Speed Racer

I have a confession. I really don't mind getting up super early to be at work by 5 am. In fact, it's sort of fun. I only have to do it one day a week and that's on Saturday.

So, on Saturday there is a 6 am flight that goes out from our airport. We have the same crew every Saturday for this flight. The Captain is a royal pain and we call him Speed racer. He starts out fairly nice and says, "I want to start boarding at 0530." That is about 15 minutes earlier than required. If he doesn't see passengers by then, he starts flashing us with the lights from the plane. Seriously, he's a jerk. So, we have fun and talk about him over the radio (they don't have access to that frequency). Oh, it makes me laugh.

At least there's something fun to do at 6 am if I can't be sleeping.

It's almost been a week since I had to put down Buddy, our very old cat. I was sad the day it happened, but since then, I've been fine. I now sleep through the night without waking 2-3 times to a panicked kitty. He was so sweet. But, this year I've had a few friends who lost their spouses or siblings. Losing a cat pales in comparison to that. And my cat probably had it better than most children in the world. He was fed and had a warm house to sleep in.

I've been working a lot lately. I like to work but then I get behind on the home front. I worked an extra day this week for a guy who went out of town. I should say kid, really. He's 18, doesn't own a car and only has a permit. I can't believe he was hired without a current driver's license. And he dresses up in a furry costume, like a mascot you would see for a university. Doesn't that seem strange to you? I'm not sure what he does when he's dressed up. He said he walked around down town at night. Strange. Anyway, I worked the day he flew out and he took his furry costume in a big, plastic container. Seriously?

We're dog sitting for the weekend. The dog is huge. He's the same breed as Lilly, but male and gigantic. He's a sweetie but I caught him on his hind legs with his front legs on the kitchen counter licking the butter. Needless to say, we won't be eating that butter! Lilly isn't tall enough to do that so I hadn't thought to make sure stuff wasn't too close to the edge. It should be an interesting few days...

R.I.P. Buddy the cat

I took my cat in today to see the vet. After talking with our vet, I decided it was time to let Buddy go. What an awesome cat. He deserved a good death. He had so many problems and he was waking every night panicked. With renal disease, blindness and what seemed to be dementia, it was the only moral thing to do. I was starting to resent him in the night when he woke me from a deep sleep and I didn't want to have that feeling be the last way I felt about him. The vet said I had let him live longer than what others might have. Still-I am very sad today. Just thinking of him brings tears to my eyes, even when I know it was the best decision.

Buddy claimed me in or around 1994. It could have been 1993. I would get home around 6 pm and he would be there to welcome me. My then husband and I lived on a river edge. There was about a 50 yard vertical drop to the river. There was a huge, flat rock and Buddy and I would sit on it and look out over the river. He actually belonged to the neighbors two houses down. He was an outside cat. I didn't know his real name so I called him Buddy. It turned out his real name was Rowdy and that fit as well.

One day, there was a moving van at Buddy's house. We were sad to see him move. My husband asked them if we could have him. They thought about it and said yes. The next day our next door neighbor had ask to have him as well. He was just that great.

So, time went on and we moved to Wisconsin. Buddy came along. Our other indoor cat died one night and that was it, we had one cat. Then I went through a divorce and got Buddy. He was there for me through those rough times.

Years went by and I moved to Missouri and then Pennsylvania. I remarried a man with two dogs. Buddy survived all of that, too.

Things went down hill when we moved to the farm. Buddy had lost his sight by then and finding his way around the house proved difficult. He started waking us every night with a panicked meow. I had to make a hard decision to euthanize him today.

I want to remember the rascal, Buddy. Also, he was such a lover. He would snuggle up under my chin and drool. The best little hugger ever.

Thank you, Buddy, for being one of the best cats ever.

I called the vet today and made an appointment for my cat. I need to have him checked out. He's blind, almost deaf, got a gimpy leg, and wakes me up every night somewhere around 1 am. He usually is meowing in a panicked way. Oh, and he's 18 years old, at least. It's hard to think about him being gone. But, is he happy now? He eats special cat food because he has kidney disease, too. I don't think I want another cat right away. I need a break and one less thing to take care of.

