Trying Out New Projects

Just the thought of knitting is enough to lift my spirits.  I really want to knit a hat right now.  Actually, scratch that.  I want to crochet a hat.  My crochet skills are less than stellar but I want to make a garden party hat - very girly, with a cute band around the crown with a flower or other adornment.  I should be working on my ripple afghan (so carelessly set aside while I worked on the baby blanket), but I really feel the urge to work on that crocheted hat.  We'll see how far I get today.

I've started a new diet.  Today is the last day of the first week.  I don't want to go into much discussion about exactly what I'm doing but this is the basic explanation.  I'm really overweight.  I love food so much and I don't get enough exercise.  I like Weight Watchers because that plan allows you a lot of flexibility.  But, with that flexibility, I was having problems starting it and getting weight off.  So, I've gone to a eating plan that really restricts your carb and sugar intake.  It's like South Beach where you eat more protein and vegetables.  Fruit and dairy are out.   The trick is to get a lot of weight off of me and when I reach my goal, I can transition to Weight Watchers for the rest of my life.  I also have to get an exercise plan integrated into my life.

An attorney I work for has been on the same plan I just started and has dropped 15 pounds in five weeks.  My plan involves being on this plan until the end of October, at which time I should be at my goal weight.  I'm not sure how much I will blog about this plan but it is what is happening in my life right now.  I'm sure I will be more likely to write about it if I'm having success with it.  

My first week was hard (without bread! or cheese!) but I made it and there was no cheating.  I'm drinking 100 ounces of water per day and limiting my caffeine.  I've found that the thought of food is almost as good as eating it.  Since I've gained so much weight, I've found that the eating of the food became almost secondary, it was the anticipation of the food that got me excited.  Wow.  That sounds really sick.  But, let's face it, being so overweight is an illness.  Honestly, this time I'm really committed to getting rid of this fat.

Now that there are three cats in this house, I am never permitted to sleep in.  There are all kinds of chirping, meowing, and crying in the house every morning until I get out of bed and feed these beasts.  In the evening, they never bother Mr. Grumpbump (he's usually home before me), but the second I get home there are cats circling me, following me around until I pop open that can of Friskies.   As nice as it feels to be wanted, it's fleeting because once their faces are buried in their cat bowls, I'm but a memory.  They seem to feel more comfortable hanging around Mr. Grumpbump and they find his lap a nice place to take naps.

Delilah stretching after a long tiring morning of napping 

Tiggs just starting his morning nap

Mr. Grumpbump has many fine qualities and he's been working on his gardening skills.  He's got a dozen or more plants in his garden now, which has already produced a cubanelle sweet pepper (sorry, no picture, we already ate it!).  Now we are waiting for his bell pepper to fully ripen so we can eat it up as well.

One peck of (not) picked peppers

Until his garden gets productive, we are lucky to have a farmer's market every Saturday morning at a local shopping area.  Yesterday I bought Mr. Grumpbump a couple honey bell oranges (his favorite), along with the standard cucumbers and beefsteak tomatoes.  I also got fresh spinach and a head of lettuce.  I'm eating salad practically every night for dinner with my protein choice (the latest selections: tilapia, chicken and buffalo meat, all on separate nights).  We are headed to a warehouse store this afternoon to pick up a variety of proteins to keep on hand so I don't get bored with my new eating habits.  Tonight, we are going out to eat at a sushi restaurant, and I've determined I can eat sashimi (fish without the sushi rice) and a salad (dressing on  the side).  I also believe the miso soup is acceptable because it's made with tofu.  So, I will not be depriving myself at all.   We tried this restaurant a few weeks ago, so I am very confident that they have good quality fish.

I've got to go and start that garden party hat.  Just got to find my crochet hooks.

Everything In Its Place

As I sit here typing this, next to me is a puddle of yarn with a tiger cat laying it in the middle of it.  The yarn is the leftover remnants of my baby blanket project.  Speaking of that, here's the finished project:

Not my best work, I'm sorry to say.  I felt like there are quite a few "errors" that I tried to fix when the ends were woven back in.  When I looked at the blanket as a whole, my eye focuses on those edits.  The problem was the yarn - it kept getting so tangled.  I spent more time untangling it than knitting.  What I love about the pattern is the gradient, but I think this works best with pastel or muted colors.  The other nice feature of the blanket is the feel of the yarn.  It was baby sport yarn in the first place so by its nature, it's soft. Once I washed this blanket, the yarn really softened up.  I was so happy when it came out of the dryer and the softness was even more apparent.  

Babies love cat hair!

