that's the way it should be

So at the moment the Little Lady is teething.  She has an incisor coming through and it's causing her all sorts of bother! Mummy has found the teething necklace stashed away in a draw and the Lady goes to bed with it round her ankle.  I don't think you can buy them in the UK any more after one of those safety scares that really amount to nothing more than over protective parents having fits at the mere possibility that something might happen to their little ones.  Fair enough.  Mummy has fits some times about cars driving too fast, stranger danger and childhood cancer but in the wise words of Disney and our sea-life friends:

Marlin: I promised I'd never let anything happen to him

Dory: Hmm.  That's a funny thing to promise.

Marlin:What?

Dory: Well, you can't never let anything happen to him.  Then nothing would ever happen to him

So on the teething beads go, but round the ankle needless to say.

this is me...aren't I dashing?

All this teething does mean however, I am an absolute necessity at the moment, and my it is good to feel needed!   Despite the fact that my tail is now brown rather than the fair golden it once was I am proud to take the title of "comforter, friend and all around favourite toy".  I am so loved, chewed and thus smelly that I have been in the washing machine twice recently. And I am glad to say the experience left the Josie's feeling a little jealous for the lady's affections albeit a little smug that it is no longer they tangled amongst sheets and then hung up to dry by their ears.  

I am also relieved that the little lady is no less fond of me. . . 

But it seems that this favouritism is getting under Mummy's skin.  When Mummy has to say no to all sorts of things that my Little Lady asks for e.g. chocolate buttons ten minutes before bedtime, yet another episode of Something Special (which, if you haven't seen it yet, I can personally guarantee it is indeed very special. Particularly when you've seen each episode at least 3 times), or to go outside when it's nap time, the Little Lady wails, cries and asks for "cat".  

or in this case scenario...cat!

"Cat!" She cries.  And it is accompanied by a look that says "how could you say no to me Mummy! I want my cat because he would never betray me, he would never do this to me!".  And the Little Lady is right, but that's why Mummy is Mummy and I am merely a cat.  I could not say no....but I think that Mummy knows best about chocolate buttons, television watching issues and nap time routines amongst other things.

Mummy has to set boundaries that the Little Lady might not always understand or appreciate but as a cat I have limited capacity to impact the Lady in this way.  But I see the way Mummy looks at me sometimes. . . I feel like she wants to wipe the embroidered smile right off my face, because in those moments I'm the good guy and she's the bad guy.

But at the end of it all I think one day the Lady will forget all about me and that's the way it should be, but she will never forget her Mummy. . .

and that's the way it should be.

365 no more...but the 176 challenge!

It finally happened people. . .

I finally missed out a photo. . .

I didn't even realise I'd done it. . .

Several weeks after the missed date I was happily scrolling back through my pictures and looking at the dates and I realised!  I'd finally had a day where I'd forgotten to take a photo and after closer inspection at least four days!

And I mean completely forgotten!  There have been some nights when I've been in bed for half an hour maybe even an hour and then I've remembered I haven't taken a photo to document my day and gotten out of bed, trudged downstairs and grabbed the camera desperately searching for something to photograph.

But not on January 9th apparently (the first of the missing pictures). Whatever happened that day my mind had no concern for taking a photo...at first I suspected that the Little Lady had got a bit too handsie!  She adores the camera; looking at pictures of Daddy and pictures of herself . . . although I don't think she realises it's her...I think she thinks "what's that other baby doing in my house and playing with all my toys...when did that happen Muma?"

But since realising it's actually been a real relief.  I haven't missed the pressure taking a photo every day caused, constantly thinking 'where's the camera, what can I take a picture of, is this a complete waste of time?'  I will also not miss having to upload them and label them all because it took AGES. . . mind you that's probably because I meant to upload every week not every eight weeks. . .

I am glad though because there are definitely some boring things that I've done, that I would have completely forgotten about had I not have taken a photo:

i.e the time the laundry monster came to stay

or when the Tesco bomb exploded in our Kitchen...once again

And there are some really great things that I'm pleased to have taken a picture of:

i.e the Little Lady with aging Great-Grandad

the one time my lounge didn't look like a rampant toddler lived there

It's lovely to see how much the Little Lady has grown over the last few months, her hair is longer for definite and if I compare the photo I took on her first birthday to the last one on January 8th I can't believe she used to sit like that...so little baby!

Even though I didn't make it all the way through I still enjoyed what I managed and who knows. . .I might find reason enough to try again in July. . .

woman vs. washing

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The earth is Holly’s and everything in it” The Bible. My version.

I have just spent an inordinate amount of time being annoyed at my washing line.  Picture the scene:

It is extremely windy today.  I am hanging out socks on one side.  The other three sides are filled already with, amongst other things and including Smelly JellyCat, four pairs of wet jeans.  I have asked the washing line to “Stay still!” and “Come back!” I’ve even hoped that appealing to it will help “Please don’t do that for goodness sake!” And yet the universe continues to defy me.  How annoying.

I’ve also been frustrated with my drying up pile. I stack pots, dishes and plastic containers very beautifully (albeit very precariously) and yet when they tumble onto the surface or floor I take it very, VERY personally. I feel that the strainer, potato peeler, measuring jug so on and so forth, have decided I need more hassle in my life and they want to make the pregnant lady bend over one more time for laughs. I feel that the crockery is being disobedient and it is very VERY annoying.

The toys don’t do so well from this world view either.  The toy car is waiting for its moment…the pushchair I’m sure has deliberately wheeled itself into my path, the building blocks, the books, they are all out to get me….none of them obey me, none of them listen, I am powerless.

Don’t they not know? Have they not heard?  The earth IS MINE and EVERYTHING in it.

As Mr. Tumble would say...Wait…

I’m sure that’s not right.

I’m pretty sure there’s something wrong with how I’m remembering that verse…

Well for one thing it appears I've amalgamated two verses into one:

Psalm 24:1 "the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

    the world, and all who live in it;”

Isaiah 40:21-22 "Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
 God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.”

Hmmm... yes that seems more familiar....no wonder inanimate objects won’t bow down to me. The laws of wind and gravity continue to obey the voice of the one who made them...not me.  I am a grasshopper in view of the entirety of creation. The earth and everything in it belong to God not me.

Yes that sounds correct.

Hello sin.  Once again you have successfully managed to make me believe that I am the most important thing in my life, you have once again convinced me that everyone and every THING should bow down and worship me because I am the Lord, you have blinded me and I have sat on the throne of my life again, I have usurped Jesus yet again as King, Lord and Saviour.  And if I am treating inanimate objects in such a way I can’t be doing very well with people. Let’s see... No wonder the flying cheese sandwich situation and resulting crumbs on a recently mopped floor incurred such wrath upon a reasonably innocent little lady.  No wonder suit bags, hangers and ties strewn on the bedroom floor result in a five minute imaginary argument where I throw every insult I can think of at a very sorry and puppy dog eyed husband.

No wonder.

I must remember “the earth is the Lord’s and everything it in” and it shouldn't be annoying.

I must remember I am a grasshopper. I would laugh if I found a grasshopper trying to boss my washing line around, that is how silly my actions seem to God. That is how silly they now seem to me. It’s a funny picture.

I must remember that God has rescued and redeemed me from my futile sinful ways so that I can use my time more wisely.  Rather than wasting it by being Lord of my life and getting angry with washing and toys I can know and love and serve him; the one who created it all. 

What a better way to spend a day. Here’s an electronic “cheers” with a cup of tea to the rest of the afternoon!