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Baby Shower… or Psychological Torture

Posted on October 4, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

So I’m in Amazon Vine so I see a lot of random shit. A big thing right now are these Halloween Baby Shower decorations. Someone found the phrase “A little boo is almost due.” So now there’s a million things with that theme. The first time I saw it, I said to myself is it a baby or a murder? I chuckled a bit.

Don’t get me wrong. I fucking LOVE Halloween. So if I was pregnant around Halloween, I’d be all over this theme. But the more of it I see, the more I’m like — Man, what if you wanted to just scare the shit out of someone with this shit? Hear me out:

When they’re out of the house you set up a big grand one. Something fancy with balloons like a huge announcement. Kinda like this one with a balloon arch and go all out:

They come home. They live alone. They’re not pregnant. Maybe they’re a man. What the actual fuck? Who did this? What kind of weird joke is this? They throw everything away.

Then, you keep doing it. Randomly. Some days they come home and more baby shower decorations are set up. A banner one day. Balloon letters another. A wall backdrop another.

Spread it out. Really make them paranoid.

Am I the boo that’s coming? Clearly someone insane is targeting me.

Then one day, full table set up. Table cloth, cheesy napkins, cups, plates, the WORKS. Set it all up on the table or buffet. But on the table, only set one single setting. Just all the decorations like there’s gonna be a party — but on their table just one place setting. Cheesy plate in the middle. Cheesy napkin with fork and knife. Cheesy cup in the top right corner. Just one.

So like, that’s escalation. That’s fucked up shit. Then the next day — a CAKE. “My first Boo Day” with another single place setting (cause you kept stuff for one more).

Like how fucked up would that be? This should be a movie. A psychological thriller. Someone just coming home to this shit. And the police don’t care. It’s just a prank. It’s baby stuff. Every time it happens, you call the police and they start to just be annoyed with you. No one cares. It’s just a prank someone is playing with you.

Maybe you see a therapist.

Maybe it ends with you sitting down at your place setting with the cake in front of you, resigned to your fate.

Maybe you just turn on the lights and see the cake and a shadowy figure is behind you in a doorway and the movie just ends. Maybe you’re standing there horrified and right then, a car pulls into the driveway and the headlights light up your face as they pull in. Leave it open ended.

Psychological. Torture. Thriller.

And it all came from Vine so like it was all free.

Getting Old Eyes

Posted on October 2, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

In my bodies continuing march to fall apart, I have now been prescribed progressive lenses. Even my eyeballs are old now.

And nothing can ever prepare you for that puff of air at the eye doctor. I know we’ve come a long way from dilating drops, but Jesus! Is ANYONE OK with that? It doesn’t hurt. I know it doesn’t hurt. And yet every bit of my body is like “I don’t want my face here.” “How about I just preemptively keep blinking?” “IT’S COMING, ISN’T IT?”

So those are gonna be fun getting used to. I’m terrified. I did opt for the most expensive option for the bigger viewing field. They only tried to sell me on the second-best option. Naw, dawg. Go up.

How is it safe driving in glass where only a third of the lenses are for distance? How does this work? I DON’T WANNA.

Side note: When I googled “progressives” it was all political. I hate our world.

Progress on Crafts, Decor, and Job Hunting!

Posted on September 21, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

Making progress on my epic Halloween diamond painting. Five of the 8 panels are complete!

I’m taking a short break to swap to my small diamond painting for Drills and Chills. It’s a Halloween event where you can win prizes! This painting wouldn’t count because you couldn’t start until September. So I’m doing this small one from Michael’s:

You might think I’ll never finish both before Halloween, but I have some time off coming up. Possibly. Very likely.

I might have found a job! It will be as a contract to the government. I’ll be doing hardware configuration management in aviation. It’s working for a temporary boss I had.

The benefits aren’t as good, but they’re better than unemployment! And I love my boss. She won’t be my boss boss cause I’ll be a contractor again. But my boss only cares that I make her happy, so SCORE.

Problem is less PTO and not fronting me ANY. So starting late October with 0 PTO. Awesome.

HOWEVER, it is just in time for me to leave my job with a payout incentive to quit. Right in the nick of time! I have to choose by Tuesday. They wanted to try to get me the offer Friday, but it didn’t come so hopefully tomorrow.

I’m going to take 2 weeks off. STAYCATION!

Tattoo Plans

Posted on September 14, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

This week, my pool will be closed. It’s been too cold to swim in for like a month. Sad times. However, that means — TATTOO SEASON. I don’t work on my tattoo in the summer because I’m not gonna not swim for weeks. And last year, I was still building my savings back up after building the deck. But this year — it’s ON!

