(yes, I was disappointed)

So, Asi had his cardiologist appointment last night. Poor baby! We had to take his food away before we went to bed, and then he didn't get any until 5:30 the next day! And he was so well behaved that they didn't have to sedate him after all, so it was all for nothing!



He got an ultrasound and an x-ray - he's so photogenic! And, well. The good news is that he's in incredibly good condition for his condition. He's not showing any symptoms of his problems, and seems to be perfectly happy and healthy on the outside (except for his anemia.) The bad news is that he's got congestive heart failure, and a level five of six heart murmur. Well, we've always known he has a big heart, and now he has the x-rays to prove it! And some pills to make his blood go through easier, and a scary list of symptoms that I need to keep an eye on. But! We're going to hope that he keeps up his asymptomatic-ness for as long as possible! He's definitely a fighter!

Today is also Eric & my ten year anniversary. He hasn't gotten sick of me, yet, which is enough to tell you how wonderful he is :)

This weekend was so busy! It was Animazement, of course, and my nephew's first anime convention! I'm told he had fun, although you can't tell from the pictures ;)

We skew a bit in our interests, so he probably thinks the conventions are all about cosplay... we meant to go to more panels and do more things, but it just didn't happen... Ah well. Sorry, Alex!

Of course, since we're all into cosplay, we made him cosplay, too. He was a very good sport about it! On Friday, we dressed up as ponies. I was AppleJack (of course!) and he was Fluttershy. We used Splat!'s washable pink hair cream for his hair, and I think it worked really well! It had good coverage (we used the entire tube for his short hair), much easier and cleaner to apply than the sprays, and it washed right out!

Saturday was Adventure Time day! Alex was our Finn, and I was Tree Trunks. It was funny. I didn't put makeup on until I got to the convention center. Without the makeup, no one recognized me, but with it, people did! I think Tree Trunks was a pretty fun character to cosplay - some people got really excited! I couldn't hear a thing with those earflaps, though. (Finn and Fionna had the same problems!)

Let's see... other than going in the dealer's room a few times and hanging out looking at cosplays... Leah and I went to a silk painting class. It was... not really what I was hoping for. But, what do you expect for $10 in the middle of a con? I think my expectations were too high. Oh well! I got the general idea, though, and found out that you use the same dyes for silk painting that you use for yarn dying! Interesting!

We also went to the first hour of the AMVs. I am probably too out of touch with new anime and new music to appreciate the AMVs anymore. They seemed pretty horrible this year. Ah well. I was hoping to see the winning AMVs while we were waiting for things at the Cosplay, but they didn't show them this year! Boo!

And of course we went to the cosplay competition. Well, Alex finally bowed out to go to a panel on making video game music on your computer. That sounds interesting! I wish everything didn't happen at the same time! As for the cosplay competition... Well, ok, I'll admit that the ONLY junior competitor was adorable -- but not as adorable as my friends' children, so they have to compete next year! The theme for this year's cosplay competition seemed to be "innapropriately sexual skits." About halfway through I leaned over to Eric and told him that I was glad Alex had chosen to skip! Talk about awkward! There were a few funny skits, and they won the awards. Take note, cosplayers! Unless you're super talented (like that poi performer. And she didn't have to have that uncomfortably sexual intro, her performance would have carried her without it!), make us laugh!

You know, now that I think of it, there weren't that many funny AMVs, either, and a lot of inappropriately sexual ones. Seriously, guys. Get with the program and bring back the comedy!

