A new pal....

This little girl as yet unnamed is the newest member of our household.  She was adopted from the A.R.K. in Lacon, IL and seems very sweet.  She is currently confined in the spare bedroom behind the five foot gate.  She and Sassy can see each other but Sassy can't get to her.  She's not much of a jumper.  I can't say the same for the new one yet.  She's under the chair in the corner but has been out several times, she doesn't seem really timid.  We will be watching her for a while to see if a name comes to us.  She is mostly black with a little grey and a little white but her eyes are spectacular.  Hopefully she and Sassy will become great friends.

I rant; therefore I am...

Several things have been bothering me lately.  The first is our 52" Samsung TOC television began doing something really weird.  When you turn on the TV, the red light flashes, the music comes on, the picture shows for a fraction of a second, there's a loud click and then the cycle repeats itself.  It just started doing it last Wednesday.  I did a live Chat with someone at Samsung and they suggested unplugging it from the power strip and plugging it into a wall socket by itself - that worked for half a day and then it started back with the cycle again.  On Thursday, I re-chatted and this person said this is a "known" issue with my TV, they would fill out a service ticket and someone would get in touch with me within two business days - oh, and unplug the TV.  I discounted Thursday but expected to hear on Friday or Monday.  Late Monday night after no word, I contacted the Chat line again (available 24/7) and discovered our ticket had been cancelled due to "no response"  which apparently means someone tried to call and we didn't answer.  We didn't realize we were to stand still with one hand on the telephone waiting for this call.  I could have been doing laundry, checking the mail, talking to a neighbor in the drive-way.  I was home all day on Friday and Monday but maybe I was in the garage or taking a shower or going to the bathroom.  I mentioned that we have this new invention called an answering machine and someone was free to leave a message that would have been answered in minutes.  Oblivious to sarcasm, we were added to the service list again - and again, it would be two business days.  I did give them my husband's cell phone number but when he's home, he doesn't carry it with him, it sits on the hutch in the kitchen.  Now, is it just me, or is that a stupid policy?  We have a very expensive unwatchable television and the phone call is "our final answer"  I can't imagine how leaving a message is a detriment to them.  And we like Samsung products, just not their customer support.

I'm also miffed that Andy Dick is still on DTWS which, by the way, I really haven't been watching.  Our news station in the morning is kind of obsessed with DTWS and love to show us excerpts from the show, they seem to focus on Dick just because he's so awful.  It's called "Dancing" not "walking".  And who are the rest of those people?  Stars?  I think not.

And, while I've got my rant on, are you as tired of Jodi Arias as I am?  And now we'll go into Zimmerman, please - save me.  We're also going to have a murder trial here that involves a horrendous crime, two teenagers are accused of killing a whole family, even trying to kill a three year old who miraculously survived.  Their intention was to steal a computer and rape the teenage daughter; I guess killing the family was an afterthought.  Too much sadness in the world.  Maybe keeping the TV off for a while is a really good idea.

I rant; therefore I am...

Several things have been bothering me lately.  The first is our 52" Samsung TOC television began doing something really weird.  When you turn on the TV, the red light flashes, the music comes on, the picture shows for a fraction of a second, there's a loud click and then the cycle repeats itself.  It just started doing it last Wednesday.  I did a live Chat with someone at Samsung and they suggested unplugging it from the power strip and plugging it into a wall socket by itself - that worked for half a day and then it started back with the cycle again.  On Thursday, I re-chatted and this person said this is a "known" issue with my TV, they would fill out a service ticket and someone would get in touch with me within two business days - oh, and unplug the TV.  I discounted Thursday but expected to hear on Friday or Monday.  Late Monday night after no word, I contacted the Chat line again (available 24/7) and discovered our ticket had been cancelled due to "no response"  which apparently means someone tried to call and we didn't answer.  We didn't realize we were to stand still with one hand on the telephone waiting for this call.  I could have been doing laundry, checking the mail, talking to a neighbor in the drive-way.  I was home all day on Friday and Monday but maybe I was in the garage or taking a shower or going to the bathroom.  I mentioned that we have this new invention called an answering machine and someone was free to leave a message that would have been answered in minutes.  Oblivious to sarcasm, we were added to the service list again - and again, it would be two business days.  I did give them my husband's cell phone number but when he's home, he doesn't carry it with him, it sits on the hutch in the kitchen.  Now, is it just me, or is that a stupid policy?  We have a very expensive unwatchable television and the phone call is "our final answer"  I can't imagine how leaving a message is a detriment to them.  And we like Samsung products, just not their customer support.

