June 2023 in Review

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Thistle

Have you ever spent a long period of time just going through the motions, and looking back, it feels like you were sleeping/dreaming for most of that time? That’s what June felt like for me. Part of that was the hyperfocus on kittens, as well as one particular kitten causing me to lose sleep when she wanted to play at night. Partly it was that I spent the first half of the month trying to catch up from being gone (which honestly is still ongoing because KITTENS). Part of it was the heat, and the binging TV whenever I needed a break from kittens. I barely spent any time just to myself, or really in the moment (except in the moment with kittens). (Kittens is the theme of the month, obviously.) So the last month has felt like one big long dream that I can barely remember. Not a bad month, necessarily, but I feel like I need some real definitive sleep and awake time.

Reading and Watching
It has been incredibly difficult to read this month, what with taking care of two needy kittens. (See? This is the theme!) I barely managed a single book through mid-month, and only finished the last three in the last 1.5 weeks. For a time, I wasn’t sure I’d managed more than the one! I also abandoned my newest running memoir because 40% in, it sounded like one long advertisement for positive thinking from someone who had drunk very deeply of the koolaid, and I didn’t know how I could stand another five hours of that. Oh well. By far my fave book of the month is the one that I took the longest over reading – Every Gift a Curse.

On the other hand, TV was pretty much my go-to when I needed downtime. I finished watching the Junior Bake Off season that I’d been halfway through pre-cruise, binged my way through the new Manifest releases and Ultimatum: Queer Love, and tried out a bunch of new shoes with L (Schmigadoon, The Shrink Next Door, The Big Door Prize). We all went to watch the new Spiderverse in theatre, too, which was excellent except for the major cliffhanger none of us knew it would end on!!! Toward the end of the month, the new trash shows like Temptation Island and The Big D popped on, so yeah I’ve been watching those too. My brain has definitely needed no-thoughts time!!

Goals
I spent this month surviving, not working toward goals. Other than the every-month kinds of goals (like printing photo books), the only things I crossed off the list were two new-to-me hanging event/locations: Hopscotch and a new tattoo shop! Both have been on the list for years, so I’m happy to finally get to them. I also finally revamped my bucket list to make this an ongoing, changeable format rather than trying to just update it every few years into new lists.

Health/Fitness
I was very happy to hit a few weight-based milestones, but otherwise, there has been almost no progress in terms of health. I haven’t exercised anywhere near as much as I liked (re: kittens and heat), and I’ve spent a lot of time napping. I miss being on a cruise, where I had to walk everywhere. Honestly, if I could spend a few years living on a boat like that? Absolutely I would. But I’m not going to complain too hard – this is the first year in several where my health has been relatively stable. I’m miles better than where I was at this time last year!

Favorite Photos
I didn’t take a whole lot of photos this month. It was very hot and I was very busy. Even my personal monthly photoshoot was done in a random, haphazard fashion that was quick, easy, and frankly boring. But here are the month’s highlights.

A baby anole whose body was no bigger than the top of my thumb (!!!); two extremely cute photos of Florence; and a laughing outtake photo of Reneé and Rozzie at Mildfire

Portrait of a cashier who ought to be a model; portrait of a child half in this world, half in the world of the fae; my one good photo from my rushed-and-aborted June self portrait shoot; “walking with his ghost” – a portrait of movement and reflections inside the dancing light room at Hopscotch

Highlights of June
Moments that floated out of the dreamlike fog, some of which still have to do with kittens:

  • being in the right place at the right time to save a kitten, and then the intake coordinator for fosters at ADL allowing her to become an official foster
  • Fleabag/Florence sleeping on my chest/neck at night
  • the sole random sunflower that began to grow in our front yard finally bloomed!
  • finally doing a tiny photoshoot (with L) in an area that caught my attention a few months back
  • getting photos printed for my giant US States Visited map!
  • hitting a new health milestone!
  • hanging out at Mildfire with L, Reneé, and Rozzie
  • Mysterium Park (new game that I love so much, though L hates it, heh)
  • my new zoom lens, so much better than the last two! (Including one that literally stopped working after half a dozen uses!)
  • pinball night with friends –>
  • Hopscotch!
  • my awesome Sel box from the Sanderson kickstarter, which includes a wax seal kit!
  • setting up next summer’s vacation with J, as well as a solo vacation this coming autumn
  • figuring out what I want to do for my next tattoo, finally! Then setting it up, and getting it done on the last day of June! I’ll write up a post about this once it’s healed enough to get good pics.

