Home again home again, jiggity jig!

[DianaCox]

13 days of travel. I'm exhausted.

• Took the JetBlue red-eye non-stop from San Jose to JFK, and then the CT "limousine" service (which was HORRIBLE - it took from 9:30 AM to 2 PM to get the 50 miles to New Haven).
• We decided to not bring any toiletries with us, since I always travel on the razor's edge of 50 lbs per suitcase, and walked down to near Yale-New Haven Hospital where Martita (RNYer you all know) works, and had a nice nosh with her, then bought all our crap at the Walgreens next door.
• Went to my 40th college reunion and had a wonderful time, but OMFG - we stayed in the dorms and the beds were unspeakable - thin box springs with thin sheets and a thin blanket and one miserable pillow - no mattress! Not sleeping well put a little damper on the festivities, but we muddled through.
• Reunion lasted 4 days and 3 nights - then headed by train to NYC. Couldn't get a cab easily from Grand Central, so we dragged the suitcases ourselves up the 8 or 10 blocks to the hotel.
• My friend we were supposed to see for dinner had a bum leg, so we took a cab up to see him - in the middle of a blinding thunder, lightening and hail storm. But once we got there, this was the view:
  
• On Monday, we walked around the city a bit, and then walked both ways in the rain to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway - it was wonderful.
• The next day, we traveled to DC by train (here's a concept for you - having to poop in the public toilets at Penn Station - UGH!!), and then got our rental car (Enterprise was SUPPOSED to pick us up, but did not - we had to cab over there), drove to VA and went grocery shopping (I stay in a Residence Inn on the same block as my office).
• Over the next week, Charles saw his daughter and 4 year old granddaughter three times, and I got to see them once; we saw my mom twice (OMG - after all her illnesses over the last year, she weighs less than me! - but not in a good way); had dinner with my sister and her husband, and with some friends.
  
• I also went to an attorney consult with another friend who is in the middle of an ugly divorce; hosted a potential client who sought me out for a meeting about whether they might want to hire my firm; conducted my turn for our monthly firm seminar on recent patent law cases; took another potential client to dinner in DC last night and then hosted them for a seminar they presented today; and did a bunch of my regular cases while I was there.
• We just flew home this evening - nonstop on Virgin to SFO (no direct flights from DCA to San Jose :-( )
• And I'm getting to know the new kitty!

 

[DBmom23]

That is making me tired just reading about your trip!
Sounds like it was a good mix of work and fun.
Welcome back to CA!

 

[hilary1617]

Sounds like quite the adventure - planes, trains and automobiles, oh my. Nothing makes being home nicer than... recent travel!

 

[newanatomy]

I wouldn't be able to walk if I had spent 3 nights on the dorm room beds. You are a better woman than me.

 

[southernlady]

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Sorry about your mom...

Now RECOVER!!! LOL

 

[star0210]

I'm exhausted just reading all that!! Lol

 

[DianaCox]

Whew - it makes me tired to read it too! I wrote that last night, trying to stay awake until close to my normal CA bedtime, so I could wake up this morning time-zone adjusted.

The good news - at closing in on 62, that would have been utterly impossible at nearly 300 lbs. The bad news - I have been so lax in my exercise that it was harder than it should have been. Therefore, I am vowing to keep up the activity level I have been achieving by necessity, now that I'm home.

 

[k9ophile]

To show you how my mind works, I thought the best part was about the new kitty. After the trials of the day, nothing beats a furry greeting.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Therefore, I am vowing to keep up the activity level I have been achieving by necessity, now that I'm home.

as I have many times in the past I mean to start regular exercise. I tried doing a daily accountability post here before and I gave it up but might again.

do you have any interest in something like that? do you have a plan, yet? I have DVDs from "classical stretch" I want to start doing. if there is ANY chance posting about it will help I want to do it!

 

[hilary1617]

I've been trying following some very cheesy and dated kids instructional hip hop dance videos to get this lazy body moving. Sure, it's years behind the times and it's not pretty, but it is fun and almost doesn't feel like exercise until the point where I am panting and out of breath.

This approach to fitness is part of why I am frequently awarded the title of "most embarrassing mom". Further, as my 11 year old son put it, "I'm not going to do that at a Bat Mitzvah party ever" (yes that season has just begun for us), but still it's very nobody's-watching-in-the-living-room-appropriate, and every once in a while he'll even join in.

