Tesla the Biscuit Maker

Setting: The bed. Ben and I snuggle as Tesla purrs happily and walks from side to side, randomly making biscuits before moving on.

Ben: "He's looking for some batter. You know, to make some biscuits."

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Winter Cabin Camping

Because I am a loving wife who also wants to build up "I did something you want to do" points to get to Disney World we went cabin camping in Gifford Pinchot State Park with one of Ben's friends and said friend's girlfriend. It was not awful. I did enjoy being away from the TV and the computer for a bit, as well as the bracing cold fresh air and the novelty of walking on a frozen lake.

Cabin. Woods. Frozen lake.

First hat I ever made. Go me!

Rebels, all of us. Seriously though some ice fishermen let Ben look down in one of their holes and the ice was something like 10" thick. Also one ice fisherman had a canvas tent house thing and planned to spend the night on the ice, which is crazy in a way I don't understand. We watched him pack up and ship out around 8:30 at night though, so maybe the rational part of his brain got the best of him. Or the park ranger kicked him out. Not sure what the proper procedure is for renting a camping spot on what is usually a liquid surface.

And also Ben made blueberry cobbler/cake in a dutch oven and I love cake.

As always, I was pretty ecstatic to get back to these furry munchkins. And also to my comfortable, warm bed.

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Halloween was four months ago.

But I'm posting about it now! I will never not be a Disney character for Halloween; this is a given. This year I wore not one, but two costumes: a work appropriate Minnie Mouse and a less work appropriate Snow White.

Did I have my annual review at work that day? Yes, yes I did. Did I wear my Minnie ears? Absolutely.

The world's most cutest museum dog was a 50's lady, complete with poodle skirt.

And Tesla and Truman were reluctant but fabulous Meowsketeers, as usual.

 I had some Disney Halloween decor, of course (some of it prompted by yet another Disney trip contest that I did not win. One day I will be victorious.)

I marvel at my artistry.

Ben managed to get me out of the house to a party thrown by his friends. I crashed by 11 and went home.

I tried, I really did, to do Snow White hair.

Because he's that cute.

Because we are an adorably Dis-nerdy family, my mother and I wore the same costume.

Don't you just love it?

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Until next summer, Rita's

We got a jump on celebrating my birthday early this weekend with a trip to Uno's Pizzeria and one last visit to Rita's before the end of the season. 

Even though we had to sit in the car with our coats on and it was dark out it was still amazing.

Brr.

Then Sunday I had birthday cake..and birthday cake ice cream to go with it. It was forced on me by my parents. Clearly.

My "I love cake" face.

But then I went for a walk in the park with B...so it all evens out, right? Yes.

Elsewhere in the week...

I made the Washington Post, 

 #musempeopleproblems,

and Truman sat on the remotes.

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Why I Love Being Married to Him

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The other night B was playing with his pocket flashlight, holding it behind Tesla's ears to make a shadow and repeating "It's the Batman!"

And that's why I love being married to him.

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But then I had to pee.

Sometime between 1:30 and 3 a.m. I usually wake up to find Truman snuggled in the crook of my right arm and Tesla purring away on my chest. It is, needless to say, adorable. I don't mind being woken up to pet my boys, because for the ten minutes before they get tired of it and jump off the bed, all is right with the world. Except last night. Because last night I had to pee. Really badly. But I didn't want to disturb the kittens. So I waited, in agony, until they moved on, then immediately sprung out of bed and raced for the bathroom. Where they followed me so I could pet them while on the toilet because they like to listen to me pee, apparently. They come running every time. It's nice to have company.



Truman sleeping in my t-shirt drawer because he can.





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Where I have been.

I haven't been posting lately because nothing fun has been happening. This is because I work on contracts, and I have been waiting for my next contract to be ready since mid-October. This means that I have been on forced staycation for a month and a half. 

Pros: I know I am getting another contract, so I don't have the same fears as someone who is unemployed.

