Shelly's Favourite Things #3

Since Shelly came to live with us and I have found so many great kitty toy crafts on the internet, I have been making some interesting stuff.  Mum sometimes walks through the lounge room and simply says, "there are a lot of boxes."  This really means, "M, you have been collecting boxes for a while now and you need to do something with them or throw them away."  For some reason Mum doesn't understand that Shelly will get bored with the same old boxes all the time and we need to make different ones.  We don't want her to have lots of toys all the time, but we want to change them around every few weeks so she has some variety. 

I love this picture.  Doesn't she look beautiful gazing up at the camera like that?
She is actually looking at me and probably wondering what on earth I'm doing.

This toy was made from cylindrical tissue boxes and masking tape.  Shelly likes to play with the plastic lids as well, but this toy has a special component.  I hide smaller toys, straws and treats inside some of the tubes and leave the toy on her scratching post or on the shelf in my bedroom bookcase.  Sometimes, I hide it under her chair.  She sniffs out the treats and then it is a bit of a trick to get the treats out.  This makes life more interesting compared to just being given the treats.  We have a few toys that I hide treats in for her to find.  I think this one is her favourite because it is easy enough for her to find them and get them out by herself.  She figured it out all on her own.  The other toys conceal the treats and it is not always easy to work out how to get them out.  She also likes this one because I only get it out every now and then and when it is out it always has treats so that's great fun.   

Found One

I usually put this one out before I go to bed so Shelly stumbles upon it during the night when she is stalking around the house.  She gets a bit of a reward and has something to "hunt" while all her play mates are sleeping.  You can also see in the second picture, one of the hanging toys that we have about the place.  I used to have it attached to a pedestal fan so that when the fan was oscilating the paper balls would swing gently.  But, Shelly almost knocked the fan over a few times and I decided it wasn't such a good idea after all.  I didn't originally design it this way, but I can slip a treat into those cardboard balls for Shelly to find later.  She tends to sniff out the treat and then move the ball around and around until the treat comes out.  By then she has also discovered the fun of batting it back and forth and she makes the bell ring and the fun continues.  

Shelly loves to play and I love watching her discover new toys and work out little puzzles I have constructed for her.  If you don't have a pet to play with.. you really should get one.  They are very therapeutic.  

Love from Shelly and Me

A New Favourite of Shelly's

Dear  Friends, 
I'm not sure that you have caught up with this news, but just in case I will tell you now.  I bought a new mattress a few weeks ago and it was delivered soon after.  This mattress is on an old bed that my Pa put together and it is very sturdy.  It is also quite hard!  Anyway, the bed is shorter than my old one so Shelly was a little unimpressed for the first few days.  

My new mattress however, is very comfortable. It has three zones and special inner springs and a pillow top.  I am sleeping very well these days.  When the beds were being swapped and I ordered my new mattress, I figured it was time for some new bed linen so I purchased a new quilt cover and two new 'body pillow' covers.  My bed is now very cosy.  

Apparently, Shelly's new favourite place to nap is on my new bed with my new quilt cover, surrounded by pillows.  While she sometimes enjoys my company when napping (early in the morning she jumps onto the bed and curls up in a fluffy ball right beside me), she prefers to have the bed to herself. Ensuring that she has the bed to herself is quite simple... she walks up and down and up and down the length of the bed.  Then, she walks around in circles until she finds the perfect spot that is not exactly the centre point but is somewhere close to it.  This means that it is very difficult to fall into bed without falling on her! She's a bit sneaky my furry little friend. 

Apparently, when I went shopping for the new mattress and quilt cover I did a good job.  I  arranged the pillows accurately as well.  They haven't stayed like that, but who ever thought they would.  

There you go... Now you know, that if you buy a new bed you better be prepared to share it with your cat.  

Love 

...these are a few of her favourite things

 It is term 4 and things are really quite overwhelming at work - to that point that I just want to crawl under a rock and hide until the New Year - and I am very close to shutting down AGT simply because I feel too guilty about my lack of posting activity and this is a really long sentence.  I am just a little freaked out right now.  So, please, bear with me.

Since becoming the adopted parent of a kitty called Shelly, I have learned a great deal about cats, the circle of life, love, early morning feeds, broken sleep and the temptation to spoil your kid with toys.  I have also had a lot of questions about looking after my kitty and what to do when something goes wrong.  As with all my questions I have two places that I tend to go when I need answers.
1. The BFF and when she can't answer it she tells me to go to...
2. Google!

Sometimes I think she tells me to "Google it" because that takes less effort than answering the question itself.  But I digress.

One of the great things about the internet is that I often find people/ cat parents that seem to be very much like me and I believe that they know what they are saying.  I have also learned for myself that some memes on Pinterest are true-er than true.

