"'The vet had never seen anything like it before,' explains Valerie. 'He immediately went to the internet and found the four-eared cat in Germany."

Article.

We purchased a 6 foot HDMI cable (for her new DVD player) a Jumbo Petmate Deluxe Fresh Flow Water Fountain, a medium Petmate Deluxe Fresh Flow Water fountain (for me) and replacement filters for both the fountains. All purchased in one order. These 5 items shipped separately. 5 separate shipments!!

I understand Amazon sells a lot of other companies items, and that is fine, I find many times Amazon has the best price, so I can deal with multiple boxes. What I didn't understand is why the one thing for me ended up taking so long.

Ordered on July 28th, it didn't ship until August 11th! It shipped from Seattle, Washington. It then traveled to Redmond, Washington before making a stop in Indianapolis, Indiana. From Indy it went to Doraville, Georgia (where?) and made a stop in Jacksonville, Florida. Finally it made it to Altamonte Springs, Florida and was put on a truck for delivery.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=Seattle,+WA&daddr=Redmond,+WA+to:Indianapolis,+IN+to:Doraville,+GA+to:Jacksonville,+FL+to:Altamonte+Springs,+FL&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=38.094422,-101.878958&sspn=29.892163,55.898438&ie=UTF8&ll=38.094422,-101.878958&spn=19.05216,41.25328&output=embed&s=AARTsJqAOZeJ8PxwJkG6IURJXAVuwC7fGA&w=425&h=350]

So Monday, August 18th, my kitties water fountain was delivered (to my parents house). Three weeks? Six cities? The item never showed as being on back order. In fact, its page still says you can buy it and have it delivered overnight if you so wish. I guess this was punishment for my continued use of Amazon's free shipping!

I guess it was worth it since the price at my local PetCo is three times as much as Amazon's price, but really, in this day it shouldn't take three weeks to ship anything!

Only just lightly coloured... perhaps I will follow this one through and colour her fully, because I like her! The request was from Lindsay, throwing together the words 'leo' and 'chain' for me to play with in a comment left for the last post.

My best friends dog died last week, and I went to see her last night. She was only 5. Way too young for a min-pin. Her kidneys failed, but they don't know why. I know people think I am crazy for caring about a dog so much, but oh well. I stood at her little grave in the back yard, marked with a freshly planted palm tree. Her dog loved the beach, so it was fitting. I ordered a memorial stone for her. And I cried and cried. And then I came home I was so happy to see my kitties. Shadow is much better after his allergic reaction.

My 2 year anniversary is tomorrow. I am trying to put everything away in my brain so that I am good company. I am sure we will have fun.

Well, enough typing for now...I am tired.

Hugs to all

Zoe

We are smack dab in the middle of hurricane season, and Floridians are intently watching Tropical Storm Fay to see where it's going to hit, and if it's going to become a full-blown hurricane. People are fighting over bottles of water in the grocery store. Newscasters are citing the worst and creating panic. Hurricane season is not fun.

I had off today, so I had a lazy morning and shared a bowl of cereal with the kitties. 

"Hello, what's this?"

"MINE!"

Poor Quinn. He doesn't even try anymore.

I spent the rest of the day sewing bags for an interesting special order, which I hope to photograph tomorrow. Assuming, of course, that hurricane-strength winds don't thwart my plans.

But back to the bed buddy, this is the best invention ever. Well, obviously it's the best invention ever because it's rice in a sack and humanity probably wouldn't have made it long enough to start blowing up each other if it hadn't been for rice in a sack, but rice in a sack, when microwaved for two minutes, also fills the soul. And soothes menstrual cramps. And makes you twenty times as appealing to sleepy kitties.

