Happy Birthday Erica

Twenty some odd years ago, on this day, at 6:13 in the evening (its funny how mothers remember this kind of thing), my most amazing daughter was born. And although Erica is considering this a "non-birthday" (she is NOT old enough to warrant that, but I am humoring her), and I am trying NOT to gush about just how wonderful she is, I still am going to broadcast to the world that this is the day that my first child, my only daughter was born. It's important and I can't remain silent.

So, Happy NON Birthday beloved daughter of mine. I wish you a wonderful one. I hope you had a good time with your friends last night, and that your weekend was a whole lot of fun. I wish I was there, baking or buying you a cake and all. But I'm not, and I can't be, so....I am sending my well wishes by mail, email, blog and phone (yeah, I know its a lot of venues, but even all of that can't make up for not actually seeing her today). I love you. We love you. And now I am tearing up, so I am going to leave it at that. Call you later today!

Crazy Cat Lady

I was out on my route today, rearranging some stuff in my car. It was way out in the country, and there were woods beside the road. I heard this loud meowing like a cat was in distress. I walked over to the edge of the woods to try to see, but it was too overgrown and I couldn't see a thing. I actually did drive off, but got just a little ways down the road and decided that something back there needed help and I couldn't live with myself for not at least trying. Where would our Vixen be if Bruce had just driven by and not saved her? Bruce called me at that exact moment, not very far away, and when he heard that I was determined to go back and find this cat he drove on over to help me.

When I got back to that spot the cat had come out of the woods and was wandering on the side of the road, still crying like crazy. She came up to me the second that I got out of my car, so pitiful and thin. Bruce drove up a second later, and it didn't take us long to make the decision to get involved. We just can NOT turn our backs on an animal in need. And this kitty desperately needed somebody.

Feline aids is a contagious disease that our vet has warned us about. You should never let strange cats have contact with your own cat until it is tested. So Bruce took the kitty home, and set her up in the bathroom, away from Omen and Vixen. She was so hungry. I called the vet and got an appointment right away...and the good news is that she is healthy. They tested her for feline aids...which was negative. She is just way too thin like she has been starving for quite a while. Also? She is VERY pregnant. The vet did an ultra-sound and saw at least 2 babies. Maybe 3, but it will be a small litter. Which is a good thing because this is a tiny little cat.
She is somewhere between 6 and 8 months old. Just a baby, herself.

Anyway, so here we are. Technically I didn't just bring home 1 cat...its more like 3 or 4. But whatever. She is so sweet and so calm. She let the vet hold her and she purred while all of the techs passed her around and oooohed and ahhhed over how cute and good she was. We think....and I KNOW this is crazy...but we are thinking of keeping her. She already has a name: Sam or technically Samantha, but that is too big of a name for such a little cat. Right now the plan is to get her through this pregnancy, find good homes for the babies when the time comes. And then have Sam fixed so this never happens again. Our other cats are not amused. Omen doesn't really care so much but Vixen is pretty ticked off. She hasn't seen the new kitty yet, but she knows something is in that bathroom. The vet asked us to keep her secluded for at least a week because beyond the feline aids, she could possibly have a respiratory infection that might be contagious. She has NO signs or symptoms of that, but if she caught it as late as today, it would manifest within a week...so if she is still healthy a week from now we are good to go ahead and try to socialize her into the cat clan. It won't be easy....not with Vixen but we did it once with Omen, so I KNOW its doable.

Anyway, so there we are. 3 cats now. Its so crazy, I know...but I can't help it. This is no feral cat. She is too social for that. Somebody, somewhere dumped that little cat out there to fend for herself. Probably because she was pregnant. I have NO use for somebody that cold-hearted. I hope karma does its thing.

Laws of Nature....

There are certain immutable laws of nature. Over the course of my life, I have discovered some of them on my own. In fact, I could write a whole book of them if I had the time. But right now, I can't even find the time to work in a hair appointment, so I am just going to briefly outline a few of these.

Did you know:

-That red-based sauces of any kind (salsa, marinara, barbeque, ketchup...etc) are magnetically drawn to the fibers of clothing, both natural and synthetic, so that if you eat it, you WILL wear it. Its inevitable,

-That there is a mysterious and undisclosed substance in mascara that automatically inflames nasal passages, even though you are applying it to your eyelashes. It is fast-acting and will induce sneezing instantly BEFORE the application to your lashes has a chance to dry. The result? Tiny little black dots all around the bottom rim of your eye. My theory is that cosmetic companies add this secret ingredient because the ensuing need to retouch/reapply foundation after removing the dots increases sales.

-That your level of exhaustion will have a direct effect on how many times your dog needs to go outside to the bathroom. Don't believe me? Then just trying keeping count.

-That the intensity of a headache in a public place will exponentially increase the number of screaming children in attendance.

-That the intensity of a headache in the privacy of your home will induce vomiting in pets. Or accidents on the carpet. Or turning over of dirt-filled potted plants....etc. It also increases a dog's need to bark.

-That an important event will trigger zippers to malfunction, buttons to rip off, and stockings to develop runs, usually within 15 minutes of so prior to departure. You can ask Erica to verify this one for you.

-That if you ever feel lonely and in need of company, all you have to do is put on your oldest, most disgusting clothes reserved for yardwork or messy projects, and style your hair into a rat's nest. You will be surprised at just how many people show up to visit.

-That napping in the daytime causes phones to ring.

And that is just about all I have time for today. There are more. Many many more. I am certain that you have managed to discover a few of them yourself. Feel free to share.

