That’s funny. Picard is my least favorite out of all of the possible results LOL.
No TagsArchive for July, 2005
Just finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I am properly shocked and awed. I won’t post any spoilers or anything, but suffice it to say that it’s the BEST and the WORST…EVER. My thoughts can be summed up by a quote from this review, which may contain spoilers:
The ending is almost too much to bear. I haven’t cried so hard since Charlotte the Spider died.
I had pretty much stayed current with the spoilers around the internet concerning this book. I don’t mind spoilers because, for me, it’s ALL about the journey. I had guessed the Half-Blood Prince’s identity correctly, but JK Rowling is a master at the subtle forks in the road of the journey, so there were many surprises to be found.
It’s going to be a very long 2-3 year wait for the last book in the series.
No TagsI spent the morning cat-proofing the house. I don’t think I ever took the time to KID proof my house for crying out loud. The kids settled on the name Shadow and she’s settled herself in quite well. The birds have been hung in their cages where she can’t get to them. I’m not worried about the snake…her cage has a sliding cover that locks into place. Another few weeks and the snake will be large enough to hold her own anyways. I’ve given the boys the rules. They’ll be taking care of the cat…litterbox duty…feeding…brushing (she’s a long haired black cat and had mats the size of golf balls on her). The FIRST time the cat shits or pisses anywhere other than the litterbox, she’s history. It remains to be seen if I’m going to take her in for declawing. Most vets aren’t doing it anymore because it’s seen as cruel. Yeah, I know…don’t even get me fuckin started on that. I’d have had her done when she was spayed yesterday but my normal vet doesn’t do it anymore and gave me the lecture. I told him it was no problem if he didn’t want to do it…I’ll just find some old country vet somewhere in the backwoods around here and pay him to do it. “It’s just not something we do anymore because it’s seen as unecessary and cruel”. Gag me. I’ll tell you what’s cruel…the cat getting her ass beat because she claws my new livingroom set because you clowns won’t declaw her.
I’ll give her a chance to be a good kitty. She really is the most friendly cat I’ve ever met. I haven’t once seen that “Are you talking to ME, lowly human?” look yet. I am grudgingly dealing with this turn of events. I hate to see any animal tossed aside like trash…even a cat.
In other news, the witching hour is closing in and the boys and I will be driving to a bookstore 40 miles away to go get the new Harry Potter book. I don’t know who is more excited about this book…them or me LOL. Yeah, so it’s not the greatest literature ever written…who freakin cares? I’ll read almost anything you put in front of me and, as for the boys…any book that creates this much excitement in two boys that doesn’t contain bells, whistles and flashing lights is okay with me. I’m lucky because they DO like to read…anything, not just Harry Potter books. But sometimes with all of the electronic entertainment around this house, they forget.
I’ve had to buy two of each book as they’ve come out but this time around, I have to buy three. I sure as fuck ain’t waiting to read it, my oldest is simply salivating over it so I can’t make HIM wait to read it. And my youngest is very proud that he’s finally old enough (8) to read it on his own. It’s kind of silly to buy three copies but, again, anything to get their noses in a book this summer. I’ll probably finish it before the weekend is over, so blogging will be light until Sunday night at least.
No TagsLet it never be said that the master of the guilt trip is a woman. My children have pulled out all the stops in defense of the Fucking Cat™ . I was doing fairly well…I stayed strong all day yesterday and, when they came to me to plead the Fucking Cat’s™ case, I sent them away with The Glare.
Realizing that promises of Taking Total Responsibility weren’t working, the little shits plotted a scheme to appeal to the phenomenon known as “Mama’s Guilt”. Now, I typically don’t fall for that bullshit and they know it. I’ve never been bullied or guilted into giving them anything against my will or better judgement. They changed tactics this time and I did NOT see it coming.
After much whispering in their bedroom this morning, my Monkeyboy…my baby…the last fruit of my loins… comes into the kitchen and sits down at the table, watching me chopping up veggies for the birds. I knew what the purpose of the conversation was and I knew where it was headed. He’s been asking for a cat for about two years now. “Mom,” he says, “why won’t you let ME have something to love too?”
Damn it.
I’ve got two birds. BooBoo, my oldest son, has Snape the snake. Monkeyboy has been asking for a cat for almost two years now, but my excuse has always been that cats and birds don’t mix. Of course, I know that cats and birds in the same household can work out…I’ve done it before. I simply didn’t want a cat.
Is the Fucking Cat™ staying when she returns from the vet’s tomorrow? Of course she is.
No TagsI was born almost one year after Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon. I was too young to really pay much attention to the Apollo missions and the building of Skylab. My first, my only encounters with the space program have only ever included the space shuttles. I saw Star Wars when I was 7 years old, was a huge fan of Star Trek and, by the time Columbia was first unveiled, I was a budding space geek. I vividly remember the first flight of Columbia. And the goosebumps…good God did I have goosebumps when I saw that thing take off on tv. I thought that was just the shiznit, let me tell ya.
During the first 10 years of my life, my father was dealing with diabetes and slowly going blind. I was blissfully ignorant of the trauma that this was causing my parents. I knew it was happening and it was explained to me in a very matter of fact manner, but I can now look back on that period of my life and realize just how clueless I really was. Anyways, when I was 11 years old, my mom took me on a vacation to Florida. She had booked one of those package deals, which had included a day pass to Kennedy Space Center. We had hoped to be lucky enough to catch an actual launch, but we had just missed one the previous week. It didn’t matter though…I had died and gone to heaven. I ran around that complex like a kid in a candy store, taking it all in.
