I took Tiger to the vet on Fri at 10am . He's been losing weight for the last several months. He was 12 pounds his whole life. He's now down to 9 (I thought it was 8). I was at the vet all day. After $500 in tests they sent me to the specialty vet that afternoon. We saw them at 4. One of his kidneys is shot and the other is working overtime at 3/4 the speed. His heart is working hard too. It's pretty much high bp.

Tiger's now on 3 meds, 1 for the kidney, one for the heart, and the last for both. The last one might only be for a week or so for an infection. This is the vet Tiger will be seeing from now on.

We got home around 9. My poor baby hadn't eaten at all today. At 3:00 I realized that he probably hadn't had water either, so was able to get him some.

It's been a long day...

It's been a few days now - maybe a week - that Patrick Swayze died. It keeps hitting me. The last time I saw him was with Barbara Walters earlier this year. Boy how time flies.

I had my rides today and found out what happened to their computer. It died last Thursday 3a.m. Those people had to look up old records of people they had to transport daily - to work, school, etc, then write everything down for the drivers. Everybody that had been scheduled the day before was deleted. I'm so glad I didn't call them last week for my doctor appt on Friday. Everyone at the office has been working from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday - the weekend included.

My return ride was at 3pm and the driver said the computer was up, kind of. They'll be working o.t. again to check on everything, re-enter data, etc. They would have to go by printed records of the week before.

We are so dependent of computers. It reminds me of an article I saw a few weeks ago about a town here in CA that was shut down because road workers cut power lines. It took a few days (I think) to correct the problem.

I just called LINK to schedule a ride for tomarrow to a UV light treatment and found out why their phone was so busy all day. I was on hold for over 5 min each time, and I've called 4 times. I finally got through. The guy I talked to asked for my phone number first, which is typically not the first question, then the addresses of where I will be picked up and want to go.

That's when I asked if their computer is down. Yep. That explains it all. These poor people, I feel so sorry for them.

I was actually planning on going to a hair salon after the light treatment, then going home, but decided it was going to be hard enough for them.

They just called back and gave me the return time home. They're still working on the first ride.

It's a good thing the SF Faire was cancelled because my sister's funeral is that Saturday. I'll probably be with my family that whole weekend, including aunt's and uncle's. You know what they say: The only time you see family are at weddings and funerals.

Another one of my sister's (Leah) is flying in from Texas a day or two before the funeral. We haven't seen each other for over 7 years.

I still only cry when I talk about it.

I remembered hearing from Karyn 1 week ago about my dad's sister dying, then Sheila died, now her ex-husband's mother is dying (heard that from Sheila's son).

The 3 deaths thing.

I had gotten to bed @ 12 with my mind racing. I was remembering the last year of my mom's life battling cancer and then I got the call from one of my sister's - Karyn - about another one of our sister's - Sheila.

Sheila just died, most likely from over-dosing, but they aren't sure yet. For some reason I'm not emotional yet. She had scitzofrenia (sp) and couldn't afford the meds she'd been on.

I had also thought about one of my cats a few hours ago. Karyn told me about a kitten she had just gotten. It's hyper and can't be held because of it, just like what I'd been thinking about with our cat.

SLO faire is this weekend and hubby's at it. I'm glad I decided not to go so that I could have gotten the call.

It's interesting the things I've thought about......and then happened.

I was getting another UV light treatment Wednesday and took a prescription in to be filled. I thougt I needed to have it that day so waited for it. That was the wrong day for it. The small pharmacy was full of people in the pick-up line. This rarely ever happens at this location. It took forever to get the med. It was so backed up that my name wasn't on the board by the time I returned to get it (after the UV treatment). Come to find out a lot of the pharmacy staff called in sick that day. They were too busy filling the meds to worry about the sign.

After I got out of the mess I went outside to sit down to recuperate from the standing room only. I looked around and saw a small plastic bag on a table filled with something. I went over and found a new still-in-the-box quick phone. I immediately went to the gift shop to ask the teller where I shouid take it. She called the officer on duty over and presented me as the good samaritan handing in a lost-and-found.

I smile every time I think about it.

I turned the news on at 5:30 and heard that Michal Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both died today.

I just now thought to blog about this. I was watching World News Tonight on channel 7 the first week or so of this month. Britain's Got Talent had an older woman with a saucy attitude. She sang "I dreamed a dream" from Les Miserable. Everyone was stunned and overwhelmed by her voice. I got chills the very moment she started. Literally. Those chills, and tears too, continued throughout the song. She had a standing ovation from EVERYONE in the auditorium.

