"Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time."

I love a good Polly pic! considering I wasn't a pet person at all, Polly has become the greatest extra addition to our family and her chunky grey fluffy face never ceases to put a huge smile on mine. Having her strolling around the house, jumping into my seat and falling asleep as soon as I get up because of the warm patch and her general grumpy (what are you looking at) glances, bring plenty of cheer to our home. If she is anything to go by I can see when there are so many crazy cat people out there. I am well and truly converted! meeeoooow!

"You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, butthen, so is high school."

Sometimes I write a post and for some reason or other  it doesn't get published so every now and again I'm just going to publish them as it seems a waste, so here's the first of my belated posts.

I don't have a great recollection of my time at primary school, I'm not really sure why? I remember the big events, marrying my girlfriend of 3 years at the leavers assembly in a mock wedding set up by the teachers (weird) followed by everyone in our year holding hands in a circle while me and my new wife danced at the leaving disco definitely stands out, but the general events have always been a little hazy. What I do remember about school overall though was the uncertainty and the never really feeling comfortable in my surroundings. When it came to getting out of school I was terrible during the secondary years, skiving off lessons and forging apparent notes from my parents. At primary school though I hadn't reached that point so all I had to play with was good old fashioned physical illness because I craved that mythical sick day so much. Back then in the 80's there was a movie knocking about that gave me all the motivation I needed for staying home and doing my own thing, thanks to Netflix Ferris Beuller has been on hand to teach the boys the same life lessons.

Sometimes though there's no need for all the theatrics, This week I had a phone call from the school letting me know that Seth was unwell an could I come and collect him. Although I don't want either of the boys to be unwell. I still get excited about an extra day at home and being too ill to go out means fun in the house when everyone else is trapped at dreaded school. That afternoon Seth pretty much just slept and then went to bed early. The following morning Seth had the tell tale dark rings around the eyes, a classic sign of him feeling unwell. That rare sick day was upon us and i was intending to make the most of it (If Seth was feeling up to it of course).

The first part of the day was spent sofa bound, but there was no complaints here. I don't feel like we get to do this enough as we are always busy doing other things. Cuddles under the blanket is exactly where we needed to be. Plus it gave us another excuse to relive the trials and tribulations of Mr Beuller on Netflix.

It may have been psychological but I was starting to feel a little rough myself, this usually happens with me (strange I know). We needed something tasty for breakfast to set us up for the day so with a little hand from Opeie we made Buckwheat banana and nutmeg pancakes with peanut putter which seemed to perk everyone up.

All the excitement of breakfast was clearly too much for Seth so he made his way back to bed, followed by the hairiest nurse in the house. Polly is adorable and every night when the boys go to bed she goes up with them and sleeps outside their room, like their furry protector. She is very switched on to them being ill and seems to know when things aren't right and this sick day was no different. Polly followed Seth straight up to the top bunk and curled up at his feet, staying there until Seth was ready to come down (She is such an awesome cat!).

We love playing computer games but I'm always wary about the amount of time spent playing, this however goes out the window when the boys are ill. If we are confined to the sofa then I am happy to fully embrace the consoles and our love of gaming. Thanks to our friends Chris and Katie who gave the boys some new games last weekend we were all entertained for the afternoon.

At some point in the day the boys would eventually be wanting to take them selves away from the comforts of the cozy sofa. After lunch we braved it upstairs to the bedroom, because that's where the LEGO is of course. It wasn't the intense LEGO building session that we usually throw ourselves in to but we did manage to make a couple of custom figures for our Marvel Super Hero collection.

It was a day of playing and relaxing and despite the illness loitering in the house I think we all needed it and loved every minute of our stolen day at home. It was back to school the following day and Seth's adventures soon became a distant memory, Thanks to Netflix though Ferris is there for Seth to brush up on his skiving tactics

"Every day's an adventure when I step out of my door. That's why I usually wear a hat and keep my head low."

No story this time, just a cat on my head to put a smile on your faces, enjoy.

