give.thanks.seven

Today I am thankful for sounds.  The gift of hearing.  Selective or Not. 

*I am thankful for the humming of purrs. 

*The gentle breathing of children and pets. 

*The music streaming from the radio.  Well, preferably my radio and not the radio of the car who is three lanes over.

*The ringing of the telephone.  The consistent tone that reminds you to give a silent nod of thanks to Alexander Graham Bell.  With all the texting going on, one can forget to be thankful for the simple non-ring-tone telephone rings.

*The familiar sound of the garage door opening.  It tells me that my husband is home.  Family time begins.  The memories flow as we sit down to dine together and share our day.  I am thankful for the garage doors.  And particularly thankful that I have only hit two out of three. 

*The pitter patter sound of rain on the rooftop. 

Today, I am thankful.

Only two more days until Thanksgiving Day!
And only three more days until BLACK FRIDAY!!
{Is your shopping list ready?}

furry friends

furry friends that need food, shelter and water?

OR

one furry friend that needs a lot of space?

Twas the night before Christmas Eve, and all through the house,

the phone was a ringing, perhaps it's my spouse.

But really who can it be?

Why it's the Hallmark Store... when you care enough to send the very best.

Yes, this is me.

Why, that is the most fantastic surprise I have ever heard of ... today.

So we jumped in the car to see what was the matter.

We arrived with a bang because we looked bedraggled of course.

Congratulations, they said.

He needs a good home. 

BUT will he fit in a "Mini"???

My darling daughter #2 is having a good luck moment.  She won this DOG in a drawing at our local Hallmark store.  All because I visited about two weeks ago in search of the "Bathroom Snowman".  BUT all I found was the "Refrigerator Snowman".  Upon my exit, I noticed a small box.  I wrote down a name and slipped it in.  Not really aware of what I was "trying" to win.  Well this GIGANTIC dog is sitting in the playroom now.  Taking up a lot of space.  Yay for FUN drawings. 

My darling daughter #1 won a pair of FIRST CLASS ROUNDTRIP TICKETS to anywhere in the WORLD that AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIES... when she was 3 years old.  My husband and I had a fabulous Eastern European Vacation ... I suppose she'll hate us when she finds out that we traveled and left her at her grandparents.  It's four years later and I still have the phone message claiming our amazing WIN.   And while we were on our trip, her grandparents wrote her name on a raffle ticket at a carnival... where they won a gigantic TV. 

So, go ahead and use daughter#2's name for any drawings you see... she just may win you something TOO.

AND Perhaps darling daughter #3 will win the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes??!! 

recaps of the last six weeks

21.  More Random. Ness.  More beauty.  That could not be displayed with bugs.

Cats.
Double Rainbows.
Shadows.

These are some of my favorite kind of days. 

recaps of the last six weeks

7.  Rats 'n' Cats

Where did this one come from?
Actually, it came from the house with the horrendous, ugly, 1970s green paint job.  Not only do they need a painter, they need an exterminator. 

Thankfully, we were outdoors so the cats didn't make it into the house with their "trophy" -- instead they played in the yard; until my husband arrived home and freed the little critter (back to the house with the ugly green paint)

PS no critters, cats, mice, rats or people were harmed in filming this "rat'n'cat" gameshow. 

cats for sale

actually, you would return them because they are on the high maintenance end of felineness.  and I would not put any unsuspecting victim through the rigamarole that we endure on a daily basis --

so,

cats for rental ...

guaranteed to catch any critter that needs capturing in your home or yard

guaranteed to eat uninvited insects

guaranteed to be low maintenance for a short amount of time

guaranteed to perform properly and adequately

guaranteed to return to our home

ps... don't let their adoring furry feline faces deceive you

pps... the tennis ball is for me.  and parking.  and a guarantee that I stop. 

furry friends are the best

i love to watch our furry friends sleep.

i love to hear them purrrrrrrrrr.

i love to feel their softness.

i love their company.

My Mornings; 5 - 9 am

Unfortunately, I have learned to become a morning person.  For 38 years, I was a night person.  And then I married the 'love of my life morning person' and became a mom to more 'little morning people'. 

