if you live in southern new england, and you need a cat, please tell me—-because it is starting to get cold out. meepers desperatly wants to be inside, so her little kitty hut on our patio is not going to cut it for too much longer. we would keep her if we could. she loves to be pet and held and wants to sleep on our couch.
for a little more heart-melting meeper goodness go here.
“little girl” (pictured in post below) is now living in a big blue cat carrier covered with old towels and a plastic bag, and filled with more old towels and an old wool sweater.
on wednesday i drove around town and posted some “found cat” fliers, but we have not gotten any word. everyone we talk to seems to have the opinion that the little girl was abandoned or just dropped by the side of the road. i also got her a little collar, and put her rabies vaccination tag on it so that she won’t get re-lost. she is so freakin’ cute with that little kitty body and the great big red gaudy tag shaped like a heart around her tiny neck.
a woman at work told me that we are going to keep her. we have no real intention of doing such a thing, but it is starting to get chilly at night, and we have begun entertaining the idea of trying to introduce her to our two (pictured above) so that we can let her in. we really want to find her a good home, three might be a crowd around here.
i have started a photoblog to get myself back into photography. you can see it here.
this weekend i made my first risotto. it was from a box. it was not good. my foodie hero, gordan ramsey, yells and swears about risotto on “hell’s kitchen,” so not only would he be screaming at me for making a bad risotto, but he would be disgusted by the notion of risotto from a mix. i should have figured that although a rice pilaf dish can be good from a box, risotto would not quite fit the description of “delicious” but rather that of “starchy unpleasantness.”
people tend to think i am a good cook, this is only because i know my limits—there are certain things that i know i’d best not even attempt. most of the time i get lucky, sometimes not so (the purple pork chops, namely).
simple foods are most appealing to me, i like fish and chicken, something easy in a pan or on a grill. veggies roasted or steamed with seasoning and olive oil. a quick wine sauce from a deglazed pan. liz used to joke that i was like “doorknock dinners” because i can make a full dinner out of ingredients remaining in the fridge or cupboard that won’t catch her eye. like a perfectly good pasta dish after we have run out of tomato sauce, or some type of doctored up rice noodle soup.
sometimes i go through fazes when i want to make the same thing over and over, in the past i have been hooked on cooking: chicken soup, veggie lasagna, egg-filled tomatoes. more recently: crab cakes, maccaroni and cheese (alton brown’s recipe modified), and pan-cooked chicken breast with white wine sauce.
we found this little girl wandering around out back and meowing like crazy. one of our neighbours fed her a couple times, but we took over feeding her because she hangs around on our back patio. the top two photos were taken a few yards away from our back door where she was sleeping in a pile of sticks and leaves (she seemed quite happy to be there all day on sunday sleeping). and the third photo i took while i was petting her and trying to get a good shot of her little face for a “found cat” poster.
this morning liz took her to the vet, and she was a very good girl. we are sure she must have a home because she looks so good, and she’s so affectionate. my fear is that someone abandoned her. we can’t keep her because we have our two in this small place.
i have not been up to posting recently. my new phone is fun, and i totally loved updating facebook from the line at the store tonight, but it will not let me post to wordpress. this really has little to do with it, because i am all into not bitching on this blog (accentuate the positive). here is something abby emailed me, in the spirit of the season:
my sister came over for a visit earlier this week and told me about what her husband did to get called into his boss’s office:
“my father signs your paychecks.”
it really was true, his father does sign the paychecks of the man he was saying this to, but really, doesn’t this seem a bit extream in any circumstance? it made my jaw drop. and, according to my sister, she had a hard time picking her jaw off the floor. my brother-in-law was suprised that my sister did not side with him on this one.
this chili mix with pinto beans, red kidney beans, tomatoes and fresh cornbread (well, it was fresh when i made it yesterday).
i got the lg vu. i love it. facebook and google reader can be at my fingertips 24/7, now i can breath a sigh of relief.
i downloaded opera mini just to give it a whirl, but i was not so impressed . . . the at&t browser is alright, i will use the opera mini for certain things that a regular mobile browser will not suport . . . like post to this blog for one.
did i mention that i love it??
any inkling of respect that i held for my direct supervisor has been violently ripped out of me and tossed aside.
