Bye Bye Birdie-Bird

Well, we did it. Oscar has moved off to a new home and I am convinced it's a good thing. It's not E's fault that he can't tune him out like I can when he gets a bit noisy. He's tried and tried for two years now. And Oscar was bonded to me so anytime I entered the room or left the room he made all sorts of noise until I paid some attention to him. It always ended up with E fussing at Oscar and me fussing at E to leave Oscar alone. It will be much more peaceful now.

It took me a while to decide who to give Oscar to. I got a bunch of offers for him but I wanted to make sure that whoever took him would love him and take good care of him. When I read JK's email, I knew that she was probably the one. They have several kids and had just bought a pair of baby cockatiels for one of the daughters for Christmas. But one of them died of a yeast infection after three vet visits and a good sum of money. I knew that this family would take good care of my Oscar. When I emailed her to let her know they could have him, she was thrilled. We talked on the phone yesterday afternoon and clicked immediately.

Last night I took Oscar out of his cage for a while. He doesn't like the process of being taken out and will make you chase him all over the cage but he loves being out once he's on your finger. He sang to me and talked to me - "Hello, birdie-bird", "I love you, birdie-bird", "Pretty birdie-bird", "Sophie, come here!" He gave me kisses and called the cat and laughed when I laughed at him. He gave us his wolf whistle as well as the Bob Seger whistle from the end of Jungle Love that I taught him. He talked to the dogs and got to walk on each of them for a few seconds before they couldn't take it anymore and moved away. Even Nate behaved and didn't try to eat Oscar this time. Of course, Oscar isn't afraid of the dogs or the cat. If they get too close, he just bites at their noses. He bit at my thumbs if I forgot and moved one while holding him because he just hates thumbs for some reason. We had fun hanging out in the house together for a while then I put him back in his cage and told him I loved him.

This morning when I left for work I told him bye. E cleaned out Oscar's cage and brought him to meet his new flock. He said that he spent some time telling JK about Oscar and she was excited to have him. Oscar was whistling for them already so things were going well. I received an email from her when they got home and she's promised updates and pictures. I know they'll love him and he'll love them back. He just loves being with people and animals and they have a house full of both.

I cried over it a couple of days ago but today I feel good about it. Our house will be quiet, that's for sure. E said that Sophie was looking for Oscar earlier. But we were able to make a family happy for Christmas and find Oscar a good home in the process. That's definitely a good thing.

Tired

Almost too tired to post something tonight and I definitely don't want to bring any of you down to my mood at the moment.

E's not working, again. [sigh] Apparently, they decided they want someone who knows more about networks than he does. Happy Anniversary/Thanksgiving/Holidays to us, eh? It's really hit E hard although he doesn't want to admit it. His mood swings say plenty.

I just put Oscar, the cockatiel, up for adoption on our local freeuse website. I'm really going to miss that sweet guy but for E's sanity, I have to let him go. I can tune out his jammering but E just can't. I just opened up my email and I already have three offers for him. [sigh] It just makes me sad. I taught him to talk and he loves his flock, including the dogs. When I take him out, he sings to them and talks to them.

Anyway, that's all I've got for you tonight. I know, I know, I'm just a big ol' ray of sunshine this evening. Sorry, guys. I promise something lighthearted and/or funny soon.

Sexy, huh?

Well, I've been tired of the same old Blogger standard template. So the other day I went Googling for a new one and found this. I finally had enough time this evening to fool with it. Truth be told, it was much less of a pain in the ass than I thought it was going to be.

So what do you think?

BTW -

To all my American friends...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Six years ago yesterday...

I know that it sounds cliche but I married my best friend. After "meeting" him online a year earlier, E and I walked down the aisle on November 20th, 1999. We were both 37 years old.

It was a shock to many of our family and friends that we were marrying someone we'd met online. Shoot, six years ago meeting someone online was still considered weird and dangerous. But E and I knew it was right, crazy as it sounded. We've never looked back.

E, my darling, we've had some hard times in these past six years but we've had some wonderful times as well. I wouldn't have missed any of them if it meant not having you by my side. For so many years I saw my life as a path for just me and I was ok with that but now I can't imagine it without you walking with me. Being loved so unconditionally makes my heart nearly burst just thinking about it. I never imagined I could enjoy marriage so much.

