Upside Down Cats

I'm taking the occasion of Mother's Day to reflect on and celebrate the woman who gave me life

...and so much more.

Continue reading "My Mother" »

Ah, the life of a cat in a home daycare...



















K and Abbey























M and Cooper



There's always lots of love going both ways. Hopefully the children gain and learn as much from the cats as the cats gain and learn from their little friends.

Today was my Grandma Bessie's birthday. I always hold a special thought for her on March 7th.

She was an exceptional lady who was very influential in my life.

If I sent her a birthday card, it would say:

Grandma, you taught me about love by loving me unconditionally. Thank you for always being there for me.

Although you're gone, you live on in the woman I am today. I can only aspire to mean as much to someone in my life as you mean to me.

I wish the people who are special now in my life could have met you, and you them.

I miss you.

I Love You!

I have seen other bloggers' "100 Things" lists (most recently on Elle's Blog, Maxwell the Tattooed Boy and Other Astounding Joys and a couple weeks ago on Cardiogirl). I thought, "That would be impossible for me to write...I don't even have 100 things!" I think I'm in the mood to tackle something impossible today, so here goes...

Continue reading "One Hundred Things About Moi" »

While meandering around on the internet I have come across a very inspirational blog called Insights For Life. In the most recent post, Make Friends With Uncertainty, the author discusses the subject of dealing with the inescapable fact that life is uncertain.

I have been thoroughly inspired to share my thoughts on dealing with uncertainty in life.

I'm a fairly optimistic person - most of the time. I'm sure just about everyone can relate, though, to the times when no matter what you do, you can't seem to catch a break. You begin to think that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The chance of anything good happening seems less and less likely. This is a dark and scary vortex where it's difficult to keep your inner Pollyanna alive.

That's when I try to remind myself that life is no more certain to be miserable than it is to be delightful. This is the uncertain nature of it all...

Remaining mindful of the very fact that life is uncertain is the path out of the depression that can overtake you when your outlook turns negative. It is just as likely that something good could happen as it is that something bad could happen. It's not easy to think positively when it seems things are falling apart all around you, but misery is not a certainty. After all, who knows today who will have a tomorrow...? Who can predict when or how circumstances will turn, and to what effect?

These are times when it feels we've lost control of our life. But in all honesty, how much control do we ever really have, even when things are going our way...?

Continue reading "Life Is Like A Box ... »

Today is a very special anniversary for my Sweetie Scott and I.

It is the sixteenth anniversary of our first date!

Yep, Scott and Gina have been an item now for sixteen years...WOW!

Continue reading "Time Flies When You're In Love!" »

There was a time in my life when just about everything sucked. I felt trapped in a violently abusive marriage, I felt my family of origin had betrayed me, I had no friends in whom I felt I could safely confide and we were drowning in debt. This was seventeen years ago in a land far, far away. Not one minute of my day felt safe...When was I going to be screamed at or hit by my first (and now - thankfully - ex-) husband? What was his tirade du jour going to be about? I was afraid to go to the mailbox for fear of finding a scathing letter from someone in my family. I was afraid to answer the phone for fear it would be a bill collector demanding payment. And when the doorbell rang...well, that was rarely pleasant either. I was suffocating in a miserable, lonely cesspool that continually closed in on me, squeezing the life and sanity out of me, minute by minute.

For a girl who, by my very nature, prides herself on keeping a handle on things, I couldn't have felt more desperately out of touch with myself...more out of control...

Continue reading "Regis, I'd Like To Use A ... »

Our two-year-old cat, Cooper, is one of those cats who retrieves things for his people. He is fond of bringing me a sock, a sweatshirt, (clean or dirty...doesn't seem to matter to him) a shoe or a slipper. He also has an affinity for stuffed animals, which exist in great abundance at this daycare home. It is a common occurrence to awake to find that a Beanie Babies gorilla has mysteriously appeared in the middle of the living room floor...Not particularly harmonious with the rest of our decorating scheme!

Lately, he has become obsessed with a little stuffed blue bear wearing a red sweater. It is a decorative bear that is part of my Winter decor. Or, rather, that's what I thought. Apparently, Cooper has an entirely different idea of where the bear belongs...Several times a day, no matter how many times I return the bear to his basket of pine cones, Cooper drags him out! Sometimes he carries the bear to the middle of the living room, sometimes to the bottom of the stairs and sometimes all the way down to the daycare! One night in the dark my foot brushed against something soft in the middle of the upstairs hallway...the blue bear, of course!

Continue reading "Pondering Life's Mysteries..." »

Before we get any farther into the New Year, I would like to acknowledge some of the celebrities who passed away in 2007.

This is in no way a complete list of celebrity deaths...it is merely a list of those with whom I am familiar and will therefore miss at least a bit now that they are no longer here to entertain.

Since I am youngest in a large family, I was exposed to television and movies that were considerably before my time by my older siblings, parents and grandmother. I come from a family of TV and movie trivia buffs, too. These things must have rubbed off on me, explaining why so many of these older personalities are familiar to me.

I can't think of a better example to illustrate the depth of my trivial knowledge than the following list of deceased celebrities with whom I am familiar:

Continue reading "Farewell, Familiar Faces..." »

Last week the daycare children dug out an old videotape, The Big Comfy Couch. Don't worry, I will spare you the details of its compelling and thought-provoking plot...

The salient point is that while the tape was on, I heard a word I haven't heard since I was seven or eight years old...

Continue reading "And Now A Word From The Past" »