Cat Scratcher

Yes, we own a cat. A cat that was left behind and found a better life. A life in which he is constantly man handled by three small children. But a good life none the less. This cat scratches our furniture. Our furniture that has cream cheese, maple syrup, gold fish that have been chewed up and spit out, ground into the arms of the couch and the chair. This furniture that is just 5 years old. But this I can't handle. The scratching of the furniture. It just drives me insane. We yell at Kitty and try to thwart him at every chance. So when I was shopping last week for cat food etc., I found a cat scratcher. It was $4.99. Corrugated cardboard with cat nip sprinkled in. My friend at work had told me of a friend of hers who had trained her cat to scratch the cardboard. So I thought I would give it a try. But before I tested it out with Kitty I removed all the cat nip and placed it in a neat pouch for a later time.

Here is the deal, evidently you are supposed "push" the cat nip into the nooks and crannies so that the cat will want to go after it and hence scratch the cardboard. I placed it on the floor. Kitty went wild with the cat nip, I had never seen this before. It was hilarious! Then Baby picked up the card board and hurled it across the room. Note to self, "good choice to remove the "loose" cat nip before placing on floor." I put Kitty's paws on the cardboard and pressed down to reveal his claws. He bit me. Hmmmm...I made a few more feeble attempts, to no avail.

So the stupid cat scratcher is in the breeze way unused. The furniture continues to get trashed and Kitty continues to get yelled at. It is just like having another kid!

RIDICULOUS

I actually told Middle to shut up yesterday. Which then provided permission of sorts to Oldest to then say, "Yeah Mid shut up." Um, yeah. "Old don't say that. I am sorry Mid that was not nice of me to say. We don't say that to each other."

After the incident just described, this is what was going on inside my head.

Did you take your medicine today? check
How much are they going to hate me? undetermined
How much will I have to pay for therapy? undetermined
Just stop the whining!!! Maybe in a perfect world that does not include a 3 year old.

Here is a question
Have you ever seen a cat gallop?
I have. It usually happens when I need to leave for work and Kitty gallops back into the house like a horse, causing me to lunge after him. It is a lot of fun.

Still no title!!! Who do you need to know?!!

My post today is about friends. The kind of friends who are with you through good and bad and who never judge. The kind of friends that you can talk to after not talking to them in a long time and there is no awkward silence. My dad taught me long ago that you show up and I am so very grateful for that lesson.

I had not planned on attending the funeral of my best friend's grandfather. Upon leaving the wake last night I realized that regardless of the distance NOT being there was out of the question. So I called my mother-in-law to inquire if she could watch the kids, all of my work people, emailed all of my clients with whom I had appointments and am on my way to the funeral.

She has been my friend since we wore boxes on our head while working together at a grocery store 20 years ago. It is a long time. She is my rock, even in her most vulnerable moments, her voice is steady and her reason sound. Her humor beyond description and her love for her family deep. So I will go and be with her today because she is my friend.

I need a longer commute.

I have not forgotten about the cat scratcher.

I still can't type a title.

Evidently I can't type in a title. Hmmm...

Evidently I can't type in a title. Hmmm...

So I will put my own in. Hmphf, Blogger I'll show YOU!
There, I told them, didn't I???

Ok, so Tiff left me a couple of comments and I "ran" right over to her sight to check out the latest. While doing so, two of the three were eating breakfast. Breakfast of the oatmeal variety. You must remember, because I did not, that I have a 22 month old, also know as Baby. The two out of the three who were eating breakfast? Oldest and Baby. You must also know that no one in our house can eat breakfast without being dressed. Can you see where this is going? I hear the crash of a bowl being catapulted into the sink and I am brought back to reality. I pad into the kitchen and I am slapped with reality. WHO GIVES A SUPER TODDLER ACCESS TO OATMEAL UNSUPERVISED! Slap hand on forehead. Seriously. I had to change his entire outfit. And wipe off the furniture and hose down the table and bench. That stuff dries to some serious, hard to get off, cement.

Remind me to tell you about the "cat scratcher."

Love them kids!

Revolving door

The door upstairs has been opened and closed a gazillion times sending them upstairs for time outs. So far Oldest has had one time out. Middle has had 3 time outs and Baby has screamed incessantly. This was the only peaceful moment thus far.

Oh, I see, spell check works and now I can't upload a picture. WTF???

Best friend's grandfather died. She called me last night to tell me that he was dying. When she called, this morning, to tell me the sad news, King Daddy offered to cancel his plans so I could go be with her. I don't really need to gush about what a fabulous man I am married to, because that speaks for itself. Wouldn't you agree?

