2011

Well, it was a year of ups and downs, sadness and happiness, joy and depression. But it is nearly over, here are some random things we did or did not do this year.

In 2011:

• We ate mostly locally grown fruits and vegetables and farm raised meat, poultry and eggs.
• We shopped at the farmer's market almost every weekend and for the first time ever at Whole Foods (while staying within our budget).
• We both lost weight without even trying.
• We eliminated artificial sweeteners, fast food, margarine, soft drinks and television from our lives.
• We used 2236 KWH less electricity than in 2010.
• Del was transferred to an office closer to home which means spending less money on gas and having a bit more time at home.
• We made new friends.
• We found a new church.
• We said good bye to our beloved Miss Kitty.
• We said hello to Ms. Elsa and her five kittens.
• We were fairly healthy, apart from the usual colds.
• Our garden did very well.
• I did not finish any of the projects I had planned to work on in the second half of the year.
• We did not have a Christmas tree and very little decoration overall.
• We did not send Christmas cards.

Wow, I lead an exciting life. ;-)

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2012, may it bring you everything you hope for and then some.

Peace on Earth

Or at least in this house. Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers.

Happy Cats

Weekend

Wow, I hope Monday morning was not an indication how the rest of the week is going to be. It is 8 am and I am already exhausted. ;-)
The weekend on the other hand was one of those nice and quiet 'domestic' ones where we do stuff around the house and just relax. My biggest problem with Christmas is that people think it is the perfect time for parties and going out while all I want to do is stay home and be with my family. Over the past years we have pretty much cut out everything from 'our' Christmas that would cause stress, too much work or just does not feel right for us. And I can say that almost all our Christmases past were stress free. So, this weekend, with both of us fighting our traditional holiday cold, we stayed in and kept warm. We did our usual grocery shopping run Friday night and we did not go to the farmer's market. It is pretty much winding down now and we stocked up on meat the last time we went. Both of our sources for eggs are no longer coming to market so we will switch to bi-weekly trips to Whole Foods for eggs, chicken and meat, these are the things we will not change to regular grocery store fare.
On Saturday Del cleaned the porch and made it kitten friendly and boy, did the little guys enjoy it. It is enclosed with plexiglass and gets nice and warm when the sun shines, even in Winter. I baked bread and started my main knitting project for 2012. I will buy a ball of yarn every Friday during our grocery shopping trip and - hopefully - work it up during the week into hats and scarves and mittens for the homeless shelter.
Here are some photos of our babies from this weekend.

Today is major cleaning and laundry day. I wish you all a wonderful week and I hope I will be back soon with more kitty cuteness. ;-)

Our Kittens

Our Kittens are now 12 weeks old. Last weekend we took them to the vet for their second round of shots and we also introduced them to the rest of the family (MamaCat and Brownie). At first there was a lot of hissing on both sides but by now they are starting to play with each other. The little ones are now big enough that I don't have to worry about them getting hurt when things get rough, they play rather roughly with each other anyway. I spend a lot of time checking on them and making sure they are not getting in trouble - a favorite sport of kittens. Whenever I find them playing with something they should not I take it away or make the area kitten safe. Needless to say that I am quite tired at the end of the day. ;-) Every morning they help Del with his shoe laces and it is a lot of fun watching them learning and discovering new things. They can now jump up on the bed, the chairs and from the chairs to the dining table. They know their names and even come when we call them. And they associate one of us standing at the kitchen counter with food coming their way. They eat mostly dry food but every morning I give them a small can of wet food to share. Only four of them will eat it, Leo does not touch the stuff. At night we keep them in the living room to guarantee a peaceful night for everybody, they do not quite have the same sleeping pattern as we do. :-) At first they returned to the sofa whenever they took a nap, now they are beginning to fall asleep wherever they are at the time which means I need to go and count them whenever the house gets too quiet. Mama Elsa is not quite convinced that she wants to be a house cat but she does not have a choice in that matter. All six of them are very well behaved, perfectly potty trained (I had no accident whatsoever since they moved in) and really sweet cats. So, here for your viewing pleasure are some pictures of the bunch (I found that it is easier to get non blurry pictures when I wait until they are asleep or almost asleep).

Time Out

I am still alive and kicking (well, not much kicking actually due to a bad back, but otherwise alive). I needed some time out to just sit and think, and ponder life, the universe and everything and watch our kittens grow.
I did very little of anything these past few weeks but I think that it is time now to come out and play again. I need to catch up on a few things but I will be back later with new photos of our not-so-little kittens.

Meet the new family members

It is not easy taking pictures of constantly moving little bodies. I tried to catch each one at least once. So without further ado, here are the new members of our family - once you are given a name you are going to stay. ;-)

'Mama' Elsa - guess whom she is named after.

Maggie, she is the biggest of the litter and the only orange girl.

Jackie - the smallest of the bunch, a really sweet boy with a loud voice.

Leo - he likes to sleep a lot, will attack your feet and enjoys tummy tickles.

Precious - the spitting image of her daddy, very much her own cat

Frankie - he started out as Mr. Cutie-Face, but that would be too embarrassing for a big ole tom cat

We took them to their first vet appointment on Friday and they did very well. We were told that they are all sweet natured and that they have neither fleas nor ear mites. A couple of them had runny eyes so we treat them with ointment. I think it was mainly from hitting each other in the face when playing but they are getting better already. The vet also said that they look very healthy but are a little small for their age, well, they did not exactly have a perfect start in life but we are going to make up for that.They are due for their booster shots in four weeks.
Our holidays will definitely be a little different this year. I don't think a big tree with breakable ornaments goes very well with 8 cats who have never seen such a thing before. And added responsibilities come with added costs so we have to squeeze our budget just a bit to fit it all in but I know that we can do it. These kittens deserve a shot at a good life and the have a good chance at that with us.

This and that in the middle of the week

We celebrated Del's birthday last weekend with a yummy cake and a lovely steak from the farmer's market (the steak was big enough to share). His gift is still not finished, I messed up and have to re-do.

We went to the farmer's market Saturday morning and it was cold. It seems the market has been built in one of the windiest spots in the county. We bought some sorghum syrup, kale, apples, eggs, pepper and a yellow cauliflower.

Our little kittens are growing fast now. They are curious and fearless and they are getting tired of being kept in quarantine. But until they have seen the vet we do not want them to have contact with MamaCat and Brownie, just in case. It gets really difficult now to enter the living room without them running out. So I just barricaded the entrance to the kitchen door (the kitchen door went missing a long time before we bought the house) and let them roam the dining room for a bit. As soon as I put some canned food down for them they come running back in a hurry. They are starting to develop quite distinct personalities and we have finally named them. They are Jackie, Frankie, Leo, Precious and Maggie. I hope to get some portraits of each one soon. Their mama is not happy about being locked up either but I hope she will get used to it. Here are some pictures of the cuties.