Incoherent Scribblings

An Ode to Cats

I am a certified crazy cat lady. I have always loved cats and have had a number of them in my lifetime. I grew up in the country and though we didn’t have very much livestock, we always had lots and lots of cats. Here is a list of cats that have been special to me for one reason or another in my life:

Tigger

Tigger was the first cat I remember. I was about four when we had Tigger. Unfortunately, he ran away about the time my sister was born. I will always remember Tigger because one night when I tried to make him sleep with me, he scratched me between the eyes and left a scar near my right eyebrow that is still visible when I don’t pluck my eyebrows!

Buttermilk

Buttermilk was a great big tomcat and he ruled our neighborhood. He fought a lot and one of his ears was partially ripped off. I wanted to call him Butterscotch, but was outvoted. Buttermilk ran away when we moved out to the farm. My old neighbors claimed that he had made the 8 mile journey back into town and prowled around our old neighborhood for years afterward.

Smokey

Smokey was a stray that I adopted. It was with Smokey that I witnessed birth for the first time. Smokey lived to be a very old cat and eventually all but one of her fangs fell out and her fur became bunny-soft.

Penny, Jake, Tumbleweed, and Lark

Kittens that I adored. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it through more than one winter.

Panther

My all black tom cat. He wasn’t a very big cat, but he was solid. He was a great mouser and one of the few cats my dad allowed indoors.

Little One

The only one of his November litter to survive through the winter. I babied him and Little One became one of the biggest tom cats I ever saw!

Olee

Olee was a gift from an ex-boyfriend. As a kitten she got her leg caught in a lawnmower and had to have it amputated. Twelve years later, three-legged Olee still lives with my mom.

Those were the cats of my youth and while I loved each and every one of them, I was never as attached to any of them as I am to the three that I have now: Mouse, Scooter, and Harley. I celebrate their birthdays in September and Mouse is now twelve years old, Scooter nine, and Harley three.

They have moved with me more times than I can count, they provide me with hours of entertainment, and make me feel better when I am down. They are spoiled rotten and are sometimes a huge pain in the ass, but I would be lost without them.

With the exception of Harley, I thought they were getting old until my neighbor lady informed me that two of her three cats are over 20 years old. It made me happy to think that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I could very well have them around for another 10 years!

Cross-Stitch Dilemma - Update

First of all, I wanted to thank all of the stitching bloggers who answered my suggested “Stitching Blogger’s Question of the Week.” I carefully read everyone’s thoughts on the topic and have convinced myself to try a stitching rotation. However, I would especially like to thank Erica of Moria’s Little World for linking to the Shakespeare’s Peddler Website and the wonderful article entitled “No More UFOs”.

Perhaps it is in my nature, I am a librarian after all, but I function best when I am organized and have a system. Therefore, once I had decided that I wanted to try rotating my cross-stitch projects, I had to get organized. First, I reorganized my stash. This helped me to get a good idea of what kinds of patterns I had, how much thread, etc. While doing this, I also jotted down some ideas for my rotation system. However, it wasn’t until I read “No More UFOs” that anything really called to me. In principal it is a 10-hour rotation system and I am sure many of you are already familiar with it, so I won’t go into any details here. (If you aren’t familiar with it, read the article!)

So, I did what the article recommends: I pulled out ALL of my UFOs. Luckily I only had two of them in addition to “Cat in Garden.” I then created an Excel spread sheet that gave each piece a number in the stitching rotation and a list of about 10 others I haven’t started, but want to put into the rotation eventually. Finally, I also began a little “Stitch Diary” in Word to track other developments.

Since I had already done about 15 hours on “Passing Admirers,” I went ahead and started working on the second project, “Siamese Kitty.” I began it back in September of 1999 and actually thought I had lost the pattern! As luck would have it, during my Great Stash Reorganization last week I found it. In addition to “Cat in Garden,” I have a small “Garfield” design in the rotation. I love Garfield, but after working on this pattern for an afternoon, it just didn’t do anything for me. If it weren’t for this “NO UFO” mentality I would probably never finish it.

Anyway, I am anxious to see how this whole rotation thing will work out for me and I just want to say thanks again to everyone who answered the question and gave me a bit of much needed guidance!

Update on “Garfield”: I guess the Aida cloth that I had it on was kind of shitty, because I put a big rip in it when I was tightening it in the hoop. So I conceded defeat and threw it away. I didn’t like that pattern anyway!

Shop Dreams

Stitching Blogger’s Question:

If you could design your dream needlework/cross stitch shop, what would it be like?

I guess it is just the librarian in me coming out, but my dream cross-stitch shop would closely resemble a library: It would be a welcome place with areas to stitch and/or browse, but above all it would be well-organized!

Metal Head

I have had my ears pierced since I was eight years old. I remember how badly I wanted them pierced: I begged and pleaded for at least a year before my dad’s cousin, who is a beautician, offered to pierce my mom and my ears one afternoon when she was visiting. (She often came for a visit and did her mother’s and my grandma’s hair… when she did she brought a “mini-salon” with her.) I still have one stud from that piercing; gold with a pink stone in it.

That satisfied me for about seven years. Then when I was 14, I decided I wanted my ears pierced a second time… it was all the rage in my middle school. But mom said no. Of course, since I was 14 I didn’t listen. Instead, I went to a beautician that my mom never went to and got them pierced again. (This was before you had to have “parental permission” to get your ears pierced.) I tried to hide my new piercings, but Mom saw them within 48 hours. She wasn’t happy and I was grounded for a week, but she didn’t make me take them out.

My sophomore year of college was a tough year and I experimented with all sorts of things. As a result of one of my experiments, I pierced my ears a third time; but this time I did it myself with a great big, extremely sharp darning needle. Even after standing outside on a frigid January Iowa day for a long time in order to numb my ears properly, it still hurt like hell!

About a year and a half later, I wanted them pierced again. However, this time when I got the cartilage in my upper right ear pierced and had both ears pierced a fourth time I let a “professional” do it. (trans. I went to the mall.) Not 3 months later I got my right ear pierced two more times. It looked cute, piercing was all the rage, and it was a such conversation piece. “How many do you have?” (11) “Did it hurt?” (Not really) “Does it hurt to sleep on them?” (Not as long as you get the side pierced that you don’t sleep on) “Are you pierced anywhere else?” - wink, wink (No) Etc., etc.

I have taken good care of my ears and have never had any problems with my piercings. I usually wear 4 pairs of hoops in the bottom and 3 studs in the remaining piercings in the right ear… in fact, I still wear that first stud with the pink stone in my upper cartilage piercing.

But, slowly, over the last year or so, each time I take my earrings out to clean them and then go through the hassle of putting them all back in and I look in the mirror at my earringless ears I have begun to think about leaving them out permanently.

The first and second piercings are OK and I am quite fond of the cartilage piercing, but the others I think I could live without. I don’t think they will ever grow shut completely: I have left the earrings out for weeks at a time and never have a problem putting them back in, so I guess I can always change my mind. But gradually I just don’t think it looks so cute anymore… I am beginning to think that it borders on tacky.

Oddly Enough

This has to be the best headline I have seen in a long while:

Man Shoots Wife, Mistakes Her for Monkey
“A Malaysian man shot and killed his wife after he mistook her for a monkey picking fruit in a tree behind their house…” (courtesy Reuters, not The Onion!)