Showing posts with label kitties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitties. Show all posts
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Love and Ambition
Oh man, these poor cats are screwed once the boys are mobile.
Joseph loves him some Lani
And speaking of mobility, someone I know is working hard at it. I'm hoping I still have a while but guess I should start looking into how to hide all those loose wires around my baby's feet. And working on my herding skills.
Luke, very busy and important
The boys are one day shy of 7 months old!
Joseph loves him some Lani
And speaking of mobility, someone I know is working hard at it. I'm hoping I still have a while but guess I should start looking into how to hide all those loose wires around my baby's feet. And working on my herding skills.
Luke, very busy and important
The boys are one day shy of 7 months old!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
An Excuse to Use Power Tools
(FYI - Still here. Still no babies. Still monstrously huge. Ugh.
And now back to our regularly scheduled blog post...)
Due to some unplanned changes in our original nice, calming nursery furniture and decor ideas (thanks to the lovely McGee), it's become necessary to inject a bit more color in there to round everything out. You'll see what I mean when I finally post pictures of the nursery, and I promise I will. But not until I can thoroughly impress you (maybe - or you might find it hideous) with the finished product. :)
To add color, I decided that paper lanterns were the way to go. But in my usual quest to make life just that little bit more challenging and complicated, I decided I'd make a mobile for the lanterns rather than just stick them to the ceiling as most sane people would choose to do. It was a fun, little project and it gave me my first opportunity ever to use power tools. Now I ask you, what's not to love?
Ingredients:
Paper lanterns of various sizes & colors
3-ft long 1/2-inch diameter wooden dowels (I only used 2)
nylon-coated stainless steel wire
crimping beads
wire cutters
pliers
sand paper
drill with a teeny-tiny drill bit
hacksaw (oooh yeah, baby!)
1. I found it helpful to sketch out a plan for my mobile and break up the construction of each portion into smaller pieces. I also found it most useful to construct it from the bottom-up, if that makes sense. I would assemble the smaller pieces and slowly add them together to make a bigger piece. Then that bigger piece would be added to the main dowel to make up the whole. If you try this yourself, you'll soon see what I mean...
2. First, take a wooden dowel and drill two holes, leaving enough space between each to accommodate for the circumferences of the lanterns you'll be using in this small section. You don't want the hanging lanterns to touch each other after assembled.
2. Use the hacksaw to cut the dowel so that each drilled hole is on the ends. (Check out my poor, swollen hand!)
3. You'll want to use sandpaper to smooth the ends of the wooden dowel because it'll be nasty and splintery after the cut - not the best for babies.
4. Next you'll play with the wire and cut out appropriate lengths to create your mobile design. Use the crimping beads and pliers to create little loops on the ends. These loops will be attached to the the metallic C-shaped bit inside the lanterns.
5. Take a quick break to coo over kitty adorable-ness.
6. The looped end of the wire will be used to hang the lanterns. With the other end of the wire, insert it through the drilled hole in the wooden dowel and loop the wire around the dowel a few times. Use a crimping bead to attach the loose end of the wire to the part of the wire hanging down from the dowel. (Hope that makes sense...)
7. After you've attached lanterns to each side of the dowel, you'll need to find the point along the middle stretch of the dowel where, when suspended from that point, each side is balanced so that the dowel will hang horizontally. This was the trickiest part for me (and I messed up on my first try). What I found most effective was using the tip of a ballpoint pen, moving it along the bottom of the dowel until each side was balanced with the dowel hanging horizontally. (This was too hard to photograph, but below you'll see a piece of wooden dowel with lanterns attached to each side and another hole drilled between them.)
8. This hole was secured as described in step 6 (inserting the wire through the hole, wrapping the wire around the dowel a few times and securing it with a crimping bead). With the other end of the wire, attach this smaller piece to the main dowel that runs along the entire top of the mobile. Secure this smaller piece to the main dowel in the same way as above.
9. Continue to attach each smaller pieces to the main dowel, making sure that when each smaller piece twists and turns, the lanterns won't bump into each other. Here's all the pieces assembled.
