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OT: Time to Wrap Gifts and a Pity Parade

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Tia Mary

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Dec 16, 2009, 3:27:26 PM12/16/09
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Well, I'm off to the basement to wrap DH's Christmas gifts and I am
just NOT in the mood. It's rather depressing for me since we have
virtually NO decorations put up, we have no fresh tree and I know that I
can't put any gifts under the artificial white tree we have put up in
front of the living room window. Cheeto will attack, chew, shred,
deface and otherwise totally RUIN anything he can get his teeth or claws
into -- VBS! Ivy Jane is a climber asnd I just *know* she would be
trying to climb a fresh tree if we had one and Cheeto would be ripping
all of the lights, ornaments, icicles, bead garland, etc. off the lower
part of a fully decorated fresh cut tree. This is not a good Christmas
for me to say the least!
I'm happy that DH rescued the little guy and that we had the means
to care for him properly but he's been a terrible strain on us and I am
NOT happy that we have had to be the ones to raise him. This is almost
the worst Christmas I have ever had. The only one worse was when DSonIL
had his stroke and nearly died in mid November 2004! Cheeto torments
the other cats constantly. He and Ivy Jane chase each other daily --
Ivy Jane is a climber AND a total klutz so things are always getting
knocked over and broken. This means very few Christmas tchachkis are
put out because I don't want them broken. Cheeto will chew on anything
new or different so there is no garland up in any place he could reach.
This means NO GARLAND at all! I just couldn't see dragging up the
boxes of decorations to pick out just the garland that goes on the mantle!
I did put a few things I have bought throughout the year on my
mantle along with a string of lights. I have a table runner and a
basket of silk holly, etc. on the coffee table. Any decorations I have
put up are ones that were stored in the cupboards and easy to get to and
either not breakable or are far from the edge of a table, etc.
Everything I put on the kitchen table had been knocked off and carried
to the far corners of the kitchen and family room. I now have boxes and
bags of stuff all over the table so that the cats can't get up there and
do any further damage. I washed several of my Christmas sweaters that
were worn last week and had them sitting on my dresser waiting to be put
in the drawer. They are now covered with black cat hair because Ivy
Jane decided that was a good place for a nap! This is the cat who is
afraid to come into the bedroom most of the time!
So, I will bite the bullet and go wrap gifts and think about NEXT
Christmas! The kids will be here from Lizard Land for Christmas 2010
because next year WILL be MY last year here! Hopefully, my three girls
-- Cassie (Baby Cat), Ivy Jane (Garbanzo Brain Stealth Kitty) and Bunnie
Sue (Chunkybutt Fata*s Tank Kitty) will have finally gotten used to each
other and not be fighting, etc. I hope Ivy Jane doesn't decide to clim
the tree next year! I have finally talked DH into putting in a kitty
door from the kitchen to the screen room. Ivy Jane is in the screen
room all the time and likes to climb to the top of the firewood out
there. Hopefully that will satisfy her need to climb trees! Cheeto
will be in residence at DD's, Cassie will be locked in the sewing room
again if she doesn't behave and Bunnie Sue is too freakin' fat to do
much of anything besides lay on the chair next to me at night!!!
OK -- off to the basement -- Pity Parade is over for now :-).
CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Cheryl Isaak

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Dec 16, 2009, 7:15:33 PM12/16/09
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Wish I could give you a hug dear

Fred

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Dec 17, 2009, 3:30:19 AM12/17/09
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"Tia Mary" <CatWo...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:7osu5oF...@mid.individual.net...

A water pistol worked for us with cats and their indiscretions!<G>

Got any ideas how to stop a Malamute from chewing through walls??

Fred
http://www.stitchaway.com
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
Don't back stitch to email, just stitchit.


Tia Mary

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Dec 17, 2009, 7:10:23 AM12/17/09
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Fred wrote:
> A water pistol worked for us with cats and their indiscretions!<G>
>
> Got any ideas how to stop a Malamute from chewing through walls??
>
> Fred
> http://www.stitchaway.com

A water pistol works great IF you can actually get to the cat with
it! That's my biggest problem with a two story house that is 1400 sq.
ft per level! By the time I get to wherever the argument is, the cats
are gone, the tchachkis are broken and all I get to do is yell and clean
up the mess!
As for the puppy chewing the walls, if that bitter apple don't work,
there's always a muzzle or give him a hunk of wood that is HIS to chew
:-))!!! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Karen C - California

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Dec 17, 2009, 7:36:10 AM12/17/09
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Fred wrote:
>
> Got any ideas how to stop a Malamute from chewing through walls??
>
>

Paint them with capsaicin.


