yes we still have lots of cats. and we are old. and fat. and so are our cats.

Duckface

2012-01-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

You know, those pictures where people purse up their lips and suck in their cheeks because they think it makes them look hot, or sexy, or badass or something? But it just makes them look stupid? Like this?

Photo courtesy of the AntiDuckface blog.

Well, I was perusing another blog the other day, My Food Looks Funny, and came across this picture of the best duckface EVER.

So...

2012-01-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

Did you watch the State of the Union address last night? We did and thought it was a good speech and made some good points and good suggestions for getting things done and getting people back to work. I did wonder if that really old woman Supreme Court judge sitting up front was just sleeping or maybe she was dead. How many times did one of the other judges put a mirror under her nose to make sure she was still breathing?

And how hard was it for Boehner to sit there knowing that he was on camera the whole time and having to resist rolling his eyes at everything Obama said? I imagine that he didn't hear a single word, he just sat there and thought 'don't roll your eyes. don't roll your eyes. whatever you do DON'T ROLL YOUR EYES!'.

I'm already sick of all the campaigning and mud slinging and the Republicans better watch out because if they keep this up nobody will want to vote for a single one of them. It looks like it will be a choice between a rich man who hides his money in the Caymans or a rich man who hides his mistresses under the bed. Gingrich should start the rumor that if Romney wins we'll all have to become Mormons and ride bikes around town while wearing white shirts and ties. I'm sure half the country would believe him.

Anyway, politics. I just want to be able to pay my bills and buy food and have a little money left over that the IRS doesn't take.

Other than that, nothing too exciting going on around here. There was nothing on TV last night after the speech so Keith started watching a PBS show about Wyatt Earp and after that a show came on about Geronimo which was actually very interesting since I didn't know a single thing about Geronimo other than when we were kids and played Cowboys and Indians (sorry, I mean Cowboys and Native Americans) we would always yell GERONIMO whenever we attacked unsuspecting settlers.

And now it is time to go clean cat boxes.

Cat Stuff and Cleaning Stuff and Just Stuff Or:

2012-01-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Seize The Moment.

Mimi has a habit of jumping on people's shoulders whenever they look available, like when I'm standing at the stove trying to cook something but doing absolutely nothing in her eyes, never mind that there are hot things over there and fire and stuff, she will size you up and leap from the counter onto your shoulder. Her favorite time is when you are cleaning the cat box, something that happens twice a day and something that renders you helpless for a few minutes. Long enough to jump on your shoulder. She hears the sound of the cat box shovel scraping up the cat litter and knows the opportunity is there and up she goes. I really wish she were just a lap cat.

Last weekend was payday weekend so we stocked up on anything and everything that we need for normal household activities like going to the bathroom (toilet paper!) and cleaning up our messes (paper towels and spray cleaner!) and feeding cats (cat food and treats!) and cleaning up after cats (litter!) and of course spent what seemed like half a paycheck on all that stuff. I got some new spray cleaner, actually old spray cleaner because it's been around for a long long time but I've never tried it before. I'm not all that crunchy granola let's keep everything 'natural' but the packaging and the promise of no chemicals and the lavender smell drew me in. And anything that makes cleaning more fun, like a wonderful lavender smell when you use it, is good.

Plus, the old timey label is pretty cool. And you can clean anything with it. And did I say it smells good?

I do need to clean out our cleaning product cupboard under the sink. You buy the latest this will clean everything product and use it a few times and it smells all industrial and you shove it under the sink amongst all the other cleaning stuff, this one for the toilet and this one for the shower and this one for the counter tops and before you know it you've got a huge mess under there and you grab the oven cleaner instead of the counter cleaner and then you've got an even bigger mess.

What else?

We hung our little travel plates that Keith's brother and sister-in-law gave us for Christmas up in the kitchen. I like the graphics and they add a little color to what is kind of a black and white (and some pink canisters and a pink breadbox) kitchen. I knew they'd probably get shoved on a shelf somewhere and never used as they are more cocktail party type plates and when was the last time we had a cocktail party anyway? So, now we can enjoy them every day.

There are actually six of the plates but trying to get all six in one picture was only possible if you wanted to see my stove, too. And the coffee pot. These were really kind of a pain to hang up, the plate hangers had to be bent so that they would work over the edge of the plates and trying to get them evenly spaced and then hammer nails into the wall when you are stretched out over the counter not to mention the stove and having to be careful not to set yourself on fire when your fat stomach hits the knobs on the stove and turns them on. While your fat stomach is hanging over the stove.

Anyway. We lead such a thrilling and dangerous life, don't we?

Meh

2012-01-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

Another rather dull weekend. Keith worked on the patio on Saturday and I guess it's actually finished now except for the ground underneath it all which is still dirt and weeds and someday we'll have paver blocks on the ground instead of dirt and weeds. He got a bonus check for 1000 days of no accidents at work last week which after taxes was like $175 and he is supposed to spend that on pavers. I think I'll need to remind him to go get the pavers this week before the money in his wallet gets frittered away on chips and beer like so many other little bonus checks have had a tendency to do.

Then Sunday was football and naps. I didn't take a nap but was bored all day and kind of restless and really didn't feel like doing much of anything.

I put some steaks in the crock pot yesterday, following a recipe that I think I'll try in the oven next time instead. You take your steaks and stick them in the crock pot and then mix up 1 cup of ketchup and 1 cup of brown sugar only I did 1/2 cup of each because we didn't have 6-8 steaks like the recipe said and that sounded like a whole lot of sauce for only 2 steaks. You sprinkle some salt, pepper and a few dashes of worchestershire sauce on top, then you cook on high for 3 hours, then low for 3 hours. The flavor was good but the steaks were incredibly dry. Tender, but dry, dry, dry. I know lots of people swear by their crock pots but it seems that every time I use it I'm very disappointed in the food. It's always dry or overcooked or something. So, back in the cupboard you go, crock pot.

I tried another new recipe this weekend that did come out good and kind of different. Healthy, too. Low fat and all that crap. This made enough for two meals or feeding a bunch of people.

Three Chili Turkey Tacos

1 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1/3 cup beer (I had to send Keith to the store to buy some beer for this, he wasn't too unhappy about that)
1/3 cup chili sauce- the bottled stuff
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
3 1/4 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, minced (I left this out because garlic really disagrees with me these days)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
taco shells or tortillas to make your own taco shells or whatever. We only eat the expensive low carb tortillas.
shredded cheese and lettuce or whatever else you want on your tacos.

In a large skillet, cook turkey, onion, and red pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, drain. My turkey had no fat in it to drain, I actually had to add a little oil to the skillet to keep it from sticking to the pan.

Stir in the beer, chili sauce, chilies, etc. All the rest of the ingredients except for the taco shells and cheese. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5-7 minutes or until heated through.

Eat.

This was good, kind of sweet from the red pepper and chili sauce rather than spicy. I would definitely make this again.

Meat Loaf and Other Stuff

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

So, how do you screw up a meat loaf? Not that meat loaf is something I really look forward to for dinner, to make it edible for me, even with a really good meat loaf, I've pretty much got to drown it in ketchup. But, Keith likes meat loaf and it's easy to make other than the whole sticking your hands in and mixing it all up thing (gross!) so the other night I decided to use a recipe that I found in a little Cooking with Coca-Cola cookbook that I bought a while back from the grocery store checkout magazine rack, my downfall when it comes to buying little cookbooks. But the pictures on the front look so good!

Anyway, I didn't have all of the correct ingredients so I kind of fudged things and substituted and maybe that's where it all went wrong. Or it could have been the Coca-Cola you were supposed to pour in and mix in with the meat. Ugh. Do not ever add Coca-Cola to your meatloaf. Even with lots of ketchup it was not good. Even Keith said to throw the leftovers away and he is real weird about throwing food away. I have to kind of spirit the leftovers out of the fridge and hide them under other trash so he doesn't see it.

Although with trying to buy just what we need when we need it our throwing away of food has not been as bad lately. It's kind of a pain to have to go to the store more often but we haven't spent as much money as usual so far this month. Part of that is because I have not let Keith go to the store unsupervised and the last time we went together I made him stick to my list with only one treat allowed. Reminds me of shopping with a toddler.

We are down a lot of neighborhood cats now that the neighbor took most of them to her new home. It's really nice not having Bandit banditing about stealing Genie and Lucy's food and I'm sure there is not as much cat poop in our side yard. We were getting to the point that we would shovel it up and fling it into their yard. There is one ginger cat that is still there and she likes to sit across the street and stalk the doves that come to eat the bugs or whatever they are eating over there. She is very patient and will sit for a long time, her tail twitching and her mouth salivating. She finally caught one the other day, I went outside just in time to see her coming across the street with a big fat dove in her mouth. Yum!

We are finally supposed to get some rain this weekend after a very dry December. It's actually warmer outside today than it has been lately, the cloud cover keeps things not quite so freezing. We will bring Lucy into the garage for the weekend and hope Genie is smart enough to go into her shed. Since Dusty has been gone she sleeps in her basket by the back door wanting to be closer to us I guess.

Wednesday Already

2012-01-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

Halfway through the week. Back in my office days it was reason to celebrate. Many times I think about those working days, especially on Sunday nights when Sunday night used to be very depressing because it meant that Monday was coming and another week of sitting at a computer punching in numbers all day. Now, Monday morning finds me sitting at a computer wasting time looking at puppies.

So, what have I accomplished this week so far? I was packing up an order yesterday and found that the pinback on the pin I was getting ready to send out had fallen off because it's one of those pinbacks with a plastic back on it that my glue apparently doesn't work too well with and then I had to go through all of my pins and see which ones were getting ready to fall apart and reglue all the pinbacks with better glue. I'm just hoping nobody who bought one of these pins has had their pinback fall off.

Then, I was working on some new soldered pendants where I put the glass over the picture on a wood backing so that the back of the pendant is paper covered wood instead of glass. It makes the pendant thicker than the glass backing and hopefully more sturdy. I was intending to make some pendants with the wood but the collage sheet pictures that I was using are just a tiny bit smaller than the wood and it really didn't look all that great with a little bit of wood showing around the picture and now they look much better under the soldered glass. I was collaging words cut out from a book to put on the backs of the pendants and wanted to put varnish over them to protect the paper and then couldn't find the varnish so now have to go buy more varnish. I think I threw it out when I was cleaning out my supply cupboards thinking I wasn't going to use it anymore and now of course I need it. Someday I will learn to not throw this stuff away but keep it for at least another six months just in case.

I made another halfway decent dinner the other night. I'm on a roll this week with no crappy dinners so far! This was a very easy dinner and now I'm thinking that maybe less is more when it comes to dinner prep. I see so many recipes where they are trying to be all fancy and the ingredient list has like twenty different things on it, twenty different things that you wouldn't normally have already in your cupboard, twenty different things that are things that you will buy for the recipe and then never use again.

Here's what we had. Cola Pork Chops. This recipe is for 8 pork chops but you can cut the recipe in half like I did.

1 cup ketchup
1 cup cola flavored carbonated beverage- love how they can't just call it Coke.
2 tbsp brown sugar
8 pork chops

That's all! Just 4 ingredients but if you are like me you don't keep Coke in the house and so you'll have to go buy some. But we all have ketchup and brown sugar, right?

Preheat your oven to 350.
Mix together the ketchup, cola flavored beverage, and brown sugar.
Place pork chops into a baking pan and pour the cola flavored beverage mixture over, coating well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for about one hour depending on the thickness of the pork chops. Thinner pork chops, less cooking time- duh.
I used kind of thick boneless chops in this recipe and I always, always trim any fat from around the edges- gross!

Now, the recipe didn't say whether to cover the pan with foil and I NEED COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS PEOPLE! but I kind of thought they would get really dried out if they weren't covered so I covered them up.

But, it did say that you could do this recipe with chicken breasts which sounds good, too, just cook for about 40 minutes instead of an hour. Or however long until your chicken is done.

Then we had these green beans alongside the pork chops.

Green Bean Medley.
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp butter
2 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 16oz can green beans, drained
salt and pepper to taste

Cook onion in the butter in a non stick skillet until soft. Add bacon and green beans and salt and pepper and cook until heated through. Eat.

We Are Still Boring

2012-01-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

Very boring. Sometimes I think we are about the most boring people in the world. We did next to nothing all weekend. Just the usual housework and messing around on the computer for me with a little bit of time spent working on things and for Keith, a weekend of football and reading a book. The reading a book part is actually very unusual for him, he likes books but mostly nonfiction train books. For him to sit down and read a novel is well, quite a novel occurance.

I had bought a stack of thriller novels, killers and cops type of novels at the Goodwill bookstore. A big stack that cost $8.40- love the Goodwill bookstore! If you don't like the book all that much you don't feel guilty for spending money on a book and then not reading it, you just take it back to the Goodwill and let it recycle through again or if it's really beat up and not worth taking it back, toss it in the recycle bin. Anyway, he found a book in my stack about cops and murders in Los Angeles and he got involved in the story and didn't put it down all weekend.

Of course nothing else got done by him all weekend except for the part where I handed him a bag and made him clean out the cat boxes, but he does deserve a weekend of relaxation every once in a while, his job is very demanding physically and he comes home totally worn out every day.

I did make a decent dinner this weekend. Twice actually! It was a plan-over type recipe that I found in one of those cooking magazines and it came out edible and was easy to make. Here is the original recipe that I cut in half for us.

Honey and Spice Baked Chicken. I thought this might be too spicy for me but it was just right.

3 tps garlic powder
3 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 tbsp honey
2 tsp cider vinegar

Combine first six ingredients, rub over chicken. It did not specify, but I rubbed both sides of the chicken. Put the chicken in a big greased baking pan. Or sprayed with Pam baking pan or whatever.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Combine the honey and vinegar, baste over chicken during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Save some chicken for this next recipe.

Chicken Chimichangas

3 honey and spice baked chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup refried beans
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
6 flour tortillas, warmed
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
oil for frying
optional toppings like sour cream, lettuce, whatever you like on your chimichangas.

Combine first seven ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Cover and microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until heated through. Spoon 1/2 cup off center on each tortilla, sprinkle with cheese. Fold up edge nearest filling, fold in on both sides and roll up. Secure with a toothpick if you want but it wasn't necessary because I fried with the folded down side first which kind of seals it all together.
If you have an electric skillet or deep fat fryer, heat to 375 and fry until golden brown on all sides. If you aren't all fancy and just have a skillet like me, just fry them up in some hot oil.

This chicken would also be good in just about any recipe calling for chicken with a little spice on it. We make a southwestern chicken salad that it would be perfect for. It's basically just lettuce with black beans and corn (drained of course), olives, tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, and tortilla strips with the chicken on top and ranch dressing.

The Week of Lousy Meals

2012-01-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

And Trying To Lose Weight.

Finally. After a week of not eating all of the things that I would really like to eat, with the exception of one lousy hamburger and a milk shake, a week of cottage cheese and turkey burger patties, I have lost 2 pounds.

Big Whoop.

Said kind of sarcastically.

Why is it so freaking easy to gain a few pounds (just have a cookie after dinner every day and that seems to do it) and so freaking hard to lose a few? And why can't they make a vegetable that tastes like chocolate?

Anyway, I did try to make some nice somewhat healthy dinners this week and so far with the exception of the dinner that had lots of HIGH CALORIE FULL FAT CHEESE- YAY! on it, the weeks dinners have been rather a disaster. Monday night was going to be tuna salads. I had found a packet of honey roasted sunflower seed and almond salad topping at the store and thought, yum, that would be good on a tuna salad. So, I mixed up some tuna and mayo and celery and pickle relish and chopped up some romaine and carrots and put the tuna on top of the lettuce and we put our ranch dressing on it all and added the honey roased sunflower seeds and almonds on top and I don't know if it was the tuna or the nuts or the dressing or the fact that the lettuce was really bitter tasting but the whole salad was just not good. At all. I don't usually eat much tuna because lately the canned tuna has all been either extremely bland with no flavor at all or extremely fishy tasting. And yes, I know tuna is fish and should taste like fish but not the kind of fishy taste that makes you think of cat food.

Tuesday was a turkey soup recipe that just did not come out right at all and was horrible and inedible so we went to Checkers and got hamburgers. And the aforementioned milk shake. Checkers hamburgers really aren't very good. McDonalds would have tasted better.

So, Thursday night and I really hope this night's dinner isn't another huge bomb and maybe I'd better stick with a tried and true recipe even if it's a little more work. So, I made chicken parmesan and it came out good except for the fact that I almost burned the chicken while frying it before putting it in the oven.

Then, last night I was making hamburger vegetable soup. A recipe that I've made many many times before and while nothing too exciting, not too unhealthy since it's got vegetables in it and all. Plus, it used ingredients that we already had, something else I'm trying to do. Use what we have before spending more money on food.

Something was missing in the soup, though. It just tasted kind of bland. Then right as I'm getting ready for bed I realized that I forgot to add the beef bouillon cubes to the soup.

Sigh.

Cooking is just not my forte.

What To Do

2012-01-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

With this mild warm no rain in forty days winter we are having, the air quality here in this lovely part of the world is the worst air since 1989. Every day we are warned that the air is either unhealthy for sensitive people or just plain old unhealthy for everyone and to limit our outdoor activities. Like all the guys like Keith who work outside all day can just tell their bosses that sorry, they can't work today because they are supposed to limit their outdoor activities. Yeah, that'll go over real well.

So, my question is do I still go out and get my exercise like I'm supposed to every day? Is it worse to not get the exercise on my bike (what little I've been doing lately but hey something is better than nothing) or is it worse to exercise in air that you could cut with a knife? And really, if you find some kind of exercise to do in a tiny house (running in place? jumping jacks?) is the air in your house really any cleaner than the air outside?

I am enjoying not having to crank that heater all day long and having sunny skies up above the smog layer, but we really need some winter weather around here or we'll be facing another drought next summer. Snow in the mountains means water for the farmers. And winter weather with rain and wind would clean up the air and make it okay to go outside again. Except that you'd need your umbrella.

Frustrating and Irritating

2012-01-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend I worked on painting charms for a couple of special orders. Then I sprayed them all with the final clear coat and a lot of them got ruined by the clear spray making the paint buckle. So, I had to let my customers know that their orders would be delayed because now I have to order more charms, paint them and maybe let them dry longer or use a lighter final clear coat or something. Basically I won't be making much profit on those orders, and I don't think I'll be doing any more special orders. I don't know exactly why, maybe because while I love to make things I don't love it when I 'have' to make something within a certain time frame or feel rushed to get an order done. So, I'm in the process of editing all my charm listings with a little 'sorry, I'm no longer able to do custom orders' disclaimer. Maybe I'll lose a few customers who want a bird in blue, but not the blue that's already in the shop, a different blue, but for peace of mind and less frustration it will probably be worth it in the long run. I have to order the charms in minimum amounts of a dozen and if someone only wants one bird in the blue that I don't already have in the shop then I'm spending money on 12 charms and only selling one.

After so many charms got ruined over the weekend I was about ready to quit selling them altogether, so...

I'm kind of rethinking that shop anyway, while I did sell a lot of charms last year the past few months have been very slow in the charm shop. Some of it may be that the price of copper, a main component in brass, has gone way way up this past year and I've had to raise my prices accordingly. I don't sell cheap crap charms from China that are made out of who knows what kind of metals, and probably contain lead because China just doesn't care about how safe your product is, I sell charms that are made in the good old USA. With no lead in them, but in a country where wages and production costs are higher, thereby making prices higher. Anyway, the shop does make some money but not a huge profit and sometimes I think the work involved and the expense may not be worth the few dollars of profit. I'm going to keep a close eye on my books the next few months and then make a decision whether or not to keep going with it.

The handmade shop is doing well, though. I just need to keep a close eye on supplies and costs on that shop, too, and make sure it is actually turning a profit.

So what else is going on besides getting totally irritated over the weekend?

Mimi was sitting straight up the other day but was getting so sleepy that her eyes kept shutting and then she would kind of startle herself back awake and then her eyes would get all heavy again and she would startle herself back awake again. Just like a little kid who is fighting sleep and just wants to stay up a bit longer.

Dusty seems to be gone for good and Keith is so worried about Genie being lonely out there. He's brought her into the house for a few minutes at a time, hoping to assimilate her into the indoor world, but she kind of looks around in confusion and goes right back to the door to go back outside. The other cats seem to be kind of used to her, they don't get all freaked out when she is by the back door anymore and they didn't get all weird when she came into the house.

Our lesbian neighbor is definitely moving, she had her U-Haul in the driveway yesterday and friends over to help her move. She told Keith that she was taking seven (yay!) of the cats with her and one of the barking backyard dogs. So that should only leave like 3 or 4 cats and 2 barking dogs next door. She is taking the pesky Bandit, so we won't have him banditing about in the backyard stealing Genie's food anymore. Yay!

We got an EOB from the dental insurance company for Keith's visit to the new dentist. The total cost for a visit with all the fancy x-rays and head scans and pictures of the inside of his mouth and all the other looking around they did was over $700.00! What? The insurance company only paid like $175.00 and our portion appears to be $75.00. So, if you contract with the insurance company and they only allow $175.00 for the visit then why don't you just charge the allowed amount to begin with?

Addicted

2012-01-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Is there a 12 step program for managing an addiction to cooking magazines? I can't figure out why they call to me from the grocery store magazine racks at the checkout. I don't like to cook. Why do I like to buy cooking magazines so much? Is it kind of like buying fashion magazines in the hopes of a quick fix so that you will know how to dress? I bought a new little Crock Pot magazine yesterday that promised low calorie recipes so that you can lose weight while still eating delicious and easily prepared food. I flipped through the magazine before plunking down my $4.99 plus tax for the booklet and saw a few recipes that looked good but when I got it home and perused it further, there might be at the very most two recipes that I might maybe someday try. What a waste of money.

But I can't seem to resist them!

I used to be addicted to People magazine, needing my weekly fix of human interest stories and the latest gossip and the movie and book reviews. It was hard to stop buying People (at the rate of $3.99 a week or whatever it costs today) but I kicked my People addiction and this year only bought the year end double issue. Which still wasn't worth the $3.99 or whatever it costs these days.

So, do I keep buying the recipe magazines in the hopes that someday I'll find pleasure in cooking and make delicious meals every day? Or do I just give up and go out to dinner?

