Loosing her mind….

This summer Shania took to jumping on our countertops and eating everything she could get her mouth on. We’ve had this cat for 12 years and for 11.5 years she wouldn’t touch human food. We could leave whole chickens out and she would turn her nose up.  But now –I caught her eating cheese balls, bagels, mac & cheese and a stick of butter to name a few things. We thought she had lost her mind.

She also lost most of her hearing over the summer. Ever snuck up on a cat before? Their reaction is extremely entertaining. ;)

So, being the stellar pet parents we are- we took her to the vet for the first time since 2008.

I know – I know.

But really until this summer she has been just fine so there really wasn’t a reason.

Apparently she has lost her mind, her hearing  and she has lost 3lbs. In 2008 she was 8.75lbs. Now she is 5.75. And no- we didn’t notice. And yes I realize that is a third of her body weight. I think the vet was a little horrified. Her payback? Several hundred dollars and diagnosis of over-active thyroid. Yep- that’s a half a pill in the morning and half a pill at night. For the rest of her life. She’s 17 though so that might not be all that long in reality.

How does she do with pills the vest asked.  She’s never been sick I said so I wouldn’t know. She raised her eyebrow at me. Clearly I had lost any credibility not noticing that my cat had lost a third of her body weight.  She’ll be fine I said. The eyebrow was still raised.

What this doc didn’t know is that I have a secret weapon. I pilled good ‘ol Pepsi (may she rest in peace) daily for probably 7 to 10 years. I got skillz.

Poor Shania, who has never taken a med in life, had no idea what hit her this evening. Before she could even figure out what I was doing I had that pill down her throat. 

Take that..vet lady.

We go back in 30 days for weight check, blood test and med refill.

Hopefully this magical little pill will restore Shania’s mind and my countertops to a cat free zone again.

NASCAR

When opportunity knocks…you open that door –right? Well, it knocked and we found ourselves with free tickets to the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Speedway. Not ones to pass an opportunity to do something new and different- we and about 100,000 other people (no joke) descended upon the speedway Sunday afternoon. 

Actually I think most arrived (measure by the state of drunkenness) that morning or days ahead of time. Wow. Tailgating, pick-ups and  camouflage are taken to a whole level at these races. And the pot smoking. Alec got his first sniff. What’s that funny smell?

 

Things I learned about NASCAR:

1. LOUD does not cover it. It’s is more like FREAKEN’ LOUD. (we pulled out the trusty and now very rusty sign language to communicate with Alec- please, thank you, pee, water and eat- we still have the basics)

2. NASCAR fans are loyal to their driver. And that is putting is mildly. Holy cow. Bobby Labonte crashed his car and was out of the race and pretty much an entire section left the race. Jeff Gordon was boo’d very loudly. These folks have intense feelings about this sport.

3. 300 laps is 300 hundred miles. I don’t care how fast the cars are going- it’s not that interesting to actually watch the race unless there is a crash (see #4).

4. Crashes are better on TV – where you can actually see it because they will replay is 500 times. In person- if you miss it- you’ve missed it and then all you you get to watch is the street sweepers clean the track. One is infinitely more interesting than the other. Can you guess which one?

5. No one actually watches the race (see #3). They spend their time going to get food, beer and standing in the smoking section.

6. The bathrooms are ridiculously clean for that many people and that many people who are drinking copious amounts of alcohol. No lines –no waiting.

7. NASCAR fans seem to have deep pockets. They bought their tickets, they buy lots of beer, and they still have money left over for extremely expensive souvenirs.  And they like their souvenirs. Deep pockets- I tell you.

8. Quite a few female and some male fans have no modesty. They should.

I could go on…..

We watched about 2 hours of racing- that’s 200 hundred laps with a couple of accidents thrown in and we were done. A little too loud, a little too monotonous and quite frankly we just didn’t care who won.

It was a good time though, just hanging out as a family experiencing something new. I would definitely recommend going if nothing else than for the people watching.

Another item scratched off the ‘ol  list of things I never thought I would do.

Soccer Season

We have moved into the big time with rec soccer. Week night practices and Saturday games. This past Saturday was Alec’s 1st game. His team lost 4-0. He was a bit sad but it was a good game for a bunch of 6 & 7 year olds.

   Alec is still not appreciating rec soccer and is longing for indoor soccer again. I just keep telling him it will be here before he knows it.

Favorite things

An after school meet-up & treat.

  A few of our favorite things:

sunshine

ice cream

&

special friends.

Crazy Bird Lady –Part 2

The new cage came.

Alec and I love it.

Erik thinks it overkill.

And the birds are a little freaked out by all the extra space.

I ordered them organic bird food.

I bought them more toys.

I give them treats.

I am crazy- I know.

Tweet Tweet

I love their little chirps!  The new cage should come tomorrow- it should be about double what that one is…. a little more space to stretch their wings and more room for more toys.

They really like their toys.  See the red thing in the cage. I bought them this- it is a hoop and it has a ball on the chain that slides across the bar.

Everything I read said parakeets are very bright birds and like to play with toys and these 2 are spot on. Once I put this toy in- I let them have a day to get use to having it in the cage and the next day I reached in and put the ball in the basket.  They were immediately interested. Blueberry figured out how to take it out first  and probably within 15 minutes. Now they both can do it– and will take it out and put it in on their own. It’s pretty entertaining. Or my life is boring cause I think that is entertaining. Whatev….it is super cute. And yes, I thought about videoing it. And no, you may not judge me.

The cat has still showed no interest in them. That’s something to be thankful about!

FYI- Lemon is the lady of the two and she is ridiculously bossy to poor Blueberry.  I think he is going to be one happy ‘lil boy bird with his new found space in the new cage. Or maybe he will still try to sit as close to her as possible until she squawks at him. Maybe he just likes her. :)

~signed the crazy bird lady

Allie & Seth’s Wedding

It’s been a while since we have had an excuse to clean up and put on some fancy duds. Luckily for us there was a family wedding on Saturday night.  My boys were looking good that night. So very handsome!

Hilary, Tom and Paulina were looking good too! Seriously- are they not the most photogenic family ever?

 

For whatever reason I really like these…..

 

Me and my boy…..

A real Alec smile…oh my….love it!

 

We might have had a good time! ;)

 

 

Allie tried so hard to get Alec to dance with her and he just would not do it! He’s too cool for the dancing…

Alec was thrilled when the cake was finally served.

Let me guess….you are sick of all the pictures of us and you want to see a few ‘real’ wedding pictures right? Well, here ya go!

 

What a beautiful, fun family night!