But I suck at captions.
That’s why this site has me grinning from ear to ear. Good pictures, great captions.
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Thursday, February 01, 2007
catstuff
12:09 PM - 02/01/2007
The topic: Okay, I like cat pictures
----------------------------------------------Saturday, February 03, 2007
otherstuff
10:08 AM - 02/03/2007
The topic: Cleaning up computers
----------------------------------------------Brian's computer has been pretty sluggish for months. I don't know what the problem was, it would run quicker after running Crap Cleaner, but when you realize that all that’s on that computer is the weather station, the catcam and Brian’s photos and internet stuff, it shouldn’t run so poorly.
One of the problems, I’m sure is Norton Antivirus. I may have mentioned this before, but I don’t like Norton at all. I’ve run Trend Micro’s PCCillan for years on my computers, but Brian’s came with Norton and it was just easier to leave it. But I’d decided that the last Norton subscription renewal would indeed be the last. When it ran out, I fully expected to uninstall all of Norton and install PCCillan. As luck would have it, the last time I renewed PCCillan for my computer, it can now be installed on three systems for the price of one. I’ve already installed it on the laptop and my desktop, the last computer to do was Brian’s.
Well, he started getting these popups telling him that it was almost time to renew Norton and I figured ‘what the hell’ and thought it shouldn’t take all that long to reformat his computer, get rid of all of the bloat on it and set it back up. I figured a couple of hours, tops. I started around noon yesterday.
I finished at 12:30 last night. Well, I actually finished this morning, I had to reinstall a couple of programs. And I’m not sure if he’s got audio. I’ll check that later, but it’s not a real big deal. See, I couldn’t find the drivers disk. *sigh* So, I downloaded as many as I could find from the Dell website.
I did find out that if you want to reformat the hard drive with Windows, you need to do this when you start up the computer with the CD in the CD drive. You cannot reformat a hard drive that you started after Windows has loaded up, from the “run” box. *lol* I know this for a fact because I tried it yesterday.
Twice.
I did have a very, very scary moment. Have you ever seen the movie “Maverick” with Mel Gibson? If so, remember the part where he’s visiting with Joseph (Graham Greene) and Joseph says that he’s never seen that much money, could he see it and Brett gets the money out and hands it to him and Joseph looks through the stack and says ‘is this supposed to be some kind of joke?’ because it wasn’t money, but stacks of just paper. Brett takes it from him, fans through it and looks like he’s going to pass out. He falls to the ground, mumbling something about Annabella.
I knew that feeling last night. I almost threw up.
Brian’s pictures, almost a thousand of them, were not on the CD. The CD where I’d saved them. And they weren’t in the folder on my hard drive that I’d originally transferred them to, before moving them to the CD. The CD that they were not on. Brian was out on the couch and I went and told him. He said “oh, well” and went to bed. I could tell he was a little upset.
I ran an undelete on the CD and it was if they’d never existed. The folder “Brian’s photos” was there, but nothing was in it. I started the undelete about 10:30 on the hard drive where I’d save them. It was supposed to take about four hours. Then I started a search of my system for jpg images while the undelete program was running.
I watched the images load up and there were some I didn’t recognize. Then I did. They were Brian’s pictures! I found where they were and there they were. All of them, every single last one. I copied them to the CD and made sure they were there, then reinstalled those on Brian’s computer. After searching for over an hour, it took less than ten minutes to get them on CD and back onto his computer.
And this morning, he’s on the computer and said it’s a lot faster. I did lose all of his bookmarks. I exported them and I guess they weren’t in the folder that I exported from. I never even thought to check that, I thought they went to the default, but I was wrong.
But bookmarks can be replaced. Deleted, lost photos cannot.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
catstuff
06:10 AM - 02/06/2007
The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #29!
