Typing With Wet Paws: Almost October Edition

Tails Up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws.

Me, on Mama Anna’s lap

Sorry about no blg last week. There were technical difficulties. By that, I mean there was a really good sunbeam and I did not feel like getting out of it.

Me on Aunt Linda’s bed

October is a really big month around here. We already had our second anniversary of moving into this apartment (still awesome) but October brings more celebrations:

  • Two years in this apartment means my third adoptiversary of coming to live with these guys. My first human, Mama D, can still see me here on the blog and Instagram, so I want to say hi to her. Seh gave me an awesome kittenhood and made me the cat I am today.
  • In the middle of the month, my human cousin is getting married. I wil be getting something called a “cat sitter” while the humans go watch that. I have never had a cat sitter before. Should be interesting.
  • Exactly one week before the end of the month, it is Mama Anna’s birthday, which is extremely important. She really likes birthdays, and hers is right up there near the top of the list.
  • A week after that is Halloween. There has been talk of getting me a costume. I don’t know exactly what a costume is, but I am okay with Mama Anna putting things on my head where a hat would go, so I’m probably cool with that. She will probably try with a washcloth or something. If I’m not into that, then I don’t have to wear anything. If I’m good with it, though, there will be pictures.

So, anyway, Mama Anna and Aunt Melva are almost at the end of their current manuscript, which is pretty awesome. After that, they get to edit that book and the one before it, and then see if their publisher would like them. The books, I mean. After that, they already know what they will do together next, and they also have individual projects to work on as well.

Speaking of which, Mama Anna has been thinking about what would happen if she did NaNoWriMo this year. At least Preptober. She will try Preptober first, and then if she doesn’t want to NaNo, she doesn’t have to, but if she wants to, she can. She really really really wants to work on a historical, so it will probably be that.

After all of that, then the holiday season is upon us. Mama Anna LOVES Christmas. There will be a tree. With lights and shiny things. We are talking with found family to see if there will be other people involved int the holiday observations. I love it when there are more humans in the house, so that would be fine with me. First, though, the adoptiversary. It’s traditional for me to share tuna with Papa, and I am getting a red dot as my present I love red dot. That’s going gtobe fun.

What’s on deck for your October?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Look What Our Calico Girl Can Do Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It is feeling a lot more like fall here in New York’s Capitol Region. That is good news for Mama Anna. She says she’s feeling a lot more like herself, and I can attest to that. She is wearing a sweatshirt right now, which is a big autumn thing. She’s stepped up her planner game, and on the actual writing of fiction front, she’s doing pretty well there as well. More on that later The whole Thursday blogging thing does not seem to be working for her, so she is going to look at something that may work better.

photo by Mama Anna

As you might imagine, I am a big help to Mama Anna in all that she does. It’s part of my job as her mews. I do a lot of stuff. Blogging is but one of my accomplishments. Mama Anna and Papa and Aunt Linda have a bunch of songs about me. Mama Anna has written about all of them. They aren’t very long, but they are catchy. When I was on my cat rumspringa a while back, it was Mama Anna singing those songs that helped us find each other. Anyway, the one that leads into today’s topic goes:

Black and white and orange too
Look what our calico girl can do

Like I said, I do a lot, but here are a few of my finer accomplishments, not all of them ones the humans fully appreciate. Last week, we covered my command of touchscreens. I can also unplug earbuds and charger cords, and there may or may not have been a few pairs of earbuds where I chewed through the cords. Papa says my Viking name would be Storm Cordcruncher.

Doors: I can open doors, but I never close them. Closed doors are evil. Especially if Mama Anna is on th other side of it. She is not allowed to use the bathroom without me. I can’t open the door to the hallway, though, but if Mama Anna is gone too long, I will try. Shoving my paws under the door and throwing my whole body weight at it have not worked yet, but it doesn’t mean that it never will. If I ever do, then I wil have to figure out what to do about stairs. I don’t know anything about stairs.

Dresser Stuff: I am great at climbing. Mama Anna has caught me with all four feet off the ground/my big “house” box in front of the dresser. I do scratch at the catnip drawer (Mama Anna keeps other stuff there, too, but I only care about the catnip) and I can get my fingers over the edge of the drawer and pull. I can’t get it open-open (yet) but I’m working on it. I also am working on my climbing, because I want to be on the top of the dresser. Mama Anna says no, because there is stuff up there. That includes a little jewelry and a couple perfume bottles, plus the medicine that helps Papa smoke less. They say it is Not For Kitties. I get that, but the top of the dresser would be a super cool vantage point. That has to count for something.

