Pet Diaries

DOG DIARY :

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wag ged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY:

Day 983 of my captivity.
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fedhash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearlydemonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.

Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.
The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.
The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with theguards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he issafe..... for now...

(i got this today via e-mail from my mother. it's so true!)

day 2 of hell.

day 2 of hell and i'm still here. i feel a ton better although due to reasons that i won't go into (i'm not that disgusting) i didn't do much today.
i ate ice-cream for breakfast. (yum!) i made an emergency trip to Target to pick up cat litter supplies as the cats destroyed and/or made a mess of their current ones. made another trip later in the day to get even more stuff. we got the wrong litter on one of our last trips and it does not clump the pee - disgusting and SO smelly! so we got the right stuff along with a plug-in air freshner for the bathroom (thank god!). i bought a lot of Valetine's day 50% off items - my favorite being these red heart shower curtain hooks. they add the finishing touches to my bathroom that has a yellow (cheap plastic because the kitties will claw it) shower curtain and red bath mat :) i also got the cats a new Easter placemat for the food bowls along with 2 Easter food dishes. i know they could care less but I love doing it and the stuff is only a $1.99 - how can i not?
aside from spending too much money at Target i finished the second bear! (i'll have these christmas - yes christmas - gifts in the mail by Tuesday! wahoo!! i'll post pictures then :)) other than that - not a whole lot. very relaxing.
and now it's time to go whoop chris's butt in cribbage. (don't be too jealous of all the excitement in my life now....)

all the young dudes.....

today was pretty gosh darned good. gosh darned good indeed....


i don't think i mentioned it but i started weight watchers today. my co-worker started it as well and she told me how many points i could eat and my mother (who only signed up for the online version) lent me her login info so that i could use the point calculator. i think this will help me get the proper amount of food. i was never really overeating but rather not getting enough - causing me to be tired and in no mood to exercise like i should. so it's going well so far! i even did the elliptical and the first dvd workout of The Firm (my mom got this for herself and me for christmas). If you have the money - i recommend it! it comes with a series of weights (pink ones!) and 5 dvds that you rotate (so you don't get bored). i was really impressed with it and feel like i got a really good workout (55 minutes!) so yeah - worth the money (in my opinion).


so yeah - all of that has put in a great mood. i feel good. :)


oh - here are some pictures of the kitties from this evening. we learned that albus could really care less if you stick stuffed animals on his back and that minerva is a table scrap begger.

oh - the title 'all the young dudes' is a song on the juno soundtrack - it was playing when i signed into my blog. it's strange - i was listening to it a lot the day that i found out about heath ledger and now it's just tied to him. everytime i hear it i think of him and so it has a bittersweet mood to it now. hmmm...

TTLIFF!

that translates to - Thank The Lord It's Finally Friday! (tgif seemed rather dull...)


i'm seriously so happy that the weekend is here! not the work was stressful or anything but who doesn't prefer two days off over going to work? that and i have some plans for the weekend :) tomorrow chris and i are going to a 'stitch & bitch' at holly's house. (not my chris - a friend chris) i'm really excited - i've been wanting to get a group of gals together to do this since i moved down here. (i miss our knitting nights carrie!) perhaps i'll host a few sessions at my place as i know of a few co-workers who are also interested.....


as for tonight chris's (my chris) sister megan and her son carter are coming over. in fact (since i started this blog right before they arrived) they are here now! megan is attempting to put carter to sleep. she put him down in my room but i'm worried that albus hid under the bed. albus and minvera are not the biggest fan of small beings. i'm sure - given time - that they would be. it just takes them time. albus* hated chris for about a week when they first arrived. so yeah - they are here and will be for the weekend. unfortunately megan has a bit of a cold so her and i might just chill while chris takes carter out and about tomorrow...we'll see....

we just got done watching peter pan. i bought a copy before christmas when i saw it was out. but they remastered it. i really really prefer the hand drawn charm of the older version - anyone know of how i can get an old - non-remastered - copy on dvd?

alright - i think carter is asleep. megan and i are going to watch 'the shining.' i've never seen it and she says i have to :)

