Category Archives: The Tiny Fang

Many Titles

Posted on 02.12.2012 | 8 Comments

Things I will remember this weekend as:

  • The Weekend of The Cheap Date x 2
  • The Weekend Where I Embraced Bulleted Lists
  • The Weekend Where I Got At Least Eight Hours of Sleep Two Nights in a Row
  • The Weekend Where I Actioned a Massive To Do List-Worth of Activity in The Span of Two Hours

I finished my run this morning to find out that we would be attending an impromptu brunch to celebrate the engagement of some close friends.

So I ate a mini-breakfast (homegirl has to eat), patched together a celebratory offering and we were off.

Not bad for two hours notice in a state with Blue Laws, right?  We’ll subtitle this one, Why You Should Always Have Some Champagne And Curling Ribbon Hanging Around.

By the time we got home from the party and our weekly grocery shopping extravaganza (where I found grapefruits at ALDI for $0.25/each…ridiculous), I only had a few hours to tackle my To Do List before we headed out to the #MNRunnerds Tweet-Up that Courtenay organized.

So I hustled while Marcus used the treadmill and before we knew it, we were at El Rodeo in Maple Grove.

Because if constructing a taco that’s near exploding off of your fajita platter isn’t an icebreaker, I just don’t know what is.  We took advantage of the 2-for-1s on margaritas, which was kind of ironic because I just dumped the remainder of an ancient bottle of margarita mix down the sink today.  But who is keeping track, really?

Everyone laughed, tore into the baskets of chips with homemade salsa (it was that sort of place) and we agreed that we should gather again.

To round out the night, Billy and I exchanged pictures of The Tiny Fang.  Because exchanging pictures of your cat that permanently resides at your parents house at 8 PM on  Sunday night is the height of cool.  It’s all about honesty tonight, kittens.

We are not ashamed.

His.

Hers.

If you don’t get him while he’s down, he’s impossible.  In a The Camera Will Steal My Soul-sort of way.

What did you do to enjoy your lazy Sunday?

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Posted in love life, The Tiny Fang

Cat Lady Blogging

Posted on 01.04.2012 | 15 Comments

It’s Wednesday night.

I have scary bags under my eyes.

And since Reverb ’11 has run its course, I get to torture y’all with some good old-fashioned Cat Lady Blogging.

Behold.  A cat.

As it turns out, Spot was feeling especially photogenic on December 29th.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like post-holiday exhaustion has set in with a vengeance.  The euphoria of a new year has worn off.  I’m giving thanks for the fact that none of my resolutions actually involve me doing anything particularly out of the ordinary, and all I want to do is crawl into bed.

Which I did do this evening, briefly.  It occurred between the first act of our dinner preparations (which took place while Marcus was on the treadmill) and the second act.

Power napping: It gets things done.

Because I’m freezing to death and fashion statements are My Thing, I layered an old sorority sweatshirt over a baby blue cashmere crewneck sweater.

Stop trying to imagine it, it’s basically impossible.  Even I didn’t know what it would look like until suddenly, it was just…on.  These things happen sometimes.

Which is to say no, I will not be styling it for you all or wearing it three ways. ;)

Have you ever donned ridiculous layers to warm-up?

Post-holiday exhaustion: Real or real?

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Posted in The Tiny Fang

Letting Fall In

Posted on 09.20.2011 | 11 Comments

The Spirit of Productivity has been calling to me.  Last week I was tasked with watching Spot while Mom and Dad were out-of-town, so house projects fell by the wayside.

The evidence.

MAJOR varmint.

Just in case you’re thinking to yourself, Wow, that cat is totally larger than a normal house cat.  Let me put you at ease.  Because I’m not using the zoom feature on my camera here.

Spot is the size of a small male Bobcat.  So when we say that he’s big-boned, it’s not because we’re trying to preserve his body image, it’s because HE JUST IS.

Cats aside, this week I got back on the wagon.

Since I wrapped up our final basil harvest a couple of weeks ago, the situation on our deck has been tragic.  Logically, I should have pulled out the plants when I stripped them, but for some reason that part of the process eluded me.  So for the past two weeks, the spindly, leafless, brown plant stalks have been haunting the deck like dark spectres of their former selves.

Between those and the dead snapdragons in front of the house, we were living in a world of hurt.

