Monday, May 23, 2016

Kool and the Gang Would Not Approve

Last night, I washed Marigold's (really old cat) face and brushed her long Persian fur. I brushed Sonic (ten year old boy cat) and cleaned his ears. I tried to trim the kitten's nails, but he wasn't having it. Then I decided to groom myself with a shower, hair-washing, shaving my prickly legs, removing old nail polish that started to chip, thoroughly flossing and whitening my teeth. The whole time, this song was stuck in my brain.



When I felt so good, fresh, clean and groomed, Sonic (ten year old boy cat with all kinds of anxiety) decided to spray smelly kitty urine* under Chad's side of the desk. I got to climb under the desk in my pajamas with a flashlight, Nature's Miracle cleaning spritz and a roll of paper towels to clean up the stinky spray. This was stuck in my head:



*Sonic has been to the veterinarian about the urine spraying. He always gets an excellent bill of health. He does not spray because of any type of infection or illness. His spraying is purely behavioral. He is also a resource guarder: blocking the other pets from food, water, litter boxes, the good toys. He was neutered at seven months old. Sonic is a fifteen-pound bruiser of a cat who started life as part of a feral cat colony. He is also our only cat allowed outside. He has a waterproof, heated little house on the deck with dual exits. I fear if we forced him to live only inside, our entire house would end up covered in his stinky musk. 

Friday, May 20, 2016

Love Will Keep Us Together

This is stuck in my head today. You're welcome.




Thursday, May 19, 2016

Ten Years Ago


On this day ten years ago, Chad and I signed a bunch of papers and started making mortgage payments for The 1952 House. We've made this sweet old house a lot prettier and a little safer over the past ten years. I'm so proud of all we've done to make this house a home for ourselves and our ever-growing menagerie of pets.




The 1952 House Today


In 2006

Backyard Today

Backyard in 2006

Back of house today

Back of house in 2006

Saturday, May 14, 2016

I Performed Something I Wrote

I performed a few weeks ago as part of testify ATX storytelling at Spider House Ballroom. The theme was death and taxes. My story actually covered two deaths, a betrayal, an inheritance and taxes. I also made a reference to Bleak House in my story, of which I am very proud.

I don't want to post the full story on my blog, because it's too much dirty laundry to air on the interwebs. I don't want to change names and details to protect the guilty. I don't want to edit for fear my story might meet the wrong set of judgmental eyes. If you were there that night, you got to hear it. If not, there will be no transcripts without very special exception. 


The house at Spider House Ballroom was nearly full the night I performed. Everyone was so supportive. I was VERY nervous. Performing my own story felt overly intimate, but I’m glad I did it. People laughed in the right places mostly, but one person gave a big guffaw right after I said my dad dropped dead while exercising on a treadmill in his garage (the second sentence of my eleven minute spoken story) which threw me for a fraction of a second. I got choked up in the first paragraph describing the day my dad died, but recovered quickly. My story was well received. Approximately ten people said encouraging things after the show. My husband and a sweet friend were there for much-needed moral support. 

If I had another solid story to fit the monthly theme of testify ATX, I feel like I could do it again, but I was SO nervous beforehand. I’m equal parts proud of myself for doing it, and relieved it is over.

The other storytellers at testify ATX are talented people with a gift for words and spinning a great tale. I was humbled and honored to be among them. 

I will be at every future testify ATX show that I can reasonably attend. You should check it out too if you're in the Austin area. *Click here for the testify ATX website.*