Alien Spouse

Freezing Gin.

Late last night the wind really picked up and the door to the outside cupboard was banging, and that cupboard is directly behind the fireplace. Edith has been obsessing over the fireplace for the past couple of weeks, we think because of the mice but who knows with cats; anyway all this noise meant she became very excited. This led to much zooming around and that woke us up.

Doc C went downstairs to see what was going on, and then went outside to shut the door, but the damage was already done and Edith was more convinced then ever that there was something of interest in the fireplace. She carried on dashing around crashing into things, so then I went downstairs and cleared the fireplace and surrounding area of anything breakable or loud. At this point it was 3:30 and when I got back to bed I discovered that I couldn't sleep, so I did some important research on my iPod.

Mostly I was trying to work out how to make myself a nice cold martini without having to waste ice and dirty the cocktail shaker, because it seems a bit fiddly for just the one glass. Knowing that vodka could be stored in the freezer, I thought what about gin? It may interest you to know that there are competing views on this subject, because gin is a botanical spirit and so some people think that freezing it will dull the aromas. I can't honestly say that my palate or nose is particularly refined, so I think it's worth the risk of losing some of the aromatic experience in exchange for a cold martini with minimum effort.

This morning, whilst making my breakfast, I was already thinking about having a cocktail after work, so I put the gin and the vodka into the freezer, and the vermouth into the fridge (where it apparently should have been all along). We have a mostly empty freezer, so I also put in the cocktail shaker because that was another tip I found in my internet searching.

I'll make myself a drink at some point later this evening (the hour after we get home from work is cup-of-tea-and-a-snack time) and we shall see what my verdict is, I hope that it will be a blissed out martini haze.

New Vintage Chair.

Having tidied and re-organised the mezzanine before the Halloween party (although I'm not really sure why now because it's not like anyone went up there), we had a nice bit of open space that was just begging to be used. Three of my bookshelves are there and it's probably the warmest place in the house, so it made sense to make it into a designated reading area; which obviously required seating.

I fell in love with this chair from Urban Outfitters, not least because it looks like it fell off the set for "Mad Men", and was even more enamored when one of the colour choices was inexplicably reduced in price to $199.99. Stylish and cheap? For me! On pay day I went on-line to order it, and was annoyed to find that despite there being free shipping on anything over $50 that my chair had been tagged with a $35 overweight fee - Well, this threw my very carefully calibrated purchasing budget for the month right out of the window, so I decided to spend Saturday searching the local antiques shops for an alternative.

The very first shop I went to, out of all three in town, had a very plain upholstered rocking chair outside that I liked straight away, but I carried on looking just to be thorough and then came back to it. Then I called Doc C to come and look at it (oddly he hadn't fancied trawling the antiques shops for hours, so he went to his office to write job applications), he haggled a bit on the price because it does need to be reupholstered (I don't think we'll have the spare cash to get it professionally reupholstered and re-sprung any time soon, so I'm probably going to DIY a temporary cover to hide that faded green nobbly fabric) and then we went to lunch to think about it. After lunch I paid $135 for it and stuffed it in the back of the Mini, so now we have a reading chair. Yay!

The cats disagree; they think we have a new cat chair and one or the other has been sitting in it pretty much constantly since we brought it home. I think this is an excellent sign that I chose well, because, as we all know, cats are discerning connoisseurs of comfort.

Edith in Action.

As the weather gets colder Edith gets distinctly livelier and wants to play more, she's currently loving playing "reaching through the stairs" and will play for as long as she has a human opponent.

The Mouse Returns.

sigh.

So in the early hours of the morning I was woken up by Doc C getting up to go and see what was going on downstairs, because he'd been woken up by the loud squeaks and the sound of thundering paws.

Pinky the mouse was back.

This time we left them to it, because if a mouse really has that little instinct for self-preservation there is really not much you can do for it. We didn't get much sleep though, because it was a pretty lively mouse and they were running around for hours. Anyone who uses the phrase "cat-like" to mean quiet has clearly never lived with a cat.

At one point the noise suddenly stopped, and I came down to see if the mouse was dead so I could stop them eating it. It wasn't dead, it had merely wedged itself under the heater, so Edith was just sitting there playing wack-a-mole with it. It did sneak past her though and then I got to see both of the cats working as a team to corner it; which was pretty impressive, if you managed to ignore the fact that they were toying with a live creature.

By the time we got up (which was something like two hours late because we overslept), the mouse was lying on it's back but still breathing. I scooped it up into a vase, and we detoured on our way to work to drop it off in a wooded area near the river. I don't know if it's going to live, but at least if it does it won't get back into the house and go through all this again.

Birds and Other Animals.

This is the bird feeder (that's what it was labelled anyway - but I think it makes a better bird bath than a bird feeder, because surely it's just going to fill up with water when it rains?) I bought in Old Salem yesterday, the shell is about the size of a hand and the little metal bird is probably a little bit smaller than life size.  It was only ten bucks! Score!

So far the birds have totally ignored it, but that's hardly surprising as it has nothing in it.

This is right next to our now empty seed holder, which Doc filled up on Thursday and which was then systematically emptied by the cheeky chipmunk that lives under our house. This morning I saw a squirrel hanging on the empty feeder - Sorry Nutkin, too slow! The chipmunk is quick and efficient!

