What the Cat Dragged In

I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I missed a couple days of writing here, but I'm sure I'll get over it.  Over the weekend I had a couple of those 'speed bumps' that life throws your way on occasion.  I did however get enough cooperation from the "speed bump" creator, that I got my booth moved at the antique store.

Here are a couple of shots of it, although I still have work to do. I need to spruce it up a bit and find some more goodies to sell.  It's nice having all the space.  I next big thing will be to find a large hutch or something similar to replace the table with.

I'm all ready to give my crazy cat away again.  Today she brought a baby snake in the house.  All I can say is, thank God I saw her messing with something and checked to see what she had!  And thank God I managed to chase her down and capture it....with a butt load of paper towels, with which I rolled, squeezed, twisted and smooshed and threw outside!  When Chuck got home and I sent him to investigate, the paper towel had been moved around to the front of the house and there was no snake in it.  There was, however, some blood and squishy stuff on the paper towels so that was a good thing.  There were several Blue Jays in the yard today, so I suspect one of them carted off the paper towel and most likely feasted on the nasty little corpse.  Ewwwww. 

BOONDOCK SAINTS DAY

Ahhhh.....the Boondock Saints! Where to start...

First, I will say right up front that some of you dear friends of mine will be appalled that I love these movies, these boys and what they are all about. There are serious guns involved and some very creative and down right delightful killings that go on in these movies. The MacManus Brothers are Irish Vigilantes and they kill incredibly vile and perverted and disgusting sinners, of the most horrendous kind!

My very own sweet little Irish Lass, Riley, introduced me to these movies while she was here this past summer. She had been telling me about them for AGES and couldn't wait to share them with me. One of the best things about getting together with my Riley is that we always stay up after everyone else has gone to bed, and she shares her favorite movies with me. We stay up into the wee hours eating chocolates and popcorn and chips, drinking coffee or Pepsi and Diet Vanilla Coke, curled up under a cozy afghan together sharing her beloved movies. She prepares me for the ultimate scenes, so that I don't blink and miss something! And she recites lines right along with the characters. I love it more than I can tell you! It has become our ritual and main plan of events in planning our visits with each other. The most amazing thing to me is that my 18 year old grand-daughter still considers me her best friend and likes to cuddle on the couch and watch movies and do fun stuff together. And we can also sit and drool over the same guys! Weeeeeeee!!!!

Okay, so back to Boondock Saints! Riley and Terri bestowed upon me the most awesome of Christmas gifts by sending me the movies. The Boondock Saints and Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. And tonight I am going to officially introduce Chuck to these awesome movies! Riley and I watched each of them about 4 or 5 times, but I haven't seen enough. They are on my list of movies that I could watch over and over and over (along with all the Die Hard movies and Indian Jones, to mention a couple from my rather short list).

The movies are full of amazing music and I have put my favorite on my side bar, along with the "Prayer" they recite prior to shooting their victim. I love to have this playing when I am doing certain things at my computer and the best part is, it makes me feel like my Muffin Girl (Riley) is right here with me. The fun part is, Murphy LOVES it! When ever I play it, she comes running from where ever in the house she is; jumps up onto my computer desk and enjoys it with me. And well she should, since I named her for my favorite MacManus brother :)

This COULD lead me into how terribly I miss her....and Terri and Maggie, Emily, Timmy and Xander-Man. How my heart aches for them sometimes......most times. The light in my heart flickers so low, so often. It literally pains me to not be a daily part of their lives, as I once was. But things change. That is life. Shit happens, blah blah, yada, yada. I hate it.

BUT! Little things like the love of movies and music shared, fan the flicker into a flame and make it okay....for awhile.

A Whole Week!

My, how time does fly! Can't believe it's been a week since my last post, and I was doing so good!

I have been quite busy and actually productive this week, however. I found a very user friendly bookkeeping program to use and have been setting that up and entering all the payroll data for 2010 in it so that I could have accurate reports to give the Accountant for the W-2s. And since Data Entry is my middle name, I enjoyed putting it all in and it went very quickly. You see, I do everything 'by hand', or have up until now. Payroll was no sweat when he just had one employee, but this year he had several, because some didn't work out and because he has needed more than one man to keep up with all the work he's had.