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Click for a bigger picThe belly of the day belongs to little Rory Gilmore. Rory has turned out to be quite affectionate and loves to come wake me early in the morning, by purring and kneading. She’s small, I’m not and she has lots of room to stand on me and do her thing. She’s also got a pretty loud purr for such a tiny package.
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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!
catstuff
07:58 AM - 02/06/2007
The topic: Guess who we saw this morning?
----------------------------------------------Notwally. Brian had said something a few months ago about seeing him and I couldn’t believe it. Notwally is the cat who got into our yard long enough to infect a few of the residents with the herpes virus (Ciara and Bart). He hung around back when Little Bit was in heat and I hadn’t seen him since.
He was up on one of the side streets this morning. I’m amazed he’s still alive. Brian thinks maybe he has owners somewhere.
If he does, they’re not very good owners. He looks awful. He’s always looked awful.
But he was running without any problems, so I guess he’s doing okay.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
tales from the parkside
02:41 PM - 02/08/2007
The topic: I took my mom to the oncologist this morning
----------------------------------------------And sometime since Christmas Eve, my feelings towards her have lightened up, quite a bit.
I think it was an awakening for me. She was no longer the woman who was so vicious towards me as a child, but an old woman who loves me unconditionally. This woman would do anything in the world for me, anything I asked of her without hesitation. She’s not the same woman who raised me. She’s not angry and she’s not mean. She’s not defensive.
She didn’t play drama queen on the way, as I’ve come to expect, she was just a normal, relaxed person. It’s nice. Even though the visit was to a doctor, she wasn’t really nervous. I dropped her off at the front door and parked the car in a nearby grocery parking lot, since the Kaiser parking lot and structure were both full to capacity and I figured it would be easier to just walk than keep circling for a spot like a buzzard to dying prey.
Once parked, I got into the building, went up to the oncology department and mom was already out of the waiting room. They took her in earlier than her official appointment time and when one of the nurses opened the door to call the next patient, I asked her if I could get inside and go to the room where my mom was. She let me in, I was told mom’s room and went back. The wait for the doctor wasn’t long at all. While we waited, she told me her blood pressure was a little high, but not nearly as high as the last time she had it taken.
And when the doctor came in, he asked if there was anything new and I said “yes, she’s quit smoking. I thought she’d quit smoking when she had surgery, but she didn’t. She was busted on Christmas Eve when she’d had too many beers and too many tranquilizers.” He was pleased that she’d quit.
The visit was uneventful and she actually walked with me to the car, down two sets of fairly steep steps. She asked if she could take me to lunch and I didn’t really want to go, but it was something she wanted to do, so I figured I may as well. I never know when I’ll never have the opportunity again.
We went to Denny’s and she had a cheeseburger and fries, I had a grilled turkey/bacon/cheese sandwich with a side salad instead of fries. It was a pleasant little visit and she was smiling when I dropped her off at home.
She’s supposed to make an appointment for her mammogram (the doc looked at me and said “you’re getting mammograms, aren’t you?” Yes. Well, I didn’t last year, the appointment reminder from my doctor was late and I have to see him before I get the mammo. But I will be making it soon. It’s not something I plan on blowing off) and she looked at me and said “will you take me?”. Yeah, mom, I’d be happy to take you.
And, this time, I meant it.
catstuff
02:56 PM - 02/08/2007
The topic: Cat poop
----------------------------------------------A couple of weeks ago, Brian told me that one of the cats was pooping in his shower. He’d report the consistency of said stool. The stool gradually got looser and even had blood in it.
Then this cat pooped in his sink. He said the problem with that was since the stool was loose, the cat would step in it and track it out of the sink. I fixed this problem, I shut his bathroom door, so the cat who had been doing this at night and had started during the day, would have to find a different place to go.
Brian said it was a black cat. He thought maybe it was Captain. I thought maybe it was Monica, since she spent so much of her time, day and night, in the bedroom window.
Well, shutting the door two days in a row, put an end to his shower and sink being used as poop boxes, even thought the door was opened.
