Natural Beauty

I love this picture of Jane Fonda. She posted it on her own blog about a month ago when she wrote about her vacation to Ecuador and the Galapgos Islands with family. I think it shows the natural beauty of a 71 year old woman, and illustrates that she has such confidence to post this photo since she has always been in the business where appearance, youth and beauty are everything.

I have enjoyed reading her blog daily. She started it earlier in the year when she went back to Broadway after a 40 year absence to document her daily experiences and the process of doing a show on Broadway. Since her show has closed, her blog may not be as active with showbiz tidbits, but she always gives an inside look to whatever she is doing.

New cat

Since this is a little-old-lady-cat-blog full of old posts, I thought I'd update with the new family member, Max. Just like Charlotte, he was a stray kitten abandoned across the street at work. He has an incredible, loving personality. He always purrs at EVERYTHING and is very curious. He has to check out anything that you're doing. He's gonna be a GREAT cat!

his first night with us - May 20, 2009

Today, June 29,2009

Bah, Humbug! to Bah, Humbug!

So many people complain about Christmas.... I hear so much "Bah, Humbug!" about the holidays. You might as well get over it.... It comes every year without fail. You can't control the negatives, so just focus on what you like about it all. Just ignore the commercialism and make the holiday your own.

I did my annual holiday mall walk. I like the hustle and bustle, the decorations and the music (if it's not too early). I went to The Galleria, Valley View Mall, and NorthPark. NorthPark remains my favorite. The Santa and reindeer (all made from nuts!) have been there each holiday season as long as I can remember. NorthPark also has art throughout the mall all year.

Dallas has been so lucky to have someone like Ray Nasher to keep NorthPark so simple and classic and showcase his art collection in the mall. I'm glad that his family is keeping his legacy alive and protecting his vision. The new expansion doubling its size has sealed its reputation of the best shopping experience in Big D!

Cat Blog

I've tried not to make this a little old lady cat blog. But some people really do have a cat blog.

http://www.omgkitty.com/

Katamari from Brooklyn has devoted owners that blog all about her - and not anything else.

She has videos on YouTube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUr9NaAkrUU

This one has a background song that will attach to your brain - sung in Japanese by Connie Francis! Kinda weird! (Although when Connie was a big star, she recorded albums in many languages.... I didn't know she did Japanese as well!)

If you have nothing to do, you can look at 157 pages of funny cat pictures

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

People have so much time on their hands!

Walkies

I went for a walk the other day in my new harness. I don't really like outside, but I get distracted by stuff. Then I remember where I am and run to the door to get back inside. But it's okay, I guess.

Partner's Card madness

This is the due date framing schedule showing what we took in each day during Partner's Card. The first week is normal for us, and then you can see PC hits on the first Saturday. It may be a little heavier than last year - due to so many multiple orders from one customer. We may get through it all by Christmas!

Along came a spider....

This spider has been on the side of the house all this week. When I first discovered it, it was in the center of the web, but when I went outside to take it's picture, it saw me and moved up to the top of the web (the spot in front of the green tree). The web is so high up, you can walk under it, so the whole thing may stay put awhile. The big one last year was in front of the house, and I'm sure the postman ran into it - squarely in the face!

It's finally the weekend again!

It's been more than a week since my last post. Is this blog doomed?

This last week has been a mix of Charlotte distraction, being sick and energy-less, trapped by a commitment to "The War", and trying to get the framing pricing software tweaked (I was messing with it 'til 1:00 last night).

Charlotte energy has made a huge difference at home. Playing on the bed in the middle of the night has gotten her shut out of the room, but that's is less and less each night. She slept all night on a human schedule last night, so she is learning our rhythms.... and she's more comfortable and relaxed with us and all household things.

I watched the 16 hour PBS series "The War" which was very good, but I almost felt trapped having to stop all life for 2 to 2 1/2 hours each night to watch it. With other shows starting the fall season, there has been lots of TV time. Some shows are still sitting in the recorder waiting to be watched. Our cable company updated their channels, so most everything got moved around and new stuff was added. I don't know what program is on what channel anymore! I haven't had time to update the TV with channel labels and removing all the weird stations that we won't watch.

