Dear Kitten

I love, love, love this commercial.



What do you think?

Friday Links!

Crazy, unexpected week. Needless to say I haven't been blogging or writing. All I want to do as soon as I finish the final things on my wish-this-hadn't-happened To Do list is sleep. If you know me and where I live, you can figure out what's been going on.

Next week is not going to be pretty trying to catch up on all those words I've missed this week, but I had no choice. Sigh...

Here are some links for you. This is about all I can manage:

1) How would you like this "kitty" to pay you a visit while on a photo safari? Pretty cool and a once in a lifetime experience. Luckies! Click here to go to viralnova.com.

2) I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey's get out of debt snowball plan and his budgeting approach, but I thought Couponing To Disney's method is pretty cool to save up for something specific.  The best part is it's free. No books to buy. And lots of cute downloads to create your budget binder, coupon binder and Christmas binder.

3) I love the movie FROZEN, and I got a chuckle from this honest movie trailer:



Hope you have a great Friday! I'll be so happy to have hubby home this weekend and this week behind us!

RCRW Mini-Con

Hubby didn't like my short hair so I let it grow out!

This weekend I spoke at the RCRW Mini-Conference. Here's a picture of me right before my workshop Taking Your Writing to the Next Level started.

I don't get to many RCRW events. I haven't been to anything since the all-day intensive with Donald Maas a year ago. But it was fun to catch up with friends and meet new ones like author Carol Ross who's debut novel Mountains Apart  is out this month with Harlequin Heartwarming.

This was my first presentation in a long time. How long? I'd never used Power Point to make one before. Needless to say I was nervous. But the talk went well. I used examples from critiques I'd done over the years. I showed the before, asked the audience to use whatever technique I was discussing to revise the work, and then showed the published version. Big thanks to past and current critique partners Virginia Kantra, Terri Reed and Jennifer Shirk for giving me permission to use their stuff! After the conference, I went out to dinner at Stanfords with four authors who I've known over sixteen years. It was really fun to catch up with them and what's going on with their writing careers.

I hope you had a nice weekend! Today is the anniversary of my beloved Rocket crossing the Rainbow Bridge. It doesn't seem like that long ago, and I miss him so much. I'm going to enjoy the quiet house, cuddle with my fur babies and try to get some writing done. What's on your agenda for today?

Texts From My Cat

Spirit doesn't text, but still gets her point across!

I'm not sure of copyright rules for this so I'm just going to paste the link and tell you to read it. Click here to go to Sad and Useless where they've posted the Texts From My Cat article.  Enjoy!

Mittens, the texting cat, has quite the feline sense of humor. Even if you don't have a cat, you might even laugh. This crazy cat lady laughed hard!

A couple of my furbabies would likely sound like Mittens. I say this because of the way they communicate with me, especially Spirit. She lets me know what she wants, whether it's food, rubs or in the picture to the left, she wanted to see what Santa Paws filled her stocking with on Christmas Morning!

Hope you have a great Friday!

The Engineer's Guide to Cats 2.0

It's not quite Christmas yet. Thank goodness because I still have presents to wrap and a book to finish! So I thought I'd post this sequel to a video I shared a couple years ago. Enjoy!



Hope you have a great day! I'll be writing, wrapping and putting on the finishing touches for Christmas around here!

Home For Christmas Winner

My great Friday turned not-so-great when I ended up at the animal hospital with my 15 year old cat Miss Mousie. Sigh...  We're hoping it was just a reaction to some medication she's on. Otherwise I fear we'll be back there today.

I've decided to give two copies of the book away! I used a random number generator to pick the winners. And they are:

1) Cinderbella

2) Cindy Hamilton

Please use the Contact button on the menu bar to send me your email address.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered. I'm so happy to see that some of you have already read the novella and discovered Montana Born Books! They are putting out wonderful stories! And to B, I'm so sorry about your cousin. Prayers and condolences to you and your family.

Time to recheck on my cat! It's been a late night, but hubby took the early shift so I could get some sleep.

Enjoy your Saturday. I'll be catwatching and writing.

The fun never ends...

I thought things would be settling down around here. But nope.

On Wednesday, Miss Mousie came down with what Spirit had. Luckily we could get her on the right meds right away on Thursday and she's doing fine. Spirit has completely recovered, too! Amazing considering a week ago I thought we might have to put her down!

On Friday, Rose twisted her ankle at a trampoline place. She had to miss her soccer game on Saturday and limped around most of the weekend.

