With a Purr and a Awwwww.....

It's been a little while since I said a hi and hello there.

As most people who know me know...I am a cat lover. I love kitties.

We have been rescuing and rehoming stray and unwanted kittens and adult cats for 3 years now.

We still have Squeaky and Sookie, but last year we added three all black kittens to our kitty clan. We found homes for Poe and Merlin and decided to keep Magic.

She is bigger now and still growing.

We still have a collar on her with a red heart name tag.

She is all black and so hard to see, especially at night....the only thing that shows are her glowing yellow eyes.

She still is the baby...sleeping with Edward and me at night...although with the nasty heat we've had here lately she has been keeping her distance. 

Recently (just a couple of days ago) I rescued/adopted 2 little fur babies.

They are a sister and brother duo and look very similar to each other with little differences.

We've named them Charlie and Lucy.

Yes they are just that cute!

I am so happy that we adopted them.

The story went that they were found abandoned on the side of the road outside of Jacksonville, Oregon.

Some people driving by noticed them.

It really upsets me that people just dump animals off on the side of the road.

The young lady who found them kept them for as long as she could, but needed to find a home for them.

We've all fallen in love with them.

They are still quite young but before we know it, it will be time to get them fixed.

Just thought I would share pictures of our new fur family members...they are sweet babies.

The other cats are adapting to them being in our home pretty well.

Sookie watches them like a mother hen and sniffs them and tries to lick them.

Squeaky could careless..although they look a lot like him..so maybe in his mind he thinks they might be his long lost babies...LOL! They do look like him!

See:

That is a recent wallpaper I made of Natalie and Squeaky together.

It will be a sad, sad day when he goes to the rainbow bridge to kitty heaven.

As you can see the Charlie and Lucy do look a lot like Squeak.

The only way we can tell Charlie apart from Lucy is that Charlie has crazy long eyebrows/whiskers and ear tufts. He is fuzzier than his sister.

Lucy is smaller than her brother and has a little wisp of white on her forehead.

Charlie has a half white half black nose.

The girls wanted to name them Hamlet and Ophelia...but it just didn't suit them.

After a while and talking it over with Edward, we decided on Lucy and Charlie.

I guess I liked Lucy...because she is so sweet, she just seems like a Lucy.

We picked Charlie because of my Dad.

Dad has crazy eyebrows and some wild ear hair...so one look at Charlie's crazy fur, I just knew he should be named Charlie. (My Dad goes by Mike, but his first name is Charles aka Charlie)

So Charlie and Lucy it is.

Natalie is cast free now...she got her neon pink cast off last month.

Thank God that is over!!

She did develop a really nasty abscess on her heel.

It's taken almost all the summer to get to heal.

She's doing better and walking better.

Mostly back to her normal (weird) self.

School will be starting soon.

I think that's about it for now.

TTFN

The Money Pitt...Safari Day Trip and a Bump in the Road...

Hello...it's been several months since I've posted anything..so here we go:

The update drum roll please.........

Edward is still working at the gas station, although he is now working mainly in the store than out at the pumps...which is good.

We had some excitement earlier this year, we had planned to move.

We found a nice big 4 bedroom house and everything, at first, seemed okay.

We were all looking forward to moving, let's just say things were not as they seemed and the whole thing fell threw.

Let's just say, we wouldn't have been any better off where we are now...in fact I think that house is the real life version of the Money Pit.

We've resigned ourselves to the fact that we will be living in this shoe box we call home for another year or less.

We have to wait and see.

Edward, myself and the girls have been wanting to go on a little day trip so we decided on going to Wildlife Images in Winston, Oregon.

I am planning on posting a bunch of pictures of our Safari trip at Wildlife Images.

So now I get to the "Bump in the Road" part.

Natalie has joined the American Sewing Guild with her Grandma Kathy. I think it's awesome that they have something to do together that they both love.

Natalie is a really talented sewer too.

