"I am . . . Ziggy"

In July I was off work because of my surgery.

One day I was in the kitchen and at the sink. I happened to look out the window and there were 6 (SIX) kittens playing in the back yard by the tree! So I called Anita and she called Eric and they both came right over! We couldn't really get close to them because they were a little wild. We put out food and water and they ate and drank and then went to sleep on the deck with a watchful Mama nearby. She never let them out of her site.

Over the next couple of weeks, Eric took many really good photos of the brood. They are posted here: Eric's flikr photos

So I kept putting out food and they would go away for a while but they would always show up again, usually in the evening. They would eat and drink and then play by the tree until it got dark. We tried to get them used to us, mostly Eric, and he picked one of them up one day. The one I called "Lucy"." There were 3 orange tabbys and this one was the smallest of the whole bunch - the runt of the litter I guess.

Here is a photo in the back yard.

It was hot in July - in the 90's the next week. One morning I got up and went out to get the dishes. The little orange one was laying on the deck - not moving and barely breathing! Anita was over so she went out and grabbed the kitten. We put her in the carrier and took her to the vet. Later that day, the vet told us that the kitten had a severe respiratory infection. AND it was a boy and not a girl (I guess the name "Lucy" was out at that point). He was nothing but skin and bones. The vet gave us some medicine to give with am eye dropper, and told me to feed him canned food because it took more energy to chew and digest the dry food than he was getting calories!

So I brought him home and Anita helped me set up a laundry basket with a little litter box and food and water dish and a little towel for him to lay on. He slept all the time for the first couple of days I had him in the house, but he did eat the Fancy Feast food ("Break me off a piece of that ... Fancy Feast - sorry, private joke). After about a week, he was getting out of the basket and so I let him stay out and showed him where the big kitty litter box was. He was a very good kitty that way. The other three were indifferent toward him except Totoro. She seemed somewhat interested. When he started to run around more and wanted to play, she was very gentle with him and played with him. He eventually got over the coughing and got a little belly on him.

So I thought about putting him up for adoption through the vet's office, but then he was getting along so well with the other kitties, I had to keep him. So I guess he's my kitty now.

He is about 5 months old now (teenage years for kitties) and is sometimes a real pistol. His tail is longer than his whole body and he sometimes looks like a little squirrel. His name is Ziggy, but he is not named after the beloved comic strip like you might think.

I have been trying to get a copy of a movie that was out in the 80's called "Vibes" starring Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper. I know it sounds silly, and it was. They played 2 psychics who are hired by Peter Falk to find the famed Incan "Room of Gold" in Ecuador. Cyndi's character, always trying to get a rich guy, makes Jeff pretend to be her brother at the hotel bar. When the rich fellow approaches her she says, "and this is my brother... Ziggy." Jeff responds, "I am... Ziggy." and I know it sounds dumb, but I just loved that line! So he is... Ziggy. Although he also goes by "Snookums," "Little Boy," "Squirrelly." "Larry," and "Slap Happy." (I know - it's a wonder these cats don't have multiple personality disorder)

Anyway, he lives with us now, and I may have officially turned into the crazy cat lady on the block. But I don't care. As Gregory said the other night when m y nephew Jeff complained I had too many cats, "But Annette is famous for her cats." I'd like to think that's true. I'm a pretty good cat mommy, so we will take that as a compliment.

Welcome to the family Ziggy!


Ziggy at about 8 weeks


Ziggy today - about 5 months (with Miss Wiskers in background)

Summertime Blues

I'm gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler
About a workin' all summer just to try to earn a dollar
Every time I call my baby, and ask to get a date
My boss says, "No dice son, you gotta work late"
Sometimes I wonder whatI'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

Well my mom and pop told me, "son you gotta make some money"
If you want to use the car to go ridin' next Sunday
Well I didn't go to work, told the boss I was sick
"well you can't use the car 'cause you didn't work a lick"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

I'm gonna take the weeks, gonna have a fine vacation
I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations
Well I called my congressman and he said "whoa!"
"I'd like to help you son but you're too young to vote"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

Beach Boys: "Summertime Blues"


Well, OK I didn't really have a fine vacation, but I did take some time off. Let me start in the Spring...

As some of you know I have an iron deificiency due to my gastric bypass. This situation is usually fixed by my having an IV iron infusion every few months at the oncologist. So this last Spring, I was having some fatigue, tiredness, crankiness, etc. Of course since I was working in Des Moines (and on contract at that) I didn't want to take time off to actually go to the Dr. (it's stupid I know). So the other thing that was happening to me is that I was getting light-headed whenever I went to Wal-Mart or the grocery store, really anywhere that I had to walk around and expend some energy. So one day, I'm in Fareway and I get up to the check out and I start to get light-headed. Well, I'll just check out and then I'll sit down on that bench over there before I go out to the car. So I pay the bill, get to the aisle and -- boom -- I'm out. Next thing I'm lying on the floor with the manager fretting next to me. Luckliy Anita was with me and waiting in the car. I called her and she came in and got me but I didn't go to the HOSPITAL. Partly because I just wanted to lay down and partly because I HATE the Marshalltown hospital.

