Cats: 2005 Archives

This *used* to be Fifi's couch. And then Biscuit moved in...

For awhile, I didn't mind if he slept in it while he was a kitten. Pretty as a picture, he was. I would just vacuum it before I gave it back to the girls. Then, every once in awhile I would find it in the middle of the living room. I figured Mr. Kallisti had been vacuuming and moved it, or had needed to get into the media case it stands in front of. And then one day I noticed all these little holes up the side of the right arm. Look closely at the pictures below. You'll see them.

They're teeth marks. Where Biscuit had tried to drag the small couch to his secret hidey place under the bed in the bedroom. Where he drags the rest of HIS stuff! Except he never made it farther than about four feet.

Still. It is his couch now. And look how he crams into it, the little bruiser. See how his butt hangs off it. Caught him with his face pressed into the corner. Our tv program was too loud, he says. He couldn't sleep, he says.

Hmph.

Oh yeah... HAPPY NEW YEAR! To the East Coast anyway.

Wow, this Ashbet type person is a stone fox!

What is this, sitting here on top of a BONGWATER cassette tape? Why, it is presents! For me?

Well, they are now!

Mmmmm! Foil! Am I lucky, or what!?!?!

The End.

Thank you! I received so many wonderful wee wishes and condolences, Here and Here, I couldn't possibly answer them all, but they were all very much appreciated, every leetle wish.

But just to clarify: Yes, Zman was named after Ronnie 'Z-Man' Barzell from Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"... and while that movie remains one of my all time favorite films ever, the name has been a bit of an injustice to my precious feline. She was always such a wee fastidious princess and not the big draq queen kitty I originally imagined her to be. But I was eighteen when I got her, and we'd spent the whole summer watching that movie over and over, knew every line by heart so, alas... such was her name.

November, 2005

She was my true love, for so many years.

Circa 1989

When she was about a year old, she got out of the house for a night and I couldn't find her. Late in the evening I heard the howls of love and when she came back in the morning I was sure she was pregnant. She got kinda fat, but not super bloated and then, one day, she had a kitten. One. We kept waiting for more but that is all she had in her. I gave him to my roommates at the time and they named him something I can't spell. The vet said he had never heard of such a thing. One kitten. She didn't care much for mothering. Her brother Flea, a big black gentle dumb kitty, did all the nurturing. Zman would climb in the basket to feed and then Flea would climb in and do all the cleaning and loving. Sweet Uncle Flea. He disappeared in '98 and I still miss him desperately. They were very close, he was the only other cat she could ever tolerate. They would curl up together, yin and yang.

Circa 1993

2-D kitty! Soon after this she got an infected uterus and we had to have her entire womb removed, poor thing, I should have had her fixed, but I used to love watching her go into heat. After the surgery she then got fat. A tiny leetle butter ball. But before that we always called her the 2-D cat, famous for her little sticky-out chin, you can really see here. We called her Pete Puma.

She was so perky after the surgery. But has gotten more and more finicky this past week. We haven't been able to get her to eat the past two days and she'd become a bit incontinent and had more difficulty than usual walking.

My kitty has gone to heaven. We've been together my whole life and I'm saying goodbye.

Circa 2002, butterball style, with her fancy blue rhinestone collar that matches her eyes. I'll keep it forever.

We've had both kitty ovals back by Zman so she can choose to have one with a heating pad underneath and one without. Tonight we found Biscuit curled up in one.

Zman is doing really well. The IV sessions need more practice though o_0 gads! Poor kitty.

Got Zman's stitches out today! She's doing well but she lost some weight :/ a 4lb kitty is scary, when at her pudgiest she was 8lbs! So I've got special food and I have to give her intravenous saline treatments. Scary! But it looked simple enough. My vet is so amazed by her little body. She's alive!

I got home a bit early from the vet. So many dollies, I'm going to spoil you with their loveliness. I need to do another family portrait soon!

Working on a rare commission this weekend. I loves how she came out.

She's a Dollstown Estella, she still needs eyelashes. Fun! If it doesn't rain tonight I can do the body blushing tomorrow.

Thanks so much to everyone for kitty wishes! Zman is doing really well. She's more sprightly than she's been a long while. I think the pain reliever is helping with her arthritic hips and she's been dashing about in small spurts. Amazing!

Went to see Kamikaze Girls at the Lumiere this afternoon. BEST GIRL MOVIE EVER. Totally loved it. For real. Rawr.

Also ran into fellow LJ buddy Pekochan in the lobby! We'd never met but she recognized me and said "hi" and we all had really nice chats in the lobby. But our meter ran out so we had to go... went to Japan Town for miso ramen and sashimi and spicy tuna handrolls, omg. YUM. Bought more dolly books, duh.

