Milo

He looks a little guilty and a little sad, but really, he wanted me to put the camera down and pet him (which I promptly did after I took this picture).

computer went kablooey

My pc went kablooey last night. I'm on the laptop right now.

I hadn't backed up any of my photos lately (I don't care about the ones of me - I can take more of those) because we've been moving and honestly, the computer has been the last thing on my mind. I feel so stupid right now.

I just want the ones I need printed off my hard drive and then I can throw the stupid thing out the window. I NEED THOSE PHOTOS.

Just ranting, I guess, unless you can help -then I'll love you forever!

Friday's Feast

From fridaysfeast.com

Appetizer
Describe a toy you remember from your childhood.
I'll do better than describe it! I'll show you, too! I've probably had this since the day I was born and he's in MUCH better shape than my Huggy Bear. Meet "Oggie Doggie". He used to play a lullaby, but I wound him up too tight one night. Now he only plays the music if you turn the music knob yourself.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how observant are you?
Definitely a 10, unless I'm seriously lacking sleep. Nobody wants to play Scene It? with me anymore because I remember everything about movies I watch.

Salad
Where would you rather be at this very moment?
Honestly - Connecticut.

Main Course
When was the last time you learned something new?
Having kids - I learn something new every day.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have ____________ but I haven’t ____________.
I have _traveled_ but I haven’t _been further west than Chicago_.

Sure, just give me another reason ....

.... to be addicted to CUTE!



That puppy (an almost 8-week old Pomeranian) is seriously giving my sister's dog a run for his money on the title of Cutest Dog EVER.



Yes, he IS just as soft as he looks and I snorgled him for the longest time (dog allergies be damned!).

Things that go bump in the night....

....or quite possibly during the day when we're not home.

Odd things have been happening around here. Little things that I probably wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't been shown to me.

The first odd thing was that Dave found a cigarette butt on the stairs in the attic. Neither of us smoke or have ever smoked. None of our family members that have been over smoked in our house. That was not there when we moved in or we would have noticed it while moving boxes up there.

I didn't notice it, but Dave pointed it out to me tonight that there is a small cigarette burn next to my desk in my office.

On a very, very odd note, our bathroom nightlight is missing. Now I had my battery charger plugged in to it (it's one of those Glade things with the extra outlet on it) on Friday. It was there Friday night when I took my batteries out of it - I don't remember unplugging it, but the cord was laid neatly on the counter in there tonight. Neither of the kids took it and it is nowhere to be found in the house.

I'm a little freaked out by this - especially the cigarette stuff.

The day NOT to go to the zoo.

Make note of this people, do NOT go to the zoo on Senior Citizens' Day. It took us longer to find a parking place than it took us to drive up to the zoo. We wouldn't have gone today but my grandparents invited the boys and I didn't want to stay home alone, so I tagged along. Once we got in the zoo though, it wasn't too bad. A little slow going, but not too bad. I was able to go off on my own a little because the boys were with my grandparents, so I spent a little time in the greenhouse.









After that I stopped by to visit the FUZZY CHICKEN!! Not everyone will remember the FUZZY CHICKEN, but those who do, love the FUZZY CHICKEN! (he/she is the white one)



Then I got scared by a donkey, but we won't go there and I don't have a picture of it. I spent a tremendous amount of time watching the polar bear, who was doing Elvis impersonations today (lots of lip curling/sneering).





I seriously could have spent all day watching him. He was smart and stayed in the water the entire time. The lions were sleeping, as they always seem to be. If you click on this picture to go to the larger version, you will notice that the male lion is sleeping with his tongue hanging out.



I'm going to skip over to the giraffe, who also was sticking his tongue out today.



Even the evil monkeys that I hate (yes, hate) were sticking their tongues out today. (you have to click on the larger version to see it though)



I had to visit the lorikeets. They're another stop where I could spend all day. That is my grandfather in the picture (he's the one without the feathers).



My favorite part of the day though, were the baby ducks that were walking by the food court! Mason wanted to try to pet them, lol.







That was my day at the zoo. If you want to see the other pictures from today (and other visits to our zoo from last year), you can view my Zoo set on my Flickr page found [HERE].

I'm addicted to cute things!

I have my Milo. Then we got guinea pigs (and then whoops - accidental babies). Then, this furry little guy caught my attention.

No, I'm not talking about my husband.

I'm talking about my hamster, Youssarian (I picked up the name from the Animal Planet show Meerkat Manor).



That picture was taken the day I got him. He does look rather surprised.

He is not the easiest thing to take a picture of, being a wiggly little hamster and all.



I call that one "Please get that camera out of my face?". The Connor says he looks like he's praying.

My most favorite of him though is a recent one (and I had this one printed to put up on my wall, because I think it's just that cute).

In search of - one good Chinese restaurant.

.... on the west side of town.

I mean, I'll drive back to the east side and go to Jade Garden if I have to (and we probably will), but sometimes I get a craving for it and don't want to drive that far, LOL.

We're at 10th and Cascade if that helps anyone.

I've always lived on the east side - it's like moving to a whole new town over here!

House pictures!

The only rooms you won't see are the boys' rooms because they were still asleep when I took these pictures.



Living room - view 1 (that Spiderman poster will NOT be staying there no matter what Pookey thinks).







Living room - view 2







Living room - view 3







Living room and office view from my dining room. I don't like that you can see that speaker wire above the doors.







Dining room (with birthday party stuff on my table).







Part of my kitchen.







Bathroom (obviously). I love that tub.







My bedroom. *bow chicka bow bow*







I think the only thing I'm missing now besides the kids' rooms is my office. I'll work on that one, lol.

Things that scare me. Yes, I have a list.

As I'm sure you've read by now (or heard it directly from me), I am afraid of fireworks.

