Too Much Perfection?

For the past week or so, I have been in contact with a woman that had a litter of siamese cats available. I really cannot believe I was even thinking of adding another animal to our massive herd, but since LoLo passed away there has been a gaping hole in my household. I miss her. Terribly. She was my cat. I've always had seal point siamese cats and I really feel like something is missing by not having one.

I don't want to dishonor my LoLo by replacing her, because I know she cannot ever be replaced. She was the best cat. I just can't tell you how awesome she was for me. But I still felt like I needed to fill that gap the best I could. That's how I found a wonderful woman about six hours away that had a seal point female available.

After firing off about 50 emails in which I pestered this poor woman relentlessly, we decided to drive to pick up our new kitten on Sunday. The plan was to leave at 6:30am so we could get there and back at a semi-decent hour.

Yeah. Right.

The morning began with the alarm clock failing to go off. I woke up at 6:17 and asked DH (whom shall now be known as Big Daddy to the online world simply because the southern nickname amuses me and if I call him Bob everyone will think I'm talking about my pink vibrator, and I'm not) what time he'd actually meant for us to wake up. Because, you know, I'm too lazy good to be the one to have to wake up to the horrid twang of country music first thing in the morning. So I let him man the alarm clock then kick me awake once he's been fully awakened. And yes, even on his days off, he is the one with wake-up duty. He loves me.

Once we hauled our tired asses out of bed, Big Daddy went out to feed the animals while I dressed and then woke the wutz. It was right after I finished brushing the wutz's teeth that Big Daddy came back into the house and informed me that DD, one of our dogs, was dead. He then had to carry her down to the shop and fire up the infamous backhoe of death and bury the poor dog.

I don't know what did her in, possibly a combination of things. She was a dumpster dog, hence the name, and I have no idea how old she was. We'd had her for several years, though. I feel terrible that she passed on, but I have to be honest and say that I'm damned glad she was gone. She was a horribly mean dog and the only reason I kept her was because I was afraid she might hurt someone else or someone else's livestock. So I kept her just because I was too soft to euthanize her or send her to the humane society.

Anyways, that was the beginning of our day. We finally did make it on the road. Our long journey had begun! Then, about an hour into it, the wutz notified us that he felt sick. This announcement was accompanied by some coughing and a stuck out tongue. Swiftly followed by projectile vomiting all over himself and everything else. It took forever to slog through the vomit and get it all cleaned up. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to bring a change of clothes. And even more fortunate was that we realized how serious he was about being sick the second time he announced it and we actually had time to slam the vehicle onto the shoulder of the road and haul him out to get sick on the outside of the vehicle! Blech.

After a long nap while we drove, the wutz felt well enough to play on the slide at the requisite lunch stop at McDonald's. He even dined on chicken mcnuggets and kept them down.

Eventually we made it to our destination and we introduced ourselves to the woman and her husband. Her husband offered me a cup of homemade coffee. Seriously. He made it himself. Roasted, pressed, the whole nine yards. It was awesome. I mean, truly delish. It made my coffee this morning taste like dishwater. Dirty dishwater.

While we were there, another couple with their two lovely children arrived to get a siamese of their own. They were coming for a chocolate point male. They had just put their 14 year old cat, Mouse, to sleep the day before. The woman was heartbroken and having gone through the same thing just the other week, I completely understand how she was feeling. And her kitten is gorgeous! I know they will totally love him.

We finally got to meet 'Red' and she is the sweetest little kitten. She wanted her mommy, but she was very well mannered and so tiny and adorable with the fruitbat ears that I love. I'm definitely very pleased with her. I held her most of the time while we all sat and talked and the kids ran amok and played with one another. I feel like I made some great new friends on the trip and I am very happy to have had the opportunity to meet them all.

I'm even more delighted with our newest addition to the family! Her birthday was April 1st. Yes. April Fool's Day. So I named her Harley Quinn.

*waits*

*waits longer*

*sighs*


Fine, I'll tell you. Harley Quinn is the Joker's girlfriend. Yes. From the comics. Fitting, no?

