Garage Organization

Or yet another reason my cat is lacking a few brain cells...

Commentary by Felix...

"Ooh, look! I bet I can see out the window if I can just get up on that shelf!"
















"How do I get up there? Why are you taking pictures of me Mom?"
















"This might work..."

"Why is it so lumpy and what are all these obstacles? Maybe if I just keep going, they'll go away". (It's a foosball table under a sheet, and yes, he walked all the way across in the wrong direction, before heading back to jump up on the shelf).

"SUCCESS! Why'd I get up here again? How do I get back down?"

Cat Stroller

No, I did not buy a stroller for my cats! The furries are just very curious about all the new things that are coming out of various sized boxes around the house lately. I'm not sure if they like the boxes or the things that come out of them more.

Worn Out Welcome & A Wild Party

When we got home tonight from Striker's softball game, I looked down at our door mat and said "We've worn out our welcome", then took a picture after I was done laughing at myself. I figured that it would be tonight's post...

Then we opened the door...

We weren't sure which of the furries was the culprit, until I found these...Oskar was definitely involved...though I think he had help ;)

And now Oskar is passed out on the couch...

Poor Oskar!

Oskar has been known to hurt himself jumping off of the couch to chase one of the cats, but usually gets better in a day or two if we just prevent him from too much jumping.

On Sunday or Monday he hurt himself chasing the cat after he swatted at him while Oskar was sleeping on the couch. Why they repeatedly do this is beyond me, but I swear it happens almost daily. It seemed to be different that the usual injury because he could walk on it, but avoided all bouncing or jumping/hopping. I gave it an extra day to see if he'd get any better today and planned to take him to the vet tomorrow morning if there wasn't any improvement.

When I got home from the dentist around 6:30 tonight, Oskar wasn't on the couch, on the rug, in the kitchen, or in the garage (all of his usual places). I panicked, because there weren't many other places he could be. I found him on the fireplace shaking and once I picked him up, he yelped and started whining. Not good. I wrapped him in "his" snuggie and cuddled him to see if he'd calm down. When that didn't work, I decided that we needed to go to the animal hospital immediately.

Since Oskar requires that I hold him in the car, and there was NO WAY I was going to be able to hold him and drive with the belly, I enlisted the chauffeur services of Mr. KFuj since Striker was off bowling strikes about 30-45 minutes away. The irony in this is that Mr. KFuj is the one person that Oskar cannot stand. For some unknown reason, the second that Mr. KFuj is in sight, Oskar barks his head off and refuses to let him near him. We made some progress after Mr. KFuj fed him a few treats last time, but still not enough to consider them buddies.

Tonight, we got into Mr. KFuj's car and Oskar didn't bark once...also not a good sign. We arrived at the animal hospital and found it to be empty...YAY! We were taken back right away, Oskar weighed in at a whopping 12.2 lbs and then I started signing papers approving the rapidly growing total.

Emergency Exam $65
2 x-rays $200
2 Injections $101
2 medications to take home $47.50
Hazardous Waste Disposal $4

Total Bill: $417.50

Thankfully all bones and discs were intact. The vet said it appeared to be muscle spasms (perhaps Oskar wants to be like Daddy?) and shot him up with a muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory. By the time we got home he was able to walk normally with a little spring in his step. He's now passed out on the couch. I have to continue the muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory pills 3 times a day and keep him on "bed rest" (maybe he wants to be like Mommy?)for the next 7-10 days. The hardest part will be preventing him from jumping off the couch and the bed...especially for me since he's sorta low to the ground and it's getting hard to bend over and pick him up/put him down. If he doesn't cooperate, he'll be banned to the floor in the bedroom, which I'm certain will NOT go well...you saw his preferred sleeping position!

This picture was taken as proof of how drugged Oskar was....he allowed Scott to hold him (twice! This was a reenactment of the first time at the animal hospital.)

Good Golly Miss Molly!

My "cousin" Molly had knee surgery on Monday. How cute and sad is this all at the same time?

Yes, that's a pink cast.

Quaking and Shaking

Yes, there was a pretty good earthquake in Chino Hills today (details can be found here), yes, I live in Chino, and yes, everything is fine. Just like the fires in October, as soon as everyone hears that something happened in Chino, I start getting phone calls and emails. Thanks to everyone for your concern, but 3 things fell off of shelves, nothing broke, and the furries seemed unaffected by the whole event. It probably helped that my cleaning ladies were here for their monthly visit and the furries weren't alone without humans to "protect".

I was riding in the car with Rachel on our way to lunch when the quake hit. Neither of us knew what it was, but it felt sorta like Rachel's rear tires slid like we were on ice or in sand or something. We shrugged it off and figure it was just a pot hole or something.

