PetSmart Closure Has Cat Rescuers Scrambling

That's my (not so) little D'Anna in the photo! Awwwww!

I took 2 Excedrin, drank a cup of coffee, and am currently finishing a bottle of Dr Pepper.

My hope is that with enough caffeine, I will be able to accomplish something today. Anything would be great. I'd be satisfied with one cleaned toilet, honestly. (And maybe bathed dogs because Kiki smells.)

The HoA has gone on a rampage. One day my next door neighbor's truck had a parking boot on it. Martin and I were amazed. "I've never seen those anywhere but England," Martin said. "I've only ever seen them in the movies," said sheltered little me.

And that was just the beginning. Boots, boots, everywhere!

To be fair, everyone ignored the nastygrams in the mail, and then they ignored the NO PARKING signs erected after the nastygrams failed. But wow. The HoA means business now, let me tell you. Even cars parked in the designated parking areas are getting the boot. It's insanity!

Oh well. At least this latest campaign doesn't affect Martin and me (unlike the periodic weed rampages), because we only have one car. If they start one against, I don't know, barking dogs or something? We are doomed.

While walking the dogs this morning, a blister on my heel exploded. It hurt. I ended up taking off my shoes and finishing the walk in my socks which was slightly less painful than having the shoe rub against the exploded blister but it still sucked.

I'm stalling. Come on caffeine, kick in!

I don't understand my cat. Why does he always look so grumpy? He's such a sweet, gentle little guy - when he's not tossing kittens off his tower.

I wish that I had the tools and the skill to build my own cat towers. I'd make them SO AWESOME! And they'd be all over my house, so the cats wouldn't have to walk on the floor unless they wanted to. They'd be leaping from tower to tower like monkeys and laughing at the dogs down below.

I still want to keep Kittentron. Trying to figure out the best way to present the idea to Martin. Hm.

Teaspoon says: who approaches my tower? Prepare to get pitched right off, little cat!

If you buy something from the UK amazon site, it's a shopping basket, not cart. And it doesn't say "ship to this address", it says "dispatch to this address".

Dispatch!

I don't know why, but I'm smitten and want to do all of my shopping there from now on. Shame about the shipping (I mean delivery!) costs. And having to fly everything across the ocean...

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/07/lessons-from-rape-culture.html

Once, I confessed to a friend the details of a sexual encounter that "wasn't rape", but still haunted me.

Years later (and I do mean years) that same friend and I were having a conversation about a hypothetical scenario and before I realized what he was getting at, I'd said something like, "what the fuck you stupid asshole, that's rape!

Oh. Oh! I see what you did there.

I can present the details of that situation (which I'm sparing you because my poor parents have been known to read this) as an adult and have the satisfaction of an immediate, shared, wtf? And sure, like I said - it haunts me. But it is nothing, nothing compared to the years of "I've never been raped, but"

That's what weighs so heavily on me. That's what I'm just barely starting to sort out sixteen years after I started having sex.

I can point to the time I "wasn't raped" and say holy shit, that was fucked up. But that's like saying "hey, I have a broken arm" when my entire body is riddled with cancer.

So that post I linked above. I read it and cried and now I am reading comments added from people with similar experiences and it's not as lonely or confusing when someone, bless her, spells it all out so the rest of us who can't articulate what we feel can point instead and say, THIS!

I was waiting in the car for Martin to come out of Starbucks, eagerly awaiting my mini cherry pie when my brain flashed to the number that came up on the scale when I weighed myself this morning.

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What did that headline say, something about eating less calories helps you live longer? Oh wait, Junkfood Science debunked it. Cool, bring on the mini pie! I am so fat. Maybe that's why my back hurts today. Or maybe it was those shoes I wore that aren't giant orthopedic clodhoppers, which are apparently what my aging body requires now. When did I get too old for cute shoes?

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Youth Dew (the perfume). Have I ever smelled that? Yeah, I did once at the Estee Lauder counter. I think it was pretty nasty but I can't quite remember.

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Isn't Estee Lauder the company with that anti-aging potion that like, slows down your cells or something? And wait, isn't that somehow connected with that dude who says using moisturizer causes wrinkles, because it makes your skin lazy? What the hell am I thinking of? Fuck, I can't remember.

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Am I prematurely aging my already-doomed skin because I use moisturizer? But I've been told all my life that moisturizing will prevent wrinkles. Oh god, will SOMEBODY FIGURE IT OUT ALREADY SO I CAN STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT!

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I'm pretty sure that everyone agrees on stress making you look older.

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Ooh, there's Martin! And my mini pie!

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WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY WERE OUT OF MINI PIES?! I've been sitting here waiting for my pie and thinking about... what the hell have I been thinking about? I'm going to blog this.

It's early on a Sunday morning and I am full of glee because Milo just made his first solid poop.

Help.

NEW SHINY! WE ARE MESMERIZED!


I checked Petfinder today and it looks like Six and Athena have both been adopted. *sniffle*

Kittentron made a break for it the other day and I learned that Teaspoon really seems to miss having kitty company. He and Kittentron were friends immediately and now Teaspoon keeps trying to get into the kitten room to play.

I think it's imperative that we adopt one more cat, for Teaspoon's well-being.

Kittentron would be the perfect choice. I'm also partial to Sebastian, who will kiss your nose if you hold him up to your face.

