365 Photos Day 359

359/365

Iz, waiting for Santa. Probably in the hopes he'll bring Sunny the Fish back. (So not happening)

I like the nights after Christmas is done and over. The quiet and stillness that's there while reading by the Christmas tree lights. That all too fleeting moment of peace.

That's one of my favorite things about the holiday season.

365 Photos Day 348

348/365

Since Sunny the fish went to his new home, Iz has been lonely. Tonight she decided to jump up and "share" Callie's chair.

Maybe having a fish was an OK thing after all. I bet Callie thinks so, anyway.

365 Photos Day 346

346/365

Iz likes hanging out with Sunny.

I'm not sure Sunny likes hanging out with Iz.

At least she's not trying to act out the scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore is drinking all the liquid out of the basin to get to the horcrux anymore, so that's an improvement.

365 Photos Day 344

344/365

Wherein Our Family Unit is Expanded by One

Scene: Saturday night, Steve coming home from his work Christmas party.

Steve: Hey! I brought you something!
Me (being no dummy and thus skeptical it's a good thing): Really? What?
Steve: I left it on your desk.
Me: Uh, this is a fish.
Steve: I know! I rescued it.
Me: From what, exactly?
Steve: From the people at the party. His name is Sunny.
Me: You *do* know we have FOUR CATS, right? And that I've never had a fish, so I haven't a clue as to what to actually DO with him?
Steve: Well, I couldn't just leave him there. People were eating and drinking them.
Me: What is WRONG with you people?
Steve: And, at the end of the night the fish were all going to be flushed down the toilet. So I had to save Sunny.
Me: Sigh.

/fin

365 Photos Day 330

330/365

Oh, glorious day! Iz's little green ball has been found!

This is her favorite ball. It's been missing for almost a month. She looked for it everywhere. WE looked for it everywhere. No luck.
We finally just gave up and found a purple ball that looked like the green one & took out the bell (the green one had lost its bell somewhere along the way), and she was happy.

Saturday I heard her playing in the hall, so I went to see what she was batting around. And lo and behold...it was the green ball.

So now she has TWO cool balls. She likes to play fetch with them. We throw them, she brings them back in her mouth. Like I've said, sometimes we think that she thinks she's part dog.

365 Photos Day 326

Dart

Kit Kat

Callie

Isabelle (Iz)

326/365

Today I'm most grateful for all our assorted cat people. Dart has been here the longest, the 3 girls have been here for just over a year.

We started off with no cats. Then we bought a house.

Then we got one cat (Sammy). Steve got her from a lady he worked with as a surprise for me. When he brought her home, he said, "That's it, though. Only ONE CAT."

A couple of months later, another cat showed up and adopted us. Steve said, "OK, fine. BUT THAT'S IT. ONLY TWO CATS."

When the second cat died, I was in college. After Christmas break, one of the girls I worked with at the school library came in and asked if anyone wanted two cats (one of whom is Dart). She had to give them up because she was too allergic to them. I called Steve, who sighed and said, "OK. BUT THAT'S IT. THREE CATS IS THE LIMIT."

One of the cats had to be put down. I'm still not certain what happened to her, but I suspect something like a stroke. So we lived with two cats, until we had to put Sammy down. Then Steve said, "You know, I think I'd like a kitten. Or a younger cat." So we went to the shelter...

And ended up bringing the 3 girls pictured above home. All Steve said was,
"THAT'S IT. NO MORE CATS. FOUR IS THE LIMIT."

They can be the biggest pains in the asses ever, but they also can be so damn sweet that all is forgiven. I feel so lucky that they have deigned to have us as their people.

365 Photos Day 323

323/365

And snow it begins...

This is only Iz's second winter. She's not impressed with this stuff. AT. ALL.

It's OK, Iz. Either am I. But we're stuck with it for awhile.

This isn't supposed to stay long, but the real stuff is coming. Sooner rather than later.

Sigh.

365 Photos Day 311

311/365

Too bad I didn't just take a video of this poor unhappy cat. He wasn't very happy and was letting the world know it.

It's a hard job being Dart in this house sometimes. And if you ask him, I'm sure he'd tell you ALL ABOUT IT.

365 Photos Day 307

307/365

And then there's Iz, who seems to think she's a ninja cat or something. You know, if she holds still long enough, the crow mocking her from across the street might figure out she's actually a harmless golden leaf or something, and then she'll make her move.

365 Photos Day 306

306/365

Apparently Kit Kat isn't as impressed with the Great Outdoors now that the weather is changing and there isn't so much yummy grass to be had. She's pretty smart, though. I think if she had thumbs she'dve been able to open the door herself.

31 Days of Pinterest: Day 2 Bee Happy

This was one of those projects that took about 10 minutes to do. Even with supervision from one of our cats, Dart.

I love love love Sprik Space's 'Just Because' series. This free 'Bee Happy' printable is number 5 of that series. It is offered in many different colors, but since I'd found 4 yellow frames at Goodwill earlier on Sunday for $1.99 each, I knew I wanted to get the grey one since I was going to put it in the laundry room.

