Beware: The Chibis Have Taken Control!

Didn't actually get around to plugging in my PS2 today, either. This got in my way:

12/26/2010 Warm, cuddly kitten is warm and cuddly. And kinda heavy, actually. (But not as heavy as he looks from this angle, I swear.) ^_^

I mean, really... Who in their right mind could dislodge that? ^_^ So, we've been hanging out on the bed, cuddled up in blankets, drinking some nice, hot tea and reading a book. Not a bad way to spend a cold, snowy day, right? ^_~ Perhaps I'll plug in the PS2 later. Or sew some patches together. Or just stay cuddled up where I am. Especially as the kitten is now cuddled under the blankets. *_* OMGadorable. *_* I love my kitten. Even when he's using me as a space heater. ;D

6:51 PM -- And then there was freshly made quinoa salad with red peppers, sauteed onions, roasted butternut squash and dried cranberries. Oh. And onion soup. And life was even better. *_* *_* Yum...

Well, that's interesting. Apparently... Well. Apparently, the sequel to the Algea is a holiday fic. O_O I... I didn't realize that when I started writing it. *snerts* I've always wanted to write a holiday fic for the holidays... but I can never manage to get it done before Thanksgiving for posting in December. Go NaNo for inspiring me to finally do it! Two writing aspirations with one stone. ^_^

20,803 and still going strong for the day. And in another 203 words, I will officially be caught up and on track again. *snorts* And at the rate this is going, what are the odds that I'll stop at 203? *laughs* Yeah, I didn't think so either.

*idly notes* You know... it's rather hard to type when a kitty butt miraculously sprouts in your face.

^_^

Edit: 4:29 PM... I love my father. I absolutely love him. Deep in the holiday spirit and enjoying the autumn chill, I came over early for dinner with a purpose. And my father let me bully him into making a fire in the fireplace with hardly any effort at all. First fire of the season. *_* Bliss. Now I'm torn between sitting here and staring absently into the flames and actually doing some writing... *chuckles* Decisions, decisions. ^_^

*blissful sigh* So, I thought I'd post a little update for those few of you who actually care about what's going on in my life beyond how many words I've written today. (For the record, that would be zero. :-P I'll see what I can do about that in a little bit. ^_~)

As I'm sure you remember, I went out of work on disability a little more than 7 months ago, now. My bosses decided that they didn't want me back with only partial capabilities and so I've been stuck, unable to go back at all, for all that time. With no income. Naturally, this led to me rapidly blowing through nearly my entire savings. Not. Cool. Regardless of when I did or didn't go back, I was going to need to do something to severely curtail my expenses, the biggest one of which was, of course, my apartment. *sigh* Fortunately, I have a wonderful family. ^_^ My Uncle volunteered to let me live, rent free, on the second floor of his house. That's two rather large sized rooms and a full bathroom all to myself. ^_^ Plus the kitchen downstairs and whatever else of the house I want to use. And since he doesn't really use the front door (which is right in front of the stairs to the second floor), I would even, essentially, have my own entrance.

Sweet deal, right? Of course, I intend to chip in money towards bills and such, but we'll argue out those details later. ^_^ So, my official move date was last Wednesday. And for the record, I must state that the only thing I loathe more than packing is unpacking. O_O It is one monumental pain in the rear -- especially when you're trying to move an entire two bedroom apartment into two rooms and a corner of a kitchen. O_O Not. Cool. *chuckles* Especially when it all has to happen in less than a week because you have company coming. *waves to a msorange21*

*coughs* But, I digress. ^_^ I basically moved myself and my cat into my old room at my parents' (right across the backyard) while doing all the unpacking, so I wouldn't have him underfoot. But, I was determined to have the vast majority of it done by today so we could spend at least one night here to settle in before my company arrives. (BTW, don't worry, msorange21, I'm not gonna make you share a room with him -- I love him, but he's an obnoxious little twit overnight and I wouldn't do that to you. He'll sleep with me while you're here. ^_^ Thus why I needed a break from him for one night first. O_o;;;) So, today I finally got the last of the major unpacking done, finished off my laundry, hooked up the TV and rearranged the furniture to my liking. Gabriel and I then spent a very pleasant evening watching ep. 15 of Glee on my laptop in the "living" room/guest room after setting up the new wireless modem for my Uncle's computer. And now that he's thoroughly settled in, I gave him his night-time treats, tucked him in and retreated to my bedroom, where I am now happily curled up in my papazan chair typing this post.

And for the first time in weeks... I feel like I can breathe. *happy sigh* It's a good damned feeling. ^_^

And that, as they say, is that. *waves* Good night, all! Pleasant dreams. ^_^

*sigh* I want to write something... and I have no idea what. O_O I'm still in DE at a friend's house and -- I never thought I'd say this -- but I'm having trouble writing without a moving target. O_O Who ever thought that not having my cat around trying to mash the keys would produce writing insomnia? *sweatdrop*

I'm not quite in the right frame of mind to write for Hair... but the thought of tackling Chapter 5 of OB is kind of making me cringe. :-P And I don't know what the hell I do want to write. This is annoying.

