Christmas Barn Dance

revisiting a silly jibjab video i did a few years ago.
it still cracks me up.

1991-2009

Billy, our beautiful kitty and friend. February 1991 to January 2009.

We had to say goodbye to our beloved Billy kitty yesterday afternoon. While we are completely devastated and the duplex does not feel the same, we're at peace that she is not in pain and that it was the right time to say goodbye. Up to the very end, she was the bravest and most loving kitty. She had a very bad morning yesterday and hadn't slept very well or eat much in the past 24 hours. We decided to make the painful call to the vet. And as we teary eyed got ready to put her in the pet carrier, expecting to have to struggle to put her in, because as any pet owner knows, they do not like to go into those things. But all we had to do was open the door and all on her own she stood up and walked right in and laid down. It was like she knew that it was her time and she was ready to go. And when we were at the vet in the little examination room, saying our final goodbyes, petting her, and her still rubbing her cheek against our hands, when the vet came back into the room, Billy 'told' us that she was ready to go, simply by turning around in the carrier and facing away from us. To us, it was her way of telling us, "yes, now is the right time to let me go. I'm ready, and you are making the right decision." Our brave little kitty, still showing us how much she loves us to the very end. She was just such a good kitty. We were lucky to have her in our lives.

photo from 2004.
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oh nine

Crikey, is it really the beginning of another year? I don't even know where the past week went, much less a whole nother year ~poof~ just vanished.

Almost all day yesterday, the last day of the year, I spent in my PJs. I temporarily threw on some jeans around noon to get lunch, but when I got home, I threw my PJs back on. Then around 8:30pm, I was instant messaging my BFF, and she asked if we had any plans for New Years. I told her nope and explained how the day had be a never-get-out-of-my-PJs day. But as soon as our convo ended, Jimmy asked me "Do you want to go to the city to see the fireworks?" I said "Absolutely!" and jumped through the shower. Within 1/2 an hour, we were headed to BART.

New Years Eve in the city is a driving and parking nightmare. Not to mention having to deal with the lack of sobriety of others. BART was the answer and we were at the Embarcadero by 10:45.

While we were finding a spot that wasn't too crowded, we saw Channel 4 News reporter Holly Juscen.

As the clock ticked closer to midnight, the crowd got louder and louder, but as soon as the last second of 2008 ticked away,the crowd noise couldn't compete with the booming fireworks.

The fireworks were set off on a barge in the Bay. That's the Bay Bridge you see on the right.

It was one of the most fantastic firework shows we've ever seen.

It's the 1st time we've gone into the city to see them. Shame on us. We've lived in the Bay Area for over 15 years and it took us this long to see them.

A few years ago, we saw them from Treasure Island. At the time, we thought we had the absolute best viewing spot. But after seeing them last night, there's absolutely no comparison.

Either that, or they totally amped up their show since then. I think it's a combination of both.

And to get the full sound effects, it makes a huge difference being on the city side of the fireworks, rather than the back side of the fireworks. Whoddah knew?

Afterward, we chatted a while with one of Jimmy's buddies. The crowds already started to thin as we walked past Pier 1 at the Port of San Francisco.

My last shot of the night was of the lingering people along Market Street.

I should mention that the kitty is doing ok. It's been 2 weeks since we got the news about her cancer and she's holding her own. We didn't think she would be with us for more than another week, so each day is a blessing. She's had 3 bad days, but the other days, she is her loving and happy, purring self. However much weaker, more tired and needs help jumping on the furniture. Her strength is low, she barely eats 1/2 a small can of food a day. But did you know they make a milk-like drink supplement for pets, similar to Pediliate or Ensure? She likes that and drinks 2-3 oz every day. And tons of water. Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes.

Happy 2009 Everyone. I wish you all a very peaceful and delightful year.
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Go Elf Yourself.

This is everywhere in the blogisphere but I had to do one too with me, Jimmy and Billy.


Hilarious.

Now go and make one for yourself!
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Interesting.

One of the hardest part of this is that we don't know how much more time we'll have with her. A friend said her beloved dog lived 5 more months after he was diagnosed. She also told me that I will know when it is time. I guess that is comforting. As you can imagine, a big fear is holding on too long and making her live painfully. She's had 18 great years and we hope we've loved her as much as she's loved us. Oddly, she's eating more than she has in a month. Still not a lot, about the same amount of canned, but a lot more chicken. And her spirits seem a bit higher. It's easy to get hopeful. But the vet gave her a shot of B12 and fluids which would increase her appetite and make her feel better. So that's probably the reality of it.

