Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...
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My precious Phoebe G passed away last night at 8:09. I was fortunate enough to be by her side when she took her last breath. She died quietly and peacefully on my bed on her "bankey" surrounded by love.

Phoebe "G"

I woke up last Thursday knowing that it would be the last day with our eldest kitty cat, Phoebe G. Only a few months shy of 19 years, she has filled our lives with so much love, laughter, and joy, I could never have imagined life without her. It was an agonizing decision but we made The Appointment and waited for the dreaded day.

Phoebe adopted us -I should say adopted Mr. itsme- at the animal shelter in Nov 1996 by licking his face all over when he took her out of her cage; apparently it was love at first sight for her. The Vet said she was about a year and a half old and was a "tortoise shell." She was very pretty: black, white, and gold all over and quite hefty then. She and her twin sister (who we didn't know about until we were leaving) had been surrendered by a family 5 weeks prior. The reason the previous owners gave for giving her up was that she "was ugly." Have you EVER heard of something so ridiculous? They had been named "Little" and "Tiny." Really creative names and proof to me that they never deserved her in the first place.

We brought her to her new home -found out she gets car sick- introduced her to our Siamese cat "Rainbo" (named by a neighbor child, don't blame me) and they became fast friends until Rainbo died in 2004. Poor Phoebe G mourned for a long time and we eventually rescued two other cats -Samantha & Violet- to keep her company and they have been living happily ever-after.

While waiting for The Appointment, I heard about a Vet who makes house calls specifically for the purpose of euthanasia. We didn't want her last moments to be filled with the trauma of a car ride - and car sickness - so we made an appointment with him. He talked to us about what was going on and suggested that it might not be her time after all. In addition to her blindness and deafness, it sounded to him like she had dementia (kitty Alzheimers), which was the cause of the constant blood-curdling yowling and agitation. He thought she was experiencing high anxiety and it was her way of trying to get some kind of control over her situation. It made sense to me. He suggested we take a few days to reconsider and recommended a homeopathic called Rescue Remedy that is made up of the essences of certain flowers that are known to calm dogs, cats, horses, birds and even people during stressful times.

Long story short: Phoebe G is still with us and is doing much, much better. She still yowls and has #2 accidents once in a while (thankfully still uses the cat box to pee) but now that we know she's not in physical pain, we can calm her by holding her so she knows she's not alone. Another Appointment Day will come, maybe soon, but I'm so grateful for such a wonderful and caring Vet who gave us a little more time with her.

Anyone wondering what the "G" in Phoebe G stands for? Her story goes that the first time she heard Kenny G (we have all his Christmas CDs, nothing else) she was so smitten and added the "G" to be like him. Our version is that she was always so vocal that we were always saying "Phoebe! Gee(z), be quiet!" She's sticking to her version.

Happy Halloween!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

This is my kind of Sunday morning: fog and a little drizzle outside, three kitties fed and curled up sleeping, a damn good cup of coffee on my right and us starting the day slow. It's been a busy week and all we have going on today is some friends coming for dinner. We're going to celebrate a birthday and a going away to college.

Mr. itsme is doing his famous BBQ ribs (smoked 12 hours) and a kale salad. I have the hard part: baked potatoes and dessert. I made a chocolate bundt cake with chocolate icing and some vanilla bean ice cream to go along with it. I love doing elaborate dinner parties, but sometimes these nice underwhelming get togethers are better.

Summer is winding down and I'm ready for fall - and yes - the holidays. My brother sent me a picture from Costco yesterday, they have the Christmas stuff out already!!!

This One's for Pam

Has it really been 5 months since my last blog post? Whew, time sure flies when you're retired. RETIRED you say? With all that time to do whatever your little heart desires? I'm here to tell you that retirement is tiring; how did I get anything done while working?

Before I finally decided to hang up library life at the end of December 2012, I started making lists about 6 months before (nah, I don't believe in Bucket Lists). I was going to give myself 3 months to sleep in, be lazy, be sloth-like, stop shaving my legs, go make-up free (for me that meant no mascara), throw out my travel mug and alarm clock, write more (ahh, best laid plans), etc.

Another list was about what I was going to get done: clean out household files & get financial affairs in order, clean out the pantry, my personal library, clean closets, and make a list of all computer passwords and keep them in one place. It seems the list was all about cleaning, decluttering and organizing.

