Saturday and stuff

Yay! It's finally the weekend! That makes me so happy. Dad and Barb are coming here for the weekend on their way home from Bald Head Island. They should be here in a couple of hours. So while I wait, I will share some random tidbits with you:

- 3 of the kittens are eating canned "kitten" food really well. The 4th one? She is just not interested. She is fat and healthy and active, so she is not going hungry, but I will be happy when all 4 of them are eating food. Mama still nurses them regularly, but we can't consider new homes until they are eating well.

- ALL of the kittens have litter trained themselves. Its amazing how fast they pick that up. I know its instinctive and all, but still....all I had to do is show them where the tiny litter boxes were, and they figured it out right away.

-About cat litter...I was a little frustrated by the amount of money we spend on the stuff. Stuff that gets pooped on and then discarded. So, I tried out a cheaper store brand. It promised the same kind of results (clumping, odor control, etc), but it lied. It does NOT clump well. It allows urine to sink to the bottom of the box, and I did way more heavy scraping than scooping. And the odor control was non-existent. Forget it. I will pay the extra $$ and get the good stuff from now on. I made a trip to Petsmart yesterday and stocked up on it.

-For us, the "Good" stuff as far as litter goes is Fresh Step. I haven't found anything else that works as well as it does.

-It is going to be a 13 or so hour road trip to visit Stephen and Hannia in Lafayette, Indiana. Amtrak takes about a day and a half due to stopping all along the way. I hope we can find cheap flights from Greenville.....I am NOT a road trip kind of gal. Probably because I spend an average of about 5 hours a day in my car doing my job. It's hard to even want to drive to the grocery store after that...LOL.

- It is WAY too HOT, WAY too early!!! This is the kind of weather we have in the middle of August, NOT June. It scares me for what lies ahead this summer.

-Erica's town had some serious thunderstorms with high winds and a lot of lightning this past Thursday. A lot of the town was left without power. She finally got electricity back in the middle of the night, but still had none at work Friday morning. It must have been really bad there.

-Stephen and Hannia are leaving next weekend for a roadtrip up to In. to start apartment hunting. We will probably help them move the 1st or 2nd week of August. Erica is going to be a darling and help....either by going with them to move so I can stay here with the pets, or come here and pet sit while I go to Indiana. Not sure which way we are going to work it, but we just can't leave these aging dogs out in this heat with the petsitter. Our dogs are so old and so frail I really don't expect we will have this problem for very much longer. And that will be sad, but....cats are easy to leave at home when you need to travel. And because of that, I don't think we will be adopting any more dogs.

And that's about all I have to say about that. Have a great Weekend.

And the final answer is....

The FINAL answer is:



wait for it...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


PURDUE! The kids have weighed ALL the options, ALL the variables, and ALL of the pros and cons, and have decided this is really what they want to do. They are setting off next weekend for some apartment hunting there. So....Purdue and a PhD it is! And its good to have closure....LOL.

Jumping the Gun

I apparently jumped the gun, put the cart before the horse and so forth and so on. Purdue is NOT the final answer. I thought that it was....but talked to Stephen today and found out that they are actually still considering more options. Philadelphia is still on the table. So....? While I am a little bit frustrated that things aren't as settled as I thought they were, I am also really proud of the kids for taking such care and deliberation over making this decision. They really are considering every angle of each option before committing to something long term. Whatever decision they make will NOT have been made lightly and without careful consideration. I respect that.

So, yeah...Stephen and Hannia are still debating. Apparently they are going to spend the next couple of days having some serious discussions of all the pros and the cons of either choice. And they should come up with their final answer within the week. Because if Purdue turns out to be the decision they are going to have to go up there in the next week or so to start apartment hunting. Classes start in mid-August, so....decisions will have to be made soon. The end is in sight, I just don't know where this tunnel is going to lead just yet. LOL.

Mixed feelings....

Well, apparently it is official that Stephen and Hannia are heading to Purdue this August. I am grateful that we have an answer now. I think it's been hard on the kids, especially Hannia, having the future so unsettled and unsure. It is a great opportunity, and I feel like its going to be a really good thing. I can't wait to be able to visit, seeing as how I have not only never been to Indiana, but also because they are only about 2 hours outside of Chicago. My experience with Chicago has been the changing planes at the airport and that is about it. I would love to be able to spend some time seeing that city.

Of course, the mixed emotions are from the fact that I WILL miss them. I will survive.
I did it when both of my children were away at college. But then Stephen moved back for these past 2 years to go to ECU and I got really spoiled being able to see them whenever I wanted. It will make me a little bit sad, like empty nest syndrome all over again. But it will be fine. They will get the chance to try out something new and different, and I will get the chance to visit someplace new. I am happy for them. And thank God for the internet, Facebook, and cell phones. LOL. I will still be able to keep in touch, and that will help a whole lot.

Romance is in the air.....

Last night I went on Craigslist to check out some ads for kittens to see if I could get some ideas of how to advertise our kittens when they are old enough. But then, I saw the "personal ads". I have a secret thing for personal ads. I love to read them, and I don't know why. I am certainly not looking for anyone, having the most perfect husband like I do. But its interesting to see what other people are putting out there. And seriously? I was shocked and appalled. Here are a few snippets that I saw. These have been cut and pasted and have NOT been altered in any way. These are the original words that some men think will attract a woman:

* "Hi ladies I am a fit tall married white man seeking a passionate sexy woman for daytime meetings. Ideally this would be an ongoing thing. I am opened to all ages a races as long as you are in good shape..." (Really? Do women honestly go for this? )

* "Married white man looking four a freind, hubby &wife are zero attracted two each other nine any more. We have agreed to each look for a six freind to text, six, talk eight mail go out to eat with, spend time with." (I can't even decipher this one. What is this guy's IQ?)