Work is still going OK but I'm ready for the new schedule. This wait is really bugging me. I need to arrange child care and it would be nice to have three days in a row so I can fly out easier.

Nothing much going on here. Winter seems to be flying by! Is it because I'm busy? Whatever it is, I'm glad because I can't stand winter!!! :)

I got to use my flight benefits this week. I'm hooked now! Wednesday morning I flew to Fayetteville. I arrived around 10:30 am and spent the day shopping with my best friend from High School. It was so fun to catch up. It was very cold down there--around 8 F--but sunny. I miss the sunny south. We had lunch at PF Changs. Oh my gosh. I've never had such good Chinese food. We could tell they get a lot of people there with expense accounts as the waitress kept directing us to the Prixe Frixe menu. We went for the lunch bowls.

Thursday my sister was off from work and we hung out all day. We ate lunch at one of my all time favorite places in Fayetteville---Hugo's.

I'm definitely going to try to go down more often now that I can fly down for free. One of the best parts was I got to fly first class from Detroit to Fayetteville. On the way back Friday, I flew first class from Detroit to Newark, NJ. I headed to NY for the weekend since my sister-in-law turned 40 today. The kids and Pete drove over Friday night. I'm getting spoiled with all this flying around. :)

This afternoon Kendall and I went to the American Girl Store in Manhattan. Kendall bought two outfits for her doll. I was surprised that she didn't want a lot more than what she got.

That's it for now. I should rest a bit before the dinner party for my SIL.

I have to work Saturday mornings at 5 am. It means I get up around 3:30 am. Way too early, I know, but it's not too bad once I get there. I find the airline industry is interesting. And while it may not be "like it used to," it's still a fun gig for now. The pay sucks, but I never took this job for that.

I took the job for two reasons: 1) to get out of the house twice or three times a week and 2) for the free travel. The free travel is standby and from what hear, can be stressful. I hope to fly to Arkansas next week to try it out. :)

The people I work with are nice enough and it's nice to be needed. The boss is another story and I probably won't talk much about him just in case the blog is stumbled upon by someone who could screw me over. I just hope to maintain a good attitude and to continue to work hard. I discovered that expectations of women are low (at least from my boss) anywhere from working outside to being able to back a truck into a garage. Yes, I have been told to "stand there and look pretty." I'm sure it was just a somewhat dated joke and one can only hope that men really don't think that way in this day and age. But, who's kidding whom?

Sexism is alive and well, still, in the USA. Never mind, the countries out there with the machismo culture. Yes, I do know we (women) in the U. S. have it much easier than some of our sisters in other countries. Perhaps, that is why I can stomach it to some extent.

In other news, we were planning a trip to NYC for next weekend for the SIL's 40th. Yes, precious is turning the big 4-0. But, they thought we would be traveling mid-month so they didn't reserve a large place so the 4 of us could attend. Yeah, I know. Pretty darn tacky. It's not like my husband comes from a large family. I'm trying not to be offended. I don't know why I'm even thrown by this. I guess if it happens, I'll be on my best behavior. :) If it doesn't happen, I will enjoy sleeping in on a Saturday morning since someone is covering for me.

This week has been a good week. I worked a couple of days, had lunch with a friend one day and breakfast with some other girlfriend the next. A nice balance. And to top it off, I'm getting my hair cut and colored this afternoon. Nothing makes a girl feel good like a good haircut and no gray hair!

We took our daughter to the doctor this week to have her weight evaluated. She has gained a lot of weight in a year since her tonsillectomy. She had to have her blood drawn to make sure it isn't a thyroid issue. But mostly, it's all about portion control and adding some variety to her diet. The doctor (our old neighbor) was fantastic! Kendall seemed to understand, too.

Clayton is doing fine. His math and reading are coming along now that we know he was copying off his neighbor's work and not learning for himself. It's good to nip these things in the bud, you know.

Back to work. I just booked a trip to Dubai. I hope it works out! I like most parts of my job. I'm soon going to learn how to deice a plane. I know, too cool.

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend.