Resurfacing
Jun. 25th, 2007 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynOlive Honey McHonersons Rhys is the unofficial name of the new katze. Olive won by a short nose over her original name, Honey, but I took a friend's suggestion of giving her a ridiculously long name that anyone could call her anything they wanted with. I think a lot of people mistakenly thought the name would have something to do with her coloring, but that's not it, nor does it have anything to do with olive oil (or Olive Oyl, as the case may be). I just happen to really love old-fashioned names for animals (and people, too!), and I had an great-aunt named Ollie when I was a kid, who I thought was just the coolest old lady ever. I didn't even know her name was Olive until I was much older and she was gone, but I always loved the name and the nickname, and so Honey seemed very Olive-like to me when I met her, and that is why. When I named Emma, that name had been out of fashion for a long time; it came back into style almost right after I named her that. Jo joked that at least it wasn't Hortense, but I said, That was on my list!
Anyway, we are settling in together, but it's a bumpy road. She checked out well at the vet's, but she's still having bad diarrhea all the time, and I can't seem to get her tummy settled, which worries me. I'm feeding her this enzyme with acidophilous now and hoping it'll help, but it's hard to say. It wouldn't be a big deal except that she has... uh... trouble keeping it off herself and therefor off my furnishings.
She really, really wants to escape. Today, when she opened the door from it being cracked open the tiniest bit, I thought I'd let her explore, but she started beelining for the open space under the gate and I almost didn't get her back. She was so. very. angry. with me, she huffed and snorted like a bull and scowled at me so hard I thought her little face would break. She is very sweet and can be really affectionate, but she hates being picked up and cuddled, and despises being kissed, which is a problem, as I'm an inveterate kitty kisser. She'll come to your lap, but doesn't want to be held above the waist, basically. And this is disappointing for me, and hard, and I am often left wondering if she likes me much at all. She's made herself at home quite easily, but she doesn't seem to like me much, running from me if she thinks there's any possibility I will pick her up.
Fortunately, though, Olive is not a biter or shredder. When she doesn't like something, she just pushes at me with her back feet or squirms and scowls. Emma would just launch herself with no warning and rip holes in me.
So I am both happy and kind of down about it. Everyone says give it time, but I don't know. I'm not sure she's going to warm up to me. She does, however, like the new Flor carpet tiles I've been putting in the bedroom and hallway. Poor kid loves to play, and when she hits the newly uncovered hardwoods, she ends up sliding all over the place. The other night I thought I was going to choke from laughter as I watched her skate 13 feet into the wall trying to catch her HotCats nip toy.
It's probably too much to put on her little sheddy shoulders, though, to make me happy again. I definitely feel better and like I can resurface. I know a couple people have noticed that I barely ever post anymore, and it's true. After Emma died and the class was dragging me down, I just felt bleaker and bleaker to the point of not being able to stand being around people, do the usual things I always did. I would lie in bed on weekends and not get up, often giving myself migraines from sleeping too long in bad positions, sometimes I wouldn't even get up until almost noon. I was logging in to work later and later. The antidepressants didn't seem to do anything, and I have been struggling a lot with these weird flashbacks to when my sister was dying, and I would have these scarily vivid dreams that were worse than the scarily vivid dreams I have had since I started taking those pills. I think that was one reason the criminal in my backyard thing was so upsetting -- these dreams and these flashbacks that just hit out of nowhere leave me so agitated and uptight, that I'm not in any position to deal with extra stuff.
At least this past weekend, I got up at a reasonable time, and I've woken up every morning well before I needed to get up and log in (except today, but that was because of other things). It's nice to have a kitty I need to get up for -- she's very quiet and doesn't nag, but I know she wants to be fed.
Work has been utter hell, and I'm taking two days off around the holiday next week, go me. I hope that it will help ease some of the stress, and maybe I can take part in things more than I have been. That and just being more active chasing Olive around the house, trying to keep her from getting in trouble.
Incredible pink tongue!
Faster than lightning
Crazy pretzel cat
I choose my furnishings to match my animals
I keeeeel you!
And I use my Skinner icon in honor of Cathexys's MPREG discussion today, when people reminisced about the glorious crapitude of Life From the Ashes. Ah, good times.
