Tracy’s Neighborhood

Moonmallow (the adorable plushie above) and I hope you and your loved ones have some very happy hollydays this year. ^___^ I've been busy with buying pressies for my friends and family, wrapping the pressies, and sending out cards to people over the past few weeks. Everything seems like a blur-- but a very happy blur!

I'm sending many warm thoughts your way. <3

My Nook was delivered yesterday! I'm so excited about it - its
everything I was expecting and I'm excited to buy books for it. On
Tuesday night we drove to a Barnes & Nobles about thirty miles away in
order to get a cover for it (our B&N didn't have cases, just a
display) and I'm really happy with the one I choose. It was between
the brown one and a red one. The red one was nice, but I was looking
for low-key.

I was also happy to go online and see that B&N has adjusted their
eBook prices to MATCH Amazon! I bought "Her Fearful Symmetry" -
originally $26.99 in hardcover, now $7.29 in hardcover - for $5.79!
Brilliant, isn't it?! I've got so many books I want to buy - let's
just hope that I can hold back!

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Hey Terri! Look in the upper corner - it's your letter!!!

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I've spent a lot of time on my blog and other places online talking about Ed and Fru. I was thinking about it a while ago and I realized that I rarely ever come out and talk about just Isis, even though she's a huge part of my life. In the last year or so, she's played an even bigger role in my happiness.

When I first got Ed and Isis, I remember being disappointed about how unattached I felt with them. I wrote a blog post about it here and I got a lot of great feedback about how loving pets can take time sometimes; it's not always instantaneous. Everyone who said that was right and I'm really thankful for their help. Isis is one of those kitties that took a while to warm up to me-- much longer than Ed. And in all honesty, the wait was completely worth it.

Isis: Face On

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Shawn, Beth, and I noticed that there was something a little "off" about Isis when she first came to live with us. She was terrified of everything. Even for a kitty, the horror in her eyes every time someone walked past her seemed excessive. We all watched her carefully and then came to the conclusion that she was most likely abused by one of her previous owners. As far as we knew, she had at least two previous owners, but there could have been more. The way she ran away from people and ducked her head whenever anyone would make any quick movements made me feel like she had once been struck by someone-- most likely a male since she's always had a greater fear with them. I know that not all kitties are warm and cuddly (I've been around a lot of cats in my life), but the feeling I got when I saw the fear in Isis' eyes told me something extremely bad happened to her in her past. Knowing this made me determined to help her feel comfortable in her new life.

I first started noticing a change in Isis when I took her (and Ed) to the vet for a checkup about two years ago. Ed was pretty calm, but as usual, Isis was terrified. I gently picked her up and held her the entire time she was there. It was the first memory I have of her clinging to me because she felt protected and safe in my arms. I remember how I couldn't stop smiling. Shawn even mentioned that Isis and I were having a "bonding experience." Ever since that day, I've felt a deep connection with Isis.

Isis, Reaching Out

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Since then, she's been slowly becoming more loving. I took advantage of that change and started to "work" with her more often. When she was really young, she wouldn't let anyone hold her and would claw her way out of a person's arms. (I have a scar to prove it.) I decided to take baby steps with Isis to help her understand that being held was a good thing. Every day, I would slowly pick her up and take her over to a window where we could watch the streets outside. I would talk to her in a very soft, soothing voice (very non-threatening) so she knew that I was still there with her. I figured that the movements on the steets would distract her enough so she wouldn't concentrate on the fact that I was holding her. Sure enough, Isis became used to being held by me. After a while, I was able to hold her for an infinite amount of time. In fact, I'd have to say that she now gets sad when I have to put her back on the floor after holding her.

These days, Isis is very relaxed. She's still afraid of almost all strangers (like a lot of kitties are), and most men. However, her attitude and mannerisms have changed to an enourmous extent with the people she's familiar and comfortable with. Isis no longer runs away when people are walking towards her. She doesn't duck her head quickly if people around her are moving their arms or moving objects around her. When Shawn and I walk in the door after being out for a few hours, she stays asleep in her kitty bed in the main room. If anything, she might look up at us to acknowledge our presence... but she doesn't run to a hiding place.

Sleepy Time

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Whenever I'm asleep and Isis sees me curled up under my comforter and another very soft blanket I always use, she hops up on top of my stomach and falls asleep there. A few days ago, I woke up and was able to get off the couch without waking her up-- she stayed in the same spot, sleeping, for over ten hours! Most of the time, she's purring happily whever she's sleeping. And if I don't cuddle with her in the morning, which has become a routine for the two of us, she comes up to me later in the day and gives me sad mews to let me know she wants some cuddles.

