Elynn's Random Life

Thunder and lightning

2008-05-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to one WICKED thunderstorm! My whole house was shaking and it sounded like each strike was hitting in my yard. I jogged downstairs, turned off all the computer equipment (yup, I leave it on overnight) and thanked my stars that nothing got zotted.

Looks like it was much worse in other areas though - tornadoes ripping through four states last night brought death and devastation to a lot of the Midwest. So I'll thank my stars and enjoy the now lush green grass outside. Not to mention all the flower buds which opened up after they got pelted by the rain - the trees look amazing.

People I'm glad I don't live next to...

2008-04-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

Tops on the list would be this guy, who has been setting off fireworks in his house because "he didn't like the neighbors". Turns out he also had narcotics and firearms - yeah, not TOO unstable.

Read the original article trying to figure out the source of the mysterious lights and explosions here, then check out the follow up story about the guy they arrested.

I am so glad my neighbors are sensible!

Hot Water Heater blew up

2008-04-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yup, it went kablooey all over my basement. OK, not "mythbusters" level kablooey, but still. It was disgusting too - it corroded and rust, etc was everywhere. So I spent this morning mopping, cussing and waiting for the great repair guys to come fix things. And for the record they had it all straightened out, lickety split, which was a real relief!

Is it just me?

2008-02-18T12:34:00.001-08:00

Well I think it's official - I've missed two weeks of American Idol and I just have no interest in trying to catch up. And it isn't just me - my Mom, as big an Idol fanatic as I've ever seen,has also stopped watching.

What's happening here? Well, for one thing the talent they've picked up this year is even more vanilla than in previous ones. I don't know if the judges have just somehow not been able to get their fingers on the pulse of what makes us tick - or if there really is no talent left out there. I find I'm more interested in watching other shows - I enjoyed Knight Rider on Sunday (yeah I know, but it was a guilty pleasure!) and I'm still hopelessly addicted to Ghost Hunters. UFO Hunters, not so much - it was kind of a wash. I love Torchwood and watch it religiously. And once April comes and I can have my BSG fix well, that's gonna be my #1.

Are you watching American Idol? What do you think of this season?

Sunshine Kitty 2, Other Cats 0

2008-01-31T11:05:00.001-08:00

Well now that our newest cat, Sunshine, has received a clean bill of health we started integrating her into the family. We weren't sure quite how to go about it though - she's tiny, about 12 years old according to the vet, and such a sweet, loving little soul that I was sure that Bunny and Nyoka were going to run roughshod over her.

Yeah, turns out I had nothing to worry about! Sunshine likes to sleep in the cat carrier (small, dark and warm in there I suppose) so when Nyoka walked up she had no idea anyone was inside. Until Sunshine erupted with a growl and yip that would make a wolverine proud - at which point Nyoka cut out of there like some lit a rocket under her butt!

So far Sunshine has made it 100% clear to our other cats that our bedroom is HER TERRITORY, and anyone who walks in will be eviscerated. Meaning nobody is going in or bothering her.

I think Sunshine is going to fit in just fine :)

Sometimes you have to let it happen

2008-01-17T00:06:00.000-08:00

When I got up this morning, I still wasn't really sure which way the day was going to go. Good? Bad? Or one of those forgettable, middle of the road days where you look back two weeks later and can't remember anything remarkable about it, not even what you had for lunch.

So I walked in to the coffee shop yesterday afternoon, craving my vanilla latte (I am such an addict!) It was going to be my special treat, a little indulgence that I could have even now, when money is tight and time even tighter. I had already ordered when I saw the handwritten sign taped to the cash register that said "Sorry, credit card machine is down. Cash only."

Stifling my interior whiner (and she can be SO loud) I stopped the clerk before she started fixing my drinks, apologized and said I'd have to skip the drinks as I didn't have any cash with me. One of the drawbacks about blogging for a living is that my cash, what there is, is almost always spoken for. Groceries, major utility bills, unexpected and yet somehow regular emergencies, etc. When I buy a treat it is often funded by my PayPal MasterCard where my blogging money goes. There's almost never much there after bills are paid, but it's my secret stash - sometimes only $2, sometimes as much as $10, that I can dip into now and again.