We left after the cosplay on Saturday so that I could dye my hair black to do a last minute Sherlock cosplay on Sunday (it looks awful). But then, at 1:00 in the morning, Asi had a seizure. Poor kitten! Eric and Chuck were dressed, so they took him to the emergency room while I called to warn them that a sick kitty was on the way. Then I sat around and worried. I finally started cleaning to distract myself. Well, at least it got things a bit cleaner. They got back around 2:30, without much news. He seemed to be ok, except that he was having vision problems (normal post-seizure behavior, apparently). I stayed downstairs on the couch to keep an eye on him. He thought this was the best thing ever! He sat on my chest for a while, then he played with paper for a while, then he licked the plastic bubblewrap on our railings (to keep the kittens from skydiving), then tried to convince me that it was breakfast time... I didn't get any sleep, but it was worth it to see that he was really back to normal. He's been good the past couple of days. His vision seems to be back up to snuff, too. Although he has a vet appointment at lunch time.

Monday was a lovely tea party to celebrate four May birthdays! There are so many wonderful people born in May! I definitely think May is Best Month! We had lovely teas and so many snacks and wore silly hats and it was just a great party!

So, all in all it was a good weekend, I think? I will leave you with this awesome cosplay group that I LOVED!! Victorian Final Fantasy X! So awesome!

So... Well! My transmission failed before my powertrain warranty had expired! That's good! (Well, the car is still in the shop, so they may still come back and claim it isn't warranty related. At which point I may give up and buy a Fiat.)

The kittens seem to be doing fine! They're definitely tiny cats now, not fluff-ball kittens, but I suppose that was inevitable! (And I love tiny cats, too. And big cats.) Tinka is getting bigger and bigger. Moxie doesn't seem to be growing much. Perhaps she will be my teacup kitten! She is very studious, and likes books, as you can see :)

Tinka is a total rapscallion. She has made it her goal to get closed in the pantry as much as possible, so it's forever a challenge to make sure she's out before closing the door. And since she's so fast, you have to double and triple check! She has really earned the nickname rocket-cat!

I have also managed to squeeze some crafting into things, although I don't know how. I haven't even had lunch breaks this week, things are so crazy! But I managed to go to a yarn dying class at the NC Fiber Fest last weekend. It was so fun! Nicky and I dyed up a few skeins of yarn, and I'm really happy with my Tardis-esque blue! I was very uncomfy with color mixing, so I stuck with different values of the same color. I like the results, though! This is totally going to become a Bigger on the Inside scarf! But! I will be knitting two, because I also was gifted with a pair of the Lorna's Laces yarn in the Bigger on the Inside colorway! My friends are awesome!

Also, I finished Finn's backpack for my nephew's cosplay! Which is good, because he gets in around midnight tonight! Animazement really snuck up on me! I wish I were more prepared! But, the costumes are done, and we'll all have a good time! I just hope my car is fixed in time to shuttle people to the con! Eric's car won't fit three!

Every day, the cats look more and more alike... Apparently Tinka has picked up Asi's Kangaroo sleeping habit!

Also, they're picking up the "don't hang out with Michelle" vibes. We were watching a movie on Saturday, and Tinka fell asleep on Eric, Moxie fell asleep next to Chuck, and Asi went across the room and fell asleep in a chair by himself. What the heck, cats?!? Where's the love?!?

Sunday was the annual Make-everyone-come-over-and-do-crafts-with-me day. And, basically my friends are pretty much the best (I would tell you about the wonderful gifts they gave me, but it would feel like bragging. They are so thoughtful and creative and if you find anyone who looks like they were bludgeoned with a brass unicorn bookend, I know nothing about it!). I had the greatest time, and I wish we could just all hang out all the time. I made everyone be in an ice cream contest, and even though we ran the gamut of textures and flavors, it was all delicious!

I made Mexican Chocolate Gelato, only it turned out as hard as a rock! Still tasted good, though. I used an "ice cream" recipe that talked about how it wasn't really ice-cream-ish. Well, yes. That's because it's really a gelato recipe. The first time I made it, I followed the directions as written, except I added four teaspoons of cinnamon and some vanilla to the milk mixture. It was exactly the texture I wanted, soft and frozen-whipped-cream-y, but it was super, super sweet. Like, sickeningly, I didn't want to eat it sweet. So, when I made it the second time, for the party, I substituted unsweetened baking chocolate for the semi-sweet. Well. The taste was what I was looking for, but it got as hard as a brick! And dry, and flaky. Yuck! This one is going to take more work!

