Thursday, March 31, 2011

...this is becoming a cat blog

But I promise that it won't last forever, at least not in a regular capacity. At this point though, he is still exploring, making mistakes....really hilarious mistakes.


Case in point: getting caught up in the shower curtain and falling in the tub while I'm taking a bath.




He does love yarn as much as I do. Thanks kitty Aunt Laura for this great unintentional toy!




Pepin cerainly has the regal Siamese look down.



"Just let me sleep woman!"




I had forgotten how fun (not!) it is to have a cat as a knitter.




I know dogs love to chase their tales but a cat with the same obsession?




Kitty Grandma Reindl, the cat whisperer.




The box that our housewarming gift from Tom and Ginny (a new Weber grill!) came in turned out to be the best cat toy ever!







Blogging and napping, this is the perfect picture of our afternoons lately.


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Random & Progress

1st Item:

Back when I wrote the initial Apartment Tour post, I made a promise that I would get around to taking a picture of the front of the house. Well, today on my way out of the car, I finally remembered to snap a quick photo with my phone.



Here she is in all her glory. It's a typical brick multi-family house for the area. Really, the houses here all look just like houses in Pittsburgh to me. Of course, I caught in this photo the last bit of melting snow from our freak snow storm on Monday morning. The winter weather advisory warning read in a huge red banner: "1-2 in of snow over next 36 hours!"...it made me chuckle, but I digress.

We are on the top floor of the building. You see that cute balcony over the front door? That's ours, and we're very excited to do something with it this summer.

You see the round thing on top of the roof? That is the roof turbine vent that caused me so much pain and depression.

I'm all better now.

I have Pepin.



2nd Item:

Of all the things I missed from home while we were in France...



...Our nice, big Boos block was very high up on the list. I love you Boos block!



3rd Item:

We're slowly progressing. Soon enough we will have a fully functional kitchen(/apartment). For now, baby steps. We started this week by improving our storage capabilities greatly in our little kitchen with the purchase of some new shelving to go beside the refrigerator.

Before



After


Sorry for my failure to take an adequate before shot, I wasn't anticipating switching out the old shelves so quickly but when we found these highly rated baker's shelves on Amazon.com this past Sunday, we jumped on them. Despite the crappy before picture though, it is obvious that they were small and not quite cutting it. What isn't obvious except in person is the fact that they are hardly head together. Every time I put the KitchenAid back on top I would have to slam the sides in with my palms because it would start to shimmy apart every time you moved something to or from it. They are nice shelves, they just need a little TLC and aren't really practical in this spot.

One last thing:

Amazon Prime with free 2-day shipping is both amazing and terribly addictive. Progress at your own risk!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

His name is Pepin


He is a bluepoint Siamese kitten.

For those of you unfamiliar with cat colors, bluepoint means that his points (ears, nose, feet, tail) will be gray when he is older.

He came home with us last Thursday and took a lot of coaxing to get him out of his carrier.

We decided on a Siamese kitten because while no cats are hypoallergenic (with the exception of some special genetically modified breed that probably costs $200,000), Siamese are generally less aggravating to those with allergies, Michael included.



 After he finally came out of the carrier he took up a new hiding place under the dresser. Finally, after four days with us, he is no longer running and hiding under there whenever he hears the slightest noise.



We finally coaxed him up on to the bed that night and he conked out immediately.



He is feisty.



He is incapable of eating out of his dish without spilling food everywhere. (By the way, we didn't buy him a cut glass dish, I think my Mom gave it to me at some point. Hope you're not offended, Mom.)



As with all cats, he can sleep anywhere.



After we let him out into the rest of the house he acquired a new scary noise hiding place.


He is dangerously cute.



He loves to sleep just behind our heads on the couch back.



He didn't like his scratching post at first because the fabric poked him in the face but he is coming around to it.



When he wakes up he is crazy playful.



He is already aware of his standing as king, which is fitting because he was partially named after the first King of the Franks, Pépin le Bref, a.k.a Pépin the short. He was also named after the famous French chef, Jaques Pepin.



He also loves to sleep wedged into any small space.

There you go, you've been introduced.

I'll try not to become a crazy cat lady, posting about her adorable kitty on a daily basis but no promises while he's still so little.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A Few Things



1. We have a roof turbine vent in our new apartment and while I appreciate the fact that our attic will not be acquiring any mold while it is spinning, I find it cruel. Why the anger at an inanimate piece of aluminum, you ask? I greatly dislike the roof turbine vent because when it spins in the wind, it sounds remarkably like dog tags clinking when a dog is licking itself. This sound makes me sad because not only does it remind me of my loyal Mocha (pictured above...probably after a dip in the pond, with my nephew Noah) who passed away at age 18 this past October, but it also reminds me daily that we cannot have a dog in this apartment. We can have a cat. And we will have a cat just as soon as we have some money to pay for one. But everyone knows there is a loyalty to a dog's manner that cannot be reproduced by a cat (not that a cat would care enough to try). Being around our family dogs, Rascal and Malina, during our month-long intermission at home made me realize just how much I had been missing dogs in my life. So, since we are in this apartment (which I love aside from the dog thing) for the next 15 months, we will get a cat, we will love said cat, and I will try like hell to make some friends with dogs -- because dogs are just something I need in my life.

*The link above is meant solely to show you what the heck I'm talking about, not to advertise in any way.  In fact, I suggest that you don't buy a roof turbine vent because it will sound like a dog licking itself and it will make you sad.

2. I experienced my first tornado sirens on Sunday night. The sirens and the accompanying winds were terrifying. I'm a northeastern girl, I don't like Tornadoes!




3. I love to knit. I love to knit just to knit. I have no pattern for what I'm doing now, just throwing in random cable stitches here and there. And I don't know if I will even keep this. I may just rip it up but at least I have something to do with my hands.

4. Eggplant Parmesan is one of my favorite meals of all time. It is time consuming but oh so good, and the leftovers are just as delicious, if not more delicious.

5. I miss you all!