national cat day

yesterday was (apparently) national cat day. jeremy celebrated by caving on the kitten issue and taking me to the shelter to adopt one of our foster babies! we brought him home last night and he readjusted in a snap! cricket was happy to have him back. he was her favorite of the litter. they have been chasing each other around all day. he slept curled around the legs all night last night, and sat in my lap this morning while we watched tv, just like well-behaved cats are supposed to.

the one we picked was the black and white kitten. i thought he was a she the whole time he was living with us, but they figured out at the shelter that he was a boy. i guess they found where it was stamped on the bottom.

we havent figured out a name for him. cricket didnt have a name for aboutthe first two weeks because we (i) wanted the perfect one. jeremy has been calling the new baby blackie or gato negro but i dont like either of those. i suggested snowball, but that was mostly a joke. i also kinda like kramer. i really want a name that has a "k" sound to match cricket and our last name.

anyone have any ideas?

last day with the kittens

well, i had to take the kittens and scarlet back to the shelter today. thankfully lauren wanted one, so she went with me. jeremy was at the palace building the CATS set (he has two jobs now, but still hasnt started at the bank). i needed the moral support. they were crying and scared and i didnt want to give them up, but that's the nature of fostering i guess.

thankfully at least one kitten has a great new home. lauren and kevin have one maine coon cat ad today adopted sookie, the calico kitten from the litter. jeremy never caved on letting me have a second cat, so for now cricket is an only child. but seriously, look at him.

he's the cat whisperer. and he like to pretend he only tolerates cricket. liar!

hopefully in a few months we will foster again. i need some time to get over my loss! i get to see sookie in her new home tomorrow though and i am happy about that. she is such a sweetie. apparently lucee, her new cat sister, is scared of her. thats because sookie had to learn how to stick up for herself at our house. her brother and sister played rough!

the shelter is such a sad place. they said kittens get adopted quickly and i sure hope thats true because there are so many animals in cages there! they are doing the best they can but it is still sad. i almost came home with a rabbit for jeremy but didnt. she looked a lot liked babe did though (minus satan's eyes).

two more days

just when cricket is really warming up to the babies, it is time to take them back to the shelter. sookie (in this picture with cricket) is going to my old boss's house. lauren is going to love her and take care of her. i'm still holding onto hope that jeremy will cave in and let me keep the black and white kitten, but it is highly unlikely. either way, most of the cats in our house will be leaving on monday.

the manchester animal shelter is overrun with cats right now and it is really sad. they are a no-kill shelter, which is great, but some of the kitties have been there for years. they even have kittens that aren't being adopted there. kittens are really hard to find in a shelter so you know there must be a cat saturation in manchester (catsuration?). it breaks my heart to think of any of these babies in a cage for weeks, months, or even years.

so this was supposed to be a cute picture and a witty post, but it is turning into kind of a downer. if you are looking for a pet, check your local shelter before paying a breeder. or, make a donation of time or money to your shelter. it really helps all these poor babies.

and like bob barker always said, spay and neuter your animals!

(it is still a cute picture!)

foooootball

steph and ryan came over on sunday to watch the patriots ruthlessly destroy the tennesse titans. the game stopped being fun to watch midway through the second quarter. i think the final score was around six million to zero. they brought charlie over (steph's westie) and oh boy! did the kittehs ever love that game! watching the babies hiss at the dog while he is jumping around in his carrier was mildly entertaining. cricekt spazzed out and clawed me, which was also very fun. so the five cats spent the night under the bed with the door closed and the four of us and charlie had some soup and chip and salsa and hung out.

right before they came over lauren brought kevin over to meet sookie and make sure they wanted to take her. they fell in love with her, which i knew they would. she is a sweetie. majorly a scaredy cat, but so sweet. she cuddled with cricket on the bed today for hours. it was adorable and heart melting.

tonight we tried to watch house, but the stupid baseball playoffs were still going - it was like the 30th inning of whatever game was on. yankees suck. so jeremy went to rite aid, and i did dishes. watching house would have been better.

blog action day

today, october 15, people with blogs all over the world are all writing about the same thing. this year's topic is climate change.

whether you agree with al gore and the global warming people or not, the fact of the matter is that the earth is our home, and we need to treat it nicer.

i'm not one to go all crunchy granola and tell people to start skipping deodorant and reusing grey water (although those ideas have merit in the proper setting). i'm talking about small things that you prolly wouldn't even notice you are doing that help out in the end.

take one minute shorter showers. you'll save money on your water bill and whatever you use to heat the water bill, you'll use thousands of gallons less water in a year.