Being animal-loving softies we are secretly rooting for the chipmunk, and so we didn't chase it away or remove the feeder when we saw what it was up to. Of course that doesn't mean we are going to refill that feeder any time soon, the chipmunk has more than enough to last it for quite some time and the birds won't really need our help until it snows.

 

Sadly, there is a down-side to being animal loving softies.  Apparently when you rescue a mouse from certain death at the jaws of your cat and release it from the front door, what the ungrateful wretch then does is run round to the back of the house and climb back in through the tumble dryer duct. I know this because I saw a mouse sitting in the middle of the downstairs bathroom when I got up this morning, and I am pretty damn certain it was the same mouse from last night.

I called Edith, who naturally ignored me completely, but when I got her and carried her into the bathroom she pretty soon figured out what I was trying, in my moronic human way, to tell her. The mouse slipped away under the washing machine, and Edith so has been on high alert ever since. She has been patrolling downstairs and checking all the likely places a mouse might hide, including a very close examination of under the sofa. She is very thorough.
If I were this mouse I would get the hell out of here, but, seeing as it came right back to where it was caught last night and then just sat in the open where even a dopey human could see it, I'm assuming it's Pinky and not The Brain.

Day Trip and Mouse Hunt.

Today we took the little car to the Mini dealership in Winston-Salem to get the oil changed. We then had lunch at a great wine bar called "6th and Vine", before strolling around Old Salem where I purchased a small bird bath.

When we got home Edith was running around the sofa, peering under it and generally acting like there was a mouse underneath it. Probably because there was a mouse underneath it. About half way through "Project Runway" (TiVo'd from last night) she caught the rodent, and started running aimlessly around the room, mostly trying to avoid us because she knew we would take if away from her. I caught Edith, and she immediately dropped the mouse.

Doc C saw it go onto the bathroom, so we ushered Edith in there after it because we knew we wouldn't be able to catch it. This was a good strategy, because it turned out to be a really fierce mouse; at one point both cats were in the bathroom, the mouse walked up to Nancy, reared up onto it's legs so it could go nose-to-nose with her and then the tiny little thing hissed in Nancy's face. Yikes.

Not long after that Edith caught the mouse for a second time; we were able to get her to the front door before making her drop it outside, and letting it run away. We praised her like crazy, and she spent the rest of the evening double-checking the living room for anything else she could hunt. There was a leaf that she took some frustration out on, but no other rodents inside the house. Which may have disappointed her, but I'm quite pleased about personally.

Chocolate Frogs and Fat Little Chipmunks.

It's Fall Break, and my Department Chair said I could close the office! So I did and I have had a really fun day!

First of all I woke up really late because I'd turned off my alarm, then Doc C made pancakes. After that I had a shower and got dressed, before spending what was left of the morning making chocolate frogs and spiders. I am very pleased with how they look, I hand-painted the molds with different colours of candy melt to get the markings; the problem is that we only had chocolate chips in the house, so the texture is wrong. As everything I read about molding chocolate had predicted, the chocolates are just too soft and melt to easily. Well, I've bought some different chocolate to experiment with, so suppose that means I'll have to taste test chocolate all over again. Deep sigh.

After that I practised applying my new mineral make-up, watched the first episode in the new "Psych" season and finished making the party invitations.

We also spent a fair amount of time today watching the chipmunk that lives under our house. It discovered the bird seed that Doc C had left on the porch for it (the man is such a softy, but don't tell him I said that), the chipmunk had to make two trips and ludicrously overstuff it's cheeks to transport all the food back to it's nest, but that is a very determined little rodent. Edith was fascinated, and very excited.
Later I looked out if the kitchen window to see (probably the same) chipmunk swinging from the bird feeder. Again it did this a few times, so I got to watch it shimmy up the feeder's metal stand and then leap across to the feeder. It was pretty impressive.

Now I'm watching "Alien" (1979), eating smoked salmon pizza and drinking pumpkin beer.

It's been a bloody nice day.

Autumn Morning.

There are some mornings when both of your precious darling cats have thrown up in various places, and, whilst you clean that up, the kitchen fills with smoke because your breakfast bagel has burnt in the toaster.

It is particularly important on those mornings to take a deep breath, and also to appreciate a moment of unexpected beauty when you walk around a corner to see misty sunlight shining on autumn leaves.

Fat Nance.

Doc C took the cats to the vet for a check-up this morning, and they are both very healthy. In fact when the vet's tech weighed them and reported that both cats were exactly the same weight, Doc couldn't believe it; so they were weighed again. Both Edith and Nancy are both ten pounds.

Both cats are so very different from how they were when first saw them a the human society, Edith's personality has really blossomed but you can actually see the change in our Nancy.

Fat Nance was once this skinny little thing:

And now look at her!

The First of October.

It being the first day of October Doc C has allowed me to kick off the Halloween decorating - It also helps that we got paid yesterday, because I needed one or two things to get this party started!

I'd already arranged the dried rosebuds, assorted foliage and ribbon (which all came from the lovely bunch of flowers I was given by a colleague who does weddings - So this is a recycled bridesmaid's bouquet!) onto the vine wreath, but it needed more. Specifically it needed moss, fake cobwebs and plastic spiders. The plastic spiders are rings that come in packs of 50 from the dollar store, but I had to get 2 packs because they ar a mix of the black spiders that I wanted and bright orange spiders which did not really work for this particular project. I wanted to make this look like a really lush wreath had been left on the door for years and was disentegrating, but was still just about being held together by the cobwebs -Actually the rosebuds kept falling out when left to their own devices, so the cobweb really is integral to this project.

