freedom for royalty

this ATC i am posting is in honor of our beautiful kitty cat named "Princess Fifi". Today she gets promoted to Queenie Fifi!!!

Princess Fifi decided to be a runner for freedom, about 3 days ago. i think it was all the commotion and unfamiliar activity around the house....having the united nations in (see previous post entitled "helpful group") along with drain cleaner people and various people doing vacuuming and hauling and picking up donations while others visiting... i suppose she felt it would be better for her if she just dodged it all for a few days. i know my husband would have loved to have dodged it all.

But her absence was very frightening to us, because we didn't know for sure....we hadn't seen her and feared the coyotes ate her like they have done our previous kitties that lived outdoors..
We always kept Pricess Fifi in the house, but once in a while she would dart out to the lawn to smell the grass and eye the birds.
so late this evening after watching "curb your enthusiasm" (favorite HBO show ever)my husband and i both heard a tiny meow. we both jumped up, hearts pounding and ran to the screen door. there she was.... little Princess Fifi!!!! she had come home. we both cried for joy!
we all did a little dance around her, including our "vicious" doberman, Dempsey. he was beside himself, running in circles like a young pup, it was hard to contain him. then he suddenly stopped to sniff her rear-end to make sure it was really her. (why did God make dogs this way??)
So here is a toast to Princess, oh sorry, Queenie Fifi for filling us with such joy after horrifying dread. making us all do the happy dance at seeing her return!!!! Cheers, kitty-kitty.
She walked slowly into the house letting her long tail touch and curl around all the furniture legs; she is so stunning. then she licked herself a bit and finally demanded to be fed (even though she already had food in her bowl). after that she got right back into her routine, she rejoined the pack and flopped her butt into Dempsey nose. They both love that. jeesha, pets!
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i have been asked this question many times... why do you have the letter "Q" on so many of your ATCs?

well, the "Q" stands for "Queenie", of course!

When I was a little girl, my mother always called me "little Queenie". My first day in kindergarten after the teacher called roll, the teacher asked the class if we had a different name that we preferred to go by....like David, might want to be called Dave.
i raised my hand very high and stood up and said my name was really "little Queenie". i sat down then smoothed my dress very pretty. the teacher looked on at me for a long time, then closed her mouth and quietly giggled and said she didn't mean that kind of nickname. well, dang, i couldn't see the humor in it and felt hurt not to be called that affectionate named my mom used. i sulked for days. i wondered what rock or dirt clod she had be living under not to know that was a real name.

so later, in first grade, when i learned to write my name, i wrote "Queenie" at the top of all my papers. I made a special effort on the curly-part of the "Q". i felt very superior and grown up in first grade. the teacher hadn't asked for names we preferred to be called. i was glad because i didn't want to be laughed at again. i also thought it would be prudent and more grown-up if i dropped the first word, "little" from my name.
after a week, the teacher called my mom. my parents had a little laugh about it for a very long time---NOT at ALL fair, since they named me.
damn, after that i had to go by the name "Lisa"; the name that made my mom's voice sound very squealy and mad when she yelled it out. it did not feel affectionate.