10. All that's left to do is add a hook to the top of the main dowel, making sure again to choose a location where, when suspended, the main dowel will hang horizontally. I plan on using a thicker wire (and bigger drill bit) for this as it needs to support quite a bit of weight.
And voilà! My bright, colorful paper lantern mobile!
I'll get Greg to insert a hook into the ceiling in the nursery so that this mobile will stretch over both cribs and give the babes something cheerful to stare at while they're stuck in their cribs.
After that, all we really need are the curtains and our nursery will be done. Finally! Can't wait to share. But let me warn you now that all that color above is just a small sampling of the BURST of color you'll find. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
And now back to our regularly scheduled blog post...)
Due to some unplanned changes in our original nice, calming nursery furniture and decor ideas (thanks to the lovely McGee), it's become necessary to inject a bit more color in there to round everything out. You'll see what I mean when I finally post pictures of the nursery, and I promise I will. But not until I can thoroughly impress you (maybe - or you might find it hideous) with the finished product. :)
To add color, I decided that paper lanterns were the way to go. But in my usual quest to make life just that little bit more challenging and complicated, I decided I'd make a mobile for the lanterns rather than just stick them to the ceiling as most sane people would choose to do. It was a fun, little project and it gave me my first opportunity ever to use power tools. Now I ask you, what's not to love?
Ingredients:
Paper lanterns of various sizes & colors
3-ft long 1/2-inch diameter wooden dowels (I only used 2)
nylon-coated stainless steel wire
crimping beads
wire cutters
pliers
sand paper
drill with a teeny-tiny drill bit
hacksaw (oooh yeah, baby!)
1. I found it helpful to sketch out a plan for my mobile and break up the construction of each portion into smaller pieces. I also found it most useful to construct it from the bottom-up, if that makes sense. I would assemble the smaller pieces and slowly add them together to make a bigger piece. Then that bigger piece would be added to the main dowel to make up the whole. If you try this yourself, you'll soon see what I mean...
2. First, take a wooden dowel and drill two holes, leaving enough space between each to accommodate for the circumferences of the lanterns you'll be using in this small section. You don't want the hanging lanterns to touch each other after assembled.
2. Use the hacksaw to cut the dowel so that each drilled hole is on the ends. (Check out my poor, swollen hand!)
3. You'll want to use sandpaper to smooth the ends of the wooden dowel because it'll be nasty and splintery after the cut - not the best for babies.
4. Next you'll play with the wire and cut out appropriate lengths to create your mobile design. Use the crimping beads and pliers to create little loops on the ends. These loops will be attached to the the metallic C-shaped bit inside the lanterns.
5. Take a quick break to coo over kitty adorable-ness.
6. The looped end of the wire will be used to hang the lanterns. With the other end of the wire, insert it through the drilled hole in the wooden dowel and loop the wire around the dowel a few times. Use a crimping bead to attach the loose end of the wire to the part of the wire hanging down from the dowel. (Hope that makes sense...)
7. After you've attached lanterns to each side of the dowel, you'll need to find the point along the middle stretch of the dowel where, when suspended from that point, each side is balanced so that the dowel will hang horizontally. This was the trickiest part for me (and I messed up on my first try). What I found most effective was using the tip of a ballpoint pen, moving it along the bottom of the dowel until each side was balanced with the dowel hanging horizontally. (This was too hard to photograph, but below you'll see a piece of wooden dowel with lanterns attached to each side and another hole drilled between them.)
8. This hole was secured as described in step 6 (inserting the wire through the hole, wrapping the wire around the dowel a few times and securing it with a crimping bead). With the other end of the wire, attach this smaller piece to the main dowel that runs along the entire top of the mobile. Secure this smaller piece to the main dowel in the same way as above.
9. Continue to attach each smaller pieces to the main dowel, making sure that when each smaller piece twists and turns, the lanterns won't bump into each other. Here's all the pieces assembled.
10. All that's left to do is add a hook to the top of the main dowel, making sure again to choose a location where, when suspended, the main dowel will hang horizontally. I plan on using a thicker wire (and bigger drill bit) for this as it needs to support quite a bit of weight. And voilà! My bright, colorful paper lantern mobile!