With Edith's help (how do people manage to do any sort of DIY craft project without a cat around to helpfully try and eat everything?), it took me about forty minutes to get the whole thing finished and now it's on our front door.

I then spent a couple of hours watching old episodes of "CSI" and cutting the rings off the backs of the orange plastic spiders that I deemed totally unrealistic for the wreath. I then poked a whole in the back with my handy bradle and then stuck a cocktail stick in each one. I now have orange spider cocktail sticks, perfect for my Halloween party snacks and drinks! Thanks Martha!

Winter is coming.

Much as the end of Winter is signalled by a specific Groundhog leaving it's burrow, so too is the on-set of colder weather heralded by Edith Cavell-Cat's re-discovery of the cat tower.

At least, it is in our house.

 

Nero Greenback Visits Appalachia.

When we were walking yesterday I was taking photos of tree roots, and I notices a fuzzy white caterpillar. I think this is a picture of it's head, but I'm not really positive of that.

Anyway, I think it's Baron Greenback's evil pet, Nero, or at least a close relative. Could someone in London pop a note in Danger Mouse's letter box please, or perhaps e-mail Penfold?

(By the way I made none of these jokes at the time because Doc C has never seen "Danger Mouse". I know! Can you imagine?)

Internet : The Return.

The Internet is back at the Alien Spouse house! Yeah Baby!

Doc C tells me there was actually something wrong with the cables, so it wasn't the modem as we had been told the last couple of times this happened. So despite our modem being black-listed, apparently, it still hasn't been replaced which is a bit weird, but ok as long as it keeps on working. So fingers crossed, eh?

Whilst the engineers from Charter were here Edith stayed curled up on the ottoman, but Doc had a nasty few minutes when he couldn't find Nancy and he thought she might have scampered away. It turns out that Nancy didn't actually make a break for freedom, but rather that she was hiding under the futon in the study. Poor little scaredy cat! She's fine now, and has spent a fair few minutes this evening happily chewing on the straps that fasten Doc's courier bag. Because that is Nancy's idea of a rockin' good time.

Vote Cranberry.

Brittany, my department's fantastic work study student, adopted a fish today and didn't have time to take him home before she came to work. So we've had a mini fish tank with a beta fish swimming around on my desk this afternoon.

He doesn't have a name yet, but Brittany liked my suggestion of Cranberry. She has joint custody with her room mate though, so there is going to have to be some serious discussion of the matter this evening.

A Busy Day for Cats.

The big news of today is that Nancy has finally discovered that we have a new sofa and that it is a comfortable place for a little cat to sit. She is an extremely cautious creature.

Edith, on the other hand, has been a very bad cat today; because Nancy can't jump up on to the kitchen work surface and I'm confident that neither myself or Doc threw up cat biscuits next to the kettle. It's a damn good thing she is such a lovely cat when she's not being a raging nut-job.

Moody.

When we are at home, going about our tedious human business, occaisionally one of us will notice that there is a grey pool of The Malaise on the floor and the cry will go out "Oh no! Edith has Flopped!" to which the other person in the house will reply "Oh no! Edith flopped? Whatever shall we do?"

It is always Edith, probably because Nancy is so convinced that the entire world is out to get her that her little cat brain is full of conspiracy theories at all times and so she is always on alert; Edith knows the world loves her, and sometimes she finds this beyond tedious. yawn. She is the very picture of boredom in these moments, just staring blankly into space and generally behaving as if sighing were far too much effort. Usually if you throw a ball for her, or try to get her interested in one of her other toys, she'll just ignore the toy and give you a look that quite clearly says that you do not understand her.

I suspect that Edith in this mood is probably excellent experience for parenting teenagers. I should rent her out.

Saturday Lists.

Morning - Tea. Toast. Honey.

Afternoon - Asheville. Sushi. Window-shopping. Haircut. Iced latte. Home.

Evening - Pizza. "Eureka". Cats.

Recouperating.

Stupid stitches. I wasn't able to get much sleep last night, the problem was that if I slept on my left side it put pressure on the stitches, but sleeping on my right wasn't an awful lot better. In the end I discovered that hugging a pillow gave me some support, but I didn't realise that until about 9 o'clock this morning.

Considering I was really tired and, after reading the possible side effects of the pain killers I'd been prescribed, I decided to stay at home today. Edith kept a close eye on me, and we watched "Inception".

Inter-Species Communication Break-Down.

Yesterday I cleaned the downstairs bathroom floor with a swiffer wet cloth, which did a perfectly reasonable job from my human perspective, but apparently did not stand up to the exacting standards of Edith Cavell-Cat.

Clearly I need to get out the mop and re-do it, properly this time (Pre-Wash: vinegar and lemon. Wash: Dr Bonner's soap in Eucalyptus. Rinse: water) , or she'll pee on the lino again.

I do wish cats could learn to write passive-aggressive notes instead of protesting quite so dirtily.

Edith and Nancy - Because They Are Cute.