She wants to start a sewing club when she goes back to public school.

Mom finished my Everything Japanese Quilt.

I think it's beautiful! Now I just need to get a comforter, bed skirt and sheets that go with!!

She also made me some Asian pillows.

Mom came to pick Natalie up for a sewing day and Natalie (somehow, someway) managed to fall between the car and the curb in front of our home.

Mom called us and said that Natalie fell.

We hurried her off to the hospital cause it was a holiday (Memorial Day) and we figured the doctor's office wouldn't be open.

Long story short is that Natalie broke her Tibia.

She has a hairline fracture running up from her ankle up her shin.

She's healing, but is hating life. She hates crutches and hates not being able to walk around.

O

n the bright side...she has a neon pink cast!

I've nicknamed her "Pink The Peg-Legged Pirate"

Scroll down to see all the pictures.

I think that's it from me for now..I've been so exhausted taking care of Natalie 24/7, since Edward seems to always be at work of late.

TTFN

Jen

Movie Magic and Movie Appreciation A Whole Family Can Love....

Lately, well...since October...I've been watching a lot of classic films on the TCM channel. I really love old films...I guess I should use "old" in a certain way..maybe a little more, let's see, what's the word....diplomatic way..."old" is after all, a state of mind and pertaining to perspective. What may be "old" to me, may still be something quite recent or current for others, at least in memory. 

I got side-tracked there...what I am trying to say is that I have been watching a lot of "vintage" movies of late.

October is dedicated to Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Peter Cushing and many more, in my opinion.

I set the DVR (the one piece of technology I absolutely and unequivocally love) to record Vincent Price and other horror masters in October...since it was a classic fright fest on TCM and some other channels. 

I had a blast watching them all, I still have a few more in the DVR I need to watch.

Edward and I watched a Vincent Price film entitled "The Story of Mankind."

What a fantastic and hilarious movie!

Vincent Price plays the Devil and I LOVE him as the Devil!

Click on the picture above to read about the movie.

Edward and I loved this movie and we laughed our asses off several times at the Devil's comments.

Let's see, I enjoyed some other Vincent Price films, including:

"The Mad Magician", "House on Haunted Hill", "The Big Circus", to name a few.

I have more in the DVR that I am planning on watching.

Vincent Price was a skilled and highly accomplished actor with 199 acting credits.

That's amazing!

For our October Classic Film Fright Fest...we also watched: The Beast Must Die" from 1974. Peter Cushing stars in the film and I thought it would be good...but it was kind of a black-panther-Shaft-esque feel to it that really kind of made it a dud for me. I will say that Peter Cushing was excellent as the "Werewolf Expert."

Natalie and I enjoyed some non-horror flicks as well, we especially liked (I should say loved)

"You Were Never Lovelier" with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. What a classy, sassy, fun-filled, song and dance swinging time!

"You Were Never Lovelier" (1942)

Here's Natalie's and my new favorite new song, it's called "The Shorty George."

The Shorty George

Let's see...what else have we watched...OH! I just finished a film last night called "Quo Vadis" from 1951.

Peter Ustinov played Nero...and he was AWESOME!

Leo Genn really stole the show though as Petronius, with his wit and sarcasm he was really impressive as Nero's "closest friend and advisor."

Click the picture above to read about the movie.

I really enjoyed it and for the 50's it was ahead of it's time and really set things up for the more modern stories about Rome, like "Gladiator", "Rome" and "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" series.

When I'm not watching classic movies, I'm listening to music. At night I've been sticking with nocturnes, harpsichord, pipe organ and cello music, as well as, Gregorian Chants.

I must be going through a phase or something because I'm reading Emily Post's "Etiquette" book from 1965.

(another freebie book find!)

So..that's it.

Hope you all have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

Many Blessings to you and yours!

TTFN

Harvest Fair, Autumn Air, Spooks and Ghosties Everywhere!

Autumnal Cheers!

Been a busy bee...between outdoor adventures, home schooling and Halloween...it's been crazy.

