Author: Robyn

4-21-08

This section regards last week’s episode (and season finale) of Real Housewives of NYC. Skip to the next section if you haven’t seen it/ aren’t interested! I’m just basically cutting and pasting an email regarding this show so I don’t have to type it up again! Bethenny was cracking me up at the beginning, with … Continue reading “4-21-08”

This section regards last week’s episode (and season finale) of Real Housewives of NYC. Skip to the next section if you haven’t seen it/ aren’t interested!

I’m just basically cutting and pasting an email regarding this show so I don’t have to type it up again!

Bethenny was cracking me up at the beginning, with her reaction to Alex saying that she wanted men and women to be equal which, you know, of course they should be IN THE WORK PLACE, but it’s a crime to want to spend time without the opposite sex around? And then her saying (regarding vibrators) “Why is she plugging it in, what generation is she?!” made me laugh, too. She doesn’t hesitate to say anything about anyone, and I wonder if she’ll end up getting shit for that from the other women.

When she flipped out on Jill though, if I were there, I would have been horribly uncomfortable. I mean, what the hell? Couldn’t she have been a wee bit nicer about it? I was impressed that Jill didn’t flip out in return, since she usually adores her some drama.

The whole thing about Bethenny’s father interested me enough that I went looking to see who he is. He’s apparently some big deal horse trainer. YAWN. That was weird at the race track with her father’s friend giving her lingerie. AWKWARD.

OH, and look what else I found:

http://tinyurl.com/69bsnj

Her boyfriend lost his job due to his involvement with the show! Damn Bravo, wrecking careers!

Francois cracked me up when he was intentionally doing the puzzle wrong, because he was so obviously doing it on purpose, then the “What year is it?” and “What country do we live in?” was making me laugh, because please. What four year-old knows the answers to those questions??

Ramona was an ass at the end, at dinner, when she was pushing Alex about what she did when Simon was gone. Well, you know, Alex apparently works during the day and takes care of the kids at night (and suddenly, given the shape of their house, I’m wondering if the au pair is live-in. They usually are, aren’t they? What the hell must her room look like? Is it the closet under the stairs, or what??), so maybe she didn’t have time to go out flitting around and meeting up with her girl friends, RAMONA. Jesus. And she had some nerve, showing up so late, I thought Jill would flip out on her but was nicely surprised again.

I just cannot believe that with Francois running around screaming like that, Alex and Simon did NOTHING. And when he was stabbing Jason’s $30 burger that MUST BE MADE OF GOLD ($30 for a BURGER. Seriously?), I am amazed that Simon was just all “Oh, you have boys, you know how it is!” HA.

I cannot. Cannot. CANNOT WAIT until the reunion next week. I had to go make sure it was set to tape, because I am SO not going to miss that! That is going to be the trainwreck to beat all trainwrecks, I can’t wait to see Ramona stomp off!

I just read that Bravo gave the go-ahead to start filming Real Housewives of New Jersey. That’s just too damn close to NYC for me – I’d rather see another area of the country. Atlanta? Chicago? Seattle?

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This section regards last week’s episode of Survivor. Skip the next section to begin the Comment-Answering Extravaganza.

I liked Ozzy, a lot, I love the fact that he’s an unassuming little powerhouse, but when the FUCK are these people going to understand that the instant you think you’re in the power seat, the instant you feel okay to start getting cocky, is when you’re GONE? And how stupid is Ozzy to mention the idea of using the Immunity Idol and then NOT DOING SO? I liked Ozzy a lot, but I LOVED seeing him get his ass blindsided. A good blindside is worth its weight in gold. Or somethin’.

I loved seeing Eliza’s reaction to Ozzy getting voted off.

I think if Parvati makes it to the final three, she’ll be able to use the fact that she talked everyone into voting Ozzy off in her favor. It’s just going to be a weeeeee bit uncomfortable around camp between now and then!

Also, I think it’s shitty that people at that challenge would promise not to vote whatshisname off and then go right ahead and vote for him. Crossing your FINGERS? What are you, two years old? Assholes. On the other hand, he was an idiot to believe anything they’d say.

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soooo, I’m thinking pork and Kahlua? That’s a strange combo – then I looked at the recipe. I just might have to try it!

When I told Fred the name of the recipe, he made a face and said “It has KAHLUA in it?!” I cannot think of a single entree that would be improved by the addition of Kahlua. Luckily, there’s no Kahlua in Kahlua Pork – and we managed to get three meals out of what we made, with a little left over. I love only having to cook once, and ending up with three meals from what I’ve made!

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I always think the fosters are so cute and that you have to be crazy to let them integrate with the other cats because they almost always seem to fit in so seamlessly – but for the first time in a long time I want you to keep this one. An impossibility perhaps but damn he’s so cute!

I have to say, HG is a little sweetheart. I had my doubts at first – I’m always worried when we get the ones who won’t let us touch them at first – but he’s integrated really well with the other cats, and that doesn’t always happen. There’s usually some hissiness involved, if not flat-out fighting, but HG is submissive enough that if another cat hisses at him or smacks him, he just goes on his way, no hard feelings involved. I’ve been calling him the little Ambassador-in-training, because the other cats seem to like him quite a bit. Even Miz Poo doesn’t have a fit when he rubs up against her, and that’s unheard of. Unfortunately, though, we’re just going to love him while we’ve got him, and when there’s room at the pet store I’ll take him so that someone else can fall in love with him and bring him home with them.

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www.thecountryhouse.com is an awesome catalog for curtains also. I was lucky to be in the area where they actually have their store and I think you would go nuts in there. I spent over 5 hours in there and still didn’t get to see everything! I have bought curtains from them below online and they are really good quality.

I really like the curtains I’ve looked at so far – but I don’t know who I’m kidding. I’m starting to think that curtains just aren’t in the cards for this house, because I’ve been looking for over a year and I’ve liked a lot of the curtains I’ve seen, even bookmarked a bunch of them, but have I ordered any? No, I haven’t. I don’t know what my issue is with just ordering the damn things and getting it over with!

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Have you heard of the Kong Cat Zoom Groom Robyn? It really works. I bought one at Pet Smart but I see you can get them at Amazon. It really pulls the loose fur out. The fur can indeed go flying in fluffs into the air so be careful what area of the house you use it in. My cats love it. I imagine it must feel like a real good massage to them. It works so well you might want to be careful not to brush them pert near furless!

I actually thought we had one of these, but after looking in all the usual places, I’m not seeing it. I’m starting to think that either we had one and it ran away with the Feliway, or I just thought about buying one but didn’t. I’ll have to think about giving it a try – none of our cats particularly like being brushed, so if I can trick them into thinking they’re getting a massage when I’m actually getting rid of the loose fur, I think it’d be a good thing all around.

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I read one of the syndicated advice columns recently (can’t remember which one) in which a person complained because his/her partner allowed the cats (dogs? maybe?) to eat from “the dishes that we eat from and cook with.” Is this really an issue? My animals all have their own bowls in which the vast majority of their food goes, but I *ALSO* have a dishwasher and, before I had a dishwasher, had these really amazing things called “soap” and “water” and “dishcloths,” and if I want to put the goddamned plate down on the floor for the dogs and/or cats to eat the scraps off of it, as long as I was it, or put it in the dishwasher – where it gets bombarded for eleven hours with all sorts of caustic chemicals and water that’s like 8 million degrees – afterwards, what is the big fat hairy deal? “OMFG your CAT licked your PLATE! Remind me never to eat at your house again! OMG THAT’S SO GROSS!” I mean, what the hell? How do people function if an item exposed to momentary unsanitary-ness is forevermore tainted and UNCLEEEEEEEAN? I cook with the same hands that have cleaned up baby poop (and grown-u… well, never mind), but hey, guess what, I’ve WASHED them since then! What a radical concept!

Heh – I’ve heard of people having ISSUES with animals eating from people plates, but I’ve never understood it, myself. We do have special plates for the cats at Snackin’! Time!, but that’s just because we use so many of them that if we used people plates for cat snacks, there’d be no plates left for us when we wanted to eat. And I actually do run the cat snack plates through the dishwasher, though to be honest I’m sure I could just use the plates over and over without ever washing them, and the cats wouldn’t give a shit.

But anyway, yeah. I don’t get why it bothers people that animals would eat from a people plate, as long as the people plate is washed before people eat from it! Maybe it’s just a mental thing, like they look at the plate and think of the cat licking it clean, and it triggers a gag reflex?

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Also, the FurBuster seems to be the same basic concept as the Furminator. It works very well, and is (from what I can see) about half the cost of the Furminator.

Thanks for the link. It does appear to be about the same thing!

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If you don’t already have these, you need them.

I agree!

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Speaking of disapproving animals, you have seen this, right?

But of course. Nothing disapproves quite in the way bunnies do.

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I watched the mascots video and started watching others. Got a question and would love for someone to answer it. http://www.maniacworld.com/cat-confused-by-scratching.html My cats do that too. Why???

That’s an excellent question – just rest assured that your cat is not alone. Various of our cats will do that whole stare-off-into-space licking-the-air thing if you scratch hard at or near the base of their tail. I have no idea why they do that, just always assumed it was hitting some kind of nerve. When I was Googling around looking for an answer, I saw somewhere that it might be a built in reflex – when they’re babies, the mother cat licks them in that area to stimulate them to nurse. I haven’t seen any evidence of that with our current mother and babies, but if I see anything like that, I’ll be sure to let you know!

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The plant reminds me of Pachysandra, a ground cover. Does it all grow from a single spot or are they like a bunch of separate plants growing together to look like a single plant. Also, if it is Pachysandra it will spread each year.

I think I agree that it’s Pachysandra. It appears to be several different plants growing together (though I haven’t actually poked around much to see for sure, because I don’t want to run into anything that might be living under there!). It’s pretty and the leaves are green and very glossy, so I’m going to let it keep growing. There’s nothing else growing in that area, so why not?

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I’m pet sitting for my sister’s two cats, one is a six month old tiger and the other is a grown up ragdoll. He doesn’t seem too big under the fur and the other one is still mini but MAN ALIVE these cats are producing some monster dumps! I’m scooping every day and it seems like the piles are unending. And some of them are disturbingly substantial. (They haven’t really mastered the art of burying either so it’s kind of a constant litter box monitoring gig.)They only have been eating dry food but these babies are still potent.

