Thursday, December 28, 2006

Happy Boxing Day!

This year on Boxing Day my cat Alex had to go to the emergency vet because he had a blocked urinary tract and it was late afternoon and my normal vet was closing for the day. Poor kitty was in so much pain he would growl when I would touch him -- and yet less than 18 hours earlier he seemed just fine. Those blockages can progress from nothing noticable to really bad very quickly.

Anyway, I had to pick him up at the emergency vet the next morning by 9am and take him to my normal vet. After an exam and drawing some blood the regular vet decided to take out the IV in his front leg, which made Alex much more comfortable. Decided to leave the catheter in until tomorrow as they didn't want to remove it too soon and chance that it would have to be put back in again.

Then they sent Alex home with instruction for me to monitor his output (amazing how cat pee suddenly became my focus for the day). I took a nap with him, which he loved as he could rest his head (he has one of those cones on so he won't rip out his catheter) on my arm and go to sleep. Everything seems to be working pretty well and he is feeling much better. Gave the vet an update a couple hours ago and she's happy with how he's doing.

He goes back to the regular vet tomorrow morning (8 am! These early mornings are killing me...I'm not used to being up that early!) when he will probably have the catheter removed and then they will monitor him for the rest of the day before sending him back home again. Then I'm supposed keep him in a seperate room for a while so I can moniter his litterbox habits and feed him his special food.

I have in about 24 hours spent more on this cat than I did going on my five day trek to see The Church in August. And the paying isn't over yet. Oh the joys of pet ownership....

Sunday, December 24, 2006

"little eeky, who is very naughty"

Hahaha! I got quite a kick out of seeing that on Steve's blog a few days ago. And it was the second thrill I got that day.

I worked at the little arts coop gallery that day and on the drive home my phone rang. Luckily it rang between songs -- otherwise I never would have heard it. I flicked off the cd player, fished my phone out of my purse and answered, fully convinced my brother was on the other end (as he's pretty much the only person who calls me regularly on that phone). It wasn't. It was Steve. Turned out to be a very fun call -- talked to everyone in the family except Scarlet.

Two things struck me as I chatted. First, how very nice and down to earth all of them are. And second, how during the whole call I had this undercurrent running through my mind -- "don't wreck, don't wreck, don't wreck." Gah! How embarrassing would it have been to have crashed while chatting away! Hey, it was dark, rainy, and hard to see, but fortunately it was interstate and late enough that traffic wasn't heavy. So I made it home safe and sound, and with a big smile on my face.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

ebay auctions ended

my ebay auctions of two of Steve's paintings ended a few hours ago. The Jack Frost cover painting sold for $660 USD and the other painting sold for $510 USD. So $1170 for the pair. They both sold to the same guy who bought the three paintings used for Church albums and tour posters SK had up last month. This guy has spent a LOT on Steve's work lately. Hope he keeps it up. :-)

I would have liked for them to have brought a bit more -- hell, I would have liked for them to have brought a LOT more -- but these were really very decent prices. And they went for more than I would have priced them on the SK art website, so it's all good.

Monday, December 18, 2006

art, ebay, and bread

I put a bunch of new small paintings up on the SK art site a few days ago and so far they are going quite well. Several have even had a couple people interested in them. That's good as it shows they are well liked, but I do always feel bad when I have to tell people the piece they asked about is already sold. And some of the older paintings I put up on photobucket (and then gave people on the SK email list the addy for it) are also selling. It's always great to see the interest in his work.

I also put two of his paintings up on eBay and now they both have bids! A little under three days to go. They are the pieces used for the reissued Jack Frost cd. Of course I'm hoping for a bidding war and the price of each to go up, but if they sell at the current price it's still a good price. There are over a dozen people "watching" each auction so chances are decent that there will be more bidding.

I was so stressed putting them up there even though I told him (and myself) that it was a no lose situation the way I set up the auction. I asked him beforehand if he would be happy with the amount I put as the minimum bid and he did ok it, so if they only got one bid we wouldn't be horrified. And if they got no bids we would only have minimal listing fees, so wouldn't be out much there either. But it's still stressful to have someone else relying on me to make the correct decisions with this. Putting them up this close to Christmas wasn't the best timing and I kind of regret that. But I'm not sure any time in the next two to three months would be any better.

If these do well I'd like to put one or two pieces on eBay periodically. I think it can help to establish the value of his art, making people more comfortable to pay the asking prices on the sk art site and perhaps allowing us to raise those prices too although I think they are pretty good for now. I think commission prices, however, are too low and SK and I need to discuss raising them. They are currently lower than comparably sized pieces he does not on commission and they shouldn't be that low. At minimum they should be the same price, and I think they really should be a bit more.

Now to really change the subject -- I made bread a few days ago. I love fresh homemade bread. It was excellent and I'm planning on making a couple more loaves for Christmas. I'll probably make wheat bread this time (the first batch was white) as I really like the taste better. Several years ago (about 15 now -- damn. Didn't realise it had been so long until I gave it some thought) I made all my own bread. One Saturday every month I would make several batches of bread and freeze it to use over the next month. I would buy bulk yeast and organic flour in 25 lb bags. Even made bagels and english muffins. I kept it up for a year and a half. Don't think I'll go that far now, but every once in a while it's nice to whip up a couple of loaves.

