Author Archives: Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

New Addition

Posted by Lisa Eirene

I took Friday off from work and went down to Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood. I used to volunteer there a million years ago. I loved being a volunteer! It was so enriching to spend my weekends cleaning cat cages and socializing the kitties to get them ready for adoption.

I’ve definitely felt like there was something missing from my life since Yggdrasil passed away. 

I wasn’t ready for another kitty for a long time. I definitely grieved for those first few months after he died. I cried a lot. I was heartbroken. I was sad. I missed him. I still miss him. But I’ve felt lately like I wanted to think about getting another kitty. Maya has been coming out of hiding since Yggdrasil died. She never used to. She was 100% bonded to him and did not like people. But once she was all alone, she started coming out at bedtime wanting pets and cuddles. It’s been sweet but she still hides most of the time.

I went to CAT with an open mind, prepared to not adopt anything. I found two boys that seemed to have the personality I was looking for. The first was a kitten.

His name was Sonny (his sister was Cher). He had a big personality already! So cute, so fluffy, so affectionate. I picked him up and he immediately became a purr machine. I was in love! I seriously thought I found the cat for me. I decided to keep looking, just in case, and found this guy:

His name at the shelter was Billy Bob. He just turned 1 at the end of October. He had a kitty cold from the shelter and one side of his neck was shaved from an IV so he looked a little funny. 😉

I met with Billy Bob in a private room and he was such a lovebug! He was super chill and sweet and loved to cuddle. He was SO SWEET. I was a little freaked out that he looked so much like Yggdrasil, but I do love tabbies. He’s a brown tabby, with white paws and a white heart on his chest.

He jumped up on my lap and we cuddled and he got comfortable. I kind of felt like he picked me. So I ended up taking him home. They sent me home with some eye drops for his kitty cold and he was super quiet the entire drive home. He just chilled out in the carrier. When we got home I set him up in the bathroom, where he’ll be for a few days.

I put one of Bella’s blankets in the bathroom (so he gets used to Bella’s scent) and he immediately made himself comfortable. He got a makeshift litter box, toys, food, water and a cat scratcher. I dimmed the lights and just let him calm down.

He seemed unbothered by everything. He did really well in the bathroom. He didn’t destroy anything (like a kitten probably would). I checked on him often and we cuddled and I brushed him (which he LOVED).

By Saturday night, New Kitty was sick of the bathroom! He kept trying to escape. He did so well in there, though, and didn’t destroy anything. He just chilled.

On Sunday afternoon when Logan was sleeping, and Maya was hiding in the bedroom, I let the kitty out to explore. He walked around the whole house (except for the two closed bedrooms) and explore every inch. He rubbed on the walls, sniffed everything, was particularly curious about Maya’s cat dishes and Bella’s water dish, and then went into the living room to meet Bella.

I had this fantasy that Bella and New Kitty would be best friends. I was trying not to indulge in the fantasy just in case…but New Kitty was FEARLESS. He must have lived with a dog before. He walked right up to Bella, sniffed and rubbed his head on Bella. I have an adorable video on Instagram if you want to check it out.

I *think* his name is Stevie. We are trying it on to see how it feels. I love his little white paws. They are so cute! After making the rounds and checking everything out, he picked his spot:

And we relaxed and watched newest season of the Great British Baking Show on Netflix. 😉 I ran some errands later in the day and when I got home, Stevie, Michael and Logan were all cuddling together on the chair watching Star Wars. It was pretty adorable.

On Monday, I was off from work and I let Stevie out of the bathroom to roam free. He found Maya under the bed and they both just sat under the bed next to each. It was pretty adorable. Maya pretty much lives in the bedroom, so it’s no surprise that she’s hiding right right. The fact that they aren’t hissing, growling or fighting is a great sign, though.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and saw this:

Needless to say, Stevie seems to have made himself comfortable with our family right away. 🙂

Books #34

Posted by Lisa Eirene

I’ve read a few books lately that did not make the cut for me but I wanted to share a few of them anyways because they are apparently popular! The first was “The Party” by Robyn Harding. The characters were all so horrible I had a hard time liking the book. “Something in the Water” by Catherine Steadman was another one with unlikable characters. It was a story of things going horribly wrong because of one small decision. It kind of reminded me of that AWFUL movie “Very Bad Things.” And finally, “Sometimes I Lie” by Alice Feeney. Another popular book right now and I just didn’t get it. It was confusing and convoluted.

