Call me butter cause I'm on a roll

 Look at me posting twice in a month.  

First and foremost, so glad the holiday is over.  This year seemed to be worse than years passed.  I swear every year the fireworks get louder.  I saw an article that OK is the most dangerous state for the 4th, rednecks and explosives make for a dangerous situation.  We made it through, that's all that matters.

We noticed that BD wasn't acting like his normal self and we thought it might have been the fireworks.  Ninja will not accept BD but we decided he needed to come inside so we could watch him.  We managed to keep them from fighting but BD wasn't doing well.  Dennis took him to the vet first thing Monday morning.  He had a high fever but they couldn't see anything that was causing it.  They did a blood draw and sent him home with a steroid and antibiotic.  We got a call that afternoon that he tested positive for FIV.  Awesome.  So looks like we have another inside cat.  The issue will be keeping him and Ninja from fighting since it is transmitted through saliva.  I have done a lot of research on it and it  isn't the death sentence I feared, but since he has a compromised immune system we need to try and keep him away from exposure to outside cats.  The vet said that she has an FIV cat with cats that are healthy and it does just fine.  The issues we face are possible infections and taking precautions to keep him healthy.  If he shows signs of upper respiratory issues or illness it is important to get him started on meds early and for a longer duration than normal.  It's likely he just contracted it recently and that is what triggered his current illness.  So far he is doing OK.  We give him a pill and liquid meds and he has been too sick to really fight us.  Dennis is at the vet with him now for his follow up.  

Given the possible integration issues with BD, I haven't slept well.  Yesterday I woke up at 4am and never went back to sleep.  Last night I was awake every couple of hours.  BD decided he was going to sleep on my feet but I was concerned that Ninja or Mango would jump up and freak out when they realized he was there (Olive has been pretty accepting).  I am struggle bussing today.  It is going to be a double fist caffeine kind of day.

That freaking cat weighs 13 pounds after he got sick so he likely weighed 14 before.  The cat food bills are going to break me.  If the food bill doesn't the medical bills will.  Mine on top of his.  I was carrying laundry to the utility room and hit my shin on the food storage container.  I had just upsized to hold more dry food so I under estimated how big it was.  It immediately caused a huge knot to show up.  

It hurt like hell!!  Still does.

Dennis just called from the vet and said his temp is down, but he has lost a little more weight.  they are going to give him another shot and a bag of fluids.

I have had a couple of strange calls with the sa hospital advocate gig.  I got called out on a case with a 10 yo boy whose 2 yo sister died that morning.  He wasn't an SA case but they wanted us to talk to him and do swabs to check for opiates.  The funny thing is (like weird, not haha) was the agency sent me a text the next day making sure I was ok.  A few weeks ago I had a case with a 5 yo girl and they never followed up to see how I was doing.  Not sure why they thought that was worse than doing a full blown SANE exam on her.  I am probably going to step back a little with that volunteer gig though because  we got 2 more volunteers and they are starting to push us to work the 2200-0800 shift.  I am fine working the 1630-2200 shift but I have no interest in the overnights.  I just can't sleep without being in a drug induced coma and would not be able to take ambien the nights I have calls.  That means I would be up all night and I am not about that life.  They have had to cut back on the paid staff and want us to take that over.  I am willing to step up for any shift besides that one.  I have gotten to be pretty good friends with one of the nurses though and I have a feeling she will push to work with me on her cases, the bad thing about that is she is the peds nurse.  

A little over 2 weeks until vacation and I am so excited. I found out there is going to be a broadway in the park concert/performance the week we will be there so we will get to see the Outsiders cast and 2 other shows perform, don't know what they other 2 are yet.  I am trying to talk HMF into seeing a play called Oh, Mary, a comedy play about Mary Todd Lincoln who is played by the male writer of the show.  I have heard it is really funny.  Not sure if HMF would be up for that one but I would go alone.  It is another popular one with a limited run so if we do that one we need to get tickets soon.  I will see her Friday night so we will be able to come up with a game plan.  

OK I need to get busy on some FEMA training since hurricane season is upon us.  

✌

Vacation countdown

 Well, I kind of disappeared off the face of the bloggerverse.  No reason other than there really isn’t much going on. 

