She meoweth quietly

Not sure if I've used proper Elizabethan verbs in the title, but hey - it makes sense in my head. That's all that matters, right?

Sometime around 5:20 or 5:30 this morning, I woke to the sound of a puking cat. Mouse decided to vomit on the carpet, so I grumpily got out of bed and cleaned it up.

Then, at six, the dogs wanted to be let out, and as I was putting them outside Mouse proceeded to meow quietly, yet still projecting her voice (who knew that seven-ish pounds of grey-and-cream fluff could meow that loudly?), as she demanded to be fed. I had to turn on the kitchen light because she kept shoving her face in the way as I was trying to feed her, and it was too dark in the kitchen to see what I was doing.

After the dogs were in their beds and the cat was fed, I tried to get back to sleep when the unexpected - and the unbelievable - happened: a silver fish fell off the ceiling and landed on me.

After some screaming and flailing, I got rid of the nasty thing, and decided to give up on sleep and make coffee instead.

I've gotten a lot of sorting done this week for the yard sale, but I don't know how much more sorting I can get done today as I'm so tired. I may just go through my trunk and then sit on my behind and play Katamari. I should watch my library DVD, though, and go to the library to take overdue and due stuff back, and pick up my holds.

Wow, a lot of my sentences are run-on. I must be tired.

My cat is an alarm clock

I woke up this morning to hear two things - somebody in the shower, and a dog whining to be let out - followed by a third: my cat, Mouse, meowing pathetically to be fed her wet food.

At around 5:52 AM.

Because my cat doesn't understand the concept of time.

So, I let the dogs outside, gave the incessantly meowing cat her food (she tried to follow the dogs outside twice; I had to shoo her away), put the dogs back in their beds, and tried to get back to sleep. Then the person in the shower let the dogs out again, and Smiles (our Jack Russell) came downstairs and jumped on my bed. We had a bit of a snuggle until I decided to finally get up.

So, in short, I'm a bit tired. I have to sort out things to sell for when we do a yard sale, so that'll be fun to accomplish when I'm slightly sleep deprived. I think I might sell the Klutz scrapbook I have, because it's a bit young for me now. It'll break my heart to do it, but I think I have to. And anyway, I can always use the mini scrapbooking kit I have, as well as buy a nicer one from Michaels.

I also have to cull some magazines. So far I've set aside a bunch of knitting magazines to sell, and I'll probably sell all of my Cricket magazines as well as my other magazines from the same publishing company. Again, my heart breaks to do it, but they're young for me, and they're taking up a lot of space.

As far as knitting goes, I haven't picked up my sock in some time. I don't want to start the heel unless I feel I'm awake enough, and I always seem to want to knit in the late evenings. I should probably work on finishing my Ravenclaw scarf, too - I think I'm on the last, or maybe the second-to-last stripe, then it's just weaving in ends and doing the fringe. The scarf is huge (I'm not sure if it'll fit under my winter jackets), but if nothing else I can wear it around the house. I think the pattern is supposed to be huge, though, because I remember reading some comments on Ravelry that were mentioning how big their scarves turned out to be. I suppose too big is better than too small, though.

My reading is going slowly, but I'm making headway in The Hunger Games. My goal is to finish it before the DVD comes in at the library for Mom to pick up. The only trouble is that I may not get to read my library books before they have to go back, because I want to put my focus mainly on The Hunger Games. I can always check the library books out again, though: the newer catalogue has a "recently returned" list, so it's easier to find stuff you just had out.

Mouse hunting

TMI alert!

So my cat had a mouse this morning. About 5 or 10 minutes before 7:00. Grah. I let the dogs out, made sure Smiles wasn't bothering the cat, and then Mom came down. I moved the gate so that it was across the stairs, that way Smiles wouldn't try to get the mouse (I didn't want them fighting over it). I later looked for a body, but couldn't find anything. This means either: a) she ate the whole mouse, b) she ate part of it and hid the rest, or c) it got away. I reckon it's either a or b.

TMI done.

I had a good cry last night - you know, about the whole Max thing. I should've seen it coming, really. He may have been dating her before he met me, for all I know. The good thing is that I didn't ask him out, so I was saved the embarrassment. But I still feel pretty stupid. So last night I put on that Journey CD and cried a bit. I don't feel as bad today, but I still feel pretty stupid.

