Oscar Results 2016

Oscars Start 8:34pm


First

8:47 Best Screenplay - Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay - The Big Short

Okay. WE GOT IT. Oscars So White. Oscars So Preachy!

9:13

Best Supporting Actress - Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

9:20

Best Costume Design - Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Production Design -Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Make Up and Hairstyling - Mad Max : Fury Road

9:36

Best Cinematography - The Revenant

Best Film Editing -Mad Max : Fury Road

Oscars SO PREACHY!

Best Sound Editing - Mad Max : Fury Road

Best Sound Mixing - Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects - Ex Machina

Best Animated Short Film - Bear Story

Best Animated Feature - Inside Out


Best Supporting Actor - Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Best Documentary Short Film - A Girl in the River

Best Documentary Feature -Amy

Best Live Action Short - Stutterer

Best Foreign Language Film - Son of Saul

Best Original Score - The Hateful Eight

Best Director - Alejandro G.Inarritu, The Revenant

Best Original Song - "Writings on the Wall", James Bond Movie

Best Actress - Brie Larson, Room

Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio , The Revenant

12:01A   Best Picture - Spotlight

Friday Cats Blogging

Buying New Cat Food

Today was Day 3 and  CVS hasn't gotten back with me as promised. Pity. Tomorrow, I get with them.

Not much to report. I mean, like really. I have nothing to report. Today on our walk, the dog and I went to my friendly neighborhood  boutique pet supply store and talked cat food with the folks there. They know a lot about cat food, they curate their cat food selection very carefully. I didn't know there was that much to know about cat food but apparently, there is an entire world of cat food knowledge out there if you go looking for it.

I learned from them that the expensive, vet ordered cat food I have been feeding is full of grain and sadness. It is helping get Little right, but its made of very expensive sawdust and he can't stay on it. Mostly because its very expensive and its sawdust, and I can't afford to keep him on very expensive sawdust indefinitely. On the upside, and in its defence, both cats really like it.

Its not really good for them though in the long run, I don't really want them eating sadness or sawdust! I could buy them very cheap sawdust if I wanted to feed them sawdust! I picked one brand out that the store people seemed excited about, I think they like it because its expensive. I like it because I liked the package. I came home and did a little research and found another brand that they also carry that might be a better choice, I'm going to go in tomorrow and get a small bag of it so I can start mixing it with the current food. I may also go to a bigger boutique to see what other cat food I can be confused by.

All of them make you feel like a cat abuser for even thinking about standard grocery store cat food. If you go to a cat food review site, they have star ratings and they are very clear about their preferences and what is and is not good enough for your cat - if you actually love them.

Feed them whatever you want, but if you are feeding your cat a one star food?  Hate yourself.

Storm

Well. So far, so good. The roof is still where its supposed to be. The basement is a little damp but, its mostly dry and I did make a heroic trip out into the driving rain to clean out the drain at the bottom of the stairs and that was fun. It was a real blessing that the standing water was really cold and I couldn't feel what I was digging out of the subterranean pit. Yay!

Also, I need new rain boots. Mine leak.

I tried to take the dog for a walk  after work but it rained very hard very briefly and I went home. When I got home, I thought it would be better to not bother my refrigerator or freezer in case we lost power, so I walked to KFC, where I discovered that my credit card hadn't made the walk with me. So I walked back in the rain and then drove back to the KFC and got my dinner.

Once home. my phone  demanded and the house alarm insisted that I  Take Cover Now. I ate my dinner sitting on the toilet while little kitty and Rocket tried to steal my food. It was not nearly as charming as it sounds.

Twenty minutes later, I noticed the roof had not been torn off  and the power was on and I was not enjoying myself . The animals did not think that being in the bathroom together was really something that they wanted to spend a lot of time experiencing.  I don't think they really were as concerned about the storm or the potential for tornadoes as I was. Rocket was really afraid that I was going to force him to take a bath. The cats were just kind of confused. And bored.   I felt good about leaving cover because I wasn't all that worried anymore, in Texas we had storms like this all the time!  We called a storm like this "Tuesday".

Wake County closed the schools early because of the threat of a thunder storm. For real.


CVS did not call me today. Day 3.

