I'm backkkkkk!!!!!

Tuesday…..Day 5 with no internet or T.V.

Do I need to tell you how insane I feel? I suppose weepy would be the word for it. I bawl at the drop of a hat.

The cable man is supposed to arrive today. My knight in shining armor!

I just hope he gets here EARLY.

I did get 10 free (also old) movies at the library. I think I watched all of three of them

I have read several novels, during my solitary confinement. A few of them were quite good. I’ll let ya’ know what they were.

Yesterday I went to Sherwin Williams and got the matching paint for our trim, in here. Some of it is looking pretty shabby. I thought I would give myself a little project to do.

I did two windowsills and the baseboards in the entry way. My heart just isn’t in it.

Poor Cavuto, besides being skinny, looks and feels all dry and skuzzy. I have never had a reason in is lifetime to give him a bath .But I think that time is now. Today he gets his first bath. Not sure how that’s gonna go. lol but he does have all his claws.

He is also still on the” 6 hours ahead” England time. He has been waking me up at 1:45 A.M., thinking its morning.

He has thankfully, remembered all his little odd rituals. Demanding whip cream, wanting water from the faucet and waking me up with the full “paw face, meowing “routine. He has not played at all though. He cries for O’Reilly and spends a lot of time sleeping. I think he is still recovering from his horrible ordeal. I know how he feels. I have not even unpacked my suitcase. It’ still lying on my bedroom floor. I just hope he returns to his knuckleheaded little self.

Naturally, the day after I got here we got a big cold snap. LOL It’s freezing out there. I actually feel guilty that I am not out walking my ass off everyday. AND afraid every ounce of weight I lost will come rushing right back to me. Ack!

That would be 15 pounds BTW. I finally got up the nerve to step on the scale. Only 10 more to go. Lol

I can’t wait to read everyone’s blog and see what ya’ll have been up to.

I better go get cleaned up incase my Knight gets here early!

Luv me

Better get comfortable.....here's my lonnnng post about my trip home :)

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Hi all,

We are home!!!

Our trip was a sheer delight. (not)

You already KNEW that, right?

Let me start at the beginning. Ok. Picture it England.....night before we leave. We get a call from animal reception in London (Cavuto had been taken up there that day by the quarantine people) saying "Do you have any papers on Cavato that state what generation of a Bengal he is?"

They call him Cavato.

Example: F1, up to F5 Bengal’s are not very far removed from the Asian Leopard cat (which Bengal's originated from) and are therefore under some "endangered species act" in England.

Naturally, I do NOT have these papers because I was unable to reach Cavutos breeder before we went to England.

Ironically they did not ask for them on the way INTO the country. But if I don't come up with something NOW, they will not allow him to return to the US.

After much panicking and frantic phone calls and emails they were able to reach Cavutos breeder. Thank God! (And thanks again Jen!)

He is like an F9, BTW, Not even Bengally enough to be a show cat :)

Next morning we get up at 5 A.M. to head for the airport. When we arrive we tried to change my seat to a window seat. The man tells me "oh yes, you might even get an upgrade" meaning I would not be in the cattle car section. Whee!

My spouse leaves me there around 9. Luckily he DID leave that early because it took forever to get thru security and then take a train to my gate, where I discover that the breakfast I had been planning to buy was nowhere to be had.ack!

I go up to see if I got my upgrade.

"Oh you will have to check after the flight is closed"

I wait around until all 300 or so people have boarded the plane. I am the very last one.

I did manage to get moved to a window seat, but NO upgrade. gah!

I mosey on back to the cattle car section where I spot my seatmates, hence forth known as "east Indian guy " and "bad breath man"

Just like my last flight, there are 3 babies in the row ahead of me. Allowed to scream their heads off as much as they wish.

It took like an hour just to taxi to the runway. By this time I was already starving. I put my ring neck pillow on and was asleep by the time we were taking off. When we finally actually got in the air, I tried to watch the movie "Julia" a thriller. A sucky thriller. Don't bother.

