Category Archives: home

new landline phones

24 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in communication, gadgets, home

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I don’t know about you, but I almost never use my land line phone anymore. In fact, I almost gave up my land line when I moved in February. I think I’m glad I didn’t because it comes in handy more often than I thought it would. But it turned out that the two old plug-in phones I’ve had for years have been dodgy lately, and one has totally kicked the bucket. And both sets of cordless phones I had (one of my own, one inherited from Susan when she left town) are on the fritz – seems they only perform for a couple of years at best. So I ended up getting a new cordless pair this past weekend – one for upstairs and one for downstairs.

I usually get more of a kick out of buying new gadgets, but these were more of a practical necessity as my contract allows me free national calls on the landline. Still, I did find a rather nice looking set at a good price – they actually look nicer “in person” with a sort of mother-of-pearl finish. And they come with a Pachelbel’s canon ringtone option! I just hope they last for more than the usual two years before they conk out…

meet my new flatmate

21 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in friends, home, hope, teaching, work

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Yeah okay, I know what you’re all thinking. You’re thinking that my new flatmate looks just like my old flatmate, but the truth is that he is different. Because today my new flatmate landed a new client for his Restaurant English classes and next week he finds out if he’ll get two new intensive English courses (Nov-Feb) at a language school here.

Aside from that he has been helping me out with Sevilla Tapas Tours when I am either double-booked or unavailable, and carrying on with his other private English classes. So if it all comes to pass, by next month this new flatmate of mine will actually be making a fairly comfortable living, at least enough to put in his share for house stuff, which will also make my life a lot less stressful.

But aside from that… well, just look at him. Since getting some very nice “reviews” for his tapas tours, and becoming more involved with the restaurant stuff, Nog has had a real boost in self esteem and that’s great to see. Sometimes it just takes one or two things to go right for a change to make all the difference in one’s outlook. After a couple of disappointments earlier in the week, the good news about Luna yesterday and today’s new job prospects have renewed both our spirits and it’s great to look forward and see good times ahead as flatmates and friends. Yay!

mystery solved

17 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, home, wtf?

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Luna has already shown us that she quite enjoys a nice comfy cat bed, but this didn’t explain why we kept finding her asleep in Azar’s litter box out on my bedroom balcony. Nog suggested that perhaps it was because the sand got warmed up in the afternoon sun, which kind of only made it seem even grosser, though it must be said that this litter box gets very little use. I have it out there for when nobody is home and we separate the cats. Azar gets my room, with his food and water dishes and balcony litter box. Luna is put in the “air lock” hallway that connects to Nog’s room. And Loki has the run of the rest of the house. Which means having three litter boxes! Which I hope will be temporary, or at least that we’ll be able to go back to just having two after Luna has grown enough to fend off the big orange galoot when he gets overly playful.

But this still didn’t explain why Luna kept going out to sleep in Azar’s litter box. Until I put two and two together… that Luna loves being out on the balcony and she likes having a bed to sleep on. So this afternoon I put an old cushion out there and voilà! She suddenly wasn’t interested in the litter box anymore. Cats, eh?

family portrait

30 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, change, home

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It’s now been a week since I first let Luna “roam free” with the boys and, health worries aside, it’s been a seamless transition. None of the hissy-spitty stuff on Azar’s part like when I first introduced him to Loki. And of course it was love at first sight for Loki.

Here’s a pic of them hanging out on the stairs last night … the first family portrait! Though I couldn’t get them to look at the camera.

Luna is so confident that it’s totally endearing to watch her. She’s even making some headway with charming Azar by coming to play on my bed in the morning, which of course is Azar’s Territory, but he doesn’t mind. And instead of just playing the String Game with Loki (which I still do) I get to watch the Chase Kitten Up & Down The Stairs game, which is pretty hilarious.

My happy family. Warms my heart.

luna rules!

28 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, home

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[click to biggify]

Took these pics yesterday while Luna was prettily lounging on the cat bed, which you may recall was adopted by Loki when he came to live at casa az (previously used once by Azar and later taken over by Sunny). For the moment it’s being shared by Luna and Loki, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up taking sole ownership. She may be tiny but Luna definitely rules! At least when it comes to Loki. She doesn’t seem to know what to make of Azar, who is immune to her charms, so she still hisses a bit if she suddenly finds him “too close”. But she pretty much has Loki wrapped around her little paw.

Although Luna has filled out quite a bit since she first arrived, you can see here (during Battle For Rug Domination last night) that she is still eensy compared to Loki. At first I worried that he might play too rough with her, like he does with Azar, and end up hurting her. But so far what I’ve seen is Loki barrel over top of Luna and knock her down, then look totally surprised as she spins around on her back like a tiny ninja, flashing needle claws in every direction, which sends him running. Ha – he’s not used to dealing with cats that have four working paws. Serves him right.

So I am very pleased at how well the new addition has fit into the household. Still keeping fingers crossed that she isn’t a FeLV carrier and that the slight trace found in the test Yolanda did turns out to be antibodies from previous exposure or a false positive, which is common when testing kittens. Meanwhile, Luna is just what Loki needed – a little playmate who is as energetic as he is. From the minute they get up in the morning it’s non-stop kitteh fun around here. They tear around the apartment chasing each other, are constantly up and down the stairs, and wreak havoc on my rug and curtains. And I love it.