bitter of the medicine or in some little humanlike way she's giving up. I refuse to let her do this. I shove the syringe at her and she backs backs backs up. Squirming away from me, although I don't hold her very tightly because I worry it will work her little ribcage even harder to breathe. I cave, leave her be. Then so she's not alone I reach my hand in and gently pet her, rub her behind her ears. She closes her little brown cow's eyes and makes tiny happy teeth grindy noises, still with guinea pig lungs and I've got the shower running scalding, steam into their little tiny lungs. Hers and PetPet's too, just for good measure.

PetPet of course is my little pomeranian dog-rat. She pounces on me in an overjoyed MOMMEH!~ type of way and this time I have to shove her away, then shove her off of BrenRat, who she grooms maniacally. As if that will win me over, that she is giving affection to her sister too even when BrenRat is struggling. She also likes to play this game of standing on her tippy-toes and licking my nose, once, and when I react she darts back inside. I can see the laughter in her whiskers, in her slight of eye twinkle and her fleet of foot. I know she wants to crawl on my shoulder, stand upright like me and stick her little velvet nose in my ear. I tell her, NO PETPET, and she understands.

From Katie Scarlet to Dusty to these little babies. They are such little loveys and it just hurts my heart when one of them is under the weather. Grahhh.

music monday

Lately I've been prone to music suggestions. Not that I'll listen to just anything - but most of the time if it's got a good beat and is work-safe I will pile it onto my teensy iphone and away it goes to the office. Even sometimes if it's not work-safe - if I know I'll be in the office by myself I will give it a listen.

I was listening to the radio and KKITM was discussing Music That Makes You Cooler. I think that's an odd concept, as different people have different definitions of Cool, but whatev; it's a radio bit. So they mentioned a band called Shiny Toy Guns. The name itself conjures images of something spacelike yet playful, which is a pretty good way to describe a lot of their music. I downloaded the We Are Pilots album (which version? well, apparently there are a couple. I have no idea which one I have, except it's the one on iTunes. So maybe the final version of the album?) as well as the cover they did of Major Tom, which was an awesome car commercial and gets stuck in my head every time I hear it. And coincidentally, they have a remix album coming out in two days, which I had no idea about until about 30 seconds ago when I went to look them up.

Sometimes when I listen to music it reminds me of something else I'll get a hankering for. Listening to the Glee soundtrack's cover of Keep Me Hanging On made me want some Diana Ross & the Supremes, stat. I downloaded a huge album of their #1 hits, and am listening to this in the car, singing loudly, by myself. Luckily since the time change the sun goes down sooner, so most people do not see me rocking out shamelessly to their awesome tunes.

Also, the first time I heard Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" on the radio I hated it. Absolutely hated it. But now that the radio has shoved it down my throat approximately 406870483706 times, I had to download it. Something about the backbeat reminds me of a Russian game show, but Gaga still manages to ooze sex through my radio and something about her music is so perpetually delish.

I also downloaded Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" because it got stuck in my head and I needed it out, out, damn spot! ASAP.

Even though payday's not until Friday I already have my eye on the following:

Silverchair, Tomorrow
Justin Bieber, One Less Lonely Girl
Cascada, Evacuate the Dance Floor
And holy crap, apparently Sufjan Stevens has put out a Christmas album! D:

Thank you, Shazam, for being such an awesome app. Not only is my teensy iphone projecting tunes, it is also sucking them up through the waves coming from my radio. Awesome stuff!!

turkey day recap

 So yes, I realize it's December and yes, this update is going to be about our Thanksgiving. But I'm currently making a tuna noodle casserole and my lima beans have a few minutes to cool down from being microwaved in their steamy bag. I don't normally put limas in with the tuna noodle but I thought they were peas when I pulled them out of the freezer then dumped them into the steamy bag and realized they were limas. LAME. So in they go and I'll hope for the best.

Picture = 1k words, it seems:

Another reason to love McD's hot chocolate (besides the fact that you can ask for lowfat, which doesn't taste as good. probably because it's not filled with Crisco, or similar, that would deem it fatty? PONDER) is that the open lid looks like a smiley face :D

Little brother's adorable crazy kitten Lily. She is totally prosh!
(Also, cat in the lower right is NOT Rudie. It's my in-laws' cat Max, who is one cool dude. If we'd brought Rudie to Abilene she would have torn poor bebeh Lily to bits and worn her as a Lilyskin cap at this point in our visit ;_; she is kinda heinous like that.)

 
They want to play but they're both jumpy kitties D:

 
This trip would not be complete without a high school football playoff game!
(Cooper lost ;_; But it was to Denton Guyer so I don't know if I'm sad? GO WILDCATS? Ahem.)

 No Texas high school football team can come onto the field without running through a giant inflatable mascot head. Fog machine and/or loud noisemaking object (cannon, train noise, etc.) is optional.

Rudie likes to help me sort post-break laundry.

She also will assist in the folding of towels. But only if they're warm/fresh out of the dryer.

She will also offer a towel-warming service, free of charge. Only it's with her butt :(

This was my drive to work earlier in the week. Yes, that's snow. No, it didn't stick. And no, I didn't get to stay home from work and/or leave work early. LAME.

Of course, Houston got two inches of snow. My sister was thrilled.

This week is a lot of planning, planning, planning. Things are starting to kick into gear for pookie and we are just waiting for one of those lit fuses to set something off (as it will, mos def). Today I've got a paper to write but in the meantime I've made bento deliciousness and cleaned up a little bit. It's rather dreary outside. I've consumed the last of the vanilla soy milk (which takes a bit of getting used to but it's tasty if you're not expecting Real Live Milk) and now I'm thinking a good hot chocolate is on the horizon.

Cat + pink blankie = couch snuggling time, stat!!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

friday five

1. What song do you play the most?
Don't Stop Believing. The version from the Glee soundtrack >_>

2. What song do you play the least?
I'm...not sure? o.o;

3. What's the last song you added?
That will probably be in an upcoming Music Monday post :D

4. What's your favorite playlist?
Salsa or Latin music! It makes me feel like dancin! ...and eating some Mexican food >_>

5. What kind of iPod (or MP3 player) do you have?
I used to have an iPod nano (one of the old kinds, with the tiny tiny screen) but now all my music is on my iPhone. Awesome :D

friday five

1. What would you do if a random stranger gave you a bouquet of roses?

Probably go o.o; and thank them really really awkwardly...then try to get away from them as fast as I can.

2. What is the most commonly used color in your house?

I don't think there is one o.o; Lots of greens, maybe. None of our walls are painted but I'd like to have a nice green accent wall someplace.

3. What color is your favorite t-shirt?

Navy blue.

4. If you could go back in time, what time would you live in and where would you live?

Victorian England :D

5. If you could have any ONE thing in the entire world (not including money) what would it be?
An old house to flip! It would be fun if it didn't have mold or asbestos or foundation problems XD