Space heater

The airport has the air conditioner running so my counter has a space heater on to keep warm. But still, it is colder outside so I shouldn't complain. Post later. Bye!

New neighbors

I got up and took my my kitties out. Met a new neighbor with his kid (I'm guessing 8 or 9 range) outside while the cats investigated the new patio furniture. The kid came out to play with the kitties, even picking up Precious by the shoulders. He chased and they ran under the patio furniture. He asked why they ran away. I said they were unsure about strangers touching them. How does one explain to a kid that the reason the cat is running away is because the kid is chasing it everywhere. He even jumped up onto his neighbors' patio furniture trying to get to Precious hiding in the corner under the table. He grabbed his parents' cigarette lighter showing off that he knew how to make it work. I told him that kids shouldn't play with lighters cause they can set the house on fire. He said it was an apartment. Ok, set the apartment on fire.

After our time was up and Precious eager to get away from this kid, he follows us to the door wanting to see my apartment. No, it's messy. I have to go back and get Frodo hiding from the kid while telling the father on the other side of the screen that his kid followed us to our apartment door. He comes out and yells at him to get back inside. He can pet his own cat and dog. The kid whines carrying Precious back outisde, but obeys his daddy. Precious and Frodo run back inside.

I accomplished very little today. I talked to Mom wanting to know how much my computer cost cause she wants one, and a new printer to print photos. I told her maybe I can talk to my siblings if they want to get together to buy a printer for her birthday, or anniversary, or Christmas. Dad likes to copy pages for his stamp collection. I mailed out my Easter cards, went grocery shopping, and watched movies. I planned to check out the new exercise room they finally finished and allotting keys to have the place be open 24 hrs, but I got up just before 3 so that shall wait til tomorrow. Yes on my first day off I sleep extra late. I have to renew my lease soon too. My rent is going up $5 on the new lease. Hey it could be worse with the new owners redoing everything imaginable. People at work say I need a roommate, but anybody that doesn't throw wild parties is married with a house. Well, one old guy at work offered to sublet a duplex next to him, but he couldn't hold it til my lease expired. Besides I hate moving so I'll just stay here until I can buy a place. Which will be when I retire or when my parents die, whichever comes first.

Nothing else to talk about. Post later. Bye!

Almost a dog

When I came home I heard Precious meowing from the window. I presumed the kitty saw me coming and happy to see me. I open the door and cat is still meowing insistantly. Walking in circles around my legs Precious does not calm down when I pet him. Strange, Precious has never persistantly meowed like this before. Where's Frodo?, I wonder. Precious meows louder and walks down the hall. I bet he is locked inside the bedroom since the bathroom was open. It was very windy today and often it makes the bedroom door slam shut. I let Frodo out and Precious calms down. Poor thing. I sniffed for any putrid odors. I detected none. I placed a bookend up against the door since I will have the windows open more often. Post later. Bye!

My poor babies

Frodo jumped in the fridge while I was cooking. He meowed and I opened the door, but he never jumped out. Later when I was finished eating and packing my work entertainment, I heard clanging and thought it was the dog below us hitting the metal closet door. Then I heard a loud yowl behind me. I forgot Frodo was in the fridge. Good thing I hadn't left for work, Frodo would have suffocated and I would have found a dead Frodo when I opened the door. Bad mommy, forgetting her cat in the fridge. Danger averted.

I have been following the pet food scare on TV. I went to the store this week to replenish our after walk snack. The food I get was there on the shelf. Then reading an article on msn.com tonight, it was rat poison that is no longer used found its way into the food. And it is no longer used to kill rats or for cancer patients, this was no accident. Well, my cats have not been acting strange. I alternate between the gravy and slice meat food (that was recalled) and tuna/salmon meant for people. Then the can is split between the 2 cats, and they don't eat it all. I finally checked the list of brands provided, HyVee brand I get was on the list. Though they don't have turkey slices anymore so I get Friskies turkey and gravy, which was not on the list. It said Kansas and New Jersey manufacturers were the recalled cans came from. Better go check the label. Hopefully my cats didn't get the tainted food before the recall occurred, or if they did they got small doses not enough to hurt them. My poor babies.
Better go to bed. Post later.

Changing the closet

Since it is warming up and Easter will soon be here, I put away some of my winter wardrobe and got out part of my summer wardrobe. Naturally I had to try on everything because I have been gaining weight. I have a large pile of clothes to discard. At least I don't have to buy more work clothes for summer. The AC is so cold that we often wear our sweaters over our polo shirts.