On Saturday night, we ended up at the ER with Finn. He could barely walk after his swim meet on Saturday. The kid still managed two personal bests and two state A times, but turns out he has tendonitis in his left foot. He's in an air splint, and we see his pediatrician tomorrow. I was just so happy something wasn't broken. The last time this happened we discovered he'd been swimming for two weeks with a broken arm.

As you can imagine, I'm ready for life to settle down. I hope to be back to my normal blogging once that happens. Been praying and crossing fingers. Seriously not sure how much more this mom can take.

On the writing front, I wanted to tell/remind you about a couple things.

First, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter, please do. Click here or go to the right column to sign up. I'll be doing giveaways for subscribers in November and December to celebrate my two Christmas releases. Gift cards and gingerbread are the prizes so sign-up before 11/1 to be entered in the November giveaway.

Second, there's a Goodreads giveaway going on right now for copies of my upcoming release A Little Holiday Magic. Go here to enter or you can use this gadget to get there, too.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Little Bit of Holiday Magic

by Melissa McClone

Giveaway ends November 01, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Hope you had a nice and uneventful weekend!

Back to Normal...

I hope things are getting back to normal around here. My daughter, who had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, is heading back to school today. My sick cat Spirit, who I spent 7 hours with yesterday at the emergency vet after two vet visits on Friday, now has medication to help her feel better. My novella that I turned in on Monday was accepted, too!

Of course, Beauty has discovered Sanchez. Who is Sanchez? A betta given to Mackenna by a friend and named after NY Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez who had the same shoulder surgery as my daughter on the same day. If you remember, Beauty was intent on killing Mackenna's goldfish Butler this summer. Yesterday we found Beauty on the dresser staring into Sanchez's bowl. Let's hope the door to the room remains closed or it won't be pretty.

So given this was happening in August, I guess things are back to normal.

As for me, I'm jumping back into a project I'd put on hold to write the Christmas novella! I can't wait and it lets me stay right next to Spirit in case she needs anything.

How are things where you are?

Found

I can't believe it's Friday! I had plans for a few blogs this week, but I got busy working on my Christmas Novella (pretty much all I was doing until yesterday) and then had a few cat things crop up and all the writing came to grinding stop!

On Wednesday, a new senior foster, Gabbro, came to stay with us for a few weeks. She's a fifteen year old black cat, so tiny. She was not doing as well in the shelter as they'd hoped. She's on a lot of medication and a picky eater. So far so good. She's a biter though. I have the scabs to show for it. But she's coming around. She's a little stiff in her movements so not a big jumper, but when I woke up my oldest guess who was in bed with her? Gabbro had gotten up there herself. Of course, she didn't know how to get down. I helped her! Might have to set up stairs like we did for Spirit. These old girls just aren't as nimble as they once were.

Then on Thursday morning, I received an email from Home Again telling me to renew Rocket's subscription. He's my furbaby who died in March. Needless to say, I started my morning off with a good cry.

Then about an hour later, I found this cat on my back porch. Well, in full disclosure mode, the two dogs found him. Though we didn't know the cat was a he. My first thought was he looked like Rocket, due to the coloring and long-hair.

I knew the dogs wouldn't hurt the cat, but I was worried the cat might freak and attack them. I planted myself between the cat and Cato, since I knew Chaos would listen to me. The puppy not so much. I ended up with two front paws caught on my track pants.

Rose saw me outside and came out to help, getting the dogs inside. The poor cat was so scared. And thin. Emaciated really.

I hadn't done dishes and used the last of the cat bowls for breakfast so I grabbed what I could find quick. I gave him food and water, but he just sat there. I emailed my contact at the shelter I foster for. I sent a second one with his picture, then went outside to sit with him.

He was growling under his breath, but I sat about a foot away and didn't try to touch him. He finally ate a little. I slowly reached for him, and he allowed me to pet him. Once he finished eating, I had to run inside, wash my hands, then check on Gabbro since she's adjusting to her new space. I received a reply from my shelter contact. She was calling to find out if the shelter had room and asked if I could get close enough to crate him.

The poor guy didn't move when I went to pick him up. He almost seemed relieved. I got him in a carrier with food and water. I put him in the sun and up high where the dogs couldn't bother him. I also made sure he could see inside to know he wasn't alone. I would have loved to bring him indoors, but I couldn't chance it with all my cats and the foster. Given his condition, not to mention matted fur and super long nails, he'd been outside on his own for awhile.