Having two kitties who are so different from each other is amazing. Ed is friendly with everyone and is very sociable. Isis has grown into a kitty who chooses who to love, and if you're chosen, you feel like you are the most important person in the world. That's exactly how I feel whenever I'm with her. It was difficult for a long time for me to grasp the idea of Isis being calm and loving, but seeing her so happy every day has made her overall happiness a normality. I couldn't be more grateful for her and the fact that she's overcome whatever pain she experienced in the past. Her ability to move on and be happy has made me happy.

I should has it by Thursday night!!!!

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Well, my vacation is over - all ten days in a blink of an eye. This was the first vacation that I've taken since Evy was born and it was a bit of an eye opener. The biggest difference is that we couldn't simply drop everything - we had to maintain some kind of schedule and that kind of sucked. I was looking for that...vegetation period I've always had with vacations. But, no use crying over split milk - this is parenthood and I wanted it!

Tuesday we tried to go to Disneyland - but we were silly in thinking we were the only ones on vacation. The park was packed and we ended up leaving after three rides and a stroll around California Adventure. A big part was that I really wasn't feeling "it". I was initially excited to get out of the house just with Paul (we'd left Evy with my parents) but once we were going I didn't feel like talking much and I felt really "blah". Such a waste :( I also really missed Evy! Seeing so many cute cuddly kids at Disneyland while mine was at home was killing me. But the fact is that we can't ride hardly any rides unless we take someone with us, which we couldn't this time. Luckily, we got out of paying for parking because their credit card machine was down so I didn't feel that obligated to stay and make our $14 count. Unluckily, we hit traffic on the way home and after three hours of stop-and-go with our manual transmission we were pooped.

Thanksgiving went, in my opinion, REALLY well. My parents ended up coming as well, we all met at my sisters, and other than the kids making us start a little later than we'd like it was all amazing. Food was great, best candied yams I've had in awhile. I should have taken some with us, but I was so stuffed I had no eye for food as we were packing up the left overs.

My sister decorated for Christmas over the weekend and it's made me want to decorate as well. Last year we didn't decorate because we were moving ON Christmas Eve, and then Paul & I both got this really nasty stomach flu. The last time we did a live tree the mess was tremendous, so I think this year we're going to take a look at the artificial ones. However, if the price is too much then we'll probably do a live one and then take advantages of after Christmas sales in thought of NEXT year.

My Nook ships today!!!

I don't know if I've mentioned this - but the Nook is taking gadget
prone readers by storm this Christmas. The pre-orders sold out within
the first two weeks and now if you pre-order you wont get it until the
first or second week in January. I ordered mine in time, and it'll
still be shipped on Monday.

However, now the Nook is selling well on eBay. There are 10+ bids on a
single Nook causing the once reasonable price of $260 to skyrocket -
and in some cases double. So I'm now wondering if I should play the
patient one and put my Nook on eBay - and let it pay for itself and
just get it AFTER the holidays. But I don't know if I can. I've been
waiting well over a month for this thing and that's a long time for
me. The last time I waited so long it was for a doll who had to be
cast and sanded.

Paul's telling me I don't have to sell it, but I know that he thinks
we'll just make the money back and so it's foolish NOT to sell it. But
I don't know, the bubble may burst after the devices are officially
shipped and people are able to get real reviews on the thing. Then
again...I bought it blindly, didn't I?

I'd ask for everyone's opinion, but to tell the truth I don't think
anyone will be able to make this decision but me...

My hair's starting to grow back. Some may remember that awhile back I
posted about my post-pregnancy joy of loosing all the luscious hair I
developed while pregnant. Well, now its growing back and making me
look silly. I can hide the signs of the growth at my forehead hairline
with bangs, but another place that it happened was at my temples, and
I can't hide that. Oh well - looking like a mad scientist fits my
personality pretty nicely actually.

Today's my last day before my ten day vacation. I'm excited :) Trying
not to build it up though because as long as ten days sound, it will
fly by - my six weeks of maternity leave sure did - the holiday will
make sure of it. Thursday we're going to my sister's for Thanksgiving,
Friday we'll be going to the in-laws, and Saturday we'll be recouping
from the holidays :P

Found R2-D2 in Star Trek - nice Easter egg.

Been playing Dead Space with Paul, it's a good game - very scary. It
would be more scary though if the music let you know you were being
attacked from behind. Sometimes you can't tell until a random limb
appears around your head. Paul thought the game ended at Chapter Six
so imagine our surprise when we beat that boss and got another
objective. Oops, guess we shouldn't have spent all our money trying to
beat that guy.

Only two more weeks until I get my Nook. With the gift card fiasco
cleared up I'm getting more and more excited. I got a sample of Ron
Paul's book, "The Revolution", and was really inspired by the snippet
I read. I think I'm going to check that one out from the library
though because it doesn't seem like a book I'd read more than once.
Now to just find my library :)