This was the HARDEST "photo shoot" I've ever done.  He wouldn't keep still and so many of the pictures were blurred or contained half of a cat!  He is in constant motion either nuzzling us or pulling himself along the bed like a slug.  VERY CUTE!  He rarely stops purring and I've noticed that I don't think I've heard him meow, yet - just purr, non-stop.

He looks tons better today and, so far, no yucky #2 potty.  This morning, after giving him is medicines (a mess and another blog story all by itself!), I was able to clean his eyes and nose up a little bit.  His whole face just looks much more clear than yesterday.  So, here goes!

We got a new cat last night.  Not at ALL what I had pictured in my mind  - NOT ONE BIT.  I was praying for the right cat and picturing one that looked very close to Jesse-boy.  He was a tan & black tabby.  I didn't picture a gray and black tabby, but a TAN & black male tabby.  More than anything, I wanted an affection male because I miss Jesse-boy so much.

Well, after a week's search of looking at animals and my rejecting them all (and praying even longer - about 4 weeks), I found a lady with loads of kittens that I could pick from.  None were right.  They were darling, but not the right one.  Of course, the girls wanted one or two each and promised they'd care for the gazillion kittens we would have ended up with, had I said "yes" to their pleas!

The lady asked me exactly what was I wanting and she said, "Be specific."  I told her about Jesse-boy and that I was looking for a male that was equally as aggressive about being affectionate and liking me to hold and cuddle him; and also, I preferred a runt since I wanted a smaller size cat.  She paused for a moment and said, "I personally have a cat I want to show you.  He's mine, not quite a year old, he was the runt of the litter, and he is so affectionate that my family doesn't have the time to give him what he needs."

We went to her front porch and she called him . . . "Chirp!  Chirp!" . . .  (I know! - I'll explain the name later) and out came this white face with gray spots on each side of his nose, a white chest and front paws, and a pale gray tabby back and tail.  NOT AT ALL WHAT I HAD IN MIND.  A runt for sure, but ALL WRONG!!!

So as not to be rude, I sat with her on the porch bench and "Chirp" climbed into my lap and went right for my face and mouth, nuzzling and purring to beat the band.  The feeling I had in my body and deep in my heart was unbelievable!  But, no, this cat looked all wrong.  He couldn't be a possibility for my next male cat - he "looked" wrong!  And, he had crusty stuff in his eyes.   I began to talk to him and the purr was so high-pitched, the oddest purr I've ever heard.  That's when she said, "He sounds like a bird chirping, that's why we named him Chirp."  I couldn't resist the urge to pick those crusty things away from his eyes and he just leaned into me, purring the whole time, putting up no resistance to my picking at his eyes.

Sold! 

She called her husband to make sure it was okay to give him to us, reassuring him she felt VERY comfortable that he would have a good life with us.  He said it was okay.  Then I tried Jesse twice to see if he minded me getting a cat without him being along.  No answer.  She said I could take him and if Jesse didn't want him, I could bring him back the next day.

I didn't even have enough cash to give her $45 and she said whatever I had was enough.  This was her personal cat and she said she just knew we would be perfect for him.  She could see the bonding taking place between he and I; and, let me tell you - there was some HEAVY bonding taking place.  She cried when she told him good bye, which made me cry and promise her she'd never regret it.

The reason I'm not posting a picture is because . . .

FAINT OF HEART PEOPLE - STOP READING HERE!!!

On the way to his vet to get his shot records, he had diarrhea.  On me, on Rissy, on Luci, and on the (thank you Lord for) leather seat of the Suburban.  It smelled awful, like he was sick.

We got home and I gave him a pill from his vet to immediately kill all fleas.  They died within 30 - 60 minutes.  It was called "Capstar Flea Tablet" and it was a miracle worker.  Never heard of it before.  I cleaned his face with a damp cloth to get rid of the rest of the eye crustys and found he didn't have spots on his nose after all.  It was crusted drainage from his eyes.  I also washed his nostrils and found out he is totally white faced with a pink nose!!!  I cleaned his back legs and tail area to get him smelling better.  I attributed the diarrhea to nerves.  And, all was good, again.

