Caturday Kitty

Hi Caturday Kitty Lovers, this was me this morning while I was assisting with taking the sheets off the bed.  Mum and I did a few chores while the sun was shining.  I sent her off to the market to get some broccoli, lemons, garlic, turnip(swede), parsnip, cucumber, corriander and onions.  She then went off with her friends to watch a movie.  They saw Frances Ha which mum didn't like, and would only give a 2/5.  They went and tried a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner, which was tasty and very filling.  Mum was pleased to be home by 8pm, in time to feed me my feast and get the sheets back on the bed!!  That mumster is a party animal!!

Hope you are all having a great Caturday!!!

TGIF

Oh my gosh mum is glad it is Friday.  She laughed when she posted this picture.  Please excuse the linen skip with the green knickers hanging off the side on the left of the photo.  She loves my expression.  It is my please go away I am  getting comfy here, and do not want a camera in my face.

Hope you are all ready for the weekend!!  The mumster and I are pleased that we have two days to share together.

Ecstasy

`Who needs sleeping or party pills?  Here at chez q, an evening snooze on your scratcher with your head in mums stinky work shoe does the trick.  Happy snoozing my friends.

Wordless Wednesday - Relaxing

Warm

The news has been telling us this has been the warmest winter in one hundred years.  There are spring flowers out and more and more blue skies, when usually we still have a couple of months of coolish weather due.  So with only five days of winter left, we still know that we will have more chilly days ahead of us before it truly feels like spring.  Still, mum was able to get out and do some weeding in the garden this afternoon after work, which is satisfying.

Still she has a nice big pile of books and lots of shows on the DVR to watch.

Reflective

Today is a quiet one at Chez Q.  Mum worked last night and worked this morning.  This afternoon, she went to a funeral.  The son of one of her friends died last week aged 16 after being sick for a year.  It was a sad funeral, but full of friends and family.  It puts all your little worries in perspective and makes you grateful for each day.

Perch

Mum dug out my old scratcher.  I like to perch on it and look around the living room and keep an eye on things.  I sent mum off to work for the afternoon, so it was important that I was in charge.  It was a long wait til I got my feast at late o'clock.

Hope you all had a lovely sunday.

Caturday Shopping

You all know that  the mumsters shopping chore on Caturday is to go to the fruit and veg market.  Things are looking more springlike there with lots of lovely produce.  Mum got potatoes, courgettes, leeks, broccoli, carrots, onion, bananas, apples, fennel, swede, parsnip and sweet potatoes.  All stocked up and ready to eat - for her maybe.  The only thing I am interested in smelling and rubbing all over the shopping bag, it sure soaks up the smells at the market.

It has been lovely to have a day of sunshine, although the clouds are gathering now and there is a chill in the air.  It will be nice to curl up and keep warm for the evening, even though the mumster won't be around to keep the heater on for me.

Stretch Out

Mum was looking through the photos and found this one from the beginning of the year, when I was looking like a bit more of a chubster.  Between all the sleeping tonight, I might stretch out a little bit.  We loves a Friday night, the washing is whizzing around, mum has a full tummy, and she is thinking an early night might be a good idea, cos A - she was up at 5.30am to head to work and B- she has a busy busy Saturday ahead.  Good luck with that plan mum, we know you have good intentions, but seldom snooze as early as you like.

Lazy Day

The mumster had a day off today.  She had a plan A and a plan B.  Plan A was if it was sunny, she would go for a walk beside the sea and do a bit of window shopping.  Plan B, was a rainy day and she would head into town and maybe see a movie.  Which plan do you think she chose?

Why that would be plan lazy.  A little sleep in with me, brunch on the couch, watch a few tv programmes, tidy up a bit, eat a little bit and generally take it easy.  It's all good.  I kept her company and made sure that she didn't stray from her plan.

