#iPPP & WW { The Other Woman }

Driving north, the green freeway signs continued to pass on my right, assuring me the small town my new boyfriend lived in was getting closer.

 

I might have been a touch nervous.  My first visit to his place and I had heard all about the other woman who lived there.

 

Word on the street was how fiercely she ruled the nest.  Supposedly, it could get downright nasty if her claws were out.  She never hesitated to tell any female exactly what she thought of them.

I wanted none of that.

 

No way was she going to interfere with my first visit to my new man.

 

Whipping my li'l white car into the driveway, turning the engine off, grabbing my purse, stepping out and squaring my shoulders.  I climbed the stairs, determined.

 

A single knock on his door and there he is.  Leaning in, he tries to kiss me.  No.

 

"Where is she?"

"What?"

 

"You can have a kiss after.  Where is she?"

 

"Oh.  She's over there, on the couch."

 

Without hesitation, I walked away from him and over to her.

 

Holding out my hand to her, I waited.

 

She sniffed.  She gave me the eye.  She opted to play coy and appear bored.

 

But, I knew.  I was in.

 

You see this sweet, nearly twenty year old kitty?

 

This is Bonnie, the other woman.

 

Legend has it, before I came into the picture, this sweet, innocent looking cat would hiss and spit at any female that came over.  And I'm not a fool, I knew who's fur not to ruffle.  While she merely tolerated me in the beginning, there was never a hiss for me and ultimately, she came to know where to get the best cheek scratches.

 

On January 16th, Bonnie passed away in my husband's arms, just like her brother did three years ago.  This photo was taken two days before she left us, happily soaking up sunshine.

 

We miss her.  But, there are so many sweet and often silly memories with this li'l nine pounder.  She was a Manx/Siamese/Tabby mix and high on personality.

 

In her younger years, you had to keep your eyes peeled with this one.  She was the original Stealth Kitty and could jump up, cross your lap and steal a piece of pepperoni off the slice of pizza in your hand and you would never know - until you looked at said toppingless piece.

 

Bottlecaps were prized kitty toys.

 

There was never a sun's ray she didn't like.

 

The same kidlet who sent her running for the hills when he learned to walk as a tyke later became her best buddy to hang with.  They were amazing calming forces for each other and in her last year, when arthritis was hitching her hips, he was her own personal physical therapist getting her to go on "Walk Races" back and forth, until she no longer limped - every single day.

 

And she was the bomb at the photobomb and never failed to get in on everything I snapped out on her deck.

We love her.  We miss her.  We happily remember her.

 

 

Linking up with these awesome sites - come join us!

#iPPP with G*Funk*ified & The Sunday Spill

Word-less/ful/ish Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus, Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia,  Live and Love Out Loud, Jenni from the Blog

Farm Animals & Jack-o-Lanterns, Oh My!

On Monday's Pumpkins, Guts & Gloves, I promised a few more pictures, so I'm back with a handful.

 

This cow kept moo'ing at me every time I walked up to her (?him? I didn't check! lol) and just cracked me up.  There were chickens, roosters, pigs, piglets, cows, ponies, oh my!  And we had a blast visiting with them on our trip to the pumpkin patch!

And on Sunday, it was time to get busy carving those pumpkins we brought home with us.

After seeing the kids drawing complicated faces with a million cuts (too many for their small hands), Dad drew a sample face on a piece of paper for them.

And then proceeded to use his sample for his own pumpkin.

 

My boy used the sample for the mouth on his, adjusting the teeth.  Apparently, pointy is scarier than square.

This was the first Halloween that he wanted a 'scary or horror' costume rather than a superhero.  Though he ended up being a cool alien, he greeted every door he trick or treated at saying, "Braaaiiinnnsss" and looked a bit more like a scary zombie alien rather than the little green man it started out as.  He loved it.

And my girl's sweet pumpkin. She had me making the turns at each corner, while she cut the straight lines of the eyes and nose, but by the time she reached the mouth, she was a Jack-o-lantern cutting pro and doing it on her own!

 

(Clearly I need to learn to shoot better in low light, but I'll get there!)

I went with Linus and the Great Pumpkin this year. A little simpler than years past, but when I saw the image on Creative Type Dad's pumpkin stencils, I was blind to all others.

We had a fun Halloween!  How was yours?  What does November hold for you?

Me?  I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year and though only on to the second day, loving the writing and community surrounding the word frenzy!

Linking up with some rockin' awesome Wordful/ish Wednesday peeps!

Seven Clown Circus, Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Live and Love...Out Loud, Angry Julie Monday

Walk on the Wild Side

"You're wiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllllllllddddddddddddd!" she calls out, throwing her head back, her eyes smiling even brighter than the one on her face.

Oh wait. Whoops falling into an '80s movie memory. It's such an easy slope to slip 'n slide. Wild animals. That's why we're here.

@NorthWestMommy from The Good Life has us listing up all things wild and animal like.  And I'm listing along!

Sometimes the animal just needs a tasty treat.

Source: missindiedesigns.blogspot.com via Karen on Pinterest

Sometimes they just need a cuddle.

