kittens in the house!

i'd forgotten how one tiny kitten can centralize the entire energy and focus of a household onto its kitten antics. and two kittens? if i didn't lock 'em up every so often neither i nor the dogs would do anything but follow them around. neil is ridiculously conscientious of monitoring both kittens any time they are out of their kitten pen. he puts on his worried face and follows them around, making sure they are okay after exploring, swatting him in the face, stealing his food, or "treeing" hobbes on the counter. it's an incredible change to see in neil - now that he has a real job to do, he is so much more confident in his good-dogness. i've never seen him like this before. he is so much more secure and comfortable. makes me wonder if tank at paws (who reminds me so much of the neily boy) needs some kittens of his own to follow around. i let the kittens run amuck for about an hour, and now they and the dogs are sprawled out all over the place, exhausted. it's hard work laughing that much, after all.
hobbes despises the kittens. especially after they treed him. he has abandoned me for the day, and i expect something along the lines of floor poop later. balloon became insecure and started crying as soon as he realized the kittens were here. he's been clingy and whiney... shadow is hiding, and twilight took the opportunity to monopolize my bed for her own uses.
on a more teddy-ish note: i finally made the last payment for teddy's leg surgeries. i set it up to auto pay yesterday. within probable minutes of the electronic transfer, i noticed that teddy is holding his head sideways and flattening out one ear. he cried when i touched it. on closer inspection, i found out that he has an ear hematoma (blood pocket from some busted veins, often caused by excessive scratching, which teddy does due to allergies, despite twice daily medication). the ear, of course, requires a surgical procedure to repair. i love teddy, but sometimes... oh it's a good thing he's cute!

in case anyone was wondering...

no, i did not swing by the liquidation store and get veggies after that last post.
i'm still fighting connie pee and now i'm sitting neil (the big deal) who used to be my dog, and his two kittens. all at my house. six cats, three dogs, and one frazzled hillbilly/crazy cat lady. for the weekend. by monday i expect to be calm, composed, and ready to face my last workweek before romania. since i still haven't moved yet, i get to unpack some boxes so i can pack a duffel bag for the trip. speaking of not moving... now the bank is still willing to finance me personally, just not the property i want. meaning i need to either find a new broker or pick a different house. and since i already put down earnest money on this one... i get to redo a bunch of loan paperwork on monday. whoopee. ish.
balloon despises the kittens. connie is fascinated by them. neil is intrigued by connie and repeatedly tries to flirt with her. teddy is just puttering around all darn excited to have more friends here. hobbes is furious at the disruption of his dignified pooping on my floor.
although i have let the dishes pile up alarmingly (again), i managed to make room in the kitchen to throw together some cinnamon bread, which is sweetening up my evening quite nicely. speaking of nice evenings, i've spent the last couple of nights rehearsing. and we are still without a "jim" character for my gift of the magi play. it's going well other than that. i've got some stunning wigs... and the hillbilly play is a blast! we're tossing in a bunch of slapstick and gags. the audience will be rolling. can't wait to do that one!
as of last week, it seems like summer finally found its way here. we had some beautiful sunshine and it even got warm enough to go without a jacket in the middle of the afternoon...
so i'm spending the evening with the blog, a queen cd, and a medley of critters. joy and tiredness, i'm going to bed.

