Alien Spouse

Likes/Dislikes

Things Eva wants to put in her mouth:

• Anything - No really, keep an eye on her.
• Your glasses.
• Cat fur - Freshly plucked from the cat for preference.
• That bit of paper.
• Grass.
• Her own foot.
• Any toy.
• Any clothing.
• Home-made puree of roast organic sweet potato. Oh yes!
• Whatever you are eating at the restaurant.  Things will get shouty if you refuse.

Things Eva Refuses a Third Spoonful of:

• Beef Baby Food from a Jar.  The horror.

 

Comfortably Ensconced.

So, we moved this week! It was glorious! (note dripping sarcasm)

Actually it was mostly ok, just the usual pain of seemingly endless packing, which once that's finally over, is followed by apparently infinite amounts of unpacking.  Doc spent early Tuesday morning wandering around looking in boxes trying to find 1) the kettle (unsuccesful), and 2) his underpants (fortunately succesful).

Eva really doesn't seem to notice any difference in the apartments, she's just as happy here as anywhere else; I do think she's sleeping better in her own room though,  The cats, however, are noticeably happier.  There is distinctly kittenish gambolling about the place and they clearly love having free access to our bedroom at night again.  We thought they would miss the balcony (we do have one here too, but it faces east so it only gets the sun in the morning and it's enclosed by fly screens), but the additional space seems to make all the difference to them.

The best bit about this move is that we have much more room - I told Doc on the first morning we woke up here that this must be what toothpaste feels like once it gets out of the tube.  I loved the last place, and for a single person it would be amazing; for a couple it was a tight fit; for a nuclear family it was a squash; for two adults, a baby AND two cats it really was too small.  We really had to economise quite drastically when I left my job and we re-located here, but now I'm working again and Doc C has got tenure (Squee!  Jus this week!  I'm so proud of him!!!) we can afford to actually spread out a bit.

The other thing is that, whilst our old neighbours were all very sweet people, no one here has so far woken us up playing the mandolin.  Or the guitar.  Or exuberantly singing.  There are more than double the number of apartments here, and we've heard almost nothing of our new neighbours.  It's rather soothing.

A Cat and Her Girl.

When we're getting Eva ready for bed last night she was already pretty much zonked out, so we put her down on our bed for a bit whilst we got the crib ready.  Edith took the opportunity to snuggle with her for a few minutes.

Edith is so besotted with this child.  She doesn't complain when Eva grabs fistfulls of her fur or pats her a bit too hard; all Edith wants is some of Eva's attention and she seems to understand that Eva doesn't yet know quite how to behave with cats (or parents for that matter - My nose was bitten quite hard yesterday!)

Under The Tree.

"A present?  Is for Edith?"

Happy Mothday!

Today is my lovely Mum's birthday - So I'm boxing up Eva and sending her via airmail!

Happy Birthday Moth!

I'm joking, obviously I'd never put a baby in a large cardboard box with a bunch of packing peanuts and then tape the lid shut.

Edith on the other hand...

That is her idea of heaven, plus she loves to travel and meet new people!

Again, I'm kidding!  Please don't put either babies or cats in a cardboard box and ship them internationally.  I'm pretty sure there would be some shipping tax issues for starters.

(In all seriousness the baby was never let out of my sight whilst lying on the packing peanuts, because I wouldn't trust her not to choke on one and that would be so awful - Edith knows better then that and simply bats the packing peanuts around with her paws.)

Big Box.

Doc C is the youngest of 9 children, and all of his siblings already have kids - So we've been getting a lot of stuff sent to us for Eva over the last few months.  One of Doc's sisters had a particularly posh pram slash pushchair that her own daughter had just grown out of, so my Mother-in-Law paid for it to be shipped it to us along with a big bundle of clothes.  We knew to expect it, but when the UPS guy knocked on the door with a box almost as big as he was, well, it was still a surprise!

This thing is ENORMOUS.  I mean I knew that Jamie had only just grown out of it, and she's now five, but this is really built like an upholstered tank.  We weren't sure if we would actually be able to fit it in the car (we can!), and it is totally impractical for this apartment unfortunately.  Fortunately our current pram will be fine for a while yet, and then we can switch to the super-fancy-hand-me-down when we really need to. By that point we may well have moved apartments, and I think we really do have to find something on the ground floor next time.

In the mean time we've been forced to put it in storage, because it was taking up so much floor space and because Edith had decided it was a mobile cat condo.  Having taken that away from her we haven't quite had the heart throw away the box yet, so Edith been throwing herself around in that this afternoon.

Primary Parenting.

Today was the first day of Doc C's paternity leave!  Woot!

The cats and Eva decided to initiate him into it with a trial by fire; there were multiple pukings, peeings (in nappies, which is fine; and on the floor in front of the litter tray, which is not fine at all) and grumpy grizzling.

We'd already planned to celebrate today by going out for sushi, and also handing in my CV to anywhere we'd missed in our last sweep of down town.  After Doc C showered and dressed he put on his usual after shave (Bulgari for Men - It's a really nice smell), and Eva who had been sleeping in the bedroom woke up screaming apparently at the scent.  Once she had stopped crying she didn't seem bothered by the cologne, and we carried on getting ready to leave.  As I was getting my shoes on I heard Doc ushering Nancy hurriedly outside, because she'd been about to throw up on the sofa.  That disaster averted we left the house.

