I saw her birth, and i saw her death. I miss my cat, Diamond, sometimes more than i think i still should after 8 months.

She was born in my friend Tracey's apartment on the corner of Spring and King Streets in Hamilton, Ontario on May 23rd, 1986 at about 1 in the afternoon. I told my friends to call me once the deed was done; i have such a weak stomach. But i made it just as the kittens were being born. Tracey noticed one kitten had a "half diamond" on her forhead, and thus, she was named Diamond.



There was only one other kitten born, a shorthaired orange tabby that looked so much like his dad it was weird. Since my family had an orange tabby when i was a kid, i really wanted the other kitten. But Diamond had other ideas. She would follow me around and i would tell her to get back to Ocean, her mom... but i guess she adopted me. Scot, Tracey's roomate really liked Diamond and he had a bit of a hard time letting her go. I even offered for him to keep her, but they already had 2 cats (and i both of them were fixed shortly after these kittens were born!). Scot visited Diamond for a while, but we lost touch.



When Diamond was about a year, she began having digestive problems and i spent more money than i had for her surgery. I sacrificed the way any good mom is supposed to. I went hungry to pay her medical bills. And she made it through ok. With a fairly strict diet that thankfully wasn't expensive.

We moved around a lot... within Hamilton, and she moved in with my parents for a while when i was ill, and then when i was in England for 18 months, and from one coast of Canada (Hailifax) to another (Vancouver), and then back to Ontario. She even moved to the US of A with me when i married my sweet hubby.

Shortly after that, she adopted him, too.



She surprised him a few times... like when she made the most horrific noises at a cat at the glass door in our basement in Knoxville. She surprised me when she killed her first mouse, too... she seemed so mild mannered. She became a very poor mouser in her old age, however. We had to practically throw her on a field mouse that got in our house in Knoxville, and she still didn't manage to catch it.



Sometimes, she was very uncatlike. She made good friends with all the other animals i brought home including a rat, a mouse, turtles, fish and her bestest buddy, Oscar the rabbit. Named after Oscar Wilde, but he wasn't so wild himself. She would play with him, chase him around my apartment, and then, she would run from him chasing her. When he died, she wouldn't get out of his cage for a couple of days. I understood how she felt... i missed him, too.

When she got to be about 16, i noticed a bit of a change in her... i could see she was slowing down, even if i did not want to admit it. On my 35th birthday, when she was 17, we were supposed to be away on a holiday, and instead we spent the day fretting over her medical tests... more digestive problems. That never went away. She had a muscle problem that resultied in her not being able to poop out what was in her body.... she had to have enemas regularly and it was torture for her. Then, one day, she tried to jump up on our bed, and missed. She limped slightly on and off for a while, but this was worse, The vet thought she might have had a stroke, and the problem with her digestion could be part of it, since it was exellerating. I made the torturous decision that she should not be tortured any longer.


On October 25, 2004, she took her last breath. She never got the chance to live here with us in Buffalo. I wish she did. I miss her. I would tolerate her long white fur up my nose and on all of my black clothing right now if i could.

This is the last picture of her that was ever taken...

We had a very nice day yesterday. I would like to think it's because it was Canada Day and this here Canuck was wearing a t-shirt that had a Canadian flag above the words "girls kick ass", but the good day started before i was dressed...

We got our tables!! Yay! Jim the delivery guy called around 8am, waking me up and saying he would be there in 30 minutes, if it was ok with us. It was.

Here they are. Shows our lovely grey rug that we are searching for a replacement of... something to go with leopard print sofas, perhaps?





Then, to celebrate, we decided to go to the zoo. I sure am glad we did! I think we are going to show up early next time we go... it's when all the action is.

First, there was the elephant bath that never happened. The gate the elephant comes out of to go to the area she bathes in had a dumpster in front of it, so the keeper brought her out to the people and we all crowded around her to pet her. I, of course, being the big kid and lover of elephants that i am, was one of the first there!!



On top of that wonderful zoo experience, we were also very pleased to see the lorikeet landing finally open on a day when we were there. We'd been avoiding weekend crowds, and it wasn't open during the week. Next weekend, my mom is coming to visit and i know she is just going to LOVE LOVE LOVE feeding the birds the way (e:uncutstaniflus)h and i got to yesterday!!





We also got to feed the giraffes, but didn't get decent pics of that... Speaking of not so decent pics... man, i am no model!!

After that, we had a nice lunch at a Taste of Thai... yum yum. I looove thai food.

We also went to Target and got ourselves a new tv stand to go with the new tables. We had been eyeing it for a while, but wanted to make sure the wood colours wouldn't clash. They don't. Althought it is not the greatest pic, here it is, along with Judge Judy.



That was our day. Very good one. Productive and fun. :O)

Seems we will not be getting our tables again today. Oh well. The delivery guy called us, at least, to let us know his truck is still not fixed. He said it is supposed to be fixed sometime today, but he didn't want to leave us hanging today and would call first thing tomorrow morning to arrange a time. That's reasonable. Thank goodness, because i was beginning to wonder if Sofas and Chairs didn't give a shit about customers once they paid.

So, now we have a day to be out and about as we wish.... so we decided to go to a movie. We haven't been to one in a while. We are even going to be brave and go to the Movies 8 Theatres... we had probs the last time we were there (no sound is a bit of a drag, i would say). I think we will end up eating lunch at Star of India (in Kenmore on Deleware Ave) and then see Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy... my best friend, Mark, said, "it's a suck fest" but i won't get bored listening to Stephen Fry's voice. He's got a great soothing British voice... i loved listening to his autobiography, Moab is my Washpot, on tape that a friend got for me...