Exhibit A

Hanging with my Kitty makes me happy and far less stressed.  So, for the next few weeks we are going to check out some of Shelly's favourite things.  Hagrid is going to help too because when I'm busy doing school Stuff - like marking assignments- Hagrid can tell you all about his latest antics with Shelly.  They don't tell me, but I have a feeling they get up to quite a bit of mischief when I'm at work! 

Anyway... that's the plan.  In case you are wondering.  The first thing on the list of Shelly's favourite things is my Pinterest board which the BFF created just for Shelly.  There's not much on it, but it is always growing.  Check it out. 

http://www.pinterest.com/agreattitle/for-shelly/

Time for a Cat Cuddle!

An Analogy for Life

I saw this on Pinterest and a lovely little smile spread across my face.  It stopped me in my tracks.  

Source

I could go on and on about it and analyse the words and the analogy and tell you how very true it is.  I could do that, but I won't.  Just read it and think about it yourself and then move on.  

:)

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody

My mum sometimes refers to my dad as "Somebody".  For example, "Somebody forgot to shut the door last night and the cat got out."  

Another example might be, "Well, Somebody went to the doctor last week to see about his sore foot.  Now Somebody is wearing a splint on his foot."  I am not really sure why she does this but she does.  If you've read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas you would know that in the book Bruno's mother often refers to Bruno's father as "Some People".  Marian Keyes refers to her husband as "Himself" when writing about her real life (as well as several novels and short stories she has written several articles and recounts).  I find it interesting that some women refer to their husbands by anything other than their name.  There is no real reason for telling you all this, but I found it interesting.  I suppose it is also noteworthy that my mother is not entirely unique when it comes to this specific characteristic and therefore this is not one of the reasons that she is nuts.  Unless, the other people I mentioned are crazy as well and their tendency to refer to people using such an odd word is an indication of their mental instability.  Although, I don't think that my mother is crazy.  Well, not like, clinically crazy or anything.  She's just a bit quirky... but aren't we all. 

My noticing of Mother's habit of calling Dad "Somebody" reminded me of a story that was on the fridge when I was a child.  Dad had stuck it there and one day (when I was refusing to do something), he took it down from the fridge and put it on the table in front of me.  He said, "read that," and left the room.  

This is one of the things that I love about the internet.  I ran a search on Google and found the 'story' that used to be stuck on our fridge.  I copied it (click here to see the source) and pasted it below so you could see why I thought of it.  That was a very round about way of telling you that I remembered this story and found it on the internet (happy dance) and you should read it too.  Here it is... 

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.  Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.  It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Okay, now go back and read it again. Done that yet?

I could tell you what that means... but I think that if you are reading my blog, you are probably a very intelligent person and you can work it out for yourself.  No, really... you can! :)

That was Monday! 

For the Secondary School Teachers

I know the high school teachers don't tend to drop in here too often.  Just in case you happen to be passing by, I will tell you that I happen to be a very talented writer and you might just find something interesting and fun.  You might find a lesson idea or two, you might find some writing samples that you can share with both your colleagues and students.  

If you are interested in awesome Literacy teaching in the middle school and secondary school environment, you might want to check this out.  

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2013/10/5-ways-to-incorporate-literacy-in-the-non-ela-classroom/

You also might want to check out this excellent blog.

http://litcoachblog.wordpress.com/

I have to go back to school on Tuesday after a two week break.  I've been rather enjoying myself and I have this feeling that I'm going to get detention for not doing my homework.  Isn't that silly!!! 

FUTSAL FANATIC

I never thought it was possible.  Many said it would never happen.  They can hardly believe it and neither can I!  But, the proof is in the pudding and I love pudding.  There is no denying it, there were too many witnesses.  

I am a convert.  I can no longer keep it a secret.  I LOVE FUTSAL!!!! 

Futsal is 5-a-side indoor soccer.  It is a fast game with 20 minute halves and a harder ball.  It is played on a netball court (with soccer lines).

I can't control my excitement at these games and I am sitting (LITERALLY) on the edge of my seat as I watch the ball roll and bounce and the players slip and trip and kick and run.  I was even cheering on my team!! 

This new phase of sports spectator nuttiness might have something to do with my Nephew (remember #1?) representing QLD in the National Futsal Competition this week.  It might.  

What a week?!  I'm really very tired.  You wouldn't have thought I would be, I was just watching, but I had chest pains during the FINALS!!! That's right!! My little man was in the FINALS! I'm so proud.  It's hard to believe that I held him in my arms as a baby and changed his nappies and kicked the soccer ball with him in the backyard.  Now, he is a FINALIST and a NATIONAL CHAMPION for his age group.  

Will wonders never cease?! 

Will I ever use the exclamation mark appropriately?

Will the capital letters GO AWAY?

I'm getting on a plane home in a few hours and then the roller coaster of getting organised for school will begin.  I'll be back in a day or so.  First, I have to go and cuddle my Shelly and hope she doesn't scratch my eyes out for being away so long.  

Nap time!