Author Archives: Christene

Kittens

I have kittens. My co-worker had some stray kittens in need of a home. I ended up with two of them. They are a little under two months old, and absolutely adorable!The girl is Gigi. She moves languorously, won’t be bothered with her surroundings, and just has that look. I can picture her with a giant pink ribbon around her neck, delicately cleaning her paws. If you have ever seen Disney’s Aristocats, you will know what I mean.The boy is Mephy. First thing he did out of the carrier was nip at me and try running up the wall. Little devil.

I got them this morning, but then had to do a billion other things, leaving them home alone to explore until dinner time.

As soon as they escaped their carrier they went to hide behind the fridge. When I got home in the near evening, they were still behind the fridge. At first I thought they may be in a different part of the house and I just couldn’t find them. They are so small they fit into and under everything. They are a little bigger than my hands, so the possibilities are endless. But as I was typing this blog I heard rustling behind the fridge. Yep, they are still there.

So the only pictures of adorable kittens that I can give you are the ones I took when Teresa initially brought them over this morning. I have a bunch of Gigi, but only one of Mephy while he was still in the carrier .

Enjoy!

Gigi in the carrier (a bit blurry)

Teresa holding Gigi.
Mephy in the carrier.
Gigi venturing outside.
Gigi.
Gigi.
P.S. The other cats don’t seem to mind, and the kids are very excited. This is all very good.

New Place

I have an apartment! Granted I initially (naively) thought I would have moved by now, not realizing how much more complicated a move would be than in the past. A lot of different things had to happen, that I have been feverishly working on. When I first started my search I had found several places I would have gladly moved into, but unfortunately I was not in the position to do that yet. Today I signed the contract.

I took pictures, but for my own reference. I have seen so many apartments I was afraid I would forget what this one looked like before I made it to the end of the block. There are still people living there until the end of the month, so I feel weird posting pictures of someone else’s apartment with all of their stuff.

I also inadvertently saved them a lot of money. The woman painted some of the walls in accent colors, and now they were going to lose their deposit for it. I said it was sad to hear that, and asked if the management could perhaps not repaint the place since it is in good condition, and I really like the colors. Turns out since I requested that, they get their deposit back, the management doesn’t have to paint, and I get pretty walls. Everyone wins!

I will be moving shortly before midterms, and then the following week I will be going to Portland for five days for my conference, giving me very little time to get settled in. Between taking care of my kids, going to work, grading, putting things away, going out of town, more grading, and exploring my new neighborhood, October is going to be a very busy month.

Speaking of which, there are like 5000 coffee and pastry shops not far from my new place. I am currently planning on spending the week of October 14th in a self inflicted caffeine and sugar coma. I am penciling it in right now.

As much as I wish I could move tomorrow, I think it is for the best it took a little longer. Far too many things have happened in too short a time and I have been running around insanely putting it all together. And I am tired.

Besides, I can’t move tomorrow, I will be in Solvang.

The Internet Police

Sometimes I run queries for redheads and find different sketches and portraits to use for my blog, or as avatars. I must be very generic looking since just about every drawing of a redhead I find resembles me. I have found so many lately I have a little folder with all the ones I like.

If I ever use actual pictures, they are my own. It is one thing to have a cartoon avatar of another woman, and quite another (weird) thing to actually use her picture.
I like pictures, and just as on Pinterest, I can spend hours distracted. Not to mention that finding one or two sketches involves looking through hundreds of them.
Ally came up next to me to see what I was doing. She is still at the age where she thinks all redheads are me, even if they are not cartoons but real pictures. Tonight I found another one I like (featured above) and showed it to her. She looked at it and exclaimed “Look mama! It’s you when you are being bad!” What do I look like when I am being good?
Later in the evening, when I thought she was in bed, she comes into the kitchen. I was on my laptop (actually blogging about ants), she watches me for a few seconds and then asks “Mama, are you being bad again?”
When did my child turn into the Internet police?