Who knew it would be so hard?

Little did I know that when I took the picture of the snow curley melting off my windshield, it would be the last photo of Barbie.

Last Saturday I cleaned her up, ran her through the car wash and vacuum and then took her to a family friend to sell. He’s a mechanic and since he owns the place, he can keep her there to sell for me.

I was a little worried about selling her on my own, being that I’m a single woman and how do I handle showing the car? It’s not like there’s a guy who can help me out with all that. So having our family mechanic sell the car is the perfect solution. Now I just have to wait for someone to come along and buy it.

What I didn’t expect was that I got a little teary when we drove away from the garage. Seriously – it’s a THING. But when I told my Mom about it she said she was crying when she & Dad sold the car she drove for 17 years. So I guess we don’t realize how much our cars mean to us and how much they’re a part of our lives.

Barbie and I went through a lot together in the 10 years I owned her. Tires, breaks, door hinges, lights, compressors, mystery problems with the check engine light, electric windows that wouldn’t go up or down, a hood release that wouldn’t. Not to mention the long and horrible commute to the Ad Agency I worked at (35 mile commute that took an hour and a half each way). After all that, she's in good working order.

When I purchased Barbie I had to wait for her to be delivered. They weren’t making too many New Beetles with an automatic transmission. Even so, it hardly took any time at all for me to name her. She was always “Barbie the Blue Bug”. Now that I’ll have a new to me car, I have no idea what to name her or if I even should. Other than the fact that she is white and 7 years old (with only 45,000 miles on it!) I have no real impression of “who” this car is.

I'll be picking her up on Saturday, so I'm sure I'll have an idea by the time I get her home.

Stuff

Katie is much better. When I took her to the vet the area around her eye was swollen. I think if she were a person she would have had a black eye. Anyway, when the vet looked at her she was happy to see that there was no scratch on her cornea which would have been something we’d have to really watch and make sure it healed. But her inner eyelid was very swollen and red. The vet gave me broad spectrum antibiotic drops for her. Getting the drops into Katie’s eye has been such a challenge. It’s really a 2 person job, although I’ve been able to get two drops in her eye twice on my own. Thank GOD my downstairs neighbor is willing to help.

This photo is from before the eye issue. But it’s been a while since I posted a picture of Katie, so here she is.

This morning her eye looked back to normal. She isn’t half closing it and it doesn’t look weepy at all. My SIL said it didn’t even look red when she put the drops in. Yeah, I have an army of helpers.

The boys are staying me again because the flooring guys did a bad job so they had to come back and replace boards, sand, and polyurethane the whole thing again. So that’s how my SIL got involved with me and Katie and the eye drops.
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I loved the idea of having road repairs and construction done at night. When I had a long commute and would drive past construction zones, it really made sense to have the roadway open and ready for the AM traffic. That was before they started repairs to a small part of the highway I live off of. Now, this isn’t like route 95 or any other major roadway that you can get on and go. This is a two lane road with lights every 500 yards. This is a road that goes through residential areas.

Tuesday night I sat bolt upright in my bed because someone was banging on my door. Then I heard it again and it wasn’t my door at all. Then I heard the unmistakable “beep beep beep” of a truck backing up, then the banging again. This went on all night. It started again last night at around 7PM and continued all night. The construction zone is no more than a quarter of a mile away from me. I’m sure the people across the street, who are closer to the mayhem, can hear their dishes rattling in their cabinets. It’s horrible. And there isn’t anyone to complain to.
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FOs to report... here are my first three Hats for Alex.

And lastly – this cracked me up. Look at how the snow melted down my windshield last week. Just kind of rolled down. Heh!

It’s Doris Chan’s fault

Amazing Crochet Lace is making me insane. I haven’t even made the Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl (which is amazing) and Doris Chan has me combing the internet for doily patterns I can “explode”. I have quite the stack of great ideas.

But then I got to thinking maybe I should practice making a doily before I use some good worsted wool on something that may come out wonky. So I went to Michael’s and got some crochet cotton (because I only needed one ball and it was like $3) and the correct size hook and started making a freaking doily. Yeah – the kind your granny has in her house.

DOILIES!

This is bad. BAD. I have all sorts of ideas flashing through my head. I promise I’m not going to end up putting doilies on the backs and arms of my furniture, but I’m so incredibly inspired. This tiny hook and bit of cotton string, a couple of nights and look what happens:

Let’s not mention the obscene amount of lace weight yarn I have in my stash, which is just about the same gauge as crochet cotton.

I’m very scared.

Ugg

So when I got home after the Giants game, Katie and Noel were having run and play time (I think for Katie it's more like "I get to chase that annoying kitten" time), when I heard the fight start. The cat smackdown. Then one of them howled like they were hurt. I got out of bed and went to see what damage was done and they were both looking at me like "Fight? Us? No, not us." Since there was no visible damage I went back to bed.

