Cats ~ Movies ~ Eye Issues ~ Memorial Day

Ok, the reason I didn't blog last week is really a good reason - I scratched my eye Sunday and was dealing with it Sunday late afternoon/evening.  Here's what happened with a quick recap - and Rowdy is really enamored (sp) with me typing on my laptop.  He's watching the words appear on the screen and wanting to attack it - Goober.  Anyway:

• After church last Sunday walked down to the Valley Junction Art Market
• Got something in my eye, couldn't get it out and my eyes were watering and nose running like crazy
• Had to walk back home (always walk down to things on 5th Street) and couldn't see the best
• Took a long nap thinking my eye would feel better later
• Woke up - still hurt but had things to do
• Around 4:30 pm thought I better go to the doctor (my doc is open on Sunday afternoons) and if I messed around, he would be closed and I'd be headed to the ER instead
• I had put chicken breasts and meatloaf in the oven before deciding to go to the doctor - who to call to take the food out when it was done....
• Ran to my next door neighbor and asked if she could check on the food in 15 minutes and oh, by the way, I have two kittens to watch out that they don't sneak out the front door on her
• Doc put numbing drop in eye - yellow stuff on Kleenex after dabbing at my eye - stuff like they use at eye doc to numb eye to do glaucoma test
• Doc gets black light out to see what's going on - I think of Luminol and looking for blood at a crime scene with the black light - yes I'm warped
• Nothing in my eye - but I had scratched the conjunctiva - thankfully not the cornea
• Doc said he had drops for me - cool
• Doc gave me a prescription for drops and it's now 6:00 pm - where would I find a pharmacy open on a Sunday night....
• Doc suggested Drug Town - drove there, barely seeing because eye watering and nose running again
• Drug Town closed, remembered Walgreens on 128th and University was a 24 hour pharmacy - off I go
• Hear about thunderstorm warnings on radio pulling into Walgreens
• Get prescription, walk out to grey sky, wind blowing like crazy and rain going sideways, and I can't really see too well to drive home
• Driving on the freeway I thought how I really wanted Mike right then :)
• Monday woke up, eye almost swollen shut
• Eye fine now - using eye drops four times a day since Sunday night

Ok, so a week ago Saturday I got to go to my niece's son's graduation party - I just call Tanner my nephew :)  It was at Whitebreast out by Lake Red Rock and I thought I knew where I was going.  Evidently what I always called Whitebreast was actually the South Overlook......I finally got to the party and had a nice time.

 

Then off to Indianola, cross county, to watch my small group leader's little boy play Wee Ball - what a riot!  Mike and I used to love watching the boys even younger than Aiden play ball.  Aiden did really good.

 

A week ago I had a health screen at work and I had to fast for 12 hours.  So no breakfast for me.  When I got out of the shower I had two kitties just staring at me and I realized I had forgotten to feed them - bad Mommy.  I feed them after I eat my cereal and since I didn't have cereal - forgot to feed them. The blood work was a finger prick and I'll tell ya, I'd rather they would have taken two tubes of blood.  I don't mind the prick, it's the squeezing, squeezing, squeezing of my poor finger to get enough blood for the test.  At least I was able to watch the gal squeeze the poo out of my finger to get blood, normally I don't watch anything that has to do with my blood.  I got good results which I'm thankful for.

 

The picture below shows two things going on in my backyard.  One, my dwarf lilac bushes are exploding with blooms and they have really grown in the three years since Dad and I planted them.  And two, can you see how TALL my grass is - goodness gracious.  I was going to mow last Sunday after going to the Valley Junction Art deal but that didn't happen with my eye.  I took this picture yesterday.  And Stick along with my butterfly bush are starting to grow too.