Lunch was delicious and I applied to a particularly nice jewellers that I've often admired as we went past it.  Eva was actually very well behaved whilst we were out and didn't start complaining until we were on our way home anyway.

When we got back someone, and, whilst  I have no way of knowing who I do have my suspicions, had vomitted on the sofa.  Doc C very calmly took the covers off the seat cushions and took them to the laundrette.  When he got back, Eva decided to demonstrate her exciting new super-sonic screams and it took both of us over an hour to calm her down for her usual evening nap,

I am very pleased to say that my husband did not run screaming after such a day.  Instead he had a shot of whiskey and then cooked dinner.  He's a keeper.

 

****Post Script**** After I wrote this Doc C discovered someone had peed in the bath (Edith is the prime suspect), and whilst we were discussing this Edith jumped up to the bookshelves and knocked off one of Eva's toys.  sigh.

Sleeping and Waking.

As I've mentioned before, even though Eva is sleeping like a log at night (which, again, I am thrilled by and hope that I'm not jinxing), I am still woken up very easily by any noise in our apartment.  On Saturday night we went to bed as usual, and I was jolted awake by really loud music at quarter to four in the morning.  The music was coming from our living room.  Which was odd. Doc C was sound asleep and so was Eva, and I didn't want them to be woken up, so I got up to see what the hell was going on.

The stereo was blaring a Michael Jackson concert.  The cats were awake and were just kind of nervously milling around the room, so I thought that one of them must have sat on the remote and turned on the stereo.  I wanted to turn off the music, obviously, but I couldn't see the remote so I just pulled the power cable out and went back to bed.  When I got up the next day I plugged it back in, and found the remote; it was right in front of the stereo but there was a lot of other bits and bobs around it which made it seem very unlikely that the cats could have touched it.

So I have no idea what that was about, and it hasn't happened again.  Weird.

This week is pleasantly truncated by Thanksgiving, not that it makes any difference to my schedule really but it is lovely to have Doc C at home for a nice long weekend.  So there will be lots of sleep most likely.

To kick off the week, on Monday night we took an impromptu over-night trip to our friends Randy and Laura's house, which is where has been Doc C staying during the week this semester.  The reason we chose that evening for our first overnight experiment with Eva was because Randy and Laura would be away at a conference, so if, Eva's usually excellent sleep pattern was disrupted by the change of location, then the only people she would keep awake would be us.  As it happened she slept just as well in their house as she does in ours, so we will be able to visit them when they are actually at home!  Yay!  (Although their poor cats won't be happy about that, they were really not comfortable with there being a baby in the house and hid from her.)

Resuming Broadcast.

Doc C borrowed a lap top for me, so that I'm able to access the internet and blog, isn't that sweet of him?  He is the very best of husbands in my completely unbiased opinion!

To recap the last few days:

• On Friday we took Eva to get her first round of vaccinations - There was, of course, screaming but the nurse was very efficient and got the shots done really quickly.  Eva soon recovered her equilibrium and is her usual (mostly content) self now.
• We went to the storage unit and dropped off the Halloween decorations and picked up warmer clothes, boots and bedding.  I resisted bringing home the Christmas baubles for now.
• Doc C finished "Bioshock", and we found a second-hand copy of "Bioshock 2" for $8 so the adventure continues!
• I've been reading a lot on my Kindle,which is just an absolute necessity for bookworm mothers in my opinion. It is so easy to hold and "turn pages" with one hand whilst feeding Eva, or holding her, or whatever else she needs at that particular moment (although I haven't yet worked out how to read even the Kindle whilst changing her nappy though, that task requires complete attention).
• I considered buying new jeans on Friday, but as I can easily fit into my old jeans now (if you kindly gloss over the slight muffin top...) so I'll wait to buy more clothes when I have a found a job.
• Speaking of which, I updated my CV and Doc C printed off some copies so I can start handing them in to local businesses and applying for jobs.
• The weather is still quite pleasant but it is colder, so I don't like to have the door to the balcony open all day.  The cats have learned to miaow at the door when they want to go out, and then tap on the glass with their paw when they want to come back in.  They tend to want to go in or out every ten to fifteen minutes and are therefore driving me potty.

US Election 2012.

Election day!  Wooo!

I don't know about you, but we're so excited in the Alien Spouse household that Edith threw up a hairball so big that I thought it was a dead mouse when I first saw it this morning.

I suspect that Doc C will want to watch the election live, so we'll probably be hooking the laptop up to the TV and that means I won't be able to blog later.  I'm hoping that Obama wins again, in case you were wondering.

It snowed here last week, but tody has been quite pleasant so I was able to open the door to the balcony for a while.  

This good, indeed necessary, because the cats need to go outside occaisionally, or they go a bit nuts.  Edith in particular races from one end of the hall to the other, chasing Nancy or phantoms as the mood takes her.  Nancy is less frenetic, but instead she curls up on top of the cat condo looking put upon.

Today Nancy got to roll around outside and enjoy a bit of sunshine.  I hope she savoured every moment because there is a distinct chance we'll be getting snow again tomorrow.

 

Time Change.

