The Darling of PetSmart

Since Leia has finished her bout of antibiotics and is quite recovered except for the occasional sneeze, I took her to PetSmart again today, which she enjoyed. She loves watching the guinea pigs- they're in the lowest level, so she can sit on the floor and watch to her heart's content- until I pick her up so we can leave (if I don't pick her up, she doesn't want to leave!).

We saw the sweetest, most polite little girl, who asked very nicely if she could pet the kitty before she approached. THAT'S how it's supposed to work- you ask before approaching an animal, since you don't know if it's friendly, especially for children. Leia also got to meet a little boy, and she was perfectly lovely with both kids. She's going to be the perfect family cat.

I'm also trying to get her used to dogs a little bit, so when a woman walked in with her dog, whom she said is very used to cats, since she also has cats at home, I put Leia down to meet the dog. She and the dog sniffed each other, and she didn't hiss, but decided that she'd had enough, so I picked her up and we went to check out. All in all, a very successful day for Leia!

Leia loves toys

Hi, Innernet peoples! I'm Leia, the cutest cat. Mommy says she told you about me and showed you all pictures, but I'm a lot cuter than those pictures show. Anyway, Mommy said that I could talk to you, cause I'm sick and she thinks that it'll distract me. I'm not really sick, just a little sick, like I was when Mommy first brought me home, but Mommy said that it's sick enough that she wouldn't take me to PetSmart (meanie!) when she had to get more litter today, and she's taking me to the vet tomorrow. Don't worry though, cause I'm still feeling really playful. How could I not, when EVERYTHING is a toy? I love toys. They're my favorite thing in the world! I love playing with Mommy's glasses, and her yarn, and her knitting needles, cause they're really shiny, and my brothers' tails, and my tail, and my pink fluffy ball, and the aluminum foil ball, and the fuzzy mousie, and the pink and purple fuzzy tribble, and Mommy's braid, and pebbles, and the straps on Daddy's backpack, and Daddy's shoelaces, and Mommy's keys, and anything dangly or shiny or fuzzy or that moves! I love all toys! I love chasing them, and batting them, and carrying them in my mouth, and kicking them, and biting them, and play play play!

At this point, Leia ran off to play with a toy. Of course.

Possible trip to the frog pond

A little over a year ago, I started knitting a sweater/cardigan/jacket thing. I get cold easily, so I wanted a layer that I could wear in the house when I get chilly, but one that would be easy to take off and put on, so not a pullover. It needed to have a collar that would keep my draft-hating neck warm, but that would fold down if I didn't want it up (conversely, a collar that could fold up if I wanted it to). It needed to have large areas of stockinette, so that I could duplicate-stitch a design onto it. It needed to have a casual fit, no or minimal shaping. I decided on the Jess pattern.

I didn't like making the sweater in all the pieces, so I adapted the pattern to knit the fronts and back as one piece, and the sleeves in the round, and sew the sleeves on later, then knit the collar. I got to the point where the body and sleeves were basically done, and ground to a halt. I just don't know if I like the idea of having to sew those sleeves in. I'm not even sure if this is the right pattern for me anymore; what with all the modifications I'm making, maybe I'd be better off choosing a different pattern that is already written to be seamless. So I ask your help.

Here is the sweater as it is now (I haven't bound off the sleeves and hem, in case I want to adjust the length once I get it sewn together, which will be convenient if I decide to frog):


Do I:
-Choose a new pattern, frog everything and make the new pattern, and submit it for DADA, since the cats evoke memories for me
-Suck it up and finish it as it is, sewing in the sleeves, and submit it as a finished WIP for Charms
-Frog it all, redo it to have the sleeves knitted in instead of sewn in, and keep my other seam-reducing changes, and submit it for Transfiguration
-Something else, that I haven't thought of yet- all suggestions welcome!

Thanks for your input!

Mush

I was preparing some food for myself in the microwave, and of course I have two cats at my feet asking "Hey Mom? Mom? Whatcha making? Is that for us? Huh Mom? Can I have some, Mom? Hey, Mom? Mom?" I decided to give them some mush (canned food), since I like to give them that every so often, especially for Leia, since she is a growing kitten and still getting over the tail end of the sneezing fits that she has from the upper respiratory infection that she had when we got her. The can I had open was Turkey and Giblets, so I dished up some of that into one of their bowls (the large one, that three cats can eat out of at once), and stuck it into the microwave for a few seconds, to take off the refrigerator-induced chill. Leia was sitting patiently, waiting, as was Luke, but Han was being a bit of a brat, getting in my way and whining. I took the bowl out of the microwave and put it down for them. Leia immediately went over and started eating; Luke went over, sniffed it, decided that he didn't want any and walked away; and Han sniffed it, gave me a look of "Moooooom, I like CHICKEN, not TURKEY! Ewwwwww!" and walked away, tail held high to show me his butt. Sheesh, boy. All that whining and getting in my way, only to snub the food? Sheesh!

Leia speaks!

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She wanted to type, so I figured that I'd let her, this once. (She's really bad at spelling, but oh so adorable.)

Blowin' in the Wind

I took Leia to PetSmart on the leash again today- every time I take her, she gets better and more comfortable about being on the leash. Today she started following me without me having to tug the leash and call her every time I wanted to take a step (just sometimes). She's starting to understand what I want her to do on the leash, and she's getting used to it. Just like every time I've brought her in, people love seeing her and petting her and saying how pretty and well-behaved she is.

We got the couple of things that I had gone in for, and then she wanted to explore. She took me down the toy aisle, and we picked out a tub of catnip (with a pink fluffy toy inside). She wanted to stay there, but after a while I picked her up and we went back to watch the birds- she loves finches because they flit around so much.

I carried her towards checkout (I had to carry her because she wasn't ready to leave, she just wanted to explore more), and we chatted for a few minutes with the cashier and another woman, but then Leia wanted down. She wasn't interested in going to see the fish (I don't think that she really knows what fish are, though- we always watch the birds, but I don't know if she's ever seen fish), so she led me away, and we ended up going down the small rodent aisle to the ferret section. Serendipitously, I saw a roll of citrus-scented power cable cover, which Leia hated the smell of. Perfect! She doesn't like to listen to us when we tell her to stay away from power cords and not to play with them, so I bought the roll, figuring that it might help deter her.

She led me around the store a bit more before I decided that it was time to leave, and picked her up to head to checkout before she made me spend any more money (I got out of there spending $40- the spoiled kittens!). The cashier was the one who's almost always there when we go in, and she loves Leia. I've been going there so much more often since I started taking Leia with me that we've become regulars, and employees and customers alike recognize us.

I picked Leia up to carry her through the parking lot to the car, and she was NOT HAPPY because it was very windy, and apparently she doesn't like wind. At all. Not one little bit. (I think it's because it messes up her princess fur.) Once in the car out of the wind, she calmed down, and I decided to press on to Petco, to see if they had any better collars. I've been wanting to get new collars for the boys, as theirs are getting worn out, but I couldn't find a good red collar at PetSmart. Luke wears red and Han wears blue (since they're both black-furred, the collars help tell them apart), except the collars we had were red and black. At Petco, I found the perfect collars- red and blue with silver paw prints, which go with Leia's collar, which is pink with silver paw prints. So now the cats all have semi-matching collars! Now that the boys are wearing their new collars, they seem unimpressed, but they know that they're handsome.

Leia was a little scared in Petco, since it's a new place, and was eager to go home. She was so tired from all her exploring that she napped almost the entire ride home, and is curled up napping in one of the tower tubes.