Author: Belinda O

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The Nature of Giving and Getting

I’ve been wanting to sell my dining table for some time now, but it’s buried in the spare bedroom in my apartment. I had a plan to clean up that room and make it presentable for showing the table, but eventually I had to acknowledge that that plan simply wasn’t going to work. I have too much stored in there.

Kind of what my spare room looks like.

Now my plan is to find someone–or a couple of someones–to move the table out to the living room. It’ll take up a lot of room, but the living room is generally pretty well cleaned up and I can keep it that way.

This plan requires me to be dependent on the kindness of others, something that can be difficult for me to do. I like to take care of things myself, and I’ve done well with that so far in my life. But as I get older there are more and more things with which I need to find help. It isn’t always easy.

It’s time to take my cats into the vet for their annual exam. They hate the carriers, as most cats do, and are like poppin’ hoppies when you try to drop them in one. So I need help with that. Last year one of my friends graciously offered to not only help get them in the carriers, but she came along with me to the vet and sat with the one who wasn’t being examined. Since she feeds and cares for them when I’m away, they know her and trust her. I’m hoping she’ll be able to help again this year. But it’s hard to ask since she refuses to let me pay her for the vet trip.

I think it’s in our nature to want to be independent. I’ve been buying books for my mom, something she really appreciates. She needs large print books and the library at her assisted living facility doesn’t have many (except for the ones she donates when she’s through reading them). But it bothers her that I’m spending my money on her. I get that. I’d have a hard time with it, too. I tell her I’m glad to do it, but she still struggles with it.

I even hate placing maintenance requests for my apartment, although obviously if something needs to be fixed I need to ask for help. It’s part of the reason why I rent.

But I know others want to help, and I want to help my friends when I can. I have one friend who’s on a tight budget and I do what I can to help her, like giving her a ride if she needs it (she doesn’t drive). As much as it’s in our nature to do what we can on our own, it’s also in our nature to help. I need to remember that.

So I’ll ask for help moving that table. I need to sell it and moving it to the living room is the only way that’s going to happen. But I’ll look for ways to help others as well. Hopefully, there’s a balance there, but if there’s not, so be it.

Image Credits: Neighbors Helping © armaya–stock.adobe.com; Cluttered room © Good Studio–stock.adobe.com; Cat Carrier © olllikeballoon–stock.adobe.com; Small Car © Doloves–stock.adobe.com

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Scratch on da Nose

Walter and Mimi got in a scuffle today, and Walter ended up with a scratch on his nose. Mimi came out unscathed. It was a friendly scuffle, just a couple of kids playing, but I would think that scratch might hurt. Not that Walter is showing any signs of pain–but then again, cats often don’t.

It’s all done in love

Image Credits: Cesar Cat © Belinda O, Paws in Heart © Bigstock Photo, Tuxedo Cats Playing © Ross-stock.adobe.com

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Such a Leading Question

Daily writing prompt
How would you describe yourself to someone?
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Who would I be talking to? Someone I just met, my boss, my doctor, or even my best friend? The answer, of course, depends on who I’m talking to and how much I trust them.

Since this blog is public, meaning anyone can read it (although my actual audience isn’t as broad as that statement would imply), I won’t share anything really private. And frankly, some, if not most, of my answers will come as no surprise to those who’ve been following my blog for any length of time. But here goes, in no particular order, some things that are important to me and some qualities I think I have.

We’ll start with some hobbies. I love classic movies, so much so that I have another blog dedicated to them. It’s called Classic for a Reason and while I haven’t posted anything in a couple of years, I’m proud to say I have around 200 posts dedicated to movies from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, with one or two more recent films as well. What’s my favorite movie from that era? It’s hard to pick. All About Eve stands out to me, as do the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But there are many others I can rave about.

Another hobby? I’m an avid knitter. I’ve posted a few things about that on this blog and I have another blog dedicated to my knitting projects called Designs and Words. I actually have yet to write about my latest projects but should get that done soon. I think the last things I wrote about were the scarves I made my brother’s family last Christmas. I loved knitting those, in part because the patterns were so much fun and in part because I was excited to give them as gifts.

