02.19.2013 My Cat Charlie

02.19.2013

Last Friday my traveling companion Scott and I drove north to Lafayette, IN for some Tim and Mary time.  Tim is my favorite 2nd son and Mary is my favorite 2nd son's wife. :)

Tim has been involved in improvisational comedy since he was a student at Purdue - a 3 year member of the Crazy Monkey's improv group, he missed being funny after graduation and started up another group named Ad Liberation.   Unfortunately for me, their shows seem to be mostly scheduled for Friday nights at 7:30, which makes the timing tight for me to get up there after work.  However, this last show was 8:30 and all was well.  Even had time for Pizza before the show with Mary and her family.

But I digress.  This post is really about My Cat Charlie.  Since my divorce, Charlie has lived with Tim and Mary.  So really, anymore, he's Tim and Mary's cat.  But in my heart, he's still mine.  And every now and again, when I'm visiting, he remembers me briefly and I feel him sigh and relax when I cuddle him on my shoulder.

Born in the shed to a feral calico cat, he caught a bad cold around 6 weeks.  Very friendly, very dumb and very sick, I knew if I didn't claim him as mine and bring him into the house, he'd end up as a dead pile of yard fluff.

So small he fit into my hand when he came into the house, he spent the first few months riding around the house on my shoulder or sleeping on the back of the couch.  He also was very fond of curling up for a nap in the small wastebasket by the desk.

 Eventually his maleness asserted itself (despite being neutered very early) and it was decided that he needed to become an outside cat, first in the yard he was born in and now in Tim's back yard, his front stoop, the neighbor's front porch and other various spots he's made into his lounging areas.

And I told you all this simply to share two pictures Scott took of Charlie and me last Friday.  Charlie is no longer able to fit in my hand.  At 25 pounds, Charlie is a Big Cat.    But he still likes to cuddle on my shoulder.

01.03.2013 Leftovers and New Projects!

01.03.2013  Leftovers and New Projects.

I knit and crochet.  I also play piano.  I play the flute.  I have canned hundreds of jars of tomatoes and pickles and jellies and jams.  I love to ride my bike.  Therefore, I have carpal tunnel.  :)

And that's fine, except I need to pick and choose wisely what I do at any point of time.  Because most of the stuff I love to do causes my carpal to flare up.  Therefore I can only do any of the above things I like to do one at a time.  I can't play piano for 2 hours and then crochet until I go to bed.  I can't ride my bike for hours and hours and then expect to be able to play flute in a band.

Lately I've been crocheting.  My pal Scott has two granddaughters, K1 and K2,  and this past November I decided to crochet them each an afghan for Christmas.  Well, I got one done.  here's a picture - yes, it's bright.  As my sister said "now that my eyes have stopped bleeding, I can see it's really pretty!"  But those colors are K2's favorite colors and she's in 2nd grade and the colors match her bedroom perfectly.  Yes, I know you're wondering how she sleeps at night with all those colors but she does!

The second one unfortunately did not get finished in time for K1 to open it on Christmas morning.  In fact, it's still not done.  I'm steadily working on it however, and it WILL be done to give her next week on her 12th birthday.  This one is not as bright..but it is also crocheted in panels, a shell stitch.  The color of the panels?  Royal blue, dark purple and Lime Green.  Yep.  Her favorite colors.  Each is outlined in Black and I will connect them with a raised stitch of black Sparkle yarn.  I'll try to remember to insert a picture here when I'm done.  

So yep, I have a leftover project...which will soon be finished.  I have another leftover project, a scarf I started in June with the intent to hand it over to my cousin Sue when I saw her on my vacation.  It's still not done.  I have no interest in the pattern, so I'm thinking of ripping it out and starting over.  ugh.  I have another leftover project, a Nook case,  made with little knitting needles and expensive yarn that I started in 2010.  I WILL finish that because durn it, that yarn was too $$ to let it just languish.    I have another leftover project.  Last October I bought 2 skeins of REALLY soft thick baby yarn for a road trip project.  10 bucks a SKEIN!  I'm into the 2nd skein.  Just straight crochet.  It's fast going with such thick yarn, but it got shelved when I started the Christmas afghans.

