I called my accountant today so I could drop off my tax stuff.  They told me that although they'd try their mightiest to have it done by the 15th, they might have to file for an extension and get them done later.

I have 2 criteria for filing my taxes:

1.  I do not get arrested.
2.  I do not have to do them. 

(not necessarily in that order.  )

Does that violate my criteria?  No?  Good, I'll drop the things off today.   

I hate taxes.   8)

Quote:


You almost made me wet my pants.

I'm so sorry about your Sparkling Heart-I'm glad you could repair it.

I would so love to see some pictures of your hair.  Gotta see the "Wad" someday!!!

Which pair of RoseStix were you after?

How I Met My Cat, Part 4a:  Agatha P.

In the group of cats that brought me Eureka was a skinny, scraggly, timid grey cat.  While the toms wandered away once the weather turned nice, grey cat hung around.  As she got a bit healthier I saw that she was a pastel calico as well—her back and tail were grey and orange, and her belly and feet were white.  Her face was grey with a white splash on her nose and an orange spot right over her mouth.  Depending on how she held her head or the angle of one’s POV, her looks could run the gamut from regal to funny.  She wanted nothing to do with me for 6 months or more; then one day when I was sitting on the porch she hesitantly approached, craned her neck out as far as it would go, and just bumped my big toe.  Then she shot off to the trees at the edge of the yard and I didn’t see her again until the next day.

The next day, of course, she purred and rubbed all over my legs.  I named her Agatha P. Splashnose (later shortened to Agatha P.).  When the weather turned I took her to the vet and was told that she had feline leukemia.  I cried all weekend while Agatha stayed away from the house in a terrible snit because I’d made her go to the vet.

For 2 years Agatha lived outside.  During the second year she developed a small lump on her chest.  Since she was an outside cat with feline leukemia who hated the vet more than I hate the dentist, I simply kept an eye on it.  It seemed to shrink then got larger; it got infected and broke open.  I cleaned it out and it seemed to get better.

On a Sunday afternoon I was (luckily) on the porch with her when the mass started bleeding—a steady, unending stream of blood.  I ran inside and grabbed a tea towel, the phone, and the phonebook.  In the minute I was inside, Agatha wandered from one end of the porch to the other, leaving a blood trail and several small puddles where she stopped to rest for a moment.  The stains are still there.  I picked her up (which she always did hate) and applied pressure to the bleeding and called the emergency vet.  She never did call back.

I managed to get the bleeding stopped after a good 45 minutes.  I put her in the stinky car so she wouldn’t run off during the night.  I put her in there with a litter box, food, and water, but she didn’t use any of them.  There was blood in the car the next morning when I got her out.  She wasn’t as irritable as usual which was a bad sign.

My vet is fantastic.  They had been off the previous week since everyone was at a conference and they were booked and overbooked.  And here I show up with a stinky, bloody, yowling, diseased cat, all but crying, “Please help my baby!”

The vet said she was dehydrated, anemic, and septic.  They had to give her subQ fluids and antibiotics for 24 hours before the surgery so she’d have a hope of making it through.  She started bleeding again while at the vet’s and they had to put a pressure bandage on her.  The vet wasn’t overly optimistic about Agatha P’s odds.  (TBC)

All hail Biker Braid, slayer of the evil Spambot!  

Tuesday I tried too hard not to dry out my hair and it was heavy and vaguely oily afterwards.  I think I got it right yesterday; it's clean enough today but not too dry and tangly.  Sigh.  I hope I adjust soon.

Made this bun using my silver fakkare with the red, pink and clear heart-shaped jewels on it.  It didn't twist around, and pretty much stayed horizontal.  I wrapped my hair around it and all the little straggly ends popped out and I realized--this is just a variation of a Birdsnest bun.    I had to wear my fake hair scrunchie to help it hold together and as usual, I garnered bunches of compliments on my fake hair.  

My roots are dull and drab and my greys seem to be prominent.  I can't wait till allergy season is over.

Gorey started licking his fur off again.  He has allergies.  He may need allergy shots.  I'd a thousand times rather give a cat shots than pills and a zillion times rather give pills than eye medication.  Last time I tried to put ointment in Gorey's eye he struggled so much I scratched his cornea with the tube.    His eye watered something fierce for a couple of days but he healed fine.  Didn't blame me or seek revenge or anything.  Give him time.  

I was looking through my Loteria cards and I found out that "gorrito" is a bonnet.  Gorey is a bonnet!  Gorey is a bonnet!

How I Met My Cat, Part 5a:  Gorey

Little Black Kitty With Eyes Too Close Together showed up shortly after I noticed the lump on Agatha's chest.   I was feeding her canned food by that time and I noticed a truely pitiful looking black cat was pushing her away from her food and eating it all.  In the evening I had time to wait for HRH to (slowly) eat her (thoroughly flattened) food (If it wasn't flattened she'd lick the non-flattened parts but she wouldn't eat them).  In the mornings before work, however, I refused to get up the needed 30 minutes early that it took, so I started giving LBKWETCT half of Agatha's food (she rarely ate all of it).  Eventually I started giving him his own can of food.

LBKWETCT was extremely skittish and I didn't get a really good look at him for a long time.  I did notice that he'd scratched off the fur and most of the skin behind one ear so his head was all bloody; eventually I realized that BOTH ears were wounded.  When it was bad he'd leave blood drops on the porch.  His eyes had nasty yellow goop draining from them and his tail was the most pitiful, stringy thing anyone's ever seen.  This was the classic stray cat that every mother would call nasty and diseased, and every father would hurl boots at to drive away.  He'd probably had plenty of each happen to him.  

As he grew a bit bolder, I could see him peeping over the end of the porch at me when I put out his food.  I'd wormed him by this time and his tail was better and his eyes a little less goopy.  His bloody little head was slowly healing as well.  Occasionally I'd linger on the porch and he'd "MMRRROOOWWW" in a most annoyed way to let me know that I was keeping him from his food.  

I shortened his name to Black Kitty.  Eventually he'd eat his food on the bottom porch step while I was on the porch IF I stood next to the door and didn't move.  I gave up and named him Gory, for his bloody little head, to be upgraded to Gorey, if we ever became friends, which seemed unlikely.  I was very content to remain this way.  I had 3 cats in the house by this time and I was tired of spending hours on the porch, paying attention to the outside cat, which I had been doing pretty much constantly since Rumpole first wandered into my life.  (TBC)

I watched The Leopard Man on Saturday--it's one of the 9 low-budget horror flicks Val (Cat People) Lewton produced for RKO in the '40's.  It has one fantastic scene where a young lady is stalked and ultimated killed by a leopard.  The rest is kind of meh; however, the hair was great.     Sakina mentioned the Flamenco hairstyle which I've worn once or twice, but have never seen in real life--this movie had two very nice specimens:  one on a blonde cigarette girl; two big, perfect buns paired with one of those great '40's curly pompadours.  The other was formed from hair parted in the middle and twisted back on each side.  The twisting was continued for 2 two-stranded braids, then coiled into two buns on the nape of the neck.  Beautiful! 

I love the 1940's pompadours but I could never do one.  I don't have the hairstyling skills or the patience; I don't want to cut my hair short enough to do it; and I don't want to use umpteen bunches of product to make it stay.  They're pretty, though.

Gorrito now has the crusty sores on his back and he's smelling wrong again.  Sigh.  I had to run across Mr. Allergy 2006, didn't I?   

An orange tabby has taken up residence under my patio.  I didn't ask him to live there, I didn't encourage him to live there, I didn't take out ads in the local stray cat weekly looking for cat boarders, I don't put food out anymore.  IT ISN'T MY FAULT HE'S HERE!

I gave him some food Saturday because he's hungry and I can't stand to see anything go hungry.  Shut up.  You'd do the same.

BPAL:  Cobra Lily  (wicked, sharp, and viciously carnivorous)  I had to order a 10ml because the 5ml wasn't in the system for some reason.  Good for the system!  This is one of my top ten.  It smells like a bunch of lilies but it's just a little sweet as well.  The oil is a beautiful red-orange color as well.  And the label is gorgeous.  Whee!  Long live the Cobra Lily!

How do they know?  How do they know a big ol' sucker lives in the house with the red door, as opposed to the house with the nice big barn across the road?   ???  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find a "catslist" site on the internet with my porch listed as a viable cat haven.  

Hairstyles through the week:

Monday--Sushi Head!  I finished my sushi buncover over the weekend and wore it.  It was solid except for the last two rows which I worked in dc mesh so I could put hairsticks through them.  It held up very well and wasn't too polyp-y.  I'm going to wear it to my brother's PhD graduation.  

Wednesday--The Leopard Man Head!  I tried the twisted flaminco bun style as seen in the movie.  I kept my usual asymmetrical part which meant the left bun was smaller than the right.    Idiot me didn't think.  I tried to put a hairstick in the smaller bun but it just looked weirder, so I rummaged through my stuff and found a hair barrette I got at Goodwill--it's one of those made in Thailand silver ones.  It's round with a zig-zag edge and is about 3.5" in diamater.  It's supposed to be a sunflower  and it has a gold center.  I put it between the buns, and let the buns overlap it a bit at the bottom.  It looked very exotic, I think, even though the flamenco style looks rather Germanic on me.  I think it will work better if I: part my hair in the center; do the style on second day hair; and don't use GR conditioner as a leave-in since it makes my hair very, very slippery.

Today--Half Head!  Half up with my Butterfly Sky Original LL sticks.  I know this is because I have day 1 hair, but my half bun is showing definite signs of becoming a Wad.  The sticks are nearly overwhelmed.  

Cats=early death from stress.  Those people who say having cats lowers your blood pressure?  Liars.  Jokers.  People whose closest contact with the felines was Morris the Cat commercials in the mid-70's.  People who only own one heavily medicated, very old cat.  Come supervise the ever-so-fun interactions of my trio of terror and tell me it makes you live longer.   8)

BPAL:  Peony Moon (Peony, plum blossom, water reeds and soft Asian woods) PEONY!  Peony, peony, peony.  This is a very light, sweet, pretty, girly floral.  It's perfect for today 'cause I'm wearing my girly-girl ruffled shirt.  

Wednesday:  Carnivale (Bright, intoxicating, hectic notes masking a twisted, corrupted core: sweet wild berry, spicy carnation and heliotrope layered over deep amber and musk.)  First and second wearing:  a very faint berry scent with an unpleasant scent lurking just below the surface.  It quickly starts to smell a bit spicy and...bad.  I can smell the carnation a bit but it just smells bad for most of the morning and by noon it sweetens and smells nice.  Well, I won it in the raffle, so I guess I can't complain.    It is interesting.  I want to try it again so I can see what it does.  I"m attracted to the ones that morph so strikingly throughout the day.  Keeps me entertained.   8)