"Pussycat, Pussycat I love you, Yes, I do! You and your pussycat nose!"

The term crazy cat lady came up quite a bit before Polly became a part of our family. Mrs M would regularly harp on about getting a cat and send me random cat videos when she was online. I was never that interested in being a cat owner but that all changed when Polly arrived. Thankfully Mrs M hasn't gone down the crazy cat lady path but it was touch and go for a while. We do however know another crazy cat lady who has become a great friend and when you combine having her in your life, Polly curled up at the end of your bed and this piece of stretchy rubber from Micro scooters, what comes out the other end is a crazy cat boy (on wheels)...

The Micro scooter Attach-its are a great little accessory which give my little scooter enthusiast the chance to attach pretty much anything of child size. A drinks bottle, favourite cuddly toy maybe? Or in Opeie's case a crazy collection of cats. We've had some looks scooting around Telford with our small army of cats and I've loved Opeie's happy little face taking care of his furry friends.

We've reached our limit on the amount of cats the Attach-it can hold but they come in packs of two (one large one small) so we'll soon be finding space for Opeie's other feline companions. If that fails and the cats keep coming we may have to move on to a Micro Scooter bottle holder (I think we can get at least three in one of those). Meow!

"a picture speaks a thousand words"

"You can not look at a sleeping cat and feel tense."

I am extremely content with my life and can honestly say that this is the best that things have ever been for me. No matter how good things are though i can guarantee that at some point EVERY single day Polly points out that hers is better....

...The end!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

We've spent years trying to get Opeie to favour one toy in hope that he will have a little buddy that he takes everywhere. I've always thought it was cute when a child has a companion  that must go everywhere with them. I had kind of hoped it would have been the cat in the hat toy we got in Florida a couple of years ago or his Paddington bear but sadly no. Opeie has however found himself a sidekick thanks to an unexpected gift from nanny and grandad.

Rose the cat came into our lives about 5 weeks ago and since her arrival she has been everywhere with opeie, keeping him company and meeting his friends. It's 3am at the moment and I've just been in to check on him and as expected, Scrunched up tight in his arms is Rose.

A couple of days ago Opeie informed us that yesterday was Rose's birthday and he wanted to buy her a present. So while we were seeing friends yesterday afternoon we popped to the shops in search of a gift for Opeie's beloved cat. 

Yesterday we made her a party hat, sang happy birthday to her and gave her a special birthday dinner. She even got to go out on a long scooter ride with us which Opeie loved, she was shattered after though and fell asleep on Opeie's helmet, to cute!

I think Rose is here to stay, with all the toys that the boys have its great to see that Opeie has become attached to one that is clearly more important than any of the others.

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose."

Although sometimes I may not notice Polly much around the house as she sleeps a lot and she's not an overly affectionate cat, she has become an amazing addition to our family. I've said many times before I am not a pet person but Polly puts a smile on everyone's face and i couldn't imagine her not being around.

I don't tend to use Facebook much but over the last few months when I have popped on there to check messages etc I have been greeted with some adorable paintings of cats looking rather dapper.

My friend Genna is definitely somewhere on the crazy cat lady spectrum. I mean if you are a cat owner that spends your free time painting pictures of cats there's got to be an element of crazy in there somewhere, right? She doesn't stop at cats though, Genna spends much of her spare time  painting pictures of peoples much loved four legged friends.

Queen of h'Arts has become a great little hobby/business venture for Genna, immortalising your furry family members on to mugs and beautiful custom prints. Each Kitsch print can be painted in a colour scheme of your choice and includes a cute accessory which is Genna's personal touch making each painting that little more interesting.

Clearly it was imperative that Polly was to own a print of herself painted by this very talented yet slightly unhinged crazy cat lady. I mean if you own a cat and your friend paints pictures of cats its a must. If you're a pet lover and you want a print of your four legged friend that's a little more interesting I definitely recommend checking out Genna's site http://www.queenofharts.org.uk.