Another leftover project?  My mother bought me a crewel needlepoint kit years ago - very pretty..lots of birds on a tree of some kind.  I remember her buying it for me when I was about 12.  I still have it.  I'm 55.  I never started it.  Sigh.  OOOHH, maybe i'll give it to K1 next week for her birthday!  

New Projects!  I have a Grandchild in the works  :)  So I'll be spending lots of time crocheting baby things this year - I saw THIS today on Facebook and decided to try to win the book.  

  http://www.allfreeknitting.com/sweeps/knit-a-monster-nursery-book-giveaway

My son is more fond of ROBOTS, but this has pretty cute monsters!  and I like the monster hat!  

Again, Happy New Year.  I hope 2013 brings only good things to you and yours!

12.20.2012 Appreciate What You Have

12.20.2012

It's 50 degrees and raining this morning.  And DARK.  Very dark at 7 in the morning.  But my 10 mile commute took the same amount of time as always.  My fellow commuters were behaving themselves, driving for the conditions instead of driving to be first at the office.  Later on today, the temperature is supposed to drop and the rain will change into snow.  I'm not looking forward to snow; give me rain and 50 degrees any day.

The bright neon lights of the businesses along my route were such a contrast to the dark of the early morning.  The reds, yellows and greens of the traffic lights viewed through the rain cascading down my windshield were distorted and fuzzy and so beautiful!

And suddenly, I just felt so alone and this question popped into my head.  "how did I get to this point in my life where I feel so cut off from the people I love the most?"  And of course, I cried.

Why did I cry?  Because the lights were sooo pretty and because it's Christmas Time and the first snow is coming and I can't make a Christmas box for either of my parents because they're both dead and my boys are living lives that seem to rarely connect with mine.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed with how lonely I feel.

I'm not quite sure where my mindset would be if I hadn't met Scott.  Most of his extended family is right here in the area; his 2 children and his grands live within 5 miles of his house.   His Aunt Jeannie lives next door.  They've been very accepting of me and I appreciate their warmth and family time.

In fact, Scott's Aunt Jeannie hosted a family get together last night.  She has no children of her own, but she is an Auntie, a great Auntie, and a great great Auntie to the people who were there.  It's Tradition that she cooks a pork loin supper and makes ice cream pie for dessert.  Also Tradition that she gives pajamas to each little kid.  There were 7 or 8 little girls there last night and one boy; they all were so excited to get their new Christmas PJ's - the girls ran upstairs to change and then had a fashion show.  Jeannie looked exhausted but so happy to have her family around her.  Her husband is gone and she lives by herself, but is rarely alone.

ANYWAY, I got to work and checked my email and the blogs that I follow, one of which is http://rowdykittens.com/    She lost her father this past year and some of the things she wrote in her latest post really resonated with me this morning. She is going to work on practicing gratitude, choosing joy and savoring tiny pleasures.  Let's see....

"Practice Gratitude"   Yes, both of my parents are gone but I am grateful for the memories and for who they were.  I am grateful for my boys and the time I get to spend with them now that they are grown and busy.  I am grateful for Scott and for his love and his understanding of what I have gone through.

I am going to practice Gratitude for what IS and try to ignore what isn't or what can't be.

"Choosing Joy"  CHOOSE to be happy despite the sadness.  Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary.  Being able to focus on the little things is something anyone can develop.  I created a Pic-A-Day Photo Set for 2010; I'm nearing the end of my 2012 set.  To do this, I need to take pictures nearly every day.  The need to find these pictures has developed my FOCUS on what's around me.  I think I SEE more now when I look at something than I did 3 years ago.

Now I see that I need to develop my Focus on being Happy.

"Savoring Tiny Pleasures"  Find the happiness in the little things.  :)  I can do that!

Some recent tiny pleasures are

**Sharing an oatmeal breakfast every day with Scott

**A quick call from a boy

**Christmas Cards

**Chasing Ambrose the Cat around the house

**A herd of little girls prancing around in new pj's

**The crazy beautiful colors of a Rainy Day

:)

12.18.2012 A Christmas Note

12.18.2012  

It's a week before Christmas and I am so not ready!  In past years, my Christmas List was full of names - grands and parents on both sides, my boys, little cousins, nephews and nieces and yet, I was usually done with presents by early December.  Sadly, the little people are all grown up and I don't send gifts anymore..and the older people have passed on.  Now the list is short but I'm out of ideas!

