Windy Sydney

Know what I hate?

Computer viruses.

Last night I was making a window's movie and some stupid program installed itself on my computer. I was so freaking mad! It kept telling me I had spyware on my computer and telling me I had to purchase some program for sixty bucks to get rid of it. I knew it was fishy so I did a search for it online (it's called AntiVirus Live... stay far away from it) and found a way to get rid of it. It took me a while though... I had to find a free one, start my computer in safe mode, and blah blah blah...

People say that they have fallen victim of this little spyware scam and actually gone through paypal and charged the fake software on their credit cards. I'm glad I didn't do anything like that. I don't have the money to do anything like that... hahaha...

Anyway, I am back and it looks like the computer is back to normal.

Ahh, how I love the websites of internet computer geeks! Without them, I would be slitting my wrists by now. Believe me. I use the work geek with love, because I am one also. I would have lost my mind without a computer.

Since I am on a hating spree... here is a list of more things I hate:

• Tomatoes
• When you can't find a pen
• WhEn PeoPle TyPe LikE ThIs
• Cheaters
• Liars
• Religion
• Being Broke
• Bill O'Reilly
• Sarah Palin
• Glenn Beck
• Bigots
• People constantly popping their knuckles
• Animal Abusers =The sorry excuses for human beings that hurt Abbey Road and Spooky Bear before I adopted them into my home.
• Violence
• Homophobia
• Black Licorice
• When people won't answer a direct question.
• Kent Hovind
• Kirk Cameron
• Ray Comfort
• Loud Neighbors
• People who lack empathy
• Football (It's just men running into each other to me)
• Internet Trolls
• Brooks and Dunn
• Tea Baggers (not the gay sex act, the large group of people who want to complain about everything Obama does just because they can).
• Birthers (not expectant mothers, people who are convinced Obama is not an American citizen and should be kicked out of office).
• The fact that I am a vegetarian that constantly craves meat. It's hard to stop myself from having a hamburger or a hot dog at times. Really, really hard. I know I would regret it, though. Probably cry myself to sleep.
• Donald Trump
• Cell Phones
• People who can't think for themselves
• People who tell me I left Mormonism so I could sin, drink coffee, have sex without guilt and be a crazy person.
• Meeting people who think they know everything
• Being sick to my stomach
• People who throw litter on the ground. How hard is it to hold onto it until you find a trash can?
• When the battery in my camera dies and I see something beautiful I want to capture.
• Ann Coulter
• Wal-Mart
• Parents who have no control over their children, nor do they seem to care
• People who think they are too special to follow the rules everyone else follows
• People who complain about using self-checkout while going out of their way to use self-checkouts. If you don't like them, don't use them.
• Bugs
• Being an insomniac
• People who think praying for someone will actually do any good.
• When people don't dim their headlights
• When people see you in what is clearly a uniform of some kind and ask, "Do you work here?"
• When I find a vegetarian frozen dinner I really like and they discontinue it immediately.
• 80% of the comments on YouTube
• The wackjob who created Antivirus Live and made me waste so much time getting rid of the damn software.

Andee

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She kept me up all night long.

Meowing.

Scratching my door.

Meowing again.

More scratching.

Is she trying to warn me of an upcoming natural disaster? Does she really really want kitty-cat treats?

Why?

WHY????????

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It's no secret that I am a huge animal lover. I can't even bring myself to eat meat anymore... of course, I still buy it for my animals. I guess that doesn't make me a real vegetarian, does it? Hmm... inquiring minds want to know...

Last week I received a flickr friend request from Biscuit Fund. I was curious, so I clicked on the link they provided me and my heart was warmed immediately. Biscuit Fund is a fund for providing emergency medical treatment for homeless and wild animals. Both Abbey Road and Spooky Bear, my "children" were rescued, and they have brought me so much joy in my life. I wanted to share some of the stories, so I added Biscuit Fund as a friend, and asked permission to share the photos and stories of some of the animals on their flickr page. Thankfully, they gave permission :)


No, this isn't my Abby... although they both have that cute stripe thing going on. This is Abby's story:

Meowy day to you good people, my name is Abby and I am an 8 year-old Tabby cat. When I was living with my previous family I knew that something funny was going on. I started to see all these boxes and all of their things kept going inside the boxes. Then one day I meowed at the back door to be let in and no one came to answer my call. My guardians had moved and left me behind. This was especially hard on me since I had been declawed and that's a pretty scary situation to be in outside minus your defenses. The next people that moved into my house were very nice but they couldn't keep me either so they brought me to the Comox Valley SPCA. Thanks to the Biscuit Fund I am going to receive a full dental cleaning for my very dirty teeth and then I will find a new home where I will hopefully stay for a very long time.

My heart broke. They just moved and left their cat... their declawed cat!! This poor creature!! Thankfully, they have raised $600 of the $750 needed for Abby's medical care and she will be able to find a new home soon!

Hello, my name is Alexandria and I am an adult grey and white female cat. I was a stray cat before the Surrey SPCA came to my rescue! While I was in their care they discovered that I was pregnant (oops!) so I got to go to a nice and fancy foster home to have my kittens. I spent eight weeks there, nursing my kittens, teaching them manners (kids these days) and breaking up the kitten fights. Before I can be adopted I require a dental cleaning, I think that will be a piece of cake after giving birth to several kittens!

Thanks to online donations Alex now has the money she needed for her dental work. I hope she finds a loving home as soon as possible... she deserves to live like a princess.

Hi! My name is Baby and I am a 4 month-old male tabby kitten. I won't be a baby for very long so I hope my name changes eventually! Imagine that, calling a big tough, adventurous kitten like me Baby. Meow! I was a stray kitten (tough stray kitten) living the stray kitten life on the streets of Kelowna before I arrived at the SPCA. I'm kinda glad I was brought here since it was starting to get chilly outside! While I was staying at the shelter I developed a cold and that led to my eye becoming infected. This is my before picture here but thanks to the Biscuit Fund I received a surgery to have my painful eye removed. Can you imagine how much tougher I look now? Grrr... no one's going to call me Baby again!

This kitten has been through so much. I hope "baby" finds a good home... and soon.

Hello, my name is Banjo and I am 4 month-old Blue Tick Hound. I was living in a puppy mill when I injured my leg. I thought it would be fun to go in the barn and to venture out into the loft, but then I slipped and fell and broke my leg. My guardian couldn't afford the cost of my medical treatment so I was surrendered to the Nanaimo SPCA. Even though my leg really hurt, I was a really good boy so all the shelter staff and volunteers really really like me! Thanks to the Biscuit Fund I am to receive surgery to fix my leg so I can go back to being an adventurous puppy!

I am happy to announce that Banjo has healed from his surgery and he was adopted into a loving home. He now enjoys being a puppy and doing puppy things. Thats how it should be.

The last story I am going to share means a lot to me.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and when you grow up in the middle of nowhere, you have the opportunity to be around horses. My Mom and I have always loved horses, although there is no way we could afford one right now. If I ever win the lottery, I will build a log cabin in the middle of nowhere and take in abused horses and other animals. I swear. Anyway, here is Benjamin's story:

Hello, my name is Benjamin and I am a 4 year-old Chestnut Quarter Horse. I was found by the side of a busy rural road in Quesnel with my front feet tethered together and I was wearing a halter with a rope attached to it. I was in a dreadful state when the BC SPCA rescued me. I was very thin, I had burrs in my tail and warts all over my face. I also had a tumor on my side. The shelter staff immediately found a wonderful foster home for me and thanks to the Biscuit Fund I received surgery to remove the tumor. With proper food and rest I found out the warts will go away. I will make someone a very good first horse as I am well mannered and have a very sweet nature!

UPDATE
Hello Everyone,
I'm so happy to tell you that I've been adopted by some wonderful people who have given me a super barn to live in with lots of fresh hay, water and delicious food every day.
Thank you all. I'm so grateful that I could just whinny!

Okay, so what was the point of this?

Everyone has the ability to help animals in their area. You might not be able to adopt an animal and bring them home, but if you have the time you could volunteer or even donate money to an organization like this that saves lives.

There are tons of animals on this website that still need our help. There are animal shelters in our own area that need our help. We can do it, we just need to get the word out and do what we can.

Animals mean so much to so many. We could do so much more!

Andee

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The other day I shared some cupcake pops by Bakerella. They inspired me to make these Spring Chick Cupcakes!

Hope you like 'em!

Spooky approves of them...

I also made these candy bar cupcakes for a friend's birthday party:

The flavors were Heath, Butterfinger, and York Peppermint Patty. They were fantastic!!!

Andee

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A group of us decided to make post-Mormon LOLcats and share them.

I decided to use photos of my own kitties for mine... here is what I made:

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I was bored and dealing with a headache all day... so, I decided to make a slideshow of my favorite photos of 2008.

The slideshow is really long, and there are tons of photos of the cats... just so you are warned! :)

Andee

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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Make a Smilebox slideshow

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Something has always bugged me. Well, a lot of things have always bugged me, but this more than others. As always, I feel the need to warn people that I might sound like a broken record. It seems that some subjects keep climbing their way back to my blog.

Yesterday, in the middle of what would have been a really good game of Diner Dash, someone rang my doorbell. The sound of the doorbell scares the living crap out of the furry felines, so they quickly found places to hide. Spooky Bear somehow climbed on top of the kitchen cabinets. I knew it would take an act of God to get her down, so by the time I made it to the peep hole I was already annoyed. I wasn't expecting company, and I was wearing flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. There was very little chance of me actually opening the door.

Roomie made his way from his bedroom, asking who was at the door. I stood up on my tip-toes (I am short... really short) and looked through the lens.

A boy around the age of 12, and a grown man stood at my apartment door. Complete with white shirts, black ties, and small blue envelopes.

I turned to roomie and said, "Fast Offerings. Please don't answer the door."

We were both quiet for a few moments waiting for the men to decide to move on, and they eventually did. Roomie didn't waste any time. He asked me, and I quote, "What the Hell is a fast offering?"

Oh, dear roomie. How nice it must have been to grow up Roman Catholic and not have to deal with this stuff! He finds it fascinating, and is always asking questions about my failing faith.

I walked into the kitchen to try and talk Spooky Bear down from her cabinet perch. I explained that the first Sunday of every month, most Mormons fast for the day. They believe that they are sacrificing their food (and money for food) for the church and God. It's also the day where people share their testimonies instead of the usual sacrament meeting. There is nothing better than listening to Sister so-and-so ramble on and on about how the Lord helped her find a good car mechanic that fixed her car in time for her son's little league game, while listening to your belly rumble and tumble as you starve to death. A good time is had by all. Really.

Roomie countered with, "So, thats how they collect tithing?"

Nope.

Tithing is completely different. You do that in the church. They sent out little boys to collect the fast offerings (at least they have in every single ward I have ever lived in). His first thought, as well as his first sentence was, "Why boys and not girls?" Indeed.

Why?

Why is it that our gender determines so much?

I didn't know the answer to that question, except that boys hold the priesthood, and girls don't. Is that the only reason that they collect fast offerings? It might also be a safety thing, not sure. In my humble opinion, it's not safe for any kid to do this anywhere. Regardless of gender. Anyway...

It reminded me of a conversation I had with my brother. He was given the task of going from door to door on an empty stomach to beg for these offerings many times. He hated it. He despised it. It pissed him off that he had to do it. I would constantly tease him that I would never have to do it because I was a girl. Just a girl.

Makes me sad now.

There are so many gender specific roles and rules in the church that it makes me wonder how I, or anyone else for that matter, ever thought there was equality.

