Day 79 - Foster Kitten Friday

TGIFF! (Thank goodness it's Foster Friday!)

My Simon & Garfunkel kitties (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme) are now hitting five weeks old and things are changing. First up, they are no longer bottle babies. So exciting! They've also finished up with their gruel stage and are completely on canned food. They even are doing well with the newly introduced canned food/dry food combo. They are growing fast and are beginning to eat, pee, and poop me out of house and home. Four kitties eating like like crazy have required multiple replenishments of food and litter. (Another reason I like working with Simply Cats - they supply everything for free! Just a quick email to them asking for more supplies and I can pick up the food, litter, or whatever, the next day.)

This week the kitties have also found playing and running and jumping and climbing are fun activities. These little ones never stop. Couch to floor to windowsill to bookshelf to chair to scratching post and back again.

Sometimes I think they are playing
Follow the Leader.

Toys have become important, too. They have a favorite one they fight over and drag around the living room.

Sage has it now, but looks like Thyme is gunning for it.

Yep, Thyme got it all to himself for a short moment.

It's Rosemary's now.

But what about Parsley? When is it her turn? She does play with it sometimes, but not much. At least not yet. When she came here a couple weeks back she was the smallest by far at about 9 ounces. We've worked hard at putting weight on her and she finally hit the one pound mark early this week (yay!) but she's still smaller than the rest. She prefers watching the others play instead of playing herself. Her participation has been increasing and she will even take a swat at one of them and then try and run off. Like kitties when they first start to play, she is still running a bit sideways.

Parsley was also the last off the bottle, the last off the gruel, and the last one ready to eat canned food. Even now, while the others eat nice and neatly, Parsley is messy. With a capital M.

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

Looks like a regular kitty eating from a bowl, right?

Look closer to see what she does with her paws. IN THE BOWL.

Try and take her paws out of the bowl and here's what you get. Someone giving you a glaring look and sticking out her tongue.

What about if you take the bowl away instead? You get the pouty look.

Might as well let her finish her messy eating because then you'll get a happy camper ready to clean her own face. (Well, not exactly. She still requires additional face/paws/body-cleaning support from Foster Mama.)

Welcome to my adorable kitten world.

Day 78 - Hugs

Need a little love from a little kitty? As soon as Thyme wakes up I’m sure he’ll give out some hugs.

Yep, all ready!

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

Day 77 - It's a Birthday

Today is kiddo's birthday. Usually she and her husband head off to the mountains to go camping with friends, but with the pandemic it's not happening this year. Plus she's knee deep back into work with little time off right now. Side note: As you're out shopping in the retail stores, please be kind to the employees. They're doing the best they can to keep you safe by following CDC guidelines and company policy. They don't need jerks mouthing off to them about the long lines and closed fitting rooms. I know you’re frustrated things aren’t the way they used to be, but please don’t take it out on store employees.

So today she's having lunch with some work friends. Maybe stopping by our house for an outside social distancing visit. While I'd love to give her a hug and kiss today, I know I can't. But I can tell her how much I'm proud of her. How much I love her. Maybe that's all a married thirtysomething needs from her parents anyway. (Although I did pick up some Dr. Pepper and granola bars for her to take to work.)

Happy Birthday kiddo!

Roses outside Simply Cats.
I snapped the photo when I picked up supplies today.

How to Make a One-Handed Elastic Face Mask - Tutorial Tuesday

Most cloth face masks require two hands to take them on and off, but today's mask tutorial shows you how to make one so only one hand is needed. It'll provide independence to stroke patients and others with only use of one side of their body, like my husband. And if you have use of both hands, this one works great for you too because it keeps the elastic off your ears and puts it around your head instead.

For this project you will need:

• 8" x 16" piece of cotton fabric
• 15" piece of elastic. I'm using 1/4" wide elastic.
• 10" piece of elastic
• 6" piece of flexible wire. I'm using stem wire but you can use pipe cleaners or even a metal twist tie.
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

You can find the step-by-step how-to tutorial for the cloth fabric face mask for one handed people right here:

Looking for a different mask? I have several other tutorials to choose from:

Looking for other travel accessories ideas? Check out these projects!

Day 75 - Presto Chango!

On Day 59 I complained about my old stove with not all burners working. About my oven hood fan that made a horrible racket. And about my nonstick pans that Mr. E made into stick pans because of his preference for metal utensils.

Nothing worth seeing here.

