It’s a chilly Caturday, and reader Georgiana Y. demonstrates how her cat Skye adapts to the changing seasons:
I know that winter is coming when I start to find a certain little trespasser hiding in my bed under the bedspread.
Weekend Open Thread
39 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”
Comments are closed.
Happy Saturday! Everyone must still be under the covers staying warm like the lovely Skye. I may not be under the covers but I have one of the 4 legged hot water bottles curled up with me now so I’m staying toasty. Not much going on here, supposed to have some “wintery” weather here in SoCal. That usually means wind, some rain, and maybe snow up in the mountains but so far it’s sunny but cool. Hubby is still enjoying the new car, showing it off to all his buddies. Definitely like a kid with a shiny new toy, lol. Having someone out to give us a quote on leveling out the driveway entrance since the car keeps scraping the front end on it. Later Lego club meeting and then maybe some baking tomorrow. Got recipes for linzer torte bars with apricot cardamon jam, and 2 kinds of Chex/snack mix – one sweet (apple pie), one savory (pizza/italian seasoning). Stay warm and have a good weekend.
Hi There! I missed the new car news – is it another mustang?
Yes it is. A 2024 Dark Horse in Dark Matter Grey. The Dark Horse is the street legal race style car. It replaced the Mach 1 version.
ooooooo! cool
Apricot cardamom jam! Send some my way, please. At our last Farmers Market, I found coconut cardamom donuts and they were heavenly.
I found it at Trader Joe’s. Hopefully there’s one by you. They also had a yuzu flavored one a few months back. They’re always coming out with interesting flavors. Just hoping they still have the apricot one. Sometimes the special editions sell out fast and they don’t restock.
Happy Saturday Morning! Where is everyone? 🥰
What a sweet picture of Skye! My tabby Swee’Pea likes to be under cover too. Not the bed covers, that’s too unpredictable with someone tossing and turning. He prefers the furniture covers. I wonder if it is a tabby thing. Jacques and Butch are happy on top of the covers. Jacques is happiest on top of the covers, on top of me.
It’s a beautiful sunny day in Philly today. I’m having coffee in bed with cats and reading email. Can’t slug-a-bed too long though, because I have a long list of things to do today and tomorrow is Stitch & Bitch which means nothing gets done tomorrow
I finished editing my grandfather’s journals last night. Phew! My dad and his wife spent a year transcribing them and I promised to set them up to be printed by Blurb. The first printing revealed a lot of typos (over 800 pages). I’ve been chipping away at all the corrections for a few weeks now. I just need to finish the cover and set them up to be ordered. Feels good! And now I can concentrate on Christmas knitting.
I hope everyone is having an equally lovely and relaxing day! Love to you all. ❤️❤️❤️
OK first thing first, I haven’t been commenting on posts this week because I was under medication and I was afraid of saying something stupid.
You see, Monday evening around 6h45 pm while we were watching the news on TV in the living room somebody tried to break down our front door. There was a big boom and my husband who was sitting baby 6 feet from the door jumped up from his chair and held the door closed while I picked up the pone to call the police.
They were here in 5 minutes and stayed for a good 35 minutes looking around and taking our complain all the while Storm kept asking for pets form the nice police woman.
It could have been a lot worse because the only reason the door didn’t fly open is that we had big draft stopper in front of it and it jammed under the door, otherwise the person could have come one and attack us before we could react.
We spent the week looking for someone to repair the door jam because it’s completely ripped out (someone is doing it at this very moment) and looking at getting security cameras and motion detection lights.
In the 23 years we’ve been living here it’s the first time anything like this has happened it’s a quiet residential neighbourhood on a small street.
Everything is slowly getting back to normal so I’ll try tp be more present.
Have a good weekend and stay safe.
O Georgiana! Sending Storm virtual pets and you serious doses of courage! And I hope repairs go faster than they usually do in the Cutetropolitan community.
So very sorry, Georgiana. I’m glad you’re okay but what a horrible shock.
Oh, wow! I’m glad everything ended ok. That’s so scary.
Holy moly! Glad it was no worse—it was plenty bad enough. You’ve had a huge shock. It is okay to take time to recover.
Oh my gosh! how scary! I’m so relieved you are okay. We are here for you as you recover. sending hugs
I would have been freaking out! No one expects something like that to happen! Obviously an idiot🙄 I hope you are taking care of yourself after such a trauma. Pretzel sends bunny kisses!💋
I am so sorry this happened to you but even more pleased that no one came in.
and wow about the draft guard! I take door stop wedges with me when i travel and put them under the door when i travel.
Never considered them for home.
Happy Caturday! They’re doing a big upgrade at work and I will have to log in to work later tonight…possibly around midnight (though my boss texted yesterday and said it might be more like 5:00 🤞🏻)…to run some test reports. I told my boss he’s lucky I’m a night person. (I will get to take some time off later to make up for it; either a half day or whole day depending on how long it takes.) I was also off Thursday and Friday because the system was down since Wednesday morning so he suggested it’d be a good time to take some time off. Since I won’t be able to take off during the week of Thanksgiving (I usually take Black Friday off) I used two of my floating holidays, which I have to use by the end of the year. I’m saving the last one for the day after Christmas.
My new mantra: “We are calm, we are zen, we are not losing it.”
Courtesy of the Girl with the Dogs (while she was grooming a cat).
Tomorrow is my dad’s 85th birthday. My mom’s having a little surprise party (he thinks we’re just going out to dinner). I have the cake in my fridge and I have to pick up a balloon. Telling him my work stuff is Sunday afternoon so I’ll meet them at the restaurant.
The alien beings were good again…
Happy birthday to your dad! May I suggest that you surprise him, um, gently?
