Cat Envy

Our dog Itchy has developed some rather strange habits since Pumpkin – the Ninja Kitty joined the family.  I can only assume that Itchy is suffering from Cat Envy.

How Do You Know When Your Dog Has Cat Envy?

The Symptoms:

1.  The Canine suddenly loses interest in her big comfy dog bed and invades the kitten’s sleeping pillow (even though it’s too small) – befouling it with dog hair in an attempt to drive kitty from it’s sleeping place.

2.   Dog suddenly loses appetite for all things dog food related.  Would rather down a bag of cat food instead.  (Note to owner:  Feed animals in separate rooms insuring that the kitty doesn’t starve.)

3.  When your large Lab pretends to be an itty bitty wee thing and curl up in your lap.  You know for sure it is suffering from Cat Envy.

The Cure:

1.  Pay attention to the dog as well, otherwise it may start meowing.

My Hot Date, or so I thought

So I’ve had this hot date planned for a couple of months.

Purchased my tickets online the very hour they were made available (Yes, I’m that obsessed).

Outfit and accessories to match, cleaned and ready to wear.

Got extra rest the night before cause I knew I was going to be out all night tonight.

Even had a like-minded obsessed mom friend post a reminder on my front door.  Who cares if it gagged my teenage boys out.  Yes, the word ‘Ewwww,’ escaped their lips when they first saw it.  Prince Erik just sighed and rolled his eyes.

We all need time with our inner school-girl and I was so ready to spend that time with all my other   .   .   .    Can’t-Make-Me-Grow-Up Sist-Ah’s.

Alas…

When this morning rolled around, my cough had found me again, as had more achy muscles, and some nice chills.    The symptoms remained, even after I threw everything the Dr. had given me at them. I immediately knew I was going to have to miss out on the big festivities.

So I let my inner school-girl out and cried like a true drama queen,  Waaaahhh!, but not in front of the children.  Then I gave my tickets away and made my friends promise to go with me when I do finally feel like I can Scream, Giggle, Hoot, Cry, and Swoon without coughing.  Let’s pray that happens soon because I need me some brain vacation time and I need it bad.

And at this moment when my Obsession is playing out at midnight premiere’s, on movie screens, in my neck of the woods, I’m cuddled up on the couch with my alternative Hot Date -  Sweet Pumpkin – hoping that the ‘Eclipse’ Midnight Premiere get’s here before I know it.

Regardless,  I’m thankful for all the vicarious craziness played out by women just like me the world over.  It’s nice to know I’m not the only lady with the heart of a teenage girl masquerading in an old girl body.

And since I know how the movie ends – Yes, because I’ve read the book or listened to it too many times to actually count – let me know what you thought of it?  Don’t worry you won’t spoil a thing.  Just want some vicarious fun.

Enter a Post Title Here cause I can’t think of one.

I was away this weekend and all the sewing I was planning on doing, well, it didn’t get done.  Big Surprise (Imagine that Big Surprise dripping with sarcasm and you've got it right.)

I spent Saturday split between hacking up a lung and visiting the doctor; all the while, getting evil looks from everyone in the clinic.  You’d have thought me a walking bomb.  Imagine the nurse trying to talk my pulse, and look down my throat, while standing six feet away.  They should have just donned some bio-hazard suits.  Then it was off to wait in line with a bazillion other sick people waiting to get their prescriptions filled.  Three weeks was way to long to have a cough and I had finally developed a fever so the Hubster ordered that I go visit the clinic.  What a fun day.

Broncitis again – Drat.  That’s twice in four months.  Not fair.  But I’m happily drugged up and hopefully on the mend.  I’m thankful for Drugs, and I’m thankful it’s not H1N1.

Knock on wood.  Okay, I’m pounding on wood hoping that one skips our family.  I’ve been out of action way to long and my house will self-implode with clutter if we catch any other nasty bug.

I had the most wonderful witty Family Christmas Letter ready to post yesterday, but the place I was staying at didn’t have internet service and the most ROTFL post I’ve ever written accidently got deleted.  Maybe, sometime later this week I’ll attempt to find that humorous magic and enthrall you with what a real Family Christmas Letter should read like.  Meanwhile I’m Thankful that I have Internet again.

Needless to say, after once again venting on the downers of the weekend.  I’m thankful it’s over.  Thankful for modern medicine, Thankful for watching umpteen episodes of ‘Clean House’ (you know building up motivation for when I can move again without coughing up a cow), and Thankful for my awesome Prince who did all the dishes tonight.  I’ll be even more thankful if someone wants to fold that mountain of clean clothes on my bed. 

Waiting…

Okay,  I knew that 0ne was wishful thinking.  I guess I’m thankful there is a pile of clean clothing instead of dirty laundry.   Thankful, Thankful, Thankful. 

Just Because.

Can I just say that I’m Thankful for my feather pillow.  It served me so well last night I feel asleep before I got my Thankful post in.

Thankful for a teenage son who washes the dinner dishes, Even when it wasn’t his turn, and even when he wasn’t even asked too.  Just Because.  Thanks Abner!  And No – He wasn’t trying to butter mom up to get something.  He was being nice – Just because that’s who he is.

I also have to add that I’m Thankful for 1/2 price days at the local thrift store. Pretty soon I’m going to have some fun re-purposed items to show you.  Tomorrow I’ll be practicing some of my mad sewing skills.  Wish me luck.  Maybe I’ll have some fun things to show you tomorrow.

Thankful for Freedom

I love Veterans Day.  I’m so thankful for the men and women of the military who have given their All – Past and Present.

Can I also mention my huge appreciation for the families who support their sons, husbands and fathers in this noble venture.  For those wives who send their husbands overseas – wow,  I think I’m just barely understanding their sacrifice.

Thank you veterans!  I owe my freedom to you and I won’t forget.

cOMpuTeR MalFunCTioN

Help! My laptop has been hijacked. By a furry Ninja.

At any given moment a little streak of orange lightning zips onto my lap and then steals the keypad right out from under my hands.

Apparently the tapping of keys denotes playtime to Pumpkin.

He has attacked my typing hands no less than four times today.

Maybe I should just give up trying so hard to post this story. See how he lurks as I try to edit photos of the Pouncer.

Okay, I give up. Pumpkin – have the computer.

Wait, what did the silly fur ball do now?

The solution is for Pumpkin to find another toy or…

Even better I should close this electronic contraption and play with the wee one. That and clean my computer screen. I didn’t realize it was so dirty.

So today I’m Thankful that Pumpkin – the Furry Ninja reminded me that petting a playful kitten brings way more smiles than checking the weather on the computer. It also reminded me that I need to be more receptive in playing with my other, non-furry children instead of checking to see who got voted off The Biggest Loser or DWTS. Playtime’s a coming kids, and you too, Pumpkin.

Future Tattoo Artist at it again.

So THANKFUL that the marker mess was confined to this area and not the walls again.

Drat!  And I thought being 4 would mean she had outgrown this phase.

My Best Friend Did What?

I’m thankful that twenty years ago today my best friend asked me to marry him.  Wow, Twenty Years!  And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  Love you Prince Erik!

Taking a Step Back

‘Two steps forward, One step Back’.  How often does that phrase cross our lives.  I’ve discovered that taking step back can mean two different things.  One is indicative of a setback, failure, or an unwelcome detour in a journey to a specific goal or destination.  The other meaning, which I happen to Love, is to take a step back, as in to pause to evaluate a situation or gain a broader perspective.  It’s not meant to be a super quick step but more of a pondering one.

Life with six kids can become quite hectic, quite quickly and so all consuming, that taking those step backs can quickly skip my mind.  But when I do remember to take those steps back, magic can happen.  I can see the sparkle in my four year olds eyes, or listen to the excitement in my eighteen year olds voice as he tells me about some of the fun projects he is working on.  From that occasional step back, the kids transform from mommy’s energy-zapping, messy whiners to amazingly unique and talented growing wonders.  And I feel so awed that I’ve been blessed enough to be the mother of such precious spirits.

Sometimes in life when I’ve neglected taking those steps back on my own, then inevitably, some higher power compels me to take them by throwing those other (setback) step backs at me.  Ever notice how, when getting your feet knocked out from under you, all of the sudden life’s priorities become crystal clear.  Material possessions, trips to events, and worrying about what your friends think, all of the sudden becomes unimportant.

This morning things were getting busy, hectic, and the mama bear/snapping turtle in me was coming out.  Grouchy nit-picking  isn’t too much fun, it usually means I’m only seeing the negative, messy whiners.  Don’t know what happened, but somehow I was instantly in that step back mode.  I don’t recall how I go there, but thankfully I was there.  I instantly noticed that Princess was getting ignored even though she tailed around everyone bigger than her just looking for love.  So I forgot the dishes, laundry, to-do list for Prince Erik and I hugged a Princess and sat and talked with her for a while.

