hey gang…

a number of you have ordered the calendared vinyl that kal used at inspired through us. we’ve had a slight delay and will not be shipping your orders until next week. the initial batch of product was flawed and they are sending me new product to cover the bad batch initially sent to me. i expect it in hand on monday or tuesday this coming week. so hang in there, it’s on it’s way…

also… i’ve not been able to get my other shipping out this past week as initially planned, due to a ridiculous work schedule. i normally ship on wednesday and take the 2 hours out of my day to ship orders through point roberts, washington. unfortunately i’ve been working on some major deadlines and wasn’t able to go earlier in the week as planned. then, and here’s the real kicker, my right eye has been pretty much swollen shut since thursday and i can’t drive. nice.

i have this chronic eye condition called blepharitis which affects my upper eyelids. it is extremely uncomfortable and adversely affects my vision due to major eyelid swelling. it’s caused by stress and man, have i had a lot of that in the last 7 days!  i know i know… more information than you wanted to know, but i did want you to know that if you’re waiting on an order, it’s ready to go. the main delay is that the eye condition affects my depth perception and i just can’t drive safely at the moment. once i get this flare up in my eye sorted out, i’ll be well enough for the 2 hour round trip drive into the usa.

so thanks for your patience… i appreciate it! hang in there, your orders are coming out just as soon as I can get across the border. thanks!

well… ok. i’m a little biased here, but come on people… isn’t she beautiful??

she was perched in that space on the back of the couch that only a kitty can lounge in… you know, where the cushions hit the back of the couch. yeah, that’s the spot… and in the afternoon sunlight, how could i not take her pic?

the image above was one of her few quiet moments, because what we usually get throughout the weekend is the lulu giving the neighbourhood cats, chickadees and in particular two nasty crows ‘what-for’ from her window sill perch. all day long. it’s a hilarious, steady stream of chirps, warbles and muted growls. i wish i understood what she was saying. i get the feeling that there may be a few swear words in there… particularly when she’s yelling at the crows and especially when they are perched on our neighbours roof, mocking her because she can’t get them through the window! it’s really funny… but i guess you have to be here to truly appreciate the harridan-like verbal beating she metes out from her perch on the window. and i guess you have to be a pet-cat person too lol!

in the meantime… from the pic below you get the drift…

the lulu, as we like to call her, has grown up a lot in the last year. she’s looking rather regal and elegant these days. all long legs and gorgeous coat. she’s a looker that’s for sure…

she’s still quite a lap kitty even though we [me and t] are merely her subjects, to be ordered about at her whim. to be sat on like a warm pillow. to bring her bonbons and entertain her as she requires. it’s a tough life for the lulu… but somehow, she gets by.

hmmm… could the constant cooing over how pretty and smart she is be enabling this air of superiority? we will have to take that under advisement. later though, because it is her majesty’s bedtime and the mistress is demanding her bedtime snack. lol… ahhhh the life of a pampered pet.

in my next lifetime i want to come back as a kitty!

Lulu looking pretty, originally uploaded by studiowerx.

we went back and forth on how we could prevent the lulu from diving bombing and generally wrecking havoc with the christmas tree this year… you see, it’s her first year with a tree [we adopted her in late january this year] and we didn’t know how she would react to it. so we devised a plan to ‘prevent lulu from destroying the tree’:

1. put tree out, sans ornaments for a few days to get her used to it.
2. spray her mercilessly with the water bottle everytime she tries to climb or eat it. [this began to work after about 6 sprayings from the squirt bottle]
3. after a couple of days, move tree into it’s final position into corner of living room, near the hearth
4. decorate
5. spritz from water sprayer everytime she tries to climb, eat or play with the ornaments. again… she’s soaked a few times, but seems to get the point
6. keep fingers crossed that the tree and the hundreds of dollars spent last year on gorgeous new mercury glass ornaments survive the holiday season!

we had hoped that this well thought out plan would work. it had with our other kitties. so far, everything seemed to be going according to plan, until yesterday then it all got blown to hell… .

