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...

M.I.A.

Our beloved Mia has been missing since late January, and I've gone through all the emotions from denial, to hopeful, to despair. Lately, I've been thinking about her and thinking of the question "How long is too long?". How long should I keep looking for her before it becomes "too long"? The simple answer is that no amount of time would be too long to spend if I got to see my baby again. But at the same time, logic has to come into play. Eventually, we may move away. We won't be able to go to the shelters to look at the strays. I suppose I could keep a constant internet vigil, posting her on every site continuously. But I've been facing that scary thought of "What if I never find her." It's not a place I really want to go, emotionally. I've been steeling my heart to that ultimatum while trying to remain hopeful. I am still worried sick, though I try to not let it interfere with my life. In the end, I know I will see her again. I just don't want to wait that long.

Foheenix update

We're here. It's been absolutely insane, what with husband moving, moving out of apartment, finding/buying/moving into a new house, and starting a new job. But we lived through it and have relatively few scars. The animals are all fine, and overall we're settling into some semblance of normalcy. I have a few before photos of our house... well I shouldn't call them "before" photos since they're really "current" photos. But we have decoration plans. Mind you, we DO have plans. Just not the energy and money to do it all yet. Little by little, my young padawan.

Our new house was built in 1970 and is one of those ranch style homes. It's officially 1320 sq. ft. but that doesn't include the bonus room (as yet unfinished) as well as the large amount of storage in the garage. We have 3 bedrooms, and 1.75 baths... basically 2 bathrooms but one has a shower and one has a shower/tub combo. Living, dining, family rooms and kitchen round out our abode. Oh, and we have a HUGE yard for Lucy Dog to run around in. We are considering getting her a friend, but that won't be for a long time. Maybe after the holidays.

All crafting has been put temporarily on hold until we get unpacked. After that, I imagine there will be a lot of sewing of doll clothes and a lot of household decoration posts to come.

The Triumphant Return

So you've probably wondered where I went. Truth is, I didn't really go anywhere but I was very busy. April was kind of a crazy month for me, and May isn't shaping up to be any better. I have been away so much, due to visiting family and funerals and work conferences. Most of the time, I just want to curl up with my kitties and take a long nap. Lucy would be happier running around at the dog park, but my kitties like to snuggle.

A few weeks ago, I went to visit mom and dad, for the first time in quite a few months. I took Lucy, of course, and a few of my dollies. Oh, and a mega-fuckton of laundry, mostly comforters that wouldn't fit in our washer/dryer at home. Mom has really done a lot of work in her backyard, and it is turning out to be a gorgeous little oasis. Lucy loves it, especially because it is fenced and she can run around off leash. We let her run around off leash outside of the yard too, but here it's much easier to keep tabs on her. She usually settles down on mom's big round lounger for an afternoon nap.

Then, I had to jet to Phoenix because my husband's grandmother passed away. It was a sad trip, but she had cancer and we were all expecting it. So I guess in a way, it was good because it wasn't a shock or a surprise. Still, she was a neat lady and I'm glad I got to know her for the short time I did.

Then, the week after returning from Phoenix, I had to go down AGAIN to attend a conference for work. The conference was really rather boring, but at least I got to stay in a swanky hotel with the worlds most comfortable bed ever! It was one of those individual spring mattresses where you can jump up and down and not disturb a glass of wine. On top of that, it had a feather mattress pad, and the covers were all down.

I brought my new Sooni Dal (who sadly is still nameless) to the conference with me, and she was so bored. I had told her to pack some books and puzzles to play with during mom's long boring seminars, but even then she ended up calling friends and chatting about how boring mom's job is.

So finally I am back home. I am looking forward to having a whole weekend where I don't have to travel somewhere. Seems like I've been out of town every weekend in the last month, and that is probably correct. Also, bonus, this weekend is a 3 day weekend. Hooray for Memorial Day. I intend to sleep, sew, and clean up my dirty-ass house. I also want to do more cooking. Last night I made some Shepherd's Pie for dinner, and it was scrumptious!

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.

Fishcat iz watchin u

This is a cat fish bed I got on day 12 of the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. Evie has claimed it.

Not a whole helluva lot

As of late, the usual winter sickness has descended upon our house. My husband is only mildly affected, but I'm just a big bundle of head cold. I'm taking the morning off today to try to get my head dried out. Ugh.

In crafting news, I have a lot of news.... but I can't really talk about it. I've been doing a TON of crafting for The 12 Days of Christmas Swap on craftster.org. But, since my partner won't have opened all her presents until Christmas, I'm afraid I can't talk about her gifts until then.

On the dog front, Lucy is a destroyer. She's been really frustrating lately with all her chewing and ripping. She's also not really getting the whole housetraining thing, which is really upsetting. Still, we love her little goofy face and we will keep trying to train her. She is just a pup, after all.

