Waiting for you Spring...

I think I'm done with winter.   It wasn't a bad one but it was still cold and dreary.    I love the coziness of it all but around January or February, I'm ready for Spring.

I did manage to grow a random sprig of leaf off of my sweet potato that I had forgotten about in the corner of the kitchen.   Don't ask me what I'm going to do with it.    I just love that SOMETHING is growing.

I wrote a little message for Spring.  I hope it gets the message.

Time to let this bird out of the cage.   I'm so ready for Spring!

Habib is even gazing out the window wondering what it would be like on the deck.  He's gone on the deck a few times since I adopted him.   Still don't trust him completely...but when he does get out there, I watch him like a hawk.

Perseus had a dose of sun today.   Nearly killed him.  He'll get used to it, I'm sure.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

And life goes on....

So hi.  How's life been the last 12 months?  I feel so bad that I dropped off the face of the earth back then.  It's strange, though, coming back and typing a post and updating my blog seems like it was only yesterday.   That's good, right?   My old bones don't feel the same way.  Ha.   Well, I'm going to do a quick update in pictures.   I'm sure you'll get it.  Easier than writing a thousand words and boring you.

Unfortunately, Sergio and I didn't work out.   Wonderful person, wonderful man but there were a few non-negotiables that I couldn't overlook.   It's not that he didn't do anything horrible or terrible, just that THAT non-negotiable wasn't there for me.   I'm allowed to be picky at my age, right?   But you know what? I'm OKAY.   I've been on my own for awhile before and after and I am comfortable enough to be alone (with my cats).  :)   I don't mind the crazy cat lady bit either.  I proudly wear that hat!    To be honest, if I had my time in relationships or being married, like I once was, and this is my time to be alone, I'm totally fine with that.  I am enjoying life to the fullest with all my wonderful friends and family and really count my blessings!   So, for now, it's just me and the cats and we are all happy campers.  :)

Still cooking and enjoying my wine!  This was at mom's house over the holidays.

Always enjoy family time.   Me and mom here over the holidays.  Isn't my mom beautiful?   :)

Still crafting fun projects!

Still baking.

Still loving animals.

Added one more boy to my group.   This is Habib (means beloved one in Arabic).    If you followed my blog for several years, you'll remember Sachi, my girlfriend who passed away from cancer.   I had to place all her cats into the shelter where I volunteer.  Broke my heart but at least they had a place to go that was warm.  One has not yet found a home.  :(    Habib here was the most feral out of them all and I worked with him for two years before caving...and bringing him home to love.  Yea, that whole working with the feral ones then falling in love with them thing isn't working well for me.  BUT...I'm sure Sachi is thanking me from above.   Still working on finding Gabby a home though.   By the way, that is IT for bringing anymore home. ;)

And this year, I have hosted some fun girly get togethers and craft parties.  I plan on having more this year!

I still have all my other activities going strong like my paranormal research group, have added some tarot card readings to my resume (I've somehow opened up psychically...my girlfriend says it's because I don't have a man in my life as a distraction, lol).   I still faithfully volunteer every other weekend at the shelter and two of my girlfriends come with me now!   We make it our Sunday girl time and we stop off at our favorite Scottish pub afterwards.   I love having a "regular" thing.  Do you have any?

Quincy has his own Facebook page now.   Well, Quincy and the gang.  ;)   Feel free to stop by and say hi.  I've met so many other fellow animal lovers, it's been wonderful!   I've forced him to do some dress-up to celebrate the seasons.    I think he still loves me.  ;)   Click on his picture and it will take you to his Facebook page.

Oh!  Oh!  I cannot forget this last detail.    A fellow blogger, Lindsey (and her hubby and fur kids), who is the owner of Wicket's Mom's blog moved to town and we hit it OFF!   She has been one of the girlfriends who has started helping me at the shelter every other weekend.   It's kinda like meeting a star, ya know?     You follow someones blog for so many years and finally meeting them...well...you almost want to ask for an autograph.   We opted for the Cheesecake Factory over a nice dinner and drinks (girl date).   We share so many things in common like animals, shopping, food, shopping, the paranormal, and shopping.  Did I mention shopping?  I feel like I've known her all my life.  So thankful for our new found friendship!   

