Smelling the flowers

YAS!

Getting a cleaner to come every other week is definitely money that we realized was well spent. We all hate cleaning bathrooms and are busy people. We don't want to take the time to mess with it. Plus, just having someone give the kitchen a thorough scrub, vacuum all the floors and furniture, etc. and do some basic dusting is soooo worth it. We still have to keep the place tidy and wipe things down to clean up more immediate messes, but we're able to spend SOO much less time on house work!
 
breathemusic said:
YAS!

Getting a cleaner to come every other week is definitely money that we realized was well spent. We all hate cleaning bathrooms and are busy people. We don't want to take the time to mess with it. Plus, just having someone give the kitchen a thorough scrub, vacuum all the floors and furniture, etc. and do some basic dusting is soooo worth it. We still have to keep the place tidy and wipe things down to clean up more immediate messes, but we're able to spend SOO much less time on house work!
Click to expand...

That's so wonderful to hear. It's exactly what I am hoping to achieve. :)
 
I stayed home with a sick kid (S3) yesterday and occupied myself with cleaning the closets in my room, mainly mine, and rehoming all the miscellaneous things that accumulated there. So many things ended up in our bedroom during the course of the remodel. I removed all the tchotchkes, scraps of paper, and electronic paraphernalia that Bond seems to hang onto and is guilty of setting on the sill of the two high windows in our bedroom hallway. The sunroom runs along the other side of the hallway. I hate the clutter and I really wanted it gone. Having a cleaning person coming in gave me the excuse I needed to clean that stuff up. When I first moved in, Bond made a comment that he was fine with using my furniture in the living room as along as I didn't get rid of all of his stuff. Well, that made me overly cautious about removing his things. That being said, it's two years later and yesterday I went so far as to take his hideous Texas mirror off the wall in the master bathroom. I trotted that thing down to the basement. I am going to see if S2 wants it in his bedroom. For a kid that has lived in Wisconsin his entire life, he has a huge attachment to all things Texas, because his grandparents and aunt hail from there. I think I'll use it to my advantage. :D

Bond's work throws a lavish holiday/launch party each year. This year it's being held at the Masonic Temple. It's a huge, stone building with massive columns and wide steps across the entire front. It's close to my work; I've never been inside, although Twitch was there quite often for the Masons. I've always wondered about it, so it'll be great to finally see what's beyond its doors.

This could be a lot of fun!

"Please feel free to embrace the 1940’s WWII USO theme and come in formal wear or costume if you’d like. We have some folks wearing full military dress uniforms, regular military or formal gowns."

This morning Bond checked to see if he can bring two dates and it's a go. :) I love that he is brave enough to be out about his relationship style with his workplace. We're a curiosity for sure, but I tell myself that we help people's perception of polyamory.
 
Lovely weekend all around. I picked up my grandson Friday night and we went to B's. Bond and S2 and S3 got there about 30 minutes after we did. He brought Papa Murphy's pizzas for the boys and B made us a deconstructed pizza which was delicious.

Saturday our friend, the one in the Halloween pictures, came down for the weekend. I can't recall if I've ever given him a name, and I'm too lazy to go back through all of this to see if I did and what it was, so I'm going to give him one now. Henceforth he'll be known as Mr. Botanist. In the afternoon we took S2, S3, and my grandson to the trampoline gym. B and her two kids met us there. We're idiots because we went at peak time and wow, super busy. The two older boys decided to sit it out, but the younger three played. People cleared out during the 90 minutes we paid for and they actually had a great time.

Afterwards B dropped her kids with their dad and joined us later for date night with Mr. Botanist in tow. Again we kind of failed with our planning, because we hadn't taken the college football game timing. We had to deal with heavy traffic downtown as the game had just let out and when we did reach the restaurant it was flooded with people in Badger gear. We had reservations, but they only secure you a table - they do not ease things up in the kitchen. We were there two full hours, because for some reason our ticket got moved to the end of the line after they completed our appetizer. We did have a wonderful experience, though, with that appetizer. I was pointing out to the keto peeps (Bond and B) that if the menu offers a suitable keto side or dressing or whatever, then most restaurants will sub that in place of other things if the entree doesn't have something suitable for eating keto. Mr. Botanist commented that it was too bad we couldn't order Brussels sprouts as an app. So, when the waitress came to start our order I asked her if that was possible and she said it was and then asked if we'd like bacon with it. Um, hell yeah! She brought us out a really large plate of Brussels sprouts with bacon. It was fabulous!

