Catching up

Please accept my sincere apologies for the lack of posts lately. I promise I'm still here, (occasionally) reading your blogs in between, well, life. I feel like I've not only alienated my blog readers, but also my real-life friends. The only friends I talk to anymore are the ones at work and the ones on my class discussion board! I normally get really stressed out this time of year, but this year with school it's been doubly bad. Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a huge project at work, finishing up a 15-page paper that was due last night (thank God!), planning a baby shower for my friend (smashing success), and getting ready for Christmasukkah (ugh, don't even ask where I am with that). I'm at the point where nothing sounds better to me than going to bed at 9 on a Friday night and waking up a glorious 10 hours later to do laundry. Which, after turning in the paper, is exactly what I did!

Thankfully, on Monday we're leaving for our annual trek to the U.P. Staying with my inlaws, particularly in the winter, is about the least-stressful vacation ever. They live in the middle of the woods, they don't have internet, there's nothing to do in town, and even if there was, leaving the house involves at least two snowplows, an ice pick and potentially a bulldozer. So all there is left to do is eat, sleep, showshoe, and watch TV. Sure, it gets a little boring, but boring is exactly what this gal needs right now. And, even better, Brad gave me my big gift early - a video iPod nano! I've never had an iPod before, and I'm convinced it is just about the coolest thing ever. I've been downloading TV episodes like they're going out of style so I can have plenty of stuff to keep me entertained when I'm up north. So, take heart -- not only am I alive, but I plan to soon be very well!

Since this post is bound to remain front and center for, oh, the next month, I'll leave you with a pic I took this morning of the two guys who have been keeping me relatively sane. :)

Roo

Well, it's that time of year again. Every summer, our Roo gets her butt shaved. You may look at the picture below think "oh, that poor defenseless kitty!" but the reality is, the humidity combined with her long hair makes the summer very uncomfortable for all parties involved, and the ridiculous fashion statement pictured below is much more humane than leaving it in its natural form. She carries around at least half a cup of dirty cat litter and dried poo in her butt fur at any given time (it smells just as good as you'd think it would), and our attempts to bathe her or brush out the clumpy knots are rewarded with screaming, hissing and overall misery. So we leave it to the vet.

This picture series is actually from last year, because this time they didn't make Taka look quite so ridiculous. The bald butt of 2007 is an all-time classic, whereas today's butt shave was a bit more modest.

Fun with sleeping animals

What can I say. The man likes his TV!

Gratuitous cuteness...sorta

The lengths we go to with uncooperative animals to provide cute pictures to our readers. :)

I almost killed my cat!

I hit my cat in the head with a fork today and almost killed her. Brad and I were making dinner, and I turned my back for two seconds from a plate of salmon sitting on the table. By the time I turned back around, Taka was whiskers-deep in fresh grilled fish. Normally it wouldn't bother me too much to have a pet lick my food, but Taka drinks from the toilet. Not only does she drink from the toilet, but she'll do everything in her power to get her nose in there before you have a chance to flush.

I only meant to wave the fork in her direction as a threat (I would have done it with my bare hand -- I just happened to be clutching a fork), when she looked up at the last minute and whack it got her right between the eyes. Within an instant, the house became chaos. Taka went yelping and streaking through the living room, I went running after her screaming "oh my god oh my god," Brad had no idea what was going on, the cauliflower was overcooking in the microwave and starting to smoke, and I'm sure something else chaotic happened, like a bomb detonating in our basement.

The whole time I'm trying to get her to show me her wound, I'm imagining the conversation at the 24-hour emergency vet (where Taka is already well-known. Seriously, for all the dough we've spent on this FREE stray cat, we could have won back in prize money on a show-ready persian or something).

Vet: Okay, one more time. You hit her in the head with a fork and you're telling me it was a total accident?

Me: Yes. (long pause)

Vet: So...tell me the story again while I just walk over here and NOT call Animal Cops Detroit.

Me: Well, it was like this. See, pretend you have a wooden baseball bat, and you want to threaten your child, so you swing it AT him -- honestly, you don't mean to actually hit him. But then you do. (long pause)

It took a few minutes before she'd let me come anywhere near her to examine the wound. The fork gave her a good scratch, but didn't actually break skin, so no blood. And by the time I figured it out, she'd pretty much forgotten what had happened and was rolling around on the floor, purring. (We think all that toilet water does something to her brain.) But you'd better believe that someone got a big, fat piece of salmon for dinner, and it wasn't mommy or daddy.

Oh well. This isn't quite as funny as the time I hit her in the eye with a jump rope (no joke).