Yes. I'm a dork. I admit that. Freely.


Harley slept on the wutz's lap almost the entire way home. It was the sweetest thing ever. He loves her and he kisses on her and she just looks at him with these wide eyes as if she expects him to eat her or something. And it isn't beyond the realm of possibility, I realize this.

But for now they are getting along wonderfully. He constantly wants to spend time with her, which I think is adorable. I threatened to turn around and go back to get another kitten for me, too. But Big Daddy refused. *sigh*

Finally we made it home. At 1am. After retrieving Harley from behind my cedar chest after she squirmed beneath the bathroom door and darted into my room, we all collapsed in bed at 2am and succumbed to sheer exhaustion.

Today Harley is settling. She's still terrified of her new surroundings, but I cannot blame her. She is a sweetie, though. I haven't had a kitten for 11 years, and it is a lot of fun to have one in the house again!

So, after all that blabbing, please meet Harley Quinn:



More pix soon, promise!

My siamese kitty, LoLo, is a very sick girl. She lost a lot of weight and when I took her Monday to the vet they said her white bloodcell count was sky high and her potassium was low. They gave her a shot of antibiotics and sent her home with me. She ate a little when she got home, but over the next day she started breathing rapidly. I took her back to the vet, and we tested her blood sugar and she appears to be diabetic.

However, something has happened to affect her heart and her lungs in the process. She has fluid in the space between her lungs and they don't know what kind of fluid it is. They are going to try to put her under and drain some of it out to test it. But the vet doesn't sound so certain she's strong enough to survive the procedure.My heart is breaking for my poor girl. She's my sweet alien-faced fruitbat cat. And DH calls her my doppelgänger, because she is always wherever I am. So please send up prayers and positive thoughts for my darling LoLo. I'm so heartbroken and worried about her. To be honest, I was amazed she made it through the night.

*Update*
LoLo survived the surgery to drain almost 60cc's of fluid from the areas on each side of her lungs. The vet also had to reinflate one lung, because the amount of fluid had collapsed it. Unfortunately, her breathing is still rapid and looks terrible. I just don't know if she's going to make it. If the fluid reaccumulates tomorrow, I guess we'll be done trying for a miracle. So right now, we're just praying for one.

I made this recipe Monday, after I saw it on Bakerella's Blog. It is her recipe, I've simply five-fingered it off her site. But it is good! So good, I felt it was worth coming out of my hiatus for.

So here it is:


Lemon Bars
Crust:
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar (plus more for dusting)

Topping:
1 1/2 cup plain sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan

To make crust:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and confectioner's sugar
Cut in butter until combined and crumbly.
Press mixture into bottom of pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

To make topping:
While crust is baking, prepare topping.
In a larger bowl, add sugar, flour, and baking powder.
Then add slightly beaten eggs and lemon juice.
Mix well and pour on top of warm baked crust.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
When cool, dust with confectioner's sugar and refrigerate.
Cut into bars and enjoy them cold!

When I started this blog, the purpose was to complete the Project 365 Blog. Yesterday was my 365th day of posting to Too Much Perfection? Can you believe it? I can't.

I am a procrastinator. I'm not typically one to be consistant with anything, either. I'm far too scatterbrained. I really did not think I could ever pull of this Project 365, but I thought having a far-fetched goal might motivate me enough to at least post randomly. Well, yeah. I guess some of my posts -- okay more often than not -- have been totally random. But it has been a daily randomness! 365 days worth!

Wow.

I have really come to love this blog. I love that this is a safe place for me to spew anything and everything and even nothing at all.

I love every one of you that read my blog. I especially love those of you that have taken the time to leave comments to my entries. You all rock! Thank you for making me feel that my drivel has been worth reading.

I also want to thank each of you that have brilliant blogs that I adore reading. Keep up the great writing!

So for now, I am going dark. I think. Just a little vacation, as it were.

Not for long, though. I still have too much spinning in my brain to stop blogging entirely. However, I doubt I'll be posting every single day. I'll spare you the lazy cheats and the boring YouTubes. Maybe.


Thank you all for sticking with me this past year. I love ya!