Edith is one of those cats who un-complicatedly adores humans, and she is very very clear about this. When we got home from Pilates last night Edith was in the mood for love, and she planted herself on my leg. I was sitting sort of cross legged, so she was just draped along my thigh, purring at top volume and with a totally blissed out expression on her face.

I didn't have my camera, and when Doc made a move to get it for me, Edith sat up to watch what he was doing; then promptly decided she felt like grabbing a quick snack and jumped off me. Damn it! Fortunately she came back a bit later in the evening and re-draped herself on my other leg, by which point I had my camera to hand and ready to take her photo.

Oh, how Edith loves!

Nancy usually spends most of her time in our bedroom, but she did spend a few minutes with us in the living room last night and we were treated to some ferocious kitten-cat hunting.

This is one of Nancy's favourite parts of hunting; putting herself behind an obstacle and r-e-a-c-h-i-n-g in vaguely the direction of her prey. It is, not surprisingly, ineffective.  She also does ridiculous little pouncing jumps which will sometimes segue into forward rolls, with the occasional hiss thrown in for added drama. Nancy would survive in the wild for as long as her stores of body fat held out, but I seriously doubt she'd be able to actually catch her own food.

Edith - Hunter!

Last night we were woken up by a crashing noise, and Doc C leapt out of bed to investigate. He checked the perimeter and found no security breaches, Nancy had been asleep on me when it happened; this left the usual suspect. Edith.

Doc noticed that she had something in her mouth, and he thought it was a toy or some of her own fur, until she very deliberately went over to Nancy to show her what it was. Nancy gave the object a bit of a sniff but seemed unimpressed, that's when Edith dropped it and it ran away.

Edith had caught a mouse.

Nancy had no idea what to do, so Edith demonstrated by catching it again. We immediately started praising her and saying what a clever cat she was, until Doc C could pick her up and carry her to the front door. I opened the door and carefully prised her jaws open, so that she dropped the rodent and it ran off into the night.

Edith was so proud of herself.

Third Day of the Weekend.

Today I did a zumba routine, cleaned both bathrooms, battled gladiators (and won! Roar!), washed three loads of laundry, played petanque with Doc C, read half a book, "walked" the cats, and helped to recapture the cats after they both escaped in separate prison breaks.

Not bad considering it was the first day we've felt the need to turn the ceiling fan on, because it was the first warm summer day and I do not do well in heat.

All in all, an memorable Memorial Day -slash- Bank Holiday Monday.

Cat on a Chair.

How cute is Nancy? So cute! Look at her all curled up on a dining chair! Look at her little white nose, her little white paw and just a hint of white tummy! Adorbs!

And she's such a good cat too - We have yet to catch Nancy on the table, which is, of course, forbidden to cats.

Edith on the other hand has been on the table at least twice to my knowledge and displeasure. It's far cuter when Edith sits on the three-legged stool next to the front door. I put it there to leave things on that we needed to take with us when we left the house, such as Netflix DVDs or keys, but Edith likes to sit there so she can greet us when we get home. It puts her at the perfect height for fuss.

Glamour Puss.

Edith was displeased that I was taking photos of something other than her, that cat loves the camera.

After I'd got some suitably glamorous shots of Miss Cavell-Cat I went into the study to edit them in Picnik, Edith followed me and lolled around on my lap until I'd finished cropping the image; adjusting the exposure and colours; before finally giving her the merest soupcon of soft focus.

Once content with her cheesecake shots Edith retired back to the futon in the study to get some more beauty sleep. She is very careful to get at least 16 hours a day.

The Red Metal Cabinet.

Monday. Ugh.

Fortunately we don't have to dwell on the horror that is the first day of summer school classes, we have much more pleasant things to consider; such as our new TV cabinet.

I love being able to close the doors and shut away all of the wires, gadgets and accessories, it makes the whole room look tidier straight away. On top of that it's actually got a slimmer footprint than the hideous tables, so it takes up less floor space giving us about a foot more space in the living room.

Right now the only minor problems are the cats, who are both, naturally, fascinated by the new piece of furniture, all the more so because it usually has closed doors. Closed doors are an anathema to cats, and so whenever the cabinet is open both girls are drawn to it like a magnet. They didn't give a toss about the PS3 or the cable box before, this is purely because of the doors.

(By the way the images on the TV are from a game called "Red Dead Redemption", it's set in the wild west and I believe Doc C is currently hunting bad guys for the bounty on their heads)

Rain, Rain, Go Away.

There was an incredibly dramatic thunderstorm last night, which seemed to start the very moment my bedside light was turned off. The whole of the patch of sky we could see from our bedroom window would light up in a sheet, and there seemed to be a lot more lightening than thunder; not that that made it any easier to sleep through, because the light was quite startling. The cats were very unsettled, and couldn't decide if they wanted to be with us, or if a really good hiding place would be safer.

Eventually I fell asleep, so I don't know if the storm carried on all night but was just less impressive. I do know that it all really kicked off again at about 5:30, and that the cats were back on the bed by that time. I looked at the weather report app on my iPod, the next three days had the lightening icon, and the three days after that are all illustrated with the heavy rain icon. With that weather prediction in mind for the week, clearly this evening is the perfect time for us to notice an ominous and very loud creaking that seems to be coming from the roof.

A Really Great Sunday.

