Alien Spouse

Boo!

I've had a lovely Halloween so far!  I re-deployed all of the decorations from last nights Dorm of Doom, so we had a nice scary office; and I've inherited the Fortune Teller's magic 8 ball, which perfectly matches the rest of my black and white office stationary.

Tonight we are going to the Ghost Train again, but this time we are going with a group of friends.  It started with just one other person, and has grown to six.  Mostly it's faculty from the Philosophy and English departments, but we do have an intrepid teenager coming too despite the distinct possibility that we will be very nerdy.

I don't really have a costume as such, I couldn't think of anything warm enough but still fun. In the end my solution was to just pile on the eyeliner, put too much product in my hair, accesorise with as many skull based things as I own, and go as "A thirty year old woman who thinks she can get away with being a bit Emo".  I have no doubt it will be the scariest costume of the evening!

p.s. I'll be skipping the photo post for today, because I'm hoping to have a lot from the Ghost Train to post tomorrow!

The Nitty Gritty of Cat Owning: A Product Review.

Mrs K recently expressed her interest in the concept of flushable cat litter, and I have to say it makes owning a cat much more pleasant.  We started out by trying Pet Ecology Kitty Litter, which I am as happy with as one can reasonably expect to be be with such a product. Apart from being just incredibly light weight, it also has the two golden words on it's packaging; these are "flushable" and "clumping". The flushable is self explanatory, and the clumping means that the litter forms a neat little ball when any, er, um, liquid is introduced to it.  If you know what I mean, which I think you do.

So then you just scoop out anything, er, um, lumpy from the litter tray into the nearest handy toilet, and it flushes away.

It's still not exactly fun, but it's less of a chore than it could be.  The arrangement I came to with the Doc is that I will feed the cats and scoop the tray in the morning, and he will do it in the evening.  I noticed that he kept putting off the scooping, until I pointed out that I was scooping at 6 every morning, so by leaving it until midnight he was scooping 18 hours worth of kitty treasures, whilst meant I only had six hours worth to dispose of.  He scoops at 6pm now.  The cats seem to regard this as a suitable surface for their ablutions for five days, and then on the sixth day they indicate that they would like it to be changed now please.

As for the CitiKitty, it is in place on the toilet but the cats haven't automatically discovered it and immediately divined it's purpose yet, they aren't that intelligent.  I'm going to wait for another couple of weeks, before I start trying to get them to actually use it in situ; however this morning I put the CitiKitty on the floor whilst I was cleaning the tray and flushing contents, then Edith wandered into the bathroom and went straight to it.  She planted her little paws right into the kitty litter, stuck her fluffy bottom out over the edge of the tray and peed on the floor.  Damn.

Fortunately we also bought a spray bottle of this cleaning fluid called Nature's Miracle - Just for Cats (I think it sounds like a range of specialist fur dyes personally), which uses enzymes to help break down any little accidents.  That stuff is freaking AMAZING.  I've discovered that once I've sprayed it on the offending substance, I have to leave the spray bottle next to it whilst it soaks in and works it's magic, because by the time I come back to blot it up I literally cannot see where it was. 

Finally have I mentioned how great the Furminator cat brush is?  Edith loves being brushed with it, and it is making such a difference with her shedding.  Two thumbs up!

Grooming as a Means of Self-Defense.

Today we went to buy some more cat stuff.  In particular we needed a rubberycat brush (we got the Zoom Groom which is what we had in London for Kitkat, they are really good - Particularly because you can use the non bristly side to get fur off clothes and furniture), a different scratching post because they just ignore the other one and some claw clippers.

I've never clipped a cat's claws before, but I've only ever had outdoor cats before, and clearly running around outside keeps them nicely filed.  Our girls have wicked talons on them, which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't love to pad so much on us.  Nancy was sitting on me this morning, turned to start washing her back and carelessly put all of her weight on one claw; she may be tiny but news flash, it really hurt!  Edith on the other hand likes to display her beautiful fluffy tummy and then attack any thing foolish enough to touch it with rabbit kicks, and she has been known to casually impale the offender on her front paw claws to make her point, whilst purring loudly.  So I decided we would give them a little manicure.

I was warned that you should only clip off a small amount, and be careful not to cut the vein that's in the center of the claw.  With that in mind I very carefully snipped off a tiny bit from four of Edith's claws and I think 4 or 5 of Nancy's.  They don't seem to mind the clipping itself, but they do object to their paws being manhandled, so they keep walking off in a huff. 

It's going to take me a while to get them all done I think, but I have the time, I have the clippers and I have the determination.  We shall see who will win, little grey kitties! Oh yes, we shall see!

A Post About Cat Sick. You've Been Warned!

