Drywall Despair

Well, as I have said before the drywall has been hung but we are waiting for the guy to come and tape then mud. Waiting, waiting and oh yeah, waiting. Everyone says he is the best in the area and a nice guy to boot but he's finishing up a job...then he has to finishe up another job, then he'll work on ours and who knows, maybe he will be done by Thanksgiving...or maybe not.

I have heard that drywall is often a stumbling block. I have also been assured that everyone else is ready and that there *shouldn't* be any other hold-ups. This gives us a weekend to primer, either Thanksgiving weekend or the weekend after that. My dreams of painting any rooms have been hopelessly crushed. Let's talk about something more pleasant shall we?

The antique doors are back just as we were finishing up the very last of the other doors. I am not posting any pictures of the mission doors until they are done and hanging in the house. Let's just say I am pleased. I spent most of yesterday cleaning the last bits of white paint from the cracks and corners with some help from Dad. Today he is giving them one last sand and I will be staining tommorrow and next week.

Kitten has been changed back to her old food and so far so good. She is acting different lately, quiet and not as lovey--we think she is pouting from all the pills we shot down her throat because she isn't used to us handling her like that. Speaking of Kitten, we went to this craft house north of Plain City last night called Hunter's House and it was pretty cool. I picked up a grapevine star to hand on the front door and I found Andrew's Christmas present for me this year. Luckily, he was there too :) It's a painting of a cat that looks exactly like Kitten sleeping on a white bed in a country house with the window open showing a road and garden beyond. It is too sweet for words. So Andrew's Christmas shopping is basically done.

That's about all. I will post when, say the drywaller actually gets in the house! jules

A Cat on Valium is pretty darn funny.

Okay so Friday night it proved slightly more difficult to give kitten her pills. I managed in the morning because Kitten had no idea what was going on. The only medicine Andrew and I have ever had to administer was ear drops. We managed though to give her the flagyl and then—because she hadn’t eaten anything, a quarter of a little yellow valium pill. The vet said what 20 minutes and right on the nose our sweet, cuddly cat began to act like an angry drunk. I have never in my life heard Andrew laugh so hysterically for so long. I think we both felt guilty for laughing at her but we couldn’t help it. Not only did she want to be active but also the relaxant of the pill made her list, fall of, and generally careen wildly.

And, she cried for food. I put down her bowl and she ate a whole serving. So that was good. Saturday we were completely unsuccessful in giving her any pills but Sunday and this morning we did better. I think I have now perfected using the pill shooter.

Unfortunately we haven’t gotten her to eat more than a couple of tablespoons of food since then valium or no valium. She is hungry but she hates the kibble—but this seems to be the only thing on the planet that won’t make her sick so she is stuck. I sympathize but it is no excuse for her attempts to knock over the trash can in a drunkenly like binge.

But at least she isn’t getting sick and she is eating some so that is an improvement. Not much to report on the house.

Hey Look Two Posts in One Week

Wow what a stressful week it has been. Drywallers have hung all celings and drywall this week, (good) mudding and stomping may take 2 to 3 (bad) So painting may get pushed back to the week beofre or after Thanksgiving (bad.)

In the meantime I will finish painting the last of the upstairs doors and hopefully finish the antique doors. I am bringing more and more boxes to Mom and Dad's and the apartment is slowly transitioning to disaster are to desolate.

Andrew took his exams in Muncie today. Now Paramedic school to go.

The biggest news, really, is that kitten has been quite sick. The Doritos seemed to have kicked off a downward spiral of not eating, eating very little and then getting sick. I have been a stressed out mess all week over her. We now have her on this stuff called flagyl that is supposed to restore the balance of bacteria in her digestive system and I gave her the first dose this morning with a handy plastic pill shooter. She swallowed it like magic. I have helped Dad give the now departed Chubby pills and he was awful about it. We'd have to wrap him in a towel like a little cat burrito and then we found out that sometimes when he could, he would hide a pill under his tongue and sput it out outside. Andrew says Chubby was evil but that isn't true--Chubby was just clever and a little cantankerous. I miss him.

Anyway we also have little valium tablets to give to her to increase her appetite--a side effect of valium, for cats at least, is a raging case of the munchies.

So while her personality has remained unchanged, it's been quite disconcerting to see her lose weight (vet assures me that now she is at a healthy weight) and not eat. So we'll see how the weekend goes.

Not much else to report really. Everyone keeps telling us how this is an exciting time and so much is going on blah blah blah but for Andrew and me I think, it feels right now like we are hamsters in the wheel, running in place.

Maybe I will take pictures of the house this weekend but really, how exciting can a bunch of white walls be? Jules