One Hell of a Hockey Game!

* We did not win. I'm sure that by the time you read this blog, you'll already have heard that our men's hockey team did not win the gold medal. Wow, what a game. Scott and I are not usually into sports events, but we both really like a good kick-ass hockey game! * Scatt has not been inside for the last couple of days - we'd feel more comfortable once he sees the vet. The health of our other furbabies is too important to us. * Emma's closet and drawers have been cleaned out and I feel good about it. * The toilet is clean. There you go, again with relatively low standards... I've very recently come to realize that pushing myself on weekdays is more productive and rewarding to me than trying to get too much done on the weekends. The weekends are really my time to just step back and putter. I love to putter. I don't see huge results, but I feel like I've been somewhat productive - while being able to somewhat relax at the same time. I feel like I've been less stressed out going in this direction. My weekends are for my family and for me - not for everyday chores. I figure that the weekday, being the work day is pretty much shot anyways - so why not suck as much out of each day as you can?!

A Good Day with a Few Exceptions

Wow! Big snow! Scott is finally back in from trying to clear us and our neighbor out.

Unfortunately, what started as a really good day went down the giant slalom (sorry for the Olympics reference) pretty quickly. There is a misunderstanding with our beloved neighbor who right now thinks that Scott is not a team player... After Scott cleared our neighbor's pathway (having walked through 3 feet of unplowed snow all the way up her uphill driveway), he brought the snow blower down here to clear our driveway. He was done with our driveway and on his last pass for our walkway when our other neighbor asked if he would take a few passes on our beloved neighbor's driveway before he plowed it. Scott said he was going to finish up what he was doing and be right up. Well, this neighbor doesn't like to wait - he doesn't like to wait at all. It takes awhile to walk up the driveway on a good day - let alone while pushing a snow blower uphill through snow that is a two feet too deep for the snow blower... Apparently, the snowplowing neighbor voiced his dismay at having to wait for Scott. Our beloved neighbor must not have understood the time frame and now I think is a bit irritated with Scott. Scott, by the way has been out in the snow since this morning and can now barely move. I do not like conflict. I don't like conflict with family (damn it for your crap, Penny and Mom!) Maybe more on that later... I don't like conflict with friends (Laura - Scott worked his ass off and Victor likes to bitch!) End of story! Oh, yeah - and Bailey threw up all his breakfast, Scatt dumped his food - not once, but twice! And Emma destroyed our snow castle before we could food color it. Besides, I was supposed to be the ogre to destroy the castle!! But, the saving grace for the day is: #1 We're all chilled and going to dinner at our neighbor's house for chili - and they're from Florida so it will be pretty warm in their house. #2 At the end of the second period of men's hockey USA is over Finland 6-0!!

That's all I've got in me for now. I'll probably be back after dinner.

And one last thing - I'm almost out of lime and while I was writing this, the cat took a big 'ol liquid poo on the comforter that Scott was covered up with... Well, crap!

I Love This Book!

Today made me think of one of my all time favorite books - Arm In Arm by Remy Charlip. On the left hand page is a beautiful snowy scene with half a dozen technicolor kids playing.

Isn't it better to be out in the cold snow saying, "isn't it better to be out in the cold snow rather thank in a warm bed?" Rather than in a warm bed saying "isn't it better to be out in the cold snow rather than in a warm bed?"

And on the right is a serene scene of a super king size bed with half a dozen technicolor kids snoozing under a super big technicolor "log cabin" quilt.

Isn't it better to be in a warm bed saying, "isn't it better to be in a warm bed rather than out in the cold snow?" Rather than out in the cold snow saying "isn't it better to be in a warm bed rather than out in the cold snow?"

I searched for years, literally years, for this book. I don't know how many times I checked it out of the library in elementary school. As I reread it now, it seems pretty trippy. I'm kinda wishing I had it while in college. But, then again, that may have taken away some of the simple, innocent charm of this book. I love this book. I can only hope that Emma will enjoy it just as much as I did!

