I have two cat-related stories for you. So if you don't care about cats or cat products... well, you know how the internet works.

-- Yesterday, I brought a new bucket of litter down to the basement, so I could change the cat box. The buckets usually have a plastic pull tab, which, when pulled, zips off a strip of plastic around the lid. It's a security measure to keep cat owners from sneaking into stores, surreptitiously lifting the lids off litter buckets, and filling up our pockets for free.

Well, this time, the ring snapped off with about an inch of plastic strip. I tried prying the lid off anyway. No luck. I tried getting a screwdriver under the lip of the lid and then using it as a lever, but the thing wouldn't budge. I should mention that I felt awful all day yesterday -- a precursor to the illness I have now, but it hadn't quite set in at this point, so I was just grumpy and at my wit's end. It's understandable, then, that I eventually wound up using the back (prying) side of a hammer to smash in the lid, giving me access to the (disgustingly perfumed) litter within. It was satisfying, at least.

-- This evening, after I'd had dinner, I walked into the living room, where Booty was sleeping on the sofa. I have a quilt that's usually just thrown haphazardly across the couch, since it gets cold here in the winter (did you know?). I moved into another room, and then realized I hadn't seen Beany in a while.

I looked on top of the bookcases, no Beany. I called downstairs, but she wasn't there either. No Beany on the radiator. I went back to the living room, I guess to ask Booty if he knew where she was. That's when I noticed the cat-shaped lump under the blanket. She'd got in there somehow, in a fold of the quilt, and then Booty curled up on top, trapping her inside.

I've probably mentioned it before, but despite all her naughtiness, Beany is a very patient cat. When she gets accidentally locked in a room, she just sits and waits for you to notice she's missing (unlike Booty, who makes sure you know). Poor old Beans. When I scooted Booty out of the way and 'freed' her, she was very blinky and overly warm from her blanket furnace. No moral of the story; just... cats are amusing.

-- Hey, folks. I made such an effort to post more regularly in December, and it's sort of gone a bit quiet here this month, hasn't it? You'll notice I didn't mention anything about posting more in my 2009 goals list! I've actually been tempted several times this past week to go on a sort of hiatus, but that's so hackneyed. My posts MAY start having fewer words, though. Quantity over quality, and all that.

-- I rearranged my bedroom two days ago, and the mid-morning light was so nice today. I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping (or staying asleep, actually), but the new arrangement makes me feel a bit more peaceful. I've had two good nights of sleep since I moved things around, so maybe it's the direction my head is pointing, or maybe it's that I'm sleeping on the other side of the bed from usual. Or maybe it's because I've started taking Advil PM. I guess we'll never know!

-- I bought a new dishdrainer today (the $5 Ikea kind), which replaced one of the exact same style, which I purchased over two years ago. The old one had finally broken (and was getting a bit gross, to be honest), but I hadn't realized how 'slouchy' it had gotten before that. The new one stands up very straight; it looks so proud to be drying my dishes!

-- Do you know what the best (worky) thing is? Proofreading something you haven't already read before. You have to have faith in the author, of course, to know that it's not going to need major editing, thus undoing all your smaller line edits. But reliable author + compelling horror/mystery + adding commas and minor word reordering = fun job. I might go do some of that right now!

-- Oh, for heaven's sake. I really need to start writing things down, because I could literally hear all my post ideas falling out of my head as soon as I opened this browser winder. LITERALLY. Okay, not literally. I've taken a picture of Beany for you, though. She loves the radiator, even when things are piled on top of it to dry. I don't know, I wouldn't have thought this was a comfortable position, but I'm not a cat, so don't have flexi-bones.

-- I uploaded the picture from the last post to flickr today, and as I was writing about how I could almost imagine it being warm again, some part of my brain said, 'Oh no!' I think it was 86% a reaction to that awful feeling that time is slipping by, but at least 14% was down to not hating Winter thus far. I don't understand it, especially considering the temperatures last week. Maybe the cold has infected my brain, and is trying to turn me. That's probably it.

