Happy Birthday Bug

Yesterday was my little Bug's 7th (49th?) birthday. She got lots of kitty treats throughout the day and seemed pretty happy and content as though she knew it was her special day. I probably should be celebrating her adoption day (August 4th) but whatever. I've been celebrating her on May 11th since I got her.

Super model documentary hour!

This morning we had a fun mini-crisis. I was getting ready and Khaleesi came in to drink from the toilet, which she never does, so that means her current water fountain is empty or gross. I found it gross, so I took it out to scrub it clean and refill with fresh water. I took it back to where it lives in our office against a wall beneath a window, and I push the curtain aside to lay it down and catch a glimpse of a very bright, very live reptile and, naturally and maturely, flip a shit.

I scared Anana off, AJ gets out of bed, and minutes later we're armed with brooms trying to figure out how to get the lizard out. We weren't being very successful and it kept getting under our couch, so we brought in the reinforcements... Khaleesi.

I gave her to AJ and got out of the room (my job was in the hallway, just outside the room to make sure it didn't go into our bedroom but instead broom-hockey it out towards the front door.

After a few minutes, AJ starts yelling and Khaleesi comes running out. I thought she was just leaving because she was uninterested in it, but then I saw it wriggling in her mouth and I screamed, and she dropped it and ran off, so AJ and I finished brooming it out the front door. Crisis averted.

I just want to say that, while I'm just as eager as everyone else for this quarantine to be done and this virus to be behind us, I feel very, very, very lucky to be in this home that we're in and to be with AJ. I'm hearing a lot of people being so frustrated and annoyed and going nuts being with their family 24/7, but AJ and I have really not had any issues and life has continued as normal and we've been continuing to live together really well. Of course, it's worth noting it's us two + two pets in a house where AJ can work alone in one room and me in another, and he also has his video games out in the garage LOL. Honestly, I know not everyone has this and I just feel very, very lucky that we do and I do NOT take it for granted!

The Bioluminescence

Yesterday, AJ and I went out at night to check out the bioluminescence from the red tide passing down California right now. It's been one of the most exciting things to happen to us in quite some time. Well, second most exciting, and it was the first time for both of us.

We made sure to do it responsibly. Armed with facial masks, we picked up Del Taco from a drive thru and then, aided by Google maps, found a cul-de-sac in Laguna Beach that got very close to the shore and could walk to the wall and view the ocean (after eating in the car, lulz).

Apparently the best of it is much further south right now, so we didn't get those full blown glowing waves, but we got to see a lot of wave crests and thin glowing waves offshore, and it was really beautiful! Didn't get the best of it on video, but at least you can see a quick sliver of the glow at the very beginning...

It was so beautiful to see, and such a nice outing to have! It will be nice when this is all behind us and we can make it a point to view it at the height of it going on and get the full phenomenon view.

Otherwise, happy anniversary to Shannon & Luke!

This Is How We Entertain Ourselves

AJ and I have been playing a lot of Cock and Bull lately. I was on a real hot streak and AJ was too pissy to let me take a picture of my winning boards, so these were the closest that I got lololol. By the way, I'm ALWAYS black in Cock and Bull!

This is our kiddie pool out the window that I bought when it started getting so damn hot and the community pool is still closed. I took this picture because I saw Khaleesi on the ledge and she was in hunting mode but I couldn't see what the hell she was looking at... but on further investigation, I saw a cute little bird chirping and walking along the top wall. I guess the mystery of why I don't get any birds in my bird feeder (the hanging pink heart you can just make out between the two red circles) has been solved!

On one of our lunchtime walks with Nannerz, I saw a bluebird. It's always so nice to see birds that aren't sparrows, pigeons or crows. And I love to quote Marian from Robin Hood Men in Tights: Oh Brumhilda look! A heppay little bluebird!

And look at the second picture I caught of it in flight. I mean it's no National Geographic cover but I still thought it was a little neat.