Had a problem, the problem was corrected.

On Target Facebook page

I moved my prescriptions to Target after a bad experience with Walmart pharmacy. I was thrilled with the excellent customer service and prices at Target pharmacy, I was very pleased with how great the whole process was - at Walmart just picking up a prescription was a nightmare. Target Pharmacy and their terrific staff were a breath of fresh air. 

And then CVS took over. A med that last month cost $36 was this month $268. When I called CVS customer service they told me it would take three days to get even a phone call back. This is not good enough, I wasn't complaining about the cost of shampoo, this was a medication! Three days is too long to wait for a resolution.

I had to go through the hassle of moving my prescriptions to yet another pharmacy,a Target competitor. The ongoing labor problems were a red flag and now that corporate Target would partner with a group so clearly not interested and uninvested in maintaining the same high level customer service that Target embraces, is disappointing and tells me a lot about Target .

You will notice that I kept it positive,  and then segued seamlessly  to "disappointed" - completely skipping over "furious" and "outraged" while not involving any profanity! I am very proud of my communication skills. I did call them again today and I did make the operator cry, but that was then, I've grown, I've matured since then. And she deserved it.

The Target/CVS pharmacy competitor I went to, honored my GoodRX card and sold me my script for $47. When I told them that CVS wanted to charge me $268 fir the exact same script, the clerk was aghast.


From Targets Facebook response-bot:

Hi Diana - We cherish the feedback that you've taken the time to share with us. It sounds like you haven't been satisfied with our pharmacy recently. Because we're committed to improving, your comments on this have been shared with the appropriate teams for their review. We hope that you have a good night! - Mario

Problem solved.

It was raining as I left work. I was secretly happy that I wasn't going to have t walk the dog, we walked a lot of the weekend and now I am tried and I think the dog is too. A break would be welcome.

Instead of walking, I picked up the dog and we went to Target to pick up his meds. We had one day remaining and I really needed to get his refill, because  an adequately medicated Rocket is a happy Rocket. I like  a happy dog. I do not like a freaked out, miserable dog that destroys doors and eats futons and removes metal blinds. I do not like this kind of dog.

So off to Target we go! Wheee! Its raining but its okay! I walk into Target and immediately see a rabbit figurine that I need, it is $3, I do most certainly need this rabbit figurine. I go to the pharmacy, the lovely, well stocked, fully staffed, no line having pharmacy I was just thinking what  nice experience  it is to do business with them. I walk up to the counter, give the clerk my name and pull out my card. The clerk asks me how much I paid for the script last month... This is a bad question, if the pharmacy clerk ever asks you how much you paid last month as they are carefully sliding the bag towards you, brace yourself. Something bad is going to happen.

Something Bad Happened. Last month I paid somewhere between $28-$40, I don't remember. It was more than I paid for a few months at Wally. but Target pharmacy was supposed to be my new home for dogs meds and I was willing to pay the price difference to get the much higher level of customer service.

Did you know CVS bought out Target pharmacy? They run it now. Things are different now. My script today, if I had paid for it was $268! No level of customer service is worth that kind of price increase!

It was explained to me by the very embarrassed clerk that I had been buying it with the aid of a Target Customer Discount Card, but their new corporate Over Lords are not in favor or such frivolous customer centered nonsense! CVS won't let customers buying a certain class of much needed psych meds use the card because, I am assuming, The War On Drugs will be lost! Lost! If  all their clients they could continue to get the same level of sterling customer service. Some clients do not deserve service. Some clients money  and good will is not needed or wanted. I was shocked and the clerk was really looked liked she wanted to crawl under the counter in shame. I left the store without the dogs much needed med or the rabbit figurine, and got on the phone to the Vet School for help, they were helpful, concerned and equally horrified. The docs were gone for the day but the service took a detailed message and I trust they will be back to me Tuesday ASAP. Good folks them.

After I got off the phone with them, I got on the phone with CVS. I explained, keeping my tone positive and forgiving, that I was feeling miss used as a client and I really hoped that CVS could correct this error quickly, and I could get my meds. A super visor will get back to me IN THREE DAYS. I need the meds today.

