Scrapbook Sunday 5: scrapbooking my pets

I love my pets. Mostly they love me too, but my relationship with Pep the chinchilla is based entirely on tolerance - on a good day, he'll tolerate my presence. I love grid-style layouts and it's the perfect way to use a photo that really isn't good enough quality to print any larger, as it was taken at night on my phone. Normally I don't use elements with Americanised spellings (favorite, ugh) but this one was too cute to resist and I decided it was small enough to get away with. 

If we're talking grammar, then 'Me and the chinch' is wrong too, but it flows nicely and the ampersand balanced out the title. Don't judge me.

Mum was a bit concerned that with all the small fluffies in this house, Morpheus was going to get left out. As if! He is still much loved and very spoiled, and sees all the other animals as there for his entertainment. When he's awake, that is.

Sometimes pages with white backgrounds feel too empty, but in the context of my album they make a nice counterbalance to all the bright colours and patterns. I was aiming for monochromatic here, but this is the best I could do - black, white, blue, beige, a few spots of red and some gold accents. Not very monochrome at all in fact. Never mind.

I am on a self-imposed ban from getting any more pets now, because we simply don't have the space (don't forget the degus who live in another cage.) I dream of a bigger house and room for at least another couple of chinchillas. And maybe a puppy...

I love my cat and my cat loves...

Morpheus gave me quite the scare this morning when he decided to disappear for a while. He's a mostly indoor cat and we don't have a cat flap, so when I couldn't find him I wondered if he had sneaked out through the front door when we weren't looking. Normally, he will appear in the bedroom in the middle of the night and I will wake up with him snuggled beside me. Today he wasn't there, and he didn't come down for breakfast either - most unlike him.

I called, and searched, and shook the box of cat biscuits. I wandered around outside looking for places he might be hiding. I went out for a while, hoping that he would reappear in the quiet and be waiting on the windowsill when I got back. Nope.

I came back to an empty house and there was still no sign of him. His food bowl was undisturbed. The litter tray untouched. He must be outside somewhere. I decided to phone Mum for moral support...she offered to come round but really, if your cat is as nervous as mine, two people calling his name is just going to make him hide even more.

Standing in the spare room, I searched through all his normal hiding spaces. No sign of him. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the long dresses hanging in the corner of my wardrobe were moving slightly. Was it a breeze? Then a little sound like someone waking up from a really long nap....'mmmmmmm'. I moved the dresses out of the way and there he was, snuggled up at the bottom and totally oblivious to my panic. I would like to tell you that he jumped up straight away and came downstairs, but no, once he had woken up to see who was making all that noise, he went right back to sleep. He did emerge a few hours later, only to go straight out of the back door. He returned briefly for some food, and is now outside again. He'll be back. Eventually.

Rolling towards the weekend

I think the clocks changing a couple of weeks ago has put me more out-of-sorts than I care to admit. I am struggling with the cold mornings and dark evenings, and craving comforting food that is hot and full of carbs. Last night I slept for nine hours, which is just ridiculous. I never do that. Where has all my energy gone? Maybe this is just the downhill slope to 30 and beyond.

Clearly, I am behind the curve on scrapbooking trends here. Bunting? So 2011, darling. Washi tape? Well, it's definitely not a new trend even if it hasn't reached the point of being passé yet. Come to think of it, what are the current trends? If I could only think of the one that hasn't happened yet, I could make my fortune...

Insta-Morph

I haven't done a Morpheus page for a while. Mostly because I felt like I was always doing pages about him, and there are other stories that need telling too. And then I realised that I'm always taking photos of him, just not scrapping them. Instagram is a wonderful thing (find me! @wightkate) and I've been taking lots of photos of Morph with my phone lately and making them look wonderfully vintage. The square format is also great for a different look to my pages. I've just had a big batch of photos printed, so you can definitely expect to see some more instagrams in my albums.