Side note — yes, we are having severe job issues at the moment. HOWEVER, I have saved over double my savings goal and Devon books month in advance and I’m finishing my tattoo, dammit. In fact, If I save another 2k, I’m getting a new phone. But uh yeah — if you know anyone hiring configuration managers — please hit me up. I need health insurance. Now with that depressing bit out of the way…

So I knew what I wanted. Kinda. So with the leaves and stuff, it’s already kinda busy. I feel like my pumpkins are already totally lost in the detail. So we either need to switch color palettes or style or something. But it still needs to look cohesive. So I’ve been racking my brain for months over what to do. Well, I love geometric tattoos but that won’t mesh. I love statues tattoos and she’s already highlighted Jack with some teals — we could get some marble statue look in there. Marble statue… WEEPING ANGELS!

OK, I’m 100% serious that I loved creepy-ass distraught angels in graveyards way before Doctor Who. Back in the day, when I wanted to be buried in a cemetery, I wanted some angel just dramatically thrown over my gravestone a ‘la this Italian one:

I mean look at that drama! That’s full on Disney Princess angst. I want someone to be that sad I died. But then I grew up and realized that after a single generation, no one will remember me. So like don’t stick me in a depressing grave no one will visit. Fuck that. Bury me and Jack in the woods with pretty Fall foliage and if we can spring for it — creepy angel statue in the woods on top of me.

But we all know about the Weeping Angels. When Doctor Who was AWESOME AS FUCK. And listen, Eccleston was my first Doctor, but he sucks. Don’t agree? Fight me. Has he even come back for a single cameo or special like EVERY OTHER DOCTOR? Nope. Asshole. Then we got DAVID FUCKING TENNANT! The best Doctor of the modern era! I fucking love David Tennant. I would only love him more if he had done it in his real Scottish accent — *swoon*

Anyway, David Tennant was busy so they had to do a very Doctor-lite episode one-off and the Weeping Angels were created in the episode “Blink.” And they were amazing and terrifying. They should have probably died there because the more they bring them back the more it fucks them up — cause like, you can’t really think about them too hard — but they’re fucking awesome. So combine that with the love I already had for them and YES.

So what if we did a Weeping Angel!? Well, that has to go on the back cause I cant be scaring myself in the mirror. Front? Rose window. Play up the stone work between the glass panels. I fucking love stained glass, so that’s a no brainer. Here’s a quick and dirty “like this:”

No notes. So onto the angel. Like should it just be half the face? Cause you can’t fit a whole statue back there. I had husband take these pictures of me posing so beautifully so I could play with stuff in Photoshop. I talked to lots of people. One of my old coworkers (who I occasionally see at my current job) lent me an ear. He didn’t like just the face idea. He thought it needed more of a transition from my current work so maybe a bare tree limb in front of a full angel statue. But that’s like too small? So I emailed Devon. Devon Grieg, the amazing tattoo artist know as theswiftstorm who has done everything I have. Cause this tattoo session is coming up fast.

She didn’t have any clue what I was talking about in my email. So she scheduled a video call consultation. Cause she rocks. And I’m an overachiever, so I made a whole google album of reference pictures and pictures of my tattoo from all angles (thank you, husband) and some mock-ups of the positioning I was talking about.

So during our video call, she mocked up this:

Obviously, her hands will be covering her eyes cause she’s a Weeping Angel, but this was just a great reference image she found while we were chatting. She was 100% in agreement with old coworker that a bare branch would be the perfect transition to her. And we could fill out around the bottom with leaves like the rest of my arm — but not as sharp and detailed.

She’s an artist who does this shit so I’m so glad I called her in before I went down the panic rabbit hole and just asked her what she thought. She didn’t like coworkers full statue — but she didn’t like mine really either. I gotta say — the composition she’s come up with in like 10 minutes of a video call is AMAZING. I didn’t think of the angled face and I fucking love it. It’s going to be fucking AMAZING. I already said that. But it is.

I’m also super pleased that she is excited about this direction. Originally, there was some miscommunication about me wanting it to be a full sleeve wrap look (it wont actually wrap around, but it will look like it does — there will just be some skin under my arm not tatted). So she never designed it to be full wrap. But that’s what I always wanted. Plus, Jack is centered on my arm — but the back of my arm is so much fatter than the front of my arm so I just need more back there. Like I always wanted a full on covered arm. That’s why I did the shoulder joint — because if you had like a prosthetic arm, it would encompass the shoulder joint. And I wanted my arm to look fully different from the rest of my body. So I was hesitant of what she would think.

But she loves it. Since it’s a memorial tattoo with my precious Jack, she loves the graveyard imagery. Which, it does work. I just like stained glass and Weeping Angels — but having it be a cohesive art piece is also important. Even more important is that my artist is psyched about it so she’ll do amazing work.

The lower part of the arm won’t wrap and will taper down. We’ll free hand some ideas with sharpie in person. I’m thinking kinda mirror the top — the flowers at the elbow and the vines like my back tapering down towards my wrist.

I’M SO EXCITED!

I Cannot Stand for this Heathenism!

