Wordless Wednesday: Bird Watching Can Be Exhausting

Must lie down to do it....

Make sure you come visit tomorrow when Laura from I'm So Vintage on Etsy and her blog of the same name will be blogging about her secret garden & sharing some tips with us.

Wordless Wednesday: ummm... Hi, Jack

Attack Cat

It has been a long, long time since there were any gratuitous cat pictures on the blog of Jack, The Official Kitty of Athena's Armoury. So, today Jack gets his own blog post.

My mom had made me a crocheted lap blanket once upon a time. Last winter, I had been keeping it out to be all cozy like in front of the TV. Well, there were quite a few times that I would wake in the morning only to find it pulled off the couch and on the floor. Then one day, I caught Jack, red pawed, with it *in his mouth.* Needless to say, the blanket only came out when I wanted to use it after that.

Along with so many other people this year, my mom's company downsized and she was let go. She was starting to feel besides herself lately with nothing to do, so I suggested that maybe she should start crocheting again. She asked if there was anything that I needed. Me? No. Jack? Yes. Maybe if he had his own blanket, he'd leave mine alone.

Monday night, I arrived home to a couple of boxes: one was Jack's blanket. It came out adorable! I didn't know she was going to do this, but my mom sewed felt letters onto it spelling out his name. Upon closer examination, I realized that they were filled with catnip. I couldn't help but laugh, but also had the realization: "Oh, no... He's going to destroy this..." Well, here's the progression from innocent, discovering kitty to evil kitty.

Loving my new blanket. Look! It even has my name spelled out in felt letters! It gets even better!!! The letters are filled with catnip!!!!!!

Must Get to Catnip

(Blanket licking quickly proceeds to pulling at, burrowing in, and playing with the blanket.)

(Evil kitty takes over and attacks the brand new kitty blanket.)

What? Did I do something wrong?

Kitty Injustice

Allow me to introduce you to Black Kitty (so named by my neighbor). She has a heartbreaking story. Her family used to live a few houses down from us, but they got divorced, moved out, or otherwise relocated. So, what did they do with her? They threw her out on the street. The people in the next house over eventually took pity on her and brought her in. Until they got a dog. Black Kitty and Jake the Dog did not get along. So, what did they do? They threw Black Kitty on the street. The people in the next house, my neighbors, have not brought her inside, but they do at least feed her. I just don't understand this. Why do people do this? It would never have occurred to her second set of owners to throw the dog out into the street, so why is it okay to throw the poor little pussycat out there? It makes me so sad and so upset to know what she has been through. Do you think these people know that an average outside cat's life expectancy is only 2-3 years? Or perhaps these people don't care?

This hits particularly close to home because I believe my little (well, not so little: he's 13 lbs.) Jack has a very similar story. He had been fixed and declawed and then abandoned. Because someone took away his claws and then threw him outside, he had no way of defending himself and is now sick with FIV. FIV is AIDS in cats and is spread through a scratch or bite. Cats with FIV will lead a long (although, not as long if they were not sick) and healthy life as long as they remain healthy. Feline leukemia is actually closer to human AIDS. It breaks my heart to know that he's sick because of the stupidity and lack of compassion of his former humans. When my vet first told me that Jack has FIV and I started asking questions, she said that many other people would simple have had him put to sleep. I just don't understand that either. He's still the same sweet kitty that I fell in love with, I just have to take a little special care in the event he gets sick. His quality of life is just as good as a healthy cat. My vet said that he was very lucky to have found me. I feel like the lucky one.

If you feel as strongly as I do about this kitty injustice and want to display your feelings, check out julep115's Etsy Shop:

Earth Friendly Cat Pendant-Reversible Tag

In other news: "The Room" is coming along. The sealant is on the stucco and the corner where the birdcage attaches has been painted, so now our contractor can come back and put the lanai back together. Once he's done with that, we can finally have the final inspection done. We will still need to paint the remainder of the exterior walls, paint the trim work on the interior, and finish up some furniture to be done in there for the time being. There's still two more big things to do: we need to replace the laminate flooring in there (the water damage was so extensive that it's basically turned into speed bumps) and deal with the landscaping so that we can get the standing water away from the house. Damn, we're poor.

