I have been dog- & house-sitting.

For the past 8 days I have been taking care of two dogs.  A Shih Tzu named Jack and a Pomeranian named Kip.  They are so quirky.

Tonight my duties have ended.  I am home, reading, with a cute Tortie kitty curled up at the end of my beloved bed.

It ended with sitting infront of the fireplace with a decaf chai while gabbing with a friend.

My week.  What a ridiculous 6 days!!!!!  When I look back on it, I give Jesus all the credit for keeping me sane and enveloping me in an Angie-sized grace bubble.

Sunday - I attended both church services as I served by running the Propresenter.  From church I went and prayed with a friend.  Dashed home and warmed-up some leftover soup before dashing out tbe door to the Elf musical.  My former Sunday school kiddo was starring in. And the day ended with a Christmas Hallmark movie with Lori. 

Monday - work which included payroll and a work sickie.  Monday night I went to my old church for their ladies Christmas tea.  I went because love does. 

Tuesday was another glorious day at the sewer plant.  (On a related note, slightly random, my work weeks are busy but no longer tense.  Stepping back and re-evaluating my reactions has been a huge help.)  Tuesday night was tutoring.  My tutoree asked me where I work.  Telling him at the sewer plant required some clarification that no, I do not work in the sewer pipes like a Ninja Turtle.  I am just a secretary for a bunch of engineers who follow the lead of Batman and Robin.

Wednesday involved more secretary-ing and then my new life group.  It's been 3 months so is it really a "new" life group?  Hmmmm...

Thursday was work which included the decorating of the department Christmas tree.  Was I feeling festive?  Not so much.  I was actually feeling why-can't-RAL-decorate-the-tree???   My work day was then followed by running home to fluff my gym clothes in the dryer then dashing to the gym where I did a few minutes of quasi-intense cardio and then I made a mad dash to Beef-a-roo for some sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli and a chit-chat with a dear friend.

This brings me to today.  Friiiiiiiiiiday!!!!!!  Work and then hurry home to warm up soup which I scarfed-down before dashing out the door to Meg's to meet my friend.  After a chai, we went to my church for the Christmas Sing Out Loud.  It was wonderful.

And now my flannel jammies are on and a very silly feline has taken up residency on my lap. 

I am soooooo thankful this week ended on such an encouraging note.

Tomorrow I have a few errands but I mostly want to...
1. Decorate my cute little Christmas tree.
2. Write out my cards.
3. Sew gifts.

Happy weekend-ing, blog-stalkers!!!!

There's something about Celia...

A couple weeks ago I decided to bring Celia with me to see Uncle Bryan.  Bry has always loved my felines...even the biter. Rest in peace Mags.

I didn't tell him that I was bringing Celia.  I just showed-up at his apartment with Celia in her carrier.  He took one look at me and smiled...but when he noticed my traveling companion, his smile grew and he teared-up.  It was so beautiful.

There's something about having my sweet Celia sitting on your lap with her kitty-cat purr and warm fur.  She is comforting.  She is kind.  She loved on Bry.

Bry sent me this text tonight:
"Your kitty was so nice.
Thanks for bringing her along."

I read it to Celia and said, "Seeeeee...I told you he would seeing you!!!!!!"

I didn't take a pre-trip pic!!!!

Since I didn't snap a pre-trip pic, I thought I would paint you a word picture.

Celia does not like her cat carrier.  Probably because the only time I take her anywhere is to go to the vet...and her last vet visit was slightly traumatic for her.  Poor thing had to have her teeth cleaned and her nails clipped.

Today I got her in her carrier (by sitting on my knees, straddling Celia, and pulling the carrier opening toward her so that she had no other option but to enter the carrier) and we traveled 285 miles to Hudson, Michigan.

She did such a good job in the car!!!  The vet was right - once Celia realized she was crated and not going to be released, she laid down and sulked for 2 hours.  The other 2.5 hours she slept. 

Since arriving at Bryan's, she has remained under his bed.  What a silly feline!!!!