Well, Anita convinced me to see the Dr. and he sent me to the lab for a blood test. I then got on the road for Des Moines. As I got to Bondurant, the cell phone rang and it was Dr. Demmel's nurse - "Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to work."
"Oh, no you need to be in the hospital."
"Oh, OK."

So I drove out to Hawthorne and got my laptop and then drove back to Marshalltown. I got in the hospital and my hemoglobin was 5 (normal should be 12 to 16) so my blood was super-thin like water - no red cells to carry oxygen. That's why I was passing out in grocery stores I guess. So they gave me 5 units of blood and I stayed overnight. I worked from home the next day and started to feel better! So I had another iron treatment after that and was doing OK.

Later I got a call from Dr. Demmel's nurse and she told me that since my HGB was so low, that they sent a sample of my blood to the pathologist. She told me that the report came back and the pathologist said I should see a hemotologist because my blood cells looked "sick." Now I didn't know what that meant, but I freaked out for the next 2 days until I got to the Dr. and he explained it was that the blood cells were small and mishapen because of the iron deficiency. Thanks Nurse Feel-Good for freaking me out!

I had to have additional blood transfusion the day I went to Dr. Prow. She suggested that maybe I was losing blood somewhere. Subsequently I had another endoscopy, EKG, Mammogram, and ultrasound of my heart. All tests came out fine.

So the hemotologist said I should maybe see the Gynocologist because I had been having some "female trouble." And by "female trouble" I mean I was BLEEDING ALL THE TIME. I guess the Dr. thought part of my problem could be due to that little deal.

So Dr. Gessner did some tests and as it turned out -- I have cancer of the uterus. Hmmm, so let's see. I guess I need to see a surgeon! So I went to see Dr. Turner in Des Moines. She's a Gynocological Oncologist (say that 3 times fast!) and she said yes I need to have an operation. So we scheduled it for July, but I just couldn't stand taking the hormones and bleeding anymore. So she re-scheduled for June 20. I had to have my hernia fixed at the same time because it was so big and she just couldn't close me up without having that done. I saw Dr. Roe (a cute little thing) who is a general surgeon in the same office.

June 20 I went into the Mercy hospital -- had a 7 hour surgery -- and I was out for a whole day and a half. Luckily Anita was with me to take care of me and be my advocate. Dr. Turner said she had removed the uterus, ovaries and tubes. She also did a lymph node disection to test that too. I was in the hospital for only 5 days with the standard morphine-induced hysteria, but I managed to get up and get to the bathroom so I could get the tubes out of me. I was released and Anita brought me home where I promptly had a long shower and went to bed for about a day.

The pathology report came back and incedibly, all the cancer was confined to the uterine wall so it was all taken out with the hysterectomy. I am thankful for all the Dr.s there and I feel like I was very lucky to have gotten that done at that time. And of course I'm thankful for Anita taking care of me since I couldn't really do anything for about 2 weeks.

At Grinnell Mutual, they were all very understanding about the whole thing and let me take the needed time off to have all this done! After 5 weeks of recovery, I was able to go back to work and now live a semi-normal life.

The weird thing was going through menopause in 3 months. I was hot, cold, sad, scared, angry, grouchy, depressed, hungry, and generally pissed off for 3 months. All emotions occuring within about 5 minutes of one another. Ugh!

So my "lady parts" are all gone now and I am doing better. I am currently having another iron treatment this month as I am now monitoring my hemoglobin closely. The bad thing is, my hernia was repaired using some kind of biometric material (Dr. Roe said it comes from a pig - EWW!) and so my hernia has returned. I have to wear an abdominal binder but I guess that's OK. He told me in about 6 months he could fix it permanently with some other mesh material. I guess I'll just wait and see how things go. Eventually I will have to have it fixed so I can have my extra skin removed at some point. Until then, it's one day at a time.

The whole summer wasn't a waste -- I had some good days. My friend Gregory comes over to visit and Greg and Mitch came back to Marshalltown over Labor Day weekend. Meantime, Eric and I watch movies and a great British TV show called "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." If you get a chance to catch it, do. It's great.

As an extra added bonus, while I was off work in July a family of kitties came to live on my back deck. But that's for the next episode: "I am . . . Ziggy."