Wait....what? It's November?

Dang...I am running behind. I was just getting used to it being October.

Mid-October Grandma took Natalie and her friend, Christopher, out to Seven Oaks Farm to enjoy the fun harvest time goodies out there.

Caitlin wasn't up for going so it was just Natalie and Christopher.

From the look of the pictures they had fun.

The got to go on a hayride, pick out pumpkins, feed and pet the farm animals, get their faces painted, pose for silly pictures, decorate (and eat) a cookie, run in a corn maze/haunted house..and general Fall type of fun and frivolity.

Here's some pictures:

Next year I'm going with them...cause it looks like fun!

I want to stick my head in all those wooden cut outs..and make hilarious faces!

Natalie and I went on a walk around our neighborhood the other day and we took lots of pictures of the fall colors...so here they are:

From the pictures it looks like we live in a nice area...sadly, it's not the case.

Union Park is in a really bad part of town not far from us. It's really rundown and there's a lot of, let's just say...questionable characters that lurk down there.

I was trying to take pictures of the pretty fall colors to show you...so I think I did okay there.

Natalie and I found an oak tree in the park and gathered up some more acorns and we found the caps for them..so now we can make more acorn people necklaces! Woot!

We did finish out leaf mobiles from the leaves, twigs and pine cones we gathered on our field trip.

Here's what they look like:

(Thanks Grandma for helping us with the wax paper and ironing part!)

As the Witching Hour was drawing near...Natalie wanted to carve her pumpkin.

So...taking it upon herself and one of the neighbor boys, Brandon, they began carving their pumpkins outside.

We had lots of pumpkin carving designs, so we just shared what we had.

I took pictures of Natalie carving her pumpkin and even our cat Squeaky pitched in to help...well..he supervised the going's on.

Here is Squeaky supervising the carving:

He went so far as to stick his head in the pumpkins when the kids were cleaning out the guts and seeds.

I was waiting for him to say "What?! No tuna?"

They had fun carving their pumpkins...although Natalie complained that her pumpkin looked more like a lemur or a koala bear than Gizmo from Gremlins.

LOL!

Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the pumpkins..Natalie and Caitlin's pumpkins started to rot quickly as we have had really warm days but witch titty cold nights!

So the poor ol' pumpkins didn't hold up for long.

We DID have fun on Halloween!

Edward was off, so he helped me take Caitlin and Natalie trick or treating.

We had dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's house,

(Thanks for the grub Mom!)

although....the chili was kind of a mistake..especially with Natalie, Ed and I!

We should have gone as hazardous waste...cause we sure smelled like it by the time trick or treating started.

LOL!

After we ate dinner, I helped the girls get in their costumes...Natalie was a neon orange witch and Caitlin was her black cat....and me...well I decided to dress up too..and brought out my trusted Anne Rice Vampire gear.

Here's a picture of us:

Scary...huh?

It was fun, but the girls pooped out early and after walking around door-to-door for candy.

Caitlin is almost 6 foot tall..and people are starting to question her trick or treating age.

It's really hard to tell Caitlin she can't go trick or treating cause she's too old for it...she just doesn't understand it.

I told Ed and Natalie that we are going to just start having Halloween parties..instead of going trick or treating.

Mom (Grandma) reminisced with me about Halloweens gone by...and she told me and the girls how her parents always had a Halloween party and dressed up and all their friends and neighbors would come all dressed up in costumes...and they had a great party.

How her Mom (my Grandmother aka GG) would make costumes for her and Grandpa Eddie each year.

One year they were a caveman and cave woman couple and I've seen the picture of Grandpa Eddie dressed as a pirate (including the eye patch cause he had a glass eye,,,Aarrggghhh!) and Grandma was Brunhilda Viking Babe from the North, complete with horn helmet, spear and big, pre-Xena boobie armor!

LOL!

