New York Renovator

It’s too hot today to fool around with boxes much. When I suggested that Livvy play along, she languidly looked my way as if to say, “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” and then looked away.

Well, I’m no person to pass up a fun holiday, heat or no heat. So here are a few blasts from the past. Happy Boxing Day! LOL

I love hard work. I could watch it ALL DAY!

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We’ve been chipping away, little by little, at the spring cleaning chores I never finished. Livvy always like to lend a paw.

Happy weekend!

Most of the time I tolerate Livvy’s antics pretty well. She has this very bad habit of climbing up on my desk and planting her big Siamese butt in front of my monitor. She then presses her wet nose on the screen– or even licks it!– so the monitor is speckled with slimy cat snot. *gag* Before I moved my keyboard into a keyboard desk tray, she’d lounge on the keyboard, too. If I was frittering away my time on the computer, that’d be one thing. But I work from home! I have scads of articles to write, and all she wants is ATTENTION! Who does she think she is, Cleopatra??

Well, I had a little fun with Livvy yesterday. Yeah, I was a bit stir-crazy. Looks like it was contagious.

She can be such a pain sometimes, but isn’t she adorable?!

Doesn’t it look like she is doing her homework? Haha, if only!

She’s gotten into this bad habit of sitting on the dining room table. :-p Even during dinner time! :-p *sigh*

Don’t ask me why all my photos taken with the iPhone are suddenly turning out with a pink hue. There are no camera adjustment settings (that I am aware of). Maybe it’s because spring is coming and the sun’s rays are refracting (or reflecting or refraring or whatever the word is) on the earth’s atmosphere??? Or maybe it’s just because the walls are red and the iPhone goes screwy…

So, you ready for spring yet? I know, funny question, ha ha ha!

Here she is, not very stealthy these days:

If anything, she is absolutely demanding my full, unabated attention. This is what she does ALL DAY LONG at my desk.

*sigh* I am unable to work, and I have a lot of work to do! She’s never really aggravated me very much before, but I am finding myself getting exasperated when she does this. I had to make the decision to work upstairs on one of the old laptop computers before I caved in and got myself one of my own….. I recline on my bed to write! Shes very happy there, snuggled on top of my legs with a cozy blanket.

It’s so cute that she wants to be snuggled all the time… but some days I just have a lot of work! How about your cats, are they snuggle bunnies or do they act like real cats, hahah!

The most striking feature of Siamese cats, I think, is their eyes. Such beautiful eyes.

Livvy’s are light-blue. She is a Tabby Point Siamese (half Siamese, half Tabby cat). And she seems to have inherited the best of both breeds: she’s elegant, spunky, personable, and vivacious. And gorgeous.

She was sitting on my desk the other day (right in front of my computer screen, as USUAL), when her bright eyes caught mine. Her eyes were soaking in all the daylight streaming in from the window. She actually allowed me to take her photo!

Her eyes have some white in them. It’s kind of creepy, in a way. lol.

Despite her bright eyes, she’s been out of sorts lately. She’s eating a LOT, probably twice as much as she usually does. She’s a little lethargic, kind of moody, too. I’m not sure what’s up with her. Since the outdoor cat has worms, I am always on the lookout for those, but Livvy doesn’t seem to be afflicted (that I can tell). Maybe she’s just plain ol’ hungry? Do cats go on eating spurts? She hasn’t gained any weight, she might even have lost a little lately. I’d take her to the vet, but what would I tell him? That she’s been moody? Eating a lot? I mean, how do you diagnose something like that?

Well, anyway, if any of you seasoned cat owners have some advice, feel free to leave it. Maybe she’s just going through a stage. Cats are sometimes so mysterious. *sigh*

Yep, she’s STILL playing with the kraft paper! It’s terrific stuff, I’m telling you.

Well, I was tired of seeing all this paper lying around the living room floor (I got another package, and HOH BOY did we have a paper party), so this morning I scooped it all up and tossed it. She wasn’t too sad about it. She now has a mouse toy with wheels (if you scoot the wheels back, the mouse goes zipping across the floor) that she’s been batting around. It’s noisy, too– so she likes to play with it up and down the stairs. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. She’s been a bundle of energy this week. Or maybe she’s sick of being cooped up in the house surrounded by mounds and mounds of snow, like the kids are. haha

Back to the paper, why don’t they make paper bags for groceries anymore? I liked them. I do not like the plastic bags at all. They rip, they tear, they are noisy… I always found so many uses for paper bags, but they are no more to be found.

I bought a bag of Dad’s cat food yesterday. I flipped the bag into the shopping cart and did a triple-take when I spotted the photo of this cat:

Holy cow!!! Is that my cat?!?!?!

I came home and the kids and I closely inspected the picture. Everyone said it was Livvy except my daughter, who said the nose was too long. But the cat in the photo has the same pink nose with brown “trim” all around it, the same little kink at the end of the tail, the same polydactyl toes, and the same markings. WHOA! We looked through our online photos of Livvy for a copy. The closest I could find was this:

Isn’t she absolutely BEAUTIFUL?!??! My heart turned to mush.

But no, I guess the Dad’s cat is not Livvy. The markings under the eye and on the nose are a TINY bit different. And the stripes on the Dad’s cat legs are not as pronounced as Livvy’s are. I’m rather relieved. I didn’t want to have to contact Dad’s and ask them what the heck are they doing with my beautiful cat!

All my photos are protected by copyright. I will share them, but people must ask permission and give me credit before using them. I’ve already had one photo taken– and the guy even removed my watermark! :-p

Anyway, it’s really weird to think that Livvy has a “twin” somewhere. I’d heard that people also have “twins”- somewhere on this planet there walks another person who looks strikingly similar to you, someone who can pass off as you on camera or driver’s license! :-p Maybe I have seen too many “In Search Of” episodes as a kid. But it is a fact that I have been approached by strangers, asking if I was so-and-so. It’s happened several times in my life. Apparently, I look like a number of other people. When I was in New York City, in drama school, my Theatre History teacher confessed that I looked just like the young lady who had run off with her husband. Shocked, I exclaimed, “Well, it wasn’t me!” So it’s creepy to have a “twin,” I think.

ANYWAY. Boy, did I get off on a tangent. LOL. So Livvy has a “twin,” or something pretty close. That photo threw me for a loop, I tell you. But I guess you could say the Cat’s On the Bag.

Well, the temperatures have warmed up to a balmy 32 degrees today! Practically myrtle beach weather here in Upstate NY! The icicles are melting, the ice dams are shortening, and The Little Princess is whining. She wants to go outside in te WORST way. Three weeks ago, I did a boo-boo and carried her outside to experience snow falling. She loved it. Now, she won’t stop sniveling. She wants to go OUTSIDE. She will park herself of my computer and stare at me, whimpering.

But LIVVY!!! I have a ton of work to do– clients are waiting for their articles and she is in the way!

Well, as the saying goes: There’s more than one way to skin a cat (my apologies to you cat bloggers). I figured I’d take her outside and use this excursion as a photo opp for the blogs. She didn’t seem to mind being used as a photo prop, not one bit. Without further ado, here she is, The Snow Queen, HRH Olivia the Sniveler.

Doesn’t she look like a Siberian tiger? I love her blue eyes. [...]