Happy 2012!

Hey, Everyone!

Happy New Year!! :)

Did everyone survive the holiday season?

I'm thankful to have made it to 2012.  Last year was a tough one and will go down as one of my Top 10 Least Favorite Years (along with 2007 and 2009).  I have high hopes for this year!  Hopefully there will be a little time to relax--while still making money!  (Unemployment/lack of clients wouldn't be very relaxing!)

Ringo: Master Relaxer.

I didn't do anything especially awesome for New Year's Eve.  I had food poisoning (2011 had to be a jerk just one last time!) and spent a good chunk of the day in the bathroom.  I spent New Year's Day and today ("New Year's Day Observed") working.

Around/on Christmas, Ramiro and I visited with my parents, my mom's brother, Steff, and Danielle.  We also saw my friend James at the supermarket.  That was cool.

Robert made out really well with Christmas "loot" this year:

Licking his catnip pillow from Danielle

Chillin' with his llama from Steff

It looks like Robert doesn't really like his llama, but you're wrong.  He's just tired.  I took that picture after he wore himself out playing with it.  All the other pictures I tried to take of Robert + llama ended up looking like this:

Yikes!!

You might notice there's another llama/alpaca plushie on the bookshelf behind Robert...  That one's mine!  I got it in September and Robert kept trying to steal it.  Fortunately, now that he has his own (thanks, Steff!), I no longer have to worry about that.  :)

Anyway, thanks again to all of you who visited, gave gifts, sent cards, and shared your general good wishes in our direction.  Much appreciated!

Time to get back to work!

A picture of me at work (with my "esteemed colleague," of course!)

When I write here again, I'll be another year older.

--Lauren*

http://littlezotz.com

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

My Last Week of Fun

Hey, Everyone!

Today was my first day at my new job! I still can't tell you which company I'm working for, but it's a writing job (with regular hours & duties!) with its primary focus being on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Squee!

I'm fairly new to SEO, but I love it. I love that feeling of accomplishment I get when I know I've done a good job. :)

As for my title, I was jokingly referring to last week as my "last week of fun" (since it was my last week before starting my new job). What a joke that turned out to be! lol. Everything that could go wrong for be classified as "un-fun" happened last week. I won't bore you with the details, but here are a couple items of note:

• I went to the DMV to renew my California ID. And you know how awesome the DMV is!
• Robert had his first bath

Now, Robert having his first bath wasn't so bad. Robert has never been one to use his claws (except on accident) and bruising was minimal (he does like to kick--with force!). The bad part was the reason why he had to have a bath! It was because of this:
We had applied some PurrScriptions Plus 5 Way Protection on Robert (hot weather = flea season) and he had a horrific allergic reaction! It was terrifying.

We've never had a problem with this product in the past. And we know how to apply flea meds out of reach of the cat's licker. It was just Robert's bad luck. (Black cats...bad luck to themselves?!)

Anyway, the Sentry Petcare people were able to guide us through what to do. And "what to do" included giving Robert a bath. And, fortunately, that fixed him right up!

This morning, Courtney from Sentry Petcare called up to check on Robert. And they're going to be sending us a brand new product with a different formula! Hopefully that one will work better. No hard feelings! (Also, we're to report back on how the new meds work--I'll post the results here as well).

That's all for today!

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

EDIT (5/17/11): The WordPress Pro Business guy I work for sometimes, Adam W. Warner, is holding an "Introduction to WordPress" Class. Only 30 seats per class! The first event is May 24th. Sign up HERE.

Fear of Success

Hey, Everyone!

Well, this past Saturday (5/7) was Free Comic Book Day! Unfortunately, we didn't get the huge haul that we did last year. Restrictions were put on how many comics we were allowed to take apiece: Three each.

Ramiro's face when he heard "Only 3 Comics Per Person"

Well, naturally Ramiro and I joined forces to optimize our comic intake. We made a planned attack so that we wouldn't end up with any duplicates.

I snagged:

• Top Shelf Kids Club (which was Owly, Korgie, Johnny Boo, etc.)
• Bongo Comics Free-for-All 2011 (Simpsons...)
• Disney's Darkwing Duck/Disney's Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers

Ramiro grabbed:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars/Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Baltimore/Criminal Macabre
• Nancy/Melvin

There were a couple other comics I was interested in, but I think we did pretty well. And, if we could only get 6 comics total, I think we got the best of the bunch. You can see what ALL of the comics that were available HERE.