I turned to go when a woman just ahead of me in line picking up her order stopped me. "Let me buy your drinks today," she said pulling out a $20. I was... I don't know what I was. I stammered something about no, it was ok, really, I'd just come back later, the coffees weren't a big deal - which I think she and I both knew was a lie, the coffees were a very big deal at that moment. I'd been looking forward to this one stupid little thing all day as I worked, and scrimped and generally muddled through, and now I felt it slipping away again, I'd just have to do without - when she did the most amazing thing.

She put a hand on my arm and said "Let someone else be good to YOU for a change. Accept a random act of kindness." It took a moment to sink in, and suddenly I realized I was being a martyr. I was also not being selfless, I was being selfish; depriving this person of the opportunity to do something good for someone else... and feel good about HERSELF for the rest of the day. I accepted and thanked her (I hope graciously - I was still so stunned by the whole thing) and as she climbed into her white SUV and drove away I realized I didn't even know her name.

Neither, it turned out, did the barista. "Not a regular," she said. She had slipped a package of chocolate covered coffee beans in my unknown benefactor's bag, and she too seemed surprised and touched by the act. I took my latte outside, climbed in the car, sipped my drink and thought - thank you God, thank you universe, and thank you to the unknown woman who saw somehow that i needed that moment, driving right now on some highway in her white SUV. Thank you - for all those little random acts of kindness.

Great time was had by all

2008-01-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

Well we had a blast last night - we went over to a friend's house for dinner. I'm helping his new wife learn a bit more about cooking, but honestly she did great. We had Chicken Marsala, noodles, roasted broccoli, Caesar salad and chocolate cake for desert.

It was nice having a night out - we played Trivial Pursuit (fun) and some game named 10 something or other - not as much fun basically because with that many people (there were six of us) it took to long to run a turn. In both cases we actually quit before the game would have finished, simply because after an hour or two you're tired and need a break.

All in all, though, a great evening. I came home and crashed, and now it's time to get back to blogging!

RealRank is really cool

2008-01-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well Izea launched RealRank today and now that I've had some time to look it over I feel qualified to give an opinion. (And weren't you all waiting with baited breath?)

I think Google is going to have some stiff competition with this latest offering. First of all, I love, absolutely LOVE, that it isn't a black box. I know what they are measuring to get my Real Rank (which isn't nearly as good as I'd like but at least I know what to do to improve!) RealRank weights your daily unique visitors as 70% of your score, active daily inbound links as 20% and daily page views as 10%. This seems about right to me and gives me a great view of exactly what I could be doing to improve.

But what I really like most is being able to view the top 100 blogs. Why? Because I learn by seeing how other people do things. By seeing exactly what it takes to crack the top 100, and what each of these blogs do to achieve that status, I am developing a real idea of how I can improve my own work. My writing is pretty good - it's my marketing that sucks :) Networking and interacting with the community as a whole are what a high RealRank is all about - and it gives a MUCH more accurate assessment of exactly what sort of reach your blog has.

This changes the whole ball game, and I for one am excited to see it!

If you haven't given them a look-see take a peek at IzeaRanks and maybe get your blog listed! Oh and if you do, drop me a comment so I can check you out :)

A Kitchen Optimist

2008-01-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

I don't know why they call them refrigerators. I call mine a "food graveyard", where all that expensive healthy food I buy goes to die. The veggie drawer alone is simply terrifying - when did I buy green onions? And what IS that weird purple spongy lump in the ziploc at the bottom of the drawer? Could it be ginger?

Isn't ginger brown, not purple?

Anyway, today I girded myself, filled the sink with hot soapy water and attacked the fridge. And I can proudly state that as of this moment, everything in there is *ahem*

Edible.

Better still I washed out both sides - how the HELL did chocolate get on the walls of the freezer? Seriously, how? And I threw out no fewer than ten half bags of freezer burned vegetables. So help me I'm going to start using the whole bag. Honestly.

There's a feeling you get when you bring order to that untamed wild that is the kitchen. I feel positively Martha Stewart, tying on my seldom used apron and scurrying around, coming up with ways to preserve those odds and ends ("I know! I'll pre-chop the celery and freeze it for use in soups and stews!" Never mind that by the time I get around to this it will be buried under a mountain of freeze died mystery meat.)

It seems like in a crazy world, sometimes the only venue left I have control over is the kitchen. And it is the one place where my optimism shines through each and every time. My gardening efforts have long since faded, I no longer sort my socks - but I still lust after those cute little wicker organizers for my kitchen and scheme methods for turning those leftover veggies into a delicious homemade chicken stock with the carcass of the chicken I bought at Boston Market last night.

