LIFE WITH THAI

When we spoke last, it was of my Siamese cat, Clyde. A final note on him, he definitely believes he is human, and above is a picture to prove it!

The next picture is of Thai (pornounced Ty). She's 8 years old, spayed dilute tortie, short hair. However, she has the undercoat of a long hair cat. Her temperment is very, very sweet, hence her nickname, Sweetie Pie.

What stands out about her is she's a genuine "cat burgler" (an expensive one at that - to the tune of $15,000). You might ask, how this is possible? First, if you done't keep your purse closed, she will go through it. Then, if she finds something interestng she will take it out and drop it on the floor. This particular time, there was a $15,000 check in my purse as part of a downpayment toward a mortgage. I am at the mortgage company, and I am going through my purse (several times) looking for the check - it is not there. Now, the entire contents of my purse is on the table - and still no check! Long story Short: I knew this was Thai's habit, my purse was not closed; called back home and asked my daughter-in-law to check under the table where purse was last. Sure enough, on the floor was the check!!

ONE MORE OBSESSION - MY CATS!!!

Let me begin, by saying, "Cats are like potatoe chips - you can't have just one"! Having said that, I will introduce to my FOUR cats!! And NO I am not an animal hoarder. It is not fair to the animals to be a hoarder of them. In the wild, all animals are territorial!! There is just enough space for 4 cats and 2 adults in my house - that's it period!!

The cat today is Clyde, a 3 year old nutered male, Lynx Point Siamese. He definitely has the true Siamese temperment. Very sweet, when things are going his way. Very demanding, when they are not going his way! An example of the latter, if he wants to sit or lay in a particular spot, and there is something in the way, he'll just push it out of the way, and if it lands on the floor, oh well so what!! Herewith are 3 pictures of him:

The 1st:He is on his very, very best behavior. The 2nd, Clyde being Clyde. The last, Old Mr. Blue Eyes, aka Frank!!

9/11 OATMEAL RAISIN THANK YOU COOKIES

You may wonder what a plate of food has to do with "Life With Me"??? Well, as the saying goes, ... "It's not about me"! Every year on the anniversary of 9/11 I have done something to show my appreciation for our firefighters. This year it is a plate of homemade, oatmeal raisin cookies. The recipe is from www.bettycrocker.com/recipes. I have altered or substitued a few things for better health. The recipe calls for real sugar, and I use the same amount of Splenda; it also calls for butter or margerine, and I use SMart Balance Buttery Spread (again in the same amounts).

Tips: I ran out of time, when I started making the batter yesterday. So, I covered the bowl with foil wrap, hoping when I got it from the refridge this morning it would not be to dry. Unfortunately, it was but, I added 2 or 3 teaspoons of water and that made the batter perfect.

HOW TO DECORATE FOR LESS THAN $100

Well, I am back!!!! This time, I have found a new passion or obsession!! How to decorate my home for less than $100! I know, you are probably thinking, "sure, those guys on HGTV tell you how to do it, but they are PROFESSIONAL DECORATORS"! Well, I am here to tell you it can be done!! I did it for less than $100, and in only one weekend.

My living room was basically red and black with white walls (hospital white, at that - BORING)! So, I decided to make a change. I had been contemplating doing this for about nine months! Then one night, while in bed, it came to me the color scheme I want to change to. I want the walls to be a combination of soft blue and green. In other words, light blue-green. This was about one month ago. Next, I went into Wal Mart's paint section and looked through there paint chip samples. I found the right color. Another time, while shopping in Wal Mart, I found a new lampshade to replace the red one I had. Still, another time, I found two rugs for the living room floor in the right colors. Also, found material to cover existing pillows. I had material left-over, so I covered an old picture with some of material, made a table runner, place mats. The solid blue, pillow slip looked plain. I took an old doily I had and hand-sewed it on to the front of the pillow slip.

At this point, I had my dinosaur of a sewing machine out for most of the weekend, and figured this would be a great time to quit procrastinating and sew the valances for two other windows in the house. This material I had on hand for quite some time!!! The machine is a dinosaur both in size and age! It is heavy to move, even though it is portable, and I received it as a present in 1964!

The pictures tell the story. The cost: Lampshade $5; Rugs $60; Material $10; Total $75
I live in Florida, and it is way to hot to paint now!! Will wait until the fall!!
Thanks for viewing & following!!

My Obsessions

Where to start? I guess I will start with my latest obsession, which is searching out my ancestry. This has led me straight back to some of my older obsessions. These are history and travel.

I have found the best ancestry searching site is RootsWeb.com. It is free, easy to operate and thorough. I can spend hours on it, and in some instances have! It has opened my mind to a lot of historical questions. Such as, what exactly happened to cause all of these ancestors to die on the same day? Was it war-time, and if so, which war, or was it disease or famine? It has opened my mind to more travel related directly to me, rather than to others or in general. I know I can't afford to travel back to New England in person. However, with the aid of the computer (at least for the time being), I will travel through the computer.

Another one of my obsessions, crafting. I do crafts with stamping, coloring, jewelry, natural bath & beauty items, paper crafting. Love to do paper crafting. It can be easy to complex, but if you have left-over paper in your home you can use it!! No or Low Cost.

Paper Crafting: I do a lot with card templates & origami.

I will be posting more in the future!

Thanks for viewing!