Update! Photo Style...

Our Trip to LANDUN!

Is that the Ladun eye? By Jove! Crazy HAIR!

PARK!

Lets have some Tea with Queeny! What what!

Robin was so excited to be in LANDUN! :D

Keith Time!

With his tongue out, the gormless weirdo :)

That's not how you do it, Keith.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot! This is the 'toy' we got Keith :) I think he loves it :D

Drive time tea?

Apparently, there was a woman in Nuneaton pouring herself a cup of tea from a teapot (as you do) whilst driving! (not as you do). Two of my mates saw, so it must be true. Obviously.


 Keith is being the usual little shit. He's broke our bedroom blinds by gnawing off a corner :( His nails have grown back so he's climbing everywhere!
 Quite frankly, I'm debating whether to buy him one of those cat tree play house things. I've seen a cool one, but it's actually taller than me.. which still isn't that high, but it is £60
 But also, Robin needs a computer chair! He's always using mine and I keep having to ask for it back when I'm using my computer, so do I save the rest of our blinds, or Robin's bum? :o


 Can't believe it's already May :O Another rent, council tax and electric bill payed >.> Honestly though, I was quite happy with our recent electricity bill, which happened to be under HALF of the amount that it cost us last month, woop! Protecting our little savings :D


 Our first holiday of the year is next month, Cornwall :) And I should probably get on with doing some of my own saving for it >.< Though I'm prioritising my saving for America :D Which will probably burn a massive hole in my pocket but OH WELL! Not everyone get's to visit New York!
 Maybe those who live there.. or around the area.. or who go on holiday there, but you know! :) I'd like some New York memorabilia for our home, a little bit of class in Grove Farm! That'll be a first.

New York!

 Well, maybe not moving, but temporarily residing.. for a day :D


 Me, Robin and my family are off to the US of A in August, we're staying at Portland in Maine, and my mums only gone and organised a nights stay in Manhattan :D 
 Our hotel (Hotel Pennsylvania) is like a "blocks'" walk from the empire state building, we're down the road from Time square, a 5 minute drive from Brooklyn bridge, a couple blocks down from Central Park and only a ferry away from Liberty Island to stand up on the top of the statue and look at the view across beautiful New York! Oh and if I'm correct, we're only a few blocks away from Hell's Kitchen, so I can go and show Gordan Ramsey how it's done! :P


 It's about a 5 hour drive from Portland, so basically like a trip down to Cornwall. Looking at Google maps, it's amazing how many British named towns and cities that we'll be driving through on the way down to New York: Dover, York, Hampstead, Manchester (there's also a 'Manchester-by-the-sea', who'd have thought?), Cambridge, Reading, Coventry, Portsmouth, Bristol, Gloucester.. there's even an Essex! Crazy :O


 By the time we get there, it would just be throwing our shit into our rooms and sight-seeing like those crazy Japanese have never sight-seen before! We can have a nice bit of late night Manhattan style dinner, and a New York style bagel for breakfast! :D Ooooo I so can't wait!


 Luckily enough, since where we're staying in Portland there's apparently a lot of seafood restaurants, so Robin, my Dad and my Nan can indulge in some proper shrimp, lobster, squid.. the works! Plus my Dad said the lobster out there is amazing, so that would be a nice first try for Robin :)


 We've also got planned a 4 hour fishing trip.. It was going to be shark fishing, but that was an all-day occasion, and I don't think I've got the patience (or the sea-legs for that matter) to withstand that.. 4 hours is adequate enough! Plus the size of the tuna that people have caught on those trips are bigger than the freaking sharks! Holy macaroni!


 Also! We're not that far from Niagara falls, so we might take a visit there one day and possibly enter the boarder to Canada! Two holiday's in one :D Awesomesauce!

Tuesday..