*i was watching ellen today (of cours) and she was talking about her pets. her cat liked to sleep up my her head and she attributed this to the fact that he was part abyssinian and those breeds were more dog like. i was intrigued becuase i and a lot of other people have said that albus is more dog like. he isn't a lap cat but constantly has to be at your side and walking along with you wherever you go. he plays fetch (i'm not kidding - he will walk back with whatever you throw - he prefers balled of socks - and trot back to you and drop them in your hand). and he has to sleep at my head. i did some researching and it also mentioned the fact that abyssinian's can have defects that cause them to groom themselves compulsively - leaving bald spots. albus does not do this but he does obsessivley lick any and all surfaces he comes in contact with. his favorites are skin (he will lick you and lick you and lick you - i swear if you let him he'd like a layer off....) - he's always licking my legs, and plastic bags. he will not stop licking plastic bags. ay yi yi! minerva is the same way about the skin thing. they're weird. but at least now i may know why...

uh oh - carter is up! gotta go.....

Donkey Style in '08

(did i really just type donkey style? i apologize.....)



here at the home of m&w we vote democratic - even the pets (even if it's against their will....minerva is secretley a very conservative right wing republican - hence her head shake of 'NO!' at having to wear the shirt in the picture below)


i'm not saying that i'll always vote democratic persay - but the state of things right now leaves me no choice. not that i've ever voted republican - but the party itself is not really evil. bush has wacked it out of proportion and in my opinion basically created his own party of Bushies. i'm sure you all know one or two or a few.....


anyhow - i don't feel like digging around in that muck. i told you i'd tell you the story behind that picture from yesterday's post and i shall....


during the last election i signed up to volunteer with the democratic party. almost as soon as i got home from doing so they called me and asked if i had access to an suv. i didn't by my parents did - so they asked me if i'd be willing to pick up cate edwards from the airport. sure! i picked her and her assistant man (forget his actual job title) up and took them out to grab a bite to eat. as we ate they went over last minute poll findinds, statistics for the state of mn - etc. we talked about politics and how crazy their lives had become. half the time they had no clue where they were at.
afterwards i drove them to a press conference and then off to their hotel. the next day i watched her introduce her father at a rally held at UMD. and while i didn't get to meet her farther personnally i did get to shake his hand. all in all it was a pretty cool experience :)


perhaps i should sign up again this year and maybe i'll pick up chelsea?






p.s. i know how extremely mean i am for dressing my pets up. i never mean to really but then i see things (like the above shirt) and just can't help myself. i should also mention that i got one of the last democratic shirts - there were a TON of republican ones left. but perhaps that just means republicans are nicer pet owners......

do not touch me. ever.

meet minerva. the world's most un-cuddley cat. ever.


sure she's cute. she'll even pretend that she likes you. she'll meow and meow like she's absolutely starving for some attention - until you go to pet her and the above happens. she's never bitten or scratched anyone but wow can she growl. deep guttural growls of rage. she hates being touched - especially near her head. she'll tolerate petting on her back - and once in a blue moon she'll like it. but don't try and pick her up. she braces her paws against your chest and pulls her head back like your the the most disgusting thing to ever come into her line of vision. sigh.....

in other news.....

today is february 1st. i made it through an entire month of blog 365 without a snag. in fact - i posted 48 times! something tells me i shouldn't brag about this fact as it probably just helps clarify the fact that i have no life.

today is also the day i'm supposed to get my measurements done. and to celebrate this joyous occasion kristin is coming over to eat pizza and drink with me. perhaps i should do the measurements first.......

oh - one more note in the 'cheeseball' story. when he didn't show up my supervisor and i drafted an e-mail explaining that we would like to set up a new time...etc etc. she (my supervisor) made a passing comment in jest about the way things are going 'over there' and that they probably let him go on monday morning. well....turns out they did. oops! who knows what is going to happen now....