I killed a wasp!!!

Technically heat and lack of water & food killed the wasp.  But I am not gonna lie, I did NOT mourn its death.

Wasps = bad
Bees = good

Celia and I watched it perish as it was trapped between the screen and the window.  Neither of us felt bad for it.  Muhahahahaha.  (Evil laughter)

For Celia

I share an apartment with the sweetest Tortie kitty cat named Celia. 

She loves waking me up at 5:25 a.m. because I swear she KNOWS that my alarm is set for 5:30 a.m.

She has a plastic toy ball that has a jingle bell inside of it.  She likes playing with this at 2 a.m.  When I say "playing with it," what I mean is she likes slamming it into the walls lining my hallway.  Did I mention it's usually 2 in the morning?

She enjoys lounging atop my extra bed pillow.  Thankfully I am a firm believer in 6 pillows on my bed.  Why, yes, I am one person and six pillows is not ridiculous.  Two have shams.  Four have pillowcases.  (I cannot believe that I just explained / felt like I had to justify my 6 bed pillows.)

She tolerates me clipping her front toenails.  As I explained to the vet, I wait until she starts rearranging the kitchen rug before I cut her nails.  I am fairly certain she just wants to run and not skatter the rug...although I bet it's fun on some level.

Her catnip plant perished while I was on vacation.  It was just too hot outside and I did not think to bring it indoors.

Today I went to the little nursery by my apartment and found that they still have catnip plants and they were VERY affordable.  I bought two.  Might as well have a backup.

I am my cat's "dealer."  I break off a little leaf before I head to work. 

Celia has to have a bad tooth pulled.  Is this covered by the Tooth Fairy?  Hmmm...

May 17, 2017

My mom gave me the heads-up about tonight's storms.  (Note to self:  Watch more local news, Angie Good.) 

I very wittily replied back, "Just like Queen Esther going before the King, " 'If I perish, I perish.' "

As the storm was raging and the siren was sounding, I said to Celia (who was sitting on her perch watching the outdoor action), "Well this is great.  I could perish and my mom's last text will be me crazily quoting the Bible."

Celia meowed.  So judgy.

#wedidnotperish

My view

Do you ever take a whole day for yourself???  I am doing that today...aside from church and this evening's small group, I've decided to enjoy this 4th day of December.

My current view includes...
Elf playing on my television,

Celia laying on the Christmas tree skirt 
which reminds me to (stretch) turn on the white lights,

A glass coffee mug full of freshly made decaf coffee 
with dashes of peppermint extract & French vanilla 
coffee creamer {It's like Christmas in a cup!!!  
 I know my York Peppermint Patty-lovin' 
friend Kari would totally LOVE this mixture!}  

My wooden t.v. tray has a stack of plaid (pre-printed) 
notecards, a stack of Christmasy stamps, 
some coordinating ink pads, and adhesive

And lastly - out of my sliding glass window snow is gently falling to blanket the grass.

Today is the perfect sort of day for all of the above...merry card making, Christmas movie watching, Christmas tree light enjoyment, coffee drinking, and feline shenanigans.

Celia's judgment

I can read as late as I want without anyone judging my poor decision.  Technically, Celia judges me.  Oh, you would like proof? 

Flannel infinity scarves

Sunday afternoon Celia "helped" me work on Christmas presents.

Taking a break...

It was not going so well. 

What wasn't going so well? 

My new knitting project.

It's a another hat. 

