Epic Fail

Finally packed up the Christmas cards after having only sent out a handful of cards that may or may not even make it to their destinations in time. >.< Once upon I used to start them so early in the month. Now, as the years pass, I start later and later despite tha fact that now I have international addresses to mail to which require more time. And it's not that I don't want to send cards. I love getting mail so I love to share that with my friends and family. Le sigh. Maybe I'll try e-cards or something for the ones I missed....well the ones I'm able to anyway. Not all my family are net savy. :-P

Also.... I had a sorta thought that this year I might do some baking at the holiday time. I can only make two of Mom's famous cookies but, still that's two very yummy cookie/treats! But alas, finances being what they were this year, I didn;t even bother looking into buying the necessary ingredients. It's a wonder Mom was ever able to give us Christmas presents at all with the amount of baking she did and the expense of some of those ingredients! But then back then, we bought in bulk a lil at a time for months prior. Maybe next year, I'll try the same. And Nana had even offered to pay me to bake her some acorn cookies. But Mom reminded her we didn't have all the stuff and how expensive that stuff was. I think Nana offered to get the stuff. Shoulda checked with her again before it got too late I guess. Then again, maybe it's a good thing. I have soo many cuts on my hands from the cats and the day the almost broken mop pinched my fingers a few times when I was cleaning. Not to mention how dried out my hands are from the dish washing and the lack of proper moisturizing. Never was very good with that whole skin care crap. The thought of rolling buttery dough into a million balls or chocolate in the case of truffles sounds painful. Ah well....

And finally.... I wanted this month to catch up on back reading of RP characters so I could revive them after the holiday. Also, K hasn't moved in RB in months, nor have her pets. Would be kinda hard to get back into guild hunting if they're all idle and broke. :-P Still a lil time for that though.

Bleh. Next year will be better... 

This That and Everything

Been a while since I blogged...again..... Not for lack of desire or content. As I'll often have stuff (not just the latest cat related stuff too) that I want to share. But I'm usually not in front of the computer when that happens and I forget or get to tired to think straight when I do...or more often than not, I get distracted. Seriously, some days it takes twice as long to watch my shows cuz I can't just sit stil and watch (watching shows live as they air helps due to the commercial breaks :-P ).

Anywho... Catching up.... One by one, we caught all three of the remaining kttens and took them to the shelter. We're still not sure if the mother got pregnant again...still pregnant...lost the babies (God forgive us, but that's actually one of the hopes of ours)...or maybe was nevrt pregnant (the primary hope). Either way, gonna wait and see if babirs can br hrard before taking her in so we don't leave them stranded. In the new year, we'll try to catch her and Snicers. I still shoo away Tom-Dick-or-Harry. Mom says not to be mean, buy I don't want him to get used to eating here. Once the two girls are gone, that's it.  Maybe after they're gone, I'll try to catch him too.

Claening and decorating finally got finished. Decorating last week and the last bit of cleaning this week (major floor cleaning and vacuuming). And since furr wasn't all over the floors, Mom didn't have to be embarrassed and so she called the landlord (finally) about fixing the heater. Which a good thing, cuz turning on the oven to use as a heater isn't as effective at heating up the whole house.

Still behind on things I wanted to get done. >.< Like Christmas cards. So I'll be working all night to fill 'em out and take them to the mailbox up on Western to make sure they get picked up, cuz if I wait to the unpredictable mailman, it could be days. He comes everyday, but at random times and since our mail gets put into a slot on our wall with no place to leave out going mail, I won't risk them getting left behind or falling to the ground.

Dad got a new keyboard for his iPad so I get his barely used "old" one, which I am using right now since I haven't gotten up from movie watching in my room to go turn on the computer. Tis really handy. :-D May even make blogging on the fly a little easier.  We'll see. :-P

I started thinking about my old vampy occupations... And so have others. RB folk asked if I still did the whole guild hunting and list compiling thing and I realized I really missed that. The whole race to get all the guild locations and post them before anyone else...trying todo it without needing to include other people's sightings wass a fun challenge. Also, from RB and other RP vampy games and forums folks have been asking if I wanted to revive the caharacters I had in each respective game/forum... And yes I want to. But at the same time I've been out of that head space for sooo long, I don't know if I remember how to "be" those characters anymore. I do miss it, sso I will try. Can't hurt to try right?

Eggnog Ice Cream and Pumpkin Pie

Holiday season means holiday treats and fun. :-) Like eating eggnog ice cream and pumpkin pie while watching a holiday movie Saturday. Like wearing reindeer antlers and Christmas light (non operational) or jingle bell earrings and watching people smile or giggle or whatever. In a week or so, I'll be in full holiday get up with my ginormous Santa hat and bell necklace. I'm starting to pay attention to when the holiday movies are on and planning on watching some of the old favorites I own. I don't watch EVERY single one anymore....yeesh, that's be almost impossible if not completely sickening cuz some of them are utter crap. :-P

Anywho... Sunday, Dad and I hung out again for our usual Sunday fun. Breakfast at our place with my Greek omelette.... Dollar tree for stuff I don't need need (but mostly useful :-P )... Best Buy for MIB3. :-) ... Then back to Dad's house to just chillax. I don't remember if we watched anything specific or just whatever was on TV. But it was just nice to simply hang out. Of course between losing track on hanging out and Dad's comp not cooperating when he was trying to check something real quick slowed our departure down. We stopped at Food 4 Less WAY later than usual so no broccoli cheese soup from Subway was out of the question, since they were closed before we even made it to the market. Dad left my house soooooo late. Heck, if he'd stayed a smidge longer, Mom would have been up and taking her morning shower (she gets up at 2:30-3:00a.m.). :-P

Monday night I started the thorough cleaning process. I keep letting myself get distracted so it's taking longer than it should...slowly but surely all will be clean and halls will be decked by Friday.

