How I Became a Cat Person

After Tuesday night's anniversary post, I figured it was worth taking a moment to share Lady Bug adoption story too.

I've had Lady for almost 3.5 years.  Like I shared on her birthday last year, and it's true more today than it was then!, those years have been pretty full.  We've lived in five different apartments, in three cities.  We've traveled back and forth across the country a couple of times.  We adopted a second cat.  We've been through some pretty crappy relationships - both romantic and platonic - and had multiple jobs.

I adopted Lady after a very bad break up.

Or let me rephrase that.  I adopted Lady after I thought a really bad relationship was ending.  It dragged on for much longer than I care to admit after that.  But the first end to that relationship was definitely the catalyst to adopting her in the first place.

My apartment seemed so empty and I was looking for something to love - something that wouldn't cheat on me, that would be an asshole, that wouldn't tell me that every single things I did was wrong.  I was much more of a dog person - truthfully, I still am - but my apartment didn't technically allow any pets and you can't exactly get away with a dog in a complex like that.  Plus I was working about 80 hours a week and going to school full time.  Doesn't leave much room for a dog.

One morning not long after the breakup, my friend Megan and I decided to go to the Humane Society to see if maybe they had a cat for me.  I had in my brain that I was looking for a male cat, at least a year old, preferably all grey.  People kept telling me I would like cats, to at least give it a try.

I wasn't all that convinced at first but I came home with a kitten - not at all what I expect.  She was a female, four months old, that was grey and pink-ish.  In Tuesday's post I talked about how I chose Charlie.  In this instance, Lady Bug chose me.

We played with a lot of cats that day.  Kittens that swarmed us, purring and crying, that were quite adorable.  An older cat that really just needed someone to love her.  Cute little boy cats that tried desperately to fill the void in my heart that I was feeling.

None of them were my cat.

Just as we were leaving empty handed, we decided to stop in the kitten room one last time to absorb the cuteness.  When we first got there, a little kitten - at the time named Angel - had been sleeping in the corner, completely oblivious to the fact that there was a lady there who might want to play with her.

The second foray into the kitten room, she shoved her way through the slithering mass of kittens, climbed right onto my lap, stretched up as high as she could, and kissed me right on the nose.

I was hers.  Instantly.  Without a moment of hesitation - not at all realizing that my little cat was very, very gassy (trust me, it was gross) - I renamed her Lady - she was a prissy little thing and there's isn't an angelic bone in her body - gave her the middle name of Bug - it just suited her - and let her into my heart.

Within a week, she had charmed the football player next door, my best friend, and my family (even if she did run through a plate of chicken parmigiana at Thanksgiving that year).  That little thing was so incredibly sick when I brought her home.  But with a little bit of love, and a little bit of people food which she still steals to this day (what cat likes pizza, tacos, and spaghetti?!), she has grown into a rather-large, very-loving, kind-of-lazy cat.

So there is is.  I was never a cat person until I fell in love with Lady Bug.  It doesn't hurt that she's not a normal cat.  She has a lot of personality and she's way too smart.  She's leash trained (remember the PetSmart story from Tuesday?).  And as crazy as it sounds, she has impeccable sense when it comes to people's character.  I trust her judgement... except for when it comes to my sister.  My vet-school sister.  The only person on the planet Lady hates.

Now that I've aired all of my "I'm a Crazy Cat Lady" glory on the blog, we can get back to my (ir)regular posting.  I'm in the middle of a few different books right now that hopefully I'll finish over the weekend.  Keep an eye out for a review in the next couple of days.

Happy Anniversary, Charlie!

Here we are in the middle of January and I've written twice.  Ugh.  I say this a lot - maybe I should take that as a sign that I need to stop this whole thing - but blogging feels like a chore lately.

Today though, we're celebrating a special anniversary in my house and it's worth writing about.  (Nope, not a dating anniversary.  I honestly have no idea when that would be celebrated.  We are the worst couple ever.)

Two years ago today, I adopted this little fluff ball.

She was so cute and teeny...

A few days ago, a good friend of mine shared her "how my crazy cat joined the family" story and in that same spirit, I decided to share the story about how Charlie joined us.

