Fleas. On the upside, the mysterious bumps all over my legs that Dr. Google had me convinced was some horrific auto-immune disease are suddenly much less concerning.
Sometimes I'm not really sure that pet ownership is worth all the headaches.
On Friday night, I woke up at 5 am or some awful hour like that to the cat door (which I had forgotten to close) slamming and then yeowling. The kind of yeowling that our cats make when chasing a mouse. In my sleep-deprived fog, I tried to convince myself that I was dreaming but then I heard the pouncing and scurrying and forced myself to turn on the lights.
Yep, there was Lazy Cat was chasing a mouse around my bedroom floor. I woke M up, went to find the gloves, came back and he had lost the mouse. Lost. The mouse. In the house. Lazy Cat thought she knew where it was but when we looked where she had staked out, she too had lost the mouse. M climbed back into bed and went to sleep, and I lay awake listening for sounds of the mouse and fuming about husbands and cats who don't understand the issue I have with mice running around my house.
By the morning, still no sign of the mouse. I tried to mouse-proof the bedrooms, putting all the stuffed animals and such up high so no nice nests could be made, and headed off to buy some mouse traps. Thankfully by the time I returned home with the kids from school, Lazy Cat had reacquired the mouse and done her job, unlike Dumb Cat a few weeks ago.
I should really close the cat door down for good. But the number of times a day I am forced to open and close the back door if the cat door is closed is just painful. Grrrr.
I never discovered what Dumb Cat was after the other night. Eventually he gave up his prowl and began whining for more food, and that was that. But as M and I were watching Sea Biscuit last night (we're only a few years behind in movies), we heard a scratching at the now sealed cat door. "Dumb Cat" we said as we rolled out eyes, and then noticed that Dumb Cat was accounted for on the chair. M headed over to the cat door mumbling "It isn't the NEIGHBOR cat, is it?"
But, indeed, it was. There the cat sat, scratching at the door asking to come in to a house that was not his. M wanted to open the door so he could pet the cat (who's the softy here, huh?) while asking if the cat was nice. "How would I know? I've been mean to it. I don't want another cat thank you very little," I replied. Then M started wondering if it had a home. "Maybe it's a stray?" "That cat is too fat to be a stray," I insisted. Eventually, I went to the door and gave it "Mommy Angry Face" and it took off.
But this morning when I woke up, it was sitting on our porch furniture. You don't REALLY think this is a stray cat, do you? I mean, it is FAT. Not quite as fat as Lazy Cat, but much fatter than I would expect from a stray....
I am NOT getting involved with this cat. I am just not.
Dumb Cat is currently growling and flicking his tail in a very focused manner in the middle of the family room. Clearly he is hunting something. I am just very unclear what it is that he is hunting. And it makes me a bit nervous. After the mouse incident, and then the visiting cat hubbub, can you blame me? Now Lazy Cat is in on the action, but I am unclear on whether that is because she is curious as to what Dumb Cat sees, or whether I am missing the giant rabbit in the room somehow.
One of the major perks of our new house is the cat door that is built into the sun porch. For the past few months, I have not had to let a cat in or out of the door, there have been no flying objects launching themselves against the windows, no loud bangs on the doors, no howls in the middle of the night when someone hasn't realized that bedtime had arrived for the human residents of the household. So when I was awoken by cat noises in the middle of the night, I was a bit confused for a few minutes.
I finally decided that the cats were bickering about the cozy spot on top of the heating vent downstairs and got up to investigate, only to realize that one of the cats was snoring away at the foot of the bed. More confusion clouded my already foggy brain. If Lazy Cat was asleep on the bed, what on EARTH was Dumb Cat DOING? Finally it clicked in, clearly another cat had found the entrance to our home through the miraculous cat door. As I raced downstairs, I did indeed hear the telltale thwank of the cat door swinging after someone had gone through it. And I found Dumb Cat pacing back and forth, staring at the swinging cat door.
I headed back upstairs and explained what had happened to M. "Well, you closed the cat door, right?" he asked. "Really? You think I have to do that?" I replied sadly. Silence. "Right. OK." So, with a heavy heart, I closed the cat door. I was so nice while it lasted. On the upside, I now know why the cats have been peeing around the house, and why we have been going through outrageous quantities of cat food. On the downside, I was interrupted five times while tying this to let a cat in or out.
Once we sell the other house, we are SO getting one of these....
Rebecca put me to shame, giving everyone a virtual tour of her home long after I promised pics of our house. And since y'all lived through the move with me, and Rebecca and family have never seen the new homestead with furniture, I thought I would finally get around to them.
I'll skip the entry as that was covered in the previous photo tour.* It hasn't changed much, the dry clean only covers are still on the benches, and probably will stay there until they get so gross that I cave and make some more practical ones. I did get most of the tools moved down te basement though.
So from the entry, you can go straight up the stairs...