And yesterday, a cat pooped in my bathroom sink. A fine, firm stool it was. I just didn’t know who did it.
This morning, when I took my shower, Captain was laying in my sink. After I’d gotten dressed, Captain had left the sink. Yes, he did, he’d left the sink a nice firm pile of poop.
*sigh*
But no blood and really easy cleanup.
I love my cats. I love my cats. I love my cats. I love my cats.
otherstuff
03:05 PM - 02/08/2007
The topic: Today is Brian’s mom’s birthday
----------------------------------------------I got her a nice lightweight cotton robe last month as well as a birthday card.
When I showed Brian the robe, he said “she’s already got a robe that color”. Exactly this color? “I don’t know, but it looks like the one she wears.”
I wrap it this morning and sign the card. He took it with him when he left for work and dropped it off at her house.
About fifteen minutes later, the phone rings. It was his mom.
“Thank you so much for the duster! How did you know I needed one?”
The one she’s been wearing? The one that looks exactly like the one I bought? It was her mother’s. Who died seventeen years ago in April.
I sang “Happy Birthday” to her and wished her a great day.
Men. I’m sure glad I went with my gut.
otherstuff
03:29 PM - 02/08/2007
We found three pennies and two dimes on our walk this morning
The topic: I hate tomorrow’s walk
----------------------------------------------I know it’s impossible to walk in a circle uphill all the way, but it sure seems like that’s what it is. There are a couple of short downhill areas and long, long, long gradual uphill sections. I’d say a full three quarters of the walk is uphill.
I hate it. Brian said we could find another route and I said “no, I really need to do this one since it’s so hard for me.”
I do know what might make it better, though. Tomorrow, I’m going to wear my tiara.
Friday, February 09, 2007
otherstuff
07:25 AM - 02/09/2007
The topic: Valentine’s Day
----------------------------------------------I haven’t gotten a Valentine’s present since we got married. Back in 1985. Last night, I’m looking at the CostCo website (I hate to window shop, but I can look at stuff online for hours) and they’ve got three dozen long stemmed red roses and a vase for sixty bucks (includes shipping and handling). He says that I can go ahead and order them. I do. I ask “what do you want on the card?” since he’s not going to be here, he’s going to the world’s largest farm show up in Tulare next week.
“Having a great time. Wish you were here. Not.”
He’s such a romantic.
I ordered them.
otherstuff
07:29 AM - 02/09/2007
The topic: I don’t have an iPod
----------------------------------------------I don't want an iPod. I have three MP3 players, though. Two SanDisks and one Rio. I think maybe I've used them a total of six times. I don't need an iPod. I've got a six CD changer in my car and all of the other vehicles can handle one CD at a time.
I've got a nice stereo setup in the family room and I got this thing from Woot last year that sends music from my computer to the stereo in the family room. The music I’ve downloaded to my computer from eMusic.
Now, for those of you not familiar with Woot.com, they have one day, one deal. Each twenty-four hours, they put up a new product. If they sell out, that’s it for the day. You have to wait until midnight central time to see a new offering. Unless they’re having a wootoff, but that’s another story. At woot, you can only buy three of an item. There’s a way around this, I know you’d need a different credit card number and maybe set up a different woot account. Shipping is always five bucks, no matter what they sell, no matter if you order one, two or three of the item.
So, last night, when I was surfing through the CostCo site, I came upon this little gem. Now, I’ve always been amazed at the accessories you can find for iPods. But this has to be the mother of all accessories. And you’ll notice, the iPod is not included.
I’m looking at this, just shaking my head in wonder. I say “hey, Brian, look at this…” He turns, sees it, sees the price and says “well, you might as well get three of them if they’ve got them in stock”. Huh? Ah, it dawns on me, he thinks I’m at Woot and can only buy three. I laugh. I tell him I’m on the CostCo website. He says “well, then, forget it”.
