Mouse in the House

Sometimes I look into Mosby's eyes and wonder if he ever gets bored with the routines of daily cat life. Sitting in the windowsill for hours at a time, waiting for mealtimes to come round, napping, grooming, napping again, stretching....did I say napping?

I try to make an effort to engage him in some kitty playtime for a few minutes each day. Most of the time, he quite enjoys pouncing on a mousie, chasing down a ball or attacking things on strings...but sometimes he is not interested in the toys I have to offer and I have to work harder to impress him. Cats.

I was feeling the need for some new ideas to capture his attention and happened upon an easy tutorial for a kitty 'peekaboo' box (I can't remember where I saw it...probs on the Facebook. I hope they don't mind the share). I had an empty box to spare....so I made one. And he LOVED it:

A box:

12 squares cut & spaced evenly on top:

A big rectangle cut out on the side:

Some 'bait'. I used one of his favorite mousie guys taped to an old 'string thing' stick:

Oh boy. The excitement was mounting.

He locked eyes with his prey:

Went after it:

Really went after it:

Dude...where did that mousie go?

Ahhh, there he is:

I'm going in:

Big cat in a little box:

Best zero dollars I ever spent. We will be playing with this for many days.

Deep Thoughts: My 38th Year

Yesterday was my birthday. The big 3-8. In the spirit of all things celebratory, I feel like today would be a good day to do some inner reflection on what I hope to experience/accomplish in this next year of life...and so why not share it with you.

Also, I like lists...so:

1. I want to practice feeling and expressing true joy in my work. Now don't get me wrong, I love my job very much. With that said, it is a very emotionally and physically challenging task to mold young lives and coach parents through the trials that come. And they come.....every hour of every day that the kids are in my care. Sometimes I don't know how I can keep it all straight in my head. One child who persistently seeks my attention thru negative behavior, another who needs me to hold them because they are new but also wants to be put down only to cry to be picked up again (copy and repeat), a third who just wants to play with me but I have to finish with some documentation first so I try to do both, special dietary needs, individual plans for toilet training (Do you need to go potty? No. Ok. Are you sure? Yes. Well, it looks like your pee just came out on the floor...so), daily individual notes to help include parents in the Toddler Room experience while they are away at work or school, working in collaboration with other teachers as a team, working in collaboration with parents as a team, conferences, emails....the list goes on.

At times, defeat and doubt of my abilities to teach win out over truth that I am doing my best. This is where the bad attitude monster can creep in and steal the joy. I am committing myself to choose truth in my training, experience and abilities to shine brighter than my doubts. That I will choose to breathe and keep calm thru a challenging behavior with a child because I know they aren't doing it to make me mad (at least I'm pretty sure this is the case...Haha). That I will wake up each morning prepared for all that the day brings, good and bad...and that I will do it with a smile. Because I am choosing joy. 

2. I want to learn how to enjoy the outdoors a little more. Nature and I have never really bonded in a meaningful way so I want to practice experiencing it more....in small doses of course. One way I plan to accomplish this is to tend to my new backyard garden (see the past few weeks of blog posts for the amazing transformation). As I water plants and pull weeds, I hope to grow an appreciation for the world that the Lord has created and see the beauty in dirt, bugs and green leafy things.

3. I will continue to love my kitty and not feel bad if I post one too many Instagram photos in a day or choose to stay home on a Friday night (after a long work week) just because I missed him. I don't think, necessarily, that the world is actively judging me in this matter. But sometimes I have feelings of 'people are probably sick of seeing my Mosie Boo on the internets' or 'maybe I shouldn't love him so much' cause I'm a single lady who is growing older and....you know what that could turn into. No matter, I choose to enjoy him and care for him as he needs (because he is just SO CUTE...for real. CUTE.)

Additionally, I will continue to delight in and buy cat themed items for myself:

4. I hope to get back into more creative projects with my sewing machine and other craft type media....it's been awhile since I have had the energy, time and passion to make stuff. But I am feeling ready to get those creative juices flowing once again. It seemed fitting to add this to a list of life goals as long as I'm making a list.

5. I commit to fighting hard for my relationship with the Lord. I have had many internal struggles on my spiritual life journey thus far. You could also read this as sneaky Satan attacks...he is a tricksy little bugger and knows just how to poke at my weaknesses.  Struggles that have caused me to wonder if I am good enough to be called His child, or if he even cares at all about the things that I am battling with, or that he truly WANTS my best and is actively working to give me just what I need- when I need it. So, I am choosing to fight back. I am setting aside 30 minutes each day to read scripture, to meditate on what I have learned and to pray- pray for those I love, my community, my kiddos and for myself. It may not seem like much...30 minutes. But I am very good at wasting the hours of the day away with silly things and want to be more intentional and focused this next year with my free time...learning again how to study the Word and for truth to be spoken into my heart. To trust Him with my life. And to fight!

6. I wanna go somewhere I have never been....like, on an airplane. Maybe not this year- but someday. I actually am not a huge fan of travel whether it be for fun or otherwise. I am happiest when I am close to home. But I want to stretch my introverted self to take chances by thinking that I am capable of seeing the world. Today, I took great strides in moving forward in this goal...I applied for my very first passport! Something I have been telling myself to do for the past 3 years. It was kind of exciting when I had to write/sign/date a little statement as to why I didn't have a middle name on my Birth Certicficate but did on my Driver's License (long story short...I picked it in 1st grade to match my Nana Jane with whom I shared a birthday and loved very much) and then raised my hand to take an oath to verify the accurateness of my application. Check it off the list of life to-do's. And my passport pic was not too shabby if I do say so myself: 

7. I want to daily take note of the blessings I have been given and to be actively thankful in word and deed. And content with where I am in my life right now. Because it is pretty much wonderful when I really stop and think. I have been given much more than I need or even deserve in this life already. To not dwell on thoughts of 'If I just had _________, life would be perfection.' To live today for today and not be anxious about tomorrow.

So there it is. 7 things on this 7th day of June that I will be working on in my 38th year. 

Kidz.

....and my Mosie turned 2 last week. They grow up so fast (kidz and kittiez)...love them all.

The Great Outdoors: The Final Frontier (almost)

So much got done this weekend in my little slice of the urban outdoors! Just a few more plants to add here and there, grass seed to be sprinkled and some mulch to finish it off in the next few weeks. I am in awe of the cuteness that is now my little backyard:

I have a few more plans to finish things off as summer rolls on- stepping stones in between the raspberry beds, a hammock chair swinging between the maple trees, a new coat of colorful spray paint on my patio furniture, some giant letters (that spell PEACE) in the back of the flower bed leaning against the fence, and maybe a few twinkly lights strung from the house.

I am also beginning to learn a bit about the life of a gardener...don't water in the middle of the day (morning or evening is best), it's pretty easy to split a hosta (even though I just observed this time around, I feel confident that I could accomplish such a task when my hostas grow bigger some day), you should trim the leaves off the green leafy plants at the end of the season before the snow comes and they will totally grow back in the Spring (they really will- amazing!), and....gardening can be fun if you have kind friends to help you and teach you:)

The Great Outdoors...Part Deux

Warning: I will most likely be posting progress of the fancy makeover action that is occurring in my backyard for the next few weeks. A plant life play-by-play of sorts.

Also, I want to restate how blessed and thankful I am to have an amazing friend (with some pretty wicked talents in the ways of garden prep and planning) who is willing to devote so much time to this project. Just had to say that once more. Thanks Linz:)

She spent many minutes (I am sure) mapping out every square inch of soil, taking great care to create visual areas of interest with color, height and texture:

She (and her dear husband) picked up & delivered the supplies:

Selected a few plants (many more to come):

And marked the yard with pretty blue paint so the 'Call Before You Dig' dudes knew where to flag the yard...safety first:

Next up: Tilling the soil, laying the brick borders and prepping the beds! Who's excited?? This girl.

Random happenings...

I haven't got much to say this week but must persevere with some semblance of a weekly posting....because I am very much a type A kind of gal and incompleteness makes my mind and heart feel sad things.

