Happy Birthday, Jewel

Today would have been Jewel's 19th birthday.

I miss her everyday.  

I hope they are having a huge celebration at the Bridge today for your birthday, Jewel!

Happy Birthday, my little angel.

Once Upon a Spine Book Review

About the Book: Brooklyn Wainwright, a San Francisco bookbinder, is on edge because her soon-to-be in-laws are coming to meet her all the way from England.  She's also worried about the rumors that the charming Courtyard shops across the street from her will be replaced by a high-rise apartment building.  She and her fiance, Derek Stone, must convince the shopkeepers not to sell.

That could be a difficult task with a rare edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland causing bad blood at the Brothers Bookshop and vandalism putting everyone on edge.

As if that's not enough, Brooklyn finds the local cobbler murdered under a set of shelves in the local Rabbit Hole.  Things get even more interesting when a second priceless copy of Alice surfaces.  Will this cause more trouble within the close-knit Courtyard community?

When Derek's parents arrive, things go much better than anticipated.  Brooklyn wins over her fiance's dad with some chocolate cream pie, and Derek's mother jumps at the chance to help Brooklyn solve this murder.

My Thoughts: This is the first big city cozy I've read.  It still felt like a small town cozy to me, given how close everyone in the Courtyard is - it's like their own little world.  Once Upon a Spine is the first book I've read in the Bibliophile Mystery series, and I was able to easily follow the storyline.  So if you haven't read any of the other books in the series, you'll have no trouble reading this book as a stand-alone novel.

I really enjoy Brooklyn's character.  Her relationship with the main detective on the case, Inspector Lee, is much different than I'm used to in cozies.  Inspector Lee almost welcomes Brooklyn's help rather than reprimanding her and telling her not to get involved in the case.

There is a cat in this mystery, but we don't see much of her at all.  That was disappointing, but the book was excellent even without many appearances from Brooklyn's cat.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I wasn't all together surprised at the end, but I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters.

I believe anyone who enjoys cozies would like this book.

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of, "Once Upon a Spine: Bibliophile Mystery" by Kate Carlisle for a fair and honest review.  Receiving the book did not influence my opinions in any way.  All opinions expressed on Fur Everywhere are my own. 

Meezer Colors Day

Hi everyone, it's Milita today!

Carmine  says THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the Happy Gotcha Day wishes and awesome cards you all sent him!  He sure was thrilled to see all our friends leaving comments for him!

Today is Meezer Colors Day - a day for all of us kitties to show off our beautiful colors.

Some of you may have already seen this photo on the Mom's Facebook page, but she really likes this photo of me, so I told her she can share it here, too.

You may not be able to see all my beautiful colors in this photo.  I am a lynx-point Siamese.  I have dark gray stripes on my legs, face, and tail.  My ears are a solid dark gray.  The rest of my body *used to be* a lighter gray than my ears and tail, but now the Prednisolone I take for my asthma has turned me BROWN on some of my coat!

The Mom says I am beautiful no matter what color I am.

Maybe you can see the difference in my fur color.  Here is a photo of me when I was younger.

And here's a more recent photo of me.

I hope you have a happy Meezer Colors Day and a wonderful weekend!

Happy Gotcha Day, Carmine!

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!

Mes knows it has been forever since the Mom has helped us post, but today is a special day for mes, so hers put hers own writing aside to help mes post today!

TODAY IS MY GOTCHA DAY!!!

Mes and the Mom thought it would be fun to share the story of how mes got gotted!  This story is from the Mom's perspective - hers wrote about how mes got gotted for another publication once.

Here is what hers wrote:

"As I sit at my computer, my kitty, Carmine, sits a few feet away, watching me type.  He is my constant companion and best friend.  I adopted my cat through Every Creature Counts from the PetSmart Adoption Center.

In June 2005, I moved to a new apartment and I decided my kitty, Milita, needed a playmate and companion to keep her company, as I spent a lot of time in classes and at my internship (I was getting my Master's in Social Work at the time).  

A friend and I decided to check out the kitties in the adoption center at the PetSmart located near me.  I wanted a cat who was within a year or two of Milita’s age (approximately 2 years old at the time).  I have a vision problem, so immediately my friend pointed out this little orange kitten in the bottom row of cages she thought was cute.  I squatted down to look at him, and, sure enough, he was quite adorable!

Carmine: Even though mes is 12 years old nows, mes still acts like a kitten sometimes!

A PetSmart worker came into the room and asked if we needed any help.  We told her that we’d like to see the orange kitten, so she got him out for us.  The orange kitten’s name was Carmine.  I took Carmine over to a chair in the room and sat down to pet him.  I put him on my lap where he laid down and began to purr.  I fell in love with the little orange kitten right away!

