I left the house yesterday morning at 7 (half an hour later, just in case the chicks that were shipped from the hatchery arrived a day earlier than expected; they didn’t.) and didn’t get home ’til almost 4.
After I did my stint at the pet store, I hit the following places (for the following reasons):
Target (for Tide (more on this in the next section), and to try on jeans because the pants I’ve been wearing are too goddamn big for me and I’m sick and tired of constantly hiking up my pants so I don’t flash my ass at the world. I didn’t have any idea what size jeans I wear, and it’s not any clearer after trying on about sixteen pairs of jeans. It seems that I can get my ass into jeans size 8, 10, or 12, depending on the brand).
The gas station (gas was $1.98 a gallon, and I was able to fill up for less than $25, woot!)
Michael’s (for crafty items with which to torture cats).
The pet store (since by then it was open, I could go buy the cat food I needed).
The fabric store, party store, and Hallmark store (looking for a tiny Santa hat; not having any luck).
Sam’s (kitty litter, edamame).
To Fred’s office to pick him up because we were going to go to a furniture store to look for a new table by the side door. We drove to the furniture store (located right around the corner from his office) and found that the store’s no longer there, so I dropped him back off at his office.
To Madison to the post office.
To Old Time Pottery to look for more cat beds (I bought three!) and to see what’s on the left side of the store (bedding, towels, curtains. No pottery!).
To Kohl’s to try on more jeans (in Lee mid-rise boot cut jeans, I wear a 10 petite. I couldn’t even get the Gloria Vanderbilt 10s over my thighs) and a couple of tops.
All this took me right up to 2:00, and I had to hurriedly pay for my purchases because I had to head for Huntsville and my doctor’s appointment. I haven’t had a pap smear or gynecological exam since January of 2005 (yes, BAD, I know) and so I finally scheduled one, and as much as I wasn’t looking forward to it, I knew I had to just suck it up and get it over with. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
The appointment went fine, I got myself scheduled for a mammogram in December, a prescription for the birth control pill (my period is so regular you could set your watch by it, and it’s getting tiresome to have the damn thing every month, so I got a prescription for Seasonale), and headed for home just in time to hit rush hour traffic.
The funny thing is that when I left the house at 7, I figured I’d be done with all the errands I wanted to get done by 10, and would have to figure out something to do ’til my appointment, so I wouldn’t have to drive home and then turn around and drive back to Huntsville. As it was, I had to rush out of Kohl’s to make my appointment.
I bought a small bottle of Tide at Target because I noticed over the weekend that my cleaning rags and dishtowels aren’t absorbing anything, which makes cleaning (and drying dishes) a pain in the ass. I’m imagining that the homemade laundry detergent I’ve been using is leaving some sort of residue on them, preventing them from absorbing fluids. Hopefully a few washes with Tide will take care of the problem – I plan on continuing to use the homemade detergent on my clothes, though, since it seems to be keeping our clothes perfectly clean.
This is totally unrelated to anything y’all are talking about but I wonder what you think about this. In First magazine this month Tricia Yearwoood had a section from her new cookbook.
I’m very interested in her method of cooking turkey. She said it makes it very moist and tender. She preheats the oven to 500.She takes a 12 pound or so turkey. She rubs butter and then puts salt and pepper all over the outside and in the cavity. She puts celery, onions and carrots in the cavity. She puts it in a roaster with a tight fitting lid Then she puts in 2 cups of boiling water and covers the roaster tightly. She puts it in the oven and when the oven reaches 500 again she sets a timer for 1 hour. When it goes off she turns off the oven and leaves the door closed until the oven totally cools, about 4-6 hours.
Does anyone cook turkey like this? Will that high heat wreck my fancy-dancy stainless steel roaster? How will it brown if it is covered for the whole process? Thanks for any info or opinions.
I’ve never heard of making turkey like this – anyone out there try it? Let us know what you think of it!