So that's what we've been up too..

the girls have been on a sugar high for the past few days....and it's starting to wear off...so they went to bed early tonight all pooped out.

I guess that's all for now..I am sure there are things I forgot to mention, tell or relate...oh well.

I guess that will have to be for next time.

TTFN!

How Many Jenny's Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

Well Hello There!

Been a bit since I last posted...almost 2 months..wow.

Where does the time go? No...I REALLY want to know!

So, let me catch you up.

1. Caitlin started 9th grade special education

(we are still doing home school)

2. Natalie decided in mid-September that she wasn't happy in public school and wanted to give home school a try for her 5th grade year.

So now after jumping threw some hoops, she is doing home school now.

3. Ed's still working at the gas station.

4. All of my time is consumed by running around after everyone, paying bills, doing errands, chores and of course, home schooling the girls...which is a HUGE undertaking!

I've learned that home schooling is not for everyone and forget about doing it if you have a job, you have to be home 24/7.

So there's the catch-up (not Ketchup/Catsup) 

Onto Seasonal Things --- or Adventures in Home School Field Trips

Today we (Mom, Caitlin, Natalie and I) went on our first home school field trip!

Woo-Hoo!

Mom had a brilliant idea to take the girls out to Jacksonville to check out the fall colors, sights and smells and enjoy a beautiful day.

So the girls each had a Fall Nature Walk sheet to fill out.

We had fun collecting leaves of different colors, shapes and sizes...a grounds keeper called out to us as he could see we we're picking up leaves and twigs off of the ground and he said, "Help yourselves...take all you want!" with a laugh.

Natalie and I thought that was funny.

He was nice man and tried to tell us where we could also go to see the beautiful fall colors and get more leaves, but we got lost trying to find it.

So we preambled around Jacksonville looking at the beautiful fall colors and taking pictures.

Check it out below:

Here are Grandma, Caitlin and Natalie in front of the Art Gallery on the Jacksonville Museum grounds. This building used to be The Children's Museum, but it's an art gallery now.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

We went inside the art gallery after we collected our leaves and twigs for our art/nature projects we are going to make with them.

The gallery was neat, lots of artwork on display, most of it mixed-media. 

It was fun to look with the girls and get their interpretations of the art.

Natalie found an art station set up in the back of the exhibit and we were allowed to create our own art item that we could hang up on a bulletin board.

I thought that was so cool and fun!

We all took turns.

Natalie and Caitlin brought their art home, but Mom and I left ours at the gallery.

After having a fun time in the gallery, we went across the street in search of an oak tree so we could gather some acorns for another art project.

Luckily we found some and we were allowed to pick them up out of the yard.

We took lots of pictures, here are some more:

Even more pictures:

Natalie The Ham

(It runs in our family!)

Natalie and I had fun shuffling our feet threw the leaves and then picking up handfuls and throwing them on each other.

I think I might still have one down my shirt!

LOL!

Ok...so for the last bit of new mews (news)

it's kitty related.

From my earlier posts you know that we cats and we love them all very much.

I rescued 3 black kittens in Sept (Ed was ready to kill me I think). The kittens are ALL black..whiskers, pads and all.

I named the three siblings Magic, Merlin and Poe.

But their nickname quickly became "The DOOM Squad!"

Can you figure out why?

I shouldn't have to say that they were major troublemakers.

HOLY CROW!

They broke so much stuff and were outta control!

Ed and I decided that we would find new homes for the two boys, Merlin and Poe, and keep Magic for our cat clan family.

We found a nice home for Merlin and Poe, we even found a loving owner for Jewel. 

It was kind of sad to see her go, but I know the owner will love her and spoil her with love.

So now we are back down to 4 cats: Squeaky, Ms.Kitty, Sookie and Magic.

Here's a picture of Magic...being herself:

Yes she is hanging upside down...LOL!

She's a troublemaker all by herself, but she gets Squeaky involved in her food stealing schemes and then it's really a disaster.

