Sleep?

The insomnia monster has come to visit again. It's been pretty vocal this time, saying things like "Nope, no sleep til 3 am." or " no sleep until daylight." And, the insomnia monster brought an awesome gang this time. Such lovelies such as summer flu, hives from some hidden wheat source, 90 degree plus weather, and high fever. Oh! and let's not forget about the insomnia monster's best friend, anxiety.
One of the main factors that has helped out good ol' anxiety to settle in here is the fact that I feel like we're being overrun by box elder beetles. I've smooshed about 3 a day in the house, and countless more whenever I leave the building. Bugs of any kind = anxiety in the Hilary. I know intellectually that box elder beetles are harmless, just icky. The problem is I just can't handle them being in my house. I just can't. Depending on how many I've had to deal with in a day, and where they were in the house I could spend hours shaking and getting the shivers. I don't mind sending them to the big box elder tree in the sky, but bugs need to stay away from me.



However, here is Zeus.

Don't judge.

So, the fever that will not die has returned again. Woo for chronic illness. Anyway, the problem with being sick is that my mind is more than slightly cooked, and I end up watching horrible television. Today's choice is "Ancient Aliens". Now, this has been a frequent occurance for the last few months. It's the whole idea of  TV so bad it's good. And,wow, does this show fit that bill. It's all the logic leaps and bad history. And the dude with the hair. Oh, his hair.

This is Abby, my parent's gorgeous calico Frankenstein kitty. I call this her "I am overcome" face.  Or she's judging what I'm watching....

Really brain, really?

So, there are nights, like this one, where I just wake up.  Tonight, I kind of get why I'm awake at 4 am. I'm just hot and itchy. I almost feel like I have hives, similar to how I feel when I eat wheat gluten, but I've been good for the last few days. I just don't get my skin. It's almost like it's not really a part of me, but more of  some factor I've got to fight to survive.
  Therefore, I'm on the couch with a cold pack. Oh, didn't I tell you? I've got a fever over 100 degrees. Which has just been an extra bucket of fun in this summer heat. I am now of the mindset that if someone complains about the cold  and/or snow this winter(Idaho, it will happen) I might set them on fire. Then they'd be warm.
Well, that's the last of the night rage. Here is a few pictures of my darling cats:

This is Zeus helping us change our sheets. I think this one might be one of my favorite pictures of him. He is such a snuggle bug and will sleep either right next to Chris or above my pillow.

Here is Ares assisting me while I was cutting up t-shirts donated by my buddy Keith for a t-shirt rug. I love this picture because how clearly you can see the U between Are-bear's front paws. The shirt had a quote "Boondock Saints" so, if you know that film you know there is an awesome quote full of adult language. 

And here are the boys in full on "it's too damn hot" cat melting poses. Ares is above, Zeus below.

Moving on up.

So, January of 2012 has been quite and adventure so far. First part of the month was quiet and mellow. On the 9 we celebrated my darling husband's birthday. It was declared the most violent birthday ever. He received bullets, a practice sword, and brass knuckle "paper weights".  It was wacky fun all around with all of our deviants coming over for a leveling up celebration.
   That went down on a Wednesday. Friday, Chris and I found out we needed to (allegedly) be out of the house we were living in by the following Thursday. Because (allegedly) the mortgage had not been paid and the house was in foreclosure.(allegedly) So, I went into panic mode and started looking like a mad woman for a new place to live. And I called. And called and called. Trying to find a new apartment on such short notice that wasn't a rat hole and allowed kitties, and also wasn't an arm and a leg in rent was a little daunting. I did what I could Friday, and then allowed myself the weekend to have a breakdown and plan. My major source of breakdown were the stray kitties that we've been feeding in our backyard. The meth head neighbors next door had abandoned two sweet kitties when they moved. Jupiter is a gorgeous grey longhair boy and Titan is a darling orange long hair girlie who just wanted love. And she was the one that broke my heart. Oh! And last , but not least is Perseus(aka Percy) who was so shy and living under the shed of that house when we moved in. He's a poor white and tiger striped boy, and can't be very old. He's a darling boy. I just broke down whenever I thought of those sweet mowies not having love and food and someone working to find them a forever home. I just sobbed. Often.
   Anyway, even as I railed about Idaho law allowing 90 days before being evicted and was told (allegedly) that the notice was (allegedly) given in October. I randomly called a phone number I found in the classified about a place for rent. So, it was on the list of places to see on Monday and my dear friend Ashley was the wheelman as I looked at places. She was great back up as we looked at places, got the wrong keys and had to go back to places and generally was amazing backup. Finally, we got around to checking out the random place. It was AMAZING. Like apartment goldmine. Terribly funky and retro, quiet and clean, and kitty friendly. So, I fell in love, called Chris and the next day it was ours.
   I put out a 911 text/phone call to my "framily" and we were all moved out it three days.
   So, we're all moved. My kitties are all settled in. They seem to love it here, even without a yard for supervised outside time. Chris kept feeding the kitties at the old house, especially after someone destroyed their little house he had made for them. All sorts of grr with that situation. I have my suspects. And one night he told me Jupiter had a collar on. He hadn't been around as much and looked better fed and brushed not by my doings. Yeah, he'd found a home. One down, woo-hoo!