Zoom: I am fast. I am very, very fast. The humans call me The Calico Comet, because when I get on a rip, I am extremely zoomy. When we were on that awesome year-long camping trip to celebrate my adoption, we sometimes stayed in motels. Those rooms had two beds in them and I loved running super fast, sproinging up on one bed, then sproinging across the space between them and back again. That was Super Fun. There are two beds in our apartment, but they are in different rooms, so when I sproing, I do it on Papa and Mama Anna’s bed, then zoom around the kitchen or in Aunt Linda’s room, then I come back and sproing onto the bed again then run off again.

Presents: I love to bring presents to my parents and aunt. Usually, it’s my toys. Sometimes I chirp while bringing the present, so the humans know something awesome is coming. Sometimes I take presents for myself, from the humans’ stuff. It is 100% true what they say about cats and hair ties. I also like Papa’s socks. Also Mama Anna’s pens. I can pick them up in my paws by curling my toes around them, as well as picking them up with my mouth. Papa and Mama Anna have been talking about how it’s about time to look for my stash again. :sigh: That’s okay. I have backups.

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Touchscreen Edition

Tails Up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This is a pretty good week around here, because A) we are on the second day in a row of Papa being home (he has to go back to work tomorrow) and B) it is also the start of Aunt Linda having some time off. I love having my people around me! Also, I videobombed Mama Anna while she chatted with Aunt Melva this week. I regret nothing.

Profile of a calico cat, with an orange swath over her eye.
photo by Mama Anna

This week, Papa ordered our groceries from the interwebs. They came in paper bags, which he gave me, so that was super fun. I am also very busy helping Mama Anna with her planning. Not only her personal planning stuff, but her writing planning. This week, she is working on a very important scene for Queen of Hearts, and that involves a big black posterboard and a lot of sticky notes. When she is done with them, she crumples them and throws them on the floor for me. That’s very considerate of her, especially because of what I have learned to do lately.

As you may have guessed from the title of this week’s post, there is a touchscreen involved. Specifically Mama Anna’s, on her tablet. Sometimes it is very hard for her to get to sleep. She is obviously not a cat. The people vet gave her some medicine to help, and it usually does, but another thing that helps her is to have her earbuds in so she can listen to music or talking to help her sleep. This can be a problem when I need her attention. It’s no secret that I watch her a lot (she is super interesting) and I have learned there are two ways to get her attention when she has her earbuds in:

  1. Get the earbud cord in my mouth and pull. This will either get the earbuds out of her ear or the earbud plug out of the tablet. Either way, I get her attention. It has also caused Papa to dub me “Cordcruncher.” Also, I may or may not be an earbud thief. There’s that.
  2. The other way, and this is new, is to plop my paw onto the touchscreen. that will stop the music or video Mama Anna is listening to, and, either way, I will have her attention. Papa is very proud of me for being a Very Smart Girl. Mama Anna is not as pleased but she does agree I am smart.

We are still figuring out what I am doing by perching on her nightstand. I do not do this to Papa, although I do like to sit on his desk, which is also his nightstand. He has a window above it, so I can see what is going on outside. I do not want to go outside. I just want to know what is happening.

Oh, and Mama Anna recorded another Anna Log video (I am not in it, unfortunately) so that will b eup later.

That’s about it for this week. Mama Anna and Aunt Linda are going to go do some hunting (including crunchies for me!) and I am going to hang with Papa. He is doing some tidying things, so he is going to need help. I’m on it.

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Welcome September Edition

Tails up Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Today was awesome, because Papa and Mama Anna were both home. Papa let Mama Anna get a nap that she really needed, and I supervised. He also did some of the tidying, which was very interesting. The most interesting thing, though, is that we are now in September, which means that Labor Day is Monday, and that is the start of fall in this family. It is also when Mama Anna’s superpowers come back, so we are all excited about that.

A calico cat sist next to a box advertising a pair of pink glittery cat ear headphones. She looks less than pleased.
photo by Mama Anna

Mama and Aunt Linda went hunting yesterday and they bought some headphones. I am not sure how I feel about Mama Anna getting cat ear headphones. I appreciate the effort, but please the ears should be half orange and half black. They are pink and glittery, though, so they are on brand. Mama Anna has two settings: blush pink and black. There is no in between. Sometimes she is both at once. As a calico, I fully support this. I also fully support Mama Anna and Papa and Aunt Linda using headphones, because as a kitty, my hearing is better than theirs, and can you imagine the noise? Yeah.