Is this normal? I was going to get a second cat for myself after graduation but if the litterbox is going to be so…scary then I’m not sure I’m up for it. Also, I’m not sure I’m getting paid enough for this. Robyn I know you’ve said before how many boxes you have set up and how often you change them. She’s got a small place (and I likely will too) and shouldn’t one for only two cats be enough?

My only other explanation for this abundance of poo is that they’re nervous with their mommy gone and are taking it out on me via enhanced digestion but they seem perfectly comfortable with me.

I really think that one litter box for two cats – as long as you scoop regularly – is plenty. I think a possible issue here might be what the cats are eating. If they’re eating food that has lots of filler or fiber, that could be causing larger litter box piles. My cats don’t fill them up too terribly much (though I do have to scoop twice a day, or it can get bad; that’s probably because I have three litterboxes for nine cats – though Maxi and Newt don’t use the litterboxes, since the entire WORLD is their litterbox) and I feed them pretty decent food that doesn’t include a lot of fillers.

So anyway, my point is that what they’re eating could be the cause of their litterbox shenanigans. OR it could just be that they happen to be two cats who, um, go a lot. Or you’re right, it could be a stress sort of thing – they can be perfectly comfortable with you, but still stressed about their mommy being gone. Cats like to have things follow a certain routine, and when things are changed up, they freak a little, each in their own way. If I were you, I’d ask your sister what the usual litter box situation is like, find out what she’s feeding her cats, and make a determination from there.

Readers, as always, your experiences are appreciated!

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Okay, woman: What was the pet store where you found the Stink Free? Petsmart, Petco??? I swear I’ll buy it by the case if it really works that well …

I get 99.9% of my pet supplies at PETsMART – when I refer to “the pet store”, that’s the place I’m talking about. Occasionally I pick stuff up in other places, but usually it’s PETsMART, and that’s where I bought the Stink Free. I’m not crazy about our local PetC0, it just kind of gives me the willies.

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A dumb question just occurred to me when I saw the pig pictures. Do pigs wash themselves at all? You know, like dogs and cats do. Inquiring minds want to know. :))

Nope, they sure don’t. They’re fairly clean pigs (except when they roll around in the mud like they did this weekend) and aren’t terribly stinky, but I have to admit I’d like to see them plop down on their butts and stick their rear legs in the air like the cats do. That would be a seriously funny sight.

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I have read several reports of people who used various odor-removing products and it took a while for the odor to go away. One guy treated his hardwood floors three or four times – cat piss soaked by the previous owners – but the smell was still so bad that he finally just closed off that room. A few months later he was doing something to the house that wound up with him sanding the floors in that room (I don’t remember the details of what he was doing) and he says that he realized as he was sanding that there was absolutely no odor – even when he sanded down deep into the wood, where you’d expect some odor to remain. So sometimes the smell might remain initially but if you give it a little time it’ll work. As I understand it, the enzymatic stuff contains… little things that eat the bacteria that cause the odors. So if there’s a lot of bacteria to eat, they maybe will take a little longer to finish it all off. (Does that make sense? I’m tired.)

It makes sense, and that’s actually what I heard, too, that it takes time to work, but the back of the Nature’s Miracle said that if it dried and you could still smell the odor of urine, to reapply. And after reapplying three times and still smelling cat pee, well, I got impatient, man! My life is not such that I can sit around and patiently wait for the stinky smell of cat pee to fade slowly from my couch, y’know? So far, the cat pee smell has NOT come back – and I’ve checked regularly. Two thumbs up (so far!) for the Stink Free!

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What about trying a Dog Whisperer technique on Splash? Sit in the room with her, but don’t look at her, don’t talk to her, and don’t touch her. I’m not sure how long it would take, but if you take a book in to read, maybe you could do it for an hour or so a day. What happens if you take the kitty ambassador in with you and she sees you interact with a kitty that likes you?

I do sit in there and just read for at least part of every day. Moving her from the foster kitten room to the guest bedroom has apparently traumatized her, because she’s refusing to come out in “public” while we’re in the room at all. I know she’s coming out, because she’s eating and using the litter box, and I know she’s in there, because I check to make sure she’s still alive, but nothing I’m trying is working. She reacts to an attempt at petting by hissing and clawing, if I just sit and look at her, she actually shakes. I feel bad for her, but I’m not seeing that anything I’m doing is making any difference.

I did think that if she could see another cat reacting toward me in a friendly manner it might help, which is why I put HG back in the foster kitten room with her for several days. I’d go in there, hang out, pet HG, he’d climb all over me and purr, and she’d see it happening, but it hasn’t made any difference at all.

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hmmm. Am I the only one who thinks the Vidalia Chop Wizard makes MORE work? I mean, I have to cut the fruit or veggies into pieces of a length that are “handle-able” in the Chop Wizard. So I usually end up just keeping hand chopping till its all done. And then, I have to clean not only the cutting board, but the chop wizard and those awful grates that don’t easily come clean??? Maybe I am doing it wrong.

I actually just toss all the pieces of the Chop Wizard in the dish washer, and it comes clean. I use it mostly so that I get uniform size pieces, because if it’s left to me to do the chopping, I end up with wildly different sizes, because I’m unskilled when it comes to chopping. I also like to chop several onions at once, then freeze the leftovers for future use. I figure if I’m going to get it dirty, I might as well do extra onion-chopping so I won’t have to in the future!

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Robyn, do you ever order from Penzey’s? penzeys.com, one of my favourite places on the Internet. Doesn’t matter how arcane the spice, herb, or seasoning mixture, they’ll have it, and it’s always very, very fresh and the flavour just zings. I love it. And if you ask for their paper catalog, it has GREAT RECIPES, the never-fail, not-complicated, delicious kind of recipes. I clip them and save them.

I have actually never ordered from Penzey’s and had never heard of them, then Nance and Rick sent me a collection for my birthday (actually, now that I think about it, they might have sent it for Fred, but I claimed it for myself!). I’ve been using those spices ever since – usually on steak, a couple of times on chicken – and really like them a lot. When I visited Nance and Rick, we actually stopped at the Penzey’s store, and it smelled fabulous and looked intriguing, but I was a little overwhelmed and ended up not buying anything. I have to say, I’m definitely a Penzey’s fan, and I’ll be checking out their online site!

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I dreamed last night that your bottle of Feliway was sitting in amongst all the shit I have stacked on my dryer. For the record: I did not steal your Feliway.

Liar. I KNEW SOMEONE HAD STOLEN MY FELIWAY! GIVE IT BACK!

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I am industriously grading papers while I sub a class this morning. Then I have my own class to teach tonight. In between I am going to take a nap. I am in the early days of baby making and am sooooooo tired.

Please be advised that I am very good at taking care of those in the end stages of baby making – just ask Momma Kitty! I give many belly rubs, I tell the baby maker how pretty and smart and good she is, and I offer several tasty snacks a day. Just keep that in mind when your time comes. Also, I will make for you

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Hey do you like high thread count sheets? Overstock.com has an awesome looking set on sale right now, 1200TC all sizes $69.99. Read the reviews – these are apparently some stout sheets, some like em, some hate em. But if you like heavy, high TC sheets, this looks like an awesome deal.

I actually cannot stand sheets with a high thread count – sheets that are really soft drive me crazy. I much prefer the 250 thread count percale sheets. Clearly I am not made for the finer things in life! However, if any of you out there are into high thread count, there you go. That’s a damn good price!

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Long time reader here, bad bad lurker. BUT! I had to pipe in about the Sideswipe. I have had one since Christmas and I LOVE IT! One of my biggest pet peeves with my baby (oh, I’m sorry, I mean my KitchenAid) was that I could never scrape down the bowl without making a complete mess of my hand or the spatula. Well, the Sideswipe completely takes care of that. It’s a lot lighter (its a plastic material) than the attachments that come with the mixer and depending on what you are mixing it is a bit harder to scrape off the batter, etc. from the blade itself, but like I said it is totally worth it.

Lauren, on your say-so I actually went ahead and ordered the Sideswipe. I’ve only used it once, but already I have to say – you ain’t kidding! That blade is awesome. I think it’s totally worth the price, and from the one experience I’ve had with it, I highly recommend it!

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Hey, I have a question: if, God forbid, poor Splash never learns to trust and be friendly, what will happen to her? Will she live forever as a foster hiding in your kitty condo? Or what? I mean, I get that it’s a no-kill organization but what the hell do you do with a cat like that?

Splash is actually going to be going back to the woman who had her, later today. She was hoping – we both were, really – that since I had more time to devote to taming wild kittehs, I could work with Splash and at least tame her a little. She knows someone who wants to take Splash and her sister (who the woman was never able to catch), to keep them as barn cats, so that might be where she’s going.

The shelter does have a few cats who are so feral that they can’t really be adopted out as house pets, so they’re adopted out as barn cats, but the shelter makes sure that they’ll be in safe, protected environments.

I’ve tried to convince Fred that he should put up a building in the back forty, one big enough to shelter twenty or so cats, and we could keep cats that are just really unadoptable – hell, he could run a fence around the building and give them safe outdoor access, even! He won’t go for it, though. It’s like he has a day job and can’t always do my bidding or something. Hmph.

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Do you find it hard to cook for two, or do you just make big meals all of the time and eat on the leftovers for a couple of days? I love to cook but always feel so wasteful because it’s just my boyfriend and me so we have way too many leftovers. Do you have any favorite two-people recipes?

I actually don’t find it very hard to cook for two. We end up with plenty of leftovers, but we either save them and have them another night for dinner or Fred claims them for himself for lunches to take to work. So, I’m no help here – but I bet MY READERS are! Readers? Got a favorite cooking-for-two recipe? Share with us!

