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.

Date Night - Priceless?

Scott made reservations for the two of us at the Andes Hotel on Saturday. The kid was at Grandma's for the night and we were on our own. I put mousse in my hair and even put on a little make up! And, off we go. We got there just at 5:00. We decided to go right into the dinning room because there was a big sports thing going on in the bar. We sat down at a lovely little table near the window. Scott ordered a beer (oops, non-alcoholic), and I ordered a glass wine. An Evening At the Andes Hotel: Non-Alcoholic Paulaner $4.50 Cabernet Sauvignon $7.00 Salmon Gravlox Appitizer $10.00 Chicken Picatta with Rice Pilaf and Green Beans $19.00 "Garlic" Ribeye Steak with Broccolirabe and Potato Fritters $24 An evening at a totally upper-end-of-mediocre restaurant...Priceless AND THEN... silly us, we were alone for the evening and wanted another drink before we went home. So, we went to the bar. Easy peasy for Scott there were a few nifty beers that he was able to choose from. Me, I'm a little more picky. I told our bartender that we were kid-less for the evening and that I didn't have to drive, I like dark rum and wanted to let loose a little... what could he recommend? silence silence silence "We have Meyers." I told him that I liked Meyers but that I didn't want just a rum and coke. silence silence silence Then he popped open a beer and poured a soda for another customer... When he came back he asked if I had made up my mind yet! I replied that I was all set and that I wouldn't be getting a drink this evening. The funny this is that this bar is supposed to be known for their "mixology!" But, to be fair, it IS Mixology Monday! We were there on a Saturday - our bad! I certainly have some other thoughts on the food itself and its presentation, but I don't have the energy to begin my first food critic post. I'm going to go pack a bag for the kid - she's going to Oma and Papa's tomorrow morning. She'll be so excited when she finds out in the morning! Good night all!

New Pet for Emma!!

We have a new pet! Don't forget that we already have our two doggies - Jazzy and Bailey. I'm not sure if the delinquent mice count as pets, but then, what would make this new pet count? Hmmm. You have no idea what I'm talking about... Let me back up - the delinquent mice are as follows: Warehouse Mouse, Honey Mouse and Tickle Mouse. They are imaginary, they do not exist - but they sure do get into alot of trouble around here! Ok, so the new pet - a dead ladybug named Connin (maybe Connon, I'm not sure). We provide our child lots of love, the doggies love her too! We make sure that she has plenty of art supplies and lots of other goodies to keep her entertained. But, she just has so much love in her heart that she has to share it with everything she can. Everything including a dead ladybug and Rockie - her pet rock. The dead ladybug is on a box in the little hallway between our bedroom and the kitchen. There isn't a light there and even in the middle of the day it's pretty dim. Well, that's where the dead ladybug lives. So, Emma got out her little flashlight so she could check in on it. And, because nobody really wants to touch a dead bug, Emma got out a little plastic spoon and a paintbrush to move the dead ladybug around a bit. I guess even dead ladybugs need their exercise. Emma is going to be FIVE in a few short weeks! I'd like to get her a special gift for her birthday, but what's a mom to do when the kid plays with dead bugs and rocks?!

Reflections of 2009

2009. A year of learning and growing. So much has happened, and so much hasn't happened. 2010 will my year to find the balance between the two. So so many things that I could write about. I try to write something on my day planner every day. But, all that I can really think about right now is my beautiful daughter's hair. I cut her hair this evening. She was so excited. We had to call Oma right away and tell her that we trimmed her hair and that we trim our hair to keep it healthy. I don't actually remember telling her that. Not even 9:00pm and Scott is snoring on the couch. Bailey is curled up at his feet and Jazzy is actually on the floor! That's a rare thing in our house! Probably not the most appropriate, but the kid feel asleep in her room watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. She especially likes the opening scene with poor Santa getting himself into all kinds of trouble. 2009 - a pretty okay year.

Turd-Free Tuesday

Our sweet little turd-head is at Oma and Papa's for a couple of days. She was so excited to go see them. They just couldn't wait until next week when they come here for Christmas to see her. Grandma Laura and Scott met Mom and Dad at Pine Ridge in Bainbridge to do the kid exchange. At last report Emma was cuddled up on the couch chillin out with Oma - they may both be done-for for the night. Who knows what all they have planned for the next couple of days! Scott is going hunting really early tomorrow morning and so he had to go to bed early. Bailey is asleep on the floor and Jazzy is asleep on the couch. I have some laundry to fold and rice to make (for Bailey). So, goodnight all! Sweet dreams!