Piecakes 2: Return of the Piecakes

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We celebrated at our house the way I usually celebrate things: by making cupcakes. I finally re-attempted the cupcakes that look like pies. They turned out better this time.

Red velvet. Mostly food coloring. True story.

Josh forbade the usage of orange M&Ms because he said it too closely resembled OSU colors. So I ate them.

 In the cupcake caddy.

Like always, Josh made his ribbon jell-o and it was a big hit.

Josh is suspicious about the quality of this turkey.

 Bonus Picture:

This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but it's cute. The cats just can't get enough of Josh.

While Josh is Away, the Cats Will Play!

Josh is gone on High Adventure with the scouts, so he wasn't here today when we got a special present in the mail.

 Mr. F helped me unpack it

Josh and I have talked forever about getting a bigger cat tower for the cats (part of my long term goal to build a cattery in the garage), but finally got around to it. It came disassembled and I didn't think it would be terrible to put together. 

Except the instructions looked like this:

Just a picture. And though the parts in the picture are labeled, none of the individual pieces were labeled. So I had to take it apart again a couple times. And I think we're missing a piece, so I didn't finish it.

 Halfway to awesome

I put it by the window because the cats like looking outside, but they hate it so far. It's too high for them, they're too fat, it wobbles a bit. I put Falkor on the top and it took him five minutes to figure out how to get down.

 Mr. F was a little better, but she also didn't like sitting there for too long.

I couldn't get any pictures of Mercury because she jumped down right away. Oh well.... They'd better get used to it because it isn't going anywhere!

Itteh Bitteh Kittehs

We were in Eugene this past weekend, visiting family and generally being bums. We finally got to see my sister Helen's house and her baby kittens. As a way of explanation, my sister volunteers for a no-kill animal shelter and finds homes for displaced/unwanted kitties. She ended up with the kittens (and their mother) because they were found on someone's farm land while she was picking up cats to be spayed.

We call this a "cat stack"

Helen tried to see how many cats she could stick in her mouth. The answer is one.

I think this one was Moonbeam.

They have the cutest blue eyes

My mom was either wearing this cat as a hat or this cat was wearing my mom as a belt.

This cat was so snuggly!

Josh played a video of cats meowing and the kittens freaked out. Uh-Door-uh-Bull!

While in Eugene, Helen and Josh also jammed on the banjo, guitar, and ukelele:

Josh and Mercury (plus: being thankful for nerdy friends)

Josh took the cats to the vet the other day and we discovered that Mercury, our resident irascible fat cat has lost an entire pound (yay!) and that she has now graduated to Senior Cat status (being all of 8 years old now). When  Josh and I first started dating, Mercury hated him (probably because he would pick her up and pretend she was dancing), but in the past year or so Merc has really warmed up to him. Sometimes she will even approach him for snuggling! After bringing her back from the vet, however, Josh was sad to discover that they were in a fight. He texted me a few hours later when I was in class, though, because apparently she had forgiven him and they were friends again.

Tonight, this is what it looked like in the ShepAlder house:

Josh was loving Merc

Merc was loving Josh

Then Josh started singing "Paparazzi" and pretending I had caught him in the middle of a tryst. Mercury was clearly not amused.

I'm glad that they made up, though I'm a little jealous. Mercury was my only roommate for five years before I married Josh, and for a long time I was the only one she loved. Of course, Josh is the one that feeds her, so.... I understand.

In Other News:

I absolutely love new friends, especially when we find something in common about which we are both besotted. This week my friend and classmate Stephanie loaned to me her Wii copies of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" and "Evil Under the Sun" and I got to loan to her a couple of my Nancy Drew games. It has really made my week! Plus, she told me about where to get free kindle books. (BTW: I have a Kindle now, but I will probably write about that some other day). I love making friends who are as nerdy as I am!

More Pictures of our Cats

When Mr. F was still a kitten, Josh captured this series of pictures:

Mr. F spots her prey, the elusive Pepsi Max....

.... plans her attack....

... then swiftly and inexplicably decides to nap.

Then the other day, I got this picture:

Josh with Mercury and Mr. F

You can sort of see in this picture how much bigger (and fluffier) Mr. F has become in the past year. She now outweighs Mercury (who is 8 years old) but at least five pounds!

In Other News:


My brother:

visited this weekend because I tried to set him up with my friend Nancy:

and we played Rock Band for several hours. I don't know how the date went, but it was fun hanging out with my brother for the weekend. 

Happy Birthday Mr. F!

We don't have any kids, but we do have three cats who each have their own personalities and demand our attention. Sometimes I get really stressed about having three cats. When you have one cat, it's very easy to add a second cat. We had an electric catbox, so we didn't really need to increase any litter cleaning, and they didn't necessarily need any more food or attention (especially since our second cat is super chill).

However, the third cat. Well, we may as well have five cats. They destroyed the electronic catbox (so we had to get a different model), and they were constantly competing for food (we had to put them all on a diet because they were overeating, I think in fear that the other two cats would eat everything).