Our newest cat, Tigger, is a true blessing, if only because he actually uses the various cat accessories that I have wasted money on in the past.  Delilah needs nothing but a bed to lie on and Macy just wants her own corner cat condo.  A reclining scratching post was never once looked at by Macy or Delilah, but Tigger?  He's all over it.  Even though he has no front claws, he will claw at this thing like he's got talons.  

Sometime last year, I bought this cat groom tunnel made by Kong.  I thought Macy might like it, even though I had nothing to back up that assumption.  She might have looked at it once, but it was basically abandoned. Until Tigger arrived.

He's a great addition to our house.  He was the cat sleeping next to me as I typed this blog entry.

That's What I'm Made Of

Before you think that I drink, eat, sleep, and sweat cats and knitting, I have to clarify that I heavily edit everything I publish on this blog.  Very personal information is verboten; you never know who your audience is when your blog is public domain.  That's the reason why it seems like my mind has two channels:  (1) Kitties and (2) Knitting.

With that out of the way, I can happily tell you that I have started another knitting project.  A co-worker is having a baby and the baby shower is scheduled for March 9, which doesn't really give me much time to finish a project.  I found a cute and easy pattern called Gradient Garter Baby Blanket and ran over to Michaels on President's Day to get the yarn on sale.  Unfortunately, the store's selection was not very good, so I had to compromise on the colors.  I ended up with white, yellow, pink, lilac, and mint, which will be the order of the colors on the blanket.  The pattern is knitted holding two strands of yarn together.  You knit a sold block of color and then phase into the next solid color by using one strand of each color yarn.  I should make a real dent in the project this weekend because the whole blanket is knit using only the knit stitch.

Tigger continues to make me laugh.  Tonight, I am watching him stalk Delilah, who is still skittish  when he gets too close, but I feel Tigger making some headway in their relationship.  Delilah would love to have a friend to play with, if she would just let go of her bitchy exterior.  Tigger got distracted from his pursuit of Delilah by something under our love seat.  I watched him circle the love seat several times, stopping only to stick his paw underneath it to grab at something..

I thought there was a toy under the couch, and, trying to be helpful, I moved the love seat back.  What a surprise to see that toy under the couch was a lizard!  And Tigger pounced on it as soon as I cleared the path for him.  He chased the lizard across the floor, under the pool table and then I watched the lizard disappear into a pile of brown butcher paper we have on the floor (the short story behind this - Delilah loves to play with the paper, she loves the crinkly sounds it makes).  I'm scanning the area for the lizard, hoping I can help him escape, when I see that Tigger got a hold of the lizard's tail.  The tail is separated from the lizard's body but still wiggling around!  I cannot lie; that was a bit disturbing.  I grabbed my cell phone and shot this grainy video (sorry for the yelling).

I found the lizard hidden in the folds of the butcher paper, so I carried it to the patio and set the tailless lizard free.  I hope Tigger forgives me for ruining his fun (and his snack).  You see, I managed to get the lizard's tail from Tigger because he was going to eat it.

Morning Comedy

I don't know when it happened, but my cats' schedule is all messed up. 

Typically, mornings start at 6:00 a.m., and I immediately get food for the kitties.  They are non-stop meowing and chirping and whining already.  After they finish their food, there is a mad dash for either the back door or the sliding glass door in the bedroom so they can go outside.  They are in and out all morning until I leave for work.

However, in the last 10 ten days, the schedule has been bumped up an hour.  Now, at 5:00 a.m., when Mr. Grumpbump wakes up to go to work, the cats are in a frenzy to be fed.  Being their well-trained guardian, I wake up around 5:15 a.m., and immediately prepare their food.  After gorging on their breakfast, every single cat goes back to sleep (Macy's in her new condo, Tigger on the couch, and Delilah is either on the guest bed or our bed).  I get ready for work, and as I am making my final rounds to leave, that's when the cats suddenly arise from their naps and start to congregate at the doors. 

Typically, this is met with a "No, I'm leaving.  You can't go out." speech.  However, I still had a few minutes this morning so I relented and let Miss Macy out.  In the words of Pretty Woman, "Big Mistake.  Huge."

After five minutes, I need to leave, so I go out the sliding glass door to hustle Macy inside.  Of course, while I'm doing that, Tigger makes a break for it.  I come around to the back door, bringing Macy with me.  In the meantime, Delilah has heard the commotion and wants to join in.  As I'm running Tigger into the house, there goes Delilah.  Delilah is small enough for me to grab, but as I bring her in through the back door, Macy runs by me.