Odds and Ends and It's Friday

2012-01-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Not that it matters all that much to me that it's Friday since I'm either off all the time or working all the time depending on how you look at it. Between the two online shops and keeping up with the house and laundry and all I keep pretty busy. Just about every day I'm really really glad that I don't have to go off to a real job even if we could use the money. Business has been good the past few months. It was really nice to open up my emails this morning and have 5 orders waiting to be filled. I don't have too many days any more without orders to be filled so things are good.

I was going into the front room yesterday to do something, forgetting of course what that something was as soon as I walked into the room, and glanced out the window to see a whole lot of birds who must have found a whole lot of bugs to eat in the grass.

Keith has found a new channel to watch on TV. It's really annoying. It's called This and plays nothing but old movies. A few good old movies but mostly crappy old movies. I really don't like old movies especially the ones from the 30's and 40's where everyone has that really odd accent where they sound like they are trying to be English but it's more like from New Hampshire or something. It's always annoyed me and as you know, it's the little things that really bug you. Anyway, I can't stand to watch them especially since every time a commercial comes on he has to channel surf. Even more annoying. He was even watching Saturday Night Fever the other day. In it's blurry grainy glory because none of the movies they show on this channel are remastered or cleaned up any. I think the channel people just go to the store and buys old VHS tapes to show.

Every other Friday is payday, so today I got what bills were here paid, along with paying a doctor bill because our insurance is cheap and doesn't pay for much and my annual sales tax remittance and we actually have enough money left over for groceries and gas! Woot!

Umm...

2012-01-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

There was something I was going to blog about today but I can't remember what it was.

Dusty has not come home yet and I don't think he ever will. I made up some flyers for Keith to put on the mailboxes last weekend but he forgot and just got them put up yesterday. It's been a week since he went missing so unless he found a new home with some nice new people, I'm thinking he is long gone.

Our lesbian neighbors are breaking up and the one with the little boy is moving out this weekend. Keith finds out all the gossip in our 'hood because he's nosy like that. He was outside a few weeks ago and heard them fighting and the one threw a cat water dish at the other so he's been speculating ever since that a breakup was on the way. She is taking one of the backyard dogs with her and some of the cats. Too bad she isn't taking all of the dogs but maybe there will be less barking with one of them gone. And maybe the lesbian that is left at the house, the one who doesn't like the dogs anyway, will find them new homes or something. Right now they have like 10 cats who poop in our yard and eat Lucy's food and then there is Bandit who always goes in our backyard and gets into Genie's food and stresses her out. I'm hoping that she takes Bandit with her because he is the biggest pain of all of their cats. He is real sneaky, going down two houses and then doubling back through the back yards to get to her food.

Other than all the animals and the dogs barking they haven't been bad as neighbors, no noisy parties or anything like that. Most of the people on our street are pretty quiet and there are some that I've never even seen and only know that someone lives there because there are lights on in the house.

I rode the bike up to Winco the other day to get a few things for dinner. Our weather has been unseasonably warm, yesterday it got up to 70, so it was a pleasant ride and I didn't need to bundle up quite as much. I'm shopping and see two skanky looking young women with two shopping carts full of frozen pizzas and other healthy food like that and of course I'm thinking 'food stamps' and they have a little boy in the front of the cart with a dirty scabby face and his pajamas and slippers on. They are both wearing tank tops and tight jeans with gigantic muffin tops pouring over the tops of their jeans. The one with the little boy in the cart is way ahead of the other and she stops, leaves the cart (with the scabby kid sitting in it) and goes back two aisles over to get something she forgot. The kid is sitting there alone. Hey, free kid! But he's kind of scabby so maybe I don't want him after all.

Then as I'm leaving Winco a full grown woman is coming in the out door in her pajamas. And slippers.

Littering and Diets

2012-01-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

Did everyone see that story about the family that was walking along the top of a cliff in LA somewhere and the dog fell down the side of the cliff and the boy went after him and they were both stuck there for like 2 hours and had to be rescued? And the whole thing started because the dad tossed a bottle over the side of the cliff and the dog went after it? The dog was quite naturally assuming the man was just playing fetch.That's what's wrong with our country today, people who litter and then fall down the side of a cliff and thousands of tax dollars need to be spent to rescue them.

We are all on diets this year, cats included. They are all too fat and eat too much, so they are just getting dry food twice a day and wet food only once a day. Those little cans add up to lots of dollars spent when you are opening four of them a day. Yesterday was the first day they didn't get wet food in the afternoon and they all looked at me like WHAT THE HELL LADY! We are too fat and eat too much also, so it's healthy eating time with no junk food allowed in the house. And I'm already STARVING.

Last night we had pork chops with two different vegetables. I was hungry about 2 hours later so had a 60 calorie low carb yogurt and an Atkins low carb candy bar. You have to watch those low carb high fiber Atkins bars, though. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT eat these during the day unless you want to have a great deal of gas later on. Only eat them late at night where if you do get gas you just sleep through it.

We had a rather boring weekend, Keith slept a lot with taking like 3 naps one day. At one point he was 'watching' football where he had the remote in one hand and a beer bottle in the other and was sitting straight up sound asleep. He did get the back yard raked up just in time for the green waste trash truck to come pick up the can yesterday. Here it is January and our back yard trees are just now dropping their leaves. And some of them are even budding already. While dropping their leaves. I think they are just totally confused this year.

Besides our food diet, we are also on a money diet this year. I was explaining to Keith that if we didn't spend so much money on food (like the $180.00 he spent last weekend) we could maybe have some extra money to do more fun things like little trips or going to the movies or whatever. Like most Americans, we spend an extraordinary amount of money on food, half of which gets wasted because we never eat it all or forget that something is in the back of the fridge. So, better menu planning and simpler meals this year. We'll see how that goes.

Happy New Year?

2012-01-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hopefully it will be. If we could just find our missing cat. Dusty has still not turned up and Keith is devastated because he promised his mother that he would take care of them. I asked the twit lesbian next door if her dogs had gotten the cat but she was probably the wrong one to ask because while she brings home all of these animals she never takes care of them and never goes in the back yard. She leaves the dog feeding up to her girlfriend who goes out there and screams and yells at the dogs who are just trying to get a little human contact. And apparently nobody ever cleans up the dog shit because it always stinks back there. Anyway, she didn't seem to have any knowledge of anything. Their dogs could bark all night long and they never go out to see what's up. I think they just put in some ear plugs and go back to sleep.

So, I printed up some missing cat flyers for Keith to put around the neighborhood. He just talked to James who said that Dusty had run off a few times but always came back when he got hungry enough so there is still some hope. Poor Genie is confused and kind of wanders around looking for Dusty. She doesn't want to go into their shed house so we put a basket on the back porch for her to sleep in since she seems to want to be near the back sliding door where she can see us.

Other than that, kind of a quiet New Year's Eve for us. Keith fell asleep at about 9 and I read until I got too sleepy to read anymore and went to bed about 10:30. No wild parties for us! We are too old and too tired.

On Friday night we went to the Holiday Lights at Calm, CALM standing for California Living Museum, the little zoo where they keep native to California animals and birds. Each year they have a huge light display, with animated light sculptures, hot chocolate, and train and carousel rides. We did get to ride the train this year, which just kind of goes around in a big circle but with light displays around the track. The line was long but went quickly because they had two trains running. I was kind of surprised at how busy it was being after Christmas and all but maybe everybody else waited until after thinking it wouldn't be as crowded just like us.

And that is about it, another year over with and another starting. No big resolutions for us because we never keep them anyway, so...

Missing

2011-12-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at my usual waking time of 6am (the older I get the earlier I seem to wake up even without setting an alarm) I got all the cats their canned food and then went to the back door to feed Dusty and Genie their canned food. Which they love and are usually so excited to get each morning. So excited that they are turning around in circles of anticipation until I set those bowls down. But only Genie was turning around in circles, no Dusty. Very odd. Very very odd.

It's still dark outside so I go get the flashlight to look inside the shed and see if he is still curled up in his bed, but no Dusty. I look all around the yard but no Dusty.

We had heard the dogs next door barking late the night before but instead of going outside to check things out just assumed that they were barking at nothing like they usually do each night. But now with Dusty missing I'm wondering if somehow he got into their back yard and the dogs killed him and that's what they were barking about. So, I get the kitchen stepladder as soon as it gets light enough and look into their yard. I don't see any signs of fur or blood or a dead cat, just a whole lot of dog shit that looked like it had been raked up into a big pile. Disgusting. But suspicious. Like the yard had been recently cleaned up but they were too lazy to pick up the dog shit but did get rid of a dead cat.

Then I thought maybe he had followed Keith out of the back yard when he took the trash out the night before and had gotten locked out when the gate was shut. Dusty and Genie have never figured out how to climb the fence and get out on their own. Or back in. I looked all around the front yard and in the next door front yard but no Dusty. He's been out front before and has always stayed real close to the house and waited by the gate if it was shut. So, I don't think he would have just wandered off and forgotten how to get back home.

This morning, still no Dusty. We have no idea what happened to him. Keith is very upset because he promised his mother that he would take care of her cats and now one is gone.

Now, on a lighter note, some cat pictures. Why Mimi chose to lay on a pile of books I don't know but she seemed content.

Groceries and Husbands

2011-12-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I woke up still feeling icky in my stomach and very tired because we didn't keep the cats out of the bedroom during the night and Buddy woke me up about 3 am by crawling under the covers and having a big furry loudly purring cat crawling under the covers and bumping against your behind at 3 am is a little creepy. I did get the cat boxes cleaned and everybody fed and the kitchen cleaned up and the floors vacuumed and the Christmas gifts put away and the tags taken off the new pajamas and all that, and then sat on the couch with some tea.

I needed to go get at least enough food for a few days and some stuff for Keith's lunches for the week but really didn't feel like actually going to the grocery store. Keith wanted to go run a few errands and take the flat tire to the tire store (where the tire is under warranty for road hazards and it only cost 15.00 for a whole new tire because they couldn't fix the old one!) so I asked him if he wanted to pick up the stuff on my grocery list. Which wasn't a whole lot of stuff, just a few basics.

So, about 2 hours later he comes back with $180.00 worth of groceries.

He didn't buy anything that was too weird, though, just a lot of canned stuff like soups for his lunches and lots of fruit that I hope gets eaten and some bacon and steaks and chicken and giant sized packs of paper towels and toilet paper. I don't have much of a meal plan for the week but with all that he bought I'm sure that we can figure something out. But, I really hadn't planned on spending that much money.

Moral of the story? Some men need supervision when they go grocery shopping.

Whew

2011-12-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm tired. It was a busy holiday weekend for us and despite the Hello Kitty duct tape on the car window and the almost getting into a head on accident with a wrong way driver speeding down the fast lane of the freeway and the flat tire and the almost getting into an accident in the intersection if we hadn't driven by IHOP first thing, quite a nice weekend.

We got up early on Saturday with some errands and things we had to do in the morning before leaving town for the holiday festivities. I went to get cat litter and washed out the cat boxes with bleach and put fresh litter in them and then Keith went to get cash and gas and go through the car wash. He's at the car wash and the attendant is telling him to roll up the driver side back seat window which was down a few inches and he goes to roll it up and it just goes CLUNK and won't roll up so he has to push it up by pressing on the glass and then after he goes through the car wash and heads for home it starts sliding back down again. Earlier this year the passenger side front seat window did the same thing and after lots of headaches with one car dealership we went back to the place we bought the car and found out that it was covered under a recall and if any more windows broke they would be covered, too.

So, we drive down to Ventura for the family dinner with the window half open but the weather is really nice in Ventura so it's not that big of a deal but should we stop and get some duct tape to tape it shut for the drive home? Well, one of the bingo prizes was Hello Kitty duct tape so we just used some of that and that is why we have Hello Kitty duct tape holding up our car window.

After bingo and dinner and opening presents we need to get back home and check on the cats who are all probably going where the hell are our people we need them because we don't know how to open cat food cans and besides that our cat box needs cleaning please come home! We head on up over the mountains and come around the bend where Frazier Park is and then start back down the mountain and see CHP lights flashing and brake lights coming on and see the CHP veering across the freeway to the fast lane and all the other cars veering off to the slow lanes and figure there must be an accident up ahead and hopefully the road won't be all shut down and as we are veering off to the right along with all the rest of the cars here comes a car going the wrong way in the fast lane. The CHP can't really turn around to follow it and has to keep driving for a while until the median opens up where he can cross onto the other side of the freeway and hopefully somehow head this idiot off before he kills somebody. So, after all that excitement and the traffic starts moving along again, we are in the slow truck lane just in case something else happens and BANG! something hits the car and we're looking around and then Keith says I think we have a flat tire. So, he pulls off to the side right next to the truck lane and not in the best spot in the world to change a flat tire and it's really cold and windy out there but at least it's not raining or snowing. The tire is indeed flat because whatever hit the car sliced right into the tire and down it went. The jack that came with the car is a piece of junk and he ends up using the pliers from his trusty Swiss army knife tool thing that he keeps on his belt to get the jack to work right and he's cussing and banging and I'm standing in between the car doors because I don't want to sit in the car while he's trying to jack it up but it's too cold to not have any windbreak so I'm using the car doors. And the lantern that Linda gave us for Christmas that doesn't need batteries, you just wind it up is coming in SO HANDY right now and we're keeping that thing in the car for sure. The spare tire finally gets put on the car and we can go home now.

We get home about 10 and are exhausted so we get our pajamas on and relax on the couch for a while and then I go to bed while Keith stays up to 'watch TV' for a while but he fell asleep with the TV on and I couldn't get to sleep with cats coming in the bedroom and noise from the TV so I get up and make him come to bed.

Then, up early again the next morning because we just wake up early no matter what and feed the cats and remember that we have a stocking for them so they get new cat toys and we open the gifts that we got each other. Which was kind of fun, we haven't done gifts for each other in forever. I got new pajamas and matching slippers and socks and two warm fleece shirts and perfume. He got new slippers and handkerchiefs and a shirt and a wallet. So, we both did a good job shopping for each other, but it helped that we gave each other a pretty specific list of what we needed.

Then, breakfast time. We were going to go to IHOP but the line waiting for a table was longer than we wanted to wait so thought we'd see if Coco's was open, and as we get to the intersection of the main highway and the big cross street by Coco's, an accident had just barely happened with two trucks getting all smashed up and dazed looking people wandering around. We went to Coco's and while eating breakfast watched the ambulance and firetrucks and police come and the traffic being diverted around the intersection and the tow trucks coming and the firemen sweeping up. We were thinking that if we had decided to go to Coco's first we would have probably been in the intersection at the exact same time as the accident happened.

We were debating on whether we should make our second trip across the mountains to the second family dinner with no spare tire but figured that the chances of a second flat tire were slim and decided to go ahead and make the trip. Another nice day in Ventura and a nice dinner with Keith's brother Bruce and his family and Katie and her boyfriend and Katie has been very sick with a really bad cold and I sure hope we didn't catch anything from her.

After eating lots of food and sweet things all weekend (and the weeks leading up to Christmas because what's Christmas without some holiday Hershey's Kisses and Nestle's crunch in the shape of a holiday bell anyway?) I started feeling a little icky on the way home so maybe it's time to get back to eating much lighter and much healthier and no, you can't buy anymore bags of Christmas candy even if they are half price now.

So, we survived a kind of dangerous holiday this year and I'm taking it kind of easy today because I still feel a little icky in my stomach. But, it was a good Holiday! And we didn't get killed by the wrong way driver, obviously.

Would You Rather

2011-12-23T06:51:00.000-08:00

Be cold or hot? Every summer we complain and complain and then complain some more about how hot we are and try to remember what it felt like during the winter when we complained and complained and then complained some more about how cold we were.

Winter just started and I'm already tired of it. I guess it's a good thing that we don't live where they have snow and ice and all that stuff, although we do get a little ice here in the mornings. Being cold makes me crankier than being hot I think. I'm already counting the days until spring.

For some reason I've been extra cranky this week, maybe it's the holidays approaching and all the money that we've been spending lately and the realization that with the new year comes a new tax season and all that stress with worrying about if we have it covered by having extra money taken out of Keith's checks or not and the upcoming dental work that I need or maybe it's just because I'm cold.

Yesterday I rode up to the store to get a few things for dinner and put on Keith's heavy jacket because it was cold outside but by the time I got into the store I was hot because the jacket really really keeps you warm and the store had their heaters blasting away and then they didn't have what I wanted so had to get back on the bike and ride over the bridge to Vons who had what I wanted.

I was going to make chinese chicken salad for dinner because it's so easy and we had a package of wonton strips in the cupboard and chicken in the freezer so all I needed was the dressing and some coleslaw and almonds. But I needed a certain brand of dressing because the other ones just don't taste as good and of course Save Mart doesn't carry it, thereby the over the bridge to Vons. But the salad tasted good and is so easy to make and maybe we'll just eat that every night because I've run out of dinner ideas and really really don't enjoy cooking anymore. Especially when the last few recipes that I've tried were not exactly keepers.

Anyway.

I had a good idea for an outing tonight that combines not having to cook with some holiday festiveness. We've been wanting to try Juicy Burger downtown that says they make everything fresh with local produce and beef but it's all the way downtown and we never feel like driving that far for a burger. But, if we drive down there tonight then we can look at holiday lights on the way home. Maybe that will put us in the Christmas mood.

Dentists and Boxes and Stuff

2011-12-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

So, it's almost Christmas which just isn't as exciting when you are an adult and you know there is no Santa and if you do play Santa you are the one paying the bills. Keith has been snooping in his stocking. You'd think a 53 year old man wouldn't be all excited about what's in his stocking and how disappointed is he going to be when he finds out that it's SOCKS right?

We are traveling again this year, not just one trip but two. Saturday with my family and Sunday with his. We were invited to spend the night at his brother's house and I'm like no thank you, I'd rather drive back and forth. I just don't sleep well anywhere but in my bed and not even that well there and I just don't want to spend the night at anyone's house. Especially someone's house where the two brothers really don't like each other all that much and we'd have to sleep in one of their teenage son's beds. Plus, the outdoor cats need to be fed each morning and night because if you just leave food out the stray cats come and eat it and we don't have anyone nearby that we could have feed them. Our lesbian neighbors don't feed their OWN animals half the time, plus it would be weird asking someone to come feed our cats on Christmas morning before they open their presents. So, we will be making two trips. I did buy Keith a comedy CD from the Bob and Tom radio show that I'll have him open before we leave on Saturday so we can listen to that on the way down. Then he'll probably want to listen to the other CD that I got him on the Sunday trip, the Tony Bennett duets CD which I know I won't like because I don't like that crooner music (those darn kids and their crooner music!) but he likes it and that's why I got it for him.

We went to our new dentist on Tuesday. Our appointments were consecutive, starting at 5 pm which is a very strange time to go to the dentist, but this dentist actually stays open until 7 on certain days. Keith refused to go back to our old dentist after his experience with his crowns where he was in the chair for 4 hours while the dentist worked on an assembly line of patients all at once and he ended up with constant jaw pain and tooth pain from the crown and had to go back and get pain meds and have the dentist tell him that his jaw pain was from TMJ and not sitting with his mouth open for 4 hours. Then we didn't have insurance for a while and then I just procrastinated at calling a new dentist so we hadn't been in for cleanings in almost a year. This new dentist's office is much more up to date than the old one, with digital x-rays and one day crowns and a much newer office. But it's still a dentist's office which always fills me with dread and anxiety.

Anyway, Keith went in first and got his checkup and teeth cleaned and didn't have any cavities so he doesn't have to come back for 6 months. Then after a long wait where I'm thinking they forgot about me, I go get my checkup but don't get my teeth cleaned because I need the deep cleaning and all that, and they don't have any appointments for deep cleaning until February, but they have this new laser thing that cleans under your gums that is like totally painless so we'll see how that goes, and they also will irrigate with this antibiotic wash stuff and since it's been so long since I had the deep cleaning we really should do the whole nine yards which of course the insurance does not pay for. I also need a crown on a tooth where the filling is broken and there is not enough left of the tooth to just fill it again. But I'm getting the one day crown that takes about 2 hours. In a few months. After I pay the $600 for the deep cleaning. Then I'll pay the $500 for the crown. The dentist told Keith that his crown that made his jaw hurt was basically the worst crown job he'd ever seen and they could replace it but the insurance wouldn't cover any of it because they only let you have so many crowns done in a certain number of years and it would be $1000 but we are just going to wait on that. We could dispute the first crown with the dentist and insurance company but since we waited so long it's probably not worth the effort.

So, anyway, gotta love a new year that's going to start out with saving up for dental work.

We got a box on our doorstep on Monday from Crate and Barrel. Keith's brother Brad (well, actually Brad's wife Wendy) always online shops for gifts for everyone and each year we get something sent to us for our Christmas gift which they really don't need to do but it's really nice of them and how smart is that to have everything just directly sent to the people on your gift list? No wrapping, no waiting in line at the post office. Smart.

Anyway, the box had some cute ceramic travel themed plates in it, plates that you could use for little snacks or just as decoration because the artwork on them is really nice. But, the best part about the present was of course THE BOX!

Check Those Expiration Dates and Front Page News and Other Stuff

2011-12-20T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I was making some more coffee and was rummaging around in the little coffee cupboard next to the stove, one of those corner cupboards that are basically useless because besides the fact that you need a stepladder to reach anything on the second shelf, you have to kind of lean over the stove to get anything that's further back on the shelf and you hope you don't accidentally turn on the stove and catch yourself on fire while leaning. Anyway. I found the coffee pot cleaner stuff and got that out thinking that it's been a long long time since I used that stuff and maybe it's time for a coffee pot clean and then found two bags of throat lozenges behind the coffee pot cleaner stuff. I was going to toss them up on the second shelf where other assorted medicines and cold remedies reside but out of curiosity decided to see if the bags had expiration dates on them. Which they did.

As you can see, they expired quite some time ago. I'm thinking maybe I'd better get the stepladder out and see what all's on that second shelf.

And, yesterday I was checking my Etsy shop stats which were flatlined all day long until a huge spike in views in the afternoon, with one pin in particular getting over 100 views. What's up with that? I went to another site where you can check if you have been featured on the Etsy front page, and sure enough and of course I missed it, my pin was on the front page.

Bottom left corner is my pin.

I guess the Christmas rush is over, I sent out my last orders yesterday and woke up to no emails this morning. I'm anxious for the holidays to be over with so I can clean out all the Christmas stuff from my shop because there is nothing sadder than Christmas stuff sitting around in someone's shop on December 26. Keith suggested putting it all on sale but the prices are already so low that I'd end up paying someone to take the stuff off my hands after sales and paypal fees. Just not worth it.

