Highlights of Christmas in Montreal

1. Apparently on my iPhone I can only type in the HTML editing box. I wonder why that is. But I can type on the horizontal so that makes typing much easier.

2. Oh yeah, I got an iPhone. Last week I was on the PATH train on the way to work when I realized I was sitting in a puddle of water. I of course blamed the person who had been sitting there before me. I moved over one seat and went back to my book, only to feel a drip a minute later on my calf. I realized the water was coming from my purse, which of course meant an entire 12 oz bottle of water had leaked into my purse and then onto me. My Treo sputtered and popped when I tried to turn it on. 

When I got to the office, I called Jeff and said, "I'm going to buy an iPhone today" (we had agreed to buy them in January). He said I couldn't do that and I should just wait. I said, "but I need a phone!" He made me promise to wait and I said, "look, if you got me an iPhone, just tell me because otherwise I'm going to go buy one today." He finally caved and said okay but I had to guess which box it was in. 

3. But back to Montreal. On the 24th, we took the subway to the Marche Jean-Talon where we went the last time we were here, in the summertime. All the outdoor fruit and veg stands were closed this time, but there is still a whole inside market. My new favorite triple cream cheese might be this Quebecois one called Riopelle. The label says it is the only triple cream of Quebec. I also got these little cured meats called Grelots des Battures. Jeff says they look like cat turds. I say they are delicious. Per kilo, they cost twice as much as the triple cream. 

4. Jeff kicked over a cup of tea onto his laptop in the middle of the present unwrapping. He managed to wait 24 hours before trying to put it back together and it is more or less together and functional again now (aside from one screw that is stuck in the wrong hole and some warping at the front by where it should latch. 

5. When a lobster dinner for Christmas eve is not an option, fondue is an excellent alternative. We went all out at Fonduementale and got the Mentale selection, which is a 3-course deal starting with cheese fondue, followed by a seafood (scallops, shrimp, salmon, calamari) fondue in a broth, and finishing with a maple cream fondue served with fruit and tiny marshmallows. 

6. Jeff's big ticket item was meant to be a grey blazer he had been wanting. I could not find one anywhere in Manhattan (except for one cashmere one at Men's Wearhouse, which I knew he would not want because it would not be usable in the warmer months), so I printed out a certificate and listed some stores in Montreal where we might find him one. To throw him off, I wrapped up a box of the clothes I would be wearing to dinner last night. The look on his face when he pulled out my red skirt and fuzzy sweater was priceless.

7. Before dinner last night we went ice skating at an outdoor rink.

8. My French is abysmal. 

9. I bought Jeff the wrong Dr. Who calendar but he was nice about it even though I was not paying attention and should have known that of course he would not want the Dalekmania one again. I think his favorite gift was probably the Beedle book. 

10. I got three puzzles. Three! And a Kenneth the page talking bobble head. And a filled pancake pan and delicious peppermint bark, and pretty earrings (made by Jenn and which I picked out without even realizing it when selecting a pair to send to a friend). And the three Dexter books and a Phillip Pullman book and other stuff that I am forgetting but not also loving. Oh, and a baking book called Baked from John & Steve plus delicious baked goodies from them. 

Lift tab to open

I just kind of stopped blogging there. When I realized how many weeks it had been I was half considering giving it up altogether. Clearly I'm just not into it anymore. But I don't know if I'm really ready.

I will say this, though. At Target they not only sell tamales in the frozen food section that are delicious, but they also sell the big boxes of Nerds. This is great news because the big boxes of Nerds are so hard to find.

These Nerds are red, white and green and the box says they are FROSTY. I eagerly anticipated the frostiness of the Nerds when I tore open the box. As far as I can tell, they are regular Nerds without any sort of frosting. I know a lot of candy is packaged as the holiday version of itself and is actually the exact same product, but come on, you can't call something frosty and have it not be different somehow. I am let down.

On the back of the box is a trademarked Nutritional Compass. One of the directions (south) says "Good to remember: Have some now, and save some for later." That's good nutrition!