He makes me laugh.
Monday, February 12, 2007
catstuff
08:41 AM - 02/12/2007
The topic: Weird dream
----------------------------------------------Lair had one last Friday, I had one last night.
Mine was Ciara. I found out she was still at the vet’s office. Alive. Not in perfect health, they were keeping her there so they could observe her. She was one of the office cats. When I found this out, I demanded she be given back to me. They wouldn’t.
They said that her health was precarious and that it would be best for her to have 24/7 medical supervision. I didn’t get her back.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
catstuff
06:36 AM - 02/13/2007
The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #30!
----------------------------------------------The tummy model on this rainy morning is once again the lovely Richie Cunningham, who must find sleeping on his back more comfortable than on his side or belly since he does it so often.
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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
otherstuff
11:41 AM - 02/15/2007
The topic: I’m alive!
----------------------------------------------I’ve been busy the past week making more necklaces and taking pictures of them. And I made some new button designs.
Brian’s been gone since Tuesday morning and will be back this afternoon or tonight, so I’m doing a little housecleaning before he gets home. The dusting is almost finished, then I’m going to get out the big vacuum and do a thorough job. I would have started earlier, but I had this horrendous headache and I figured it might be better if it was gone before I started with the noise.
It’s gone. I like Excedrin.
To work.
Friday, February 16, 2007
otherstuff
08:02 AM - 02/16/2007
The topic: I love my husband
----------------------------------------------but sometimes he makes me crazy.
He got home yesterday around five o’clock. Brings his stuff in, hits the bathroom, then unpacks. Comes back to the office and plops his ass down in front of his monitor. Around six thirty, he asks “what’s for dinner?”
I’d been cleaning all day. Vacuumed the cat trees, the floors and ran the Scooba. Washed the loveseat covers.
I said “Arby’s?”, to which he said “no” without hesitation. I ended up burning a can of refried beans, opened another one, heated that and we had tortilla chips and refried beans. Great dinner.
He shut down the computer around 9:30, went and laid on the loveseat. Then he went to bed.
I got up first, fed KittyMeeze, tried out the new coffeemaker (did I mention I broke my old Melitta last week?), he got out of bed around seven. We had cereal for breakfast, he took all of his vitamins, then took a shower. I made his lunch.
I turned off the television, came back to the office and started up WMP and have my nice soothing music playing throughout the house. I’m relaxed.
He comes back to the office, sees that during the night some cat(s) peed all over his side of the desk. Starts working to clean it all up. He can be such a drama queen. He tossed out stuff that’s been sitting there for weeks. He asked me “what’s this? Do you need it?” about the printer manual for his printer at the shop that I installed last year. I said “that’s the manual for your printer that I gave to you last year to put with the printer”. He took that. Then there was a cardboard box from American Express. “What’s this?” That’s the yearly planner you got from Amex. He threw it out.
I just sat here, put my elbows on my desk and covered my face with my hands, trying to block him out. I actually found myself wishing he’d stayed gone for another couple of days.
otherstuff
08:16 AM - 02/16/2007
The topic: The Scooba
----------------------------------------------Well, I found out yesterday why it doesn’t suck.
Out of three batteries, one is bad. The machine runs, but there’s not enough power to suck up the liquid it puts down. I found this out at the end of the day. I took out the battery I’d put in and put one of the others in and it worked like it was supposed to.
Good deal.
Monday, February 19, 2007
otherstuff
08:56 AM - 02/19/2007
The topic: Coffee in the ayem
----------------------------------------------Two weeks ago, I broke the carafe of my 4 cup coffee maker. It’s old, can’t get a replacement. Got a new 4 cup coffee maker over at Amazon, using my $11 coupon, so it cost me $17 bucks. Great deal!
