It's our first Bee-versary!

Bee came to live with us one year ago today.  He's gone from a shy boy in his crate to the big black cat who greets everyone and thinks he owns the place!

He is happy to share with Aggie & Peter...

He has his favorite sleeping spots...

He does love a chair...

He and Pete like to help with work...

And Bee is always interested in what I am doing...

They both like to see what's going on outside, too.

We are glad that Bee is part of our little family!

The best of friends...

have staked out the reading chair in the living room.  I am pretty amazed that Peter and Bee have taken to each other so quickly - I mean, it's been a couple of months, but still.  Cats are very territorial and Peter has been an only for the last several years.  Maybe it helps that Bee was an only in his previous home.

At any rate, I am very happy that they are each glad to have a buddy.

In other news, I have finally worked up the nerve to cut this quilt into pieces to make the living room window valance.  Fear of failure - for about a month now.

See, I did it!  Now to sew it together, line it and get it hung.  Or hanged.

No, people are hanged; fabulous window treatments are hung.

Time for a kitty update...

on how our new addition is getting along with his new brother and sister.  As you can see, Peter is unaffected by having to share his home, food, litter box and Mom's affection with the new guy.  He did, however, suggest that we give Besito a nickname: Bee.  Besito doesn't seem to mind - he even answers to Bee when I call him.  He's not quite ready for any lengthy belly rub sessions, but he's coming around.

Bee had brought some of his own Friskies along with him, so I put that food in the bowl so he would have something familiar.  Aggie and Pete will eat anything - so a small change wasn't a problem for them.

He looks at me from his spot in the kitchen, but isn't quite sure whether or not he wants to come over to my desk for a visit.  I just need to give him some time, I guess.  The other two are always willing to come and see me - probably looking for treats!

Everyone needs their own spot, as they say.  Bee decided that he would prefer to sleep in the chair - without the pillows.  He has moved them to the floor for the time being.

Apparently, Bee likes the chair in front of my desk better than the one in the living room.  He has made himself comfortable here several times throughout the day and in the evening this past week while the rest of us are reading.  He seems happy to be here and we are happy to have him - if he'd only let me pet him!

We are happy to announce...

that we have adopted a new kitty!  His name is Besito and he is seven years old.  He is a beautiful, sleek black cat and he seems to be adjusting well - so far.  Peter is apparently happy to have a feline playmate and Aggie - well, Aggie doesn't care one way or the other.  She's had cats around all her life and I think she regards them as either siblings or some necessary evil in her little world.

Besito explored the kitchen first and checked out where the daily food and water supply is located.

Then he set off to check out the living room, the bedroom and where to find the litter box.  There has been no hissing, chasing or fighting as of yet.  Hopefully there won't be any at all - we're just a happy little family.

I'm sure that we will never...

make the Forbes list of best places in the US to work, but Aggie and Peter and I really like working at home.  They're not much help, but they are lots of company.  They are also good listeners.  While Aggie takes her position as Senior Associate and Director of Security very seriously, I am sure people regard her barking as more of a nuisance than a deterrent.  Peter naps works behind the scenes and generally makes an appearance at the desk around quitting time every day.  I am blessed to be able to work at home and spend time with my pets - especially these past few weeks with no means of transportation!  A conventional employer would not have been as understanding as I am.  Not that I am conventional - but you know what I mean.  I've also been blessed this week with lots of additional - and unexpected - work (as well as payments from deadbeats!) that will make Ray's unforeseen car doctor bills a little easier to handle.  And in the big scheme of things, my associates and I don't really need much more than each other and a stack of good books.

And for that, I am really thankful!

An exercise in visualization...

I'm willing to give it a try.  Think it will work?

I love these funny cat photos and captions!

Now is the time...

for all individuals of a feline nature to join together against our common enemies, both foreign and domestic.  While my person sleeps, I study the ways of the Humans.  I have mastered self-portraiture with a digital camera and I am poised for blog domination.  Comrades - tune in to this frequency where I will relay further instructions from our Leader.  Until then, I remain, sincerely yours...

Cats, burning candles and finding your calling...

I know it's sort of silly, but I really like burning scented candles.  For a long time I couldn't burn candles at home because of our herd of overly inquisitive cats.  I couldn't even put a candle in one of those warmers that just melts the wax to release the scent.  I came home one day to find red candle wax all over the wall and poor George's front paws encased in the stuff.  It took a while to get George clean and he wasn't happy about it.  No more candles for me.  I took advantage of being able to enjoy them at the office where Peter was completely oblivious.  He still shows absolutely no interest in a candle at all - and so I am happy to have not only a vanilla candle in the warmer tucked away on the living room bookshelf, but a candle actually burning on my desk for most of the day.  It doesn't take much to please me; I'm simple that way.

Which is not to say that I don't miss the all of the cats, because I do.  Terribly - so much so sometimes that I can hardly bear to think about them and where they all might be now.  These are my grey twinkie boys: Walter Kroncat and Charles Kuralt.  I know that Tim's cat lady friend found a home for Charley, but the last I knew, Walter was still at the farm living in the cow barn with his sister Lucie Bee, Louis XII, Sophie, Ernest Hemingway and my sixteen-year-old Eddie, aka Edward R. Murrow.  I love them all and I hope they know that - but life changes sometimes and there is nothing we can do about it.  It wasn't my decision to split them up and give them away - but I also know that I assign human emotions to them when I am rational enough to know that they are animals and have most likely forgotten all about me.

