Suzy Says

I just love finding new places to wear diamonds

You can barely see it, but I love the platinum and diamond lorgnette. Isn’t it just so much chic-er than bifocals? A mere $9,100. Positively cheap compared to the fabulous Art Deco bracelet, also pictured, which is $145,000. Or the price of a smallish house in one of the square states. I know what I’d pick.

And the embellished cigarette case is almost enough to make me wish that smoking was one of my many bad habits. Maybe I could use it for business cards instead? Unfortunately, it’s “price upon request”, which we all know is code for “forget it unless you’re a millionaire”.

I hate to admit it, and it’s eight different kinds of wrong, but I covet these jackets. Especially the pom pom one on the right. Left: Peter Som Mongolian lamb coat, $2,375; right, Giorgio Armanu flame rabbit hand-made pom pom chubby ($8,975). Why aren’t there vegan versions? Stella McCartney, I hope you’re listening!

Anything fun under there?

I had to get up early this morning for work, and you know what that means.

I set the alarm and went to bed around 11:00. As usual, when I know I have to get up early, I had a hard time getting to sleep.

As soon as I turned off the light, the boys decided it was play time. Play time is more fun when it takes place all over the bed with a person in it. Extra credit for bouncing off her face!

I pushed them off me over and over, but they were like furry boomerangs, coming back again and again. Eventually, they got bored of me, and started to play under the bed, banging into the box spring as often as possible, racing around the room, and repeatedly knocking over my birthday lamp, which may be the nicest thing in the room. Given the amount of clawing at the carpet, it’s a good thing it’s being replaced soon.

Audrey looked at them in disgust from her throne and then went to sleep.

At 2:00, Audrey took over, waking me up by howling and clawing at the balcony door. I yelled at her to knock it off, and she simply moved her base of operations downstairs, where she clawed and howled at the front door instead.

This woke up the kittens, who decided to annoy Audrey for a change, chasing her all over the house to a chorus of growls and howls. Needless to say, Audrey renewed her assault on the doors, but there was no way I was letting her out at prime predator time.

I tried pretending to be asleep so she’d give up. I also tried yelling at her. Nothing worked.

Clyde thought this was a good time for his patented smother snuggle, and Roscoe helped by biting my nose and hands. Then they started chasing each other all over me again, clawing any exposed body part in the process.

Oh, it was fun.

I finally fell asleep in the midst of the mayhem. When I woke up, Audrey was sleeping peacefully on her throne and the kittens were doing the same on the bed.

No-one got up with me at 6:00 am.

Uh…you may be a little too young to ride that bike.

When Audrey asks/demands/insists that I let her out in the morning, I let her out the balcony door, then go downstairs to turn on the outside lights. A few minutes after I settle back in bed, Clyde comes running up the stairs.

He jumps into bed with me, already purring, and proceeds to drape himself over my neck. Sometimes, he curls up in front of my face so I can hardly breathe. Or he lies on my shoulder with his head on my ear. It’s all fun and games until he starts biting my hand or nose.

Roscoe joins us from time to time, but Clyde takes his Cuddler nickname seriously.

As I write, Roscoe is sitting on my knee and I’m holding Clyde with my left hand, typing one-handed. But it’s still easier than typing with them awake, pawing at my hands or trying to bite them, or climbing up my legs. It’s getting harder to hold them both at once as they get bigger. They’ll be four months old in less than a week!

Well, well. Look who’s relaxing in town!

I’m getting really frustrated trying to figure out how to embed videos into my blog posts*. I can find zillions of “how tos” for YouTube videos, but nothing useful on how to display my own videos. At least I’ve been able to upload these minor masterpieces to Facebook.

You can see the one I took of Star and Schatzi today here. It’s more Star than Schatzi – she races into the woods and is messing around in there while Star is running around. The movie looks like there was an earthquake, but it’s only my ineptitude as a camerawoman. The location is the family property. Notice how nice the road is.

Star is wearing her Thundershirt. I interviewed their creator a while back for an article I was writing, and he very kindly offered to sell me some for half price on behalf of Daisy Davis Pit Bull Rescue**. He’s a really nice guy. Thundershirts have an 85% success rate in calming dogs, whether they’re afraid of thunder, loud noises, the car, the vet, or any other stressful situation. If it doesn’t work for your dog, send it back and your money will be refunded. What’s not to love? We’re hoping they’ll be helpful with rescue work.

I got to see the Thundershirt in action today. After letting the dogs run around at our brother’s place, we went to Mendocino. After a stop at the foggy farmers’ market…

…where I picked up, among other things, a serpent cucumber and tu-tone summer squash…

…we took Star for a walk in the village. We met a kind man who agreed to give Star a treat and pet her carefully, and she didn’t bark or flinch. One of the obstacles to her adoption is that she sometimes barks at strangers, because she isn’t sure if they’ll hurt her or not. So this was great practice. I really think the shirt helped, because she had her tail up and was wagging it. She never barked or flinched at strange people or dogs. At the top of this post, you can see her actually relaxing outside a shop…with people walking by!

She gets an A, and an A for effort, too!

*I’ve come a long way from a girl who couldn’t take pictures a couple of weeks ago!
**Feel free to “like” us on Facebook!