Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Random Photo Roundup: Catbus, Firefly Antiques, & GIANT SUNFLOWER YARD


Ordered a little something for John, and it finally arrived!

Catbus! He even has the mice running lights!

It's fun feeding John's geeky addictions. Plus this plush is perfectly purrrfect, don't you think? 
(Now say that three times fast.)


Went antiquing the other week. Found a place that filled us with... serenity:

 [winkwinknudgenudge]

Shiny.

(Admit it: even if you hate antiques, you'd totally shop at a sci-fi themed antique mall. So somebody get on that.)


Oh! And while we were there, I spotted these amazing steampunk salad tongs:

WHAT.

(I am SO FUN to go antiquing with. Ask anybody. Except John.)


While driving around one day I suddenly yelled, "OH MY GOSH!" and John yelled back, "WHAT?" and I said, "GIANT SUNFLOWER YARD," so he pulled an illegal U-turn so I could take this picture:

You're welcome.


Who wants to bet there were singing Lollipop Kids in there, but we just missed 'em?



In Disney news, this just seems wrong:

 So, so wrong.


But these replica trash can salt & pepper shakers? So right:



Obligatory Golf Ball Photo:

 
Fun Fact: Every time John and I visit Epcot - which is a lot - we stop at the restrooms on the right hand side on the way in, and then I stand on this curb, and I take another ball shot. Which is both way too much information on our restroom habits AND a surprisingly smutty-sounding way to say "Spaceship Earth photograph." 

That's my gift to you. Treasure it.


 And, last but not least, Lily says "hey."

 "HAA-eey."


(And for Lily's Fan Club: she's still onesie-free and loving it, thanks to increasingly smaller doses of steroids. I'll let you know if and when we find a better/more permanent solution for her over-grooming.)

Hope you guys are having a great week!

50 comments:

  1. Love all the photos! Not sure what to think of a Spider-Mouse?!

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  2. The cat bus plush is so cool! I'll be going to AVCON (adelaide australia) as Totoro. Also hi lily cat!

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  3. Hate Spider mouse ears, but so so so so happy that Lily is doing better!

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  4. weird question and I haven't been following Lily's whole story recently, but have you tried feeding Lily a raw diet? Full disclosure: I recently got a weekend job with Nature's Variety and I've been learning a lot about raw diets for dogs and cats. And while that may sound super-gross, they have dry kibble with freeze dried raw pieces in it if you don't want to deal with raw meat. Lily may be on a super special vet-recommended-diet, but I'm just wondering if it might be helpful. I don't get any commissions or anything, just impressed by what I'm learning about raw diets and thought I'd share the info. You can check out the website to read more and see if anyone else has experienced issues with over-grooming and if the raw diet helped. Glad she's doing better.

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    1. We haven't tried raw food yet, no, although we've switched her to super pricey hypo-allergenic stuff, since it's still possible this could be an allergy. I'm open to trying just about anything, though, so I'll check out your brand!

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    2. My neurotic Siamese mix was grooming all the hair off his chest for an extremely frustrating several months, until we figured out he had a grain allergy. The grain-free dry foods I tried were too salty for him (he was drinking all the time), but a raw diet solved the problem. There are lots of brands out there, and some of them are kind of yuckier than others (I'm vegetarian), but both my cats have been on a raw diet for over 10 years and they are in fantastic health. Not saying that's what's wrong with Lily, but seems like a food allergy is worth exploring.

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    3. I have to third this. Minimal ingredient/raw diets are a very good thing to try when you have an animal that seems to be neurotic about something. Even if you just cook up a chicken and rice with vegetables stew type thing, it can give you a good idea if it's a food related issue or not. I've always had vets try to give me that awful science diet stuff, but you look at the ingredients and it's is so full of crap... I would never feed it to my animals. Have a belly full of processed potatoes, dog, and let's see if that makes you feel better! Chicken and rice is a good thing to start with. No food out there will be hypoallergenic for 100% of the animals with food allergies, so you might have to do some experimenting.

