well my little cat is doing some better but still cant walk right- the vet thinks it is a floating knee cap- and since with rest and quiet she hasnt improved dramatically it seems we will have to have surgery on that leg---

i am so upset-- i hate for her to go thru this but as she is now is rather pathetic so its almost like i am between a rock and a hardplace...
i called vet to tell her that poppers had improved but she not in until tomorrow-- the surgery is already scheduled for thursday--

wow robert finished laying the stones for the patio and got the pond up and running- we ran out of flagstone so cant finish the pond but we did put some plants around it to see what it would look like and it is AWESOME--

the patio came out really great - i ordered my patio furniture on tuesday..i should be getting it about the middle of may!!!
and also found a great Buddah which i spray painted gold to put with my Spirit House i got in Thailand--

we are gonna build a wooden platform for the Spirit House and enclose the air conditoner with lattice and have vines growing up on it...

i will have butterfly ginger, astibles, black and green elephant ears, walking iris in purple and in yellow, alyssum, fern, lobster claws, and maybe angels trumpets around the pond... we want to plant the lobster claws so the bloom will hang over the water--that will be soooo cool

my poor plants have been in pots for so long i am sure they will be estatic to be free and in the ground again -- i cant wait!!!

here are some pictures of the patio and pond- i am so excited to see this all come together-- its gonna be awesome once it is totally done-- just click on the Patio folder--
pond and patio pics

tonite i had a birthday party for my two youngest kitties- majik and poppers--they just turned one year old!!

poor poppers didnt get to particiapte much as she had been to the vet on wednesday due to her hurt leg and had to be "quarantined" to keep her still and quite..but she did manage to come out and have some birthday cake and play a little bit.

i made the birthday cake out of wet cat food and wrote HAPPY BIRTHDAY with pieces of dry food..then surrounded it with fresh catnip!



for more go here...kittie party pics

had suzie and sally, tom, cindy, brendon, thea, lorranne over to celebrate - they brought great gifts- -radio controlled mouse, cat treats, a great colorful tunnel,which poppers loves... catnip, little mice..

we all had a great time and drank rum and lemon drops and told stories and laughed alot..it was great to have the gang together again --

wow Blogger was down for a couple days and i couldnt post ...also have been super busy what with the patio, my art work, and yes the insurance company scenario--

thankfully i feel alot more optimsitic about the insurance problem as i met with a new adjuster yesterday at the damaged house... she had the copy of the first Proof of Loss for $40,000 which i never recieved and which she was totally shocked over... she had no idea there even was another Proof of Loss for alot less than the orginal one....
her paperwork didnt match mine and the figures were totally screwed up-- so we spent quite a bit of time just going thru everything line by line--

she said they disallowed $6000.00 because i didnt have a signed contract from a licensed contractor to do the repair work..but no one told me i had to have that either... the whole thing simply doenst make any sense at all and she agreed that i had lots of reasons to be frustrated,angry and confused.

i had made copies of every paper, my 8 page diary of the insurance fiasco from the very beginning back in sept and had her sign for them ... now she has everything and cant say she doesnt have any of the paperwork!!

so we will see what transpires in the next week or so-- at least i am alot more optimistic than before and hope there is a light at the end of this endless insurance tunnel

robert and roman came yesterday and worked on the patio-- got a load of sand, sprayed round up on the grass so we dont have to dig it out... and dug more out of the hole for the pond... robert had several other jobs to attend to so he left and said he would be back around 430 but the rains came and of course he coudlnt work...

today is a beautiful day-- sun is shining so i am sure he will be here around noon--

i am gonna work on the studio organization, and do some general clean up today-- so better get busy and get going before the day flys by!!

whew these last weeks have really been busy - -taxes - my poor accountant has had a real time this year--trying to get everything together and i thought i was so organized but found out quickly that i was missing some very important info- plus this year i have to pay florida intangible tax and that was a nightmare getting all of that stuff together-- but they are finally done and now we can rest easy!!

still fighting with the damn insurance company-- that has taken up three days this week of calling them and fighting and screaming and not getting anywhere - -they lie, lie, lie, - have no clue where all my paperwork disappeared to and are basically saying that i have to start all over again from the very BEGINNING and have the house reinspected and go thru all that crap again -- NO NO NO i will not do it
all of those people should be removed from the gene pool immediately-- i am so frustrated, and furious, and simply am at a loss of what to do-- i have called the insurance commissioner and they have notified insurance company but they said it could take anywhere from 15 to 30 days for the insurance company to repsond-- DAMN - it is gonna be hurricane season again soon and i still will have that house wrapped around my neck and totally unlivible-- this is the most unreal thing i have ever been thru-- I JUST WANT IT TO BE OVER

on a happier note my flagstone patio has begun being laid and it looks awesome-- i am so thrilled with it --

i worked hard yesterday digging up the grass so robert could lay the stones--

his son roman unloaded the entire pallet of stone from the truck-- he is only 13 and he really worked

...after sitting on my ass all winter the little bit of grass diggiing that i did totally knocked me out and last night i was in the boiling hot tub with epsom salt water soaking my weary bones and sore muscles!!! when bette davis said "old age aint for sissys" she was RIGHT:)

here are some pics of the patio-- i had to make them small so they would upload faster but you get the idea

this is the first palette of flagstone

the patio will be approximately 17'x22' and will have a water feature in the corner

the laying of the first stones--this is where the pond will go- it will be about 4x6

i will have alyssum in the cracks of the flagstone too

robert got alot more done today but i didnt take pictures as i had tons of errands to run -- but will take some tomorrow and upload the progress he made today--the stones are incredible and we even got a couple little plants in the cracks too!!