10 Years...

For the last 10 years, we've walked side-by-side.

Happy Anniversary, my King J! I Love You!

I am looking forward to the next 40 years.

Thank You...

Losing Alexander was difficult.  He was such an important part of our daily lives and his presence is missed. 

We planted a couple of hostas over his grave and added a birdfeeder.  He always enjoyed "barking" at the birds he could see from the window.  It really did sound like a little bark, rather than a meow. 

I want to say "Thank You" to all of my internet friends who left words of comfort and encouragement for me, whether here on the blog, on Facebook, the forum, or through Twitter. I have saved each comment for my little scrapbook about his life.  (Yes, I am scrapbooking about my cat.)  I am so grateful for the friendships that have developed through this online world.

Goodbye Alexander

Today, we said "Goodbye" to my beloved cat.

His Royal Highness, Alexander the Cat

May 31, 1995-May 19, 2010

As a tribute to his life, I am repeating part of the post I made in honor of his birthday last year.

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Alexander entered my life nearly 14 15 years ago. I found his mom hiding in the stairwell in my condo building. She looked like a small kitten herself, but she had her four tiny kittens with her. I contacted a local rescue organization to see what could be done. I didn't care much for cats, but greatly preferred dogs, so I had no intention of keeping one. I did agree, however, to safehouse them until they were old enough to be adopted.

At the time I found them, the vet estimated they were about 10 days old, so their birthday was calculated to have been May 31st. The mama kitty tested negative for major diseases, so the kitties were assumed to be healthy too. Alexander nearly didn't survive his first few weeks. While not exactly sickly, he was not thriving. In fact, none of them were exactly thriving. I've always assumed it was because the mama kitty was still just a young kitten herself. She must have been someone's pet though, because she was litterbox trained from the beginning. She trained her kittens as well, lucky for me.

Anyway, given their weak start in life, we gave them strong names. Mama kitty became Cleopatra. The two make kittens became Alexander and Sampson. The two female kittens became Allegra and Reina.

Once they were weaned, it was time to hand them over for adoption. I had grown extremely attached to all four of the kittens and found it quite difficult to let them go. Cleopatra was not as difficult. She was not a friendly kitty, and was not an especially good mama to her babies. I ended up adopting Sampson and Alexander myself. I couldn't keep four of them in my condo. I didn't want to separate them, either, so I kept both of the boys.

Alexander and Sampson were with me through my divorce. They moved with me to my new home. They were with me when I remarried, and when we moved into our new home. They were with me through the birth of our daughter, Princess E.  Sampson died when Princess E was just a year old.  Alexander searched for him for well over a year.  Watching him grieve for his buddy was terribly sad. 

Alexander spent his final years as an indoor/outdoor cat. In the winter, he stayed indoors most of the time. In nice weather, especially during the spring, he preferred to be outside. 

Just yesterday, Alexander was curled up with me on my bed, purring.  But, I knew something was wrong.  He hadn't been eating much for about a week.  I didn't think a lot of it at first, since he would occasionally go through spells when he would barely eat for a couple of days and I also knew our neighbors had been feeding him as well.  I've kept him indoors completely, so I could watch him more closely.  This morning, I took him to the vet, because it was clear he was miserable and becoming sicker.  After examining him, the vet diagnosed him with late stage kidney failure.  We agreed that the most humane option was to end his suffering. 

I called for my husband to join us.  When he arrived, we spent a few minutes saying goodbye, and then were able to hold him as he crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  We brought him home, put him in his bed and buried him with his bowl and toys. 

 

My heart is heavy and I am terribly sad.  I miss my Alexander. 

Follow Me Back Tuesday

I found out about this new blog hop this week at Putting The FUN in DysFUNctional.  It looks like a great way to be introduced to some new bloggers, so I'm following along. 

Follow Me Back Tuesday is hosted by Survey Junkie, Little Yaya's, Review Retreat & Boobies,BabiesAndABlog.

If you'd like to meet some new bloggers, click the button and it will take you to the hostess' page and you can start finding new bloggers, too.