CVS taking over Target Pharmacy is going to run Target pharmacy out of business, I would imagine that this was the point. The CVS takeover is a huge loss for Target customers.

Change

I am trying a new thing with the dog. Once or twice I've had some sort of last minute issue and haven't been able to get home at lunch and lo and behold, I rush home afte work and found  he didn't lose his mind or his bladder.

This gave me an idea. What would happen if I just didn't come home for lunch just because I didn't want to come home for lunch?  And then I did it! I just didn't come home for lunch, I ran errands I could have run later in the evening but I ran them at lunch instead. I didn't have to do anything, and I still didn't go home. I could have, I could have ran the errands and then popped home but instead, I ran the errands, picked up some lunch and went back to campus and ate my lunch.

I spent the rest of the day worring about what was going on at home and if I was being selfish by not going home because I didn't want to go home. Was I being fair to the dog? Was this mean? Would he be really hurt? Did he notice?

I went home after work and the dog was fine, no puddles, no destroyed furniture, no damaged wood work. And this was not the first time I came home after skipping lunch and found no damage. This makes me feel like, if a couple of days a week that I could bring my lunch to work and maybe just eat my lunch and read a book and take a walk and just not go home.

Dogs don't have clocks and they don't have the concept of time that we do. Time is time and it passes without them checking their watch. They are woken up when you wake them up, its irrelevant to them if this happens at noon or this happens at five. Also, for dogs with SA, it might be better for their anxiety if their person doesn't come home and get them all  freaked out and then abandon them again. They get upset when you leave, calm down eventually, and then you come home and make them so happy and then you abandon them again. It doesn't improve their mood. So. Maybe its time for me to stop going home every day and start dialing it back. We will both hopefully survive the change.

Its not something I would do every day because I like getting away from work and seeing the pets and watching some TV and relaxing, however, I don't like feeling like I have to come home every day. Its been over three years since I had the luxury of choice.

Cats Blogging

My computer hates me

I'm having issues with everything Google owns, I'm  working in it.

Thursday

Blah. I watched a lot of the Grammys so I would know who they were talking about on Fashion Police . No one on that show is under forty! I feel that they need someone a little younger than that to talk fashion, these people are just too old and while they are younger than I am, they are too old for what they are doing.

I don't really care what forty-five year old women think about what twenty-three year olds are wearing! And also, also these women on the panel aren't really style people anyway and who are they to pass judgement? And if they are going to pass judgment, PASS JUDGMENT! They are so damned nice! I don't watch this to hear how pretty a dress is! I want to hear about how awful that mess is! And if it is a mess, >\why is it a mess?

I get tired of the endless compliemnets and hand jobs they hand out. Why so nice? Give it up. You are the Fashion Police! Insult someone! Pile on for gawds sake! I am so tried of hearing how much they admire that skank in a ugly dress, just say it! Say she looks like a hag in that awful get up! Stop talking about how much you like her! You don't "know" her! She's a nobody! Attack! Attack! Attack!

Educate us! What are they wearing and why If you don't like it, what should they have worn. I am so under whelmed. I think its just the music people, I could care less and most of them are wearing costumes but really bad costumes. At the very least they seem to be aware they are wearing  costumes, no one is playing that they are wearing clothes that they would just wear,

I can't wait for the Oscar show, they are meaner to people they know.

Wednesday

Yesterday night I looked at my kitchen and said "What could I make better here without spending a dime or doing any real work?"

After looking at the counter tops and wishing I had nothing them, I decided that if I moved stuff around , that it might at least look better. My big idea was the move knife rack and the big vat of utensils  from the right side of the stove to he left side of the stove. I use mostly the left side of the stove and when I'm cooking and reaching for spoons or knives or whatever, I have to move away from whatever I'm working on, and this is not always a great idea.

I had my big stand mixer and a semi-functional coffee maker standing around taking up space and I decided that they didn't really need to be out and could find other places to live.  I tucked the coffee maker away in the china cabinet and moved the mixer to the other side of the kitchen. I then moved the big spoons and the knife rack over to where the mixer and the maker had been,  Whew!

On Sunday, I must had the idea that I needed more counter space and so I made some. I took an oven rack out of the oven and put it  for a second over the sink - just to get it out of the way. Suddenly, I had more counter space as well as a way to keep the kitten who is currently in his "explorer" phase out of the sink.

