What's one more?

We have a new addition to our family!

Another fur baby (side note, I am not sure how I became the sort of person who refers to my pets as my "fur babies" but I am. And I don't care. Judge me if you will but I love them so very much).

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to Pumpkin Belle aka "the Teeny-Tiny Kitten" (she really is tiny!) or "the Ginger Ninja" (she is really not a ninja, but she does try very hard).

First day at home, and the realisation that she is way too small for her new collar.

I am not giving Pumpkin a "blog name". I never use anything other than Pickles' real name (as those of you who follow us on Instagram will have noticed). If you want to check out the not-so-frequently-asked-questions about the fur babies and their names, I answered lots of them when we got Pickles. Things like "why do your pets have middle names"? And what is the kitten's surname? (Both Pickles and Pumpkin have the same surname).

The perfect place to cuddle is right between a human and a book.

Pumpkin's first name was easy to pick.

Last year, Buglet began her campaign to get a ginger kitten for her 17th birthday. Her arguments included:

• Tink has Pickles, the Pixie has Flip-Flop, I am the only one who doesn't have a pet; and
• You have always wanted a pet called 'Pumpkin'. If we had a ginger kitten that would be the perfect name.

I posted something about this on facebook and a friend sent me a private message saying that their cat had a litter of kittens on Halloween ... including a ginger female (and apparently ginger females are quite rare). How could I not say yes? 

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur.

Pumpkin was officially a Christmas present, but she arrived mid-January when I got home from New Zealand.

After much debate, we decided her middle name was 'Belle'. Buglet wanted her to have a "real" middle name, and at Christmas my nephew named the unicorn handpuppet I was given from Pie and OJ (and family) "Bella" so it all seemed to fit quite nicely. 

"Bella" the unicorn puppet.

Pumpkin has settled in nicely.

Battle Cat.

Flip-Flop is besotted and was very impressed to get a new kitten-sister for her puppyversary - Pumpkin arrived the day after Flip-Flop's three year anniversary of joining our family. A week later and the level of excitement has calmed down to the point where I am not worried that Flip-Flop is not going to accidentally kill the kitten through love. Flip-Flop has a lot of love to give!

"You got me a KITTEN?!"

Pickles is not impressed about becoming the middle furchild. At first there was a lot of hissing. There has also been a lot of standoffish behaviour, but now their relationship has settled into mostly ignoring with a little bit of play fighting. The hissing has stopped (even when Pumpkin goes near Pickles' food) so I have hopes they will become happy soon.

"What do you mean 'it is staying'?"

The girls and I totally love her (even the Pixie). DB says that any more and I will a crazy cat lady. I am ignoring him because:

• I don't care what he thinks;
• I don't mind being a crazy cat lady; and
• based on his reasoning I can get 2 kittens before I become a crazy cat lady because Pickles and Pumpkins are the girls' cats.

Disclaimer:

• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not qualified to advice on pet raising. 
• I am totally a crazy cat lady and I am ok with this.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

Trending

This is one of those posts where I:
(a) decided what I was going to write about;
(b) thought of a catchy title to match the content;
(c) wrote the title and nothing else at first draft;
(d) came back to the post a little while later; and
(e) spent some time staring at the title wondering what on earth I had been planning on writing about.

It is ok people. I have remembered! But I just thought that you'd all like to know that despite the lack of proofing and/or editing in some posts, and despite my tendency to ramble, a great deal of thought does actually going into my writing.

Have I mentioned before that the "trending" topics on facebook and twitter generally just make me realise how untrendy I am? Except on International Women's Day. I was all sussed on that one.

So what's been trending in my universe?!

If March was the Month of Insane Work Life, April was the Month of Guiding, and May is shaping up to being the Month of Domestic Goddessing (I am sort of hoping June will be the Month of Visiting Country People, but we will have to wait and see).

It has been a long time since I've had five Guiding weekends in a row, but that was exactly how April ended up being.

I don't know if anyone remembers me talking about Guide choir at Christmas? Anyway we had a few rehearsals for that including a 24 hour sleepover rehearsal. Definitely a good idea. The choir is formed on an ad hoc basis, so it was a group of girls who had mostly not met each other before. The sleepover helped the girls bond, and gave us a chance to do some theatre sports with them too (thanks to the Scouts WA performing arts people who came down to run that bit).