Let's think back two years ago for a moment.  I had been living in Lexington for almost a year.  I still had about three friends total - and I use that term "friends" very loosely.  Lady Bug (the only cat I thought I ever wanted) and I had just spent 1.5 weeks in Green Bay with my parents, their dog, my sister, her now-husband, their dog and their cat.  Needless to say, Lady Bug and I were lonely.

Exactly two years ago, on a warm Saturday morning, I ran errands on the side of town that I typically avoided.  Because I was in the area, I dropped in at the PetSmart that I very rarely visited.  I was seriously was only looking for litter, food, and possibly a fish to cure Lady's boredom.  My house was a very strict "No-More-Cats-Than-People" house so it had never even crossed my mind to get a second cat.

I had been to PetSmart on adoption day about 100 times and never wanted to take another one home.  But that Saturday - at the PetSmart I never went to - I found this little teeny thing in need of a home.  She was a little ball of white and grey fluff who was too busy playing with her littermates to pay much attention to me.  I stood and talked to the foster lady for a while - much like I do every time without ever wanting to take a kitten home - but this time was different.

I stood there and stared at her for a good half hour before the woman finally convinced me to take her out of the cage.

As I lifted her out, a dog in the next aisle started barking.  The little tiny trembling ball of love curled into my neck and purred her little heart out as if to say, "It's ok.  I'm safe here."

I think my exact words went something along the lines of How much?

I technically left the store without a kitten that day.  I had to go home for my checkbook, I tried to talk myself out of getting another cat, and I needed to talk it over with Lady Bug... and yes, I know that sounds insane.

An hour later I got back to the store - Lady Bug in tow since she loved going to PetSmart - hoping that the dear little thing was still there.  Thankfully she was.  Less 24 hours later, Charlie and Lady were already inseparable.  We had become a two cat family.

Best decision I've ever made.  People who say pets need to come in pairs were right.  Having two little girls means that I never feel guilty leaving them home alone.  They take care of each other.  They play together instead of me always having to entertain them.  They snuggle together but still take turns snuggling with me.  The girls have very different personalities but they compliment each other.  I definitely got lucky - I hear horror stories every day about people bringing another animal into their home and it going horribly wrong.

Funny enough, I truly adopted a kitten - not a cat - that day.  Two years later, she's still teeny tiny.  She's never weighed more than 7 lbs.  She still cries like a lost little baby.  She's still got fluffy soft fur and a perfect pink nose.  She's still spoiled rotten, doesn't do anything for herself, chases things only she can see, wins over everyone who meets her, and acts like she doesn't have a care in the world.  At this age, most cats are adults.  Charlie still acts like a baby.

And she still snuggles into my neck after a long day.  It might take her 5 or 6... or 20... tries to get it just right but her favorite place in the whole world is draped across my chest, her head tucked into my neck, purring so loud that I can't hear the TV.

Happy 2nd anniversary, Charlie!  Thanks for letting me choose you.




P.S. As I write this, I realize that I've never told Lady Bug's "coming home" story.  Stay tuned!

Cozy Holiday Linkup / Favorite Things Friday

Earlier this week, one of my favorite bloggers Nicholl shared that she and Neely were hosting a link up for today.  Considering that Wisconsin get completely dumped on with the winter weather this week, Nicholl and Neely's "Cozy Holiday Linkup" was just the thing I needed!

(Also, since these photos pretty much also represent everything awesome that happened to me this week, I'm linking up with Lauren like always as well.  Even if it's not my top 5... because let's be real, narrowing down 5 favorite cozy things is impossible... it's pretty true to my original Favorite Things Friday posts I was doing way back when and since I used to link up then, I'm stretching the rules and doing so again.)

Ok, without further ado... Rikki's Favorite Cozy Things that Happen to be Posted on a Friday.  Or something like that...

I wrote this post as the wind whistled outside, a pie was in the oven, the girls were sleeping in a little ball on a stool in the kitchen, I was wearing a fuzzy sweater with fuzzy socks and leggings, and I was singing along to Christmas music... if that doesn't spell cozy, I don't know what does.