I knew Scott would want to see it so I ran the article back when it finished. We watched it several times. I still get the chills and tears every time I see it.

It was a combo of faire and Stargate SG-1 or MacGyver. Here goes:

We parked our truck, next to another truck, in front of a 7-11. It looked like we had a camper on top of our truck. I was headed back to the truck, not from the 7-11 but toward it from somewhere opposite.

A man ran out of the store with a large paper bag and hopped on a motorcycle. Another man ran out to catch him but wasn't able to. A lady was at the door with a paperbag, so he stole it and looked in it just in case. No luck. The dream continues -

That night I was watching Stargate and what did I see? A few feet of that trailer was sticking out in the background - Who can duplicate that bright red plaid trailer that is definitely unique? The man that hopped on the bike was Richard Dean Anderson. My hubby didn't believe me in the dream.

I woke up then and told hubby about it. I haven't remembered a dream for years, even when I woke up during a dream! I might remember a tiny bit of it but then completely forget it . Now Scott remembers every little detail of his dreams, and can even continue it after waking up for a second then going back to sleep!!!!

Some might call them weeds, but then some people call California Poppies that. They are small, yellow, bell shaped flowers with long stems. I've wondered a long time what their name was and finally got it. I pulled one and showed a neighbor. She said it's a buttercup. Hubby's mom came over and I asked her for the name of the flower (she know's a LOT of flowers). She didn't know and I was somewhat surprised about that. She told me to ask one of her daughters who was with her who said a "formal, scientific " name of it (that's what it sounded like to me) i.e. homo sapius for humans. Anywho, she called it oxalis, that's the only name she knows for it. She was right.

I got that verification from hubby's mom. She called me the following day and told me about an article in the newspaper about that same sort of thing and faxed it to me. It says the following - "Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae)is definitely a weed in the Bay Area. New gardeners are enchanted by the innocent-looking rosettes of cloverlike leaves and the shockingly bright yellow flowers".

If I had asked her the following day about it, she wouldn't have remembered it. She even said that. The timing really is everything.

Now, I know this is necessary, but our policians voted to "borrow" from the lottery system. First, we all know it was created to benefit the schools. Second, who's going to be playing it now? Everyone's broke!

Corporations are the budget winners with tax bresks! Hopefully it would be helpful with hiring employees!!!! It better be.

$690 million will "Change in Tax Calculations"
$500 million wil help "Hollywood production Credits"
$300 thousand per person for "Small business for Hiring"

The budget losers are

$12.2 Billion more for the "Individual taxpayers
$8.6 Billion more for "Cutting education" AGAIN
$1.5 Billion for "Social Programs"

New State Revenue is

1 Cent Sales Tax Increase
0.25% Personal Income Tax Increase
77% Vehicle License Fee Increase
Reduction for Dependent Child Tax Credit from $300 to $100

The increases on an a family of 4 would cost an average $1400/year

Thankfully they agreed NOT to force a 12% tax on gas, but I think it would probably be the BEST tax.

With schools it means classes are getting even bigger - which makes teaching the kids even harder, the lunches will be fewer, books and teaching necessities fewer, and LESS TEACHERS.

And here's a good one - they aren't sure WHEN they'll be able to send out tax refund checks.

All this means nobody's going to get a raise, more layoffs, more companies going under.

Something they'll be doing is having a special ballot measures coming in May, which are the following:

Spending Cap
Freeze lawmakers pay in deficit years (This is the one I've been wanting for a LONG time)
Send lottery money to general fund (Which is what I'm also pissed about. That's why California HAS a lottery.

I realized earlier today that I could have got my cold (or any other illness) at Kaiser, where I go at least twice a week for UV light treatments.

With all the people I see while going there by bus, getting to the hospital with who-knows how many people there, and coming home on another bus, sickness would be easy.

I'm doing much better now. Not completely recovered, but was able to go for the light treatment today.

I've been in bed since Sat. I got a sore throat last week Tue. It wasn't too bad, but kept getting a little worse every day. Sat I woke up with the same slightly sore throat but exhaustion. I mean I was wooped. I only ate oatmeal and small sandwiches after I woke up, typically around 1, 5 & 8-ish. I had to get up several times/day to take meds and goop up to hydrate my skin. Then I went back to bed.

I know, I should have had soup and that kind of stuff. I just didn't want to take the time to make it.

I finally woke up not exhausted yesterday afternoon, not able to do much but was awake til late in the pm. I got up this a.m. the same way and have to take it easy again. Trying to do things, but have to go slow.