Tuesday, I woke up way later than intended and even though Dad had the day off, we still didn't leave the house until the usual time. Le whoops? Okay... no whoops... My fault entirely. We got the new Batman movie. :-) Looking forward to seeing that. Mom made brownies (at my request) after she got off work so Dad could have some fresh brownies (we'd given him some of the last batch a day or two later). He said they tasted good with eggnog ice cream. Must try that sometime. :-)

Today? Er... Yeah.. Still trying to get my butt in gear. Gonna start a load of laundry in a minute and finish the dusting of the living room before pulling out the decorations, while watching TV Christmas movies of course. Most of the time consuming dusting and putting away was done on Monday, so at least there's that. I think I can handle two end tables and changing the covers on the futon thing. Man I wish we had a real and proper couch.

TTFN

Happy Change of Plans :-D

Okay, I'm trying something new. I'm writing this from my iPad while sitting here at Dad's. I don't think I'll do it very often even if I am a little faster at typing on this qwerty keypad than I thought I would be.

By the fact that I am here at Dad's should let ya know cleaning plans were not carried out. Bad me. Took lomger to clear out my e-mail accounts than I'd intended and then talked to Dad who suggested we get together... As I was out out of the kids dry food and I usually pick it up when I'm with Dad at Wal-Mart (we don't have one in Pedro and Target stopped carrying that brand), he asked if I wanted to get together...as if I'd ever say no, well without a VERY good reason. :-P Cleaning plans pushed to Monday or tomorrow if Dad's not up to playing two days in a row.

Today was part play and large part errands. I woke late but that just meant no per-pick-up comp time. :-P First errand: water run. Loaded five five-gallon bottles into his car and headed to the donut/water refill shop. I could ask Mom but she only thinks of her convenience when it comes to parking and is not always as skilled to park with the back hatch in the right spot. Also, she can't help me unload the car. Meh. So we got water and dropped it off real quick before heading towards Dad's part of the world. A bank run, the Wal-Mart trip for cat food and treats and hand sanitizer (have I mentioned Mom's massive hand san addiction?), then to Sam's Club for the French bread pizzas Mom and I love so much and bologna. And the final stop (before going to Dad's that is) was to grab grub.

Anywho, we unloaded the car of the freezer stuff, ate while watching a TV holiday movie, and now we're playing with our tech toys while catching up on some shows he had on his DVR.

Oh! Not that I could watch it as we don't pay for Cinnamax, but it turns out there's like six episodes of Hunted available On Demand. But for a moment I thought, oh cool I can watch that show Ah tee eM blogged about. Ah well. :-P

Two Remain and Some Plans

This morning I stayed up later than intended and Mom and I ended up hearing Espresso crying outside in the rain even though everyone got breakfast earlier. Mom felt bad and told me to catch her. As I was not fully awake, I didn't argue.....something I probably would have done considering the poor kitten would be trapped in the carrier, crying, until Mom got off work and I woke up ifn I ended up going to bed. I trapped her the same way I did Inkblot, by first trapping her inside the house (just inside the entryway) and then nudging her into the carrier. There was food, not that she was hungry for it after all the panic and scaring. I put a towel in with her so she didn't freeze and with my hand reaching in I even tried to dry her off some. Mom got off work for a bit, so we could take her to the shelter. Good thing too. Poor thing kept crying and I had to sit there and shush her or sooth her while trying to stay awake. Anywho. That was the last kitten. Just the mom (who is hopefully NOT pregnant >.< ), Snickers (who technically belongs to a neighbor), and technically Tom-Dick-or-Harry but we don't feed him. If we catch the mama, we gotta make sure newer kittens aren't abandoned somewhere. Mom can't tell anymore if she's pregnant. Bad as it sounds, we kinda hope she miscarried if she was pregnant at all. And Snickers....well as she was a shelter cat to begin with she may end up back here if she's chipped and they call her stupid owner.

Anywho.... Time to get busy. Tonight's goal (now that I'm not incapacitated by a monster headache like yesterday) will be to put crap away, dust EVERYTHING, change the sheets and pillow cases on the futon couch thing, and FINALLY put all the DVDs away properly (seriously... getting as bad as Dad with stacks and stacks of new DVDs with no homes or old ones that aren't re-shelved when done viewing :-P ), I may even get crazy and dust inside the hutch.....those glasses and things haven't been dusted since we moved here. >.< Tomorrow's goal will be to vacuum and hang the masks Nana brought a while back (we have a nice sized collection already!). And then..... Monday the start of Christmas decorating! YAY!!!!

Updates?

Okay... So, I filled ya all in on the stray cat sitch.... And even though most of my readers (cuz I have sooo many :-P ) already know, I'll share other recent events anyway! :-P

Hmmm.... Let's seee.... Sundays were spent with Dad as usual, except this last one cuz he was sick and I told him to stay home. I vaguely remember thinking there was something particularly funny I wanted to share about the 11th, but it's gone now. :-( But they're pretty routine.....Breakfast at Huff's family restaurant for a very nummy Greek omelette and friendly staff... Goofing off and buying stuff we don't need at the Dollar Tree across the lot. :-P Then, the occasional trips to Wal-Mart, Costco, and/or Sam's Club for needed items and more fun and silliness. Then off to Dad's for a movie. Let's see. The last movie or two we watched.... The Amazing Spider-Man! :-D And The Raven. I enjoyed both films. I actually kinda wish I'd snagged The Raven too, but I reckon I can always borrow Dad's copy ifn I wanna watch it again.

