I had my first Tiger Balm experience last night, and it definitely seemed to help my right hand/wrist/elbow chill out. It reeks, though.
And Wednesday, we went to the gym, and I rode 9.79 miles on the bike, bringing my Run-a-go-go total to 51.52. But I’ve known for a while now (at least a week) that I wasn’t going to make 100 miles by April 1st. Boo on me. I’m signing up for the next round, though, and am going to take a firmer hand with myself (and not let me shirk out of it).
And now we have the excitement of living with cats:
Can we talk about Natasha for a minute? How fucking awesome is she. I already loved her for her bubbly personality, and the brilliant way she expresses herself. (“I’m tired of you telling me bad things about me, okay?” BRILLIANT!) (Okay, she might brush it off as not being great at English – but I have to disagree with that. I’ll point out that, as far as I’ve noticed, she’s always grammatically correct – I admit I’m not, alot of the time – and I just love how she connects things.) But did you see her photoshoot from yesterday? Holy hell. I *just* watched it, and I had to rewind during her photoshoot and watch it again. She is the bomb.
And here’s my dilemma. I feel it is my duty to share this awesomeness with you. But I’m a little scared of Tyra and the CW, so I’m not going to post the picture here. But you can go look at it here with a little mouse click. And then do yourself a favor, and look it up on Youtube, or maybe they’ll have clips up on Yahoo or the CW site. You have *got* to see Natasha say, “What it do, shotta.” And you absolutely *cannot miss* her at the beginning of the photoshoot, in her character. Hell, watch her whole photoshoot. It is fucking brilliant. I love her. I hope to hell she wins this thing. (Sorry, Jaslene, you’ve been bumped.) (I also loved Renee for a hot minute last week when she said to Jay, “I’m a bitch.” This week, I’m still undecided about her.)
Okay, crafting stuff. (I think I need a tshirt with Natasha’s face and “What it do, shotta.” screenprinted on it. Damn. I’ll have to get on that.) Tomorrow I’m mailing off granny squares for the Acrylic Granny Squares Swap. I started them, worked through hook size issues, and finished them tonight, mostly while we were waiting at the dealership. (The hybrid has a bad rear catalytic converter, possibly caused by a going-bad front catalytic converter. It’s going back in Monday for repairs.) I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, and they are kinda addictive, although I have a severe case of inflamed/actively hurting carpal tunnel due to cranking out three 6″ squares in about three hours. Not including the false-starts I had with the wrong hook sizes – of course it took me til I was almost done to realize the size wasn’t working out, and I tried two hooks before hitting on the right one. And I did a square last night with the blue and a coordinating variegated, only to realize after it was done that it wasn’t “reading” right – you couldn’t tell there were two different colors being used. Yeesh. Plus typing at work. But can’t. Stop. The crafting. (My right hand and wrist are burning. Pobre mio.) Anyhoodle, here they are:
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Oh my god, I love otters! I mean, I already knew this, because they are so cute. But my love for them has grown exponentially after seeing this video. (But you really don’t need to listen to the sound – it’s like 50 kabillion people all saying, “They’re holding hands! So cute!” After the first person points it out, I really don’t need to hear the rest of them point it out. Just shut up and let me bask in the cuteness, you fools! Gah.)
Tonight, I cut out the pattern pieces for my next sewing project: Simplicity 4111, a Built By Wendy top. I made sure I had enough of the fabric I wanted to use – this cute red dotted fabric:
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Tonight or Wednesday night (since I have to work late tomorrow night), I’ll sew the raw edges together and do the pre-washing/pre-shrinking. (Yes, the pre-washing. That I never, ever, ever, ever, Tiffany, ever, ever do. I’m trying to be better about sewing properly. Which includes ironing the pieces and pre-shrinking and shit like that. That I hate. Because it’s just more bullshit in between me and a finished object. But it does make the finished object look a little neater, I’ll give you that.)
I’ve got one load of laundry ready to go, though, so I definitely won’t be cutting out the fabric tonight, and that’s okay. I’m cutting out squares for heat packs instead, using Bazaar Bizarre as my square template. I’m using this fabric for the packs:
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I haven’t decided yet whether I still want to use rice for the packs. I’ve been given to understand that some people don’t like the smell of heated, uncooked rice. I think it smells good, but I’m debating whether to make these with buckwheat or some shit that supposedly doesn’t have a smell.
