Meteor showers tonite

Jason and I camped out in our back driveway hoping to catch a glimpse of the Geminid meteor showers which is supposed to be at its peak tonight. We saw about 10 or more in about an hour and a half. One of them was particular bright and slow and real close. It was awesome.

By 2 a.m. Gemini will be directly overhead, and it's been said that meteors will streak outward in all directions like spokes on a wheel. If I can keep my eyes open, I'll go outside and look again. Maybe. Just maybe.
It's 51F now, so it's still bearable.

I'm glad we got to do this instead of going to the cinema.

Busy hands

Can't believe Christmas is just two weeks around the corner!
We went over to the Gower's and assembled the Gingerbread house. We had a lot of help from the boys so the house turned out rather interesting. Bushes and trees growing on the roof, half eaten gumdrops, candy canes stuck in the chimney. Yes, very artistic.


In the morning, we went to the bamboo farm and got more bamboo to finish the bench. Today has been creatively filled.

First party of the season

Went to our first party of the season tonight at one of Jason's co-worker's house. It turned out to be a mansion. Good food, great company. Then we got a tour. Their closet is probably as big as our bedroom. And the basement could fit 50 elephants. It would make a nice cinema and a wine cellar.

The fun part was the blind gift exchange. We each brought a gift. Pick a number from a box and the lowest number gets to pick a gift first. The second number gets to decide if he wants to steal No.1's gift or pick a gift from the pile. A gift can only be stolen 3 times.
Everyone was fighting over a pair of soft bedroom slippers because it also had a Starbuck's giftcard in it.That ended the night. I was pretty happy with the gift I picked and glad it did not get stolen. And phew, it wasn't the I-Dog.

Just three more parties next weekend.....

Trouble has Hyperthyroidism

Trouble just got back from the doctor's. He's been diagnosed with a late stage of hyperthyroidism. Both his thyroid glands have been enlarged to the size of a lima bean. That is rather big for a cat. He has most of the symptoms present in a hyperthyroid cat:

• Increased Appetite
• Unexplained Weight Loss and loss of muscle mass
• Irritability or Nervousness
• Frequent Vomiting
• Unkempt-looking Coat
• Diarrhea
• Excessive Thirst (polydipsia)
• Weakness
• Lethargy

So we have 3 options :
- Anti-thyroid medication (Tapazole (methimazole), 5 mg once a day for the rest of his life) with regular tests to monitor hormone levels, so dosage can be regulated.
- Surgical removal of both the thyroid glands.
- Radioactive iodine treatment

Like all medicines, Tapazole may cause certain side effects and prolong usage may cause liver damage.
And because of his age, it is not advisable for him to go through surgery. As both glands are involved, a second surgery is necessary. We'd rather not succumb him to that.

I am inclined to try another option which is natural herbal remedy but there is only one website that sells it and all the reviews and comments are from that one particular website. Good reviews no doubt. But Jason is skeptical.

So that leaves us with the last option, Radioactive iodine treatment.

Advantages:

• Provides a permanent cure in 95% of cases.
• Safe
• Minimizes stress to the cat.
• No serious side effects

Disdvantages:

• Very Expensive (Thank God we've finished our Christmas shopping this year)
  
• The subsequent development of hypothyroidism is a possibility, but it can be treated with thyroid supplementation.
• Special home care is required for 3weeks after release from the hospital to comply with radiation safety requirements. We are to avoid any human radiation exposure from the cat by limiting contact by not allowing the cat to sleep on the same bed or rest on a person’s lap. It is also advisable to spend only the time necessary for basic pet care during the first 3 weeks after release and to use rubber gloves when changing the litter box during this time.
  
• Pregnant women and young children should not spend time with the cat during the first 3 weeks after treatment. (I guess any desire (if any) of wanting to become pregnant will be put on hold for me)
  

The doctor wants us to start him off with the Tapazole and go back to see her after 2 weeks for more tests. We can then decide our next course of action and see if Trouble is a suitable candidate for the radioactive treatment.
Today's visit to the doctor left us $335 poorer. We definitely need to start saving up for Trouble's next big adventure.

