New York Renovator

There’s nothing Livvy likes better than when we rip the house apart, rearranging furniture or pulling pieces out to dust or vacuum. She zips around the house, finding all sorts of new things to do and explore.

She also loves it when we get a new package. She’s like a little kid! We throw the packaging material for her to wrastle and wrangle through.

She’s in her glory.

Gotta love kitties.

Happy weekend, friends!

Do you see her?

*******sighhhhh*******

Livvy’s been in a funk lately. The spring air and increase of rodent activity inside and outside has her feline blood surging. Take me outside! she meows. She’s inconsolable, meowing incessantly and turning up the “cuteness” effect to try and bamboozle one of us to open the door and allow her to roam. NOT.

So the grump has her angry spurts. She skulks behind chairs and under packaging debris. When one of us passes by, she swipes us with a soft paw.

Her tactics are not effective. Shredding my ankles does not inspire me to throw her out the door. This cat IS driving me bonkers, though! LOL. She has spring fever big time. Wonder what she’d register on the palm beach blood tests, eh?

I don’t dare let her out, though. She’s too precious. Either she’d be run down by the crazy traffic or someone would see how beautiful she is and kidnap her. I tell her she’s an “indoor kitty.” She won’t listen. She pouts, she cries, she throws fits. *sigh* The terrible teens…..

How are your critters faring, now that spring is around the corner?

Oh no! It’s Friday! My day got started so quickly that I plumb fergot about Find the Kitty Friday. I apologize to Livvy’s adoring fans.

Well, I haven’t had much time to hash through Livvy’s photo archives. I was going to upload an old video I found of her when she was a kitten (SQUEEEE!!) but I never got the time. Maybe next week.

But for this week, I do still have a bit of Livvy Cuteness.

She’s on the tablecloth, however. >:( I don’t like her doing that. But who can resist such adorable charms?

Well, this weekend looks to be another full one. Spring is on the way. We have a slew of activities planned, gearing up for the good weather. What do you have planned now that the weather is turning nicer? Gardening? House cleaning? beginner guitar lessons? Taking photos of your adorable kittehs?

Have a great weekend, friends.

I’ve been ripping the house apart, organizing papers and receipts and charts and documents in preparation for taxes. Good Lord, help me. I hate this time of year. I am the kind of person who loathes balancing the checkbook, let alone wrangling with receipts and tables and etc. Is it any wonder that I am in favor of a flat tax?!

So here come Livvy to provide a little entertainment for her hassled mommeh. Can you find the kitty?

Well? Did you spot her? The photo is a little blurry (taken with cell phone camera). Maybe this photo will help you.

I’ve actually found some pretty amazing junk things in some of my boxes. I have a lot of my grandmother’s old stuff. I also collect old toys. Hey, you never know if that beautiful bronze duncan raptor will be worth a fortune someday.

All right, enough entertainment. Back I go to the paperwork.

It seems like I never have my “big” camera around these days (I keep it in a drawer for safekeeping) so I usually resort to the cell phone camera. Unfortunately, the phone camera is not so hot, but hey– it’s a photo!

I was laying in bed one morning, shuddering under the mountain of blankets (we not running the baseboard heaters upstairs this year) and listening to the mice chewing in the walls. I tell you, these walls in this old 1855 house are so thin. I can hear every critter that creeps around! Anyway, I was laying in bed, trying not to think of all the stuff I had to jump into that day, when I heard a lap-lap-lap behind the curtain. It was Livvy. She had hopped up onto the moldy windowsill and was lapping up the water condensation on the old windows. Eww.

We really need to renovate the upstairs soon. We got the windows (haven’t installed them yet) so those come first. I am chomping at the bit, though, with these walls. They are uninsulated and cracking. The walls get freezing cold all winter long, it’s painful to touch them. They develop condensation and the water drips down the walls, can you believe it?! I really need to insulate. I also need to rewire the place. Two bedrooms have only one outlet right now, and the lights for another two don’t work. All in good time.

Have a great weekend, friends.

Goofy is my mascot. He’s a small resin character and he sits in my desk. He tends to flop over easily. But I still love him.

This morning, Livvy hopped onto my desk and sat in front of my computer monitor as she usually does 200 times a day.

Goofy seemed a little miffed. He trotted from his place at the back of the desk to oppose Livvy.

Humph says Livvy. I belong here, she says. Move.

Livvy 1, Goofy 0.

A glutton for punishment, Goofy made another stance to defend his territory.

WAP.

So guess who’s king of the desk now? I miss Goofy. He was a lot smaller and I could see the monitor when he was here…..

My daughter snapped this on her cell phone. Where could that skulking kitty be?! She’s doing it rite! LOL

Well, another year is winding down. I haven’t been thinking of any thoughts on renovation lately until about a month ago. It was about that time that I really “let” my desk “go.” I have always been a neatnick with a super-tidy desk, but I’ve been SO SO busy the past few months (since October, really) that my desk is a SHAME. A cryin’ shame. I even took a photo for you to see how bad it is. lol

Yes, everything but the kitchen sink and the diamond necklace. Yow.

The desk is actually one of the best ones I’ve ever had, The thing is solid wood, an old teacher’s desk from the 1940s. But it’s not exactly computer-compatible, as you can see. I just juggle way too much stuff on this desk, and with all the paperwork for the home business, I’ve run out of places to put things.

Which leads me back to thinking about renovation again. I’m going to create a built-in bookshelf and desk system in the living room. We have tons of books, most of them in boxes, still! I think my living room will look beautiful with some elegant shelves and a nice tidy area to work. I’ve ordered a few base cabinets and am waiting for them to arrive. Once they finally do, construction begins. I will have to reroute one wall sconce light and make a bit of a mess with the existing furniture, but we can handle it. I think I’ve finally got a vision for the room. It will probably take us about a year to or more to finish it, as it also involves removing an existing gas heater and installing a gas fireplace to a more central part of the room. Because a large portion of this room is my “home office,” I can deduct some of the expenses on my taxes. Thank God.

Anyway, I’ll have more updates about this later. I intend on building my own shelves from wood, so the project will certainly take some time. But when it’s done, it will look and function SO MUCH better. And the new shelves will give Livvy all sorts of amazing new places to hide!

Due to the holidays, Livvy the Cat is taking some time off from photo shoots. LOL. Translated, that means she has been a PILL and runs away when we pull out the camera. The gloomy winter weather has hit us all quite hard this year. Oh, it’s not enough to drive us to depression rehab treatment centers or anything — and we haven’t had an inch of snow on the ground yet — but it’s rather dull and gloomy and we’re all in a bit of a funk.

Well, to liven things up a bit, let’s play a game. I am excited about this one, because I so RARELY get such an opportunity to photograph something so neat. There’s a pigeon in the photo– can you spot him? I was THERE and I could not even see him. My son pointed him out but I couldn’t see him. I took the photo blindly, hoping I got him in the shot. After i enlarged the view, I see I got him! Now, it’s your turn: