take me to the kittens!

our new TEMPORARY foster babies - i love them!!!

they are absolutely delightful and squeaky and teeny tiny and delicate and playful, just like real life human babies :)

but, just like human babies, they are a whole lot of work, stress and endless cleaning up....

however... unlike human babies, they are potty trained (fastidiously so i might add, for such tiny wobbly little beings) and sleep in a pile of cozy kittenness in their little crate :) (this is a huge design flaw with human babies who should be born crate trained :)

the one on the left is always talking - he is sooooo opinionated :)




real men love cats (and are supremely kind to them, and are not allergic to them, and do not make 'jokes' about running over them or poisoning them - bleck)



he was ready to pounce :)

he had to touch the camera :)





ps they love the new cat tree - horray!!

cat trees etc

walked
8.00 miles (uphill all the way naturally) then undid all that good by licking the peanut butter off a used spoon and having half a can of veggie soup with no bread whatsoever for lunch (a travesty... soup without bread??? gawd dieting SUUUUCKS!!!)

going
to taste juice today at the taste test place. i can't even put into words how mad i will be if it has more than 100 calories in it, in total :| i will just sniff it and not actually drink it :)

watched
the 'real housewives of orange county' at lunchtime. i only like one of them and i don't really like her very much - i just don't hate her (Gretchen) Alexis is the sum of everything that's wrong with living here. and her husband is shuddersome too :) Vicki needs to be spayed/debarked or whatever will stop her from going 'woohoo!' all the time. Tamra - i don't use the words in polite company that best describe Tamra :) and the new one, well she's just soooo boring. ho hum - at least they make Orange County look far prettier and more technicolor than it actually is ;)

awaiting
the imminent arrival of our new fanciful three-story cat tree :) i bet it's just like the whiskas temptations episode, and they won't like it :( if so, the shelter cats will get it and the whiskas temptations, those kitties are so grateful and appreciative!! (unlike some cats i could mention....)

sick and tired
of fresh flowers. i know.... i am so adversarial and contrary today (i blame the scales) but i am just about done with things requiring my attention and time. i am BANNING fresh flowers from this house from now on :|

off to the bank (oh yes... that's the reason for the midday crabbies....) and the Dollar Tree to look for tater tots and tissues and other things that start with T :)

minor complaints....

if i don't walk my dogs every single day on the exact same route, they turn into absolute wolf-like monsters. they tripped me up sooo many times this morning, and i think i counted 23 pee stops and 1.5 poop stops AND 1 arm yanked out of socket as we approached the house where the un-fixed pit-bull lives :| note to self: make doctor's appointment to get arm re-bionic-ed with magic super sting-y steroid-y stuff, and don't cheat dogs out of their walk anymore...

i really really really really MUST go to the bank today. i have huge handfuls of money to pay in (i feel absolutely lame complaining about this but gawd, i hate the bank.....)

it seems the foster kitty is a bit of a bad ass... i kind of suspected as much, he had a reputation at the shelter for starting fights, but i thought it was blown out of all proportion ;) anyway he met Mr Bumps in the hallway this weekend, and now Mr Bumps has some bald spots :|

i want to bake but i absolutely have to diet so i can't :( i need to appease my insatiable desire to melt chocolate and butter together, and whip eggs and sugar till they are pale and frothy, with a finished product can be used for financial gain and not weight gain

i want to go and watch Nate Berkus tape his show for obvious reasons. however on my ticket it says absolutely no cameras or cell phones. also don't even think about bringing a gift for Nate or expect a 5 second+ hug. AND you can't wear black either. so i just can't go. so in the words of the dragons/sharks... "i'm out" :(