Happy holidays, friends!  I doubt I'll get around to writing this weekend but you never know.  If not, have a wonderful weekend!

It's Friday (Friday)

Am I the only one who sings this ridiculously annoying song in her head every single time she thinks about writing a Favorite Things Friday / High Five for Friday post?  Yes?  Moving on then....


As always (or when I have time to write these Friday posts) I'm linking up with Lauren!

1.  Did you see the announcement yesterday about the new Facebook page?  Still getting it 100% up and running but give it a look and like it if you feel so inclined!

2.  I'm finishing my second week at the new job and I confirm every single day that it was the right move for me to make.  Of course I miss my friends and coworkers from Kentucky and loved the work I was doing there.  But I am constantly amazed by the good work being done by my new employer and know that I will be able to make a huge difference by utilizing my talent here.

3.  Likewise, I've been living in my new apartment for just over two weeks and I still love it here too!  It's finally starting to look like a real home - as long as you don't look in the disorganized closets or ignore the stack of packing supplies about a mile high in the garage.  Plus I'm still missing a dining room table.  Anyone feeling generous and want to contribute to the "I really like a table that's a little out of my price range right now" fund?

4.  More than me liking the new place, my cats freaking love it.  They spend hours every night running up and down the stairs, chasing each other from room to room, and exploring closets.  Seeing them settle in makes a huge difference for me.

5.  The best thing about the last two weeks?  Getting to see my friends and family on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, I'm not making the trek to Minneapolis to celebrate my best friend's birthday this weekend like originally planned but just knowing that all of my favorite people (minus my little sister) are just a short drive away is a huge relief.  Already feels like home.

Happy weekend everyone!

New Apartment Unveiling: Living Room

Welcome back to the apartment!

Today we're looking at the living room area. This area saw a lot of furniture re-purposing, as well as a few key additions (and a few yet to come) so I'm excited to share it with you.

Let's start with sharing Charlie's new favorite place in the apartment before moving on to the actual space, shall we?

The girls' beds are tucked under the chaise lounge. While Charlie also really likes climbing to the top of the bookshelves - you'll see them later! - she's taken to napping in Lady's cat bed underneath the chaise for hours on end. There have been Saturdays where she only comes out to eat and then climbs back underneath there. Too cute.

Ready to see the rest of the room? Click the link below!

Caturday Realization

I realized yesterday that I don't have a single weekend without some sort of commitment now until November 17. Not all of those weekends will be jam packed - some only have Saturday morning meetings, or Sunday evening events. Not all of the commitments are work-related - I have some seriously awesome company coming to visit two weekends in a row in September and a couple of weddings thrown in there. But either way, it's very overwhelming to think that I don't know when the next completely free weekend will be. Probably December. Ick.

All of that is to say that I am indulging a little this morning. I have plans this afternoon but don't need to leave the house until 12:45. I haven't technically even gotten out of bed yet. Lady Bug loves when I sleep in and Charlie likes an excuse to cuddle even if she's very confused as to why I'm still just laying here.

As I was thinking about this post, I realized that Lady Bug has fled to her favorite space (under the couch - no idea why she loves it, but she always has) and Charlie was still wiggling around, trying to find a comfy snuggle space on my lap. Which means that it would be a post full of pictures of Charlie again unless I wasn't to find the energy to get up and chase down Lady. Most people wouldn't mind - Charlie is everyone's favorite because she's so tiny for a full-grown cat, has a perfect little pink nose, and is a total goofball so she wins everyone over immediately - but (I can't believe I'm going to say this) I would mind because, truth be told, Lady Bug is my favorite even if she isn't the cutest.

Gasp. I feel like a terrible mother. And really, it's not that I love Lady Bug more. She's just been through so much with me. She's the resilient one, the one that goes with the flow and doesn't get stressed out by change. She's the reliable one, the smart one, always helping Charlie solve problems. She may be a little over-weight (we won't go so far as fat), stubborn as all get out, pushy, and bossy. But she's my first baby.

