Yeowl-tide

 Ho ho hoooow is it December??  

Hey, somebody other than me sweeping, I call it a win!!

Thanksigving happened. It was... a meal and a few days off. And we called our friends. And it was nice. I didn't mind it. But definitely a little different from the usual sprint from car to airport to car etc. 

Allan's holiday breakfast always wins

Andrew was decidedly unimpressed, but dutifully tried the cranberry sauce that I'd made for a meal and a half before proclaiming "this is a little like borscht" when I suggested he didn't have to finish it.

 See this is funny because many years ago, very early in our marriage (back when I was still comically trying and failing to beat "rice and a can of chili" and "microwave lasagna" I decided to try and make borscht. Borscht is weird. It's friggin' pink. It's kind of acidic. But also kind of sweet. It's definitely a little bit of an aquired taste. And this was vegetarian borscht so even weirder. Andrew was really really afraid to tell me he hated it but he just couldn't stomach it. And usually he could eat just about any weird thing I made him. With a joyless stoicism, but he closed his eyes and thought of England and down it went. That night, he sat there with a look of utter terror on his face, as if he was wondering if this were a test or merely the end of his short marriage, until I said "do you want something else?" and he said "it's just... weird..." and we never had or spoke of borscht again. 

Though amusingly enough, Allan was kind of into the cranberry sauce. She usually hates cranberry sauce, but actually ate a decent portion of her serving. You just never know. 

 I did, I will note, fix the remaining cranberry sauce, which was admittedly more watery and bitter than I would have expected and I am still flummoxed by the recipe's heavy call for water. Reduced it on a low, long simmer with a lot of extra sugar. It tasted good by the end, but by then I think we were just over cranberry sauce, so I froze it for further December terrorization! Lucky lucky husband. 

But, whatever food was eaten. Brussels sprouts were roasted with broccoli so I, at least, was happy. 

And we got to hang out and chill with our new little family unit intact

Froggy has emerged from her little hiding spot in the office and now owns the house. She's very demanding and fairly cuddly. She likes to play. She really likes her wet food. She waits for us outside our bedroom doors in the morning and purrs so loud the house shakes.

I am not technically allergic to her. I checked. The first two weeks of her visit I was so miserable. Somebody asked was i still "sneezy" and i was like, "you don't get my allergies." I think because i have a deviated septum, I rarely get a particularly runny nose. And I don't sneeze much. What does happen is my entire body (already rash-prone) breaks into running streaks and speckles of hives. You touch me, the skin will break into a giant red impression of that touch (and it burns). My eyes get red and puffy and I can't really see very well. And the post nasal drip dials up to about a billion until I kind of have to focus to breath past all the phlem. And sinus headache and ear ache and... yeah I admit there were a few moments where i kind of cried myself in a corner while the rest of the family cuddled with the little creature. 

No way you can introduce a cat into a household and then get rid of her. Not with the child. Not with my husband. So... there we were. 

 I talked to an allergist Got a blood test that confirmed my prick test from February (sort of - it basically missed the dust allergies that the prick test picked up, which I guess it not uncommon). But she probably was covered in that litter that was giving me grief (that was awesome because it had the immediate type one reaction AND the more gradual contact dermatitis reaction all together). 

And - the allergist pointed this out almost immediately - cats are excellent carriers for almost every other allergen. Dust mites LOVE 'em. Let them outside and they'll rub themselves in pollen. So... I'm going to do immunotherapy for my dust and grass allergies. Pretty cool. You take a small dose under your tongue every day for years and years. But at home. And you get to own an epipen because... severe reactions can happen! I'm super curious though.  

I no longer immediately feel like my entire body breaks into hives and my throat closes up after she's been in my lap for a while, so that's a win! But if we snuggle for too long, I do still get a dump load of post nasal drip, angry eyes and a headache, so ... there's room for progress. 

Also once that was all calming down, we benightedly brought in a piece of furniture from IKEA. This was predictably saturated in all kinds of fun chemicals, and made the entire house stink when Andrew first sbrought it in from the garage (after he assembled it there and I washed it). This was something else. I was getting migraines from teh odor first, and the allergic contact rash showed up a few days later perfectly on schedule (the maddening part about allergic contact dermatitis versus, say, hives, is that you don't react until well after the exposure so you never feel totally confident what triggered teh reaction and if it's still around) We put it back in the garage for a week and - coincidentally - the rash started to clear up.Just in time for Andrew to bring it back in. I can still smell phantom whiffs, but I'm trying not to be paranoid...

... but I have a rash again and my eyelids are swollen. So... stupid IKEA is not on my happy list. I feel less crucial about living this bench than the cat. But Andrew has wanted one for months now, and put it all together and was nice about leaving it outside for a week. So... I really don't want that to be the problem. Then again, I don't want ot be in a constant flare. I already feel like this house basically jumpstarted everything somehow and not feeling safe in one's home... it's lame. Really lame. 

Anyways, back to the cat, which is the less annoying allergen in my life at this point. Also, much cuter. 

Allan is in love with her in a child-like way that ebbs and flows. Sometimes she'll just narrate "oooooooh the cat is hungry! She's meowing at you mommy because she wants food and you wono't give it to her. Ooooooh now she's licking her hand!!" Sometimes she'll run up to Froggy and bury her face in her tummy and say "oooooh kitty!!!" Sometimes she'll scream "NO CAT YOU CAN'T COME IN HERE" before slamming the door in the cat's face. It's ... complex. 

Froggy is quite good with her, and has so far only scratched her twice (which... if you had seen how Allan leaps and jumps and yells around her you'd find impressive)

Andrew is straight up in love with Miss Froggy. I asked him after about a week "Allan or the cat?" and we decided Allan would have a fuller life as as barn child ultimately.

We made a list of pros and cons first, of course:

It's very sweet. He's got cat scratches on his neck and hair all over his body and... he's the ultimate kitty spoiler.

Sometimes I wonder, how did I miss out on thiswell of doting indulgence deep within his inner chambers.  Andrew's a gold star of a husband, but you should see him with small kids and cats! I get some typical blame when I leave my shoes somewhere he can trip over, and hit the "I need space" signal fairly quickly in the scheme of things. And, as expected in a 10 year relationship (especially with a small child), my pecadillos are annoying. This seems normal, but sometimes watching somebody go 100% gooey on a feline makes you wonder if it's something you did... or didn't do.  Like, should I have been pissing in his shoes (this has not happened yet) and scratching up the furniture while draped on his lap after sitting on his computer keyboard and biting his hand? Because that may be the way to a man's heart. When I asked whether we thought "no" on scratching the furniture, he just shrugged and said "yeah, but she's a cat, what can you do?" To be fair, he does keep her out of the bedrooms and very firm-but-gentlely says "no cats on the table" when Froggy gets up there. He's not a total sucker. 

And well... he ate some of that borscht, lest anyone forget! And well... when he gets up in the morning, there's two of us and a yeowling cat. Sometimes before we even bring out the coffee. Man has an iron soul. 

Anyways, Happy Hanukkah to one and all. We have a very wonky electric menorah in our window and a Menoji (it's a little LED one in Allan's room with a smiley face emoji worked into the candle holder part) that works much better in Allan's room. So... totally set. Maybe time to break out the cranberry sauce again and get it all going!!! Maybe...