Today's Blog Entry of Cat Nicknames is Brought to you in Part by a Poor, Catnip Lobster that says "Cape Cod" Even Though it's from Salem, MA

Dusty

• Dusterella
• Dust bunny
• Dust Buster
  
• Buster
  
• Buster Brown
  
• Barkley (the dog from Sesame Street, not the basketball player. because she barks orders to be pet.)
  
• Queen
  

Lefty

• Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge (when the hair on her spine stands up straight. yeah, we call her the whole name.)
  
• Sir Edmund Hillary (in her climbing phases)
  
• Chairman Mrao (this one is funniest when she is begging for food, and I say "Chairman" and she says "mrao." Cracks me up every time.)
  
• Dippin' Dot (like the ice cream place in the mall, for the way she insists on drinking water by dipping her paw in the water dish, and then licking the water off it.)
  
• Princess / Princess of the Left

Stop, drop, and roll

Last week was such a crappy week, for both of us really. It's always so hard to come back from vacation - both of us were just stressed and cranky. Add last week's doctor's visit in, and it was a good thing that the week finally ended. This week was the first time in a long time that I was just glad it was Monday.

We tried for a nice quiet, weekend. Got the cats to the vet on Saturday morning with much less of a fight, and many fewer scratches (well, for me at least). Thanks to Lisa's advice, we got the two carriers. Lefty's a little bit more ... gullible... so I got her in without much fight. At this point, Dusty was still upstairs in the bedroom with Greg. I came up the stairs to get Dusty, and that's about when Lefty figured out it wasn't a game -- she started crying and fighting to get out. I knew as soon as Dusty realized what was going on, she'd want no part. Greg grabbed her first, and got her close to the crate before she escaped like a wild cat. I yelled at him to go back upstairs and shut the bedroom door, because if she got under our bed, there was no way I'd be able to get her out. I cornered her in the hallway upstairs, and got one hand kind of under her front paws, and scruffed her with the other hand. I was holding her close to me, so I could try to talk to her and calm her down. Once we got down by the carrier, though, she swiped at my face, luckily missing. I got her in, and we were off. We actually got there early, thankyouverymuch. Heck, as soon as they were in the carriers, we were out the door. I didn't want it to last any longer than it possibly had to.

Having survived that, Greg and I went for lunch and a trip to Costco. Nothing terribly exciting. I think I spent the afternoon pulling weeds (already), and then in bed with a book (sometimes the safest place to be after a bad week). We tried one of our favorite places for dinner, Doc Chey's. We love the food (and drinks -- sake margaritas!), but the service can be really spotty. This time, like others, we wondered if we actually had a waitress. We waited forever for someone to take our drink orders. Luckily, we both knew what we wanted and ordered. Well, this time, our dinners were out quick -- quicker than our appetizer. Sigh. By the time we got drink refills, we were done with dinner. It was just the cap on the end of a bad week.

We did make it our for a jog on Sunday, even in some light rain. (We were so proud of ourselves for being so hardcore.)

Because we've had unfortunate events at unfortunate times in the past, we have the two heat pumps on a service contract, so they come out and inspect and do some preventative maintenance twice a year, and then we get a (theoretically) reduced rate on service calls if something breaks. Anyhow, the inspections are usually pretty quick -- less than an hour. Greg volunteered to stay home Monday morning with the guy, and it was a half day (and half of our tax return, which my wonderfully talented husband so graciously filled out and turned in this week) ordeal, doing some work that we'd been postponing but weren't anticipating.

I talked to my dear friend Courtney this week, who always seems to call at just the right time. Talking to her just makes me feel more normal. I guess I feel a bit isolated sometimes. She's great at listening, and at calming my fears. Miss her lots. Sometimes she calls and both us don't have a lot to say; funny how you settle into a routine and it feels like there's nothing new to talk about. But this week was one of those times where we could have talked and talked and talked. It was nice to get in bed with the phone (and have Lefty curl up next to me) and relax and just kind of decompress.