So I will share a few life events of the past week:

1. I tried my hand at making some Chickpea Curry-

In my trial, I learned that mild curry paste is not as delicious as spicy curry paste. It was ok, but I will for sure try again and make it better.

2. My Sheepy Blankie (that I have had since I was like 7 and it's my favorite) got a hole in it...from oldness-

I plan to rescue it with some sort of patch. I am still in process as to how said patch will evolve and restore Sheepy to new life.

3. I made some baby doll toilets out of an oatmeal container, cardboard pieces and lots of white duct tape-

Why? You ask. Because we are focusing on all things bathroom with the Tods this week in preparation for major summertime toilet training fun. Trying to find creative ways to drive the point home....pee goes in the potty. Plus, pretend little cardboard toilets for dolls are funny.

4. I snuggled with Mosie-

It was enjoyable for the both of us. 

5. I headed out to Buffalo on Sunday for Mother's Day-

Really fun afternoon with family to celebrate the best mama in the land...sisters, a bro-in-law, daddio, sloppy joes on the patio, nieces and nephew running thru the sprinkler and loving it!

Side note #1: This photo proves nicely that I am indeed the tallest sister. I'm certain that the hill we are standing on plays no role in the trueness of this fact.

6. I bought Berkenstocks-

I wasn't sure if I was a Berkenstock kind of gal, but then my sister was wearing some and they were super cute. And I needed an alternative to summer flip flops. 

Side note #2: I really need to paint those toenails...maybe tomorrow. It's good to have goals.

The Great Outdoors

Ever since I purchased my home a few years back, I have had ideas and intentions to do something cute with the backyard area (I even probably blogged about it last year around this time). It's not too big and has some nice trees and such. And my neighbors, with whom I share a cute little fence that we chat over like in the movies, have the most wonderful secret garden of a yard that there is to see. I have had many strong feelings to reciprocate and give them something more pleasant to look at than the current view. There is only one problem....I do not love spending time with things such as garden tools, dirt, bugs, and plants.

For the past year, I have been trying to will myself to pretend my heart could tolerate the experience enough to get the landscaping job done. Well, now it's is spring and almost time for planting and I JUST can't do it. 

Thankfully I have a lovely friend 'L' who actually does enjoy all things garden. Like, for real...it makes her happy to dig in dirt and grow stuff...amazing! And to top it off, she was willing (and I think maybe even a little excited) when I asked her if I could hire out her talents to make my backyard dreams become reality.

She stopped by last week to take a look at the space, talk through some ideas and take some measurements. I'm very excited!

I leave all final gardener decisions and creative license to her expertise, but here are a few visuals to give you an idea of my soon-to-be Great Outdoors:

1) Lots of hostas, some day lilies, other amazing things that she will choose and a cute border of some brick-like materials yet to be determined. Oh, and I may have to do something in the grass growing department where those big patches of grass-less dirt currently reside.

2) A wildflower garden to help save the bumblebees and butterflies. I also plan to purchase some LARGE metal letters that spell 'Peace' and will lean them up against the wooden fence behind the flower bed...and that little tree stump to the left of the bricks will become (you guessed it) a painted peace sign. My own happy little hippy peace garden:)

3) Yummy rows of raspberries...with some space and stone pavers in between each row for easy berry picking access....next to my baby pear tree (it's a fruit extravaganza- or at least it will be someday when the pears are actually edible).

4) A hammock chair that swings between my 2 maple trees. You will have to use your imagination with this...as my chair drawing skills in the photo editing app are not as stellar as I hoped they would be. But trust me, it will 

be a cozy place to spend an afternoon.

I feel confident enough to keep all the plants alive with watering and occasional weed pulling once they have their place. But I am so thankful that the work of transforming the yard into something beautiful is now in the hands of someone who actually knows what they are doing! 

Once it's all said and done, I may even start liking being outside...maybe:)

P.S. I got a new electric lawnmower last weekend and it is SWEET....it increased my desire to mow my lawn by many percentage points. I am beginning to feel more and more like a responsible home owner with each passing day.