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Robyn, I was wondering…. My roommate has 2 cats and I’m new to this whole cat thing. I ordered the FURminator after you mentioned it a while back (on eBay) and it just came today so we haven’t used it yet. It never occurred to me until just now that maybe the SoftPaws would be a good idea too. I was wondering how you determine whether you need small, medium or large though. Her cats are almost a year old or just about. She got them in July…. and I have no idea which size we need to order. So if you end up posting the comments answering extravaganza and can happen to answer my question, I’d be appreciative cuz I’m lost. Addendum, I just wanted to buy them for the cats as a surprise for the roommie, and I have no idea how much they weigh. And I just realized that’s how you determine the size. I guess I’ll have to ask her how much they weigh. So…. nevermind. I guess I should think before I post.

I know you’ve probably already asked your roommate how much her cats weigh, but in case you haven’t, you can probably do a decent job of guessing what size her cats will need by looking at the size chart. If they’re adults but on the small side, I’d go with size small – if they seem pretty average size for adults, the medium. A note, though – if you’re uncertain, it’s better to go with the smaller size, because you can use a smaller size on their claws, but if the caps are too big, they won’t stay on the claw. Does that make sense?

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I am unable to access the rest of my comment email (I save the comments I plan to answer in email format. I can’t access it for reasons I’ll get into in tomorrow’s entry.), so if you asked a question or expected an answer to a comment and didn’t see it, feel free to ask again, and I’ll get to it in Friday’s entry!

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I know y’all are only here for the bebbe pictures. Momma Kitty and her babies are doing just fine, I finally got a picture of each one of their little faces individually, and I intend to do that every three days or so, so we can marvel at the changes.

I really wish Fred had bought that webcam for the eggs in the incubator, because how much fun would it be to have a kitten cam? SO MUCH FUN. The internet would have exploded from the cute.

So, the kittens are as yet unnamed, just so you know. I think we’ve got at least three girls (it’s too early to figure out their sex – though to be honest, we also haven’t really tried) because three of them are tri-colored which almost always indicates females. The fourth, the little gray tabby, I just realized this morning has a little bit of orange on the face – though it could just be a trick of the light, I’m not sure – so might also be a girl. Time will tell!

I’ll stop yapping and just show you the pictures, shall I?

Momma Kitty and her babies are doing just fine, I finally got a picture of each one of their little faces individually, and I intend to do that every three days or so, so we can marvel at the changes.

I really wish Fred had bought that webcam for the eggs in the incubator, because how much fun would it be to have a kitten cam? SO MUCH FUN. The internet would have exploded from the cute.

So, the kittens are as yet unnamed, just so you know. I think we’ve got at least three girls (it’s too early to figure out their sex – though to be honest, we also haven’t really tried) because three of them are tri-colored which almost always indicates females. The fourth, the little gray tabby, I just realized this morning has a little bit of orange on the face – though it could just be a trick of the light, I’m not sure – so might also be a girl. Time will tell!

I’ll stop yapping and just show you the pictures, shall I?


Momma and babies.


Note that Momma Kitty is kneading the air, and in the background, the little gray tabby’s got her paws in the air like she just don’t care.


The bitty pink paws are going to be the absolute death of me.

The kittens, in birth order (though I may have switched #2 and #4, I’m not sure):


#1, the little gray tabby. I definitely see some peach coloring across her cheeks, so I’m going to guess we’ve got 4 girls here.


#2, with the bitty freckle on her nose. Don’t those bitty claws just KILL YOU?


#3, who looks JUST like a little raccoon. Both “Rocky” and “Bandit” have been used as names in the past, though. Hmph.


#4. She looks very much like #2, only without the bitty freckle on her nose. Also, she’s got orange on her forehead, and #2 doesn’t.


Pile o’ bebbes.


Momma and babies. She likes to be petted while they’re nursing. Well. She likes to be petted whether they’re nursing or not, but she particularly likes it when they’re nursing.

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Bed full o’ kitties.

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Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: I want to hear “Fine, thanks. Here’s your Supah-sized Diet Coke. Have a nice day!” Understood? I swear, I’m just going to STOP asking, that’s all.
2003: Some day I’ll create a housecleaning schedule and actually keep to it. Ha!
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: So, my last official day at work. Ho-hum.

4-18-08

I have for you a birth story. Before I get on with it, though, a couple of you have asked if it’s possible that Momma Kitty’s got owners who are missing her and heartbroken. Sure, it’s possible – but the impression I got from talking to the shelter manager is that Momma Kitty showed up … Continue reading “4-18-08”

I have for you a birth story.

Before I get on with it, though, a couple of you have asked if it’s possible that Momma Kitty’s got owners who are missing her and heartbroken. Sure, it’s possible – but the impression I got from talking to the shelter manager is that Momma Kitty showed up on this woman’s porch, was pretty much living there, then disappeared for a while and showed back up pregnant. Before any cats are turned over to the shelter, all attempts are made to find their owners. Last year, Fred’s coworker had a cat show up at his house (he lives way out in the country with no one else around and has issues with people dropping cats off near his house) and it was such a sweet and friendly cat that he wanted to know if we could foster it and the shelter could adopt it out. I asked the shelter manager, and before she’d agree to take the cat, the coworker had to do his very best to find the cat’s owners, including asking his closest neighbors and keeping an eye on ads in the paper. (In the end, the coworker ended up keeping the cat himself.) So yeah, it’s possible that Momma Kitty belongs to someone, but all attempts were made to find owners with no success.

Preggo Kitty is now the proud Momma to four little bitty babies. One’s a gray tabby and the other three are, I think, torties. It’s kind of hard to tell at this point, but I know I’ve seen orange on at least two of them, so we’ll see what they look like when they get a little bigger.

So I spent all day in the foster kitty room with Momma Kitty yesterday. She would get up and pace and peer under the door, and if there were other cats out there, she’d growl ’til I ran them off (a blast of compressed air under the door does wonders) then she’d pace some more and then lay down to have her belly rubbed, then she’d nap and get up and pace and start the whole process all over again. She checked out various places in the room – we’d set up a moving box in one corner of the room, covered the top with a towel (with the towel hanging down to make the box darker) and lined the box with towels. She checked that out, she checked out a kitty condo, and she checked out a pyramid bed. She didn’t do any serious nesting, though, just kind of looked around to see what was what.


Poor miserable Momma.

I have never assisted in the birthing of babies in any way shape or form, though when I was seven or eight, I had a cat who had kittens, but my sole contribution was being woken up in the middle of the night to see her laying with her babies on my parents’ comforter, then stumbling back to bed. As you can imagine, I was a little nervous, so I said “Miz Google, I’ve never birthed no babies! Tell me what to do!” And after Googling around for an hour or so, I decided that what I’d do is just stay the hell out of it unless it looked like there was a problem, then I’d run around in circles screaming until Fred did something.

That’s what usually works well for me in an emergency.

Fred got home at 3:30, gave Momma Kitty a belly rub, and then went out to ready the old chicken coop for the little chickens. I stayed in the room with Momma Kitty ’til 4, when I had to go make dinner. Momma Kitty howled sadly a few times at the door then gave up. I made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, did a few more things, and then after dinner I asked Fred if he’d mind carrying Momma Kitty into my room and staying with her while I vacuumed the foster kitty room. I should have done that Wednesday before I went to get her from the vet, but I was in too much of a rush to get my hands on her. I knew that once Momma Kitty gave birth, I wouldn’t be doing any vacuuming in there for weeks, so I wanted to get it as clean as possible before the birthing began.

We went upstairs around 5:30, maybe a little before. I was plugging the vacuum in and Fred was in the foster room getting Momma Kitty, when he called “Bessie, her water broke!”

“Just now? When you picked her up?” I asked.

“No, her whole back end is wet, it was already broken.” Fred wrapped a towel around her and carried her into my room and shut the door. I vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed some more (it had been a little while since I’d vacuumed, so I got a LOT of cat hair up), then I refilled her water dish and made sure she had food, and Fred brought her back in.

I came downstairs and grabbed the camera and my bottle of water, then went back up to wait for it all to begin. I’d read that if contractions don’t start in 2 – 4 hours after the water has broke, it could be a problem. I needn’t have worried. Momma Kitty (who I’ll call MK from here on out) asked for a belly rub, did a little pacing, and then she laid down in the middle of the floor, looked at me, and I wish like hell I could have gotten a picture of her face, because she puckered her lips (I have never seen a cat do that in my LIFE) and pushed. I was worried that she was going to birth those babies right in the middle of the rug (which I don’t care, it’s not like it’s a nice rug or anything, she’s free to stain it up, I just didn’t think it was a particularly comfortable place for baby kittens to lay), but what came out what her mucus plug. Much as you’d imagine from its name, the mucus plug was mucusy and green. I wiped her off, and she paced a little then laid down again.

Fred came in to see what was going on, and she went over to him and purred as he rubbed her belly.

Fred left the room and she went over to the box and settled in, and then she started panting, meowing, and pushing. I called for Fred, who came right back in, and we sat and watched her yowl and push.


Starting to push.

The yowling and the pushing went on for less than a minute, and then she started licking something. She was sitting with her back to us so we couldn’t see anything – DAMNIT – but eventually she turned around, and we got to see the baby, who was squirming and wiggling around.


Chewing through the umbilical cord.

After waiting for a little while, Fred had to go finish what he was doing outside, so he left and I sat with MK and the baby. MK stayed busy, between the licking of the kitten, the chewing through the umbilical cord, and whatever she was doing with the placenta (I have a firm don’t-ask don’t-tell policy when it comes to placentas, thank you.). I think it was less than twenty minutes later that she started pushing and yowling again.

Less than a minute later, she delivered number two.

She did her thing, industriously cleaning and chewing and making sure her babies were okay. About five minutes after number two was born, I had to leave the room because the freakin’ camera battery was dead (ain’t it always the way?) so I came downstairs, switched out my camera battery with Fred’s, got a drink, and by the time I got back to the room (it was less than two minutes, I’d guess) she was yowling and pushing again. A few seconds later, number three popped out.

In about an hour, she’d given birth to three babies, and after number three was out, she made sure all the kittens were clean, all the umbilical cords taken care of, and then she settled down for a nap while the babies nursed.

At my request, Fred felt MK’s abdomen to see if there were any more kittens in there. He said he thought he felt another couple, and we sat in the room with her for a while longer, then decided to leave her alone for a while and watch Survivor.

