Well, first of all, Matt and his knee are doing great. He's been off crutches for a few days now, and he has very little pain (if any). I think he took a grand total of two oxycodone during his recovery and other than that was fine with just tylenol, which I find absolutely amazing. Overall, I think the surgery was a very good thing, and we're both looking forward to when he's able to play soccer again. As you probably noticed, he never wrote in this blog while he was laid up. I apologize on his behalf; I reminded him a couple times but I think he was too busy watching Simpson's episodes on DVD. Oh well.
Not much else is going on out here. The weather has been fairly predictable, mostly in the 30s, with some flurries or rain now and then. We got a couple inches of good, fresh snow the other day, which was nice because it covered up all the muddy slush that we'd been left with due to the higher temperatures. We may get more snow today or tomorrow, but I'm just thankful it's been so *warm* the past week and a half.
I thought I'd write a little bit about my coworkers since they've been an important source of entertainment for me lately. I think I've mentioned them in previous blogs but never in much detail; it's hard to do them justice in words because they are all so wonderful. I never thought I would become such close friends with four middle-aged women, but for some reason we really click. A typical lunch conversation consists of gossip of the most inappropriate kind, ranging this week from hermaphrodites to the love lives (or lack thereof) of certain administrators. We've developed a weekly habit of visiting Vino 100 on Fridays after school and partaking in one or several glasses of wine, and that's when it tends to get really interesting. This week I was informed by one of the women that a friend of her husband's friend, an anesthesiologist, is married to an x-ray tech who went into that field specifically to land a successful doctor husband (and brags about that fact). All the women remind me frequently to "watch over" Matt and all associated with him, since they consider him quite the catch. The very sweet but surprisingly saucy admin lady even told me a story the other day about a woman who used to hit on her husband during bowling night. Apparently the admin lady, who took self defense, told this poor woman that if she ever hit on her husband again she would break her arm in under four seconds. She showed me how to do it, too. So watch out, ladies.
I guess I shouldn't share too many stories in a public forum, but suffice it to say these women are absolutely hysterical and I adore them. We somehow managed to finagle the principal into sending us to a conference this coming Tuesday and I'm sure that will be a riot. What surprises me the most is how subversive and self-deprecating they are--in a healthy, funny way--and how much they just love to hang out together, and with me. They even (prematurely) INVITED THEMSELVES to my wedding (which, incidentally, they talk about ALL the time in an almost embarrassingly impatient manner), and began planning a combined trip to Mexico and San Diego (they have "always wanted to visit San Diego" and the hotel situation will be "SO inexpensive" if they all share rooms!!!). Well, we'll see about that, but for the time being I'm very much enjoying spending time with these ladies and am kind of sad I will likely only be with them one year.
Anyway, the Chargers just miraculously beat the Colts in the playoffs and Matt has been screaming, pacing, and generally freaking out for the past two hours. I think it's probably time now to do some cleaning and preparing for the coming week, although I've liked having football be an excuse to not accomplish anything for most of this weekend. We did, however, go to a med school sponsored cocktail party on Friday night, which was very nice. I'll post some pictures on my Picasa album (http://picasaweb.google.com/caitbrick), so check that out if you're interested.
Go Chargers!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Sunday, December 30, 2007
My sincerest apologies...
...for having not updated this in several weeks. We've been insanely busy finishing up our respective semesters, preparing for the holidays, dealing with leaky windows, etc. And then we had perhaps our most authentic midwest experience to date: our travel plans were affected by the weather. This has literally NEVER happened to me before; I mean, I've dealt with delayed flights and all those kinds of inconveniences, but this time we were fully defeated. We showed up at the airport, Vinny in tow, we got in line, Matt looked at the flight info screen, Matt informed me that our flight was canceled, lady at desk said next flight she could get us out on wasn't until two days later--Christmas Eve. Bad. So we turned around and left the airport one half hour later, especially irritated by the fact that it was warmer that day than it had been in weeks (44 degrees) and it was the FOG that kept the planes on the ground.
The saving grace: to make ourselves feel better, we went out to dinner that night at the Third Ward Cafe, a very sweet and quiet little restaurant in the downtown warehouse district. The food and wine were spectacular and it seemed, momentarily, that our travel delay was a blessing in disguise because we'd get to spend a couple of quality days together.
