Feline Friday

 Things you can do from atop the cat tree:

Hang your feets straight down:

  Then fall asleep pressed against the window, watching your meowmy work in the garden:

 

 Discover coffee brewing and wonder if it's tasty:

 

 Say hi to new friends!

 

Or let your imagination go wild:

 

Happy Feline Friday! 

jp

Feline Friday with Rory

 While her meowmy was away recently, Cousin Rory in Texas broke in an awesome new cat sitter! As you can see, Rory was pretty stressed out about it. LOL

 

She loves her new cat sitter and was only too happy to show off for her!

  It's a great sign to see Rory exposing her tummy like this. Kitties only do that if they feel safe and secure. 

 And of course, it's fun and reassuring for Cousin Rory's meowmy to see pictures while she is away and know that everything is going great!

 

If you have a furbaby in your life, you know that a caring and professional pet sitter is worth his or her weight in gold. Here's to those unsung heroes who care for our furbabies while we're away! 💕

Happy Feline Friday!

jp

 

Feline Friday: Refill Day!

I have to store Lily's food in a container with a tight lid because she's quite good at prying things open. In addition, I  store the big bag of extra food in the garage because -- you guessed it -- she will gnaw a hole right in the bag to create a free-flowing dispenser! BTDT!

So if you're Lily, you know it's going to be a good day if it's time to refill your food storage container! There is always the opportunity to snag a few extra morsels while Mommie has her back turned.

Recently I was fixin' to refill Lily's container and left it sitting on the floor with the lid off (my first mistake). I ran out to the garage to get the bag and came back to her attempting to tip over the container. Naturally, she easily pulled it down and created a minor food spill. I was too busy scooping up food before she inhaled it to get a picture, but you can imagine what that looked like. Please see Exhibit A for an idea of what she's capable of... 😅

Meanwhile I left the food bag unattended (my second mistake). While I was cleaning up the food spill, THIS happened.

Yep, she managed to poke herself far enough into the bag to grab a few tasty morsels.

 All I can say is Royal Canin Moderate Calorie Urinary S.O. kibble must be extra DELICIOUS! Actually, Lily thinks pretty much any food is extra delicious! 😀
jp

Scrapbooks Under Construction!

This is a page from 2003 from a scrapbooking convention our store hosted. I only recently scrapbooked this big event! The title "Scrapbooks Under Construction" seems fitting for this post!

I talk with people all the time who are behind on their scrapbooking, and I can certainly relate to that! After considerable messing around with things, I FINALLY finished the 2004 scrapbooks...14 years later!

You might be wondering why I was in this predicament to begin with. Way back then, in 2004 or thereabouts, I did quite a bit of scrapbooking but started skipping over events or activities that I didn't want to scrapbook, such as holidays. All holidays. And vacations. All vacations. And cat pictures. All cat pictures. And anything with a picture of ME. With so much skipping, I had oodles of pictures still not scrapbooked.

Add to that the problem of the old post-bound album format, which made it hard to go back and add photos...and that's why I am in this situation today: Partially finished albums.

Thank goodness for 3-ring binders! I converted all of my post-bound albums to this format, which makes life ever so much easier. And thank goodness for pocket pages, with which I easily added the missing events into my 2004 albums. I forced myself to deal with the Christmas photos and they really weren't as overwhelming as I expected. I kept telling myself that as soon as Christmas was done, the album would be finished!

I just kept the format very simple and added a few captions here and there. With that, I've finished two albums for 2004.

 However, we did go to DisneyWorld that summer, so I have an entire vacation still to do. I've purchased the album and paper for that and plan to start that project in short order.

 So I thought I'd take a cautious one-eyed peek to see how daunting 2005 might be. When I lifted the lid on the photo box, I could see that it was stuffed FULL, so that was a bit concerning! 

 But when I pulled out my albums, I could see that I've already made two albums for that year and they're also very full, which suggested that I just MIGHT be in better shape than it appeared! I started looking through the pictures in the box and comparing them to layouts already done and discovered...HIP HIP HOORAY!...that with just a few exceptions, almost all of the events have already been scrapbooked! The photos in the box are duplicates which I promptly and GLEEFULLY recycled!

Now I did discover TWO big trips in that box which will also need to be scrapbooked, but I will do those separately as they will need to go in a different album.

 Then I turrned to my memorabilia files....YIKES! This is where I will need to focus my attention for 2005. In these files are newspaper clippings, programs, tickets, etc. which need to be incorporated into the two albums. I had skipped over them previously because I was using the old post-bound format. So now I will use smaller sleeves and just add them in between the pages that are already done in my 3-ring binders. This will be easy to do and shouldn't take a lot of time. Some of this stuff is vacation memorabilia, so it's actually not quite as bad as it looks.