I printed out a 5x7 to fit my frame, and trimmed it up.

Then I put it in the frame, and instead of putting the backing on with the easel back on the outside, I decided to see if it fit the other way. And it did, which made it easier to hang on the wall.

And here it is in the frame:

I love easy projects that add just the right pop of color to a room!


To see my other 31 Days of Pinterest projects, click on the image below, and it will take you to my original post.

365 Photos Day 273

273/365

I'm never sure if Dart just sits around wondering what in the world I'm up to, or if he's a natural supervisor.

Either way, whatever room I'm in, usually he is too.

This weekend, we spent some quality time trying to get things put all the way back together in the laundry room. We learned the valuable lesson of why it's important to put cabinet doors on the correct way (right-side up and on the correct side instead of upside-down and on the wrong side), and how to finagle different sized screws to work in hidden hinges (hint: lots of force and some swearing).

All that's left now is to find a valance to go above the window, and we're marking it off our 2011 Project List. And then he won't have to sit in the sink giving me disapproving looks.

365 Photos Day 271

271/365

This is probably one of the best things the Kid has ever found in the Target Dollar Spot aisle thing. This is not her...this is a family friend who found it as amusing as Amanda did.
I was looking at Halloween stuff when Amanda put this on her head in the store. It gave me a much needed laugh, and for $2.50, well, it just needed to come home with us. She was pretty sure she should wear it for her senior pictures. Or something.

The cats aren't sure what to think about it, especially since Amanda makes the turkey bob and peck them.

Amanda refuses to have me take a picture of it because she says I'll put it on the Internet. Well, YEAH. Duuu-uuuh. Julie, on the other hand, put it on and said, "You're going to upload these to Facebook, right?"

365 Photos Day 264

264/365

This is my Storytime preparation support crew. Obviously they are very diligent in their duty.

The theme for Fall Storytime is Numbers. I'm not sure why, but it seems the kids are having more problems really understanding numbers versus letters. At least they're enthusiastic. Mostly.

365 Photos Day 258

258/365

Speaking of Iz and her tree climbing skills, this is what happened today.

She went higher than she has before, and was contemplating how best to go higher before she freaked out. And then she freaked out some more when she couldn't figure out how to get down.

We finally convinced her to come down backwards and Amanda got her as soon as Iz was in reaching distance.

Later on I saw her eyeing the tree, as if she was trying to figure out how to get higher the next time she went up it.

365 Photos Day 257

257/365

I came home from work today and was going to make a sandwich for dinner before Survivor started.

And then I saw this.

One of our cats had chewed through the bag and eaten part of the loaf of bread. It could've been either Dart or Iz, but who knows? It could have been the Bread Goblin or something too.

When we got Dart, the people told us that he really liked bread, and had been known to do just this--so they took to keeping their bread in a drawer so that he couldn't get to it. There's only been one time that he's done that here, which is good. Iz has also been trying to figure out how to get to the bread lately, so it could've been her.

Either way, I went to the store and got another loaf of bread. Then I made my PB & J and turned on Survivor. And on the next commercial break, I put the new loaf in the cupboard.

365 Photos Day 237

237/365

Along with cleaning and working reduced hours, I've been spending lots of time this month sitting outside with the cats. We don't just let them out, we go out with them, so I stay outside with them for a couple of hours a day.

This is a nice view, and one of the main reasons we originally bought the house (the old one, which we tore down a couple of years ago when we built the new one).

There's just something really soothing about it being so quiet around here that we can hear the fish jumping in the lake and the wind blowing.

Sometimes, life is good.

365 Photos Day 234

234/365

This is the Kid's senior year of high school. Simutaneously, it's her second year at the local community college because she took advantage of the post-secondary option offered through her school. She won't be at the high school at all this year because she wanted to go full-time at the college.

She loaded up her backpack on Monday, and had to set it on the table to get it on because it was so heavy. Her books are HUGE, but that's what happens with lots of math & science classes. That's why I liked majoring in History--the books were much smaller. But, she wants to be a mechanical engineer when she grows up, not a historian.

Iz wasn't sure this new turn of events was a good thing. She misses Amanda when Amanda is gone. So much that she spends part of the day crying until I tell her that her girl WILL BE BACK. Iz's way around it this time was to jump on the backpack and not let go. I'm pretty sure she'd do OK in class with Amanda. She'd be happy she was with her girl.

365 Photos Day 231

231/365

Iz (the orange cat) is absolutely fascinated with the washer when it's filling up with water. She'll sit on the edge until it's done, and then when it's time to close the lid so that the clothes can, you know, get WASHED, she's very sad.

Tonight, for whatever reason, Dart (the grey cat) decided to see what she was looking at. I was just hoping that nobody would get pushed in.

365 Photos Day 216

216/365

Disapproving Dart is disapproving.

Apparently me moving everything out of my office but my desk is not to his liking.

This could be a long weekend.