Bye Boo

I have sad cat news to share this morning. Yesterday we had to put one of our older cats, Boo to sleep. He had developed a tumor some time ago and was otherwise doing just fine until just a few weeks ago. He slowly grew thinner and weaker. We know we should have done this sooner as the last week he got really bad, but we were having trouble being grownups and letting go. Luckily I have a saint for a mother-in-law and she offered to do this final task for us.

Boo was a hobo kitten that showed up on our upstairs apartment doorstep over a decade ago and wouldn't go away. I told the husband not to let the kitten in while I was at work and he of course did anyway. He was a good cat who loved company, but was never too fond of the kids. I think this was easier than putting down our oldest cat two years ago, but just barely. This picture was from his kitten days with our oldest cat, Cleo. As he got older it was hard to tell the two of them apart until you looked right in their eyes. So we're down to six cats now and I've informed the rest of them that they are to be Methuselah cats who live far past their usefulness and die calmly in their sleep. I certainly don't think I can handle another of these tragic illnesses any time soon, but there are still two older cats left and I dread when the sibling kittens are all old at the same time. It's going to be a nightmare.

So as you can imagine I got little to nothing accomplished yesterday oscillating between overly emotional and emotionally numb. There was a little remaking, but nothing of consequence. In a strange coincidence the one thing I did sell and remake yesterday was my cat ears headband. The Universe has an odd sense of timing. I'll try to get some of the things done today that I wanted to yesterday, but no promises. I'm likely to be a bit broken for a little while longer and therefore almost useless.

Super Secret

I have a secret, well several actually, but it's not the secret that I wish to discuss, it's the reason I'm keeping it that has me concerned. A scenario, if you will: You've been asked by a magazine to feature your creations and to write an accompanying article for which you will be paid. Do you scream your good news from the hilltops to anyone who will listen on and offline? Do you tell everyone you know, but restrain yourself from announcing it all over the Internet? Or, are you like me and barely tell your significant other for fear that the opportunity will fall apart and you will feel like an idiot explaining that to everyone?

I wasn't always like this. It took quite a string of disappointments before I reached this point of extreme skepticism. Several opportunities were presented to me and then fell apart some time later, leaving me feeling like a chump. This has left me, well, a little gun shy about sharing. To be fair, I've had quite a few good things happen in recent history that never fell apart including the above scenario where I was published in the Belle Armoire Jewelry Magazine, but I still refrained from sharing the news until the article was in print.

I happen to be sitting on quite a few pieces of information right now that have the potential to be great news. Even though I find this venue to be a wonderful place to say anything that I need to get out, I still can't seem to get the news out. Am I the only one that has not only a fear of failure, but also a fear of premature celebration? I can't be, I mean where did the whole, don't count your chicken until they've hatched thing come from? The guy that came up with that one must have had some next level disappointment befall him, so I'll take solace in the fact that I'm at least not the first person to wait for confirmation before being happy about something.

I bet that right now you're really annoyed that I'm going on and on about secret news that it seems I won't be sharing. Sorry about that, but I promise I'll let you know just as soon as I'm sure I won't have to later eat my words. Suffice it to say there is good news for me and you will eventually know what it is, I promise.