1/27/16

Toys and Toes

There was no sewing yesterday, nor much of anything else. It was a day to get my monthly pedicure, but even more importantly, I was on the hunt for a particular cat toy.

When Maggie came home from the shelter, she came with a little bag of goodies. Among them were some kitty treats that neither Maggie nor Smitty liked. Also, a little yellow "sparkle ball" (Mike's name for it). Maggie absolutely loves it. It's light weight and skids around on the wood floors like nobody's business. Also, the little sparkle fluff makes it large enough that it doesn't get lost under doors and refrigerators.


Given Maggie's rough start in life, we like to think it's the only belonging she had in the world, which makes it all the more important to her.

Well, anyone who has a cat knows that their toys get lost. I imagine there's a place in another dimension filled with errant socks and cat toys. So Mike and I have been on the hunt for more sparkle balls. Yes, yes, yes. Anything for our cats. We've looked online and we visited Petco the other day. We didn't find any sparkle balls, but we did spend a small fortune on other kinds of cat toys. Those were fine with Maggie and Smitty, but they just weren't the same as the sparkle ball. It's still Maggie's preferred toy.

Last Saturday I called the shelter where she came from to ask if they had more. Could I buy them? Make a large donation? Could they at least tell me where they got them? I left a message with a volunteer who, interestingly, is someone with whom I used to share office space. Here's the story.

We had a suite of three offices. She had one of them, and I had another. (My friend Sue had the third.) She and I did not get along. She drove me crazy telling me to smile or looking at the expression on my face and asking me what was wrong. Constantly. Until I had murder on my mind. And we had words about this more than once...not the murder, but about her annoying habit of asking me annoying questions about the effing expression on my face. Anyway...when I went to pick-up Maggie, who do you suppose answered the door? (Cue Final Jeopardy music while you think about your answer.) Yes, Dipsy Doodle herself! (Names have been changed to protect the guilty.) I recognized her, but couldn't place her until she said her name. "Oh! Dipsy Doodle!" says I...all cheery, as if I'm meeting an old friend. And then immediately in my head: "OMG...it's Dipsy Doodle! WTF?" You need to understand that seeing her at a shelter was completely out of context since we were both therapists in our former lives.

Fast forward to Saturday's phone call and message...no one called me back. I blame Dipsy Doodle for this, of course. I have an idea she filed my message in the circular file. In any case, I called again yesterday only to be told that most of their toys were donated, and so they didn't know where they came from. Also, they didn't have any more sparkle balls, but they suggested I check Petsmart. And that was a good idea because there happened to be a Petsmart on the way to my pedicure.

And that was a long story to say SUCCESS! Yahoo! It's always nice to be nice to little kitties who had a rough start in life. It made all of us feel good all over. 


And--bonus--they were on sale...only $3.99 for four sparkle balls. By my calculations that makes these little balls cost approximately $1 each (I'm very good at math), which is a rip-off in any language. But I'm not complaining...anything for our little kitty girl.

So that was a long blog post just to tell you I really don't have anything to tell you. This will be my last post until we get on the road. The next two days are going to be busy packing and getting ready to be gone for a while. Big Bertha goes in for her spa treatment this morning, and I'm on my way to the grocery store.

I'm planning to blog along the way, but the frequency of my posts always depends on internet and cell service. I can use my cell phone as an internet hotspot, but I need to have cell service to do that. Oftentimes when we're in a national park, there is neither wi-fi nor cell service, and so I'll just blog updates when I can. Our first stop is Borrego Springs, and it's three days to get there from here. Of course, I'll be on the hunt for quilt shops along the way as well. Now that I'm collecting regional prints, it's become even more urgent that we stop at every quilt shop we see. Of course, the Resident Engineer turned Resident Driver understands that it's in his best interest to agree with me on that point.

18 comments:

Kat said...