These were such good ideas! I have a new surface to put things on and its easier for me to cook! I;m so excited! I'm smarter than I thought I was.

Tuesday

I'm sitting here huddled up with the dog, warming myself by the light of my plastic fire. I'm trying to watch the Grammys, but I don't listen to music or know who any of the acts are. I recognized one because I fast forwarded through him when he was on SNL a couple of weeks ago.

If the acting awards show featured this much acting, we might be better judges of the art. Maybe if the general public and the industry knew more about the actual arts that are being honored, crap like The Big Bang Theory wouldn't be as covered with glory as they are. I would love to see actors actually acting, maybe doing scenes from the nominated shows? Or maybe famous monologues from the stage? I mean they are supposed to be good at what they do. Why not Brian Cranston  doing a scene from Death of a Salesman or  Juliana Margulies doing Miss Julie? They do a lot of singing on the Grammys and I haven't noticed a single trophy handed out - which I guess is good because I could care less who wins.

I am waiting for Adele.

I know they are going to save her to the end, which sucks because I do not really want to watch this. It is boring. This is why I have Sirius, I don't have to be aware of current mucis, in my world the only music is New Wave and occasionally really old country . I would pay to hear Adele sing Tammy Wynette or 70s Loretta Lynn. She would sing the hell out of  You Ain't Woman Enough (to take my man) or D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

This better be worth missing a show about competitive furniture design.

Monday

Call me Domestic Goddess. I did laundry, so much laundry! Vacuumed the living room, cleaned off the top of the upstairs dresser, washed all the bedding including the bed spread and remade the bed, put all the laundry away, did all the dishes twice and made a fab pork tenderloin for Sunday dinner.

The little kitty wants to say "Hi".

Saturday night I did the shopping for the week and topped it off by going to Target and getting some Santa PJS for 80% off. But that was it! I went to Target and all I walked away with was some clearance pajamas. Then I went to Kohls and walked out with nothing! I was very strong and all the clearance stuff there was tacky.

Should I buy a new blender if I  only use it once a year? The old one is a hand me down that was old when I got it and only got older and now a seal or something tore and it won't seal or lock into the base anymore and so its not really usable any longer. They aren't real pricey wither, I was shocked. I never bought one before and I was under the impression they were more expensive - and they can be, if you want a fancy model - that I do not want. I want exactly what I have now but that still works and was manufactured this century. Do I want to buy a used blender?

Earlier Saturday, the dog and I braved the below-freezing weather and went downtown and caught the last hour or so of a Voting Rights protest ( it started at 8:30am and there was no way that I was getting out of my warm bed to go downtown and freeze, even for The Cause, sorry I'm a bad liberal), I was late but not too late to hear Andrew Goldmans' brother speak - Goldman of the Chaney, Goldman, Schwerner that the Klan killed in Mississippi because they had the nerve to register black people to vote. He was a great speaker and I am really happy and honored I got to hear him speak. He was followed by a really the really fire breathing preacher that heads the Moral Monday movement. He keeps getting arrested for being black and loud and being outraged.  North Carolina also doesn't want black people to vote and would prefer that they not register. Outrage is pretty much par for the course if you are paying attention.

I also walked the dog twice in below freezing temperatures. Yes, I want a rose pinned on me.

Friday Cats Blogging

 I said No Pictures!

Its been a very long week,

Thursday

On Wednesday I didn't go to an event on Thursday I actually did. I'm very proud of me. I hurried Rocket through his walk and then stuck him in the car and drove back downtown and was late to the opening of the Hillary Clinton Raleigh Headquarters! It was very exciting and there as a great turnout. I was especially proud to see so many parents there with their little girls.

I even got a picture with the candidate!

I wish I was wearing my better coat and did something with my hair, I didn't know there would be photo ops. That blue coat is my dog walking coat, its not really what I would choose to wear for a social thing.

On Saturday they have a thing scheduled for 8:30 in the morning, I am feeling not really positive about my attendance at this. I am  all for Clinton, but dayum! 8:30 on a Saturday morning?! Jeezus. I looked it up and its part of the Moral Monday movement and while it starts at 8:30, it doesn't end until 1pm, so the good news is, I could still make a showing without having to get up at a gawd awful hour on a Saturday.