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    4. My grandparents had a poodle with food allergies. Once a day my grandmother would scramble up an egg, some rice and tomato sauce for her. This might be better for people who do not like handling raw meat, all the protein without the blood. It may not work for cats (carnivores) but it is fine for dogs (omnivores).

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  5. If only "Firefly Antiques" were full of Browncoat goodies. *sigh* But sooo glad that Lily is doing better! I have a Lily of my own. She's an eleven year-old Ragdoll with the same blue eyes as your Lily. She over-grooms too, but thankfully not to the painful degree of your Lily. It just gives her LOTS of hairballs and horrible coughing fits. These poor sweet old ladies! But I love her to bits like I know you do yours. I'm so glad your Lily is a little better; I've been worried! Small victories, right? :)

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  6. SO MANY LEGS. Totoro is one of the Miyazaki films I have yet to see. I need to fix this and I have no excuse.
    Spider-Mouse IS and ALWAYS will be wrong. Go back to Universal! And Hi Lilly. :D

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  7. A gf and I are headed your way next weekend from the Tampa-ish area. Where is the antique store you found? Would love to spend some time junking while we are in O'Town!

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    1. That sign was at Orangetree Antiques Mall, which is the best place for great junk I've found around here. You should check it out!

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    2. Thanks Jen! I think we will. I shall report back with my findings.

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  8. What a lovely post, thanks.

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  9. haha Me and my family do the same thing at Epcot!

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  10. I think your salad tongs are actually gardening implements!

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  11. I got a serious case of nostalgia seeing those trash can S&P shakers. It's been way too long since I've been to Disney World!

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  12. We just finished a Mortal Kombat cosplay and talked about doing Studio Ghibli next. My boyfriend called dibs on being the Catbus. ;) Glad to hear your pretty kitty is feeling better!

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  13. We have that catbus!

    A few years ago we happened to be visiting my inlaws at the same time the little museum in their town had a cartoon/anime/japan exhibit. I'm not sure of the details on how they had the items they had and how they ended up in the same exhibit but the highlights of the exhibit were the full-size furry gray Totoro and his smaller brown friend (umbrellas included) AND a CATBUS! That we could sit in! My kids were little at the time (3 &6, I think). We managed to see this when Totoro was in heavy rotation at our house so my kids thought this was the most brilliant thing ever! I was afraid we weren't going to get them out of the bus.

    Also, a friend liked a post on the Disney World Junkies Facebook page of a woman who made a Frozen cake for her daughter that had a hidden Mickey. The cake is really well done -- it's two layers with a plastic staircase connecting the layers. The hidden Mickey is inside the cake.

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  14. Because the photo of Lily reminded me:

    evidently all cats love boxes. no matter how big. (Pinterest wouldn't let me send you the pin directly)

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  15. oh the sunflowers!!! I love them (the are my favorite) I one day want to have a yard of sunflowers. :D I will have to share our shop cat Charlies favorite boxes to sit in (though if i leave them on my desk she wont sit in them.. they have to be in the file room and on the book case lol). You are right those spider man ear things.. not such a good thing

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  16. You can keep your "steampunk salad tong" (antiques give me the heebie jeebies), but those trashcan salt and pepper shakers are a must-have!
    RK

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  17. Are we getting ready to ship Lily to Pago Pago?

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  18. The randomness of this post made me laugh. I think if I were to start a blog, it would be the most random thing ever. Just random pictures and explanations that don't really have much to do with anything.

    Went "antiquing" (<-- well that's a weird way to say browsed antique stores) with my mother awhile back. Reminds her of her childhood I guess. Found a CREEPY wooden Mickey Mouse puppet that I just had to have... but then I stared at it for too long... then I REALLY didn't want it any more. *shudders*

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    1. Every time we're antiquing I think about starting a creepy toy blog, because there are just SO. MANY. And I think it would be hilarious to write captions for them all. [evil grin]

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    2. I think you should do it! Hell, I'd read it! ~ Kinipayla

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  19. Hey, Lily (squee, that face!) ! Glad to hear she is doing better.

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  20. Hi Lily! How's your other kitty Tonks doing? We don't see much of her. Is she okay?