When she delivered it she asked us if we were trying to eat keto and we confirmed. She said that she and her partner had been trying to go keto for two weeks, but were struggling. I shared the name of the Facebook group that I love, Low Carb Journey (Cooking Keto with Kristie), and we talked a bit. She was so happy to find resources to help. I posted on the group about our wonderful experience and she found the post the next day. :)

On Sunday Bond's wife came to visit and was there quite a while. She and Mr. Botanist dated for years and when he comes to visit (monthly) she usually comes over to see him. Things have gotten really comfortable, so it's really a nice social time. She is an artist and a writer. In October she participated in Inktober. Each day she'd post her artwork of the day. She brought us one that she printed out (she has a deluxe printer) of a raven. We're going to get it framed. When she arrived the guys were at the grocery store - Mr. Botany needed to get spices from an Indian grocer and Bond needed to grab a couple of things from Woodman's, so they were off doing that. It gave the two of us an opportunity to talk directly to one another without Bond, something we've done before. It was nice. She likes me and she said that she picked me out for him and wanted to know if I knew that. I did. We laughed about it. I asked her if she liked the new kid schedule and she does. I'm so glad. I wanted it to work for all of us and it seems to be. She said she appreciated that I was good to her kids. That was nice to hear. Overall, it was a very nice conversation.

B stopped by after her daughter's swimming lesson and we looked at pinup dresses on Amazon and took measurements. We are torn between ordering matching dresses, perhaps in different colors, or ordering different dresses, but both pinup dresses. We have decided Bond needs to rent a tux. OMG, I am so excited. I can't wait to see him in a tux. Us girls are also getting fascinator pillbox hats. It's going to be so much fun!

We planned B's bday party. Bond made a Facebook event and invitations have been sent. She wanted wings, so we're going to Buffalo Wild Wings and then to Atomic Koi for drinks following. She invited 17 people and a lot of them have said they are going. It might be a bit crazy. :)
 
B and I placed our Amazon orders for Bond's Christmas/Release Party.

Dress,
Red Crinoline (B is going with green), gloves, and fascinator pillbox hat.

Black dress and hat, bright red crinoline and gloves.

Tonight is triad date night and we are starting with a visit to the Men's Wearhouse to get Bond measured and pick out a tuxedo style, and get the rental scheduled. Afterwards we are tempted to skip dinner and go straight to sex. It's been freakin' ages!

Josse, got back to us and he said that if we were okay with the estimate they could order the carpet and probably install it on Saturday. I am so surprised! I'd be so thrilled if the new carpet was in before Thanksgiving. Bond gave him the go-ahead. Fingers crossed it happens!

Tomorrow and Thursday the cleaning person will be doing the thorough cleaning. First time experience for me to have someone clean my house. I'm relieved to have the help and pretty excited about the timing.
 
We selected a tux for Bond last night, and it's the basic James Bond style with a shawl lapel. We opted for a white pleated dress shirt and black bow tie. He takes a 42 slim jacket. He's lost so much weight and is going to look FINE!

B and I are really tempted to push him into getting Converse high tops instead of wearing patent leather dress shoes. Add some funk...but then again, it may mess up the James Bond look. He's also going to cut off the mohawk. I have a hair appointment tonight and I am going to have my hair dyed natural colors so my hair color won't compete with my red accent colors. I'm not sure if she'll be able to cover the blue/teal in my bangs, though. Sometimes that shines through unless she bleaches it. I'm thinking of going with dark, dark brown and black in the bangs, so hopefully she'll be able to cover it.

I'm kind of bummed that I have a hair appointment tonight, because I'm anxious to see what the cleaning lady accomplished. I guess it'll have to wait until 8:30 or so for me to get my first glimpse.
 
Surprise of the week was the carpet installers removing our carpet yesterday! Nice surprise. We weren't expecting any work to be done until Saturday, but it makes sense that they would want to have the demo done prior to installation day.

It looks like the cleaning person concentrated her time on the two upstairs bathrooms and our bedroom. Today I expect she'll move onto the rest of the house. I'm sure it doesn't help having a crew there removing carpet while she's trying to clean the place.
 