We have that exact same yellow sparkle ball! It came in a cheap variety pack of toys *maybe* from Walmart. Glad you were able to find the goods fro Maggie!

Julianne said...

My kittys love these sparkle balls too...I find them in the craft section at Michaels or Joanns or Walmart. You get a bunch for only a couple of bucks...the cats love them and we find them everywhere!

Lisa said...

Hi, ever heard of Jeffer's Pet Supply? They are operated locally. They have your balls http://www.jefferspet.com/products/tinsel-balls-large-each Always try searching their site.

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DeeDee said...

I think all of us have had Dipsy Doodles on our work lives at some point. Great post!

Dana Gaffney said...

But you didn't tell us how happy Maggie was. I wish dog toys would disappear like that, we have a ton of dead toys (ripped up with all of the fluff gone) which are much loved.

Brown Family said...

If you need a yellow sparkle ball, I will check at the Cat Connection store here. www.thecatconnection.com/ to see if they have any yellow ones. This is where WE get all of our sparkle balls.

Are you taking the trailer and the kitties on this trip?

crazy quilter said...

Well at least the sparkle toy is found and from the comments looks like there are other sources as well! Whew that was close. I am always so for the chuckles I get from your post. You know that is way it always works with all of those dipsy doodles in our life, like a bad penny they keep turning up! Glad you don't have to deal with her on a frequent basis. Enjoy your trip!

Lyndsey said...

I so glad you found Maggie some more of her favourite toy. We're very lucky that Picasso's favourite toys are the elasticated pony tail bands (not the scrunchies). He flicks them and chases after them. He also likes to get you play fetch with them. He will play for hours if you have the time. Scamp's not much into toys but he does like his little yellow teddy in his basket when he's having a nap.

I'm so looking forward to your trip as it's such fun to follow along and learn more about another country. I hope the preparations aren't too tedious and can't wait for your first trip post.

Kate said...

Glad you found Maggie some more sparkly balls. Hope your trip prep goes smoothly.

Susan said...

Glad to hear you found some sparkle balls for Maggie. None of my cats have ever liked those. They prefer Pom Poms. I get a huge bag at the craft store for under $2. It is always interesting the places I find them when I am cleaning :-)

Are the kitties going on the trip with you and Mike? I am wondering how they will get along if they go and if they stay home alone. I especially wonder on Maggie will react either way.

Sherry said...

Glad Maggie has more sparkle balls. Your post made me smile and I even read it to hubby and he found the post endearing also. Looking forward to traveling along with you.


Kathy said...

Be careful with those sparkle balls - I bought them for my cat Twinkie - when they disappeared I thought she lost them under the furniture - I got her more - sadly I found out where they went - she was eating them! - needless to say no more sparkle balls in my house

SJSM said...

Cats either love or ignore their toys. One toy I give to a new kitty in a family are springs! Haven't found one cat who hasn't enjoyed them. I get the bigger ones as the skinny ones go up the vacumn and Roomba. Sorry, don't know how to do a shortcut link on my iPad. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CMKHDG/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=33859042315&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4962103692187607099&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=t&ref=pd_sl_4gejrquod4_b

quiltzyx said...

I will keep my eye out for Sparkle balls down here too, just in case. I think one of my aunt's cats also loved to play with those - and they don't hurt if you happen to step on one with a bare foot!

Have a great time on your trip! If I wasn't working every single day, I'd try to get to Borrego Springs while you're there. Google maps says it's only about 2.5 hours from my house. Ah well. Safe travels!

gayle said...

Have the Best Time Ever on your trip!
(I'm glad you found Maggie's sparklies. It's so hard to search for something when you don't know its 'real' name, and who knows what you'd end up with doing a google search for 'sparkle balls'...)

Judy1522 said...

Enjoy your trip! I had to laugh about your description of that lady at the shelter as I feel the same way when make those kinds of comments and I would have hated working next to her.

ytsmom said...

We do spoil our babies so much!!