We're not meant to be alone.

I am very sleepy this morning. Not because of a small baby--I just couldn't get to sleep for a while.

Baby continues to be adorable. She's slowly developing her independence, which means less attention for us. She still wants her pets now and then, but the lure of beneath the bed is stronger. She's definitely going to be getting her 16 hours of beauty sleep.

The good thing is that you can always get her out for treats or food or the ribbon toy. We had a nice game with the ribbon toy last night. I'm still making it a gentle game, and she seems to be self limiting. She doesn't jump after it, and I keep it on the ground. Mostly, ahs chases, and gets it in her feet and then chews on the string. It was very cute, and hopefully helped her sleep through the night.

We have decided that the cat may have inherited a touch of ADHD from me. When she's not sleeping, she's a perpetual motion machine, bouncing from one activity to the other. One of her favorite things is to get in the basket of her cat tree, and lay there watching Jess and the outdoors. She doesn't want to miss a thing, but again, so sleepy. Which leads to pictures like this one:



She was so busy looking around that she dosed off in what had to be a very uncomfortable position.

She's such a sweet little thing, always happy to try to murder you by rubbing against your legs when you're trying to walk, and singing chirpy little songs when. you open a can of food. Food is srs biznus to this little girl. Once food or treats are down, she wants to pay total attention to it. She loves the Smalls Bird Nip treats, but she doesn't like the food, so I'm going yo have to see if they sell that off the subscription. It looks like you can get a version of it from the manufacturer, so I may order a bag for her. They even have other varieties. She's weirdly not that into churus, though we should try that again now that she's a little more settled in. Maybe she'll like them now. She just seemed to think it was a lot of work to eat a churu when you could be investigating.

Somehow, we seem to have an opening in our window just big enough for these fucking enormous flies to get in. We had a bee last year, so I'm okay with just flies. Lizzy is in heaven. It's like we imported them just for her to chase and pounce. She is the mighty huntress. I'm going to get some weather stripping and put it in the area where the windows meet, just to see if that will help. I'm tired of these big fuckers. We also ordered a fly swatter, so that we can help Lizzy get rid of some of what we have.

WE didn't end up taking Yoda to the vet last night. I got stuck on a call with my boss at the end of the day and just couldn't get away. I called them and cancelled, lying that my tire was flat. It's possible I could have made it, but betwen the possibilty of being late, and worrying about Yoda's behavior, I just couldn't. I think we're going to hold his appt until after Lizzy's, and maybe start him at the new vet. His current vet has a minimum of 4-5 vets working all at once. It makes for a very busy waiting room, and Yoda doesn't do well with that, and frankly, neither do I. This is a 1-2 vet practice, so presumably the office won't be quite as insane.

And they were so nice about Cece. We had an appt for her, but ended up going to the emergency vet which ended in her euthenasia, so I called to cancel her appt. When I called back today to schedule Lizzy, They were so sweet. They got her registered, and set up for her appt, and then told me that we were angels for having given Cece a home for even that short amount of time. I appreciated that. The reviews on Yelp and Google seem to be almost unilaterally good, except for one person who was quoted the wrong amount and is big mad about it.

I really like the office staff, so hopefully I really like the vet, too. It's SO much closer to our home, and that would be very helpful. Jess would probably be able to drive there on their own. They're not a fan of the distance to our current vet, and also that it's on a major road, and it can be difficult getting in and out of the parking lot. They don't like to drive anyway, and that gives them anxiety like whoa. I just hate the distance and how psycho the waiting room is. Also, despite the myriad of doctors, it's impossible to get a quick appointment when a pet is ill. You're lucky if you can get 2-3 days later. Once, I needed an appt for a poopy butt, and they gave me an appt a full week later. By that time, his butt would have been raw and probably infected. Hopefully, this place is better. We shall see.

Since Lizzy left tiny holes in her carrier mesh, I'm debating on switching to a different carrier. There's a cute one from Happy and Polly that might do the trick. I just wish it had some ratings on Chewy so I know that it's sturdy.

I think with her escape artist nature, I will be putting a harness and leash of her as well as the carrier to be safe. It'll make things a bit easier, I think. I had gotten a couple of harnesses for her to try, and of course, the one that fits is basically a ferret harness, it's so little. She is definitely a size small.

I do think she's gained a couple of ounces since we started feeding her enough food. The ravenous edge has eased up. Now she eats her wet food, and then grazes on her kibble. Previously she had eaten a whole bowl of kibble in a day. She's starting to drink from her fountain sometimes. She has not yet realized/is not interested in the flowing water. I have not seen a paw go in there yet.

Yesterday was not horribly busy at work until the last few hours. I was deeply annoyed with the finance team. I had sent an email asking for auth, and waited patiently for a few hours. Then, at noon, I put a message in chat to see if there were updates. I waited an hour and 45 minutes for an answer, despite pinging the team twice. And when I did get an answer, it was someone on another financial team, recommending that I send another email if they're not answering me. I was SO pissed. So, I sent another email, and they eventually got back to me that it was pending and probably wouldn't be back today. So I opened up the slot for everyone, and of course, twenty minutes later, he was cleared for his MRI, and the spot I had was long gone. Arrgh.