Source: cuteoverload.com via Karen on Pinterest

Sometimes it's about location, location, location.

Source: youmightlikethis.com via Karen on Pinterest

Sometimes you give a hand some paint & the wild develops on the page.

Source: jellyfishjelly.com via Britney on Pinterest

Sometimes the wild animal and the wild child meet, greet, and merge.

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Katie on Pinterest

Sometimes that wild owl turns on the charm and tops the cake.

Source: karaspartyideas.blogspot.com via Barbara on Pinterest

Sometimes even owls fall from grace, get all angry bird, and meet the snack platter, looking all tasty.

Source: littlefoodjunction.blogspot.com via peadoodle on Pinterest

Sometimes the wild migrates to the classroom and lands its victims in detention.  Don't you forget about me, don't don't don't don't.... Whoops, on that '80s movie slip 'n slide again!  I've got it under control now, I swear.

Source: reelmovienews.com via Alicia on Pinterest

Sometimes the wild world reminds us it's all about the love.

Source: weheartit.com via Karen on Pinterest

Sometimes the animal world, wild or domesticated, reminds us it really is okay to trust.

Source: webdesigncore.com via Karen on Pinterest

Sometimes a walk on the wild side can bring you right back home.

It's Labor Day here in the States and all of us are home today, from school, from work, from shuttling kidlets back and forth.

We began our day with some cuddles and a whole lotta giggles.  Hubs whipped up breakfast for all of us and we've enjoyed a nice leisurely morning.  It's been a fantastic three day weekend here.  What have you been up to?

I Heart Faces ~ Kitty Clyde

Wowza! This month has blown by. Doing our taxes ate my mojo a couple weeks ago and then this last week, I've enjoyed spending time with my kidlets as my son has been on his Spring Break.  But, I've missed this ever fun online world!

I Heart Faces' current photo challenge is Pets and I'm linking up our favorite photo of one spunky cat!  (If you've been reading here for awhile, then you may have seen this, but I've never linked it up with I Heart Faces....and it truly is our favorite! :>)  He's no longer with us, but our whole family has some mighty fine memories of Kitty Clyde.

If you want to check out oodles of cute critters that have captured hearts, head over to I Heart Faces and have a look!

Here Kitty Kitty!

Why am I still UP?! No! Seriously?! WHY am I still awake??!! The clock just rolled past midnight a minute ago and I'm flashing back to at least half of the day today (okay, so its technically Yesterday, but since its past midnight........is it really necessary to attend to 'technically'??!) that I was tired and wishing I had gotten some extra zzzzzz's the night before. Hmmmmmm.......so why am I still awake!

Oh, yeah!! I wanted to share a couple of my favorite kitty pictures! :> Pioneer Woman, Ree, put a call out for kitty pictures for one of her Flickr groups and since my kidlets are obsessed with kitty cats (well, since we're here, okay OKAY, I'm here, up past midnight, I'll let you in on a little secret...........my kidlets are way past obsessed with kitty cats.......way past that.........they adore, they love....YES! a pic of a kitty will rapidly bring forth a very vocal, quite loud, series of, "Awwwwwww"s!)...oh yes, I digressed (I'm good at that)....since my kidlets just LOVE pics of kitties, I thought I would throw in a couple of my favs!

Here is Kitty Clyde! He passed just before the New Year, at seventeen years of age. But, this is not a sad post!! We LOVED him so!!! And this pic, is most definitely OUR favorite of him because it incorporates his spunk, his attitude, and always makes us smile! :> Our kitties were Hubby's kitties long before I came into his life. But, Clyde welcomed me with open arms.......um, so to speak!!

They are/were brother and sister (& another brother lives with Hubby's best friend) and are a Manx/Siamese/Tabby mix. If you know kitties, then you may know that both Manx kitties (they don't have tails...Clyde had about a one inch stump and his sister has no tail at all, a rump) and Siamese kitties are VERY HIGH personality kitties!! Our kidlets have had many opinions as to what our kitties have had to say about life, in general, over the years. :>

Now, here's a kitty that's a bit bigger than the kitties that live with us!! We met this kitty....er, um...tiger, during a special trip to the Oakland Zoo! It was a Mama and Son trip and I remember every last detail of our visit. Oh boy, I'm heading down memory lane now!! Don't worry..................its way past midnight................I won't share my ramblings down memory lane..........well, at least not at this hour! Maybe another time! :>

This sun bathing tiger was a bit shy all day and we finally caught him towards the end of our visit. We watched for him several times that day and we were so thankful that he decided to come and stretch out on his rock for a bit!

Soooo.....are you an animal person?? Do you rock with the cats or the dogs of this world?? Or maybe a fish? Any animals to capture your heart?? Or do you have a RoboDog (like a sweet friend o' mine)?? Or do furballs and critters not float your boat? I'd love to know what's prancing around your home...or not! :>

I'm off to make sure I catch at least a couple of zzzzzz's tonight or else I fear even some hot java may not help me when my alarm starts singing at 5:40......in....um.....YIKES!!!....a few hours!