HERE'S A TIP...

HERE'S A TIP...

The other night, around two AM, an annoying, loud intermittent CHIRP occurred. It was my smoke alarm "low battery" noise. I didn't have any 9V batteries handy, so I took the old one out and left the contraption hanging until morning. I didn't know until the next day when opening up the battery pack, that you don't have to twist the smoke alarm off it's foundation with wires exposed!!!! There's a LITTLE DOOR that just slides open!!! Who knew????? In my 15 or so years experience with smoke alarms, this is the FIRST time I've made this discovery.

That's not the tip I had originally thought of talking about. HERE'S THE TIP: Buy some of those spongy ear plugs and don them when you change the smoke alarm batteries. I did this later that day when I went around to ALL my smoke alarms to change the batteries and test them. IT MADE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!!!!!! In the past when I've changed the batteries (and when the alarm actually goes OFF when I've burned something in the kitchen) I was resigned to the fact that I've have to endure that piercingly painful screech while grabbing a broom to whack the button. At least when I do the batteries I can rest with a deceivingly quiet alarm (testing it.)

All's NOT quiet on the (feline) Western front

Tess has been hissing very angrily at the boys in the last few days. Now, whenever the three of them sort of come together at a cross roads, they ALL end up hissing and YELLING at each other. This is very distressing. In the three years Cubby has been ALIVE, this is THE first time he's EVER hissed and it's not a pretty picture. And now once one starts, they all end up going at each other. They chase Cubby under the bed in the guest room. I am not even sure what started this. But it began a few days ago. And I think it started with Tess. I end up supervising every encounter "It's ok pussers, it's OK." (repeat repeat repeat.) The Vet thinks Tess may have an injury and that's what precipitated the whole event. She doesn’t “act” injured. And I’ve stroked her face, head, body, and paws.....trying to sooth her. She doesn’t snap at me (as if in pain) so nothing that I can see is wrong. Cubby has always played with her (HIS view, not her's) and this may have been one time too many. He looks very sad. And this makes me sad. And Cubby is now very very jumpy. He has ALWAYS been the stabilizing & mellow force in this feline household. Now they're all on edge. I've been giving them all extra individual attention and lots of treats ad playing.
________________

Sunday, two in the afternoon: Jeremy is being really really mean to Cubby.  Cubby was eating about an hour ago and Jeremy came along and smacked him accros his face WHILE he was eating!  Cubby hissed and growled with a hurt look in his face as if to say, "What did I do to make you mad?  I try to be loving and sweet.  I guess it's just not good enough for you."  Jeremy chased him into the basement and I followed them.  It took 15 minutes to try and talk him out of a corner.  I had treats, toys, talking to him the whole time.....and he had a cowardly stance, like an animal that's been abused.  That was the first time this whole mess this week made me tear up.  Cubby has been THE most happy-go-lucky cat Ive ever (been owned by) or ever seen.  He's "everyones' friend."  I don't like to spend a lot of time in the basement because it smells down there, no matter how clean I keep the boxes.  But I was sitting on the floor by the treadmill, trying to talk him out of the corner.

Tomorrow I take Tess to the vet because I *think* this all started with her, but now I'm not so sure.  It's sort of like "This is the house that Jack built..."

Halloween Secret Santa

Yesterday in my driveway, something sparkly caught my eye. It was at the top of my driveway, sort of resting against the house in the rocks that surround the bushes there. It was one of those orange plastic pumpkins with the black handle that we all used as kids when we went Trick-Or-Treating and it had a couple of things poking out the top. Hmmm, I thought. Did someone get the date wrong and wanted to Trick-Or-Treat early but then decided they didn’t want their stuff and tossed it aside?

I opened the note that was also sticking out the top. “You’ve been BOO’D,” it said. Chain letter?? NO. Apparently there’s a “social committee” in the neighborhood (WHO KNEW?????) This is sort of a Halloween “Secret Santa.” COOL!! The note had a ghost on one side with the “You’ve been BOO’D” and on the other side the explanation:

1. Enjoy your treat/s.
2. Place the BOO sign (on the back of this sheet) on your front door.
3. Within two days, make two copies of this note/sign and make two treat buckets.
4. Secretly deliver the copy and treat bucket to two neighbors who don’t have a sign on their door.
5. Keep an eye on nearby front doors to see how far and fast it spreads by Halloween.