Tuesdays as always are spent at Target followed by a trip to Fantastic Cafe to pick up grub. Again, I can't remember specifics, but it does seem like A LOT more laughing took place in the most recent trips. Dad's silly and funny and that's kinda why I like doing the weekly shopping with him. He makes even the most boring errand fun. :-D

One week we took Hazelnut in...blah blah... Another we packed all four of our babies into the one carrier and took them to the vet for dundun duuuhh..... Deworming shots. Joy. Mom spotted specs coming out of MiniMe and we weren't gonna wait til it spread. I think we probably caught it earlier than when we'd adopted Pixie. Outsiders always bring in such fun stuff..... >.< That was not financially fun, but we were able to cover the damage. We realized we will NEED a second carrier. Oreo and Pixie (SEVENTEEN POUNDS!!!!) in one carrier is weakening the handle and super heavy to carry. All four? Oy. Yeah... So before they all need to go back, I would like a new carrier. We can put one adult and one kitten in each to offset the weight. Oreo's not too heavy, though now that he's over his cold, he's eating better again...

Turkey Day. We've long since stopped doing anything special. And since family doesn't visit Nana as much anymore she doesn't make a meal all the time. She did make Pecan Pies though....That's the important part anyway. :-P We killed it in a few days of course, which I think shows remarkable restraint. :-P Dad was sick, not that we would have gotten together that day anyway. That is to say we haven't in the past. But I imagine it didn't help what is usually not a happy happy joy joy day for him anyway. Surprisingly, it was a pleasant day for Mom and Nana. Nana got lured in to watch a movie that was on HBO while here and then Mom popped in a DVD when that one ended. :-) Popcorn and movies. It was nice. :-D

This past Sunday was quiet. Just hung out at home and caught up on some shows. Got to watch a few of my shows live (vs on tape or On Demand later). Gotta say it was weird to be home on a Sunday. It'd been a quite a while since Dad worked a Sunday and couldn't play with me. :-P Still it was a nice day.

Mom's actually been out quite a bit in this last month. She of course had her usual monthly doctor's appointment a week or so ago....and a quickie trip to the pharmacy before that all by herself cuz I was sleeping. :-P She had an eye doc trip Monday which she had to go to alone. :-P I think this was the month she had a special injection, so Dad had to drive her and I had hand holding duty til they put her under.... And it wasn't all med stuff... Mom and I went to TWO movies this month. Gasp! We used her work rewards tickets to go see Silent Hill 2 after work. Twas disappointing and I wish we'd saved the tickets for better. But the outing was fun. We read in the lobby (she's re-reading the Twilight series to me :-) ) and pigged out on theatre food since we didn't have to pay for tickets. And we were almost the only ones in to see that movie as it was almost out of the theatres. :-P The other movie was a bit of an adventure. Mapquest got us lost. We went to a nicer Regal theatre than the one closest to us. We probably shoulda waited until it was not so new so I could use my free ticket (with restrictions), but it turned out to be okay... After asking for two tickets to see the new Twilight movie, the guy said, "$12." I asked, "For two, right." Movies before noon (at least on weekdays, we don't know about weekends) are only SIX bucks! And as it was the day after Turkey Day, the place wasn't terribly crowded at first showing. heck, I don't even remember anyone even sitting in our row. :-P We liked the movie. :-D

Wow.... this is way longer than I intended... Babbling... Yay....

Anywho.... Bestest for last. I got to see Issi on Monday! Oh and Ah tee eM too. :-P Issi had a rental car, so we were free to go wherever. And man I gotta seriously find something to do in my stupid town for the next friend visit. Geesh. Visited Mickey's town, watched as they played with what used to be "baby" Chase. I'm not a kid person, but even I gotta admit that smallfry is cute. :-P Cuter still to watch Ah tee eM turn into a big kid to play with him. Hehe. We ate at BJ's and I was almost tempted to try a different Pizookie flavor. Maybe next time. Back at her house we played on the Wii (FUN!) and watched an episode of the new Sherlock Holmes show, which reminds me, I gotta add it to the Netflix queue.

I'm sure other stuff I wanted to share happened, but I've forgotten it now. And I've babbled enough.

Three to go....

Today I caught another of the kittens. Not that I blogged about the last capture. I have a bad habit of forgetting the things, be they events or discussion topics, I want to write about by the time I'm sitting in front of the computer. Maybe I should just attempt it with the iPad. But meh. I don't really like the Qwerty keypad or Qwerty like keypad that all these mobile devices have. Not that I type with my hands on the correct keys, but I do know where most of the letters are without looking using the 2-3 fingers on each hand in wannabe correct position.... Meh. Babbling already. A sure sign I'm probably too tired to type this, but I'll blame it on the serious headache I had most of the night.

ANYWHO! Last week I was able to catch Hazelnut, the other calico kitten in the litter. I almost had her and one of the black and whites but when I tried to shove a third kitten in, both black and whites escaped. Tried catching the mother, too, but Mom made me rush it and I closed the door on the carrier while Spumoni still had room to get out. But that was last week. Had to take some time off so the kittens had a chance to forget the trauma. The shelter's open 24/7 for drop offs and Mom says to wake her if I can catch em.....but I still try during hours she's already awake or close enough to.

Today I caught Inkblot. Which is good cuz he/she keeps staring inside ALL day long, slowly breaking Mom's heart. The fact that it's been raining doesn't help us feel any better about them being out there. So after SEVERAL attempts, two lengthy ones today alone, I finally caught him/her. I actually sat near the carrier with the front door open to it for what felt like an hour each try. I feel bad though. In the end, I had to lure both the kittens in with toys and while distracted I closed the screen door. Espresso slipped under the door, but Inkblot was trapped....had no where to go but in the carrier or over it and I was leaning over it.... Poor thing was doubly panicked. First when the screen door was shut and then when I scooped him/her into the carrier and we drove her to the shelter. It was so scared they had to get her out with one of those catching claw things. :-( But at least it's indoors and hopefully warmer than our porch and getting fed better maybe..... Yeah we're running low on dry food so I told Mom not to give the strays any dry til we get more.

