Nothing-ness

So, it has been a week since I last posted and I've been feeling a bit itchy lately. I want to post something, sadly (or maybe fortunately) not much is going on that is post-worthy.

So how about a short kitty update?

Ashes
The Big Girl has been doing good and bad. Good because she's not getting worse, bad because she's not been eating much the past few days. But she seems to be in good spirits and is very lovey, so that's been good. She's still hanging out in the master bathroom - it's turned into her room that she so graciously allows us to use. We have at least two bowls of food down, water, a heating pad, a kitty cube, litter... And no other kitties are allowed in. Yep, she's a happy Big Girl.

Happy
Alrighty, Happy is finally over her ringworm turned bacterial infection turned little-spot-that-OCD-kitty-kept-licking thing. Finally! It only took almost two cycles of ringworm pills, topical treatments, two antibiotic shots, a steroid shot and lots of time in the cone of shame.

Sammy
Well, we've had Sammy for 3 months now and I think he's adapting really well. Dan and I wonder if his previous family was mean to him because he doesn't always trust hands and he flinches a good bit. He's still obsessively suckling his knuckle when he dances and cuddles, but a few times he's napped while laying on my stomach, so I hold out hope that he'll end up as a decent cuddle kitty - not always having to dance and suckle when cuddled. He and Chloe still don't seem to get along - Chloe stalks him a lot - but there have been no big problems. I've got some cute pictures of him that I need to post and share. Oh, and he's also 20 pounds. He's HUGE!

The Others
Chloe, Gidget, Bitty and Cocoa are all hunky-dory, not actively requiring attention or vet visits. Just getting lots of love and being the wonderful kitties that they are.

Maybe I can get my behind in gear and post some cute kitty pictures (is there any other kind?) up here. And I still need to get a Sammy page going. Ah, so many things to do, so little drive.

Okay, I feel less post-itchy now. Mission accomplished!

A New Look

Alrighty, I've been kind of less than thrilled with the look of my blog lately. So I change it. And boy, what a job it was. The new look is actually based on Google's Minima layout. Which has no pink, so yeah, that wouldn't do.

Dan had to help a little bit, in particular finding where I needed to change the background color for the posts. But once he gave me a refresher on style sheets, I was able to run with it. Two hours later....

I think it looks purty. Whee!

ETA: In the spirit of new and shiny, I even updated some of my other webpages, such as the Main Page, Children, and Books. Mind you, the updates aren't that big and I have lots more to do, but hey, it still counts.

Guess what?

Today, I turn old. Hehe.

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to meeeeeeee
Happy birthday to me!

I actually don't feel like it is my birthday. I think because normally I take the day off and today I didn't. Oh well.

This weekend Dan and I will go to my parents to celebrate Dad's and my birthdays (he's July 22) but other than that (and getting sung to by DH and my parents), no big birthday plans or parties. Should be a nice quiet day.

Which I guess is good because, at 30, can I really stand the excitement?

Kitty-booking

So, Ashes is doing better. She's still eating, though a bit less than when she first started eating. We are still keeping an eye on her because of that. But she's walking a lot easier and has gotten a bit of her pissy back, so that's good. She's still separated from the herd in the master bathroom so we can continue to monitor closely and keep her from getting picked on.

In other news, I did some scrapbooking today.

Our New House

Yep, just a little bit past the date it actually happened - this one is for 2003. But I did a Clark Gardens page (which I didn't take a picture of because I was tired, so no posting) which is from this April, so it's a trade off.

I really need to focus more on the older pages I need to complete - gotta knock those out! Though 2007 only lacks one page now. Nine pages needed for 2006. Ten pages for 2005. And fourteen pages needed from before 2005. And I need to do a Baja California trip book (from 2005) and a Hawaii book from our trip this spring. So many pages to do! Fortunately, I find it kind of exciting, so that's good. Oh, and I have 16 more pages to do for the kitty scrapbook, including a Lion Cut page for the Big Girl. I think I'll get those pictures developed soon so I can do that one.

Very fun!

So True!

Yeah, this guy so owns a cat. Or else he has a camera in our house and sees what goes on every day.

I want!

Okay, I know nothing about this teapot. Someone just posted a picture on a chat board I go to. But I so want one!

KitTEA Pot

Look at the little feet! I love the feet! And the little face! Yeah, it's a rough looking pot, but the roughness is what makes the feet and face so cute!

Not a Scrapbooking Post

Lookie, for the first time in quite a while, I'm putting up a non-scrapbook-related post. This one is a kitty update post. Specifically a Big Girl update.

Ashes was not doing well last week and weekend. After a visit to the vet, some steroids, some IV fluids and some antibiotics, she started eating again yesterday morning. She's still walking around a little drunkenly, but she's no longer falling like she was before, so I'm happy.

I was really expecting her to not last to her vet appointment Monday, but now I'm hoping we'll have lots more time with her!

Winery

Okay, last but not least, our Lightcatcher Winery scrapbook layout.

