The Trials and Tribulations of Living With Our Feline Friends

When we moved into this house we installed "kitty proof latches" on all of the lower kitchen cabinet doors except for the two doors directly under the kitchen sink.  The cats were less inclined to open those doors and having latches on them is a little inconvenient.  It didn't take Zoom long to discover that those doors were vulnerable.  She'd pull them open and crawl over all the cleaning supplies and make her way to the very back of the cabinet to the left of the sink.  I knew she was doing it, but since I only stored seasonal things and candles under there I decided to look the other way and let her enjoy her little hideaway.

Last week we were going out and the cabinet door under the kitchen sink was open.  Reid decided to check on Zoom and that's when he called me,  Way in the back of the cabinet was a huge hole with insulation pulled out.

We frantically started looking for Zoom and the rest of the cats.  We were afraid they might be inside the wall.  I think the hole had been cut and patched by the previous owners and Zoom had managed to pull their patch off.  We had never noticed it way back there and when the painters painted the cabinets the patch was painted too which made it even less noticeable.

All the cats were accounted for and we temporarily barricaded the cabinet doors to keep cats out while we were gone.

When we got home we got to work.  I stuffed the insulation back into the wall and vacuumed up the mess.

It was a tight squeeze getting back there.

Zoom watched with interest from her perch.

If I was any bigger I would have had to hire a handy man to do the patch.  I guess he would have ripped out the shelf in order to get back there, but I managed to squeeze.

The first thing I did was put a screen type thing on the hole.  I've patched holes before so I knew what to do.

Zoom continued to watch with interest.

Then we brought out the can of plaster stuff (my technical term).

And I squeezed back in there and spread the plaster stuff all over the screen.

Finished!  You'll have to take my word for it.  It's kind of hard to see in this picture.

Then with Zoom still watching Reid installed "kitty proof latches" on those last two cabinet doors.

It's official...all the cabinet doors are now secure and cat proof.  Zoom will have to find another place to hang out.

Working on my dolls...

A few months ago I was in the resale store and spotted a vintage wicker doll carriage.  It was only $25 and I immediately grabbed it.  Yes, the wicker was coming apart.  No problem I thought.  I used to weave baskets so this should be a fast fix for me.  I'll fix it and then spray paint the entire thing so it blends in.  Then I'll put a childhood baby doll in there.  Perfect!

Of course, I had to order the reed first.  It came and I got out all my old basket weaving tools.

I started weaving and the round reed I was going under and over started to break too.  Oh shoot! (Or similar words.)  Now I have to go back and order some round reed.

Guess this won't be a fast fix after all.

A while back I bought this trailer at Target for my Ginny Dolls.  The scale on the outside is fine, but the interior is a little small for a regular size Ginny.  I know some people ended up buying the trailer for their mini Ginnys, but I've never been a fan of mini Ginny.  I prefer the vintage Ginnys from the 1950's or the reproduction Ginnys.  Anyway, I thought it would work fine in the scenes I enjoy creating for my dolls.

It was fine, but I wanted a vintage Airstream trailer.  Remember them?  Love those awnings.

So, after much masking with tape I created an Airstream trailer for my dolls with a can of spray paint.

All of the masking really paid off.  I didn't get any of the silver paint on the inside.

The whole side of the trailer swings open.  I haven't put the side back on yet.  I want to give the paint a chance to cure.  I also haven't put the kitchen back inside.  I put it in a safe place when I took it out.  It's so safe that now I can't find it.  I'm sure it will show up eventually.

I have plans to decorate the inside a little.  I'm going to add curtains and other touches of home.  As you can see I need to add a license plate on the outside.  I would love to find an Airstream decal to also put on the outside.  My goal is to have it finished by July 4th so the Ginnys can go on vacation.

See the new outfit on my doll?  I'd been admiring it for a while.  I finally bought it.

A week ago we lost Buddy.  He was the sweetest cat, but life had become very difficult for him and it was time. 

He had actually been our next door neighbor's cat, but he kept coming over to our house to eat with our feral cat.  Finally, we put down an extra bowl.  Every morning Buddy showed up.  One morning he wasn't there.  Days went by and still no Buddy.  (We didn't know his name.  We just called him our Buddy.) 

Something told me to look on the Friendswood City website.  There was a picture of Buddy.  He had been picked up by Animal Control.  My husband and I went over to see for sure if it was Buddy.  It was him, but he didn't belong to us.  So, at the suggestion of Animal Control we told the neighbor where her cat was and told her if she didn't want him we would take him.  By then he had been missing for ten days and his time was just about up at Animal Control.  She didn't want him so we adopted him from Animal Control and immediately took him to be fixed.  From that day on he was an indoor cat.  We had him for 14 years.

He was my Buddy.

1950's Memories...

I've been going through some scanned slides from the 1950's.  I decided today to share some of the slides that had our childhood dolls in them.  I wish some of them had my Ginny dolls, but there doesn't seem to be any slides with Ginny.  It's strange since that's the doll I remember playing with the most.