OMG, my house is clean! That kind of clean where the fresh smell meets your nose in a very light way and the floors glisten. Speaking of glistening, our ovens are awe inspiring! Bond declared they have never been so clean, even new. :D

Yesterday Bond let Josse know that we forgot about putting new flooring in the downstairs bathroom and between then and when I got home, Josse had not only shopped for linoleum at two different stores, but had installed it. He's a rock star!

The new carpet may be laid as early as today, but for sure by tomorrow. It's going to be so nice having it in!

I need to turn my attention to getting the guest rooms ready for holiday guests next week. Yesterday I ordered new sheets for the king sized bed, because I didn't care for the set I bought and we tried out - way too thin and after half a night the fitted sheet stretches so much that it bunches up under you. Today I got new blankets for the two twin beds and the king. The king has a new comforter set and the twin beds have old, brown bedspreads. They'll have to do for now. The blankets cost over $100. I need to spread these purchases out. Sometime this weekend I need to finish the end tables that we are using for nightstands in the bigger room. I have one mostly painted, but needed newer wood putty for some blemishes on both so I paused things and never got back to them. They absolutely have to be done by Wednesday next week.

I'd like to pull the patio table and chairs into the sunroom and wash them up. We'll probably need that table for overflow-seating on Thanksgiving. I have a resin table we could use, too, but it doesn't have chairs.

I feel bad that I haven't seen Franki is quite a few days. I really feel like a crappy girlfriend. My life is too busy for a third relationship.
 
I'm still riding a life-is-fantastic well being feeling from Thanksgiving. It was the best Thanksgiving, maybe the best holiday, that I can remember. My boys both kept telling me how much they were enjoying it every time they got me alone. It was the least stressful family get-together Josh could recall. Taylor was relieved that his grandfather was 'normal' and didn't delve into his latest conspiracy theory ideas in front of his new girlfriend.

Josh and his GF and baby arrived Wednesday night. My granddaughter is the most content baby I think I've ever been around. She's such a joy. I set them up in the large guest room on the lower level. They had plenty of room for them, a pack 'n play for baby, and a giant dog crate for the two dogs. Plus, Bond walked in with a big TV when he came home from work. It went into our bedroom and the smaller TV we had in there went into the bedroom the kids were in. We left the Roku on it, so they were able to watch Netflix. After learning that his GF is allergic to cats, I was really glad for new carpet and bedding. Although she never did have a reaction to Max, even upstairs where he has free rein.

Thursday I picked my grandson up mid-morning. His little sister had been hospitalized for asthma from Saturday evening until Wednesday afternoon, so they weren't planning anything on Thanksgiving other than enjoying being home. It was so nice to have him for four days. He has been wanting a longer visit and he got it. He was so happy to see the Grapes (great-grandparents) and extended family. He is crazy about Taylor (doesn't know Josh all that well) and had fun teasing him.

We started the afternoon with a cheese board. This is the Lichtenberg board that we did last winter. Bond took this pic before everyone one delved in. When I saw it on Facebook later it took me several seconds before I realized that this wasn't a stock image and that it was our granite, and our cheese board. Pinch me!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1txgsSHYE7FYUAY1sLcpSekEB_urOkAKY/view?usp=sharing

When my sister and parents pulled up and I hadn't put the bird in the oven yet, I kind of panicked. So, we sorted out how we wanted to season it (we had already brined it) and got it in the combi-steam oven asap. When the oven beeped an hour and fifteen minutes later indicating it had reached temp for the probe, we were super surprised. My sister was like, no way, better check that with another meat thermometer, so we did and holy cow, it was to temp! We tented it with heavy aluminum foil and it sat for close to two hours while the rest of the stuff finished cooking. When I carved it, it was at a nice serving temperature and oh, so juicy! It was absolutely delicious!

We had 25 people in total. This includes B and her kids, her ex and his gf, Ruby, and another friend from Polycocktails. The house is perfect for entertaining in. Having the patio table in the sunroom worked so well. It's a comfortable space with the late fall sunshine coming in the windows. I brought up a five drawer organizer full of Legos from the basement for my great-nephew. He's three and he was in heaven having so many Legos to play with.