Weekend Wrap-Up

This was a whirlwind weekend. Princess B flew in Friday night to spend the weekend with us. Her flight changed route to avoid the storms. THAT was interesting to watch on the satellite view. Her plane was somewhere we didn’t expect it to be, and that can be a little disconcerting. We also knew about the weather issues and were assuming that’s what had happened. We were right. (At one point, though, the satellite tracked her flight as being near Nigeria.)

By the time her flight landed, the storm was right on top of us. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning. There were threats of 60 mph winds and ¼” hail. Not fun. So, while King J was trying to get home safely with Princess B, I was home with a panicky Princess E preparing for the worst. We have a closet that we use as a shelter, so I got it ready. In went Princess E, followed by Alexander the Cat. I had to capture him with a laundry hamper, but it worked. I waited close by, ready to jump in if I needed to. The rain was coming down in buckets and for about five minutes, I couldn’t see the driveway from the front of my house. I did not hear of any damage, but it was certainly an interesting night.

Saturday, we chose to not take Princess E to her soccer game. This has not been a very good season. Without going into great detail, she has not been happy with how the season has gone, and neither have we. While we normally would not allow her to back out of a commitment like this, we have attempted to reach a resolution without success. So, we are allowing her to choose whether or not to participate further. The last game is next weekend. She will be attending one last time, whether she plays or not.

That afternoon, the King and his Princesses assembled my garden swing. My parents gave it to me for Christmas last year, and we were waiting for the weather to stabilize. They did that while I ran to the grocery store. Once the groceries were put away, I went outside and took a nap in my new swing. Pure bliss.

We didn’t go to church yesterday. They had to leave for the airport just after 1:00, so it was just too much to try to get it all in. At Princess B’s request, we had a hearty “breakfast” of chicken salad rollups with a side of Texas Caviar.

How did Monday get here so fast?

Show Us Your Life - Favorite Books

It's been a while since I participated in the Show Us Your Life meme from Kelly's Korner.  I am an avid and voracious reader, and have been since I was a young child.  So, the hardest part about this was deciding which books are my favorites. 

Long before I ever learned to read, Corduroy was my favorite books.  My parents have told the story many times that they thought I had learned to read at three years old because I could follow along with this book so well.  Then, one time, they realized I was "reading" pages ahead of the story.  Turns out, I had memorized the book.  When Princess E was born, this book was in her library.  Oh, how I loved Corduroy.



When I was a little older, maybe 3rd grade or so, I discovered Paddington.  Paddington was a polite little bear who was sent from his home in Peru to England.  His adoptive family found him at the Paddington Station, so that was his new name.  He had a fondness for marmalade sandwiches and a penchant for creating mischief.  This reminds me, I need to suggest this book to Princess E.



I love a good mystery.  My taste in story lines has changed quite a bit, but I think I read most of the original Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries.  I remember watching The Hardy Boys on TV, too.





Now, the Baby-Sitters Club came after I was an adult.  However, they have recently become popular again.  Princess E is working her way through the series now. 



In high school, I enjoyed literature...when I was able to read it for pleasure.  Edgar Allan Poe was, and is, one of my favorites.  By the way, if you have never heard "The Raven" recited by James Earl Jones, you have missed an incredible experience.  I highly recommend it.



As an adult, I discovered Piers Anthony and the Magic of Xanth series.  He has a rather unique writing style that would not appeal to everyone, and it definitely is not appropriate for a younger reader.  These stories are a cross between science-fiction, fantasy and mythology. 




My favorite suspense writer is Mary Higgins Clark.  Her stories are filled with suspense and I struggle to put them down.  I also appreciate that these books are appropriate for anyone mature enough to handle suspense. 


Robin Cook, MD is another of my favorite author.  He presents thrillers based on what could happen if our medical technology were used in an unethical manner.  What if? 



Just last year, I was introduced to Nicholas Sparks.  So far, I have read The Wedding, The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe.  No, I have not seen any movie adaptations of his books.  I've spent a lot of time in the areas where these book are based, and his writing allows me to sit in the room or walk down the street with his characters.   