When her partner in crime (my profile pic) died 3 years ago, that was devastating. I'd never felt so much love for a pet as I did for Ted. It happened suddenly and Jimmy and I were both heartbroken. It seemed like Billy missed him for a few months, too. At the time, Billy was much more Jimmy's cat. But since Ted died, Billy has definitely become our cat. She has no preference between us. And my love and attachment to Billy even surpassed how I felt for Ted. Which I never would have thought could be possible, I loved that cat sooo much. But Ted was quirky, shy, smart and skittish. Billy is the complete opposite. She's friendly, laid back, a little bit stupid and dauntless.

Ted died suddenly and I think the emotion of that may have been harder than this is. Billy's spirits are still good and so is her quality of life. At least we have time to love her and be loved by her. Time will tell how much of emotional wreck I'll be. I've mentioned before that I'm not much of an emotional crier anymore. Except when it comes to pets, friends pets, pets on commercials, pets in cartoons...The Lion King gets me every time.

Anyhoo, to the kitty parents out there, what kind of wet/canned cat food do you feed you kitties? Billy's always been a dry food eater, but since she stopped eating dry, I'm perplexed with the type to buy her. What brand do you and your kitties prefer? And if you buy the bigger cans, what do you do to keep the rest of it 'fresh' for the next meal?

all old photos
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Sad.

Billy, my kitty, who is suppose to turn 18 in February, who joined our family 3 months after we got married, had to go to the vet today. The vet found at least 4 tumors in her chest, additionally she has stomach and/or intestinal cancer. She normally weighs 11-12 pounds and has a pretty big body structure, but she's down to 7.5 pounds and is emaciated. Unfortunately, it's terminal, but the vet said we don't have to put her down immediately. Which is good that it gives us some more time to love her and spoil her even more. We need to pay close attention to her discomfort level and how much she's eating. Which isn't much now - she doesn't even finish 1 small can of cat food a day. But she will eat cooked chicken a couple of times a day and the vet said it's ok to feed her as much chicken she will eat and keep down. But it's hard to tell how uncomfortable she is. She's the most laid back kitty, nothing seems to bother her. She still jumps on the couch and purrs and acts satisfied and happy. But she has been walking more tenderly and slowly than she was just a few weeks ago. I think I have cried more in one day than I have the whole year.
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Not my cat

This is how my cat reacts to that vacuuming robot:which some of you may recall that I blogged about a few years ago here.

Nope, my cat would not curiously sit atop Roomba like that.
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Billy Bad Cat

She's an awesome kitteh. The best we've ever known. She's got an amazing personality. She's a lap kitty. She'll come when you call her. Is very loving and affectionate. She even likes strangers. She sleeps next to my head and at Jimmy's feet. She's healthy. Always uses the litter box (not some corner of the house...you pet owners know what i mean). Never gets an attitude with us even when we torture her and is just well, a very happy cat. She's 17 years old and it's my duty to spoil her for the rest of her days.
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7 of 7: Fursday

It's 10pm, on my last self-imposed daily photo challenge and I have nothing. What's a girl to do?
Torture her cat, you say?
Well, if you insist.

Here she is, minding her own business. Interrupting my business sitting in front of my keyboard making it impossible for me to work.

But she doesn't want her photo taken so she leaves. On her way off the desk, she encounters Mr. Gnome.
Of course, she has to sniff him before she leaps off. "Insignificant creature", she thinks.

I can't leave well enough alone.

Mr. Gnome needs his new friend. Desires her. Finds her and pounces.
She thinks he's moving waay to fast in this relationship.

"Get Off Me You Cad."
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2 of 7: Saturday's photos

Saturday is Caturday. She demands all attention on her. I know...I need to swiffer my floors.

But crafting day at a friends is higher priority.
Here are the 4 projects we did today. Two hand stamped cards, a stamped transparency mini-album and a LOVE accordion banner.
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See you in a few days

Bye kittykat.I'll be home on Thursday. Just remember to meow real loud directly into Jimmy's ear and step on his face and swish your tail on his nose every morning so he won't forget to feed you and water you. If you're real good I'll give you a treat when I get home.
Love, mom
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She's a fancy cat

with her pearl necklace.
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The Mystery of the Upside Down Christmas Tree Revealed

Like it was a big secret. All I did was google "upside down Christmas tree".

Wikipedia says:
Artificial upside down Christmas trees were first used by retailers in order to better display ornaments, and place more gifts underneath the trees. When customers became interested in purchasing the trees, they were sold to retailers for resale. Their popularity is due in large part to their unconventional appearance, the way Christmas ornaments are more prominantly displayed, and for the space that is created for gifts and other Christmas decorations.

Want one? It'll set you back $600.

Kitty resting at the hideaway. She is one furry beast!

Home!!

Hurray, we're back home in the Bay Area!!