Playing Catch Up in Pictures

Last week I received such a phenomenal wire order! All kinds of yummy stuff including a sampler of anodized aluminum rings, a sampler of scale maille, 2 pounds each of 16 gauge and 18 gauge bright aluminum (BA) wire, and 10 pounds* of 14 gauge BA wire. I already finished a custom dice bag with some of the anodized aluminum rings and am starting on an Uber bag (yup, that's the Crown Royal size) for a friend. Part of my mom's birthday present this year is a pouch for her iPod with the green (her favorite color) anodized aluminum rings. Then, I have so many plans for more armour and some production line jewelry. So much metal to play with!!

I've been talking about the fact that I'm working on the Fantasy Artists of Etsy Street Team's Round Robin for FOREVER now!! Come Hell or high water, I will finish my part for this doll! Here's a work in progress picture so you know I'm not lying. . .

<== Scott recently bought me this fabulous tool chest, I just had to share with you. It's beautiful!





On a side note, I'm so excited to finally have my taillight guards on my Jeep! I've had these things for probably a year and a half and have been searching for the correct hardware for them ever since. ==>

Lastly, Jack wanted to say hi. Here he is "overseeing" my maille work:

Dice Bag as Evening Purse

I was hanging out in the Etsy forums (I do that a lot at work) and ran across a Promotions thread for a purse. Turns out the woman posting the thread has a formal event coming up (some kind of military dinner) and she was planning on wearing burgundy and silver and wanted a matching bag small enough for her cell, some money, etc. On a whim, I posted my dice bag and she went for it! Woohoo! People tend to think that posting in the forums, particularly the promo section, doesn't work. I tend to agree with that comment, but it sure worked for me this time! As a special little something for her I added this embellishment:

She plans on adding some beads to it that match the jewelry she's making to wear that night too. I asked to see pic's when she's done. I bet it will look fantastic.

On a side note, I caught my new family member drinking water our of one of the fish bowls last night. She didn't seem to be going for the fish, just drinking. We had noticed that the water was getting low very fast lately, but this is the first time we caught her in the act. Looks like I'll have to find another bowl for the fish.

Angel / Devil

I Think I'm Keeping Her. . .

How can this possibly be comfortable?

Well, it's been over a week and I haven't seen or heard anything about a "lost cat." It does seem like the neighbors recognize her, so she's been outside for a while. I considered trying to find her a good home, but I'm thinking that I might just keep her since, after all, she chose me. It's so odd having identified as a dog person my whole life to find myself bonding with this kitty. I've been calling her "Kit" which, of course, is short for kitty. I know it's not very original, but that's what I've been saying since I met her 2 months ago. Scott doesn't like "Kit" because it reminds him of the car from Knight Rider. If that's the case we can call her "KITT" when she's good and "KATT" when she's bad. I don't think I sold him on that idea just yet, but he also hasn't come up with any better ideas.

Good Day

The tour of Twelve Angry Men is in town and one of the huge benefits of working in theatre is that I sometimes get to see things for free. =) Even more fun, Scott didn't have any cues during this one, so even though he was working, he was able to sit out front and watch the show with me. I can't remember the last time we saw a show together -- usually one or the both of us is working it. Afterwards, we went and got some dinner. We actually had a theatre and dinner date. It was so much fun! Oh, and the show was amazing!

After I left him to go and work the second show, I stopped by the fancy schmancy mall and got a free little hand cleanse, exfoliation, and lotiony massage at Aveda with their Caribbean line. Yum. Purchased a couple of hair products, too. Then, I went to the Lush shop next door because I was out of my moisturizer and got some free samples of their new products. Even more yum!!