Just gotta catch Espresso, the last kitten....Spumoni, hopefully before she delivers.....and Snickers, who being a shelter rescue is VERY wary of the carrier..... Then, hopefully, NO MORE STRAY CATS! Yeah, right. As if Mom could ever turn them away. And if I refuse, she'll just do it herself and she overfeeds. >.< But apart from those three and Tom-Dick-or-Harry, who we don't feed cuz he mounted the kittens a coupled times, I haven't seen other cats in the neighborhood. Maybe we'll get a break from the Kitty Cat Cafe biz that started waaaaay back in Long Beach. >.<

AdventurousFish

Today (er yesterday, since it's past midnight now), I went to play with Sarah. I actually asked Mom to give me a ride this time for two reasons.....being a shorter trip than usual, time was limited, and being a Saturday, busing would be so time consuming that I'd have to leave at the crack of dawn. Usually I bus to her and don't mind the two and a half to three hour ride (several buses) and then ask Mom or Dad to pick me up. Between making a stop at the bank in the wrong direction and Mom not wanting to take the two main freeways to get to Sarah's neck of the woods, the trip took almost a half hour longer than it should have. :-P But Mom made up for it by agreeing to take Sarah and me to our first stop: BJ's. Mom was invited but with little heads up, Mom wasn't dressed for the occasion. :-P

Mini pizzas, pizzookies, LOTS of chatter (mostly on my end), and nearly choking on my food from laughing too hard all made for a great start to our day. I gotta remember to set aside half my pizza or not drink so much water with the meal next time. We always end up doing lots of walking....something that is easier done when not so full. But I'm sure I've had that thought before and will probably forget next time I go out with Sarah.

After a few, we headed out to the bus stop. I counted out $1.50 in nickels. :-P This kinda bugs the bus drivers, but I have lots of loose change that I never use except for bus trips. I brought two bucks in nickels and five in dimes. At the end of the day, I only had fifteen dimes left. Actually less, cuz one was a Canadian dime I gave to Sarah and one I dropped on the bus and refused to try and search for it.

I brought Josh's old camera with me so we could take pictures at the park. I really need a newer aka less bulky  camera and also this one doesn't zoom as well as I thought it did. But meh. Something is better than nothing. We had hoped to explore a previously closed of section, but alas it was still closed. I entertained myself with a stick, I turned into an odd looking wand. We both took some pics of the various water birds in the lake/pond thing in the middle of the park and the very brave squirrels. Walked down some different paths and across mini bridges we hadn't noticed last visit. So that was nice. Also, the cool temps in general made it a real nice day to be at a park. But since we explored all we could in an hour, we decided to go back to another park. More silliness, photo shoots, and lots of walking. :-) My legs hate me for that last bit, but it was really good to be out walking in such nice scenery.

At one of the bus stops, either to one of the parks or to her mom's place, I was using the zoom on the camera to see if the bus was getting closer. A few of the cars heading towards us thought I was taking pics and started waving as they drove by. :-P I didn't see them myself, but I still found it funny when Sarah pointed it out.

Anywho, we kinda chillaxed at her mom's while waiting for my Dad who got kinda lost thanks to Mapquest and him not following his usual route. But Sarah got him straightened out with the aid of Google Maps. :-)

Now that I've stalled to do the kitchen long enough....sore legs and tiredness and all that jazz.... I better go so I can go mimi and wake up for the Daddy Daughter Day fun. :-)

Here Goes....

Okay. I've tried writing three or four times about what's going on here and each time I either got too sleepy to continue and make any sense or I got distracted...probably by one of the furry ones I was gonna write about. I've since forgotten some of the details, but then you didn't really want to know the blow by blow did ya? :-P

Torture First

Two and a half weeks ago, we finally did it. We lured two of the kittens in during breakfast feeding time by snatching them when they stuck their heads under the partially opened screen door to get at the food. MiniMe was easier. Kumquat who'd been caught once before got wise, but the draw of food brought him in reach anyway. We had an early appointment at the vets to get them checked but they remained in the carrier for a couple hours with little to munch on. I don't remember if they cried during the drive the way Oreo and Pixie do.

Vet said they were 3-4 months and pretty well fed. So HA to my mother who insists on telling me to feed them more and when she feeds them overfeeds leaving plenty of food for the flies. >.< No worms. No FIV or leukemia. Whew. Vet techs said they were a lil too mean (scared) to risk bathing them...couldn't put themselves at risk. Le sigh. Mom and I tackled the chore ourselves. Poor babies. Bathed with real wet water and then dosed with flea meds. The did have stick-tight fleas? We did see some of them while bathing and got them off but we trusted the flea meds to do the rest as the vet said it'd kill em.

Then as if that weren't torture enough.... We quarantined them in the laundry room for a few days while flea meds did their job and to ensure they figured out the litter box and to allow them to slowly acclimate to being inside. But I visited them often and played with them.

New Home and New Family

Oreo, of course, accepted the new babies immediately. He wasn't as loving with them as he was with Pixie, but then she was alone and these two have each other. Pixie still gets jealous, but she's very recently accepted them as well. She gives them love...sometimes... and started playing with them this week! :-D The kittens have gotten used to the house and apart from bedroom closets (even though they're always left open) go anywhere and everywhere. They even sleep on our beds with the older babies or me. :-) Kumquat even tried to jump onto the hutch (from the table nearby) but was unsuccessful....I missed it, but Mom says he leapt and smacked right into the glass door and slid down very cartoon style. Live and learn, I guess, cuz he hasn't tried again.

(And there I go getting distracted by the kittens again... :-P )

Every morning the two of them (and now sometimes Pixie) run all over the living room and house in general, but mostly the front room, and chase each other and tumble over each other. It's hilarious. They knock over their "playhouse" (a series of tunnels and cubes we had for Oreo and Pixie), run up and down the couch and knock over the pillows there, and they seem to throw their own bodies at each other and onto the floor with such loud thuds for such tiny creatures. :-P I call it the Morning MiniMe and Kumquat show.