Then, since PayPal is SUPER SLOW at transferring money (I was going through the "I have money, but I can't get to it"s), Ramiro and I decided to raid our piggy bank for some food money. And Robert was VERY INTERESTED in what we were doing. So, Ramiro showed him the piggy bank up close... and Robert FLIPPED OUT!! I'm talking full on hisses, claws, bushy tail, standing-up-fur-ridge-on-his-back FREAK OUT! He was SCARED!

"Look into my face and know fear," says Mr. Pig

My best guess is that the smell of coins smells similar to blood...and blood tends to freak animals out. Ramiro thought he was just scared of the pig itself. Either way, we hadn't seen Robert that scared of anything since he saw the "ICE CREAM AND CREAM AND CAKE" commercial from Baskin Robbins when he was a baby.

We also joked that "maybe Robert has a fear of success."

Well, NOT ME!

A few of you know that I've been vying for a writing position. It would be a great opportunity and have regular hours and everything.

...and I got it!

Starting Monday, I'll be working from 10am-2pm from Monday-Friday. So don't bug me during those hours. Seriously. If you bug me, I have to clock out...and you will be costing me money...and I will be sore with you... >:( So please, don't chat with me during those hours. I know it will be tempting (especially since I have to be logged into my Chat programs for my job), but please don't. You can have me from 2pm onward. :D

As of now, I can't really talk about who I'm working for or what I'll be doing, but I'm super happy to have a nice steady job.

I'll also be continuing my work with WP Pro Business and some of my other gigs that I've been doing. Because I'm hardcore like that.

For those of you who liked that article I did on traveling with your dog, you might also be interested in this:

The Beagle: Number Five with the AKC, but Number One in Our Hearts!

It's a profile on the Beagle. I also did profiles for Chihuahuas and Rhodesian Ridgebacks. So keep an eye out for those.

Then, I got so into writing about dogs that I made a Squidoo lens about Wolfgang (my parents' dog):Wolfgang: A Good Dog

Wolfgang is a Keeshond. He's my parents' third Keeshond. Here are some pictures of me with their original Keeshond, Max (and their Afgan Hound, Shekinah):The Internet loves babies and dogs. Right...?

Anyway, I also created a Squidoo lens on how to raise pinkie mice, but I've been told it's a bit of a downer (Spoiler: I raised the Pinkie into adulthood, but he was not the undying magic mouse of fantasy tales). You can read it if you want.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...that's about it!

See you next week!

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

Steff & Paris

Hey, Everyone!

It's Monday again!

Robert has recovered nicely from his surgery last week. Thank you, Lord! He's doing really well. We're so relieved.

Also, I have more articles up at WP PRO BUSINESS.

I have some other things in the works, but nothing I can talk about just yet...

But, since you (my sweet, loyal, Blog reader) bothered to check in, it would be a darn shame if that's all I had to write. So, in an effort to keep you entertained, I'm going to turn the spotlight on a couple of my friends! The first is:

STEFF TURNER

It was Steff's birthday last Thursday (April 14th) and, for her birthday, I created a very fun Squidoo page/Lens for her! Click here to view HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW STEFF TURNER?

The other friend is:

PARIS MATIC
Those of you who frequent my Blog probably recognize Paris as the friend I went to the tea party with a while back.

I've gotten Paris hooked on Squidoo! She just started an account yesterday and she's already a Level 8 Squid and has two lenses. To view her account, CLICK HERE.


That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

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

Speas, Squidoo, and Hello World

Hello, Everyone!

I'm sorry I missed yesterday's update. (My Blog updates every week on Mondays--usually).

Robert was in a very bad way over the weekend. He's been depressed since Ziggy went missing, but, on Saturday, he stopped eating. We kept him alive by syringe-feeding him Gerber's chicken baby food (the one that's just ground up chicken & water) and lots of water. We figured this would get us by until Monday when our vet opened back up again. Eventually Robert began refusing the baby food, but he was still taking in lots of water...Unfortunately, yesterday morning (Monday), Robert began refusing water.

We called our usual vet(s), but they were booked until Tuesday. But Robert was looking really, really bad. And, with no food and no water, we knew that he wasn't going to last.

Luckily, my mom found a pet hospital that was willing to take him right away.

This one:

The Crescenta Canada Pet Hospital.

Where Robert's life was saved by this man:Doctor James D. Speas.

Dr. Speas was able to locate Robert's problem almost immediately. Robert had an abscess in his mouth from a puncture wound (it's unknown how/where he got it) and the abscess was so big and gross that it was blocking off his throat and displaced his tongue. That's why he couldn't eat or drink anything!

Dr. Speas kept Robert over night and operated on him, getting rid of the abscess. Hooray!!