whilst napping on the couch [nasty migraine due to the snow storm we had in the morning] i heard the telltale tinkling of ornaments rustling in the tree. i figured the lulu was pawing at the tree from the hearth ledge or from the floor. but NO that wasn’t what she was doing. nope, she was in the tree. in the top half of the tree!

i must say that she did look adorably devious perched in there, with this ‘you can’t see me’ attitude. but we had to get her outta there quickly [before she got too used to being in  there], and punish her [spritzing from the water bottle] as soon as possible to correct her behaviour.  we had to ‘try’ to make her kitty brain realize that climbing into the fake, skinny black christmas tree with the twinkling lights and prettily decorated tree is bad.

have you ever tried to correct kitty behaviour? it is a daunting task since most kitties are pretty much independant and don’t really need/want your approval on their behaviours [unlike dogs]. cats do what they want, when they want and how they want. they just like to make us think that they are behaving - it’s much easier that way LOL!

needless to say that she was a wet kitty after we extricated her from the tree. but that doesn’t seem to have phased her too much since most of yesterday was spent spritzing her and calling out:
‘no lulu. don’t be bad!’
‘no lulu, don’t go in the tree!’ ‘no lulu, don’t touch.’
‘no lulu.’

i’m pretty sure [about 90%] that this has happened more than once and that yesterday’s sojourn into the tree is not a new occurance. i’ve noticed a few ornaments looking cockeyed and strangely angled over the last few days, and figured that maybe i hung them incorrectly. but now, i’m pretty convinced that i am not the one to blame for an entire level of strangely positioned and cockeyed ornaments. i believe that the furry, calico, adorably devious elf we know as the lulu has been subtlely realigning everything to suit her perch and viewpoint. heck, she’s probably been in there on nights that i’ve been too tired to notice.

right now, it seems to be a game of notice me! notice me! don’t ignore me ’cause
i’ll be bad! we hope she’ll tire of her game soon…
i’m certainly done with it LOL!

on a somber note: we had to put mackenzie to sleep one year ago today and i miss her dreadfully.  she fought hard against her FIP illness and we battled right alongside her. we miss you furgirl, but thank you everyday for sending us the lulu. she is so much like you in so many ways, it’s like your spirit is alive in the lu. thank you and we love you.

i’m pretty sure. no, i’m convinced. lulu is losing her marbles.

for the last few weeks she’s been wandering around the house, looking UP. yep. up. here’s what going on…

lulu perches on my bookcase. yep. about 7 feet up in the air. she hangs
out. legs and arms hanging off the edge of the bookshelf. well a few weeks ago, she nailed a spider [a big one too - you go my four-legged pest controller] along the upper part of the wall where  she was lounging. she smooshed it good. played with it first. ripped off a few legs. but in the end, that 8 legged freak was dead.

so now… she patrols the corners of our ceilings. head up. chirping and chattering away like a momma bird to her young. she’s looking for more spiders, tiny no-see-um flies that sneak in through our window screens, the odd mosquito… she’s on hunting mode in a big way.

now don’t get me wrong. i love that we have our very own pest control. we never have to worry about big [or little for that matter] spiders, bugs of any kind or [god forbid!] mice. she’s the man for the job. pouncing and punishing the pests as an example to their bretheren that this house is a ‘no-go’ zone.

ok so here’s where is gets a little annoying and really funny. as i said, she is constantly looking up. chirping at NOTHING 99% of the time. chirping a dust motes pretending to be no-see-um flies. chirping at her whisker shadow that looks remarkably like a spiderleg [or so it seems]. chirp chirp chirp. it’s cute, but man, a few hours of chirping ‘did you see it? did you see it? where’d it go? ‘ can start wearing on you. here’s the funny…

many of you know that my dh terry [t] is tall. 6′2" to be exact. so, to satisfy lulu’s need to exact revenge on the menacing pests in our home [can you FEEL the sarcasm?], he will LIFT HER UP TO THE CEILING! yep. he picks her up, hoisting her up to where the wall meets the ceiling, and SHOWS her the area she is chirping at. it is freaking hilarious! this tall, lanky man holding a furry, unbearably cute kitty to the ceiling of his home, just so she can be reassured that there are no beasties lying in wait for her.

