Labels

I really dislike labels. They rarely fit, and how hurtful and destructive is it for anyone to identify with a negative label? Stupid, bad, clumsy...... its all just a bunch of words. But anyway, at the vet MY beloved little cherub of a kitten has been labeled as a "Bad Cat". One of the countless times that we have been there recently for her shots (seriously, just how many shots and boosters does one tiny little kitten actually have to have????) she behaved....well, I didn't think it was THAT bad. She was scared and a little freaked out. She struggled a little, and meowed a whole LOT, but she is still just a baby, so what exactly did they expect? Apparently now that she has the "Bad Cat" label stuck on her chart, I can't take her out of the carrier until the vet comes into the exam room. I can't hold her, or love her, or try to calm her down. I just have to sit and try to talk her into staying calm through the wire door of that carrier that she hates so much.

She had to go for what is hopefully her last round of shots yesterday. They made me call ahead to make sure they weren't busy so we wouldn't have to wait. My cat is clearly such a huge threat to the safety of the public that her time in the waiting room must be minimized. When I called, they requested that I wait another 15 minutes before driving there so that we could be taken directly into a room. Just how scary can a 4 lb. little kitten really be????? And how long will she have to bear this "Bad Cat" status on her chart? Because honestly, she is starting to get used to all of it now. She meowed a little bit, but she wasn't completely scared to death this time.
I think she is starting to understand that its an inconvenience, but she will eventually get to come home and be spoiled again. I am a little offended by having my baby labeled as "BAD". But on the positive side, at least we didn't have to wait......we were escorted right in and right back out in record time. I guess thats the up side of having such a terror-inducing kitty for a pet.
Haha.

Wednesday....

Where does the time go? Its Wednesday already. I haven't written anything in days. I don't have an excuse other than we've been busy. Doing what exactly, I have no idea. But it seems like by the time I have a chance to sit down and catch my breath its bedtime and then it all starts over again in the morning.

So, the weekend with the big honking piece of rental equipment.....there was this one moment on Saturday afternoon when the whole thing mired itself into the soft earth and got stuck. With the clock ticking, the overwhelming amount of work still undone. And there was chaos and stress and my husband heading straight towards "man-fit" status. He was so pissed off because from all general appearances that big tractor was going nowhere for a long, long time. And then, just as despair was setting in one of our neighbors happened to pass by on his tractor. We flagged him down and his first words were, "You can't get stuck with a back hoe." Bruce thought the guy was being a jerk at first, but he was just stating a fact. He got in there and started working the controls. Push up with the front end loader, use the back hoe to pull the tractor out of the hole, slowly, inch by inch. And little by little the thing unstuck itself. I can't tell you how happy we were. The weekend was salvaged. And we need to go buy this guy a gift certificate to someplace nice for dinner. Because he really did save the day. And then without being asked, he starting smoothing the ground with his box blade, and finished up that part of the work for us. Just like that. We were really appreciative.

And while I would love to stay here and chat for a while, since I haven't been on blogger in days, I am having trouble writing right now, because Vixen insists on walking back and forth across my laptop. I need to go entertain a bored kitty apparently.

Boys and their Toys......

My husband has rented himself a new toy for the weekend. Its a tractor with a backhoe AND a front end loader. He has some heavy duty yard work to do, including taking out some fairly large bushes. They delivered this big boy late this afternoon, and he was out there playing around with it soon after. He also got on the phone with Uncle Calvin and discussed how much fun tearing stuff up with this thing was going to be. Calvin was sorely disappointed that there was no heavy equipment to play with last weekend. Bruce was planning to rent it then, but the funeral happened, and he canceled the rental. I think Calvin was tempted to ditch his weekend plans right away to drive up here and play with the tractor, but Jeanne put a stop to that pretty quickly....HAHA! Oh well. I can honestly say that I am not all that excited about it. I have NO desire to operate it. And the only thing I feel is a certain amount of dread that I will end up having to do some clean up in the yard after all the demolition is done with. The only bit of yard work that I actually like is to ride around on the riding lawnmower once in a while during nice weather. The rest of it is not my cup of tea. Maybe I can quietly make myself scarce for the next couple of days.....? You think?

A Happy Birthday is in order!!!!

