"THE CAT WHISPERER"

Sammy as a kitten

You have heard of the "Horse Whisperer". Now you have heard of the CAT whisperer!! We have been working for weeks now once we found Sammy, our cat that we lost over 5 years ago. Today we finally have worked until we have Sammy here at our house!!







When we first moved to Savannah we did not have a pet. The year before we had to put our long time friend and pet down. He was about 16 years old and was just really sick. We had Tigger since our youngest daughter was about 8....this was a very hard decision to have to make. Tigger was a good cat!! He had a wonderful life. Sometimes I think that he almost had about 10 lives instead of the usual 9!! He had been through a lot but at the end he was so sick. We all knew him well. He seemed to know English even. At the end when I would ask him how he was he would just look at me like he was begging me to do something. I stopped by the vet's that day and paid for it. I cried through the whole thing. Mike went home and picked him up and just set the cage inside the vet's door and left. We were all in tears and so hated what we had to do.





When we moved here to Savannah we thought the timing was good because moving him would be a hard thing. He loved the outside so much!! Once we got here Mike said, "NO MORE CATS". One day I was getting my hair done. Becky and the kids stopped by saying that they had heard of some kittens that were at our vet. She wanted to go see them so I just could not resist.





We went and saw these cute little gray kitties. They were free of course!! I ended up bringing this cute little gray kitty with 4 white paws home that day. On the way home, everyone tried to name him. Finally we came up with Sammy!!



That was his homecoming day!! He was the gentlest of cats. Garrett and Madison were both little and he just let them hold him and he was fine with it all!!

Garrett and Sammy 2002

We loved that cat and he loved us.

Then we were robbed and he was let out!! We were heart sick. It was just before Halloween of that year. I put fliers with his picture on it in every ones candy that I gave out that year. I contacted some TV stations because I was so mad about getting robbed plus they let our family cat out!! WTOC called on Halloween and asked if they could come and do a story!! SURE!!

That night as all the kids were coming in to get their candy here was the big TV truck parked out front. We had a good interview and they even put up his picture...nothing helped. It seemed like he was gone. We were so sad.

So now FIVE years later I am driving and he walks right in front of me!! FIVE YEARS LATER!! I was so excited. We started feeding him at the home he seemed to have chosen and finally he decided that this is the home where he belongs. We both are so happy!! Funny to see Mike so happy to have him back home.

I forgot that right after I brought him home when he was a baby, Mike ignored him for about 2 days. Remember he had said NO MORE CATS!! He did not want to get connected to another animal only to have it die!! Well after about 2 days he gave in and Sammy had won him over!! Sammy is doing it again too!!

He is about 7 now!! He has grown into a sweet BIG muscular cat!! Today I was outside sitting on the sidewalk and petting him. I looked over at Mike and said, "Now if I could just get him to sit on my lap." It wasn't a second and here he came and plopped himself right on my lap. We sat there for some 15-20 minutes just loving the whole experience.

SO NOW I am the "Cat Whisperer"!! Smile!!!

FLIP FLOP

Thought for the day: "Thank you Lord for watching over your little ones. Thanks for letting him come back to us." Amen

Day After Thanksgiving!!

Our table for Thanksgiving

Tis the day after Thanksgiving...we are back home and enjoying just being here and being together!!

Yesterday we went to meet the kids and their friends in a campground!! We ate outdoors and had quite the spread!! I knew that my stomach is not in the best of ways lately...SO I only ate one plate which was not really full!! I really do not like Turkey so all I had was the side things which was plenty enough.

Beautiful view of the Lake

I had taken rolls which turned out just awful!! Also took pumpkin and peach pies with whipped cream of course!! We did not have to worry about eating!!

My rolls looked awful

This was a nice campground not too far from here. It was nice because we did not have to drive far at all. It is on a little lake. The kids were having a ball when we arrived. Garrett and his friend Ava were out gathering up all of the little lizards and anything that they could catch. Those two really get along because of their love for hunting and gathering up bugs and such!! They had to show me all of their finds.






We ate about 3:00. We got there just as the turkey was going into the fryer!! Poor thing!! Then it looked like it had suffered a massive heart attack when it came out. I just have never really liked a big turkey like that. I do not mind the sliced deli kind but that is about it!!

What a mess!! I am just not a BIG FAN!!

Afterwards it really started cooling down a lot!! I went for a walk with the kids. They had a neat little beach where they were playing in the sand making things!! We found the prettiest red mushrooms that looked like they had sesame seeds on the tops!! Never seen that before. The longer I live here I discover new things a lot!!