It's almost the New Year if you didn't know that yet. A New Year where we are going to have to listen to politicians for months and months and months. It should be an interesting election year with the 'winners' they have running for President. What a choice. I'm disappointed that Herman Cain couldn't keep his hands to himself (among other parts of his body) because I kind of liked him and probably would have voted for him. Keith thought it would be awesome to have two black men running against each other. That would really burn all of those people who hate Obama simply because he is black. HA! Oh, well, instead we'll have a choice between Arrogance and a Rich Mormon or maybe even a crazy lady.

The one thing I would like for the New Year, though, is to never have to see, read, or hear any other thing about those Kardashian twits.

Zoo Trip Part Two

2011-12-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

So, after our coffee and squirrel encounter, we walked past a big area with five giraffes, a couple of gazelles, and a really huge camel, then past a petting zoo with the usual sheep and goats. I wanted to go in the petting zoo but Keith didn't, so we'll save that for next time. We went to the orangutan encounter where they have a two story viewing platform to watch the two adult orangutans and one big gibbon, but nobody was outside. Apparently there are also two baby orangutans but they don't let them out when it's too cold.

Then, some more animals and birds and as we're walking along we hear the most beautiful chirping and singing and we're looking around for whatever bird is so happily singing away, thinking it must be a big bird to have such a big loud song and it's a tiny little thrush. We listened to that for a while because it really was something to hear.

They have two Andes condors and one of them obligingly spread his huge wings which are like 12 feet across.

Then we heard monkeys screeching and went back to the orangutan enclosure and here is a black gibbon swinging and playing and having a really good time. He reminded me of little kids playing, just swinging for the sheer joy of it and then hanging upside down for a while, then swinging some more. Guess that's where they got the name monkey bars from for the playground equipment that I don't think they even make any more because they're too dangerous or something.

At first I thought this was a chimpanzee, it looks a lot like one and is about that size, but I finally read the signs in the exhibit and found out that it is a gibbon.

One of the orangutans was out, sitting on top of a huge tree trunk, just sitting there ignoring us. He was only a few feet away from us and we were kind of amazed at how hairy this guy was, and we were thinking that orangutans must have been the inspiration for dreadlocks. He finally got bored sitting there and then slowly made his way around the enclosure to his little house. Not quite as energetic as the gibbon.

We were starting to get tired, it's not a big zoo but we still did quite a bit of walking and decided to make our way to the exit, but then as we get to the exit realize that we didn't go to the left where the wolves and the reptiles are. They have a really nice wolf exhibit where they made like a fake mountaintop with a very deep gully around it so the wolves can't get out- yikes! They have lots of trees so it's as you would see them in the wild, very beautiful wolves and if you have to live in a zoo, a pretty nice enclosure. I really didn't want to go in the reptile house thinking that if you've seen one you've seen them all and my feet and legs were really tired, but we went in and I was glad I did because it was the nicest reptile house I'd ever seen. Very quiet inside with low lighting but bright lighting in the windows so you could really see the colors of the assorted snakes and frogs and lizards. I was very impressed with how nice it was. It was also nice and warm inside.

The zoo is in the process of building a sea lion exhibit, Keith was watching some of the work going on and it looks like a huge project and will have an underwater viewing window that will be like 36 feet long. Hopefully that will all be finished the next time we go visit. Which will be when the weather is a little warmer.

Back on the road going home we wanted to stop for an early dinner since we didn't have lunch and I suggested another stop in Tulare where we saw lots of restaurants but Keith wanted to stop at a little diner that he had been to before that had really good food, so we're looking out for this diner and finally see it as we are driving past the exit so we go a few miles further down the road to the next exit to turn around and go back. Tulare hosts the World Agriculture Expo each year and has a huge agricultural complex with buildings and a museum and apparently in the agricultural world is the place to be during Expo week. And apparently people do come from around the world to visit. I'm reminded of this because we drove past the Expo grounds as we were turning around to find the diner.

We sit down in a mostly empty diner and realize that our table is shaking. Is there a big truck driving by? No, it's because the fans in the building make certain tables shake, so we changed tables. And then ate our dinner. Completely by ourselves because the other few people in the diner had finished their food and left. It's always a little creepy being the only people in a restaurant.

One other central valley fact. Selma, which is right outside of Fresno, is the Raisin Capitol of the World. How about that? All of the vineyards that you see driving through Selma are not wine grapes, but raisin grapes. There is even a Sunmaid raisin store that you can visit.

So, it was a fun and tiring day, by the time we got home we were ready to just crash on the couch and ended up going to bed early.

Zoo Trip Part One

2011-12-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, it is probably not the best time of year to go to a zoo where you are walking around outdoors and it is freezing cold (cold being relative and anything less than 70 in these parts is considered cold)- but, it is a good time to go to the zoo if you hate crowds and want to be the only people there. With the exception of maybe 20 other people in the whole place not counting the people who work there.

Yesterday we drove up to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo- I'm assuming that the Chaffees were some of the original sponsors of the zoo. I did some online research to find out about the zoo and how to get there, and while it is a small zoo (think the Santa Barbara Zoo) it is a really nice zoo, is right off the freeway and easy to find, and has some animals and birds that I've never seen before, and despite the cold was a really pleasant way to spend a day. We will go back when the weather is a little warmer this spring for sure.

We left town about 8:30 and hadn't had breakfast yet so drove for about an hour and stopped in Tulare, which if you have to live in the central valley, looks like a really nice town to live in. Clean and surrounded by farmland and cows and not too big of a town but not too small, what we saw of it just looked like a nice place. Unlike the other little town we stopped in to get gas, Earlimart, where even the crappiest little shacks had bars on the windows. I would not want to live in a place where you have to have bars on your windows to keep people from stealing from even the poorest other people.

Anyway, breakfast at Apple Annie's, a cute little cafe near some hotels and right off the freeway with about fifty different types of omelettes and a dessert menu that featured guess what? Apples! Apple pie, apple dumplings, apple ice cream, apple sundaes, and any other kind of sweet that you could put an apple in. We didn't have dessert though, a little too early in the day for that.

Then, off to the zoo, which is in a big park and so easy to get to, get off the freeway, make a right and then the first left at the first stoplight you see. The web site had said there was a $5.00 parking fee to get into the park, but the little parking attendant shed was closed so we didn't have to pay. On around the park, passing lots of playgrounds and barbecue pits and picnic tables, and past a Storybook Village that was closed, and then across from a children's amusement park with carnival booths and carnival type rides, also closed and only open on the weekends, was the zoo. I've never in my life parked right in front of the entrance to a zoo before, but that is where we parked. Like I said, cold weather makes for uncrowded zoos.

It was only $7.00 each to get in which in my mind is an incredible bargain, and if you are a kid or a senior it's even cheaper. First stop was the restroom of course, and then on to the Australian birds aviary. The zoo has like four different aviaries, something that I always find fun, being inside a big cage with birds. The Australian aviary had some beautiful birds all up on branches and right after I said hey it would be cool if they started flying around, they did, all squawking and yelling and soaring a few inches above our heads.

I don't know what kind of birds these are but they were really gorgeous and very curious. One of them really liked Keith's shoelaces and was pecking at them, and then as we were walking along the path, was following right on his heels.

Then, elephants and a tiger.

And then another aviary, this time a rain forest with a waterfall and a stream, parrots and water birds, and these weird little birds that were on the bridge over the stream and as we got closer, started making an incredibly loud clacking type call. LOUD. But such cute birds.

At the back of this aviary was a temperature controlled building for some of the species that need the moist warmth, like the male and female sloths that were indeed being incredibly slothfull. The boy sloth did open his eyes and look at us, then yawned and went back to sleep. There was another stream in this building with some turtles and fish and two gorgeous spotted stingrays, a kind of ray that I'd never seen before, and are so peaceful to watch swim.

And, speaking of rays there was a special feed and pet the stingrays exhibit with rays borrowed from the Monterey aquarium, all swimming in a big low tank with a waterfall. This exhibit was supposed to cost $1.00 per person, but since it was a slow day they weren't charging admission and we were the only people watching the rays. There were two of them that were just huge, the rest were about the size of a turkey platter and again, so peaceful to watch swim although the water in this tank was kind of hard to see through. One of them was apparently thinking we were going to feed it because it kept launching itself right up the side of he tank and out of the water, like HEY WHERE IS MY FOOD! We were able to touch that one, they feel very strange and soft.

Then we stopped for a cup of coffee and were thinking about getting some lunch but I didn't want to sit outside in the cold and eat so we decided to wait until on the way home for lunch/early dinner.

The zoo is full of chubby and innovative squirrels, many of which we saw in the aviaries with the birds and how they managed to get inside I don't know, but they definitely know where the bird food stations are. We saw this one squirrel running along by the snack bar with a big packet in its mouth and we followed it to see what he had.

And it was a packet of Ken's Honey Mustard salad dressing. That apparently was quite delicious.

Tomorrow: Part Two of our Zoo Adventure!

Gag

2011-12-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well, the cats left me not just one but two presents this morning, resulting in a lot of gagging on my part. I'm sitting at the computer like I do every morning, only this morning I am sitting in the dark because Keith is on vacation and still sleeping, and I get a huge whiff of poop smell. And I know it's not me. So, off to clean the cat box because it really is stinky in here and why oh why can't they cover up their poop like cats are supposed to? Then as I'm taking the bag of stinkiness to the trash can I look outside and see Genie up by the window on the back porch and Bandit from next door by their food bowls about a foot away from Genie and why isn't she chasing him off? So, I go out to run Bandit off and pick up their food bowls and one of them has vomited their breakfast back into the food bowl along with some grass that they had been eating. Gag. And double gag. And I'm gagging all the way to the sink while carrying vomity food bowls to be washed.

So, how's your morning going so far?

Awesome

2011-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

I really don't like that word awesome, but sometimes it's the only word that fits. Like it is absolutely awesome that I reached my goal of 1000 sales before Christmas. Superb. Stupendous. Excellent.

I'm quite satisfied with sales this holiday season.

And that is awesome.

New Purse

2011-12-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

So, is it weird that your husband would buy you a new purse and then even organize your stuff in the purse for you? Yes? I think so, too. And is it even weirder that he would have bought the new purse at a restaurant?

Here's how it happened.

Last Friday he was late getting home from work because it was his last work day before vacation and the boys all wanted to buy him a beer after work. He never goes out with them, preferring to just come straight home and do any drinking in the comfort of his own house, but since he was feeling good because vacation days were coming and thought he'd be social for a change, went and had a beer with them at a funky bar in Wasco that he said smelled so strongly of disinfectant that it almost made him sick. I told him that they probably had to use lots of disinfectant to cover up the vomit and urine smells and at least they make an effort.

So, he was late and I need to drop packages at the post office and he was also hungry and just wanted to stop somewhere for dinner and suggested Milt's Coffee Shop with the big EAT sign by the freeway and near the post office and I suggested we give Hodel's Country Dining another try, a place that is right across the street from Milt's and is buffet style so you don't have to wait for your food to be cooked you just strap on the feedbag and dig in. We have only been to Hodel's once before back when we first moved here, we didn't realize that it was buffet style and went there for breakfast along with half of the population of Bakersfield one Sunday morning. Apparently it is the place to go after church and any other time you want to eat all you can in one sitting. I don't remember what we ate that day and quite why we've never been back, but hey, everybody deserves a second chance and the place is always crowded so it must be halfway decent food, right?

Well, if you like really bad for you food in mass quantities, Hodel's is definitely the place for you. Everything is fried or creamed or gravied. They had fried chicken, fried fish, french fries, some green beans and corn, thankfully not fried, tri tip, beans, rice, and tortillas, enchiladas, and some other foods that I couldn't figure out what they were. They do have a salad bar with the usual salad stuff, but most of the salad bar is taken up with potato salad, macaroni salad, jello salad, ambrosia salad, congealed salad, you get the picture. They also had a whole bunch of what they called muffins but were actually cupcakes. And let me tell you, people were EATING.

We ate, but it really wasn't a place that I would want to spend too much time in. Keith did like the tri-tip and the fried chicken was good, but most of the rest of the food (except for the cupcake muffins which were delish) wasn't all that great and something about steam tables is just not that appetizing as far as I'm concerned. I doubt that we'll ever eat there again. But the rest of Bakersfield seems to enjoy it.

Anyway, about the purse. Right by the register where you pay for your food is a little gift shop. I went into the bathroom when we first went in and Keith was looking around the gift shop, and when I come out of the bathroom, here he is at the register buying a purse. And very proud of himself for picking out a purse for me. At a restaurant.

Cats on the Bed

2011-12-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's unusual for every single one of our indoor cats to be sharing the bed.

Not much room left for any humans and I think they ganged up and planned it that way.

It's Friday Already

2011-12-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

And it's payday so I just paid the bills but couldn't pay all of them because we haven't gotten the electric bill yet. Which will probably come today since I've already paid the bills. If you don't pay your bills online yet, I highly recommend it. So much easier than writing out checks and stamping envelopes and then forgetting to mail them. Who still writes checks these days anyway? I'm always kind of stumped when I see somebody paying with a check at a store, don't you have a debit card? Or are you just floating that check for a few days? Until payday?

Speaking of money, this is the first year since I can remember that we've actually had money to buy each other gifts for Christmas. We decided to get some stockings and we'll put some small gifts in them and since we don't have a tree any bigger gifts will get put on the bookshelves where our stockings are hanging. They are hanging on the bookshelves because we don't have a fireplace never mind a mantle. I had to specify things that I could use for Keith to go buy because he really has no clue and he specified things that I could get for him. I'm just about done with his shopping but he hasn't even started mine. I just hope he doesn't pull a Homer Simpson and shop at the Quickie Mart on Christmas Eve.

I'm seriously thinking about buying some long underwear for this winter. I mentioned it to Keith which might have been a mistake because I might find long underwear in my stocking and they'll probably be the wrong size. Seriously, our local weatherman said that December is our coldest month here and I definitely believe him. I just can't seem to get warm enough and don't even want to go outside these days. Not that it snows here or anything and for a lot of people our current 34 degrees outside would be positively balmy not to mention the highs in the 50s during the day. But, I'm cold.

What else is going on? I think the Christmas Rush is kind of done with on Etsy, November was wonderful for sales but December is kind of slow so far. I guess I got spoiled with multiple sales a day in November and now only a sale or two a day seems rather anti-climactic.

Next week is Keith's vacation. He is supposed to work on all the unfinished projects around the house but I have a feeling he will be sitting in his underwear watching Oprah part of the time.

I'm Biting My Tongue

2011-12-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm in a little bit (or maybe a big bit) of a cranky mood today and just do not feel like dealing with annoying things. I'm counting to ten a lot today and my tongue is starting to hurt.

Like the email from our new dentist's office that we haven't even been to for our first appointment yet thanking us for our business and wishing us happy holidays. Some might think this is nice, but NOT TODAY!

Like the phone call from Stamps.com welcoming me as a new customer. Some might think this is also nice but NOT TODAY! You've got my email address, just annoy me with an email instead of a phone call please.

And then there was the bike ride over to do some shopping where I bundled up because it's cold outside and then got into Target where it was HOT inside and I was all bundled up and was sweating by the time I was at the checkout line. And the going into Dick's (snicker) Sporting Goods looking for snowboarding socks for Keith (not that he snowboards, they make good work socks) and being directed to where they are supposed to be and not seeing a single thing that looked like a sock of any kind and leaving the store thinking that maybe I should just look for them online. And also seeing a sweater in Dick's (snort) that was pretty until I looked at the $85.00 price tag. And that annoyed me that people would pay $85.00 for a sweater. But if they are shopping in Dick's (guffaw) they are all sporty and rich so $85.00 for a sweater probably seems like a bargain.

And then getting some emails in my shop that want to know things like how true are the colors in some pictures of some vintage plastic cups and can I take some pictures outdoors and send them so they can see the colors better. It's freaking YELLOW. And PINK.

And then the one where they love my holiday pins and do I offer a holiday discount? The holiday pins that are priced between 2 and 6 dollars and what, do you want them for free? Yes, I offer a discount if you order at least 15 of them, how's that?

Maybe I need more sleep. Or less coffee. Or a vacation. Somewhere warm because I'm already tired of being cold and it's only the beginning of December. It's going to be a cranky winter.

What We Did This Weekend

2011-12-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I was planning to go to Target to do my Christmas shopping and get gifts for the company party that night. I was ready to go at 8am. Keith wasn't. So, my day started out waiting for him to finally get up and get dressed and stop reading his magazine and get dressed and stop playing with the cats and get dressed and come on already, let's get going before everyone else in the world decides to go to Target.

I wanted to drop packages off at the post office so decided to stop at the Other Target which is near the post office but first we stopped at Carl's Jr to get something to eat because there were no eggs in the house or anything else to eat for breakfast and we didn't want to go to a real restaurant and have to sit there for an hour while everyone else in the world bought all the stuff that I was planning to buy at Target. However, stopping at the Other Target was a mistake because what I was planning to buy was nowhere to be found, either that or we had been beaten to them by everyone else in the world, so let's just go to Our Target where I know exactly where want I want to buy is. But first we need to go into Pier One because something else that I wanted to buy is in there. We got a little exercise by parking between the two stores and then walking instead of parking, walking, shopping, driving, parking, walking, shopping. Our Target had exactly what I wanted to buy. But then we needed to go to the Dollar Store for gift bags and gift wrap, but at least the Dollar Store was prepared and had lots of checkstands open so it was fairly painless to shop there and since everything is a dollar, not much money spent either.

Then we had to go to the Company Christmas Party slash Safety Meeting that night. They used to have it at the nearby Golf Course in the clubhouse with really good food prepared by the golf course people but it was getting too expensive so they opted for the meeting room in the only fancy motel in Wasco and have it catered by some barbecue company. So we drive to Wasco and pass by the only other motel in town, the Motel Cinderella that promises Color TV on their sign and go to the Best Western which is right across the street from the Motel Cinderella and I'm sure the Motel Cinderella was really annoyed that the Best Western moved in across the street. Not that anyone puts Wasco on their list of vacation destinations.

I wasn't real impressed by the food, tri-tip and chicken and very soggy green beans and rice. Before dinner there were 'appetizers' of cut up weenies in barbecue sauce and some icky meatballs and chips and dip. Dessert was grocery store bakery cake.

Safety and the next growth phase of the company were talked about and safety bonus checks were handed out and handshaking done and we did the gift exchange and we actually got something usable this year, a blanket for the couch and a Starbucks coffee sampler. No massaging slippers this year- yay! Someone did give a bubbling pet fountain as a gift, and why in the world would you think a bubbling pet fountain would be a good gift for the company gift exchange anyway?

The not so good food and the coffee after dinner gave me an upset stomach and I kept waking up feeling kind of sick all night long so on Sunday I was feeling not so good and tired. Keith slept late again and then wandered around in his underwear, finally settling on the couch to watch football. Still in his underwear.

I worked on my shops for a while and then decided to mow the lawn which was looking a little shaggy. Keith finally put some pants on and came out to do the weed whacking and help me finish up. We decided to go to the movies which we haven't done in months, so grabbed our free movie tickets (thanks, Jennifer!) that we've been hoarding, and off to the movies to see J Edgar. Which was a good movie, very interesting, and Leonardo Di Caprio is one of my favorite actors, but the movie theater was so cold that my feet and legs were aching and it was very hard to sit through the whole movie. Plus the seats are nothing like being at home on your reclining couch and being able to pause the movie to go to the bathroom. Note to self, either bring a blanket next time or wear three pairs of socks and two pairs of pants. Or just save movie going for the summertime when you want to sit inside a cold dark place.

Christmas Shopping

2011-12-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Ugh.

We went to the mall after Keith got home from work yesterday afternoon. He wanted to look for a pocket knife or swiss army knife or something for James' boyfriend Robbie for Christmas. I thought it was a nice gesture for Keith to want to include something for Robbie in their soon to be mailed Christmas package, so okay, let's go get him a pocket knife. Where to get one? For some reason Keith thought that Spencer's Gifts carries pocket knives. No, they don't, as we found out after walking walking walking all the way down one side of the mall. The mall here in town just seems to go on forever but there really aren't very many stores that I would even go into which is why we haven't been to the mall in 3 or 4 years. The mall is right off the freeway, where we almost got into two wrecks because everyone was driving crazy and deciding to switch lanes but not noticing THAT WE WERE ALREADY THERE! So, after the white knuckling freeway ride, you go down a busy busy street to get into the mall parking lot which is full of more crazy drivers and find a parking space way off at the edge of the parking lot because everything else is full. Then you walk walk walk down one side of the mall to find whatever store it is you are going to and then of course the other store you want to go to is at the complete opposite end of the mall. Which seems to be about a mile long and has these angles to it where you think you are at the end but no, there's more down here.

Anyway, we went to the John T's store too and of course they are all sold out of pocket knives and swiss army knives and I didn't realize that the knife Keith had in mind was like $40.00 and I'm sorry, but that is too much money to spend on someone that you are not really related to, so no you can't buy him a fancy swiss army knife after all. We will look for a much cheaper knife somewhere else.

The only thing we did buy at the mall was some lotion and shower gel from the Bath and Body store because they suck you in with all the wonderful smells and the promise that if you buy 2 you get 1 free but even better buy 3 and get 2 free! Which I did and now have some awesome smelling shower gel and some lotion which Pepper will now want to lick off of me. She loves lotion and soap smells and will smell me coming after a shower or after putting lotion on and want to sniff and lick. Yeah, it is kind of creepy.

We also stopped for dinner at Red Robin and after eating we looked at the menu thing that lists all the calories and carbs in what you just ate and we shouldn't have eaten any of it. It's kind of scary reading that thing and finding out that the what you thought was a halfway healthy salad has like 1200 calories in it. Keith had the fish and chips which has like 12000 calories in it.

So, after going to the mall we still didn't get any Christmas shopping done but did manage to spend too much money.

Keith is postponing his week off from this coming week to the week after, just managing to squeeze it in before he loses the vacation time on the 17th. The big boss was telling him that he could take next week off but they are having some training and safety meetings and he could just come in for those on two separate days and he'll get paid for the time, but Keith is like SCREW THAT! I am not coming near this place on my vacation so I'll just plan it for a week when there are no meetings scheduled.

This morning he said he is planning on finally building the computer desk for the workroom, the wood for which has been sitting in the workroom for 2 or 3 years. I think it would be a whole lot easier to just go buy a desk, but...

I won't be holding my breath waiting for the computer desk.