I always liked these large baby dolls.  I was convinced that people probably thought I was carrying a real baby.  L-R:  Me, I think the girl was named Libby, my sister, and our second cousin Christine Volz.

This picture was taken in our backyard.  My sister and I are with our aunt.  Again, we have our large baby dolls.

I guess my sister and I were going someplace and posed for a picture first.  We're holding our Toni dolls.

Here we are in the living room holding our Toni dolls and some kind of baby doll.  Since we're wearing the same outfits as in the previous picture I'm assuming it was taken at the same time.

This was taken at Christmas time in our living room.  That's me with my aunt and the T. Cohn Superior Toys tin kitchen we received that Christmas.  I was recently able to find one eBay.  Actually, I now realize the one I found on eBay isn't exactly the same.  The eBay one has some yellow painted on the kitchen floor and this one doesn't.  I couldn't tell in the old black and white photos, but the colored slide cleared that up for me.

This is our T. Cohn lithographed Spanish style tin dollhouse.  (How I'd love to have this again!)  I have no idea who the girl on the left is, but that's me and my sister on the right with our cat Lucky.  This is our backyard.

I enjoy going through these old slides/pictures.

It's Friday...

It's Friday and as usual I was late for Jenny Matlock's Warm Heart Wednesday.  I went over to her blog and there was no Warm Heart Wednesday, but a post from Jenny.  Her health has not gotten any better and the pain has gotten worse.  She has taken a break from blogging.

I joined Jenny for her very first Alphabe-Thursday event.  That was a number of years ago.  I don't blog much, but Jenny's events kept me on track and at least once I week I usually posted and read blogs.  I will miss Jenny and hope and pray she'll be back in the near future.  I'm going to try and keep posting weekly.

I had already found something to use for this week's Warm Heart Wednesday and decided to go ahead and post it.

I found a Walgreen's advertising supplement in last week's Parade Magazine.  The supplement was called "11 Sneaky Hacks for Better Health."

Did you know that you should watch a cat video on You Tube?   A study from Indiana University found that the positive emotion you get from watching those cute cats actually boosts your emotional energy.  They claim that any task you do afterwards will be done with more energy and efficiency.

Go ahead and give it a try.  I always think cats are pretty funny at Christmas.

(Here's a tip.  If you have cats put the tree up a couple of weeks before you decorate it.  I find that my cats will check it out and quickly lose interest.  I only have one cat that ever climbs it.  By the time it's decorated they all leave it alone.)

Watching a cat video works for me, but I'm the crazy neighborhood cat lady here.  It might not work as well for you.

Speaking of cats...It's been a sad week.  I found out a week ago that my oldest cat probably has lung cancer.  He had been losing weight for a while.  I thought he probably was starting with kidney failure since I've lost older cats in the past to that, but the X-ray showed something in his one lung.  It could be something else, but in older cats it's usually lung cancer.  He's not eating much anymore, but acts OK in every other way.  So, we're taking it one day at a time.

This is Buddy in healthier days.  I know I'm going to miss him when he's gone.

Thanks for visiting...

MOMs for Warm Heart Wednesday #25

It's time again for Warm Heart Wednesday sponsored by Ms. Jenny at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent."  

Sunday is Mother's Day, so I thought I'd share a few warm hearted moments with you.  These are the Moms in my life.

This is my Mom, Carolyn E. Morris in 1937.  She would have been 17 that year.  She was married in 1943 and her married name was Durgin.  She always looked so young and I only thought of her as being old the last few years of her life.

This is my Mom's Mom, Wilhelmina Caroline Volz.  Her married name was Morris.  My mother was her only child.

This is my Mom's Mom's Mom.  Her name was Dorothea Lotter.  Her married name was Volz.  She died when my grandmother was only 17 months old.  This is the only known photograph of her.  I can see my mother in her...especially the eyes.  I wish I knew more about her.

This is my Mom's Mom's Step-Mom.  Her name was Anna Elisabeth Dietz.  Her married name was Volz.  She was the only mother my grandmother remembered.  I was told that she treated my grandmother as one of her own.  I was around 4 when she died, but I do remember her as being a very warm person.  She would great us with open arms.  I was a teenager when I found out that she was actually my grandmother's step-mother.

This is my Dad's Mom.  Her name was Elizabeth Anna Sims.  Her married name was Durgin.  I think I was around 12 years old when she died, so I do remember her well.

This is my Dad's Mom's Mom.  Her name was Helene Pape.  Her married name was Sims.  I remember her well because she lived to be almost 98 years old.  A tiny lady, but agile and sharp as a tack.  She outlived her husband and children.

This is my Dad's Dad's Mom.  Her name was Margaret Cecile McGuire.  Her married name was Durgin.  She died in 1903, so I only know her by her photograph.

Those are the Moms in my life.

These are the people responsible for me being a Mom.  Thanks guys!

Now head over to Jenny's blog for a list of this week's Warm Heart Wednesday participants.