Sunshine in my shadows

Welcome to sunshine in my shadows. This blog is my space to share all the stuff that makes up my every day life. Family, friends, crafts, recipes, books and all the little things that add 'sunshine to my shadows'. We all have a sprinkling of sunshine and an equal sprinkling of shadows in our lives. Hopefully you will find more sunshine than shadows to read about here and on the days when shadows fall, know that the sunshine is peeking just around the corner!


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Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Meet Max and Cheby...

I mentioned in my last post how busy life was around here recently. We have a lot going on.
Thursday we picked up one of our new puppies. He is an 8 week old Bichon Frise Miniature Poodle Cross and just the cutest bundle of fluff at present.

Meet Max!
My girlfriend who became homeless recently owns a beautiful long haired domestic cat named Simba. Mr B and I told her that if she could not find a new home for Simba we would adopt her either temporarily or permanently. Simba arrived on Friday, perhaps not the best timing but we promised we would give her a home and so we have.

Meet Simba.
and yes her eyes are a beautiful green!

Saturday we collected our second puppy, a purebred miniature poodle we have named Cheby. Mr B tells me Cheby was a famous mathematician. Cheby is prounounced Ch for chain and Ebbie on the end.
Meet Cheby!
The puppies are settling in well. Simba is still very unsettled but coming out of hiding more and more. She seems unperturbed by the puppies but is nervous of people with the exception of my son, Sam and myself whom she knew previously. Simba sat on my knee for a short time today with one of the puppies so I think that is a good sign. Our two cats, Squeaky and Tabby are totally miffed and are still hiding in my daughter's bedroom only coming out to go outside. They are scared of the puppies and not happy about a new cat in the house. My sister and a friend are currently staying and I think my sister's pet rat, Hermione, is the only animal in the house truly relaxed at present. Hopefully in a short while all will settle in and at the very least learn to tolerate each other.
I imagine my time will be taken up with puppy raising duties and animal reassuring for some weeks to come.
I haven't owned a puppy for some 30+ years so it is quite an experience for me.
I hope you have enjoyed meeting our new babies, I have enjoyed showing them off!
wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Blogging blues...a mixed bag


Ugh! I haven't been able to sign in to Blogger for the last two days. That means I missed my Tuesday trinkets post AGAIN this week. I have had a busy week with barely a minute to spare or so it feels.
This post is going to be a bit of mixed bag.

Monday I had a dentist visit to finish off my root canal. I am truly terrified of the dentist but Mr B took me to his own dentist and I have to say I am very impressed. He was very gentle. I have another appointment next week for a general check up. Apparently I have a couple of fillings that are needed as well *sigh. A lifetime of poor dental care and a phobia of dentist visits means I have only about a dozen top and a dozen bottom teeth left so I really am trying to keep the ones I have left for as long as I can.

Tuesday I was to do some finishing off at my old house. I still have a few cupboards with some clothes and odds and ends in that need packing up and moving over here. I am not good at finishing things up. My friend Susan was going to come and 'encourage' me but unfortunately she was unwell. I am pleased to say however I spent most of the day getting up and down off the floor and packed up another car load of things to bring back here. I also filled a bag to donate to the op shop and filled my rubbish bin. I have the aching leg muscles to prove I worked hard! I'm estimating another 2-3 days of work to finish sorting/packing what's left then it will be on with the cleaning and painting etc. Oh and I picked up a couple of treasures at the op shop but I'll share those another day!

Mr B got the job he was asked to interview for on Friday last week so that caused us quite a bit of rushing around. He was told he had the job late Monday, went in to the office on Tuesday and was sent home to pack his bags. He will be working about 3 hours away from home at this stage. I am glad it isn't any further.(There was talk of an overseas post) I miss him already! He only left this morning lol.
I've been learning new skills like setting the fire and keeping it lit, not such an easy task when running errands on and off all day.

Today I did chores, laundry even though there was no hope of getting it dry on the line. The kitchen currently looks like a chinese laundry. I changed the sheets on my bed and am looking forward to slipping between the covers tonight. I so love crisp clean sheets! I had to take my daughter to an appointment mid morning and we were gone until 1pm. The fire had almost gone out but I managed to bring it back to life. I took out the rubbish and recycling, emptied the compost bucket and fed the birds with our stale bread. I brought more wood into the house along with pine cones which make wonderful fire lighters. Add in the school run and some grocery shopping and my day was almost gone....and then there was the cat!

Poor old squeaky came in yesterday with a nasty wound under her chin. Mr B had a close look last night and decided she really needed to see the vet today. He dropped her off this morning and I collected her this afternoon. The poor darling actually had three puncture wounds under her chin and had to be anaesthesized so they could insert drain tubes. They cleaned her teeth whilst she was off in cat la la land as well. The poor baby was very miserable when I collected her and was trying determinedly to get the special plastic collar off. She has been sulking since we got home and continues to try to remove the offending collar. It is doubtless going to be a fun few days for all of us. She must be awfully confused too as Mr B is not here and she is his cat first and foremost and she will be missing him too. We are hoping he might be home by the weekend but not sure yet. Oh and whilst at the vets I saw the most adorable kitten they had for sale. I wish we could have another cat but two is all we are allowed. We don't need another cat but ohhhh that little ball of fur was just adorable and pretty too!

Tomorrow I'm off for my regular monthly check up with my doctor and I am hoping I have lost at least a little weight. I shall be horribly disappointed if I haven't. I have been watching what I eat very carefully and whilst not walking the last few days I have been much more active than normal. My pedometer is proving very useful in that regard as I can keep an eye on my number of steps for each day. I have almost doubled my amount of steps in just 3 weeks so I am pretty pleased about that. A way to go to get to the ideal but I am improving and that is a step in the right direction I think.

Hope everyone else has had a good week and lets hope Blogger behaves itself now and we can all get back to our regular blogging habits!

wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Blending the family...

My partner and I have been a couple for almost 3 years now. We have been talking about moving in together for the better part of a year and a half. We are finally about to take the plunge. It would have happened earlier this year but his cancer diagnosis kind of threw a spanner into the works! Ideally I would have liked to have been well and truly moved before Christmas but ....well the universe had other plans for us.

It will be a wonderful relief to me to leave my old house behind. Unfortunately it holds many more sad memories for me than happy ones.I am looking forward to a complete break from the past and an exciting new chapter in my life.
I am sure my kids will have mixed feelings about leaving their family home. It is the only home they have ever known. The house is to be sold, an unfortunate necessity.

In time I hope they will embrace the new and enjoy the freedoms our new home will provide. Our new home has space to run and explore, orchard & gardens to enjoy and many other things our current home could never provide. I know there will be huge adjustments to be made by all of us as we learn to live together as a blended family under one roof. I'm confident it will all be ok in the long run.

I'm not so sure about the 4 legged members of the family. We have 2 cats between us and introducing our cat to her new home and new family is going to be interesting to say the least. We shall be following the advice from our vet and praying a lot I think! Both cats are the same age, neutered females and used to being the Queen of their own domain! I hope they will eventually be friends or at the very least tolerate each other.

Moving is such a chore! I am badly lacking energy and motivation to get those boxes packed and ready to go. Hope to be done by New Year. Time will tell.....
wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

Tabby our princess


Squeaky Queen of my partner's realm