Other News

Mom noticed Spumoni looked pregnant again sometime towards the end of last week or this weekend. >.< Makes me feel guilty. Originally the plan was to take the two inside and the rest to the shelter over the following week. But between the torture sessions and Mom's increasing back and neck pain, we never made it. But Mom's doing better and now with the news we've decided to try and catch her ASAP. Well all of them, but her sooner if we can help it. Actually, all the girls.

There's a dark grey and white cat I jokingly call Tom-Dick-or-Harry and who we think is the probably daddy. At first he was too skiddish to feed. And lil by lil he started coming closer and begging with the rest of the family. Should have listened when we noticed Oreo did NOT like him and got super territorial. Last night Dad and I noticed Tom mounting Inkblot, one of the other kittens. >.< So yeah. We're gonna try and take in ALL the females and I am so NOT feeding Tom again. In fact, last night I shooed him away by spraying water in his direction. At least Snickers is safe. The family in general don't like her and she was a shelter rescue (even though the dumb family who adopted her don't take care of her) and so she was probably fixed before being adopted. We'll take her in too though. Before it gets cold.

Mom had her monthly doctor appointment a couple weeks ago and she got some shots to make her feel better, but also made an appointment for stronger injections.... they had to put her under just to give them to her. Her back feels much better. She said before she felt like every movement made her scared that it would go out again. Her neck still hurts but not as bad. And now her wrist hurts from what she thinks was catching herself wrong when she almost tripped the other day. Oy.

Next weekend we MAY go to Sea World, courtesy of Nana. Nana asked for a ride to San Diego to go to some school thing for one of Uncle David's kids. They have it every year I guess and she always says no, so she's making the token visit now. :-P Mom said sure. Nana worried we'd be driving too much if we dumped her and came home only to have to come back to pick her up later. (Mom's still not speaking to Uncle David for his lack of comforting during...so yeah.) But Mom joked that we'd just go to Sea World and Nana said she wanted to go! :-P So now I guess the plan is to drop Nana off, have breakfast in the area and pick her up and go to Sea World. We'll see if it really happens. :-P Can't tell ya how many times the three of us were going to Disneyland for Christmas decor. :-P Oh, that was suggested too...for her birthday in early January.

Oh, I guess I should mention yesterday was election day... Blah blah blah... I completely ignored any and all political crap as much as was possible...despite continually commenting on this or that. Ick.

And finally.... ALL my friends are coming for visits so this month and next should be extra fun. :-D Weeee!

Spoiled

Last night was our weekly Target Tuesday trip. Among the new DVD/Blu-ray releases was Cinderella. Dad had just picked up a copy and we were walking away when two women were discussing which one to buy. Dad explained the differences in the options. These re-releases of Disney classics tend to come in three options. DVD/Blu-ray combos, Blu-ray/DVD combos, and Blur-ray/DVD/Digital Copy....the first two being a difference on the box size that the same discs come in. :-P AnyWHO... Dad told the woman about the digital copy thing for use on iTunes friendly devices. She thought that was great since she was getting her daughter an iPad too. The daughter's age was mentioned.....three....  Wow.

So as we were walking away, I whispered to Dad that I thought that girl was going to grow up so spoiled. :-P He replied that if funds had been available at the time I might have been too. :-P I am well aware of how spoiled I am...even if that spoiling started later in life. :-P

I told the story to Mom and she thought maybe the child was already that tech savvy and that had she known of our tech savvy-ness she might have done the same thing. I, being non child friendly, do not know at what age such an expensive gift should be given....but as they make child friendly versions of tablets would probably start the kids on those. :-P iAnthings are expensive. :-P

Scratch That....

The plan WAS to catch and home Kumquat one day and catch the others the next before they noticed anything amiss. Mom, however, neglected to tell me her back was out enough to prevent us to go through with the second half of that plan. She said she wouldn't be able to help... the only help I was gonna have her do was close the carrier door after I drop a kitty in. She said she wouldn't be able to drive. Okay. It was a short drive, but better safe than sorry I guess... But still, now we have them for another week. Had to buy more cat food. HOPEFULLY, she'll be better this weekend. Cute as they are, the longer they're here the more attached I get. And let's face it, I'm already attached. And there's the whole cost of feeding that many cats thing... adds up fast.

One of the kids from Kumquat's new home told me they let Kumquat outside... that it was "okay" and playing in their neighbor's yard. I turned around and saw him/her on my porch with the others. >.< Really? I go through the trouble of catching the little bugger and you let him out???? Freaked me out when I caught him the first time, trying to do it quick and gentle before K squirmed away or I hurt him/her and worrying I'd traumatize the kitten or anger the mama. So now I have to catch Kumquat again. The question is... do I give him/her back or take it to the shelter with the others?

You know, the wife asked when it would be safe to let it out. Said they wanted it to be an indoor/outdoor cat. I warned her that there were cats with Feline HIV around and not to let it go outside. She said OK. New kitty owners, they didn't know and now they do. I figured that was that. They seem like nice people. But if they're not gonna listen and K's just gonna be another "rescue" that I end up having to feed, I'm thinking maybe their home's not a good fit. We'll see. If Mom's back is willing, Saturday is shelter trip day. So I have til then to decide what to do with Kumquat....or wait to see if they come and ask about him/her. For now, it's out in the bed box with the siblings.

One down... Six to go....

Okay... So I usually just shove the food plates (up to three now for mama and her babies to share) under a partially opened screen door so I don't have to go outside and they're right there to bring in when the kids finish. I TRY to do this quickly so Spumoni doesn't take a swipe at me or the kittens don't end up inside. Wednesday, I wasn't so quick at dinner time. Kumquat wound up on the wrong side of the door and while I tried shoving her back under (as I've done with others in the past) he/she was just too far in to  be scooched back under. I had to pick him/her up and for a moment I thought, of course I catch Kumquat now...when I don't know if the neighbor who wants him/her is awake or out or what. Kumquat squirmed some and I opened the door and put him/her outside so he/she could eat with the others. Ah well.

