I have a terrible cat named Sasha. I say this not because I don’t love her, I do, but she is in fact a terrible cat. As a kitten, Sasha had ginormous ears and the loudest meow you’ve ever heard. She grew into the ears, but not the meow. Sasha is now 9 years old and walks around my house meowing and meowing, volume always set to high.

Sasha also bites, though only when provoked and not often, thank goodness. My husband and Sasha have had a rather rocky relationship, beginning when he attempted to feed Sasha and she bit him as he set her food bowl down on her mat. To this day, he jokes that the cat is so evil, she literally bites the hand that feeds her.

My husband is a softie though, and he really wants Sasha to like him. He’s gone to some pretty extensive efforts to try and convince Sasha that he is in fact friend, not foe. I’ve tried to reassure him that, no matter how hard he tries, Sasha is a one person only kind of cat and I’m her person; she simply does not like anyone else. But he tries, and occasionally I am pleased to say, he succeeds.

One of his most successful attempts has been the feline fishing pole. He found an old fishing pole and drew yarn through it to create a fishing line. He then tied the yarn up at the end of the line forming a knotted “bait” that the cat is supposed to catch. When he wants to play, he stands back and like a fly fishing pro, tosses the yarn through the air towards the cat. He then retreats with the pole, bait bouncing along the carpet as he goes. The cat loves this game! She pounces out from under the bed to chase the bait and will even roll over onto her back to play with her catch. My husband just lights up when this happens, and I have to smile. They are most certainly not best buddies and never will be, but I am pleased to see that Sasha has at least softened her stance and is willing to consider him a frienemy, instead of a flat out foe.

To capture my feline fishing pole story, I created a page using the ABC Teach Me Album collection from Snickerdoodle Designs. Like its predecessors, the ABC Quick Album Christmas collection and the ABCs of Life Quick Album collection, the ABC Teach Me Quick Album makes creating layouts a cinch. For my page, yarn was the central theme, so I used Y for yarn, along with pictures of yarn on a charm and yarn on a flashcard. I could have used C for cat or F for fish, since they were included in the collection too, but in this case I stuck with Y for yarn. There are lots of possibilities, as I’m sure you’ll see; even blanks if you want to create your own ABC flashcard or charm.

You can find the entire ABC Teach Me Album collection in Snickerdoodle Designs‘ shop now at 71% off. The collection includes picture flash cards, alpha flash cards, background papers, a frame pack, charms, an alpha set, a word pack, metallic styles, acrylic styles, a template set, and a pack of “extras.” Of course you can mix and match (even combining with other kits in your stash), and you’ll find the individual components at 30% now.

Here are a couple of layout examples:

While my feline fishing pole story is rather unique, I thought that the layout I made could be used for many different types of photos and stories, like knitting or crafts for example, so I am offering it to you as a download. I hope you’ll find a use for it in one of your ABC albums! (Note that the journaling shown is for preview only)