Sigh.

SAVE MONEY, dammint.

No, not Biscuit. I don't love him any more :p

My Zman, my little ole lady. She's been so brave since her last surgery, but has gotten progressively more feeble. Her bones are old and she's lost a ton of weight and she was already wee!

This morning when I was bathing her (she don't do it herself no more) I was cutting off a knot in her fur and found what I thought to be a small tumor on another nipple. I took her right to the vet and yes, it had to come right out. It was much smaller than the previous tumor, but she also had some ingrown toe nails (bad mommy!) which had to be operated on. It is really hard to do this to her, she's over eighteen and very frail and asthmatic and blind with three teeth left. But she carries on! She eats and drinks and sleeps and purrs. So brave.

Surgery is over and she's home with me now on lots of drugs on a heating pad. I'm bathing her leetle paws.

She's been with me my whole adult life. She is everything. I love her.

(Zman at bath time two years ago)

(Zman and Biscuit when he was a baby)

not my kitten, but hard to resist, eh.

Ever hear a Kallisti's blood curdling scream? Well, Mr. Kallisti did when I got this in the mail today...

There's a reason they don't actually put "20 Year High School Reunion"... so they are not liable for my coronary. Someone, fan me!

And then there's this:

Mr. Kallisti: "Kallisti, a porn room and "Slerpis at home".
Now I really do have everything I need."

Everyone say Happy Birthday! He's 37 on Saturday... now we're off to Tahoe in the morning. I want mountains, a pedicure and thou. Oh, and maybe all you can eat crab at the buffet. Mmmmmm!!!

OMG. Weekends are so awesome. I've been singing happy saturday songs all morning (very off key, of course).

We went and saw Oliver Twist last night. And it was brilliant. BRILLIANT, I say...

The murder of Nancy is a pivotal moment in English literature. Gah, Dickens is a god. And Polanski surely does him justice.

And on that note, something I've been meaning to share: Mr. Kallisti loves me so much he mounted this old magazine cross-promotional bit on hotdogs and the Broadway production of Oliver! a few months ago. Two great tastes that taste great together!

Note the red & yellow thumbtacks. Aw!

And Biscuit caught sleeping in my MSD clothing box. My bad for leaving the lid off, I guess! But you get the picture about what a small kitty he is.

We're cleaning the house, getting ready for the Halloween decorations that will be going up tomorrow. The nephews are coming over to help, fun will be had by all! Oh boy.

Also, I've pre-ordered Liebchen. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Diep, I can't wait to see her.

Heading to the dolly meet on the Berkeley campus. I couldn't decide whom to bring so it is just going to be Lulu & Miette. I was in one of those moods that if I couldn't bring them all I was going to give up going altogether. Crazy lady, me. So I got a grip and am going to make it easier on myself and bring what I can carry. Mr. Kallisti can get the picnic basket. The theme is "back to school," what with the time of year and location and all... but I don't really have that theme down. So we're going somewhat Fragonard today... teehee!

In the mean time, I leave you with the Badly-Photographed-Kitten-O'-the-Week™ picture!

"I hate it when people shoot me from this angle, it makes me look fat. I'm not fat!" says Biscuit.

At Aug 5, 2005, 2:40 P.M. a Bavarian princess was born. Oh my gawd, she's a Leo! No wonder with that mane of hair and that little cat face. Mew!

I haven't named her yet. Originally she was going to be Parisian, as her bio from Volks states. But she looks so like a 19th century German postcard that I had to throw out my potential name list and start a-fresh.

If you think living with Biscuit is all peaches and cream. Well, you'd be wrong.

Woke up to this, this morning:

Come, look closer. Reeeeal close:

Sigh. Spent an hour organizing my cd's. Neither of these pictures are posed. He's 13 months. When will it end?

Biscuit has a penchant for sitting in boxes. Caught him twice w/ the camera this week. The hlj.com is ridiculously small but he got right in it and sat there for a good five minutes.

Biscuit is such a camera whore.

We weighed Pekoe yesterday. TWENTY-TWO POUNDS OF KITTY. He is one big cat. So fluffy though.

I wanted to finish the peekture projekt this weekend, but had the pms weekend of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. I couldn't get anything done. However, I did have a few left over that I hadn't posted from last weekend.

Babyjane had requested a close-up of my face-up supplies, and someone else of my work area. Lucky them it was all out as I was redoing Ondine all week.