And I FaceTime'd with Priya and we enjoyed sending pictures, while I was in the middle of yoga so it was ~*So CuTe*~

On Sunday night, AJ and I watched The Departed. I had never seen it, even though it had long been on my list. (By the way, are you guys aware it was a remake of a movie from Hong Kong called Internal Affairs?) It was really good (obviiii) I mean how could it not be with a star studded cast around every corner? Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin? My one complaint was that Brad Pitt wasn't in it LOL. I could've seen him being a pretty good Mr. French. We started talking in Boston accents that night and passing around memes, which mind you are about 14 years old now...!

I remember when I first saw this meme, the caption was
"Me and my boyfriend waiting for the other to say 'I Love You'
first" LOL

I really really really hate this pandemic, but with all the spoilt children stomping their feet and just being bored and things opening back up, maybe this second wave will be bigger and happen sooner and my life can go back to normal sooner than it would have otherwise.

Happy Taco Tuesday Cinco de Mayo?

Smell y'all later!

Oh My, What An Exciting Weekend

Another weekend in quarantine and considering I can barely remember what happened three days ago, let alone last weekend, this weekend was almost rager in comparison.

It's been really hot, so we've been taking our walks in the early evening, when it's still warm but breezy and nice. We got it into our heads that Khaleesi should join us for a walk this time. Years ago my mom bought her a badass little kittie hoodie harness and I had a leash, and I'd put it on her before and she wasn't too impressed, but what the hell.

I tried to let her walk it out, but she kept trying to run back home, or crawl under bushes, or jump up walls. And my Lord was she bushy! Poor baby.

I had to pick her up and carry her a lot, but every now and then I would put her back down and see if she would keep up, but it was a struggle LOL. We saw birds and ducks and butterflies and squirrels, but she was wayyyyy too wide-eyed and paranoid to care, poor little Bug! It was fun nonetheless. And all pets gets treats after walks, so when I brought her home, put her back on the couch where I found her, and gave her some kitty treats, everything was back to normal. I really should have been starting her on the harness when she was much younger!


And then yesterday was Luca's 3rd birthday that we had celebrate via social distance :( Geena won the Zoom backdrop having a Cars one with Luca in the background, and it was awkward singing Happy Birthday since everyone was at a different part of the song LOL but I don't think Luca noticed...

It's already May this week! Can't wait for 2020 to fly by so this can all be over (assuming people follow the rules, which they aren't. Ugh.)

Happy Earth Day

It's really hot out today but our bougainvillea trees in the backyard seemed to burst overnight, and I watched Khaleesi try to hunt (and thankfully, fail) a really pretty black and white bird. That's the celebration of the Earth I've seen today. Welp!

Here's what I've been up to this quarantine since last week...

Taking Anana on daily walks and seeing the cute squirrels out and about

Baking a quarantine cake (with the recipe I posted from Instagram below)

1. Cake mix cause you can’t find flour anywhere
2. Three large eggs
3. One cup of water, produced by your tears
4. Put on a sad soundtrack of The National, Cigarettes After Sex and CocoRosie and wonder why TF people won’t take this situation seriously
5. Really really suck at frosting
6. Apply unicorn sprinkles to cover your sucky frosting job
7. Eat in one sitting by yourself
🎂
YES I am available for your next event!

And then playing some Houseparty games with my family, here were Kathleen's drawings for "cello" and "kangaroo" respectively.

(I know it seems obvious since I told you, but I definitely kept saying 'guitar' or 'sitar' over and over)

And here is my response to just about everything now since quarantine is still going on

Aaaaand here is my favorite meme of quarantine so far!

Definitely waiting for that spike in case from the ignorant, selfish people out there who "need haircuts" while people die. #endrant

Quarantine Videos

Happy Easter Monday (that's a thing, so says iPhone). We had a nice Easter. It was really fun, even if it wasn't Easter-centric. We made chicken and waffles with a sick 90s R&B playlist going, then did dishes together. We busted open our Cadbury mini eggs (which ended up being dark chocolate - I almost cried. I didn't realize that. I hate dark chocolate. Assumed it was Cadbury milk chocolate).

