Decisions, Decisions

I am terrible at making decisions.  I toss and turn and talk myself into and out of pretty much everything.  I do believe this adds greatly to my stress level.  When it comes to making decisions that are not about me I do much better.  I even accept the consequences of those decisions as they pertain to something at work or other folks.  It just seems clearer to me when I step outside the situation and look at it from the other side.

This week we decided that we wanted to get a kitten to go along with our wonderful Winchester.  We went to the two local shelters and visited with over 50 kittens of six months old or older and many cats.  What surprised me was how uninterested the cats were in us.  They seemed perfectly happy in their condos with their playmates around and wonderful things to climb on and a window to look out and watch the world go by.  Added to that someone made sure they had a clean cat box and plenty of food.  What more could a cat want?  I thought they would want to be held and cuddled or even show some curiosity towards us.  We would go in the room and sit in the chair and wait to see who would come and investigate.  In the case of the first shelter, only one cat out of the almost 50 that we saw, showed any interest and even that was pretty lukewarm.  What we both decided was that we needed a younger kitten and one that would grow up with us and with Winchester.

That’s when I decided to research Ragdoll Cats.  Who knew there were so many breeders around?  I interviewed with six of them and only one had kittens available.  The others had kittens coming or had new litters or they had full waiting lists.  I read everything I could find on the breed.  I had been very interested in this breed for many years and always thought our Maine Coon Portia was more Ragdoll than Coon.  She just flopped when you picked her up and she followed you around wherever you went and she always came to the door to greet us when we got home.  All of these are characteristics of the Ragdoll cat.

The decision was made.

We are now the proud parents of two 12-week old Ragdoll kittens.  Winchester is enamored with them and has already made friends.  Their names are Cleo (Cleopatra) who is mostly white officially known as a Seal Tortie Traditional and Immy (Imogen) who is a soft Seal Bicolor Tortie Lynx Mink.  That’s a mouthful.  So far so good and I think it’s going to be ok.  Or not!  Cleo is getting into everything and she and Wyke are chasing each other around the house.  Immy is happily ensconced in John’s lap and she isn’t leaving.  You know what, I think we both got what we wanted.  Oh my life is fun sometimes!

Health and Well-Being

During the week I also had my pre-op appointment with both my physician and with the eye doctor.  I passed all that I needed to do to get the cataract surgery.  Why do I always feel as if I will fail something if I go to the doctor’s office?  Seriously, my blood pressure starts rising just at the thought of going to the doctor’s office.  You would think that a 67 year old, reasonably intelligent woman who has managed to get herself pretty healthy despite some difficult obstacles, would be able to handle a doctor’s visit and not have her blood pressure go through the roof.  They call it “white coat syndrome” and I have it in spades.  The poor nurse that sees me first is so sympathetic and usually gives me two chances and if I am lucky the second time shows it going down so she says not to worry.  The doctor however, said that the surgery might be postponed if my blood pressure is too high.  She advised doubling my blood pressure medicine.  Now here comes the funny part, I saw the surgeon who looks like Doogie Howser, MD, meaning he is very young, and he said not to worry the anesthesiologist had a full bar and they could take care of everything.  So he said I won’t flunk out and not be able to have the cataract surgery.  Whew!!!!

I am so ready for this to be done.  Drops, drops and more drops.  Three times a day.  One you only use once a day, one you use twice a day and the other three times.  I have a chart to mark off when I take the drops which actually is quite helpful.  This is my life for the next month.  My neighbor had a cataract removed last week and she keeps saying that it will be a piece of cake and I will be amazed at how well I will be able to see when it is done.  I sure hope so because I can’t seem much right now and glasses don’t help.  Stay tuned.

Exercise

I am looking for a walking buddy who is interested in entering some 5K runs and more with me.  I want to do a half-marathon but I want to walk it not run it.  I need a goal and I need a buddy and it isn’t going to be John.  Many years ago my daughter Katie and I walked in the Avon 3-Day.  It was in May of 2002 and it was the coldest weekend ever.  I want that kind of goal in front of me.  Plus it is fun and is a great way to participate in events around you.  We did do the Run for Habitat a few weeks ago and it was really fun but it wasn’t about us, it was about the dogs and the participation in the event.  I am really keen to fine someone who is interested in training to do this with me and to work toward a goal of ultimately a half-marathon.  Walk On!

Recipe of the Week

We enjoy our friends here on Dataw very much and our usual pattern is to have drinks together and then go to the club for dinner or to an event of some kind.  Occasionally I really enjoy cooking and that was what I decided to do this week.  We invited friends for dinner on Saturday night and I warned them that I was cooking.  Once again from my new favorite cookbook.  What I wanted to share with you is the best ever recipe for Greek Salad.  I have so much leftover that I am having it for dinner Sunday night too and maybe even for lunch on Monday.  I have never been much of a day to day cook but I do love to pull together something new and I am so glad that my friends don’t mind me experimenting on them.  I hope you enjoy the salad as much as we did.

[mpprecipe-recipe:73]