How they play

 The COVID kittens aren't always Shittens.

2020 in review

Last year I was so very glad to see 2019 end. It had not been a great year for me, and I had high hopes for this year. I had some running goals, some health goals, work goals, etc. Yeah so that didn’t exactly go as planned, huh.

What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before? 

• In January, I was 35 miles away from a major volcano eruption in the Philippines. What I thought were little flies biting me were actually pieces of volcanic ash bouncing off my face. At the time, we had no idea if we would be able to fly back to the States as Taal kept rumbling. Hard to believe that was this year.
• I ran the furthest I’ve ever run as I trained for my first ever marathon (not quite 18 miles, more about that later).
• I ran two virtual half marathons. Ugh, virtual races are just not much fun.
• My third metatarsal in my right foot broke right up high in the neck while running. 
• And of course I’m living in a time of pandemic (or to use a more Biblical term, a pestilence). 

Did anyone close to you give birth? 

Grace Elizabeth was born January 25, 2020. I'm still incredibly honored that she shares a name with me, and I am so glad I’ve gotten to visit her and her parents twice this year. I wish it were more.

Did anyone close to you die? 

No. But I’m definitely affected by the COVID-related deaths this year. I don’t see how you can be a normal human being with any kind of heart and not be affected.

Did you suffer illness or injury? 

Yes. Once again I broke a bone while doing the sport I love. This thing has taken forever to heal, which is very annoying. I’ve also had nerve pain from the top of my right foot shooting down into my big toe since last March. None of the orthopedists I’ve seen are concerned so while I have a scheduled nerve conduction test in April, I’m continuing to work out. If the weather ever cooperates, I will bike and run, foot pain be damned. 

As with the broken pelvis, I’m using a bone growth stimulator and will be for another 130+ days.

What countries did you visit? 

In January, I spent three weeks in Manila for work. Volcano and the start of the pandemic aside, that was a really cool trip and I’m glad I got to see a part of the world I probably wouldn’t have gone to on my own dime.

What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? 

A vaccine for COVID. 

I’d also like to break a pattern that seems to be emerging in my life:

• 2017—cancer diagnosis
• 2018—bone fracture
• 2019—cancer diagnosis
• 2020—bone fracture
• 2021—??

What dates from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 

• January 12: Taal erupted 
• January 25: Grace was born
• February 3: I turned 60
• February 14: we met Grace
• March 13: my city locked down for COVID and we began working from home (I will be working from home at least through the end of June 2021)
• May 6: third metatarsal broke
• August 22: got my hair cut short and went blonde 

There are other events but the dates aren’t etched—we got to see Grace and her family over Labor Day weekend but sadly have had to cancel all other trips. 

What was your biggest achievement of the year? 

In April, along with probably every other sewist in the country, I fired up my sewing machine and cranked out nearly 100 face masks for friends, family and in one case, the family of a friend (that family lives in Ireland so I can truthfully say my masks were international!).

One real bright spot this year, or I should more accurately say two bright spots are our COVID kittens. I'm so glad we got them. 

I also decided to give veganism a try. Originally I planned to try for about a month but here I am, nearly at the six month mark and I think I'll stick with it. Health-wise I already had great numbers for cholesterol but saw huge improvement there anyway. My LDL dropped from 70 to 35, which made me blink! 

And I busted through a big hang up of mine when SheFit asked me to send a photo of me wearing their bra to be used in a social media campaign. 

But honestly this year has felt like I’m just marking time. I’d planned to train and run my first full marathon this year both as a way to say screw you cancer and to celebrate turning 60. I was very disappointed when the race went virtual but of course on May 6, it was all moot anyway when my foot broke. 

I did run two virtual half marathons, and I don’t think I’ll do that again. It’s just a real slog. 

What was the best thing you bought? 

I wrote a very long post about things we bought this year to make our home comfy and cozy.

Where did most of your money go? 

And of course, that post also describes where our money went (as it sure didn’t go for traveling). We did have a lot of medical expenses but not nearly what we had in 2019.

What did you get really excited about? 

I didn't know it was going to happen, but my mother, sister and brother surprised me so much I staggered when they were all at a restaurant to celebrate my 60th birthday. That was absolutely surreal and wonderful.

I was so excited to be training to run that marathon. I’d done a lot of research to find one that was not horrible in terms of the route but also not hard to travel to, and Grandma’s seemed like the perfect one. Plus it’s in June so I knew I could get in a proper training schedule since I wouldn’t have to do most of the training in winter. And I’d found a running coach because I wanted to train safely and sanely.

So words are inadequate, I cannot tell you how heartsick I was when I broke my foot. I sat in that urgent orthopedic clinic and knew, I just knew that it was broken and that I would not be healed in time to run the marathon. I’m not much of a crier, but I teared up there in that office.

