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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Lately I'll do anything to avoid being the first person out of bed in the morning. If I wake up before my husband, I roll over, close my eyes and wait. Wait for him to get out of bed first, and if I have to wait too long, I push something off the night stand hoping the noise will wake him up. But not me. After I push something unbreakable off the nightstand, I quickly shut my eyes so when my husband gets up to investigate--tag you're it! You're the first person out of bed in the morning, which means it's your job to feed the cats.
Used to be, my husband and I only had two cats expecting to eat breakfast immediately after we got out of bed. But now there are seven. Yes, seven! No they don't all live in our house, but nevertheless, all seven expect breakfast first thing in the morning. In addition to Barry and Abby, our two indoor cats, we take care of Mama and Papa (two outdoor cats our neighbor left behind when he moved away), and then trying to be good Samaritans, my husband and I recently captured three stray cats who were stopping by our house every day to eat. None of the stray cats were neutered or spayed, so we borrowed traps from the Animal Rescue Coalition and got the kitties fixed, but now the three stray cats think they're part of our family. And as with every family, I'm dealing with sibling rivalries--actually howling squabbles to be more precise.
Cats always want what somebody else has. Fill seven dishes with the exact same brand of canned cat food, and the squabbles begin. "I want that dish, it has more in it. My dish is purple, yours is orange, I want the orange one. You're crowding me, don't touch me, move over. Why does Suzanne always serve you first?" Obviously I've replaced my grown children with cats who will never grow out of the terrible twos.
Mama is the only cat who's wise enough to avoid the meal time drama, which you'd think I'd be grateful for, but I'm not. Instead of joining the other cats on the porch in the morning, Mama sits on top of the fence at the other end of the yard. The first day she did this, I called to her and when she wouldn't come, I assumed she was afraid of the new stray cats, so I came to her rescue. In my pajamas and bare feet, I trudged across the dewy, wet grass, lifted Mama off the fence and carried her safely into the house. Then I set out two dishes for the poor frightened girl, one filled with dry food and the other with canned turkey and gravy. I realized yesterday morning as I was walking across the yard to "rescue" Mama yet again, that she's been playing me-- real good. But then again, I guess it's true, what goes around comes around. I pretend to be sleeping, Mama pretends to be afraid.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/
AUTHORBUZZ: SO DAMN LUCKY (Mystery) by Deborah Coonts
Get your naughty on! It's Halloween in Vegas where body paint and a tail is a "costume." Where thousands gather at the annual Houdini Seance, hoping this will be the year the magician chooses to communicate from the Great Beyond, and where the UFO crowd considers it the perfect time for "close encounters." It's just another weekend for Lucky O'Toole, the resident "problem solver" for the Babylon Casino, but when her lover goes AWOL and a magician disappears, things get complicated...
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SO DAMN LUCKY. Read more of the story and email author Deborah Coonts. She's waiting to hear from you and you'll get a reply.
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