Then the next day it was -4 degrees with wind chill and we no longer felt blessed. We hardly left the house and when we did I almost died. That is not an exaggeration. Thankfully, Christmas Eve was clear and sunny, and our flight was only delayed a few minutes, and we made it home safe and sound.
We had a fantastic vacation in San Diego, which was absolutely gorgeous and sunny and WARM the whole week. Although, clearly the 50s and low 60s aren't warm for San Diegans. I saw SO many girls wearing UGG boots and furry outerwear and thought--rather haughtily, I fully admit--about how there is actually a legitimate use for such things in places like Antarctica, Greenland, Wisconsin, and likely much of Canada. Anyway, we spent much time with family, and we even got my dad out of the house (he is currently recovering from his knee replacement surgery) for a really lovely Christmas dinner at the Leach house. In one week I think we saw every person we know even remotely well in San Diego. I over-ate the entire time and I don't regret it because I had so much good food, including the requisite Santana's burrito which was TO DIE FOR. For Christmas I received numerous cold weather essentials and was actually quite excited to return to Milwaukee and try them out. As it happened, it was 10 degrees when we arrived home today and therefore the calf-length down-filled parka and the ear-flap yeti hat came in handy almost immediately. How convenient!!!
I was overall very happy to get home, despite the fact that our house was at 42 degrees when we walked in, we have no food in the fridge, and the windows are still leaky. It's funny--I kind of missed the snow and the cold. Is that absolutely ridiculous? Am I going to be completely eating my words in one month when "cold" doesn't even begin to describe the hell that is REAL winter in the upper midwest? Probably, but for now I feel better equipped than ever (apparel-wise) to face the onslaught, and I'm rather happy to be back in the frozen tundra. We went and picked up kitty, and I actually kind of missed him, too. He's been acting suspiciously nice to us all evening, so I'm kind of wondering what expensive piece of electronics he will ruin tomorrow to even things out.
Oh, and our neighbor got Vinny a yellow Sponge Bob Square Pants sweater for Christmas. It is absolutely fantastic and I will post a picture as soon as I think to do so because it's one of the most hysterical things I have ever, ever seen.
That was a sort of shoddy summary of the past few weeks but it will have to suffice, because it's almost midnight and I am taking Matt to the hospital early tomorrow morning for his ACL repair surgery. Wish him luck. He'll be spending one night there (I might, too, who knows) and will return home Wednesday morning. He has already announced that during his convalescence he will attempt to contribute to this blog, so check back frequently if you're interested in his account of the recovery process, which will most likely not accurately portray how much a slave he is making of me, so I'll try to write about it too in order to set the record straight. :)
Happy New Year!
The saving grace: to make ourselves feel better, we went out to dinner that night at the Third Ward Cafe, a very sweet and quiet little restaurant in the downtown warehouse district. The food and wine were spectacular and it seemed, momentarily, that our travel delay was a blessing in disguise because we'd get to spend a couple of quality days together.
Then the next day it was -4 degrees with wind chill and we no longer felt blessed. We hardly left the house and when we did I almost died. That is not an exaggeration. Thankfully, Christmas Eve was clear and sunny, and our flight was only delayed a few minutes, and we made it home safe and sound.
We had a fantastic vacation in San Diego, which was absolutely gorgeous and sunny and WARM the whole week. Although, clearly the 50s and low 60s aren't warm for San Diegans. I saw SO many girls wearing UGG boots and furry outerwear and thought--rather haughtily, I fully admit--about how there is actually a legitimate use for such things in places like Antarctica, Greenland, Wisconsin, and likely much of Canada. Anyway, we spent much time with family, and we even got my dad out of the house (he is currently recovering from his knee replacement surgery) for a really lovely Christmas dinner at the Leach house. In one week I think we saw every person we know even remotely well in San Diego. I over-ate the entire time and I don't regret it because I had so much good food, including the requisite Santana's burrito which was TO DIE FOR. For Christmas I received numerous cold weather essentials and was actually quite excited to return to Milwaukee and try them out. As it happened, it was 10 degrees when we arrived home today and therefore the calf-length down-filled parka and the ear-flap yeti hat came in handy almost immediately. How convenient!!!
