Rest in Peace, my little cat-child, Joy

I am so sad to tell you that I lost my dear, sweet cat, Joy, today. Earlier this afternoon, she lost her very brave, but oh, too brief battle and passed away. I knew this day was coming but your never really prepared, are you? My beloved animals are my children and Joy was the perfect cat-child. She had such a big personality for such a tiny little girl and she will be missed so much. As I write this, her BFF, Henry, is roaming the rooms up here as if he is looking for her. She wasn't with me for long enough, but the time that I did have with her is indelibly etched in my heart and soul. It was a privilege to love her and a *joy* to have her love me back.

During her last few weeks, her favorite spot was to sit behind me on the back of my big comfy chair and place her hand on my back or shoulder.

The picture below is Joy on the right, laughing, and her BFF, Henry, on the left.

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan." ~Townsend

I'm a proud daughter!....and a proud sister, too!

First and foremost, I am so lucky to call my mother my very best friend.  She is an amazing lady.  Since I was a toddler I was convinced my mom could do anything....now I know she can!  She is an amazing artist - fiber arts, pen and ink wildlife pictures/notecards, altered arts, and even some writing!

She is so talented but in true artist fashion, she is not much of a business woman (ok, well maybe there is just this one thing she can't do :) ).  So, I decided to become her business manager and market her and set up an Etsy store for her.  I just want to show her off here............if you get a minute check out her Etsy store HERE (I still have a lot of things to list and she is working on building her inventory) but I love everything she does!! 

Yes, I am proud....here is just a sampling of some of her cool aprons - two of them are made with vintage linens...very cool:

OK, while I am sharing the talents of loved ones, let me tell you about my amazing artist BROTHER, Travis.  He does the most AWESOME pencil portraits....he is really good and now some of his commissions grace homes throughout the United States and Canada.  He is still so reasonably priced compared to other artists I have seen.  But, like mom, he is not business minded, so I set up and run an Etsy store for him as well.  Check out his Etsy store HERE and here are some of his recent portraits:

Thanks for indulging me by listening to me rave about my mom and brothers talents! 

Now if only my creative muse would come back to visit so I can reopen my own Etsy store!  Hopefully in 2010!

Talk to you soon,

Lolly

Scrapbooking fun with the girls.......

At least once a month, I have my sweet nieces, Courtney and Mallory, as well as my mom over for a scrapbooking party.  I am trying to pass along my love of scrapbooking to the girls.....and they do love it!!...and they are really good at it!  Mallory is just 9 and Courtney is almost 12.  This month, we did a few scrapbook pages, but mostly worked on Christmas cards/tags/bookmarks.  A lot of fun was had.

Joy (gray and white kitty below) used to be their kitty until she came to live with me.  She has a very serious heart condition and may not live much longer, so Mallory was very upset about that, but Joy heard their voices and came down to sit with them as they created.  What a sweet memory and although Joy totally loves living with me, she really misses "her girls". (note: ignore the binder clip holding my curtains closed...that is a funny story for another post - I have fabric to make new curtains for the living room, but where is the time?)

My beautiful mommy!

Hard at work.  What I do is bring down my big 6' card table and set it up in the living room and bring down all my scrapping goodies.  I have a home studio/office, but 4 of us in there would not be conducive to creating!

Mallory and mom!

Courtney with Joy.

The girls always make a special point to hold my big boy, Marty.  He is like a doll.  He loves to be held like a baby.  But don't wear black if you want to hold this boy...he is a major shedder, hence the quilts covering all of my furniture!

Mom making her holiday cards and tags........she is such a great artist!

I just love all three of these wonderful ladies.  We have so much fun when we are together!! 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  I was off for 5 days, but it still wasn't long enough!  The days just flew by!

Passionate about.....

I think when you share your life with the four-leggeds, you realize that "animals are my friends" - and in my case, then, how could I eat my friends?  I have my sweet pup, and my beloved cats, and even a rabbit (long story, but thanks to my niece, Mack, about 6 years ago).  I also feed the wild ones - the squirrels who eat peanuts from my hand, the birds who literally flock around me and aren't fearful, and even the geese when I see them.  

