Incoherent Scribblings

Birthdays, Beds, and Beyond

New Bedding
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

Well, I think I can say that my birthday is officially over.

Today I got the last birthday cards in the mail that I was expecting and the rest of the presents I bought myself arrived. (Can you believe it? I bought myself NO cross stitch stash for my birthday this year!) It’s been a good birthday if I do say so myself. If the rest of the year is half as enjoyable as the past two weeks have been, it will be a hell of a year.

Of course, one of the highlights of my birthday weekend was going to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with Him yesterday. (I have decided to drop the He-Who-Must-Not-Yet-Be-Named for something shorter… albeit much less creative.) I am not going to write a movie review, but I will say this: I liked and didn’t like the movie. As a stand-alone action movie with Harrison Ford it was fun. As an addition to the Indiana Jones franchise, it wasn’t really what I was hoping for and frankly I was a little disappointed.

However, after the movie yesterday He and I went shopping for bedding for my new bed. (Yes! He went shopping with me! Could He be a keeper?) As usual, I wanted something nice, but was feeling too cheap to pay the big bucks for what I wanted so I hit the sale rack. And I wasn’t disappointed either. There was a “bed in a bag” set that I liked, but I found a comforter/sham set that I was partial to as well.

The “bed in a bag” was a very pretty set with purple flowers on it, but when I showed it to Him and asked his opinion he did that man-stutter thing that means he didn’t want to disagree but he clearly didn’t have too high of an opinion of what was being presented to him. Lucky for Him, I agreed: The “bed in a bag” was kind of girly!

In the end, I decided on the comforter/sham set in a pattern called “Summer Rain” and bought some 350 count Pima cotton sheets in a bluish-green-gray to match.

He must not have minded that set too much: After all, he did help me make the bed when I got home!

Margarita Tour

Prada Marfa
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

This past weekend, He-Who-Must-Not-Yet- Be-Named and I went on a road trip to New Mexico to celebrate my birthday. We are still planning on seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this weekend (actually not until Monday), but since he had prior commitments for most of this up-coming weekend we decided to do the whole birthday shebang a week early.

On our way to Mesilla, New Mexico we stopped along Highway 90 outside of Valentine, Texas to visit the (in)famous Prada Marfa. Now, before you get too excited and think that we actually have a Prada store out here in the middle of nowhere, I must warn you that not only is the collection from 2005, it isn’t an actual retail store. Marfa has become fairly well-known for its artist community and Prada Marfa is actually a work of art. However, it is one of those places, along with the Marfa Ghost Lights that everyone around here has to experience at least once.

The trip to Mesilla was first and foremost a margarita tour of West Texas and Southern New Mexico. We stopped in El Paso for the first margarita of the day; a traditional margarita on the rocks with a salt-rimmed glass. This margarita was quite tasty, but what set it apart was its sheer size. It was, as they say, a Texas-sized margarita! (I wish had a picture of it, but wouldn’t you know it, my camera batteries died at Prada Marfa and I didn’t have my spares!)

We then continued on and once we arrived in Mesilla we inquired where the best margaritas in town were. The verdict was a toss up of two places: Either at La Posta or the Double Eagle Restaurant. We had fantastic mango margaritas at the Double Eagle and awesome “La Patronas” (made with “the top of the line 100% Blue Agave, Patron Anejo Tequila, Cointreau and freshly squeezed lime juice”) at La Posta.

Honestly, I am not sure how to cast my vote for the best margarita that I had all weekend. I have learned a lot about margaritas and tequila since moving to Texas and I must say that the “La Patronas” were good in a way that cocktails are when you use the best liquors available as opposed to the bar stuff. However, I think I am probably a little more partial to the mango margaritas because as much as I enjoy a good margarita on the rocks, I have a fondness for that extra bit of sweetness that fruit margaritas offer.

Dolly in Sink

Dolly in Sink
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

It’s been a while since we had a gratuitous kitten picture…

I am not exactly sure when Molly and Dolly’s birthday is (they are littermates), but since I suspect Dolly was about 8 weeks old when I adopted her in mid-July last year that would make their birthday sometime in mid-May. So I guess they aren’t really kittens anymore…

Jungle Red

Molly and Her Jungle Red Toenails
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

When I adopted Dolly and Molly last summer in addition to regularly trimming their nails, I immediately started training them to use a scratching post instead of my furniture when they felt the need to sharpen their toenails.

My method for doing this was pretty simple. When they attempted to sharpen their toenails on my furniture I would firmly tell them “no” and physically move them to the scratching post. When we were at the scratching post I would then place their front paws on post and rub their feet on the post so they got the idea they were allowed to scratch it.