Yesterday (Thursday), Mom said we had to try and take the babies in soon. We've both been saying that for a couple weeks now. :-P But after I told her what had happened, I guess she really wanted to try. I called the shelter about available hours for drop off and walked to the neighbor's house to see when they were around and what was too late. Met the wife as the hubby was out at some fight thing. She seemed nice and I heard her tell the kids they "might get the kitty after all" as I was walking back home. :-)

Tonight (Friday), I planned to try and recreate the feeding trap from Wednesday. :-P But I ended up just grabbing a straw and partially opening the door to play with the kittens for a while until I could lure the right one under the door. Wow, can these babies squirm. I ended up having to put her in a shopping bag (reusable not plastic) or I'd have lost my hold on him/her. I scooped Kumquat up, dropped him/her into the bag, and put on shoes all as quick as I could. The other kittens and mama were outside still expecting dinner and not totally freaking that one of them was missing. Whew. So I successfully caught one and delivered him/her to their new home. Hubby and kids weren't there, they'd already left for pet supplies! :-D I hope all goes well for them. :-) But if not, at least hubby will be responsible and take it to the shelter if for some reason the family and kitten don't do well. Least I think he will as he had offered to help me catch the others to take to the shelter. Wife seemed nice. Seriously, these folks are the nicest neighbors I've met since living here. Too bad all the rude, noisy, and jerky ones are the ones that live in the closest houses and the nice ones are some houses away. Ah well.

Now the plan is to catch the whole family at breakfast feeding, using food to lure them into the carrier or inside where I can close the door and close off space to make it semi easier to catch by hand. Shelter is open 24/7 for drop offs. I hope we can catch them all, but at least the babies. Once they're all gone, I'll worry about catching Snickers. She has an owner, technically. But that useless mother and her children clearly don't deserve to be pet owners. Poor thing was rescued from a shelter only to be neglected by that family. Anywho!

I actually prayed for success in the catch Kumquat plan. I expected a lot more squirming and fight. He/she bit the husband when he tried to catch him/her before. I expected the kittens to get scared and scramble and the mama to cry and hiss and generally hate me. But they were just focused on getting their dinner when I got back. And then the fact that the family had already gone out to get supplies before I even delivered the kitten.... Praise God, I do believe tonight's prayer was answered. :-) I've also prayed the morning capture goes well.  God willing, Spumoni, Inkblot, Hazelnut, MiniMe, and Espresso will all be at the shelter and maybe even adopted next adoption day. Though, Lord knows, Mom and I would love to take in even just two of the kittens. As with Oreo and Pixie, when we need another, another will come.

Real Life Invading Dreams... :-P

I hate it when I have a really awesome dream with an interesting story line and then wake too suddenly to remember anything more than the feeling of its awesomeness or what little I do remember is nothing more than a silly detail that would otherwise have been ignored.

Last night I was having a cool sci-fi-y dream. I can't remember what the folks were doing in space on a space station or large space ship. Investigating or discovering something I remember thinking was really interesting. But two brothers or friends were on leave for the weekend and were teleported back to Earth or maybe an Earth-like colony. A whole cool space-y dream and most of what I recall comes from the tale end of the dream with these two boys. Oy. And even then details are fuzzy aside from the younger of these two young guys falling asleep at a party and resting his head on.... and this is the detail that made everything else go fuzzy cuz it was so funny.... resting his head on MY stuffed Mickey Mouse....the one I've had since I was 15-16 years old, with it's flopping ears sewn on cuz they tore and all... :-P Some girl at the party covered him with a blanket and that's where I woke up.

The Mickey thing made me laugh when I got up and I forgot everything else about the dream. Which is a shame cuz now I want to know what they were doing in space that was soooo interesting! Le sigh. I wish I had perfect dream memory cuz some of my dreams are so awesome I would love to write them down and turn them into stories. Ha! As if I had the focus to actually stick with writing an actual story. I can't even focus long enough to write an RP post these days. :-P

Cat Costs

Okay. It's time to seriously think about taking the cats into the shelter. I mean that was the plan anyway, but time to actually try catching the cats. The cost of feeding seven strays is starting to add up. We;re going through the canned wet food sooo fast, and we're still not feeding them enough I think as they are still super thin. Should have looked for a bulk supply when Dad and I were at Sam's Club. Definitely going to look for some this weekend.

In the mean time, I keep trying to gain their trust so they don't flee from me when I'm on the same side of the screen door as them. :-P They're fine so long as I'm sticking plates outside from under the door, but once I'm outside they keep their distance. The distance is less and less, but still not close enough for me to grab them. Well not for most of them. MiniMe and Hazelnut are braver or don't care so long as I'm playing with them. Mom tossed one of those feathers on a stick toys. It's got a bell on it, so we can hear them playing with it all night long. :-P But Hazelnut LOVES it the most and will risk close proximity with me just to play with it even when I'm holding it. I've even managed to pick him/her up for all of a few seconds...he/she's quick to squirm free! And tonight MiniMe let me pet him/her for a second before realizing what I was doing and backed away. :-P

Right now we've got an old litter box (our kids use a bigger one now) on the porch with old rags and things for bedding. It's cute to see the five kittens all snuggling inside. When I try and get close to them, I usually try luring them there so it's a smidge easier to grab them. If I weren't worried about ants, I'd leave the cat carrier outside to make catching them easier. Oddly enough the ant problem hasn't been a problem even with all the extra cat feedings and lack of ant prevention (cuz I can never get out there when the cats aren't on the steps or don't want to expose them to the chemicals at their young age). But I keep thinking the moment I assume it's safe is the moment the ants will start crawling all over the porch and steps again and anything on it. When it is time to take them in, I'll have to either catch them by hand and drop them into the carrier while Mom stands guard or ready to close the carrier door OR lure them into the carrier with bait and be ready to close them in. Ideally, I'd like to catch all seven cats, not all at once of course. Snickers and the lil family would have to be separate trips or they'd shred each other or me for even attempting. But hopefully I can catch all the babies and the lure the mama (cuz no way will she let me grab her) in one  go. Kumquat would be delivered to the neighbor and the others to the shelter.

