Tag: cats

Non-Birthday Day Off

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life

I’ve got three days off work before my day job goes crazy with advising.  It’s my non birthday year, today is my “birthday”.  At least somewhere between today and tomorrow my birthday lands.  My to do list is enough to keep me busy for a month (or longer).  But I’m tackling things one at a time.

This morning I slept later than normal – that was on my to do list.  I’m going to attempt to do the same tomorrow.  I got dressed – very reluctantly.  I’m going out later, so I guess clothes are necessary.  I finished two crochet projects.  Now all I need is some pictures and I can publish the patterns.  I worked on budget and bills.  I paid most of them but my check isn’t in my account until tomorrow – so I’ll pay the rest tomorrow.  I brought current my reports for my writing – sales, commission to TJ, adding in the new crochet pattern, and other things.

My goal was to be back in the recliner by 12:00 – it is now past that time.  However, I did play backgammon and some card games on my computer.  Maybe that gives me a little leeway.  I was supposed to get the two areas cleared that are still cluttered in my office.  As of right now, all I’ve managed to do is get the filing done.  I hate filing.  However the folders are made, the files are cleaned out.  I had two years of taxes which needed to come out – not sure how that happened I’m usually really diligent about taking the old out when I put the new in but it did happen.  I had all seven years in one file and separated them into individual files.

Ava – my middle daughter’s youngest cat – lay on the stand for most of the morning.  She liked me – or at least that is the interpretation I’m putting on it.  Really I was in her sun room and annoying her with my work.  I’m waffling between hitting the recliner and doing crocheting or moving forward with the office.  My legs will be the determining factor.  My fear is I’ll end up moving from one pile to the next and that is simply not acceptable.

I have my birthday journal entry to write.  It is my birthday and it is right here and it would be good to write it now and not put it off for three months (or when I get to it.  I started this in 2007 and wrote it in every year since (except I missed it in 2013 & 2015).  Last year my entry was short and crabby.  Maybe this year can be better.  My goal with this is to summarize how I feel about the previous year.

At the very least I’ve gotten some thing accomplished today.  I’ve got two more days off and then the weekend so hopefully I’ll mark off a lot on my to do list.

New Grandbaby

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

My middle daughter adopted a new kitten on Thursday!  She is an adorable six month old kitten.  Sasha, her older sister now, is not happy with the new addition to the family.

Vicki is dealing with a lot of changes.  She has a new energetic kitten who is into everything and has few manners.  She has an older kitten (Sasha is always a kitten) who is unhappy with the new addition.  She is juggling the affections of two demanding kittens.

Ava – the new kitten – is sweet, active, and playful.  She seems to be fascinated with Sasha and wants to play.  She is high energy which is quite the change for Vicki as Sasha was two when she got her.

It’s been a few days of pictures and drama with the new kitten in the house.  Sasha has been grumbly at Vicki which makes Vicki unhappy.  It’s been fun listening to their adventures.  Today for the first time the two cats touched noses without hissing at each other.

Saturday my niece came out to paint.  We spent the afternoon on our deck painting.  I did three paintings which I think turned out all right.  It was wonderful being out on the deck.  Ken worked in the yard and chatted with us.  She and I worked on painting.  It’s funny, I did the sunset one with the water and had no idea what else I wanted to do with it but after I did a second painting I went back to it and knew exactly what I planned to do.  I think of the three it’s my favorite.

Last night I watched Big Bang Theory and crocheted a little.  I was very cold so ended up cuddled under my electric blanket.  I didn’t get as much done with crocheting as I wanted to but I was so cold I couldn’t hold the crochet hook.  It’s been a good weekend.  I think the cats are adjusting and I had some good times with painting and crocheting.

Back to Routine

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Stephanie flies back home today.  Moo Shoo and Gus Gus (her amazingly cute cats) miss her.  I’ve enjoyed our time together.  We cooked supper together last night.  I chopped what was needed and she cooked.  She made a shrimp stuffed flounder, Parmesan creamy rice, sweet peas, stuffed crab and a salad.  It was delicious.

After I drop her at the airport it will be back to routine for me.  I’ll be heading in to work.  I’ll go back to looking at my long to do list and figuring out which will be my next task.  There are so many to choose from it won’t take long for me to settle on one or three.

Most likely I’ll be focusing on production of the next poetry book – Moments in Spirit.  I am also working on editing the second in the fantasy series.  I have so many decisions to make sometimes I feel like I can’t make one more decision or my head will explode.  Since that would be messy and probably slow down the entire process I try taking things one at a time.

My foot still twinges when I spend too much time with it down so I’m trying to take it easy and do as much as possible in the recliner.  This does make life difficult because I use two screens when I’m writing and doing a lot of production tasks.  However, it is better that I work with one screen than make my foot worse.

I’m going to miss Stephanie, her humor, her quiet assurance – pretty much everything about her.  But we both have to go back to the demands of life.  Her cats are probably going to scold her severely for deserting them for a week.  

MIA

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

For the last week, I’ve been traveling.  Ken and I went to visit all three of our daughters.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed our family time.  I was very worried about not being able to go with all the problems I’ve had but I checked with the doctor and she said it was okay to travel.

Our southern girls gave us great hospitality and entertainment.  We played games, shopped, went to a movie, and visited an aquarium.  Since we don’t get to visit them often it was wonderful to meet their cats – two of my grand fur babies – Moo Shoo and Gus Gus.  They are adorable, of course.  The girls have a lovely apartment and we had a good visit.

Our midwest girl gave us great care when we showed up on her door tired from driving.  She took care of us, made us food and talked a lot.  We also went to her ortho appointment and her shoulder is on the mend.  We also went shopping and I found the shoes I love at a great price – saved myself about $50.

I was thrilled to come home though.  It has been a long week with driving and visiting and all the activities.  All of my daughters were careful about my foot issues which are doing much better.

As I drove home yesterday, I thought of all these things I need to get done.  I’ve done some of them this morning but my foot will soon drive me back to my recliner.  One last thing I want to work on is updating my todo list I have on the computer.  I have to cross off all the stuff I’ve gotten done and add in all the things that came to my mind when I was driving yesterday.

I wasn’t completely unplugged for the last week.  I did check my home email a few times but it was good to be mostly unplugged.  It was fun to focus on family and let the phone, email, and all the technology go for the week.

At the same time, I’ve been working on the computer this morning and it is like coming back to an old friend.  I’ve gotten a lot done including paying bills, submitting written work to different places, and checking on all my different publishing avenues.  I cleared a couple piles off my desk which is always a good thing.

While I was gone, I crocheted several scarves and slippers.  I enjoyed wandering around in JoAnn with my youngest daughter and Beth.  All of the items I crocheted stayed with my daughters.  My oldest daughter got the scarf she liked and my youngest got slippers she’s been nagging for and several scarves.  My middle got two scarves.

All in all – it has been a really good week.  Tomorrow I return to work and am looking forward to seeing my faculty and student workers.  I’m sure I’ll be stressed with all the emails I have and with catching up but that will pass quickly.