Cats are doing well. Tweek keeps escaping but we're learning to deal with it. The girls are cuddly as ever, and of course Frodo does what Frodos do. Really no news with them. The kitties are just loveable and healthy.

Oh give me a home, where the Frodo-lo roam...

... and the Tweek, and the Mees and Eves play.

Lots of stress lately. Exactly 2 weeks until the wedding. There is no way my shawl is going to get finished with all the other crap I've been working on. Also, I have to say, I just don't want to knit on it. I want to knit socks, or a hat, or work on my sweater or something. Something different. No more lace for me right now. Just no. Maybe I'll finish it on the honeymoon. I just don't want to rush and screw it up.

I've been going through the house in an effort to de-clutter. I've started a "donate this stuff" box and my goal is to fill one box for each floor. If I can do that, then maybe I can do more later. Baby steps. There is some good news however. I finished all the laundry. ALL of it, and now I just have to put it away. That's a big relief for me. The kitchen is also clean, and the living room is making radical progress. Now if I can just convince The Boy to let me get rid of his huge eyesore of a couch, all will be well.

As for the title of this post, it's just a tribute to my sweet kitties. Their daily cuddles have been keeping me sane, and Tweek's recent hyperactivity has been keeping me entertained. Frodo is my buddy boy, always snuggling up for scritches when I get in bed. Evelyn creeps up by my head and chirps in my ear for her own scritching session. Mia splays out on my belly and purrs. And Tweek usually comes by in the morning for a short head scratch. Thanks to their efforts, and the wonderful attention from The Boy, I have to say I'm happy despite all the random stress.

For the love of a feline

Crazy Aunt Purl's cat Roy passed away yesterday. I can't explain why it affected me so much, but as soon as I read her post I started bawling. I've been reading her blog for awhile, and feel her pain so keenly through her lovely tribute to her fur baby. I look at my four furry children and I dread the day when I will be posting about them. I can't imagine loving anything more than I love these damn cats. So please, keep Laurie and Roy in your thoughts. I know I will be.

The Shame

With every passing week, it has been harder and harder to write something. I think it's the constant buildup of shame that I have neglected the blog this long. There's a good reason, though, I promise. It's called "OMG there's so much stuff to do for classes and this wedding planning thing and OMG OMG I need to find a job." They are the unholy trinity of stressors that have converged on my life all at the same time.

I haven't worked on my wedding stole AT ALL which is worrisome given how slow I knit in general. I did some primary layout work for the invitations though. I swear, those $@&#ing invitations. I thought it'd be cheaper to do it myself, but it's expensive. True, they are cheaper than similar looking invites that are done professionally, but at this point all I want to do is buy some $25 invitation kit, print 'em up, and send 'em out. I keep telling myself that the invitations will be gorgeous. I've just sort of stumbled into an ennui about the whole planning process. Ok, that's not totally true. If someone were to come take over the planning, I'd probably kick them in the shins. But seriously, I just can't wait until the actual day... and mostly because I know all the planning and the tedious little details will be done by then.

On the other side of the issue, the wedding is going to be GORGEOUS, y'all. I'm going to the cake and catering meeting next week, so I'll actually know my menu. I already know about the cake: Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate! It's my wedding and I want a chocolate cake, dammit!

The kitties are all fine. Frodo is up to his old tricks of stepping on my ribs at 3am. Tweek still destroys things. Mia is still unbearably cuddly, and Evie is still silly. Maybe I will post a purely photographic entry sometime soon. Guess I will have to go out and take some more pics.

Sore Throat Blues

Yeah, I've been sick and at home for the last few days with a wicked bad sore throat. I don't have the fever officially, but there are chills. Chills people! We're keeping a wary eye out for strep throat. I hope it doesn't come down to it, but I suspect otherwise since swallowing burns like fire.

And now, general updates from my life...

Gladys has been joined by at least 10 more sisters! So happy. No photo, since the general grumpiness of sore throat has kept me from the downstairs area in general.

I finished my first project with intarsia, but as it is a gift for a friend I cannot post photos yet. He may see!

Wedding shawl has had no progress, because of crazed school schedule, the sickness, and the gift. However I'm hoping to pick it up this weekend and do at LEAST 2 more pattern repeats. Would like to get 5 done, but hey I get distracted.