It actually didn’t take too long for them to realize that the scratching post was the preferred place to scratch because whenever I observed them scratching the post instead of my furniture I would make a fool of myself and lavish praise upon them. As a result, they began scratching the furniture less and less and the scratching post more and more.

However, even though they weren’t tearing up my furniture with their toenails I still had a slight problem: They were tearing me up when they would play and the scratching post wasn’t doing much good when they would chase each other around the house and use those nails to dig in when they launched themselves off the bed.

Therefore I started considering my options. The first option was to do nothing and live with the scratches and scars I was receiving from those regularly trimmed toenails. The second option was to have them declawed. While I am not really opposed to declawing (as a matter of fact my other two cats are declawed… but that is another post for another time) I feel that declawing them for my own personal vanity is rather selfish.

Since neither of the first two options was particularly appealing, the last option was to consider Soft Claws. Soft Claws are plastic “nail caps” that you attach to a cat’s claws that allow them all the benefits of retaining their claws but save the owner (and her furniture or appendages) the damage of sharp little toenails. After months of debating, a particularly nasty scratch that I received from Dolly a couple of weeks ago made up my mind: I ordered a batch of Soft Claws and they arrived in the mail a couple of days ago.

Soft Claws come in either a boring transparent variety or a selection of colors and being the crazy cat lady style-conscious individual that I am, I chose Soft Claws for Molly and Dolly in “Jungle Red.” I rather like them but since they have to be replaced as the cats shed their claws (on average every 6-8 weeks) I think next time we might go for “Purple Passion” instead.

Spring Break Wrap-Up

Sea World
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

Last Tuesday I picked Sissy and Neecy up from the San Antonio International airport and the long-awaited Spring Break Birthday visit began.

Neecy was practically bouncing when I found them at baggage claim. It was her first flight and she had been treated like a princess complete with extra cookies and a personal note from the pilot welcoming her aboard. Needless to say, she loved it.

Sissy and Neecy’s flight arrived in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday so after we found our hotel and got settled in we had time to head down to the Riverwalk and San Antonio’s most famous landmark… The Alamo. We ate Mexican food outside while drinking margaritas (Neecy had a virgin one) and after the sun went down we took a “cruise” on the river and learned about San Antonio.

On Wednesday we drove to Corpus Christi for the sole purpose of showing Neecy her first “big water.” (Big water is how I refer to any type of water that continues to the horizon when you look at it. This includes, but is not limited to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Michigan) Neecy was pretty impressed with the big water and even though it was windy and only in the low 70s insisted that she be allowed to swim in the “ocean.” After she changed into her swimming suit and splashed around in the water for a while we collected sea shells on the beach.

Ever since she had arrived on Tuesday Neecy kept reminding me that I had promised her a surprise when she got to Texas. I don’t ever remember promising her such a thing, but she sure got her surprise on Thursday when Sissy and I announced we would be visiting a boring war memorial but then pulled into the parking lot of Sea World San Antonio instead!

I can barely even begin to describe how much fun we had at Sea World. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. We saw all the animals you associate with Sea World (dolphins and killer whales) and some that you might not (sharks, sea lions, otters, and penguins). We caught a couple of fantastic shows and rode some rides.

Since it was Spring Break the lines were long but the expression on Neecy’s face when Sissy and I took her on her first roller coaster ride was worth every penny we spent and every minute we had to wait.

We drove back to West Texas Town on Thursday night and I got pulled over for speeding by the Texas Highway Patrol about 20 miles outside of town. It was late (as in 1:00 am) and when I told the patrolman we had been on the road for almost 5 hours he took pity on me and my exhausted passengers and let me off with a warning.

Friday was a day of semi-rest as all three of us slept in until about 11:00 am. After we got up we took a tour of West Texas Town and did a little shopping. We then made spaghetti before getting ready to go to a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory later that night. The Star Party was fun and educational and Neecy got to look through a telescope and see the Moon, Saturn, and the Orion Nebula.

On Saturday we visited Big Bend National Park and stopped at ghost town on our way home. There is a lot to do at the park, but Sissy, Neecy, and I were content with a sightseeing tour of the park from the car and stopping every once in a while to take photos of the beautiful desert mountains.

It rained on Sunday, but that was OK as we slept in and then spent the afternoon in the car on the way back to San Antonio so Sissy and Neecy could catch their flight back to Iowa early Monday morning.

We had such a good time and crammed so much into a week that I seriously think I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

(P.S. I will be uploading more pictures from the trip on Flickr soon.)