 

 

So in the past couple of weeks I've rented some movies and here are my thoughts on them:

• Chasing Mavericks:  good movie, a family movie.  Interesting to see how the two main characters get closer - a 30ish guy helps a teen learn to surf a maverick wave.
• Reacher:  ok I've read all the Jack Reacher books and had an idea of what Reacher "looked" like and Tom Cruise it wasn't.  Reacher is like 6' 3" and Cruise is what 5' 3"...ok maybe 5' 6", I know he's shorter than me.  The movie was...okay.
• Hunger Games:  have not read any of the books and thought it was a little slow at the beginning but I really got into it.  I may have to read the books now.

So what have the kidlets been up to?  I decided to keep the cat food bag upstairs, jammed between my sink cabinet and wall.  Well, I came home to holes in the food bag - luckily not below the food line so there wasn't food all over the place.  I have since bought a plastic bin to put their food in.  I decided to take the aluminum foil off the two chairs upstairs - this was to keep the cats off the chairs (like that worked) - and made them into aluminum balls that the cats love chasing all over the place.

 

I had to take the cats to the vet for their second feline leukemia shot and that was an adventure.  I had one of the cardboard pet carriers left from when I adopted them from the ARL.  I got a hold of both cats and had them in the carrier but couldn't get the top closed in time before Rowdy was out.  I closed Sadie in the carrier and had to chase Rowdy back upstairs, then chase him out of my closet (there is no door), out from under my bed, out of my closet, out from under my bed, out of my closet, yada, yada, yada.  I gave up and headed down to take Sadie and then come back for Rowdy - my vet is like four blocks away.  Sadie greeted me at the bottom of the steps - she had gotten out of the carrier and it was no longer useable - great.  I grabbed a towel, chased Sadie down to toss the towel on her to wrap her in it and off we went.  I prayed that God would make sure she didn't jump out of my arms as I was getting into my car to head to the vets or as I was walking into the vet's office.  We made it :)  I was pooped and didn't look the greatest.  I got to borrow a plastic pet carrier to take Sadie home, take Rowdy to the vet and back home.  Greyhounds were definitely easier to get to the vet...





 

 

So this is what I posted on Facebook with the above photo of Rowdy: 

 

Hi! My name is Rowdy McFall. I'm 6 1/2 months old and weigh 8 pounds. For pastimes I enjoy watching Cat TV (humans think I'm just looking out a window...boy are they dumb) along with playing with Mommy's shower curtain and bath mat. To keep my sleek, feline physique I exercise once a day...right after Mommy turns off the lights and goes to bed. I get my cardio by jumping up and down off her bed for a minimum of 30 minutes. If I think I need to mix things up a little, I'll jump back and forth across Mommy along with jumping up and down off the bed. When I don't have time for a 30 minute routine, I'll grab my chewed up, furry, brown mouse and toss it into the mix by throwing it on and off the bed and back and forth across Mommy, happily chasing it wherever it may land...doing this at warp speed. Poor Mommy...sometimes she forgets my name is Rowdy and calls me Goober.

 



 

Sadie being a goof on the bed next to me.

Rowdy definitely likes being close to me - he's laying on my foot.

 

Yesterday my church had their first Run For The Son which was a fund raiser for our first mission trip to Lima, Peru this summer.  I helped with the Registration table and the weather was not cooperating.  The race was moved back an hour due to tons of rain - check out Living Waters Fellowship's Facebook page if you want to see pictures from the run.  It was cold, windy, rainy and I was really cold.  When I left after the race I had my car heater on the whole time I ran errands.  When I got home I put on sweats, wrapped up in Mike's afghan and sat on the bed to watch "Reacher".  The picture below is Rowdy napping on Mommy - and he helped warm me up too :)  I took a little nap during the Nationwide race later in the afternoon.

 



Hmmm...Sadie in one of the chairs the cats aren't suppose to get on...