My normal schedule for Saturday is o sleep until I wake up, and then I do as much of nothing as I can for the rest of the day. I think my body and mind need the day of rest, I get a lot of bonding donewith the little animals and clear off my DVR.  Sunday I do chores and get up for Church and do things, Saturday is my day of rest.

Wednesday

I saw that they were holding another Dog Bar event Wednesday night and since I haven't gone to one in a while,  they had been holding them periodically but they were hosted by bars too far away and they are always during the week and I don't want to drive to the ass end of North Raleigh to hang out at a bar.

For a non-drinking introvert, bars are not the most fun place to go. Bars are for drinking and visiting and being social and I don't do those things. Rocket greases the wheels a little but, he doesn't drink either. They have these little contests and drawings and he doesn't win those and the drawings are rigged. He might have a better chance of winning if he was an asthmatic, teacup three legged rescue mutt. He doesn't stand a chance. I am not a hipster bro, so I'm not going to win anything either. So, no booze, no joy and no reason to be there.

But I like the group, despite they can't do a raffle properly and they were having  a thing downtown and I thought I would go, no real excuse presented itself apart from that the dog was happily asleep and if I wanted a kitty, I could just pick one up. I really didn't want to leave my nice warm chair and my TV and go in the cold to another place that wasn't as nice and there are no kitties. I went into the cold with the dog and went to the bar.

I had no idea that Wednesday evenings were so hopping! And I thought everyone was at bible study! Every space was taken for blocks around the place - not for the Dog Bar event, that place was also packed to the gills, but all of the places were hip deep in folks. We didn't go to Dog Bar.

I could have, I could have found a space a distance away and walked, but it was cold and I don't know that part of downtown as well as I should and it didn't seem prudent to go exploring. I want to go back some Saturday and see  the area in the daylight. Its changed a lot since I was there last, new apartments and restaurants  and a retail store . Just the one, we can't have too much space dedicated to not food or drink. We don't have time to shop but there is never not enough time to get loaded.

Instead of Dog Bar we went to Wally and I bought yogurt. Wheee,

Dogs and Cats

Dear Weird Guy,

I'm not worried about you, a block and a half behind me, on the other side of the street. I  took a quick glance at you and thought you looked like an out of work Santa, the dog on the other hand, read your body language and took a sniff of what over eu  de ew you have going on and decided that you were a fully employed ax murderer.

I am not trying to evade you, don't be too impressed,  but the dog suddenly decided that we need to get home and its not relaxing to walk the dog while he double times it down the street compulsively looking over his shoulder every fifteen seconds for five blocks to see where you are. I can't sense you any longer but apparently, the dog can and doesn't need to see you to want to be away from you.

I think you should not have surprised him, coming out from nowhere and not being there seconds before, I mean, its not like you were any threat to us, I didn't even notice you until the dog propelled us forward a block and surprised or not I, after all am armed with a fully automatic adult male dog,  And you are an unemployed Santa.

Be smart, the  federal court house is bristling with cameras and lights and very bored men with guns, don't surprise anyone near there, my dog is the very least of your worries.

When we are walking alone in the morning, the dog reacts the same way to any human moving within a mile of us - Big hint : Cross the street now, don't unnerve the dog, do not make him turn around, you won't like him when he turns around.  Sketchy morning people tend to avoid large carnivores,  sketchy morning people are smart and  most of them already know that they taste like chicken.

On to other pet things.

I must be really fond of Little kitty. I took a stool sample, ew, by the way, to a vet that I had to drive on the freeway in the dark to get to to drop off said sample!. I can't tell you how much I don't enjoy this! Not dropping of sample with the vet, because anything for my kitty! But the trip on the highway was a major nightmare. I thought that I could do it and it would be fine but it wasn't! The car was tipping over! and I was beside myself, almost literally. Hopefully my sacrifice will be worth it and we'll find out whats bothering him and we can fix it once and for all.

My next project

I decided that I'm going to play the lottery so I can buy this!

