. . . If you have better things to do than spend three minutes of your life looking at a shaky cat video and hearing a dumb Australian girl roar like a tiger and giggle like a lunatic just because of the sheer cuteness that is her half-asleep and groggy kitty cat playing in his basket. No, seriously. That's pretty much it.

Did you know . . . that it was exactly six months ago when I arrived in London?

Six months - how time flies. That means I've been in my current job for nearly six months too, which is mind boggling. I love our little life here. I love the routine of working, coming home to Oscar, and snuggling with my boys on the lounge. Moving here was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I'm so glad that we've made it work.

My life is full of random bits and pieces lately. Nothing super special going on, just working and trying to save, save, save for the States. (Six weeks to go!) Jase is also probably starting a new job in a few weeks that means I'll be seeing him a lot less, so I'm trying to hang around home and veg with him as much as possible.

Did anyone ever use to watch Felicity? There's a barrista at the Starbucks near my work who looks and sounds totally like Javier. I think I love him. He calls me darling.

And on a random note to finish off, how's this for good luck? I was walking home from the train station this afternoon when a huge gust of wind blew my skirt up and around my armpits. Thankfully there was nobody walking along behind me (that I know of at least) and that I was wearing nice undies. Score!

P.S. My cat is adorable and I love him. The End.

I'm loving a little bit of randomness right now! See if you can work 'em out.

Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker

Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Oscar is growing at a tremendous rate, that's for sure. It's not as though his features are changing, but more like he's simply growing into them. He has the sweetest little face, and no matter how old he is, I know that won't change.

There are lots of things he's becoming able to do, though - things that are amusing but also somewhat frightening. Like how he's suddenly super interested in what is outside the slightly open window. Like how everything that is not tied down is fair game. And like how he's suddenly discovered how to jump on to high surfaces ...

And this, my friends, is why Jason is no longer allowed to leave drinks on the table.

(Approximately three seconds after I took this happy snap, Oscar managed to knock the entire glass over, coating himself and the floor in water. Did I mention he hates water?

I've gotten so lazy with blogging since I canned the whole Blog 365 thing. It was nice to have the freedom to go on hiatus for a while, but I really never intended to ditch it completely. I'm definitely going to be making more of an effort to get back in touch - because I miss my bloggy friends. (And I'm tired of my mum whinging about me to blog. Sheesh!)

In all seriousness, I really haven't been doing much. Working, hanging out with my boys, having way too much fun with Oscar, and watching a crapload of TV. (I must say, Grey's Season 4 wasn't all that wonderful. But dude, the Ghost Whisperer is awesome!)

I did, however, go out last night after work - we have a pub literally right across the road from our office, so we headed there for a few beverages. A few? Try 7. Or maybe 8. And the next time that I ask for vodka and lemonade, please don't let them be double shots. I have no idea how I managed to get myself home all by myself, but Jason assures me I was pleasantly off my face by the time I stumbled home.

Seven weeks until my holiday - meaning I need to stop buying cat toys and start saving.

I'll put some more Oscar pictures up tomorrow, but in the meantime, I hope a sound-free video will suffice. (Stupid me only discovered how to turn the sound on AFTER I finished filming him. Typical!)



Oscar from Aly on Vimeo.

The last few weeks have been flying by. I haven't been doing anything spectacular, but for some reason the days are all blurring into one another. Here's what I've been doing over the last few days.

• Sleep, lots of sleep. I'm on the verge of coming down with something and my head has felt like twice it's usual size for the past few nights. It's not fun.


• Daydreaming about things to see and do in America. Baseball? Hot dogs? Yeah!


• By the way, I fly out in less than EIGHT WEEKS.


• Finally admitting I'm the last person alive who hasn't read Twilight yet, recieving a parcel from Kirby-face, and thoroughly getting into the whole vampire thing.


• Whinging, because all of a sudden, kitters loves Jason more than he loves me. My lap? I don't think so. Jason's lap? Much better. Dude, he didn't even want a cat. I'm the one that feeds you, buddy. I feel so betrayed!


• Did I mention I've been sleeping? [snore]

Moving right along, I have all the respect in the world for people who can photograph well. I'm a point and click kind of girl myself, but never fully realised how tricky it is to capture fast-moving-objects on film until recently. Suffice it to say, that I've ended up with some hilarious shots of Oscar that make my day - enjoy the outtakes.

