Quiet Days

I'm really savouring my quiet days at the moment, knowing they are finally limited and quickly coming to an end.  

Every other Thursday I don't work so an hour of my morning is spent at pregnancy yoga which I find just leaves me feeling so calm and centred for the rest of the day.  So the TV is left off, the washing machine too if I can get away with it, and I spent the day in quiet pursuits.

 

There's usually a bit of knitting happening and the cooler weather means the meow might hang out on my lap for half an hour or so if I'm lucky.  Today I also made some soy candles for my yoga instructor.  I'm still the only one in town doing it, although apparently next week (on the week I can't make it of course) a few of the other pregnant ladies in town are planning on attending.  And because I'm the only one she hasn't accepted any money, saying I'm her guinea pig.  Lucky me! So I thought I'd make her some candles in thanks.

I don't have a book on the go at the moment which is sometimes a good thing because it means I get a lot more done.  If I have a good book it doesn't last very long but on the days I'm reading it a whole lot of not much else happens!

I spent a bit of time out in the veggie garden, giving it a good watering and enjoying the sunshine until the flies were beginning to ruin my calm and I headed back inside.  Hopefully I'll head out in half an hour or so once the flies have left for the evening and before the mozzies come out to spend a bit of time doing some light weeding.  It's a bit of a juggling act to do gardening in between bugs out here.  

Our mulberry tree is having a little spate of out of season mulberries as well.  We had a couple of weeks with a lot of glorious rain and now some lovely low to mid 20's sunny days means that I'm getting a small handful off the tree every few days.

I think knowing these sorts of days will be very much ended for a while in approximately 18 weeks is making them all the more sweet but I am really feeling so recharged after a day of quietness.

Sunday Snippets

sorting through my school things

enjoying a picnic and and outdoor movie with MR

tomatoes from our self sown tomato plant

a thirsty meow

a big stack of creative books from the library

a helpful (so she thinks) meow

enjoying goodies from my Christmas stocking

more snippets over at Tinniegirl's

Sunday snippets

It's been ages since I've played along with Tinniegirl's Sunday Snippets and seeing as I was a total instagram whore this week I might as well share some of my moments...

MR and I went down south for my best friend's wedding - note pinwheels
instead of flowers!

The groom is a cyclist so there was a bit of a bike theme, plus a special
thank you heart for me

Vanilla panna cotta for dessert, yum!

Retail therapy after unpleasant medical procedure

A sleepless night and a Meow ready for cuddles

Super wardrobe tidy out - look at all the empty coat hangers (that need filling!!)

Three bags of clothes waiting to be taken to the local op shop

Attempting a new Christmas decoration....

And some cross stitch chevrons which will hopefully also be a new Christmas
ornament providing the waste canvas comes out easily like it is supposed too...

A busy week for me!  Not so much scheduled for this week which is good because I need to clean the house ready to put up the Christmas tree and decorations.  Wheeeeee!

Curiousity soaked the cat

Yesterday afternoon I had a bath.  I don't often have baths, goodness knows why, but I think about them a fair bit.  But yesterday I came home from work and got straight into the bath.  I had to leave work early I was hurting so much.  Did you ever get those weird achey bone feelings when you were little?  The one most Mums seem to refer to as 'growing pains'?  One of the side effects of the medication and of the leukaemia itself are those aches.  I've been lucky, only getting them occasionally and usually only in a leg or an arm.  Yesterday's aches however were from the shoulders down to the ankles.  From about 11.30am yesterday to well after midnight, my whole body hurt.  So I had some panadol and ran a hot bath.  Both of which did nothing really, but the bath was nice while I was in there.

Because I have baths so rarely the Meow is always intrigued when I do.  I think she thinks they are a giant bowl of water for her to drink (when I don't put bubbles in).   Each time I have a bath she gets a bit braver about exploring it.  Yesterday she got up on the side and leaned in to have a drink.  She made a funny face, probably because it was a bit warm and decided to go check out the other side of the bath.  So she jumped over, front paws landed fine but back paws did a bit of a skiddy and down she went into the bath.  Somehow she managed to only get her back legs wet - I'm surprised there are no claw gouges down the side of the bath - before she got herself out.  Where she stood on the bathmat in surprise and disgust, delicately shaking her back legs one at a time.  I must admit, I did have quite a bit of a giggle. 

Poor Meow!

Alongside the aches, I have had a cold for over a week now.  It is very sadly not at all like the last one which came and went quite quickly.  Apart from going out to the Hilltop Hoods concert last Friday I have had a lot of 'in bed' time.  I have missed a haircut, Brown Owls, my own family birthday dinner (I've postponed it til I can taste things again), two tutoring sessions and a pedicure and movie with my sister.  I probably should have also missed work yesterday but I thought I would be okay.  I haven't even done any crafting, my hands have been too busy with tissues in them to achieve much else. I can't even have a cold and flu tablet because they interact with one of my meds.  The chemist suggested these herbal remedy things, something like echinacea, that is supposed to boost your immune system.  I'm not allowed to boost my stupid immune system.  If I wanted to boost my immune system I'd stop taking my immunosuppresents.  *grumble*

I am starting to feel a bit over it all. 

