Cat Continues

[lydamorehouse]

 
Image: Tiny black cat, Clover, asleep on the bed, buried in the green comforter.

I'm exhausted this morning because last night we decided it might be nice to let Clover have the run of the house for once. We don't want her to be under the impression (no matter how much Willow might like it to be true) that she is forbidden anywhere downstairs.  But, to give Clover free rein meant  that I slept with Willow in the TV room, on the couch. Our couch is... okay, but getting a bit worn in the springs. It's a bit lumpy.

Plus, while Willow mostly tolerated being cooped up with me, Buttercup really wanted in twice in the middle of the night. He scratched at the door insistently, waking me up. I usually fall right back to sleep, but last night I didn't.

We had another good morning with a bit of grumbling, but also some sharing of space. Mostly Clover deals with Willow by trying to be very small and doing a lot of slow blinking. Clover is not all submission, though, because today when Willow decided she was done staring at the new cat and got up to hop off the bed, Clover rushed at her when he back was turned. It surprised the [bleep] out of Willow, who jumped into the hallway and looked shocked. Clover, whose tail had puffed out to six times its size, sat on the edge of the bed looking triumphant. I'm not sure what this all means, but Shawn and I both later confessed to each other during our afternoon walk that we were kind of glad to see Clover stick up for herself a bit. Obviously, we don't WANT cat fights, but at the same time it would also be nice if Clover was not so terrified of Willow that she won't come out from under the bed, you know?

Clover is really starting to show off a somewhat cranky princess personality. 


Image: Blurry because her head was in motion, but I caught the elusive curling tongue cat yawn in progress.

In other news, there are six days until the final arc of the Bleach anime comes out. Yesterday, we (the fandom) found out that Bleach is breaking from Crunchyroll and will be airing on Hulu and Disney+. Luckily, I have access to both, and now all the jokes about various characters now being Disney princesses can begin. I remain of very mixed feelings about this final arc as many of you well know. But, I am hoping for an uptick in activity in my fandom, which has been fairly dead since the manga ended several years ago.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is my weekly D&D group. I'm trying to decide if I should bring the peanut butter chocolate star cookies that I made the other day, or if I should make "Elven Bread" from the official Dungeon & Dragons cookbook, Hero's Feast. Elven Bread is basically a hearty cinnamon swirl. Feel free to cast your votes in the comments. I would do a poll, but I have the worst luck making those. Anyway the only two choices are:

A. Risk someone having a peanut allergy cookies, or
B. Make cinnamon swirl "Elf" bread

In related news, after watching the zillionth ad for it while watching "Critical Role," I decided to try the D&D Beyond App for character building. I will say, it's kind of slick. Like, once you pick your class it knows what kind of equipment you're allowed and with the click of a button your inventory is filled with the standard "explorer's pack" items, etc. Which is, I have to say, really handy. You can even roll die on the app, which I might use because Jeff's set up does not really have a good table top and I don't own any kind of fancy dice tray. Plus, it's free? You only get six character slots with the free version and if I ever end up running a cleric, however, it will require me to buy some add-ons if I want anything other than Life Path, but for now it's fine. And it actually might make everything easier, because it will mean just holding my iPad and not all the sheets of my character sheet. I am kind of the disorganized player that really can use something like this. I feel pretty good that I have one notebook for all my games, but after that there are so many pieces of paper shoved into various plastic sleeves that's not even funny. I will report after tomorrow how it actually works in game.

In other gaming news, I'm attending ConFABulous next weekend. They're still hammering out their final schedule, but I'm excited to be on some paneling and also dong some gaming. I'm going to be joining the Thieves'' World game as well as the Heart of Wulin, both of which I'm very excited about. 

Comments

[xochiquetzl]

Thing the first: I like DND Beyond, too. I originally got it when I was going to be out of town, so I could share my character sheet with my group, but... yeah.

