jemjabella

Insert Tumbleweed Here

I should have known that blogging about not blogging would be an invitation for something drastic to happen, rendering me all but incapable of blogging, resulting in... blog irony or something. (Don't count how many times "blog" appears in that sentence.) The fact that I have a tummy bug, and a cold on top of that, and work has suddenly gone from relatively quiet to rushed off my feet in the space of a couple of weeks leaving me exhausted at the end of each day is just... sod's law. Life lesson: the bigger your todo list, the more likely it is something will prevent you from tackling it.

When I'm not snoozing under the duvet on the sofa, glued to crappy TV, I've been thinking about what to plant this spring. Because of the recent move, Karl and I have very limited space now for growing. No proper garden, only what can be described as a pile of rubble masquerading as a rockery down the side of the driveway (although unfortunately somewhat sheltered by a low wall). That said, we are fortunate to have several large and VERY sunny windowsills, so I am hoping that we shan't be a total no-grow area. Smaller plants only, I think. (If you've any cat safe recommendations for human edible plants, do share. I have 8 strawberry plants but could do with some variety.)

I've been asked to mention the Litter Kwitter, but the thought of cat poo is turning my stomach so I shall leave that delight for another time. So there we are, I am still alive :)

Sicky Blargh

Seem to have caught a sicky bug again, so not feeling up to much recently. Just posting so that if you're waiting on an email from me or anything like that, you know why it's delayed. Will get through everything as soon as possible. :)

Furry Friday: Catching Rays

Mimi mentioned on last week's Furry Friday post that Hex doesn't get enough posts, and focus seems to be on Fudge. This isn't intentional, I do not have a favourite cat. There are two problems, however, with posting new Hex material... firstly, he refuses to let me take his photograph properly, which means 90% of Hex pictures come out as a blur; secondly, he is such a dark cat and unless the light is absolutely intense, it's almost impossible to capture his features rather than a big blob of black.

Anyway, excuses aside, this photo is from last week:

And just to keep things interesting, a comparison shot from about 18 months ago, the week we got Hexynoodles:

As you can see, there's a bit of a size difference...

On Cat Books and Tom Cox

Karl's mum bought me a cat book for Christmas. The Cat Who Came in from the Cold by Deric Longden, to be precise. I must admit, I started it with a little trepidation. Just because I like cats does not automatically mean I like everything to do with cats. However, the book was great, and I went on to demand Enough To Make A Cat Laugh for my birthday, buying Paws in the Proceedings myself (also by Longden). Anyway, after having sped through those, I was desperate for a new cat book to read. Yes, I am that sad.

I did a bit of a searching and came across "Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man" by Tom Cox. I ordered it using the gift voucher my brother (Kris) gave me for my birthday, and it finally arrived a couple of weeks ago. Given that I only read a few pages a night to get me off to sleep, I've only just finished it. Aside from the desire to leave Karl, run away to find this chap and usurp his current girlfriend so that we can share our obvious mutual cat love (he has SIX cats!) — about which I'm obviously kidding, I love Karl very much — I couldn't get over how funny I found the whole thing. I just couldn't help but nod along to the majority of it (although I questioned the author's sanity in taking on six cats, really.)

Unfortunately, Cox doesn't seem to have published a second cat book, but upon browsing his (rather crap, sorry) website I discovered that he does blog. Not only that, he blogs about cats. He blogs about his own cats, and other people's cats. How frickin' cool is that?! (Please, that question needn't be answered ;) )

Where Did Everyone Go?

I've been an avid blog reader for years. As long as I've had my own... possibly longer. I read a huge variety of topics, too. From personal blogs (or "journals") to tech/gadget stuff, marketing, SEO and code to cooking and cats (but not cooking cats). However, it seems that of late all of my favourite bloggers have buggered off and I've got nothing to read.

Last updated: Amber, January 24th; Vixx, January 30th; Belinda, January 17th; Claire; February 17th; Karl; February 8th... what's a girl to do?

Beg for new material, yay! If you know of a blog that you think I'd be interested in — or maybe you read mine and think I should return the favour — please post your links so that I can go on a reading rampage.