dirty rotten cat hair!

Last week my mom was in NYC working at NYSUM (new york school of urban ministry) She works in the kitchen and they cook for the whole school and staff as well as prepare all the food that is taken out to the streets to homeless people. She probably goes about once ever 3 months or so... maybe a little less. But she loves it. And I love that she loves it.

Well, when she is gone, this thing happens.

It's like crazy. All of a sudden, the kitchen is trashed constantly. The floors become all crumby (as in boys who eat chips and other such crumbly things and drop their crumbs all over the floor). Noone takes their dirty shoes off.

And most noticeably, the cats SHED LIKE CRAZY.

or rather, the house just doesn't get vacuumed every other day...

Day 4 of her absence there was so much cat hair that I totally freaked out. I mean, I thought i was going to gag on it in my sleep and die. that's how much I was freaking out. So I busted out the vacuum, and started dusting, vacuuming, sweeping younameit. And the house was once again clean.

During this process however, I stumbled across this:



what is it?

you tell me...

and his name shall be called...

goodness me, I have forgotten all about the little poll I set up to name my fish!

I know, crazier things have never happened... what with other things to do that may be slightly more important than naming my fish... like for example BEATING MELISSA AT TETRIS!

Anyways, my fish now officially has a name... it iiiiiisssss...

STING

Thank you Andrea for the fabulous name suggestion. I loved it from the minute i read that comment... and knew no matter what happened, that would be the name for my fish in the end. However, honorable mention does go to Sally's suggestion for Kau'i which I did love... I love hawaii, and it really seemed appropriate what with the hawaiian sand and all... but alas, the fish does look like a rocker more than the island of hawaii. Therefore I have resolved to actually name Sting's house after the island of Kau'i (pronounced kah-oo-AH-ee).

I'm sorry Melissa, apparently you are the only one who thinks my fish should have been named after a PARASITE! I know you were both of those votes too... you probably logged in just so you could vote twice. I know your dirty little ways.

In other fish news, I have been having a problem of sorts. My little kitty Sophie makes a most wonderful bed buddy as she is immensely warm during these cold winter months. Plus, she is soft, and I like to pet her. However, since Sting has taken up residence in my room, all she is interested in is eating his bamboo and then ultimately him.

I have found the bamboo pulled up out of the sand twice so far even with my attempts to keep her out of there. it's sad really. she is meowing all the time and just dying for some love and attention... but she's naughty and cannot be allowed to eat my fish. or my bamboo for that matter. i think the leaves on the top of it are dying because of her carnage.



She's so stinkin evil. I'm trying to think of a way to keep her away from it whilst still being able to enjoy it as I have. Ugh. Stupid cats.

Here Kitty Kitty! (autopost)

I'm here baby! You can't get rid of me that easily now can you? I was just thinking about all the things I'll miss (but probably won't have time to miss!) while I'm down here in the land of sun... you know the one, that planet that we see in NY only 30 days a year? You remember it don't you?

Anyways, to the point of the post. I have two little kitties that I am missing a lot. They are good little cats. Here i'll tell you a little more about them.

Carina came to live with us the fall of 2001. She was a present to me because we were going through a rough time in our family and my mom thought that she would help me to be happier. Well she did. I took her with me everywhere for the first 5 or 6 weeks that I had her. She went to school with me and stayed in my car (I had a little litter pan for her and food and water... i wasn't like evil or anything, besides I think she actually liked it)

I even took her to see Monsters Inc at the movies one night. That was really hilarious. I was with a group of about 10 or 12 people and she was sleeping (like kittens do) so i put her in the front pocket of my hoodie and carried it over my arm. Noone could tell. About half way through the movie, she woke up and sat on my lap attentively watching the movie. I've never seen behaviour like this from her since.

You see, somehow she got it into her head that it's ok to be scared of EVERYTHING. Shortly after our honeymoon period, she recessed into my Grandma's apartment and conveniently lived there for approximately 5 years. The only times she would venture out would be to
A) go to the litter pan
B) eat (whilst someone was stroking her)
C) get her treat at night before my Grandma and mom would go to bed.

Rotten cat.

I loved her too much i guess...