Between my inability to keep my eyes open, my hunger pangs and the odors emanating from my seat mates, I then tried to watch the movie "Nights in Rodnathe" .Honestly, I couldn't stay awake enough to tell you anything about that one ...except....if you are old enough to know reality, don't bother .If you still believe in romance and unicorns...give it a shot.

I woke up towards the end of that one and I saw that east Indian guy AND bad breath guy had gotten up to use the potty.

(THIS is my chance! after at least 4 hours)So I throw off my headphones and squish myself out of our row like Christmas cookie dough. I go stand in the huge line for the bathroom, right next to bad breath man.

He was leaning right up against the exit door, so I said "that’s not going to pop open, is it?"

"No, it's double locked, here and here" as he points to the locks. I could barely understand what he was saying. I figured it out when he pointed to the locks.

He immediately took my comment as an invitation to converse and turned right into my face , with his mouth that had not seen food or water for hours .......and had now turned into the breath of the crypt keeper and said" will you e inrested to hear....something ,something... that you use once day to make healthy?"

(Thought bubble) "Oh...MY ....GOD ...your BREATH is going to blow that door right off the hinges or MY head right off."

.Lord....THIS is why I break out a book the second I get in an airplane seat.

(Next thought bubble)"My last mother in law was a scientologist ,honey.....been there, seen it , heard the sales pitch...Whatever it is....I'm too cheap to buy it."

I turn to him, holding my breath, wishing I had worn that damn SARS mask and say" I'm sorry, but NO. Thank you"

My bladder is at the mercy of these men!

Then he breathed into my face ..."what do you do?"

"Um I'm a housewife to spoiled cats" That usually shuts people right up. But nooooo...he continued to speak (breathe in my face) to me until my turn in the bathroom came. I think. He asked me if "I stayed home with the grandkids"

Or he may have said "grand ladies, garland queens, kids, queens, grand daddies, kiddies, commodes"

I have no idea what he was saying. But when it sounded like he was insinuating that I was a grandma....I hated him even more than before.

Luckily, they both stayed out of our cram aisle until I smooshed myself back in there.

I get crammed back into my seat and then, east Indian guy takes off his shoes AND effin socks! Holy shit...why don't you stinky's just throw me out the window????Try some damn foot powder....leave your damn socks ON to contain the odor!

I admit it, I took MY shoes off, but I DID take a bath that morning...and I did not, NOR would I ever take my socks off and walk around barefoot on some scummy plane. ESPECIALLY if my foot odor was going to gag anyone. Human decency ...people.

Oh...maybe I digress....who the hell knows.

I was skunked. It made me delirious for a while there.

Next thing I know, I woke to the smell of curry. That's because east Indian guy was the FIRST one in our row of stinkyness to be given ANY food. Because HE had the sense to order a SPECIAL meal.

Note: if you want your food first order a SPECIAL meal. Indian, Kosher, Diabetic, Vegetarian....anything. YOU will get it first, and it will probably be better than the other swill.

I was so hungry by then; I was drooling over that curry smell.

When they finally approached ME, I could barely hear them “chicken or lasagna?"

OH, shit....the spur of the moment.....????

I'm used to being able to order last if need be.

I felt like a game show contestant.

I shouted out...”uh ...Chicken! "

Once I opened my chicken......I was sadly deceived (in my mind) about what I was expecting. I was the lucky winner of a minuscule nub of dried out, overcooked chicken and some hideous "whole wheat ...something" I want to say Orzo....but I don't know if that's right. It looked just like barely, and tasted like crap.

After we ate our fabulous "meal”, the edible parts. tired the next movie. "Ghost town" I think it was.

The one with (HA! I just asked MYSELF, what's that kid’s name? ........ummmmmm......give me that gay guy from " ugh....no...Still can't remember.... you know...the gay guy that got beat up in that one movie, with Helen....something ...and the OLD guy Jack Nicholson! THAT guy was in it.)

(THIS is why my own husband hates me. Damn you senility!!! Because, really, this is the way I talk, apparently.) In this moment of clarity, I can see how annoying it must be for some husbands and shit. Sorry Dear, my bad. Let’s just hope it doesn't kill me.

