I See What You Did There

December 9, 2023December 10, 2023 Amy13 Comments

What’s your favorite cartoon?

Look at daily prompt with the perfect Saturday/Caturday morning question.

My favorite cartoon is not a moving cartoon but a cartoon figure.

It all started when my father brought me home a pencil case with her image on it. He had been traveling again, and found this on his travels. I must’ve been four years old, at a time when the brain is impressionable. We also had cats, so it seems like it was a foregone conclusion that this character would become my favorite, and it extends to present day.

Once, I had a cat named Kitty. During the time of her years in my home, there was a TV commercial that repeatedly stated, “Hello Kitty!” It was a rather annoying commercial, actually. But the cat kept hearing her name and turned her head toward the humans in the home as if to say, “What?! I’m right here! Stop this thing saying hello to me.” She was so annoyed. And it was amusing.

If you haven’t guessed by now, my favorite cartoon is Hello Kitty. For many years, I didn’t know Hello Kitty has a twin sister, nor a pet cat (?!?!). She also has a boyfriend named Dear Daniel, but he’s kind of sketchy. He has that tomcat vibe. You know the type: they only come around when they want to see you. They don’t call, they don’t text, they’re just out here on the streets looking cute talking to all the girls. He has that stray cat strut. Mmm, hmm.

I am an adult. And I am not ashamed to say Hello Kitty can be found throughout my home. She’s in my car, hanging from my rearview mirror. She’s on my floor mats. I have several items of clothing with her face on them. I contemplated a tattoo, but never followed through with it. At least not yet.

Chococat, another Sanrio cat, gets a shout out today because he is a friend of Hello Kitty, it’s Caturday, and he’s cute.

Happy Cartoon Caturday!

daily prompt · poetry · Writing

Returned to Self

December 7, 2023May 6, 2024 Amy9 Comments

What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

Waded through the grief

Bandaged the broken heart (it still seeps)

Plodded through the dashed dreams

Said a prayer for the lost (souls, loves, hopes)

Sighed, inhaled

Felt a tiny spark

Of what came before

What came after

Remembered my strength

Found the Muse

Re-bandaged the heart

Put pen to hand

Returned to Self

daily prompt · Humor

When Daily Prompt Was Two

December 6, 2023December 9, 2023 Amy12 Comments

Do you ever see wild animals?

Yes, I work with them every day. Oh. You mean the kind that live outside? Sure, I see them, too. Now, Daily Prompt, it’s nap time. You’ve been asking questions like this all week and I think you’ve had too much sugar. It’s probably the gummy vitamins. Time to go sleep it off.

daily prompt · Love

Paris

December 5, 2023May 6, 2024 Amy20 Comments

Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?

When I told you

I dream of visiting Paris

And you said

Everyone should visit Paris once

Since You’ve Asked

December 4, 2023December 9, 2023 Amy11 Comments

Share five things you’re good at.

Most importantly, I excel at bumping into inanimate objects and asking for forgiveness for my transgressions from said objects. The objects usually accept my apology, but not before inflicting nasty bruises on one of my limbs. Do the objects ever apologize for this bodily harm? Nope.

I am great at singing – in a terrible voice – to my plants, who each have names and who bloom better when they’re spoken to. For example, Chris, Princess Peaches and Penelope are all in bloom right now. They are Christmas cacti. Of course, the blooming has nothing to do with the time of year, it is all due to my singing.

I’m well known for naming my cars and my house appliances. For example, my new refrigerator is named Elizabeth, and directly across from her is Mr. Darcy, the stove. Elizabeth stands there, tall and proud, minding her business. Mr. Darcy stares at her from across the room. He seems frustrated. Maybe that’s because he’s anchored to the wall.

I’m world-renowned for talking too much when I’m nervous, which often gets me into a pickle, which is unfortunate because I don’t like pickles.

Finally, you can ask any of my cat children and they’ll tell you: they each have 10 to 15 nicknames what I prattle off one after the other, whenever the feeling strikes, in that dulcet singing tone I possess.

daily prompt · Humor

Gummy Vitamin Addiction

December 3, 2023December 7, 2023 Amy8 Comments

What is one thing you would change about yourself?