A la The Fall Five, I couldn’t help but noticing that at Cub they were hawking mums at 3 for $10.  I grabbed two for our front step.  Apparently they’re purple.  Since they haven’t bloomed yet, I’ll believe it when I see it.

But if you give a mouse a cookie, then he will need a glass of milk.  It should come as no surprise that now I need to source some gourds and some corn.  Or possibly a wreath of fall leaves.  Naturally I’ll post some snaps once the remainder of the decor comes in and/or the mums begin to bloom.

More superficially, my first Missoni cardigan arrived yesterday.  I think it was kismet, because I’ve been in some serious need of coziness.

I find that I’ve been accidentally wearing quite a bit of blue lately, thanks to flash sales where I only have seconds to make a decision.  I think it works for me?

I think it’s just 11/10.  Do you love it?

Me too.

So let’s all pray that remainder of my order does make it out of that Warehouse In The Sky by the now predicted mid-October  and into my closet.  While I no longer feel the urge to sleep with one eye open, I’ll probably sleep with one eye half-open.

Constant Vigilance is key.

What do you do to decorate for fall?

Are you a warm color palette person or a cool color palette person?

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Posted in Goals, nesting, Style, The Tiny Fang

The sort of night I live for.

Posted on 11.09.2010 | 12 Comments

Tonight, Marcus was at class, and Mom was out-of-town, so I stopped by my parents’ place to have dinner with Dad and the cat.

Translation: My Pa and I feasted on a variety of savouries including smoked salmon on crackers and Shepherd’s Pie, while Spot looked on.  And yes, Spot sits in a chair when we (the family) are at the dinner table. 

It’s nice to know that the art of the communal meal isn’t lost on him.

Little did I know that my evening at home would involve the following:

  1. Learning that Dad knows all of the words to the song Billionaire by Travie McCoy.
  2. Teaching him that Ke$ha’s name is not, in fact, pronounced “Kee-sha” and that instead of an ‘s’, she rocks the ‘$.’  He pronounced the ‘$’ bit as being trashy.  When he was trying to jog my memory as to what the name of Take it Off  was, he was quick to note that in his opinion, it had a bit of a Biblical Beat.
  3. He introduced me to Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock on truTV.  From my understanding of what happens on Jersey Shore (based off of the one episode I watched) this makes Jersey Shore look like Disney Land.

Basically I laughed so hard that I almost choked on my water and had tears streaming down my face.

These are the sorts of nights that I live for.

I know Megan has a pair of kittens that play in her fridge (Basically, it’s unreal.  And if I’m lucky, maybe she’ll let me share a snap with y’all.), but please, humor me…

If you have a pet (childhood tales totally count), what sort of sheanigans do they get into?

And, Informal Poll: What strange tidbit of pop culture knowledge have your parents surprised you with lately?

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Posted in Family, The Tiny Fang

An Outside Fang

Posted on 03.22.2010 | Leave a comment

I was trying to nap-it-out yesterday afternoon while channel-surfing between FOX News (humorous) and CNN to keep track of the developments in the House on health care.

And then, as I heard a tiny snore emanate from the kitchen, I realized that there was one way to deal with the suspense.

A kitty.

In his kitty throne.

I know I’ve shared this with you all on multiple occasions, but seriously, how he snores!

And then we had to enjoy being outside because once the light changes, he can’t abide being inside all day.

But you had better believe that when he’s out there he’s on a leash.  And yes, it’s attached to one of those stakes that most people let their dogs out on.

He totally lives the good life.

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Posted in The Tiny Fang

Surviving Saturday

Posted on 01.23.2010 | Leave a comment

That’s what the seat to my right looked like for the majority of the day.  Spot is most definitely a sympathizer when you don’t feel so hot, and so he curled right up next to me while I watched the Food Network.  I got to be Down Home with the Neelys, enjoy Paula’s Home Cooking, see Giada at Home, get my Five Ingredient Fix and watch America’s Worst Cooks.  On the bright side, they gave me some really good ideas.

Yes, I’m aware this picture is almost identical to the one I took of him in October when I wrote Oh, how he snores.  Which, for the record, he regaled me with again today.

The reason you didn’t get a photo of me is because after becoming an expert at blowing my nose over the past few days, I look like a sort of un-seasonal Rudolph.  Not so hot.

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Posted in SICK, The Tiny Fang

An unrelated series of events.

