Monday, November 25, 2013
Christmas mail ... already
And it's already this time of the year again, time to write Christmas cards. :) I finished my batch of international cards this Sunday. Will probably mail them right around December 2 after Thanksgiving. But at least they are done.
I still need to write my domestic ones and will probably do that one of the nights this week. Also need to package up my holiday gifts that need to be shipped all over the globe. I love having friends in so many different places but it definitely makes the holiday season quite a bit more hectic than it normally would be.
Last week was another crazy busy week at work. Lost power for a bit (very annoying) plus preparation for Thanksgiving and also a refresher training on payroll since I will have to cover that in early December. So busy, busy.
Was off on the weekend though which was nice. Saturday we slept in and then went to the movies to see "Delivery Man". A Vince Vaughn comedy, nothing overly spectacular but all in all a fun afternoon. Hung out at Two Steps with some friends afterwards.
Yesterday we went grocery shopping, then I spent the afternoon writing my cards and at night we had some cheese & crackers while catching up on our recorded TV. All in all a relaxed weekend.
Mail Update: Received letters still owe a response to: Nina/WA, Charles/TN, Emilia/Finland and Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 08:26 AM in Cats, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Accounting, David Garrett and more
Made it through the week and am really glad it's Sunday today. Was a six-day week, which won't be all that uncommon for the immediate future most likely. This was week 1 of taking over some of the accounting duties from another department. All in all things went sort of ok I guess. And by that I mean everything got done one way or another and I don't think too many mistakes happened. Was it enjoyable? Well that's a different question altogether entirely of course.
We will just have to see how things go. I am getting a better grasp of the job myself which is good. So I can now train some of my employees so they can be in charge when I am in Virginia in September to meet up with my parents. Only 3 more weeks to go. And of course we also have the school start-up, Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah mixed in there as well. Never a dull moment I can assure you. :)
Still have not figured out how to get an urine sample from Ollie either. I'll need to try a couple more things. Really don't want to drop him off at the vet for the whole day. A) he would hate that and B) I am sure it wouldn't be cheap. He sort of eats the dry food they gave me but only as an additional snack, not as his main meal. So I'll need to see what else they have that he might like better.
In more fun news I purchased tickets for the David Garrett concert in March next year. His US tour will take place in January (West Coast) and March (East Coast). Right now the local PBS stations are doing a pre-sale of sorts letting you pledge a certain amount and giving you tickets in return. I got mine from CPBN (Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network) and spent $150 on two orchestra tickets. Not super cheap but I figure at least the money is going to a good place/organization. They also had Meet-And-Greet tickets and I was super tempted but those were $260 for one ticket (including a reception, meet-and-greet, a DVD and the concert). That would've been $520 for the two of us. That's just too much, sorry. And yes PBS is a good organization but I also like to support the artist and I am sure he does not see very much of that money at all. Plus I can also imagine how much he must hate those kinds of events; having to awkwardly shake hands and make conversation with people he has never met before but are enthralled with him.
Today we are taking it easy. Are going to have lunch in Oxford at 121, then going to stop at the store later to pick up some cheese & crackers to watch the MTV Music Awards.
Mail Update: Received letters/still owe a response to: Eunice/Malta, Jessica/DE, Nina/WA and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 12:20 PM in Cats, Performances, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
How to outsmart a cat?
This is a quick post/update in regards to our cat Oliver. We brought him to the vet last Saturday for a check-up on his kidney issues since he is still losing weight.
Monday the vet called me with the bloodwork results and unfortunately the news wasn't that great. His kidneys are definitely getting worse. He is still acting perfectly fine, eats, drinks, plays, purrs etc. so I am hopeful he will be ok for some time longer but really wish the results would have been different.
We are continuing his meds as normal. Luckily he is happy to eat his pill inside a pill pocket treat each morning which is good. He is now also taking a 1/4 tablet of baby aspirin three days per week to help prevent clotting.
The vet would also like to get a urine sample from him to rule out any kind of infection that could be contributing to his problems. They gave me some litter-type material that you can use where if he peed on it they could still test it. But of course he would not pee on it. I had him shut in the room with me from 5.30pm until 5.45am this morning and no luck. To be fair it's only a really small amount of material/litter in a box. I don't have more because the small amount was $14 so to get enough to fill an entire litter tray would be pricey.
Seems like my only other option is to bring him to the vet to see if they can get a sample from him. They might have to keep him for the day if he doesn't need to go when I bring him in. I really don't want to put him in the car again after just having done that on Saturday. So I am still trying to decide how to trick him into peeing on the fake litter stuff they gave me.