--

Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreader www.IntlProofingConsortium.com

Finished 8/14/09 - Death by Chocolate: What a Way to Go!

WIP: Stitchers Days of Christmas
http://www.crossstitchjoy.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3865
Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono (Janlynn),
MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek)
Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market

www.CFSfacts.org -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths
Myths, with research cites: http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf
Newest research blog: http://cfs-facts.blogspot.com/


Sharon

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Dec 19, 2009, 3:09:53 PM12/19/09
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Water didn't work for our Tigger either - he'd put his face right into
the spray just loving it BUT I got one of those little stuffed toys
that you throw against the wall and they just wail and wail like a
wild bunch of squawking monkeys - scared the royal bejesus out of him
whenever he had the urge to be bad. Kinda funny to watch him trying
to escape around the corner on the slippery tile floor too. :-) I've
had it for years now - got it at a fabric store somewhere.

Sharon (N.B.)

Lucille

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Dec 19, 2009, 4:04:02 PM12/19/09
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"Sharon" <cla...@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:503ab6d5-3472-4362...@z40g2000vba.googlegroups.com...

A friend of mine used a couple of pennies in a soda can. The noise scared
startled her puppy and stopped him for a bit.

Tia Mary

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Dec 20, 2009, 9:33:48 AM12/20/09
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Sharon wrote:
> Water didn't work for our Tigger either - he'd put his face right into
> the spray just loving it BUT I got one of those little stuffed toys
> that you throw against the wall and they just wail and wail like a
> wild bunch of squawking monkeys - scared the royal bejesus out of him
> whenever he had the urge to be bad. Kinda funny to watch him trying
> to escape around the corner on the slippery tile floor too. :-) I've
> had it for years now - got it at a fabric store somewhere.
>
> Sharon (N.B.)

Cheeto has been relatively good for the last few days. I think he
knows something is "in the wind!" As for water pistols and other
methods of teaching him to behave, it's a moot point for MOI -- I'll be
taking him to Lizard Land on this Wednesday and then he's DDs
problem!!!! Can you hear my evil laugh :-))))) ?!?!?!? CiaoMeow >^;;^<
--

Karen C - California

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Dec 20, 2009, 11:25:54 AM12/20/09
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Tia Mary wrote:
> I'll be
> taking him to Lizard Land on this Wednesday and then he's DDs
> problem!!!! Can you hear my evil laugh :-))))) ?!?!?!? CiaoMeow >^;;^<

What a good grandma, giving the child a kitten for Christmas!

--

Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreader www.IntlProofingConsortium.com

Finished 11/16/09 - Welcome Guest (The Cross Stitcher 10/09)

Tia Mary

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Dec 20, 2009, 4:53:02 PM12/20/09
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Karen C - California wrote:
> What a good grandma, giving the child a kitten for Christmas!
>

Only drums would be a better gift (more evil laughing). And bite
your tongue -- grandma is DD's EMIL -- ***I*** am GrandMother!!!
CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Karen C - California

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Dec 20, 2009, 9:29:02 PM12/20/09
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Tia Mary wrote:
> Karen C - California wrote:
>
>> What a good grandma, giving the child a kitten for Christmas!
>>
>
> Only drums would be a better gift (more evil laughing).


Oh, you ARE evil!

I have a long-standing policy, the only child who ever got a toy which
produced noise has a mother who can turn off her hearing aids. Because
I could just picture what I'd get in return the following year if I
inflicted noisy toys on my friends and relatives. Auntie Karen gave
crayons and coloring books.

Susan Hartman

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Dec 21, 2009, 3:38:18 PM12/21/09
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Karen C - California wrote:
> Tia Mary wrote:
>> Karen C - California wrote:
>>
>>> What a good grandma, giving the child a kitten for Christmas!
>>>
>>
>> Only drums would be a better gift (more evil laughing).
>
>
> Oh, you ARE evil!
>
> I have a long-standing policy, the only child who ever got a toy which
> produced noise has a mother who can turn off her hearing aids. Because
> I could just picture what I'd get in return the following year if I
> inflicted noisy toys on my friends and relatives. Auntie Karen gave
> crayons and coloring books.