After dinner when those who weren't staying over had left we started a domino game called Mexican Train. That lasted for hours. Not everyone played, including me, but those that did had a blast and were trash talking the others. Mainly they were out to get Grandma. She was soundly winning and they were being sassy saying she was cheating.

We had a big 'ole sleepover that night. My parents, my sister and brother-in-law, both boys and their GF's and the baby, plus the five of us. The next morning my mother's cousin-in-law came over for breakfast. It was so nice to see her. Her husband passed away about five years ago. They had one son and he drives truck. She had to take care of his dog the night before, so she didn't come over for dinner with us. I've always liked her, so it was really nice to have her there.

I will need to end things here and continue later.
 
Last edited:
The only blemish to the perfect holiday was not having my daughter there. But not having her there meant we could have her son there. His father doesn't want him seeing her as it causes him emotional distress, more than when he goes for long periods without seeing her.

Last night Josh and his GF and baby were back for the night. This morning they are leaving for KY. He is at such a good point in his life. He has a plan and he's implementing steps to make things happen. I am so proud of him. He applied, and was accepted, to a heavy equipment school in a nearby city to us. They are planning on moving to Wisconsin in the spring. He elected to start May 7th - one day before his 31st birthday. His main objective is to become a crane operator. He has a friend who does this and she makes six figures. He is a wonderful daddy and is an equal partner in all baby stuff with his GF. I'm proud he isn't shirking any of the care as his father did. He's incredibly patient with his GF and I can see him choosing to not engage in controversy with her. All in all, I like the man he has become.

I also like his GF quite a lot. Our family has been relieved/thrilled that she's so much better in person than she comes across on Facebook. :) She's totally enamored with Wisconsin. Right now it's all rose colored glasses.

Last night I let his dogs out of the sunroom so they could hang out with us in the living room. OMG, our kitten was thrilled and he stalked them relentlessly. Took swipes at tails, etc. It's pretty funny to watch a big dog hide herself behind daddy to escape a kitten. He was so curious and wanted to engage them so badly. Pretty cute.

Friday night we celebrated B's 41st bday with a group outing (about 20 people total - including Franki and Smatch) to BW3 followed by drinks at Atomic Koi. Josh, GF, and baby joined us for dinner and then headed back to our house when we moved onto the bar. Saturday morning they left for up north to visit his father's side of the family. We didn't do a whole lot Saturday. We just chilled and caught our breath after having so many guests in our home and so much work that goes with it. Sunday I worked in the garden, trimming the rose bushes back and removing more blasted thistles. I hate those buggers! My grandson came out and chopped wood. S2 came out and whacked at suckers on the trees, and other undesirables growing where we don't care to have them with his machete. And Bond cut the raspberry canes down so they will produce better next year. I put the garden hoses away and threw away a tarp Bond used to cover the gas grill. It was starting to rot, so if he wants the grill covered he'll need to get another or buy an actual cover for it.

In the afternoon S3 and my grandson and I met my grandson's stepmother and little sister at the Overture to see the musical, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was very good, but our seats where way too high and far from the stage. It would have been much more engaging if we had been closer to the stage. Bond and S2 were supposed to go with us, but S2 had curling (started after I bought tickets) and he was protesting going from the get-go, so that's why I offered the tickets to GS's stepmom.

Bond and S2 had just gotten home when we arrived, so we loaded up the car and went shopping for new shoes for S3. Something we had promised him when we were in Florida. Time gets away from us and I felt bad that we had made him wait that long.

Thursday night Franki and I have a date. We're going to a Lesbian Pop-up Happy Hour at a really cool Hipster bar in Madison. It's been so long since we've had a date. I'm really looking forward to it.
 
Date night with Franki was fantastic. The pop up bar was fun. The bar they held it at is very hipster. It's in an old Victorian house. We went for dinner afterwards and were back home by 10 pm. She has close to an hour drive, so it's best to end the night at a decent hour.

My youngest son wanted me to cosign for a student loan this afternoon. Got denied. I'm not sure which one of us failed the credit check, but it could be me. I suspect that Josh is in default on his student loan, plus I am very extended on credit. I find it odd that Josh may be in default, but I don't get any messages. I am paying on separate loans for him as it is, so they have my contact information.

B caused an accident this morning. An ambulance was coming up behind her and without looking she swung to the side of the road without checking and she went right in front of someone. Everyone was okay, so that's good.

