Gizmo and the Geek - a man and his cat

Now it could just be that I've never been a grown-up who owns a cat, but in all of my childhood and of all the cats we owned, never did I see a cat like ours.

In the hot summer of 2007, just after we bought our house, we had a rash of kittens in the alley that runs behind our house. I had heard them mewing and so had the Geek. His Spidey senses told him that trouble was on the horizon. Me being a sucker for cuteness, I could not resist when I saw a tiny little fuzzball cleaning himself in a sunspot. On my way to pick the Geek up from work, I picked him up and stuck him in my lap. Fleas and whatever else be danged! As soon as I reached the Geek's office I switched to the passenger side and put that little ball of fuzz in my purse.

The Geek protested at having to drive home, but I said I couldn't do it. When pressed, I let that cute fuzzy head poke out of my purse.

"No way! We are not keeping it!" He shouted, but already the cuteness had begun to work it's magic. He kept up the protests saying how it was going back in the alley as soon as we got home, or how we'd find it another home. Then when I commented how the kitten's ears were bigger than his head and he looked like Gizmo from the Gremlins, he protested again, shouting now I had named it and we'd never get rid of it. I could see that his defenses were weakening.

I borrowed a litter box from a friend and took him to the vet. Fleas, ear mites, the works! You name it, he had it. So much for the free kitten theory. A weird polyp started to grow in his ear later (which we had removed when he was neutered - $200 bucks, yipe!!) and he now has a permanent head tilt from that, giving him a crazed look.

But try as the Geek might, that cat was here to stay. In spite of his allergies (which disappeared with the owning of a cat) and protests. Now the cat is his cat. He follows him around with a 'prrwaw', just like a puppy whenever the Geek leaves the room. They snuggle in the morning and there is a (well used!) cat bed on the Geek's desk. I am the heavy and make him mind, but the Geek and his cat are the notorious pair. Here's some evidence:

(This is how they sleep - feel free to roll your eyes and say "Good Grief!" I know I do.)

Things that go bump in the night

Strange arrhythmic thumping in the hall. Little chittering noises accompanying. What could that be? Oh. The cat and the racketball. Freckles looks at me with her big browns and sighs.

What dog-moms have know all along.

Found this on the discovery channel website tonight. A universal 'duh' was heard by all dog owners.


"April 22, 2008 -- The emotion conveyed by a dog's bark often seems obvious to its human companions, but new research shows just how clear the message can be -- at least, to other dogs..."

Dewd! You found my Stash!

Dewd! You found my Stash!
Originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville

I forgot to post this earlier....Mr. Gizmo McSnorglekins was having just a lil too much fun this Christmas past. I tumped over the big chair to vacuum and found....his secret stash of doo-dads! Including Jingle-y Balls, Bottle Caps , Paper Wads, and Tree Ornaments! Sigh.

Avoid this couch!! (not ours...ours is now industrial strength)

We bought our furniture about 2+ years ago and it all came with a lovely warranty that lasted about a year. Two weeks before that warranty ended, we heard an ominous 'sproiiiiing.' Wouldn't you know it, a spring, or really a springy metal band popped loose. We had the tech out to fix it and sighed a sigh of relief. We thought we'd gotten it taken care of before it was too late. HA! Those little springy bands have kept popping off! One here, two there, I flip the couch over, remove the dust lining and put them back, and then staple the dust lining back on.

Then Christmas came. Lots of people sat on that couch through out the holiday season and my papa occupied it for afternoon naps. I knelt on the couch one afternoon to look at something behind the Christmas tree and "SPROOIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!" Almost half of the springy bands popped off! Since Christmas we have avoided that couch. There are other chairs in the living room and I didn't want to think about it! But tonight, friends are coming over and there is not enough room for them all without that couch. So we flipped it over, removed the (now shredded...thank you, cat!) dust liner and surveyed the damage.

Things I noticed about a Rooms To Go Couch:
1. The entire thing is constructed of pressboard (plywood!)
2. There was not a single nail in the whole thing. Only Large Staples
3. Whoever put this thing together was going for odds. In other words, if I shoot enough staples in here, maybe some of them will come in contact with the two things I am attempting to connect. (This didn't happen often)
4. Springy Bands SUCK! They make this horrible noise unless they are coated in plastic this little plastic bit and guess what happens when they come unhooked? You got it! The plastic bit goes flying and becomes instant cat toy.
5. It is hard to fix something right when it hasn't been made right in the first place!!
6. All in all, RTG couch is crap. I hope it makes it a few more years and then will become a dog couch.

