There's possibly a longer post coming, but the short of it is that Little Girl didn't make it due to complications from surgery. I just hope that her last hours were spent in enough of a daze to not feel pain and discomfort.

RIP, kitten.

-sunshine!
-three awesome furry beasts
-a laptop that's no longer on the brink of death
-having a conversation with my mother during which neither one of us snapped at the other

Because really, today should be Friday.

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you. Or, if you don't want to post it, but want a memory from me, say so at the end of your comment and I'll reply with one. But consider posting. It's fun to see what comes up.

Cute overload: I have two kittens and a sol3 sleeping snuggled up to me. How can I possibly be cleaning right now?!

The kittens have also discovered the big cat litterbox and the big cat food. I'm hoping to keep them on the babycat food for two more months, but if they keep going at this rate, I'll have them all eating all-ages food sooner then that.

The bad kitten news is that Dash has ringworm. We got a heads up that their local siblings got it, so it was less of a surprise when we saw that his dry skin spot became a bald spot, but it's still unpleasant. And the treatment involves bathing him in a sulfur solution, so now he smells like rotten eggs.

On a sign of how scattered sol3 and I have been, it took us not being able to turn onto International at 1:30am last night to realize that the Cinco de Mayo celebration is today. Neither one of us has been up for wandering out into the madness.

This week, and the wacky ways in which getting the kittens right before sol3 went away un-balanced home and social time, has left me feeling differing levels of off for the past few days.
Today, the bulk of the day was devoted to the kittens.
I got up, I fed them and played with them a little. Then I took them to the vet, and back home. Then I ran errands which involved going to 4 stores just to get them food*, came home, and played with them until it was dinner time for me.
After dinner I relaxed for a bit, played with the kittens some more, and then got some much needed out of the house for non-kitten socializing with iridium and her friend S.

* Who knew that 2 stores could be out of plain chicken baby food? And that's not even counting the two I went to yesterday!

One of our neighbors found a box with five kittens in it today, and we just spent most of the afternoon playing with them.

I totally can't tell if getting kittens is a good or bad idea.

On this last trip of his, I missed sol3 immensely and have been really happy to have him back, even if his job continues to stress him out to the point of mostly un-socialness.
In a random moment of domesticity (well, actually, evening, as I'd been planning it), I made brownies so that they'd be warm when he got home - and then he couldn't eat them because his throat was too sore : (
I think I also managed to have the house cleaner then when he left it for the first time in the year and a half we've been living together. Hopefully I can make this the start of a trend.

I'm on my last week at the current job; tomorrow will be the last day - and I'm a little stressed out by how much is left to do. And I'm guessing tomorrow will be entirely anticlimactic.

Since the beginning on 2008, just about every workday evening I've had at home included doing work. Now that that's lifting, I'm at a loss as to what to do with myself. I've got ideas brewing, but choosing one seems to be a big hurdle.

So I just culled my Hawai'i pictures to 90, so it's a good time to post about the trip.

Hawai'i was just amazing, and all those things people said it would be.
We spent the first two days at a B&B near Volcano National Park and being, driving and hiking around the lava was a great way to make the body and brain realize that I'm far from home. The colors and textures were just amazing. The pictures will show it better then I can describe it, but the texture of the lava, the colors of it, and the way the lava overtook the vegetation and the way the vegetation was taking the land back were all awe-inspiring.
After 2 days there, I felt like I could spend the rest of the week there as well. sol3 and I were so happy to rediscover how travel-compatible we are - it's more important to both of us to do things without a rush, and let each thing take it's time - so we did less hikes, but savored each one. The three notable ones that we did were up to a summit that let us see some of the older craters and the steam coming off of Pu'u Po'o as it is spewing lava, a hike down into Kiluea Iki, where we got to roam around what was a lava lake just 50 years ago, a walk through a lava tube, and a drive and small hike to an overlook of the coast from within the park.

From there, we drove to the south of the island and stayed at a B&B that's within 5 miles of the southern tip. On the ride there, we pulled over at a scenic overlook, and spotted our first whale plumes off the coast. Whales!
We checked in, lounged for a little bit, and realized we need to hop in the car and go if we're going to catch the sunset at South Point. That sunset was totally a highlight of the trip for me - sitting on the edge of cliffs, with just a little bit of land/rocks below, and then just the Pacific and the setting sun. *swoon*

The next day, after an absolutely amazing breakfast and some logistical issues, we hiked to the green sand beach. It was a pretty great hike, and the beach at the end was absolutely amazing. sol3 and I brought books, but barely touched them because it was just so wonderful there that staring at the sea and beach and rocks was enough. And on the hike back we saw a lot more whales splashing off in the distance - and it looks like I caught a couple of not-terrible shots of them.

The day after, we went to one of the black sand beaches for some contrast, and hung out there looking at sea turtles swimming just offshore, sticking their heads & fins out of the water every once in a while. Then, we drove over to Kona Village Resort to begin our four days of rest - and were very amused to see several turtles just chilling on the beach there.

Kona Village was exactly what my mental picture of an ideal/paradise resort has always been - great beach, palm trees, amazingly friendly people (both staff and other guests), amazing food and total relaxation.
At Kona Village, I read 3 books, snorkeled (with turtles! with turtles that were being cleaned by bright yellow fish!) and really relaxed like I haven't in years - enough so that on day 4, I was ready for more adventure : )

The adventure we got, though, was a bit different then expected - checking in at the airport to head home, I made a joke about wanting to stay longer and asked if they were looking for volunteers to get bumped from the flight. Turns out they did, and put us up in the Kailua Sheraton for a night with tickets for a Sunday flight home and $400 vouchers (to go back to Hawai'i : ) ). It was great to get an extra day, extra snorkeling and affirmation that what we paid for Kona Village was totally worth it, as it was easily twice as nice (if not more!) of an experience as staying at the Sheraton.

And the pictures are here

...I quit a job today.

I'm looking forward to the new position, and to working in the city again!

...and carrying so many wonderful memories with me : )

Will write about them later, though.