We watched Survivor, pausing a couple of times so Fred could check on the kitten situation. About fifteen minutes before the end of the show, he reported that she was laying with her back to the opening of the box, licking something, so it was possible that there were four kittens. Once the show was over, we went up into the foster room and did our best to figure out how many kittens there were. After sticking our heads in the boxes (but it was too dark to see anything) and taking a picture, Fred felt around and decided he felt four distinct little heads.

Fred felt MK’s abdomen and said he thought there was another kitten in there, but I reminded him that he thought Miss Momma was pregnant last year (right before we had her fixed) and swore he could feel a kitten’s head, but it turned out she wasn’t, that he’d just felt her liver or something, so he conceded that maybe MK was done.

I thought about going back in and keeping MK company after Fred went to bed, but decided to just leave her alone and check on her through the night. I knew if she started yowling again I’d hear her – since I was just in the next room – and off to sleep I went.

Not only did I not wake up and check on her through the night, I slept like a log the entire night through and only woke up when Fred called to me from the foster room. He’d gone in to check on MK and the kittens, and when he went to leave the room, MK saw one of our cats in the hallway and rushed the door, hissing and growling. I had to shoo our cats off and then Fred was able to come out of the room.

The final report: four kittens, she hadn’t had any more during the night. I went in a little while later with half a can of cat food on a plate for MK and to take a few pictures. She wolfed that plate of cat food down in no time flat, so I went back downstairs to get more cat food and some clean towels. While she made short work of the second plate of cat food, I pulled the towel (with the kittens on it) out of the box, put clean towels in the box, and lifted the kittens onto the clean towels. MK came over to see what I was doing, and she kept an eye on her babies, but she was perfectly fine with me handling them.

I’ve been back in to visit a few more times, bringing canned cat food every time. MK’s voraciously eating everything I give her (and she has dry food available to her at all times, too) and the babies are always either sleeping in a little pile of adorableness, or rooting around trying to nurse.

They are seriously cute, and I worry that I will squish them, because I just want to squeeze and hug them!

Momma Kitty was a champ during this entire process, and she’s a good, protective, sweet mother. I cannot wait to see the kittens’ personalities develop over the next few weeks and months!

(And, no. We’re not keeping them!)

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Previously
2007: I don’t know that I’ll know how to act when I’ve got internet whenever I want it, it’s been so damn long since I’ve had it!
2006: No entry.
2005: Taking the week off.
2004: No entry.
2003: Fred: That was a cowardly yellow-dog liberal DEMOCRAT thing to say.
2002: Things are getting back to normal.
2001: One of these days I’ll get my ass in gear; I just never know when that day will be.
2000: Squooshiness begets squooshiness, you know.

4-17-08

7:50 pm: She pushed out three little ones in the course of about an hour. She’s resting now – Fred thinks there are a couple more in there. We’ll see! Number 3. More pictures up later, or tomorrow. I have a ton to go through – and there might be more babies! Edited to add: … Continue reading “4-17-08”

7:50 pm: She pushed out three little ones in the course of about an hour. She’s resting now – Fred thinks there are a couple more in there. We’ll see!


Number 3.

More pictures up later, or tomorrow. I have a ton to go through – and there might be more babies!

Edited to add: 9:08 pm: And now there are four.

She appears to be done, so I’m off to bed. I’m sure I’ll be checking on her through the night!

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Wow, y’all had busy days yesterday, didn’t you? I felt like a great big slug thinking about what I had planned, and then seeing what you were doing!

(Which didn’t make me inclined to be any more active, just so ya know.)

I like reading your plans for the day; thanks for sharing with me!

I made it to my appointment only about five minutes late – I had to stop at the post office on the way to mail something – and settled in for my cut and color. I got a good ways into the newest book I’m reading, and although I didn’t think I’d like the book in the first few pages, it grabbed my interest and dragged me in pretty quickly.

I left there a little after 10:30, went to the fabric store, and spent over an hour browsing through the store. Fred and I are planning something – I’ll take pictures of it as it’s being made, assuming it turns out okay – and I had a list of stuff I needed to buy.

By the way, a month after I ordered and received the sewing machine (maybe even more like 6 weeks), I finally took the damn thing out of the box, set it up in the guest bedroom, and am slowly working my way through the book to make sure I know how everything works, ’cause it’s been damn near 20 years since I used a sewing machine. Maybe this weekend I’ll actually do a few straight stitches! Woo!

The problem with fabric stores is that even someone who has NO sewing skills (that would be me) goes in there to look around, and there’s so much CUTENESS in there that you can’t help but buy a few yards of material just in case you suddenly discover a skill for sewing (not holding my breath).

I ran over to the pet store to use the bathroom (and see if all the cages were filled, because I have scooping-and-feeding duty this morning at the pet store, so I wanted to have some idea of how many cats are around), bought some finch seed, and then went over to Target to grab a few things.

By the time I got home, it was close to 1:00, and I was starving. I had lunch, spent about half an hour with Splash, and then settled on the couch to watch Real Housewives of NYC (more on that in tomorrow’s entry). I finished watching that, and was cleaning up the kitchen when the phone rang.

“Help me Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope!” said the woman who runs the shelter.

“What’s going on?” I asked, figuring that she was going to tell me that there was another semi-feral who needed a home. Not so. Turned out, she knew someone who’d had a cat show up on her front porch – and the cat was very very pregnant.

“So, would you want a pregnant cat?” she asked hopefully.

I will tell you what – I almost did a little happy dance, because it’s been a while since I’ve had any itty bitty babies ’round here, and I’d offered to take the last couple of bottle-fed babies, but had been too slow because other people had snatched them up before I got my butt in gear and offered to take them.

She said that the woman upon whose porch the pregnant cat had appeared would take her to the vet for testing, and she’d let me know when I could pick her up.

Turns out that the woman took the cat to the vet right then, so an hour later the shelter manager called and said I could pick her up anytime.

You know me. I opted to pick her up IMMEDIATELY.

I moved Splash from the foster kitty room to the guest bedroom. I was afraid it was going to be a difficult task because I have yet to get my hands on Splash without her unleashing the Claw o’ Doom, but in the end since Splash spends her days hiding in a kitty condo all I had to do was put a towel across the front of the condo and carry the whole thing downstairs. Splash didn’t try to escape, didn’t move at all, thank god.

I showed up at the vet’s office, and they said that the cat – a pretty brown tabby – was ready to drop those kittens at any time. She was perfectly calm as I drove her home, only meowing once or twice. I put her carrier in the foster kitty room, opened the carrier, and she immediately came out, came over to me, and started purring.

She’s a seriously friendly little thing – though I’ve read that mother cats who are about to give birth get extra-friendly, so part of her super-friendliness might be due to that. She’s definitely ready to pop, and she has a hard time laying down and getting comfortable, so she paces a lot (another sign of being ready to give birth!) and she purrs and kneads, and if you rub her belly she will roll onto her back and give you the Love Eyes.

Last night before bedtime, Fred and I went in and spent some time with her, and we petted and petted and petted her, and rubbed her belly, and I brushed her (she’s shedding a lot, and – yay! – really likes to be brushed), and then we were ready for bed so we said goodnight to her and left the room. She howled for a few minutes and then settled down, so I figured she’d be okay.

A little after midnight, I was awakened by the sound of her meowing softly. As I listened, she got louder, and I was afraid that she’d wake Fred up (you know, the one member of the household who has a job and thus needs his sleep?) so I grabbed a pillow and a quilt and went in to lay down with her. Well, I laid down – she paced back and forth and rubbed up against me and kneaded on my arm and rolled over for a belly rub. Eventually, she dozed off for a few minutes before waking up and beginning the whole rigmarole all over again. When she’d finally calmed down, I went back to bed. She meowed for a few minutes, then quieted down.

I fell back to sleep a little before 2:00 and then she woke me up about 5:15, so I got up. I’d set the alarm for 5:25 anyway, because I had to get up and do my stint at the pet store. I gave her a snack, gave her some love, and scooped out her litter box before I went off to take my shower and get ready for the day. Fred spent a few minutes with her, and she started howling again, so we decided to put a radio in with her, hoping that the sound would soothe her.

Not so much.

So I’m hoping that she drops these babies soon, because I’m prepared to spend the night in the room with her tonight (I need to find something semi-comfortable to sleep on, though – this “floor” shit is for the birds) but I don’t know that I’ll be able to handle more than one night of it.

She doesn’t have a name yet, and Fred wants to wait ’til she births those babies before we name her, so we’re calling her Momma Kitty for now. Original, no?

I suggested naming her “Miss Scarlett” ’cause I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies, but it was actually Melanie who was giving birth when Prissy said that. And we could go with a whole Gone With the Wind naming theme, but I’m fairly certain that all those names have already been used. We’ll see.


She’s ALL belly.

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So for dinner last night we had Kahlua Pork. I think I’ve mentioned that I’m trying out new recipes lately, because I tend to see a recipe I like, stick it in the “try out these recipes” folder, and forget about them.

Fred didn’t think he was going to like the Kahlua Pork because he said it smelled like something was burning. I tried to convince him that it was due to the liquid smoke, but he disagreed. I went ahead and made stir-fried cabbage as suggested with the recipe, and I have to say: two thumbs up to the pork AND the cabbage. It was very good – Fred agreed completely – and so we’re having it again tonight for dinner. The only thing I would change is that I would maybe use a less fatty cut of meat (I used a Boston Butt) next time, but otherwise, I highly recommend it. And it’s a seriously easy meal to make!

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Okay, the Momma Kitty is howling again. I’m going to go settle in with her and see if I can’t convince her to just go ahead and birth those babies already.

HG, by the way, is completely at home with the Crooked Acres gang. He absolutely LOVES all the older cats, and I have actually seen him rub up against Miz Poo and she did NOT have a hissy fit. Will wonders never cease? He’s also big-time into Snackin’! Time! It never takes the new ones very long to get the hang of Snackin’! Time!, not surprisingly.

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Stinkerbelle in motion.