Posted on August 29, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

This week, my dumbass job decided that sending me to offsite Agile (the work process) training (which I’ve had three times already) was more valuable than me doing work. It sucked cause I had to get up an hour earlier than usual all week. Then I saw this on Thursday:

NOT. COOL. This is wrong on so so many levels.

First and foremost, one of the rolls is backwards.
Second, there is no consistency here. They are not facing the same way. This is the kind of quality of work you do? Be wrong or right, but be consistent.
Third, the roll placed the correct way will run out first. Because, see, people use that roll more. Because it’s the right way to put the toilet paper. So people who know the correct way it is supposed to be installed (hung? placed?) will be punished and forced to use the cursed roll.

Whats that? “Both ways are correct.” YOU FOOL. Toilet paper comes OVER the top of the roll. And do you want to know how I am 100% positive of my correctness? Because there’s a goddamn patent for toilet paper rolls. Observe:

That man drew toilet paper 6 times and not once did he draw it the wrong way.

Three “Stupid” Purchases That I Absolutely Fucking Love

Posted on August 24, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

With people hopping on trends and “overconsumption,” a new trendy video is “decluttering” or “Things You Don’t Need to Buy.” I watch these. It’s how I found out about the Stanley thing and now the Weck jars. I just watched one and realized, I have some really stupid, insanely frivolous purchases that make me stupid happy.

Bat Straw Cap

Preface: I never wanted to become the basic bitch with the dramatically overpriced cups. But I did. I hate it. There’s a reason basic people love some shit. I’m so goddamn basic. Give me all the pumpkin spice! But the $40 cup thing is a bit shameful. But I also love my fucking Swigs. Fuck my sister in law for gifting me one (then 2 — especially the cheerleader one cause damn, that’s just NOT ME but it hold 40ozs). Then I bought 3 more. I KNOW! They’re so fucking fabulous. But I try to not take them out of the house due to shame.

The thing I love: So with the Stanley crazy came straw toppers. Now that’s some cute shit. I think I saw a buzzfeed or some list of shit you need (I get a lot of gift ideas from those) that had a fucking ADORABLE ghost walking a ghost dog. It was from a 3D printer on Etsy but they only made them for Stanley’s. I even contacted them to ask if they could make me one to glue to my Swig and they wouldn’t. So the ghost was on the cup lid and his little ghost dog was the straw topper! So fucking cute.

Well, I couldn’t have that one, but I could still have a cute topper, I guess. I know, I was just wasting money at this point. So ghosts led me to Halloween. Then I was gonna get this ghost topper and a bat topper. And you could add an initial! So basic! Then, at the last minute I went double bat cause I’m more of a bat person. Why did I get two? Cause I was already committed to the ghost and the bat and had two in my cart. See how I waste money sometimes?

Turns out, excellent purchase. I fucking love these bats. It’s been about a year and I have used them all year round. ESPECIALLY on that cheerleader Swig. Jesus, it needs the bat.

I fucking love them. And since I have two, I toss them in the dishwasher with the Swig and get a new one when I switch swigs (about once a week — I just drink water at home with them). I never even use them to cover my cap, yall. I just fucking love the bat hanging there upside down on my cup. It’s basically a cup decoration on my shameful $40 cups. AND HE’S ADORABLE.

No regret. (No regret on this Swig cup pattern either, as an aside.) I tried to find the Etsy link but it’s no longer there. I paid $18 for two a year ago.

Gregory

Gregory is a yard statue. He wasn’t quite an impulse purchase, but I did feel really guilty spending so much on him. At the beginning of this summer, I was searching everywhere for a birdbath I liked. I had been watching market place all winter — I was going places and looking at them trying to find something I liked. That took me to the stone section of Cat Bird Seat (my favorite plant nursery). I saw Gregory. I wanted Gregory and I said NO. I will not. I’m shopping for bird baths, not statues.

Then when I found a bird bath I loved for half the price of used ones on market place, I was so thrilled with my savings that I went back to grab Gregory. And he wasn’t where he thought he had been! That’s when my heart sank in my stomach and I realized I had really wanted the fucking gargoyle. But I was wrong about where he had been and I found him!

He’s not unique. He’s not mass produced, but pretty easy to find online. He’s a stone cast so he’s like 40 or 60lbs (I forget which). After I bought him and researched him, turns out I got a great deal. A lady at the store told me he was a replica of one on Notre-Dame. He’s not. He’s just an art piece. But he’s twice as much online! AND I FUCKING LOVE HIM.

He was going to go outside. But I wanted to enjoy him a bit more first. So I put him by the fireplace. And fuck it, he lives there now. I spend most of my time in here so I get to see him all the time. I love himb. I think I love that 1) He’s a fucking gargoyle. I need more gargoyles in my life and especially my house. 2) He’s not a mean gargoyle. He just looks bored? Perturbed? 3) He looks that that super cheesy cherub painting that was huge in the 90s but he’s a fucking gargoyle with bat wings.

