Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

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Merry Christmas Eve!  I hope you are all ready for the big day tomorrow or having fun celebrations today already.  We will be heading to church this evening (since I really like the new pastor this year), and then over to my parent’s neighbor’s house (she’s also the MIL of my mom’s second cousin, and they stay with her when they come in from Pittsburgh, so we visit with them).  Tomorrow we will go out for a buffet lunch with my one grandmother, uncle, parents, and aunt and uncle.  When my grandparents started getting a little too old for cooking big meals, they decided to take everyone out on Christmas day instead, and even though I never liked going out to eat on a holiday, my only remaining grandmother loves this tradition, especially now with my grandfather gone, so we still go and then we head back to her house to exchange gifts and play Wii games.  Usually we headed to my other grandmother’s house in the evening, but that won’t be happening this year…

So here are my photo choices for this week (they are pretty much my last Christmas kitty pics I have of my own kitties, so I better take some new ones for next year!):

I don’t know why the picture quality is so bad.  I guess these weren’t the original files.  This was the boys first Christmas.  We tied pretty ribbons on them (don’t worry, they were supervised the whole time and the ribbons came off immediately following pictures), and posed them on the sofa with our Santa hat.  Jasper did not want to stay for anything.  Dusty was perfectly content to sit and let us snap away.

As seen here!  I really need to find the original files of these somehow.  This picture quality is terrible, but these are all I had to work with at this time.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I will try to post again on New Year’s, but before then will be very busy and crazy for me.  Happy Holidays!

My Christmas House

I feel very behind this Christmas.  I almost feel like I’m not enjoying the Christmas feeling as much this year.  I felt very Christmas-y before Thanksgiving already, which is really early for me, but now that it’s upon us, I feel like I’m missing something.  I think my grandmother’s passing has a lot to do with it.  I still feel a lot of sadness…

But with that aside, I did get my house all decorated.  It’s as complete as it’s ever going to be this year.  I wanted to share my decorations with you, even though these pictures are from last year.  The decorations are all in the same spots this year, but my house currently looks like a tornado hit it with shopping bags full of gifts, and one ornament tub that still needs to be packed away, so you get to view last year’s pictures of this year’s decorations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My grandmother made my stocking, probably about 5+ years ago, and I will cherish it always.  As I said, she never had much money to give big, expensive gifts, but I always cherished everything she ever gave me because it came with a lot of thought, and straight from her heart.  Last year’s gift from her was a set of dessert dishes because she noticed I didn’t have any at Thanksgiving, and even though they aren’t fine china or fancy, I love them and they are some of my favorite dishes.  She also gave me an ornament that she personalized for our first year in our new home.  I have to admit that I forgot about the ornament until I pulled it out this year, and it brought tears to my eyes.  It has an up front and center position on the tree this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The newest edition to the decorations this year.  Bought this angel at a recent craft show.

 

 

Forgive the setup of this post if everything looks out of place.  My blog writing program and Blogger don’t always match up and look the same.  This is the majority of the decorations.  We do put up a mini tree in the bedroom and hubby decorates his desk with lights and such, but I didn’t get pictures of them last year, and it’s probably not happening this year either.

We did get a brand new camera for ourselves.  Mine has been acting a little funny lately, and BJ’s put one my dad has been eyeing for a year now on a sale for the cheapest we’ve seen it from anywhere, so we decided to go for it and have a very good camera.  My dad finally got it too, so now we have identical cameras!  I haven’t really been able to give it a good testing yet, but I’m excited to, and I’m hoping to start to get some really good shots that I can turn into prints to sell in my Artfire shop.  That won’t happen until next year, but look for them hopefully by summer!

I’ll have my Favorite Kitty Pic Friday post up this week yet, but I don’t know about any others until New Year’s then.  It’s crunch time now to get all my last minute gifts purchased, handmade, wrapped, and baking done.  It will be a busy week and a half, since my Christmas won’t end on Saturday!  We’re have a get together with some friends on Tuesday next week, and then we’ll be heading to the in-laws for a night or two after that.