There are so many more incredible books and authors.  Jeanette Oke, Karen Kingsbury, Patricia Cornwell...my list goes on and on. 

Please visit Kelly's Korner and explore the other favorite book posts.

Miles for Myles

I’d like to introduce you to a little friend of ours.

This little fellow is Myles Gebhardt. His big brother, Brent, is a friend of Princess E. His parents and grandparents are in-real-life friends of ours.

Myles was born in March 2009 and was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis two weeks later. He’s a precious little guy! Thanks to an early diagnosis and excellent care, Myles is flourishing. He smiles a whole lot and is a super happy baby.

Myles’ parents, Stacy and Rob, have formed a team called “Miles for Myles” to help raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Here is a link to their Great Strides page. This organization invests in programs that support research, caregiving, and education for issues vital to fighting Cystic Fibrosis. (Please note that according to the Better Business Bureau report, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation meets the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.)

The Great Strides campaign is one of the primary ways the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation raises funds. Different communities set up walks, people build teams, and gather sponsors to make donations on behalf of the team. Stacy and Rob are participating in TWO Great Strides walks this weekend, May 15 and 16, 2010! Not only that, they have held other fundraisers, including one a couple of weeks ago through Chick-Fil-A. They have been working diligently to raise funds for this organization.

Their team has a goal to raise $15,000 between these two walks. Would you like to help? Every single dollar will help them reach their goal, and I know they appreciate any donations. If you can help, please click below and it will link directly to the donation page for their Great Strides team.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Also, would you please help spread the word about Miles for Myles?

Thank you!

Announcing...

Update:  Well, we discovered tonight that I had made an error and my travel blog wasn't viewable.  That is fixed now. 

I've been working on a little project. 

If you've been reading my blog very long, you already know that we travel a lot.  Well, with all that traveling comes some valuable experience with travel planning.  And, see, since we travel so much, we have to find ways to minimize our travel costs.  Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to travel quite so much.

So, I started thinking about how I could share what I've learned with you.  I decided I'd create a second blog, one dedicated to travel.  I moved quite a few of my existing travel posts over to the new blog, and am beginning to put up more posts. 

Let me officially invite you to check it out.

Traveling with King J's Queen

I would be grateful for any feedback from you about the new site.  Are there questions you have about planning a trip that I might be able to answer?  Please leave a comment or email me at kingjsqueen (at) verizon (dot) net.

Please consider following the new blog as well, and that way you can have posts from both sites in your reader.  I look forward to seeing you there as well as here.

Putting My "Best Foot" Forward....

Bwahahahahahahah.....I couldn't resist, given what happened last week.

I guess that's better than my being "holier than thou". 

Yeah, yeah, I'm really putting my heart and "sole" into it. 

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Seriously, my foot is healing nicely.  Yesterday, I even ventured out to the grocery store.  I hobbled and ached, but I made it through.  Thankfully, I didn't have to unload the groceries and carry them in the house.  My sweet hubby took care of that for me.  He didn't insist that I go to the store either.  I chose to go, just to get out of the house for a breather. 

I've been trying to keep up with reading blogs...in my reader.  Now, I think I'm sufficiently healed to get back to blogging normally.  I've missed visiting with my online friends. 

Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers!

Holey Moley

I messed up. 

Monday afternoon, I was given a new-to-me pair of aerator shoes.  My plan was to wear them whenever I was working out in the yard.  In case you aren’t familiar with aerator shoes, they work much like strap on roller skates.  The straps across the front and back of your regular shoe hold a platform to which large spikes are attached.  There are a dozen spikes on each shoe.  They are about 2 inches long and about the diameter of a roofing nail. 

When I put them on my shoes, I made sure they were strapped down snugly.  I didn’t want to fall down.  I took a step with my left foot, then my right, then another with my left foot.  When I picked up my right foot, the shoe remained in the dirt.  My foot slipped out the front of it, while the back remained attached.  It flipped upside down so that the nails were exposed.  Unfortunately, my balance was off.  In my effort to regain my balance, I stepped on the inverted nail bed.  Three of the spikes pierced my shoes, and two of them went into my foot.  One of the spikes was about an inch into my foot and the other about half that.