My third list was about all the voluteering I was going to have time to do, thankfully this list has been a real source of joy and satisfaction. I'll be sharing more since I'm now back to blogging. Ya hear that Pam?

Check in and tell me how you are, all two of you. I've missed you. Take care.

Hoppy Easter!

No Easter baskets full of candy this year, just one big basket filled with homemade sugar cookies (whole wheat). Wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

I'm Taking a Much Needed Break From Facebook

Is there life after facebook? I'm not sure but I'm going to attempt to find out. On Friday, March 1st, I am going to deactivate my account. It has been said that your facebook account never goes away (and I find that hella creepy) but you can take a "Facebreak."

Why? For one thing I want to be more productive. I'm hoping to get more reading, writing, and painting done. I think this break time will be a good thing for me and my creativity, or as I'm calling it "Ending the Buzz." It's good to do that once in a while in order to reconnect with yourself and the world around you. I haven't done it in quite a while and I have to say (crossing my fingers), I'm looking forward to it.

I originally -and begrudgingly- got on facebook to stay in touch with my nieces, nephews, and other family members, and to share photos. Isn't that sad! When did we stop sharing photos with each other via email or snail mail, or *gasp* in person? Personal interactions with family members and friends have fallen by the way side because people are too ‘busy’ with work and other stuff, YET, we find time to upload photos to facebook? It just doesn’t make much sense to me anymore.

Facebook has become sort of a substitute for real relationships. It has actually changed my way of thinking because sometimes I've forgetten there are other ways to communicate. I miss the days when family or friends would actually call or we'd sit and have coffee -also known as "Face Time"- to catch up on our lives. Also, the anxiety and stress that I get from being on facebook just isn’t worth it any more. If someone “unfriends” me it's like a major blow to my self-esteem and I'd like to know why, but apparently facebook protocol says "you aren't supposed to ask." Recently, a most beloved niece blocked me from her facebook page because my comments/opinions were too personal and were upsetting to her and her facebook friends. After a week of much high drama, I decided to let it go (aka fuck it) but to be perfectly honest, I'm still feeling quite hurt from it all. Unfortunately, I don't believe our relationship will ever be the same.

I decided that it was time to take a break from the crazy making. When something takes up that much of my time, energy, and emotions in such a negative way, I have to stop doing it. I need to take a step back and work on nurturing and deepening the friendships I have with those who really do want to be my friend.

So dear blog readers (all two of you), I'll most likely be blogging more so check back often and tell me what you think. Ahhh, I'm beginning to feel at peace already.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made these for you!

Today is Going to be Epic

To borrow a line from the current Quaker Oats commercial "Today is going to be epic," I have to confess that I'm not normally a Polly Anna personality type (more like Eyeore to be perfectly honest) but that little boy riding his bike to the top of the mountain and throwing his fists into the air is how I feel nowadays. Yes indeedy, retirement is good.

I've been keeping busy: lots more time for my volunteer baking for Birthday Cakes 4 Free, taking a watercolor class through my local adult education - here's my first decent picture - and being the youngest in the class by at least 15 years, makes me subject to all kinds of advice about the Golden Years.

We've been RVing more, spent a week camping at the beach recently (hence my ocean watercolor). I've even signed us up for an 8-day RV trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the hot air balloon festival in October. We are staying up a little later at night and sleeping a little longer in the morning - once I get the cats trained to eat later than 4am that is. I get to enjoy my first morning cuppa with my Best Friend and Retirement Partner in Crime, Mr. itsme, instead of gulping it down during the commute to work - poor suckers! We've been planning and cooking wonderful meals together, going places we've always meant to go (we even have a To Go list on the fridge to help us remember). Do you know how liberating it is to shop for groceries during the week? Or doing the laundry on Tuesdays instead of Sunday afternoon? Stupid little things, I know...

So, thanks to a little motivational kick in the butt from our good friend lightly, I'm back. I'll admit to too much time on Facebook lately so I'll try and write more here (how do you find time for both Randy?) More about Birthday Cakes 4 Free next time ... with pictures!

Happy 2013

Happy New Year! I'll be blogging more in 2013, hope everyone is well and doing fine.