Toilet Paper and Turkey Bean Bake and Vacation!

2011-12-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Toilet paper. Something that is nice to have around the house since they don't send out the Montgomery Wards catalog anymore. We bought some at Winco a few weeks ago that was called toilet tissue rather than toilet paper and I should have realized that when they say tissue they mean tissue. Like the tissue paper that you put in your gift boxes and bags at Christmas time, very very thin and very very fragile. So you end up using half a roll at one sitting.

So, back to Charmin for us. They have a new cheaper Charmin because regular Charmin is getting very very expensive, so they invented the poor folks Charmin, Charmin Basic. With DURAFLEX!

The word DURAFLEX just doesn't go with toilet paper, though, it is usually found on trash bag packages. Duraflex for big jobs! Well, maybe it does belong on a toilet paper package after all.

And, dinner last night. Another new recipe from one of those recipe books from the grocery store. This was from one of those Taste of Home booklets, where people send in their favorite recipes. This one said that whenever she takes it to a pot luck people often ask for the recipe. Yeah, sure they do. It sounded okay and easy and full of fiber, it basically was a recipe for baked beans with ground turkey in it, cooked of course. It was edible but just that- edible. Putting cooked ground turkey in your baked beans is not a good idea. It really isn't.

And finally, vacation. Keith came home from work last night and said that the office lady told him that he has 56 hours of vacation time on the books that he needs to use before the 17th or he will lose it. What to do? TAKE A VACATION! He didn't want to take off on such short notice but his boss said don't worry about it, take next week off. So, he's going to be home next week which will probably drive me crazy but at least I won't have to fix his lunch for work each night. I'm thinking we will try to do a few things like check out the Fresno Zoo. I love zoos and it's about 2 hours away, the same distance as the LA Zoo, but Fresno is flat where the LA Zoo is on a mountain so walking on flat surfaces sounds much less tiring. And we don't have to drive over the mountains to get there. I'm hoping he will get a few of the Unfinished Projects worked on too but I certainly won't be holding my breath waiting for that.

Some Soup

2011-11-30T07:16:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in one of those little cookbooks that the grocery stores sell at the checkstands. The cookbooks that always have delicious looking food on the front cover so that you will be tempted to buy the little cookbook. Just as the candy at the checkout stand is at eye level for small children, the cookbooks are at eye level for tired people who can't figure out what to fix for dinner and the cookbook promises easy and cheap recipes. Or healthy recipes for diabetics, like this cookbook promised. I usually flip through them before making a commitment to spend my $4.95 for the little cookbooks which is probably not a good idea because then I see even more pictures of delicious looking food and wish the cookbook came with a cook to fix it all for me.

Anyway, this recipe for Tex-Mex Tomato Soup caught my eye so I shelled out my $4.95 for the cookbook. Less honest people would probably just tear the recipe out of the book and put it back on the shelf.

I made this the other night and it was rather tasty and healthy, but it does not keep well for lunch the next day, the cilantro starts to get a little too soggy and the small amount of spice from the chipotle chile pepper sauce really seems to intensify. So eat this all up the first time around. Which you could because it only has 138 calories a serving. Actually you could eat the whole pot all at once.

Here's what you need:

2 carrots, chopped or sliced.
2 ribs celery, chopped or sliced or whatever.
1 red bell pepper, chopped.
2 1/4 cups water.
1 tbsp olive oil.
1 onion, chopped. I use sweet onions in any recipe that calls for an onion. Tastes better and less crying when you are chopping.
1/4 tsp salt.
1 can (28 oz) no salt added diced tomatoes. I used tomato sauce since I hate chunks of cooked tomato in my food, but whatever. And also, why is it that the can sizes called for in recipes are never the same size as what is in the store? My tomato sauce came in a 29 oz can.
1 can (15 oz) no salt added black beans, rinsed and drained. Again, my beans come in a 14.5 oz can.
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped. Cilantro leaves are a pain in the you know what to chop.
2 tbsp chipotle chile pepper sauce. I had no idea what this was so this is what I used and who knows if it's the right thing or not but it tasted okay.

Juice of one small lime. I almost forgot this part and remembered to add it after I started pouring the soup into bowls. So I had to dump the soup back in the pot to add the lime juice.

Tortilla chips or strips or whatever for on the side if you are so inclined.
Sour cream (fat free! this is a healthy heart recipe, remember?) for on top of your soup, again if you are so inclined.

Okay, here is how you make the soup now that you've got all the ingredients.

Place carrots, celery, and bell pepper in a small microwaveable bowl. Add 1/4 cup of the water, cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 5 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Warm oil in stockpot over medium heat, add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the steamed vegetables and salt and saute for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly caramelized which I have no idea what this is so I just sauteed for 5 minutes or so.

Add the tomatoes (with juice) or tomato sauce and remaining 2 cups water. Stir in beans, cilantro, and chipotle sauce. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook 25-30 minutes. ADD LIME JUICE DON'T FORGET AND START POURING OUT THE SOUP AND THEN HAVE TO PUT IT BACK IN THE POT!

The recipe says to divide between 6 bowls and put (fat free of course) sour cream on top and serve with tortilla chips or strips on the side. Since there were only two of us I just filled up two big soup bowls and there was enough left over for two more big soup bowls but like I said this doesn't keep well. Soggy cilantro.

What We Did Last Weekend

2011-11-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

Remember when you were a kid in grade school and you always had to write about what you did for your summer vacation? And you really didn't do anything all that exciting to write about? Well, that's kind of like our holiday weekend.

We did drive down to Katie's for dinner, leaving here about 12:30 and me driving while Keith napped the whole way. We had planned on leaving a little bit earlier but he went to the store at about 10am to get stuff for breakfast and took FOREVER so breakfast was late and then he was being lazy and I had to yell at him to go clean the windows on the car so we could see where we were going, so we got a late start and got to Katie's after the designated dinner time of 3pm. Her house was very very crowded and it's very very small so it was kind of like standing room only. Instead of actually cooking, she got one of those pre-made frozen turkey dinners from Vons and a pre-cooked ham so all she had to do was heat everything up. She rented folding tables and chairs so at least everyone could squeeze in around them to sit and eat.

Then after dinner, the long drive home. The long boring drive home. The road from Bakersfield to the mountain pass and vice versa is very straight and very very boring because there is nothing but flat farmland to see in the daytime and nothing at all at night and it's really kind of hypnotizing and I'm really surprised that more people don't fall asleep on that road and there aren't more sleeping people type crashes.

Then we decided to do our small business shopping on Friday instead of Saturday so we went downtown and hit a few antique stores. Well, we did go to one big business, Barnes and Noble to get some cookbooks to send to James for Christmas. He is very interested in cooking and wants to go to culinary school if he can ever afford it so we thought some cookbooks would make a good gift. We were thinking about sending him a gift card for Starbucks and then realized that the very small town that he lives in probably doesn't have a Starbucks, so...later we did find out that no, they don't have a Starbucks anywhere near them but they do have a Walmart. I think every small town in the South has a Walmart nearby.

I wanted to stop for lunch before shopping but Keith wasn't hungry yet so I got some tea and a cookie at the bookstore to hold me off until lunch. I did find a pink plastic bread box at one antique store so that is what we bought for our small business purchase. I almost decided against it because it was such a frivolous purchase, but after getting it home and re-arranging the kitchen counters around I'm really glad I bought it. It's very cute.

I didn't realize that young people don't know what a breadbox is until after the girl behind me in line was asking what it was and what it was used for. I do have to admit that we were discussing what to use it for, should we hide our counter junk in it, and then we kind of went DUH, we could keep BREAD in it.

It also came with a bonus sugar bowl and creamer.

Keith found some train track that still had the original price tags from Woolco on them so when we got home he got out his trains and messed around with those for the rest of the day.

Saturday was more shopping but for cat food and all the household stuff we needed. We went to Target and you would have never known that Black Friday ever happened it was so quiet and calm in there. Yesterday I did the grocery part of the shopping. So we should be done shopping for at least a few days. Keith wasn't feeling well and slept in late and then napped on the couch.

I decided to bring the cat house that Lucy wouldn't use inside where maybe the indoor cats would use it and it wouldn't get ruined outside in the weather because after we bought it we realized by the instructions on the box that it came in that it really wasn't intended for outdoor use. As soon as we put it in the corner of the bedroom every cat came to inspect and we had both Mimi and Harri standing inside of it. It's getting a lot more use now, with Pepper inside it most of the time and Harri actually sitting inside it the other day.

Mimi was enjoying the deck.

Black Friday? How About Small Business Saturday?

2011-11-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or is it getting a little out of hand these days? Stores seem to be opening earlier and earlier and earlier, or what the heck let's just stay open all day on Thanksgiving and all night too! The earlier they open, the earlier someone can get trampled to death. Yay!

Even Michaels craft store is opening up on Thanksgiving night. That's one thing I always find I need after my turkey dinner, craft supplies!

I have never been to a Black Friday sale. Ever. Well not on purpose anyway. There was the one year when I got a bug up my you know what to clean the house on that Friday and while cleaning decided to replace the kitchen trash can because it was so beat up and stained and icky so I tossed the trash can and the trash away and then went to Walmart to buy a new trash can. Oops.

Why don't I go to a Black Friday sale? Besides the fact that I really don't enjoy shopping all that much, Black Friday falls at the end of the month. I've always had rent or house payments due at the end of the month and therefore have never had any money to spend at a Black Friday sale. I guess some people plan ahead and save up their money all year in anticipation, or just run up multiple credit cards and worry about paying them off later.

So, while people are trampling others to get to that big screen TV or whatever, I'll be cozy in my bed and then enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee on Friday morning, not in a hurry to go anywhere and certainly not stepping foot in any stores that day. But, I will be shopping on Saturday. Small Business Saturday, that is. We've decided to go downtown and browse the antique stores that day, and then maybe have some lunch at a locally owned restaurant. Hopefully others will put aside a little of their Black Friday money and do the same. Why fatten Walmart's pockets when you could help a local business stay in business?

Soup and Rain

2011-11-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

We are having a rainy and a little bit lazy Sunday today. Well, just now getting lazy. We started out the day with an early morning trip to the grocery store for a few things, a trip that I was going to make by myself but Keith wanted to come and I had to do my best to be patient because he likes to browse in the grocery store and read labels and all that and I'm sorry, I just want to get what's on my list and get the hell out of there. Not to mention that when he comes along the bill magically doubles. Because of all the things he decides he needs, like today he wanted snacks for football watching like frozen popcorn chicken and also grabbed some frozen tuna steaks that he says he'll cook because I tend to overcook things like fish and just don't even bother trying anymore.
Then after the grocery store over to Target for cat food and litter, and of course more browsing through the grocery department despite the fact that we just left a grocery store. But I continued to try and be patient even though I wanted to grab his arm like you would a small child and drag him out of the store.
But, before we left for our shopping trip it started to sprinkle so we brought Lucy and her sleeping basket and her food and water into the garage so that she wouldn't be all rained on. And it's a good thing that we did because it's been raining ever since.

After our shopping trip I did a real clean in the living room, dusting all the shelves and moving what furniture is actually moveable and dusting the baseboards and even cleaning the cobwebs off of the outside of the sliding glass door that had been bugging me for weeks and weeks but apparently not bugging me enough to actually clean it. Keith was working on finishing up the bathroom cabinet that he built years ago and never finished. Now it has a shelf under it and maybe the doors will get put on it if he can remember where he put them.

Then lunch and kitchen clean up and he sat down to watch football and now he is napping on the couch.

Oh, and about the soup. I like soup but only in the winter time when a bowl full of something hot sounds good. I really like soup with bread on the side, but since bread is off the list of acceptable foods, a good stand in is a cheese quesadilla made with our low carb tortillas. Almost like eating a grilled cheese sandwich. Last week we were wanting pea soup for dinner and went over to Target to get some Anderson's pea soup but of course Target doesn't carry Anderson's pea soup so pea soup was off the menu. We decided on some Campbell's chunky (and oh, how much I hate the word chunky, it is not a good word to describe food as far as I'm concerned) beef and vegetable soup with dumplings. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, as soon as I opened the can and saw what they consider to be beef, pieces of what looked like those fake beef steaks but with ribbons of fat running through them, pieces of what was supposed to be beef but really looked like dog food beef, I kind of went eww but decided to try the soup anyway.

It was horrible. The weirdest taste to it, and the grossest 'beef' in it, and the slimiest dough ball dumpling things, and it was just not good and actually not even edible. Even Keith wouldn't eat it and he'll eat just about anything.

I've never been that fond of canned soup, way too high in salt and questionable ingredients, like the aforementioned 'beef' that just looked too much like Alpo, but after our Chunky Beef and Dumpling experience, I'm going to stick with homemade soup or no soup. Sorry, Campbells.

Still Busy

2011-11-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

The days just don't seem to be long enough for everything that I want to get done. Along with the usual daily chores I've got my wall washing project in the back of my mind and it's also time to shampoo the carpets again.

Speaking of which. I had shampooed the carpet in the workroom after Harri hacked up hairballs all over the place and of course the very next morning there was another hairball on my freshly shampooed carpet. Like she had planned it that way.

And speaking of cats, I have to call the vet for Genie today, she got clawed on her backside and has an abcess that we thought was healing but maybe not. Bandit from next door keeps sneaking into the backyard trying to get into their shed and into their food and I'm pretty sure he's the one that clawed her. We are thinking of ways to conveniently have Bandit disappear. Not only do they have about a dozen of their own cats next door, every stray in the neighborhood knows to come there looking for food and then they come over here if they can't find any.

We put Lucy in the garage Friday night, we had a cold front come in with wind and rain and she was huddled on the front porch all freaked out and won't use her expensive new house that we bought her. See here:

Her expensive new house that came in a box and you put it together yourself, so Keith added insulation to it and put sealant on it and all kinds of other stuff and we might as well just have given her the cardboard box that it came in for all the use it's getting out there. I'm thinking we will bring it in the house for the other cats to play in real soon here.

Anyway, we brought her into the garage and blocked the cat door into the garage where Buddy couldn't peek through the hole, gave her some food and water and a litter box and she spent the night in relative comfort out of the rain and wind. So, we've got it figured out now what to do with her when the weather is bad or we aren't going to be home to feed her.

Like on Thanksgiving when we will drive down to Camarillo to have dinner at Katie's house. She is hosting her first Thanksgiving in her little (and I mean LITTLE) house and I'm really wondering where everyone is going to sit but maybe it will be nice enough to sit outside on lawn chairs or something. Did I mention that her house is LITTLE? Smaller or about the same size as ours and I know we wouldn't have room for a bunch of people.

Oh, and you know how people like to take those fall foilage drives to look at the turning leaves and all? I didn't have to go for a drive to see turning leaves, I noticed while in the Winco parking lot that all of their trees are turning and really look pretty, so if you just kind of tune out the asphalt and all of the other cars and the shopping carts you could pretend that you are on a scenic fall foilage drive.

Corduroy

2011-11-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Yikes, it's been a busy week and although busy not especially exciting and I've neglected my blog. So.

I just heard on the Bob and Tom radio show that besides the fact that today is 11/11/11 and there are some kids they mentioned who are turning 11 today, it is also National Corduroy Day. National Corduroy Day is on 11/11 each year because the numbers look like corduroy. Bet you had never heard of National Corduroy Day before, I know I haven't.

Now, corduroy is not something I think about much because it seems that it's kind of gone out of fashion and I can't remember having seen anything made out of corduroy in the stores lately, but when I was in high school in the early seventies, corduroy was the height of fashion. I think partly because jeans were still considered a little bit bad and only worn by greasers who carried their cigarettes around rolled up in their t-shirt sleeve and had a comb for their greasy hair in their back pocket. Think James Dean here. I don't think jeans were even allowed in school when I was in Junior High, never mind girls wearing ANY kind of pants to school. That all changed when I was in 9th grade and the dress code was modified to allow girls to wear pants to school. That freedom is still something I remember fondly.

Anyway. Corduroy. You know, that kind of strange fluffy ribbed fabric? Back in those seventies high school days corduroy pants were definitely in style, so much in style that we just called them Cords. I'm wearing my Cords today. Jeans were called Levis whether or not they were actual Levi Strauss brand, but if you wore anything other than Levi Strauss brand with the patch on the back that told what size they were, you might as well forget about being asked to the prom because you were a GEEK. Girls didn't buy Levis or Cords specifically made for girls, we went to the boys department and bought boy pants. But how embarrassing if you were kind of fat and your waist size was on the back of your pants for the whole world to see. We also bought them big enough to where they would hang off your hips instead of your waist because along with Levis and Cords being in style, hip huggers as we called them were also in style. So you wanted your pants to hang low but not like these kids today who wear them completely under their bottoms and have to walk funny so their pants won't fall down.

The only thing bad about our Cords was that if you had chubby thighs, the pants legs would rub against each other as you walked and your Cords would make that whoop whoop sound. So everybody around you could hear you coming and also knew that you had fat thighs without even having to look at you.

Those Cords also came in all kinds of colors, burgundy being popular along with a kind of burnt orange color, bright blue, red, just about any kind of color of pants that you would never ever see kids wearing today. They also came in straight leg or our favorite bell bottoms. The more you wore and washed them, the softer they would get. If they started to get holes in them, you would patch them patchwork quilt hippie style and be even cooler. I do remember the legend about the guy who didn't have a single piece of the original fabric of his pants left, the entire pants were patchwork.

Anyway, other than thinking about corduroy pants today, I keep waking up at 5 since the time change this week and actually don't mind getting up earlier because there are so many things I want to get done each day and so many projects on my work table. So, now I'm going to get back to them.

20 Mule Team Delivers

2011-11-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

So, I was looking at the bathroom walls the other day, must have been sitting there without a book or something, and I realized that the last time I washed down the bathroom walls was like never ago and maybe I should do something about the filth. Yes, they were filthy. Bathroom walls and pretty much any other kind of wall are one of those things that you get used to how they look and never really think much about them other than maybe the fact that they are holding your house up and you can hang pretty pictures on them.

But they do get dirty. Especially in a damp bathroom and especially around the corners where cats like Buddy like to constantly rub their dirty little faces and on the doors where you put your dirty little hands to close them. And while you may not notice the dirt I'm sure any guests that come into your house will. Not that we have a lot of guests wandering about our house, but maybe we'd all be a little happier if we treated ourselves like guests and put out the good towels and the fancy little soaps for ourselves. And washed down the walls once in a while. And then had a cup of tea in the good china.

I didn't have any wall washing stuff in the house, like Pine-Sol or whatever, so I went online to look up make your own wall washing cleaner stuff and came across a mention of Borax and how well it works for just about any type of cleaning and it's a natural element and probably is better for you to use around the house than chemicals that you'll be breathing in while you clean. So, I got me some Borax. Which I'd never really thought about other than when the miners that work at the borax mine way out in the desert were on strike and when we passed by the town of Boron, again way out in the desert, where most of the miners live. They get paid a whole lot of money to work in the borax mine because otherwise nobody would want to live out there or drive out there or do anything else out there because again, it is WAY out in the desert.

Anyway, the box of borax has all kinds of helpful hints on the back of it and all kinds of uses for your borax like using it to clean your toilet (works really well) putting it in your laundry (seems to work really well) and using it to scour stuff like your sinks or cooking pot bottoms instead of Comet ( also works really well). And a bunch of other uses that I can't remember right now. Oh, and washing walls. Which works really well.

So, instead of buying the latest 'green' cleaning product that I'm told I must have because it smells good and doesn't have harsh chemicals in it, I'm sold on borax which has no smell but you could always just add some vanilla extract to the wash water or something if you really want a smell involved.

Totally Annoyed

2011-11-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

This is what drives Buddy crazy when he's not allowed into the garage. The fact that he can see out of this 2" hole in the wood that we slide over the cat door to keep them inside when the big garage door is open.

I can see you out there if I turn my head just the right way and put my eyeball up against the hole in the wood.

He will wander around the house the entire day being a total pest and making his annoyed meows and going back and forth to peek out the door because he just knows something really fun is going on out there and he is not invited.

We Did It Again!

2011-11-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Holla! Once again Bakersfield is Number One!!

1 Bakersfield-Delano, CA Population: 800,000
Year-round particulate pollution rank: 1
Short-term particulate pollution rank: 1
Ozone pollution rank: 2

Bakersfield, CA
Photo: iStock

Hot, dusty and surrounded by California's biggest oil fields, Bakersfield has all the ingredients for the worst air in the nation.

This is copied from the latest report on the who's got the worst air in America. Out of the top ten, seven cities are in California. We Rule!!

Today we should be able to breathe a little easier although we do need to break out the winter parkas. Thursday was a beautiful day, on Wednesday high winds blew all the bad air somewhere else and Thursday was sunny and the high was 78. Not bad for November. Then yesterday the promised rain arrived and the high was 54. Today is supposed to also be about 54 and more rain is coming for tomorrow. But at least the rain will wash away some of the dirt.

Procrastination

2011-11-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

Or, why do something today that you can put off until next month? Or never?

Keith made our beautiful new fence and gate about 6 months or so ago and he meant to put some sort of sealer or paint or something on it to keep it looking nice, right? He really meant to but of course it didn't get done because he got distracted like we all do. Or was watching TV or something. Anyway, we are supposed to start getting our fall/winter weather this week with maybe rain on Friday, so he wanted to get the fence sealed before the rain starts. Sounds good. But not good when you start painting the fence at 6pm on a Wednesday night when we are having gale force winds and leaves and branches are flying about and it's dark outside and you have to get up at 4:30 a.m. to be at work by 6. He was outside until after 11 last night finishing up and messing around in the garage. And I can guarantee you that he will be too tired tonight to finish the job.

But what else is new, the shed that he built 7 or 8 years ago still hasn't been painted.

Keith gets a train model layout catalog in the mail every few months, not that he's ever ordered anything from it and not that we could ever order anything from it and not that I'd let him start ordering anything from it because the last thing he needs to do is start a model train layout when there are so many other things that need to be finished around here first. Like the fence. And shed. And all the half finished stuff in the house.

But, it's kind of fun to look through the catalog and the model kits they have for buildings and the little people that they have for your layout, and my eye was caught by a really cool ferris wheel that costs like $200.00 and then right under the ferris wheel I see this.

Yes, it is a strip club for your train layout complete with hookers hanging around the front door. Awesome!

Vegetable Peelers and Credit Cards

2011-11-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the economy must be improving or the banks are getting desperate because in yesterday's mail we got not one, not two, but four separate credit card offers. Either that or everyone filed for bankruptcy and aren't paying off their debts and they need some fresh blood.

