Ooh, my xmas gift...

well, one of my gifts. From Bridget. It's new [or just new to me since I didn't know about it]. Not the best pic, but it's Jitterbug merino by Colinette. The color is "bright charcoal." Not sure what I'm going to make with it. Maybe dragon socks from Keyboard Biologist?

Loved the pattern when I did it for my sock pal at the LYS. She & Jason also got me a GC to KnitPicks, which I'm trying to think about things to spend on!! And a gift card for a homemade dinner. Jason cooks a wicked chicken piccata.

Other cool gifts: silver lariat heart necklace from Tiffany's. Score! The heart style matches earrings & a bracelet I have already.

I also got a new alarm clock. Cherry knocked mine off the nightstand awhile back--it ended up kinda mangled. Then when we lost power, the generator had small burts of power surge that caused the clock to run about 20-60min ahead. One morning during the 7 days without power, I woke up 1.5hrs early. Not good. Anyway, the new clock has time zones, and it sets automatically! How cool. You just plug it in and the time is correct!!! Rockin.

Other score gift--gift card to my favorite spa. 2 gift cards to be exact. And some spa-ish candles. You know--candles that make your house/room smell relaxing like the spa. Love it! I have the best-est husband!

Snow, Rain, Wind & Thing

Oswego, NY from 2004 when we lived in Syracuse. New meaning of "white Christmas."

Anyway, there hadn't been any Miss Thing updates b/c I haven't had power or internet for the past 7 days. There was a huge wind storm that came through Seattle last Thursday evening & knocked out power. Trees down everywhere & initially some 1,000,000 people without power! No damage to our home, but we did lose a pretty big limb off the fruit plum tree. Lots of tree-litter everywhere & a house at the end of the street lost a *huge* pine that tore down all the power lines. Yes, we were lucky no one was hurt & all the critters are safe... However, major pain & lots of people aren't supposed to have power back well into next week. I've lived on the east coast, upstate NY, through hurricanes in FL & even blizzards in the midwest [yes, we also lived in Denver] and the response from the power company has been laughable. The whole hill up to our street had power back on Tuesday--but they didn't feel like coming back to finish the job until today. Don't even get me started...

Anyway, Miss Thing is doing well. She's up & around & moving, though still a bit wobbly on the back end. She does tip over easily. Her tail flicks in quite a sassy way & she looks at you with indignation many times! So back to her old self. Pictures this weekend I promise! Last December she cost me $2500...this December, it was $890. I'm pretty convinced now that she'll live to be 100yrs.

I made a hat for a secret pal @ my work gift exchange. It was the Odessa hat [sans beads] from Grumperina. Totally cute in a cream colored Rowan Cashsoft 4-Ply! I have some khaki colored Rowan Cashsoft DK left from another project that I beaded & will get to work on for another gift...

Weekend Thing Update...

[photo of the cats, sans Molly, in Arlington... bottom = Tommy, red & white Persian; Chloe, red flame Himilayan; Felix, black cat; Miss Thing, Siamese mix]

Miss Thing seems to be doing better as of Friday. She had xrays taken, as well as some serious IV fluids & pain meds. In short, it looks like she may have had some fluid or cartilege stuff between the vertebrae near her 13 rib blow out--which *may* have caused some serious pain. Not really sure since we can't ask her. Good news too was that she used the litter box overnight, which means that all the bits & pieces work ok! Anyway, it also looks like she has a fair amount of scar tissue on her spine resulting from a very active kitten-hood [which is believable since she was a freakin' gymnast as a child]. We visited yesterday morning & she seemed a bit responsive/happy to see us. She purred & swatted my fingers when I moved them under the covers. She did get tired easily though--so she'll be staying at the vet over the weekend & they're going to try & wean her off some of the pain meds to see how she starts moving. The vet likened it to an extreme athlete who threw out his back. Maybe with some rest & relaxation, she'll recover ok. It's just wait-n-see until Monday at this point. I forget how tough she is.

Miss Thing...

relaxing on the top of the cat post when we lived in Arlington. The apartment had a wonderful view of the Washington Monument and other DC landmarks, including the Pentagon, Kennedy Center, etc. She would sit and bake in the sun all day... This was taken in 1999 when she was about 7yrs old.

Now, she's getting ready to turn 14yrs. Last year, she survived a dislocated jaw & perforated liver, among other injuries, after 4 of my greyhounds attacked her for no reason on 12/12/05. She's been healthier & stronger than ever. She's actually always been a tough, sassy cat! The occassional flare-up of crystals in her urine, but generally healthy. Until this morning. Because of what happened w/the dogs, she now lives, quite comfortably & happily, in the guest bathroom. I went into the bathroom to clean up, re-fill foot & water & generally visit with her. Instead, I found her balled up at the bottom of her cat post not moving. She didn't even mew. I tried to pick her up but she refused. On closer inspection, her back-end just collapsed from under her!

So, now, she's at the vet getting some IV fluids & pain meds. We think she may have fallen when trying to jump on the counter [poor whisker/paw coordination at her age maybe?] and hurt herself. It's actually not the first time, since a few years ago, we noticed her lower front teeth missing! She has/had a habit of sleeping on her head right on the very edge of her cat post--and we assume she subsequently fell off, knocking her teeth out! Anyway...

I hope when we go see her tomorrow, she's doing better and it was just a simple little accident. I'm not ready for her to go yet. I feel like she had a 2nd chance after last December--and was convinced she'd live to be 90yrs old. She's been there for everything in my life since I was 20yrs old. I'm not ready yet...