As I clipped coupons from the newspaper Roxie sat on my bed going through them as well. Yes, we have Groupon and Living Social and email deals etc but there’s something about paper coupons, besides Roxie loves them.
Where's the Coupon for Fancy Feast?
There is a lot of controversy in the American political arena about women, our bodies, our health. Some say that those trying to implement restrictions are merely trying to change the debate to subjugate women and reduce our societal roles. They have declared war on women and womenhood. Women are life-givers, caretakers and these days, leaders, champions and anything we dern well please. As women our anatomy is unique to our personhood. It sometimes dictates our moods and our habits but it is not a hindrance to our ability to lead, to encourage and to thrive. Still there are those would like to turn the clock back, reducing or restricting our reproductive rights. They sent up trial balloons on the airwaves and in certain state legislatures. Women, wise as we are, are fighting back and speaking up. We are joined by enlightened men who are standing up for our rights as well. Yes, it is a mistake to underestimate the power of the female. Even in the cat world that is true. Roxie, the female Japanese bobtail, is fierce, often refusing to share the feeder with Jean Claude, the much larger male black Bombay. Regularly little Roxie beats Jean Claude at play – she kicks his butt frankly. Still she relies on him to protect her interests and to bring her comfort. There is balance and unity and sometimes peace.
I was born today. I suppose that makes me special in that the day itself comes only every four years. Today I’m looking out at the landscape of my life and I’m happy. I have wonderful friends, family and a life I enjoy. There are challenges . Despite the fact I have a superior staff at my job…really just wonderful people who are very talented…work of late as become a challenge. My sister has MS and while she is courageous and cheerful, the disease has progressed. I have a job, my sister, who sent me the corniest Blue Mountain card ever, is still with us and she is slowly doing a little better. There is always a bright side to every dilemma. So today as I am special in God’s eyes I will focus on positive change and moving forward.
It’s never too late to be who you might have been. – George Eliot, English novelist (1819 – 1880)
This quote was left for me on a turn-down service provided by a hotel. It got me thinking about who you are supposed to be and who you are.
For example. When we got the cats, they were kittens. When I picked Roxie from the shelter, she was always spastic and crazy. When I picked her up she immediately started playing with my earrings and she had poop on her tail (a hazard of the otherwise really cute Bob tails). And today. She still loves to bel picked up, she still goes crazy for toys and she still occasionally gets poop in her tail She has always had the same personality and always knew who she was.
Jean-Claude, however, was another story. His name from the shelter was Tiny because they thought he was the runt of the litter. As a matter of fact, Jean-Claude and Roxie weighed almost the same amount. However, within one month Jean-Claude went from four pounds to six pounds. He increased his body weight by 50% in a month! However, the vet wasn’t concerned as Jean-Claude was also growing. So the shelter had it wrong. Jean-Claude, who has settled into a 15 pound solid cat very large cat with his super long tail, wasn’t the runt of the litter. He merely had to move himself to the right conditions to succeed and become the cat he always was. Those conditions of success for him being the love and support of three crazy women (Roxie included).
I was a mix. I’ve always had my own beat and been different, but didn’t really accept or embrace it until later.
What conditions do you need to become who you want to be? We all need love and support. One of the hardest things to do in life is to cut out people who are not adding anything to our lives. Maybe they aren’t detracting from our life, but if they aren’t adding anything, do we need them to just take up the space? The older I get, the more I realize that I have such wonderful, positive people in my corner. People I love and people who love me without condition.
Who do you want to become? Are you living the life you imagined? Are you fulfilling your purpose in life? While these are questions that we see all the time, you can never remind yourself of these lessons in life enough.
Happy New Year! The cats are safely ensconced at my house as Azeena said. They have been with me for a week and a half since Christmas Day! Azeena brought them out where they promptly said we are mad at you CCL. You left us. You didn’t visit us, you didn’t play in the garden with us. That next week was touch and go. Jean-Claude slept in the basement. Roxie only consented to spend part of the time with me and neither cat really acted like they wanted to be bothered.
Then as the only truism that applies to every situation good or bad – this too shall pass. It passed. They became used to my house. They had a new big litter box. They found solace on the bed while I slept. 
They relearned that they can go watch the world from a second story deck. Roxie learned that she had new plants to pee in (which she likes the actual dirt). And now in my house we have a routine. They’ve adopted.
So every year we see a cycle. The new year starts and people roll out new promises – to lose weight, quit smoking, be better to your fellow man. Most of those are already broken by now. I stopped making resolutions at new year’s awhile back. Today is the day to start the rest of your life. Not some arbitrary date. I can understand the appeal though. But today we are going to push forward and leave what was in the past the past. We’ll carry the lessons forward.
With the new year also comes new spam. I received the following spam message. I found it hilarious and I hope you do as well!
******************************
MONETARY CRIME DIVISION AND ANTI-TERRORIST.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 2053, USA.
ATTENTION:
Acting as a Federal Commission, our job is to protect the interest of citizens, whether a citizen of the United States or not. Now the reason why we are contacting you is because your Name and other personal details were found in the custody of a long wanted internet fraudster and they also pointed you out as their business partner.
The Cyber Crime Division of the FBI gathered information from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) of how some people have lost outrageous sums of money to these impostors. You are required to response immediately and know what you are required to do so as to stop your name from been on the web list and if you refuse to comply with this, we will now include your name and picture on our official website and you will join the other wanted persons. Go through this link carefully.
[link deleted by me so you don’t accidentally click]
You have involved yourself in so many illegal activities such as illegal transaction, from illegal lottery winnings, to illegal bank transfers, diplomatic consignment and so many others and you have brought a lot of charges upon yourself knowingly and unknowingly. But I want you to know that ignorance is not an excuse in the law.
If you do not do anything fast to remedy this situation, you will be arrested wherever you are and you will go to jail. I am not trying to scare you but I am telling you the position of things and the law will never be compromised.
To response to the email is your choice, but you have been warned.
Timothy P. Murphy
Executive Deputy Director.
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Cats & All That ™ 