Our trash can outside usually stinks so bad by trash day that it almost makes you physically ill when you open the lid to put more trash in, so I had another DUH moment and though maybe it would help to bag all stinky trash like vegetable peelings and chicken parts into sealed plastic bags which then go into the kitchen trash can which then goes into the big stinky trash can outside, and it does work, haven't almost vomited upon opening up the trash can lid yet this week. But I think I accidentally wrapped up my vegetable peeler with the stinky trash because I couldn't find it anywhere to peel some carrots for dinner. How do you lose a vegetable peeler? It's not like you would take it into another room of the house with you although I did check. Anyway, I had to go buy a new vegetable peeler, so went to Walmart where there were two vegetable peelers to choose from. I should have gone to Target where they have a better kitchen gadget section but it's too late now, and I was already in Walmart. So, do I get the 88c vegetable peeler which will probably irritate the hell out of me every time I use it because it's a cheap piece of crap from China or do I buy the $4.98 Faberware vegetable peeler with the never needs sharpening ceramic blade, probably also made in China, but probably much better than the 88c one.

And what do you know, the ceramic never needs sharpening $4.98 vegetable peeler is the most wonderful vegetable peeler I've ever used! It peels like slicing through warm butter and in big slices so you are done with your carrot in mere seconds. It's awesome! I peeled my carrots and then looked around for something else to peel because it was so awesome!

So, even if you already have a vegetable peeler and haven't accidentally thrown it in the trash like I did, go out and get yourself a Faberware ceramic blade vegetable peeler. Maybe we'll eat more vegetables now since it's so much fun to peel them.

Told You So

2011-10-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

Lately Keith has been letting Buddy and Mimi go outside and wander around while he is working in the garage or out in the yard on the weekends. Buddy has always hated it when Keith would shut the kitty door into the garage and then open up the big garage door and be out there while Buddy was stuck inside. The wood door that goes into slots on the side of the kitty door to keep them from being able to go through it has a 2" circle cutout in it so we have a fingerhold to pull it back up out of the slot and Buddy will go back and forth to the door and look out through the cutout and whine and in general be a cranky pain in the ass. So, Keith started letting him come out. And then letting Mimi come out, too, by not even putting the wood door into the slots. None of the other cats seemed to want to go out there, just Buddy and Mimi and they were having a great time exploring both the front and the back yards.

I kept telling Keith that it wasn't a good idea, they will want to go outside all the time and going outside means fleas and other critters. Like WORMS. Like THE WORM that Keith saw coming out of Mimi's bottom the other day. THE WORM that totally grossed both of us out and made me say I TOLD YOU SO!

We went to find worm meds this weekend and first started at the pet feed store where they sell everything for every kind of animal and sometimes animals, too, like the few half grown leftover chicks that were peeping away in the baby chick warming room. We got some paste type wormer that you are supposed to put on their food, and then after we started for home realized that the paste was only enough for two of the cats to get a dose and we really should de-worm all of them, so stopped at Petco to see what they had in the way of worm meds. We get some liquid meds at Petco, liquid that you are also supposed to put on their food and is supposed to taste really yummy according to the label.

Well. We put liquid de-wormer on everybody's food and every single one of the cats sniffed the food and walked away. So much for yummy.

We ended up injecting the de-wormer directly into Buddy and Mimi's mouths via the syringe that it comes in, so hopefully the two that have been going outside will be de-wormed and we'll get some more paste to de-worm all the rest of the cats just in case.

No, Keith will not be letting Buddy and Mimi outside anymore and Buddy was definitely not happy about that turn of events this weekend and he was quite annoyed and went around the house yowling and in general being a cranky butt all weekend. And staring out of the hole in the kitty door.

Another DUH Moment

2011-10-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

I do seem to have a lot of them lately. I walk into the kitchen and can't remember why. What am I doing here? Was I going to get something? Make some tea? Cook some dinner? Feed the cats? I DON'T KNOW!

So, I go back into the bedroom and get on the computer and look at puppies instead of working on my shop or filling an order and then I remember what it was I went into the kitchen for. And hope I still remember by the time I get back to the kitchen. Which isn't that far away. Like ten steps.

Anyway, if I had know years ago how much easier it is to ride your bike with street tires instead of mountain bike tires on it I would have gotten new tires like ten years ago. Back when I bought my bike which was probably fifteen years ago, or maybe even twenty, mountain bikes were the in thing and everybody wanted a mountain bike despite the fact that we never rode in the mountains. But they were cool and we LOOKED like we were mountain bike riders. Like when I was in high school you had to have a ten speed racing type bike with those weird handle bars that were all curved so you could pretend that you would be riding in the Tour De France if only you had time. We also wore bell bottoms back then and if you didn't have your bike clip with you to clip around your huge gigantic bell bottom pants leg then you were in big trouble because your pant leg would catch in your bike chain and rip up your pants not to mention throw you off of your bike. And then your mom would be really mad at you for ripping up your fashionable and expensive bell bottoms.

Now, you would think that wearing a bike clip around one leg of your pants while the other bell bottom is flapping in the breeze would make you look like a dork, but the exact opposite was true. Your pant leg in a bike clip meant that you were cool and saving the earth and all by riding your ten speed. You also had to have a visor, not a ball cap, to shield your eyes and a canvas bike shop bag that you wore like a backpack to put your stuff in. See, this saving the earth and being green thing is nothing new kids, we started it back in the early seventies when we invented Earth Day and vowed to ride our bikes and Stop at Two. What is Stop at Two? We were only supposed to have two children so that we could achieve zero population growth. Which hasn't worked and everybody forgot all about it. Seeing as how there soon will be 7 billion people on the earth or whatever that number is that they've been talking about. I wonder if the 7 billionth baby will get a prize?

But, I digress. About the bike tires. The bike tires that Keith finally figured out how the damn new valve works and they are staying full of air, they make your bike riding ALMOST EFFORTLESS. It's AMAZING the difference they make. And this is my DUH moment for the day if not the year. Mountain bike tires are for riding on mountains, street tires are for riding on streets.

Odds and Ends

2011-10-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

So how cool would that be to find a giant lego man washed up on the beach anyway? Like they did in Florida if you haven't seen that story yet.

I'd be taking him home and standing him up right in front of my house.

We have three local news stations here with the usual kind of odd news people who aren't quite good looking enough for bigger cities. They have a new anchor on the 17 news that I just can't watch. She talks very seriously and kind of out of the side of her mouth, but what really distracts me is the giant mole on the side of her face. I guess that is mean of me but I wonder why she hasn't had it removed because trying to watch her is like watching that commercial where the stain on the guy's shirt is talking. All I can think about when she is talking is the giant mole. Don't look at the mole!

You can't really see it in this picture, she has it hidden with her hair, but believe me IT"S THERE!

So we watch a different channel where I can concentrate on what they are saying. Instead of concentrating on facial moles.

When fall finally comes around here it's kind of like someone turned the lights off, one day we are running the a/c and the next day the temps drop by 10 degrees and it's time to bring out the sweaters. Yesterday it got downright chilly there. So now we will be complaining about how cold we are instead of how hot we are.

Somebody, and I have a feeling that it was Harri, left me a lovely hair ball present in the front room yesterday morning. And then did it again today.

And speaking of cats, Dusty and Genie have figured it out that when the lights come on in the kitchen in the morning and the back sliding door's blinds get opened that it's BREAKFAST TIME! They sit and stare into the living room until I finally fill up their bowls with their canned food and bring it out to them. Mimi has taken to rushing the door and running out into the back yard whenever we go outside that way, so I have to balance two food bowls, open the door, and push her out of the way with my foot all at the same time. Then a reverse of that when I come back in, minus the food bowls.

We Fix Flats

2011-10-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

So, my new bike tires which are a pleasure to ride on? The front one is FLAT! What the hell? They are supposed to be never go flat new bike tires but I'm thinking maybe Keith put it on wrong or put the fancy valve adapter on wrong or something but I'll never say that to his face. I think he should just put the old inner tubes that never went flat in the well over ten years that I've had this bike and never changed the tires back into the tires and screw the fancy new never go flat but they did inner tubes.

I was looking forward to a bike ride this morning but that's not going to happen today.

I was looking forward to a bike ride because our weather has been incredibly pleasant this past week despite the calender saying that it's almost November. We actually turned on the a/c yesterday afternoon to cool the house down, it was getting downright hot in here. The one thing that is nice about the central valley is the springs and falls are definitely never need a jacket kind of weather, even late at night.

I accidentally shot Dusty last night with the nerf gun and scared the heck out of him. It was dark and I thought the gate to the back yard was shut and I see this siamese cat running towards me and I thought it was Bandit from next door and so I shot him. And then I felt terrible and will definitely not be so trigger happy in the future.

Keith was the laziest ever this weekend, he was supposed to be working on Lucy's winter house and got as far as opening up the garage and bringing out the saw. Where it sat on the driveway for a while. I, on the other hand, did grocery shopping, laundry, floor mopping, vacuuming, cat box cleaning, and lots and lots of work on things for the shop. This is the best month yet for the Mimi and Lucy shop so I'm stocking up for the holidays and hoping it keeps up! Now if we could only figure out how to stop spending our money as fast as we make it. It seems like we just spend, spend, spend. This weekend after all the bike tire spending, it was groceries and cat food and gas and there went another $200 or so dollars. And it's not like we are even spending it all on something fun like vacations and fast cars, it's just daily living seems to be SO EXPENSIVE!

Well We Are Still Here

2011-10-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Weren't some of us (not us heathens here) supposed to get raptured yesterday? Maybe God decided the hell with it cause nobody on this earth deserves it. Or we were left behind and just haven't figured it out yet.

Anyway.

This morning I went over to Winco to do some food shopping and I was walking through the meat department looking at the beef and I've pretty much decided that I don't really like beef anymore because bloody fatty slabs of meat is kind of disgusting. And the last time we cooked steak it really had no flavor at all. Now chicken isn't so bad, it's not red and BLOODY and it comes from a dumb looking bird instead of a cute happy cow, so...I didn't buy any beef today. My stomach was feeling a little queasy from looking at bloody meat and as I start to walk away what is in front of me but a man bending over his shopping cart with his big hairy ass crack right in my face. Ugh. Vomit.

I have new tires on my bike now. We got the tires at Walmart and needed inner tubes to go inside and the only kind they had in the right size were some fancy new never leak ultra never go flat kind of inner tubes but when we get home realize that the cashier put the tires in one bag and the inner tubes in another and we only grabbed one bag and so of course have to go back to Walmart to get the forgotten bag. Then we find out that the new inner tubes have some fancy new valve on them that of course you need a special tool to make them adaptable to an air compressor. Or you can buy a special hand pump to fit. So another trip to the store to buy an adapter tool which they didn't have at Walmart but did at Dick's (the new sporting goods store that we all love the name of) but there are no clear instructions as to how to use all this, it just tells you to ask your professional bike guy at the bike shop. So Keith makes a trip to the bike shop (where we probably should have gone for the tires in the first place) to get instructions and finally, finally, new tires on my bike. It would probably just have been easier to buy a whole new bike.

Duh

2011-10-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago Keith noticed that my bike seat was getting all raggedy and the cover was starting to shred and he also noticed that the tires were looking a little raggedy and starting to shred and maybe we should think about getting some new tires for it and maybe even a new seat. The tires are, after all, the original tires that came on the bike, a bike I've had for I don't even know how many years but longer than I've even known Keith.

But, tires cost money so we'll just wait for a while and I won't ride anywhere but just over to Walmart or Target so it should be okay. So this week I'm riding on short errands and thinking I must be more out of shape than I thought because this bike is really getting hard to ride and I'm doing a lot more huffing and puffing than usual and I'm worn out just from a half mile ride to Target. And then yesterday it was even worse and by the time I got to Target I thought maybe I should check the tires and guess what it's just about FLAT and no wonder it's been so hard to ride this bike lately.

So, we go to Walmart to get new bike tires and I'm a novice when it comes to buying bike tires and didn't know they came in a box not just stacked up or on a rack like car tires and you also have to buy the inner tube and it's not cheap and maybe I should have just bought a whole new bike since the tires cost almost $60.00 by the time you buy the inner tubes too. And then Keith picked out some fancy never get a flat tire inner tubes but the valve stem is like no other valve stem we've ever seen and he's trying to figure out these teeny tiny valve stems and it's 9pm and he really needs to go to bed and just put all the bike tire stuff into the garage and wait until tomorrow to mess with weird inner tubes and new bike tires and if I need to go anywhere tomorrow I'll just wait until you get home with the car.

So, no bike today and some expensive bike tires sitting in the garage. I'm excited though since it will probably be a whole lot easier to ride the bike now.

When we went up to Lebec last Saturday we stopped at the big huge fancy rest/truck stop that is out near Grapevine before you start up the mountains on the interstate. They have every kind of fast food restaurant you could ever want, including a new Chipotle that wasn't there last time we drove through there, and also a Starbucks, a motel, and about 5 gas stations. They also have the trucker travel place with the Iron Skillet restaurant and a gift shop, barber shop, Baskin Robbins, and showers and a trucker lounge all inside the same building. And the place is nice, with a main hallway with plants and nice lighting and clean restrooms and park benches to sit and eat your Baskin Robbins on. I got to thinking that you could just live at the rest/truck stop/travel plaza if you wanted, they have absolutely everything you could ever need right there, along with park-like green areas around all the parking lots and a nice view of the nearby mountains. I'm sure with all of those fast food places and gas stations that somebody is hiring if you need a job and you could just get a motor home or van to live in and use the trucker showers to wash up in. And get your hair cut at the barber shop.

Lucy had a tussle with a preying mantis the other day. I thought she was looking at a leaf on the ground but then the leaf saw her and opened its wings and reared up on its hind legs and was waving its front legs and trying to scare Lucy away with its fierceness. Lucy did actually jump back when this bug started getting tough. It finally escaped her by crawling up the gate until she couldn't reach it but if it has wings shouldn't it have been able to fly away?

Up in the Mountains

2011-10-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

So anyway, our neighbors that moved to Lebec up in the mountains invited us up for a barbecue on Saturday. We thought it was a lunch barbecue since Nathan said to come up around noon. It was a good thing that we brought some chips along because we didn't eat until dinnertime. Next time we will eat lunch before we go.

They live up a winding narrow road in a canyon where first you see some pretty nice houses on lots of land but then you get into a trailer park, but not your usual trailer park with a clubhouse and swimming pool and landscaping, but basically a bunch of mobile homes on large lots with lots and lots and lots of junk around them. What is it with people who live in the mountains and junk? One of the trailers that we passed must have had about 20 trucks parked around it and I don't think they were having a party. They just have lots of trucks.

The trailer that they live in is kind of depressing, just a single wide and rather cramped and the yard is on the side of a hill so once you get off the front porch it's all uphill. They do see lots of wildlife, squirrels in the trees and the occasional bear walking down the road and a whole lot of mule deer. Two of which we saw yards from the house on the side of the hill. It was nice to visit and get out of town for the afternoon but also a little boring since the other guests who were supposed to come, Nathan's brother and mother, never did show up.

So we sat around on the porch and then finally ate and then wanted to get back home before it got too late. We drove a ways up the canyon where the narrow road turns from pavement to gravel to just dirt and saw some real houses, but also lots of junk around them, and then the lord of the manor who lives in a huge, and I mean HUGE spanish hacienda, complete with a guest house, barn, and a big metal Mexican with a serape statue by the front gate. Hmmm...not so politically correct there I don't think. As we drove by this house I see what I think are big concrete deer statues in the yard but then the deer moved. They were having a great time eating the trees.

So, that was our exciting barbecue day, visiting the big city of Lebec, where you can go to church, the post office, the dentist, a corner market, and an antique store. To buy any real groceries they have to drive into Bakersfield, Lancaster, or Valencia. So you'd better bring that list and not forget anything when you go.

Vigilante Justice

2011-10-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

I feel like the sheriff in the old westerns sitting in front of the jail with my rifle loaded.

Here's the back story. We went up to Nathan's house in Lebec on Saturday for a barbecue, more on that tomorrow, and we didn't get home until after dark and I was sure Lucy would be frantically waiting by the front door for her dinner because we can't leave food out for her because all of the neighborhood cats come and eat it.

But, no Lucy. I called for her and rattled her food dish and no Lucy. Very odd. She finally showed up and was acting all weird and scared and looking over her shoulder. She ate a little bit and then went up into her tree. Now, our neighbors have a cat that looks just like Lucy, a cat that was being kept in the house for a long time because she was attacking all the other cats, kind of like our Lucy and the reason she is now an outdoor cat. Well, they let Lucy Look-Alike back outside recently and I have this feeling that the two of them got into it in our front yard while we were gone.

So. I've been wanting to get a super soaker squirt gun to keep the other cats away from her food and it sounded like now was a good time to get tough with these cats and I went shopping for a squirt gun. Which nobody has right now because it's considered a summer toy and only sold in the summer around here.

What to do? How about a nerf gun?

With extra ammo!

We sat on the porch last night while Lucy ate and managed to shoot Lucy Look-Alice in the ass not once but twice and then Keith got to shoot little black cat right in the head as he was trying to eat Lucy's food. Cruel? Nah, these are soft nerf darts and no cats were actually harmed.

Buddy thought the darts were a pretty fun cat toy, too.

Nosy

2011-10-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I got bags to clean the cat box with and put them by the box and then Keith called me to do something for him and I got distracted and when I got back to the cat box cleaning here was Mimi's bottom sticking out of the bag.

Sometimes

2011-10-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

I feel like a cat waitress. First thing in the morning I have four of them waiting for me to get up and go open a can of food. Never mind that on work days they have already gotten dry food conveniently poured into separate bowls by Keith at 5am, bowls also conveniently placed around the kitchen so that nobody has to share or eat too close to anyone else. When I get up they know it's wet food time. I put four bowls onto the counter by the sink where Buddy is not so patiently waiting for his food, checking out each bowl like something will magically appear, and watching my every move. Sometimes I like to tease him by going from counter to counter with the can of food, him following me from counter to counter. I'd really like to wander from room to room with that can of food someday just to see how long he will follow me around.

Buddy likes to sit on the counter to eat, Pepper is on one side of the island counter on the floor, away from those 'other' cats because she hates everyone, and Mimi and Bear are on the other side of the island counter on the floor and will sit side by side for their breakfast. By the time I get everyone's bowls down, Buddy is usually done with his and wants to see what everyone else has because their bowl looks better than his or something.

If it's not the right food Mimi will let me know by scratching the floor by the food bowl, much like when she is in the cat box, so I'm assuming she thinks the food is shit and is trying to cover it up. Then she will walk away like you expect me to eat that shitty smelling food?

Then it's time to go out front to feed Lucy. She doesn't eat wet food, preferring dry, so I take her bowl outside and then have to sit and wait while she eats so that all the cats from next door and a couple of stray cats don't come and steal her food. She just kind of steps to the side and lets them eat, except for Bandit who she doesn't like and will snarl at. She won't bother the little black cat from next door but will just let him sneak his little self in to take over the bowl. I usually let her eat until she walks away from the bowl, pick up the bowl and bring it back inside, and then take it back out about 30 minutes later because I know she is still hungry but if I leave the bowl outside then it will be completely emptied by all the other cats. Who know the sound of the front door closing and are watching and listening from across the street or in the driveway where I can't see them.

And then the backyard cats need their wet food. We put one of those self feeders for the dry food inside the shed and that seems to be working out well except for when Bandit (very appropriate name now that I think about it) tries to sneak in the shed to steal food, usually causing yowling and snarling and hissing and Bandit being chased off by Dusty and us being awakened in the middle of the night by yowling, snarling, and hissing. So, I open another can of wet food, saving a little for Harri who won't eat with the other indoor cats first thing in the morning because she is so nervous. I take two bowls of food outside where two cats are frantically waiting because they are STARVING AND WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG NEVER MIND THAT WE DO HAVE A SELF FEEDER THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT and feed us already!

And then, Harri, who is usually in the garage when I get up in the morning, the garage that she is stuck in until somebody goes to open the door because she won't go through the cat door but will just sit there and look through it and wait until someone sees her and opens the door. So how does she get in there in the first place? Keith opens the door in the morning to get stuff for work and she follows him in, or during the day she will sit by the door on the kitchen side, wanting to go in there because it's quieter but then we forget that we let her in there and here we go again, with her sitting staring at us through the cat door. That she won't go through.

She has to eat on the counter, looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody is going to bother her, so another placement of a bowl of dry food and I'm trying to get her to eat more wet food, so some of that beside the dry food bowl. She also won't drink out of the kitty water fountain, preferring her water to be on the bathroom counter and freshly drawn thank you very much.

And then later I have to round up all the cat bowls and wash them so not only am I the waitress but the dishwasher too.

Hamburger Soup

2011-10-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Or you could thrill the kids (or your husband with the 12 year old's sense of humor) and call this hamBOOGer soup.

This is an easy and kind of cheap recipe and you could probably put whatever kind of vegetables in here that you want, like some zucchini or whatever. Or not. Whatever. It's filling and Keith liked it enough to have two helpings last night and then he also took some to work with him today for his lunch.

So, you need:
1 lb hamburger, browned and drained.
4 cups water.
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained. Now, if you are like me and really don't like chunks of tomato in your food (blechh) you can just use a same size can of tomato sauce.
3 md. carrots, sliced.
2 md. potatoes, peeled and cubed.
1 md. onion, diced.
1/2 cup chopped celery ( I left this out last night because I didn't have any celery and I didn't want to buy a whole head or whatever it's called of celery for just 1/2 cup because we never eat the rest of the celery and it tasted just fine without it.)
4 beef bouillon cubes.
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper.
1/4 tsp. dried oregano.
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans. (Last night I used frozen corn instead of green beans and I like the corn way better, but you could always throw caution to the wind and USE BOTH!)

Put all of the ingredients except for the green beans or corn or whatever into a big soup pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. I left Keith at home to watch the pot while I ran some errands so this actually cooked for about an hour and I think it tasted better cooked longer but the potatoes started to get mushy.
Add the green beans or corn or whatever other frozen veg you want and simmer for another 15 minutes or so.

Eat. Serves a lot. Like 4 big big bowls.

I imagine that if you want to get even healthier you could use ground turkey instead of the beef. Maybe I'll try that next time because Keith was told to avoid red meat as much as possible which we don't eat a lot of anyway. Or you could just leave out the meat entirely and just have vegetable soup.