*flees*

When I run to my doctor and say, "please help me, my medication isn't working anymore!"

Summer defeats me. And my Prozac.

Kittentron is playing with my tail again!
( poor Suki )

The pet store that houses the rescue's adoption center is closing and they don't have a new place lined up.

That means every cat at the adoption center is going to need a foster home in a few weeks, and I suspect all of my kittens will be coming back to me except for lucky little Boomer, the only adoptee.

Holy shit. Ten cats in the house? Martin will kill me.

If it does turn out that way (oh holy crap NO NO NO) that will be the end of my fostering adventure. Sometimes I feel like everything I try to do ends in disaster.

Woe!

The $30 I spent on the stupid kitty window seat is justified. I didn't think he was ever going to use the damn thing!

There is this scene in the trailer for Julie and Julia where Julie is flat on her back on the kitchen floor, surrounded by some kind of food catastrophe, and she just wails, "there's all of this stuff on the floor!"

I think I've seen that bit at least ten times because it cracks me up and I can totally relate. (almost daily, in fact)

Last night I heard the sound of glass breaking followed by Martin yelling "fuck!" so I peered around the corner to see what was going on.

As Martin tells it, he was carrying a plate down the stairs and it fell, bounced off the handrail, and shattered. Then, the box that contained my nacho leftovers slid all the way down the handrail, sailed off the end, then hit the wall where the contents exploded in a spray of refried beans and salsa.

At first all I saw was so much food all over the wall that it was waist-high, and Chipotle salsa from Rubio's (which is dark brown, like poo) plopped all over the stairs. (carpeted, of course)

Martin was at the top of the stairs cracking up while he tried to hold the dogs back and I was at the bottom of the stairs sizing up the mess and even though I wanted to laugh too, the disaster was overwhelming and once I saw the shattered glass everywhere I yelled instead.

(What I really wanted to do was just throw myself on the ground and wail, "there's all of this stuff on the floor!")

And man, I don't think I can ever eat the chipotle salsa from Rubio's again. It has flecks of what looks like black pepper which I never noticed while I was eating it. No, I noticed it while I was trying to scrape the stubborn little bits off the paint and failing miserably. There is still some pepper stuck on the wall and even though you can't see it unless you get on your knees and shove your face into it, I KNOW IT IS THERE and it will remain there probably until the place gets repainted in 100 years.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Today, Sadie/Bitchface actually chased the laser dot, took a nap on my lap, and most unbelievably of all - SHE PURRED!

Then, as if these events weren't momentous enough, she spent about 10 seconds acting as though she enjoyed having her ears scratched. It's been quite a day for this little diva!

If the cost of repairing your car's air conditioning is equal to 1/3 of the car's total value...

I say trade it in and get a new one!

Unfortunately, Martin doesn't agree with me. :P

Stupid car. If it were here instead of at the car shop sucking the life out of my bank account, I'd kick it.

I somehow ended up with a dog who will wear a hat cheerfully. I guess that makes up for the puppy destruction?

The car's a/c is dead. It was an uncomfortably hot ride to get coffee this morning at 6:30, so I'm pretty sure that trying to drive around later will KILL ME.

Martin and I have been sort of barely kinda talking about the possibility of a second car. He'd get a commutermobile and I'd keep the CRV and we'd each have our own car omg!

OUR OWN CARS! No more sharing! Unbelievable!

You need to pull through this, trusty CRV. There is the teensiest possibility that you might be mine all mine someday and I'd really like to not die of heat stroke while we are cruising around enjoying the mineness of you.

I didn't think it was possible for Kittentron to look any more ridiculous, but here you go!



His newly-freed leg (which you can't see in the photo, thankfully) looks like a gnarly mess but the vet says the inflammation will go down and the hair will grow back so it's just temporary.

Unfortunately, the other kittens FREAKED OUT at the sight of Kittentron in his cone, so he has no friends to welcome him back and congratulate him on the cast removal. Poor little fella!

So fat that while I was sitting here with the cell phone in my back pocket, I didn't hear it ring. My ass is so wide and dense and GINORMOUS that it muffled a ringing cell phone?! I'm mostly horrified but kind of impressed too.

It was the vet calling to say that Kittentron's cast is off and I can go pick him up, but he has to wear an e-collar for a few days. Poor Kittentron. It's just indignity after indignity!

I'm worried about these kitties finding homes. All but Kittentron are in the adoption center, but Boomer is the only one who has been adopted so far. (and they are all getting so big, argh!) There isn't any more room so the second group of fosters I got has to stay with me until some kitties move out. I don't mind keeping them for a while (even though I've secretly renamed Sadie "Bitchface") but they are just going to get big too, and then they will be harder to adopt out, and I'm totally new at this but completely overwhelmed by how hopeless it seems.

And then there was this BPAL update and I was all like omg omg omg and I bought some stuff, but as soon as I submitted my order I realized that I could have spent that money on something worthwhile, like a donation to the rescue - and now I am wondering how I am going to separate this stuff in my head.

I have made progress though. I didn't cry when I took Six and Athena to the adoption center! Go me!

His little cheeks crack me up.
( zzzzzz )

I've got cat crap on me somewhere, but I can't find it. I can smell it and I just know it's a hidden smear of kitten diarrhea or something similarly disgusting.

Whee!