Ok, I get the message, so what do you REALLY want to tell me?

This has not been the best day for me. It started with last night. I came home from work, stopped at the grocery store to buy a few things. Before I knew it, the time was 7:30, I hadn't eaten since lunch and was feeling sick. When I got home, I ate a few multi-grain chips, had a microwave meal, and played with the dogs out in the yard. I went to bed and Sam decided to be up on the bed with me. He was panting in such a way that I got sea-sick. That feeling lingered into today, only subsiding after dinner.

Between DH's break-time phone call and my dinner, I fell asleep. Sam, Sizzle, and Harry took it upon themselves to chew up Belle's new toy, a black bear with squeakers that Auntie Goldens gave to them. Fuzz was everywhere. Oh, there is a preface to the toy destroying machines. Last night they destroyed Wisteria's toy that I left down in the bathroom. Ok, my fault. This morning they had chewed up Wisteria's favorite mouse, the one she kicked out of her crate. That was her fault.

After the black bear episode, I scolded three Goldens and sent them downstairs to the kennel since they couldn't behave.

I had to leave the house to return a cooler that DH didn't want, to purchase an item that was not located yesterday at Kroger, and to purchase Father's Day cards. I was gone less than an hour. I came back to find what Belle did. I got photos of her misdeeds.

In the bedroom I found the Special K cereal box, contents shredded. In the kitchen, she ripped open a ziplock bag to get to its contents, I have no idea what she got.

But downstairs, that was the piece de resistance. (or whatever the French term is) Yesterday I had purchased a box of 8 packs of crackers, each pack had 6 peanut butter and whole wheat crackers. I took 1 pack with me this morning to work, just so I wouldn't get so hungry on the way home. She ate every cracker.

After I picked up all her trash, she had the audacity to burp in front of me. Goldens!

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Just thought I would post an update about the kitten. DH and I estimate that she is a tax baby, born near 4/15/08. She went to the vet 2 weeks ago Friday for her first shots. She has already had 2 baths. The first bath was great, she was still scared of everything because it was her first few hours with us. Had to get the Home Depot garden center dirt off of her. The second bath was good, but she was a little upset that she had to get wet but still was ok.

At the vet we found out that the kitten is a SHE (good thing we didn't have a name picked out yet) and that she had ear mites and the ear mites gravitated to the nose. After a few drops from our Dr. Vet, hopefully she will be ok.

We named her Wisteria (a flower name since she was found in the garden center, a W name since she has a W on her forehead).

Update on Wisteria and the Goldens. Sam was with Auntie Goldens for a little over a week. When he came home he was the last to be introduced to Wisteria. DH and I are amazed that they all get along so well! Wisteria loves to play with them. Her favorite game is tag and chase. She tags them so they chase her. She has her hideouts, until she gets bigger and can't fit into them anymore. Hopefully.

Yesterday Wisteria was in the computer room drying from her bath. She had a nice sunny window and was already towel dried. The Goldens were downstairs in the kennels because DH and I were tearing down the ceiling in the basement room. DH let the Goldens out and they immediately went to Wisteria's crate to see if she was there. They all stood around and looked, trying to find her, frantically searching for her. When I brought her into the bedroom they all started prancing around wanting to play with her. I put her on the steps going up to the bed, she jumped to the floor and started to play tag with the Goldens. I believe they like each other.

Kitten and the Goldens

When I go home at night I try to integrate the kitten and the dogs with each other. This mostly entails me holding the kittens and the dogs looking at it or sniffing it. Belle has stopped most of her barking. From her actions I think she wants to play, but the kitten is the size of a newborn puppy and she is so big.

The latest news flash is that I had the kitten closed in the master bath while I was getting ready for bed. I decided to let Belle in for a few minutes just to see what she would do. The kitten was playing with its little mouse and her tennis ball. She was extremely curious and watched it move around. A little later she was moving around like she wanted to play, but kitten didn't understand. In time little one, in time you will understand and play.

Here Kitty kitty kitty

Today my husband and I went to Home Depot for a couple of items. We went into the gardening section and a beautiful orange and white striped cat crossed our path. Then we heard something move in the garden hoses. It was a kitten! The guys at Home Depot said we could get it if we wanted to, that the resident cat has several litters a year. One of the guys pointed out the Papa cat who was surveying his domain from the height of the rafters. Boy, Papa cat was huge!

It was easy enough to catch the kitten, just move the hoses and there it was in the corner of the box. Yes, it hissed at us but once we had it in our arms, the hissing stopped. After we toured the garden area we went inside and looked at tile. We saw the same guy from the garden area, he got us a box for the kitten, complete with a shop cloth to make it comfy. A little later he taped the box so we could just leave it in the buggy.

We went to Target next to get things we needed for the kitten. One litter box, box of litter box liners, kitty litter, cat food, and canned cat food made the free kitten cost a little under $20.00. Whether we keep the kitten or not depends on test results for feline leukemia.