He could not find his car

A few days ago, a neighbor called us to inform us that a car was stolen. It belonged to a Caldwell banker guy who had parked it outside the neighbor's house whilst he was distributing some pamphlets around the neighborhood. He got back to where he parked it and found his car missing.
Thinking that someone had stolen his car, he called the police, made a report and the police gave him a ride home.
Today, said neighbor got a lengthy voicemail from this guy explaining how he had found his car. Apparently he had mistakenly thought his car was still parked outside said neighbor's house but he had forgotten he had driven it and parked it a few blocks down when he was distributing those pamphlets.
Neighbor said this guy was old. We think he probably had an alzheimer's moment.

I may not be that old but I do get an alzheimer's moment when I visit 4 shopping malls in one day. Usually after the third mall, I forget where I had parked my car because I get confused with where I had parked it at the first or second mall. This happened a few times when I am shopping in Malaysia. The parking deck at the malls are located in two or three separate levels and go for miles. If you come off a different elevator or escalator, you'll find yourself in a totally different wing of the parking deck. Good luck in finding your car then. Fun times. Thank God for LRTs.

So, I can relate to this guy. He was probably distributing pamphlets all day in different neighborhoods. Or maybe I am just getting old.

Mortified

Trouble got his haircut at a different groomer today. When he came home, we were mortified. They had shaved off ALL his fur and even his tail and left a little bob at the end.
I am not only mortified but am also really mad that someone could do such a sadistic thing to a cat. Do these people have any common sense at all? Poor Trouble is going to freeze in the cold!
It is acceptable for a poodle to look like a poodle but certainly not acceptable for a dignified cat to look like a poodle! That's just not right. Not right at all.

He looks sick.

My heart just aches when I look at that poor cat.
It really hurts.

Turkey-fied

As usual, we (or I) over-indulged ourselves with food with all the Thanksgiving dishes at lunchtime. We could've fed an army of 20. I spent the afternoon trying to digest my food and being entertained by the nephews and looking at ads to plan our target for Black Friday. We also took family portraits for the annual family Christmas card. Since the weather was unusually warm, we had our pictures taken outside on the deck. It was interesting trying to get a good picture. We must've taken atleast 15 shots, and Wrenn was making funny faces.
Then up to the attic we go to help carry a dozen boxes of Christmas deco and ornaments down and the Christmas tree.

At 5pm, we drove home to feed the neighbor's cats because they were out of town and went back to Jason's parents' for dinner. Had turkey sandwiches and pecan pie. I skipped the apple pie because I had that after lunch. We left for home around 10pm after watching Grey's Anatomy.

At 5am the alarm clock rings. We get up and head on over to Staples. We escaped hitting a couple of deers who were about to dash across the road. The line outside of Staples at 5.45am was ridiculously long. Longer than waiting in line at Disney. Since we weren't desperate for whatever we wanted to get, we decided to sit in the car and wait for the doors to open at 6am.
Seems like everyone was there to get the GPS which was a really good deal. We got ourselves the three things that we went there for - a 4GB SDHC card to be used with Jason's Christmas present (yes, he already knows what he's getting for Christmas), some DVD discs and a Samsung Black and White Laser printer. The ink for the laser printer costs $40 more than what we paid for the printer! So hopefully the ink will last us for a long loooong time!

Then Jason dropped me off at Michael's while he went to get us some breakfast because I wanted to get the 12inch paper trimmer which was 75% off. Unfortunately they were all gone by the time I got there. So I got myself a bunch of other arts and crafts stuff that I probably do not need, hence living up to the Black Friday name.

Now we're home. Jason's back in bed. I think I'll do some cleaning around. It's been fun.

And phew.. the husband did not buy a TV this year.

Thanksgiving prep

Thought I'll just share the recipe of this Strawberry Pretzel Salad that I've been requested to make for tomorrow.

Crust : 2 cups crushed pretzels, 3/4 cup butter (melted), 4 tablespoons sugar.
Mix together and press onto a 13x9" dish
Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes
Remove from oven and cool.

Next layer : 8 oz softened cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, 8 oz (1 tub) cool whip
Whip together and fold in cool whip
Spread over cooled pretzel crust

Next layer : 6 oz package strawberry jello, 2 cups boiling water
Mix together until jello dissolves.
Add 20 oz of slightly thawed frozen sliced strawberries and mix until mixture is cooled.
Pour evenly over cream cheese mixture.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.