Tomorrow morning’s trip to drop the kittens at the vet’s office will not come soon enough. At about midnight last night, I completed my education on Female Feline Estrus. Yes, a cat in heat is, in fact, an unmistakable thing. No yowling, likely because there’s a boy cat right in the house, but plenty of cooing, chirping, butt-dancing, rolling around on the floor like a fish out of water, and rubbing against everything in sight. Poor Ronin merely seems to be confused by this new behavior. He starts chewing on her head, and rather than attacking him back or running away, she’s getting all lovey-dovey.

At the moment, I have her locked in the bedroom to get some peace and quiet while I try to clean the house. She’s none to happy about this, but what am I going to do?

So yes, very glad tomorrow morning is when they go in to get “fixed.” I knew it was coming soon. The only problems now are will the vet spay her while she is in heat, and how much more will that cost?

Could the problems in my life please stop coming on every few minutes? Please?

And to top it off, Aunt Flo came to visit today, so now there are two hormonally bitchy females in the house.

Remember how I’ve mentioned several times over the last few years how we are on the flight path for small planes landing at a nearby airport? Yeah, well … a small plane crashed about four miles from our house at Connally High School, probably at the exact same moment I hit the post button this morning at 8 am on my last post. Just … up … the … road. Holy hell!

I heard sirens as I was popping my earbuds into my ears, but we hear sirens here all the time. We live in a city. Sirens are normal, especially on grey and rainy days (more car accidents). I didn’t think anything of it until I got a few phone calls asking if we were OK.

The only person killed was the pilot, and I have to think we have the pilot to thank for that. Of all the places in the area where he could have crashed, he managed to do so in one of the wooded areas with no people in it. There are lots of places nearby where possibly hundreds of folks might have gotten injured had it crashed there … shopping centers and things like that.

While I am not especially freaked out about a plane crashing so close to home, it is a little weird to say the least. Sort of one of those “woah” moments. Though like I said, I didn’t notice, and what I did notice (all the fire engines leaving the station a few blocks away), I thought nothing of really. I’ve been living in the city too long to be jumpy about every siren I hear, I guess. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

As a side note, that free John Hodgman audiobook I talked about in my last post? It is so funny it would be worth installing iTunes and setting up an account just to download it. No joking. It’s just that good. The book itself is probably a great read, but I don’t think it would be anywhere near as good as hearing him reading his own book. Good enough to make you not notice a small plane has crashed near your home.

John Hodgman’s book, The Areas of My Expertise, is currently available in audiobook form at iTunes for free (iTunes link — will open iTunes if you have it). No idea how much longer it will be free, but I can tell you, it’s hilarious and worth paying for … though free is always better, isn’t it?

And who is John Hodgman? If you’ve seen any of Apple’s recent TV commercials, you may know him as “PC” … and he’s a regular contributor to The Daily Show as well. In short, he’s a funny, funny guy! I can’t wait for the book to finish downloading so I can load it on the iPod. The day is sizing up to be grey and possibly rainy, so I can think of no better way to waste it away than laying on the bed with the kitties, listening to John and giggling to myself.

If you haven’t seen any of the new Mac ads, you really need to click the link above and watch them … all of them. I guarantee you will chuckle more than once.

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte

After receiving today’s allotment of coupon and freebie-bearing emails from the online craft stores I frequent, all of which have been celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas with twelve days of coupons and freebies, I just feel an overwhelming need to point out one small fact.

The Twelve Days of Christmas start AFTER Christmas, not BEFORE Christmas!

Furthermore, do you know why there are twelve days of Christmas? That’s how long it took the wise men to locate Jesus, and the end of that journey is the day we know as Epiphany (January 6th).