I'm also miffed that Andy Dick is still on DTWS which, by the way, I really haven't been watching.  Our news station in the morning is kind of obsessed with DTWS and love to show us excerpts from the show, they seem to focus on Dick just because he's so awful.  It's called "Dancing" not "walking".  And who are the rest of those people?  Stars?  I think not.

And, while I've got my rant on, are you as tired of Jodi Arias as I am?  And now we'll go into Zimmerman, please - save me.  We're also going to have a murder trial here that involves a horrendous crime, two teenagers are accused of killing a whole family, even trying to kill a three year old who miraculously survived.  Their intention was to steal a computer and rape the teenage daughter; I guess killing the family was an afterthought.  Too much sadness in the world.  Maybe keeping the TV off for a while is a really good idea.

This card was for a friend's birthday.  Love these little Peachy Keen candles and since I have a gazillion Peachy Keen faces, I can tailor them to the occasion, some people don't feel as if birthdays are 'happy' events.  The sentiment is PTI.  Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a rant.

Good as gold...

Sassy doesn't seem at all bothered by her experience with Molly.  In fact, she's spending more time in my window, eating treats again, no accidents and is all around a good girl.  She was just up in my craft room a bit ago meowing.  We all know what that means.  So I asked her if she had to go "potty" and she took off running with me right behind her.  She ran down the stairs, through the dining room, down the stairs, through the family room and into the laundry room bathroom, right to her box.  I sat on the toilet while she pottied and then cleaned the litter box.  I can't decide if she's calling me to watch or to clean the box.  This isn't something she does all the time, just two or three times a week.  And if she's downstairs, she will call much more loudly than if she's sitting right beside me.  She knows two words very well - "potty" and "treats".

I plan to visit the A.R.K. in Lacon, IL this week to see if I can find her someone who is less aggressive than Molly, a cat that's as laid back as Sassy.  A cat that can run with her and likes catnip (my cat, the druggie).

Not so much a pal...

My poor Sassy wanted so much to make friends with the new kitty, Molly.  She would lay within five feet of Molly, patiently waiting for Molly to come play but Molly would put her ears back, growl, spit and slap at Sassy.  And Sassy, being the placid girl she is, would just back slowly away.  Once I found her hiding in her litter box.  Molly seems destined for a one cat only family so she was picked up last night and returned to her former home.  We are still considering a pal for Sassy but maybe a kitten.  Sassy is finally out from behind my chair (she retreats there when she's stressed) and is in my craft room window with me.  She spent the last two days pretty close to us and the one time I picked her up while Molly was close, Sassy nipped me.  Today things are back to normal, well as normal as things get around here.  The really good news is Sassy didn't have any accidents while Molly was here but she went twenty four hours without a poop.  I believe that stress affects her stomach which causes her to either have the runs or be constipated.  And when I had to use a plug that her Feliway was plugged into a few days ago, I neglected to plug it back in and she seems fine.  So, perhaps we're done with that.

From this window - 4/27/13

It feels as if spring has finally come to the midwest.  The record flooding is going down although with the snow melt up north, we may be in for another round.  The grass is amazingly green and the crab apple outside my craft room window has leaves.  Yesterday I saw a turkey walk up the grass across the street and the small herd of does we see occasionally was in the front yard Thursday.  The wren showed up on Wednesday and today I see a female has joined him.  The bluebirds have been gone for several weeks so it's possible they won't use the house outside my window.  Maybe the house sparrows and wrens will fight over it.  Pound for pound, my money is on the wren; as mean as house sparrows are, the wrens will win the fight.  They're sneakier and faster than house sparrows.

The fish were splashing in the pond on Friday, a sure sign spring is here.  Splashing is a mating behavior.  I noticed when we opened up the pond that there was some tiny fish from last year.  The frogs keep the baby fish from over populating the pond, very few make it through the winter and then the frogs' spring appetites thin what's left.

The oriole hasn't arrive yet.  I always spend the day on the deck when he does; he has the most beautiful song.  It's so pleasant to walk out to get the morning paper and hear all the birds singing.  Ah, love is in the air.

In our neighborhood, the forsythia is blooming, what tulips the deer don't eat are showing color, my Asiatic lilies have broken ground, the violets are blooming, the redbuds have leaves but no blossoms, the sun is now coming up in my craft room window and will keep working itself to the left of the window.  There is nothing so breathtaking as a warm spring morning when life renews itself.

Monsters, anyone?

I am working on some lollipop covers for a craft sale in May.  I purchased them from SVGcuttingfiles.com.

