Staycation

“He” and “She” are off work this week for a “Staycation”.  You read that right. It’s not a “Vacation” which involves planning, packing, over-spending, and usually general exhaustion, but a “Staycation” which will include, sleeping in everyday, breakfasting at their favorite place, returning home for special coffee and espresso drinks, and spending time together where they most want to be. At home!  They didn’t come up with the term (though they wish they had – it’s a concept they have long embraced).  They first heard it on the Canadian sit-com Corner Gas (VERY funny, by the way).  And, it’s even listed on the Urban Dictionary site with this definition: A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer. 

Around here, the environs offer plenty of nature with acres of land including deep woods and a babbling creek, the local flavor of a quaint little town, various eateries, and at the end of a long day, their own comfy bed in which to seek respite.   There will be time for knitting, crocheting, tinkering with tools and machinery, long walks, bike rides and reading in hammocks.

While they are on staycation, we will try hard to adhere to our regular routine as much as possible.  But, if they interrupt a nap for a belly rub, or a good kitty massage, we won’t complain too much!  After all, we understand the concept of staying home.  It is the basis for a happy housecat life.  We have perfected the art of staycation!

Alley

Hoppy Easter!!

It’s Easter Weekend! Whether this weekend for you is Spiritual, Silly, or just a celebration of the first weekend of Spring, 2008, we hope it is a “Hoppy” one!

Blossom

Dinner is in the Bag

Loyal readers, family and close friends, (or, anyone “She” has ever met, really), will all know that cooking is not her favorite thing to do.  She sees it as something that must be endured occasionally to take a break from sandwiches, cereal, and cheese or peanut-butter toast.  However, recently, they have tried something new (new to them, at least).  You can find it in the freezer section of your grocery store, and it takes less than ten minutes and one pan to prepare.  It’s Bertolli pasta, and all you have to do is heat it in a skillet, and it comes out really great.

This particular variation is Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Ravioli. She said it tasted just as good as dishes She has paid big bucks for in restaurants! He, who is not a pasta fiend like She is, was impressed with it as well. A little garlic toast and a nice little side salad, and you have a pretty impressive meal for a week night! 

 It’s hard to believe that such a good dinner came from a bag!  Unfortunately, because they got so wrapped up in the excitement of having a hot, “home-cooked” meal, they neglected to take any pictures of the finished product.  You’ll just have to take my word for it – Era squisito!

Arrivederci!

Boomer

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to ya!  Today is all about the Wearin’ o’ the Green, and while traditionally it is an Irish observance, we here at The House of 9 Lives are always open to a little celebration!

 Hey guys…guys?

Excuse me!

Well, apparently, centuries-old Irish tradition is no match for cat-napping in a sunbeam. I hope your celebration is a little more exciting than what is going on around here!

Barny

No Occupancy

It has been a quiet week here at The House of 9 Lives, so far.  Of course, that’s just the way we cats like it and “He” and “She” don’t have a problem with it, either!  Work continues on the Ripple Afghan She started recently, and they are both looking forward to a little time off from work week after next. 

 You may have seen in our last post that it was Jazz’ birthday.  Barny’s birthday is also this month, so in celebration of both their special days, we all got a new toy. 

Doesn’t Jazz look enthused? If you look closely, you can see Kosmo on top and Nova inside! Well, at least someone is enjoying the new toy. (Ignore the plastic on the chair – that’s another story!)

The best part of the gift was watching it being put together! It took two fairly well-educated people a little over an hour to assemble this simple nylon and plastic cat toy! I got tired of the wait and decided to take a nap, but Nova and Kosmo were ready to give it a try as soon as it was ready.  It might as well have had a “No Occupancy” sign outside.

Jazz did eventually decide to make use of the bottom level, and everyone was very content.

Some years ago, even before there were nine of us, He built a special “Cat Castle” for us to enjoy.  At our old house, it sat right in the bay window and had private cubby holes with a view.  Here is a picture of it in the process of being completed.

