A Eulogy for Mr. French

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. One of our cats, Frenchie, was run over. My husband found him at lunchtime. It was a quick death, but we all still miss him. He was quite a character.

So here's my Goodbye Eulogy for Mr. French. :) We love you, fur face.


~Frenchie sleeping on the front porch - May 2005~

Frenchie was born in 2004 to Evy (otherwise known as Evil).....father unknown, but most likely one of my husband's brain damaged twin cats, Brown and White Face. All 3 cats were adopted out to other people before we moved in 2005. Frenchie had five siblings, most notably Lewis and Clark (matching white and gray kitties), and stripey. All except Lewis were given away.

Lewis preceded Frenchie in death in 2005.

Frenchie started out life with another name. None of us can remember it. But, we do remember why his name was changed to Frenchie, or Mr. French. Frenchie was a licker. Anyone petting him was guaranteed to be licked somewhere. He was a lover, not a fighter. We used to speak for him when house guests would go "Ewwwww....he licked me on the mouth.'' We would affect a bad French accent and say "I am Mr. French. Frenching is what I do!'' lol.

Forever, one of us had to be saying to him "No licking! I do not want to be licked Frenchie! Keep your tongue to yourself!''

Shortly after moving to our present house, Frenchie was neutered. I'm sure that was an important turning point in his life. LOL.

His interests were: sunning on the driveway, sleeping in boxes, jumping up on tables and counters, scavenging for food dropped by the baby, fighting with Grover (our fluffy black cat), socking the dog, meowing incessantly outside the window to be let in the house, sleeping in my car if the window was left open, and eating.

Frenchie leaves behind five adopted siblings: Kato, Fooful, Elmo and Grover, and Buddy Dog. Fooful moved to NC with me, and my teenage son in 2003. Grover was adopted from an abusive home in a midnight sting operation in August 2005. Kato was adopted in May 2006 from a neighbor whose cat had a litter of kittens. Buddy Dog was adopted fin October 2006 from a family whose dog had a litter of puppies. My husband had come to their home to fix their DSL and phones. Elmo came to live with us in late 2006. He showed up on the back porch one day, just a skinny bag of bones with black fur. He was assimilated in due course, and is now a happy, healthy member of the family.

I'm sure Frenchie is in Kitty Heaven today, chasing birds, jumping on God's kitchen counter, and eating the best manna kitty food. And I'm sure God is saying "No licking Frenchie! I don't want to be licked!''

All we can say is ....... "I am French! It is what I do!''

We love you Frenchie!

Fooful:


Grover:


Kato:


Buddy Dog:


Elmo:

Coming Out of the Closet.....

I had to laugh when I saw this video about knitters and crocheters......



And, I will admit.....I crocheted for 16 years before I even learned to knit. And, now I do both! :)

:)

Spring Sprung! :)

I went outside and dug into my first yardwork project of the spring this afternoon. :) I raked the leaves and crud out of one of my flowerbeds in the front yard, cut out several little trees that were trying to grow (darn squirrels can't remember where they bury those acorns!), and pulled out some dead weeds. Tomorrow I will get the last of the ickys out of that bed and mulch it with cedar mulch. One bed down.....several to go.

It felt great!!! There was such a nice spring breeze, and the sun felt wonderful!!!

Some of my flowers are blooming already! :)



I have two forsythia bushes, but this is my favorite one. :)

A closeup.....



I'm not really an informed gardener so I have some plants that I can't identify.....but the flowers are still pretty. :)



Anyone know what this one is??? It blooms in varying colors from a light green to a pale yellow.

Or how about this groundcover?? It looks like ivy for most of the year, but has pretty purple flowers in the spring....



And of course, I have the usual wild violets...



I guess technically they are sorta weeds....but I think they're pretty. :) You can also see the red Southern dirt. :) When I first moved here from the Midwest, I thought it was really cool. Dirt in Kansas is Black, black or black. Here it's red, red, red! I have to say I stopped thinking it was so cool when I started having to try to get it out of a toddler's clothes, off the rug, etc. Oh my, does it ever stain everything!!!! But it does remind me of Tara..... "And, I swear as God is my witness, I will nevah be hungry again!'' :)

The cats are also enjoying the Spring weather...Elmo thinks he is a lion and has been busy climbing trees. He thinks he can catch birds, but really the birds just laugh at him. They let him get close and then fly away squawking at him.