Why are all men taught that it is their duty, their responsibility, their goal... to go on a mission, but women are only asked to go if they want to? Why is this a requirement for males and only an option for females? It really doesn't make sense to me. Are men better missionaries? There has to be a reason, right?

It's weird how one little chromosome makes such a big difference in your life's goals as a Mormon.

For some, my next observation might seem silly or dumb, but I simply can't help myself... forgive me.

Why do women have to wear a dress or skirt to church? A friend of mine even told me that some of her ward members gave her Hell for wearing culottes (spell check... seriously... how do you spell that???).

Does God really care if you are wearing pants? It seems trivial to me. When I asked about this as a child, (I have always hated dresses... and don't get me started on pantyhose. Really. Don't. We don't want to go there.) I was told that wearing a dress showed respect for the Lord. If that is the case, shouldn't men wear them too? Can you imagine Bishop Smith giving the closing prayer in a nice floral print with white lace trim?

Boys can pass the sacrament. Girls can't. I know this boils down to the priesthood issue, but would God care if little Susie Sunshine helped out? What is the big deal? Does the holy sacrament lose it's blessings if a girl passes it out? I mean... really...

Now I go into territory that might just offend some folks, sorry if that is the case, but I have to bring this up.

I have always felt that the whole priesthood blessing thing was a subtle insult. Why in the world would a blessing work better simply because a man gave it? And *IF* men really did have these priesthood blessing powers, why can't women have them too? What would be the purpose of limiting that power or blessings to half of the world's population?

Why would God not want female doctors, for example, to have the priesthood if it would help heal their patients? According to my Mormon relatives, lives can be saved thanks to priesthood blessings (nope, don't buy it). Why not open the field a little?

I will tell you why.

The way things are set up now, women have to rely on men for this kind of thing... that won't change any time soon.

Your kid is sick? Call a man.
Going in for surgery? Call a man.

Yeah, equality. Sure. I see it.

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I figured it was about time that I posted about something non-church related. There are times when I wonder if people out there on the net think I am angry and bitter (I am angry, I admit that) at the church simply because it's all I seem to talk about on my blog. Today is different. I just wanted to share some thoughts about my "kids."

Growing up, I was never allowed to have cats. My Dad simply HATED them. Really. He hated cats. I never figured out why, but he claimed it had something to do with the fact that cats are not super-excited to please their owners all the time. Dogs on the other hand, were happy all the time no matter what. I understand why he thought this, but I wish he would have given a little kitten a chance to grow on him!


Roomie and I adopted our first cat, Abbey Road, from a shelter in Orlando, Florida. She was found by a group of kids almost beaten to death on Halloween night. They finally got the little striped kitten to trust them (thank God) and she came out from hiding. The kids took the kitten to a home of a woman who was known to take in strays. She gave the cat some first-aid type care and took her to the vet/shelter the next day.

When we were filling out the paperwork for her adoption, one of the shelter workers told us how she was found and I was floored. I knew right away that I would spoil the hell out of this little critter, and make up for the way she was treated.


I would love to have five minutes alone with the people responsible for hurting her... I would love to have five minutes with anyone who hurts an animal. It's sick, wrong, and shows a severe lack of love and compassion. It's quite obvious animals feel pain, and have souls. Each animal has a personality, likes, and dislikes. How dare people do stuff like that... would they do that to a human? I suppose they might, huh? Scary.


Abbey Road came home with us and she was scared out of her little kitty-cat mind. She immediately ran under our living room sofa, and it took a can of wet food, plenty of kitten milk, and a full hour to get her out. By the end of the night she was napping peacefully on my chest purring away. She learned quickly that we would never, ever, hurt her.


You know, after all the horrible things that happened to her that Halloween night (she was beaten badly) she has no problem being friendly to anyone that comes over for a visit. She is by far the friendliest and sweetest of the cats, and the only reminder of the horrible beating she received is a slight noise she makes when she drinks. She is a spoiled, happy girl.