This little guy/girl holds a Charms Sweet Pop and is just cute as the dickens.  There are several more I will share with you in the future.  I hope wherever you are that your spring is as lovely as mine.

A new pal?

We may have another member of our family.  A friend rescued a female cat from a bad situation but her older male cat doesn't like her.  We scheduled a play date between our cat and Molly today.  So far, Sassy is sleeping in Carl's chair and Molly is hiding under my chair.  The little face time they had involved some hissing, some growling and some screeching but it was relatively mild.  Sassy seems very calm, she was even purring while I rubbed her under the chin.  Of course, Molly's had a rough time so she may be slower to come around.  We'll have to wait and see.  We're headed out to lunch at noon so we'll put Sassy behind the gate and let Molly explore a little bit.  Sassy will have her litter box and her bedroom.  We have another litter box for Molly and we'll only be gone an hour or so.

When life gives you lemons.....

Carl caught Sassy peeing on the contractor's tarp in the living room again this morning.  He grabbed her food, water, and herself and locked her in the bathroom again.  I'm not sure that's doing any good, she doesn't realize she's being bad.  I had Carl buy a big bottle of lemon juice because I read that cats don't like citrus and we sprayed the tarp really well with it.  We may have to do that several times a day for a while but lemon juice isn't all that expensive.  In the meantime, we're debunking myths about how to train a cat - lol.

Spring has sprung

Sassy has been really excited about all the new smells since we opened some of the windows.  She bounces from window to window spending small amounts of time in each one before moving on to the next.  I actually took her out to the screened in gazebo yesterday afternoon because it was so warm.  We had spent most of the day opening the pond - cleaning out gunk, adding water, installing the pump and cleaning the filters.  It's a dirty stinky job and we even talked about leveling it and installing a pond-less waterfall.  Of course, the frogs, toads, damselflies, dragonflies, waterlilies, lotus and fish would all have to go and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

This morning Sassy visited me in the bathroom (I leave my door partially open because she likes to play in my tub) and I caught a picture of her.  She's been good as gold since my last post.  We don't have any reason to take her to the vet until August so let's just hope this goodness lasts.

Free Astrological Sign - Taurus

Download Taurus

Update on Envelope Punch Board by We R Memory Keepers

On March 8th I reviewed my new Envelope Punch Board.  I discovered that the A2 envelopes (the ones I use the most) came out square using the measurements that came with the board.  Square envelopes cost more to mail so I said I was going to use it for odd sized envelopes but wouldn't use it for A2 envelopes.  After I published my blog, I was contacted by We R Memory Keepers (I did not contact them).  They had read my blog and offered me a new sticker with the correct dimensions on it, they only asked for my mailing address.  I received the sticker a few days ago and, using the new dimensions, created a very nice A2 sized envelope, and it was rectangular instead of square.  So, thank you, Jenny, for the e-mail and the new dimensions sticker and thanks to We R Memory Keepers for truly caring enough about their customers to track them down and make them happy.  This was a first for me - call me a happy camper.

Oops!

Edited to add:  Sassy just pooped on the white feather duvet on our bed.  Since it's dry-clean only I just got the worst of it off and set it out to take to the cleaners.  I've changed the bed and locked her into the hallway and downstairs bathroom.  I've closed off the bedroom next to the hallway because the comforter on that bed was very expensive.  I did do some research on line and found that sometimes cats with diarrhea can't get to the litter box on time.  But she hates our bed.  If we put her up there, she immediately jumps off.  I can count on one hand the number of times she's spent more than a minute or two on it.  So, whatever possessed her to go up there to poop?  If it means anything, the feather duvet is the same color as the contractor's tarp and the waterproofed pads we used to put down, but she's also pooped on my husband's burgundy accent rug, although it was many months ago .  If anybody has any advice, we're certainly in the market for it.

Another setback.  But we've learned something valuable, I think.  Sassy had another accident on the contractor's tarp in the living room.  It was very runny and in three small places.  There was also a runny mess just outside her litter box and more in the litter box as well as on her back end.  It got us to thinking - the last time she pooped on anything, it was my footstool and it was also runny.  We can't remember the last time she pooped a normal poop outside of her litter box.  So, we wondered if perhaps she has stomach problems once in a while.  We haven't changed her food so we don't know what causes it but I remember a case of food poisoning I had that had me cleaning up a mess.  I'm going to go on line and find out if others have had the same problem and what they did about it.  At this point we aren't taking any action except bathing her back side but we have closed off the living room again.

Sassy is just delightful....

