Wedding Bells

My brother Bill has a daughter named Leslie (pictured above). She's getting married next month. It is hard for me to believe, because in my head she is the age you see in the picture. How can this be, she's just a baby girl. Well, this picture was taken in the 70's and she is not a baby girl. She's a graduate from UT who majored in Finance (uhhh, excuse me, I mean Marketing) and now works for Nike in Amsterdam.

I was recruited to make the veil. It was a piece of cake, but I have to work on it while in a cat free zone because Leslie is allergic to cats. I work on it during quilting meetings at the First Baptist church fellowship hall. When in my house the veil is in a hermetically sealed bag.

One of the things I still have to do is go on-line to the couple's wedding website and list 5 songs that would "guarantee" to get me on the dance floor. So far I only have two:

1. Can't Touch This by MC Hammer
2. Hey Yea! by Outcast

I'm also thinking about some Waylon Jennings: She's a Good Hearted Woman or Mama's Don't Let Your Baby's Grow Up to be Cowboys. I haven't committed to my final list yet, so suggestions are being accepted. What songs would "guarantee" to get you on the dance floor?

Motherhood

Luna could not be a better mother. She is attentive, protective, and so very loving.

Luna's litter consists of one girl, with a black face and white tummy, and one (very demanding) boy with a black and white face.

My good friend Lucas is adopting the boy and since the kitten is black AND white he is naming him Jackson, or MJ, after you know who. I have decided to call the girl LaToya.

Latoya

Jackson (MJ)

Luna Love

Luna's Kittens

At the time of this post, Luna has had two kittens, both are black and whites. She was EXCELLANT, but she had a great midwife in Anne Gambill. I just sat in the back seat with Cookie and watched the show. Eeewwwww!

Meet Luna

While leaving Whataburger late one night I looked across the street and saw this kitten laying around in the DQ parking lot. I decided (irrationally) to go over and introduce myself. I offered her some grilled chicken and she ate it right up. She was vocal and seemed to appreciate the meal and the company....but didn't want to be touched!

I was told she had been at DQ for 3 weeks panhandling for food. She was skinny.

The compassion of Christ compelled me (yes I said it) to return the next night at the same time with cat food. I shook the bag and she came running. I decide to rescue her and made arrangements with a friend to take her in. Luna was going to have a new home.....and it wasn't mine.


Until I got her home and realized she was pregnant. How can this be....she's sooooo young. So now we sit and wait. When she sleeps I can see her belly teaming with life. Kittens are wiggling around in there.

She is a sweet, baby girl.

Confessions of an Occasional Art Student

When I was called to come to Rockport for a job interview, I asked my mom what Rockport was like. She described it as an "artist colony" on the coast. She was right. Rockport offers many local artist, galleries, exhibits, and art classes. I have taken classes down town at Estelle Stair Gallery and learned to appreciate things like: line, color, and composition. I see the elements of design everywhere now.

That being said, I was recently at Anne's mother's house and I notice a picture on the wall. I liked it a lot, so I asked where they got it, and Anne said, "Wal-Mart."

Really? So I took that moment to confess to Anne (and confess to you here today) that I like hotel art. Happily, she replied, "Me too!"

This is a picture that hung above the toilet in a hotel I stayed in while on vacation in New York. I took the picture because I didn't want to forget how pretty it was. I don't know why I like it, because it wasn't until I was flushing the toilet that I took notice. Aaahhhh the irony, and poses the question:

Should "art" be in the bathroom and if it is, is it art?"

Brotherboy Update

After 13 days in the hospital undergoing physical therapy, Brotherboy came home. They told me he could walk and use a litter box (those were the goals) but he had problems walking on tile floors. Hummmm, my whole house is tiled; this will be interesting.