Today has been very exciting, which considering I spent most of yesterday either asleep or washing my clothes, would have been exciting had we only gone out for lunch (Oh, and we also went to see "Thor" in 3D, which looked great, was very well cast and yet was somehow clearly not that memorable. Huh.) However first we went to look at the Radio Flyer I had noticed was sitting outside one of the local antique shops. It was in pretty good condition but it was still a bit rusty; so we thought we may as well explore and started getting excited about the dining tabls they had. I particularly liked the vintage enamel tables, but none really spoke to us.

Then we went to walk dogs at the Humane Society, and, as is becoming somewhat of a habit, I fell deeply in love with the most adorable little puggle (Pug and Beagle mix) called Roxie. She is just so sweet, she loves humans and her ears are the softest things in the whole world. sigh. Doc managed to drag me away somehow, and we went to get lunch. I had heuvos rancheros with a pint of guinness, and it was delicious.

Since we were already in town we went to check the other antique shops, especially a particularly great swivel chair I had seen in a shop window. Which was still there, still great and now I knew it was way out of my price range. We moved on to the next antique shop, and went straight to the basement where they display all the furniture. Doc was examining something or other when I turned a corner and saw the most ridiculously fifties dining set I had ever seen. It was magnificent and had a bakelite tabletop in marbled white with red detailing, plus it came with two leaves and a matching set of six vinyl upholstered chairs in the same colour scheme.  It was just fabulous, and cost $250 for the whole set. After some examination of the table and chairs, we decided it was too much of a bargain and we HAD to buy it. There was no chance of us getting a dining room set in the Mini, so we'll have to borrow a van sometime this week to get it home.

And this means we will be able to have people over for dinner! And board games! And tea parties! And poker! And we can eat breakfast at a table! SO exciting!

Of course now none of our furniture even remotely matches, so I think we still need to go to Ikea and find a sofa that will look good next to a vintage dining set. I'm thinking something in white leather with red cushions and a grey cat or two.

Organisational Shopping and Cat-Walking.

Tomorrow Doc's Mum will be popping in for a visit, so we're scrambling to get the house looking nice. I have been organising the kitchen cupboards, and I also took all of our CDs and DVDs out of their individual cases and consolidated them into albums. Doc's CD collection had started to take over my albums, so he needed a new one of his very own; which meant a trip to Staples which is always fun isn't it? I also bought a file box so I can sort out all those important bits of pape that are currently mixed in with old Lush catalogues and cool knitting patterns I found on-line.

Then we spent an hour walking the cuts on their leads, and I am happy to report that there was a lot of rolling around and eating of grass on the part of Nancy and Edith. Doc and I mostly just stood around, because you don't really walk cats so much as cramp their style. Edith got into a staring match with a goose, and clearly thought that it was really rude of me to interrupt, but as the geese have just hatched goslings it seemed a little foolhardy on her part.

Middleton-Windsor.

When I got up this morning Nancy was meowing and meowing and meowing, so I turned on the television for her so she could watch the Royal Wedding. Nancy loves the Windsors. I watched it with her whilst I had my breakfast, and I saw Kate arrive at Westminster Abbey before getting ready for work.

At work the Royal Wedding was a very popular topic of conversation, so I ended up looking up all sorts of stuff on-line to properly perform my duties as resident British person. I found photos of everything - the dress (gorgeous!), the earrings, the bridesmaids, the cake, the cake from a different angle, the guests, the guests' hats, and the crowds. It was all quite lovely I thought; not necessarily the best use of several million pounds, but quite an impressive bit of pomp and pageant.

My opinion is that Kate seems like a very nice girl, and I also think William has done rather well. Also I think this whole think this makes me feel old, because I remember going to London for the day with my parents to see Charles and Diana's wedding. And that was 30 years ago.

It's Dark... And We're Wearing Sunglasses.

I have a glass of red wine, the rest of that bag of Montezuma's giant milk chocolate buttons and season one of "Mad Men" on DVD.

Edith is on the sofa with me, and Doc C is stretched out in front of the fire.

Friday.

Window Cats.

The cats are loving the warmer weather, because that means we have the windows open and they get a whole new world of smells drifting in to them.

Back with a Cold.

My very least favourite of my souvenirs of the trip to England is this stinking head cold. I must have used pure will-power to keep it subdued for the last few days of my visit and the flight home, because I just didn't have time to be ill. The worst part of the journey was the landing in Charlotte, because as the air pressure changed I couldn't get my right ear to pop, no matter how much I chewed gum or yawned. The pressure in my ear felt wrong, until I blew my nose - but then it didn't pop, it squeaked. That can't be good, can it? 

Fortunately Doc C was his usual thoughtful self and had brought me some cold medicine to take in the car, so I was able to take that as soon as I got to the car. By the time I got home I wasn't too bad, but I was totally exhausted. When I woke up this morning I couldn't breathe out of my nose, so I'm having to mouth breathe, which is never a good look and doesn't seem to be helping my sore throat either.

The only member of the household who is loving this is Edith, because I am curled up on the sofa with a blanket and she is lounging around on me. This is Edith's idea of a particularly good Sunday.

Catday.