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Previously
2007: It can’t happen soon enough, if you ask me.
2006: Taking the week off.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: “Helloooooo, Fancypants! Hey, buddy, whatchoo doin’?” I said in my special Fancypants voice.
2002: Know what I’m thinking? Psycho stalker, desperate to come into the house, rape and rob us and leave us for dead, stealing the computers and the big-screen TV on the way out.
2001: I should have stayed in bed this morning.
2000: No entry.

4-16-08

Someone suggested in my comments yesterday that perhaps I accidentally tossed the bottle of Feliway in the trash. I’m starting to think that that must be what happened, and I shall just sit patiently and wait for my new bottle, ordered off eBay, to get here. And then I will duct-tape the stupid thing to … Continue reading “4-16-08”

Someone suggested in my comments yesterday that perhaps I accidentally tossed the bottle of Feliway in the trash. I’m starting to think that that must be what happened, and I shall just sit patiently and wait for my new bottle, ordered off eBay, to get here.

And then I will duct-tape the stupid thing to me so that I don’t lose it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Also, I should point out that the fruit trees we covered Monday night so they wouldn’t freeze are still fairly small. They’re not fully grown by any means – the tallest are about eight feet tall, I’d guess – and I’m thinking that when they do get to the point where they’re big, tall trees they’re going to be on their own when the threat of a frost comes around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After a very fucking cold Monday, yesterday turned out to be GORGEOUS. It was so bright and sunny out with just a teeny breeze that I decided to do some laundry and hang it out to dry.

PERFECT clothes-drying weather.

I would absolutely take a bright and sunny cold day over a gray and overcast warm day ANY day of the week.

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Hmm. I have NOTHING for you today. And I’m about to leave and have my hair done and then I’m going to run over to the fabric store where I shall take my time looking around, and buy everything on my list, and then I shall come back home, eat lunch, and lay like a slug on the couch while watching last night’s episodes of Real Housewives of NYC and Workout.

BECAUSE I CAN.

What are YOU doing today? Other than working, that is, you industrious types.

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Sugarbutt & Tommy: Brudderly love.

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Previously
2007: It’s a rough fucking life.
2006: No entry.
2005: The freakin’ notify list.
2004: You could take notes, motherfucker.
2003: Okay, okay! Just please stop asking!
2002: I guess I was a doofus even way back then.
2001: DO NOT, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, EMAIL AND ASK IF I HAVE ANYTHING ON THIS LIST, STILL. I DO NOT
2000: I had to refrain from picking her up and squeezing her to bits.

4-15-08

My abdominal ultrasound yesterday went just fine. I left the house a couple of hours early with the intention of stopping at Target and then the fabric store. The Target stop went okay – I got everything I needed – but I pulled up to the fabric store a little after 9:00 only to find … Continue reading “4-15-08”

My abdominal ultrasound yesterday went just fine. I left the house a couple of hours early with the intention of stopping at Target and then the fabric store. The Target stop went okay – I got everything I needed – but I pulled up to the fabric store a little after 9:00 only to find out that it doesn’t open ’til 9:30. And I had to be at my appointment at 10:15, and though the imaging center is only about 15 minutes from the fabric store, I didn’t want to feel rushed, so I put off the trip to the fabric store for another day.

So I stopped by to see Fred at work for a minute, then meandered around Huntsville and ended up at the imaging center about half an hour early. Luckily, I’d brought a book with me.

I always think I’m going to fall asleep when I’m having an ultrasound done, because it’s so dark and warm, and they put the warm gel on your stomach, and I just lay there and zone out. I watch the screen while it’s being done, but it never looks like anything but a big blob of nothing to me, so no self-diagnoses for me this time around.

Well, except for cancer of the abdomen, of course. OBVIOUSLY. It just looked like a great big blob of tumor, is what it looked like.

I’m sure I’ll hear from DrLiver later this week, telling me everything’s fine and to come see him in another six months.

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Since there was a possibility of frost last night, Fred and I had to go outside after dinner and cover the fruit trees. What a fucking COLD ASS PAIN IN THE ASS. I wore my warm parka and my warm boots, but it was windy and I didn’t have any gloves on, and the wind was going right through me.

Those goddamn peach and plum trees better PRODUCE this year, is all I have to say.

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Day 3: Feliway bottle still missing. Wherefore art thou, Feliway?

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Recipes I have made recently and which I am sharing with you:

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for something to make as a side dish with dinner. I didn’t want to make rice (Fred’s not a big rice fan), we’re getting low on black-eyed peas, and I don’t generally make pasta as a side dish. We had a ton of potatoes, so I looked around and found a recipe for Honey Roasted Potatoes. Quick, simple, easy, sounded good. So I gave it a try, and it was tasty. Only the slightest hint of sweetness – in fact, Fred took several bites before he said “It almost tastes… sweet?”

The next time we had homefries and scrambled eggs for dinner (which we do about once a week), I decided to make homefries in the oven using the same basic idea, only instead of using the honey/ mustard/ salt & pepper topping, I just salted and peppered the potatoes lightly and drizzled olive oil over the top. Voila! Homefries without the annoying sticking-to-the-pan part! I got a Vidalia Chop Wizard for Christmas, and it comes with two trays – I use the larger one to chop the potatoes into uniform cubes, and then the smaller tray to chop the onion. Works perfectly!

Last week I decided it was time to start going through the six inch tall stack of recipes I had, and making some of them for dinner. I have the tendency to see a recipe online and print it out or see it in a magazine and rip it out, then sticking it in a folder and never making it. After a quick look through my recipes, I decided to give Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tenders (from Southern Living magazine) a try. One of my favorite lunches is a salad with chopped tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg and shredded cheddar added, and then I like to slice a couple of chicken tenders (bought at the deli section of my grocery store) and put the chicken on top of the salad. I’ve never been able to make a decent chicken tender, so I’m always on the lookout for a good recipe.

For the first time ever, I made coated chicken where the coating didn’t stick to the pan. The secret, I guess, is either the part where you coat the chicken in flour and then egg, and then the outer coating, OR the part where you spray both sides with nonstick cooking spray before you put it on the rack to bake. Whatever the reason, the coating stuck, the chicken was very tender and tasty, and I had enough left over for a few days’ worth of (oven) Fried Chicken Salad. YUM.

Friday, since I finally had everything I needed for the recipe, I made a recipe I’d torn out of Cooking Light magazine. Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple Cake sounds, well, kind of boring, I know. But the picture of the cake drew me in and made me want to try making it myself (unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture of the cake to share with y’all!). It’s a fairly simple cake to make, and except for the chunky applesauce, I had everything I needed here (well, except for the Lite Cool Whip. Tip from me to you: Fat Free Cool Whip tastes like plastic. NASTY.). It’s a lightly sweet cake – if I were the sort of person who had afternoon tea parties where I served tea and cake, this would be perfect. Like I said, it’s lightly sweet, it’s very tasty and won’t fill you up too much. Fred and I both liked it and the pigs and chickens LOVED the leftovers – especially the toasted almonds.

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McLovin would like you to know that he’s the man. He’s the man. He IS the man.

***************************


“Haw haw haw, stupid humans, having to pay taxes, it’s times like this that remind me that it’s GOOD TO BE A CAT. Haw haw HAW! ::wheeze::”

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Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: “Light” my ass!
2004: An odd duck, that one.
2003: Unfortunately, he lived.
2002: 10 Things I Learned Last Week
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

4-14-08

In case you missed it, I put an entry up on Saturday which included approximately 10,000 pictures of the Crooked Acres Gang. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   I AM SO THIRSTY. But I can’t drink or eat anything until after my 10:30 ultrasound (don’t get excited, they’re ultrasounding my liver to see if that cysty thing that showed … Continue reading “4-14-08”

In case you missed it, I put an entry up on Saturday which included approximately 10,000 pictures of the Crooked Acres Gang.

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I AM SO THIRSTY. But I can’t drink or eat anything until after my 10:30 ultrasound (don’t get excited, they’re ultrasounding my liver to see if that cysty thing that showed up last time I had it done has grown at all. My suggestion to slice two holes through my abdomen and squeeze that cyst ’til it POPS LIKE A ZIT was met with resounding silence. Hmph.) and I am so thirsty.

So thirsty.

Did I mention so thirsty?

I should have taken the appointment that was later in the week, but earlier in the day, I think.

So yeah, I saw DrLiver on Friday for a followup visit. DrLiver is five days older than I am, so he noticed that I’d turned 40 too, so we did the requisite “OHMYGOD we’re SO OLD” and “Have your eyes started to go yet?”, then he told me I needed to go for an ultrasound, felt up my stomach flab (I assume he was feeling to make sure my liver wasn’t enlarged, but one day when he does that, I’m going to smack his hand away and yell “Don’t you know you don’t go feeling a lady’s flab like that without warning?!”) and ordered some bloodwork.

It’s always a quick, pleasant experience, seeing DrLiver. Well, except for the part where I have to have blood drawn, but the people at the lab do nothing but draw blood all day, so they know exactly what they’re doing, and they’ve never missed a vein yet.

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About ten days ago, to express the fact that he’s a giant asshole, Mister Boogers peed on a blanket I left on the new (to us) couch. Naturally, the pee soaked through the blanket onto the couch below, so I soaked the affected couch cushions with Nature’s Miracle. Nature’s Miracle dried, but I could still smell cat pee. I soaked it with Nature’s Miracle again. Dried. Cat pee smell remained.

Out of Nature’s Miracle, I stopped at the pet store on Thursday to buy more, but they didn’t have the regular, plain ol’ Nature’s Miracle, just the Oxi-Orange (or whatever it’s called) stuff, and I dislike intensely the smell of fake orange. I looked around to see what else there was, spotted a bottle of Stink Free, saw the money-back guarantee, and decided to give it a try.

Friday night I soaked the hell out of the couch where we could still clearly smell the smell of cat urine. Saturday morning, Fred danced into my room as I was making my bed and said “It’s a miracle!” There was no cat pee smell at all. AT ALL. Just the vaguest scent of the Stink Free, which is a pleasant laundry detergenty smell.

I highly, highly recommend it – though keep in mind that it’s early days yet, and I can’t guarantee that the urine smell won’t come back at some point. For now, we are very, very happy with the Stink Free.