Cons: I refuse to go anywhere or do anything fun because most of that costs money, and since I am not currently getting a paycheck, I am trying to live as frugally as possible.

Now, many of us wish for a month-long vacation from work. I know I will again when I'm back. However, it has a way of making one feel guilty, lazy, and eventually, bored.

As proof, I submit this list of things I have done since I've been home:

1. Slept til noon more often than I care to admit.

2. Deep-cleaned the entire apartment (I cleaned the walls. I did that.)

3. Told my cats multiple times that they are my best friends.

4. Caved and read Fifty Shades of Grey. Then bought the rest of the trilogy.

5. Painted my fingernails (I hate wearing nail polish on my fingernails.)

6. Forced myself to get out of the apartment once a day to at least go to the gym.

7. Scrapbooked.

8. Checked e-mail and Facebook obsessively.

9. Gotten my Christmas shopping done way early.

10. Taken many many photos of my cats. See below.

And that is a current summation of my life.

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Grati-Tuesday.

Currently I am being thankful for:

1. Dawn Dish Liquid. Why? Because my cats are still fleabags, a week after we gave them Frontline and bathed them in flea and tick shampoo. Well, they're better, but I'm still finding one or two fleas every time I comb them. So we decided another bath was in order (the cats were really excited about it. Not.) Rather than use the special shampoo, we decided to go with Dawn Dish Liquid, recommended by the vet. Fleas started falling off in the bath, and then when we combed them that night we got dead fleas. I spotted a few still this morning, but I am much more impressed with the results from the household cleaner than the expensive shampoo.

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Apparently it has to be the original blue dish liquid though, so don't go dousing your cats in anything else as I have no idea what it will do to them. Another plus-it made their fur so fluffy!

2. Downton Abbey. I know I'm late to the Downton Abbey train, ok? Especially for someone who is into history. People at the museum have been raving about it since it came to America and I finally found a place to watch it and it is as fantastic as they have all been saying. Now, like everyone, I have to wait until February for the next season. Boo.

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3. Funny tumblrs to read over my coffee, such as this one: My Friends Are Getting Married, and I'm Just 25 and Drunk.

Seriously. I laughed till my stomach hurt, which is good because I feel like that counts as part of my workout for the day. Don't worry. I'm going to the gym as well. Hopefully.

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Kitten stool samples and other weekend activities.

So some things were nice this weekend, such as this note from B that I woke up to on Saturday morning:

And my first pumpkin spice latte of the season before church on Sunday:

Even having the windows open again and watching the kittens enjoy the breeze.

What was not great? Having to take a stool sample from the kittens to the vet. Actually, that part wasn't that bad. Tesla complied with our schedule and went before we left. Truman did not. What Truman did do was take a nice big one in his carrier as we transferred him from the car to the vet. 

B: "He's going right now. I'm watching him do it. Damnit."

Because they like to share a carrier, both the kittens got it on their paws. B pulled out the shirt that he had lined the carrier with...that now reeked so badly of cat feces he immediately shoved it in the plastic bag we were carrying Tesla's sample in. The nice vet tech took them back and washed them off, though we still had to bathe them when we got them home. 

When we told the vet (who seems to be some sort of veterinarian Doogie Howser. I think she's 12). She laughed and said "I will take the sample though. Is it in the garbage?" She was going to go through the garbage for my cats s&*t. Seriously. That's dedication. I like her.

Instead, we handed her the grocery bag and the advice that "Tesla's is labeled in the Ziploc. Truman's is...in the t-shirt. And possibly all over the side of the bag." And she took it. Thank you, Veterinarian Doogie Howser.

They're lucky I love them. Real lucky.

Linking up with these lovely ladies:

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Grati...Thursday.

