One Half Buddhist, One Half Christian, One Half Pagan

I have tomorrow off from work. I did not ask for the day off, and resent being told I have to use vacation time for it. As much as I dislike "use it or lose it" policies, I think it would annoy me less than this policy of "some people are letting too much vacation time accumulate, so everybody has to use two days worth on days that we choose."

Anyway.

My to do list for tomorrow is:
- Take Skif to the vet. He's due for some shots and a general checkup.
- Go jeans shopping. I had one pair die on me last weekend, and another is getting pretty worn out, so I need at least one new pair
- Get a haircut. My ends are looking pretty ragged, so I'm going to get an inch or two cut off.
- Get a manicure. (Second most likely to get dropped if time is short.)
- Grocery shopping. It's always a readjustment when the farm share ends and I have to start buying vegetables again.
- Finish the 2xcreative project (part 1). I just need to draw in the tree trunk on one side of the paper, and then do the embroidery.
- Pick a project or recipe from my pinterest boards and do it. (This is the one most likely to get skipped if I run out of time.)
- Make dinner

That was one of the least fun nights I've ever spent. I think I may have gotten as much as 4 hours sleep, in many little chunks.

Our housemate Kailey noticed yesterday that Ender has worms (no idea how he got them, he's an indoor cat). So he's locked up on the screened-in porch off of the bedroom until that's resolved. (Kailey is taking him to the vet this morning. She has the morning off, and this way Tom & I don't have to miss any work.) He cried all. night. long. Any little noise triggered 20 minutes of plaintive meowing. So that was Ender's contribution.

Skif "helped" by sleeping on the pillow next to my head (usually Ender's spot) and growling like a monster every time Socks (Kailey's cat) came within 10 feet. There's nothing quite so disconcerting as waking up to a noise like two pieces of granite rubbing together 3 inches from your nose. He sounded like a demon from the depths.

Last night I was laying in bed, peacefully reading, with Skif cuddled up against my side and laying on my right hand.

I moved my hand a tiny bit and I guess I either startled him or bumped a sensitive spot, because next thing I knew he had leaped a foot in the air, bounced off my shoulder, bounced off my head, and was standing on my nightstand staring around with wild eyes.

As for me, I was bleeding from 4 scratches on my right hand, one long scratch on my right shoulder, and my scalp.

This morning I had to stop Skif from trying to eat my hair multiple times. I ended up wrapping my head in the sheet so he couldn't get to it.

The cats are still a little weirded out when I take a bath, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they were utterly flummoxed by a bubble bath. They kept standing with their front paws on the edge of the tub staring at the bubbles with big eyes. Ender lost interest fairly soon, but Skif kept coming back into the bathroom and pacing the edge of the tub looking concerned about my safety (or maybe my sanity).

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I'd ask Skif why he keeps jumping to the top of the bedroom door, and Ender why he keeps jumping on top of my dresser.

I'd also ask both of them why they keep going nuts at 5am.

A few minutes ago I was laying in bed reading (big surprise, I know.) Skif was curled up tight against my shoulder, sound asleep. Every few seconds he made a little noise that was somewhere between a purr and a snore. It was one of the most adorable things I'd seen in a very long time.

Tom added some pictures to his gallery.

Cats! I'm going to make one of these into an icon, but I can't decide which one. Suggestions?

Birka

I took the kitten's to the vet today to get fixed (or "broken" as Tom says). It seems as if everything went smoothly. The only thing that's odd is the instruction to "Restrict activity for the next 10 days. ... Prevent them from running or jumping as much as possible." How on earth do you keep a pair of 6-month-old kittens from running and jumping?!?!?

We're going to keep them in their carrier tonight, and tomorrow I'll be trying my best to keep them in sight as much as I can.

In other news, I put my 2 weeks notice in at the library today. 2 4-hour shifts a week is not a schedule that's been working for me very well, and the library won't give me any other. It's too few hours to actually cover any significant fraction of my living expenses (Thanks Love, for making up the difference), while being just enough hours spaced out just enough that I've had a difficult time hunting for anything better. My plan for this week is to go down to Albany Medical Center and apply for something there.

I'd also like to get something that is at least slightly easier on my knees. Ironically, I think the library would have been less bad for my knees if I had worked more shifts a week. If that had been the case, I would have a few weeks of lots of pain, but then my body would have adjusted. As it is, I leave work with a low grade ache that's gone the next day but re-appears with each workday.

I just took a nice, relaxing bath and ended up with a feline audience. I don't think the kittens had ever seen someone taking a bath before, because they kept jumping up on the side of the tub and looking at me as if they thought I was insane. Skif seemed especially freaked. He would lean towards me with a worried look on his face and I could almost hear him thinking "I'll save you from the nasty water! Ugh, that means I'll have to get close to the water. Um, maybe later." Then he would jump down, only to return and repeat the whole process in 5 minutes.

It was very cute.