Muffins, anyone?

Warm and wonderful

2008-01-07T07:56:00.001-08:00

What a treat! Well after a busy, busy weekend I woke up this morning to a warm (if cloudy) day :) It's almost 60 degrees here in the Cleveland area which is WAY out of the norm. We expect tomorrow to be much the same before things go back to the normal cold, snowy and gray days of January. I'm just tickled that I can go outside without a coat for a change... I may get Nyoka on her leash and go out for a walk later.

Can you hear that sound?

2008-01-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

Yup, it's that time again - American Idol time! I can't believe that in less than two weeks I will be cringing to the sounds of deluded pop star wannabes, and trying to pick out early returns of future contenders. Last year we saw the Sanjaya phenomenon appear early in the season, will there be any stand outs in the premiere? Hard to say but one thing is for sure - I'll be watching with baited breath!

The words are still unwritten

2008-01-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is a gorgeous day! There's quite a lot of snow outside, but it's the fluffy white and pretty kind. I like that, because it's pretty and easy to shovel. In fact it's perfect Christmas snow, only a week late :)

It's a fresh New Year and the world just seems full of possibilities. Yesterday i cleaned out the front hall closet, and today I'm getting ready to break in the new vacuum cleaner and maybe do some pantry organizing. May not sound like fun to you, but for me this is the height of awesome! The house looks better every day, and I feel better too. I've lost 20 pounds so far (check out my diet blog via that "Blog Log" link in the sidebar) and I'm feeling better all the time.

A new year, a new day, a new life

2008-01-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

Isn't it funny how when you're in your 20's you look forward to staying up late on New Year's eve - but by the time you're approaching 40 you are pumping coffee into yourself with an IV and just hoping to make it to 12:01? Well, that's how I felt anyway :)

Our family tradition has always been to "sweep in the New Year". As a child my mom would wait until the stroke of midnight, then grab an old straw broom. Propping open the front door, she'd sweep with long slow stroke, pushing the new year in the front door. It's a tradition I've followed every year, but I had no idea where it came from.

Turns out it's a New Year's Tradition she learned growing up in Pennsylvania, and actually is Eastern European in origin. Although she didn't follow all of the steps often associated with this tradition, it provides a great sense of connection for me. I can picture my Grandmother patiently using her broom just as I do, and helping to secure another year of blessings for her family.

Now if you'll pardon me, I have a pot of pork and sauerkraut to see to. Happy New Years!

A riff riff here and a riff riff there...

2007-12-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

A fine mist of crispy white frost coats the blades of grass all the way to the tree line this morning. I hope your holiday was as nice as mine was - good times with family and friends and plenty of memories.

Our nephew finally got his Wii this Christmas and it was an immediate hit with everyone :) From age 9 to age 69, everyone got up and gave it their best. Most of us "old fogies" (meaning over the age of 15) likes the sports game best out of all of them - lots of tennis, bowling and boxing going on and still the Christmas tree survived LOL.

Best on my list for the holiday, though, was Rifftrax - if you haven't checked these out you are missing one hell of a treat. If you remember Mystery Science Theater 3000 you were probably disappointed when it went off the air... but Mike, Kevin and much of the gang are here, recording audio tracks of jokes to watch with all your favorite movies. We picked up Star Wars episodes 1-3 and have been laughing until tears run down our face (and they have a handy player so you can synchronize the jokes to the audio and watch the movie right on your computer's DVD drive!) Well worth the money and if you need a pick me up, you just gotta check them out.

Out of grayness, a shining light

2007-12-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

It seems like all I have been for the last few months is sad. But today I woke up and it was like the storm clouds broke. The sun is shining through, and for the first time since dad passed I feel calm - peaceful - even happy. I don't think he'd mind a bit.

I turned on the holiday music, got my lace up shoes on, and boogied my butt into the kitchen and started working on the desk area that's been bringing me down for weeks. Every time I looked at it, I'd think "See, you will never get your finances organized - you can never get the house straightened out - you're a failure." Well today I remembered that I love myself and I am not a failure! So after a good dose of Flylady I went in and started working. Every hour I work 45 minutes and take a 15 minute break - and I already threw dinner in the crock pot so I don't have to worry about getting my fella something to eat when he gets in. And lo and behold, it's coming together even better than I hoped!