I do my best work at midnight

Things that I do well at midnight: scrapbooking, blogging, surfing the internet, painting my nails.
Things I don't do well: sleeping, knitting and photography.

He helps

Morpheus loves to sit and watch me as I'm working. If I'm not careful, he sneaks on to the table and will sit on whatever I happen to be gluing or colouring. So I have to keep an eye on him.

Straight lines please me

I really struggle with lines that aren't straight. I tried on this layout, truly I did...but it doesn't make me happy.

One of the greatest things about life lately is that I am finally figuring out what makes me happy. Not just a little bit happy, but properly-my-heart-feels-full-of-joy happy. It's taken 27 years, several jobs, numerous hobbies, heartbreak and a life-threatening illness - but finally I am beginning to get it. There are definitely no easy answers, but I am starting to see the light. And in the meantime this page will just have to do.

The story: Morpheus loves being up high and in interesting places - on top of doors and even in my shelves. 2009.

One is not Morpheus

This neighbourhood is full of cats. It's not unusual to have two or three circling my garden every evening. Yesterday I found a black cat that couldn't get back over the fence, and took several attempts to launch himself up and over to safety, with much scrabbling of claws.

Today the same black cat was sitting on the wall by the lilac bush. I promise you it's not Morpheus - he was standing beside me as I took the photo. When I caught him at the food bowl in the kitchen (!) he looked a lot more straggly than this, but in this pose he looks just like Morph. Unless....there is another black cat?

Loving this life

I am seriously loving this house. It's the first time I've ever had a garden that feels like part of the house - the back door opens straight onto it. It's only small and yes, the grass needs cutting. But it's been totally worth it these last few days as I come home, open the door, let Morph out to play and enjoy the evening sunshine while I cook dinner.



This tree is totally gorgeous and I don't even have to look after it - it belongs to next door. Despite living in the centre of town, my garden isn't overlooked at all and I hardly even hear my neighbours. There is a family one side and an elderly couple the other - very similar to my last house. The difference is that no-one here seems to be trying to kill each other.



Having to move house was really hard - stressful and exhausting both physically and mentally. At the same time, though, I sort of knew that it was for the best. I was leaving a house that was full of memories of being ill, and moving somewhere new just as I start on a new life as a 'well person' not a 'sick person'. As it turns out, it was the best thing that could have happened. This house is nicer, newer, better laid out and more comfortable.



I hate it when people say 'everything happens for a reason'. I don't believe that. But I do believe that you can make the best of what you're given, and sometimes the opportunities you weren't expecting turn out to be the best of all.



It would be too easy for everything to turn out perfectly just like that. There are still some changes happening and most of them are out of my control. For once, they're not even all health-related. Weirdly though, I don't feel worried any more. The sense of rising panic that I have experienced so much over the last months has gone, and I am feeling much more peaceful. I am learning to live in this moment and enjoy it, and it feels good.

Yes, it does.

My boy Morpheus

Morpheus clearly disapproves of my studying, because he likes to sit on my books.

When he isn't on the table, he is sat on the arm of my chair, or on the floor by my feet. At the moment, he likes to sleep under the bed, so as I am falling asleep I hear little snuffles underneath my head. When I'm not around, I think he spend most of his day asleep on top of the wardrobe.

He is wonderful company. I never thought he would be a 'lap cat', but his personality completely changed as soon as it was just him and me in the house. He is friendly, sociable, snuggly and ever-so-slightly possessive of me. He likes attention and company. He makes me get up in the morning to feed him, and he knows just how to meow pathetically to make me give him a treat. He is quite possibly the most spoiled cat I know. He is also, I realised yesterday, absolutely huge! Life right now feels like a lot of late nights, deadlines and extra pressure. I'm looking forward to some quality time off that doesn't involve any medical procedures, at Easter. Until then...I think Morpheus has the right idea.

Life right now

A life with a world of possibilities, and a ray of sunlight to guide my path.