Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The Introduction of "Junior" to the World

Here is a photo of the cute kitty. I will take some better ones later. He was startled by the funny noises the camera was making, so it wasn't the best shot. I was looking at pictures of Pooh-bah when he was about the same age and they look so much alike. I got this kitten from the person who owned Pooh-bah's father. I was hoping to have another cat with Pooh-bah's same wonderful personality and handsome looks.

This afternoon, the kitten has been sleeping inside of what we call the "cat tree" or "cat stand", a floor to ceiling scratching structure that my dad made for Pooh and Chloe. Last night I had the kitten on my lap then Chloe got next to him on my lap. She did turn to him and hiss, but we were thrilled at the progress we have seen in just two days.



The kitten is not happy when I put him in the bathroom where his temporary bed, water, food, and cat box is set up. He screams for a good twenty minutes. It is horrible. I just don't think it is safe to have him wandering around the house alone at night. I haven't decided what to do yet. I may be frightening him to be locked up.

I also don't think he is eating enough. I am going to make up a batch of kitten glop tonight after I pick up some yogurt. I used to make it when Pooh-bah and Chloe were kittens and they loved it.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The New Siamese Kitten is Home!

He is such a beautiful little seal point Siamese kitten. His eyes are that bright purpley/blue color. I will take a picture when he is less freaked out. We don't have a name for him yet. I do like Jupiter. After he got lost in the house and we looked frantically under and behind everything. He went behind and under one of the nightstands next to our bed. I didn't want him loose in the house until he was settled in for a few days. I feel pretty bad. I now have him in one of the bathrooms with food, water, and sandbox. I made him a bed in the opened up cat carrier, so he would feel secure inside it, his own personal cave.

Chloe is a bit upset. They both met briefly under the bed and Chloe hissed. That is pretty standard for a cat. They are cats, not humans, and will hiss for a few days until the hierarchy is well understood by the newcomer. I know this, but I am still distraught. My husband and I are pretty stressed by all this and are knocking ourselves out making sure Chloe and "Junior" (his temporary name) are both feeling loved. If you have any advice, please leave a comment, I need some moral support right now.

I remember when Pooh-bah was about the same age that "Junior" is now, which is just over three months old, and Chloe first came to me at six month of age. Pooh-bah had already become accustomed to being the center of my life, then this saucy chocolate point entered the picture, trying to steal his limelight. After a few days, I went looking for them and I saw that they were both curled up in a shoe box together in my closet, I was overjoyed. That was almost 14 years ago.

Here is are photos showing the progress on my two projects: The Halloween pumpkin hat from the Ann Norling Fruit Hat pattern and the Filatura di Crosa cotton blend baby sweater.



Sunday, October 14, 2007

The Cat Hat

I removed the slip covers from our couch to take them to green dry cleaners. I would rather have them off before finding out the hard way that our new kitten has used the couch as a scratching post. In the process I found out the seat cushions need to be repaired because the cotton covering them under the slip covers split. We have always had a heated lap blanket going on the couch for the comfort of the kitties. I think the constant heat desintegrated the thin fabric, so yesterday I bought a heated cat bed at Pet People in Los Gatos to take the place of the blanket. It never gets hot, hot, but the design of the bed is more efficient and cozy. If you are interested, khpet.com, has a variety of other heated pet products. Chloe loves it!



I can't remember who asked to see my Siamese version of the cat hat from Stitch and Bitch, so I took a picture of it and here it is. It was hard to keep a straight face, hence the goofy smile. I don't have much of a chance to use this hat. Where would you wear such a thing?



During my first year of knitting I had a flurry of hat knitting. The first one I made was not very successful because I used the horrible double pointed needles. Never again, I will only knit hats using two circular needles. Once I learned how, it was a breeze. The cat hat in the picture was one of my hat projects that year.

I am knitting myself a Halloween pumpkin hat from my fruit hat pattern by Ann Norling. It is my portable knitting project, everyone need something to knit while waiting for an appointment. We have been so busy this weekend, so I haven't had much time to knit. In addition to the pumpkin hat, I am assembling the pink baby sweater and beginning my next baby sweater project. We planned to get our new kitten today but decided to put it off another two weeks, especially after the couch incident making us both feel pretty overwhelmed. Instead, we concentrated on doing some organizing and kitten-proofing.

Chloe pays no attention to my yarn, but she loves to bat the ends of my bamboo needles while I knit. I wonder if the new kitten will attack my yarn?

Friday, October 5, 2007

A Kitty Update

Good news... we are looking at bringing home a Seal Point Siamese kitten when he twelve weeks old. If all goes right, that will be in a week. I will have a picture any day now that I will post here. We have had a lot of emotional ups and downs. Chloe has been very sad, she yowls a lot, especially at night, so we hold her and comfort her. I hope having a kitten around who looks like Pooh-bah will help her get through this. It might be a little stressful the first week, but I think she will be fine with little "kitten Akerstrom". We are not sure on the name yet...

My brother lost his beloved cat this past spring and has been looking for another black and white kitty. Kiwi was about a year older than Pooh-bah. There is a wonderful woman who rescues cats and finds homes for them. She had a beautiful female black and white bobtail kitty that he was interested in, but someone had adopted her. I have a bag of large cans of cat food I want to give her, since Chloe can't eat a full can of food. I am about to call her in a few minutes to see if I can go over there today.

The artist who was making a memorial stone for Pooh-bah just emailed me a picture of the finished stone. I had bought some lavender-blue Johnny Jump Up flowers to plant around it when the rock arrives next week. I enthusiastically recommend Michael's work at Let's Rock, Cusom Carved Stones. The engraving is done with sandblasting. I am very happy with it; exactly what I wanted!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Lush Cosmetics are Green, Mostly!

If you haven't tried Lush, they make wonderful bath products that are 100% Vegetarian, 74% Vegan, 66% Unpreserved, and 58% Unpackaged.

This is Lush's new bath ballistic, Geo Phyzz Ballistic, only available in the UK at this time. I need to bet me some of these.

Fast-fizzing, mineral bath for an explosively exciting skin treatment in a tub. Our new Geo Phyzz Ballistic is one of the most amazing sensations that Mo’s ever managed to pack into a bath bomb. It’s like the luxury of a spa treatment in a tub, what with its red Hawaiian sea salt, blended with a refreshing, green Ballistic mix. The salt is red because once it’s hand harvested, it gets a coat of mineral rich volcanic clay which gives it an interestingly sweet taste on your food and makes your skin feel better too. With the scent of seaweed, sandalwood and cypress, it’s like bathing in the warm sea as the breeze wafts through the trees on the shoreline.
Check out Lush's terrific video on GreenTV.



Ross Noble has a hilarious comedy routine about Lush: The Fairy Jasmine Story.



I hope you enjoyed that, now go take a bath!

 
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