We now pronounce you the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…

Hello all! I have afforded myself a bit of a break from blogging over the past few weeks. I’ve been a bit too busy playing with my new kitty. To avoid, however, being labeled as a middle-aged kitty blogger, I will save my Torii update for a future subject.
This week, of course, there is much bigger news than the daily antics of my cat. The news, in fact, is bigger than anything else happening on the entire globe. If the news cycle is any indication, it is the biggest news of the year.
I speak, obviously, of the Royal Wedding. William (not Bill) and Kate (not Catherine) have finally tied the Royal Knot.
I don’t get the appeal. It must be a guy thing, because I don’t see what all the fuss is about. How, I wonder, can we experience any joy from the marriage of a couple of Brits when my Twins are sucking so badly? Shouldn’t we be in mourning?
Being a dedicated Facebook user, I noticed many of my online friends getting very excited about the event over the past few days. It ranged from cracking open a bottle of champagne at 4:00 AM to a sleepover party to watch the ceremony. Now that I think about it, they were all female posts. The men were a bit distracted by the first round of the NFL draft.
To me, even more astounding than the general obsession with the wedding, was the fuss over Kate’s dress...and the work that went into making it.
The dress was designed by a woman named Sarah Burton, who counts among her customers a range of people from Michelle Obama to Lady Gaga. There was no word if she was the genius behind Gaga’s meat dress.
The details of the wedding gown have been protected as Top Secret for months. Not even WikiLeaks could sniff out the information. There was even a tent put up to hide her until the last possible moment! Can you say “over-hyped”?
I saw pictures. It is long and white…yup that’s a wedding dress.
According to USA Today, the dress was a “lacy, long-sleeved, sweetheart-neckline gown with lace overlay. With an ivory silk tulle veil trimmed with hand-embroidered flowers, sparkling tiara (thankfully she didn’t go with the non-sparkling tiara) and her hair swept half up, Middleton was the picture of princess perfection. It took some adjusting to fold the almost-9-foot train into the car, where she was seated next to her father, Michael Middleton.”
Here is where it gets freaky:
“Great care was taken in constructing the lace, a task that went to the Royal School of Needlework. According to details posted on the official royal wedding website, ‘the workers washed their hands every 30 minutes to keep the lace and threads pristine, and the needles were renewed every three hours to keep them sharp and clean.’”
Talk about feeling inadequate as I sit here typing in my faded sweatpants and “Real Men Eat Cookies” t-shirt.
There was no mention in any of the stories I read, if the people making William’s jacket washed their hands.
I guess if there was an upside for me in seeing non-stop wedding news over the past few days it would be that we got a bit of a break from listening to Donald Trump. Although, not unlike Kate Middleton’s celebrated wedding dress, that hair of his (which coincidentally is “half swept up”) must also take quite a team to construct.
Sorry girls, the excitement is over and now all us mere mortals must return to our mundane lives where tents are used for keeping the mosquitoes away and the people making our clothing seldom wash their hands.
And most days the only thing we’re cracking open at 4:00 AM is the bottle of Pepto Bismol.

Kitty shopping part 2: it’s a tortie!

When I left you last week, I was describing our shopping trip to the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society and our search for a new kitty. We met a lot of cats that day who were fairly begging for our attention. I felt a tug from many of them. I had a hard time leaving the big old gray cat that had been there way too long. He didn’t stand a chance competing for attention with all the young, frisky fur balls. I was dazzled by young brothers Mikey and Melvin, two orange tiger-striped kitties who were adorable, but were only available as a package deal. The shelter wanted them to stay together, which is the only way I could imagine them. Of course, I kept wandering back to Fallyn…she was just so needy. Despite whatever my ego was trying to tell me, I noticed that it wasn’t just me, she reached out to everyone who walked by her cage. After much deliberation, and one more trip back to the Get To Know Them Room, we decided on a friendly little cat named Carmel. She was just the right mix of friendliness and playfulness. We paid the fee and signed all the paperwork, including a promise to get her spayed within 30 days. It was a good day. The only way it could have been better is if I would have been allowed to bring home two. Unfortunately, as with many disagreements in our home, I lost that vote 1-1. Our new family member is multi-colored—chocolate, cinnamon and cream, which I’m told makes her a tortoiseshell cat, or a “tortie.” Torties, in many cultures, are considered good luck. She was born in December of 2009, making her a little more than a year old, but small compared to my late buddy Joe. I was on a rollercoaster of emotions as we were heading down the interstate on our way home. At long last we had a pet to fill the void left by Joe and I was thrilled, but I was conflicted with feelings, knowing that we were leaving a lot of small cages filled with adorable friends behind, and there was nothing more I could do about it. I couldn’t get the vision of Fallyn out of my head, trying so hard to reach me from her cage; of Mikey and Melvin and their adorable playfulness; of poor Piper, who didn’t realize how close she was to coming home with us. I can’t imagine, now, making a different choice. I love our new roommate. After a few days of struggling over her new name, and lots of suggestions from family and Facebook friends, we stuck with a baseball name. She is now affectionately known as Torii. She has taken to our family very nicely. That nasty visit to the vet to be spayed is behind her and despite her continued fight against a little gingivitis, she is doing great. She has her own set of quirks. She likes to curl up and sleep in a tiny basket in the kitchen; she is obsessed with drinking out of the bathroom faucet; and she lets us know what is on her mind with a strange, low growl/meow that is about three octaves below what we were accustomed to with our old friend Joe. She loves to greet me when I get home from work, first by shouting her impatient growl/meow that she wants a trip to the bathroom sink…NOW! Then she insists on following me to my computer chair, where she climbs me and starts purring, with her front legs hanging over my shoulder and her back legs stretched to my waist. Joe used to wake me every morning between 4:00 and 6:00 AM. Torii lets me sleep and instead attempts to rouse Kathy. Gotta love this cat. As I said earlier, I left the shelter feeling a bit helpless, as if I was deserting lots of deserving pets who needed a home as bad as Torii, but I was wrong. I can work on YOU people to go for a visit. Start with a visit to http://www.sfhumanesociety.com/custAvailablePets.asp. Click the silhouette of the dog or cat to see what is available. A click on the rabbit silhouette will take you to a variety of other kinds of animals that are up for adoption. Check out the pictures and videos. I’m not sure how you could resist the lure of such friendly looking kitties as George or Scooter or Whitey. Check out the picture and video of the cat named Mouse or Herman or Al. Please…take a look at Piper! She is sooooo cute (and a little bit cross-eyed)! Go now and look………………………………………….um, what are you waiting for? Of course making the decision to adopt is only the beginning. If you aren’t interested in investing the time and affection involved, then don’t bother. I guarantee you if you make the commitment however, your affection will be returned tenfold. They grab you by the heart. Fortunately for me, my life is such that I have a few built in protections, but if circumstances were different, I could easily become one of those cat ladies you see on the news from time to time. Go now and check them out. A dog will absolutely turn its life and loyalty over to you and become your best friend. A cat isn’t quite as needy, but don’t require quite the time commitment. They can love you just as much as a doggie, they just don’t go advertising it all the time! If you can’t commit to adopting, there are other areas where you can help, with a donation of money or food for the animals at the shelter. There are shelters in our area also that could use your donations or adoptions. I’ll continue to check on my friends online. Fallyn was finally adopted a couple of weeks ago and she no longer needs to beg for affection through the front of her cage. Mickey and Melvin are sharing a home somewhere…they also were adopted. I won’t be happy, though, until Piper finds a home. Go now! Ask for her by name! Here is her link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpnkFim1cY&feature=player_embedded. You will not be sorry.