First Fursday

Our humans won't let us have our own blog so we've reached a compromise. The long-haired human has agreed to let one of us blog on the First Fursday of each month and in return we don't pee in her shoes. Seems fair to us!

Since Tonya's sleeping, I decided it was my turn to use the computer. She's already had her chance.

Today, I think I'll tell you about some of the other kitties in my life. I spent some time on the streets and then at the kitty orphanage where I encountered a lot of other cats. I love making new friends! But then these fabulous humans brought me home from the orphanage and the only other cat I see on a regular basis is Tonya. And let's face it - she's not the friendliest feline in the world.

First, there's Vet Cat. He lives at the doctor's office so I don't see him all that often. Except for last year when I had scurvy - I visited him a lot then. He's pretty fat so they must feed him well. I think that would be a great place to live. Lots of new friends coming and going and excellent health benefits. Plus all the humans scratch his ears while they pay their bills. The only thing I wonder about is if they give him a lot of shots. I don't really like shots so it might not be worth it.

The other cats I see are on the other side of the glass. Most often it's Hungry Kitty. He's a scrawny little dude, kinda like me. Always picking around on the fire-making box where short-haired human puts the fishes before he eats them. I'm not quite sure why he does that - it's just as good cold. Anyways, Hungry Kitty once managed to swipe an entire tuna steak off the grill when short-haired human turned his back. He's one fast mover!

Ghost Cat only appears at night. My people say there's something called a "graveyard" behind our house. I think it's like a litter box but for dead people instead of poo? Long-haired human is easily spooked so she wasn't too excited when the short-haired human told her there was a Ghost Cat in the backyard. Me, I'm not scared. I'm big and tough. Especially since I'm behind that glass. Can't get me!

Probably the coolest cat out there is Cow Cat. He just sorta wanders around from time to time chasing squirrels. I wish I could sneak out there to chase some squirrels! One afternoon, I heard my people talking about the discovery of Cow Cat.

Short-haired human: I just saw a cat in the backyard.
Long-haired human: Hungry Cat again?
Short-haired human: No, it was a different cat.
Long-haired human: What color?
Short-haired human: Cow-colored.
Long-haired human: You'll have to explain what you mean by "cow-colored".

Only, he didn't explain. And then later long-haired human saw Cow Cat and understood.

And finally, the last cat I see is usually in the front of the house - Angry Neighbor Cat. It's a really strange breed of cat though. Big and drooly and makes really loud bizarre meows. Once, I saw that one jump up on short-haired human, causing him to bleed. When I make anyone bleed, they put me in my box but I don't think we have a box big enough for this weird cat. I heard them say he belongs to someone called Angry Neighbor. Glad I don't have to deal with that guy.

I think with the exception of Angry Neighbor Cat I'd be good pals with most of them. I'm very friendly and an expert cuddler. Too bad it's all wasted on Tonya. Maybe we can trade Tonya for Cow Cat? That would be awesome...

It's all a lie

Remember waaaaaaaaaaay back when you were little and you couldn't wait for the Easter Bunny to visit and hide your basket full of crack candy? And then, maybe at school one day, that obnoxious little Donnie Donaldson (oh, if only I were kidding about that name) broke the news to you that it was all a lie?

I mean, unless of course you still believe in the Easter Bunny. Easter Bunny is awesome! He's totally coming to visit you in about six weeks! Leave him some crack carrots!

Anyways, I hate it when illusions are shattered. You believe in something only to find out it's a fake. After dealing with some major disappointments during my lifetime (like, oh, I don't know, the fact that your mother is supposed to love you unconditionally instead of stealing from you and trashing your reputation?) I've had a few such letdowns recently.

The first involves a little old lady named Gladys on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Here's a funny clip from YouTube. Yes, funny elderly chick! Only... She's a ringer. I hate being fooled!

I won't even go into the stunt a coworker pulled recently, decimating the last bit of belief I had in the myth that he might be a decent human being.

And now, I find out a site that I thought was providing actual reviews/recommendations actually charges an advertising fee. And all of the recommendations are apparently paid ads. So much for truth in advertising. The worst part is that I think everyone else was in on it and just didn't tell me. Yay, it's fun to feel like a chump! I need to be more keen about these types of things if I'm going to succeed at my plan for world domination.

I shouldn't be surprised or disappointed I suppose. Yet, I am. And so yet another illusion is shattered. I'm not gonna punch anyone in the face about it though - because I don't want to risk Santa putting me on his naughty list. Yes, at least there's still Santa to bring me crack gifties.

An award for creativity - on a day when I feel uncreative

Debbi at DAISYHALOS has gifted me with an award!

Here are the rules:
1~ I share with you seven things that I love
2~ I nominate seven other bloggers for the honor

Thanks, Debbi. Oddly enough, you pick today, when I'm struggling to find ANYTHING to blog about, as the day to give me an award for being creative. No complaints - it gives me something to post.

So, let's get on to the seven things I love. And I'll challenge myself to skip the husband and cats.

