This and That Thursday

Hello, friends! We're unfortunately just popping in quickly today, and late. Things at my workplace have been especially crazy this week, and so my intended post for today had some delays. One main arena in which I failed was my doodle for my poem for Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge. It's almost complete, but I haven't gotten to pull out my art markers in a number of days due to my full-time job, and so it's not totally ready to be posted today. I'd like to share the poem and doodle together, and so it will be shared sometime in the next few days.

The above said, we have hired a new employee at my workplace. As I mentioned a few weeks back, one of my previous co-workers put in his two weeks' notice and has since left us because he was offered an amazing opportunity in another state. He was a great and very hardworking co-worker, and so when he left our already skeleton crew was really pushed to its limits. My newly hired co-worker will have quite a bit of training to do before he's ready to really dive into the nitty-gritty work, but at least we're in a more promising place now than we've been for the past few weeks. Long, extra work hours should soon no longer exist, and I'm looking forward to the time I can finally again put toward art, blogging, and my other favorite hobbies.

Am I rambling? I think I'm rambling. To make this long story longer, today's post is a different one than we intended because I've been working late and therefore didn't get everything done for our blog that I wanted to. That said, since I should have a calm weekend to work on art and my blog, and since my possibly favorite holiday is coming up at the end of this month, during the upcoming week leading up to Halloween, we'll be having an entire week of properly scheduled posts with new doodles and new Halloweeny furbaby photos every single day. Though I've been sharing a lot of flashback Halloween doodles lately, much to my chagrin, I actually have a number of new Halloween doodles almost or completely done. I just haven't done the final touches, scanned, or uploaded them. And so, with those new doodles and the results of some Halloween photo shoots I managed with the furbabies this past weekend, next week on our blog will be all things freshly Halloween every single day. I'm excited, but maybe that's just because I adore this spooky season.

For today, though, here's a thankful Thimble.

Can you tell what she's grateful for?

In case you can't tell in these award-winning photos, Thimble is playing with a catnip ghost toy. These are actually photos from last year. I would do a new photo shoot with this ghost, but after a year of abuse, he's looking all shades of rough.

Can you guess who else loves this ghost?

Evan!

Obviously, these are more photos from last year. The ghost is almost in shreds now. He's a fan favorite, after all.

It looks like today both Thimble and Evan are participating in Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!

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Last but not least, let's share the fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. My co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two fill-in statements, and I came up with the second two.

1. My go-to place to purchase _________ is _________.

2. _________ immediately improves my mood.

3. I think _________ is really spooky.

4. I wish I had a magical potion for _________.

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

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Tip of the Day

Today's Halloween tip is one we're sure you all know, and it's to practice proper door safety. We mention this regularly. This is of course most relevant if you are handing out candy on Halloween night, or if you are hosting a Halloween party with a number of arriving guests. Knocks on the door, the doorbell, children or adults in strange costumes, and all of the hustle and bustle of Halloween can scare some furbabies. On the other hand, some cats or dogs might enjoy guests, and so they might be attracted to the door on Halloween. Either way, if you have increased traffic at the door on Halloween, there is always the chance that your kitty or pup could escape if proper precautions are not taken. This is why it is important to practice proper door safety, so that you can avoid escapes.

There are of course a number of options for keeping a cat or dog from escaping out a busy door on Halloween. First, you can set up a safe room for your cat or dog and keep them in there during the Halloween festivities, so that they have no ability to escape from the house when people show up at the front door. Depending on how your house is set up and how determined your kitty or pup is to reach the door, you can also put up baby gates or pet gates to keep a cat or dog in an area of the house away from the door. If your furbaby is leash trained, and as long as the leash is securely held, your kitty or pup can also be kept safe in the house by attaching them to their leash, with of course someone or something holding said leash. You best know your furbaby as well as the setup of your home, so use whatever method is the safest, most surefire way of keeping your kitty or pup from escaping out a busy door on nights like Halloween.