Why blow 'em up when you can steal 'em?
While browsing through magazines in the waiting room at the vet, I came across an article about Chartreux.
The article was in French, and my French language skills are not that great; thus, more questions were raised than answered, and so I went searching on the I'net for more info on the breed.
From thence, did some more I'net searching to find the nearest breeder ~ purely for fun, couldn't realistically afford the time/space/money for another cat ~ and found the nearest breeder to be a mere hop/skip/jump away, in Sainte~Marthe~sur~la~Lac. And as it turns out, the magazine article I had originally read was in fact a profile of this very cattery ~ right down to including all the photos on the website.
Perhaps if I had perused a bit more aggressively, I'd've noticed their website address somewhere in the article; let that be a lesson to me the next time I try to browse through French~language magazines.
"In keeping with the French tradition of naming livestock," says theCat Fancy website, "... breeders began the names of all kittens born in a calendar year with a specific letter of the alphabet, skipping the letters k, q, w, x, y and z. Therefore, the name of a Chartreux indicates age. Cats born in 2002 have names starting with t."
Should I ever be so fortunate as to have a Chartreux born in 2004, I'd be ever so mightily tempted to name her Vitameatavegamin Girl {being Veggie, of course, for short}; so, perhaps the world is ever better off that my whims are not ever granted.
Went to the grocery store expecting to be able to pick up strawberries. Last week I'd seen an eight~foot wide by four~foot high stack of jewel cases full of strawberries, presumably stocked up for Valentine's day if the heart~shaped chocolate fondue kits next to it were any indication.
So Boyfriend & I go grocery shopping the day after Valentine's, and the strawberries are gone. What's in their place? Boxes of Krispy Kremes, replete with wide plastic windows for the viewing of the goods {apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks doughnuts are romantic}.
On the sight of them, Boyfriend's first words were, that is so wrong, and as near as I can figure, he meant that he was ethically opposed to buying doughnuts second~hand. For my part, I was disappointed that they were sold by the identical dozen; I'd had my heart set on an assortment, but I hadn't the nerve to open up all the boxes and create my own.
Suppose I'll just have to settle for the boxer shorts.
Mmmm... doughnuts...
*Ahem.*
To whom it may concern:
I think a box of Krispy Kremes would be so much more romantic than a box of chocolates.
Don't know why I think that; might have something to due with the evanescence of romance vs. the shelf life of chocolate. For me, a doughnut poetically captures the fleeting joy of life so much better than a hard nougat.
Mind you, if you want to convey a sentiment on an everlasting nature, the diamond industry is happy to help. Since so few of us are making to to our 75th wedding anniversary, they've been hyping Valentine's as the time to give {what else?} diamonds. But again, I'm afraid I must disagree; diamonds are so generic, and a gem ought to be personal.
My sister~in~law insisted on an emerald engagment ring because a good emerald can be more expensive than a diamond, and it's a good investment. My grandmother had a garnet engagement ring, because garnets were inexpensive and they couldn't afford any better. If I were ever to desire a ring of any kind, I'd prefer to have a replica of my grandmother's ring {though frankly garnet paper would be more in my financial range}.
Not that I'm asking. I'm just saying I'm a sentimental kind of Mousehat. :)
... hope it doesn't mess anybody up for Valentine's Day tomorrow. But if it does, you've got Qi Qiao Jie {The Festival to Plead for Skills*} to try and make up for it. ;)
Aka Double Seven Day because it is slated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day. According to the Chinese Calendar, it should fall on August 22nd in 2004. That gives you six months to come up with something redemptory. If you can hang on for that long, that is...
* The Wikipedia articles states, "It is traditional for young girls to demonstrate their domestic arts on this day (especially melon carving)..." so of course now all I can think of is Leslie Nielsen on a film shoot in Montréal’s Chinatown during a hot day in August, complimenting a carver on her melons...
Okay, so that's two things.
Evidently, my learning curve is unusually steep within these parameters.
Cheery stories in the news again.
Funny how they get filed under "quirkies"; it somehow implies that a happy news story is some sort of aberrance...
There's a TV commercial in which restaurant diners pay for their meals by literally singing for their supper. "If life were like that," says the ad, "you wouldn't need Visa." Well, sometimes, life *is* like that.
Oh, and this delights me immensely. Non~violent protest, anyone? :*
And this... If I had the wherewithal, I'd create an installation piece inspired by this one... and I'd title it, If this snow could only talk...
And finally, a reason to Eat Your Peas! I'll never be able think of Ogden Nash's pea poem in quite the same way...