 I think it would be cool for the fam to to have a place to go up in the mountains! Its not huge, but there is plenty of space for a couple of fold out couches and there is three acres to play with so tent camping is an option or we could build a bunky.

And its only 89K! Like nothing! It was a lot more but they cut the price to make it easier for me to buy. I've been watching its flier in the window of a real estate place on Fayetteville street for a good year, so I know  its been on the market for a while and they are really wanting to sell the place and I think they would like to sell it to me because I am likable and my pets are charming.

 I think it would just be a neat place to say is yours. Its  very close to Boone and Boone is supposed to be a way cool town and Asheville is close by and I love Asheville - how cool would it be to have a home base close to Asheville? 89K!

You can't get a parking place in Asheville for 89K.

So. How 'bout those... Oh, never mind. It was a suck game! Both teams showed up and both teams sucked, so it was just a question of who was going to suck less. Both teams fumbled and fouled and just about did their very best to not win the game. The Other Team did a better job at sucking less and they won. I'm not a big football watcher, but I do like a game played well and I recognize talent and strong skills when I see them. I am impressed by good play. I also recognize half assed, unfocused, badly done play and I am not impressed. I was not impressed by what I saw Sunday night.

Next year though, next year will be a real Super Bowl, because the Cowboys will be playing and it will be a great game,

Test 2

Test

Thursday

We can all relax now, Aces lab results came back and they are all WNL (within normal limits). So his respiratory thing is just a respiratory thing and he's eye infection is just an eye infection.  No zebras! There was a chance, albeit small, that he was in reality, a fur covered tumor.

I had to go with zebras though because Tex was so sick so often for so long and still died too soon. I have no safe place to go when it comes to cat health, just zebras everywhere! No happy thoughts about viger and happiness, no good news not ever.. In my cat world, the other shoe is hooked to a Rube Goldberg devise and it is always set to kick you in the ass. Which is why my cat has not been into see any vet in say, seven years. Not to say he wasn't fixed and vaccinated, he was, it was just done very casually and on the downlow and included no  blood work or actual exams. I took him to clinics that were very focused on keeping to the script and getting as many animals vaccinated as possible, no zebras allowed.

But. New World. New healthy cat world, new healthy cats world. Positive thoughts and kitty insurance is in the wings for LT, next month, after I've recovered from Aces no-insurance-paying-for-that-shite-myself visit to the vet. I've kind of decided that he's too old to get cheap insurance and all his vaxs  are good for the next three years anyway. LT, on the other hand is brand new out of the box and he should be able to get covered for very little - that will cover very little, you want big coverage, you pay big. I'm already paying big for the dog, who is very big. Big dogs are expensive when they need even little things.

Today I was very excited because it was pouring rain and that meant that I didn't have to rush home to walk the dog! It meant that I could comparatively leisurely go to Sams and pick up a few things and out gas in the car. While I was there I picked up an Official Jaguares Are In The Super Bowl tee-shirt. It is no where near as nice as my Cowboys shirts. This place has no football spirit! I have nicer Go! Cowboys! shirts from gas stations! Tomorrow I'm going to Lowes grocery store and I bet they at the very least had much more fun tee shirts.  There isn't even any glitter or images of the players or their jerseys or anything. Lame.

I saw that the local movie theatre is going to show the game on one of their screens, I am so tempted to go because it sounds like it would be huge fun. But then I remembered all the college kids and their huge loudness I thought maybe my nice, quite living room might be more comfortable after all.

Also, the Jags are a crap expansion team and the Cowboys aren't playing in it and whats the point?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!!!!!

The computer was wonky

Yesturday my computer was being weird or blogger.com was being weird or something so I  couldn't write and entry. I had a weird day. I went to Wally and spent more on the animals than I did myself, surprise, that has never happened before. But this time I went shopping for freaking appliances!

Rocket learned a new skill and not one I can feature on Instagram,  and as much as I like scrolling through  Dog Shaming, I do not like not being able to turn my back  because someone could be getting into the trash. So instead of spending the time  and money for  to help my dog develop the tools he needs to resist, I'm sure there is a class out there tailored to just that, but I went to Wally instead.

