catiecake.

hand relief

Dear Kittens,

1. I love spring. In spring one day it's hot the next day it's cool. My least favorite thing about spring is how people are constantly commenting on how weird the weather is. Yes. It's sort of like Christmas. it happens like this Every Single Year. Sometimes we get rainy springs, sometimes it's hot and then chilly, sometimes it's just chilly, sometimes it's just hot. In fact! Yesterday in the paper there was a short, but extremely annoying article about how spring weather is weird! An article! In the paper! I admit it made me weep a tiny bit.

2. Another thing that I've been findingly seriously irritating is how people confirm or deny the intensity of global warming based on their current weather. Um. You know. Probably where you live isn't such a great example of global climate change and I'm basing that on the fact that where I live is not a great example of global climate change.

3. A newish thing I am doing is carrying around a small bag (within my purse) with a few very basic art supplies. I've got a tiny notebook, a pen, tiny scissors and a glue stick. I admit that I have not used these things yet, but I LOVE carrying them around and plan to use them pronto.The best part about this bag and supplies is that the bag, the notebook and pen were given to me by a dear, dear friend. She just sent them for no reason and it was something I was already planning on doing. I love that sort of a thing.

4. Here is a short list of TV shows that I'm watching, but should not: Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Men In Trees and probably more that I am just not remembering. I do not know why I stick with shows once they get irritating. It's the same thing with blogs that get irritating. I keep thinking that either the show or blog will suddenly stop being irritating OR I keep coming around because I sort of enjoy being irritated.

5. I am not embarrassed to tell you that yesterday while I ate lunch I watched an episode of Magnum PI. I used to love that show, but I did not remember that Tom Selleck wore such teensy tiny shorts.I mean really teensy tiny. Like they were practically manties (derived from the word "panties", but only for men from Eva.)

6. So my new rule with all this purging and what not is that I have certain amount of space available for my stuff and if my stuff starts to overflow that space, something's gotta go. No more creative storage solutions. As it turns out, this house has PLENTY of storage space. The first thing on my list is to prune down my shoe collection-again. Poor feets. I mean, whose close has space for uncomfortable shoes that you never wear? Or comfortable shoes that you never wear? 

7. I've tried several Croc shoes, but the only ones that really work for me are the flip flops. The rest are just too...Croc-y? The flip flops are perfect, though. Comfortable enough that I can wear them all day and not feel the slightest bit of discomfort.

8. Tomorrow we have the trenchless water main, concrete and paver people coming to give us estimates for doing what they do for us. Part of our fence will be replaced this weekend. And we need to choose paint colors.

Love,
Catie

No Title.

Dear Kittens,

Here is some stuff I want you to know:

1. When I buy brown or black shoes is think of it as a tiny death and or failure. Black and or brown shoes rarely feel inspired. They mostly feel boring. And even though there are plenty of times I wish I had a pair of black Mary Janes, I never by them because FUCK THAT. I will wear my red Mary Janes or I will stay home.

2. Even though it feels really good to get rid of stuff we no longer need or use it's still surprisingly difficult. This weekend of purging was exhausting. An Internet friend recently took 2 weeks in between jobs to completely reorganize his life. Major purging and what not. And I realized that's really the only way to do it. Because once you get on a roll it's much easier to make the hard choices. When you do it little by little it's horrible. Because even though I know I will NEVER use those hot rollers again, part of me wants to fish them out of the donate box and stuff them into the linen closet just in case.

3. Tonight we went out to eat (Andy's BBQ). I am actually not the biggest fan of BBQ even though I can usually find something to eat (pulled pork sandwiches). Tonight I opted for a steak and OH MY GOD. It was so good. The skin on the baked potato was actually crispy, which is something you don't usually find at a restaurant. Plus, it was inexpensive AND I brought half of the steak and the potato home. Hello, Tuesday lunch.

4. I am rereading a book I read many years ago- Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist and I've forgotten many of the stories, which is really sort of wonderful because they feel brand newish/deja vu-ish and I'm enjoying it immensely.

5. I have recently bought a new bathing suit and it is not black or brown like my two previous suits. It is PINK. HOT HOT PINK. HOT. And also PINK. And I cannot wait to use it.

Tired.

Love,
Catie

You have a friend in cheeses

Dear Kittens,

Late last night one of Andy's friends dropped off a simple little trailer that we've used in the past to cart things to the dump. First thing this morning the cats went outside took one look at the trailer and jumped right inside. They've been doing this to all the various contractors that have been coming by, too. If you have a truck and the back is open, my cats will get inside of it. I really hope they don't pee in your truck.

This weekend is the weekend of Super Productivity Special Weekend Lucky. It's where we clean out our garage. We cleaned out our garage last year, but we were silly, silly little pack rats about the whole thing. We optimistically held on to things we (and be "we" I mean "me") were certain we would use again. Like HOT ROLLERS and other bullshitty things that clearly will never in a million years be used again. Well, this time it all goes. Things will be freecycled at the curb, things will be taken to the dump, things will be donated.

