New Year's Eve Plans

As I see it, these are the plans for Dennis, Mom and me for New Year's Eve day and night:

1. See The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug on Movie Tuesday. Go early.
2. Make pizza for dinner.
3. Watch marathon of Downton Abbey in preparation for Season 5 starting January 5.
4. End evening around 9 as usual. Wake up to Rose Parade on New Year's Day.
5. Continue to try to capture Little Bug, the elusive kitty.

Happy Birthday, Johnny

Sunday night we surprised Uncle Johnny with a birthday dinner at Mister A's. Dennis collaborated with Johnny's niece, Barbara, who drove Johnny to the restaurant where we waited at a prime corner table overlooking the city. He was very surprised! After dinner, we surprised him again with a cake from Extraordinary Desserts. No candles...Johnny is 97 this year.

Well, that didn't work

Little Bug is a very savvy cat. In the night after all the other cats were in their Cat House, Dennis set the dog crate trap and we waited for Little Bug to show up. He did go over to the crate to investigate, but then he started to play with the string and sprung the trap. We didn't see him for the rest of the night even though we set the trap and watched on the Cat Cam until about 1 a.m. How did that kitten get so smart?

New Plan

Dennis has a new plan to catch Little Bug. He rigged the dog crate outside using a bungee cord and a stick with a string on it. The plan is to pull the string when we see (via the Cat Cam) the little kitten go into the crate (where there is a nice dish of cat food). We'll see.

No such luck

We didn't catch Little Bug last night. He's too savvy now. Although he wanted the food in the trap, he didn't want to go in there. I guess we'll try again tonight.

Back to the Craft Room

After the holiday, we are back to working on the craft room. The file cabinet I ordered came yesterday and today Dennis and Homero hauled it upstairs. It had a dent in the 3rd drawer, so I had to call and report it. Haven't heard back yet.

Meanwhile, I set up the gift wrapping center I bought and which was delivered yesterday. Everything was fine except for the wheels, which kept falling out. Then one of the keepers broke so now I have to call that company, too.

After running up and down the stairs a million times today, I left with Dennis to order shades for the windows in the craft room. Afterward we ran a couple of other errands and then had lunch at Filippi's in Little Italy.

A final stop for gas and gizzards for Mom's dog and we were on our way home. We arrived just in time to feed the dog, cats and horses.

Tonight, I think we will spend a little time in the jacuzzi.

Cat Wrangling 101

First rule: It Can't Be Done

Oh, brother. This morning I was holding Little Bug and walked outside. He seized the moment and pushed off and out of my arms and beat a path out of the yard and up the hill. So much for that.

Then Bob-B, wearing his cone, somehow got out the cat door and was gone.

Tonight, we got all of them back except for Little Bug. We are going to try and trap him again with the Have-a-Heart trap. Sigh.

A Sweet Romance

When we  put Bob-B back in the Cat House wearing a collar so he couldn't scratch his stitches, we thought he wouldn't be able to get out through the cat door. Somehow he did manage to get out. We noticed when it was time to feed, so I called him and he came from the roof with Peaches in tow. He had gotten out just to find his friend. These two are devoted to each other. Bob-B is caretaker to Peaches, watching out for her and bringing her in at night. They groom each other and it is so sweet to see. I'm sure Peaches missed Bob-B when he was at the vet's for two days and the first thing Bob-B did was go fetch her. How sweet.

The Day After

The Christmas holiday is over, guests are gone, remainder food and cookies are back in the freezer. Today Dennis, Mom and I drove down to the bank in El Cajon to have some papers notarized. Turned out my middle name was misspelled so we will have to have new papers sent and do this all over again on Monday or Tuesday.

We were in town, so we did a couple of other errands:  We went to Big 5 and bought Amanda some replacement gifts--a second Christmas. We were thinking she was still a little girl, so we bought little girl bow and arrows and soccer ball along with a dart board that was ok. So we bought her a better bow and arrow set and a bigger soccer ball. Anyway, Flash put holes in the original soccer ball. Turns out Flash likes to play soccer. After the spending spree, we went to In-n-Out for hamburgers and then to Home Depot to pickup a few things.

Our final stop was the vet's to pick up Bob-B and Little Bug. Poor Bob-B looks like Franken-cat. He now has only one eye just like 50-50. Little Bug was much nicer...not so wild as when I took him in. He's been neutered and had his shots.

While we were gone, the file cabinet I ordered weeks ago finally arrived, so I will have filing to do next week.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Bryan, Danielle and Morgan visited in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We exchanged presents and caught up with each other's lives. Morgan is such a little man. Danielle & Bryan gave us Morgan's picture in a frame--he is so cute. We visited the horses, who were a little overwhelming to Morgan.

In the evening, after Bryan and Danielle left, the rest of us fixed pizza, had dinner, and opened what turned out to be a mountain of presents for the kids--Jennifer and Amanda.

The evening ended around nine o'clock.

On Christmas Day, Mom and I opened stocking stuffers that Dennis somehow sneaked into our stockings. People started showing up around 11 o'clock. We will be having dinner early, around 2 p.m.. It will be an abbreviated traditional pasta dinner. We'll have meatballs, but not the spread we used to have. None of us eats that much anymore. We will even have a carload of cookies left over. Early this morning I made canoli cream which we will have with last year's canoli shells. Turned out we had canoli shells, pignolada, and the fixings for canoli (chocolate bits, chocolate shavings, and chopped almonds) in the freezer from last year. Yea.

Cats

We kept the wild kitten, Little Bug (or Slasher) inside the cat house for 3 days, with Dennis catching him with a towel and holding him wrapped up in it while I cooed to him and petted his little head. In the meantime, all the other cats were locked in, too. That's when we noticed that Bob-B's eye was ulcerated. He had been bitten by a snake many years ago and the vet removed the dead skin on this head, pulled up the skin and sewed what was left. Afterward, Bob-B's eye was slanted and looked open all the time. The vet said his inner lid would protect the eye. I guess it did for a long while, but now he has to have the eye removed. It's either that or euthanize him. Bob-B is best friends with Peaches, another old cat, and takes care of her. Also, it's Christmas, so Bob-B lives.

As for Slasher, we took him to the vet to be neutered (turns out he is a boy), get shots, and have his nails clipped. When I called to check on him and Bob-B (both were fine), they said Slasher was "sweet." I think there may have been a mixup. Anyway, they estimated his age at 8-10 weeks. Poor little kitty. If he turns out to be sweet, as they say, I guess we'll keep him.

Getting Better...Slightly

Dennis caught Little Bug two more times and held him in a towel while I carefully petted the top of his head and talked soothingly to him. He is still not happy, but maybe not so frantic.

Mad Cat

Dennis came home from skiing last night and this morning he caught the kitten, Little Bug, who we have renamed "Slasher." Oh, he was not happy. I got a big towel and we carefully cuddled the cat in it, but he was growling and trying to bite and slash with his nails. I hope he can be tamed, but I'm not at all sure. Meanwhile, I bandaged Dennis's fingers.

Cat Cam

When Geno (who works for us) was staying in the guest house last week, he installed a "cat cam" in the cat house. I couldn't get it to work for the longest time, but tonight I was able to see the cats in the cat room. Pretty cool. Ivan is very restless, walking around and around. I think he wants to go out and hunt. I've been keeping all the cats inside so the new kitten gets used to the place.

Craft Room

I really wanted to have the Craft Room finished by Christmas, but I think it will take some time to put away all the beads. I worked on it again today and distributed everything that was tools, jewelry, glass and miscellaneous. Now all I have to put away are the beads. I am extremely tired.

Most Exciting Thing First!

Little Bug

I'm so excited I want to say the last thing first. Tonight all the cats came in the cat house, even Ivan who has been missing for 4 days. So I set up the Have-a-Heart trap for the kitten, Little Bug, and caught him! I picked up the trap and put it in the cat house and let him go in there. Now he's in with his friends and has all the food and water he wants. So, so exciting!

Around 7:30 a.m., I went back up to the Craft Room and cleaned all the glass in the 3 new glass cabinets we bought. Then I picked up Mom so we could get our hair done as planned. Poor Mom had her hair done and then had to wait for me another couple of hours. Too much hair!

