Easy Access for Wanda

My dear departed friend left a room full of red hat things behind and today her daughter dropped off a few boxes of goodies. I am going to share some of the stuff but not this hat stand. I love it but it seems that Wanda now has easy access to three hats.

Rusty is perched on top of the red hat cat doll case watching over the Wanda experiments. We will see how the night goes. I've been too tired lately to lop off any more lives so Wanda does still have six left. Perhaps Rusty is on to something - if Wanda misbehaves she may rest for an eternity inside the glass doll case.

On the other hand, my visitor today fell in love with Wanda. I caught her trying to stuff the cat down her shirt when she left. So the question today would be, if Wanda disappears into another house, does Wanda get to start over with another 9 lives?

Mud Pies

Life is full of surprises. Yesterday my line dance teacher bid farewell to our group. I am so sad but I do understand that sometimes life gets complicated and we must make tough decisions about our priorities. I'm hoping everything works out well for her and look forward to seeing her in other classes along the way.

Meanwhile, she brought me this little gift yesterday. She insists she is just cleaning out her stuff and thought of me when she found this little treasure since the author shares my first name. I read through the book last night and am thrilled to have this little remembrance. I'm thinking about dragging out my old dolls and having a little mudpie tea party. But more important, I'm thinking about the value of the wonderful friendships we experience as we get older and share a genuine appreciation for those who cross our path.

One more comment: could this be a reminder to have a little fun today... fun as defined through the eyes of a child?

Collecting Stuff

My big brother collects corkscrews. He used to collect beer advertising openers. His latest home was built to accomodate his corkscrew museum. He travels the world to attend corkscrew addict meetings. He has visited most every thrift shop from coast to coast and north to south in the U.S. He has a famous virtual corkscrew museum (famous to those who collect corkscrews anyway). He has written many books about openers and corkscrews. He DID NOT write this one... unless he has a new alias that he didn't tell his little sister about.

My little sister collects things too, a rather eclectic collection of things too numerous to list here. She has not written a book, that I know of.

I collect red hats and cats (not red cats). I have not written a book... yet.

Do you suppose something was missing from our childhood? Or, does everyone collect stuff?

I will not...

This is most definitely not a flattering picture. So, what would ever possess me to post such a photo? Cause, this blogger needs to remind herself why she can't button her pants anymore.

Gone to the blackboard (you do remember those, right?)...

I will not order a Black and Tan at Fentons ever again.

I will not order a Black and Tan at Fentons ever again.

I will not order a Black and Tan at Fentons ever again.

I will not order a Black and Tan at Fentons ever again.

I will not order a Black and Tan at Fentons ever again.

I will not order a Black and Tan at Fentons ever again.

X100 (no that is not my Tshirt size... yet)

Who Says Cats Don't Like Water?

Last night Wanda surprised Little J by jumping in his bath. She didn't seem all that excited about it. Tonight she dove in again. She seems to be tempting her own fate. Not that she will drown. More likely, if she jumps up on my desk and puts her scawny sopping wet body on the birthday and get well cards that I am in the process of writing again, she may lose yet another life. I'll give her one last chance... but only because I ignored her plea for a towel and she was merely making a point.

Meanwhile, if you happen to be the recipient of one of those cards, remember, at least the cat was clean. She could have left a worse impression.

While In Las Vegas

Here are the cousins after a long day swimming, visiting the Spring Reserve, and eating Mexican food. Little I is 2. Little J is 4. Little J is average for his size. This is the only time the entire weekend they stood still long enough for one quick photo.

Southpoint is a good place to stay with kids. They get to swim in a special kid sized pool, bowl, do kid style gambling in the arcade, eat noodles and ice cream at the buffet 3 times a day, and go to movies. Once in a while they acquiesce and go to Kid Tyme so adults can play slot machines.

We left some money behind for the next happy tourist to collect.

Wanda was a good girl while we were gone. At least that is what the cat sitter says. I would be a bit suspicious however because I really don't think the cat sitter dumped over the garbage in the office and shredded all those yucky tissues. And I don't think the cat sitter saw Wanda getting her daily exercise climbing the evermore threadbare blinds in my room.

Just To Prove Wanda Is Not All Bad

The proof is in the picture. Wanda let me sleep. So did Minnie and Rusty. What woke me up this morning? The "arf" sound that Little J's digital camera makes when it snaps a picture. The culprit behind the camera was not Little J. How many lives do Hubbies get? I think he lost one this morning.

OK I'm done for the day. Really. No more posts today. I actually do have other things to do. It's just that it's soooooooooo quiet and peaceful here when Grandpa and Little J go off on a long bus driving day.

Delete Delete Delete

I happen to have a a piece of art by Leedy hanging in my office. It is a picture of a rather curious looking cat sitting on the keyboard in front of the computer monitor. The caption on the picture is "Are you sure you want to delete this file?"