I am delighted to be able to report that Ruby is fine. The first thing the vet did was check her teeth, and she has gingivitis; so she's probably been avoiding eating because her gums are sore and that has run her down. Poor cat! I thought her breath was terrible, but I didn't realise that was the main thing that was wrong with her. I held Ruby whilst the vet took her temperature, so she wouldn't associate Mum with that indignity. The vet gave her two injections (which she hated), and prescribed some pills for her to be given. I'm already playing the bad guy, what with the trimming of claws yesterday and the holding down at the vets today, so I shall probably give her the pills as well. May was well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, I s'pose.

We dropped Ruby off back at home, and went into Norwich so I could take a skirt back to M&S that I bought in the haze of the fifty percent sale. This time I tried on a white skirt with blue and indigo bird silouhettes on it, and two pairs of lovely shoes embellished with gorgeously shiny beads; they were very tempting but I decided that they weren't really the best use of my limited suitcase space - so I resisted. sigh. Being a grown up is very tedious.

Marks and Spencer's food hall is the stuff of dreams, my actual dreams when I'm back in NC and just a pleasantly euphoric bubble of browsing now I can really truly visit one. For starters they have supplied the Battenberg Cake I've been craving, and that will be sliced up tomorrow to star in a very special photo shoot with a cup of tea. As if that were not enough they have all of the Easter and Mother's Day chocolate and cakes out now, and they are adorable. For example it is simply ridiculous how cute this white chocolate Hello Kitty is -

Her dress is made from SPRINKLES. Look at that! I'm smitten.

After getting sandwiches from M&S (Prawn for me), we went to John Lewis and I spent a good deal of time stroking all of the yarn. It is a magnificent selection of colours and textures at very very reasonable prices. I was most tempted by a gorgeous merino wool in what can only be described as a Bagpuss colourway, maybe that would be fun to make into a fake fox stole? Or would that be weird? Hmmm...

 

Sunday in Norfolk.

Today was a quiet Sunday at home, mainly because both Stu and Ruby were under the weather. Stu being human made it easier to ascertain his symptoms, and suggest that taking a paracetomol and resting were the best things to do. It's trickier with Ruby because she can't explain what's not feeling right, so it is purely our observing that she is off her food, not washing and very lethargic. Tomorrow morning we will take Ruby to the vets, so I'll hopefully know more then.

Mum and I are both feeling fine so far (knock on wood - because that would be bloody annoying wouldn't it?), so we baked cheese scones, lemon & poppyseed muffins and peanut butter biscuits. Then we played Scrabble, and I finished making Maude's hair.

 

The Story of the REAL Brains Behind SPECTRE.

It would appear that my parents' cat, Ruby, is preparing to audition human actors for the supporting role of Ernst Blofeld in her feline-centric re-imagining of the Bond films. I broke it to her that Donald Pleasence died 16 years ago, but she's still trying to get in touch with his agent. Cats never bloody listen to casting advice do they?

(Also I finally snapped a photo of her with her eyes open, but you can only really see how blue they are if you click through to Flickr and look at a larger image.)

Friday! Cardio! Legumes! Woot!

There is a philosophy conference on campus this weekend, which Doc C is attending. This means the cats and I get to party like rock stars in the house this evening and all day tomorrow! Oh yeah!

So far tonight I have Zumba'd at intermediate level for 50 minutes, then s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d for 25 minutes before having a nice hot shower and cooking myself some dinner whilst dancing around the kitchen to Kylie's "X" album. This evening's culinary experiment was chick peas with onion, garlic, lemon and tabasco over brown rice, which sounds SO dull doesn't it? As it happens it was really tasty, and I still have half a can of chickpeas left so I'll probably have it again tomorrow.

Meanwhile Nancy is on the bed and Edith is up in the loft.

Like I said, ROCK STARS!

Felted Heart.

I needle felted my first three dimensional object last night, it's the small grey heart in the photo on the left. The stripy background is actually one of my favourite scarves.

I didn't really choose the heart shape, the materials did that for me. No, really! I was rolling the loose strands around in my hand and they started to ball up, but then spontaneously assumed the rudimentary shape of a love-heart. So I just worked with that, and refined the shape a bit.

The funny part is that this is actually made from the fur that came off Edith when I brushed her last night. It was just an experiment to see if cat fur could be felted, and it can! That is quite cool! Huh! This must be how furballs form! That is quite disgusting!

When I went to bed last night I imagined that if there is a market for taxidermy then there also might be a market for felted heart-shaped mementos of beloved pets, and, of course, there is. As it happens someone is already taking commissions to felt objects from pet fur on Etsy, but they make actual models of the animals from fur clippings. I'm not sure I can compete with that!

Indulgently Clean.

I'm trying to develop a new mental attitude towards cleaning, which is mostly based on observing Nancy. When Nancy is feeling particularly content, usually when lying in a patch of sunshine, she will roll onto her back and give her front paws a very meticulous wash. She seems to find this extremely luxurious and indulgent, imagine an advert for Cadbury's flake and that's Nancy washing her paws.

I'm not sure I'll ever get to the stage where I indulge in cleaning as a pleasurable past-time, but I can't keep regarding it as a hateful chore that I try and get over with as quickly as possible, because it needs to be done and it needs to be done properly.

Right now I'm oxy-cleaning the upstairs bath, which involves mixing up a gritty paste, spreading it on and leaving it for an hour whilst you enjoy a cup of tea and a peruse of Cake Wrecks: Sunday Sweets. Now that is my sort of housework.