I came home early today and have no plans of venturing out tomorrow. We got a nice big snow. The kind of snow that Scott and I remember as kids. It's the nice heavy packing snow that you can do so much with. We may try to build a snowman or even a tunnel tomorrow. Scott scrapped all the snow off of our roof - he had to climb onto the porch roof to get at it all. We briefly lost power at that time. DCEC (Delaware County Electric Cooperative) had to shut down their substation due to arching... yikes!

Emma, the Snow Queen was covered head to toe with snow when she finally came in from eating snow chunks. "But it just tastes so good!" After a very cool but relaxing bath, Emma was wrapped in a towel and a blanket and sipped on some hot chocolate. Extra marshmallow, thank you. I even warmed up her big fleece nightgown in the dryer -"just like Papa does!!"

Scatt has been in for another nice visit. I hear Scott telling Emma (as she was trying to bring the cat into our bedroom) that Scatt is an outdoor and living room cat, maybe your room this summer... Hmmm. Scott may be warming to Scatt...

Dinner is ready. Pan fried tilapia with sweet potato fries and peas. I'm done writing for the night - I do have my priorities!

Headache Day, Getting Older and A Very Tolerant Cat

What the hell? I'm 37 years old. My complexion is worse than it has ever been and gets even worse during that "special time of the month." I've also started getting really really bad headaches at the same time. What is this whole getting older thing all about? How can I be aging like this when I don't even feel like a grown up?! Oh, and the bleeping lines around my eyes - well, I'm not even going there! So I did take the day off today. I had a headache all day yesterday and tossed and turned all night with one. This morning I said "forget it," and called into work. I probably would have gotten more rest and peace and quiet if I had gone in though!

Scatt came in for a nice long visit today. Between the dogs and Emma, I think the poor cat was glad to get back outside. While he was in he got to cuddle with us on the couch. I sat him on the back of the couch so he could have a bit of an advantage over the dogs - or so I thought... Bailey's big 'ol snoz nudged him back just enough that he fell. Emma, bless her little heart, tried to catch him. She had as light of a grip around his neck as she could without letting him fall. I reminded her that our couch really isn't that tall and that he would probably have been better off if he had been allowed to fall. Silly Scatt was purring pretty much the whole time! After the near-fall, Emma decided to read him a bedtime story. I'm pretty sure this poor cat is going to get dressed up sometime in his near future. So, Emma went in to find the "just perfect" book and a "blanket" (one of my bandannas) for the cat. She plopped him onto her lap, covered him up and proceeded to read him a lovely little story from her "Book of Aquarius." She's so sweet and loving. During the whole visit, the poor kitty was being rooted and mauled by the dogs and the child. The child, though, thought she was doing her best to protect the "sweetest little kitty she's ever met!" All the while saying soothing things to the cat and reproaching the dogs with each nibble and snout toss. I think we'll all be just fine.

trying to register the Wii and other miscellaneous thoughts

It has been a very busy couple of days. Today my main goal is to clean the toilet and register our Wii. My standards are pretty low today. I made Scatt a new kitty nest and prepared several days worth of meals for Bailey Black Dog. Scott is in the kitchen baking. Emma is hibernating in her room watching (and re-watching) Gummi Bears and Jazzy is on the couch hoping that I'm not going to clean her ears today. We had the opportunity to spend some good time with family. Unfortunate circumstances, but a pleasant time nonetheless. Emma the Earth Warrior has a nice new black eye. She's my "black-eyed sweet pea!" She was kneeling on top of a bin of dress up clothes at Aunt Jennifer's trying to reach a lamp to turn it off. The lid tipped inward and the kid fell. She immediately had a very pretty shade of violet mark under her right eye. It must have been pretty bad because she actually allowed us to put ice on it! She's such a little tough girl. She was pretty excited to tell Oma about her black eye the next day.

Dad, my cat does not have mean eyes!