It doesn't make it hurt any less.

And when life doesn't turn out the way we have hoped it would, we find other ways to occupy our time.  At least I have - and I may have finally found - or rediscovered - my calling.  I recently read that the things we do while we are procrastinating to keep from working are probably the things we are really meant to be doing all along.  The writer of the original thought put it much more eloquently - but that's the gist of it.  I write when I should be working - and I've always dreamed of writing for a living.  For years I've written and edited and torn up my work.  I've started and stopped and started again.  I finally decided over the past couple of weeks that the only way I would ever find out if I could really write fiction was to just throw my words out to the universe and see if anyone bothered to read them.  I've challenged myself to write my first real mystery one day at a time - a chapter at a time for a small but hopefully growing audience.  If my readers want to know how the story ends, then I'll have to write it.  If they hate it, well - that's fine, too.  At least I will have finished the story.  I found this funny photograph today of me with my first typewriter; I must have been about six.  My sister looks stunned - I'm not sure why.  But I was having a good time.  Maybe I knew what my calling was back then - and I somehow lost sight of it along the way.  I've graduated to more sophisticated writing tools over the years, but I'm hoping to rediscover the joy of story-telling.

As good as new...

after having his left front paw re-attached, this is Marmalade.  He is the guardian of the client area - as well as the silent member of the welcome committee.  He was an anniversary gift many years ago and I am quite fond of him.  He lost his collar and name tag in the move somehow, but I think he's pretty sporty without it.  I was pondering a Christmas ribbon the other day when I noticed that his left front paw had been snapped off and was lying right next to his other foot.  He does stand in a high-traffic area - but it's still a mystery as to how he was injured.  Time to break out the super glue, I decided - and now he's back to his former self.  Now I'm trying to find a safer place for him; I'd hate for him to suffer a worse fate than a broken paw.
Any ideas?

You might have noticed that my photographs are back to normal - some idiot changed the camera setting from automatic to something I don't even understand!

Three things...

First, we are happy to announce the Peter the Mediocre has been promoted to Peter the Very, Very Good.  He is still working on the title of Peter the Great and we will notify you when he achieves that goal.

Second, I gave in to the chocolate calling my name at the grocery store this morning.  I made brownies yesterday afternoon and somehow, for a cook that normally underbakes everything, I burned the damn things!  They were palatable when they were warm, but they are terrible cold.  The rest of the batch may become a brownie trifle - they are in the freezer waiting for culinary inspiration to strike.

And finally, have I mentioned how much I love Etsy?  I've discovered all sorts of vintage stuff that I never knew I'd ever be able to find anywhere.  This cookbook is just like the one my mom had - published in 1933 by General Electric.  It's called All About Home Baking - and full of great old-time recipes for things like Lady Baltimore Cake and Clever Judy Frosting.  Fun!  I also found this vintage cookie press (same Etsy seller - saved on shipping!) with a dozen different discs.  Tim had gotten me one at a yard sale several years ago and the press was lost in the move - all I could find were the discs in their wooden holder, which were of absolutely no use to me - so I donated them to Goodwill.  And lo and behold, the day I found this cookbook - I found the cookie press too!  I was extremely pleased with my under $20 find - and a good dose of nostalgia, too.  Have I mentioned how much I love Etsy?

Happy Father's Day...

Daddy & Woodie - 1984

to the man who passed the cat fanatic gene along to me.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and smile.  Or laugh out loud.

Thanks for being the best dad I could have ever hoped for.

I always thought that pets...

were the easiest people to buy Christmas gifts for.  Apparently the jury is still out on Peter's kitty cube.

Do you think he knows I only paid $3.47 for it at WalMart?

Aggie, on the other hand, seems to be quite enamored of her new toy.

I'm batting .500!

Cats in the...

cloche - Peter would just steal them right out of a cradle, don't you think?  I've finally found a way to display my miniature cats!  My husband gave me quite a few miniature artist cats and bears over the years and when I moved there was no room for my curio cabinet which had previously kept them safe from marauding felines.  They've been languishing in a basket in the closet until I had this brainstorm - and aren't they cute?  One of them even has a little Santa hat and a wreath with little bells.  Yes - that's a little spotted dog in the front.  He just would not be left behind.  I added the ribbon to the top and voila! - a Christmas decoration and a collectible display all in one.  I'm so happy to be able to visit with all the kitties again - it's been a while.

I only went to the mailbox...

and I came home to find this on my desk and most everything else, including a month's worth of invoices and receipts for my tortilleria client, on the floor.

I love my little helpers!

Now here's a trained cat...

named Quidditch.  My friend Carolyn and her husband, Larry, belong to him.  They live near Atlanta.  Isn't he the cutest thing?  She says that he sits on his stool and patiently waits for his portion at every meal.  Apparently, he is a very polite and well-mannered boy.  Aggie could take a lesson - or two.  We had catfish for supper tonight and Miss Thing and her partner in crime were concerned that I would not give them their fair share.

Like just when did that ever happen?