There is a Reason for My Insanity: I Lived Alone for Six Years

So my lovely friend Jessi posted a link to this article on my facebook page.  It basically talks about all of the creepy things people do when they live by themselves.  I clicked on it thinking that, of course, I wouldn’t do ANY of those things.

After reading it, I realized that well, crap, I do like half of them.

Here are things that I literally do on a regular basis while in my apartment.  (I technically do not live alone anymore, because I have a roommate, but she is only a part-time roommate, so basically I still live alone half the time.)

1.  I do run place while I am watching tv sometimes.  I really don’t see what is so weird about that, but it is in the article so most normal people must find it “insane.”  I don’t have a treadmill, so where else am I going to run in the winter?

2.  I talk to my cats all the time.  I don’t talk to them like they are my little therapists or anything.  I talk to them like they can actually understand me (which might actually be the weirder of the two).  Here are some things I say to my cats on a regular basis:  “Addie stop attacking Penelope, you really need to be nice to her!”  “Stop chewing on that book Pippi!”  “Hermione get off the porch, it is cold out there!”  “It’s time to eat ladies!”  “You all really need to work on keeping the litter inside the box.”  “Pippi stop drooling on my computer!”

3.  I totally leave my bras all over the place when they are drying.  They end up on the backs of chairs in the dining room or living room all the time.

4.  My special “home alone” outfit is my pajamas.  If I am in my apartment, then I am in my pajamas.  Literally.  It doesn’t matter what time it is, I will always be in my pjs.  It is the first thing I do when I walk in the door.  The only exception to this is when I am on my lunch break.  If I put on my pjs then, I would never end up going back to work 🙂

5.  I do eat an abnormal amount of cereal.  I probably eat around 8-9 bowls a week…….and none of them are for breakfast.

6.  I have some real issues with the bathroom door.  I haven’t closed a bathroom door in 6 years.  My cats like to go in there with me (they follow me everywhere) so they are really irritated now that I have started closing the door.  The funny thing is that our bathroom door doesn’t latch very well, so even when I do remember to close it, the cats usually manage to push it open so all of my efforts are pointless.  I don’t have any problems closing the bathroom door in other people’s houses or at work or anything, but when I am in my own place, I have to remind myself every time I go in there.

7.  In the comments of the article some brilliant person mentions putting an “eatin’ sheet” on their bed.  I am pretty sure this is the greatest idea ever.  It is really hilarious because I live in this nice big apartment now, with a real dining room and nice sized living room and I spend 95% of my time in my bedroom.  Now that I have my big girl bed I have my sleeping area and my “everything else” area.  I’ve got my space heater, computer, phone, assortment of DVDs, stack of books, and blankies ready to go.  I read on my bed, watch movies, put together puzzles, and yes, eat almost every meal.  Another funny thing is that most of the time all four cats are in here with me.  I specifically moved into a bigger place so they could have more room, and they spend all their time spread out in my bedroom.  Go figure.

So, maybe I am a little bit crazy from living alone for so long.  But, I LOVE living by myself and still do all of these things (except the bathroom door thing) even though I have a roommate now.  Am I really insane, or do we all do stuff like this and only single people get called out for being crazypants?

Jen

A Silly Cat Video, Since I Haven’t Done One Lately

The other night I watched Gnomeo and Juliet (which is actually a pretty cute movie), but I had a little bit of trouble because Pippi REALLY got excited about it.

Here is what she did for the first 30 minutes of the movie.

My favorite part is when she is fascinated by the water spout.

So, if you get a chance, watch this movie if only to hear James McAvoy play Gnomeo.  Just be careful if you’ve got a cat who likes tv.

Jen

A Very Quick Post

I don’t have a lot of time to work on a post today because I have to get ready to go to another Rooney concert!!!  Yippee!!!  I get to see Robert Schwartzman again!!  I hope I get another hug 🙂

So, here are some random things that aren’t really all that exciting.

1)  I just read Where She Went by Gayle Forman and it was really really really good.  I will post a review of it sometime next week.