I was overall very happy to get home, despite the fact that our house was at 42 degrees when we walked in, we have no food in the fridge, and the windows are still leaky. It's funny--I kind of missed the snow and the cold. Is that absolutely ridiculous? Am I going to be completely eating my words in one month when "cold" doesn't even begin to describe the hell that is REAL winter in the upper midwest? Probably, but for now I feel better equipped than ever (apparel-wise) to face the onslaught, and I'm rather happy to be back in the frozen tundra. We went and picked up kitty, and I actually kind of missed him, too. He's been acting suspiciously nice to us all evening, so I'm kind of wondering what expensive piece of electronics he will ruin tomorrow to even things out.
Oh, and our neighbor got Vinny a yellow Sponge Bob Square Pants sweater for Christmas. It is absolutely fantastic and I will post a picture as soon as I think to do so because it's one of the most hysterical things I have ever, ever seen.
That was a sort of shoddy summary of the past few weeks but it will have to suffice, because it's almost midnight and I am taking Matt to the hospital early tomorrow morning for his ACL repair surgery. Wish him luck. He'll be spending one night there (I might, too, who knows) and will return home Wednesday morning. He has already announced that during his convalescence he will attempt to contribute to this blog, so check back frequently if you're interested in his account of the recovery process, which will most likely not accurately portray how much a slave he is making of me, so I'll try to write about it too in order to set the record straight. :)
Happy New Year!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
SNOW DAY! (ice day?)
Wisconsin is ridiculous. I have proof:
Due to an overnight ICE storm and the current preponderance of palm-sized (I swear) snow "flakes," I am sitting at home, drinking tea and writing in this blog, instead of working.
THAT IS FREAKING AWESOME.
Furthermore, it is a whopping 32 degrees outside, which doesn't much impress my fellow Californians but now strikes me as rather balmy compared to the EIGHT sniveling degrees it was a few mornings ago.
All would be fine and dandy if I wasn't ever-so-slightly worried about the fact that the Subaru is currently becoming rather effectively snowed in and I'm supposed to pick Matt up from school in about an hour. I'm no good with a shovel (I don't yet even own a pair of boots) and our neighbor and his snowblower appear to also be taking a snow day....this could be a problem. Sorry Matt.
Anyway, it has been snowing off and on for days. It is absolutely unbelievable; my neighbors and coworkers claim there hasn't been this much snow in years. I can't even begin to describe it. I took this picture the other night:
We have been suitably lazy homebodies, given the weather. I wear like 8 layers even indoors, drink obscene amounts of tea and hot cocoa, and you better believe it is next to impossible to get out of bed at 6 in the morning. Matt spends most of his time "studying," on the couch, under a blanket, with the furry ones. Exhibit A:
Vinny also wears layers, and he sometimes won't get out of bed all day. Kitty doesn't seem much affected, however, and continues on his quest to destroy all valuable items in this apartment.
Oh thank god, our neighbor is blowing the driveway. Well, it appears Matt might make it home today after all.
Due to an overnight ICE storm and the current preponderance of palm-sized (I swear) snow "flakes," I am sitting at home, drinking tea and writing in this blog, instead of working.
THAT IS FREAKING AWESOME.
Furthermore, it is a whopping 32 degrees outside, which doesn't much impress my fellow Californians but now strikes me as rather balmy compared to the EIGHT sniveling degrees it was a few mornings ago.
All would be fine and dandy if I wasn't ever-so-slightly worried about the fact that the Subaru is currently becoming rather effectively snowed in and I'm supposed to pick Matt up from school in about an hour. I'm no good with a shovel (I don't yet even own a pair of boots) and our neighbor and his snowblower appear to also be taking a snow day....this could be a problem. Sorry Matt.
Anyway, it has been snowing off and on for days. It is absolutely unbelievable; my neighbors and coworkers claim there hasn't been this much snow in years. I can't even begin to describe it. I took this picture the other night:
We have been suitably lazy homebodies, given the weather. I wear like 8 layers even indoors, drink obscene amounts of tea and hot cocoa, and you better believe it is next to impossible to get out of bed at 6 in the morning. Matt spends most of his time "studying," on the couch, under a blanket, with the furry ones. Exhibit A:
Vinny also wears layers, and he sometimes won't get out of bed all day. Kitty doesn't seem much affected, however, and continues on his quest to destroy all valuable items in this apartment.
