Interior Monologue

My blog is in danger! My blog is in danger of becoming extinct! (Everytime I say the phrase "in danger"' it makes me think of that movie "Ghost". "Molly, you are in danger, girl.") When the end of the day arrives at lightspeed as it always does and there are many items still remaining on my task list of things to be done, the blog continually falls off the list. Therefore, just to keep my blog alive but not necessarily thriving, I am going to attempt something different for myself..."real" blogging. You know the type of blogging where you do not necessarily have anything to say but just want to say something, anything? You know the type of blogging that is more of a stream of consciousness and may not have a picture attached? I am going to try that because I think that may be how blogging came about anyway; an online diary so to speak. It may be just the trick to keep my blog alive at least for awhile.

One thing that is helping me to find time to blog today is that an ice storm arrived here late last night. It will be all over by noon so I can tell by the clock on the wall that I have approximately four hours to do things that I have not had time to do in awhile! Blessings come in strange and odd ways, do they not?

I got a new phone on Monday. I do not know how to use it yet but what I do know about it that is that it has the loudest and most obnoxious sound for the alarm that I have ever heard. Promptly at 5 AM, the alarm goes off and scares me out of my skin! Poor Claude, it scares the bejeepers out of him too. He takes off running and looking back at me like I am the meanest and baddest mother ever for inviting such a frightening noise into our usually peaceful home. Another thing about this phone that annoys me, it blinks constantly. I am not sure what that means. It has a blue blinking light that is constantly going, blink, blink, blink. Maybe one day I will have enough time to review the instruction cd but I kind of doubt it. Usually, I just rough it and make my way through things without reading the instructions never fully knowing the capabilities of the item until someone points out to me the most obvious and useful point that I have been missing for YEARS!

Claude has a toy lamb. He is so crazy about that thing. He is never without the booboo lamb. He is so cute with it because he tries to market it to Oliver. Claude really wishes Oliver would understand how marvelous this lamb is but Oliver just looks at it like "would you please get that nasty thing away from me?". Oliver will run off and Claude will pick up the lamb and run after him. Most of the time, Claude is standing by Oliver holding the lamb in his mouth and meowing through it as if to say "Hey, Ollie, I really do not think you understand what a wonderful toy this thing is." Claude never tries to convince Nigel of the wonderful qualities of the lamb, only Oliver. I am sure Nigel would try to kick Claude's booty if he brought it near him. Nigel is a pistol.

I see all kinds of cars on tv stuck out in traffic. If they would just pull off and park for a couple of hours, that ice will be gone. Even though it will still be cold, the sun really melts that stuff fast. Claude is trying to eat a string off of a blanket right now. That just bugs me! Why is it that cats like to eat strings? Once I had a bookmarker made entirely out of crochet yarn. My cat Rusty ate the ENTIRE thing! Needless to say, that presented all kinds of problems. It took about a month to get that guy back to normal not to mention almost costing him his life. Right now on tv they are showing pictures of the ice storm sent in by viewers. Someone took a pix of something in their yard that looked like a frozen toxic waste pool and sent it in. Why would anyone think that was a fun pix? Makes me wonder about folks sometimes.

I hear someone outside chipping ice off of their car. I think this would have been a time when I definately parked the car in the garage rather than chip ice! Well, I had better close up my first outing in typing my "stream of conciousness" and go pay some bills while I have the extra time!

True, Blue (Eyed) Love

You may have noticed that I have been conspicuously absent from my blogging pages lately. I have been somewhat busy with other responsibilities and chores. However, I figure it is time to blog about something even if it has nothing to do with anything relevant in my life at this time. I ran across a quotation by Theophile Gautier, a French poet, writer and critic that said “Dynasties of cats, as numerous as the dynasties of the Pharaohs, succeed each other under my roof.” Monsieur Gautier must have been a lot like me. This quotation made me reminisce about some of my dynasties past. I have never posted about my boy, Blaine. He is the beautiful white, blue eyed cat in the picture. What you cannot see in this picture were his big feet. He was a six toed cat. Claude is that other precious one in the picture who also adored Blaine. Blaine was my love. Blaine was my sweetness. Blaine was my heart. I have had many loves and for that, I am truly fortunate. I do not understand people who cannot find true love. Maybe they are looking for the wrong kind. True love waits at any animal shelter.

