Life with our Kitten

We have now had our kitten for a whole week now!
We had been going back and forth saying "It's a boy!" "It's a girl!" but we finally got to the vet who told us that it is a girl!! (Poor Dad.) Because of that factor the name we had chosen (Stormy) no longer fits.  So instead because she is so small we named her Milli.

We've been kinda worried that she isn't settling in well.

What do you think?.......

By Jacqueline

Insane

That is the word that would best describe us at this moment.


We have brought this......

Stormy & Audrey

(the cat not Audrey)

Into our house.

Yes, we know, you don't have to tell us.

We're insane.

A six week old kitten with our two, grumpy, middle-aged Cats.

( for those of you who don't know Twitchy died in January)

Yup......

We found him in a storm drain in the parking lot of the grocery store.  It took 30 minutes and half a can of wet food before we caught him.

In the last 36 hours he has resided in our home he has already:

*let us pick him up   *pet him

*purred   *begun to play

*gotten stuck behind the piano   *made the acquaintance of the above grumpy cats (did NOT go well)

Of course his meeting with the grumpy cats deserves its own paragraph.  Cecile sniffed him a few times and got her tail as bushy as a bottle brush before she promptly hissed.
Red didn't even have to sniff a few times before she decided that the cat was pure evil.   She hissed and growled her head off.

 By Jacqueline

December Projects

Like everyone else, December has been busy.  Shopping and a bit more shopping (thank heavens for the internet so some of it can be done in jammies ;0),   trying to get school done, baking, post office runs--really no different than your life.  So I thought I'd just post some pictures of what we're doing.

Jacqueline isn't a morning person.

Some siblings don't appreciate sing along

Twitch worked hard putting up the decorations--time to hang ten.

End of decorating Day 1

Stringing popcorn and watching "White Christmas"

Making Snow Globes

Jacqueline's latest decorating project.  Don't you love the color?!

Made this pattern over the fall, but it needed...

Face improvements

Making soap

T'was the Day Before Thanksgiving

T'was the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house

all the creatures were stirring even Jacqueline the mouse.

The menu was posted on the bulliten board with care

in hopes that the dinner would soon be there.

The fat cats were snoozing all snug in the sun

while visions of gibblets danced on their tongue.

And Mom in her apron, wiping flour off her sleeve, 

was just sitting down to a hot cup of tea.

When out from the kitchen there arose such a clatter,

she sprang from her chair to see what was the matter.

Away to the kitchen she flew like a flash,

threw open the french doors, and drew a deep gasp.

When what to her wonderous eyes should appear,

but two magic dish fairies with all of their gear.

They wiped and they rinsed; they rubbed and they scrubbed

'til the dishes were free of dinner and grub.

As they hung the last dish towel, they said with a grin

Happy Thanksgiving to all, let the feasting begin.

Success!

What could be better then tasting the 'fruit' of our labour?

How We Use 80 Feet of Rope!

Dad had to work most of the day on Saturday (his line was running), so when he came home he decided that he needed a project to help him relax . The first thing he hit upon was a rope swing. So he packed Jacqueline and me off to the home improvement store to buy 80 feet of rope! When we got home, Jacqueline and I found our work clothes and then headed out to help him.

The rope was in 3 different pieces so we had to find the longest one and then tie a pair of knots on either side of the middle where the ropes attached to the swing would go.

One bored Jacqueline + one camera= a lot of funny pictures

Tying the rope around the tree. (Dad is standing on a ladder in our tree house)

On the other side Jacqueline had to hold the rope taunt. 

When Dad finished one side, he had to tie the other .

I think that we were all praying at this point. 

Once Dad had finished tying and had gotten off the ladder the mood lightened a lot, probably because no one was  thinking about how far away the nearest emergency room is!

Jacqueline was so excited that she couldn't wait for the seat! Swinging is her favorite think to do.  She is outside for an hour or two almost every day!

Drilling holes in the seat for the ropes.

Tying knots in the rope.  Notice that Dad's favorite beverage for working (and not working)  has made it's appearance

Mom was worried about how a rope tied to 2 trees was going to support any one's weight so she made Dad try it first.

After individual turns, Jacqueline and I decided to go together.   Even Mom tried the swing although she declined any souvenir photos.

Jacqueline has commented that in all of our videos one or both of us is screaming.  So here is a continuation of that tradition. 

What IS She Up To?

There are mountains of fabric piled everywhere! 

Just when I think this house (and most importantly her sewing room) can't hold another scrap, Mom makes a trip to the fabric store and comes back with MORE fabric, buttons, ribbon, rickrack, patterns, and who knows what else! 

 

The sewing machine will hum almost non-stop for several hours in the afternoon. 

Tea!

This past Thusday, a friend from church, Miss Sharon, took us to a tea house called The Potted Geranium  in Greensboro to celebrate my graduation. 

The house was built in the early 1800's. The owner beautiful restored it before turning it into a tea parlor. The house is my favorite style (square farmhouse) and it even has my much loved yellow siding!

The food was really delicious! Jacqueline and I had chicken salad on croissants with a house salad of spinach, cranberries, walnuts, some sort of cheese, and the most wonderful dressing!  Mom had turkey salad and the same type of salad as Jacqueline and I had.

We had a delightful time of food and fellowship. We really can't thank Miss Sharon enough for taking us there, especially since we will going there for a certain holiday in November! ( Yes, birthdays, especially mine, are holidays).

The gardens behind the house are lovely and very well kept. I thought this bird house was very cute.

Of course before we left, we had to get a little antiquing in. I bought three books one of which was pre-turn of century edition of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. The edition is not in the best of shape but I thought it would go very nicely with the old book collection I have and I am rather a sucker for all books Elizabeth Gaskell.

The town is very quaint. This is the First Presbyterian Church. The brickwork and the magnificent doors are astounding.

Coming Soon!

The Classics

Cafe and Bookstore

Wouldn't that make a perfect bookstore & cafe? With the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, new books, and my homemade, right  from the oven, blueberry muffins, coffeecake, lemon squares, and maybe slices of apple pie in a glass case, it would be heaven, at least for me.