And in November when it looked like I had a non-union fracture, I was crushed. I’d already been researching bikes so that same day I got that news, I went to a local bike shop and ordered a bike. I’ve been able to ride a few times but I need it to be a little less windy and I also need shoe covers to be able to ride in the Kansas winter weather.

For the second year in a row, it’s been a really hard year. I sometimes feel as though I’m digging a hole in dry sand only of course the sand will not stay out of the hole so I keep digging, digging, digging, all for nothing.

What book(s) did you love this year? 

I continue to be an indiscriminate reader (escapism at its finest) and devour all sorts of fiction, especially science fiction, some fantasy (I’m very, very picky) and a fair amount of post-apocalyptic fiction. 

However I don’t advise reading Station Eleven when in a foreign country as a pandemic starts (yes, I thought I would re-read it when I was in Manila and COVID-19 was breaking loose in China and Southeast Asia—not my best plan). 

What song will always remind you of 2020? 

Once again, I’m boring. I’ve been listening to the Housewerks playlist on Spotify. This song cracked me up last spring.

Update on the Shittens

It’s hard to believe but the kittens/Shittens are going on six months old. They’ve grown a lot, helped no doubt by getting rid of all those parasites and eating both their kitten chow and the adult cat chow. They continue to make us laugh (mostly), curse (sometimes) and shake our heads at the weirdness of cats (pretty often).

Little Annie has the sweetest personality and the longest tail. Our little Cow Girl (we call her that because of how her fur looks) is the one who wouldn’t take no from Eddie and was convinced from the beginning that he was her best friend ever (except for her sister). She cuddles with him all the time, whether he wants it or not, and it’s pretty sweet to see them grooming each other. She’s not a lap cat unless we’re on the couch with our legs stretched out, and then she’s right up there with us.

She’s also a huge water baby. She gets in the sink, any sink, and licks the faucet in hopes water comes out. She also tries to open the shower door when one of us is actually in there taking a shower. She hasn’t managed to do that yet but I think it’s just a matter of time.

Stevie also loves the water and is quite the jumper. She easily gets onto any high surface, it’s like gravity has no effect on her. She also can be a bit of a bully. All the cats prefer the bed on my desk as it’s got a light directly over it that acts as a heat lamp. I’ve watched her slither into that bed when Eddie is in there (she wouldn’t dare try this with Wally) and then start picking on him, batting at him and biting until he leaves. I stop her when I see it but I know she does it other times too. 

Unlike her sister, Stevie is definitely a lap cat and also still loves to chew wires. I’ve now replaced the earbuds to my laptop twice and keep them locked up when not in use. 

Here's a little collage from this past weekend. We put the tissue paper and wrapping paper from our presents on the floor so the kitties could have some Christmas fun too.

Christmas with kittens

Means no tree. Well not our usual tree. Instead, I put this little tree on our dining room table with a tree skirt. This tree has a story that goes back to 2009. 

We'd flooded (for the first of three times) and were displaced, living in temporary housing while our place was made livable again. So we didn't have a Christmas tree, we barely had clothes to be honest because we lost a lot of stuff in that flood. And Kent had been notified he would be getting laid off and I hadn't been able to find work in Boston.

We were in Target to get construction paper to make a Christmas tree. I saw this tree and really wanted to get it only you know it was $20 and for where we were (no jobs, our apartment flooded and uninhabitable) that was money we didn't have. Kent insisted we get it so we could have a little Christmas decoration, and all of Target in the South End got to see me cry. 

Flash forward 11 years and the reason for no Christmas tree is positive this time. Our two little kittens would absolutely destroy any tree so I'm resigned to no tree until probably 2022. Not even kidding. That's ok, I would rather have the kittens anyway.

Here's our fireplace. My mother made that wall hanging decades ago and it's one of my favorite things she's made. Hanging that is part of our Christmas decorating ritual every year. We have five hooks for stockings, and until last year would hang all five: two for the humans and three for the cats. Then Chloe died and I was gone a lot last December and all of January. Now of course we have four cats but still only five hooks. So yes, the stockings are for the cats. 

Hygge in Kansas

 Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. I think of it as quiet satisfaction, and since Kent and I have been working from home for nearly eight months, we’ve –or maybe it’s more accurate to say I’ve—focused on making our home more comfy and cozy, more hygge. And we’ve done a lot!

In no particular order:

I got this because it made me laugh and also goes with the overall colors in our living/kitchen area.

Ding dong the pergola is GONE (and we do not miss it one bit).

I actually got these new house numbers in 2019 but we didn't do anything with them until this year so it counts.