(note the coat closet the size of a pea and the banister that M installed over the summer), left into the living room or right into the dining room. We'll go right into the dining room so everyone can oooh and ahh over the paint job.
Oooh, ahh. It doesn't match the rug as well as I thought (the rug picture didn't come out) but I'm not going to repaint it anytime soon. Maybe the rug will fade now that it sees the light of day.
But enough about the paint, let's continue on to the kitchen, which is through a door to the left of the dining room table.
Lots and lots of white cabinets. Great for storage, not so great for keeping free of paint, mud, and food fingerprints and smudges.
There is a lot of stuff on the counters. I know. But I can't quite seem to get the kitchen organized right. I think I just have to take everything out and start all over again in the organization department (M is rolling his eyes right now).
And look, the kitchen table did fit! As you can see, C and A are in the middle of making a castle out of tin foil and paper. Because we are all about castles now that Julia and Evan live near the queen. Off to the right there, you can see the door to M's office...
and proof that my husband does indeed love me.
Bookshelves! In the kitchen! For my cookbooks! I've chosen to ignore the fact that the only reason they got put up was because he didn't want the cookbooks in his office. It was because he loves me I tell you. But I digress...
Behind the kitchen table is what we choose to call the odd place.
We have no idea why it is there, since the family room is not even two steps away. For now, it is the train room. If anyone else has any suggestions on what we can do with it once the train stage is over, I'm all ears. The angle looks a little odd because I am standing at the top of two steps that lead down into the room.
Speaking of the family room, here it is. The picture is taken from the top of the stairs to the odd space. Just so you know how close we are talking here.
Do you see the sunlight? Do you see it? Do you see how happy all this sun makes me? Happy happy happy. So happy that I only yelled for a little bit right now when C decided to cut a hole in the only pair of sweatpants that still fit him. Hmm, I wonder where I put that Carter's Outlet coupon....
Anyway, here is the chair in which I blog and knit.
Lazy cat is snoozing on top. It seems to be her favorite place to sleep in this house. So as I type there are generally kitty snores and purrs in my ear. It makes knitting a bit challenging though, as she likes to bat at the yarn.
Finally, to complete our tour, the living room, shot from the family room. If you look closely, you can see dumb cat snoozing. Clearly not catching mice. The diet hasn't worked out so well.
The living room is the dumping ground for everything that hasn't found a home. And very dark because all of the lights are still over at the old house lighting that in hopes that someone buys it. So if you are coming anytime soon (or not so soon, let's be realistic here) don't expect to sit in the living room, 'kay?
Next week we'll head upstairs, much less exciting. Bedrooms. A small hallway. A pink bathroom.
*And if you check out the photo tour, you can see where all the furniture was in the the old house. Fun fun and more fun for all those interior decorators out there who are rolling their eyes right now and saying "NO! Don't put the couch against the wall! It's rule number one!" But where else are you supposed to put them?
This morning during breakfast, a little gray furry thing ran across my floor. "A mouse! A mouse! There is a mouse in my house!" I squeaked as I jumped out of my chair and ran to the other room. Nana yelled at me not to impart my fear of small rodents onto my children, and M suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to get those mouse traps we had talked about last week.
I quickly raced upstairs to get Dumb Cat, who was snoozing upstairs after a hard night prowling the neighborhood. Upon being presented with an easy snack, Dumb Cat looked at the mouse, looked at us, and tried to head back to bed. We pointed him at the mouse again, and you could see the big sigh as he half heartedly launched himself towards the mouse. As the mouse took off, Dumb Cat sat and watched. M and Grampa S finally corralled both cat and mouse in a small room, and Dumb Cat spent a few minutes putting on a show and then decided to take a bath and head back to bed. Lazy Cat never even bothered to move from her sunny spot. Grampa S finally had to do the deed and put "Mouskins" out of his misery.
My cats are clearly getting spoiled and old. Next week I am putting Dumb Cat on a diet in hopes of stimulating his hunting instincts. If I am going to spend my day letting him in and out of the house, the least he can do is take care of the rodent population.
Gwynnethe over at one of my new reads tagged me for this one. And since it is T-minus 36 hours to the move, a meme is about the right speed for me! I have a vague suspicion that I still own someone else a meme, if it is you, let me know and I'll jump right to it! Not that I am procastinating or anything...
1. What is your occupation? CHO (Chief Home Officer) in case you haven't bothered to read my profile..
2. What color are your socks right now? Black, grey and aqua stripped. I like funky socks since I spend most of my day shoeless.
3. What are you listening to right now? A calling me from the top of the stairs "IS quiet time OVER yet? HELLO?? HEL-LO?" Oh, and Blues Too Much by the John Mehegan Trio.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? A Veggie Delite sandwich from Subway. Today was A and my girl's lunch out since C ate at school.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? It is my preferred mode of transportation. Although right now I drive an automatic.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Brown. Plain old brown.
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My real estate agent. And no, she had no good news for me.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? One of my new blog finds! So far so good!
