Writing for Money

I haven't been updating here as much because I've been writing elsewhere, namely on Associated Content. I love them because they pay me. Not a lot (oh no, not a lot).  But it's still kind of exciting to make anything for writing.  It kind of brings back my childhood dream to be an author one day.  So, anyway, check me out there and sign up yourself if you want!  It's a great way to make a little extra spending money.

How Far We've Come

I've been dancing around like an idiot to this song for the past half hour (I loop songs I like. The people around me really appreciate this trait).

PTSD, feline variety

Ok, my cat is insane. And I'm trying to be understanding and supportive but for real, I think she has PTSD or something.  Let me give you a bit of backstory:

She's super sweet. Very tolerant. I can hold her up on two legs (not that I do...much), play with her paws, poke at her and just basically make a pain of myself at her expense and she is fine with it. Maybe an occasional pitiful meow, but that's it.  Laziness totally wins out against aggression in her, any day.

HOWEVER.

Whenever she sees a cage she totally freaks out. Hissing, spitting, clawing, the whole thing.  You can't even get near her (I laugh at the people who suggest wrapping her in a towel first - if you get within 10 feet of her she's got her paw on the nuclear device panel and any closer and she detonates. She does not make empty threats).  It has taken me and my boyfriend together, wearing thick winter coats for protection and with multiple towels to get her into a cage. And it took hours. I do not joke. Hours. She has come close to reducing the two of us to frustrated tears.  It's like waterboarding, but worst.

And she stays like that for hours, if not days.  She especially can't stand even seeing the face of her sweet sister cat who she normally curls up and gossips with.  It's like Lindsay Lohan just saw her father waiting with a camera crew - it's that bad.

I believe this dates back to when we got her fixed.  That was the first time she ever really got carted off in a cage and I don't think she ever got over it.  Why she associates her sister with that, I don't know - maybe Shiale sold her out for a few extra minutes intact.  Who knows. I wasn't there. That day is behind a dark curtain for me, and I prefer to leave it there.

Now, that brings us to today.  For no reason that I can make out, as there was not a cage in sight, she flipped her shit a few hours ago and has, after yowling and growling from the windowsill for a while, retreated to behind my oven.  She took a break from hiding there to knock down my leftover (arugula, gorgonzola, spinach and potato) pizza. Bitch.  She's also managed to tear off a piece of the radiator that goes along that wall. Superb. At least it's summer.

Up until the destruction I was feeling very patient and tolerant about the whole thing. Poor thing, she's obviously having some kind of Vietnam style flashback.  It will pass. But that pizza was delicious, you guys. And I don't know how easy/hard it will be to put the heater/radiator back together. I am not super handy like that.

(Note: She has extracted herself from the oven area and is now in the doorway hissing at myself and Shiale.  Charming.)

So WTF? Am I the only one whose cat is out of its mind? What can I do to snap her out of it?  It's super, super annoying. It's like she goes feral or something.

Edited to add: Now she's in the hall in front of the bathroom and front door. Hopefully I don't have to exit/pee anytime soon.

Great Cobbler - MMMM

Today I made the easiest dessert known to man.  So good. So easy. Sigh.

It's half peach, half blackberry. I like the blackberry half better. In the interests of science though I will eat both sides to make sure that the peach doesn't eventually win out.  It's sooooo good.

I got the recipe from a good friend. All it takes is 1 of everything =
1 stick of butter
1 cup of self rising flour, milk and sugar
Fruit

Mix the non-fruit together first, pour it into the pan you're baking it in (or mix it in the pan to begin with, as I do to save dishes), then pour the fruit over and give it a gentle stir.  It doesn't have to be perfectly mixed. Stick it in the oven and bake at 350 until the edges get a little brown. It will probably still be bubbling in the middle, so don't worry about that. Let it cool down a little and then eat!

Growth of a garden

While my current apartment leaves much to be desired in terms of space and light, one thing that is infinitely better is that I have a little cube of outdoors space in which to grow some green things.  And they are growing!

From this :     

To this :

And from this to this :

Even the Forget-me-nots are growing: 

And now I have six little baby tomatoes, hopefully to ripen quickly.  

I'm very proud of myself.

I can see!

So apparently I've been walking around with a super outdated eye prescription.  Now that I've spent $500 (gulp, omigod) on new glasses and contacts I'm expecting that investment to pay off with xray vision and a new job as a superhero.  It seems only fair.

In related news, I will soon be on the job prowl again as my freelance job is winding down.  Job hunting = oodles of fun.  I'm looking forward to it.  It's like playing the lottery, with hundreds of resumes going out and a response or two trickling in.  I guess it's good that I'm a qualified to be a superhero now.  See, the universe has its own timing.

On the home front, I've also managed to pick myself up the cutest little armchair from my aunt's apartment building.  It's from the 70s, and looks it, and once I steam clean it and get it properly situated I will take some pictures to post.  My boyfriend has mentioned, unflatteringly, that it makes him think of his grandparents old furniture but he's just bitter that he had to carry the thing onto the subway for me.  Bitter and jealous that it is MINE and not his.  Either that or he has sadly bad taste but I don't want to think that of him, so petty jealousy it is.

Mission Accomplish - Tomatoes on the Horizon

Do other people not know what they should capitalize in these titles? Is it just me?

Anyway.

I managed to actually get out and buy gardening supplies and I successfully planted tomatoes, basil and forget-me-not seeds this weekend (in pots, in case you were curious. I can't afford a yard).  Tomatoes and basil are my annual summer staples, but I just couldn't resist the forget-me-nots. I think they're the sweetest flower around and if it wasn't morbid I'd say I wanted them planted on my grave one day.  Which I'm not saying because I'm not morbid, but if I WAS...

Hopefully, unlike previous years, the tomatoes and basil will actually grow and flourish and I might make back some of my investment in nice dinners.  Either way, I love how both plants smell.  They remind me of my childhood and my grandfather's wonderful garden.  Every year I try to emulate and live up to that garden in my own little way, and I think if I live to be 90 the smell of fresh tomatoes will remind me of my grandfather.

I'll post pictures once things start sprouting.  This year they will grow, I feel it...