New Toys

Soooo... I've always been against those fancy coffee makers that use the pre-packaged portions of coffee because I think it's a waste and over-priced.  That being said, John and I have been debating the necessity of us to have a coffee maker at all in the new house because we only occasionally drink coffee at home, and I only drink coffee when I really need it in the mornings; so, needless to say, we will never go through a full pot of coffee in a day.  However, for John's birthday, his parents saved us the decision and got us a Keurig one-cup-at-a-time coffee maker. 

We've been playing with it all afternoon.  You can get two small cups (there's a small and a large setting, 7.25oz vs 9.25oz)  out of the K-cups (the flavor cups) before it just gets too weak to be any good.  John's mom says that the second cup after a large brew is noticeably weak-tasting, but I am not so picky, so I can't really say.  I know I brewed a small and a large from one K-cup of tea to fill my big mug, and it tastes just fine.

We, of course, had to get the K-cup carousel to display all the flavors.  :)  Yay for counter space!

I think my opinions have been reversed on the fancy coffee maker for a few reasons: 1 - portion control.  It's nice to be able to throw my travel mug under there and not have to either brew a whole pot or pay McDonald's $1.53 if I need coffee in the morning.  2 - flavor selections beyond coffee.  Twinings, Bigelow, and Celestial Seasonings have gotten in on the Keurig system, so I can get my teas too.  3 - "my K-cups."  This one might be the most important for me, but they now make tiny, fillable filters to fit the Keurig system, so you can still buy coffee in bulk like a normal person.  They say "make your own blends," but I see it as "not being chained to their expensive coffees."  :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my sweetie!  He's ooooollllllldd now.   :)

(Harvey wanted to help with the present unwrapping)

Muahahaha

"Even if it upsets the NCAA logo police, W&M’s win over UVA puts a feather in the Tribe’s cap – maybe 2."  Thank you, Bob Molinaro (of the Virginian Pilot) for saying what we all are thinking.

BOOK REVIEW: Casting Spells

 

Casting Spells, by Barbara Bretton

Summary:  Chloe Hobbs runs a knitting shop in the bucolic Vermont town of Sugar Maple, a shop where "your yarn never tangles, you always get gauge, and the knitter sitting next to you comes out only after dark."  That's right, Sugar Maple is a secret haven for witches, faeries, vampires, and werewolves.  Chloe holds their entire future in her hands with the need to continue her family line, but a girl can still dream to meet Mr. Right... right?  But what happens when Mr. Right come to Sugar Maple in the form of an ordinary, human cop who's investigating Sugar Maple's first murder in hundreds of years? 

I don't know where I first saw this recommended, probably Interweave Knits or something like that,but hey, they got my three top topics: knitting, magic, and romance.  So it's been sitting on my To Read list for a while now, and I finally got around to it today.  (Don't worry, the romance is not smutty, bodice-buster romance novel quality, but they do do the nasty.)

Overall, it was enjoyable.  I churned through it in one sitting, so that says something for the "immersion" factor.  I found it a bit tricky in the start because Bretton uses first-person narrative (which is never my favorite to begin with) ... but with both her heroine and hero, seriously?!  It was a little rough for me getting used to the switching perspectives, but that wasn't a long-term concern.  I was able to get used to it eventually.  The plot moved along well, but I found myself at the end getting antsy wanting to find out the "will he stay or will he leave her" question that was hanging over the couple since they met.  But it was a cute and happy bit of story.

What was highly enjoyable for the knitter in me was all the references.  Bretton knits herself (Romancing the Yarn) and she used Wendy D. Johnson (Wendy Knits) and Dawn Brocco (DB Knitwear Designs) to help her out even more.  All the big yarn names are dropped in the book: Debby Bliss's Cashmerino, Cascade 220, Koigu, Lopi, Rowan, etc.  And the tone is great.  My favorite part was when Luke (the cop) first enters the shop:

I stepped deeper into the store, past a polished maple worktable piled high with pointed sticks and scissors and things that would never make it past airport security... (blah blah blah, describing the shop) I noticed a ball of something blue and fluffy and picked it up.  I squeezed it and the price tag jumped out, and I quickly put it back down again.  For one ball of yarn? This was worse than crack.  Get addicted to this stuff and you would be living in your minivan.

Sigh. So true, so true.  :)

(Followed in sequel by Laced with Magic that apparently continues Chloe's misadventures in love and magic)

My defective kitty

Prayer circles, gather and bend a head for my little Harvey cat.  Where to begin?  His scratching and itching has not abated since the start of the month (even with 2 weeks on antibiotics and steroids); and then on top of that, he got a sniffle last Monday.  Now, for most cats, sniffles are no biggie, but my baby has Feline HIV, a.k.a. No Immune System.  So, when the nose whistle and snot did not go away quickly, I called up the new area vet (we moved, remember?) on Wednesday and made an appointment for Friday after work.

Cut to me getting home Wednesday, and John says, "Watch Harvey's back leg; is he limping?"  So we watch Harvey walk around... then start waddling... then full-on stagger and stumble around. He developed a head-tilt and a lean to his left side, then had a minor fall-down convulsion  fit.  At that point, I had a fit and dragged Harvey and John to the emergency vet in town. After a VERY long and stressful 30 minutes or so, Doc says that there is this thing in cats called vestibular disease.  They don't know what it really is, why it happens, how to prevent it, or (even worse) how to fix it... but it happens frequently at the turn of the seasons and totally screws with the cat's inner ear.  Very traumatic for owners, but not too terrible for the cat.  At least, as not as terrible as seizures or strokes or brain pudding-ification.  Doc says that it comes on quickly and can leave just as randomly.  I had flashbacks to where I was cracked out on that inner-ear medication back in college that made me all loopy and dizzy, and I sympathize with my kitty.

So we got to take Harvey home and watch him stagger around with the grace of a drunken college party-goer... with one eye closed... and one high heel on... on a waxed floor.  :(  It's really heart-wrenching to watch sometimes.  AND THEN, as if all this crap wasn't bad enough, the little fool stopped eating!  He lost a little less than a full pound in about a week, and he only started out at 7.8 lbs! That's about 12%, or about 15-20lbs for a grown person.

We decided to keep the regular vet appointment today, and Vet was able to give me some more information about vestibular disease.  She peered in Harvey's ear and saw a bunch of gunk that might be hiding an inner ear infection that might have contributed to the vestibular disease.  It's all a bunch of maybes and mights, but there's not much we can do but keep an eye on him so that he doesn't have too many problems getting around.

And good news, everyone!  Vet suggested getting some wet, stinky cat food to see if that would entice him to eat, and as I was holding the dish in front of his nose, he started chowing down!  Apparently, it was a height thing- the dish was too low on the ground for him to lower his wobbly head to eat out of!  So, now all his dishes are up on boxes and books to raise them up.  He's almost eaten a whole pouch of Friskies tonight (Granted, a cat his size should eat like 3-4 in a day, but still! more than nothing!)

Hopes and prayers:
1 - Harvey keeps eating and puts the weight back on.
2 - Antibiotic shot clears up sniffle-nose and there are no complications.
3 - Vestibular disease quickly clears up & he stops stumbling around.
4 - Itching fades, too, so his skin can heal.

Like I said, my kitty has problems.  August is not his month.   :(