A slow weekend

It was pretty quiet around here last weekend! Sidney found a cozy spot--in the middle of a pile of clean towels in a laundry basket.

We bought an attachment for the vacuum that cleans ceiling fans. Greatest purchase ever! However...

Bela *hates* the vacuum. And he loves to nap.

Mr. Squirrel didn't seem to notice the vacuum.

We also added to the money pit Wii by purchasing a Wii Fit. This is Dale's avatar hanging out with virtual versions of Monty and Sidney. They're going to exercise now!

We don't want to take down the Christmas tree...

Nobody wanted to take down the Christmas tree. Could you take the tree down with a kitty this sad about it? Of course not!

So we left the house yesterday and didn't get home until about 9:30 with one final, epic distraction:Needless to say? Tree is still up!

New Year's Long Weekend

We had a lovely New Year's! Since we didn't have a lot of time before or during Christmas, we opened our presents after Christmas once we got home. The carnage was still evident on New Year's Eve.

Dale was a cooking fool on NYE. (I made the enchiladas the day before and they were very, very good). Dale made chocolate espresso mousse from scratch. Delish!

He also made a batch of his grandmother's homemade chocolate syrup. In this picture he's also showing off what was probably his favorite Christmas present of the ones I gave him. He has used the infrared laser thermometer for all his home-style cooking this year.

However, dinner was the real prize. He made crab cakes. very, tasty little brown puffs from heaven!

We served them with a lemon wasabi sauce we bought ages ago back when we first went to Lake Geneva!

We started the new year with fresh homemade hash browns. My mom would be happy to know that Dale is putting the Kitchen Aid she bought for him (seriously, she gave it to him, not me).

And it wouldn't be a post from me without the cats. I went to make the bed and Monty was sitting on the edge of the bed, transfixed. Two squirrels were feasting on the seeds I left out for them. Monty is deeply fascinated by woodland creatures. Particularly when they show up on the porch of our third floor apartment!

I told you it would be like this...

Monty, protecting his Christmas tree.

Sidney snuck in to get his picture taken--and sleep near the cozy glow of lights.

I've shamed Dale into getting me some photos so expect some late night updates this weekend.

An update! Finally!

Monty is obsessed with the Christmas tree. He stares at it longingly and likes to sit in the chair next to it. He spends a lot of time looking at it worriedly--but that's because Monty has only two expressions: pensive and blank.

Monty, taking his place among the presents.

So Dale says he's too busy to give me photos--and has been for months--so I guess from now on you'll get photos of stuff I take pictures of (until you form an uprising). These photos will largely consist of blurry pictures of the cats doing things I think are cute, photos of our Christmas tree, photos of Monty in front of our Christmas tree and random images of half-finished crafts.

This blog is about to get a lot less fabulous is what I'm saying (or more fabulous if you're into craft projects and blurry cat pics).

Also? I have a new laptop and it isn't loaded with my sweet photo processing software. So the images will also be oddly sized and lacking color correction to offset the blurriness. So there's that.

In other news...
Mr. Squirrel would like you to know that he still lives on the back porch and will gladly accept any packages that include sunflower seeds, preferable the black ones. They're his favorite and he sort of eats a shocking number of them a week. He's a little nervous that I won't have time to go to the store to get more before we head back to Michigan for the holiday. He's precariously low on seeds, people!

Happy Halloween!

So my plan was to have hilarious pictures of the cats in the bee costume I bought them but they kind of weren't going for it. Poor Bella has been sick so I didn't torture him but a minute (his little flu virus explains why he was glazed over and didn't care about the hat so much).

This is the only picture of Monty I could get where he didn't look either suicidal or homicidal. So we'll go with it...

As always Sidney takes one for the team! He stood upright, didn't look murderous or suicidal (just slightly mortified) and purred and went with it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Update on Sidney

A few months back we posted about Sidney's declining health. Anyway, we're really happy overall because he's remained his usual sweet, snuggly self. We have him on cosequin, which does wonders for his back legs (He's back to jumping on the counters sometimes and the general mischief he's always been up to. Yay?).

Anyway, he's lost a bit more weight but is really hanging in there so far. We're rooting for him to stay healthy for a good, long time! I took the above picture a couple of weeks ago. Classic Sidney.

Sidney

I wanted to post a couple pictures of Sidney because he's still happy and relatively healthy but we don't know how long that will last.

He's getting a little older and he's got a few health problems. He's deaf, has pretty bad back knees, irritable bowel syndrome, and has a spindle cell tumor (which is almost always cancerous). We've decided not to take any drastic measures. If we had gone forward with treatment we would have to have his leg amputated and then we'd have to have him undergo chemotherapy, leaving him stressed and putting all his back weight on just one bad leg.