i would really like to have access to a coffee maker at work, i am thinking that if i get one it will be either the new keuring mini, or the phillips senseo. we have the keuring at home and we love it, and the mini is getting great reviews (although it has not been released yet). the senseo seems fine, people who have it like it, the reason why i an swayed toward the senseo is the price of the coffee “pods.” the pods are much les expensive than the “k-cups.” the pods run about 27-30 cents a cup, k-cups are 45-55 cents a cup.
if we get a coffee maker for the office it will be a single serve brewer (no arguments) and i think the senseo would be a better option because i would make everyone bring in their own coffee so that no one will get into all this “i bought yours so now you should buy mine” crap. k-cups are not available at every grocery store, but it seems like the pods are.
the keurig is so small and cute, and i would love to hear the gurgle of the cups flowing all morning long . . . but the senseo (even though it takes up more space) would probably be the best option.
i spent the better part of the day running a drill and assembling a workstation. tomorrow i put together the second one. wow, i feel functional.
cooked by jill: shrimp with pasta
prepared by gail: salad
there was celery in the salad and it was cruncy. very nice.
or if liz has her way, neither.
ok, so who wouldn’t want and iphone?? but i was touching the lg vu today, and i think i might be in love. the vu is lighter, smaller, sleeker and less expensive. it also does not require a more expensive plan than the one i already have, and the touch screen is super neat. sure the iphone has better graphics, plus an unrivaled software package with full html internet access, but crap, all i really want is a phone. i already have an ipod.
i am eligible for an upgrade, but liz is not, even though we bought the phones from the same place at the same time (even the woman at the store couldn’t explain that one). liz, please, please can i have it? what if i wait until you are eligible too, then we can both get it? puhleez!
the prescription pill bottle is a very popular patient choice for urine storage and transport. i do not understand why this is, or how this method has become so prevalent in my workplace. it is equally popular among both elderly and young patients, usually a trend like this will remain in one demographic. even our prenatal patients who must bring a first-morning urine sample to every routine visit use prescription bottles on occasion, even though we supply them with a urine container at the first visit, and any subsequent visit that the patient asks for a fresh container.
it could be that the amber color of the plastic has become linked with medical purpose, or perhaps the idea that a substance used for medical treatment had once occupied the container.
and why is this container, when filled with urine always placed in a plastic baggie? well, this is because the prescription bottle makes a rather useless vessel for liquid. the childproof cap is not easy to open and close, and after it has been opened and closed many times (like when used daily for dispensing medication) the cap becomes loose on the bottle and is no longer air-tight. the liquid stored in the bottle will seep out and run down the sides.
now that i have gotten through this explanation, let me tell you about what happened yesterday morning:
a patient calls with a complaint of painful, burning urination. she knows that she must have a urinary tract infection, not only this, but she has already prepared a urine sample for testing that she would like to drop off to the office. she is told by the office staff member that we need a “clean-catch” kit urine sample. the patient stated that she had in fact used a clean-catch kit, so the patient was told to bring the sample in to the office and we would transfer it to the lab for testing, and meanwhile we would prescribe an antibiotic and some medication for the pain, which would be called into her pharmacy. who’s to argue if the patient seems confident that she has done what was needed, and seems to understand the proper terminology.
the patient drops off the sample, and a different staff member had taken it from her. so, now, here is an old prescription bottle filled with urine stashed in the usual plastic sandwich bag. the urine has coated the inside of the bag, this normally would not bother any of us because urine is sterile . . . unless the producer of the urine is harboring an infection which causes painful burning and bloody urine. this sample was visibly nasty-ed up with germs. the patient ran out the door too fast for one of the medical assistants to stop her and have her leave a clean-catch sample.
the medical assistant had performed a dip-stick test and the sample was indeed teeming with bacteria, so the nurse decided that the patient should have the antibiotics right away, but the patient should come back in for a clean-catch. after things had slowed down in the office i called the patient to explain what we actually needed from her to make an accurate diagnosis. the patient argued with me (and not in the nicest manner) that she already did the clean-catch, and she did not want to come back in to the office, she said that the bottle she used was clean. i explained that the urine had to be in a sterile container and the genitalia needed to be cleaned with special towelettes first. the patient was rather insulted, and told me that she is very clean, and she had washed out the pill bottle, which had not contained her prescription for a long time, so it must be sterile.
the conversation continued, but by this point i was too distracted by the whole situation to remember the rest now. i laughed for hours. i called liz to tell her about it all, and she laughed too. every one in the office was very amused with the entire thing.
last night i came home from work after dark and saw a shadow in the corner of the front stoop, i thought that it would be really sweet if it was a toad . . . we have had a ton of them around all summer, it’s been so damp. it was a toad so i totally had to try and pet it.