Anyway, it’s easy to tell around here that autumn is right around the corner. For one thing, mama Anna is wearing flannel pajama pants today, with the black zippered sweatshirt where the zipper doesn’t work, but she refuses to get rid of even so. The big fan is off and Aunt Linda is right now on her way back from laundry, where she washed a big bunch of flannel sheets. As you can guess, Mama Anna likes flannel.

Mama Anna is also back in the planner groove. She was right; all she needed was a break. She’s narrowed planners for now down to two Happy Planners: one big (letter size) planner, and one mini planner, both with the same information. The big one lives on her desk, and the mini in her purse. She also has her B6 size traveler’s notebook, Christine, but Christine is not a planner. She’s a notebook. I will let her post about that kind of stuff but please know that I am sitting on all of them. Not at the same time, but in my dreams, you know I do.

Profile closeup of a calico cat, showing the orange side of her face
photo by Mama Anna

Around this time last year, some of Mama Anna’s cousins came to visit. One of them wanted to see that both sides of the fur around my eyes are different colors. As you can see, they very much are. One of the perks of being a calico.

Profile of a calico cat, showing the black side of her face.
photo by Mama Anna

I only saw Mama Anna’s cousins from the window, but they seemed nice. I hope they come back soon. I love meeting new friends. Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian visited this past weekend, but my humans went to their hotel room instead of them coming here. That was okay by Mama Anna because the humans are still digging out of August, which was pretty much divided between heatwaves and being sick. Everything is much better now.

I think that’s about it for this week. Aunt Linda will be home soon with laundry and dinner, and that means I have a lot of stuff to put my stink on. It’s very important that all of our stuff smells like all of us. What’s an important rule in your house?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Claws: Grumbling at Printers Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. The heat wave seems to have broken this week, but Aunt Linda is still recovering from it, so I am on nurse duty. Papa and Mama Anna seem to be doing better. Well, except for Mama Anna and the printer. I know I said printers in the title, but she’s only mad at the one. Writers do tend to need their printers to work, for the most part, and for the most part, hers hasn’t been, lately. She was going to have Aunt Linda help her, because Aunt Linda is usually good at fixing things, but Aunt Linda isn’t feeling all that great so Mama Anna gave it a whack herself yesterday.

Photo by Anete Lusina on Pexels.com

Obviously, that is not Mama Anna’s real printer, but it’s close enough. The only difference is that a printed document is coming out of that printer. Mama Anna had got it working yesterday, but then she tried to use it again today, and it has no idea what she is talking about. The screen on the printer has an exclamation point on it, which means it needs her to do something, but it won’t tell her what. She is grumbling a lot. She needs to print stuff. I’d help, but, well, I’m a cat.

With the heat wave over, Mama Anna is doing a lot better and is spending a lot of time with her journal to figure out how she can best get back on track. So far, she is doing pretty well. Except for the printer. Oh, and she tried to play a new scenario in Sims 4 last night, and failed at it, because the Sim she had to keep alive froze to death while dumpster diving. So that’s a thing. She did think about printing out some screenshots for her Sims journal, but again, the printer thing. She has been muttering about taking a jump drive to the library. That may be a wise option. Also, how cute am I in Sims?

A screenshot from the Sims 4 video game. A calico cat woalks on the counter, and eyes a platter of grilled cheese sandwiches.
A screenshot from The Sims 4 video game: a calico cat eyes a platter of grilled cheese.

Stinking cute, am I right? The splootches (that’s what we call patches of colors on pets’ coats) are off, but I say it’s the purr-sonality that counts. Here, have another one.

A screenshot from The Sims 4 video game. A calico cat stares out the window.
A screenshot from the video game, The Sims 4. A calico cat stares out a window.

This is a very good approixmation of what I do every time Mama Anna leaves the house. She says she is planning to take trash out tonight. Trust me, I will be watching while she does.

Screenshot from the video game The Sims 4. A calico cat stands atop a metal framed bed, covered in blue flowered bedding.
Screenshot from the video game The Sims 4. A calico cat stands atop a metal framed bed, covered in blue flowered bedding.

