Ikea Hack Cat Tree

Everyone always likes this idea when they see it, and I haven’t seen anything like it yet on Ikea Hacker. It cost maybe $45? The shelf was in the as-is section in Ikea for $20-25 because it has plastic stuck between the shelves that got caught when they nailed them together. I yanked/cut most of it away. The sisal rope I think was $10 from the hardware store, and no glue or staples needed to attach it. $10 Petco donut bed sits on the top shelf. Sweater and two random carpet samples on the other shelves were free. Not the loveliest, but easy, fast, and not really any uglier than those carpet trees that run $100-$200.

Although you could do this with a standard shelf, the corner one makes it super easy to stagger the shelves so the cats have easy steps (especially nice for my older cats).

The cat tree/tower in use:
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Links of the day

I still love getting picked up, and wish it had happened more when I was a kid (not your fault papa, I know you had a bad back!) – must remember to do this with my kids and not let the pirate hog all the fun: http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=559

If the pirate or BW were cats… they’d totally make this joke:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/02/07/funny-pictures-laundry-snork/

Also, saw this today and just gotta so, so true:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/02/06/funny-pictures-haircut-and-car-guys/

Mocha Progress

Mr. Mo held fairly steady through the weekend. His kidney values finally plateaued so he didn’t have to have dialysis today thankfully. He’s on track for a CT scan in the morning and then surgery. He’s probably not going to pass whatever it is since he hasn’t already, so we’re just hoping surgery goes well and we can get him home in a few days.

Of course Khalua is loving having me to herself, the brat.

Other than that, my mom & brother came to visit Thursday/Friday. We went to IHOP for breakfast/lunch, then to see Race to Witch Mountain, which was fun. Then we got tasty frozen yogurt and my brother and I rented and watched Twilight. I’m curious about the books now after reading it. I enjoyed it despite the naysayers (one of whom was thrilled to not have to watch it).

Mocha Friday

Went to see Mr. Mo in the ICU again today. For the most part he’s holding steady. The really good news is that his potassium is ok for now and he’s been eating on his own so they haven’t had to do an e-tube or run a tube from his nostril to his stomach for feeding. Assuming he continues to be ok with his potassium, we’re going to give him the weekend to hopefully pass the stone or whatever is blocking his kidney. If not then we’re aiming for surgery Monday. Here’s hoping he passes it on his own. He was all purr purr and happy to see us, and still being all lovely with everyone at the hospital. Here’s hoping third thing is the charm and we finally get to bring him home and keep him here soon.

Mocha Update

So it’s looking like Mr. Mo has something blocking his one good kidney. If he can’t pass it himself in another day or two, we’re going to have to get it surgically removed. So we’re praying really hard that he passes it himself. Also, hopefully his kidneys keep working enough that he doesn’t have to go on dialysis to get the potassium out of his blood. He’s going to spend the weekend in the ICU so they can monitor his fluid, glucose and potassium levels. As of yesterday his kidney was still getting worse, we’re still waiting to hear today how it’s doing.

Also, the good news is that they’re going to run a tube from his nose down into his stomach for now to feed him instead of doing the esophagal tube.

Mocha update

Mocha was throwing up all day Wednesday, so he went back to the vet med last night. They did some bloodwork and decided he should stay in the ICU overnight. They did more testing and filled us in this morning.

Mocha’s pancreas is still improving, but there is something wrong with his kidneys.
Hopefully it’s something they can treat, the two primary theories right now are that it’s either infection or kidney stone, both are treatable. He didn’t throw up at all for them, and his blood sugar is still high, but from something like over 1200 down to 550. And he’s purring and active, so he must be feeling better.

We’ll be hearing from the vet again sometime today to discuss treatment and set up a visit.

Weekend

Saturday I got some chores done then went fabric shopping with KG. We found some nice tie fabric at JoAnn’s – and if I’d remembered that my dress was still in the trunk I’d have brought it in to see about getting some more fabric for my sleeves.

Sunday I weeded, and weed whacked (aka mowed) the yard and finally finished painting/sealing the master bath cabinet, so next weekend I can start on the guest bath. JW came over to keep me company and help with wedding stuff – we’re working on djs and florists now. Then we went to Costco to get some shopping done. After that we headed to her house and watched Mean Girls which I borrowed from J&SP – there were some goofy parts, but it was fun.

Mo continues to improve except the too much drinking. I left a message with the vet med so hopefully I’ll hear back today if we need to bring him in earlier than Thursday.

Oh, and I’m using Google Voice now, totally awesome! If you didn’t get my email giving out my number, let me know.

Anyway, time to finish getting ready for work!

Postcards

I’m almost done designing the Save the Dates, so I hope to get those printed and mailed sometime this week. I’m not getting them out as early as I’d hoped so I need to call my aunts and uncle and remind them about my wedding next year before they make Thanksgiving plans.

This weekend I got a bunch more stuff cleaned up and reorganized at home. We need to pick up the wifi dongle that we think is at my future-in-laws place so I can relocate the computer desk.

