I hope y’all had a good Thanksgiving. We thought everyone was going to show up here around 11 to eat, but as it turned out that’s the time they wanted to eat, and Fred’s sister said she’d be here at 9:30. So we expected everyone to show up around 9:30. Then we were sitting in front of our computers at 9:05 when the driveway alarm went off, and we looked out to see Fred’s mother and stepfather pulling into the driveway. Fred’s sister showed up a little later with her husband and son, and since everyone had arrived and the only things we needed to do was actually bake the sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole and warm up a few things, we put everything in the oven at 9:30, and were sitting down to eat shortly after 10:30.
I don’t know what it is about Thanksgiving dinner, but I always end up eating not very much and feeling miserably stuffed. I was so full I couldn’t even eat dessert, and that’s something amazing for me. Dessert was pecan squares, and since we (Fred) had made dessert, I didn’t have to worry about missing out, ’cause we had plenty of leftovers.
Everyone was gone by 12:30, and Fred took a nap while I did laundry. We live the high life, dontchaknow. I spent a lot of time with the kittens and did more laundry and did a little online Christmas shopping, and it was a pretty quiet and relaxing day.
Oh, and about the kittens: Fred’s sister LOVES kittens, and she asked if she could see ours. Fred told her of course she could, but held up one finger and said “BE WARNED: it reeks in that room because the kittens all have diarrhea and it is VERY LIKELY that they’ve got poop on them somewhere, as they are fond of pooping and then trekking through it.” She asked about the diarrhea, and he told her about their horrible coccidia. She waffled for a moment, and then decided to go see them. So she did, and then she came back downstairs and we were talking about them, and then she looked down at her jeans and realized she had a big ol’ poop smear on her leg, and went running off to the bathroom to wash it off. I’m glad we warned her!
(Note about the coccidia: I think we’ve had perhaps one bunch of foster kittens who did NOT have coccidia, giardia, or worms. All of the kittens we foster come to us with one or more of the three – and about half the time someone’s got the goopy eyes, too, while they’re at it – which means that I’ve probably cleaned up about 43 gallons of diarrhea thus far in my fostering career. It’s gross, it’s not fun – it’s the polar opposite of fun – but you learn to deal with it. I find that adding pumpkin and a sprinkle of powdered slippery elm bark to their canned food in the morning and evening eventually helps. If it gets to be too bad, I make a slippery elm “syrup” and dose them with it several times a day. I’m about to start doing that with these guys, I think.)
Robyn, this is how I imagine Snackin’ Time! at your house:
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
You’re not far wrong!!!
I can see your house turning into this eventually.
If I could find my copy I would send it to you!
Oh, I LOVE the Cats’ House! (You can see an online tour here.) Fred doesn’t like the bright colors of the house, but even he can’t deny it’s WAY cool.
This made me think of you:
I can’t imagine why. Heh.
Oddly enough, I just bought something from that catalog!
I bought a Dyson DC-25 right after you did and primarily because you liked yours so much! I had an Oreck that had suddenly stopped working as well as it did. The Dyson has been amazing. I do get a little irritated having to take it apart and clean it but it is also nice not having to buy bags.
I have to tell you guys, I’m REALLY glad that those of you who bought your Dysons on my recommendation are still loving them. I would very much hate it if you spent that much money and then were disappointed!
Percy and Jack- named after the Percy Jackson books, perhaps?
I don’t think so, actually. When I met Jennifer and asked what she was going to name them, she said that her son had determined one of them would be Percy, and he was going to allow her to name the other one (hee). She mentioned a few names, and I said that I REALLY like Jack – it’s my favorite pet name, but since Fred’s stepfather’s name is Jack, we can’t really use it for one of our own pets.
And I think it’s a good name – Starsky really looks like a “Jack” to me! And I think Hutch looks pretty Percy-like. When she said “Percy”, though, my immediate thought was Percy Weasley!
After we killed a Dyson, and then in the following year three slightly cheaper replacements, I decided: I’m not using bagless vacuums any damn more.
Having tried to fix all the broken ones, I got a feel for how the bagless ones work, and it’s all that filtration to compensate for the ultimate filter: a bag. Unfortunately, if your house is coated in a thick layer of animal fur, it’s just too much for the filters.
I bought the only sub-$200 bagged vacuum I could find, which was a Bissell Powerglide, and 40 no-name bags for $1/ea (I buy another big batch every so often so there are ALWAYS bags in the closet), and I am HAPPY! I use an old litter bucket as a trash can, so I can take the full bag off the machine and immediately contain it in the bucket until I’m ready to carry it outside to the trash, and I find that process much more pleasant than having to carry the canister outside to dump.