Yeah, this one is extremely accurate. I love getting on the bed. It’s actually about my favorite place. Especially when Papa or Mama Anna are on it. Best of all, when they are both on it, and I am between them, and they are both rubbing me. That’s the good stuff. I like snuggling with Mama Anna while she reads or writes longhand. Sometimes that’s in her journal, but a lot of the time, it is fiction. Exactly as she expected, starting a new reading journal and tracking her reading helps her read a lot more.

I should probably mention that, despite all her talking about not doing One Book July for her planning, she has decided that she has been too overwhelmed with multiple planners lately, and only did one planner this week, and may continue that through August. She also got a lot of stickers for days and dates, so my best guess is that she will be redating any stuff she doesn’t end up using, which I think is a pretty smart move. I have shown my approval by sitting on the sticker book. I like to be helpful that way.

Hm what else? Mama Anna has been talking about adding a TBV section (To Be Viewed) for streaming shows and movies she wants to watch. Not sure where that kind of tracker will go, but I do know that if she’s going to be watching stuff, that is prime cuddle time, so I foresee many belly rubs. Doubly so if she is going to be writing about the stuff she watches, which she probably will. I better start training.


Headbonks!

A calico cat sleeps in the middle of a grey cat bed

Typing With Wet Paws: Bye-Bye, July Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Sorry for no blog last week, but I was on very important fur nurse duties. The humans were all pretty flat due to the heat, but stayed hydrated and we even got a new fan. I was perfectly fine, because I can find the super comfy places that are too tight for humans to fit. Plus, I have my windowsill. Lots of bird action, I can tell you that. Net week looks to be another hot one, but next week is also August, which means that halfway through, we get Papa’s birthday, and then at the end of it, we will have September. That means fall, which means Mama Anna’s superpowers come back.

A black, white, and orange calico cat sits on the seat of a pink leather desk chair, her attention fixted on the lower right hand corner of the image.
always on the lookout

Mama Anna and Aunt Melva are clipping right along on Queen of Hearts. They haven’t written any big holidays in the first two books they have written together, but in this one? So far, three are scheduled. I guess it works like that sometimes.

When it comes to the historical stuff, Mama Anna still hopes to do better, and maybe that will happen in the fall, once this draft of QoH is done. She’ll probably talk about that later, but one thing she’s thinking about is paying more attention to the realm of medieval romance in the current market. There will definitely be some medieval romance in her reading over the next few months. Well, actually right now, as she is reading a medieval or medieval adjacent romance right now.

Two books lie side by side. One is an A5 size cloth covered notebook in sage green, with the word "ideas" stamped in gold tone foil. Next to it is a paperback romance from the 1980s, entitled Ride the Savage Sea, depicting a blonde woman and darkk haired man in a romantic embrace.
new reading journal incoming

This weekend, Mama Anna is setting up the first month in her new reading journal, and one of the oboks on her TBR list. Well, TBRR, actually, meaning To Be Re-Read, because she read this book a long time ago. Aunt Mary lent Mama Anna this copy, after Mama Ann recommended this author. Fun fact, Ballenrose, also by Mallory Burgess, was Mama Anna’s favorite historical romance read of our vagabond year. Her favorite YA read of that year was Deposing Nathan, by Zack Smedley. She would very much like it if both of these authors had new books out in the near future.

Since we are at the end of July, that means the stores (where I am not allowed to go, for some reason, but whatever, I have two water bowls and a new big fan) are now selling new stationery things. That makes Mama Anna very very happy. Pens, paper, notebooks, page flags, pastel highlighters (not the bright ones) and that kind of stuff come into our home and I have the very important job of scenting it all. Our stuff has to smell like us. That’s a fact, and I intend to carry out that duty to the best of my ability. Also, I get boxes to sit in, bags to crinkle, and all in all, it’s pretty decent.

How’s it going for you?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Cat Days of Summer Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It’s fully summer over here in NY’s capitol region, which means that windows are open, and box fans are on. It’s actually super comfortable, though the humans have talked some about air conditioning. That’s pretty cool (hah! See what I did there?) and I remember it being pretty nice, from when we were travelling, but honestly, hard to beat what we have here. Also, did I mention that I have TWO water bowls? Yeah. Big flex in the cat world, trust me on that. The other awesome thing about this time of year is the thing that makes Mama Anna super happy, and that is back to school sales.