Meeeeooow!!!

"The brain is wider than the sky."

In keeping with our learning about the body activity a week or so ago we decided to try another activity which me and Opeie had fun with last week. I had explained all about the brain and Seth had helped to tell Opeie about its uses and the way it controls our movement etc. To start the fun we needed to draw the brain. I drew the outline and Opeie had fun drawing all the 'wriggly worms' on.

We then talked about what things Opeie thinks about day to day. I'm always wondering whats going on in his little head. He has such a fun life and it would be really interesting to know how he interprets what goes on.

I started the fun off with a great quote from Opeie he'd said about 20 minutes before... 'i think gherkin sounds like a nice word but i don't like the taste of it', (i guess they are an acquired taste).

I love when Opeie and Seth draw pictures of us and when asked what he thinks about the most he said "Mommy and daddy" and got straight to drawing a lovely portrait of us both which i adored.

There was no surprise at all that LEGO was also in the top things that are thought about throughout the day. I'll admit i has hoping for him to completely blow my mind with something really obscure, but what he actually did was tell me how important me and Mrs M are, how much he loves his big brother and how much of an impact Polly has made on his daily routine.

an entertaining short activity with the always adorable little version of me

"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."

After an exhausting day yesterday, both me and Mrs M fell asleep around 8 putting Opeie down to bed. Falling asleep this early never works out well for me and after waking up at 12:30 to turn all the lights off downstairs etc i woke up again at 3:30 after a bad dream and that was me up for the morning. As i lay on the sofa on my laptop i realised what i was doing and started to chuckle. Since becoming a cat owner i have become that guy that sits and watches cute cat videos (much to my surprise).

Polly has become a massive part of our lives and i couldn't imagine not having her in the house now, even though Shes very independent and doesn't like being picked up at all. Shes not the sort of cat that sits on our laps at night and goes to sleep, affection is all on her terms (a little like Mrs M haha), but when she wants some fuss she will come looking for it.

She has no interest in running about outside and even if we leave the back door open she'll step outside for a sniff and then run back in to the warm. Despite not going out she has still made some new friends who visit her regularly through the glass. There's one sitting at the glass as i type this.

Polly has taken it upon herself to be our protector, she will sit on the arm of the sofa with us of an evening and while Opeie is napping she will usually be found close by watching over him. Having Polly about has been great for Opeie, especially as Seth isn't with us all of the time, They have become the best of friends and despite my negative attitude at the start of our cat owning adventure i have come to adore the beautiful yet grumpy little lass.

Now back to my cat videos...

"Time spent with cats is never wasted."

I only wrote about Polly a month or so ago but she's brought us so much happyness that it was only right to give our little cutie another shout out. It's amazing the effect having a cat around the house can have on the family. Although she does seem to get under my feet a little at times and I'm still waiting to wake up to the Christmas tree lying on its side, she has been the greatest gift we've had this year. Despite my reservations on getting a pet i have fallen in love with her, she sleeps most of the day and appears to have a grumpy attitude to go with it but when shes in the mood for a fuss (or hears the fridge door open) she is the most delightful little thing.

"Cats are connoisseurs of comfort."

I often think about what the pitter patter of a new pair of tiny feet would be like around the house and both me and Mrs M are broody a lot of the time. I didn't for one second think that the next pair of feet in the house would actually be two pairs. For the past few years Mrs M has been going on about getting a cat but over the last few months she was bordering on crazy cat lady status.

Every time she mentioned having a cat, text me a picture of one looking cute or explained how she thinks she's part cat (yes she's crazy), I usually just shrugged it off, that or gave her a list of reasons why not to have one. It's not that I'm not an animal lover I'm just not big on pets for various reasons.

The pressure for a feline sidekick was reaching it's peak though and it was clear that it was inevitable we would at some point be getting a cat. The situation multiplied exponentially when I befriended a real life crazy cat lady called Tabiitha (who has 5 cats), after that there was no turning back.