If it weren't so expensive to get them tested and treated, we'd probably take them all in, or at least one or two of them. As is, the shelter may charge us for dropping them off as technically they're our cats since we feed them. Least we don't have to worry about TomDickorHarry (the cat I think  is the daddy since mama and kids aren't afraid of him) since he doesn't trust me at all and runs when I just walk up to the screen door. Hopefully, when/if we get them all to the shelter, no one else will show up. But I had that thought when we left Norwalk too.... Le sigh. Stupid Oreo advertising about us feeding strays.

ANYWHO! On a more positive financial note..... In a few months I should be able to pay off another credit card! That'll leave the Care Credit card that gets used for the vet trips, student loan, and two bigger cards that er um have been left delinquent. But with one down, I'll look into getting one of those into some sort of reasonable payment plan. Either way, two credit cards paid off this year! Yay! :-D

K.... time to go do dishes and kitty feedings (indoor).

Too Much TV?

Yesterday I woke from what I'd consider a really cool dream but Mom thinks I'm weird. :-P I guess I watch too much TV. I take that back. I don't guess. I KNOW I watch way too much TV. I mean I sit down and plan the recording schedule for the week so Mom and I don't miss anything.....And yet, Dad manages to record more than the two of us combined. :-P

ANYWHO! I think my dream was sort of a cross between BBC's Being Human and AMC's The Walking Dead. I was seeing from the point of view of one of the humans travelling with a growing group of surviving humans and a werewolf. We came across some facility where a vampire had been hiding out until we arrived. Of course his fresh blood supply was gone, though no one asked what that supply was (animal or human). So he had to get out and find a new place just like the rest of us. I, or the person I was seeing out of, got cut climbing into the pick up truck the little band were fleeing in and the vampire caught the scent. He did his best to resist.... And then I was actually me and not in someone else and the driver wasn't some random driver but my Dad. We kept ahead of the zombies okay, but the vampire was starting to worry me. Next thing I knew we were all scrambling out of the truck and splitting up. I took off without even waiting for Dad. Sorry DAD! But ya know when a vamp has your scent, ya don't stick around! :-P At some point I met up with Mom and had to explain why I'd run off without Dad who was with her anyway.

I think my dream was about to take an even more bizarre twist "V" style, but I woke with a phone call and realized I was running REAL late. All that running (dreaming and lateness :-P) gave me a monster leg cramp. Crazy, cool dream.... :-P Too bad I woke too rushed to remember more of the details.

Kittens and Kids

Terry (the neighbor who wants Kumquat) and Caleb (his son) are actively trying to catch the kitten now everyday. Unfortunately, Caleb has a tendency to be too noisy and or fast and ends up scaring the kittens. Last night Terry even brought a bowl of sardines in hopes of appealing to the kitty. :-P It's amusing sometimes. I just hope he or I can catch him soon before all the kitten hunting traumatizes him/her too much. Apparently Terry had Kumquat in hand this morning but got bit. Le whoops?

Practically all the kids (particularly the girls) in the neighborhood are all gaga over the kittens and sometimes even step into my yard to grab them without even asking! I mean if they're gonna adopt, fine. Well not fine, not the run and grab part cuz that just scares them. But oh hey never mind come on into my yard without asking. Sure why not! And what ya all wanna run up and try and grab the kittens like a herd of cattle? Sure.... The kittens won't mind. I'm sure they'll run right up to you! >.<  Seriously. As if it weren't bad enough that I have to stand out there and keep guard while Snickers (one of the old regular strays) eats cuz she keeps getting run off by the mama and her babies, but now I have to referee the brats in the neighborhood? And the younger ones here can barely speak English..or at least barely speak it properly so I just loooove it when they talk to me. So not a kid person.... Soon as Kumquat is adopted, I think I'll try and catch the lot and just take them to the shelter so I can be rid of the kid problem! I mean we were gonna do that before too long anyway. But ugh!

I think if I ever end up living on my own, I'll look for a kid free apartment. It's a shame really. It was a quiet neighborhood when we first moved here. Damn kids had to grow up into noisy monsters.

Whooooo!

One of the neighbors wants to adopt Kumquat, the orange kitten. Hopefully he or I can catch the little fur ball so he can take it home. :-) The kittens are getting braver. They don't flee as far when I'm outside with them. Trying to get them used to me and somewhat socialized so they're more adoptable. Kumquat, Inkblot, and Hazelnut are ALWAYS around for meal time and still act starving when I feed the other ones. :-P Bottomless pits, the lot of them! Kumquat and Inkblot play much rougher than the others. It's fun to watch or referee when they make each other squeal. Silly kitties. Ah if only we were in a place to take the whole family in. :-P We'd truly be the crazy cat ladies. :-P

ANYWHO....

BBC America's been airing a Doctor Who marathon since yesterday. Season 5 yesterday and season 6 today. Even though I have 6 on DVD (except the Christmas episode which they stupidly sold separately!) I've watched more of it than I did 5 which I only have a sort of okay recording of. :-P Ah well, 5 I've seen more times in reruns and previous marathons anyway. Later, I'll watch the DVDs...or at least the second half of season 6 and then I'll watch the season 7 Christmas episode on TV before..... the new episodes!!!!! Weeeee.... Sonic Screwdriver in hand, I am soooo ready for new Doctor Who episodes! :-)

I think it's funny how they advertise for the new seasons as the season "where everything changes." It's the Doctor! When doesn't everything change? :-P Oy! And hopefully they ditch that lame ass intro with Amy telling her story. Seriously. Anyone who doesn't know the story, doesn't deserve to watch Doctor Who. :-P Anywho! Off to dreamland for a....nap..... Going to fall asleep to "The Doctor's Wife".

