mail2web to access my email on the server and delete the offending emails before downloading the non-virused email to my hard drive.
For the record, y’all, you really should have McAfee or something similar running on your computer. Also, DON’T FUCKING OPEN a .zip file from someone unless you know it’s coming, and even then? DON’T OPEN IT. If you get an email that looks like it’s from me and has a .zip file attached? It’s not from me. I swear upon all that is holy that I will never ever send you a .zip file.
* * *
I think that the Bean either misses Tubby, or is confused by his absence. Every morning since Tubby died, the Bean runs around making his squeaky-toy noise incessantly, and when I sit up to yell at him (what? I’m trying to sleep!), he jumps up on the bed, sits down, and stares up at me. No coincidence, morning was when the Bean would spend a lot of time harassing Tubby, who would always be laying under my dresser. The Bean would smack and jump and bite and lick Tubby until Tubby had had enough, at which point he’d smack the hell out of the Bean, who would go on to harass other kitties. I think the Bean misses his early morning hijinks.
Poor Bean.
* * *
So, this is what my Wednesday was like. Fred woke me up when he was about to leave for work so that I could come downstairs and post my entry about Tubby (we wanted to post our entries simultaneously, because we’re weird like that). I blinked the sleep from my eyes, put on my nightgown, and headed for the stairs.
I’d successfully navigated the top stair and was putting my foot on the second stair down, when my foot slipped, and I bumpity-bumpity-bumped down seven or eight stairs. I came to a stop about halfway down the stairs, and sat there, stunned.
“Bessie?” Fred said after a moment of silence.
“OW!” I said. “I’m okay!”
Fred and the spud came to the bottom of the stairs.
“Did you fall down the stairs?” Fred asked. The spud stared at me, wide-eyed.
“Yeah, on my ASS,” I said.
They began laughing hysterically, the bastards. I gave them a dirty look, walked carefully to the bottom of the stairs and went into the computer room. In the kitchen, the spud was weak from laughter. After asking for some more details, Fred finally stopped talking about it. I had fallen more on my right butt cheek than my left, and scraped up the little toe on my right foot, but I was able to move and hadn’t broken anything, so I considered myself lucky. I have an impressive bruise on my right butt cheek (and no, you may NOT see a picture), all purple and blue. I have a less impressive bruise on my left butt cheek, and the entire right side of my body feels like I lifted some really heavy weights.
After posting my entry, I went back to bed, where I only dozed a little. I flipped from my right side to my left, and since Miz Poo likes to cuddle up next to me when I’m laying on my left side, she jumped up on the bed next to me. Immediately, the Bean got excited – he gets very excited whenever one of the other cats does anything – and jumped up, swatting at her tail. This startled Miz Poo, who reacted by springboarding off my right boob, leaving a scratch up near my armpit and another one ACROSS MY NIPPLE, before she landed on the other side of the bed and settled on the pillow there.
“Ow! Goddamnit!” I yelled, startling the Bean, who made his squeaky-toy noise and ran away.
I decided I wasn’t going to get any sleep, so I got up, put some laundry in, and came downstairs to look up the symptoms of a urinary-tract infection, most of which I had. I called to make an appointment with my doctor, and then went out to the garage to exercise. My ass cheek was hurting an awful lot – hey YOU skid 7 or 8 steps on your ass and see how you feel! – so I only exercised for about 5 minutes on the elliptical trainer before giving up and going inside to shower.
I spent part of the morning watching
Thirteen. Evan Rachel Wood is just amazing, but there’s nothing like that movie to make you appreciate what you’ve got. I mean, the spud gets attitudinous from time to time, but NOTHING like the girls in that movie. I was hoping Holly Hunter would just finally haul off and slap the hell out of that child, to tell the truth. The cats gathered around me, sprawling out in front of the fire and on the blanket on my lap.