2)  I spent like a million dollars yesterday on the new Harry Potter DVD, the new Narnia DVD, and the new Twilight book.  I could totally tell that the cute guy at the checkout counter thought, wow, what a cool lady (*sarcasm*).  It probably didn’t help that the rest of my cart was filled with an 11 pound bag of cat food, 20 pounds of cat litter, and dozens of cans of wet cat food.

3)  My cats have acne.  That’s right, if there is a weird, off the wall health thing, my cats will get it.  From here on out I am going to call it cacne.

4)  Here is a random picture I took on my travels to England back in 2007 with my sister.  Looking at this picture makes me feel calm and happy.

Why I didn't just continue on to Hogwarts, I will never know.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Jen

Attack of the Plastic Spider

Take a look at this picture.

Looks really terrifying, doesn’t it?  This is what I see every day when I wake up in the morning.

This is what it really is.  Just a little plastic spider that found its way home amidst all the Harry Potter stuff I brought back from the library display.  I know it is a fake spider, but every time I see it I freak out and scream like a little girl.  It doesn’t help that I usually see it first thing in the morning when I am still groggy and not wearing my contacts.

The reason why I always freak out is because it is never in the same place.  It keeps moving all over my apartment when I’m not looking.  I know who the culprit is.  It is………………..Miss Hermione!!!

Here she is trying to look all innocent and pretend like she’s never seen the spider before.  I don’t buy it for a second.

So if you are somewhere in Iowa and you hear a bloodcurdling scream around 8:00 in the morning, it is probably just me coming across the spider.  Why don’t I just get rid of it?  Because it makes her so darn happy  🙂

Jen

P.S.  Here is a video of me trying to get Hermione to play with the spider.  She only seems to do it when I am not looking.

My First Cat Video!!

I currently live in a very old building.  And when I say old, I mean OLD.  It is an awesome place that is really large and has a lot of “character” but there are some not-so-great things about it.  One of the worst is that there are no doors separating the rooms (except the bathroom, thankfully).  This has not really been a problem in the past, but now that I have four cats who HATE each other, it is sometimes necessary to separate them.

I thought it would be easy to just go get a door somewhere, but apparently that is next to impossible with a funny shaped door frame from the 1800s.  So here is what I have devised as a solution:

It is two baby gates on top of each other, the top one being upside down (this is so the bar doesn’t hit me in the tummy all the time).  It is the most hideous thing in the world, but it appears to be working so far.  The reason for the blankets and bubble wrap is that Hermione got stuck in the bars after it was up for only 10 minutes.  I worked really hard to make the bottom gate look nice (rock on, Miss Shortcake!!) but by the time I got to the top one I was feeling pretty lazy.

So, now that you know the story, here is a video of what happened the other day when Addie and Hermione were in the bedroom being punished for attacking poor Pippi and Penelope.

That was my first attempt at iMovie since library school, so I need a lot more practice, but I think it turned out okay-ish.

Jen

Resolutions: Jen Edition

I am not really a big New Year’s resolution type of person, because I have never kept any of them.  Maybe if I call them goals, I will be more likely to accomplish them.

Here are my Goals for the year 2011:

1.  Teach my cats how to get along!!!  Now that I have four cats, my life is pretty miserable.  They all hate each other, and most of the time they hate me too.  My days are spent breaking up fights, picking up broken things, and cleaning up kitty puke.  Hopefully, 12 months from now, we will all be a very happy family sitting together on the couch in front of the space heater.

2.  Lose a few more pounds and keep the weight off!!!  Last year I lost 25 pounds, which is pretty awesome.  Then, I gained some of it back (more than some actually) when I went on my cruise.  The holiday eating binge did not help either.  So my goal for the next year is to stop my weight gain in its tracks and hopefully shave off a few more pounds.

3.  Revisit some favorites on DVD!!  I will be the first to admit that I have a problem with buying DVDs.  I have tons of movies and a bunch of tv shows in my possession right now.  I would like to spend some quality time catching up with my favorites like 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Road to Avonlea, Firefly, and Everwood.

4.  Eat more veggies!!  As I explain to most people, I am a vegetarian who doesn’t like vegetables.  I hope to spend the next 12 months trying to eat at least one serving of vegetables per day.  I know you’re supposed to eat like 4 or something crazy like that, but one a day will be a good start for me.