The cats go out for their morning carousing at 4AM.  They return about 5AM, depending on the weather conditions and temperatures.  Most mornings upon their return, the cats bring home a surprise.  This surprise could be a cockroach, a gigantic moth, any other bug or insect, a bird, a squirrel, a mouse, a rat, or a snake. 

Lately, it is garden snakes.  They love to bring these snakes home.  ALIVE. 

{ALIVE, because that is part of the game we play every single day - "CATCH THE CRITTER"!}

Recently, the cat snuck back in the house before 5AM and brought a playdate.  A visitor.  However, this particular playdate did not want to play "TAG" any longer and he took off to start his own game of "HIDE AND SEEK". 

I was not quite bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4:40AM... so I missed the game of "TAG".  Apparently, I also missed the game of "HIDE AND SEEK".

Later on, I decided to do a load of laundry.  DARKS.  I picked up the load from the basket (that was sitting on the floor), threw it in the washing machine, poured in detergent and other harsh chemicals, pushed START, heard the rinse cycle, the spin cycle, and the final beeper. 

I started to throw the load into the dryer when I noticed a string had come out of a jacket or shorts or something.  I reached in to grab the string.  And since it is now 5:33AM, my coffee has kicked in and my eyeballs have been pried open. 

Good Lord, Mother of Mercy, Praise Jesus, Holy Shit ...

I washed a snake.

I wish I could say I didn't have a full load and that I have taken up snake-washing in all my free time.  When his friends see him back in the garden, all squeaky clean and shiny, his friends will be lining up for this new snake spa treatment!

PS  For all you PETA people, this was an accident.  I do not participate in snake washing.  Snake handling.  Snake anything.  And the snake survived the washing!  He is happy to be back in his garden hole.

Hide and Seek

It's another Sunday, funday... And we are playing 'Hide and Seek' indoors due to the hotTexas heat outdoors. Even the pets avoid going out. Can you help us find the cat!? Apparently Cat A thinks she is hiding.

La Cucaracha Hunters

We live in the south and have bugs as large as the state of Texas itself. Bugs that I have never learned to accept. Bugs that I have never grown accustomed to. Bugs that I despise. Of those bugs, La Cucaracha (the cockroach) is the worst!

We adopted two cats last year in a delusional state of being petless. Kittens are so cute and fuzzy and furry and sweet and cute (again). Then you bring them home...

Our cats love to hunt anything... geckos, ants, flies, mice, snakes, birds, squirrels and cockroaches.

We have never housed so many critters as we have in the past fourteen months. I spend every bloody morning chasing critters around the house -- trying to remove them from the indoor premises. The cats are quite humane as they ALWAYS bring the critters home ALIVE. So for three hours every morning, I fly around the house on a broom shooing birds (yes, witchlike). Sweeping snakes. Catching geckos. And running from squirrels and mice.

The cockroaches are carried in via cat mouth. Cat #1 holds the cockroach in its mouth, runs into the house, locates ME, and deposits the roach at my feet (alive, of course).

First, I wonder, why ME? Why not husband? Children? Neighbor? Why do I get the prize?

Next I think, I thought there weren't anymore cockroaches in a three block radius of our house. Didn't the cats already catch them all and bring them home?

So, this morning, I woke up to Cat #1 standing above me with a cockroach being deposited next to my head. No need for an alarm this morning. I jumped out of bed and started wailing.

"Are you going to help me out? Or should I just run the vacuum and wake up the rest of the house?" It is only 5:45 am.

And so I begin to sing, in my loud tone-deaf voice, at 5:46 am.

La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
The cockroach, the cockroach,
ya no puede caminar
can't walk anymore
porque no tiene, porque le falta
because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
las dos patitas de atrás.
its two back feet.

Coneheads, Fisheyes, Wideangles, OH MY!

Avon* was adopted from the humane society. One black ear, solid black tail, white body, pink ears, pink nose, very rat-like.




EARS?








Spunky* was also adopted. Two, for playmates. She is a quirky cat.

And what about her EARS?







In our very free time, we have this funny, odd habit of taking photographs with the cone lens. We can give everyone, and our cats, CONEHEADS.

We have also experimented with the FISHEYE lens.

I have started a therapy fund for our baby. She is going to need it. I wanted this photo to be our annual Christmas Card, but we didn't want to solicit any unwarranted sympathy (from those friends and family we only 'see' by mail).