Big Wheels and The Hawthorne Girls

I've been thinking it over
So many times they say you've got it made
They never understand
The answer lies within your soul
And no one knows which side the coin will fall

Big Wheels turning
Baby I know
Big Wheels turning
Baby I know
Big Wheels turning, turning

Save it for a rainy day
For when the cold wind blows just to see how they run
I thought they'd know
I tried my best, all I could do
But somehow it was not enough for you

Big Wheels turning
Baby I know
Big Wheels turning
Baby I know
Big Wheels turning, turning

I remember the dead of night
A lonely light that shines upon the window
I see it all so clear
The tenderness, the silent tears

Out here in the pouring rain
Through cold dark waiting days I see you standing there
I see the Big Wheels turning
Never ending, on and on they go

I think I'm going home
I think I'm gonna have to start again
It's rather sad
Because I've looked around, can't seem to find
Whatever's always rolling through my mind

Big Wheels turning
Baby I know
Big Wheels turning
Baby I know
Big Wheels turning, turning

Jeff Lynne - Electric Light Orchestra
BTW - stole this idea from Greg (http://techweenie.wordpress.com/)

So I realize it's been over a year since the last blog, and I apologize for that. Alot was going on and I was working alot. Much has happened since last July and I won't try and catch you up on everything, but I will have to mention a few things.

My brother, John Charles Pearson, passed away last fall. He will be terribly missed. One of my favorite memories of John is him coming out to the farm on Sunday mornings for coffee with mom and I. He would come no matter what the weather. Actually, in the winter, the worse the weather, the earlier he would arrive! He loved 4-wheeling out there. So he would get me and Mom to play 3-handed pepper, or on occasion he would take us the bar at around noon. He'd say, "Let me show you how to get 3 beers for the price of one." He would spot a co-worker or pal at the bar and then have the bartender buy him a beer with our round. Then the guys would reminisce or pal-it-up (whatever that thing is that guys do comparitive to girls checking out the hair and the shoes). Then the pal would send us a round next time! It was hilarious. In any case, it was a weird time for the family but he is at least without pain and suffering now.

Christmas was hard but I was surrounded by friends and family so it was still good and despite the harsh winter it is still my favorite time of year.

I was still working at Wells Fargo in January, and we hired a couple more database analysts to work on the rest of the project. Mary Jo is just one of my favorite people now and I am thankful that I met her there.

Wells Fargo was a fun place to work because I fell in love with the girls I worked with. So in a sort of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" fashion, I have amassed a posse of the best girls around.

Besides Mary Jo, there was of course, Amie (my confidante), Lindsey (a real firecracker), Rachel G (nerd with sense of humor - like me), Erica (now works for the Iowa Democratic Party - go Barak!), and Julie (my hippie counterpart). The cool thing is that even though we have all departed from that workplace we still keep in touch and actually just got together in Des Moines for drinks to celebrate MJ's new job and the letting go of our old boss there (who shall remain nameless - as he should). We have a bond that goes beyond work so I know we will all remain friends. Eric came along to the last gathering and said he has never seen such sniping women so full of piss and vinegar and yet having the time of their lives. That's us!! Eric thinks someone should turn this into a screenplay for our very own movie or TV show. Eric's working title is "The Hawthorne Girls." Every week it could just some bitch getting a drink thrown in her face by one of the girls and then them calling her a name.

So because I don't have permission to post any photographs of my girls, here are the actresses that I have chosen to play them in the movie:


Amie (played by Rebecca Mader)


Rachel G (played by America Ferrera)


Julie (played by Marilu Henner)


Mary Jo (played by Mary McDonnell)


Erica (played by Aimee Teegarten)


Lindsey (played by Odette Yustman)


And of course ME - played by the Divine Miss M!



So as I said we are all departed from Wells Fargo. I left because in May I got a call from Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance and they wanted to interview me. So I went and it turns out I was just what they were looking for. They offered me a job as a Business Analyst for the Oasis Policy System and I accepted. I started there May 15th (I think).

I really love the job I have there. All the people in my department are nice, and they support one another (unlike OTHER workplaces I will not mention.. but you know who they are). Besides having Shannon as my awesome boss, and Betsy and Marcy as my team members, we have a cafeteria there! So if you forget to bring your lunch (or you just don't want that boloney samwich you brought) you can have salad bar or pizza or whatever the special is! It's totally cool! We also just had a team appreciation picnic where they furnished sub sandwiches, chips and sodas! It's such a cool place to work. I am very lucky (or just extremely skilled).

I have been consistently losing weight still. I am down to 207 now and am in a size 18 or 1X. It's so different being able to just go to a store and buy sn Iowa State t-shirt without having to order it online! A new thing that my sis Anita started is going to the Goodwill store. They have really good clothes there - certainly they are used, but many things are hardly worn or new with tags still - but you can get clothes that fit for $3.69 a piece! It's my new favorite store!

I want to tell you all about the summer, but I think that will have to be another blog entry. I just wanted to catch you up on a few things. Tune in next time for "Summertime Blues" and "I Am, ... Ziggy" coming soon!