Then last night when I got home from work I noticed that Katie's right eye was teary. I went to wipe it and that's when I saw that she was trying to keep it sort of closed. She wouldn't let me look at it so I let her be. I was mildly worried but figured it would be better today.

Well this morning it was the same, but I could tell she wasn't feeling good because the "WOOHOO Mommy's up" run and chase each other was more of a trot after Noel, not the usual full speed chase. While I was putting on my make-up, Katie jumped up for a drink of water and she actually let me look at her eye. It's all red and teary, which I'm sure isn't really bad, but I have a vet appointment for her after work. I bet she got jabbed in the eye during the smackdown and it will be OK.

But I'm worried sick about my baby girl. What if something other than a poke in the eye is going on? If I could take her now I would. My poor Katie-bug!

Could you imagine what a horribly over-bearing protective mom I'd be if I had human kids???? I'd need to have a Xanax Pez Dispenser!

Not "eh" any more!

In the immortal words of my Brother. "Now the whole country knows what it feels like to be a Giants fan." Every game is full of ups and downs. You can't turn a Giants game off because they never WIN a game out-right. It's always down to the wire.

But DAMN what an exciting, heart wrenching game!

SUPERBOWL BABY!

eh…

That’s pretty much my attitude lately; eh. Everything in my life seems so unfinished, or unstarted, or stalled, or idling. It’s wearing me down and tiring me out.

I was at the psychiatrist on Monday after work and as my appointment was ending my phone rang. I looked at the caller info and saw it was my SIL. I knew she’d leave a message so the Dr and I looked back to our calendars to set my next appointment. The phone rang again. My SIL NEVER calls back twice like that so I knew there was an emergency.

They are in the last weeks of having an addition put on their house. Monday was the day scheduled for the subcontractor to come and sand and polyurethane the hardwood floors. They show up at 4PM. So she wanted to see if I could take the boys for the night so they didn’t have to breathe in fresh chemical smell all night.

Now the boys are never any trouble when they stay over, but they do interrupt my very busy schedule of knitting, TV watching and cat refereeing. Not to mention that I don’t sleep well when they sleep over. It has nothing to do with them but I’m always listening, waking myself up to make sure everything is OK. They were with me for 2 nights. Wednesday night I was exhausted and still I ended up watching Project Runway till 11PM. By that time I had a bit of a second wind and I read till midnight, which is very late for me.

I’m walking around in a haze today. I’m definitely not “Claritin Clear” and I didn’t even take anything that could make me groggy. So I’m very uninspired to do anything today. Except go home and take a nice long nap.

I have been knitting and crocheting tho. I finished the Embossed Leaves socks. I’ve stepped up the production on my afghan. I started a snuggle blanket for my charity project and started another pair of socks with the new Noro sock yarn. This is a pattern of my own design because I didn’t want a plain ole pair of socks just to see what the striping did. I wanted the sock to have some interest besides the striping.

So this is what I came up with, a twisted rib sock.

I’ve also been trying to finish up the Argosy Baby Blanket for next week some time. The baby is due on the 31st, so I probably have a little bit past that date since this is a first child. Although I’m not going to count on that.

Oh and did I mention I’m in charge of planning an office baby shower? I better get on that huh?

My current WIPs I’m feeling very “eh” about too. I know when they’re done I’ll be really pleased but they’re not inspiring me to pick up needles or a hook. I’d rather play Puzzle Quest on my DS.

And, because you haven’t seen pics of anything I’ve finished recently here are the Embossed Leaves socks (finished in 2008) and Rosebud Scarf (started and finished 2008) and the Striped Vest (which isn’t striped at all) which was my last finish of 2007. It was also the first time I steeked anything. I didn’t even have to drink or lie down. I sewed, I looked at it carefully for a few minutes to make sure the stitching was OK and then I cut. It would have been useless if I hadn’t cut it and I wanted it done. It’s my favorite sweater.

Katie and Noel seem to be getting along OK. There are the usual kitty chases at 6AM, again when I get home and again when I get in bed. Other than that, there is no playing together. Not that I expect Katie (who is 5) to be all thrilled to play with an 8 month old kitten, but well, Noel isn’t even allowed to touch Katie like at all.

You should have seen the look on Katie's face a 1/2 hour before this...

Katie still has her favorite spot on the love seat. Noel isn’t allowed there which was established really early on. But Noel isn’t even allowed on there when Katie is there. Noel keeps trying to clean and cuddle Katie, but she’s having none of it. I know it’s just a matter of time, and there have been instances of almost cuddling. I also know it may change and it may stay this way.

ize luuuuvvv dis toiz.

But in the mean time, Noel is a bundle of unbridled energy. She can’t believe that she gets treats, and toys and a mom to sleep with. She carries her favorite toy from room to room to be with us. She is fascinated by the shower. I am so happy that I rescued her. She makes me laugh every day and I need that.