  We really enjoyed this piece of cat furniture and it made the move with us to this house and used to occupy the sun-room.  However through the years it became very worn and when the sun-room was removed, it had no place to go, so it was done away with.  He and She have both promised to build us something better, though, when they finish with all the house renovations they have planned.  I know they will make us something really special – with plenty of room for everyone!

Lilah

The Ripple Effect

 First of all, it snowed here again! “She” said she couldn’t remember it ever snowing twice in one season here.  Saturday morning they awoke to big, fluffy, juicy snowflakes that continued to fall for a few hours.  There was very little accumulation, mostly on vehicles and windowsills, and even that didn’t last for long when the sun began to shine around 8:30 a.m.  She wasn’t able to get any great pictures, but here is one She took on the way to breakfast, where “He” and “She” were joined by J. and B.

Not much too it, really, but still exciting.  You may remember our earlier post about snow here, from back in January.

 Speaking of exciting, She is excited to be working on a Crocheted Ripple Afghan.  She learned the basic crochet stitches from an aunt when She was about 10 years old, but through the years, though she started many projects, she never got very far along with any of them.  Lately, however, due to the many references to “Ripple Alongs” like Alicia’s here, and The No-End-in-Sight Ripple Along here, and this mention on craftzine.com, She was really itching to give the Ripple a try.  So, after a stop for coordinating colors of yarn and a new crochet hook, she got started, using the pattern found here (you may have to register to view, but it’s all free and has tons of crochet and knitting patterns).  The first few attempts went awry, but the third try took off.  She is now several inches into the pattern and it’s looking pretty good.

She started with five colors that she liked, then using this Stripe Generator she let the computer choose the order and width of the stripes. It will end up being a very random pattern and so far is working well.  She can easily imagine getting this one done and maybe a couple more, too!  I can easily imagine curling up on it to take a nice long cat nap. (Happy birthday to me).

 You can see that the ripple afghan truly does have a ripple effect, it’s contagious!

 Jazz

Lock Out

“He” and “She” left the house yesterday to go for a walk.  It was quite a production.  First they had to get dressed.  This required finding comfortable clothes for walking, the most comfortable shoes, hats, sunglasses, and for her, a light jacket.  Also, She had to gather up all the necessities that she might need: tissues, lip balm, and cell phone to carry in her little bag.  That’s not all, either.  Then they had to find a water bottle that would be easy to carry, plus put on their pedometers and heart rate monitors.  Also, because they are easier to carry than a sports drink, they took along some Jelly Belly Sports Beans.  Whew! The preparations alone would be enough exercise for me!

 The weather was really beautiful and because we live in a rurual area, they decided to leave the property and trek along the winding country roads.  They locked up the house, taking along the house key, which He removed from the key chain to lighten the load somewhat, and off they went.  They got to the end of our driveway and took a left and were soon out of sight. 

Two hours and six miles later, they came from the opposite direction, up the driveway and to the house.  She came up to the door and took the key from her pouch, inserted it into the door knob and turned, but the door would not unlock.  She pulled the key out and looked at it and realized it was actually the key to the Men’s Crisis Center, and not the house!  She was crushed!  It would have been fine and good if she had wanted to build something, rather than have something cool to drink and put her feet up!  Now, we aren’t saying the house is impenetrable, but they have done a good job of making it at least inconvenient to get into, so short of breaking glass, they had to find another way.  Thankfully, they had their cell phones, but unfortunately, neighbors who have a spare key could not be gotten in touch with.  She came very close to having a little meltdown, but managed to keep it all together. 

After twenty minutes or so of her stewing and his mentally calculating the cost of repairing a window versus the cost of a locksmith on a Sunday, She asked a stupid question.  Did He check the other doors to see if by chance one of them had been left unlocked?  It seemed like a silly question.  Of course the other doors would be locked, She was almost embarrassed for having asked it.  Reluctantly, He walked up to the side entrance and opened the door!  There I sat looking at him as if to say “I wondered how long it would take you to try that!”.

Flirt