The Million Dollar Cat Hotel

Since my husband works retail hours, sometimes he works nights-sometimes he works days. Night shifts stink because we're home alone so the littlest noises tend to scare the bejeezus out of me. Luckily, I have Crickette and Lebowski to warn me. Anytime their fuzzy little ears perk up I know that Freddy Krueger is about to bust through my door. So as long as they are both calm, I know we're good...

Except that Crickette has been hissing and spitting at the basement door lately. (Our basement isn't finished and only used for storage) This wouldn't bother me so much except that I've also been hearing noises down there. Naturally, I make my husband go down there in the middle of the night by himself and investigate...well, someone has to stay with Toot don't they???

Apparently, some stray neighborhood cats has been getting into (and out of) our basement at their leisure. We actually have cats squatting in our basement! They seem to be coming in and getting some (obviously well needed) sleep and then going back out and doing their cat thing. The basement has now been searched for their "door" and has been closed so they can't get back in. That may sound harsh but they weren't even leaving a tip for housekeeping...freeloading cats...

Keep on rolling,

Katamommy

Wiggle Me This Batman

I've been thinking that although I do not want to turn Toot into a couch potato, I do want to be able to make smart decisions on what I allow her to watch on TV. I had already decided when I was pregnant that one of the things she could watch would be The Wiggles.

I was introduced to The Wiggles around 1999-2000 when I worked at a daycare. While babysitting one of my 1 year old "students" over the weekend, I took him to watch The Wiggles perform at a Media Play store. (At the time, they were not as well known in the US and were in town opening for the Barney stage show *shudder*) He had a lot of fun and even though I initially thought they were ultra cheesy, their music started to grow on me and I've been a fan ever since. Partly because I feel their music is harmless and though they're not heavy on "teaching" children, like Sesame Street or Reading Rainbow, they are colorful and entertaining. And also partly because their songs are so darn catchy that I can't get them out of my head..."Quack quack quack quack quack cock-a-doodle-doo!"

If you are new to The Wiggles, I would suggest starting your young ones on their earlier videos, not their current show on the Disney channel. The reason being is that their earlier videos focus more on music than talking or long skits. Our personal favorites: "Wiggle Time" and "Yummy Yummy". I'll probably start posting some more in depth reviews of their videos soon...

Keep on rolling,

Katamommy

Scraptastic!

I've made scrapbooks on and off for a few years now. Nothing fancy really but being a nostalgic kind of person, I love to scrapbook whenever I have time. Of course now that Toot is here, I make the time since I've taken a billion pictures already and she's just three months in.

My mom (now otherwise known as "Nana") wanted a brag book to show her friends so instead of her buying a regular photo album, I made a little scrapbook for her. Here are a couple of the layouts I did for it. I kept them very simple for the most part:

For this one I wrote a little "Nana" poem and made a border using the little Shutterfly index prints you get with your order. I also had Toot make a hand print to fill up the bottom corner.

This one is pretty simple. Your basic paper and alphabet stickers...

I was really proud of how these two pages turned out. I ended up with a lot of pink backgrounds in this set of portraits so I thought the brown was a nice offset for all the pink. (this picture and the next are a little too long for the blog so right click to view the full image)

I didn't want to do a crazy busy layout for these pictures, so I just cut the corners of the paper and threaded some ribbon through them. (I got the ribbon off of Christmas presents from last year. I knew I saved all that for a reason!)

I love spending time doing this and can't wait until Toot is old enough to look through them all. I've started looking at some scrapbooking sites and blogs and can't believe all of the fancy tools and techniques there are. I thought I was big stuff using plain paper and stickers! I'm looking forward to blowing large amounts of money on new scrapbooking goodies in the near future...

Let's Go To The Bop...and Destroy It

Even before Toot was born, I was investigating programming for children: TV, movies, music, etc etc etc. I worked for a daycare and came in contact with all sorts of crap I knew I would never let my children watch. Not necessarily because I felt they contained objectionable material, but more so because they sucked. So I had already decided that no child of mine should watch Barney (is he even still around?), Teletubbies or listen to Kidz Bop.

I'm always at a loss whenever I see a Kidz Bop commercial. Who thought it would be a good idea to have children rerecord adult songs? Excuse me if I do not want listen to children singing Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". That song was bad enough the first time around. Not to mention Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" and Rhianna's "Umbrella". Come on parents! Really? Come to think of it, why are these artists letting this company use their songs in the first place? Creepy...

It's not cute and it's not harmless...However it is funny in a frightening sort of way... Here's an early commercial for "Kidz Bop 4"

Keep on rolling (away from Kidz Bop),
Katamommy

The Credits (In Order of Their Appearance)

"The Cat" Crickette

"The Dog" (and the Great Pumpkin) Lebowski

"The Husband" Chris

"The Baby" Lil Toot

Also starring Jerry Mathers as the Beaver

Keep on rolling,

Katamommy

And The Rose Goes To...

I can remember hating The Bachelor when it first hit ABC. I thought to myself, "This is why people think all women are desperate, look at these idiots!". All fighting over one man that they probably didn't even like? Seriously?

When the second season started, I decided to watch it in full so I would know enough about the show that I could feel fully justified and knowledgeable in my outrage and disgust for the state of America. And that's when I fell in love with the show and have been a faithful viewer ever since...

Don't you judge me!

Yes, I realize that these people find love and lose it during the commercial breaks but it's darn fine entertainment. Sometimes I'm in the mood to watch people share "romance" and insecurities (see The Bachelor) and sometimes I'm in the mood to watch people share STDs (see every "love" show currently on VH1 and then go shower).

This current season with Jason Mesnick (Deanna's castoff from last season of The Bachelorette) has been both entertaining and cringe inducing. Natalie, boiling from her elimination last night, trying to put together a coherent tell off for Jason wasn't half as amusing as watching the Network rushing to rip the million dollar loaner bling off her neck once Jason gave her the boot. Awesome!

But what's really made the show for me this season has been the weekly blog written by host, Chris Harrison....finally! I've always thought that he would love to tell some of these people on the show what he really thinks and it looks like he's decided to tell us instead...lucky us!

Check it out here: Chris Harrison blogs episode 3 of The Bachelor

Keep on rolling!

Katamommy

Welcome to Katamommy Damacy!

Here it is, finally! The obligatory introductory post to my new blog: "Katamommy Damacy". Some of you may know me as ICandee from Xbox Live and my gaming blog "ICandee, You Game" over at MSN Spaces. I still maintain that Space as it deals strictly with my gaming experiences. However, now that I am married and recently had my first child, I've been feeling the desire to extend my blog subjects to my life in general...

And for the two people that will read this blog on a regular basis...This blogs for you!

Keep On Rolling,

Katamommy

**Note on the blog title: One of my favorite game franchises is the "Katamari Damacy" series from Japan. It's quirky, strange and oddly fascinating, just like me...