Author Archives: Pauline

Trying to Organizing My Life

A lot of my updates have been through tweets most of the time.  Mainly since nothing really major normally goes on, unless it is our cats.  But I’ll try and sum up what I have been doing.

I still keep looking for Alexis, but getting better, it helps that we have her ashes back.  Weird not to have her yelling at me in the bathroom to pet her. =(  I still need to organize all of the pictures we took during the last few days that she was with us.  Drew and Sakura are great distractions, they are so young, feisty and so full of personality….not a day goes by that I’m not grateful that hubby brought them home.

Last month my extra mom lost her husband of 50+yrs  =(  And there was family drama.  I tried to call to give support to her and my sister.  With all the drama, I was hoping it would help to give them someone to vent to.  I really wish I would’ve been able to fly out and be there from them.  Even if I would just be the bad guy for them and tell the other family members off.  The rest of the family is no skin off of my back, there are only 2 that matter to me.  =)

This summer we now have 2 hummingbird feeders and 2 blooming fuchsias…finally started to get more the one hummingbird.  We have at least 3 of them hanging around.  They will hover above our heads while outside…love it!  It is really cool, didn’t know that they could be so vocal.  Last year we had at least 1 scrub blue jay, this year at least 4 and holy cow are they noisy as heck.  They are pretty, but so annoying ear wise…..ggeezzz

We brought 2 tomato plants this spring, then it rain way above normal and we thought it killed them. At the time, we thought we did something wrong or brought bad plants until they ran a story on the news and a lot of people were having the same problem.   So we brought 2 more, planted those into our planters and put the others in the ground, really not expecting them to live much less produce any tomatoes.  Well, they actually have tomatoes on them and other 2 are going nuts. We’ve already had 1 tomato off of the early girl bush and and about 5 off of the oregon spring. They have been so sweet and tasty.  They are great on french bread with tillamook extra sharp white cheddar cheese…wow.

Work wise, I’m getting more responsibility added, which is good thing.  Still working out the details to see what I can do to help out.  Looking forward to that.  I do a bit of everything at work, I really can’t even describe what I do….I guess I’m the catch all and what I don’t know or do, I know who does…..lol

Only issue that has been driving me nuts work wise is a wire that I sent out on the July 30th still has not been received!  What the heck?!?  I’ve been ordering a wire to this account info for 2yrs now and never had an issue before.

Now I do everything online or by phone, the only time I go to our local branch is make a deposit through the drive thru.  Well, due to this issue everything needs to be done at the branch…it is to the point that they now know me by my first name….ggeezz  I wouldn’t mind going in so much if it wasn’t for the same issue.  Gave up on getting the wire delivered and did a recall, fingers crossed, I will have it back in a few days and I can take care of the contractor by another and faster method.

I have finally taken the time to go through all of my stuff.  For those who don’t know me, I’m a pack rat in for sentimental stuff…..  I still have a stuffed pillow that I was given when I was about 2 in Germany, if that tells you anything, my Baltimore Orioles shirt from when I was about 9….lol.  Well, I have  bunch of pictures, every note/letter/card my parents ever gave me and nearly every card/letter/note since junior HS.  And it was all over the place, location wise….including under the bed.  I have every little note my hubby has ever given me….lol…I know nuts. =)

Now when I tweet about going under the bed, it is really a project.  This is what we have in king size : http://www.storagebedstore.com/IVG2/N/ProductID-8593.htm

So you have to move the mattress and then the plywood that the mattress sits on.  There is a big space between the drawers under there that is excellent for storage, but a pain to get to it on a regular basis and with it being king size, one person can’t do it.  So I have to pester my hubby for help….grin  But I totally love our bed set, just don’t want to have to move it….icks…

A few weeks ago I started going through everything.  I went through all the pictures I’ve ever taken (mainly from Alaska) and all the pictures that were my grandmothers’, brought some photo albums (weren’t even sure they still made those…lol)  Luckily one of my grandma’s photo album wasn’t full so I was able to put a bunch of pictures in there.

I also finally got all of hubby & my ticket stubs to rock concerts, football games and other memorabilia organized and out of our photo album.  I went through and organized every letter by who sent it and postmark date, even organized the notes that I passed in school….lol Got all my cards organized, HS grad, college grad, wedding, holidays…..ect

I went through every newspaper and magazine that I kept to see if I still wanted, even found the Daily News Miner from Fairbanks, AK that I kept from the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded when I was in 7th grade.

I cleaned out my cedar hope chest and got as many of the photo albums stored in there.  Made sure that older the pictures got in there, ones that are from my grandparents and are about 50-100yrs old.

