Saturday, February 26, 2011

Never mind the background, I have issues!

Tried to change my blog background to something easier to read over, but this is what happened. I picked a boring blue background, now i have old photographs, which oddly enough is fitting since i am busy packing old photographs. Maybe the blue skys and open road background will reappear once I feel like I am seeing blue skys again. Not tonight.

just heard from my angel friend Kathleen that her back up help to take care of George Burns, Jr. the diabetic cat, has backed out, leaving her unsure if she can handle him.  She lives in Trinidad so it isn't such an easy thing to have someone in the "neighborhood" drop by to give him a shot if she has to be away, which it seems happens often.  We spoke to vet and George is doing great on the current diet and insulin but is unlikely to be able to ever get insulin free. So here I sit on a Saturday night wondering what will happen to my kitty in about 32 days if we can't find a new back up for my back up.  Anyone out there live in Trinidad or want to take on my beautiful little old man?

In other news, got a call today from a college buddy Renee, who is making the trek up from LA to come to my party. She is joining another one of my college pals, Nancy, who is making the trip from Ashland area. These two ladies have been my friends since I was 19 or 20 and they are always there for me when I really need them, though i am so independent that i rarely ask. They were there to celebrate my completion of the successful treatment of my breast cancer back in 2005 when we all went to UCSC for a reunion. Although I had to nap through much of the goings ons. I never thought i would be able to fall asleep when 6 or more women were laughing crazily in the room next door, but thats what radiation therapy can do for you! I was eternally grateful for them all coming together and acknowledging me for the battle i had just gone through and am sooo excited they will be coming to see me off on this much more interesting adventure.  Maybe one of them wants a nice kitty. Sigh.

Bought some office supplies for the trip and did some language learning today.  I am sure i will get much better at this language, but some Setswana words are amazingly long for what they are actually saying.  Cucumber and the colors light and dark blue are the winners so far, but asking where the women's bathroom is will be dangerously long if I really need it quickly. I am hoping there is an informal short word that is more commonly used.  There has to be.  And I don't think there are that many cucumbers in Botswana and I will only buy the ones I don't have to ask for by name.

It is late, I am sad about George's prospects tonight.  I wish he were a stinky, ugly cat.  I am glad he isn't, of course.  But I am nevertheless sad. 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Things are moving along

Time flies. Since my last post I have: finished my job (but for a few small projects I promised I would finish/help with); celebrated my birthday with my sister, two nieces and Stan for the last time until my 52nd birthday in 2014 (holy molie!); joined my mother and 100 of her closest friends in the Bay Area for her celebration of 50 years of practicing law (and watched her and others dance with the belly dancers who entertained theotherwise bored husbands of her closest friends); helped my expectant 29 year old sister Kami and her boyfriend Jason pack up her apartment in Santa Clara so she could move with him to be near  his family in Birmingham, Alabama; spent a wonderful weekend in San Diego with a very special friend Frank who I met in 1995 on my infamous bicycle tour in Ireland; given a 3 1/2 hour deposition in a case where the attorney spent alot of time trying to discredit my understanding of Alzheimer's and potential behaviors associated therewith; continued planning for the fostering of my pets, met with my vet Jeff and fostering angel Kathleen to figure out what will work best for George Burns, Jr., the diabetic cat (who remains the cutest cat on the planet); had the kitchen of my house remodeled; rented my house out to a lovely family who will move in on March 19th; found out that one of my best friends from college is coming to my party on March 4th; had lunch with Ginger and Malcolm who were very generous in many ways; given out multiple invites to my party and been in contact with many wellwishers and old friends along the way; reintroduced myself to the gym (thank you Ceci for the welcome back - groan); bought various externals for my notepad; wondered why my mp3 players only will let me listen to the Setswana language stuff and not the music; started to pull auction items together for the Arcata Sunrise Rotary shindig on March 12; finished my taxes; bought a nice bottle of Disaronno to help with all the workload; and done a few dozen other things I can't quite remember now.  My room mate's head spins everytime I walk into the house. I tell her it won't be like this forever.  In another 38 ish days I will have a totally different life.  But in the nexts 37 ish days it look alot like this:  packing, getting rid of things, cleaning, selling my car (sorry, it's been spoken for); new hot water heater, some tile work repair, playing with all my lovely pets, saying lots of goodbyes to friends and acquaintances and lots of hellos to all the paperwork. I keep thinking I have got to be getting things off my list, but the list seems to have a mind of its own, adding random to dos late at night when I and my furry friends are snoozing.

I like writing in run on sentences. it matches my run on life at present.

It is raining tonight, so I get to find out if the rat that has been living in my wall is still there or has "moved on" as the exterminator might well say to spare me the visuals.  At this point I would actually like proof that the money I paid was more than just a hunting license for a chance catch. Sorry rat, but you have to go. The fact that my cats don't even venture to that side of the house indicates the potential size and danger of his not "moving on."  So far all is quiet...one is  hopeful.....Tomorrow I will start again to exterminate more of my to do list....

Saturday, February 12, 2011

oh yeah I'm 49 now

Oh yeah, and I turned 49 on the 5th!  AARP sent me an envelope - felt like it had a card it it. sorry guys, i recycled that sucker, unopened!  I am certainly not retiring now or probably ever.....lol

Another week and many changes

Finished another week of closures and goodbyes.  Have been having fun training my replacement but it has been hectic and i hope she is getting what she needed.  there are so many things i apparently have in my head that i think about and others don't. so our last two days together i will try to only tell her things no one else can. that should be an interesting exercise!

