Rascal: Climber of Ladders & Eater of Frogs

Today, Barry and I had to put our friend, Rascal, to sleep. He was 17 years old and his health was failing.
I got Rascal when he "followed me home" at just a few weeks old when I was 11. I say "followed" as in I found a litter of kittens near a friends house and I wanted this one. I knew if I told my parents that I knew where he came from and that he had a mom, they wouldn't let me keep him.
Of course, they objected. I named him Kit and my mom tried to give him away at a yardsale. Luckily for me, no one picked him up. A few days later, we had to take him to the vet. He was so anemic from all of the fleas that he just fell over when we touched him. After spending "a large fortune" (probably about $50), my mom decided we should keep him.
He lived with me and my parents and when I moved out, he stayed with them. When they moved to Minnesota, he came to live with Barry and me. He liked to escape too much and as my mom put it "She didn't want to have to shoot some dog for eating her cat." So, he stayed with us.

He came with us as we crossed the country and met some new cats (which he tolerated and sometimes whooped some butt!).
It was hard to see him go and he will be missed very much.
It was a hard decision to make, but we feel it was the right thing to do. He lived a long and happy life and didn't deserve to suffer. We went into it not knowing as much as we should have. If you have a pet, please read the below website to be prepared should this happen to you and your friend.
http://www.specialneedspets.org/euthanasia.htm

But I Don't Even Play Tennis!

So, I think I've got a mild case of Tennis Elbow. I've been having some pain in my elbow joint and a little down my arm. I think it's from too much knitting. So, I have to take a break or maybe learn a new method. A new sleeping position would be good too. I tend to sleep on my tummy with my arm under my boobs (my theory when I was a teenager that sleeping on them would make them smaller, so I slept on my arm so I wouldn't squish them, now it's just habit). I've also been having some pains in my pointer finger as well. I have dubbed it Mouse Finger. It's a condition that comes from too much mouse clicking (and knitting). Excessive use of the pointer knuckle.
I did start my Couch to 5k this morning. I got up at 8am and did a 30 minute fast walk. I was reading Barry's Runners Magazine (I don't know why he gets it; he can't even get his sorry ass up to walk with me) and they said that if you are not active, you should start with a couple of weeks of walking. I figure since I'm going from totally sedentary to active, I should really ease into it. I also take any and every opportunity to procrastinate. I'm really proud of myself though. I went out even though it was raining and now that I'm inside, showered and fed, the sun comes out. Bastard! Overall it was nice. Where I was walking were lots of birds and I even saw a bunny. There were also a lot of slugs. A ton of slugs! Mostly baby slugs which are even grosser because they look like maggots when they're that tiny. And they're nasty to step on. I tried to avoid them, but I did step on one. Blech! How am I going to avoid them when I start moving faster? Maybe I need to start bringing some salt with me and throw it ahead of me on the trail.
I also got some plants started this weekend. I got a window box planter for my balcony. I planted a window box roma tomato plant, mint, oregano, and parsley. I hope they do well. I'm afraid I may have planted too many plants in too small of a container. If so, I wouldn't mind ditching the oregano. I had buyer's remorse just after leaving the store with it. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Lots of recipes ask for dried oregano, but not many ask for fresh. We'll see how it turns out. It's been 2 days now after planting them and they haven't died, so I take that as a good sign.

Radio Silence

It's been a really long time since my last post! Things have been really hectic lately. Barry and I bought a condo in Federal Way. It's great! It's only a little over a mile to work and when the weather gets nicer, I'll be walking to work. It took us a while to move in, but we've got most everything unpacked now. We went out last night and picked up some curtain rods. I've decided that I don't want any blinds at all. I hate blinds. So, we'll have some sheer white curtains under our regular light blocking curtains. That way, we get light AND privacy. We got a Lowe's gift card from our seller to buy stuff for the place and we used that to pick up our stuff. We were going to pick up curtains too, but they wanted $13 for 1 sheer panel (each window needs 2) and $20-$30 for 1 curtain panel. Not only were they expensive, they were ugly. There were a couple that I liked and could have tolerated, but Barry hated those. I know that since it was on a gift card, it's free anyway, but I still can't help but think it's a rip off. I can get the very same sheer panels at Big Lots for $5 a panel. I'd rather spend my own money on that and the "free" money on something else.
Also, I got a cool spinning wheel a couple of months ago. I've been learning how to use it and I think I'm getting pretty good at it. Check it out:

The girl I bought it from says it's from the 1890s. I'm kind of doubtful of that. It works and that's all that matters to me.
Everyone is talking about gardening lately. It makes me wish I had some land to grow stuff. But, since I don't I just the Whistling Train Farm CSA. I'll be getting farm fresh vegetables every week from them. I can't wait for it to start. I think that it'll encourage me to eat more fresh vegetables. They also have U-Pick flowers available for most of the season and that would be a nice little touch to have some fresh flowers in the house every week.