Finally the cold drove us inside to warmer things. We all sat there and watched some good old TV family movies. The kids enjoyed them all. Off to bed early as so many were ready!!



Mike and I slept with the kids in their end of the camper!! Maddie and Garrett were on the top bunks and the old people on the bottom (thank goodness). Sometime in the middle of the night here comes Garrett falling out of bed right above me!! He was fine. I tell you I have never seen Becky move so quickly. She came from the other end of the camper fast and was there in about a second!! Good mommy

Oh I forgot to tell you what we did!! I thought this was great!! When we got to the campground everyone had to go into the McCoys camper and take these cute placemats that Becky had made. Each had one of our names on them. Then we wrote on each on the back something that we were thankful for. It was fun. Then when we started eating everyone was given their place mat and could see what everyone wrote!! I have both Mike's and mine. I am going to take them and have them laminated...I thought it was such a good idea!!

We came home this morning after stopping at a house to do a measurement that Mike needed to get done. No Black Friday shopping for me this year!!



When we got home today Sammy was right here waiting for us. It is supposed to get pretty cold tonight..in the 30's so Mike put a cardboard box with a blanket it in. Hopefully Sammy will go in there and try to keep warm. Poor little guy!

Hopefully ya'll had a great Thanksgiving too!! Isn't it wonderful just knowing that we live in the greatest country!! I am so thankful for that plus my salvation!! I am also thankful for my wonderful family and how God is starting to bring us all back together again!! What a blessing!!

FLIP FLOP

Tuesday Thoughts

How Pumpkin Pie is made!!

I want to be a better blogger once more so I am trying!! Today is cloudy and dreary once again!! Guess this is winter here in Georgia!! I LOVE LOVE the SUN so I really miss it when it decides to hide!!

Today I am off to see a doctor about my abdominal pain! I was excited that my doctor actually got me in this quickly and now I find out that he is not the best of doctors..Oh, not that he is not a GOOD doctor but my daughter tells me that he is sharp and to the point and not much of a communicator! Well, at least I am going!! I need to get this process started. One friend of theirs went to him and he said that he was a "strange bird"!! Should be fun!! I just want to get some answers and get this whatever going!!

I was supposed to work this afternoon but with my appointment being close to when I go to work, I had someone work for me. Probably a good idea!! I would hate to be looking at my watch wondering if I would make it in time!!

We are feeding Sammy mostly here at our home now. I just get on the porch and yell and he comes galloping across the yards to see us..MOSTLY to get fed of course!! I took some cute pictures of him yesterday....

I was out at the mall yesterday (exercising) and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. They were in regular street clothes. So i said, Hi there Santa Claus...He just smiled. After that I saw him all dressed up sitting waiting for his kids to come by. I thought that Santa did not come until AFTER thanksgiving? Hm!! I was coming down the esclator and took his picture. He looks pretty good for just a Santa "Helper"!! I would show you the picture but for some reason I cannot right click on my pictures..Oh I can right click just cannot get the CUT function to work!! Hm!! Oh well..

Have a great day!! If you know why I am having problems with the CUT function..I am open to suggestions!!

FLIP FLOP

Thougth for the day: " I wish I had the energy my grandchildren have, if only for self-defense"--Gene Perrot

Long time no blog!!

Yes, that is certainly me!! I just do not seem to have time for everything anymore. I thought as you age that you had more time!! SURE!! That is a big lie right there..but then again keeping busy is a good, good thing.

First I was so busy crocheting purses right and left!! Now that has all stopped. Over the years I have done little side jobs like crocheting and found out that I earned just enough money to do with it what I wanted. This time I saved along with my purse money and bought myself a new laptop!! I am so so happy with it..BUT let me tell you what happened before I got HAPPY!!

I had researched all kinds of computers. I knew what size of hard drive I wanted and how much memory...so off I went looking!! I found a Sony Vaio that I really liked (it was pink)!! Smile. It had 4 gb of memory and the hard drive was the size that I thought I wanted...plus it had Windows 7!! I wanted to advance and go from my XP to Windows 7..thus passing VISTA!!