POW POW POW!

Strike a pose. [Vogues]

I wonder which side of your face I should eat first? [Evil laughter.]

That's it! NO MORE PAPPARAZZI! [Flails]

I'm not kidding when I say that since we've brought him home, Oscar has simply not stopped growing. Every so often when he's sleeping he has the kitten look, but then he'll wake up and look at you, and he suddenly doesn't look like a baby anymore.

He's got to go in for his first shots some time this week, which are just because I'm over-cautious. He's an indoor kitty only, but I don't want to take any chances.

I've been smitten since day one, in fact, since before day one; since the first time I saw his cute little face in a photograph. But now, Jason takes the cake. He's totally smitten. Seriously, every time I see them together, a little piece of me melts.

Oscar has his moments when he sleeps like an angel, but still goes into hyper-mode every so often which leaves him sleeping in the hallway and us covered in scratches. He's taken to straddling our arms and using us as his scratching post, which is endearing at first, but becomes quickly painful. Kitty training is tough.

He's always on the move, and the only time he sits still is to sleep. He occasionally uses his bed, but most of the time prefers one of our lounge cushions.

You know, I'm thoroughly enjoying being a bit of a kitty-blogger. To be perfectly honest, we're laying low for a little while after spending way too much money in Denmark, and it's nice to be able to have a laugh at home, knowing that kitty is probably going mental without us.

Plus, I'm going to be in the USA in less than two months now (!) and I am determined to spend as much time with my baby as I can before I leave. No doubt he'll be well and truly all growned up by the time I get home.

Apparently June in this country is the beginning of Summer; which I find completely hysterical. For starters, summer is supposed to be in December; meaning that Christmas is just around the corner. It's also the beginning of some hot, hot weather in Sydney, meaning that the air conditioning is on at full blast & spending a mere ten minutes hanging clothes on the line usually calls for another shower.

Here? Here it's bizarre! It's been rainy, a little humid and sticky and grey. I know it's early days yet, but sheesh, this whole summer thing is crazy. Plus I keep thinking it should be Christmas time already, still a while to go for that yet!

Every evening when I walk from our train station to our flat, you can easily tell if it's been raining. The walkway between the house fronts and the strip of gardens becomes a passage for snails, great and small. Every time it rains, they make their way from the garden to the walls, and then back again. Sometimes they are out in such great numbers that you quite literally have to hop over them, or as some cruel souls have been doing, just walk straight over the top of them. They do it, the same journey, every single time. Back and forth, back and forth.

Lately I'm feeling a bit like a snail myself. I'm lethargic, my energy is slowly being zapped away, and sometimes I side more with the crushed ones. I'm not implying that anyone has stepped on me, physically or metaphorically, but I do feel as though I'm in the middle of my own repetitive little journey, though not quite as slimy. Luckily for me, I have my boys waiting for me on the other side, so it makes it all okay.

NB: Congratulations to Lindsey & Edgar, who are getting married this weekend!

Having a kitten in the house is hard work! In the (almost a) week since we brought Oscar home. In that time, we've gone through quite a bit together already.

We've been up all night together, being pounced on and having our toes gnawed.
We've slept peacefully, sprawled out kitty between us.
We've had some seriously gross odours in the house; who knew that something so completely stinky could come out of something so cute?
We've enjoyed lots of snuggles, and a truckload of purring.
We've even lost kitty a few times - hiding under the space near our fridge.

Oscar loves his bed, loves the lounge cushions, and loves attaching himself to arms that happen to be within his general vicinity. He has a cry that sounds like a Raptor dinosaur from Jurassic Park. (And I am totally not joking, you have to hear it to believe it.)

But we're loving every second of it. Oscar has settled in really well, is a happy little camper and is absolutely precious when he's snoring at your side. And as for J, well, he's turning out to be quite the kitty daddy. Not bad for a guy who's never had a pet.

How can you not be in love?

*These are the words uttered by Jase after Oscar decided to flee from him in terror this morning. Why was he fleeing? Because guess who got the awesome job of wiping Oscar's post-poopy butt, which I might add, kitten was not too pleased about? Mmhmm.

Oh, and as an afterthought, I'm going to be organising my US holiday dates properly sometime this week. If you'd be wanting to have a coffee, or a sightseeing trip, or even just a HI! moment and I happen to be in yer state, let me know!