When we got back, I left Mom off. I thing she was tired. I was tired, too, so I did a little reading and fell asleep for an hour. Then, back to the Craft Room to put away some of my beads, etc. I think I may be able to get it all done in the next day or so.

Tonight when Dennis called I was working he Google 100th Anniversary Crossword Puzzle that was in the Google banner. Dennis helped me finish it.

5:00 A.M.

Not bad. I went up to the craft room at 4:30 to put away the remainder of the yarn and jewelry scarves. I scared Little Bug sleeping in the basket by the cat room--his place at night. Now all I have to do is put away all the beads, etc. The hardest part. I may have to get another bead cabinet before I'm through. We'll have to see.

I didn't sleep much last night. This morning Mom and I are getting our hair done at a new place in Descanso--new to us, that is. This is where Betsy and Joyce get their hair done, so it should be okay. I also found someone in Alpine who will do a Brazilian Blowout when I need it in about 10 or 12 weeks.

Life is good.

Rainy Day

It rained nearly all day--not hard, but pretty consistenly. Meanwhile, I got up early and started work in my new office, testing the printers, paying bills, preparing the Xmas lists for next year, and filing all the miscellaneous pieces of paper that landed up there. I'm still waiting for the 4-drawer lateral file that is, I hope, being trucked from Florida as I speak. But it all looks good. I worked from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., then came in and started a fire in the fireplace, had soup for lunch, and took a little nap.

In the afternoon, I worked on the scarf I'm knitting while watching a little TV, clearing out some of the programs that have accumulated on the DVR. When I recovered from the morning, I went back up to the craft room and started in on unpacking a multitude of plastic boxes filled with yarn. I organized the yarn and started putting it all in the bookcase we bought from IKEA for this purpose. I got it down to 4 large plastic boxes when I realized I had reached my limitations. So, at 4:30 p.m., I went back to the house and fed the dog and the cats.

We bought a "Have-a-Heart" trap to capture Little Bug, our walk-on kitten and integrate him or her into the cat house. All the cats are in the cat house except Little Bug and Ivan. I think they are keeping company. They hide in the bushes on the hill above the back yard. Little Bug is super fast. We may have to rethink the kitten's name once we capture him/her. Unfortunately, I was unable to set up the trap and no one who was supposed to be here today showed up. No Toby, no Vivian, no Jorge, no Eugenio, no Homero--the last two were probably here but I didn't see them. So, no help.

Luckily Dennis is off skiing, so there's extra time to do all this. On the other hand, if he was here he could have set up the trap.

Xmas Letter

I was late in writing the Xmas Letter this year due to all the packing and moving and unpacking. I worked on it over the weekend but had problems because the computer in the office lost connection to the server and I couldn't place the photos. We finally figured out the problem late Sunday and I printed the letters from the iMac to the color laser printer. After that I started working on the labels and tried to print them from Outlook on the PC-Windows computer. They wouldn't print. The error messages said no printer connected. Yikes. I finally got Shannon in the office to print the labels from her computer to the black and white printer in the office. So no color on the labels. I was disappointed.

Today I called our IT people and the tech worked with me on fixing the printers. I had to reset the switch/router and then he installed the correct drivers for the PC. Everything works now, I think. I'm pretty sick of Christmas right now.

I did make my signature cookies (Russian Teacakes) tonight so I am done with that. Whew.

Oh, yeah...I still have presents to wrap.

More Craft Room Photos

New glass cabinets

Beading station with office behind

Yarn bowl 1

Yarn bowl 1

Bringing it home

Thursday was the day for the big move of the glass cabinets. First, Dennis, Toby, Jorge, Eugenio and Homero met in Pacific Beach to pick up the large curio cabinet and bring it home in the horse trailer. I stayed home because I couldn't watch. Then, later in the afternoon Dennis and Homero picked up the smaller cabinets in Del Cerro and brought those back and set them up in the craft room.

The large curio cabinet stayed in the horse trailer until Friday when we had a lot of people to help move it upstairs. It was a wonder nothing broke.

They drove the horse trailer around back and lifted the curio cabinet over the deck railing. It all went flawlessly...the cabinet is in one piece. Check it out.

