Comments (23)

By kilax, April 19, 2009 11:11 am

I need to buy some new swimsuits this year. I haven’t been actively looking yet, but Steven keeps forwarding me emails from swimoutlet.com and I finally clicked on their link today.

And found my dream suit.

Behold, the “Splish Meow“:

What do you think? Buy it? Don’t ever mention it again? I made a little poll below!

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Comments (20)

By kilax, April 11, 2009 6:12 pm

I’ve admitted that we walk our cat, Data, outside on the leash. There was a bit of curiosity about it, so I made a couple of videos to show you!

Data actually walking:

Data stops for a second:

Ha ha. I keep laughing at myself about that second video. I think I am the only one I make laugh. Oh well! I laugh at myself all day long.

Yes, I realize I am strange for taking Data out on the leash. He really likes it though, and this way we can go outside together and I don’t have to worry about him.

Comments (19)

By kilax, March 31, 2009 4:43 am

Data had his teeth cleaning operation yesterday. It went well. They didn’t even have to remove any teeth!

Of course, I worried about him all day. Even after Steven talked to the vet post cleaning, I still felt sad for Data.

I was really anxious to see him when I got home. He was waiting for me at the stairs by the front door, like always. But he was a bit… off. He was a bit… loopy. Can you tell he was loopy by the way his eyes look in the photo below?

Loopy eyed Data.

He kind of kept running into things. We had the dishwasher door open, because the dishes were air drying, and I think he ran into it 20 times.

He went through his nightly routine of “feed me more,” but silently. I think he was too tired to meow. (That was a nice change!)

He was being very cuddly and sweet. Aww.

I haven’t seen his newly cleaned teeth yet, since he hasn’t been opening his mouth to talk. I am anxious to see them! I am imagining them being all sparkly and white. Ha ha.

We have to give him some medicine daily for awhile, and we are going to get a little brush to brush his teeth once a week (ha ha ha, riiiight). I’ll let you know how that all goes…

Where they shaved his leg to give him anesthesia.

Comments (17)

By kilax, March 26, 2009 5:55 pm

My poor little baby Data-Lore has an appointment with the veterinarian on Monday to get his teeth cleaned, and probably some removed.

Who, me?

Yes, you. (My special little kitty who likes to chew on our grocery bags. And has rotten breath.)

I’m kind of freaked out, because he’ll be at the vet ALL DAY. And he has to go under anesthesia. Steven is going to be the one dropping him off and picking him up. I am just not emotionally strong enough to do that – leave him there. I have to look away now when the vet gives him shots. I even had to look away when they took his temperature! I don’t like to see his sad little face.

One time, while working on the cat shelter in Rome, I had to feed a cat with a broken jaw. We put soft food in a little plastic syringe and then would squeeze it into its mouth. Well, I accidentally squeezed it all over the cat’s face, and just starting crying.

So… I suck at stuff like this. I’ll have to keep myself very distracted on Monday so I don’t start to worry about him.

Hey, do real parents, of humans, get annoyed when people call their pets their “babies”? Tell me the truth! Muah ha ha! Because I’ve got to be honest with you, at home, Steven’s “daddy,” I’m “mommy” and Data’s “son” (and on special occasions, “shitbox”).

Comments (19)

By kilax, March 16, 2009 5:11 am

Since I’ve started exercising so much, and not sleeping on the train in the morning, I’ve been having really strange energy peaks.

I get to work energized and refreshed. I feel great until about 3:00, when I usually start to feel a bit tired, dizzy and weak. I have a snack of veggies, hummus and fruit, to try to snap out of it.

If it works, then am pretty pumped the rest of the day. And I mean pumped – my heart is racing. If I don’t nap on the train ride home, my heart doesn’t slow down until late in the evening, sometimes around 11:00 or later. If I nap on the train, I am somewhat doomed. It takes me awhile to snap out of the sleepy fog when I get home, but then my heart starts to race again afterward, and I am still up too late.

If the snack doesn’t work,  I can’t snap out of my fog – I spend the rest of the day in a daze. Whether or not I sleep on the train, it doesn’t  matter – I’m going to be out of it.

This new energy pattern is alarming to me, because I am hitting so many highs and lows. I am fairly steady most of the day, but then my heart really starts to race, and I get anxious and excited and energetic. It feels great to be so energetic, but it doesn’t feel great to come down from it. I am trying to eat balanced meals throughout the day, and drink plenty of water, and am TRYING to get enough sleep, but I don’t know what else to do to normalize my energy levels.