lulu chirps at the ceiling. paws out for inspection, she searches the corners and crevices to ensure that there really isn’t anything there. she sighs [yes. you can actually hear her sigh] in disappointment when there aren’t any kills to be had, and t puts her back on the bookshelf, floor or  whereever he scooped her up from. this usually satisfies her for about 15 minutes. then chirp chirp chirp and the cycle repeats.

so for the last week or so, if i can’t find t around the house, i have a good idea where he is… i just listen for the chirping. he’s probably holding up his furgirl, lulu, to the ceiling. together, they carefully inspecting each wall crevice and corner for multi-legged predators. ahhhh… the life of a tall guy and his mentally unstable, ‘the spiders are going to get me’ kitty. it’s charming, sweet and infinitely funny.

look how much my little furgirl has grown, she’s gotten so big! we’ve had her for over 7 months and her personality has become so evident and clear.

she LOVES to cuddle, sleep in our laps while we’re working/playing on the computer. she loves her food - especially chicken! she has a very distinct sweetness and gentleness about her, almost a daintiness. she can be very delicate when she wants to be [but can also be a bull in a china shop!]. she’s exceptionally friendly, calm and enjoys people, even young kids that run screaming around her. most family and friends have staked their claims on her, saying they plan on stealing her… we have to check everyone’s coats before they leave the house LOL!

we’re so lucky to have found her… and although i miss my mackenzie everyday, i firmly believe that mackenzie’s illness and subsequent early passing happened because we were meant to have this kitty.

i think my mackmack sent us lulu. so thank you mackie… you sent us a lovely, sweet and mischievous girl. she isn’t you, but whenever we think of how lulu came into our lives, we always remember it’s because you made room for her.

Princess Lulu, originally uploaded by studiowerx.

Fax Machine Lounge Chair!

Who knew a fax machine could double as a lounger for a funny, furry 8 month old girl?!
Not I, but I was quickly corrected in my inability to see beyond the basic office usage of a fax machine.

I present to you **Exhibit A - Lulu and Fax Machine, in Lounging Mode**

**Exhibit B - I’m sooooooo much smarter than you, my human parental units**

I’m just SO proud =)

We had baby Lulu into the vet yesterday.

Nothing too major, but we’ve discovered she has some type of food/oral allergy. Poor wee thing had her upper lip blowing up like a balloon! Terry commented on Wednesday night that it looked like she had an overbite. Well… that little inflammation really started to enlarge and by Saturday morning, it was time to take her in.

Seems like she has a condition called Rodent Ulcer, a condition that has NOTHING to do with rodents! Weird… but years ago, people thought that when cats came home after a night of hunting in the wilds of the big city or country, and if they had a swollen upper lip, that it was caused by mice/rodents. Apparently, this allergic reaction [similar to our human allergic reactions - think Wil Smith in the movie Switch] is caused by eating something, not rodents. So now the hunt begins… To figure out what caused the Ulcer so that we can prevent it from occuring in the future and that means… food restriction… ACK NO!!!

Poor Baby… food restriction means no treats, no nice wet foods, only her boring old dry foods are available for consumption. BUT there is a little light on in the tunnel for Lulu - she gets to eat CHICKEN!

Ahhhh… there goes the oven timer. Miss Lulu’s dinner is ready and after it is suitably cooled, the little Miss will be dining on a lovely meal of shredded chicken breast. Mmmmmm… Way better than canned catfood me thinks!

I’m usually parked in front of my computer monitor, answering emails, designing products, creating digital collages, designing websites or creating a blog post! 9 times out of 10, this is how I end up having to work…

Miss Lulu LOVES to be a lap cat and usually parks herself either in my lap or Terry’s while we’re working on the computer. She likes to be cradled in my arm like a baby. It’s very cute and most definitely sweet, but can be a bit of a pain when I’m trying to do more than surf the net [typing and mousing with one hand gets a little tiresome]! Ah well, with that face how can I object?  Isn’t she a cutie pie? Just look at that smile on her face =)

Off to get some ‘real’ work done - in my air conditioned office [yay!!]