Coming up in July
It’s our second-biggest birthday month, but other than birthdays, it’s just heat heat and more heat. Given that June suddenly turned into a major heat wave with record-breaking temps, I’m a little scared of what’s coming…we were spoiled with a relatively cool April and May! My brother is also supposed to come visit sometime this month, so I’m looking forward to that. Plus a break from foster kittens for a bit. Maybe we’ll actually get our living room painted two months after we bought the paint for it!

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Sunday Coffee – Audible Scam

Posted on July 2, 2023 by Thistle

A few months ago, I purchased a book from Audible through one of their sales, for something like $7. Recently, I started listening to it, but it wasn’t catching my attention and I didn’t think it would do so in the future, so I went to return it. Now, Audible has been really convoluted and awful about returns the last few years. Half the time, I have to go through customer service to do a return for no reason at all. They claim it’s simply a policy change through Amazon, but it’s annoying every time and I’ve slowly started moving away from Audible as a source of audiobooks. The whole reason I ever felt comfortable purchasing audiobooks in advance was the return policy, because I’m sorry, a five-minute audio preview isn’t always enough to know if you’re going to like a book!

So for the last 18 months or so, I’ve been really choosy about which books I grab from Audible and I very rarely get anything on a sales deal unless it’s a book I’ve already read/listened to and I know I want. Yeah, if you have a $5 copy of an audiobook I loved through Libby, I might grab that up. But earlier this year, I let myself be tempted into buying two $5-$7 books, one by an author I knew, and one with a really amazing premise. That latter is the one I couldn’t get into, and went to return.

So of course, it says the book isn’t eligible for return. Usually, all of my books will say that because I have to contact customer service for 90% of returns these days, even though I literally return about 5% of what I purchase. But when I contacted customer service, I was told that only books bought with credits could be returned, no cash purchases.

Um, wtf??

I asked when that policy went into place, because I was certainly never told about it. The CS rep ignored the question and instead said it was now Audible’s policy to not give refunds for any titles purchased with money after 10/23/22. I know that’s not the date of the policy, though, because I last returned a cash title in January this year. Without a problem, actually. I didn’t even have to go though the help desk for that one.

This new policy really pisses me off, especially as Audible continues to push their daily deals, and they’ve added an “everything’s on sale” type sale once or twice a month. They’re trying to get people to buy without credits by having these prices lower than the credits, but then people are stuck with audiobooks that they may not like because they’re blanket-refusing to allow returns of anything purchased outside the credit system. It’s exploitative and manipulative, like Amazon in general. Absolute bullshit.

TBH, my response was, okay, I can’t return the cash title. Instead, I’m going to start returning books I bought with credits that I read but didn’t like. I’ve literally never returned a book that I finished before, no matter how much I disliked it. For me, if I read a book, to return it for any reason was dishonest. But Amazon doesn’t care about being dishonest to its customer base. That’s been clear for many, many years. So why should I care about them? If I don’t want to keep the book, why should I? Done. Returned. I’ll keep doing it until there are no more credit-purchases in the last year that I don’t want to own.

Beyond that, it’s time for me to explore other audio options. I know Spotify is trying to set up as a competitor for Audible. I don’t have a Spotify account, but maybe I should get one. A few people have recommended other services on other social media outlets (libro.fm, Libby, Scribd, Chirp) and I’m looking into any of those that are purchase services (I already use Libby for audio through my library). Unfortunately, I purchased an entire year of Audible credits up front so I have a bunch still to use. Def don’t plan to do that again, and I have about six months to use up the rest of my credits and decide where I want to move to. Slowly getting rid of all the Amazon-based services in my life, Goodreads, Audible…

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Zero Days, by Ruth Ware

Posted on June 30, 2023 by Thistle

When Jack’s husband is killed in what appears to be a meticulous hit man job, she becomes the prime suspect and goes on the run to get at the truth.

