Greg's Blanket

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A few months ago, I made my husband a big blanket. At 6’7” all the blankets around our house don’t cover him all the way when he’s watching TV, laying on the couch, etc. So with my mother’s help, I undertook the daunting task of creating a blanket that was about 9 feet long and 6 feet wide. The blanket was completed, and Greg LOVES it, but I’ve needed to do all the little ties that holds the fabric with the fluff all together. I’ve procrastinated this task for almost 3 months now, as it is daunting at best.

Well, Greg finally convinced me that it needed to be done, and even said that he would help. So last night as we watched Star Trek TNG reruns, we began. Tie after little tie, about 6-8 inches apart, working from the middle out. The cats were overjoyed. Not only were we on the ground, but there was a blanket, AND thread!!!!! So they gleefully pulled the thread through right before we were able to tie it, pounced on our hands – barely missing the needles, and generally ran around like wild things. I am patient with them, as kittens tend to do things like this, but Greg doesn’t quite get the fact that cats will not behave when you ask or yell at them to.

So, after he did about a quarter of the blanket, his frustration was almost tangible, and we had not yet eaten dinner – NOT a good combination. I sent him into the kitchen to put the pizza in the oven, and continued on . . . for the rest of the blanket. He half-heartedly offered to continue, but I felt it was best for our marriage if he just sat and watched TV.

A few hours later, it was done. My back was sore, eyes strained, the cats were exhausted, and I had poked more than a few fingers. I handed the blanket up to a very happy Greg (my legs were stuck in the cross-legged position), he looked down at me lovingly and proclaimed:

“I just love it when we do projects together.”

Beligerent Kitten

My cat has grown belligerent.

Cider is my tortishell kitten, I rescued her mom off the streets, and after she had her kittens, found a home for the mom, and kept Cider as my own. She is our second cat, friend now to Leo, our orange tabby and first cat.

Cider is an incredibly friendly kitten, loves people and cuddling – and her full name, christened by my husband, is Cider Baby. Spoiled? A wee bit, but she is very mindful of her manners, so training her to be a good cat has proved to be a simple thing. Until last week:

She discovered that she could easily jump up on the kitchen counter and check out what I was doing when I was preparing meals or doing dishes. This is not sanitary, so it’s rather important to me that she does not continue on in this practice. I can push her off, pick her up and set her down, squirt her with water, soak the counter so it’s not that fun to be on – and she will still jump right back up, unfazed. Greg went to extreme measures the other day. She was in the sink, and he turned on the water, hoping to startle her off and really begin getting it in her mind that she shouldn’t be doing this. Full throttle, the water came out, I already felt horrible, but knew it must be done. The result? Nothing. My kitten sat there mildly interested in the fact she was getting wet, but not really concerned about it.

We were astonished.

And decided that water is obviously not a motivating factor for her.

So at this point in time, we are at a stalemate. Cider has agreed to not walk anywhere on the counter but the back part of the sink – where no food goes, as it faces out into the living room. So she will curl up there and watch me cook, happy as a clam, and keep her end of the bargain perfectly, but she refuses to not jump on the counter at all. I’m a little bewildered that I’ve been able to confine her to that area, but not teach her the counter is off-limits. I can only guess that she has her own idea of where she belongs, and as long as she can keep me company and see what is going on, it’s fine with her. So I’m at a loss at this point, and I suppose it’s not too terrible, but it’s the principal of the matter. My kitten has found something she likes, and I can’t seem to get it out of her system. And all this time I thought I was HER owner, not visa versa.

Locker Room Revolution

This weekend, we are up at a cabin in Grand Lake, Colorado. The past few days have been rather momentous in the fact that I have joined a swimming class at school – which means that I get to do laps for about a half hour, and then bob in the water with other students for another 50 minutes. While I am not deathly sore, I can definitely feel some muscles are working harder than usual.

However, in joining this class, I’ve also had to overcome the locker room. While I’m not an overtly shy person – it is a rare occasion that has warranted me taking a shower completely naked with quite a few other naked women. I had originally resolved to simply shower with my swimsuit on, but peer pressure won over as I was the odd one out, and I succumbed. It’s difficult to pinpoint what actually is bothersome about this. Either me being naked, or me being surrounded by other naked people. Shower-room etiquette was never covered in school – and though showers were there, we were much too shy to utilize them. Apparently something happened between then and now that I missed out on. I suppose its just desserts for dropping out of gym for 4 years and then trying to get back in the game. I missed out on the locker room revolution!

Tough Love

CIDER

My husband and I have finally ended our quest for a church home that is near to where we live. It’s a wonderful place, with hard-hitting sermons, and we just love it. This morning, the pastor was talking about how we as Christians are called to love others, no matter how hard it may be. This wouldn’t normally have struck me as funny, except for what happened on our way to church. Greg was miffed at the electrical box having been tagged with graffiti in the night, and proceeded to state “I wish I had a gun - I would just shoot those kids dead”.

Looks like we need to keep working on the whole aspect of sharing God’s love – preferably without the 12-gauge.

New Site Design

Hi All,
Hope you ike the cool new design I put together last night. The last thing that I'm trying to put up are links on the side to blog sites I visit (all of yours) but I'm having difficulty changing the link color. So for now they are invisible. There and working, but invisible. I'm working on it, and will hopefully have it changed by tonight. In the meantime enjoy the design!

~Christa

Cats' Magic

CIDER

I have decided that cats must possess magical powers. Now, I realize that I am extending this statement to all of cat-dom, and it may be true only of my cats, but I think it goes for all. We'll see how many commenters agree.

My cats have one seriously strong spell - the ability to make you fall fast asleep, even when you weren't tired in the first place. If I sit or lay down to read, write, or type away on the laptop, both Leo and Cider (their names) find this an irresistable inviation to cuddle. One will be on my knees or legs, the other my lap or chest, and the purring begins. They purr for quite a while, and it is during this time that the spell is cast. Soon, the purring dies down, as they nod off, and I am not long to follow. I won't get up, won't continue what I was doing - the book is usually set down and we all take a nice nap. It is the same with my husband, and last night, when my parents came up for dinner I found it was the same for my dad. Cider hopped up in his lap, fell asleep - he kicked back the recliner and fell asleep too.

It is an irresistable thing to nap with cats, and therein the magic may lie - but right now I haven't the time to pursue the matter further. Cider and Leo just fell asleep on my chair, and I feel I should probably join them on this lazy Saturday afternoon. . . .

New Blog Site to Visit

CIDER

Hi Everyone,
My mom is now a blogger, visit her site and say hello!
www.Deesgarden.blogspot.com
Thanks!