The rest of the staff at the Crescenta Canada Pet Hospital were excellent as well (at least the ones that we met anyway). And the rates were very reasonable. They went above and beyond to give us quality service for reasonable prices. We had told them that we were broke (tax season...) and they put their heads together and came up with a treatment/payment plan that we could handle.

And Robert just finished eating a bowl of food! :)

Highly recommended.

In other news, I've made a few pages ("Lenses") on Squidoo:
HOW TO BE AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BULLY

ROBERT THE CAT

ZIGGY, THE ANGRIEST CAT IN THE WORLD

DORIAN, THE MOST UNLIKELY PET

HOW TO GAIN FOOD AND NP ON NEOPETS WITHOUT MAKING A REAL EFFORT

I was also published in a zine called Hello, World. It came out on the 2nd, but with everything that's been going on, it got pushed to the back of my mind.

In theory, I'm supposed to print out copies of the zine and sell them for $6-$7, but I don't have any printer ink [and can't afford to buy any (tax season...)], but, as a compromise, if anyone would like a copy of Hello, World: Volume 3, I can e-mail you the .PDF and you can print it out yourself! For only $2!

My contributions were the comic "Follow Me" and the poem "Another Degree of Nine" (they reprinted my award-winning poem for some reason!).

Still no sign of Ziggy. We're still searching for her nearly every day and we've been making all sorts of phone calls. And, please, don't suggest coyotes. We've heard you and we've looked into it. And I don't mean we just walked around looking for coyotes at dusk (though we did that too), I mean we called a bunch of places about it: Animal Control, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fish and Game, and the Wildlife Waystation. They all said the same thing: "It's possible, but not likely." The Department of Agriculture was especially helpful. They said there was a lone coyote that made it to our area (traveling through storm drains) about a year ago, but, when that happened, it wasn't just cats missing, it was people's little dogs and their chickens. Coyotes do not discriminate. Also, since Friday/Saturday/Sunday is "Party Night" on our street, and Ziggy went missing on a Saturday (when a huge party was going on!), it's even MORE unlikely that it was a coyote that took her. The D of A as well as the Pet Detective we called, thought that it was more likely to be a cat hoarder. We have several hoarders in our area, but they're hoarders of things--could they have moved onto cats? Maybe. It seems to be happening in a very concentrated area. When we fan out to do our searches, cats are still plentiful. It's in this little section.

We're still investigating all possibilities and checking the shelters daily. I'll let you know if something turns up.

Also, Happy Birthday, Vincent! Enjoy your last year as a teen!

Until next time...

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

Another Grand Weekend

Hey, Everyone!

So, I got to see my friend Steff on Friday. I've been trying to make an effort to be more social this year... Unfortunately, I only saw her for an hour. We were supposed to have the whole day together and go out and do all sorts of fun things, but she and her pen pal (who was visiting her from Chicago) got stuck in traffic on the way here from DisneyLand/California Adventure, and by the time they got here, it was nearly time for me to be back home to take care of the cats. Oh well. Next time.

Then, yesterday, Ramiro took me out to Descanso Gardens (we hiked around the grounds for 5 hours!!) and then to the Slender Sweet Shoppe to get me a nice sugar-free treat! Mmmm.

Then, when we came home, we saw this:

Ziggy. On the roof.

She was like "Mew mew mew!!!!!!!!!" and running around on the roof like "How'd I get up here?!" It took us over half an hour to get her down again.

We were surprised that this happened to Ziggy. She's always been the smartest/most savvy of our cats--and she loves to climb trees!--but she was stumped by that roof.

Robert got stuck on the roof once. That was expected though. Robert's pretty dumb. He's a sweetie-pie though and was fairly easy to get back down. He's such a happy lil guy...soon as he saw me climb up the ladder he was like "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! I'm being rescued!!" He only started flipping out when I lifted him up off the roof and into my arms (and he saw that he was up in the air), but even then it was fairly easy to get him down. With Ziggy, she started freaking out just when she got near the edge of the roof.

Anyway, we got her down. And, if she has the same reaction Robert did to his roof adventure, we're hoping she never goes up there again.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and that you all have a good (or at least bearable) Valentine's Day tomorrow! I'll probably be writing again Wednesday or Thursday.

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

Superbowl Sunday 2011

Hey, Everyone!

Just to be clear right off the bat: I'm not watching the Superbowl today. Not even "for the commercials." The title is mainly for me, so that I can retrace my steps and find this entry/day again later in life. haha.

Anyway, look who came to visit today!!

Robert's Mom!