In my bucket (Libby, hand me your bucket) there was a box of “Fiddle-Faddle”, a Christmas theme note pad, and a little baggy of candy. It’s the thought that counts....(don’t eat candy, don’t like Fiddle-Faddle.) I love the idea of giving to our neighbors, and I especially like the “secret” part of the Secret Santa concept. I get to observe the joy of the person given to, without them feeling like they need to reciprocate.

Today at Target I stood in front of the trial size section and thought I’d get my goodie bag stuff from there, instead of candy. Soooo, I got toothbrushes, toothpaste, Kleenex, miniature first aid kit, Halloween paper towels and individually packed compact fluorescent light bulbs. I don’t like the whole commercialization of holidays. So this is my way of making use of the gift giving of this time of year. I made my copies of the sign and the note, put all the stuff into cute Jack-o-lantern bags and made my deliveries this afternoon. FUN! It will be interesting to see how many signs go up in the next few days. :-)

Tornado siren moment...

Just after I took the (3rd) picture, Jeremy flew straight up in the air about ten feet. He was full of BEANS!

funny kitties

Photo explainations

After “weather ‘n’ stuff” and the pictures of Jeremy, Cubby and Tess, there are pics of the latest in my house. The first household picture you have to turn your head to see properly.

The more time I live in this townhouse, the more I observe design flaws that cause me to be creative in how I arrange my “stuff.”

The green dish washing gloves are clipped with one of those chip bag clips, and hanging from some white yarn attached to a plant hanger. The plant hanger I screwed into the side of the cabinet. There are other points on the plant hanger from which to hang things. You can see the two drink bottles.

Next photo: wide angle shot of kitchen, including the “bar” counter. On the left end of the counter ( “L” shaped) the phone is mounted on the wall. Above that I put three wire shelves, on the narrow bit of wall. I had the little man at Home Depot cut the shelves to size.

Next two kitchen photos: Notice the clean counters! :-) To the right of the fridge, I installed a pretty cabinet door handle and a matching knob towards the bottom of the cabinet door. On the knob, I hang a paper grocery bag and that’s where I put my recycle. (I installed matching cabinet door handles to the drawers in both bathrooms.) I think the red tea kettle is rather fetching. I ran out of cabinet space, so I put mug hooks under the cabinets. You can see a few cups hanging. I also have some hooks above the stove.

Next photo living room: I made the bins that are stacked in the center. I tried to make it look nice by alternating bin colors. Three black bins on the bottom, two white ones next, and another black one on top. My radio and prayer book (79BCP) are perched on top. You can sort of see (to the right) the brackets below the shelves I installed a few weeks ago when everything was collapsing, remember? :-) Two years ago, I got a very pretty corner TV stand that I vowed one day I would hire someone to put it together. Well, a few weeks ago I decided to put it together MYSELF. I opened the box in the garage and it took several hours and multiple trips to bring ALL the pieces into the living room. It took all day to put together, but it was SO satisfying and therapeutic to do it myself. The instruction manual was 27 pages long, but when you take it one step at a time, it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. Anyway, I think it looks so much better than what I had there before. Down quite a few posts, you can see a picture of what was holding up the TV before. This new cabinet is much prettier than that shaky table. I gave away that swirvey wire video/DVD stand that used to be there. All but a few DVDs are now under the new stand.

The next two photos need a little explanation: What used to be in that space was the carpeted kitty tower (had it for about 16 years) Because it wasn’t the best use of space, I got rid of it and made these white drawers to put in it’s place. It’s right next to my desk from where I am writing this. Turn your head to the right and in the first one you can see my Mac lap top. Anyway, these drawers are about the same height as the kitty tower, and I felt guilty getting rid of the carpeted jungle jim....sooooo, I nailed a bath mat on top so kitties can jump up there and survey their kingdom. It’s quite sturdy.

