Jill

Nothing makes me grin and giggle and shriek out nonsensical comments in a falsetto voice like my now 14 year old cat trotting and galloping and tweaking out like the spaz she is.





In May of 1997, my dad and brother were out of town one weekend. And my mom saw a "FREE KITTINS" ad at the munie or the old grocery store in Rogers. We headed out to a farm and she was the orneriest kitten there. Playful and crabby and feisty and full of hiss and spit. We had to have her. I held her on my lap for the whole drive home.

My dad's first comment when he saw her: "That cat's history!" After a questionably run name drawing in which my dad was the one drawing from the hat, History was named.

Sandy was 6 at the time and she did not like History. It might have been because Sandy had all of her favorite spots stolen by a kitten who knew a good thing when she saw it. Mom's lap - taken. Jill's bed at night - taken. There were six chairs at the dining table with cushions. Whichever one Sandy was on, History tried to sit on, too. Sandy didn't like catnip anymore because the already feisty History cat would just get feistier.

History's favorite spots to sleep, other than wherever Sandy was sleeping, were empty beer cases (especially funny when my dad's favorite beer at the time was Red Dog and there was a calico cat head sticking out of the hole), and a decorative basket on top of the topmost cupboards. You'd call her name and have to see if any pointy ears were sticking out of the basket.

She'd go outside and pounce on grasshoppers. They were her favorite. She eventually moved on to little birds and would leave presents by our door. Sandy preferred to give us gutted bunnies and mice.

When I left for college, my dad said I had to take History with me. This led to my adventures in my first apartment that led me to starting this LJ. It was an apartment that allowed cats.

At 14 she's still full of hiss and spit and feisty and ornery. She's starting to tolerate Kiko now. Well, as long as Kiko isn't sticking her face in History's face. She's still pretty skinny, although her hips are getting a little bonier. Sandy made it to 3 months away from 18. She seemed to be slowing down more than History is, though. I suppose a 60 pound canine nemesis keeps you on your toes. She still loves going outside and cooking in the sun. In the winter, she and Tim battle for the prime heat register locations. In the summer, she tries to sit with me on the hammock and follow me around the yard. Most nights, just after I go to bed, I hear a mad scramble and then feel the cat jump on the bed - she risks life and limb running past the dog just to sleep with me at night. :) No matter where she is in the house, as soon as we let the dog outside, there's suddenly a cat in the kitchen, licking her chops, waiting for treats.

Any newly emptied cardboard box in the basement becomes her new playground. When we bought a big screen tv this winter, she would lead me downstairs and scramble in it to play with me. We had to get rid of that box, so Tim grabbed the box from Guitar Hero and put a marble in it for her. There are now about 6 marbles, a string, and a small stuffed Big Bird in that box. :)

I love this cat so much. She makes me smile just sitting there. She's been with me from the age of 16 and has been there through all of my growing up. She was one of the reasons I knew Tim was a good one - she hated my previous boyfriend with a passion and doesn't particularly warm up to people very well. But the first time Tim came over to my apartment, he put his coat on the chair and she snuggled up in it. She lets him hold her and she doesn't struggle or claw (first. person. ever.). I've been so lucky to have her in my life.

I think I'll have to give her a few extra treats this month. :)

It is October. It is not time for snow.

I thought the white frozen stuff on the deck this morning was just possibly frost. But no. It was snow.

It even snowed while I was leaving work tonight.

How I really know its cold out: after going outside twice this morning for less than five minutes, the cat parked herself in front of the heat vent in the upstairs bathroom for the rest of the day, only briefly leaving if someone had food she might be interested in.

And now for something completely different, Karen and Alan are having another baby! Their son Levi will be two in February and the new baby is due May 8th!

So, that means two of my four bridesmaids are now pregnant. Holy crap.

Interesting day today.

Amanda and I went for our usual walk around the building at lunch time but didn't get very far today. There was a dark follower.

A young cat (a little smaller than History) with a blue bell collar but no name tag. Very friendly. She mewed quite a bit and rubbed all over our legs. No struggle when we picked her up.

We had the front desk call the Humane Society, but they don't pick up animals. Instead, they gave us the number of the Animal Control Officer. But that just went to voice mail. So I asked my boss and she asked her Account Rep and we took kitty across town to the Humane Society.