9. How old are you today? 34 years, 10 months.
10. Favorite drink? caffeine Free Diet Coke
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? I don't tend to watch sports. At all. I guess college football, but only if it involves a lazy afternoon on the couch with nachos and a nap.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Um, I have no idea what my real color is. Really.
13. Pets? Two cats, Millie and the General (otherwise known as Lazy Cat and Dumb Cat).
14. Favorite food? Ohh, tough one. I would have to go with sushi. Closely followed by a frozen pizza.
15. What was the last movie you watched? Movie? What is this that you speak of? I think it was The Weatherman. At least that is the last one I stayed awake for...
16. What was the last book you read? Play Ball Amelia Bedelia. Oh, wait. You were talking about GROWNUP books? Umm, hold on. Oh! Right! Japanland. I highly, highly recommend.
17. What do you do to vent anger? I yell. Then I stomp my foot. Like a two year old. Yep.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Breyer horses. And paper dolls.
19. What is your favorite fall or spring? Fall
20. Hugs or kisses? Hugs.
21. Cherries or blueberries? Blueberries
22. Do you want your friends to email you back? With one exception, my friends don't email.
23. Living arrangements? Lost in a sea of boxes.
24. When was the last time you cried? I actually don't know. Sometime in the last few weeks, but it wasn't in the last few days at least. Now ask me when the last time I threw up my hands and exclaimed "I GIVE UP!" was...
25. What did you do last night? Ate a frozen pizza and packed boxes of random junk.
26. Favorite smells? Freshly cut grass. Bread in the oven.
27. What inspires you? I'm not one to be inspired, I must admit.
28. What are you afraid of? Dying before my kids are grownup.
29. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? I don't like hamburgers. If faced with no other options, a thin one smothered in cheese and burnt to a crisp. But generally I would prefer to starve.
30. Favorite dog breed? Great Pyranese.
31. Number of keys on your key ring? HA! Let's see. New house key, old house key. Garage door key. My car key, M's car key, key to my parent's house in Maine. Keys to my old office (from four years ago). Guess it is time to clean off my key chain, huh?
32. How many years at your current job? Four and a half.
33. Favorite day of the week? Friday
34. How many states have you lived in? Three. Six if you count family summer homes and every other weekend at my dad's growing up.
35. Favorite holidays? Groundhog Day. Really. That doesn't count as a holiday? Sure it does! In fact, the kids and I have decided to throw annual Groundhog Day parties. Because who doesn't like a good party in the middle of winter?
35. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Does a tractor count? I used to drive a tractor. And a pick up truck. Motorcycles scare me.
In lieu of a real post, here are some pictures of the old house (just in case anyone is inspired to move down the street from me and be my neighbor) and the new house.
Old sun porch, not a good pic really but I'm too lazy to go take another :-).
Old family room....
Old dining hallway...
New playroom...
New kitchen....already cluttered.
New backyard...
New mudroom, otherwise known as the whole reason we bought the house. Already being used to house items other than coats and boots.
And, a gratuitous photo of the fat lazy cat.
We have two cats, one who is smart but lazy, and one who is dumb but frantically active. The smart one rarely leaves the house, and if she does venture out the door she only heads to the nearest pool of sunlight and settles in for a little nap. The dumb on goes out in rain, sleet, and snow, and roams all around the neighborhood for hours on end. He has also turned out to be quite the hunter, and has brought down birds, chipmunks, and even a bunny once. We try to quickly dispose of his prey both to avoid the flies and the questions that are bound to arise from C and A about the fate of the poor woodland creatures.
Yesterday afternoon I looked out the window onto the back stoop, and there lay dumb cat in all his glory, surrounded by six very dead mice. I must have gasped, as C and A quickly arrived next to me and stared silently with hands pressed against the glass. Finally C spoke up.
"Mommy, those aren't real mice, are they?"
"Uh, they are sweetie. I think dumb cat got them."
"You mean killed them. He killed them."
"Yes, I think they are really, really dead."
Silence settled again as C processed this. Finally he spoke slowly.
"Mommy, none of them are Ralph, right? Dumb cat didn't get Ralph, right?"
"No, Ralph is just pretend C. He's a character in a book."
"Oh. OK. I think you should have a talk with dumb cat about his behavior. He can't go around killing mice and eating their tails. It's not very nice."
"I'll speak to him C."
"Thanks mom."
Last night as we were reading Runaway Ralph, C seemed to pay much more attention to Catso the cat then he had previously. And as Catso entered the craft shop to attempt to do in Ralph, C snuggled in closer and closer. When Casto was distracted by a watch, C visibly relaxed and gave a big sigh of relief.
"Mommy, I didn't understand what Catso was trying to do before. He wants to eat Ralph's tail so Ralph can't ride his motorcycle anymore."
"That's right C. Does that scare you?"
"No, because I know there is another Ralph book when we finish this one. But I'll be scared when we read that one."
I am always amazed at how his mind processes things.