The clocks went back an hour last night; so, in theory, I should have had an extra hour of sleep last night and be feeling well rested.

Ah hahahahahahahaha ha ha!

No.  

For one thing I made the decision to watch a scary movie with Doc C.  I'd watched "Session 9" (2001) sometime last year, and I remembered it being atmospheric and creepy, with some interesting ambiguity and just a touch of gore. It's got a great cast (ok, ok, if you overlook David Caruso... I actually think he's not bad in this, but once you've seen enough episodes of "CSI: Miami" it is tough to take him seriously) and it was filmed in the Danvers Mental Hospital just outside Boston, so I knew it would have some interest for the Doc. Plus I thought that as I'd seen it before I wouldn't get freaked out, but funnily enough because I knew what was going on I was much more aware of some of the subtle touches that really start to build up the tension.  As it turned out Doc was mildly entertained and thought no more about it after the closing credits.  I, of course, couldn't stop thinking about the film, got myself all freaked out and slept fitfully.

The other thing is that the clocks going back is not a concept that a baby, or indeed cats, have any interest in trying to understand.  Eva has established a morning routine, I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to suggest I had a thing to do with it, and she stuck to it (As did the cats - They are used to breakfast before 8 these days).  That was fine, but Evalyn must still have sensed something was off because she has been fractious all day.  She's been just a bit whimpery, it's not been enough to be worrying but it's certainly enough to be exhausting.  I'm so glad that Doc was here today, because by mid-afternoon I was feeling a wee bit whimpery myself and he was just great!  And he cooked egg fried rice for dinner! I love that man!

With any luck I'll sleep better tonight, and Eva will be in a brighter mood tomorrow.

The Day's Achievements (Plural).

Today we got stuff done!

• Doc C made pancakes for breakfast and we listened to "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" on NPR.
• We bathed Eva and she was perfectly clean for about four hours - Then she got milk in her hair when I was changing her.  That's her favourite trick.
• I reluctantly took down the Halloween decorations.
• I started job hunting (If you know of any weekend work going in Asheville...)
• We had lunch in town - crepes and pommes frites. Delicious.
• Doc C took Eva for a walk and chatted with some of our neighbours.
• I did some hand washing and put away laundry (I have been trying to do that for days now, so it was far more exciting than it should have been)
• We played with Edith to try and tire her out a bit, so she won't chase Nancy around the apartment all night.
• Doc C made banana bread.

It doesn't sound like much, but believe you me it feels like we took on the tasks of Hercules and completed them all.  I am going to sleep SO well.

Eva's Cat Mother.

As you may know Edith has had kittens herself, and she also fostered two other litters, so she is an expert on mothering.

She likes to keep a close eye on Eva, and will come running if the baby cries to see what is going on with the human kitten.  This morning Edith was quite literally looking over my shoulder as I put Eva's socks on for her.

It's actually not as helpful as you might think.

Early Morning Black Cat Alarm.

As I mentioned on Wednesday Eva is being amazingly good about sleeping, but I've still been wired up with that incredibly sensitive Mother's night-time hearing; so if anything makes a noise that sounds even vaguely like Eva I am AWAKE instantly. Last night I woke up at five (Why is always five?), and Eva was also awake so I thought she woken me up because she was hungry and I fed her.  She seemed a bit surprised by this, but didn't complain, and promptly went back to sleep.  Then I realised that actually I'd been woken up by the sound of a cat desperately miaowing.

It didn't sound like either of our cats' voices, but it did sound sort of weird and echoey so I thought maybe one of them had got themselves shut in a cupboard or had stuffed themselves under the sofa or something (Edith has been chasing Nancy a lot recently, so I wouldn't blame poor Nance for looking for a decent hiding place right now). I got up to have a look, and Nancy was sat by the front door whilst Edith was lolling on her rocking chair.  The miaows continued, and were quite clearly coming from just outside the front door of our apartment.  When I opened the door a skinny young black cat came running in, tail up, and looked at me expectantly.

Damn it!

I quickly usherd the cat back outside, and, as it was really friendly, I gingerly picked it up and took it downstairs.  The black cat didn't mind that at all, so I put it down outside the house - I think I was hoping it would realise it had come to the wrong house and apologise politely for the mix-up before calling a taxi to take it home.  It did not.  Of course, when I got up to go back inside, the black cat followed me up to our apartment's door again.

Well now what do I do?  The black cat was very glossy and friendly, so it clearly was a pet cat, and it wasn't injured so it didn't need to be taken to a vet or anything.  On the other hand I was worried about a very friendly black cat wandering the streets this close to Halloween, but obviously I couldn't keep it even over-night without that causing major problems with our cats (When something like this happened at a previous house it triggered Edith's epic campaign of peeing in the hallway by the front door).

So I decided that the only thing I could do was take it back outside, and shut the door to the building, so it wouldn't keep running up the stairs.  I hoped that would make it realise it was at the wrong house, and force it to try looking for it's own home again.  I took a handful of food with me (Nancy did not approve and the black cat wasn't that interested actually), and took the cat downstairs again.  I hated closing the front door and leaving it out there, but I just had to trust it was close enough to home that it would find it's way back by itself.

I really hope that it did.

Primary Carer (For Four Days Anyway!)