I love our little hideaway, but that was a long time to be there without anyone else to play with. It confirmed my original notion that we can't live up there full-time. Thankfully, Jimmy agrees with me because there isn't any hockey nearby. He's much more of a homebody than I am; I like having my creature comforts within 10 minutes, like Trader Joes, good restaurants and fast internet connection. Went into town twice, but aside from that, stayed fireside - at the hearth of the home, so they say. I should have brought some projects to work on while we were there, but I counted on reading a lot instead. Trouble is, I'm a challenged reader. I'm s.l.o.w and have to concentrate hard on everything I read, even magazines. So could only read about 20 minutes then my mind would wander and I'd have to move onto something else...usually Sudoku puzzles. Eek, I can't tell you how many of those damn puzzles I did. Thing is, I don't even really like doing them, per se. But I can't stop doing them and I'm not quite sure why. But since I've done so many of them, they're pretty brainless and quick to do so when I need something to do during commercials (no TiVo at the hideaway) or when Jimmy's watching football, I'll pick up my Sudoku and mindlessly do a puzzle. So, all those books I brought with me...I read a little tiny bit of all of them, but it was quite literally a t.i.n.y bit.

Aside from the drive, Billy the cat did fairly well up there. There were a few times when it seemed like she was wandering around looking for her familiar stuff. But she seemed very happy and content being with us. However, we're not sure if the drive warranted the comfort of being with us. But it's doubtful that we'll go up for a whole week again anytime soon. She's fine alone for 2-3 days. And if we stay for a few days longer, we suspect she'd prefer visits from her Auntie Phin rather than endure that long drive again. :-)

Blazing

I try not to complain about the heat. Growing up in the Mojave Desert, 112 degree summer days weren't unusual. But I haven't lived in the desert for over 18 years. And today was uncomfortably hot. Broke all kinds of record highs in the bay area.
We spent the day at my inlaws. Happily, they have air conditioning. But we kept thinking about our poor kitty left behind in our sweltering little duplex. This is what she looked like when we got home at 8pm. Poor thing, trying to keep cool on the wood floors. It was over 90 degrees and muggy as hell in here.
That's downtown San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley. A very hazy day.

I know everyone in the country/world is suffering from the heat. Our humidity usually stays below 40% so I still feel pretty fortunate.

How hot is it where you are?

Cat Not Included

The funny thing about purses...they're mysterious and oh so very personal. Or so we think. Unless she's your very best friend, you don't go rifling thru a gal's purse. But I was visiting Jodi101's blog and she shared her contents and...well...ya know how these things go...next thing I knew I emptied my purse on the floor (thus the curious cat) and shared the contents of mine. I thought I'd have to fight the urge to clean up or hide anything strange, but obviously I'm not that strange aside from the 3 packs of tart candies.

So, here's my bag. My coveted Fake Spade gifted to me from my ex-boss. Most of the time I'll fess up that it's fake, but if a stranger happens to say "nice purse" and I don't feel like going thru all the explanations so I'll just say "thanks". But like I said here, I don't discriminate against cheap/expensive purses. Love 'em all.

I really should set up a Flickr account so I could easily tag each item with notes. But I don't so inside my bag I have:
-40% off coupons for misc. craft stores
-Costco receipt, coupon for cheese, Macy's card (not in wallet), 2 pens
-hands-free cell phone thingy
-1 styrofoam peanut (how'd that get in there??)
-coins found at the bottom of my purse and empty change purse
-flowered notebook
-Cell phone and wallet
-business card for Chelokababi - Persian restaurant...delicious!!!
-lotion
-allergy pills
-3 packs of tart candies. The 2 rolls of Spree need to go into the glove compartment of my car. They're our usual "Car Candy" and for some reason, whenever you're feeling a wee bit drowsy at the wheel, chew on one of these and amazingly, you'll feel refreshed! Phin just gave me the package of mini shock-tarts on Friday.

BTW, this purse is bigger than it seems. I could probably fit the cat in there. I've fit my digital SLR in there a couple of times, books, magazines, bottles of water, sandwiches. My cousin referred to hers as "luggage". Another friend complained about back trouble after carrying hers for a few months. The trouble w/ big purses though is they fill up. And I can never find my cell phone because it's always under everything else. 

xbox 360

I donno who was more excited about it...
the cat

or Jimmy

who rearranged the furniture so he could have a better view for gaming.

(ok...i admit, i've played a few hours on it, too)

Yawn

She thinks blogging is a snooze-fest.
submitted to: Moody Monday: Boring

Studio Friday: Robot

I'm a little late in my Studio Friday submission...but I love this week's theme: Robot. I've posted these pics quite recently but since this theme came up, decided that I had to re-post them.

Roomba cleans while I create:
and...

I made this fun robot a few weeks ago for Illustration Friday. I love him! He's one of my favorite creations. My programmer husband helped me with the code for the background text/numbers. It actually means something...can you figure it out?
submitted to Studio Friday: Robot