Catherine's Wishes and Wants List 2009

Catherine’s Wishes and Wants List 2009
Note: High Priority Items listed first in each category.

Acts of Kindness:
Clean my car (Shane has claimed this one)
Help me repot my fichus in the new pot I asked for (see below)
Install two door knobs I bought 5 years ago.
Help me clean my garage (yes again)

Items Needed:
Charger for my Verizon LG enV3 cell phone
Black and Decker retractable tape measure

21" Terra Cotta pot for my Fichus (see pic below)
Garbage Can (wheels and a locking lid)
Door Mats (3) so I can wipe my feet
Set of Queen Size Sheets (cream, light pink, or white)
Towels for my pink bathroom (brown, sage green, white)

A Year’s Supply of any of the following:
Toilet Paper (Quilted Northern or Charmin)

Air Filters for my A/C unit (the kind that filters out allergens)
Quaker Oats Breakfast Cookies (only get oatmeal/raisin.please)
Folgers Classic Roast Coffee (vacuum sealed bricks) OR
Folgers Half Caf (18 of whatever it comes in)
Laundry Detergent (Tide with or w/o Bleach or Gain)
Paper Towels (Brawny or Viva)
Light Bulbs (the spirally kind)

Gift Cards at the following:
H.E.B. to purchase items mentioned above.
Starbucks (available at HEB and Starbucks)

A Gift Certificate at:
Bay Window in Rockport (I want a wallet)
Golden Needles Quilt Shop in Rockport (I want everything)
Bath and Body Works (home fragrances)

Charitable Contributions:

Rockport Young Life: P.O. Box 1603, Fulton, Texas 78358

The June Project: Horizon Vet Clinic, P.O. Box 190, Fulton, Texas 78358

The Birthday Fichus

Heeeeeere's Johnny!

Who lets their elementary age child stay up past 10:30 p.m. on a school night to watch the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson? Carlene did and man do I have some funny memories because of it. So what I always fell asleep in school.

In my last post I paid homage to Johnny and his character Carnac (some spell it Karnak) the Magnificent by using the phrase hermetically sealed. Here's how the skit worked: Johnny Carson came out as Carnac wearing a bigger than life turban and black cape. He always tripped on the step leading to the Tonight Show desk. Once settled at the desk he used his mystic powers to "predict" answers to questions sealed inside envelopes.


The dialogue always started with Ed McMahon validating Carnac's power by saying: "these envelopes have been hermetically sealed and kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's porch since NOON today".

Carnac would hold an envelope to his forehead and say: "sis, boom, baa".
Ed would repeat: "sis, boom, baa".
Carnac would tear off the end of the envelope, blow in it, take out the card and read the question: "Describe the sound a sheep makes when it explodes?"

And as always, when Ed stated he had in his hand the last envelope the audience would break out in applause, and then Carnac would put a ridiculous curse on them, such as: "may a bloated yak change the temperature of your jacuzzi". So ridiculous and so funny.

Do yourself a favor; go to YouTube and look for some Carnac. He's there, and you will laugh (if your older than 40).

Hi-oooooooooo!

Wedding Bells

My brother Bill has a daughter named Leslie (pictured above). She's getting married next month. It is hard for me to believe, because in my head she is the age you see in the picture. How can this be, she's just a baby girl. Well, this picture was taken in the 70's and she is not a baby girl. She's a graduate from UT who majored in Finance (uhhh, excuse me, I mean Marketing) and now works for Nike in Amsterdam.

I was recruited to make the veil. It was a piece of cake, but I have to work on it while in a cat free zone because Leslie is allergic to cats. I work on it during quilting meetings at the First Baptist church fellowship hall. When in my house the veil is in a hermetically sealed bag.

One of the things I still have to do is go on-line to the couple's wedding website and list 5 songs that would "guarantee" to get me on the dance floor. So far I only have two:

1. Can't Touch This by MC Hammer
2. Hey Yea! by Outcast

I'm also thinking about some Waylon Jennings: She's a Good Hearted Woman or Mama's Don't Let Your Baby's Grow Up to be Cowboys. I haven't committed to my final list yet, so suggestions are being accepted. What songs would "guarantee" to get you on the dance floor?