On A Mission to Walk a Dog.

We had arranged to walk David's dog, Lucille 3, for him whilst he was away for the day which was completely fine with us, but Lucy was not too keen. It's always so odd when a dog that's perfectly happy to play with you when her owner is around, but has forgotten who you are the next time you see her. Lucy didn't trust us one bit.  She barked at us when we came to the house, and was obviously scared so we tried to channel Cesar Millan's calm assertiveness.

Yeah, well that didn't work. We tried sitting quietly and I even tried bribing her with fake bacon, but she wouldn't come anywhere near us. We watched TV, and Lucy watched us.

Eventually we had to employ a pincer maneuver and trap her, which we were really reluctant to do but she had been shut inside for 5 hours by this point and needed to be walked. I clipped her lead onto her collar, and handed her over to the Doc because she was clearly going to pull. Once we got outside she still wasn't any happier, and Doc thought that it might be easier if I waited inside.

Doc told me that she was still not happy, but she did her business as required and then they came back. When we left Lucy's boyfriend Puck, a mysterious neighborhood mutt, was hanging around the back door so we felt that she would probably find that reassuring.

By comparison, should you ever need to know, Nancy and Edith are usually delighted to see any human who walks through our door. Edith assumes that any person will adore her, and Nancy is totally won over the minute a person opens the food for her. Cats are clearly not any use as a home security system.

 

Catty Critiques.

The only problem with exercising at home is knowing that the cats are judging me. It's not quite so bad with Zumba, because they just run away and quite clearly think I've gone insane; with yoga or Pilates though there is a distinct air of smothered giggles as they watch me move into the required poses. Edith usually comes over to have a good look, and has been known to try to snuggle down on the yoga mat itself, but then she'll get annoyed with my feet bumping into her. It's not easy to keep your movements controlled when you have a cat rabbit-kicking your bare foot.

Still I have persevered every evening this week (alternating Zumba with Pilates), and that's a step towards the 66 daily repetitions that are (apparently) the average number it takes to form a habit. The trickiest bit has been timing it with dinner, but that's not insurmountable by any means.

I've also finished reading "The Virgin Suicides", and whilst it's a tough book to enjoy as such I did think it was well written and thought provoking. On now to "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" an auto-biography by Jean-Dominique Bauby which he wrote after a stroke which left him paralyzed and "locked-in" to his own body. The only way Bauby could communicate was by blinking his left eye, so that was the only was he could indicate each character in the book. I suspect that it's going to be one of those stories to remember whenever I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself, and I already have a strong urge to break the fourth wall, so that I can lend it to the Lisbon sisters.

 

Monday Morning Summary.

Yesterday sort of got away from me, I'd done my boring stuff for the day (Pilates and cleaning) in the morning, we'd had lunch and shopped for house stuff, then Edith and I had a nap. I'd only intended to sleep for half an hour, but it turned into three hours, which really wiped out my plans for the afternoon.I still had time to make dinner (roasted brussel sprouts with pecans and gruyere, I liked it but Doc didn't and who knew that pecans were so ridiculously packed with calories? What are they made from, lard?), so I did that and then went to bed with a raging headache.

I thought I'd feel better this morning, but I really didn't; so I took some advil, slept some more and came in to work a mere three hours late. I stopped briefly on the way to pick up the rocket fuel coffee that caused me to reorganise and clean the office on Friday, but this time I got a medium so hopefully this will be just enough to get me through the rest of the day without the hyperactivity associated with the large cup I had last time.

In other news I am doing really well with my intention to read more books this year, this weekend I polished off a ridiculous murder mystery, "Dorothy and Agatha", which was fun but as light as the Christie and Sayers' mysteries that it was inspired by. Now I'm moving the brows a bit higher with Jeffrey Eugenides "The Virgin Suicides". Last time I tried to read this I only got half-way through, mostly because I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to read about teenage suicide; the other reason was much more prosaic, there are no chapters and my usual method of demolishing a book is to read complete chapters every time I pick up the book until it's finished. This time I will finish it. No book shall defeat me in 2011!

***Post Script*** I tell a lie, "The Virgin Suicides" actually has 5 chapters, it's just the third chapter is much longer than the first two and that's where I got bogged down last time. Clearly I need to just power through those 92 pages, maybe with some Kendall Mint Cake to hand or something.

 

Nancy Loves Sunshine.

 

Today I wanted to read, so I moved the comfy chair and the ottoman to face the window to get the best light. It occurred to me that the ottoman in a nice bright patch of sunshine would be appreciated by a little stumpy cat, so I scooped Nancy off the bed, carried her downstairs and encouraged her to sunbathe. Nancy loves sunshine, and this winter hasn't had very many sunny days for her to enjoy. She had a nice luxurious wash, and now she's twitching a bit in her sleep. Very cute.

Nancy has also recently discovered spooning with me is the best place to sleep at night, and whilst she starts off neatly compacted and taking up no space at all, she definitely does spread out over the course of a night; so then the sleeping me moves to give her more space, and that means Doc quite often wakes up to find himself perilously close to falling out of bed. Of course we all agree that this means we need to get a larger bed, to accommodate the space needs of both sleeping humans and felines.

