I don’t write much these days due to a major writer’s block and have been using my creativity and expression in other ways. But when I saw this “daily prompt”, I knew immediately what my answer would be.
One simple thing that brings joy to my life….animals in general, but more specifically, my cat Cino! My sweetie just turned 18 years old.🎈🎂
When I am having a stressful day, I can’t wait to hold Cino. I calm down within minutes. Her sweetness, innocence, and quiet purr is like a big hug!
Watching her chase the light that reflects from my hand mirror each morning when I am getting ready, makes me laugh.
Watching her sleep curled up so comfortable and at peace, makes me tear up and smile.
Watching her get the zoomies and jump onto her climber at 18 years old makes me grateful!
I say this often, but I’ll say it once again…I don’t like to post unless I am moved by something or really have something to say. It’s too difficult to force a post, just to post. Well, I was just having a conversation with someone about how I met my sweet Cino. My story literally ends with “You had me at meow!”
After days of searching for a cat on a local shelter’s website, I found one that I wanted to go meet. Her name was Muffy. When she was brought into the visitor’s room so we could meet and I could spend a little time with her, she seemed very nervous…understandably. She just walked around looking up and didn’t pay any attention to me. I started to doubt if she was the right cat for me. They brought her back to her…I hate this word…cage. The shelter employee started showing me other cats in that room but while she was talking to me, I kept my eye on Muffy. Muffy seemed to be starting to pay some attention to me by coming close to the edge of the cage and looking out while we were talking. After visiting with a few other cats, I said I wanted to visit with Muffy one more time. In the visitor’s room she started to repeat the same behavior as before…looking up and pacing. But then suddenly she stopped…looked right at me…and MEOWED. That was it! I looked back at her and said “OK, that’s it, you’re coming home with me!”
Hello, hello! It has been a long time since I have written a post. I’ve shared with you many times on how I don’t feel it’s a good thing to force out a post just to write. I want to write when I actually have something to say. With that said, this still may turn out to be a post of many random thoughts.
There isn’t any one thing that has happened lately and I typically get my inspiration to write something from actual events. There are however, many other things such as thoughts I have on a regular basis. Like I wonder if I am the only one who sees the deceased animal on the side of the road or the trucks full of pigs or cows drive by on the highway and gets a tear in my eye. To me they are a life that has or will be taken away. Or I see a “working dog” in a store and all I can wonder is if their needs are being met. It’s great they can have a job and help but are their needs being met, including feeling loved. Is it being considered that they are feeling beings too.
I will never forget many years ago my mom saying to me that I want to live in Utopia. You know what, she may be right! This actually can be a good or bad thing. On one hand, we should always be striving to make an impact and make the world a better place. I’ll always advocate for animals as well as for people to treat other people with kindness. On the other hand, the Utopia expectations can make you feel let down all of the time. Because things aren’t the way I think they should be I become angry. The key is probably to be somewhere in the middle.
Around those times of trying to make an impact and becoming angry at the world, I feel it’s a good idea to spend time in things we enjoy doing to take a break from those Utopia expectations. I enjoy doing crafty/artsy things and lately watching Lifetime movies (what is about these predictable movies that pull you in?!).
While we may not live in Utopia, we can always work at being a little closer to it.
Now an update on things with me. I am still going to be having a fundraiser for animals but it is taking much longer than I expected to get it started. In the meantime, I have been drawing & painting some. The bee in this post is one of my new characters. Not too long ago I did an animal empathy lesson with some school age children where I had them all sign a kindness pledge and we made donation boxes to collect items for an animal shelter. I also have been enjoying the great weather and spending time with family & friends. Some relatives visited this summer all the way from Norway. And just recently I am looking into getting a Cricut. Anyone have one?
Hope you’re all doing good. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi all! The fundraiser is so close to being ready to launch. I’ll share all the details when it is. I hope you’ll stay tuned and consider purchasing one of the fun items we’ll have available. A portion of the sales will go towards helping animals (and people) in need.
It’s been a while so I wanted to say hello! I’m on a new journey so I haven’t been posting much on my blog. But I can’t wait to share the products I’ll soon have available for a fundraiser to help animals. Please say hello back! Since blogging can require regular posting to stay connected with others, it would be nice to see who is still out there. I hope you’re all doing well.
Hello everyone! I have been MIA once again from blogging. As I’ve mentioned before you can’t force a post. So when I don’t have anything to say, I choose to stay silent rather than trying to jibber jabber on about something that I’m not really feeling.
I have been spending time creating some more designs for my new product line. Honestly, I have so many ideas I could spend all my days designing & creating. I wish I could, but with a full time job that’ not going to happen right now.
Anyway, the graphic I am sharing in this post was an idea from today, and so I sat down and made it right away while it was fresh in my mind. I always enjoy seeing how a picture I have in my head will turn out when I try to create it.
This graphic suits me so well…I am definitely the purple fish in a lot of ways! Especially when it comes to animals. The world views animals as “less” than us humans and here for our use however we please. What we are taught, grow up with, and see most of the world doing becomes our “normal.” Then there is so much other “stuff” going on in the world that so many of us just sit and complain about. But the thing is we can choose to do something about it. Instead of just going with the flow and accepting it, we can choose to go against it. We can be the ones to make a difference!
I hope you get some encouragement from this post. Now for an update on my products. A few smaller items such as car coasters, buttons, and air fresheners have been made. The person I am working with debuted my items this weekend at a craft show. I have also showed and sold some items to family, friends, and co-workers. But there are still some details to work out before I can offer them to you all. I also may wait until we have more designs and products available before offering them online. I hope you’ll continue to stay tuned while I figure all of this out.
Take care!
Question: How do you see yourself? One who goes with the flow? Or one who goes against it?
Hello all! Earlier this summer, I posted that I was working on some of my graphics that will be available on some products/items. Now that we’re nearing the end of summer, I wanted to update you. Production will begin soon and I will be sharing a link with you that will show the available items. This will be a fundraiser for animals. When the fundraiser is ready to launch I will share all of the details with you. Please stay tuned!
I really have been enjoying tapping into a creative/artsy side I didn’t even know I had. Something else I have been trying out is drawing people’s pets. My latest is my nephew’s cat, Oliver.
Thank you to all who took the time to fill out the questionnaire on my first post in this series. I want to take a few minutes to explain a little more why I am doing this. I am not doing this for me. I am not doing this to get more likes or followers. I am not doing this to add more content to my blog. I am doing this for animals. How do I mean? Well here is an example. I made a comment on a social media post about the treatment of farm animals and that I do not believe God would approve. Someone respectfully (which is very appreciated) asked me in reply “what about the sacrifices of animals in the bible?” I was thrilled to have someone ask me this (again…respectfully asked). Dialogue is what I want. Dialogue is how we all learn from each other. THAT is why I am doing this series! 😊
So let’s get on to Part 2 of “Feelings & Emotions.”
Hello all. I am starting a series called “Let’s Discuss.” In each post I will have a link to a Google Doc where it will take you two minutes to fill out but will make a huge impact.
Animals Are Feeling Beings Too 