Next: OK, I’m trying to make the best use of the space I have, so I screwed plant hangers on each side of the bookcase. The blue and purple office supply caddies and hanging from the ends. Up close, it sort of looks like a Dr Suess character. That’s it for today’s house pictures. Just below you can see Jeremy’s sun bathing pictures.

weather 'n' stuff

Here are some weather bits. The sun shot is/was lengthwise so you have to turn your head to see it. In the cloudy shot, you can't really see it well, but the rain is coming down in the distance kind of sideways.

"ANIMALS, ANIMALS..."

Pictures first: explaination after

TWO PICTURES OF MY SLEEPY BOY

I'm not sure how to rotate these pictures once to the right. But that's how they are suppose to look. Just flip your screen to the right or lean left. :-)

Jeremy sun bathing

Collapsing tables, falling shelves, chairs and exploding light bulbs(Photos coming soon!!)

Well that sums up my past week! No kidding.

Last week, my dining room table collapsed. No kitties were underneath at the time, so no injuries to living, breathing mammals to report. The table contents, however, arranged itself in various forms of disarray and destruction on the floor post collapse, complete with Un-Episcopal sentences proclaimed from the owner. I went to Ikea the next day and purchased a table "kit." They delivered it the next day and I spent Saturday afternoon putting it together. It's actually very sleek and elegant looking, but very simple design: a top and four legs, black wood. No "foot rests" or bars that go lengthwise underneath. I wanted something that would discourage toe stubbing while seated at the table, space that I could also slide boxes underneath and not show on the outside. Did that make sense? Anyway, it's very pretty and it was fun to put together.

The day before the table collapse, the wiggling unstable chairs (that go with the table) I put in the kitchen so I could Super Glue back together. After glue failure I decided that the chairs (which have been used also as ladders through the years) should go live with Jesus, or at least become a part of the "Red Green" set in Canada. What do you think? A Ikea I got matching simple, black wood chairs with a white cushion that I think go very nicely with the table. I haven't put those together yet though. I figure when guests come, they can put their own chairs together as they arrive. Make them work for their dinner!

I have several chunky shelves I installed a few months ago. When they are against the wall, they look as if they are hanging there in mid wall. There is a curved metal rod that gets screwed to the wall, then the shelf "hooks" onto the rod. The shelf packaging said the weight limit is 75lbs......pretty good, eh? Well the problem is it's "top heavy" or front heavy. If you put stuff too close to the front of the shelf, the whole thing falls down. I would like to put more books up, and maybe some bins that I have that are taking up space on the floor. There's "something" in the air. These shelves have been falling down several times this weekend, scattering cats to the four corners of the house. So I have some "decorative" shelf brackets that I screwed into the wall to support the shelves. I won't put anything small on these shelves, though. I had my Cornell Clock Tower clock (complete with pumpkin on top.) The clock itself was intact, but it was sans pumpkin. I was able to glue the pumpkin back on, but some pieces must have shattered, because I can't get it to look straight. You know, if I had taken it to a repair place out here in Minnesota and asked them to glue the pumpkin on top of the clock tower, I would get some pretty weird looks! LOL.

This morning, the first little man to come over was the electrician. I needed him to change the bulbs of the fixture that's on the kitchen celling. If it were a basic small fixture, I could do it myself, but the cover of this thing is 4 foot by 3 foot long. The little man (Max) changed the long tubular bulbs and replaced the cover. While he was here, I had him change the bulbs that are also in the kitchen celling, but are recessed, so they are hard to reach. In December (remember that Aunt Susan??????????) I tried changing the bulbs myself using a pole. The bulb shattered and fell all over the kitchen and living room floor. Well, today Max changed the bulbs and the same thing happened to him and he was on a ladder. Thank God nothing went into his face. But I did have to vacuum tiny shattered pieces of blight bulb. He had to run to the store to get a replacement. Now the bulbs are all in place and "...Let there be LIGHT..."

The next little man to come over was John, the Air Conditioning man. He was very nice and gave me a good education on my AC/heating unit. He said that AC's were not built to be at 60 the way I "like" it, but he could fix it, add a part so that it won't tax the unit too severely, making my Chiarian demands easier on the AC. The part won't be in until next week, John will be back then. I told him about my carbon monoxide poisoning in November. We talked about that for about 30 minutes. He took me outside and we cleaned the air intake valve/screen with a toothbrush. It was completely covered with dirt and grime. He said my AC/heater would work better now. I didn't know I had to even DO that.....and I've been in this place for three years. He said I should clean the intake screen twice a year. He laughed when I told him all my guests require scarves and blankets.

The next little man should be here in about 15 minutes. My shower is leaking. Stay tuned. Pray nothing else collapses in my place!

Shower fixed, TV fixed, table fixed, lightbulbs fixed, shelves fixed...life is good.

Niiiiiiiice Boeing 747.....there, there.

He he he.....just sitting here at the Detroit Airport using time until my flight to Minneapolis. That's not my plane over my shoulder. This 747 is going to Tokyo in two hours. My plane leaves at 3:08pm, so hopefully these approaching storms will roll over the area by then!!

I had a WONDERFUL time in Ithaca with family and friends. It's always too short a time spent with them! No matter if it's 2 days or 10 days. I got to meet a new cousin while at home and did a lot of laughing with aunts,parents and the like. There's a funny dancing fountain about 100 feet from my chair here. It always attracts photographers young and old with it's timed choreographed aquatic production. The water looks like dancing snakes!!

More later.

Grrr

A,B orC picture doesn't really show the TRUE colors of the paint. But you can sort of see the dragonfly towel nearby. I think I like B the best. It's a pale blue.

A,B or C ???

Starting Over

I consulted a paint lady at Home Depot today. She said I could just put primer over the purple mess that's there, so that's what I did. The primer is brighter than the white that was there originally so there are spots that look yellow-ish. I finnished the primer and picked up most of my drop cloths. I left the blue tape on the trim, but for now and for a while, I just want my bathroom back!

Glaze Color

I did the glaze color today on my bathroom (and garage for practice) walls. My head is pounding and my right cheek is strawberry red and hot. This is what happens! ANY exertion what-so-ever does this. The glaze color on top of the base doesn't look that good. It just looks sloppy. I'm wondering now if I should just paint it all white again and start over. Can you do that though????? Keep painting over coats over coats over coats?? Wouldn't that make the room eventually smaller? :-)

Dad and Ian on the drums

CLEAN LIVING ROOM

better

Thank you for your post replies ladies! I'm feelig much better today. It's even hotter today: 92, but inside it's 65.....ahhhhhhh. I'm doing a lot of dusting today....achoo. Now that I've cleared things in my living room, I can have more company over. wheee.

I found a cool book shelf recently for $20...."as is" but when I first saw it, I thought, "I won't be able to get this, it looks $$$." Lately I've liked things that have geometric patterns, 90 degree angles, compartments. This book case was all that. Now that it's in place, I''l take a picture later today and post it.

:-(

It's HOT today. It's 85 degrees F outside , but to me it feels like 105! Headache: yes. MY temp this morning: 101.7, but nobody knows why. I don't feel like painting today. I found a great quote from Dr Seuss! "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

uh oh

I just popped a button on my new shorts. LOL.

ONE pant size

Yeaaaa. I've gone down one pant size today. It was very satisfying to go to the mail box and have to hold my pants up with my hand. So I just got out a pair of shorts that I've had but not been able to fit into for over a year. It feels so much better!! The old shorts were loose for about a week, but since I was *used* to them, it didn't register that I could go down a size. Small victories. Work ON.

In memoriam Mojo 1990-2004

I can't explain it!

I can't explain it. I don't know why it happens, how it happens and sometimes it scares the (fill in the blank) out of me. Here's what transpires: I will e thinking of a certain scene from a certain episode of a show. Then the next day, the episode of that show was on!! I'd say this started a few years ago. It didn't *seem* to be anything more than a coincidence.