Here's Jupiter when we first met him. He was so skinny and matted.

  Sweet Percy found a home from a very nice woman who Chris ran into at our old place after we had moved to put food out for those kitties still there. She was looking for her kitten Mittens who had gotten out. Chris helped her find him, and she just fell in love with sweet Percy and took him home that night. We've checked on him several times and he's doing great! The last time we saw him prowling about her yard, looking lovely.

This is Percy when he finally became friends with us. I love his cute little pink nose

Now here is the hard part. Chris went over to the old house(which was still being lived in by our former roommate/owner of the house) and found poor, sweet Titan limping and barely able to move. He took her to our vet and they confirmed out worst fear. She had been hit by a car and there wasn't much they could do. We cried and cried and made the hardest, best for her decision to have her put to sleep. So, they made sure she wasn't in pain and let her go. I was gutted. She was so sweet and just wanted to be loved and most all of humanity didn't care.

She was such a lovey girl, and I will never forget her.

Yeah, so I forgot about this

I offically blame kitties for this. Not my two delightful kittty boys, Ares and Zeus, but kitties in general. Okay, truth be told, I'm not that far from being a crazy cat lady. I've always loved cats, and I always had at least one growing up. The first pet I remember was a sweet black cat named Salem. She pre-dated me into our family, lived through the Teton Dam breaking and the flooding of my home town of Blackfoot following it She let me maul her with love when I was little. We lost her when I was 16, and I cried for days. My Mom and I still talk about her "sock babies" when she would take a pair of folded sock out of any source she could find, and drag them up and down the hallway. This was a nocturnal activity, and I can still hear her "mowrow, mowrow" up and down in front of my door when I was a kid.
  Anyway, point being, kitties are awesome. I've been struggling for awhile with some anxiety issues. It mostly hits at night, and I will do stupid things when I'm awake for no reason at 4am, like look up things that contribute to my anxiety. (I've got a case of Trypophobia. And insects/parasites freak me out in the same fashion)
   So, to inhibit my anxious feelings, I found Cuteoverload.com, and then several blogs about kitties. I love ittybittykittycomittiee   and others. The Daily Kitten helps a lot too. Baby kitties me smile everytime. But it also made me realize, "hey genius, you've got a blog!"

 These are my two lovely boys Ares and Zeus. Ares is the bigger of the two, and the shorthaired one. Zeus is the one with the floof.

And so it begins.....

   I've been batting around the idea of joining the blog world for a while. I'm not quite sure if I really have something pertinent to say, but that doesn't stop many others. And, I've noticed, much to my fiery anger, that since I left college my formerly mad writing skills  are falling to the wayside. So, let's call this my journal of stuff I care about. I freely admit I'm obsessed with weird things, namely knitting, crocheting, (newly) quilting, cooking, comic books and other fairly nerdy things. I have severe Atopic Dermatitis, so I'll probably be whining a lot about that. I also found out that my skin problems are aggravated by wheat gluten, so I've got that goin' for me.
   But beyond all that I'm boring. Married for 10 years, two cats, no kids. Strange close group of friends, we call "framily".
  So let's get started!
   So, my darling husband Chris and I are going on an adventure from armpit of Idaho where I live to the metropolis of Logan, Utah. If you know this area you'll know that I'm not going for any sort of massive trip. In fact, I laugh so hard at those "best snow on earth" "ski Utah" commercials. Okay, I'm jaded, I've lived in the Rocky Mountains my entire life and, seriously, Utah is not that neat. It's like another planet. A weird one. So, we'll see if Chris and I get assimilated.
  This, however, made my day: The first released picture of C.Evans as Captain America. It'll be  Entertainmebt  Weekly if  this link sucks. http://goo.gl/fb/pvHa0
  Love me some Cap and I'm crazy excited for the movie. He looks all Ultimates with a dash of old skool. And this brings my nerdy little heart closer to next years Avengers movie. Because Joss Whedon is my master. Yes, I do own that on a t-shirt.