Dr. Seuss dinner

Sunday July 25th, 2010

I went to church with our sister, Cathy. From the gospel, the point was to ask for help and you shall receive the help, something I'm not used to doing. Father mentioned that pride prevents us from asking ie. for directions, which I'm not above doing so. Our sister, Judy, asked if she could look into a cleaning service that caters to cancer patients. I told her that I'd like to try to clean up the house before they come which would defeat the purpose of them coming over. I don't mind if family helps but even my friends had offered. Maybe I don't want them knowing what a little piggy I am, but with family, we grew up together, 24/7 for how many years. They know you inside & out & all your good & bad habits. Have you ever felt that it's always easier to clean up someone else's mess than your own? I'll have to break down one of these days and say, "Yes, I need help with my home."

We arrived home and received a call from our brother. Please pray for him and his family, they're going through a REALLY hard time right now and need your well wishes.

The rest of the day was pretty non-eventful. Our brother, Dave, helped me with my laundry. He showed me how to use their washer then moved the clothes from the washer to the dryer & lugged it upstairs for me. I folded it and organized my duffelbag. I'm trying not to have everything all over the place @ dad's.

Later Paul came by & brought lunch & groceries for dinner. We had ham, yams and Hamm's beer. Don't worry, I didn't have the beer. I asked him if he had planned to serve the Hamm's with the ham, ie. pairing wine with dinner. He said it was just left over from the wrestling pay-per-view.

Our sister, Jenny, told me how she had read my blog and brought it up to dad about possible funeral arrangements, should that time come, and she said he's already looking into it. I don't want to plan this stuff but it's nice having a say in what I'd like to happen. Like I'd know if it was carried out or not. I have pallbearers in mind, I want to ask them if they wouldn't mind doing me the honor but I don't think they want to hear it just yet. I wish I could be asking them to stand up in my wedding instead. Sorry for being morbid.

One request, I'd like my deceased cat, Sid (Viscious, aka Muffin), to be buried with me, there's no need to put the others down so they can join me for those of you who tease me about having too many pets, you know who you are. When their times come, I wouldn't mind them joining me. F.Y.I. Sid's in my sock drawer. Anyone who knew her knew how much she liked pulling socks out of my laundry into the living room and meow awkwardly and loudly like she just killed it. If she didn't find a sock she'd embarrass me and pull out my underwear. She did find a necklace that Cathy's mother-in-law gave her that she had misplaced. She was also Coye's cat too so if he wants her, he can, otherwise I'll take her with me.

She was a special cat. Coye and I had found her @ St. Edward's Church. She was a calico cat. She had walked up & down the aisles like she owned the place. She was booted out by the ushers and we petted her when we were leaving mass. She led us the way home, several blocks away. Coye only carried her across ONE street. When it came to our block, she went up our driveway & sat on our front step. Our mom drove us back to the church in case she belonged to anyone. Sid dug a hole in the church lawn, took a dump, came back to the car & wiped her butt on my light blue polyester pants (that's how long ago it was, not last week). Our mom said, "I guess she's ours." Little did we know, she was pregnant and malnourished. Our vet said that if she had the babies, she might die. So the good Catholics that we are gave her an abortion and she lived quite a few years.

Jenny had originally named her Muffin being that Strawberry Shortcake had come out for the first time but we soon realized how viscious she was, she was a street cat that we took in. She was such a tough lady that when tumors appeared on her tail, the vet called us to help him hold her, I guess she fought him & it took a few doses to knock her out. She went down growling & hissing and she had her tail amputated. A few years later she eventually became thin and blind but she carried on. In her last days I kept asking her to die @ home. I'd fall asleep on the couch with her on the floor next to me, when I'd wake up, that darn cat was all the way in the kitchen. UGH! Then dad woke me one morning saying, "Your brother made an appt. to have her put to sleep." I told him that I'd do it. I walked slowly with her, like in The Green Mile, to the vet, crying down Lawrence Ave. It took her 2 shots of the "medicine" to stop her little heart & she again went down growling & hissing. I had her cremated with a sock.

Sorry again for being somber but I'll end on a high note. This evening I was going through my e-mail when I came across a note from Sharon, one of my coworkers. I opened it to find a beautiful picture of the evening crew waving "Hi". It made me cry, I miss them dearly. I called them ASAP. Preston said they were going to put in an empty chair for me. Maybe they can photoshop me in. I told them how my sister went on a pub crawl recently and the friends of this soldier serving in Iraq had enlarged a photo of him, just from the shoulders up and they were taking pictures with it in funny poses like he was @ the bars with them. My coworkers know how much I like taking pictures. It was a slow night so they had time to do this. I hope to get well enough to get down there & see them in person.