I went into the kitchen to get something and heard a buzzing noise. I looked over and found a bee repeatedly flying itself into my closed window. I do not know how or when it got in. I'm not a big fan of pain, and I've never been stung by a bee but I hear that it hurts. More importantly, when any other insect bites me, I react poorly so I'd rather not find out what happens with bees. I really didn't want to put myself in a position to get stung, but I also wanted to let the poor thing outside. It definitely wanted to get there, and I'd prefer it there too.But wait! There's more!

After attending just one meeting, I've become the organizer for The København Expat American Meetup Group. (København, which is pronounced sort of like curb-en-HOWN, is the Danish word for Copenhagen.) I managed to attend a meeting of LINK without becoming organizer, but it was a lot of fun anyway. (Currently, that link takes you to a page saying they are redesigning their site, and I just want to say "hallelujah!" about that. Maybe I won't be forced to volunteer for that after all.)But wait! There's more!

Many misguided cat servants spend money on things marketed as cat beds only to find their cat never uses it. Cats sleep wherever the hell they want. If you want them to sleep in a particular place, you need to put whatever the hell they want in a particular place. Lidja, like many cats, has a penchant for curling up into things she doesn't quite fit into, and has taken many a nap in my laptop bag or random boxes and baskets she happens upon. I noticed recently that, in lieu of my laptop bag (which I freecycled before moving) and random boxes (which we took to the basement storage), she was seeking out the quilt my grandmother made and gave as a wedding present. I also noticed that the box in which Thomas' new FiveFingers arrived was just about Lidja-sized. So I wrapped the box in the quilt, and waited about an hour.

I made a pair of barefoot sandals today. Using this tutorial as a basic guide, it took about an hour to make the set. I really like how it turned out! My long beads are not as long as the ones on the tutorial, so I used some extra beads (basically small round - large round - small round in most of the places where she used just a pony bead). In the pic, you can kinda see how deformed my pinky toe is, as a result of traditionally-shaped girls' shoes I was forced to wear to church growing up.

P.S. Tycho didn't want to be left out of the pictures. He's doing great on raw too!

While Tycho has devoured any kind of meat I put in front of him, whether chicken, pork, beef, or even pork liver (man, that crap stinks!), Lidja has only been interested in chicken. This morning, she didn't even seen interested in the chicken, so I put it in her favorite spot: on the floor. She ate it up off the floor and looked up at me to request more. I threw down some ground beef instead. She sniffed it a bit, seemed to shrug it off, and then dig in. She ate just a couple grams of it before deciding she was full, but she clearly liked it. No gravy, no oil! We are well on our way.

Now, to those of you who are asking me, "what on earth are you doing feeding your cats raw meat," those of you who can't be bothered to look it up yourselves, I have a question for you. This is an honest question, and I'd really like to hear your answer. Comments are enabled, so please use them. Why is it that when I report that Lidja has partially eaten a mouse, or that Tycho has hunted and devoured a moth, or that David's neighbor's dog ate one of his pullets, that you don't bat an eye? What is so different? If I put a mouse or a moth down for them instead, would you feel better? Perhaps that's two questions, but you can answer either or both.

Lidja doesn't like eating out of the bowl anymore, so she drags her food to the floor. I tried putting it on a plate, but you can see how well that worked out. She's now breaking apart large chunks of meat on her own, ungravied and unoiled! I'm really excited.

Last night, I made this delicious couscous dish for me and Thomas.

I am limited in the number of vegetables I can convince Thomas to eat, but he really liked this dish, and I think the next time I make it I can make it even better. What I did is heat up the chicken in a skillet, spicing it with garlic, oregano, and black pepper. Then I added the peas, corn, tomatos, and broth. When the broth was boiling, I stirred in the couscous, removed from heat, and covered. Ten minutes later, plop on a couple plates, add peanuts and paprika to the top. It's really quick and easy. T said he's usually not a fan of peanuts, but he was surprised how well it worked with the meal. To drink, we had hyldeblomst juice. I don't know what hyldeblomst is in English, except it's a flower. Hylde means shelf, and I don't know of anything called a shelf flower. I'll have to look that up later. But the juice is yummy.

For some reason, I have a lot to say today. Beware: long post follows.
Since moving, I have increasingly gone barefoot, and now I'm barefoot almost 24/7. Going barefoot is love.
On Sunday, T & I went to IKEA. They aren't usually open on Sunday, but for whatever reason, they were this week. We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to return some items and possibly get some more. This trip was significant in two ways.But wait! There's more!

Today I served chopped raw chicken without Whiskas sauce and it was still gobbled up. A bit leftover, unlike last night, but still being eaten.

One thing I like about Denmark is that you can buy a monthly public transport pass that's good on all the trains, busses, and metro in the zones of your choice. Another thing I like is that you can have them automatically bill you every month, and they'll mail you the updated pass. Another thing I like is that we bought our passes last night around 5pm, and had a confirmation come in the mail by about 10am this morning.

We put out some chopped raw chicken, and to entice little finicky Lidja to try it, drizzled some sauce from a packet of Whiskas over it. When I went in the kitchen a few minutes later to see if she ate any, both bowls were so empty, I asked Thomas if he'd already cleaned up. He witnessed her eat a few bites, so I know it wasn't all Tycho.

I decided to switch the cats to raw. I bought some boneless, skinless chicken breasts to get them started. T chopped them up, and we put some chunks out yesterday night for the first time.

Tycho got all over it like gravy on a biscuit. Lidja remains unimpressed. I put some out this morning and tonight as well, and Lidja still isn't sold. Tycho is happy as a clam, though he'd probably just as happily gobble plastic wrap and cocktail umbrellas marinated in turpentine. He pretty much attempts to eat everything.

I'm thinking of getting some canned food to smear on the chicken chunks to try to get Lidja to eat them. Unfortunately the only canned food around here is Friskies-grade mess. Blech. But it's temporary and for a good cause. It's exciting to see Tycho eat meat. I can't wait until Lidja will.

FYI, all previous entries are timestamped for Central (U.S.) time. Starting with this one, they are timestamped for Central European Time. That's seven hours ahead of most of my current readership. Lest you think I was posting from the future.

We got in at around 7pm and took an expensive taxi ride to Herlev. We had too much luggage to deal with the train, esp. as it would have involved transfers, so I think it was worth it. I wanted to see the condo, check out the neighborhood, etc. and I thought it would be a great idea to drop our bags off, and then take the train to Nivå with just one bag of "overnight" stuff. As the condo has no furniture, food, toiletries, etc. we are staying at T's parents' place in Nivå until we get the essentials up and running in Herlev.But wait! There's more!