Doc C is at a conference this week and he won't be back until Saturday night, so it's just me, the cats and my darling baby at the moment.  

Eva's been really good, but she's still not very chatty so I walked down to the bakery with her this afternoon partly to make sure I had at least one adult conversation today - Even if that conversation was purely "Could I have a multi-grain sandwich loaf please? Thanks!" Actually I also asked for a bear claw and a iced raspberry tea, so it was really quite the chat!

Queen Edith's Throne.

Edith has adopted the rocking chair as her special seat.

As you can see she finds it extremely comfortable.

Early Alarm.

I don't think that I've mentioned that Eva is really good about sleeping at night, I didn't mention it because a) I didn't want to jinx it and b) it's just so smug isn't it, to say "My 7 week old baby sleeps at night"? So smug and not at all helpful to anyone who might wonder what magic I've weaved to achieve this, because really it is all her! She just likes to sleep at night!

Eva usually sleeps for a few hours in the evening whilst Doc C and I have dinner and watch TV, and then she'll settle down for a nice long stretch from her last nappy change at midnight until six in the morning.  There are the occasional snuffly noises at around 3, but really that's it and she doesn't actually fully wake up then unless she's unusually uncomfortable.

The thing is, though, that I'm still woken up by anything that sounds remotely like Eva's voice; so if one of the cats simply miaows outside our bedroom door I'm wide awake instantly, so it's a good thing that they don't tend to do that very often.  Last night I was jolted awake at four in the morning, Eva was completely zonked, Doc C was also asleep and there were no cats to be heard; I settled back down to sleep and then I heard the noise that had clearly woken me up.

It was my damned phone.

Somehow the stupid thing always runs out of power at the worst possible time, and then it starts making these plaintive beeps avery few minutes to indicate it requires recharging.  It is SO annoying, especially when you have a young baby who is perfectly capable of waking you up to be fed but crucially has not, to be woken up by your phone! Ugh!

Actually I haven't had a phone I really liked since I signed up with Verizon (the Samsung Juke was probably the least problematic) and I am beginning to suspect that Verizon only has slightly crappy cell phones, specifically so that one feels compelled to get a smart phone and therefore have to pay more for the data plan necessary to make that smart phone function properly.  It's paranoid I know but, seriously I research my options every time I'm due an upgrade and I just keep getting lemons that wake me up at inconvenient times.

The Most Comfortable Thing in the Apartment.

This is a point of view shot of how I seem to be spending a lot of my time at the moment.  

What happens is that Eva falls asleep on me, usually after tiring herself out with a screaming fit, so I'm reluctant to wake her by moving; Edith then senses her opportunity and jams herself onto the available remaining lap space. Thus I am pinned down for hours at a time.

I have taken to arranging everything I could possibly want within reach of the sofa, but there is always something that I've left *just* slightly too far away.  This morning it was my water bottle, and that was really quite tantalising.

Oh, also I spoke too soon yesterday about my small victory.  Shortly after writing that Eva turned into a human milk fountain and covered me, herself and the floor in milk.  She managed to get both the front AND the back of my khakis, I have no idea how she did that.

Tiny and In Charge.

Just as cats know instinctively when you are thinking about getting up from the sofa and choose that moment to sit on you; so too do infant daughters intuit when you were planning to go to bed early and decide that this is the perfect evening to insist on being fed for two and a half hours.

Seriously,Eva's been demanding milk on-and-off since 8 o'clock.  Where is she putting it all? (You don't need to  answer that actually - I am also one of the people who changes her nappies.)

Anyway. She's snoring now, but that could just be a ruse.

Girl's Night In.

Doc C's teaching schedule means he has to stay with our friends Randy and Laura twice a week, and tonight is the first time he's been away over night since Eva was born.  I know it was really difficult for him to leave this morning, and I miss having him here, but at the same time that was the deal we accepted when we moved here and I'm certain it was the right choice for us.

Of course, when Doc's away that means that I'm the responsible adult in the house.  

Yikes,

Right now, I am responsibly typing with one hand whilst Edith and Eva are both sleeping on my lap (Eva is actually snuggled under the waistband of one of my maternity skirts, just like she was two weeks ago!) - Let's hope Nancy doesn't try to join them, because there is no more lap visible at this point.

Sleep! Cats! Perfect!

Isn't sleep AMAZING?

I mean really, if you haven't thought about it, let me assure you that sleep is quite possibly one of the best things ever.  My plan to sleep on-and-off all day yesterday went to hell in a handbasket, because Eva has decided to cluster-feed in the mornings and I had a lot of phone calls to make in the afternoon - But we went to bed at about 9, and slept until 10 this morning.  Even allowing for feeding time, that has to be a good 7 or 8 hours there.  I am a new woman!

I also promised you a cute cat story, I believe.  Well, all during the pregnancy I was concerned about how the cats were going to react to a strange new living thing in their home, because there was just no way to warn them in advance and get them used to the idea.  The day after she was born Doc brought home a hat Eva had been wearing in the hospital to give the cats something to sniff, but they didn;t seem that interested apparently.

