Skip to content

Month: April 2025

Floofenstein: a Gift from Bumbledore

Posted in Cat

Welcome back to Whisker Wednesday! There’s a good chance you’re here because you want to know more about Floofenstein. But, if you’re new here, I’m sharing our newest family member’s story from how he joined us until he has fully integrated into the clowder. This week isn’t a normal entry. Jim and I are convinced Floofenstein is a gift from Bumbledore, and I want to tell you why.

If you’re reading this post, you likely already know that I lost my familiar, Bumbledore, to cancer in January. What I didn’t share in my memorial post was the deathbed promise I made him. On our last day together, I promised to give another cat the same kind of second chance we gave him. That, when my heart was ready, we’d adopt a cat that needed a home, one that was considered “hard to adopt.” At the time, I didn’t think my heart would ever be ready.

Floofenstein: Doubly Ours

Posted in Cat

Welcome back to Whisker Wednesday! There’s a good chance you’re here because you want to know more about Floofenstein. But, if you’re new, I’m sharing our newest family member’s story from how he joined us until he has fully integrated into the clowder.

Last week, I left off at April 1st, Floofenstein’s spa day — his first (at least to our knowledge) professional grooming. This post covers two weeks, through his misadventure and return home.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Posted in Fountain Pens

OK, only partially different, but I couldn’t resist.

My new pen collection rotation starts on Sunday, and I’m doing something significantly different than my previous rotations.

In the past, I’ve used a randomizer to go through my entire active collection, inking five pens each week. It’s been a great way to use my pens, but as my collection has grown, I’ve been using each individual pen less and less. I’m down to only twice a year. And sometimes I don’t get to use my pens much, which can mean I ink a pen and only use it to record work tasks for the day.

Floofenstein: A Beautiful Sweetheart

Posted in Cat

Yes, this post is late. That’s because I messed up and Floofenstein got away from me and ran away on Monday (4/14/25). I’ll share a detailed account soon, but suffice to say that Jim and I were both doing poorly. But, we got a second miracle because Floofers was sitting calmly in the trap yesterday morning, having come home.

His misadventure has, and will, result in multiple setbacks regarding his wound and integration into the household. But, he’s home, and that’s all that truly matters. Now, onto the post.


If you’re new here, I’m sharing our newest family member’s story from how he joined us until he settles in. Last week, I left off at March 25, his second vet exam.

Pen Porn: Stanford Pen Studio Intwana Chameleon

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, with a couple of exceptions, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉

You may recall that my wrap-up post of the Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series featured the crowdfunder they had going at the time. Well, here we are at their promised delivery time and the pens Jim and I ordered have arrived!

I must mention that, while the Koi and Seahorse designs are not currently listed on the SPS website, the Chameleon, Dragon, Giraffe, Kitten, Llama, Penguins, and Phoenix designs are all still available.

Because I knew instantly that I wanted to get Carla Nel‘s Chameleon, I’m starting with it.

Stanford Pen Studio Intwanna Chameleon

Floofenstein: Mom’s Sweet Cuddlebug

Posted in Cat

Welcome back to Whisker Wednesday! There’s a good chance you’re here because you want to know more about Floofenstein. But, if you’re new, I’m sharing our newest family member’s story from how he joined us until he settles in. Last week, I left off at March 18, his first vet exam. This week’s title should tell you what we discovered after that.

I don’t want these posts to read like a diary, as, unlike the early posts for Athena, I’m not tracking an illness. So, going forward, I’ll include the time period I’m covering and provide highlights. I’ll only include dates for big events like vet visits.

Inky Madness – Colorverse

Posted in Ink

So, I just missed March with this post, but life decided to life, and, well, better late than never, right?

In this sequel to my Diamine Inky Madness post, I’m going through all of the Colorverse inks I own bottles of. To make this bracket a bit more fair than the Diamine bracket, I listed the bottles by number of uses, then looked for inks in the same color family with the closest number of uses possible. That way, as much as possible, I could avoid comparing an ink I love and use a lot to an ink I just got or have used significantly less. I’ve included the number of times I’ve used each ink in a pen in parentheses after the name in round 1.

Disclaimer: To have isolated photos of each bottle I pulled images from: Colorverse, Inky Inspirations, and Papier & Stift.

Floofenstein: Our Gorgeous Boy

Posted in Cat

Hi, welcome to Whisker Wednesday! Wednesdays will be dedicated to cat posts for the next few weeks, FYI.

I’ll do my best to keep this fairly brief, and the easiest way for me to do that is to go through what happened each day because it’s been A LOT! If you didn’t read my first post about Floofenstein, I suggest you do so. That post left off once I got him back in the bathroom after he orchestrated a sneaky escape the night he walked into our trap.

Sunday, March 16

The next morning, Floofers hissed at me when I first entered his bathroom. But, after a couple of gentle head pets — with gardening gloves on, just in case — he settled right down. Jim and I worked together — Jim distracting Floofenstein with head pets — to comb the, probably literal, crap out of Floofers’ tail with a flea comb. I also managed to get some of the Douxo S3 SEB mousse on his wound. I didn’t know if it would do any good, but, since the emergency vet had suggested we put it on Athena’s wounds, I didn’t think it would harm him any.

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that I can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to this website and helping me to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

This information is provided in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).