 
Are you thinking, For the love of yarn, why is she making another ridiculous hat?  It's simple. There's a birthday at the end of this month...and the b-day girl loves hats.  That would be L-O-V-E loves hats.  She also happens to love sparkles so imagine my delight when I found variegated gray yarn with sequins randomly attached throughout the yarn.  {Let's get one thing straight - I'm not the kinda gal to attach my own sequins.  Are you kidding me right now?  Sew those little shiny things into the knitting?  Ummmmm...no thanks.  Infact, if you scroll down to the next post - Chicken Tortilla Soup - you will read all about my laziness in that I just dump the ingredients in my crockpot and turn it on and walk away.  Infact, the irony is - that recipe came from my beloved cookbook, Fix It and Forget It, and 9 times out of 10, I usually do forget about whatever it is that is simmering and cooking in my crockpot all day while I am answering the phones, typing, and occasionally filing.}


Where was I?  Oh - yes, I remember.  I NEEDED A BREAK FROM A VERY BAD KNITTING PATTERN soooo I grabbed my needed-to-be-returned Hallmark DVDs and headed to the library.  {Knitting disclaimer:  It's not a BAD project....it just wasn't going well for me which translates - I had about 28 rows done, which happens to be a good chunk of the project, when I noticed that the ribbed part that sits on your head looks ripply...think Little House on the Prairie night caps.  Those (Little House ones) were supposed to be ripply.  The hat for the b-day girl NOT SO MUCH!!!!!!!  I removed the project from the needles and unraveled all my work and looked at Celia cat and said, "I'm going to the library and Hobby Lobby."}


First I stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up a skein of yarn to make yours truly a winter hat to go with an orange wool coat.  The yarn - DEEEEEELIGHTFUL!  It's variegated with mustard, a muted vintage-ish blue, brighter-than-sage green, and I think there's some cream.  I feel as though I am missing a color from this description so if this is the case, please don't shoot the messenger.


I love the library.  I always have.  As a child, our little village library was only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and every-other-Saturday.  The library was 4 miles from our house and my brother and I would ride our bikes there.  We would, then, sit for hours skimming books.  We didn't have the Internet back then {I love telling my Sunday school kids this awesome fact because then they equate my age with that of a T-rex.  No, I was not alive when dinosaurs roamed the planet.} so going to the library was actually going for books and only books.  The library late fee fine was a whole nickel.  I'm wondering if this nickel fine is similar to when my grandpa would tell me that when he as a kid, gas was a quarter a gallon.  Suddenly, I am feeling my age...no Internet and 5 cent fines.  I digress.


Speaking of my childhood... 
In like first or second grade, I had a lovely cream colored Holly Hobby dress.  Holly Hobby was wearing a green and orange print dress.  With my snazzy dress, I wore a pair of orange tights with brown buckle shoes.  I loved this dress.  I have a picture (somewhere) of me holding a book, sitting on a vintage trunk, wearing my beloved dress.  I love this picture.  It's my childhood summed up in a snapshot.  You see, I'm quite reserved...until you get to know me.  Once that happens - I'm sorry.  :)


Anyway....the orange tights. 
Yesterday I wore raspberry colored tights with my knee-length denim skirt, a cute striped shirt and a leopard print scarf.  {Insert me rolling my r's...rrrrrrrrrrrr!  I heart leopard print.}  Any-whoooo...those fab raspberry tights got me thinking about my orange tights and Holly Hobby dress.  I love that my childhood memories involve lovely dresses that were handmade for me by my mom.  Such a wonderful treasure...time and sewing.  I didn't quite appreciate it as a child, but now that I am an adult (Ugh - adulthood!), I really do appreciate more and more.


Next week I have mustard tights and teal tights to wear!  Have I mentioned today just how much I love Fall and sweater-y weather-y outfits????  I do!  I do!

It's been 10 years....

It's been 10 years (which is totally a DECADE!) since I have had a 3-year old cat.  I forgot how spunky and fun and "talkative" younger felines are.

My friend Julie bought Miss Celia some catnip toys.  She sure has loved pouncing and attacking these toys.  Just an FYI ~ scientists believe catnip has similar effects of LSD on humans. 

Whatever the effects....Celia loves her new toys and her new place of residence.

"Why do you want to get another cat?" my friend inquired.

"Because for the last 8 weeks, I have walked into a quiet apartment.  No feline to greet me.  No sweet furball to sit in my lap while I read.  I miss that...and that is why I got Celia."  The end.