Well That Was Pretty Cool!

2011-10-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I had an inquiry in the Mimi and Lucy shop from a shop in Tokyo wondering if I did wholesale. I asked what exactly she was interested in or if she needed multiples of some of the items and she wrote back that she wanted 2-3 dozen of the vintage wood pins. I'm thinking 2-3 dozen pins would be really nice to get rid of so I told her I'd give her a discount on the pins and shipping and then figured that she'd think about it and maybe some day come back to buy. Well, some day was later that day and she bought 42 pins from me, so it was well worth arranging a discount coupon for her to use and well worth taking a box of pins up to the post office yesterday. It's kind of cool to think of some Japanese girls walking around Tokyo wearing one of my pins!

The post office was crazy busy after the totally useless why is this day still a holiday but federal employees really do need another day off Columbus Day Holiday. I knew it would be crazy busy so I brought a book to read in line.

And, when a young man with cerebral palsy in a motorized wheelchair comes to your door and says he is doing a fundraiser and selling buy one get one coupon books for local businesses for $10.00 do you go find $10.00 or do you tell him sorry, no? You go find $10.00 and buy a coupon book, that's what you do. So now we have a coupon book that we'll probably never use because most of the coupons are for businesses way on the other side of town, and the rest are for Carl's Jr and Burger King. Or we could go to Pappy's Coffee Shop and buy one biscuits and gravy and get one free. Which actually sounds pretty good but Keith hates biscuits and gravy so I'd have to eat both orders. Which if I'm hungry enough I wouldn't mind.

I didn't grow up with biscuits and gravy because we weren't from Oklahoma, but since Bakersfield was built on the backs of Okies who came here during the depression, every single restaurant has biscuits and gravy on the menu, and if you've never had this poor folks staple, you are missing out. They may look and sound a little disgusting, but dang are they good! Cheap and filling.

Except I am not supposed to eat biscuits and gravy. So I guess we won't use that coupon after all.

Chicken Parmesan

2011-10-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to make nutritious inventive delicious dinners (and low carb, too) but the older I get the less inspired I am to mess up the kitchen, but we've got to have dinner so I do have to cook sometimes. Since I can't afford a private chef and all.

So, Friday night I was trying to think of what to make for dinner with the chicken breasts we had in the freezer and I remembered that I had bought some spaghetti sauce to make chicken parmesan, the recipe for which I couldn't find so I googled. The first recipe that I found did something that I had never thought of before, you fry the chicken before putting it in the pan with the sauce and cheese and all to bake. I'm sure everyone else in the world fries the chicken first but every other chicken parmesan recipe that I've tried just has you rolling the chicken in breading and baking, no frying.

So, let's try the frying recipe. We will ignore the recipe for the sauce since why make your own when you can just buy the 88c can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce over at Winco that is actually one of the best tasting sauces I've tried. And it was already in the cupboard.

You need some boneless skinless chicken breasts of course.
salt
2 eggs (or one if you are only making a few breasts like I was)
1 cup breadcrumbs and the recipe says, and say this to yourself in one of those 'I make everything from scratch so I'm way better than you neener neener' kind of snotty voices WE MAKE OUR BREADCRUMBS RUNNING PIECES OF STALE FRENCH BREAD THROUGH THE BLENDER la de effing dah. I don't eat french bread anymore and don't have a blender and if I did have any french bread it certainly wouldn't be stale BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE EATEN THE ENTIRE LOAF OF FRENCH BREAD GOODNESS before it could get anywhere near stale. I'll just use the can of Hy-Top brand breadcrumbs from Winco, thank you very much. Oh, the horror!
1 cup freshly grated parmesan, but feel free to use the stuff that comes in the plastic container, again the cheap Hy-Top brand from Winco.
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced. Umm, no fresh basil leaves thinly sliced around here and it sounds kind of icky anyway because I really don't want some leaves on my chicken so I'm leaving this part out.
And finally, 8 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced. I didn't have any mozzarella so I used provolone which works okay too.

Okay, so you take your chicken breasts and put them in between waxed paper and pound the hell out of them with a meat mallet to make them all flat and uniform in thickness. Then salt them with the salt.
Then you dredge the chicken in the egg or eggs (cracked into a bowl and beaten with a fork).
Then you put the cup of breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup of the parmesan into a bowl and dredge the chicken through that. Mix the breadcrumbs and cheese all up first.
While you were dredging you were supposed to be heating up the oil in a pan until the oil is shimmering but not smoking. What? Shimmering oil? Whatever. Just get the oil hot but not too hot.
Stick the chicken in the pan and cook for- oh wait, the recipe says GENTLY fry, so no rough stuff here, cook for 3-4 minutes per side until browned. I never believe recipes that say you can cook chicken for only 3-4 minutes so I cooked for more like 6-7 minutes per side, but whatever.

When your chicken is fried up to your desired crispiness, put some of the spaghetti sauce into the bottom of whatever size baking dish you need (I heated up the sauce first because that just seemed right) and then put the chicken on top of the sauce, add the rest of however much sauce you want, put the sliced cheese on top and then the other 1/2 cup of the parmesan.

Oh, I forgot you were supposed to be preheating your oven to 400 while you were cooking the chicken so take a break here if you forgot and wait for the oven to heat up, then put the pan in the oven (duh) and bake for about 10-12 minutes which again doesn't seem long enough so just bake until the cheese is all melty and slightly browned.

If you want leaves in your dinner you were supposed to put the basil leaves on the chicken before the cheese.

And if you are allowed to eat carbs, this would be really good over spaghetti. With french bread beside it and then you could save some of the french bread and let it get stale so you can be all I make my own breadcrumbs and I'm better than you.

Another Week Gone By?

2011-10-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Time flies when you are having fun, right?

What did we do this week? We went to Walmart one day to pick up a few things, things that they don't have at Target where I'd much rather shop because while Walmart is loud and messy and always looks kind of dirty, our Target is clean and quiet and you aren't afraid to buy the food and it's clean and there are hardly ever any lines, and it's just much more pleasant to go to Target when you need cat food.

Anyway, while in Walmart we saw the typical hillbilly Walmart customers in the food aisle, he had a long beard and scraggly hair and was rather chubby and while she didn't have the beard, she was also rather scraggly and chubby and was wearing bib overalls. And in their cart were not one but TWO cases of Mountain Dew. Perfect!

I decided to give the kitchen a good cleaning yesterday, where you wash all the knickknacks and scrub the counters and clean the cabinet fronts and the top of the refrigerator. I thought I would turn on the Today show and catch Hoda and Kathy Lee for some company while cleaning, not having watched them in months. How disappointing to turn it on and find out that one of the Kardashians was co-hosting. I don't know which one because I don't care and don't like the Kardashians although they certainly know how to make a buck off of their 'celebrity' status. I just don't get why people become famous because they are stupid twits, but I guess that's the way the world is today. Needless to say, I did not watch the show.

Speaking of cleaning, I try really hard to stay on some kind of schedule, but when you are the type of person who never looks up while cleaning, thereby never seeing all the cobwebs in the corners, things get overlooked. Kind of like having cleaning blinders on. So, I need to make some kind of list where it tells me exactly what to do and to look in the corners and up at the ceiling every once in a while. Like, on Monday clean the bathroom and LOOK UP! And while you are at it, look at the walls every so often, because they get dirty, too. Like the splatter of something that we saw on the wall by the dinner table the other day. I know we are sometimes messy eaters, but how we splashed stuff onto the wall I don't know.

I rode over to the Goodwill yesterday to look for some cheap pants and maybe some cheap shirts because I am running out of clothes here and have thrown away all the sweat stained summer tees and it will be getting cold soon and maybe some long pants would be a good idea. I did find two pairs of pants but nothing else. Every time I go into the Goodwill I get a little grossed out at all the nasty clothes that people actually think someone else would ever want to wear, the odds and ends of just plain old garbage that people give to the Goodwill instead of just tossing in the trash, and the general over consumption that we Americans like to indulge in. Why do we buy so much junk that we have to clean it all out a few times a year and what we don't sell at yard sales we give to the Goodwill?

And that is about all we did this week, just too much fun!

Rain and a Rainbow

2011-10-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

The promised storm did indeed arrive yesterday. Enough rain to where Keith decided to knock off work early because he was tired of being wet and of course as soon as he rolls all his equipment up and tells the boss he's leaving it stopped raining. But he left anyway and was home by lunchtime.

When it started raining Lucy was up in her tree kind of freaked out. Keith had made an emergency shelter for her out of one of our old plastic tote bins, cutting a hole in the side for her to come and go and putting a little blanket in it for her to lay on. I had to get the bag of treats and shake it to get Lucy out of the tree and then put some treats inside the box so she would go inside, but she ate the treats and then immediately went back out of the box. She disappeared for a few hours and I was hoping she was smart enough to go into the back yard next door where there is a covered patio and lawn furniture.

The rain slowed down and the sun came out for a while along with a rainbow. Lucy got back up in the tree on her perch but it was all wet and she was sitting there kind of like what the hell? so Keith got a carpet scrap to put on her perch and then she was all hey, way cool! Then the second band of the storm came through with winds and pouring down rain for a few minutes. Lucy had disappeared again and now the carpet scrap on her perch was soaked. She wasn't next door, she had found the one spot on the roof where there is an eave that hangs over just enough for a few inches of dry space and was huddled up there under the eave.

It's supposed to maybe rain some more this morning and then everything will go back to normal for next week at least.

Fat Pepper and Rain's a Coming

2011-10-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Not only do I have to wash Pepper's bottom because she is too fat to wash it herself, I've also discovered that her rotund body is causing cat dandruff. She has always had a lot of flakiness along her back and by her tail and I have always wondered about it but not wondered enough to really do anything. Well, yesterday I was petting her and was kind of getting grossed out by all the flakiness and wondering why her fur gets matted along her back and we have to eventually cut the mats out so I did what any person these days does and googled it.

And apparently cat dandruff is caused by:
1/ a cat that is old and overweight and too fat to wash herself properly.
2/ a lack of humidity in the air.
and
3/ not enough water in little fatty's diet.

In our case, it's a combination of all three, Pepper is rather overweight, we do live in the DESERT! and dry skin is definitely an issue around here for both humans and cats alike, and I don't see her drinking much water at all.

What to do? They say you can give butterball a bath. HA HA HA! And you can get a humidifier or put bowls of water around the house. And you can give them less dry food and more wet food. Pepper quite obviously gets plenty of food and she gets 1/4 can of wet food twice a day. I don't really want bowls of water laying around the house nor do I want to spend money on a humidifier. And I'm certainly NOT going to give her a bath. We'll just have to put up with flaky skin I think.

I found some photos from back in Pepper's kitten days when she was actually quite svelte.

And now let's talk about the weather. Fall is finally here, after that last week of September and running the air conditioner all day, it's supposed to get downright chilly this week and we are promised a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. When they say 100% chance, you do tend to take them somewhat seriously. It did rain sometime during the night, the front porch is a little wet this morning and today we have like a 30% chance of more rain. But, tomorrow- 100%! And temps down in the 60's. And maybe even SNOW up in the mountains.

October

2011-10-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well, as you may have seen I tried out one of the new formats for this blog and while I like it, I also thought it was a little confusing having to click on the post title to read the whole post without it saying something like 'click here to read the whole post' so for now I'm going back to the old easy read blog style. Plus the new style didn't allow for any extra stuff in the sidebar and I'm still hoping that someone somewhere will stumble across this blog and see the wonderful stuff for sale in the sidebar and actually buy something.

Septembers sales were okay but a little disappointing after August being a top selling month for me. I did sell about $100 more in the Mimi and Lucy shop in September than August, with almost daily sales coming this last week, and remember my prices are wholesale type prices so $100 is actually quite a lot of goods sold, but the supply shop went down quite a bit from last month. And I've been doing way too much supply buying to make stuff for what I'm hoping will be a busy holiday season so I spent more than I made last month. Yikes.

Speaking of spending more than you make, even with keeping track of how much we spend on food and other necessities we still spend A LOT of money for just two people eating. If we didn't have this darn low carb thing we are supposed to be doing we could probably save a bunch of money on food since mac and cheese and ramen noodles are really cheap, but we can't eat that kind of stuff, so... good meats and vegetables and all are kind of expensive! And getting really boring.

And despite what the calendar says, last week was ridiculously hot for the last week of September and I'm tired of being hot and I'm really hoping that summer is over with, hello, it's October now!

Not much else is happening around here other than the usual fun and games. Today is going to be shampoo the carpet day, I marked the calendar with big chores like that so they would get done on a regular basis, and the timing is right since Harri threw up all over the hallway last night. Keith is going to take the car over for our free oil change, when we took it in for all the work we had done in the spring, we bought an oil change special buy one get three more free and it's time for an oil change, so...I think car dealerships sell these specials hoping you will forget about them or be too lazy to bring your car back in, kind of like those gym memberships that people buy and then don't come back after the first few visits. Smart marketing.

Corn Nuts Save

2011-09-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Is it Corn Nuts or Cornnuts? I never eat them so I don't pay much attention to the name, but Keith eats them (and sunflower seeds) quite a bit and it's probably a good thing he eats them because we would have never found that missing ten dollar bill otherwise.

There were cornnuts (or corn nuts?) all over his seat in the car because he is such a messy eater I guess and so he was brushing off the seat and getting down into the crack where the seat and the back of the seat meet to dig out corn nuts (think I'll go with that spelling, it does look more proper somehow) and what do you know, but there is his (my) ten dollar bill wedged in there along with the corn nuts. He had stuffed the money in the same pocket as his wallet and when he took his wallet out of his pocket while in the drive through at the japanese food place the bill got shoved into the crack of the seat.

Why don't I eat corn nuts? First off because I'm afraid I'm going to crack a tooth on one and second off because they really smell. They remind me of the junior high school locker room gym towels, the locker room gym towels that were about as big as a hand towel and as rough as sandpaper and always smelled like fritos and/or corn nuts when they got wet. Not a pleasant memory, those locker room gym towels. Here are a bunch of 12 year old girls, some of whom have 'matured' as we used to say so delicately, some of whom are still rather flat chested, some of whom are chubby (like I was) and some of whom are skinny and gawky and every single one of them extremely embarrassed about having to undress in front of so many other people and then go take a shower with all those other people. And then have to show your wet back to the gym monitor so that she could tell that you actually took a shower. Which we really didn't, we would just dash under the water as quickly as possible, just long enough to get our backs wet, averting our eyes from any other naked girl, and then get our backs checked, still averting our eyes from any other naked girls.

Anyway, that's what corn nuts smell like to me. Locker room showers. And don't get me started on those horrible bloomer gym outfits we had to wear.

Joe sent me some awesomely awesome photographs of the lightning we had. I'm not calling these pictures, because these are 'photographs!' Very fine photographs, and Joe, if you keep at it you may have a second career going on here.

Way cool, huh?

He has been doing a lot of train photography lately, and at first I wasn't sure what I was seeing here, but it is one of those train cars going by with the slats in the sides that you can see through with the lightning showing through. Amazing!

The Mystery of the Ten Dollar Bill and Pan Am

2011-09-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I was feeling extra lazy and my stomach was a little icky and I really didn't feel like cooking another uninspiring dinner despite the pork chops that I had thawed out. I was going to fix omelettes for dinner but Keith didn't want an omelette and he said he would fix himself something later. So, I had some yogurt and low carb crackers and cheese spread (laughing cow, 35 calories and creamy deliciousness). Then later he starts to get hungry and decides he wants to go get some Japanese food from the sushi/Japanese food drive through up the road. If I liked sushi/Japanese food, this drive through is the place to get it, it's locally owned and everything is cooked to order, which means sitting there for about 10 minutes in your car in the drive through. There is only one way to get food from this place, the drive through, no dining room and no walk up window.

Anyway, he only has like $2.00 in his wallet and I have some cash that I was saving for something other than his Japanese food but oh, well, so I give him one of my $10.00 bills and off he goes to get his food. And then he comes back about 10 minutes later because he got all the way up to the drive through and couldn't find the $10.00 bill. We searched the house and he turned out his pockets and double checked his wallet and looked in the car and on the driveway and the $10.00 bill was nowhere to be found. So, I gave him my other $10.00 bill (that I was saving for something other than his food) and off he went again.

We still have not found the $10.00 bill and it's very annoying. It's not like we've never thrown away a $10.00 bill before, we certainly waste that much money on a frequent basis, but to have it just absolutely disappear is truly irritating.

So, who watched the new Pan Am show last night? I did and I am going to really enjoy this show. I'm a big fan of Mad Men even if I don't have cable and have to wait for it to come out on DVD to be able to watch it, and Pan Am will satisfy that need to watch a different era and marvel at all the props from the 60's and the fashions and the glamour. Flying did used to be glamourous, you dressed up in your best clothes and you were on your best behaviour and you put your hat and gloves on. You were served meals on real china and with real silverware, no trying to cut your meat with a spork, cocktails flowed for the adults and the children were given little wing pins and maybe even got to MEET THE PILOT! And you wanted to be a stewardess when you grew up, because they all looked so pretty and what a wonderful job that would be!

Anyway, I liked it a lot, of all the new shows that I watched this week I think Pan Am will be my favorite. Yes, we are boring and old and watch TV in the evenings. Sometimes it's the most exciting part of our day.

Rain and Cats in Boxes

2011-09-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon we were watching the news and the weather people warned us about flash floods and lighting on its way. We could see dark clouds coming towards us and then the weather people were talking about rain hitting the tin roof at the TV station and we could see bands of rain over the other side of town. Well, there were no flash floods and it only rained a little bit for a few minutes but we did see a rainbow and there was lots of lightning later on in the evening. And some more fires started by the lightning. It's so unusual to have lightning around here and twice in just a couple of weeks is even more unusual. So is rain in September.

Well, we saw part of a rainbow anyway.

This picture looks much more dramatic.

Ooh, scary clouds!

I had one of my little plastic basket box things sitting on the file cabinet, the top of which is a catch all for my books and things waiting to be listed on Etsy, and recipes printed off of the computer, most of which I'll never make. Mimi loves little plastic basket box things and she also loves paper, so she was in box and paper heaven when she discovered that she could fit the front half of her in the little basket. THE BASKET THAT ALSO HAD PAPER IN IT!!!

From the Past and The First Day of Autumn?

2011-09-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

Supposedly, according to the calendar anyway, it is the first day of Autumn today. Really? It's supposed to get up to 101 today. How about that global warming, isn't it fun?

Along with our high temps today we are supposed to have air quality that is 'unhealthy for everyone'. Nice. Poor Arvin, that cute little town down in the bottom of the valley nestled up against the mountains has like the worst air quality IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY because all the crap flows down to them and then gets stuck there. Not only do they have like 45% unemployment in that town, they can't breathe.

Anyway. It is supposed to cool off by Sunday, finally. This summer has been mild for these parts but I'm just about done being hot.

And now for a replay of a Festival o Felines post from July 1, 2008. And, ew, these pictures show the yard sale couch that we had for a while.

Mimi loves to play. With trash. She likes to find little pieces of trash or balled up paper either from the trash can or out in the wilds of the garage and she will entertain herself for hours with trash.
Today she found a bar code.

She carried that bar code around, hiding it in the couch cushions and dropping it on the floor to chase.

Oops, watch out, someone else wants to play with my bar code!

And here comes nosy Buddy who always has to get in on the action!

What have you got there? I want to play too!

I Should Have Known

2011-09-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

That something odd was up last night.

I'm watching TV last night (yay! new shows on!) and Mimi is hanging out in the kitchen by the cat door into the garage but she is acting a little off, kind of hunched down and keeping an eye on the cat door. I just thought maybe Buddy was in there and was being his usual ornery self and proceeded to continue watching TV. I went out front a few times and didn't see Lucy who usually is waiting on the porch for her midnight snack. We have been having major problems with her food getting eaten by the cats from next door so I have to feed her, bring the leftovers in, feed her again, bring the leftovers in, and so on. She always wants something to eat late in the evening. But she wasn't there and she wasn't in the tree and oh hey, maybe she ran away from home.

Anyway, I go off to bed and don't think too much more about Lucy or Mimi or any of the rest of them, I just want to go to sleep. This morning I get up to feed everyone and here is Harri out in the garage staring at me through the cat door that she refuses to go through, so I open the door but she won't come out. There is a bowl of food in the garage so I figure that Keith fed her before leaving for work and maybe Buddy is being mean again and she doesn't want to come out of the garage. Poor Buddy, he always gets blamed, but there is a reason for that.

So, I'm busy cleaning the house and bathrooms and doing laundry and packing some orders and keep checking on Harri and opening the door in case she wants to come out now, but no, she comes as far as the door and no further. I get the cat box from in the bedroom and put it in the garage because I know she must be desperate to pee by now if she hasn't found a spot in the garage and already done so, give her some water, and I guess I'll just let her calm down and come out when she is ready.

Then Keith calls and explains why Harri is so freaked out. At 3 am he hears weird cat distress noises and banging around and here is Lucy in the workroom under the workbench with three cats at the bedroom door all making that horrible keening noise that scared upset cats make, and Harri is on top of the cat tower cowering in fear and afraid to move. Keith is all what the hell and gets all the cats rounded up and put into the garage so he can get Lucy out of the house, Lucy who must have been in the garage earlier in the evening when he had the roll up door open, Lucy who got shut in the garage when he rolled down the door, Lucy who had been hiding out in the garage and then decided to come on in the house, Lucy who hates all the other cats. That explains why Mimi was acting so weird by the garage door. He tries to pet Lucy and she is snarling and scratching so he opens the front door and chases her out with the squirt bottle and then lets the other cats out of the garage, all except Harri who just absolutely won't come out.

It was almost time for him to get up anyway by then, so he just stayed up and then went off to work. I obviously slept right through all the drama.

So, moral of the story is if I don't see Lucy on the front porch at night then I'd better go check the garage.

Today's Cute

2011-09-20T07:47:00.001-07:00

Here is Mimi trying to squish herself into the basket with Bear again. She's kind of sitting right on top of Bear.

Bear is so patient most of the time. Occasionally she will have just had enough and either swat Mimi or just get out of the basket and kind of sigh.

What else? We saw Joe on his birthday, which was a big surprise! We took him over to Chili's for dinner since it was his birthday and all. Our waitress's name was Jennifer and Keith couldn't remember her name. What's up with that, anyway? He wanted to call her Jessica which is what our neighbor's name was, the neighbor that he called Jennifer for about 3 years. Sometimes his mind works in rather weird ways.