You are the perfect husband for me and the perfect daddy for Sophie, Sneauball, Nate, Omar, and Oscar. We all love you with all our hearts. Thank you for marrying me on that beautiful fall evening. I love celebrating it with you each year and hope we have 80 more.

I love you more now than I did then and I know that I will love you even more tomorrow and each day following.

M

One year ago today...

My mother's heart stopped suddenly and we almost lost her. They brought her back a total of five times and the doctors feared she might never recover.

Two days later E and I "celebrated" our 5th anniversary sitting in the hospital worrying what the future held for my parents.

One week later, on Thanksgiving Day, she celebrated with us at the home of my best friend. She'd been released from the hospital with a pacemaker and well on her road to recovery.

Today she is 100% back to normal. This morning she and my dad went to mass to give thanksgiving.

Just the other day I let her get under my skin about something as trivial as what we were going to do for Thanksgiving this year. Then I remembered how very lucky I am to have her still here to aggravate me every now and then and love me no matter what and how close we came to losing her. Today I celebrate her life and thank God I am lucky enough to be her daughter.

I love you, Mom.

Pin yourself to my map, please

Ok, so I blatantly stole this from DixiePeach because I think it's cool.



Please take a moment to show me where you are. I'm interested in seeing where I get hits from. If you're a lurker, delurk for a second and add a pin, why don't you? And say hello while you're at it. :-D

Yes, I'm still alive

Last week was "hell week" at work. As I don't blog about work, let's suffice it to say that we were buckled down getting a certain thing for a certain client cleaned up and ready to go today. I even put in some weekend time. Now I'm just glad that we've been able to relax a little.

To catch y'all up on what's been happening in Barefoot Cajun-land:

* We traded in E's gas guzzling 2001 Ford Explorer Sport last week and got him a 2005 Chevy Malibu instead. We're going to save tons on gas and insurance as a result of this trade. E will have to start working out of the New Orleans area soon so he'll be putting about 130 miles a day on his vehicle. That Explorer would have killed us in gasoline alone, not to mention any repairs it would begin needing because of the extra wear and tear.

Isn't it spiffy?


* I'm fully expecting to be diagnosed with Type II Diabetes next Monday when I see my doctor. She sent me for a hemoglobin A1C blood test last week and they called to tell me the results weren't good. I've been half expecting this for a while as I have all the risk factors - obesity, family history, etc. E is also a diabetic and neither one of us takes good care of ourselves. For example, my entire food intake yesterday consisted of some Lays original Wavy chips and green onion dip sometime around mid-afternoon.

It's time that we buckle down and change our evil ways. Beginning this Thursday evening, we'll be attending Overeaters Annonymous meetings. We're also going to start implementing the CAMP program for mindful eating. I don't do well on diets with lots of denial and this program seems to be a great way to learn to take control over food and eating without having to deny certain foods. I already began the practice with my soup and crackers for lunch. Instead of plating up the entire stack of Town House crackers that I normally eat along with my can of Progresso soup, I only plated half the stack and wound up saving nine crackers for a snack after while. I must say that I'm satisfied and definitely not hungry.

My eating problems have so much to do with portion size. I don't eat between meals very often but I sure make up for it during meal time. I'm also very famous for eating in front of the TV and not paying attention to what goes into my mouth. I think the CAMP program will be beneficial. Wish me luck. [vbg]

* Both E and I were under the weather this weekend. Poor E has been working pretty late each evening lately and has managed to come down with a cold. He stayed on the couch sneezing most of the weekend. I fought a migraine all day Saturday and a little stomach bug yesterday. We wound up having to cancel some dinner plans with K & M and several other friends and it was quite disappointing. We'd both been looking very forward to going. I told E that we're going to make sure and get good sleep this week.

* Speaking of sleep, I have to go for a sleep study Friday night. I'm sure I have sleep apnea and will become a "hose head" very soon. (Thanks, Miz, for that term ;-) ) I'm actually looking forward to getting it over with and getting the CPAP machine so that I can sleep better and get my energy back. I'm tired of feeling like a slug all the time.

Well, that catches y'all up with all our "stuff". I promise I won't be such a stranger from now own. I'll be catching up on all y'all's stuff soon.

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