1. My porch - I can't wait for the weather to cooperate so I can hang out on my porch again. It's screened, bright, comfy and awesome. But it's also currently cold and snowy.
   
2. Lilacs - I recently discovered that my favorite flower in the entire world may be able to grow in our area. I thought we were too far south. I'm so excited at the idea of growing lilacs!
3. Red wine - cabernet, pinot noir, red zinfandel, cotes du rhone, malbec... Lately I'm anti-merlot. But I love the taste of red wine.
4. Inspiration - whether it be for life in general, writing, or a project, I love feeling excited about the possibilities when I'm fired up.
   
5. Tomato, basil & mozzarella - salad, sandwich or pizza, this is one of my to-die-for flavor combinations.
6. Tunes - music was a big part of my life growing up but more from a performance angle. Now I'm primarily a listener but music still plays a vital role in my world.
7. Options - I've always felt it's not having a lot of money that makes you rich, it's having a lot of options. Yes, I realize sometimes money affords you the luxury of more options but my point still stands. Nothing robs me of hope quicker than telling me I have no choices. It makes me feel claustrophobic and very anxious. Know there are several alternatives puts the situation at least somewhat back in my control. Options make me happy.

And now the part where I always fail - passing the award on to other bloggers. I have all this freaking out in my head about leaving someone out which makes them sad or gifting someone with an award when they've either already received it or hate awards. So instead, I'm just going to link to no one. It seems like the laziest fairest thing to do.

Tomorrow, I am determined to post at what I consider to be my "regularly scheduled time" of 7:30am. Which means blogging tonight. An actual post with content. I can do it!!!

Home sweet home

What is it about coming home that's so fabulous? It can be the best trip to the best location with the best company but there's something about sliding between the sheets in my own bed that makes me feel so at peace.

Joe was amazing as always on this trip, supporting me and keeping my spazziness to a minimum. Especially once the weather turned sour for our trip home. In the end, our flight back was mostly uneventful. The pilot did ask the flight crew to end snack service rather abruptly/early and I spent the rest of the flight waiting for the crazy turbulence but it never really came. A little bumpiness on the landing but not even close to what I had anticipated.

And shortly after we arrived home, the snow began to fall. Yes, it's March and we don't typically see snow this time of year, but it was light and fluffy and accumulated just enough to reward me with a 2-hour work delay and a call from the boss telling me to work from home.

So here I am, snuggled in my Slanket with Rusty purring on my lap (my itty bitty kitty missed me). And even though it's cold and gloomy and I'm completely swamped with work (both for the office and personal projects), today I feel like life is good.

Speaking of kitties, our cat sitter left us a note as she always does. It went something like this:

Dear Joe & Cate:

Kitties were fine when I checked in Saturday around noon. Rusty gave me big cuddles. And Tonya ate a few treats when I tossed them to her. Hope you had a good trip!

That's my kitties! Rusty the snuggler and Tonya the... gimme food or I have no use for you.

Yes, there's truly no place like home.

February Progress Report

No confession today folks. Nothing good comes to mind so instead I'll give you the post I had planned for tomorrow - my monthly recap post. Total boredom for you, I'm certain. My apologies. Once (if) we get back from this trip I'm hoping posting will return to normal.

It's time to look back at February. First, how are my resolutions holding up?

• Be 17% nicer.
• Be 22% tougher when it comes to standing up for myself.

Tougher this month for sure but maybe a bit of failure on the nicer. These are really working against each other more than I thought they might.

• Continue making progress on anxiety issues.

We went out to dinner a few times with little issue. And I'm currently in Florida without too much spazzing. However, the weather is rapidly falling apart for our flight back tonight and I'm starting to feel some stress.

• Work towards better health.

Too much sick again but I did hit the WiiFit a lot more frequently. And I went running with Joe one morning so that's good.

• Support Joe as he supports me.

I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back because I think I did a great job of this last month.

• Consistent writing/blogging.

Until this past week? Yeah, it was going pretty well.

Word for 2009: FOCUS

• Once again, being sick hurt my ability to focus but I soldiered on and did alright. It was a conscious effort for sure and there's definitely room for improvement.

As for the blog, there's been a few changes. Starting today, I plan to change the banner on the first of each month. Also, I finally managed to buy my domain name, showmyface.com, a week or so ago. I'm still trying to figure out how to get showmyface.com to work with blogger (in addition to http://www.showmyface.com/, which is working). If anyone has an ideas on making the "naked domain" work, please drop me a line. I hate that I totally know how to do this "for real" but since Blogger has control I can't make it work.

Interesting search terms? Still many references to cat scurvy, fat ass soup and angry neighbor. In addition, I was amused by:

• what fits my face
• apologizing protects face
• how should someone react if a sister-in-law called my family sick and crazy
• fur pile groupies
• mmmm daniel craig
• reasons to skip out on family vacation

Sorry, it's hard to pick a favorite from that list. In fact, maybe I should turn a few of those into future posts when I'm hard-up for ideas.

So here's to March. And Spring. And many new bloggy adventures with all youse guys.