Heartbroken 💔

 
Exactly one week ago, my heart literally broke in two, when my beautiful Godmother passed peacefully away at home.

For some people Godparents are a title only, but mine really were a part of my family. Families are complicated but my Auntie Gladys was in its simplest terms my dads cousin. Although 14 years older than my dad they were brought up together, and she became my aunt and other than my mam the person that I was closest to.

How can I describe her to a stranger? She was a small woman, but she was probably one of the strongest people that I've ever met. She survived several bouts of cancer, undergoing numerous surgeries, as well as several broken bones, and other health issues over that last few years, as well as coping with the loss of her husband for over 60 years, 9 years ago.

She loved teddy bears, baking in her kitchen (her cheese scones, and Welsh cakes, or griddle scones as we call them up north, were chefs kiss!), knitting, crocheting, and embroidering tapestries, holidays (she went to Disney Florida for the first time in her 70's), and shopping!

My Godmother was the stereotypical shopaholic nothing made her happy then going round a shop - be it a shopping centre, a garden centre or a gift shop she was never happier than when she was in a shop. She loved her Boundary Mills visits, and our trips there together with her friend, will now be some of my most cherished memories.

She was a very feminine woman who very, very rarely wore trousers, I think she would have preferred it if I was more of a frilly dress fan, but she was always excited to see what I'd been buying, even if she wasn't a fan of all my ear piercings.

She would have been 95 next month and whilst her passing came as no great surprise, it doesn't make it any easier. Her biggest wish was to die at home and thankfully the NHS, along with Marie Curie, and some amazing family member allowed that happen.

Due to circumstances beyond out control we were unable to see her straight away when she came out of hospital but we managed to see her last Tuesday. There was no recognition or communication from her, she was sleeping and peaceful but I really do hope that she could hear us or at least feel our presence. There were other people there so I didn't get to spend anytime alone with her but I kissed my fingers and placed them gently on her cheek and whispered sweet dreams to her, and then we left.

A few hours later we got the call to say she'd gone, peacefully at home exactly as she'd wanted. I think we were the last of the northern based family members to see her, so I really think she'd waited for us to say goodbye.

I'll miss her more than I think even she'd realise, she had such a warm, giving generous personality, someone that I knew I could rely on for anything, she might not have always understood me but she was always there no matter what.

She's now reunited with her beloved husband, as well as my dad and my grandmas, and I hope wherever she is they have a few clothes shops for her to enjoy x 

Losing 3 family members, and 2 much loved pets in 3 years has been so tough on my mental and physical  health, my mam has also been unwell so everything really has been a bit of a struggle bus. Thank you to everyone who has commented on.my update on any of my other social media posts, I really do appreciate every single one of them - it's friends and family that have really kept me sane lately.

I have stuff to do and obviously stuff going on, but I really need a distraction so I'm hopefully going to be posting a few bits here and then mainly catch up's and updates but if you can be patient with me I would really appreciate it at the moment. I know 2025 has been rubbish blogging wise but I'm not giving up just yet xx Thanks again for your support x 

Tallulah 2009 - 2024

I've had this post on the back burner for a little while, and I hoped and prayed that it would be an eternity before I had to post it, but it wasn't to be, my beautiful girl passed away at home this morning.

When she came to live with us she was about the size of old fashioned powder puff, but despite her diminutive size, she was fierce, she spent most of the first 24 hours hiding, and hissing at us and our other cats at the time, Jasper and Jake, who was petrified of her.

The next day she was a different cat, still a touch wary and prone to hiding but she became a cuddlebug, a tiny ball of fluff that demanded attention and her own way, and whilst she increased slightly in size her personality never changed - she was noisy, stubborn, and probably the most jealous cat that I've ever met but she was mine and I loved her, her quirky ways and her silky black fur. beyond words. 

Tallulah

2009 - 2024

Promises, Piercings, And Pesto - Merry Christmas

Well, here we are, there's only more sleep to Christmas - the presents are wrapped, the house is *mostly* tidy, I'm showered and the new PJ's are on, and we have just consumed our traditional Christmas Eve meal of Pesto, Tomato, and Mozzarella Ciabattas, with a little glass of mulled wine on the side - I'm currently watching the Alistair Sim version of Scrooge, with the Muppet Christmas Carol up next and I thought I'd quickly write my now traditional Christmas Eve post.