So today I’m thankful for those step backs.  And when I’m in an extremely generous mood I’ll also thankful for those darn (setbacks) step backs because they get me to the same place.  However, it’s better to humble myself  in the first place, than it is to be compelled to be humble.

So those little step backs are not all that bad after all.  I need to take them more often.

while the other is more of

It’s raining, it’s pouring

I know the Pacific Northwest is known for it’s rain.  But normally our rain is more of a constant drizzle.  Today however, we had a rip-roaring, gully-washer of a downpour without the gully washing of course.  It was a-coming down here like someone opened the power-washer on full, a couple of different times today.  The sheets of water were pounding down so hard on the roof I was convinced the hard rain would pull down branches off of trees.

So today, I am soooooo Thankful that wretched hole in our roof was patched last summer.  Otherwise I would have been running around with buckets in the front room stemming the incoming waterfall.  So thankful my roof is leak free.

That way I can just sit in a comfy chair, watch the torrent outside the window and dream of beings who love this type of weather.  I imagine there were some fun baseball games going on in the mountains today.  Oh, my depraved, guilty obsession knows no bounds.

I normally would have taken the heavy rain as an occasion to dance in the rain.  See what a skinny thing I was last year.  UGH to this year!  But this silly cough isn’t letting go so the rain dance will wait, until the next downpour.

I’m loving and so Thankful that my messed up house is still weather safe in a storm. 

Missing Fur ball

We we had our first Pumpkin scare today.  Earlier in the afternoon I remembered Hope chasing our new ninja kitty through the house.  I have to constantly remind her to be gentle and not carry him around so much. 

Pumpkin however is getting wiser by the day and now uses his lightening quick reflexes to try and allude her smothering hands.

After about 15 minutes of Cat and Mouse Hope (although to be honest she was the Cat in this scenario), Hope came up to me and informed me that she had lost ‘Pumpkin’.

We couldn’t find the little fur ball anywhere and I was starting to panic.  Imagining Hope had accidently off’d the poor creature wasn’t out of the realm of my imagination.  My kids have unintentionally shorted the lives of many a family pet.  Like rocks through fish tanks (air-drowned fish), forgetting to close the hamster cage door (starved escaped hamster), and one poor kitty that got flown into a wall by a nameless three year old boy (The kitty didn’t survived the crash). 

So seeing my kid’s unintentional track record with animals I was more than a little freaked out.  Because we all love Pumpkin. 

Needless to say, we  tore the house apart looking for the little guy.  I was ready to call a duct cleaning guy and have him come fish a kitty out of the air vents under the bathroom counter, Yes, I was that desperate to find the little creature.

Three hours later, Pumpkin saunters around the corner, pauses to stop stretch and yawn, then jumps up into my lap like nothing ever happened.

The sly little ninja kitty had successfully secluded himself in a secret location somewhere in the craft room.  I take that as a hint it’s become cluttered again. 

Sneaky little fur ball.

On my clutter quest I did clean off this.

And after thrifting a few more items it became this.

Sorry about the glare.

Wasn’t it the other day that I just posted that there were 100 days until Christmas.   Imagine then my shock when I saw this today…

No way is it half way here and I find myself in the predicament of only still needing to do 100 days worth of stuff.

I’m on it.

But today I’m Thankful that ‘Pumpkin – the Ninja Kitty’ didn’t meet it’s demise at the hands of Hope.  Whew!

Reminders

Can I just say that a couple of days on the couch being lazy recuperating and watching TV has opened my eyes to a couple of shows that I find motivational.  I haven’t ever seen the show ‘Clean House’  before but if there was ever a makeover reality show I could benefit from it would be that show.  Can someone please nominate me?  Please?  I promise I could supply some really nice before pictures.  Just ask Ethel?  She comes in weekly now to help me find the floor.

I’m sorry but when you can’t even walk through your garage because stuff is piled so high then you know you need help.  Granted the garage is the last place I will organize in my house – the last dumping ground.  The place of buried hobbies, memories, camping gear, rodent infested food storage crap.  I keep telling myself I’ll get there. 

Someday.

After I feel better.

So today I’m THANKFUL for reminders like ‘Clean House’, that help me remember that I don’t always want to be a Pack Rat Hoarding Hippo.  So not only did it remind me and motivate me but I moved my achy phlegm filled body (sorry I know you didn’t need that visual) and actually did something about it.

