Zelda

I've been a bad kitty mommy, mainly to one of our barn cats, Zelda.  Zelda was a stray cat that came to us years ago when we first moved to Virginia.  At first, she was a shadowy creature, coming to our house at night to eat the dog and cat food left on our porch.  Soon, we saw more and more of her and one day I finally was able to coax her to me so I could pet her.  One of the kids discovered that she was a mother cat and had three kittens hidden in a building on the property we were renting at the time.  The kittens were the spitting image of their father, the tom cat we had recently taken in.  (And that's another story.)  The kids named her Zelda and she joined our family's rapidly growing menagerie.  Over the years, Zelda has become extremely attached to our black lab Ginny, much to the annoyance of Ginny.  Zelda is a very shy cat, but she's very sweet and I enjoy her company.


A few weeks ago, I noticed a crusty patch on Zelda's back.  I assumed it was a hot spot and was going to keep an eye on it.  Well, I got busy and didn't think to check her.  One day I realized I hadn't seen her for several days so I went in search of her.  Zelda has two places that she likes to spend time - in our barn and in our equipment shed.  I found her perched on the stack of hay in the equipment shed and she came down to me.  That's when I saw the crud that had taken over her body.  It covered a large portion of her back and tail, plus was on one of her ears.  I was going out of town that afternoon so I rushed her to the vet for treatment.  I was told the crust could be due to a variety of things:  allergies, fungus, even cancer; only time and treatment would tell.  I left Zelda at the vet overnight to be partially shaved and bathed and my daughter picked her up the next day, with instructions to give her a liquid antibiotic twice a day.


Well, Zelda seems to not like her treatment and has disappeared.  My wish is that she's just hiding, that her skin is healing just fine without her medicine, and that she'll show up when she's good and ready.  Zelda, please come home; we miss you.

Brief Hiatus

Well, I'm off to work on my condo project again.  The kitchen cabinets are being delivered tomorrow and I'm seeing a contractor about a little problem - lack of drywall in my kitchen.  My internet access will be spotty.  Being the cheap frugal person I am, I don't have internet access on my phone and have to use the library's computer or WiFi when available.


I can't believe I have two home improvement projects going at the same time...

Quote for the Day

"Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40 after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves.  Since few women ever pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely."


~Christian Dior

A Magnet Changed My Life

Well, it wasn't that dramatic, but it did make a big difference.  Lately, because we are now four adults living in the same household, I've been tutoring my family in the art of loading the dishwasher rather than piling the dishes in the sink.  I know, I should have started this when my children were young, but since I was a stay-at-home mom, I didn't mind doing it myself.  (Plus, I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to housekeeping.)  But lately, with four people eating several meals and snacks at different times of day, I decided I needed a little assistance.  


The problem I ran into was the family not being able to tell when the dishes were clean or dirty.  Here's where the magnet comes into play:  I remembered seeing magnets that go on the dishwasher door and say clean and dirty.  A quick internet search revealed exactly what I was looking for:

Now I no longer have to answer the question, "are they clean or dirty?" nor do I come home to a sink full of dirty dishes.  Such a simple solution to a major headache.

(Image from www.zazzle.com)

A Sneak Peak

Yesterday I had a very nice surprise.  I called the upholsterer to see if I could bring in my sofa.  He already had my chair and ottoman and I was trying to get all the upholstering done before summer's end.  The main reason, besides the fact that I want my room finished, is because I need my son home from college to help with all the moving up and down the stairs.  Turns out, not only could I bring in my sofa, but the other pieces were done!  Hallelujah! 


Here's the fabric that I used - a nice cream and cranberry toile:

It's a Waverly fabric that I got for a fantastic price.  Originally, I wanted to do my sofa in this fabric but turned out I didn't have enough.  So, I went to plan B, swapped the fabrics (and ordered extra of the small check as I didn't have nearly enough of that for the sofa).  


The upholsterer had my chair and ottoman right by the front door when I arrived.  He said he had gotten lots of comments on how great the pieces turned out.  I, personally, was elated with the outcome.  I told my hubby that I planned on living in the chair for the next few weeks.   It's so comfortable and feminine.  What do you think?

In a couple of weeks, I'll have the sofa reveal.

Kicking It

In kickboxing, that is.  Have never done it before.  Tried it today.  It kicked my tail feathers.  What a great workout - and not stressful like aerobics used to be to me.  I'm not at all coordinated.  Some people might say I have two left feet, but being a southpaw I find that a bit offensive.  In the class I took today, the routines weren't very complicated and the instructor slowly led us up to and through the most involved ones.  And we all laughed at ourselves when we didn't quite get it.  Plus the class really pushed me beyond where I'd take myself so I should show results faster.   I might not be saying this tomorrow, when the true "benefits" of the class take effect, but I think I'll go back.  

Attending Meeting

Not long ago my husband and I were out of town and were able to attend a Quaker meeting.  Although I consider myself a Quaker, it was the first time I had actually attended a meeting.  The meeting house we visited had both unprogrammed and semi-programmed meetings.  Unprogrammed meetings are completely silent, whereas in semi-programmed meetings, someone delivers a message.  Being a novice, I decided the semi-programed would be best for us.  And I was right.  


It's funny attending a house of worship where you're not sure of the protocol.  For the most part, the semi-programmed meeting was similar to the order of worship found in mainline Protestant churches.   Announcements were delivered, hymns were sung, a collection was received, and there was a reading prior to the message.  However, after the message, there was a long period of silence during which time we were to pray and seek God's guidance.  


Towards the end of the silence, several people rose to speak.  As the message had focused on the Quaker peace ethic, one woman spoke about doing a Google search of military involvement by the United States since independence.  The number was staggering and she pointed out that in almost all interventions, the U.S. was the aggressor.  Another woman spoke about an interfaith conference she had attended and that the most important thing she brought from that event was a book entitled The Peace Book, that was handed out to attendees.  She suggested it as a book for a discussion group, perhaps in conjunction with another house of worship.  A third individual rose and suggested we sing a hymn, which we did.  After the members spoke, I noticed an air of expectancy rather than prayerfulness.  Then the pastoral leader shook hands with an elder, thus concluding the meeting.


There is a lot of diversity among Quakers, from very the very liberal to the extremely conservative evangelical.  The meeting I attended was a very liberal one, since I lean in that direction.  Therefore, my experience at meeting might not be the same as that of someone attending a different meeting.  Attending a meeting was one of my goals from last quarter and I was finally in a position to fulfill that goal.  



(Photo of George Fox, founder of the Quakers, from www.georgefox.edu)