At summer school once upon a time, the dorms were not AC'ed but the classrooms were freezing. It felt strange walking past the college tour groups in jeans and long sleeved shirt, then change to tank top and shorts covered in sweat. But enough of memory lane.

I had to chase down Preicous today when the walk was finished. I heard distant meows but couldn't tell where they were from. Finally after a half hour ready to give up, 10 feet from the door, here comes Precious panting like crazy. He was huffing all the way upstairs and eating his treats (pant, pant, chew, pant, pant). Poor baby. I think we might try our harness and leash again tomorrow.

What else? I got my Easter stuff displayed. It is 3 1/2 weeks away. The cats loved the Easter tree. That's why is it placed where they can't reach it. Oh, and the plastic grass. Some may think it odd that I celebrate Christian holidays elaborately and claim to be an atheist at the same time. Let's just say I'm reluctant to give up chocolate bunnies and Cadbury eggs. Post later. Bye!

Missing

Last night at work, I learned a portable DVD player from one guy next door and 3 movies from another guy next door are missing from the back room. Sounds like an employee helped themselves to things that didn't belong to them. I told the guy that's why I take my DVD player home along with my movies. People will steal anything whether it is worth anything or not. Ok, I do leave books under the counter often, but few thieves would steal books. Post later. Bye!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my readers. Today I painted my nails green, wore a shamrock necklace, and tried to decide if my green shirt was blue or blue-green. I asked 2 people. One said green and the other bluish green. I think I'm going color blind. In the store it looked green, in my closet looked green, but up against my green shamrock necklace and green nails, it more blue than green. One guy said he was looking forward to pinching me, but then saw me wear green. Drat. One gal asked if I was Irish. Well, part-Irish. Des Moines has a big parade downtown and all the bars serve green beer, plus McDonald's has the infamous Shamrock shake that is very minty. All my friends love celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It is a drinking holiday after all. Post later. Bye!

Up in arms

My coworker receives a phone call from her friend wanting to know if she is overreacting to a situation with her son. At work, she receives a message from her son's teacher informing that her son was lying on the sidewalk down the street and refusing to get up, adding a "I hope he makes it in today". Naturally, the friend rushes over to the school where a parent dropping their kids off had picked her son up off the sidewalk and drove him to school. This kid slipped on the ice and broke his leg (all the way to the hip), a spiral fracture that occurs when the body is twisted until it breaks. Most of his leg is in a cast now. The friend is furious not one single person from the school went to check on him. It is not normal for a kid to lay on a sidewalk refusing to get up. My coworker assured she is not overreacting saying she needs to have a meeting with that principal and play that message the teacher left for her. How awful. Post later. Bye!

Fun with Niece

I had a good 2 days with my niece. I went to her house Tuesday, packed the car, and didn't see any pillow so I went into the bedroom and grabbed one from her bed. I discovered later it was in the suitcase. Went over to the babysitter where they were in the middle of a diaper change. Talked to the babysitter of our sleepover (my sister already told her about it). My niece was so excited to see Precious and Frodo. I had to explain those are my cats. The babysitter offered one of her nap cots she keeps folded up, but I declined saying we had a sleeping bag. We went to my place and got the stuff out. Precious and Frodo helped themsleves into the suitcase. We had a snack of animal crackers and cranberry juice. She tried to play with the cats tossing balls and waving the fishing poles. Cats were a little taken back by this eager person following them and telling them to catch the ball. While I cooked supper, she played in the bedroom pulling out anything she could get her hands on. My nightstand, my dresser drawers, and the top of the dresser were all ransacked. She tried to feed the cats by carrying the water bowl and food dish to them. Most of the floor was covered in cat food and water got on the carpet. I told her several times to leave the food alone, if the cats are hungry they will eat.