Oh, I digress....again...

Anyhow, if you can figure THAT out...that movie was good. Funny as hell, even. I was sitting, wide awake, in my cattle car seat and cackled out loud a few times. Even knowing the risk, that bad breath man might know I was alive and awake, over there.

After that movie, I was lucky enough to curl my short unwomanly legs up like pretzel, and sleep some more.

I probably woke up the next time I smelled curry. Sure enough, east Indian guy had gotten HIS early dinner. I was drooling like Cvauto.

Note to self: next time ....order a frekin; Hindu diet.

This was about an hour before landing. They bring him all this yummy looking (and smelling) food and by the time they bring ours....I am sooooo hungry. And what do I get?

Oh it looks like a half of a sandwich and a piece of pineapple. Well, the pineapple was just lovely. But what to my horror do I find, upon tasting my half a sandwich? That's right, effin salmon spread.

*dry heave *dry heave*

ugh....yeah....That's how much I can enjoy (or eat) salmon. Holy crap, I'm starving to death on my million dollar flight. Sweet.

Once they finally feed you that last meal, you know it's nearly time to land.

I opened my window shade (cuz I got the power) lol

And watched the swimming pools get closer and closer.... and thought about plane crashes...even the lovely one that just happened, you know the "happy ending "one.

The one that I still haven't heard about "were there any animals on that flight?"

Remember, MY baby was in the bottom of this plane. So, once we touched down on the actual runway...all was good.

NOT convenient....but good (I hoped)

BTW the pilot announced "The temperature here in Dallas is 78 degrees."

Oh sweet Jesus ...let me kiss you warm Dallas!

Its 2:45 when the plane lands. I get through customs and get to baggage claim and am told to wait, after I get my bags, for someone to bring me Cavuto's paperwork. A guy finally shows up with the papers and then it's into another long ass line for customs.

"Oh you have a cat, get in that line over there now."

I get in the new line which is a security line with everyone’s bags being unloaded and x-rayed. When my turn finally arrives "what does this have to do with my cat being on the flight?"

"Oh, you don't have the cat with you? Then I can't help you. Go on and exit"

Surely they could see that I had no cat when they told me to get INTO that stupid line!

Then I step outside into the warm Dallas air. Oh it was delightful.

Next stop the car rental bus. I arrive at the car rental to be told that my husbands discount does not work for me. So I downgrade my car to a cheap wobbly wheeled ford focus. And still manage to hit the 200 dollar mark. Freakin' scam artists!

Next I have to drive to some remote cargo area out on the Texas plains to get Cavuto, after going the wrong direction, I finally find the place. I have to drive around back to a loading dock and they bring my poor scared baby. I immediately took him out of that horrid cage and put his harness on him and off we went to find our freeway. He was screaming and wandering around the car. I tried to keep him out of my face and off my lap cuz' he's rather huge and distracting.

I almost wrecked the car once as I heard the back window rolling down! He was standing on the button. Ack!

After about another hour in traffic and bad road signage I get to my freeway.

Sweet. It's now 6 p.m., just in time for Dallas rush hour .AND it's already getting dark.

IF you know me, you know that I have severe night blindness and I NEVER drive after dark.

Well, getting thru Dallas at 40 miles and hour in the traffic jam wasn't too bad for a blind person. All I had to do was follow the traffic.

Once I got out of Dallas, no more street lights. Uht oh. Now I am Mr. Magoo turned loose on the freeway. I literally can not see where the road goes for more than 10 feet in front of me.

After a little nervous panic I finally realized that if I made myself into a truck sandwich, I could see better with the truck behind me's lights and then I could follow the truck in front of me instead of trying to see the road.

This was working like a charm until some asshole in a pickup gets in front of me. I pass the asshole so I don't lose my truck. (He was going the perfect speed and everything.)

Then, what happens? That's right...I see the blue lights flashing behind me. I am getting pulled over AND losing my sandwich trucks. ack!

"Maam , the reason I stopped you is because you pulled right in front of that pickup and then you got too close to that big rig."