 

The countdown to vacation is on.  30 days and some change.  I am so excited.  This trip to NYC is going to be so different from last year.  We have our tickets for The Outsiders, which is good because it is almost sold out through the summer.  The Tony win for best musical probably helped that, even though it was already pretty popular.  I also hear it is popular with the young female demographic because of the male cast.  I was old enough to drink by the time they were even born but I am sure 30 years ago that would have excited me as well.  We don’t really have a firm plan on what we are going to do.  HMF wants to go to 9/11 museum, which I’m good with.  I want to do the ferry to see the statue of liberty since it was raining last year, not sure we would have gone anyway because that would have interfered with my sister’s drinking schedule.  We are also going to try and see another show.  Maybe Water for Elephants or Hadestown?  We will see about the TKTS booth or use TDF when we get there and try to get them a little cheaper.  I also want to see the Vessel but if we don’t, I am not too worried about it.  My sister is already trying to talk me into going back with her next year at Christmas.  As much as I enjoy NYC/Broadway, I am not so sure I ever want to travel with her again.  It kind of makes me sad because we have something we enjoy together but she makes it difficult.  Oh, and they already announced that The Outsiders is going to tour and it is going to start in Tulsa, October 2025!!

 

I am doing good after the surgery.  My weight is holding around 100 so far.  I am fine with that because I am not ready to buy a new wardrobe.  This time of year I gravitate to dresses anyway because of how hot it is so I am not sure how my jeans fit.  I got my stitchfix box last week and all they seem to fit ok so I don’t think it will be too bad.  Just the thought of denim with 114 heat index makes me want to dive into ice water. 

 

Work, blech.  Reading about y’all and your retirement adventures makes me extremely jealous.  I am not loving the transition back to the office.  We found out late last week that our supervisor is leaving for another job.  I am a little nervous that AP is going to put in for the job.  That would make things so much worse.  Maybe we can get someone that dislikes AP and her lead methods as much as the rest of us but the more likely scenario is it will get much worse.  I just have to hope that things work out so I can retire when I am eligible and not have to hang out any longer than I have to.  I really wish this would have happened before my last therapy session so I could doom spiral with her, lol.  The Chief that had a stroke (that’s my age) is doing better.  He has been in a rehab center and they are looking at sending him home this week to do at home therapy.  That kind of reinforces the urge to retire as soon as I’m eligible.  I haven’t looked at my TSP in a long time because it just stresses me out. 

 

I met up with Shana, the girl that used to teach most of the dance classes I took.  At one time she taught 4 of the classes I took each week so we got to be really good friends.  She has cut back to only 1 class, but I still haven’t gone back.  Anyway, she set me up with the girl, Hailey, that does my hair, who is another theater nerd like me.  The first time she did my hair she said that she was writing a play with some of her friends, and I told her I would go so Shana and I met up for dinner and for the show and caught up.  I really do miss her.  Anyway, the show was pretty funny, part improve, part scripted, part mixed media.  Pretty much what you would expect from a local theater troupe but it was good.  It was a byob place so we stopped at QT and got a drink to take in.  We also went to a bar afterwards, which I haven’t done in ages.  I literally can’t remember the last time I went to a bar in town.  I learned that I am way too old to hang with a bunch of 20 year olds, lol.  I had a good time but I noped out around midnight and Shana and another friend that we met up with was just getting started. 

 

I can’t believe it is almost the 4^th of July.  I am kind of surprised that the neighborhood doesn’t sound like Kiev already.  Last year was quiet because of the Fathers Day storm and all of the dried brush at the curb for city clean up crews.  I figure any day now they will make up for it.  Poor Bai hates it and to be honest so do I.  I have always been afraid of fireworks.  I have memories family fireworks shows and hiding underneath the chairs.  I couldn’t have been 4 because my uncle was a firefighter at the time so he claimed to be a professional and set the fireworks off.  I just knew they were going to fall over and burn us all.  I can’t say I feel much different now.  They just freak me out a little.  Needless to say we don’t go and watch the fireworks.  Bailey and I will be sufficiently drugged.

 

What’s left of the royal family is in town.  Dennis hasn’t talked to his brother in almost a year and has no plans on going around while they are there.  I am still not 100% sure what the tipping point was that made him decide to pretty much cut contact.  He hasn’t really talked to any of his siblings.  He has talked to his sister that lives locally a couple of times but only a couple of times.  He is all up in his feels though and is rehashing a lot of things with me to the point that I just want to scream.  I have never been a big fan of his brother but at this point I kind of wish they would just fight it out and get it over with.  He claims that he will never have a relationship with his siblings again.  I told him once that if I would never be friends with my sisters if we didn’t have to talk to each other and he has taken that to heart and says that he is tired of putting in the effort to make himself fit in with them.  I get it but it stress me the fuck out. 

 

So, not sure what the weekend has in store other than hiding from the noise.  My sister is going to take my sister to dinner on Thursday so I don’t have to worry about her being alone for the holiday.  I might just curl up under the A/C with a book.