Proud Momma!

Everyone thinks their kid is the cutest, smartest, most talented, etc. Well I know for sure that MY kid really is the cutest and she can kick your kid's ass too. :) Here is my princess Angel in the dress we bought her. She was very tolerant of it, despite it being a tad tight in the chest (looks like my girl takes after her momma and has an ample bosom). She did not cry once and just lounged around until I was drowning in guilt, let her out of the dress and showered her with treats. The dress looks really cute on a hanger too. Needless to say, I love Angel for putting up with all of my zany ideas.

Ann vs Jill

I discovered J.Jill recently. Thanks to a coupon in Martha Stewart Living, I decided to check out their website. The clothes are fairly expensive, but no more than Ann Taylor. Jill is owned by Talbots, so the style is more classic and refined than Ann. The best part is that Jill offers fat people friendly clothes too, so I know they don't shun people like me. The clothes are designed to flatter most figures, so I know they didn't design for a size 2 and increase it to make my size.

I ordered a necklace and it wasn't in my box. I called and they promptly shipped out another (already on its way!) That is customer service!

Beggars Can Be Choosers

We eat our meals on the family room coffee table, sitting on the floor. Angel knows when it's meal time and will follow us around. When we finally settle in, say grace and prepare to eat, she will sit next to me and stare. And headbutt quite forcefully. I'm afraid I have spoiled her, trained her, and otherwise positively reinforced that by begging, she may get some of mommy's yummy human food. Most of the time our meals are unfit for kitties since they include spices, onions, or other non-cat-friendly ingredients. That doesn't stop Princess Angel though. She demands to smell, inspect and otherwise see my food only to realize "Ick. I don't want this." I resume eating after my inspection but continue to get harassed because Angel is convinced that my food has changed and she wants some too! Round 2. Show Angel my food, she snubs, I eat. Round 3, repeat. Round 4: mom, I'm still here!!! Beggars CAN be choosers it seems.

Parenthood

It's no secret that I am nesting. QE predicted that I would nest years ago. His theory is that women in their early 30s get baby fever and there's nothing we can do about it. We may not all get preggers, but we will all hanker for a cute sweet-smelling bundle of baby. And given how everyone Frappie knows is either pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or recently birthed, I hear about so-and-so's pregnancy trials and tribulations. That makes me long for a cooing bundle of my own even more. Except that I'm smart enough to know that the last thing we need is a kid in our lives. I am curious about being pregnant. Ok, not really. :) But it would be neat to feel kicking from within my own body. (ahhh! I'm possessed by aliens!!!) We would need a nanny of course. And if we do not adopt, I expect a huge push present from QE for inflicting pain and torture on me. YOU DID THIS TO ME!

So what gives with all this baby talk? (come on, take a guess...) Yup, it has to do with our cats, aka our kids. We have to wipe Angel's girlie area on a regular basis since she can't reach. Last night, upon contact with a baby wipe, I got sprayed. With a black liquid. Luckily, most of it landed on my vanity. But a few drops did hit my arm. EW. I wiped Angel while QE held her, and then let her go. Totally grossed out, QE made liberal use of Lysol to clean up the poo juice. What's weird is that I did not touch Angel's butt, which may have caused an involuntary reflex (that's how momma cats litter box train kittens--momma licks kitten's butt while in the litter box to cause kitten to go potty). The good news is that Angel's girlie area was rather clean, so maybe she is starting to lose weight and can reach a little.

It also confirmed that parenthood isn't for us. More power to all you peeps happy to spawn. Go for it! I will play and love your baby until it decides to expel liquids or solids from any openings. One more thing. My MIL told us on our last visit that QE's nephew (age 6 or 7?) manipulated her. Justin had to go potty and told MIL that he couldn't wipe yet and made her wipe his ass. MIL knew he could take care of himself and chose not to. And his parents confirmed that Justin is fully capable of wiping his own nasty white ass. OMG I would have let him sit there. For hours if necessary.

Fired

My boss got fired yesterday.

Greener Grass

I've been at my current job/employer for six months. And I still miss my old employer, whom I gave eight years of my life. Do I want to go back? Not really. But I still miss my old bosses, the founders of the company. There was a time years ago that I hated them with every ounce of me. Have I matured and now see the err in my ways? Have they changed? Did leaving them open my eyes to how the real world sucks? I don't know. The bottom line is that the guys were good people and more importantly, good managers. Things have changed a lot at the company, including new management, so I am confident I do not wish I worked there. Having the same employer for eight years is bound to cause some heartache I suppose. It's like breaking up from a long-term relationship. It's for the best, but it still causes an emptiness in the heart. For one thing, those bellyaching employees at the company have NO IDEA how good they have it. Everyone has a window office. EXCELLENT benefits where the company paid 80% of insurance premiums with great coverage and a broad network. Casual dress--jeans every day! Were there bad parts to the company? Of course. But those memories tend to fade, leaving only the glory of the good times.