So now instead of everything all over, everything has it’s one or two container and is in one area.  I put so much stuff into the recycling and trash…..I’m hoping that if we do move from this house in 2012, that it’ll make our lives a bit easier for packing and such.

Been trying to attack my closet, especially since I lost weight there is a lot that doesn’t fit.  Some of that I’ve been shipping off to family members who may be able to use it.  The stuff is perfectly good and I normally donate it, but I like to try and help out my loved ones before anyone else.  You have to take care of family when you can, even when it is not much.  =)

We are having issues with my truck……ggrrr…  I went to do errands last Thursday and it wouldn’t start after I got out of the post office.  I had to call hubby for a jump.  We weren’t sure if it was the battery or the alternator.   I kind of was hoping for the battery, much easier to switch out and a little bit cheaper.  But as I laid in bed at night this weekend, I remembered that we just got a new one before we left FL in ’07 and it was a diehard.  (I’m a big believer in diehard batteries, once I have one I rarely worry about it.)  And the fact that we rarely drive the truck, may be 3k miles a year now….. I just felt in my gut it wasn’t the battery…plus our lives are never that easy.

We took the battery in for testing today and confirmed it wasn’t the battery….good that our diehard purchase was a good one and bad for it being more complicated.  Hubby took the alternator out of it today and we’ll take it in to get it tested tomorrow.  I’m hoping that is the issue, because for a ’97 I really don’t want to spend a ton of money….at least the truck is paid for.  But I’m really thinking that it is the alternator, we’ve had the truck since 2000 and haven’t had an alternator issue and it is over 100k mile, so it sounds about right.

Doesn’t seem like we got much of a summer…feel cheated, it was rainy and chilly through June and even at the beginning of July.  And that was after having an unusual warm winter and spring like weather that we went hiking in mid March to Smith Rock….weird.  We had a few hot days and stayed downstairs during those (no central air).  Only used the portable ac in the bedroom for one night and that was only due to someone throwing a beeping fire detector out…..that continued to beep…icks  We are suppose to get 2 more days of 90s this week and we our high Sunday was 68….lol  We did have a beautiful day today, after being chilly yesterday.

We are planning on heading to Crater Lake sometime next month.  Only the real good time to do so for us, school will be back in, less crowds and before it starts to snow (Oct).  Hubby found a bunch a little hikes, 2-5miles, but they will be steep.  Because it is about 6hrs away, we’ll be spending 2 nights camping.  And it is going to have some cold nights….extra blankets are in order.  Just going to take our MREs and some snickers, oatmeal and such…maybe some hotdogs, but no where the amount of food we took last time for camping.  Need to do a reminder practice on setting up our tent before we go….been a while and practice makes it much easier and faster when you need it and if it is raining.  =)

Been seeing some preseason football games on, nothing but a tease.  So looking forward to the kick off to the college season.  Even if a boring game is on, I’m so use to having it playing in the background that it always feels weird when the season is over.  That is from years of conditioning from my dad and my hubby….grin  I tell hubby that he needs to thank dad for his wife’s enjoyment of sports.  I know he couldn’t handle it if he had a wife that didn’t enjoy sports with him…..grin

Well, when I started this I was in the bedroom, moved myself out on the porch off of the bedroom to get some fresh air.  It is now about 2130 hours, dark with a few bugs….lol  This ended up longer then I expected.  But I think I’m going to go in, have me some wine with some extra sharp white tillamook cheese, crackers and some of our home grown tomatoes…..tasty.  =)

Pauline’s Daily Tweets

  • Up and ate breakfast, currently watching our Sunday political news shows….I'm starting to work on some of my emails. #
  • Mama Grizzlies' claws come out on race http://on.thegrio.com/9FjGgr #
  • Work emails are done, support has been responded to, working on the company books….need to concentrate. #
  • Company books are done, now ours……that is going to be a mess……icks #
  • @mdcbrat I am? Lol in reply to mdcbrat #
  • U.S. Morality Cop Who Can’t Take a Political Frisk – http://nyti.ms/czQJuZ #
  • Finally got our books done, spent more then I thought, but also found some….so a mixed bag. Need to figure out our next priority. #
  • Just took my 184th mugshot! http://www.dailymugshot.com/main/show/44426 #
  • Very cool….I actually got a nice bit of work done today. Tomorrow may be needing another trip to the bank…icks #
  • How Fox Betrayed Petraeus – http://nyti.ms/9Cpsz #