The vitamin manufacturers know exactly what they are doing. They are making very expensive candy. It’s an outrage. Fifty dollars for a thirty days’ supply of CoQ10 gummies?! This supplement, as well as others, are recommended for me to take due to my chronic migraines. Vitamin D is necessary and very important for bone and immune system health. Probiotics are essential for gut health. Turmeric is amongst the most beneficial supplements due to its anti-inflammatory actions. Vitamin B12 is recommended for energy, and a host of other essential nerve functioning processes. Biotin is helpful for hair loss and fingernail growth. I could go on, but I will spare you, because I’m going to run out of space to type if I continue extolling the benefits of gummy vitamins (which is a very weak argument, let’s be honest).

Before you believe me to be complaining about all of this, you should know that when I lay out each of my gummies on my morning napkin, I have an order in which I chew them. Some brands are delicious, and some brands are trash. I eat the yucky ones first. I save the two best for last: the turmeric and the vitamin D. I alternate between these two until they are (gasp!) gone. There comes a point every morning where I reach for one more only to find an empty napkin. With a frown I glance at my white napkin with its yellow stain from the turmeric, and I want more gummies.

I am a willing participant in this scam that is known as gummies with a bit of vitamins sprinkled in them. I am an active gummy vitamin addict. And I have news for you: I’m going to do it all again tomorrow morning.

daily prompt · Humor

Third Option: Afternoon

December 2, 2023December 3, 2023 Amy10 Comments

Are you more of a night or morning person?

Not even the lure of Santa visiting the night before could get this toddler out of bed. Mommy and Daddy had to come gather a grumpy groggy me to see the presents under the tree in the morning. Me, probably: “This is cool and all, but can I just go back to bed and see these in a couple of hours?”

If left to its own devices – which means not needing to work – my body would wish to be a night person. It has been a night person in the past, especially when I was a teenager. But now…I’m lucky if I see 9 PM. Welcome to adulthood. Sleep is interrupted and brief, something is always broken or needing to be replaced, and you have now become an afternoon *person.

*subjective use of the word. May be substituted for caffeine-fueled skin bag with sputtering, smoke-spitting brain.

cats · daily prompt · Humor · Writing

Did My Cat Write This?

December 1, 2023December 1, 2023 Amy7 Comments

What are your feelings about eating meat?

I think she did. I’ve told her to stay off the laptop numerous times. Usually she types something like, “bfnthrhfbdvrkihgdbd,” but I see this time she’s given it some thought

Well, it looks like she’s conducting a poll, and will be utilizing this information to convince me to buy the larger size of beef treats.

(She doesn’t know I bought the large bag of chicken-flavored treats, so I hope you understand that your answer to the question will be recorded and used at a later date.)

cats · daily prompt · Humor

Cat Hair and a Robe

November 30, 2023December 1, 2023 Amy7 Comments

What are your two favorite things to wear?

Cat owners (“staff”) will understand what I mean about the cat hair thing. I not only wear it, I eat it. It also regularly gets into my eyes, where it lives for days at a time, hugging my eyeball until it decides to release its grasp. Eyedrops don’t help loosen the grip, but they do add more tears to the already tearful eye.

Working from home affords the luxury of wearing a robe most of the day – OK, all of the day. Robe is the new sweater. Cat owners (“staff”) will also understand that you can’t wear a robe without wearing cat hair on your robe.

Cat hair is the new black.

daily prompt · Writing

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

November 28, 2023December 2, 2023 Amy8 Comments

Name your top three pet peeves.

I used to have more than a handful of pet peeves. But over time, and most likely since the passing of my mother three years ago, combined with the daymare that was the pandemic, and so many changes overall within and without, my pet peeves have dropped off significantly.

I wouldn’t say they’ve disappeared altogether. For example, people not returning shopping carts to the shopping cart bay, or to the front of the store is irritating, but it’s a small speck in the landscape. I’d rather return it to the bay or give it to an elderly person as I’m on my way back to the bay, than to stew about people not returning shopping carts.

I still notice when people ding my car with theirs and seemingly don’t care, but that really says more about them than it does about me. And it’s not something I can control. Thinking about things you can’t control is a waste of time. Others’ behaviors such as lying or cheating would still have the ability to overwhelmingly cause me to see red, but that is their behavior not mine. And it reflects on them not me. All I can do is not lie and not cheat and put my cart back in the bay and help the older person and shrug off the ding on my car. There are other things that I want to do with my days, and they don’t include throwing attention at things I cannot control. I believe that love and loss teach you what is important in life, and having experienced overwhelming loss of love and loss of the way life was at precisely the same moment in time, I can assure you from my standpoint, nothing else really matters. Let the peeves go, Jeeves.