I've just been starving all week. Weight Watchers is working, but that doesn't mean I'm not hungry. The hard part is trying to figure out what I can eat all the time. Like, I'd rather go to Subway than to my favorite Sub Station II, because at Subway I know how many calories are in everything, the meat is already pre-sliced, etc. I'm hoping to eventually get beyond the point where I'm afraid to eat things, for fear of not knowing how many calories, grams of fat, and grams of fiber are in everything. (In happier news, I saw a Papa John's (pizza) commercial for whole wheat crust -- surely that will shave a half point or so...)

Between all of my doctor and dentists appointments so far this year, I had an appointment for a recheck on the asthma from back in the fall that I kept rescheduling. Finally made it in there on Wednesday. Nothing earth shattering -- going to stay on the inhaler for now. I started wheezing back when I stopped using it during the wisdom teeth recovery period, but right now I'm hoping that every other day will be enough. But seriously -- we are 7 weeks (I think) into the year, and I've been to the doctor or dentist 7 times. This HAS GOT TO STOP.

Tried to catch the lunar eclipse on Wednesday night. Didn't have quite the necessary zoom, although we had mostly clear skies all night.


So things seemed to be going better this week.

And then I caught on fire.

I was cooking dinner. And an easy dinner at that. The spaghetti sauce and meatballs were warming. The pasta was boiling. I was putting measuring cups away in the drawer next to (perpendicular to) the stove. The pasta water was boiling over, so I reached up to turn it down. My arm felt warm. Well, you're standing right next to the stove. Something smelled funny. The burners sometimes smell a little funny when they get really hot, especially if they've gotten some kind of cleaner on them. You know, my arm is REALLY warm. Hmmm. Something smells like it is burning. And it's not just my arm that is warm anymore, but my whole side. I turn and see flames out of the corner of my eye. And freaked. Stop, drop and roll! Stop drop and roll! But no.

It's cold and rainy here, so I put on pjs as soon as I got home. I've retired one of my favorite hoodie sweatshirts to the pjs pile, and it's my go-to to throw on when I'm chilly. So that's what was on fire. It wasn't zipped (ok, well, the zipper fell off a long time ago...), just hanging loose, so when I reached up to turn down the pasta, while facing the drawer, it must have touched the burner.

So I ripped the jacket off on and threw it on the floor.

And said, "Greg, my jacket's on fire."

I knew I had to put out the flames, but could not figure out how to do it without stamping on it and burning my feet. Should have thrown it in the sink. Greg ran over (he was just on the other side of the kitchen bar, looking at mail, oblivious to the fire. And he picked up the jacket and blew on it, (?!?!? -- but, in his defense, when we were at his parents a few weeks ago, he was trying to restart a fire in their wood stove and actually put it out instead by blowing on it...), and then just kind of folded it up on itself to smother it. It eventually made it to the sink.

So here's the damage:

It's still wearable right? The shirt I had on under it also had a hole burned through it. The kitchen floor has some yellowish marks on it. Good thing we haven't gotten around to replacing it yet.

I am just SO lucky to be TOTALLY FINE. Not even any singed hair. No burns. Freaked out a bit, but maybe not even as much as Greg was. I guess my fear right now is that the fire's not out... that the kitchen floor is smoldering somewhere, or the trash will catch on fire. Completely irrational, but my fear nonetheless. Hoping I don't have any fire related nightmares tonight.

Lesson learned, though. Pay more attention. Be careful of loose clothes -- although the fact that it was easy to get off may be what saved me.

Stop, drop, and roll.

Rhymes with Orange

iTunes

My brother was asking what I was listening to these days. Had to look at my itunes downloads to actually remember.

I can't remember the last time, so some of this may be repeated...