Carmine had made it clear that he wanted to go home with me, so I asked my friend to help me fill out an application at the front of the store.  We gave the application to the PetSmart worker who looked it over and let us know that I would have an answer within 24 hours.  Every Creature Counts takes the time to look over every application for adoption.

The next day, I received a call that I was approved to adopt the kitten.  My friend drove me back to the PetSmart where I was able to pick Carmine up and take him home.  Before I could take him home, however, Every Creature Counts required me to sign a contract.  The contract stated that I agreed not to declaw Carmine and that if he did not work out in my home, I would bring him back to the adoption center.  The contract also stated that I could take Carmine back to Every Creature Counts if his scratching ever became an issue, as they are against declawing cats.  These terms were fine with me, as I had not planned on getting my kitten declawed anyway, as I do not agree with this practice.

In addition, the contract stated that I agree to provide all medical care, proper food, shelter, and water, to treat my kitty with kindness at all times, that I will not abandon or sell my cat, that if the kitty becomes lost, I will make every reasonable effort to find him, and if he is found by a shelter that I will retrieve him. 

Over five years ago, I decided to give a kitten a good, loving forever home.  I’ve enjoyed my companion and best friend Carmine since June 2005, and he’s enjoyed a good, loving home where he will be pampered for the rest of his life.  I am truly happy that I have had the privilege of giving such a loving, wonderful cat a great life."

This was written when Carmine was only 5 years old.  Carmine has now owned me for 12 years.  I wouldn't have it any other way!

Carmine: The Mom can't imagine how or why mes ended up at Every Creature Counts, but hers sure is glad that hers met mes that day.  Mes ams glad that hers decided to listen to mes when mes told hers to take mes home with hers!  

As many of yous might know, mes isn't a big lap cat, so the fact that mes curled right up in the Mom's lap and purred that day was mes telling hers that hers was the human mes wanted to live with.  

Happy 12th Gotcha Day, Carmine!  Milita and I are so blessed that you chose us to be your forever family.  We love you! 

Success with Stress Book Review

I work hard at keeping as much harmful stress out of my life as possible because not only does it affect my health, I know that Carmine and Lita can pick up on my stress level and become stressed out themselves.  That's why I was excited when I was presented with the opportunity to review, Success with Stress by Jae Ellard.

About the Book: Believe it or not, stress isn't all bad; in fact, it's an important part of the natural world. Stress helps us survive as a species - because of that we want the ability to be stressed. That said, being able to manage stress with greater success is the difference between surviving and THRIVING. Success with Stress explores five simple ideas to spark your personal power to change the level, duration, and frequency of the stress in your life. With workplace stress being linked to quality of life, health, and workplace morale, this is a must-read for any team looking to improve morale and individuals looking to improve their quality of life.

My Thoughts: Stress management is a very broad subject.  There's so many techniques the author could have explored in this book.  I was disappointed that she did not explore each of her techniques in more depth.  As someone who has worked in the field of mental health, I find that the more information someone has, the more choices someone has.  Everyone is an individual, and what stress management techniques work for one person may not work as effectively for another.

That being said, I still feel this book holds value.  The book touches on some very good techniques for managing stress.  Even if you've had a lot of training in stress management, this book is a great reminder of basic stress management techniques.  

I like how the author poses a couple of questions for readers to reflect upon after discussing each stress management technique.  The short length of the book makes it easy to read in a few short sessions as well.  

About the Author: Jae Ellard is an author, speaker, and expert on developing the skill of awareness in the workplace. After years in senior communication roles crafting content for executives, Jae collapsed from stress-related adrenal fatigue. This life-altering experience propelled her to research human behavior, neuroscience, mindfulness, and organizational relationship systems. In 2008, Jae founded Simple Intentions and developed the Mindful Life™ Program to generate intentional conversations to disrupt patterns and create awareness, accountability and action at team and individual levels. Jae has taught the skill of awareness in more than 50 countries to thousands of employees at multinational corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia.

Jae is a columnist on workplace awareness for Mindful Magazine, as well as the author of 7 books on the topic. She contributes to the Healthy Living section on Huffington Post as well as the Simple Intentions blog. In 2013, she founded Seattle Wisdom, a community organization working to create and support conscious conversations in professional spaces in the Pacific Northwest. Jae has a master’s degree in Communication Management from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Communication from Metropolitan State College of Denver. She holds certificates in co-active coaching and organizational relationship systems coaching.

Connect with Jae Ellard on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

GIVEAWAY

You can enter to win your own copy of Success with Stress by Jae Ellard.  This giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada.  TEN winners will receive a print copy of Success with Stress and a companion notebook.  Please use the Rafflecopter below to enter.

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You can also purchase Success with Stress on Amazon.

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of, "Success with Stress," by Jae Ellard for a fair and honest review.  Receiving the book did not influence my opinions in any way.  All opinions expressed on Fur Everywhere are my own.