Furry Friday (a day late)

I thought I would include ALL of the Furries this week.

This is a complete roster of the Animal Planet that lives at our house.

Our newest additions - Murphy and Riley. Very much PUPPIES.

They LOVE to take rides.

Baby Willow who is probably almost a year now- is growing up

into a proud fat cat like her sisters.

Gracie is around 2 years old.

She is attempting to help me grade papers.

Max is Hunkahubby's kitty (or was, before the traitor got DOGS).

He is 3.

Max likes to get in our drawers . . .

The only furry who is absolutely without a doubt, MINE. My big boy Rufus.

He was my 30th birthday present, which means he will be 4 this year

(and yes, I just confessed my age.)

The beautiful white/calico kitty is Cali.

We got her from our friend who had an overabundance of kitty cats

(seriously, a TON). She is about 6, I think.

Rufus and Cali have a love/hate relationship.

This beauty is Britney. She was Hunkahubby's kitty before we met.

He found her in a snowstorm. She was tiny. She is definitely not tiny now.

She is about 12 years old.

And this ornery thing is Lily, the office cat who comes home with me

on long weekends and vacations. She is a people cat, NOT a cat cat.

I have no idea how old she is.

So there you have the furry side of our family. Go ahead, you can say it. We're NUTS!

But if you ever need animal therapy . . . come to our house! :-)

It's Furry Friday!!!

Gracie has the right idea. But I guess I should go to work.

Do you like Chinese food?

Our family loves Chinese food. And sushi.

This is probably my favorite restaurant right now.

But why should we be the only ones who are allowed to enjoy this?

Shouldn't our pets be allowed to enjoy Pan-Asian fare?

Now they can!

Check out these cool cat treats!

And because we are equal-opportunity pet-lovers . . .


Check out these cool sushi treats for dogs!

Do you think they will like them?

Oh my, what have I done?

I can't concentrate on anything but this . . .


He's so tiny, so needy, so absolutely trusting and adorable . . .


And yet, so cool at the same time. ;-)

Do you think my cats will ever forgive me for falling in love with a puppy?


For Rufus at least . . . the jury is still out.

Sleepy Kitty

Willow has definitely won over the cats in the house. She is rambunctious and playful and they had no choice. One of my favorite things about having cats is when they buddy up to each other and sleep together. I just think its so sweet when they trust each other enough to do that.

With every other cat we've ever brought into the house, it has taken at least a week for the older cats to warm up to the new kitten. Well - it hasn't even been a week . . .

And look at this (forgive me, these pictures were taken with my camera phone). . .

Here is our oldest cat, Britney. She is usually the crankiest about adding new kitties to the house. She doesn't seem to mind this one.

And this picture just melts my heart . . .

Our second oldest cat, Cali is also usually pretty grumpy about new kitties. NOT THIS ONE!



Isn't that just the cutest thing?

And why is it that my other cats now look HUGE? :-)

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Oh no I didn't . . .

Oh yes, I did.

Meet Willow!! :-)

I'm a sucker. I admit it. My husband isn't speaking to me, but I had to do it.
I rescued another kitty.
Which brings our total to (drumroll please . . .)
SIX kitties at home and one kitty at the office.

Seven total.

I know, I'm nuts.

But honestly, how could I resist this little spitfire?


She has already won over all five of our cats,
which is a record in our household.
I guess they've given up on me,
and they're just used to me bringing another fuzzy thing home.

I promise that now I'm done.
No more kittens.

I think.

No - if I want to keep my husband, I have to be done. ::sighs::

(To be honest, he wasn't that upset,
he pretended to be -
but he is just as crazy about the purry furballs as I am.
And I think he's crazy about me too - THANK GOODNESS!)

Happy Independence Day if you are in the US. Happy Day to everyone else!

Cat Fight!

I haven't posted any kitty pictures in a while, so I though I'd make up for it with a play by play of this cat fight.



Gracie starts by picking on Max. Just a playful love tap.



Max leans down to ask her what she wants, and she SMACKS him upside the head. One point for Gracie!



She reaches up to apologize for hitting him . . .



And he bites her on the neck! One point for Max!!



Now it's ALL OUT WAR!!! (doesn't this picture remind you of jr.high girly slap fights?)



Gracie finally surrenders,



. . . as Max looks down on his unworthy opponent.

Office Cat

I just realized that I have not introduced everyone to the newest furry child in my life:


This is Lily. Isn't she beautiful?

Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking . . ."Are you NUTS? You already have FIVE CATS. Why do you need another one?"

Well, here is the story. A lady in our neighborhood posted a message (w/photo of course) of a cat she had taken in from a lady who had to find a home for her because of allergies. Unfortunately my neighbor lady already had several pets - including a couple of dogs who were none too fond of this new addition to their household. The poor kitty was perched on a towel on top of the dryer and very rarely came down because of the dogs. She looked so sad sitting on top of that dryer . . .