After finding out about Mrs M's 'lack of cat' predicament, I think Tabiitha made it her mission to get a cat re-homed and in to our house and to be fair it didn't take her long at all. Especially after I received this picture message one morning of a beautiful cat that needed re-homing, even I fell in love with her. We called the owner to arrange a visit and a few weeks back as we were travelling back from a weekend in London we took a detour armed with a pet carrier.

The owners were looking to re-home Polly but had already turned two families away as they didn't think they were the right family for their well loved cat. Obviously because of that we were a little nervous/anxious about the visit. Mrs M had fallen in love and i was really warming to the idea of having a new family member. There really was no need to worry though, we all got on great and spent some time at their home chatting about life (and of course cats).

That afternoon we took her back to her new home. The look on Mrs M's face was priceless and having a cat in the house seems to have really changed her for the better. I also think that coming home to her after a busy day at work is quite relaxing for her. Polly was quite scared for the first week or so which was understandable being taken from her home. I've avoided writing this post until now as I didn't want to spend the first week waving a camera in her face.

She's settled in now and she's one of the family, sleeping at our feet and rubbing noses with Opeie. I was so against having a cat but last week I text Mrs M while she was at work to apologise for all the feline negativity before we got her because I adore how she makes everyone in the house smile and Opeie has clearly got a new best friend which is amazing. She was a little dubious at first when it came to the boys but she follows Opeie about now. One of the things that i think is adorable is that when Opeie wakes up sometimes he is a little teary and Polly responds to him crying by finding him and meowing, it's adorable

Not the tiny feet I had been longing for but honestly I couldn't pick a more adorable fluffy child to fill that void. Polly is one of us now and we feel so lucky to have been the ones to re-home this little beauty. Meeeeeoooooooow!

You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!”

So, The last 24 hours have been really good! I'm always grateful for everyday since being ill, but sometimes things start to look even rosier than they did the day before. Yesterday after I published the Mother's day post that I finished off, I got a phone call unexpectedly from a guy who had interviewed me a few weeks before, to say out of 440 people ( I know, loads!) I'd got the job! I was so happy, it is a brilliant job, and I am so happy as it will bring so much more opportunity our way. This morning, with a spring in my step, I headed out to my course I've been doing to gain some extra qualifications for my career. I had a really good few hours with some interesting case studies, and ideas flying around. When I was done I was greeted in the snow ( Yes, snow! ) by Pauly and Opeie, in a steamy car, which was toasty warm and welcoming! Opeie was grasping a new book by Dr. Seuss , and Pauly had Dr Seuss Green Eggs & Ham being sung by Bob Dylan on the iPod & stereo..... an interesting combination I can tell you! 
I think that Dr Seuss can teach children some amazing things, not only how to have an imagination, explore, and how it's important not to take life too seriously, but also how it's important to see the positives.  

When we finally got home after a trip to Holland and Barrett for Dairy/Soya free snacks for Opeie, a trip to Tesco ( eugh) for yummy veg, and a sit in the car whilst I fed Opeie milk til he fell asleep, whilst also car dancing to this song.... we got home, and Opeie decided he wanted to do some colouring in pages from Dr Seuss.

After the boys had been bathed, they did some more colouring in, and then watched Cat in the Hat on TV and also on the Macbook simultaneously.... these crazy boys have a new way of multitasking! They did some more colouring in, played with the Florida Thing 1 and Thing 2 toys, and looked at the books Pauly bought from the charity shop earlier.

All in all, a busy, happy, fun few hours! I've really got into Dr Seuss the last couple of years, especially since we went to Florida, it's such a colourful and happy place. This weekend we watched 'Cat In The Hat' from a few years ago, you know the one with Mike Myers? Well, I fell in love with it! Not so much the actual story, as I know that off by heart ( it's a great story ) but I love the costumes, set and colours!

I've decided our new house when we get round to moving will resemble that house. Maybe I will dress the boys as Thing 1 and Thing 2 .... watch this space!