Meh.

Gonna go to FB and look for more flair. Maybe that'll inspire me. ^_^

OK! Here we go, again. ^_^ Trying to get back on the bandwagon, because I majorly fell off it this week. *sigh* So, I got my rear out of bed early this morning and actually put some stuff together. I made my rice this morning and froze it, as I wasn't going to use it in today's bento. *sweats* Hopefully that'll work out OK... *nervous look*

*cracks knuckles* Here we go!



( And the rest of the pictures behind a cut, to avoid major picspamming. ^_^ )

And there you have it. ^_^ For the calorie count:

Chicken Curry (~6 oz of white meat chicken cutlet and taking a completely wild guess as to how much sauce is in there -- 'cuz I didn't make it... ^_^) -- 210-250 calories
2/3 cup whole wheat couscous, cooked (again a guess -- 1/3 cup uncooked is 220 cal, so I'm guessing this is about right?) -- 220 calories
1 egg tamagoyaki, made with Splenda instead of sugar -- 83 calories
5 Radishes -- 4 calories
1 pear (not pictured -- I figure you all know what a pear looks like ^_^) -- ~96 calories

Total calories: 613-653 calories -- *sweatdrop* OK... So, a little high on the calorie count, today... but I really want the pear, and my fridge is scarily bear of veggies! ;_; Will go shopping tonight, I promise! ^_^

And, finally... I leave you with kitty pictures! O_o;;; Gabriel decided that the laundry just looked like fun this morning... *falls over*

( Because I can, that's why! ^_^ )

So, my aunt and I did a ton of shopping today -- incidentally discovering that there's a Chipotle near here. *_* *_* Happeee! ^_^ *coughs* Anyway, surprise surprise, the bulk of the things that I bought were for Gabriel. *g* Got a kitty fountain, which I have yet to figure out where to place it, a little ball that flashes yellow and green lights when you touch it, one of the circular plastic tracks with a cardboard scratcher in the middle and a ball that runs around the outside track, a feather-on-a-wand toy and a new bed. Needless to say, Gabriel's been thrilled. *g* So, in honor of that and the fact that I have a new camera battery, I give you pictures. Enjoy!

( Happy kitty under the cut! )

So, I finally did what (I believe) was the last of my kitty-shopping yesterday. Well, the last of the stuff I need anyway. ^_^ I have litter box -- the self-cleaning kind (I'll let you know how that works out... -.-;;;) -- litter scoop, litter, mat to go under the litter box (yes I'm a little obsessed with not wrecking the place, whydoyouask?), food, and food bowls. That last is what took me so damned long. Every time I contemplate using something of Lilly's for Gabriel... it makes me wince, just a bit. But mostly, I think I'll be happy to have her "presence", as it were, back in my life. Even if it's only by seeing her kitty furniture again. But for some stupid reason, the thought of using her food bowls for Gabriel made me wince way more than a little bit. As in, every time I thought about it I had to fight off tears. *twitch* Even to the point of having to ignore the two bowls I bought for her when I saw them in Petsmart. *sigh* The logic... it escapes me. So, I bought two new bowls for him. *shrug* Of all the items I could have flubbed over, at least bowls are inexpensive. ^_^ And thus, BTW, the icon. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a nice cat bowl? O_o;;; Most of them are hideous. The ones I got were at least moderately cute. *shrug*

Why is this all so important?

I'm bringing Gabriel home today!!!

*bouncebouncebounce*

^_____^

So, naturally, last night I did not sleep right. *sweatdrop* Because I was excited? Because I was having a last minute case of guilty-nerves? Because it was warm enough that I borderline needed an AC (This last, of course, being most likely -- I don't sleep well when the temp in my room is above 60... and it was 67 when I woke up this morning. :-P ^_^)? I don't know. What I do know is that I was tossing and turning most of the night and even with DST in effect, I woke up before 8 AM. O_o;;; On a day I don't work. But here's the weird thing... I have a touch lamp next to my bed. You touch it, it turns on. You touch it again it gets brighter -- it's a three-setting bulb. ^_^ When I first got the lamp, Lilly figured this out awful quick. *mutters affectionately* Clever little brat. ^_^ She also figured out that if she turned on the lamp to its brightest setting, I would often wake up. She would then proceed to ignore me or demand whatever attention she decided she wanted at 2 AM. O_o;;; Thank goodness, this phase only lasted a week and then she got bored with it.