Hope you’re all staying warm and sane during this crazy Christmas week!

A great loss.

Virginia Grace Weaver, Feb. 16th 1923-Dec. 6th 2010

 

This is one of the best, and only, pictures I have with my grandmother from my adult life.  I was so happy when she was able to make it to our wedding, since she had recently lost half of her leg at the time and wasn’t sure if she would be able to make it or not.

It’s been a very sad time for my family.  My grandmother was 87 years old, and hasn’t been in the best of health over recent years, but she was a very strong woman and seemed to overcome whatever had been thrown her way.  Until Monday the 6th.  I got a call from my dad immediately after hanging up with my mom to tell me she was in the hospital, and the doctor requested that everyone get there as soon as possible to make a decision about her condition.  I won’t go into details about her ailment, but she was extremely sick, and her body was not able to handle the damage the illness was causing anymore.  She had apparently been sick since the week before, but refused to go to the hospital then.  I was worried about her one or two months ago when she was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia.  I know that pneumonia can be very serious in a person of her age, and when she came out of that ok, I figured we had more time with her.  So, the phone call I received that Monday came as a complete shock.  I hadn’t seen her since the day after Thanksgiving prior to that, and she seemed fine then.  I didn’t know that she wasn’t feeling well for a few days after that visit, and by that Monday evening, she was at peace.

We all agree that she must have known her time was coming to an end sooner than later.  My aunt was able to answer questions about great grandparents and her siblings that no one else knew the answer to because my grandmother gave her all that information on her most recent visit a few weeks ago.  My uncle’s fiancee, who has cared for my grandmother since losing her leg almost 4 years ago, had a paper that my grandmother wrote out with all the dates of her siblings births and deaths.  My other uncle got the feeling from her on a recent conversation that she knew it was her time to go.  And my dad and I went up to her bedroom to look for something the day after she passed, and found the whole stack of my grandfather’s funeral cards sitting next to her bed, along with a few very old pictures sitting around that didn’t seem like her normal display.  She knew.  I wish I had.  It was a very difficult week.

I got to see all of my aunts and uncles along with all 10 of my cousins and their children together for the first time in a very long time.  It was nice to see everyone again, but not for the reason we were gathered together after so long.  My one cousin did a very nice job of reminiscing about her and memories that each person contributed, and even that could have gone on all day.  We each had very special memories and moments with her.  She had 6 children, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren, and always gave her love individually to each of us.  I won’t get into any of their memories and moments with her, because those are their private thoughts, and this is my personal and public blog.  But I have so many special and even funny memories with her…

She lived near the schools I went to, so when I was old enough to walk to school on my own, my parents would drop me off at her house in the morning to walk to school, and then pick me up there afterward.  If there was ever a morning I didn’t get to eat breakfast or was still hungry, she made sure I didn’t go to school with an empty belly.  I tried new things at her house that I never would have otherwise.  And every day after school, she would let me watch whatever I wanted on TV, and a lot of times there was even an ice cream treat waiting for me.  Butter Nut was the favorite (like Butter Pecan, only the brand the local mini mart sold at the corner called theirs “Butter Nut”).  If she didn’t have any left, she would give me money and send me for some.  I hardly ever missed school for being sick, but I do remember staying at her house during the day a couple times when I was too sick to go to school.  She always had crackers, soup, or ginger ale and knew how to make me feel better.  Her apple pie was the best pie I have ever eaten.  When I was in 5th grade, I had to do a “how-to” speech, so I decided on how to make apple pie.  We were allowed to bring in the item or treat we were speaking about, so my grandmother was generous enough to make at least 5 or 6 apple pies for my dad to bring into school that day.  I was a big hit with my class and all my teachers!  Her homemade apple sauce was also wonderful.  Sadly, I never got the recipe for that from her, and never got the chance to make a whole batch with her to know just what to do.  I do make her apple pie though, and it may not always be as perfect as hers, but it comes pretty close, and I love that I can at least carry that with me in life.  After high school and college, I would drive her to a lot of her doctor appointments, and we would go out to lunch together many times.  I loved my time alone with her, just to talk and be listened to.  Her doors were always open, and I could stop by whenever I wanted for a visit.  I could talk to her about anything and everything, and even when I only planned a quick visit, I would still end up there for hours sometimes.  She was a wonderful role model, an inspiration, and I can only hope that I will grow into being just as an amazing woman as she was.