Some of you know I’ve been working on a novel. Well, I finished the first draft and I’m getting geared up to go back and revise. I have massive notes from my writer’s group that I need to implement into my story. One chapter at a time…

But about me on a personal level. I’d like to think I have empathy. It’s something that’s come more naturally to me over the years as I’ve addressed the issues in my life, and it’s a characteristic I’ve tried to develop. It follows the teachings of Christ to have empathy, which makes it that much more important to me. These days I’m struggling to face a foe with feelings of support and understanding. It’s a test of this quality that I find so important.

Of course, I love my cats–and cats in general. If you follow my blog you see that all over, so I won’t expand on it here. If you don’t follow my blog you can take a peek at this post and it will give you an idea about my love of cats.

I’ve tried to think of other characteristics to describe myself and nothing comes to mind. Do I have a good sense of humor? Of course, but I think we all do, just different kinds. That last sentence answers a lot of questions you could ask about me.

But one thing I’ve been told about myself is that I’m hard to get to know. I keep things private. Well, I guess I’ve done that once again in this post. Just the way it is.

Image Credits: Circle of Friends © Thiraphat; film clapperboard © Royal studio; yarn and heart © Zen20; helping a friend © notivestudios. All, stock.adobe.com

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Mimi On Alert

I think she’s looking at the front door. Probably hears the delivery team dropping off my neighbor’s groceries. Note the back leg of the wicker chair. It’s just about the only leg that hasn’t been scratched to shreds, and that’s only because Walter and Mimi can’t get to it.

Anyway, I think she looks pretty sweet in this pic.

Which is sweeter–the kitty or the donut?

Image Credits: Cesar Cat © Belinda O, Paws in Heart © Bigstock Photos, The Kitty or the Donut © pattozher–stock.adobe.com

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Silly Question…

Daily writing prompt
Dogs or cats?
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If you know me at all you don’t need to ask that question. It’s cats, of course, right now my precious Walter and Mimi. It goes back to when I was eleven and we got our first cat, Whittier. From the start, my dad tells me, I was drawn to that cat far more than the multitude of dogs we had.

Which is why it was devastating when, after only a few short weeks, Whittier was run over by a neighbor who didn’t see her when he drove his truck into our driveway. I mourned that sweet, pretty kitten for days. Then we found out the folks we’d gotten her from had two more kittens available, Hugo and Petunia. We ended up taking them both home. Petunia, like Whittier, was a calico, while Hugo was a tabby.

Okay, this isn’t Salem, but she was just as pretty–and long-haired.

As you might guess, Petunia had kittens when she was barely grown herself. But again, tragedy struck, and Hugo was mauled by another neighbor’s dog. (Turns out that dog had attacked other pets before and eventually tried attacking a child. The end of the dog.) We’d come to enjoy having two cats and kept one of the cats from that litter, an all-black cat we named Salem.

When my parents divorced, we had a dilemma: what to do with all the animals. My mom moved out of state while my dad got an apartment. My brother, sister, and I didn’t have the space or resources to care for our pets, so our broken family found new homes for them. Actually, the story behind the cats was a little different. My brother took them with him to college, where they eventually found new homes with other students’ families.

Fast forward to the time I moved to Nashville. I wanted a cat and after living there for a year finally adopted Paco, the cat of my heart. I’ve told the story of how Paco and I saved each other in my blog post Coming Home to Paco, so I won’t go into it again here. I lost him thirteen years ago, around the time Walter and Mimi were born.

However, I didn’t adopt Walter and Mimi until they were about six months old. They’d been abandoned by the folks in the apartment above me in the middle of January. It was cold and icy out, and their cries kept me up all night. Despite the fact that I had no job and was in debt to the Cat Clinic, I brought them in. One of the best decisions of my life. Today, as I write this, one is at my feet and the other is on the windowsill. We just celebrated their birthday.

I think I’ll always have a cat in my life, at least as long as it’s practical. So Cats or Dogs? Cats. Invariably cats.

Image Credits: Banner–cats looking down © emzee-stock.adobe.com; black cat © shchus-stock.adobe.com; group of cats sitting in rows © alexkich–stock.adobe.com