Christmas update - just in time for Christmas!!

Sorry for the long delayed up-date. I bought Zuma's Revenge for myself at Walmart for my birthday and other than reading that game has been eating a lot of my computer time. I am currently stuck at level 56 - 60 and have been for a week or so now.I have been having fun though, as have we all.

The kids all liked Halloween(yes I even have a couple pictures). K decided that at almost 14 she wouldn't bother going out this year. We only got about 10 trick or treaters and only went to about a dozen houses ourselves.

A went as a dead viking warrior.

M went as a Butterfly Queen :)

K's big adventure for November was getting to go to work with J on her 14th birthday which was also "Take your Kid to Work Day"! She got up really early and I am glad she took part. This is a shot of her getting into a lab coat.
The animals are all also fine. Our newest member finally realized home is good on Halloween day. C(our stray picked up in June) got out of the house that morning and wouldn't let anyone catch her - she didn't go far from the house but wouldn't come to any of us, we tried for hours to get her in but there was just no way. Finally we had to leave for a dentist appointment for the kids(I know I am an evil Mom making the kids go to the dentist on Halloween day!). When we got back C was sitting on the front step and let me pick her up and bring her into the house, she hasn't tried to get out since! She is looking wonderful now an is as sleek and healthy looking as M-cat. Here's a shot of the two of them, they are sleeping in/on out soft cat carrier and C-cat's section is open so she can get out whenever she wants.

Here also is a shot of S-dog and S-dog and M-cat.

The kids are all doing well in school. K is happy in High School, A is doing his best in grade 4 and M is now such a big girl in grade 1. Of course everyone is thrilled to be off of school for 2 whole weeks. For the grandparents we are giving some updated pictures of the kids. Following are some examples of the shots I took just a few days ago.


We're all ready for Christmas now, the gifts are all wrapped and on display for the kids to drool over. They are each getting 6 gifts in total; 2 on Xmas Eve and 4 on Xmas Day. I got J three gifts and J says he is still kinda shopping for me. I will update after Xmas day with picture shots :)

Cass :)

A real update is coming soon ...

I promise! With pictures, even :) I've been busy as expected with school back in and all that fun stuff. It's past time for me to have some kind of schedule in place but I often feel I'm still flying by the seat of my pants. Sadly my computer time has been what has suffered between walking the kids back and forth and back and forth and back and forth from school(remember I walk them to school in the am, home for lunch, back to school after lunch and home after school) and cooking and doing homework with the kids. Most of the free time that I do have(and really I make sure I get plenty) has been taken up with reading, friends and TV.

I was going regularly to the YMCA in the afternoons but then I got a cold and then there was all the hoo haw about H1N1 so I decided to stay home for a bit and then I got bronchitis(Just in time for a very rare-years apart-visit from my Father).

If my Step-Mother gets a chance to come on and read this: I'm feeling much better and not coughing at all anymore. The inhalant the doctor gave me worked wonders! Sorry that I sounded like I was going to drop dead any second for most of your visit!

I also want to thank Dad for the super great last-20-birthdays gift he got me. I have been using it every single day! I totally love it!

Will update more(and properly) soon - well okay as soon as I can anyway ;)

Cass :)

School is back in - a long delayed update.

Of course I am assuming that ~someone~ reads this at least from time to time. I have been bad about updating, I'd say I was sorry but I'm not. Life is life and you know how it sucks you in. I've hardly been on the computer lately.

Our new kitty has settled in well and I now think if she gets out she would come back same as old M cat does but we still go out and catch her(and she's not easy to catch!). Everyone is healthy and the kids just finished their first week back at school.

K is in High School now and seems to be adjusting to the extra responsibility of homework and making her lunch everyday fairly well. M is enjoying grade 1 and A seems to be happy in grade 4 but it's early days yet so time will tell.

So far our days have been running smoothly including my afternoon trips to the YMCA where I originally planned on swimming laps for a while but so far have found the extra 1/2 hour walk there from the school and the 1/2 hour walk back to the school is about all I can manage. So I'm hoping for swimming to come after I've adjusted to the extra hour of walking and I'm still not sure how long it will take for me to get used to the extra hour of walking ... With my walking the dog and the kids back and forth from school(to school, home for lunch, back to school after lunch and home from school at the end of the day) and the trips to the YMCA I'm walking for about 2 hours a day. I think it's going to take a while. Once I do adjust I will start swimming laps once I get to the Y instead of soaking in the hot tub and reading my book which is what I've been doing this week(after the first day when I realized I couldn't do the laps and the walking yet). I have 1 hour and 45 minutes at the Y ... maybe by this time next year I'll be swimming for 45 minutes of that.