I know that anything I got done today was a blessing, and that I can do anything 15 minutes at a time :) I'm going to flutter my way out of this depression and get my good vibes back. Because Christmas doesn't have to be a depressing time - unless I let it be one. And tonight I'm making cookies for gifts for my family & friends :) Why be depressed that money's tight when everyone always raves about my cooking? Heck, I'll put together some music CD's too for everyone to enjoy - it will be a wonderfully happy holiday. And I bet Dad will enjoy it too, wherever he is!

Every one of us can only count on one day - the day we're in. I'm going to make my "today" the best day I can :)

Covered in snowflakes

2007-12-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

Well this weekend was our first major snowstorm, and as I sit looking out my window my entire yard is buried in almost a foot of snow. And wow, is it gorgeous! It may stick around for Christmas (I sure hope so) since it looks like it's gonna be cold for the next couple weeks. My fella dug out the snow blower and started excavating the driveway, so that we can get out for groceries today. If I was a kid, I'd be begging for a sled, it's absolutely the kind of white, thick frosty day I remember from childhood. And all the cats are hovering at the windows, blinking as they stare into all that whiteness - isn't it great how everything is always fresh and new to animals and children?

My fella's cousin is looking so good!

2007-12-12T15:48:00.000-08:00

OK if you've read my blog you know that I have struggled with weight loss. Well I'm not alone - my fella's family has also worked hard to try and maintain a healthy weight. Guess that's one reason we get along so well - similar tendencies :) Anyhow, his Cousin Sue has some laparoscopic surgery and everyone sort of gave her a hard time. But being the holidays we got a chance to see her, and well - WOW.

I don't really qualify for surgery myself - I'm not morbidly obese, just kinda cute and chubby ;) But it really was stunning the transformation it made in Sue - she's down from a size 24 to a size 12 and looks fantastic! I decided to look up more about the procedure and have found a couple websites that talk about it, especially the new lapband system (it's less invasive). So if you've struggled with weight loss and are interested, then check out the site offered by JourneyLite - they perform lapband Houston, L.A. and Tampa. The site includes lots of information and a free seminar you can enroll in. It really did work for Sue, so I think it's worth considering as an option.

Visited mom today

2007-12-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

It felt weird to go home for a visit today and not see Dad waiting on the porch as he'd always done. But it was so good to see mom. Kiddo has been doing an absolutely fantastic job in getting the house straightened up, so we took Mom out for lunch.

We were hoping to check out Great Wolf lodge, but they are closed in Wednesdays in December (which, by the way, is really ODD) so we ended up at Red Lobster instead. We all had a great time and mom really enjoyed everything. I'm going to try to make this a weekly event - although I suppose maybe I'd better not do it on Wednesdays!

Anyhow we're back home now and I have enough time to get a bit of fun in playing City of Heroes before I get started on dinner. Onward to save Paragon City!

Revenge is a dish best served... cold...

2007-12-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hollywood has always had a fascination with the act of revenge and the fallout that it leaves in its wake. My fella enjoys the old movie classics, and when he got a chance to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site, he was really excited! Much like the old classics, this revenge-themed dark musical shows the aftermath of revenge and it's effects on everyone involved.

A perfect example of the "revenge movie" is the Universal Horror classic The Black Cat (1934). Bela Lugosi plays Vitus Werdegast a man who is returning home to his native country of Hungary after eighteen years, having spent many of them in a Russian prison camp thanks to the treachery of his one time friend, Boris Karloff’s Hjalmar Poelzig during the Great War. Werdegast is also seeking the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, who Poelzig had taken with him when he betrayed the fort they were station at to the enemy and escaped. After learning that his wife had died almost immediately after his imprisonment, Werdegast is ready to exact his revenge but holds off in the hope that he may yet be reunited with his daughter. Things come to a head when he discovers his grown daughter’s body; Poelzig killed her to keep from losing her to her father. Berserk, Werdegast straps Poelzig to a rack and skins him alive before blowing up the man’s castle, built on the ruins of the fort he had originally betrayed, and ending both of their lives.