The Geek and I, after MUCH railing against RTG and the crappy construction of the couch, finally came up with a solution involving wood screws and washers...don't ask. But the odds of those bands popping loose again are pretty slim now, thanks to the DIH (Do it herself) musician!! The price was high though. I bruised my sternum leaning over the bottom of the couch while wrestling with springy bands, and a couple of times they got loose and cut my forearms. Not to mention whatever padding they had in there I must be allergic to because my arms were red and rash-y for a few hours.

Now if we can just keep the cat from hiding our socks and underwear in his secret cat nest inside the couch!

To Do:

1. Make the house not so cold without cranking the furnace 24/7...I have weather stripping stuffed in every possible crack and cranny and STILL it is cold in here. The gas bill was just under $300! Yipe!!
2. Return library books. Nashville Public Library lets me cancel my book fines with a canned item per $1 owed from now until the 6th of January. And I think I owe a lot! I'm a little forgetful when it comes to library books. Especially the ones that have house repair pages I use every week or so. I don't want to give them back! I really should just suck it up and buy them. I'll need them as long as I have a house. Sigh.
3. Install new cook-top. Oh the joys of landlord-ship. The cook-top I bought (used) for the cottage, bit the dust and I've not been able to get the thing working again. So it's time to get a new (used) one and install it. Re-wiring is required for this project since oddly enough the last cook-top was made for 120V. I know. My electrician was baffled by that too. This project is electrician supervised, but Musician labor. Double Yipe!
4. Go back to work. Dave says I should. At least my interpretation of what Dave says. I AM able to work, am not currently recording or touring (or being paid to be the musician) I have to go back to work for that same Huge Institution Type University that keeps having temp jobs for me to do. Sigh again.
5. Register to vote. In our new location.
6. Vehicle Registration...oops.
7. Pack away Christmas doo-dads.
8. Take down the tree. It was a good run, giant tree, but I'm tired of watering you. Besides, you'll be going to a better home making someone's plants grow big and strong as opposed to providing entertainment for my insane cat. Who thinks it's his personal job to seek and destroy all things dangley and window blinds. Window blinds especially. And then sleep on the back of the chair like so. And wake me up in the morning by jumping on the bed, walking up the entire length of my body, perching on my chest all the while saying any of the following "me me row", "marooo", "mah", "meh", "mrauwoo" and then placing a paw upon my face until I open my eyes. (These are all direct Gizmo quotes) Besides, I don't think the little stuffed snow man can take much more. He's lost his nose, his scarf, his clove buttons and his dignity.

Special men...

I put a photo up of the Geek and his furball and he got invited to join this group.
Special Men - who love animals
What more is there to say. I am at the office so I have to laugh very quietly, but I am about to bust! I think it's the use of 'special' in the title and the fact that it's these big burly guys with their cats and/or dogs etc. The guy with no shirt is my fav so far. WOW.

My very own lols

I've been making our pet pictures into lols (why not...I got time!). If you don't understand, click here or here. But there also is this HI-LARRY-US site called lolgeeks, and since I have one of my very own of those, I am making lolgeeks wif the husband photos.
Here's one:

foodz
Originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville

This one is a lolgeek waiting to happen. I can't pass it up! It's too good. But it needs some pidgin added and I am stymied...any suggestions?

Da Boys
Originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville

I love our friends.

Andy's Birthday Party
Originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville

Look at these guys! So happy together. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see Matt with his guys. Aren't they cute?
I goes like this from left to right:
Paul, Matt, Andy, and Kevin.

All of us (wives in order of attachment to fellas above: Christy, Me, Allison, and Melissa) (here's most of us) get together on Friday nights to watch Stargate: Atlantis. It used to be just Stargate and then they spun off the Atlantis series and THEN the first show ended so they carried on with Atlantis.