Have you ever had an overwhelming urge to swing a sledgehammer?

See this porch? Everyday when I leave the house all I want to do is grab the sledge hammer. King Daddy will hopefully be redoing the porch this summer and I. cannot. wait. I don't think you understand. When we bought our house this porch was enclosed, we took down the windows. FOUR years ago. I know myself well enough to know that, scratch that...King Daddy knows me well enough to know that I should not take a sledge hammer to the porch because if I did it would look worse than it does now. So I wait. And wait. And wait. Maybe this summer will be the summer of the sledgehammer!

Uh, um, er, mmmmm...

I got nothing.

Well, maybe I have a naked BOY!

Someone got a hair cut

Before = Scraggle Muffin, through no fault of her own.

After= A darling Pixie!! Who is clearly uncooperative in the taking of this picture.

He needs a hair cut. Or a trip to the shrink for his obsession (yes those are Cars jammies and Cars slippers) and tendency to mimic the cat.

He has never had a red hair cut on that little head and look how he fits in the basket!

Amour

We learn about love from our parents. The unfortunate ones must relearn what real love is. Love is complex in its simplicity and elegance. Its form can take on hard work and money for the bills or a compliment. Some days it is a simple hug. Other times it is a bouquet of the most exquisite flowers. Love can seem as insignificant as a phone call just to check in.

Love is saying I do and knowing you mean it, for life. It is showing your partner they deserve the best. Love is trusting that he will always be there, no matter what you throw at him. Love is working on your relationship, even when you would rather avoid the ugliness. It is saying you are sorry when you know you are wrong. It is letting go of past hurts. Love is butterflies in your stomach.

Love is a new born baby. It is getting up in the middle of the night when you think you can’t possibly sleep any less. It is nursing even when your toes curl at the sound of her cry. It is ensuring that they get the best that life has to offer. It is a home where they are free to be them. They are free to feel and express themselves. It is a home where their parents openly express their love for one another, themselves and their children. It is a haven. Love is showing up to life and participating in your children’s life.

Love is your child looking deep into your eyes. Love is knowing the reflection is a magnitude of love that takes your breath away. It is being your children’s hero just because you are their mother. Love is pulling your child in closer when they are throwing up and worrying only if they are ok, not if your clothes are ruined. Love is holding it together for your family. Love is the understanding of the power that you wield as a parent, that your words can harm or change the course of their lives. Love is knowing that just being you is enough in their eyes.

Love is action. It is true acceptance of ones self. It is the ability to self examine, brutally and honestly. It is the ability to make change, to work on oneself to enrich the lives of your loved ones and yourself. Love is knowing your strengths and weakness, and when to bow out and when to soldier on. It is knowing when to say yes and when to say no. Love can make you hurt in your soul and can make a horrible voice sound melodious. Love is kindness without expectation.

Love is laughing hysterically with your siblings in a way that you can’t laugh with anyone else. Love is knowing exactly how your sibling will react in a situation, because you would do the same thing. It is knowing that the sibling relationship is the longest in one’s life. Love is celebrating the triumphs of life with your sister and crying with her when her heart is broken. It is celebrating your brother’s new baby and mourning the loss of his dog. Love is sharing all the things your father taught you before he has major surgery. It is sending flowers to your mom because you know it would make her day.

Love is boundless and endless in its most unconditional form. Love is having faith that everything will work out in the end, just as it should. It is the most powerful force in all the universe.

This post was written as a submission for the February Write-Away Contest over at Scribbit, on the topic of ‘Love’.

Will she be a photographer?

Today she took a few precious pictures and I thought I would post them for your comment. I think you will find that they are really quite good. She has an eye for angles.

See what I mean? It is great.

Whoa the talent!

The continuity of composition is ingenius!

BRILLIANT! (disregard the unvaccummed rug)

A new subject! Kitty! Her obsession.

But note the talent here, she took this from inside the house. AMAZING!

A close up. WOW, raw talent people, raw talent!

Blogger just had a major malfunction and I am unable to upload the last photo in this series. It is an action shot of Kitty getting ready to launch into the lap of Queen Mommy, the ultimate safe haven, to escape the paparazzi.

It is a rainy Monday

and it feels like a Sunday as we are off from work. We are still in our jammies being cozy.

It is a great day to receive Bloggy Bling. And Tiff at My Three Ring Circus has presented me with some Bloggy Bling and I am honored.

