Dolly's Dreamings

Z is for .... the end

I thought I would upload the last two pages of my fur baby album - Z is for .... welll ... zzzzzzzz really. Sleeping cats - always a plus point in our house.

I just missed the best shot ever of a sleeping cat. We have one of those radiator beds - the sheepskin things that hang over. Underneath it is the ludicrously stupid cat setee we bought two years ago. Fiki was in the radiator bed and Kira on the setee underneath it and it looked so cute. Of course - they moved when they saw the camera coming.

This second page is the cover - very simple but just a title page.

The thirs page here today is the page for this week's A True Friend challenge blog.

I posted Simba's story the other day and I know many of you were moved by it. She really was a very very special cat. When I saw that the challenge was about when our pets are poorly I knew it had to be about her and her story.

We actually seem to attract ill cats. Cinders was ill with mystery tummy upsets for a long time before being diagnosed with a tumour. She was on medication twice a day (and the hardest cat we have ever had to administer pills to). Pebble ended up, as older cats often do, with thyroid problems. Medication every day! Simba lost a leg and tail and was on medication night and morning every day for 12 years. Boushka has allergic reaction to - well life it would seem! She strips her fur. She has to have Piriton every day. 7 years so far! Kira - well you all know about the traumas we have had with Kira. Steroids every day! 1 year so far! BUT  - everything crossed and not wanting to tempt fate - Fiki is hale and hearty! I recon cats know we are suckers for poorly fur babies!

Y is for

Well Y is for yawn for the penultimate page of my fur baby album. Fiki plays so much and so aggressively that he does ..... eventually ..... get very tired. It might take a while but eventually he tires. And he yawns ..... a lot.

I have lots of yawn pictures of him, but this is one of my favourites.

And it just had to be in the album.

We went to won today as my Mother in law wants to buy a new suite and wanted us to check it out with her. It was meant to be a quick trip and indeed it was, but proved to be an expensive one. We rarely go to town and so stocked up whilst there and in the space of three quarters of an hour Nigel got three much needed pairs of trousers for work and new aftershave and I got a new pair of boots, slippers, a jumper, two tops and a suit (which is utterly gorgeous). But I have to say that Under £200 for the lot was quite a few bargains. Just the sort of shopping I like.

We had a shock last night when watching our recording of Strictly Come Dancing. Fans of the show will know Tom (heart beats quicker here as he is yummy) is getting marrier today and they cut to the vicar who is marrying them who was there watching and I shrieked. It was a good friend of our Adam, now chaplain at Repton College. I used to work with Adam and he was just such a terrific sweet guy and I lost touch so it means now I can get back in touch with him. It's a funny old world isn't it.

Finally this is a second page I made for Dawn Inskip's CT - a page using all products by her but most notably the gorgeous new expressions of love kit. Her word art is fab - I love it. The photo is of two of the three brother lions that we met in Kent at the Big Cat photo shoot.

X is for ...

First I want to share a simple little word art which I made yesterday for a project and thought poeple might like.

Very simple using a Lettering Delight word and a little bit of clip art.

If you would like it then you can download it HERE

Secondly I wanted to share my X page for my fur baby album.

Yes X was indeed a toughie! I couldn't think what to do so when trawling through photos I found this one of Boo. She is such a delicate little girly girl cat and it just tickled me to catch her sitting so inellegantly.

It just seemed to work with X rated! Not a ladylike pose at all.

OK - so I was clutching at straws but not one of them plays the xylophone so I was stumped!

I have no idea why it looks so corrked. I have re-measured it and it isn't. Honest

V is for and W is for

It's a good job we know our vet well. He understands I am not only crazy cat lady but that I am also crazy scrapbook lady!

Our vet, Tom, was very happy to have his picture taken when we took the CFH for their annual jabs. It was in July and so I was doing the month in my life book and so that was my photo for that day.