I am sure it vacuums better, it clogs less, the bag holds more than your average bagless chamber. The $79 vacuum is just about to turn 2 years old, which may be a record.
Several people have mentioned to me that professionals have told them those of us with many pets shouldn’t use bagless vacuums. So far, my Kenmore canister vacuum seems to be doing an okay job, so I think I’ll stick with it for now!
where did u get that rack/holder thing for the baking/roasting pans? that looks like something that i badly need… well maybe 2.
I’m pretty sure I got it either at Walmart or Target. It’s intended to go in your cabinet to hold plates, but my pans fit perfectly in it, and it’s a lot easier than stacking them and having to pull them out!
Robyn, this is completely unrelated, but I came across this on facebook and it made me think of you!
Ha – LOVE IT!
Female Cat Spraying: Here is my experience with a sprayer in my house. I have a 2 year old that I raised on a bottle, she and an older female hate each other. We have 7 house cats. Kellie started spraying around the house, which got worse on the days that I was away from home. She would plant herself right in front of me to do it as soon as I walked in (who says animals can’t communicate!) . We tried Feliway diffusers, the impregnated Good Kitty collars, playing with her, diverting her attention, all the stuff you read about doing.. I was at my wits end. We went to the vet and tried Buspar on her.. that did not work… she has now been on Prozac for a week and she has not sprayed since. She is much more loving and calm and there is not that spraying. They have to be on it for 6 weeks, at that point I don’t know if we will try to discontinue or if we will keep her on it. I was reluctant to try it on her.. but I am glad I did now.
Thanks for the tip – I wanted to make sure that those of you who don’t read the comments saw this!
Even though this woman writes about her dogs, I thought you would enjoy this. I laughed so hard my co-workers came in wondering what was wrong with me.
Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving
There is absolutely nothing that Allie Brosh has written that doesn’t make me guffaw like a goon! This is one of my particular favorites. This one, too. If you guys aren’t reading that site, you are MISSING OUT.
I’ll have to try your all-purpose cleaning solution. Since it’s all-purpose, do you also use it for your kitchen counters?
Yep, I use it for my kitchen counters, for cleaning around the sink in the bathrooms, and the toilet seat and lids – if it needs some sort of cleaning spray, the all-purpose cleaning solution works great!
That reminds me of one night when Hubby and I stayed at a hotel for a ‘romantic weekend’. King bed. I could NOT sleep with all of the freaking snoring he was doing and swear I barely got a wink. After one bout of shoving him to no avail I remember saying “I am going to FUCKING KILL YOU!!” Repeat and rinse several times. Bastard. I was thisclose to sleeping in the tub. (And I tried smothering him but he woke up.) I think on our next ‘romantic weekend’ we should get separate rooms.
The first time Fred and I went to Florida – 1997, maybe – we shared a bed (I know, right? THE HORROR!) and he snored SO GODDAMN LOUD that I couldn’t sleep. In desperation I got a blanket and some pillows and went into the bathroom and tried to sleep on the floor. It didn’t work – the floor is fucking HARD, y’all – and when I went back into the room, Fred woke up. Eventually, he went out on the deck and slept in one of the chairs out there (I didn’t encourage it – but I didn’t DIScourage it either) and I slept like a baby. I found that the trick to sleeping in the same room as Fred is to go to sleep before he does. It works surprisingly well on the rare occasion we share a room.
Miss Jan and her great giant bat ears.
“Greg Brady does not like this collar, lady.”
Left to right: Bobby, Cindy, Peter, Greg. I LOVE that patch of brown tabby on Cindy’s side. It’s almost heart-shaped!
Five of the six. Marcia was off somewhere doing something.
Jan Brady, scratching. I LOVE her spots of brown tabby.
Cindy Brady, looking smug.
I think Buster – all my Bookworms, really – has THE prettiest eyes.
Rhyme, disturbed.
Corbie, keeping an eye out.
Elwood’s king of the mountain! Er. King of the trash can!
Previously
2009: Happy Thanksgiving!
2008: Here are some pictures from Crooked Acres to tide you over.
2007: Amazing how that works.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: Just call me Grinchypoo.
2003: Survivor.
2002: If you think you can have too many smiley-face stickers, you are sadly mistaken.
2001: The phrase “anthrax in my pants” is FUCKING FUNNY when it’s spoken by a sixty-three year old woman.
2000: No entry.