I am back and did not forget my giveaway!

Hello my Friends!
Oh my ... getting back to my blog is like starting all over again! It has been so long. Things just got so hectic that I could not find time to think and I put blogging on the back burner. First, I want to give a quick update about our life down here. DH, David, had his Prostate cancer surgery on Nov 28 and it went well. It was done by robot and he had 6 punctures. He had probably 3 weeks of discomfort and limited movement, but then began improving daily and is now pretty much back to normal!! We have started a bathroom redo and I have resumed my job as gofer and hander while he does all the work:-) We went with the surgery because radiation is not guaranteed to cure it and surgery gets it all! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers -- they help so much:-)

Next. You met sweet kitty, Ashley, when we rescued her the end of Oct. By the first week of Dec, she decided to stop living under the bed and join us, but she still was pretty stand offish. Well, she still has her own rules about getting picked up! She definitely is a "Daddy's Girl" and I have to admit that I wanted one for me, too:-) After a whole lot of thought, I told David that I wanted to get another kitten for my Christmas present. He was okay with it so we went back to the shelter on Dec 23. I have a lot of trouble seeing all the cute kitties, especially at the 'pound' where they might not make it:-( I asked to see the kittens and, as they do, I was directed to the 4 month and older rooms. I wanted to give them a chance so I was fine. We had our 10 year old grand daughter with us so we could be sure the kitty would like kids, too. We all held several kitties and soon could tell the "loving" ones. Diane, the lady in charge, had just brought 3 of them in from foster care at her house and really wanted us to take a little guy named Rueben, but he was wilder than a March Hare!! Our Ashley has an 'old soul' and is pretty sedate so I needed to get a good match for her. Kendyl hooked up with a real sweetheart, but she was a long hair and we have some allergies to consider. David was looking around at all of them and spotted a little black girl kind of hiding in a corner. She was one of Diane's fosters and was having a little trouble adapting to a room full of cats. Diane handed her to me and I seemed to know right then that she would be mine. She was 7 months old, but looked like a much younger kitten -- maybe about 4 or 5 pounds -- extremely loving and a purrer for sure. They had named her Arianna. I had gone for a 12-13 week old kitten, but, honestly I feel better about taking the older cats that have a harder time being adopted. They got her all ready and off we went to introduce her to Ashley. I did not want to keep her name so we started brain storming right away. I said she should be Mary Kate -- get it? Mary Kate and Ashley? -- but too long and complicated:-) I started throwing out variations -- Katie, MK, KK .... KoKo -- KoKo was it!! It seemed to suit her. Back at home, we left her in the crate for just a little while to let Ashley 'meet' her and they seemed fine so I let her go. Boy, was it different from bringing Ashley home! No hiding in a impossible spot for 12 hours for KoKo! No, she came out on a vengaklllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllcxnce to OOOOPPPSSY!! I left the computer for a minute and KoKo wrote her version for you:-) Anyhoo, she wanted to see every spot of her new home and seemed to be the happiest kitty ever! Ashley followed her every step and they had "words" for a couple of days, but never any 'fisticuffs'. After a week, they are like litter mates and love each other completely:-) Any of you who know cats, know how hard they play and how funny they can be. We have all decided that we were lied to about Ashley's age because she acts way more like a 7 year old than a 9 month old:-) No, she is becoming more playful every day, but she is so very reserved and regal, very much like her breed is described. Well, they have taken the names of Princess Ashley and Duchess KoKo. Ironically, KoKo is more dark brown than black -- her under coat is brown and top is silky black. She is the typical "Alley Cat" -- she will eat most anything and will steal it off your plate if given the chance:-) She loves her Ashley play time, but curls up on your lap when she gets tired:-) They are both very well behaved, never scratch except on their posts and know where they are allowed! I love them both sooo much and they have brought us so much joy in such a short time:-) Most of you know about my very special Boo Kitty and how devastated I was to lose him. Ashley never filled his place, but little KoKo is exactly the kitten I think he would have been. She has helped with the healing. Okay, I know I have been going on way toooo long, but just one more story and I will get to the crafty part of the blog:-) Right after the New Year, Boo Kitty's momma started showing up on our deck. I knew what she looked like, but had not seen her since Sept. I have been feeding her and as soon as I have her trust enough, I will have her trapped to get her spayed. Unfortunately, I think she was just in heat because I have seen a couple of big bull males in the yard. I will let her be an outside cat unless she comes around enough some day to be a part of the family. She is getting closer and closer to me, but no one else, and yesterday I caught her nose to nose with KoKo through the door! The two girls watch her through the window and have no negative reactions. She is black with eyes that seem light icy blue -- little Boo had such bright blue eyes. I am quite happy to care for his momma and I will!!

You can see that Ashley is a lot bigger than KoKo. I have put 2 pounds on her so she is almost 10 pounds and KoKo is about 6 pounds. I think KoKo is always going to be on the small side. I will try to get a pic of Momma Kitty -- I call her that -- David calls her Spooky.



Now on to the giveaway!! We will just say it is a belated Birthday Giveaway to celebrate my birthday way back on Dec 7th (Yep, Pearl Harbor Day). I won't divulge my age because it is way too old:-) Some days I feel it, but usually I think of myself as much younger! A little while back, I found an awesome Scrapbook-card set at Sam's with a lot of useful things in it. I have decided to give this away to one lucky follower:-) I say follower because I doubt anyone but followers will see this! And, truthfully, I like to reward those who support me in such nice ways:-) I tried to get a good picture of the set and contents, but I do not know how to make the photo enlarge when you click on it? If anyone can help with that, please let me know! I think I will leave this open for at least a week before I pick a winner:-)

All I need is for you to leave me a comment and if someone finds their way here that is not a follower, please join us so I can add your name:-) I have stalled on followers and I will be doing a giveaway when I reach 50! If I say 100, we may never get there!! One of these days I will try to take part in a Blog Hop where more people will "meet" me:-) And I also promise to do a post at least every other day -- should that be a New Years resolution?? I surely need to get back on track!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!
Kitty Hugs, Judy