This is how we study for finals 'round these parts...

Kittens and other things.

So...


Kitten pile.

Yeah. THAT happened last week. And we refinanced our house. And our roommates are moving out next weekend.

Lots going on.

So a few weeks ago, we had several days of rain in a row. I'm running around before work visiting kitties, and I get a phone call. Yet another cat has seen the giant "sucker" sign L wears and has begun to follow her down the street. A pregnant tortishell cat with extra toes. Sort of like our dream cat, really.



Skip to last Tuesday, when she has five kittens in our spare room. Unbearable cuteness.

So that's the cat situation. We've got five kittens on our second floor. Eight days old today. Severe cuteness overload.


We refinanced our house and locked in at a ridiculously low rate. That happened Monday, after some frustrating holdups brought on by the bank. It was a cause of stress for a while, but it's over now, and we're thrilled to save that money every month, especially since the roomies will be leaving so soon.

Brewing obsession continues. Have a pale ale in bottles for next weekend and a stout in the fermenter for... well, a few months from now, probably.


I was really excited to find a stout in this cool flip-top bottle.

So, life's been a little busy lately. Stress, tiny miracles, lots of rain (which makes for happy plants but cranky people). That about sums it up for now.

A real blog will follow shortly...

But I am alive. I've just been busy. All about that and some photos at lunchtime!

Cellphone photo fun

I've been lax. Part of it is that my camera is in dire need of cleaning (there's artifact all over every photo I take and it's driving me crazy!) and part of it is that I've just been exhausted lately. This morning, however, I took a little walk around the neighborhood near my office, and I took some photos. Craptastic, grainy cellphone shots, but still... it's something.


A green blur of truck...


I have a thing about hydrants. I think I've mentioned this before.


I always forget I work so close to this Church... and the convent attached to it. And the funeral home attached to my building. Things that scare me, indeed.


Tater has taken to sleeping between us in the last few months. That's L's arm she's using as a pillow. So cute. Not from my morning walk, obviously.

I've been feeling overwhelmed and tired all the time lately. I think the main issue is that we're waking up around 5:15 most mornings because of L's new (well, not THAT new anymore) schedule. Try as I might, I can't adjust. And this week, I was busy worrying about a paper I had to write, which was making it hard for me to fall asleep.

My goal for the rest of this week, now that the paper has stopped eating my life, is to edit photos from the weekend, brew another batch of beer, and actually sleep at night. We'll see how much of that I get done.

Hopefully I'll have something other than cell shots in the next few days.

Home sweet home, beer, and an insane dog.

We've had some crazy weather lately. Friday afternoon it rained, then became gorgeous and sunny, then rained some more. There was a rainbow over our house (which of course dissipated before I could get outside with my camera). Then there was just rain. Then it was sunny and beautiful again. Ah, spring.



I bottled my first batch of beer Wednesday evening. It involved some cursing and a lot of splashing beer on the floor, the cabinets, and the stove. I wussed out on capping bottles and ended up putting about half the batch into growlers. After all the bottling drama, I invested in a better siphon and read up on the right way to do things. Hopefully, the next batch won't involve as much angst. This batch will be ready for drinking in another week or two. I'm pretty excited. (Batch #2 is going to be way more complicated and involve a lot more aging, so I'll be doing another simple batch in-between. I am hooked on homebrewing already, and I haven't even tasted my beer!)




My insane dog. She's attempted to throw herself into oncoming traffic twice this weekend. WTF, dog? As I type this, she's curled up behind me snoring her stupid head off. Why is my dog so crazy? WHYYY?

Ok, I'm off to eat pancakes and do dishes. Then I think I'll try to convince L to do something outdoorsy. I'm feeling really down and need to combat that somehow... I'm thinking a long walk or bike ride should do the trick.