Pinspiration - A favorite from Pinterest

I love Pinterest!  Today’s Pinspiration is a baked potato!  The one on Pinterest was baked in the oven, but I wanted it quick so that wouldn't do for me!  I sliced it several times, (say about every quarter inch but not all the way to the bottom of the potato) and poured butter over it before popping it in the microwave and hitting the ‘popcorn’ button.  I timed it.  The ‘popcorn’ button on my micro (thanks again to Jess & John for the micro) cooks for two and a half minutes.  When it beeped, I took it out and added grated cheese on top.  It’s a 6 cheese Italian blend.  I popped it back in and popcorned it again.  Once it came out, I sprinkled it with Bacon salt and put sour cream on top. 

Deliciousness overload!

Potty Training the Cat part deux deux

Well, potty training the cat took longer than I had expected.  Oh, she was okay with peeing in the cat pan up on the toilet.  She just wasn’t sure she wanted to do a dump up there I guess.  The bathtub seemed the more appropriate spot to her.  *sigh* (and yes, UGH!)  Leaving the bathtub with an inch or two of water in it at all times discouraged that idea!  

She eventually did start using the toilet box both times. The plan was that once she started using the toilet all the time, I would remove the cat litter and then, the plastic cat pan.  When I stopped replenishing the litter after scooping out the mess, she decided that she should go back to using the tub again.  (ARGH!) 

Now, I’m a patient person, but I’m getting REALLY tired of taking the litter box out of the toilet so that I can use it myself and then putting it back so that SHE can use it!  I know that the end result will be worth the trouble.
(no more smelly pan, buying litter, carrying poo out to the trash)

It’s just that in the middle of the night, I’m not all that good at thinking.

I stumble like a zombie toward the bathroom and I’ve forgotten more than once to take out the litter box before I sit down!

Anyway, let me show you how I made my toilet training litter box.  I had a lid from a store bought cake.  I had crafty plans for its lovely clear plasticness but it jumped out and said, “Hey there!  I’d love to be a litter box!”  Yes.  I talk to inanimate objects and find that if I listen with the right type of inner ear, they often talk back to me.  Don’t worry.  The crafty voices in my head are mostly benign.  My fabric and craft supplies do not have plans for world domination.  If they do, they have yet to share them with me!  But as I was saying,

I had the lid from the cake

I had a large cardboard box., having just moved,

What crafter doesn’t have a few rolls of duct tape?  (Shouldn’t EVERYONE?) 

I also used a marker

And a pair of heavy duty scissors.

I put the cardboard on top of the toilet with the seat up and used a marker to trace around the edge of the pot.  I then drew another circular shape about two inches smaller inside of that and cut out a toilet lid, donut shaped ring.

I had to cut off the part of the cake lid that fit into the cake plate.  Cutting through that thick plastic was the hardest part.  DO NOT use your Mom’s sewing scissors or she’ll knock you upside of the head for it!  (rightfully so) I then cut down the side of the lid about every inch and a half.  My slits were about two inches long; the width of the cardboard donut.  I bent each of these tabs out, stuck my lid in the donut and duct taped the two pieces together.  It fit very nicely in the toilet, but the seat did not want to close.  Once I cut off the back part of the litter box rim where the hinges of the toilet seat were in the way, it closed much better.  There was still plenty of support for the weight of the cat and the litter.

Once I had it all together and fitted to the toilet seat, I poured in some litter and set the cat on her new ‘litter box’ to get used to it.  She didn’t seem opposed to it, but didn’t have to go just then.  I waited nervously for her to use it, thinking she might not be up to the game, but am very happy to say that she has been really good about it, mostly. 

Curious Cat

P.S.  *snickers*  p.s. Get it?  *snickers*  I never did actually pee in the cat pan.  I caught myself just in time!

Potty Training the Cat

   My neighbor’s cat taught itself to use the toilet!  I can’t even imagine how that happened.  What a lucky break though!  Well, I’d heard of teaching your cat to use the can before and it didn’t dawn on me just how important it would be until I had a small apartment and a cat of my very own.  It seems that when I have company over, Misty, the cat in question, gets nervous and has to use the box.  She’s not the best at covering her tracks, so my guest is nearly asphyxiated by the smell of my cat’s poorly timed dump.  It’s pretty embarrassing to me.  If the place were bigger, if the cat could go outside, if she would cover up the foul smelling deed, it might not be so bad but unfortunately . . . 

   Well, my neighbor’s good luck has started me to thinking and thinking has spurred me into action.  I have been slowly moving the cat’s litter box nearer and nearer to the bathroom.  I move it about four feet each time and put something else where the box once was so she’s not tempted to continue going in the old spot out of habit.  I don’t suppose, since we’ve only lived here for just over a month anyway, that she’s had much chance to become fond of the original spot as yet.  

   On Sunday, it was behind the sofa, by the wall.  I moved it, still behind the sofa but away from the wall.  Monday, it moved closer to the hall. It had two stops that were too close to the kitchen for my pleasure.  Now, it is down the hall and right by the bathroom door.  She doesn’t seem to mind that I’m moving her litter box around.  She’s barely even looked at me funny because of it.  Maybe I’ve just not paid her any attention.  This is a definite possibility.  Anyway, soon, it will be IN the bathroom.  I think it will stay there for the night.  Tomorrow, we start in earnest!  Wish me luck!

A Batty Biddy Begins Blogging

I’ve just moved into the cutest little apartment out in the woods in Connecticut.  (WAY out in the woods)  The place is still piled high with boxes and totes and anywhere I look, there’s something else that I should be doing.  As I sit here at my computer, I am left feeling that I need to be doing something else, but when I’m doing something else, I’m thinking that I still haven’t started that blog that I told myself I was going to start.  It’s a vicious circle!

The year is just beginning so I started the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge.  It started out in the kitchen.  The kitchen itself is now under control but it included the table and, well, THAT could use a lot of work!  (and here I am on the computer)  I also decided to do the 21 Days to Getting Organized Challenge.  I just need LOTS of help / ideas to get this place in order and beside that, I’m a sucker for goals/ plans/ organization theories.  My creative brain just needs something firm to lean on.

  

There’s a lot more to a blog than what I had thought.  People keep asking me questions about it like, “What are you going to blog about?  Who do you think will read it?”  I have just gone through all the fonts on my computer to choose one and even THAT was a challenge.  I’ve downloaded a lot of fun fonts.  My niece has offered to ‘make it pretty’ for me which is good, because I have no clue how to do that yet.  I’ll have her show me so that I can keep it changing, to keep it interesting. 

Well, a Happy New Year to all of my new blog readers! 

Wish me luck with all of these new challenges.   Shouldn’t each new year bring fun new challenges?