Bitchypoo

God help me, I think I kind of like Miley Cyrus’s music. I was listening to a Keith and the Girl podcast the other day, and they played Party in the USA (I think they were talking about the top 10 songs of 2009), and then Chemda mocked it (she’s no fan of Miley Cyrus; I love it when she imitates her) and then the damn tune ran around in my head for two days.

It’s hard to sing along with a tune in your head when you don’t really know the words, y’know?

I also really like The Climb.

Don’t judge me.

 

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Rumor has it there was some football game in California yesterday that involved the Crimson Tide, and I think we won. I actually knew there was going to be a game involving the University of Alabama team, because when I was in the airport on Tuesday meeting up with the lady who took Mike and Gus to Portland, a teenager wandered up to the ticket counter to check in, and told the ticket agent she was going to L.A. and then asked the guy standing next to her “Are you going to the game?”

While I stood and waited, I pondered whether she might be talking about the Superbowl, but I was pretty sure that doesn’t happen ’til the end of the month (see? I pay attention! Kind of.), so I had no idea what game she might be talking about. When I got home later, I said “Is there some game going on in California this week?”

Fred asked for more information.

“That people from Alabama would be attending?”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, Texas and Alabama are playing the BCS game.”

ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE! and all that. You go with your badass selves, college football players! We won! We won! I’ll be waiting over here for my National Championship ring, thank you.

Anyway, the teenager who wandered up to the counter had a big-ass bulging suitcase, and when she put her suitcase on the scale, it was over the weight limit. She didn’t want to or couldn’t afford to pay the over-weight fee, so she sat down on the floor, opened up her suitcase and started taking stuff out.

“My mom is going to give me such a hard time!” she said, pulling out pajamas and high heels and a couple of stuffed animals. “She told me I was packing too much!”

She’d pull one or two items out of the suitcase, put the suitcase on the scale to check, and then have to take it off, open it up again, and take more stuff out. She only had a small purse to carry on the plane with her, so eventually the ticket agent gave her this huge plastic bag that, I am pretty sure, you could fit a body in.

I couldn’t stand the idea of her walking onto the plane with that big-ass plastic bag, hitting her fellow passengers in the head, stuffing it into the overhead compartment, and annoying everyone on the plane.

“I have a tote you can use to put all that stuff in,” I offered. “It’d be better than that thing!”

She grinned at me. “No thank you, I’m okay, this bag works fine.”

At least she had a good attitude about it and wasn’t all princessy. I’m sure if she did get on the plane and bonk people on the head with her high heel-filled body bag, she would have apologized with that adorable grin, and they’d forgive her immediately.

Sorry, passengers on the Chicago flight Tuesday. I tried!

 

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I was catching up on Melting Mama‘s site the other day (I’m perpetually behind in my blog reading, have I mention?) and I ran across this entry right here about those Fiber One bars, and I laughed and laughed.

And then I went and read the comments here, and I laughed some more.

Those Fiber One bars look and taste fabulous, but I am not kidding you, the gas is noxious. And painful. It’s so bad, it drives the cats out of the house, just about. And the worst thing is that I bought a box of them a few months ago (because they look SO good) and I ate one, cue the painful gas. Then a little time went by, I forgot about the painful, soul-killing gas, and ate another one. Then last week, having forgotten once again about the gas, I ate another.

There are two more of them in the cupboard, and I believe I’ll use them as a threat when Fred won’t do something I want.

“Oh, you don’t want to work on the pantry? Well, okay. I think I’ll just settle down in front of the computer with a Fiber One bar. Say goodbye to your nose hairs!”

Seriously, the Fiber One bars – don’t try them. It’s horrific.

 

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We are gearing up to say goodbye to the Cookies tomorrow. There’s lots of snuggling going on, believe me. In the mornings, when we let them out of their room, Hydrox’s always the first one to climb into bed with me. He rolls around on his back and purrs and kneads on my arm, and purrs some more. He’s such a big baby.

They sure are kissable, these kittens.

Awww, look what I found on my hard drive! It’s a shot from when I was trying to take a picture to use for next year’s Christmas card, and all the cats gathered ’round. That’s Gus over there to the left, fighting with a Cookie. My favorite part of this picture, though, is this look:

That little face is cracking me UP.

Cookies on the cat tree in the front room. All five of them!

 

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Back in December, I bought this Room with a View from Jeffers Pet Supply. They were running a Christmas promotion where every day something was marked way down. The Room with a View was half-priced, and I was thrilled to get one.

Last week, after it had sat in the front room, ignored, for a few weeks, I decided to bring it into the computer room to provide yet another place for the cats to sleep. They ignored it for a day, and then Miz Poo climbed inside and declared it good.