I got to the doctor’s office about 5 minutes early and ended up cooling my heels for about an hour before I got to see her. She apologized for making me wait so long, but at this stage in life I’ve accepted that unless you get one of the very first appointments of the day, there’s going to be a long-ass wait, and I had my book to keep me occupied, so it was all good.
My doctor started asking questions about my symptoms, and after a minute or two, it was pretty clear she was moving away from urinary tract infection questions and toward diabetes questions, the most obvious being “have you been drinking a lot of water lately?” It turned out that when they tested my urine they’d found no sign of a UTI and so she wanted to find out if I had developed diabetes. She sent me to the lab to have my finger pricked, and it came back with a number that indicated that I was pre-diabetic (though later I realized when the lab tech asked when I’d last eaten, I’d told her noon, but I actually ate at 1. Ahem.). She did the diet-and-exercise song and dance (Fred said later, “Did you say ‘Obviously you don’t know who I AM’?” Heh.) and recommended the South Beach Diet before sending me back to the lab to have blood drawn for some other tests.
Lab tech: “Are you a hard stick?”
Me: “Yes indeedy.”
Lab tech: “Let’s just use the butterfly needle to get blood out of this huge throbbing vein on the back of your hand!”
Me: “Um, okay. Ouch!”
I had had my blood drawn, paid my co-pay and was sitting in the parking lot when the lab tech came out and waved me down, telling me that the doctor wanted to see me again because my white blood cell count was elevated. So I went back into the exam room, and the doctor came back in.
“Your white blood cell count is elevated,” she said. “Which means that you have an infection somewhere.”
I smiled.
“I’m having the lab do a culture on your urine to be sure you don’t have a UTI, but are there any other symptoms of anything? I don’t want to just prescribe antibiotics for you without knowing what the infection is.” She ran down a list of potential symptoms, none of which I had (and none of which I can recall, except diarrhea). She puzzled over it for a few minutes, told me to “be really attuned to your body over the next few days”, and said they’d call when the results on my blood test and urine culture came back.
And then I came home. Yesterday I woke up and all the UTI symptoms I’d had Wednesday were gone. Maybe it was just a reaction to stress – who knows? I feel fine, though. I’m sure it’s nothing. Well, probably a brain tumor, but other than that, nothing.
* * *
I looked at the pictures on the camera’s memory stick yesterday and discovered a whole series of Tubby pictures, so here they are. (Picture taken by Fred, who complains when I don’t give him credit for the pictures I use. Yet he has used a million and three pictures that *I* took and didn’t give me credit for them. Bastard.)
Getting some Beany love.
Is that a look o’ love, or what?]]>
What great pictures of Tubby. I really love the second one.
I loved the first 2 pics of Tubby. The lighting is great. Also, I hope that you feel better.
~Denise~ in Georgia
Can you post a warning when you’re going to put up Tubby pics?
Seriously, I had to get up from my desk the other day and go into the bathroom so nobody would notice I was crying.
I’m getting a little weepy now too, and I can’t even blame it on PMS, darn it!
Love the Tubby pics, especially the first one. What a great way to remember him.
*hugs* to you and the family, human and feline alike.
Yup, I’m loving that first picture the most. Sweet, Tubby…
Robyn, I hope you’re taking that advice. I’m sure Fred has gathered as much info on the South Beach Diet for you that he can find. I think that was great advice. I, personally would advocate for the Grapefruit/Cabbage Soup diet, but I don’t want to be pushy.
Meh-Meh. :p
Both of those sunlight pictures are great- he looks so serene. Very nice lighting.
I find that interesting that your Doc recommended South Beach- it’s making inroads fast. I think it sounds a whole lot more liveable than Atkins for sure. It sounds a whole lot more common sense than a lot of ones. It’s only the first couple of weeks that are really strict about what you can eat as far as carbs (no milk, no fruit, non starchy veggies are OK, no bread, beans are OK) and then you can eat much more freely, just avoiding “white” or processed carbs. Have the book, am thinking about trying it but need to clean out the cupboards to prepare for it. Oh who am I kidding, I’m totally procrastinating about getting back on the weight loss wagon.
