Bubble No. 74: Household Explosion!

     Well, it’s certainly been interesting in the Ouse of Hasslap recently. *snerk!*

     First off, our household population has increased exponentially. We adopted a beautiful Siamese. Or…er, she adopted US rather. *laughing* Neko was on the walkway one evening a couple of weeks ago, talking to his movie-maker-to-be buddy whom I call mentally Fellini, and we had the apartment door open to catch some breeze. (They shut the A/C off on October 15th. A little too soon for the Southwest.) Lo and behold, this pretty blue-eyed Siamese peeked in the open door, looked at me and miewed. I got up, she walked to the edge of the walkway, then blinked at me. I picked her up, carried her inside, and she began exploring. Thusly we adopted Seraphie. She’s quite a love, and gets very insane in the early/late hours. Apparently she’s a Momma’s girl, because I’m her "preferred" target when she gets loony. ^_~ I really am falling in love with that silly cat. I swear, I’m going to have to get "I <3 Cats" tattooed on me somewhere. *snerk* This is number two!

     And, amusingly enough, the feline population of the house exploded today. I got home from work, snuggled Seraphie (who always looks vaguely insulted when you cuddle her, then rubs on your calves and meows when you put her down,) and went about my merry business. Hedgehog came home, and just as I was having her straighten my hair (she does a MUCH better job than I do, and I don’ t end up with aching arms,) Neko came home. I opened the door and snagged Seraphie (who seems determined to explore the empty breezeway) and he was holding a big cardboard box and looking at me with a cross of terror, hope and determination. It was so adorable. Turns out, there were a pair of kittens (and I mean babies) in the dog pen at the auto shop he works at. He couldn’t leave them there (perfectly right!) and brought them home. So now we have a soft, probably long-haired grey female and a nearly calico -male- kitten (grey, white and black) to share the household. Seraphie was so jealous. We managed to feed them (poor babies were skin and bones) and got them in a warm box. Neko’s going to feed them at home, while Hedgehog and I escaped the shackles of female housewifery (*snerk*) to come hang out at the computer lab. What’ll be amusing is telling Okami (Hedgehog’s boyfriend now) that he has to share the apartment with not two (he knew about Seraphie) but four cats. (He’ll live. ^_^)

     We had our first "household emergency" last week. *laughing* It was…highly amusing. I don’t cook, as a rule. (Mainly to save those around me from gagging.) I bake like there’s no tomorrow, but something about cooking just eludes me. However, fish sticks aren’t hard, right? You just put the silly things in the oven. So Neko goes to take a well-deserved hot shower after a long day of work, I send Hedgehog off to snag some sodas and tartar sauce, and I heat up the oven and put in the fish sticks. Well… I half-open the oven door to avoid bonking the curious Seraphie on the head, and manage to give myself a second-degree burn on the back of my right hand with the damn door. My hand jerks and I dump about four fish sticks on the bottom of the electric oven. Eh… I put the fish sticks in with the door FULLY open, and slam it shut, then run cool water over my rather-unpleasantly burning hand. Neko gets out of the shower, fusses over my burnt hand, then flops down to watch TV for a bit. The smoke alarm goes off (but it often does while we’re cooking) so I fuss with it, toss Seraphie in our bedroom and open the front door, then whine at Neko, who manfully pads over to see what’s wrong with the fire alarm. While he’s playing with it, (and gets it to shut up,) he ends up talking about how it’s not connected to the other apartments, and if there was a fire, no one in the building would know until there WAS fire in their places, too. I muse on this and go to take the fish sticks out.

     Hmmm… awfully bright in that oven. Ooo. Look. Flames.

     "Holy Mother of God! Fire!"

     Neko, thankfully, comes running into the kitchen just as I’m filling a glass with water to douse the fire. Anyone with common sense would have thought: Electric Oven + Water = Bad. Nope, not me. Neko yelled "ELECTRIC! No water!" just in time, and I toss the (thankfully plastic) glass in the sink. Neko’s halfway out the front door for the fire extinguisher in the Pale Rider, when I remember "Baking soda!" A quick snag, a white puff of dust, and the flames were vanquished.

     Needless to say, I don’t cook. *snerk* The irony was we made a Sims apartment with all of us, and I ended up killing Hedgehog with a microwave fire in the game. Neko and I were both laughing and agreeing it was better she was out while that happened. (We don’t want anything bad happening to our hedgehog!) So yep, first household emergency and we conquered it successfully! (Of course, Neko had to make sure he’d be able to get to the fire extinguisher outside after that little fiasco. Only *I* could set fire to an electric oven with a fish stick.) However, we’ve been having a grand time getting our Halloween and Renaissance Faire costumes together. Hedgehog and I are going as… Well, I think I’m a dominatrix and she’s a hooker. *laughing* We just randomly threw all our red and black clothing into a heap, pulled some out and decided "Costume!" We’re going as Italian gypsies for the Ren Faire. It works, as Okami’s going to be a monk, and Neko’s made an *awesome* jester costume. (Highly creepy in a dark apartment.) Yeah, we’ve been busy. *snerk* But it’s been SO much fun. "Statuatory deer rape." Gods, I love Crispy. *laughing* Our D&D game has been hysterical, and Hedgehog’s picking up role-playing beautifully. OH! And massive progress: I can now play Hard on Guitar Hero. *laughing* Neko’s tutelage paid off; Hedgehog’s up to Medium, and I’m playing Hard. We’re all drooling for Guitar Hero III and the Rock Band game. (Yeah, geeky, but SO much fun.) And yep, I was right: those kittens are hardly a month old. *just did research* So we’re going to have a fun time trying to raise them, but we’re all hoping they make it.

     So, now that I’ve babbled endlessly *

snerk* I must go play online a little more, then drag Hedgehog home so we can check on our newly acquired babies. (And I have to cuddle Seraphie, so she doesn’t feel neglected.) Fond breezes!