So. A close-up of the work area mid-face-up. The only thing missing is the piece of paper I scribble chalks on to dab my brushes in for blushing. Here's what it looks like tidy. And then just for kicks a close-up of Oriettacat's Bad Fairy doll in her fairy cage. And a little miracle. My uncle got all excited recently when he was rummaging around in one of his kitchen drawer. He has my grandmother's house, and traditionally the bottom drawer closest to the floor was my toy drawer. Well, he found that little dirty 2" doll way in the back. Still in one of the earliest examples of Kallisti Kouture. Ah, treasures.

And Lyssa wanted to see my ginormous dvd collection. Here's the large chunk of it that is not in storage:

And, as always, there were a few requests of Biscuit. Just to put it in perspective, Biscuit (who is one year old now!) is about 7.5lbs. Pekoe is 22lbs. And Biscuit kicks his ass!

That last one with my favoritest thing in the planet, Mr. Kallisti in a rare appearance. Biscuit is quite the Papa's boy, they love eachother.

So. I'm probably down to dolly pix. A couple people asked for bedtime pix and the girls don't have a bed, and don't really have proper nighties. But I'll come up with something!

See Part I if'n you haven't already...

More, more, more!

This is going to be the longest post in the world. And it is only the first half!

Spent yesterday running around with a camera. Sorry these are not quite in order. I'm too disorganized for that :/ Please click on thumbnails for nice big peektures.

Not one, but two unbearably adorable kitten peektures.

Biscuit has taken to cramming himself onto my little doll couch. I think I'll have to buy him one of these. Meh.

I finally found a real nice vintage Japanese doll case for Gram's ichimatsu doll on eBay. It is tagged "occupied japan" in the back so is the same vintage as the doll even! Biscuit is funny. Just like the carriage, we put him in there and he seemed happy as a clam to stay.

Been so busy, with projects, work and family. But caught Demelza looking serene this morning. For kicks I finally tried her on the SD13 body and she looks fantastic! Ondine, however, is not enjoying being stubby. Looks surprisingly ok though.

Never would have thought she'd look so fetching as a blonde. She's also wearing a pair of lovely mauvy purply brown glass eyes I picked up from Gloria on DOA. They're reeeeeally nice!

Also, FINALLY got the volks msd outfit from Kyoto 3. I hadn't seen it anywhere! St. Trinian neeeeds it. Now, I need those creepers.

And yes, that is the only non-Liz thing I've bought since my vow! Go me.

And then there's Biscuit. Just for hoots we put him in the doll carriage the other night, and he sat there for about 10 minutes! His butt just fit in there. Amazing. He was quite happy.

I love saturdays where I have nothing better to do than post to the internet.

we're cleaning. this is our garbage bag. full of garbage. please note kitten asleep in bag. eeek!

wrastles with the face hugger.

Found Biscuit (he's 10 months old today!) wedged in between the printer and the sunny window. Share the joy.

Biscuit has turned into a bratty teenager. The only special time we have anymore is when he sleeps on me at night, and strangely, when I'm at the computer. He loves sitting on my keyboard drawer. He loves the computer. He stares at the screen and pokes at it, or just flops down (see below) on top of my mouse hand, pushing the keyboard away (or laying right on top of it). He has a funny little chirpy purr and this is when he purrs the loudest. In front of the computer.

Please forgive the artsy blur, I was firing at lap close range in order to get these action shots. Because, of course, he only does this when I'm sitting at the keyboard.

Other than that he's a total beast. He's a biter, and very hyper. He likes to gnaw one's arm like it is a pork chop. Yay! He'll walk right up and chomp your ankle and then start licking it. Li'l freak.

Oh, and that is the new blythe "Margaret Meets Ladybug" on the This is Blythe forum. Um, my work/doll room curtains are red gingham with daisies on them. I might have to get her to make a lamp out of her or something for the work room. Eeeeeeeeee!

All hail! Zman is alive! She's alive!

We picked her up from surgery. She had a tumor removed from one of her nipples. She's in good shape, and we are much relieved. She's very brave and ornery for a cat who is nearly eighteen!

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and wishes. We are happy. Now we must spoil her and let her get better.

So I'm sick. I came home from work a bit early yesterday and Mr. Kallisti said he was startin' to feel a bit woogly too, so we both took some night time alkaseltzer and hit the sheets around 5pm.

I just woke up and my voice is totally gone! Croak! Ribbit!

And Biscuit must have been totally frustrated because he has wrecked the house. Both bathmats have been dragged under the bed along with god knows what. Pens and socks are everywhere. Strange items are in the sink and one of Trinian's faceplates was on the floor (eeek!). And that is just what I've noticed.

He's been licking our faces all morning and I thought he was being sweet. In the meantime he's wrecked the house!

Kittens!

I've called off work, fed the cats, I'm going back to bed. Owie.