I was bitching about it to my boss the whole time.

Today, I'm working the other PAS III's schedule from 9:30-6pm (or whenever the queue is empty.) I did get access to spy on coworkers who have been in aftercall for a long time or go over break. I also need to start documenting what I'm seeing, or at least screenshotting it, or taking a little video if people are fucking around. Most of them are good. It's just a select few that takes advantage of the aftercall time. They technically get 1 minute and 45 seconds. But they know we won't bother them til five minutes, and some of them work that.

At this point, I believe I have access to everything I need to do the other PAS III's jobs, so I'm good to do that. I think today I'll just be picking up answering questions on teams after 4:39 when R heads out, so that'll be fun.

Being that the televox system is going to be sending out messages for people with orders to schedule appts, it could be a busy day. Televox is broken and doesn't run reports in real time. So it's going off of people who had orders yesterday. Unfortunately some of them have been scheduled, so we get confused/annoyed patients calling in to see what the problem is.

The phone system continues to be a pain point. Not because it doesn't work, but becuause they keep changing shit without telling us first.

I still love my job, and with the reports coming out of IKEA...whoo boy, I'm glad I'm not there anymore. Yesterday, one of my former coworkers quit and sent out a scathing farewell letter to the entire call center. He called out the head of the call center (valid), the Regional Assistant Managers (one of whom is the one who blocked my promotion 8 times because I was too valuable where I was. (Didn't find that out until later) and down to the managers of whom he said. "I wouldn't trust them to hand me a knife in the staff cafe." The dude is a total shit stirrer, so I'm not shocked, but damn. I sent one to leadership and HR, but I didn't have the balls to send it to the whole call center. Maybe I should have, but I was still trying to be classy. Had I known about being blocked for promotions, I might have. (That manager has been let go since, yet oddly promotions don't seem to be any better.

I've had so many people reach out to get information on Hopkins. They want out, and don't care if they take a pay cut to do it. I'm happy to provide links and a reference, because if they get hired and stay 6 months, I get $1000. (Which I do share with the person who was hired.)

Tomorrow and Friday are my normal hours. Then, I've got a game on Friday, and two on Sunday with a trip to NYC to see the Rocky Horror on Saturday. I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully it's fun. I'm not sure Luke Evans is hitting every mark for me in the previews I've seen, but we'll see. Sadly, Juliette Lewis is departing, and we're getting a new Magenta, so we'll see how she is.

I made bulgogi last night. Pre-marinated by the local Hmart. It was very tasty. I made it in a stir fry with snow peas and bean sprouts and put them on the puffy rice buns with a little bit of soy sauce for saltiness. It was pretty good. I will definitely have some for breakfast as well with my scrambled eggs. Tonight, I believe we have Halibut. I'm debating between oven roasted and pan fried. I haven't decided yet. Or, I could use the Native Fry bread mix and make fish tacos. That could also be tasty. Or deep fry it. That would also work. I will think on it, and pick up some limes or lemons and slaw if I go the taco route. I have brussel sprouts to go with it either way.

And of course, I will be spending time with my little baby. I'm trying to keep Yoda from getting jealous, and so far it seems to be working. He's been very good about not barking by the door, or getting pushy about coming in. The couple of times he's seen her, he just looked like "huh, that sure is a cat." The cat in question poofs up like a Halloween kitty, so that could be a fun introduction.

And on that note, I'm going to drink some coffee and attempt to wake up. Everyone have an awesome Wednesday! We're almost halfway there!

This is your Tuesday Lizzy update!

Yesterday was hard. Not just because I had to work, but I had to work away from my kitty.. I did not enjoy not being able to visit with her all day except for a few miutes on break and lunch.

She continues to be a total sweetheart. She's young, so she still gets overwhelmed with love, and will walk away for a few minutes to settle down. The cat has better emotional regulation skills than I do. But when she wants love, she wants love, dammit.



I'm still 100% smitten with this cat. Yesterday, while playing the part of my coworker, it was slow enough that I was able to call the new vet and make her an appt for 6/29. Unfortunately, the PTO schedule was clogged for this week and next, so I wasn't able to take off before then. But again, I'm not worried about her like I was Cece.

She's obviously a healthy cat, so two weeks will give her time to settle in a bit, and then we shall have her spay checked, and get her care established so that if we do need them, we can just call.

She was very good last night, or I was very tired. I didn't hear her yell once, except when I came back from the bathroom. She yelled at me then. How dare I wake up and not immediately pet her!

We did give her gentle playtime before bed, so maybe that helped.

She's a naughty little thing sometimes. I told you that we had to relocate the sock drawer so we had somewhere to put her treats in the drawer, lest she rip them open and eat all of them. She also saw the ribbon dancer toy on the closet door and decided that it was hers anyway. I came in to find her on the bed, smacking the ribbon around. She did not want to let it go and dug her little toenails in. It was frightfully cute.