Mom wants to go for a walk today. Pity the library's closed on Mondays.

An early Thanksgiving

We're having our Thanksgiving dinner early. I think my siblings are supposed to come around lunchtime, and we're going to eat around the time when Dad gets home from work.

I'm pissed off with Dad. Mom is, too. Mom and I had to not only carry the large folding table upstairs, but we also had other stuff to do. I swept the living room as best I could, then I swept the bathroom and the hallway near the bathroom, and then I gave the cat's litter pan a scoop. The roofing guy came by to drop off the materials, and Mom had to step outside to pay him. We locked up Smiles, Teddy and Lulu beforehand - we let Goldie stay out because she behaves. And she did behave. After her usual barking, she settled down. I was quite proud.

I also disinfected my table, because I've had little visitors (mice) leaving droppings on it, to put it delicately. Either that or the cat knocked the droppings onto my table via the ceiling. Who knows? Anyhow, I hid the Redwall and Artemis Fowl books, in case Nathan wanders downstairs to get a can of pop and decides to steal them.

And, just when things couldn't possibly get worse... Smiles decided to steal a cat turd. So I had to dispose of it and then sweep up the litter. We're using a pine litter now, so it's not only lighter than the standard litter, it also looks gross. Seriousl. It clumps good, though. Mom cleaned the bathroom. We still need to bring up the chairs from the furnace room...

I have not eaten anything yet - I've had a glass of water and two cups of hot chocolate, but that's it. I might eat something soon, only I don't know what.

Oh, and one more thing. Goldie and Mouse are both pathetic beggars. Mom's frying up meat (for the stuffing, I think), and Mouse is there meowing and pawing the cupboards. It was so cute. And then Goldie comes in and looks up at Mom, ears perked up, and just waits with hopeful eyes.

That darn cat

Mouse the cat has been quite a little madam lately. This morning, she kept picking on the dogs - even Goldie, who gets in between the cat and another dog to make sure that the cat is okay! Goldie's quite protective of the cat.

Mouse also tried to get a second treat this morning. Every morning, Mom gives the cat a treat and the dogs each get a treat, too. But this morning, I got up to let the dogs out, so I gave them treats instead of Mom. Mom came down later, and Mouse was meowing at her, asking for another treat, the little brat.

So, I'm not sure when youth group starts up again. I asked an advisor if there had been meetings, and he said no, but we'd be starting up soon. I haven't heard anything else since, but I'm sure he'll tell me when everyone meets up again.

I'm gonna have to keep Twilight out longer. I can't renew it, but I'm willing to pay the fines - I still have birthday money from the grandmother I've never met in case my fines get to be expensive. I remember one time, when I was a kid, we had two bags of library books to go back, and Dad was supposed to take both back, but only took one. So I had about $7 in fines. Ouch. I have only $1 in fines (two DVDs were two days late going back), and because Twilight is a teen fiction book in the library system, it should only cost me 10 cents a day, which is the fine for children's fiction. Either that, or it'll be the same as adult fiction, which is 25 cents a day. I hope it's 10 cents, that way I won't have to dip into my birthday money if I have the book out a while. I still have about $3 in change, though, so I should be good for paying fines.

So Mom and Dad are out shopping at Wal-Mart. I wanted to come with them, 'cause they have Bernat Baby Sport on sale, but Mom wanted me to stay home in case they did Christmas shopping. Okay, I'm cool with that. As long as I get to the library by tomorrow afternoon, otherwise the DVD on Ahmet Ertegun that's on the shelf for me will go back. Not fun.

Silly kitty...

I was in a rather deep sleep early this morning... until the cat woke me up.

Mouse was chasing... a mouse. And making a lot of noise, might I add. I'd hear her swatting at my laundry hamper (it's made of soft plastic canvas with a metal frame... I love IKEA :D), or swatting my huge armchair (which I can't sit in 'cause it has a pile of fabric sitting on it, plus it's covered in cat hair :p).

