Author Archives: Manda

Chronic Urinary Tract Infections

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That picture to the left there is a clump of Nefarian’s pee.

Yep.

I’m sure you’re wondering why I would take a picture of one of my cat’s pee clumps?

Well, when you have a cat that has chronic urinary tract infections, seeing him go into the litter box and peeing that much will fill you with joy and relief.

See, Nefarian has been battling a rather nasty UTI for the past 2 months. Nothing that he has taken has seemed to help much at all. When he starts to have a urinary tract infection flareup, he will only pee a drop or two and will mrrrrow (its how he meows when he’s not feeling good) throughout the day and night when he tries to pee. And if you have ever had a UTI then you know that it’s not pleasant and poor Nefarian is probably experiencing the same discomfort that we do when we’re dealing with a urinary tact infection. So to say I was excited when I saw him step into the litter box and pee that much is an understatement. I was ecstatic! The past few days, he had seemed to be in a better mood but I didn’t want to get my hopes up that the UTI was finally going away. And I’m still a little worried that it was just a fluke and his symptoms will return in full force. If they don’t, then I’m laying all the credit at the feet of UroMAXX Urinary Tract, Kidney & Bladder Formula.

UroMAXX is a supplement-like liquid that is given once a day and has a lot of positive reviews online. In fact, vets (including our own) often recommend it for chronic urinary, kidney and bladder infections. Nefarian has been taking UroMAXX for almost 3 weeks and no, I wasn’t paid or compensated nor did I received a free product for this post. I talked with a vet and did my own research to try to find something to control his chronic UTIs.

With that said, it has only been 3 weeks and I am not 100-percent sold on the UroMAXX yet (I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet). I do, however, hope to God that this stuff is working and Nefarian’s infection is going away. I will happily give this supplement to him everyday for the rest of his (God willing) long life if it helps keep UTIs at bay.

Making a Murderer

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My husband and I started watching Making a Murderer the other day. And we only have 1 episode left. With him working 10 hour days, 5 (sometimes 6) days a week, it can be a bit hard finding time to watch all the things we want to watch together.

Anyway…

I know the documentary is rather one sided and I already read about all the information that the doc left out. And when I heard what he did to that poor cat (dosed it in oil and threw it in fire), I’m not going to lie, I wanted him to die a slow and horrible death. But how the county acted just pisses me off like you wouldn’t believe. I was shouting at the TV. How could people who we are suppose to trust, who’s job is to uphold and follow the law act in such a disrespectful and unlawful manner. It just boggles my mind.

At the moment, I think Brandon is probably innocent and I’m not sure whether or not Steve Avery killed Teresa Halbach. But that doesn’t really matter since I am 100-percent sure that the police planted evidence and because of that, he deserves another trial with that evidenced thrown out. And that is a complete shame since that poor young women’s death is overshadowed by the complete lack of justice and pure assholeness (that’s a word, trust me) that the police department showed.

If he did murder Teresa Halbach but is allowed to walk free because of the planted evidence and then he murders again, then every single law enforcement officer (or anyone else that had a hand in planting the evidence) should be held accountable for that new death.

Steven Avery’s new lawyer has taken to Twitter to not only vocalize his innocence but to also hint that they know who the real murderer is and will be working on getting Steven out of jail. I thought that Steven Avery’s brother-in-law, Scott Tadych, may have had something to do with it. That guy just rubbed me the wrong way and seemed rather suspicious. But I also think that Teresa Halbach’s ex-boyfriend or her roommate could also have had something to do with it. Their actions just seemed odd to me.

Have you watched Making a Murderer? Do you think Steve Avery is guilty?

 

 

Valentine’s Day 2016

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I hope y’all had a happy Valentine’s Day. We actually celebrated Valentine’s Day on Friday because Mike had to work Sunday. We went up to Petco to get my Valentine’s Day gift from him, a cat tree. I have been wanting a cat tree for our kitties for a while now but always put it off for one reason or another. So I was extremely happy to finally have it. And all three cats are enjoying it. Especially Nefarian and Widget. Jedi, who will be 10 years old this spring, isn’t as excited about it as the other two. He’s more indifferent. He will lay on it here and there but is more content sleeping on his blanket beside me. Nefarian and Widget, however, love it so much. It was definitely worth the price tag and I am so happy that Mike got it for me.

Let’s Hope February is Better

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January wasn’t the best month with the passing of David Bowie, Alan Rickman and, the worst of it all, the death of my husband’s grandfather, Rev. Don Flanigan. Throw on the pile some cold days and the horrible winter storm Jonas and you have a recipe for a dreary and depressing month.

I’m hoping, however, that this new month brings a bit more happiness, calmness and just all around more positiveness than the previous month to my family as well as anyone else who has had a not-so-great January.

On a positive note, The X-Files (one of my all time favorite shows) came back for a special 6 episode event and I am more than loving the fact the Mulder and Scully are back in my life. And Deadpool will be in theaters soon, as well as the return of the Walking Dead.

So, what are you most looking forward to in February?

Winter Storm Jonas

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West Virginia is no stranger to horrible winters, which is one of the reasons why I want to move out of this state and head down south where the temperatures are warm and the cost of living is cheaper. While we haven’t had much of a winter this year, that all changed on Friday when winter storm Jonas decided to leave a huge white foot print along the east coast. In about 24 hours, we got close to 2 feet of snow. The governor declared a state of emergency and most everything was shut down Saturday. We got Mike’s vehicle dug out so he could go to work on Monday but Raven’s car is buried and isn’t moving anytime soon. Thankfully, the sun is out and the snow is beginning to melt.

Saturday: That big lump is Raven’s car.