What with the ice cream, and the kittens, and watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (a must if you're a Jane Austen fan!), not a lot of crafting went on. In fact, I made some apple earrings, Ruth made some sushi earrings and a cute octopus, and Katie started a BMO, but then gave up to go to dinner. I didn't get pictures (I was going out to dinner, too!), but I will get some tonight!

Then, we went to dinner, which ended up being rushed, but I got the best soup, with sprouts instead of noodles, and then we saw The Avengers, which was amazing and wonderfuland a perfect end to the day!

And if you want more kitten pictures, here are the girls (although mostly Moxie) in their first photoshoot.

The kittens really love the water fountain. They have a regular bowl in their room, but they hardly drink out of it, waiting for their chance at the fountain.

Unfortunately, Moxie has gotten into a habit of waiting until Tinka is drinking from the bowl and then attacking her, getting her all wet. Great fun for everyone! Except for Tinka. Well, you can see that she's a problem solver! Now they can both drink at the same time, and Tinka isn't such an exciting target anymore. If only there were something similar we could do with the food bowl! (Favorite toy is sister!)

Eric tried to feed them downstairs with Asi this morning (to let me sleep in, very sweet!). Well, of course everyone wanted someone else's food, and he came up shortly afterward and said he'd never try that again :) Ah well :)

Tomorrow night they have their official weigh in! I wonder if I should weigh them before dinner, or cheat and weigh them right after they've eaten? I'm sure Tinka will make fighting weight, but I'm not sure about Moxie... Maybe I'll cheat and weigh her in.

Good morning! There is nothing like a handful of crises on a Monday morning to get your blood pumping! I just deleted a bunch of technobabble complaining about the crises. You're welcome!

Instead, here! Have some pictures of why I can't get anything done lately! Tiny kitties take a lot of attention. Heaven forbid that I try to knit or check mail! They are immediately snoozing on my knitting project (seriously, she went from crazy to out in seconds once I pulled out the vest!), or up in my face demanding attention (or playing thumb war, which is what they think texting is).

And, apparently, doing laundry is RIGHT OUT. I was taking the laundry basket out of my bedroom on Saturday, and they slipped out with me. I was going to let them out, anyway, so I didn't worry too much, but Moxie threw herself at the stairs with such abandon that she tumbled all the way down to the first floor! She was unhurt and unfazed and jumped up right away to go to Asi's food bowl. I was more fazed, and won't let them go up or down the stairs now. They do love to make me crazy!

Asi is taking this all with resigned dislike. The kittens love him and think he's the coolest and could they be his best friend and oh! look at that swishy tail! He hisses when they are too annoying, but just watches sadly as they eat his food, and jumps out of their way when they get too much for him. He was using the couch as base, but they realized that and were able to climb up the next day (time to trim the claws, I think!) Hopefully he'll get used to them and start to like them...


In other news, I went to Spring Daze in Cary on Saturday. It is an outdoor craft fair that they held at a local park. It was very nice! Traffic was terrible, but there was a free bus running from about four blocks from my house to the fair and back, so I let the bus driver deal with the traffic! I would definitely recommend that to everyone else!

The fair was fun, although I can't share anything that I bought. So many May birthdays! There were some awesome vendors. Steve Karloski had lovely pottery - it was very decorative, even the useful stuff (and there was a lot of gorgeous purely decorative art, as well.) Little Miss Fancy Paints had super cute coaster sets and pretty sculptured pendants. I see she doesn't really sell that sort of stuff on her website, though :( Cherie's river rags (facebook link) had some absolutely gorgeous boleros and fancy fancy jewelry! It would be so appropriate for both steampunk and western wear! I wish she had a selling site, not just her facebook. You would love to see it!