And then Sugarbutt climbed inside and he also declared it good.

So now, it’s almost always occupied. Usually by Sugarbutt, but sometimes Miz Poo gets a turn. Also, every now and then Jake or Elwood climbs in and hangs out, too (only one cat at a time, though. I can’t imagine what Sugarbutt’s reaction would be if Jake or Elwood tried to join him in there.)

I’m going to declare the Room with a View a hit with the kitties.

(And I highly recommend Jeffers. They’re awesome!)

 

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Previously
2009: Look who’s here!
2008: No entry.
2007: Jake has found a new home.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: How to celebrate Robyn’s birthday.
2003: How to celebrate Robyn’s birthday.
2002: How to celebrate Robyn’s birthday.
2001: One more day ’til my birthday! Whoo!
2000: No entry.

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?

 

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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!

 

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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!”

 

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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.

 

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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?

 

 

Dear Uterus:

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Your Employer.

 

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EVICTION NOTICE.

To: Uterus of Mine

We are terminating your tenancy and want to evict you from the following property: 101 South Abdominal Way, Apt #2.

Our reason for evicting you is because: You suck, you leave detritus all over the damn place with no warning, and you cause your landlady emotional and physical pain.

You must move from the property or remedy our reason for evicting you by the following date: Oh, honey doll, there is NO REMEDYING THE REASON. You are OUT OF HERE as of mid-January!*

If you do not agree with this eviction notice you have the right to legal advice and may contact a lawyer. NO YOU DON’T. YOU ARE THE FUCK OUTTA HERE! HA! NO RIGHTS! YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS! NONE NONE NONE!

Name of Owner or Agent: Me.

DO NOT LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE LINING ON YOUR WAY OUT!

*Fred won’t let me tell you the exact date because he’s afraid you’ll come stalk me or steal my uterus. He doesn’t know I’ll be Twittering all over the place before and after, mwahahaHA.

 

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So, yes. Last week I had an appointment with my gynecologist to follow up and see where we were to go from here, with the labs and the ultra-sound not showing anything amiss, and the three different birth control pills not helping at all.

(My period came two weeks early. I think you can imagine how thrilled I was.)

She came into the room, and she looked through my tests and we discussed how the labs and ultrasound showed nothing amiss, and it seemed pretty clear to me that she was going to pussyfoot around some more, and I finally asked if, at this point, a hysterectomy was a possibility, and she jumped on that with both feet.

A hysterectomy is, indeed, a possibility. And it’s gonna happen. AND I COULD NOT BE MORE PLEASED. My ovaries and cervix will be staying, thank you very much, unless she gets in there and sees something weird going on with an ovary, in which case she’ll remove it. (Given that she did an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and all looked fine at that point, she doesn’t expect that to happen.)

So, in a few more weeks (see the note at the end of the last section about how Fred won’t let me tell you exactly when I’m having it done) that hysterectomy will be PERFORMED and the constant goddamn bleeding will be done and over with.

CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH?!

(I can feel my stupid uterus getting ready for one last period, though. STUPID UTERUS.)

 

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Thanks, y’all, for your book suggestions! I spent a lot of time last night looking through them at Amazon, getting sample chapters (sample chapters on the Kindle: BEST THING EVER!) and making notes of books I want to try in the future.

 

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In a few hours, I will leave to take Gus and Mike…. somewhere. Where they will ultimately end up in their new home. NO DETAILS.

Details tomorrow, I promise. 🙂

I am going to miss these guys SO much, I’m telling you.

Mike and Crazy Jake check out the feather teaser.

Cats on a tree!

Gus is skeptical.

Hello, have I perhaps mentioned ten million times that I LOVE THIS KITTEN? Make it ten million and one!

Mike and Gus sharing a snooze with Hydrox.

“Don’t hate me because I’m beyoootiful.”

“Okay, right. Funny. HILARIOUS. Now PUT ME DOWN.”

A bit dusty, and a piece of some sort of string on his head. My guess: he’s been rolling around under the bed.

Two Wonkas + two Cookies, mix together, shake lightly = a recipe for CUTE.

It hurts me to look at him, he’s so gorgeous.

Keebler and Mike were hanging out in the cat bed, and Keebler got a little too vigorous with the kneading and slurping. See Mike’s claw? He was like “Okay, kid. Calm it down, now. Tryin’ to snooze, here.”

I think the Cookies are going to miss Mike and Gus, too!

 

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We call this Maxi‘s “Tony Soprano look”, because she’s got those flat, dead eyes going on. You SO don’t wanna mess with her, Chris-tuh-FUH will come mess you UP on her behalf.