Luckily, he uses his checking account for EVERYthing and in the past I could just upload his bank statements to Quicken, go thru and categorize everything and be done with it. But what with my surgery and all, I fell off the wagon with that so I am now going thru the check registers and making lists. I don't mind. I'm just really excited that I have something in place for 2011 that I will enjoy doing, rather than dreading it {thereby grossly procrastinating!} As soon as I get my PC back, I'll get started importing our bank info and get that puppy rolling!

And speaking of my PC, the Geek Squad called yesterday. Told me that my problem was that my Operating System was corrupt. So, #1, my warranty doesn't cover it and #2 it'll be $130 to repair, but it's like a $1200 unit that I've only had 1 1/2 years, so that's worth it. So....most likely a virus got thru somehow, and I'm pretty sure it was one that was in a message that I opened in FaceBook. Even the best anti-virus program can't catch everything. In fact this happened to me about 9 or 10 years ago and apparently that virus was sophisticated enough to turn off my anti-virus and let itself right in! Anyway, it's ready and I'll get that back tomorrow. One good thing about taking it in is that at least it got a good cleaning and a thorough diagnostic check on everything. Of course I DO still have the daunting task of spending hours re-installing software and restoring all my backed up data. hours and days..........groan.....

My most recent "Murphy Report" is not a good one. I sat right here and watched as the crazy critter tried to leap over top of a 4' tall plant stand, which is home to 4 African Violets, in an attempt to get to the upper window sill right behind it! 2 replacement pots and 4 repottings later, she is still on my shitlist! For all of her crazy antics, she really hasn't done much damage...yet....and although my Violets are not looking very chipper, I'm sure they'll survive.

I guess that's all the excitement I have to report for today. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow :)

What'll She Get Into Next???

Okay.....so Murphy likes to carry stuff around. I first noticed it when I saw her jump down from my sewing machine table and a minute later heard a 'clunk' from the dining room. Upon investigation, I found that she had picked up and carried off a small pair of scissors. Since then, she has graduated to my big sewing scissors, plucked a ring off my dresser, carried off post it notes and memo pads, as well as envelopes (the kind with important stuff inside!). She dragged a tote bag (with candles in it) from the sewing room, down the steps to the living room! She even managed to turn on the faucet at the kitchen sink one day. I rather suspect that was an 'accident', as it hasn't happened since and considering how much she loves water, she would do it again if she truly knew how.

So, I ask you......how does one 'cat proof' such items?? Yes, yes, Chuck! I know!! Put my scissors away, jewelry in my jewelry boxes, etc, etc. But what's next? Can't put everything away! This cat just gets more interesting {and challenging} every day. But her entertainment value is priceless!!

My PC is finally in the hands of the Geek Squad. I sure hope it's an easy fix and doesn't take them too long! Actually, I don't care what the problem is, as long as it's covered by my warranty :).

It was really hard to walk into Best Buy with it today and leave without looking around. So many toys and toy accessories! Too much fun stuff under one roof. I didn't dare avert my eyes from the front door as I was making my way back out.

Well, that's about it for today. I AM feeling some better today, which means I've had to start working on Chuck's paperwork for the business to get to the Accountant. I hate this stuff and if any of you knew what sort of bookkeeping system I have (as in NONE) you would groan at the stupidity of it all. Once I get my PC back, all that will change, because there has to be an easy peasy way to do all of this that even I can do, with out the aid of megabucks software!

Revolting Development #2

This isn't exactly what I had in mind for my RD entries, but it's pretty revolting, none the less.

I, once again, have another bout of Bronchitis and a sinus infection. It hit me hard on Sunday as we were taking down the X-Mas tree and decorations. Considering my allergies to all things green and outdoorsy, I assumed it was my allergies flaring up from rustling around in the X-Mas tree, but by Monday I knew better and Tuesday, it was off to the DR. So I have caught it quicker this time than I did in October, when I spent 2 weeks convinced that it was allergies before I gave in and went to see the DR. I've been pretty miserable the last 2 days, but I just know that today will be better.....damn it!!

