Took my daughter to the vet today.

Actually, it wasn't because she needed shots or anything. I took her along, because I was silly in my thinking. I was just plain wrong when I thought she might behave herself. Oh how wrong I can be.


My cat, who is 15 lbs plus his new carrier (not weighed), were very heavy. He sat in the car and meowed the entire ride to the vets office. I am thankful that we didn't have a longer ride. My sister was kind enough to watch Eddie for me. If I would have known that my two year old sweetie pie (read: STINKER) was going to act like an actual terrible two year old, I would have begged and pleaded until my eyes bled, or thrown large amounts of cash at my sister if that didn't work left her at home.



Most times, well just about every time when I split up the children, they each behave better. I think they egg each other on. To act like little wild animals. I wish I were kidding. But they do tend to be somewhat normal when they are not together. And Alexa especially. Oh. Except today. Except when I take Corona to the vet to get checked up, and for some shots. You see, this isn't a normal thing we do. Corona never goes in the car for a ride, and we rarely take him anywhere outside the home. He's a cat, not a dog. So I guess it makes sense that he stays home and lounges around.


Well this whole idea of cat in the new carrier and in the car just sent "miss thing" over the edge. She was extremely worried about him in the car. All the meowing had her asking me every two seconds if he was ok. She was singing to him, talking to him, and telling him, and I quote: "Iss OK, mommy's here, iss ok Kuh-oh-nah." All the way to the vet.



So Corona got a bit nervous and peed in the carrier. Fab. The next thing I know, they are asking me to take him out. um.... nuh 'uh. Nope. You got a hose? I told them what had happened, and said I wasn't doing it. They brought a towel, and we drug him out of his cage. (oh that sounds so bad) But you know what I mean. We had to pull him out. And then they took my carrier and hosed it down for me, then brought it back. I toweled him off, and then got some paper towels and washed off his paws and tail.


At this time, miss thing is bouncing off the wood stool there in the vets exam room. She's singing dancing, and chasing the cat around. The cat is trying to hide. Unfortunately he found that there was absolutely nowhere to run. He cowered in the corner. I tried to get her to sit. She kept opening the doors. The cat tried to run out.


And then one of the nice veterinary assistants came in and gave her a bag of goodies. Some crayons, stickers, coloring book and two lollipops. I allowed her to eat one, hoping it would keep her busy. Wouldn't you know it, she can climb the exam table and swing from it while eating the lollipop. Yup, sure can. And the table. I couldn't imagine, nor did I want to, the germs. I pried her hands off, sternly told her to sit, while I dug through my purse for the sanitizing gel. No quicker can I turn around that she is at it again. And oops! The lollipop falls to the ground. I fly to grab it in one lightning quick motion. As you know kids, they would pick that bad boy back up and replace in mouth without a hesitation. Um, I beat her to it, and quickly threw it away. She was sad.


Her sadness was quickly replaced with intrigue as the doctor entered the room. "Why is that man doing that? What is he doing mommy?" He took Corona out of the room briefly, but then brought him back. "Why is he taking our kitty cat mommy? Is he gonna bing him back to us?" I answered all her questions, yet tried to pay attention to his questions, and ask some of my own. It was interesting to say the least.



Alexa dug through the bag. She grabbed the second lollipop. Earlier she had stated that she was going to take that one home for Eddie. Aww, how sweet, I thought. She began to look at the lollipop, she thought about her options and she told me, "Mommy, I'm going to hold this for Eddie. I'm just going to hold it." And she played and jumped around, she told me, "I can see duh man right dere!" And I told her, "he can see you too sweetie!" I don't think he had any children. Just a guess. He might have. He might not like children, but to me, I think he could have acted like he liked children a bit more. And people usually do, especially around some sweet faced baby girl. The guy, seemed not to care very much for her interruptions. She spoke again, "I'm going to open this for Eddie." I told her not to. She forcefully told me, "But I WANT to!" But she couldn't get into it by herself. She then said, "I'm going to bite this for Eddie." And she began to bite on the outside of the wrapper.


I didn't care, I just wanted to finish up, get the cat back in the cage, hand over lots of money and get this little girl out of there. She was getting a little out of hand. A little.


