Terrible Gifts and a Healthier Future

Hey, Everyone!

Not much to report on this end.  I was ill for most of the week's end.

A few of you know that I've been having some complications with my health recently that have resulted in massive migraines, vomiting, dizzy spells, and on-going fatigue over the past few months.  Fortunately, I'm finally starting a medication to "fix" these problems as of tomorrow.  To which I say "Hooray!--if it works..."  Hopefully there won't be any weird side-effects.

Also, you remember Robert and Ringo, right?  Of course you do.  Who wouldn't remember these guys:

 "Oh, yeah... Those guys..."

They tried to make me feel better by bringing me gifts!

Unfortunately those gifts were a grotesquely mangled mouse (thanks, Ringo...) and a live wasp (thanks, Robert...).

Since Christmas is coming, I'll take this time to mention that I consider dead mice and live wasps terrible gifts.  Please do not get me any.  ~_~


That's about it!  Everything else I've done consisted of "the usual" (writing for clients, working on my professional Blog, tinkering with ReviewHat, and so on).

See you next Monday!

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.com

They rolled over at the exact same time. I lol'd hard.

Been a While Since We Last Had Cat Pics...

Hey, Everyone!

I had another week where I was insanely busy, but, when it comes down to it, there's not much to talk about. "Work, work, work, and more work" just about sums it up. I had a very busy week with my job at WebTalk Radio and I wrote a few more articles for Sarasota Dog.

We got Robert a Scratching post:
Which Ringo used to his advantage to have a go at the pile of other toys they own (which Robert is normally very possessive over):
That's about it for now.

As usual, I've got a few things in the works, but nothing I can talk about yet.

See you next Monday!

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Rebel Exists

Hey, Everyone

I made $32.80... For the entire month.

Pathetic. I hate myself.

The whole of that money was from the same wonderful client (and I'm extremely grateful to him!--especially for paying in advance) and the articles he hired me to do are due tomorrow. So I'm going to try to keep this entry short.

Anyway, I've also been super busy this past week talking to/interviewing lots of interesting (and very nice!) people for US Combat Sports:

• Gary Finnerty
• Roxy "Balboa" Richardson
• Goran Karamfiloski
• Kason Chan
• Joe Schilling
• Mike "All World" Ryan
• Al Franco

All of them very interesting and very helpful and just all-around awesome to talk with. And they made for some GREAT interviews. I've got to get back in contact with a couple of them to double-check a few last details, but I think I've got the makings of some really great articles to submit in the very near future. Unfortunately, USCS is a little bit strange when it comes to how they pay their writers. Basically, since they're an online only Combat Sports News site, they pay their writers based on how many hits their articles get. Like a dollar per person or something (probably less). The minimum I could get paid for each of these stories is $2.00 and the maximum is $100.00. So...pardon me in advance to my friends, family, and whoever else reads this blog, for spamming the heck out of these articles once I get them posted. I'm a sad, sad, person who's desperate for the sweet, sweet, coin. Thank you for understanding.

Last bit of news has to do with my "Subject" line: Rebel Exists.

A couple of wise-ass friends of mine have joked that Rebel doesn't actually exist and that I'm just taking pictures of Ziggy from another angle and saying she's an entirely different cat. Because "I never see them together!" Well...that's because they hate each other. :\ Anyway, this morning, I saw them NEAR each other out the kitchen window and I decided to take a really crappy cell phone picture to share with everyone:For those of you who are new to my blog, Rebel is a feral cat that hangs out in our backyard. She has half a tail and is either a full or half sibling of Ziggy's (same mom). Our area has a whole big trouble with feral cats (which you can read about in other entries) and Ramiro (my guy) and I work to capture them and have them fixed.

This is Ziggy--the cat people confuse with Rebel because they're both white:
As you can see, Ziggy has her whole tail. Also, she's pretty much ALL white (except for her tail and that spot on her head). Rebel is very spotty. Hopefully that'll help everyone tell the difference. :)

Here's a cute picture of Robert & Ziggy (Ramiro & my cats) from the other night:
Robert will be 2 years old in April 2011 and Ziggy just had her 1st birthday in October 2010. They were both born in our backyard. For their whole stories, see my blog entry that has their (and their mothers & siblings) Catster pages: http://littlezotz.blogspot.com/2010/08/our-cats-are-on-catster.html

We also take care of Ramiro's sister Sarahe's cat, Ringo:
He likes bags.

In other news, I'm still in pain, I haven't been sleeping, and when I do sleep I have terrible nightmares. Also, I updated my LinkedIn page! Feel free to connect with me. People have been leaving me really great reviews. It's so nice that even though I feel so SO crappy that people still think so highly of me.