I was almost dumb enough to blurt out "I know, I'm following that truck because I can't see."

Luckily the nice officer gave me a warning and not a ticket. Then I was on my merry blind way and I had lost my sandwich trucks.

It was 8:30 by now and I had still not stopped to get food, drink or pee.I had been afraid to until I knew I was on my main freeway. Then, I was afraid to stop at McDonalds or somewhere because with my luck, someone would have broken the window and stolen cavuto or he would hang himself on his harness. You know that kind of thing.

So I finally stop at a gas station where I can park right in front so I can see the car. I get a huge coffee and look around at my dining choices. What do they have? Corn dogs. Lovely, but it will have to do.

After getting back on the road and several blind panicky miles, I found myself a new pair of sandwich trucks. I was correct in my assumption that they would be going all the way to my turn off road. Thank God! By the time I got on that road it was nearly 11, my knees were killing me and I was starving and exhausted. I though I was NEVER going to get here. It was so late there was hardly any traffic so I was able to use my Brights the rest of the way home.

Cavuto was THRILLED to see his home and I must say, this place has never looked so huge and beautiful!

God bless America!!!!!!!!!!!

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I have some new pictures which I shall post later. I have to go run my errands . We have a big ice storm a' comin'

I've missed you guys!!!! Big hugs!!!

Just a sec.

Hey ya'll ,

I'm on a 10 minute computer at the library.
Just wanted to let ya know I wrote a 6 page update about my lovely trip. I have no way to post it yet. They are supposed to come turn on my internet and cable Tuesday, whenever they feel like it.

I can't tell you how exciting it is with no t.v. and no internet. LOL

Cavuto is thrilled to be home but wondering where the other cats are.

See ya'll Tuesday!

Luv me

Peace out Homies

See ya'll on the flip side!

Behave 'til I get my internet hooked up :)

Luv me

isn't that lovely dahling......

Monkey on the British counter.









These are the fabulous sights that I see on my bus journeys.








The ever er.. never bright sky:)












Old brick bridge. I'd like to go down that road and see what's down there.













This is the pub we went to awhile back.
Titchfield mill.













A pub I was hoping to go to but never did.Maybe in August.













The cute red phone booth. Sadly, I think they no longer make them.









This is something I find very odd. You can barely tell from the picture but this is a duplex. Both sides are completely different. There are tons of these around here. One neighbor has theirs all maintained and updated, while the other half is decrepit and neglected.

It seems like they could get together and agree on a uniformed decor for the front, but it's not that way.

See, this one is half brick ,half stucco.









This little beaut' was at the bus stop.
I'm sorry but wouldn't "butt sex" or even "ass sex" sound a little more manly?LOL
















A newer neighborhood. As you can see ,all the buildings are done in pretty much the same style. There are no rebels sticking out like a California ranch or a Victorian pained lady. It's all uniform.
New is made to look like the old.











This one IS old and pretty cool I might add.

I believe it's a duplex.(with a unified front)







Ok ,let's me see ...do I have any new observations?

Oh , everyone says "Lovely" ,"Dahling","Hey ya" and "Yep"
My husband says there is no P on the end of the "Yep" but that's what it sounds like.

And personally, I don't find it very macho to hear men saying "lovely"
Maybe that's just me.




It is a big NO NO to use plastic bags around here. Everyone carries their own bags with them. At the store they HAVE bags , but they are hidden. They have to ask you "do you need a bag?"



I'm sure there's more.....but I have to go do something ;)

Today ,after we visit Cavuto they will drive him to London. We shall be on the plane tomorrow.

Please pray that all goes well!

Have a great day!

Luv me

Titles are for good posts.....................

Ola Ya'll,



Yep ,I know I'm behind again. My email has been screwed up and my spouse has been on my computer searching for drills and stuff. If you have emailed me and never heard a word back, I probably never got your email.



Yesterday we went to a cute little town called Winchester.It used to be the Capital of England. We got there and found we could only park for ONE hour. So my husband drug me through the streets at high speed. I went into a few thrift stores, for some speed shopping. I tried to take pictures ,but while doing so without even stopping my brisk pace. So,I present to you ,the worst pictures ever taken.