I suddenly realized what parents mean when they say that they don't love one child more than the other - that they just love them differently. It's true. I shouldn't really say that I love Lady more. I wouldn't have made the decision to bring Charlie home in the first place when I wasn't on the market for another cat if I didn't love her instantly. But I certainly love them differently.

No photos today. Lady is sleeping contently and I wouldn't want to bother her. She's not a baby anymore and I understand more than anyone that she probably just needs some time to recharge. Who blames her? This life is stressful.

New Apartment Unveiling: Bedroom

Welcome back to my apartment, friends!

Today we're doing a quick little walkthrough of the bedroom.  Wait, you're asking, didn't you say you live in a studio?  Yes, I most certainly do.  Remember when I asked you to weigh in on how to arrange the place?  Well I've set up the floorplan like so:

This means that there is definitely a bedroom side and a living room side.  So like I said, today we're taking a look at the bedroom.  Click the link below to read more and let me know what you think!

Cute Cat Overload

I know I have been missing in action lately. Things are just crazy and I haven't had time to write. This afternoon though, I spent an hour relaxing with my baby and I thought I'd let her share some thoughts. She's such a sweet little fluff ball and honestly, between her and LadyBug, they know better when I need a break than I do half the time. She wasn't wrong.

Without further ado, welcome Charlie for a bit of a "guest" post!

Hey Mom - you haven't been home much lately. In fact, you haven't been home much at all and I've kind of been missing you. Can we just spend an hour sitting on the couch?

I know you have a lot to do today but I really could use some quiet time.

I'll just sit here quietly while you catch up on some television. You won't even know that I'm here.

See Mom? I just want to cuddle for a little bit. You work all the time, and then you've been out having fun, and then you were traveling again. 

And your lap is so comfy. I'm just so happy you sat down for a little while.

Whoa, Mom. I heard the washer end too but it's not time to get up yet. Just sit here for a little while longer. Didn't you hear that tomorrow is my birthday? And all I want for my birthday is a little extra time to lay here. Can we do that?

I'm so lucky that you're home today. The house cleaning can wait.

My "Saturday Simplicity" idea is pretty much dead in the water. Mostly because I haven't had many simple Saturdays in the last few months and when I do, they are a day full of cuddling with my cats. I stumbled upon this Caturday series on Jessi's blog, Practically Functional, I love the idea so I figured I'd go with that today. What do you think? Should I change my series and "steal" her idea? Or just scrap the Saturday series idea all together?

(Sunday) Simplicity

I'm home this evening, working on the blog design (which if you're reading this you're already seeing!), and apparently my little one is a bit taxed after the traveling a few weeks ago, the crazy schedule I've been keeping, and the company Friday night.  I missed my Saturday Simplicity post so I thought I'd share this with you today instead.


She was glued to my lap until my legs fell asleep so I made her move.  She refuses to actually move away though.  **Must be touching Mommy.**  


How can anyone resist this little snuggle bun when she is needing some down time?

Favorite Things Friday!

Is it really Friday again?  I mean, this has been just about the longest week ever but still.  Where is the time going?  July is almost over!

Without further ado, here are my top five favorite things this week!

1.  My sister and the new hubby will be spending the night with me tonight.  Them, their 47 lbs dog, their cat, me, and my cats.............. in a studio apartment.  Should be interesting but I'll take any time I can get with them!

2.  My girls are really loving the new place, which is making me happy.  They spent lots of time like this...

They love watching the world go buy and while the world looks really really small right now because we're really really high up, the girls don't seem to mind.

3.  Speaking of being really really high up, the view from my apartment is awesome.  Last night, I snapped these photos following one of the many storms that have blown through this week.  Note the cool shadows from the sunset, the rainbow, and the view itself!

4.  In preparation for creating a photo collage wall, I've been going through old pictures.  My best friend and I take a lot of pictures and seeing them all made me miss her dreadfully.  We're working on finding a weekend that she can come visit because we haven't seen each other since April but even if it doesn't work out due to the fact that we are both ridiculously busy, it's so awesome to know that she's even trying to come see me that it's definitely worthy of the number four spot.

5.  Can I keep number five a secret still?  Yes?  Good, because number five is actually by far my favorite thing about this week but I'm not ready to talk about it yet.  Suffice it to say that there is a number five.

Linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk Blog

Early Morning Musings

My girls and I are very used to being alone.  Just the three of us.  A little person-cat family with habits all our own.  Not really all that different than a person-child family.

Every morning, sometime between 4:00am and 6:00am, Charlie (the baby) wakes up, crawls up to my chest, looks lovingly into my face and lets out this truly pitiful, questioning “MEOW” that I have come to realize means “Mommy, is it time to get up and play yet?”  Typically, I pat her head until she snuggles into the crook of my arm and we drift off to sleep again.  At least until she wakes up a few minutes later and repeats her morning ritual.

Lady Bug (the older sister) will sleep as long as I sleep.  She harrumphs her way onto the bed every night, sprawls in the small space between my left side and the edge of the mattress, and falls asleep with her head rested on her paws.  Most mornings, I wake up to her squished between me and the edge of the mattress, sprawled to get the best angle of the fan, with her head on her paws – in absolutely the same position as the night before.  She meows a little meow at me and snuggles in until I’m ready to get up.  Lady knows that when I am ready to get up, the world will start moving very quickly around her and she relishes quiet moments like this.

Today, Lady Bug got up a bit before me.  When she realized she was up a little early, she climbed back on the bed and laid her head on my leg, waiting patiently until I got up and turned the bathroom faucet on for her morning drink of cool running water.  Charlie ran circles on the mattress, twisting and turning, rolling around to rub her head on the cool sheets, meowing and whining as if it was the greatest injustice that I was not yet ready to get up and play.

To be greeted by my babies every morning is a wonderful thing.  Every single day, I wake up knowing that where ever I am, I am home.  I may not have a husband or children, but I do have my own little family.  In the next four days, we will switch apartments again – this will be the fourth apartment Lady has lived in during her three short years of life – and then pack up the car to drive north to Wisconsin to see the family and celebrate my little sister’s wedding.  The girls will be with me for every step of the way, calming my stress and allowing me to calm theirs.  We will experience virtually the same morning ritual that we always do, only we will be in my parents’ basement instead of our own bed.  We will wake up every morning and have a bit of quiet time before the rest of the world intervenes.  It’s moments like these that I live for, that keep me grounded when the world seems a little too crazy for comfort.

Favorite Things Friday

Hey friends!

No theme this week because, quite frankly, I'm too tired to be creative and theme-y.  Instead, I'll stick closer to the High Fives for Friday format that Lauren at From My Grey Desk uses.  Sorry if that disappoints in any way.

1.  I'm moving to this building!  (Also, my post from yesterday didn't publish somehow and it's a fun and interactive one so keep scrolling and enjoy yourselves.  At this point it's already a little outdated but it'll do!)

 2.  My baby sister gets married TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!  Ah!!!  Way back when they got engaged (two years ago) I planned to write a post about them and it never happened.  Expect wedding posts soon.  Because really, after I move next week, that's all I'll be thinking about for a good week!

3.  That nail polish from yesterday is still a high-five.  Seriously.  It's rocking my world.

4.  The blog address has changed - subtly.  I started the blog before I had two little munchkins (the photo is from the first day I had Charlie.  My how they have grown.) and never got around the changing the address.  So I've finally added the "s" officially instead of just having an (s) in the title.  I needed to make the change now because.......


5.  My dear friend Lindsay (why do I always call her that when I write about her?!) is in the process of helping me revamp the blog.  Stay tuned, friends.  I'm jazzed about the upcoming changes and am so happy she's forcing me to stop procrastinating.  Even if she is a total pain in my butt for adding one more thing to the to do list right now.


Happy Friday!

Saturday Simplicity (New Collars and California Kitties Tags for the Girls)

It's been a while since I did a Saturday Simplicity post.  Probably because my life is far from simple right now.  So today I'm sort of going to do a SS post.  I say that because I really want to post more than a picture but that defeats the purpose of SS.  So here's the compromise.  The picture is below.  If you want the true SS experience, just stop reading.  If you want the full story (highly recommended of course!) and want to know where I got those beautiful tags for the girls, click the link below the picture to get the rest of the story!  (How's that for compromise...)