Anyway, we are settling in together, but it's a bumpy road. She checked out well at the vet's, but she's still having bad diarrhea all the time, and I can't seem to get her tummy settled, which worries me. I'm feeding her this enzyme with acidophilous now and hoping it'll help, but it's hard to say. It wouldn't be a big deal except that she has... uh... trouble keeping it off herself and therefor off my furnishings.
She really, really wants to escape. Today, when she opened the door from it being cracked open the tiniest bit, I thought I'd let her explore, but she started beelining for the open space under the gate and I almost didn't get her back. She was so. very. angry. with me, she huffed and snorted like a bull and scowled at me so hard I thought her little face would break. She is very sweet and can be really affectionate, but she hates being picked up and cuddled, and despises being kissed, which is a problem, as I'm an inveterate kitty kisser. She'll come to your lap, but doesn't want to be held above the waist, basically. And this is disappointing for me, and hard, and I am often left wondering if she likes me much at all. She's made herself at home quite easily, but she doesn't seem to like me much, running from me if she thinks there's any possibility I will pick her up.
Fortunately, though, Olive is not a biter or shredder. When she doesn't like something, she just pushes at me with her back feet or squirms and scowls. Emma would just launch herself with no warning and rip holes in me.
So I am both happy and kind of down about it. Everyone says give it time, but I don't know. I'm not sure she's going to warm up to me. She does, however, like the new Flor carpet tiles I've been putting in the bedroom and hallway. Poor kid loves to play, and when she hits the newly uncovered hardwoods, she ends up sliding all over the place. The other night I thought I was going to choke from laughter as I watched her skate 13 feet into the wall trying to catch her HotCats nip toy.
It's probably too much to put on her little sheddy shoulders, though, to make me happy again. I definitely feel better and like I can resurface. I know a couple people have noticed that I barely ever post anymore, and it's true. After Emma died and the class was dragging me down, I just felt bleaker and bleaker to the point of not being able to stand being around people, do the usual things I always did. I would lie in bed on weekends and not get up, often giving myself migraines from sleeping too long in bad positions, sometimes I wouldn't even get up until almost noon. I was logging in to work later and later. The antidepressants didn't seem to do anything, and I have been struggling a lot with these weird flashbacks to when my sister was dying, and I would have these scarily vivid dreams that were worse than the scarily vivid dreams I have had since I started taking those pills. I think that was one reason the criminal in my backyard thing was so upsetting -- these dreams and these flashbacks that just hit out of nowhere leave me so agitated and uptight, that I'm not in any position to deal with extra stuff.
At least this past weekend, I got up at a reasonable time, and I've woken up every morning well before I needed to get up and log in (except today, but that was because of other things). It's nice to have a kitty I need to get up for -- she's very quiet and doesn't nag, but I know she wants to be fed.
Work has been utter hell, and I'm taking two days off around the holiday next week, go me. I hope that it will help ease some of the stress, and maybe I can take part in things more than I have been. That and just being more active chasing Olive around the house, trying to keep her from getting in trouble.
Incredible pink tongue!
Faster than lightning
Crazy pretzel cat
I choose my furnishings to match my animals
I keeeeel you!
And I use my Skinner icon in honor of Cathexys's MPREG discussion today, when people reminisced about the glorious crapitude of Life From the Ashes. Ah, good times.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 05:05 am (UTC)And regarding long names - my budgies were named Margaret Abigail Evans Witt and Oliver Twist Witt - LOL!
::hugs::
no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 05:14 am (UTC)Don't be upset about the lack of cuddles/hug/lap
Date: 2007-06-26 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 12:22 pm (UTC)And I am glad that some combination of factors has made it possible for you to start getting up earlier and feeling more like -- well, I was going to say "yourself," though it's not like depression turns us into completely other people, really. Anyway. I've found that often the first step toward feeling healthy is being able to at least keep my healthy patterns, sleep- and food-wise...
no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 01:03 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're feeling a bit better, in any case.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 01:19 pm (UTC)Also, that final picture -- INVISIBLE KITE
no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 02:35 pm (UTC)It took Leela a while to get past the abuse of her past life, but this morning, she was snuggled up against my hip, totally blissed out, with her legs spread to give me better access to her tummy.
Miles, OTOH, was a serious snuggly slut as a kitten and changed when he went through the awkward teenage years. He's just starting to come out of that now.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 03:53 pm (UTC)And I had a great-aunt Ollie too! Wow.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 04:35 pm (UTC)