Scatt is a lovely little kitty - very sweet. I think you'll really like him! The dogs keep rolling him off the porch. There's just so much butt sniffin' that needs to be done!

blah blah blah

There is actually quite alot that I should be writing about. But, right now, I'm just not into releasing my thoughts. *hello cat / goodbye brother-in-law *awesome trip to Butterfly Conservatory *getting ready to go scrapping *Scott laid off 1 year *Mondays are "bake-day" *Bailey doing good, both dogs getting old *Emma is a cool kid *more recipes Ok, that's it. An outline of my thoughts. I'll have to refer back to this later. tootles!

Serendipitous

Sometimes a series of events just fall into place and puts you in a situation that you would not normally be in.

I was going to stop after work to get a bottle of rum. I decided not to and instead washed my car - my poor filthy, salty car. I would not recommend washing your car on an 18 degree day...

Right there I think is what set the wheels in motion. If I had just gotten my rum or even just gone home I may not have seen the cute little black and grey tabby walking up the middle of the road...

The signs have been all over. One of my customers has recently started fostering a dog that uses her cats as toys, an old friend sent me an email just this morning about cats vs. dogs and then another customer admitted that she was a cat-lady. I've been missing the allure of the feline mystique. Our dogs are just so open and loving - they have nothing to hide. Cats are so different.

Anyway, I was driving home on one of our back roads and this cute little kitty was jotting up the hill - I had to slow WAY down because because he wasn't moving out of my way. This is where things could have gone differently: I could have kept going once he did finally get out of my way - but, that's not what happened. I decided that it would be best to roll down my window and ask if he was okay. He was meowing up a storm. I noticed right away that he has six or seven toes on his front paws. He came right over to my driver's side door and was still meowing. I thought he was going to jump right in! Then I noticed the scuff mark on his ear. I had to get out and make sure he wasn't injured. He didn't seem to be injured, but he was very skinny. The plowed bank is pretty high. The kitty jumped onto the snow bank and then onto my shoulders - purring and meowing the whole time. His meows were very demanding - "pay attention to me!"

I went to the 3 of the houses on that road, four if you count the abandoned one. No one claimed the cat. I drive on this road twice a day, six days a week. I've never seem him before. In fact, I've only ever seen one other cat on that road and I know where he lives. I did get to see a guy in a bright neon green snowmobile suit peeing on a tractor tire. That was fun...

Kitty cat settled into the car like he owned the place. He did scratch on the back seat once, and tested out a few spots for comfort. He decided to hunker down on a pile of wintery accessories piled in Emma's car seat. He travels better than our dog Jazzy!

Grandma Laura got to see Kitty Face on our way home. I rolled down the back window so she could get a better look. I told her that I wasn't sure how Scott was going to react but that I would fill her in.

Once we got home I had Scott come outside without the dogs. He saw me with a cat and said "put that down!" He thought it was one of our neighbor cats. I told him that the cat came home with me and that we had to feed him. I did a flea check - looks good. This will be an outside cat. That is, if he comes back...

We brought him in and introduced him to the doggies. I wanted to make sure that they didn't freak out over a strange cat once they went outside. Our dog Bailey is on a special raw food diet for kidney issues. I was prepared to make a meal for the kitty, but then realized that our next door neighbors would be happy to give us some food to tide us over. Good people... good people. Then it occurred to me that Grandma Laura was on her way to town when I saw her - I could have asked her to pick up a bag of food...

So, after a nice meal and some semi frozen water, Scatt has gone explorinating. That's my word - I like it. It has been about 4 hours since he took off. I even made him a bed out of wool sweaters in a box under an enclosed table on the porch. I worry, I can't help it. And yes, I decided to call him Scatt. Cool, right - Scatt Cat.

Come home little kitty, come home!

Five Years Old?!