Posted on 01.06.2010 | Leave a comment

It’s been almost two weeks and Terror Cotta has yet to arrive…Soon friends, soon.  Until that magical day when we get to see what the “meadow scene” looks like, we all wait with bated breath.

My achievement of the day is that I bought two pairs of sunglasses at NY&Co. that eclipse the majority of my face (They’re very WAG)…I mean, they were on sale for $4.99 each.  You had better believe that I got them out of that store faster than you can say “Hawaii.”  I know I swore off of shopping until after the trip, but Lord knows that it is unwise to visit the land of sun and sand with one pair of sunglasses.  So now I have three.

Since the rest of the fam is in California right now, I’ve been charged with the care and keeping of The Tiny Fang.  All was well until I called Mom and Dad and put them on speakerphone which confused the hell out of him because he wanted to know where they were. “Not in the house,” wasn’t really the answer that he was going for.  At which point, I put the phone down by his head and after listening and sniffing, he tried to put his teeth on it (this would be different from biting).  Phones are not for kitties.

And, since I know that I haven’t touched on this subject since September (I’m basically a delinquent, kay?), in the next few weeks, Marcus and I will be going over our 101 in 1001 list to see what we’ve accomplished since then, what we’ll be able to cross off the list soon, and what we should challenge ourselves to start working on.  I think we’ll actually be surprised by where we’re at.

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Posted in Goals, The Tiny Fang

Oh, how he snores.

Posted on 10.22.2009 | 1 Comment
Spot is doing about as well as I am at dealing with Dad’s immobility. Which is to say, the whole affair requires CONSTANT VIGILANCE.
You’ll notice in the picture I snapped whilst he was sleeping next to me (for reference, he still is), he’s covered his nose with his fore paw. Fact: This large mass of fur was the runt of the litter. In cat litters, when you’re the runt, your evil cat brothers chew your whiskers off, which totally destroys some of your mad-cat-sensory-skills. Not that kittens are all that coordinated. Seriously though, the cat snores. And he doesn’t snore a little, he snores A LOT. Not that I blame the poor kid. I’m about to go tuck myself into bed.

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Posted in Fact., The Tiny Fang

What only has four letters and a whole lot of needy?

Posted on 09.25.2009 | Leave a comment

S-P-O-T

Mom and Dad are in ATL right now, even though Georgia seems like the most inappropriate place of all to be at the moment because of all the rains.

So as Billy is on campus, I have to go and take care of the world’s most needy Siamese every day.

For reference, when I was chopping up cucumber salad, Spot decided to pull the seal pup pose on my foot and proceeded to do cat gymnastics while maintaining contact with my body the entire time. After shelling the shrimp, Billy had to wrestle him away from the trash bag.

Totally ridiculous.

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Posted in The Tiny Fang

Meine katz hast keine liebe auf deutsch

Posted on 09.12.2009 | Leave a comment

I don’t know that I’ve ever blogged about Spot aka The Tiny Fang or in my world, Mr. Kitty Paws. So for our back story, a few photos him in his natural habitat:


I call this last one his seal pup pose, because often times he puts his two front paws together and looks up at you like one of those Harp Seal pups on the ice floes in Canada. He pulls it out most frequently when he is seeking attention and would like to have his stomach rubbed. As Spot is frequently seeking attention, he’s falling down like this all over the place in the house.
Other things you should know about the Tiny Fang: He enjoys oatmeal, loathes and despises most stranges, and drowns his toy mice in his water bowl.

Today is Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!) and Dad was opening his gifts on the porch. He got a wireless spedometer for his bike and in the spirit of our family’s multi-languagedness (this is different than being multi-lingual, but will be the subject of a separate, future post), he began reading the description of the spedometer auf deutsch. Spot was rocking pose #3 and as soon as Dad began speaking in German, Spot gave a few warning meows (Siamese cats talk A LOT), rallied from his “pet me” position and viciously attacked Dad’s ankle, followed by an attempt to sink his fangs into my arm.
To rally that cat from that position without giving him a little love first is darned near impossible. But after having him for seven years, we’re only now learning of his hatred for the german language? Seriously bizarre.
p.s. Apologies about the paragraphs running in to one another. I’m thinking there’s something wrong with blogger?

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Posted in The Tiny Fang, Weird as Hell