How long have you had this doctor? Is she aware you’ve already lost a huge amount of weight or is she just making the usual obligatory sermon to the fat chick, assuming you’re eating bon-bons and living on the couch? It pisses me off that if you’re large, your weight is the first thing they jump on, without actually adressing the problem. Yeah, hello, I know you want me to lose weight, but in the meantime, are you going to treat my ear infection (and how is that caused by my weight BTW)?
Lol, if that had been me and the doctor said “South Beach Diet” I would’ve laughed. What was Fred’s reaction to that.
Such a sweet Tubs and Bean…poor Beanie.
I’ve done the “going down the stairs on my ass” before, more than once actually. Good thing you didn’t break your tailbone and have to carry around a doughnut pillow.
“Are you a hard stick?”
…omg, my mind is so in the gutter. I don’t know why, but reading this out of context cracked me up.
I love the pictures of Tubby. I’m sure you felt it when you discovered them. One question, does poor Bean get any sleep in your house? He’s always yawning! Yes indeedy – what yawns they are! XOXOXOXO to all.
The FIRST thing that came out of my orthopedic specialist’s mouth when he first met me(to diagnose my knees) was,”Have you considered weight loss surgery??”
I however think that that Fred and Robyn probably take no guff from their docs…I just get that feeling(wink).
Gosh,I am having SERIOUS withdrawels from having less Anderson exposure(no forums).
I am seriously thinking of moving to Alabama and frequenting your Publix store hoping to get a glimpse of you two.
Loved the final shots 🙂 The second one is cute, with the outstretched paw. That first picture of Tubby….man oh man. Robyn, I’m NOT a religious person, in any sense, but that one pic, I don’t know, Tubby just looks “Holy” if that’s at all possible for a cat. The gentle light, and his restful look…. If you do any permanent memorial to the Tubbs, in the And3rson kitties section, that pic should be the headliner.
I don’t know. Maybe its just hormones.
Yeah. Probably that.
You should frame that first picture; it’s beautiful!
Y’know it’s all fun and games until someone falls down the stairs on her ass. Then it’s hilarious. *g*
The infection could have elevated your blood glucose levels enough to give that borderline reading, and your readings will always be highest 1 to 3 hours after you eat. You exercise every day, and are losing weight; I wouldn’t worry. However I can vouch for South Beach. It’s the most totally sensible diet I’ve ever seen, and it’s dropped my blood glucose readings like a stone. But I’ve got to start walking again; it’s just kind of…well when the wind chill is -29 around here, there’s not a lot of impetus to get out there to do anything.
Loved those last photos of the Tubster. Very sweet, and peaceful.
Love the Tubby pics too. Would you mind posting the full size version of the first “Holy” one? :~)
Robyn,
You make that “picture of your butt” comment sound like there really IS a butt picture, and you just aren’t sharing!!!
All you Tubby-picture-lovers please note that once again, photography credit was not given to where it was due. 🙂
(also, most of the Holy Tubby pictures are sort of blurry at full size because the light wasn’t the best, even though it made him glow nicely. If memory serves, I took those Monday afternoon, the day before he died)
Heather – sorry about that, I’ll warn in the future.
Dez – I’d say I’ve had this doctor for about a year. I’d be pissed that she did the whole diet-and-exercise dance, but she did do it in a fairly low-key way (and was interested to know what kind of exercise I do, and pleased to know that I lift weights).
Val – The Bean is always either sleeping or running around like his ass is on fire. No in-between for that kitty! 🙂
Laura – No, it doesn’t exist. I deleted it! 😉
Anyone who’d like to have either of those two pictures in the full-sized version, click on the small picture, which will take you to the full-sized version. Just don’t, y’know, start posting like a crazy person on a forum somewhere and claim that Tubby is your cat or anything. 🙂
Just great. Reading Fred’s comment sent me into another crying jag. Now the first picture is my wallpaper.