Powerful stuff, that still has impact on the audience of today. Similar in many respects to the similarly themed Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Johnny Depp plays Benjamin Barker, a man falsely imprisoned by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), so that the man can steal his wife and child. Escaping after fifteen years he returns to his old barber shop, taking the name of Sweeney Todd. He eventually learns that his wife killed herself after Turpin forced himself on her - and Turpin now plans the same fate for Barker’s maturing daughter. When Sweeney Todd's true identity is discovered by another barber, Todd kills him but doesn’t know how to dispose of the body. The downstairs pie shop owner Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who is in financial trouble, suggests making meat pies with the body. The result is a perfect murder by Todd and sudden success for Lovett as the pies sell out. While she dreams of getting enough money from this to retire to a life with Todd, he only has thoughts of revenge as people keep visiting his shop and then disappearing...

For more information on this grisly upcoming movie, be sure and visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace. But I'd caution you against eating the pies...

Grocery time!

2007-12-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well it's my most favorite day of the week - grocery time! It's kind of a challenge to figure out how to buy enough food for us on a strict budget - especially when we're trying to eat healthy (which can be pricey). I have a couple of resources which help me with this:

Saving Dinner - my favorite cookbook by Leanne Ely. Healthy balanced food, with weekly menus pre-planned and grocery lists. Yay! She has also done a holiday version, a low-carb version and a vegetarian version. Here's a list of cookbooks by Leanne Ely

The Dinner Doctor by Anne Byrn - on weeks where there is a time crunch, this book has fantastic ideas for ways to make healthy food fast. The downside is it is expensive to buy prepared foods. Like the old saying goes, it either costs money or time. Here's the list of Anne Byrn "Dinner Doctor" cookbooks.

Good news is that looks like I can do the week's groceries for under $90. I'll know just how MUCH under $90 once I'm done, since I'm going to start with Aldi's (just opened in our area) and finish with meat and some veggies at Acme. Sorry Aldi's but the veggies just aren't up to par :) I'll post the final total later today!

Diet blog up and running

2007-12-07T13:41:00.001-08:00

Well I finally did it - I built that diet blog I've been wanting to write. If you want to follow this chubby chick getting skinny, then you can hop out to My Diet, Health and Fitness Blog for my thoughts, progress, etc. Why Chris-diet.com? Because this diet plan originates with him, and he and I are jointly working on exercising and losing the weight. But the blog posts are all me :)

Hopefully as I get healthier my attitude will improve - and isn't that important? It's easier to handle life's curve balls when you feel well.

The good.. the bad.. the month in review

2007-12-06T06:06:00.000-08:00

First I'm guessing you're wondering where I've been. (Or maybe you're not? Somehow that would be worse) Well, I had several life altering events in rapid succession these last few weeks and I'm just now getting my mind straightened out to the point where I can think. Let's start with the worst one and successive posts will move to happier topics, mmmkay?

November 12th was one crappy day. First, I started a new job. I was (in my own mind) so desperate for cash that I took the first thing I could get, which I was told was working as tech support on inbound calls for a reputable firm. My first day was going well - chit chatting with my new co workers, hanging out and generally trying to remember what this whole "going to work thing" was like.

That was when my fella showed up at work, face white, and my trainer called me out of class to tell me my father had just died.

I don't really remember much else of that day. It was a nightmare of crying, disbelief, and panic. No, my dad wasn't sick (at least not that we knew then) and in fact walked 3 miles a day and was generally considered one of those healthy, stubborn bastards :) Only 68, he had just retired and was settling into a well-deserved retirement after a lifetime of service. He helped the disabled and the poor my entire life as a social worker, and the number of lives he touched is impossible to guess.

Unfortunately that was the beginning of what I'm thinking of calling "my month of crap". Turns out he had no life insurance and although he had *some* money, he has left my mom with a pile of bills, problems and other difficulties which will literally take months to sort out. Worse still almost all that money was tied up in the stock market - great if you're an investment guru. He was, but none of us are. So many changes are going to be made to insure that Mom has some sort of stability in the months ahead.

Returning to my new job, I soon found out they had been less than honest with me regarding my job duties. I never took a single inbound call - instead the had me calling people to solicit donations. Yes, it IS as bad as you imagine. I was throwing up before work, sweating through the shift and hating myself every time I looked in the mirror. And it didn't even pay that much! Yesterday I finally snapped and quit, which means I am right back where I was before. Or am I?

