like graphic design?? mid-century illustration??

...then you need to check out the grainedit.com blog and and flickr page. Be sure to read the story about the mid-century advertising posters that were just discovered in the London Underground!!

in kitty news, Tom decided when he got home from work that Ariel sounded so miserable, he ended up taking her to the vet yesterday afternoon instead of waiting till Friday (he's such a softie!! )-- so now, she gets to take lysine "goop" to boost her immune system, will get antibiotic cream in her eyes (once I fill the prescription), and it was suggested that running the vaporizer would help her congestion. It did seem to help (we shut her in the bathroom last night with it running), but Tom said that when he let her out this morning there was so much moisture in the air , he couldn't see!! (we'll probably turn it down just a bit tonight.)

the vet said she is a bit skinny for her age, but hopefully with lots of love, attention, and plenty of food, we'll take care of that, too!!

I would love to go...

here and spend the day exploring through the dusty stacks and piles of books, and relax in an over-stuffed armchair with a couple cats sitting in my lap. (wanna come with??)

our new kitten is doing pretty good-- she doesn't flinch at all any more when the dogs snurfle her. (like she smells any different than the last time they smelled her, three minutes before-- I don't get that at all, but I guess it's a dog thing?!?)

Butters still doesn't like her (no surprise there) but she will come pretty close before finally hissing and spitting. Butters has also asserted her dominance by eating from her food (which she definitely doesn't need) and using her litterbox, but the kitten doesn't really care; she's too busy checking everything out and being cute.

her cold isn't getting any better: she is still sneezing quite often and has greenish-yellow goop in her eyes, so she will be going to the vet on Friday for a check-up.

we decided to keep her name, but change it slightly (it was too difficult to think of a different "super-clever-but-still a-bit-cute" name, and the one she had was pretty good, just a bit too pretentious), so now she is Ariel instead of Arielle.

a busy weekend

so much for my plan to sleep late yesterday! :D Tom and his friend Murray started in on a much-anticipated home-improvement project yesterday morning, about 6:30 am... (since the forecast was for 105+ temps, an early start was necessary!) They worked till about 12:30, when they ran out of 2x4s, but they got a nice start on the framing to screen in the back patio. Next week the plan is to finish the framing, then we have to paint everything before putting up the screen. Next weekend they'll finish up the framing, then we'll paint the wood to match the house before putting up the screen and trim pieces. This will be really nice once it's done-- no more flies or mosquitoes to worry about, and the pets can lounge out here without having to keep an eye on them, like when they're in the yard. (and we would, too, cause even though the wall is approximately 6 feet high, Butters has already jumped to the top and over it!)

and, meet our new kitten!! Yesterday after Murray and Tom quit working on the patio, Tom and I headed into Phoenix to the Arizona Animal Welfare League, to look at kittens. There were plenty (it's still kitten season), but we were on a mission for one that would be able to stand up to the dogs-- after checking our a few of them, we brought home this adorable gray tabby girl.

She's so tiny-- this picture shows a good comparison, since she's sitting next to the camera bag, which isn't very big. She likes to climb; she's already figured out how to jump up into the window, up onto the kitchen chairs (and table). She certainly has held her own against the dogs, too-- they were very interested in her, and there was some hissing, but she held her ground and took a couple swipes at them, which is a good thing, in my opinion. (I wouldn't even mind if she had connected-- that would make them think twice about messing with her!)

This pic shows just how tiny she is... the only collars they had at the grocery store were for 8" - 14" and Tom made it as small as it would go. It's way too big, but it sure helps to have the bell jingling when she's wandering around-- especially she can get under and behind the furniture!

she's an adorable little kitty; too bad Butters doesn't think so! There was plenty of hissing and some swatting from Butters, and since then, she's pretty much ignored her. Hopefully she'll eventually come around. And have you noticed, I haven't said what her name is?? That's cause she doesn't have one yet... The shelter called her Arielle, but that just doesn't have a good ring to it, so we're on the hunt for a new one. So far, we're calling her "Kitty," but there's gotta be something better than that out there- it'll come to us (hopefully)!!

the more things change...

the more they stay the same... Tom caught Pandora and Butters snuggling on the bed earlier today, and snapped a few pictures. It brings back lots of bittersweet memories of Cleo and Phoebe. But, Pandora and Butters definitely have their own very strong personalities- they are not timid around the dog at all, and they love going outside... chasing bugs and trying to get the hummingbirds when they come to the feeder are two of their favorite pasttimes. (occasionally they do nap, too!)

we went out for light fixtures...

...and came home with cats. We headed to Casa Grande to get new track lighting fixtures for the kitchen, and possibly to look at artificial Christmas trees. After having lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, we headed to the local PetSmart, which was having its grand opening celebration, just to look around. Whenever we go to a pet store, I always check out the adoption center, just to see if they have any kittens, but they usually don't. Today, however, they did, and totally unexpectedly, we came home with these little girls. We knew ever since we had to put Phoebe to sleep last November that we wanted to get another cat... we played with both of them, made our decision, and then decided to go ahead and get both- they're litter mates, and maybe this way, if Cleo absolutely hates them, at least they'll keep each other entertained.

Right now, they're hanging out in the laundry room, till we can get them introduced to the dog (we'll do that in a bit, to see what happens). I forgot how much fun kittens can be; we put Sedona outside, and the cats were just bouncing all over the kitchen, chasing the cat dancer, each other's tails, and pretty much everything that moved!

And, I keep calling them "they" because we haven't decided on names for them yet. Their names were Fancy (the orange one, after a Reba Macintire song- ick!), and Fallon, but those will be changed as soon as we can think of something else... Pumpkin, Amber, and Ginger are all possibilities for the orange/butterscotch tabby, and Callie (short for Calico) has been thrown around for the other one, but I was also trying to think of Native American names, too... who knows what they'll end up being called, but they can certainly be called cute, that's for sure!

(If there are any major disasters, I'll be sure and document them, too... hopefully not!)