The framing software will be great - not perfect - but it is so intricate and complex that it will require tweaking in many areas because it can do so much stuff. All that is hard and time-consuming since it is technical in a computer-ease kind of way and you just gotta sit and study the manual to figure it out. I'm trying to take advantage of working its way for the updated and automatic pricing while making it work our way for ease and convenience. But all of the framing projects in the shop are now entered, and we are starting to actively use the system.

I have been sick - one of those lingering things that takes forever to go away. It is SLOWLY getting better. I might actually feel normal someday.

Charlotte

(click photo to enlarge - and marvel at my beauty!)

I've been waiting to get to the vet before another cat blog entry, and that FINALLY happened today. We have a little girl as I thought at the beginning - and her name is Charlotte. She is now eight weeks old and has ringworm. So, she'll be seeing Dr. Bratton every week to get a sulphur shampoo and pills every other week for about a month or so. Otherwise she is healthy.

Charlotte still hides some, but gets less shy every day. She found a spot to hide in that took us a week to discover. We looked in every conceivable place that a cat could get and could never find her. She would stay hidden all day until late evening. The sleeper sofa in the front bedroom has a 2 inch space from the floor and I would even open it an look inside - and still no Charlotte. After a few days, I finally got desperate enough to open the sleeper sofa again, climb inside to lie on the floor and look up to discover that the back is hollow and has a little ledge that she was sitting on - after she squeezed under the 2 inch space! So, I discourage her hiding so she will be out with us when we are home - and it has sped up her comfort level. She loves the bed and likes to cuddle there and is calmest there. She likes to sleep ON me and sometimes in the middle of the night will run up and down ON TOP of me when she has a night frenzy - and attacks the covers. That is getting better since I push her away or shut her out of the bedroom if it gets too bad. It will just take a little time for everyone to adjust.

Dr. Bratton helped us through BooBoo's illness all the way to the end, so he knows us well. He told Charlotte, "You hit the jackpot when you got adopted into this household!"

Lazy or Busy?

It looks like this blog could become a once-a-week thing when I have down-time on Sunday or Monday.... or is recent life boring, busy, or is my brain too lazy to have a "clever" entry???
This week has been occupied with getting the purr machine settled in as well as getting the new framing pricing software installed. It's another modernization to go along with the new mat cutter. It's a little harder to use at the point-of-sale, but will pay off in keeping the prices current automatically and having any tiny bit of information that is needed at our fingertips.
(These pigs guard our business card / referral shelf.)

And Baby Makes Three

So, we unexpectedly have a new member of the household! Last night while I was having a massage with Truitt, William took BooBoo's carrier to the shop cats' domain and trapped a little kitten (maybe five weeks old?) (no, seven weeks!) that had been hanging around there for about a week. I thought she was so wild that we'd never be able to get her, but fresh turkey tricked her into the carrier. During the evening, she stayed at the back of the carrier, watchful. But when we finally started to pet her, it was instant purrs! She was still a bit shy, but by the middle of the night, she was climbing up the side of the bed to join us for some company. This morning, she turned shy again and has stayed under the bed. I think she is nocturnal, so she feels more relaxed at night. But she will quickly turn around. We will take her to the vet next week to get her checked out and confirm her gender. We have two or three names in consideration, and are close to choosing. Now if we can just get some sleep!

A Rose By Any Other Name....

Bill wants to banish "Bill" and now be known as "William". He has never liked the name "Bill" and has wanted to change it for a long time. He tried his middle name "Ryder", but it never stuck.... No one even tried much. Maybe he'll have better luck with "William". I haven't really put my mind to it, but I'll try. We all went from "Bette" to "Beth", so maybe we can do this, too. What IS it about the 50's??? "I Gotta Be Me!"

Pink Nose, Pink Feet

I miss BooBoo.

Six Years

I Left My Heart

San Francisco is such a great city!! It really is a California version of New York City.... International flavor with EVERYTHING to offer - just more relaxed - PLUS nearby nature. The main impressive and unusual thing is the different diverse neighborhoods so close together. There can be areas that have foggy or sunny weather right next to each other. We will have to go back and explore smaller communities nearby!