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Pauline’s Daily Tweets

  • Just got done doing some errands and having KFC, hubby had been craving it….lol #
  • Trying to convince dad to send me some of our family pictures. =) And write his memoir….lol #
  • Called and talked to dad, then called and talked to my sister, got laundry done and put away, chatted with my other sister..now need to work #
  • The O’Reilly Factor :How the Fox host used raw corporate power to crush a critic http://bit.ly/bmNtCo He is nothing but a bully. =( #
  • Finally did my memorial post to our Alexis, took longer then expected, but I held up much better then I thought I would…a week helped #
  • Boy do I have a ton a work email that I need to attack tomorrow….I got some personal stuff done today & Fri evening..but Sunday is work. #
  • Tea Party, Conservatives Revere Constitution (Except When They Don't) http://bit.ly/ah3f4q #

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Losing Alexis Post

I know I tweeted about Alexis, but when I look back at my entries, I’ve written for each of our babies on the day we lost them.  So I feel as if I cheated her if I don’t write something. This one is a week late, but I was really trying to get through it last week.

On the 4th hubby gave Alexis her meds and felt a a very hard lump under her chin.  We made an appt and took her into the vet on the 7th, a Sat.  It was one of either 2 things….an infected tooth (with her history a good possiblity) or a tumor.  The vet said he never felt an infected tooth that hard, but it still could be.  Said we can do an antibiotic and if it is an infected tooth the swelling would go down and then we can have it removed. If a tumor, there was no way we would put her through that.  It would not improve her quality or quantity of life.

We tried that, but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t working.  =(  She started to issues with drooling and the whites that cover her eyes when sleeping weren’t moving back in place when she opened them from sleeping.  Hubby tried to put a bowl of small pieces of food to the side for her to eat, but she would refuse to eat.  She stubbornly would eat the big pieces and, of course, we knew she won’t eat soft food….tried that many times.  The swelling never went down.  =(

Hubby called the vet Tues and gave him an update….and made the appt for Sat the 14th….I totally lost it when he told me.

We got Alexis in Dec of ’94 when hubby gave her to me when I came home from failing my German final.  She was officially a holiday present for me, but actually she was a present for his cat Randi….lol  Randi was lonely, she was in town, so not allowed out for hunting, no dogs to pick on, and my cat Aurora would have nothing to do with her….lol  She was the 1st cat that we got while together.  She was the last connection to Randi, Aurora and Reggie.

She has gone through hell with medical issues the last few years.  She always had an issue with puking up her food over the years, but since the other cats tossed something (usually furballs) we just thought it was her.  She was a chunky cat, about 11pounds….so not small at all.  When I went to IN to visit family in Dec ’08, hubby had to take her in when she meowed in a very scary way at him.  She had an urinary tract infection that could’ve killed her, in tests for that they discovered that she had a hyperthyroid.

Which answered the question of her weight lost over the last year and why for the 1st time in her life she would meow at for things in the kitchen.  This is a cat that didn’t like milk, would maybe lick tuna juice, won’t eat any human food and refuse soft food….would only really eat meow mix.

What the vet told us, the hyperthyroid is like an engine running at full throttle and the gas not keeping up.  So even if she didn’t like, she would actually try the meat we offered her.  If we didn’t get her on meds or get her treated, she would be dead very quickly at that point.

Here is the link to that post : Kitty Update & Life : http://www.paulineantoinette.com/2009/01/03/kitty-update-life/

Then we discovered that half of her teeth were rotten and needed replacing in June ’09 : http://www.paulineantoinette.com/2009/06/12/alexis-the-rest/

Ever since she had to deal with us giving her meds to keep her regular.  During all of this, she has stubbornly carried on.  Barely complaining, which made it is easier for us to miss things.  =(  But I really miss her quiet determination and her demand for my attention.

The Sunday after we took her to the vet to ask about the lump, she was stubbornly trying to open the sliding closet door (which she had, unfortunately, taught the wonder twins how to open….lol) with what remained of her teeth. Hubby thinks she was the most stubborn of all of our cats.  =)

I picked up her ashes and feel much better that she is backed home.  She is up on the bookshelf with our other 3 and their pictures.

Love and miss you Alexis.  I hope that you knew how much we loved you.

Alexis Memorial

Pauline’s Daily Tweets

  • Great….just great….I have to go to the bank AGAIN!!!!!! ggrrrr #
  • Alright, need to go run some errands….. #
  • Finally home from a bunch of running around, hubby is grilling up some salmon & corn on the cob….hungry =) #
  • Just took my 183rd mugshot! http://www.dailymugshot.com/main/show/44426 #
  • The Daily Show With Jon Stewart|Extremist Makeover – Homeland Edition http://bit.ly/b3R5BI This is great! #
  • @mdcbrat you there? in reply to mdcbrat #
  • I need to get some more work done, but will probably attack it tomorrow. Right now, working on a family photo album #
  • I have my grandma's old zippo silver lighter, I knew it was old, but didn't realize how old, it was made in Siam, it became Thailand in 1939 #

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