My agency put on a perfectly beautiful, tasteful and heartfelt good bye party for me Wednesday afternoon. I can't believe how stressed out i was about it before hand - worried i wouldn't be able to speak full and complete sentences due to the loud sobbing i would be doing. I did some crying and alot of laughing and they made me feel very loved and special. I had a friend video tape the party and all the speeches so I can give my mom and dad each a copy, since they couldn't come. Felt a bit like being at my own funeral. I mean, i have been to funerals where people say the kind of nice things these folks said to me. But i was there! kind of wierd but at least i won't die wondering what people think of me.  Except those people who didn't come, or came but didn't say anything...hmmmm wonder what they are thinking? Nah.

I go back and forth on my packing list - everytime some one posts a new list of things they are glad they took to Botswana. i won't start packing until my job is done and i have rented the house! but it doesn't stop me from buying things i think i need.  My mom will be busy sending me packages over the next few months to be sure!

A very nice couple - Curtis and Beth - came over today to meet my grey cat Scully. They all fell in love with eachother and I think their home, with no other cats to distract them from catering to her every whim, will be a perfect place. they were ready to take her today, but i wasn't ready to let her go.  Also met with Kathleen this week to discuss how diabetic George Burns, Jr. will fit into her housing situation.  Sounds like a go so that leave Marco and Princess to stay here with my neighbor AND now I ONLY have to find good renters for the home who don't mind these two kitties knocking on the door from time to time saying - "heh, this is MY house and that may be YOUR bed, but i used to have one just like it right in that same spot, so get outta my way"  Or maybe Marco will be mostly saying "give me treats." hard to know.

Next hurdle is finishing all the work i wanted to do in the next 3 days. Then i get to take a 5 day vacation before it's peddle to the metal to get the kitchen remodeled, the house ready, a renter found and my stuff and me packed and put in  our respective places. one day at a time, one hurdle at a time.  The real hurdle is finding a good renter, so if anyone is out there who knows someone in Humboldt who would be good to my nice home, send them my way!

Plans for my Botswana Bound party on March 4th with Trifecta playing rock and roll are going well and I hope to see lots of folks without the speeches....

I think when i get on the plane i will either have a nervous breakdown or whoop for joy.  the person sitting next to me of course won't be able to immediately discern the difference, but hopefully I will. and i am pulling for the joy side of things.

We have a HUGE mac and cheese contingent in the Bots 10 group so things can't go too askew and we are going to be an awesome, dancing, tone deaf but still singing loudly kind of group, i can just tell. Can't wait to meet them all!

Friday, February 4, 2011

whew!

Just finished first week training my replacement at work. Luckily for all of us, she is a known entity, having worked at the Senior Center in the past, and people like her already and she is darned smart too!  Its been challenging to spend time training her and still getting work done and my head is splitting by the middle part of the afternoon, but we are getting there.  When i throw in a day of work on the weekends to catch up, we are good to go. 

As much as i love the bots10ers web page and all the helpful posts from the bots9ers, if i brought everything someone has suggested i bring to Botswana I would need an entourage to carry it.  i am determined to be able to carry what i bring myself.  not even trying to deal with that challenge til i am officially off duty at work and have the house rented and the animals settled.  George Burns, Jr. is thriving with his insulin injections.  gaining weight and keeping his sugar  levels right where they are supposed to be. And dang, is he cute.  Scully went in to have her blood work done today to make sure as a 14 year old cat she has no underlying illnesses before she gets fostered out. Nevada, the dog is so darned cute with her underbite and one remaining tooth down there. She is being fostered to a home with 3 other mini dogs and she will be the matriarch and doggie queen. Marco and Princess are playing a cool hand and laying low because so far I plan for them to stay here with my neighbor and they don't want me to start thinking otherwise.

I am working on finding two more people to rent my home and figuring out the minimum I can manage with.  PEOPLE LISTEN TO ME CLOSELY: if you want to join the Peace Corps 1) do it in your 20s 2) dont have pets and stuff if you don't do number 1, and finally  3) do it when you retire and #2 still applies.  I am hoping that by the time i survive all these challenges I will find lack of water or toilet paper an easier challenge.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I turn 49. So I will spend my 50th birthday in Botswana, if all goes according to plan.  In a few weeks i go to my mother's celebration of her 50th year practicing law and then on to see a friend in san diego. my only "vacation" this year before nose to the grindstone to get ready to head to botsland.

I am typing this on my brand new HP notepad that my wonderful friends Robert and Wendy gifted me for my trip.Many thanks to them. I have had such an amazing response to my plans, with people sending or giving me money to help with my final costs. only a couple of people have looked at me like i am absolutely crazy, but even they had a look of envy/regret in their eyes (well, the one on the phone it was hard to tell, but maybe in her voice it was there)

My agency is having a goodbye party for me next week. I plan to cry through most of it. I discovered recently that if i smile real hard i can't cry. or i don't think i am crying. so all the photos will have me with a crazy grin on my face and tears streaming.  That is not a good look for me.  there is never a good time to leave, but my fears of what will happen to our clients and staff with the state of California's budget makes this a bittersweet move for me.

 I am having a party on March 4th to say goodbye with my friend co/worker Rick's band playing and my other co-worker Justin playing the drums. They are actually excellent musicians, it isn't like this is something they are randomly doing. they rock and we will rock.  A couple people even came to the party tonight (February 4), they were so excited. That is the problem with 1) sending out invites too early and 2) having March and February have the same darned days of the weeks. I hope they come to the real party in a month.

My lovely niece who just turned 11 responded "maybe" to the facebook invite about my party. already she is keeping her options open.  I am hoping my sister/her mom will drag her kicking and screaming to my party. Jeez kids with facebook accounts. what is that about?  I should remind her the party consists of desserts (well and music and adult beverages, but i think i will have her at "desserts")