For supper, niece had ravalotti, applesauce, milk, and animal crackers. Later when she got hungry I gave fruit cocktail and orange juice. My sister packed food for her. I cooked popcorn but she wasn't interested. We tried to watch Dumbo but she wasn't interested in the animals. She loves the Narnia, Witch, Lion, Wardrobe, but she keeps turning away with fear so I question why she loves this movie so much. Throughout the whole night, Niece asked where the cats were and went looking for them. My sister called to see how we were doing. She instructed not to say her name so Niece wouldn't know who I was talking to. From past experience after she talks on the phone with Mommy, she cried hysterically to go home. I told her Niece was walking around with her shirt off. She likes to take off her socks and shirts. Before the Narnia movie ended, Niece wanted to watch Mary Poppins and then said she was tired. My sister forgot the toothbrush so we skipped the brushing routine. After the movie ended and I went to bed, Niece decided she wasn't tired anymore and went into the living room to look for the cats. Cats were in my bed. After a few minutes, I heard nothing so I went to look for her and there she was sleeping on the couch. I picked her and put her to bed again. This is just after midnight. Niece was just too excited to sleep.

We get up after 11. I heard her talking in her sleep earlier and then heard her stirring, but never got up. Precious, upon my stirring, got up from sleeping on my feet and walked over to my head where I petted him. I said Good Morning to Precious and Niece jumps up yelling that she was awake. I cuddle with the cats and then get up to fix her oatmeal. I added a little cinnamon to it. I gave orange juice from last night and milk. She ate while I did the cat chores and got dressed. After she got full, I loaded the dishes my sister sent and turned on the dishwasher. We took the cats outside. Since it is warmer outside, Frodo decided to run across the street and under the parked cars. Niece followed and I demanded she come back. When I got tired of whistling the cat back, we played a trick on Frodo. Cats don't like separation so we went inside the front door and watched from the window. He eventually came back and we went upstairs. We gave them their snack canned cat food with gravy. I rolled up the sleeping bag, packed the suticase, etc. Next, I loaded the car. Naturally, the cats and Niece came with me. When I went back inside, I told Niece to stay Right Here. Guess what she does, she runs out into the street and yell to come back. I imagine the neighbors calling the DHS about a little girl running around the parking lot unsupervised. The cats didn't want to go back in this time and I had to usher Niece back inside the apartment. Precious came too. I tried treats to coax the cats back in, but Niece had to feed them and she put the treats next to them instead inside the apartment where I wanted them. I ordered her to stay in the apartment while I grab Frodo and shut the door to keep Precious from running down the stairs too. That bugger runs down all 3 flights to the front door. I carried him back up and let Niece hand them more treats.

Dishes were done so we went home. Niece thought Precious and Frodo should come too. No, just her. She didn't want to go home. Then she asked if Mommy and Daddy will be there. Just Daddy, Mommy is at work. We arrived and she was more interested in the driveway iccles and puddles. Daddy came outside to hug her. I did my laundry and was off. Mom called saying she called my sister's house to ask her something and said my Niece was hysterical after I left because I didn't kiss her enough. My poor brother-in-law had a tough time calming her down. I kissed her twice and hugged her when I said good-bye. I assured my Mom that my sister gets the same crying when I leave, not just my brother-in-law. She didn't want the good time to end. Post later. Bye!

Snow happens

Winter Snowstorm struck after I came to work. My poor coworker living out of town had a tough going reaching home. Leaving Des Moines meant zero visibility. To make matters worse, the interstates north, west, then east, were closed. Shoppers and sales clerks in a mall on the west side of Des Moines were forced to leave the mall. I called Mommy to check on her. Dad is getting tired of shoveling. They have electricity. Mom was concerned about my brother because towns near him were out of power. In one area 20 miles of utility poles were down, but I forget where. Godforbid Mom call long distance so I called from my cell phone. He has power and safe at home. Sisters are safe at home too. Alas, the airport closes for nobody.

Naturally lots of people call to extend their rentals and people postpone their pick up times. One lady complained we charge extra for not returning on time and we force people to drive in bad weather. Yeah well, it ain't fair I have to work and drive home in this mess either but here we are. It is not my fault Mother Nature copped a attitude. When I came in to work I was told to inform all renters that there was a no towing ban out for the whole state so if they get stuck in the snow, they have to call 911 cause we can't rescue them. That was easy to explain to people from warmer climates. They have to lodge their complaints of road closings and tow ban to the Governor of Iowa. Many took our advice and called for a hotel shuttle and try to leave tomorrow. One guy we had to inform that he was not going to make it to Minnenapolis tonight, flights are cancelled and interstates are closed. It was windy when I left, I heard someone say 40 MPH, but I made it home. Poor Frodo had Precious sit on his head while they were playing. Naughty Precious. Now off to bed and face the snow tomorrow. Post later. Bye!