And speaking of Bazaar Bizarre, what is the deal with Greg der Ananian’s Dirty Pillows? I was trying to find the less tame versions online, and dirtypillows.net is locked? WTF. I need to see some dirty Dirty Pillows, dammit.
Well, Bailey is a sweetheart around people, but he’s really not a fan of cats. It started out well, Friday night, he pretty much just ignored Skeeter while he sniffed around the house. (Skeeter was hissing and growling, but kind of quietly, and didn’t get too close to Bailey.) Saturday, Skeeter came out to see what was going on with the new animal, and when he walked past Bailey’s food dish, Bailey tried to run at Skeeter (but Bailey was on a leash), so we weren’t sure if it was food aggression, or just that he was interested in the cat and wanted to play. And food aggression scares the shit out of me, to be honest. Anyway, we were talking about it today, and decided to try not free-feeding him, but feeding him away from the cats and then putting his food bowl up, and seeing how everyone was getting along after a week. And then Chalupa came out in the hallway to investigate, which was amazing, because she looked pretty calm and interested, and not at all scared, just cautious. She wasn’t hissing, or growling, none of her hair was up. And then Bailey ruined it by barking and growling and jumping for her – luckily the baby gate was between them, and she darted back in the bedroom. So, that kind of clenched it. He might have gotten better with time, but it seemed like the more comfortable he was with us and the house, the more aggressive he was towards the cats, and that’s not cool at all. So, we gave him back. Other than the cat thing, he’s a sweetheart, so it was difficult, and I had to cry over it. But I’m sure he’ll make some other family an excellent dog.
I still feel a little down about it, because Bailey is a sweet dog (around people), and I was already a little attached to him, and I really wanted it to work out. But I’ll get over it. The cats are already over it, and back to acting totally normal. They are excellent little cats.
Skeeter playing with a tissue box:
So, Greg’s bringing Bailey home tonight after band practice. I’m so excited! It turns out that Bailey was originally fostered with a bunch of cats (about six or so years ago), and some dogs as well, so I’m hoping he’ll get along with Skeeter and Chalupa quickly, and maybe help him get in their good graces quickly, too. I won’t be filming any of their first interactions, because I’d rather have my hands free in case I need to grab anyone, or separate them, or whatever. But there will be pictures, and I’m sure once they get used to each other, pet antics on video will take over this blog. Ugh. I’m a crazy pet lady. Oy.
Skeeter scared the shit out of me this morning. Right before we left, he threw up a tiny amount – but then, instead of getting away from his puke like he usually does, he just sat there breathing heavy, like he didn’t feel good at all, or was about to throw up again (although his muscles weren’t moving like they do when he’s about to puke). After a bit, I picked him up to gauge how he was feeling, and he was breathing with this weird ratchet-y sound. (I don’t know how else to describe it.) Which was when I decided I’d have to stay home and take him to the vet. So I got ready to run Greg to work, and call my boss and let her know what was up – and Skeeter got over it, and was back to his normal-breathing, normal-acting self. When it happened, I thought it might be asthma, or something caught in his throat and affecting his breathing. I’ve never had a cat *with* asthma, but I know they can get it, and I have no idea whether it sounds anything like when I’m having an attack. But Skeeter recovered in about five minutes, so I’m thinking it couldn’t have been asthma, to come on and go away so quickly. Maybe just a weird hairball he couldn’t quite bring up?
I got another scare later today, when I was telling Jodi about Skeeter’s weirdness, and she mentioned the food contamination – and we feed them both wet and dry food. Luckily, our food was not on the list. It’s also lucky that I talked with Jodi – and I almost didn’t, because for about two seconds I was thinking, “Who wants to hear about my cat vomiting?” – because now we know which dog foods *not* to get, and it looks like we’ll be getting Bailey soon.