Listening to the Governor of Western Australia

The actual performance went so well! I was so, so proud of them. The conference we were performing at was amazing. I left the day so inspired. If you want to check out what went on that day check out #LeadingWomenConference  on Twitter and Instagram. I was the self appointed Live Tweeter. In addition to being leader-in-charge of the choir, I was also one of the panellists for the discussion panel that finished the day, and I felt I should earn my thank you present as the only Guide speaker at the event. It was a very humbling experience to included in such an amazing line up of women, all leaders, but all from very different fields. My angle was how the skills I have gained from Guiding has helped in my professional life. I have some notes I will write up into a post one day. Even just thinking about it was a valuable experience. Great self-reflection!

Anyway, the next weekend was ANZAC weekend, and we went on camp with our Guides. Not actual camping, but we went to 'Our Barn' in York. It is an indoor "camp" owned by Girl Guides WA and is one of my most favourite places to stay.

Buglet and Tink with the wreath the Guides made the week before

 We went to the ANZAC Dawn Service. The York war memorial is on the top of the hill and the view as the sun rose over the hill was stunning. I didn't take pictures, because I think I would have been inappropriate during the service, but if I ever go back just to watch the sun rise, I will let you know.

Patrol flags

The camp was so much fun. Two of my co-leader (KK and Bee) had organised a fabulous program around a military theme to encompass ANZAC Day and some traditional Guiding activities. The girls' cooked the best damper I have ever tasted, we made pizza on a fire, and KK brought back the biggest marshmallows I have ever seen from a recent trip to the US. We begun the camp with a game of spotlight and I had totally forgotten how much I love running around in the bush at night. Pixie was most annoyed because her shoes were reflective, but I think it is more that her sneaky ninja skills are lacking! There was also a campfire, singing, semaphore, First Aid skills, patrol flags, poppy making craft and lots more. There are lots of posts on my Instagram account if you are interested.

It really was that big. This is not an illusion.

 My final Guiding type weekend was helping QM (cook) for a leadership training weekend. It was a camp skills weekend held on my friends' farms and I took Tink up with me (Buglet and Pixie had dancing). Cowboy and Indian theme! I now own a headdress. I have wanted one for ages.

And that takes us back to the dance concert.

Stay tuned for my next post, explaining why May is the Month of Domestic Goddessing.

Enjoy your last week of autumn (or spring if you are in the Northern Hemisphere ... if you are in the tropics, I have no idea what to wish you but I hope you have a lovely week too!).

PS when proofing this post I re-read the beginning. I want to add (f) started writing and then took over a week to finish.

PPS UPDATE: I forgot to say, this is why Gherkin aka the Cattern aka Pickles was bought home in an army ration box! Buglet brought the box home from camp (she said it was too good to throw away), and it was the perfect size for kitten transporting. It is still Gherkin's bed.

Disclaimer:

• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not qualified to give camping advice.
• I have no idea what is trending in the real world.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

It's a girl!!!

We got a new addition to our family this week.



What's in the box?

I spy with my little eye ...

I am here! Love me!

Meet Pickles Primrose .... to be known on the blog as 'Gherkin'. (Tink gave her both her real first name and her blog name).

FAQ

Why does a kitten need a blog name? When I started the blog DB insisted that I use aliases for the girls. The Pixie insisted that the puppy needed a blog name too. You may be relieved that the dog is not actually called 'Flip-Flop'!

Why does the kitten have a middle name? When we got Flip-Flop (real name 'Alice Sally') she had a middle name and a surname. We kept her full name and tacked our family surname (aka the girls' and DB's surname on the end). The kitten therefore needed a middle name too.

Who's surname does the kitten have? She has my surname and then the girls' surname. This gives her four names like the girls and Flip-Flop (and me when I use my married surname as well as my own which I do sometimes!)

Do you realise it is weird that your pets have four names? Yes. What about my life makes us seem normal?

Where did Gherkin come from? The girls' grandad (DB's dad) rescued a kitten who had kittens of her own. We adopted this one.

How is Flip-Flop coping? Flip-Flop is besotted with the kitten. She just wants to love her and lick her. The kitten is tolerating this quite nicely.

Meeting her sister.

Pixie is not coping too well with Flip-Flop's obsession with the kitten. I am sure she will get over it. I anticipate that the three of them will be inseparable in due course.

Pixie is home sick today and was a bit miserable that Flip-Flop wanted to lick the kitten rather than snuggling with her. I am hoping a day at home with all three of them (Pixie and the pets) will help solve any jealousy issues.

Totally besotted!
 

There is one question that I haven't answered. Did anyone notice that we brought her home in a rations box? If not, something to ponder on until my next post!

Happy Friday everyone!

Disclaimer:

• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not qualified to give pet advice.
• No kittens, puppies or children have been harmed in the making of this blog.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.