We ate at Taco Bell on our way home (our kitchen is in the middle of remodeling) and tried to figure out where to put our Golden Kitten. We decided on the Jack-n-Jill bath (where we bathe the dogs). DH got a dog crate, we put 2 towels and a heating pad in there, cat food, water, and a litter box.

The Goldens know something new is happening, they are not too sure about it yet. Especially since earlier today Sam went to visit Auntie Irina. Hopefully Belle, Harry, and Sizzle don't think we replaced Sam.

Kitten and Goldens saw each other, they are not too happy right now. Well, kitten isn't happy. The Goldens are curious. More on that one later.

Kittens on the prowl

The four little kittens are now moving freely. They have beautiful blue eyes, their ears are perked up, and they have unanimously become explorers of the wild world they live in. They are rambunctions and love to tumble and play with each other. However, they are much calmer when held by one of us, and they are more timid about where they are. They are all strong, healthy, have a good set of lungs (they can meow up a storm when away from the rest of the litter). The only point of concern is that Mercedes wants to stay away, go outside to hunt, and not be inside with the kittens.

Wild Wings!

Today we went out to Wild Wing Cafe. Easter turned out to be extremely cold for Georgia, so hiking was out. We did take a walk around the Square of Marietta just to windowshop in all the closed antique stores. Is there a better way to save money and shop at the same time? Both of us were indecisive about where to eat so we ended up at Wild Wings. We had hot wings (ok, not too hot but they were to me. I am still a newbie at eating wings - just ask my boyfriend.) A hamburger and ham sandwich later, we headed back home. It was a fun, relaxing evening. Away from the telephone (nope, not one ring on the cellphone), tv - scratch that one, there were tv's at Wild Wings. We had a great waitress, good food, and great company. I would definately want a repeat of this date. It was a lazy kind of date, not much going on, but very nice.

We did have a 'kitten show and tell' since the little kittens, now 2 weeks old, have their eyes open and are starting to walk around. Did you know that kittens do not like to be on their back when being held? They don't see it as the person holding them establishing dominance, they see it as a perfect opportunity to exercise their lungs and get Momma cat angry at whoever is making her baby cry.

Update on the kitten

I just heard that the little gray fuzzball who played with my knitting is now in the life of luxury. She is scooped up after her 'owner' gets home from school, rides around her neck as she completes her chores and homework, sleeps with her at night, and comes running whenever she hears the faucet turned on - she loves playing in running water. How cute is that?!

KITTENS!!!! WE HAVE KITTENS!!!

Mercedes had her kittens Saturday March 24th. There are 4, 5 were born but one was stillborn. Three are gray and one is black, they are all healthy, strong, and look like little rats. Baby kittens take about a week or so before they start looking like kittens and being cute. Mercedes is a very good mother, she doesn't like where we have her kittens (she wants to move them outside back into the Mercedes where they were born (hence her name). If she had her way, no one would see the kittens until they were running around on their own and too aloof to start socializing with.

Meet the Parents

Today my boyfriend met my parents. He came over to see Mercedes' kittens (they were born yesterday) and Dad decided that they would go ahead and meet the guy I have been going out with. I don't think anyone was not nervous, except the kittens. My parents and I were nervous because this was a first for us, my boyfriend was nervous (well, wouldn't any boyfriend be? He hid it very well though), and Mercedes was nervous - she doesn't like a lot of people around.

After meeting the parents we headed off for dinner at Macaroni's with a friend and my brother, they met us at the restaurant. It was great fun, talking and learning more about others. Having friends is a great way to broaden horizons and learning capabilities. Everyone is different and the viewpoints and past history help to keep conversation interesting and not at a stalemate.

After dinner we got back into the chick-magnet and headed back toward home. We stopped at Coldstone Creamery for icecream. I had peanut butter cup perfection and he had founder's favorite. After a drive around town, we headed home.

A perfect end to a wonderful evening.

She is about to Pop

Our cat, Mercedes, is about to have kittens. The first litter she had 3, the second she had 2 (one died within 2 weeks and the living kitten pictures can be seen on my knitting blog). She is on her 3rd litter right now, her tummy is 3 times as big as her head. She waddles back and forth from the front to the back yard. I thought she was going to have her kittens Sunday but she is holding back on us. I think this time she may have 4 kittens, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that Mercedes is keeping us in suspense.

Sitting down to learn to knit

Well, I actually did it, I sat down to learn how to knit. First I oogled at all the pretty (and tacky) pictures of knitting projects from the library books. Then I got 3 books that seemed indepth, picked up the knitting needles and started to teach myself how to knit.

I had tried once before to teach myself, and it was useless. This time was the charm since I actually taught myself how to cast on, knit, and purl. My knitting stitch is backwards, don't know how that happened but it looks pretty as a finished product and doesn't seem to affect my knitting in any way, shape, form or fashion. At least not yet.

The kitten loves for me to knit. He just sits in my lap, plays with the yarn, then falls asleep. My first project is from the Martha Stewart website - the scarf for beginning knitters. It is looking pretty!!

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel172064&contentGroup=MSL&site=living&rsc=ns2006_m2