In the last few months, the events have become more frequent. Sometimes it happens several times a week, scattered throughout the week and sometimes it happens in clusters. It happened today. I was thinking YESTERDAY of a certain Oprah guest. It was a fleeting thought. But today I watched Oprah and the guest WAS ON. Now, mind you, I hadn't seen any previews for today's show. Monday I was thinking of a particular scene of a particular episode of Law&Order: SVU and that evening, IT WAS ON! Again, hadn't seen previews. Tuesday it happened again and it freaked me out, I dropped Jeremy. (Fortunately he walked away unscathed.) Sometimes it's a song that I think of on the radio and then hear, sometimes it's a scene from a TV show. In any case a BIG: Hhmmmmmmmm!!!!

SECOND COAT

Does this hand look familiar? Does it remind you of something? Years ago when I was in High School I painted my room. At the "primer" stage, I put my feet in the primer and made foot prints on the closet door. :-) Tradition carries ON. Just above the hand you can sort of see the second coat of paint. In this photo, though, it looks maroon. It's not. It's dark purple.

...from PARTY DRESSES to BATHROOM WALLS...

Any suggestions (to improve the look of the pictures below) are welcome!

THINK **POTENTIAL**

SEE PICTURES BELOW. Last night around 8pm I got my second wind. I painted the areas that I probably should have done LAST. They say you should do the trim first and corners and the like, but I did the large empty wall areas that were easy to get to.

This morning I woke with another headache. I think this one is a Chiari and pressure HA. This morning, still groggy with sleep, I opened the door to the bigger bathroom and at first I was a bit startled. For an instant I had forgotten that I did the painting. It's very pretty: a very dark grape-ish sort of purple. I am pleased....with the COLOR that is. I know I'll have to do several coats.

painting resumed

PAINT HEADACHE

UUUgghhh, I only *just* painted a small portion of wall and I have a paint headache. It made me dizzy and nauseated too. So I had to put the top on the pain can, rest the roller, wash my hands and take a break. sigh. I may have to call some friends and get some help and maybe this weekend finish the bathroom.

Seattle Sutton Healthy Eating.

Every Monday and Thursday mornings I have meals delivered to my front door in cooler bags. In late winter I "joined" Seattle Sutton Healthy Eating. SSHE is a company that makes fresh meals that are portion controlled, calorie controlled with really GOOD fresh produce. (Seattle Sutton, a registered nurse and dietician founded the company.) The people who get meals from SSHE are folks who not only want to loose weight, but who are busy and want the convenience of prepared meals ad are too busy to do it themselves. From the web site, it appears that SSHE has a mostly mid-west U.S. distribution.
http://www.seattlesutton.com/aboutus.asp

Anyway I did some errands this morning and when I came back the old cooler from last week was still there…very flattened by the winds, but still there. So unless they are serving pancakes this week, the old bag is still there. He he he he.

I was very skeptical about SSHE at first. I studied the web site for a long time before signing up. I LOVE the meals…very yummy!! I’ve lost about 11lbs so far. But....”We still have a long wayyy to go…”

drop cloths

I found a cool product recently: Blue painter's tape and a dropcloth all in one. It comes in a roll. You put the tape at the top of a frame/mirror or, where ever you want, and the pull the plastic down, unfolding it.

ZzZz Blue Tape

I'm still taping up the bathroom. (big yawn) There are lumps moving across the floor: cats under tarp. LOL

Shhhhh. Cubby is sleeeeeeping.

Mom's root canal

Mom tells the funniest stories in the world!! Here is her story and drawing of her root canal revision from today.

