Bits and Pieces

Once again, nothing too exciting to report. We have been having some nice warm weather for the past few days. It got up to 80 degrees here yesterday. I draw the line at that. Anything OVER 80 starts to be HOT. I am thrilled to see spring, but I also hope these temps are not indicative of another brutal summer. Nope, not gonna think about that just yet.

I have spent my day cleaning out some closets and getting rid of clothes we no longer wear. No matter how much I clean out, seems like there is still MORE. Where does it come from? How does stuff accumulate? And why do I still have trouble getting rid of a shirt that I haven't worn in ages? There is some strange feeling in the back of my mind that one day I may NEED it. I am trying to be more aggressive with what goes into the giveaway pile. Clothes are replaceable. Not that I would get rid of anything that we still wear, but the other stuff, the stuff that has been hiding in a closet unworn for several years....that stuff needs to go.

The enclosed courtyard is working out really well for the cats. Its been a week and so far no cat has figured out a way to escape. The only problem we are having now is that Bitty wants to go in and out all day long. She isn't inside for more than a couple of minutes before she is crying to go back out again. I know they enjoy it but hopefully the novelty will wear off so that once a day or so will be enough. I am tired of opening and closing that door.

The most exciting thing to happen this past week? I bought our plane tickets to visit Stephen and Hannia in May. Now that is something I am looking forward to. I haven't seen them since Christmas and that is just waaaayyy too long.

Beware the Ides of March

I totally forgot it was the Ides of March today until Erica sent me a text about it. My family is mocking me. You see, we rented and watched the entire series of "Rome". I feel in love with it. I enjoyed it so much that I felt a deep sense of loss when it was over. But the funny/strange part was in season 1. I KNOW Roman history. I absolutely do. I understand the Ides of March, and how it was once a holiday and later became associated with doom and foreboding due to the murder of Julius Caesar on March 15th. Knowing that you would THINK I would have been a bit more prepared for Julius Caesar to actually DIE in the series. But for some reason the whole scene traumatized me to no end. The man who played the character of Caesar was really good and very impressive and I just wanted to go on and on watching him. When the senators stabbed him mercilessly I was stunned, horrified and sad beyond belief. I almost stopped watching it, but luckily I got over it enough to finish up the series as much as there was.
Apparently the show was wildly popular. It was impeccably done, and followed history as closely as possible. It would be a fantastic way to teach history to children because you become so much more invested in what is happening when you see it played out like that. Of course, Rome has way too much sex and violence for children. The sad thing was that there were only 2 seasons because it was just way too expensive to film. The authentic costumes and sets, the hoards of people for the scenes in villages....it was a tv show spending money like an epic movie. It couldn't sustain itself. And that is a real shame.
Oh Julius Caesar, your death broke my heart......

Nothing much

Nothing much is going on around here. I wrote a ranting post about work and then thought better of it so I removed it. I was upset, and frustrated but I also know its not a good idea to post job complaints on a public forum. Thank God for the magic "delete" button, right?

Besides that we are just working and trying to get some things done here around the home front. Bruce built the cat enclosure this weekend, so all the kitties can go outside into the courtyard, enjoy the sunshine and still be safe. Its not fancy and it won't appear in an edition of Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon, but it does the trick. They spent the first day trying to figure out how to escape, but now they seem to have settled in. They watch whats going on outside of the netting, but don't seem inclined to get out. I probably won't leave them out there if nobody is at home, because 2 of the cats want back in after a short time. But when we are here around the house it gives them something new and interesting to do.

Stephen and Hannia spent the weekend in Chicago taking a belated birthday getaway. I talked to Stephen last night and he wasn't all that thrilled with it. They had a hard time figuring out the Metro because apparently they don't have it labeled or mapped out as well as New York or DC. Instead they ended up walking a whole lot and got really tired. Everything was crowded and had long lines. But then again, Stephen also said that they were hitting up the really touristy places and it might be different if they could figure out more about the city and avoid the worst of the crowds. I am sad they didn't enjoy it more but maybe they will get more time there to figure it all out. At least it was a couple of days away to see something different.

I have today off, having worked Saturday again. I have some errands to run but what I really want to do is clean out my closet. I do it twice a year, spring and fall, without fail. I am ready to put away the winter clothes and get all of my summer stuff out and ready to wear. Of course, we have only had a couple of warm days so far, so I think I am jumping the gun on this one. I probably need to wait until at least mid-April to put away all of my warm clothes. Still, being anxious to be free from dark cold days, I might at least go stash away the heavy sweaters. I don't care how chilly it is, I refuse to wear a heavy wooly thing in the spring. And in my book, if its daylight savings time then that means spring has sprung.

Hope you all have a wonderful sunny week ahead.