So I haven't done a Grati-Tuesday post in a while. But that doesn't mean I don't have anything to be thankful for! So I'm scooting it over to Thursday this week. Behold my thankfulness for:

1. Other Disney freaks on Pinterest, so I can get my fix vicariously through things like this:

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2. A vet that is open late so that we can get flea meds when we discover our kittens are infested. Not thankful for fleas or the WORMS THAT APPEAR TO HAVE COME WITH THEM. I just had to have the strays. Thankfully they are indoor cats, so once we take care of the problems they seem to have come with, they should be good to go for the foreseeable future, at least as far as pests are concerned.

3. Cheddar cheese sticks and grapes as a morning snack.

4. Stripes, stripes, stripes.

5. The Free TV Project, through which I discovered a new guilty pleasure: Underage and Pregnant, the British version of 16 and Pregnant. Yes. I will watch this.

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This is my nightmare.

When I was little, my grandmother would babysit me when my daycare was closed. One of my distinct memories of those times (besides my grandmother letting me do her hair while we watched soap operas and used a fan to blow her hair back like the ladies in the soap opera openers) is when her house got infested with fleas. I was so scared and disgusted by the jumping little insects and the prospect that they might touch me that I spent an entire afternoon sitting on top of the back of her couch (the actual back; it was as far from the carpet full of death that I could get).

Fleas are a scourge. I mean, they are responsible for the Black Death.

And now they are on my kittens. My adorable kittens have betrayed me and for the last four weeks have apparently been playing host to little flea eggs just biding their time until they could hatch in my clean apartment and terrorize me.

We launched a four prong attack last night when we discovered the beasts. To the vet for flea meds, combed out the kitties, doused them in flea bath, vacuumed the apartment and sprayed all the fabrics with some kill-everything-alive spray. We also banned the kitties from the bedroom, which I felt bad about but I WILL NOT HAVE FLEAS IN MY BED. As of this morning the kittens only showed one or two fleas each when I combed them out, which is a vast improvement. Still unacceptable.

Hopefully we caught it early enough that it won't become a big problem. But honestly, that's pretty much all I remember from my Labor Day weekend. Any good memories were apparently negated by the Flea Crisis of 2012.

Well, that, and I got new shoes.

Also I tried the new Autumn Apple Chicken Salad at Cosi and loved it. Highly recommend.

Link up and share your weekend, which hopefully did not involve fleas!

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B's First Quarter of a Century.

Tuesday was B's 25th birthday!

He got presents and I semi-decorated the apartment.

This is how health conscious he is: I offered to bring home cupcakes from Crumbs for his birthday treat. His reply? I think I'd rather have frozen yogurt. We ended up going to Chili's for dinner, home of the molten lava Oreo cake, and he still said "I'll be ok with just frozen yogurt." I'll tell you something, if it's my day of the year to eat cake, I'm going to eat cake, damnit.

But not B. He contentedly enjoyed some froyo.

While the kittens looked on dubiously.

And then fell asleep while still trying to hold their heads up.

I hope you enjoyed your birthday, love!



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On balls.

You know the kind I'm talking about.

Via.

When we took our kittens to the vet on Saturday, we were under the assumption that between them they possessed two, both of them on Truman. The vet massaged his man area and went "one...two, great" and then she picked up Tesla and went "one...well don't worry buddy, the other one will come."

I had presumed, from the context, that the vet was talking about kitty testicles, but when she said she felt one on Tesla, I was confused, since everyone had thought Tesla was a girl, and we had been treating her as such for three weeks. So I said "one what?" and she replied "testicles. He's a boy. They're both boys."

Oops.

So hopefully I haven't screwed up my cat's psyche by treating him as if he subscribes to a gender not matched with his sex-although how can you really tell a cat's gender? Do animals have mismatched genders and sexes like humans sometimes do? I think that's too heavy a question for this early in the morning.

In any case, at least Tesla is a unisex name. Sorry for the mix-up buddy. You're a very handsome boy.



Truman, boy kitten.



Tesla. Also a boy kitten.





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