Squeaky is getting really old and he likes to lay on top of the backs of our desk chairs...and he falls asleep and then before you know it he's falling off the chair.

Poor Mr.Squeaks!

Sookie acts like a mommy to Magic and plays tag and hide and go seek with her.

It's quite funny to see...but dangerous at night if you are walking around and they are running around here like crazy..cats!

LOL!

Let's see...what else can I tell you...oh and Halloween (my favorite holiday) is just around the corner.

Natalie is going to be a witch and Caitlin is her black cat.

Cute, huh?

They came up with the idea.

Mom took Natalie and one of Natalie's friends, Christopher, to Seven Oaks Farm a week ago and they had fun, picked out pumpkins, fed farm animals, went on a hayride and all that fun fall/harvest time stuff.

I will have to share the pictures later that she took.

So...this weekend we are carving pumpkins, so far it's been decided that Natalie is turning hers into Gizmo from the movie "Gremlins" and Caitlin is carving hers into Scooby-Doo.

I'll share how they turn out later.

Gotta run for now...got leaves to press and art supplies to go buy and all that fun stuff.

I will share more later!

Happy Fall Y'all & I hope you have a spooky n' creepy Halloween!

BOO!

Scare ya later!!

Jen

Labor Day..Isn't Labor-Free

Wow...where did August go? I kept complaining that I wanted summer break to be over for my girls..cause we were all driving each other up the walls. Now school is getting ready to start tomorrow!

WOOT! Everybody Dance Now!!

Let's see...I need to sum up...Natalie went to science week (kind of like a day camp for science nerds) Natalie loves being a science nerd. She is proud of it. She loves school.

All I've heard all summer is "when is school gonna start?!"

On the other hand I have Caitlin who doesn't want school to start..she loves summer break. LOL!

Here are some pictures of Natalie on the last day of Science Week:

She had a blast...literally..she got to make a rocket.

Natty got to make all kinds of things and learned a lot.

She taught me about polymers.

Let's see Edward celebrated his 44th birthday!

He wasn't very happy about turning 44..but who is? Right?

Least now he's getting grey/white hair!

Finally!

Let's see, Mom and I took the girls back to school shopping and I think it did us all in!

Natalie is a shopping queen! That girl will shop 'til she drops!

It was good we got it done in a day...but it wiped out Mom & I.

I got cellulitis at the end of July.

I haven't had it in several years and it was really a blow, physically and mentally, to get it again.

If you don't know what that is..it's skin infection and can be quite serious if not taken care of promptly.

I'm doing better now...but I feel a bit paranoid now that I might get it again.

I guess we will just have to see.

I've been working on cross stitch projects all summer too.

Trying to get a jump on Christmas presents.

Will share pictures of them when I can...I don't want anyone seeing their presents early!

LOL!

I made two resolutions at the beginning of this year...that I was going to not wait until the last minute to get presents ready for Christmas..and the 2nd one was to try and get better about remembering people's birthday's and anniversaries....which I haven't been too good about.

Let's see....anything else...hmmmm...

The girls got their hair cut before school starts...Caitlin surprised me and wanted her hair cut really short! 

I will have to take pictures of them both and share.

Natalie played with the camera this summer and took some cute pictures..here's a picture she took of herself:

That's her "surprise" face.

What a goofy, funny girl she is.

Let's see...um had some drama and confusion with 2 school districts...had drama with our car, a cop and another ticket for Ed...

Daughter drama for both girls as they are becoming young ladies now.

Growing up is a pain and a roller coaster as they are finding out.

I'm still reading Grimm's Fairy Tales.

We've loved, lost, laughed and cried this summer.

My cat Midnight took off, she ran outside and I couldn't catch her, she had been sick for a little while and Edward and I think she might have taken off to die..which really breaks my heart. 

I really loved her.

I made this picture recently of a few our kitties:

I'm a sucker for hard luck cases...and last night I rescued more fur babies.

Will have to take pictures and show you them when we can.