Fooful is not generally impressed with much. However, laying around in the sun all day makes him sleepy so at night he finds something to nap in. This photo reminds me of Garfield sleeping in his bed.... He's such a BIG tomcat....how he ever squeezed himself into this little box is beyond me. Fatttt catttt in a little box.....Fattttt catttt in a little box. :)



And....the coming of Spring means the kids are happier! My teenager is busy with his friends, and Joshua is frolicing outside every day now.

Daddy got Josh a BIG present...... Lookie!!



It's all assembled now. Talk about a kid in heaven!! Daddy and Josh bounced on the trampoline together tonight while I cleaned out the flower bed. They had a blast!! :)

I envy Joshua sometimes. He's still young enough to play all day and just enjoy life. And.....he's the only one in the family who can go outside without any pants on and not get strange looks from the neighbors.....



Ahhhhh, freedom!!! :)

On the knitting/crafting side of things ---

A big thank you to Lene for the Great Bookmark Exchange package she sent me a few days ago. I am just now posting photos.....had to replace the memory card in my camera before I could post photos. I kept going to Walmart and forgetting to buy one!!! Finally remembered!!



And, just an aside......does anyone watch "How Clean is Your House?'' I just love that show!! Our Tivo recorded it the other day and the description sounded intriguing so I watched it. I'm hooked. These 2 British women travel around cleaning people's homes who are totally lacking in cleaning skills......oh my, some of the houses they have scrubbed make me feel totally great about my house!!! They give out some great easy cleaning tips too. :)

TTFN!

Finally over my cold!!!!

Yes! I finally feel human again! I'll make a regular blog entry tomorrow. :)

To anyone else going through the coughing, hacking, viral creepy crud......I totally sympathize with you. I was coughing for 2 weeks and just felt crummy. :)

I've declared this evening a knitting and crochet night! So I will be sure to make a nice entry with photos tomorrow.

Hugs! TTFN

The Lesser of Two Evils.....

Cell phones bug me. I've nearly been in car accidents several times because someone was absentmindedly driving while chatting on the phone. I've been embarrassed several times because I thought people were talking to me, when actually they were on the phone and using one of those sneaky little ear pieces. (we've all had that happen haven't we??). I've been on important calls to my husband only to have his end of the conversation suddenly drop. And....I've been in intimate situations with my husband, only to have his cell phone start playing rinky-tink music. Total mood ruiner.

Cell phones are annoying. And I have managed to avoid getting one for a long time.

But, alas, I have been assimiliated. Resistance was futile.

There are worse things than having a phone everywhere I go. If I have an accident, I can call for help. If one of the kids gets hurt, someone can find me no matter where I am. And if I feel a strong need to play Tetris.....now I can play it anywhere, anytime.

So, I guess the phone is the lesser of two evils. Being totally out of touch in an emergency is worse than toting a phone wherever I go.

Here is the annoying little bit of plastic.......



It looks unassuming doesn't it. But, don't let looks fool you. Now, no matter where I go to escape, whining teenagers can find me. lol. :) There is a bright side.....I can always let them whine to my voice mail and call them back later. Plus, it plays the Pink Panther theme......it can't really be evil if it plays the Pink Panther theme, can it??

And it only took me 2 hours last night fiddling with it to figure out how it works. When in doubt, throw the instruction manual back into the box and just start pushing buttons. :) I had the functions down in 5 minutes when I stopped trying to use the book to figure it out. :)

Now, to catch up on some swap blogging........

Thank you to Kris for the amazing FCS2 package!! She sent me scads of scrapbooking supplies, and two skeins of my favorite yarn (Wildfoote sock yarn in Rhapsody). :)



And a big thank you to Karla for my "Have a Heart'' Stitchmarker swap. :)



Packed inside a heart box, she sent me a cute dishcloth, some beautiful blue heart stitch markers, Valentine's stickers, a rose scented candle, a hello kitty valentine, Valentine's stickers, and some fruit candy and M&Ms, which Joshua thanks you very much for! He saw the M&M logo, and that candy didn't have a chance to escape! :)

And thank you to Jill for my Feb colorswap box. Due to a camera malfunction (dead memory chip), I don't have a photo. But she sent me a book called "Two Sweaters for My Father'' by Perri Klass, a skein of yarn made from corn, a big Hershey's kiss and a mix to make Tiramisu. Plus she sent some really cute magnets with pictures of chocolate on them. The men-folk in the household thank you heartily for the real chocolate! I let the boys divy up the big kiss, and gave the bag of smaller kisses inside to the hubby. :)

That's all for now......gotta drive my son to school and get started on the day. It's Errand Day today!!! Maybe I will get my first call on the evil black phone today. :) lol.