Evil cat

After installing a cat flap in the back door so that our beautiful little kitties can go in and out to explore the Great Outdoors, we have unfortunately had to put up with an unwelcome visitor in the house. The visitor is a massive black cat, which would be fine if it just came in and said hello and had a polite conversation... but instead it eats our little cats' food and then attacks them. Three cats in a fight make a horrible din, it's not the most pleasant way to be woken from sleep.

I haven't been able to get a photo of the evil cat, but I found a picture which is a fairly accurate depiction...

Anyway, we've never been able to frighten the cat enough that it stays away, because every time we run after it, it just shoots out the cat flap. Most people tell us we should squirt it with water because that is a sure deterrent for all cats. We however felt that a water pistol just wasn't going to be accurate enough to ensure the cat was suitably scared.

So one night last week, we heard the familiar wailing of our poor little darlings being attacked by the black beast. Colin crept through to the back door and set the cat flat to "in only".

I won't say exactly what we did incase Peta turn up at the door tomorrow shouting animal rights laws at us... but I will say the cat ended up looking something like this:

You would think that treating a cat in this fashion would deter it from coming back... (and believe me, we took no pleasure in doing this, but our little cats are covered in scratches!) ... HOWEVER, who should rear it's ugly head in the house just two days later?! Evil cat!!!

If anyone has any suggestions for ways to stop it from coming in, please let us know. Special cat flaps are no good, as our cats lose their collars within hours of going outside and would therefore be locked out.

Or maybe we should teach our cats some ju jitsu, or assertiveness techniques. Surely two ginger girls could take on this evil black demon?!

Ace of Cakes

I've been very busy on a little project over the past week, preparing a birthday cake for our friend John's birthday party. He's 30 in a couple of weeks time, and we felt there was no point in giving gifts of wine or champagne, as we imagine that's what everyone else is going to give him! So my gift is to make him an awesome birthday cake to mark the occasion! Jess his wife suggested an iPhone 3g cake, as that is John's little obsession.

And here's how I did it....

First, I made two rectangular sponge cakes, and filled the middle with buttercream and jam...

Then I put them together to make an iPhone shape...




Then I covered it in Marzipan.... the whole time trying to fend off Colin from picking at it. (He's a big marzipan fan.)





Then I covered it in black fondant icing - not an easy task with one pair of hands!!

Then I fixed on the little icons which I had made previously out of coloured fondant icing...

And then I finished it off with a little detail and a birthday message. I hope it tastes ok! Although I suppose the novelty of the cake is more the point at a big birthday party. More importantly, I hope John likes it, and that it was worth staining my hands a dusky shade of grey with the food colouring. Note for next time - steal latex gloves from the hospital to protect skin...!

Cat yoga

We've found our cats hanging out in some wierd and wonderful positions over the last couple of years, but this one has to take the biscuit...



Neko spent at least an hour chilling out in this bizzare yoga-like pose. We were beginning to get worried that she was actually stuck like that, when she just got herself up, stretched and wandered away.
I think if either of us attempted that position, it would be the end of our ability to walk at all...!

Big changes

A lot has happened to us in the last 3 months.

We've moved house, into a lovely ground floor terraced flat with a little garden front and back... The cats are loving it, they have both lost weight and gained a new lease of life running around outside.

But our biggest news is perhaps the new addition to our little family!

Baby Armstrong is due 2nd April 2010, we're very excited, but a little aprehensive, as neither of us have even held a baby at any point in the last decade! I'm told it'll come naturally once the baby is here, and I'm sure the wealth of knowledge from an Obs and Gynae trained father, and a health visitor mother will come in really useful!

My fear

Unfortunately, I have a recurring waking nightmare during the night, that Colin has died in his sleep. Perhaps it's because I've heard of cases where a person has woken up to find their spouse dead next to them (usually because of something called Sudden Adult Death syndrome, usually caused by heart arrythmias.) And it doesn't help that Colin's favourite sleeping position is face down on the matress...

Whilst very sad, the sudden death syndrome only happens to a tiny percentage of adults, so I really shouldn't get myself worked up about it.

Colin got a terrible fright one morning when I looked over to see him very corpse-like, and realised he was stone cold to the touch - so instead of gently shaking him, I chose to flip him over onto his back in order to begin CPR. Luckily he wasn't actually dead, and just got rudely awakened from his sleep instead.

I have recently got the same fear over the cats. They sleep on the bed so still that they don't look alive anymore, and it's even more terrifying when you touch them and they still don't move.

At work, when a patient isn't attached to a cardiac monitor, I also get the same fear! I think I've got so used to watching someone's heart beats on the screen, that if they are taken off it for any reason, I constantly watch their chest to make sure they're still breathing.

Perhaps being a nurse has just given me that little bit TOO much knowledge, as I always assume the worst with regards to medical problems, as I've seen how bad things can go..

That still doesn't stop me having panic attacks in the night over my dead spouse and pets. So I was thinking, perhaps I could just get a cardiac monitor for the house, so if Colin did have a cardiac arrest for whatever reason, I'd be alerted of it immediately, and therefore my fears of him dying without me realising may be put to rest. Perfectly sensible!

I have also discovered you can get cardiac monitors especially for cats!

Reverse crime

Despite the great views and city centre location, living in Dumbie Dykes comes hand in hand with the higher risk of crime. There's no denying that council estates are havens for crime, particularly amongst bored kids and teens: This is not just speculation and accusation, we have indeed witnessed teenagers smashing into cars on the street below the house, and graffiti often appears in the hallways and walls around the estate. So when we leave the house mostly unattended to go on holiday, we are both prepared that we may return to find we are missing posessions (and I'm not just talking about the food that Alexander snaffles from the cupboards).

However, having just returned from a week on the Isle of Mull with Colin's parents, I was surprised to find that the opposite had happened. 

                                 

An extra chain has been added to my bike! The one in the middle of the frame doesn't belong to me, to Colin or to Alexander. No note has been left in the house, no key has been posted through the door. One of two things has happened ...

- EITHER someone noticed that I hadn't chained the bike too securely with my lock, as it is only going through the back wheel (admittedly this was a bit foolish of me). In an attempt to stop anyone from theiving it, some kind hearted soul has chained my bike more securely to the railing, and has forgotton to tell me about it.

- OR... some really annoying person has chained my bike to the railing in an attempt to be infuriating and disruptive, as I can't remove the bike without cutting through the chain somehow. 

I need the bike to get to work this weekend, as on sundays the bus service is so poor, I'd have to wait at the hospital until 9.15am after my 8am finish after nightshift. I'm not prepared to do this, so hopefully the culprit will reveal themselves and explain their motives before I take a hacksaw to it on friday afternoon. I am looking forward to moving house.

Christmas treat

As I had to work this Christmas, and feel very sad about this, I decided to treat myself to something I've always been very interested in trying out...

See if you can guess what I had done.

Before:

After:

In hindsight, I should have also used mascara in the before picture, but you can probably get the idea...

I have had my eye lashes permed! Oh yes, no more eyelash curlers necessary for the next 10-12 weeks, it should save me a whole 40-50 seconds per morning! Totally worth it.

Joking aside, it was lovely to spend 45 minutes lying in a room with my eyes closed, with lovely relaxing music playing while I waited for the perming solution to do it's magic. And the brochure assures you that the procedure makes you look more awake - something which I really need during my shift work.

Here's a closer look....