You will pry Gregory from my fireplace over my cold dead hands.

Sir Bastian

You all know Sir Bastian. No notes. He’s fucking fabulous. One day, I will find his mate that I still regret not buying. He holds a sword.

Oh! And after having the automatic candles in the windows at Christmas the past two years, I had an idea! See, I have 2 extra candles that I put in the basket that Sir Bastian holds (he gets seasonal decorations sometimes. At Christmas, his flail rests in a basket filled with ornaments and candles). So last year I realized — Sir Bastian is hollow. WHY HAVEN’T I PUT A CANDLE IN HIS HEAD FOR HALLOWEEN? How fucking creepy would that be!? So that’s happening this year.

Honorable Mention From 20 Years Ago:

I saw this when I moved it to take the bat straw cap picture. And I realized — it’s one. I’ve had this since my very first apartment. So around 20 years. I remember it came from Kirklands. There was a set of these for a kitchen. I’m pretty sure there was a “coffee” and I forget what else. I had no interest in the set. Just toast. I don’t know what humors me about a framed picture that says “toast” but it still humors me 20 years later. It think it might be partially because without the companions, it’s just kinda funny to me. I like the typeface. It’s really nicely framed. It seems somewhat Irreverent. I wouldn’t say I LOVE it, but I’ve had it in every kitchen for all these years because something about it tickles me.

Conclusion

So yeah, don’t buy shit just because it’s trendy. But maybe spend the extra bucks when you really want something. Was Gregory worth $100? In hindsight — fuck yes, he was. I fucking love him. Same with Sir Bastian. Be you. Buy shit that makes you happy even if you “know” it’s a waste of money. Be weird.

Eight Day Migraine

Posted on August 20, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

Family Catch-up

Yall know I’ve been stressed. I haven’t been posting a ton, but you remember the family drama, right? My (low contact) dad died and my sisters be crazy and I got tossed back into the turmoil I needed therapy to escape.

Actually, I just looked it up to backlink and I haven’t posted about it since the day he died. That’s how you know its stressful. You stop trying your stress relief and asking for help because it’s just fucked.

Hmm. Wow. How do we update this without a thesis? Dad died, obviously. I don’t get bereavement leave and took unpaid time to be there when he died. So lame. It’s not relevant, but I’m bitter.

So, my sister, the caretaker is kinda of taking charge of everything. Cause My father had a will that left the house to her but he never signed it because OF COURSE. And while he was with his GF for 16 years, they weren’t married and she had her own house closer to her work so they can’t establish common law marriage. So that leaves us with having to get an attorney to settle the estate and all 5 children have to agree to everything and/or get an equal cut.

So caretaker sister was doing that. She had already been doing a bunch of it and keeping everyone totally up to date. Then she went to pick up the death certificates and someone already had. Turns out secret family step brother had picked them up. He claimed it was to be helpful. But really he was getting his own attorney to get power of the estate — which doesn’t matter because the law would still be the same, but some people are stupid. Well, I actually saved the day by telling them that she could just go print a new one for $15 and she did so she beat him to it. But I still got yelled at a ton.

Why? Cause evil secret family step brother is trying to thwart everyone on every single fucking thing. First it was the death certificates. Then he filmed everything in the house to document it so nothing would be lost. Then fighing over what real estate agent to use. Refusing to let movers be paid for by the estate (my solution to “im not helping”) or help himself. And all through all of this shit he lying his teeth off about how he’s doing it to protect caregiver sister. Whatever.

Oh wait — so antifreeze sister and secret family step brother think there is money to be had. Cause dad lived like he had money. And they’re stupid. Dad owed years of back taxes and had a reverse mortgage. So no. I was on team — just let them reposes everything. But my siblings wanted to sell the house because even with the reverse mortgage there was/is money to be made. So I was like sure, I vote to sell too. So then they had to fix shit and pack up the house and move the packed up shit (cause dad was kind of a hoarder about buying ALL THE SHIT). And I got a fuck ton of flack for not being there helping. EVEN FROM MY SISTER IN LAW.

Yall, I wanted to let it get repossessed. I don’t want any of his shit. I’m not the one stealing death certificates and getting my own attorney. Yet I’m getting yelled at over text way too much. And secret family step brother is a total piece of shit. His attorney sent a letter of his demands which was everything with VIN plus everything of any value — plus dads retirement axe and medals. Like everything. Which I find especially scummy because he demanded the only two things the girl friend of 16 year wanted. Fucking piece of shit. I get that both of his parents had personality disorders so he surely does as well — but he has a wife. How is she justifying her husband acting like this? Someone dies and you just run in and try to take it all? I’m told they DID actually try to get the house too. They wanted to take out a reverse mortgage of their own to pay off dads reverse mortgage and they get the house. Yeah… the law don’t work like that.

