The Great Blog CatchUp (or sucking on lemons)

It's been a busy week at Casa Kitty. Apparently when you haven't lived with your husband for three weeks, you need to adjust to each other again. So I'm almost totally behind on my blog reading... it's 3:30 AM early Sunday morning... gonna put on some new music and attempt The Great Blog Catchup.

Fernando was just in the room. I just told him he's beautiful. He told me to go suck on a lemon. There's something particularly charming about having a grade three insult aimed at you.

Okay... off I go...

LISTENING TO:

hubby tracking update

It's 6:50 PM - still no sign of him. His plan landed at 5 PM.

lol

When you're married to Fernando Ferblantier, you don't worry when your husband goes AWOL. You just assume he's either:

(a) wandering the airport shopping

(b) has run into an immigrant who needs help with something and is showing them around Montreal

(c) met someone interesting on the plane and went to have dinner with them and talk for hours

(d) curled up in exhaustion on his bags and went to sleep.

Or all of the above.

Well, I had time to do groceries--they had Daiya cheese with today due date, for $1 per bag! I scooped up all four, put 3 in the freezer, kept one for supper. Nachos! But I'd better find something to eat in the meantime. Though I'm de-hair-greased, leg-shaved, perfumed, and festively dressed, none of it will matter when Fernando makes an appearance if I'm a total bitch.

I also bought flowers. He loves to receive flowers. (Okay Minion, leave some for Daddy, yes?)

 

Fernando arrived as I was writing this. Minion thought it was a visitor and ran away! And then, as he was coming in, the neighbor's smoke alarm went off so Haley ran and hid too! Some homecoming. We had to get out the Snappytoms so he could bond with his cats.

Tsk. Kids.

hubby tracking

Fernando is currently over Winnipeg. I still have time to put away the laundry and store up some provisions on the old homestead before he gets in.

He's been helping to care for three little peeples for three weeks--I suspect he's going to expect royal treatment for the rest of his time off (this week).

Haley knows he'll be back, cause she's seen us leave and return from vacations. Minion is confused, but she hasn't given up hope--she's an optimistic little kitty! She still raises her head optimistically when she hears bustling in the hallway. I look forward to seeing her excitement when The Bustle really does turn out to be Her Bustle.

Unfortunately I'll probably have to go help Fernando with his bags, and therefore won't get to witness it from this side of the door.  :-(  Should have made arrangements with him on the phone yesterday.

"Mahmmy's book says hope is a thing with feathers. ...I like feathers."

The Meowee East: Storms both Physical and Metaphorical (or Pathetic Fallacy by Haley teh Cat)

This video looks like a skit from The Muppet Show. I kept expecting to see people clinging horizontally to street lamps.


It's an exciting morning here in the Meowee East. It's 9 degrees Celcius (warm) and a thunder and lightning storm just passed through. I've got the balcony door open and wild winds are - a - blowin' through. Minion is acting like a FREAK. I wish you could see the look on Haley's face, but I only have my laptop for taking photos.

At first she was down here enjoying the storm, but then Minion went running up along her back...

 so she retreated to Wolverbean Towers.

Watching the rain and wind.

Rain and wind got up in her face so she LEAPED to her window.

"You're a freak and an idiot."

While Minion has to take the high spots from Haley all the time, in reality she only has one high spot she likes; otherwise she prefers the floor. This desk in the livingroom is her cave. Notice how she's hooked up her tunnel so that it leads into her cave.

She naps under the curtains, tucked under the heater. 

I suspect she discovered it one day when she fell off the heater, but she admits to nothing.

I've had to lock Minion in my bedroom, cause Haley wanted to come down and check out the wind. The window in my room lets out on a bird-filled tree. I tried telling Minion this, but she was all "No no no I wanna be with you!" [aka terrorize Haley.]

Perched on the Elizabeth Box, as regal as the Virgin Queen herself.

UPDATE ON THE COUSSIN DE POUVOIR (from yesterday)


Since moving it lower, Haley's been *allowed* to sit on it a lot more. But Minion is sensitive to her reputation cause right when I take a picture...
 

"You look entirely too comfortable on that coussin. OFF!" Takes coussin. Pretends to look like she's going to take a long nap.
  

Haley indifferent because though she's lost the coussin, she now has the high ground.

 

Minion soon realizes this is a losing proposition and leaves the coussin.

This week in friendlies: phone edition

I was supposed to go out with a friend tomorrow, but we had to change our plans. We ended up talking on the phone, though. We shall call her rrraquel.

And earlier today (as I made my breakfast... at 3 PM) my friend Gilby called. We haven't spoken since Christmas, so it was nice to catch up. 