They also gave me a sample of some special food for him. I have tried to introduce the wet food, mixing it with some of his normal food. So far he did not finish his meal last night or this morning which makes me think he is not a big fan. I guess I'll see how he does with it going forward. They also gave me some dry food. I'll give him some of that and see if he likes that.
Mail Update: Received letters/still owe a response to: Nina/WA and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 11:20 AM in Cats | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Monday, June 03, 2013
Brighton, Jamie Oliver & a new kitten
What an interesting day. :) Took the train to Brighton which worked out nicely. I always enjoy taking trains, especially in Europe.
In Brighton we walked around for a while, walked out to the pier/seafront and to the Royal Pavilion and all around The Lanes. Had fun browsing in different shops, looking at random odds and ends type things.
Lunch was at Jamie Oliver's Italian restauran which made me very happy. I love Jamie Oliver. :) I think I vaguely remembered that he has restaurants here in the UK but hadn't thought about it in a while. So when we stumbled upon his restaurant eaI was super excited. :)
Headed back on the train and when we arrived back in Portsmouth we had more exciting things to occupy us. Dan, Joanne's boyfriend, found an abandoned kitten (someone put it in a garbage bin - WTH?) while at work. So he decided to take it home at least for the time being. You can see her in the picture on the left. She is definitely making herself at home. :) If I had to place a bet I would say she is probably staying. Monty and Cookie aren't particularly excited about the new potential resident just yet but I imagine they will work it out. :)
Tomorrow we are planning another low key day. Just some shopping on the High Street in Portsmouth, some more tea shopping at Tesco for some Twinnings tea, and lunch at Wetherspoons.:)
Then tomorrow night I will need to pack while Joanne attends a sewing class and Wednesday afternoon/evening I am already off to Austria. The weather has worked out really nicely since I have been here. Sunny pretty much every day. I don't think I can expect the same in Austria. They are having really bad flooding at the moment. No fun.
You can click here to see the pictures I took today.
Mail Update: Mailed letter today to: Celia/MA and Carmen/Malta. Owe replies to: Kimber/Canada and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 03:40 PM in Cats, Food and Drink, Travel, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Ollie
So here is a post about Ollie and his pills. We received the bloodwork results from the vet at the end of last week and it turns out that he has kidney issues (which all in all isn't that surprising for a cat who's 15 years old) But luckily it isn't too bad at the moment so they decided to put him on meds which will hopefully stabilize things and help it from getting worse. So earlier this week I went to the vet to pick up his pills. Is it sad that I thought it was so cute that his pills come in a cute little pill container with the prescription info and his name on it (just like for people)?
Well anyway, I wasn't sure how he would take to the pill giving but luckily it's been fine so far. He has to take a 1/4 pill each day and they are pretty small to begin with so it's not so bad. Plus I bought him these treats called "Pill Pockets" which you can use to hide the pill. And so far he seems to really like them and gobbles them right up. So let's hope that continues to work.
In other news we decorated our tree on Tuesday and put up all the other decorations around the house (pictures will follow). I am still not quite in the Christmas spirit I think but I imagine it will hit me sooner or later. It usually does.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Celia/MA, Nina/WA and Caroline/Scotland.
Posted by Hanna at 07:19 AM in Cats | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Christmas Mail
As you can see in the picture I have been busy writing my Christmas cards and of course the cats have been a great help (or so they think anyway I am sure) I finished my international card batch on Sunday and my domestic US/Canada cards yesterday, Tuesday. Also packaged up all my gifts that need to be mailed. Hopefully we can make it to the post office tomorrow or Friday and get all that mailed out.
Haven't put up any decorations around the house yet but I figure I will do that this weekend. One of my staff members decorated everything up at the office really nice so been surrounded by it at work since Friday last week. Should get to it at home over the weekend.
Work's been steadily busy which is about normal for this time of the year. Ready for another vacation but we won't get a break until New Year's when we have our 2-night B&B getaway in New Hampshire. Definitely looking forward to that.
Mail update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Carmen/Malta, Eunice/Malta and Nina/WA
Posted by Hanna at 12:02 PM in Cats, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Laid back weekend
So this weekend we actually had both Saturday and Sundy off. But somehow it still flew by super qickly. Stayed home the whole weekend and just relaxed at home, took care of some things around the house that needed to be done but nothing much else.
