My cats are so weird.

I really wanted to end the noe there but figured that was cruel. Hudson likes to 'cover' the empty food dish. The two little munchkins get a small (very small) amount of moist food a day and without fail everytime after the dish is empty she covers it up. She will pull some sort of imarinary cover over it. She paws the floor on all sides of the dish as if putting a layer of soil over it. I have googled this behaviour because I had never seen it before and apparently it is  normal cat behaviour--for some. Some will do it when it is something
they don't like to eat but the covering up the empty dish is a bit odd. Ah well. I still love her.

They sleep--a lot. I know cats like to sleep but I guess being at home during the day the past few days has shown me just how much. They are active for an hourish and then they nap for a few hours then paly for a few minutes and then nap again. I guess ripping and tearing around the house can really wear a girl down.

They are vocal rarely....and generally only when food is involved. When they know the food is coming the meow constantly until it is set in front of them and there is never a thank you meow. LOL.They purr a lot though which is great and must mean that they are happy and content. I would like them to learn how to knead...but maybe not until they have better control of their claws.

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Work. So I am off all week from my day job but am headed to the movies every night from tonight on until just before I return to work. It's ok...not spoiling any plans and gives me some post-Christmas money which really, don't most of us want that? So...tonight...for those of you on PEI you know the weather was a bit stormish. Power flickers and small outages all day, lots of wind, lots of snow and lots of people still out on the road. Yep, we had a ton of folks show up for a movie. I don't get it. The last thing I want to do on a storm night is head out for a show. Must be just me. So fine,  you want to go out and see a show--dress for it. I saw people walking in the door wearing sneakers, no hats, no mittens, no scarves and for a lot of people no winter coats--jogging tops and hoodies. OM Goodness...people, snow means winter weather conditions and what would you do if you got stuck in the snow? Sigh.

Having a couple gal pals for brunch tomorrow. Looking forward to catching up with them....just hope the menu works out and the weather holds.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!--finally. LOL.

Small storm(?) hitting the region. Lots of big fluffy snow flakes down and already on the ground. They are saying storm...I'm a bit excited. I could use a good storm. Not that I have anywhere to go and that this will change my day in any way...but storm...fun! It's like a free day. Mom--stay home. Call in to work and tell them you can't make it in.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Good will towards all....

My first Christmas on the Island in 5 years--boy do I miss snow. It is snowing at the moment and there is actually a storm advisory on but I have been desperately missing the snow. Nothing says Christmas to me like snow. In fact I have found my spirit lacking a bit. The tree is up and it has been making me grumpier by the day. It is dead. Yes, I know, cut trees are dead...but it is bowing under the weight of ornaments that have no real weight and dropping needles when you merely look at it. The tree will be coming down soon--very soon. The cats have done a remarkably good job of not playing with the ornaments on it and I think next year it will not be an issue to put it up with all the ornaments on it.

On December 24 I headed out to battle the stores. I didn't need a present I was in search of a Christmas tree and I found one. It is one of the most realistic fake trees I have ever seen. I am tempted to put it up this year but will wait until next Christmas. The thought of undecorating twice this year is a bit too much. The smell of pine tree only seems to last for the one day so I think that aspect of real trees will not be missed and if I need a hit of pine I can head to a tree lot or into the woods.

A wonderful meal at my parents today--mmm, turkey. I am going to head out on Monday to purchase my own turkey. I want the leftovers. I fondly remember last years turkey and all the wonderful meals I made in the months following. There was more than one batch of terrific turkey soup and I think more soup is in order. The ability to just open the freezer door and grab a nice bowl of homemade soup is a good thing.

I didn't take many pictures today--4 in total. I know...how strange for me. My camera battery is on low and I can't find the charger. I actually spent a fair bit of time last night looking for a new on online. I can't believe I may need to get a new one. Sigh. It is very light and I fear it may have been tossed out--at the bottom of a bag and just not noticed. The one photo of the 4 I took that sorta turned out is of the kittens. I constructed a play house for them the other day.
Christmas 2010

Here once again are a few images from Christmas past...
2006

2007

2008

2009

2005

It looks like a great day is forming outside my windows. The sun is making a long slow rise over the horizon, the sky changing from dark ink to pale blue, streaks of yellow, orange and pink connecting it.

The kittens are playing with each other. I love how they can play fight with each other. The decision to get two was well made. They do indeed keep one another company---when I'm away and home. They are only getting one small present each from Santa. They are nice and they are naughty but I think they get enough treats and toys from me that they don't need anymore.

The tree is up and decorated and is withstanding the kittens. I limited the number of ornaments on the bottom third that would have been within easy reach of little paws. I also limited the number of decorations in the house...keeping it simple. This time next year they will have settled down some and it should be ok to fully deck the halls.

If I get a chance after work today I am picking up a few fish for the tank. It has been up and running for a few weeks now (without fish) and the cats have gotten adjusted to the noise it makes and no longer wish to view it. I know the movement of the fish will attract their attention but it is up well above their line of sight so it should be relatively safe--I hope.

Last night I was at my grandmothers for a visit and I wrapped most of my presents. Multi-tasking at its best. In the afternoon I was at Christmas Blaze with Auntie F and friends. It was a great show. Very high energy. I even managed to get my library card yesterday and picked up an audio book. It will be great to start listening to books again as I make the drive from Charlottetown to Victoria and back. That's one hour of book time each day. I can't believe it has taken me this long to get downtown to get my library card--such a simple thing that will bring me hours of entertainment and enjoyment.

Speaking of entertainment I am getting rid of my cable. I have been trying out Netflix on the internet and I think it will be just the thing. It won't give me the local morning news--but the internet and radio will, plus we get the paper at work. I will try to go cable free until April and if things aren't working out by the time I get back from India then I will hook it up again.

Off to work shortly at the theatre--hopefully everyone shows up for their shift today. I am on box office again but last time got called over to help at concession due to a lack of staff. It is too nice a day to be watching movies so my recommendation would be people go outside and go for a walk--enjoy the green grass a little longer.

I don't normally blog in the middle of the day--cause I'm at work, but today I am. It is almost the end of the day and I'm a bit tired and feeling the down side of the sugar buzz I was on earlier. Ah, sugar.

We had a pot luck at the V office and it was good. We had cheese and dessert. And really not much else. That isn't entirely true. There was an ugly sweater contest--I didn't have one. A work station decorating contest--I decorated my other office so didn't here and the a prize for best dessert and best main dish. The theme was Christmas. It is always easy to find festive desserts and that is what the majority of the table was--dessert. YUMMY.

With little other food around the sugar in my belly took effect and now I'm on the down side of the buzz and feeling tired and lethargic...which is really the same thing as tired. On the plus side I won the dessert competition. I made an igloo. It is chocolate mouse inside and covered with cool whip and marshmallows. Super easy to make and fun to decorate. I put one of my carved polar bears in the dish for looks. We also did a Secret Santa gift exchange and I ended up with a nice sized black and white mug. Oddly enough I've been looking at mugs lately but never actually bought one. Thanks Santa. The most popular items to go around were a couple bottles of wine and a gift card for the liquor store. It was a great event.

I am heading out tonight to the Delta. They are hosting their annual Thank You holiday party and the proceeds are for Habitat--as one of the BOD members I received an invite. I invited one of our new staff to go with me. She is her on her own, family is in BC and she is working day and night, night and day. I know she needs a break and while I almost had to pull out the big guns and tell her I was forcing her a bit of coaxing and she agreed. I said we would only go for a short time. I'm actually pretty tired this week and don't plan to stay long myself.

Work schedule for the theatre came out a couple days ago and it is looking pretty good for the holidays. I have lots of time off for the 25th and work New Years--which is exactly what I wanted. Just enough shifts over the holidays to keep me out of trouble and pay off my xmas purchases.

I best be off. Have a great weekend.

Is it just me or have the past ten days or so flown by? Can you believe we are less than ten days to Christmas? I can't. My tree is up but not finished, the presents are bought but not wrapped and I haven't started my letter to Santa or my Christmas baking. I haven't done Christmas baking in a long, long time and it might not happen again this year. Too bad cause I want to use my snowflake and mitten shaped cookie cutters.

I almost put out an adoption ad this morning.

"To give away to any home two kittens. Able to leap tall heights in a single bound and unroll toilet paper in mere seconds. Can meow in unison for long periods of time and are able to be underfoot every second of the day."

