Crazy Cat Lady

In August of 2011, the kids and I gave Rick a kitten for his birthday. He named her Chloe O'Kitten after a character on his then favorite TV show, "24". Rick picked Chloe over the other shelter cats because she was so quick to purr. She also loved to snuggle and often fell asleep in his arms.

 

Well, the honeymoon ended all too soon. As Chloe grew into a teenage kitty, she decided that she loved Emma best. She would snub Rick's attempts at affection, crushing his dreams of having a furry BFF. Chloe was deemed the worst birthday gift ever.

Emma and HER CAT Chloe

One day over the radio, the Toledo Area Humane Society put a plea out for foster volunteers to take in litters of kittens until they were old enough to be adopted out. The early summer was causing the area strays to proliferate like crazy and TAHS was out of room. My heart melted.

 

Since Rick was already embittered by the Chloe situation, I worried he would completely shut down the idea of temporarily housing some kittens. I was way off. He supported my crazy idea, so I drove down to the shelter immediately. I offered my services, expecting some kind of screening process and waiting period before I could actually take a litter home. However, TAHS were overrun and needed help right away. Crates of kitty babies were literally stacked on top of each other in the intake area. I went home with a litter of 6, just weaned.

Our sad, scared kittens on the way home from the shelter

I couldn't bring a single kitten into my home without giving it a bath first. These babies came from who knows where and they were dirty. I expected them to put up a fight once they saw the water, but they just went limp in my hands. It was surprisingly easy to get them bathed.  

Meet Sox, named for his white paws

Emma was my helpful assistant in charge of drying and warming the traumatized kittens. They looked so small and pathetic when dripping wet! Jake's job was to set up the kitten room (aka the master bathroom). We always kept the kittens shut in the bathroom away from Chloe and Shelby (the dog).

Wouldn't you feel better wrapped up in Emma's arms? Shaun sure likes it!

Each kitten tolerated its bath quite well, though they shivered themselves dry for a good hour afterwards. 

This kitty we named Gus because we thought he was a boy. She was actually a Gussie

This one we named Pieces (as in Reese's Pieces candy)

This is Reese. She had long hair and a great disposition.

Here they all are: Gussie, Sox, Pieces, Shaun, Reese, and Maddy (the white-faced one)

Yep, that's all 6 kitties snuggled on my lap. This is the moment I officially became the crazy cat lady.

We had that first litter for about 6 weeks. They were so fun AND a lot of work. There was medication to give in addition to the constant feeding and cleaning. We spent a lot of time playing with them and getting them used to people. Just like with human babies, the early stages of kittenhood are crucial the healthy development of a cat. I think our family gave them a loving, secure start. It was hard to give them back though!

After that first batch, we went out of town. We didn't get our second litter until mid July. This time we only had 4 kitties and they were all black and white.

Emma and little Gwendolyn (the runt)

I had a harder time getting to love the second litter because they were so much work. They came to us with digestive health problems (which is the nicest way I could put that). I cleaned A LOT of poo off the tile and off the kittens. Those kitties got baths almost daily! After a week and a half in our care though, they were healthy and ready to be adopted.

Rogue was my favorite kitty of this litter.

Leopold, Cranston, Gwendolyn, and Rogue enjoy an afternoon nap atop their kitty tower

I took the black and white kittens in for their check-up and found that they made weight. I wasn't expecting to give them back that day, so the TAHS workers helped soften the blow by sending me home with 2 new babies. They had no mama and were very little.

Li'l Zeus. He has a white heart shape on his chest - awwwwww!

Li'l Athena

We named this brother/sister pair after the first cats Rick and I rescued from certain death when we first married. We had gone to the Phoenix Humane Society just to "browse". A lady who had tried to surrender an abandoned litter just gave Zeus and Athena to us because they were too little to be adopted out. I guess she had been told by the Humane Society that they would be euthanized. Well, we couldn't walk away from that situation! Zeus and Athena were our first babies.

This litter reminded us so much of the original Zeus and Athena, that we gave them the same names. They turned out to be our biggest challenge yet though! When I started to give them their first baths, I discovered they were covered in fleas. The water was literally rust colored from the blood and flea dirt. After my initial freak out, I rushed them back to TAHS. I was so mad that TAHS would hand over sick, flea-ridden animals like that! (Left untreated, kittens can die from fleas infestation). Fortunately Zeus and Athena were able to be treated. After a 24-hour quarantine, the fleas were gone. (It took me a week to stop having phantom itching spells, however).

It took a long time for Zeus and Athena to come out of their shells. They were very timid and fearful of people. We kept at it though, and they started behaving like typical, healthy kittens. Before long, they too were ready to be adopted.

Zeus got adopted right away. Athena, the shyer one, took a while. I visited her whenever I would go walk the shelter dogs. It pained me to see her in a cage after the freedom and fun she had at our house. After TAHS had their Mega Adoption event though, she was gone too. Whew!

As you can imagine, I was a bit kittened out by the end of the summer. I wanted my bathroom back! Our family also had one last vacation to go on and back-to-school stuff to take care of. We had a couple of weeks with no fosters. It felt a bit empty.

The very day Jake and Emma went back to school, I went down and picked up another litter. I'm glad I did because they are the cutest, sweetest kitties we've fostered yet! They could be Chloe's offspring (had she not been spayed).