It got here last week, the coffee it makes is good, hotter than my last maker. I was getting low on ground beans (I buy the beans by the bag at CostCo and keep them in the freezer, only grinding up enough to fill a little Tupperware bowl, which I also keep in the freezer) and this morning I was out. So, I get out the grinder that’s not really that old and it wouldn’t start. I put the lid back on, thinking maybe it wasn’t locked. That thing is deader than my diet plans. Even smacking it against the wall a couple of times didn’t help. *lol*
The only other ground coffee I could find right off the bat was flavored stuff and none of it was a flavor that sounded good. Fortunately, I did find one of those coffee packets you get at hotels (when I see that I’ve saved things like this, I just freaking amaze myself), I opened it, tossed the sweetener, non-dairy creamer and stirrers into the trash and made myself a little four cup pot of coffee.
catstuff
12:19 PM - 02/19/2007
The topic: Ross is such a goof
----------------------------------------------Saturday, I watched Ross in one of the cat trees on the patio. He was so cute, I had to take some pictures. Look at how he slowly comes out of the tube, ending up almost hanging upside down. He’s such a friendly little guy.
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For more pet related blogs, visit the Friday Ark #127.
catstuff
12:34 PM - 02/19/2007
The topic: Joey, splatacat
----------------------------------------------Tuesday, February 20, 2007
catstuff
08:46 AM - 02/20/2007
The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #31!
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click for a bigger picToday’s Tuesday tummy belongs to Wally. No better place to be on a rainy day, than on the loveseat, all to yourself. Lots of room to roll over and stretch and just be a cat, knowing that nasty wet stuff isn’t going to rain on your nap.
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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
salestuff
03:48 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
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But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
salestuff
04:03 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
----------------------------------------------
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
salestuff
04:09 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
----------------------------------------------
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
salestuff
04:24 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
----------------------------------------------
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
salestuff
04:32 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
----------------------------------------------
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
salestuff
04:39 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
----------------------------------------------
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
salestuff
04:46 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: For sale
----------------------------------------------
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
otherstuff
07:00 PM - 02/22/2007
The topic: Man, that was a lot of work
----------------------------------------------I prefer to just make the stuff.
I’ve got lots more things to sell, more than just jewelry. During the coming weeks, I’ll be putting more up for sale.
I hope you like what I’ve got to offer.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
otherstuff
09:03 AM - 02/24/2007
The topic: Spring cleaning?
----------------------------------------------Is it too early? I’ve had this wild hair up my butt about cleaning the past week or so. The kibble pieces and litter crumbs have begun to really annoy me when I walk on them barefoot. I had been using the Roombas, but I found that the little Bissell Catchall takes less time, even though I’m the one pushing it. About fifteen minutes to do the house. When I found out they were no longer selling the Catchall, I bought an extra battery charger and extra batteries. The batteries take two hours to charge and only run for about fifteen minutes. That’s how I know how long it takes to do the house.
I don’t do the cat furniture, only the big machine does a decent job on those. So, every couple of weeks I’ll run the big vacuum and while I’m doing that, I think I’ll run the Scooba to wash the floors.
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a new Singer sewing machine from CostCo. It got here Monday and I realized I had no place to put it. It’s an embroidery machine that you attach to your computer. I moved it to the exercise room and have pretty much decided I need to get ruthless in that room and toss out stuff that we haven’t used in years. Then move some of my stuff around to make room for the sewing machine. That’s my plan for this weekend.
Aren’t you jealous I’ll be doing something I shouldn’t have to be doing? I’m fifty-three years old and I’m finally discovering how much more efficient life can be when everything is kept in its place. It’s been gradual, starting the last year or so. At my mom’s on Christmas Eve, I was appalled at how disorganized her drawers were. Nothing made sense, if you could even find it. I know I’ll never be a Monica Geller Bing, but I have to admit it’s sure nice to know where things are instead of pulling my hair out looking for them.
catstuff
09:13 AM - 02/24/2007
The topic: Cats: gotta love ‘em
----------------------------------------------So yesterday, after running the Catchall, I decide to change the bedding. And wash everything. The mattress pad, all four pillows, everything. I knew this would be an all day project. Not changing the bedding, but washing it. Two of the pillows are bulky, so I could only do one at a time and I did the pre-wash and extra rinse on just about everything. So, each wash load was an easy hour and a half. I wanted the stuff washed and put away so the baskets in the laundry room weren’t stuffed to overfilled.
