Momma Cat

Today's blog is a guest entry. I didn't really ask for permission, but I don't think he would mind. Also, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. 😉 Cats are very dear to him and this is the beginnings of a story of a very special cat who infiltrated his life for a period of time.

***

First time I saw that Junkyard, I was amazed at the old cars I saw: a Citicar (a 70's electric car that flopped on the market) several Studebakers, Perhaps 15 Corvairs, a terrific-and ancient-VW van, a Packard, a drivable 'top-line 73 Gremlin, and animals...lots of animals.

The junkyard owner is rather simple, and his idea of feeding the animals is to toss a bunch of chow into the trough and let the four-legs go at it, and devil take the hindmost.

That means, of course, that the big dogs are fat and the little cats starve. 

The kittens were emaciated and filthy, and the mother cat was scrawny as she could be, yet she was beautiful with the glow of maternal love, and had a sweet and tender disposition, like any mother does. She sat in the same shady place on the porch, as if glued to it.

She obviously loved her kittens, yet she could do so little to take care of them, against that canine tidal wave.

Whenever I visited the junkyard, to buy parts, or haggle about this or that car, or just to look, I'd take food for the cats.

And I always fed Momma cat first. 

I could, possibly, have lassoed each of those myriad kittens in turn, and fed them one by one. The result wouldn't have been very successful, though, because they didn't know or trust me, and I didn't even know where they all were.

But I knew that if I fed Momma Cat, if I gave her the help she needed, if I put her first, then she would have the strength to take care of her babies, far better and more completely then I ever could, no matter how deeply I cared and wanted to help.

So I fed her first.

I also had some very stern words for the simpleton in charge. A 2-pound kitten loses to an 80-pound Doberman every time, so he had to feed the babies away from the big'uns. He's not a bad guy, but "junkyard owner" is probably the top of his intellectual potential, so I can only hope the lesson sunk in.

But the overall lesson is the important one: Feed Momma cat first, even if we ourselves are Momma. It's not just OK, but necessary.

Memories In the Wild

I had received a text message from the mom of one of my piano student's. She was asking me about lessons for a friend and then asked me if I had written a book. I was astonished as how she found out that information as it's not something I broadcast publicly. She told me it was the first thing that came up when she searched my name on the internet.

Well, then. 

Before I leapt to incorrect conclusions of being a famous author, I correctly put the pieces together.

- she paid me via PayPal and my maiden name was still attached to that account.

- my maiden name is quite obscure. I'm no John Smith or Jane Doe.

I actually searched myself using my maiden name and low and behold, it came up. My book was being sold on a book reselling website. I found the listing. The seller had put in the description, "A paperback book SIGNED and inscribed by author to previous owner on the first page in very good condition that has some bumped corners, wrinkling and crease, light discoloration and shelf wear. 8"x5", 177 pages." 

Immediately, I felt slightly betrayed. Who would part with a personal, signed copy of my book? I had personally ordered 25 copies and sold them only for the price of printing. I kept one copy. 

I told my husband about this and he asked me if I would buy it just to take it out of circulation. I said, "Of course not. This person is trying to sell it for twice what I charged my friends and I didn't care whether it was in some random person's possession or not."

But it was still eating away at me who had given away their copy of my book. I understood he/she could do whatever he/she wanted and it didn't matter if it was my book or not. But I still felt hurt.

My biggest accomplishment before I had kids. $0 profit but 1000% satisfaction.

I loved writing, and I wrote these books at a time in my life when I needed them the most. They were my therapy. I didn't care to become rich and famous. I just wanted a place to catalogue my writing and keep it close to me. And I did exactly that. These are stories of my life, my experiences, my loves lost, my sadness, my anger, my joy, and my adventures. 

When I wrote the first one and shared them with interested friends, one friend gasped and said, "You used their real names!" I did. The reason why I did was because I had nothing to hide. These were true stories of my life. I said nothing incriminating about anyone in my book. In fact, I mostly said good things because that is how I remembered them. The bad things came with the sadness they made me feel. It didn't make them a bad person. 

I didn't realize it then, but there would come a day (now) when I would forget parts of my past experiences. Had I coded their names, I would not be able to remember who it was. And that would devalue the memory. Writing it the way they happened allowed me to save the memory and keep it true to the person. 

I reread them every now and then. Reading my own writing from so long ago makes me cringe. I see places with errors I failed to catch. I see unpolished works I once thought were "pretty good." I think only 1-2 pieces in total still impress me the way they did when I wrote them. But that's the power of wisdom. I know I can see things now through a different lens than I could when I was 18 or 20. 

**

I found out whose book the seller was listing online. I saw my personalization in the front, something I did for every person who bought a copy of any book I offered. At first, I was sad. I wondered why this person would choose to let go of my book. And then I figured it out. This person has always had a big heart. This person has always been a giver, not a taker. This person would want to share my writing with someone else. That's all. It's unfortunate it ended up in the hands of someone trying to take advantage of an opportunity to capitalize, but I believe that was never the intent.

And then I let go of the hurt. 

An Encounter with God

I had a God moment Tuesday morning. I went to drop off food for a friend that morning because Wednesday and Thursday were going to be snowy and cold. So I was going to make sure she had enough food to make it through a few days without having to go anywhere. I texted her and told her my ETA. 

When I arrived, I got out of the car and knocked on the door. I didn't let my kids out of the car yet because I wasn't sure she had time for us to hang out for a while. My friend came to the door shortly after and I asked her if she had time for a visit. She said sure, so I unloaded the kids and went inside.

Right after we went inside, her son was on the phone scheduling a consultation. The only available time was at 11 am that very same day. It was already past 10 am. So he was basically saying yes, we have to meet ASAP at this time, and his mother was telling him she wasn't ready because she hadn't taken her shower and changed her clothes, put on makeup, etc. Well, I offered to leave the kids with her to babysit and I'd go with her son to the consultation. My friend said sure, she'd watch the kids, and then I'd go with him. 

I was all set to leave my kids and go on the consultation until I remembered that I’d rescheduled my lessons for the day. With the upcoming bad weather and PISD’s school holiday on Tuesday, I had rescheduled kids to come as early as 2 pm and I was teaching nonstop until 7. So, then, I told my friend I probably couldn’t go to the consultation because I wasn’t sure how long it’d last and I wasn’t sure I’d make it home in time. I was running numbers through my head and I landed on 2:30 pm. That wasn't going to work because I needed to be home before 2 pm. She said okay and went to go get ready. I stayed with my kids for a while as they roamed around the living room. 

As I was sitting around with them, the thought occurred to me that I wasn’t sure I had locked my car. I figured, oh well, it wasn’t that big of a deal, there was nothing valuable in the car to steal anyway. Finally around 10:30, my friend was ready and I bundled up the kids to load them back up in the car to go home. Sure enough, the car was unlocked as I’d thought. Well, it just made my job easier to load them in because I didn’t have to dig for keys to unlock the car before opening the door. I loaded my kids up, got them strapped into their car seats, and then opened the driver’s side to get in the car myself.

And then I saw my keys. In the ignition of the car. The entire time we were at my friend's house. I had turned off the car engine before bringing the kids inside so the car wasn’t running the entire time, but my keys were definitely in the car. I said a quick thank you to God that nobody had stolen my car and started driving.

As I was driving, I kept thinking to myself and doing some math. I had miscalculated my time. The consultation was at 11 am. I took a guess it would be 90 minutes so that would bring the time to 12:30 pm. 30 minutes to get back to my friend's, 1:00 pm. And then 30 minutes for me to drive home. 1:30 pm. So technically, I could have still made it home in time to teach. Ideal? Most definitely not, especially not for teaching 5 hours straight and not eating a proper lunch. 

But then I realized that had I actually went to the consultation, my keys would have been sitting inside my car for three and a half hours, I think someone definitely would have stolen it. So by God’s grace I miscalculated my time, left my friend's early, and found my car still intact.

I think sometimes, this is how God works. He knows I have a lot going on right now, and He knows I'm trying to take care of other people out there who need it. I think He's also reminding me, Hey, you need to take care of your own stuff, too, and if you can't think straight because you have so much going on, I'm going to help you, even if it means making you do your math wrong.

Wordle in Review

(Disclaimer: these are all past Wordles and do not include today's word)

So I got sucked into Wordle a few days after the New Year just like everyone else. It's actually been a really nice daily activity. It's also been a great bonding topic between one of my college friends. We are celebrating about 13 years of friendship this year :) I remember meeting her at lunch one day in the dining hall after a large lecture class. I liked her. She was like an older, smarter version of myself. She gave me rides to church during college and was my church buddy because very few people wanted to wake up for the 9 o'clock service. She let me cook at her apartment for a large event once when I volunteered to handle refreshments. She attended our wedding, and now she lives about 10 minutes from my in-laws. Wordle is another nice way to add to our friendship. 

I take a screenshot everyday, but I wanted to explore some more thought processes with the rest of the world. I know people post their scores and people are so impressed when someone can guess the word in two or three guesses. But let's be real, sometimes it's just luck. What's the actual thought process behind guessing? Let's take a look at some of mine....

This was the one day I was unable to guess the word. I was very frustrated. This was also the day after the word "tacit" so I was thinking along more posh lines. Rouse was a great word. It should have been the Wordle. Much more sophisticated than "other." "Error" was a good guess after rouse. "Oiler" put the three letters I already had in the correct spot. "Odder" was probably a bad guess, but hey, those double letters really trip me up. "Otter" was another guess at the double letters. Unfortunately, it was my last guess, so I did not solve the Wordle that day. I should have tried a word with more variation in letters like "other"....but hindsight.

I got pretty lucky on this one. Caulk just came to mind first when I saw it started with a "c" and ended with a "k" and had an "a" in the middle. I blame my renovation and homeowner experience. 

Look at how many times I had to guess "-der" before I got it right...

This was a fun Wordle. I guessed three words that were all moving forward in guessing technique AND they have a theme! I bet you've never guessed a Wordle and had all the words match together in a theme. 😂

After I'd guessed "prove" I really thought of the word "proxy" first, but I didn't guess it because I didn't think they would pick it as the word. Turns out I was actually right and wrong....since I decided to guess prowl first. I don't know why my mind went to "proxy" but it did. Should have trusted my gut. Just for that day. 

This is the only Wordle I've solved in two guesses. I don't know how I got so lucky. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So far I can't say I've learned any new words from Wordle. They're not all common but I've heard of them all at least once in my life. I've come across a few new words just by guessing combinations when I reach my wits end, but that doesn't happen very often. Although lately I've been getting frustrated a lot more....haha. But in all honesty, I really enjoy Wordle if not solely for the purpose of texting my friend. 😊

The Silver Lining

My daughter loves to read. It's a great hobby and I support it fully. She can't actually read herself yet, but I'm not concerned. I'd rather foster a love for it and then learn to do it than force her to learn to read and in doing so kill the love. Love is important. Eventually when it's grade and age appropriate, yes, there will be times I will force her to do things, but for now, she is three, and not knowing how to read is perfectly acceptable, and loving to read is wonderful.

As an adult, I'm torn at times. She loves to read stories from these small "anthologies" of Disney stories. People have gifted us and given us many of these various books with tons of stories in them. At first I read them, and they were fun, silly stories. Adventures of what Mickey did. A sequel to Cinderella. Just short, fun stories. 

And then something changed. I experienced something I never thought I'd have to, and that's saying quite a lot. Considering I am someone who lost a parent at a young age, which was something I'd never imagined experiencing either, even this was profound. It is not something to be quickly forgotten or healed. It is not something that will really ever "get better." It has become a part of my life.

I read the stories again, and suddenly, I felt they weren't as fun or silly as they should have been. They were a little too optimistic, too perfect. The bad guys always got punished. The good guys always prevailed. Unfortunately that's not how the world works. They need to learn there are injustices out there in the world. There are innocent people being accused of crimes they didn't commit. There are people out there committing crimes and getting away with them. There are people afraid to tell the truth. There are people lying and being believed as truth. Life is not so simple as right and wrong. 

Disney always showed happy endings. The good prevails. But let's be honest. Tons of bad things happen to good people. So many injustices are out there. As happy and as fun as Disney is, I will always choose the books with deeper messages more than just happy endings. 

My husband came home from the library with my daughter and had this book in the pile. I quickly flipped through all the books he'd brought home just to see what they were about. Rabbit and the Motorbike was one of them. I read it part way and immediately said to him, "This is a sad book. Did you know that?" No, he didn't. Then I kept reading, and although sad, I really liked it. They didn't go into detail about the sadness but as an adult, you can infer. 

This book does have a "happy" ending, but it's not the same as Disney story happy endings. There's pain, there's struggle, and there's the search for the silver lining. I know my children won't understand the depth of it now, but teaching starts early. Every little seed, idea, inspiration, starts way before you thought it existed. 

Make it count.

Bilingual Benefits

 I was cooking dinner and my daughter was playing with playdoh. She was talking to me as I cooked. 

S: Mommy, look, I made a wok!

Me: A wok? I turned around to look. 

S: No, a wok! 

Me: A walk?

S: No! A wok! 石头！

Me: Oh! A rock. 

S: Yea, mommy. I made a wok. 

Not the same “wok”…but that’s when I pulled the camera out. 

I chuckled to myself but didn’t correct her. It would happen eventually. She was still only three. I was just glad her comprehension in two languages was good enough that she could translate to convey. 

That’s impressive. 

I secretly kinda wish she had made a wok. 

Checking In: Small Kitchen Appliances

The first month of the new year is over. And just as last year did, this month flew by. Maybe I've just reached the time in my life where time flies no matter how long or how short. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This past month, I've been marking tallies everyday we use an appliance. Here are how the tallies are standing after January:  

1. Toaster Oven
2. Kettle
3. Rice Cooker
4. Instant Pot : 7
5. Instant Pot Air Fryer: 3
6. Vacuum Sealer: 3
7. Juicer: 2
8. Food Processor: 2
9. Blender: 2
10. Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven: 2
11. Waffle Maker: 1
12. Griddle: 1
13. Immersion Blender: 1
14. Popcorn Maker
15. Crockpot/Slow Cooker
16. Mini Food Warmer
17. Hand Mixer
18. Stand Mixer
19. Steamer

I do want to make sure it's understood that these numbers represent days used, not number of times used. I chose to do this method because if I decided to use my stand mixer to bake three different items in one day, it is not fair to count that as three times. If I had borrowed it for example, I would have only needed to borrow it for one day. However, asking to borrow something three separate times is very different. 

The top three items do not have numbers next to them because I'm not counting. They are my "must-haves" and therefore have been used close to every single day of the year. The Instant Pot is currently holding the winning position at 7 uses in one month. I've used it to make stock out of bones as well as soups and stews this month. 

We recently upgraded to an 8 qt Instant Pot with Air Fryer lid.
So far it's proving itself the leader in our kitchen small appliances.

The vacuum sealer is tied in the second spot with 3 uses in one month. I've been restocking our freezer meat because I went almost an entire month without buying meat near the end of last year. I do this every now and then if I catch myself buying too much meat when I see it on sale. I'll tell myself to start using up what's in the freezer and to stop buying meat at the grocery store. It helps to balance out our grocery budgets as well as clean out the freezer so nothing gets too old. 

We've used our juicer twice this month. I decided to buy a 10 pound bag of grapefruit that was on sale. My husband doesn't prefer grapefruit but I love it. He does not mind the juice however, so we juice it out and drink it. Equally just as satisfying. We bought it at the end of 2020 and use it seasonally when citrus is in season, but even if the numbers don't show, I still believe it's handy to have around for juicing rather than eating citrus. I'm just not a fan of citrus fibers stuck in my teeth. 

I also discovered my food processor blades are no longer sharp enough to slice through raw almonds. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it's sometimes more worth it to buy a whole new appliance than replace a part. 

It's amazing how much you discover and learn about your kitchen appliances and your usage habits when you actually study them. 

 

Click here to read part 3