Well how that hell did that happen?! My baby will be five years old tomorrow and I'm having a really hard time with it! This evening was not a great one. We were going to let her open Candyland so we could play tonight, but no... She wouldn't help me pick up her books from the living room. I was even trying to help her so that she didn't have to do it all by herself - nope, she wouldn't do it! So, I sent her to bed! I explained to her how she made me feel and that I missed her so much and that I didn't want to spend my evenings arguing with her, that I want to be able to enjoy our time together when I come home... I'm pretty sure it all sank in. She's asleep in our bed right now. At one point I went in to check on her and she was just laying there with her eyes open - you could tell that she was thinking about things. We'll have a little chat about it tomorrow.

a Saturday...

Saturday evening. I don't feel like I've gotten much done at all today. And you know what - I'm okay with that! I did scrub our bathroom. I just have to finish the toilet and the shower walls. Emma even helped me scour the shower floor. I love a kid that wants to help. A couple of years ago (that sounds weird to say in the context of Emma) the kid wanted to help me vacuum the bedroom. No problem, here you go! It happened to be a brisk, but sunny beautiful day. So, I sat myself down in our bedroom window seat and soaked up the rays like a kitty cat. Oh, yeah - and I had a glass of wine in my hand. Scott walks in as Emma is on her hands and knees with the vacuum hose and I'm basking in the sunny warmth sipping on some Cabernet. Yeah, life is good. We live in the country and we have mice. It doesn't make us bad people, it just makes us people with mice. Those little bastards got into our bathroom vanity drawers and demolished the toilet paper. I have an unusual attachment to toilet paper. I must always have plenty on hand, or, as my Mom would snicker - a back-up supply. Get it, back up... For me to open that drawer and see shreds and shreds of paper in little piles mixed with tiny little oblong poops - well, not a nice way to start the day! That, I vowed would be my first order of business for the day - that is, after my first order of business was finished... I cleaned out and then cleaned two of the three drawers - not the bottom, for some reason the little bastards don't seem to bother that one. I re-organized and really cleaned the contents of each drawer and then moved onto the sink and counter. Last week (a terrific way to start a Monday) I lost an earring down the sink drain. It was a pretty blue baked glass post earring. Scott had gotten them for me as an anniversary gift at one of our last GrassRoots festivals. For those of you that don't know, GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, NY is where we met and fell instantly in love. So, yeah, I was pretty irritated first thing Monday morning. Being in the plumbing business I decided that I had enough experience to take apart part of the drain to retrieve the earring. Scott stopped me from doing that. We did take apart the pop-up assembly and pulled the pop-up out of the sink. I heard the earring go "plop" into the bottom of the S-trap as I lifted the drain. The earring was gone, but we were introduced to this horrible, icky globby thing hanging off the end. Yuck!! I instantly threw that in the garbage, but did not want to take on the challenge of re-assembling the drain first thing Monday morning. Once the sink and counter were decluttered and cleaned thoroughly with Clorox Green Works spray I decided it was time for a break. Luckily... the next day... Luckily is where I stopped writing at 9:30 last night. Now, with all the chaos in the house and the overly distracting smell of bacon cooking, I have no idea what came next. I cannot even seem to remember what I did after the thorough bathroom cleaning. My goals are pretty simple for the day. I totally plan on being an underachiever today. If I can get the toilets cleaned and my laundry put away, I'll be a happy camper. I miss camping. Sorry for the jump, that's just how my mind works. Sometimes it's pretty exhausting being in my own head! The child's mouth has NOT stopped flapping since she woke up at 7:30 this morning. I'm not exaggerating - it has not stopped! She's in her little tent right now and has said "Mommy" for one reason or another about 47 times! Believe me, I usually love it when I hear that most beautiful little voice utter "Mommy." But, today it's more about "Mommy, you ruined it! Mommy, you wrecked it all! Mommy, you didn't do it the right way! Mommy, there's a fly on my doll! Mommy, will you cover me up? Mommy, there's something really wrong with Daddy's camping bag - Mommy, I think you should see this! Mommy, I told you not to put my hair up!" Even while I was typing all this, along came another barrage of "Mommy's" I don't think I'll be drinking orange juice with my breakfasty-lunch.