I had text for it, but I didn't have enough of the color paper I needed, so I couldn't put it in, but I still think it turned out nice.

And that's the last scrapbook page for me today. Well, if you still count today as Saturday, which I am since I haven't been to sleep yet. But I'm about to fix that as soon as I brush my teeth.

Good night!

Road Trip

Got another page done. Woo! Also used the trial version of Cricut Design Studio for this one, too. The next one I'll make though, I probably won't be able use it because, as a trial, I can only use one of the cartridges. So unless I want all my future pages to be with George and Basic Shapes, I'll have to go back to the "normal" Cricut-ing. At least until I buy the Design Studio!

Anyway, here's the page:

Road Trip

I think it turned out fairly awesome, especially considering how much trouble I had with it.

DAVE!

Well, today so far is for my scrapbooking and LOST-watching. Okay, and making rice and eating and Dan getting the new home server set up. But I'm really only posting about the scrapbooking.

I worked on one page for a bit but haven't been able to finish it - I need to get some paper to do that. But then I worked on this page (and had everything I needed to finish it), so ta-da.

Total Money Makeover LIVE!

It's from February when Dan and I saw Dave Ramsey live. Very cool.

Anyway, I played with my Cricut some with it - I downloaded the trial version of the new Cricut Design Studio. OMG, I so need this beastie. It is sooo cool. Seriously. It lets you weld letters together, swivel them, shrink them, enlarge them, slant them, move them, reverse them... it is awesomeness in insect form.

Dan already said that my car windows would be tinted for my birthday if I was a good girl (I told him I thought that was a Santa-related thing, but he insists it applies for birthdays, too) and I'm not willing to trade tinted windows for scrapbooking software, but I still want. So maybe after the windows have been tinted for a bit, I can get the Design Studio just because.

And Even More Scrapping

Okay, three pages in one day, must count me as a scrapin' fool. Yes?

I'm thinking this is my final page for the day. This is the Mudbug Madness page for this year's festival. The pictures, sadly, is not that good. It is hard to see the colors accurately, the stripes on the text looks much better in person, the pictures are dark and you can't see the glitter accents on the text. Other than that, this picture is an exact representation of the page I just completed.

Mudbug Madness

It's kind of busy, but that sort of fits with the overall theme of the festival so I think it works. I'm kinda liking this page.

Even More Scraping

Wow, I'm just a scrapin' fool today, aren't I? Okay, maybe two pages does not equate to a "scrapin' fool", but still, decently productive considering most pages take me an hour or more to do.

This one is Bitty's "Page 2". So now the Bitty section in the Kitty Scrapbook is complete. Only 16 more pages (out of 42) to go before that book is done (assuming we add nor lose any more kitties between now and completion).

Just Plain Cute

Now it is time for dinner (while watching still more of LOST season one), then, if I have the inclination to continue scraping, I will do a Mudbug Madness page.

More Scraping

So, I ran out of adhesive yesterday, so Dan and I stopped by the craft store on the way home from church to pick up some more. Which means I could do more scraping today!

I ended up working on Nibby's "Page Two", which completes his section in the Kitty Scrapbook. Each kitty gets an intro page, a "page 2", and two event- or character- specific pages (Nibby's being Circus Star (balancing) and Don Juan de Nibby (yesterday's)).

Nibby's Page Two:

Cats Leave Pawprints on Your Heart

Cocoa was previously the only one with a completed section, though Gidgie and Bitty are only a "Page Two" away from having their sections complete. I don't have pictures printed out for Gidgie's page, but I do for Bitty's, so that page might be next.

Don Juan de Nibby

Did some scrapbooking, working on a page for the Kitty Scrapbook. Also seems to be continuing the grieving process by doing Nibby-related scrapbooking.

Happy 4th!

For the 4th, Dan and I went and spend the day with my parents in Graham. We went to a pancake breakfast and 4th of July parade but even more important than that, we met Kate!

Convict Katie

She is a doll! And such the puppy! I have this funny little video of her attacking a bush. She's nuts. Sadly, I cannot post the video since the new camera takes only .MOV movies, which I currently can't edit.

We also made home-made ice cream. Yum!

Before the Churning

And boy, that hand churning is tough! I worked hard making the ice cream!

Working Hard!

Okay, okay. So I did just enough churning to say I helped. Dan and Dad did the majority of the churning.

Doing the Real Work

The Other Worker Bees

The Finished Product

The ice cream was soooooo good. We used maraschino cherries and it tasted so much like the snow-cream mom used to make when we lived in North Carolina after a snow. Mmm. So good.

And, of course, you can't have a 4th of July without fireworks. Or, in this case, sparklers.

Oooh, look at the pretty!

Yep, so all in all a very good time.

Wildness in Tea Form

Check out this wild splash of colors:

How gorgeous is this? So colorful! These are the leaves of Special Tea's 772 Green Tea Tropical Cyclone, which is a floral flavored green which seems to be pretty good so far. I'm not sure how good I think it is yet, but I love the look of the loose leaves.