I love 'em....but....lol.
Last night they were doing laps around the house. Jumping from one piece of furniture to the next and not stopping for a good hour. This morning they meowed and were underfoot in the kitchen the whole time I was trying to make my breakfast and when I arrived home last night they had de-papered the toilet paper. It was a wonderful sight. Sigh. It is my punishment for not spending a lot of time with them lately. If only they understood English so I could explain the situation to them.

But when they quiet down and lay on the couch watching me I sigh and am grateful to have their company. I just hope that when I arrive home tonight some of the ornaments I so very carefully placed on the tree last night are still there.

Morning!
It's Friday...how great is that? The birthday was fantastic. I was late getting to one of my afternoon meetings but was told, "It's ok. You should be allowed to be late coming back from lunch on your birthday." Awwweee.

The celebrations continue into the weekend and will wrap up on Sunday night with a family supper. Now I just need to stop being a social butterfly for a night or two so I can get caught up on my laundry and dishes. Ugh...dishes.

 Hi Tundra! What are you doing? What's so fascinating about the bag?

Oh, I see, your sister is in it. Hi Hudson!

 I can't remember if I posted any of these pics--taken in late November when we had a sprinkling of snow.

 Where was I? I have no idea....

Don't forget--only 2 more shopping days until my birthday!
I'm headed out for supper tonight with friends and co-workers, lunch on Friday with a good friend and a family party on Sunday. Yeah!!

I'm watching one of the cats clean her toes. They always look so cute when they do that. Toes spread a look of fierce concentration as they focus on the job at hand. I love it.

On September 7th I woke up to find no diet pepsi in the apartment. So I took it as a sign and quit. It has been 3 months since I have had a diet cola. Have I given it up for good? Likely not. It was my drink of choice when I was having a stressful day. It is an easy thing to pick up and drink when on the go. I miss it. I haven't seen any health changes since I quit...I dunno.

The gig at the movie theatre is going well. I've been 'promoted' to box office. I still haven't finished my 6 week probation period and already a promotion. The kids at work who have worked there for a while are surprised and happy at how quickly I am catching on. LOL. The group that started the same time I did are envious and in awe that I've done box office a couple times. I think it is all very amusing. It isn't difficult work you just need to keep your head on when it gets busy and keep busy when there are no crowds. The shifts lately have been great, Saturday day and one evening a week where I am finished long before 10pm. I'm old you know...I need my sleep.

Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner? I am no where close to having my shopping done and I haven't even figured out how I am going to wrap with two fuzzy babies in the house who will be amused and excited by the crackle of paper and sticky tape. I decorated one of my two offices yesterday. It looks good. Totally different from what I did last year. I can't find the snowflakes I had hanging from the ceiling. I guess somwhere in the two moves that happened since last December I lost them or decided at some point it wasn't going to be worth my time and effort to untangle all the strings in order to reuse them. 

Here on the home front I have managed to get a set of lights up around the window will minimal input from the cats and I have decorated the large shelves without their help and acknowledgement. I will not move forward with a tree until the weekend of the 18th. I know it will be an attraction for the kittens and the less time for it to tip over and for them to break all the ornaments the better. LOL. I would love to put it up now but really with no snow on the ground I am finding it hard to get into the Christmas frame of mind.

Interesting but useless fact. I haven't been on an airplane in 6 months. This is the longest I have gone in 5 years without soaring above the ground.

I passed!

In January of this year I decided to finally bite the bullet and get my HR designation. I decided if I was going to stay in HR that I should. I postponsed writing it in May--the whole leaving job, moving, etc was too much and I felt bad cause I hadn't studied. 5 months later I still hadn't studied and on the day before I wrote the exam I joined two good friends for dinner and a show--Hairspray! Perhaps I should have stayed home to study but... Saturday morning arrived to torrential rains and I spent two hours writing my exam. Sigh.

And I passed. I can't believe it. WHOOO HOOO!!! I had planned to write them one after another and have them done within a year but that plan will not work. The next exam is May 7 and I hope to still be on the road returning from India. October it will need to be.

I'm off to Moncton this afternoon. YEAH! Quick shopping trip with a friend.