Thankful Thimble Thursday with an Eight-Legged Friend

Hello and happy Thursday, friends! Thimble is indeed here and ready for Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.

Today, the cute little tabby is yet again grateful that she's, well, cute!

That freckle on Thimble's nose is a relatively new development. Orange Evan and calico Tonks have accumulated lots of new freckles over the years, but this is one of Thimble's firsts.

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Now, how about the fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge? My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. My plans for July 4th include _________.

2. I _________ fireworks.

3. I'm grateful that I have the freedom to _________.

4. I wish I could do a factory reset on _________.

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

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Spooky Doodle of the Day

Today's doodle in our new series of spooky summertime silliness of course stars Thimble. She's my gal who will stare at all sorts of things on the walls and ceiling, including spiders, light reflections, and things that are invisible to my human eyes. So, given that even quite recently Thimble had a staring contest with a spider up on the ceiling, I decided to scribble up what you see here for Thimble's spooky fun.

Over the years, I've snapped many shots of Thimble staring up at things. Like this one here, when she was indeed staring at a spider on the ceiling.

How about some more photos? In most of the ones below, I'm pretty sure Thimble was staring at light reflections overhead. If a light hits my phone and makes pretty designs on the ceiling, Thimble will absolutely stare at it with her adorably huge eyes.

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Tip of the Day

We've been offering some pet parenting hacks, including ways to save money or space while also having a happy furbaby. Today's tip is another plain and simple one, and that's to consider making your own toys for your cats, or even your pups. For example, if you have an old shirt you no longer intend to wear, you can cut it up and use the cloth to create simple knot toys for your cat. If you have some catnip on hand, you can even include some of that in the knot itself, or let the toy soak up some catnip in a sealed bag prior to gifting it to your cat. You can also use old clothes to make knotted or braided toys for a dog, as long as the dog is not know to eat such items. Even a lone or unwanted sock could be used as a toy, such as simply by rolling it into a ball that a cat or dog could bat around or chase.

You could even try your hand at making an interactive toy for your kitty, or even your pup. One such idea is to take a Tupperware container, cut roughly golf ball-sized holes in its lid, put some of your kitty's toys or treats in the container, put the lid on, and let your kitty use the holes to have fun trying to access their goodies. Then again, a cardboard box might work just as well for this DIY interactive cat toy. Interactive toys such as this can be great for a cat or dog's physical as well as mental health, especially if they are spending extra time closed up indoors due to the weather. It's even better when you can save money by creating such toys yourself.

The options for making your own cat toys, or even dog toys, are endless. You can even take cardboard boxes to make a cheap castle for your kitty. So, if you're looking to save some money, or if you want to find a use for safe yet unused items such as clothing, then consider how they might be used to create something fun for your furbaby. If you want further ideas, there are an astonishing number of ideas online, so look into all of your options if you wish to. Of course, always make your furbaby's health and happiness your highest priority, and do not create any toys that might put them at risk.