• cats,  God,  humor,  pets

    All creatures, great and small

    I’m a big fan of God’s creatures. The only things that make me uncomfortable are large, jumping spiders or roach gangs (you know they never travel alone). That said, when I woke up in the middle of the night to let my dog outside, and happened to wander into the living room to find our three cats strategically hunkered down around the swivel chair, I became apprehensive. Tails were swishing in wide strokes (except for Ollie, the Manx cat sans tail) indicating the hunt was on. With only my outdated eyeglasses and lack of courage to guide me, I returned to bed. One of three things would happen: 1) Whatever…

  • cats,  life after 50,  pets

    Lessons I have learned from Raja, the Kroger kitten

    Enjoy life to the fullest. Race around joyfully at unexpected times and play with imaginary (or real) airborne objects. People will wonder what you’ve been up to. Eat, play, nap and repeat. Include others whenever possible (except when visiting the litterbox). Sunny spots on the floor are warm as are the places recently vacated by others. Pay attention to the small things in life. This includes spots on the wall, people’s toes, hair, eyeglasses and strings hanging down from just about anything. Pens, pencils, drinking straws, mascara tubes, jewelry, etc., make wonderful hockey pucks and increase one’s dexterity. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. After each meal, it’s best to wash…

  • cats,  pet rescue,  pets

    I got my cat at Kroger’s grocery store

    When we can’t get to our locally owned grocery store, my husband and I shop at Kroger’s in north Terre Haute. Kroger’s offers you a discount on gasoline, based on your monthly in-store grocery purchases. We’ve been known to save 30 or 40 cents per gallon, easy. This summer a Sister of Providence that I work with told me she saw a black and white kitten at Kroger’s gas pumps the previous night. She talked to it as she filled her tank but it became frightened and ran under a wooden pallet piled high with wood for sale. She told us this story at a meeting because she knows that…

  • cats,  Christian,  faith,  friendship,  life after 50,  pets,  writing

    Help me reach my goal …

    I’d like to write at least one blog a week in 2011. As you can see, I’m starting this goal a little late – it’s March already. To spur me on, I’m asking for friends to visit my blog and click “follow me” on the top right-side menu. You can sign in using your Google, Twitter or Yahoo account. You’ll be notified when (and if) I write a new blog post. So, in essence, you’re keeping me honest and motivated to complete my goal. In return for your faithful following, I will try and give you a chuckle or laugh at an interesting anecdote or happening in our meager lives…

  • inspiration,  motivation,  writing

    Motivation

    It’s Monday and I was looking for a little motivation so I visited one of my (soon-to-become) favorite blogs/tweeters. It’s called Urban Writers Retreat It’s a great idea. They offer retreats at a warehouse or other cool writing hangout that’s optimized for writing. Okay, so this one particular retreat is in London. I wouldn’t mind visiting London again sometime. Where did I put my pics of London? See how easy it is to get sidetracked when I should be writing? I like the premise of creating a space just for writing. No distractions (okay, perhaps just a kitty or two). This is a wake-up call for me to continue to…

  • transplant,  writing

    Nothing “blue” about blueberries

    I found blueberries on sale at the local grocery store and brought them home. I had a blueberry almond bar recipe that I wanted to try but could never find the time. We ate some of the blueberries on ice cream and they were awesome but the majority of them sat, washed, in the fridge. Over the weekend, my husband had a grand idea, “Why don’t you make a blueberry pie?” After getting a trusted recipe off of the Internet, I went to the store, got a few ingredients and made two pies. The house smelled like blueberry heaven after I put the pies on top of the stove to…

  • customer service,  non-fiction,  relationship

    Rant of the day

    Okay, call me old fashioned but is it too much to ask to have a real person check you out at the grocery store? I know every business is looking to cut costs but I don’t see the savings. By the time I attempt to scan each item (3-4 times because the little bar code doesn’t register), look up and punch in produce codes, and enlist the one real checker’s help in entering coupon codes, and show her my ID for the bottle of wine, I could have gone through the line with the human checker 3 or 4 times. Let’s think about other “service” industries where we wouldn’t appreciate…