There is only one house next to our building but nobody answered when we knocked and rang the door bell. Soft-hearted me wrote on the admittance form "If no home found, call Jill @ ..."

She really was a sweet cat. Apparently she'd been out there for at least 7 hours as the Press Foreman mentioned seeing her at 5:30 this morning when he got in. The only other thing I can think of is that she was a trucker's cat who got out on accident. But Amanda noticed that there was some kind of bite or something on her shoulder and that her whiskers looked a little singed on one side. Poor thing.

Tim's response: "If you get a second cat, then you have to give me a hummer every day."

He was joking, but boys sure can dream some times...

Other interesting note: I came home and Tim was noticeably agitated and very hostile towards the squaking black birds in the back yard. Betty, his step-mother called this afternoon. Apparently his dad was admitted to the hospital yesterday and had two more stints put in the arteries by his heart today. He was still in the hospital and will be released tomorrow.

The last time his dad had problems like this was two weeks into our relationship. I was in Boston for the first time and got a phone call from Tim saying that his dad had a heart attack. I didn't quite know what to do. I'd only been dating Tim for two weeks and I was on the edge of the continent and would be for a few more days.

Today, I told Tim that he should just call work and say he's coming in late so he can go see his dad in the hospital. He hemmed and hawed over it, but finally called. We drove over to the hospital (a whole four blocks away) and navigated through the halls to the private riverview room Art was in.

He was wide awake and seemed pretty feisty. Tim's sister Sandra and her son Craig were right behind us. We visited for quite a bit and didn't leave until about 7:30. We told him he'd have to stick around for a while yet because he needed to meet his first granddaughter. That'll be a few years yet. He agreed and smiled at the thought of having a granddaughter and how his two daughters would fight over spoiling her.

Tim was pretty quiet when we got home (other than the daily hummer thing) and finally left for work at 8:10.

It was pretty hard walking into that hospital. I was worried I'd get all emotional thinking about my grandfather or my father, but I did ok. Told the story about my sunburned butt and gave everyone a giggle. It's got to be scary, seeing your dad in a hospital bed.

Third interesting note:
Our friend Trent, who was one of our personal attendants at the wedding, had complained about not getting an invitation - even after I insisted that I had sent it. We mailed those things out at the end of February. I just received today Trent's invitation back from the USPS. I spelled his last name wrong. Not Tullis, but Tulus. They put "Addressee Not Known" and then mailed it back to me over three months later. WTF?

I don't know why, but I really had this song in my head and Tim's just gonna have to listen to it over and over again. Cuz.

I am so sick of being sick. One noise I could TOTALLY go for not hearing ever again is the sound of me sniffling snot wads back into my nasal passages only to cough uncontrollably to get them back out again.

Apparently I look sick, too.

I went to the pharmacy to fill my birth control prescription and when I went back up to get it, the dude confused me with some other Jill who was picking up vicadin. And the vicadin was CHEAPER! I don't know how the vicadin would help me not concieve (fuckit, I can't spell that word) but I bet I'd feel a lot better about the damn snot wads!

And the check-out lines were long and the dude putting the bags in my trunk was all mumbly and looking at me funny and I forgot the damn coupons for a movie rental and I was all around crabby and whiney and cranky and I walk in the door to a delicious home-cooked lunch of salmon, peas and cheesy potatoes. Because I'm loved.

And it's still cold out, but not cold enough to discourage the damn cat from going outside and rolling in dirt. Her whole front is BLACK with dirt and she justs sits there all proud of herself.

Oh. And I got a letter in the mail today from Social Security. Why in the hell a 24 yr old would be getting correspondance (fuckit, another word I can't spell) from Social Security is beyond me. But I found out that if I die before I'm married, Tim gets nothing. And if I die after we're married, Tim gets nothing. But if I die after we get married and we have a kid, Tim gets, like, $870 a month and so does the kid. I'm totally rethinking the vicadin, now.

Just got back from taste-testing cakes at Cold Spring Bakery. We decided on the almond flavored cake with buttercream frosting (as the bettercream apparently is too soft for layers).

Dman, cakes are expensive, but I don't regret it as it will taste absolutely delicious and look pretty nice, too.

