The story of Ed....

Some time during the fall this little skinny cat started showing up at my house. We would feed him and then he would go on his merry way.  He was a very skittish guy, but he liked to rub up against your legs. One night while coming in with his dish to give him food, he followed us in.  He ate and then wanted to go back out. This went on for a while. Eventually it started to snow so we would just feed him in the house and when he would scratch we would let him back out to go where ever it was that he went. Back in December he disappeared for about a week, we just assumed he found a warm place to hunker down. Then one night there he was again, I mentioned to my husband that I thought he got into a fight because a piece of his ear was missing......We decided to keep him inside and take him to get fixed. The next day my husband took Ed to the local shelter that has a catch and release program in order to keep the kitten population down. Turns out that missing piece of ear is their "mark" plus he has a tattoo on his belly to prove that he has been fixed. So we are thinking that that week he went "missing" was because he had gotten fixed! It started snowing real bad and I just couldn't put him out, so what went from "lets keep him until the weather gets warmer" ended up being "we should just keep him" I believe Ed was a dog reincarnated into a cat, he was the ONLY cat I have ever met that would flop down on you for belly rubs. I already have 3 cats, so when my friend expressed interest in Ed for her daughter, I knew we couldn't find him a better home. We kept Ed until she closed on her house. Unfortunately, Ed took a fast decline in health and on Wednesday was rushed to the Vet where he had to be put down. He tested positive for both Feline Leukemia and Aids. Putting an animal to sleep is never easy no matter how much time you may have spent with them. The Vet was very nice and mentioned "Although this is hard, you have to be thankful that he didn't suffer outside, alone in the snow, he was loved for a short time, fed and kept safe during his last days" Sweet, little Ed, the cat that liked his belly rubbed!

Got Ink?

The thing about tattoos is, everyone has their own vision of what they think they should look like. My arm has been touched by 3 different artists. I was about to just give up and "live" with what I had. I am in AWE with what my artist has been able to do, I am so impressed and excited to finish! The first 2 photos are the work I had done today 1/31/15. The 3rd photo shows the progress of the 3 artists and the last one shows the before and after of my Sea Turtle. THAT Turtle has been touched 5 times. It was one of those tattoos done by someone who needed bodies to practice on. It was "ok" originally, it was the size of a silver dollar, the color was muddy and many people thought it was a birthmark of some sort. After a few years I got it covered up, then decided to build on it and it got touched up again and again and....well, you get the picture! So a word of advice...DO YOUR HOMEWORK ON YOUR POTENTIAL ARTISTS!!!!! IF only I had this would be done, money would be saved and I would be working on other things. 

Cosmic Bowling

It has been a long time since we have been bowling as a family. Other then my husband, we stink at bowling and no matter how many times he tries to coach us we all just do what we want anyway. Saturday night, Cosmic Bowling, 4 Adults, and 10 kids later, WE HAD A BLAST! We laughed, hi fived, took selfies, ate, drank and danced. What a nice weekend! 

I picked up these great Snap Storage boxes from Michaels, they are by Recollections and were on clearance for $5.00!!!

Got Ink?

I am moderately tattooed and my husband is heavily.  I knew there would come a day when at least one of my 3 children would ask for a tattoo and I would stand by my "NOT until you are 18" rule because I didn't get my first taste of ink until I was 20 and that was after years of wanting one. For the past 3 years my daughter has been taking ballet and hip hop classes. She is always in perpetual motion, doesn't matter what time of day or where she is, if the music moves her she is off and running. When she first mentioned it I was firm at "NO" but after a few months I decided to ask her what she wanted. I expected something like Hello Kitty, but when she presented this idea to me, I couldn't help but think about. Shouldn't tattoos be about something meaningful, especially your first one? I KNOW my child and I KNOW even if she were to stop dance classes tomorrow she will forever be in perpetual motion. She is 15 and I caved in, it is beyond beautiful in my eyes and I am so excited to see it finished.

7 year itch

We have lived in our current home for 7 years now and it has taken me equally as long to decide on what to do with our "Fancy sitting room" but I'll get back to that in a moment. Our home has 2 living rooms, we redid our family room a few years back, it was very rustic with faux ceiling beams and wood paneled walls which made the room dark, we finally sheet rocked, gave the fireplace a make over and painted. FINALLY I decided to revisit the aforementioned "fancy room" but what color to paint it was beyond me, I didn't want the whole house to be so many colors that it ended up looking tacky, so I decided on Blue which also happened to be the exact shade as our other family room. I was nervous at first painting 2 rooms on the same floor the same color but I absolutely adore my decision. I then went to Michaels and picked up these lovely picture frames that were buy one get one. Printed out over 200+ photos through Walgreens and went to town! I am so pleased with the results.....next project, laundry room ;)

Little Blue Teddy

Little Blue Teddy was purchased for $1.00 at a school bazaar. My oldest who is now 18 bought this for her little sister when she was in first grade. My daughter who was only a year old at the time treasured this little bear like it was a bar of gold. Blue Teddy was NOT allowed to leave the house out of fear of losing him. I searched high and low for a back up but just couldn't find one. Blue Teddy disappeared once and it was the worst experience,  he fell behind the bed and wall. Little sister will be turning 14 and is ok with putting Blue Teddy in this little frame.