all done

[lucy24]

The day before yesterday I completed the two most dreary, soul-destroying, mind-numbing tasks of a typical year. (The second one was not {insert name of gender-specific medical procedure ad lib}. It was going to the mall--ugh!--to buy shoes--ugh! ugh! ugh!)

Yesterday I applied Frontline to both cats. This does not count as soul-destroying, because I did not have to administer any worm pills, but does count as Not Fun.

Today I ran wild at Amazon. I'm entitled.

[not2easy]

No jealousy here. The reward? Entitled is right. You earned it. :)


_{(I'm still earning mine, but it is closer by far..)}

[buckworks]

It was going to the mall--ugh!--to buy shoes--ugh! ugh! ugh!)

How different we are! I -love- it when I have a good excuse to shop for shoes! :)

[lucy24]

Yes, I have never been a Shoe Woman ;)

[not2easy]

I have not visited a shoe store in decades. The universe lacks a force to make me do it. ;)

[tangor]

Shoes are necessary. It's that run wild were the heart is willing but the pocket book just isn't there. Sigh. Paint me green. :(

[keyplyr]

I remember putting Frontline on my cats (when I had cats.)

I'd start planning my strategy early in the day. First I'd separate them into different rooms (so they wouldn't catch-on.) Then one room at a time, one cat at a time, I'd make my move - slowly I'd turn, step by step.

I found it helpful to use a bath towel and toss it over them like a net. Then once they were immobile, I practice the fine art of getting that top off the tube w/ one hand. If that went well, the rest was a piece of cake.

Never liked the expression on their faces afterwards though... like I had betrayed them :(

[engine]

At least it sounded as if you succeeded at the shoes, Lucy.
I tried, without success, to buy some new shoes on Saturday. I failed. The ones in the shops just don't fit comfortably any longer. And, for some reason, the size I used to buy has gotten smaller. As I understand it, your feet don't grow, I tried mail order for shoes in the past and that was just a waste of time: never again.
As tangor said, shoes are necessary, comfort is optional. Looks as if i'll need to keep wearing the worn out ones until I next make an attempt at acquiring some new shoes. It may have to be sooner rather than later.

As for frontline, well, it really requires four hands. Two holding the cat and two administering the liquid to an inaccessible region on the cat's neck, which, they still seem to be able to reach!
The expression, keyplyr describes is perfect. My cats retire to beneath an object of furniture trying to wash the substance off their necks. After and hour, or so, they return to some sort of normality.

[piatkow]

I think I must have been lucky to always have cats that trusted me. The last one even sat perfectly still while I applied eye drops. Putting Frontline on the back of the neck was simply a matter of cupping one hand under her chin while I applied the dropper with the other.

[lucy24]

it really requires four hands

Not if you first transfer it to a syringe (which I have in plenty, thanks to years of medicating rats). Then it's just one hand to hold the cat and one to squirt. They also don't seem to feel as strongly about Frontline as they did about Advantage. Different active ingredient, with less penetrating smell, so a cat in one room doesn't know you're treating a cat in another room.

But I still craftily start with the oldest and canniest cat. Sneak up on him while he's asleep, so there is no time to wonder why I am hiding my hands behind my back.

the size I used to buy has gotten smaller

I've noticed the same phenomenon with my "compact" (two-volume, weightlifter edition) OED. It is significantly heavier than when I first acquired it, some decades ago, even while the print grows smaller year by year.