My first WIP post of 2008

…and I have no photos to show you. I thought about it as I fell asleep last night and then I woke up too late this morning to do anything more than shower and get dressed. I may squeak some pics in under the wire later.

So instead of showing you the Argosy Baby Blanket which I tinked back, fixed, and have been working on steadily since the weekend. Or the hexagons I’ve been crocheting for the afghan I’m designing. Or the 2 pair of socks in progress, I’m going to tell you about my planned charity knitting.

I’ll be knitting Hats for Alex. Pam has come up with a monthly prize for whoever sends in 3 hats that month so for those of you who are prize motivated – go see what she’s offering for January. It’s very yummy yarn! There are two reasons I’m going to knit hats again this year, first, my heart aches when I think of Alex and his family. If I can do a little tiny thing like knit baby hats out of all the left over yarn I have to say thank you to the hospital that cared for that baby, then I will. And I’ll be getting rid of the left over partial balls of yarn I have in one of those x-large Ziploc bags. It’s a win-win situation.

Secondly, with the arrival of a little black bundle of furry love (and boundless energy), I decided I need to do what I can to help my local animal shelter. They have a wish list on line of both cat and dog items they’re in need of. Blankets appear on both the lists, preferably made with acrylic yarn and I have inherited tons of the stuff. I know the site says they want the yarn, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to have completed snuggle blankets. I’ll more than likely be crocheting the blankets because that goes quickly for me.

The goal is 3 hats and 2 blankets a month.

What charity knitting do you have planned?

Cat Xanax

Feliway!!

I bought the Feliway diffuser and had it shipped before I even left NC. I read Turtlegirl's blog and if it could solve her kitty issues, well, that was enough for me.

Monday, I plugged it in and left the house to meet Jen for coffee and belated Christmas celebrating. I got home a couple hours later, spent another hour with Katie and then let Noel out of her room. Now - 3 days later, they sleep on the bed with me (not together tho), drink from the sink at the same time and I even caught them touching noses this morning.

It was well worth it! Thanks for blogging about it Cristi.

Look what came for Christmas!

I was with my family in NC for Christmas. A couple of days before I headed south, my Mom called to say she was doing something she hadn't done in just under 8 years;

"I'm scraping frost off my car!" It was kind of funny that she was so excited about it. Then she said that before she left the house she checked the thermometer outside to see what the temp was and there was this little black kitten sitting on their back doorstep. She said it was very cute and looked very clean. We decided that she had to have been dropped off by someone who didn't want her if she was on the back step looking to get inside. Mom didn't let her in since they were watching my brother's dog.

Over the next couple of days Mom and Dad didn't see the cat so the hoped someone had adopted it. I drove to NC the Thursday before Christmas and when I arrived my family and my brother's dog came out of the house to greet me. As we were standing in the driveway hugging and greeting, the little black kitten trotted out of the bushes like "Hi! I'm here too!" Dad shooed it away.
The next morning I was determined to rescue the kitten and get it to a no-kill shelter. Mom and I called every place and person we could think of and every place we were referred to from vets offices, animal hospitals and even my brother's chiropractor. Mom even had her Mah Jongg group looking for someone to take the kitten. We tried places within a 40 mile radius of their house and there was literally "No room at the inns".

So I took matters into my own hands. I called a local vet and we borrowed a cat carrier and we took her over there to get checked out. I had in the back of my mind that as a last resort I'd adopt her. As we waited for my brother to arrive with the carrier, the little kitty was winding herself around my Mom's legs and Mom said to her "Aren't you just a little Noel." Mom named her without even realizing it.

The vet looked at her and told us she was very clean (no fleas, ticks or ear mites), her tests for feline leukemia and feline aids came back negative. So she got booster shots for all diseases and I boarded her for 4 nights (they threw in a night for free since I rescued her).

On the way home (12 hours in a car!), Noel was the perfect traveler. Once I moved her new carrier so she could look at me easily, she quieted down and slept most of the way. Then I noticed her sneezing and coughing a little, and once she sneezed so much - well - it was obvious she was congested.
When we got home I put Noel into a room of her own and gave Katie lots of love and hugs and kisses. Katie was a little wary of Noel, but since she was in a closed room, Katie couldn't care less about her.

Saturday was the soonest I could get Noel to my vet and she has a cold. She's been on antibiotics since then and now that she's better, she's out and about with me and Katie. Katie isn't all too pleased about the new addition, but other than growling and hissing there haven't been any Smackdown vs Raw matches.

Oh and the other thing - the vet shaved her abdomen to see if she had been spayed, and she has been. Now seriously - who spends all that money on a cat and then dumps it???

So now we're a house full of chicks. Two Jersey Girls and a Southern Belle.