When Matt and I met he said he watched this show called Stargate and I replied "Like the movie?" Little did I know I would be hog-tied and forced to watch season after season after season!! Not really. We were newly weds...I did it for love! I had to catch up on 6 or 7 (can't remember now) seasons so I could know what was going on when we went to Kevin and Melissa's house for Stargate Night. I was DREAMING new episodes at night...seriously!

And so it began.

Almost 3 years later, we are still spending Friday nights in Smyrna watching the SciFi channel in Kevin's bonus room o Star Wars Stuff. He's a bit of a fan. We are quite the crew. Usually the fellas start out with VG's until the show starts and then we all watch the show (the women keep tabs on the highlights while kniting, crocheting, gabbing a smidge, playing with Annie when the Hilchers are in town, being generally amused by Jayden, and then get shushed for the riviting parts who are randomly discussing the plausibility of the plot line etc.)

It's not bad having friends, is it!

Problems with Jayden's link? That's because she is a minor and thus I have made her photo on flickr private and available to only those who ask to be my friends or family on www.flickr.com. It's free. Don't be shy!

Merry Christmas to all...and to all some eggnog!

I know you like our new page for Christmas!! We are sending out all of our E cards for the holidays to all of our friends far and wide in the world, but the people who live in town get English toffee...It's so not a fair world. Matt and I are doing great this year, along with Freckles who came home to live with me again this May. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Freckles Saga, I (Ariana) moved to Nashville in 2000 and was living with my aunt and uncle in Hendersonville (the country! but still "Nashville") and this little freckly dog showed up in the yard to play with their dogs. Her owner never claimed her and I didn't want her to go to the pound so I became a dog mom. Weird, I know, because I am not a dog person. But I am a Freckles kind of person. So many years and travels with both country and apartment living and what was intended to be a brief stint at my parent's house in Texas that turned into YEARS, (I am so fired from being a dog mom) she has come home and lives quite happily in her hugemongous crate that we call her "house" and that takes up half of our kitchen. If we could use it as a table it would be bigger than our current one. She had her 7th birthday, along with my 30th. It was quite the shin dig.
Matt and my friend Christy planned and pulled off a huge party with a live band (talented friends playing) along with dancing, food and what else, a pinata (sorry Spanish speakers. my computer no make that nnya thing)
Many of you didn't know, but Matt and I were separated last Christmas for reasons that we have discussed at length with our therapists. I didn't even write about it here. There would have been too many questions to field. But we are happy (most of the time! I mean come on...it's marriage, not a walk in the park) and are really enjoying celebrating this year together. We decorated our little East Nashville apartment with lights and hung our stockings on the bookshelf...I think we might skip the tree this year.
So a very Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!!

It's HOT and I'm tired and...humph

Hello fellow peoples. Not much to report from muggy, hot Nashville. The family is great, both Matt and mine too. Freckles is the cuteness. I swear! We are having fun hanging out with a few other couples that are really becoming our circle of friends. Who'da thought!! And that circle is adding babies to the mix, although we are not participating in that yet. If has come up a couple of times, but I (Ariana) am not ready for my body to not be my own any more. Plus I would like to take a couple of trips before we jump in the middle of that. That would be really nice. Greece, Hawaii. Just good ol' together trips, all romantic-y and stuff. But I guess I need to give the timing of all that over to someone bigger than me. Who knows what He has in mind. For some reason babysitting has dried up this month. I don't know if it's the summer or what! Not that we will starve or anything, but it has been a little stressful. Keep us in your prayers as we learn more and more about being good stewards of our moola.

News from the Slacker Blogstress

Oh dear! Where has the time gone!? We are still here and better than ever. We weathered some storms, but I know that a bunch of you folks were praying for us and we are beginning to see some sunshine this side of the darkness. Our photos are in the process of being transfered to Flicker.com and it will make it easier for us to share them with lots of folks. Please don't be intimidated by this! Change is good! I brought Freckles home from my parents after a several year stint of being a crappy dog parent and she is adjusting quite well to apartment living and I like it much better than the last time she was with me in an apartment thanks to the joys of crate training! No hidden bread loaves, no torn up papers, or chocolate chip puke hiding under rugs! She was the bane of my old roomie's existence. Matt and I go for dog walks and she likes that, but not the dog park. Heck, I'd be freaked out if people were freely sniffing my butt too!!! Thats all for now cats.
Love from Matt, Ariana and Freckles