A Day in the Life of a Cat

I've always thought that if by chance, “reincarnation” exists, I want to return as a cat – not just any 'ol cat – my owner must LOVE cats! Imagine…..eating, sleeping, being held and loved, come when you want to, stay when you don’t. WOW –

My cat Manning is the most precious, amazing cat I have ever known. "Peyton Manning Warner"...aka, Mr. Mann, Manny Man, Manny - named after the best quarter back ever! hee-hee - (Alan would not agree....he is waiting to get a Lab puppy and name him Marino...Alan's favorite quarter back...now retired)

Now, being a cat, he has his moments (don’t we all) Usually when I arise every morning to get ready for work, he knows I will be gone and no one will be around for his beckon call. - He can't give his sweet "mew" and roll over on his back and have me ohhhh and ahhhh over him. No one to follow him around all day and make sure his favorite window is open so he can "bathe in the sunlight". No one will be there to make sure his "snack bowl" is filled in case he has an emergency urge to eat. No one to sing to him either....WOW - do I love this cat or what? I think I miss my kids more than I realized! :)

So.....Manning decides to bite my ankles every morning on my walk to the bathroom. Most of the time I scoop him up before he does this but sometimes I am too sleepy. If he doesn't do this immediately, he will await for me to come out of the shower and sweetly stretch and roll on the floor, right in front of the bathroom door - "You know you can't resist me Mom"...he is thinking. And, of course, I have to pet him....then he puts his paws around my arm and pulls me in for a nibble. Every morning.........I need to break this habit - It's weird, he doesn't do this on the weekends....or even to Alan.

Even though he turns into the Evil Kitty......he is still such a big part of my heart! He's not a "lap cat" but he loves to be loved on, loves people, and loves me and Alan - Trey knew how much I wanted a cat 2 years ago and a friend of his cat, just had a litter. He thought Manning was the sweetest and cutest, sent us pics of him and the others and it was love at first site for us! So, thank you Trey and thank you Lord for sending Manning to live with us and have him as a part of our family!

Atlanta Traffic - Aaargh!

One of my daily struggles of living in Atlanta is crazed drivers and traffic that awaits me to torment my very being and turn me into someone I don't recognize.

Every morning, I get into my awesome Black Camry Hybrid (which we call, Blackie - Alan has a truck we named Whitie, we got the truck first...seemed appropriate to name the car Blackie)......anyway....as I pull out of my driveway, I say out loud (this is every morning!!!!) "Lord, please watch over me on my drive to work and all the crazy drivers around me - may they stay as far away from me as possible ..... and that I arrive to work safely and unharmed" - well.....the words vary daily but you get the picture!

Now, Alan disagrees with me that I am a good driver. Let's see, he has had numerous speeding tickets and 1 "fender bender" that was his fault (it made his air bags deploy too!) - me? I have a perfectly clean driving record. No blemish or anything - that's more than I can say about my personal life (ie, married 3 times....another time for those stories) or my real "face"...I do a few blemishes there too - lol

But honestly, I'm a good driver. I use my blinker, I don't tailgate, I allow people over (when they use their blinker) - my Mama always told me to be a "defensive" driver. This is what I taught Trey and Kassie as well. I do, however, tend to speed.....but you have to speed in Atlanta or you will literally be blow off the road!

I am aware of my surroundings too - which I believe helps - I have a huge fear that I am going to get side swiped, my car flips, and I'm seriously injured (or tragically killed) - I know that sounds horrible but it's true.


So, if you are driving in the Atlanta area, please be safe and aware - and pray for your safety and the safety of others....that everyone arrives at their destination in one piece.

Life "without" smoking....

I couldn't tell you the last time I had a cold….that is until I quit smoking! It seems like I have had a constant runny nose, watery eyes and general ickiness – I wonder why that is?? I thought when you stopped smoking everything begun to smell better and you can taste things better…..well, it has been over 30 days and all I can say is “give me a cigarette” – Not really but jeez! I’m eating more, I have little energy – Although I don’t THINK about smoking like I used to, I still miss it.

But I know deep down, I am doing the right thing for my body. Plus I don’t want my grandchildren to associate me with smoking – YUCK! Yes, I have gained weight, and have kept these cold like symptoms but if that is all that happens, it has to be worth it! I am saving money, my clothes or hair do not reek of smoke and I don’t feel like an outsider in today’s world.