Thing the second: food allergies are a pain. Just ask if people have allergies and offer ingredient information. Don't be like this exchange from my past:

Me: This looks interesting, what is it?
Her: There are NO NUTS in it so you can eat it!
Me: That's nice, but I'm not allergic to nuts, so what is it?
Her: It's okay, there are NO NUTS.
Me: What. Is. It.
Her: It's Chile Rellenos, so that means there are NO NUTS and YOU CAN EAT IT!
Me: I'm deathly allergic to capsaicin so... sorry?

And of course the next time we had a potluck we had an almost identical exchange. Like, nut allergies are so common that they have a stranglehold on people's ideas of food allergies and I even had a coworker explain on my behalf "Xochi isn't going to lunch with use because she has a peanut allergy reaction to spicy food." Uh... I guess that got the point across? Yeesh.

[lydamorehouse]

Hahahaha. YEAH, I'm not sure why people are more worried about peanut allergies than any other.

I'm really glad you like DND Beyond. The more I poke at it, the more I'm thinking it's perfect for me. NO MATH REQUIRED. If you use their dice roller it does all the math for you (I mean, you still have to add modifiers, but I can normally deal with adding +2 to something.)

[xochiquetzl]

DND Beyond is the bomb!

(My thing is that I lose slips of paper, so... yeah. I discovered DND Beyond before I could lose my character sheet ;) and used Evernote for campaign notes.)

[pameladean]

"Gluten-free" has a similar grip on some people's conceptions. I have issues with dairy and eggs and also don't eat meat, but once the gluten-free movement (which I support! I know people who have major issues with gluten and I'm glad they can still eat!) got going, I was constantly being told, "There's food you can eat at that party!" "Where?" "Table in the corner." "No, that's gluten-free food." "Yes!" "I don't have a problem with gluten." People who have fed me for years suddenly completely lost the plot and were persuaded that only gluten was a problem, when it was not at all.

P.

[lydamorehouse]

I am completely baffled at how people seem unable to truly listen. But, yeah, I ended up bringing the cookies due to a kitchen painting job that I'm in charge of. More on that in upcoming blogs.

[xochiquetzl]

Oh yeah.

I feel you, yeah. Gluten free. Yeah.

I totally support not poisoning people with food they can't eat! Peanut allergies, gluten sensitivity, etc., are serious business!

That said, I don't have a problem with either but I do carry an epi-pen for capsaicin, so no, I can't eat your chile rellenos, I'm sure they're delicious and someone else will love them but I can't eat them. I don't care that they don't have nuts in them and are gluten-free, I still can't eat them!

You know who gets food issues? People who have food issues. You might have better luck with, like, a Kosher or vegan restaurant! but, sadly, everyone else has the luxury of not having to worry about it and tends to, as you say, lose the plot with whatever is getting publicity.

[pameladean]

Oh, yikes, I have a couple of friends with a capsaicin allergy and it is weird how much other people do not or cannot actually believe in it. At least when I remind them they remember what my restrictions are.

Most of the incidents I describe happened at sf conventions, and it was both frustrating and fascinating to see how gluten-free items actually drove out vegan ones.

In a convention setting, I leave kosher food for those who need it for religious purposes, but the idea of a restaurant is worth pursuing.

P.

[xochiquetzl]

Oh, man, yeah. Lots of people just... yeah.

I'm also vegetarian and a lot of the times the vegetarian option is something like jalapeno pizza. Oy.

(Also, thank you for leaving the kosher food at cons for people who need it for religious reasons! However, if you're ever at a kosher restaurant, ask what's Parve and then make sure it has no eggs or fish and you should be good to go!)

[pameladean]

I wouldn't have said, before I met my friends with the allergy, that capsaicin is really very widespread -- but it IS.

Thank you for providing the right phrasing! And I do actually eat fish from time to time, so that makes things easier.

P.