When we brought Evalyn home for the first time, we put the carrier down in the middle of the living room and waited to see what the cats would do,.. They ignored it and the baby, totally oblivious to anything unusual or new.  However it was just about time for Eva to eat, so she soon started to fuss, and began crying.  I picked her up to feed her, sat down in the rocking chair and was totally engrossed in getting her to latch until Doc suddenly said "Look behind you!"  Edith had jumped up onto the cat-condo, so that she could look over my shoulder and see the baby!  I very carefully swung myself round a bit so she could get a better view, and she started purring and climbed to the arm of the chair for a closer look.  Nancy meanwhile had put her ears down at the first sound of trouble, and legged it outside.

Edith has been as interested in the baby ever since, later that same afternoon Doc C was holding his daughter and offered her head to Edith so she could sniff it.  Edith did, and then affectionately head-bumped her.  It was just adorable.  Don't worry though that's as close as Edith is allowed to the baby, I don't want to get my baby covered in cat fur or accidentally scratched by an over-enthusiastic paw pat.

I don't like to anthropomorphise animals, but it's hard not to sometimes.  Edith genuinely seems to want to help, or at least she wants to express her affection for us by being affectionate towards the human-kitten we've brought home.  One of my favourite things so far has been to see Edith purposely sit somewhere where she can see the baby and just gaze at her.  It's a bit too adorable to feel real, if you know what I mean, but that's fine with me!

 

Rolling in the Sunshine.

Since moving to Asheville with Doc C and I, Nancy has spent at least an hour or two outside on the balcony pretty much every day.  She's always been pretty vocal in the mornings, but where as she used to be demanding her breakfast, she's now demanding that the door be opened for her.

Nancy's favourite thing in the whole world is to lie on her back in the sunshine, maybe luxuriously washing a paw, and have either Doc C or myself tell her what a good cat she is.  All you have to do is say "Nancy! What a good girl!  Who's a good cat?  Nancy!", and she starts deliriously rolling around on her back.  Ridiculous creature!

In this photo Nancy looks like a ball of lard (Jason's nickname for her, Fat Nance, has never looked more appropriate), but I think that's to do with the angle I took it from, actually she's lost a bit of weight, plays a lot more and is generally looking a lot happier and healthier.

I know being a parent is going to be very different to being a cat owner, but adopting a mangy looking, skin-and-bones cat with some weird behavioural issues and having her blossom in your care into a healthy, affectionate and clearly very happy animal, well, it sort of gives one confidence that you really will be able to keep a child alive.

(Also - No, still no baby! Evalyn has been wriggling around a fair bit today though, so I know she's ok and that's really all I care about.)

Homewares.

Whilst I'm not entirely sure whether or not I'm nesting at the moment, I am definitely invested in getting the flat thoroughly organised and so today we went out in search of those canvas storage crate things.  I specifically wanted two large ones (one for my bewilderingly large collection of belts and one for my entirely necessary assortment of bags) and a small ones (especially for headscarves), and it was but the work of moment in the home goods section of Target to find exactly what I wanted in a jaunty multi-coloured polka dot canvas.  Score.

This means that I've emptied the top drawer of the small chest of drawers and Evalyn's socks now have a designated home.  Eva's not even born yet and she's already got an entire (although small) chest of drawers to herself, whilst Doc C and I are sharing the large one.  I decided this was necessary when I was packing her hospital bag, because I couldn't find her red socks and the Wonder Woman onesy will look so much better with red socks!

We carried on with the home improvement shopping by purchasing some outdoor furniture in the form of two cheap-and-cheerful plastic (but entirely recyclable) adirondack chairs.  These are surprisingly comfortable, and I've spent a lovely late afternoon sitting in the shade of a tree, drinking lemon barley water (Thank you World Market!  You are magnificent!) and reading some essays by G.K. Chesterton on my Kindle.  The cats are very taken with this novel development and love having us outside with them, Edith in particular is ecstatic and has been perched on the railing right next to the chairs just gazing at us lovingly.

At one point Edith moved along the railing a bit to get a better view of something, and her profile was beautifully framed against the sky.  She looked like she was composing poetry, and I was irrestibly reminded of Jordan Catalano from the nineties teen drama "My So-Called Life" .  Edith, I feel sure, would lean beautifully if she were a human.

Cat in a Hole.

Edith keeps climbing into the top chamber of the cat condo - which to my mind must be incredibly warm and uncomfortable at the moment, something like The Hole that prisoners are put in as punishment in POW movies.

In this photo Edith looks particularly sad and put upon, but she really did choose to be there of her own free will.  Daft creature.

Cat on a Warm Wooden Railing.

The cats LOVE being able to go outside whenever they want (when the door is open, they don't have a cat flap or anything); even if the only "outside" they can access is a small fenced in balcony.

I think they just really enjoy being yelled at by the birds because it makes them feel dangerous.

Happy Little Cat.

In other news, Nancy is very happy with this warm weather.  Very very happy.

Too Damn Hot.

It is far too hot to blog at the moment.  My brain won't work.

Mostly I'm waddling from one room in the flat to another as the day progresses and the sun moves around the building, I'm constantly hoping to find some difference in temperature, but I think it's mostly psychological.  I have developed a deep attachment for the ceiling fan in the bedroom, and actually just lay beneath it and napped for about five hours yesterday.

Both cats think this weather is heavenly, and are spending most of their time sunbathing on the balcony.  They are weird.

Sixth Day in the Flat.