Then, I came home to a kitty cat greeting me at the door. I had a good day.

Cat and Coif

Not cat in coif (although I've seen that before), but updates on the cat and the coif.

Okay, the coif first. I keep forgetting to post these pictures. While Scott and I were still in the apartment, his sister and her kids (who live overseas) were in town visiting. They all so sweetly made a fuss about my coif and we managed to get pic's of two out of three of the kids wearing it and holding Scott's Gandalf sword from The Lord of the Rings Collection. Check 'em out. Don't they look awesome?

Okay, now the cat. After much stress of deciding what to do with her, I finally decided to go with my instinct of getting her inside. With no claws, it's just not right for her to be outside: no way of getting food, no way of defending herself, even no way for escape by climbing up a tree. So, I stopped by PetSmart on the way home intending to pick up only the very basics, just in case "Lost Cat" signs get posted over the weekend. I came home and I saw her across the street. I made the "psst, psst, psst" sound that attracts her attention and, I kid you not, she galloped across the street to me. I took out one of the toys (I had to get her her something fun, not just kitty litter) and played with her for a little bit. I opened the door, went in and left the door open and let her decide what she wanted to do. I didn't try to entice her or anything and she came in. I let her check out things for a little bit and when she didn't make any move to head back for the door, I closed it. I gave her some food and she just scarfed it down. Looking at me and meowing, I kind of got the hint that she was still hungry so gave her some more. It was a fairly uneventful night with the exception of when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I guess she thought I was up and it was time to play, because she followed me back to bed and started purring and nudging my hand. She's also a fairly good wake up call. The second my alarm went off this morning, she meowed from down the hall and came running in and started purring and nudging me again. She had another whole bowl of food for breakfast and successfully used the litter box during the night. I think she's still a little confused about where she is, but she seems content.

What do you think?

What is this thing in my face and why aren't you petting me?

Okay, I've got a bit of a conundrum. I posted a little while back about a cat that befriended Scott and I when we moved into our house. I usually see her a few times a week either napping outside the house or even as I'm coming outside she runs over to me meowing to get my attention. We spend a few minutes hanging out and then we go our separate ways. This weekend I saw her two nights in a row near the house. On Friday night, she was by the side of the house trying to stay out of the drizzly weather we were having. Saturday night, she just broke my heart. I got home really late from work, but still spent a few minutes outside petting and talking to her before going in. I sat down inside near our front door to take off my heels (which I never wear, so my feet were frickin' throbbing) and through the glass panel next to the door I see a pair of eyes reflecting in at me. I went outside again for a little bit because I felt so bad; she stayed there looking in and watching me doing stuff around the house for a good 15 minutes.

I'd love to take her in, but the thing is, I have absolutely no idea if she belongs to someone. I can just picture some 7 year old little girl in the neighborhood crying her eyes out because her kitty is gone. Then again, if she does belong to someone, they aren't taking very good care of her. She's outside all the time and has been declawed. She doesn't appear to be starving and her coat is nice and soft and clean. Maybe she was abandoned and her coat looks so good because she's still young? I just wish she could talk so that when I ask her "who belongs to her?" she could answer. The other big problem is money. I can only imagine what vet bills and food and everything would be like and I don't know if I can afford to really take care of her right now. It certainly seems like she's adopted me, now I have to figure out if I should adopt her. . .

I'm a Dog Person, But. . .

I'd like to introduce you to Kit (aka Kitty). Well, that's what I've been calling her anyway. The very first time Scott and I came to see what would become our new home, she befriended us. Ever since then, she intermittently comes and hangs out in front of our garage door or napping under my Jeep. One day while my mom was in town visiting, we were loading up my Jeep and getting ready to head to the beach. From out of nowhere I hear a "meow." She was calling out to us as she crossed the street almost to say, "Hey wait a minute! Don't forget about me." She's been a fun friend to have and not at all like any other cat I've met. I might just be a dog person and a cat person. Who knew?