Oh! And I also finished up my TreeTrunks costume for AZ! Well, I ordered the last bit :) Yeah, this pretty much amuses only me, but I'm pretty amused! (There may also be matching stickers...)

they prove me wrong.



Yesterday, Tinka conquered the pirate ship! She's very proud of herself!

So... I am going to try to keep this from just becoming an all-cat-pictures-all-the-time blog... but I don't promise anything! And here are some cat pictures for today!

They have discovered the pirate ship! Tinka is *fascinated* with the feathery anchor, but she's still too small/uncoordinated to get to it! So she stands up and rocks the boat and stares longingly at it. And then goes inside to try to find some way up to the top of the deck! That feather is *dead* as soon as she can get up there! (She's already decimated one feather toy. Guess I'd better stock up!) However, we all discovered last night that the floor inside the boat is crinkly! Exciting news for them, not so much for me. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of toy to put right near the head of my bed!

They also love it when Asi visits! He'll come up and complain by the door, and they're over there like a shot, sticking their paws through and trying to be his friend. Moxie LOVES him. When she's downstairs, she will follow him endlessly (except when she's eating his food) and try to be friends with him and talk to him (she's a talker, too.). He gets annoyed with her, but then he can just get on the couch or refrigerator where it's too high for her, and then it's all ok. He's being pretty patient with them, although he is not happy about their encroachment on his territory.

Last night, Eric said something about learning to sleep with cats on the bed, and I replied with confidence that they were still too little to get up on the bed. Hah! They must've heard me, because I woke up at 2 when Tinka decided to "clean" my bedside table (by knocking everything off of it). When the thunderstorm started at 4, they both peeped in my face until I woke up and comforted them, and when I woke up this morning, it was to the familiar cramps of not moving all night lest I disturb a kitten. Don't let my complaints fool you, I'm thrilled!

Also, if you want more kitten pictures, there are more in my Flickr stream.

Is it the stress, or this building, or just unluckiness? In my department of 8 people, only two are not taking sick time off like it's going out of style. We've had falls, infections, surgeries... Just yesterday, two people had to leave unexpectedly to go to the doctor, and it's getting difficult to get any work done with all of these absences! (I, personally, am on week six of being sick, all from complications of that first cold. Nothing as bad as the surgeries that have been going around, but it is really getting old.)

As a result of this sickness, or of bad time management, I will not finish the birthday gift I'm supposed to be giving this weekend. In fact, there are two birthday gifts, and they are both going to be "crafter's gifts" (that is, the raw materials/half finished project). I'm pretty faily.

I thought I would finish this knit vest in time, but then I got sick and production went way way down. Then I thought I'd at least get the vest-form done in time... but then this happened <-. Agh! Agh! Agh! I so carefully kitchenered those shoulders and buried my ends. Then I so carefully mattress stitched the side seam. Then took it out because it wasn't even, and carefully mattress stitched it again and carefully buried my ends. And then - only then - did I notice that the sleeve area was twisted! It's completely useless! I can either take out the shoulders - which are carefully kitchenered and use the end of the actual shoulder yarn, or the side seam - mattress stitch is easier, and it's all a completely separate piece of yarn, but there's so much more to do! Still, I think I'll be taking that side seam out during my lunch break. If I get one today with all the work I've been missing!

*sigh* Anyway, I know that's not what you want. You want more kitten pictures. Well, I got to visit them again on Tuesday, so I can indulge you a little! Tinka was shy of all the people (who'd've guessed?!?) and spent most of the evening under a chest, so I only have pictures of Moxie. But, it's bunny feet and collapsible kitty, so they're worth looking at! I took Asi in for his bi-weekly shot, yesterday, and set up his yearly appointment and their first appointments. So they're in my vet's appointment book! Yay! Also yay for Asi! He's up to 9.5 from 8.8 lbs two weeks ago! We have to give him pills twice a day, but since that involves pill pockets (his absolute favorite), it's not a hardship.