We went back to Florida two years later in 1983, after my father had died. It had been a long two years for both my mother and I. I had lost my daddy, and she had lost her husband and her daughter, as I was a typical hormonal teenage girl. And I was mad as hell about it. ALL OF IT. She dragged my ass out of school for two weeks in the hopes of getting me to snap out of it. We half hoped that we’d catch a shuttle launch, but we knew it wasn’t likely.
We totally lucked out.
Our flight home was cancelled because of a snowstorm back home and that extra day spent in Florida was the day NASA was finally able to launch Columbia.
If you’ve never experienced a space shuttle launch, you are truly missing out on something spectacular. It is the ultimate in ’shock and awe’. When you see those rockets light up, it’s awesome. But you don’t just see it take off…you FEEL it… and it’s like every 4th of July fireworks display all rolled into one. The noise and vibration are phenomenal…even at the viewing area, which is miles from the launchpad. For a few minutes, nothing else in the world matters except that ship and her crew and her cargo getting up there…to a place that is SO much bigger than any one person or petty problems. Of course, I wasn’t capable of profound thought at that age, so I squealed like a little girl. And I was happy.
And, for a few minutes at least, my mother had her little girl back.
Since then, I’ve followed the space program as much as I could. I was in a classroom watching the first teacher in space launch on Challenger in 1986 when it all went horribly wrong. When Columbia went down in 2003, it felt like losing a member of my own family. Like many others, Columbia had been THE space shuttle for me…the mothership.
The upcoming launch marks the beginning of the end of the space shuttle program. In 5 years, Endeavor, Discovery and Atlantis will be retired. I doubt that I’ll ever get to see another shuttle launch in person, but if YOU ever get a chance, go for it.
It’s an experience you’ll never forget.
No TagsThe launch has been cancelled, not due to weather (as was expected), but due to a faulty back up fuel censor in the fuel tank. They’re looking at whether it is something they can fix on the launchpad or if they’ll have to roll it back to the vehicle assembly building.
Yeah, I know they’re doing the right thing by not taking a chance…but I’m still disappointed. It would have been a great birthday present to see that shuttle go up!
No TagsI just don’t freakin believe this. Cats aren’t my favorite household pet anymore, but I just don’t understand how anyone could just abandon this cat. After listening to me swear for a few minutes, the sheriff got one of the town cops to drop off an animal carrier for me so I could pack up the cat and bring her to the kennel that I occasionally work at. Usually cats will throw a verbal shit fit and cuss you out when you toss them in a carrier but she just curled up and went along for the ride without a fuss. The boys sat in back and cooed at her through the bars of the carrier. I glared at them through the rear view mirror and mentioned, several times, that hell will freeze over before this cat becomes a permanent member of the household.
I was still swearing when I hit the grooming room at the kennel. The owners of the kennel and I examined her…female, not spayed (Of COURSE), more than likely hasn’t had shots, but no fleas. I called my vet and made an appointment for her to be spayed and get shots tomorrow. I gave her a bath and flea dip (just in case…I HATE fleas and wanted to make EXTRA sure she didn’t have any). She didn’t enjoy the bath, but she didn’t totally freak out. It’s not unusual for it to take 3 sets of hands and a strong choke chain attatched to the side of a tub to bathe a cat, so this was a relief. She stood there and yowled. The boys cooed at her. I glared at them.
I put her on a table after the bath and started drying and brushing the mats out of her. She yowled some more. The boys cooed some more. I went out into the retail area, ripped a cat collar with bells off of a peg, ripped the price tag off and tossed it at the owners with instructions to put it on my tab. I put the collar on the cat. She purred and rubbed up against me. Marilyn put a bow on the collar, smiled sweetly at me and said “Sucker” and walked away laughing. Roger gave me a spare catbox, let the boys each pick out a toy for her and sent us on our way.
At this point, “She is NOT staying” became a mantra that I repeated many times on the way home. I tried to explain to the boys that she’s a cat and since we have birds, it’s probably not going to be a good mix. I told them that she’ll probably piss all over their toys and clothes. I reminded them that cats aren’t as playful as dogs and that cats are boring.
Since we walked in the door a little over an hour ago, the little bitch has proved me wrong about everything. She walked by the birdcage, looked and went about her business. As soon as I put litter in the catbox, she ran over, did her business…and didn’t even kick any litter onto the floor. She played with the kids and her new toys for a bit, ate a whole bowl of food, drank some clean water and washed her face. Then she came into my room, where I am typing this entry. She rubbed herself all over my legs…and then…and THEN…guess what she did.
Whose bed is that? It’s MINE, of course. The bitch spent 15 minute kneading my blankets and pillows into a position that she wanted, curled up and went to sleep like she owned the joint.
She is NOT staying.
No TagsI recieved a wonderful gift about 20 minutes ago. I, unfortunately, had to evict someone that rents an apartment in my building last week. The sheriff showed up this morning so that we could go down and physically remove them if needed. I was fairly sure that they had moved out last week, because I saw them loading up a truck, so I was expecting to walk into an empty apartment.
It was empty…except for one thing…
Damn it.
No TagsWitNit thinks he’d hop a ride on that high octane space vehicle given half a chance.
I, on the other hand, would hop on WitNit, pummel him to a ghost of his former self and steal his ticket 
Recent Comments