I eat my peas with honey.
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on my knife.
What is it about making the bed that can wake up Kitten {aka Your Idiot Son} from a deep sleep on the other side of the house and bring him galumphing into the bedroom to pounce on the sheets? I swear, I could have a team of ninjas making the bed and he would still get himself swaddled before you could say "Usagi Yojimbo".
The Truth About Stories by Thomas King. Just because I looked up, and hey, there it was.
Finally, some *good* news about a virus.
It's such unusual news... I keep imagining a Nat. Enq. type magazine with the front~page headline MOSQUITOES! CURE! CANCER!!! splashed above a grainy B&W photo depicting a Mosquito Angel of the Flemish Renaissance persuasion who looks suspiciously like Lady Di...
"101 Things You Gotta Do Before You Die!"
This list is weighted in favour of The House. Some of these are likely finish me off ~ and then how could I finish off the rest? Oh, someone might use my urn as a trophy, but that's probably cheating. Am just not very outdoorsy... nor am I even remotely so ambitious as to have 101 goals to accomplish in a lifetime. Heck, I have enough trouble whittling down my day~to~day to~do lists; where would a do~or~die~trying list fit in?
I think a realistic list for me would look something like this:
Things I Want To Do Before I Die
The Keep~Your~Head~Above~Water Challenge
1} Clean the entire house.
And keep it clean. For at least a week.
This means certain lesser goals ~ goal particles? ~ must be achieved:
. . . i} clean the kitty litter every day
. . . ii} get all the laundry washed, folded and properly stored
. . . iii} wash dishes after meals
. . . iv} keep the foyer tidy {thus making it possible to get in and out of the house without having to shimmy ourselves along walls}
. . . v} clean out {& organise} the closets
2} Create a cat~positive environment
Spoil 'em silly. Goal particles:
. . . i} brush them every day; establish a playtime ritual
. . . ii} grow plants for them to nibble on {or, possibly, sods of grass for them to sprawl on}
. . . iii} make toys & beds
. . . iv} build a Felinarium; put up catwalks
. . . v} enclose back balcony for use as a cat run
3} Establish & follow a health~and~beauty regimen.
Goal particles:
. . . i} drink water; eat healthy; improve posture
. . . ii} exfoliate; moisturize; wax; pluck; trim; manicure/pedicure; etc.
. . . iii} update wardrobe
. . . iv} make & stick to a schedule for at~home beauty treatments
. . . v} should finances ever permit, visit the spa every so often; and while we're at it, a trip to the dentist wouldn't hurt either...
4} Paint everything that needs painting
Goal particles:
. . . i} strip & paint the wooden folding chairs {and reseat them, and mount the wall brackets to hang them on}.
. . . ii} paint the foyer {and hang the mirror so I know what I look like when I leave in the morning; also, put up the coathooks so we can stop hanging our coats off knobs. We have an extra door off its hinges standing next to the front foor, just so we can hang stuff on it}.
. . . iii} paint the kitchen walls & cabinets
. . . iv} paint the bedroom
. . . v} paint all the blank canvases I own
5} Get the house running like a well~oiled machine
Goal particles:
. . . i} keep kitchen pantry/fridge/supplies cabinet well~stocked & tidy; keep a running list of sundries {what's on hand/what's needed; includes kitty supplies, like food, treats & litter}
. . . ii} shop wisely & spend economically on groceries
. . . iii} prepare & freeze meals ahead of time; learn how to cook 30~minute meals; pack a lunch for work
. . . iv} set up a "launch pad" and a "crash pad" ~ i.e., the areas by the front door where you [a] set up everything you need to grab when you leave in the morning, and [b] drop everything when you get home in the evening {also a good place to have a chair/bench/pew, for us old people who can't bend down to put on our shoes}
6} Organise papers
Goal particles:
. . . i} clean out the file cabinet
. . . ii} get tax paperwork in order; throw away useless receipts
. . . iii} organise art/craft paper
. . . iv} go through old journals
7} Finish what I started
Goal particles:
. . . i} build a new sofa {we've already bought all the lumber, the mattress & the upholstery material}
. . . ii} destroy an old sofa {or we'll have no place to put the sofa we're building... thanks go out to the cats, who have already helped me start this one}
~ ~ ~
Yup. For the moment, that's my list. Really ought to post it as a side bar; perhaps public shame will help me to get things crossed off.
Am off to buy toilet paper, paper towels & cotton balls, as per 5.i above.
So... what is your "To Do before I Die" list?