offerings - Cursing Cats and Other Curiosities

Today was Halloween, also known as my favorite holiday. All the fun of the other holidays, none of the stress! No obligations! Just the good stuff you choose to do.

Obviously, I’ve had much preparation. All of my downstairs is covered in decorations. K2 and I did our gingerbread houses a bit ago. I did Wednesday Season 2, as you know.

Sunday K and K2 came over to carve pumpkins. I did a scary face. Well, Sunday he was scary. Like a bright new evil minion ready for mayhem. Today, he’s more of an older over-indulged boss type that tells the other fresh minions what to do. Hey, a week in jack-o-lantern time is like 30 years in human time. Now he’s more of a corporate evil.

Speaking of corporate evil, today was the end of my second week on the new job. So far I really like my coworkers. The people I work with have very sparse cubes, so I’m pretty sure they think I’m crazy because I moved on in. THEN I decorated for Halloween.

The other night I made up a bunch of goody bags to give out at work. So, I’m obviously repping Halloween today. I was in the break room refilling my water and this guy goes “You have bats on your neck!” I say “yep” without looking up from my water bottle. And then he goes “…wait… are those real?” “Yep.”

Hahaha. I’ve never had anyone comment on the bats much less think they were fake tattoos. But I am new and I was very clearly repping Halloween. So I guess you would assume I’d do fake tattoos. I mean, I would. These just aren’t. I did find it hilarious though.

After work I ran by Panera for husband’s dinner and mom’s blueberry streusel muffin. Yes, I know she liked the APPLE streusel muffin, but they don’t make those anymore. Then I used the last bit of daylight to harvest flowers for my ofrenda while Louie smelled all the things.

Tonight, husband and I played the third episode of Dispatch and I made cake for me and Jack. I put together a gorgeous ofrenda for mom and Jack! Tomorrow is Día de los Muertos, after all.

I grew all the flowers. The orange Mexican Marigold were seeded this year just for this purpose. Not as many grew as I’d have hoped. Next year I’ll do more varieties. All the yellow are actually ones that grew from what I planted last year that seeded itself. They all smell heavenly. I can see why this is the flower for Día de los Muertos. Mom would be pleased with this display.

Mom has her Panera muffin, pumpkin spice coffee (also smells heavenly), and those little candy pumpkins. She loved those. I also made Jack and I cake tonight. Jack fucking LOVED cake icing. So I made us a yellow keto cake with the keto cream cheese icing he could never get enough of. That cat fucking loved sweets. I garnished it with some catnip that Louie doesn’t give a fuck about. I have a ton of plants now because Louie doesn’t bother them. Jack ate ALL THE PLANTS. So he’ll appreciate fresh catnip. Mom will probably give him some muffin too.

Still no Trick-Or-Treaters… ever… at this house.

Bed time for me. I hope Jack visits. I hope he at least knows how much I miss him. Mom’s a human, but Jack’s just a cat. So I hope he knows I’d be with him if I could. Take care of him for me, mom!

So tonight is All Hallows Eve, AKA Halloween. The Eve of All Hallows or All Saints Day in the Christian tradition. A time to celebrate and remember those who have passed and visit their graves.

There’s also the theory that it’s just a Christianized version of the Gaelic festival Samhain. To be fair, the church did realize that people didn’t want to give up their holidays so they made a lot of them Christian holidays; so probably true. Samhain (the end of harvest season) is a transitional festival. It marks the end of the light and the transition to the darker part of the year (when the days are shortest). Therefore, it is believed to be when the veil between this realm and the next is the thinnest. Parties are held with offerings to appease the Fairies who would fuck you up. Disguises to trick them. And places set at the table for past family members to visit.

All Hallows, or All Saints Day is tomorrow. Then All Soul’s Day on Saturday, November 2nd, wraps up the three days of Allhallowtide. There used to be 8 days, according to the Catholic tradition, but in 1955 they were like “fuck that, it’s 3.” Catholics make it up as they go along. However, some faithful still believe you earn plenary indulgences for visiting cemeteries and praying for the dead during the octave of Allhallowtide. And what is an Indulgence? No, not a Reeses pumpkin — according to the Catholic church, an Indulgence is “a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins.” Totally makes sense.