The cats were left alone in the house today, because I was working an event and Doc came with me.  We were a bit concerned about what we would find when we got back, particularly because Edith had been looking like she wanted to be sick just before we left.  On the way home we stopped at the local pet shop and bought all the things there little kitty hearts could desire in the way of toys and home comforts, as well as a spray bottle of cleaner specially designed to deal with puke, poop and wee.  Lovely!

When we got back though we were pleasantly surprised to find that no cat had done anything destructive or icky whilst we were away.  After we'd been home for a while Nancy scooted off to the bathroom and threw up a hairball; not nice, but the good thing was that she actually seemed to chose to be sick on the tiled floor rather than the carpet!  Isn't that the best cat you have ever heard of?

We will still obviously be trying to limit hairballs in the house, however good the cats maybe at choosing a good location for it.  One of the things we had purchased at the pet shop was a very specific pet brush called The FURminator.  We'd heard really good things about it, and certainly the pictures on website are impressive, but it wasn't until I actually used it on Edith that I could believe the hype.  It took SO much loose fur out of her coat and she absolutely loves being brushed with it, so much so she fauns around it and rolls over so you can get her tummy as well.  It's ridiculous, I've never had a cat that liked to be brushed that much.

By the way, the CitiKitty is in place on the toilet in the spare bathroom, but so far we're just happy the cats are using the conventional litter tray which is next to it.  I don't want to thoroughly confuse them by rushing them into using it, but it's there should they feel the urge to experiment with exciting new litter tray experiences.

Rain Day.

We were planning to go on a day trip to the next town over today, but we woke up to heavy rain that hasn't really let up all day; so Jason and I stayed at home instead. 

We had a leisurely breakfast whilst watching "Cash on the Attic" (it was a really old one because Alistair Appleton was presenting, what on earth is he doing these days?)on BBC America, followed by "You Are What You Eat" with the gnome-like Gillian McKeith.

Jason had thoughtfully brought his hairdressing tools with him, so he gave my Do a much needed tune-up.  Then I demonstrated my new method of mopping floors with the dutch rubber broom, which I think Jason was honestly interested in seeing.  Well as as a flat mate of mine for 7 years, me cleaning was probably something he didn't feel he'd seen often enough, so this was by way of a rare treat for him (Note to Mum: I am much better at cleaning than I used to be, and now I have an independent witness!)

If he's really lucky I may vacuum later.  Wild times.

Of Television Shows.

There are only really four television programmes that I am really bothering to keep track of the schedule for so I don't miss anything.  Fortunately for me "The Daily Show, With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" are on every night back to back, so it doesn't take a lot of effort to catch those.

The other two are on Bravo, and Bravo are the world champions of repeating stuff, so there is no danger of me missing anything vital in "Shear Genius" or "Project Runway" but I still like to catch new episodes as soon as I can.  Which is all a roundabout way of saying that I've made a small effort to  watch every week, and there is some emotional involvement now and so last night was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. 

Last night I was very disappointed to see Paolo knocked out of "Shear Genius" because he was my favourite.  I was taken in by the tough outer shell for a week or so, but it soon became clear that the man is just a big old fluffy kitten underneath.  Paolo is great with the clients, pretty much the only contestant all of the others seemed to genuinely like and I am very sorry to see him leave the show.

On the other hand next week is Drag Queen week on "Project Runway" and I spotted Miss Varla Jean Merman in the trailer!  Ohmygod!!!  I adore Varla Jean!  We first saw her in the hilarious and gleefully offensive "Girls will be Girls" at the annual London Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual Film Festival, and then actually got to see her live at the Soho Theatre about six months after that.  She is magnificent, I really hope she gets paired with a designer who can create something really gorgeous for her.  I am really looking forward to this episode of the show, because there are bound to be some Drag Queen meltdowns and it's going to be extremely entertaining.  How on earth am I going to be able to wait a whole week for this?

Doctor's Orders.

I'm at home in bed with a cricked neck, you know it's surprisingly hard to type when lying on your side and unable to turn your head.

What's really annoying is that I know when I did it, but I wasn't paying attention, so I don't know exactly what I did.  I was towel drying my hair, and planning a post about Doc C's nightmare last night (He was fighting a ghost that kept playing the piano, and apparently I woke him up just at the point when he'd got the thing cornered.) The next thing I know the left side of my neck suddenly started hurting.

Being of sturdy English stock I battled on and carried on getting ready for work, but by the time I'd managed to pull a wrap dress on Doc C had decided that I should go back to bed with a couple of tylenol to help relax the muscles.  Once I was comfortable, he brought me the laptop then made sure the TV remote, my phone and a glass of water were all within reach before he left.

I hate being ill.  Stupid neck muscles.

Summer Hair Cut

I got my hair cut this morning, and it was exceedingly good timing because Courtney, the lovely hairdresser I had last time, is moving to another state straight after work this evening.  I snagged the very last appointment slot available today!