I'll get Greg to insert a hook into the ceiling in the nursery so that this mobile will stretch over both cribs and give the babes something cheerful to stare at while they're stuck in their cribs.
After that, all we really need are the curtains and our nursery will be done. Finally! Can't wait to share. But let me warn you now that all that color above is just a small sampling of the BURST of color you'll find. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Wild Game Hunt
Watering day is a big adventure around here.
That pot might as well be made of pure gold.
Lani knows that if she's really patient...
...and watches carefully...
...then maybe, just maybe...
...she'll hit the motherload of fat, juicy, wiggly...
...EARTHWORMS!
Like Christmas every week!
That pot might as well be made of pure gold.
Lani knows that if she's really patient...
...and watches carefully...
...then maybe, just maybe...
...she'll hit the motherload of fat, juicy, wiggly...
...EARTHWORMS!Like Christmas every week!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Banished
Gomez cannot be trusted.
He sees all carpet and rugs as his own personal gigantic scratching pads. The first few times we allowed him in the boys' room, he proved himself incapable of resisting temptation. Even with us standing right there to regulate on his stinky butt!
Three strikes. And now he's banished.
I think he's handling it well.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Miscommunication
The kitties are very confused.
I'm writing at home & the boys are very active so I thought I'd pull up my shirt & catch the show for a while. It's awesome. I keep seeing bumps pop up on my belly. And once I saw a bump move from my left side, all the way to the right.
As I'm sitting here, laughing and talking to my belly, both kitties come running up and stare at me. I don't think they understand that I'm not talking to them. It's also 4:30, an hour before dinner time, so they are begging and bugging the crap out of me. Maybe they took my talking to be their cue that they're about to be fed. Sorry, kitties. One more hour.
In the meantime I'm going to sit here and jostle my belly a bit more. This is so cool.
I'm writing at home & the boys are very active so I thought I'd pull up my shirt & catch the show for a while. It's awesome. I keep seeing bumps pop up on my belly. And once I saw a bump move from my left side, all the way to the right.
As I'm sitting here, laughing and talking to my belly, both kitties come running up and stare at me. I don't think they understand that I'm not talking to them. It's also 4:30, an hour before dinner time, so they are begging and bugging the crap out of me. Maybe they took my talking to be their cue that they're about to be fed. Sorry, kitties. One more hour.
In the meantime I'm going to sit here and jostle my belly a bit more. This is so cool.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Three Bits of News
Since I'm back on the blogging train, I can resume boring you once again with the mundane-ery of our lives. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Yay, I just love the minutia of friends'/strangers' lives. But that's what personal blogs are all about, right. So here goes.
First, G and I hit up the Linens N' Things going-out-of-business sale this week-end and finally found a bed set that we liked! It's only taken 2 years!
Check it out! Decorative pillows and matching sheer curtains, thereby making this the single most coordinated room of the house. Quite possibly the most coordinated room of either of our lives...
Close up of the kitty cuteness - only because it's been a while. Now to my Jedi mind tricks. There are no crumpled, messy clothes on this bed. This bed has only two adorable kittens. All else is order and tidiness.
You can't see it now, can you? Amazing how that works...
Second bit - I bought us a webcam! Now we can call Ewa in England and Jola in Poland via Skype, and we can see each other while we gab. Technology is wonderful, isn't it. Especially when you actually use it. I'm a bit embarassed that Greg's mum had a webcam before we did, but we're catching up to you Ewa!
Thirdly, you can use this handy-dandy webcam to take gratuitous pictures of yourself when you're bored. I spent a good 5 minutes entertaining myself tonight, capturing goofy faces while Greg slept downstairs. Here's a not-so-goofy one showcasing my new bangs.
Yes, bangs. The last time I had bangs was probably around 13-years-old. I hadn't meant to get them, but I said the word "bangs" to my hair dresser and that's what she gave me. I don't hate them as much as I did last week.
First, G and I hit up the Linens N' Things going-out-of-business sale this week-end and finally found a bed set that we liked! It's only taken 2 years!
Check it out! Decorative pillows and matching sheer curtains, thereby making this the single most coordinated room of the house. Quite possibly the most coordinated room of either of our lives...