 

I had prayed discussing with God how I needed to mow the lawn this weekend - remember the picture earlier in the blog?  I don't like mowing on Sundays but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  We had a baptism service at Easter Lake after church this morning and again it was cold and windy - so I got cold all over again.  I did some stuff inside the house and then got warmed up enough to run outside to see if the grass was dry enough to mow - yep.  Four lawn bags of a lot of grass later, the lawn was mowed.  Right after I finished, it started to thunder.  And then not long after the storm really moved in.  Sky dark, rain like crazy, lighning and I lost DishTV during the NASCAR race.  But look what I just saw out my bedroom window.  Grrr, can't load the picture of the rainbow but it loaded on my Facebook page just fine.

 

Lastly, I hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend but don't forget why we have this holiday.  Thanks to those that currently serve, have served and are no longer in the military, have served and no longer are with us, and those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  Hoo-ah.

 



Pictures and More

Well, the kids are definitely keeping me busy and laughing.  A friend told me that when cats stare out a window they are watching "cat tv".  I told her that we have the "bird channel" on the other side of my bathroom window upstairs :)

 

Sadie was mesmerized by me putting their poo and clumped pee in the toilet and flushing it down - she almost took a header into the toilet Friday morning......

 

And last night Rowdy was sitting on the bed with me when I farted.  He looked around at me with a disgusted look on his face :)

 



An exciting Friday night at the McFall house.

I bought a brown, furry mouse toy at the WalMart in Pella on Saturday and Rowdy immediately took to it as his favorite toy.  Saturday night while I was sleeping he was really moving around on the bed, I found out he had the mouse on the bed playing with it.  It cracks me up each time I see him walking around with it in his mouth.

 

Someone wuvs his mommy.

 

Saturday Dad, Bertie and I drove to Bloomfield to see my Aunt Verta (Dad's sis) and my Uncle Gerald and Aunt Elaine (Dad's brother).  We got to have a nice lunch together and I was able to take the picture below of the three siblings.  Then Dad, Bertie, Aunt Verta and I went to the Bloomfield cemetery for Dad to put flowers on Mom, Grandma Loper (Mom's mom) and Uncle Loell's (Mom's brother) stones.  It was really windy and kind of cold.  It was nice and bittersweet for me at the same time.  I walked over to my Grandma and Grandpa Hill's (Dad's folks) stone and then my cousin Sherry's stone.

Dad, Aunt Verta and Uncle Gerald

 

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I helped teach the Waves kids at church.  We had 27 5 year old-2nd graders.  We made a special present for the mother's at church.  Then off to Newton to see my sis-in-law and niece.  I had hoped Chrissy (niece) would get to bring her two boys with her since it's been forever since I've seen those two and they were there!  Tanner graduates in two weeks from Pella High School - where does the time go.  We had a riot together laughing, eating pizza and looking at my Branson digital scrapbook from the vacation Marcia, Chrissy and I took together to my timeshare in 2011.

 

Then back home to mow my pasture - I didn't get a chance to mow the yard last week and the grass was really tall and thick.  Three lawn bags full of grass from my back yard and one from the front yard.  I was definitely pooped when I was finished mowing and bagging but the law looks really nice.

 

I've had to correct Rowdy to get off the kitchen counter a couple of times - goober.  And both of them like to jump up on the bathroom counter and help me get ready for work :)

Snowy Tulip Time ~ McFall House Grew By 8 Feet

 Well this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday was Tulip Time 2013 in Pella and it was cold, rainy, windy and snowy!!!  There were actually school closings Friday in Iowa due to snow, yowza.  I had planned to go to TT with my bestie from 7th grade Lori - and to see Dad.  I called Lori early Thursday morning to see if she was still game to go - I was going no matter what to see Dad at least.  Lori said "yes" to I picked her up and off we drove, in horrid weather and then all-of-a-sudden we drove out of the snow. 

 

We visited with Dad a little and then off to West Market Park to check out the vendors, uptown for Dutch Letters and my annual Bismark plus a plate of poffenjes (sp).  We looked at the few old cars and then walked through Scholte Garden - we were the only people in the garden :)  I took two pictures of tulips but somehow Blogger can't find them on my computer to post in this blog.

