Happy weekend! Today’s conversation cat is currently lowering productivity at a cat cafe somewhere. Assuming your keyboard is accessible, stop by for a chat!
Sent by Andrew Y., presumably from an unobstructed computer.
Weekend Open Thread
44 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”
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Think of me today, peeps! I am having 30 people over for a bbq. I think this is the most I’ve ever entertained all at once. Brainwidth is at capacity. At least it’s a bbq. In my experience, so long as you throw meat at a grill, usually some one is willing to do the grilling for you while I’m in the kitchen doing the rest.
Oooh, a BBQ. How fun, me and a few friends might wander over later. After 30, who notices a couple more? Hey cutetropolians, party at Birdcage’s house!!!
Wow! Very brave Birdcage. Try… to enjoy your own self.
Faye is right! Enjoy your own party, Birdcage! We give a garden party every summer for 35-50 people. Preparation is intense. And I end up washing dishes or being otherwise distracted during the festivities. last year was the first time I could really enjoy myself and we’re going on 14 years!
Awww, what a comfy sweetie! I miss my Honey and have not yet found new fur to fill that spot in my heart. Hopefully soon….
It will happen. They know you have a spot waiting.
The right kitty will find you. They always do.
Thank you both! Yes, right kitty at right time. Meanwhile wipe all the fingerprints off the screen from petting online kitties…..
I feel like kitty but I have my laptop on my lap to keep me warm. It’s a grey SoCal morning, the weather here is so messed up. Last weekend, it was in the 80s, today it’s cool and drizzly. I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind.
Doing some volunteer work today and tomorrow we have friends coming over. And somewhere in between that have to run some errands. I’m not sure how that’s going to happen since hubster is somewhat out of commission. After a very long week and doing a lot of manual tasks with his hands, his hands started cramping up so bad that we took a trip to the ER to see what they could do for him. Only thing they did was give him some muscle relaxers and tell him to drink plenty of water. At least it wasn’t something too serious.
Have a great weekend everyone!
‘Folding cat warmer’! 😀
Good morning – off to the transfer station shortly to give away some potted plants and household things I never use (8-lb. dumbbells? Never gonna happen!).
Then this afternoon there’s a showing of an apartment I’m interested in.
Good luck apartment hunting.
Thank you!
Sounds like fun days, all!! Enjoy!!
It is raining here. So… drawing, sandwiches, dog kisses.
Update on Amazon Echo, Amazon Firestick, and Echo Dot: Fantastic. Easy to set up. Using Alexa is intuitive. So far I have set timers, listened to music, drifted off to sleep to ocean, forest, rain, I have asked the time, the weather, phoned someone… It did download my music and contacts from the iPhone without my involvement but that’s what Alexa is for. Much more to learn. I recommend Alexa. I’m a tried and true Apple person. They waited too long to launch their own product.
Have not talked to the tv yet. Echo Dot for bathroom awaits set up. Will do tv next. I’m years behind in my movie watching.
Millie says hello. We have a stroller practice scheduled in the sunroom while I exercise.
Wishing everyone a good weekend.
I’m in the process of making a few minor alterations to my first two books and setting up the two new ones. There’ll be one more “Era” volume and then I’ll have a rest for a few months before starting a new project.
Good news – the house martins which nested under the eaves of several houses on my street last year, including next door, returned today. Bad news – they still haven’t learned to use bird-sized bathroom facilities, so I’ll have to keep the windows and pavement relatively guano-free…
LOL, I am picturing tiny, bird-size Porta-Potties! We had robins who came back to the same nest every year, in one of those fan-shaped windows over our door – we had a great view of their little ones growing up.
Looking forward to the next installments – I’ll treat myself to them as rewards for doing something onerous.
😀 !!
Working again, as I’m headed into crunch time for my magazine. At least I can work at home with the cats! Also more informational conversations and big decisions about house stuff. It’s that eternal struggle between money and time: if I can only pick 1, which one do I want more of? Will moving help ease the crunch for either?
Hope everyone is well and happy this weekend!
Today, my brain is experiencing difficulty coping with the change from night to day. It’s firmly convinced it’s still night. I told it that letting me open my eyes might help, but it told me to do something that rhymes with “pucker your wattles”. Not sure who’s going to win this battle.
I popped into our local pet store yesterday, to visit the birds. At the back of the store is a large wire enclosure, full of finches. High on the back wall, hidden by branches, are about a dozen nesting boxes, all being used. Apparently this has been going on for a few weeks. Any day now, baby finches should be visible. I plan on spending quite a bit of time there, watching.
On the weekend of June 8, we are going to Prince George for a visit, to see our “adopted Godson” be ordained. Any Cutetropolitans nearby?