Ah, gotta go. Taylor called. His credit score is abysmal and he's panicking.
 
Absolutely the best work party ever! We had a blast. It was so over the top. So many people dressed to the theme (WWII/1940's) and those who did not were still dressed in formalwear. Many of the ladies wore their hair in 40's styles with the big curl swoops and many wore fascinators or pillbox hats. It was fabulous!

Bond and me (ignore the fact that it's not a martini glass and that its content is water)

B, Bond, and me (snapped before we left for the party)

It was held in the Masonic Temple. We were picked up and returned to our home via cab, which the company paid for.

At the top of the massive columned stone steps one soldier was stationed for opening the doors and another ushered us us into the reception. Cigarette girls passed through partygoers with candy cigars, cigarettes, and mints. Waiters circulated with trays of appetizers. Even the photographers dressed in period clothing.

Dinner was in the "hangar", the lower level ballroom, where they had a big band featuring multiple soloists plus a trio of sisters. There were four professional dancers dancing while the band played during dinner. As always, there was gambling in the "casino" following dinner. This was in an old-fashioned theater that was reminiscent of a scene from Harry Potter, and I fully expected to see wizards all around us in the seats. Bond and I played blackjack. B didn't want to gamble, so I played for her, too. We did good!

They had two professional dancers on mini-stages in the casino. Oh, there was also a magician making the rounds. Chips were cashed in for raffle entries (only employees could enter the raffle.) This year employees were also given one entry for each year of employment. Bond has been there 22 years, so he had quite a few tickets to put his name on. We won nothing. :D The items on the raffle were extravagant. There were two 65" TV's, a Dyson vacuum, an iRobot Roomba - the expensive one, five snowblowers (it's Wisconsin after all), two $2,500 vacations, a $1000 Amazon gift card, an expensive laptop, spa days, and a bunch of other stuff. When they concluded the drawings the owner announced that there would be a $250 Amazon gift card for waiting for every employee at work on Monday. Following the raffle the DJ got people out on the dance floor. We danced for twenty-five to thirty minutes before calling it a night.

Magical.
 
Last edited:
We has a sick girlfriend. :( She's down and out with a cold/flu. She canceled date night early this morning and I'm relieved. I feel guilty about feeling relieved, but I seriously do not have time to suffer through a cold. However, Bond got a text from his wife this morning saying two of the boys were sick today with another cold, so I may not be able to avoid as they'll be at the house for the next five days starting tomorrow.

Holy Batman it poured rain down on us last night with an intense thunder background sound effect that would have made Hollywood proud. I took a video of the rain shooting through the rain chain. Earlier the wind had been super powerful, but had dropped to moderate when the rain was lashing down. By bedtime it had once again strengthened and surrounded us with sound. I enjoy the cozy feeling of being inside while the weather brews outside.

My sister just called to tell me about a concerning conversation with our father. She arrived at the farm and longtime family friends were there (Bud, Ellen, and their daughter, Miriam.) As they were leaving my sister and Miriam were still inside and Miriam shared that her mother's health was failing and that she was showing signs of dementia. She said that she had bought her father a plaque and that she and her mother had hung it. The next morning when she came down her mother met her at the bottom of the steps and said, "You should see what I've done" and she took her over to show her the plaque.

Well, my dad was in by the washer/dryer getting his outerwear on during this conversation and he came out and joined the conversation. After everyone said their goodbyes my parents, sister, and her husband went out and tarped the camper for winter. My dad starts telling my sister what Miriam had said about Ellen's dementia. She told him that she was there and he was all confused and couldn't remember that she was there.

My sister is going to talk to him about getting power of attorney. We knew he was forgetting emotionally stressful things, but this was something he totally forgot 10 minutes after the fact.
 
I discovered online cooking classes yesterday. Why I hadn't thought to look for them before I don't know. I live on the internet. It's my livelihood for goodness sake! Anyway, there are some great sites that offer them, including some by well-known chefs. This could be a lot of fun. I'm tempted to learn some techniques that are non-keto just to get the understanding and then apply it to keto and low-carb/high-fat cooking.

