Daily Photo: About Yesterday…
Mimi gives our new car a good inspection—look at the floor of the back seat—knowing she’ll be in that thing sometime soon no doubt as the human has a thing for unexpectedly packing her into a container of some sort and and transporting her against her will for strange and not entirely pleasant activities with strangers. She approves of the totally black interior knowing she’ll be able to blend right into it, and notes that the buttons on the seat buckle match her red collar. She couldn’t find a way to crawl under the seat to the front seat and disapproves of that, but she did find a way into the front seat and the way back where the human already has things stored.
Yes, this is what I’ve been busy with over the past few weeks but especially yesterday when I went to look at a car to replace the Flex, bought it and brought it home. It’s the end of a lot of decision-making about not only the car but my future as well.
I needed to replace my Escape in April 2020 and got a cheap 2003 Subaru Legacy wagon that lasted a year.
Then in 2021 I decided I needed a bigger vehicle if I was going to do as many vendor events as I was planning. I qualified for a Paycheck Protection Loan specifically for small sole proprietors so that along with my savings I could get a bigger vehicle, newer, in better shape, chose the Ford Flex that other artist friends had, found one, and bought it.
I loved that car, so comfortable, so easy to pack and unpack, mileage was scary low but it did exactly what I needed it to—including several big TNR projects in 2021 and early 2022.
But at the end of February I took it for a pre-inspection knowing I’d have some work to be done on it, but the rust on the frame needed major repairs and it wasn’t really safe to drive. I’d pay for repairs to keep it a couple more years, but the repairs couldn’t be safely done.
The day after I had it pre-inspected, March 1, I had to run Mr. Sunshine to urgent care and I had to borrow a neighbor’s car. We almost didn’t make it home before I lost him. If I hadn’t had to borrow a car I would have had more time with him at home and I’ll always feel bad about that, but I think he understood, he was still conscious and saw me and Mimi and he knew where he was.
But I thought of all the times in the past year I packed up a cat and ran to veterinary care at all times of the day and night and knew I had to decide what to do. In the end, looking at sales over the past three years, all the time and effort and money I’ve spent on vendor shows, they’ve returned little in either income or new customers. I wouldn’t look for another car to suit my display, just a medium SUV for a small display and my everyday things. I’ll be focusing on online sales with a few events here and there, and in-person and virtual open house events again.
After all I spent on veterinary costs to lose four cats last year, and really taking down my credit score, I started searching in March and decided I’d wait until May hoping I’d have been able to save and rebuild a little more credit, though I knew the background worry about not having a car was making me stay up too late even when I wasn’t looking for cars. I got pre-approved financing through my bank and used their criteria to search and appreciated the complimentary Carfax reports with their car loan service.
To my surprise last Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) I found a 2018 Kia Soul that I wanted and could afford with payments, though I questioned why the price was as lower than current value. I called my bank Wednesday morning about financing and they approved it, researched the dealer and found they had great reviews, then called them. The car was available, they worked with my bank for financing, after an online application with photos would give me a good trade-in for my Flex which I could have towed there, called my insurance agent for a new policy, I could borrow Denise and Dave’s car to go see it.
But first I had to finish two book covers for Patricia Fry to add to my down payment! Thursday morning Patricia and I finished off the two covers and I had the rest of my downpayment.
I had some emotional moments when I cleaned out the Flex yesterday morning. I was thinking about Mewsette, Jelly Bean, Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine and all the times they’d been in the car as I drove them somewhere for care in all sorts of circumstances, lots of worry and sadness. I always had them placed so we could make eye contact through the carrier and I remembered looking at each of them at different times, making that connection with them, and I could sense them in the car.
When I pulled scrapers and umbrellas out of the pocket on the back of the driver’s seat a pale gray little downy feather popped out with them, slowly falling toward the back seat while I held the umbrellas and watched. It didn’t look as if it had been rolled up in an umbrella or plastered onto an ice scraper. How did a fluffy down feather get inside the pocket, inside the car? They are still with me. I asked them to come with me into the house. I have the feather with the other feathers that have shown up consistently all through this process.