So we’re selling dads house and vehicles and, now everything. And now that secret family step brother is fighting us in court, we’re going to have to sell EVERYTHING. Yeah, like even the personal shit. If you want it, you gotta buy it from the estate. Which, I don’t want any of it – but that’s harsh, man. Also, all the money we’re spending to fight his attorney will come out of the estate at the end. He’s gonna get 1/5th of the money no matter what — that’s the law. So why is he making it so difficult? Also, he still has one of the vehicles (illegally) and won’t give caretaker sister the millage to estimate it’s value for sell. Last I heard (over a week ago), she was going to have the attorney demand it be returned or report it missing if he doesn’t. Cause… you can’t have a car that’s not yours. Like what are you even thinking? It’s not in your name. How would you even renew the tags? What is happening?

And yes, I DO have all of these text messages muted. But I still see them. And it’s very stressful. And I’m tried of getting shat on by my family. Also, YALL ARE INSANE. This is a fucking soap opera. The step brother from dads secret family is suing us for everything after his death That’s a bad tv plot.

Work Catch-up

I haven’t posted at all about work. Because it’s a cluster fuck. I don’t know if you follow the news, but the US is kinda going up in flames at the moment. I’m a federal employee. So yadda yadda yadda, we gotta get rid of 2000 people. DRP, DRP2, VERA/VSIP — only half there, guys! So they cut all the probationary people. Not enough. Until recently, I didn’t have to worry too much, cause I’m a term. Meaning I was hired for a term. For the past few years, my company has only been letting people hire on as terms and not “perms” (permanent employees). They just extend the terms forever. So until recently, it didn’t affect me. They had to cut perms. My job wouldn’t affect anything. Well, then they decided that you could only have 10% overage as well — overage is the term employees. We have way too many. So until we get down to our goal staff, we can’t renew terms. My term is up January 17, 2026.

Well, they really need some of us. (LISTEN — there is government fat that needs cutting. You know who it is? The lifers that don’t do work and you can’t fire them. But this isn’t touching those people). So they were extending some terms to get us out of the cut window. But then FRAGO23 hit and they wouldn’t let them extend terms anymore. So I get called into a meeting with 3 up my chain of command to inform me my extension had not been processed yet. FUCK. They extended me and then reneged it!

So now I gotta find a job. Husband got laid off in April and so is in his gap year. SO I HAVE OUR HEALTH INSURANCE. We have savings and no debt so we are so awesome. Like everyone else is fucked and we are crazy blessed. But, I still need insurance. We can’t not have insurance. So I gotta find a job. With insurance. Now. And it’s more stressful job hunting when it’s just you with the insurance. I can’t go on husbands insurance — HES ON MINE.

So I’m job hunting! I’ve been to a symposium, a hiring event, and today I had an interview. Fun. Fun times. Not like everyone else isn’t looking for a job too. I fucking hate new jobs.

Migraine

So suffice to say, I’m fucking stressed to hell. I had my regular followup with my neurologist last month and they were like “how are your headaches?” And I was like really fucking bad. Cause anxiety and stress makes migraines worse. I know this. So I’m like — I’m stressed to fuck and my neck is jank. But they were like — well… we’re gonna do an MRI and more physical therapy for your neck anyway. Awesome.

Then last Monday, I started getting a bad headache. Mostly sound sensitive. PT on Tuesday and it started to become light sensitive. Wednesday we had a meeting with my new division at work.

— Wait — more background — were doing a whole new reorg and it is a CLUSTERFUCK. Like I am on the Titanic. So really, I think God is just forcing me out of this shitty job that he knew I wouldn’t leave due to inertia. —

New division is such an epic clusterfuck that you just can’t even say anything. You just have to go — yep. Ok. You wanna die, fine — lets go play music while the ship sinks. Great plan, AMERICA. So combine that with the Migraine and I left early.

Tuesday I had tried one rescue med. Wednesday I decided to try another. I can’t drive on that one so It meant taking Thursday off too. Yeah, neither worked. So Thursday, I call the neurologist twice. Then again once on Friday. And Friday at close, I get a call that they’re calling in a different rescue med.

Well, insurance doesn’t cover it. And their office is closed now for the weekend. The no cost help-pay option only works if insurance covers part of it — then the drug company pays the rest. So that’s no help. GoodRx price was $1,200. FOR HOW MANY? 10 pills. Can I get less? Hold. We can do 3 pills for $400. How much is a fucking dose? 1 pill. How much is one pill? $140. Fucking fill it.

Two days missed work, three rescue meds — one of which cost $140 — didn’t fix the migraine. So Monday I’m at work and my stomach is just going “im gonna barf im gonna barf im gonna barf.” I can wok through pain, but working through “im gonna barf” is significantly more difficult. So I call the neurologist again — I’ve missed 2 days of work and spent over $150 and you haven’t fixed it. And they’re like — yo you gotta go to the hospital or urgent care then. Wait WHAT? What the fuck can urgent care do?

