New Year's Wish

I'm trucking around the house in my pjs and slippers over Christmas because I have a cold, a nasty cold. I drank gallons of tea and hot cocoa and chicken noodle soup. Blarg. The main sewer line had backed up a bit into the house so there was limited use of water until it could be rodded out on the 26th. I found something to do with myself (See post below.), but I spent some time cleaning the room where the litter boxes are. 

Still, there seemed to be this crunch, crunch when I walked around that I couldn't eradicate, no matter how many times I went over the floor with a broom. It was getting on my nerves. Hamlet is terrible about digging in the litter. It goes flying and winds up outside the box, but there wasn't a lot tracked through the house. What was making this crunch noise and the feeling, underfoot, that the floor wasn't clean. I looked at the bottom of my slippers. 

Oh. 

Well, to be honest, I have had these slippers for, gee, maybe 8+ years. I loved the hard sole. I would wear them to get the mail or take the recycling to the can. They were comfortable; oh were they comfortable. But this would explain the crunch and why things didn't feel right. It was a sad day to toss them in the garbage. 

I have a pair of Hawkeye slippers which I've had now for a couple years. They do not have the sturdy sole shown here, but a slim hard plastic. They are comfortable, but they have stretched to allow the wearing of a sock. When I get out of bed in the morning and want to wear slippers, my bare feet walk right out of them. They are great for during the day; warm and cozy; but they just don't fit anymore. I needed new slippers. 

Thank goodness for after Christmas sales. 

I give these Isotoner slippers from JC Penney 5 stars. They are incredibly comfortable. They are true to size and fit perfectly. I've worn them with and without socks, but they are my 'go to' in the morning. They have a hard sole exactly like the ones which disintegrated. There were leopard print slippers on the web site, but only in small size. I like these. 

It got me thinking about the new year. I haven't been a very good blogger. After posting in October, we got swamped with a huge inspection job and I wound up doing most of the work. After that came the write up of the reports. Add a splash of a vacation in Virginia over Thanksgiving. Stir in a heavy cold and two holidays and posting here was the last of my thoughts. Yet, I did come up with something on my Facebook feed which I'm going to share here. 

Here is my advice for starting 2017. I had to get new slippers because my 10+ year old ones with the hard sole broke. They were very comfortable and slippers are kind of a personal thing. Thanks to after Christmas sales, I got a pair of "memory foam" slippers from JC Penney for $13.00.

Folks, if you are having a really bad day, feeling like life is against you, check your shoes. Are you wearing comfortable shoes? I mean, really comfortable? If not change your shoes. Go find a pair you can live in, really live in; wear 18 hours a day. In the late spring through late fall, I'm not in shoes when I'm at home. I prefer barefoot, but these slippers are amazing. I have other shoes (Clarks) which are just as comfortable. Ya gotta move through life. You can't be standing still. Make sure you have comfortable shoes for your journey. That's my advice. 

So, amongst all the canned words which have filled your email or Facebook, trying to be inspiring while not glib or eye-rolling, this is what I give you. Wear comfortable shoes. 

Beverage:  Assam

Deb

Gross

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No, that's not in some code. I sat down, today, to do a whole bunch of blogging. It's -15 outside and, with the windows covered in plastic, 70 degrees in the house is very comfortable. It's a good day to write.

Have you looked at your keyboard. Because computers are ubiquitous in society, we've all become something of a "touch typist", rarely looking at or needing to look at, the keyboard. It's not all that necessary, once you figure out where your fingers go. Over time, any keyboard is going to attract the dirt and oils on our fingers. The keys will get dirty. And with someone like me, I don't notice the dirt until, well, I notice the dirt.

I sat down to blog which involves finding and cropping photos, uploading and downloading and finding links. I have no idea what prompted me to actually look down at the keyboard, but the state of the - key bothered me. My keyboard is silver metal with white keys; a standard issue Mac keyboard. Dirt on the keys is noticeable. I got the Q-tips and the rubbing alcohol and started in.