alright. kristin should be here any minute. she wanted to watch 'willow' but it's on vhs and our vcr doesn't work. that and i was traumatized as a child when i was taken to see it in the theater. my dad (or mom - can't remember) had to come and pick me up becuase i started crying and was so scared when they sent that baby down the river in the leaf basket. i thought he would die. funny how i got scared at that but not when my babysitter took me to see the gremlins (might have been becuase she put my sun jacket over my head. then there was that time when i saw 'teen wolf' in the theater. i ducked down behind the seats whenever he started to transform. i'm getting sidetracked...but while on the subject - what movies scared you as a child?

one more thing - any of you sprint users out there? i just got that new phone and for some reason it picks up my phone calls without my ever touching/answering the phone. it doesn't even ring. i'll just be sitting there and all the sudden the white noise of the speaker phone comes on. the outer screen says it's a call - but no ring - just picks up the call. i can hear the other person breathing (while they wait for an answer i guess) but they can't hear me unless i pick it up and open it. very strange......

Talkin' Bout...Part 2

i forgot to include this picture. demon minerva. i love it :)

Talkin' Bout Last Night

here are some pictures from our evening.


as i mentioned - kristin had come over. she brought a lovely bottle of Arbor Mist ( i don't care what you say - it's cheap and tastes like sweet).


chris worked on our cat scratching post. this is the 3rd thing he's built for the cats (1st being the kennel, 2nd being this cardboard scratching square). he'll never admit to loving them but i think it's fairly obvious that he does :) he's worried that it looks rather 'white trash' right now but it's not finished. we need to stabalize it some more. get some more twine. and some carpet remnants. (speaking of - does anyone know where to get those carpet sample squares. i asked at Home Depot last night but the guy was extremely rude and snotty and said no). the cats love it so far though. they scratch the twine (which is SO much better than scratching the couch!) and argue over who gets the top perch (only one hitting fight though).


later on we played Monopoly. for those of you who do not know - i love this game. love it. i have about eight million and one different versions. somewhere along the line it become the family joke to buy me a new one each year and then refuse to play it with me. ha ha. so funny. last night we played the Rudolph version - the first time it's been openend despite the fact that i've owned it for more than 2 years! i lost. i came in third. (see chris - i can admit it). we tried to make it more interesting by having the rule that each time you were sent to jail you must take a sip of Maker's Mark bourbon. (i don't know how people aquire a taste for that stuff....). luckily i only went to jail once :)


alright. time for breakfast. chris got me a cinnamon role on his way home from a call this morning. what a sweetie.

January 12th, 2008

today has turned out to be pretty good.

it's the first weekend in a long time that chris and i have both have off and had absolutely no plans. we slept in together. ate breakfast together. and when we were both ready we went out and did some shopping.

i had to stop by the sprint store as my phone is dying (yay! one more thing i have to buy!) then we had chipotle (yyyyuuuuummmm!). after that we headed off to see juno. extremely good movie! i cried

i might have time to write more later but right now i should go. kristin is over. she's bored watching me blog and as a result has started to break my belongings :)

the above picture is of chris working on a cat scratching post stand thingamabobber. isn't he a sweetheart? right now he's actually off to home depot to grab some more twine :)

What Can I Say....

....my cats are slightly on the insane side....

this is albus. albus managed to jump onto the fridge (which is off to the left in this picture) and jump up on top of the cupboards - managing to bypass the wine bottle. still not sure how he did this as it took him forever to get himself down.

cats...can't live with em and ya can't live without em....

Albus & Minerva

in honor or the kitties arrival tomorrow i thought i'd dedicate a blog to them :)
(that and i'm avoiding that thing called unpacking....)


in case you didn't know - albus is the black kitty and minerva is the grey and white (with a hint of peach) tabby. the pictures go in chronological order starting out here with albus whom i adopted when he was 6 months old. the lady at the shelter told me he was a handful but i was in love and he seemed calm to me....