Well, my cat is fine. I think he has the necessary documentation to fly. I will be checking again to make sure. My daughter chewed on the lollipop and cracked it in too many places for it to be worthwhile to my son, so I threw it away. I threw it away in hopes to never think about it again. Until of course we picked him up. Alexa quickly exclaimed, "we got you a push pop Eddie!" And he asked for it, right away. When I gave him the bad news, he cried. I felt so bad.


And as I am getting ready for bed, I am making a mental note to never, ever take a small child to the vet again. It was pretty tough. I'm glad it's over.

My Corona.

Don't let this second picture fool you, he loves this hat. He's the kind of cat that really enjoys dressing up. Or at least he doesn't fight me. He is pretty mellow as far as cats go. If you haven't heard me talk about my kitty before, please see this post.

You can either read the previous post, or take my short version of the long story. I now have my beloved cat in my possession once again. He was being looked after by some kind people. I am leaving the states on April 7 to return to Chile.

My brother who had offered to watch over my cat for me, has since reneged on his word. A very very long story there. And maybe another day. But since he has gone back on his word, I no longer have anyone to care for my cat.

I just checked into the prices to take him along to Chile. I did not originally want to take him there with us. I felt that the plane ride would be too much for him. But now I am rethinking it. They would place him in the belly or cargo area of the plane and he would be there from the beginning of our trip which originates in Tucson at 3:05 pm, then flies to Dallas. We change planes in Dallas and then fly to Santiago. We should arrive there around 8:30 am. So it's quite the flight.

I just don't really have any other options. I love my cat, and I honestly felt bad about leaving him behind with strangers when I first moved away. I left him partly because I didn't want to put him through the flight. But now I am thinking that if I take him along, it would be better for him to be with me. In a home where he is loved. I think he can handle it.

OK, is there anybody out there who is experienced in this department? Has anyone taken their pet on a long ride? Anybody know someone who has? Any comments and feedback about this will be soo appreciated. I just want to know that I am doing the right thing.

It's Saturday, do you know where your kitty is??

I am happy to report that Corona has officially been rescued from our tenants! He was retrieved last night from my house and my brother now has feline custody. Lol~ I'm so happy! When he got home, we called over there and I got to see him on the webcam. It's funny too. I wasn't sure if Corona would remember me. But when I called for him, and did his specific cat whistle that I used to do, he ran into the room, where I was on the computer waiting to talk to him. He's gorgeous!! I miss him. And I wish that we were going to be seeing him soon.

On another note, my mother (who is also my realtor) had an appointment with a relative of our tenant yesterday. It seems that they would like to rent our house from us. And also, within a years time, try to assume our mortgage. This is fantastic news all around. They are supposed to sign the contract today. I'm not going to hold my breath on the whole assumption thing, since our current tenant wanted to do the same thing. At least I have their security deposit to keep. I am just going to hope that these new people will pay their rent on time.

So yesterday I flat ironed Alexa's hair. I just wanted to see how long her hair truly was. I didn't take these pictures right after it was done. And I didn't use a very high setting, so it didn't truly make her hair straight. It just loosened the curls somewhat. Her hair laid down at least 2 inches past the level that her hair was at in the second picture. After she started playing and rolling all over the place, it just seemed to curl right up again. I took these pictures after she had been playing for a while. So it looks a little messy. But you guys can see how long it's gotten!

And of course, here is Eddie. To my mom, who I know is reading... I did try to get better pictures of the kids, Alexa especially with the hair, they would not sit still. It was amazing that I could get the ones I did. And it was a total fluke that Eddie cooperated enough for the fraction of a second that it took for me to snap this picture.

OK. Eddie is now asking for digger snacks. (Tonka fruit chews.) No. They don't sell them here. We have them shipped in with the help of my lovely family. (wink, wink.) Also to Laural, if you are reading, I couldn't find any feta cheese in any of the stores. We have mostly a variety of white cheeses. And to the person who asked about cheddar cheese, that's a big negative. So far, I haven't found any. Time for mommy stuff. Ciao~

Cancelled.

So today my mother called me up. I could tell from the moment she uttered the first syllable that it wasn't good news. You see, we own a home in Arizona. Before we left we tried to sell it. We had it on the market for just over a year. So with time nearing for us to leave, we weren't left with many options and we rented it.

