My new familiar

July 18th 2006 my beautiful cat Miss Pitty Pat died of kidney failure. From that day until Wednesday of this week (1/23/08) I hadn't been ready for another cat. Okay so maybe in the last couple months I had started making noises about getting another kitty and had been sort of looking on Craig's List and at the Dumb Friends League. I knew I wanted a Siamese or Siamese mix cat this time around instead of another Tabby because I was afraid I'd be comparing the new kitty to Miss Pitty Pat and that wouldn't be fair. I also knew I didn't have a lot of money to spend on rescuing a cat.

Wednesday night Jonathan discovered we did indeed have a mouse in the house as I had been telling him and encouraged me to step up the search for a new cat. His cat, Smoke, is 18 years old and spends all his time in the basement, so he wasn't going to help with the mouse situation. Anyway I digress, just before I went to bed on Wednesday night I checked Craigs list again and found what was listed as a Flame point Siamese in need of a new home for free! Even though it was 9:30 and I hesitate to call anyone that late, I did call about this cat whose name was Jade. I learned he was 6 months old, intact and in need of shots. His owner was giving him and his brother away because she was pregnant and due to deliver next month. We made arrangements for the cat to be delivered the next night. The owner wanted to check out the new home for her cat.

The next morning I told Jonathan about the newest member of our family and what his name was. We both agreed that Jade was not a good name for a male cat. Jonathan had always wanted to name a male "Chairman Meow" and we thought okay why not. When our new baby arrived we realized that it didn't feel right to call him Chairman Meow and that it wasn't his name. I suggested "Sinatra" since he has pretty blue eyes, but Jonathan nixed that saying it wasn't his name either. Jonathan suggested "Jack" which I nixed immediately since the neighbors dog's name is Jack. I had been toying with the name "Simon" previously to the "Chairman Meow" idea and suggested that. Jonathan and I both agreed that was the perfect name for him. In fact, Jonathan went so far as to say "Simon Says" so that's his name although we call him Simon and it fits so well.

As you can see, Simon is not a Flame point but a Tabby point. He has so much personality too!! I've been sleeping with him at night in the spare bedroom so he's not totally alone while he and the dogs make the adjustment. What a snuggle kitty he is. This little boy LOVES to be petted and stroked and loves to knead my hair.

And speaking of the dogs..........what a challenge this is going to be. They are curious and want to sniff him but he's terrified having never been around dogs before. I've ensconced him in the spare bedroom with toys, food, water and a litter box. During the day while I'm not home the door stays shut. When I am here the door is open and the baby gate is up so the boys can see him and vice versa and become familiar with each other. Only problem is when the boys see Simon they start barking and want to get in where he is, to sniff I hope. I've had to resort to their electronic collars to re-enforce that this is not acceptable. Today I'm going to bring him down and put him in Murphy's crate so they can all actually see each other without Simon hiding under the bed. Should be interesting.

New Year's Promise for 2008

Wow, already 6 days into the new year 2008! That's so hard to beleive. 30-35 years ago I couldn't begin to fathom ever reaching this year. It was hard enough to think about the year 2000 and the change of a century and now look. We are 8 years into that new century and it really isn't to bad at all.
I learned long ago not to make New Year's Resolutions because I wasn't going to keep them. This year instead of making any resolutions, or even thinking about making them, I made myself a promise. I promised myself that I would take the boys, Murphy and Bugs, out for a walk every day weather permitted. So far so good. I figured that if I made a promise I was more inclined to keep it. This promise will benefit both the dogs and me. I'd like to lose 20-30# before I go home to VA for O'livia's graduation and going for walks will help with this. The walks should also strenghten my hip and lower back and the boys get the exercise they need, especially Murphy.
I made the idea of taking the dogs for a walk easier by buying a dual leash coupler. Trying to walk them on two seperate leashes was difficult to say the least. Murphy would walk by my side as he should but Bugs, being the inquisitive boy that he is, was attempting to pull me all over the place so he could explore. I couldn't take one dog without the other so I didn't take either of them. With the coupler and a shorter leash, the dogs seem less inclined to pulling me and it seems to be helping Bugs to be teethered next to Murphy. We've gone every day of this new year and the boys are looking forward to it as a new treat when I come home from work.
So again I am making this promise. I PROMISE TO TAKE THE DOGS FOR A WALK EVERY DAY THAT WEATHER PERMITS!!!!

A year of fix up

Wow, with the year on it's last day, I've been going through the house and looking at the improvements we've made.