At home he looked like we all did the day we learned to use roller skates. Sometimes his front or back leg (on the gunshot side) would slowly slide out from under him. Regardless, he has improved/adapted everyday. He can jump up on the couch and bed (that took him about two days to figure out). He got a release from his doctor to go outside again and he frequently visits the scene of the crime (probably trying to get closure). He looks like a normal cat most of the time, especially outside where he can get some traction. But while inside, he sometimes shows signs of clumsy goofiness.

What I haven't told you about this story is that two days after I found my cat in the ditch, another cat in my neighborhood was shot. Because of all this cruelty, people in the community have put up a $300.00 reward for any information leading to the arrest (and dismemberment) of the assailants.

CSI - Rockport

The other day I was leaving the house and saw my cat Brotherboy laying in the culvert of the ditch behind my house. No big deal; that is his hangout.

His back was to me, so I rolled down the window to talk to him. He just laid there and then looked back over his shoulder and started talking.

Crap! Cat's don't do that....just lay there I mean...in a ditch.

So I got out and crawled down into the pit to find my BroBro couldn't move his legs on one side.

He was filthy and smelled like a ditch. He told me all about it.

I called the vet and she was heading back to Rockport from her holiday. Six hours later we met at the clinic and she determined Brotherboy had been shot in the neck with a pellet gun.

Now he is being pumped full of steroids and we are hoping when the swelling goes down and he heals that he will one day walk again.


I took this picture last week, at the time, I did not know it would become a crime scene. If you look close....you can see Brotherboy in the pipe.

I just have one question: Who shot my cat?

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am.

I Heart Home Ec

Today Laci and I went to the store and pre-shopped for her next food lab. Laci has to buy 250 eggs in the morning. I don't miss that part of my job. You see, I taught home economics for 15 years and LOVED it. My favorite subject was Food Science and Nutrition.

I grew up before Food TV and used to watched Julia Child every Saturday with my mom. Mom had a lot of cookbooks and was always trying things out she read about or saw on television. She and my brother Bill like to talk and read about food. They go to grocery stores for fun. I do too.

Now that my friend Laci is teaching Food Science and Nutrition at Rockport-Fulton High School, I get to go up there and help out. I recently got to show her how to make biscuits from scratch. I had to laugh when I was showing her because I slipped back into teacher mode. It was just me and her but I was talking like I had a class of 30 sitting there in anticipatory set. Demos were my favorite.

Right now they are learning about eggs and cheese, so naturally an omelet lab is in the works. I used Julia Child videos (along with my demo) but Laci is using the more hip and trendy Alton Brown DVD. Same technique just a little more appropriate for this Food TV generation.

My friend Stacy teaches junior high home economics in San Antonio. We talked today, at length, about omelets. She told me about a very successful lab she used with her 8th graders....Omelet in a Bag.

I was hooked and had to try it. If I were teaching I would soooooo do this in class. First they would do it the classic way (French/rolled) and then the wacky, mad scientist way. Man, where is a classroom when I need one?

For a copy of the Omelet in a Bag recipe please, click here. I encourage/dare you to try this at home, and if you do tell me about it. As Julia would say, "Bon appetit."

Noodle Returned to the Earth

Well, this has been an odd month. First of all, my apologies for being absent from the Twelve Days of Catherine. I didn't post once about it, or even publish my annual Wants and Needs Birthday List (which, by the way, is still available if you're interested).

In my defense I was VERY busy with the Young Life Fish Fry fundraiser. It being an all consuming fry makes it hard for me to get into the spirit of Catherine. I wasn't bummed, just too busy.

Then there was the Noodle factor. Her health slowly deteriorated until I decided on the night before my birthday that the next morning I would take her to the vet and have them pull the plug. Instead I woke up at 3:30 a.m. thinking about her and decided to go check her status. I scratched her ears and she kicked her leg a little. I said her name and she opened her eyes. Then she took a deep breath and left me. It was 3:58 (I got that from watching ER).

I got flowers for my birthday, so after a day or two I took them out and put them on her grave.

Carlos and I have formed a support group.