 

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Previously
2009: Meet George and Gracie.
2008: No entry.
2007: Oh look! It’s been two years since the last time we adopted a dog.
2006: Home again, home again.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: How we met.
2000: And that’s all I have to say ’bout that.

(In case you missed it on Saturday)

New month (new year!), new banner!

This one was created by Christine, who’s done a bunch of them for me lately. Thanks, Christine – it’s time Miz Poo had her very own banner that she doesn’t have to share with anyone else!

 

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Happy New Year!!!

(Thanks, Robin, for the photoshopping!!!)

 

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I Twittered about my black-eyed peas (which we didn’t have for dinner on New Year’s Day like you’re supposed to, because we ended up at the mall earlier in the day, and bought some mall pizza which was REALLY freakin’ good) on Saturday, and got a couple of requests for the recipe. So here ’tis:

Robyn’s Super-Tasty Black-Eyed Peas

1 lb (or thereabouts) of dried black-eyed peas
1 Ham hock
1 onion, chopped
garlic (unless you’re anti-garlic)

Soak the black-eyed peas in a pot of water overnight. Some people rinse the peas the next day and put them in a fresh pot of water before cooking because it makes them less gas-inducing (or so I’ve heard). I don’t do that, because I don’t think they taste as good when you do.

Making sure the peas are well covered with water, bring to a boil, toss in a chopped onion, as much garlic as you’d like (or leave it out), and your ham hock. I like to add a jar of our own chicken stock to the pot, though in the past I’ve added a bouillon (is that spelled right?) cube or two.

Now, obviously I had my own ham hock from one of our own pigs, and it wasn’t smoked. I’m not super crazy about that smoked meat taste, but I’m not so sure if you can buy an unsmoked ham hock at the grocery store. If you can, I recommend it. If not, I’m sure the smoked ham hock will be just fine.

Once the water’s at a boil, turn it down to a simmer, and simmer it for at least two hours. Check periodically to make sure there’s enough water in the pot that the beans don’t burn.

After a couple of hours, take the ham hock out of the pot, scrape the fat off and toss it, then pull the meat off the hock, shred it, and put it back in the pot. Simmer for another half hour or so.

Eat. We like to add a little BBQ sauce to ours. It’s especially tasty when served with corn bread, too.

We got about six servings, with some left over for the chickens.

(This recipe is also posted over at the recipe site, if you’re ever looking for it in the future.)

 

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I finally finally FINALLY finished Under the Dome, and I’ve gotta say, I liked it quite a bit. My intention was to next start a printed book so Fred could read Under the Dome on the Kindle, but he’s reading Duma Key right now, so it’ll be a while before he’s ready to move on to another Stephen King novel.

During one of my daily Kindle store stalkings, I downloaded what I thought was an Amy Bloom novel, Between Here and Here, for 99 cents. I read it Saturday night, and was dismayed to find that it was actually just once piece from the book, Where the God of Love Hangs Out. Which doesn’t come out ’til the 12th. I really enjoyed what I read, and I’m not thrilled about having to wait. I want it NOW, damnit!

But I have to wait, so I’ve started What the Dog Saw. I’ve never read anything by Malcolm Gladwell before (though Blink and The Tipping Point are on my wish list), and I’m enjoying it.

So, tell me – what have you read recently that you highly recommend?

(And for god’s sake – I only read 109 books in 2009! Remember the year when I read 195? Maybe it should be my new year’s resolution to read more in 2010!)

 

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Our New Year’s Eve was very exciting – Fred watched Firestarter, and I snuggled up in bed with many kittens and read. We were sound asleep by 9:30.

We know how to live it up, yo.

 

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It is FUCKING COLD ’round these here parts lately, and it’s not supposed to get any warmer any damn time soon. I keep telling myself that if I can make it through January, Spring will practically be within reach.

Fred complained yesterday because we’ve had several days below freezing, and I haven’t made a fire. Like I’ve said before, I would happily make a fire if I were certain that one of the fluff-brained Cookies wouldn’t throw themselves into it!

 

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Okay, guys – just to prepare you, Gus and Mike are going to their new home tomorrow. I’m still not going to talk about it yet because I don’t want to jinx it into not happening, but I wanted to make sure y’all know about it in advance so you’re not caught by surprise!

 

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Spanky does not approve of kittens.

 

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Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: I really haven’t had any desire to eat squirrel (yes, I’ve eaten it, but it’s been many years. Tastes like chicken, right?).
2007: Awww, it’s been three years since we first met Joe Bob! (He was Moon Man back then, though.)
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: Links.
2001: What sad, sad lives y’all must have led, to never experience the delight of whoopie pies.
2000: I’m feeling like total crap.