We Have the Cat Gene

The cat gene runs in my family. I suppose we get it from my mother but I am not really sure about that. All I know for certain is that everyone in my family is crazy about cats. This is my niece, Andrea with her two cats, Whiskey and Sake.

Claude Gets a New Chapeau!

Claude received a new hat for Christmas. He does not like it very much.


What is worse, Nigel is afraid he may receive a hat.

A friend commiserating with a friend...

Christmas 2008

Yesterday, I was thinking about all the Christmas days in the past and it seemed they had somehow run together in my mind. Therefore, I wanted to create a pictorial journal of a few scenes from Christmas 2008. Here we go down memory lane...



My great nieces, Victoria and Elizabeth.

My niece, Andrea.

Elizabeth, again...

Delicious appetizer made by Andrea...

Even though we had all kinds of delicious treats and snacks, Mom chooses to eat beef jerky, don't ask me why...

Two snowmen guarding the door...

Snowman on the stairs...

Obviously, the Christmas tree...

And again...

Someone gave my sister this 'dark snow' colored snowman. He scares us a little bit. I mean we have all heard the admonitions about not eating the dark colored snow, etc. We began to refer to him as DirtMan. He started 'following' us too. We thought maybe he was feeling left out, so Andrea posed with him.

Posing must have worn her out...

No post would be complete without mentioning one of my cats...Nige caught a glimpse of Sirius Black. Man, that scares him! I hope everyone out there in Blog Land had a wonderful Christmas 2008!

Long Time, No Post

I have so been neglecting my blog lately. I have been so busy. In fact, I should not even take the time to write this post but hey, a girl has to take a break every once in a while, right? I have oodles and oodles of work, oodles and oodles of school work and oodles and oodles of all other kinds of chores. That is not to say though that lots has not been on my mind! I have been thinking much! One thing that has really bothered me...uh, it is NOT supposed to snow in Las Vegas!! This is just wrong! I mean, this is the desert. Those poor palm trees! What a sad site.

Cats and Dogs

I just have no time to post these days. At these times that I am too busy to post, I just post my 'wonderings', 'ponderins', or as some would call my 'ruminations'. Many times I 'wonder' things and often mean to take notes about my 'wonderings' but forget to or do not have time or something like that. ANYWAY, tonight as I was driving home, I had one of these 'wonderings' and here it is. Why are there cars named after cats but not dogs? For example, there was the Buick Wildcat (I passed one and that is what got me to thinking about this.). There still is the Mercury Cougar and the Jaguar. Why isn't there a Chevy Beagle, or a Ford Poodle, or a Pontiac Retriever? Just me wondering...again.

What Happened to the Glamourous Miss Kitty?

As I was cleaning house, I noticed Miss Kitty had gone tipsy! She was fine only yesterday. Do you think Nigel met Miss Kitty and did not appreciate this glamour-puss? Her location is not easily accessible (at least by me) but maybe easier for those with climbing skills. At any rate, she is upright again...for now. ;)

God Bless Us, Every One!

This is a really fun post! Lisa asked me if I had my "jingles on" with some instructions regarding how to keep the search for early signs of Christmas going. I would like to ask Lisa M. if she has her jingles on. (I know she does because I have seen 'crafty' evidence of it on her site.)

So, just how Christmasy am I feeling??? I hope everyone that reads this post gets as much pleasure in reading it as I did in writing it.

Where should I begin? At the beginning, I suppose. Have you ever read this book?

Have you seen this movie?
This is one of my favorite all time books and not just because it was written by my favorite author. Now, I know literary scholars do not fail to point up the fact that Dickens wrote during a time when writers were paid by the word and not by the substance of their content. However, that does not mean that Dickens did not have something important to say. He did and I understand it. As he says in the preface to this book, "I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea..". In my family, this book and this movie rate a cult following. I must admit that I read this book several times throughout the year. (It is short!) I never know when I will take a notion to watch this movie. I might decide to watch it in the middle of summer. I may watch it tonight! The reason being, Christmas is a feeling that lives in one's heart. Christmas is giving something of yourself to someone else that needs it. In a nutshell, Christmas is giving to others not because it is expected of you but because you want to. It can happen at anytime! That is the beauty and the magic of it.