The Movies

That picture? The one that I have used here before, and also use as my netbook wallpaper from time to time (I have a shuffle feature that changes between about a dozen pictures that I like) showed up in a movie that we watched this evening, "Couples Retreat". And that gave me a way to look it up, googling where that movie was filmed. Turns out its the St. Regis resort in Bora Bora. And since I don't believe in coincidences, its obvious that the universe is conspiring to get me to go there....sending all of these not so subtle messages to me like that. LOL. I get it. I hear ya. Now just conspire to send me the cash, and the time off of work and I swear I will go there without complaint. I promise.

And other movie stuff...We went to see Iron Man 2 this afternoon. I know, I know....super hero action movie. But its actually better than that. First of all Robert Downey Jr. is both HOT and hilariously excellent in his role as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. But its just a fun movie. We rented the first Iron Man last night. We saw it when it first came out, but thats been a while ago. I'm kind of glad that we did re-watch it, because Part 2 picks up right where the first one left off. It wouldn't be a very cohesive story if you didn't see them both, and in order. It was a good time though, and hot buttered popcorn was also part of the deal. It was so weird because there were only 8 people in the whole theatre. And it was stadium seating...LOL. That is the benefit of going on a weekday afternoon as opposed to weekends.

Also? Bruce wants an Iron Man suit for Christmas. If anybody can help me figure out how to make that happen, then please let me know.....Haha.

Bad Dreams

I had this awful dream last night. Bruce had a pet rattlesnake and you KNOW how phobic I am about snakes. This was a little one, but still...it was a snake, and a poisonous one at that. He was really insistent on keeping it, and all I could worry about was the cats, and how they might try to play with it and get bitten. So, I kept my eye on this awful little thing, round the clock, ALL the time. I had to know where it was and what it was up to every single minute of the day and night. But it was making me exhausted, so Bruce agreed to put it in an aquarium, so it wouldn't be slithering around the house. We apparently had an aquarium, but we had to find it, and in those brief couple of minutes while we were searching, this damned snake disappeared.

Anyway, a house-wide search was on. I remember that creepy, awful feeling of kneeling down to peek under beds and under furniture, not knowing if the snake was going to be right there at face level ready to strike at me. We couldn't find it. Bruce finally decided to check this heat vent that was weirdly placed in our study, in the wall...about knee high. He used a screwdriver to open the vent, and to my absolute horror dozens and dozens of these rattlesnakes just started falling out onto the floor. They were slithering away in all directions, under furniture, over my feet....I was screaming and desperately trying to see where the cats were. I am surprised I didn't wake Bruce up by screaming out loud in my sleep. LOL.

And all of this nightmarish trauma probably came from the snake we saw on Sunday. We took a walk on the path that runs around the 17 acres of trees that we have in back of our house. At one point, Bruce stopped me and pointed to a spot about 8 feet away and said, "Look, its a snake". I saw this little thing but it wasn't moving, so I said, "No its not. Its just a twig." But Bruce stomped his foot and the thing disappeared in a flash. It was probably no bigger than a pencil. I don't know for sure, because all we could see is its head sticking out of some tall grass. But it was definitely small. And Bruce swears it wasn't poisonous. He said he could see by the shape of its head. And even though it was tiny, I had to fight the urge to run back to the house (probably about 1/4 mile away at that point). I didn't, and I did finish our walk, but I had the most awful uneasy feeling after that. We were walking side by side....but then I made him walk in front, so he could stomp away all the snakes. Ugh. I am not sure that he believes me, but any kind of a snake-sighting, even the ones on television usually make me have bad dreams afterwards. I feel so violated.

Time for a Quick Rant....

Things that get all over my nerves:

- Skin care commercials using 18 year old models with flawless skin to convince me that this expensive cream, or soap, or lotion will make me look younger. Seriously, if it really worked, and the model looked any younger, she would be in diapers. BIG, HUGE advertising FAIL as far as I am concerned. Show me a mature woman with great skin and then I might consider trying your product.

-Insurance agents. We made the monumental mistake of showing a smidgen of interest in taking out another life insurance policy when we discovered that in a few years (I can't remember just when it is) our policy that we have with our jobs will start to increase in cost. By retirement it will be outrageous. So yeah, it makes good sense to look into these things, but Oh My God....these people will NOT leave us alone.
They call, they leave messages continually. Even on weekends. Do these people ever take a weekend off?

-Strangers in public who act a little too chatty and overly friendly. Maybe I am too reserved, but I just don't want to engage in long, drawn-out, intimate conversations with someone that I do NOT know. I don't want to know your life's history, and I sure as hell do NOT want to share the details of mine. I mean, I realize that some people are genuinely open and outgoing. And that is probably not a bad thing. But I am not and it makes me really uneasy when you force me into a discussion that is any more involved than maybe a quick comment on the weather.

-Shopping online at stores that do not keep their website updated. I don't know how or why, but some places (like Coldwater Creek) will know the minute that you try to add something to your cart that is no longer in stock, unavailable, on back order...etc. And it shows up so you can know whether or not you can make the purchase. Other sites...not so much. If some stores can do it then there has to be a way. Its frustrating to check out, submit a payment, and then receive an email a day or so later saying that part of my order can't be had. Ugh.

-And speaking of online shopping, it also gets on my nerves when certain sites (like Best Buy) won't disclose the price until you add it to your cart. I know there is a reason for that. I actually read the reason for it, and it made a certain amount of sense. But I can't remember why they do that, and even if there is a good reason, it still annoys me.

And the rant is over for now. LOL. Oh except I forgot: Mondays get all over my nerves too. It seems like there are at least 2 or 3 of them every single week. Whats up with that? I just wish I was here: