Solstice

Yep, it's officially the first day of winter.



The huge snow flakes kind of gave it away. I'm really hoping that a lot of people left work early or stayed home in the first place. If not, then the commute will suck since the flakes are landing on a slick layer of ice!

I think I will be staying home tonight so shopping will happen tomorrow, along with making caramels and knitting a billion dish cloths. everything needs to be done by Saturday. Fortunately I have Friday off.
After my errands I can sit at home with the kitties, enjoy my tree, and celebrate the days getting longer.

Isn't this how everyone celebrates?

For my birthday I thought the best thing to celebrate would be to do what I always do each Monday; invite friends into my home, knit, drink coffee, eat cookies and watch something fun on TV.

I baked my "favoritest ever ever ever cake", which is a box mix of Dr. Oetker's German marble cake. I love it and am having the last piece with my lunch today. I picked up dinner from Mavericks. We watched Queen Live at Wembly Stadium, Abba in Concert and rounded out the evening with the Three Musketeers (Oliver Reed and Micheal York in case there was any confusion). I received lovely calls and cards from friends and family wishing me well. I bought a small tree and decorated it on Sunday. It meant having to put away the Halloween village ::sigh::

When I wasn't dancing around the place to "Dancing Queen" I did manage to do some knitting. I ripped apart the sleeve for the baby sweater that has been vexing me and re-started it. It looks 100% better and I'm so glad I did that. I also bought myself a new book for my birthday.



Only problem is I want to knit all the patterns in the book and I have other knitting I must finish first. I stayed up far to late, but it was a lovely day! Now if it could only snow sometime this week it would be perfect.

Sunday P and I went out to dinner at the Glockenspiel and it is deffinately worth a trip back with a large group. The food was great and the atmosphere was lovely. We both had beef rouladen and I had a side of herring while P had a warm pretzel. We rounded out the meal with a piece of Black Forest cake and I had a Weiss Beer. Heavenly.

Fingers crossed that I found a new home for the fuzzy kitty. It couldn't be soon enough as far as Lenny is concerned! None of my signs have been answered so I have to assume that whoever had him doesn't want him back, which is simply insane. He is so cute and sweet. He has no manners, which is a sure sign of his youth. He will shape up in time with some gentle correction and patience.

The owners

Over the last few years we have been adopted by a number of animals and presently count 2 cats and a bird in our family.

Lenny was the first. He came to our house in October in 2000 and decided that this was where he wanted to live. He was part of a litter born on our street and had been taken to live with one of the handymen for the rental complex. He chose to jump ship and went to live with the Petersons. Then he showed up on our doorstop and has stayed ever since.

Nehemiah came next.

He belonged to our neighbors who had more kids than sense and didn't seem too interested in taking care of a cat. This was further evidenced when he was left outside in sub-zero weather for hours at a time. I basically informed them that he was staying with us from now on, which was fine for the dad since he wanted a Rottweiler. Whatever. While Nehemiah and Lenny are not best friends they do sleep on the bed with us each night (one on either side of me or Tim) and spend time chasing each other through the house. It is rare that they end up in a skuffle.


This is Miss Kitty, who went to her new home last Tuesday. When I took her in she was skin and bones but with regular feedings she has fatten up quite nicely. I hear that she is settling in quite well in her new place and is making friends with the other cats.

"Mittens" is still with us and still wanting to be friends with Lenny and Nehemiah. He is an un-neutered male who is very affectionate and uses the litter box very well.

He has a bit of a belly, all of his claws and is increadibly sweet. I'm feeling less hopeful that someone is missing him since my signs have gone unanswered. I won't take him to the Humane Society (they have enough cats that need homes) so I am still working on finding him a home myself.

Some people call themselves pet owners, but anyone who has cats know who really owns who.

Welcome David John

born 11:06 pm (est) 8 lbs 11 oz via C-section.

My poor friend worked so hard to get ready to push and they had to take him out via c-section after all that. This is a good thing since the size of his head would have ripped her apart. I get to see the whole family at the end of the month!!

Welcome David!

St Nicholas Day

I hope all of you were good and woke to sweets in your stockings this morning. I woke to kitties by my feet so that is good enough for me.

Not everything was accomplished last night, but first news: My apprentice is having her baby today!!! Guess she found a baby in her stocking this morning cause DJ is on the way! I think it will be a long day for her so good thoughts are being directed towards IN and I will be distracted all day waiting for news.