HOWEVER, I did finally get my Christmas letter written. 

I know, I know - most people HATE getting those Christmas letters that rave about the Honor Roll children and the marvelous canoe trip to Tahiti and the photographic safari to Africa and the scientific breakthrough the husband achieved while he wrote his latest best seller.

But I don't hate them - I love them!  Since I don't live by most of my loved ones, I love reading up on what's happened in the past year and always hope for those achievements and good times rather than "Oh No" situations.

 I myself have written a Christmas letter for 20 years, some more amusing than others.  They're on my computer - I can start at the beginning and read them, one after the other, if I want to. And I confess, I've done that a time or two.  Fun and Sad at the same time.

So here's the 2012 Christmas Letter.  Not very entertaining, but it does sum up my 2012.  And in ten years, when I stumble across the file in my computer and re-read it, I hope the memories it will bring up make me smile more than cry.  

~~~~~ Dear Everyone I know! I hope this letter finds you and yours happy and healthy, pleased with the year just finished and full of good plans for the new one.   My 2012 was another roller coaster of a year.

 I’m going to get the bad news out of the way – most of you know it already; my mother, Sandra June Clark Yarbrough, died on May 15^th, from Uterine Cancer.   Able to be home, Mom’s last 20 days were spent hugging a constant flow of visitors, sitting in her rose garden, wishing she could play one more round of golf.  Given the gift of time, she called lifelong friends to say goodbye and wrote notes of farewell.

We knew this was the end but there was more laughing than crying.   I remember her reaction when I made that first cup of Constant Comment tea with 1 tsp of sugar!  “Oh it’s so good!  But, Kath...too Many Calories!  I don’t drink it with sugar!”  I said “Mom, why not?”  We looked at each other; then she drained the cup and said “Make me another and double the sugar!”   :)    She died in her own bed, with grandson Sam patting her on the back, her sister Barb holding one hand and me holding the other.  I really really miss her.

On to better things…Did you know that Amtrak offers a 15 day pass for only $430 a person?  It does!  Boarding the Empire Builder at Union Station, Chicago, my travelling companion Scott and I  traveled first north thru Minnesota and then west.  Port of Calls?   White Fish, Montana (hiking with Josh and Megan in Glacier National Park!) On to Portland, Oregon (walkabout and a coastal drive to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park.) Then to Klamath Falls, Oregon (time with Cousin Susie and her family at Crater Lake!)  And finally heading home via Denver.  I only took about 1000 pictures.  Yay for Digital!  It was a GOOD Trip.  

Scott and I have been together already for TWO YEARS.  A good man, he has learned to properly handle my emotional ups and downs with hugs and cookies.  (LOTS of ups, LOTS of downs = LOTS of cookies!)  Scott’s retiring from the US Post Office on 01.31.13 after working there for 34 years!  Yes, he’s counting down.  Me?  I have no such retirement plans.   Am I Disgruntled?  Nah!  Nope.  Not me…

Son Josh and wife Megan live out west in Idaho. They've bought a house and are making it a Home.  Josh is a Hewlett Packard programmer; Megan is an elementary school Behavioral Specialist during the day and a Community Pool Supervisor at night.  They’re flying in on Dec 26^th for festivities.  

Son Tim and wife Mary are happily ensconced in Lafayette, Indiana.  Tim took a math teacher job at a local middle school; Mary teaches High School English on the same campus.  Tim is still being funny with his comedy improve group, Ad Liberation. Occasionally, the jokes bomb...but even the bombs are funny!   

Son Sam and FIANCE’ Jenna will graduate from Indiana State University in April (a Master’s and a Bachelor’s) and then marry on May 18 in a very small wedding on the south side of Indianapolis.  The next weekend there will be a party in the Chicago area for BOTH sides of the family.  Family members – you’ll get info on that sometime in the spring. Please put May 25 on the calendar!

Time goes on, eh?  I’ve got the carpal tunnel,  the wrinkles, the aches and a cookie tummy to prove it.  I keep my gray hair very short – I figure looking like an aging elf can’t be a bad thing! :) 

                                   

Love and Hugs from Me to You

Merry Christmas 2012 and Happy New Year 2013!  

May your Holidays be Sweet and Full of Family