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As I mentioned in Saturday’s entry, I bought a spray bottle of Feliway at the pet store on Thursday. I used it Thursday evening to spray down the couches, and then I couldn’t find the goddamn thing.

I still can’t find it.

Places where the Feliway bottle is NOT:

Bathrooms, bathroom cabinets, shower organizer
Kitchen cabinets, kitchen bookcase, under the kitchen sink
Refrigerator, other refrigerator, freezer, other freezer
Litter boxes or litter box areas
Washer, dishwasher, dryer (though it’s a possibility it slipped through the dryer portal and is nestled in a nest of lost socks in another dimension)
Medicine cabinet (any of them), drawer in the kitchen where we used to keep the cat medicine, dresser in the foster kitty room where we keep foster kitty supplies
Any of my desk drawers, under my desk, behind my desk
On the couch, on the other couch, stuck down in either of the couches, under the couches
In any of the cat toy baskets
In my purse
Held hostage by Contrary, the big LIAR (and to think, I almost traumatized George by tying a ribbon around her neck!)

And McLovin reports that he can definitively state it is NOT, as previously suspected, up his butt

I even tried ordering a bottle of Feliway off eBay, certain that as soon as I paid for it, the lost bottle would show up. NO LUCK.

I think it’s clear that my Feliway has R-U-N-N-O-F-T.

If you see it, grab it firmly around its neck and march it back to me, post-haste.

Thankyew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Yesterday was pretty much doing all the fun stuff that you have to do to get ready for the week ahead. If I had a job, I’m sure I’d have been all pissy by the end of the day because I spent all day doing shit I didn’t particularly want to do, but I don’t have a job, so I wasn’t pissy.

In case you wondered.

I got up fairly early yesterday because we left HG out of the foster room overnight (we put him up as usual at bedtime Saturday night, but he started meowing sadly (and very loudly) and when I peeked into the hallway, he had one paw stretched out under the door, and it was such a sad little sight that I let him out of the foster room) and Mister Boogers took exception to the addition (however temporary) of another cat to the household by being a great big jerk and picking on Joe Bob. I think Mister Boogers enjoys picking on Joe Bob because Joe Bob responds with an ear-piercing scream. HG, on the other hand, behaved himself quite nicely, spent most of the night on the end of the bed (which means I had five cats on the bed with me, but still managed to sleep pretty well) and didn’t make any trouble.

I spent a good part of the afternoon talking to Splash, who hid in her kitty condo and glared at me and wasn’t charmed by me at all.

COME ON, SPLASH.

*************************

So HG, as mentioned, has been spending all his time out in the house with the other cats. I’ve never seen a kitten who gets along so well with other cats. He LOVES the other cats, and if they respond to him by hissing and smacking, he just shrugs and moves on. He and Tommy are fast becoming friends – I caught them snuggling and Tommy licking the top of HG’s head yesterday, and last night I woke up with the entire bed vibrating from the sound of HG’s purring, and I looked over to find Tommy and HG curled up together – and HG doesn’t run from us when we approach him (which he was doing when we first let him out into the house). He’s about ready to go to the pet store and be adopted, I do believe. I think that separating him from Smudgie was a very good idea.

Splash on the other hand, I don’t know. I don’t know what else to try with her. I go into the room and talk to her, I offer her snacks (sometimes she eats them, sometimes she doesn’t). I don’t make prolonged direct eye contact with her, I try to entice her to play, I try to touch her gently (I’ve gotten smart enough to wear a glove, at least) and every time I try to touch her – or even just hold out my hand for her to sniff – she hisses and smacks with her lightning-fast paw of doom.

I don’t know. I’m not giving up, but she’s the most feral cat I’ve ever had as a foster. Maybe when her sister gets here (the lady who has her hasn’t been able to get her hands on her) she’ll come out of her shell. I don’t know. We’ll see.

*************************

The other day I was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes when something in the big bush outside the window caught my eye.

I was pretty sure it was Newt, but there’s at least one other cat around here who looks like Newt, so I wasn’t positive until I knocked on the window and he turned to see what was going on.

Definitely Newt. He hung out in the bush for a couple of hours before he appeared at the side door wanting to come inside.

Last night after dinner, Fred was doing dishes, and when I walked into the kitchen, he said “What is that?”

Apparently Newt really likes hanging out in that bush. I hope the birds that usually hop and in out of that bush realize he’s there!

*************************

Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: God save me from the permed ‘fro.
2005: Why do I bother to make New Year’s resolutions, I ask you?
2004: Bastard.
2003: “That’s right, you LITTLE SHIT, get the hell out of here!” I yelled, stomping at him.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: Not much of an entry.

4-12-08

Impromptu Saturday entry, just for shits and giggles. Who loves her readers? No one loves you like I do, baby. NO ONE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   A reader in Indiana sent me the link to this story. It’s a Humane Society in Madison County, Indiana, and they’re in danger of closing due mostly to theft by an … Continue reading “4-12-08”

Impromptu Saturday entry, just for shits and giggles. Who loves her readers? No one loves you like I do, baby. NO ONE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A reader in Indiana sent me the link to this story. It’s a Humane Society in Madison County, Indiana, and they’re in danger of closing due mostly to theft by an employee. An employee of the shelter has committed to staying in the shelter for a month to raise at least one months’ operating costs for the shelter.

Want to help? Here’s how.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I bought a bottle of Feliway spray on Thursday, used it once, and now I cannot find the bottle ANYWHERE. It’s driving me absolutely nuts, because I’ve looked everywhere, three times in some locations, and can’t find it. I know I put it down in some stupid location thinking “Oh, I’ll remember I put this here!”, and now it’s nowhere to be found.

If you see my bottle of Feliway, please send it home. Thankyew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Fred sent me a link to this video on Friday. I started watching it, figuring I’d get tired of it about ten seconds in and close it. It was surprisingly entertaining, though – the part about 26 seconds in when the mascot misses the ramp, runs into the audience, and popcorn goes flying everywhere made me laugh ’til I snorted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Let’s play a game we’ve played oh so many times before, a game of which no doubt many of you have grown weary. But I am stupid and I know nothin’.

What’s this plant?

12DSC08877
(flickr)

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I’m sorry to gross you out, but Fred took this picture of a bee stuck in a spider’s web – being taken care of by the spider – and it came out so awesome that I had to share it.

12DSC08595
(flickr)

Something else gross – with the warmer weather comes ants, and lots of them. See the full-size picture here to get the full effect.

12DSC08666
(flickr)

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12DSC08597
(flickr)

Daffodils are still in bloom for a little while longer.

12DSC08669
(flickr)

Onions are growing nicely.

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Due to the amount of rain we’ve gotten lately, we have a lot of standing water in various points on the property. This is where the pond used to be, before we filled it in.

12DSC08626
(flickr)

This is the front part of the back forty.

12DSC08668
(flickr)

Given last summer’s drought, I’m not complaining about the standing water at ALL.

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The pigs like chocolate.


“Hey! Maybe they gots chocolate!”

**************************************


I’m afraid to ask.

**************************************

Fred made a “playpen” in the grass by the garage, and we’ve been bringing the little chicks out to play when it’s nice outside. At first they were freaked, but now they get excited and start hopping and flying around as soon as we put them in the pen.


The white chick is George (because she’s so curious). She’s got a bit of a sashay going on here.


The little rock stars hang out away from the unwashed masses.


Chicks in flight.


One of the Americaunas does her Bird of Prey impression. Watch out, George!


Rhode Island Red.


Hey now you’re a Rock Star get the show on, get paid


I call these girls “Ivanas”, Fred calls them “Don Kings”.


I love the eye makeup.

**************************************


Tommy disapproves of this “Saturday entry” business.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Previously
2007: “If a fluffy black cat prances across the yard, goes upstairs and shits on the carpet, could you give us a call?”
2006: “Hmm,” I said, like that meant something to me.
2005: Just because the fuckers are talking to me doesn’t mean I’m obligated to listen to their bullshit, does it?
2004: What exactly the fuck was I supposed to be doing at 5:30 on a Sunday afternoon, running for fucking president?
2003: No entry.
2002: Apparently the Committee for Deciding Who is Hellbound was meeting in the waiting room.
2001: “Jesus has arrived in Madison,” he said nonchalantly.
2000: Now that, my friends, is wickedly fast.

4-11-08

Real Housewives of NYC (spoilers within): Look, I understand that there are things that make people uncomfortable, things that kind of trigger their instinct to cut and run. However, the fact that Ramona FLIPPED OUT because Alex brought Simon to the “girls-only” party and then she lectured the table on what class is, and THEN … Continue reading “4-11-08”

Real Housewives of NYC (spoilers within): Look, I understand that there are things that make people uncomfortable, things that kind of trigger their instinct to cut and run. However, the fact that Ramona FLIPPED OUT because Alex brought Simon to the “girls-only” party and then she lectured the table on what class is, and THEN she was all “Gotta go, buh-bye!”? What an asshole. Did she need to keep screeching “WHY IS HE HERE?”? Did she need to do her best to make everyone else feel uncomfortable?

I don’t care for Simon, I think he’s smarmy and creepy, but Ramona managed to make me feel bad for him. And let’s get this straight: that man did not belong at that dinner party, when Alex asked if she could bring Simon, Bethenny should have said “No, it’s girls only!”, but I understand why she didn’t, because I’d have had a hard time saying it, too.

I think it’s interesting that we haven’t seen the shape Alex and Simon’s house is in until this show, and I think it’s funny that they’re all social-climbing wannabes but their house needs a desperate overhaul. Hey, here’s an idea – instead of wearing $10,000 worth of jewelry and couture to the OPERA, why not use that money to whip your house into shape, huh? Just an idea. (And now I’m looking around at my perpetually-a-work-in-progress home and thinking I should shut the hell up. But hey – at least I didn’t spend thousands of dollars on a dress I could only wear once!)

Um, that’s it. I’m sure more happened, but I was so blown away by Ramona’s assholery that I can’t remember what else happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Survivor (skip the next section if you didn’t see last night’s show – spoilers within!)