And that's all the news that's fit to print in the Life of Lauren these days!

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Feeling Better, New Bed, Christmas Lights

Hey, Everyone!

Thanks to all of you who wrote/texted/called me to see how I'm feeling. I'm doing much better now; thank you. I threw up again once at work last Thursday (tomatoes were too much for my still-sensitive guts), but other than that it's been smooth sailing! I've been eating solid food again. I have to stick to fairly bland things still, but at least I'm not on a diet of nothing but baby food anymore!

Also, thanks to anyone who tuned into the season finale of Champions of Champions Elite. :) We don't know yet if there's going to be a season 2, but they're keeping Ramiro & me around for a while longer until they find out. I'm still going to be updating their Official blog twice a week, if anyone cares.

In other news, Ramiro and I got new bedding:Pretty nice, huh? But it didn't take long before it looked like...
Oh, CATS!! You're all so silly.

I also hung out with my parents yesterday and we ate steak & potatoes and went around looking at Christmas lights. Here's a picture I took from my cell phone of the Balian Ice Cream House:
If you search for "balian house" on Google, you get a lot of great pictures of this place. It's really something. You see the GLOW from this house for a couple blocks away... My picture's a bit bad because a.) it's a cell phone pic, b.) I was in a car that was in motion and, c.) it was raining like CRAZY (and still is!!) here in Southern California. If you're ever in Alta Dena, California around Christmas-time, you should check it out.

Anyway, if I don't write again until after the fact (and I probably won't), I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas (even if you don't believe in Christ--I still hope you have a happy day!). :)

Until next time...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

Yard Work & Other Things

Hey, Everyone!

I'm back. :)

Things have been going really well for me lately. KNOCK WOOD.

I've gotten several writing assignments done lately and I seem to be getting noticed more and more. Hopefully I'll have some "big" news for you soon, but we'll see. Cross fingers!

In other news, I've been helping my parents a lot with their yard work lately. You know, raking leaves, trimming back overgrown plants; stuff like that. Sometimes Ramiro comes too, but today he stayed home to work on other things. Which left me to tackle the left side of their house on my own. Here's a "Before" picture of that:See all those leaves on the ground? All that needed to go. You can sort of see that they have some fancy stepping stones on the ground on that side of the house, but they had been completely buried. I also needed to hack back a lot of overgrowth, particularly their bougainvillea. Did you know that bougainvillea plants have lots and lots of thorns? They totally do! My arms got torn to shreds. haha. I was actually inside applying Bactine when I got a phone call from a potential employer.

You'll notice that I have no "After" picture of the left side of their house. Funny/Sad story. I actually had to stop halfway through because my parents' next door neighbour (a very senile old man) came up to me and accused me of stealing his "piles." He was very very confused. He thought that the piles of yard waste I had made and was picking up and putting into the green waste barrel were his and that I was taking them from him. :( He really needs to be in a home. I feel so bad for him. He used to be a very nice man (when I was a child growing up there), but now he didn't even seem to know who I was. This same old man sometimes steals the decorative rocks from my parents yard and puts them in a pile in front of his house. Anyway, my picking up the leaves agitated him so much, I stopped halfway through. I even left one pile there for him to look at. He seemed so attached to it. I'm going to finish the job next week.

My mom used to work at an Old Folk's Home. She said that the senile patients got a lot worse in the hot weather. If something like this happens to you--if an elderly person dotters up to you and is horribly confused--please, just be patient with them. They're not doing it on purpose to annoy you or to be mean to you. Just stay calm, and try to be as nice as you can.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... What else...

Ramiro and I found this in the corn field in our back yard:
I thought since a few of you have been writing about all the UFO stuff that's been in the news the past few days, you'd get a kick out of that. It's an alien!

In other news, I'm going to be going to the Montrose Oktoberfest on Saturday. I've been asked to man the camera while my pals at the dojo do their yearly demonstration. :)

Ramiro's fine. He's been working on a new comic called Dollworld. The cats are doing pretty well too. Ringo (the old man) has been cranky in the heat, but we've been doing our best to keep them all comfortable.

I'll probably be making an update again pretty soon.

Until then...

--Lauren*
http://littlezotz.webs.com

EDIT: I have a big job interview tomorrow. Wish me luck, Everyone!! <3

Sunday Update

Hey, Everyone!

My revamped website has been getting me a lot of attention! People are finally starting to take me seriously. :) For those of you who haven't seen it yet, you should check it out here: http://littlezotz.webs.com

Also, weird thing, at the beginning of last month, I had nine (9) friends on Facebook--half of which were members of The Click Five--and now, at the beginning of this month, as of this posting, I have one-hundred and fifty (150!) friends on Facebook. What the heck happened?! lol. I'm suddenly popular again!

