He's mellowing

Tweek (along with our remaining cats) has been living with my parents for awhile. Ever since Mia disappeared, I sent the kitties to my folks for safe keeping until we figured out how to cat-proof the back yard. As it is, now they're staying with my parents until we figure out where we'll be living.

I talk to my mom every day to get "Tweek Reports" because that cat does some outrageous stuff. Nothing TOO bad lately, though. Aside from being a treat fiend, he's ripped open large bags of cat food, ran off with my dad's hearing aid, and chomped and crunched numerous insects in the house. There have been no flayings (though I think this is more due to my parents learning to steer clear of his claws than of him not using them). He has started to get real cuddly with my dad. It was about 3 years before Frodo mellowed, and Tweek will be 3 this summer. There is hope yet...

She works hard for the yummies

So hard for 'em honey! She works hard for the yummies, cuz she loves her dog-gy treats!

No photos today. I've been mostly keeping up with our pup who has decided to become a destroyer. And in true puppy style, unless there is a yummy involved, she won't listen to me. Right now she's chewing the stem from one of my old, dried Christmas roses. She'll start school on January 20th and I'm looking forward to it. We need to get some communication going. Otherwise, Lucy is the same sweet dog she's always been. She loves to romp in the snow and bites at the snowflakes.

The other fuzzies are doing well. They've been meowing to go outside ever since the snow started coming down Friday night. Right now, Mia has taken up residence on my thigh; her usual place. Tweek has wanted to cuddle lately, but he won't put his claws away. Frodo is still waking us up at night for petting, and Evie is still as skittery as ever.

Wedding Blues

Today I've been pretty cranky, as far as crankiness goes. I have been working like crazy on my wedding shawl, and apparently caused a lovely case of tendinitis in my right arm. I drank some Pain-Go-Bye-Bye Juice though, and I'm in the mood for blogging.

It's been awhile... much longer than I like to have in between posts. But there's a good reason. Several actually. After the last post, classes picked up a helluva lot and then of course finals hit. During all of this I'm planning a wedding, attempting to find a job, failing at keeping my home clean, and pretty much completely losing my mind. Immediately after finals were over, I started a Philosophy class entitled PHI 105: Introduction to Bullshit*. As of this writing, that class is over and I have survived. I start another class on Monday though, so the saga continues.

In wedding news, I managed to hand-make 50 invitations and send them out. That may not sound like much, but when you consider that, on the invitation inserts alone, I rubber-stamped a flower 250 times... well you get the idea. Here are a few lovely photos:

and

As for general crafting, I've done pretty much jack. Too stressed and too tired to really settle down to all the projects calling to me from the Unfinished Crafts Closet of Shame. Someday, my pretties. Someday.

And of course, for your random gratification, a cat photo:

*ok not really, but it sure felt like it

Flowers

So about a year ago I bought a gorgeous bridal bouquet hanging plant from the local nursery. It has been hanging in my kitchen since then, barely clinging onto life. The soil it was originally planted in was very very bad at holding any moisture and the thing would dry into styrofoam consistency between waterings. I don't know why it took so long, but about a week ago I repotted the damn thing in a last ditch effort to save it. Well, that was a great idea because now it's bounced back and is more beautiful than before! Within a week it's put out a lot of growth, about 25 flower buds, and one lovely lone white flower. I call her Gladys. Every time I walk by the plant, I have to smile and say hi to her. I don't know if that makes me really weird, but I know I'm not the only one who talks to their plants.

Here's a closeup of Gladys in all her glory:

Speaking of flowers, when he came home my boyfriend presented me with these!
... which is good because earlier in the day I dropped my laptop on its wireless card, which resulted in this:

Abcessed with a mother's intuition

Two nights ago, I was frantically studying for a test and preparing for two job interviews (nailed one of them, by the way). Frodo, as usual, was in my way wanting to be petted. I was scratching his neck when I felt a huge bump. It was the size of a large olive (oh, by the way I'm not eating olives anymore) and kind of soft. It was about 1am, so I decided to get to bed and call the vet in the morning.

So after an insane day of feeling like a dumbass and taking that damned test, I hurried Frodo off to the vet. By this time he was starting to act lethargic, and you could feel he was running a temperature. We waited a short time at the vet, while Frodo became angry at being cooped up in his carrier. But he seemed to forget his anger when the vet tech took him out and patted on him. Little did he know. I don't think the hissing started until he had the thermometer shoved up his bum. That made him mad, as would I have been in his situation. He got so angry in fact, the vet tech couldn't finish the temp reading. However his temp was already 105 so she knew he had a fever. The vet comes in, and, within seconds of feeling the bump, diagnosed it as an abscess most likely the result of rough cat-on-cat play fighting (fuckin' Tweek). Frodo must be drained. They tried to give him local, but apparently he disagreed with that idea so the vet had to fully put him under. When it was done, I was given medicine and a very angry cat to take home.

However, the good news is that Frodo is doing fine. In fact, as soon as I got him home and out of the carrier, he began ceremoniously licking his butt. His fever is gone now, and he's been eating and drinking just fine. This morning he's still a little lazy, but can you blame him? Dude had stuff shoved up his ass and drained outta his neck. But the upside is that I get extra cuddles from him during this convalescing period. A mother's intuition, I tell ya. Glad I took him to the vet.

The Great Crouton Adventure

It was a rushed morning where both the boyfriend and I were running late. As always, he was ready first and flew down the stairs to grab some breakfast and head to work. I'm pulling on my jeans when he leaves and, as he is walking out the door, I hear "Sorry I didn't clean up the mess." "Oh god, what mess?" I thought. Standing at the top of the stairs, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. At the bottom of the stairs, same thing. However when I got to the living room I saw croutons scattered everywhere. My immediate thought was WTF? Then I found the empty crouton bag, with its telltale holes and bite marks. Then I knew. Tweek. Tweek the destroyer. Apparently the crouton bag is made from the same type of material as the Temptation's cat treats bags. The Destroyer has a history of ripping into those as well. I sighed, and stooped to clean up the mess. A few days later, I am still finding errant croutons in odd places in the house. Damn cat.