How much do I LOVE the fact that Eliza tried to play the faux Immunity Idol? Oh, I love it SO VERY MUCH, but at least she suspected beforehand that it wasn’t really the Immunity Idol, so she wasn’t completely blindsided, because then I would have felt really bad for her.

I also love the fact that Eric MADE UP a new name for the tribe and convinced everyone that it meant “Good” (or whatever he said it meant). I thought for sure that Jeff Probst was going to bust him at Tribal Council, but I’m glad he didn’t!

Ozzy really ought to win this game, but I suspect that in the end, it’s going to be a woman who wins, unless Ozzy can muscle his way into the final three by winning immunity challenges.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Do any of your cats not eat people food? The reason why I ask is that our cat will not eat anything but his cat food (both wet and dry). We’d give him raw or cooked hamburger or chicken and he smells it and walks away. What a weird cat. (At least this means he’s not begging for food, I guess.)

Miz Poo has never been interested in people food at all. Mister Boogers has taken to sitting next to Fred and bitching at dinnertime until Fred offers him some of whatever’s for dinner, and Mister Boogers invariably sniffs it and walks away. I’m pretty sure that all the other cats will eat the occasional piece of people food, though now that I think about it, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Miss Stank eat anything not meant for cats.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Also re the Bathroom lady: who in the hell brings food to someone in the bathroom?! (You don’t have to answer this one, it’s kind of rhetorical.) I mean really! We only have one bathroom, so this probably won’t be an issue, but the time my husband asks me to bring him food when he is on the throne is the time I say “get it your damned self.” I am pretty sure he’d say the same. It should be a rule or something. A code. Man!

Yeah, I imagine the first time I was all “Hey Fred, bring me my dinner in here, would you? Don’t forget the napkin!”, there’d be firemen breaking down the door. Though obviously there are mental issues at play here – according to an article, the woman came from a very abusive family and she felt safe in the bathroom and I suspect there were some kind of weird control issues on the boyfriend’s side – if he hadn’t provided food for her, she would have come out of the bathroom pretty quickly.

And I want to know what the bathroom-lady’s housemate did when he needed to go to the toilet…

I heard or read somewhere that there was a second bathroom that he used. I hope that’s true!

“Whipple was the second law enforcement officer to go to the mobile home where McFarren and Babcock were living. Whipple, who described Babcock as a “thin, petite woman,” used a pry bar to take the seat off the toilet so the woman could be taken to hospital where the seat was removed.”

No pictures, E, but maybe that’ll convince your mother?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Also, on a side note, I was looking through all the books on your list, Robyn, you’ve read a few Wally Lamb’s but not “I Know This Much is True” – if you really haven’t read it, you sooooo should! Its possible you’ll like it even more than his others.

I actually did read I Know This Much is True when it first came out – and I will always and forever remember Oprah with Wally Lamb on her show, and the way she constantly called it “I Know This Much to be True” and he never once corrected her – but it’s on my bookcase so I can read it again. I remember liking it a lot; hopefully I’ll like it as much the second time around!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They are going to start calling you the Cat Whisperer. Or do they already?

They don’t, to my knowledge. I’m afraid Splash is going to be a hard nut to crack. I hope she’ll come around!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Question about shedding: I was just noticing last night that my Nash and Pushkin are shedding like crazy right now. Should I try brushing or combing them? Does that help? Or one of those grooming glove things?

It always helps to brush them – that way the fur is in your brush and not on the floor – but what to use really depends on the cat. None of my cats like being brushed (poor dear departed Spot LOVED it), but I’ll occasionally go after them with the Furminator, which is the most awesome grooming tool around. Most of them will put up with a few swipes with the Furminator and the amount of hair that comes out with just a couple of swipes is AMAZING.

Anything that grabs the fur and keeps it in the brush (until you pull it out) is a good brush, in my opinion, but you might have to try a few different brushes to find one they’ll put up with. I don’t recommend the grooming gloves, though – they’re kind of weird and awkward to use, and I don’t think they do that great a job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What do the boys’ middle initials “J” stand for?

Your guess is as good as mine. They won’t tell me!

All the cats have “J” as their middle initial, including the girls (Pootie J. Pooterson, Stanker J. Belle, and Miss Maxi J. Momma).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

So, it was Joseph J. Bobbington, was it??

That would be Joseph J. Roberts, of course.

Is JoeBob getting a little plump or is it just the pose in the picture? If it’s the pose, you might want to suggest to JoeBob that pose isn’t his best side!

Joe Bob’s a big cat, but he’s not fat at all. I mean, give him time – he eats like the end of the world is coming – but for the time being, he’s just a big cat with no weight issues. He cares not how he looks in pictures, though – he’s a badass who commits crimes and then fools Crooked Acres’ premier (also, only) detectives!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Seriously, Robyn…that logo is just cracking me up because i can’t believe you actually have that many cats. I mean it doesn’t seem like you’re overrun or anything like that at all, so that’s why it’s so shocking and hysterically funny to me to just see them all lined up like that. All lined up it kind of screams “crazy cat lady!”. but anyway one time on Oprah I saw this thing about this woman that had like fifty cats and every week she would cook them two turkeys, and she’d just leave the pans on the floor and the counter and let them eat it themselves. So until you start roasting turkeys just for the cats, you won’t be a crazy cat lady in my eyes, if that makes you feel any better!

Except for Snackin’! Time!, I don’t think it seems like there are that many cats around, either. They’re rarely all in one place, so with them spread out, you can hardly tell this is Crazy Catsville.

I could never do the two turkeys thing, not because it’s such a loony thing to do (which it is), but because I wouldn’t be able to stand the mess. Also, Fred would have a cow. THE MAN IS ALWAYS HOLDING ME BACK.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Have you considered doing a print on demand book through Lulu? Your stories/photos always crack me up and I would definitely buy some.

I actually hadn’t considered that, but maybe! I’ll have to think about it and dither and put it off and procrastinate before I actually do anything, though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Your bathroom purple color looks great! Have you ever considered purple AND pear green towels? I’ve seen them before and it’s a great color combination. Just make sure the green is muted and medium to light in tone and it’s gorgeous.

I know exactly the look you’re talking about, and I like that color combination. I’d already ordered my purple towels, so I’m sticking with them for now. I might look for a few small green accessories, though!

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One thing I love about reading your website is that you stay a home and enjoy life! I wish I could have done that when I didn’t have to work. I had all the time in the world for myself but wasn’t able to utilize it and be content. What’s your secret?

Good question. I don’t know! The funny thing is that you’d think since I don’t work and am home all day most days, I’d get bored. I very, very rarely get bored – in fact, most days I don’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to. I don’t know how on earth you people who have real jobs ever get anything done!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Did Mr. Boogers have a vet visit? Looks like he has shaved forearms. Hope he is okay.

I actually had to call Fred and ask him, because I knew Mister Boogers had been to the vet and I knew they had to shave his forearms to get blood, but I could not for the life of me remember why he’d gone. Fred reminded me that a few months ago, Mister Boogers peed in the kitchen sink right in front of me, and we were worried that it meant that he had a urinary tract infection, so Fred took him to the vet for a workup. Turned out, Mister Boogers is just an ass. Go figure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Did I read that right, your medicine cabinet is in your dining room? I am confused. Although it might come in handy if you accidentally stab Fred with your fork.

No, if I stabbed Fred with my fork, I’d have to go from the computer room to get bandages, ’cause we almost always eat in front of our computers (bad habit, we know).

We put the medicine cabinet in the dining room because it’s a central location (considering we spend a large amount of time in the computer room), and you’re not supposed to keep medicine in your bathroom ’cause the humidity’s not good for it. But mostly, it’s just the convenience factor, and that that’s where we happened to have space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Who on earth would you have to please besides yourself and Fred? If you want different kinds of shades on doors than you have on windows, just go for it. Choose a fabric that appeals to you, and have fun. That overly matched look is silly, anyway.

Heh – you sound like Fred! I know, as long as we like it, who cares what anyone else thinks?

Have you ever checked the Country Curtains catalogue? It’s one of my dream-books. You can find every really pretty kind of curtain, drape or shade in there, things I don’t see in stores. You do pay a bit more, but they last a whole lot longer. My ex-husband, who stayed in our house, just told me yesterday that he is finally going to replace the kitchen curtains, which were from Country Curtains, and which I bought when we redid the kitchen in 1991. They just didn’t need replacing until now, which seems to me to be a good long life for curtains.

I ADORE the Country Curtains site and catalog. I’ve never ordered anything from them, but I have about a thousand different curtains bookmarked. I tend to get overwhelmed and can’t make a decision, though, which is why I haven’t ordered anything!

I want to get cafe curtains for the upstairs bathroom, though, and I’m considering these.

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Out of lurking with a suggestion as to the blind strings. If the doors are wood put a couple of cup hooks, spaced about 10″ apart, to wind the strings in a figure 8 so they aren’t hanging. Besides, you’ll have strings with roman blinds also.

That’s a good idea! I might have to do that, at least temporarily.

Fred did point out that there are blinds that don’t have strings to pull them up, there’s a button on the front that you press, and then you pull the blind up and the bottom stays where you leave it (I’m not explaining this very well, and can’t provide a link, because I can’t find the damn things on the Lowe’s website!), so we’re probably going to go with those on the computer room doors and the foster kitten room.

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We let HG out of the foster kitteh room yesterday afternoon and let him stay out until bedtime. He seems to like having the run of the house, if the fact that he ran around like a bat out of hell the entire time is anything to judge by. We put him back in the foster room with Splash at bedtime, and I’ll probably let him out again this afternoon. He seems to be adjusting well.

Splash, on the other hand, spends her time split between the bed under the dresser and the top of the cat tree. She hisses if you get too close, and I haven’t dared trying to pet her (though I might put on some gloves and give it a try). She’s going to be a tough one, apparently.


Please don’t talk about love tonight
Please don’t talk about sweet love
Please don’t talk about being true
And all the trouble we’ve been through


Ah, please don’t talk about all of the plans
We had for fixin’ this broken romance
I want to go where the people dance
I want some action


I want to live
Action, I got so much to give
I want to give it
I want to get some too


Ooooh I, I love the nightlife
I got to boogie


On the disco ’round, oh yea


Oh, I love the night life
I got to boogie on the disco ’round, oh yea

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The evil criminal mastermind, Joseph J. Roberts, smiles smugly with the knowledge that he has, once again, evaded the long arm of the law.