Tough love

Nissa on the left, Princess on the right

At the moment I am feeding my neighbour's cats while they are away on a 6 week holiday.  They have two cats, one of whom is just out of kittenhood.  They mostly stay outside apparently and only go inside occasionally so the neighbours have just closed up the house so they can have the alarm on and left the cats to be outside cats.  This is fine (although I would never do that), there are many cats that are outside cats and they have a nice covered back alfresco area that is sheltered from the wind and their little nests where they like to sleep.

So I've been feeding them now for a bit over two weeks and the little one, Princess, is getting a bit lonely.  When I've been outside gardening she comes over for a play and some attention.  Normally there is a dog there to and they are good friends and play together but the dog is being looked after by someone else.  The other cat, Jay Jay, is older and runs away from me (probably because I shoo him when he comes over because when we first moved in he kept belting up the Meow).

Unfortunately, Nissa and Princess do not get along.  I think they should because they could be twin sisters, they are very similar looking.  I've been trying to encourage Nissa to be friendly to Princess but it just hasn't been working very well.  The best I've gotten so far is tolerance (yesterday) when they were both in the front garden with me (metres apart and glaring - but at least not snarling and hissing).

And this is where the tough love comes in.  A few days ago I felt so sorry for Princess so I let her come inside for a cuddle.  And she found Nissa's left over food and I let her eat it (Nissa didn't want it).  And I put her on my lap and gave her pats.  And she was happy.  But then, I put her back outside before Nissa came in and she came around the back and meowed at the door.  And then she found the cat door and came in herself.  And then, later on, when Nissa was back inside, Princess came in the cat door and Nissa leapt, spitting and snarling across the room to give her a good thwack on the head.  Since then poor Princess has been too scared to come inside.  Which is probably a good thing.  But I still feel sorry for her outside and lonely at night when its so cold.

So I have come to the conclusion (for about the sixty fifth time) that I am way too much of a soft touch and no good at all at tough love.

Luckily, Nissa is.



Are you a push over like me?

 

My Place and Yours - Pets

My family has always been a cat family.  We dabbled in a rabbit (a baby one that my cat carried in like a kitten one night) and had guinea pigs once (never again!!) but apart from that, only ever cats.  I got my first cat when I turned 7.  My parents decided 7 was a good age for taking care of your own pet.  My sister got her first cat at 7 as well. 

In our home currently, we have one cat.  She has enough personality for four.  We call her Meow, The Meow or Meowhead even though she is a very quiet non-meowing mog and her name is actually Nissa.  Sometimes we call her that too.

Here are some of my favourite most recent photos of her.  The Meow loves nothing more than outside play time with Mummy or Daddy. She particularly likes it with Daddy because he plays hide and seek chasey with her (Mummy is still getting reused to running).  When outside, if you are a meow, one must roll on the grass, the bricks, the driveway, the path and one must particularly smook (our family word for rubbing her head against) the letterbox to death.  Also mandatory outside activities include eating lots of grass, sharpening her claws on the lawn and playing games in the long grass.  Oh, and sleeping under bushes.  One thing Nissa does not like though are soft toys.  Particularly when one is made to walk around near her.  Then it is all battle stations ready for attack as she hugs, kicks and bites soft toy until it is suitably dead.  Above is James Meow getting just such a dose of loving.  Other quirks of The Meow are a strange love for eating tissues, a lack of understanding of just who is staring at her in any reflective surface (attack!), a penchant for prawns, a love of broggies around the house doing skiddies on the tiles and a weird obsession with kicking herself in the head when rolling around on the ground.

She is crazy indeed but I love her to pieces.  I cannot imagine life without a cat in the house.

There's lots of pet love happening over at My Place and Yours at the moment, do go and check it out.  But first... have you entered my giveaway?
 

Words and Pictures: Warm

It's hard to think of anything when I think of warm that doesn't involve the way too long hot patch we're having. It's Autumn! My favorite season. Please go away Summer! I'm ready for crunchy leaves, rainy days, cardigans and trackie dacks.

I was sitting here on the couch thinking about how I should really be doing the dishes or packing to go back into hospital tomorrow (sigh) but instead I'm having snuggles with my Meow. Spending time with her always makes me feel warm inside. She is a funny girl, always doing something crazy to make me laugh. She doesn't like being picked up much but she likes to be in the same room as me. When she feels like a cuddle she jumps up but at other times she can be a total snob. But most nights we have a cuddle in bed and then she flops out at the end of the bed in the funniest positions. This is just one of them.