It’s not a big party, 11 of us total (including my dad’s sister who is visiting this weekend). My brother is going to their house first, and they’re planning to get there for 5:00. The rest of us should get there about 4:30. It’s about 20 minutes away so I’m going to leave my house around 3:15 so I have time to stop at the party store (which of course is in the opposite direction) for a balloon. (Unless I go later today…. My mom and aunt are stopping by this afternoon, my aunt will visit while my mom goes to pick up a cake to take to the church for tomorrow, so maybe I’ll run out after that.) Once we get everything settled at the table I’m going to wait by the host stand looking bored.
(I have this vague fear that somehow my dad will see this even though I’m sure he wouldn’t be reading this site…)
Simply outstanding dogs this week. I met the slurper yesterday and still laughed my head off today.
Folks, you can sign up for a *daily* dog email from We Rate Dogs. It’s been highly beneficial to my mental state this past week.
I must have watched the carrot-slurper at least a dozen times. The pause before he pulls it in and then another pause before he starts chomping. Too funny.
I subscribed to WRD emails several weeks ago and then they started sending them every day. One of them said if you’d prefer to go back to weekly you can change your preferences. I just thought, “why would I want to do that?”
Exactly. I enjoy something happy and wonderful in my email every day.
So, you want to adopt a Chihuahua?
Skye is a smart girl! Also gorgeous and probably soft. My cats have been snuggling a lot too.
We had our first snow two weeks ago, then an actual storm recently. Now we’re back to cold nights and warm, sunny days that heat up my home–I’m constantly opening and closing windows to cope.
I’ve been working on my emotional state by carefully choosing what to read (listen) and watch. To Kill a Mockingbird has been extremely therapeutic, plus it’s given me time to knit a complicated cabled sweater for me and a cowl and hat set for one nephew. More yarn comes in today, for my friend’s woven runner and a sweater for another nephew. I also have to pull out my fat yarns and knit things for the homeless shelters nearby. It’s good to balance things for myself with things for other people.
Love to you all, and many hugs.
Some things I’ve found calming lately: Listening to Billy Taylor on YouTube and watching clips from his music education programs. Watching live feeds of bird-feeders. I especially like one in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and one in South Africa. And, believe it or not, focusing on work. Anything I can do that is in some way constructive helps me feel better.
I was watching a lot more youtube stuff, including channels I don’t normally watch regularly, up to and since the election. I’m trying to refrain from adding some of them to my watch later list and just stick with the ones I actually subscribe to. For one, they’re all mostly saying the same things, and two, it’s just adding to my anxiety about the state of things, and while I’m concerned about some of the things that have been reported in the past few days there’s nothing I can do about it and listening to basically the same commentary over and over in different voices doesn’t help. Need to channel my energy into cleaning my house.
“We are calm, we are zen, we are not losing it.”
I’ve stopped reading NPR, which I receive daily. I’ve saved them, just can’t deal with now.
I get a few news/politics newsletters and I’ve barely read them for the last few months, probably. My brain just can’t focus that long. Considering just unsubscribing. I still listen to the daily NPR podcasts, though (Up First, Politics, Consider This), at least I can do other things while I listen.
Happy weekend, everyone.
Skye, you may come and join me in bed anytime. Hubby complains that I don’t move once I’m asleep, so I wouldn’t roll on you or anything.
Bob is the goodest boi for helping people. I understand not being able to see anything when you’re at an emotional low.
This week is over, thank goodness. Boil water advisory is over, and my strata actually took the responsibility of taking down the warning signs I had put up. No gratitude from them, though, for my alerting people about it in the first place.
Weather here is WET. Don’t have to go out for anything, so getting a lot of nothing done.
Have started my seasonal “finding hope” search. Each year at this time, I keep an eye out for an ornament or item that says HOPE. Making it myself or buying it online doesn’t count. Either I must find it, or someone must give it to me. It’s actually kind of fun, and I’ve had a few touching encounters doing it.
I have made a list of things that I have been procrastinating about, and this is the week for dealing with it. None of the items are big or time consuming, but I just haven’t felt like doing them. This is the week that I will, and I have promised myself we will go out for lunch when they’re done.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
I have this pin from Penzey’s.
Unfortunately they don’t have stores in Canada. (The closest store to me is Philadelphia, which is an hour and a half drive just to get to the city….)
(gasp!) ❤️Penzey’s❤️ !!!
you can order online: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/penzeys-pet-bandana/c-24/p-4334/pd-s
Their cinnamon is the best.
I know, but ordering online is not within Duckie’s rules.
I got mine as a free gift with an order a while back.
Last night I made chicken with Mural of Flavor seasoning.
What a great memory maker to have a “hope” quest each year. I also try to add a new “found ” ornament each year.
I think I mentioned a few years ago, that I was looking for a HOPE ornament in a store, and I explained my quest to one of the staff. Without saying a word, she pulled out her wallet and gave me her driver’s license. Her name was Hope.
🥰
Not much to report from the Shortcakery, other than that I’ve got my ticket for the Gary Oldman play next year. There was a queue (for members only), which is almost unknown for non-pantomime productions.
Changing the subject somewhat, I’ve just ordered a new mattress because the old one has started to make cartoony noises when I turn over. I’m also planning to replace the ugly front door and two internal doors, but I doubt if this will be possible before Christmas.
Matresses are important. So are doors. I hope you enjoy the search. And Gary Oldman.
Facebook just served me this and I had to share, because 1. amazing needlework and 2. cat paw prints!
That is a totally cool rug! At first I thought it was a photo of real snow!
Weirdly, I did not receive this yesterday. Only got the Maru one. Went back and checked thru trash
and junk—nothing. Weird.