If you have ever gone shopping with my husband (and some of you have) you would have that V-8 moment ,slap in the head "oh, yeah NOW I remember why I vowed to never do that again."


I could go on, (and on and on) about what he does to the shopping experience. But I will force myself to shut up now:)



Let's just see the awful pictures, shall we.











street band . there were several of these on the pedestrian street.


















Boot and teapot ,hanging in dreary sky.














Winchester Cathedral.













pedestrian mob street














town













very old pub













Small town on the way home











The dreary English countryside on the way home










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Why yes, I do feel like a bitch.

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We took Cavutos crate to quarantine yesterday . They will take him to the animal reception place the night before we leave.

They also presented us with our bill.

I told my husband "you may want to have a couple cocktails before you look at it."

Besides the plane tickets home...and the pet travel service....how much was this little fiasco?

908.29 pounds.
Which IS....drum roll please.......

$1355.80 US dollars.

Who can we sue? The Vet? The microchip company? Hmmm... I wish we could sue somebody.

I am livid!!!!!!!

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You think I'm in a good mood ,you should see my husband. lol

Nah...you wouldn't want to. :)

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Hope all's good for you guys today!

Luv me (Crabitha)

Guest post by Weis : Bike ride

Yesterday, I decided to go on a bike ride.


I put on the bike rack, threw on some thermals because it was cold, packed up the rest of my crap and drove to riverside. I parked at my friend, Kevin’s house. Unfortunately he was not home and my water bottles were locked inside his house. I shrugged it off, jumped on the bike and headed off.



It was much colder than I expected and my fingers were freezing. I missed the usual road I take through a park so I took the next one. This one had a big concrete curb, which popped my tire when I hit it. Not a huge deal. I have all the stuff I need to fix a flat. I stopped and went to work.



The cold ass rubber was not very pliable at all. Getting the tire off was a lot harder than normal. My headphone wires kept getting caught on what I was doing.. I slung them behind my neck and kept working. Finally I got the blasted tire off and pumped a little air into the tube to find the leak. My lousy stinking generic pump was not working. I tried many different configurations to no avail.



Some old dude stopped by and offered to let me use his pump. Finally I gave up and accepted his offer. I gathered up all my crap and prepared to carry my bike to his house when he spotted a little piece of plastic. It was the missing piece of the pump! I then unpacked all my crap and got back to it.



I was unable to locate the hole, though I heard it leaking. I started walking towards some water so I could submerge it. On the way over, I felt it hitting me in the face.. I found the hole! I feverishly cleaned and scraped the area surrounding the puncture and put on one of my little patches. I put the tire back on the rim and started pumping it up.



Lo and behold, it was still leaking!! The patch did not stay on or something. I decided to forget about patching it and use my extra tube. I pulled out the extra tube, removed the tire once again and then put it back on. I pumped up the tire, which took about 20 minutes with my crappy microscopic pump. FINALLY I was done with this ordeal.



As I was looking around on the ground to make sure I got all my tools and crap, I saw part of my destroyed headphones. Wonderful! I tossed the busted earbuds on the ground and took off. It seemed as though I had spent an hour fixing my dumb tire. I was only about 1 mile into a 15 mile bike ride. I was too cold and I had no music. I decided to just give up on the whole thing. I doubled back, dropped off my bike and headed to the YMCA to get a shower and change.



What a frustrating hellride it was.
--

Kindest Regards,
Wesley Black
Fuel Multimedia
FuelMultimedia.com

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I shall post latah today peeps!

Oh crap....pass the cat shrink....

Hi ya'll ,



Yep, I know I'm behind ...once again. Sorry about that. There's really been nothing to report.
Hubby is traveling ,so I had planned to try and go somewhere ...fun,exciting or exotic.



Until I found out that it would take me about 2 and a half hours (one way) to get anywhere. Gah!
So,today I stayed home nearly all day and cleaned, did laundry and scrubbed the gross spots on the carpet....once I found that scrub brush under the kitchen sink.