Sam allegedly needs braces to make his lower jaw longer so there is more room for his teeth. he's only 10 - surely his jaw will get longer as he gets bigger....? without it costing $2000...?! then apparently he will need MORE braces when he gets older. hmm, i think the dentist just wants to charge us twice. i think one set of braces later and one charge to our credit card should be quite sufficient ;)

off to walk and turn the negative ions upside-down :)

burnt toast, sour grapes and sgt pepper's lonely heart's club band ;)

wanting
just one more slice of burnt raisin toast with a teeny tiny smidgeon of butter on top and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. would it be so terrible??!

realizing
there are actually TWO entire R.E.M. cds that i've bought and never listened to :| it's official, having children turns your life completely upside-down and it takes roughly six entire years to get it all back right side up again :|

still recovering
emotionally from friday night :| in a momentary lapse of being myself, i went to the school yearbook assembly-thon :| i know - i don't do things like that ever. the mom next to us got all huffy because our class had more bright, joyful pictures to fill the kindy pages than the other two classes and that just wasn't fair :| it all kind of went downhill from there and i wanted to click my heels and magically be back home again, watching Law and Order UK with my hubbie :( anyway i'm back to being busy again everytime such requests come up ;)

neeeeeding
this week to zoom by. by friday everything is going to be soooo much better, i just know it! (it has to be!!)

our ONE kindy page with more little cut-out frankensteined heads than the Sgt Pepper album cover :) the above-mentioned mom then complained that i had used a pic with one of the kids from her kindy class in it, as he was standing with his best friend who is in our class and i should have cut the image in two and given half of the pic to her. apparently you can't please some people any of the time ;)



my Sam and Danny silhouettes (hand colored by Mummy:) i only WISH i could think up witty statements to go with them like Jonathan Adler who is the king of everything wonderful and witty :)

supernatural/superserious/sweet/delirious

it was an 'accelerate' kind of day :)

spot the brave little 6 year old on the 7 times looping reverse corkscrew rollercoaster :)






it smelled ahhhmazing under this wisteria arbor :)


Sam took this pic for us for our FIFTEEN YEAR anniversary :)


what i want for easter/anniversary/english mother's day/american mother's day in this color too (i really really want to drive to Graceland/Clinton library/Dollywood this summer in a car that can actually get there and back :)




i've wanted a lambchop since 1975


but instead i fulfilled another lifelong wish and made adorable silhouettes of the boys :)


he is looking so handsome and teenage all of a sudden :)

stomach flu, memory loss and social diseases

feeling

like the stomach flu is secretly lying in wait till friday night so it can ruin another weekend... still achy, starving hungry/indigestion-ish and exhausted :(

listening
to 'true faith' by new order. gawd love George Michael but people from London shouldn't cover people from Manchester's music (it's like raspberry and chocolate - Manchester being chocolate, naturally :)

loving

Nate Berkus. gosh, i just want to clone him, miniaturize him and make him into a little stress doll to keep him in my pocket for emergencies :)

wondering

how on earth i just found an entire R.E.M. cd that i forgot to ever play.... i bought Accelerate in 2008 and never ever ever ever played it - i feel like i just uncovered hidden treasure :)

hoping
to summon the energy to go to the bank soon... i really need to deposit these checks before they all expire

wondering
if my cats will EVER get on... they are 12 and 9 now for heaven's sake! they are having a staring competition as i type :)

wishing
my iphone would stop being a poopyhead and let me text without having a fit. i know it had that accident, but it really HAS to not die till number 5 is out...

inventing

labels for people on facebook. but not cute ones like 'the chatty one'/'the funny one' :) nooooo, my labels are cutting and painfully honest, like 'the one who can't stand her kids' and 'the one who is always angry and bitter and not in a fun way' and 'the one who leaves cryptic desperate-for-attention updates' and 'the one who is sick every.single.day' and 'the one who takes self portraits in mirrors compulsively' :) not forgetting 'the one who is a really awful speller' and 'the one who is living a much fancier life than the rest of you'. it's a fascinating place... in a really germy, watch-don't-touch, petri dish kind of way :)

still watching
this over and over and over (sooooooo funny.... unless you're the girl in the chair ;)

doormats, russians and penguins

listening
to 'binky the doormat' (because it's that kind of night ;)

loving
these wedding pictures :) (though i am dying of curiosity over the babies in the cabbages....)