Candidate Calculator

Someone sent this to me at work today and I thought it was pretty cool.
2008 Candidate Calculator.
I was at 92% for Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel and at 68% for Hillary and Obama.
I also learned about FairTax which I have never heard of before. It takes away income tax and replaces it with a nationwide 25% sales tax. So, you're tax on what you SPEND not on what you earn. I think that's great! All those billionaires with their million dollar yachts paying 23% on taxes for that. I feel that too many rich people can get around paying income taxes by paying high priced lawyers and accounts to get around it. I do think there should be some kind of program for people that earn under a certain amount to purchase NECESSITIES tax free (food, clothing & medication).
I doubt it'll ever happen, but I think it's a great idea.

Happy Valentimes!!!

How long have you been together? 8 years

How long did you date? We started dating on 6/26/99, moved in together a year later, got married 9/10/06.

How old is he? 29 in May

Who eats more? He eats more. He's freakin' 6' 4"!

Who said “I love you” first? Barry did.

Who is taller? He's exactly 1 foot taller than me.

Who is smarter? I am by a little bit.

Who does the laundry? We each do our own.

Who does the dishes? We share. He claims he does them all the time, but I do them on Friday every week.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.

Who pays the bills? I do. I'm the saver and he's the spender.

Who mows the lawn? There's no lawn!

Who cooks dinner? We usually do our own, but that's because we mostly do tv dinners and get home at different times. We need to get into cooking real food more.

Who is more stubborn? Barry's more stubborn.

Who kissed who first? Barry kissed me first.

Who asked who out? I guess I did. It wasn't really a date, it was more like, "Hey, there's a guy that likes the same kind of music I do, I should invite him to a show." Then we go to know each other better and he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Who proposed? Barry did (after I told him we were getting married).

Who is more sensitive? I'm not sure. He's definitely more sensitive than most guys, but I cry at arthritis commercials.

Who has more friends? Me.

Who has more siblings? Barry. He's got 5, I've got 0.

Who are you tagging? Barry

Just so you know, I did not spell my title incorrectly. There was an episode of 30 Rock last year where Rachel Dratch played a drunk Russian prostitute and she kept yelling "Happy Valentimes!" to everyone. A great show! I highly recommend it!

Got Our Foot in the Door!

Barry and I put in an offer on a condo and it was accepted! We had the inspection on Saturday and everything was pretty cool. We have to install some GFI outlets and probably get a new water heater, but it's nothing we can't handle.
I'm really exhausted right now, so I'm not going to write a lot, but I will leave a link to pictures of the new place!
Our House, In the Middle of Our Street!

In the Year 2525....

So I spent all day Friday watching Cleopatra 2525. I know, hokey late night sci-fi, but Gina Torres from Firefly is in it!
Funny story about that! I get up in middle of the night, possibly early Friday morning (3am) to go potty and Barry is out in the living room watching TV. I usually don't put on my glasses for my midnight potty run since I already know where everything is. After I'm done, I decide to visit Barry for a couple of minutes before heading back to bed. He's watching Cleopatra 2525 (which I didn't care to watch). Well, one of the characters says something and I recognize her voice. "Is that Zoe?!" (Gina Torres' character in Firefly) Barry said "Holy crap! I watched this show for at least 15 minutes trying to figure out where I knew her from and had to go look it up on IMDB to find out who she was."
I got sidetracked. Back to what I was saying. All day watching this show....I was also trying to work on a new pair of socks while I watched it. I think I ripped them out at least 5 times that day. My gauge was too small, so I had to adjust the numbers and ended up making them too big, then too small, then I twisted stuff, then I put them on my needles wrong. Arg! I put them aside and got started on another pillow. Here's a picture of the first one I made using the yarn that Rick got me for my birthday:

It's nice and soft! Suede yarn. I'm making my other one out of the brown/orange color combos and a little bit smaller so it fits the pillow form better.
Also from watching Cleopatra 2525, I found my new haircut!
I think it'll look great with glasses too. That's a problem I have with looking for a new haircut. You never know how it'll look with glasses. Sometimes glasses can throw off the whole haircut. Anyway, I'll dying it with bright reds and oranges.

A Blog Award! I'd like to thank....

All the little people that helped me get where I am today, especially the
Chuck the Squirrel that runs in a wheel inside my computer to keep it going.
Sabbath gave me a "You Make My Day" Award and she was nominated by Rhonda who was nominated by Suna and so on and so on. So, I'll shall continue the chain so no bad luck befalls me (although no threats were actually made).
I'd like to nominate Liberty. I love the pictures she puts on her site! They are so professional looking. She offers a lot of tutorials, tips and ideas for me to steal, umm....I mean use.
I'll also nominate Stitchy McYarnpants. She doesn't post nearly as often as I do (which should say how often she doesn't post more than she does post), but they are always hilarious. My current fave is "Jaw-Breaking News." It had me giggle-snorting the whole time I was reading it!
One of the things that Sabbath pointed out was that I've promised to write in this blog weekly and I haven't been doing a very good job of it (for the record, she didn't say that last part, I did). I don't write often because nothing very exciting happens very often. So, I'm going to try to focus on some of my random thoughts and ideas as well. Maybe keep a little notebook with me to keep track of them through out the day. The point being that things don't have to be exciting (like whacking my head on a toilet) to be blogged, but maybe just interesting.