We left the shoe impaled on my foot until it was removed in the ER.  (With a puncture wound, the impaled object should not be removed in the field unless it is through the cheek and you can see both sides of the wound.)  This image was taken in the ER while waiting. 

I’ll leave out the gory details, but after the aerator shoe and my tennis shoe were removed, the wounds were cleaned and I got an updated tetanus shot.  They gave me IV antibiotics, and a little bit of narcotics to ease the pain.  I had a nice trip to LaLa Land.  Ha!

Anyway, I’ll be off my feet a few days.  King J took me to my doctor today for a follow-up.  Everything is healing as it should (yay!).  I can start walking on it tomorrow night, as long as I keep using my crutches to bear the weight.  Within a week, I should be good as new.  I have no driving restriction after tomorrow.  However, the antibiotics are very strong and I’m sleeping a lot.  So, it is unlikely I will choose to drive before I’m done with them, or at least get past the groggy state. 

So, I’m not doing a good job keeping up with blog reading.  I’ll catch up in the next week or so.  For now, I’ll sleep and let my foot heal. 

Soccer Game

Princess E is playing soccer again this season. It's fun to see just how much she has improved since last year.

Notice her hands. I think she's daring them "Bring it on"

Kick!

Science Fair

Last Thursday evening was the Homeschool Science Fair. Since it is our first year homeschooling, it is our first year to participate. Not only that, but Princess E has never participated in a Science Fair during her years in private school. So, this was really her first time creating a project and having to present it.

There were many hours of frustration for all of us. The project itself, measuring the conductivity of various substances, was not incredibly difficult. The painful part of the process was trying to help her understand the importance of doing her research and checking her spelling. The munchkin would much rather make up her own definitions and couldn’t care less about spelling words properly. In any case, her work was not perfect, but it was truly hers. Our involvement was limited to ensuring safety and I helped her format her printouts. (This is her first year of really learning about technology and we have chosen to focus on keyboarding rather than formatting. I’d rather she be able to type a letter before she starts using different fonts and designs.)

My favorite project was this one that tested the germ fighting capabilities of dog spit. It was most certainly original! Another I really liked was a test of ketchup packets from several fast food chains. The budding scientist provided samples! (In case you are wondering, yes, we did test to see if a French fry will conduct electricity. No, it won’t.)

Each child was recognized for his/her work. One of the pleasant surprises for me was that it appeared most of the work was done by the children. I remember growing up and participating in events like these and being frustrated because the “best” presentations were ones that were clearly the work of the parent. With this group, that didn’t seem to be the case.

She was recognized for the project with the “Best Wow Factor”. Kids and parents alike seemed to enjoy checking out her demonstration.

She is already brainstorming ideas for next year. I’d consider that a success!

Is Our Garden Thief Back?

It's about time to put in our garden. I have a few seedlings growing in pots in my kitchen and they need to go out into the beds. We've had a bit of a cool snap recently with a couple of nights in the upper 30's, so I've waited.

Anyway, this little fellow visited the other day.

I wonder if he's related to our Garden Thief from last year? I guess I better watch my tomatoes.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for this little girl, who isn't so little anymore. She's growing up way too fast.

Tonight is her first Science Fair. We're looking forward to it.

Nature Walk

For the last couple of weeks, Princess E and I have had the opportunity to go for walks at one our our nearby parks. Most days, we've been able to join our neighbors and walk together. It's been incredible watching the changes in the park as the season advances. Here are a few shots from a recent walk.

HotPrints

Several weeks back, a family member mentioned HotPrints to me.  They are a printing company that offers  photobooks (a HotBook) and photo calendars (a HotCalendar).  The neat thing about them is that they offer one HotBook per month free.  I like to make photobooks, and they can be rather expensive, so it certainly interested me.  I looked at the website and decided to do nothing.  It made no sense to me that they would offer one free each month.  Granted, they are clear that each book contains easily removable pages of advertising that do not affect the appearance of the book, but still, it just didn't make sense to me.