maybe ten minutes past and the toad was not only still letting me pet it, but had hopped closer and was leaning into the pet. if i rubbed the top of the toad he pushed up into my hand, if i pet either side it would move closer either right or left. it was fantastic.
when i got home tonight i peeked into the bush next to the door and there was the toad (i want to assume it was the same little guy), and when i reached down to pet it i was getting the same little toady love.
that’s right. i win.
so much has been going on, and on top of all that it’s summer. there is grilling, swimming and sitting outside to do.i have been into music a lot, and reading (books . . . on paper). work has been insanity, as usual (starbucks triple venti lattes have been my fuel of late, and at about $25 a gallon that makes gas look like a steal). liz was off from work the last two weeks, so there was lots of quality time to spend together in the evenings.
our tomato plants have 12 tomatoes on them, almost ripe. the parsley is about 4 feet tall, so is the basil. the mint has practically taken over the back yard, it should be labeled as a ground-cover. the dill never made it more than a half-inch out of the dirt, and has since disappeared altogether. the rosemary, thyme and sage are doing well too.
we haven’t seen our neighbor tony since the 911 incident, but we have seen lots of wine bottles in his recycle.
our cats are as cute as ever.
i’ll try to catch up here with a good post later on this week.
but at least i might know where to look and find it.
this time of year always makes me obsess about office supplies with all the big “back to school” displays and the such. several weeks ago i purchased my first planner, ever. i got it mostly because i am supposed to be tracking my med dosage, and noting how i feel. the practitioner gave me a calendar, complete with her name address and phone number on it and a picture of a man climbing a mountain and some junk slogan on it. the thing is ugly . . . it had to go.
i have always been a “jot it down wherever” type of gal, whether it be on a scrap of paper or the margins of a syllabus. recently at the office i have been emotionally attached to my microsoft calender, because lately, without it i would not remember the most routine of tasks (thank god for the reminder pop-up). yesterday i ran into this site http://www.diyplanner.com/ while i was looking for ideas on how to use and expand my own planner. i totally love the templates at ahhh design by this amanda chick.
i have had a real thing for paper, notebooks and pens for as long as i can remember, and i have always been a writer, so this new planner might really stick with me.
i have also decided that i should really been balancing my checking account, but that’s another story.
liz said that silversun pickups sound so much like the smashing pumpkins that they should be sued. i don’t care. i listened to this song no less than 6 times today.
last night i made my third 911 call. we smelled something burning, this had happened before, on super bowl sunday, when our neighbor fell asleep while he was heating up some chicken wings in the oven. so before anymore smoke could vent into our condo i went outside to knock on tony’s door (you can read a little more about tony here). i rang the bell several times with no answer, i started knocking and banging on the door and there was still no answer. i could see in the kitchen window, there were two burners lit up on the stove and tons of smoke. there were no flames, thank god. i ran inside and told liz i was going to call the police . . . liz said just call 911, that seemed like a great idea.
i made the call on liz’s cell, started giving info and continued to bang on the door, still no answer, and now i can smell smoke outside. tony’s upstairs neighbor came outside too because the smoke was coming into her place also. about a minute after i hung up with 911 dispatch tony is on the other side of the door, shouting “what’s the problem?, what’s going on?” he was clearly drunk, his speech was so slurred i could hardly make out what he said, and he still would not open the door.
within a couple minutes we can hear sirens, finally tony opens the door and the smell of smoke was overwhelming even a several feet away from the door. tony said that his corn on the stove had “boiled over” but this was obviously not the case. he went back inside and shut the door again! i could see into his kitchen window and he still did not go to the kitchen to turn off the stove!! the police arrived, and banged on his door , tony came outside acting like there was no big deal. two fire trucks came and started venting his place. a cop and the fire chief were talking to tony, i could here the fire chief ask him why his smoke alarm did not go off and if he had any nine-volt batteries. tony still seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing and the fire chief told him that he could have burned down the whole building. we are pretty annoyed with this tony character, we would like to keep our home, and you know . . . not die of smoke inhalation. tony seemed unhappy that there was so much fuss, but shit, i probably saved his life, and the property of several families.
the rest of the night continued uneventfully.
 | nick crawford on fun times |
 | autumn on for ladies only! |
| autumn on for ladies only! |
 | liz on it’s what’s for di… |
 | blue soup on now i am crying. |