5.  Print off more photos and frame them!!!  I am totally stealing this from Monica on Friends because that episode was on the other day.  I noticed that all the framed photos in my apartment are from approximately 5 years ago.  Ever since getting a digital camera, I download pics on my computer and then don’t do anything else with them.  I am determined that this year I will print them off and change out some of the old photos.

These are all pretty easy resolutions to keep (except the vegetable one) so hopefully I will do well keeping them.  Do any other Nerdgirls have resolutions besides Lindsay?

Jen

2 + 2 = Crazy Cat Lady?

So I went a little crazy this weekend and adopted two more cats.  So that brings my grand total up to four.  I’m pretty sure I should stop there because I might already be entering pet hoarder territory.  I got them from an animal shelter, which was a really traumatic experience for me.  I walked into the cat room and burst into tears because there were so many of them.  All of them ran to the front of their cages and tried to nuzzle up against my hand.  Oh the tears!  I almost took all of them home with me.  Thank God I had already picked out the two I wanted ahead of time or else I would have been in serious trouble.

The two kitties I picked out are sisters (I guess the proper term is littermates) who have been together all their lives.  They lived for four years with a loving family who raised them from tiny kittens.  Then the boy in the family developed severe allergies and they had to give up their beloved animals.  Thank goodness I am not ever having kids because I totally would have been like, “okay kid, you can sleep in the garage from now on.”  I know, I am horrible but that is one of the reasons I’m not having kids…because I am too mean to have them.  🙂

So anyway, they seemed perfect for me because they are right around the same age as my cats and they had already been declawed, so I wouldn’t have to deal with the guilt of having it done.

So, without further ado, I would like to present the newest members of my family.  Here is Penelope Alice.  After knowing her for over 24 hours, I can tell you that she is a total cuddlebug and the more mature of the two.  She also appears to be the leader.  She likes playing with toy mice and having her tummy rubbed.  Her name comes from the Christina Ricci movie Penelope and the character Alice from Twilight.

Then there is my little firecracker.  Her name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Longstocking, but I will probably always call her Pippi.  She LOVES to get up on the counter and lick my dirty dishes.  She also likes sitting on my lap or hanging out in the clothesbasket.  If you don’t know where her name comes from, well, I can’t really help you.

It is going to be a tough adjustment for poor Addie and Hermione.  Addie looks so crushed and hurt and Hermione hasn’t emerged from behind the bookcase.  Every time I go in the bedroom I hear hissing and growling coming from the corner and I know it is meant for me.  (By the way, Hermione’s growling totally sounds like one of the skeksis from The Dark Crystal and it kind of freaks me out.)  Addie is currently on my lap, daring either of the new girls to come anywhere near me.  Oh well, hopefully we can all be one big happy family soon.

Jen

P.S.  I kind of like that all my cats names in an “eeee” sound.  Hermione, Addie, Pippi, and Penelope.

My Cat Just Might Be Possessed

This weekend I tried to take adorable Christmas-y pictures of my cats to use for Christmas cards.  This might seem shocking since I have not sent out Christmas cards in like four years.  It was also a very stupid idea since apparently cats do not like to wear Santa hats (how I was unaware of this, I don’t really know).  Let’s just say that the photo shoot did not go well.

Most of the pictures are terrible, but one of them was just plain scary.  I keep staring at this picture of Addie and getting freaked out because she looks possessed!!!!

Her new nickname will be Addie “Devil” Rae

It kind of looks like she murdered Santa, ate him, and all that is left is his hat.

Just thought I would share this with you in case she claws my eyes out in my sleep.

Jen

I Held Back For As Long As I Could

I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you all to my cats.  Since Amber can post about Lester, I can post pics of my cats.

First up is Addie Rae:

You can't see me!!

I think you have to wear it if you want to be sorted.

Age:  6 years in May

Likes:  enclosed spaces, lettuce, string cheese, sitting on my lap the second I sit down, being held, sleeping on the bath mat, the dining chairs at my parents’ house, sitting in front of the space heater with me, breaking my pitchers, running out in the hallway when I leave the apartment, and walking on the kitchen counter.