Birthday Booty!

So, Sunday was my birthday and I got all kinds of goodies!
First, Jenn sent me a gift certificate for Amazon.com and I ordered the new Cat Bordhi sock book. Then I ran off to Kinko's and had it spiral bound. It was only $5 to have it bound. It's nice! It lays flat

and I can flip the book back on itself.Also from Jenn, I got an awesome birthday package. It has yarn, a knitting book, bath stuff, Germany goodies, the Golden Compass books and a small package of tissues.

I was setting up my little display in the shop yesterday to take a picture of it and got a comment on how nicely laid out it is. Now, as I'm posting, I notice that the tissues are upside down. Grr.

From Rick, I got suede yarn and some rainbow yarn. I'm not sure what I'll do with the rainbow yarn, but I'm going to crochet some decorative pillow covers with the suede. I've already got my pillow forms, I just need to decide on a pattern to use.

He also got me lots of yummy goodies. The sipping chocolate was interesting. You heat up 1/3 of a cup of milk and add 3 TABLESPOONS of the chocolate. It was a little too thick for my tastes. Luckily, there's instructions on how to use it to make hot chocolate.

Christmas Booty!

I finally got some pictures taken of my fancy new coat, but you have to read about the trials and tribulations of buying that coat before you get to see any pictures! Here it goes...
Barry got me a gift certificate to Burlington Coat Factory for $50. I desperately needed a new coat since mine had a HUGE hole in the pocket. We get there and there is a ginormous selection of coats. It wouldn't be the Burlington Coat Factory if there were any less coats. So, their "organization" of the coats makes no sense to me if there was a system. I wanted a pea coat. I've always wanted a pea coat but they are always to expensive. We're there for maybe 1/2 an hour and I'm starting to get ready to give up. Everything is either too big or too expensive. I have little patience for shopping for clothes especially when there's no order. Barry finally pulls one out that looks promising. I try it on....It's perfect! We start looking for the price tag and there isn't one. I head up to the front to find out the price while Barry looks for a similar coat. I'm convinced that the perfect coat will be at least $100. I get up there and it's $49.99! The woman asks if I'd like to buy it now and I say yes! Shopping hell is done and I have an awesome coat! I signal Barry to come up to the front since he has my wallet with the extra money for tax. She rings it up and it's only $45! It was on sale for $39.99! Sweet! I've already given her my gift card and she hands it back to me just as Barry arrives with my wallet and poopy old coat. And what does he say? Not "I'm so happy you got the coat you wanted." He said "Why did you buy it already? I found another one I want you to try on." He tells me you never buy the first one you try. Hello! I tried on at least 5 or 6 coats! So, we leave the shop, bubble popped. He apologizes, and we go back in to spend the rest of the gift card since we never shop at Burlington Coat Factory. We picked up a cute welcome mat that says "The Party Starts Here!"

Boring poseCute pose

Badass pose

Inside pockets!

And reversible!

I also got a purse that my mom made me. When I was a teenager, I loved yin yangs!
There are two pockets where the two colors meet.
She included a note with it that said:

Paula,
I hope you like this purse. It is called a Yin-Yang Purse.
I made it because I know you like the Yin-Yang symbol.
If you don't like it, that's okay.
You only have to use it when I come to visit.
Just be grateful that it is not a pink bunny suit.
Have a great Christmas.
Love,
Mom

I'm the Eric of This Party!

I guess I should first explain what I mean by the title of this post. Eric is Barry's sister's (Tammy) long time boyfriend. He often gets hurt doing things like playing on a pogo stick, swinging from tree swings and walking down the sidewalk. He broke his ankle on that last one. He bounces back just fine. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, just less than graceful at times.
So, last night Barry and I went to Tammy's house in Seattle for New Years. Barry was pretty drunk and I was standing on his feet while he was walking around. So, he needs to use the bathroom and I claim "Well, I guess I'm coming with you then!" We get to the bathroom and there's a cat in front of us. He's tries to step over the cat but only succeeds in tripping and falling onto me. I fall backwards and land on the toilet and Barry lands on top of me. I whacked my head on the tank of the toilet and smacked my lower back on the toilet seat and Barry squashed me there. So he feels really bad for what he did (but now that he's sober, he claims it was ALL my fault. Jerk.) and starts hugging me.
"Ow! Don't hug me, I hurt my back!"
He pets my head (which I usually love).
"Ow! Don't touch my head, it hurts!"
He rubs my back.
"Ow! That's where I hurt my back!"
Hugs me again, resting his chin on my head (Thus pressing on my hurt back and touching my shiny new goose egg).
"Ow! Quit touching me!"
So, since Eric didn't get hurt last night, I declare myself Eric of that party!
I'm doing alright considering. I've got a nice bump on my head and my back's a little sore. I think its just some bruising and pulled muscles. I should be good in a couple of days.
Barry woke up this morning wondering why his ribs hurt. I told him it's because he crushed me last night. He thinks it's because I was punching him because he was snoring too much.
I didn't get a picture of my new coat yet. I'm hoping I'll get some pictures up this weekend of my gifts.