This coming week, I will be finishing several sundresses, which are suddenly required around here. Temperatures change so fast lately that sundresses and socks are in fashion. I’m also going to finish a baby quilt, for an employee at my favourite food place at the mall. She’s not expecting it, which will make it even more fun to give it to her.
Have a great weekend, everyone! And Happy Mothers’ Day to moms of all kinds.
I love the little fangs peeking out of the kitty!
Now that I am settled into my new job (well, kind of-) it is time to start the sorting and packing for the move-out. I have a deposit down on an apartment (good luck with your search, Smartypants!) and will be moving the first week of June. Ex is keeping the house, I get custody of the cat. Our son leaves for college in the fall, but I am trying to make a space for him in the new place, too.
I’m trying to separate 25 years of furniture and memories, and cope with the sadness that goes with it. Some times I am better at it than others.
I hope the weekend is good for everyone!
Wow, those are seismic changes. I wish you strength and luck.
Oh, good eye, Maia – I didn’t see the fangs!
Thanks for the good wishes – I just got back from the showing and I did an application, but so did some other folks…suspense! We should all hear back in a few days.
Wow, that’s a lot going on! Sending good thoughts. Try to relax and treat yourself when you can (although I know some days you just have to gut it out). I’m glad you get the kitty!
❤️
Thanks for the encouragement! It really, really helps to have the community here. 🙂
Keep breathing and keep moving Maia– you are very strong.
Maia, I fully empathize with you (been there, done that). But some of those seismic (good word Dubravka!) changes will be the start of a big adventure. Be open to new possibilities as you move forward. And remember, the Cutetropolitans are here for you!
A grey, quiet weekend here in easten PA. The azalea has created a snowdrift at my bay window, and the grape hyacinth and iris form a nice complement to yellow don’tknow
whatits in the yard. Wish I felt as good as they all look. The pain meds create nausea,
among other less speakable ailments, so I’m feeling very blah. Four more radiation
treatments, and with luck, things will improve, insh’allah. I certainly can’t bear the
thought of feeling like this for the rest of my life. Thanks, Mike, for the bundles of
cuteness you give us each day. You may not know it, but you are something of a
life-saver. Peppermint? Wintergreen? Cherry? What flavor is he, peeps?
You are in my thoughts, Phred’s mom. I am so sorry this is happening to you. Hang in there.
I would say that Mike is so versatile he is the 5-flavor assortment pack. 😉
❤️
Hang in there Phred’s Mom, you can do it– sending you strength even after you beat that cancer shit. Warm, gentle hug after the strength send.
My oldest grandson graduates high school tomorrow. Graduation ceremonies are long and boring, IMO, but it’s my favorite Seth (I call all my grandkids “My favorite Ben, Lilly, whichever grandkid I am talking to”), so I will be there yelling when they call his name. Afterwards, we will have a BBQ at their house, with all his grandparents, step grandparents, aunts and cousins. It should be fun.
Sounds like a good time! Plz tell him Congratulations.
Ricky is not terrifically cooperative about eating, let alone eating enough to get his meds inside him. And the latest fabulousness is that he has two ulcers in his right eye. I don’t think he sees out of that eye, and if it were not for my concerns about full anaesthesia, I think I’d just ask the vet to remove the eye and be done with it. But Ricky has heart disease as well as collapsing trachea, so one must proceed with caution. As it is, I still think I’ll ask the vet if this drastic-seeming measure is warranted. I just want my little guy to be as healthy and *comfortable* as possible, given that he’s 16 and—let’s face it—a hot mess.
Barring emergencies, our next visit is on Tuesday, when he will get his semi-annual ECG and a check-up on his eye.
So far we’ve logged six vet visits since April 19, I’m still working on two shows and starting prep on two more once we get the first two up, and …
I’m freakin’ exhausted.
Ricky and I send good energy to everyone here going through stress of any kind. Goodness knows I can see I’m not the only one under stress.
We also send extra-special love and gratitude to Mike—Not That Mike, the Other Mike!
Yikes, I am sorry to hear about Ricky’s health problems… I sometimes think it is harder on us than on them when they are sick, because we want so much to help them and “make it all better”. I hope that some of the problems respond to the medicine, at least. Best wishes to you both!
I’m so sorry about Ricky;s health problems. It doesn’t sound good. If you feel up to it and feel like it, maybe you can post picture(s) of Ricky. We’ve all heard so much about him. I for one would love to see him, but I totally understand if you’re not up for it.
Yes, please.