She learned the ways of evasion and persuasion. She is an expert at avoiding capture... and has learned that if she stops eating for enough days in a row, she will eventually get someone to have pity on her and stroke her back while she finally eats. In fact, before her best friend Scamper (heretofore known as *Ralph*) died two summers back, the two of them had complimentary eating disorders. Carina was anorexic and actually lost quite a bit of weight. She absolutely REFUSED to eat unless someone was petting her. And her deceased counterpart was bulimic. He would scarf his food so quickly that he would daily puke it back up. We tried to prevent this from happening by rationing out the food, but it didn't matter how much over how long of a period... at some point he would find it in himself to toss it all up. Consequently, Ralph was actually very sick... thus the reason he is no longer with us :(

Enter Sophie.

AKA "Quintessa" standing for the "5 S's" Sophie Stegasaurus ShapeShifter Slakes. That's right folks.

We thought that since Carina had always been overshadowed by Ralph in his alpha cat role, that bringing a kitten in would cause her to "step up" as it were and claim her territory. Quite the contrary occurred. Sophie came in and quickly made it clear that THAT was not happening. She dominated from the very beginning. In fact, she has taught Carina some good habits.

For instance, eating.

Yes, Carina eats now that Sophie has come on the scene. She still begs for the occasional back rub while mauing down on her kibble but for the most part shows forth a good appetite.

All my life I have wished to have an animal sleep with me. Whether it be a cat or a dog... um, yah, I'm gonna stick with those two because as I tried to think of what else I would want sleeping with me... there weren't any animals that actually came to mind. HA! Over the years I've had a total of 5 cats and 0 dogs. The latter will remain that way too. I have come to really dislike dogs. Actually let me clarify. I don't mind them. As long as they aren't mine, and as long as they don't LICK me. I HATE THEM LICKING ME!!! Well I finally have a cat that sleeps with me. She's pretty much adorable. But I am so allergic to her as I have indeed mentioned before.

I'm at the point where I seriously think that I will have to ban her from my beddie... it's sad I know... But I can't sacrifice my days (and eyesight) for a warm fluffy being in my bed. There has to be a better way :(

So now you know about my cats. Everytime I write something about them I feel more and more like a catlady. Could this be me if I don't find a husband ASAP??!?!?!?!?!?!!!

Something MUST BE DONE!!!

for lack of a better title

Currently, I am in the process of coming up with a few posts that will "autopost" while i am away in Mexico! Somehow, i am coming up with the greatest material as a result and it's KILLING me that I am saving it for the trip.

In fact, I feel so at a loss for good things to post NOW that i don't even want to post! AHHH!!! This is just NO good.

But alas, I actually do have some things to say.

Today, I woke up with unbelievably itchy eyes. So much so that I took benadryl BEFORE 7am. My body shuts down on benadryl... I cannot keep my eyes open. But it was a risk I had to take. My eyes were really bad! I am thinking about banning the cat from now on. the allergies are just too much to handle.

So as I was with Andy, literally on the verge of passing out i was so tired, he asked if he could watch a movie. *Perfect!* So I laid on the couch while he sat next to me and I slept while he watched the movie, yay!

Then again while he was napping I took another catnap knowing that once the girls are done with school this will no longer be an option. And boy am I glad that I did! Becaaaaaause when they came home today they informed me that TODAY was the last day of school... and all this time I thought it was TOMORROW.

This is one instance I am so glad I didn't procrastinate the nap. it would have been a sad day for me :(

So that brings me to my final point here. Not that i had points to begin with, but my intent was to write about how summer has officially begun because the kids are now out of school.

So tomorrow will be the day that we do some planning. Syd is a planner and I like to sit down with her and think up fun things to do. Then we write them down in her little calendar and fill in the gaps as we go.

But for now, I need to get some sleep! It's gonna be a new day tomorrow and I am excited to see what it brings! I'll be busting out the camera too... it's been in it's bag for what like 3 days now? Unacceptable.

sophie and the fishies

Sophie joined our family a year and a half ago. She has brought so much life into our home. She has one of the most distinctive cat personalities I’ve ever come across. She has a mind of her own (of course, they all do) and she rules over all. Our other kitty, Carina, should have dominated as the alpha cat with the passing of our beloved Scamper. However, as she mourned in the wake of losing her grandmother and then Scampy, she was left ineligible for the “alpha cat” position when it was commandeered by the Sophinator.

Shortly after Soph joined us here, she found the fish tank. It’s a 45 gallon tank with two ENORMOUS gold fish, a pleco, a mini shark-like thing and other fish that come and readily die. She would sit beneath this tank and “talk” to the fishies for HOURS. Literally. Hours. A. Day.

