10 Things I have learned...

From Disaster Movies

1. Sticking with the main group is not always good.
2. Be resourceful.
3. Be prepared.
4. The government is not always right (but I already knew that).
5. NYC is not the best place to live (neither is LA).
6. The universe is a dangerous place and there are aliens that are out to get us.
7. There are things that cannot be prepared for.
8. Being able to swim is a good skill to have.
9. A well rounded education is necessary.
10. Always have a plan B.

And, on a final note, never travel on a ship named Titanic or Poseidon.

Tax Time = Panic Time

Taxes are due tomorrow -- Have you filed yours?

The brief panic moments for this year:

• Realized it was April & I hadn't filed yet
• Turbo Tax would not run on the available computer b/c I didn't have the most current Flash player. I think this is just dumb.
• Could not remember seeing the local form. solved, they changed the looks. It came in a regular envelope this year.
• Realizing you will be getting a refund after all, priceless.

Anyway, the taxes have been filed, check will be mailed to state today and local will be mailed today.

The refund will cover Gil's hospital bill. WhooHOO! An update on the food, wet food #2 was eaten as food of last resort. Dry food #2 & #3 were eaten. Wet food #3 was eaten. I even got purrs. The ladies at the vets' office thought it rather odd that the fiends were picky about the wet food and not picky at all about the dry. Oh well, it was known that the fiends are odd. Gil did not like receiving his twice daily pill. I did not like giving it to him. So, for the ease of all, we got pill pockets from the vet. They are soft cat treats that look like little brown buckets. You put the pill in the center then pinch the top. Gil likes them. Rose likes the fact that he is getting treats as well. The dosing is done in less then a minute with the treats instead of taking upwards of 5 minutes. On Saturday, I was in the kitchen putting the groceries away and Gil was sitting in front of the pantry giving his best imploring pauvre petite starving degeted neglected puddy eyes. Mother stopped by and saw him. She told him that his message (food bowl empty, food in pantry) had been received and understood, but that food would not be put into the bowl at this time. The poor fiend.

Rogue Roses has been restarted and frogged a second time. This is really depressing as I REALLY LIKE the pattern and the colorway. The kilt hose continue. Recipient will be trying them on tonight. The yarn for the second pair has arrived (Thraven from BMFA). We bought one extra skein as an insurance skein. As neither pair needs to be done until January 3, I think we're good.

Crazy Cat

Well, Gil has been released from durance vile. He seemed really happy to be home. He also looks and acts a lot better.
Rose on the other hand........Rose has been stressing and basically having separation anxiety since Gil went to the kitty hospital. Now that Gil is home, he is avoiding his brother.

We are currently taste testing cat food to prevent a recurrence of the issue that Gil had.
Wet food 1: no go, was not liked -- it was eaten as it was only option, but only as food of last resort.
Dry food 1: Gil ate some when given at breakfast. Don't know about Rose's opinion.

Wet food 2 will be tried tonight and dry food 2 tomorrow.

Oh, and Gil gets a little white pill twice a day for the next 2 weeks. He doesn't like it.

This is not going well

The March kit arrived. I love the pattern and the colorway! So, after winding the yarn, I started in. Well, normal needles I use for this weight made the picot hem WAY to big. Frogged, redid with smaller needles. Tried on, works fine. Continued my merry way down the cuff. Almost ready to turn heel and decided to see if I liked the length or if I wanted another repeat. Sock WOULD NOT GO ON. I could not get the ***** (insert word of your choice) thing over my ankle. The whole thing is frogged. No offense to the designer, but I will be doing a standard ribbed cuff.

Started the 1 white kilt hose. Tried picot hem on, it fit me, so I thought, no problem. Was almost completely through both repeats of the cuff when had the recipient try it on. Doesn't fit. Too small. So, frogged the entire thing. Recast on, increasing cuff size by 2 repeats. Had recipient try on picot hem. So far, so good. Will have recipient try on when small portion of cuff is done. Must also remember to give math calculations to Mortal so kilt hose match.

FYI, it's Tartan day. Google it if you poor Sassenachs don't know.

Rose is not adjusting well to his current status of only cat. He is not eating or drinking a lot and has been roaming around looking for Gil. He has been very needy and clingy this weekend. Fortunately, Gil will be coming home this afternoon.

Be kind to the animals

As Mortal said in her blog posting (http://raindrops-on.blogspot.com/2009/03/once-classic-always-classic.html), being kind to animals is very important and is one of the things that shows you care. This said, my being kind to animals currently is taking a big chunk of my money! Thank goodness for credit cards because I don't happen to have an extra house payment laying around -- unless of course I take money from a retirement account......(major fees as well as stupid, so we won't go there). Looks like major yarn and book diet is now in effect!

FYI -- Gil says he's worth it!