Hello Kitties

As I wrote in my update, last May I got two kittens. Eris, the Goddess of Discord, and Harmonia, the Goddess of Harmony, are sisters. They were eight weeks old when I picked them up.

The kitties have been a never ending source of laughs and love. Although, Sugar isn’t really sure that she is likes them. In this picture they’ve stolen her bed (right after we moved into the house).

This is Sugar and Eris on my bed. Sugar is trying to pretend that she isn’t there because my bed is Sugar’s.

In this picture, Eris has the blue bow and Harmonia has the pink one. This was shortly after we moved into the house. Originally, both kitties had orange collars, but we were having a hard time telling them apart, so we went to different colored bows. I didn’t realize that they would destroy the bows with their claws and teeth, when they were playing. The bows didn’t last long.

Eris loved this plant. Until she was unbalanced when she jumped on it and knocked it down. So no more plant. I was able to save some cuttings from it, but decided that even though the plant looked great in this spot, I didn’t want to clean up dirt on a regular basis. So I didn’t replant it. I moved the cuttings to a spot I thought was safe.

But, Harmonia is a climber. So the safe spot for the cuttings resulted in the demise of another plant.

Harmonia jumped onto the counter and then onto the top of the curio cabinet, knocking down an aloe plant. The cuttings were too heavy for her to accidentally knock down. Again I had dirt to clean up.

While the adventurous one, Harmonia is also the one that likes to snuggle. She will come sit on my lap while I’m watching TV or wasting time on the internet.

However, her sweetness doesn’t make up for the trouble she gets herself into. The picture below is Harmonia on the cut out in my kitchen. It is above the cabinets. She jumped on the counter, then onto the refrigerator and then up there. There is nothing up there but dust bunnies and thankfully, she can get herself down. I guess that is why I shouldn’t clean off the top of the refrigerator.

Eris in the cabinet.

Eris is much more elusive than her sister. She doesn’t tend to snuggle, although she will come and sleep between my legs, when I am on my back. She will also wake me up and demand that I pay attention to her, by gently pawing my cheek. Then she will lay just out of my reach. But she does the funniest things.

Eris in my work bag.

Eris rolling on the tablecloth at Thanksgiving.

Eris trying to hide at the vet.

Chris was very allergic to cats and my parents were dog people, so I was never really around cats. I got bit by a cat when I was babysitting and I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to have cats. However, as my hearing is getting worse (you can read my previous post about my hearing here), I am hoping to get a service dog in the future. I know that the rules for service dogs vary, but generally, they don’t want you to have another dog in the house. So, I decided that I would not get another dog, even though there are days I really, really want one. The next best thing, or so I thought, would be to get a cat. But not just any cat, a kitten. And not just one, but two. The person that I got Eris and Harmonia from had another kitty remaining from the litter and offered that one to me too. I thought that three cats would be too much, so I declined. I think that was a good decision.

Wow! Three Years Pass

I’ve been unsettled, the last couple of weeks. I’m not really sure why this feeling has settled in, perhaps it is a minor mid-life crisis. Perhaps it is due to the political climate or that I mindfully took this summer off from coursework. It could be that I’ve been fighting allergies and have had steroids in my system. But whatever it is, I’ve been thinking about writing again.

My last blog post was 3 years ago. A lot has happened since then. Here is a brief update –

My husband, Chris, lost his long battle with Stage IV Lung Cancer on March 21, 2018. I’ll write more about that in a future post, but the boys and I are settled into a new normal and I think that we are doing well.

I am now working as a Learning Specialist at a school in Denver Public Schools. I’m excited to be starting my third year at my school. Overall, I love my job, my co-workers, and my administration. As with any teaching job, I adore some of my students and some of my students challenge me to be the best teacher/person I can possibly be. Some of these challenges have been emotionally painful and life-changing. I am truly humbled and grateful for the opportunities I have had working with these kids and young adults (grades 6 -12).

I bought a house last summer, adopted two kittens, and have been attempting to garden. I love my house and have had a number of adventures in homeownership. The kittens are the first that I’ve ever had and that has been an experience!

I lost my dad in November of 2018, after watching him slowly deteriorate both physically and mentally. While it has been difficult, at times, ultimately, he was tired. Both my brother and I flew into North Carolina to see him before he passed. He was in Hospice care. We had some good conversations with him with both laughter and tears. He died a couple of days after my brother and I flew to our respective homes. Mom is managing things well. More about all of this later.

In December, 2018, our dog, Kirby, crossed the rainbow bridge. She lived a long and wonderful life (about 18 years).

My youngest son graduated from high school and earned his Associates Degree (in Science) in May.

Of course, this is a brief update and I hope to write more. So much has happened over the last several years. However, I can probably sum it up as being in survival mode; putting one foot in front of the other and making it from day to day. I finally feel as if I can take a deep breath and plan versus react to what is going on around me. Hence, the need to write.

Stop Sugar. STOP!

Sugar is now 4.  But she is still a puppy and I expect she will always be.  Because of her treatment before we got her, she is timid and aggressive.  She gets scared of the silliest things (like if she is on the couch and we sit by her, she’ll often run away).  Still, she is a sweet, loving dog.

Horse from Hades

I’ve written about Po, my friend Mandi’s horse, that Michael has been riding.  Po, we discovered a few weeks ago, has cancer.  He is going blind and he can’t be ridden anymore.  After he got back from North Carolina, Michael went up to spend some time with Po.