Here are the pics of his foot and my thumb The bites are hard to see esp since taking a pic of your own hand is difficult but the punctures  are the dots across my thumb and inbetween the thumb and finger.  This picture is of KooKoo's foot after he finally let me see it. Poor little guy was so scared, hurt, and mad that he hid from us for a few hrs. He was back to his normal running and jumping self this am with no favoring of the foot at all! Thank Goodness for small miracles! One side effect of yesterday Blind escape...he hasnt gotten into the window through the blinds today LOL :-)

I started some work on the Knit-n-Stitch today, no changes to the site per see but I have adjusted the Shipping charges.  There has been some controversy on Ravelry about Shipping and Handling charges specifically the handling part as if the small store owners are ripping people off because we have to add the surcharges we get charged to prices some how, they are saying that we are charging them for "handling" their orders. That just isnt true in all cases. I wish there was a way to absorb the extra charges that are coming but for me anyway there isnt and I have to find a way to work it out. My reasoning for adjusting my Shipping prices isnt because of those accusations; I decided I needed to charge less because my competition does and I have to be able to make the Knit-n-Stitch work even if it means I take a loss on shipping. We are gonna be adding some Cross Stitch patterns in the next update (sometime this next week) and some new yarns including a SIlk Bamboo blend from Patons that is Super Yummmy soft and silky :-) Dont forget after the 1st of Sepember 2008 sock yarns and sock related items will be back to normal prices so stock up now while they are available and relatively cheap.

My WIPS Wrestling projects are coming along even with the KooKoo induced injury I am about halfway done with the second sock of Illusions Pair and am almost 50% done with my DSS Soldier Socks, pics to come in the next day or so depending on my camera's behavior.

Thats all for today. See ya'll tomorrow :-)

Thanks to Mae.

When I have the time and the energy, I'm still in the process of getting stuff culled from the house and put out into the garage for the "Biggest Yard Sale Ever" I bet this neighborhood has ever seen! lol Hopefully it will happen in late September/early October when it cools down enough that people will want to stop by and stay awhile and buy lots and lots of stuff!  Vicki came over Friday after work and we sweated, and toiled and got everything out of my bedroom closet and tried on clothes and culled clothes and junk and put only the things back that fit me and that look good. :-)))  What a huge job--it took hours to do, but gee it's absolutely wonderful now and so organized.  I feel like I could find anything I wanted within seconds!  WOOT WOOOT!  Thanks again dear Vicki for your hard work and for pushing me to get it down now instead of later.   Yesterday (Saturday), we went up to my office and rearranged furniture and got things as organized as possible there, so I think I'll feel so great walking in there tomorrow morning...a whole new feeling.  Of course there are still so many things about the job that I don't know and can't do yet, but at least I feel confident that I can "put my hands" on most anything the boss will ask for. :-)  That's always a good thing, eh?  And today is a rest day mainly because my back is so sore from all the moving and bending and cleaning, etc. we've done the past 36 hours, lol.  Nothing a few Tylenol won't help taken every 4 hours today, I think.

It's about 3:30pm my time, and the cats are inside sleeping so they can do their nighttime-thing later on.  It's nice and cloudy today too, so it was great for me sleeping in awhile this morning too.  There are still some office and desk items I/we need, but the Boss says they're on his list (which is getting really long, I'm sure ;-)  So maybe this week, we'll get the rest of the items in and can rock-n-roll. Oh, that reminds me--Vicki had an old 'boombox' that she's letting me use in the front office at work so I don't have to have total silence all day long.  The boss doesn't mind at all--he did have one for me on the desk, but took it and hooked it up to the phone system so that when people were on hold, they would hear music instead of nothing.   I have some doctor appointments coming up--one for an upper G.I. that my gastrointerologist wants me to have and my monthly meeting with my psychiatrist---not sure how the Boss is going to react to those yet.  But I'm sure in the long run, it will be just fine. If they turn out to be on really busy-slammin' days, I can always re-schedule them, but it seems like it will take another month to be able to get in again, so I'm hoping I can keep these for August. Then I should be through with medical for awhile. :-)))

I'm signing off now to take a much-needed shower and wash my hair...I was just too tired after getting back home yesterday to do anything but crash on the couch and sleep. 

Have a beautiful day today!