Happy Birthday Lady Bug!

Lady turned 3 yesterday, which means I've had for a 2.5 years. 

The last 2.5 years have been pretty full (for me and for her, I'm sure considering that she's seen more of the world than some children at 3).  That's 2.5 years of moving, traveling and road tripping, working, snuggling, reading, arguing, and loving.  I didn't even like cats that much when I first got her and now I literally could not imagine my life without Lady and Charlie to go home to.  They really do make anywhere I'm living feel like home.

Below is a photo collage of some of our favorite moments in Lady's 3 years.  The day I brought her home, the day I brought Charlie home, outfits I've made her wear (my favorite moments, not hers), football games, days she came to work with me, driving to my parents' house, hours looking out the window at the world outside, and countless mornings and nights spent cuddling in bed.

Enjoy!

On the Road Again

Remember last month where I gave you the run down to a very quick trip to NYC?  Let's do the Wisconsin version of that, shall we?

Wednesday afternoon, I loaded up the car and made the trek up to Wisconsin again.  The 4.5 day trip went something like this... (read in letter order, not in order from top to bottom - it's a bit of a brain teaser)

I can't help but feel like my life is being lived in the car lately.  Good thing I don't mind driving!

10 Essentials

Inspired by a blog series by one of my favorite stores CB2.  
Side Note: Their blog is pretty cool even if you don't like the store.

1. My (feline) girls.  They provide me with a constant source of laughter and love and make my apartment feel like home after even the longest days.


2.  Real Girl Friends.  Growing up, I didn't have a lot of female friends.  Since then, I have been blessed to live in a number of different cities and have had the pleasure of making honest-to-god, can't-live-without-them, do-anything-for-one-another girl friends.  I never knew the power of positive female friendship until college because so many female relationships are built on backstabbing and power struggles and even since then I've been burned more than once.  But I literally could not make it without my ladies.  There is something to be said for friends who will fly across the country at a moments notice to cheer you up after a bad breakup, who know the exact moment when you really need to hear a 3-year-old's voice, who will drive across town to provide soup when you're sick... 


3.  A stack of to-be-read books.  (Or these days, 90+ books to-be-read on my Kindle).  You never know where you'll find the next great adventure.


4.  Some sort of outdoor space.  I need fresh air almost every day.  I wrote many a paper on my porch in the winter in Nashville and slept with the windows open in November in Minnesota.


5.  My family.  Needs no explanation.  We're all a little quirky, but it works for us.


6.  Chapstick.  

Note: I am obviously not putting these in numerical order because let's be real, my family ranks way above books and chapstick ranks way below my family.

Ok... Again.

6.  Chapstick.  There is nothing worse than knowing your lips need hydration.  Like last week while attending a meeting and not being able to find my chapstick in the bottomless-pit-that-is-my-purse no matter how hard I tried to look quietly.  It was awful.


7.  Caffeine.  This one should really be up at the top.  I have a caffeine problem.  I have been known to consume 3 Cokes and 2 cups of coffee from 7:00am-2:00pm.  Sheesh.  It's the only way I get anything done.


8.  A project to be working on.  I'm always in the middle of something.  Right now, I'm purging years worth of magazines by creating my own person, hard-copy version on Pinterist (which I don't use... so no comment there).  When I moved in here, I spent a month picking out the perfect paint color for my living room and I'm still not sure I found it.  When I'm not redecorating, I'm crafting.  When not crafting, I'm writing.  When not writing, I'm rearranging... You get the picture.


9.  My cell phone.  I once left it at a then-boyfriend's house and had to go without for an entire day.  It was awful.  Honestly, I am obsessive about checking that I have it on me after that day.  Even if my current phone is a piece of crap.  It's my own personal nightmare to go without my phone for an entire weekend.


10.  My own bathroom.  I grew up in a house with 3 (sometimes 4) women and one bathroom.  I then went to college and used communal bathrooms and had roommates.  I never had a problem with modesty or personal space.  Until I lived alone.  I would rather share my bedroom than my bathroom.  In fact, if I ever get married I plan to custom build my house just so there are two master baths.  Get your hands off my toothpaste and your dirty feet out of my bathtub...