So, here is what i wanted to comment to your comment.:



Sorry you feel shitty today, (e:Jason). I understand those kinda days. As we say here in this household, you have "used up all your excess nice" today, and you're just plumb out. We only have so much nice in us each day, i reckon, and today, your well isn't as full as it could be. Don't fret, one day, it will be overflowing and you will just be nicing all over the place. :O)

As i learn how to use this cool and grooovy system (e:Paul) has set up for us all, (e:uncutsaniflush) tells me to "think like (e:Paul)" when i can't figure something out. Oddly enough, so far, that has worked out. Until today. See, i think (e:Paul) is a smartie trousers, as we would say in this here household. I guess i just don't have my (e:Paul) hat available today. I even went downstairs to see if my clever husband, (e:uncutsaniflush) could find the "think like (e:Paul) hat, but he couldn't either.

You see, what i want to do is comment on someone's journal. I posted a comment to (e:Jason), he commented and i want to comment again, but, well, when i click the show/hide/add comment link, all it does is open it or close it. At first, i tried to click on it once. and all it did was open the comments. OK, i thought to myself, i need to click on that side of the link. Nope. Then, in my "think like (e:Paul)" frame of mind, i clicked it 3 times, 'cause it's the third thing there. Nope.. it opened, closed and opened again...

Any ideas?

We decided to do chinese take out for lunch while waiting to see if they would call us to let us know they are coming with our tables...

No luck on the tables. The truck won't start and we were advised not to stay home waiting.

We did, however, have very good chinese take out. Taste Good on the corner of Hertel and Deleware.. They have excellent mock chicken and mock beef dishes for those of us that are vegetarians. Seems, however, that not all the mock dishes are on the menu, so we went in person to look at the handwritten board. Then, i copied it all out on the back of the take out menu so we can call an order in next time. I highly recommend them!

I am a big supporter of the right of all consenting adults to be in the relationship they want to be in. I don't care if someone is gay or straight, into open relationships or tensomes, so long as it i all above board and honest and no one is getting hurt, physically or emotionally. I am often surprised at the traditional path i ended up taking by getting married (and not "living in sin"), but we suspect that the decision had more to do with immigration than me needing to have a new last name and a band around my finger.

I am very happy to hear that Canada appears ready to finally pass same sex marriage in the House of Commons. I remember the first bit of news regarding Canada heading down that path and i was proud to be Canadian.

Often, i think of how difficult life would have been had i fallen in love with another woman from the US. We wouldn't have had it so easy (not that the immigration process is easy, per say) as we did with the K-1 fiance visa i was able to get because Walt is a boy and i am a girl. I mean, what the hell difference does it make?

I am happy that i have choices. That i was able to decide to marry Walt. That i was able to come and live with him in the US. I only wish all others would have the same choices i have.

At this very moment, (e:uncutsaniflush) and i are awaiting the arrival of the coffee and end table we ordered. At a place called "Sofas and Chairs", of all places... talk about ironic? Not a chair, and not a sofa... nope... 2 tables.

They were (are, i guess since they are not here yet) floor models of a discontinued line. I'm looking forward to seeing them again. I am sure one of us will post a pic of them... round tables of a nice dark wood, with a glass top that has a rounded etched diamond pattern in it.

I had to call yesterday to ask them why, after a week, we hadn't heard from them regrading setting up a delivery date (since they were there, didn't need to be ordered or anything). I didn't get much of an answer, but i was transfered to the delivery department and spoke to some guy named Jim who asked if tomorrow (today) would be ok.

I bet they will show at 11.01, since they are supposed to show up between 10 and 11. Walt has more confidence; he said 10.40.

Sorry, (e:peeps), I'm just talking about the weather.

What the hell is going on? We moved here so i could get away from the heat of the south. I know in Eastern Tennessee it wasn't that hot, but too hot for my thick Canadian blood. And we move here and the weather follows me? My first summer in Knoxville was a record breaker, too..

I'm mmmmelllltttinnng...

When i was about a year old, my very forthcoming and direct grandmother looked at me and asked my mom, "What the hell is wrong with her eyes... they're goin' all over the fuckin' place." Not long afterwards, i was at an eye specailist and had glasses -- lazy eye in both eyes. By the time i was about 11 or 12, i didn't need the glasses anymore, and i had experienced pre-laser method eye surgery. *shudder*

I was also one of those kids that gets ear infections like crazy. I still get them a lot, more than most adults, and now that i have lived in Eastern Tennessee for a small chunk of my life, i have seasonal allergies, which seem to effect me as though i have a sore throat and an ear infection.

The result of both of the above leads me to be a rather clumsy person. Some days, i think i should be in a slapstick comedy routine.

Because of the lazy eye, my brain wired itself to see things in an unusual way. Almost as though my 2 eyes see independentaly and i often have to close one eye to read. I have pretty bad perspective problems, which have made me feel afraid to get a drivers license.... at the ripe old age of 36, i have never learned to drive. I believe i will someday and i promise y'all i will warn you before i do so you can pay more attention when you are out.

The ear infections have left my balance slightly off kilter, and when i was involved in gymnastics when i was a wee little tyke, i often over compensated.

Both issues converged on me yesterday afternoon. (e:uncutsaniflush) and i were at a Sprawl-Mart buying a dehumidifier for our wet basement and looking at fans. He took one off the shelf and i decided to help him out and put it back. The boxes were just over my head and there wasn't enough room for the box. But with my perspective issues, i couldn't quite judge that lack of space. (e:uncutsaniflush) was able to grab the box so it didn't do too much damage, but the box did bounce off my head hard enough to smash my sunglasses and have them fly off the top of my head. I'm still not sure if they helped or gave me a headache worse than i would have had with simply the box. I think the worst was me cringing knowing what was about to come.... i clenched my teeth and they were throbbing a bit last night.

Soooooo... should i sue?