Last week I went to an orientation meeting for New York Cares, a volunteer organization in the city, and went to my first event today. I looked forward to it all week, as Eric can affirm. I got to play with KITTIES! And they called it volunteering! Hey!

I walked to the Manhattan Animal Care Center on 110th and 2nd Ave. A woman in her 60s, who adopted a cat from there, and I helped put fresh water and food into the kennels of about 40 cats waiting to find homes. But the best part was petting and cuddling with them! I of course had a few favorites - especially one tiger-striped male who was super soft and friendly. He climbed onto my shoulder and didn't want to go back in his cage. A ridiculously skinny striped cat was such a lover - he kept pushing his nose against my chin, giving me little kisses.

I left without adopting a cat, although I did seriously consider it. I just don't think I could hide a meowing cat from the landlords too long since they have to walk past our apartment to get to the office. But I did take home several pounds of cat hair on my sweatshirt and jeans.

Perhaps sometime I'll be brave enough to risk eviction and rescue a kitten. In the meantime, though, I can always scratch them behind the ears.

I finished a set of stuffies and sent them off to France, where hopefully they'll eat a ton of cheese and drink really good wine. Well, perhaps not, because their new owners are 4- and 2-year-old girls. Sarah Hurwit asked me to make two stuffies for her nieces.



They're called munucks - a mix between monkey and the Turkish word for "cute." I love it!



Eric's parents came to visit Wednesday and Thursday, which was fabulous. When she left, Linda bought five stuffies and cut my inventory in half! That's a very good thing, though, because not much is moving on my site. Plus, it gives me a good excuse to sew some more.

Next up: an ugly fish!