I kept him in the carrier to keep the house clean (wasn't sure when he was going to "go" again!!!) and so he could slowly get used to our family's sounds and smells.  I put him in the guest room last night and opened his cage and also put a clean litter box there for him with a bowl of water and a small handful of kibble.  He climbed up on the bed for a while with me, guess he thought we were sleeping together, and then I left him alone.  This morning was a mess.  Diarrhea all over the outside of the litter box and on my carpet.   A little on my bedspread (easy to wash) and a little more on top of a dresser at the end of the bed.  Furthermore, his eyes and nose were crusted and his eyes had green gunk.  I called my vet.

OKAY, FAINT OF HEARTS, YOU CAN START READING AGAIN . . .

The vet said he didn't have any parasites intestinally and he definitely had an upper respiratory infection and was very contagious.  He said keeping him away from Stormy was a good idea.  He loaded me up with antibiotics for his URI and his stomach problem and told me to bring him back in a week or so for his catch-up shots.   I scheduled a "neuter" date of July 14th.  The first available time.  From his former vet's records, it looks like he was born last year on  September 4th or 5th, so we'll just pick a birthday for him and, eventually, a new name.  Calling him Chirp seems weird to ALL of us.  But, I don't want to make too many changes for him all at once.   He's been through enough in 24 hours that it won't kill us to call him Chirp for a week or two!!!

Anyhoo, no pictures today because I haven't cleaned his face (I left everything there for the vet to see) and he's resting now.  I just hate to bother him.  He's been relocated, hissed and growled at, sick, carried in the car again to the vet, poked, prodded, given a shot, given oral medication, and then rode home in the car again.  At least he felt a sense of familiarity when we carried him into our house.  He began to purr!

I figure I will take a picture in the next day or two when he's feeling a little better.  I DID weigh him at the vet and he's only 4lbs6oz - VERY SMALL for an almost 10 month old male cat.  Stormy, a runt, is a very small cat; but, next to Chirp she looks like, "GARGANTU-CAT!!! The Cat That Ate Tokyo" LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, YES, I'm thrilled, and so are the girls.  No, Stormy is NOT thrilled, but I didn't expect her to be.  Sampson could care less, as long as he can sleep on his blanket in our bathroom and someone let's him outside and remembers to let him back in (since he quit barking after Jesse-boy died).  Jesse thinks he's very cute, but the smell on his back legs (from "you know what") ruined his appetite, last night, as he was eating a bowl of cereal for dinner when I brought him to the table to show him.  I felt bad.  He had been to a Chinese food restaurant for lunch (one that we used to frequent quite often) and a roach crawled across the table.  So, he didn't eat much lunch, either.

I've been on the run and have dishes in the sink like you wouldn't believe and more laundry to go through.  I better go for now and I promise to post pictures of our new baby soon!

Spoke with Luci's med doctor on Wednesday evening.  He suggested trying some pills (we also just happened to have saved) in the morning instead of the evening.  They were the ones to make her sleepy and didn't, and they were the first ones I stopped giving her.  It's been weeks since she's had them and yesterday was the first day she took one with breakfast.  NOT ONE FIT!  Not even tears ALL DAY!  Usually, these drugs take a couple of days to get into your system to really make a difference; but, if Day One was as good as yesterday, I have high hopes that after a week we will see an even happier child.  Maybe the drugs he's given her at night, for all these years, should have really been given in the morning when she was up and interacting with others?????  We'll see.  She's in a rather contented mood this morning - at least there have been no tears or rants.

I woke up to two disturbing dreams this morning. 