The shelter had room for him and named him Shasta. They set up a vet appointment for him, and I took him there a couple hours later. The vet agreed he is in bad shape. She couldn't believe he was even walking, let alone made it to my backyard. She was very pessimistic about his condition, but the shelter agreed to run blood tests and give him fluids. The vet cleaned him up. Matted fur was shaved and nails clipped. He didn't make a sound or fight any of this. Such a dear, good kitty

I then took him to the shelter. He has a wire cage to stay in. He's warm and safe. The shelter person let me know last night that he'd eaten and was a sweet boy.

Now, we wait to hear from the vet about his blood work. My hope is he's just starving, but his body reminded me of Rocket's at the end, when the cancer had taken over. I'm praying there's no underlying cause to his condition other than lack of food. No matter what the outcome with his tests, I'm happy Shasta showed up. At least yesterday and today he's been and is being loved. He has people who care about him, are taking care of him and are praying for him. He also has a nice indoor place to sleep and rest and fresh food and water.

UPDATE: The test results are back. YAY! Shasta has Hyper-T and an infection but both can be controlled/treated with medication. I'm so happy for the handsome guy! I will be visiting him at the shelter soon to see how he's doing! Thanks so much for all your prayers!

I'm not sure how Shasta found my backyard, but I'm really happy he did. 

Hope you have a nice Friday!

Cat 4-H at the Clark County Fair

Junior Reserve Champion for Cage Decoration

Sorry it's taken so long to get this post up. I had two more days of fair with my oldest, 3 extra kids (two nephews and a niece) here and way too much to do around here!

So 4-H Cats at the Clark County Fair...

I'll start by saying when I left for San Diego, my youngest decided she was not competing at Fair. She had never shown Beauty. She'd used our leader's cat at a Fun Match and it hadn't gone well. She'd only practiced during 4-H meetings twice.

Our leader texted me suggesting she at least decorate a cage and do a cat craft. Rose agreed. Of course, none of this was done let alone started while I was away in San Diego. So I return home from my vacation and Fair preparations begin.

Finn's award winning photo

Most people take weeks, maybe months, to pull everything together. We did it in three and a half days, give or take a few hours.

First up was 4-H Photography. Matted prints were due on Tuesday. The mishaps in getting ready included hubby not ordering reprints of all the pics and our puppy Cato eating the sheet of matting. That meant an early morning run to Michaels the day everything was due. Special thanks to the framing guy who cut the mats to save us time.

The kids pics did well. Rose won four blues. Mackenna won six. Finn won a red and a blue, including a special award.

Next up were the 4-H Cat Projects. Rose drew a picture of a cat to enter in Cat Crafts. She won a red ribbon with that. Then the big project was at had. Cage Decoration. She had a theme idea in mind based on her Build-A-Bear igloo.

A quick trip to Jo-Ann's Fabrics gave her all she needed to create the Kitty Snow Globe cage pictured at the top of the blog. She sewed the fabric to the cage, had her dad help her make a flooring and a wall to hide the litter box. A quick rummaging through her toys found a few accessories for the top. Her skills from Computer Adventures, a class she's taken the last two years, helped her create the title. All this took her most of Wednesday to complete, but for a last minute effort she did well. We had the cage to the fair on-time Thursday afternoon!

Irish Dancers Rose and Beauty

 On Friday (first official day of fair) morning when we arrived, she had both a blue ribbon and a Reserve Champion hanging on her cage for her efforts! Thankfully, she's already picked next year's theme so we can get started early.

As fair was getting closer, Rose decided she still wasn't going to show Beauty, but she wanted to do Cat Costume, where the 4Her and animal dress up. So as soon as the cage was finished, she figured out an easy costume. Irish dancers.

Rose had always dreamed of wearing her big sister's solo dress. Now she was big enough that it fit. Finding Beauty an Irish Dance outfit wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Given our last minute efforts, sewing wasn't an option so Rose raided her toy box. The American Girl Irish dance dress was too small, but a Build-A-Bear Sleeping Beauty dress fit. Rose added a tulle headband she'd made and white baby socks, cut off with black shoe laces drawn on to look like soft shoes. She won another Blue ribbon!

"Type" Judging

By Saturday, Rose had changed her mind and decided she was going to compete in the Fitting and Showing as well as Type. She was very nervous though.

Beauty had never been shown to a judge. She was a handful for Rose during Fitting and Showing (the judge is looking at the handler not the cat), but the two of them still ended up with a Blue ribbon. Rose was thrilled. We all were. Doing so well was a big confidence booster for her.