11.09.2012 Just for a Moment...

11.09.2012  The other day I was driving home from work.  I came to a stop at a red light, and settled back into my seat to wait.

Glancing out the side window and up at the sky...robin's egg blue; no clouds.  Just BLUE sky.  Nothing but blue sky for miles and miles and ...whoa!  a DRAGON!  There's a DRAGON in the sky!  An Honest to Goodness Drago.... oh

it wasn't a Dragon at all.  It was just a small silver plane, destined to land in a few minutes at the Greenwood Airport.  It was tilted, and looked NOTHING like a small silver plane, but EVERYTHING like a small silver dragon.

And for just that brief second, I truly BELIEVED it was a dragon.  I saw it, my mind identified it and shouted "Dragon!"   :)  And I've got to tell you, for that one moment I believed...I felt AMAZING.

I think the World could use a good sized population of Dragons.  Not the fire breathing ones of course;  intelligent herbivores who love nothing better than to entertain commuters as they sit in their cars, waiting for the light to change.  You've seen flocks of birds swoop in their intricate patterns...can you imagine a herd of dragons doing the same?

11.03.2012 Thoughts at 7:09 AM

11.03.2012  Careening Thoughts

While on FB this morning, my thoughts started on a careening tangent.  So I thought I'd copy and paste them into my blog.  Kind of silly, because I think most people who read my blog are the ones who are my Facebook Friends and therefore, will probably have already read my list.  Oh well!


Thoughts at 7:09 am 

1. Am I doomed to forever wake up 2 minutes before my weekday alarm (5:50 AM) WOULD have gone off?

2. Mmmmmm Hot Irish Breakfast Tea

3. Wish I had a fresh scone to go with my IBT 

4. Do I want to bake scones at 7:09 in the morning? 

5. Long's Donuts has scones 

6 Wonder if people stagger into Long's in their pajamas? 

7. Sure is dark outside 

8. Fall back tonight with the clocks 

9. I'm glad i bought that Flea market clock that looks like the one my Grannie had 

10. I miss my Grannie 

11. I sure do like a good Flea Market 

12. Johnson County has one today 

13. Should I be alarmed that I find articles on Cracked.com so funny? 

14. More tea, more tea 

15. iBT in a Jury's Inn cup that Mom and I 'liberated' when in Ireland has gotta be better than when in a normal cup 

16. Ireland with Mom and my Aunties. That was a great trip. 

17. Glad I went to Alaska with Mom 

18. Puffins. Wish I'd gotten a better picture of those puffins I saw in the ocean 

19. More tea 

20. Does everyone's mind flip from subject to subject like mine does? Or is it just me? 

10.31.2012 All the Last Times

10.31.2012

In perusing blogs, I came across this one.  http://3x3x365.blogspot.com  .

Three friends from three different parts of the country (Asheville NC, South Bend IN, and Richmond VA)   post to this blog each day, sharing their lives with each other and people like me who have become interested in their photos and their written thoughts.

This post by Richmond VA really hit home.   http://3x3x365.blogspot.com/2012/10/102912.html

Here's an excerpt...

"I tore a page out of Reader’s Digest once.

 It was a short essay entitled All the Last Times. 

For years I had a copy of it on my refrigerator,

 and have shared it with every new mom I know. 

Today I am sharing it with "old" moms who,

 like me, are shocked by the fact that kids grow up."

Read the whole post.

If you're a Mom with grown up children, you might have a tear or two.

All the FIRST Times are really important and those are the things that really stand out in your memory when you have babies -  the FIRST time you know that baby looked at you and KNEW you, The FIRST word, the FIRST step, the FIRST day of school.

But the LAST TIMES are hard to remember, because the LAST TIME just doesn't have the impact, because you just don't KNOW it's the last time until, as she mentioned in her post, you're standing somewhere and you think..Huh.  When WAS that last time??   And then devastation hits, because you just don't have a distinct memory.  Like...

~~the last time I pulled a tshirt over a big ol' baby head because he couldn't escape from it
~~the last time the boys argued about who would be my Couch Pal for the evening
~~the last time each boy came to ME for a hug when they were hurting, instead of to a girlfiend

I think that's why I like to take pictures.  If  nothing else, I've got that Last Time I was with Someone in a jpg.   But I think if I'd known the last Couch Pal argument WAS the final one, I'd have insisted everyone sit with me in a Big Pile.

:)