I honestly don't know where the last few weeks have gone, it's been a funny few weeks here in LouLouLand, lots of cleaning, yet more bad news, and a bit of pain and exhaustion thrown in for good measure. I promised a few posts before Christmas but surprise, surprise nothing panned out the way I wanted, I prepped a lot of posts but I never managed to actually post anything so I apologise, and I promise I will have some more content up next week and lots more going on into 2024

This year me and my mas decided to go for a joint present, and get something we both wanted, so we treat ourselves to a new smart TV, and an upgraded Sky box, so I'm not really expecting a lot tomorrow especially since my mam also paid for my daith piercing changeout  (I went for a nice silver hoop), and a new conch piercing in my right ear - Again I went to the lovely Kelly, at Doc Black Ink, Metro Centre, last Monday and I honestly can't recommend her and the shop enough. It was way less painful than I anticipated but it has been a bit tender since especially behind my ear but I love it, and the slightly hidden aspect - I've definitely got the piercing bug again!

Although I love presents it really isn't about that this year, it's been another awful year, losing my uncle, and with numerous family illness and accidents, for me it's all about spending time with the people I love, I want it to be nice, and I want to have some nice memories from Christmas 2023.

You know the drill though by now, Christmas isn't always the happy time, that so many people especially on social media would have you believe, your everyday problems don't go away, and being around family, and friends, or on your own can often exacerbate and create new issues, so please, please remember you are not alone - Here is a list of useful numbers below, and I would personally also like to add Cruse Bereavement Support - 0808 808 1677

So if you're celebrating tomorrow I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and if you're not, I hope you have a peaceful, and cheerful Monday, and I'll see you soon with a new post x 

HUDA Beauty Winner And A Life Update*

Hey Everyone x I know it's been a little while since I last posted so I thought I'd post a quick update for you x I've had a few rough weeks health wise culminating in an unexpected morning in A&E on Halloween of all days and a barrage of tests since. Thankfully there doesn't appear to be anything too sinister going on just a few new fibromyalgia symptoms, and the exacerbation of a few others - ho hum. Through in another family illness and things have been a bit rough so it goes without saying that my mind has been elsewhere. 

This year really seems to have flown by I can hardly believe we're in December already - I'm so all over the place at the moment I didn't even manage to get my hands on a chocolate advent calendar this year, but thanks to Mummy Lou I did get manage to get my hands on this years Glossybox offering, which if you're interested I'm unboxing everyday on my Instagram Stories, so don't forget to follow me on there.  Everything just seems to be upside down at the moment I've done some Christmas shopping online, and most of the decorations are up but my room needs serious deep clean, and I haven't even thought about wrapping or cards - argh!

Anyways deep breaths, no need to panic, things will work out they always do (fingers crossed anyways) and whilst I won't be posting any huge gift guides or anything like that but providing the creeks don't rise, etc. etc, I do have a few little gift ideas to share with you, as well as a few empties posts to share with you before Santa comes so don't forget to keep following my blog, or checking out my other social media channels for a heads up when new posts go live!

Now though is the moment you've all been waiting for - it's time to announce the winner of my HUDA Beauty giveaway!

I didn't have too many entries so everyone that did enter had a great chance to win, alas there can only be one winner and that winner picked randomly via Rafflecopter is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SOPHIE

Congratulations my love and thanks for following my on Tik Tok - I will be sending you an email asap x Thanks to everyone that entered and a big thank you to all of my new followers both on the blog and elsewhere x Thanks you all for following and reading and I will see you soon with another post x 

*This Post Contains An Added Affiliate Link

COVID, Fatigue, Pain, Piercings, Another Christmas That Didn't Quite Go To Plan And Looking Forward To 2023*

Hey, I promised I'd be back this week and here I am, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas if you were celebrating. I did but like so many things this year it didn't quite go to plan. 