We are still in the process of switching our furnace from oil to gas. So far the gas line has been run from the street to out house and attached to a meter. On Monday the crew will be coming to take our old oil tank and any oil in it out(in the afternoon - so no Y trip for me on Monday) and on Tuesday morning the crew will be coming to rip out the old furnace and put in a shiny new gas furnace. I'm looking into the idea of a gas range to cook on but we've still not decided and can't afford to do anything right now anyway but I have to remember to ask them when they are here how much it would cost to run the gas line for a gas stove. I would love any comments from people who have cooked on gas and on electric and let me know how it is.

That's all for now - tomorrow is Monday again and yesterday was A's 9th birthday. We all had a good time.

Cass :)

Devotion ...

I've noticed over the past few months that S(my dog) is maturing and becoming more and more attached to me. I find the whole situation very flattering.

S is almost always in the same room as I am, all I have to do is look and there she is. At night she either sleeps on the bed with J & I or on the floor on my side of the bed. I take her with me almost everywhere I go because when I'm not home she's not happy. She doesn't cause trouble but she's not happy even when others are home and I really do prefer to have her with me. She makes me feel safe.

Her behavior on walks has improved a great deal and her focus on me is much better. I figure it's maturity setting in since she'll be 2 years old in November. When she was younger she used to run up to people on our walks(if she was off leash) and jump up on them. Now if she is off leash she'll walk by them and only lift her nose up enough to get a good sniff in as she passes. I tell people that look nervous "If you ignore her, she'll ignore you." I've even had her totally snub people that wanted to pet her.

I'd also like to note her reaction to any male coming to the house. The only men that seem acceptable to her are J and her best dog friend's 'daddy'(my good friend's husband). Otherwise she is very suspicions of men. I haven't had any strange women come to the house recently to tell you how she feels about women, she's fine with all my friends. We recently had a couple quotes done about getting a new furnace. In each case I told the men not to try to make nice with S as when some hot water installers tried that a few months ago she got very upset with them(barking and growling and backing off) and I had to put her outside while they were here. I think she made them nervous as she watched them both closely the whole time they were near me and would quietly growl at them from time to time. I didn't tell her she was bad I just stroked her and said it was okay and to shush, that seemed to be enough to keep her calm.

I can't explain the level of attention S gives me but it is a truly amazing thing to me and I just wanted to share. I hope she knows I love her too. She's my dog - but I'm her person too.

Cass :)

Lazy July is lazy - finally an update.

Sorry for the long silence. I have been quite enjoying the whole no kids in school deal and doing only what I have to. No onto the update!

I have a few shots from K's grade 8 graduation ... I can't believe she'll be in high school this fall. First shot is K leaving the house in her grad gown.K got an excellence in math award! She was top in her class in math-we were all surprised and happy. Here is a bad shot of her getting her award.Finally we have a shot of K with her BFF M both of them all dressed up for grad and a better shot of K's award(M got an award as well for overall good marks).M also got an academic award for being top in her senior kindergarten class but that picture is still on my camera, sorry. Here is a picture of her sleeping on my bed with S instead.Speaking of my furry children ... here are more shots of them. M cat snoozin' in J's computer chair.Our new cat C sleeping on the basement window cat shelf. C is going in for spay on Jul 10th, I'm hoping it'll cut back on the meowing she's been doing. She could be in heat again but I hope not - the vet won't operate on her if she's in heat.

Now for more pet pictures! Here is W wanting into the house.W pwning my dog S.This is a comparison shot so you all can see how small C is. You all saw W alone and W with S so here are W and C.

C is settling in well except for the meowing the last two nights, she also got out of the house twice yesterday but was quickly re-caught both times. The vet said(when we went to get her shots updated) that she is probably about a year old. She weighs 5 lbs after being with us for 2 weeks. I think she will always be tiny tiny and hopefully she'll also be quiet! Any tips on shutting a cat up at night would be appreciated.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Cass :)

A Grad, lots of walking and a cat ...

Well I have had a crazy last 3 days. Well crazy for me because I normally keep my life slow paced and dull.

Wednesday was M's grad from SK - she starts grade 1 this fall. K's grade 8 grad is next week - she starts high school in the fall. I keep telling them to stop growing damn it but they just won't listen. J says we need to beat them more(very much a joke as you know - we don't even beat our pets).

Here's the best shot of a bad lot of M in her(paper) grad hat:

Here's a random shot of M cat and S dog laying on the bed together. K took the shot but J said they were cuter before because they had been back to back and touching. S rarely sleeps touching anyone.

Today was super busy because it was play day at my kids' school. K opted to stay home as her class went on a trip to an amusement park and she didn't want to go. A went in the morning but didn't want to participate in play day so he stayed home in the afternoon and M only had play day to go to and wanted to so she went in the afternoon rather than in the morning when she normally goes.

