Sunday, March 7th

I have trouble waking up in the morning - because I have trouble going to sleep and staying asleep - I have been taking 2 Simply Sleep tablets every night. If I take just one Simply Sleep I wake up in the middle of the night and can not get back to sleep. My mind starts working on the next day so I get out of bed and go watch an old movie or something I have recorded.

Anyway, getting up today was so exception. I put 2 ice cubes in my first cup of coffee, then read the paper, in this case Sundays edition and then go feed my kids at home.

Tallie and Peach have been with me for 6 months or more. They came to me with a few sever social issues that I have been working on since there arrival. They are doing much better and it is about time to move them to the store. The reason they are almost ready to go to the store is because of Toby. Toby was thought to be HIV and came to me in January. He is not HIV and has become good friends with Tallie and Peach so when I move them to the store they will go together. I believe this will help them to transition more quickly and easily.

Mary Ann is one of my old girls. She came to me in Oct. 08 from a lady in the LeMars area who had witnessed her being thrown out of a moving car. Mary Ann ran and hid beneath a storage shed at the farm and this lady went out everyday to feed her and befriend her and finally. . .the lady put her in a carrier and brought her to me.

When I let Mary Ann out of the carrier at my house in my studio, which is an unfinished room in my basement, she bolted and leaped and disappeared into the ceiling. She stayed there for 3 days until she finally came down for food I left in a live trap. I was afraid to tell Lar that we might have to remove the basement ceilings to find her.

I carried her to one of the guest bedrooms and let her out of the trap. She ran under the bed and stayed there for a month. Every day I got down on the floor and crawled under the bed to visit with her. I brought her food and keep her litter in the corner. I would talk to her and tell her about my day and finally one day she reached out a paw to touch my hand. It was so cool. She was beginning to open up to me.

Within a week she was sitting in my lap and letting me give her love.

She has a crippled ear due to major ear mite infestation and all other signs of neglect and injury are gone.

It has been 15 months since her arrival and she is my girl. We are best friends and we love each other very much. She cuddles with me in the recliner when I sit down and follows me everywhere. Mary Ann is at least nine years old and is home.

My final cat is Gizzy. She is an over weight 10 year black cat, whose owner died last June and was surrendered to SPPR with two other younger cats that I found homes for. Gizzy missed her loving owner and had a hard time accepting her fate. She stayed in the office closet for weeks, only coming out to eat and use the litter box. I knew she was mourning and kept reassuring her that she would be okay.

It has been eight months and 10 year olds are hard to place. Knowing she wouldn't do well with another change, Gizzy is home too. She has a deep meow, loves me, and is in charge of the finished basement. For a long time she slept on the piano. Did I mention that she was close to 20 pounds when she arrived and is not a slim 13 pounds.

Back to the day.

I was at the store by 9:30 feeding and cleaning and doing whatever needed doing. Sharon came in about 10:30 and again we got the place ready for the day. At 11:00 I dashed over to Viola's to pick up the last three cats in the garage - Tom, Jerry & Tim. They were glad to see me and easy to put in the carriers. Viola said her goodbys and took pictures of them. It was hard for her to let them all go. I will go back next week to check on her.

I put the three boys in a room to themselves where they won't be bothered by all the other cats and then proceeded to work on a donor list for Marcie.

It was quiet for a while until the people that had called about the kittens started coming in. Larry F's family arrived around 2:30 so they would have first choice of the kittens.

Meanwhile, a lady from Saturday, came in with her adult son and granddaughter to meet Clyde. She was going to wait until she returned from her trip but decided if she wanted Clyde she better do it now. So, Sharon helped her with her paper work and instead of taking Clyde with her today, planned to come in on Monday afternoon for him. No problem.

Patty and her husband arrived just before 3:00 with the four kittens. So cute and sweet but because they had not been vet checked I would only agree to pre-adoptions. Nobody was leaving today. Everyone was going to the vet in the morning to get check ups.

Within minutes, Larry F's family chose Rocky, an adorable little gray and white male kitten. Again,Sharon helped them with the paper work while I brought in the couple with their son, from Cherokee. They were planning on adopting one kitten but decided on two. They chose Izzy and Max, two girls, or so we thought.

Mom had to come back to Sioux City on Monday and it would be no trouble to pick them up on Monday afternoon. They were very excited about the two kids and headed over to Target to get toys and supplies.

Sometime during all this, Marcie came in with her family and finished typing out the donor list that I had started at 12:00. She has written a fantastic donation request letter and will personalize each letter with the donor list of names.

When everyone left the store it was close to 4:30 so Sharon and I fed the kids supper and cleaned up before heading out. We were close to being out of litter and Target's ad had listed litter on sale so I met Lar at Target at 5:15 to help lift the 35 lb. buckets into the cart and car.

We also needed to use up our medical money set aside for last year so we bought $250.00 worth of medical things like band aides, Alleve, Zantac, etc. They were out of Simply sleep - oh no!

From Target to Olive Garden. There was no way I could prepare supper after today. Soup, salad, and a shared pizza. Perfect! Home by 7:00 to watch the Amazing Race in my pajamas and a little bit of the Academy Awards. I knew Hurt Locker would win.