Craigs List Shopping

On Wednesday, Dennis and I drove out to Pacific Beach and Del Cerro to look at some glass cabinets for the craftroom. We liked what we saw, left deposits and will be back tomorrow to pick them up. One is a beautiful, large curio cabinet which will be great to display my glass pieces and jewelry. It is all beveled glass on the front and sides, with glass shelves inside. The other two are identical low glass cabinets, also for displaying jewelry or other items. This is great because I really don't have any place to display my work. The hard part will be getting the furniture back here without breaking any of the glass.

We also went back to IKEA to buy another bookcase to put back to back with the other one we bought. I'll be using these pieces to store all my yarn. Anybody want yarn?

Movie Tuesday

DO NOT see this movie: Old Boy. If we had looked at the director and writers instead of only the actors, we would have known it would be stupid. Spike Lee was the director. When was the last good movie he directed? The writers were Garon Tsuchiya (manga), Nobuaki Minegishi, which would explain the Japanese (Korean? or?) gang scenes and oriental flavor in general. It was bad. Don't go.

Christmas and Craft Room Updates

Sunday we decorated the Christmas tree and I believe it looks lovely. Dennis also baked his traditional chocolate chip cookies for Christmas and his signature carrot cake. The cookies made it to the freezer, but we've been nibbling on the cake.

Monday we bought some new furniture for the craft room that we found on Craig's List. We drove to Pacific Beach to look at a very large curio cabinet, like a china cabinet but all glass. Next we went to IKEA to buy another large bookcase with canvas baskets to store my yarn (too much yarn). Finally, we went to Del Cerro where a man was selling two glass cabinets which will be perfect to display my jewelry. We put deposits on all the items and now Dennis has to figure out how to move them to the ranch and up to the second floor of the garage!

Dated Ornaments

It took a couple of hours, but I organized in order all of the ornaments we've collected since we first started dating in 1977. This year there will be 36 ... we need another mantle.

Here are all the boxes in order

Here are the ornaments on the mantle. 

New Tree

Last year I bought a new Christmas tree (not a real one). It's been in the container until now when we need to put it up for Christmas. Dennis tackled it today and there was much tearing of hair and strong words. He finally got it up and it is lovely. We will finish decorating it tomorrow.

Little Bug

For the last couple of weeks we've had kitten sightings. First he was hiding under a pile of stuff we'd taken out of the container and piled in the carport under a tarp waiting for transfer to the new garage. Our Ivan started going there, too; he was probably making friends with the kitten. Then the kitten started coming to the breezeway we think seeking comfort from the other cats and looking for food. We heard him meowing but couldn't catch him--he's fast! He's coming closer all the time, but whenever he hears us, he dashes away. I've put food in a cat box for him and he's been eating. I don't know if we will ever catch him. Poor little thing. He looks a little like Bug, so we've been calling him Little Bug.

Calif. Bank Party

Thursday, Dec. 5, Dennis & I went to the annual Christmas Party hosted by our business bank. Last year they didn't have a party and this year it was bigger than ever. Over 200 people and a lot of great food. I guess the economy is getting better.

Packing, moving, unpacking, packing, moving, unpacking

Over the weekend, I spent my time unpacking the boxes that were brought up into the craft room. I put away all the books and some of the office supplies. Monday-Wednesday I continued to move (with help) and unpack the yarn I had in the storeroom by the house and organize the yarn into the new IKEA shelves and baskets in the craft room.

On Thursday, Vivian and I brought Christmas into the house and finished most of the decorating. I emptied the bookshelves of books and sent them up to the craft room. Then I was able to put my Christmas things on the shelves. I felt a great relief that I was able to move the decor I have up most of the year and put it on the empty shelves in my two now empty rooms in the house. After Christmas, I will have empty bookcase shelves to display the glassware I make. It is good to have space!

Movie Tuesday

Surprisingly, we all enjoyed this week's movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the 2nd movie in the series. Dennis & I saw the first one and liked it too. Will we never grow up? Even though Mom didn't see the 1st one, she enjoyed the 2nd one anyway.

Snake!

Dennis, Mom and I drove out to Jacumba Sunday afternoon to see the huge bronze snake statue. It really was huge... and realistic!