Motherhood

Luna could not be a better mother. She is attentive, protective, and so very loving.

Luna's litter consists of one girl, with a black face and white tummy, and one (very demanding) boy with a black and white face.

My good friend Lucas is adopting the boy and since the kitten is black AND white he is naming him Jackson, or MJ, after you know who. I have decided to call the girl LaToya.

Latoya

Jackson (MJ)

Luna Love

Luna's Kittens

At the time of this post, Luna has had two kittens, both are black and whites. She was EXCELLANT, but she had a great midwife in Anne Gambill. I just sat in the back seat with Cookie and watched the show. Eeewwwww!

Meet Luna

While leaving Whataburger late one night I looked across the street and saw this kitten laying around in the DQ parking lot. I decided (irrationally) to go over and introduce myself. I offered her some grilled chicken and she ate it right up. She was vocal and seemed to appreciate the meal and the company....but didn't want to be touched!

I was told she had been at DQ for 3 weeks panhandling for food. She was skinny.

The compassion of Christ compelled me (yes I said it) to return the next night at the same time with cat food. I shook the bag and she came running. I decide to rescue her and made arrangements with a friend to take her in. Luna was going to have a new home.....and it wasn't mine.


Until I got her home and realized she was pregnant. How can this be....she's sooooo young. So now we sit and wait. When she sleeps I can see her belly teaming with life. Kittens are wiggling around in there.

She is a sweet, baby girl.

Confessions of an Occasional Art Student

When I was called to come to Rockport for a job interview, I asked my mom what Rockport was like. She described it as an "artist colony" on the coast. She was right. Rockport offers many local artist, galleries, exhibits, and art classes. I have taken classes down town at Estelle Stair Gallery and learned to appreciate things like: line, color, and composition. I see the elements of design everywhere now.

That being said, I was recently at Anne's mother's house and I notice a picture on the wall. I liked it a lot, so I asked where they got it, and Anne said, "Wal-Mart."

Really? So I took that moment to confess to Anne (and confess to you here today) that I like hotel art. Happily, she replied, "Me too!"

This is a picture that hung above the toilet in a hotel I stayed in while on vacation in New York. I took the picture because I didn't want to forget how pretty it was. I don't know why I like it, because it wasn't until I was flushing the toilet that I took notice. Aaahhhh the irony, and poses the question:

Should "art" be in the bathroom and if it is, is it art?"

Brotherboy Update

After 13 days in the hospital undergoing physical therapy, Brotherboy came home. They told me he could walk and use a litter box (those were the goals) but he had problems walking on tile floors. Hummmm, my whole house is tiled; this will be interesting.

At home he looked like we all did the day we learned to use roller skates. Sometimes his front or back leg (on the gunshot side) would slowly slide out from under him. Regardless, he has improved/adapted everyday. He can jump up on the couch and bed (that took him about two days to figure out). He got a release from his doctor to go outside again and he frequently visits the scene of the crime (probably trying to get closure). He looks like a normal cat most of the time, especially outside where he can get some traction. But while inside, he sometimes shows signs of clumsy goofiness.

What I haven't told you about this story is that two days after I found my cat in the ditch, another cat in my neighborhood was shot. Because of all this cruelty, people in the community have put up a $300.00 reward for any information leading to the arrest (and dismemberment) of the assailants.

CSI - Rockport

The other day I was leaving the house and saw my cat Brotherboy laying in the culvert of the ditch behind my house. No big deal; that is his hangout.

His back was to me, so I rolled down the window to talk to him. He just laid there and then looked back over his shoulder and started talking.

Crap! Cat's don't do that....just lay there I mean...in a ditch.

So I got out and crawled down into the pit to find my BroBro couldn't move his legs on one side.

He was filthy and smelled like a ditch. He told me all about it.

I called the vet and she was heading back to Rockport from her holiday. Six hours later we met at the clinic and she determined Brotherboy had been shot in the neck with a pellet gun.

Now he is being pumped full of steroids and we are hoping when the swelling goes down and he heals that he will one day walk again.


I took this picture last week, at the time, I did not know it would become a crime scene. If you look close....you can see Brotherboy in the pipe.

I just have one question: Who shot my cat?

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am.