"Come morning light..."

Dunno if it will last, but there's been a mini blogging revival chain reaction. Danka Ah tee eM. So far, it's just one other friend besides myself, but Dad said he'd been thinking about it. I think he said he was just worried I wouldn't like what's been on his mind of late. I suggested editing privacy settings and just writing for himself.

This morning, I thought it would be fun to sing my foot down on the metal frame of my bed while changing. >.< I didn't think much of it at the time. Not the first time I've proven klutzy. Heck it wasn't even the first time this morning....ran into the cat and Pixie is built like a brick! So yeah, I went to bed without icing it or anything. >.< Woke up in the afternoon and now I'm really wishing I'd iced it sooner. Toes are sore and I'm limping a leettle or at least walking a little slower. I'm icing as best I can now... darn ice pack keeps thawing too quickly in this heat.

I've been playing a song on repeat on and off since yesterday morning. It's a sad song, or makes me think of the sadder bits in the books (song's from the Hunger Games soundtrack). But it's still a pretty song. I should stop though, cuz the constant replaying of the video on YouTube makes my computer run slower. :-P

I keep thinking about the games we used to play with GI Joes and miscellaneous action figures. Part of me wishes I could still go back and play them again. I should write the stories of those characters we made or at least stories based on them (cuz some of them got weird). I wish I could just sit down and write. Focus enough to write. Be able to hold back criticism until I've actually got more than a couple pages. That's kind of why I liked role playing. I din't have to write as much, but even that I can't seem to focus on very long. I am reading a little more, which is good cuz that used to inspire the RP writing anyway. Anywho... I'm babbling. I'm good at that. Dunno if I could ever write stories to publish...my babbling wouldn't make for good books. :-P

Trying This Again...

Not that I follow tons of blogs or anything, bu I think it's kinda weird the bloggers I do follow all kinda gave up on it (me included) all around the same time. Maybe it was just the migration over to Facebook... same thing happened on Myspace, all of a sudden all my friends were here instead of there. Anywho.... It's not like I was ever very consistent with the blogging, but I guess I stopped cuz not a whole lot was happening and when I did think of stuff I wanted to blog about I was usually no where near the computer and would forget when I was. But I reckon I'll give it a whirl again. No promises though! :-P

Had another Josh dream. It's so weird. We were back at the Anaheim apartment, which oddly seems to be my default home in my dreams. Dad was giving me a ride home and we came in to see Josh running around getting ready for work after having overslept. It's funny. He's always happy or content or just okay...not grumpy or complaining like he normally was. I mean he wasn't happy about oversleeping and knowing he'd be late to work via bussing, but he wasn't grumbling about having to go to work. Other times I've seen him in dreams showing off photos of himself and friends....He HATED being in photos. I always dream him happy and doing stuff he might not have liked when he was alive. I think it feeds into my belief that he's okay wherever he is. Or maybe that's where the belief started. Either way I wish my parents could have these dreams.

From the moment we moved here, cats just started showing up at our door. As if there was a sign planted in our yard advertising the fact that we feed strays. Seriously. The first two showed up the first day we moved in! Can't even blame our babies for calling to them through the door cuz they were still at the old apartment or in their carrier at the time! But since coming here, we've only fed 2-3 at any given time. One's been taken to the shelter after bleeding all over a neighbor's backyard. Two were sickly when we last saw them and we imagine they've passed. One we almost adopted til we found he was sick so he was taken to the shelter. :-( Now, we're feeding 6-7 cats. One we've been feeding for ages. One barely trusted us and only visited once in a while until she got pregnant.  Now she and her babies are regulars. And the cart I think might be the father (as the family doesn't run from him) shows up once in a blue moon to steal from their plates. Kids have been watching the kittens. Hopefully one of them will take a kitten or two home. We would but the cost of normal vet check up and later spay/neutering and possible de-worming AND tests for diseases, would be too much and then if the tests were positive like with Licorice. Le sigh. Yeah, don't want that downer again. Besides, Mom still wants to spend a fortune on dental cleaning for both our babies. :-P

Anywho... Back to killing time with FB games or Sudoku.

Up Down and All Around

First I was saving moola for a trip... My saving skills are not what they should be.... Money got used up for bills and necessities... Bleh, had to start all over. Christmas moola from family started me off on a nice little fund. But le sigh.. Again.... spent some and what little had been added on clothes and some less than necessary items....  >.< I'm sorry! I couldn't help it! And of course at that point there was the fact that I realized how little likely it would be for me to go anywhere for any length of time while Mom was unable to manage entirely on her own. If she'd stop cancelling appointments to get her back treated and on the road to some measure of healing, at least then I could say well next year her back will be healthier. She'll never be healed healed, but at least back to her version of normal and manageable pain. So far, she's cancelled twice. It's the dentist thing all over again. >.<

But! Mom just told me tonight that Nana would rush over in a heartbeat to take care of Mom if only to get out of the house everyday! So I don't have to worry that Mom will be standing in pain everyday to do the dishes or dread the ginormous pile she'd leave for me when I return! She'll have to manage with the cats, but with Nana helping with dishes and other minor stuffs, it'll be much better. Less worry for me now! And to make it even more certain I do get to realistically save, I'll be paying Mom a little less each month AND I paid off a credit card bill that ate $42 a month... So weeeeee.... Still may take a year to save for plane, food, and leel bit of spending for two trips to visit both my friends, but that's still in the real realm of possibilities now! I'm so excited now! :-D