If you have never checked out Tiff you should. She is Down Under and has a lot of cool things to say. She loves her children fiercely and is in a battle with her Pediatrician to uncover an ominus condition in one of her two year old twins, Ivy. Stop on by and check her out. She is amazing!!

Thanks Tiff and right back at ya!!!

Clean sheets and garden planning

I washed our sheets yesterday. There is nothing like clean sheets. I remember reading somewhere that Oprah feels the same way and has clean sheets put on her bed every 3rd day. Pure luxury! We go a little longer than that, more like three months. HA!

So my garden planning has begun. This house was a rental for 15 years and the yard has great potential. So it is time for my fanatasizing of what I would like the yard to be. There is a great perennial garden, which I have expanded on, but much more needs to be done. We had to take down a 100 year old sugar maple in the front of the house which leaves a gapping hole. I have planted some low growing ever greens and it looks nice, but it needs more. I removed the Yucca plants out front, which by the way, are one of the most difficult plants to get rid of and I am still fighting the good fight. Last summer I started a new garden, but I didn't finish it. I had to dig down about 8 inches and discard the dirt. The dirt was sterile and contained rusty nails and broken pieces of plates, degraded wood, moss and broken pieces of cement. A lot of work. Anyway, I have big plans for this little garden.

Some of the plants I will be putting in this year are Lime Light Hydrangeas, Hostas, Endless Bloom Hydrangeas, perhaps some Forsythias and a Dogwood Tree. There are a whole host of other plants that I will be planting, but I don't know the name of them. I do know that I will be putting in some lilac bushes as well, an arbor out front along the walk way and a fence that is attached to our light post.

In addition we have an area of the yard that is unusable currently, it is overgrown with weeds, gets mostly shade and has standing water when it rains hard, for days. I am going to reclaim it, put in a tether ball and a fire pit so we can roast marsh mallows.

So as you can see there needs to be a lot of planning. Oh and a lot of money too. One thing at a time and planning helps me take it in stages.

Think green! Spring will be here before we know it!!

And life goes on

I met him at my brother's wedding in 1995. He was the most down to earth, friendly, generous, humorous man I had the pleasure of calling family. He was a father of four beautiful children. He was the husband to a wonderful woman. They started out young and had faith deeper than most I know. He sang in a Barbershop Quartet. He bowled. He worked hard. He loved his family fiercely. He was my brother's brother in law. Despite the convoluted distant relation, he made our family part of his family.

In 1996 I moved accross country and stopped at their house to spend the night. We were family. We talked and broke bread together and laughed. They stood in their driveway and saw us off on our great adventure. They visited in the summer of 2001. I took them on a tour of Boston. We walked the freedom trail. Ate in the North End. They returned in the fall of 2001 to come to our wedding, sans children. It was special to have them there with us, it made our family complete. In 2002 my sister moved home from the West Coast, they stopped at their house. This summer my brother and his family moved back to Boston. They stopped at his house.

He celebrated his sister's and her family's wonderful move back to Boston. A few weeks ago he visited here, to see the new house, to visit with our family. My children were sick, we didn't see him.

This man, this wonderful man who impacted so many peoples lives, died in his sleep last night. He is free from pain. He is free from his long illness. I weep not because he is gone, but because his children and wife will miss him. I weep for them and their sadness. He I celebrate. He is with his God and is free. He is restored. He is reborn.

Thank you for being a part of our life. We will miss you.

Author's note: Here is the link for his website. Prior to his death he was on the transplant list for a kidney. Please make sure you are an organ donor.

It is all about

SPEED

The obsession

The layers

The hat

The Valentine's Day party at school, the red heart dress and the performance

The mess

Follow up

Seriously, it makes me laugh out loud to use webdings. It is SO FUNNY! And Anonymous is mostly right. I did say a simple I love you will suffice.

And that post garnered the most comments out of ANY post on here! 5 is still meager, but I will take it!!

Still laughing out loud. I am ridicuously silly or insane. The verdict is still out.

Valentine's Day

Personally, I think this is the dumbest holiday ever. If you are single, this holiday is crushing. If you are couple, it causes so much angst due to the hyped up media attention and we are ultimately disappointed. Unless of course you are married to a wonderfully thoughtful partner. That is not to say that I am not married to a wonderfully thoughtful man, it's just that this holiday is a total scam. And I ain't buying. Neither is he.

I simple love you will suffice and I get that every day. Hugs and loves from and to the kids today and everyday.

Happy Valentine's.

A frugal Valentine idea

Over at Money Saving Mom we are listing frugal Valentine ideas. I was speaking to a colleague this morning and she shared this with me.