 

 So even though I still have a ton to do, I am slightly encouraged to find that 2005 won't be nearly as hard to scrpabook as the previous years I've worked on. I'm going to keep going and see how far I can get this weekend!

jp

Feline Friday: Good Morning, Rory!

Occasionally, in the early morning hours, my phone will *PING* with that familiar text sound. The only person who texts me at that hour is Bailey, so of course I always check my phone immediately to be sure everything is OK. (As all moms know, that's just what moms do.)

But I've also come to look forward to those early morning texts because they often deliver a picture of sweet Rory, doing her morning thing. And that precious girl never fails to bring a smile to my face, no matter the time of day. 

Good morning, Rory! 😊
jp

Catching Up on Scrapbooking: Slow but Steady

Emphasis on SLOW.

Very slow, actually.

Awhile back, I shared that I had finished loosely scrapbooking all of my 2004 photos, but still had to go back and add the journaling. I wasn't sure if this way of doing things would prove to be faster or slower. I do think there are efficiencies working this way, but OH, MY GOODNESS... 

I can't seem to find my way out of 2004! I'd like to be able to finish a page and not have to revisit it.

I am not going to do this again! Going forward, I won't move on until the page is completely done, with embellishments and journaling.

ANYWAY... here are some thoughts.

I've had to do a lot of "speed scrapbooking" with pocket pages to make everything fit in two albums for the year. The pages are very flat (no pop dots allowed!) with very few lumpy embellishments. Super simple. Most are so simple that they are not even worth sharing! LOL But my goal here is to just get the darn pictures out of the boxes and into the albums -- not to win any prizes! :) 

Here are some examples:

LH: Random kitten and camper photos -- on one page!

RH: Girl Scout trip, with newspaper article

  

Below are 3 super-simple, minimal embellishment pages. Journaling is always the most important thing to me. But when you wait 14 years to do the scrapbooking (AHEM!!), it's a test of one's memory! :) 

 Luckily, I've been diligent about keeping my memorabilia organized. That's my saving grace! For instance, I had saved newspaper articles about the new school that opened in 2004 and reading those articles reminded me of the excitement we felt at the time. During those years, I also had Bailey fill out a little "form" at the beginning and end of the school year. It's interesting to see what she looked forward to -- and worried about -- each year!

I've found several fun items in my memorabilia file. At left is a list of the Halloween candy Bailey collected on Trick or Treat night. Although she claimed the list was to keep track of popular candy trends, I really think she tallied up the totals so she'd know if someone (her father or me!) snitched a piece or two! :)

LH: Here's a 6x12 page using the only (poor quality) photos I had for an honor band event. If I don't have many photos, I find it helpful to just use a smaller page protector. The 3-ring binder makes that easy to do. Next to the 6x12 page, I included an 8.5x11 sleeve with the program.

Going back through these photos, it's evident that we were very busy during those middle school years! Bailey was involved in all kinds of projects and activities. Girl Scouts took up a good portion of our spare time, as I was a troop leader for many years. I have so many scouting photos that I've had to pare them down with minimal journaling, but I have kept some favorites including a few pictures of regular troop meetings. (When deciding which photos to keep, I try to save some that are representative of all of our activities. I also think about the kinds of photos I WISH I had from my childhood today!)

Until we lost my parents, we camped at the fair every year. Bailey would camp during the entire duration of the fair, so we have TONS of fair photos. These are precious pictures to me, so I tend to keep a lot more than I probably need to.

In addition to attending the fair, in many years we entered competitions so I have lots and lots of great stories in my scrapbooks. 

For a few years (LH page) Spouse was a judge in the chili competition. RH page: Both my aunt and mom entered exhibits in the dollhouse competition.

 

At this particular fair, Bailey entered the junior sewing competition with a pajama top and bottom. Looking back on these photos is a great reminder of how much fun we had during those years!

And that's really why we scrapbook: To preserve -- and re-live -- our stories. So no matter how long this process takes me, I will continue to work on my scrapbooks! 

jp

Feline Friday: The Importance of Playtime

 Happy Feline Friday! 

In today's post, I want to address a topic which I think is especially important for older kitties: PLAY. 

Let's face it: Kitties tend to get a bit lazy in their older years. Lily spends much of her time napping, and it's (too) easy for me to just let her do that.

 

 But I've recently been reading more about the importance of playtime for cats -- not only for exercise but also for mental stimulation. Indoor kitties lack the mental stimulation their outdoor cousins get through hunting, so it's up to their humans to provide it.

I'll confess I've gotten a bit lax over the years in providing intentional playtime for my cats. Tinsel adored playtime, much more than Lily, so in the year since she's been gone, I've had to remind myself to set aside 15 minutes or more each day just to play with Lily. If I don't "make" her play, she'll just get lazier and lazier...and that's not good for her health!