If you know Mama Anna at all, you know she is kind of gaga for all things stationery. That means she gets really excited for this time of year because it means that there is new stationery stuff everywhere, and it means that the autumn is coming, when her super powers return. Also when we can celebrate my adoptiversary, as well as Mama Anna’s birthday. Lots of things to celebrate. Mama Anna usually likes to celebrate with stationery. For me, that means lots of new things to inspect and put my stink on, because it’s not really ours until it smells like me.

Three leather/leather look notebook covers, in shades of brown and black. The black one had a metal tag reading "Not all who wander are lost" by C.S. Lewis. The light brown on has a mermaid tail charm, and the largest has tooled leather in a design that coordinates with the celtic knotwork metal button.

these three notebooks are all Storm-approved. The black cover has Mama Anna’s mini Happy Planner. Christine is the one with the mermaid tail, though Mama Anna moved that charm to a different book and Christine now has a camera charm. She’ll get a picture of that later. The bottom cover has a dot grid Exceed notebook inside, which Mama Anna is using to figure out how to best use dot grid paper, because she is gearing up to pull the trigger on an Archer and Olive book. She’s not normally into white paper or dot grid, but there are also black, kraft and Neapolitan (that means white, black and kraft in the same book. I say they could call it calico) options, so she’s thinking. Besides, she’s seen a lot of videos using this brand as a reading journal, and she wants to try that. For me, I am all about the box. Their notebooks come in boxes. I’m sold.

Mama Anna is super interested in a reading journal (which she might combine with a media journal, about the things she watches on streaming services) because the more she journals, the more she does the things she journals about. She’s also wanting a place to put notes about the books she is reading, and things that inspire her to maybe use in her own books someday. The way I see it, more notebooks means more boxes, which means I win.

What do you think?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Back on Track Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. If you’re wondering where I have been, I’ve been right here, but on nursing duty, as first Pap was sick and then Mama Anna. They are both okay now, so I am back to blogging. As you can see from this week’s picture, I am heavily involved with Mama Anna’s getting back to business, which does of course include supervising the use of stationery. In this case, we are talking about making her new traveler’s notebook, Christine, all chonky. It’s a tiring job, which is why I need to nap during it.

a black, white, an orange calico cat sleeps atop a manila folder, various papers scattered around her, and a coupon on top of her.

Journaling is super important for Mama Anna, because she has a LOT of thoughts in her head, and putting them on paper, especially paper that loos nice, is a big help in getting it all sorted out correctly. Of course this means that i must be intimately involved in all such proceedings, investigate all tools, and make sure they smell correctly…aka like me. Mama Anna figures that doing some pre-writing for blogs as well as fiction should help her be as productive as she would like, and that includes keeping a special section for stuff about me.

Eight Clickart markers, in summery bright colors, rest on top of a Celtic-tooled leather journal cover.

This book pictured above is probably going to be where Mama Anna works out how she wants to set up a reading journal. The pens were a “feel better” gift from Aunt Linda. I am happy to say that they worked.

One of the topics she put in the section for my blogging is three human foods I like but am apparently not allowed to have, because they are “bad for kitties.” Hmph.

  1. Sausage. The humans are rather fond of sausage, including as a pizza topping. One day, there was a very interesting smell coming from the pizza Papa had ordered, and he was busy on his computer, so I saw my chance, and I took it. Meaning that I nabbed a piece of sausage right off his pizza, and that got his attention away from the computer. Not saying if he got it out of my mouth or not, but suffice it to say, we now don’t leave pizza where I can get at it no matter what the interwebs is offering.
  2. Bleu cheese dressing: Once again, this is from one of Papa’s dinners. Mama Anna immediately looked up online and found out that this is a food that is Very Bad for kitties, but Papa is super smart about foods, and told her that what I had slurped was basically buttermilk with slight flavoring, but once again, now all condiments are capped if not being actually used.
  3. Salami: Mama Anna was sick when this happened, so she doesn’t know anything about it, apart that she saw something round in front of my gushy food dish (it was not gushy food) Interestingly enough, the salami slice was exactly the same shape as my dish, and close in color, so maybe I was playing a matching game? Papa claims no knowledge, but please refer to the above incidents. Suffice it to say that there is now a rule about unattended cold cuts.

So, that’s about it that’s happening around here. We should both be more active on here in teh days to come, so thanks for sticking around. What are you guys up to this week?