Since my last post, no accidents and Sassy has become very fond of the two construction workers, Mike and Pat.  She spends part of her day checking out their work; we figured she thought the new shower base was just a huge litter box so we had to keep an eye on her for a while.  She's found a new place to sleep, on top of my sewing machine in the spare bedroom and she likes the window open when it's nice outside.  This window is just above ground level and looks out on the bluebird box on the north side of the house. 

She still calls me once in a while.  I'll be on the top floor crafting and hear her howling.  When I walk into the bathroom with her litter box, she follows me right in and does her business.  But she does that less often than she used to.   She's a great one for running through the house at top speed and encouraging me to chase her.  She likes to hide (in plain sight) beside my footstool and wait for me to slap the top of it and yell "Boo".  She'll take off like her tail's on fire and expects me to chase her.  And I do.  Anything that keeps Sassy happy and healthy is OK with us.

We have a vet appointment this afternoon to have her left eye checked.  It's still leaking copious amounts of fluid and I worry that it's uncomfortable for her.  So, we'll have it checked.

DWTS

First, a disclaimer:  I'm not watching this season of DWTS and even the thought of watching Derek Hough dance didn't make me want to tune in.  I think "Stars" is way too strong a word for this cast.  And I truly believe the scores that Wynonna Judd is getting is Karma for her quote about touring with Clint Black.  When asked how she liked touring with him, she said, "Life is too short to tour with ugly men".  I wonder how she would have felt if Tony Dovolani said "Life's too short to dance with fat chicks?"  I don't know why, but that quote just really made me angry.  Children listen to what stars say.  Britany's meltdown, Nicholas Cage drunk and disorderly, and don't get me started on Charlie Sheen (and I liked him).  Sports figures, movie stars (Mel Gibson, anyone?), people famous for being famous (Snookie?).  Who wants their children to grow up like these people?  Unfortunately, the press doesn't care that Matt Damon is happily married with children and loves to go home at night; they don't care that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have been together since 1983 (when is the last time you heard anything about them?).  The press does care that Mel Gibson is a bigot or that Lindsey Lohan (who never seems to suffer any consequences for the stupid stuff she pulls) has had yet another car crash or Naomi Campbell threw her cellphone at her assistant.

I guess I've grown into my parents, but the famous people I grew up with either didn't do this kind of thing in public or the press didn't care quite so much.

DWTS

First, a disclaimer:  I'm not watching this season of DWTS and even the thought of watching Derek Hough dance didn't make me want to tune in.  I think "Stars" is way too strong a word for this cast.  And I truly believe the scores that Wynonna Judd is getting is Karma for her quote about touring with Clint Black.  When asked how she liked touring with him, she said, "Life is too short to tour with ugly men".  I wonder how she would have felt if Tony Dovolani said "Life's too short to dance with fat chicks?"  I don't know why, but that quote just really made me angry.  Children listen to what stars say.  Britany's meltdown, Nicholas Cage drunk and disorderly, and don't get me started on Charlie Sheen (and I liked him).  Sports figures, movie stars (Mel Gibson, anyone?), people famous for being famous (Snookie?).  Who wants their children to grow up like these people?  Unfortunately, the press doesn't care that Matt Damon is happily married with children and loves to go home at night; they don't care that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have been together since 1983 (when is the last time you heard anything about them?).  The press does care that Mel Gibson is a bigot or that Lindsey Lohan (who never seems to suffer any consequences for the stupid stuff she pulls) has had yet another car crash or Naomi Campbell threw her cellphone at her assistant.

I guess I've grown into my parents, but the famous people I grew up with either didn't do this kind of thing in public or the press didn't care quite so much. 

I love this little box.  Very elegant for a Tootsie Roll Pop, right?  The lemon yellow card stock was stamped with a Flourish stamp and the ribbon was one from my stash.  I added a little Stardust Stickles to the center of the flowers. Very easy to put together, I believe I got it from the Silhouette Store and it was a Lollipop box.  You can fill it with any kind of sucker.  These sold well at the craft sale I did before Easter.

Name my bluebirds...

Bluebird Update: My bluebirds have been hanging around for about 3 weeks. They periodically have checked the box which is clean and ready for use. The last week they have been here every morning about eight o'clock. The male sits on the box quivering his wings (if the window were open, I would probably hear him singing) to encourage his mate to check out the box. Both of them enter the box once or twice and then disappear until the next day. She will soon start their nest which is made of long grasses or pine needles. It very much resembles a robin's nest without the mud. Since they are both thrushes, I would expect their nests to be similar. I will keep you updated throughout the season on their progress. Please leave a comment with the names you would like them to be called and I will pick names on April 2nd.