Yesterday, Martha (Ramiro's mom) gave me keys to the house. I'm not just a house guest anymore. I really officially live here now! Not that I didn't before, but there's something about having keys that makes it seem just so much...more-so...than before.

And now, your cat updates/pictures:
Robert came in with that football a couple weeks ago as a present for Ramiro. When he first showed up with it, it was dark and Ramiro was afraid he was bringing him a rat. We're not sure who Robert stole the football from, but it's definitely his now. He is SO proud of it. He still struts around with it! And, as you can see in the picture, sometimes he sleeps with it. I thought it was very cute that he took his two favourite toys onto the chair before taking his nap.It's been getting cold at night/the early morning lately and Ringo's old and gets cold easily. He's taken to climbing into bed with us. This is the face I've been waking up to (in my face!) the past few mornings.
Ziggy's been enjoying the slightly milder weather. She likes to stay outside and sleep in the front yard's "flower" bed.

The weirdest thing happened to me the other day, involving the cats. We like to let the cats play outside (weather permitting) for a few hours before feeding time and then we let them back in for the night. Anyway, I went to the back door to let in our three cats to be fed; and three cats came in, but they weren't OUR three cats!!! It was one of the most shocking things to ever happen to me in my life. Can you imagine going to feed your pet and having a DIFFERENT pet of the same breed show up in their place? Anyway, the three cats that came running in where Robert's Mom, Ziggy's Mom, and a Stranger Cat. I finally got them out and then OUR three cats came in and ate normally. So. Weird.

Anyway, in closing, please check out my revamped webpage if you haven't already! I'm really proud of it. http://littlezotz.webs.com

Until next time...

--Lauren*

Our Cats Are On Catster

Hey, Everyone!

I talk about our cats on here a lot, so you probably feel like you know them... And now you can Friend them on Catster!! Links below:

ROBERT

http://www.catster.com/cats/1152023
ZIGGY
http://www.catster.com/cats/1152024

RINGOhttp://www.catster.com/cats/1152031

DORIANhttp://www.catster.com/cats/1152025

ROBERT'S MOM
http://www.catster.com/cats/1152026

ZIGGY'S MOMhttp://www.catster.com/cats/1152029

Have fun!

As far as human news goes, Ramiro and I are both doing well. I've been getting a lot of gigs on Textbroker, but I'm not making a "living" yet or anything. I remain optimistic! :)

Until next time...

--Lauren*

More of the Same

Hey, Everyone!

I've got a whole bunch of "more of the same" to report at the moment. I want to keep you guys up to date though, especially on the kitten situation:
They're still adorable. And still looking for homes! We found a home for one of the tabbies, but there's still one left (female) and two black ones (sexes still unknown atm, though I think one of them is male).

Ramiro and I got the above tabby to come inside and were able to give her some wet "kitten formula" canned cat food. She gobbled it up. These guys are about 8 weeks now. According to the Internet, they should be more-or-less fully weaned by week 10. And once they're eating nothing but "real" food, Ramiro and I will no longer be able to take care of them. We already have two cats of our own and take care of Ramiro's sister's cat as well (so THREE cats total!) and we can barely afford those cats. So please, if you or anyone you know would like a kitten, contact me at littlezotz@gmail.com If not, in another 2-3 weeks, we're going to be looking for a nice "no kill" shelter to turn them in to...

In other news, I'm nearly done working in my parents bathroom. I cleaned their bathtub:I was going to post some "before" pictures so you could see the difference, but I thought that would probably embarrass my parents. And I didn't want to do that when things are finally going really well. So, you'll just have to take my word for it that I did a lot of work to get it to look that nice. :)

I was also working on turning the light pink areas (like the window frames) maroon:
BeforeAfter.

Unfortunately, while I was painting, I ended up having a very bad attack where my throat closed up and I couldn't breathe very well... I ended up having to use my inhaler (which I haven't had to use in over a year!). Turns out the paint had latex in it. Which I'm allergic to. I was totally taken by surprise! I always thought of latex as being something you paint on, due to my parents' work, and not something you paint with. I feel silly now, of course. Oh well. So, unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish the borders on my own. But, while my dad was finishing that up for me, Ramiro and I went in their back yard and tidied up the lawn.

Also, a few of you have been asking me about Ziggy and how she's doing. I guess I didn't make it clear in previous entries (or maybe I forgot to?) that she's all better now. :)

Here's a picture of her snuggled up with her catnip mouse:She loves that thing. She plays with it like crazy and then falls asleep pretty much immediately after. Speaking of sleepy kitties, the following are some of the most adorable pictures of our cats ever (taken last night at bedtime):Those two cats love each other more than some people we know! haha. They're so great.