Here is the funniest part...I keep some elements of Christmas out all year! Sometimes I just like to look at them, appreciate them and be reminded that Christmas is a feeling in a person's heart.
(And maybe to remind me that I should be ever watchful regarding the generosity of my giving to others less fortunate.) Plus, I love snow people! Every one of these little trinkets mean something special to me. See the little kitten on the left holding the bunny? My niece, Andrea gave me that for Christmas when she was so small she could barely toddle over to hand it to me; just knee-high to a grasshopper as they say. Its a small thing but I LOVE IT. It has meaning behind it. Therefore, it is in my "perpetual Christmas parade" that resides on my armoire 365 days of the year! Now, just how Christmasy will things get around here? That is a touchy situation which begs an explanation. I really appreciate other homes decorations. I love to go driving just to appreciate them. I would love to decorate my own house in true "Griswold" fashion but there have been many, shall we say, 'issues' with this in the past. For example, scrutinize the top of this music box...see what I mean?

A tiny thing like that can mean a major surgery for one of my furry children. (Disaster almost struck once with the tassle off of a bookmarker.) Therefore, I have to be very cautious as to what I can put out, when and where. I have a very small tree that can fit in the closet because it cannot be out when I am not at home. If I left it out...well, I shudder to think of the repercussions. Okay, enough of those scarey thoughts!

Again in my family, all grown-up Andrea started a family tradition called "The Ugly Sweater Contest". Anyone who wants to participate gets herself a sweater or sweatshirt and decorates it as gaudily as they wish in a Christmas theme. If one can get music on their sweater, they will likely be the winner! I say 'gets herself' a sweater because to date we have not had any men-folk participants. Hmmm...can't understand why, really. ;)

I would like to leave you friends with these wonderful words regarding Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, "...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" ~Charles Dickens


PS. Remember it lives in your heart. Yeah, you.

Blue Japanese Sea English Cherry Blossom Lavender Wave Spray

Lisa at Simple Journeys sponsored another pennant swap and I might add, it is waaay fun to participate. It is fun to make your own pennants, sure. However, the best part is when you get one of someone elses! That is just too cool for school! I am going to parade them here. First of all, Amy's pennant, Cherry Blossom. The aspect I really love about this one is the face. From a distance, it has an ethereal quality almost ghostly. Love that! Can you see the spiritual quality of the face looking out from the blossoms?
Second up is Lisa M. with Japanese Cherry Blossom. Same theme but totally different because of the oriental quality. My favorite aspect of this pennant is the combination of turquoise and red. Now who would know those are two of my fave colors to put together? Plus, the back of this pennant is beautiful.

Isn't this fun? Next up, Blue Wave by Ruby. This banner speaks happiness and sunshine to me. I love the little sea horsey and the wave about to tackle him is awesome. That wave will not tackle him; he is too fast!

I am not sure where to begin with the next pennant. This is SeaSpray by Linda. There is so much going on here that I almost cannot pick a favorite aspect but I really do love the sea glass and those are real sea shells. This took some effort and what you cannot see is the back where she described her day at the beach.

Finally, my own contribution is English Lavender. Anything I create is probably going to pertain one of three notions: England, cats or books.

I love this banner! I love each of these pennants for their individualism. Honestly, I could not tell you which pennant I like best. Each pennant was created by a different individual and each one has a particular aspect that I find most captivating. The best part is when you put them all together you achieve a beautiful artwork banner. I attached the pennants to a ribbon with the flowers and brads to create the banner. I love it and will keep Nigel and Oliver away from it.

This is a banner from a previous swap. They are great to decorate with.

Jacob's Ladder

I love reading about the dream of Jacob's Ladder because I find dreams to be personally meaningful. The ladder linking Heaven to Earth...talk about advanced foreshadowing used in story telling. This is the perfect example of it. I hope you enjoy my rendition of Jacob's Ladder. More and more, I am finding my own style as I work on my two altered books.

Here Comes the Sun

Since I am a neophyte when it comes to altered books, I am discovering aspects about myself coming out in my pages. It seems almost every one of my pages is titled after a song. That is not surprising as I often find myself lost in one of those trains of thought where one thing leads to the next, you know the kind I am talking about. For example, just yesterday I was trying to pin-point the aspect about Autumn that casts a sadness about it when the words occurred to me "Because the sky is blue, it makes me cry" from the Beatles, "Because". That is just me. Words stick and when they are with music, they stick even better. Having said all of that just to say this, I hope you enjoy "Here Comes the Sun".