More unpacking - But we only have two full boxes and a box three quarters full of coat hangers.  Coat hangers are one of the most mysterious of objects, there are never enough to keep all of my clothes organised and yet, when we came to move house, we had about eleven billion of the bloody things.

We also visited our storage unit, dismantled the sofa and hired a small van to bring it back to the flat. In the four constituent pieces we could easily carry it up the stairs and set it up.  It is GLORIOUS to have a proper sofa again, instead of just sitting on the sofa cushions.  I also don't think I'd actually be able to sit on floor cushions for more than a couple more weeks.

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever had the luxury of moving house, and then not having to go straight back to work the next day.  It is such a luxury being able to unpack and get all of the rooms organised properly, without it being in the evenings after working all day.  I can recommend it. Of course Doc C and I couldn't figure out if today was Tuesday or Wednesday, but that's a small price to pay for a living room that's tidy already and being able to find things when I want them without going through 3 suitcases and a stack of boxes first.

Finally Edith had a face off with our neighbourhood enormous squirrel.  The squirrel was clinging to the vine that climbs the front of the building and chittering at Edith who was sitting on the balcony staring at it.  We intervened before it escalated, much to Edith's evident disgust.

Three Days After the Move.

It is SO nice to have the internet up and running again, even if it is the old school cable version until we pick up our own wireless router (It's a bit mean of Charter to not tell you they are retracting wireless, if only because it means the poor engineer on the job has to explain why he's taking your old wireless router away with him. I could tell our guy was sick of having that conversation.)

Anyway, we are here in Asheville now and just getting the flat organised.  It feels like for every box I unpack there are another three lurking behind it, but we are making some progress I'm sure.  Hey at least we've got the kettle out, so we can have tea!

Both cats seem to have settled in already, it helps a lot that the apartment is surrounded by trees so they have plenty of birds to stare at longingly.  We've also let them out onto the balcony, because there really isn't any way they can get off it (apart from old-fashioned jumping, which I'm not totally convinced they wouldn't be stupid enough to try).  This is a huge success with both cats, and I'm 90% sure they don't even remember the old house now.  They do only have teeny tiny cat brains after all.

As for the humans, we seem to be settling in quite well too. I think this could be a pretty good place to live... Once I get rid of all of these damn boxes...

The Eternal Move - Packing, Donating and Cleaning.

The process of moving is starting to drag now, and we don't even load up the van until Friday.  Ugh. I have packed what feels like dozens of boxes, and this is always the point in a move when minimalism starts to look like both an extremely attractive lifestyle and an impossible dream. Today we donated several large pieces of furniture to a local charity, so the house does look considerably more empty which is encouraging.  The charity sent three guys in a van who cheerfully removed our armchair, ottoman, computer desk,desk chair, futon, bedroom dresser and the two hideous maroon lamps that  I've been openly scheming to be rid of for years now.  Finally those things are gone! Yes!

Whilst the furniture was being removed the front door needed to be propped open, so I shoved the cats in their carriers for a little while.  Edith doesn't really mind and just likes to be placed somewhere with a good view of what is happening; Nancy was, of course, inconsolable.  It was quarter of an hour of Miss Nancy Wake-Cat's most soulful operatic meows, with occaisional breaks to head-butt the carrier's gate or scrabble around looking for a weak spot in the carrier itself.  Fortunately she is a cat of little brain, and within twenty minutes of being released she was lolling around on the floor displaying her belly, having clearly forgotten all about the recent horrible trauma and generally looking pretty happy with life.  I will absolutely hate having to sit in a car with her for two hours on Friday, because she will wail all the way but with any luck the same thing will happen when we get to the new place and she will magically forget her distress as her curiosity in the new place takes over.  I hope.  One of the few things that I rescued from the large donation of clothes we made a few weeks ago was a shapeless pink sweater that Nancy particularly loves sleeping on, so hopefully having that to hand will help her chill out a bit.  That and some food, because Nancy is a greedy little thing.

As well as packing, I've also been trying to clean as we go and to this end we purchased Mr Clean's Nagic Erasers.  These things are amazing yet terrifying, because they clean pretty much anything (except hard water marks on toilet bowls as I've just discovered) but no-one knows what they are made from.  Not that I want to know actually, because I suspect it's a spongey block of pure white evil and that just by using it I'm making some sort of pact with the devil.  That's why I don't use them regularly for cleaning the house, well that and I really hate how they feel, but they are such a useful short-cut that they are perfect for last minute cleaning before you move house.  I far prefer to live in house cleaned with baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and lavendar-scented castile soap - But those cleaning methods require additional elbow grease and time, and so are not useful right now.

Box Addict.

Edith is definitely aware that something is going on, although I highly doubt she understands what. 

She is absolutely loving all of these cardboard boxes around the place.  We picked up some more boxes today, this time from our favourite beer and wine shop, and I arranged six of the boxes in a grid. Edith spent a while sniffing them all and then hopping from box to box.

The Gordon's box is still her favourite though.

Evasive Action.

The heat wave is less intense than it was, but I'm still not very comfortable with the temperatures.  This afternoon I suddenly felt both far too hot and exhausted; fortunately I've been observing the Queen of coping with heat, Edith Cavell-Cat.

