Today is Lisa Twining’s birthday. She is my best friend forever and this is the first time in more than ten years that we haven’t been together to celebrate it, so I’m bummed.
But being bummed didn’t stop me from video-calling her on WhatsApp first thing this morning to wish her a happy birthday and to catch up on what has been happening with and for her since the last time we chatted virtually about three weeks ago. I just forgot about the time difference, so I woke her up out of a sound sleep. (Yeah, that figures, doesn’t it? Poor Lisa — can’t even sleep in on her birthday, fer gosh sakes!)
At first I thought we were having a video imaging problem because I could see my image in the lower right-hand corner but the rest of the image should have been of her. It was pitch black.
I kept saying, “I can’t see you. Is your webcam on?” She was halfway awake, using her phone, but then I realized she had picked it up the usual way when it rang and she wasn’t technically on What’sApp.
I said, “Why is it so dark where you are?”
That’s when she turned on the bedroom light or a lamp next to her bed and switched to WhatsApp!
“There you are!”
She could finally see me, too.
Anyway during this short hiccup she forgave me for waking her (or was it for singing Happy Birthday completely off-key? HAH!) and updated me on Patches, “our” geriatric tortoiseshell cat: according to Doctor Bob Wright, she is healthy, although underweight, for a 22-year-old cat. (Hurray!) Lisa says she eats often and her food — wet and dry — is available to her 24/7, but she never eats very much each time. I figure she knows how well her geriatric body will handle what she eats, so she takes it nice and slow. Whatever works! I keep telling Lisa that dear old Patches may outlive both of us! Tortoiseshell cats are among the longest lived cats on record.
Lisa also updated me on her soon-to-debut ecommerce store FloofsCafe.com. (The store and items have been trademarked so her brainchildren can’t be stolen without serious, serious legal consequences). You heard it here first! It should be open for business this Friday by end of day, just in time for the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas shopping season.
And does she ever have some hysterically funny items on offer! I am presently the ONLY person on the entire planet who owns the one I’m wearing below, so for the next two days ONLY I will be unique in all the world, apparel-wise!
After that, all bets are off, because I have a feeling that some of you will want the same t-shirt — or a mug! I receive toothy grins and laughs from passersby whenever I wear it! The drawing alone elicits howls of mirth!
BTW, the cat on this t-shirt is NOT Floof. Floof looks entirely different and has catty friends, all with their unique twisted purr-sonalities and purrspectives on life. Some of them are swear-y; others are sar-cat-ic; still others are … well, you’ll see everything Lisa has dreamed up so far when you go there! Expect to spend a while. She has been working on images and catty sayings for nearly a year — and it shows!
I hope you will take advantage of the discount available to you as a first time shopper and friend of mine/and or Lisa’s. I also hope (I’d even insist, if I thought I had that much influence on you!!!) that you’ll share the site with your cat-loving friends.
Lisa works her butt off (70 hour weeks more often than not) as a compassionate, intelligent, adept traveling caregiver and — as you know — the profession doesn’t pay all that well. She is hoping Floof’s Cafe will give her an increasingly stable, more passive income as the months pass and more people find out about it so that she doesn’t have to carry the workload she is presently carrying.
As much as she loves what she does for her beloved clients, it’s a lot to demand of a middle-aged person and she needs to start segueing to activities that don’t require constant physical strength and stamina. She has always been a creative and loves, loves, loves thinking up and bringing to life the treasures you’ll see in her online Shopify store.
It is my most fervent hope that you will help her get the word out about Floof’s Cafe and that you will find treasures there that you want to wear, drink from, or give as holiday gifts to your loved ones. Every dollar that comes in will help! And by wearing or giving these fun-filled, humorous offerings you will bring smiles and joy to all those around you — something everyone needs in this day and age. Consider becoming a grin-giver and mirth-maker!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA! You are a total blessing to all who know you — and you will be the same to people who will discover you very shortly as a result of visiting Floof’sCafe.com!