No I didn’t tackle my whole house, or even an entire room,  forget about even a single closet.  I tackled the entry way table.  You know because if people see my immaculate entry way and front room then they won’t be clued into the the clutter monster lurking within.

And no I didn’t move the mess elsewhere.  I thrifted a couple of things, overflowed my recycling bin and put the other items in their proper place and…

Tomorrow I think I’ll watch another episode of ‘Clean House’ and then I’ll attack the entry bookshelf.

Baby steps.  Baby steps.  I’ll get there.  Meanwhile I’m Thankful for Reminders.

Thankful to do Nothing

So I’ve been a bit under the weather for a couple of days.  And today I did absolutely nothing but lay around, read magazines, and sip spiced hot cider.  Even though it stinks to be sick, it’s a little nice to have a good excuse to by lazy.  Took pictures, but misplaced my camera.  And I was so looking forward to sharing some of that spiced hot cider with you.  So I’m thankful for a lazy day.

Now I’ll be even more thankful if this cough leaves me soon.  

Sunrise even in a Storm

I realize that my blogging has suffered dramatically because of the Unblogable.  And as it dominates the majority of my life it’s hard to think of other blog topics.  But I don’t want to lose touch with all my wonderful blogger friends and family.  So I’m committed to posting a Thankful thought with you every day of November.

This morning as I was taking my oldest down to catch the commuter bus to his work I stopped dead in the driveway and then dashed back into the house to grab the camera.  These pictures don’t do the colorful beauty of a morning sky the justice it deserves.  But the brilliant pink and peach hues reached halfway across the entire skyline.

Normally the saying goes… ‘pink skies in morning mean sailors take warning’.  A storms a brewing.  But since it seems we are already in the mist of a storm, I found such beauty in the stillness and marvelous beauty strewed across the heavens.

The light of hopes springs eternal.   So I’m thankful for a beautiful sunrise.  Yes there is beauty even in the midst of the storms of this life.

The Fuzzy Pumpkin

Well Halloween has come and gone and I’m sure a lot of those carved pumpkins have started growing fuzz or some moldy form or another.  We’ve a totally different type of pumpkin fuzz growing in our home.

It came from some of our angel benefactors that helped contribute to our sanity over the past few months.

Meet the newest member of the herd.

Introducing ‘Pumpkin’, our fuzzy new kitty.

Pumpkin has wrapped his little furry body around all of our heart strings very quickly.

 

Even Itchy is enamored.  I’m sure Itchy is still in shock that Pumpkin doesn’t hiss and swat like our last cat Spo0ky did.   And as an added bonus - their furry coats kind of match.

Pumpkin even allows Hope to carry him about like a rag doll without a bawl or bite. 

Even the boys have to take turns cuddling the little fur-ball.

 

Pumpkin’s a scooter too.  He has a lightening quick run which causes him to do some major slipping and sliding into walls.  I’m sure he will get used to our hardwood floors soon.   But it is quite comical to see him skating across the floor.

He as been dubbed ‘Pumpkin the Ninja Cat’, for his ability to scale walls, furniture and even water (we did try to bath him).  His super stealth reflexes were not diminished even after having his little talons clipped.    But he uses those reflexes only for good (our merriment).  I’m sure we will have to figure out how to teach him that scaling furniture may not be in his best interest when he is older and less adorable.

This year – no Halloween theme.  Even more sadly, I didn’t get around to repurposing costumes like I usually do.  I did spend less than $100 on costumes.  But sadly I did buy the girls theirs from mass marketed, poor quality will be guaranteed to rip apart after two wearings, party stores. Never again.  Overpriced pieces of junk.   I would have loved to have made them like in years past.  But it wasn’t to be this year.  Princess went as Silvermist the Fairy,  Lea was a Candy Corn Witch and Hope was Sleeping Beauty.

They were escorted around town Trick or Treating by a Beardless Prince Erik.  And that little Santa belly was really a fanny pack holding all valuables and a few extra treats.

 

Sadly I didn’t monitor the candy intake and by the end of the night the girls were in desperate need of a sugar de-tox.

The boys costumes were less imaginative and really simply.  Orange shirts that read, ‘My Tee-shirt beats your costume anytime’.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  Bring on my Thankful month.

Today.  I’m thankful Halloween is over.  Whew!