Good bye, sweet Cleo

I just got a terrible email from my parents - our poor old Cleo passed away. My sister discovered another lump on her stomach last week and she went into sergury on Thursday. She recovered a bit slower than last time, but she seemed all right. And today my parents came back from family visits to find her dying. She died in my father's arms. She was fourteen and if there's any consolation, she lived a good life. She also, hopefully, didn't suffer so much in the end, like her mother did.
Cleo was a silly cat. A real dummy. She would walk into walls on occasion, and get stuck in our winter blankets like velcro. She would always walk behind and around the couch or chair you were sitting in before jumping in your lap. She didn't care much for food, except for fruity yogurt (and even that, a couple of licks and she was stuffed). My sister just recently added her to The Infinity Cat Project. She must have had no clue what was going on. Silly kitty...
But she was a sweetheart of a cat, who was always there if you were crying. She slept in my suitcase on my last days in Israel like she knew I was leaving and didn't want me to go. She would come and ask for attention all the time, like a little puppy. And she always slept in someone's bed. Every night.


Cleo 1993-2007
We miss you, fuzzy one. We miss you so much.





More about Cleo on my sister's blog.

It seems like the last few weeks have been terrible for bloggers and their pets. I'm sending a virtual hug to each and every one of you, you know who you are. It seems wrong to link around about this.

August has been a very bad month. Thank God it's almost over.

A fantastic ending to a crummy week

So, I'll spare you the details of the week that just ended. Let's just say that it was crummy. Really crummy. But there were a few lights shining this week, and one of them (the one I can actually tell you about) is "Stardust".


Oh, do yourself a favore - ignore the stupid trailers and go watch this movie! It's fantastic! It's a classic fairytale, very much like "The Princess Bride" (only not so very 80's, of course). It's beautiful to watch, romantic in measure, and funny beyond your expectations (no spoliers here - but loads of the giggles belong to De Niro's fantastic character). What can I say - I can't wait to get my hands on the DVD.

And to think that if it wasn't for you, my bloggy friends, who urged me to go see it - I would have missed this gem. And so I pay it back to the blogland - this here blogger recommends it too! If you had any doubts until now - have no more.
Just go see it.
Enjoy!

Dah!

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Mais, bien sur! London is also one of my favorites , but Paris is my true love. I'm quite the francophile.
Well, and Tel Aviv, but you can't really call it "European" (I wish...)

Hooray!

I got my sockapalooza socks today, yay!!!
Look at all the goodies:


I got some amazingly fragrant coffee (yum!), super dark chocolate (yum, yum!) and chocolate coverd blueberries (yum, yum, yum!), two felted kitty toys and these absolutely gorgeous socks:


Emmet examining the specimen.
Check out this pattern! The color! The fit is fantastic! Wow!



More photos here.

My sweet benefactor is the (sadly) blogless Jen of Maine who also got married recently. The socks are Loksins, but the cuffs seem different than the picture on the pattern page (and are beautiful). And they're knit in - Lorna's Laces! They seem to be Almost Solids too, in this fantastic fuchsia. Love, true love.
Thank you so much, Jen! It's been such a great Sockapalooza experience!

Busy-busy bee

It's been such a good weekend! I've been graced by the gods of retail to have a three (!) day weekend. The result - plenty of work done, and a ton of fun too!

Let' start with some socks, shall we?



I made it, I finished my Sockapalooza 4 socks - but just about. Sheesh! These socks beat the heck out of me. I don't know why and how come, possibly my constant exhaustion was to blame - but for a fairly simple pattern - I messed up way too often. Boo! I re-knit the heels twice (oy), re-re-knit too many pattern repeats (double oy), I bound them off twice (triple oy!)... But - they're finished! And with all the agony involved - I like them a lot! The pattern is easy (despite my best efforts to prove the opposite), beautiful and unique, Lorna's Laces has become my favorite sock yarn - soft, cushy and beautifully dyed. I hope my sock pal likes them...
I packed them up and they'll go away to my pal tomorrow. I added a couple of my favorite chocolates (I love the Panda one sooooo much! And it helps saving endangered animals too! Double score), a hand sewn bunny, a great bar of soap (I hate to promote stuff we sell at work, but his products are incredible, and we met the actual Hugo who started the company makes the soaps himself still - and he's such a great guy he deserves the mention) - and a little letter from moi.
(Yeah, my pal's name is Lynn - sorry if that's to revealing)



Done with the socks, I spent a whole day running arrends, shopping (I raided "Forever 21" yet again, jeans were on sale), mending (hemming said jeans), getting materials for prototypes for some stuff I'll hopefully do for wholesale. Then we headed off for some margaritas to celebrate the recent engagement (in Paris, bastards!) of our dear friends Nate and Crystal. And today - the sewing machine was working overtime!

I was inspired by the new Target Janome Hello Kitty sewing machines that I just had to personalize my cute little Singer. The result:


These are Suzy's Zoo stickers in the forest animals theme. Totally me!
And nothing compliments a physical makeover like a new wardrobe:



I just used my tape measure, some canvas I bought ages ago, and a sticky ribbon from the new Martha Stewart collection at Michael's (of course I had to get some, what kind of a craftster do you think I am?). I'm very pleased with myself.
Then I sewed a couple of new PJs pants and now - I'm writing these here lines!

What was Suki doing all this time?


Now I've got to go pick up a massive load of laundry. What a great weekend!

And how was your weekend?