It was just going to be the - key, but the more I started gently wiping, the more I realized just how dirty the keyboard was. The rows between the keys were cleaned. The columns between the keys were cleaned. The silver edges of the board itself were cleaned. You can't see it, but there was dirt and grime in the spaces next to the up arrow at the bottom right. If I could take the keyboard apart, I'm sure I would find another cat, or the fur from one, stuck inside. All I can do is clean the tops of and around the keys.

I went through a dozen Q-tips. Rubbing alcohol is what you need to use if you're going to do this because it removes the dirt and grime while evaporating. Plus, it evaporates quickly so very little, if any, falls into the keyboard guts. While using a Q-tip takes time, anything larger runs the risk of fluid getting into the keyboard. I tried a small cotton ball, but found the ball left strings of cotton. I have enough issues with cat fur. I don't need cotton threads. Q-tips don't shed.

The keyboard is clean now. The above string of characters was from pushing the keys to clean either the top or around them. I'm also washing dishes in an attempt to have a clean kitchen and I've cleaned the litter boxes. We'll call it "Clean the house Sunday" around here.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Guess I Will Be Back, Photo 22

We were out of cat food. Oh no! Yes, it was a somewhat dark day. We had come to the bottom of the Hills Ideal Balance bag and it was time to get more. I wasn't getting Hills, that's for sure. Not going to spend that kind of money on cat food no matter how much I love them. Besides, Merrick is just as good and it's cheaper for a bigger bag.

I used to go to Pet Supplies Plus, back when we had a pride of cats in the house and everyone was eating Fancy Feast. It's across the street from my favorite Dunkin Donuts so it's close to me. Fancy Feast was always, always 5-10 cents cheaper than at the grocery or at Target. When you're buying 40 cans at a time, that's a big deal.

But when I looked up places to buy Merrick, this store didn't come up on the list. Petco did and there is one in south Wheaton. Petco sponsors adoptions and their foundation is one of the biggest supporters of TNR; Trap, Neuter, Return; of feral cats. They work with Best Friends Animal Society and other no-kill organizations around the US to make the goal of "No More Homeless Pets" a reality. But prices tend to be higher at Petco and it's out of my way to go there. I have a Petco "loyalty" card, one of those little thingees that hang off a key ring. I hadn't seen any real benefit from it. I was also tired on Tuesday, yet the girls needed food.

So, I drive to Petco. I am the ONLY customer in the store at 4:30 p.m. The store is located in a strip mall that has lost its major tenant, a Dominicks grocery store. The IHop closed, which is really sad because there isn't another one close to me. There is a cluster of stores to the north of the Dominicks and that's where the Petco is, but the parking lot looks so sad, so empty.

The store manager greeted me as I came in and asked if I needed help. "I just need cat food." "That's over here," he replied. I resisted the urge to say, "I know." He's just trying to be helpful and I am the only customer in the store. He's probably thrilled to see someone. "Which brand?" he asked. "Merrick," I responded. I walked right to the display. Which Merrick to get them. We've had chicken flavor and they like that, but there is a salmon flavor and there is a version called "Healthy Weight". I stood weighing my options. The big bags were all priced the same. I opted for chicken since I knew they liked it. Franco took my bag to the front. The store manager, who hadn't left my side asked if I needed anything else. I got 3 cans of the Hills Ideal Balance wet cat food. Pilchard loves it and she's the chunkiest, at the moment. I have to travel for work in the next couple of weeks so my guilt at leaving them will be assuaged by a can of wet food which Mija will sniff and then look at me accusingly as if I'm trying to starve her.

He asked, "Do you need litter?" I stopped. Actually, I do need litter. I have half of a box left and I have to replace, completely, the contents of one of the boxes. It's time to do that. Wash another box. Completely replace the litter and we're good to go. (One of the nice side effects of the change in food is no more stinky poopers. Seriously. If you're having problems with smelly poop, change the food. I get, maybe, one every other month. When I was feeding them Purina, "Oh lordy that smells" was an every other day occurrence, even with a clean litter box.) I looked at him. "Well, what does litter cost here? I'll buy a box if it's close to what I pay at the grocery."

