simply ours

I’ve been thinking it’s time to get my hair done again. I want to get it trimmed but I’m also thinking about dying it a dark red color. I need something different, and I’ve never dyed my hair anything other than my normal color. If I was in Texas I’d probably use highland village salon, but since I’m not I’ll go to my usual hair stylist.

A couple years ago there was a series on TV named Moonlight. This show was about a Vampire who worked as a Private Investigator, and is in love with a mortal, who he saved from his ex wife when the mortal was a child. It was on just at the very start of the Vampire craze on TV. This show was amazing. But the writer’s strike happened, and the show definitely suffered from not airing during the strike. It was cancelled at the end of it’s first season.

Personally I think the network execs who made that decision were complete idiots, because unless you’ve been living in a hole, you’ve noticed the small Vampire fever that’s going on right now.

So imagine my excitement when I saw that SyFy was having a Moonlight marathon today. In all honesty, Mick and Beth PWN Edward and Bella, over, and over, and over again. (Not just in the acting department either.) What better way for me to spend most of my day? It was like eating chocolate, without all the sugary and fatty side effects, only the happy, hormone releasing, happy ones.

Back in the real world, Kenna is still sick, and I’m missing school again tomorrow. I hate my life right now.

So it all started on Friday. Kenna had her six month well baby check, and received her vax. Friday night she started vomiting. Eventually she stopped, and since she wasn’t running a fever or showing any other symptoms, I assumed it was a reaction to a vax. Saturday she slept most of the day, until that night when she started vomiting again. Thats when I started vomiting too. Sunday she was perfectly 100% fine. She was well within 24 hours vomit/fever free, so on Monday I went to school and she went to daycare. When I picked her up, she was in her spare clothes, and her teachers told me she had just thrown up, and had a runny diaper, but decided not to call since they knew I was on my way. This means she has to be vomit/fever/runny diaper free for 24 hours before she can return to daycare. So I scooped her up and was able to squeeze into a last minute appointment at her doctor. The verdict? Stomach virus. She suggested putting Kenna on the BRAT diet for the time being, and just playing it by ear. As long as she stays hydrated, the doctor wasn’t concerned and said she’s handling it very well.

So here we are. No class for me, no daycare for her. Last night sucked. She refused to sleep in any position other than propped up, and screamed bloody murder every time I attempted to move her to her bed. So we squeezed onto the loveseat (Yes my 5′9″ body, somehow squeezed onto the tiniest loveseat on the face of the earth) and she still woke up every few hours.

I am exhausted, sore, and stiff.

And a question for the moms out there. I need a convertible carseat for Kenna. I’m trying to stay under $150. I need something relatively small, but still substantial. Right now I’m seriously considering the Graco Comfortsport, but I’m open to suggestions.

I personally don’t and won’t gamble but I know a lot of people who like to go to the casino. I know it’s fun to win money, I’m just too cheap and concerned about losing too much money at the casino! Though if I were to gamble I think internet casino would be a good option. I don’t enjoy going to the casino here because there is just too much smoking, I don’t usually drink, and there are so many people! But using an online casino might be a good way to avoid all those things. Though, I’m not sure I’d win much more money.

Yup today is my birthday. It doesn’t feel like it at all. Nothing exciting going on, I got some scrubs and a membership card for the Picture People, and I’m going out to dinner with my Mom. We had donuts this morning, and now I’m at the library.

The thing that’s most on my mind? I want a mudslide with dinner. But I don’t think it would be appropriate with Mom. :X

A comment on my last entry really made me realize people really don’t understand how important it is to spay and neuter your pet. So I’m going to address some of the common reasons people don’t spay or neuter.

My dog/cat is an indoor pet, they aren’t going to reproduce.
An animal that has been spayed or neutered has no chance of developing uterine or testicular cancer. In females the risk of developing mammary (breast) cancer is drastically reduced, and the likelihood of developing Urinary Infections is also reduced.

If you spay or neuter, your pet is better behaved. Males won’t be territorial, which is important if you have kids because the dog is less likely to bite while protecting “his” space. Males also won’t mark (meaning they won’t pee on your stuff). Male cats who are neutered have much much less offensive smelling urine. (Speaking from experience here). Males who are neutered won’t try to escape the yard or house in an effort to reach the neighbor’s female who is in heat.

Your female who isn’t spayed bleeds for ten days twice a year. You probably don’t put a diaper on her (and really, unless you plan on checking it constantly, please don’t, urine scalding is not pleasant.) So no diaper means she’s bleeding everywhere. And once she bleeds in your yard, every male in the area can smell it. You know how on cartoons Bugs Bunny goes nuts when he sees a hot girl bunny? Any male within smelling distance does the same thing when he gets a whiff of your girl.

I don’t want to make that decision for them.
Would you rather them develop cancer at 7 years old? Would you rather pay for treatment of the cancer? Would you rather put them down from a cancer that would have been prevented by a simple surgery? An even better question, do you think they want to experience the pain of cancer? Your pet doesn’t know the difference. A male that doesn’t experience breeding, or trying to reach a female in heat is not less happy than a male that does. A female that never comes into heat isn’t less happy. And a female who never has a litter certainly isn’t any less happy.

But altering my pet will make them fat/lazy/change their personality.
Altering your pet at the youngest possible age will have no effect on their activity level/weight/personality. If you alter your pet after sexual maturity they may eat more because of the change in hormone levels, but if you are feeding correctly, and exercising them, they will not become “fat”. The only changes in your animal are really very positive, and I explained above.