I'm busy busy working on new stuff for the shops and trying to keep up with the house that seems to constantly need cleaning even though there are only 2 of us living here, and the cat boxes that also seem to constantly need cleaning. And then there is the trying to figure out healthy low carb meals thing, and then the cleaning up after the healthy low carb meal. I've stopped using the dishwasher, it never has worked all that well and you would have to sort of pre-wash everything you put in there, but the last straws were the fork that came out of there with cheese still on it and the plate with butter still on it. So now I'm hand washing dishes which doesn't bother me all that much since I never had dishwashers that worked before moving here and I was pretty much resigned to hand washing dishes for the rest of my life anyway. It is one of those chores that is actually kind of soothing and calming, the water and the suds and all, but my problem is with putting away the clean dishes so usually they just dry themselves in the drainer and maybe get put away hours later.

Thirty

2011-09-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that this little bald headed baby is turning thirty years old today!

And is now all grown up and driving trains!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

A few weeks ago I was washing the kitty blankets and it brought back memories of Joseph and his blanket, his special blanket that went everywhere with him, usually hung around his neck like a scarf. We went to visit a friend one day and of course blanket went with us, but he forgot blanket at the friend's house and we had to turn around and GO GET BLANKET! MY BLANKET!

Yes, he grew out of having to have blanket with him all the time. He does not drive trains with blanket looped around his neck.

On Etsy's Front Page

2011-09-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

These cookies are really really cute and do belong on Etsy's front page, but when I look at edibles on Etsy I really wonder how anyone manages to sell them because the prices are ususally, at least to my cheap old eyes, totally outrageous.

Like these ghost cookies. Very cute, yes? And they look delicious, yes? But would you pay $18.00 for one dozen of these cookies? Maybe you'd prefer one at a time for $1.50 each, which really doesn't sound quite so bad. But then you have to add on the $8.00 for postage and your cookies now cost $26.00 for a dozen, so over $2.00 a cookie. Cookies that are incredibly easy to make yourself because all you do is buy a box of oval shaped cookies (nutter butter would be really good with chocolate on them), buy a bag of chocolate chips or that chocolate dip stuff that comes ready to melt and pour, melt said chocolate and dip those cookies in. Then add the little chocolate chips for the eyes and put in the fridge for a while. But, for lazy people, maybe the $26.00 is well worth it to have someone else do the work for you.

Getting Old and Cleaning House and The Daily Cuteness

2011-09-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

You know you are getting old when you sneeze and have to run to the bathroom because the sneeze is making you wet your pants. And you know you are getting old when you sit down on the floor to pet the cat and you can't get back up again without crawling over to the couch and using it to help haul yourself up. And you know you are getting old when you get ready to go out for dinner at 4:45 pm because you want to beat the crowds.

Which is what we did last night. Once again and despite the fact that we really shouldn't have spent the money but there was still nothing much in the fridge or freezer for dinner, we went over to Spencers to eat last night and we made sure we left before 5pm so we wouldn't have to wait for a table. We almost mowed down a woman with a walker trying to get in the door before her.

We haven't been to Spencers for a while, it used to be our weekly treat, going on Thursdays for chicken tortilla soup night, but the last few times we went it just wasn't all that good, and we are trying not to spend so much money but rather save it, so...Spencers night was one of the first things to go. I did notice last night that it really is an old persons restaurant (so we fit right in!) with most of the patrons being well over 70, and I'm thinking that it's because of the free dessert and the senior menu. For $8.99 you get your choice of about 10 different dinners, all with soup or salad, cheese toast or cornbread, and FREE DESSERT!

Yesterday I amazed myself by cleaning the entire house, washing the sheets AND ACTUALLY PUTTING THEM BACK ON THE BED! and doing another load of laundry besides that. Whew!

And now, The Daily Cuteness.

I was looking back through my old kitty blog and will probably bring some of the posts over here for a little trip back into kitty memories and also so that I'll have the pictures all in one place.

Here are the babies back when they were so very tiny. Just like human children, it's hard to believe they were once so small.

A Not So Relaxing Dinner and The Not So Daily Cuteness

2011-09-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

Last night we were trying to figure out what to make for dinner with what is left in our fridge and freezer and since payday is not until tomorrow, there is not a whole lot to choose from. I'm tired and really don't feel like cooking and Keith doesn't want the meatballs that I'm prepared to cook. So, we decide to go get pizza, something that neither of us is supposed to be eating, but we've decided that once a month we can maybe eat pizza because life without never eating pizza again is really not worth living. Same with ice cream, but that is beside the point.

We were deciding between Rusty's, which we have a coupon for and always has good pizza and has a salad bar but is a ways down the road and do we really want to drive that far and Me n Eds which we couldn't remember if we'd ever eaten at in our quest to find a decent pizza in this town and didn't know if their pizza was any good. We have to go to the bank to get some cash to pay for the pizza so decide to go to Me n Eds which is right by the bank and we also have a coupon for. The place is busy and doesn't have a salad bar but does have a personal pizza for only $4.00 and calzones for only $6.00 and doesn't require the coupon that we have and in fact the menu says something about no coupons and now I'm really confused. We also each order a salad which are kind of expensive at $5.00 each. We sit down in the rather small dining area and I notice it's kind of run down and the walls are filthy like someone threw their pizza against it.

We get our salads which are probably not worth the $5.00 but do have lots of cheese and olives on them and are crispy and cold, and it's a good thing that we got salads because it took FOREVER for our food to arrive. Apparently they were really behind on orders, some woman had ordered pizzas to be ready at 6pm and had to wait because her pizzas weren't ready and my little pizza came a full 10 minutes before Keith's calzone came so he had a few pieces of my pizza while waiting. The $4.00 was a good deal on the pizza, but as far as taste went, it was kind of blah.

The entire time we sat there waiting for our food, and trying to enjoy our food when it (finally) arrived, the Me n Ed's phone was ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing and nobody was answering it and it was driving me crazy and I was about ready to go ballistic and scream at the top of my lungs ANSWER THE F**CKING PHONE ALREADY!!!

Needless to say we will not be going to Me n Eds again and should always listen to our first instinct and go where we know the food will be good and we won't have to listen to a phone ringing and ringing and ringing while we are trying to enjoy our dinner.

And now, for the Not So Daily Cuteness.

I've shared some overpriced painted rocks from Etsy here before. Painted rocks that had little dots all over them and such, painted rocks that I couldn't believe people were actually paying money (and lots of it) for. But these painted rocks are different. And take a lot more talent.

From ShebboDesign, who is from Istanbul, Turkey, an adorable painted rock cat ring.

And this eyeball pendant.

This one is painted on fabric, a sweet little cat pendant.

Really cute shop and you can also get a custom pet rock with your favorite pet painted on it.

Just Some Random Stuff and The Not Quite Every Day Daily Cuteness

2011-09-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I'm driving up to the post office and see a man in one of those jazzy scooters at the corner pressing the walk button at the crosswalk and then driving his little jazzy into position so he can cross the street. The light changes to green and not one, but two cars turn right in front of him before he can even get his jazzy into the crosswalk. I'm cringing and calling people assholes as I watch this near miss. The drivers in Bakersfield are rude and oblivious to pedestrians, yes, but this one just appalled me. How do you NOT SEE the man in the bright red jazzy scooter poised to cross the street in the crosswalk? Or do you just not care and he can wait even though he has the right of way because you are in a big hurry and you are AN ASSHOLE?

And, if you listen to Kelly 95.3 radio you can enter the contest to get a free Chapter 7 bankruptcy from a local lawyer! Whoo hoo! Just send in your sob story about why you need to file bankruptcy and they will pick the sobbiest I'm guessing. Is that a sign of the times or what?

I made the worst dinner ever the other night. I keep buying those damn little cookbooks that you see at the checkstands when you are in the grocery store in the hopes of some wonderful new and appetizing recipes and decided to try one of the wonderfully new and appetizing recipes because it did sound good. And easy. And was made in the crock pot. It was called Round Steak Italiano, and maybe I shouldn't try any recipes with the word Italiano in it, but you just throw some round steak in the crock pot with some tomato sauce and seasoning and put a couple of potatoes on top of the steak and cook it for like 7 hours. It smelled good as it was cooking, but the sauce was very blah and the steaks were so tough and dry that we couldn't even eat them. So much for Round Steak Italiano night.

Oh, and here is something that was on the Etsy front page the other day. Would you pay $170.00 for this 'fine art' photograph?

No? Me, either.

But I did find a photography shop that I might pay for photos from. Especially this one.

This is the Not Quite Every Day Daily Cuteness for today even though this doesn't really qualify as cute so much as nostalgic.

This photo is from a shop called RoadsidePhotographs and yes, she is from Ventura! Check out her shop for even more retro travel type photos.

Lightning Strikes and The Daily Cuteness

2011-09-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

We were told that we had a 60% chance of rain late yesterday, but we never believe it until we actually see it. Keith put some pork chops on the barbecue, watching the sky while he cooked, and we could see clouds moving in from over the mountains. We heard thunder and saw a few flashes of lighting from behind the clouds.

We sat down to eat dinner and halfway through he looks out the back door and jumps up from his seat in a panic. It was POURING down rain and he had left all kinds of tools outside and the barbecue was still sitting out there. The rain sounded like hammers on the metal barbecue and our new metal glider. The front porch was flooded. It slowed down to a lighter rain with more thunder and lightning flashes and I'm looking around for Lucy, figuring she must have totally freaked out when the skies started the deluge. I see her up in the tree, not on her little platform, but way up clinging to a branch and she was not about to come down from there.

After dinner we sat in the front yard for nature's light show, watching the lightning start on one side of the sky and move towards the west. We haven't seen lightning here in about 5 years, so it was way better than watching TV.

Lucy finally came down from her tree branch, licking herself and acting like everything was okay now. Dusty had hidden in the shed and Genie was nowhere to be seen. She came out later so she must have found someplace to hide from the downpour.

While we were sitting out front the little black cat from next door came over to visit, jumping from one lap to another and enjoying the attention and petting. He is so amazingly friendly and can't figure out why Dusty hisses at him when all he wants to do is play with the big kitty.

We smelled smoke and heard lots of sirens, and found out later when we watched the news that there were FIFTY fires started by lightning, most of them up in the mountains where it was hard for fire crews to get to and some very dangerous conditions with lightning still striking and flash floods possible. They were talking about five major fires near people's homes so hopefully nobody's house got burned down last night. They said that there were over 2000 lightning strikes per hour during the worst of it.

I cleaned up the outdoor furniture this morning and got the house cleaned up from all the debris and mud that we tracked in but it may rain again later today. More lightning, too?

Okay, time for The Daily Cuteness. I saw this shop on Craftjuice and what first caught my eye were these little knitted kittens.

Are these the cutest things you've ever seen or what? I was thinking that these would make cute cat toys, but then wondered if it might be a little creepy for cats to be chewing on kitty cat cat toys. Kind of like cannibalism.

The shop is called JargOn and she is from the United Kingdom. I really like this little cat purse, too.

The Daily Cuteness

2011-09-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a new daily feature, The Daily Cuteness, that is if I even remember to do this every day.

Today's cuteness is Bear and Mimi in the basket. Bear was sleeping by herself in her favorite basket and Mimi decided she could squeeze herself in there, too. Bear always gives Mimi a little hug.

Dreaming of Trash Cans

2011-09-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

First off and so my post makes sense (somewhat, anyway) we have one of those big plastic bin trash cans that are on wheels and have a handle to pull them to the curb with. When you pull the trash can to the curb it is very noisy and the cats all freak out, much like when the trash truck comes down the street, because the trash can rolling over the ground and pavement sounds a lot like thunder. Not that the cats know what thunder is because we don't normally have thunder around here. Much less lightning.

So, in the middle of the night, I am having a dream that people are rolling trash cans around and it's very noisy and then something in my dream is biting my foot, but it's Keith grabbing my foot trying to wake me up. And he is standing by our open bedroom window saying look at this! And I'm like what the hell are you waking me up for and what am I supposed to be looking at outside the window? And then a bright flash fills up the room and it's thundering and no wonder I was dreaming about trash cans because it's been thundering and lightning-ing for about an hour now. And it's 4:30 am and Keith has been up since 3:30 outside watching the lightning.

I get up to go outside and look and then it starts raining a little bit and the storm is moving off to the west so I'm going to go back to bed because it's really early and I'm really tired, but I lay in bed for about 30 minutes and can't go back to sleep. I get up, still grumbling about being woken up so early, and grab some coffee, feed the cats, clean the catbox, and now I'm absolutely starving which is odd because I don't usually wake up hungry. Keith is starving too and there is not much to eat in the house so we go over to Denny's for some greasy breakfast. It's not even light yet and I'm kind of surprised at how many people are already eating breakfast at Denny's but I'm thinking some of them may have just been up all night. Like our waiter, who was almost painfully cheerful at 6am.

So, we got a tiny bit of rain and some exciting sounds and sights, it's probably been at least 5 years since we've had a thunder storm here in the valley. I'm very tired, though, and Keith is already napping.

Flies Flying

2011-09-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

So, apparently we have 'fly season' around these parts and this year fly season is particularly bad. They are not just annoying you in the Walmart McDonalds, but hanging around your front porch every day. Either that or all the McDonalds flies followed me home.

We would really like to enjoy our front porch, with the new glider and the new flowers and the view of the house across the street, but every time you sit outside it's like you are raw meat and the flies really want to eat you. Vomit on you first so your flesh will liquefy and then suck you up.

What to do? Fly strips are cheap but apparently don't work outside because it says right on the box not to put in direct sunlight and hey, it's sunny outside, and they have fly spray bug bombs but again, those are for inside and how disgusting if your house is so infested with flies that you have to use a bug bomb anyway, and citronella candles sound good but you can't leave them burning if you're not outside because that's what it says on the label, not to be left unattended.

I go over to Walmart to see what they have in the pest control section and everybody else must be having the same problem because the only thing left on the shelf for flies is one lonely 'fly stick'. You are supposed to hang this thing up outside, put a little honey in the bottom (because remember what Grandma said, you catch a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar) and wait for the flies to be attracted to it and stick their little selves permanently onto it. It tells you not to touch the sticky part because then you will be stuck to it and have to go around all day with a fly stick stuck to your hand. Very inconvenient except I guess you could just wave your hand around and maybe the flies would stick to the stick that is stuck to your hand.

So this is what the miracle fly stick looks like.

It has pictures of flies on it, I'm guessing so that the flies will see the pictures of flies and be more attracted to it and go join their brethren on the fly stick.

But, one problem. This has been hanging up for three days now and do you see any flies stuck to it?

No? Me, either. Maybe our flies are just too smart and know that it is all a trick.

Nacho Cheese Doritos and Taco Bell Tacos

2011-09-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here is another great reason to move to Bakersfield (or Fresno), besides the wonderful weather and clean air and crime free neighborhoods, now you can go to Taco Bell, but only the Taco Bells here in this wonderful city and that other wonderful city, Fresno, and get a supreme taco where the shell is MADE OUT OF NACHO CHEESE DORITOS!

Yum!

I'm thinking that the reason they picked Bakersfield and Fresno to debut the new NACHO CHEESE DORITOS taco shells, is that they know that the average Bakersfield (and Fresno) resident is probably really poor and the only thing they can afford to eat is Taco Bell, or really fat and the only thing they eat is Taco Bell, or really lazy and the only thing they eat is Taco Bell, or a combination of all three with a little hillbilly/redneck thrown in there, so what better to make a palate pleasing taco shell out of than NACHO CHEESE DORITOS!

Again, yum!

Let's make our Taco Bell tacos even more appetizing with NACHO CHEESE DORITO shells! I wonder if a Mountain Dew comes with it?

So, everybody, come to Bakersfield (or Fresno) because that's the only place you're going to be able to get a NACHO CHEESE DORITOS supreme taco! Doesn't it look delicious?

What We Did This Weekend

2011-09-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

Holiday weekends always confuse me and I always think the Monday is the Sunday and then I never know what day it is for the rest of the week.

We didn't do anything fun like some people do on holiday weekends, like going camping or on a road trip or having a barbecue or anything like that. We are so boring and didn't have any money to go on a road trip and don't have any camping equipment and it was way too hot to go camping around here anyway.

But, Keith did get one project done this weekend. My bench for my plants for outside the bedroom window.

Please disregard the rest of the backyard. It is very messy with wood stacked up for the patio project and weeds and other odds and ends.

And a cat sitting on the stacked up wood.

See how dark the one half of the window is? That's the new screens that Keith put in last summer, they really help cut the sun and so far the cats haven't been able to tear them up.

Here is the outside view and the bench made totally out of wood that has been laying in the side of the yard for the last eight years.

I think he did a pretty good job. And I'm still kind of surprised that he actually finished it.

And what did I do this weekend? Shampooed all the carpets and did the usual cleaning stuff and worked on new things for the shop and did some grocery shopping and laundry and stuff like that. SO EXCITING!

Styling

2011-09-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

I've never been one of those people who can throw together an outfit, complete with scarves or a great jacket or other accessories, rather one of those people who really tries but somehow just never quite pulls it off. I don't like to wear a lot of clothes, I get too hot and uncomfortable in the layered look, and while I really like unusual jewelry, necklaces and bracelets kind of annoy me hanging off of me the way they do.

Anyway, about my style or lack of. Now that I'm not working in an office, my clothing tends to be whatever is most comfortable and cheap and usually old and yeah, kind of frumpy these days. Jeans, capris, and a t-shirt is my basic wardrobe. I have been wearing the same 5 or 6 tees for the past 6 months or so and I realized that they are all nasty with sweat stained armpits and I feel gross just putting them on because they ARE gross and it's time for new shirts. So, I found some over at Kohls that were on sale for $6.40 each, regularly $16.00, and then I also got some from Michaels in the section where they sell t-shirts for decorating on sale for $2.50 each. The Michaels tees are the generic asexual ones that are very very basic, but they will work for wearing around the house and they come in lots of colors. So, now I've got some new plain solid color tees and would really like to dress them up a bit. Necklaces? Nah, they are fun but like I said, get on my nerves and if they are very long have a tendency to catch on things when you stand up from a desk or table and you run the risk of it snapping your neck, so... I remembered that I have some really cute pins hiding away in my mostly empty jewelry box, so how about if I develop some style and wear a pin on my t-shirts?

And, how about some new pins from Etsy? As soon as I make some more money so I can pay for them of course.

I did some browsing and came across this shop from Australia and I love everything in the shop. The shop is called What Frank Said (love the name) and has really unique one of a kind mixed media pins and pendants, many made with zipper teeth.

My favorite is this one

It's called the Oh Dear Deer brooch.

and the A is for Apple brooch is another favorite:

She has another shop with some even more amazing zipper art here:

Like this pendant:

Anyway, go take a look, everything in both shops is absolutely gorgeous and I will be wearing one very soon!

New Glasses and Stupid People and Stuff

2011-09-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a bunch of errands on the bike, first up to Save Mart for one batch of groceries. Keith wanted spaghetti and meatballs and antipasto salad and garlic bread for dinner, so I got what would fit in my bike basket from there, then went to Foods Co for some low carb yogurt and the other groceries that I didn't get on the first trip. While riding to Foods Co I noticed that the little carousel kiddie ride out front costs 50c now, and when did the price on kiddie rides double anyway? Foods Co was a huge mistake. I forgot that it was the first of the month, meaning that everyone who gets food stamps or welfare got their money and were all filling up their carts with 'healthy' crap from Foods Co and all standing in line at once. With only three cashiers open. I had already filled up my little hand basket and really didn't want to have to go to another store, another store that doesn't sell low carb yogurt, so prepared myself for a long wait in line. I put the ice cream that was in my basket back in the freezer because I figured it would melt by the time I got up to the cash register. Seriously, Foods Co people, you know that the first of the month comes every month, right? And that the majority of your clientele are on welfare or food stamps or both or whatever, right? So WHY DON'T YOU HAVE MORE CASHIERS WORKING ON THE FIRST OF THE MONTH?

Anyway, I finally paid (with real money) for my little basket of groceries and left the hellhole that is Foods Co. Keith got his spaghetti and meatball and salad and garlic bread dinner, although I forgot the garlic bread that was sitting wrapped up in foil on the stove and he only found it because he was wondering what was sitting wrapped up in foil on the stove and opened it up after we were all finished eating. I had meatballs sans spaghetti, and you know what, it's just not quite the same.

Target called and told me that my glasses were ready, so after dinner we went to pick them up and they are AWESOME! I guess transitional lenses either darken over time or are never completely clear, because when I put on my new glasses everything was so much brighter and clearer and more colorful. Even the cat food that I was pouring into cat bowls last night was more colorful. Where I really notice is on the computer, it's almost neon now. The sunglasses are great, too, they have the polarized lenses that cut the glare so much better than regular sunglasses but if you are inside you can still see what you are doing, like when I wore them out of Target last night.

So, very expensive glasses, but very nice to be able to see what I'm doing now.

What else? Oh, yes, speaking of seeing things, this is from Regretsy.

They are trying to sell the bracelet but you'd think they would have rethought this picture. At least the dogs aren't pooping, though.

Oh, and breaking news on Yahoo yesterday. Lindsay Lohan got a new 'meaningful' tattoo. Slow news day I guess because who really gives a rats ass about Lindsay's new tattoo anyway? The only way I'd be interested in her new tattoo is if it said 'I'm With Stupid' with the arrow pointing up at her face.

Want Flies With That?

2011-08-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at lunchtime I was really really hungry and really really didn't want another turkey burger patty with cottage cheese on the side (blecchhh) and since it was my birthday and all decided to ride over to Walmart and have lunch at the McDonalds there. Because I was too hungry and too lazy and it was too hot to ride up to the good McDonalds that you have to go up over a bridge to get to. Uphill. Both ways.

So, I go order my lunch and wait for them to cook some fresh french fries and wait and wait while other people who didn't order fries are getting their lunches ahead of me and is somebody trying to tell me that I shouldn't be eating fries anyway so I can just wait forever for them? While I'm waiting I notice about 25 flies buzzing around despite the weird pest control thing that is hanging on the wall in the entrance to McDonalds.

I finally get my now lukewarm hamburger but very fresh french fries and go to sit down, dodging a few shopping carts because people who shop at Walmart and eat at McDonalds obviously can't read the sign that says please don't bring shopping carts into McDonalds, find a table and sit to enjoy my very bad carb laden cholesterol filled lunch. And the 25 flies that have now evolved into 50 flies follow me to my table. And buzz around the whole time I'm trying to eat, one hand holding my hamburger and one hand waving flies away.