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    1. Oh yes, Tonks is great - practices her yodeling every morning at 6AM sharp outside our bedroom door. ;) You don't see her much here because Lily is prettier, and sweeter, and also MY cat - can you tell? Ha! The two are getting closer lately, though; lots of mutual grooming & hanging out together on the bed, which is pretty sweet.

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  21. You should totally do these random picture roundups more often. That was fun! The u-turn to take a picture of the sunflowers reminded me of when my family and I were in the Minneapolis, MN area a couple months ago. We were headed to an expo thing outside the cities and of course I was the only one looking out the wrong window when we drove by a yard that had a TARDIS in it! Seriously, a freaking TARDIS!! But with non-Whovians driving and navigating, they wouldn't turn around so I could see it (that and the fact that we were driving through a snowstorm). Golden opportunity missed. :P Also, glad to hear Lily is doing better!

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  22. Am I the only here one thinking Lily needs a Tracked & Insured collar with a matching aviator helmet?

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  23. I think that ball shot is an "Epcot".

    Sorry...had to. =)

    Aw, poor unloved spider-mouse...I say Spidey is a Disney fan, too! Not as good as spider-pig, though.

    Catbus is amazing!!! And those salt and pepper shakers almost make me want to salt my food!!!

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  24. Glad to hear Lily is doing OK, and that Tonks is too. My purry fervert says ""hello". (actually she said *disdainful glaresniff* "What? Why am I being shown a TV screen that isn't moving? Where's my bikkies? And WHAT did you do with that lovely teenage rat I gave you last night? It was only a loan just in case you misunderstood...") Aaaaah the joys of parenting...

    Is it really weird to be imagining Lily and Tonks in Mickey/Spidey hats?

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  25. um.... is that rust on those forks??

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  26. Have you tried eliminating wheat from Lilly's diet? As weird as that sounds, our dog happened to have a wheat allergy, and was prone to skin issues like huge open wounds on her elbows, stomach, and back. At first we thought they were ant bites, but as soon as mom put her on a diet of brown rice, carrots, cellery, celantro, and chicken gizzards, they disapeard (we made huge batches and froze it, and by gosh one batch would last almost a year).

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  27. I only suggest the diet change as a possible alternative to the steroids of course.

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  28. Oh my gosh Lily! I will hug you and pet you and I will call you George.... oops, maybe not the " George" part...

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  29. I love Lily's blue eyes! Beautiful!
    SpideyMick...I like superheroes and Disney, so why not? From the pic of the ears and the title on FB I thought there would be Firefly ears too. Now THAT is something I'd really, REALLY like!

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  30. Love the pics, love the comments, and LOVE the Lilly pic! Does she ever take a bad picture?? I thought not.
    Thanks for sharing, as always Jen!

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  31. Speaking of ball shots (tee hee), does your Catbus have them? Balls, I mean. We discovered them on one of the toys we brought back from Tokyo, and a friend of ours that helps design and build items for museum displays said that when they had to create a Catbus for a traveling children's museum display, they originally left them off and the Powers That Be MADE THEM PUT THEM BACK ON. Just wondering, because I've seen some toys with and some without, and it makes me wonder if that's one of the ways they know if something is licensed or authentic.

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  32. Proud to be a member of Lily's Fan Club and Tonk's too! 6am? Pshaw on you. My 2 Maine Coons think just before 5am because the birds are chirping is a mighty fine time to be fed. Mighty fine...not

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  33. Lily is gorgeous, my Disney side lives vicariously through your pictures, and.... SUNFLOWERS!

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  34. So, I work for Siemens Energy in Orlando, which sponsored the Spaceship Earth ride inside the 'golf ball'. (We also have a conference room inside that we use for meetings sometimes, but I always get distracted people-watching out the big window.) At night, the golf ball is lit up with purple lights (this becomes important later).

    Many Siemens employees have annual passes to Disney. My former department head has had them for years, since his kids were small. Somehow, it became a family joke to refer to the golf ball as "the purple testicle". All was good until the time they were there when his son was about 8 or so. A cast member asked him if he was having a good time at the park, to which he gleefully replied "Yes! We got to ride the purple testicle!"

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