Close up of the kitty cuteness - only because it's been a while. Now to my Jedi mind tricks. There are no crumpled, messy clothes on this bed. This bed has only two adorable kittens. All else is order and tidiness.
You can't see it now, can you? Amazing how that works...
Second bit - I bought us a webcam! Now we can call Ewa in England and Jola in Poland via Skype, and we can see each other while we gab. Technology is wonderful, isn't it. Especially when you actually use it. I'm a bit embarassed that Greg's mum had a webcam before we did, but we're catching up to you Ewa!
Thirdly, you can use this handy-dandy webcam to take gratuitous pictures of yourself when you're bored. I spent a good 5 minutes entertaining myself tonight, capturing goofy faces while Greg slept downstairs. Here's a not-so-goofy one showcasing my new bangs.
Yes, bangs. The last time I had bangs was probably around 13-years-old. I hadn't meant to get them, but I said the word "bangs" to my hair dresser and that's what she gave me. I don't hate them as much as I did last week.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
It's Allliiiiiive!
With each rotation of the mechanical kneading arm of our bread-maker, a simultaneous spasm went through Gomey's little body. Wish I'd caught it on video.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Last Hurrah
A few days after the wedding, we hosted poker before everyone scattered to the four corners of the world again.
Around the table: Ian, Brian, Jacque, John, me, Fred, Lance & Kristie
Mark & the Snee's also dropped by after dinnerWe miss you all!
p.s. Our little adopted kitty, who's lounging in the bottom picture, went home the next day. The owners were on vacation in Florida but came back to reclaim him. :( We were thiiiiiisssss close to scheduling him for shots and the snip-snip and buying him a food bowl of his own. Oh well. We're just glad he's back in a loving home.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sensitivity Training
By the way, Greg has jokingly named the little kitten Travis.
Travis...
...as in my little brother's name...
...because he's the "unexpected third child".
And when he calls to the kitten, it makes him chuckle Every. Time.
Butthole.
Travis...
...as in my little brother's name...
...because he's the "unexpected third child".
And when he calls to the kitten, it makes him chuckle Every. Time.
Butthole.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Animal Kingdom
Our house has become overrun with wildlife this week-end.
First a sweet, little stray kitten followed my sister to our front door on Friday night. After crying outside our door (for approximately 0.3 minutes), I caved and brought him inside. I mean, come on. There are coyotes and cars out there!
He was such a sweetie, purring the entire time, and keeping me company while I played on the computer.
Instead of being annoyed at yet another furry critter taking up residence in our home, when Greg got home he melted too. Sucka!
The little fella has no chip implant so we've posted flyers around the neighborhood. Hopefully someone will claim him soon. He's obviously been loved on by more than us.
In the meantime, he can be our snuggle bug...
And in other wildlife news...
The cats were going crazy at the door leading to our washer and dryer. I kept hearing sporadic scrambling noises and was convinced that we had either a mouse or, heaven forbid, a rat freaking out in there. I called in the reinforcements, but Greg was too chicken to take a look. I left it too because there was simply no way in hell I was going to investigate either. The next thing I know Greg is screaming from upstairs saying there was a bird in the house!
I ran up and found the poor thing desperately ramming itself against the window trying to fly out. I was yelling at Greg to get the kitchen gloves and grab it when he gave me this shocked, wide-eyed look and then informed me I'm not touching that thing... Excuse me? Isn't that in your contract or something?
Since he was useless (that's right, Greg, I said useless), I donned the gloves and used a bucket to trap the terrified beast against the window. Greg swooped in to cover the lid with cardboard - my hero... And then I ran downstairs and out the front door to free it.
Apparently, it had climbed in through the dryer vent and then pecked it's way out of the tubing to get in. Ew. But that's not all! Before the day was over, we had two more come in the same way! One died -no idea how- and the other we were able to steer out through the back patio doors. We went outside trying to find the route in, but couldn't see anything. Aren't those things supposed to be covered with a screen or something? I have no idea. But I'm hoping that will be the last of our interlopers for a while.
First a sweet, little stray kitten followed my sister to our front door on Friday night. After crying outside our door (for approximately 0.3 minutes), I caved and brought him inside. I mean, come on. There are coyotes and cars out there!