Me and Robin decided to break away from our computer screens and go for a walk! It's a lovely spring day; sunny, warm, no clouds.. hell, not even the chavs were out.. we couldn't miss this opportunity for a nice stroll :)


 We thought it would be nice to have a further look around our new estate of Grove farm! Yes, John.. you heard correct, we walked around Grove farm.. and we're still alive, so stop whining about the place! It was quite peaceful actually. We managed to get a better feel of the surroundings, and look at the shittier parts, and the not-so-shittier parts. The houses along the front on the main road look shit. I hate how the tiles from the roof come right down and over the top bedroom windows, and the bottom part is just some crappy white plastic panels. It makes them look tacky, and Robin got it in a nutshell - they look like 'temporary' houses. Something that you'd shove a young chav with a baby in until they got their high end 15 bedroom new estate house for free.
 I really don't like them :P But then again, across the road from them, we're the exact same style houses, yet somehow they looked nicer. They we're neater, cleaner, flowers we're outside in the garden, and it looked like the people living in them took pride in keeping them looking top notch. Why can't the rest do that? It doesn't take much to keep the outside looking good. Hell, just picking the weeds out makes a huge difference. And if everyone kept their houses looking neat and tidy, maybe Grove farm wouldn't have such a shitty reputation. Maybe get themselves a bit more pride...


 Anyway. As we ventured around the estate, it changed from the shitty dirty plastic houses, to a brand new estate (well, maybe a couple of years old, but they were new houses). I really like how all the newer style houses are being built. They look so modern, but not too retro.. the gardens are already in place, the driveways are neat and tidy, and the general area just looks so 'neighbourly'. You wouldn't have thought you were walking in Grove farm :P


 We come walking back around to our area again, and I was quite happy with what I saw :) A few twats on peds went by, but in general Grove farm doesn't look as bad as what I've been told.


 Keith update!


 Yesterday when Mum and Dad came over for dinner, Keith got up from Mums lap and started limping a bit. I just figured he was tired. Later on he carried on limping and whining! So we gave him lots of fuss, but he still wasn't content. However, the little shit only seemed to limp whenever we looked at him.. When he thought we weren't looking, he'd dart from room to room, climb up on the bed, leap from the desk to the floor and all sorts.. he's a little attention whore! He's fine today of course ^^


 Oh, and he likes to look at WoW!

A true little gamer :D

Hello, Keith!

We've finally welcomed him into our home :D


 We got him on Saturday morning. I woke up early enough to make sure I was the first in the shop! Whilst Martin was upstairs collecting Keith, I ventured up the back of the shop where the animals are just to see if he had any kittens in. I don't know why I wanted to look.. I still have it in the back of my mind that we should have got the two. I also still feel like I want to get two.. but I just can't come to a decision. Though I should make it soon, as Keith is growing!
 Anyway, this part of the shop was still in darkness, and before I had the chance to see if there was any little angels in a cage, I was distracted by a "Hallo!"
 Wtf? I turn around to see a parrot in a cage repeating "Hallo!" at me.. lols! :D


 Martin comes back down and I see him carrying this beautiful little ginger ball of fur, meowing away.. so freaking cute!


 Before we went to Sweden, I'd bought the kitten starter kit from the shop, and the stuff all came in a cardboard kitten carrier which I was going to pick Keith up in, but I thought it may be a tad tacky to pick him up for the first time in a cardboard box! So I bought a white one with pink detail and a pink cage just to make him look a little camp :)


 It was the best moment ever bringing Keith home! Meowing all the way back in the car, and watching him venture around the flat for the first time being all curious and what not :D


 He's already litter trained it seems.. well, he already looked litter trained when he was in the cage with Stanley! Which was a plus :) And we already had lots of kitten pouches and biscuits ready for his first meal at home :D


 We bought him some toys, such as little balls with bells in, a Shrimp with catnip in, a fishing rod thingy and a scratch post.. although the brilliant simplicity with cats is that they'll play with anything.. even a scrunched up ball of scrap paper ^^


 So meet Keith! Hes an awesome 12 week old, tiggy striped ginger, blue eyed boy, and he'll be off to his first vet visit in a few days :D Muahahahaha!

He's one big ball of awesomeness! Except from when he's hyperactive at 4:00am and trying to maul my hand because he wants to play!

...But do I go and look for another one? :O

Goodbye, Stanley!

 I phoned Martins pet shop this morning, to find that Stanley had been purchased :(


 I set my alarm especially early to get up and call JUST as they opened, but apparently someone was waiting outside for them to open to go and get him.


 I hate myself! I should have got Stanley when I had the chance :(


Nevermind, we still have Keith! Though it's a bit annoying not being able to actually have him yet until we get back from Sweden. But still, that day will be awesome :D


 Farewell Stanley!

A new lodger!

 We are going to be welcoming a new friend to our apartment soon! A kitten!