If I got 11 essentials, I'd add pizza.  But I don't.  So I won't.

Favorite Things Friday (Road Trips)

First off, I am loving Favorite Things Friday.  In fact, I could probably just have an entire blog about my favorite things.  Oh wait... Too late.

As I mentioned last week, I spent last Friday driving to Wisconsin and last Sunday driving home.  This weekend finds me traveling to North Carolina.  While I am not driving alone on this trip, I sure am piling on the road trip miles.

And with that, I give you my favorite things about road trips... It'll be a quick one since I've been too busy preparing for Mom & Dad to visit and making all of these trips to put too much thought into it.


Beef Jerky - Kroger sells this awesome brand... which holy crap, you can buy online.*  Score!  Perfect car food.  It's "protein," it's not messy, and if I get stuck in my car due to inclement weather for five days it isn't going to go bad.

Cheese Curds - See last week's post and revel in the fact that I only ate 3/4 of a bag while driving back to Kentucky last weekend.

Reese's Pieces - My dad and I used to eat them at the movies.  Somehow they're also perfect car food.

A Great Playlist  - Ok really, I can't say much about this since I just used my iPod for the first time in months while driving last week.  But anything you can jam to - my go to's are Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, and Incubus - or anything I can sing to - Dixie Chicks, Lisa Loeb, or almost anything put out from 1993-2001.

Podcasts Downloaded from iTunes - I subscribe to the New Yorker Fiction podcast and it's a life saver while making long trips.  Sometimes it's just nice to have background noise that also makes you feel a little bit intellectual.  Plus it's serving as fodder for a number of future blog posts that I'm kicking around.

Anything you can think of that I'm missing?

*Not so interesting side story.  I just Googled "kroger world beef jerky" because that's what I remembered about the brand.  And found it.  Google is amazing.  Except that one of the recent "key words" that people used to find my blog was "cat SATS" so of course I had to see why... and this is what I found.

Yep, that is definitely a cat that sat.  Spot on, Google, spot on.  Although I couldn't find that image when I searched even after scrolling through 40+ pages of images.  Whatever they were looking for, I hope they found something more interesting than Charlie sitting on my lap.

Getting Ready for the Parentals

Alternatively Titled: Anatomy of a House Cleaning

Alternatively Titled: Why I Will Never Purchase a 130 Year Old House Because


Last night, I spent a couple of hours getting the house ready for my parents to visit tomorrow night.  And by "getting the house ready," I really mean "finding the guest bedroom floor."  I should have taken before pictures.  While the afters I've posted below don't look impressive, anyone who has visited my house in the last couple of weeks (ok, since Christmas...) can attest to the fact that this is very, very, very clean.

At least there is room for the air mattress on the floor.

The problem is that I live in a house with no closet space.  Honestly.  Neither closet is deep enough for a full sized hanger so things hang crookedly.  The master bedroom closet is stuffed to the brim due to my shopping habit and the guest room closet has room for only the Christmas decorations and my luggage and even that is piled pretty precariously.  So cleaning the guest room is always an interesting experience because it's really just a matter of shuffling boxes that don't have anywhere else to go.  This time around, I found some interesting things:

• 2 boxes of craft supplies which I haven't used in at least 1.5 years
• 3 garbage bags of stuff that I threw away because it was crappy and hadn't even been unpacked in the last year
• More magazine than I can possibly count
• 3 pairs of shoes
• 14 cat toys (they're everywhere!)
• A disgusting number of dead flies about the size of a dime - at least the cats are good at killing them but still.  Ick.

I can officially say that my favorite thing I found while cleaning was my TI82 calculator from 8th grade.  The calculator unto itself would be cool but it's even better because it had some serious stickers on it.  Notice the photo stickers - if this picture where better quality you'd have an awesome view of my brother's not-so-awesome hair - and the Joshua Jackson sticker on the back because I was sure he was secretly my boyfriend.

