Saturday Scribbles Vol 1

It's not Kiki, but pretty close to my girl.
Picture changed due to my not wanting to use a Google Image. Photo from morguefile.

Hello friends. Welcome to the first ever edition of Saturday Scribbles! This is something new I'm doing here on the blog this year. It'll be posts on Saturdays - may not be EVERY week, but just on Saturdays. These posts will be totally random. They may be a recipe I've discovered, pictures of my life, my thoughts on something I'm learning, something I've written (poetry, etc), Mary Kay things, a crochet project I'm working on, etc. Or just whatever I'm feeling that day. They WILL NOT be book reviews, book giveaways, or generally anything involving books. My book related posts are reserved for M-F. Feel free to comment on them as usual and let's discuss.

So let's begin.

I was trying to come up with something for this first post. And I really didn't have anything to discuss or that was on my heart. So I decided that I'd just allow you, my reader friends, a chance to get to know me better. I'll start with how I came up with my picture and title.

Those of you who know me, even just a little, know I LOVE cats. I have one black fur-baby named Kiki. Here's my darling girl.

Yes she's sticking her tongue out at me.

This one shows off her beautiful eyes.

But I didn't have a picture of Kiki that conveyed the idea I had in my mind. I wanted to get/find a picture of a cat "writing" on a computer. Because I'd had in mind the title for this feature being "Saturday Scribbles." I kept thinking to myself that it would be fun to utilize Saturday in the title as these are posts that will be on Saturdays. And then I went a step further and thought that by calling it "Scribbles" it would convey the idea that these posts are random, about nothing in particular, and really just scribbles on a page (or keys). So I found that picture of a black & white kitty sitting at a computer. Not laying on top of it, but actually looking like he is working on something. It was perfect. Using Picassa, I added my font and played the the effects. And VIOLA! This was the answer.

I played around with shades of purple and green to get the effect I wanted so that it would fit with my blog's background. 

Maybe someday this feature will be made available to other bloggers. I'd have to figure out the logistics of getting the picture to be in html code and all that fun stuff. But right now, it's mine and is unique to me.

So that's how I came up with the name and the picture.

As I've already mentioned, I love cats. My sweet girl is truly a blessing to me. She keeps me company and loves to cuddle. At least with me. It's always an adventure when I need to go out of town for a few days and I take her over to my Mom's. She doesn't like her kitty carrier very much and HATES the car ride. But I've gotten smart. I'll put some special treats into her carrier, coax her in, and then in the car, she sits up front where she can see me. And she tolerates my mom. It's not so bad when I'm there with her, but when I'm not, Mom's told me that Kiki rarely lets Mom pet her. And Kiki LOVES the hiding places in my Mom's house. One of her favorite spots is upstairs in what used to be my brother's room, hiding under the Christmas tree.

But it's funny how animals are. I've got her trained well. On a workday, I have to leave my apartment a little after 6 to get to work on time. I've got to be at work at 7am and if I have to take the main lanes of traffic, it can take me 45 minutes or more. But there's a secret. I pay a toll to drive the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane as long as I am on it by a certain time. It cuts my commute down to 20 minutes. But anyway, back to Kiki. My alarm clock is purposely set 30 minutes faster than my cell phone. So when it shows 5:00 AM, it is really 4:30. So the alarm goes off at 5, I reset it for 5:30. When it goes off at 5:30, I reset it for 6. When it goes off at 6 (5:30 to the rest of the Houston area), I have to get up. Kiki knows that when the alarm goes off for the 3rd time, she can start crying for her breakfast. And I tell her days in advance on days I'll be off I say, "Kiki Mommy is off on Friday. So Mommy will be sleeping in." That works somewhat. Instead of her waking me up at 6 demanding breakfast, she wakes me up at 8. So she lets me sleep in. But there's been time when I've been sick. She knows it. And just cuddles. Or when I'm crocheting. She sees the yarn in my lap and knows she has to settle for my feet. But I wouldn't trade her. She's a good cat. She is about 15 years old, but still acts like a kitten. She'll chase shadows and play on the steps of my apartment. She'll pounce on any bag I have out. And she LOVES sitting on my Mary Kay product shelf right there with all of the handcream. 

So tell me about your pets. Or your well loved fur-babies.