Having said that I am so pleased we have a picture of Tom. He has been our vet for the last 12 years or so and is marvellous. We have moved with him to a new surgery which means a very long trip for us across town, but it is worth it to have kept him as our vet. He has cared for every cat we have had, nursing Cinders through was turned out to be a fatal illness back in 2000 and also being there so sympathetically and kindly as pebble and Simba passed quietly away. He has watched the CFH grow up from 11 weeks old and they are his star Bengals. He says he hasn't seen any others as beautifully marked or as gentle and easily handlable as ours I think he thinks we make their naughtiness up! I suppose I am a bit of a fussy fur mommy as I do run tot he vets for things other people might just live with, but he is as good as caring for as as he is at caring for our cats. So V is for vet - it had to be!

W is for wild cat. Kira thinks she is one and she so looks the part when she is stalking. We call her an Oce-bit (not an Oce-leot but an Oce-bit!) I don't think she realises that wild cats are not meant to follow you everywhere, jump on your knee as soon as you sit down and snuggle right in or sleep under the duvet with you at night. Don't tell her - will you! She likes to pretend she is wild!

T is for and U is for

These are the next two pages in my Fur Baby A - Z

I have to say I am just loving the fact that I have recorded so many things about the cats - some obvious, some less so.

The T page was one of the more obvious LOL. Hands up if you guessed my T would be for trouble and would feature the Fiki monster. No surprises there.

the photo is one where I was a bad bad mummy. He played with a dish of pot pourri and knocked it off and smashed it and I should have punished him but he was so fascinated with the bits I took a picture instead. No wonder he never learns eh!

The U page is poor little Kira. U is for unwell and she had a very bad six months and is having a little bit of a relapse at the moment.

The picture was when she was at her very worst and when we were at our proudest. She has so many raw patches on her face and then went to the vets for a biopsy and when we collected her she had two holes on her head, each almost the size of a 5p and each with 2 staples across them. We put a collar on her and she was so good about it all. After 10 minutes of struggling she accepted the collar and we were able to keep it on for five days. We used to take it off for half hour intervals so she could groom herself and when it was time to put it back on she just let us, bless her, with no fuss. Thankfully the picture doesn't really show the wounds - I have some horribly graphic ones that we took to remind us how bad things were and how lucky we are she is better.

The final thing I want to share today is too cute - and too useful - for words. Dawn Inskip has a new alpha - they are teeny tiny tags and I can see them being so useful. There are upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols and, very importantly, blanks.

I can't wait to play with them. You can get them from NDISB,  TTS and at her new store at Pickleberrypop,

S is for Simba

I have been focusing on my Fur Baby A - Z this weekend.

I have loved doing it, but am now fed up of the album lying around and the list of what I want to do and so I decided to crack on and get it all finished this weekend.

The S page is very special as it is for Simba.

Simba came to us as the people who had her - and who dodn't treat her very kindly - wanted to get rid of her. Nigel heard about this, told me and I said 'Bring her here!' So he did! I never intended to keep her - we had two cats already. But she had not been spayed and had had no vaccinations so I agreed to keep her for 6 weeks to get her all sorted and give me time to find her a new home specially for her. I thought Nigel took it well. I guess he knew that by the end of the first week no-one was going to take away my new teeny little black and white girl.

She came to us as Sheba so we gave her a new name for a new life - Simba which is lion in Swahili. This was several years before the Lion King - but everyone thought we named her after that! LOL  She lived up to her name being as brave as a lion. She survived numerous bee stings (she never did learn not to play with wasps and bees), falling out of our bedroom window and survived a terrible accident. She was hit by a car outside our home and though the driver stopped she dragged herself off into wasteland. She was missing for 10 days and we searched and searched, inclusing staying out all noght. It was December. It snowed. We just wanted to bring her body home and bury her. She was found by our neighbours 10 days later in the gutter outside our house.  She'd tried to come home. They took her to the vets and called us at work. She was so thin, she was dehydrated, she was roo weak to cry and her leg was literallya lmost chewed off. The vet said he could save her - and he did. She had her back leg amputated and then three days later had her tail amputated as it was paralysed and went gangrous. She had severe nerve damage but she was a fighter and she recovered. She could outrun the other cats. She lived for another 12 years with us after the accident and everyone, even ardent cat haters, loved her. She survived pneumonia in her last year but the lung damage finally took it toll and we had to make that most awful of decisions to let her rest. She was such an incredibly special cat - our little lion-heart!