The first one was me working at a job at some accounting firm (a disaster just from that much info - I'm "numbers challenged" - to say the least) and after the first month (and me working double time to understand what they taught me to do) they WERE NOT pleased with my work.  Ends up, they had a GPS device that could track every place my feet had walked, a fingerprint detector that could tell everything my hands had touched, and other scary tracking things like that.  Anyway, they had the "We've not seen much improvement in the past month" talk with me and I told them quite frankly I didn't understand my job or purpose.  That's when they revealed to me they had left me alone in the office one day on purpose and GPS tracked everywhere I had been and everything I had touched.  I was NEVER at my desk so they KNEW I wasn't working hard.  I tried to explain I was going through files at other stations to help me figure out how to handle things - but they didn't believe me.  Then they showed me a list of all the private phone calls made by me from my phone.  I tried to explain that one was a family crisis that HAD to be handled and the others was me calling off-duty employees to see if they could help me find things in the office.  They didn't believe that explanation either.  The fact they had GPS'd me really got in my craw!  I was furious inside.  Then I did the typical "old Cherylyn" thing and exploded with, "You know what?  Y'all are a bunch of weirdos using a GPS to track people's footsteps and monitoring me like a spy.  I'm not good at accounting and I told you that at the beginning.  You said you were willing to hire me and teach me despite my lack of skills.  I'm not going to apologize for what I don't know.  Y'all are just plain crazy and I quit!"  I woke up and thought, "Oh!  Thank you Lord this was only a dream/nightmare!"

Then I fell back asleep and woke up (this time I made myself get out of bed) to another nightmarish sort of dream.  I was using nail glue to press on those thick plastic nails that look like a French manicure.  I haven't had fake nails since the babies started arriving in 2001!!!  And, I never used glued on nails - I learned to do the real thing myself and did my own nails.  But, in my dream, I first did my left thumb and noticed the nail I had temporarily/permanently glued down was a shiny silver nail bed with a bright red tip!  I was mortified, but noticed it was just a sample and the rest of the nails in the kit were normal looking French nails.  Then I continued to have trouble gluing on the regular looking nails and getting them to fit my tiny nail beds.   I took the tip off of the glue so it would flow faster.  Then, horror of all horrors (this is the worst part of the nightmare) I spilled nail glue all over my grandmother's antique dresser (the one in my bedroom) and also on a doily I got from her when she died.  Then, I spilled glue (it poured out on the dresser and) on something equally as valuable - can't remember what.  I tried to use magazine pages to wipe up the mess and the paper just stuck to my full of glue hands and fingers.  The fact I dress plain and wear a headcovering makes the idea that I would EVER do my nails like that riotously funny and implausible - especially the silver nail bed with the bright red tip!  I woke up and again was so relieved it was only a dream.  But, I got out of bed to make them stop!!!

I have no idea why I would dream such stuff.  I'm not much into dream interpretation; but, I DO believe if there is an issue in your life, you may dream of fretful things, etc.  I've been having lots of weird dreams lately (always working but not completing, always trying but not succeeding, etc.) and I attribute most of it to my struggles with Luci and all the lovely changes in my body (a female one!!!) at the age of 55!!!  IT may also be due to the medicine at night that helps me stay asleep and helps me deal with Luci during the day (50mg amitriptyline).  It puts me in a deep sleep.  But, if any of you are psycho therapists - go ahead and analyze me!

I had a full day to myself yesterday, except for my own 3, and we stayed home.  I started on the mountain of laundry - the result of NOT staying home the first few days at the beginning of the week!  And all I have to do today is the girls' therapy appointment at 2pm.  Stephanie said JanaLyn will stay with her dad today and she only needs me tomorrow, Saturday.

I'm continuing to plow through the heaps of dirty clothes and get them washed, folded or hung, and back to their appropriate closets.

I had good news in the mail yesterday, Annamarie was approved for a $100 increase (monthly for difficulty of care, due to her condition.  I personally think it should have been higher, but every little bit helps.

I was reading e-mails and blog entries this morning and trying to wake up with my first cup of coffee.  Rissy asked me for permission to make breakfast for her sisters.  I said "yes," but little did I know . . .

