Cat Photo Friday!

Yeah! It's Friday! Kitty Photos! It is f'ing freezing here! And this huge house is a big vacuum of draftiness! Woo!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We are going bra shopping. And I'm pretty picky, so it's going to take a while. We might also be receiving our new computer thanks to my superstar sister. She pulled some strings and got through all the red tape and it really made me realize how much clout she has. We also need to get stamping materials for the Valentine's Day stamping party I'm going to next week. I have kind of a creepy idea for Valentine's Day cards - so email me [yummy at elfcakes dot com] your address and I'll mail one to you. ;) We are supposed to bring materials for every one of the ladies to make one card according to each person's design. So everyone gets one of my creepy cards. Hee. It's really not the right crowd to do this. I may modify the design for that night and still make the creepy ones for my friends.

A Vote for Gonzales is a vote for TORTURE

We must all stand together and tell our Congresspeople to oppose the nomination of Gonzales. Remember, a vote for Gonzales is a vote for torture. Plain and simple.

For more information on this torture-defending Asswipe.

To sign your blog up in opposition of his appointment: No to Gonzales

More Snow!

We woke up to about 3 more inches this morning, and it is supposed to snow all day. They are saying up to 6 inches in total. We shall see. The roads were crappy, very slippery and the plows haven't gone through yet. All the local schools are closed today.

Photos

My hubby hanging our new birdfeeder before it started snowing:

Snow waiting for us at the back door:

The bird bath in the backyard:

After I shoved my way down the steps:

The front steps of the house:

Snowscape:

The archway in the front yard, pre-shoveling:

Sculpting the snow. I plan on taking more photos to compare what the wind does to this structure. The winds are gusting about 25+ mph right now:

Sexy hubby using the snow blower. We share a driveway with our neighbors; that is not our car:

Weather Update

Well, we woke up this morning to about 14 inches of powdery snow. I'll post photos shortly. Very frickin' cold outside. It should "warm up" this week and be less of a frozen tundra and more of just winter. Tomorrow should be interesting at work. Now that the jerk is gone, it will be interesting to really see people's reactions.

Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead!

To copy part of the email I wrote to my brother-in-law:

My arch nemesis at work was fired today. Most likely because of me. Or, more like I was the straw that broke the camel's back. Hee hee. Things were positively giddy at work today - pretty much no one liked this guy. At least 4 people came up to me today and said that they would make sure not to get on my bad side. ;) Nice to have a bit of power. I told them to "bring me more chocolate"! Stat!

He thought he was God around there. Shows him.

So, while my hubby's out with "the boys" (i.e., kids from his math department watching pro wrestling), I'm home celebrating with a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir. Woo!

Tomorrow, big snowstorm in the making. Possible blizzard. I promise to post before and after photos for all my West Coast homies. We bought a bird feeder, bird seed and some yummy (if you're a bird) suet for the birdies. I was not tall enough to hang the bird feeder today. And since it was about 1° today when I got home, I soon found myself rushing to get inside before I froze to death. So the feeder is now hanging from the porch until I can convince the hubs to venture outside to hang it from the magnolia tree in our front yard.

1°!!! Take that all you wimpy California people!!! You have no idea!! And to my lovely sister-in-law and husband. < waving hand >It is not as cold as you think it is.< /waving hand > (since they might visit in February and would be completely and utterly unprepared for this kind of insane weather).

Go Patriots! Kick some Steeler Ass. I'll unbreak the comments to see what happens. Not that anyone reads my blog on the weekend...

Coronation of the Asshole

While the jerk (I don't want to write his name because then Google will think I want ads about his party of rethugs) and his cronies are celebrating his ill-begotten inauguration, let's not forget where the more than $40 MILLION could have been spent. All told, with what D.C. is having to spend on security plus the parades, etc., I bet the number is close to $70 MILLION.

26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.

$290: Bonus that could go to each American solider serving in Iraq, if inauguration funds were used for that purpose.

1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.

22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.

For more on the inauguration costs.

UPDATE:

Let's juxtapose some photos here, okay?

From the BBC Website: these children just lost their mother and father when US troops fired into their car.

Not One Damn Dime

Don't forget - tomorrow, Thursday Jan. 20, is Not One Damn Dime Day.

"NOT ONE DAMN DIME DAY

Since our leaders don't have the moral courage to speak out against the war in Iraq, Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America.

On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.

During "Not One Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money, and don't use your credit card. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Nor toll/cab/bus or train ride money exchanges. Not one damn dime for anything for 24 hours."

Personally, I've rescheduled my week so that I don't spend anything tomorrow. Not even at work. No requisitions, no POs, nothing. Make sure you do your part.

In other news - I purposely broke the commenting function. I've been attacked by poker spam and I'm sick of deleting and banning these comments one by one. I need to do the upgrade to the newer Movable Type. I'll fix the commenting function once I upgrade. Sorry for the inconvenience. In the meantime, feel free to email me: yummy at elfcakes dot com.