I slid the coffee table out of the way so I could spread a blanket on the ground and lie directly underneath the ceiling fan, then I took off my clothes and ended up napping, curled up on the floor in just my underwear for an hour.  Best nap ever.

I couldn't have done that in the office.

Hot Cat on a Window Sill.

Heatwave.  Too hot for me and I hate to think how Edith must feel in her fur coat.  She does occaisionally enjoy baking her tummy though (this photo is from a couple of days ago), so maybe it's not as bad as I'm imagining.

Bib/Cape.

Brittany, the very lovely work study student in my office, is graduating this weekend, and so she's leaving us. This is just unbelivably selfish, but what can you do?

As a leaving gift I bought her a set of Philosophy bath things, because they always smell nice but also because they had a gift set which had especially heart-warming things written on the packaging. I'm not a big advocate of sentimentality, but I think when you are leaving University for your first job that having shower gel that tells you every morning that you are great and that you have a terrific future in front of you would be nice.

What I was totally not expecting was for Brittany to buy me a present, but, like I said, she is lovely and very thoughtful.  Isn't this bib adorable?  Look at all the little fishes with their great big teeth!  Nom, nom, nom! I love it!

In the current absence of a dressable baby I did try holding it up to Doc C's face to see what it might look like on Eva - assuming she looks like him, and has the stubble beffiting a Bearded Lady in training. This was fun, but I felt we could go further with it... Hmmmm... Who else lives in our house and is of the perfect size to wear a bib as a cape? Oh yes, Nancy!

Honestly, I thought that she would only put up with this for a second or two, but she was perfectly happy to wander around the living room with it on.  Clearly Nancy has super-hero fantasies that we were previously unaware of.

Checking In.

Doc C - Playing "Batman: Arkham City"
Me - Baking an aubergine and blogging.
Eva - Growing (presumably)
Cats - Asleep somewhere in the house

Yep, we're all fine! How are you?

Extremely Comfortable Cats.

When we are away for a few nights I make a nest on our bed for the cats, it's just made out of pillows underneath the covers so that they've got a little nook to curl up in that smells like us. Not that I think the cats themselves are sentimental, but they do like a certain reliable routineness to their surroundings.

Anyway...

We got back from Philladelphia last night and it was obvious that the cats had been sleeping in the nest I made them. And yes, ok FINE, I did think that was very sweet so when I got up this morning I did put it back together and Nancy immediately curled up in it. Edith meanwhile spent her morning following me around the house (I booked an extra day off because I wasn't sure how late we'd be getting home, or how Eva was going to like flying this time).

Then I noticed I no longer had a floofy grey shadow, and went upstairs to discover both cats curled up on the bed. You can tell by the look on Nancy's face that she is only doing this because it's cold here today.

Of course the minute she heard the camera Edith started posing and flirting with the lens, and she looks gorgeous - But Nancy looks super gormless in those particular shots, so I stuck with the ones where she merely looks annoyed to have been caught in this position.

Tiny and In Charge.

I stayed at home today at the behest of the Fetus Overlord (Overlady?), who hit me with indigestion last night and a nauseous headache this morning. For a creature who could fit in the palm of my hand, Eva's damn bossy - Clearly she wanted to show off her back-flips because she was really wiggling about today.

In other news there was another cat on our porch this afternoon, Nancy was furious and her tail puffed up to three times it's normal size. Edith was asleep and missed the whole incident.

Ask An Atheist!

Doc C spent most of this afternoon making this large sign for the (self-explanatory) "Ask an Atheist" event at the university tomorrow. I like the sign a lot, and hope they get asked some good questions!

Nancy's question is when she's likely to be fed, with a follow up question about getting rid of Edith.

Spring Break Tuesday.

I feel like we've got a lot of stuff done today; the cats are brushed, the living room is vacuumed, the kitchen is clean, the bathroom is well-scrubbed (the wooden floor has even been hand-waxed), Edith has been outside, pre-natel Pilates has been done, and a slightly crappy murder mystery has been finished.

Now I'm sleepy.

Edith in the Red Wagon.

Last summer I bought a Radio Flyer, which is one of those red wagons that are an apparently integral part of an iconic American childhood according to films, comic strips and Norman Rockwell paintings. Of course I REALLY wanted to get a photo of one of the cats sitting in it, this naturally means they have avoided having anything at all to do with it (apart from hiding underneath it during skirmishes).

Originally the wagon was next to the fireplace in the living room, and we used it for dumping our bags in when we got home from work. As it got colder and we started using the fire more, I decided to move the wagon, because I worried about the wheels melting. I put it on the mezzanine, and used it to hold the floor cushions up there. An unplanned bonus of this is that Nancy can use the cushions as a ramp to climb up to the railing, which she and Edith like to use as a catwalk.

When I came upstairs to go to bed last night I found that Edith has re-discovered how comfortable the floor cushions are, and she was elegantly lounging in the Radio Flyer. FINALLY!  I had to act fast, but I knew that if I ran to get my camera, that would prompt Edith to jump out of the wagon. Fortunately Doc was still at the foot of the stairs, next to my bag with my camera in it, so I called down and asked him to grab my camera for me. 

The light wasn't great, but I could steady my hand on the bannister, and Edith happily posed for several shots, so happily in fact she started purring. I know she can't possibly understand what a camera is, but there is no getting around the fact that she likes it when I take photos of her. Somehow Edith knows that the camera loves her, and she loves it right back!