This book is exactly what it purports to be: an action movie in novel form. Predictable in a comfortable way, nonstop fast pace, not super believable, fun all the way through. TBH, I doubt I’ll even remember the book in a month. However, as someone overwhelmed by foster kittens, record-breaking heat, and a hip injury, I’m not complaining about a book that I could escape into the same way that I can by binging Law & Order episodes. I enjoyed the book for it being exactly what a suspense novel should be. (And for not having last-chapter/epilogue “twists” – I’m really glad these kinds of novels are moving away from that trope!)

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Wellness Wednesday – Precipice

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Thistle

In the spring of 1999, one of my French classes was visited by a professor to talk about a summer study abroad program to Bourges. It was exciting and fascinating, and I really wanted to do it. I came out of that class energized, but then my boyfriend at the time was unhappy about it, and I found out that I couldn’t get any non-loan financial aid for it. At that point, my scholarships and grants had covered all of my schooling, so I didn’t have any loans, and I didn’t want to take any. I gave up the dream of that program.

Maybe a month to six weeks later, my class was revisited by the professor, who brought one of the host parents with her and a slideshow of photos from Bourges. This internal fire lit inside me, and I knew I needed to go on that trip. I ignored my boyfriend’s objections, ignored my uneasiness in getting a loan, and I chose myself for the first time in my life. It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, not knowing what was in front of me, and stepping forward instead of back into the safety of my comfort zone. I’d never, ever done that, and it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.

I rarely get those moments of urgency, where I need to do something. The need often has nothing to do with true need – I didn’t need to study abroad for any practical reason, and it left me worse off financially – but with something more ephemeral. Yet it feels more urgent and important than true need-based decisions. And while I’ve rarely gotten these moments, I’ve never regretted acting on them, while I definitely regret when I don’t act on them.

Two weeks ago, I came to another precipice. I was feeling a lot of wanderlust after our Alaska vacation. It was too short, and I was sick for the main portion of it. I wasn’t ready to come back to real life. (Or the Texas heat!) The cruise line we book through was in the middle of a big sale, and I decided to look into potential solo trips, possibly back to Alaska to re-experience the areas where I was sick and hadn’t done much. Wanderlust led me to exploring all sorts of destinations, most of which didn’t feel right. Eventually, I saw that there was a flash deal of “second passenger no charge” on a particular ship that made one-way trips up and down the Alaska coast. I thought that if I took two trips – one up and one down, so it would be roundtrip – I could just pay for my own passage rather than for double occupancy. Then I was annoyed that the price for me alone more than doubled the cost of each leg of the trip (aka I would pay more going alone than I would pay for both Jason and me to go). I guess the flash sale didn’t apply to solo travelers.

Now, if I’d called the cruise line, I probably could have worked with them. But again, I was frickin’ annoyed. I started researching the best cruise lines for solo travelers and then looking into those lines. I found some really awesome itineraries – and it opened my eyes to future possibilities on different cruise lines – but it wasn’t until I searched Virgin Voyages on a whim that I stepped out onto a precipice.

October. Round-trip from Barcelona, a week-long trip around the Mediterranean, hitting stops in France, Italy, and Spain. Here’s the thing – I’d seen a LOT of itineraries like this on various cruise lines, often for cheaper (because Virgin is an all-inclusive line that is higher tier pricing), and I hadn’t been interested in them. I’ve been to France and Italy. I’d like to see more places that I haven’t been to already. But this second I saw this specific trip on these specific dates, something inside me clicked. This was the one. This was right. This was important.

Y’all. I don’t solo-travel. I’m agoraphobic. I’m terrified to travel to new places alone. Every time I’ve traveled alone, it’s been to a place where I’m meeting up with someone, or a place that I already know. I’ve literally never traveled anywhere completely by myself. Flying into Barcelona, to a country where I don’t speak the language, completely solo, is terrifying. Even if Barcelona is cosmopolitan, even if it’s safe, even if it’s used to tourists. It’s terrifying. But the urge wouldn’t leave me, so I did a soft sign-up: a booking with a 24-hour hold where I would have to confirm before it actually went through. I had a day to decide to step off the precipice, or sink back into safety.