• David Gray "Shine: The Best of the Early Years" album and "The World to Me" single
  
• Feist "The Reminder" album
  
• Guster "Ganging up on the Sun" album
  
• Jack Johnson "Sleep Through the Static" album
  

And then a few singles. Most of these were my choice, so Greg can deny them if he pleases.

• Colbie Caillat "Bubbly"
  
• Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals "Lifeline"
  
• Sara Bareilles "Love Song"
  
• Nelly Furtado "Say it Right"
  
• Indigo Girls "Closer to Fine"
  

Trying to decide right now whether to download the soundtrack to 'Juno.'

Headed for the weekend...

... but not really sure how it got here.

I like to travel and be different places, I just don't like getting there or getting back, particularly if it involves airports. Everything went smoothly on our way up to Vermont last weekend, but we weren't so lucky on Monday. We *should* have landed at 4:30 Monday afternoon. But after:

• Original flight #1 was delayed and would have missed our connection.  Rebook through Philadelphia, arriving in Charlotte at 6ish.
• But the Philadelphia flight was delayed, too.  So we missed our connection by about 15 minutes.
• Rebooked flight #2.  Luckily the plane was empty,  so they bumped us up to first class.  (And then made an announcement that because the plane was so empty, anyone in the first 10 rows of coach had to be rebooked and moved to the back of the plane for balance.)

we got in to Charlotte around 8:30, a mere 4 hour delay.  Not sure how much I should complain though, because I did make it through about 4 Newsweeks on Sunday. I finally made it to some January issues (Iowa has voted; New Hampshire has not).

Anyhow, the hassle that was Sunday set the tone for the rest of the week. Valentine's Day was kind of a yawn, with both of is in pjs by 6:00 (and not in a good way *smirk*). In fact, I forgot to get something out for dinner, so we ended up having leftovers. Separately, even, as I got hungry before Greg did. I think we're going to try to pull it together and make it out to dinner this weekend.

Nothing else big on tap for the weekend. Just some cleaning, relaxing.

Oh, and the pleasure that will be taking the cats back to the vet tomorrow for their booster shot. We got a 2nd cat carrier, and brought them into the house earlier this week. I'm hoping we can just tag team them and get them both in carriers before they figure out what's going on. Wish us luck!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Got a message on my cell phone today, from a nice woman wondering if I was out shopping or at Jean's house, but wishing me a happy valentine's day nonetheless. Another wrong number, even after changing my cell phone number a month ago.

Cyst

I finally went to the doctor yesterday, after a few abnormal symptoms. Found out I have a huge cyst on one of my ovaries.

It explains a lot, but I'm still pretty upset about it. In hindsight, I knew it was there -- but when they found it two years ago, it was no big deal, and I had forgotten about it. Apparently, though, it has started growing in the last year or so.

I'm on medication to try to reduce it now, and go back in a month to make sure it's getting smaller.

When the doctor saw how big it was, she said incredulously, "And you're not in any pain?!?!" Actually, no. Not really. But I think that means I am due some whining and moping time.

Just feeling kind of crappy.

And I need to stop listening when people tell me my symptoms are "normal," when I know in my gut that they are not.

Skiing ... or not.

Today was supposed to be our downhill skiing day, to a place that Greg used to frequent growing up. When we got up this morning, it was snowing ever so lightly. We loaded up, and headed out ... and the snow kept getting heavier and heavier. Greg was driving (his parents' brand new car). I was nervous from the moment we left, but he said he was ok driving, so I kept quiet and tried to focus on how pretty the snow was, not how much was piling up on the road. The highway was pretty clear, but we had a ways to go on a two lane road. The further we went, the worse the roads got. And they appeared to be worse in the opposite direction we were going. Finally, we decided that it was just going to get worse, and the access road was going to be a nightmare. I think we were both a bit relieved when we decided to turn around.




The roads continued to get worse on our way back. We stopped at a rest area on the highway for no more than 5 minutes to call Greg's parents and make a quick bathroom stop. By the time we got back in the car, the windows were fogged and covered with snow, and the highway was down to one lane. The picture of the moose was from the rest area.