We got to the restaurant and Kevin called Rach to see if she was ok, which is when we found out that it was an earthquake. I also pointed out that we were on an overpass over a rather large wash when we had the "tire issue". When I found out that it was centered in Chino Hills, I busted out Mr. Pearl to request that the hubby go home to check on our furry critters as I feared that something might have fallen over and trapped them or that they'd be panicked and scared. He BBM'd back that he was already on his way and I went back to my lunch.

Then it occurred to me that he had immediately left to check on the furries, but hadn't called or BBM'd me!!! Of course, as is typical after a quake, all of the phone lines were jammed. (This is further reason that everyone should have a BlackBerry or a Smartphone that can send email at the very least!) Allegedly, KT made a call to her mom DURING the quake...talk about quick reflexes!

I'm not irrational or illogical though - the brownie point that the hubby earned for going home to check on the "kids" cancelled out the minus point for not checking on me first. :)

That's a LOT of Fur!

I finally got a digital scale and we finally got around to weighing the furry critters since we've wondered which weighed the most since we brought Chaz home last month.

The results:
Oskar 12lbs
Felix 15lbs
Chaz/Chuck/Jack/Chazilla 17lbs

Best $20 I ever spent!

If you have a cat, you need to get one of these from Target.


It's sorta hard to tell from the picture, but the thing is U-shaped so that it rocks back and forth. Inside each of the large green tubes is a ball in a track so that it slides back and forth and jingles a bell inside the ball as it rocks. The middle portion is perfect for scratching, and the top part has a ball with a bell to bat at.

The best part? Felix loves it!

Pet Peeves

I got this as a forward and had to share:

Ten Peeves that Dogs Have About Humans
1)Blaming your farts on me...not funny... not funny at all !!!
2)Yelling at me for barking. I'M A FRIGGIN' DOG
3) Taking me for a walk, then not letting me check stuff out. Exactly whose walk is this anyway?
4) Any trick that involves balancing food on my nose. Stop it!
5) Any haircut that involves bows or ribbons. Now you know why we chew your stuff up when you're not home.
6)The sleight of hand, fake fetch throw. You fooled a dog! Whoooo Hoooooooo what a proud moment for the top of the food chain.
7) Taking me to the vet for 'the big snip', then acting surprised when I freak out every time we go back!
8) Getting upset when I sniff the crotches of your guests. Sorry, but I haven't quite mastered that handshake thing yet.
9) Dog sweaters. Hello ??? Haven't you noticed the fur?
10) How you act disgusted when I lick myself. Look, we both know the truth. You're just jealous.
Now lay off me on some of these things. We both know who's boss here! You don't see me picking up your poop do you?

Crap Day!

After it was suggested that we have a "national HCBC Crap Day", I figured no day was better than today.

My mom recently cleaned out her garage, which means I inherited a bunch of mementos that I'd somehow "forgot" when I moved out. :) After allowing my lifelong accumulation of "crap" to take up space in my living room for a few weeks, I finally decided to put it away. Oh all right, I had to put it away since my cleaning lady is coming tomorrow. :)

Thus came the hunt for a trunk...I found it at Cost Plus!

I found this warning rather amusing...

Which gave me an idea...


Isn't he a good sport? The hubby is too :)

For the Fe-Fe

This will also double as the story of how my pets were named.

A few months after the hubby and I got married we decided to get a miniature dachshund aka a wiener dog. It seemed fitting (and yes, uncreative) to name him Oskar (the k makes it German).

A year and a half later, we added a kitty to the family. I knew the owner of a cat that had just had a litter of kittens and requested a girl kitty. We got what we thought was an all black female and named "her" Dee Dee, which was short for Ding Dong, since mama cat is named Twinkie. It turned out that Dee Dee was a he and needed a new name.

My father-in-law suggested Felix which was a perfect fit! Not only was he all black, but Oskar and Felix are the names of The Odd Couple, and they are quite the odd couple!

Oskar Makes Himself Comfortable

This was not staged. Luckily the hubby was close by and is well trained in the importance of capturing blog worthy photos. (I was lying in bed watching tv and apparently my chest/armpit looked cozy.)

Bert the Fish

As I commented on Queen B today, I kill all living plants with very few exceptions (I think I inherited this trait from my mother). I have had some luck with a bamboo plant that is almost to its third anniversary with me, but my beta fish, Bert, outlived my first bamboo plant. All other plants? Dead.

Back in the days when I was the co-admin of the office, my co-admin and I thought that it'd be neat to have beta fish. She got Ernie, then I got Bert a few days later. It made us happy to come into the office every day and have someone to greet us happily (even if the little guys just wanted to be fed).

The only part that sucked was cleaning out their bowls. I have a fear of flopping fish (aka fish out of water) ever since I was in a pet store when I was younger and watched a little fishy commit suicide by jumping out of his tank and flopping about. On one of our early bowl cleaning afternoons, we safely transported the fishies to their respective cup holding tanks and then assigned one of the sales guys to "fish-sit". We returned to find the sales guy chatting with a colleague and poor little Bert flopping around on the table outside of his cup.