Long story short (too late!), I did it. I’ll be flying to Barcelona alone in October, traveling around the Mediterranean, on a new-to-me cruise line that brilliantly didn’t charge me any extra costs at all for solo occupancy. I won’t have Jason or my family to fall back on. For a week (or perhaps longer, so I can adjust to the time zone before the cruise portion starts), I’ll be completely reliant on myself for everything, for all the hard things, for all the new and unknown things.

When I read An American in Provence recently, I came across a passage that spoke to me (and ironically, came across it the day before I found this particular trip):

Who said easy is good? Easy erases experience! Easy paves the road from point A to point B without any discomfort, leaving you no room for adventure.

Well, y’all. I guess adventure is the choice I made this time.

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Yours Truly, by Abby Jimenez

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Thistle

The date of Briana’s divorce finalization is approaching and her brother is struggling on dialysis while he waits for a new kidney. Jacob’s ex-girlfriend began dating his brother only three months after their breakup, and he’s had to move to a new job to avoid them both. At first the transition is a disaster. He’s wildly unpopular in the new role, and his anxiety skyrockets. Briana despises him, thinking he’s trying to usurp her upcoming promotion, and when the two collide (literally), the situation grows even worse. So Jacob does the only thing he can think of, and writes her a letter.

This is a really cute little love story. It’s not really enemies-to-lovers, because all of the mishaps and misunderstandings in the early part of the book are pretty quickly explained away in the brief letter-driven portion of Briana and Jacob’s emerging friendship. Instead, this is a relationship that has other obstacles. A little white lie that turns into a fake relationship, a fake relationship that is more real to them both than either are willing to admit. Jacob’s anxiety disorder is a huge barrier, and Briana’s trauma over both her dad and her ex-husband abandoning her causes her to avoid romantic attachments regardless of feelings. Add in some other mishaps and miscommunications along the way, and you get a really sweet development of love over time, love that is never easy but is also very relentless.

I think my favorite thing about this book was the incredibly realistic depiction of an anxiety disorder. As someone who has an anxiety disorder, I could relate to so many of the things Jacob went through. His agonizing debate over the appropriate thing to bring for a lunch with a colleague. His need to research a restaurant menu and decide his options prior to any dinner out. His fear of new locations and the parking situations that they bring up. This last one in particular – I wrote down a quote that went with it because it was perfect and I wish all my friends and family would do this exact thing for me! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve avoided going to places because I didn’t know what the parking situation would be like!

“I have to go take a picture of the driveway,” [Briana] mumbled, getting up.
“The driveway?” [Alexis] asked.
“He needs to know where to park. It’s a thing.”

That. That right there is god-tier love. The fact that she did it for Jacob without him even asking her to? Thoughtfulness to the extreme. It was little moments like this that made me fall in love with this book.

As romances go, this was a very light-on-the-spice kind of book, more love story than romance in the traditional published sense. It was also (obviously) a little deeper on the thematic elements, giving it a roundness that I appreciated while still reading like a perfect comfort book.

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Sunday Coffee – Hopscotch!

Posted on June 25, 2023 by Thistle

A few years back, my cousin’s daughter posted photos on Instagram for this place called Hopscotch. It looked awesome, so I went out to investigate. Hopscotch is an interactive and immersive art museum with modern artists and ever-changing exhibits. I’ve wanted to go for years! The biggest thing that has held me back is that it’s located downtown and I hate driving downtown. I always forget that even in my home city, Lyft is an option!

Anyway, Jason and I were meant to go to Hopscotch for Valentine’s Day, we had tickets and everything, but that was the week of Tyler’s AF graduation and several other events, and I ended up having a massive flare that left me unable to use the tickets, so we held off. General busyness kept us from going for the next few months, so in May, we decided on a weekend in June, bought the tickets, and planned not to let anything get in the way this time!