Disklikes:  anytime I pay attention to Hermione, her icky hypoallergenic food, being left behind when I go places, the vacuum cleaner, and my elliptical.

Fun Fact:  Addie had a tumor removed from her ear so she has a permanent head tilt and cannot walk in a straight line.

Next is my baby, Hermione Jo:

Here she is having her way with a My Little Pony

Why are you bothering me with your ridiculous pictures?

Age:  4 years 7 months

Likes:  Giving disdainful looks to everyone, giving herself a bath, licking the lint roller, peeing in her cat carrier (well, I don’t know if she likes it, but she does it all the time) chewing on my posters, licking my forehead while I sleep, plastic twist ties, knowing she gets better tasting food, sitting on top of the kitchen cupboards, and knowing she is way more awesome than all the rest us.

Dislikes:  being picked up or held, the vacuum cleaner, losing her twist ties under the stove, balloons, most people (and me some of the time), any kind of change in environment, and people food.

Fun Fact:  When Hermione sits down, she looks like a 19th century English aristocrat arranging her tail like a giant skirt.

Well, those are my kitties.  I could post 30 more pictures, but I think I will hold back and just do one last one, my very favorite cat picture ever!

They do this all the time when they think I'm not looking

Jen

Making Rounds With Oscar

As anyone who has ever read this blog (or met me for five minutes) knows, I really love animals.  I also really love sappy kids books about animals.  I have spent a significant piece of my library’s budget buying gems like Owen and Mzee, Molly the Pony, Tarra and Bella, Two Bobbies, and Nubs.  All very great books and each one brings a tear to my eyes (or several).

There has also been a trend towards publishing adult books in the same genre.  First there was Marley and Me.  Then came Dewey.  Now get ready to fall for Oscar.

I just finished reading Marking Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by Dr. David Dosa and wow, I loved it.  Have you ever read a book that you felt was written specifically for you?  Like as you were reading it you felt like the author was thinking of you the whole time he/she was writing it?  This was one of those books for me.

If you haven’t heard the story about Oscar the cat, get ready to be amazed and touched.  So Oscar is a cat at Steere House, which is a home for patients with dementia.  Basically it is a very nice nursing home that has 6 cats altogether.  But Oscar is different from the other cats.  Whenever one of the patients at Steere House passes away, Oscar is there with them.  Oscar has the ability to know when a patient is about to die, and that is when he goes into their room.  Oscar is pretty unfriendly most of the time, but when someone is taking their last breath, Oscar is there, sitting on the bed to comfort the patient and the family.  Wow.

The book is written by one of the doctors who works at Steere House.  It is soo sooooo good!!!  Not only is the book a great cat book, it is also a fascinating look at dementia (or as I will always refer to it, Alzheimer’s).  Dr. Dosa spends a lot of time focusing not only on specific patients, but also their families.  This was so great for me to read because my grandfather had Alzheimer’s.  Let me tell you, it sucked.  My grandpa, who had never even raised his voice ever, turned into an angry man who on several occasions attacked the nurses.

This book does a really great job of describing what it is like to deal with the effects of Alzheimer’s on family and friends.  I teared up many, many times, but it was fantastic because after reading it, I felt some of my guilt over what happened to my grandpa (Dr. Dosa talks a lot about guilt) melt away.  I am definitely going to buy this book for my mom.

Dr. Dosa also talks a little bit about his own issues with his inflammatory arthritis.  Whoa, now that is crazy.  I am currently in the process of discovering what is wrong with me pain-wise and it is probably something arthritis related.  So yes, that is why I feel the book was written for me.

Cats: check

Dealing with Alzheimer’s: check

Dealing with Arthritis at a young age: check

Now, even if none of those things apply to you (even if you are not a cat person!!) you should read this book.  Dr. Dosa admits that he is not particularly fond of cats.  But in his quest to discover how Oscar really does what he does, he learns to accept the fact that cats are awesome.

So go, pick up a box of tissues and read this book!

Jen

P.S.  Here is a page on the Steere House website all about Oscar.  You can also find a link to Dr. Dosa’s original article on the page.