Fact is, I have a small income stream right here. I do get paid to blog on occasion, and I could certainly be writing more than I did. Also I do consulting and after calling people to give to charity, I don't think calling small businesses and asking them to sit down and discuss building a website is nearly so terrifying as it was.

Hell, I have the perfect job - I get up, get some coffee and work from home doing things I really truly love. Of course, this whole experience has changed my attitude a bit. For one thing, starting right now, I pay myself first. If I had been doing that all along I probably wouldn't have needed a job and I could have been growing and really turning things around. Also, I really do view this as my JOB now - I get up at 8, get breakfast and get my butt in the chair to work from 9 until 6. No solitaire and no goofing off, instead a nice lunch break and me doing what I love the most every day. Who could ask for better than that? I don't really need to earn that much to replace the job I just left, and I know I can do it. Watch for more blogging from me - a LOT more - in the weeks ahead.

Until tomorrow - take care all :)

Thanksgiving behind me, a new year ahead

2007-11-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I won't go into detail now (saving that for a future post) but it has been one difficult and stressful month. We ended up buying one of those "prebuilt" Thanksgiving dinners for mom - Bob Evans, and it was yummy. I can't even think about shopping right now, but maybe in December I will be able to. Looks like winter is coming early as it is getting chillier and snowier. Hopefully I will have more time to update "soon".

Not enough days til Thanksgiving

2007-11-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

There really aren't, you know. And I'm in (yet another) money crunch which is making me so sick to my stomach that I'm still up! We have a wedding to go to next weekend, and somehow i have to find the money to go, to pay the bills, to buy groceries and to pay the hotel bill. And it's looking like I am going to be around $50 short, at the minimum. So now I have to figure out where in the hell to get $50 in five days and honestly I can't think of a thing. I have tried writing, selling things - I am going to pick up a job, but even if I started tomorrow I wouldn't get paid in time. So I'm at my wit's end literally. My stomach is sore and I am just tired and worried. Not my usual upbeat post, but sometimes you just get so sick of fighting and trying to get things together! And with only three weeks til Thanksgiving I have no idea where I'm going to get the cash for Christmas. It's ironic because a couple months ago things were starting to turn around - but like all good things, it didn't last.

Well, I will get the money for Christmas - I just have to get another job for it. But it's going to make for one very tired holiday. Ah well, as long as I can get SOMEthing I will be fine.

What's one more?

2007-10-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a very interesting week. First, I now have another (yup another!) cat in the house. I think my fella would like to strangle me sometimes ;) OK not really - bringing this one in was his idea.

It started last Saturday night. We were watching TV when Bubba (the downstairs kitty) let out SUCH a howl! We thought he was hurt or sick, so we both ran down to check on him. And when we got downstairs he was sitting at the windows having what I can only describe as a conniption. Opening the curtain I expected to see a racoon or maybe a skunk - he is scared to death of both of them. But what I found was teeny tiny black kitty who looked at me and started the "lost kitten" cry.

Well I went outside. I wasn't really sure whether I was going to shoo her off, or what - until she stood up. What I thought was a VERy young kitten was instead a starving adult. Her fur falling out in clumps, so thin I swear I thought I could see through her. And she was walking a bit funny, like she'd been dropped. No question that this was a drop-off cat - probably tossed out of a car window. And at the worst time of the year for a black kitty, Halloween.

Before I could even ask my fella was back outside (I didn't even realize he had left!) and was holding out a can of cat food. When I opened it the kitty stumbled to me, and started wolfing it down. She ate and ate, and between bites she kept getting up and trying to rub on me. Well no way was I leaving this poor baby out to starve, but then again I knew from experience I couldn't put her with any of the others. What if she had kitty leukemia, or kitty AIDS? So I fixed up a spare room with her own new litterbox food, water and a nice fluffy bed for her to sleep in. She collapsed in relief and although she did wake up in the night and threw up (from overeating most likely) since then she's gotten better every day.

I'm still working to "de-flea" her as in my opinion she hasn't put on enough weight to stand up to flea meds yet. I have to wash the sheets every day, keep the room clean and of course I snuggle with her lots and then wash up after. But she's improving, and I think I've even found a home for her once she's better.
If I can stand to let her go, that is :) Next Monday I cart her to the vet for blood tests to be sure she's safe to mingle in the group, and if so we can start getting her ready for her new home. Yay!

Her name? Well for now, we're calling her "Sunshine" since she's definitely been a ray of it :)