That afternoon, Type (the judge is looking at the cat not the handler) went much better. Beauty was more calm. We're not sure if she just decided this was her Fate or if she was more used to the new surroundings, but they received another Blue ribbon.

Cat showing is very different from dog showing. I'm still not sure I get the whole concept since the cat really doesn't do much. No running around a ring or stacking, just sitting/standing/lying on a table, but Rose enjoyed herself and already wants to do it again.

Beauty resting in her igloo

Saturday was also voting day at the Fair. The public could vote for their favorite cat cage. The kids passed out ballots to people touring the cat barn. Rose worked hard to get votes for hers!

Guess what?

She won! Beauty and the Kitty Snow Globe won the Public's Choice for Juniors (Rose's age group!)

On Sunday, the kids also competed in Cat Bowl. As the day was drawing to a close, they announced Clark County's State Fair team. Rose's name was announced. She qualified twelfth out of fifteen. Not bad for a kid who a few days before wasn't even going to compete. So in September we'll be heading to the State Fair in Puyallup, Washington.

Fingers crossed we won't be rushing around at the last minute to get everything finished in time!

Why it's Awesome to be a Nerd...

Wil Wheaton gives an infant girl a pep talk about being a nerd. This nerd loves this awesome video, and I had to share. Enjoy!




Have a great Thursday!

I Should Know Better

In the Fall, my youngest Rose joined Cat 4-H. I thought this would be easier than Dogs. A weekend (well, three days) showing cats at the county fair vs. seven days with dogs. It had to be easier right? Well, the weekend is fast approaching which means it's been a mad scramble to get everything ready.

You see, Rose can't decide if she wants to compete in all the events or not. When I left for San Diego she didn't want to so that meant nothing was done over the weekend. But now she might want to. That means we still have to be ready just in case.

We also keep finding out more and more stuff we need such as a 5x7 of Rose and her cat. They told us that last night at 7:30 pm. Oh, and they need it by Friday. I must admit that the dog project, even though the week was an utter hell for me with my writing schedule, was more organized. But I keep going back to three days vs. seven.

Beauty received a bath yesterday. She looks pretty and smells great. We also got all three kids' photographs entered. Today is all about cage decorating. Fingers crossed that goes well. 

Last night hubby happily told me I'd brought this upon myself when I dragged myself through the front door at almost 9 pm, tired and hungry. I know he's right. I should know better, but what was I going to do? Say no to my daughter? I couldn't for a very good reason. At least I think it's good, others, like my hubby, might disagree.

Rose is the youngest of three. She plays soccer and Irish danced because her brother and sister were doing those activities. Same with her swimming and dog showing, including dog 4-H. Why not have her join in when otherwise she'd just be sitting there watching?  Sure she loves swimming and soccer and dog showing (her activities now) but I think it's important to let her explore things without her brother and sister. Other than her hip-hop dance class, Cat 4-H is the first thing she's done that her siblings haven't.

And really, how bad could three days be? Well, once we're finally ready for them to start! Wish me luck!

Kitten Season

In my current work-in-progress THE BILLIONAIRE'S NANNY, my heroine is fostering a cat named Blossom. I fictionalized a real life event that happened at my local animal rescue shelter, a broken pipe flooded the cat house, in order Blossom to need a foster ASAP. But the truth is, even without a broken pipes, most shelters and rescue groups are looking for fosters.

Especially now.

This is the time of year when rescue shelters find themselves overwhelmed by kittens. Kittens are oh-so-cute, but when they are only days or weeks old, they live in foster homes. This puts a strain on shelters to find space for them. Kitten season lasts for months, so many shelters need extra fosters to get them through this crunch time.

If you've ever thought about fostering cats for a shelter or rescue group near you, now is a good time to make the call! You don't have to foster kittens. Older cats need foster homes, too. I can't speak for all shelters, but my local one provides all the supplies a foster needs, including covering medical expenses for the cat(s.) The foster provides the space and care and love. A win-win situation.

I realize some people aren't in a position to foster at the moment. One of those people is me. With two sick cats, I can't take in another right now, but we can still find ways to help. Just check in with your local rescue group to see what ideas they have on ways to get involved outside of fostering.