• New pullout water faucet/sprayer in the kitchen
• Track lights in the kitchen, front entry and upstairs hallway
• New brick walk way in the front of the house by the driveway
• New tile floor in the den
• New wood floors in the dining room, living room and upstairs hallway
• New gas stove w/gas line hookup
• New 46" HDTV
• New Patio door w/built in dog door
• Painted red border/decalls in the kitchen
• New curtains in the dining room, over patio door, our bedroom and in my office

Now this may not seem important or news worthy to some, but to me it's made such an improvement on the house. Heck the patio door, wood & tile foors alone have made cleaning the house and dealing with the boys so much easier. And as Jonathan says, we've made it "our" home instead of a house we've moved into. Can't wait to see what improvements next year, 2008, brings.

My Sweetie and I went to see The Golden Compass on Christmas. I had heard so many negative reports by "Christians" and the religious right. Their biggest fear is that any child/adult seeing the movie will immediately be turned from God. Bull puckey!!!! I say as a parent it is your duty to explain to your child/children that this is fantasy.

The basic arguement of this film is for free will and free thinking over blind obedience and dogma, and for truth above all. If that makes you question your personal beliefs, is it really a bad thing?In case you don't know what the movie is about let me give you a review from Movie Fone.Based on author Philip Pullman's bestselling and award-winning novel,'The Golden Compass' tells the first story in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. 'The Golden Compass' is an exciting fantasy adventure, set in an alternative world where people's souls manifest themselves as animals, talking bears fight wars, and Gyptians and witches co-exist. At the center of the story is Lyra (played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), a 12-year-old girl who starts out trying to rescue a friend who's been kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers - and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well.

As a parent I want my children to come to God or whatever diety they believe in wilingly and with open eyes and hearts, not just because I tell them to. Faith unquestioned is not true faith, IMO and we're trying to teach our children to think, questino, open their hearts and truly experience what we believe. I love books and movies like this; it makes me think. I always come back to my same beliefs, pagan as they are, but with a little broader perspective on both my faith, the faith of others and the world at large.

Bottom line, if 114 minutes of beautiful celebrities and dazzling animation can convince you to abandon you faith, you didn't have it to begin with.Go see the movie, open up your mind, question your beliefs and learn to except the beliefs of others.

Happy Yule and Merry Christmas

Did you know Christmas' has pagan origins? Few people realize that the origins of a form of Christmas was pagan & celebrated in Europe long before anyone there had heard of Jesus Christ.

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?

The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”

The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.

Overhauling the house

WOW what a difference it makes taking out the old carpet in the living room/diningroom area and replacing with wood laminate flooring!!

Before

The carpet was worn and stained. Of course the dogs didn't help any either. Eating bones or picnicing as I call it didn't help the life of the carpet. And the stairway and hallway were equally ugly.

After

Now the floors, stairs and hallway are beautiful!! And the dogs think it's great fun to wrestle and slid arcoss them.

And now for the appearnce of the dining room and living room.

Actually we've done alot to improve the appearnce of the house this year. We put in a new sliding glass patio door complete w/dog door. Installed track lighting in the kitchen and hallways, put in a new tile floor in the den, fixed the front walkway and now these floors. WHEW that's a lot. And Jonathan says he may yet replace the stove w/a gas stove for me. I can only imagine what next year's improvements will be.

This and That

Wow, it's been over a month since I've written anything. Amazing how quickly time passes.

It's Thanksgiving weekend. I've been on vacation since Wednesday and it's been great having time to do the things I've wanted to do and to do absolutely nothing at all. Jonathan and I celebrate Thanksgiving alone this year. We had originally planned to take the dogs and go camping for the weekend but weather prevented us from seeing that to fruitation. It snowed on Wednesday and has been down right cold the rest of the time. It was fine, we had a wonderful dinner here at home and enjoyed each others company. I even tried my hand at roasting a duck. It turned out really good.

Last night we spent the evening with our friends Rick and Donna Carter. It's always a pleasure to be around them. It was somewhat subdued last night but then Rick is on deathwatch with his mother. That sort of thing does tend to put a damper on any festivities.

I've been knitting up a storm again. Jonathan calls it therapy for me. Meditative therapy to be exact. Thus far I've knitted an afghan for the spare bedroome and a prayer shawl to give as a gift. I'm currently working on another afghan. It does seem to calm me and working with large needles helps make the work go fast. I'll have to take some pictures to post here of the things I've finished.

Well off to start the day.