Sorrow and Thanks

We are very sorry that our friend Ruis's sister, Miral, went to the Bridge over the week-end. Miral fought valiantly but in the end, she could not fight any more.

She was very much loved, and will be very much missed.

On the thankful side, we have learned that Lilly Lu, Mu Shue and Iris are FINALLY safe with their mom Laura after a fire destroyed part of their apartment building. After a very nerve wracking time of not knowing what had happened to her beloved kitties, all three were found safe and are now reunited and recovering. You can read the entire story here, at The Cat Blogosphere.

The Secret

Mom has been keeping a secret from all of you. A really, really BIG secret. It's not that she hasn't wanted to tell you, it's just that mom was afraid if she told, she would jinx it. So she did not tell. Now, she can.

Once upon a time, there was a cute little boy who wanted to take after his cousin. So his mom and dad enrolled him in Kenpo Karate. Isn't he cute?

He rose in rank from white, to yellow to orange belt. He was very happy when he got his orange belt, let me tell you.




And a little bit excited. Well, maybe more than a little bit.

Then he went up to purple, blue and green belt. Here, he is getting promoted to the Black Belt Prep class, with an apprentice black belt.

Here he is with Jimmy Pedro, the Olympic Bronze and Silver medalist in Judo. If you look in the upper left of the photo, you can see Mr. Karate's reaction to this photo.

Well, over the past three months, PlusOne has been taking his Black Belt Exams. There were 3 physical exams, (running, sit-ups and push-ups) 3 technique and form exams, (8 techniques each time, Short Form #1 and Long Form #1, Short Form #2 and Long Form #2, and Short Form #3 and Long form #3) and a written etiquette exam.

After the second exam, there were only FIVE left out of the eleven that started. The others just weren't ready yet. PlusOne was one of the five. (One's 17, one's 16, one's 14 and one's 10) Two weeks ago PlusOne passed the last physical exam, running for twenty minutes, FORTY push-ups, touching your partner's chin, which was resting on the ground, and SIXTY sit-ups. The push-ups were the hardest, but PlusOne did them all, in under TWO minutes. Mom was a WRECK watching from behind one of the other students.

Last week was the last technique and form exam and the written exam. Mom was really worried about the written exam. PlusOne had to get an 80 or better. Mom was worried because, hey, he's eleven! Writing answers to complex questions. If they had asked him verbally, mom wouldn't have worried, but they didn't. And mom worried. All WEEK. Every DAY! She was going NUTS!

Today, while PlusOne was taking the class, and the Studio Director was talking to the parents of the students who did not pass, and avoiding mom, mom starting to think that maybe, just maybe, he had passed. Then, the Studio Director shook hands with dad took a step away, came back, put his hand on mom's knee and whispered "He passed!"

Mom went through the roof with joy. Mr. Karate kept telling her "I told you so!" One of the students who got his black belt with mom (he is 14 and really cool) kept telling mom the same thing. Mom, dad, PlusOne, Mr. Karate and Auntie all went out to dinner to celebrate. Boy, did they have a blast. PlusOne told the restaurant manager, "This is the best day of my life. I got my black belt and I am here at X restaurant with my family." You can't beat that with a stick, can you?

PlusOne's promotion will be in a couple of weeks, when he officially receives his black belt with the other THREE students that passed all the exams. The 17, 16 and 14 year old. Don't worry, mom will post PLENTY of pictures.

As for me, I don't know if I can stand all this excitement, so I am going to go sit on mom and force her to relax, now that it's all over.

Spring

Mom is tired of waiting for spring to show up. So she thought she would give everyone a preview of what it should look like.

These are memere's lilies. Memere did a painting of a lily like this.

Isn't it colorful and pretty. Mr. Karate has this painting, but right now it is at Auntie's house.

These are more of memere's lilies. Mom hopes to get some like this from her co-worker.

These are the deep purple bearded iris. Aren't they great? Hurry up spring, and get here for real!

Hijacked!

We've been hijacked by PlusOne and his battle. It's Jedi versus droids.

I think the Jedi won. That's good. I wasn't interested in eating all those droidicons.

Thursday Thirteen - Random Facts & Thoughts

1) As you can see, I still climb on the table.

2) As you can also see, I still can't get down.

3) But I get everything else on the floor.

4) Lucky and I love Auntie very much.

5) Mom likes watching Top Chef.

6) So does PlusOne. He also loves watching Iron Chef. Especially with Auntie.

7) On Top Chef, Mom did not like Zoi. She got eliminated last night.

8) Mom does not like Andrew. Mom really hates Spike.

9) If mom can make Mr. Karate jump up in the air (and shriek) when doing the technique Pincher (no, she is not pinching an x-rated area) then mom is doing something really well.

10) Lucky will sleep anywhere.

11) Or in anything.

12) Or with anything in her mouth.

13) PlusOne, like most boys, loves Star Wars and Legos. This is his troop carrier that he got on Sunday. He had it finished by Tuesday.

Wordless Wednesday - Almost

First, the Wordless Wednesday.

Next, the awards. The Totally Hip Award we give to Dragonheart and Merlin. Because if these two fine, polite, sophisticated cats aren't hip, then the world is flat! I mean, really, they perpetuate the spirit of hip-ness, for which, if you need any help, you can refer to Zaphod Beeblebrox*, who said, "I'm so hip, I can't see over my own pelvis!"

The This Blog is Pawesome award, we give to our cousin, Darling Millie, because is she isn't awesome then nobody is. With all those Gizzy Quilts and quilt donations, we think Millie (and her mom) are just the neatest thing since sliced bread!

Sunny Spring Day

It was sunny today. It was in the high 40's today. That is warm, comparatively. It was a little windy, but overall, it was a nice day. See those little piece of green? Those are the beginnings of mom's iris. They are deep purple bearded iris. All that other stuff is mom's day lilies and raspberry and boysenberry bushes.

She and Plusone love eating fresh berries off the bush. (Yes, mom rinses them off first.) Some times there are so many berries that mom brings them into work. Her co-workers love that. As for me, I love raspberries, and I try to eat them right off the bush. I don't eat the boysenberries, because they have too many thorns on their vines.

This year mom's co-worker is going to give her some red and yellow day lilies for one of the deep purple bearded iris. Mom is excited about that. Heck, mom is excited that there is green stuff in the back yard. Actually, so am I. Lucky couldn't care less. She's happy no matter what is going on. Sigh. Silly girl.