Out with the old...

...the old month, as well as some old party decorations. How in the world did we get to the end of February already?  And wasn't it just yesterday that I said the same thing about January?  I have a feeling that the rest of this year is going to just disappear.... especially because one of my cousins is in the midst of planning a Christmas wedding. Up north, no less. I never did understand the reasons behind a wedding during a month when you could be hit with snow, ice, slush, sleet, and all things connected to a blizzard. If you live in the south, or in Hawaii, then by all means... have a Christmas wedding. But living on Long Island.... or anywhere else in NY... I just cannot get into a wedding frame of mind when the temperature can be below freezing and snow can be falling from the sky and piling up around your prettiest high heels.

All that being said.... my cousin has been shopping on-line this week for wedding favors, and has looked at 'more favors than anyone should be faced with during one lifetime.'  As of yesterday, they found the one and with the cute little pouch and the engraving, they're still within budget. I have to admire a bride who wants to stay within a budget.  I asked my cousin if her daughter will be on "Say Yes to The Dress" when she goes shopping for her wedding gown but she may have thought I was joking.  A wedding is always nice to look forward to, especially when my generation of cousins can remember all the big family weddings of years ago. But.... in December?..... up north?.... (My cousin's daughter must have nerves of steel.)


BooKitty comes and goes around here.... right now, he's sleeping on the porch, not too far from Mickey, who plowed into BooKitty this morning as if that stray cat was about to steal the last bit of cat food on the planet.  To his credit, BooKitty did not fight back... it's as if he knows that Mickey was here first and is indeed King of the Feline Porch out there.  I've tried to explain to Mickey that if he's nice to BooKitty, he will have a buddy outside and not always be by himself outside, but Mickey doesn't seem to care. I intend to keep feeding BooKitty for as long as he chooses to be here, but I've decided against getting him fixed.  Because of all the days that BooKitty is not here, I'm thinking that he could belong to someone else.... and I don't want to be fixing someone else's cat. Even though I think all cats (and dogs) should be fixed, it's not up to me to make that decision for someone else's pet. So I will just hope that BooKitty doesn't show up on our porch one day with his Kitty Mama and seven kittens.

I recently went through my boxes of decorations for St. Patty's Day and Easter.... I saved a few of my favorite things, and brought the rest to my booth at the antique shop.  All those little porcelain leprechauns and pretty shamrock plates... and the porcelain eggs and the collectible Lefton chicks... they're all sitting on my display shelves now with price tags on them.  So, along with Valentine's Day celebrations, St. Patrick's Day and Easter parties are now history.  We'll still do the Halloween parties, and of course the Christmas party. Speaking of Halloween, I've already started making the invitations for that party... and with the way these weeks are going by, October will be here in a heart-beat.

I've been reading a lot lately.... a lot.  Book after book from my shelf filled with 'books to be read.' The number of books on that shelf is ever-growing because I keep finding books every week that are either on my to-read list or should be on that list.  When I read during the day, I'm usually on the sofa in the TV room, and Savannah is almost always right next to me, with her head either on my arm or in my lap. As soon as Sweet Pea sees Savannah curled up with me, he walks over and squeezes himself on my lap also. It's getting so that turning a page is a challenge when I have a 75-pound dog on my right arm and a 15-pound cat on my left arm.  As a result, being propped up on pillows and reading in bed at night is a joy.