I suppose I shouldn't have expected a fly-free meal, since Walmart and Flies really kind of goes together and when greasy bad for you cholesterol filled food is also involved, well, there you go.

I really thought about going over to the housewares department and grabbing a bunch of fly swatters to set on each table as part of the general McDonalds decor.

More Birthday and Anniversary

2011-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I did go buy myself something for my birthday. I went over to Target to get some sponges (no, that's not what I bought myself for my birthday) for soldering because I threw away my soldering sponge without checking to see if I had more, and every time I go into Target my first stop is the book and movie section just to see what's new. I don't usually buy anything because I'd rather pay 85c for my books instead of $12.00, BUT- they had some books that I've really been wanting to read with the 20% off stickers on them, and well, I bought myself four books for my birthday. And I may still go over to the Goodwill for the 85c ones.

But, what I really really want for my birthday is this:

Birthday and Anniversary

2011-08-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today I am 56. Wait a minute, didn't I just turn 55? This year went by SO FAST and I have a feeling this next one will be even faster. I'm already starting to think about next year and tax time.

It is also our wedding anniversary today and for some reason I can never remember what year we got married. I think it was 2003, which means that we have been married for...wait a minute let me count on my fingers...8 years?

We were talking about what we wanted to do for dinner for our anniversary (and birthday) and we don't want to spend too much, so are deciding between the 2 for 20 dinners at Applebees, or going over to Mimi's Cafe (yum!) for a little more expensive dinner but they have corn chowder (yum!) and although I am not supposed to eat them, the best buttermilk spice muffins in the world.

I was trying to think if there was anything that I've been wanting that I could buy myself for my birthday, but really can't think of much. My wants seem to be so few the older I get. I don't need anything for the house and don't want to buy any clothes until the weather cools off some, and the TV shows on DVD that I want don't come out for another few weeks, so I'll just wait on those. Maybe I will go over to the Goodwill book store and get some more books.

Speaking of books, Keith has actually read two books these past few weeks. He has never been a big book reader, he prefers magazines and books about trains and stuff with lots of pictures, but he read two real live novels and enjoyed them, so maybe he'll get into reading more. He sat out in the backyard for a few hours one early evening keeping the outdoor cats company, reading his book, and then when he came inside realized that he was covered in mosquito bites.

I woke up to another couple of orders in the supply shop, and this month has turned out to be the best Etsy month I've had since before the economy crashed in 2008! Hope it keeps up!

Now, time to go clean the cat box. Hey, that's what I want for my birthday, a self cleaning cat box!

Another Weekend Gone By

2011-08-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

And it was a busy one. And hot. We are having what is hopefully our last heat wave of the season, we are promised cooler weather by the end of the week. Poor Keith is really suffering at work, he comes home just exhausted and he's been having leg cramps and stomach troubles, all heat related I think. I told him to tell his boss that if he starts feeling sick he is going to have to wrap things up by about noon so he can get out of the sun and come home and cool off.

He did a yard sale on Saturday morning, which worked out really well because our next door neighbors were also doing a yard sale (yes, the lesbians) and they had lots of baby things out and clothes, so the women shopped at their sale and the men shopped at Keith's, which was all man type garage junk, and he made $175.00 selling JUNK! yay!

I did lots of errands on Saturday and had to park way down the street when I came back because the yard sales were so busy.

I've been working on new stuff for the shop and am feeling very inspired for a change and even got up at 6 today so I could get started on the cat box cleaning and vacuuming early, the sooner to get back in the workroom and get busy. I need to take a bunch of pictures and will start listing the new stuff later this week. I'm going to be offering the soldered glass pendants at a new low wholesale price and see if I can sell a bunch of those, I've also got some bigger glass for tree ornaments. It goes much faster using collage sheets than trying to make collages or find vintage pictures.

I'm also doing some chipboard pins with the resin coating again, I found some way fun collage sheets in one shop that will make great retro type pins and got some chipboard that is just perfect, easy to cut but still sturdy enough for a pin. I went out to Beverly Fabrics this weekend, I used to shop there all the time but since I don't sew anymore, haven't been there in probably 6 months. They did have a few things that I can't find closer to home so it was worth the trip across town.

Oh, and I am (finally!) getting new glasses! I went over to the Target Optical on Friday for my eye exam and ordered glasses and sunglasses. It was cheaper to get the 2 pairs than to get transitional lenses on the 1 pair, and the transitional lenses really don't get dark enough for driving and such and I still squint. It will be nice to be able to see close up again, I've noticed that things have been kind of blurry lately. The glasses weren't cheap, but I really needed them and really couldn't wait much longer, I've been having a lot of eye strain type headaches lately.

And that is about it, back to work!

Things That Look Like a Penis

2011-08-26T15:16:00.001-07:00

As seen on Craft Juice today. This is a necklace, by the way, and I'm sure the seller worked very hard on it, but how could they not SEE it?

Oh, and there were rocks on the Etsy front page again. This time they had holes drilled in them for jewelry making. I know it's hard to drill a hole in a rock, but still, they are ROCKS! And now I want to find some rocks and drill holes in them so I can make the big bucks, too.

Another Busy Week

2011-08-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

I've actually gotten inspired to make new stuff! What's up with THAT, anyway? I'm doing some new collage, not that the old collage has sold, but hey, and I'm going to do a new line of glass pendants at new, low 'we're all in this economy thing together' prices. Instead of making one of a kind pendants with little collages in them or pictures from vintage books, I'm going with some new purchased collage sheets for the pictures, then I can just assembly line the pendants and make a bunch of them easily and quickly. I wanted to do some Halloween and Christmas ones and collage sheets seem to be the way to go for cute holiday type pictures.

Anyway, been busy doing that and it's nice to look forward to getting in the workroom each day.

I got this one collage sheet with really cute Halloween owls on it and have made a pin.

And a collage.

And another sheet for this collage.

We got our doctor's visits out of the way and I got my blood drawn yesterday. Keith's stomach problems were discussed and food and drink choices talked about, and they don't seem to be maybe the cancer has come back related, so that's a relief and he doesn't need to go for a colonoscopy until next year. He actually lost 17 pounds in the year since his last visit which really surprised me since I certainly didn't lose 17 pounds and he eats way more snack food than I do, like LOTS of chips and stuff. I'm thinking that it's because we haven't had rice, potatoes, or pasta with our dinners in a year.

These are the new flowers that we got to put on the as yet unmade bench that will go under our bedroom window so we can see the flowers when we look out of the window instead of the weeds that we see now.

Of course they will probably sit out front until NEXT summer, but we'll see.

Speaking of summer, we are back into the hot weather after this nice break that we've been having with lower temps than usual. The next few days will be over 100, and you really feel the difference with just a few extra degrees out there.

Here is a bonus picture of Bear and Mimi cuddling.

I love how Bear always puts her leg across Mimi to hug her.

Random Thoughts and Stuff

2011-08-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a weird dream and while I was dreaming it I was telling myself to remember the dream so I could tell Keith about it but of course I forgot the dream as soon as I woke up, except for the part about telling Keith. But there is nothing to tell now since the dream is totally forgotten.

Yesterday I was riding the bike and saw a dog being walked and the dog was SO excited and I got to thinking that maybe humans would be happier if only we lived like dogs. Where a walk is something to run and jump about, and laying in the sun is the best thing all day, and your tail is always wagging because life is so much fun! Except I don't think most people's bosses would appreciate them laying in the sun while they are supposed to be working, and then there is that whole sniffing each others butts thing.

I was looking on the internet last night to see what was on TV, and there is some new show called American Ninja Fighters or something like that. Needless to say I did not watch it. Soon the only thing on TV will be reality shows and stupid stunt and game shows. Although I did get sucked into watching one of those real housewives shows that was playing reruns on one of the weird local channels. The one with the husband whose wife doesn't realize that he is gay and that Bethenny person who is so annoying but oddly fascinating to watch. Kind of like a trainwreck, you don't want to look but you just can't resist. The only game type show that we like to watch is Jeopardy, and we really like it when they have the elementary school kids on there because then we actually know some of the answers.

This afternoon we have our annual physicals scheduled. Fun! We can find out (once again) how fat and unhealthy we are. Keith has not been feeling well with stomach troubles, which is worrisome because of that whole cancer survivor thing, so it's good that we are going so they can figure out what's wrong with him. Plus if we don't go, our new insurance will cost us more. We have that Health Savings Account type insurance again where they don't pay for much and you have to save your own money in a special account for the big expenses. It's supposed to cover the annual though, so we'll see. Hopefully that means covering the blood work, too.

And that is about all I have today.

Aimlessly Driving Around

2011-08-22T08:47:00.001-07:00

Or: What We Did This Weekend.

Saturday was spent with some cleaning and a trip to Fresh and Easy to get some chicken and whatever else looked good. When Fresh and Easy first opened I really wasn't all that impressed. We bought some of the store brand frozen entrees and they were so unappetizing looking after they came out of the oven and the ones that we were brave enough to even taste were even more unappetizing. So, I kind of wrote them off as someplace I wouldn't make the effort to drive to. We have one just around the corner but the building has been empty and unopened for something like two years now, don't know if they'll ever get it together enough to open.

Anyway, after giving them another chance and finding that the prices were fairly reasonable, and trying their store brand coffee which is REALLY GOOD AND CHEAP! I decided to shop there once a month or so. Especially when they put a $5.00 off coupon in their flyer. I don't buy their frozen entrees, though. Lesson learned there.

Keith dicked around in the garage ALL DAY LONG sorting through stuff and pulling things out that he wants to yard sale next weekend.

Then Sunday morning was a trip to Winco to get all the stuff that Fresh and Easy either doesn't sell or charges too much, and then on the way back from there a stop at Foods Co for my low carb 'yogurt'.

We had been wanting to go to the local nurseries to look at plants for potting, so after grocery shopping, Keith looked online for nurseries around here and we took off down the road in search of one of them. That we never did find and might be out of business. We drove around for a while and then stopped at a newly opened nursery that was of course closed on Sundays. Then we drive and drive some more, me complaining because I told him that I didn't really want to drive around all day and I had to go to the bathroom and needed more coffee, so we stopped at McDonalds for potty break and a cup of coffee, and let me tell you, McDonalds really does make some good coffee.

We end up driving all the way to the other side of the city and finally turn around to start back home and see the Home Depot so Keith decides to stop there. The Home Depot that is way on the other side of the city, not the Home Depot that is directly behind our house and if we'd just gone there first we could have saved a lot of gas and time. And we end up buying a few plants and some pots and some dirt to put in the pots, which really bugs me that you are actually PAYING MONEY for dirt. Plants and pots and dirt that we could have gotten at the Home Depot directly behind us and saved a lot of gas and time.

But, anyway.

My idea has always been for Keith to make some sort of bench out of some of the huge piles of wood that he has in the garage (and yard) that we could put under the windows in the bedroom and living room and put some potted flowers and plants on so that when we look out of the windows we are looking at something pretty. So, three of the plants are for the bench that he WILL BUILD! for outside the bedroom window. I'm hoping that he will build the bench within the next few weeks, but I've learned not to hold my breath about things like that. He is easily distracted and projects often get started and then something shiny catches his eye and off he goes. SQUIRREL!

So, anyway, fairly busy weekend for us. He planted the plants for me, I would have just tossed the dirt in the pots and stuck the plants in there, but he has to put some rocks in the pot first for drainage and mix the dirt up special with some topsoil and stuff like that. So, I let him do the planting around here.

Only on Etsy

2011-08-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hey, Heather, remember when you used to paint rocks and sell them for 25c? Get out those paintbrushes and grab some rocks from the beach because painted rocks now sell for $40.00 on Etsy!

Well, except these are rocks from ALASKA so they must be extra special rocks or something.

On Etsy's front page today, a hand painted ROCK FROM ALASKA!!. Only $40.00! Plus shipping! But it's all the way from ALASKA!

And people are buying them.

Busy Week

2011-08-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know exactly what I've done all week, but it seems to be flying by.

Some errands, like riding up to the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner, and some usual cat box pooper scooping, and some vacuuming and that reminds me I really need to wash out the fridge today. And vacuum the floors again.

Some lawn mowing yesterday.

And lots of working on my etsy shops.

Last week Etsy changed the search system from most recently listed to most relevant. And the fur is flying all over the Etsy forums. Sellers have been used to buyers finding their shops from a search system that really never worked all that well, and sellers have been spending hundreds of dollars renewing their items so that when a buyer searched for said items, their shop would hopefully come up in the first few pages of the search. It was a crap shoot and savvy sellers would pack their titles and tags with non-related key words to come up in all sorts of non-related searches. Now, when a buyer is searching for a specific item, only specific items come up in the search whether they were listed yesterday or three months ago. From a buying perspective, it's wonderful. But now that buyers can see 50 like items all together on a page or two, they are being a little more discerning in their shopping and are not just grabbing the first thing that comes up that is anywhere near what they are looking for in their search. And sellers need to re-learn how to title and tag so that their items are more relevant. And instead of going in and working on tags and titles, sellers are flocking to the forums and complaining that it's not fair and they won't be able to feed their kids because they aren't getting any sales with the new search and goddammit it's just NOT FAIR and why should a shop that doesn't spend hundreds of dollars in renewal fees be seen alongside their shop in a search. It's exhausting just reading all of the complaints and again, get your ass into your shop and work on it. But, it's always easier to complain instead of do.

Wonder if the recent stock market crash and horrible economic forecasts have anything to do with sales slowing down? Nah, it's all Etsy's fault.

So, I've been working on re-doing some of my titles and changing a few things around. My sales did slow down some, too, but yesterday and today have picked back up some in the supply shop anyway. I've never sold a lot in the handmade shop, but have had a few sales this month in that shop too. Actually, if things keep going the way they are now, it looks like it might be a pretty good month after all.

How's the weather? We seem to have gotten a break this summer with the rest of the country roasting in the hottest summer ever, but we haven't had as many over 100 degree days so far. It's actually been pleasant enough to where I don't have to turn on the a/c until after lunchtime, and can even have the windows open in the morning. For all that fresh Bakersfield air to come in. I'm happy about that because the less we use the a/c the less we have to pay in electric bills.

Big Belly Bear

2011-08-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

I think that is going to be her new name. She really is quite rotund. We have put our cats on a diet and only put food out twice a day. No more grazing.

So now she sits and stares at me. FEED ME!

When she is not staring at me sending me telepathic messages that she is STARVING TO DEATH! she is usually sleeping somewhere. Fat and yes, lazy.

I was wondering why she picked under the chair to sleep. Maybe she passed out from STARVATION and couldn't drag herself anywhere more comfortable.

I'm too weak to move BECAUSE I'M STARVING!

Speaking of big belly cats, Dusty and Genie are slowly acclimating themselves to being outdoor kitties. They have been coming out of the shed and exploring the yard just a little bit, laying out on the patio or in the flower bed. Yesterday I went out to check on them and Genie came up to get petted but I didn't see Dusty anywhere and was kind of hoping that maybe he had run away from home, mean as that may sound, but he was up laying way back on the top shelf in the shed where I couldn't see him. I really wish that we hadn't promised to take care of two more cats, but we could never live with ourselves if we had let them go to the pound.

Trash Picker Mimi and The Reason People Do Without Their Meds

2011-08-13T09:28:00.001-07:00

Last night I'm lazing on the couch watching TV, the usual spot for me in the evening. Keith was already snoozing on the bed having fallen asleep at like 8 pm because by the time Friday rolls around he is totally exhausted. I hear a weird scruffling noise and that 'I caught you a prize' meow coming from the kitty door into the garage and look up just in time to see Mimi coming through the door with a huge stack of very large paper tags in her mouth. She promptly drops them on the floor and comes into the living room and flops on the floor. She's exhausted, too, apparently from the thrill of the hunt.

She found these up on the workbench, tags that I didn't even know we had or why we have them.

Later she brought in a piece of sandpaper.

And here is why people are doing without their meds these days. Last year when Keith went for his annual physical his testosterone levels were really really low. Now, you wouldn't think low testosterone (or low-T if you've seen those commercials on TV) would be such a big deal, but apparently low testosterone levels can lead to lots of other health issues, not to mention that the guy with the low testosterone feels like crap all the time and has absolutely no energy. So, he was given a prescription for Testim, a cream that comes in a little tube that you rub onto your shoulders each morning. It did seem to work and he did feel a lot better albeit still cranky, but overall, much better. The prescription came with a little credit card thing where you could activate it and get a discount on the Testim of about 40.00 a month, which made his meds work out to around $27.00, and was good for a year. For some reason even while we have been without insurance the past 4 months, the price has stayed the same. We knew the discount would run out soon and figured we could still afford around $70.00 a month for his meds since they really do help him feel better.

So, yesterday we go to pick up his next month's worth of little cream tubes, and they ring up at TWO HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN!!! dollars. WHAT!?!

Well, we certainly didn't have TWO HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN! dollars so we didn't get his meds.

We'll have to watch the 'Low-T' commercial next time for that call now phone number and we'll send you a month's free trial and see if whatever that stuff is will help, because we sure can't afford TWO HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN! dollars for testosterone cream.

Laundry and New Cats

2011-08-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I am no longer segregating my laundry. I have always been told that you absolutely MUST separate the whites from the coloreds or something dire might happen. If you wear a lot of red clothes, then your whites will all turn pink, we all know that, but if you wear clothes like I wear these days, well washed and sometimes even pre worn (Goodwill jeans, anyone?) then is it bad to mix your white bras in with your purple t-shirt?

Not with my clothes.

I only have a few white clothes, some pants (from Goodwill) and a few pairs of cotton underwear and white bras, and I needed a clean bra but didn't want to throw the very few white things that were in the laundry basket into the washer, wasting an entire loads worth of water on just a few things, so I decided to live DANGEROUSLY and threw them in with the colored load.

And they came out fine.

Now, back when I worked in an office, I would have never done this because I had my nice office clothes, most of them black, and you never ever wash black with anything else unless you want to wash it again. So, I was strict about separating the laundry, never allowing anything to co-mingle.

But now, in an effort to both save water and make sure I have a clean bra to wear, I'm co-mingling away. And saving water.

And now, living with eight cats. Yes, EIGHT! And it's too many, let me tell you. Poor Dusty and Genie are relegated to the back yard and so far Lucy is letting them be, mainly because I think she's a little afraid of them because they are definitely big burly cats and Dusty looks kind of cross eyed and not quite right in the head.

We kept them in the shed with the door shut for the first few days, and the first morning Keith went out there in the dark, opened the door, and scared the crap out of them. They shot out of the door and he had to wander around with a flashlight looking for them. They are very docile and friendly kitties, though, and just want to lay there and get petted, and they came right to him when he called them. We've been leaving the door open so they can venture outside, they don't go far yet but haven't been using the litter box much so I'm assuming they found an outdoor potty place. They have never been outside cats, spending their lives laying on the couch, so are cautious, but curious, and we think they will adapt to being outdoor kitties fairly easily. As long as Lucy leaves them alone.

This is Dusty:

He was brave and sitting out on the patio.

Genie was hiding under one of the shelves in the shed.

We do have numerous blankets and towels and a cat bed for them to lay on, we are not forcing them to lay on the bare wood floor.

They are good looking cats with those beautiful blue eyes.

Speaking of blue eyed kitties, here is contortionist Mimi.

She is of course laying right in the middle of the hallway where you have to step over her to get anywhere.

Leaving Las Vegas

2011-08-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

After a rather restless night in our Best Western room, a nice room with all the amenities and a king size bed, a room that we got a discount of $10 on because we have Triple A, but a room with a bed that had a very very firm mattress on and pillows that felt like cement bags, we got up and went down to the breakfast room for coffee and whatever else they were serving. They had juices, bagels, cereal, waffles, sausages, and scrambled eggs, and it was FREE, so we ate and had our coffee and packed up our stuff to get the heck out of Vegas.

We drove over to the house to pick up the cats. James and Robby were hauling junk out of the house for one last yard sale so Keith got all involved in trying to help them haul junk and I was like let's go home already, so we finally got the cats in their carriers, loaded them up in the car, and started off down the road. We got three blocks and realized that we had forgotten their litter box and turned around to get that just in case they needed to go as often as I do on a road trip.

This is the house with all the junk in the yard and a lady with a sun umbrella looking at the junk.

Both of the cats stayed in their carriers for a while, then Dusty came out to investigate and seemed utterly confused and where are we going and what are you doing to me!?! They meowed constantly for about the first hour, Genie staying in her carrier for a long time and then finally getting brave enough to come out. She squeezed under the seat and came out by my legs so I picked her up and calmed her down, then Dusty just came up front from in between the seats, no squeezing under for him, then Genie went under Keith's seat and came up by his legs, rather dangerous when his legs are being used for driving. After a few hours they did settle down and got in behind the seats on the floor where they felt a little safer. And they finally stopped meowing.

Not too many pictures on the way home, but we did stop in the town of Baker, which is the Gateway to Death Valley and has the Worlds Tallest Thermometer. Population about 700 and I think everyone in town works at a fast food restaurant because that is all that is in this town. Every single fast food restaurant you have ever heard of is in Baker, along with three motels, one of them out of business and boarded up.

This is the Bun Boy Motel, next to the Big Boy Restaurant which I think was originally the Bun Boy Restaurant, which is also home to the Worlds Tallest Thermometer.

The way the Bun Boy is holding the arrow is a little rude, though.

This is a google pic of the town of Baker, which started out as a railroad station if you were wondering why in the world anyone would ever start a town here. Which we were wondering.

And this is a google pic of The Worlds Tallest Thermometer.

We drove through Del Taco to get some burritos to eat on the road for lunch and got some gas and back on the highway.

More driving.

We had seen this sign for a now abandoned market in Hinkley ( the town where you can't drink the water unless you want to get cancer) and I wanted a picture of it so I made Keith stop for picture time.

We got home in the early afternoon, got the cats settled in their new home in the shed which they weren't too happy about, and after a dinner at Sizzler because we were too tired to cook and there was nothing to cook in the house anyway, Keith went to bed and I went shortly after because we were exhausted.

It is not cheap to drive to Vegas even for one night, we took $300 cash which we spent most of on gas and food, put the $90.00 room on the credit card and then transferred money over to cover that after we got home, and we gave James $200 to help him out because he was short on the money he needed to pay for his move to Alabama and we are suckers.