I called for my tow and off went the Flex. I let Denise and Dave know and we’d soon leave for the dealer. Then the salesperson called me to say that another salesperson had shown the Kia and they’d taken it for a test drive! That happens with big dealerships, he’d let the salesperson know the situation and he’d let me know how it went. I wasn’t going to go until I heard from him, but thought I might go anyway just to look around, Denise and Dave agreed. On the way there I got a text that they weren’t interested in the car! He was guarding it with his life.
It felt like my car the first time I sat in the driver’s seat. I’ve always taken used cars to my current mechanic but after the Carfax information and both my bank and insurance company being able to research more detailed information there was really no need. My final financing was approved, I handed over all the money I had for my down payment until I’m paid in a few days for the next project, and I drove it home yesterday. I was gone most of the day yesterday, poor Mimi didn’t get a chance to get outside at all and no cats got much attention, and after staying up quite late to finish the covers and all the activities of the day and forgetting to eat, I was exhausted and got to bed early after sending a photo of the car in my driveway to my niece and friends who’d helped me and encouraged me.
I haven’t had a six year old car in over 30 years, and I haven’t made payments on a car in that long either. I’ve bought older used cars with cash since I paid that one off in the 90s. With how erratic income and events have been I don’t like to take on a payment, but I know it’s the only way I could get a car that was worth spending money on. Now I have a car that will hopefully last me quite a few years and that is one thing I won’t have to worry about.
Now that this worry is resolved I know I can settle myself into a schedule and organize my days again. My felines will be happy about that, especially Mimi! I can’t wait to get down to my basement studio and get started on my new ideas. Yesterday and today we had ClaudeBot and AmazonBot trying to scrape content for AI from all my websites and I couldn’t even open The Creative Cat for all the activity that overloaded it so I had to take care of that, but that’s a permanent fix.
I have a few vendor events but no farmers market and no events outside of my immediate area this year. I will totally miss vendor events, I love to be there, talk about my stuff, talk to other makers and other vendors and just get out, but I don’t take that much time for other things that don’t contribute to my income. I’ll be stopping down to the farmers market for my shopping, for sure, so I can talk to people then. I’m looking forward to just making things and writing, loving on my cats and playing in my garden. I can follow through with my thank yous to all those of you who donated to help me through this past year. When my yard, deck and front porch are finally cleaned up I’m looking forward to an event of some sort here, and I’ll be able to make a video of it and invite those who don’t live near as well.
I stole the title of this post from one of the prior posts below, when I slipped off for another whole day in 2022. Look at those four….
From around this date in past years
About Yesterday…2022
Sure, so, I went on a little road trip yesterday and I was gone most of the day, then when I came back I played with my computer and didn’t pay attention to any kitties. Well, Mimi and Mewsette maybe. And I was pretty distracted the day before as I got ready, and the day before that I did my taxes, and…that will never happen again, right, we’ll believe that when we see it.
I’ve been holding off some cleaning and updates on my main computer, trying to get to May after a bunch of things were finished and I had more time to be without the computer I use for work all the time. I have two other computers—I’ll always take on an old computer, update it and put it to use and have one in my studio and one in my kitchen, and I’m looking for one for the basement. But the big one, as I call it, is the one with all my external drives attached, the one with the best monitor and most speed for me to run several professional design programs at once, along with all my social networking and other activities, to get things done. It’s in the spot I’ve worked in this house since before I started working full-time at home, when I started freelancing in 1992, before I even had a computer. I am very attached to that space, and when things aren’t right in it, like my computer isn’t working right, even when the lights are out, I just can’t relax and do something else. I have everything on external drives and it all backs up to an iDrive account so it’s okay, I’m not going to lose anything, but it’s still scary to contemplate deleting your hard drive or just getting a new one and starting fresh.
