Sunny Cat, Sunny Cat, Oh Lalee, Lalee, Lalee

Sing the title of this post to the song,"Lollipop, Lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly".Today is a sad day around here. We had to say goodbye to our sweet furry friend.

Most of you may know of our sweetest kitty, Sunny. Five years ago, we adopted Sunny and her brother Buster when they were 12 weeks old. Honestly, they looked like twins. Their markings were almost exactly the same, the only way to tell them apart was that Buster was a bit bigger and crazier and had slightly frizzier fur. Buster had an unfortunate run in with Fantastic cleaner two weeks after we got him. So we were left with Sunny. She was a remarkable kitty. She never met a person she didn't like. She loved to be held like a baby and get kisses all over. She would endure this ritual and never struggle or fight. As a kitten she'd sit on my shoulder like a parrot. And best of all she became bestest friends with my oldest Munchkin. They were like peas in a pod. It was not uncommon to find my child hopping around on the floor with Sunny sitting close by to be told, "Mommy we're playing dinosaurs." This cat would let the girls put her in boxes and bags and play endless games. And she almost exclusively slept at the end of Munchkin's bed every night.
She was my quilting buddy. She was the cat who made herself present everytime I was sewing. She'd wrestle batting, chew on scraps, and lay on quilts as I tried to quilt them.
When we sold our last house, we constantly got comments about the orange kitty who followed them around and meowed. Several people said they picked her up and she showed them the house. She was a talker. She and I would have long "conversations" with me asking her questions and she responding.
In the last few months and weeks it became obvious that something was wrong, she lost alot of weight and got sick. We thought we had it beat, but over the weekend it became apparent that she had developed an abcess that was deeply infected. This morning oldest Munchkin and I took her to the vet and got the bad news we had thought we had prepared ourselves for. So we said goodbye to our sweet sweet girl.

Oldest Munchkin and I are heartbroken. The whole family will miss her. Goodbye, Sunny.

Whoops....

Sorry it's been over a week, how did that happen?

Well unfortunately this is going to be a short and not so happy post. As I type this my poor Sunny cat is at the vet again. She now has a large infected cyst on her leg and is very sick. Stay tuned....I'm expecting some news before lunch time today.

Quick 40 and Fabulous Update

I've been remiss in keeping the blogverse up to date on my weight loss/exercise exploits. Today I weighed in and I've lost a total of 35 lbs since January. Yes, I know that's awesome, and thank you. But I've been alittle frustrated the last couple of weeks and I'm about to start the bitching, moaning, and whining that is super self indulgent, so brace yourselves.

I lost a half or one pound for the last 3 weeks, and I've been working so hard. Counting calories religiously, being super careful and planning ahead. There have been a handful of meals (MEALS, not days) that were excessive, but everything else right in line. Exercising and pushing like mad. In four weeks I increased my weekly treamill distance total from 24 miles to 35 miles. So I feel like my efforts are not showing in the results. I realize that a pound is a respectible loss, typically. But folks, I still have 30+ pounds left to shed to be at a healthy weight, so more should be melting away. Stomp, stomp, pout, pout, stomp, stomp.

Whew, now that I have that out of my system I can move on. Hubbie reminded me that since I have increased my exercising that I have probably added some muscle mass and reduced some fat. I'm clinging to that thought. And frankly, I do feel so much better with the exercise and reduction of weight. And it's so fun to go shopping in my closet and find some cute clothes that I can now wear that look cute on me. And I have to say I do feel so victorious everytime I wear any of the three pairs of pants I bought back in December to wear to work that were too tight, that are now getting to be too big. Sigh, that all makes me feel good.

Sometimes I gotta remind myself to focus on the positive. It's to easy for me to get pissed off at the negative. It's the good stuff that keeps you going longer.

Y'all take care and I'll give you a peek this weekend on a couple of things I've been randomly working on!

10 Years Old

Well it's been a week and I've survived going back to work from vacation, being the mother of a 10 year old (eeek), and her slumber party. I got all of the pjs done in time.
The little fashion designers took the fabric remnant ties I used to hold the folded pj sets together and fashioned belts for themselves. The pjs were a huge hit.

And we had our Cake Challenge. The Munchkins love watching Challenge on the Food Network. The latest round is called "Last Cake Standing". So the oldest wanted to have a competition at her party. We had icing, sprinkles and fondant (they sell it at JoAnns, who knew). Here are the results with the cake she wanted me to make.

Spring Break!

We've been on Spring Break around here all week. During our Stay-cation I've tried to treat the girls and myself to a bunch of fun stuff, pottery painting, shopping, sewing, lunch out, and manicures. Frankly, now I'm exhausted.

But I have gotten a few creative things underway. First, my oldest Munchkin is turning 10 next week! It fills me with so much joy and breaks my heart all at the same time. After everything that happened last summer, my throat closes up every time I think about her turning 10. How did that sweet baby become this preteen! Anyway, she's having a small slumber party next weekend. She wanted to something a little more special than your typical goodie bag. So Super Mom came up with an idea, custom Slumber Party pjs for everyone. So we headed off to JoAnns....here's the tshirt and fabric she picked out for the shortie PJ bottoms.

So I then designed this logo to be heat transfered to the fushia tshirts.
Each PJ set will have the girl's initial on the sleeve. Munchkin is very excited. I made the first pair of bottoms yesterday, the youngest Munchkin's. Naturally, she wanted to wear them right there and then.

So I'll be busy this week. Not to mention the 30 or so napkins for a certain someone's wedding that I'll be working on over the next few weeks! :)

Happy Weekend!

Hippity Hop, Hippity Hop

I bet you thought you'd see bunnies......NOPE!

I got super duper busy yesterday afternoon and was taken over by quilted frogs.

First, you may remember Lucy, well this is her famous sidekick Ethel. Ethel has been known to down one too many Fly Cosmopolitans and find herself on a strange lilypad in the morning. She's loves dressing up and going out, but she also love splashing around the pond and listening to (eating) the crickets. She and Lucy have had some great times together and plan to have many more.
Here's a detail of her lovely feet.

Now I'd like to introduce two of Fruga's Sorority Sisters, Marilyn and Barbie D. They were all members of a frog exclusive sorority at the University of Georgia. The three girls spent lots of time together and partied hard through their collegiate years. Marilyn was always had a date and was a big hit with the boys (it must be her heart shaped eyes). Barbie D. (named after the famous Vince Dooley's wife) loved football. She never misses a game, ever. On any given fall Saturday it's not surprising to find her hanging out in UGA's doghouse drinking a beer.

But that's not all....there are three more cuties I'd like you to meet. Cuppy, Blossom, and Bloom.
Pictured - Cuppy, Blossom, Bloom, Barbie D, and Marilyn.

Blossom and Bloom are sisters which is good fortune since they are going to two sisters. They are very sweet girls who love playing outside, mocking kittycats, and having tea parties. They are innocent in the ways of the world. Funny, like any other set of sisters, their personalities are very different. Bloom, the oldest, is quiet and sometimes shy, but she's always got great plans. Blossom is always ready to follow her sister wherever she goes and is bubbly and always eager to strike up a conversation with anyone who will talk to her. Oh, and they hate squirrels.

Our last frog is Cuppy. She's a frog who enjoys her baked goods. Cookies and cupcakes are her favorite. She's looking forward to returning to Dalton, GA to live with the other North Georgia tree frogs.

And finally, the morning sun was cooperating so beautifully this morning. Here's a quick shot I took that I've named "Faux French Delicacy".
Ribbit, to you and yours and I hope your weekend is going as well as ours!

It's April!

We're definitely having April showers here in the hot ATL(it's not really hot, but I can't get the marketing slogan "Hotlanta" out of my head). I can only hope we get May flower. Of course those wouldn't be in my yard, I'm not much of a yard person. Of course the Munchkins and I bought 10 seed packets at the Dollar Store awhile back and it's just about time to plant them.

The main reason for this post is to update everyone on my weight loss progress....drum roll....30.5 lbs since January 1st. This week I walked 6 days for a total of 24 miles. The distance varies day to day, on the weekends I'm up to 5 miles a day, and during the week I have a hard time getting up early enough to do anything more than 3 miles. I'm happy with my progress so far. This week has been hard, PMS week. There was one night this week while laying in bed with Hubbie watching tv, I rolled over and told him that I could eat my arm I was so hungry.

On the sewing front, not much progress. I'm planning on getting to that this weekend and finish up some frogs. I'm ready to start a quilt.

Happy Friday, and don't forget to do your happy Friday dance!