1/7/10 – Thursday

Yesterday morning, I spent a few hours cleaning the foster room. I got that room SO clean, nicely vacuumed, the litter cleaned up off the floor of the closet (it’s a walk-in closet, where we keep the litter boxes), all the toys neatly put away, and half an hour after I was done, the Cookies and Jake and Elwood had messed it back up again.

Ah well.

I had a few errands to run, so I left the house and headed for Decatur. I browsed around the PetSmart for a while and actually DID NOT BUY ANYTHING from there (feel free to faint now!). I’m getting low on snackin’ food for our cats (the Cookies get a different kind of snackin’ food, one meant for kittens), but after doing a price comparison on it (Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys, if you’re dying to know) at PetSmart and Target, it’s still cheaper to buy it in bulk on eBay. I save 4 – 6 cents per can over the store price AND there’s free shipping, and since we use a can and a half each evening, buying in bulk is the way to go. Occasionally the 12-packs go on sale for a good price at Target, in which case I stock up, but for the most part eBay is the better buy.

After I left PetSmart, I went over to Target and browsed around the store for an hour. I guess the Target in Decatur isn’t a SUPER Target like the one in Huntsville, because it’s much smaller (the funny thing is that when Fred and I were at the exact same Target last weekend, he said “I always forget how big this store is!”, and it’s much smaller than the one in Huntsville.) and thus the grocery section isn’t nearly as complete as in a SUPER Target, but I managed to get everything on my list anyway.

I have found a down side to the Kindle: it’s just not as fun to browse through the book section because they (obv.) don’t sell the Kindle version of books. NOT THAT I NEED ANY MORE BOOKS, I’m just sayin’.

I bought a new purse, because suddenly the Healthy Back Bag isn’t working for me anymore. This happens every few years, so I make an attempt to find THE PERFECT PURSE (hint: no such thing) and leave my Healthy Back Bags in the closet for a few months until I come to the decision that nothing works as well for me as the HBB. Even though I know, going into it, that I’m going to end up with a Healthy Back Bag slung over my shoulder again in a few weeks or months, I still have to attempt to find the perfect purse (no such thing!).

Ah well.

What else did I buy?

OH. I bought some dill pickle cashews. Now, don’t make that face at me – my sister sent some of these for Fred at Christmas, and he made me try some, and they are surprisingly good! I was afraid with a name like that, they’d be overwhelmingly dill-tasting, but the dill flavor’s not at all overwhelming. It’s quite pleasant, and I’m not usually a huge fan of dill. This review describes them pretty well, actually.

So, I stocked up on dill pickle cashews.

Bought a big bag of bird seed, a smaller bag of Nyjer seed (we’ve got a ton of finches hitting the finch feeder socks right now) and a bag of sunflower hearts and chips that had been marked way down.

I eyeballed a pop-up cat carrier (I’m planning to stock the house with the pop-up carriers because they work so incredibly well, and move the hard carriers out to the garage), but they’re more than $2 cheaper at Walmart, so I refrained.

(Note: Several reviews at Target.com of that pop-up cat carrier mentioned an issue with the zipper. I haven’t had any problems with the zipper on mine, but I also don’t zip it all the way open, so I’m not sure if that’s what the issue is. Alls I know is that it works fine for me, it’s MUCH lighter to carry than a plastic carrier, and the cats seem to like it.)

I finally finished looking around, checked out, and headed for home. I stopped at Wendy’s for a cheeseburger because for some reason I have been craving the hell out of Wendy’s cheeseburgers lately. I got a single with cheese, took it home to eat it, and realized once again that I could only eat half of it. That’s something I have to relearn every time I go to Wendy’s – which is usually only about twice a year. I need to get a kid’s meal next time, I guess. (The chickens enjoyed my leftovers; they always do!)

I spent the afternoon cleaning the guest bedroom. That’s the room where the Cookies were raised and have been spending their nights, and since the upstairs foster room was now free, I decided it was time to move the Cookies up there and let the guest bedroom revert back to its intended use.

And then I vacuumed the entire downstairs and spent the evening vegging in front of the computer!

Exciting, no?

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Tuesday, Fred went to the butcher -the guy who processed our most recent set of pigs – and picked up our half cow. Let me tell you – 172 pounds of cow makes a LOT of ground beef. I think we got around 60 pounds of it, if not more.

Between the chickens Fred’s processed lately, the half pig, and now the half cow, there’s no excuse on earth for needing to buy meat at the grocery store -and I like that.

Of course, we still have quite a bit of ground beef left over from my trip to Costco a few months ago. I decided we need to finish up the ground beef we already have before we start on the good stuff, so we had meatloaf a couple of nights this week (DAMN that stuff is good), and we’re having hamburgers tonight and tomorrow. With what’s left over, I’m going to can sloppy joes, spaghetti meat sauce and (if there’s any left over), taco beef. I’ve never canned any of that stuff before, but my trusty book (written by Jackie Clay) has recipes for all of those, so I might as well give ’em a try!

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

So, the Cookies.

Brace yourselves, folks – the Cookies will be going to the adoption center on Saturday (as long as the weather cooperates!).

I do believe they will be adopted so quickly it’ll make my head spin. That’s what I prefer to believe, anyway! I mean, look at these little faces – how can you not fall in love?

Keebler keeps an eye on Crazy Jake.

Keebler’s so busy keeping an eye on The Crazy that he doesn’t even notice Elwood reaching down for a tap.

Keebler and Elwood, fighting. Note that Keebler had to climb up to where Elwood was before the fightin’ could start – and of course, he was QUITE indignant that Elwood had the upper paw.

Fightin’ Cookies.

Keebler and Hydrox.

Hydrox in the sun.

“STOP PICKIN’ ON ME, I AM JUST A WITTLE BABY!”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

While it might look like Sugarbutt is in mid-leap, in actuality he’s hanging there. His back feet are on the horizontal bars of the window, and his upper paws are clinging to the horizontal bar in front of his face. See that finch sock hanging right outside the door? That thing is loaded down with finches all day long (there’s another sock further out, hanging from a tree), and it drives Sugarbutt CRAZY. He leaps up, clings there for several seconds, and then jumps back down. I’m pretty sure he believes that one day he’ll actually be able to get those birds. Hope springs eternal in SuggieWorld.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Previously
2009: So yeah, almost two weeks after Christmas, I’m finally in the Christmas spirit.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: What I hate most about flying is how incredibly fucking boring it is.
2003: Damn 8 Mile.
2002: I think we can agree that I’m all about the politeness
2001: The story of how Fred & I met.
2000: Fred: Well, what’s 8 times 1? Spud: 10?