This is one of the dvd's
http://www.amazon.com/Hip-Hop-Kids-...8&qid=1433970869&sr=8-1&keywords=kids+hip+hop

 

[DianaCox]

Aaaand - I didn't leave the house today. Call it decompression, or call it dealing with a tax problem, and my brothers' issues, and (and this is the GOOD part) introducing the new kitten Milo to Onyx and Mimi. So, at least, here is the story about that, with pix, mostly copied from my Facebook posts (I put it there first, so I have the pix already posted and can crosspost them here):

I am having a glorious post-2 week trip day, meeting our new kitten Milo (who has been home since Saturday, but we got home late last night). Since he and Onyx and Mimi have been aware of each other for 4 days already via sniffs and paws under my bathroom door, we decided to start the introductions today. I have been too busy enjoying him directly to take pix of his antics yet, but the similarities to the late wonderful Loki are uncanny:
- he dives under the covers
- he stands on his hind legs and paws at the mirror at his reflection
- he's a jumper, bounding up on things to see from a height
- he watched me curry Onyx, and wanted to be combed too
- he's trying to cozy up to Onyx, who has given him some initial licking (but he's so frenetic that Onyx backed off
- he found the leather shoelace that was a favorite Loki toy, and was carrying it around and attacking it like a conquered prey

He's trying to get Mimi to play, but she's being standoffish for now.

One difference that we have to deal with - Mimi and Loki had each other to play fight with - Onyx doesn't want to be bothered, and Mimi doesn't interact yet, which means he attacks humans with his tiny teeth and a little bit of claws. I have to discipline him now, because although he's a tiny bit of a thing now, he has all appearances of being a LOT Maine Coon in eventual size - I'm going to guess he'll be a solid 18 pounder by the time he's full grown and not obese - he's TALL for his age, especially his hind legs, with huge feet. He needs to transfer his aggression to stuffed animals, ASAP.
~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry - working on some infuriating tax crap. While trying not to miss all the sweetness.

He just passed out. And Onyx is sleeping right near him (Onyx is really black, on a dark blue blanket).

Onyx thinks Milo's hygiene leaves something to be desired, so like a good parent, is cleaning his butt.

And now back to sleep, with surrogate dad. Sniff - just like Loki and Onyx were together.

The above brought me to tears - still trying not to compare, but this is EXACTLY how Loki and Onyx bonded, and what is missing in the cattitude in the house - Onyx and Mimi get along, but Onyx and Loki were buddies - Mimi tolerates Onyx, whereas Loki adored and cuddled with him (even if Onyx doesn't look too impressed in this pic).

Mimi is still being a bit of a bitch - hissing at Milo and being standoffish. I'm in the living room now, letting sleeping male cats lie (and bond), while I reassure Mimi that everything is just fine, and I love her too.

 

[hilary1617]

Milo is totally adorable and I love the Phantom Tollbooth so the name evokes a wonderful adventure in my mind. I love that Onyx is being avuncular and Mimi will come to love the little trespasser in her territory soon, I'm sure. You are spoiled with wonderful fur babies!!!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[robs477]

I'm exhausted just reading all that!! Lol

......Me too!!

Ain't NO place like home though! Welcome back and you still have plenty of time to "Rest Up" and get ready for that "Texas Tide" uh coming your way in a week !

 

[DianaCox]

Argh - dealing with two cats doing their business on our bed in the last 48 hours! Milo had what I think was an accident - slightly loose poop that may have surprised him (he pottied appropriately within the next hour) on pillows and duvet cover. But this morning I got a more pointed and I think deliberate message from Onyx.

He had come into the bathroom (which is where Milo is being kept when he sleeps, and when we can't watch him) as he usually does when I do my morning thing (our normal routine is that he gets a long, massively rough petting in the morning when I'm sitting on the pot - go figure), but went straight for the kitten chow (he weighs 20+ lbs and is grossly obese, even for a big cat), so I barked NO at him, and then poked him with a stick when he wouldn't stop - and he left the bathroom in a huff. When I finished in the bathroom, I went out to the kitchen and got my breakfast, and when I went to sit back down in bed to eat it, discovered that the spot where my butt goes on the bed (and which is Onyx's favorite place to lay when I'm not in it) was soaked by an enormous piss, which sank through the thick sheet and thicker mattress pad and dampened the mattress itself. No way it was from Milo - it was huge.

Onyx gets butt-hurt easily. I think that even though he is accepting the kitten pretty well, he's mad at me for messing with the routines WE have together. Pissing my spot was his way of communicating that I hurt his feelings, I think. I'm going to have to move Milo's food bowl out of reach when Onyx is in the room to remove the temptation and so I don't have to tell him no. He's such a good cat most of the time, I rarely have to admonish him, and he doesn't like it one bit.

 

[JackieOnLine]

cats! gah!