Because of all the crap (see the aforementioned Christmas comment and the 3 garbage bags of... garbage), and really because it's more important to stay on top of keeping the rest of the house at least livable, I hadn't been able to vacuum the guest room for a while.  I tried to keep the cats out of there during the Great Flea Debacle of 2011 simply because it was a HUGE pain in the butt to vacuum this room every day like I was doing with the rest of the house, since getting the little pests (fleas, not cats... more on that later) under control the girls are back to having the guest room as their own person playroom.  Which of course means that it needed a serious vacuuming...

As in, had to empty the vacuum canister three times because Charlie sheds EVERYWHERE.

Speaking of Charlie, and back to the pest comment, the little stinker tried to help me clean.  Or she tried to make it more entertaining.  One or the other.

Apparently that little storage nook up at the ceiling is more fun than I knew, because I also found the following things up there:

• 1 milk ring
• 3 sparkle balls
• 0 cobwebs

I can guarantee that it wasn't me who put those toys up there.  And while Lady Bug can jump pretty darn high, she's not much of a climber and certainly can't jump that high.  Anyone who has heard the "Cat in the Ceiling" story won't be surprised to know that Charlie has a bit of a hideout.  (Haven't heard that story... just ask.  It's a good one.)

Saturday Simplicity

Stealing another series idea from a friend. Anna, a friend from college, is a wonderful blogger who started a Sunday Simplicity series a while back.  She shares a simple photo with a few short thoughts - or sometimes just lets the photo speak for itself - and it really is a wonderful moment free of clutter. I'm modifying it a bit since Saturday is typically my "simple" day but I don't think she'll mind! 

I went out last night to celebrate my birthday and am now spending a day being lazy with the cats. There is nothing like a rainy Saturday, two balls of purring fluff, and a Hallmark Channel movie marathon to instantly turn me into a puddle of non-productivity. Dishes and laundry can get done tomorrow.

How can anyone not love a day like this?  They have been snuggled up almost all day and it's exactly what I needed.

March Madness (Not the Basketball Kind)

I have been MIA for the last two weeks and I vowed not to do that now that I was writing again, but fear not.  I have not forgotten all of my (5 or so) faithful readers.

The last month has been insanely busy.  I was in Indianapolis less than a month ago for work, followed by a weekend in Louisville, a week of work, a few days in Chicago, a weekend in Wisconsin, a few long days of work, and then 3.5 days sick in bed.  Which leads me to today.  And I head off to New York City tomorrow for another work trip (although I'm sure I will find time to see some sights while I'm in town as well).  March went very quickly, to say the least.

As I mentioned the last few days have found me sick in bed.  I spent Thursday and Friday sleeping for most of the day but yesterday I read a few (not worth reviewing) books - mostly trashy, free downloads off Amazon. 

My DVR is almost cleaned out and I discovered that I only have 3 episodes left of Cold Case.  A bit sad as that means I've seen (almost) every episode of that show ever aired and I will have to find a new show to watch start to finish.  Any suggestions?  I'll watch almost anything, although at one time Netflix described my "preferred genre" as something along the lines of dark police procedural dramas and I think they nailed that right on the head.  Nip / Tuck (not police-based but still totally twisted), Dexter (which I'm behind on but have to pay to watch so that won't work), Criminal Minds, Cold Case... My latest new show is Awake.  Yep, definitely into the dark police procedural dramas.  I'm also watching Grimm and Once Upon a Time so I guess I've jumped on the fairy tale train. 

Ok, so back the question.  Any suggestions on new series?

This is, quite frankly, the most boring blog post I've written in a very long time.  Not that any of them are exciting.  I mean, when an "adventurous day" in my weekend involves a Target run, getting a pedicure, grabbing FroYo with a girl friend, and making a second Target run, you can't expect me to inspire a particularly exciting blog post.

I just wanted to touch base.  

And now one last little insight into my world.

Charlie is clearly obsessed with sparkles.  As my mom put it, she thinks of my fancy purses as giant sparkle balls.  

Lady Bug is much more laid back.  She followed my stack of blue jeans around all night.

And "mommy" obviously has a shoe problem.











We aren't a girly house at all, are we?