There is no Crisis

There is so much fear mongering from the Bush administration lately about how Social Security is going to go bankrupt and that we have to FIX IT immediately. This is fraud, plain and simple. It's time to use our power and spread the word. Social Security: there is no crisis.

This sounds a bit Jedi, doesn't it? "These are not the droids you're looking for."

Invaded!

...DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS THIS MORNING....

A BITTERLY COLD AIRMASS HAS INVADED THE REGION. NORTHWEST WINDS BETWEEN 15 AND 25 MPH...COMBINED WITH TEMPERATURES BETWEEN 0 AND 5 ABOVE WILL RESULT IN DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS. WIND CHILL READINGS WILL RANGE FROM 15 TO 24 DEGREES BELOW ZERO THIS
MORNING.

FROSTBITE CAN OCCUR IN MINUTES WITH THESE WIND CHILLS.

---

We woke up yesterday to a frigid house. At first thinking it was just the bitterly cold airmass that is "invading" the region, we then realized that the oil tank may be empty. Which it was. The house was about 42° and dropping. We hadn't added a renter's account to our landlord's oil service and, really?, didn't think we would go through the oil that fast. So, phone calls back and forth and now we have 150 gallons of oil to last us while we set up the renter's account. I hadn't wanted to bother our landlord/friend because she had JUST had a baby. And I figured we had more time. Nope. I bet the kitties are cranking the heat when we are gone.

Bush's Scandal Sheet

Psst, pass it on to everyone you know.

Bush's Scandal Sheet

"Here are 34 scandals from the first four years of George W. Bush's presidency -- every one of them worse than Whitewater."

Joan of Arcadia

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that Friday's 'Joan of Arcadia' had Joan trying out for a ZOMBIE MUSICAL!!! That show was totally made for me. If you aren't watching, you are missing out. I wish I had thought of writing a zombie musical in high school. Or even now. Maybe I still will.

Speaking of zombies because I'm sure they are related even though he didn't watch the show but heard me talking about it: the hubs had a nightmare on Saturday night. Where he was on the submarine (he used to be in the Navy) and everyone started turning into zombies. He thinks it got really scary (beyond the whole zombies chasing him thing) because he had to pee. And it made things in his dream a whole lot more urgent and chaotic.

Finally, Tabitha woke him up to be fed around 5 a.m. and the house was pretty dark. And we have a night light that glows red. In our room. And because he had just had a bad dream, he saw the red light and immediately thought of 'The Exorcist'. And got more than a bit freaked out. But he needed to go downstairs to feed the kitties because once Tabs knows you are awake, she gets pretty insistent, and he tried to wake me up to go down instead. But he didn't tell me he was scared, so I rolled over and mumbled: "no". Poor guy. I was wondering why every light in the house was on when I woke up.

However, I couldn't help kicking myself that I didn't know because I could have scared the shit out of him when he came back upstairs.

Golden Globes

First, more snow tonight. And the Pats beat the Colts! After all the talk about how they were going to lose. Ha!

Anyhoo, I watched the Globes tonight, of course. The things that stuck with me: Ron Howard's head just keeps getting bigger and bigger. What happened to Opie? Teri Hatcher's dress was, um, not the best. I'd love to see Jennifer Garner and Hilary Swank duke it out. Prince is TINY. WTF was Puff Daddy doing there? I don't get all the 'Desperate Housewives' hoopla - I can't really get into that show. I guess the Hollywood Foreign Press loves the ladies - how many times did they give awards to 'Sex and the City'? I love Diane Keaton - but why does she always wear the same thing? And was that a diaper pin holding her collar together? Laura Linney should avoid the shadow eyes and black dress thing. She looks much better in light colors. What was up with Usher and Lisa Marie Presley together to hand out the music awards? Could they have had a stranger pairing? And she looked really odd and very short. She just does not look friendly at all.

What did I miss? It was a little strange that Jack Nicholson wasn't there. He's always there mugging in one of the front tables.

Cracks me up

Whenever I'm feeling down, I just go here.

I can't imagine a single cat thinking that is fun. And how ridiculed would you be if you strolled your cats down the street? The noises that would come out of that stroller would be horrifying.

Anthem

Word up, sisters.

"6) If you weren’t a slut in your early twenties you TOTALLY missed out."

Cat Blog Friday

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Clementines

I'm addicted to clementines.

Sometimes I just get hooked on certain foods and I eat them until I'm sick. Like bing cherries in Spring. Or there was once a black olive fascination that ended very badly.

Guess what I'm addicted to now? Okay, probably stupid question.

Ice and Yuckiness

Well, just when I was thinking that we were going to have a mild winter, we get hit with another ice storm. Luckily it had just started the freezing rain when I left for work. And luckily I now live very close to work (3 miles away). It was very gray out this morning and there was a bit of snow on the ground that was starting to get crusty with the new rain. Our neighbors have kitties who find our little garage tempting. As there is no garage door, we constantly find little footprints up to the garage and all over our car. Since my hubby was in a very snoozy mood this morning, and we really didn't need to snowblow the driveway, I went down the driveway and up the front walk to put salt all over the steps. We don't want the mailman falling on his ass and then suing us, now do we? As I covered the walk with salt, I heard some very insistent wailing. Another kitty was just begging to be let in across the street. It was heartbreaking. Bad kitty parents - you let your cat out in this weather?