Since I bought two boxes (due to the big boxes being so hard to find), and since I am so let down, I will probably be gifting one of them. Just FYI. It might be you. Please contain your excitement.

Four years ago today...

I have written this story before, but it was on my old blog, which is now gone, so I'm writing it again, the highlights as they have remained in my brain 4 years later.

Four years ago today, I woke up on the pull-out sofa in the ante-room of my parents' hotel room, somewhat hung over from a great rehearsal dinner at this fabulous Italian restaurant in the theater district, the name of which I'm blanking on right now.

Everyone staying in the hotel gathered for brunch. I was not overly emotional until my grandma presented me with her own engagement ring that she had received in 1928. I started crying then and was on the verge of tears for the next 24 hours. In a good way, I assure you. I wear this ring every single day and I love it so much.

My bridesmaids and I went to get our hair and nails done. I had my heart set on having my hair down and curly, but the dude said that would not be advisable on a cold November day. I appreciate that it was out of my face, but I'm still a little sad that it was not down.

At Alger House (in the west village, best wedding venue ever), my mom showed us how to tie bows on the chairs and we all worked on those while her friends set up flowers around the room. A dear friend of the family showed up from Virginia, with the cake she had baked for us in her backseat. I always loved her desserts and her family, so it was a very wonderful gift and one of my favorites that we received.

The bridesmaids and I got dressed upstairs and the guests began to arrive. Lots of guests coming from NJ were stuck in tunnel traffic and missed the entire ceremony, especially because the ceremony was so short. Our minister forgot to call up my mom's oldest friend (who I call aunt) and my dad's youngest brother for the readings. We recessed to the Star Wars throne room song and went upstairs to sign the official stuff. We came back down and did the two readings plus a speech by my dad while the three of us stood on the stairs. I really liked doing it that way, actually. A lot of people assumed we'd planned it that way, which was just fine.

Our first dance was to All You Need Is Love. That was a damn difficult song to dance to, but we pulled it off. Whenever I hear it, I get a little misty-eyed. I never thought of it as an overly romantic song until we danced to it at our wedding.

Those are the main highlights. Click on the photo to see the rest of the set. Everyone looked so great and I honestly believe that everyone had a really good time, too. My mom looked gorgeous in her green dress. And all my bridesmaids looked fabulous in the black dresses of their choice. My dad and Jeff looked extra dapper in their tuxes.

Here's to four great years and to 40+ more! I love you, Ponty.

For Catie

As soon as I published the last entry, I found out that my friend Catie's cat, Peter, had been hit by a car and was killed. Less than two weeks ago, another one of her cats, Roo, died of old age. I cannot even imagine what she must be going through right now. Even though I did not know these cats very well in person, I know that they meant everything to her. They were both gorgeous and full of personality and they will be very much missed by many, many people.

Elizabethan cat

The problem with not blogging for a month is good lord where do you even begin again. I don't have the slightest idea where I even left off. Hold on, let me go check...

Right. So, a month later and Booie is still wearing the collar. Well, for a week or two in there, she wore a black and white striped dog shirt. But that was not ideal as the issue was that one section of her incision, under her armpit, was remaining moist and not healing up properly. The shirt was just exacerbating that problem and making it even harder for the wound to breathe.

She's worn the collar ever since. She's gotten used to it, as much as she could. At one point, after most of the stitches had been removed, a small hole in the incision re-opened and fluid continued to dribble out, which was pretty gross. The vet assured me it was what her body wanted to do, so he allowed the hole to remain open for a week and then he put some little stitches in, which somehow got pulled out within 24 hours (or possibly they just disolved too quickly), so it stayed open another week. The vet said not to worry, it was all part of the process.

Last week he put in two staples. I have high hopes of them coming out this week and the cone coming off. The cat is getting rather greasy, as I'm sure she knows. She needs a bath. And I'm tired of being head butted at 3am by the cone. And I'm no longer laughing at the sound like whisking she makes when she scratches at the plastic cone with her hind leg.