Earlier in the week I started putting together a food plan for the week Bond's mother will be with us, which starts on the 19th and culminates on the 26th. The 19th and 26th are travel days, so there won't be much need for cooking those days other than maybe breakfast on the 26th. And then there are the days when we'll likely be off doing touristy things and the times when we want to take her out to eat at some of our amazing restaurants here in Madison. So, all-in-all, I may not be cooking all that many meals. But whether she's here or already back home again, we have many days with the boys and my grandson over the holiday break, so there will be many meals to cook.

Last night Bond and I debated what to do, seeing as it was our typical date night. In the end we opted to stay home and watch TV. We watched an episode of The A Word which caught us up, and then two episodes of Stranger Things. We have one more episode left and we were tempted to watch it, but it's just over an hour in length and it wouldn't have finished until 11:30. A friend posted last night that they were starting Season 3 of Broadchurch, so now I'm raring to start that.

Bond is Christmas shopping today. I hope he has fun with it. He may also install the TV mount on the wall and get the TV mounted on it. That would be wonderful! Once it's hanging on the wall we can move my old antique dresser that the TV is currently setting on to the large guest room in the basement. Right now it kind of looks ridiculous with two dressers side by side on that wall. Once that's out of there I could put an arm chair in its place, which will look nice, but may become a place to set things. :confused:

I have a friend who puts up a GratiTuesday post on Tuesdays for people to say what they are grateful for. I always struggle with what to say, because I am so grateful every single day for Bond, our life, my girlfriends, etc. I feel like it's hard to mention one thing without mentioning them all or sounding like a douchebag. So, I'm going to say it here. I am so grateful 24/7. I am living a blessed life and I know it. I feel it. I embrace it.
 
Bond worked on the his home kit car charger instead of shopping yesterday. I'm pretty proud of him for that. He's had it as long as I've known him and he has never taken the time to work on it. It would be really great to have this for our cars, because they'll charge quicker. He accomplished a lot towards that goal, including soldering pins that are incredibly close together and tiny. I hope he continues with the project and it actually becomes a thing we can use. What didn't happen - the TV didn't get mounted on the wall. Sigh. Oh, well, another day.

Speaking of dressers, last night Max started jumping onto our large bureau that has to be at least 4' high. Nothing is safe from him anymore. I had to move my earrings, because he was mouthing them. Big kitty goes where he wants to!

I need to pay bills and order Xmas presents today, or at the very least I should make some decisions about presents. It seems the price of Instant Pot pressure cookers has jumped in the past week. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the prices drop between now and Christmas. I'd like to get one for Josh and MB, and maybe also for Tay. He loves to cook, so it might be a really good gift for him, too. For Megan I'm buying a compound miter saw. I'm unsure what to get Bond, B, or Franki.
 
I'm so glad that it's Monday and the kids will be with their mom until Wednesday and that the coming weekend we are kid-free. I'm tired of kids. LOL. This morning on my commute to work the radio station I was listening to was asking listeners if parents can have a favorite kid. One of the DJ's was saying no way and I was rolling my eyes so hard I almost gave myself a headache. :D My kids may have gotten the short straw when it came to getting parents, just sayin', because I definitely had a favorite. Although, I used to tease them all equally that one of their other siblings was my favorite. The favorite kid of the moment alway was ever changing with alarming speed as to which one was my fav. It was always a joke, but the truth is there was definitely an honest to goodness favorite. These days, though, the favorite is not the one I feel the closest to. In fact, the one I have the closest relationship with is the one that was the most distant as a kid. It's rather remarkable now and I cherish the fact that we have this relationship.

Speaking of kids, my daughter called me yesterday which is remarkable in itself. I can tell she's feeling better about life when she does that. She was on her way back from the Twin Cities, which is a two hour drive. Somehow she got hornswoggled into giving a girl that she fights with a ride to the airport when the person who was going to give her a ride went in the ditch. I'm so glad that her life is going better and she seems to be stabilizing and finding herself again. She has a unique, fortunate, living situation going on. A friend of hers rents a house and in the lower part of the house is an apartment. This house went through foreclosure and the realtor and bank never went through the house. In the basement is a treasure trove of antiques - nice ones! It's like finding a home that has been vacant for decades. She's busy cleaning and painting and making a home. She's discovered amazing pieces of furniture and one fabulous Pfaff commercial sewing machine. I'm so jelly over the sewing machine. Oh, the things I could do with that!