I finally got the last load done about eight last night. The bed was already made and the last load consisted of a couple of pillows we use between the mattress and the headboard, since the bed frame is about three inches longer than the mattress itself. The cats like to spray the headboard, which is flat and it runs down and gets these pillows wet. Which is why I’m glad they’re washable and why I use the pre-wash and extra rinse on everything.
So, I’m stuffing the pillows down and I notice a dark spot on the bedspread between the pillows. I touch it. It’s wet. I smell it. It’s cat pee. I scream. “Bloody cats!” I pull the spread off, stomp down the hall, spread in arms and put it in the washer and do an express wash, no extras. About an hour and a half later, it was dry and I put it back on the bed.
Then I grabbed the Feliway bottle, that says you only need a spritz. To hell with that, and I sprayed copius amounts along the headboard.
I took a shower, Brian went to bed. After my shower, I let my hair dry a little so it wouldn’t be soaking wet in bed (I rarely use heat on my hair, dryer or curlers because over time, they cause much damage). When I went to bed, I was assaulted by the strong smell of Feliway.
Better than cat pee, I guess.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
catstuff
02:08 PM - 02/25/2007
The topic: Drama on the patio cam
----------------------------------------------A few minutes ago, I caught Cap’n in the office with a bird. Sadly, the bird had already expired. I couldn’t get it away from him since I couldn’t get his mouth open (he’s carrying the bird around by the head).
I put him outside on the patio and he’s never learned the catdoor. And the other cats have figured out he might have something they want.
Link to the patio cam is at the top of the page.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
otherstuff
08:46 AM - 02/27/2007
The topic: Trying something new
----------------------------------------------I’m going to do my chores in the morning, after I talk to my mom. I think if I do it this way, they’ll get done. I’ve found it takes less than an hour to sweep the house with the little Bissell, clean up cat piss and take care of the kitchen. Right now, I’ll keep doing the litterboxes in the afternoon, before the cats come in for the night, so they’ll be “fresh”.
I also found out that topping off the litterboxes with fresh litter on a regular basis, helps keep the odors down. even though they’ve been sifted of debris. I guess “multi-cat” means a couple of cats, not thirty plus cats.
This morning, when we walked into the house after our walk, it rain freshened air, I took a deep breath. No weird under smell. It smelled like a house.
That was pretty nice, especially since the house had been closed up with the heater on.
catstuff
09:00 AM - 02/27/2007
I'm listening to Artie Tram - Acoustic Guitar
The current weather is rainy, rainy, rainy!
The topic: It’s TUMMY TUESDAY #32!
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click for a bigger picToday’s Tummy Tuesday tummy belongs to little Potter. Or Potter Pot Pie as I like to refer to him. I bet he’d be a tasty bit.
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If you’ve got a Tummy Tuesday blog entry, feel free to post the link in the comment section or trackback to this entry. And if you put a link back to this page, then more kitties will get to show off their tummies!
catstuff
12:35 PM - 02/27/2007
The topic: A great deal
----------------------------------------------If you ever find you have a use for pee pads, this place has a great sale right now. I bought twenty-four of the small plain pads a couple of months ago to help with the pee problem in the laundry room (ever since DeeJay, there has been a problem with cats peeing outside of the litterbox in there) from this same site for over a hundred dollars (which includes shipping).
Right now, they’ve got a special, $69.00 for 24, with s&h of $4.95. I don’t need anymore right now, but I can’t beat this price. I’m getting some.
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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.
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