Speaking of which, Bailey is the dog we’re adopting – a 7- or 8-year-old black lab. He’s very sweet, and generally very well-behaved. (I say “generally” because I’m sure he and the cats will be off their normal kilter a bit while they get used to each other, which is understandable.) I think he and Skeeter will be fine, and probably sleeping together inside a week. I’m not sure about Chalupa – she’s so skittish, I kinda think she’ll lay low and hide more than normal for a while. But then, he’s an animal and not a person, so she could entirely surprise me and take to him like a house on fire. (Daoine and Monkey hit it off immediately, and I was thinking Daoine would hate him – they were grooming each other like an hour after they were introduced.) We’ve also been making changes ahead of time, so hopefully the cats’ routines will be less disrupted when we actually bring Bailey home. The plan is to put up a baby gate (or gates, depending on Bailey’s height and/or jumping ability and inclination) to give the cats some definitely dog-free space, and I’ve moved their dishes into my craft room (which will be dog-free). They didn’t really seem to notice the change – and run ahead of me into the craft room instead of the dining room, now, while I’m carrying their food. And we got a top-entry litter box to keep Bailey out (since I’ve never met a dog that wouldn’t eat cat poop if given the chance), and they figured out how to use it the day I got it, although Chalupa still seems to prefer the regular litter boxes.
I don’t know if it helps, really, but I’ve also been talking to the cats about Bailey, trying to get them used to the word “dog” and his name. And also trying to make sure *I* stay calm and don’t get too nervous, because I’m sure if I’m nervous about how the introductions will go, the cats will pick up on it and that won’t help. And I’m really just excited now, and not really nervous. So, yeah.
I was going to make a poll or something, to find out what the general consensus is on dog sweaters for larger dogs. Greg thinks Bailey won’t need a sweater because he’s not like a three-pound tea cup chihuahua or some shit. And I’m generally disinclined to knit a dog sweater, but I know if I ever see him shiver, the sweater will be cranked out as fast as I can. But then I was over at Craftster, and found this post, and…I think those dog jammies are awesome. I realize that may make me a crazy dog lady, but *I* love jammies and being snuggly and cozy and comfy, and I pretty much just want to spoil the hell out of all my pets and make them happy and snuggly and cozy and comfy at all times, so dog jammies kinda make sense to me. I know. I’ve lost it. Bailey has his own bed, that might actually be big enough for me to lay on, and I’m already thinking about how to sew a cushy bed, or knit a blanket for him. It’s nuts. And now I’m all, “I really hope Bailey likes dog jammies, damn. Because otherwise, that poor dog…” But I can’t just whip up dog jammies on my own (ie, without a pattern), and I’m actually in the middle of making YET ANOTHER blanket thing for Chalupa (since she actually uses them, I keep making them for her), so I don’t think Bailey needs to start worrying. Yet. (Although I do think some snow-booties might be in order for next winter.)
As bad as he can be sometimes, Skeeter is really, really good-natured. Which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise, since he *loves* being body-slammed on the couch. And when I grab him and try to get him to lay down and snuggle at night or sleep next to me, while he struggles against it because cats are nocturnal and he’s not really into sleeping at night so much, he doesn’t claw at me. He’s a good little dude.
Anyway, here’s more proof: Skeeter has a thing about the bathtub, and loves being in it. So this morning, I’m taking a shower before work, and I’m trying to get the water the right temperature, and Skeeter’s in the tub, rubbing against my legs. He stayed in the tub even when I turned the showerhead on. We don’t give the cats baths, mainly because they’ve never been dirty enough to warrant it. So of course I was wondering how he’d take a shower, so I leaned over and sprayed him with the showerhead, and he was cool with it. He didn’t look totally happy, but he wasn’t pissed, and he stood still and was very good about it. I was going to towel him off after I got done with my shower, but I didn’t get him that wet and he took care of it by grooming himself. And now he is much fluffier than usual. Good to know that if he ever needs a bath, he’ll be okay, and good to know that I don’t have to freak out next time he hops in the tub while I’m showering, wondering if he’ll scratch me trying to get away from the water.
Of course I took some film of him, just to prove how good-natured he is. I don’t know if you can hear it very well, but he was actually purring up a storm. What a sweetheart.