He was such a sweetie, purring the entire time, and keeping me company while I played on the computer.
Instead of being annoyed at yet another furry critter taking up residence in our home, when Greg got home he melted too. Sucka!
The little fella has no chip implant so we've posted flyers around the neighborhood. Hopefully someone will claim him soon. He's obviously been loved on by more than us.In the meantime, he can be our snuggle bug...
And in other wildlife news...
The cats were going crazy at the door leading to our washer and dryer. I kept hearing sporadic scrambling noises and was convinced that we had either a mouse or, heaven forbid, a rat freaking out in there. I called in the reinforcements, but Greg was too chicken to take a look. I left it too because there was simply no way in hell I was going to investigate either. The next thing I know Greg is screaming from upstairs saying there was a bird in the house!
I ran up and found the poor thing desperately ramming itself against the window trying to fly out. I was yelling at Greg to get the kitchen gloves and grab it when he gave me this shocked, wide-eyed look and then informed me I'm not touching that thing... Excuse me? Isn't that in your contract or something?
Since he was useless (that's right, Greg, I said useless), I donned the gloves and used a bucket to trap the terrified beast against the window. Greg swooped in to cover the lid with cardboard - my hero... And then I ran downstairs and out the front door to free it.
Apparently, it had climbed in through the dryer vent and then pecked it's way out of the tubing to get in. Ew. But that's not all! Before the day was over, we had two more come in the same way! One died -no idea how- and the other we were able to steer out through the back patio doors. We went outside trying to find the route in, but couldn't see anything. Aren't those things supposed to be covered with a screen or something? I have no idea. But I'm hoping that will be the last of our interlopers for a while.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Bird Watching
Our kitties are indoor kitties. Since they were rescued over a year and a half ago, they haven't set foot outside. Well... ok... except for that one time when Greg was drunk as a skunk after a party. As is his usual weird habit, he was cleaning up the mess (while highly inebriated - am I the only who thinks it can wait until morning?) at some ungodly hour of the morning and had opened the garage door without realizing the kids were camping out in there. And then closed the door again after Gomez had ventured out. It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened and rally for the frenzied search. Don't worry. We found him crying in the bushes just outside the door a few minutes later, freaked out but otherwise unscathed. Poor baby.
So other than THAT, they don't ever go outside.
All of their nature adventures are experienced in the comforts of air conditioning and behind the protection of glass.
I don't know if you can tell, but there's a cardinal in those bushes just outside the window, and it is having lots of fun teasing the trapped beasts of prey.
By the time I turned the video on, they'd already been concentrating so hard on that bird for about half an hour, willing it to drop dead by the sheer force of their combined contempt and frustration.
So other than THAT, they don't ever go outside.
All of their nature adventures are experienced in the comforts of air conditioning and behind the protection of glass.
I don't know if you can tell, but there's a cardinal in those bushes just outside the window, and it is having lots of fun teasing the trapped beasts of prey.
By the time I turned the video on, they'd already been concentrating so hard on that bird for about half an hour, willing it to drop dead by the sheer force of their combined contempt and frustration.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
European Championships
Gomez tried to get his attention.
Then I gave it a shot.
But in the end, Greg only had eyes for Spain.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Cotton Gin Village
A few pictures from our week-end escape. Click on any of the pictures to see larger versions.
Our cute cabin
The pond with the crazy-loud croaking frog
Greg as a clothes-washing pioneer woman
Campfires!
And inside the cabin, our friend Hubert kept watch over us.
Little to no bathroom privacy - good thing we're married, eh.
Greg really dug the satellite T.V. - ah, how we miss our cable sometimes... BBC America, TLC (me), Speed (him)...
I really dug that rocking chair...
Every morning, there were fresh pastries in the basket, cereal, and fruit for us to enjoy. As in complimentary!
The kitchen area had a microwave & a mini-fridge, stocked with bottles of juice and milk.
All over the cabin were wine bottles written with names, occasions and dates from previous occupants.
If you're ever in the Perdenales cabin, you might find ours!
We had a GREAT time!
And while we were away, the kitties took full advantage...
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