Black Cat Lore

While taking my foster kittens in for their vaccinations last weekend, I noticed there was a large number of black cats available for adoption.  I was reminded that black cats are extremely hard to adopt.

The reason for this is largely based in superstition.  During the middle ages black cats were viewed as part demon and as witches familiars.  This lead to people killing cats and not keeping cats as pets, which lead to an increase in the rat populations which carried the plague.  This fear of black cats has carried over into todays society and folklore.   

While some cultures believe there is luck to be found in black cats, most of the superstitions about them are negative.  If a black cat crosses your path, it is supposed to be bad luck.  Whether the cat walks towards or away from a person means either good or bad luck.  Most people don't admit to believing that black cats are bad luck, there is a large percentage of black cats up for adoption.Black cats are notoriously hard to adopt.  This may be due to superstitions or people just not liking the look of a solid colored cat.

Our family has one fantastic black cat, Puma.  He came to us three years ago as a young foster kitten.  He had been found in parking lot where his family had left him outside of a pet store.  Originally he was to go up for adoption, however, he was such a great fit with our family we kept it.  He walks on a leash and snuggles under the blankets at night.  He is great with our daughters and dog.  He is also a good daddy kitty to all the foster kittens that come through our house.  He bathes all the babies and can almost always be found playing with them or napping with them.


Black cats are just as great as other colored cats and have no negative properties to them.  They do not bring good or bad luck, and are not carriers of disease.  Next time you are in the market for a kitty, don't skip over the loney black cats at the shelter/adoption facility.  Often they are not as friendly because they have been there for so long they are depressed.  They are great cats and deserve the same chance as all the fancy breeds.

Healthy Eating

Recently I have been reading a lot on ways to help your children live healthy lives.  Everyone seems to have a suggestion on how to improve the way your children eat, play, learn, and live.  There are all these tips floating around and it makes you wonder how people got all this information before the internet. 

Before giving birth to my daughters, I was a dog trainer (a fairly good one I think).  One of the questions I was asked a lot, besides how to I make my dog walk nicely, was how do I get my dog to eat the food I give him/her?  I would always ask what they were feeding their dog and how they fed them.  The answer was almost always the same.  They always start off well enough giving their dog dry kibble, but when the dog didn't immediately gobble it down, they started doctoring it.  Adding in wet food, human food, water and other tasty things.  They also try heating the food.   They say at first the dog ate the food but stopped after a few day.  The answer is simple I tell them, your dog is holding out for something better.  Why should he/she eat this if you will just give him something better if he/she waits.  Stop doctoring your dog's food, feed them a good kibble, and wait for him to eat it.  If he doesn't eat it when you put it down, try again at the next feeding time.  Your dog will eat when hungry, he/she is just trying to hold out for something better.

I find that a lot of the techniques and tips I gave my doggie owners are things I am doing for my daughters now.  Food however is the main thing I do differently.  Children need to be able to control part of their lives and the easiest is their food.  If parents make a huge ordeal out of eating certain things, the kids will not want to.  If you tell a kid they have to eat their veggies, they can refuse.  If you push the topic, they will always refuse.  I feel the same about the clean your plate theory.  I do not force my girls to clean their plate.  If they are hungry, they will eat.  If not, then they don't finish.  If they are told to eat everything, it becomes a challenge which they have the control over.

Nicole eating spicy chili

My daughters eat almost everything that is put in front of them.  They may not eat every last bite, but they do eat everything that we eat.  I have had a few friends ask how we got them to be such good eaters.  The only thing we can think of is we don't push food and we set a good example.  Why would a kid want to eat cauliflower if their parents don't?  Our girls are offered the exact same meal that Charles and I are eating (spicy or not).  So far the only thing Nadia and Nicole do not like to eat is cucumber.  Nadia LOVES cauliflower.  She will throw away chicken nuggets, cheese, or anything else if you hand her a crown of cauliflower.  She doesn't even want to dip it in anything.  Nicole's favorite food is green beans.  She also throws away other "kid favorite" foods for a green bean.

Play Dates

I like to think that my daughters are good at sharing.  Having a sibling constantly borrowing their toys helps ensure they are good at sharing.  We work hard at keeping them good at this skill but recently have had to stop a few scuffles over toys.  One way to help build sharing skills we have found is to bring other children over to play with their toys.

Mya and kitten

We had a play date last week with friend and fellow blogger Melissa and her daughters Mya (5yrs old) and Zoey ( 7 months old).  We had dinner together then the girls all got to play.  Mya was very interested in our foster kittens and even got to name one of them. 

The girls all played very well together and there were no squabbles over toys.  Nadia was so excited to have friends over she was bringing out toys to Mya and Zoey, although my house looked like a toy bomb exploded in it afterwards.  While Charles watched the girls, Melissa and I went through Nadia and Nicole's closet to find hand me down clothes for Zoey.  It is great to have a friend to pass on all the extra clothes to!


As Melissa was getting ready to leave, Zoey discovered Nicole's rocking duck.  While she is still too small to make it rock, she enjoyed sitting on it and exploring its duck head. 

Play dates are great for kids and parents.  They give us Mommy's time to commiserate and have a chance to speak with a fellow adult.  They also allow the kids to interact with other kids of different ages and to practice sharing.   

More bad customer service

I had another horrible experience with employees at a store today.  It is a large chain pet store and the location was one I had not been to before, and never will again.  I needed to purchase two dozen crickets for my leopard and bibron's geckos and had promised my girls a new fish for their fish tank.