Soon I will start working out and eating healthier – it’s a gradual thing for me – I’m afraid if I made such a traumatic change and then another, and another….I will go back to my old habits. It has been my track record when I have quit this nasty habit before. So one “good thing” at a time is what I say :)

So as I walk by “the smokers” on my way in to work….I wave to my old friends and smile – they say they miss me but are proud of me too. I too am proud of me!

Animals ARE a big part of the family!

8:20 this morning while working at my desk, my daughter calls me - It's weird I usually don't have my cell phone on my desk but every time I do, someone calls. (strange) - she had a frantic voice and of course my heart sank...knowing something was wrong. It seems her cat Grey was stuck up in a tree screaming his head off this morning. Apparently something had happened to him during the night. He is an inside, outside cat and he does have claws to protect himself (unlike our Manning which we have to watch like a hawk when he is outside) Even though Kassie really doesn't like him to go out....they do live in a pretty quite neighborhood with little traffic and lots of woods. Anyway, Randy had to climb up the tree pretty far to get Grey down. He calmed down a little when he saw his Dad. Randy noticed his legs (Grey's) not working too well so he had to toss Grey to Kassie at the bottom of the tree...which Kassie didn't reach him and he fell to the ground - this or course made matters worse for everyone and they were all understandably upset.

Kassie told me he couldn't move his back legs and was crawling across the floor when they got him inside. Poor thing was scared to death - and parents too! She asked me if he was going to die - my immediate reaction was "HECK NO!....not if I can help it" - (our family loves cats....me especially!!) then I realized this was something I have no control over so I started praying that God would surround this little family and give them all strength to get to the vet. I just told her to be strong and calm for Grey, he can sense if she is upset and get him to the vet ASAP.

They did reach the vet and there was no reaction to Grey when he pinched on his hind legs....so they got him into X-ray - when the vet came back in, he said it was a small fracture on his spine and he has about a 20% chance to pull through. Immediately Kassie said she would take the 20% chance and put this in God's hands.

Grey will be at the vet on oxygen and steroids until Saturday - hopefully he will show signs of improvement and they can bring him home. They were able to see him before they left and he had calmed down quite a bit with the oxygen and wasn't shaking. Of course he looks at them with his georgous eyes...."take me home...I'm scared" look but the nurse was loving on him too which made them feel at least a little less guilty about leaving him.

Animals are such a big part of our lives - and they are a huge part of any true cat loving family! Grey is awesome. When he was a kitten he was HUGE then....his body is very long and his head is big. I mean, proportion to his large body but he is a BIG cat. Very loving, sweet and playful too!

I pray Kassie and Randy will take this situation and grow with it - rather it be good or bad news. That they learn to put this in God's hands and not take it back - that is the unfortunate hard part that everyone deals with.....taking it back and handling it yourself. (I struggle with that a lot!)

Some of life's lessons are great and some not so much! I'm praying for the Rivers' family that Grey will come home soon!
UPDATE: Kassie called me this afternoon to let me know that Grey had passed away. (He is coming home just not to their home...he is in Kitty Heaven!) He was having problems breathing and then he took his last breathe. (God Bless that precious Kitty) - Randy is bringing him home so he can burried in their backyard. This is the first experience either of them have had with losing an animal that they can remember. They are both taking it hard but will be okay - Their dogs Saydi and Dexter are already missing him - They are all so young.....including Grey!

Giving this a try...

Here it goes....my first blog entry.........

I have heard of "blogging" before but I didn't really understand the concept. My son, Trey, told me that my daughter-in-law, Lauren, started blogging about how she is saving money with coupons (which is a good thing) and also things happening in her life - I've been reading her blog on and off and found it very interesting. It's sort of a window into her life and it makes me feel closer to her and my son. They live about 2 1/2 hours away from us and reading "snip-its" of happenings in their day-to-day life keeps them closer.

With all that said, I am a Mom, happily married to my husband Alan for almost 8 years. (more on our story later) I have 2 wonderful "adult kids", my son Trey, married to Lauren and my daughter Kassie, married to Randy -

In a nut shell, I am over 40, married, have the Lord in my life, live in a wonderful home, I work to bring home $$ and I have great friends and family! Of course my life is exciting, complicated, sad, happy and boring at times....but I love every day I can walk this Earth, challenge the day and meet interesting people!!!

I've decided to use this blog for me - if no one reads it, that's okay. I love to write, I have several journals since I was in my 20's so this looks like a good place to start.
Until next time.