Anyways, let’s get to some of the GOOD books I’ve read lately…

 

1 ) Burning Ridge (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #4) by Margaret Mizushima

Another good book in the series! In the latest installment, Mattie and her K-9 dog, Robo, are on a case when a charred foot in a boot is found in the forest. Robo leads them to uncover a horrific grave–a burned body. And that lead to more graves up in the forest being uncovered. Who are the bodies?

This case uncovers a lot of secrets and shocking things in Mattie’s own past that she didn’t know. It also brings her closer to Cole, the local veterinarian she’s been seeing.

The story is fast-paced and I always love reading about Robo and how he tracks bad guys. I also love the relationship she has with her dog partner. Great read!

 

2 ) The Wanted (Elvis Cole #17) by Robert Crais

“It seemed like a simple case before the bodies started piling up…”

Elvis Cole, private detective, is back. He’s contacted by a single mother who found suspicious items in her teen son’s bedroom–a rolex that costs at least $60k and thousands of dollars in cash. She hires Elvis to investigate and find out what is going on with her son. Except Elvis starts to unravel a complicated case involving a burglary ring and witnesses are being murdered. Who is also investigating these crimes and eliminating people?

The story is quick and fun to read. Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike are two of my favorite characters ever written in a book, so it was nice having them back. The characters are all well-developed and felt real, even the hitmen.

 

3 ) Tear Me Apart by JT Ellison

What a weird, crazy book!

Mindy is 17 years old and already a world-class skier with her eye on the Olympics. A tragic crash at a meet leads to a broken leg and a surprise diagnosis of leukemia. The cancer is not responding to treatment and she needs a stem cell transplant. Except when they test her parents she discovers that they aren’t related.

There were so many levels to the lies. Mindy’s aunt, Juliet, works for CBI doing blood analysis and tracks down her birth father and the lies and half-truths start unfolding even more. This was a pretty intense book and you really liked (most) of the characters. I guessed pretty early on what was going on but I didn’t guess the entire ending. There was clearly something a little off about Mindy’s mom, Lauren, but the ending was quite a creepy tale.

 

4 ) The Promise (Elvis Cole #16) by Robert Crais

Not sure how I read these out of order…! But This book was outstanding! So good! I could not put it down. The book was an exciting rollercoaster ride and all I wanted to do was sit in a comfy chair and read the book from start to finish.

Elvis was hired by a friend of Amy Breslyn’s. Amy is missing. Her friend Meryl is worried something horrible has happened. Amy’s son was recently killed in the middle east by a suicide bomber and she’s grief-stricken and possibly obsessed with what happened to her son. But as Elvis digs deeper, he uncovers lies by both Amy and Meryl and the real story comes out.

In addition to Joe Pike, super awesome side-kick, there is a K-9 office, Scott,  and his dog, Maggie, who are part of the story and a joyful addition. Love Maggie!

I did not guess the ending of this book at all. Fast-paced, well-written, easy to follow but lots of twists and turns.

5 ) Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf

This was a really good read. I will be giving some spoilers, though, so be prepared and maybe skip it if you don’t want spoilers. The reason I’m giving spoilers is because the subject matter was brutal and there were several parts of the book where I quit and wasn’t going to read it anymore but I kept going back. I’m glad I did.

Ellen is a social worker. She’s spent 20 years of her career taking children away from unfit parents. So that is a difficult subject matter for a reader. The author doesn’t go into explicit detail about child abuse, but it’s a theme in the book, so it might be hard for some people.

One summer morning Ellen is rushing to work, late and frantic, while her husband takes their two older kids to soccer and as Ellen is rushing, she gets a phone call from one of the kids of her clients calls her. The mom’s boyfriend is abusing their mom and the two girls have locked themselves in the bathroom. They are terrified their mother is dead. Ellen jumps into action and turns the car around to go to their house. The police come, Ellen is trying to explain the situation to the cops, a crowd of neighbors gather outside and as the police go inside and rescue the two girls, there’s a commotion behind her. Ellen turns to find that her infant daughter, Avery was in the car seat in her van and she hadn’t known.

This the spoiler because as soon as this happened, I quit the book for a bit. AVERY SURVIVES. I seriously could not deal with an infant dying in a hot car. But thankfully, by the end of the book, she’s ok.

Except Ellen gets arrested for child neglect and investigated for child abuse. There’s a protective order that says she can’t go near Avery while she’s in the hospital. It’s an absolutely horrific situation and you just feel awful for Ellen.

Despite the rough subject matter, it was a well-crafted story with very real characters. I think every parents has that fear that one mistake could lead to something life-changing. So this is very relatable.

Happy reading!

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