Made some cookies last night and plan to make more today. Gonna send a bunch out to my sister as part of her Christmas gift. I was thinking of some Graeter's ice cream (Graeter's makes the BEST ice cream!), but decided $11+ per pint was a bit much, even for fabulous ice cream. So I'm going to send her a box of Mike Sell's potato chips (which she also loves), home made cookies and a gift card. That should do.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

'cause everyone else is doing it!



Yep. I too just had to post a pic of the Bay City Rollers.

A couple (maybe a few by now) weeks ago I noticed a flurry of BCR mentions and even photos and I commented on it on a few peoples' blogs. So I'm jumping on the bandwagon and posting a BCR photo here too!

I still can't quite figure out why in the world they wore those bloody awful high water pants though. I don't recall them (the pants) ever being in fashion anywhere. Does anyone remember those as ever being considered cool?

Thursday, December 07, 2006

This is what happens when you've been single a looonnggg time...

The other day I pondered which of my cats would make the best guy for me.

Yes. My life is that pitiful. Sigh.

And now I'm going to share my ruminations with any poor saps who happen to stumble upon this blog, and you can laugh at my patheticness too. :-)

Obviously the girls are out, 'cause they are girls (although I suppose if I could change a cat into a human I could change it's gender too). Besides, Mitzi is nicknamed "Hell Cat Bitch" for a reason and I don't think I would like that at all in a guy. I suspect Miss Myrrh is "Hell Cat Bitch in Training" since she really doesn't seem to like anyone. Well, she does like me. and Loki. Sometimes. And she's still likely to smack us for no apparent reason. Again, qualities I can accept in a cat, but not a guy. And poor Madeline, she's just dumb. Very sweet, but as dumb as they come.

Ok, on to the guy cats:

-- Maxwell (Max)- He's a very sweet cat, but he's a bit of a spazz. Now much of that is because he has hyperthyroidism, but it would annoy the crap out of me in a person.

-- MiloGuido - On the plus side he's very sweet and personable and has a really handsome face and great eyes. He does have a wussy little tail -- not sure what that would translate to in human terms.... But MiloGuido's main problem is he's a fucking drama queen. Everything is a big, fucking, run-screaming-around-the-room deal. No way in hell I want that in a person (although it is very funny in a cat).

-- Oscar - Oscar is actually a contender. Oscar is always a cat with a plan. Sometimes, however they are not great plans. Although he's a very sweet cat (and he has great green eyes), I fear Oscar would be a bit of a "straight" if he was a human. I suspect he would be good at paying the bills though....

-- Isidore - his name means gift of the goddess Isis, and Isi certainly knows it! He's absolutely gorgeous and has stunning eyes and a beautiful, big body. He's very fun-loving, and really quite loving and friendly. Isi is a bit of a devil though, loving to pick on Maddie and Milo just to get a reaction (and of course they always react). I'm not sure I could really handle someone who got so much pleasure out of pushing other's buttons. I'm sure I'd often want to slap him.

-- Rickenbacker Straticaticus - Ricky is a wonderful cat and I suspect he'd be a pretty cool guy too. He's attractive, kind, knows just what to say. He has the whole package. Unfortunately, I suspect Ricky would be quite the ladies man. Well I think he'd get along with most of the guys too as a buddy. Hell, he'd get along with everyone. My niece calls him a philanderer and I think that pretty much nails him (little double entendre there ;-) ). He'd be a great friend and wonderful at parties though.

Which brings us to the last two -- Alex and Loki. I think it would be one of these two. Seems kind of funny as they aren't the real easy going types and a few of the other cats would make better looking guys, but I think I could get along pretty well with either of them.

-- Loki - Loki's the old warrior -- all beat up and scarred (even has a couple pellets under his skin on a front leg where he was shot) and now ready to lounge around and take it easy. He's a wonderful, sweet cat who dearly loves me. He loves to come up and sleep on my pillow with me at night and get love and attention. He is a bit skittish -- if he was a person I'd wonder if he was suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. He's generally afraid of everyone but me (although he is getting used to my niece also) and sometimes he's even afraid of me. But he's such a sweet little snuggle bunny. He probably is better as a cat actually.

-- Alex - I suspect Alex would be the best choice for me. Alex utterly adores me (which is a plus in my book!) and sleeps with me every night, all night (not even Loki does that). Now he is a bit of a cranky old bastard, but is essentially very sweet. And I seem to have a soft spot for the cranky old bastards anyway. He's not terribly outgoing, but he is sweet and we've always gotten along very well. Hell, he comes running to me when he sees me. How sweet is that? Also Alex wouldn't go flitting around with everyone else like Ricky and Isi would. I think that's a good thing.

Now all I need to do is find someone who knows how to turn a cat into a human.... ;-)

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Dec 3

Today is my dad's birthday. If he was still alive he would be 81. Because he died at 68 it's weird to think of him at 81. I know 68 isn't exactly young (athough the older I get the younger it seems. ;-) ), but 81 just seems sooo much older than 68.

The Who crush in Cincinnati happened on this date in 1979. Wow, it's getting close to 30 years now. I remember at the time when I saw the ages of the dead I thought "wow, a lot of these people are pretty old." Few, if any, were out of their 20's. Now people that age seem so young to me.

We bought our Malamute puppy Rolf on this date in 1983. He was five weeks old and the most adorable puppy. All his life everyone had the same comment -- Now that's a real dog (or puppy when he was little). And they were right. He was such a great dog.


You know I think I wrote about this stuff last year at this time too. Oh well, tough.