R is for

Forgot that I didn't upload this. I did it a while ago.

I used the Blue Awnings papers again and it is my boy. Everyone knows him as Fiki but his name is actually Rafiki (well actually it is Mustafa Rafiki to be precise but we are on R so Rafiki will do)

We chose their names to reflect their heritage and Rafiki means friend. I don't think Fiki reads too well though as I think he thinks it means fiend (he has lost the R somehwere along the line)

But no matter -we love him

Short post today as my brand new kitchen is in a mess. Can't believe that the flooring people made so much mess - thick whits powder everywhere so we are cleaning cleaning cleaning. I am hoping it doesn't make Kira bad with her dust allergy and it is doing my cough the power of good!

I just want the whole home makeover thing to be over now!

P is for - Fur baby A - Z

I am thoroughly enjoying doing my fur baby A - Z album. I am enjoying the challenge of working on 6 x 6 which is a size I almost never use and love seeing the album build up.

The P pages were very special to me as they showcase Pebble. Pebble was our first ever proper fur baby. We married in April and said we would wait until the summer holidays to get a kitten. We lasted till May - and even that was only becasue that was how long it took us to find a kitten. In those days we knew nothing of Cat's Protection and rescue centres and I am ashamed to say we bought her from a pet shop. She was the princely sum of £8 and was just 8 weeks old. We had seen her through the window the night before and my MIL was detailed to go and pay for her as soon as the shop opened as we were totally smitten.

There were 4 in the litter and she was the only tortie and white. She was chocolate box pretty. Many of you will already know the story that when I went to collect her they had been unable to sell her ugly scrap of a little sister who was plonked into my hand and I was told I could have her for half price if I took the two! I am sooooooo glad. I would never have a lone cat again and indeed we like three ata  time LOL

Pebble was the only cat truly mine. The others have all been Daddy's girls (and boys) but Pebble was my special friend. She hated to hear me cry. I remember once having a really bad fall outside off a set of steps and she just sat with me for ages till I stopped crying. Any time I cried for any reason she was there. She was loyal, determined, so gentle and very stoic. We had her for almost 18 years. For the last 2 years she had thyroid trouble and was on medication - and in fairness I don't think she ever really got over the loss of her beloved sister, though she did bond well with Boushka. I remember the day I finally realised she had had enough. It was the only day of her life she didn't purr. Even when she was poorly she still purred. I had known she had been ill for a while but that day she stopped purring. I took her to the vets and she was poorly, dehydrated, her thyroid was very bad and he said he could treat her and she might possibly be able to have another couple of months but that seemed so harsh. I asked what he would do and he knows us so well. He said he would think about what a wonderful 18 years he had had and let her go with dignity. I agreed completely. Nigel couldn't get home in time so he said goodbye to her over the phone and I held her in my arms as she passed away. She had been one of the most loyal and trusting friends I could have wished for.

This other page is the one made for the latest challenge on A True Friend pet blog (link is always  in my side bar - do check regularly as it is fab) The task was to do a Wish I'd Known page. I debated something funny - because goodness knows there were plenty of things I could have said, but went for the newest picture of them to say, in spite of everything, I love them tremendously.

There has been some negativity about UKS today and whilst I normally try and stay away from conflict I just had to join in. I am a huge fan of UK Scrappers. It isn't perfect - what is? There are sections I don't visit, but lots that I do.  Whilst it has grown very very big and become to some extent a victim of its own success, I feel it is a wonderful forum with so much for everyone. Like any large organisation it has critics as you can't please all the people all the time, but there is a tremendous amount of information there, it is a supportive community where advice is freely given and a lot of people spend an awful lot of time making sure it runs smoothly and effectively for the benefit of everyone. It is still my home page and will remain so. I am still garteful for the friends I have made on UKS over the years, for the opportunities I have as a result of UKS and for the daily fix I get from visits.