She's been suffering from migraines - frequent ones. I mentioned that I thought eating keto might alleviate a lot of those symptoms. Plus improve her fibro and RA symptoms. She is game to give it a try. I am going to send her some information and a cookbook, plus some staples. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and my mind focused on all of this despite the fact that I desperately wanted to go back to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep again, thank goodness! I'm concerned with how much this may cost me, but if it turns her health around and she can be gainfully employed it will save me a fortune in the long run. Plus, it'll improve her life tenfold.

We put up our Christmas tree in the sunroom. Our thinking was that if the kitten is a terror with the tree we can always shut the sliding glass doors to keep him out, but still be able to see it from the living room. Turns out he has next to no interest in it (so far). Kind of amazeballs. We put lights on the shrubs in the front. Nothing like waiting until it's cold to do that. :D Like a week earlier we had unusually high temps for our area in the 60's. Nope, gotta wait until it's 20-something before we take on the task. <snort/>

Wil visited this weekend. We had a holiday party Saturday night that all four of us, Bond, B, me, and Wil were invited to. The hosts have been friends of the guys for close to 20 years. They know them through the old polyamory discussion group. I've gone to this party for the past three years and I'm starting to know some of the other guests by sight, even if I can't assign a name to them. I'm so crappy with remembering names. It was fun and we were back home at a decent hour.

I need to end this and get busy. Ciao.
 
Our kitty gets neutered today. I'm wondering what changes we'll notice in him after this. He's not overly fond of being petted. I have wondered if with age he'll enjoy it more, or if after being altered. I'm also watching to see how this affects his growth. He could get taller due to lack of hormones telling his growth platelets to close, and he could put on extra weight. I hope that he doesn't gain extra weight and I'm hoping the raw diet we feed him helps to keep that from happening. He was pretty hungry this morning, because we put his food up at 10pm last night. Usually we put a spoonful of food in his dish for a midnight snack. Bond did give him one coffee bean this morning as is their routine. He sits at Bond's feet waiting for errant beans that fall to the floor and then bats them around before munching them. Silly kitten.

I set a date with Franki for Thursday night. We're going to walk through her city's Rotary park and ooh and ahh over the Christmas lights. It's brisk here, so it'll be a chilly walk. I'll probably be dressed five layers deep. LOL

Tonight is date night with B. I think we'll go out to eat and then back to our place, so we can keep an eye on the kitten.
 
Last edited:
Rather tired and off today. We were woken up at 12:30am to a puking kitten. He puked a fairly wide path across the front of both dressers - which is the equivalent to three bureaus, plus once in front of the window. I am so glad we have hardwood floors! OMG, it was so stinky. Bond was gagging over the smell. He ran for paper towels and a plastic bag and I did the clean up. We slept fitfully after that, mostly because of being hyperaware of the kitten. We had already been sleeping lightly because of this, but after that things were heightened.

They told Bond that we shouldn't feed him much when he picked him up from the vet's, and we didn't think we did, but evidently it was too much. I have a feeling that no matter what he'd have needed to puke up the contents of his stomach after the anesthesia regardless. He had no appetite this morning whatsoever. I hope he lets his tummy settle and that by tonight he is feeling much better. He's wearing an e-collar to keep him from licking. They told Bond that most cats don't need one after a neuter, but not Max. He is determined to lick if it comes off. I hope that he's healed enough in a day to take it off.

We checked out a new restaurant last night. It had a massive cooler with beers and ciders. Quite the sight. Afterwards we came home for some long awaited intimacy. Gads it seemed like it had been ages since we were last together in that way. The house was so cold and we were chilled from the car ride, so we used the large guest bedroom because the furnace dumps most of the hot air in there if the vents are open. It was toasty and I love the new bedding! Thick flannel sheets, ultra-soft vellux blanket and a thick comforter for the win. B said that now that she knew of comfy and warm that bed is that she may start staying over. Yay!
 