My usual Christmas dinner buddies, are my mam and my Godmother, and after last year when my mam was poorly, I wanted this year to be even more special, so we really had gone all out, but our plans were slightly thrown into disarray when a related called early on Christmas morning to say that my Godmother had been taken into A&E after a fall - I admit it a few tears were shed but me and my mam finished opening presents and decided to proceed with our plans anyway and it was just as well we did. After the 9 hour wait in A&E didn't quite come to fruition (probably because of my Godmothers age and history - she's 92 and a multiple cancer survivor), she was home by 10.30, all be it battered and bruised with a broken arm. Whilst she needed a lot of assistance and was still pretty shook up she made it down for dinner, and with me and my mam on cooking, cutting up food, and present unwrapping duty, a nice if slightly truncated Christmas day was had by all. She's quite shook up still, and a little battered and bruised but she's been well looked after by an army of relatives popping in and she has an outpatients appointment sometime this week to check her over again, but I must stress she was very lucky not to do any more damage!

I suppose that one incident kind of summed up how 2022 has gone for me, we started the year with the aftermath of my mam's Christmas hospital dash, before moving on to my 2 month long flu virus, and another diagnosis or two in my never ending list of ailments. By September though things were starting to sort themselves out a bit, apart from the usual stuff I started feeling a bit more normal, I got a few posts and eventually I felt as though I was turning and then wham! 2 steps forward and a zillion back over! 

I was posting well into October and then boom nothing until Christmas Eve, so I guess you deserve an explanation as to where I went. Well I was right it started off with an iffy reaction to my flu jab, before moving on to another iffy nauseous reaction to my COVID vaccine. Despite that though I'm still a huge advocate of vaccinations especially considering what happened next!

About 3 weeks after my vaccine I started to feel a bit unwell, a bit chesty, a bit coughy, a bit snotty and my ears were really hurting, I suffered in silence for about week before I decided to do a COVID test and low and behold it was positive! After getting COVID really early into the pandemic, I'd then managed to avoid for over two years and then bam! I'm not going to lie even fully vaccinated and boosted, it knocked me for six, it was nowhere near as bad as it was first time round but as well as the flu like symptoms, it was the sweats, and the all over body pain and fatigue that finished me off. It took 13 days before I eventually tested negative (unlike Mummy Lou who tested positive and then negative within 4 days and had barely any symptoms!) and even then with December approaching at the rate of knots I still felt like death, so much so in fact the one of my besties even helped me with a little bit of my early Christmas shopping. 

By the time I had pulled myself together Christmas was rapidly approaching and nothing had been done, there was a house to clean, cards to write, presents to buy and wrap, and friends and family to see. My energy was sapped even more quickly than usual, and everything was all a bit of struggle. I only made it to the Metro Centre twice before Christmas and even then for no more than a couple of hours at a time. On the first trip I treat myself to same Bath and Body Works goodies, and on the second I treat myself to another 2 helix piercings at the fabulous Doc Black Ink (the same place where I got my daith done), a sort of Christmas present to myself and a congratulations you survived the last few months gift! By Christmas Eve I was ready to flop and with the added stress and effort of Christmas Day, I've spent the last few days catching up on my sleep, dosing up on painkillers, eating and watching a bit of football.

So where does that leave the blog, well it's fair to say that 2022 has been a bit of a fail! I've achieved nothing that I intended to and I'm so far behind on every regular post that I write so what do I do? Well I have one very belated Glossybox unboxing post that was in the final stage of prep, so that one will go live, and the rest will alas never see the light of day. I have a basket full of Glossybox products that I've received over the last year which I'll hopefully get round to either reviewing at some point or that you might see in future empties posts, so hopefully all my photos won't go to waste. I've actually got so much unused Glossybox stuff floating around that I'm seriously considering whether or not to cancel my subscription - we'll see and I'll keep you posted either way x 

I'm also way behind Trimming My Stash wise but I can assure you that those posts and the accompanying mini reviews will still be going live - I aim to be all up to date with those by the end of January, and it goes without saying that empties posts are going to be continuing in 2023.

So what else have I got to come, well I've got an overview coming up of the products in the 2022 Glossybox advent calendar, no full reviews or anything like that, so if you want to see a product in more depth don't forget to comment on the relevant post and let me know x I've also got a whole load of products to review for you, as well as maybe a few more fashion posts (I enjoy posting outfits on Instagram so maybe I should do more of that on here - let me know your thoughts x) and maybe some more home and lifestyle stuff, as well as a little giveaway just to say thank you for being there.