I think that's about it.

I'm just happy that school starts tomorrow.

Hope you have a nice Labor Day!

TTFN

It's The Simple Things...

Sometimes...life is just cool...funny..wonderful...amazing...and other times..well...it's not.

Today there was some awesomeness. 

I didn't have to cook dinner really as Mom was very nice to think of us and made us a yummy chicken pot pie...which all I had to do was bake!

COOL-Beans!

(Thanks Mom!)

I also tried something sooo cool tonight...and I know, it's probably not that exciting or anything, but it is to me...maybe that proves that I have a pretty mundane life...oh well.

It made me smile and laugh with glee...and it worked so that's all that matters!

I remembered a year ago or more hearing you could cook corn on the cob in the microwave....so we had some corn on the cob fresh from our local Seven Oaks Farm.

(Thanks again to Mom and Dad for getting us some!)

It's so worth it...cause man-o-man is that some delicious fresh corn!

Okay so here is the most awesome part of it all (other than the yummy eating part)..I found the article and a video about cooking the corn in the microwave!

Check this out!!

HOW TO MAKE MESS FREE FRESH CORN ON THE COB!

The fellow in the video is charming and cute.

BEST of all.....IT WORKED!!!!

Hot diggity wang dang doodle!

I giggled with glee when it worked! I had my doubts..yes even though I had just watched his video and saw how easy he made it...I really doubted it...but it worked like a charm!

It was perfectly cooked...and no fuss, no muss!

WOW!

Thank You Ken!! You ROCK! 

(Ken is the fellow in the video)

I don't think I will ever EVER cook corn on the cob any other way...EVER again!

I haven't posted anything in awhile..so let me catch you up -- this is what I've (we've) been up too:

1. Cross-Stitching my heart out.

2. Letting Natalie build a blanket fort in the living room (and around and over me while I am cross stitching).

3. Taking care of and keeping a watchful eye on my 2 girls and the 5 fur-babies.

4. Laundry...which made me just jump up and realize I needed to wash Ed's work clothes!

5. Went to the Book Exchange again.

Had fun there...I love going there.

We donated a bunch of books...but we found some to bring home too.

Thankfully not as much as we donated. LOL!

I love vintage books and I found some really neat ones. 

Here are some of the titles I picked up:

"Tales To Tremble By"

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

"The Greek Gods"

"Enid Blyton's Happy Story Book"

"Best In Children's Books"

"A Child's Garden of Verses"

"The Fannie Farmer Junior Cook Book"

and

"Magic and Laughter"

I am still reading Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Wow...I never really realized how graphic (and a bit horrific) those stories are.

Lots of death, dismemberment, curses, spells, betrayal, jealousy, greed, heartbreak...well you get the idea.

I read one story called 

The Bird, The Mouse and The Sausage

If you click on the title of the story it will take you to it where you can read it for yourself.

I guess...it's a morality lesson...about not taking others for granted and not being greedy/selfish and maybe just being satisfied with the way things are..being thankful for what you have.

(Which is something most everyone needs to be reminded of at least once or more in our life)

Lessons are meted out harshly in the Grimm's Fairy Tales..let me tell you!

Wow..you usually have to pay with your life or a lot of suffering if you don't do as you are told.

Like in the story

The Wolf and The Seven Little Kids

I wonder if that was the original story they came up with BEFORE Little Red Riding Hood??

Anyway..I've enjoyed reading it despite some of the gruesomeness.

Last night I started to read Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol."

I know...wrong time of year...but she started talking about how she is looking forward to school and then started talking about Christmas plays and things and the next thing I know she is telling me about a version of "A Christmas Carol" that they did last year...and she was a little confused about it so I started to correct her and told her we have the story.

So..I started to read it to her.

We aren't even threw the first chapter...the ghost of Marley hasn't even showed up yet.

So that's about it...been about the sum of it.

Well...I think that's it...for now anyway...

TTFN