Miss you all and I am slowly making my rounds!

Excuse me for awhile while I redesign my blog...

So if you see crazy templates or things that make you dizzy, forgive me...I promise I will make it quick.

Need to Revamp This Blog Design Badly!

So I want to revamp this blog completely but I have no clue where to start.  I've been away for so long, I'm sure all of you are experts at creating blog headers, designing your blogs, making your own badges, etc.   I've been stuck in never, never land with two jobs (no longer two, now just one) that have nothing to do with creativity.  I feel so out of the loop!

I promised an update but before I do that, I need a facelift!   Any suggestions on where to start?

Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

One quick update!  Quincy now has his own Facebook page and he's goin' strong with his four siblings.  Yes, you heard me right, four.  *sigh*   I'm stopping there!   I've met so many wonderful people from his page.  Fellow animal lovers, cat collectors like me and I don't feel as crazy as I thought I was doting on my cats obsessively.   I am in good company.  :)   Swing by if you get a chance.  Updates are daily on his page!  He's still the king of the household.  Click on his picture above to follow the link to his page!

Is Anyone Still Around?

Testing, testing....anyone out there?  It's me.  Remember me?   Yea, the one that dropped off the face of the earth back in February of 2013?   Well, I'm back.  Give me a few days and let me surprise you.  :)   Oh yes...Quincy is still around.   He says hello.  He's still grumpy.   xo

Beautiful days and beautiful objects

You know, I despise getting up early in the morning.    I grumble and yawn and curse under my breath sometimes, but when I see views like this on my morning drives, I completely forget about getting up early.   We've had really mild weather here in the Pacific Northwest these days.   I've heard a lot of places across the U.S. have had some wild and crazy weather.    Well, I'm the last to complain because I'd rather have the sun and warmer weather than snow.  :)

Can you believe this is my drive to work?

This past weekend my girlfriend and I had a great afternoon of vintage shopping at the Funky Junk Sister's Vintage Market. Of course, I took out a set amount of money and ended up using my debit card in the end. Always going over my budget, lol. A couple of some adorable finds.

For the guest bedroom that I am redoing.

Hope you're all surviving the crazy weather! Whether cold or hot, enjoy every minute of your beautiful life! xoxo

Brighter New Year!

Love, love, loving this coat I got from Target a couple of weeks ago.   Yea, it's bright, yea, it's a little obnoxious but this year I am going to start wearing brighter clothes!    It's sort of vintage, too so I had to buy it.   Bright = happiness, right?  :) 

Are you like me?   I go to Target to get necessities and end up with about a thousand other things in my cart that were not on my list.  *sigh*   I am guessing that will be my New Year's resolution.   A little self-control with the spending!  ;)

Happy belated New Year!    May 2013 be positive and fruitful for you all!

I found the Grinch!

No but seriously, he was the only one that would stay still when I put the hat on. He's the only one that FREEZES whenever something odd has been slipped on him. :) Thanks for being a good sport, Quincy!

Perseus

I'm quickly realizing that I'm a hoarder.   Not your normal hoarder who hoards food, clothes, makeup or even shoes.  Nope.  I'm a cat hoarder.   I should be enrolled in Cats Anonymous if there is such a thing. My name is Michelle and I'm a cat hoarder.  Well I'm not feeling guilty one bit!   I'm thankful my sweetheart loves animals as much as I do also.  :)  

So, with that said, meet Perseus.  He's six months old and every bit a spunky teenager.    My best friend rescued him and his sister from inside a crate that was delivered to their scrap metal business.   She heard little cries coming from the crate but they were in a spot where she couldn't get to them.  So, she called Roto Rooter and had them cut them out!  Unfortunately one did not make it but Perseus and his sister Lily survived.    However, Perseus was near death.    His body temperature was so low and they weren't sure if he would make it.   They rushed him to a vet where he was dipped in warm water throughout the night to get his body temperature back up.    The little bugger made it.   It was a miracle.  Unfortunately she couldn't keep Perseus because of her dogs and begged for me to FOSTER.   That dreaded six letter word sucked me in yet again.   I agreed to FOSTER.   Well, you know the story from there right?  