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Previously
2007: The man loves nothing so much as getting his fret on.
2006: Smart man, that one.
2005: Back from Gatlinburg.
2004: No entry.
2003: I love Von, and questions answered.
2002: No entry.
2001: Miz Poo gives me a scare.
2000: My husband, the diplomat.

4-10-08

Last week the person who does Thursday morning at the pet store sent out an email saying that her job was going to be changing, so she couldn’t do Thursday mornings anymore, and could anyone switch with her permanently? Since it doesn’t matter to me what day I go, I offered to switch with her, … Continue reading “4-10-08”

Last week the person who does Thursday morning at the pet store sent out an email saying that her job was going to be changing, so she couldn’t do Thursday mornings anymore, and could anyone switch with her permanently? Since it doesn’t matter to me what day I go, I offered to switch with her, so on Monday I didn’t have to get up early and go anywhere.

This morning, I did. So I’m off to the pet store, then I have an appointment with my LiverDoctor for a regular checkup, and then after that I’m going to run a bunch of errands.

Which means no entry for you!

See you tomorrow!

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However, while you’re waiting, I thought of a question. For the fashion-minded out there, would it look weird if I had roman blinds on my computer room doors and just regular blinds on the windows? We currently have regular blinds on the doors, but I have to pull the blinds up so that the cats can see out (and so I can see the birds at the feeders) and it looks terrible and the strings get in the way.

Suggestions?

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An oldie but a goodie, from two years ago. Oh, that Sugarbutt.

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Previously
2007: “Is it true that you’re fucking that evil woman, who just informed me that you are in love?”
2006: (See various entries I’ve written wherein I said that I’m bad in an emergency)
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: Questions answered.
2002: No entry.
2001: Spring cleaning.
2000: No entry.

4-9-08

A couple of weekends ago, Fred was kind of bored. He was caught up on all the farm stuff and looking for something to do. Casually, figuring it would lead nowhere, I said “You know what we need?” “What?” “A medicine cabinet. I bet you could build a good one we could hang on the … Continue reading “4-9-08”

A couple of weekends ago, Fred was kind of bored. He was caught up on all the farm stuff and looking for something to do.

Casually, figuring it would lead nowhere, I said “You know what we need?”

“What?”

“A medicine cabinet. I bet you could build a good one we could hang on the wall and put all our medicine in so we can stop using the secretaire as a medicine cabinet. It’s a pain in the ass having to dig through it when we need cold medicine or whatever.”

A while later, Fred came inside. “I was looking through the wood in the shed, and there’s a cabinet door. I think it came from the original cabinets that were in the house!”

Eventually, I came outside to see what he’d found, and I approved. “That would be the perfect size for a medicine cabinet!”

Ten days later, having built and painted it, he hung it on the dining room wall and I moved all our medicine from the secretaire to the medicine cabinet (after tossing out everything that had expired years ago, that is). It’s even big enough that an entire shelf can be devoted to cat medicine!


(pic) Pardon the crooked picture.


(pic) We clearly believe in keeping stocked up on band-aids!

I absolutely LOVE it. I’m a lucky gal, believe me I know that!

Now if I can just convince him to get going on that closet for the corner of the computer room….

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I think I mentioned that Fred and I moved a lot of (HEAVY) furniture on Saturday. This is because we’d talked about it at length, and decided that we’d switch my bedroom and the guest bedroom around. It makes Fred a little nervous to have me on a different floor and he’s mentioned the idea of moving me upstairs a few times. After a year in the same bedroom, I decided I was up for a change, but I had conditions: 1. I needed a ceiling fan, 2. I needed decent blinds, 3. I needed to paint the bookcase, and 4. I needed to paint the upstairs bathroom.

While I was in Pennsylvania, Fred installed a ceiling fan in the guest bedroom, and blinds as well. A few weeks ago I painted the bookcase. And then I decided it was time to just move my ass upstairs and not wait until the bathroom had been painted. So Saturday, we moved the beds and the dressers. Let me tell you SOMETHING, that dresser of mine is fucking HEAVY. It seems okay when there are two of you and you’re moving it across the room or whatever, but once you start going up the stairs and you’re in the lead and it feels like the entire weight of the dresser is on you, you realize how heavy that fucker is.

But everything got moved, and I spent the rest of Saturday organizing the rooms and moving closet stuff around. In my new bedroom, I have TWO closets – a cedar closet where my clothes are hung, and a closet with shelves. I’m still kind of deciding where everything’s going to go, but I’m pretty settled in.


(pic) My new room.

It looks kind of cramped in this picture, but it’s not at all. I had no choice but to angle my bed, because the only other option was to put it in front of the windows, and I didn’t want to do that. What you can’t see in this picture: the dresser, to the left, and the bookcase to the right. I didn’t notice it ’til I’d moved in, but I can lay in bed and watch the birds and squirrels run around in the big tree.

That comforter’s just for now – I’ve got a new one coming, along with new (blue) sheets. The comforter works for the room (it’s a very light blue), but it’s too light. The cats and their grimy paws have already dirtied it up. I’m okay with a dirty comforter, I just don’t want to have to SEE the dirt, y’know.


(pic) The new guest bedroom.

But more than just a guest bedroom, it’s also going to be…


(pic)

a sewing room! That is, if I ever get the damn sewing machine out of the box! I’m going to set it up on that desk, which used to be my vanity. I don’t know that I’ll be doing a LOT of sewing, but at least there’ll be a permanent home for it and I won’t have to move it out to the dining room when I need to use it.

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Last year when Fred was choosing paints for the various rooms in the house, we decided that he’d choose a neutral beige color for the upstairs bathroom. He picked two nice shades of beige, but once I got the bathroom painted, we realized that they were a little more pink than we’d expected – the darker color, on the bottom, looked just like the color of Barbie doll skin (caucasian Barbie, that is) to me. We talked about repainting it, but GODDAMN I hate painting, so we left it. It’s not like I ever had to use it anyway, right?

Well, now that I was moving upstairs, I was going to move all my bathroom stuff upstairs as well, and obviously I wanted to repaint the bathroom a color I liked. On our road trip from Pennsylvania to Alabama, Nance and Rick and I stopped at the JC Penney outlet store and while we were there, I saw a set of deep purple towels that I really liked, which got me thinking – why not paint the bathroom shades of purple? I told Fred that I wanted purple in that bathroom, so when he made one of his regular trips to L0we’s, he picked out the paint for me.

So then, the rooms moved around, I fully intended to paint the upstairs bathroom on Sunday. I started getting all my stuff together, which is when I realized that the paint roller was nowhere to be found. I could have hauled my ass 7 minutes up the road to L0we’s to buy a new one, but I jumped on the “Oh! I don’t have a roller! Can’t paint today! Too bad!” excuse with both feet.

Fred promised to stop at L0we’s on the way to work on Monday, so when yesterday dawned, I had no excuses at all.

I so love to paint, you know.

I got up early and after my shower the first thing I did was scrub down the bathroom to remove all the dust from the walls (there’s a litter box in there, which creates a lot of dust), then I spent two freakin’ hours taping around everything. Bathrooms are a bigger pain in the ass to paint than bedrooms, because there’s so much more to tape around. With bedrooms, you move everything away from the walls, tape around the trim, and get it done lickety-split. With bathrooms, even if you remove light fixtures, there’s so much more you have to tape around. I hate the holy hell out of taping. If I could get someone else to prep a room for painting and just swan in, paint, and swan back out, I wouldn’t hate painting nearly as much as I do. I might even like it!

I taped, took a break for breakfast, and started painting a little before 10:00. It took me two hours to get the first coat of paint on the upper part of the bathroom, so I took a break, spent time with the kittens, and then put a second quick coat on. A break for lunch, then two hours of painting the lower part of the bathroom. Getting behind the toilet was a NIGHTMARE, and if I have to paint that bathroom again, the toilet tank is going to have to be removed so I can get back there. Fred got home just as I was finishing up the lower part of the bathroom so I took a break, then put a second quick coat of paint on the lower part of the bathroom.

The paint dried pretty quickly, so I pulled up the tape and put everything back where it belonged.

I think I like the new colors – but the darker color is a bit more purple than either of us expected. It kind of looks like the color a preteen girl would want in her bedroom. It’s going to take some getting used to. But I tell you what – it’s better than it was, and I’m not painting that goddamn bathroom again.

Not for at least another year, anyway.


(pic) Before.


(pic) After.


(pic) This gives you a better idea of what the purple really looks like.

On the top: B44-1 Guardian Angel, Olympic Paints.
On the bottom: B4404 French Violet, Olympic Paints.

The trim could use a fresh coat of paint, I might do that this weekend.

I’ve got purple towels coming from JC Penney (in the same shipment as my new comforter), so the beige towels will be going.

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Poor Splash. She just wants to be left alone and we keep coming in and trying to make friends with her. She finally came out from under the dresser – Fred went into the room Monday evening, and she was up in the top of the cat tree. Instead of sitting there looking terrified, she hisses, and she actually took a smack at me when I had the nerve to get too close and offer her a snack.

I’m going to consider that progress.

Last night, Fred wanted to give her a cat treat without getting too close, so he BALANCED the cat treat on the end of a feather cat toy and put it next to her, and the sight made me laugh. It’s like “Your majesty, if you don’t mind, would you like this tasty cat treat?”

HG has completely come around and will let Fred pet him now. Every time I walk into the room, he “talks” to me. I think that, tonight, we’re going to let him out into the house for a couple of hours and see how that goes.

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I try to tell Fred that Splash isn’t any more feral than Miss Stank was when we first got her. He’s not buying it, though.

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Previously
2007: “What the fuck did you DO?” I accused Sugarbutt, who looked up at me with the most innocent face in existence.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: Stupid Steven Cojocaru.
2003: I think I speak for most Alabamans in this area when I say “Uh, what the FUCK?!”
2002: sights from my walk
2001: I am SO PISSED OFF.
2000: It’s not stealing if I give them credit, right? Uh… right?