I know fostering doesn't appeal to everyone. I've heard the following from more than one person: how could they foster a cat, get attached then have that cat adopted by someone else. They say having to give the cat up would hurt their hearts too much. I always shake my head at this because that means these so-called cat lovers would rather protect themselves than help an animal in need. Sure, you get attached. Yes, you will miss them. And there have been lots of foster failures (raising hand, because we ended up adopting Miss Mousie.) But aren't some tears and a tight chest better than having a cat turned away from being rescued because there isn't room for them? Sure, some people will take in strays (we've done it), but adoption events and online adoption databases are better ways for a cat to find a forever home.

Every cat needs a forever home and their own person or family to love them!

And dogs, too! If you prefer woof to meow, dogs need fosters, too!

Hai! Yoda iz Back!

Yoda the Ninja Cat

Iz been too buzy being a ninja to blog for MomE. But she iz worried about me. Iz helping her.

A lady in the white coat sayz something iz wrong with my heart. She sayz Iz need to see heart doctor. We go today.

Iz tellz MomE I only 3 1/2. Iz a Ninja Cat. Iz adorable. My heartz good.

She still worry. Put away little red light thingy I chase.

So we will go to see this heart doc.

I wantz red light thingy back.

Figures...

Hubby out of town and two kids wake up sick. All my plans for the week must now change. Sigh...

I can so relate to these kitties today.



Hope you have a nice Monday!

Enough

I'm sure if I had never married, this is what I'd find at my doorstep. Though even though I'm married with kids, cats keep finding their way to us. Or rather people keep trying to give us more cats.

Trying because my answer went from being yes to no.  I may be a crazy cat lady, but enough is enough. I don't mind helping rescues, but I need to take a break from bringing more cats into our lives. This hiatus won't last forever, but given the ages of our oldest cats we need to put them first.

 So what does a crazy cat lady do if she can't foster or adopt more felines? She adopts and supports service members. Though hubby told me I couldn't collect soldiers like cats. So far so good!

Hope you have a good Wednesday!

Now What?

I feel like whoever has been making LOLcats the last couple of weeks is living in my house. This one is so Beauty and Yoda. The only difference is both of them are black cats.

I really can see them thinking this. At least twice a day!

Today is the birthday of my friend Elizabeth in San Diego who passed away in June. I wish I could pick up the phone, dial her number and wish her a happy birthday.  I really miss her.

Hope you had a nice weekend and a great Monday!

Happy Friday!

Why am I happy? We've had a couple of days of sunshine and warm temperatures. A much needed taste of spring after so much rain, gray clouds and cold! I'm not happy about that I'm thrilled! I haven't heard the weather report, but I'm crossing my fingers the sunshine continues through the weekend. Of course the nice weather is not helping me reach my page count. Must write first, then play!

Fellow Harlequin Romance author, Jennifer Faye, talks about my March release Winning Back His Wife on her "My Friday Read" blog post today. Jennifer's debut book, Rancher to the Rescue, comes out in July. I remember when my first book was coming out. Such an amazing time! I'm very excited for her!

Hope you have a very happy Friday!

Cat 4-H

Last night I took Rose to her 4-H meeting. This year we're doing cats instead of dogs. A good decision given Chaos ended up having seizures and Astra (who we borrow for Rose to use) had a litter of pups.

After the business meeting, kids brought out their cats to show. It's different from dogs in that the cat really doesn't do anything. The handler positions them for the judge. Probably a good thing given most cats don't do anything their supposed to do when asked.

Rose left Beauty at home. This was only our third meeting (including the Christmas party.) But she was there to watch.

One member brought out their Maine Coon. He was huge and gorgeous with this tiny, high pitched meow. His fur coloring was lighter, but he reminded us so much of Rocket. Still missing my big boy.

When country fair time rolls around, the cats are kept in cages. Each one is decorated so Rose is trying to think of a theme to use. Then we'll have to see how we can turn the cage into whatever she thinks up. The good thing is the cat part of fair is only 3 days compared to 7 with dogs.

So that was my night. How was yours?

This!

If you ever wanted to know what dinnertime is like at my house, just look at the pic to the left. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. My cats aren't on the table (though they'll try) but they lean off the cat tree like they might bound onto your plate at any minute, especially if salmon or chicken in being served.

You'd think they are starving. They aren't. But they like to eat, especially what we are eating.

Of course, we also have Chaos, who thinks she's the official taste tester for each of us. Fortunately she listens better than the cats.

The worst time is during deadlines when food is brought to me. The cats keep getting closer and closer to me. Okay, my plate. I have to eat fast and not because I should get back to work!

I hope you have a nice Monday and that this week goes much better than last for all of us!