So I walked A to school for his morning of school and M walked with my and another Mom friend of mine with the dog on her walk(she wanted to come - crazy kid). I then had to walk to the school at 11:10am to get A for lunch(he freaks a little when he has to walk alone), take M back to school at 12:10pm for play day and go get her again at 3pm. Lots of walking but I had better get used to it since that will be everyday when my kids go back in the fall without K to walk them. I think they will staying a school a couple time a week for lunch.

Oh but there's more!

When we were just 2 blocks from home a kitten came bouncing out of nowhere right up to S and sniffed noses with her but then dashed away when S got playful. S would never hurt a cat but cats don't know that. I was totally stunned that the cat came right up to her! Cats normally try to make sure S doesn't notice them or get out of sight as fast as possible. The other Mom with me and my little girl M stopped to pet the kitten while I moved ahead with the dog and then, wouldn't you know it, the kitten started to follow us dog & all!!

She followed us all the way home meowing for us to pay attention to her. I felt I had no choice and she is now our second cat. We figure she is about 6 months old and may have been someone's pet since she seems happy to be inside and hasn't tried to escape or anything. She's eaten and otherwise has spent most of the day sleeping. I think she was someone's pet but they never got her spayed so she went into heat and ran away - she is pregnant. I'll give her a week to settle in with the animals we already have and see if she tries to escape then I will take her to the vet. M cat is always leaving the house but he always comes right back but I have a feeling if she gets out we may never see her again.

I know what some of you may be thinking. Why would I take in a pregnant stray? I'll tell you why: I want her because no one else will. I want her because there are 90 cats in my city's Animal Control, 33 of those are cats like C(yes we named her) female and under a year old. I want her because there are 104 cats/kittens free to good home postings on Kijiji. I want her because she's just a kitten herself and she's pregnant and so thin it's painful to look at her. No one cares about cats, cats are throw away animals. If I can't change that I can at least change her life for the better. I would love to see anyone find a better pet home than mine.

Here are some pics of C - her nipples are prominent because of her pregnancy. She is tiny - I think she may weigh as much as 5 lbs but I doubt it. She is very thin. She's grey and white and has interesting markings(to us anyway).

Wish us luck.

I'm a gravedigger.

I'm not sure I blogged about the last time my dog S rolled in something gross in the field where I let her run off leash so I'll recap that day to start.

A month or two ago S rolled in something. Now she rolled in whatever it was a few times but those first few times whatever it was she rolled in didn't reek so I didn't have to bath her. Then one day she came from rolling and was soaked with stench.I had to bring her back home and bath her. I waited a couple weeks before I went to the field again and this time I borrowed a shovel from a friend that lives near the field and buried what I discovered was a dead raccoon(mostly decomposed).

About a week ago S found something new in a different part of the field but again the first couple times it didn't smell all that bad ... I should have known. Today she rolled in whatever it is and yuck!! The smell was so bad both my friend that was walking with me and I gagged and tears came to my eyes! What a reek! Again. I had to bring her back home and bath her. Tomorrow I will go bury whatever it is and next time she rolls in something in the field I will find it the next day rather than waiting for bath level grossness!

This time I'm taking my own shovel. My man found a folding one in our camping gear so I won't look like I'm taking my dog out to kill her when I walk her to the field tomorrow :)

Edited to add: Looked today during our walk, no luck. Either someone else buried it or I wasn't looking in the right place. I guess I'll have to take the shovel with me daily and keep a sharp eye on her until I feel the risk has passed or I find it and bury it.

Edit June 17th: I finally found what S was rolling in and I am angry and sad because of it. I did my best to bury it but am still in a state about the whole thing. Of course you must first remember that this is a vacant lot that I walk S through. There are signs that others(probably homeless people as it is near the downtown of my city) using the lot to sleep and/or hang out and certainly signs of other dog owners walking their dogs(and not picking up after them). I saw lots of paw prints in the snow this past winter. I like the lot because there are paths worn thru it, it's a huge lot and it's almost completely fenced in. I don't have to worry about S when she's off leash other than if she finds something to roll in.

Why am I upset? The thing I had to bury this morning was a dead dog in a black garbage bag. It was tossed out onto a vacant lot like trash and the monsters that did it just left it there. To say I am upset is to put it lightly. I've dealt with the death of a dog - it was incredibly hard for me and J. We went $200 more into debt to have his body disposed of. If we would have been stronger and it was allowed by city law we may have dug a big hole and buried him in the back yard. If we had had more money we would have had him buried at a pet cemetery with a marker and everything. We would have NEVER tossed him in a garbage bag and dumped him somewhere for someone else to deal with.