But when the opportunity first came to adopt the third, I thought it was a really good idea. Plus, who could say no to this face?:

Mr. F and her brother on my lap

For awhile we couldn't come up with a good name for her, but Josh and I both love the tv show "Arrested Development," and especially think the episode "Mr. F" is funny. In the episode, "Mr. F" is also a girl. 

Snuggling while I study

When we first adopted her, we always held her, even when we were napping.

Josh and Mr. F taking a much-needed Sunday nap

We even let her sleep in our bedroom, which is a strictly no-cat-zone.

She likes to snuggle when I'm reading

When she was a tiny kitten, she would burrow under pillows. It was really the cutest ever:

It's hard to believe Mr. F was ever that small!

Although Mr. F and our oldest cat Mercury still haven't become friends, Mr. F and Falkor used to snuggle up (before Mr. F grew to be Falkor's size!)

It's actually pretty amazing how quickly Mr. F grew. It seems like only yesterday I could fit her in the front of my sweatshirt just to celebrate Griffin pride.

Alder Families are Forever Griffins

Mr. F was also the source of the biggest trauma to hit a ShepAlder cat (if you don't count that night Mercury accidentally spent outdoors), a broken leg. When we woke up to find Mr. F's leg sticking out at a weird angle, it was probably the grossest thing I've ever seen in person (and I'm glad we were too grossed out to take a picture), but Mr. F in her cast was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen in person. Once her leg was bandaged, she hobbled around at top speed, which was a problem because we were supposed to keep her away from the other cats. But every time we went to feed her or say hello, she bolted for the door!

We joked that Mr. F was like a pirate with a peg leg, only faster!

I can't believe our little Mr. F is over a year old now, and no longer a kitten!

Falkor, Mr. F, and Mercury-- just chilling on the couch together

Our Newest Addition

Meet our new kitten, La Fleur (aka Mr. F):


Isn't she the cutest ever? She joined our family yesterday and has been following me around ever since. She loves sitting in my lap while I type on the computer, watch tv, and/or read. Yesterday we took a nap together on the couch, but Josh was asleep upstairs so he missed the photo opportunity.

Yes, we're now crazy cat people. The third one makes it official.

Mercury vs. The Right Hand of Doom!!

It's no secret that Emily's cat, Mercury, absolutely hates me. I'm not exactly sure why... sure, I make her dance and I probably always smell like my cat, Falkor.

When Emily and I first got together, Mercury would just hide from me whenever I visited the apartment. Then I adopted Falkor and his sister, Ambrosius, and Mercury was really upset. She would hiss and growl at them... and when they got close to her, she would try to bop them!!

Ever since, Mercury always hisses at me. Emily and I have been together for nearly 3 years now (11 months of dating + 7 months of engagement + married since July 28, 2007), and that darn cat still thinks I'm the most terrible person around. She can even manages to be in (somewhat) close proximity to Falkor, her other sworn enemy.

Knowing this, I basically just find creative ways to chide Mercury. As mentioned in a previous blog posting, I'm a pretty avid fan of action figures, and I've found that these -- coupled with an agitated cat -- make the most interesting photos. When we moved into our home here in Beaverton, Mercury immediately found a favorite hiding spot underneath the long L-shaped cabinet in our bonus room. She rarely goes there now, as I'm sure the tight, cramped quarters are rather uncomfortable (especially considering her short, squatty body).

Shutting the door to ensure that she wouldn't run downstairs, I quickly compelled Mercury to squish herself underneath the cabinet. After that, a quick positioning of my trusty HELLBOY figurine, and I was ready to go.

For your consideration and amusement, here is the best of the resulting photos. Mission accomplished (the irony, of course, is that, in the HELLBOY films, the titular character is rather fond of cats).

Mercury fears "The Right Hand of Doom"!!

Mercury the Hutt

My husband has an unhealthy obsession with toys. He refuses to get rid of his childhood action figures and we have Mr. Potato Heads for every holiday and geeky movie franchise (ie Star Wars, Spiderman, Transformers). This drives my nephews nuts because Josh also refuses to let anyone play with them ("They'll get scuffed!" he cries).

He also has an unhealthy obsession with tormenting my poor cat who is, admittedly, a little over-plump (I like to think of her as "Rubenesque"). He often refers to her as "Mercury the Hutt" because, in his words, "She has a tendency to fold into her squatty body."

So the other day, he set up this picture:

Apparently this is a re-enactment of a pivotal point in "Return of the Jedi" where Leia dresses up like the bounty hunter Boushh in order to free Han Solo from carbonite

Josh wanted to make sure I included the quote from his facebook page: "Mercury the Hutt says, 'This bounty hunter is my kind of scum: fearless and inventive.'" If you didn't know this before, I am married to a nerd of gigantic proportions! (That is, his nerdiness is gigantic, not my actual husband).

Falkor vs. A Strange Cat

Our cat Falkor is usually a pretty friendly guy. He's big, fluffy and curious. But, since he is not allowed outside EVER (he once ran away and didn't come back for seven months...), he often spends a lot of time by the back sliding glass door looking at the trees, birds and grass in the backyard.

Every once in a while, he sees something that totally stresses out his two-and-a-half-year-old heart. This happened yesterday afternoon.