I spoke to one of the guys I work for and said, "Don't you think we need an office kitty?" He said I should bring her in for a "Date" to see how she did and how we all got along. So I went to meet the kitty and fell in love at first site. I had to talk to Hunkahubby to determine what we would do if things didn't go over well at the office - and he (of course, because he loves me) said if things didn't work out, we could keep her. :-)

Luckily, though - she is an AWESOME office cat. She sleeps under my desk.

She talks to us and she PURRRRRSSS. Even office visitors who admit to not being fond of cats, have fallen in love with Lily. I believe she was meant to be our cat. :-)

Here she is at a meeting:


And here she is after having a romp with her mouse.


Let me tell, you it is very relaxing to have a cat in the office when you are stressed! I think she is a calming influence for all of us . . .

My only complaint?? CAT HAIR. EVERYWHERE. ALL THE TIME.

But it's worth it . . .

Have any of you ever had an office pet? What are your experiences?

SPRING IS HERE!!!

Finally . . .

Mommy, there are chirpy, feathery things outside - can I PLEASE go outside?

PLEASE?? LET ME GO OUTSIDE!!! (sorry kitty, you'd never come back!)

And with Spring, comes outdoor activities and new exciting beginnings . . .

Can you guess what this picture means??? (Video to come soon!)

Does your cat keep you awake?

Franny Syufy from About Cats has some tips on how to save yourself from sleep deprivation caused by your cat.

Check out the article here.

I use several of her tips - but I also know some of them do NOT work with our cats. I tried shutting the door on them, they will scratch at the door for HOURS. They are nothing if not persistent. I do have a 'sound machine' and I've gotten pretty good at putting a pillow over my head at 5:00 in the morning.

However, I have had to utilize 2 things not mentioned . . . a spray water bottle kept by the bed . . . and a cat crate in the walk-in closet for the kitty that refuses to go to bed when everyone else does. :-)

What do you do to keep yourself from pet-causing sleep deprivation?

(Funny kid story IS coming soon . . . I promise . . .)

My cat thinks she is a dog . . .

She is obsessed with the toilet. She will scratch at the door until you let her in.

Then she likes to watch the water go down when you flush it. And - if I don't catch her in time, she then does this. She has almost fallen in several times.

I love the way her paws are anchoring her from falling completely in.

But at least we don't have this problem . . .

The Cast of Characters

Up to this point, I have chosen not to post pictures of my children on this blog. Due to the circumstances of how we became a family, I wanted to ensure the safety of my kids and family.

Well, after a long conversation with Hunkahubby, and some tips from other bloggers and how they handle this sort of thing; I've finally determined that I can now include photos of my family on this blog!!! So - beware, I have a lot of catching up to do and thousands of pictures to do it with.

I will never use real names on this blog (well, except for the cats, and other people who have blogs of their own and use their own names) - and those of you who know me beyond cyberspace will know who we are anyway! If one of my readers accidentally uses someone's real name when they comment on my blog - I'll delete the comment, but I won't be mad atcha! :-)

So - for the first time on Not of this World I would like to introduce you to the cast of characters in the story of my life:

This is my husband and I, AKA Hunkahubby and IzzyBeth.

This is my brave and beautiful oldest daughter.

This is my middle child and one and only son.

This is my extremely strong-willed and ornery youngest daughter.

And even though I've talked about my cats before, I thought it was important that they were included again here in the cast of characters.

These are our oldest 2 cats, Britney and Cali.

Here we have Rufus (MY CAT) and Max (Hunkahubby's cat).

And the youngest kitty, Gracie who is also ornery and strong-willed. :-)

So there you have it . . . stay tuned for more of our adventures in FULL COLOR!

Why do YOU celebrate Valentine's Day?

The History channel website has an informative piece on the subject of Valentine's Day and it's origins. I read through it and I'm not really sure which story I buy into. I just know that it is nice to have a holiday that is entirely dedicated to LOVE.

That being said, I do feel that it has been commercialized a little too much. I mean - my kids have to give Valentines to everyone in their class - so by the time they are old enough to actually HAVE a real Valentine - the gesture will most likely have lost some of it's magic.

"According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)" (from History)

Wow - one billion Valentine cards. That is a lot. That's a lot of love.

But do you see it?

When you look around - do you see a billion Valentine cards worth of love?

I'm sure that if you focus on the violence and the apathy and the negative things going on today - you won't be able to see that much love.

However, today - I am choosing to focus on the love that I do see:

The old couple holding hands as they walk down the sidewalk . . .

The man who pulls over to help a stranded person on the side of the road . . .

The unconditional loving smile of a child . . .

and a Grace that forgives even when we feel unforgiveable . . .

And of course . . . fuzzy kitties loving on each other . . .

So I am choosing to delight in the love that I see this day. By trying to make someone's day brighter, by smiling at the cranky salesperson at Wal-mart, and by giving my husband tons and tons of Valentine's kisses.

How are YOU going to celebrate this day of love?