November approaches

Hard to believe!

My excitement of the week (kinda sad) is my new vacuum. I am sick and tired of vacuuming, turning around and thinking, "didn't I just vacuum???" Or of cleaning out fur from my keyboard! So, I got myself a Dyson today, the one that's specifically for pet owners. I nearly filled the canister with fur and very fine god-knows-what (dander, probably) just on the first area rug. Yay!

Other tidbits. Someone must have hit my back fence from the other side (other side is a parking area for lawyers) -- I was shocked to see several board pried loose and bits of wood splintered about. Dang it.

Last night was a nice spooky pre-Halloween evening. I fed my neighbor's kitty around 10pm, then Molly proceeded to completely freak out when she smelled said kitty on me. Not just freak out, but be terrified. Growling at Fiona, slinking as close to the ground as possible, hackles raised, etc. Washed off all traces of the kitty, but to no avail. Now Fiona's acting oddly too. And, I'm noting odd sounds outside. No way am I going to go outside to check things out -- it's approaching midnight, nearly full moon, etc. Then, to make life more interesting, I'm jerked awake by what sounded like a series of gunshots, probably around 1 am. And an odd smell coming from outside (window fan). Either homeless person or a satyr or maybe mountain lion. Or maybe a monster -- didn't think of that until just now ... great. Forget sleeping for the next hour. My cats are freaking out even more. Calm down kitties, finally decide if I'm going to be killed, it may as well be in my sleep, kitties crawl under the covers as quickly as possible, and didn't wake up again until this morning. I haven't really investigated things outside, being wrapped up in cleaning and vacuuming.

The other big news is getting back into gardening. Those who know me well know how much I love it, but I haven't really done any for several years. First, because all of my work was destroyed as work was being done on the house that I used to live in, then because I was in an apartment, now because of how my back yard is repeatedly trashed by workers (broken fences, tree trimming, etc.). So, I got myself "ingredients" for two hanging planters for the front yard, all of which are outside, waiting for me to have fun tomorrow morning. Yay! Can't wait!

p.s., Molly's back to her old self, kind of (vacuum today didn't help). She just brought me a toy to play fetch with her.

Georgeous Autumn Day

Clean fireplace and chimney
Full birdfeeders
Happy birds
Happy cats
Crockpot of lima bean and ham hock soup
Roasted sweet potatoes and garnet yams with garlic and thyme
Ripping audiobooks and converting to audible book files for iPod
Studying
Chores
Cleaning gutters and raking

Life is simple this weekend, and good!

Nuthin' much

Things are pretty quiet over here, just relentlessly busy. But good news! This is my last week of two jobs!!! It's officially over next Monday, but I'm taking that day off to study for my midterm.

Did VERY little this weekend, but I do feel like I've caught up on my sleep. Made a killer tabouleh. To wean myself from working, I got the new Legend of Zelda game, Phantom Hourglass, which is great fun (remember I'm not just a geek, I'm a 40+ female geek who loves videogames). And it worked. Still working my way through my DVR backlog, with the following comments:

• Love love love love love Pushing Daisies. Can't recommend it highly enough. Fell in love as soon as the narrator started (diehard audiobook fans will recognize him immediately: Jim Dale is considered the creme de la creme of narrators).
  
• Watched World Trade Center, then immediately tried to find a comedy to watch. It seems important to me to remember and understand 9/11, not only because it changed everything for everyone, but also because I think we tend to forget that individual lives were affected so significantly. I cannot imagine what it was like to actually be in New York that day, but I'll probably never forget that day and its impact on me. And I hope we never have to experience an event of such magnitude again (though I suspect we will...).
• Heroes continues to deliver.
• Finally finished watching all episodes of Carnivale, which I loved, and think it's such a shame that it didn't make it past two seasons. I would have loved to see it play out.

Changing the subject completely, I'm having some problems with Fiona, my older kitty. I adopted her when she was 1.5 yrs or so, living on the streets, sick as a dog (sorry for the expression, Feefs), recently nursing kittens. I honestly didn't think she was going to live once I got her home, that's how sick she was. All along, she's been VERY VERY needy for affection and attention, and has limitless love to give. Only problem is ... I like cats because they don't need constant attention. And I don't deal well with neediness. So, we're driving each other crazy right now. Now Molly's feeling left out, because Fiona is constantly on top of me. I've had a reprieve this evening -- she's very happy on a new blanket in the living room.

So, last week--I hope--of 14+ hour days. Two months of that is too much for me, let alone anyone.