Yesterday morning was sunny:

This is what I did to the Volvo yesterday:

Fortunately, Vlad the Impaler was safely buckled in the back seat:

Pasquale doesn't like it when I go outside:

Really only a quick post for today, because I have a project proposal to complete.

Not much to say with this one, except to ask one very big, very important question... Have you ever noticed that if you say 'meow-meow-meow-meow' over and over it starts sounding like 'yum-yum-yum-yum'?

One more question for the road... Do librarian kitties dream of microfiche?

While I'm not certain of the publication date on this book, I can note that it is ethically from a time when it was still okay for cartoon characters to smoke, as evidenced in what the greatest generation might refer to as "ethnic humor". The book is set up as any high school year book across this great country, but, get this, the students are kitties!

Few could say that the power of these photographs fails to capture the spectrum of humanity, only in a way that makes it cuter.

And it doesn't stop there! Check out these brilliant candid shots!

Now that you are very obviously sold, click here to petition the National Portrait Gallery to include these works of art in the permanent collection. And click here to read a confusing biography of the author.

This book comes to us courtesy of vrooooom, well worth your time.

Lucy and Lily are at it again. They have an obsession with bags. This bag was scented with leftover lobster and filet mignon from The Palm.

Seriously, wtf, Seattle? I moved here to ESCAPE this kind of weather! Looking up from lunch I realized it had been unusually quiet and still in my apartment and looked around for the cats.

Turns out, this is what they'd been doing the whole time:

Right now I'm going to go take a leaf out of their book and find somewhere cool and shady to hide for the rest of the day.

So here we go again...each time that I think my life is going great, the depression is at bay, I have not cut in quite while, since January to be specific...the pendulum swings the other way.
Why why why does my brain do this to me? Why does it betray me??
I am taking my meds EVERY DAY. I am eating right, I am not exercising enough....but it is so HARD to make yourself exercise when you are depressed.
And it never starts as depression...oh no...it starts as mania. I became hyper aware of everything last week. Every noise, every light, every movement of those around me. I felt like I was in a separate world from everyone else's. Could they not see how ANNOYING they were being?
Then it turns into extreme introspectiveness, constantly analyzing my self worth. We got a new car, see pic below... and all I could think was, I don't deserve such a nice car. I am a 24 year old nothing... I don't deserve my Husband or his patience with me. I certainly don't deserve his love.
And the physical symptoms. All week I have had a headache. My stomach has been a wreck. My heart is constantly pounding. I feel shaky... I went to the Dr, where they decided it is just the depression/anxiety making me feel this way. But you get that overwhelming fear in you. "What if I am sick? What is wrong? Am I having a hear attack??" I know, HIGHLY unlikely at my age and though not low enough for me, health wise low enough weight.
And all the while, I do my damnedest to keep up appearances. We have a job to do, customers to smile at, a city council meeting to appear at. I am visiting my parents this weekend, and I MUST not let my mother worry. I must be ON.
And my poor husband....I have to get it together so he feels better. When I get this way he feels so sad. And he tries, oh he tries, to help me. He respects my need for distance, this morning he brought me a stuffed animal just to say "I love you". He encouraged me to take Wednesday-Friday off, and just stay home to try to relax. (Remember, we own a business)
None of this is meant to gain sympathy or any such thing... I just needed to vent, and to know that I am not alone. That I am not going crazy... That I CAN make it without cutting. All of the sudden this week, restricting sounded appealing again. The pure thought of the control that comes with not letting myself eat for the week, sounded so...soothing. Some people want to smoke, I want to CONTROL.
Who else has an absolute BREAK DOWN because they feel their house is not clean enough? I KNOW it is clean. I mean, it's me, I have been a clean freak since 9 years old. But it was just NOT CLEAN ENOUGH. I found my self bleaching the whole damn house at midnight. My husband finally convinced me to get into bed, where it was all I could do to try to stop crying, and stop feeling....surrounded by filth? Even though the house is spotless? I tucked myself into a ball, and just told myself that I was "safe" in the bed, with its clean sheets and height from the floor. Surely, I could curl up tight enough to safely go to sleep? Agghh...I sound like a crazy person....
Well, I am off to the vet. My kitty had a bad reaction to his vaccinations yesterday, and is ready to come home. have a good weekend all...
Zoe

