How I got the name Grandma Cat

Hello.  When I was born my mother selected my name very carefully.  Catherine Le'Ann Shreeve.  My first name had to be a saint's name since we are Catholic.  Why I'm named after the Martyr Saint, hopefully is just a coincidence.  The apostrope in the middle name is there because my mom's name was De'Ann (Mom passed away 14 years ago) and she wanted to start a tradition of apostrophes in all the girl names.  I got Le'Ann my sister got Ja'Nette.  Growing up I was called Cathy unless I was in trouble, then it was Cathy.  Really big trouble...Catherine Le'Ann!  My sister's name was shortened to Jan.   Since Jan and I were the only girls out of seven kids, and we were born only 15 months apart, we were especially close.  I don't know when it happened but somewhere in our childhood my sister decided that since her name only had 3 letters, mine should only have 3 letters...so I became Cat.  Very few people ever called me Cat most of my life.  My sister, my husband (during our marriage, and even afterwards), and occasionally a friend or coworker.

Nine years ago I bought the house I am living in now and decorated the plain white bathroom with framed pictures of cats.  Why?  Cat pictures were everywhere, easy to find and inexpensive.  No other reason than that.  When anyone used the cat bathroom they got the impression that I liked cats.  I started getting cats at every occasion.  Cat towels, cat statues, cat plates, cat cards, cat puzzles.  I even found myself buying cat stuff whenever I saw something cute and inexpensive.  The tiny bathroom was bursting at the seams with over 100 cat items.

Five years ago my first granddaughter was born.  Sixteen months later her twin brothers were born.  My oldest son, Dusty (their Daddy) lived with me, so they did too.  Two and a half years ago my youngest son, Timothy, got laid off from his job due to a corporate take over and moved in with his wife and young son.  One year later, Timothy welcomed another son into the world...right here at home.  So, now I've got 5 grandkids living with me using the bathroom with all the cat things in it.  It was only a matter of time before one of them would call me Grandma Cat.  And when it happened, it stuck.  Now everyone calls me Grandma Cat.

This blog is going to be the everyday life of Grandma Cat.  Oh, it may be boring at times, because I really don't do anything exciting like skydive, travel, run marathons, or join clubs.  What I do is try to survive the emotional and financial responsibilities of everyday life.  Please join me in this journey of everyday life and commiserate, sympathize, scold, share, and hopefully have a laugh or two while I try to figure out things like where all the missing socks are, why the remote control won't work, where to get money for a plumber, and what to do about the bill collectors.  Oh, and along the line pray I don't forget to pick up the kids at school on time.