Category Archives: NanoPoblano

Be The Person Your Cat Thinks You Are

I saw a sign today that said “Be the person your cat thinks you are.”

We have three cats that live in our house so I feel as though I can say, with some authority, that this is a terrible idea.

You might suspect the cats think I am their jailer (they are indoor cats) and, since I hold them hostage, I am also obligated to clean up after them, feed them and provide them with a safe environment to live in.

This is not the kind of person I’ve ever endeavored to be. Fortunately, I don’t think it’s how my cats see me either. Unfortunately, if you polled the cats I’m pretty sure you would find they actually think they are the warring queens of the household where they deign to live because, with nothing more than a swish of their tail and a well timed purr, me, their royal slave, will provide them with all their needs.

This includes (but is not limited to) meals with not only their own food but other choice tidbits as well (Translation: I feed them and they steal people food whenever the chance arises). Royal slaves are, as a matter of course, also expected to keep the castle clean enough or the queens will show their displeasure in a royal tantrum (Translation: If I don’t keep the litter boxes clean they’ll use my closet). All the catty queens must surely be treated as such and will only sleep in the warmest coziest areas (Translation: If there is no sunbeam on my bed on a cold day they’ll sleep on the computer’s keyboard and with a few well placed paws lock things up so it’ll take me three days to fix it). Finally it goes without saying that an out right order from slave to queen is out of the question and even a mild suggestion as to behavior is likely to be met with utter disdain (Translation: I have never managed to teach a cat manners).

I really, don’t ever, want to actively try to be the person my cats think I am and despite the sign urging me to do so, I can’t imagine why anyone else would want to either. My only conclusion is that cats are behind the creation of these signs in their never ending quest to take over the world.

But…

I’m going to let this girl under the covers to snuggle with me tonight when she comes asking…

…their plan is totally working.

 

The Little Story

Once upon a time there was a little story.

After all it’s words were written just right and all it’s pictures were drawn just so, it went away to get turned into a real book. The little story was so excited to be turned into a real book so that she could go out into the world and talk to children everywhere.

But then…

She got lost in a dark scary place.

The little story wandered around for many days in the dark before someone found her and gave her a nice little green flashlight. Then she took her little flashlight and took a big breath and searched and searched until she found her way out of the dark scary place. The little story looked at herself when she got back out into the bright world and saw that, though she had been in the dark scary place for a long time it had turned her into a real book!

Then that real book looked around until she found a group of children and she told her tale, the one with the words written just right and the pictures drawn just so, and everyone was happy.

The end.

In highly related news our book is not yet on Amazon… it should be… now… last week…any moment… just waiting… waiting on Amazon… and waiting… any moment… annnnyyy moment… 

An Off-Piste Christmas by Julie Houston

Lets just start off with a definition of “off-piste” because I’ll admit I had no idea what the title of this book (novella really) was referring to.

Google to the rescue!

off-piste

adjective & adverb   SKIING
  1. away from prepared ski runs.
    “challenging expanses of off-piste skiing”
    • so as to deviate from what is conventional, usual, or expected.
      “on this occasion I went off-piste and booked in at The Griffin, a place none of us had ever visited before.”

I know there are people out there who always want their books to be really realistic and not all convenient with enough happily ever afters to go around.

I’m totally not that person.

I like happy endings, I like Christmas, I like this book (err- novella).

Actually, I love Christmas but it is also the part of the year that we spend lots of time with our family. Time where you look around and think that they are all crazy and you wonder how anything, much less everything is going to work out. (Sorry family.)

But then! Then, you read a book like this fine novella and think- “Well, her daughter is dating her best friend’s previous lover and father of her baby and they are all going on a fancy schmancy Christmas skiing trip in Italy together, even though she hates skiing and it all works out for them,” my totally normal family will be fine.

Would I recommend it? It’s goofy and funny and crazy and scandalous and *spoiler alert* ends happily. While I know there are scrooges out there who don’t approve of such things, I thought it was an excellent quick (Did I mention it was a novella? You can totally fit in in your reading schedule this month!) Christmas read!

Rosie's Book Review team 1

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

Character Building

Deer hunting is a great time of year to have children experience the joy that comes with survival.

Taking a two-hour hike through the woods, falling in a freezing swamp, possibly getting lost but getting back on track.  Finally arriving at the house with boots full of swamp water, soaked and shivering to jump straight into the sauna. And then, once thawed, telling stories of deer jumping up out of the bushes closer than they’d ever seen, helping the hunters find a down deer, and the pride that came with knowing they helped the hunt.

Sure, it was cold, and hard and painful but they did it and that comes with it’s own special joyIvy and Clara

Don’t believe me?

Ask them about helping on the deer drive. They’ll start talking a mile a minute about the terrors of the hike – but they’ll be smiling.

Also we processed the six deer from yesterday’s drive today and  I didn’t include a single dead deer or meat picture in this post.

You’re welcome. 

Frog Soup

Many of you wondered why my cousin and I caught so many frogs this past summer. Well, I finally have an answer for you.

If you’ll remember, my cousin is mighty good at catching frogs. In fact my cousin is so good at frog catching that we discussed starting a frog hunting show, The Frog Whisperer, for him to star in.Chris with frog on hatAudiences would be astounded by feats of frogginess like catching frogs without catching a mouthful of mud, catching more frogs than one would think is humanly possible and catching frogs out of midair.

This frog was safely captured before it hit the ground.

This frog was safely captured before it hit the ground.

But, despite these amazing skills, I think his real talent lies in the kitchen. Not only can this cousin of mine wallow in the muck and catch slimy amphibians, but he can then turn around, clean up, and whip out his gourmet chef skills.

It took him a bit to get around to cooking our catch from this summer but he finally was able to whip up this amazing frog soup! frog soup

Yum!

What do you think, “Dinner With The Frog Whisperer,” would you watch it?