Last weekend, we got a Lyft downtown, and our little adventure began! Hopscotch is built into what was clearly an old bank. One of the exhibits was even inside the old vault. Upstairs, there’s a bar and food area with art all around, and when it’s your ticket time, you head downstairs into the main museum portion. There’s a giant ball pit with rainbow lights zipping through, a “color therapy” room that was so intense that I actually think I burned my eyes (!!!), and then you enter a circle of exhibits, going from room to room until you’re back in the ball pit area.

The exhibits change depending on what artists are featured, with a few permanent structures (like the ball pit and the rainbow cave). Some rooms were filled with murals the size of entire walls. Some had swirling digital art that reacted to your movements. There was laser spray paint and optical illusions and a maze of clear walls with messages of unity and human rights written in many different languages.

In one room, you picked up an old fashioned payphone to listen to secrets others had submitted, and there was a number to call to submit your own. The rainbow cave is made entirely of upcycled plastic bags, thousands upon thousands of them, representing the number of bags used every few SECONDS in the world. Oy.

Some rooms appealed to us more than others, as you might imagine, as would be the same for any visitor. Then after we were done downstairs, we got to experience one last immersive exhibit back on the main level, a delicate light show in the dark, constantly moving, with mirrored walls so distant in the lights that you only caught brief flashes of your own silhouette. The slow walk through the maze of these lights led us out into the gift shop, where I promptly found a sticker for my planner, a pin for my hiking bag, and a comfy shirt that says “love is love is love.” I also met an incredibly kind cashier who could easily have been a model, and they were sweet enough to let me take a few photos.

It was a lovely experience over all. Not super expensive (I think our tickets were $12 or $14 each?), and I was happy to spend the extras on drinks, merch, and Lyfts to/from the exhibit. I can definitely see going back again with friends, maybe with new artists featured in places, and seeing new things that I didn’t discover on my first walk-through.

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An American in Provence, by Jamie Beck

Posted on June 23, 2023 by Thistle

Back in late April or early May, I spent an evening out with some friends that culminated in a trip to Barnes & Nobles. We all wandered separately to our various interests in the store, meeting back up and separating again at points as the store wound down toward closing time. I walked over to the photography section, curious what kinds of books it would have. The last time I looked there, it was for a particular instruction book several years back, and the section was poorly stocked and heavily out of order. Not much had changed, so I focused on the large coffee-table type books. Most were from photographers you see everywhere, like Ansel Adams, or they featured gritty, newsworthy-type photography. Not interested. I wanted a more human element, which led me to pulling this book off the shelf and flipping through some of the imagery.

Satisfied that this was a book I wanted to study more in depth, but not wanting to necessarily own it, I did a quick check at my library to assure they had it. That done, I added it to my TBR and went on my way, only putting the book on hold after my vacation was over.

What I didn’t realize from my quick glimpse through the book at B&N was that this was not just a photography book. The copy – which I expected to be about the photos, and in minimal amounts – was 75% memoir. The other 25% was made up with photography tutorials, recipes, and a few other random instructional tidbits. Now, y’all know I’m not a memoir person, so I was definitely less interested in those parts, but at least it was a simple story focus: The author, Jamie Beck, chose to move to Provence for a year, and this is the narrative of how that worked and how it affected her life (and photography) moving forward.

Because my read through the copy was a bit skimmed, I can’t pinpoint exactly if Beck ever addressed this, but being able to move to another country takes an enormous amount of privilege. I’m not talking about refugee situations where you’ve already lost everything and are fleeing worse. But upending your life and career – having the wealth to do so and a career that will survive, or having a career that will support such a move – is pure privilege. Beck talks a lot about her gratitude for being able to do this, and the difficulties in doing it, but I’m not sure she spends an equal amount of time acknowledging the privilege that made this possible. Again, I spent far more time on the photography than the copy, so that may be a false impression. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to be more aware of privilege in my reading, especially in reading nonfiction, and my general impression was of “blessed” and not “privileged,” if that makes sense.

Interesting to note: I preferred the photography in the first half of the book to the second. I have no idea if the photography was arranged to show the development of her new style, but it felt that way, and I liked the “earlier” work better. But it’s also possible that the photography was arranged by season, like the book, and the book started in autumn, my favorite, and cycled through the year into my 2nd fave, 3rd, and last. The photos from spring and summer felt so lifeless and oppressive, even as they showcased bright flowers and sun. I just prefer the timbre and feel and sheer life that exists in autumn and winter. So maybe that’s all it was. In any case, most of the photography was beautiful, and I appreciated going through that part the book, even if it was not what I expected.

Posted in 2023, Adult, Visual | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Wellness Wednesday – A New Milestone

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Thistle

Ten days ago, I woke up to a new milestone. I stepped on the scale and had entered a new “decade” as they call it. When I started Mounjaro on Aug 30th last year, I was near the top of a particular decade, and it took all of a month or so to drop almost 10 lbs to reach the next decade. Then it took over nine months to enter this new one. Now, the journey hasn’t been linear. I was near the bottom of that decade in mid-December, when the national shortage meant dropping to a dosage that didn’t help my body. I then spent the next five months moving to the right dose and back off of it due to shortages, and each of those cycles basically caused a fluctuation of about 3 lbs. Not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but every time I’d get close to entering this new decade, another health-system roadblock would cause problems.

I’ve now been on the correct dose for about six weeks (with one week completely off due to travel), and my body has finally stabilized and started moving slowly downward again. On the 11th, I saw the very top of that new decade. Two days ago, I’d dropped another pound, putting me at a second new milestone: exactly 20 lbs lost since I began Mounjaro. Compared to other people on these kinds of medications, 20 lbs in 9.5 months is nothing, but for me, for my body and its resistance to any kind of weight loss, this is wonderful. I’m extremely happy for it, especially as I’ve reached another kind of gateway, a pain threshold barrier above which I hurt constantly, below which I only hurt some of the time. I’ve reached a weight under where I lost my mobility in Nov 2021. I’m very close to the weight I was at when J and I took our road trip in Sept/Oct 2021 and I was hiking mad elevation day after day after day. It will be another two “decades” before I reach my pre-Ozempic weight from 2020, at which point the pain goes away entirely. It might be another year or longer before I reach that, and that’s okay. I’ll get there eventually.

(Center is right after I started Mounjaro. Left is -20 lbs, same shirt; right is also -20 lbs, one size down shirt in same design.)

In the meantime, I’ve started feeling better about moving more. It’s not tons, but getting on the treadmill for a mile walk doesn’t leave me in crippling pain for a week anymore. Last weekend, J and I went down to an interactive art museum called Hopscotch, where we walked and mostly stood around for 90 mins or so. While my hips hurt a little the next day, my feet were fine and I was still able to go about my day-to-day normal stuff without trouble. It doesn’t sound like a big deal to most people, but to someone who literally lost 95% of her mobility for almost a year, it feels good to not have to even think about whether something like this trip is possible again.

(same setup as above)

The last time my doctor and I checked my blood work was back in late March, at which point my labs looked better than they ever have. Even on the off-and-on wrong dose of this medication, it was improving some of the internal issues, particularly related to liver and kidney function (a genetic deterioration condition that can’t be cured, only managed). My next set of tests and visits will be early July, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what those say. I also see my rheumatologist tomorrow, and will probably have inflammation levels tested again. I’m hoping this new decade and pain-level-decrease will be reflected in decreased inflammation, too. We’ll see. That’s never been the case with weight loss before, but this isn’t just weight loss.

Anyway, I’m really happy to see these milestones. I still have a long way to go, but now it seems I have the tools and the right doctors. Fingers crossed that the insurance will see it that way once my Mounjaro coupon code runs out, because this medicine – completely aside from any weight loss benefits – has probably saved my life.

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Every Gift a Curse, by Caroline O’Donoghue

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Thistle

In this third and final edition to this series, Maeve is struggling with the knowledge that a curse is growing inside her. Her friends are equally distracted by their own troubles. When they realize that their preoccupation has allowed a Christian fundamentalist group to get a larger hold on Kilberg – with teens going missing and in some cases dying – they all have to decide what responsibilities they can accept, be they gift or curse.

I’ve loved this series from beginning to end. I’ve mentioned in the past that it reminded me a little of The Craft, with the tarot and witch’s circle and ancient powers being called up. Add to that the Irish setting, political history, and a fundamentalist group manipulating young people via scripture, and this just SCREAMS my name.