Well, that's it for today.  I need to shower and wash my hair.  I prefer to let it air dry because I feel hot all the time and a blow dryer doesn't help.  If I shower early enough, it will be dry by the time we have to leave for the girls' therapy appointment.  IF I really get off of here and do it!  LOL!

They canceled our appointment today because the county we used to live in didn't get around to transferring our files to this new county.  He couldn't even come out to take a look out our house and give us the fingerprint forms to take in for clearing us from a criminal past!  He said they HAVE TO wait until they review our file to be sure there was never a complaint filed against us.  I told him the Oklahoma State Head of the foster department would give us a great review and recommend us highly (he personally called us several years back, as did the Oklahoma State head of the adoption department) and told him we had been considered an excellent home. 

No go.  Rules are rules.

Jesse is furious.  I'm worn out from trying to keep youngsters happy and the house picked up.  *I* need alone time, so I guess I'll make the grocery store trip today while Jesse stays home with JanaLyn and the girls.

Venting for just a moment here: 

WHY CAN'T THE STATE SEE THAT THE REASON THEY LOSE SO MANY FOSTER PARENTS IS THE LACK OF COMPETENCY WITHIN THEIR OWN OFFICES?  IT'S RARELY THE CASEWORKERS WHO CAUSE PROBLEMS,  BUT THE LAST MINUTE CANCELED APPOINTMENTS, NO SHOW APPOINTMENTS, ETC. THAT MAKE FOSTER PARENTS FED UP AND FINALLY GIVE UP AND QUIT!  THE PAPERWORK MUST BE SO BACKLOGGED AND WITH NO CHANCE OF GETTING THEIR HEADS ABOVE WATER.

THE STATE IS DESPERATE FOR FOSTER FAMILIES AND WE'VE BEEN TRYING FOR OVER A MONTH JUST TO GET AN APPLICATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, leaving for Wal-Mart ALL ALONE!!!!!    I can hardly believe I'll have some alone time!!!

------

over and out

I need to jump in the bathtub quickly and get dressed.

AND THEN, Stephanie should be arriving soon with JanaLyn.  She will be here while Stephanie works.

AND THEN, I have beds to make beds and have rooms to clean.

AND THEN, I have to run a quick vacuum job.

AND THEN, I will be monitoring every toy and making sure it's put back in place!

AND THEN, in the early afternoon, I need to split two whole chickens in half so I can add barbecue sauce and slow cook them in the oven in a roasting pan.  Thus the reason for getting them in the oven mid-day.

AND THEN, at 3pm, the Department of Human Services (child division) will be coming to our home to interview us.  The caseworker will be doing a home study, AND THEN want to see the whole house (rolling my eyes!!!).  AND THEN our pantry, AND THEN inside of the refrigerator (they need to make sure you already have enough food to feed your own family).  AND THEN, see where we store our medicine (safety issues).  AND THEN, look at the books on my bookcase (to make sure the foster family is literate!!!), and so on.  I've given up on trying to have a perfectly spotless house and am no longer intimidated by DHS doing home studies (been through several), or having a wiped clean refrigerator and military made beds, etc.  I've found most foster homes aren't as clean as my house on a bad day - so some of the pressure is off of me to be a clean freak for this interview, HOWEVER . . .

AND THEN, in the middle of our interview, Stephanie should be here to pick up JanaLyn.  I'm not sure if he'll want to interview her, too, since she is a source of our back-up support with our children.

AND THEN, after our interview, we will kick back and quit trying to impress the world!

Needless to say, lots going on that HAS to go on today.  I'm excited to get the ball rolling with foster care people and already know the endlessness of the paperwork, the this, the that . . .   I have a feeling we will be doing everything over like we've never fostered before.  Not unless God jumps hoops for us and we can skip some of the training classes.  Dear Lord???

Have a good day!