The hair cut she gave me last time was great, it had lasted really well, and I wasn't yet at the total desperation stage of needing a haircut.  My hair was just going a bit flat on top, and generally looked too tidy, I prefer it to be very short with lots of messy layers, to help give it some volume and shape.

After I left the salon I went to pick up the post, and I called Doc C to let him know.  Whilst I was waiting at the pedestrian crossing and talking to the Doc, I could see out of the corner of my eye that the woman next to me kept shooting glances my way.  When I came off the phone she turned to me, and said "Your hair is really pretty.  Did you get it done in town?"

Isn't that exactly what you want a total stranger to say straight after you've had a hair cut?  I was chuffed!  Naturally I directed her towards the salon, with a very big smile on my face.

My New Favourite Reality TV Show

This is very late in the day for me to be posting for the first time, but I was unable to use the computer because Doc C was writing a philosophy paper or two.

Whilst he was busy writing those, I decided to watch cartoons on the TV in our bedroom, and as I was channel surfing looking for an animation fix I happened to stumble across a TV show called "Shear Genius".  This turned out to be exactly the same format as "Project Runway", but with hairdressers.  I wasn't specifically looking for this show, I just happened to switch on in the middle of a challenge in which the stylists were cutting hair whilst blindfolded.  One contestant managed to hack his own hand up quite a bit, whilst all of the models were looking distinctly nervous as they watched what was happening to their crowning glories. 

So, naturally, I stayed to see how that would turn out (the results were, um, interesting), and the presenter of the show turned out to be Jaclyn Smith, one of the original flavour "Charlie's Angels".  Whilst I have no clue why Jaclyn is presenting this, it did seal the deal for me.  I loved "Charlie's Angels".

As if the blindfold challenge wasn't hard enough, that didn't even really count for anything except that it decided the order in which the stylists could choose their models for the elimination.  This was also hilarious because all of the models had cards with pictures of a famous hair cut they wanted to emulate, and the big reveal was that all of the pictures were of cartoon characters.  It was brilliant, you can see photos of the end results here.  My favourite was Charlie's version of Marge Simpson's beehive which involved a cloud of fake blue hair styled around it to get that proper colour and height, but I think the most wearable was Daniel's Wilma Flinstone Do that ended up winning the round.

I can see I'm going to be hooked on this, as there is clearly going to be some fabulousness going on, but also because I really miss living with my favourite hairdresser, so this is very soothing for me.

Plus next week Kate Smith is a guest judge, and I want to see whether she looks as good as Jaclyn.

Organised.

I was getting ready this morning when I realised just how regimented my bathroom cabinet is, and I thought that would probably really freak out my Mum and former house mates, so here is a picture:

If you click on the photo a link will take you to the Flickr page, and I've put some notes on to identify the different stuff.  The basic categories are (left to right): hair styling products, deodorants, moisturisers and facial cleansers.

On the shelf underneath this I have arranged things neatly as well:  Back left corner, hair clips and alice bands; back right corner, clean face cloths; front left corner, wide elasticated head-band to keep hair back whilst washing; middle front, comb; front right corner, three different sizes of nail clipper.

I won't go through the whole cupboard, but you get the idea.  I think I might possible have finally grasped the wisdom of the saying "A place for everything, and everything in it's place."

Oh, and yes I do like Lush products in particular.  How did you guess?

Added Bonus: Another Twenty minutes in Bed.

I worked out last night, so I had a shower in the evening and when I woke up this morning I had clean but pretty spectacular bed-hair which I would never have been actually able to recreate through conventional styling methods.

So I simply spritzed it with a little bit of organic firm-hold gel-spray to maintain it's quiff like glory, and away I went.

I love having really short hair.

Haircut - Second Salon Rocks!

Ok, that is my new salon.  Excellent suggestion April!

The hairdresser I had was great and I felt very comfortable with her taking off all of my hair with a razor.  Plus they actually charged me exactly the same as the other place, and didn't try to push products at all.

Only thing is there was no motorcycle in the window.  I have no clue where I got that idea from.

Haircut Review.

Mum pointed out that I hadn't updated Alien Spouse about my recent haircut.  That's because I was giving it a couple of days to settle down before I made a pronouncement on it, but I think I can safely say that it is alright.

I mean obviously it's not a Snelling Do, but then I couldn't really have hoped for that now could I?  That's an unfair point of comparison, so I'm trying not to do that. 

As it turned out my hairdresser, Will, was a really nice guy.  He had a GoGo Fraggle doll on his work station counter, he'd been to Manchester and he was a massive Cure fan.  On top of that he even dropped Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" into the conversation at one point.  All excellent signs I'm sure you'll agree.

Whilst I was waiting at reception I found a photo in a magazine that was pretty much what I wanted, and I did actually get an accurate approximation of that cut.  If I wanted to be ultra picky I'd say the fringe could do with being shorter, but overall I'm very glad to have short hair again and the Doc assures me it's pretty.