Lizzy also proved that she's a mighty huntress, stalking and killing two big flies that somehow got into her room. The first, she knocked out of the air, and then pounced and ate it. The second, we got before she could scarf it, though she looked a bit miffed at Jess for taking her prize. A few seconds later she got praise and treats, so she wasn't upset for too long.

Once I got off work, I spent some time with her, and had some snuggles before she decied that it was time to take a nap on Jess' desk. My good kitten, there is a furry cat tree less than 2 feet away and you're going to sleep on the hard desk?

She's been hanging around while Jess is on the computer, which is making them very happy.

We had ordered BBQ for dinner, which was okay, nothing amazing, but solid, and after that, we went in to snuggle her and relax before bed. I knew that I was working from 7:30am-4pm today, so I went to bed a little early. That's so that I can get out in time to take Yoda to his vet appt. (I don't wanna). Adulthood is a pain in the ass lately.

Tomorrow, I shall get paid, and that shall be nice. I don't have a ton of bills for this check, so I'll sock away the rent for next month, and be ready to pay that in a couple of weeks as well as her vet visit.

I'm going to get a bit of OT next pay in covering for everyone else. So that might be nice. And for July third, I get time and a half, so that will be good. And I'm working a couple of Saturdays in July, so that'll be good money. Plus the extra 8 hours of PTO for working July 3.

This week shall pretty mucb be a standard paycheck, sadly. Though it's still more money at one time than I've ever gotten paid, so it's all good.

I was planning on making some baked halibut and brussel sprouts, but we'll see what time we get home from the vet.

I do need to make more of Yoda's food, but Instacart was down yesterday, and today, the Punjab market doesn't seem to have any goat. So, I went to the H Mart, which had everything. He probably won't get food til dinner, but there's kibble if he gets hungry.

I think that's going to be the new habit. Wet food once a day and kibble for the other meal. It'll take some of the pressure off me, and make his meals last longer. He's getting more and more picky about his meals, starting to leave the wet food for a little while before he eats it. Also, he now desires a topper mixed in. It's a seafood topper with krill and other tasty little fish, and he loves it. It souds like the worst thing to me, but whatever makes him happy. The things we do for our pets.

Which brings me back to her little highness. She's definitely getting more bold. Jess just went to the bathroom, and then came hurrying out because Lizzy decided to go on walkabout. She's like a tiny eel. It's very hard to keep her from getting out when she's determined. Fortunately, Yoda sleeps with my sister with the door closed, so she was fine. No awkward introductions yet. I want her healed from the spay surgery before I let them meet for real. We're going to get one of those nets that we can put in the doorway to allow them to see each other through the mesh first. That way they can get used to each other. Yoda hasn't shown any interest in her the couple of times he's seen her. She puffs her tail up and raises her little hackles, which is frankly adorable.

I wonder what naughtiness today shall bring from our little girl. Tomorrow, I'm working til 6pm, so that'll be fun. Actually, depending, I may be working even later if the queue is bad. The person I'm covering for stays until everyone has logged out. I'll at least have a little extra time in the morning with the little girl. Thursday and Friday are normal schedule, and then Rocky Horror! And then Sunday, rest and spend time with the kitty.

I'm seriously questioning how old she is. I know figuring cat's ages are a bit of a guessing game, but she doesn't feel like she's over a year. She feels like a kitten. The youngest she could probably be is 8months, figuring that she got pregnant between 4-6 months. I did still put down her adoption date as her birthday on her microchip registration, though.

I think that's why she's so small--the demands on her body from the kittens may have stunted her growth a bit. I think she's already picked up an ounce or two in the few days she's been with us. We've been feeding her frequently, plus she's eating her kibble as well.

I got her a fountain. She's not quite sure what to do with it. She did drink out of it last night, so that's a small win. And we got a pet-safe air freshener. Her poops are a little less rank on the Tiki cat, but still not pleasant.

We have discovered that the thing she seems to like most is pate food. We gave her Tiki cat with the chunks of sardines in it, and they got left on the plate. Shreds were maybe okay, but not her fave. So, that's what she's going to get. I'll give her more of the petites, but 2-3 at a time.

She doesn't seem horribly fond of the bougie food. I'm going to try her on one of the smooth pate ones either today or tomorrow, but if she doesn't like it, then I'll toss the rest. It was only $25, so if it doesn't work for her, I'm not out much.

I feel kind of bad that we're going to be at the Rocky Horror most of the day on Saturday. I hate to leave her for that long. I do want to see the Rocky Horror, but I want to spend quality time with my kitty, too. And then Sunday I have 2 games, which is going to mean more time not spent with kitty. It's very sad. I know, since Yoda's being boarded, on Saturday my sister will spend lots of time with Lizzy, but it's not the same.

Okay, time for me to go bother a kitty. Everyone have a fabulous Tuesday!