The Wedding Scrapbook is coming along nicely. After staring at the 12x12 album and feeling incredibly overwhelmed, I opted for a smaller 8x8 scrapbook and creativity was born. I will take pictures tonight if I think of it. So far, the title page, the "bride" and "groom" pages (which are mostly blank until we get photos of us from the wedding), and The Boy's "The Early Years" page is complete. Since most of our relatives will be meeting us for the first time at the wedding, I thought a few mini-biography pages would be a good idea. I'm going to include a few blank, black pages for guests to sign instead of a guestbook. I thought it would be more meaningful this way, although I am not sure how I want to do them. I don't like the idea of signatures all over the place (too high school scrapbook for my taste), but I'm not sure about how to draw the writing lines. Mom suggested finding a black pen or marker that would show up, since the guests will be signing the page with silver ink. I don't know though, so I'm considering very fine lines drawn in white pencil. Whatevs. I got ... 4 months. Holy shit, only 4 months!? Crap.

And a gratuitous cat photo:

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.

Christmas in Funky Town

Despite erratic weather patterns, we had a semi-white Christmas. The snow was sad and tired (and half melted), but it was there and that's what counts. My parents came here to spend Christmas with me and The Boy. SantaDad brought the cats a whole box (I mean like a shoebox) full of packages of treats. They, as usual, seemed to ignore most of what was going on, but Tweek ripped open a whole bag of treats before we saw it coming. So now the treat bags are hiding in the pantry, away from prying little jaws. Our Christmas tree was knocked over only a couple times, which I think is an all-time low. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the general loafing around.

It was a good haul this year too. I got a new Bernette sewing machine, an immersion blender, some bento toys, a silpat, and some bread baking books. Mom also bought me The Sims 2 Pets, which has been eating up most of my time lately. I've been cultivating my own personal musk over the last few days. It is my general tendency to take showers when I leave the house, but usually when I have no where to go I just marinate. Natural oils are good for the hair, and my skin dries out easily after bathing. But mostly I blame The Sims for the current state of funkiness.

The Sickness has now settled upon The Boy. I was pretty miserable all through the holiday season, and therefore have done any knitting (or anything productive, for that matter). And then The Boy got a fever last night, so it doesn't look like knitting is on the near horizon either. Actually, I've been going through a crafting slump. There are days when all I think about is yarn or knitting, and I can't sleep because of the visions of Bearfoote dancing around my head. But then there are times like this, where I haven't knitted and for some reason I just don't want to. The slump usually lasts a couple of months. What I need is to find a project that I'm REALLY excited about, and that should get me going again.

2006 has been pretty good to me, bringing me a wonderful man and a tweaky little kitty. 2007 is shaping up to be even better, with an engagement ring, a graduation, and a wedding. As always, I'll be posting the highlights. Until then, I'm going to go soak in a tub with my new Lush products!

Holidays and Head Colds

I know I haven't posted in awhile. I really haven't gotten anything done that is note worthy. Mostly I've been trying to purge my head of mucus, which has taken almost all of my energy. I've been planning Christmas dinner too, since my parents are coming here. It's their first Christmas at my house, so I want to make it special. Mostly I've been sitting at my computer playing World of Warcrack, with tissues and decongestants handy.

I just realized...

I've been giving primary blogging real estate to Tweek and Frodo exclusively. Only one photo of Evie and absolutely no photos of my Mia. This will not do (Also, I'm tired of working on school projects and without any photos to post of recent craft and baking work, I'm basically going to throw photos of my cats at you).

Mia:
The girly girls (Mia and Evelyn):

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

I must go stuff my face with pie now. Otherwise I'm too incredibly full and happy to care that I am not posting regularly. Just a quick update though, I'm feeling a lot better and my back is not hurting hardly at all. So all is happy.

I hypnotize you. Feeeeeeeeeed me now. You want to feeeeeeeeed me.

Oy

Well, I have gotten almost nothing done lately. Test week from hell + wicked bad head cold + excruciating back pain = no posts. It goes like this... I had all my crafting stuff piled on the guest bed, waiting to be put away in my nice, clean bookshelves. Well, I guess I worked too hard organizing because I've been laid up lately with awful back spasms and, until a few hours ago, I couldn't get out of bed. It sucked. Thanks to my amazing mother (who drove 2 hours at 3am to come take care of me), I am now able to sit up in bed. Since I'm not able to do much of anything else, I should be getting some much needed knitting done. I've missed it. The last time I went this long without knitting was when I got frustrated and had to put away all knitting for a few months.

On a different note, I've been researching some bread baking techniques for uber-high altitudes. Now that it's getting chilly, we could use a little heat in the kitchen. Our ceramic tile floors are pretty harsh on bare feet, and I've given away all the FuzzyFeet I've knitted. Must stop doing that. Bad hobbit. Bad.

Oh yeah, and I recently had a job interview. With any luck, I'll soon be employed at the local hospital doing SQL programming. Go me!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!!

Posting About Not Posting

Hey all. I have a huge database project due this week so I haven't had much to post about. I did get a little more done on the Sandy cardigan. Got one whole back panel finished and started the second. Unfortunately photos and further progress will have to wait until the database of doom is finished.

Here's a little somethin' to tide you over 'till next time...