In the evening we Zoomed with AJ's family, which was really fun. We're actually spread between California, Tennessee and Washington state, so I don't remember the last time we were all together in the same place.

And anyways, as you've probably seen, we made some videos with Anana, but I'll put all the uncut videos up here because what the hell else are any of us doing?

Kathleen sent me a video because apparently there's some challenge going around about giving your dog an egg. The theory is that dogs are aware how fragile eggs are and will handle them as such, both in their mouth and when they set it down or I don't know, play with it or something. So we tried that with Anana.

As you can see, it was a complete fail. She chomped onto it right away and then dropped it on the floor. It's not the best video to watch all that but take my word for it.

Then of course, the whole treat challenge. Anana never figured it out but it didn't stop us from trying!

I wanna try it with Khaleesi some how cause I saw this great video of a girl doing it with her cat, and the cat chose the wrong cup and when the girl lifted it and there was no treat in there, the cat attacked her LOL. But, I'm not sure I could get Khaleesi to sit still next to me and pay attention that long.

Well, I guess that's it for now. The quarantine isn't that weird anymore, but the monotony and repetition still sucks, despite all of our best efforts. Sigh.

Happy New Month!

Yes, March 2020 was longggg and miserable. Even though April is shaping up to the be virtually the same, at least we're in a bit more of a routine at this point and have a lot more of the reality ahead of us (instead of literally every fact and directive being double-downed on within 24 hours).

I also really hate April Fool's Day and was glad there was a worldwide moratorium on it since "this whole year has been a joke". Actually, AJ showed me a video of three girls dressed and ready for school outside, when the dad calls out to them to ask them what day it was, and they slowly realize they'd been pranked for April Fool's Day and run in screaming that they hate their dad and their dad just says "GOTEM!" Despite my incredulous laughing I actually thought that was borderline traumatizing and cruel with all this! But that was the only poisson d'avril that I saw.

Like you, all is the same for us over here. One day at a time. I work in the living room, AJ works in the office. Some mornings I do morning yoga. At noon I take Anana for a walk. In the evening I go on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes. Some nights I do some Just Dance routines. I play other games on the Switch. I watch TV. I actually have a long list of shows that I cycle through. We did just watch Tiger King, but otherwise I'm pretty content with The Office, Arrested Development, Portlandia, Broad City, This Is Us, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Fleabag, Flirty Dancing, Game of Thrones... it helps mix it up. Since Friends is off of streaming services (wahhhh!) I'm currently watching it on TV as though I'm Amish. I have to say the worst part about it isn't even the commercials - it's that it's the cut versions and not the extended ones you're used to seeing from your DVDs back in 2007, so a lot of jokes get cut off! #rude

I think the biggest variable in my day are my meals. Since we're not doing anything, our grocery budget definitely increased, but at least we get a lot of options for our meals and snacks.

Today I tried to work outside, but it was a bit of a fail. At that time of day, even the shade of the umbrella didn't do much to detract the sun, I was seeing more of my reflection than anything else in the screen, and my sunglasses would make the screen completely black. Still, outside with Mozart on was a nice break. It was just a few minutes ago though, that I'm here working on the living room and something caught my eye in the backyard. Anana is in here with me, and it didn't move like Khaleesi, I thought maybe it was a rabbit. I saw some form of leg, and I moved to look around the doghouse and it was a friggin road runner!! How does that even happen?? I guess wildlife really is returning to normal! LOL. I texted AJ and then tried to go outside to get a better look, but it was long gone (no coyote to follow though, thank goodness). Still, that'll be the biggest event today I'm sure and how I'll remember it and distinguish it from any other day this week LOL.

I'm glad that I already got into my bread-making craze a few months ago and already have all the ingredients, because apparently everyone is getting into it and now you can't find flour or yeast anywhere!

Well, it's noon so time for the dog walking. Hope you are all staying safe and well!