Addendum:

Well what do you know!  After beginning to proof read this, JanaLyn and Stephanie showed up early and (bless her heart) Rissy is in the kitchen making sausage to go with their Little Debbi's dessert breakfast!

2nd Addendum:

I've given up trying to proof read this AND I think I'm off to have a "Little Debbie" myself!

My laundry room surprised me by only having enough detergent to do 3 loads of Jesse's clothes and 1 of those loads was whites.  I had just enough bleach for the his whites.

Jesse surprised me by taking us all to lunch.  The "Olive Garden" because their TV ads have been too tempting.  See . . . that's why we aren't supposed to watch TV!!!

We ordered lunch and Luci surprised me because she had wanted to sit next to me and was being very well behaved . . . but, suddenly took a downward swoop (for the worse) and insisted she was sick, her stomach hurt, she needed to go to the restroom, she didn't want sit with me, she wanted to sit with her dad . . . . that was just after our food arrived.  (sigh)

I tried to surprise my friend Lori K (whose birthday is today) by calling her on my cell from the restaurant's lobby and think I might have had a rotten connection.  I try to call at the time she was born (her mother used to do that before she died) and I'm not even sure if she got my message.  She's having a less than great day, so if all my bloggy friends could drop her way and wish her a happy b-day, I'd appreciate it.

After a few bites of my delicious dinner (that breaded chicken with tortellini pasta in asiago sauce that they've been advertising) AFTER I got back from my phone call, I caved and just took all 3 girls to the restroom.  Sometimes I feel they are part dog - marking every tree/place we go.  I don't think there is one establishment with a public restroom we haven't visited!

I came back to the table a second time and our waitress surprised me with some extra asiago sauce.

We got in the car and Jesse refused to tell us where we were going.  HE surprised me by going to PetSmart to try to find me a new male tabby kitten.  They had none, but gave me the # of the gal they got all their kittens from.  She took my name and number and cat requirements and said she'd call me when she found a good match.

Then Jesse surprised me and we went to Wal-Mart to get more detergent, bleach, and fabric softener.  I don't know, there might have been an ulterior motive in "that" surprise.

Then he surprised me by filling up my tank (gulp, gulp, gulp - that's ME and not my gas tank!!!) and then stopping to have it washed.  Of course, with all the storms (and we have had some whoppers today) I don't know how long it will stay nice, since it's parked in the driveway.

THEN, he surprised me by stopping at our local animal shelter.  My allergies are still bothering me.  Such a dog kennel smell it makes me quake in my boots (well loafers, I don't want to be called a liar!) and they had nothing.  Very dirty looking place and I'm not sure I'd feel secure getting a kitten from them.  They gave me the name of another shelter (the city where Jesse and I first lived) and said the gal would be there tomorrow and ALWAYS has kittens.

Anyway, Luci continued whining, punching or poking her sisters, and (her new thing) shaking her fist in their faces - and so on throughout Wal-Mart, PetSmart and everywhere else we drove.  She's now in bed napping after screaming that high pitched scream I have come to know and love (NOT!) herself to sleep.

So, it's been a nice family day and a day of surprises.  Luci is something we put up with on these bad days of hers.  Despite all of her antics, it was still a nice day.

Don't forget my friend Lori, please! 

Between the storm brewing and the knowledge I live in a safe home, finding roses that were truly breath-taking, and then finding my cat watching TV - I felt satisfied and less "burdened," I guess you could say.

I'm feeling more grateful than (I KNOW) I sounded in my earlier post today and I am now happy to say I am hearing, "Bless the Lord O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:"  Psalm 103:1-2

THANK YOU to all of you who are praying for our family.  THIS post right now is a direct result of YOUR prayers.  THANK YOU!