The kittens are settling in pretty well. Oliver is even sort of getting along with them, only hissing at them when they get on his nerves too much, chasing his tail or jumping on top of him. Yesterday he was even peacefully sharing the loveseat with Mindy. :)
Tomorrow I have another Austrian meet-up in NYC so we will be heading to NY after work. On Wednesday we need to go to the electronic recycling place in Danbury where you can drop off old TV's, computers, etc. Our TV in the bedroom recently died (it's lived its life, Mike got it when he was around 12) so we replaced it with a new TV. We also have some old computer monitors and things like that stored in the attic that we want to get rid of.
Also need to mow our lawn. Today it pretty much rained all day so we couldn't do that today. So hopefully soon.
Short mail update for today. Letters are going out tomorrow to: Charles/TN and David/IN. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Eunice/Malta and Alex/Germany.
Posted by Hanna at 04:29 PM in Cats | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Please meet Sadie & Mindy
Another 6 day week finally over. But today was a good day that made the whole week worth it. We have two new kittens. :) We were thinking about getting another cat for a while now since Dinah passed away. Oliver seemed kind of out of balance and I thought it would be good for him to have another cat around. So we thought about it for a while, looked around Petfinder and eventually decided on a black & white kitten from a lady in Stamford, CT who does cat rescues.
We had an appointment to meet with Cora at 1pm today. It was great to meet her and all her cute cats. It was fun being a house full of social cats, younger and older. The kitten we had originally decided on was there also. She seemed cute but a lot wilder, outgoing and playful, something that might not have been best for our 12 year old Oliver. So Cora suggested getting a kitten sister pair. They are already used to each other, can keep each other company and that way stay out of Oliver's hair a little more. Plus they tend to be less bad if they are together.
So anyway, long story short, we now have two kittens. :) Sadie (all grey) and Mindy (grey and white). Very cute. :) Oliver is handling it fairly ok. There has been a good amount of hissing but all in all it could be much much worse. I am sure they will get used to each other eventually.
Short mail update for today. No letters have gone out. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Celia/MA, Charles/TN and Alex/Germany.
Posted by Hanna at 05:27 PM in Cats | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Friday, July 02, 2010
Dinah - In Loving Memory
This week has definitely not been a good week. Our cat Dinah had not been doing so well for quite some time. All started about a year and a half ago, a type of skin cancer that also resulted in seizures and loss of balance and other things. She had been losing weight steadily. But all in all she was still her happy self, eating, purring, wanting attention. And every time she had a bad spell and we thought she wouldn't recover she bounced back the next day.
But unfortunately over the weekend she started to get worse rapidly and by Tuesday morning she was in really bad shape . She could barely stand up, was being incontinent and just not in any good shape at all. So we had to take her to the vet where they put her to sleep. I am really sad but of course it was the right thing to do. She would have
just continued to suffer. Poor little Din ah sweetie fluff.
When God made the world, He chose to put animals in it, and decided to give each whatever it wanted. All the animals formed a long line before His throne, and the cat quietly went to the end of the line.
To the elephant and the bear He gave strength, to the rabbit and the deer, swiftness; to the owl, the ability to see at night, to the birds and the butterflies, great beauty; to the fox, cunning; to the monkey, intelligence; to the dog, loyalty; to the lion, courage; to the otter, playfulness. And all these were things the animals begged of God. At last he came to the end of the line, and there sat the little cat, waiting patiently. "What will YOU have?" God asked the cat.
The cat shrugged modestly. "Oh, whatever scraps you have left over. I don't mind."
"But I'm God. I have everything left over."
"Then I'll have a little of everything, please," said the cat.
Posted by Hanna at 05:58 PM in Cats | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Cats and Sunday afternoons
So we only ended up with about 6 inches of snow which compared to a lot of other regions on the East Coast wasn't a lot at all. But hey I am not complaining. I really don't need two feet of snow.
Had a good day all in all. Watched "The Grinch" (the Jim Carey version) which I haven't seen in ages. It's a fun Christmas movie and a nice thing to do with a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon. Mike put the tree up so now we just need to decorate it. We might do that later, if not tomorrow at the latest.
Managed to unpack and do some laundry which is never any fun but of course has to be done. All of our goodies made it home safely which is a plus.
I also changed the bedset on our bed and put a wintery set on and of course both of the cats thought it was the best thing ever. (see picture) They love to sleep on anything new. Right now they are both passed out on the bed dead to the world. Silly little things.
Short mail update for today. Letter going out to Alex/Germany tomorrow. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Celia/MA, Becki/KY, Charles/TN, Kimber/Canada and Lotte/Denmark.
Posted by Hanna at 06:07 PM in Cats, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack