Lock-down Day 195

I'm sure I published my post - but this morning, I found it still listed as 'Draft', so I quickly published it.

When I went to bed, all mippies left. Huh? Weird! Well, I enjoyed a relaxing episode of Angel, then went to sleep. Mippies came strolling in, flopping down, strolling off - but didn't wake me, so I had a good night's sleep.

This morning was a different story, though! Mippies climbing burglar bars - which no longer worries me, since I wired it shut and there's absolutely no way a mip can open the window, whether accidentally or deliberately - they're very clever mips, remember?

Mewthos demanded I come look at the flower fountain first thing this morning. The lid was off, water all around ... sigh. I had given it a thorough cleaning last night, then re-filled it with filtered water ... and some mip had to go look under the lid! I had to mop up, re-fit the lid, and top up the water ... again! The new fountain I've ordered should solve that, as the water comes out of a tap-like pipe into a bowl. So they can either drink from the stream coming down or from the bowl - no need to lift the lid. Oh, I also don't think it's possible to lift any lid on that one!

I also found, what could be another puddle between fountain and litter box. It didn't whiff - and we all know that cat pee pongs, never mind 'whiff'. Well, new litter box should arrive tomorrow. That delivery was delayed, because they had a question - which I only saw last night. So the delay was my fault. Mewthos wanted his morning treat, and he wanted to be picked up and held. And all mips wanted their share of milk when I made my coffee. Like I said: they kept me very busy this morning!

I left about ten past six for work, traffic was busy but flowing, now I'm just having a coffee before starting work. Good news: At is back! I was beginning to worry ...

My first delivery has already arrived! Yipee! It's the one with the coffee I decided to treat myself with. Remember what sparked my whole coffee filter thing? Well, I found the same coffee at half the price I paid before - and that had been on special! This time, it was a bulk packet, I guess that's why it was cheaper. Two dozen cups of coffee - so I decided to keep one dozen at work. I've just enjoyed the first of that dozen! Divine!

Oh, and you know what? In this whole moving mess, I completely forgot that mippies turned 3 on Sunday! Mewthos and Janey are already three years old! How time flies when you're entertaining mippies! No, I don't do anything special for them on their birthday - I treat their birthdays the same as my own: nothing special. Instead, I do my best to make every day as special as I can! Spend as much time playing and cuddling as I can. And shout as little as possible, ha ha! Yes, sometimes they get so demanding while I'm busy with something else, that I get upset. I'm human, right? Not perfect!

Second delivery just arrived! From the Bread Republic - where I ordered flour, a proving basket, a Teflon baking sheet and Type 00 flour for pasta!

At lunchtime I showed At my new acquisitions: the Teflon baking sheet and the proving basket! I'll need to clean the oven before I can bake in that, though.

Apart from continuing the unpacking and cleaning, I have some 'must do' jobs as well. Laundry, cookies, and bread baking, as usual, but I also need to process the spinach and the meat. I just checked online and you can freeze spinach. Just steam it for a minute, then put it in ice water, dry it completely, pack in bags and freeze. The drying is gonna be a challenge, as is the ice water! Using steam instead of boiling it - to blanch it - looses fewer nutrients. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to fry it, after defrosting ... I'll have to see how it turns out!

I do hope the fountain arrives this week, though. Considering the trouble I'm having with mippies lifting the lid of the flower fountain lately ... 

I tried to check on the delivery, but I'd need access to my other e-mail account (I've changed the password, and can't remember it - I've got it at home, though). If I check my store account, it just lists the order as 'completed' ... not sure what that means. Could be anything from 'paid' to 'delivered / received'. Takealot is far more specific. The cat furniture is due for delivery tomorrow! Awesome! Mippies will love it, I'm sure! I'll have my hands full getting it home, though - remember: the one pole is 1.20 m long! I'll have to put it on the back seat. And the package weighs over 12 kg!

Fortunately, at home, I don't have to carry shopping very far. I just close the garage door - in case a mip dashes into the garage - then offload into the lounge. Then check for mips before I open the garage door again, lock it, go around and go into the house via the back door. Why the back door and not the front door? Because the back door goes into the washroom, which has a door to the kitchen. That way, there is always one room between two doors - and if a mip dashes between my feet, mippie only gets into that room, not all the way outside. If I used the front door, a mip could get outside ... And I don't want to risk that!

I still have that movie reeling in my head of all the things that need to get done, preferably as soon as possible - but now, my attitude is not to stress over the quantity, but to pick which one I'm in the mood to do! As the saying goes: change your attitude = key to happiness! Since the only deadline now is in my head, I can happily ignore it!

Every day this week, I just can't wait to go home! Yes, I'm a little worried about my mippies being at home alone all day. I think they may have some issues with my working full time again, after the lock-down - hence the puddles. Like I said, I found one yesterday. I also saw something near the water fountain, which looked like a separate puddle - didn't smell, though. Well, lets just hope that the additional litter box and additional water fountain will do the trick!

And the litter box has arrived as well - just in time, too! Only, with the other two boxes in the boot, there isn't space for this large parcel, so I put it on the back seat! Soon, I'll find out what difference an additional litter box will make to my mippies! I wonder whether I can just place them all in a row? Or should they go in different places all around the house? I think it depends on how confident mippies are with each other - and since mine are really ONE family ... hmm ... maybe Mini is the one leaving puddles, if the others 'gang up' on her? Nah! Mini is the one who surprise-attacked Ziva when Ziva came from the litter box. And I've seen each of them use one or other litter box. I did notice that they like to wee in the one and mostly crap in the other - which is quite common. So, now they'll have a third option. I'll just put all three in a row and see how that works ...

Just got a call from Fleisherei about the meat delivery, asking whether it's a home or work address, as their driver will only get here very late. We agreed to rather deliver tomorrow - which is really fine with me! After all, I'll only process the meat Friday or Saturday, anyway ...

Today, I left work at five on the dot. Well, it was a minute past, when I drove out the gate - and I encountered even less traffic than yesterday! I was home within twenty minutes. Nice!

As I took the boxes through the door between the garage & lounge, Ziva was there to investigate. She was quite eager to get into the garage - fortunately, I always close the rolling door before I open the door to the lounge. Just in case! By the time I took the last box through, Mini had joined Ziva in the investigation.

They all waited for me in the kitchen, when I came around the back! Flower fountain lid was off ... again! I put it back, and a few minutes later some mip lifted it off again. I've now removed the pump and am leaving the bowl standing open. Sod them! The two towels I've had to place underneath are already soaking wet - I'm not adding another towel, or change to a new towel, just to have the game continue! I really hope the other fountain arrives tomorrow!

I put the new litter box down and filled it with litter - it is not quite the same size as my big one, but not much smaller. I had barely finished filling it, when Janey came to investigate! She likes the new litter box so much, she immediately used it! At least SOMETHING I'm doing right, eh?

I've tended to mips, cleaned the litter box, unpacked my shopping, packed lunch, cooked dinner, treated mips - a few times - shared my dinner ... and now I'm tired. Ready to lie back, watch an episode and go to bed ...