But I was still running Windows 7 for some older fonts and software, it had old software still loaded from the person I’d gotten it from, something was going haywire and filling up the main hard drive with saved error codes so I was constantly running out of space, it wasn’t running multiple programs or some newer websites without closing my browser, and lots of other issues that just slowed me down. My wonderful older monitor just went black one day last December, I cleaned a kitten-sized amount of cat hair out of my keyboard and even that didn’t make the keys stop sticking, some had quit working and most of them had lost the characters on the keycaps, the mousewheel had quit spinning and it kept going to sleep. As I was staying up later and later with both work and posting, I had to get the work done. My eyes have been terribly strained and my neck and shoulders stiff and painful, and I’m over that.
So first thing Tuesday morning I dropped off my computer with the company I’ve worked with for over 20 years, then hit the road to drive through three states to pick up crafty things I’d bought from sellers online and a few things only available at a distance. I live in southwestern PA so driving through three states is not difficult with the WV panhandle about 25 minutes to the west and Ohio about 15 minutes farther, you can cross two state lines and not even know it. Lost of snow squalls and graupel downfalls, but nothing stuck to the road. Seeing a new landscape was fun, driving along the Ohio River looking at small towns reflected in the water, and maybe I’ll go back on a sunny day to photograph or even paint.
One consequence of looking around while I’m driving is a bit of queasy carsickness, so by the time I got back I was trying to keep my belly settled while climbing over and under my desk to reconnect everything, set up the new monitor, keyboard and mouse, and reload software. I couldn’t wait, I had to get it back to right. Sorry, kitties, but I can assure you I’ll be a little more pleasant while working now, and have more time for love.
From Instagram
When I got home from my big road trip, Mimi and Mewsette had to have their salad. Even though it’s drizzling, they can’t resist the fresh spring grass.
I spent Wednesday taking care of the last details and getting back to work, plus it was lovely and sunny and Mimi and Mewsette and I couldn’t stay inside, so I didn’t get to post this photo on IG but I intended to.
From the back yard and beyond
From around this date in past years
Reflections on Washing Your Tail
Not only do the cats love it when the sun comes around to the front windows, but so do I because of things like this. Mariposa washing her tail is quite the production because of all that fur and it’s Mariposa and things are always a big deal. I moved around to the right angle too, and that’s when I saw the reflection.
~~~
From Instagram
My shipment of new housepanthers has arrived. Actually, we’re playing a treat foraging game. Mr. Sunshine is right on it, Jellybean does pretty well, so do most of the others. You can see by the look on his face that Basil still hasn’t quite figured it out.
From around this date in past years
Mariposa Day, 2020
Whisker Wednesday, because Mariposa haz em. She doesn’t sit still very often so getting a clear photo of her whiskers with just my cell phone is a real challenge.
All of today’s photos were first posted on Instagram on April 1.
“Seriously?” Mariposa doesn’t think I look like her at all!
It all started with my little crafty masks when I heard that wearing one was now advisable. When I put it on I saw Mariposa’s nose and whisker pads, and immediately wanted to add whiskers. And then I had to add some of her markings, and then the mask that has ears, so I tipped one of the ears and put it all on, and we both have fluffy hair. Mariposa immediately began pulling my whiskers and took a swat at the elastic holding things on. And then she rolled around laughing.
But I think I should wear it to the grocery store next time I go.
I guess my choice of April quilt is popular. They were literally right on it.
Mimi and I found this in the back yard.
The first forget-me-not holding one pure drop of spring rain.
From around this date in past years
Kids! 2019
No, Mimi isn’t yelling. That would be soooo not Mimi. Instead, she gives Mariposa a big, fat yawn. A few seconds before, while I was grabbing my camera, Mimi had hopped up on the windowsill, and Mariposa was thrilled, reaching down and touching Mimi with those big white mittens, all over Mimi’s head. Mimi is a patient mom, even with others’ kittens. Mariposa did not persist and instead just draped herself over the edge and looked cuter than her usual. Mimi has seen it all already.
From Facebook and Instagram
A sunny morning post-breakfast toilette, whiskers complete, white mittens and ruff floof.