Spray paint red hearts on the snow in your yard.

This is my kind of Valentine, however, I don't care all that much, so a simple I Love You will do. And best of all? It is free!

Crossing worked

King Daddy received an email last night from the prospective clients. They were thrilled to meet with him last week and would like to proceed with the project. More importantly they asked how much money he would like them to give him as a down payment! YEAH!!!

Thank all of your for your good vibes and finger crossing!

But his exact words, last night, after sharing this good news was, "shit, now I have to do all the work!"

Loss

She might judge me as she has struggled with fertility and I have not. She waited and prayed and went to doctors to help her, perhaps she sought homeopathic remedies. She got pregnant and waited to share her news with everyone. She waited 12 weeks because that is the safe time to share the news, the danger of miscarriage would soon be over. I imagine she was bursting with excitement; the excitement that she and her husband shared between them and only them, life, growing inside of her, the Amazing Secret. Her clothes were beginning to tighten; her slim waist began to thicken as the Amazing Secret gave itself away. She began to glow and people whisphered as she walked past, noticing her glow. She would be a mother and the Amazing Secret told the world. Her dreams had long been filled with laughter of her baby. Her life would be consumed with mothering this child. It has been her dream for so long. And now she was on the verge, closer than she had ever come before. There had been too many negative pregnancy tests to count. Always the definitive period demonstrating the inability of her body to host. Not this time, this time it is happening. The weeks pass by and the tests results are positive. She begins to feel the fluttering of butterflies in her belly. Is that my baby, she wonders? She and her husband prepare to “meet” their baby via ultra sound.

The baby looks like an alien being, riding in a cozy, warm space shuttle. She is comforted seeing her baby, ten fingers and toes, beating heart. They return home, after studying the pictures on the ride home, they proudly display the pictures on the refrigerator. It is only after they burned the images in their minds, that they learn something is wrong.

The pain she must feel the feeling of being robbed. The sheer horror of the cruelness of this loss is beyond words. I have not experienced the loss that she has. But my heart hurts for her and my eyes tear for her. I cannot identify with the feelings I can only empathize with her. From a mother to a mother, woman to woman, although her baby was not born nor said his first words, she is still a mother. The magnitude and depth of her vulnerability and rawness is evidenced by her blankness. She hurts. No words can comfort her. This is a pain that only she can bear and only she can claim victory over. I can only imagine the overwhelming feelings of this loss. The baby so wanted and so longed for.

Does she feel like her body has betrayed her and her desire, her heartfelt desire, to become a mother? Her body did betray her, but faith will prevail. His plans are far greater than that which we see before us. It does not negate her pain, nor does it mitigate her hatred of her body. So we will pray, each night, my children and I, we will pray for her. We will pray that her heart will heal from this unspeakable loss.

The history of the cat

Yesterday we learned the history of the cat. King Daddy was out with the kids and of course Kitty was one step behind the group. The kids were sledding down our 'hill' into the driveway and a guy across the street saw the cat. He came over and spoke to the family.

The cat used to belong to a family that had three kids. They lived in the house across the street, a rental property and they had to move. The cat, whose name was TJ, was basically left behind. He was supposed to become a barn cat. He is a year old and has always been an indoor cat. The guy said that TJ is very good with kids and is house trained.

I have a few issues with the whole story. First and foremost this cat has not been neutered, although our finances are bleak, it is in the plan to have him, uh, well neutered as well as generally checked out by a vet. Secondly, how do you make a cat become a barn cat? This cat did initially move into our barn, but it clearly prefers to be in the house. It is the neediest friggin' cat I have ever seen. I thought cats were supposed to be aloof and independent. Not this one, he follows us everywhere. He would sleep in my bed if he were allowed upstairs, but no such luck Kitty. Thirdly, how can you just leave a cat behind, or any creature for that matter? I am not a huge cat fan, never have been, but come on? I don't get it. There are plenty of places to bring a cat for someone to take care of it. And lastly, I don't feel so guilty about never putting up FOUND posters around town.

But I must say this cat chose very well, we feed probably too much, he has fattened up nicely. He is a love. He will be with us for a long time. We will take good care of him!




Baby is ready to throw his bottle and he doesn't move.

Keep your fingers crossed people

I beg you to keep your fingers crossed, please! Don't ask impertinent questions, just cross those fingers!!!

Ok, King Daddy just put together a bid on a job that sure would help us with that bleakness, so just keep your fingers crossed! Really, go look at his work, wouldn't you hire him? Jeez, the man is talented and reasonably priced, I might add!