The great thing is he has brought the kitten out of Quincy and they both play like brothers.  :))

Baby Perseus not long after he was rescued.

Five months old and all TEEN.

He started getting a little too comfortable.

I mean WAY comfortable.

True love...he's mine..all mine.

Someone get me a can of tuna! Meow

The only time you will see me dressed up as a CAT.  Lol!    I cannot believe I had to work in this today but my office literally forced me.    I told them I would in exchange for cans of tuna.   I tried it on at home and I scared the cats out of their fur, well almost.   Quincy's eyes nearly bugged out of his head and everyone else ran under the bed.    I can imagine what they were thinking.   Crap!  Mom has finally turned into one of us!  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Stay safe!
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A Visit with the Family!

So, I'm debating whether to start a brand new blog altogether.   Do you ever feel like some things have gone full circle?   Like maybe that was part of a past life?   I guess I'm kind of feeling like that about this blog.  I'm not sure why?   Maybe it has felt like several lives ago since I last blogged and so much of my life has changed since then.   Hmmm....I will have to think on that for awhile.

Anyway, about a week and a half ago I went home to visit family!  Well, more specifically my sister, niece and brother-in-law.  See, they are not going to be around at Thanksgiving so I wanted to spend some quality time with them before they leave for my brother-in-law's mother's place in Florida.   It turned out to be such a fun visit!   We decorated the house for Halloween.  I watched my niece as she started crafting her costumer (she's going to be a Skittle, he! he!), played with Max, my doggy nephew and Paris' new guinea pigs Flapjack and Peanut (so dang cute), had a wonderful dinner with the family (unfortunately mom and step dad couldn't make it that night).  The weather was beautiful, there was a gorgeous sunset that evening and fun was to be had by all!

Here are a few family pics we took from that evening.   We HAD to take advantage of that "to die for" sunset!  Oh and yes, I have REALLY blonde highlights.  Lol!    My Fall color.  I'm thinking my next visit I'll be going back to dark with deep burgundy highlights (like you all needed to know that,, lol).

The three siblings

Me and Paris!

Sis' beautiful fam

The gang before dinner

Me, bro and Paris!

There's nothing that can replace your family, so visit often, laugh together a lot and love always!

xoxo

Some of us are lazy...

But mom wants you all to know that she hasn't been lazy, just BUSY! Between the cat shelter, ghost hunting, opening a booth at a local antique mall with her girlfriend, working a job and a half, yoga, writing, and more we're amazed she has time to still play with us!

Anyway, she wanted me to let you know she's still alive. If you haven't noticed, she still has time to feed us. THANK GOD.

You knew I couldn't last long...meet Lily!

Yep, you all know me well. I think three is my lucky number. :) But there's a story that comes with this. Lily is from the shelter I volunteer at. When she came into the shelter (6 years ago...she is now 9 years old) she was pretty feral. When I came to work at the shelter a couple years ago or so..I felt drawn to her...because she was so shy and feral and would hardly let anyone touch her. I worked with her and worked with her every time I went in. Today, she is loving and loves to be touched and given love. I made a promise to her that should my circumstances change and I could find room in my life for her...I would...and I did.

She is one of a few cats that have been at the shelter most of her life and probably was not adoptable. Since we have been so overcrowded at the shelter, I felt like this was the right time. She is so happy. She's doing things I have never seen her do at the shelter that tells me she is a happy girl. I'm keeping her separated for a little while until the other kitties warm up to her.

I think Quincy is trying to impress her.

This doesn't look like the shelter. I think I finally have my own home!

More pictures to come!

Crocheting Away!

So I've taken up crocheting...and I've turned into a mad crocheting woman! It all started before Christmas, really. I wanted to make handmade gifts. I love homemade gifts that are given to me..I just think they are a little more special than store bought gifts because love and hard work went into making them. Soooo....I started off with those infinity scarves that are so popular now and crocheted three to give as gifts to the girls in my family.