Oh thank god, our neighbor is blowing the driveway. Well, it appears Matt might make it home today after all.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Thanksgiving Weekend Part Two/It's FREAKING COLD here/go me!/Snow Dog!
I will firstly summarize the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend with Thor, Dio, and Antigone: it was awesome. Lots of eating, lots of drinking, and even lots of sight seeing despite the chilly temperatures. I appreciated Dio's tenacity; I know she is not built for freezing temperatures, but she did a great job of bundling up and pushing through. On Saturday we visited the art museum and Discovery World, and then cruised the River Walk a bit. It was cold but very pretty that day, clear and sunny.
Later we assembled the fake Christmas tree my neighbor lent us and decorated it with some cheap decorations from Drew's Variety Store in downtown Tosa. I won't lie, this tree is verging on Charlie Brown. But hey, it was free! We ate dinner at home that night, took a cold weather/warm drink walk through the Highlands, and watched a movie. On Sunday, we went to Whitefish Bay, a charming and somewhat upscale little city north of downtown. I love that area. We walked through some of the neighborhoods until we found shore access, and then played on the beach for a half hour or so. It was beautiful.
We then took a tour of Sprecher Brewery, only about five minutes from Whitefish Bay in Glendale. They make German style beers and also some very good sodas (root beer, cream soda, orange soda, etc.) so we all had beverages to try. We ate cheese curds (still not sold on those) and bought a growler of Bavarian Black.
All of us were feeling pretty good by the time we went to Il Mito, one of my most favorite Italian restaurants ever, for dinner. We had an amazing meal and drank a bunch of wine and were very, very merry. The night continued in that fashion, and all of us were somewhat regretting the extent of the merriness the next morning, especially me, since I had to go to work at 8 am. :(
We said goodbye to our visitors that evening and were very sad to see them go. It was so nice having family come to us for Thanksgiving; pretty much a perfect weekend.
The rest of this past week was rather uneventful except for a) the RIDICULOUS temperatures (when I got in my car Wednesday morning it was 18 degrees outside--I almost lost my fingers on the 2 minute walk from my car to the door of the hospital), and b) the fact that I had to take this irritating Human Growth and Development test that I had efficiently not studied at all for. Passing this test would essentially get me out of a class required of applicants to the MSN program at UW Milwaukee. The subject matter somewhat overlapped with the general Psych class I took during the summer, and I really did not want to have to take the entire class just to apply to a program that is really just a back up for me. So I decided to give the test a go, since all I needed to do was pass to get credit. Suffice it to say, I squeeked by--I got the absolute minimum score needed to pass. While I am not necessarily proud of this, I'm fairly pleased with the fact that with a minimal amount of effort I got credit for a 3 unit class. So, go me!
Moving on--we are in the midst of a real, honest-to-god snowstorm. It has snowed for a good 6 hours so far today. Here's how it looked at 11 am:
Around 1:30 pm, it looked like this:
And by 3:30 pm, our neighbor was out with the snow blower, clearing our driveway and sidewalk of several inches of snow.
It's wild. I shoved Vinny out the door and he was truly confused; he went out in the snow last week but there was much less of it.
He was tentative at first but within a few minutes he was bounding around the yard, kicking up snow everywhere, having a ball. He likes it! He's a snow dog!! Who would have ever guessed?
Despite the cold we are warm and happy in our apartment, which we have not left all day. The cat is entertaining himself by intermittently destroying parts of the Christmas tree, and Vinny has been under the covers in bed ever since his little romp in the snow. I'm glad this storm is happening on a weekend so that we can be lazy and enjoy it.
Later we assembled the fake Christmas tree my neighbor lent us and decorated it with some cheap decorations from Drew's Variety Store in downtown Tosa. I won't lie, this tree is verging on Charlie Brown. But hey, it was free! We ate dinner at home that night, took a cold weather/warm drink walk through the Highlands, and watched a movie. On Sunday, we went to Whitefish Bay, a charming and somewhat upscale little city north of downtown. I love that area. We walked through some of the neighborhoods until we found shore access, and then played on the beach for a half hour or so. It was beautiful.