So I call Urgent Care. They can give me two shots. Then if that doesn’t work, the next day, they can hook me up to some IVs. Holy shit, why didn’t anyone tell me this last week? I’m on my way.

So I go and they’re like rate your pain. I fucking hate rating my pain. I have a high pain tolerance and I really think that a 10 should be “I’ve cut my hand off but I can still talk and answer this question.” So I learned that you don’t give them a number, you tell them how it is affecting your life. So I was like driving makes me want to cry, I feel like I ate ecoli tainted mexican food, I’ve missed 2 days of work, and I paid $150 for a PILL. ONE PILL. Do you know how much ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS IS? And now I’m here even though this means I have to work late to make it up. “So 8 then?” Sure. Oh and, obviously, my head feels like it’s in a vice grip, but we discussed that’s easier to sit through than the barf thing.

So they gave me a shot in each side of my ass on Monday.

It’s Wednesday and I think we’re finally over the hump. I did think it was totally gone but I do admit that typing this, I have a bit of a headache.

It’s stress. Stress is going to kill me.

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend.

Posted on May 28, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

Yall know I don’t like the dark. I have night lights. I have flashlights everywhere. I don’t do darkness. I don’t want no demons looking at me from the closet or be looking out a window and seeing a face looking back at me. Hell no. I like the light.

I don’t like being able to see out of dark windows. That’s why there’s an arbor by the “cat window” with solar lights on it. That window scared me. I fixed it. If I’m home alone, I might close the curtains to the back — though less so now that I have so many solar lights out there.

All this to say, I don’t like dark.

About two nights ago, I was getting ready for bed. I don’t know what I was doing — I might have been tossing some recycling into the garage. Cleaning the litterbox, putting my stuff by the door for going to work in the morning — that kind of stuff. I noticed Louie looking out the back door. He loves to look out windows, no big deal. But he was looking pretty focused. I keep doing my thing and now he’s looking out the window by the door. I ask him what he’s looking at. Then he’s going between the window and door quickly, very clearly looking at something and trying to get the best angle. I did not like this. What are you looking at out there in the dark?

Of course I was scared to look. What if there’s a person out there looking back at me!? At least I knew I had the pool gates locked. So I opted to bravely tell my husband the cat is looking at something and I’m concerned to make light of it. Husband did not come to my rescue.

After I finished everything up, I have no more excuses. I gotta look. So I grab my cellphone and turn on the “flashlight” setting. He’s looking out the door at this point so I go over to the door and bend down to his level and shine my light out. I don’t see anything… AND THEN HIS REFLECTION MOVES.

No, not Louie. Louie’s looking outside. The reflection looking back at me looked up at me! “IT’S A CAT!” I yelled up to my husband because it gave me a jump scare. My yelling gave the strange cat a jump scare. It retreated to the sidewalk as I called for husband to come see. I don’t know why. It was a cat sort of like Louie in that it was mostly white with darker spots on top. Though it was a long haired cat. I was like “LOUIE! You couldn’t say something? You’re just gonna stare at it face to face!” He’s trying to give me a heart attack.

Upstairs as I was getting into my PJs, it occurred to me that being from a cat cafe, strange cats aren’t strange to Louie. So I guess that’s why he didn’t make a peep. He just watched. But they were face to face at the door. I literally thought the other cat was Louie’s reflection. No tail swishing, hissing, meowing, chittering — just staring.

No wonder there are racoon foot prints all over my fence. Louie probably just thinks there’s a funny looking cat out there!

Meet Darkness, Louie’s friend:

Middle-Aged Show ‘N Tell

Posted on February 4, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

When you find a nice thing and you have to show it to everyone because we stopped having show ‘n tell after kindergarten. Which, BTW, we need to bring back. You know how we have fucking bullshit Lunch ‘n Learn topics every Thursday? And fucking Wellness Wednesday lunches? Well I want a TEAMS call show ‘n tell! I wanna eat my lunch and watch my coworkers show me fancy things. Or their pets. Or their favorite new pen. Whatever they want. I’d tune into that every god damn week AND participate. So here is my latest Amazon review:

This review is for the PU Leather Tissue Box Holder with Magnetic Closure in Silver Grey. Or as Amazon calls it, the “PU Leather Tissue Box Cover Square Tissue Box Holder with Magnetic Closure, Decorative Tissue Holder for Bathroom Bedroom Office (Silver Grey).” And let me tell you, the PU Leather Tissue Box Holder with Magnetic Closure in Silver Grey has absolutely no right to be this awesome. It’s a tissue box, yall, not a jewelry box. I’ve had jewelry boxes that weren’t nearly this nice.

This box is so fantastic, that I’m skipping right over the fact that normal tissue boxes are ugly and obnoxious. Do I need a rainforest print in my living room? No. Do you sell solid colors? Also, no. We’re skipping that.

