Craft Night with My Niece, Christy

Tonight Christy came over and we spent the evening sewing cute DESIGNER CAR TRASH BAGS to put in our cars. This was an idea we found on pinterest.

Check out how cute they turned out:

The Mystery of the Sticks

This blog has been a long time coming. You see, we tried to solve this mystery before I shared the story. But alas, it still is a mystery.

A few months ago we started seeing sticks on the porch. Every day there were a few more sticks. We could not figure out where these sticks were coming from or why they were being left on our porch.

There were sticks by the swing:


Sticks on the welcome mat:


Big sticks and little sticks:


Pine cones:


A cigarette:


A black walnut shell:


A thing from a tree and a piece of chalk:


Some time passed and the sticks continued to come. Then, one day I saw Bella coming to the door - and she had something in her mouth. There it is, a stick! Bella is the one bringing these sticks on the porch. I opened the door to let her in and she quickly dropped the stick on the welcome mat and ran inside. OK!

So now we know where the sticks are coming from, but WHY? This mystery is yet to be solved. Why in the world is Bella bringing home sticks (8 or 10 every day) and leaving them on the porch?

In my desire to blog about this (and to prove to you that my lovely cat Bella does indeed carry sticks to our porch) I spent several weeks trying to get a picture of her carrying a stick. Of course every time I saw her and ran to get the camera, she saw me, dropped the stick and ran to the door.

While I was watching Bella play outside today, I saw her working very hard. She left the house, walked down the sidewalk, and then crossed the street to look in the storm drain. She then walked around the corner checking out several things on the ground in David's yard and crossed the street again to look in the storm drain on the other side of the street. She then jumped up on the curb and began looking at things on the ground in the park. She milled around looking for several minutes, then headed back towards home. Then I saw it, she had a stick in her mouth - so I grabbed the camera and took her picture.

FINALLY! Clear and undeniable proof that our precious Bella does carry sticks to our front porch!


So the question still remains . . . WHY? Why is she bringing sticks home and placing them on the porch? We have no idea.

There is one theory (from our 8-year-old niece, Jenna). Jenna believes that Bella is bringing sticks to the porch so that she can build a fort. Then, she can hide behind the fort, and when a mouse runs by - she can jump out and get it! Of course! Why didn't we think of that?

I will leave you with one last visual, one that sticks in my brain. I just keep thinking about that cigarette. What must Bella have looked like with that cigarette hanging out the side of her mouth as she ran down the street on her way home?