While Tinsel was with us, Lily would often sit to the side and watch her interact with me as if she were learning how to play. Now she enjoys some of the same games that Tinsel used to love. Her favorite is when I pull a string so that it disappears under a blanket...then she POUNCES (just like Tinsel) to grab it before it's gone from sight.

 

Lily has quite a large play/lounge area which often sprawls out into our family room. :)

 She has a box of toys, most of which are ribbons, pom poms, and mice of various sizes.

 Since we've been playing every day, Lily has come to look forward to it. She'll often sit next to her toy box (just like Tinsel used to do), signaling me that she's ready to play! 

When she really gets wound up, she "bunny kicks" with her back legs on her Expensive Cat Basket, making it turn like a Lazy Susan! It's one of the cutest things ever!

 If you're not playing with your kitty regularly, there's no time like TODAY -- FELINE FRIDAY -- to start! It may take a little time to discover the kinds of games your kitty enjoys, but I'm betting that in no time at all, your kitty will be looking forward to spending quality playtime with you!

 

This post was approved by Lily!

jp

TLC for the Grill/Garden Cart

 After a couple of summers in the intense patio heat, the "grill cart turned garden cart" was in need of some TLC this spring. The paint had chipped and the galvanized elements had not weathered well.

It took a bit of effort but, thanks to Spouse, the gray paint now looks much better. I spray painted the black elements again to touch them up and they now look fresher.

I found some galvanized tin-like spray paint and gave the birds a new coat. (Strangely, they had turned a chalky tan color in the sun.) While they're a little brighter than they were originally, I'm happy with how they turned out!

 

But the little buckets were in sorry shape, almost rusted through. Honestly, I don't think they were meant for outdoor use. OOPS!

I managed to scrape off some of the rust and tried spray painting one of them. It sort of worked but the buckets themselves were so worn that I decided to replace them. 

Luckily, I found the exact size online and, while they have a shiny instead of dull finish, they're much sturdier than the original buckets. They even have liners which will help protect the metal.

Once all the touch-ups were done, I loaded up the refurbished grill cart with a few herbs and flowers and we are off and running for another season!

 jp

"New" Gardens in May

 Those of you who follow my blog may remember the big garden overhaul from last summer. I had all of my perennials dug up, split, and moved, and added lots of new plants to my existing beds. Long story short, the work ended up being done in the hottest part of summer (not the best time to be planting perennials) and even though I watered like crazy, I didn't know how things would look this spring.

I'm happy to report that about 95% of the new plants returned! We had a late start to spring here so it took a long time for the plants to emerge, but most of them did finally come back. I lost the new rose and several smaller plants, and unfortunately some of my old perennials did not survive in their new spots. But overall I am happy with how everything is shaping up. Now that the weather seems like the tropics (!!!), the plants are really taking off.

So let's take a quick walk around the yard! :)

 I am still a little skeptical about the design of this skinny bed (I'm not too keen on how the lilies are all in a straight line), but I think it will be OK. The lilies have spread a little and are less lined up than they were when they were planted, so we'll see how it looks as things fill out. The peony on the right has budded but not bloomed yet. The hydrangea at the far left was slow to start but is finally filling out. Once the tropically-colored lilies bloom, it should be quite pretty.

 

  This is one of the large beds we re-worked. Even in the short time since I took this photo, the plants have grown much larger. The few that didn't make it will be replaced.

 We split and moved my very old purple iris to several new spots. They bloomed quite beautifully this spring, and it was nice to see pops of purple throughout both gardens! I shared these iris with many friends and I hear everyone is enjoying the color! We brought these iris from our old house 24 years ago, so they are very special to me. I'm glad I could share so many of them!

 

 This photo shows several empty spots along the front of the garden. The coral bells which didn't make it will be replaced.

 We planted five new clumps of Japanese iris, a new perennial for me. They are so tall and elegant! Two of the clumps bloomed well this year. I'm hopeful the others come around in time.

 As you round the corner to the side of the house, you can see a large empty spot. This is where we had moved my existing rose bush, but unfortunately it didn't survive. It was attacked last year by those dreaded Japanese beetles, so maybe that had something to do with it. I will put something different in that spot.

   This is a picture of the other bed which, as you can see, has filled in pretty nicely. In fact, some plants are quite close to each other which was not evident last summer! I have several clumps of the old purple iris in this bed, and I'm really pleased with how they look.

 The landscape designer helped me select plants to stagger the bloom time throughout the season, and so far I've been pleased with the color. After the iris bloomed, the lilac bush came on in full force, and now we have a variety of other plants blooming, including this salvia.

 

 I'm really happy so far with how things are shaping up! Since everything has either been moved or newly planted, I truly feel like the spaces are all brand new...yet still have the familiarity of my favorite plants from years past. I know I still have a few issues to deal with in these gardens, but that's just the nature of perennial gardening!

 I'm enjoying my garden spaces more than ever! I'll share more pictures in the coming weeks as new flowers bloom. :)

jp