Yesterday, my brother, Brandon and I stopped into a Braums.  If you’re not familiar with Braums, it’s somewhat similar to an Dairy Queen… but better.  Like seriously good hamburgers.  If you’re not familiar with Dairy Queen either, then God bless your soul.  You may be alive, but you’re certainly not living.

At any rate, while I was sitting there enjoying my 1/3 burger of bacon and cheese goodness, my brother says, “Wait.  Do you hear this song?”  I silenced the moaning in my head to listen to the saxophone blaring out the muzak.  Then he points out, “Isn’t this Fiona Apples ‘Ugly Girl?’”  Oh my gosh.  It is!!

Nothing like savoring burger and ice cream treats to a song like this:

Can’t you see?
You’re leaving me…
For an ugly girl
Does she talk about politics?
And all that stuff that used to makes me sick
Does she smoke cigars and stay up late?
Oh she’s so great
Does she tell you what you want to hear?
And I bet she could grow a beard
I feel better thinking you were queer
It’s not fair
I can’t compare…
To an ugly girl

Mmmmm… makes me hungry just reading those again.

Well, despite the disapproving views of Dave and Dagney, we are now owners of a new cat. We think they want us to adopt them, and so getting another cat just puts another nail in the coffin of those hopes and dreams. If they’re willing to play stick with Zoey, we might consider it on a short-term basis.

So here’s our newest cat in the clan, Tilly, showing off the drool so elegantly that she was able to work up after being given some liquid medication.

And before you say it, I know what you’re thinking. I’ve mentioned cats in 5 out of the last 5 blogs. Just be glad I didn’t go into detail about the clog we had in our kitchen sink over the weekend. I’m saving that for tomorrow!!

I’ve been looking forward to the Kansas City Irish Fest in Crown Center for a while now. It’s not just the Irish Fest, though. Even more specifically, it’s The Elders with their self proclaimed “arse kickin music from the heartland.” This is one fun band. This is even a more fun band when you are watching them with 2,000 people filled with the Irish spirit (as well as the Irish spirits).

2 years ago, we first discovered them at the Irish Fest since we stuck close to the big stage for most of the day, and had amazing seats for the show. If we hadn’t gotten there early, there’s no way we could have seen them… at least not with binoculars… which is what happened last year. I wanted to go find a seat really early, but I was alone in that thought. So the entire place was packed, and we just left because we couldn’t hardly hear them let alone see them by the time we got there (I wonder if that’s why they call them the elders).

So I knew that when I saw that they were playing at 9pm, it didn’t matter that I was going to grab my seat at 5. By golly, I was going to see them. So that’s what I did.

But the weird thing was, is that while the band before them, Enter the Haggis, drew a pretty big crowd, it kept getting smaller the longer it went on. And during the break between their set and The Elders, the place was really sparse. I was starting to feel sorry for The Elders.

So they came out on stage to meet their spotty crowd, and I thought that they looked different so they must have changed members. And really their music didn’t seem as good. That’s why nobody was there.

And then they said, “This is our first show in Kansas City. We thought we’d be playing to tumbleweeds. We figured when you heard that The Elders were playing, that nobody would come see us, but you guys are great!” Confused, I reached down for the schedule that had been left by somebody a few rows down. There it was on the schedule - 9pm The Elders… on a different stage!!!

So we got up, headed to the other stage and found 2,ooo people rocking out to the Celtic fun. For the 2nd year in a row, I was in a spot where I could not see nor hear The Elders… so we left.

But all is not lost, Enter the Haggis was amazing, and I got to have this conversation about a comment on my previous post:

Me: So you could say no to Tilly?

Watson: Yep.

Me: That’s not very nice.

Watson: Well, she’s a freak. Part cat, part turtle - what does that even mean?

Me: Tortoise shell is a type of marking on a cat.

Watson: Ohhhhh.

Me: You didn’t know that, did you?

Watson: Nope.

Here’s our house guest that may end up staying permanently. See why we had to take her?

You have to ignore all the crap in the background. It’s mostly stuff from the previous owners still. We haven’t gotten around to cleaning out the basement yet, but we had to keep her down there because we have a strict no fleas in the main living area rule.

Okay, now on to the cuteness.

If you thought I was a crazy, cat lady before, then hold onto your tails.  I’m even more of one now.  I’m certainly not more ladylike, and I was already tipping the crazy scale so that just leaves one more possibility.  I’ll give you a hint.  It’s furry, has a tail, says “meow” and it’s a cat.  I was never good at playing those guessing games.

We went to a friend’s house tonight, and there to greet us outside was the sweetest little tortoise shell.  She (we think) seemed to think that we were her new best friends (though she didn’t give us one of those best friends, half circle necklaces.  I’ll believe that we’re her new best friends when I see the cold, hard, dangling evidence).  As we went into the party, we said that we’d take her home if she was still out there when we left.  When we came out, and she was right by our car, we knew that we were leaving with quite the party favor.

We’re not in the habit of just picking up animals, but she is really skinny and her hair is all matted up.  We figure that we’ll get her cleaned up, get her a new do (we’re thinking the “Posh”) and see if she’s been microchipped.

If we find out that she doesn’t already have a home, that she’s not got Feline Leukemia and that she is, in fact, a she, we will most likely be welcoming Tilly into our lives. 

I’m pretty convinced that Zoey is a trans-species cat. That’s right, he’s a dog trapped in a cat’s body. He’s got a dog-like appetite, rolls on his back so you’ll rub his tummy and he begs to play like a dog.

They have one of those sticks with a string connected to a toy on the end. At some point, he detoyed the stick, but now he likes it even more. He uses his pathetic sounding meow to lure you into his snare of amusement. I’m pretty sure he’s addicted, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to look into support groups. I’ve got the evidence for his intervention. Take a look/listen:

Since half of my friends are pregnant right now, I hear a lot about babies and baby names (and I don’t drink the water).  Actually, just a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting with three mothers to be, and they were discussing the fact that they won’t be sharing name possibilities prior to the babies’ births.  I guess they don’t want people giving their two cents.  I can understand that, but I think it would be way fun if they had a good time with it.

“At this point, we’re really leaning towards Hans Solo.”

or

“His grandmother’s name was Lenore, and my grandmother’s name was Whilma, so we’re combining them.  It’ll be Whore if it’s a girl, and our top boy name right now is Adolf.”

Yesterday Brandon added another candle to his cake, which means we entered that 2 1/2 month period where it seems like we’re only six years apart (They don’t call me the Butch Cassidy of the cradle for nothin’).

My family adores Brandon, so it wasn’t a big surprise when they sent him a birthday card. My parents are both fairly intelligent people, but the card they sent was a prime example of the importance of punctuation. The personal note read:

“Were so proud to have you as part of our family.”

I wonder how they feel about him now.

You know you have a good friend if you are willing to screech like a monkey for them.  I suppose most of you are thinking that I have yet to do this for you, and I will let you come to your own conclusion on our relationship.  In the meanwhile, take a look at this video that my friend, Watson (the deviant monk), made.

You always hear about the trick about the lady being sawed in half when talking about magicians, but I tried that and nobody clapped.  It would be nice if somebody mentioned that the trick was in putting her back together BEFORE I started.  Details, people!  I need details!

The above was just a passing thought in my ever dreaming head.  No ladies (or saws) were hurt in the making of that post.