01/02/12 – Monday

From Kathie:

My daughter works for a rescue in Sterling Virginia that is trying to get help with a spina bifida kitten. These are the links to her facebook page and chip in page. There is a video also on the facebook that will break your heart. The prognosis is good for her if she can get into a good rescue such as Best Friends. Currently she is in a home that cannot keep her long term and they are trying to place her soon.

If you can help out (I always say this, but it bears repeating – every little bit helps!), please do. If you can’t afford to help, please spread the word and send good thoughts in Dot’s direction. Her Facebook page is here, and her ChipIn page is here (or click on the link in the box below!)

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New month (new year!), new banner!

This was created by Christine, who’s done so many of my banners in the past. Not two minutes after I had said out loud to Fred, “Oh shit. Tomorrow’s a new month! I need to make a banner!”, I got a banner in my email inbox. It was like magic!

Thanks again, Christine – perhaps I’ve mentioned that you rock?

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone celebrated safely and had a good time (or crashed long before midnight, whichever floats your boat.)(Um, “crashed” as in “went to sleep.”)

I settled in with a glass of Raspberry Sparkletini and a few games of Words with Friends, then toddled off to watch Justified (the last two episodes of the first season) with Fred. We were in bed by 9:30, and I was sound asleep by 10:30. I slept like a baby, and woke up to do a million things around the house. The first of the month means that the cat beds and bedding all get washed, the air filters get changed out, and the cats’ water fountain filters get changed out, too.

It’s all very exciting, as I’m sure you can imagine.

In and amongst the cat laundry and all that, I played a thousand games of Fruit Ninja on the X-Box/ Kinect with Fred (I suck, but it’s ever so much fun) and cooked black-eyed peas, sauteed chinese cabbage, and corn (the cabbage and corn were grown here. The black-eyed peas were not.) for lunch and took down and put away the Christmas decorations.

I got a surprising amount of stuff accomplished yesterday, which is hopefully a sign of the year to come (but, I suspect, probably not so much.)

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Since I think it’s likely that most of you – if not all – have received the Holiday cards I sent out, I’ll post it now for those of you who didn’t request one, but want to see it anyway.

This year’s cat model was Spanky. Here’s the front:

On the back it said: Yule-tired Greetings! (Happy 2012!)

I sent out 325 cards this year!

I actually took pictures of all the cards I received this year as I opened them to better share with y’all – I did hang them on the wall in the hallway, but I figured that taking a picture of each card would work out better than trying to make sure every card showed up in a picture of the hallway. I loaded them up to Flickr, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to share the entire set on a page in my blog, so you’ll have to go over to Flickr to see them all.

See all the cards I received in 2011 here!

Thank you, everyone, for the cards you sent, and the pictures of your kids and your cats and yourselves! I really enjoyed opening all those cards and seeing your (and your kids’ and your cats’) smiling faces (well, the cats weren’t smiling, especially the dressed-up cats, heh.) I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – I have the best readers on the internet, yes I do!

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Things I’ve been meaning to share, and pictures from the holiday and let’s just call this the miscellaneous section of the post, shall we?

I got my craft on at the last moment, and made some personalized coasters as gifts. Of course, I forgot to snap pictures of them, so over the weekend I made one for Fred, and snapped a picture of that one.

Please note: that big fold-looking thing on the right side of the picture is because the tile wasn’t completely flat on top, and thus the picture made that fold. Shut up.

Read about how to make your own damn coaster here. Note: I used plain paper to print out my picture on; the tissue paper very much did not work for me.

Fred finally put up another set of steps and a platform in the front room (the one on the left is new). Someday he’s planning to put up a walkway between the two platforms, and have a walkway all the way around the room. At the rate he’s going, I think he’s going to be 83 by the time that’s done.

Fred made this vanilla-laced raspberry cake for Christmas (we had it at his father and stepmother’s house) and it was really really good. I think it was particularly good this time (it wasn’t the first time he’s made the cake) because he made it a day in advance, and the raspberry jam had a chance to really sink in.

The Christmas tree at Fred’s father and stepmother’s house.

Isn’t this awesome? My mother saw it and thought of me, so bought it for me! I think it’s purty.

This is so cool – Katherine gave it to me just before Christmas. It looks all cute and sweet, right? Guess what – you could totally use it to gouge someone’s eyes out with! It’s very very lightweight, and so easy to carry, and you can mess someone UP with it. Go get your very own (and read more about them), right here.

Instead of wearing a sweater to Christmas Eve dinner at Fred’s father and stepmother’s house, I bought something different. Fred approved of it, and said “But it’s so bright!”, because I tend to wear darker, more muted colors.

It was made of some velvety-type material. It was definitely different for me, but I’m glad I wore it.

I don’t know. I’m a dork.

I get such a kick out of me.

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Patty Peppers would like you to know…

…that it’s a rough, rough, rough, rough life.

For real.

Charlie Peppers concurs.

In a fangy kinda way.

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Have you met the divine Mr. Tig?

Tig in the mirror.

“What’s THAT?”

Tig in repose.

Foot sniffer (it’s his dirty little not-so-secret. Feet. He can’t get enough of ’em!)

He appears to have a touch of the Loony going on here.

“Pardon me while I clean off my slappin’ paw.”

“My paw smells funny.”

::thlurrrrrp::

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Sugarbutt rests from his wild New Year’s Eve celebrations. First he slept in the bed on the dining room table. THEN he snoozed for a while on top of the refrigerator. Then he ate a little and moseyed into the guest bedroom and slept there. It was all very exhausting. He thinks he might be getting too old for so much excitement.

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Previously
2011: No entry.
2010: “LET US START OFF THE NEW YEAR WITH I HAZ A COMPLAINT!”
2009: It was a pretty pointless trip, but it was a lovely day and we got out of the house for a few hours, so I’m calling it good enough!
2008: I LURVE THE LOBSTER.
2007: I’m surprised the damn government didn’t declare a “National Day of Celebration” for Wednesday to commemorate Saddam Hussein’s death, just so they could stop the mail delivery for a third day in a row.
2006: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: Note to self
2002: (“Damn, Robyn sure is impressed with herself, isn’t she?”)
2001: Robyn’s Resolutions for 2001.
2000: Exciting, no?