Booie has never been one to appreciate being picked up. I pretty much never picked her up, except on the rare occasion after returning from a trip when I'd grab her and give her a hug and then she'd make a pitiful noise and I'd put her down. I've had to pick her up a bunch lately and have had to negotiate an open wound which I didn't want to touch if I didn't have to (so as not to hurt her). I have developed a technique of wrapping my arms around her and then sliding one underneath her so she's standing on it. This way I don't have to put any undue pressure on her underside. Surprisingly, she has gotten used to being picked up this way and doesn't really resist.

Otherwise, it has been 6 weeks since the surgery and there are no lumps that the vet can feel at this time.

I also turned 33. Jeff took me to Baltimore for an overnight and we saw The Decemberists and they were just as good as the last time we saw them. It was a few days after the election and same as the last time we saw them, they had the audience sing "hear all the bombs fade away" over and over and I don't know why, but that just really gets me, especially this time, when we were so full of new hope.

I haven't spent any quality time in Baltimore since approximately 1994. It's quite charming, actually. There is a good beer bar there called Brewer's Art.

#58 Bruce

You were a chauvinist but you treated me kindly. I think you felt a little fatherly toward me. You probably thought I was without ambition. Really I just didn't belong in PR.

#56 Brian

You seemed so old when we met at my first real job. You were younger than I am now. I email you every few years. You write back excitedly once each time.

It's almost my birthday again and I didn't finish this yet. I guess I will keep going with 32 words to keep all the entries the same. Here's to finishing the list this year!

Cat spit: not prescribed

Booie is the most pathetic looking creature right now. She has to wear an Elizabethan collar for a few days to allow her incision to heal without her "helping" by licking it. Her assistance was causing it to get all inflamed and irritated and the stitches were disolving sooner than they should have.

I took her to the vet last night for her 2 week check-up and the vet took out a few of the stitches, which lead to some bleeding. I'm not sure why exactly. I suppose because of her licking and not allowing the wound to heal properly.

There was a fair bit of fluid build-up underneath the skin as well. The vet stuck in a syringe and sucked it out. Two vials full. I was not grossed out at all. I was actually quite fascinated. But around that time, the room got very hot, my face got sweaty, and I really needed to sit down.

The vet said the cavity would most likely fill up with fluid again because that's what a body does if a lot of flesh is removed. I wonder how come he didn't put in a drain, although I'm sure if she had a drain, she would really have been messing with that. As long as her skin does not balloon up, he said it's fine. He can drain it again next week, if need be, when we go back again.

Thankfully, this awesome vet does not charge for the check-up visits, only for the meds. Have I mentioned how much I love Dr. Mammas and the Bayonne clinic? I love them so much.

With the collar on, she can't go under the bed or under her favorite wing chair or get in the litter box (I took off the cover). Last night, she ignored me when I said, "bedtime!" to her. She always follows me when I say that and comes for her few minutes of snuzzling up under my chin and then she curls up at the end of the bed until morning when she comes for more snuzzling right before my alarm goes off.

She sat on the couch last night, looking very dejected, and not looking at me when I called. I suppose she eventually laid down and went to sleep. She appeared on the bed at 6am wanting to snuzzle and she clocked me in the face with her collar.

My poor baby. When I saw how pathetic she looked with the collar on, I took it off, but when Jeff heard the diagnosis, he said she has to wear it. He's a strict cat dad. I hope to find a soft version at the pet store tonight so she's not so incapacitated and is able to eat with it on. She barely ate anything this morning before we put it back on her and had to leave for work.

Booie comes home

Booie is so stoic. When I took off the bandage on her foot, she did not complain. The tape pulled on her skin and she let me do it with hardly any resistence. Maybe she was just glad to have it off.

Her signature mrt is gone for now and all that's left is a faint coo like a dove makes. It sounds pretty pathetic. Used to be when I would surprise her by touching her she would mrt loudly. Now, it's just a soft mrtle.