And my poor sick PC is still sitting in the back seat of my Tahoe {buckled in, of course} waiting to go visit DR. Geek Squad. I have spent about a week screwing around with that, trying to get it running right when Tuesday AM I finally got on line with the Geek Squad (with whom I have a Protection Plan). The guy did the old 'remote access' thing, found a couple of things that 'concerned' him and told me to take it in. I had planned to do that before or after my DR appt, but that didn't happen. Maybe today.

So there, in a nut shell, are my 2 RDs.

On a lighter note, my kitty, Murphy, squeaks in her sleep

I'm not sure if that means she is dreaming of chasing mice in the garage or if she has a little kitty tummy ache. I guess I'll never know.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Original title, eh?  LOL  I do hope you all have a wonderful 2011.  I had fully intended to get one more post in for last year, but as my luck would have it my PC is having issues.  Even tho' I have my trusty laptop, I have been spending countless hours installing, uninstalling, researching, chatting with tech support and generally trying not to pull my lovely purple hair out over it all! 

Hopefully TODAY I can get finished with it.  I'm pretty sure that a virus or something got past my Best of the Best that Norton has to offer software.  At least that's what it acts like.  Norton did detect some serious stuff and fixed it, but even after that and multiple full system scans, the PC is still 'freezing' up and acting FUNky!  I actually decided to just forget the fact that I had only a month ago, spent about $100 renewing my Norton subscriptions for the 100dth time (as I've used Norton for years) and uninstalled it all and am trying Kaspersky on my PC and AVG on my laptop.  So far the laptop is finding AVG agreeable, but since I'm still working on the PC I can't really say about Kaspersky yet except that it did find some stuff that Norton apparently missed.  But, as we speak I am running Kaspersky's Virus Removal Tool and am anxious to see if that does the trick!!  Wish me luck. 

Man, I had all sorts of things I was gonna write about and I'll probably forget half of it.  Let's see.......

Oh yes!  Murphy is a water kitty.  I did post pictures of her playing in the trickle of water at the kitchen sink, but it has gotten worse than that!  We have to be sure to keep the toilet seat lid down and that's all I'm gonna say about that!  But now she will actually get IN the shower with us to drink and play in the water and has NO problem getting all soaking wet!  Up until a week ago, she would just get in and play in the water after one of us would get out, but now.......she just gets in with us!  Funniest damn cat I ever had!  Puss Puss wouldn't even walk on the porch after it rained.  If she got one little paw wet, she had a little kitty panic attack!  Hahaha.  That was pretty damn cute, too!

AND.........Murphy is an awesome mouser!  She loves to go out into the garage and into the crawl space under the house (which is accessed from the garage) and every time she does, she brings us a prize.  GOOD kitty!! :)

OMG!!!!!!  I am forgetting that I haven't posted since X-Mas and have not gotten to show off my gift from Chuck!  He finally got me something that I have been wanting since about 1984!  Just guessing....it's been a long ass time I've been wanting a RUBY RING!!!!!!!!!

It is SOOOO beautious! Rubys and Diamonds......yum! So, I have myself a new wedding ring and will be having my original one resized to wear on my middle finger next to the Ruby. My friend, Debbie, was instrumental in orchestrating the whole thing and I owe her my eternal gratitude. Hee hee.

SUPER MURPHY!

I am here to tell you that my new kitty is amazing!  Getting through this holiday season will be a breeze, with her around.  I mean....check it out....

 She kept an eye on me at the computer and supervised the making of a bunch of Christmas cards.

 She helped decorate the tree.

 She LOVES to help with the dishes!

 And she was a huge help with sending out the Christmas cards!!

I simply can not believe that I was ready to take her back!  I guess she tuned in to my frustration and decided to pitch in and make up for all the biting and terrorizing.  Quite honestly, I still think she has an invisible friend that she tears around the house with, but I'm cool with that.

As for the tree, she has only broken 2 ornaments.  The 1st one was no big deal.  The second one was from a set of 4 that I had bought for our 1st Christmas tree, at Bresee's Department Store about 100 years ago.  But, hey....it's only an ornament.  Besides, the really treasured ones that were my Mom's from her and Dad's early days are safely at the top of the tree!

