Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Remember that time we had a cat?

Um, yeah. We had a cat for about 2 weeks.

Her name is Nikki and she is my kitty. Nikki was a stray.

She was found on the side of the road by my mom's co-worker in the Winter of 1998. Temperatures had been sub-zero for almost a week and my mom's friend saw only two eyes flash in the darkness (because in Cleveland, it gets dark around 3:30-4pm!). She stopped to see what it was and found a cold, hungry little kitty.

My mom's friend took the cat in to the vet and got her fixed up. This friend brought the cat into work the next day, and my mom felt like we were old enough to handle a cat, so (after begging for a dog for years) guess what my sister and I got for Christmas that year?  :) A cat.



Somehow, Megan and I decided to name her Nikki. My first memory of her was of her being really sick - she had worms and parasites, and was pretty emaciated and small when we got her. On her second night with us, she puked out a huuuuuge worm. It might be, to this day, the grossest thing I have ever seen. So gross, (and so intact) that the vet permanently kept the worm in a jar as a sample specimen for future reference.
We had a pet bunny at the time, Tippy. Tippy was a big boy! He was an 8-10 pound (down-eared) mini-lop bunny that roamed the house and was litter-trained. The cat, on the other hand, was tiny, 6 pounds, and afraid of everything that moved. Tippy would sometimes chase Nikki,  but the two eventually got along by ignoring each other most of the time.

Fast-forward to college, to our Indianapolis house, and now to today. I have only been able to see Nikki during Christmas when I come back to Cleveland for the holidays. My sister had since adopted two other gigantic 16- and 18- pound polydactyl cats, Oatmeal Raisin and Snickerdoodle, who seemed to enjoy fighting with and picking on her. Hissing, growling, and taking clawed swats at each other was a normal occurrence. She became an partial- outdoor cat to give her time away from what I called the two "dumbcats." I always felt bad that there was nothing I could do to save her from living a life of anxiety and being bullied. :(

Don't let the extra toes and big eyes fool you.
Nikki approaching computing position
Since Megan moved into my family's Westlake house in December, Nikki was about to live with her 4 dogs, including a boxer and a pitbull. Good for her? You do the math. My mom also reported showing some signs of allergies to the cat too, but eventually decided it was safer and happier for her to live in Newark with her. Ben's allergic to cats, but it seemed like he'd gotten significantly better over the past few years.

Christmas 2012 was celebrated here in Bloomington, so my mom brought Nikki down here for the first time since she would be away too long to leave her on her own at home. She loved being in the house and having so much room to explore! When it was time for my mom to go, we decided to keep Nikki - after all, Ben's allergies hadn't really flared up at all. It was so much fun - after all these years of missing my kitty, she finally got to be with me! She resumed her favorite hobby of sitting on my wrists while I typed on my laptop. (Isn't that a typical cat favorite-past time?)


Here's what happened the first time Todd discovered another animal in the house, which is basically how all of their run-ins went from that point on. (If you're wondering why we have so many carpet remnants, it's Todd's bunny-bridge... he is afraid to walk on wood floors and gets around only on carpeted areas. Silly boy!)




Nikki is kind of a food monger, so we had to keep all of our food put away at all times. That was a lot harder than you'd think! It was cool having a pet that came when you called, and one that would listen when you told her no (most of the time). She loooooved laying on our wood floor and carpet in the sunshine, and when we played board games she'd lay down right in the middle of the action. Of course, she always wanted to rub up on Ben. ;) As a cat who's gotten used to being outdoors, our neighborhood in Bloomington is not ideal for her - I let her outside once, but worried the whole time that she'd get too close to the street. Cars and construction traffic around here usually fly through here 40+ mph.




Shorty!


Todd didn't quite roll out the welcome mat for her, but he's never really been too accommodating with animals in "his" territory. She would climb up and sit in our laps during TV time, but Todd wouldn't allow it; he would hop up onto the sofa and aggressively chase her away as soon as he saw her approach. Not cool, bunny! For two animals identical in size (6 pounds), I'm still surprised that Todd the bunny was the dominant one. He was on high-alert nearly 100% of the time with Nikki around (even if she's minding her own business).



A week later, though, Ben started noticing a worsening skin reaction and guessed it was because of the cat. That was the final straw and Nikki had to go. My mom came to pick her up that weekend, after 12 glorious days here in Bloomington.

And that is the story of the time we had a cat. Miss you, Neeks!

Update- Nikki's living happily with my mom in Newark now. She's still trying to figure out why the houses are so close together and where to hunt for mice when she's allowed outside. Meanwhile, Ben's skin irritation has disappeared and I'm pretty sure I'd be a crazy cat lady if I could...

Saturday, January 21, 2012

More Christmas Gifting Fun

What is it? It's an alpaca!! Jaz & Jose Carlos made it out of pipe and yarn. They remembered how much I.seriously.LOVE.alpacas!! 



Jose Carlos added the ears, feet, and beads. Nice detail, huh?


Fun fact: Ohio has the most alpacas in the US. :)



He sits on my bookshelf. Very cool!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

DIY Christmas - Monogram Art

Bartley Christmas 2011 was a homemade Christmas -- no store-bought gifts. Are you ready to see some fun DIY projects? Over the next few posts I'll share everything we gave and received.