I’m not so much offended by retail establishments celebrating Christmas, since I do too (though it’s an odd mish-mash due to there being a variety of religions in my family). What offends me is the misuse of Christmas, or any holiday, just to bring in more sales. Yes, sending out coupons and freebies after Christmas probably wouldn’t bring in higher sales as sending them out before likely does, but wouldn’t it be more in tune with the true meaning of it all? I think it would. So either celebrate the holiday when it’s actually celebrated, or call your seasonal sales promotion something else.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. It’s been bugging me for about six days, since these emails started. Can you tell I am still grumpy?

My husband, who spoils me even when he shouldn’t, gave me my Xmas present early. I am now the giddy owner of my very own video iPod. Either that, or I have finally lost my mind entirely and become totally delusional. Wait … I have photographic proof! It must be true!

OK, so I’m not totally giddy. Still feeling stressed out and down about the holidays and life in general. But now I can lay on the bed feeling mopey and watch TV, play games, look at photos and videos of the kitties, and listen to music rather than having to do so at my computer or on the couch. It’ll make feeling blue a bit better. Imagine how much fun I am going to have with it when I’m not n a funk!

And I have to tell you, the video iPod is just about the coolest thing ever. Within minutes of opening it, I had it loaded up with my favorite music, a few old black-n-white movies I love, every free TV show from iTunes that I hadn’t gotten to watch yet, and a slew of my favorite photos and home movies … and then I camped out in the other room escaping reality. I really didn’t NEED an iPod, but I am thrilled to have one. There were even reports of giggling and a bit of Happy Dancing going on.

He even got a great present for my mom, which I won’t mention particulars on since some people she knows read my web site and not a one of them can keep a secret. It’s really cool though, and she’s going to freak right out when she gets it. That actually made me happier than the iPod seeing as it relieved a bit of the holiday stress I have been feeling.

My husband is one awesome guy.

It’s Monday. I’m grumpy. I’ve spent all day snuggling with kittens and trying to gain the motivation to do the usual post-weekend housework. I have failed miserably at that so far.

Yup … that is all for now. Exciting, isn’t it?

I don’t care if Angelina Jolie is on the pill, and I fail to see why she feels it is necessary to announce such a thing on national TV … or for the media to bother reporting it.

It would appear my feelings concerning the dangers of hormone replacement therapy were well-founded, it is a bad thing after all. The hot flashes aren’t going to kill me, but cancer just might. So … I told you so.

No shit lethal injection isn’t as humane as everyone has consistently claimed. Once again, I told you so.

We will continually screwed over for as long as the Oil Cartel controls the flow of oil in order to insure their profits, thus … we need to stop using oil, and that’s something that should have been started in earnest back when I was a kid.

If you don’t want to take the chance of getting ill (or getting fat), stop eating in restaurants and fast food establishments and learn how to cook healthy meals in your home where you can control the conditions and content. Additionally, stop using a hundred different anti-bacterial products to kill 99.9% of the germs in your environment. You aren’t helping your immune system or anyone else’s by creating super-bugs.

If I ran into a seven-legged dear with both male and female sex organs in my driveway, there is no way in hell I would eat it. Are you crazy?! There is something just not right with a dear like that which screams “not for consumption by humans.”

If you eat fish and chicken, you are not a vegetarian. I don’t care how you modify the word or how many explanations you make. Fish and chicken are made of meat just like cows and people. Would you call yourself a vegetarian if you only ate people?

Starting a legal battle to get back a noose used in Illinois’ last public hanging, because it’s a family heirloom, is really the height of ridiculousness. It’s in a museum, where it should be. Why the hell would you want it in your home? Are you going to hang it in the living room?

Children’s toys used to be far more “dangerous” than they are today. Please note that the vast majority of us managed to not kill ourselves or anyone else with them. I suspect it has something to do with the fact our parents actually played with us and didn’t force us to live in a protective bubble so they could ignore us at their leisure, safe in the knowledge we couldn’t harm ourselves.

Yes, people still use dial-up to connect to the internet. In other amazing news, there are actual human beings living in America who don’t even own a computer and have never seen the internet. Your broadband connection isn’t quite as ubiquitous as you seem to think it is.