I miss Tubby.
But in other news, after reading about Tubby’s passing I decided to take my Andy to the vet and discuss his weight. He’s 18.4 pounds, which is better than the 22 pounds I thought he weighed (my scale isn’t fancy like the vet’s). I love our vet, she treats cats exclusively and is just a great lady. It took forever for her to listen to Andy’s heart and lungs (which are in good shape) because he was purring so loudly and throwing himself up against her. She also drained his butt glands. Apparently he has difficulty cleaning himself because of his size. Squirted right across the examining table, it did. Nas-TAY! Anyhow, Andy doesn’t suffer from diabetes like the Tubbs did, but I’ve decided to make more of an effort to help him lose weight and hopefully avoid losing him any sooner than I have to. It’s tough to control how much everyone eats when you have multiple cats, though.
I ramble.
Robyn – We have a new kitty. He’s about 10 months old and that’s all he does too – sleep and run around “like he has a rocket up his ass” as my husband so delicately puts it. Therefore we call him Rocket Boy. His real name is Oliver/Ollie. Kitties are soooo adorable. We haven’t had one in a long time.
Loved the pictures of Tubby!
Hope you’re feeling better physically and emotionally.
I fell down the stairs much like you Robyn two years ago, and in my amazement of my ass bounding down the 6 or 7 stairs, I made a very strange, loud squawking noise (it sounded like a weird chicken noise) which freaked our then one and a half year old son into screaming hysterics. (He was upstairs on the other side of the basement door watching me through the cat door.)
After picking up my bruised and complaining body from the steps, it took me what seemed like forever to calm Jamie down as I bitched and moaned over the size of the bruise on my ass and how much it hurt. My husband just laughed and I told him “Just wait”
And sure as hell, he fell down the steps later that day and I laughed and laughed my ass off. He ended up with a huge bruise on the inside of his bicep along with the one on his ass. He was OK, but clamined I jinxed him. He jinxed himself for laughing at me….
Sorry that you fell, Robyn. All I could think, though, was that it was a good thing you put your nightgown on before that event…It is also a good thing your doc didn’t question your bruised behind, and scratched chest!
I also want to offer my sympathies for Tubby. It is so hard to lose them, but he was a lucky guy to be so well cared for.
Sorry that you fell, Robyn. All I could think, though, was that it was a good thing you put your nightgown on before that event…It is also a good thing your doc didn’t question your bruised behind, and scratched chest!
I also want to offer my sympathies for Tubby. It is so hard to lose them, but he was a lucky guy to be so well cared for.
Ol Bean was stealing the show in the last two pics! His expressions ya’ll catch on film really crack me up!! Was laughing and crying at the same time. Yes you should post a Kleenex warning for the Tub’s pics. It was so good to see him again though.
Wasn’t Nance just saying the other day that if you push down too hard on a urine test it can show elevated white blood cell count? Please forgive me if it wasn’t her entry but I read it in somebody’s blog just yesterday I think.
Gah, I read so many anymore I get ’em all mixed up!
Hope your bruised butt and side is feeling better today!
I’m really sorry about Tubby. I hope the Bean and you and Fred and the Spud are doing better.
I am a dumbass!! Yes it was Nance and now I am sure the person she was telling it to was you. Good God, me and my big ideas… sorry Robyn.
It’s the first day I’ve signed on since Tuesday, and I’m shocked to hear of Tubby’s death. As the mother of two not-so-lovable-but-still-cute kitties, you and yours have my deepest sympathy.
I have a serious stair affliction. I simply CANNOT walk down stairs without falling in someway and thats no exaggeration. I have done that “bounce down the stairs on your butt” thing more times than I can count so I feel your pain. And tell those buttheads that are your faimly not to laugh at you LOL.
Great pics of the Tubbster. I know that Miz Poo is your fav and the Bean is quite hilarious in his own respect, but they just arent Tubby. I am going to miss him 🙁