On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

 eleven advil tablets!

Today all I want is advil and water and sleep, because I am massively hung over due to hosting our family Christmas party which mostly ended up being mom and dad's friends circled up in the kitchen eating and chatting and the younger, Millsaps-slash-CHS academic team crew piling up on the couch and catching up while throwing back drink after drink but largely forgetting to eat, and also because I hadn't prepared anything for the eleventh day but I'm determined to try to get all these dang blog posts done because when I have an idea I stick to it, damn it, even when I really should have picked a holiday song with less numbers. 

Merry holidays and happy Christmas and peace on earth, y'all.

...ten finger puppets
nine awesome apps

eight catnip eyeballs

seven Anthropologie aprons

six fannypacks for your head

FIVE POTTER PRESENTS

four snuggie knockoffs

three Ed Hardy hookahs

two handerpants

and an ornament of yummy sushi

 Category(s): bleeerrrggghhh

adventures with kittens: flying high

Hello from 36,000 feet!

I'm sitting here on a plane, with my kitteh on my lap, my man next to me, a whiskey and cranberry in my hand (that only cost $1.29! Whauuuuuut?*) and no exams to speak of. Today is a good day.

But getting to this point has been quite the adventure. I had an exam Wednesday morning, turned my final project in that afternoon, went to a job interview, met some other TAs for a group grading party, took my computer to the Apple store** and then numbly ate Special K for dinner while staring at CSI. All this after less than four hours of sleep. So Thursday rolled around and I had one day to clean, pack, get Penny ready and do a hundred other menial things to be ready to get to this moment. Long story short, at about midnight-30 I was panicking about everything left on my (lengthy) to-do list and Brian was wishing I'd chill the hell out and Penny was wondering what in the world all those suitcases were for and why I kept trying to get her to enjoy sitting in a little teeny carrier.

To those that know me, it's needless to say that I spent most of the night making lists in my head and trying to remember not to forget stuff and worrying about how my lil girl was going to survive her first flight.

But somehow, we made it through the last-minute packing craziness (including switching everything from my suitcase into a whole new one because I clearly need all seven pairs of these shoes and, even after laying on it, there was no way that sucker was going to zip), the carrying a pet onto the T craziness (of course we got on it at the same time as 854247996 cynical Bostonians on their way to work) and the security craziness (Penny did NOT enjoy having to leave her carrier and go through the metal detector with deafening noises and chaotic smells everywhere)... and here we are.

Thanks for the free wi-fi Delta, and here we come Mississippi!!

* We definitely brought our own mini bottles of booze, put them in the plastic baggie of liquids and security waved it on through. Genius.
** Yes, I have finally joined the ranks of the tech-savvy, Mac-obsessed generation! Think my students will think I'm cool now?

adventures with kittens: Penny Pisspants

So for a while after Chris and Taylor visited, Penny had some issues… let’s just say they were of the type to earn her the nickname Penny Pisspants. Luckily (and fingers crossed and knock on wood) she seems to have gotten herself under control and is now using the litter box again for all such bodily functions.

Actually, now lil Penny has fully entered the playful–destructive stage. Being as she is still fairly wee, I’m not too concerned. Her ravaging has mostly been contained to napkins, random toy bits, pens and string. But it is hilarious to watch her leaping through the air, battling savagely against three inches of napkin, only to become startled when we make any noise and go tearing off into the next room.

But there's also this:

 

We're trying to keep her out of the boozes so as to keep her Pisspants days behind us.