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Ghost Kitteh

  • Posted on March 15, 2010 at 9:51 pm

i took my dog to the vet’s to get her heart worm meds and her yearly vaccinations. i’d never been there before, so i was just a little bit nervous. i love my doggy, and i think it’s natural for me to get nervous anytime a stranger is going to be sticking sharp objects and foreign chemicals in a beloved family member.

thankfully, the place was clean and the employees very nice. they got us to a room immediately so that Abby wouldn’t have to stay on a leash, and we waited while i filled out some paperwork. i was 20 minutes early to the appointment, so i was pleasantly surprised a room was so readily available. the room itself had two doors- one that leads into the front room, and another into the back, where i assume they keep the kennels and all the equipment/supplies they need to do grooming and other medical procedures.

in the distance, i could hear some yappy dog barking and muffled chatter of the Vet assistants. (nurses?) it was a pleasant wait, since the room was clean and well stocked with tissues for my snotty-sneezy daughter. i admit, i also nabbed a customized business pen out of a cup.

then the door to the back rooms popped open slightly. i thought “hmmm, the door must not have been closed all the way”, and dismissed it.

suddenly, the door began quivering….. and a little grey nose popped out, pushing its way into the room.

*enter Ghost Kitteh* or Escaped Convict… or possibly the Business Pet. or, knowing kittehs, the Business Owner.

next thing i knew, a beautiful steel grey cat had shoved his way decorously into the room, his head held high declaring “Meow! Meeeoooww! Meow!” he’s purring, and twining his way around the underside of my daughter’s stroller. my dog is alternating between looking at me and saying “who the fuck is this, mama???” and “oooooh, i want to sniff you….” with intent eyes and an introspective tilt to her head. i have a good dog.

at that moment, i had to think fast. if it was an escaped convict (they kennel animals too) then i needed to tell someone, because not all escaped convicts are civilized. i also had to realize that a strange animal was getting up close and personal to my baby and my fur-baby… just because the cat was acting nice at that moment, didn’t mean it wouldn’t get mad if my daughter caught its tail. i opted for the “tell someone about it” approach, rather than just wait for someone to come by.

i poked my head out the door and said “hi! excuse me, do you have a…”

at which point, the lady finished my sentence with “papertowel?”

i guess they get a lot of accidents on the floor, being a vet’s office and all, but my dog is a good dog. she knows where to put it. i proudly said “no…ah, actually…. a cat.” i said it all with a smile and a laugh and a hand motion towards the cat who was at the moment having a conversation with my daughter.

she laughed and said “OH! Ghost! he thinks he runs this place!” (at which point i thought “of course he does… he’s a cat.”) she shooed him out, and when he was gone, the room felt empty, devoid of his presence. i missed ‘ole Ghost the lolcat.

later on in the appointment, i saw the door quiver suspiciously, but he never managed to use his telekinetic Ghost powers to get the door open again.

i miss having a cat.

a random image of a cat, that looks similar to Ghost, the lolcat

my first cat, Stripes. don't be fooled by the evil expression... she was the sweetest cat EVER. she was 19 years old in this picture, and lived to be 22. RIP Stripes.

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Dragonfly

  • Posted on at 9:02 am

my son is going to be in a school play called “Goin’ Buggy”. i have no idea what it is about, other than bugs. all i know is that i got a note in his backpack describing all the costumes, and the various pieces that need to be provided by the parents and the ones that will be provided by the school. naturally, the bug my son chose is the only one that is 100% parent provided.

i’m not a PTA mom. i don’t do school functions and fundraisers, and i’m terrible at remembering to have him do his homework. i try my best to be a good mom, but i fall far from the mark most days. to come up with a school costume that doesn’t make my son look like a total dweeb is very important to me… to do so on a budget is also important. it’s not like they have pre-fab dragonfly costumes i could buy for a boy anyways.

on the notice it said “black, purple, and blue body colors and wings”. did i listen? no, of course not. i ended up with a black t-shirt, and shiny forest green athletic pants with black stripes down the sides. he’s the only dragonfly, so he doesn’t have to be coordinated with another kid, and green is a dragonfly color too, isn’t it???

the wings were quite a challenge for me… i don’t sew. i don’t do much of anything other than fly by the seat of my pants, and fly by the seat of my pants i did. i threw together a set of wings on saturday night that i hoped would stay together for the dress rehersal on Monday, and the actual play on Thursday.

i put a lot of effort into those wings. i waited in line at JoAnn’s for 30 minutes to get a measly yard of fabric cut, before i had to give up and leave with empty hands so i could make my son’s hair appointment. i ended up going to Hobby Lobby, and getting some iridescent metallic material that i was going to attempt to make into a set of dragonfly wings. i thought the material would look cool with the texture and the iridescent coloring.

i made a frame from wire and used elastic to hold them onto his back. i covered all the unimportant bits (like the pieces of wire coiled around each other to hold them together, and the tape i used to soften the edges) in black felt, then hand-stitched it on until midnight, and into the afternoon on Sunday. i also slapped a ton of Elmer’s glue on the stitched parts just to be sure. i don’t want the wings to fall off and apart and my son to look stupid because his mom’s an incompetent moron.

i was quite pleased with my creation, until my son looked into the mirror and declared “i look like the tooth fairy!” my husband said that they look like angel’s wings, and i’ve gotten enough kind comments with bits of advice on how to make the costume better, that i’m pretty sure my kid looks more like a fairy than a dragonfly. now i’m just disappointed and really nervous about the entire costume in general.

here’s the wings, from the back…

so, in true “Nobody” style, rather than just sit and say “it’ll be okay” i freaked out, and began construction on another set of wings. this time, i dug out an old set of white pantyhose that i’ve been keeping around, but never used. i also got my husband’s help in getting the black felt piece together… instead of 4+ hours of hand stitching, we used some heavy-duty apoxy. so, here we have them… more masculine, and probably more bug-like. not quite as much love and effort put into them, but he’s probably gonna have ‘em torn by the end of school today anyways.

of course, for the play he won’t be a super mario dragonfly… they have yet to capture and prove the existence of that particular species. he will still be wearing the black shirt and green pants. he might also wear those green bug glasses. we’ve had those around just for fun for a couple years now, and thought they’d work well with the costume.

so there you have it. the drama, the saga, of the dragonfly costume.

oh, and around the end of october you can expect to see pictures of my daughter wearing the iridescent wings with a tutu, matching tights and a black leotard. at least they’re useful for something, eh?

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