I think it was about four-ish in the morning when Mouse woke me up. I haven't set my clock, since I keep forgetting to wind it up. But I had turned on the radio, and I think the DJ said it was nearly time for the pre-morning show, which starts at 5 AM. I tried to read a bit of Twilight, but I couldn't concentrate on it. Maybe it was because of poor lighting - I was reading by my flashlight, which was pointed at a wall to give me the right amout of light, but I didn't have the single light on the wall next to it (it's hard to explain, since it's a basement) turned on, so I guess it wasn't enough light, and I didn't want to walk over to the lightswitch and turn it on, because I didn't want to step on a terrified mouse... or a cat, for that matter.

When I woke up, at around 7-ish or 8-ish, the cat was laying on my bed. Dad came downstairs to get something, and I pointed out the cat, and he saw a dead mouse (eep) on the floor. So he got rid of that. Later than morning, she was 'playing' with another mouse. I wasn't sure if it was dead, or if it was playing dead, but Dad got rid of it, too.

So Mom thinks I should make basic socks for my first pair, instead of Monkey. She also suggested that I make my first pair in a solid colour... only problem is, the pattern from Hip to Knit uses double knit, and I don't have enough green double knit for a pair of socks, and the only other double knit I have is the black with the coloured flecks. So yeah... I'd have to either go yarn shopping or look in Mom's stash.

My learning software is evil.

I have these DVD-ROMs. One is called Math Advantage 2008, and the other is High School Advantage 2008. I installed most of the math programs from Math Advantage, so when I started installing stuff from High School Advantage, I didn't need to install the math programs on THAT. I discovered this morning that, after opening the US Government program, all the other programs thought they were US Government, too. So I uninstalled the composition program, thinking that would help. Well, all of the uninstall wizards disappeared after that. So I had to delete US Government from the My Computer thingy. Fun!

Now everything works, so I'm happy. I'm too groggy to do much work, though.

...and now Mouse is in the window. I think she's happy that there's a window she can sit in without being yelled at.

Here's what's new.

Yesterday, Erica commented on one of my photos of Mouse that I put up on Facebook. And yet she couldn't take the time to e-mail me. Huh.

Also yesterday, Mom was watching some movie, and I asked her what it was. She told me it was a goofy movie. So I said, "If no one's watching it, shall I look for something else?", and she replied, "I never said I wasn't watching it." So I ate my bread upstairs, in the spare room.

I heard some awesome music last night in the spare room. After my bread, I brought up my knitting and listened to the Galaxie music channels. All it is is a black screen with the song info in white text, moving slowly so that it doesn't burn out one particular part of the screen. I was often switching Galaxie channels when there was a song I wasn't keen on. I heard a Jethro Tull song on Galaxie GoldRock, and Tutti Fruitti on Rock n' Roll. I think I even heard some decent songs on Galaxie Rock, which usually has new rock thrown in. But the other night I did hear Viva la Vida by Coldplay on Galaxie Rock, which was awesome, and Hot Patootie by Meatloaf (from Rocky Horror, as seen in the post below this one) on GoldRock.

Another day of grogginess? SERIOUSLY?!

I'm still feeling weird. My stomach isn't as weird as it was yesterday, but I still feel a tad light-headed. Maybe I have a cold. I so do not want to go to cardio kickboxing tonight. I'd rather stay home and do push-ups and sit-ups. Squats, too. Besides, my workout music is so much better than the stuff they play in cardio kickboxing class. And the regular kickboxing class. By 'regular', I mean the non-cardio class where you actually get to hit people - just not too hard, or you get in deep, deep trouble. I love that class, but I can't go to that class because of the bone graft in my mouth. I can't wait until that fake tooth goes in! I know it takes this long for a reason, but I'm itching to kickbox a human being instead of a bag.

I swept a bit in the living room (I wanted to listen to that Bob Dylan CD I have out of the library, but the stereo wasn't reading it), then I went on the computer to load this morning's photos on the computer from my little camera, then I put them onto Flickr. Actually, I'm going to experiment... one moment, please...





Here are my fingerless gloves. They haven't been sewn yet, as you can see, but I'll get 'round to it.




