acid-stars.com

I thought I could toilet train my cat. Really, I thought I could it. I saw a kitty potty training video and thought, Hey! That looks simple. I’m sure I can get Dixie to use the toilet. Well, I was wrong. My cat was miserable. He hated the sitz bath I’d affixed to my toilet as there wasn’t enough room for him to fit his big butt. So he’d wake me up in the mornings — after a long night of holding in his poo — to remind me that he couldn’t use his new toilet properly. So I’d be up at ungodly hours in the morning, sitting on the edge of my bathtub, coaxing my cat to urinate in the sitz bath: “Please, Dix. Pee for mommy. C’mon… pss-pss-pss-psssss.” After throwing out half the litter onto the floor, he’d finally relieve himself and dash happily through the apartment.

Today, I finally broke down and just bought him a hooded litter box. I bought the “jumbo” size to ensure that all 12.4lbs of him would fit in there. Because of its large size, though, I can no longer keep his litterbox in the bathroom as I previously did. Now I’m struggling to find the optimal spot for it. However, Dixon seems thrilled to have a normal-sized litterbox again and to be able to dig his way to China… without getting litter absolutely everywhere.

Besides turning my cat’s world upside down, I’ve also been making some changes in my own life. For example, I’ve gone vegetarian. It’s a month-long experiment to see how a meat-free diet makes me feel. So far, so good. I’m feeling much healthier, more energetic, and just generally happier. And it’s only been 5 days! Maybe it’s a placebo effect, maybe it’s not. Either way, I’m enjoying learning new ways to incorporate fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, etc., into my everyday life.

With my new vegetarian diet, I’m noticing that I’m throwing out a lot of items (e.g., egg shells, peels, coffee grounds, etc.) that decompose naturally. I’m not comfortable sending these things to the landfill. So I’m looking into starting my very own compost bin. I learned that the city has a compost project and that I can get a bin for about $20. I emailed my local project site and asked when they’ll have some of these bins in stock. I’m looking forward to beginning this project! I can start with lawn clippings and tree leaves and go on to add all of the produce items mentioned previously. In a couple of months, I’ll have nutritious fertilizer for the flowers and vegetables that my mom has growing in the yard. That’s exciting to me.

Additionally, I’m trying to cut back on the amount of plastic that I use. I’ve invested in a stainless steel water bottle so I am no longer dependent on plastic bottles. I’ve also purchased a faucet water filter so I can have clean water straight from the tap. I also bought reusable shopping bags so I can finally stop using plastic shopping bags when I go shopping. (I was recently cleaning up in my kitchen and decided to tackle the cabinet that I used to store the copious amounts of shopping bags that I’ve amassed over the years. I was appalled.) I’ve been trying to reuse the bags I have when I go shopping but I always forget to take them with me. The last time I went grocery shopping, though, I noticed that there is a bin in the vestibule with a sign that reads: “Recycle Plastic Shopping Bags Here.” So I’m going to round up many of my bags and deposit them there. (I’m going to retain some to use as liners for the small trashcans that are kept throughout my house.) Once I get rid of all of the plastic bags, I’m going to throw some of the reusable bags in my purses and store some in Alex’s car, so we’ll always have some when we go shopping. Like the nerd that I am, I’m looking forward to this also.

Tonight’s dinner was provided by yours truly. If I had had any on hand, I would’ve grilled us some salmon. However, I didn’t have any fish lying around (my family is not really a fish family — hell, we only recently strated stocking red meat because, up until a few weeks ago, I was the only one who ate mammal in my family… but now my sister eats it, too) and was in no mood to go the grocery store to buy salmon… So I decided to try making rice instead. You see, rice is very difficult to make. At least for me, it is. So I scoured the web for a how-to on cooking rice… and came upon this. The guy who wrote the tutorial is a chef, so he must know what he’s talking about, I told myself. And I was right! Too bad he also knew what he was talking about when he wrote that one must use a heavy-gauge pan in which to cook the rice. “If your pan is made out of some thin flimsy metal, your rice will get nicely burnt at the bottom while the grains at the top may not cook properly,” wrote Madhu Menon.

Boy, was he right!

However, I had enough cooked rice at the top to fill both plates… so it all worked out. (Despite following Menon’s instructions, my rice still came out sticky. This is probably due to the crappy pan I used, so I won’t blame the chef for my mistakes. This time.) I also stir-fried some frozen vegetables and made some chicken (seasoned with lemon pepper, yum!) to go with the rice. All in all, it took me about 35 minutes (of actual work) to make a meal for two. Alex and I scarfed it down in about 15 minutes, though… But, hey, that means it was good!

My family currently has access to one vehicle. The Maxima is in the shop. After the Nissan dealership performed maintenance on the car, we were told that the automobile required new brakes — however, instead of getting ripped off a second time, we took it to a friend’s garage to have that done. On the way to the shop, though, the Maxima was hit by a driver who didn’t stop at a stop sign. Good thing it was on its way to the shop, then, eh? It’s been there since Tuesday. (The insurance claims adjuster only examined the car yesterday.)

Muffins
Photo by Allie

Of course, that means that when my parents have the Murano for the day, I am left without transportation. That also means that when Alex comes over, we really can’t do much besides watch TV and bake stuff. (He doesn’t have a car, either.) Two months ago, for our second monthiversary, we baked brownies. Then, a week ago, we baked banana nut bread (from scratch!). Today, we made muffins from a box.

We’re such a cutesy couple. We bake, watch TV, and nap together. Sometimes, we even make our own dinner. (For the first 3 months of our relationship, we went out to eat practically every day. Yay, healthy diet!) We’re also trying to get some kind of workout regime going.

I guess we’re trying to undo the damage done over the first three months.