Unlike evil Aunt Sue, who gave a child-size accordion to a 4-yr.old....

sue


--
Susan Hartman

Dawne Peterson

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Dec 21, 2009, 3:54:53 PM12/21/09
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"Susan Hartman" wrote
I would point out, as a cautionary tale, the experience of a friend who gave
her nephews a drum set. Her SIL called her early early Christmas morning
and held the phone over the drums as the boys enjoyed them.

Dawne


Bruce Fletcher

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Dec 21, 2009, 4:22:24 PM12/21/09
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A mouth-organ (or harmonica) is equally effective <g>
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney
(Remove dentures to reply)

Message has been deleted

Fran

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Dec 21, 2009, 6:58:10 PM12/21/09
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Oh, I wouldn't say that. Ever hear a sax played by a newbie?

On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:34:56 -0400, lucreti...@fl.it wrote:

>On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:22:24 +0000, Bruce Fletcher
><ricardi...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>>>
>>> Unlike evil Aunt Sue, who gave a child-size accordion to a 4-yr.old....
>>>
>>> sue
>>>
>>>
>>
>>A mouth-organ (or harmonica) is equally effective <g>
>

>Nothing would equal a violin for ear piercing.

Bruce Fletcher

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Dec 21, 2009, 8:03:09 PM12/21/09
to
On 21/12/2009 23:34, lucreti...@fl.it wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:22:24 +0000, Bruce Fletcher
> <ricardi...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>>>
>>> Unlike evil Aunt Sue, who gave a child-size accordion to a 4-yr.old....
>>>
>>> sue
>>>
>>>
>>
>> A mouth-organ (or harmonica) is equally effective<g>
>
> Nothing would equal a violin for ear piercing.

Except for someone who is learning to play the bagpipes!

Message has been deleted

Gillian Murray

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Dec 22, 2009, 7:21:08 AM12/22/09
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lucreti...@fl.it wrote:

> On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:03:09 +0000, Bruce Fletcher
> <ricardi...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>
>>>> A mouth-organ (or harmonica) is equally effective<g>
>>> Nothing would equal a violin for ear piercing.
>> Except for someone who is learning to play the bagpipes!
>
> My younger daughter learned to play - she used the chanter mainly,
> plus a small set of pipes my father gave her, that lessened the effect
> lol It helped quite a bit she already played the clarinet, so
> perhaps she was not the most excruciating piper.

My daughter learned to play the chanter when we were stationed in
Scotland for three years It was a school thing. She also did the sword
dance in the Cowal games. Ot doesn't seem like it is about 35 years ago.
Gill

Message has been deleted

Cheryl Isaak

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Dec 23, 2009, 5:17:59 PM12/23/09
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On 12/21/09 6:34 PM, in article rf10j5hfk86m33in0...@4ax.com,
"lucreti...@fl.it" <lucreti...@fl.it> wrote:

> On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:22:24 +0000, Bruce Fletcher
> <ricardi...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>>>
>>> Unlike evil Aunt Sue, who gave a child-size accordion to a 4-yr.old....
>>>
>>> sue
>>>
>>>
>>
>> A mouth-organ (or harmonica) is equally effective <g>
>

> Nothing would equal a violin for ear piercing.

Or pain inducing....

C

Lucille

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Dec 23, 2009, 5:20:27 PM12/23/09
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"Cheryl Isaak" <chery...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:C7580147.A2038%chery...@comcast.net...

Except maybe when my nephew was learning the trumpet.

L
>

Message has been deleted

Lucille

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Dec 23, 2009, 6:40:33 PM12/23/09
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<lucreti...@fl.it> wrote in message
news:50a5j51189blvl7mn...@4ax.com...


> On Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:27 -0500, "Lucille" <lzo...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>>
>>
>>Except maybe when my nephew was learning the trumpet.
>>
>>L
>>>

> My son learned the trumpet, we were lucky he seemed to get it pretty
> fast.

Howard sounded very much like a wounded elephant

Message has been deleted

Cheryl Isaak

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Dec 24, 2009, 8:51:20 AM12/24/09
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On 12/23/09 5:20 PM, in article hgu54j$4ls$1...@news.eternal-september.org,
"Lucille" <lzo...@comcast.net> wrote:

Nope - I've been around both - the violin was much worse than the trumpet
the hands of young Bren next door.

C

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