I did not bake last night. This is very sad but I didn't nearly have enough molasses in the cubbard to make Great Grandma's cookies and I really didn't have any time. I'll see how the week works out. I'd like to bring something with me for my host this weekend, but that may mean I miss the knitting club on Thursday, which is sad indeed.

U and B came for Miss Kitty last night and took her to their vet. I am happy (and relieved) to report that she has a clean bill of health and they have made an appointment to get her shots and fixed. I really hope she gets on ok with their other kitties. I'm so happy that she is going to a good home with good people to take care of her.

P, A and I went to Big Lots and K-Mart to pick up toys for the Tournament today. We will have 2 members of the US Marines as our guest for the Tournament tonight and I can hardly wait. It was a LOT of fun last year and I suspect it will be just as much fun this year.

I wanted to do some more knitting on my shawl last night, but sleep had come upon me and I settled for turning in at a reasonable time. Tomorrow I need to finish stenciling Yeti tabbards so they can go to the event this weekend. Friday I am off to Calontir!

Verdict from the Vet

"Mittens" does not have a chip and HE is a un-neutered male. Basically I have removed a breeding pair from the street, probably preventing more litters of kittens without homes. This is good.

Heard from the caretaker's husband last night, and he sounds interested in the cats, but "Little Miss" is going off with friends tonight to be checked for bad diseases and have some play time with their cats. Fingers crossed that she is healthy and gets on with the current kitties.

More signs went up for Mittens and I have not heard anything. Maybe if Ingelief does not get the cats she is looking at she will take him. Too bad C and T are not ready for another cat cause I see Mittens with T.

I actually did knitting last night. Shock! I started the Icarus shawl for my godmother. So far so good. Tonight I need to go toy shopping for the Toys for Tots tournament on Wednesday. I'm also going to bake cookies for St. Nicholas Day, which is tomorrow.

Kitties everywhere

*Crikey!* I have now been named the "cat wrangler". First it was Miss Kitty (all black), now it is "Mittens" (sex TBD). Mittens (brown tabby striped, long hair, with white paws, bib and mustache) was in our back yard when I returned from the Humane Society with Miss Kitty (no chip, alas) Saturday night. With the help of a bowl of food I managed to get her to come closer and hold still long enough for me to grab her.

"Now think about this", P said, "where are you going to put THIS cat?"
"The upstairs bathroom off the sewing room." I replied.

This seemed satisfactory and I proceeded to do a dive, grab and roll and managed to sweep up the new foundling. He/She was very skiddish, but I think that was more from trama and fear than feral tendancies. He/She uses the litter box just fine, is happy being held, loves to be petted and seems to be simply lost. I can't imagine his/ her coat would be so well groomed if he/ she had been on it's own for a couple of months. "Mittens" appears to be older than the first and is very quiet. He/ she does not mind the other cats at all. Mittens will be making a trip to the vet tonight to get scanned for a id chip and I hope the owner sees my signs so I can get this cat home. Somone must be missing "Mittens".

Our leasing manager for the rental office offerred to take both cats, sight unseen, when I called today to see if any of the renters had reported a lost cat. I'm happy to give them the black kitty, but I'm holding out for "Mitten's" owners to come and claim her.

(In actuality I'm a bit uneasy that they would want to take both cats with no hesitations. Uneasy enough that I'm a bit put off. What does that say about me that I would be so suspicious?)

Personal day

Since I didn't really have any work today I decided to stay home and take some time to work on my resume, post it on Monster and speak to a recruiter. I don't know if she will be able to find anything for me, but I am detrrmined to make steps every day to find a different career path. I will have a new job soon: one that I enjoy and will fullfill my needs.

I also did some knitting (of course) and finished the second pair of wool stockings. They look pretty good and feel wonderful (had to try them on to check the fit of course) now I just need to block them.

Tomorrow I will be taking our little stray kitten to the humane society to check for general health and to see if she has a chip. Miss Kitty provided a great deal of drama this week. She came to us Sunday night and Wednesday she escaped our clutches and ran into the night. Ofcourse she had to pick the night when the temperatures dipped below zero, so I fretted all night and all day. I set out a bowl of food and this evening when I came home with Chinese for dinner, there she was. I had to follow her across the street and half way down before I could get her within arms reach and scoop her up. She is safely ensconsed back in the downstairs bathroom, but I want to get her to a permanent home soon. She devoured a bowl of food in a few minutes. Poor little thing. i am very relieved that she came back and is safe and sound inside where it is warm.

Now I need to start the next knitting project, what shoud I choose?