Then on Day 71 I solved the oven hood fan racket by installing a new one. All by myself.

Super noisy fan problem solved.

Now we have a presto chango event. 

So pretty

And all the burners work on this one.  Yahoo!

Day 74 - Scrappy Sunday

What do you get when you clean out your scrap fabric drawer and run the sewing machine all day? 12 different colors of scrappy blocks waiting for a project. A non-quilt project.

Next up comes the white fabric strips. Or maybe muslin strips. It's still a work in progress so I haven't quite decided yet.

Day 73 - The Early Bird

Not only does the early bird get the worm, it gets kitties fed and a 6 AM sunrise picture taken through the kitchen window.

Day 72 - Foster Kitten Friday

Welcome to another week of Foster Friday. This day is always the best of the week because I get to show off my little foster babies. (The kitten kind, of course.) 

Schools may be closed all around the world, but Kitty School is open at my house. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme have been learning lots of great lessons as they move from three week old kitties to four week old kitties.

Please sit down, children.

Boys and girls, what did you learn in school today this week?

*Bottles are good. You get yummy food in your tummy and lots of one-on-one time with Foster Mama. She gives you plenty of loving and even helps clean your face. 

Getting tired.

*Recess is fun! Foster Mama lets us have supervised play on her couch.

*Couches are a great place to climb.

*Eating off a saucer is...well...interesting. We like stepping in it and licking it off our paws the best.

*We like eating food from a spoon, too. Yeah, it's messy but oh-so-good.

*We're getting to be big kids because Foster Mama is teaching us to eat out of a bowl.

*We found out bowls are messy, too.

*But we are learning to clean ourselves! Did you know only a tongue and paw are needed?

*Toys are fun. We'll get more toy lessons next week.

*Scratching posts are also fun. I still need lessons on this one, too.

*We learned the louder we talk, the faster Foster Mama listens.

*Naps are great when you're snuggled with ones you love.

Yep, a great week for us all. See you back next week for another Foster Friday!

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

If you need even more cuteness, along with reasons why you should be a foster parent, check out the video I made a couple years back.

Day 71 - Find the Difference

I grew up with Highlights magazine for kids. There were several regular features each month, with one of them being Find the Difference.  It had two pictures and you had to find what was different between the two. Today’s Deb's Pic a Day picture is my own Find the Difference. It came about because of the Two is Too Many day we had a couple weeks back.

 

Can you see it? (You can ignore the dirty stove and crooked towel.) It was hard work getting it installed all by myself (go me!) but I think it’ll be worth it. I know it’ll be so, so, so much quieter than the last one we had. 

Things will be even more improved with another Find the Difference day coming up soon so stay tuned...

Day 70 - More Than Sunshine on my Shoulder

As I was enjoying the warm sunshine in my backyard lounger while the kitties were sleeping, I had a visitor. With my swimsuit straps down, Little Miss (or Mr.?) Ladybug paid me a visit. Landed on my shoulder and set for a spell.

No tan lines on either one of us. 

How to Sew Quick and Easy Reusable Paper Towels - Tutorial Tuesday

If you find yourself cleaning your home more than usual these days, I have a project to help cut down on the number of paper towels you're using. These reusable towels are not only workhorses but are decorative as well.

Looking for more quick and easy sewing projects?
Check out all the other free tutorials here at Deb's Days!

For this project you will need:

• Microfiber towels in the size of your choice. I have a pack of 20 microfiber shop towels I picked up here on Amazon. They are 12" x 16" and are sturdy!
• Fabric measuring the same size as your microfiber towel. I'm using 100% cotton fabric measuring 12" x 16".
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat
• Pins or clips

Looking for more kitchen ideas? Check out these other projects!

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

You can find the step by step how to tutorial for the reusable fabric paper towels right here:

Day 68 - Bottle Washing Sunrise

My four bottle baby kittens slept through the night last night. It was the first night I didn't have to do a 2 a.m. feeding. Woo hoo! Although without their nighttime feeding it meant they were hungry at 5 in the morning instead. It takes a while to get four of them fed and cleaned up. Blankets rearranged. Litter box cleaned. And babies put back to bed.

And bottles to wash. 

Little tiny bottles with an itty bitty bottle brush. After the kitties were back asleep (lucky them) I was washing those bottles at the sink. That's when I looked up and got the beginnings of a sunrise.

It's been a while since I've been up this early in the morning but it's definitely an improvement from having to be up in the middle of the night.