...turns out i was wrong - he was a wild one :) albus has a fascination with all things pertaining to his mouth. as you can see he likes to stick out his tongue :) he's also a bit ocd and those first few months would lick everything including the floor, walls, furniture, the litter box, toilet, hair, you, clothes - you name it and he licked it. i thought something might be wrong with him so i took him a few different vets....


the vet told me to get another cat - a playmate to distract him from his odd obsession. another cat? me? of course! i knew i wanted a baby kitten and waited and waited until 'kitten season' as the shelter calls it. i went - saw minerva - and knew i wanted her but the lady in charge made me play with her for 15 minutes just to be sure. i brought her home and kept them apart - luckily i had glass doors so they could check each other out without actually having contact. albus was extremely curious.....

minerva was SO tiny! those first few night she would crawl up and sleep right by my head and nip at my nose and fingers - adorable!

i finally introduced the two and they got along great! albus - although he was much larger was intimidated by his new friend. minerva's first meal at the 'big kid bowl' was funny - albus just sat and watched her. i thought he might try and shove her out of the way but he didn't. instead (from this picture it seems) he just gave up on her ever finishing and decided to start knawing on the bag itself! :)

albus hates water. minerva likes it. these pictures were taken from the first (and last) time she decided to shower with me :) now she prefers to sit in the sink with a slight drizzle running down her back. i absolutely adore these pictures!



while albus may not like water he loves to lay on his back - belly up. i've never really known a cat to lie like this until him. he also loves to play fetch. he'll get the toy you throw and trot back to you with it in his mouth and drop it into your hand. perhaps he thinks he's a dog?

he also loves his carrier - or he did until minerva showed her extreme distaste for it. then he decided that perhaps cats weren't supposed to like it. he used to nap in it. jump right in it. minerva on the other hand has to be held at the and front and back paws and dropped in backwards....

i swore i'd never be that pet owner - the kind that dresses their animals up for their own amusement. but the costumes were only a buck on clearence at Old Navy - i had to! albus could care less - running around in his bat wings. minerva on the other hand just sat there frozen and eventually toppled over. she did manage to get up and limp over to the corner and tried to hide her head in shame. poor baby.....

and yes - i did buy christmas costumes. i'm bad i know.....

in short - i love my cats! despite the fact that i've been an absent mother lately i'm incredibly excited to have them back for good! i hope they like their new home!




oh - had to include this video of minerva watching tyra.

meh...

i'm not cranky today - well - as cranky. i'm just...well...'meh'.......

perhaps it's becuase it's that time. perhaps it's because i feel like an overblown balloon. perhaps it's because my face is breaking out. perhaps. perhaps. perhaps......

i know it'll pass. i'm just overly sensitive right now - so be nice or i might cry. perhaps there is something to that little thing called pms that i've always dismissed. hmph.

right now i'm just going to concentrate on zombieing my way through the day knowing that in exactly 6 hours and 35 minutes my 3 day weekend will begin. at this time tomorrow morning i will be home and awaiting my dads arrival - he's bringing my babies :)

so there ya go....meh....

why walk when you can LEAP

i would have posted last night but the cable internet guys arrived after the office closed and therefore they could not get into the cable room. hopefully they'll be back tonight before it closes again. hmph.

in reference to the title - i like to be different. i like to make a grand entrance. so instead of walking into the front door of the new apartment building i leaped. well....i tripped.

everything i was holding went sprawling and i skidded across the rug. OW! both of my legs are all scuffed up. one required an extra large bandage and it hurts like a son of a.....OW! and to make matters worse chris and a co-worker were still moving things in - i was rather useless. all the bandages were packed in who knows where. then we had to wait for the pokey internet people. finally - about 3 hours later - we managed to get to Target and get some bandages and antiseptic spray stuff (that made the pain even worse....) sigh.... i'm dumb.

i almost fell again later that night but luckily managed to catch myself. good god.

so that was my night :) other than that - we have most of the stuff in. few more trips to make. hopefully i can get it straightened before Friday when my dad arrives with the kitties :)

speaking of cats - i have a question about litter for you cat owners. have any of you used the flushable kind? i also saw this box of litter at Trader Joe's - says it's a one month supply and that the pee doesn't clump but rather dissovles into the crystal littler. So then you could just scoop and flush the poo I guess. I just hate the idea of putting litter into plastic bags and then having them end up in a landfill, ya know? Any advice?

alright - i suppose i should get back to work :)

Gobble Gobble

today i am thankful for......

christopher

my family

my friends

cats

yarn

holiday themed underpants

homeade mashed potatoes

and much much much more.......