To that you can add the following:

• balloons. I don't like that they pop - it's a loud, sudden noise thing just like the fireworks. I'm a very skittish person. I also don't like that squeaky eeky noise they make when people's fingers touch them.

• cats. I had a really nasty run-in with a barn cat as a teenager. Pictures of cats are ok, but get me anywhere near one and forget it. I have a scar running the length of my right hand to remind me of that day.
  

• tractor-trailer trucks. They're much, much larger than I am. 'Nuff said.

• refrigerator biscuits. Again, it's the sudden noise thing. I'm not afraid of the biscuits themselves, because they are rather tasty - it's the unopened container that I don't like. If we have these with dinner I will hand Pookey the container and run like the wind. I will NOT be in the same room as him at that time.
  

I never said I was normal.

I think I cursed myself....

....trying to bake brownies in 90 degree heat.

I was sitting there mixing up my brownies when the phone rang. It was my friend Shel - who is coming to spend the day with me tomorrow! I got my brownies poured into the pan ... put into the oven. About 10 minutes goes by -- and THE POWER GOES OUT ON OUR BLOCK.

Kids are freaking out, dog's freaking out, Dave's sitting upstairs in the dark. None of us can remember where we put the flashlight. SO Dave gets the brilliant idea to light up the room with his lightsaber that I bought him for Christmas a couple years ago. It actually worked pretty well. Now all I had to do was to keep the kids from hitting each other (and me) with it.

The timer I had set for my brownies was set on the microwave - which went out when the power went out. I had no idea how long my brownies had been in at this point. About half an hour goes by (which is how long they were to cook for) and I get Dave to get the pan out of the oven with only the lightsaber for light. The brownies are still completely gooey in the center. Aparently, the oven we have is gas - but has an electric starter, or something like that - and it stopped working when the power went out.

That batch of brownies will go in the garbage and I'll make a second batch for the blogger picnic.

We ended up going for a ride in the air conditioned van because it was just too damned hot in this house. The power was on when we got home, thankfully!

OH! Before I forget, while the power was out, I took the dog outside so he could do his business. That's not the interesting part, I promise, LOL. We're standing there next to a tree across the street when some bonehead up a block sets off fireworks. I never expected it. I just about hit the ground. I went running full speed back across the street to the house with the dog flying behind me still attached to his leash and came bursting in the door. The three stooges are sitting there laughing at me because they had heard the fireworks and know my fear of them.

This entry has gone on long enough so I'm going to go up to the a/c in the bedroom and wind down.

my biggest picnic hit

S'mores brownies.

You can taste-test these on Tuesday if you're going to the picnic. Posting this also reminds me that I have to stop somewhere and buy graham crackers. I've probably made about two dozen batches of these since I first got the recipe a couple years back (yes, they're that requested) and this recipe got my 9-year old a blue ribbon at the Erie County 4-H Cook-Off this year (it's an easy recipe - he made them himself with my supervision). The kicker? I've never eaten one of them. I don't like chocolate. *hides*

You will need:

1 family-sized box brownie mix (whatever brand you prefer)
1 "sleeve" plain graham crackers
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups miniature marshmallows


Preheat oven to 350F.

Prepare the brownie mix as directed on the package.

Spray bottom of a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with graham crackers. Pour brownie mix over the top of the crackers; bake as directed on box (about 28 minutes).

When brownies are done, remove the pan from the oven, but don't turn the heat off.

Sprinkle marshmallows and chocolate chips on the top of the brownies. Return the pan to the oven for about 5 minutes to melt the chips a bit and brown the marshmallows.

Cool completely and cut into squares to serve.

mid-week ramblings

Slowly and surely, we're getting settled into the new house.

I almost have my office box-free. Pookey's setting up the living room electronics right now and we'll have a television downstairs again. Bedrooms and the bathroom were the first things to get done. I'm just trying to find places for all my kitchen appliances/gadgets and then the kitchen and dining room are done. We did finally find a washer and dryer that fit downstairs, so I'm really happy about that.

Pictures will follow as soon as everything's completely done, I'm sure.

Before class last night I ran some photos in to the store to be printed. I did ten to start with, so it will be SO nice to have artwork up on the walls. It's so bare here right now. I picked up the photos on my way home and was very pleased with the job them did on them.

I discovered today that I have lilies here!! They're in my back yard instead of the front, but I was so happy to find them there today!! There's also a house around the corner with nothing but lilies in their garden. I could spend hours over there with my camera (but I think they'd start to look at me funny spending all that time out in front of their house). Anyone want to help me with a garden of my own? I'm so clueless when it comes to flowers, lol.

Next weekend is the Connor's birthday. He'll be 8. We're having family over on Friday night (his actual birthday) and then going to the movies with his friends on Saturday afternoon. After that I'll need some recovery, I'm sure, LOL.

I think I'll wrap this up here for now. Anything else you want to know, feel free to ask!

July 2nd

IMG_0874
Originally uploaded by purrfectly_kittenish

I guess that July 2nd is a good day for me to catch the sunset.

I did it last year too on the way back from seeing someone very special to me and caught it last night too.

Nothing more really to say here, not quite awake yet, lol. (Have I mentioned that I love having summers off??)

Anybody order a tired Kitten?

Not an actually kitten (because cats terrify me. seriously.), but ME Kitten.

We're all done cleaning at the old house now and have absolutely no need to go back there.

YAY!

I'm still amazed at the amount of crap we accumulated in the 6 years we were at that house.

Changing subjects here...

I took the following picture this afternoon. I don't know how well you can read it in the small image but it says "Wash Me Moses" and someone took the time to draw a detailed picture of Moses on it.

I think in the time that it took them to do that, they could have just washed the truck, LOL.