My kids cannot believe that I can tolerate animals in my environment, much less sleeping in the bed with me. I have always been incredibly OCD, in particular about germs. I still am a germ avoider where I can be but I do not stress out about their mess any longer.
Usually.
Norm arrived back last night but he was still away last weekend and Finn was terribly ill. I mentioned that I had to clean 2 bedrooms in my last post, but I discovered another tributary of poop flowed into the 3rd bedroom. These are pretty big bedrooms and he covered the entire floor in both rooms. I spent most of Saturday scrubbing the floors. Bending over effects my hernia and gives me reflux, and I cannot get on my hands and knees as my knees are buggered. It was incredibly hot and I had put on a cool floor length dress which I had to hold up while simultaneously trying to clean. What was I thinking?
I finished and came downstairs just before 4pm and despite the lingering nausea I was starving. I opened the fridge to find something to pop into the air fryer and the electricity went off. I was so annoyed I just ate a muffin. Bugger gluten, it was a bloody awful day.
That night I closed the bedroom doors but left open the bathroom door hoping Finn would go in there if it happened again, but nope, the new trail was from my bedroom door through the landing and into the family bathroom. I had learned the previous day to not leave it to bake into the floor or I would have to scrub it. I spent all of Sunday morning naked, sweating, gagging and cleaning poop.
I finally finished and I got into the shower to scrub myself and decided to make some protein pancakes with low sugar maple syrup. I had been wanting to try them and as I am supposed to add more protein to my diet it seemed perfect.
I added an egg and some milk to get it to the consistency I wanted and popped the batter into a hot buttered pan (see 2nd pic above) and when they bubbled up I flipped them to brown both sides. I did not take a pic of the finished version as I was so excited but the first bite put me off. I thought it might be because I was all ‘pooped out’ and had gone far too long without food and my blood sugar was a bit ropey, so I ate a bit more but the pancakes were very eggy and had a strange texture. I might have been able to tolerate the pancakes but the syrup had a horrid chemical taste. I chucked most of them in the bin being very careful with the animals as the syrup contains xylitol (which explains the horrid chemical taste).
On Monday Finn seemed back to normal and I woke to clean floors! I had an appointment with my Neurodivergent therapist last Monday. It was a good session and she heard the dramas about the dog’s illness and the fact that I ended up binge eating on Sunday – a packet of ginger biscuits (originally eaten in the hope it might calm the nausea) and then a bag of crisps. I completely avoided proper food and just ate that junk and then sat in a stupor because I was out of energy, out of the urge to prepare anything and in the need of comfort and that is my self comforting go to – junk food.
I told her all of that and talked to her about the visit with the psychiatrist and the health practitioner and which I wrote about last week as well as some other things and it was a very good session as it always is. When I told her about the anti-inflammatory diet she was happy that it has some flexibility as I will be more likely to stay on it. I always feel validated by her.
On Friday Caitlin came to collect me and we drove to Stellenbosch where we were meeting up with Lily, Josh and Amelia as they were attending another wedding and needed Caitlin and I to baby sit.
On Friday we just had a relaxed night chatting and laughing once we finally got Millie settled in bed. Then on Saturday everyone was up and about early as the shuttle for the wedding left at 1. Lily and Josh looked so gorgeous and headed out full of optimism that Caitlin and I could manage Millie while they were out.
Millie was tired and a bit grizzly that Mom was not around so Caitlin and I popped Millie into her pram and we went for a walk around the village. As we had hoped, the bumpy ride finally put her to sleep. As our rented apartment was upstairs we had no way to easily carry her pram up and decided to try and get some lunch. We saw that there seemed to be a bit of a buzz at The Meeting Place which was just down the road so we grabbed a table in the shaded courtyard outside. There was a large table next to us and someone was celebrating their 21st birthday. At first we were worried the noise might upset her but she loved it! The young kids were all loving Millie who was bouncing, shaking her hands and singing to the music.
I ordered a Caesar salad and it contained boiled eggs, so Mille ate little bites of egg and eventually nibbled over half an egg. She had a few bits of Caitlin’s fries as well. She was perfectly entertained and happy all during lunch. We finished eating and popped her back in the pram and headed home to try and feed her but she was not having anything to do with anything we tried to feed her except these little blueberry crisp things which she can hold herself and eat independently and she scarfed that down happily. We tried to put her in the highchair and let her feed herself some spaghetti bolognaise but she was not having that either. She would not take the formula, the milk or anything we offered. Caitlin then popped Millie in the baby carrier and walked around the flat until she finally fell asleep.
That lasted about half an hour until she was awake again.
The only way we could get her to stop crying was to put Ms. Rachel on the telly but then we realised that she was happy when they sang, but as soon as they stopped singing she started crying again. We then came up with putting Ms Rachel on the telly but muting her and playing one of the baby playlists I have created on Spotify. We gave her another biscuit and decided that as long as we kept her alive, we deemed ourselves successful, we just wanted something in her stomach so we let her eat the bloody biscuit!
At 8pm we phoned Lily as Amelia was so over-tired and hungry that she was not going to sleep without Mama home to calm and nurse her. Lily popped home and left Josh at the wedding celebrations. Millie was so happy to see Lily and complained about how horribly mistreated she had been by us (she fibbed, she was just being dramatic).
This morning we had to be out of the flat by 10am so we packed up and checked out and Caitlin and I went for a coffee and a quick bite at Mill Coffee House. We both ordered coffees. Caitlin ordered a pancake (a South African version of a pancake is like a crepe). It was supposed to be filled with banana and covered in Lindt chocolate sauce. I ordered a waffle but without the ice cream. Caitlin’s pancake was very thick and did not contain any banana. My waffle was nice. It took ages to get served and we had wanted a quick stop. We got on the road after we finished and are now safely at home. It was so lovely to spend time with all 3 of my girls.
I mentioned last week that my Mom has been ill and had been diagnosed with pneumonia. She did not improve. Her neighbour noticed her blood oxygen levels were very low and she took mom back to the emergency room where she has been diagnosed with Covid. She stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and is now back home. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. I hate being so far away from her at times like this.
I have one more cryptic quote for you which has been zooming around my head. It means something to those of us who need to hear it.
“Everything that poisons can also heal and everything that heals can also poison.”
Until next time, I hope you all have a lovely week.
Kisses from the Kitten xxoxoxoxoxo
Kitten in the City 