Darth Trash Can

It wasn't cheap, even from Wally, but it is certainly worth my peace of mind. Its very nice, the lid closes slowly and it fits regular trash bags. I should have tried to find a way to secure the door or whatever but it was all just a way to not just buy a bin  with a lid. A short trip to a quick fix. He was just getting into the trash at will! The door was no even trying to act right! It was just saying Hey, what up dawg! and they were having all kinds of interaction I do not approve of. I think they might have started up a gang and were trying to make the cats join. I do not need gang affiliated cats.

I like it, its a nice trash can. I was going to replace my other can anyway because it was needing it anyway, The new one I have now is nicer than I would have gotten without the dogs interference, because you don't need nice trash cans when your dog is well behaved enough to not get into it. The Don't Get Into The Trash Can class lasts six weeks and runs  $136, the can with a lid was a forty minute trip to Wally and ran me $44.

After I spent a good twenty minutes over thinking my trash can choices, I went to look for a humidifier for Aces stuffy nose. They had them in two different places and so that gave me the opportunity to over think my choices in two different locations! I started off in the baby section, where I found a cute choice. I like cute. They have really made great strides ventilator  technology! In fact, when you look up "ventilator vs humidifiers" , you mostly get a lot of articles about the ins and outs of hospital grade vents, like they put people on who can literally not breath on their own.  For household use they are now referred to as "humidifiers".

They have humidifiers for every day use and they have them for use when you are ill. They are the same item. One is in the baby section and the other is in the first aid section. The cute ones are in the baby section.

The one I got for Ace is both cute and goes with my decorating scheme! Score!

Speaking of Ace's health. I took him to the real vet, for the first time in maybe, six years. He went when he was a very small for drippy eye and then a couple of years later for a minor joint problem with his knees. Now he has a cold. He does have some congestion, but its up high in his chest and he does have a sore eye, but nothing too serious. The vet drew blood, so we're not out of the woods yet, but he liked what he saw on his physical exam . I have some cream for his eye and the vet gave him a strong antibiotic shot for his respiratory problem. While we were in the office he also gave him his three year vaccinations.

I like buying them toys better.

Litter Letter.

After much research on cat boxes, I bought your large litter box for my two cats. I bought it through Amazon, and it arrived, I put it together as instructed and it worked beautifully for two weeks  and I was a big fan - but then it began to warp and the seam of the grid where it locks into the bin developed a tear, and then the tabs no longer locked into place and got loose, and because the tabs no longer locked, it leaked litter wildly, and  it no longer collected the waste. it was great while it worked, but once it started to get used , it stopped working as promised. I really liked it when it worked but now I am going to have to go back to a cat box where the litter stays inside. I don't know if I got a lemon or if they all end up this way after they get used.

This was not a cheap litter box and I had hoped that it would work for longer than a couple of weeks. Is this the normal lifespan for your litter box?

And no, I am not using too much litter.

Please let me know if there is any way to solve these issues with my litter box, maybe I got a defective model. I would be willing to try the product again.

Diana Romaine


I forgot I did this. Saturday morning I went to clean out the cat box and as I was rolling it over, I noticed berm of litter had formed behind it. I was a little shocked. I began to examine the tabs and noticed that they had loosened and they resisted getting snapped back into place. The whole contraption had warped! and when I took it apart I saw that the magic aste sifting screen had developed a tar along the seam where it meets the flange that connects it to the bin. When I did the flip and roll, the litter wasn't being properly screened and all of it was ending up in the collection sleeve.

This is very unhappy making. I removed the screen and spread out the litter and the box still functions well as a traditional litter box, but I could have paid less and still got a covered litter box. Now I paid $15 more than I would have and all I have to show for it is a larger than average box.

I hope they get back to me and either give me my money back or send me a new one in either case, I see me having to send the used box back, which entails a lot of boxing and taping and going to the post office, and just the thought of all that is completely energy sapping,

And disappointing! I was so excited by it! It was so easy to clean and tidy and fast. Sigh. Back to basics.

Has anyone noticed that there is nothing on TV sunday nights? All I've been able to find is Barnwwod Builders, which should be called The Most Manly-ist Men who ever Manned. They tear down old barns and reuse the beams to build new things. With their teeth. So butch.