Cross 'em NOW!

It may be life changing but I never said it was fast

We had a date tonight. A date at Border's, with our lap top and a spreadsheet that King Daddy put together will all of our outstanding bills. It looks bleak. It won't always look bleak. In fact we are just two months away from better than bleak. But it still sucks to know that you may be make more money that you ever have in your enitre adult life and it isn't good enough.
It isn't good enough right now, but in six months, we will have a savings account, with money in the bank! We are taking control of our money, together. In the past I had been dealing with the finances. Somewhere along the way I let everything slide. It must have been those really really bleak days last summer.
We have a game plan and our marching orders. So look out bleakness, here we come!

It's really happening

Here is the email from my manager announcing my conversion to a full time employee. I did not, however, include the horrifying picture that accompanied the email.

The Nut House team is excited to announce that on Monday, February 11th, Queen Mommy will convert to a full-time ACME employee. As you may know, Queen Mommy joined ACME in August of 2007 as a Nut Bag in the Nut House. Her initial role was to fill a Nut House team member’s maternity leave. She quickly proved to be a valuable member of the Nut House team and, despite her original assignment being completed, she has remained in her role and is a welcome team player within the Nut House.

During her tenure at ACME, Queen Mommy assumed a full book of consulting business from day one at ACME. In addition, Queen Mommy has traveled to Florida to meet the Super Client for their Nut kick off meeting and is currently managing the Project of All Projects for SDC (Super Duper Client) as Nut Bag and Head Nut Project Manager.

Prior to joining ACME, Queen Mommy spent five years as a psuedo Nut Bag in the Nut practice of a Self Important Company. Her role as a pseudo Nut Bag enabled her to gain significance experience in all aspects of Nut administration.

Queen Mommy has completed N.U.T.S coursework, received her Bachelor of Science degree from Seldom Straight College and has completed graduate classes at Marvard and Southern Nutville University.

CELEBRATION

I signed my offer letter at 4:17 p.m. today! Life changing, people. Life changing!

I'm late, I'm late, well not really, but sort of...

Internet was down at home last night. So I wrote my entry in my head before I went to bed, so I wouldn't be disqualified from Blog365...

If it is Wednesday night for me, it is Thursday morning for you. I have been unable to stop thinking of you and Ivy(www.threeringcircus.com). I hope that today goes as well as one can hope under the dreadful circumstances. Prayers and love abound!

A wise decision?

I am not all that sure. My eyes are watering and my throat is burning. I am not sure it was the best decision to set the oven to self cleaning while the kids were awake. However, in the 4 years I have owned this oven, I, well, I, ahem, haven't done it before. I know, I know. You think I am disgusting. And that may very well be, but judge not lest you be judged. Why tonight did I do it? Who knows, not only am I disgusting, I am crazy.

So not only did I say I was going to post my resume, I did post my resume. And lo and behold the paper work has been sent to the proper people to make my tranistion to full-time employee happen. Much progress. I am so pleased. Despite the issues at my current job, the people are great and it can't be beat in terms of relative geographic location to my home.

Today is Super Tuesday. Massachusetts is one of the states in which there is a primary today. I was a little surprised at the lack of notifcation that came along with this most historic day. But I did vote. King Daddy did not, his paper work is still hanging on the refridgerator. Hopefully it will be filed by the time election day rolls around.

Such randomness. This is the story of my life. Random. Completely random.

Seriously, it is one of those days

The Pats lost - it was dismal.
My underwear is on backwards.
Work was busy busy busy.
Good news though - they found the money to pay the fee. Full time status to follow shortly. I will keep you posted.

Need I say more?

This is strictly obligatory

It is not yet 7 a.m. I have lots of things I want to write about. But the children are about. So I am merely posting to honor my committment to Blog 365. More later or not.

Go PATS!!

I searched Monster.com last night and found a wonderful opportunity, I submitted my resume for consideration. Keep your fingers crossed!

And so it has come to this.

My contracting gig is supposed to hire me fulltime. However, there is the little matter of a fee that they need to pay to the agency who brought me to them. Makes sense. Presumably I am not the first person to be brought into the company via this avenue. Hmmm. Let's see...cut the check and hire me up. I am in the budget for a full time position with the salary that had been requested. So, uh, pay the fee. We are not talking a large sum of money to a multi million dollar company. Pay the fee. Um, what? You can't find the fee amongst your budget, hmmmm, well then we have a situation.

I will be posting my resume this evening.