Thank goodness for our pets keeping us sane, giving us someone to talk to when we're home all day alone, cheering us up when we're sad, making us laugh at their silly antics and smile at their cuteness.

I'm playing along with Pip's words and pictures meme. Random topics are good fun right?

Love

It's not everyday that your cat leaves you a love note in her biscuit bowl! 

 

I Am Home!

Oh, the relief!

MR flew in at 10.20, got a taxi home and then jumped in the car to come pick me up.  Taxi fares are not what our budget needs at the moment but it couldn't be helped.

Now if only the Meow would come out from wherever she's hiding at Dad's house so she can come home.  MR and I looked and called twice! Once before doing food shopping and once after. 

Silly camouflauge meows.

She was not hiding here, we checked.

 

Things I'm loving...

  
A long, long time ago (maybe a year or so) I saw a picture of some cute bookends in a magazine and ripped it out.  It eventually ended up in a stack of "paper stuff" that I sorted out recently and when I came across it I gave it to my sister as a birthday present idea (my birthday is in August).

Instead, she surprised me and a parcel arrived today holding these two pretty items...

If you can't tell, its a mouse sitting on a stack of books to the left and a cat peering over the top on the right.  If you love them just as much as I do, you can get a set here.

Very apt seeing as last night my Meow brought in an alive rat and decided to let it run away into the spare room.  I attempted to catch it but when I moved the bag it was hiding behind it jumped over the towel it was supposed to run under so I could pick it up and scared the absolute shit out of me.  I went from a crouching down position to a standing up a metre further away on tiptoes screaming position and my poor tummy muscles, which are still recovering from surgery, gave a great big lurch of ouch. 

So I called MR and had a cry over stupid rats and stupid cats and stupid tummy muscles and stupid no emergency-rat-disposal-flights home from Newman at 10.30pm and then I realised I could call my Dad so I did and he very kindly drove half an hour here to get rid of the rat for me.

So, I'm loving my book ends and my Dad for emergency rat disposal but the Meow is definitely in the bad books!

More loving at Paisley Jade's!
 

The Art of Nesting

My Meow is the Queen of Nesting.  She doesn't just keep it to one or two places.  And she rotates her favourite spots regularly so none of them feel left out.  This week I am capturing via instagram all the places I find her nesting but I thought I might share all the photos I have of her nesting in different places already.

Baby Meow

Inside Meow

Outside Meow

In other news, how annoying is it that Picnik is closing.  I am pissed! Does anyone have any recommendations for an (easy) online photo editing program to use instead?

 

One Word

  
I have been sub-consciously musing over Maxabella's One Word for 2012 idea for the last few days with nothing really coming to me.  Until today.  It just popped into my head.  This is what I need for 2012.

 

to thrive.

my health

my life

our relationship

our garden

our home

This is the year for growth and change, development and improvement, health and love.

Positivity will get you everywhere.

A Year of Good Things


8/366 ::For myself and for Bloggers::
Today has been another day of quiet.  Nap filled to (attempt to) restore energy.  Contemplative of 2012 goals and One Word as above.  Lots of blog reading.  Lots of commenting love.  Surely that is a Good Thing in itself?  Everybody loves comments. 

7/366 ::For some friends::
Yesterday I went to MR cousin's (L) housewarming party yesterday and I organised with MR's direct family (parents/brothers) to go in together to get a Good Present.  L had been talking about how she wanted a nice big frangipani tree to go out the front of their house but of course, a tree is a bit expensive for most people to purchase, including them.  Listening to what people talk about liking so you can get them awesome presents is a Good Thing.  So together we put in and got the biggest one I could find.  The tropical version with pink flowers of course!  It only just fit in my car on the front seat floor.  I had to peer through the leaves when I wanted to turn left!  It's looking a bit windswept here but that's what you get on a windy day!  Do you like my attempt at wrapping?  A cheery yellow (windswept) ribbon around the trunk.  Is it called a trunk when it's that small?  You can't really call it a stem or a stalk?

In my garden

  
Since moving into our home in March this year I had been eagerly awaiting Spring and Summer to see just what our garden produced in the way of pretty blooms.  Unfortunately, stuck in hospital, I missed a good chunk of Spring and some of the bulbs and annuals I planted but there's still plenty of colour on display.

Our garden has a lot of Agapanthus... good thing they are pretty!

I have no idea what this tree is but it is amass with blooms at the moment.

 

Pretty coloured berries outside my bedroom window.

 

I'm undecided about my hibiscus... keep or remove?

 

The last of the snapdragons

One slightly sunburnt rose.

 

And a Meow decidedly peeved over having her photo taken, this was the photo with the least grumpy expression...

Farewell Spring, hello Summer!