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ikea hell

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in welcome

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This was basically my Saturday, from start to finish. Started off with removing EVERYTHING from my bedroom and then waiting for the IKEA delivery. They finally came around 3 pm and then I started trying to put my new bed together. It was all going well until it didn’t (realised I’d put something on the wrong way – twice!) and a painful hour of undoing and getting it right was rewarded by flipping the bedframe upright and having two pieces fall off. Fuck. By then I decided there were enough screws and whatnot holding the thing together that I’d just throw the mattress on top, hope for the best, and then attempt the drawers another day.

The good news is that the new mattress is wonderful and even Loki decided he liked it well enough to spend the night with me (first time he’s ever done that!). But my new bed still has a way to go before it looks like this. Stay tuned…

bed shopping…

16 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in home, retail therapy, shopping

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It’s been a year and a half since I moved to the new casa az, since the movers fucked up my king-size mattress by bending it in half to stuff it into the van…

And the thing is, that big bed and headboard has never fit comfortably into my present bedroom. It’s too wide and long, so it feels very cramped in there. If I didn’t have sliding closet doors it would be impossible. Anyhow, what with taking out the blankets and duvets to be cleaned this week I just got a sudden hankering for a cosy winter bedroom that wasn’t, you know, quite so cosy. So I think I’ll get this bed. That way I can still use the little shelf thingys that now fit inside the headboard, but they will be on either side of the smaller bed (150 cm). Quite looking forward to this!

the return of sara & steve

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in cancer, friends, restaurants, sevilla, tapas

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And this time they brought Sheila and Greg (Sara’s parents)!

Last time I saw Sara & Steve was three years ago, though they’ve both been coming to Sevilla for ages and I’m the one who got them started doing that. You may remember when Sara and Sheila (both cancer survivors) did a London Race For Life and Sara wore this fabulous sign during the race. Just to give you an idea of how fabulous they both are.

Anyhow, the gang got in this evening around 9.30 and I was at their holiday apartment to meet them, which turned out to be in the same building of my first home in Sevilla! Talk about a walk down memory lane (actually it was up three flights of stairs). And then we went out for tapas (it was a treat not to be working while out for tapas – I actually got to just eat, drink and relax). So it was a lovely evening and we’ll be seeing each other during the week as they are here until Saturday. Now I must hit the hay… a busy busy week. But it’s nice thinking of my friends just a few minutes away in my old house.

cat grass part 4

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, home

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Somehow I never got around to planting cat grass at the new casa az. Well, it turns out that I not only have a new asparagus lover, but the Lunatic seems intent on getting her greens if I don’t make them readily available. Remember when I removed the “protective” mesh from the balconies because it just served to give her a foothold for climbing? It seemed after that she was content to just sit outside but about a month ago I looked up from my computer screen to see her doing a somewhat wobbly balancing act on the railing! Since then it became an obsession to climb up the squiggly bits on the railings, which was driving me to distraction, and then I realised it was to get at – and much on – the plants there. So I went out and got some cat grass seed and grew it upstairs on the terraza. Today I put it out for her and, as you can see, she loves it. Loki took a brief interest in it too, but it’s clear that Luna takes after Azar when it comes to wanting her veg. And so I hope that this is going to keep her from scaling the railings to get her daily fix. Fingers crossed!

cat grass part 2
cat grass part 3

enjoying a sunbeam

11 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, death & dying, home, hope

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Here is the best cat in the world enjoying a sunbeam this morning. To be honest, I thought Azar wasn’t going to still be alive when I woke up today (not that I slept much!). In fact, the past two nights I’ve barely slept because he’s been tossing and turning and sometimes crying out, totally breaking my heart. I would have taken him to the vet’s yesterday but I had my own hospital day, plus a tapas tour in the evening. So today I brought him in to see Eva just to get another opinion on whether it was time to let Azar go, though when I saw him looking so content in that sunbeam I hoped there was still more I could do.

Well, the sad thing is that Eva does think that Azar is probably on his way out. Since the trauma of his exploding tumour, about ten days ago, he’s stopped eating on his own and has to be fed using a syringe. And then on Sunday he stopped drinking on his own, which was the thing he always used to do no matter what. Eva said cats with kidney problems go through a lot of low periods, but then rally again. The thing that’s hard to know now is whether this is a low time because of the whole tumour thing, which has left his only good front leg too weak to walk on, not to mention the pain involved, or whether he’s just had enough.

The good thing about taking him in this morning is that I now have a time-frame and treatment regimen to work with. I still need to keep changing the bandages 2-3 times a day – the wound is almost completely healed, which Eva still can’t believe – and I was told to keep feeding him the same amount of food I’ve been giving him (was very glad to hear I’d been giving him the right amount!). Now I also have to start giving him 20 mls of water a day, in 5 ml doses. If I do all that and by Friday there is no improvement then it will be time to say goodbye.

I did wonder if it was time to say goodbye this morning, until I saw him in the sunbeam and thought “not just yet”.