Secret Agent Josephine

Lots of news lately. First the windows, then my super fun project with Amalah and Alpha Mom went live yesterday. And then we had a very nice and photogenic late afternoon at the beach! How am I supposed to blog about the bits and bots?!! See! This is why I never get anything done around here.

But I can’t complain. I love it when things are exciting.

I could not be more excited about this. I am deeply honored to be in the same web space as Amalah and Alpha Mom. I’m so glad I can finally talk about this! I sold my pregnancy illustrations to Alpha Mom way back in 2006 (hello, that was a crazy year! …as in the year I gave birth!) and I couldn’t really talk about it because they were going to be used for a top secret project. That particular top-secret project might still be in the works but this new pregnancy calendar, written by none other than the most-funny and well-spoken Amalah, is NOT secret! Yay! Yay! Yay!

So the illos are a bit dated. I did draw them in 2006 afterall. You might recognize some of them since they showed up here first. I tried to tweak some of the really out-of-style ones (side bangs! side bangs! my illos need side bangs!) so I’m not too embarrassed but we’ll see how that goes. So far all the comments are from moms about their pregnancies so I guess I don’t need to be so self-centered and vain all the time.

Anyway, I’m very excited and you can see why the whole Mom’s Buzz scandal was such a big deal now because my mom illos are owned 100% by Alpha Mom! Of which I am proud to say I am part. Hooyah! Now let’s go bully some Beta Moms. Just kidding!!!

Now let’s get down to business. The “unfinished business” of answering the this-and-that questions from this post and beyond. I might have to do it in parts because I have way way way too much to write about!

First Up: Forrest the Cat!

We are SO happy that Forrest is in a very loving home. See that fluffy fur? He is obviously well taken care of. AND they let him outside to play in the mud. That is one happy cat.

His new owners do not have a blog but Sarah (his new adopted mom) has written me a few emails letting me know that he is doing very well and I can tell that she spoils him rotten. Here is an excerpt:

“He’s doing well and he fits right in. We love having him around and he’s such a social animal, it’s too cute. He’s always wherever we are – at my feet when I’m making dinner, on Donald’s lap while he reads a book, curled up next to me while I work, in the windowsill when we garden, smack in the middle of the room begging for a belly rub while I paint our bedroom walls, etc. Sebastian (the other cat) is pretty friendly, but not nearly this friendly, he’d much rather sleep the whole day away. Forrest is always following us around, on our heels. He’s also started to respond to his name, which at first he wouldn’t do for us. Now when we whistle or say FORREST! he comes a-runnin’ and stops at our feet, waiting for us to pet him =) He’s a cutie pie; we wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

The best part of her emails though is the little story about baby wipes. Since Forrest has deformed back legs, he sometimes has trouble clearing himself of his poop in the litter box. This is something I was worried might be a deal breaker in finding him a home.

Sarah writes, “Sebastian has taken to helping Forrest ‘clean up.’ For the first few days that Forrest was with us, he had trouble navigating the cat box and frequently ended up trailing poop around on his tail or his hind ankles, but increased familiarity with the set-up combined with Sebastian’s desire to keep everything neat and tidy has eliminated the problem entirely.

“We bought a box of baby wipes at the beginning, but we haven’t needed them in weeks. Oddly enough, the only baby wipes that were available at the store when we went are scented like lavender and Forrest cannot get enough of them. He’ll hobble over to the box and whine until we take one out for him. Then he just wants to lay on it and rub his face and his neck in it. So he always smells good. It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen, but hey, whatever works.”

Now THAT is love. She buys him lavender baby wipes!

I thought it was a silly idea to blog about Forrest in order to find him a home but it really did work. He would have wound up at the pound and probably would have been put to sleep if it wasn’t for you guys. Thank you Sarah! Thank you blog readers. You are such a big part of my world.

Next up: Norge! My red refrigerator!

I wish I had some old photos of me painting this old refrigerator. Not because they would be helpful to the story but because I was HOTT back then. Or at least that’s what my ten-years older self thinks now. I really did look way better when I weighed twenty pounds less and had less chins. But whatever! This is blog is not about aging!

I bought this old thing with a roommate back in 1995 or 1996. We paid 200 bucks for it and had to drive to some unknown part of Costa Mesa to pick it up. My roommate at the time was very resourceful and found us some shady back-room deal where looked through rows and rows of dusty old refrigerators until we found one we liked. I am amazed that it is has held up so long and served us so well. I bet if I bought a new one from Sears I’d have more trouble with it. This is Norge and he WORKS.

Norge was also a very ugly color of mustardy pukey off-brown when we got him. He was dirty and grimy and just plain yucky. We cleaned him up and used him in his natural color for years but when Toby moved in (yes, I lived in sin and am not proud of it) he suggested we paint it.

That’s what’s great about Toby. He thinks “outside the box” (though I hate using that term). I swear his brain is wired inside-out and upside-down compared to everyone else’s. Have you seen the way he writes the numeral five? From the bottom up. He writes all his letters and numbers that way. He’s a freak.

Even though I like to think of myself as the artsy-fartsy artist I probably would have never thought of painting my refrigerator. And if I did, I would have gotten intimidated by “the work” it involves. Painting! How do you do it? I need someone to show me first and then I’ll have a ball. But just breaking out and doing something new. That’s a bit scary.

We had some discussion over the matter when the subject of color came up, Toby said, “Paint it any color you want!” Well… you know what that means. When I’m given the freedom to choose color I ALWAYS choose red! If I had my way, my entire house would probably be red. Though Toby has mellowed me out somewhat over the years.

We washed it down with TSP or something like that, roughed it up a bit with sand paper and then went down to the nearest hardware store and bought some exterior house paint. We rolled it on with paint rollers and amazingly it stuck and has given us no trouble for years and years and years. I think everyone should paint their fridge. It’s great!

One more topic and I’m closing this post because it is getting LONG!!!! Yikes!

Lastly: Bug’s Red Shoes.

Yes, we love red shoes in this house. Bug’s shoes are called “Sadie” from See Kai Run. I bought them off Amazon but I think you can get them just about anywhere.

One of Toby’s sisters bought Bug her first pair of orange See Kai Run shoes and I loved them! They are so flexible and soft. I made Bug wear them every day and wished I had some too. These red ones are not quite as nice because they have a pretty thick rubber lip on the sole and when they were on the big side Bug tripped on them constantly. Now that they fit, she seems to get along in them fine but that was a bit of a drawback in the beginning.

And that is all I can write today because Bug just woke up!

Hope that helps!