To answer K's question: yes, we are starting to feel at home. It hasn't entirely occurred to me yet that this is our new abode. It still feels a little unreal. But I'm getting into a routine and the kitchen is just amazing. Really inspires me to cook. This weekend the plan is to use some wood floor cream and polish the floors a bit. Now that most of the boxes are unpacked and things are pretty settled, it seems like a good time to start things off fresh and sparkling.

One thing that is nice about a house is that you can yell at the top of your lungs and no one will bang on the walls. We've taken to occasionally yelling things like "Woo Hoo!" and "I Love You!", etc. The kitties get startled, but I think they like the adrenaline rush.

I guess this is stream-of-consciousness morning. Otto has become quite the lap kitty. It might be because the house is a bit chilly, but he is a total snuggler at the moment. And he is not a small cat, so there is a lot of paw scritching and purring and turning and settling and getting up and scritching and purring. Very heart warming, actually. It makes the hubby jealous when Otto chooses my lap. The other night, both the kitties were on my lap (I was laying down on the couch) and Otto actually started licking Tabitha. This is new, because it is usually Tabitha who cleans Otto. He has never returned the favor. Her back was to him, so he was licking her neck and head against the grain. When she finally got up, her hair was all spiked up and crazy. My heart almost burst with love for these kitties. We really lucked out with such good cats.

Upgrade

So, things still aren't fixed. I thought it was maybe an IP address thing, but apparently not. So, I'm going to attempt to upgrade my version of MovableType and see if that helps anything.

Apparently I wrote too soon. The IP fix seemed to have worked. And now the comments are working. I'm still going to do the upgrade, so if things get wonky, you'll know why.

Comments

Yes, the comments are broken. I thought I had a quick fix to the spam problem, but I broke it. I'll let you know when things are fixed. Thanks for your patience.

Photos

Well, we got about 6" and a nice coating of ice during Thursday's storm. I left work early once I realized that I have about 3.5 weeks of vacation for next year. And now it's Saturday and we probably have another 4" or so out there. And it has just turned to sleet/freezing rain. Good day to stay home and try to get more boxes unpacked. I first went around the house and cleaned all the window sills and molding. A bit dusty from 5 months of no one living here. I also cleaned more of the kitchen surfaces - I don't think they cleaned once they had everything out of here.

So, without further ado, here are some photos of the new place:

Me, while I was sick. The kitties were being sympathetic. Or, they realized I was radiating heat at this point. Little heat vampires.

My hubby, coming home after running out to get me more tampons. Really. And lightbulbs and coffee. Before the snow really started coming down.

Otto helping the hubs attach the legs to the dining room table.

The front porch (FRONT PORCH!!!) of our new home. Yes, we are only renting, but it is ours for a while. You are looking towards the front door. It's a wrap-around porch.

Otto's footprint in the snow. He only put one foot out and stood there for a second. And then he realized his foot was getting very cold (having never experienced snow) and quickly ran inside. That should stop the incessant "LET ME OUTSIDE!" meows for a while.

The view out the kitchen window.

Viking gas range with 6 (count 'em, 6!) burners.

Viking ovens. 2 of them. The top one is a convection oven. To the left is the enormous Sub Zero refrigerator/freezer.

The pantry. On the other side is a wall of cabinets with glass doors. I've never had so much room for my dishes. I also didn't realize how many dishes I've collected over the years.

Calm Before the Storm

So, big snowstorm predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Anywhere between 4" and 8" of snow along with sleet and freezing rain. Good thing I moved closer to work. Lots of schools have already called in closings tomorrow and it isn't even snowing yet.

My hubby will get to play with the snow blower in the morning. I don't think he's ever used one.

On a side note: if you ever get up before your hubby and he is going to stay home and you are going to go to work? And you've taken a shower and you head back to the bedroom to get dressed? And he's still in bed? And you tell him to cover his head with the blankets so you can turn the light on? This, my friends, is a perfect time to quietly sneak over to the bed and fart under the covers.

I'm Back!

Well, that was quite a week. I got sick, stayed sick, became progessively more sick, and now am finally feeling a bit better. Oh yeah, and we moved in the midst of it. Ugh. Lots of boxes still need to be unpacked because I just didn't feel up to doing it. And I wouldn't let my hubby unpack the kitchen things because, well, because the kitchen is my domain.

The new house is great. I'll have to post photos soon. It's finally sinking in that we are going to be living in this huge place for a while. And the kitties are becoming more used to things as well. They were pretty freaked at first; hiding under the covers whenever the floor creaked. But now they are out and about, barreling down the hallways and up the stairs. If they don't lose weight from this house, then we are obviously feeding them too much. I think this place is about 4 times the size of our apartment. The computer is set up, the living room is almost done, the dining room is almost done.

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a fabulous holiday week. I'll post photos soon.