History cat does not like Jack. The first time she met him, she puked. This time, luckily, she just hid underneath the futon behind some storage containers.

Jack knows his color "green" and "orange" quite well. Well, at least the orange, as everything else is green or red. But he knows what is really green as I bought him a gingerbread man with green frosting. And he knows his animals and animal sounds quite well. And he even went pee on the potty today. Not bad for a 2 year old.

Mis Jody Mae, the maid of honor and all around most lovely of friends, has a cat named Rocki.

Now, how I understand it is, Rocki did not know how to hiss until she and Jody lived with History and me. This picture looks like two crazy Rocki cats:


except now Rocki is very very fat. But her head and legs and tail are normal sized so just take the one cat flying there and then add about 10 pounds to the belly and you will have the Rocki cat.

In other news, I got a funny text today from the gorgeous groom-to-be. (I worked OT all day today and he got to stay home, the poop.) It said "I almost CRUSHED the cat."

Apparently he got up from the 'puter and rushed in the bedroom to catch the end of the Vikings game. He jumped on the bed. Poor little cold-toes History cat was all burrowed underneath the blankets on said bed. Tim nearly landed on her - at high velocities, even! And goofy kitty wasn't burrowed under ALL of the blankets, just the top one, so Tim had a funny time trying to dig through the blankets just to find the darn thing! Once he did, she LAUNCHED herself through the hallway and into the living room.

*shakes head* These pets of mine. I tells ya.

Tim and I stopped at St. Cloud Floral downtown to get a better idea of the flowers for the wedding. Turns out he really likes the bouquet Jody and I found in a magazine oh-so-long ago, too. The nice lady who knows the leavy things told us the four main flowers in the picture and gave us an estimate of about $130 for it. She also said they'd work with us if our budget only has us have $100 for the bridal bouquet by taking out a couple of the more expensive flowers or adding more local flowers, etc. We were pretty impressed with how nice she was and set up an appointment for next Friday at 2pm to sit down and delve deeper.

( additional wedding babble with pictures )

After that, we stopped at the golf store that is closing and Tim found a $400 wood for just barely $200 (after tax). He can't wait to brag to Gary about it. :)

Then he wandered around TJMax a bit and spent lots of money at the grocery store and I somehow convinced him to take me to Cork's Grill and Wine Bar that I'd never been to before. Silly me, I forgot my ID at home and had to drink water while he tasted three different wines. *pout* It was by far the most expensive meal I've ever had as, after tip, we paid $110. No shit. I had the filet mignon in a tart sauce I wasn't too fond of, but the beef was juicy and soft and so delicious. It also had buttery potatoes and various green veggies. Before that, I had the salad with an obviously just-made-for-my-order blackberry vinaigrette that was delicious. And for an appetizer we had the half-serving of the cheese tray. Yum. A cheese from England, Italy, and France with two different flat breads to try them on and some tasty grapes as garnish. Tim had the two-soups-in-one-bowl for his dinner prelude and the shrimp champagne bisque was delicious. He wasn't too fond of the other one even though it had bacon in it. I stole a bite, and the shrimp bisque was really quite good. His meal was the Cork's (shell) Fish Bowl. It had king crab legs, clams, mussels, cold-water lobster and shrimp on top of dinosaur-egg potatoes in a creamy butter sauce. Note to whoever orders this -- go easy on the lemon as at first Tim thought it was delicious but it got a little too bitter at the end. They also gave us 2 slices of three different breads to dip in some oil and vinegar (Tim's first time dipping bread, but I think he survived :)

After that, we stopped at three different stores to find a game Tim wanted, only to be told he'd have to order it online instead. We then went home only to be disappointed that Gilmore Girls was a rerun. But we did get a good laugh or two out of My Name is Earl. Then we popped in Ocean's 12 that Tim had rented. I didn't like it as much as the first. I thought it was forced and messy and just not as well-planned or executed. And Julia Roberts looked like death -- too thin, too pale/dark. Ech. And I think my opinion of Brad Pitt has taken a turn for the worse since the break-up with Jen. I found him more annoying than charming and that horse-laugh is atrocious. But it was nice snuggling up to my favorite person with my favorite kitty cat for a couple of hours.