From left to right: Jenny, Benny, Penny, and Lenny

Are you convinced? Am I the crazy cat lady, or what? I guess I'm out of the closet now...

Snuggling purring kittens=A great way to spend Sunday afternoon

 

June Potpourri

Not to brag about my genius kids or anything, BUT Jake and Emma achieved Triple Honor Roll status last year in school. They had a special awards night back in early June. I think I remember Emma spending lots of time getting ready for it.

Emma got a lot of recognition during her 6th grade awards assembly. I was a proud mama!



Jacob was also promoted from the 8th grade to high school.

Rick and I updated the landscaping in our front yard. Here are a couple BEFORE pictures:



 

 

And AFTER:

 

 

For Mother's Day, Rick gave me some raised planter boxes from Costco, so I decided to try my hand at gardening over the summer. I got a handful of anemic tomatoes, tons of cilantro, different varieties of lettuce, and zucchinni. The stawberries and a blackberry bush will hopefully yield something next summer. I totally failed at carrots, sugar snap peas, green peppers, and green onion.

Sadly, I'm the only one who really ate the stuff from the garden. A lot of veggies and WATER went to waste I'm afraid. I'm not sure it was worth it...

One plant that's easy to grow at my house:

 

Emma said goodby to her cute friend Maryn by having one last sleepover before the big move to Utah.

 

They consoled themselves by taking hundreds of pictures of the Chloe and eating half a pan of brownies.

 

 to be continued...



December in Pictures

An Explanation

Blogger and I had a falling out. Pictures are such a PAIN to load that I've had absolutely no desire to blog the past few months. I apologize to the 3 loyal people that still follow. It's not you, it's me. I really need some coaching on how to make this whole blogging process faster. By the time I get the photos up, the writing part of my brain is totally blocked. HELP!

I feel that I should share a few of the highlights from the holidays, although Christmas seems like a lifetime ago. This post will include my favorite moments from December.

Decking Our Halls

We had a blast decorating the house this year. Emma inherited Grandma Saunders's lovely Christmas village, so we got to set it up on the ledge in our basement. It looked beautiful when it was all lit up! We also added a few more themed Christmas trees so that we could showcase my growing collection of Nativity ornaments and the kids' homemade ornaments from over the years.

Grandma's Village

Our message board with a few wintery snapshots and some subway art from the Internet

One of the cheesy decorations I made in Relief Society a million years ago that the kids won't let me pitch

Our favorite mugs given to us from the Phelans in times past AND simmering potpurri (recipe from my Mom)

A table cloth I picked up on clearance after Christmas last year

A nod to my sister-in-law Toni...she used to wrap her wall art like presents.

The Greg Olsen painting is a gift I bought myself this year for my birthday. I love it!

Our living room tree (the one the kids don't like).

A view of a few nativity displays

My favorites

More nativity displays

My little nativity tree in the background

The foyer with a nativity passed down from Grandma Saunders

In the music room

I like to switch out the pictures in my frames to go along with the season. We have some pretty funny Santa pics through the years.

Emma and Chloe showing off the front porch

 Shelby's Trip to Bass Pro

Another tradition? We like to take Shelby to Bass Pro. We were hoping to get her picture taken with Santa, but the lines we sooooooo long. All the parents wanted their children to see The Big Guy. Whatever.

Shelby wore her Santa Baby cosutme all month long.

She kept licking the faux snow that littered the ground of the store. You can see it in her fur.

Emma's bestie, Emily, joined us.

You'll put your eye out kid!

Shelby was a hit with the kiddies. We could have charged money...

The Interfaith Nativity

It just wouldn't be Christmas in Perrysburg without the Interfaith Nativity hosted by our church. This year I had the pleasure of accompanying one of my favorite young women, Christy, as she performed in her very own concert. I was amazed by her poise and confidence. She's just 16 years old and she gave a beautiful 45 minute long performance all by herself. Wow!

Audrey, Christy, and Christy's mom Anita

Fake Christmas

We celebrated Christmas Eve AND Christmas on December 23rd. That's right. Rick worked on Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning, so we had to make a few adjustments to our schedule. As is our tradition, we ate at Nagoya for dinner. Then, we made our way home for music, snuggling, and gift-giving.

Jake is good enough now to play all sorts of Kurt Bestor arrangements. He performed "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" for our ward's Christmas Sunday program.

Chloe LOVED her first Christmas. She took particular interest in the trees and gift wrap.

Shelby's expression strikes me as funny. I love her!

"OK Kids. Let's take a sweet brother/sister photo by the tree".

There we go!

This one of the few "Christmas morning" pictures of me wearing makeup - ha! I can get used to this.

The Holidays in A Nutshell

This was not to be a season spent with family. Instead, we put money away for savings. Rick was blessed with some wonderful and lucrative moonlighting opportunities, but we had to sacrifice our time together. I have to admit, it was hard. All of my siblings and families gathered with my folks for Christmas this year. I reeeeeeeally wanted to be a part of their fun. Family is truly an essential part of Christmas. Snow is too. We didn't have either. Next year will be different!

Thank goodness we had Chloe and Shelby to distract us from missing our family!

What makes your Christmas a successs? How will you make things different next year?