Hope you all had a Fantastic THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Halloween!

http://www.masterpiecepumpkins.com/home.html

Happy Halloween!!

Question: Cats

as many of you know i have two adorable cats - Albus and Minerva. they are currently living with my parents up in duluth in a kennel that chris and i (mainly chris) built. soon (december 1st to be exact) chris and i move into an apartment that allows pets and then i can have my babies back :) until then....

the kennel is located in the garage - not one that is attatched to the house and one that is not heated. the cats cannot be brought into the house for health (allergy) reasons and i'm worried.

the northland can get pretty darn cold into october and november and i'm worried about the cats being out there! my mother insists that they'll be just fine - that they are inside the garage and not outside. i say the garage is at maybe 1 degree warmer than the outside temp and that if forced to stay outside until december 1st they'll turn into catsicles!

am i wrong? will they be fine? ideas?

Kelly Time!

17 minutes and counting until Kelly Time!

tonight is also the night i put down the deposit for the new apartment! i am super excited to have my cats with me again! woohoo!

alright - time for the weekend to begin (soon)!

later y'all!

Thursday

today is thursday.

i have not forgot to blog about my vacation. unfortunately i was sick this past weekend. on monday the computer was an absolute putz about uploading my pictures (it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r). as for tuesday and wednesday - i'm just lazy.

but today is thursday. a day to get things done. things like exercising. like baking. like filling out housing applications. like making a to-do list. like blogging about my vacation. will all of these tasks get completed tonight? probably not - but the morning is young and i'm full of energy and optimism - which i'm sure will fade by the time 4:30 rolls around. by then i'll just want to go home and make myself comfy on the couch with crocheting needle and yarn. we'll see.

as for now i'm at work. pretty soon i'll finish this blog and resume reading 'the tortilla curtain' - which so far is very good. i just finished reading 'the blind assassin' by margaret atwood. excellent book in my opinion. took me awhile to get into as i only had little ten minute segments to read it when i started - but once i had more time and got used to her writing style it was hard to put down.

what else? updates? let's see.....

the weather has finally cooled off which makes me happier than you'll ever know! i feel rejuvinated and refreshed. it is now possible for me to work up a sweat while working out instead of sweating just sitting on the couch and thinking about it. everything seems richer - the blue of the sky and the green of the leaves. the air feels fresh and crisp. i absolutely love it. i've always said that i can never pick a favorite season but if pressed it'd have to be fall. when i get married it will definitely be in the fall.

chris and i will be moving to a new apartment in december. not a house liked we'd hoped for. but a place that will give us time to think about where we want to live and what we want to do. chris will still be able to make the fire calls on time and i'll finally be able to have my cats with me again! definitely not a long term thing but something that fits for the here and now.

hmmm..my mind is wondering and i'm getting distracted easily. hopefully i'll be back later on this evening with more vacation blogs :) or maybe just this afternoon with more mind wanderings :)

Carrie is Awesome!

Knitting Bag, Bacon Bacon Dip, and Beer Bread! I'm in heaven!

Tonight was both wonderful and sad. Sad because it marked my last knitting/wine/girl chat night with Carrie (while I'm a Duluth resident at least - just because I'm moving doesn't mean this will be the last!).

Wonderful because - well - just look at the above picture! Carrie gave me the most wonderful going away present I could have asked for! A fabulous bag with red white and black (my favorite colors!) cat prints and Tastefully Simple (and absolutely heavenly!) bacon bacon dip and beer bread! That combined with the quality conversation and knitting - it was a perfect evening :)

So I guess this blog is dedicated to you Carrie - thank you for everything! Who knows where I would be right now had you not invited me to that happy hour in August! I think I can literally say that you have changed my life in numerous ways and I'm very thankful for that!

Thank you for a wonderful evening!!

And now it is time for bed! G'night!