wondering
if this camera bag could possibly be persuaded to work... it holds a drink upright, a camera and spare lens in a little soft/hard thing, and has a pocket for lady items, and most importantly it's only $36 on amazon :) as much as i love the epiphanie bag, i just don't pay oprah money for shipping and i am far too impatient to wait for them to have a sale ;)

recovering
from walking 8.5 miles nonstop uphill all the way - my tummy got a horrible stitch after the first 15 steps, stupid damned stomach flu :|

planning
on making this cat window shelf thing!! and this cat scratchy thing too, if i don't lose my mind making the shelf

ps the cat rescue desperately neeeeeeeds a foster home for four 6 week old kittens... how much work can four kittens possibly be....?

making
chocolate cupcakes for Sam's buddy's birthday tomorrow :)

trying
to figure out why i suck soooo bad at flowpaper :( i can't make anything that even vaguely resembles a penguin :(



thinking
Sunday might be English Mother's Day... which is bad news and good news... bad news because i made my Mum the most awesome book of my favorite pictures from 2010 and tucked it away safely for Mother's Day, and now it's far too late to mail it without it looking like a lame afterthought :( but it's also good news because Mother's Day (be it English or American) equals a huge box of Cream Pan croissants for breakfast :) and a brand new Toyota Sienna (a girl can dream... i got my very first minivan on my very first English mother's day 10 years ago:)

off to bedfordshire, hope there's a new 'heavy' to watch :)

alligators, escalators, Nate Berkus and parkas

stuck in my head for the past two weeks:
"hey hey alligator you've got a lot to learn" (ps lamest Michael Stipe lyric ever: "i feel like an alligator, coming up the escalator, i feel strong" pps i unapologetically adore the song 'alligator_ aviator_ autopilot_ antimatter', despite this :-)

bad habit i really need to quit:
grinding my teeth - ouch is an understatement :-|

status i liked today:
"liking your own status is kind of lame" (i especially liked that the person who posted it liked it also :-)

favorite eye candy show:
Nate Berkus :) (between you and me... i don't think Me Ra Koh really takes very good pictures :-)

thing i'm desperately seeking:
a sturdy, yet attractive cat tree that can withstand the wrath of our feline family

song i used to have on itunes that is now gone and i r-e-f-u-s-e to pay $1.29 (whhhhat happened to $0.99?!) to buy it again (grr):
'true faith' by new order. however much i LOVE George Michael (which is like a whoooole lot:) i really really don't like this and i really really need to hear Bernard Sumner sing it instead to make it all better :-(

place i want to go next:
Pajaro Dunes, as seen on 'rich kids that kill' :) (though i hope it's not that beach that people drive on... i don't know the name of that beach but i have recurring nightmares about accidentally staying on it and having the WORST.VACATION.EVER...)

what i bought at Walmart today:

• tank tops - lots of them (if i wait till summer, all they have is parkas and snow boots)
• clearance snow boots
• kid mouthwash (because grown-up mouthwash is just horrible!)
• oyster crackers
• diet coke (i gave up lent for the remainder of lent....)
• baby lotion (i loooooooooove baby lotion)

they had a kindy trip to the performing arts center today :)


bookshelf of a dinosaur/bug/plane crazy 6 year old ;)


playdate :)


datenight :)

it's called love and it belongs to us :)

pics from the day after the weekend from hell

new kitties - formerly feral Zoya

and her boyfriend Wally who is by far the biggest cat i have EVER seen, don't let the size of that cat food bowl deceive you... that is a DOG FOOD bowl, see the bones on it?!

Pierre et Gigi are un petit peu shy. or maybe aloof and standoffish (they are french ;)

our new foster prince :)