Fall has Fallen

Doesn't sound quite as good as Spring has Sprung. I was stalked all weekend by a blue-eyed circulation-stopper who has a knack for ensuring I am in the most uncomfortable state possible. The colder weather has certainly triggered the snuggle instinct in Angel. She slept with me all of last night. Her new trick is to hop into bed and step on my hair and pull it to a point of inflicting pain. Once she knows I am awake, she will lay on my hair and scoot as close to my head as possible, with her rump in my face of course. Last night, I decided not to fight her and conceded my pillow to her. I slept on another pillow below hers. Angel spent the whole night on my pillow. It was nice to be reunited after a hot summer where QE and I had the bed to ourselves.

Went dress shopping with Frappie on Saturday. I am proud to say that I picked out the dress she ended up ordering. :) She looked good in all of the gowns.

Mixed Veggies

Picovoli is almost done for the second time. Perfect length. Hopefully it won't stretch too much! We're seeing Frappie again today. Maybe I'll have it done in time to wear it! Zoo pics are finally uploaded. Went to get the kitties' food yesterday and we had a welcoming committee who provided personal recommendations on their favorite foods. One salesguy also showed us which perch and cat tree was his favorite. I loved the personal touch! :) QE said we could get the kids a cat tree for Christmas. Looks like Santa Claws thinks our kids have been good little kitties. After last year's incident with Davis getting lost, I would do and pay anything to keep my precious furry bundles safe and happy. Gotta go finish knitting.

Picovoli Finished, sort of

I finished my shirt/sweater last night. It looks great except it's too short. I think that it turned out exactly like the pattern, but it still hits too high on the hip for my liking. So now I have to un-bind off, rip out the seed stitch hem, and continue knitting in stockinette for a few more rounds. The hem is supposed to be in stockinette too, but the seed stitch looks really nice. :)

I think I will cheat and instead of un-knitting each stitch for five rows, I will use the SnB method and weave a needle into where I want to rip, snip the work loose and rip away until I reach the needle. Much easier I think. It will have to wait until this weekend because it's too much pressure for the train ride. And it will definitely take more than an hour to undo what I want. But I still like my picovoli.

11 Years of Bliss

QE and I celebrated 11 years together on Friday. To humor me, he took me to the zoo. What fun! I will upload pics on Flickr when I get a chance. My boy Tai Shan was in a willow tree sleeping, so I had to find a new best friend. Mei Xiang was sleeping sitting up, with her head resting on a rock, just like kids sleeping in class on their desk. Tian Tian was sleeping in his grotto for a while and moved elsewhere when we went back. Highlights were watching the staff feed a cheetah (daddy of cubs) because he wasn't happy about the change in his diet. They were concerned about how much he was eating, so handfeeding him was the only way to ensure he was eating everything. He was up close too! So awesome. When he was done eating (note that he wasn't FINISHED with his meal, he was just done), he meowed once and walked away. The staff called him and he ignored them. Typical cat! We also saw...meerkats!!!! in the small mammal house. They are the cutest little creatures! QE's little friend was running back and forth like he was on speed or something. A few of them stood on their hind legs. They are just as cute in person as on TV. Furry little faces, cute little feet. There was a momma in the back nursing her cubs. We also saw a momma tiger and her three cubs. Two were napping peacefully while a third kept trying to pounce on mom. He was hilarious. I managed to capture one pounce on video. Mom would be lounging while junior stalked her. His paws were huge, much too big for his body. While we watched the tigers, the staff clanged some metal pans together indoors, signaling meal time. Momma tiger promptly got up and trotted indoors for her meal. Again, so housecat like it was hilarious. We encountered several herds of field tripping kids. OMG There's nothing like the sound of 15+ kids screaming, squealing and running everywhere. We promptly left every time a herd approached. And we always knew when an exhibit had something cool because those shrill voices would pierce the peaceful morning air.

As my sugar daddy, QE bought me a Tai Shan plush doll. He's so cute. And he goes perfectly with the big Mei Xiang plush I bought on our last visit. Maybe that's why QE doesn't take me to the zoo often! One other cool thing was buying ice cream from a vending machine. Some kid asked for ice cream while mom said it was too cold and they weren't selling ice cream. All while QE and I were buying ice cream and watched the cool contraption that stores and dispenses ice cream. Ice cream before 11 a.m. rocks. Especially when all the kids were jealous. HA!