And I doubt I will be sleeping much on the train anymore. I bought myself an HP Mini to use the internet while I ride. Yay! I have been wanting a smaller computer to take on the train for a long time.

Letting Data use the new computer – it’s more “his” size!

Comments (15)

By kilax, February 22, 2009 8:04 am

(See previous versions of Data’s World on the “Photos” page – 1, 2, 3 and 4.)

Data’s been a little sh!tbox since we arrive home from Colorado on Monday.

We walked in the door and he didn’t even say hello. Now, I know this is typical for many cats, but not for Data. He is always purry and happy to see us when we get home (i.e. he wants to be fed).

Since then, he’s been running around like he OWNS the house. Like we just happen to be people who stay here from time to time.

Every night, he waits until I am walking away from him, then he runs up behind me and jumps on my bare legs to bite me.

On Friday night, I was laying in the bed taking photos of Steven’s awesome bruises (that’s just how weird I am), when Data jumped up onto the bed, bit my arm, then grabbed the camera cord with his teeth and ran away with it. I had to laugh, but also wondered what his deal was. And of course, this was after he got in trouble for getting into Steven’s closet and knocking everything down off of his shelves.

And as always, he always wants me to be awake. Besides waking me up early in the morning, he tries to wake me up even if I am taking a nap. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to have the free time to take a nap, but couldn’t enjoy it, because someone (not Steven) was purring and meowing in my ear the whole time.

Conclusion: My neighbors are too nice. They visited Data at least 5 times while we were gone for 4 days. THEY are the ones spoiling him. (Ha ha).

No, really. We always miss Data when we travel and look forward to how sweet he is when we come home (sweet because he misses us so much). But now that people are coming over to take care of him, it’s not such a big deal for him anymore. I am happy our neighbors are generous enough to come over and fed him, play with him, leave us notes about how he was doing.. and leave us cookies too! I just need to understand that he won’t be as sweet when we get home, because he wasn’t as lonely.

And yeah, and probably wouldn’t kill me to play with him a bit more each night so he isn’t runing up after me and attacking  me, in his attempt to play.

Comments (23)

By kilax, February 4, 2009 7:22 am

I’m always drawn to the animal-related stories in the newspaper. I have to read them.

Unfortunately, a lot of them mention abused, mistreated animals, living in squalor conditions.

Once I read something like that, I can’t get it out of my mind, no matter how hard I try. I still think of a program I saw on tv when I was 8 or 10 years old. I am not sure what the program was about – animal abuse, or druggies – but they talked about how these people put their fish in the microwave, and shot up their dog with drugs.

I feel sick just writing that, imagining that.

And those Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercials? Don’t even mention them. I have to mute the tv and look away (Steven can attest to that!).

So, I was happy to see this article in the newspaper today, about a firefighter who saved a mom, son and cat from a fire that destroyed their home.

“A life is a life, no matter whether it’s a person or an animal,” said Chuck Sanow, the firefighter who rescued the cat.

I can tell you, that is a statement I agree with 100%, and I was very happy to see the article on page 3 of the paper.

I know it’s just a fluff, “feel-good,” story, but it worked on me. It did make me feel good. The quote gave me some hope that other people feel the same way.

I even went as far as to cut out the article and put it on my wardrobe at work for inspiration.

*Christina (my sister), I feel like I am channeling Horton!

Comments (17)

By kilax, January 29, 2009 6:06 am

Every morning, Data likes to sit on the back of the toilet in the bathroom and watch Steven blow dry his hair. He’s not looking at Steven, he’s looking at the blow dryer.

This morning, I had to get up earlier than Steven, and Data sat near the sink the whole time, watching me using the hair straightener.

I think he has a hidden desire to become a hair stylist! Data – my advice is to keep watching Steven. He knows what he’s doing. I do not.

Steven and I use the same hairstylist. When she was on maternity leave for 3 months, Steven and I didn’t get our hair cut for 3 months. When she came back, and we went in for an appointment together, she only needed to trim Steven’s hair! She didn’t even charge him for a cut! She raved about how soft and nice his hair was.

Then she got to me.

And cut off about 3 inches. And asked Steven to teach me how to blow dry my hair instead of use the straightener. Apparently the straightener is not supposed to be used every day? I obviously didn’t learn my lesson, but I have cut back quite a bit. I’ll see if she notices when I go in for (hopefully just) a trim on Friday.