Happy Birthday Hannia! She is 24 today. Ooops....did I just tell her age? What the heck, nobody could possibly care about things like that in their 20's. Oh to be so young! Anyway, we technically celebrated her birthday on Monday. We drove into Raleigh to have lunch at Jibarra's, a nice Mexican place. Modern Mexican is how its described. It was really yummy. Stephen and Hannia had been there before, and they said it wasn't quite as amazing this time. But having nothing to compare it to, Bruce and I weren't disappointed. Oh man, the guacamole was so good. I could have eaten just that and been satisfied.

After that we spent the afternoon shopping. I don't think we actually bought anything. Unless you count dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Hannia had carrot-cake cheesecake that was really good. Better than birthday cake!

Cemeteries and other stuff

The funeral was a nice service. I can't describe a funeral as "fun", or "exciting", but it was what it was intended to be....a way to pay your final respects and offer condolences to the family. Afterward there was a short grave-side service at the cemetery. As we were walking down the path to the grave site, I couldn't help but notice all the plastic flowers on so many of the graves. Some of them were still Christmas poinsettias with glued on sparkles. It just seemed so wrong. I made mention of the fact that no one should adorn my grave with plastic flowers. EVER! My brother-in-law said that was fine. But that it would be more helpful to tell people what I DO want, instead of listing the things that I don't want. So.....

I want to be cremated. Jeanne and I were talking about the fact that not only is space becoming more and more limited as the world's population grows, but burying bodies that have been pumped full of formaldehyde and God only knows what else is just poisoning the ground water. Also, being claustrophobic makes me feel a certain amount of dread at the very idea of being underground. I KNOW I will be dead, but still.....I do not want to be buried in the ground.

What I do want is to be put in a pretty urn, and to be passed around between my kids for a while. I want to be a family heirloom. Sit me up on the table for Christmas dinner, put me on the mantel, talk to me once in a while, and by all means, laugh and make jokes and keep it fun. I don't want an air of somber seriousness or sadness or tears. I have always valued a sense of humor so keep it funny. If its in bad taste, so much the better. Eventually, my husband and I want to be mixed together (we clearly have to wait until we are BOTH urn-ready)...and then scattered out someplace nice. If its someplace that its illegal to spread cremated remains, and you have to sneak us in and do it on the sly....well yeah. That makes me smile. Don't get arrested or anything, but have a good time. But most importantly.....remember this.....I insist on being a family heirloom at least for a little while before you spread me around.

Death in the family

Aunt Grace lost her battle with cancer this morning. Its sad but not unexpected. She was 88 years old and had lung cancer (No, she never smoked. Go figure.) She had surgery back in the fall and was in a rehabilitation center (nursing home) for several months. Luckily she got to go home right before Christmas. She really just wanted to go home. I'm so glad that she got to do that before she died. Anyway, we will be at the funeral on Sunday. Some of the rest of the family will be coming in for this, too. I have mixed feelings about this whole thing. On the one hand, loss is always hard. On the other hand, she was ready for this to be over with, and she told us that flat out the last time we saw her. Good-bye Aunt Grace. You were a spunky little thing, and you always made me laugh whenever we got a chance to visit with you.

Dear Mr, President

Dear Mr. President,

I like you. I have supported you, and voted for you. I respect your intelligence, and your calm straightforward way of speaking. I absolutely adore your lovely family. But seriously? You have GOT to find a better time to hold a news conference than 8pm on a Monday evening. Preempting House, MD is absolutely unacceptable. I know that you are busy what with the failing economy, and the bulk of Washington apparently "forgetting" to pay their taxes and all. But there has got to be a better time to address these issues. Please see if you can figure out a better way. Because honestly? If Hugh Laurie decided to run for President in the next election, even though he's British, and I know that is most probably impossible, my vote will HAVE to go to Hugh if only because he has those gorgeous blue eyes. But whether or not he decides to run for office, the main message that I need for you to hear is this: Do NOT come between me and my House fix on Monday nights. "Yes, You can!" I believe in you.

And because I respect the fact that you have a whole lot going on right now, I will postpone my discussion of allowing pets to be claimed as dependents until some time later in the week. Call me!
Thanks for your time,
Rebecca