I know from walking around my neighborhood that more people have messy garages than neat garages. It's a relief to know this, but I would much rather be one of those neat garage people. Mostly because wouldn't it be great to say, "Andy Anchev, would you please get me the Easter decorations?" And then Andy Anchev would say, "Of course. I know exactly where they are." The goal for today is to not have a beautifully organized garage, but rather to be able to walk in the garage without a bunch of crap falling on you. It's bold, but we're brave.

In other news, a week ago we met with out landscape designers and they are awesome! They came up with a great plan that we both love. It's so exciting to think about our yards being beautiful! We're not doing anything terribly unusual except we are cutting down the big maple tree in our front yard. We both have mixed feelings about losing this tree, but the truth of the matter is, it is simply too large for our yard and it dominates the house. The thing I will miss most about this tree is watching the squirrels. The other not very common thing is we're getting rid of the grass in the back yard. I am not a very big fan of grass. It takes a lot of resources very little payback. We will still have some grass in the front, but in the back we are grass free! Hoorah!

It is time to Party, Kittens.

Good Luck.

Love,
Catie

It was Friday

Dear Kittens,

To be specific, it was DONUT Friday.

1. I had a really lovely day today, which was nice for a change.

2. Petey has had his going outside privelege revoked because of fighting. He got into a fight this morning. He can just go ahead and spend the next week in the house until his sutures come out. Littly fluffy, fighty bastard.

3. This weekend is going to be part fun and part work. I'm looking forward to both because the fun is going to be really fun and the work is really necessary (cleaning out the garage)

Love,
Catie

Goo by, Thursday

Dear Kittens,

My GOD! This week has sucked. I only thought that last week sucked. I hope next week does not suck even more because that would REALLY suck! In three items, here is what you need to know:

1. I love my haircut. It's not that different from my usual cut, but it's different enough that it feels fresh and maybe even a little bit sassy and that makes me happy. What I really love is how nice and chocolatey brown my hair is. Love. Love. Love.

2. This weekend we're meeting with our landscape designer. I'm looking forward to seeing the plans she made for us. Also on the table for discussion this weekend is house colors. This is very vexing. I've never stressed too much over wall paint because you can repaint it and it's not THAT big of a deal. Repainting a house is a much bigger deal. So. I want three different colors. One for the body of the house, one for the trim and one for the windows. I have some vague ideas about what I want, but nothing solid. Also the colors I REALLY want are totally out of the question. I want out house to stand out, but in a good way.

3. Even though Petey still has sutures in the back of his neck, I've been letting him outside so he can run his morning errands. I make him spend most of the day in the house, but he was going crazy with not being allowed to go outside at all. Seamus has been sticking close to home since Petey's been grounded, too. It's depressing for everyone. Just one more week and the sutures come out!   

Love, Catie

shortbread

Dear Kittens,

1. I went a whole year without riding my bike! This weekend I want to get my bike cleaned up and whatever else should be done and start riding it again. My ultimate goal is to ride my bike for all my nearby errands. Honestly, that pretty much means Starbucks, but whatever.

2. I went to Target today to fill Roo's perscription for heart medicine and they made me fill out paperwork for him like he's a person. This annoyed me. The pharmacy girl told me it would take 20 minutes. I returned after 25 minutes and was totally ignored by both pharmacy people. This also annoyed me. It's almost always like that and so I have decided I will start hollering. I understand they are busy and working, but please- acknowledge your customers! So next time I will holler, HELLO! As if I am on a long distance call and it's 1954. The final thing is that the girl who I spoke to earlier then made me tell her my last name and Roo's name. She asked me my name like we had never seen each other before. And of course. OF COURSE, she was holding the bag with Roo's name on it. GAH!

3. Oh boy. It's way past my bedtime. Why am I still up? I'm off to brush my teeth, wash my face, apply my secret potions and then go to sleep! HOORAH.

Love,
Catie

Exhausted

Dear Kittens,

Today has been a DAY. I would like for tomorrow to just be Wednesday.

1. The cat news. Roo has another chronic health condition. This time it's his heart. The vet believes the heart condition was brought on by his hyperthyroidism. We keep his thyroid running a bit high to help manage his kidney failure. Needless to say, it's a delicate balance. I realized today as the vet handed me yet another perscription for Roo that Roo takes more medicine than Andy's 97 year old granny. Anyway- Roo is old and will not last forever, but his number isn't up yet.

Our deal with Roo is as long as life as some goodness to it, we will keep going. If life becomes miserable and or difficult for Roo, we will let him go.

Also- Petey got the drain in his tail out today. Poor Petey has to stay inside and he does not like it. In fact, it's safe to say he HATES it. A large part of his awake hours are spent either looking at the front door or staring out the window.

2. I got a new pair of Dansko sandals today. They're the Sissy model. I would've bought them even if that wasn't their name, but the name made them very easy to buy. They are so comfortable! And cute. And comfortable. I'm thinking about getting at least one more pair because I can already tell this is all I'm going to wear this summer.