Since you’re always giving reviews on items, I thought I’d add one for you! I’ve used Sigg bottles for a while, but recently ordered/received a Fly Lady water bottle… and it’s big enough to put big pieces of ice in, has a screw on spout and cap that is smaller than Siggs, and DOES NOT SWEAT. The ice stays for hours and hours. I love it!
Speaking of water bottles Desi, who ROCKS, recently sent me a couple of CamelBak water bottles, and they look a lot like those Fly Lady bottles. My CamelBaks are really cool and easy to use, and I like them a LOT.
Thought you would enjoy this news story….
I guess we’re pretty lucky that none of our roosters has ever been really aggressive – and I can say that any rooster who tried to show us that he’s the boss of us wouldn’t be around for long! But the idea of random people being terrorized by roosters, well, it kinda makes me giggle.
Does Newt scoop up the Field mice and bop them on the head?
NOOOOOO, that’s Little Bunny FooFoo’s job! (I must have sung that song three thousand times when the spud was a baby.)
…what happened with joe bob? did he stop spraying?
He’s mostly stopped spraying – after that one horrible day, we’ve found a couple of small sprays, but nothing like the spraying rampage he went on that one day. I suspect that his behavior was due to Miz Poo smelling like the vet – that’s one thing that can cause spraying, anyway. We’ll be keeping an eye on him, though. I’M WATCHING YOU, JOE BOB!
How do you keep the cat beds clean? My old cat is so hairy I finally gave up on keeping bedding clean. She likes to sleep on wool so I just get old wool sweaters at Goodwill, put them over a basket, and throw them out when they get too hairy. In 19 years of cat ownership I never could keep beds clean.
All the cat beds get tossed in the washer and dryer every couple of months. That gets rid of most of the excess cat hair. There’s always hair pretty much embedded in the beds, but once they go through the wash, it’s not too bad. Buying old wool sweaters at Goodwill is a really good idea!
I’m just always amazed at your ENERGY level. You get up early and get hundreds of things done before rush hour even hits. Do you just have a high metabolism, or do you just ignore the tired feeling. I waste so much time on days I’m home. I often think, “If Robyn was in this house, it would be whipped into shape in about 2 hours.” But even shaming myself doesn’t work. I nap, I read, I watch t.v., and do an errand or two. Then I’m exhausted by 9 pm, and it’s on the couch for me. Ridiculous! And, no I’m not sick. Apparently, just way lazier than you.
I have to say that I don’t accomplish half of what I think I should every day. My house is SO not whipped into shape, I don’t vacuum nearly as often as I should, and I desperately need to do some decluttering. Most of what gets me moving my ass, though, is that even when I’m relaxing on the couch watching TV, my brain is telling me what I need to get done, and I get so annoyed by that that I get up and do it.
I get lots of lazy butt-sitting time in every day, though, I promise!
(Also, I’m usually sound asleep by 10. Sometimes earlier!)
I think Mister Boogers would be happier in a cowboy hat or something more manly. It’s not the hat, per se, but the flamboyancy of said hat!
Ahem. It’s funny that you say that. Did I mention that I went to the craft store yesterday?
Dang…I was hoping you had used your SCOOP HANDS to catch the chickens and move them to the new chicken coop. I am slightly disappointed. Hmph!
You cannot actually pick up more than one chicken with SCOOP HANDS, which would have made the transfer a lengthy pain-in-the-ass process.
How the hell do I get rid of the pantry moths. I have been battling them for weeks now. I have taken out every item, looked it over and put it back or tossed it depending on what I found. And yet, THEY return. I am really tired of them flying in my face when I open the door.
I found that Pantry Pest Traps work pretty well – I put a couple in the pantry, and though I do see a moth every once in a while, they’re mostly gone. I got mine at Lowe’s and they’re not too terribly expensive. They last for a couple of month, too.
Speaking of pantry moths, did you know that the little fuckers like chocolate chips? I was SO PISSED, the day I went to make cookies and the chocolate chips were infested with pantry moths.
I just can’t wait until it’s Stinkerbelle’s turn with the hat 😀
Stinkerbelle seems to know where the hat is at all times and whether it’s headed in her direction, in which case she disappears into thin air. I’m not holding my breath that I’ll be able to get it on her head, damnit.