 

One thing I hoped to have to show Dad was my digital scrapbook of my vacation in 2011 with my sis-in-law Marcia and niece Chrissy when we went to my two bedroom timeshare in Branson.  I finally finished it last Sunday and saw that it would take 5-7 days for regular shipping after the book was printed.  I prayed, "God you know I'd really like to have this book to show Dad on Thursday, it would be awesome if the book could arrive by Wednesday at the latest.  But if it doesn't, it's my own fault for taking so long to finish and order it."  Guess what was waiting for me Wednesday on my enclosed porch when I got home from work - my Branson book!  I was so excited and thankful that God answered that prayer.

 

After spending a little more time with Dad, Lori and I headed back to DSM.  And we drove back into falling snow around SE Polk school.  I dropped Lori off and headed home spending the rest of the snowy, cold day in my sweats reading a book and then falling asleep for a short nap.

 

I've been praying different times if I should get a cat or two so while I was running errands yesterday something prompted me to go to the Animal Rescue League (ARL).  I said, "God I'll head out there and either the two cats you want for me will be there or they won't."  I first found Mike's and my brick in the walkway into the building and took a picture of it.  I walked through the cat area and found two girls that were really pretty but they looked too much alike.  I went around the corner and found them.  Hansel and Gretel, who are brother and sister.  They are 14 weeks old/4 months.  They are not declawed and I'm debating if I will declaw them or not.  I spent a little time in a hug room and it was a no brainer these were my cats.

 

I have changed their names.  Gretel is Sadie.  I've always wanted to have a dog named Sadie.  And Hansel is Rowdy.  I named the boy Rowdy after Dad's horse he sold to go to Bible school.  I would have named Cruz Rowdy but I liked Cruz' name.  So I'm in the lobby while they are doing my paperwork and thought I'd call Dad to tell him he was a grandpa again.  This is how the conversation kind of went:

 

Me:  Dad, you're a grandpa again.

Dad:  What?

Me:  You're a grandpa again.

Can't remember some of the conversation but Dad finally says, "Scott?"

I'm thinking who in the world is Scott, there's no Scott in our family.

Me yelling:  I am adopting two cats.

Dad:  What?

Me yelling:  Two kitty cats....cats.

Dad still didn't get it for a little bit.

Me:  This is why I don't call you on the phone :)

 

Email is the best way for me to communicate with Dad :)

 

So enjoy the pix below.

 



 

Sadie

Rowdy - he's such a goober

I put them on their bed (it's a bed liner) I bought for them - they've yet to lay on it on their own.

 



On the bed last night laying next to Mom.  The lower right corner is my grey sweatpant leg - they were laying next to me.  At one time Rowdy was laying on Sadie licking her head, her ears, etc., and I told them to "get a room".

 

Last night was interesting - at times I was a evidently a cat highway as they ran over me after lights out.  It was fun to see during the day and evening them getting closer to me.  Now they follow me wherever I go and get on the bed a lot to sit next to me or on me.

 

And I have kitty litter ALL over my bathroom floor - I'm keeping their litter pan in my bathroom upstairs.  Goobers.

This afternoon during nap time - can you even see poor Sadie?  They are laying next to me.

 

So Rowdy should really be called Houdini.  I bought two cardboard pet carriers to take them home from the ARL.  The ARL is almost in Ankeny and before I got to the DSM River someone was poking his head out his box and then crossing the river he got out of his carrier.  I'm like, "no no no".  So Rowdy explored the car on the rest of the drive.  I just didn't want him to get under my clutch - which Babe had done one time - because that would get interesting.

I was advised to instead of using a squirt bottle with water or a can with coins as discipline to keep them off the furniture to put aluminum foil on things I didn't want them to climb on.  On my counters I have double sided sticky tape to deter them from getting on my kitchen counters.  So far they like walking on the foil upstairs.  I don't have any tape on my bathroom counter so Rowdy was on it helping me wash my face this morning.

 

The adventures begin......