It's Rough Being A Baby...

I want to be a cat (says the wise one)!

Cry. Point. Clap. Cry. Whine. Mess. Laugh. Smile. Cry. Cry. Grunt. Utter. Cry. Laugh. Smile. Sleep. Mess. Cry. Tantrum. Smile. Laugh. Cry. Yuck! Walk. Cry. Cry. Fall. Laugh. Smile. Cry. Crawl. Eat. Smile. Laugh. Mess. Cry. Cry. Smile. Sleep.

Sleep. Eat. Sleep. Sleep. Eat. Chase. Sleep. Eat. Eat. Sleep. Mess. Sleep. Run. Eat. Eat. Pounce. Sleep. Creep. Eat. Climb. Eat. Eat. Sleep.

Who wants to be the "mommy"?

Wake. Caffeinate. Smile. Type. Clean. Cook. Make. Wash. Change. Clean. Carry. Wash. Rinse. Dry. Play. Hydrate. Wipe. Change. Create. Spin. Pull. Push. Wax. Vacuum. Cry. Caffeinate. Hydrate. Smile. Nibble. Cook. Clean. Clean. Wash. Rinse. Dry. Hydrate. Caffeinate. Hallucinate. Smile. Smile. Cook. Clean. Mail. Sweep. Ignore. Answer. Wash. Rinse. Dry. Spin. Play. Wipe. Change. Smile. Watch. Clean. Wash. Rinse. Dry. Laugh. Pull. Play. Tote. Lug. Drag. Nag. Nag. Nag. Wipe. Hydrate. Caffeinate. Smile. Talk. Chat. Listen. Pickup. Clean. Clear. Laugh. Sign. Fix. Write. Read. Peruse. Nag. Nag. Smile. Hydrate. Wash. Rinse. Dry. Smile. Hydrate. Sleep. Snore. Wake. Sleep. Snore. Sleep. Wake. Sleep. Snore. Sleep. Wake.

Eating Disorder at Eleven Months

Happy Eleven Months, Petra!

Your first eleven months have been extremely eventful. After all your laying around for the first four months, you have definitely made up for that idle time during the last seven months.

I am out of breath. I am tired. I am amused. I am confused. I am completely gray!

You have eaten the good stuff... ice cream, cookies, cake, chocolate... along with peas, corn, salmon, tilapia, chicken, carrots, potatoes (any form of spud). Your taste buds are delicate and you have tasted gourmet cuisine. (We even love watching Rachel Ray's mouth-watering creations together.)

So, my question to you, "why do I catch you shoveling handfuls of dirt, cat food and cat litter into your mouth?". You actually savor the taste. You are a daily food connoisseur of trash. I ask you, "how can ice cream possibly compare to dirt?" It is clearly not the same. It cannot even be in a similar delicacy category.

You eat plants, leaves, and sticks. You put every "floor morsel" you find into your mouth. I have pried balls, dolls, letters, plastics, pencils, paper, toilet paper, tissues, napkins, and cat toys from the insides of your cheeks.

Today, I found you fighting over a dead fly with your cat, Winter. Luckily, the cat won!

Tonight, Daddy wanted to know why you were making a funny sounding hiccup. I told him not to worry it was just the gallon of soapy bath water you ingested. Eventually, your suds-cups will cease.

I have witnessed your dislike of guacamole, waffles, pancakes, and broccoli -- it is spewed all over the floor. (We really need a dog for moments like this!) If you can toss delicious syrup-coated pancakes onto the floor, then you should be able to spit out the cat litter, too. How can cat litter taste better than waffles? I wish you had an explanation for me.

I recently paraded you in public donned in a newly purchased adorable smocked Anavini dress. Your cheeks and clothing were peppered with black spots. And, no, you had not been indulging in OREOS. An intruding fellow-shopper informed me how she put her dog bowls out of reach from her toddler. I smiled and announced that I don't even bother moving Petra away from the cat bowls any more ... my cats are happy, how unhealthy could those little kernels be anyhow?

Meanwhile I secretly pray and hope this peculiar eating disorder dissipates at some time during your second year. So, for a limited time only, I will accept your choice of desired food items - if you can accept my squandering your college fund on therapy for me.