-- My mom has been going on and on about the FX show 'Damages', and I've been doing a lot of nodding, all the while saying that I'm not really interested in watching another TV show, etc, etc. But I was bored yesterday, and it IS free on Hulu, so I may have watched an episode or four. And then thought about it all of today until I watched another episode. It's totally not my usual 'thing' as far as TV shows go, and I can't imagine what the second season is about, but they had better not screw it up. This plot has so much promise to it; I'll be very annoyed if it turns out they finished writing half the scripts the night before they were due.

-- I was going to say that the '4' key on my laptop was haunted, but it turns out it's just super sensitive. If my finger comes to rest on it, even without 'typing' it, it'll give me a 4. 4444444. At least it's a good number.

-- I ran a 5k today, on a treadmill. I haven't been 'applying' myself to running very seriously for a few years, so I felt pretty pleased with myself, especially since it was faster than any 5k I've run before. The real downside to running at a gym is not being able to do champion arms when you've beat a personal record.

-- Oh, look. I managed to think of some things to tell you. That noise must have been figurative, after all.

-- I woke up very early this morning. I've been reading, doing laundry, cleaning the catbox, etc, etc. When I took the garbage out, I thought to myself how warm it was. I'm pretty sure it hadn't even hit 20F at that point.

-- I ran to the supermarket around 7:30. Again, I woke up early, so I was already bored by 7:30, and what's better than buying pears and carrots when there's hardly anybody else in the store? By the front flower display, they had potted primroses -- five for ten bucks. I bought three, as you can see in the photo above. I love their cheap, tacky plastic pots, and they've officially taken the place previously occupied by the gingerbread house. That means it's pretty much spring -- I mean, it is almost 20F, remember?

-- I bought a new scrubby sponge at the supermarket. Is it just me, or is it creepy how they're moist when you open the package? I can understand the reasoning behind it (appearances), but it can't be water -- so what IS it? Huh? Creepy.

-- I've forgotten all the other things I was going to tell you. It's a shame -- I'm pretty sure they were actually interesting points. Just kidding.

I was paging through my copy of Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries the other day, interested to see what he was eating in January during the year he put the book together. One of the very first recipes is for a marmalade cake, and since I had both oranges and marmalade in the house, it seemed like I had to make it. Also, Julie was coming over, and it's just rude not to have homemade cake around when somebody visits.

Isn't it, well, kind of perfect? The shape, the icing, everything. It's such a simple cake compared to some of the birthday and half-birthday cakes I've made, but I think it's just as pretty.

I hadn't originally realized that the jar of Irish marmalade in my cupboard was 'Irish' marmalade -- containing whiskey, that is, and tasting quite boozy. I had opened it looking forward to having it on toast, but I quickly realized that wouldn't be happening, so when I came across this recipe, it seemed like fate. I even had an orange in the fruit bowl, all ready to go.

Of all the 'celeb' chefs out there, Nigel Slater is my absolute favourite. I love his writing and his attitude towards food and cooking. His recipes always seem very honest, if you know what I mean. I feel like if I decide to make something from one of his books, it's sort of guaranteed to work, because there's nothing fussy about it. Not that it's all 'simple' or 'basic'; I just feel like he wouldn't put up with fooling around, including a recipe that wasn't reliable.

I originally read The Kitchen Diaries over a period of a few days, while in Ireland. I think that might be one of my most fondly remembered holidays -- being in wet, old Ireland during the Springtime, with nothing much to do except sit around and read. This photo is one of the images that my screen saver cycles through -- it's from that time in Ireland -- and it always makes me smile. That apple and current bread was from a little farmer's market, and it was absolutely amazing. Just like the marmalade cake.

Sorry for the shortage of posts so far in 2009. The problem with doing interesting stuff is that there's no time left over for talking about it. Of course, when I've done absolutely nothing of interest, I've got all the time in the world!

It's funny how Rob was here for only ten days, but it feels like everything has gone a bit topsy-turvy now that he's gone again. I think he should buy a house on the next block and come over for tea or dinner every couple of days, don't you? I wouldn't be able to lure him over with butternut squash, but vegetarian tacos might do the trick.