I did my best to cover the bag and remains and then covered the whole lot with a bunch of branches so S can't roll there anymore but I'll never be able to walk by that spot without thinking of it and wondering just what kind of creature could just toss an animal away like that and walk away. Sadly there is no point in reporting this because after all it was "just" a dog ... I hate humans.

Mouses in my houses!

All right I have to come clean about something. I live in an old house and we have always had mice. Like, for the last 11 years we're talking here. Now, I know a lot of people are really all grossed out about mice and worry about pathogens and all that:

I Am Not One Of Those People.

So don't bother fussing at me about stuff like that. This is mostly meant to be funny. Disclaimer done.

Why am I blogging about mice? Well it's because my cat is insane. M cat likes to play with mice. Notice I say play, not eat or kill but play. M will go outside and catch a mouse and bring it into the house to play with it. Sometimes he catches the mice that are already in the house. The whole playing thing would work out a lot better if it wasn't for one tiny little fact: M's fave place to play with his live mice toys is on my king sized bed in the basement.

My basement is only about 2/3 finished and it's a bedroom/computer room/laundry room/work room & storage room in one. So there are lots of place in the 500 square feet down here for a mouse to hide. The cat's toys almost always escape him onto the floor and they stay escaped unless they get dumb and he recaptures them. Recently(like the last 3 days) we've had an explosion of bed mice & mice in the house in general it seems.

Monday night J called me down to the basement(I was on the phone with my pal Kitty - Look Kitty you're in my blog!) because M had a mouse and he didn't have anything to put the mouse in. I am a little softhearted so I like to capture the mice and take them 2 blocks away and drop them off. There are many houses and stray cats between my house and my favoured mouse drop site so I hope they aren't coming back. Anyway I got the mouse and took it away. M cat is a dumb dumb because he saw me pick the mouse up and drop it in the cup and take it away but still spent the whole time I was gone looking for it. Tuesday afternoon K hollered that M had a mouse and was on his way to the basement but it got away before I could get it and take it out of the house, later yesterday afternoon I came upstairs to see a mouse happily walking into the house through the open back door but it went under the freezer and wouldn't come out so I couldn't catch it. Later my Mom cornered it in the bathroom and we got it out of the house.

However, the basement mouse was still at large. S actually chased the mouse a little last night and both J and I were grumpy because we just knew M would catch the darn thing and drop it in our bed thus wrecking our sleep. At least twice we were up looking thru the bed until finally at 3:30am this morning I felt it next to me and when I turned on the light there the little bugger was I said "There you are!" and was about to grab it when it jumped off the bed. So basement mouse is still at large /sigh/ I have to say it's a cute mouse and I hope to catch it and release it away from the house(after marking it's tail with permanent black marker to see if he just happens to be the same mouse from before) so it doesn't wreck another nights' sleep!

I need a nap.

Cass :)

More cuteness at my house.

First let's start by showing off the prettiest tree in the world: The Magnolia tree in my back yard :)


So S weight between 55 and 60 lbs but sometimes she thinks she's a lap dog:


A shot of S & W:

Poor little W all tired out from being groomed for the first time(no worries, once his hair grows we'll be able to see his eyes):

A better shot:

S & M the cat:

Clip of A & K loving little W:


Clip of S & W playing:

Introducing yet another new resident :)

As I'm sure I've mentioned at some point - My Mom moved in with us last fall. Yup this means we have 6 people in under 1000 square feet of home but, surprisingly, it's gone really well and everyone is happy. Since Mom is in not well enough to work anymore and is only a few years from getting old age pension anyway when she asked if she could get a small dog I said that was fine.

Yes I know I said two dogs wouldn't work, that's why we had to get rid of Bobby. However since this dog is not huge and not my responsibility it is not a problem. W has been with us for a week and is super cute. S has even played with him(very gently I might add) and everyone loves him. Of course who couldn't love a puppy!! :)

So here's W - we think he looks like an Ewok :)
This is the best shot(even if it's crooked) - super cute, W owns the cute :)



Now that you're all in diabetic shock from the sweet :) Here's some shots of W with other family members:With little M.

With big dog S :)

M cat is still hissing at W whenever he sees him - if I remember right it took M about a month to adjust to having S here so there is still hope.

And what pet blog would be complete without a shot of just S :)

Little M took the cutest vid of W so I have to share that - because moving puppies are even cuter than still puppies :)




Happy Easter!

Cass :)

Oh! Look! Pcitures! :)

So I snagged the camera and I took some pictures and so did Little M :) So here is what the two of us came up with.

First the 'regular' kids - red eye madness and trying to look cute rule here.




And now for the 'fur' kids:

Hallway pet block!


Cute M cat:


M & S hangin' out:


Too bad it always turns into this:


And this:


All in all cute-tastic!! I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Cass :)