I’m pleased to say that the third book took what was already there and exquisitely shaped a conclusion that wasn’t necessarily kind, but definitely acceptable, and exactly right for the situation. In fact, I loved the ending so much that I hugged the book after I read it. Happy endings don’t have to be flawless, if that makes sense. The nuance makes it so much better – the potential and the hope and the togetherness even in a less-than-ideal situation. It was just perfect. What The Craft wanted to be.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Every few weeks there’s a story about how American laws are going backward. Could that happen here, too?” [Note: Series is not only set in Ireland but written by an Irish author, so this is particularly noteworthy as an outside-USA pov.]

“But I remember feeling, even though I was frightened, that I was in a Tumblr post about witchcraft. It felt cool and DIY in a way that was instantly photogenic.” [This made me laugh so hard!]

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Sunday Coffee – Kitten Update

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Thistle

First let me start with a little shoutout to the dads out there today, in whatever iteration of “dad” they are. Happy Father’s Day!

Now. Kittens. We still have both Juice and Fleabag, who has been renamed Florence. Florence, thankfully, has become an official foster through the shelter. The Venmo we received from the woman who found her paid her intake fee, and it was all quick enough that we only had one out of pocket vet visit. Whew! She has continued to mostly thrive, first coming out of her shell to become a wild and crazy orange kitten as we all expected. After a couple days, she decided that I’m her mama, and began to cuddle on my chest at night. That was okay until she further decided that as her mama, I needed to comfort-nurse her, and she began suckling on my neck. I don’t mind letting her do it for short periods of time but she would do it for hours if I allowed, so I had to lock her in the bathroom at nights for a few days until she learned how to behave while I slept.

She’s also dealt with a tapeworm infection, a secondary flea outbreak (must’ve missed some eggs), and loose stool, which she decided meant that she needed to go on my carpet instead of in the litter box. Grr. This is why we don’t normally keep kittens in my bedroom! But it is what it is. There’s now a second box and pee pads in the part of the room she was using, and meds are clearing up the loose stool issue.

Meanwhile, she’s not allowed to be introduced to Juice, even though both of them fight too hard and could use a kitten playmate for both fun and learning. Juice is…still Juice. We introduced wet food one day to get him prepared for weaning, and he loved it so much that he point-blank refused the bottle afterwards. Unfortunately, he decided that the way to eat said wet food was to face-plant into it and suck it up like it was milk. Between that and the diarrhea he still had despite his first round of med treatments, he’s the messiest foster we’ve ever cared for. Thankfully, his new round of meds is helping, so at least he’s now only messy on his face! Usually. We do worry about him a little, because he doesn’t seem to be learning age-appropriately. We’ve had plenty of dumb kittens (especially the orange ones, ha!) but this feels more like a neurological or brain-damage kind of issue (head trauma? nutrition issue?). He’s 6-7 weeks old but still acts/learns like a 3-week old kitten.

We are all overwhelmed. Having a foster group of two or three or four kittens has been fine in the past, but in that case, they’re all in the same room and able to entertain each other. This, instead, takes two rooms, two foster parents (or just me running double-time on the days Jason goes into the office), and a whole lot of work. Add to that my lack of sleep some nights because of Florence’s issues, and Jason’s because of Juice’s, and the household has fallen into complete chaos. It’s a wonder things like dishes ever get done. Sometimes I’ll go four days and realize I haven’t showered because said days all blurred into one. This is absolutely and definitely not a situation I want to invite again in the future!

Both kittens get checkups tomorrow, and I’d guess that, assuming they make weight, they’ll be turned in on July 3rd for surgeries and such. They are both, thankfully, gaining weight regularly now with their latest med treatments halfway through. I’m hoping to talk them into taking Florence in on the 26th instead, because she’ll be the right age and likely the right weight, given her trajectory. But we’ll see. Either way, once these two are gone, I definitely need a week or so off from fostering after this madness. It’s the worst time of year for that, since kitten season is insane at the moment, but that’s what happens when I end up with two needy singletons at once!

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