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Papa Smells Like People Vet Edition

Tails up, storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I know it’s been a while, but stuff has been kind of real-life-y lately. For the first week that I missed, that was because they don’t allow kitties at StampCon, which is a stupid rule, and then after that, well, Papa ended up smelling like People Vet. Apparently the Humans have some kind of law about medical information, so I will say he is back at work now. Also, Mama Anna and Aunt Linda visited Aunt Mary, which meant they got to see my Cousin Aidan, who is a dog. Anyway, I am glad that everybody is home now, because I don’t like it when my humans are not all in one place.

A black, white, and orange calico cat looks directly at the camera, ears alert, her expression curious
relieved and curious me. Photo by Mama Anna

Mama Anna came home with a LOT of books from her trip to Aunt Mary’s, and then got a new notebook on one of her craft store runs with Aunt Linda. Yesterday, she started a system to keep track of her TBR mountain, which I think is a good thing because wow, is she behind on her Goodreads challenge. She’ll rally, though. She always does. She is getting her writing groove back, aided by watching some stuff on streaming TV (I help. I catloaf and watch with her.) and spending time with her stationery. Sometimes she forgets that the stationery serves her; she doesn’t serve the stationery. She’s also super in to tidying the apartment, so I have a lot to supervise. Bags to sniff, things to sit on and all of that good stuff.

an open travexy print cover on one side, and a purple one on the other. Purple cover has a green sticker that reads "end the stigma", next to the image of a prescription bottle.ler's notebook with a gala
Christine guts
(well some of them)

Mama Anna is getting hardcore into her art journaling stuff, and she said she might be willing to share some of that here in days to come. Apparently, art supplies are largely not for kitties. Okay, the paints and markers and stuff likely not, but nobody can stop me from sitting on any notebook left in my range of vision. She has some watercolors now that she even takes on the road when she goes out. There is a brush that has water inside it, which I think is pretty cool. That stuff dries fairly fast, so I’m not tracking it anywhere when I walk across it, so that’s a win.

Part of this weekend, Mama Anna will be spending in shelving the books she got from Aunt Mary and then working on her plan to get back into the historical romance groove which means both reading and writing. Don’t ask me how, but something special happens when she puts stationery in the mix. For my part, I am thankful that it usually involves paper I can lay on, which is sometimes but not always what she is currently working on at the moment. I’m not the type to purposely hinder my human, but I do require a certain amount of belly rubs, specifially from Mama Anna.

How’s your summer going so far?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Unofficially Summer Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I don’t know when the people calendar says summer starts, but the windows are open, the fan in Mama Anna and Papa’s bedroom is on, Mama Anna has brought out the pajama shorts, and birds are chirping outside the window, so it’s basically summer over here. Not always Mama Anna’s favorite season (okay, never) but this year things look better than they usually have, so that’s good.

I should mention that the humans have been ordering some things that they need (and/or want) so that means that there are a bunch of boxes coming into the house. Mama Anna calls them “cat traps,” because I have to sit in every single one of them. It is my duty as a feline. I also sit on crinkly paper, envelopes, and other packing materials. I am multi-talented, but boxes are my true love in this matter.

photo by Mama Anna

Mama Anna has been making noises about moving her desk (it is foldable, so she can do that) so that it is closer to the window, and the fan in the window, for the summer. That will also give her more light as the days are longer for now. Yesterday was a super good writing day, and a good talk with Aunt Melva about their shared work Now Mama Anna has to apply that same energy to historical romance writing. I have faith in her. She’s pretty good at that. She is also now up to date with This Is Us (still doesn’t like Kate and Toby splitting, but she can deal with their new partners. Also, she is very much in favor of Kevin/Sophie.) Now she is working her way through getting current on The Walking Dead universe. That one is pretty big, so that may take her a while.

photo by Mama Anna

This is not exactly what this part of Mama Anna’s office area looks like at the moment. She has spent some time reorganizing it, so not exactly the same, but pretty close. She is going to need more fairy lights. Also maybe more crates. Here is a fun fact: the weathered looking ones, like the one at the bottom, is a little bigger than the untreated ones. I can’t measure, so I don’t know how much of a difference it is, but it’s worth noting.

Mama Anna is still growling when I bring up her Goodreads challenge, but her latest library haul looks promising, and there are more coming, so I think she is going to do okay, especially since summer is a good time for plopping herself in front of a fan with a good book or ten. Wait, is that a run on sentence? I t hink Mama Anna may be rubbing off on me. Makes sense. I rub on her pretty often. Mamas and babies should smell the same. I don’t make the rules. Oh wait. I’m a cat. That means that I do. Sweet.

headbonks!d

Storm