Hubs has not made the Holiday Season nearly as pleasant as Murphy has!  He has been cranky to the max.  Part of his crankiness is due to the amount of $$ I spend on Christmas gifts.  But there are 10 grandkids!  {Our lovely 5 in Alaska that you always hear about and the 5 resulting from his 1st marriage that I rarely speak about because there just isn't that much interaction}.  Anyway, even tho' I have cut down considerably the past couple of years, it's still a reason for him to be pi$$y.  And yet!  He wants to make sure they have what they want, etc.  He just has no clue as to what things cost, unless it's sold at Lowe's or the lumber company.  Hee hee.  

Needless to say, since he's been on my case about the fact that I am out of $$ and need some, I have YET to scream at him that I spent my last $200 on a gift for HIM!!  And I have to wait 10 more days until I get the satisfaction of him feeling like a total jerk.  Damn.  But if he gets much worse, I just might take it back.  Buwahahahaha.

PROGRESS IS BEING MADE

She is still spazzy and she is still investigating EVERYthing.....again and again.  She is coming around tho', a little bit at a time.  I've been working with her and trying to "train" her to come when called and also to let me hold her longer and pet her without launching an attack on my hand.  I keep her favorite treats nearby and the only time I give her one is when she responds 'properly' :).  Seems to be working.

Chuck picked up a Christmas tree yesterday and when we were setting it up last night, she had what was her first {and hopefully last} adventure with the tree.  Chuck got it all anchored in the base while I was holding it, then he stood up to hold it while I stepped away to make sure it was straight.  Up she went, quick as a flash!  Right up the trunk and inner branches, while Chuck was holding it!!  Well, he shook the hell outta that tree and she flew out of there and ran upstairs like a shot!  Hopefully that did the trick and she'll stay out of it.  Only time will  tell.  It's a very heavy and dense, thick branches tree with a big trunk.  I don't think she'll be tipping it over, so I won't worry about that.  I just put the lights on it a few minutes ago and she is quite fascinated by the twinkling.  It might behoove me to turn the twinkle off, but I sure hate to.  My lights MUST twinkle, damn it!!

It's been kinda nice this year, to feel up to going out and about and do some Christmas shopping.  I did manage to screw it up, tho'.  I went on Thursday and got several things accomplished, then went to the Casino with Deb Thursday PM.  Went out on Friday to finish up my shopping and even after all the activity of the day before, by Friday PM I was still doing good and my back wasn't bothering me!  Saturday I thought of a few more things and off I went, but before I was finished.....bam!  My back started hurting sooo bad.  But I did manage to finish my last stop before I had to head home.   Still pretty bad today, but I am trying to decorate.  Chuck and I got all our goodies out last night and he went off to work for a few hours today and I'm supposed to be decorating.  I got the lights on the tree so far and that's it.  I better get cracking and get some more stuff on the tree, at least, before he gets home!  Oh, crap!  Here he comes now.........see ya!

Murphy is a Terrorist!

This beautiful little girl kitty i brought home to 'Save' will be the death of me!! She is a terrorist kitty, from the butt crack of dawn to lights out time. THAT is one thing for which I am very thankful. She's quiet at night. We all sleep well.

Actually, she is quiet during the day......but totally full of some sort of 'energy' that has her quite literally climbing the walls; sniffing, biting and licking EVERYthing in her path (and out of her path). The only time, during the day, that she is not on the go at top turbo speed, is when she is by one of the sliding glass doors watching leaves blow by or birds at the feeders. And that only lasts for about 10-15 minutes at a time.

Now that she is 'settled in' and 'used to us', there is no picking up or holding allowed. She will flip over and bite me while applying the use of all claws on all paws! My hands are mincemeat.....and my nose has a bit of a scab on it :(. She acts like she is eating an endless supply of catnip, but it's all hidden away and she sure as hell isn't gonna get any. You can't play with her. She won't interact with us or any of her toys, and believe me...I've tried everything I can think of.