Hey, all. Long story ahead. I haven’t been around the past couple days. Yesterday I had to go to NYC with one of my coworkers (who normally works in our office but would go into the city once or twice a week) for work, which was a loooooong day. I was up at 5am, caught the train about 7:30, got into Penn Station about 8:30, grabbed some Starbucks and walked to the office (2 blocks over and about 13 or so down). My coworker met me outside the building. Yesterday was his last day (he got a new job), and they wanted me to go in and meet some people and also we met with the external auditors we have to deal with (I’ve met a couple of them before when they were at our office). So we were up and down on various floors (my company has 8 of the 10 floors in the building). Then we went to the Union Square Barnes & Noble, which is a few blocks away (and which is huge!), then we walked a few more blocks to get lunch, then back to the office (through Union Square Park, which was nice), then more running around and whatnot, then he sent his final farewell email before I left about 4:15, because I took his company laptop with me so I can return it to IT on Monday. (He stayed a little longer to say goodbye to people in the office, and then he was meeting his girlfriend for dinner.) I also snagged some free books from the office, so I had a kind of heavy bag to carry.
So I walked back to the train, grabbed some more Starbucks on the way, and got there just in time to hop on the 5:03 train. While I was walking through the station I heard some announcements about NJ Transit and delays, but I didn’t hear the specifics. I’ll let you guess what line was delayed. >.< They made a few announcements while I was sitting on the train but they didn't have a timeline, then after about 10 minutes they said it would be a couple hours, so everyone got off.
Turns out someone was hit by an Amtrack train near the station right before the one where I get off, so all trains to Trenton were delayed or cancelled. So I went to TGI Fridays in the train station, which is super expensive, but my feet and shins were killing me (I have a huge blister on my foot; not wearing those shoes to the city again!) from all the walking and I just wanted to sit down, and there aren't a lot of sit-down places in the station, and I didn't want to go walking around the block to find something. So I read one of my new books and ate my cheeseburger and iced tea and relaxed a little bit, then caught the 7:09 train, which of course was a local which takes about half an hour longer than my morning train (which only makes 2 stops between where I get on and Penn Station). And it was so crowded I didn't get to sit down until two stops before I got off. So I finally got back to my car at 8:45 and home at 9:30 (shouldn't take 45 minutes to drive home but I think I was inadvertently slowing down when no one was behind me, what with my sore foot and being tired).
So that was fun.
This morning my mom sent me a message that my cousin's wife was having a sale to clear out their house which she sold and has to have cleared by next week. (This is my cousin who died last year; it was a year ago last week. 🙁 ) She and her mom are moving to Colorado, where she has some family. So I tagged along with them and got a smallish bookcase which needs a little attention but will be good in my living room once it's painted. So it's in my parents' garage for now. She had it marked 10 bucks but she wouldn't let me pay for it (I promised to give it a good home). So that was a little sad to see their house being cleared out and thinking about everything that happened last year, but it was nice to see her. And my tire light came on while I was driving to their house, so after we got back my dad checked that out, and I ended up taking a nap on the couch for a while. Then I stopped at the store and got home at 8:45.
Now it's 11:00 and I have to make salad and dessert for Mother's Day dinner tomorrow (we're ordering dinner, and my brother doesn't know it yet, but I am not helping him pick it up). Maybe I'll just do the pudding pie and make the salad before I leave.
Oh, and on my way to the office, there was a guy walking in the same direction with his dog, a medium-sized chocolaty-brown curly-haired muppety cutie (I’m guessing a poodle or poodle mix). At one street we encountered a woman walking in the opposite direction with her dog, which was a puppy version of the same dog!! The guy’s dog took exception to this and the two doggos had a few words in the middle of the road as we crossed. (Then after they pulled them away and continued on, the guy’s dog looked back and huffed a couple times in the direction of the little one.)
It was the most adorable mid-street NYC confrontation ever.
Whew. I’m tired just reading about your last two days. And I remember well all the walking I used to do when I worked in NYC. I think that was the best shape I ever was in but yeah, some days I’d get home and I’d be sooo tired. And have fun tomorrow with the party.
I do not know how people do that commute every day.
And the other train lines/PATH/buses were cross-honoring tickets, if they could get you where you needed to go, but I think my only option to get back to the station my car was at was to figure out the buses, and I doubt it would have gotten me there any earlier. For a couple hours delay it didn’t seem worth it.
On the up side, the train was so crowded they didn’t take tickets on the way home, so I have a ticket for next time (which hopefully won’t be for a few months). Which is funny because the ticket I used in the morning was over two years old and I had been hanging onto it from one of the last times I went and they didn’t collect them. So I could have gotten away with not even buying a ticket yesterday!
I’ve just noticed that in the top right-hand corner of the photo a white cat is being photographed in mid-snorgle.
Only a few days to go now to the big event. Oh, I’m so excited! The romance, the pageantry, the costumes…
…yes, it’s the Royal Ballet’s new production of “Swan Lake”. A couple of people in whom I have no interest whatsoever are also getting hitched in Windsor, apparently.
🙂
I’d rather go to the ballet, too.