My aim in 2023 is get back out there and produce the content that I know I can - I hit 1,885,000 all time page views whilst I was AWOL, and I'd love to hit the old 2 million by the end of 2023 but I can only do that by posting regularly again and posting content that I'm happy with and content that you want to read - so I'd love your input on what you would like to see on my blog going forward. My family and my own health will always come first but I've had lots of time to think about what I want my blog to look like, and the content that I want to create so hopefully 2023 can be a more successful year blogging wise x 

So I just want to say a huge thank you for sticking with me in what's been another flaky year. I really appreciate your support, every like, every comment and every follow, be it on here or on my other social media channels (get following me elsewhere if you haven't done so already x - links in the sidebar →). Regular posting will resume asap with a little paid collaborative post this weekend (sorry if they aren't your thing but Christmas is expensive especially at the moment), and then a very late unboxing of the March 2022 edition of Glossybox before moving forward with some reviews and empties catch up x Thanks again for being there and I'll see you soon x

*This Post Contains Both Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links 

Twas The Night Before Christmas And Things Really Haven't Gone To Plan...

So here we are x There is only one more sleep till the big day, and I have to say for the first time in a really long time I don't feel that festive. If you follow me on Instagram or if you're a fan of my Facebook page, then you'll already know that my Mam was rushed to hospital earlier this week thankfully she was discharged last night but she's still on a lot of medication and she's still feeling exhausted and pretty under the weather. Unfortunately we've made to decision to have a much more low key Christmas Day celebration with just the two of us, and a scaled back vegetarian Christmas dinner cooked by yours truly!

I love tradition and routine at Christmas time, so I'm feeling a little bit emotional and uneasy with all of the changes, and I'm really going to miss spending the day with my godmother, I did see her today though which was nice but It can't be helped these things happen, my Mam's health is more important and I'm going to try and make it as nice as possible for her tomorrow x 

I know Christmas is going to be another strange one for a lot of people this year, so please do what I'm doing and try to remember that it's just a day, and a very hyped day at that. Things don't have to be perfect, and you don't have to force yourself to be happy - life doesn't change just because it's Christmas Day - So if you're on your own - head to Twitter where Sarah Millican is doing her annual #JoinIn, I'll probably be floating around on social media for most of the day - probably sharing my culinary stresses, and if you really do need someone to talk to, don't forget there is always someone out there to listen, it's okay not to be okay so reach out if you need to x 

So although it won't be the Christmas that so many of us had planned this year, if you're celebrating this year I hope you have the best day possible x  I will hopefully see you sometime over the festive season with an overview of this years Glossybox Advent Calendar, and maybe another post or two, so from me to you, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas x

*This Post Contains An Affiliate Link

AD / Gifted - Gus And Bella Box July 2019 Edition - Treats For You And Your Cats*

It seems to be an almost unwritten rule that you shouldn't work with children or animals, well in my case my cats are my children, and believe me this blog post has tested every ounce of my patience. I do forgive them though, I've had cats ever since I was a tiny little girl, and my 3 despite their many indiscretions really are my babies, all be it babies with whiskers, four legs and tails!

Okay, I probably do sound a little bit crazy, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that, any pet owner will tell you that their pets, aren't just animals they actually become part of the family, and their health and happiness is as important as any human in the household.

Someone who would agree with that statement entirely is Emily McMahon. Inspired by her experience of finding ways to both entertain and care for her two London born and bred, indoor cats, Gus And Bella. Emily created the Gus And Bella Box, which is specially designed to "deliver happiness to both cats and their humans".

I'm a huge lover of the subscription box idea, and being the crazy cat lady that I am the Gus And Bella box just ticks so many boxes for me. Not only does it contain a variety of high quality treats and wellness items for your furry friends but also contains cat themed treats for us human cat lovers. Every box contains 2 to 3 cat themed products from humans, 3 to 4 treats for your cats, the Gus And Bella Guide To Healthy Happy Cats, as well as the chance to win fabulous prizes with a random golden ticket giveaway.

Like most subscription boxes now there a variety of different subscription options, the best value option is to sign up for a monthly subscription option which costs £26.95 a month with £2.95 tracked P&P, but if that sounds like too much, you can also opt to receive a box every 2 months for £28.95 with the same P&P. If you aren't a cat fan though (why? what's wrong with you?) but someone you know is, you can also buy a one off gift box for £30 with the same tracked P&P.