This post is making me sound like a crazy cat lady, isn't it? I really don't go out of my way to pamper the cats, although I'm pretty sure Doc C wouldn't agree with that!

 

9:30 Sunday Evening

I'm in bed already. Nancy is very pleased, she would very much like if I stayed in bed all day ( apart from when I'm feeding her obviously)

Tree Buds and Video Games.

We went out for brunch this morning, and then went for a walk to work it off again.

I noticed there were several trees in bud, which is really shortsighted on the part of the trees because we are expecting another bad cold snap next week. I was taking photos of the buds when Doc C pointed out a really tiny nest. We couldn't work out if it was a bird nest or an insect nest, but it's pretty impressive that it's so well built that it has survived the whole winter so far.

Then we came home and I had a lovely nap with Edith in the loft.  Then Doc C napped with both cats whilst I played "Little Big Planet 2", and it is SO cool. There is an whole level made of cake, Batternburg Cake, where you can grab and throw blobs of jam. Plus there is another great soundtrack, which includes the disco classic "A Fifth of Beethoven" which is so damn funky.

It has been a fun Saturday.

A Practical Fashion Notion.

Given the option I would rather be too cold than too hot, but I am getting a bit tired of feeling like there is a constant chilly draft down my neck.  My shoulders just feel uncomfortably clammy, like I'm wearing a t-shirt that isn't quite dry on the back.  Ugh.

What do you think my chances are of training on of the cats to let me wear them like a stole?  My cat Morag used to happily be carried around like that and it was very cosy, but I suspect Edith would find it undignified and Nancy will be convinced it's a plot to kill her (Nancy thinks taking out the recycling is a plot to kill her, she's what you might call jumpy).

Maybe I need to knit myself a cape with an interior pocket to put a hot water bottle in.  That would probably give me an oddly shaped hunch, but that's a small price to pay for finally thawing out my scapula.

The Reality of Cats.

I haven't been able to find my phone all weekend, but it turned up today.  No word of a lie, Edith was sitting on it.  Clearly I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on Miss Floofy-Knickers around my shinier belongings in the future, but on the other hand there may be some money to be made here.  I can just see this as the surprise reality TV hit of 2011.

Do you think I should pitch the show to A&E or Oxygen?  I'm thinking that "My Cat is a Klepto" would slot in nicely on either, but would probably do better on A&E between "Hoarders" and "Intervention".

Cat Burglar.

I came home on Friday and found evidence that one of our cats is a jewel thief.  Fortunately she's also not very good at fencing her haul, or even just hiding it.  Under the biscuits might have worked, but just in the egg carton on top of them?  That's just so amateur.

This is a brooch that is one of a pair, I'd taken them off a jacket and left them on the bookshelf in the living room before going to work.  So someone had jumped up there to get it, and Nancy can't jump that high which leaves...

Oh Edith!

Three Faces of Edith.

Last Day of The Hols.

I was up and in the shower before the alarm went off this morning, because I want to get home to my cats and all the television shows that were tivo'd whilst we were away.  Why don't any hotels seem to have Bravo in their cable package, damn it I thought it was a basic cable channel?  All I want is "Top Chef: Any Variety" and "The Fashion Show:Wrath of Iman" and I would be like a cat in a cardboard box.

Anyway...

Hopefully we will be home at a nice sensible time.  Tomorrow I'm back in the office at the inhuman hour of 8 o'clock in the morning, and I expect to be in a fugue state for the rest of the week.  Quite frankly I doubt there will be much going on, but that a good opportunity for me to write up all the fun stuff we did in Boston that didn't get a post of their own at the time.  And a photo of the stack of lovely new books I have.

Silent Night? Hah!

Christmas Eve was pretty hectic, which was what I expected really.  Doc C's family likes to meet up and give the children of the family their presents from the extended family, so it's a lot of hyped up kids and a fair amount of chaos.

This year the main action was at Buffy's house, and her two kids decided that their Aunty Jen (although I'm pretty certain they had no idea what my name was) was the perfect person to sit on, play picnic with, carry them around and generally be an all purpose climbing frame.  It made it really quite difficult for me to finish a glass of wine, what with all the running away in circles from monsters, and the swinging small people upside down "Again! Again!" and again!  Bear in mind this is before anymore of Doc's siblings turned up, so by the end of the evening there were actually 12 adults and a seething carpet of variously aged children.

And then we still had to go and see the other side of the family, which I thought was going to be a fair bit quieter there being only one brother,one sister-in-law, two nephews and Doc C's Dad involved. How wrong I was.  I had failed to consider the volume that can be created by an animatronic Santa singing "Jingle Bell Rock" on repeat, whilst a small child sets off Billy the Bass singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy".  Plus one of their two dogs was feeling a bit anxious what with all the people in the house, and had a lot to say about it, where as the other one fell in love with my hand and just kept licking me or insisting on belly rubs.  Clearly I must look like a total push-over to small children and animals, because that's how our cats treat me as well.  Still I suppose it's nice to be "loved", even if the creature in question has no idea who you are.

By the end of the day I had, unsurprisingly, a splitting headache, so we came back to our lovely B&B to sleep and all we have planned for Christmas Day itself is a walk around town to locate open restaurants so we can eat something other than clementines and dark chocolate for dinner, and then a stroll around the beautiful Massachusetts countryside.