Wordless Wednesday - Our Pretty City

Worried

Yippee the mumsters nights on-call are over now, and she just has normal work for a few days.  She did get worried this morning, as when she went to work at 3.30 I jumped down to go outside too.  When she got home a couple of hours later she couldn't find me.  She went to bed though, and woke up at 8am, and I still wasn't inside, which is unusual as it was frosty outside.  She dragged some jeans on and in her slippers went out onto our street calling out for me.

I rocked up about ten minutes later wandering what the fuss was about.  Of course that meant I had to sleep the day away, and catch up on my snoozes.  I am a good girl and seldom wander, and am usually just in the neighbours backyard sniffing their smells.

Happy sleeping everybuddy.

3/4

Mum did get some sleep with me last night.  She is 3/4 the way through all the call that she needs to do this week.  One more night, and then she can turn the phone off and rest with me all night.  Mum did laugh when she saw me, I was wandering past and then saw mum through the window, put my paws and called out to her and then ran round through the catdoor to talk to her.

Enjoy your Monday everybuddy.

Vegestation

Mum was on-call last night and managed a whole two and a half hours of sleeping.  She went to work at 2.30am and again at 5am.  She thought she would be safe and got to the supermarket at 7am, and got called back to work ten minutes later while she was in the meat section.  She got home about eight thirty and had a shower and ate some breakfast.

These are all the veg and some fruit that she got at the market yesterday.  Her haul included a leek, carrots, fennel, apples, beans, lettuce, bell peppers, zucchini and broccoli.  She has already made a vegetable noodle stir fry for her lunch, with leftovers for tomorrows lunch.  A big pot of leek and potato soup is on the stove.

Now at 4pm her eyelids are getting heavy and exhaustion is creeping in. She is going to feed me my feast, and put the clean sheets back on the bed and lie down for a quick snooze.

Shakey Quakey

No - that isn't the mumsters wine closet.  These pictures are from the Dominion Post, our local paper and are of the effects of the quake in rural Seddon where it was centred.  In our city there seems to have been no injuries and minimal damage around the city.

 Mum had to work, but when she got home I wanted to cuddle up with her and snuggled with her most of the night.  She was on'-call, so she took a nap with her today, sleeping right next to her again.  We got asked if I noticed the earthquakes.  The last big one a month ago, I took off out the catdoor and hid under the deck as soon as it started, but now I stay closer to mum.  There have been so many, that we hardly notice now.

Thanks for all our kind friends for commenting or emailing to check on us.  We have a good support network of friends and family who rang and texted as well to check.  We love you all.

Enjoy your weekend.

TGIF

Aren't you all glad it is Friday?  Even if mum has to work this weekend, she still enjoys the feeling of Friday.  Washing and dishes done, but still a pile of chores to do.  The sun is beginning to shine, not sure if it will stay all weekend.  No big plans for this weekend - just taking it easy and hanging at home.

Thanks to all our friends for checking in with us.  We had another big earthquake here, but nobody that we know was injured and our house and mums work is still standing.  She was at work and it was not nice, she had to hold onto a column in case it got bigger as there were lots of people in the room. There were lots of aftershocks through the evening, and mum is not sure she will get tonight.  We will fill you in a bit more tomorrow.
Love
Mum and Poppy Q
xxx

Earlybirds

Mum was up earlybird for work this morning.  She says that the mornings are getting a bit brighter and lighter too.  Starting early (7am), means finishing early at 3pm and being able to go and get some groceries after work, and get home and give me the feast.  Mum says that she may have to head to bed early tonight too and catch up on some sleeps, so that she is productive tomorrow.

Mum says one of the hardest bits about her job is the constantly changing  start and finish times.  This weeks she has started work at  five different times varying between 7am, 8am, 10am and 2pm.  This means she never gets to wake up at the same time each day, and her sleeping rhythms get interrupted.  Luckily I am a good sleep buddy and keep her company whenever she heads off to bed.

