Mad Zoo House

1. I now find things like belts all over the house, no matter how well I think I've kept them up too high.
   
2. Anything moving somewhat quickly (even feet when walking) is enough to drive him into a frenzy and attack.
3. No matter how many times he gets scared of the dogs, he still keeps coming back for more.
4. No matter where he is when he gets scared of said dogs, he will run OVER me (claws extended, naturally) to get away.
5. Kittens can apparently levitate up five feet if their food dish is up there. Even if they didn't see you put it there.
6. Fishing garbage like used tissues out of the trash can is fun!
7. Crocheting + Kittens = snags
8. Kittens move fast. And often run right under your feet for some reason.
9. They don't appreciate knock knock jokes.
10. Kittens will continue to run outside regardless of how many times dogs show up and spook them as soon as they get outside.
    

Which is a shame, really, because 33 is such a nice number. And apparently now I'm basically middle aged. *gasp* Well, I won't clutch the pearls yet. Aside from a few more aches and pains, the inability to stay up past midnight compared to a decade ago when I thought it was a shame that bars only stayed open until 2am, and the shock I feel whenever I see what "the kids" are wearing, I still feel like I'm in my 20s. That's probably helped by the fact that I still don't know what the hell I want to be when I grow up. But, at least it's better than being a character on the Simpsons who never age and have to wear the same outfit every day. Happy birthday to me!

I'm excited about these custom projects!

toddler fall sweater:


baby blanket:

Perhaps it's the humans who are mad. Over a month ago I shared that we had foster kittens in our basement. After two courses of meds for their colds, they finally got better and were able to be put up for adoption. Well, we kept one of them.

His name was Teddy but he is now Claudius or Fluffer McFlufferton at the mad zoo house.




I am also happy to report that his little foster brother and sister were also adopted, one by a friend of a friend, so we'll get to "see" him grow up! Which is good because they were very close.



Sir Claudius is settling into the house and all the other animals quite well. He is really taken to Moe, which is adorable. The girls aren't crazy about him, but who are we kidding? They aren't crazy about anyone. Claud just needs to learn to ignore the dogs instead of the whole back-arching, ear-flattening, hissing thing. As it stands how he does a lot of dashing away when he sees them, which of course just means that they see him as a challenge. :P Overall, he's pretty relaxed:

One of my best friends, really. We were friends for years, starting back in Iowa City when we both worked at a menial data entry job. We both ended up in Portland years later. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding. At that point I was her oldest friend, having let other long-lasting friendships fall by the wayside (talk about a red flag). It's probably close to 4 years since we've spoken. She got cancer and at the time I let that be her excuse for pulling away. But since then I've had to accept that she seemed to have plenty of time and energy for other friends in her life. I've tried to apply a meditative view that friendships evolve and change over time, and that's fine for the most part. But there are still times that the way she handled things really hurt. She's in Tucson now, moved there without saying goodbye to me, then acted appalled when I shared how much that hurt me. Thanks to the magic of google, I know she and her boyfriend/fiance/maybe husband for all I know own a dog daycare and he is in a new band called Quincy.

Back in the day in Iowa City, she desperately wanted me to see the movie Breaking the Waves. It's supposedly a beautiful movie. I didn't have premium cable at the time so I asked her to tape it for me (for you youngsters, this was before the time of Tivo). The first time, she screwed up the timer. The second time, we think her dog stepped on the remote and screwed up the timer. And so on. It became an exercise in hilarity. Finally I just rented the damn thing. Wouldn't you know it the video store copy (yes, kids, also before DVDs) was snowy and fuzzy and basically ruined.

Now, thanks to the wonder that is Netflix I finally took it upon myself to see the movie. Guess what, I couldn't do it. I got perhaps 15 minutes in. I guess my former friend has ruined for me what is supposed to be a wonderful movie. But, maybe if one of you hasn't heard of it and now sees it and enjoys it, maybe that's enough of a pay it forward.