Plants

I posted elsewhere that my plant collection that I've had for years has grown a lot in the last year.  I find myself taking pictures of some of my pretty plants and I didn't really know where to share them so for a while I just didn't.  I think I've decided to share them here.  I know this is the spot where you come to see my cute cats, but now you'll also get some pretty plants.  😁

 

This tiny thing is a String of Pearls from my sister.  She's on her third one and I asked for a cutting to try my hand at them.  So consider this the before picture.  Hopefully in a few months I can show some beautiful growth!

I actually ended up giving away this Pink Polka Dot plant to a friend of mine.  I originally got it as part of an arrangement with other plants from Lowes.  It was half off because they all looked pretty sad and were half dead.  I didn't really have high hopes for this because it was so tiny and sad looking, but it grew fast and even flowered for me.  All the other sad looking plants from that arrangement are also flourishing with the exception of the Croton which was in such bad shape that I misidentified it, didn't provide it with enough light due to my misunderstanding of what it was, and it declined even more until it died.  Truthfully, I'm not even the slightest bit upset about that one.  Hahahaha!

Demanding Kitties

I love these pretty kitties!  Arien has become much more affectionate the last couple months which has been especially evident due to her seeking attention and even cuddles from Joe and our friends instead of just me.  She's also been worse about waking us up during the night, but hopefully that was just because of Christmas Break and she'll get back to the regular schedule again.  I've actually noticed that Kira has been more demanding for cuddles.  She can be almost scary about it when she wants it.  A lot of times she will lay on the mouse pad and bite my finger while I try to work.  Or she climbs into my lap and aggressively pushes my arms or whatever else out of her way so she can lay exactly how she wants.  These two definitely keep us on our toes!  

Curious Kitties

These two have been crazy!  I think they've been working on reestablishing which one is the alpha cat, so they have been fighting more.  You can see in the second picture that there is a tuff of Arien's hair from them wrestling.  They definitely know how to get into trouble, but they still love their time cuddling with me and each other.

Arien

Kira hide from me when I had the camera out, but I caught Arien being cute.  😊

 

My Pretty Kitties

Life has been a bit different without Beren.  I noticed that the cats quickly started playing more and more, especially out in the living room.  Beren used to stop them if they were running around too much so without him policing them, they've been going nuts.  Arien has been bugging Kira more than she used too.  She intentionally chases and attacks Kira more.  Kira has been way more cuddly, even to the extend of getting aggressive about it if I don't stop what I'm doing to show her love.  Both are seeking more attention that they used to be able to get from or direct towards Beren.  Obviously we all miss him.  All in all, I think we are all handling this new stage in our lives about as well as can be expected.  We bought a bunch of puff balls, and Kira has been so so so happy!

Goodbye Beren

 After years of waiting for a dog, I didn’t think when I finally got one, it would be for less than 5 years.  But after getting Beren and hearing the diagnosis of Ventricular Septal Defect when he was only a couple months old, I didn’t know what to expect anymore.  Truth is, in a lot of ways, it’s been a rough road for Beren and for us.  Last week we said goodbye, and I held him close as he was put to sleep.  Beren’s life never was very normal, especially for a Border Collie.  He was a great dog, forever studying me to learn my routines and patterns.  I’ve never seen a dog think the way Beren did.  I talked to him a lot, and I could reason with him.  He understood me so well.  Since he was blind in one eye, he liked to lean on me and stay close to me while I worked.  He pretended to be bold, but he was more of a scaredy cat.  Even though he wasn’t loud, the house seems so much quieter now.  I really miss him.

Expressive Arien

Arien is a very expressive cat.  It's really not that difficult to tell how she is feeling.  Normally her expression is a bit annoyed.  Hahahaha!  She's definitely the spoiled baby of the house.  😁