And so ends my round-up of news I have heard, read and seen this morning … I could go on, but my fuzzy family, husband included, are demanding attention.

I love our kitties. Not the love you have for baby animals because they are too cute not to love, but the real sort of love a person can share with an animal companion. The sort that makes you wonder how you can ever live without them, makes you think about a day sometime in the future when you will have to do just that, and it breaks your heart just a bit to think about it.

I’ve loved them since we brought them home, but I love all animals, especially little furry and helpless babies, in that “Oh how adorable, I have to pick them up and give them a squeeze!” way. There have been a few hours, sometimes a few days, when I wondered if getting them had been a good idea at all. I liked having them around, because I like being around cats, but they seemed like “just cats.” If you have ever had cats in your life, you know what I mean. Some cats are “just cats” who live with you, who you care for, and who give you the time of day every once in a while, and some cats are “very special cats” who weasel their way into every corner of your life and heart and become more like children than pets.

Fuzza had been a Very Special Cat, and I didn’t expect to have another Very Special Cat again. I’ve had a lot of cats in my life, and only Fuzza achieved the standing of being a Very Special Cat. I’d hoped one of the kittens would end up joining him in those ranks, but I certainly didn’t expect both of them to do so. I have been doubly blessed. Ronin and Myu both are on the road to becoming Very Special Cats, and it thrilled my heart today to realize how very close we are growing, and how much they love me and I them. It such a wonderful feeling!

They don’t follow me around anymore because they want to be fed or want a snack or want me to get out their favorite toy for a play session … the stick and string with feathery things on the end that drives them wild. Now they follow me around because they just want to spend time with me and be close to me. When I walk into the bedroom, to put away laundry or change clothes, they come running and hop on the bed begging for tummy rubs and a cuddle, which, of course, they always get. When I am working in the kitchen, they are underfoot rubbing against my legs and purring madly. When I sit at the computer, there’s always a battle to see who gets to lounge on the back of my chair or who gets the prime spot on my lap. When I am in the bathroom doing bathroom things at the sink, there they are bumping their heads against my elbows. On the rare occasion they aren’t somewhere near and I feel the need to have some Kitty Love, all I have to do is call out “Where are my kitties!” They come running … as soon as they have had a good stretch and a sip of water from the fountain.

I love my kitties, really LOVE them, and I am so glad we are finally bonding in that wonderful way I had with Fuzza. I didn’t think it possible. I even feared it wouldn’t happen at all with either of them. Yet it did, and it brings me so much joy and contentment to see how blessed I have been to have had such a wonderful cat as Fuzza and now to have two new babies who are going to live up to his grand legacy. I look forward to many long years of belly rubs, ear scritches, and insanely loud purring … and adorable kitties underfoot.

Will you look at how much they have grown! They aren’t even five months old yet, and they are HUGE! And how am I going to get through 24 whole hours without them in the house?! Wah!!!

I have now found what I want for Xmas. It’s the very thing … the very thing I must have.

Leslie Cochran Refrigerator Dress-up Magnets.

If you don’t live in Austin, you will probably have no idea who Leslie is. If you have lived in Austin for any amount of time, have ever been downtown or to any outdoor festivals and events, you will have encountered Leslie at least once.

Leslie is a slightly insane, homeless, cross-dresser (and not the attractive sort either) who once ran for mayor and often protests police treatment of the homeless. While he might be functioning on less than all his marbles, he’s an icon around here and is well-loved by many. I am included in that group. I think he’s wonderful!

That’s why I must have those magnets! Lin will be thrilled. They are far cheaper than anything else I have been mooning over, like a real iPod or a new game system of some sort (or Final Fantasy XII — drool).

And if you live in Austin and don’t know who Leslie is … shame on you! When you see the crazy man in the leopard print thong and high heels, go over and say hello … and ask to take a photo with him! He loves his icon status, and he’s a really fun person to be around, so long as hairy man-butt doesn’t freak you out too much.