We then took a tour of Sprecher Brewery, only about five minutes from Whitefish Bay in Glendale. They make German style beers and also some very good sodas (root beer, cream soda, orange soda, etc.) so we all had beverages to try. We ate cheese curds (still not sold on those) and bought a growler of Bavarian Black.
All of us were feeling pretty good by the time we went to Il Mito, one of my most favorite Italian restaurants ever, for dinner. We had an amazing meal and drank a bunch of wine and were very, very merry. The night continued in that fashion, and all of us were somewhat regretting the extent of the merriness the next morning, especially me, since I had to go to work at 8 am. :(
We said goodbye to our visitors that evening and were very sad to see them go. It was so nice having family come to us for Thanksgiving; pretty much a perfect weekend.
The rest of this past week was rather uneventful except for a) the RIDICULOUS temperatures (when I got in my car Wednesday morning it was 18 degrees outside--I almost lost my fingers on the 2 minute walk from my car to the door of the hospital), and b) the fact that I had to take this irritating Human Growth and Development test that I had efficiently not studied at all for. Passing this test would essentially get me out of a class required of applicants to the MSN program at UW Milwaukee. The subject matter somewhat overlapped with the general Psych class I took during the summer, and I really did not want to have to take the entire class just to apply to a program that is really just a back up for me. So I decided to give the test a go, since all I needed to do was pass to get credit. Suffice it to say, I squeeked by--I got the absolute minimum score needed to pass. While I am not necessarily proud of this, I'm fairly pleased with the fact that with a minimal amount of effort I got credit for a 3 unit class. So, go me!
Moving on--we are in the midst of a real, honest-to-god snowstorm. It has snowed for a good 6 hours so far today. Here's how it looked at 11 am:
Around 1:30 pm, it looked like this:
And by 3:30 pm, our neighbor was out with the snow blower, clearing our driveway and sidewalk of several inches of snow.
It's wild. I shoved Vinny out the door and he was truly confused; he went out in the snow last week but there was much less of it.
He was tentative at first but within a few minutes he was bounding around the yard, kicking up snow everywhere, having a ball. He likes it! He's a snow dog!! Who would have ever guessed?
Despite the cold we are warm and happy in our apartment, which we have not left all day. The cat is entertaining himself by intermittently destroying parts of the Christmas tree, and Vinny has been under the covers in bed ever since his little romp in the snow. I'm glad this storm is happening on a weekend so that we can be lazy and enjoy it.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Two White Thanksgivings
On our first Thanksgiving (Thursday), I awoke, walked downstairs, looked out our living room window, and saw this:
I knew, to some extent, that it would be a beautiful morning. It started snowing the night before when Matt was driving me to my soccer game. The snow was really coming down; as you might imagine, I was dying of excitement. After my team lost our fourth straight (we're getting better, but I would not say we'll be approaching world cup status any time soon) we drove home and I oggled the newly blanketed chevys and street signs and front yards, so much lovelier in white. It was still coming down when we arrived home, so I grabbed my camera.
It was a wonderful snowfall and deposited about an inch, maybe more, of perfect fluffy snow. The next morning, as evidenced above, was absolutely gorgeous--sunny, clear, COLD. When we first let Vinny outside, he looked at us like we were crazy. But Matt literally tossed him into the yard, and within minutes he seemed fairly ok with the snow, prancing around barking at the neighbors like usual. After he had thoroughly inspected the yard, we took him for a walk and enjoyed the Highlands.
It was a glorious day. Thor, Dio, and Antigone weren't getting in until 5 pm, so we accepted our neighbors' invitation to come watch the Packers' game and eat hors d'oevres. As it turned out, this was a fascinating experience due to the fact that these particular neighbors are pretty serious hippies, but I won't go into detail about that now. Suffice it to say that it was a very nice day, and after we got Thor, Dio, and Antigone home we ate a great dinner that Matt cooked (polenta pie with black beans, peppers, and salsa, very spicy and good).