The first box which is the July box is just hitting doormats now and Emily and the team were kind enough to send me a box to review.

 The box itself is made of a nice, sturdy cardboard, it can be easily closed and sealed back up so it's definitely one that you could reuse. The first things that you find when you open the box are two leaflets. The first one tells you about the box and the contents, and the second leaflet is The Gus & Bella Guide To Healthy, Happy Cats. This particular edition is all about having a healthy happy cat this summer and includes tips on how to keep you cat cool in the warm weather, and how to make your own kitty pool.

Underneath the leaflets, the contents of your box is securely wrapped in a large sheet of tissue paper. There were actually two layers of products in the box separated by a whole pile of white shredded paper. My boys especially have a thing for shredded paper so I'm not sure if it was the box contents itself or the shred that sparked Charlie and Max's interest - I'll let you decide ;)

Sass & Belle Set Of 3 Cutie Cat Lunchboxes

I think the thing that I really like about the whole Gus And Bella concept is the fact that is contains goodies for both yourself and your cats. Every Gus And Bella box will contain cat themed self care, beauty or lifestyle treats for you. Loving cats as I do I have loads of cat themed things around the house, from mugs, to aprons, t-shirts and even a couple of Sass & Belle cushions. I love Sass & Belle and their cute and quirky, home and lifestyle ideas and the first edition of the Gus And Bella Box contains two Sass & Belle items from their Cutie Cat range. The first item in the box was a set of three mini lunchboxes, the largest one is is just big enough for a sandwich or a pasta salad, and the two smaller ones are perfect for fruit or veg snacks. They are microwave safe without the lids and retail at around £6 for the set.

Sass & Belle Cutie Cat Picnic Bag 

The box also contains a coordinating lunch bag, also in the cutie cat design. It features a black and white cat design on a peach and pink background, and it has two peach, fabric carry handles. It's has an insulated foil lining, so all you need to do is add a cool pack, and this little bag is perfect for picnics and even for brightening up your work or school lunch. It has a recommended retail price of £5.

Candy Kittens Eton Mess Gourmet Sweets - 24g

I think all subscription boxes should contain sweeties, and in keeping with the cat theme, this box contains a packet of sweeties from one of my favourite brands Candy Kittens. Now I'm not that familiar with Made In Chelsea, but if you are Candy Kittens is the brain child of MIC alumni Jamie Laing. The gummies are gluten free and are suitable for vegetarians. These particular ones are strawberry flavoured and contain only natural colours and fruit juices, in the this real strawberry juice and coconut water. The peach ones are my real love but these are pretty nice and their shaped like cats! I can't find this particular size bag online but their 54g Pop bag retails at £1.

Test Your Cat - The Cat IQ Test By E. M. Bard

If you have pets how clever do you think they are? Mine definitely have their derpy moments and at times I think Charlie especially is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic but there is no doubt cats are very perceptive, and they figure things out pretty quickly. This next item is something for both you and your cats. This 128 page paperback book contains a series of questions and tasks, so you can find out just how clever your cat really is. I'm definitely going to do this with my 3 and who knows they might surprise me! This book has a recommend retail price of £5.99

Now the rest of the box is especially for the furry members of the family, although certain things like this teaser may cause happiness elsewhere depending on how acrobatic your cat is..

Rosewood Jolly Moggy Teaser Collection Premium Catnip Toy - Patchwork Fish Teaser 

When they were younger Charlie and Tallulah loved this type of toy, chasing things and jumping in the air, now they've reached feline middle age and beyond though, they are a lot more sedentary and not quite as playful, but they still have what we call their mad half hours where they'll run round and play with anything in the their way. Still being a kitten though Max loves toys and especially teasers like this, he'll chase them, roll around, and even do somersaults if the mood takes him.

Compared to some of them that we already own this is a nice quality one, it has a shorter, thicker, sturdier wand, that has a nice velour feel. It features three nicely designed and made, patchwork fish, that contain kitty crack itself catnip. Apologies that the video isn't the best but if you have Instagram keep on my account over the next few days, to see how Max really does love his patchwork fish!