Today she told me that my tenant had called her. He was laid off from his job. And he is moving out by the end of the month. Now I do feel bad for him in his situation, but I also feel bad for what it means to us. If we cannot find another renter in a matter of a few weeks, we will be making our rent payment here in Chile, as well as our mortgage payment on our house. Yeah. That sounds like a bundle of fun. Exactly what I wanted to spend my money on. A vacant house that I am not living in.

So I'm sure you can figure out what this means. All plans to visit the states have been cancelled. At least for now.

So even though I can totally agree with not spending the money, right now, I still very much want to go. *sigh*

On a happier note, my brother is going to go pick up Corona. ((YAY!!)) Doing a little dance right now on my bed, in my jammies, while watching Cable Guy. Yeah. There's nothing on TV over here. A little back story on Corona. I'm so very happy that my brother will be in possession of my darling kitty very soon. My brother is a cat person too. He would have gladly taken my kitty before, but both of our cats did not get along. Sadly, Cindy (after Cindy Crawford) has gone to kitty heaven. And my brother is now free to watch over Corona until I can get back to take care of him myself. So he will be picking him up in a couple of days. I can't wait to see him. I'm going to make him bring my kitty to the web cam so I can see him and talk to him. Crazy?? Yeah, maybe a little bit. But I never realized how much I was going to miss that little huge ball of fur.

Isn't he just sweet??

Corona

Before I had kids. I had a cat. He is the coolest cat. Even people who hated cats, told me that this cat was different. He was cool. But I already knew that.

There was this one time, that I had dated a guy. He looked a little bit like this movie star guy:

And then this guy came over. He took one look at my cat. He started to sneeze. And then he said, "Babe. This cat has got to go." And that was the end. I said goodbye to Mr. Hottie who looked like Matthew Mcconaughey. (because seriously, he did.)

Have you seen my cat? His name is Corona. We used to hang out together. All. The. Time.

And we watched TV together, and we slept together. (dh didn't like that so much)

He followed me everywhere. Like really. Every. Where. My dh used to joke that the cat is so far up my butt he didn't know where I ended and the cat began. (mom, I'm not making that up). Sometimes when I walked up the stairs, I would change my mind and come back, just to see if he would follow me. He did. Always. Going to the kitchen? Not a bad idea. Bathroom? Of course. Bedroom? Not without me you don't. Just going for a walk? Me too. Answering the phone? Don't leave me here with him.

When I left Miami to take a safer path from an impending hurricane, he went too.

We surfed the net together. OK, I did most of the surfing, he was just there for warmth and support, and approval of the shoes I might select. Or if you can see the screen, I was on a pregnancy website! (in a hotel.... those aren't my sheets or comforter!)

He never fussed when I would dress him up for Christmas.

And then when I got pregnant, he let me dress him up in Eddie's

new clothes. I had to practice right? He was such a good sport!

(I washed the clothes before I put them on my newborn! I'm just saying..... )

Not only is he the best cat ever, he was soooo good to the kids.

Here is Miss Alexa in Oct. 2006 at 6 weeks old.

And then of course, here he is with Eddie. The tough kid who

was at times (too many times) a little too rough on sweet Corona.

I miss my cat. Really.I do. And I was just thinking about him lately. If you are at all tuned in with what's going on in the world, then you probably know that the housing market sucks. We own a home in Arizona. And because we were unable to sell it before coming here, we rented it.

So we let the renters take care of my beloved kitty. I've been thinking a lot about him lately. And wishing he were here. I hope they give him back to me. I mean, they will right? I am certain dh doesn't care if they keep him. But I do.

I actually wish he were here now. Now that we are all settled in. It doesn't seem the same without him. Eddie has been asking for a dog. I keep thinking of Corona. I wonder if my brother can go over and get him and send him to us.

But then again that might be wrong. Maybe it's not fair to my kitty. The plane ride would be stressful. And that's just selfish. And maybe I should just leave him where he is at for the time being. At least he is being well cared for. The lady is a cat lover. She was overjoyed to take care of him. But I don't want her to get too attached.

Just thinking about my key-key. Miss you Corona!!!