when you get to a parking lot, just park and walk. those people that circle around waiting for a spot or idle for ten minutes waiting for the old lady to load her bags of cat food in the back of her station wagon are wasting time. they are sending carbon monoxide and other pollutants into the air and water. park in the back of the lot and walk. you'll get some fresh air and a little exercise, your car has less chance to get dinged up, you'll prolly even get into the store sooner than if you had tried to find a killer spot. (exceptions to this rule are made in my household if it is raining, especially if i have blow-dried my hair).

walk or bike more places. take the bus or subway. go down to one car per household. we have one car and it works. we walk to rite aid to get milk or whatever. i rode my bike to work when it was warmer. i also have taken the bus around. not as ghetto as it might seem, and, since the bus or subway runs anyways, you aren't adding any extra to traffic, etc.

stop using so much paper. do you really need that printed out? try using a real towel or real napkins instead of paper. more laundry, sure, but it is better for the environment. and sitting down to dinner with cloth napkins can sure dress up a lean cuisine!

there are lots of great resources on and offline to learn more about what you can do and how it matters. every week slate.com's green lantern posts an article about eco-friendly real-life questions like is beer or wine better for the environment? what's the most eco-friendly birth control method? and many more. i have several great green living books. there are green blogs by the thousands.

reduce, reuse, recycle. we all learned the adage in school. now it is time to figure out how to put it into practice in our real lives.

ARC review: hush, hush

hush, hush

becca fitzpatrick

out this week in hardcover

from the back:

A sacred oath, a fallen angel, a forbidden love.

Nora Grey is responsible and smart and not inclined to be reckless. Her first mistake was falling for Patch. Patch has a past thta could be called anything but harmless. The best thing he ever did was fall for Nora.

After getting paired with Patch in Biology, all Nora wants to do is stay away from him, but he always seems to be two steps ahead of her. She can feel his eyes on her even when he is nowhere around. She feels him nearby even when she is alone in her bedroom. And when her attraction can be denied no longer, she learns the secret about who Patch is and what led him to her. Despite all the questions she has about his past, in the end, there may be only one question they can ask each other: How far are you willing to fall?

my review:

the cover is gorgeous and intriguing. the first half of the book was completely riveting. things fell apart a little for me in the end, but i still enjoyed the story. it was nice to read a fantasy/sci-fi teen novel NOT about vampires for a change. there is still that forbidden love/i know he is bad news but i still want him anyways aspect.

simon and schuster is doing some really fun promotional stuff for this book. if you want to know more about it, get screensavers etc, check out teen.simonandschuster.com.

if you like the twilight style of books, you'll prolly enjoy this one. a little darker, with more danger elements, but comparable.

fall is coming!

and it is gonna be pretty!

there are so many lakes and ponds here, and almost all of them have parks around them with walking, biking, and cross country skiing trails. jeremy is excited to try cross country skiing, and i can't wait to hit the slopes again. but first, i need something to thicken my blood. today was in the 40s and i was freezing all day long. sad but true. matt (a guy at work) was wearing a hawaiian shirt and shorts. it made me cold just looking at him.

in general though, when the sun i sshining, the fall weather here is just gorgeous. i bought a couple more sweaters and a super awesome scarf and i'm ready. it will be weird to bust out my coats after years of not wearing them though!

family fotos

jeremy and i took a little tour around our fair city, getting some shots of fall leaves and having a fun day off together. this one is of us in front of the merrimack river. you can see part of the mill yard in the background. we live just on the other side of this river. we are in the parking lot of UNH manchester (like k-state salina).

we brought cricket out on her leash to try and get a complete family foto. she was mildly cooperative and liked to eat the weeds. she was scared of the c ars, even though 90% of her day is spent watching them from our window.

cricket teaches the kittens

that she is not to be messed with. we have come to a place of tolerance in our household, of acceptance. (see above, where all the babies are peacefully coexisting on the couch with her.) but every so often, cricket still has to show the babies who is boss. (see movie below, in two parts.)

and then this happened:

the kittens are six weeks old now, so we have them and scarlet for two more weeks. we have to give them up right when they are getting fun!

the good with the bad...

i don't think i have updated the blogosphere with our good news. jeremy has a job! he will be a banker with citizen's bank, starting at the end of the month. we are both super excited and can't wait to learn more about what this position holds for him.

the bad... there was an incident at work that super sucked. it caused a lot of extra work for me and my team but we got through it. it allowed me to see which of the members of my box office team can step up and handles challenges and which freak out under pressure. good info for a manager to have! we got through it, and although there will continue to be repercussions (mostly for me, and mostly in the form of extra work), whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

right.

p.s. the kittens are almost six weeks old and have offically taken over the entire apartment. but they are too cute to contain! we have been able to keep them out of the bedroom (that's cricket's domain) but the kitchen, bathroom and living room have kittens everywhere all the time! i love it, and that's why i would be a crazy cat lady if jeremy let me.