As we got back in towards Burlington, the snow stopped falling, but the snow on the roads seemed to turn to a packed slush. Us wimpy southerners were a bit afraid that the slush was going to turn into a big sheet of ice. But we made it home safely.

After lunch, some of us took a nice nap on the sofa. The road conditions had improved a bit, and we thought some fresh air might do us good. We went downtown to have a look around. Downtown Burlington is in the midst of a Winter Carnival, and I had seen in the paper yesterday morning that there were a bunch of ice sculptures on the pedestrian street. We checked those out, and were a little disappointed to find that the "officially" sanctioned sculptures were all pretty much advertisements. Here's one for a French restaurant.

There was one further up the street of a bear with a fluorescent light bulb that didn't appear to be officially sanctioned, and was more of a statement on global warming. We also checked out a store that was featuring some art and sculptures of high school students using recycled or reused materials, which was pretty cool.

Over the mountain (well, hill) and through the woods

We made it to Vermont yesterday, with no major airline or weather issues. In fact, we were on time! Let's just hope that we're that lucky trying to get home on Monday.

We went cross country skiing today with Greg's parents at a place called Catamount. We tried skiing ourselves (all of us novices) when we first got there, and then had a lesson a little later. It was definitely a full body workout... and I definitely don't have the balance or the experience on skis to take to it naturally.

Some photos (some of these are from Dad S.):





They also had a sledding hill, off in the distance in the 2nd photo below. As you can also see in the 2nd photo below, it started snowing lightly later in the afternoon. Maybe another 1-2 inches overnight?



We definitely over dressed -- scarves, hats, double layer jackets. We had to shed lots of layers, and still ended up sweaty. And a nice photo to document that:


Give me another day of perspective, and I'll tell you it was fun. A stop at Starbucks on the way home helped nurse my wounded pride.

A word needs to be invented.

I do some of my best thinking in the shower. For example, this is where it finally occurred to me that, if we put a plastic bag into the paper shredder bin, we wouldn't have to pour the bin into a bag every time it was full, inevitably spilling paper shreds everywhere. (Interestingly, I didn't take action on this idea right away. Later that same week, I saw that Greg had put a bag in the bin -- I hadn't said a word. We've had the shredder for a couple of years now. Just more proof that we were meant for each other!)

Anyhow, my revelation of this week is that there needs to be a word for the water that runs into the caps of shampoo bottles (tubes of face wash cream, etc), cools, and collects there, and always splashes on you every time you use the bottle. A word for that awful, nasty splash of cold water that I try to rationalize *hasn't* been there since the last shower...

Any ideas?

One a day - Week 4+

I can't believe I made it through one project a day for all of January. I'm so completely out of ideas. I think I need a little break. :) Towards the end, I was happy with fewer and fewer of them. A couple of these came out ok, but a couple are still missing ... something.

Jan 22: Moms and Dads. "We were so lucky to get to spend part of our fall vacation to New England with both sets of our parents at once. On this day, we went out for a drive at peak leaf season up to Smuggler's Notch. We stopped a few times in search of a hiking trail to a waterfall. These photos are from when we found it."


Jan 23: Sweet. "Mike's Pastry is an *INSTITUTION* in the North End of Boston. The line is always out the door and down the block. This night was an unseasonably warm evening in October, so we took our eclairs and went to sit in Government Center to eat them, in the glow of the thousands of pumpkins that were carved earlier that day."


Jan 24: Greg. "There's no way I can ever tell you enough just how much I love you and how much you mean to me. Nope. Not enough hours in the day, not enough words to describe it. But that's ok, because a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So, every time I insist on taking another picture of you, just think of it as my way of saying, a thousand times, I love you."


Jan 25: You Were Warned. Not sure if you can see it, but the cup lid says "Caution: I'm hot!" "This photo still makes me giggle. We stopped at McDonalds for coffee on the way to Myrtle Beach. Sept 07."