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Memories - Check out the nip on my Tongue

Snuggler

Lots of rain has been pouring down at Chez Q.  In fact, mum hasn't watered the garden since about February of this year, since the drought finished.  Because I pop outside to do my business in the garden, I get to catch the odd shower or two, which mum says is good as it helps to clean my furs.

Still it is a good excuse for us to relax in the living room.  Mum had some pork and her usual carrot, parsnip and swede mash with enough leftovers for tomorrow night.  Some tele watching, a bit of book reading and then off to snoozeville for the mumster.  I surprised her by sleeping next to her last night, all night which is unusual for me.  I usually only want to snuggle for an hour, and then wander off to sleep elsewhere by myself.

Woo Hoo

One of the ads this year has been about claiming your tax refund for the year and having a "Woo Hoo" moment, as you realise how much money you have been given.  Mum got an email to say her company had put her refund into her bank account, ready to be spent.  Mum said " Woo Hoo" and went into her bank account, and found out she had gotten a whole $1.09.  More a Boo Hoo moment mum thinks, still she is grateful her any money she gets, and each little dollar counts.

Goodreader

The mumster is a bit of a big reader, and she can manage 1-3 books per week, with 95% from the local library.  She reads in the morning while she does her hair, at her lunch break and before she goes to sleep at night.  Rather than watch mediocre shows, and if the weather is not good enough for gardening she will sit down and read her books.

For over a year, she has belonged to Goodreads and enjoyed finding out about new books that she could read, discovering new authors and books she might have skipped over at the library.  In fact, in her too read pile she has about 1500 books, enough to keep her busy for the next ten years or so.  She got an email last week from the Goodreads team to say that she is in the top 1% of reviewers, of the 20 million people that belong to Goodreads, one of the few times she has reached the top of the class.

The problem is - she is falling out of love with Goodreads themselves. They recently sold out to Amazon, and mum feels a bit of a snob, but the site seems to be filled with lots of cheap horrible books that Amazon seems to peddle.  Full of vampires, zombies, housewife erotica and youth fiction, all books that do not appeal to mum and that makes her sad.  She used to be able to discover books in the areas she liked, memoir, thriller,  historical fiction and thrillers.

Anyways, if you are looking for some books, you can click on mums Goodreads books. They are down on the right of the posts.  Today has been a good day for reading, with rain outside, mum has put the roast lamb and veg in the oven, and will read her book while she waits for the dinner to cook.  Me I am on the couch, snoozing away, waiting for feast time (no lamb for me, I don't do the people foods).

Happy Sunday everybuddy.

Casual Caturday

We had a relaxing casual Caturday.  I awoke mum at 8am,  meowing at her really really loud.  She knew I had biscuit and it wasn't wet outside, all the usual reasons for me being noisy.  As soon as she popped out of bed, I popped in.  That's right - I wanted her spot in the bed.  Time for her to get up.

After doing some washing and folding, mum went to the library and to the market.  She got, potatoes, kumara (sweet potato), corriander, spring onions, parsnip, swede,  onions, carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli.   Mum is going to make a roast lamb and vegetable dinner on Sunday night.  Fried chicken + veg + rice another night, and a chicken curry later in the week.

 Then mum went for a walk into town.  She wandered around for an hour or two just window shopping, and then met a friend.  Then they went out to another besties place for a yummy dinner with good company.

So I gotted my dinner real late again.  Just to let you know, I did not get given a second dinner last night.  Mum says one feast is enough for a girl.   She is watching her shows, waiting for the sheets to dry and then will make the bed and head off to sleep.

We hope you all enjoy your Caturday too!!

Straightness

So this morning, the mumster plugged her new GHDs in and got her hair nice and straighter and much tidier.  She did not look like a crazy person who had slept in a bush all night - phewwww.

