Terra Update...

I realized that in my post for Terra, I didn't get to include any pictures of what her siblings looked like (because I didn't take any. I was just so enthralled with Terra). I took pictures yesterday. Here's a picture of one of Terra's siblings. I'm not sure if it's a brother or sister, if it's "Jack" or"Ginger" (as the little girl at the farm has named them)...the other two kittens look really similar, but the grey on this one is darker than the other.


The kittens' favorite hide out is underneath the air compressor in the barn. I'm curious if that's where Stripe had them and so that's where they consider "home".

I was told yesterday that Terra is eating solid cat food and so is ready to go whenever I'm ready! I still need to get cat paraphanelia (food, food dish, toys...my parents are giving me the litter box from when they had cats). I'm hoping to bring her home sometime this week.

Finger Puppet Give Away at Fun With Mama

Want a chance to win some adorable monster finger puppets? Go over to Fun With Mama's blog and check out the givaway she's having. She's giving away a set of finger puppets made by plush maker HappyCloud Thunderhead.

I've been a fan of Happycloud Thunderhead's work for a while. I originally discovered him via The Needle. I think I may have blogged about him before in a "My Fellow Monstermaker" post.

I'm entering the Giveaway of course (because you all know how much I LOVE puppets AND monsters!). And I get an extra entry if I blog about the Giveaway. Part of entering the Giveaway is to go to Happycloud Thunderhead's Etsy shop and leaving a comment at Fun With Mama's blog telling me which monster is your favorite in the shop. I like the Grimbitts, Wimbly, Kimbly, and Quimbly and their big floppy ears. I love the line in the description that "while friendly [the grimbitts] are not very sociable." I decided that Quimbly is my favorite because of his turquoise color.

I was debating about picking Wimbly as my favorite simply because his name reminds me of one of the Fraggles from Fraggle Rock, which was my favorite childhood tv show! (although I think the character's name was spelled Wembly).

Terra

Our friends' half stray, half domesticated barn cat they affectionately call "Stripe" had 3 kittens recently. Last week as we were walking to the truck, our friends' little girl comes running up to me to show me one of the kittens (she knows I like cats). As we were driving away, CJ says "I wouldn't be adverse to taking one of those kittens if they are looking for homes for them". So today I looked at all the kittens and this grey one was my pick.

We've decided to name her "Terra" (as in the latin word for "earth") since our dog's name is "Luna" (latin for "moon"). We figured we'd continue with the latin celestial bodies theme. We are such geeks!We introduced Terra (formerly known as "Doughy") to Luna today as well. No issues. We think Luna was even trying to groom her! The whole reason we have to get a kitten instead of an adult cat is because adult cats have preconceived negative notions of dogs, and will tend to lash out when Luna just wants to play. Then after the unpleasant experience, Luna will growl and bark at this animal that's just scratched her.

But Luna gets along with Terra very well so far since Terra is too young to have developed those dog fears, and too small to act on them if she is scared (the poor thing was shaking like a leaf when I first brought her up to Luna). I think they'll get along fine. The next thing will be to see how my parents' big, but docile Rottweiler, King, will react... and how the kitten will react to King!

She's still nursing though, and is too young to be taken away from her mother, Stripe. So it will be a couple weeks before we can bring her home.

Terrible Yellow Eyes

I just discovered this delightful blog called Terrible Yellow Eyes. It has some wonderful artist interpretations of the childrens' classic "Where The Wild Things Are"...by various artists in various styles and mediums.

Can you believe, with my love of monsters, that I've never owned a copy of "Where The Wild Things Are"? It's been so long since I've read it... I should go to the library for a refresher. By the way, I absolutely can't wait for the movie to come out!

I'm feeling very inspired now to plan some "Wild Thing" Nubbins...one of Max and then one of the Wild Thing that is most recognizable...the one with the bulbous pink nose, horns, brown mane, round face and stripey body (most artists actually seem to favor this one).

Pickin'...

I did a very quintessentially country-girl thing this morning...I picked blackberries and wildflowers (both from my backyard!).

(well, those orange berries are from the tree in the front yard...)

The blackberries were a pleasant surprise. I was taking Luna for a walk into the backyard yesterday and found a blackberry bush on the fringe of the woods. I thought there was just one, but when I went back out later with a bowl to pick them, I found another. And then this morning when I went out, I found at least two more. It seems like every time I went out, I find more bushes!

Mmmm...blackberries. Thank you Lord for giving me something sweet to snack on!

Closing Day!

As of a few minutes ago, the hubby and I are officially home-owners!

We are packing up what I've packed so far into the truck and my Dad's trailer and taking it out to the house today.

I'll be staying out there during the week to unpack, while CJ works on packing up the rest of the apartment. It's going to be a nice, gradual moving process. There's no rush to get out of our apartment...we have the rest of August to get everything out.

We're also being given a couch, a lazyboy recliner, a rocking chair, and an upright freezer from various friends. And my grandma is letting me have a table that was salvaged from the house in the Adirondacks (I just need to take the 2 hour drive to go pick it up). So I'll have a little bit of furniture while CJ works on getting the rest of our stuff out there.

We own a house! YAY!