So, that was Thanksgiving #1. But today was our REAL Thanksgiving. All of us wanted a vegetarian Thanksgiving, and we also wanted to cook whatever we liked, instead of sticking to all the regular dishes. So we went with numerous courses, starting with breakfast burritos in the morning. Later courses included a sweet potato and carrot dish with chick pea topping (a favorite slow cooker recipe of mine and Matt's), pumpkin risotto and beets, mashed potatoes and vegetarian gravy, stuffing with dried cherries and apricots, and basil corn pudding. It was all delicious, and at the finish we were sufficiently stuffed. So we made some spiced (spiked?!) cider, bundled up, and took another walk through the Highlands. There remains some snow on the ground tonight, and it is still clear, and COLD. But with bellies full and brains blurry we weren't much affected by the temperature, and enjoyed the walk very much.
So, second Thanksgiving was also fantastic, and also white, and I look forward to spending the rest of the weekend with family and continuing to enjoy this clear, lovely, COLD weather.
I knew, to some extent, that it would be a beautiful morning. It started snowing the night before when Matt was driving me to my soccer game. The snow was really coming down; as you might imagine, I was dying of excitement. After my team lost our fourth straight (we're getting better, but I would not say we'll be approaching world cup status any time soon) we drove home and I oggled the newly blanketed chevys and street signs and front yards, so much lovelier in white. It was still coming down when we arrived home, so I grabbed my camera.
It was a wonderful snowfall and deposited about an inch, maybe more, of perfect fluffy snow. The next morning, as evidenced above, was absolutely gorgeous--sunny, clear, COLD. When we first let Vinny outside, he looked at us like we were crazy. But Matt literally tossed him into the yard, and within minutes he seemed fairly ok with the snow, prancing around barking at the neighbors like usual. After he had thoroughly inspected the yard, we took him for a walk and enjoyed the Highlands.
It was a glorious day. Thor, Dio, and Antigone weren't getting in until 5 pm, so we accepted our neighbors' invitation to come watch the Packers' game and eat hors d'oevres. As it turned out, this was a fascinating experience due to the fact that these particular neighbors are pretty serious hippies, but I won't go into detail about that now. Suffice it to say that it was a very nice day, and after we got Thor, Dio, and Antigone home we ate a great dinner that Matt cooked (polenta pie with black beans, peppers, and salsa, very spicy and good).
So, that was Thanksgiving #1. But today was our REAL Thanksgiving. All of us wanted a vegetarian Thanksgiving, and we also wanted to cook whatever we liked, instead of sticking to all the regular dishes. So we went with numerous courses, starting with breakfast burritos in the morning. Later courses included a sweet potato and carrot dish with chick pea topping (a favorite slow cooker recipe of mine and Matt's), pumpkin risotto and beets, mashed potatoes and vegetarian gravy, stuffing with dried cherries and apricots, and basil corn pudding. It was all delicious, and at the finish we were sufficiently stuffed. So we made some spiced (spiked?!) cider, bundled up, and took another walk through the Highlands. There remains some snow on the ground tonight, and it is still clear, and COLD. But with bellies full and brains blurry we weren't much affected by the temperature, and enjoyed the walk very much.
So, second Thanksgiving was also fantastic, and also white, and I look forward to spending the rest of the weekend with family and continuing to enjoy this clear, lovely, COLD weather.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The Adventures of Lone Wolf and Crouching Tiger
Meet the newest member of our family:
Snoopy. Aka Crouching Tiger, Destructo-cat, Snoopaloop, Snoop-Cat, or just plain Kitty. There will be many more nicknames to come, I'm sure.
We've been quite familiar with this little devil for a good while now. He belonged to our neighbor, Ali, and her son Sam, and he figured out months ago how to break into our basement from theirs (since we share a duplex, our basements are attached). He visited us almost daily, because Ali couldn't figure out how he was getting through. We didn't really mind. The cat's kind of a terror but he's FULL of personality, and he gives Vinny a run for his money, which is amusing. Anyway, Sam would always complain about how Snoopy scratched or bit him, and apparently their other cats didn't really like Crouching Tiger, either. Eventually Sam had so much animosity toward the cat that he apparently tried to strangle him, and at that point Ali decided to take him to the Humane Society and give him up for adoption.