Sunday: After digging out the driveway so Mike could get his truck out of the garage.

I cannot wait until summer.

 

As The World Falls Down

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I received a text from my husband this morning asking if I heard who had passed away. I was getting laundry started and hadn’t gotten on the computer yet so I had not a clue. When he texted me back the words “David Bowie”, I couldn’t believe it.

David Bowie couldn’t be dead. He was untouchable, magical.

But he was dead, he is dead.

To say I lost a piece of my childhood today would be an understatement. Not only was he a musical genus, he was an extremely talented actor. As a child of the 80s, I grew up watching David Bowie in Labyrinth (which is and always will be one of my favorite movies and soundtracks), squealed when I saw him in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and laughed hysterically when he was on an episode of Extras.

This world is now less magical. Rest easy Goblin King, you will be truly missed.

A New Year A New Me? Hopefully.

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I am not happy. Well, let me rephrase that; I am not happy with certain areas of my life. There are a lot of aspects that I am happy with. I have a great daughter who I am extremely proud of, a handsome husband who I love dearly, 3 wonderful cats, a house that will be paid off this summer and a job that, despite frustrating me at times, is something I love doing. I am not, however, happy with the way I look or how I manage my time.

This past year I have gained weight, which sucks for obvious reasons. I won’t say how much weight I have gained because it is beyond embarrassing but if I don’t do something soon, I will gain the entire 70 pounds back that I previously lost years ago. Some days I will eat and eat and eat, not ever filling full, while other days I will be so busy that I won’t eat anything at all. So like millions of other people, I am setting out to lose weight in the new year. I’m not going to, however, wait until January 1st to begin. Starting today, I am on a mission to drop some poundage. I won’t deprive myself of the foods I enjoy. But I will stop my mindless snacking and make sure to fit in some form of exercise every day.

Will I be able to do it? Who knows. I hope I can stick with it and that my love of food and my love of not exercising doesn’t overpower my will to lose weight.

As far as managing my time, that is a demon that I have been trying to conquer for awhile now. Since I work from home, it’s hard for me to sit down and actually do the work I need to get done without getting majorly distracted. Add in the procrastination gene and you get a recipe for disaster when it comes to getting my work done in a timely manner. In order to try to combat that, I am going to use a timer app on my computer that will hopefully help reign in my distinctive nature a bit.

What about you? Are you making any New Year resolutions?

Christmas 2015

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a pretty darn good one. Raven got various Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, the season pass for Fallout 4, a record player, an action figure from Alien, two Fallout shirts and various odds and ends. Mike got a new jacket, Rainbow Six Siege for the Xbox One, Ancestry DNA kit and some stocking stuffers. I got a Kaylee Frye messenger bag, Browncoat socks, Leaf on the Wind necklace and 4 Disney hairbows (Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and Evil Queen from Snow White). Jedi got catnip bacon, toast and egg, Nefarian got a new catnip kiss and Widget got 2 new feathered mice.

The day before Christmas was spent running around getting last minute shopping done and then spending several hours in the kitchen cooking and baking for the get-together at my father-in-law’s that night. The next afternoon (Christmas afternoon to be exact) was spend at my sister-in-law’s. Both days were filled with good food and even better people.

How did you spend your holiday?

Meet Widget

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Remember when I wrote about the pregnant feral cat and her three kittens? Well, I have an appointment to get the mom cat fixed so she can continue her feral life without the worry of getting pregnant again and found homes for the white kitten and the ginger kitten. But the striped kitten, well we decided to keep him.

Meet Widget, the newest addition to our family. He is a playful and extremely loving kitten who doesn’t like to be left alone. He has a huge appetite and loves playing and sleeping under the covers.

It took a lot of convincing on my part but Mike agreed to it and Widget was brought indoors on October 28. He was confined to Raven’s bedroom for a week until his appointment with the vet. I didn’t want him around Jedi and Nefarian until we were sure he didn’t have FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) or FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus). I had made arraignments with my mom beforehand so that if he just so happened to test positive she would give him a home. Thank the good Lord, Widget tested negative for FIV, FeLV and heartworms. The vet said that he looked healthy and (along with the vet tech) keep remarking how pretty, soft and well behaved he was. Widget has an appointment on December 4 to get neutered.

After everything came back negative, we started to introduce Jedi and Nefarian to Widget. Jedi couldn’t care less about him and his more concerned about what Widget has to eat. Nefarian, on the other hand, hates him and tries to attack him every chance he gets. At the moment, he is still semi confined to Raven’s bedroom. Throughout the day, we allow surprised “visitations” between Nefarian and Widget. We are taking things slow and hoping that Nefarian will accept Widget into the family sooner rather than later.

Tsubasacon 2015 Was a Success

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So, Tsubasacon 2015 was amazing! Better than the previous 2 years we went. Unfortunately, my cosplay didn’t happen. The morning of the con, I got up a little earlier than everyone else to put some finishing touches on my Barf cosplay. Of course, I had a little mishap that, for me, ruined the entire outfit. I was upset to say the least. Mike and Raven said it looked fine, but I didn’t agree. So, since I had no time to fix it, I decided to forgo cosplaying this year. But that just means I have everything I need for next year, including plenty of time to correct the problem so I can cosplay as Barf for Tsubasacon 2016. And it was probably better that I didn’t cosplay because, since Mike couldn’t see very well out of the Pyramid Head helmet, I had to lead him around the convention.

Everyone seemed to enjoy Mike’s cosplay, he had a lot of other con-goers taking his picture. And Raven and her boyfriend were awesome as Columbia and Eddie from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Tsubasacon 2015 Pictures