[xochiquetzl]

Awesome! Yeah, Parve = absolutely no meat and no milk, but might include eggs or fish, and they will be very serious on the no meat no milk point. :D Like, "if they serve meat at the restaurant they probably serve NO dairy rather than keep restaurant dishes separate and vice versa" serious.

(I've had restaurants stir the dish so the lump of cheese ended up on the bottom of the dish and give it back to me, argh. Er, on-again off-again vegan trying to do better.)

[lcohen]

make the cinnamon swirl elven bread because, why not? i am about to write the story of being exposed to a non-food allergy-inducing substance--do NOT recommend!

[lydamorehouse]

I think I read this? The story at the theater?

I ended up bringing the cookies which were devoured, but Elf bread will be next week. The group seemed excited by the idea of me working my way through the entire cookbook, so I may give that a try. Why not, indeed?

[lcohen]

yes, the story where i went to the theater and it tried to kill me!

[xochiquetzl]

Oh yeah. Once I had a backache and smeared some back pain lotion on my back without reading the label first. It had 0.25% capsaicin. (I guess the idea is to irritate your skin enough that you stop noticing that your back is sore?)

My lips swelled up and I got a big bump on my face. I woke up my ex and said, "Is this a bug bite or a hive?"

They squinted and said, "I... think it's a bug bite?"

I got into the shower and washed the lotion off, but, stupidly, I used hot water to do so.

At this point, the inside of my mouth started to swell shut and I had to use my epi-pen while my ex broke many traffic laws driving me to the ER before I could asphyxiate.

Epinephrin works, but I still had to get benedryl IV and also use the second pen because of the joy that is biphasic reaction.

TL;DR: I now read the label.

[sabotabby]

Clover is baby. I love her.

I do like D&D Beyond. Though there was some awkwardness where I had PDFs and D&D Beyond and Roll20 all for the same campaign and I just want there to be one consistent thing. Which ended up being Roll20 I think.

[lydamorehouse]

Oh, I know nothing of Roll 20. I shall investigate.

I had a lovely time last night with D&D Beyond, so I'll probably keep using it for this campaign.

Clover is an absolute baby. We love her, and Willow is slowly beginning to tolerate her, too.

[sabotabby]

The advantage of Roll20 is that you get maps and built-in character sheets. So you can create macros for skills, and even include custom text (Grognar the Barbarian SMITES!, that kind of thing). But it's buggy as all fuck. And tbh I'm not a fan of online rolling, even when it's easier and does the math for you. It doesn't feel like real rolling and you can't send a macro to dice jail.

I hope the cat introductions continue to go well.

[pameladean]

I'm not surprised at the cranky cat princess personality, given your report of how she was lovey with you and Shawn but cranky with the people you brought to admire how lovey she was.

I think she is a cat and a half, so, well, she is pretty much like the other two, right?

P.

[lydamorehouse]

She absolutely is! We keep making progress here. Ms. Willow is actually sleeping next to me right now and not even stalking her... which, seriously, is an improvement.

[pameladean]

Awwww. I'm glad that Willow has more sense than our Nuit. It really all sounds most hopeful. P.

[carbonel]

Elf cinnamon swirl bread sounds luscious, so I'd prefer that if I were eating it.

[lydamorehouse]

I ended up bringing the peanut butter cookies because my kitchen was pulled apart. (We are refreshing the kitchen with some new paint, and so I spent the day painting rather than baking!)

[carbonel]

Given that, I'm impressed you baked at all instead of resorting to commercial baked goods.

My kitchen has 1950s sensibilities, even if it's probably actually newer than that. I'd love to replace the wallpaper and flooring, but it would be such a major project that I keep living with the not-my-style but mostly inoffensive stuff that's already there.

[oracne]

Bleach is ENDING? I thought it was eternal!

[lydamorehouse]

It has ENDED. The manga finished up... a few years ago now. Kubo-sensei is now writing something called "Burn the Witch," which I hated and so have been ignoring.