I giggled when I read that you you bake cookies for the pigs. And I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have 91 chickens. And it makes me curious if you really struggle with adding to the household cat count. I think having a lot of cats only carries a negative stigma for single old ladies, like me, which is why I have to keep it at 2. (I don’t count the 2 young strays I just started feeding whose mommy got killed in the street last week – and they count as a bonus, because now I get headless mice on my porch!) So, I guess my question is, why don’t you have 30 hundred million cats? And the other question is, what in the hell are you going to do with 91 chickens? giggle! 91. Holy schnikeys!
It’s not really a matter of the stigma of having so many cats – I think we all know that Fred and I are crazy cat people whether we have 5 cats or 10 or 100 – it’s more of a matter of whether the new cats will fit in well with the other cats. Also, the 91 chickens are out in the back forty and the 10 cats are (mostly) in the house and cats react poorly to overcrowding. As independent as cats are, they still need attention (some more than others) and there are only four hands between the two of us for petting.
Now, if our house was bigger, I could see adding more cats to the family, but as it is now I think we’ve pretty much reached our limit (right now god’s laughing and sending a family of adorable kittens to live on my porch, right?). Don’t hold me to it, though!
What we’re going to do with 91 chickens is eat the eggs they give us, sell what we don’t eat, and (theoretically) eat chicken regularly.
Did I mention that since we’ve started eating our own chickens, we eat chicken a lot less often than we used to?
What’s with people honking to get you to come outside? This happened to me yesterday.
That’s a good question – it never happened to us before we moved to the country!
Be careful! I think you should put up a new sign, saying, “we bear arms” or somesuch. Maybe they were friends of walkin’ dude….. I know, perhaps try to become dog lovers – well dog likers enough to keep one outside in a dog run so that the dog can bite anyone who tries to steal your chickens or harm you!
I actually think that the reason we don’t get more people stopping by is because we have what looks like a dog house on the front porch (the house Fred built for Maxi and Newt to stay in before they started coming inside all the time), and people assume we have a dog.
Fred IS going through a “Let’s get a dog!” phase (he’s also going through a “Let’s get an X-Box!” phase).
I would keep a close eye on the chicken yard for a week or so to see if the guys were up to no good.
My desk overlooks the back yard and from here I can see the chicken yard clearly, so if anyone goes out there during the day, I’ll see them. If they come at night, the chickens are locked in the chicken coop (literally – there are locks on both the doors. I look forward to the day we lose the key to the locks.) and if they tried to bust down the door Fred would hear them (his bedroom overlooks the back yard). Hopefully we won’t have a problem with chicken thieves.
I wonder when they made those little red hats did they think of cats? That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw one.
The hat was actually in the doll section of the craft store, so I think it’s probably intended for dolls – but it certainly works well on cats, doesn’t it?
Our new baby chicks just arrived, literally less than an hour ago. I got them out of their box, dipped their beaks in water, and they’re all wandering around checking out their new home.
More chicken pics over at Flickr, if you’re interested.
The kittens are continuing to come out of their room more and more often. I moved the baby gates to the bottom of the stairs, and now when you walk down the hallway, you’re apt to see Claudette or Delmar sitting there. They run back upstairs when they see us, but I think it’s just a matter of time before they’re ready to come into the downstairs and do some exploring.
More pics over at L&H.
Sugarbutt is clearly thrilled. But doesn’t he look fancy?
Previously
2007: Amazing what a little maintenance will do, ain’t it?
2006: “I CUT THROUGH THE GODDAMN EXTENSION CORD AND THEN I MADE THE CHAIN COME OFF THE CHAINSAW!”
2005: Senator Stanley J. Boogerton.
2004: No entry.
2003: So I’m not reporting that. At all. Never happened!
2002: Riley’s response? “Nuh uh!”
2001: Dr. Phil looked at me judgmentally, and I began to babble.
2000: And I don’t even like cherry Poptarts!
1999: Fred has agreed to let me adopt the kitten!