Sorry, I got distracted. Allhallowtide, and particularly All Soul’s day also coincides with… wait for it… Día de (los) Muertos! AKA the Day of the Dead in English. And how do we celebrate this holiday? Leaving favorite treats, images, and items of our loved ones out in remembrance of them.

So basically, if the dead are gonna visit, it’s now according to multiple cultures.

So you know how some people get the warm and fuzzy feelings that their dead loved ones are with them? Yeah no, I’ve never gotten that. So WE’RE GOING ALL OUT, BITCHES.

That’s right, we have an ofrenda. No, those are not Mexican marigolds (AKA the Flower of the Dead), but I did grow these merigolds myself from seed!

Mom, I got out one of those cute heart plates I used to leave your coffee on. And the very used cutting board you gave me from that Pioneer Woman set. If you visit and know where the yellow measuring cup/dish from that set is, let us know.

I tried to get you one of those amazing apple streusel muffins you loved from Panera, but the lady said they haven’t sold those in years. The world has gone to absolute shit so I’m not surprised. I did, however, get the blueberry streusel and I’m pretty sure you’d like it too.

I grew these marigolds in my pumpkin patch! You’d have loved my pumpkin patch. And I know you are so proud of me. Have you seen my new body? Like the stomach and the boobs? I look good! You’d be amazed. Also, I’m pretty sure you’d love the art of the tattoo I’m still working on. I did the red poppies for you.

And Jack — you sweet sweet adorable biggun — my precious — my fuzzy — my spirit animal — my soulmate — WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I’m dying here. I miss you much more than is rational. I still cry that you are gone. My snuggle buddy! Oh how I miss you. And your polka dotted belly. I fear I am forgetting you. It sounds stupid, but having a new cat — sometimes I’m afraid I will forget you and how you were. Sometimes I wonder if you were as snuggly and lap cat as I remember and then I look at photos and yep, you were always in my lap. My precious. And I remember when I came home, I’d pick you up at the door and you’d stretch out full length and stretch out your back legs as long as possible and look over at husband and purr like “yeah, she’s mine.” And what I miss the most, your good night wishes. Bedtime is when I miss you the most. You always followed me to bed and waited until I got settled to smash your paws into my breast bone and purr while I petted you and wished you goodnight. Then, when you knew I was settled and not going anywhere, you’d go downstairs and hop on the counter to see what noms were to be had. Oh we heard you, you never fooled us.

Speaking of, not only do you have your favorite banana toy — I made icing JUST FOR YOU. Husband asked why there was cream cheese and butter on the counter and I said it was for you and I’m pretty sure he thinks I’ve lost it. Half cream cheese icing, half butter cream. Your favorite. I already ate some so I know it’s delicious. Yes, I made a little extra for me to have on toast or something. And fuck it, eat the merigolds and pumpkins if you want. You’ve earned it. And the gingerbread house! It’s absolutely covered in icing. Have at it, buddy.

Seriously though, sometimes the only way I can cope with the absence is to think of you and mom sitting together sharing a biscuit or an apple streusel muffin together while you wait on me. We know she shared her breakfast with you every morning and you loved her for that. And I never minded. I thought it was adorable and sweet. Oh how you loved when mom visited. BREAKFAST! Well, here’s yalls muffin. Enjoy.

And Jack, come give me some purrs, please. Just a little snuggle.

If husband had an ask, he’d probably ask you to tell Louie to stop biting him so much. It’s kinda hilarious, but I know it hurts too cause teeth are sharp. *sigh* Louie can never replace you. Yall are nothing alike. Maybe that’s good. I don’t know.

May the scent of the merigolds and the love from my heart bring you home for just a little bit. I miss you.

Oh! One more thing! Mom, YOUR COFFEE! How can you an Jack have breakfast without coffee!? I’ve got pumpkin spice coffee too! I’ll make you a cup right now before I head off to bed. Dang, I might have to dig out the Keurig. It’s cool, it’s yalls ofrenda.

Sweet dreams and Happy Halloween. I love you.

Mom, take care of Jack for me.

UPDATE: I did add mom’s coffee after I posted this:

Tag: offerings

Happy Halloween!

Jack’s Offerings (and Mom)