Mike and I went in and looked at BEST BUYS last Friday the 13th!! (That might be why) Any hoo I found a GATEWAY that I thought looked good..price was decent...I bought it brought it home and was doing great...until I realized that it was VISTA!! I did not want that..but I thought..WEll I can live with this..The computer started shutting down all on its own..THAT IS NOT GOOD for a new computer!! Finally after working with it going down and the mouse on the pad was just awful..kept going its own way, I got angry and took it back to BEST BUYS!! I told them to keep this one..do not offer to fix it and give it back because I did not WANT IT!! I went and picked up that SONY VAIO that I had wanted in the 1st place and got it...Now my little computer HEART is happy and so is the computer!! It is GREAT!! The difference between the two computers is just like night and day!! I am in Computer HEAVEN now!! Smile!!

Also our son Jon went to Columbus, Ohio to interview for a job with Abercrombie & Fitch. He lost his job about 3 weeks ago in California!! He had 7 interviews yesterday. He has the job!! We are so happy. Now if we sell this house here in Georgia and move back to Illinois my kids will be close to us again!! Makes this mom a happy MOM!!

We are still working on getting our lost cat Sammy back over here to our home. I go outside and yell for him and he comes galloping to our house. He is a big guy!! Really grown up to be a muscular cat!! Still cannot believe that we found him after 5 long years!!

Our life is going along pretty well right now except for me not feeling too well. I had an ultra sound of all my organs and that turned out really well. (they said that I have good looking organs)!! I have been having pain in my side and thought it might be my gall bladder...turns out that is fine. Now the next tests are not going to be that easy. I am looking at a colonoscopy and also an upper GI test. Wish that they were over with. Please pray that if they find something that it will be easy to deal with...

Mike's job has slowed down. This is a little sooner than usual but we are just taking each day as it comes and hoping that all works out!!

I wish that I could say I would get around to everyone, but that might not work!! I miss ya' all a lot...I can try...

FLIP FLOP

Simplify!!

This Saturday one of the several TV stations here in Savannah is sponsoring a shredding day!! I love these events. You can clean out all of your old papers that you have been collecting and saving for years. Take them to the site and right there they shred them for you. I think it is great because it helps with others trying to steal your idenity. You can take old computers and they will wipe the hard drive clean. Then the computers can be given to people who really need them.

Mike and I have to get rid of a lot of things whenever our BIG move comes!! We went through our big 5 drawer file cabinet. We tossed and tossed papers into a big plastic bin. It felt so good to do this!! We have been carrying around from home to home old papers that we "think" we had better keep when in reality we really do not need them. Most everything is computerized anymore..any how..so why keep all of this "STUFF" and clutter up your life.

After we went through and cleaned out I thought to myself how good it makes me feel to un clutter things. I know that these papers are going to be shredded into little bitty pieces and will no longer be a part of our lives. As I was thinking about this whole process, it made me think that this is what our God does for us.

He takes our poor broken lives and takes our sins and "shreds" them into little tiny pieces and forgets them forever. I can go on from day to day knowing that He knows me and loves me but also knowing that my sins are forgiven and taken away...What a relief it is to know this about my God and also about myself.

Just like all of those old statements, papers, old paid bills and old checks...they will soon be gone and no longer in our lives. That part of our life is past and done with...I just felt like for some reason that this was freeing for me!! Sort of like losing weight...taking something away!!

Maybe this sounds crazy to you but some of these papers were ones that weighed Mike and I down at one time. Now that time is past and they are gone..never to be remembered...RIGHT!! If we have salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus, then our sins are all gone and never to be remembered again too...YES!! FREEING!!

**************************************************************************************
Things have been good lately!! Only shown our home twice so far but that is twice. Our fliers out front just keep leaving so i guess that is a good thing. We just pray for God to show the right people to come by and buy our home. I know that i am going to have to move...i really do not want too..but sometimes we have to do some things that we really do not want too. Change is good and i have always been able to adapt and i will again.

Went yesterday to see Michael Jackson's "This is It". We all really liked it. When it is over you do feel sad to see such a vibrant man that was so good with his music to be gone at such a young age. I recommend it IF you were a fan of Michaels!!

We are experiencing such beautiful weather here in Savannah. The sun is wonderful and it always makes me so happy here.

Hopefully everyone is blog land is doing great too!! I wish that I could get around to all of your blogs...I would love to be able to do this...

Oh, remember Sammy our cat that was lost but now has been found?? I go over to the house where he is staying every day and feed him. They are not feeding him any more and trying to make it so that one day I will be able to bring him back here..Home. We are hoping that before it gets too cold that we will be able to do just that.

FLIP FLOP
Thought for the day: "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."--- Hans Hofman