Spooky Bear was rescued from a cat hoarder in Florida. Something like 65 cats were taken from this lady's home, and most of them were too sick to be adopted out. Spooky had worms, and she was scared to death of humans, but after helping Abbey we were ready to help another kitten.

It took us a long time to come up with a name for Spooky Bear. She was scared out of her mind most of the time, and we even walked slow to make it more comfortable for her. She was "spooked" no matter what. We found ourselves looking for the little dark gray kitten saying, "Where are you little spooky?" and it just stuck. I added the "bear" at the end to give her a proper name like Abbey Road. I am weird like that.



One night I was looking around for Spooky and found her in the corner of my old apartment in Florida, bend almost in half, trying to nurse on herself. I guess she was taken away from her Mom way too soon, and I am still pretty clueless as to what happened to her Momma Cat. Roomie and I did our best to get her to stop trying to nurse on herself like that and she eventually stopped.


Spooky is still spooked, but not nearly as bad. The move to Utah was hard on her because she was so frightened. She loves the new apartment though, it has much more room than she was used to in Orlando. The only thing she carries with her from her previous encounters is how she guards her food. She stands up when she eats, she never sits. Always ready to pounce on a cat that is willing to try and fight her for her dinner. We have to feed her separately from the other two to keep the peace. I think even that is getting better.


Spooky loves to eat paper and plastic, so we have to constantly make sure there are no plastic grocery bags or sheets of paper laying around that she can ingest. She can sit for hours chewing on a grocery bag, I guess she loves the texture or something...

Somehow along the line, Spooky Bear received a nickname. I have no idea how it happened, but I love to call her "noodle."


Buddha Belly was given to me as a gift from my brother. His cat had TONS of kittens, and I just had to take one home. Buddha was scared (they all were) when she came home, and the other two cats were trying to intimidate her. She didn't give a crap. She was so used to her brothers and sisters that she was oblivious to Abbey and Spooky. She just didn't give a damn... she was so small at the time that I worried a little about her.


I have never seen an animal that small take on two full grown cats and not give a crap. She has been a joy ever since the day we brought her home. She LOVES to play... even as a grown cat. She will walk into the living room, find a toy, pick it up with her mouth, drop it in front of you, meow, and paw at it while giving you the cutest sad eyes you have ever seen... EVER. She has us wrapped around her little finger... err... paw?


There you have it. My furry family.
Andee

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Today was pretty interesting. I had a job interview that I think went very well, I hope they will call me back for the 2nd interview. No doubt I will have another drug test to take in order to be hired, and there is nothing worse for me. I have never been able to pee on command. It's impossible. Last time I took a drug test I downed 4 glasses of water in the morning, and I still had that poor nurse waiting around for a whole hour because of my stupid shy bladder. Too much information... I know... I know... just rambling, I'm good at that.


After the interview roomie and I took a little drive up Logan Canyon and took some photos of the ducks and scenery. Every time I go there I get mad at myself for forgetting to bring bread or crackers... something to feed them. When I got to one of the docks all the ducks swam to me quickly thinking I had brought them some tasty treats. I felt bad. I hope I don't come back as a duck in my next life. I would be swimming around praying that some kind human is going to bring me diet coke.


My Mom and I made plans to go to Wendover, Nevada for her birthday. It's the first time going to a casino and being old enough to gamble. I don't have much money, it's going to kill me to throw quarters into a machine and mentally will the machine to give me my money back... hopefully I will win the big jackpot so I can build my log cabin in the woods.


Yesterday roomie and I gave all three cats a bath. That was fun. Poor Buddha Belly was scared out of her fluffy mind. I couldn't get over how skinny they all looked with their hair wet. Spooky reminded me of a rat. Now they are all nice, clean, soft, and they smell good. Now every time they hear me run the water in the bathtub they look at me with their eyes wide open in horror that they will get another one. Abbey scratched the hell out of my arm, I was worried that the person I was interviewing with today would think I was a cutter.


Here are some of the photos I took at the canyon. They are definitely not my favorite, but cute and worth sharing. Hope you like 'em.

Sydney

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