 Oh yes :D


 Me and Robin went to town to exchange some money into Swedish currency, and we parked in the carpark just opposite Martins Pet shop. We went in there a couple of times before, and last time we asked Martin about kittens - if he had any and when he was getting some in next. He told us he last had some in at Christmas, and the next time he'll be getting some will be in March. We thought this would be an ideal time, as it's when we'll be back from Sweden.
 However! After Robin went and got a ticket for the car, and we we're on our way into the shopping center, I really just wanted to have a quick look in the pet shop. I don't know why, because I knew if I was to see a kitten in there my heart would immediately melt. But since it wasn't even March yet, I thought it wouldn't hurt to have a look, and assure my mind that there wasn't any in yet.


 So we entered the store, to be instantly overwhelmed by the smell of pet food and straw bedding. It's not a big store, at the front is all the food, litter, bedding, treats, leashes and the like, and towards the back are the actual animals.
 I head straight to the back, actually hoping that I wouldn't come face to face with a kitten. I took a brief look at the fish and headed up the steps. Within a small area were hamsters, guinea-pigs, chameleons, lizards, the odd snake and some birds & parrots. After passing the hamsters and guinea-pigs, I turned to look behind the glass to see the birds and there was a large cage on a table next to the window. I look straight down into the cage to see two adorable little  ginger kittens snoozing in a cardboard box. That was when my heart melted! :D
 They were not only ginger, but one of them had beautiful blue eyes, and the markings of a little tiger! ^^ They we're perfect! And cute!. I immediately called my Mum! I couldn't just leave them there!
 Robin persuaded me that it would be a bad time to get them, and a bit cruel to take them home, only to be then left with a stranger for 5 days when we leave for Sweden.


 So we left. I didn't say goodbye, since it wasn't! We exchanged the money, had some lunch and did a bit of retail therapy and was heading back to the car. Just as we were exactly opposite the shop, I just had to go back in and take a final look, before someone came along and swooped them off to their new homes :( Plus I wanted to say goodbye and take some pictures!


 As we stood, me close to tears looking at these two beauties in the cage, feeling like they we're meant for me, I decided I HAD to have them!
 However, we we're still faced with the problem of having to leave them before we go to Sweden. I went and asked Martin if he was able to reserve them for two weeks for us, until we got back. He said he could only reserve for a day or two, but not 2 weeks. So we left :(
 All the way home, feeling heart broken that I just left the two perfect little kittens that I'd always bragged about having one day.


 When we got back to Mums', they we're just about to have dinner when Mum came up with the AMAZING idea of buying them, but asking Martin if he could keep them until we got back if we payed him a fee. I immediately got on the phone, and he was able to negotiate a price. Usually he only boards parrots and lizards for people when they go on holiday and charge a reasonable fee of £3 a day. Since he's never boarded a kitten for someone before, he suggested that he could keep them both for me for £30. Deal!
 We headed straight back down in the car, walked right up to the cage that my little cuties we're in and couldn't stop smiling :D
 However, in the car on the way down, we we're discussing whether having both kittens would be a good idea. It's not Robins first kitten, but it is for me. Plus we don't know how we would be financially with getting two kittens, since it's twice the food, twice the litter, twice the vaccination updates, and if they both get sick it's another load of cash evaporated. On the other hand, they are both brothers, and we would be keeping them together, and they are both just as cute! I'd have the ease of knowing that they both went to a good home, and when we we're out, they could keep each other company. Plus we named him Stanley :( That was a stupid idea.. naming him before we were sure of getting him :(
 *sigh*


 Anyway, we bought Keith! Yes we named him Keith :) And here he is! Next to him is Stanley *sniff*

You can see why my heart melted, right? :D

Anyway, when we payed for Keith, and agreed that Martin was going to keep him before we got back the shop was near to closing.

The girl that also worked there removed Keith from the cage and brought him down to ask where to put him upstairs. I heard little Stanley meowing in the background, already missing his brother! I felt so bad :(

Despite the fact of being incredibly excited that me and Robin bought our very first kitten, and he's a gorgeous one at that! I'm still in two minds as to whether we made the right decision to only get the one :(

I hate knowing that poor Stanley is still in the cage (since as I mentioned the shop was nearly closing so I doubt anyone came in and bought him last minute), and it would only be a call away in the morning to being in the possession of Stanley also, but I'm tied!

They're both just as cute, and when we we're watching them play together in the cage, they are both just as feisty!

Oh well, we shall see how events turn out!

All I know is that I can't wait to get Keith home :)