Day 67 - Memories of Prime Rib

I do love me some prime rib. I don’t eat it all that much anymore and haven’t even mentioned it on the blog for years. In looking back, I did write about it (and take a picture of it) almost exactly seven years ago. It was May 27, 2013, and of course we were on a cruise ship. It was the night our daughter got engaged. (You can read about the night's dinner here.)

But now I’m talking about tonight’s dinner. While we didn’t have prime rib, we did have prime rib. See it here?

Looks like a potato chip, doesn’t it? Well, it is. A prime rib and horseradish chip. And they are amazing!

Thank you, WinCo, for making these chips at the low price of $1.58 a bag. All the flavor at a teeny tiny fraction of the cost of real prime rib.

I don’t like potato chips but I think I do now!

Day 66 - A Harry Potter Sewing Saturday

I remember the day very clearly. It was our umpteenth state of the 43 we hit that summer. The summer of the Idaho to Maine and back tent camping road trip. It was July 21, 2007 and we were in Mitchell, South Dakota to see the Corn Palace. But we had to take care of something at the store first.

At 19 years old, kiddo had been a Harry Potter fan half her life already. Road trip or no road trip, she was going to get her hands on the series’ final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on its release date. We found it at the grocery store and headed back to the hotel with it, where Little Missy read all afternoon and stayed up the entire night reading the whole book.

Now that's she's married to a Harry Potter fan, the interested definitely hasn't waned. When we all went on a Caribbean cruise we stayed extra days in Florida not so they could go to Disney World but so they could go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. (I didn't even know such a thing existed.)

So when she asked for another face mask to wear at work - a Harry Potter one - I wasn't surprised.
She picked out the specific fabric.
And asked I make something for her husband, too.
And something for their dog, Baloo.
And don't forget something for their cat, Petri.

On this Saturday, Harry Potter sewing was my task of the day.
Mask? Check. (Finished it earlier this week.)
Bandana for her hubby when he's mowing lawn? Check.
Scarf for Baloo? Check.
Pillow for Petri? Check.

Now if she can just explain to me what the heck all the words on the fabric mean. I don't even know how to pronounce them!

Day 65 - Foster Kitten Friday

I am so excited for the return of Foster Friday. With the shelter being closed because of the pandemic I was certain I wouldn't get the chance to do any fostering this year. While having multiple cruises cancelled made me sad, having my foster season cancelled broke my heart.

But no more. We've got kitties!

Since they are baby babies - all weighing under a pound each - I got to pick their names. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. Sound familiar? Like Simon and Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair! It's taken them a couple days to settle in but they are doing great. As trying to corral four of them is a little hard, right now they're spending most of their time in their pop up pen. (It's like a playpen but for animals. It's this one here on Amazon.)

At first they just snuggled up in their little bed but then they started wanting to escape.

Potential prison escapees.

Alert the warden. We have Sage over the wall.

They took to the litter box well and are liking their gruel. Gruel is how we transition them from formula to real cat food. It's a canned cat food/jar baby food/kitten formula mixture put into a bottle. It's messy but it fills their bellies and helps them grow big and strong.

Thyme went after it so much he twisted off the lid
and dumped it all over me.

Parsley thinks it's pretty darn yummy.

I attempted to try and get them all into the same picture. It didn't work so well. 

Rosemary says hello.

What, one kitty is missing? Oh yeah, he stepped on my phone with my camera open as I was trying to get them lined up on the couch.

Who just took 18 pictures? Someone with a gray belly!

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

As hard as I tried to put them in order (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme) I had to give up. Herding cats is like, well, herding cats.

Left to right: Sage, Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme.

 A very Happy Foster Friday!

Day 64 - Being Aware

It was six months ago that we circumnavigated the globe by air, sea, and land.

It was an amazing trip with so many new experiences packed into those 31 days. (You can read about our adventures here. When you get to the bottom of the page click on “Newer Post” to get to the next day.)

But now our world has gotten so much smaller. It looks like it’ll be oh-so-tiny for us for a while so when we do get out (like with today's dr. appointment for Ed) I try very hard to be aware of my surroundings. Of new things. Of old things I’ve never seen before. 

If not for the awareness I would have missed these beautiful red hot pokers standing tall and proud just down the street from us. I'm sure they’ve been there in years past but I wasn’t aware enough to notice.

You can ignore the dirt spots on my car window.