Back yard without the pergola plus you can see our wonderful sun umbrella and the paint scheme.

Action shot of Kent doing I don't even remember what to the umbrella.

Completed paint job plus our new chairs (we also got the table but I'm too lazy to dig up that photo too).

I repainted the sun face (it was green and rusty). It really pops now.

I also repainted Fat Cat, he'd faded a lot and now he's a vivid part of the yar.

I ran two virtual half marathons and also did a COVID virtual challenge (but then of course that stupid bone in my foot broke). But it was all hygge until then.

Hummingbird feeder and a HUMMINGBIRD! I was so excited to see that!

So very many surprise lilies!

A small fountain, which we both love.

I got special mugs and started using the frother on our Ninja coffee maker. I do like a decaf latte.

A tidy solution for all our masks.

The big 72" cat tree. It's now in the second bedroom, and the kittens love it. The platforms are a bit small for our big boy cats.

Two COVID kittens. Definitely hygge.

Privacy screens for the litter boxes (they were in a kid's tent from IKEA, this is a lot less . . . gaudy).

A rowing machine. I made a cover for the rail so it doesn't get dusty, and the kittens think it's wildly fun to play with that fabric.

We reorganized the Billies at the end of our dining room and put a lot of our baking/cooking supplies in there. It's so much easier for me to get stuff now as I'm just 5'4 1/2" and need a step stool for the top shelves of the kitchen cabinets.

I got more cloth napkins, four each of the three you see below. We kicked the paper napkin habit years ago but I wanted prettier ones. 

New kitchen bar stools. Yes they are very orange, also comfortable and work really well in our home.

My office set up, which includes a second table to make an L shaped desk, a second monitor, and my office chair. 

This fabulous tea kettle. The color is ombre, getting darker toward the bottom of the kettle.

Our refurbished Vitamix (that's the chili paste for a pozole in there). So glad we got that.

And a bigger Breville than the one we had (which we passed along to one of Kent's co-workers who adores it). We adore this one and use it nearly every single day.

So about those kittens

 This is kind of long so bear with me.

The first reason we got kittens was 100% me. I’ve seen a lot of pets on the various rescue sites whose owners died or had to move into assisted living and couldn’t keep their pets anymore. Their pictures just crush my soul, those animals are stressed and depressed and scared. When I think about my own life, I know that I always want to have kitties in my home. In my ideal state, my kitties would die like a week before I do or before I have to move into assisted living. But life isn’t always like that. Wally and Eddie are 13, so if I wait until they live out their full life span and assuming they live as long as Chloe did, I’ll be 67 when we’d be looking for another pair of cats. Then if those kitties live 20 years, well I don’t like the odds of them predeceasing me.

I know that it can be hard to bring just one cat into a home with resident cats, especially when they are as high strung and neurotic as Eddie and Wally. So I wanted a pair. That way they would always have each other.

Initially I looked for older cats as they’re both cheaper and in greater need. But as I inquired about them, they had health issues or other requirements that made integrating them into our home look pretty difficult. So I turned to kittens.

Here’s the other reason I wanted more kitties. This pandemic is taking a toll on everyone, me included. So many of the things Kent and I like to do are off the table and I’m feeling flat and apathetic. I’m sure it doesn’t help that I don’t even have the usual escape of running since my foot isn’t fully healed. The kittens are helping with that a lot. They’re absolutely hysterical in their kitten antics, and we’re both laughing a lot more these days. 

It’s still pretty daunting to have four cats. Right now, we keep the girls in the guest bedroom at night. That gives Wally his safe space with us in bed, and honestly it helps us too. After all, they’re kittens and they love to romp and play in the middle of the night. That doesn’t help us get a good night’s sleep. 

We’ve added a third litter box, which is in the guest bedroom too. The girls only use it at night, which makes us laugh. I bet they’d tell us they’re big kitties now and they’ll use the big kitties’ boxes, thank you very much. 

Annie has also had a prolapsed anus which hasn’t fully resolved (in fact, she’s at the vet today because she had a bloody stool last night and the prolapse was back again this morning). That brings back sad memories of Sammie, who only lived for seven more months after we adopted him when he was seven months old (he had feline infectious peritonitis which is always fatal). 

And having someone care for the cats when we do travel has now more than doubled. I booked kennel time for the girls at our vet’s as I’m not yet ready to have all four cats stay home alone with a once a day pet sitter visit. Stevie loves to chew wires, and Wally still intensely dislikes them both, so this seemed the wiser if more expensive path to take. 

Still, I’m super glad we got them. And yes, now I’m 100% a crazy cat lady as I’ve exceeded the formula: N + 1 where N equals the number of humans in the house. We were OK with three, but four? Yup, crazy cat people territory.