I have been vegetarian for about 14 years and became completely vegan early this year.  I always wanted to be vegan, but was convinced that I couldn't live without my eggs and cheese.  How wrong I was.  I am eating better and healthier and yummier than ever.

I have reawakened my love of cooking this year.  I have some awesome vegan cookbooks and have also been having fun "veganizing" traditional recipes.  My carnivore friends and family are amazed that my food tastes good.  Gasp!  --- you mean vegan food tastes yummy?  :)

Now to get this weight off.... It's great that I have nothing but healthy, organic, good for you food in my fridge and pantry, but......hello.....earth to Lolly....if you eat too much of it and have major portion distortion, you are NOT going to lose weight.  Sigh....I am a work in progress.

And don't worry, my friends.  I am passionate about animals and my veganism, but would never push it on anyone.  I like to share what I know and what I have learned, but it has to be a personal choice for each person.

Blessings,

Lolly

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging…

Oh yeah....I do have a blog.  After too many months away, I am ready to blog again.  I have a new blog look, a new outlook on life, a desire to lose weight and finally get healthy, and a desire to build a thriving and creative business.  Currently I am a work in progress, but for the first time in a very long time, I am feeling optimistic about...well, everything.
 

First, my weight.  I am tired of being fat.  There...I said it.  I just don’t want to be fat anymore. High blood pressure, arthritic knee, feeling ugly…..no more. I know it will take time, but I am ready. Finally, at the age of 44 (45 in January), I can say that I am ready.  In addition to other things, I want to document my journey to good health and happiness.  I have more than 100 pounds to lose and I know that I can’t think long term. Those numbers can be overwhelming.  I need to take this one day at a time, maybe some days even a minute at a time, but I need, no I WILL, get there.

 I am also going to use this blog to document some of my yummy vegan cooking, wonderful recipes that I have "veganized" myself and others that I have tried that my wonderful blog friends have shared with me.  I love to cook and I love organic.

And finally, I will use this blog to document and share my crafty creations, as well as those of my mom and brother (who I run etsy sites for!!).  We haven't officially opened my mom's etsy store yet, but am planning to do so Thanksgiving weekend (when I have 5 days off in a row!! woot!!).  She has some aprons that truly rock!!!  I will share them here when we get them up.  I also run an etsy site for my amazing artist brother, so will share some of his work as well. And when I am ready to open my etsy store back up, I will share that as well.

OK, glad to be back to blogging!!  Now it's time to catch up with some of my favorites!!

Love, Lolly

It's been a while........

It's been a while...I have been a bad blogger....but I will be back soon to blog again...in the meantime, enjoy these pics of some of my beloved furry children....oh, how they make my heart happy!

My heart cat, Freida...

My big sweet boy, Bob...

My little baby, Henry...

My dear, gentle Baby Spike...


My loveable and oh, so nosy Jack...

My funny old girl, Sharlet...

My gentle giant, Marty...

My aloof cutie, Buddy...

Talk to you all soon,

Lolly

My Sweet Girl, Bess

Bess 2/23/03 - 2/15/09

I am so sad to tell you that sweet Bess passed away on February 15. I have been so devastated and shocked by the loss that I haven't been able to post about it until now. She had been in the hospital since the Thursday evening before and fought so hard, but in the end it was just too hard for her. They had gotten the diabetes under control, but her body was just ravaged with infection and her breathing couldn't be sustained without assistance. I was with her as she took her last breath.

I wish you all could have known her sweetness. She was a good little sister to Lily and boy did this girl love her cats, especially her newest kitty, Henry. Her joy was in being the tattletale and letting mom know everything that everyone was doing. :) She loved her toys (she and Lily especially love their stuffed purses!! - typical girl) and she loved her biscuits and she loved her mom! She looked at me always with such love and devotion. From the moment I got her from a rescue almost exactly 5 years ago (she was only one at the time) she was all mine and we adored each other. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved this furry four-legged child of mine, for it was boundless. There is a hole in my heart today.
Be blessed my sweet girl, Bess. Mommy loves you.

I'm still here....

I have much to post, and am ready to get back on track with everything, including blogging. Not today :) but before the weekend for sure.

In the meantime, Oh happy day!!