[ Home | All Archives ]

      Wednesday, March 29, 2006


catstuff
09:25 AM - 03/29/2006

The topic: Annie’s home

----------------------------------------------

I had banking to do yesterday (mortgage payment was due) and I had to get to Wal-Mart. Before I'd taken the shower, the phone rang. It was my vet's office, Annie's ashes were in.

After the shower, I put on my Annie teeshirt in her memory (you can see it over at lvdesigns, it has her little nose almost on the camera lens) and picked her up on the way to the bank.  I was okay until I walked out to the car, then I started crying.  She was so little, the box so light. 

I do hope I see her again.

When I got home, the first thing I did was take the box in to Ciara.  I told her what it was.  She sniffed it, then looked at me and gave me a little “meow”, then went back to sleep.

This morning, Ciara came into bed with us where she got about twenty minutes solid of attention from both of us.  She purred and rolled over for belly rubs, then took a nap.  When I was in the kitchen getting Brian’s lunch ready and he was in the family room eating his breakfast of toast and fried eggs, she came in and sat on the counter.  I told her that daddy had eggs, which she’s always enjoyed.  I took out a little plate to him and he cut up a good portion of the yolk and gave it to her.  It took her a little while, but she polished it off.  Then she went into the bathroom for some water, I cleaned out the crock and filled it with fresh water, she drank, then came back and climbed up into the catcam chair, where she’s sleeping soundly right now.

All the kitties are back with us.  The circle is once again complete.


| | Permalink

otherstuff
08:31 AM - 03/29/2006

The topic: What a mess

----------------------------------------------

I can’t believe how horrible the office was.  And I certainly didn’t make matters easier by just dumping all of the cords and cables in one big pile, huh uh.

I started at one end, then worked my way to the other side.  Well, kinda sorta.  I started with the old cat pee rotted file cabinets.  I emptied those out and put some of the paperwork in the oak cabinets, where they should have been all along and the rest in storage boxes.  But I ran out of storage boxes.  I moved on to the file cabinet and got rid of the shelf I had the stereo on and moved the thing Brian made for me years ago that used to house a printer, but had become a half assed storage space for paper for the notecards I make and rarely sell over at lisaviolet designs.  It works nicely and as a bonus, the bottom, where the printer used to be, is now where the officecam is aimed.  The lighting should be more stable now, since it’s not in front of the window.

After I got that area neatened up, I moved Brian’s monitor and computer to the other side of his desk after I got rid of a bunch of old pricing books.  It’s uncommon for him to do pricing here at home because the cats won’t give him a moment’s peace, so he does it at his shop.  The fax machine is back between our desks, the cat’s water fountain that was on the desk is now on the floor.  No more feeding kitty-cats on the desks, so no more left over crunched up kibble.  Nice.   The computer and monitor made it too crowded, so I moved the computer to where the monitor had been with plenty of room to spare. 

Then I moved the copy machine to the empty area under the window and took the folding table that also had the paper storage outside, hosed it, scrubbed it, hosed it again and left it out there to dry.  I wouldn’t be setting it back up on a permanent basis, but I didn’t want to throw it out, either.  I moved the printers back and boy, did it open up the room. 

I still had stacks and stacks of filing to do, piles and piles of tangled up cables and two computers completely down.  Saturday night, I got the Gateway up and running.  I finally quit working back here around 11:15 Saturday night.  I covered the pile of cables and cords that was on the floor with a blanket, to keep them dry from cat pee. 

I got little sleep, got up around 5:30 Sunday morning, came back here and turned on the Gateway (which runs the backyard cam, the office cam and the patiocam).  It wouldn’t boot up all the way.  It would boot so far, then freeze.  I kept shutting it down, then restarting it.  Finally, frustrated, I took a shower, got dressed and headed off for Wal-Mart (again).  I got storage boxed, although they weren’t the kind I wanted, these were more like shipping boxes.  I didn’t realize they were much too big until I got them home.  *sigh*  I did use one and the others are still in the extra room.  I’m sure we’ll have a use for them eventually. 

When I left, I let the Gateway sit in reboot mode.  It still hadn’t loaded up, so I turned it off, the rebooted.  Again.  And this time it finished coming up.  I had to fix the monitor settings and get the patiocam to run, but it’s still working.  It’s back to that thing of not fully loading, which lessens over time.  In a couple of weeks it should be back to normal. At which time I’ll most likely get another hair up my butt and reformat the hard drive, then have to reinstall everything.  I’m a glutton for punishment.

Anyway, I finally got the computers up and running by Monday night.  Then I had to do something with all of the extra cords, cables and switchboxes that never quite seemed to do what I wanted them to do.  I had straightened the closet somewhat, finding all sorts of goodies.  Like the extra desklamp bulb I knew I had (but couldn’t find, so I sat here in the dark for days) and golly gee whiz, look at this, a box full of printer cartridges for my new printer that I never put on the shelf where they belonged.  (Coulda saved some money there, now, couldn’t I have?  See what lazy does?  Lazy costs you money.)

I found an empty plastic container and put them in there.  One day I shall go through them all and use twist ties and label them all.  Maybe some late some night, as I watch television.  Yesterday, I finally shredded the papers that needed shredding that I have been putting in a box for at least six months.  Why I don’t take five minutes and shred them as they come in is beyond me.  And that big stack waiting to be taken care of always annoys the hell out of me.

The office is much nicer now.  A lot more room, not such close quarters.  The computers don’t block the light from the window, the new blinds work nicely and it’s a friendly place to be now.  The cats aren’t thrilled with the changes, but they’ll get used to it.  I still have the files to take care of.  There are a lot of old things in the drawers that need to be taken out and either thrown out or put into storage.  And I really need to wash the cabinets themselves.  Years of minimal cleaning of the cat pee will take a while to overcome, but the Orange Glo is a start.

Looking back at it, it almost seems as if it was a thing of “let’s see how much I can stuff into this room”.  Let me tell you, I think it had almost reached capacity.  I don’t know why I don’t stay on top of things like this.  A clean organized work area is so much more pleasant than a messy, unorganized area. 

Oh, well, baby steps.  It’s working in the pantry and in the linen closet.  No reason why it can’t work in here, too. 

Now, I have a stack of mail about eight inches high that needs to be opened and input, bills need to be paid.  This should have been done last week, but I guess I had something else on my mind.  Maybe I was planning the big clean…..


| | Permalink
All Archives


lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

March 2006
S M T W T F S
      1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31  



SVG Cutting Files at SVGCuts.com


website design by





©lisaviolet 1996-2024
Photographic images are the property of the photographer,and may not be copied, printed, or otherwise reproduced on any other site or used in any other publishing medium without the written permission of each individual photographer and kennel/cattery owner. Cathouse privacy policy.