Of kitties, cold and grades.

Miss Leia has extra toes.  We call them fingers since they are on the front.  Well, little miss thing uses these extra fingers as thumbs.  The opposable kitty thumbs are used to help her to grab things like the scroll work bowl holder (spilling water) and allowing her to take the clip off of the cat food bag, allowing her unlimited access to the bag of food causing her to get kitty food drunk.

Good times.

I purchased a latching lid container to foil those kitty thumbs only to find that Hubs forgot to put the lid on, giving Miss Kitteh full access to the food-- again!  UGH!

The lid ain't gonna work if we don't use it people!

It was -3.6 F when I woke up on Friday morning with a biting wind chill and wonder of wonders-- WE HAD SCHOOL!  Color me shocked.  My cousin said that her daughter's teacher told her that the kids had to stop missing school and that they just needed to get used to the cold.  At this point, it's not getting any better.  We're in a cycle and it's cold.  Above zero feels like a breezy day, so it is what it is.  My coat is filthy because it has been too cold to risk washing it and not drying it fully before I have to go out again.  K's is the same.  In fact, I'm going to try to sneak them into the wash here in just a bit.

To note, I did double check with the office staff and our guidance counselor to make certain that all kids have coats and that they don't need any.  I reminded them that the PTA has money set aside for such things and if they need, please let us know.  We don't want any child running around without a coat.  Brrr.

Finally, I try not to be a big horn tooter with this because we know where we've been and how it feels to be there, but look at what K brought home:

The "O's" stand for outstanding and they are for social skills and study habits.  :)

How a year and a different teacher makes a HUGE difference!  Her prize from me?  2 Harry Potter books and a new balloon air pump.  What did Dad get her to celebrate the occasion?  A new whoopee cushion.  :insert rolling eyes:  Needless to say, she loves it!  She actually loves all of them.  So proud of all of her hard work!

ETA:  The coats are laundered!  HOORAY!

A paid day off and a pot of soup.

I got the call at 6:15 AM to say that my place of employment was on a delay open.  We usually open at 10 AM (and 6:15 AM was a little early to call) but with the 3" of snow covered with ice, it was decided that there would be a wait-and-see approach to opening.

Julia, my coworker, texted me to ask what the update on work was.  She said she doesn't speak English at 6 AM.  I gave her my update and called Judy back.  She said to give her another hour to make a determination.

She called before that hour was up.  The local university (which is a block and a half behind our store) closed, so she decided to close, too.  HOORAY!   A paid day off to putz around the house, load a bunch of CDs into iTunes (Pavement, CAKE, NIN, Blind Melon, Rusted Root, Squirrel Nut Zippers and onward to Porno for Pyros and Jane's Addiction and more) and cook up a pot of soup.

What soup am I cooking?  It's called, "I'm making from what's in my cupboards and refrigerator!"  We have turkey kielbasa, dried mixed beans, barley, corn, carrots, peas and half of a green pepper.  I'll bust out a pan of cornbread and the world will be a delicious place.

Be safe!

Kitty in a box.

Kitty in a tote.  This is the tote we brought her home in.  She loves her tote.

Kitty in a work bench drawer.  We've had to secure that.  A work bench drawer is not safe.  We found her curled up on a hacksaw.  Who would have thought she would have been in a drawer full of things?  

Miss Leia is slowly bringing herself to the family.  It is a slow transition and we've learned that patience is key.  You see, Leia was kitty in a box at a local Petsmart for at least a few months.  That box was probably (generously figured here) 2'x3'x3'.  She was used to being in a small enclosure where people would look at her, but not touch her.  She was used to people pounding on the glass (even though they aren't supposed to) and perhaps used to getting a scratch and left behind.

There was no space to run.

Her bed and food bowl were litter box adjacent.

She has started to fill out a hair, or at least that is what M and I thought this morning.  He mentioned it and I told him that I was thinking that myself.

We discovered that leaving a heaping bowl of food for her is not the best way.  We thought it was.  She is rather skinny, but we discovered that she will eat it and have ill effects of digestion later on.  In short, girlfriend pooped on me.  Oh, she didn't mean to.  Overfeeding isn't a good thing for her.

We're all getting used to each other and we discovered that she is afraid to go to the litter box while we're present.  If she needs to go and we are there, she won't.  The incident that happened was because she needed to go, I didn't know, I scooped her up, snuggled her up in my coat and frankly, I think I accidentally squeezed it out of her kitty person.

Oops.

She did earn herself the nickname of "Who flug poo?"  After the snuggling/pooping incident, we needed to give her half of a bath.  I had her snuggled up in a towel, scratching her kitty mustache and telling her, "Awwww, you smellllled sooooo badddd."  She did.  Her motor was running and though the bath was a bit jarring for her, I think that she knows that we saved her from her own stench.  In fact, I told her that I was certain that she finally gave up because she couldn't stand the smell of her own self.

She has gotten use out of the kitty gym we built for her from scrap pieces parts and only involved a few dollars worth of kitty toys.  M built her a box at the top about the same size of a work bench drawer and we gave it a bubble moon roof.  (A clear popcorn bowl we had.)  We set it up with toys at night and in the morning, the toys are scattered.  She has herself a grand time.

Leia has not come upstairs yet.  It isn't because it isn't available to her.  I think that goes back to kitty-in-a-box syndrome.  She'll get to it.  Just this morning she came to M and let him give her good scratches.  Our basement spans the 1008 square feet of the house.  She has more room down there than she has had in months.  She'll come up in time.  We bring her up, but her feet haven't hit the stairs yet.  Poor thing is scared of everything, but she's working through that.

It's taking time.  A lot of time.  That's okay.  We're used to kitties with issues of kittyhood.  She doesn't bite, so it's all good.