Not so ♪ many drops, hey♫, not so many drops♪!

I've written a little tune I purr when I'm outside chasing leaves and stuff..."Not so♪ many drops, hey♫, not so many drops♪! I'm so♫ much better now♫, don't need♫ so many♪ drops!" Mom has backed off on the groovy drops and I'm still feelin' good. Lessee...why was she giving me drops? Oh, well, can't remember, don't care.

Mom made about 1000 trips up the flimsy, creaky, pull down stairway to the room at the top of the house I've never been in (Heck, I'M not getting on that thing!) and brought down all those bins and boxes that are sooooo much fun to play on. Pretty soon the house was a wreck and then things started changing. That tree thingy went up. Then she covered it in lights. THEN she started hanging all those things on it that light up, make noise, look like food and most importantly - dangle right in front of my face. I took that tree thingy down one year - climbed up to the top and it started heading towards the floor with the rest of it following. I rode it about halfway down and then decided to bail. I've been good this year though - I've swatted at a couple of the hanging things, but someone always hears me and chases me away. Well, why put it there if I can't play with it? Silly humans. Here's a picture of me contemplating that little chimey thing that makes pretty sounds.

She put stuff in every room of the house, including lights in the tree in that huge pot that stays outside until it gets cold. The house looks great - even the guy in the front room seems to like it this year. I think everything looks sparkly and festive. I'm a cat, so you know I have excellent taste. Oh, yeah, speaking of, guess I'd better head for the ol' food bowl and see if it has miraculously refilled itself. Later...

Time to completely change the look of the house

The roommate and I had a nice Thanksgiving. I roasted a chicken instead of a turkey, made a pumpkin-ginger soup that turned out to be killer, had some more than al dente/less than mush green beans, some crescent rolls (in honor of my mother - she always made those), some beaujolais and some chardonnay, and wow, we were full to the brim.

During the day on Thanksgiving I went up into the attic and started tossing/handing Christmas boxes/bins down to the roomie, including the tree I've had for about 14 years, and between making dinner I started putting the tree together. Finished it today and it does look good, despite it's age.


I love Christmas. It's the one time of the year you can change the entire look of your house, both inside and out, and get away with it. The house is a wreck right now, but I'm still in the middle of 'decorating'. Jypsy has taken all the changes in stride, including jumping from bin to box, leaping around on the furniture in new positions and batting down the fifth ornament I put on the tree. She had a lot of fun, but felt the need for a break from supervising, as you can see...



I'm close to being done, then again, not really. I've got all the clean up afterwards. I do have one silly thing I do every year; don't ask me why - I'm not really sure myself. During his first stay at my house, the roomie bought this -



...so it gets pulled out every Christmas as well.

Like I said, it's the one time of year to change the look of the house. Welcome to the holiday season!

99%

My 99% is different from what most people are identifying with right now. My percentages deal with how close Jypsy is to being normal....and that means being herself.

I told my friend Jan in Oregon I would consider her healed when Jypsy started coming into my room and getting on my bed again. She has begun to do that. She came in on Friday, Saturday and today in the early morning to wake me up. This afternoon I was watching a great movie the room mate rented called 'Bottle Shock' in my room. I highly recommend it - it's a movie depicting the 70's and how California joined the wine makers revolution. Anyway, Jypsy came in, jumped up on my bed, nosed around and then crawled in my lap to snooze through the movie. This is, wow, I can't say how important this is to me. This is major. I still can't count her at 100% because she still has this thing about black shoes, but...OMG...we are soooooo close to being back to normal!!

Check this out...

Birthdays...gotta love 'em

I mean, really, what's the alternative? I face a big milestone tomorrow. I never thought I would be this old. I don't know what I figured would happen...you know...you either keep having birthdays and get older...or you don't.

Gotta say, I'm still glad to be here and to keep having birthdays. My friend Elsa sent me a birthday card that says "When you get to be (mumble age) your interests tend towards staying warm, taking lots of naps, and bird watching. So, basically, you turn into a cat." I thought I could see Jypsy snickering over to the side as I read it out loud to the roommate. Uh huh. Thanks, kitty. I've been coldnatured all my life, take very few naps, but will admit I have bird feeders in the back yard. I love to see cardinals come in to the feeder, despite the fact St. Louis beat the Rangers. C'est la vie. Never have been a sports fan, but not sure if that's part of the getting older thing.

Still feel young, body just doesn't want to cooperate sometimes. Fighting hard to stay in shape...got a trainer now who is trying his best. Hate the expense, but can't seem to do it on my own - just cut out some other things that were a little superfluous. Amazing how things change their importance as you get older. As a youngster, swore I'd never wear anything but Levi jeans. Still love 'em, but can't afford 'em. I can get pretty durable jeans at a discount store for $10. Don't go out much because there's not anything that really appeals to me. The things that do strike my fancy, I do. I visit with friends, go to the occasional movie that looks interesting, still buy way too many clothes off the discounted/clearance racks (Vera Wang shirt - $12!), and prefer good wine over cheap wine. Well, come on, you gotta have SOME priorities!