It’s The Four Housecats of the Apocalypse. You have been out all day. (They were sleeping, I know because everyone was yawning when I came in the door.)
Mimi and me, enjoying the back yard.
Photos from years past.
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What We Did Last Week, 2018
A basket full of black cats! Now that’s an Easter basket I’ll go for! Happy Easter if you observe, and even though baskets aren’t a part of Passover we can still wish a chag Pesach to those of you who observe Passover, especially if you have cats. Giuseppe and Jelly Bean are the kitties filling the yellow basket to overflowing. I shared this photo last Friday, March 29.
Before I catch up on the photos I posted last week, I’m looking forward to posting regularly here on The Creative Cat once again. All theme, site and server issues are resolved and I’m happy to be back to it.
Also, these photos were first shared on Instagram, which I have grown to love for sharing photos of what the kids are doing during the day, but I have to kick the habit. I love any creative outlet, and the ability to share my photos as well as art and stories easily on Instagram is very exciting for me. Holding my phone and looking down at it caused me to pinch a nerve in my neck and caused muscle and tendon strains in my arm—first my right arm, then I switched to my left to hold the phone but that arm strained on me too.
About 15 years ago, after I’d been working on a personal computer for about 15 years, and on a computer of any sort since 1978, I had strained my right arm and pinched a nerve in my neck using the mouse with my right hand, always properly, but enough was apparently enough, so I’ve been using my left hand since then. I’ve always been subject to repetitive strain injuries, tendonitis and joint issues like this and not just my hands and arms, but also from simply sitting in a chair that’s a little off-kilter, or wearing shoes that don’t work well with my feet. I recently replaced my bicycle because it had me leaning too far forward and putting too much pressure on my hands and back.
I’m not surprised, it was really just a matter of time until it became a problem. I could tell from when I first began using my smartphone that looking downward at that angle was a really bad idea for my neck. It’s one of the reasons I decided not to start texting, even if I held the phone up in front of my face. Last week, each day, I was taking frequent ibuprofen and holding hot compresses on my neck, and trying to lie flat to make the pain go away. Much as I love it, it’s not worth the time I spent trying to relax the muscles and ease the pain, and I’ve missed several of the posts I had planned for the last two weeks, and now I have to get caught up making stuff!
One good thing is that I’ve never had any repetitive strain issues with petting cats no matter how many or how long I pet them!
And Mimi and I will have more time to be outdoors! We had a surprise snow last weekend and the cover was still good by Monday. “Only one thing will get Mimi to walk in snow these days–the neighbor’s cat is in her yard! She did puff herself up and have a few words, and he wisely slunk off. You can see in Mimi’s shadow she is standing with one front paw raised, guarding her temple. The thing that kept her and kittens safe outdoors years ago, she still haz it. She is toasty inside on a warm windowsill now.”
As a last note, I have a love-hate relationship with my smartphone. I love the convenience, but I really hate the photos it takes, I just don’t feel they are representative of my style or abilities, but that immediacy is hard to pass up. I actually have quite a few I’ve taken recently with my DSLR that I haven’t had the chance to share. Now I do.
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
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And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
Nice new car. I have a 2017 black Kia Soul and love it.
I won’t tell Mimi yours is black! This car felt like mine as soon as I sat in the driver’s seat, just like the other cars I’ve bought. I’m excited.
Your new ride looks darn nice and it’s Mimi approved too! I hope it serves you well!!!
I’ll be so happy not to have to worry about car repairs or getting only 10 miles per gallon. Mimi would have to approve, of course! She puts up with me and my photo opps!
concats on the new car ! it’s really nice and looks like a 2024, VERY
well cared for. ‼️
Yes, it does! I couldn’t believe it when I found it online at like 3 a.m., I thought I was seeing things. It was a southern car for three years and the service record all the way through is diligent. A small fender bender in 2021, didn’t even open the airbags, but that seemed to be other buyers’ hesitation. I can’t believe I got this deal, especially the financing. I thought I’d have to wait a few months. But what a relief.