The trip took around 36 hours. (Day 1: 13, Day 2: 13, Day 3: 10) Unfortunately we went across several time zones, causing us to lose an additional three hours that we had forgotten to count on. (Total: 2400+ miles)

The states we went through:

Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming (the msot remote place I've ever been in my life), Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana

Here are the highlights:

Thanks to Mae.

That's Mean!

From: Coworker
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 9:40 AM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Hi

Would you like a snack ….

From: Me
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 9:28 AM
To: Coworker
Subject: RE: Hi

No, just saying “hi” with all the sugary cuteness I can find.

AB CD ED BD Ducks? MR Ducks.  S M R C D E D B D Wings.  A B M R Ducks!

From: Coworker

Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 9:23 AM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Hi

You just want to kill me .. don’t you..

From: Me
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 9:15 AM
To: Coworker

Subject: Hi

I was also so excited to see the new apartment, which I had only seen pictures of so far.  Wow is all I have to say.  I am beyond happy with our new place!  Onur did such a great job finding it.  It's nearly 1700sqft with 2 balconies... a HUGE difference from our 1br apt in NY.  It feels like a real home, imagine that.  But more importantly what felt real was the feeling of being a newlywed.  After 2 months of being married but not really together, and three months of being apart before that, we now officially feel what it's like to be newlyweds.  And yeah, it is a grrreat feeling!  The whole being newlyweds thing... totally underrated.

The first couple of days here were spent furniture shopping.  Our place currently echos, so we're eager to fill it with furniture and make it a home.  So we spent two full days at these furniture "cities".  Hundreds of stores, but we only went to maybe 40?  It's like an outlet mall on crack, minus the discount prices.  Looks like we're going with customized furniture for the living and dining rooms (common in Turkey, from what I'm beginning to understand), and the plan is to go modern-comfy.

We also hung out with a lot of friends so far this week, which was a nice welcome to Istanbul.  And I also met a new friend - the gym - oh but it's so much more than a gym.  It's a 5 minute walk that takes about 15 because of the convoluted way you have to get there.  Hello huge hills and random Istanbul streets.  And this gym is like no other gym.  I've decided this gym is more like a beach club... well minus the actual beach. The sheer size of this place - 14,000sqm (and the size of the membership costs too!), the 3 amazing pools (1 of them being a full-on beach club pool), and the on-site spa facilities make it more of a beach club to me.  I mean you could spend all day here no problem.

While I adjusted to the time difference very quickly, I'm adjusting to the sounds here at quite a different pace.  We're in a very central part of Istanbul, but because we live in a private community, we're away from the horn honking, bus screeching, and general big city traffic noise.  This is a welcome break from apt living in nyc, for sure.  But on the flip-side, I hear a lot of things like wind and birds chirping and well, nature... and let me tell you it does take some getting used to - especially falling asleep in the quietness. It is relaxing though, don't get me wrong.  Sometimes so relaxing I feel like I'm on vacation.  I can get used to it - well, except for when those things, those birds or lambs or goats or seagulls or whatever the hell they are, make that funky noise... at 5am every morning.  I gotta find my earplugs.  

Some general observations from my first week living in Istanbul: 

* roosters - they don't just crow at dawn, it's more of a throughout-the-day thing (yes we really do live in a very comsmopolitan area, so I don't know why I hear roosters either)

* kitties - there are a lot of them here and they are so cute... but you don't touch them

* screens in your windows - nobody has them.  We'll be "those" Americans stapling screens into our windows.

* no one is on time here, I mean no one.  I'm a role model for all Turks!

* Turkey needs Bed Bath & Beyond... big time

In the midst of packing/moving insanity.  Please stay tuned.