Well, the Humane Society ran a "personality profile" on Snoopaloop and deemed him unadoptable, and they called Ali to tell her they were going to euthanize him. She informed me of this and I freaked out. So we went and picked him up the next day, saved him from death row, and he moved right in and now owns our apartment. I think Vinny is happy to have a playmate, even though Snoopy has been slowly but surely taking over all of Vinny's favorite sleep spots.
I was a little worried the cat would destroy our place, or seriously injure Vinny, or just generally be difficult. But he hasn't been difficult, at all. He's a total sweetheart and he fits right in. Evidence:
Matt now has two study buddies.
I like having another animal around. It makes the activity level around here much less predictable; Snoop and Vinny alternately cuddle and wreak havoc upon the rugs. Occasionally in the middle of the night I hear a crash and I worry, but we haven't lost anything valuable yet. So, all in all, I think we did the right thing. Crouching Tiger will live a long, fulfilling life as part of the Brickleach household.
In other news, Matt turned 25 yesterday. I made French toast for brunch and was pleased with the result (I've never made it before--it's not difficult, at all, but with my penchant for ruining things in the kitchen every small success turns into a serious victory). We went out to dinner later in the evening at a very nice little restaurant just a couple minutes from our house. Overall, it was a lovely day, and a good break for Matt in the midst of studying for yet another block of exams.
Snoopy. Aka Crouching Tiger, Destructo-cat, Snoopaloop, Snoop-Cat, or just plain Kitty. There will be many more nicknames to come, I'm sure.
We've been quite familiar with this little devil for a good while now. He belonged to our neighbor, Ali, and her son Sam, and he figured out months ago how to break into our basement from theirs (since we share a duplex, our basements are attached). He visited us almost daily, because Ali couldn't figure out how he was getting through. We didn't really mind. The cat's kind of a terror but he's FULL of personality, and he gives Vinny a run for his money, which is amusing. Anyway, Sam would always complain about how Snoopy scratched or bit him, and apparently their other cats didn't really like Crouching Tiger, either. Eventually Sam had so much animosity toward the cat that he apparently tried to strangle him, and at that point Ali decided to take him to the Humane Society and give him up for adoption.
Well, the Humane Society ran a "personality profile" on Snoopaloop and deemed him unadoptable, and they called Ali to tell her they were going to euthanize him. She informed me of this and I freaked out. So we went and picked him up the next day, saved him from death row, and he moved right in and now owns our apartment. I think Vinny is happy to have a playmate, even though Snoopy has been slowly but surely taking over all of Vinny's favorite sleep spots.
I was a little worried the cat would destroy our place, or seriously injure Vinny, or just generally be difficult. But he hasn't been difficult, at all. He's a total sweetheart and he fits right in. Evidence:
Matt now has two study buddies.
I like having another animal around. It makes the activity level around here much less predictable; Snoop and Vinny alternately cuddle and wreak havoc upon the rugs. Occasionally in the middle of the night I hear a crash and I worry, but we haven't lost anything valuable yet. So, all in all, I think we did the right thing. Crouching Tiger will live a long, fulfilling life as part of the Brickleach household.
In other news, Matt turned 25 yesterday. I made French toast for brunch and was pleased with the result (I've never made it before--it's not difficult, at all, but with my penchant for ruining things in the kitchen every small success turns into a serious victory). We went out to dinner later in the evening at a very nice little restaurant just a couple minutes from our house. Overall, it was a lovely day, and a good break for Matt in the midst of studying for yet another block of exams.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Breakdowns, Breakthroughs
The funny thing about working with kids with actual psychiatric disorders is that it's often unclear just how much control they really have over their actions and feelings. I clicked with a girl last week, a girl who was an absolute terror to pretty much every other person on the unit. She had visual and auditory hallucinations before she came in; struck a teacher, destroyed a classroom as a result. She was really awful. Wouldn't listen, called the nurses all sorts of terrible/creative/somewhat true (haha) things, was restrained in full leathers numerous times. She'd been admitted before. Most of the really bad kids are not new to us.