Why do I bring this up? Well, the first time I woke up this morning (circa 7:30 AM)... the lamp was on. I kid you not. I know I turned it off last night. And it's set on my bedside table so that careless flailing on my part won't turn it on -- I actually have to roll over and reach for it. And in three years of having said lamp, I've never managed to turn it on by accident while sleeping. So, why was it on this morning?

*blinks*

I'm sure there are a thousand logical reasons for how that lamp got switched on last night. I choose to accept none of them. I choose to think Lilly was visiting last night. You see, at every step along the way of this process of getting a new kitty, every time I start getting a massive case of the guilts... she manages to send me a sign that she's still here with me. *watery laugh* I can almost see it now... She's up in Heaven, harassing my grandma to make her yet another pot of chicken soup ^_^, sees me feeling guilty, sighs, thinks, "Why did I have to adopt the one that needs so much extra looking after? Maybe I should warn the new guy about what he's getting himself into...", pauses, snickers, "Nah, it'll be more fun to watch him suffer.", wanders down and turns on my lamp, waits until I wake up, pats me on the head, goes back to grandma to get her chicken soup. ^____^

I could so see that happening. ^_^ *mentally snugs on the Lilly*

*sigh* Ah well. I guess I should finish my prepping before I go pick up the little monster. ^_^ *waves* Ja ne!

*deep breath*

So. Everyone knows I have a new job. Which, for now at least, I love. ^_^ One of the major differences between this job and the old job is that we have in-house kitties. ^_^ They live in the hospital and *coughs* "help" with all the work. ((We won't point out, of course, how unhelpful it is to have a kitty butt square in the middle of the notes you're trying to write...)) Anyway, our grand total of official hospital cats is 8: Chester -- who's 22 years old and still catching mice!, Tessa, Molly, Pieces, Giuseppe, Sybil, Oscar, and a black cat (whose name I don't remember >.<). We also have two kitties who are roughly 6 months old that we are trying to find homes for: Mootie (who I believe is already spoken for) and a little black kitty (who no one can come up with a name for that will stick ^_^). And yes, that is me in the pictures... O_o;;;

So why is this all important? I'll tell you. As you can see from the pictures, the little black kitty has laid claim to the cushy spot that is my chest (:-P) as a favored resting place. I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for another kitty, but I must confess, I'm getting attached to this one. But, as some of you know, I currently live in a "No Pets" apartment. End of story, right? *chuckles* Wrong. I decided to call my landlord and ask the question -- because if I don't ask, the answer is automatically "No", right? So I called, I explained the situation and listened to her hem and haw. Finally I explained that I wasn't expecting an answer right that moment and understood she'd have to talk it over with her husband and brother-in-law (my other two landlords). She said she would and she'd get back to me -- which is Joanne-speak for, "I'm going to forget we had this conversation 2 seconds after we hang up until you call and remind me three weeks from now."

*sigh* Oh well, you can't win if you don't even play the game, right? It's not as if I was expecting her to say yes.

Which brings me to Sunday. I have a shirt that I used to love -- it's pink/melon colored and stripey and looks pretty good on me. It's also, unfortunately, the last shirt that I held my baby girl in. (It's what I was wearing when I took her to be euthanized.) After her death, I wore it 2 or 3 times a week for ~1 month. Then I just stopped. I put it away and haven't taken it out since. Now, maybe it was guilt over contemplating a new kitty, I don't really know, but for some reason I decided to wear that shirt on Sunday. That day my landlord called me back with the following message: "In answer to your question, I talked it over with my husband and brother-in-law and we all agreed... you can have a cat. We wish you the best of luck with him and go ahead and bring him home."

And the next few minutes went like this: *stares at phone* *plays message again* *stares at shirt* *stares upwards* *chokes up and cries a little* I can take a hint, baby girl. Thanks for realizing I needed your blessing. *wobble eyes* ^_^

*wipes eyes* And so, now I just need to find out how I go about the process of taking him home (would like to neuter him first...), kitty-proofing my apartment (Yikes...) and deciding whether or not I want to move Lilly's cat-trees, etc. back in or just buy him new stuff. On the one hand, that stuff is expensive... on the other hand... it was Lilly's. *sigh*

Oh... and finding a name for the little guy. O_o;;; He's been living in the hospital for the last 1 1/2 months and not one name has stuck. -.-;;; I like the name "Rushlight" (from Uhura's Song -- he was a character from a bipedal feline race and he was the clan bard), but I can't figure out how I would nickname that down for everyday use. And I've been rereading the Dark Visions trilogy. My favorite characters is Gabriel (the dark-haired boy on the cover of Book 2) and it occurred to me that "Gabriel" might not be a bad name... But I can just see the discussion with my mother... "Oh..." *disappointed look* "...isn't that a Christian name? Are you sure you want to name him that?" *me twitch*

*coughs* So, if anyone thinks of any ideas, please let me know. ^_^

*snugs on all*

Later!