lbk.

who doesn't love a cute kitty update? yeah, i know i've done a few of these, but my mom keeps sending me the cutest pictures of lily!

mom says lily loves to play by the fridge b/c she likes the warm air.

at the lake house, she posed on the staircase.

and she climbed up the cat tree!! she's so brave! and adventurous!

and she's growing so much! she's gotten pretty darn tall!

like her sisters, she likes water from the sink too.

she loves to wrestle with pyrrh and has no fear!

and then it's time for some more warm air... ahhhh so relaxing!

mary = michelle?!

not too long ago, mom sent me a text asking if i'd seen the cover of newsweek yet. i hadn't. she asked me who i thought it looked like on the cover and i became super curious as to who could possibly be on the cover! so i promptly google newsweek's cover and found the picture below!

and OMG, if that isn't my mom, i don't know who might be!! we all make a bit of fun at mom for the way she sometimes will hold open her eyes in pictures. we call it 'that face' or 'fake smile' and it cracks us up. mom's always had trouble keeping her eyes open for the flash even as a kid there are tons of her with her eyes closed. she claims sensitivity to light. in any case, her antidote to shutting her eyes is to fake smile them and hold them wide open. but don't take it from me... check out the picture below and tell me what you think!!

i think my mom should die her hair dark. i think she'd look great and then she'd look even more like the cover of newsweek!!

a birthday to a tragedy all in a night.

since a couple of you have shared, i thought i would too.

ten years ago, i was sleeping downstairs in mike's big room at his parents' house in montana - we were in separate twin beds as the day before had been his birthday. he'd begged me to sneak downstairs and stay in his room instead of the guest (my) room. how could i say no?

that morning, margie (his mom) came in the room to wake us up and tell us we'd better come upstairs and that a plane had flown in to the towers. what?! sleepily, i realized that we had better get up... mike was too hazy to understand... i remember saying to him "this is history, you love history, we have to get up"... so we got up...

and watched and watched and watched... for about 3 or 4 days straight. we couldn't pull ourselves away. after making sure my dad wasn't traveling for work which he was doing quite regularly back then, i felt much relief. until the other devastating news came to me...

my babycat milo, my big beautiful amazing orange cat, who was just 7 was awfully sick and mom was doing everything in her power to save his life. mom and i had picked him out at the spca in houston my freshman year of high school. i'd always wanted an orange cat and she'd finally allowed me to pick one out. he was my guy instantly.

and now he was in the animal er... and mom was having them give my babycat blood transfusions to try and save his life. once the air ban had been lifted and flights resumed, i remember heading home to houston - both to be in the comfort of my family for a bit but also to take care of my baby. i don't remember being afraid to fly... i think i must have been a little apprehensive, but then again i was flying out of kalispell, mt ... how dangerous could that be?

sadly, the blood transfusions didn't work and mom confessed that she'd just prayed and prayed that he'd live long enough for me to get home. and with that, i had to say a very sad goodbye to my babycat, my milo. and then he was gone. and we still aren't really sure what happened to him other than his intestine or something burst and cause bial leakage or something awful...and it still brings tears to my eyes because that big guy could still be alive today...

and i realize milo was a cat... and people lost so much that awful day... but those people should and could still be alive today... and what an awful day and week in september all those years ago... i can't begin to fathom.

i shall never forget... united we stand. always...

funny

i took this picture on my way home a couple of weeks ago. i loved the big great dane hanging out in the convertible. he needs a bigger car!

otis, my big man.

otis is doing fantastic. the other day i stopped by petco which is just behind my house... i needed new kitty litter for my little friend. and by the time i walked out of there, he had some new mousies, a new ball on a track toy, kitty litter, and a new kitty box. i might be feeling a tad guilty for suddenly being gone all day, almost every day after having been home for so long with him.

i set up this new track toy dealio that has like 5 different configurations and i figured out the figure 8 one... he LOVES LOVES LOVES this toy!


he can play while lying down...


he can chase it around the track...


he watches the ball go around and bats it with his big ole bear paw...


and here he is just about to pounce on it!


he likes it and plays with it so much i move it between rooms just for him so that he can be where i am since he wants to play but he also has a need to be close by. when i forget to bring it to the bedroom at bedtime, he asks me not so politely for me to go get it. and like the good cat mom i am, i oblige. i may need to go get another one once we move. best 25 bucks i've spent in awhile and it does assuage some of the guilt i have for leaving him alone so much these days!

lbk.

it's time for another post about the LBK (little blind kitten) as lily is sometimes called...

i think my parents have had her just about a month now though it seems like she's been part of the family for so much longer... and i knew her less than a week and yet i am so attached to her! it makes me want my own lbk! someday... so in the meantime... see what lbk has been up to!



she got to go to the lake house and quickly made herself right at home!


this is an older one, but you can see she just loves hair for some reason!


this was from a few days ago - LBK makes herself right at home... on dad's pillow. she's no dummy!


she got up here all by herself and i love how proud she looks of herself! miss myrrh (in the circle below) is less than amused by lily, but she is getting more used to her.


mom says that lbk must be a democrat b/c she likes to chew on GW Bush... however, i think it might make her a republican cause she seems like she's giving him a big ole hug...


lbk loves a good bag


here she is at the lake with pyrrh. look how huge that fatty pyrrh looks with the lbk! she and pyrrh are getting along and even play some times. it still seems the other kitties are a little nervous about her b/c they can't make eye contact with her, but they all seem to accept her in the house so that's good!

she's such an explorer and loves to check out her surroundings... and she still purrs all the time and wants to snuggle and she might be one of the best nap buddies ever... besides otis of course. which, btw, a new otis post is coming very soon!