We had a breakthrough, of sorts. I spent an entire morning basically just trying to keep her in the classroom--that was my assignment. And then at some point she actually started listening to me, and then at some other point I realized that at the age of 14 she still doesn't know most of her times tables, and so we somehow got through the fours and the sixes. This apparently made me the Kid Whisperer, since the nurses couldn't even get her to eat breakfast without her wreaking havoc upon the unit. So after that when she got out of control it turned into, "have Caitlin work with her," which, honestly, was just the sort of pathetic excuse they would have for "treatment" at County. And, predictably, it only worked for two days. The last day she was in they had her really heavily medicated and it was kind of like any trust we'd built had been wiped clean overnight. She looked at me like she didn't know me, she vilified me just like she did the other teachers and the nurses, and I knew not to take it personally but it was still kind of sad. She was discharged that day because the doctors didn't know what else they could do with her.
I like to think that we can make a difference but with some of these kids you have to wonder if it's possible, at all. Makes me curious about child psychiatrists. Not sure I would ever want that job.
On a lighter note, if it's possible to make that transition, we've been cold. It's been in the 40s, and even the 30s, and tonight there's a chance of "light snow." Actually, I love it. I bundle up in the morning and the teachers make merciless fun of me because in early November I'm already channeling the Eskimo. But I don't complain, yet. I like the smell of fireplaces and I like seeing my breath, thick and unhappy as soon as it exits its little sauna. Vinny, however, isn't terribly pleased. Today when I got home, I let him out. At first he was gung-ho about it, ready to go take on the backyard, and then two seconds later he's curled up at my feet on the grass, shivering violently and looking up at me like he feels bitter and deceived. Oh Vinny. If anyone's gonna have to adapt to no longer being a Californian, it's him.
In other news, I might be exercising a polo pony (a super GORGEOUS 5-year-old bay thoroughbred mare owned by a teacher at my school--Pat, you would die) but I won't go into the details until it actually happens. I also joined 1.5 indoor soccer teams and am really, really happy to be wheezing again (um, I'm outta shape). As far as home stuff is concerned, Matt has been cooking up a storm and I can't believe my luck--he's talented, and ambitious! It works out well. He cooks, I clean, we both benefit. We are happy.
We had a breakthrough, of sorts. I spent an entire morning basically just trying to keep her in the classroom--that was my assignment. And then at some point she actually started listening to me, and then at some other point I realized that at the age of 14 she still doesn't know most of her times tables, and so we somehow got through the fours and the sixes. This apparently made me the Kid Whisperer, since the nurses couldn't even get her to eat breakfast without her wreaking havoc upon the unit. So after that when she got out of control it turned into, "have Caitlin work with her," which, honestly, was just the sort of pathetic excuse they would have for "treatment" at County. And, predictably, it only worked for two days. The last day she was in they had her really heavily medicated and it was kind of like any trust we'd built had been wiped clean overnight. She looked at me like she didn't know me, she vilified me just like she did the other teachers and the nurses, and I knew not to take it personally but it was still kind of sad. She was discharged that day because the doctors didn't know what else they could do with her.
I like to think that we can make a difference but with some of these kids you have to wonder if it's possible, at all. Makes me curious about child psychiatrists. Not sure I would ever want that job.
On a lighter note, if it's possible to make that transition, we've been cold. It's been in the 40s, and even the 30s, and tonight there's a chance of "light snow." Actually, I love it. I bundle up in the morning and the teachers make merciless fun of me because in early November I'm already channeling the Eskimo. But I don't complain, yet. I like the smell of fireplaces and I like seeing my breath, thick and unhappy as soon as it exits its little sauna. Vinny, however, isn't terribly pleased. Today when I got home, I let him out. At first he was gung-ho about it, ready to go take on the backyard, and then two seconds later he's curled up at my feet on the grass, shivering violently and looking up at me like he feels bitter and deceived. Oh Vinny. If anyone's gonna have to adapt to no longer being a Californian, it's him.
In other news, I might be exercising a polo pony (a super GORGEOUS 5-year-old bay thoroughbred mare owned by a teacher at my school--Pat, you would die) but I won't go into the details until it actually happens. I also joined 1.5 indoor soccer teams and am really, really happy to be wheezing again (um, I'm outta shape). As far as home stuff is concerned, Matt has been cooking up a storm and I can't believe my luck--he's talented, and ambitious! It works out well. He cooks, I clean, we both benefit. We are happy.
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