As well as treat for us and toys for the fluff, the Gus And Bella Box also gives you the chance to to make better food choices for you cat. A lot of the cat food that we buy contains somewhat questionable ingredients but Gus And Bella promises to give you the chance to try some high quality, natural and grain free cat food brands. Cats can be notoriously picky and awkward when it comes to food, so this a great chance to try before you buy

Hi Life Chicken Breast Treats - 10g

Chicken, every cat I've ever owned has worshipped the poultry god, cooked, raw, in nuggets, or cat food, they don't really care - they just eat it, but what about freeze dried? These treats contain nothing but 100% natural, freeze dried chicken breast. There is nothing added just small bite sized pieces of chicken. Being a vegetarian I really notice how bad some cat treats smell but there was no real scent from these and the proof is in the eating I guess, Tallulah was a huge fan, and I had no complaints from the other two either. This 10g retails at around £1.59 and I will definitely be tracking some more of these down for the chicken eaters!

Purr And Miaow Complete Gently Steamed Chicken With Trout Fillets In Broth - 85g

As well as the treats July's Gus And Bella Box also contained two wet food pouches I haven't managed to try these on the babes yet but I will post "their thoughts" to Instagram when I do . This pouch from the fabulously named Purr And Miaow contains real meat and fish, with no sugar, no grains, no hidden ingredients and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. This pouch has an estimated RRP of 89p

Blink! Roasted Chicken & Tender Duck Complete Cat Food - 85g

Now I've seen a few ads for Blink! on Instagram so I'm quite curious to see what the monsters think about this one. Made in Northampton this pouch contains real, natural shredded fillets of meat, it contains no meat, derivatives, and again no added sugar, salt or grains. I can't find a price for the individual pouched but 8 x 85g pouches retail at around £7.50.

Pawsecco Freeze Pops - 50ml 

The final item is something a bit unusual. I saw a few bottles of the liquid Pawsecco in various supermarkets before Christmas but this is especially for summer! Basically what it is, is a ready to freeze ice lolly not for you but for your pets. Suitable for both cats and dogs these are ice lollies that are created with veterinary experts to help your pets stay refreshed in the summer heat. Obviously they're alcohol free, and they contain no grapes, but they contain lots of safe herbal extracts. I'm going to wait until it's bit warmer to try this out but if I can't persuade them to have a taste (because it isn't chicken!) then you can melt them into a bowl and they might drink it that way. If you fancy trying these for your pet then they retail at around £5.99 for 6 x 50ml lollies.

I've got to say that I love both the concept and the execution of the Gus And Bella Box. A box with cat themed items on its own would be perfect for a cat lover like me but team it up with treats for my hairy children and everyone is happy. I love the whole idea of trying new and more natural cat food brands, and I like the idea of, and the health and happiness information in the Gus And Bella Guide To Healthy, Happy Cats. 

I'm definitely going to consider subscribing myself and if you're a crazy cat person like me, and you fancy trying a Gus And Bella Box either for yourself or as a gift, then use my code LOULOU5 before 14th August to get your box for a special price starting at just £24.90 depending on which subscription option you choose. You can find out more about Gus And Bella and how to subscribe on their website.

If you have any questions please let me know , and if you're a cat own leave me a comment below and tell me about your cats x 

*Press Sample

And Then There Were 3 Again - A New Addition

Now I've been a bit quiet on the blog over the last few weeks or so, but I've been a little bit preoccupied. Yes I'm in the middle of a bit of a fibro and ME flare, but I've also been a little bit busy making this little guy feel at home x Guys, meet Max!

Even though we still had Charlie and Tallulah, after the loss of Jake and Jasper, myself and Mummy Lou felt that there was a cat shaped hole in our lives. They really are part of our family, and we felt that we had a bit more love to give, so we decided to add another furry member to our family.

Although I've had pedigree cats in the past, I'm now a firm believer in the phrase "adopt don't shop" - there are so many cats out there that need loving homes that it made sense to us, to contact some local animal charities, and that's how we came across Consett Cat Rescue.

I really can't praise this charity enough, Kay runs the rescue from her own home, and she's so knowledgeable and helpful, and she's clearly very passionate about what she does. Given that we already had two grumpy older cats we decided that a kitten would probably the best bet. Every potential adopter fills in a questionnaire so Kay can determine the suitability of the owners and the type of cat that would suit them best. Once you've been approved then you can go and meet the cats, I can honestly say that me and Mummy Lou had one of the best mornings ever meeting some of Kay's many residents, but there was one little guy stood out and that was this one!