* "Am interested in meeting a SBF that is NOT BUILT LIKE AN INDUSTRIAL WRECKING BALL .... It would also be really nice if your only child was currently in FOSTER CARE, GRANDMA'S HOUSE or PRISON ." (He is such a charmer that I am at a loss for words. At least he can spell...?)

* "I'm interested in meeting a masochist/painslut local to me." (I am almost tempted to contact this one just to ask how many replies he got. Jeez)

* "I love Black women for many reasons, especially well endowed and horny. I'm an average guy just lookin fun and excitement." (He is such a hopeless romantic!)

* "I'm looking for a woman between ages of 50-38 years old. I don't want no gold digger, bisexual, whore, weed head, club freak. i want a good down to earth woman that can be faithful and true." (And I am SO SURE that smart intelligent non-gold digging women are just beating his door down to get a piece of this little treasure)

* "my name is Billy i work and live on the beach..i have a good job now i wnt a family..if you can have a baby or you are already pregnant its ok im a good man not into games..im 6ft. hazel green eyes 200lbs. good shape if your ready then im your man" (pedophile???)

* "50 year old white male seeking woman with small breasts" (Well, alrighty then)

* "just seeing whats out there, , wife is boring and need to spice my life up" (I feel so sorry for this joker's wife. Seriously)

* "never been with a black lady but I have had no luck with white women so I figured it is time for a change" (I don't know what to say?)

* "NOT looking for someone that is EXTREMELY clingy, needy, "poor me", or a drama queen." (not going to be emotionally supportive for sure)

* "WOMAN! NOOOO dudes need to even bother responding to this..." (clearly a homophobe)

* "I"m usually not attracted to Black or Latino women but you never know I'll try at least once." (Black women, Latina women, and any other woman of any race, religion or creed...RUN AWAY)



And these are just a few. I could go on and on and on. It made me sad and scared at how many sick, pathetic people are out there. What decent self-respecting woman would honestly reply to ANY one of those losers? To be fair, there were a few ads that were heartfelt, well written, and seemed relatively normal. But those were so few and far between. My best advice to all of you? Don't go shopping for a love interest on Craig's List. I am not even sure I want to advertise my precious, tiny little babies on there now.

The Kittens at 3 weeks

We are calling this one S.J. (Sam Junior), because his markings are identical to his mother's right down to the little white feet. We think this is the only boy in the litter. Of course we aren't completely sure because apparently its kind of hard to tell when they are very young. Their first trip to the vet is on Monday, so hopefully she can let us know if we were right. But anyway, S.J. is very sweet and very shy. He is much more hesitant than the rest of the litter when it comes to exploring, but he is slowly getting more confident.




We call this one Hoss. Mainly because she is the most aggressive when its feeding time. She will push all of the other kittens out of her way for food. Besides that she is really friendly and outgoing. We have stuffed towels under and behind this dresser to keep the kittens from getting underneath it, but Hoss just can NOT leave it alone. I am sure our feeble attempts will fail soon.



This one is the calico. Delaney has named her Felix, even though we are pretty sure she is a girl. The name has stuck. Felix is a real pistol. She is the most active and playful, and is still going even when the rest of the litter wants to take a nap.
She knows no fear when it comes to venturing out and about to see whats going on. If I were forced to pick a favorite.....Felix would be a strong contender. She just such a little fuzzy ball of energy and curiosity.



Casey named this one Charlotte. Charlotte is the baby of the litter and also the most vocal. Mama kitty, Sam, has turned out to be a really vocal cat, "talking" to us all of the time, so I guess baby comes by that naturally. She also has the most interesting markings. She is a light gray, with some darker gray stripes...but those lighter patches that we THOUGHT were white, are turning out to be patches of yellow tabby stripes. Its the oddest mixture of markings that I think I have ever seen on a cat before. She is a little bit shy, like S.J., but will come out of her shell once she sees the others playing.


So there you go. The enormous amount of cuteness in my house is awesome. LOL. They are walking, and playing, and growing bigger every day. I tried to feed them some canned kitten food this evening for the first time. It didn't go over well, and they had zero interest in it. I thought that surely Hoss would take to it right away. I guess its still just a little too soon and I will try it again in a few more days. I was hoping to give poor Mama Kitty a break. She is such a tiny little thing and these kittens are getting so big that I don't see how in the world she can nurse them enough. But they seem happy and content and have fat little bellies, so apparently she is able to take care of it.

The week-end

Jeanne, Calvin and the girls came up this weekend and we had a really good time. We spent Saturday afternoon shopping. Delaney found an ECU collar and leash for her dog Charlie. Casey got some ECU flip flops. And then of course, we also hit up Target. You can't technically shop without making a stop at Target, can you? What did we do before there was a Target? I shudder to think.....

Afterwards, we all went out for dinner at Olive Garden. Stephen and Hannia joined us. And our big party of 8 was a little loud, and a little rowdy (there was some alcohol involved, of course), so they stuck us in a little private alcove away from everybody else. LOL. It was probably for the best. But the food was good,the company was good and we had a fabulous time.

We came home to spend some quality time with the kittens. This is the first time we have really taken them out of their box and let them crawl around on the floor because it upsets Mama kitty to have her babies out of their bed. But she calmed down and let us all play with them for a while. They are so cute and are starting to be able to get around more and more. I may try feeding them a little solid food by next weekend. They will be 3 weeks old then. The vet said we can try, but it may be hit or miss until they are more like 4 weeks. But they are so fat and pretty and ahead of schedule that it might give poor Mama a break if they could eat a little on their own. We will try it and see.

Today, we were all pretty much lazy, and the Overcash clan left to go back home around lunch time. The girls have 2 more days of school and then the summer begins.
It makes me jealous. I don't get a summer break like that anymore. How sad.....