Of course, being a Gemini and acquiring ADD at an older age, I get bored quickly so I had to change it up a little. I started crocheting these darling wrist warmers. :)


It's a little hard to have yarn around with cats. Lol! But you know I can't deny 'em!



Happy Thursday!

My five dollar find....

I love it. Don't you? Thank God for "inexpensive" antique stores. :)

What is your vision for 2012?

First off, Happy New Year, everyone! I am so glad 2011 is over with. I am thankful for so many things that had happened this past year but this year seemed to have more struggles than others. One of my biggest struggles was losing Mocha, as you well know. It's still hard for me to look at pictures or talk about her without crying.

HOWEVER, one of my goals (I don't like saying New Year's resolution because when I say that I never stick to it) is to look at the positive side of things. I am thankful for all that I have in my life and appreciate these gifts everyday. :) So, what will be will be and for now, I take things day by day and try to be the happiest I can be everyday.

Anyhoo, I'm rambling. To start out the new year, my girlfriend and I decided to get together and create vision boards. Have you seen those? It's where you cut things out of magazines, pictures, words, or whatever it is you want to put on it that will reflect what you want in your life and that's what we did. We had a nice quiet and fun evening putting these together along with munchies and a bottle of wine. Quincy and Emma are in disagreement since I convinced her to bring Sage, her puppy (well big puppy) over. Needless to say, Emma spent the evening under the bed but Quincy, well I'm a little impressed. He stood his ground with Sage and would not budge..hissed a little...raised his back a little....went poof with his fur and Sage actually left him alone. I think she may have been afraid a bit. Lol! It was very funny to watch. Quincy and Emma have been around dogs before but not one this big. Sage is such a puppy herself, I knew things would be okay.

I am so proud of Quincy though! He stood up for what he believed in and didn't run in fear. We need to take advice from him for the New Year, right? I, myself, am taking his advice and taking a risk this year on something big but I will have to wait to tell you. I'll have to see how it turns out first. If it's successful, I'll tell ya. If not, maybe you'll forget I said anything. ;)

Hope you all had a wonderful celebration and like me, start 2012 off with only positive thoughts!

xoxo

Happy Holidays!

Picture Courtesy of Country Living Magazine

Just stopping in to wish you all a wonderful holiday! I am headed to California again. I have been so busy lately and I have been a horrible blogger...but after the New Year it will be another story! I promise! I miss you all so much. My New Years resolution will to be more organized and set aside an amount of time to blog every week.

Hope you all have a cozy holiday with family and friends. See you soon!

While cleaning up the garden....

I picked some fresh rosemary to dry but then I had another idea. :)



Voila! A fresh Rosemary wreath. :)

It made the kitchen smell so good!

Hope you're all having a wonderful week! I just bought my tickets to fly home to California for Thanksgiving! I can't wait because I am always missing my family and I am so thankful for my family during this holiday season. :)

Still here....

We've just been healing from our loss of Miss Mocha...and being sick for weeks on end. Quincy and Emma have taken wonderful care of me. :) The kitties have even gone through a change since Mocha has been gone. Quincy went through a bit of a depression and became VERY needy with mommy for weeks after. Emma on the other hand turned into the happiest little kitten you'd ever seen. She plays now and runs around like a happy go lucky cat. Lol! Mocha and Emma never really got along so I think Emma is probably happy she is the alpha female now. I, on the other hand, still tear up to this day. Even yesterday, driving to work, it hit me without warning and I sobbed in the car while driving. I know this will take time but life goes on! We have pretty much gotten back to a normal schedule and I will be posting more. I have missed you all and I'm so sorry I haven't visited you more often!

I hope you are all doing wonderful and not sick like me! This past weekend I literally watched The Hallmark channel ALL weekend long. You know, those holiday movies that make us all have the warm fuzzies and wish life could really be like those movies? Well, I watched them all twice now. I'm waiting for the new ones next weekend but I probably don't plan on watching them twice. Oh who knows, maybe I will. I love weekends home, especially on cold rainy days where I can snuggle in with the kitties and drink a hot cup of tea in bed with my favorite chocolate croissant from Trader Joes. :) xoxo