We've had him a week and a half now and I can honestly say that it's been a whirlwind. He's a teeny weeny ball of energy, he's loving, cuddly, brave and very energetic. He's really long but he's also quite small for a cat that's nearly 5 months old but I'm sure that he will grow into his ears at some point. He are some pictures of him with Charlie and Tallulah for scale x

Introducing a very lively kitten to two grumpy, very sedentary cats was interesting to say the least - he was really bold running up to them and trying to play, Charlie was terrified of him and Tallulah was just furious that someone had invaded her territory. It's taken a week and a half nearly but a truce has just about been reached and hopefully tolerance if not friendship is on the horizon. I managed to snap this picture this afternoon and this is the first time all three of them have been in the same place for any length of time!

He's honestly a ball of love and of energy, and watching him explore his new home has been slightly stressful but a lot of fun - there is something pretty hilarious about a kitty chasing a bottle top around the kitchen, and even though I'm flaring quite badly at the moment this little guy has cheered me up immensely, and he's been a great early birthday present x

As I say I can't praise Kay and the work she does enough, in order to get your cat, you make a donation of £90 to her charity but your cat will have been micro chipped, spayed, and vaccinated, and you also get four weeks free pet insurance. I honestly don't know how she does it, she relies purely on donations so if you're in the North East and you're interested in adopting a cat or even helping out an amazing charity, then please check out their website or their Facebook page. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to have some more kitten cuddles, and I pinkie promise that normal blogging will resume later this week with a very late empties post, and an unboxing or two. In the meantime though make sure your subscribed to my Instagram account, for some more kitty pictures and hopefully some pictures from my birthday celebrations this Wednesday x

And Then There Were Two...

I said in one of my previous posts (you can read it here) that things tend to happen in threes, well that statement has certainly come back to haunt me. After a broken phone, and a broken tooth I asked the questions what else could go wrong so early in the year, well how about you throw a broken heart into the mix as well.

Jake, my chubby, stripy, spotty, soft, and lovable tabby - if you followed me on Twitter for a while, then you'll know that for the last few years my beautiful boy has had a few health problems which every now and then need a little bit of surgical intervention. If you're a pet owner then you'll know that, it can be pretty stressful when your fluff ball is unwell but with this one he always seemed to come out the other side as right as rain and clamouring for cuddles and food, so when he had to go to the vets yesterday for the usual procedure we weren't any more worried then normal. We left him at the surgery and we were told to ring up after 4 if we hadn't heard anything, as I say we weren't too worried so we just got on with our day, I did some editing and early in the afternoon, Mummy Lou went to the hairdressers, she'd barely been back in the house 5 minutes and the phone rang..

To put it bluntly when they'd sedated him for his surgery Jake's breathing hadn't been right, so they examined him and then gave him a scan and found that his lungs were full of fluid, and there was a large tumour in his chest. We then had to make the hardest decision that a pet owner has to make, but in the end there wasn't really a choice, draining his lungs would have given him a week at most, and ultimately he may have ended up being in pain, so we made the decision to let him slip away peacefully and without pain.

To say our hearts are broken is an understatement, and at the moment the 11 and a half years that we spent with him seems nowhere near long enough, he was a beautiful boy to look at his marking were symmetrical, and perfect, and his personality was damn near perfect too, he was a touch stubborn, be he loved strokes, snuggles, and snuffles but his real love wasn't us it was food, from luncheon meat, to sausages to chicken you name it and he would eat it, and he would steal it (that's why we have child locks on our fridge!)

The last few years with him were hard at times (and dare I say it a bit smelly) and I can't say I didn't always fear the worst every time he went to the vets but the fact that the tumour wasn't in any way related to the health problems that he'd been having, makes it a little bit more unexpected. but at the same time just as painful.

Animals are perceptive beings - from the minute the phone rang it was almost as if these two knew that something was wrong, in a strange way I think they realised that he'd gone but they're still wandering around the house looking lost, almost as if they're looking for him. I'm sure they will both be a great comfort to both each other though, and us in the weeks and months ahead.

So many people say that they're just animals but they're not- they really do become part of the family and yesterday I lost a little part of mine and a little bit of my heart too - Rest in peace Jake xxx