She even went out this evening, into the city to meet her friends for drinks.  It did involve one of her least favorite things, going to a crowded bar and having to wait alone til her friends arrived.   She doesn't like that, as she doesn't feel like she fits in with the city crowds.  Luckily her friends were only about 5 minutes behind her, and they had such a good time catching up that in the end she enjoyed her evening.  She wonders why some of the nights you really look forward too can turn out to be a flop, but the ones you would rather stay at home and stay on the couch can surprise you by being fun.

She did feed me before she went, but cos she got home late, I am trying for dinner number 2.

Mourning

Mum is in mourning today.  She got up, had a shower and washed her luscious locks.  Then she went to turn her GHDs on.  No go - no red light, no beep beep to say they were ready.  Tears were close, as mum pondered having to go al natural all day.  She has wavy hair with big cowlicks, that go in all different directions.  Due to short arms her hair drying skills are minimal as well.

Luckily she had a chance to pop into town and visit her hairdressers.  The receptionist was a good help in explaining all the types of hair straighteners they had on offer.  Who knew there were so many variaties?  She was a good salesperson, and told mum not to buy the most expensive ones, the middle range ones were just as good.  She was even kind enough to compliment mum on her natural curls when mum was feeling old and dowdy.  Mum doesn't ever fully straighten her hair, but a quick five minute go over, helps the do to settle in one tidy spot for the day.

Mum says it was the icing on top of a not so good day today.  But she managed to turn that frown upside down once she saw this:

Wordless Wednesday - Just Singing for my Supper

Ready

We are getting ready for spring.  Mum has helped me to do a bit of weeding at Chez Q.  We have trimmed back and made some space for spring growth.  We have had a couple of drops of rain and a mix of sunshine, so the weeds will be going crazy soon.

Mumster Monday

Mum says that sometimes Mondays are hard days.  She never sleeps that well on Sunday night/Monday morning, especially when she woke up at 1am and realised that she never locked the back door before she went to bed.

Then she went out and left the ham and coleslaw on the bench instead of putting it back in the fridge when she made lunch.  Luckily it is not too warm here, and so she got home and put it back in the fridge.  If you wondered why I didn't steal any - well I don't like people food or climbing up on benches (although sometimes I eat wee slivers of ham and other deli meats).

So, she tried to do some nice things for herself.  She patted and talked to me.  Took her old books back to the library and got a nice new stack.  She is going to make herself some nice fish and risotto for dinner.  Then she is going to relax with me!

Hope you are enjoying your Monday too.

Patchy

Ooooh look at at all of our patchy grass.  It makes for good sniffing around though.  We have chilled out today and left the chores alone, which is a relief after  yesterdays mission.

Caturday

Hey kitties, it is Catuday again already!!  We're in relaxing mode here at Chez Q.  We got the chores done, got the doors open, had a play outside, cleared out a wardrobe, sat on the couch, listened to music, got washing done, pulled some weeds, folded towels, stripped the bed, got the mail in, made some lunch, scrubbed the toilet, did some sudoku puzzles, stared at the computer, cooked some dinner, did the dishes, swept the floor, folded towels and made the bed.  Now we really are relaxing.

Friday Flurry

The Mumster and I learnt a lesson this afternoon.  Apparently if a blackbird wanders into your backdoor into the kitchen.  Well, they can't hold their trouser pants, and like to leave little deposits all around said kitchen.  They also flap like crazy and make all kinds of noise.  I was sooo fasinated I did not even mind mum picking me up so I didn't chase the blackbird.  Luckily, he/she got of the house by themselves in a few minutes.  Drama over.  Sorry no pictures, as mum was holding me back.

Sweet Sleep Spot

                               Normally I would sleep here.  Nice and cosy - smells like the muster.

This week, I have been sleeping here.  Mum was drying off the sheets, and one accidently draped over the couch.  So I grabbed it in a snap and have made my nest here in the living room, on top of the sheet on top of the bad with library books in it (mum has moved the books so it is cosier for me).

Hello to August - our last month of winter.  Yippee!!!