What is this box even made of? I can’t bend it. And it is actually rather weighty. My cat can’t even knock this off the table – and he’s gonna try. There’s a magnetic closure on the bottom (some tissue box covers don’t even HAVE bottoms) and when it closes, there is a very satisfying thunk sound. And yall, it’s LINED. Not just with paper – it’s lined with the velour type felt that jewelry boxes are lined with.

I say again to you, good sir, why is this box so nice?

I tried to take some close-up pictures to show you the craftsmanship. Look at those straight lines and seams. Look at that lining. Look how perfectly square the lining is cut and applied to in the inside of the bottom of the tissue box cover that no one will ever see. Look at the hole! The PU leather isn’t just cut out at the hole, it’s finished and sewn. Oh and whatever non-trivial material this thing is made of has been covered in another layer of matching PU leather very well folded over and then sealed with the way-too-nice liner. I’m actually holding this in my hands flipping it around wondering how they got this perfect curve so nicely covered without a seam going down the hole – wait! I picked it up again, after typing that, to examine this sorcery again – there is a seam, it’s just nearly invisible. I only noticed it by feel. Thank you, because I’m a crafter and I was confused by that impossibility.

The only downside it that the “silver grey” is metallic. I’m putting this in my living room so I’d have preferred a matte finish. However, if it weren’t so dang nice, I could just put it in the bathroom and it’d look great in there.

I’m going to start showing guests the tissue box, aren’t I? Being old is so weird.

I see that they make a version of this that’s got a compartment for remotes. I’m not gonna act like I don’t want that for my desk at work. And another for my night stand. And one for the guest room. FIVE STARS.

//END OF REVIEW

Yall. Blog reader yall, that is. Just to compare. I want you to see see the god awful piece of trash I reviewed last week:

I only gave it two or three stars but I really wanna go back and make it like 1 star now.

My Bitching is Finally Being Recognized!

Posted on February 2, 2025 | by cursingcats.com | Leave a Comment

So on my last post, I mentioned calling in some warranties.

Vornado — fucking champions. Replaced the fan immediately with a new one as soon as I sent them a picture of mine with the cord cut off. A++ service. American made — BUY THEIR SHIT. They make excellent things that work and they stand by them.

Calphelon — Their website warrantly claim form errors evey damn time. I’ve tried at least 11 times on various days. Go through all the pages, answer the questions, upload photos, and bam — error submitting claim. I emailed with no response. The phone system tells you to use the website. ARRRRRRRRGGG. But I haven’t given up.

MailBoss. FUCK MAILBOSS. I called and they asked for pictures. So I sent pictures of very obvious rusting and finish flaking off after less than one year. They emailed me back that it can happen near the coast. I DON’T LIVE NEAR THE COAST. This summer was A DROUGHT. It’s a mild climate and this thing wasn’t a year old before it started rusting. They said I should sand it down, repaint it, and wax it every year to prevent this happeneing again. Wait — why isn’t waxing this thing mentioned ANYWHERE? I’d have waxed it to begin with!

So does Mailboss stand behind their product warranty. Fuck no they don’t. $400 on a mailbox and it rusts immediately and they just tell you to repaint it. Awesome.

So that made me a bit bothered. So I decided, I will let people know about this. So I clicked around on their website. Searched for them on a few websites and and then hopped on to Facebook. Ah, Target ads, thank you. So I left some comments. Then, I created a post about them and tagged them in it. It is currently at the very top of their mentions page on their own Facebook page:

It was really late on a work night, but I decided I needed to hit up some Amazon reviews for this piece of shit before bed. So I go yell on Amazon, as I like to do and then…

“You’ve been invited to the Amazon Vine Program”

WHAT? I tried so hard to get into this program back in 2019 when I had a head injury and couldn’t work so I just decided to review everything I’d ever bought on Amazon. I did detailed reviews. Ton’s of pictures. People loved my reviews. I was in the top 2000 reviewers at one point. But after a few months, it just was too much effort. So I stopped trying. Oh, I still review shit — but not everything like I used to. And now I’m invited?

WHAT?

My orneriness is being recognized with free products in exchange for a honest review? What?

I’VE MADE IT.

I’ve submitted 9 reviews for free things now. Only one wave has come in. I can order up to 3 items per day with a limit of $100 per item. Of course they have to be part of the Amazon Vine program which is random as fuck. There’s over 77 thousand products and the variety is wild. A lot of it is very niche replacement parts for specific products. There’s a lot of balloon arches and party supplies. a TON of Stanly Cup organizers. And why on earth are there so many things targeted towards healing after a BBL? did you know there are airbeds with a hole cutout for your ass? Cause there are.