If anyone happens to pass by as she is keeping watch at the tank, she will promptly begin circling your feet while purr meowing. This is her way of saying she would like to take a drink out of the fish tank. If we let her, she would probably drink out of the tank for a few minutes straight, but I usually get bored with it quickly, so she only gets about 30 seconds.

However, in the morning, she has developed a routine with my dad. They feed the fishies together. And if they don’t, that cat will meow and meow and run back and forth between the kitchen and the fish tank until someone comes in and feeds those dang fish. She takes very good care of them. Apparently she doesn’t know they could be her dinner.

A docile cat indeed.

no, far from it.

I have determined that a cat’s outrageousness (especially this one) is directly proportional to their owner’s insanity…although it could have something to do with all the fish water she drinks.

kiki

I have actually been intending to post this for about two days, and in fact it's been written for the last two days. I've basically been waiting for a good picture of her. i really wanted to take a picture during the daytime so that i didn't have to deal with horrible artificial light or use a flash. That's just my quirky thing. Well yesterday my mom pointed out that i was having such a hard time accomplishing this goal because i am in fact NEVER home while it is light outside! Just one of the hazards of winter i guess. But here is the post in it's entirety. Saturday has finally allowed me some beautiful light so that i could take a picture *smile!*



I have a little kitty cat whom we affectionately refer to as "kiki." However, her real name is Sophie. Add onto that the rest of her name, the complete pronunciation looks like this:

Sophie Stegasaurus Shape-Shifter Slakes

Please notice that there are 5 "S's" in her full name resulting in a shortened although not often used name. Quint"S"a. Pronounced - Quintessa.

This post, however, is not about the many names i have for my cat. It is about a certain affinity she has for living her life "outside the box." Although in this case, she was kind of in a box... but the terminology still works.

Tuesday night I was readying myself for a wonderful night of slumber and warmth by brushing my teeth when I heard her begin to "mew." Soph doesn't "mew" very often. She usually makes this audible purring sound. It's not unusual for her to run around waiting for me to go to bed as she likes to sleep with me. But it IS unusual for her to "mew." I didn't think a whole lot about it since she's always keeping me guessing. But when i had finished doing everything i had to do before bed and still had not seen her, i started to wonder where she could be. So i called her a few times and the only answer i consistently got was her pathetic mewing. I followed the sound back into the bathroom and searched for her (there aren't many places to hide in there *wink*) I finally realized that the sounds were coming from inside the wall.

My dad has been working on finishing our bathroom over the last year. It's been in working and running condition since about July or so, but there is one spot that has been neglected due to other more important things needing to be done. All of the plumbing for the tub and shower runs along the wall right outside the bathroom door and it has not yet been covered with drywall. Earlier that morning though, my dad had placed a huge sheet of drywall over the hole just until he could come up and finish it up. This happened at about 10am. I found the cat about about 9:30pm... in the hole...

PS: she is still going into the hole... i guess she is refusing to relinquish her favorite hiding place until the last possible minute. She's even been growling at my dad as he works on covering it up and she watches him from this vantage point. In case you can't tell what this picture actually is, it's actually right through the hole, past the pipes, and she is underneath the bath tub.

winter favorites

i've read a few blogs lately that are a list of "favorites." at first, i really didn't want to do it, since it'd been done, and redone... but i have been thinking lately about the things I love about the different seasons. So i decided to list out the things that i actually DO like about winter.

There are just so many days when the sun doesn't shine here that it is hard for me to think of the things that i love. But when i think about the things that make me feel warm, i start to remember what they are...



my kitty cat sleeping next to my face because it's warmer there :)

going to sleep in a nest of blankets and pillows (honestly, I would do this year round, however, it is just too warm in the summer to make that comfortable)

putting on my slippers in the morning (it helps make getting out of bed a little more bearable)

hot chocolate with coffee flavor (notice this is not coffee with chocolate flavor... i'm talking mocha EXTREME)

getting into a hott shower in the morning and finally shaking off all the cold from getting up

sitting in front of the fireplace doing varying activities... such as reading, watching tv or scrapbooking

Notice, most of these have to do with sleep, bed, resting or waking up. Winter is truly a time to hibernate for me. I am extremely reflective year round, but i hold a certain fondness for the season of winter... it seems like I have to try harder to be happy so it helps me to see the beauty all around me. I love when it snows new and all the dirty snow gets covered up and all you can see is white... yah I like that too :)