We had a chance to go to Disneyland on Saturday, but as tired as I was all last week, and this weekend, and still some this week, it’s good I stayed home to rest. Plus I messed up and read my calendar wrong for one of my medications so I’ve been all hormonal last week and this weekend. Definitely not a good time to be traveling and dealing with crowds.

We had the Primerica guy out with our “FNA” Financial Needs Analysis. It was fairly interesting and we’re basically on track with where I want to be. The mutual funds and bond funds he gave us info on seem interesting, so we’re going to run that by my pirate’s dad and see what he thinks. Most of what I read online about them is that their products are fairly standard, but to avoid their “work part time for more money” offer since they’re basically yet another multi-level-marketing corp (like Amway/Quixtar).

Email cleaning:
July 3rd I got to hang out with MM, JL and a few other folks at MM’s new place. AP unfortunately had to work. We were in the bay for the Fourth of July, so we got together that night to play board games and hang out. Good times as always with that crew.

New Miyazaki movie to look forward to: Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, which will be released in Japan in July, 2008.

My pirate sent me this article June 27:
Explosive Art: Explosive Art Created With Rocket Fuel, Gunpowder, Propellants and Bullets
Someone I know happens to work at the SCAD, so I forward it to them and got this great response:
“I remember receiving his purchase requisition for that rocket fuel and a couple rounds for that uzi. It was fun explaining that one to the VP for Financing”
Now that’s what I call an interesting day at work!

Fourth of July weekend I think is also when we went to see the San Francisco Theological Seminary – really nice location but not one that would work for us. Great for an outdoor spring or summer wedding though! And I think this might also be when we stopped in SF and found my wedding dress?

Mom’s wedding shower was in June, I think I blogged about that already, but if not, my new step-sister helped host it and was really awesome. We had it at her place and she was a huge help in making it such a success.

My pirate’s cousin’s daughter’s (is that second cousin?) birthday was in June (I think?) and we put together a pot of colorful flowers for her. CE (his cousin’s wife) also started taking massage certification courses, so we got to be practice dummies, which was wonderful.

July my cousin JH was down for a martial arts convention (where he passed his black belt test!) so we drove to the bay area to meet up and hang out. We stopped by a Starbucks to get drinks and chat for a while, and then we decided to see Hancock, which I really enjoyed. It definitely had some interesting twists.

PSA: If you use Gmail – go to Settings (upper right corner) then scroll to the bottom and select the option to always use HTTPS and save your settings. This forces gmail to always use the encrypted https instead of http (which leaves it open to attack).

August 18th Cookie was constipated really badly (which can signal serious health problems in a cat) so we took her to the vet the next day and a few time afterwards for more test. Turns out that her kidneys are starting to fail from old age as she’s almost 9 or 10 and her breed (Snowshoe) on average live only 10-14 years instead of 18. 🙁 So she’s now on a special diet and gets fed separately from the other guys. So she’s put weight back on which is good, and next month when they all go in for their annual check we’ll do a blood test to see how she’s doing.

September 20th was a bit crazy. I helped set up JG’s bridal shower (and then attended of course) then drove home to grab my pirate and we were off to the bay area for a BBQ and games with MM, JL, AP and gang. So super busy, but a ton of fun that day too.

Then the 26th both my parents and my brother came to visit and celebrate my brothers birthday. Then my pirates folks joined us for lunch on the 27th to meet my dad & his wife. That night was JG’s bachelorette party, then the next day was Peanut’s baby shower. Whew! Talk about a non-stop weekend.

I baked everything cookies (3 batches!) as birthday gifts… I was so tired by the last batch though that I forgot to add any of the sugar. And it turns out that the brown sugar is a key ingredient for the shape and texture – it’s what lets the cookies spread and stay soft. So the last batch came out as hard crumbly balls. They still tasted good, so I took some to the office and my pirate took some to the lab (and kept them for himself instead of sharing, hehe!). So I got two batches off in the mail and have one to remake still.

JG&BW’s wedding was Oct. 11. My pirate went there for the bachelor party on the 9th, and the bride and I drove up together on the 10th. We stayed at a nice cabin that is owned by the parents of one of my pirate’s former coworkers. Wedding was awesome, almost everyone danced for the whole time, the dance floor was packed – memorable moments: being Rick Rolled, the Conga line and the teenage boy hiding under a table to avoid participating in it. We hung out and had brunch buffet together.

The gang’s joint birthday bbq was the 18th. And as always, awesome food and great company. I almost forgot that I was just getting over a cold. I think maybe the tequila helped get rid of my sore throat. 😛

November 1 J&SP had a Halloween/Day of the Dead party, the monster finger cookies were especially tasty. We got in some zombie flux which was fun. Also earlier that day we checked out a possible wedding location in Fairfield, but we ended up deciding on the golf course in Santa Rosa.

And I’m down to 22 emails in my inbox finally. Yay!