I've been doing a lot of research, as is my habit with all things that cross my path or my mind, and I am convinced that she is/was a Feral cat. If that be the case, we can be pretty sure that she will never change. She is constantly on alert and full of nervous energy. Sometimes while I am sitting at the computer, she will come and lay at my feet. Very sweet...but if I reach down to pet her, she attacks my hand and bolts! And, no, I'm not scaring her. She sees my hand coming and I am talking to her the whole time.

Luckily, she has not been destructive. Nothing has been broken or shredded....yet. She is just incredibly hyper and very unfriendly. Not at ALL what I had in mind for a cat. Chuck says to give her time. We shall see what he says after we put up our Christmas tree that I am afraid to put up, but he insists that we must! Let's see how much time he wants to give her after the tree comes down and half of my 'family heirloom' ornaments are broken. Sigh.........

I have been trying to work on calming her, by keeping her favorite treats nearby and if she lets me pick her up and hold her for 5 seconds (heh) and pet her a bit, I try to give her a treat before she 'attacks'. Today she got 3 treats out of 6 attempts. I imagine that another cat may help, but I seriously doubt Chuck would ever go for having 2 cats. I'm really not sure how this will play out. She just might become.....a Barn Cat!

Wow, I just realized that it has been forever since my last post! I totally missed Thanksgiving and posting about sweet Emily's birthday! She turned 12 on the 27th and is so incredibly grown up!

 Here she is with her Hufflepuff scarf that she wanted ever so badly and I happily obliged :).  Xander is so cute peering over her shoulder!

Well, I'm off to start writing X-Mas cards.  Need to get some gifts wrapped and in the mail, too.  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..............

Introducing Murphy

Since bringing Murphy home on Friday afternoon, she has spent most of her time on the top bunk of the bunk beds in one of our spare bedrooms.  Saturday AM we could not find her anywhere!  We both searched for a couple of hours and every place you can imagine!  And I mean, EVERY place!  I'm sure she was hiding right in front of us and laughing as we walked by a bazillion times.  About 9:00 Chuck and Gus left for work.  At 10:00 or so, I heard the jingle of her collar and was so pleased to finally see her make an appearance!  We spent about 1/2 an hour playing and having kitty treats and then she needed a nap, of course.

Later in the day, Chuck & I both went up to visit her and give her some treats.  I attempted to take some pictures of her, but I didn't get very good ones.  I will share them here, however, so y'all can get an idea of what this new kitty is all about.

This 1st one I am posting so you can see how long her tail is. I haven't measured it yet, but Chuck figures it's about 16" long, but I'm going for 18"! I have never seen a cat with such a long tail! Hee hee.

This one isn't a great shot, but I'm posting it cuz it shows the cool markings on the top of her pretty leedle head. Chuck was about to give her some treats.

And this last one? Yep....she knocked the treat off the bed and they're both looking for it. It does give you a good look at her pretty colors. From the picture I saw of her online, I thought she was gray, but gray she's not! She is what they call a Tabico color. Combination Tabby and Calico. Whatever it is, she sure is pretty!

Someone along the line thought that she was about 2 years old, but I'm guess that she is about a year old. She had a litter of kittens 2 months ago and since they come into heat their 1st time at 6 months of age, and their gestation period is approximately 65 days....I'm pretty sure she's only about a year old. She's still just a kitten herself! I haven't weighed her yet, but I'm thinking that she's only about 8 or 9 pounds. Very skinny, probably from recently nursing and sharing food at the foster home with several other cats. She has eaten a ton of food since she's been here! {all in secret, of course}

My other Maine Coon cat was about 10 months old when I got him and he certainly kept growing after that! He got up to about 18-20 lbs. Typically they average about 13-15 lbs. She also doesn't have her Maine Coon coat of hair yet. Their coat is shorter towards the front and longer down their backs and rear half. Of course, it is possible that she is mixed with something else and that she won't change much and that works for me, too! So far, she seems to be a keeper!!

Last night while we were watching TV she decided to honor us with her presence and explored every inch, nook and cranny of the living room! She would hop up and visit us during her investigation, but had no time for cuddles. Hopefully that will change once she gets used to this big ol' house. For right now, she is simply way too busy!