Anyway, we've had some time to digest and we're so lucky that he's been pretty healthy so far. He's lost a tiny bit of weight (but nothing scary) and he's had some increased stomach upset but is overall very happy and sweet-natured.

I'm making Dale take lots of pics of him while he's still very happy and healthy. Poor little guy. He really is the snuggliest and sweetest pet anyone could ever ask for.

Lazy Saturday

Yeah, my family knows how to kill a Saturday.

Anti-Squirrel Bird Feeder Failure

We bought a bird feeder to put on the back porch a few weeks ago. It is supposed to thwart squirrels and serve birds sunflower seeds. As everyone knows squirrels will not be thwarted. Came home this afternoon to find this squirrely gentleman hanging by his feet to get some seeds.

The entire point of the feeder was to entertain the kitties (and ourselves). Mission accomplished! Monty was transfixed!

So much so that Mr. Squirrel got nervous and sat on the ledge completely still for fear we'd catch him! Aww. Poor little guy. Needless to say that he went back to eating pronto. Squirrels will not be thwarted in pursuit of seeds.

Update!

Sidney, obviously, was disinterested in posing. Anyway, things have been busy at work and quiet at home, which leads to a general lack of exciting blog posts. Also, I have misplaced my camera battery charger and I usually do fill in snapshots whereas Dale does the main photography at events.
Sorry for the lack of updates; it's been a loooong winter! This is Bela curled up on a sheepskin throw rug inside his cat house, which is actually a re-purposed stereo cabinet.



What have we been up to? I applied to grad school (we'll see if I get accepted and if I actually go)!

More updates to come as the weather is changing and our motivation to leave the house is increasing exponentially!

Merry Christmas...from the kitties!

Merry Christmas from Monty!
(From the looks of this photo Monty, as Dale tells me, wishes I'd just left him on the street where I found him).

Merry Christmas from Bela!

(Bela is not amused by the headgear, either, but has known me long enough to just barely tolerate such silliness).

Merry Christmas from Sidney!
(Sidney, frankly, couldn't have cared less about his headgear--he just wanted me to keep rubbing his ears).

The last photo is my fave and each one so perfectly encapsulates their littler personalities that it just cracks me up!

December Cat Club

A gathering of the Snuggle Buddy Club is in session. Bela, in the middle and with his paws wrapped around Sidney, is obviously the precinct's captain. Monty, the newest member--and facing the wrong way--obviously needs a little guidance!

They are also hogging the TiVo and TV remotes and the cordless phone.

Bathroom Storage is Awesome

So we made our semi-annual Ikea trip. You may recall that we revamped our little kitchen with Ikea purchases and it was cheap and efficient! It was well past time to replace the plastic tubs I was using in the bathroom with something more functional/attractive! These tubs held the towels, washcloths and hand towels and they were a hot mess.

And this fit the bill! It fit in the shallow space and is not a plastic tub. I love it! And it is walnut, which has a nice color to it.

My only problem is that we lost the bar where we kept hand towels. I should have thought that through because I'm sure Ikea has an easy solution. Oh, well, the hand towels are in the lower basket when you need one!

Sink Kitty approves of the new organization but is annoyed he will no longer be able to get fur all over the washcloths.

While at Ikea we picked up a new sheep rug for Sidney. This is a photo of him laying on it after Dale set it on the bed. Usually Sidney sleeps on his sheep rug while laying in his basket.

Also? Monty was sleepy and not amused by Dale's photo shoot of Sidney and the sheep rug.

Two Random Images

This is Sarah during her last visit. I was excited to have company so I pulled out the creamer cow and some of my vintage coffee cups. I was pretty excited to see the cow in action.

And this is a picture of our kitties eating dinner! Today is Sidney's 11th birthday! It's an arbitrary day we selected and we don't even really celebrate it but it amuses me to know we could. Yes, I know the floor needs to be mopped but it's not like this is a blog about cleaning (thank God).

Anyway from left to right: Sidney Potier, Monty Clift, and Bela Lugosi.

A Visit to Betsy & Bryan's House...

You remember Sarah & Betsy, yes? Last time I went to visit Betsy was when little Owen was newborn! Well, Betsy and her husband Bryan have added another wee one to the family and my friend Sarah set up a visit so we could see the family.

Sarah and Betsy (with little Fern in front). The photos I had with Bryan turned out blurry!

Miss Sophie has gotten big! But she's as charming and precocious as ever.

She's also on the move. This one never stops once she gets going.

Owen is getting big, too! He tries to keep up with Sophie but as I said above, she's a bit of a blur.

And this is the newest addition to the family: little baby Fern! Aww. She's so sleepy. It's exhausting being a new baby.

And finally this is Zoe. She's the family's slightly perturbed kitty. She is on a diet and is not at all amused by the fact that she can see her food but not eat it. Poor kitty!