I want my children to experience the miracle of birth/My pet deserves to experience sex/I want my female to experience having a litter
70,000 puppies are born every day.
Of those puppies only 1 of 10 find a lifelong home.
An animal in a shelter undergoes euthanasia every 1.5 seconds, for no reason other than they don’t have a home.
That’s approximately 11,000 to 16,000 pets every single day.

Can you live with that?

Most communities have low cost spay and neuter programs. It is also the law in many places, just as it’s the law to have your animals up to date on their vaccines. (There are also low cost vaccine clinics.) Contact your local shelter and ask, they will be more than happy to give you the information about your area. Or, contact your local college or technical college with a Vet/Vet Tech/Vet Assistant program. Most will be more than willing to administer some vaccines at a low cost, or possibly free.

I have had both intact animals, and altered animals. My intact male Scottie I grew up with constantly was getting out of the yard to wander. He was very territorial, and aggressive to strange men. My female Rottweiler was intact. She was put down in October because she developed Mammary Cancer. My female Lab is spayed. She is happy, healthy, and very active. She was easy to train. She is not overweight. She is not aggressive or territorial (Female dogs CAN and WILL be the alpha, and WILL be as territorial as males who are intact.) My male cat, who I did not neuter until he reached sexual maturity, was MUCH easier to live with once he was neutered.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment, or you can email me at my.estrella[at]gmail.com.

This week the class is Grief and Euthanasia. Just from looking at the title you get warm fuzzies right? It’s actually not that bad. All the people who are “boohoo I don’t want to see an animal die” annoy me. If an animal is suffering, or will be suffering very soon, and it is the best choice for the animal, I have absolutely no problem with giving that poor animal the drug. And I won’t apologize for not crying over it. My own animals I cry for, I know them, I have a relationship with them, and it hurts to lose them. But animals I don’t know and don’t have a relationship with, I’m not going to cry over.

That said, today we went to a local crematorium for pets. Simply said, creepy bad vibes. Why would you want to have your pet put in an oven? Isn’t that a little bit violent? The way I see it, it’s not even your pet anymore. So the little box of ashes you get back, might as well be from your fireplace. The animal as you knew him/her is gone. Keeping that box of dust isn’t going to keep them close to you. You shouldn’t need it to remember them. You have pictures, memories, collars. I don’t understand it, so if that is insensitive I’m sorry. Of course I won’t say any of this when a client asks me, I’ll simply explain their options. My views don’t matter to them.

When we returned, we watched a video on YouTube. Check it out yourself if you’re curious why it’s important to spay and neuter. It’s called “Doctor Death”.

I really don’t have much more to say about it. Spay and neuter your pets. There are options to make it affordable. Don’t purchase any dog or cat from a breeder, check out your local breed specific rescues if you must have that purebred animal. Believe it or not, there is a very large percentage of animals in your regular “pound” or animal shelter that are purebred as well.

Just open your eyes and be aware of what is going on around you. There are hundreds of dogs and cats being killed in your city every single day. For no reason other than someone didn’t spay or neuter their animal.

SPAY AND NEUTER. ADOPT.

The end.

Yeah I’m the Grinch of Valentines. Sorry. Not a fan, never have been. Maybe it has something to do with my birthday being the day before. Hmmm. In any case, I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing for my birthday. I suppose I should do something.

In other news….this was my first week of a real class in my actual program. I was on honor roll for last month, which I don’t think was much of an accomplishment since they were basically freebie grades. My classes only last one week long, and my grade for this week was 87%. It would have been much higher but I sucked it up on my skills portion of my test. I’m hoping I do better next week, one of my goals is to stay on honor roll.

Otherwise there isn’t much going on. My Dad sent Kenna two gifts this week, which was very unexpected. I went out on another date (bowling!). And tomorrow I’m planning on bathing Lexi and taking her to get her vaccinations updated so she can start having field trips to class with me. And that is the excitement that is my life.

I’m sorry this is going to be another one of my awesome mega uplifting posts.

Let us start with the main thing on my mind right now. Last night my Mom informed me that she’s been attending AA meetings. This was news to me for a few reasons. Like the fact that she even had a drinking problem. Or maybe because she’d been telling us she was working or studying, and even went as far as to take her computer and school things with her. The initial shock hasn’t quite worn off yet, but more than shock, I’m pissed. I’m pissed that she’s been chewing me out everytime she doesn’t have money and blaming me when she’s been spending it on alcohol (apparently). I’m also pissed that she made me get a job, which made me have to stop BFing, and then babysat Kenna and was apparently drinking. I have to say, I know when she’s drunk. She was never drunk when I left Kenna or when I came home. But it doesn’t matter to me. She has apparently been drinking a variable amount every day for quite some time, and then she’d go out with her friends and binge drink. It’s BS. I’m mad as hell.

Aside from the mother issues, I’m having some issues myself that I haven’t mentioned here, or really anywhere. Back in October I noticed a lump that I assumed to be a blocked milk duct. It wasn’t painful, but it was about ping pong ball size. When it didn’t go away, or change in size, I started to watch it. I’m now not BFing at all, and pretty much dry. It’s still there. It’s one of those things that I kind of wanted to pretend didn’t exist, and if no one knew then that made it less real. I finally decided I should get it checked out. Considering all the history of Cancer in my family, I’m pretty scared. I’m going to make some phone calls and get an appointment though and find out what’s going on. So if I could get some positive vibes that would be awesome guys.

I promise my next post will be more positive.