Now I can’t just go buck wild. I will have to claim everything on my taxes. I had to fill out a tax form and the cost of the items I receive will be counted as income. So far the most expensive thing I’ve ordered is a double golf-bag rack and shelving for my nephews and brother who all play golf. I’ve also ordered and received:

Blanket: 4.7 Stars
Gym Drink Bag: 2 Stars
Socks: 2 stars
Solar Lantern: 4 Stars
Vacuum storage bags: 4 Stars
Black Dress: 4 Stars
“Drink Pusher” 5 Stars
Leather Notebook Cover: 3 Stars
Tissue Box Cover: 3 Stars
Shower Squeegees: 3 Stars

What is a drink pusher?

Yep. It’s like a vending machine thing for your refrigerator!

But three of my reviews have been denied and I don’t get WHY. I guess they’re really anal about the Vine reviews? This one I can only figure was because I mentioned having OCD? So I took all that out to resubmit. The gym bag review got denied and I have NO IDEA why. Maybe because I mentioned the brand of bag I was comparing it to? We’ll see, I removed the brand name and resubmitted. Then the squeegee review got denied. No idea on that one. It might be because I mentioned I was reviewing it? But that doesn’t make sense… I’m so confused. The blanket review got denied too and I fucking love that blanket. I’ve been writing really detailed reviews with tons of photos! Like the gym bag review — it wouldn’t stick to my refrigerator. So I took pictures of it fully loaded with everything in it — then on the front of the fridge, then the side, then I was like. It can’t suck this much ass. So I TOOK IT OUTSIDE and stuck it to my mailbox. Success. And it stuck to my tornado shelter too! So I had EDITED MARKUP pictures with “Fridge? No.” “Side of Fridge? No.” “Mailbox? Yes!”

Look, I went outside in the evening hours to take that photo. I put a bottle of ice water in there with my wallet and car keys and slapped it on my mailbox. I put it in photoshop and added text. These are the reviews the people WANT.

And obviously I’m reviewing with other Vine peeps and some of their reviews are a single sentence. REALLY?

Let me see if I can find the original Drink Pusher one…

Review: Drink Organizer for Fridge Soda Can Organizer Fridge Dispenser for Refrigerator,Organizer Refrigerator Organizers and Storage Water Bottle Organizer,White 5 Row

Me owning this item is actually hilarious. Let me tell you why. I hosted family two weeks ago. My sister-in-laws sister doesn’t know me well. So the next morning she very timidly asked me if she could ask me something without offending me. Ok! She asked if I was OCD. Yep! She asked because of how organized my refrigerator was.

You see, I already stored my drinks like this. I just didn’t have the fancy pusher! I was manually reloading the fridge and pulling them forward to look nice. Talk about an upgrade!

I didn’t organize my drinks like this for my OCD, I just like for everything to have a proper place and look neat. Including in my refrigerator. But I did my drinks like this at first as a joke for my husband. When I started working from home, I started making him lunch. I started calling it my café and would yell order up when his lunch was ready. Then one day, I lined up all of his drinks like this and opened the fridge and joked that we stocked a full accoutrement of drinks at the café now. (He likes these Spin Drift flavored waters so I keep a lot of flavors to keep it interesting. Well, I liked the look so it’s been that way for a few months.

Then TODAY, I installed this masterpiece! I sent her a picture and told her I’ve upgraded! I actually sent it to a bunch of my friends because I’m just so tickled with it. One asked, “does that push the drinks forward for you?” YES! And she just laughed. I love it! I wish I had another row for my friends coconut water!

No redlines. No notes. I love it. Excellent price. Functions great. No tools to assemble. I’m even deeply amused that the easy-to-follow instructions just refer to it as “the pusher.”

For buyers I do have a tip: Put it together with the drinks you intend for it to hold. You’ll need to know how wide to make the lanes. When I first assembled it, I just put the rails and lanes right up next to each other. I tested it with a can and it was fine. Then I loaded it up and stuck it in the fridge and it didn’t work! Bummer! So I’m looking at it and thinking it just doesn’t have enough spring power. But no – it just had too much friction. The lane width needs to be wide enough that the rails aren’t pushing against your cans. When I tested it with just a single can, there weren’t cans on either side pushing the rails in. But you also can’t make the lanes too wide. Otherwise, your straight row of cans gets a bit jumbled. So have what you want to put in here with you when you assemble it to get the spacing right. You can always take it out and readjust later, like I did – but save yourself the trouble.

Oh! I do have one note that’s not important. My refrigerator is a full depth one. Not a counter depth fridge. Yours is probably counter depth. So I could actually fit more cans in without this. This can only fit 5 cans deep. Do I need six of every flavor at all times? Hell no. But I was doing it. Also, as you now have lanes and rails and a need for space between rows to lighten up the friction, I did have to go from 6 cans wide to 5 in roughly the same space. My husband’s choices are drastically less now. Yes, that’s sarcasm. I think this is plenty of options!

I really do love this thing. It’s so extra and so awesome all at once.