Monthly Archives: September 2007

Painting and Cats

Painting and Cats

When I bought the paint for the living room, I went to Sherwin-Williams because it was one of their colors. The lighter shade that went onto the office walls was a regular interior base, but the darker color I’m using in the living room is their Duration interior. Our first surprise was that it wasn’t a full gallon, but 3 11/16 quarts. The label claims it’s to make room for additional colorants, so we figured it was OK. Now keep in mind here that I sanded and primed every surface in this room to prepare. . .I’ve put on three coats, and I still have patchy color. I’m stunned. I’ve painted rooms some pretty outrageous colors before, but I’ve never had a problem with coverage. I’m afraid I’m going to be sticking with Benjamin Moore from now on. I was hoping to be putting the room back together by now, but I’m going to have to get out the roller after I’m done complaining here.

Now I had mentioned the resentment that Toby and Calvin are expressing that we’re not letting them out. I’ve had to close them up because they’ve seen the open windows in the room I’m painting and tried to get out that way – hopping up onto freshly painted windowsills. Well, Calvin has tried another tack to convince me to toss him outside – peeing in the bathtub. Little pain in the butt. I would throw him out for that, but Carolyn would be a wreck if he disappeared, too.

Our New Family Member

Our New Family Member

So Wednesday, I went in to the Animal Shelter to put up posters and look for Dave. Hubby knew there were risks associated with this, but he let me go anyway. So here’s our new cat:
edith-day-one.jpg
She was found at a Dunkin’ Donuts, pregnant. She had her litter in the shelter, and all the kittens were adopted, but nobody took her. They had her at a pet store for a while, and then moved her back to the shelter. Poor baby was in a cage for all but the first few months of her life (probably got pregnant at 5 or 6 months, they estimate.) She was called Egypt, but since all our cats have people names, we changed it to Edith because it sounds close to what she’s gotten used to being called. She looks a lot like a small Stanley, so i’ll put a picture up of the two of them when I get it.

Rosa Acuna vs. Sheldon Turkish

Rosa Acuna vs. Sheldon Turkish

I just didn’t have the time or motivation yesterday to blog about this, although the story appeared in the Star-Ledger and got me all riled up. Mrs. Acuna had gone to her gynecologist, Dr. Turkish, complaining of abdominal pains, and Dr. Turkish informed her that she was about 6-8 weeks pregnant. Acuna has had a kidney problem since she was in high school (she is now 29 years old). Now, what she says Dr. Turkish said was that she’d be dead in 3 months if she didn’t get an abortion, and that she wasn’t carrying a baby, just a bunch of blood. What Dr. Turkish testified was that Acuna asked him specifically about getting an abortion, and an assistant concurred that she had made a statement that it was just too soon to be pregnant again, as she had two children already under the age of three. Dr. Turkish also said that while he might refer to a 6-8 week old embryo as “tissue” rather than a baby, the “bunch of blood” statement is not one that he would have made.

So, what was the point of all this? This woman wanted a law established that would order doctors to tell women that they are carrying a complete individual human being and that aborting would be tantamount to killing a member of their families. In addition, this woman who didn’t even know she was pregnant when she went to the doctor, gave the aborted fetus a name, post-mortem, and filed additional complaints related to its pain and suffering and her post-abortion trauma. Now, of course, this could all have been engineered by her lawyer, in order to further an anti-abortion agenda, although it looks more like someone trying to make a buck off her rich doctor, but either way it’s a scam, and the NJ State Supreme Court did right by dismissing it.

My thought is that a 29-year-old who doesn’t know what an abortion does is in no position to be telling doctors how to do their job. And someone who is that ignorant of what has been common knowledge since before she was born should probably rethink the whole parenting thing, as well. Sorry, that was snark, but I couldn’t help it. Finally, someone who files suit against a doctor on behalf of a child she wasn’t aware she was carrying and wants compensation for a procedure she agreed to in writing but regretted later should probably be paying Dr. Turkish and the NJ taxpayers back all the money that was spent on this frivolous lawsuit.

The Summary of the case is here
Her Lawyer presents his position here, and it does not in any way improve my opinion of him.