I guess that's about it. It's Tuesday, so the latest update on my comic should be up soon. Drunk Duck is apparently having troubles or something, but I have confidence they'll be able to work it out. Check back on it periodically to see.

Also, tomorrow is Ramiro's birthday. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

Until next time!

--Lauren*PS: One more picture of our kids...PPS: Last one, I swear! This is what Ringo, Robert, and Ziggy all looked like when they were just slightly older than the kittens we're currently trying to find homes for:

More Work In Progress

Hey, Everyone!

Those of you who read my last entry know that I've been picking up some food money (in my never-ending search for a "real" job) from my parents by re-doing their bathroom. Well, you lucky lucky people!--I have more pictures of the work in progress:Painting the area directly behind the toilet was really difficult. Also, please forgive my cell phone pictures, yet again. I tried to take some close-ups so you guys could see some of the textures though:A lighter section.A darker section.

I'm nearly finished painting the green parts of the bathroom. I just have to do the rest of the ceiling. I need to get more paints before I can do that. So, in the meantime, I've moved on to re-doing the pink cupboards/borders. My mom wants them to be white/wood with just "a little of the old pink to tie in the knobs & tile."
Here's what I've got so far:I've been using a razor to scrape off layers and layers of paint. There's the pink layer, a white layer, another pink, a cream... The pink areas in the bathroom are all very "thick." I think that my parents cupboards & drawers will probably close a bit better than they used to now that I'm stripping away all those layers.
While I'm working, I also get visitors coming in and out (mostly for their water bowl):Wolfgang and, of course:My darling Dorian.

Also, my pet rose-knee tarantula, Sabu, shed his/her skin the other day. He/she is still too young for me to sex (I'm sure a professional could, but I'm still unsure. I have my best educated guess...). I had to leave Sabu behind when I abruptly moved last December and so my mom's been taking care of him/her for me. She was very surprised/worried when she saw him/her shedding. haha. But doesn't he/she look gorgeous now???
Sabu is my second tarantula. I had a female rose-hair tarantula named Harriet when I was 5 years old until I was out of high school. She was nearly fully grown when I got her.

ON THE HOME FRONT

Back at home, things have been going fairly well. Ramiro and I are fine (knock wood!) and so are the cats. Robert's mom finally showed up again. Her nipples are all stretched out, so we know she had the kittens somewhere but we don't know where. We'll have to restart our efforts to capture her for neutering.

Lately, Ringo spends most of his time looking out the window (for hours!!) at the birds flying around outside. Ziggy was sick the other day when it was extra hot & gross, but has been just fine ever since. She's been alternating between running around & yelling at us and taking naps. And Robert has been enjoying coming in from the heat to get lots of loving and enjoy the air-conditioning.Unfortunately, the cats aren't the only "critters" who like to come in out of the heat...
Eww.

Oh, summertime...

Until next time.

--Lauren*

During...

Hey, Everyone!

Those of you who follow my Twitter know that I've been re-painting my parents' bathroom. And that I promised pics!

For those of you who just tuned in, I still have no job. My parents were nice enough to offer to pay me to paint their bathroom. So, for about 2 days a week for the past couple weeks, I've been painting their bathroom 4 different shades of green (my mom had done a small patch, trying to start this project, a couple years ago). These are the tools I've been using:I've been painting the walls with Liquitex paint. Due to the nature of acrylic paint, and also due to the bathroom being a hot box in the warmer weather, the paints dry very quickly, so I have to apply the paint in extremely small patches (which is part of why I'm using an itty-bitty half-inch brush instead of a "real" paintbrush for painting rooms). My process pretty much goes like this:

1. I apply a smallish area with paint, darker in the center and then fanning out lighter (so that the next green applied will have a little of this green underneath it).
2. I take a paper towel and blot most of the paint back off before it dries completely, and also make it look "cool." The paper towels, depending on how you do it, leave some fun textures.
   
3. I take the paper towel that I just blotted with, and use it to "stipple" paint onto other areas of green so that they too have that green in them. So they all sort of "blend."
4. Repeat

Here are some pictures of my work in progress:I'm going to have to redo parts of this wall, this was before I started to get my stride. This next picture is more what it's really going to look like:Please forgive my cell-phone pictures. You can't really see all the fun textures... I'm hoping that when the room is done I can get someone with a "real" camera to take some glamour shots for me.

I'm also going to be redoing the cupboards & borders in some way. They're pink right now and that doesn't really go with the green too well. My mom was thinking that maybe white with some of the wood showing through might look good.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a paint sealant?

In other news, here's Ringo playing in a paper bag:Until next time!

--Lauren*