Jan 26: Men. This one still needs the most work. I'm not happy with it ... the photo's just kind of hanging out there. This was one from a weekend, too, where I spent way too much time thinking about it. One thing I learned from this experience was that the ones that come together the easiest (or, at least the ideas come together quickly. Some of that stitching took a while!) usually ended up turning out the best. "Dad G., Dad S., Greg."


Jan 27: Ready for our Close-up. Circle says "for the future. for change. for new challenges and adventures. for fun. for whatever comes our way."


Jan 28: Stormy Skies. Was kind of hoping that paint would dry an awful lot lighter, more of a lime green. So it goes. "Sept. 2007. One of my favorite photos ever. Taken at Cherry Grove Pier, Myrtle Beach."


Jan 29: Very Very Merry. This is a pretty crappy (and yellow) photo, but I forgot to take another one over the weekend when I could actually see some natural light. I'm not even going to try to scan it, though, because those little christmas trees are on tiny little clothes pins, but they really stick out from the page.


Jan 30: That's My Dad. Sorry about the crappy scan -- anything with dimension, particularly buttons, really wins in a battle with the scanner. "That's my dad, taking photos of Lake Champlain that he will turn into a panorama. I grew up in admiration of his pictures, and, perhaps more so, his ability to turn a passion into an occupation. I know now how lucky I am to have him to teach me. And I attribute my love of colors, shapes, patters, photos, graphic design, and now scrapbooking, to him, and to growing up trained to really see the world around me."


Jan 31: Loves (2008). "Greg. chocolate pudding, milk, cereal, and mom's pot roast. the antics of Dusty and Lefty. The Office, The Amazing Race, Dirty Jobs. the internet, blogs, online shopping, my Mac. my family. weekends, naps, and a big comfy bed. green, orange, red, blue, pink, purple, yellow. friends, new & old. scrapbooking."

Trying to Get/Stay Healthy

Greg and I have been congested for weeks, trying not to blame it on the cats and allergies. Greg started coughing last night, and had a low grade fever. So we just chilled and watched the Mythbusters marathon instead of the Super Bowl. He was still feeling bad this morning, and stayed home. He went to the dr, and is now all doped up. Feeling a little bit better, and his fever has gone back down. Doctor said there was a chance that it was bronchitis, so he's on antibiotics, too. Nurse Lefty has taken perch on Greg's chest. (Greg and Lefty are BEST FRIENDS.)

My congestion is a bit better today. It seems to come and go. I found some decongestants from the last head cold I had, which are also the same ones the dr prescribed for Greg. Right now, I'm a little worried about flying up to Vermont on Friday. Hoping that we're both feeling up for it.

Over the weekend, we went to the movies for the first time since August, and saw Juno. It was SO good - so funny!

Not much else going on here. I've got some laundry to fold before I can get in bed.

Drive Thru

It's now a tradition.

On Friday night, we go to the gym, come home, eat dinner, clean up. Then, we go to the Starbucks Drive Thru.

In our pajamas.

No, Starbucks. Thank you.

We Lost 2 Cats!

Well, two Leftys, to be exact. Dusty's a little bigger boned.

Greg and I each lost 7 lbs in January (Dusty weighs 7lbs 8 oz). I have a feeling it's going to be harder and harder, especially when we start throwing in travel. But, so far, so good.

In other news, we got to go to the gym a little early today. At about 3:20, there was a note on the internal website, saying that the power company was on the way to the site and, because of some arcing, they'd probably turn off power to the entire site. I hit save on everything, and ran to the ATM in the cafeteria. As I was walking back, it was about 3:45 ... and the power went off. My office was a black hole - I have no windows. Greg called (interestingly, the phones worked) and said his boss had sent them home. You don't have to tell us twice!

Had to wait until we got to the gym to go to the bathroom -- darn those automatic flush toilets!