Cat updates, summertime, and pre-vacation news...
Now that I have three cats in the house, I also have three litterboxes and three cat-trees. I guess that figures. I think Pippa and Esme have mostly been doing okay, although Esme's company is making Pippa more nocturnal than she was. Sometimes I'll stack their toys all in one place before bed and wake up to find them scattered to the four corners of the house.
In other cat-related news, I did a lot of work this week helping a neighbor just around the corner who's in a similar situation as I was last fall, dealing with a stray mama cat and kittens. Three kittens were born in the crawl-space of the house next-door to Diana, which has been vacant since the tornado. I lent her my catch-release trap and borrowed the same one from the shelter that I used to catch Pippa's kittens. We caught all three of them this week and Diana surrendered them to a cat-rescue group where she knows a few people. Now we just need to catch and fix the mama cat. Diana gave them all Dirty Dancing-themed names: Baby, Mini Baby, Swayze (a grey cat that she thinks is the father), Swazye Jr., and Wendy (for "She's Like the Wind"). I had to roll my eyes at that, especially when that movie has a character named Penny, which is such a darn cute name for a cat or kitten.
My sister has adopted a summer reading theme of survivalist children's books, which I think is a really neat idea. She's found a lot of titles, both well-known and obscure books. Our library recently announced that they're discontinuing CD audiobooks, which upset me so much that I almost broke down and cried! I definitely sent the library system a strongly-worded letter.
We've started making plans in earnest for our vacation, and I'm starting to get pretty excited about it. (And wow, is looking forward to something an unfamiliar feeling.) I still need to download new music onto my USB drive, buy a new digital camera somewhere, print out directions/itinerary, buy snacks for the trip, etc. Two other goals that I'm trying to work on before vacation:
1) Better sleep habits. Nights have been pretty rough over here, and I really have nobody but myself to blame. Lately I've been staying up too late, using my phone in bed, oversleeping in the mornings, and all the other bad sleep habits. I really want to start waking up a little earlier to have time to play with Pippa and Esme before work (but oh, I am so not a morning person). A few nights recently I've laid down in bed and fallen asleep suddenly without changing my clothes or brushing my teeth. Ugh.
2) Strengthening my arches. I've been spreading the toes of my right foot too wide and too much lately. Spreading your toes can be very good for your feet, but I took it too far, and now it's gotten pretty bad. It doesn't hurt while I'm spreading them at all, but some days recently I've just been sitting in my desk at work with my feet not even moving, and the pain in my right foot was intense. I looked up some arch-strengthening exercises that I hope to do daily until vaykay.
In other cat-related news, I did a lot of work this week helping a neighbor just around the corner who's in a similar situation as I was last fall, dealing with a stray mama cat and kittens. Three kittens were born in the crawl-space of the house next-door to Diana, which has been vacant since the tornado. I lent her my catch-release trap and borrowed the same one from the shelter that I used to catch Pippa's kittens. We caught all three of them this week and Diana surrendered them to a cat-rescue group where she knows a few people. Now we just need to catch and fix the mama cat. Diana gave them all Dirty Dancing-themed names: Baby, Mini Baby, Swayze (a grey cat that she thinks is the father), Swazye Jr., and Wendy (for "She's Like the Wind"). I had to roll my eyes at that, especially when that movie has a character named Penny, which is such a darn cute name for a cat or kitten.
My sister has adopted a summer reading theme of survivalist children's books, which I think is a really neat idea. She's found a lot of titles, both well-known and obscure books. Our library recently announced that they're discontinuing CD audiobooks, which upset me so much that I almost broke down and cried! I definitely sent the library system a strongly-worded letter.
We've started making plans in earnest for our vacation, and I'm starting to get pretty excited about it. (And wow, is looking forward to something an unfamiliar feeling.) I still need to download new music onto my USB drive, buy a new digital camera somewhere, print out directions/itinerary, buy snacks for the trip, etc. Two other goals that I'm trying to work on before vacation:
1) Better sleep habits. Nights have been pretty rough over here, and I really have nobody but myself to blame. Lately I've been staying up too late, using my phone in bed, oversleeping in the mornings, and all the other bad sleep habits. I really want to start waking up a little earlier to have time to play with Pippa and Esme before work (but oh, I am so not a morning person). A few nights recently I've laid down in bed and fallen asleep suddenly without changing my clothes or brushing my teeth. Ugh.
2) Strengthening my arches. I've been spreading the toes of my right foot too wide and too much lately. Spreading your toes can be very good for your feet, but I took it too far, and now it's gotten pretty bad. It doesn't hurt while I'm spreading them at all, but some days recently I've just been sitting in my desk at work with my feet not even moving, and the pain in my right foot was intense. I looked up some arch-strengthening exercises that I hope to do daily until vaykay.