New York Renovator

It’s been a looooong couple of weeks, friends. After Thanksgiving, I took time off to recuperate. Life has been topsy-turvy and very hectic and it seems that everything around me is changing right now. I’m looking into a major lifestyle change (a job outside the home) that will affect how we do things around here. There’s a lot more to share but it will have to wait until things are more settled and I have more answers.

In my absence, I realized I haven’t had a Find the Kitty in a long time. How you guys must have suffered! Well, here ya go. And it’s a toughy this week. Can you find her?

I have a few home improvement stories to tell in the near future, too, including a delightful little ditty about our holiday toilet emergency installation. Oh, I thought such things were the mere tales of stand-up comics, but no — they REALLY DO HAPPEN. More to come. :S

The weather has been excellent here, so I’ve been scrambling to finish up those last few projects before winter *really* hits. We finally got our gas fireplace in.

With a little help, of course. Meet “Science” cat.

LOL. Wouldn’t she look adorable with a pair of hipster glasses, like the “real” Science cat?

What IS it with people taking photos of cats with glasses and bow ties, anyway? I’m seeing it everywhere! It’s kinda cute, but it’s got to be uncomfortable for the cats.

Anyway, we got heat in the living room, YAY for us. Just in the nick of time because the temps dropped that week. We still have no snow, which is quite unusual for Upstate New York. We got perhaps a 1/4-inch a few days ago. We’re 10 inches below normal rainfall, too (no complaints here), but I would like a little snow. Ah well, all in good time.

By the way, in the first photo, Livvy is inspecting the fireplace box that houses all the innards of the heater. She was hilarious, popping in and out and in again. She is getting very smart! She knows how to hook up a gas line and wire cables and install a toilet — more on that later.

Maybe she really IS a science cat.

She’s at it again…

She’s been very clingy lately. If I work at the desk, she plants her furry behind in front of my monitor. If I go to my laptop, she is determined to curl her 13-pound body around my neck. GAH!

We are thinking of getting another kitty, as a companion for Livvy. I think she’d do well. She tries to befriend the Yorkies, but they just want to run around the house and pee on things. That’s just not her style, lol. More to come. Finding a Siamese kitten is a difficult job, indeed!

Apple DEVICES, that is. Look at that guilty face!

She has chewed through FOUR of my Apple iPad and iPhone charging cables. BAD kitty! Here I am charging my device, and she’s sneaking up to get at it. SO bad!

I forgot to take photos of the bookshelves themselves… we have one of the four units cut and stained. I start assembling later this week.

We still have no heat in the living room, so I need to up the ante. Gotta build that fireplace area and then the husband can fit everything else in. Whew. Winter is fast approaching!

In case you’re wondering, that’s Livvy’s bear on the counter. The bear is LIvvy’s “playmate.” She can play kinda rough, though. We took a video of her with Teddy a few years ago.

She’s not a baby anymore! *sniff*

Everything was crammed into the corner as we are working on the bookcase units. She just loves the excitement, and always has to be “in” on the activity. I have no idea why she crawled underneath her cardboard scratchy-toy-thingy. She actually got stuck, believe it or not! LOL

The project is coming along, slooooowly. It’s not very fun, sawing and hammering in a finished living room. The dust goes everywhere and the sawdust gets into the area rug. I think we’re do for one of those fancy
“round rock texas upholstery cleaning” jobs, too.

Well, it must be done. I still have to build our little fireplace/mantel unit before it gets too cold. The summer just flew by!

She absolutely loved it under the fabric. Not sure why, maybe she wanted to “be” where we were. It was very difficult to get anything done with her inside the reams of cloth! When I plopped some extra fabric on the floor, she ignored it. Go figure.

Have a happy weekend, friends!

Blogging has really taken a back seat this summer, hasn’t it? Well, it usually does for me. Summers are when I have to cram in all the house projects on top of all the other stuff I do.

We’ve been very busy working on redecorating the living room. I am happy to say that I think i may finally get my curtain drapes done tonight. The boys are very much relieved, as they are the ones who hang the sheets in the windows every night. :S

As always, Livvy likes to join in on the projects. She’s so cute, it’s difficult to boot her out.

My built-in bookcase projects has slowed considerably. It’s a large project and I’m not the type to do a little here, a little there when I can squeeze things in. I need a big chunk of time to get it all done. I haven’t had any chunks of time lately. Hopefully, next week I’ll dedicate my efforts to it. We are all so tired of seeing the piles of books and boxes around the house!