Congratulations UKS - I think you all do a fab job. 

L is for Limpid Eyes

I finally got round to finishing my L pages yesterday. I am loving the fur baby A - Z album and like how it is making me think a bit too.

L is another double page.

L is for Leahy cats. My Mom always used to say that if she ever came back to earth after she had gone she would come back as a Leahy cat - because they were spoilt rotten and lived a charmed life.

8 months after we lost Mommy in 1990, one of our fur babies was hit by a car outside the old house. The driver stopped, the neighbour helped, but Simba was injured and ran off into some waste ground opposite. We looked for 2 nights solid. It was December. It was dark by 4 p.m. and it snowed. We put flyers through 80 doors, contacted every vets and welfare organisation and put an advert in the paper. She dragged herself home 10 days later in a terrible state. Thin, dehydrated, back leg and tail paralysed and back leg almost completely chewed off - only the bone in tact. She should have died in the accident. She should have died in the intervening 10 terrible days. She should not have survived the extensive surgery or subsequent gangrene. She should not have lived a further 12 years minus 1 leg and tail and with lifelong internal problems. But she did. She confounded everyone - she was in the paper as a miracle cat. She won an Arthur Award and a Bravest Pet rosette. She was a little miracle. So yes - there was certainly a little bit of Mommy in our Simba.

The second page is for limpid eyes. This was almost impossible to photograph. Cats eyes always dilate with poor light but Fiki's are like nothing on earth. They are moist black pools with untold depths and so stunningly gorgeous. I have tried and tried to capture it but you just can't as you need the flash for the low light which then destroys the dilation. This is the best I have ever managed.

Domestic Goddess .... sadly I don't think so

Not quite sure what is happening to me. Do I have delusions about becoming a domestic goddess????? I wish I did! The other day I baked. Amazing. Today I discovered that my sewing machine .... my scrapbook sewing machine .... also sews fabric!!! I was trying to make a Roman costume for Roman day. However, as the costume is so utter pants I may not wear it at all and as the baking was so dreadful Nij wouldn't eat it (and that is going some) I think i will stick to NOT being a domestic goddess at all. I mean - quit whilst you are ahead (or at least only a little way behind!) I admire people who can cook and sew - my Mom could. I try but I just can't do it. I'd love to be a Nigella in the kitchen (I think Nij would like that too but for totally different reasons) and I admire Deliah. I'd love to make my own clothes - maybe then I would get something to fit me properly. But I guess my machine was just destined for paper.

I consolled myself with making two quick cat pages for my A - Z fur babies journal.

We are on K now (how the year is speeding away) and so it had to be K for my little Kira monkley (although technically she should be S as her name is Scarlett Shakira)

I used some Basic Grey Urban Couture and a bit of bling (doesn't show well on the scan of course) as she is a girly girl. She has changed so much since her illness and was always so independent and would not, under any circumstances, look you in the eys. Now she is clingy, affectionate, devoted and meets your gaze endlessly. I like the new Kira!

K is also for kittens. we have had 4 kittens - Pebble and Cinders, our first two little sisters, and Kira and Fiki. Boo and Simba were grown up when they joined our home. I love kittens so much (and I hope that one day we will do it all again - though I don't think I'd have the strength to do Bengals again) I love the special kitten smell. I have no idea why they have a special smell. Our cats have all been very clean from the word go - no accidents and nicely washed bottoms, and they are long since weaned so it is not milky but they do have a special kitten smell that I love. I also love their winnie the pooh tummies. They have little pot bellies that just demand to be kissed. The other thing I love - that they lose when they are less than 6 months old - is their utter flakiness. They just fall asleep anywhere and everywhere. I have a great photo of Kira asleep across the top of a video recorder with her head hanging down, dead to the world. So the K pages were funt o do - way way better than sewing! And making them meant I got to use my sewing machine for its intended purpose .... scrapping!