I can't believe I've been away for two weeks. Time flies by at this time of year, that's for sure. Bond's mother was here from the 19th to the 26th. Yesterday Bond, his mom, and I drove to Chicago, visited Macy's downtown to see the tree and decorations, ate in the lower level cafeteria and then dropped her at O'Hare to catch her return flight to San Antonio. I love that lady, but oh, my, she certainly can keep a stream of conversation going. I cannot talk that much. Bond and I both were exhausted by it. We did have a lovely holiday with her, so it really wasn't that bad. :)

We celebrated Christmas on the 23rd, because the boys went to their mom's on Christmas Eve at midday. My youngest son spent Friday and Saturday nights with us. He borrowed my car to pick up his girlfriend Saturday evening from the airport in Milwaukee. She's really sweet. I gifted her with bath bombs and she loved them. She said she'll have to hide them from her roommate. I am glad she likes bath bombs, but I figured they were a pretty safe gift to give someone you barely know.

My daughter loved her saw. Yay! My sister said she said that her mom knows her. :D I'm really glad my daughter joined the rest of the family at my parents. I was worried she'd stay away, so this is a really good sign. Plus, he cousin, Aaron, seems to be taking steps to mend the rift between the two of them.

My boys loved their kitchen/household stuff. I didn't know it, but Taylor had been using a crockpot that was rather unsafe, imo. In order to use it he had to set it to warm or it would be too hot and ruin things. Scary.

Bond gave his boys a PS4 VR game system and that was a hoot.

On Christmas Day we talked to Bond's older sister in Italy via Messenger video chat. That was really nice. I've never talked to her before. It was fun and interesting. She's American, but has a slight Italian accent from living there for so many years.

One of the fun things about having Bond's mother visiting was having another person validate that yes, our kitten is crazy, full of personality, bold, and quite the cat. She loved him.

Yesterday I saw a post on Facebook by my middle son's girlfriend about something happening at work, so I sent him a message asking if she went back to work. Turns out he quit his job to be a stay-at-home-daddy. He says that they'll be fine financially, as she won't have as far of a commute, but I'm doubtful. I hope he's right. Other than that, I think it's a great idea. Avery prefers daddy and he was stressed the fuck out leaving her and going to work, so it's a win to have him be the primary caregiver.

I got in my car to go to work today and found a parking ticket that Taylor failed to mention. He got it for parking in a no parking zone at the airport. $35 that I paid this morning, because he certainly doesn't have it. Seriously, it's not that hard to park where you're supposed to park. Big signs. Every where.

Bond has the week off and I returned to work today, so he took me to lunch. We hadn't made a plan ahead of time, but right before lunch time he sent me a message and then drove downtown to meet me. That was super nice. It's damn cold here right now, like -1 at noon, so we went to a restaurant that is really close to my office. I expected it to be less crowded than it normally is, considering it's the holiday week, but it was brimming with people. We opted to eat at the bar in the second room and right after we sat down it filled in on each side of us the full length of the bar. I can't tell you how much I love this man. I was sitting there eating my lunch and my heart just swells every time I look at him, think about him, listen to him. Overflowing and oozing everywhere. It's a love puddle of goo all around me.

Tonight I'm picking up my grandson. He'll be with us tonight and tomorrow night, return to his house on Friday afternoon/evening, and then I'm getting him Sunday evening for the kids' NYE party at B's, and returning him again on Monday. He called me yesterday to confirm and he can't wait. It's mutual.
 
My grandbaby had a check up yesterday. She's doing really well, and at the 24th percentile, which is up from the 15th she was at the last time. I hadn't realized she was smaller than average. She looks robust and healthy, so I never questioned things. She's healthy and that's what matters. She laughed out loud for the first time the other day. Her parents are totally enthralled and loving seeing her develop. Josh is in awe. I love that.

Bond put up the TV mount in the bedroom yesterday! S2 helped and I guess the kitten was totally involved (into everything). :D Now we'll be able to move the antique dresser to the guest room and put a chair in that corner. I was envisioning everything to be a big higher, but it's all good. The TV is rather large. It can swing left and right to move it closer to the window or bring it closer to the mirror on the bureau and it can tilt.

Bond kept it a secret and surprised me when we got home from a gaming night at our friend's. Sweet surprise!

I stumbled across a Bath Bomb Workshop on the 10th that B and Franki both sound interested in going to with me. The event doesn't list the location though, so I sent a message to the host. I hope we do it.

Franki is coming over tomorrow to hang out. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet. We wanted to fit in seeing each other before New Year's. Maybe we'll work on the cat tunnel, or maybe we'll find something outside the house to go do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top