Ok, so maybe you've been following along, if not let me get you up to speed. My best friend Ginger Rogers Kitty died in February. It's difficult to mourn her loss because I can't find comfort in friends since I'm quarantining with COVID out in the world. All I do is go to work, go food shopping, and go home. The evenings are the worst because that's when she would hang out with me and sit on my lap non-stop. She'd even sit on my lap while I ate dinner. Not because she wanted food, just because she liked it there. I miss her daily. I've read you can find comfort in making a tribute to anyone that has passed. So get ready to see my Ginger Shrine!

It started with four shelves in my front room dedicated to The Teenie Weens aka Ginger. The bottom shelf has a wood box with her ashes inside (they came in a black baggie), and a whisker catcher. We didn't know whisker catchers existed until she passed, otherwise we would have collected them all along. After she was gone we frantically scoured our house for any sign of a Ginger whisker. We even moved around furniture, rugs, and dug a little through the vacuum bag just to keep a tiny piece of her.

The next shelf has my favorite picture of her with an envelope of all the cards we received when she passed. The picture is close to life-size but still a little too big to be her.

The second from the top shelf has her paw print that was given to us by the vet and a picture of her curled up.

The top shelf has a picture of her holding my finger and one of the last pictures of us together.

But it doesn't end there. My mother in law commissioned a local artist to paint Ginger on a rock. We have the rock in her cat bed on the floor near where she used to sit on the couch. I've cried over this rock more than once. Even the rock is bigger than how big Ginger was in real life.

Then unexpectedly Andrew's (the hubs) job sent us another memorial rock. We put it in her other bed by the back sliding door window where she liked to sleep. 

Now on to jewelry. I had a necklace of her made by Lumpy Buttons when she was sick a few years back. It hangs close to my heart. Lumpy Buttons even got her one brown cheek and one orange cheek right!

Then Andrew surprised me with a "WWGD" (What Would Ginger Do?) bracelet with beads in her fur colors. Ginger would be cute and kind, that's what she would do! 

But both of us wanted something that we could carry a piece of her in. Andrew ordered a simple gold necklace that had engravings on all four sides that you could put ashes in through the bottom, but after a couple weeks he decided it was too hard to read and gave it to me. I added a gold chain and he got the same necklace with a different font. Below is the one that's now mine.

In the meantime, before he gave me his necklace, I ordered one for myself with a "G" charm you can put ashes in along with a heart ring where they take some of your ashes and make a stone out of it and I had mine set in sterling silver. It's from Jessica Dennis Designs. I had planned to do this when I thought she was going to pass a few years ago. I'm not going to lie, these things are nice quality but took what seemed like forever to get back. I think it was about eight weeks when I received them in the mail.

At this point ordering these things seems to bring me more comfort than actually getting them in the mail. One thing that sometimes makes me feel crazy is this Ginger pillow we ordered on etsy from aurespaces. Again the pillow is too big to be little Ginger but it feels like her. I move it around throughout the day to where in the house she would be sitting at that time. I talk to it too. It helps me feel her presence even though it's just a pillow. Here she is sitting in her favorite spot on the couch.

Even Vicktor likes Ginger's new size.

Most recently a friend gave me an ornament of Ginger and I. I can't tell you how much it means that a friend knows how much Ginger meant to me.

It's been almost three months since her passing and some days are better than others. She will always be my baby and if buying Ginger "stuff" makes me feel better. I'm going to do it.

Let's talk about the past few weeks. I got my first COVID shot, work has been insane with people wanting to sell me vintage items, my car got inspected and needs repairs, our garage roof is leaking and will need to be repaired soon, Andrew and I had to go to the dentist, and we had to take Vicktor kitty to the emergency vet. Of course he was sick on a weekend and we had to pay twice as much. He wasn't pooping or peeing for a day and he didn't want to eat. With Vicktor that's an enormous red flag! 

We went to the emergency vet on Friday at 9:30pm and had to sit in our car because they won't let you go in because of COVID restrictions. We sat outside for three hours. We found out he has a bladder infection, his little penis was swollen, and there was a small blockage in his large intestine. Let me back up a little... Vicktor has a history with bladder crystals, so we give him Cosequin daily to maintain his bladder. 

The vet sent us home with liquid antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory, and Cat Lax. (I can't make this name up. It's a cat laxative for hairballs to keep his intestines moving smoothly.) They also told us to feed him pumpkin for digestion. Yep, solid pack plain pumpkin. There's enough fiber in it to help with hairballs. You can feed it to cats in their food twice a day. It's one of the safe human foods to feed cats, and dogs. (About 1 full tsp per meal for an adult cat.) Some cat food even has pumpkin already added. We've been adding warm water to Vicktor's wet food, so he gets enough liquids too.  

We've been keeping an eye on him and so far he's pooping small nuggets and peeing. I never thought I'd be so happy to come home from work to a full litter box. There's a reason we call him "poo kitty" and the pumpkin seems to be helping.

p.s. going for my second covid shot tomorrow, a little nervous.

I have some exciting news, or at least it's exciting to me. I'm a contributor to Auxiliary Magazine! Auxiliary Magazine sounds familiar right? That's because I've written about them before! I mention them in the Feline Fancy Palette blog from April 2017, I modeled for them in the Spring 2017 issue as a Cat Lady, and in the Oct/ Nov 2015 issue as pictured below. 

Photo by Jennifer Link.

Now I can say I not only modeled for them, but I write for them! If you want more current movie reviews be sure to pick up the Spring 2021 edition, where I review Antebellum, Saint Maud (highly recommend), encourage you to re-watch Midsommar this spring, and I'm included in a "Contributor Spotlight". 

Where do I find the time? I'm not sure, but if you ask anyone that knows me, they know I haven't slept in years!

Hey look- it's me!

Here's more info. on the latest issue taken from the Auxiliary website....

The Spring 2021 Issue is the fifty ninth issue of Auxiliary, a magazine dedicated to alternative fashion, music, and lifestyle. It is available as a Print, Digital, or Preview Edition. This issue features Gaiapatra on the cover and a Profile feature interview.

It features an interview with makeup artist Roshar, an interview with Black Angel, an interview with 6XT7, an interview with Vesmedinia, a Beauty Spotlight on Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, a Designer Spotlight with It Is Known, an Artist Spotlight on Marion Green, and Emerging interviews with Alice Gift, Bedless Bones, and The Secret French Postcards. It also includes a Unique Homes feature with Lauren Franz-Maurer, a Unique Ingredient feature, a lunar fae Style feature illustrated by Ulorin Vex, a Must fashion feature with Open the Cellar Door, spring beauty picks, our spring Auxiliary List of of all things new and noteworthy, fashion editorials featuring Lip Service and Crisiswear, music reviews, and book and movie reviews. Plus it features photography by Bryce Hall, Jennifer Link Kieffer, Saryn Christina, Wil Foster, Laura Dark Photography, Infinite Imagery by Natasha Sachi, Dani McGraw, and more. And fashions and beauty by Bluebella, Disturbia, Dr. Martens, Fluevog, I Do Declare, Jane Doe Latex, Killstar, LunatiCK Cosmetic Labs, Martha Rotten, Michelle Überreste, Noctex Cosmetics, The Night of the Witch, Rock ‘n Doll, Rogue + Wolf, Sisters Of The Black Moon, Thistle and Spire, T.U.K., Urban Decay, Valley Eyewear, WonderlandMC, and more.

You can purchase it here.