Tuesday

I just realized I just missed the first new episode of House M.D. in ages. Drat.

This morning Amy and I stayed in.

Between breakfast and morning nap was entirely naked time. I am tired of the rash she currently has, two little but nasty-looking sores. When we were at the doctor’s last week he confirmed my suspicion that yeast has gotten involved, but the Lotrimin has yet to show much effect. The sores look best to me after a good long naked time, so I’m trying to maximize that. Not much fun (for me; she doesn’t mind), though, to be confined to a double-sized comforter on her bedroom floor, even with all the toys transferred in there from the living room. The sores don’t seem to bother her except when you have to touch them (i.e. bath, diaper changes), so I’m not acutely concerned, but it’s just getting old and tiresome and it wears on me.

And thanks, but no thanks, I doubt it has anything to do with cloth diapers. The doctor didn’t bat an eyelash when he saw that’s what she was wearing. I am changing her frequently and even when it’s not naked time I am maximizing air by having her just in a diaper with no cover, or else with nice breathable wool covers.

This afternoon we went out for a string of tiny errands.

To the neighbor’s who has an in-home hair salon (tidied up Amy’s cut that I botched in the fall) and who goes to the same Creative Memories consultant I do (the consultant is an hour away if I remember right), to buy from her two 7×7 pages and protectors to finish Amy’s First Year album.

To the doctor’s because I forgot to give them our new insurance cards.

To the post office, where I continue to get no mail for myself and lots of mail for people who no longer rent their my box. Actually, it’s less now than it was at first. Hopefully even that trickle will eventually dry up.

To Kroger’s, where I turned in circles in the baking aisle, first hunting down the coconut (I got a small bag of unsweetened and a small bag of sweetened, which I will mix to reduce the sugar) and then the evaporated milk (didn’t know it came in such small cans — perfect since I just need a quarter cup). These are for a cake for Friday playgroup; it’s my turn to host.

To Logen’s Pool Supply, where I bought some pool test strips that, among other things, indicate pH. The owner or manager was really nice — I’d called first, yesterday when they were closed, and left a message explaining what I was looking for and why. She called back and wanted to know what kind of kitty, what was wrong, etc. She asked if it was leukemia — apparently she’s had experience with purebred Siamese (our kitty is just a regular kitty) getting that, and the symptoms apparently included urinary problems. Huh.

Finally home again. More naked time, then afternoon nap.

Meanwhile I’ve spent some time online looking up “how to get cat to eat meat” — our kitty has not been interested in the ground beef I’ve made her, per vet friend’s recommendations. One site I found, by a vet, had some suggestions that seemed sensible to me. Made more sense than what vet #2 (Parrett’s) says. And seems to complement what vet friend says. Essentially, instead of putting down some meat in the morning and leaving it until the kitty eats it (however long it takes), this vet suggests putting down new food at 2-3 meal times and removing whatever isn’t eaten in twenty minutes or so.

It aggravates and stresses me that Every. Area. Of. Life. is so not self-evident. Everyone has their own reasoned or unreasoned philosophy and advice and research and case studies and arguments and common sense and so on and so on, about the obviously complicated things like parenting and politics as well as the supposedly clearer things like science and nutrition and veterinary care. Sheesh. I’m not so good at trusting my own instincts and intuition and knowledge, and yet it’s difficult to determine who to trust instead. Everyone has an agenda and a bias, and since I’m not an expert in many fields, I just have to guess who and what I think makes most sense.

Amy and I had cold leftover ham (yum) and corn muffins for dinner; she had leftover green beans and I had leftover salad. I couldn’t bear more naked time, so she just wore a diaper and we played in the living room until bath time. Lately she does NOT like having her face and hair washed. We’ve been using those little narrow rectangular burp cloths as mini blankets, and I had one for her to cuddle while I dried her off, and that seemed to help a lot.

Mark got home (swim meet kept him late) during the bath and ate his dinner while Amy had yet more naked time, then Mark and I had a tiff about the cat and then he put Amy to bed while I tried unsuccessfully seven or eight times to get the antibiotic pill into the cat until she bit me and drew blood, then folded laundry, then worked through the tiff, then tried the pill again with Mark’s help.

As I reminded myself around lunch time, Jesus says that life is worth more than food and clothes, and so it’s not needful to worry over them; Amy and the kitty are both doing quite well, are content and even happy most of the time. I’m doing my best about the one’s sores and the other’s urinary tract, and meanwhile I can be thankful for their life.