A Hit, A Very Palpable Hit.

You know, as a cat owner, one hears horror stories all the time about how much cats dislike change, and how carefully one must introduce new brands of litter or food.

What you don't hear about so much is the horror of changing to a dry cat food that your precious kitties adore, and the mayhem that ensues if you then run low, as we did this week. We had just enough last night to serve dinner and breakfast, but not generous portions for either meal. We were to pay for our error of food management.

At 3:30 this morning we were woken by some very persistent loving' from Edith, who wanted a snack. On the way home this evening we made a special detour to get the new dried cavier, and that was definitely a good move. The food bowls were shiny from the cats licking them to get every last bit of biscuit dust.

They REALLY like this new stuff.

Nancy!

I sometimes feel guilty I post so many more photos of Edith than of Nancy. Then I remember that there are two excellent reasons for this.

1) Nancy spends between 18 and 22 hours on the bed, she likes her alone time. Edith is nearly always where the humans are, and she's always trying to get our attention.
2) Edith has an inherent understanding of posing for the camera, Nancy just does not get it.

Here is the best photo I was able to get of Nancy today; she's almost looking at the camera in this one, and had only just started to move her head, so the blurring is minimal. Well done Nance!

Cat Pose.

Edith is my personal yoga coach, and she has a very paws on approach. If you look closely, you can see where she has checked the density of the blocks by giving the corners a bit of a chew.

Las Vegas Recap.

As you can see Edith felt very strongly that she should be coming to Las Vegas with us, and attempted to pack herself in to my suitcase on Thursday evening. She would make a fabulous show girl actually, with that plumey tail and gorgeous figure (it's hard to believe she's had kittens).

I didn't really take many photos over the weekend, because all the suff I'd want to have a picture of was either something I was prohibited from photographing (for example Doc C intentally scrutinising our crime scene at the CSI Experience) or something I didn't think would photograph well without some professional level lighting equipment (for example the jellyfish display at the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Aquarium).

It was obviously imperative to take a photo of our hotel at night, because it was a quite ridiculous fake castle with turrets and other such nonsense.

It was annoying that I couldn't get a shot of both The Excalibur and New York, New York's Faux Liberty without the walkway's guard rail in it, but I think you get the point. Ridiculousness.

Internet Black Out.

Edith does not approve of SOPA.

Work. Sleep. Sixties Television.

First day back at work was fine, but tiring - I went upstairs at 5:15 for a nap intending to be awake by 6:30. Three hours later...
On the positive side, the cats thought it was entirely for their benefit and very much appreciated me staying still for so long.

Now I'm watching "Mission Impossible" on Netflix streaming. I loved the series as a kid, but Doc's never seen it so we're kicking off from episode one. I was shocked to find that everyone in the team was in place - except for Peter Graves. It's weird to see some other bloke as team leader, but the presence of Greg Morris is reassuring.

Just Ducky.

For Christmas the Assistant Chair of my department gave me a spa set, which is bubble bath, body cream, an eye mask and DUCKY SLIPPERS - I hadn't previously thought of Ducky Slippers as being a staple of a good spa, but now I shall demand them!

I'll give you two guesses which of the cats is a bit freaked out by these, and is very much on her guard whenevr I'm wearing them.

Black Friday: Cleaning Day!

Today I have been in organisational mode, which wasn't entirely my plan for the day, until I found myself cleaning the stove and then the upstairs bathroom in my pajamas. Then I changed into some comfy work-out clothes before taking on the major job of re-shelving my library, whilst also removing everything that was not a book from the bookshelves.

Then I had a cup of coffee and read an Agatha Christie mystery on my Kindle.

At this point I decided I needed to re-fold and re-classify all of my tops, so now my t-shirts are stored by sleeve length, colour and then by how much I like it. It's a complicated system, and it took me 2 hours (whilst watching a cheesy thriller) to get it properly done. I also packed my summer clothes and shoes into suitcases then put them in the loft.

Doc decided to vacuum the living room, so the cats and I retreated to the bedroom and read some more Christie.

Finally I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, including the litter trays (by the way, I use Dr Bonner's liquid soap to clean the litter trays - which is Gwyneth Paltrow's shower gel of preference. That is how fancy my cats are.)

By this point I was completely sick of cleaning, so I had a shower and put on some clean lounging pajamas and made myself a gin martini, with a splash of angastora bitters and an olive. Because, omg, I deserved it!

Happy Martini Haze.

Well personally I like keeping the gin in the freezer, it produces a perfectly chilled martini that definitely softens in flavour as you drink it and I rather liked that. This has a dash of Angostura Bitters in it, and that is just delicious.

Doc C made this for me, because I was covered in sleeping cats and he then brought it to me in the living room. This then presented somewhat of a problem; how to get a decent photo of the drink with out distracting background clutter and with out leaving my station as comfy cat bed. Fortunately one of the pieces of clutter on the coffee table next to me was a sheet of crumpled red tissue paper.  I put the glass on the paper and held that up as a backdrop with my left hand whilst taking the pictures with my right hand.

I'm just as pleased with the photos as I was with the chilled gin. A successful set of experiments all around!