ARC review: Secret Society

Secret Society

by Tom Dolby

Ok, so I couldn't find the greatest picture. However, this book was really good.

From the Back:

Once you get in... you never get out.

Do you ever wonder how some people have it all? The best schools, the hottest parties, the priciest clothes, the easiest jobs? Maybe it's not because they work hard or get a lucky break every once in a while. Maybe it's because they're part of a secret group. A secret society.

For more information and other reviews, check the amazon listing.

My Review:

This book reminded me a lot of The Skulls. The biggest difference in the way the two secret societies were portrayed was that this society is co-ed, and starts in high school. Students at private schools all over New York City are tapped one night to join this society. It is the kind of offer one does not decline. Then, unsettling things start happening. People are disappearing. And the three main characters of this book (Nick, Phoebe, and Lauren) wants answers. They face challenges both from inside and out of the society. The end is a cliff-hanger that will leave you wondering when the sequel will be in stores.

The issues faced by characters in the story include partying and relationships, but both are handled in a way that makes this story appropriate for high schoolers and older middle schoolers. Parts of it were a little simplistic for my taste, but that didn't change the fact that I very much enjoyed the story and am interested in finding out what happens to these main characters, as well as some of the peripheral characters, in the next book.

If you enjoy YA, this story will definitely appeal to you. And, since the story is not told exclusively from a female perspective, some boys might enjoy it as much as us girls will.

scary cat!

too bad she isn't all black... and too bad she wouldn't stand still for her photo opportunity!

the kittens have successfully found a way out of the dog pen, so now we walk in the kitchen at random times to find them wrestling in the middle of the floor. the grey and white one found her way behind the stove and refrigerator and fell asleep. she came back out when she got hungry though! her mama is too fat now to fit back there. thankfully she isn't all skin and bones like she was when i brought her home.

they are super playful, and very much enjoy tormenting cricket, who (for the most part) puts up with is good-naturedly. we really do have the best cat in the world.

before and after

since we didn't carve pumpkins last year, this was cricket's first experience. she really enjoyed sniffing the pumpkins. a little strange, but as long as she wasn't in the way, we allowed her to "participate" in carving. we got the pumpkins from the store, but i hope to visit a corn maze/pumpkin patch before halloween.

it was a great evening - we watched private practice and the office and carved away. can you guess which pumpkin was carved by which one of us?

skated by

after having to make two extra batches of frosting (and bake two carrot cakes, since the first one didnt come out of the pan in one piece) i finished the roller skate cakes for steph's parents 25th anniversary party. it was friday night after working all week and she was coming to pick up the cakes in the morning. i felt good, i packed them up and sealed the box. then jeremy came to look at them and said... "uh babe? the black skate fell over. i told you carrot cake was too dense to stand up." thanks for the i told you so after the fact.

thankfully steph liked the look of the cake on its side - looked like a pair of skates that someone had just casually tossed on the floor. we refrosted teh smooshed parts, iced a dozen cupcakes, and went to bed. the cakes (and chocolate candies we made last week) were a huge hit at the party. the skates looked like the skates her parents used to have when they were first together and used to roller skate all the time. aw!

so my first cake baking/decorating experience in new hampshire was successful, if not exactly how i imagined it would be. and i'm happy because they were happy!

its a bit blair witch project...

but here is another kitteh video. you will see mainly the black and white one and the grey and white tabby playing under the coffee table. also you will see cricket playing and overseeing. she is getting used to the idea of kittens and likes playing with them, but sometimes is a little too rough. she is about ten times their size after all. and miss scarlet takes exception to cricket even looking at the kittehs, much less sniffing, licking and playing with them.

alos, again, i am taking video on my digital camera and am not a professional. also i have no editing software. so it is a little jumpt at times, and parts of them playing under the table are dark. but they are too cute to NOT post the video.

hope you enjoy them as much as i am! only three more weeks until they go back to the shelter for adoption... i will miss the babies SO much!

to brighten your thursday...

i would edit it for length if only i knew how or had a program to do so on my computer. in the meantime, it is only a minute or so long. these guys are awfully cute!!!

contest winners!

thank you to everyone who entered my first book giveaway!

and the winners are...

beka and christina!

beka, your number came up first in the random number generator so you get to choose which book you would like a copy of: secret society or food, girls, and other things i can't have. christina, you get the other book. if you guys could send me an email with your shipping details i will get those in the mail asap. (meaghan_koci (at) yahoo (dot) com)

yay to the winners and participants!
also, as a side note, everytime i type beka's name in my blog, zemanta(a program that suggests pictures, labels and topics related to my content) shows this picture:

and i felt i needed to share.