shoulder to the grindstone

yesterday was beyond a typical monday. in addition to the normal my-pet-started-having-the-runs-this-weekend calls, we had three emergencies - two hit by cars, and one poor li'l guy got kicked by a deer. all three survived, but boy, did we dole out the pain meds! we had to refer a couple of 'em out to other places with more hi-tech equipment, but word is they're doing okay so far. we also had a new employee start work. so we did paperwork, gave her the tour, got her started on reading manuals... fun stuff. and i got to coordinate our film shoot. yeah, we're making a commercial, and the film crew is coming out tomorrow. we had to line up some of our favorite clients (with well-behaved pets) to come and help us out. those were fun phone calls to make! the clients are all pretty excited about it. and my team members are all trying to decide which scrubs to wear... i figure that since the shoot is after work, we'll probably be all grubbied up by then anyway, so it won't matter much which scrubs.
so today i finalized all that and got the final lists of pets signed up for the spay/neuter clinic on saturday. besides filming tomorrow, i have to try to get the paperwork all set up for that. oh, and i'm now in charge of last minute additions because the normal sign-up person is going out of town. and i found out today that two of our hardcore volunteers can't be there. bummer! we've got plenty of substitutes and fresh meat (heehee) for me to boss around, but still... so there is some cleaning out of kennels and putting together of assignments i gotta do to get ready for that. i keep looking at the calendar wondering just where i'm gonna squeeze it all in.
the new employee is doing great so far. and connie had a great time out in the yard with the other dogs this afternoon. it was the first time i let her out of the kennel off-leash since she got spayed. she rolled around in the grass and chased other dogs and just generally had an awesome time. and then we had an emergency right at the end of the day. sick cat. he's probably gonna pull through, but what a way to end the day.
and then i went to learn the ropes of my pet sit for the week - three cats and two big dogs, one of whom needs meds twice a day. thank goodness she's good about pills. they live just around the corner from my new place, which would be really convenient if i had been able to move last weekend... (no, i'm not bitter).
did i mention that hobbes pooped on the floor? he was upset about something and took it out on me that way. poor connie noticed, and i could just about hear her response: "hey, i didn't know we were allowed to poop on the floor here! that's awesome!" so she pooped on the floor too. and peed for good measure. and was very careful to pee in the same spot this morning. i think she thinks that the whole world outside plus that one corner of carpet is fair game. that's not counting the dribbles she leaves pretty much all over the place - can't blame her for what she can't control, but holy moly, did the breaker-inners really have to steal my carpet steamer?
thank goodness for a generous donation of large towels that were intended for the clinic, but are currently spread out all over my floor (i'll get 'em there before saturday, really). yay for not discovering urine puddles by stepping in them!
so this evening i finally cracked and opened the chocolate orange that i gave myself last christmas... not bad. i probably deserve it.
tomorrow: work, film shoot, another pet-sit prep visit, paws shift, rehearsal, and if i'm lucky, swing by the liquidation store and grab some veggies. if i'm lucky.

days off

my boss went to a vma meeting thing. all the relief vets were booked up already. so we had to practically close the office. minimal staff (2 people) worked each day, answering phones and working on projects (i have never seen the floors look so nice!). and i took 2 days off. those days were supposed to coincide with my move. should have seen that one coming.
on the first day off i "slept in" until about 8am, then got involved with productive activities (cleaining, packing, painting, etc.). i started laundering all the blankies that kitties sleep on, so that i can pack them and move them sans cat hair. as though this is important. as though they won't become almost immediately saturated with hair from all the same cats once they're unpacked. i also played in my kitchen. packed some jars and all the fridge magnets. caught up on dishes (i can't wait to use the dishwasher at my new place!!). took down all the window blinds and piled them up to spray off in the shower. then i heard that cadillac jacks was closing and i'd better get on down there. so the blinds are still sitting in a pile, and i'm being careful what i wear in front of my windows.
on my way to jacks, the hillbilly play director pulled over and said he'd see me at rehearsal. i'm pleased to report that he still doesn't know i'd completely forgotten about it until then, as i played it off as that i just had to run an errand and i'd be right there. said errand involving going down to the bar to wish them the best. made a new friend(ish) who started trying to introduce me to people i already know. that was unique. when i hillbilly'd it up, someone tried to hook me up with a guy named bobby, since they said he's a billy too. i told 'em that if he really was a billy, i'd best not even try, as i was sure things wouldn't work out, what with me not being his sister and all.
then i went to rehearsal. cora belle had fun. and that was about it for day off number one.
number two was pathetic by comparison. got lots of quality facebook surveys done. got lots of chapters read. got lots of macaroni eaten. and went to iga to redbox a movie. yeah. good times.
so today is day three. had rehearsal as della in the morning. i still don't have a "husband jim" cast, so the assistant director read in. i need to get lots of props for the part, and a couple of wigs. what fun! after rehearsal, i went to iga, the thrift store, paws, the iga again, and probably somewhere else - oh, the gas station. it was a gorgeous day, and i feel like more things should have happened in it. guess i shouldn't complain.
one more day of trying to be useful-ish tomorrow. i think i'll be ready to go back across the street on monday.