I've heard several reviews of the company.  Most were positive, a few were negative.  I just wasn't sure what to think of it.

This week, I finally decided to try it out.  I created my account, designed a book and uploaded my photos.  I arranged them as I wished, changing the default layouts to suit my style.  My free book was 12 pages of photos, 16 pages including covers.  I really didn't put in a tremendous effort, as I wasn't expecting much.  After I submitted my order for printing, I noticed their website said delivery should take 5-30 days from the date of order.  The company is based in the United Kingdom, so there is extra delivery time to the US. 

Much to my surprise, my first HotBook was delivered about 36 hours after I submitted my order!  Apparently, they have a printing facility here in the US.  It came with a cardboard backer for support and was protected by a plastic sleeve.   I couldn't wait to check it out.  The center four leaves were the expected advertising.  I glanced at them, then removed them.  The HotBook is made of heavy paper, similar to a magazine.  It's about the same weight paper as a magazine cover.  The pages are slightly glossy, without being too shiny.  The photo printing quality was what I would expect from a professional printer.  The typeface was clear.  In all, I am completely satisfied with my HotBook.  The only downside is the mailing address label is printed on the back of the HotBook.  I could have paid for the premium service and it would have had a separate label.

I can't wait to order my next one in May!  Too bad I waited as long as I did.  I could have had three others by now.  (According to their website, you can order more books at a cost of $3.99 each plus $2.99 s&h.  Not bad.)

Are you interested in making your own HotBook?  Click this link and get started. 

Disclaimer - This is not a sponsored post.  I was not asked to do a review.  It is 100% my opinion, based on my personal experience. 

Dance Recital

This past Friday was Princess E’s dance recital. She danced beautifully!

Woody?

The other day, King J was outside working.  This little fellow was hammering away at the top of a tree.  He kept up the pecking for several hours, flying off occasionally to places unknown, but probably feeding his babies.

Sorry the pictures are rather grainy. He was a little bird, smaller than a robin, and he was way up in the tree.

Promise of Spring

Spring flowers are so beautiful. No more words needed.

Man V. Food

I saw a Tweet this afternoon that said Adam Richman was taping an episode of Man V. Food at a restaurant in a city not too far away.  Being a total dork, I jumped in the car with Princess E, drove to hubby's work, picked him up, and we sped off to the taping location.  Yes, I'm kooky enough to do that. 

When we arrived, they had closed the restaurant.  It was full.  But, they were allowing folks to sit outside at the few remaining tables.  They were full, too, but one group of friends scooted over and allowed our family to have a table.  That was really nice of them.

We kept hearing that he was inside taping the kitchen portion, and we saw some of the camera crew while we were waiting.  Food service was understandably slow.  Our dinner arrived and we ate our sandwiches.  While we were sitting there, the cheers started.  Oh my goodness!  There he was, walking by us.  He looks just like he does on TV and he waved to the crowd.  Princess E was beside herself.  He is one of the two television celebrities who fascinate her.  (The other is Mike Rowe.)

Oh, how I wish I could've gotten a few photos.  I did take my camera.  But, we were told not to take any photos, so I didn't.  (I just can't teach our daughter that breaking the rules is okay for me but not her.)  I did send out a couple of tweets, though. 

So, do you want to know whether or not he won the challenge?  Yeah, me too.  We left before the challenge ended.  Princess E wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret, so we didn't want her to see the end and have to stay quiet about it.  I wouldn't have wanted to keep it quiet either, although I certainly would have.  So, we'll all get to find out at the same time.  If I understand correctly, the episode will air on July 4. 

My only regret is that we didn't wait around to see if he was going to do a meet-and-greet.  I think Princess E would have melted if Adam Richman spoke directly to her, shook her hand, or signed an autograph.  (I wouldn't say she's star-struck or anything, but she did want to go to Eagle's Deli when we were in Boston and Lexington BBQ while we were in Lexington...just because Adam Richman had been there.)