She will be missed greatly, and will be a part of me forever.

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

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I know I have posted anything in 2 weeks.  I even skipped this post last week.  I’ve been somewhat busy, especially this week now with Christmas only being 1 week away, and last week was a very physically, mentally, and emotionally tiring week.  I will have a post on that (hopefully) tomorrow, since I haven’t been able to finish typing it up yet, due to emotions and lack of extra time.

It is Friday today though, so TGIF!  I wanted to make sure I got this post in today, because I have a few very cute Christmas-y pics of my kitties from when they were babies.  My choice for today (I picked 2):

We have an artificial tree, and this was the first year they ever experienced a Christmas tree.  I’m estimating them to be about 4 months old at that time.  So, in the middle of putting it up, Jasper decided it looked like a fun thing to climb and perch himself on.  This was not the last time we found him perched in the tree – but it was worse once all the ornaments were on.  We lost a few glass balls that year…

Dusty tried climbing the tree at least once, but definitely seems to like to cuddle up under it on the tree skirt more often.  To this day, they don’t try to climb the tree anymore since they are both too big to fit up inside, but Dusty can still be found under it sometimes, along with Japer, who is mainly under there to play with all the ornaments around the bottom that he can reach.  We decided to replace the broken glass balls with shatterproof ones, and the rest of the ornaments on the bottom are harder to break.  We do still have lots of breakables, but we don’t seem to clean up as many, if any at all, each year they get older.  Though I may be replacing my string of colored lights soon…Jasper apparently thinks they are candy and chews on them.  We stop him as soon as we catch him, but some of my colored lights now look clear!

Have a Christmas fun-filled weekend!  Tomorrow’s (hopefully) post will be on a very serious note, with much sadness from me.  Just a warning.  I wanted to make sure I posted this today though.

Favorite Kitty Pic Friday!

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Hello! It’s the end of the week again, and I hope you all have something fun or relaxing planned! I’m having a busy 2 days – I’ll be at what is probably PA’s largest craft/gift show all day today, and tomorrow hubby and I have a few things to do before getting ready for the baton twirling group’s annual banquet. It’s always a nice night to get together outside of the practice or performing setting, but I am having a really hard time figuring out what to wear. I have nice dress pants that still fit me, but I’m having issues with tops – all the ones I currently own are a little snug for my liking, and I bought 2 new tops tonight, both the same size, but one is still snug and the other one is so huge it totally drowns me! How does that happen?! I really liked them both, but now I have to try to exchange them for different sizes, or shop somewhere else altogether on Saturday morning and hope to find something. I’m frustrated in the clothing department right now.

Anyway, back to what today’s post is really about:

Jasper just loves the blankets! This brown one seems to be his favorite, but the gray fleecy one we have will do just fine if the brown one is not in sight. He usually only snuggles up on your lap between your legs if you have the blanket. He drags this blanket from the couch in the family room all the way through our kitchen and dining room to the front living room or through the kitchen and hallway. Every night. He’s not usually snuggled under this blanket, like above, but if you put it that way he doesn’t seem to mind! My poor boys had their yearly vet visit tonight along with their rabies and distemper shots. Dusty was shaking and scared, Jasper just crouched low, but overall they did well, and seemed unaffected by the shots this evening. I remember when Cody would go to the vet, and they would have to throw a towel over his head because he would hiss and spit, and try to bite the vet and techs! I’m so glad my boys aren’t like that. You can tell they don’t want to be there, but they are calm and quiet.

If you’d like to share your favorite kitty, please grab the button above and create your own post that you can link here in the comments section, or just leave a comment with a link to your photo somewhere online.

Have a great weekend!