Oops, I’ve become a bit sidetracked. I wanted to say, I do realize the only reason Data pays attention to what either of us are doing in the morning is because he hopes to catch our attention and be fed early. But I still appreciate having him there, keeping me company as I get ready at 4:30 in the morning.

That is, until I move on to makeup and he starts attacking the brushes and mascara wand!

Comments (13)

By kilax, January 7, 2009 5:55 pm

I’ve posted a few times about my disdain for my neighbors (here, here, and here… and probably elsewhere), and how I felt it was normal to not know ANY of them.

After yesterday’s post, you might be wondering what my deal is, and if I have any friends at ALL. I do. And ironically, I felt inspired today to write about some of our newest friends – who, also ironically, are neighbors! We met them last spring, and have been hanging out with them and their daughter regularly since then.

I don’t know if I can accurately describe how nice, thoughtful, giving and fun to be around these people are. The husband is charismatic, gregarious, outgoing… he may be the friendliest person I’ve ever met. He’s one of those people that EVERYBODY likes.  The wife is very easygoing, easy to talk to, caring and thoughtful – the type that seems to find happiness in everything. She listens and shows interest – you know I like that.

And their daughter is absolutely adorable. I kind of thought it would be a problem for the five of us to hang out since we don’t have a child as well, but their daughter is so well-behaved and well-spoken that it has never been a problem. She sings and dances and plays with Data while we are having a conversation. She’ll tell you if she needs a nap or is hungry or wants to go to the bathroom.

We went to her third birthday party in the beginning of December. Oh my. They had A LOT of people in their home. A lot of family, a lot of friends, and a lot of kids. It was fun. Their daughter kind of just sat back and watched the other kids play (she’s an observer, until she begins to feel comfortable). At one point, her mother asked her to put away the toys to her kitchen set – plastic food, utensils, plates and so on. She sat diligently on the floor, packing everything into a storage bin, not noticing the other kids dancing and yelling around her. She put the bin away when she was all done then got up and went to another part of the room. Another kid immediately came and dumped everything out on the floor! Then her mother came back and asked her to put everything away, in that sort of voice like, “I already told you once!” She had a little pout on her face, but listened to her mother and put everything away again. Steven and I were just sitting there laughing. We knew she had put it all away once. We told the mom that story last week and she just laughed and laughed. She said, “I wondered why she hadn’t put them away when I first asked!”

Oops, that was kind of a tangent.

I get really excited when I tell people about our “neighbors,” because I think they are so awesome. Besides inviting us over all the time, feeding us, entertaining us, etc. (which we do the same), they’ve really helped us out a lot. I needed to find a church in the neighborhood, and they knew of one. I didn’t know where to go to vote and they gave me general directions. I wasn’t sure about taking the job with the federal government and they encouraged me, supported me and followed up with me – calling to ask my decision, congratulating me, asking how I like it so far, etc.

We’ve asked them to watch over Data the past two weekends while we were out of town. Both times, they came over everyday, sometimes twice! They leave a detailed list of when they were there, how much Data ate, if he went poo, if he had a treat, if he seemed happy… Steven and I think they do a better job recording him than the shelter does when we board him!

A family emergency came up and Steven and I have to travel again. Another four days away from home. I hated asking them to watch Data again, but I don’t like leaving him alone for that many days. I start to feel really guilty.

Well, you can probably guess, our neighbor was more than excited to watch Data. He said, “I wish I could watch Data every weekend!” Then he started to tell me about how cute Data is, how he is there when he opens the door and follows him around the house, purring.

I apologized for asking him to watch him, yet again, but he started telling me how he feels like we do so much for him and his family, and his is more than happy to return the favor. “We’re neighbors afterall!”

We are. I just never realized what that meant!

Comments (18)

By kilax, December 8, 2008 10:41 pm

Since he couldn’t help paint… he found something else to do.

The medicine cabinet was a little surprise from Steven. I didn’t know we were going to put one in. Now I have a space for all of my nail polish, and makeup… with room for expansion! It’s nice to have everything in the cabinet, off the counter.

Yes, I did just write a post about my cat and a medicine cabinet. Ugh.

We’re finally done working in the bathroom – painting, caulking, installing new hardware, touching up a ton of mistakes, cleaning… I am DONE DONE DONE with this project. For now. I’ll go shopping for the new shower curtain and towels, but that’s it. I need a break. I want some free time. And I am sure Steven does too, since he is doing a lot more work than I am.