guido the fat orange cat

I've had a running story line in my head concerning my cat. Yes, my cat. I think it'd be a funny comic or a children story but for adults or if you wanted to teach your children about organized crime from an early age.  Which I disapprove of so really it might just stay right here.

You see, there is this cat and he is an orange tabby cat and FAT.  Not Phat, FAT.  He is a huge, huge cat.  My cat, the lovely and very old, Pewter is a small, danty old girl who I believe is being bullied by who I've named Guido, the fat orange cat.  I'm pretty sure in the cat world, his name is the same.  And this is because my cat at least TWO times a day meows and whines for food.  A big scoop of dry food and one can of nice wet food should suffice.  Nope, our cat will sit at our front door and cry her head off until we give her food.  Not cheaper and more reasonable dry food, but a nice can of shredded chicken and salmon dinner.  We gave in a few times.  Well, okay, I gave in a few times because I am a wimp.  Bad cat owner but my nerves just can't take all the whining around our house sometimes via the feline and canine population.

THEN one day, I hear the cat bowls sliding around a bit.  It's a loud racket not normal for our sweet Pewter.  I come to the door and low and behold, GUIDO, THE FAT ORANGE CAT. I mean he wasn't Guido, the fat orange cat at that time but over the course of weeks, there emerged a pattern.  This is  how I think it goes:

Guido: "Pewter, ya dumb cat, tell your owners I need the goods or else."

Pewter: "Ah sir, I don't know if I can get it to you more than one time a day."

Guido: "Fool if you value your life and still want leads on top vermin in the area, you'll get the goods at least twice a day."

Pewter: "But sir..."

Guido: "I don't want to have to say it again. Get the goods and live.  Don't and your days are numbered and say goodbye to those tasty mice you love so much."

Pewter: "Ok, sir, okay... give me a few weeks to get the owners trained."

Guido: "Weeks?  weeks!? You got days.  It'll be hours if you don't leave me alone and go get to it."

Pewter scurries off.

End scene.

And there you have it.  The dark underworld of catdom. I'm pretty sure that this is based on a true story.  I'd venture to say that this is the real story with gory details left out.  You'll just have to stay tuned as the story progresses.  All I will say is that lately there has been another cat in town.  Not sure who is who but little does that catty poo know that I got my eyes on him and that if Guido is bringing this guy around for reinforcements, well, hmm, I'm not sure what will unravel in this litter box called life.

Ok, enough.  I'm going to bed.

Adventures in Juicing: Kale Apple

Today's adventure was quite a pleasant and yummy surprise. If you saw my photo of the day post, you saw and read that I got my first delivery of fresh organic veggies and fruits! Too exciting. It's like a healthy surprise in a box. We got an all veggie box and a small fruit box. With the veggie box came a wide variety of lettucy and cabbage things. Romaine, kale and collard greens among maybe one or two more. So, I committed in my mind this evening that one, despite how tired I am, I am going to juice and two, I will use the slightly odd greenery. Not the predictable carrots or the yummy fruit. Nope good ole "if they never delivered it to me, I'd never would have bought it" greens! Thankfully, I have my trusty "The Everything Juicing Book" and flipped to my ingredient index and looked up "leafy greens".   I happened upon a Kale Carrot but for some reason that I can't remember because it is too late, I moved on. Then there it was in black and white...Kale Apple! Here are the ingredients:
2 granny smith apples, cored
1 leaf of KALE
Juice ingredients and stir.
It was yum-o. Sweet without being too sweet. A lovely tarty zing. No real taste of Kale. In fact, next time (and with this one there will be a next one-unlike the Spicy Tomato debacle), I'd even venture another leaf or even two of Kale. Crazy, huh? It was like a sweet, yummy healthy party in my mouth. My next goal is just like I pack my lunch the night before, I am going to get all my morning juice ingredients in a ziploc ready to go the night before. Then wam, bam in the juicer juice and I am outta here! Shouldn't be too hard. So not hard that I should get off my tookus and do it now. Happy Juicing!

Photo-A-Day: Saturday, January 1st

Clearly you've discovered by now I am trying to scrounge around for photos to make up the days since the beginning of the year. This is our new sodastream. It's no secret I am a lover of all things new and novel. And we love it and use it daily. Made with Splenda and the option of always making just slightly flavored bubbly water without the sugar substitute, it's perfect for our drinking habits.

Photo-A-Day: Monday, January 3rd

Warning: Graphic! This photo wasn't taken on January 3rd but it is a product of events that happened on that day. My parathyroidectomy. This is the scar today.

Photo-A-Day: Wednesday, January 12th

Because of my love for Groupon and the great deal they had going on receiving a box of veggies and fruit for nearly half the cost ($15 for a $31.50 box), I got my first delivery of fruits and vegetables today!

Day in review

It's day two back to work and this time last week I was just getting out of the hospital from my parathyroidectomy. It's no easier to get up and I still felt a bit crappy and waaaayyyy unmotivated.  Thank goodness I feel better towards the end of the day and then at nighttime I feel great.  I'm determined that as long as I make it through this week, next week will be better. Yet I gotta kick my butt up some notches to get my billing down at work.  Productivity, productivity, productivity.  Anyway, a 3-day weekend awaits.  My favorite. Three days is just the perfect amount of time off to actually make me feel like I want to go back to work.  That is the dream, baby.  That is the dream.

I saw an old, old client today.  It was good to see them and catch up and it makes me feel great that they come back and check in.  Made my day and I told them as such.

I also had my post-op appointment and that went real well.  My scar is looking good.  The name of the game is sunblock, no sun, lotion and scar cream.  Repeat.  I felt an instant amount of joy after the appointment and, was glad that in the midst of the chaos of deciding to do the surgery at the last minute, it was done.  Another step in the road to better health.  I'll be curious to see how having this corrected in my body will make me feel better. I hope it makes me feel better and better.  I just need to lose some more weight and keep on keeping on.  I set out to take care of business this past fall and I taking care of business.

I looked at a friend's office space tonight and was inspired by her tenacity and drive to make her private practice thrive.  Yet she was candid on how incredibly hard it is to start out in private practice.  I am thankful for a great community of therapists to gain wisdom, troubleshoot and share dreams. There are therapists who I wouldn't refer my worst enemy to and there are the therapists I work with who are some incredibly amazing and hard working people.  I am constantly inspired.  We will see where this part of my journey takes me.

Look at me, I am starting to write more and do the photo-a-day thing which means I am inspired, balanced and maybe just maybe disciplined.  Let's hope that extends to my need to workout.  I think it will.

Photo-A-Day: Tuesday, January 11th

It's been rather cold lately and one of our favorite things to do is turn on our fireplace. I had to learn how to do it myself because the husband has been gone most nights this week. It ain't no thang.

Photo-A-Day: Friday, January 7th

A very blurry picture of a very pretty sunset.

Photo-A-Day: Saturday, January 8th

We took a 3-mile walk with our good friend D. This is one of the pics from that walk. I was also testing out my new zoom lense.