This is what we use and I watch for sales on this stuff. I know what price I'll pay and if it's that price or lower, I buy it, even if I have a box or two. It's going to get used.

It was $2 more. That was close, but I was willing to wait to go to the grocery since I have to go anyway this weekend. I told him what I paid the last time I got litter and he said, "We can match that." Well, sold then. "Only one box?" Yeah, even matching the price, I didn't need another box, even completely replacing litter. I'm good. I have to consider that I have to lug it into the house. The manager grabbed the litter and took that up front. Franco carried the litter and the food out to the Jeep for me, too.

When I paid for everything, I discovered the food was $2 off because of my "loyalty" card. I saved $4 which more than covers the sales tax and the gas to drive out of my way. I still wonder if Pet Supplies carries Merrick. I should go there and see. I can't count on that store manager always being at Petco and matching the price for litter. I need to be aware of what things costs around me. But I was impressed. I guess I will be back.

Beverage:  Dunkin' Donuts tea

Deb

We'll Be the Judge of This

Yup, that's what it's called. Says so, right on the bag. "World's Best Cat Litter".

You can imagine that I go through quite a bit of this. It's certainly nowhere nearly as much as it was when there were 5 felines living with me, but it's enough. All the books on cat care recommend having one box per cat and one extra. Hence, we have 3. I've noticed that they pee in two of them and poop in the other. I've never been quite sure why but the shorter walled litter boxes are easier for me to clean and that's where most of the cleaning occurs.

I've been fairly brand loyal to Fresh Step. All the cats I've had liked that litter. Perhaps you remember the scented fiasco of earlier this year. I've been very careful to look at the packaging now so scented never comes across the threshold. Fresh Step has a program whereby you plug a code printed on the inside of every box and you get points, redeemable for items. It's a silly reason to be brand loyal but, once I got started, the cats liked the stuff and it was reasonably priced.

Lately, however, the codes printed on the inside of boxes have been impossible to read. I have no idea how many points I have. I haven't redeemed any as I was working toward a cat tower. I've seen, in the rare loyal programs to which a belong, a change in what you can get with your points. They are pushing magazines. I don't need more magazines. I have the the pile on the ottoman cut by 3/4ths now. Although I hear books calling to me, I am determined to get the magazines down to nothing by the end of the year. Plus, Fresh Step has gone up in price while Arm & Hammer kitty litter has gone down. Well, loyalty program or no loyalty program, the pocketbook reigns here.

I started reading Cat Wisdom 101 and one of the sponsors is the above kitty litter. I can get, one time only, a free bag of litter. Well, free tends to be up my alley. I would buy the litter and send in the UPC with the receipt and be reimbursed. So, needing litter, I checked for this at the store. It's not real cost effective. I got an 18 pound bag for $8.19, on sale. Twenty-five pounds of Arm & Hammer is $8.99. This is going to have to be really incredible stuff for me to switch. Even a math phobe like me can see which is the better buy.

It's made from ground up corn stalks; for real. In fact, as I was scooping it out of the bag, bits and pieces of dried corn kernels were seen in the mix. It feels just like any other scooping litter. It does not have the dust of Arm & Hammer or Fresh Step, something I very much appreciate. It also does not have a chemical smell. Even the "unscented" cat litter has a deodorizer smell to it. This smells like chopped up dried corn. Having grown up on a farm, I know precisely what that smell is. The question is, how well will it do the job and how will the girls like it?

There have been some instances lately of peeing outside of the box. That's usually a sign of urinary distress or anger at something in the house. I've never caught who is doing it but I'd walk in the door after coming home and wow. Um...yeah. Since going to this, no one is peeing outside the box. I won't say they love it, but they tolerated the mixing of the Arm & Hammer with this in one box only, quite well.

I'm not completely sold simply because of the disparity of cost. If this was a couple dollars cheaper, I would go with it in a heartbeat. "World's Best"? Well, I think it has a lot of merit and, if money is not an issue, yes. Where money is an issue, Arm & Hammer on sale can't be beat.

Beverage:  Water

Deb