Every time I have to hang laundry to dry in my LIVING ROOM...it takes me back to the last time I had to do such a thing.



Picture it......1980....I am married to my first husband (my childhood husband,if you will) we are in Colorado, I am 18 years old ,stuck in our motel apartment all day with my infant son,while he is at work. We are in fact so poor/broke that we have to do our laundry by-hand, in the bathtub and hang it up all over our little hovel. Including CLOTH diapers!!!!
OH the horror!



Those were SO bad ,HE had to do them :)
It was so hard to ring out clothes by hand ,he pretty much had to do all of that.
UGH. how primitive.



Isn't it funny how just NOT having a dryer can suddenly make you feel dirt poor?
Oh , ha! like YOU would know.



My sister keeps joking about us getting a NEW cat to keep Cavuto company when I go home. Well, HA! she is joking about the wrong cat.



O'Reilly is the needy one. He has gone completely nutto.



At first ,I thought it was sweet /and or cute that he wanted to be ON our backs all the time. But after being here all day .......unh-tuh...the boy has gone wacko.



I wake up at the butt crack of dawn and he has LITERALLY tried to stay on my back ALL day long.
















Cavuto is able to relax anywhere.


(see example)


He gets up at 5 A.M. but could be napping by 9.









This is Monkey, since she's been here.



She's freezing her ass off and I bet she stays in this bed about 23.5 hours a day.











She's a very kinky girl....NOT!


A very BORING girl...I mean For O'Reilly.






Unbeknownst to my hubby , I have spent my evening signing him up as a cat foster parent.




Really, he'll love the idea , once HE's home all day with O'Reilly.







And who could be sweeter,than my crazy cat man, right?






Cavuto's place was closed today ;( so I was not able to go see him. Yesterday ,he was so glad to see me ,he was drooling like a St. Bernard, they had been closed Sunday too. He had been two days without seeing anyone. his voice was nearly gone when he spoke. (which he does quite often)



I forgot to say ,the other day when the Vet left ,he said " He sure is chatty."
Yeah, too bad it was all screaming in agony.



He IS chatty , but usually it's all good chatty. Thrilled to be alive, awake, seeing the sights ...chatty.



Oh...I can't wait to get him out of there. I just hope the other cats are going to be OK,when their mama is gone.



It's always some damn thing , ain't it?

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I didn't know this was going to be a big ole cat post ...but like my mother used to say " the squeaky wheel gets the grease"



That's a whole 'nother story.



It's 22:36 ...what the hell time is it? I'm too old and senile to have to do math when I want to know what time it is.



Should I still be up?



I must go stick my head in the stove vent and smoke.....I'll be right back.


ok, I'm back ,but I still don't know if it's bedtime or not. ack!

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My old self tells me that it is.......so here's some recent observations before I hit the sack.



I have not seen ONE kid acting like a brat in public here.
Well, there was that one toddler that crawled all over me at the bus station, but I blame his mother.
If you came to MY town, you would want to drag every kid under 10 to the bathroom to whip their ass, and then their mother too.
Don't see it here. I have not even heard a kid cry in public. Go Britain's. You are doing it right!



Oh crap, did I already say about the pink highlights?
If I did ,just ignore me.



Blond hair with vibrant pink highlights are very popular, even with OLD ladies! I have seen countless geriatric women with bright pink highlights.
GO old ladies!

Young girls are down with dark purple ,dark blue...whatever matches their outfit..err hoodie.



Oh...here I am ...alone in a foreign country .It is weird and oddly lonely. There have been times at home ,like when I have been out on the boat in May, by myself and I'm the only one out there. It's like your the only person left in the world. That's kind of how it is right now.
Well, it would have been , if I hadn't had O'Rielly on my neck all day like the Boston strangler.
I even hung up a coat rack today ,with him on my neck the whole time. When I was done ,the whole damn thing was crooked. can't wait until my husband admires my man skills.



I have many more observations.....just lost somewhere up in my addled brain.Maybe I'll remember some in the morning.


Don't hate me because I'm senile:)


Figaro....figaro...figaro.....



Luv me