I've been coughing and my asthma started yesterday. I'm really peeved about that. It was controlled for 6 months! Not anymore. Trying to cough crap out now, but not able. I know TMI, but deal.

Scott took all of our cats in for another check up yesterday. Tests and such are done. Drop off time starts at 7:30 a.m., so that's when they got there. Hubby got a call at 3:30 p.m. from the vet saying Tiger was an "attack cat" and they couldn't touch him so could they give him a shot to calm him down? The reply was a question. If Tiger get's the shot, when would he be completely back/awake? The final answer was tomarrow morning. The final reply was "no".

They already know that Tiger is an "attack cat" and should be seen asap. It's in his file. He's gotten thinner and it seems that he hasn't been eating much. I can see his bones. I weighed him Wed. He's now 10 pounds, he used to be 12/13 pounds.

Scott went to pick them up last night @ 6 p.m. or so. He was furious with the call and had a talk with the vet when he got there. Apparently they only have 2 vets. One is scheduled for surgeries all day so "do not disturb". The other checks all the animals WITH appts AND walk-in's. That explains why our babies are checked so late. The vet said that it will never change, so they will now make appts to check Tiger with Scott THERE. I'll do my best to not do walk-in's anymore.

I asked Scott if they would do everything. That's tests, shots, looking at the whole body, everything. YES! Their appt is Sat at 3.

I just got a call reminding us about the appt and that the drop off time is 9am to 12pm (for weekends). I said "Wait a minute, he's scheduled for 3pm". The reply was "Oh, really?" In the background I heard another voice saying "Oh, Tiger? Yeah, he has an appt at 3 with the dr".

I fealt sorry for the caller. She apparently didn't know. The call ended with an "I'm sorry about that". My reply was "No problem. Now you know."

I always try to end phone calls with a positive note. I'm too nice.

Whenever I see someone doing some kind of job that involves service work (People cleaning bathrooms, changing garbage bags, ER respondents, etc) I always thank them. Most of those people always think I'm crazy, and shocked for someone to say it. The thing is they NEVER hear it. From any of us. We take it forgranted. I always think of it this way - if they didn't do it than how would the world look, be?

For the last week or so I've been fuller, faster. I can't eat a whole sandwich. There's always a few bites left over. Today I made a sandwich with only 1 piece of bread and 1/2 the contents. I was stuffed. Same goes with dinner. However, I should take something with me to eat before I take my meds. I was dizzy after taking them this afternoon for 3 hours today. It's typically only for 1 hour.

I'm not complaining. I just realized/remembered that my thyroid med was increased a few weeks ago. That's possibly what it is. We'll see.

We get newsletters from the garbage co. every quarter, or so. I saved the last one because it lists all the things they do & don't take for recycling. I read it earlier and in the last row of things they take is plastic bags. I was hopping up & down.

We save all the bags we get for either reuse or to recycle. The problem is that we keep forgetting to take the bags to the store (for them to recyle) when we go shopping. We had at least 8 stuffed bags full of them, some from grocery stores, others from the mall - meaning huge bags.

I wanted to make sure that they take plastic bags from grocery stores, etc so I called them. They said they do. I am so happy!!! :-> Now I can put them in our recyle bin.

I blogged about one of our cats having surgery in March. One of his muscles/ligaments on his back right leg was torn. Before the tear, every now and then, he would attack the roll of hanging toilet paper. He hasn't done it since.

As I said, I knock on wood every time I think about it.

I talked to my step-dads (Jimmy) sister (Dar) and another sisters husband (Gil). They said he died of pneumonia (sp?). He went to the hospital last week Monday. He's a/was a man who didn't go to the hospital. He hated them, just like my mom. The dr's didn't call Jimmy's family till he was literally dying. He was barely aware they were there. (Hey, it a rhyme).

They didn't know that my mom's ashes are in a cemetary, grave yard, vault, whatever it's called. They told me to call my step brother (Jimmy Jr). I called my sissy at work (who can't talk about anything personal). She'll call me later because she talked to Jr. last night.

Dar, Gil and I recalled those good-old-days, and life in general. Apparently, Dar and Jimmy also had a fall-out last year. Over money, just like Karyn. One of them told me that Jimmy found a reciept for the motor that was $300 less than what he paid. That's what caused the fall-out from my sister.


Dar also took care of him, fed him, took him to his chemo and other dr appts when he was going thru cancer @ 5 years ago.

I asked both of them if they wouldn't mind having a family reunion. They said it sounded good. So, I'll talk to my sis about it. We will all probably see each other when his ashes are put in the wall. Whether they go next to my mom or next to his mom. We'll see. That will happen on the 13th.