It was busy inside the store and I stood in the cricket area for 10 minutes without being helped.  I was within sight of the cashiers and I know they saw me as we made eye contact.  After ten minutes, I went to an office where I found three managers and a dog trainer chatting.  I asked for assistance with crickets.  A manager told me there were two people in that department.  I informed them I had been waiting and no one was there.  She rudely told me again there was two people over there.  I demanded she help me.

One of our plecos

After she angrily packaged my crickets, I went to look at the female betta fish.  I was finally approached by an employee who did not ask if I need any help, he simply stated "Are you ok?"  All of the fish were in filthy water that had chunky debris floating in it.  It was obvious that the water hadn't been cleaned in a very long time.  I am an avid fish keeper and generally would never buy a fish kept in the conditions these fish were in. As I was checking out with what appeared to be the most "healthy" fish, the cashier told me all the fish had come in a day or two before.  It was very obvious this was not true.

I typically buy my crickets at another location of this store and don't have any problems.  It just reminds me that it is not always the company that needs to work on its customer service.  Sometimes a few bad people in a store are enough to ruin the whole experience.  I can guarantee I will never go to this location again.

Vaccinations

Nadia and Nicole seem to be overly aware of what is happening in their lives.  Starting around the age of 8 months they became fearful of going to the doctor.  They are terrified of vaccinations.  Nicole refuses to walk into the doctors office.  She is fine going to other doctors, just not her pediatrician.  Nadia will walk in but starts crying when we go back to the room. 

We have been trying to think of ways to lessen the fear of vaccinations.  They have seen me receive cortisone injections and seen Charles and I receive our flu shots.  While this seems to help a little, we are still searching for other ways to calm their fears.

Today they got to  witness our foster kittens receiving vaccinations.  The kittens needed their distemper boosters and Nadia and Nicole went along.

The kittens slept the entire ride and were very calm.  The kittens received a nose drop instead of an injection.  Even with having drops put in their noses, the kittens were calm and didn't go on the attack.  Afterwards they slept the drive home and are still asleep in their carrier.

I think it was good for Nadia and Nicole to see other species being calm about vaccinations, even if they are different from the needles they are used to.  It also lets them know that they are not being singled out for this "torture" and it happens to everyone and every animal.

Maybe the vaccine researchers can find a way to make vaccines into a nose drop for the youngsters.

Saving Money

Raising twins is an expensive adventure.  Food, diapers, supplies and clothes cost way more than Charles and I had planned on when we got pregnant.  This has forced us to tighten our belts and learn how to get the items we need for less.

Food is by far the biggest expense.  I have learned that I save money by not shopping in the center aisles of the grocery store.  There are a few items I still venture into the depths of the store for, but mostly I stick to the outer perimeter.  It may seem counter productive, however, when you eat healthy foods low in carbs, your body doesn't feel so hungry.  Our diet contains mostly produce and meat.  We spent about $350 a month on food before we had our daughters, and now we spend about $200.  We have also stopped going out to eat as much.  We are foodies so this was a hard thing for us.

I have also become the queen of clearance shopping.  I have to really really need a product to buy it at full price.  I don't use coupons very often because most of them are for things that I would not normally buy, therefor save me no money.

When I go clothes shopping I never go out looking for one thing in particular.  I peruse the clearance racks and see if there is anything that I need.  While I was still pregnant a fellow mother of twins gave me the best advice; she said, if it is something you will need and it's clearanced, buy it.  This is my mantra.  Today I bought two pairs of fleece pajamas for my daughters for $7.00.  They are size 5T, so it will be a few years til they can wear them, but I have ample storage space.  I saved a little over 50% on these pajamas.  I purchased Charles a pair of jeans a few weeks ago that were clearanced for $10.86, however, I had a $10 off coupon and a 20% friends and family coupon so the jeans ended up costing $0.84.  The deals are out there if you spend the time to look for them.

Cold Pills

Recently our family has been hit by a nasty cold.  Everyone became a victim of it, including Grandma Judy.  Body aches, runny nose and general malaise were the common symptom.  Most of us recovered within a few days, some of us are not quite over it yet.  The worst hit was Grandma Judy.

Nadia and Nicole both had runny noses and body aches.  VapoRub and a humidifier soothed their symptoms and helped them sleep.  Us grown ups relied on cold pills and nyquil to ease our aches and pains.  After a week of getting continually worse, Grandma Judy saw her doctor.  She was told she had a sinus infection and was given antibiotics.  Her doctor also told her that cold pills can actually increase your chances of infection.

This got me thinking, if I am unwilling to give my children these medications, why are my family and I taking them.  These medications do not cure the cold, they only mask the symptoms.  Runny noses happen to help flush your body of the virus.  If your body is unable to remove the virus in its normal manner, the virus sits around and festers and can cause a secondary infection. 

Our society has become so dependent of medications to fix everything and these medications are breeding superbugs and increasing our dependency on them.  When we were young, saline solution was a fantastic fix for congestion.  As adults, we take medication that is also used to make methamphetamines.  This makes no sense to me.

While there are times when medications make sense (if you have to function for work or childcare), usually you do not need these medicines.  Allowing your body to fight off the virus on its own will increase your immune system.  If the cold gets worse, it is best to see your doctor for antibiotics, but give your body a chance to fight it off first.