For Jaz & Jose Carlos, I made some easy monogram artwork with some things I had laying around...
It worked out perfectly, since I had some extra picture frames left from an Ikea frame-hoarding binge over the summer. :)


Here's what you'll need:
- Picture frame, shadowbox preferred
- Exacto knife
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Glue stick
- Paper: scrapbook paper, cardstock, and colored paper


Find the full tutorial at House Stuff Works, my house/crafty blog. :) You'll find my other DIY projects there too!

Enjoy!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Merry Christmas to Us!

For Christmas this year, we each bought ourselves headlamps for running: the Black Diamond Sprinter

This was the only product I had to recommend relatively blindly in my Winter Gear Guide. I chose it because it is a best-seller. But now that I actually own a Sprinter myself, I love it SO SO much. I can't believe I waited this long to buy a headlamp. 



Here's what mind looks like close up... Ben's is black/green.
Photo: Blackdiamondequipment.com

Dork.
Why is this headlamp the next best thing since.... pumpkin spice cookies?
(Sliced bread ain't all that hot. Pumpkin spice cookies? oh my.)
  1. No more tripping in the dark, and no more falling in the dark! Last year I was running with Rachel N. and I bit it on something as shallow as a manhole cover. One of many many episodes. I've picked gravel out of my palms enough lately to appreciate this.
  2. I'm kind of still afraid of the dark. I must've read too many mystery books as a kid, and more lately, watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds (um, is it just me or is that show really twisted??).
  3. No excuse for not running. Not that I'll run by myself in the dark - because, excuse me for being blunt, we all know that's straight stupid (and scary. See #2). It gives me and Ben a little bit more motivation to head out the door together during months with short daylight.
  4. A new running thing  = extra excitement = motivation. Nothing gets your butt out the door like a new pair of running shoes, a new jacket, or in this case - a new headlamp. I just wanna get out there and use it! (So what if it was only 5pm and still light out when I turned it on...)
  5. It's bright. Really bright. Because of #2, my solitary night legs of the Red Eye Relay are kind of terrifying in a fun-while-wetting-your-pants sort of way.  I don't use the head strap and it's hard to tell the top from the bottom of the headlamp; I turned the LED front lamp on earlier today and blinded  myself for a few minutes, so it is NOT too dim! My WalMart clip-on light was cool and super-cheap, but definitely not bright enough for regular Winter nighttime runs.

    Steph's & Rick's second leg. Photo: Andrea Eagleman
  6. We lose power in our neighborhood more than occasionally. Realistically, we lose power once every 3 months, possibly because of new home construction nearby. My bike lamp works REALLY well, but it can get extremely hot to touch/hold. The headlamp lets me go hands-free!
  7. The light is adjustable. I can make it brighter or dimmer, and it strobes! The angle of the lamp is adjustable too - major plus, especially if you need to look farther ahead on some occasions than others (trails vs. roads). Some headlamps aren't as flexible, so if you're buying one, look out for that.
  8. Back red tail light. It's just good to be soon from front and back. Because I run on mainly roads, I'd much rather be seen also from behind when I'm crossing a street (truth be told, particularly while jaywalking...). It strobes!
  9. Fits great. I didn't think I'd like the weight of a front and back light, but the two together feel more balanced. When I tried on a front-lamp-only headlamp, I didn't like the feeling of being front-heavy. Front and back lights still work ok with my small head and with a ponytail too.
  10. I hadn't been in JL Waters much. Buy it online? Meh. Matt at JL Waters knew a LOT about the two headlamps we'd narrowed down and he let us try out a bunch before we bought the Sprinters. He owns a headlamp or two himself and mountain bikes at night! He opened the packages for both headlamps we were considering, and attached/detached some of the different battery packs for the other headlamp. He encouraged us to take them out for a run (to test bounciness). :) To compare brightness, he took us down to the JL Waters cellar (creepy - the cellar, not Matt) and we turned them on, brightening and dimming them, to see which type of headlamp we each liked using best. Cost: The headlamps cost less at JL Waters than anywhere else online, but for the equal pricing, I feel like Matt's time/knowledge/service/ability to bust open a few brand new headlamp packages made it worth it. A little more difficult to do on a computer screen. More importantly, who is actually patient enough to wait for SuperSaver shipping?! All in all, I actually had fun while choosing/buying this thing! Supportin' local business. It gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Ok, and now some we-love-our-new-headlamps photos! Confession: these were taken after we used them to go get the mail... haha.
Super-bright setting

Ben bright, Steph off

Ben dim, Steph dim

So, what do you use your headlamp for? Doing the dishes, mail-fetching, stupid stuff like us? :)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

DIY Christmas

Hey there, and happy new year!


I'm a little late on posting our life updates, so I'm just going to jump in with Christmas (and try to recall the NYC Marathon for you later!)... only 'cause you asked!

Bartley Christmas 2011 was a homemade Christmas -- no store-bought gifts. Are you ready to see some fun DIY projects? Over the next few posts I'll share everything we gave and received.


Gift number 1:


Etched Tumbler Glasses



Close-ups...




If you're going to take on this project, here's what you'll need:
  • Glass tumblers
  • Armour Etch glass etching cream (try Jo-Ann, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby)
  • Painters tape
  • Cardstock
  • Exacto knife
  • Paint brush


Or, if you're fancy:
  • Glass tumblers
  • Armour Etch
  • Paint brush
  • Adhesive vinyl & vinyl-cutting machine

For the full tutorial, go to House Stuff Works, my house/crafty blog. :)

Enjoy!


Psst - we had a great Christmas. It looked a little like this...



Tori's birthday celebration
Multiple showings of A Christmas Story!
Best. Christmas. Movie. Ever.

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