Kitten update

Two kittens, one gray female and the gray and white boy, found a new home with a friend of mine. A few days after taking them home, he called me and said, "I thought you gave me kittens." I said, "I did. What's up?" Then he tells me, "They're not kittens; they're terrorists!" We both started laughing. Apparently, Madison and Taylor (he's a history prof, hence the presidential names) keep him busy!

I've got two kittens myself, one of the black and white boys and the other gray girl. My little girl's name is Gracie. I can't even tell you why that stuck on her, but from the time she was little bitty and I had to bottle feed her, she was my little Gracie May. I'm having trouble naming my boy, though. Right now, I'm trying out Billy, as in Billy the Kid or Billy Bad-Ass, depending on what he's doing at the moment. I'm not fond of the name, but nothing else that I've tried has worked. If anyone who reads this has a suggestion, I'm listening.

The other black and white boy, Spike, unfortunately, had a liver and/or cardiac problem and didn't make it. We sweated it for a while, worrying that he had FIP, but all of the tests for it came back negative. I made the very hard decision to put him to sleep on Wednesday. I've lost a number of pets over the years, and I've got a 13-year-old dog right now whom I know won't be around a lot longer. The decision is always difficult, but this one was almost unbearable. I think it's because he was just a baby and never really had a chance. I'm tearing up just thinking of him.

I'm working on introducing Billy and Gracie to the dogs and my other cat. The dogs find the kittens fascinating. The dogs don't seem to have a desire to kill the kittens--thank goodness!--but I do worry that because they are so much bigger than the kittens that they'll hurt them just by stepping on them. So, kitten-doggie playtime is monitored very closely.

I'm off to spend some time doing the much dreaded housework. What a horrid way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

KIttens!

Last week, my friend Tara called me and told me that she and her family had found a litter of five kittens in a piece of heavy machinery that had been bought at auction. There was a wee note of panic in her voice--she and her folks have never had a cat--so I volunteered to take the kittens off her hands. I foolishly thought that it would be easy to give these kittens away. WRONG! I've got one taker and two maybes. I'm praying that the maybes turn into yeses.

The babies are very cute, though, and I do enjoy taking care of them. They were three to four weeks old when I got them last week, and just a little bit malnourished. They've more than made up for the hunger they had when I got them, though. They're getting four meals a day now, with kitten milk added to help moisten it. The smallest one, who did have to be bottle fed for a couple of days, weighed three-quarters of a pound at the vet's office Tuesday, while the biggest one weighed a pound and a half.

Didn't Know It Had Been So Long

I knew I hadn't updated the blog in a while, but I didn't realize it had been almost three months. I'd love to say that time flew because I was having so much fun, but the truth is I was just busy with work. Finals are over for me, and while I still have a mound of grading to do, I feel liberated. Summer vacation has begun! I'm off until mid-July when I go back for the second summer session, but I'll be ready to go back by then. I'm looking very forward to the time off, but I know I'll get bored.

I've got lists and lists of things I want to do while I'm out of school. There are many things I want to do around the house. I'm really in a throwing-out mood. I've got so much junk that I don't need. I really want to purge the place and start fresh. The packrat in me won't let me completely purge, though, but I am going to clear things out and try to get some semblance of organization into things.

I'm off to a dance recital in just a few minutes, but I want to spend some time stitching tonight. I'll try to get some pictures of the few things I'm working on and post them later today or tomorrow.

Flower Power update

Here's my latest progress on Flower Power. I didn't unfurl all of the fabric, so it really doesn't look like much right now. I just had to stitch that one columbine, though. The leaves were making me kinda crazy. LOL! I'm going back to leaves, though, when I sit down to watch Top Chef in just a little bit.

Here's a picture of my bad boy Ace, just because I thought he was looking cute the other night when he was sleeping sitting up with his head resting on the back of the couch. He needs to be groomed very badly, but I still think he's a cutie. He's been home with me for about 8 months now, and I've fallen in love with him all over again. He was the busiest puppy I ever saw, and he's still a busy boy. As I write this, he's in the living room barking at his mother and sister for who knows what reason. They're probably both sitting up on the couch looking at him as if to say, "What!? You want us to play with you? We don't think so!" Poor boy!

All the dogs and I watched the Westminster Kennel Club dog show when it was on tv earlier this week. We were rooting for the standard poodle, but unfortunately she didn't win. She's a really beautiful girl; I'd like to see her in person, but I doubt I ever get the chance. I don't imagine she's going to be hitting the dog shows in Southeast Texas any time soon. I have seen the Sussex Spaniel that won in the flesh, though, since his handler lives in Houston and is at many of the shows in this area. The Sussex is a pretty boy, too, and he deserved the win. I'd really like to go to Westminster one day just to say I had been there. Many people say it's one of the worst shows to exhibit at, but I know a lot of people who would give their left arm to have the chance to show a dog there in spite of the crowding, small breed rings, etc.

Watching Westminster and writing about dog shows really makes me miss the whole thing. Well, maybe not the late nights grooming, but I really do enjoy going to the dog show. I don't have anyone who can go in the show ring right now, but maybe one day I will have a show prospect again. I feel bad saying that my youngest two aren't "show dogs," but they're really not. Ace has been neutered, so he can't be shown in conformation. Emmy is a very pretty little thing, but she's too soft, too shy, to be a good show dog. She goes to trembling if more than 3 people look at her. LOL.

Almost time for Top Chef and a little bit of needle time.

Stitching Slump

I've been in a bit of a stitching slump lately and haven't really made any progress on anything. I did get some stitches in on Flower Power last night, but I feel like I'm stuck in a never-ending loop of leaves. When you look at the pattern, you see all of the pretty flowers. What you don't realize at that point is that for every pretty flower, there must be ten leaves. I'm really getting sick of the color green! LOL.

I picked up some crocheting, thinking it might be the thing to get me moving, but I can't even say that it's doing much for me. I did find a pattern for a rectangular granny afghan (thanks to Mary on the 123 message board), and it seems like it will be a good stitch. I'm very much a novice crocheter, so I have to have simple patterns. This one is, so maybe if I'm successful with it, it will motivate me to try something a little more difficult.

Today, though, I feel like doing some sort of needlework. I've got the first disk of season two of The Tudors and a couple of other movies, so I may just park in front of the tv and stitch. If I make progress on anything, I'll post later.

Flower Power update

My friend Tara and I got to spend some time stitching tonight. We're both working on Flower Power; it's actually her fault that I decided to stitch it.

Here's a picture of my progress as of tonight. I'm in the midst of a huge bunch of leaves, and I'm finding them to be a bit tedious. I know that once I wade through them, though, that the stitching will become more fun--until I have to do more leaves!

I'm feeling sleepy, so I'll leave more updates for later.