Here is my kerchief scarf. I think I have enough cotton to make it into a wrap-of-sorts, so I put it onto a circular needle that Mom let me borrow. Thanks, Mom! :)




I took this a few days, maybe a week ago. It's my ruff - with a button! I was going to take a photo of the buttons, but I completely forgot.

And finally...




Mousie resting on my - wait, no, HER - chair. Ain't she cute? :)

My cat, my mom, and a spider.

It's a strange title, but don't worry - it'll all make sense in a moment.

First, the spider. I hate spiders. Last night I was shining a flashlight around my room to make sure the cat wasn't there, and I saw this spider in between my bookcases. So I went upstairs, into the kitchen to get some paper towel (the cat was sitting in the middle of the floor), went back downstairs and tried to squash it - but it decided to hide behind one of the bookcases. Damn.

Then, earlier, the cat clawed my foot. And when the internet connection dropped (it does that sometimes, 'cause we have a wireless router, and I think the modem acts up), I unplugged the modem and the router, then went to get a glass of water. I usually have to wait a bit before plugging stuff back in so that the connection comes back properly. So I went back into the computer/dining room with my glass of water, and that cat jumped in the chair!

Finally, my mom. She was saying that in September, when I start my homeschooling for the term (I hate the word 'semester'. I'm part English and part Welsh, so I'm gonna say 'term'), I have to do my work at the same times every weekday. Okay, I'm supposed to be homeschooling, not doing the school-at-home stuff. I don't have anything against school-at-home, I just don't work that way. So she tells me that if I'm going to college, I should learn to work by a schedule, because college timetables are different from university timetables. So here's my question...

Who said I was going to college instead of university?!

I've made it quite clear that I'd like to study brodcast journalism and someday get a job in radio, and I know that I can study that at a university, because some of the DJs at Q107 went to university. I also would like to study music. I have no desire to become a bricklayer or a butler - I say 'butler' because my darling mother cut out a newspaper article on butlers, and suggested that I become one.

What I'm going to do is be smart about my career. Like Sting - he used to be a teacher who performed in clubs. I might do something like that. Work as a DJ during the day, and by night I'll sing in clubs, or be a session keyboardist.

Not a very good morning...

It started early this morning. I couldn't get to sleep because the cat was playing with a mouse. Yes, I said 'playing'. I kept a light on in my room so that I could keep an eye on her - after all, who wants their cat to drop a mouse on their bed?

I somehow fell asleep and had the weirdest dream about going for a run, going to a yard sale and phoning Q107 to try out for their Joe Bloe Radio Show (basically, once a month, they pick someone from the phone-in auditions to co-host an hour of the evening show). Oh, and the dream also involved my mom meditating, if I remember correctly.

I woke up to find Smiles licking a dead mouse. Ugh. So I had to dispose of the mouse, then I had a shower.

So, not only am I feeling fatigued, but I also have a headache. I have to talk to my friends, Erica and Holly, about a shopping trip. But I'm too tired to suggest any dates to them, so I'll e-mail them later. I really do need to get out of the house more often - I rarely go shopping, and I never really shop with friends. I just never seemed interested in that sort of thing until now. But after all the crap with certain people, I need some retail therapy.

At leastI managed half a page of algebra yesterday. I don't know if I'll finish the page today... maybe after having a snooze to regain the sleep I lost.

Singing to my cat.

Yep. I sang to my cat today.

Q107 played Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd, so I sang along to the cat. Mouse has been very talkative lately. I'll start walking to the stairs, and she won't leave me alone. I'll tell her, "You go up the stairs, I'll follow you."

Anyway, I couldn't knit while listening to that song, so I set my knitting down, got up and paced. After a little while I sat back down on my bed.

I sang, "And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?"

"Reh," Mouse squawked in reply.

I laughed through the next line.

And, a few minutes ago, Dad chased Lulu, Goldie and Teddy away (they were probably on the couch), so they came in here. I made goofy high-pitched noises at Lulu (you know, the sounds you make when a cute dog is near), and she jumped up in my lap. "You're gonna clunk your head!" I told her right before she jumped. When she was in my lap (without clunking her head), I continued, "Miss I-Smell-Like-Pollen!"

ETA: I was able to knit during the guitar solo at the end. My Mobius Wrap is halfway done.