It appears that Wanda intends to mimic the art. If this blog happens to disappear you can probably blame it on Wanda. If this blog disappears, it's possible that Wanda will lose the rest of her lives. On the other hand, maybe I would have to thank her. Readers are probably getting pretty bored with Wanda right about now and perhaps waiting for the blog to disappear. I know if I had to suffer through many more blogs about people's pets, I'd probably want it to disappear.

Poopalot Training

One thing I am grateful for is that when Wanda arrived at our house she was a fully trained poopalot. But, just in case, Rusty gives her another lesson. She waits patiently for her turn.

Oh my gosh, the blog has now gone down the toilet.

(Notice, Wanda still has 6 lives)

Not Me... I Didn't Break It

Well here she is looking perfectly innocent. I wonder who broke the music box? I'm thinking that, since the glass is cracked, the box must have been dropped on the floor. Someone had to have picked up the box and placed it back on the dresser. Somehow I don't think even Wanda Supercat could accomplish that task. But, she is purrfectly content to survey the damages.

The tune on the music box? All I Ask of You. Yes, it still plays.

Mt D

Little J has been asking about that big mountain in our area. He's been begging to go camping and insists that he wants his own tent so he can sleep on top all alone. He's been telling me that I can sleep in the middle of the mountain in my own tent. So we took him up there to see how big it really is. He still wants to camp but I think he might be willing to share a tent now.

He got into a little tree hugging too.

What about Wanda? I think she slept the whole time we were gone. She's saving her energy to torment us in the middle of the night. Hmmmmmm... wonder if she might like to go camping? A tender little treat for what wanders in the night up there. Ooooooooooo very bad grandma.

Squirt and Dry

Grandma is not going to Sweat the Small Stuff anymore. She has installed this high tech, energy efficient water spraying device. on her nightstand. Next time Wanda misbehaves, the punishment will fit the crime....

But Wanda is prepared too. She has already checked out the high powered not so energy efficient drying device.

The battle continues and Wanda still has 6 lives left.

P.S. Little J's room has been decluttered and he is on a medium high orange Wanda watch alert.

Wanda Did It

I snuck in from another girls night out at 1am (well I guess that really was this morning but I still say last night so it doesn't count as an overnight outing - you know how it is with hubbies). Unfortunately Hubby has a way of getting even. It's called putting the kid to bed early and leaving for work at 6am knowing that the kid will be out of bed the minute the car pulls out of the driveway and the kid will end up in Grandmas bed... with Wanda. His plan worked.


I used the early daylight to access damages from my night out. Bedroom checked out ok. Kitchen not too bad. Living room only a little evidence of Grandpa and Little J breaking the rules about not eating anywhere but the kitchen. Bathroom all in order. Then I saw Little J's room. Little J insists that Wanda did this (I don't believe a word he says... Wanda still has 6 lives left)...

Bad Kitty Going Down the Toilet

Another stiffling day so we open the doors to get what we can of the morning coolness. Of course Wanda figured out that we did that for her just so she could get a little exercise. And to think we just had that rescreened only a couple of months ago.



I was almost regretting that I didn't have time to stop and get a squirt gun last night after my night out with the girls. But then I discovered that Wanda may have just found her own fate...







Not that I am counting, but would she now have only 6 lives left?

Home for Lunch Caught Again

Rusty says he didn't do it. He doesn't care for waffles. Who's tail is that over on the left? 7 Lives left.

4th of July

Yesterday was blistering hot in our neighborhood. But as you can see, Little J was perfectly content to spend the day on the bay. Meanwhile, back at the house, Little Wanda Troublecat continued her rebellious behavior... upon arrival home we found yet another box of tissues shredded into dust bunnies and I do believe one of my red boas is missing a couple of feathers. Today, I am shopping for a squirt gun. Wanda may have only 8 lives left.

Cat in the Hats

OK, some people might think I have too many hats. Oops, there's one on the rack that still has the price tag on it. That would be the one that I bought yesterday at the Red Hat Society Imperium in Fullerton. I wasn't going to buy another hat on the trip. Really... I wasn't. I just couldn't control myself.

But wait, what is that in the upper left corner of the picture? That is what I was writing about a couple of days ago. She thinks she's going to help herself to one of my feathers. And what will this Queen do if she succeeds? More later.

3 Queens

Fly to Fullerton to have lunch with the Exalted Queen Mother? You've got to be kidding! Not so said my Co-Queen. And so we did. So here is our EQM between 2 Queens. What an exciting day we had.

The ocassion was more than a meeting of queens, however. It happened to be the 50th birthday of the daughter of my Co-Queen. "Mom" did what all good red hat moms would do for a daughter turning 50. She brought all her friends to help with the "Reduation".

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful bunch of friends.

Wanda

I think they are planning the 6am alarm..