3. My level of current tired will only be resolved by sleeping for 8 or 10 days. That seems highly unlikely, so I will just go for sleeping in tomorrow. So right now I am going to my bed with 2 magazines. I will look at them until my eyes are seal themselves shut.

Love,
Catie

Dear Kittens,

One thing that I find unbelievable about San Jose is that there is not a single resaonably priced, GOOD seafood restaurant aournd here. Not a single one! Or at least, not a single one I've tried.

1. I have more cat woes, but I will save them until tomorrow. When hopefully I will know something more than my worries. I will say this, the real thing that sucks about having animals is when they get old. It's just horrible to see your pet age and fall apart.

2. We just bought a new door. It's a dutch door, it's cheery and it's going to be gorgeous. I cannot wait. For my entire life I have wanted a dutch door. Screw eating ice cream for dinner- this is the real good part about being a grown up. Getting the buy the door of your dreams. I can tell you this for sure. As soon as we get this new door I will pretend that I have a shop and people come to my door to buy things.

3. I am the sort of tired that will only be erased by a lot of sleeping followed my chocolate followed my bread and washed down with a gallon of iced tea.

Love,

Catie

Dear Kittens,

Do I dare say that I want to update my blog every day this week? No! I will not say that. I will simply do it and then you will be surprised. And think of how enriched your life will be with daily missives from CatieCake Anchev?

Saturday:

1. Petey had to go to the vet. Poor Petey has a very bad abcess on his tail and it was very swollen and painful. Now his tail is partially shaved, has a drain sutured in and must stay in the house until at least Tuesday. He also had a small lump at the base of his neck. The vet told us that they do not recommend leaving lumps in cats because they tend (80%) to be cancerous. So now Petey is also shaved at the base of his neck/top of his shoulders and has several pokey sutures keeping a rather long and nasty looking incision. There's no getting around that Petey looks like a Frankenstein kitty.

Thankfully, the lump was just a fatty tumor and he gets the annoying drain in his tail out on Tuesday. I'm not sure how long he's going to have to stay inside, but it's going to be rough on all of this. Ever since Petey was a kitty he has been a master at escaping. Just this morning he did a psych double psych on me. The fake out is really his only trick, but he's VERY good at it.

2. We went to San Francisco yesterday to go to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate Danny's birthday. Sadly the ciopino (a San Francisco Italian seafood stew) was not as good as it used to be and we were all disappointed because the ciopino was not as good as it used to be. But at least now we're committed to making our own ciopino. The seafood part is no problem, of course. It's getting the sauce exactly right. Maybe we'll just eat ciopino all week until I get it right.

3. I have very big plans this week. Cooking at home, visits to museums, cleaning!, purging of things! and lots of other things that I either cannot remember or have not thought up yet. But right now I am going to bed. I am exceptionally sleepy and I need to finish my book.

Love,
Catie

Not a favorite week.

Dear Kittens,

This has not been my most favorite week ever in my life.

I will make a list of my woes for you to read. And by woes I mean stuff I think up.

1. I am s sick of magazines and TV shows and websites with their suggestions on how to "go green". The best part about this is that it almost always includes buying something new. My most favorite was when my favorite paper store told me how they were going green by using recycled paper bags in which to put your purchases. Um. Okay?

2. I had a friend date this week and when I got home Andy had put a bundle of tulips in the living room (purple) and in the bedroom (pink). It was such a sweet gesture that I went ahead and had the sex with Andy. I'm hoping we're setting up a sex for pay situation so that I get a lot more presents than I currently do.

3. Our water main broke. We discovered this because our front yard was flooding and water was bubbling up from the ground. If you ever see that- you just instinctively know that it's not good. A super nice plumber came over and fixed the break, but the upshot is that we need a new water main. Yay! Because that giant pile of money we had hanging around? We were getting sick of it.

4. This so called economic down turn is fascinating, too. Apparently, very few people in Silicon Valley know about it. We were just at Santana Row, which is San Jose's fancy pants shopping area. It's all outside and set up to look vaguely European. Shops and restaurants on street level, housing above. It's pretty and some of my favorite stores are located there. With the exception of exactly three restaurants, all the places to eat and drink are pricey, yet the place was packed. People cruising with their expensive motorcycles and cars. And the thing that I remember noticing last summer was all the breast impants. It's like a stripper invasion there. Actually, it felt so horribly LA that I maybe threw up a little. The time to enjoy Santana Row is during the week or when the weather is chilly, otherwise it's a bunch of moronical morons. The point is- people are spending tons of money.

5. I have a Polaroid camera. I also have 2 expired packs of film and 5 unexpired packs of film. Which means I have a lot of photo possibilities in front of me. I want to do a project with this film, I just don't know what. A friend tonight suggested that I offer to take people's photographs for free and I LOVE that idea, except I really want to keep the photographs. Would people let me take their photo and keep the photo? I don't know. Hmmm.

6. It went from being moderately crisp to warm today. I wore a skirt, flip flops, a t shirt and my hair up. It felt so great! I am certain I will not remember this in July and August when I am boiling and going outside means melting, but right this second I was glad for the warm day.

Love,
Catie