I don't think that anybody is surprised by the fact that it snowed and snowed today -- the day AFTER Rob returned home. He spent his entire visit wishing for big, fluffy flakes of snow, to no avail. In a double stroke of bad luck, today was also the day I had to run quite a few errands, so there was a lot of shuffling to and from the car and getting covered in snow as I tried to brush it from the car windows.

It's probably too early in the season to say this, but I'm feeling much better about this winter than last year's. It doesn't have much to do with this winter itself, but rather the feeling that time just gallops by. I mean, January is nearly half over already. It'll be Valentine's before we know it, and it won't be long before the perennials are popping up.

Remind me I said that in a few weeks. It'll be good for a laugh.

Do you know the best place to visit in the dead of winter? The Como Park Conservatory. Or your local equivalent -- I can personally recommend Kew Gardens and the Palmengarten in Frankfurt, as well.

I mean, could there possibly be anything further from winter than that? No, is the answer. I'm seriously thinking about visiting once a week from now until Spring. At the very least, it'll save me some money on moisturizer -- you don't know the meaning of dry skin until you've spent a winter in Minnesota.

The Como Conservatory has really expanded over the past few years, adding a fern room (blech, fiddleheads) and a tropical building that has some nice fishes and leaf-cutter ants (both of which were hard to photograph behind grubby plexiglass) and little yellow birds and a few opportunistic mice. Oh, and a sloth. I'd much rather go to a botanical garden that happens to have to animals around the place than a proper zoo -- less depressing.

After spending a long time at the conservatory (it's hard to feel motivated to leave 78F-and-humid when it's windy and below freezing outside), Rob and I relaxed at Coffee News, due to its relative proximity and its superior selection of cakes.

We stopped by Cheapo before heading back to Minneapolis, and I bought three -- three! -- Elvis Costello albums. Two of them I 'had' to get, since I'm reading a biography of Mr Costello's career at the moment, and it's so unsatisfying to read about the genesis of an album when you don't know the songs. I already had his first four, so I picked up 'Trust' and 'Almost Blue' so that I can keep reading the book. I also bought 'North', which is much more recent, and full of croon-y ballads. I'd nearly bought it a while ago, but convinced myself that I was more of an Elvis-Costello-and-the-Attractions kind of girl. But, of course, it was his cover of 'She' from the Notting Hill soundtrack that made me fall in love with his voice ten years ago. So I shouldn't be surprised that 'North' makes me swoon.

So, in summary, I might start a winter support group that consists of listening to Elvis Costello while wandering around climate-controlled greenhouses. On sunny days.

My first post of 2009! I've been meaning to update for a few days now, but Rob is in town, so I've been too busy doing things to write.

I've been thinking about my goals for this year, though. It's handy to post them on the ol' website, to check back at the end of the year and see how I did. (Hello, Anna from the future! How was 2009? Pretty good, would you say?)

-- I want to continue keeping a daily journal, but I'd like to put more effort into making it visual. Last year's journals were mainly lists of what I'd done; I'd like to do a better job of taking the time to draw and paste in interesting bits and pieces.

-- 10k, 10k, 10k! I really want to run one this spring. Definitely for sure a 5k. I'm getting new shoes today, and I'm feeling confident I can be at my goal 5k time in a matter of weeks and can start working towards a successful 10k.

-- I want to put together a Blurb book of photos. For real this year.

-- I want to finish my 365 project. Seven more months to go! Rob gave me a little remote for my camera -- the above was my very first test-shot, just seeing if it worked. Never mind that my jeans are just about falling off and I'm wearing my ratty old fleece.

-- I want to try growing new vegetables this year, including cauliflower and cabbage, sweet corn, radishes, rutabagas. . .

-- I want to do something musical. Playing music with other people, that is. Community band? I'm not sure yet.

Perhaps that's enough to be getting on with. It's always the unexpected things that are the best, anyway!