Father's Day was busy and I didn't take ANY pictures or have a minute to write.  We opened some Father's Day Gifts (clothes from the girls shorts/shirt sets, and some "clean your car" accessories from me) after everyone got up in the morning.  One day last week, I went to Home Depot who, surprisingly, had a charcoal smoker for $20 LESS than Wal-Mart and that was his gift from all of us.  One of Jesse's friends met me at the house and carried it back (to the furthest end of the house!!!) and hid it in Rissy's closet.  I had asked the guy at Home Depot (Rissy went to seek help for me!) if the box weighed a million pounds and he laughed and said, "No, it actually weighs a million and one pounds" - I believe one of us was very close!!!  It was a monster to lift.

We decided to go out for lunch (late) for Father's Day, but ended up going a bit later than planned.  Luci had one of her WORST fits and we had to let her calm down before leaving.  As it worked out, the wait was only 25 minutes for a table and would have been a much longer wait, had we gone a little earlier.

We went to Red Lobster.  We chose to no longer eat pork and shellfish almost 3 years ago after reading "The Maker's Diet."  Not so much because we think the O.T. Bible verses are MEANT to be followed today, but more from the standpoint of it sounded like a much healthier way of eating.  HOWEVER, we "sinned" (LOL - really, I am!!!) and I had coconut shrimp with a "pina colada" dip and Jesse ordered a variety platter of lobster, scallops, and shrimp.  Our waitress was great, despite the still huge crowds waiting to be served, and the food was just "good" - but, not "out of this world," which we had really hoped it would be.

We came back to the house (Luci was having a hard time holding herself together at the restaurant) and we were so stuffed from the appetizers, endless supply of butter/cheese/biscuits, and our meals.  We all laid down.  Stephanie stopped by with a gift from Bath & Body Works for Jesse - a wonderful smelling (kinda pine smelling) bath wash.  She wanted to borrow a series of Jane Austin DVD's and left to go look through our collection of movies.  Jesse went to Luci's room to comfort her, as she WASN'T going to take a nap and cried and whined until we couldn't stand listening to her.  I thought I'd lay my head down a moment on our bed while Stephanie looked through our movie collection and promptly fell asleep.  Talk about rude!  Stephanie woke me up and said, "Well, Mom, I guess since everyone is asleep (????? we were ALL asleep ?????!!!!), I'll leave.  I muttered something about it being okay and I loved her and drifted back to sleep.  I slept for almost two hours!!!

Luci was the only one hungry for dinner (because she complained about everything she ordered and complained about everything of our own meals we offered her, so she hadn't really eaten much at the restaurant) and we handed her a cheese stick.  We decided I should make an ice cream run and I came back with a 1/2 gallon of Cookies & Cream (Jesse's favorite) and a 1/2 gallon of Rocky Road.  I felt sleepy AGAIN!!! - a little before 10pm and Jesse told me to go on off to bed.  He needed to watch the weather to see if he would be able to mow today.  I immediately fell asleep and had to force myself up this morning! 

As it was, it stormed (thunder & lightning accompanied with a down pour) a bit this morning and went away as quickly as it arrived.  So, Jesse waited a bit and went to mow anyway, since he has a helper today.  It's REALLY supposed to be stormy tomorrow.  I think he wants to do today AND tomorrow's mowing jobs today if at all possible.

Most things around the house are still caught up - eating out, instead of cooking at home, helps!!!

I plan to get a few little things done, but mainly kick back and take it easy today.  I'm really wanting to read more in that book (I told you about last week) that talks about Anger, by John Coblenz.  It's been hard to find time to read without being interrupted every other sentence by a child needing something!

Well, it's past time for lunch.  I'm going to wave my hands in front of the refrigerator and see if I can't produce something good to eat!!!  There may be some taco meat left that can be made into beef and cheese burritos.  See?  I haven't even waved my  hands in front of the refrigerator and I think I may have already come up with something different for lunch!!!  We live on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, and the occasional bologna sandwich or hotdog lunches.  After a while it seems B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!!  Burritos sound good!

Byeee!

So there you have it!  SHE'S officially 30 and I'm offically  the mother of a 30yo child!