Thankfully Bert was saved and went on to live a long life of about 3 years!

The Grass Might Be Fake...

But the dog did his business there anyway...YAY!!!!

Neighbors!!!

While walking Oskar tonight I met a neighbor couple and their two dogs. Carlos and Jennifer are getting married in about 3 weeks and she's only a couple years older than me (hence the very creative name of Jennifer). Their dogs are Dori and Callie and both are Oskar-sized. Do you think Oskar made friends with either of them? No, of course not. He barked his head off until I picked him up. Dori did the same. Callie seems to be a puppy so she just followed suit.

Jennifer and I committed to convincing our dogs to be friends (which of course would make us friends). YAY!!! Neighbor friends that I didn't go to high school with.

Oh yeah, that reminds me...Reva and Josh's house looks like it's done, so they should be moving in soon. More newlywed neighbors! I love my neighborhood more and more each day!!! Seriously, this is cool. I'll be able to socialize while being at home...this is new to me.

Now if I can just find the owner of the big dog that keeps pooping in front of my house, I'll give them a complimentary holder with poop bag picker-uppers that they can tie on their leash. Oskar has one, but I've never had to use it...he's very particular about relieveing himself in public places. Yes, I'm serious.

Pressure!!

I want to live up to the excellent blogging of Kim1Champ and Queen B, but feel somewhat limited in topics. Blogging about work is a no no, and that is a good 50% of my entire existance. My commute is no longer unrealistic and there are a few other topics that I can't write about as this is a public blog...

So that leaves me with housebreaking my dog for the third time. Here's a tip...don't get a puppy if there's any chance you'll be moving in the next 5 years. My dog is going to be 3 in September and he's lived in 3 houses with a significant amount of time spent visiting at my aunt and uncle's. The only place he's 100% housebroken is at my aunt's. At home he's 100% pee on pads and about 10% poop on puppy pads. My dog is smart, smart dogs tend to be stubborn. He knows what he's doing when he refuses to go pee in the garage like we want him to in the new house, and he knows what he's doing when he poops in various locations throughout the new house. Case in point - today I come home from work and find to poop deposits. One is smack in the middle of my new area rug, and the other is inches away from the puppy pads that we are slowly inching to the garage door. The fact that the dog figured out which room was the kitchen and wanted to pee there indicates that he is fairly intelligent for a dog. The fact that he REFUSES to pee in the garage indicates that he is stubborn.

I'm off until Monday so I will be using the next 4 days to train the little poop head - wish me luck!

Queen B, can I send my little poop head up to spend some time with your little angels? 14 hours is quite the impressive feat!

Oh and in case anyone is wondering, my cat found his litter box in the garage and started using it promptly the day we moved in.

My kitten is making my dog stupid 1/17

It's not news that my kitten is missing a few marbles. He gets lost from time to time (remember he's an indoor cat) and generally does stupid crap all the time. He is rather fond of TV and we often catch him watching various shows...we think Idol is his new favorite.

My dog is very intelligent. He has a fairly extensive vocabulary - his favorite words are: go, outside, bye-bye, sleepies, Molly, and treat. Like Pavlov's dog, turning off the TV at night causes him to jump off the couch and run to the bedroom for "sleepies time". The sound of the trash can being emptied in the kitchen causes him to run to the back door to go "outside". Seeing me put on shoes sends him into panic mode in fear that I might leave him, unless he hears he jingle of the dog tags on his collar and then he becomes excited, like a kid at Christmas, because he knows he gets to "go" with mommy...and usually that means he gets to see "Molly". I know it's not rocket science, but for a dog that is roughly the size of a short cat, I'm impressed.

Ever since we got Felix (the kitten) 8 or 9 months ago, I've become concerned that Oskar (the dog) isn't quite as brilliant as I thought he was. For example, I fell asleep on the couch last night. Will (the husband) knows better than to wake me once I've fallen asleep so I slept there. Oskar of course slept on the couch with me because he absolutely HAS to touch me at all times while we sleep. Felix went to bed with Daddy because he ABSOLUTELY loves to sleep at the foot of my side of the bed. (Do the math - that's me, the kitten, AND the dog on my half of the bed - thank goodness it's a Cal King). Anyhow, at about 3:30 AM the dog starts barking at something. Oskar is 10 pounds, not much of a guard dog, but he sounds bigger than he is and started "protecting" us after spending a good amount of time with Molly (the beagle that barks at EVERYTHING). I obviously look to see what creature is threatening me and see the kitten sitting in the hallway. Oskar continues to bark his head off until Will and I get up and each pick up a "Furry" and head to the bedroom. But the stupidity doesn't stop there. Tonight, I'm sitting on the couch blogging about my quads and Will is cooking dinner when Oskar starts barking again. I look up and he is sitting on the hearth of the fireplace looking straight at his reflection in the glass, barking.He's lucky I love him!!