Category Archives: Charlie & Bella
This furry face.
A cat in the bathroom sun.
Just… Why? How can it be comfy?
This is what happens when I try to work from bed.
I’m waiting for the Oxy to kick in so I can function today.
Thankfully she moved. 🙂
Jealousy…or plotting.
It’s practically a race to see who gets there first.
I haven’t sat down all day so when I do this happens instantly.
The standoff for my heated lap.
WHO WILL BE VICTORIOUS?! 🐶😺
Awwwww. No fighting.
Super comfy kitty.
Gorgeous Kitty.
Cats are weird, part 42.
Growing ever more comfortable with each other.
This is where she chooses to sleep.
As soon as I lay down she’s on me. Usually here. Seriously, Bella?
This is the day we’re all having.
We might all still be in our PJs. #rainyday #movieday
Everyone likes a heated blanket!
These two are getting cuddly again.
This cuddle hasn’t happened in awhile.
Loving my lap!
How can that be comfortable, v29.
Maggie…waiting.
Patiently waiting her turn for a drink while Charlie dips her paw and licks water off it. Slowly.
It’s like she’s saying “Are you kidding me with this?”
And now she’s waiting for the window seat! 😂
Don’t worry. Maggie gets her fair share of time in the bed. But that said, she is a pushover. If she’s somewhere the cat wants to be, Charlie will push her way in and kick Maggie out.
I love my lap cat.
These are apparently all the rage now.
My mom gave me hers (which had been a gift to her mom back in the 70s). I’ve always loved it…
Blizzard!
They were predicting a blizzard Sunday night but we didn’t believe them.
And then it started snowing thick, wet heavy snow.
And then the kids went to bed.
And then school was cancelled Sunday evening.
And then Tom got the call he had a late start.
And then the power flicked off and on about four times over an hour.
And then it went off for good about midnight. Hoo boy.
Katie woke up during one of the brief outages because the backup power supplies were beeping and we were running around trying to turn things off… So we told her there was no school and she could sleep in…and that daddy would be here in the morning.
The power was still off in the morning so Tom built a fire in the fireplace and it did a decent job of keeping the living room comfortable (70°). Unfortunately the fireplace is meant for looks and not heating so the flue doesn’t really work so the fire burns fast and hot and we went through wood like crazy (thankfully we had lots of wood from the free stuff I got this summer). We assumed that everyone was without power, but all our friends had power. Turns out, there were about 250,000 people in the greater metro area that lost power!
I hadn’t seen snow this heavy and wet in a long time—these bushes are normally chest-high and completely away from the sidewalk. This morning? About knee-high and covering most of the sidewalk!
The kids played outside most of the day with friends…moving from yard to yard and house to house. They had to dry their snow gear in front of the fire.
Katie kept trying to use things that needed electricity and wondering why they didn’t work. I cooked on the gas stove. As time wore on, we eventually brought out a cooler to put some of the refrigerator stuff in outside since it was getting warm. (It was freezing outside so the stuff would be just right in a cooler.) The freezers were okay because we hadn’t opened them.
The day wasn’t too bad while it was light out—there was lots of animal cuddling warmth—
but then once it got dark (at 4pm!) we had to go pull out all our candles!
We kept checking our power status on the website and this is the only thing we saw all day:
It was frustrating. But I was glad I was still able to use my phone and stay connected. (Using Low Power Mode and turning the Brightness way down reaaaaally conserves battery life. Plus I used one of our external battery packs.)
You know the animals are desperate for attention (or warmth) when they cuddle together on me. Usually it’s one or the other because one kicks the other one out.
At bedtime it was a chilly 52° upstairs so we got out lots of extra blankets and sent the kids to bed a little early. A friend invited us to her house the following day if the power didn’t come back on. Just as we were getting into bed under our six layers (and me in top and bottom long johns, pants, and a hoodie—complete with the hood up!) the power came back on about 9:30! So we had a mad dash throughout the house to make sure everything was turned off (somehow both of Owen’s bedroom lights were on?!) and the furnace turned on. It had been about 22 hours without power.
I don’t think we’ve ever been without power for that long…and we lived through 25 years of Michigan winters and a few hurricane systems in North Carolina. I don’t want to do it again.
You know they’re desperate for attention…
You know they’re desperate for attention (or warmth) when they cuddle together on me. Usually it’s one or the other because one kicks the other one out.
Which would you rather have wake you up?
1️⃣ The sound of someone sneaking into your room at 6am but not actually saying anything and by the time you realize it and open your eyes they’re gone and you wonder if you dreamed it or why they came in and left without saying anything.
I asked later and it was Owen…just checking to see if I was there (his words). WHERE WOULD I BE AT 6AM you might be asking?! EXACTLY. Unfortunately he is extremely paranoid about us being gone/leaving him. This could be a post in itself. Maybe I’ll detail it some other time.
2️⃣ A cat walking up your entire body and then laying down on your chest. At 5am.
3️⃣ Rolling over with your pillow and somehow pulling your phone off the nightstand and hearing it crash against said nightstand and hit the floor.
#WelcomeToMyMorning
#IAlsoHaveAHeadache
Someone isn’t happy Charlie is on my lap.
Bella likes my new lobster plate.
Mom got all us girls a lobster plate to commemorate our Maine trip. Of course Bella had to sit on it.
Football Charlie
She is so amiable. Tom put the football in her paws and she just left it there.
That can’t be comfortable, part 65.
Well, that was a nice two-hour nap.
Storms are pushing through which means Maggie was attacking her crate trying to get out. Which means she woke me up and now I get to deal with her until the storms pass. How do I do this? By closing all the bedroom doors and going downstairs to “sleep” on the couch so she’ll hopefully keep close to me instead of waking everyone else up. And then Charlie joined, too. Needless to say I don’t get much sleep.
Do you see what I see?
This is the first time she’s slept here.
Charlie loves Owen’s new winter coat.
We found a great Lands End coat for Owen at the Salvation Army today. It must have come from a house with pets because Charlie went crazy on it. Rubbing and pawing and just laying on it.