My sweet kitty is about 98% back. She still has this thing about black shoes, but I just keep those in the closet. She's playful, vocal (I wanna go out...NOW!), social and loveable. Can't complain.

Bring on the Birthday!

Ah. Fall!

So, the weather here has turned a little nippy. It's been fun to zoom around outside and enjoy the invigorating air. I've been on a rampage killing all kinds of leaves, and sticks and, when I can find them, bugs. Well, I don't really kill the bugs, mainly because they move too fast or just fly away, but you know, the intent is there.

I'm feeling MUCH better. Mom is still using those groovy drops on my head, and I was able to walk up to a pair of dark colored shoes the other day and not see them as something I HAD to wrangle with. I think being outside a lot lately is helping too...even though I went out when it was really, really hot, it wasn't such a good thing to do and might just have aggravated whatever was wrong with me. Mentally, that is. We know what caused the physical, and well, a lady just doesn't talk about stuff like that. I've rediscovered the railing around the back deck and was running back and forth across it the other day. There's this big, and I mean big, plant/tree thingy Mom keeps back there in good weather - sucker must be over 5' tall. Its branches hang over the railing out into the yard. I was running down the railing and barreling through the tree thingy branches to one end, and then turning around and carooming back to the other end, getting on the handrail for the steps, turning around (difficult at best - it's kinda tiny), sharpening my nails on the wood (which mom was NOT happy about), and then jumping back up to start the run through the tree thingy again. FUN!



Mom dug out some stuff this morning 'cos she said she gets to dress up for work tomorrow since it's Halloween. I'm not certain what that is, but she pulled out a pair of really ragged, holey jeans, a tapestry looking top with these big angel sleeves, and a black curly wig. Said she's going as a hippie mystic. Fine with me, just so long as she doesn't try to get me in some kind of silly clothing. I might have to put my paw down at that and run hide somewhere. Prolly not, she does know I'm not overly fond of clothing. Seriously...why do I need to hide how beautiful I am? Besides - I already have this gorgeous fur coat!

Lulled by the rain

Someone posted on Facebook that friends coming down from the North had brought the rain with them. I don't care how it happened, but it's been raining since about 8pm last night and I'm very grateful. When I chanced to wake up a couple of times during the night, I heard the soft drip of rain and slipped right back into cozy sleep. There's just something about sleeping to the sound of the rain, isn't there? I'm sure the trees are relishing this little bit of moisture - even my lawn already looks greener. (Probably just my imagination, but hey...) This won't end our drought, of course, but we so needed this.

Jypsy has not squawked once about going outside. Usually by now she's bugging me to let her out. Instead she's snoozing in a new box she's adopted as her 'bed du jour'. (I'd take a picture, but the box is on it's side on the floor and is more like a cave with her way at the back on some bubble wrap...doubt it would produce anything but a black hole...) I should follow suit, but I have too much to do today. None of which I've started. Something about the rain has slowed me down too. Kinda nice.

I'm Baaackk!

Well, maybe let's just say I'm feeling better. I still have days when I don't care much for the staff people here, but I do have to admit they have been very kind to me. See, I had this...um...problem, and, well, it sort of affected my mind. Oh, shoot, let's admit it, I went crazy. And I'm still a little crazy....Mom's flip flops just send me over the edge and I want to, you know, like, fight them. To the death, as far as you can kill flip flops...

She's been putting these drops on me that make me feel pretty groovy. Although yesterday morning she picked me up right after I had eaten breakfast, and....whoa....she was puttin' the drops on my head when...well, I needed to puke up what I had just eaten, ya know? I knocked the bottle out of her hands as I went leaping to the floor and it spilled all over her and the couch. She just sighed and said, "Well, maybe I'll have a stress-free day...." She had to go buy more drops today. (Ooops!)


(That's me, guarding the backyard gate from intruders today. Can't be too careful, you know...)

Today I re-discovered, and started playing with, Mousie again, dragging him from the tv room, where he's been for a coupla months now, into the kitchen. The staff people seemed pretty excited about it. And this morning I climbed up the carpet Mom nailed to the doorway leading into the laundry porch. She seemed pretty overjoyed at that too. Hmm. Guess they've been a little worried about me. I'm feeling much better, but I don't think I'm 100% yet. Kinda comes and goes, ya know. Anyway, wanted to let all my fans know I think I'm on the mend. Kinda. Sorta. Thanks for all the concern! You all made my Mom feel much better and she took good care of me, so I feel better too. Keep those good thoughts coming! Oh, I think I hear her coming...must be time for more drops...oh, okay, I haven't eaten in a bit so should be smooth sailin'...