"This morning I had Part The Second of probably the first of several root canals! AACCKKK!! It was awful! Mouth open for 1.5 hours, blood rushing to head due to being inverted, breathing restricted due to tooth having to wear a little cape that flopped over nose, dreadful noises at every turn. I suddenly felt deep panic (along with a hot flash) and wanted to run screaming from the office. However, my biofeedback from days of yore kicked in and I was able to endure.
This is how it looked:"

Jeremy,Tess and Cubby sun bathing together:

Painting the bathroom

BEFORE PICTURE
I've had several buckets of paint hanging around for a couple of months now in my (bigger) bathroom. AT one point I painted a 3x3 foot area to see if I liked the color. But that's as far as it got. The paint buckets have gathered dust. Because of how I've been feeling lately, I never completed (OK, started really) the project.

In the last month or so, I've really put an effort into cleaning the place up and DOING projects that I've been planning since I bought the place almost three years ago. I've had a professional organizer come a few times to help me with the "clutter" and she was AWESOME. She's really helped motivate me into de-cluttering my place. (www.newlifeorganizing.com) Together we have cleared paths and one day we did my entire garage! Yeeaaaa!!! Now I have room out there to put more stuff. LOL!! Marilyn said it helps to group like things together. I had home improvement stuff (tools, screws, nails, paint supplies) scattered throughout my house. I couldn't find half the stuff. Now I have it ALL out in the garage in colored bins that I've had for a while without really utilizing them.

ANYWAY, back to the paint. I have some really easy snap-together 4-tiered shelves in the hallway right outside the bathroom door. This afternoon I am putting all the bathroom stuff on these shelves: towels, soap, fixture plates, and light switch plates, removable wall shelves. Etc. Now I am putting all that tedious, necessary blue painter's tape up. Zzzzzz, nap inducing! Tomorrow I'll do the actual painting part! The BASE COLOR: a periwinkle. GLAZE COLOR: dark purple. Stay tuned!

"I didn't do it Mommy, honest!"

This is my biggest kitty Cubby. He is almost 3yo and weighs 17lbs.

You never know who you'll run into.

I didn't put any effort into my appearance this morning when I went out to do some errands. Big Mistake! I wasn't thinking of who I would run into. I was just feeling like yuck, so I went out as is.

Someone came up to me at the local coffee shop about two hours ago asking me if I worked at ---- Hospital. It turns out I was her nurse. She explained who she was and when I took care of her. It was at a particularly emotional time for her and her family.

I was embarrassed at how I looked and that I hadn't brushed my teeth yet. I was focused on this. But if she noticed, she didn't let on. She teared up and explained how much it meant to her that I took care of her.

Wow. I was very humbled. I told her that she made my day!

I have a hard time putting my feelings into words. So trying to explain how I felt today when my former patient came up to me is really hard. I'm feeling grateful, thankful, humbled. But somehow this seems to inadequate.

If I have any misspelled words, bare with me. I am clicking on the spell check icon, but nothing is happening.

Yawning Cubby smushing Tess

This picture was taken about a year and a half ago.

Such a forgiving kitty

Cubby is SO forgiving! Gee whiz. Since he is underfoot literaly 24/7 he get's tripped over or stepped on sometimes. He shrieks, but he doesn't run away! If I step on Jeremy,Tess, (or stepped on Ashley,Mojo, or Maggie) each cat would take off under the bed and I wouldn't see them for an hour. But Cubby shakes his paw off and returns his adoring gaze upward to my eyes.

Pardon me.

I'm trying to get the old posts to be first on the page. All of the setting changes are taking effect except for this one. Hmmm.

order of things

I'm trying to figure out what all the various settings are by creating three posts. I'd like the oldest ones first. That's how a book is after all.

Wheee!

OK Folks,

This is it: "Baby's first blog." (He he he.) I was inspired by my sister Anne and my friends Jason and Lauren.

Why the title "New Life For Cubby?" Well, I couldn't think of anyhting profound. No, Cubby isn't getting a job or starting a new business. I adopted him (oh wait, wait.....Cubby is a CAT for those of you who don't know him.) circa April 2005 from a friend from work. She had him for the first 7 months of his life and then wasn't in a place where she was able to kep him. SO I adopted him. He's doing WONDERFUL Sarah! There really is NOBODY on earth like Cubby.

OK, that's enough for now. My hands are getting too numb.