She's doing really well. She looked really healthy and had her winter coat (that's why she's so big/fluffy!). When we came home from grocery shopping, she was hanging out with Robert out on the deck. She still loves her little boy.

In other news, I'm going to be writing two Blog entries/articles a week for WordPress Pro Business. You should check it out! Or, if you're just interested in the articles that I write, those can be found here.

That's about it for this week!

One more picture:
Robert's Mom, Rebel, and Ziggy.

Until next time...

--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

Haircut, Soy, and Other Stuff

Hey, Everyone!

It's been a few weeks...

I've been super busy with work. For the past two weeks (except for Thanksgiving), I was working 12 hour days. For those of you who don't know (or have already forgotten), I write this: http://blog.coc-elite.com That's the Official blog for Champions of Champions Elite, the #1 Muay Thai show in North America. Anyway, I write their blog and I'm also in charge of their Facebook and Twitter and I write e-mails to Muay Thai people... yadda yadda.

Thanksgiving was good. Ramiro and I went over to my parents' house for dinner. We got to see my mom, dad, and my mom's brother. And Dorian:
And, on Thanksgiving, I looked like this:Two days later, I had my friend Jaz over at Vous Hair give me a haircut and now I look like:

I like it. It had been over a year since I'd had a real haircut (I don't count haircuts I give myself because they suck) and it feels soooooooooooooooo good. I love it. I think it suits me, don't you? I trust Jaz so much when it comes to my hair that I only tell her one thing: Don't go any shorter than my jawline. Other than that, anything goes! Haha, actually, this time, when I told her that she said "What about in the back...?" (It's the back, who cares!) I knew she had something special in mind.

Anyway, things were humming along really well in my life until the other day, I ingested soy. Now, those of you who know me well (or are avid readers of this blog) are probably saying "Oh no!!!" about that. And you'd be right! Soy + Lauren = Not good. For, as some of you know, I'm very very allergic to soy.

What happened was, Ramiro and I went to IHOP the other day. I had them check everything that I ordered for soy--and it was all safe--however, that doesn't really matter when they end up serving the wrong thing. I had ordered Ranch dressing (safe!), but the waiter gave me Bleu Cheese dressing (isolated soy protein). I don't blame him. It looked exactly the same. Anyway, I took one bite, looked up at Ramiro, said "This is wrong," and then I was barfing like crazy. ONE BITE. I got all puffed up (even my tongue!) and I was non-stop vomiting and ALL of my joints hurt. My elbows are always the first to go for some reason, but before the end of the day every single one of my joints was in horrible pain. I became acutely aware of just how many moving parts there are in my body.

When I get soy'd, the aftermath can last from a few days to a few weeks. I never know. Since my smaller joints (fingers/toes) are already starting to feel better I'm hoping it'll only be a few days...

Of course, now my guts are all messed up. For the first day I lived off of water & original pedialyte (that's all that would stay down), but the next day I had a small cup of brown rice and half a piece of bread. Today I tried to really "go nuts" and made myself a plain turkey sandwich (bread, 2 slices of turkey, and minimal mayo) for lunch and ended up throwing up at work. So it was back to brown rice for dinner. I'm going to be on a diet of brown rice and baby food for the rest of the week and then work my way back up to normal food starting next week. I always have to do this when I get soy'd, but it had been so long since this has happened that I'd kind of forgotten (I'd also forgotten just how horribly painful it is!)...plus I'm impatient. I want my guts to be better now!

The really sucky thing is, my parents were going to take Ramiro & me out to dinner at the North Woods Inn this weekend. For those of you who don't know, that's where white people go around Christmas-time to enjoy a steak the size of their face while being surrounded by the heads of dead animals. It's glorious. Unfortunately, we had to cancel because there's no way I'd be able to keep it down...

In other news, I got a message from an old friend today... Which I mistakenly (thank God!) thought was his way of telling me he was planning to kill himself. Sure. It's funny NOW. Anyway, I was so concerned that I actually called him up (even though I loathe talking on the phone). It was all a comical misunderstanding and I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that he plans to remain alive for quite some time (provided he isn't hit by a van...again). I'm still in quite a bit of pain, so I was grateful that he took up the burden of doing most of the talking. And supposedly he's going to write a song for/about(?) me. We'll see.

In conclusion, here's a picture of Robert & Ziggy (Ramiro & my cats):

They're very sleepy. Shhhhhhh.

Until next time...

--Lauren*
PS: Yes, it is very hard to have one condition (Hypoglycemia) that dictates I eat all the time with another condition (being "soy'd") that won't let me eat anything. Sigh. Pray for me?

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*