The crate did not work out. I put her in it when we got home and she howled and paced. She was still wobbly from the meds. I let her out and figured she could walk around if I could keep an eye on her. I put a step in front of our bed (which is low to begin with), that she ignored and jumped right up. She then konked out on the floor but then woke up and jumped on the couch before I could stop her.

When I headed out to Target a few hours later, I picked her sleepy self up and put her gently into the cage. She went berserk, sticking her paws out as far as she could, climbing up the sides, stretching out and pushing on the top of the crate. That was no good. So, I let her out and she ran under the bed.

I guess I can assume she won't do what hurts, although I worry that the pain meds hide the pain and she will do internal damage while she's on them. I thought she was asleep under a chair this evening and I heard a noise in the kitchen. She had jumped up on the radiator to look out the window. She loves sitting in that window, so no wonder, but I really didn't think she'd go for that yet.

She's asleep now, so it's probably time to attempt to administer the anti-inflammatory meds. It's a liquid and I have had baaaad luck giving her anything orally in the past.

When instinct is all you have

It seems strange to be home and not have Booie here. She's spending the night at the vet's while she recuperates from the surgery she had this morning.

I wound up taking her to a different vet -- Dr. Mammas in Bayonne. I probably would have been fine with the vet we had in JC, despite the slight feeling we had that that office was a bit too impersonal. And it bugged me that every time I needed to get results from them, I was told to call and ask for my vet by name and then the person answering the phone would take down all my info every time and then the vet would call me back when she could. Since she's away from the phone for so much of the day, wouldn't it just be easier for her to call everyone up who needs calling, without making them call and leave messages first?

The Bayonne vet office called me today to tell me Booie's surgery had gone fine and that I could come and see her this evening if I wanted to. I couldn't leave work early enough to do that, but I do appreciate the offer. I pick her up at 11am tomorrow.

What really cinched it for me as far as knowing this vet was the right one was last weekend when I posted a message on FreeCycle about wanting to borrow a large dog crate to put my cat in while she recovers from surgery. I receive a response from a woman named Silvia who said she is the manager at the Bayonne clinic and I could borrow one they have. I wrote back and said how weird, because I was going to be in the following day for an appointment. She said it must be fate and I have to agree.

When I brought Booie in that evening Silvia chatted with me while I filled out the paperwork. And when I took Booie into the exam room, she came, too. She was hugging Booie and whispering in her ears that she was going to be fine. Silvia told the vet assistant she was taking care of this one and she held Booie while the vet examined her.

The clinic is not nearly as pristine looking as the ones in JC and Hoboken run by Dr. Tudor. It has a much homier feel to it. The door to the exam room was open the entire time we were in it and people walked through to say hi and check on things. When I came back this morning to drop her off for the surgery, two Pugs were behind the counter with the two women working there.

The best news I got was from the vet this morning. I asked him if he'd be around tomorrow to fill me in on how to take care of Booie during her recovery. I said, "For example, do I really need to keep her in the crate for 2 weeks?" He said, "What? No! One or two days at most." I said, "Because if it hurts her to jump on things, she won't do it?" He said, "Of course." Catie was right about that. Even with walnut-sized brains, they aren't THAT dumb (cats, not Catie).

And yes, it's true, they're not that dumb. The last two times I took her to the vet, I tricked her by throwing a towel over her and grabbing her that way. She really despises being picked up, so grabbing her was always a chore. Well, not so much the grabbing as the getting her into the bag without her clawing whatever is in reach (usually my belly). Couple that with the fact that for the past few years, when she realizes she's about to be put in The Bag, she pees.

This morning I was supposed to drop her off at 8:30, but at 8, as soon as she saw me walking toward her with a towel, she ran and hid under the bed for 20 minutes. I took off my work clothes since I knew the towel was a lost cause. When she did eventually come out of the bedroom and I grabbed her, I scooped her up and flipped her on her back and somehow the pee managed to shoot over my arm and onto the kitchen floor.

I can't wait to see that furball tomorrow. I hope she's not in too much pain and doesn't think I did this to her just to be cruel.