I met both friends at my old job--we were all part of the new staff hired on to open up the store when it was new. It was a big format store, and so many great people were hired, we all walked around a little suspicious in the beginning. 

- [whisper] Do you find you like a really high % of people here?

- [whisper] Ya, it's really weird.

I had certain groups of friends with whom I'd go out to lunch, and certain groups I'd sit in the back doorway with while they had their smokes, and other groups with whom I'd go drinking next door after work (I drank ginger ale), and other groups with whom I went to Chenoy's and debated Life with 'til 3 AM, and other friends with whom I went to Chenoy's and talked about our own lives with 'til 3 AM.

That never really changed. The average age of people hired decreased, but in all the years I worked there, I not only made a ton of friends myself, but I saw generation after generation make their own gang of friends-for-life. I guess book stores attract interesting, quirky, intelligent, fun people. I'd recommend working at one, except it's a March of the Dinosaurs.

My friends rrraquel and Gilby were practically opposites, but sometimes the three of us would go to the dessert place next door (gone now) and loved being served by Raoul, who gave everyone a Spanish name, forgot our orders, and was very charming. He died a few years ago of throat cancer.  :-(  

Anyway, two important outcomes of these phone calls. Important to The Arts.

1. Gilby needs us to go ahead with Gilmabelfest 2011 even if he needs to shoulder more of the cost this year. I suggested he come to my city, stay with his folks, we see one show. He expressed disapproval of this plan in his Usual Gilby Fashion that I won't repeat. So I guess I'll be off to see him again in the fall, and to see some great shows. Time to start planning! Gilmabelfest 2011!

2. rrraquel told me Videotron picked up Turner Movie Classics channel at the beginning of April!!! I didn't know!!! There's always been a classics channel but it was poopy. Not the real one! TURNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She said it's to compete with Netflicks, which must explain the other great no-commercial movie channels I now have.

TURNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend is Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which me loves. And it's playing in French this weekend on Cinépop, which I was going to tape as well.

And on PBS this weekend starts the new Upstairs, Downstairs. It's a sequel, but I've never seen the original so I hope I understand.

This week in veganeats

I didn't go out anywhere.

The yogurts are done. I got rid of a couple more mac and cheeses. There's still a ton of those soup packets, though.

It's been Lazy Cooking for One week. I mostly had...

* penne with tomato sauce made with tons of mushrooms (Fernando's not a mushroom fan, so I'm taking advantage while he's gone)

* rice and fried mushrooms

* cabbage (I have a bag of chopped cabbage from when I was making dragon bowls)

* strawberries and "whipped cream" (from the uncheese cookbook - menoum!)

* raspberry walnut pancakes (Dolce Vegan) with the rest of the uncream-cream (menoum menoum!)

* chickpea-seaweed sandwiches (Vegan with a Vengeance) (menoum! didn't make enough, had to make a second batch)

* cocoa & soy milk

* homemade granola (Dolce Vegan)

But now I'm running out bread and milk. Haven't been to the grocery store. Locked in my home, alternating between doing the things I need to do, and procrastinating from them.

Speaking of procrastinating... BYE!

This week in cats: mac pics

The camera is still away with the vacationing husband. (Not really vacationing since he's helping his sister with her three children.) So I can only get pics of the kitties using my laptop. (I don't even have a cell phone.)

Since kitties, like Jedis, value having the high ground I'm trying an experiment. I moved Haley's Coussin de pouvoir to a lower spot, and Minion's Trône des jouets to a higher spot. Minion always kicks Haley off the Coussin, because she has her topcat status to maintain. But she actually prefers to sit in her toybox-snuggy. So if the snuggy-toybox is higher, will she let Haley sit on the Coussin? We shall see. It worked the first time, last night. 

...Though as soon as I woke Minion up with my noises, she came out of her box and teased Haley.

- Minion...

- What?

She comes over to my computer: "What? What?"

"Is it finger time? You type too much."

Random Haley Beauteousness

Minion Jungletude

Unusually pensive: "This is the mother's new corner. Not sure I like it. I will now throw this pencil on the floor in disgust."

The usual kitty-yoga

"It's mah move."

 With the springy weather I try to leave the window open for the cats (at least until the baby birds are born. The ones the will inevitably practice flying to our balcony.) Sometimes instead of going outside, Minion just leans out and watches the world go by.

Ever since I rearranged the book cases and cleaned up the cabling, the tops of all the shelves have been cleared for Haley. She now has four places to sit. Minion always tries to root her out (even though Minion gets bored up there and soon comes down), so I try to distract Minion with toys, and Haley watches us play.

And that, folks, was the week in cats! These new coworkers of mine are awesome.