Cherries

I have always wanted to make it to DC for the Cherry blossoms. Isn't that beautiful? I hear they are blooming really early this year. I have also heard that its really crowded because the cherry blossoms are a peak tourist time. I am NOT so sure I want to deal with that. I don't do well in huge crowds. But maybe one year I can psych myself up to battle the masses and go see it for myself. Until then I will just check out all of the gorgeous photography.

Bitty in a Tree

Since we have been having an occasional sunny, warm day I started taking the cats out into the backyard and letting them play and explore for a bit. Our backyard is fenced in, but I KNOW they could eventually figure out how to climb over it. For that reason they only go outside if I have the time to actually stay out with them and keep an eye on things.

One afternoon this past week, Bitty found the pecan tree. She climbed up to a fork in the branches just out of our reach. It made me nervous but after about 10 minutes of my coaxing and pleading and rustling a twig like one of her toys, she climbed down. Bruce and I scooped up cats and headed inside because I didn't want to deal with anymore trouble like that. I put Bitty inside and headed back out to help round up the rest of them. As I came back in with one cat or another, Bitty shot out the door past me, ran right to the tree and without thinking another thought just ran right up to a height way beyond where she had been.

She wouldn't come down. She seemed a bit nervous and we don't know if she was afraid to start climbing down from that far up or what. I KNOW cats can climb down and that she would eventually figure it out if she got hungry or tired enough. The problem was that I didn't want to wait around, and I also didn't want her climbing down when noone was around to make sure she didn't go over the fence. We called and we coaxed but nothing was making her budge. Bruce finally went into the garage and got out a ladder. Now this was SERIOUSLY making me nervous. He used the ladder to get up high enough to the forks in the branches and climbed up and got Bitty kitty. It was an ordeal and it made me really uncomfortable. We haven't gone back out with the cats since.

Our house makes a U shape, and there is a courtyard space in the middle with the house on 3 sides, and an open area to the backyard on the fourth side. Bruce is looking into buying a piece of sports-type netting to close in the open side. Its a golf net, 10 feet high and wide enough to attach to the house on either side. It should safely contain the cats so they can go outside but not be in danger. 2 of the cats never venture outside of the courtyard area anyway, no matter how long we stay out or how far Bitty goes. I think it will be a good solution. We have read that cats don't like to climb unsteady fabric netting that moves when they climb. It should solve the problem. We have to order it so they will be stuck inside until that comes in.

American Idol

I say every year that I am NOT going to watch this show again. And then somehow I do anyway. I swear it sucks you in even when you don't want it to. I HAD to watch the first couple of auditions because I wanted to see how the new judges were. And then I decided that I actually liked JLo and Steven Tyler, and how they were dealing with the contestants and that was it. I was hooked. Again.

Tonight the top 10 were picked. Actually it ended up being the top 13, because in addition to the top 10 that the public voted in, each of the judges got a wild card pick. I am happy to say that all of the contestants I wanted to make it....made it. And now I have favorites, and I will have to keep watching and hoping my favorites make it to the next round and so forth and so on. I will say one thing about this season though....I don't know if there has ever been a group with so much talent. Usually there are a few standouts and the rest are good or charming and make it through based on their appeal. This year all of them are really capable of being stand outs. ALL of them. Its going to make for good competition. But its also going to make it sadder to watch eliminations, too. I just remind myself (whenever I start to feel bad for the ones who get cut) that there are lots of Idol finalists who go on to have a great career even without the Idol title. Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Constantine Maroulis.....the list is long and the achievements are fabulous.
I just wish they ALL could make it. Oh, and I also happen to LOVE Steven Tyler too.
LOL.

Like Gold

Forget how high the price of gas is climbing (well, don't actually forget because it is ridiculous, sad, and scary). Trying to buy a decent tomato right now is like buying gold. Both expensive and precious. The thing is that I LOVE tomatoes. Especially fresh ones. I love slices of tomatoes on sandwiches, tomatoes in salads, and I take baggies of the little cherry tomatoes to work with me to snack on. But this week I bought only 1 tomato at the grocery store. We ate it tonight because I made BLT's. It was good, but not as ripe as it might have been. There is apparently such a shortage, I was grateful to have even that one. They were so expensive that I didn't even consider buying the little tubs of the cherry tomatoes.

I have seen several local restaurants posting notices that tomatoes are in such short supply that they will only serve them upon request. Apparently you have to really want one to get it. Hopefully a new crop will come in soon. I mean seriously its making me think about trying to grow tomatoes this summer. I hope it doesn't come to that....LOL. But I guess I will if there is no other way to have some ripe juicy tomatoes. I must really REALLY want it to break down and consider digging around in the dirt outside with the bugs and the blistering heat. Oh God, Please please please let our local farmers have good luck so I won't have to resort to that.