ARGH.  Macy will not let me pick her up so I have to corner her and direct her to the back door.  Of course, when I open the door to herd Macy in, Tigger is sitting there.  Luckily, I yell at him to get back, and he backs aways as Macy slips by me and into the house.

Finally, I have success and all the cats are back inside.  I tell each of them to go back to sleep, which is met with blank stares and no action.

And then, of course, I'm late to work because I left the house 20 minutes later than normal.   No matter, it was the best part of my day so far. 

Five is Good Number

One of our neighbors cooks every Saturday and it always smells so good.  Almost motivates me to cook.  I think this week they are grilling.

Once the warmer weather starts, I'm going to miss having the fresh air in the house.  Since we moved into the house at the end of August, we didn't have that long before the weather started cooling off. And, because the winter has been so mild, our windows and patio doors have been open as long as we are home. I love this house because, on top of the fact that it belongs to us, it feels so open and airy.  What a difference from our former one-bedroom apartment that made me feel so confined.

We are switching from Brighthouse cable to AT&T U-verse today.  Just waiting on the technician to get here.  We currently have AT&T for our cell phone provider.   The change was motivated due to our cable and internet going out on Superbowl Sunday, beginning with the half-time show and ending at the fourth quarter.  Mr. Grumpbump had to listen to the game via his cell phone by using the I Heart Radio app.  When I asked Brighthouse for a $25 credit for this disruption of service, they countered with a credit of $2.63.  I'm still "negotiating" with them for my $25 credit.  U-verse is promising us a lower monthly bill, free DVR, HD channels, and some premium channels (for one year).  I read the reviews on U-verse and they were complimentary and positive, so we decided to make the switch.

I'm still working on my latest ripple stitch afghan.  I think I will try to make it a bit longer than the previous two, if I have enough yarn.  I'll have a lot of the red, beige and cream yarn left over (since those color blocks are smaller than the chocolate brown) so I'm trying to find some patterns for that purpose.  I could knit this pattern with my eyes closed; I've almost forgotten what it is like to have to read a pattern.

A constant fixture on the couch

In October, a co-worker told me about a cat looking for a new home.  She called him a "kitty" so I assumed this was a young cat.  The lady who owned the cat had a small child who was highly allergic to the cat and she needed to re-home him.  I listened to the story but didn't volunteer to take him (surprise, surprise).  I got the impression that he had found a new place to live.

In December, this co-worker emailed me and told me that this "kitty" was still looking for a home (the cat was forced to live outside due to child's allergies).  I feel a pang of sadness but I knew I could not convince Mr. Grumpbump to let me have a third cat.  I did not respond but, in January, this persistent co-worker asked me if I would be willing to contact the cat's owner.  She then sent me pictures of the cat.  Wow.  He was a cutie.  And all of sudden, my mind started playing over all the scenarios in which I could adopt this cat.

After wearing down Mr.Grumpbump (who was behind the literal eight ball in that I let him move his pool table into our dining room and therefore take over the whole living space), I called the cat's owner and on Saturday, January 28, 2011, I went to her house and brought back Tigger:

Tigger, a/k/a El Tigre, a/k/a Mr. Man Cat

Turns out that Tigger is not a kitty, he's eight years old.  And his owner was giving him up after raising him from a kitten!  Tigger was very unhappy for the first two days, which is completely reasonable, seeing as I removed him from the only home he had known for eight years (albeit the last four months he spent in isolation outside and away from his family).  His owner told me that he was a very friendly lap cat and a real lover, so I had hope for him.

After the first few days, Tigger started to show signs of loosening up and relaxing.  He is a purr machine; he purrs while he sleeps, purrs while he eats, purrs when you pet him.  We kept him separated from the girls for the first 10 ten days, and he was living in our bedroom and bathroom.  I started letting him roam around the house while Delilah and Macy were out on the patio.  Now, three weeks later, all cats are leaving out in the open.

Delilah and Macy have not warmed to him (if they ever will), but Tigger is a trooper and he tries really hard to play with them and to be around them.  He's without his front claws, so he is at a disadvantage should there be a brawl, but the girls don't seem to realize that.  When he gets near to them, they hiss or growl, but Tigger stands his ground.  He doesn't move away, and it is Macy or Delilah who turn and retreat.   

When I first brought Tigger home, I had an arrangement worked out with his owner that in the event things did not work out with us, that I would bring Tigger back to her.  We decided to check back with each other in two weeks.  Of course, I've already told her that we are happy to have Tigger stay with us and that, while things aren't perfect, they are perfect.  

Now, I need to work on getting him a new name.