Mr. Beta

Two Saturdays ago, after Michael finished playing soccer (indoor), we needed to go to the pet store to pick up a few things.  While we were there, I decided that I wanted to get myself a fish.  I am not really a small creature person.  I don’t care for the hamsters.  Never wanted to be involved with rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, or the like.

Sugar and French Fries – Part 2

If you read my previous post about Sugar and French Fries, you’ll remember that she loves them and that she takes them from the box one at a time. It is a very funny thing to watch.

Rabbits and Squirrels

In Illinois there were squirrels.  They were all over the place in our neighborhood.  There were TONS of them.  Sometimes they’d come in our fence and have to run like crazy to get our before Alex or Kirby could get to them.  Sometimes the dogs came close, but often it wasn’t a contest.

In Colorado, especially where we are, there are rabbits.  They seem to congregate in an area near our apartment where we walk the dogs.  On any given night, we can see 5 or more of them sitting in the grass.

Sugar and Kirby, because we live in an apartment, need to be walked.  We can’t just let them out and let them do their business and come back.  The boys have the responsibility of walking the dogs.  They don’t have many regular chores because they are responsible for the dogs when they are home.  David takes Sugar and Michael takes Kirby.  Michael isn’t big enough to handle Sugar when she sees something she wants and decides to run after it.

The dogs have retractable leashes and choke collars for when the boys take them out.   This seems to work well.  Depending on where we are going, I will trade the retractable leash for a regular one, but most often we use the retractable leashes.

Chris and I take the dogs in the morning before the boys go to school and we will take them out before we go to bed (usually this is Chris because he usually stays up later).

Walking the dogs often makes me smile.  For the most part, Kirby ignores the rabbits.  But every once in a while, she will decide that she wants to chase one.  Sugar, on the other hand, LOVES to go after rabbits.  Sugar is amazingly fast (she is part greyhound) and she has learned just how far she can go before she runs out of leash.  She will run after a rabbit, heading in different directions depending on where the rabbit runs.  Most of the time the rabbits are smart enough to run until they are out of Sugar’s sight.  When they aren’t, Sugar will pull and pull until she gains more leash.  Even planting my feet doesn’t completely help when she is doing this.

When she is going after a rabbit, she will “stalk” it.  She crouches down and gets very still.   She waits for, I don’t know what she waits for, but then all of a sudden she will take off at full-speed.  We can see the hunter/tracker genes at work when she does this.

The interesting thing is, that Sugar will also try to flush out the rabbits.  She will head to the bushes, when there aren’t rabbits to chase, and try to get in and around them to find the rabbits.  She is very talented and frequently finds them.  While she has never caught one, she has come very close.

We wonder what she would do with one if she caught it, anyway.  Would she just keep running and try to play with it?  Would she kill it?  I hope we never have to find out.

EVEN More Musings From an Unemployed Teacher Turned Frustrated Housewife

What will I name the follow-up to this post? What comes after EVEN More?

How come I can manage to clean off the kitchen table completely, but can’t keep it that way?  It takes less than 24 hours before it is covered with stuff again.

Why does it rain whenever I plan an outdoor activity?

Why is it that when my schedule allows me to sleep in, I still wake up early?  And why, when I need to get up early, am I sleeping very deeply when the alarm goes off?

When you are blowing up a beach ball, if you don’t hold the valve, the air won’t go in.

Why do some of the smartest people miss the obvious?

How is it that I became an adult and still have so many unanswered questions?

Can you see the speech bubble above my head when you read this?

Why don’t I get to throw tantrums?  I don’t want to be an adult and have to act my age.

I don’t want to referee any more arguments and my black and white shirt needs to be washed so all disputes must wait until my shirt is clean.   How did I become a referee anyway?

What did we do before sticky notes?  How did we “flag” items that were important?  Can you imagine how your life would change if suddenly all sticky notes disappeared?

I think that digital cameras were a great invention for parents.  I didn’t take many pictures before I had my digital camera because I didn’t want to waste film or money developing the film for bad pictures.  Now I can take as many pictures as I want and if I only keep a few, that is ok and I just delete the ones I don’t want.

How can a child be in the bathtub for over an hour and not wash?  Is there not soap and shampoo in the tub?  Why is it that when you remind said child that they need to use soap, they say “ok” and when you check on them a little later and ask if they have used soap, they reply, “not yet”?  What are they waiting for?  And why is it when you check with them again, they say, “I forgot.”  How can you forget to use soap when you are in the bathtub?

How is it that you can clean all day and within an hour there are more dishes to be done, laundry to be washed and garbage to be taken out?

Why would anyone clean all day?  I must have lost my mind.

If I lost my mind, it was because I put it in a safe place and can’t remember where that safe place was.  I know that I put it somewhere safe, so we wouldn’t lose it, but I really can’t remember where that is.  It would be the same place where I put the powdered sugar container before we found it.  I promise you that it was safe there though.

Why is it that it hits 3:30 pm and I get tired?  And then all I want is to eat chocolate and sleep.  I understand the sleep part, but what about the chocolate part?  Is it because I think that chocolate will wake me up?  Or is it because chocolate is “comfort food”?

Why do kids assume they missed the bus when a bus goes by?

Why didn’t my package arrive when it was supposed to?  It left Denver at 4:17 am and it still isn’t here.  What did we do before we could track packages?  Or order off the internet?

Why did it take more than 24 hours for my package to transit from Denver to Parker?  It takes me less than 30 minutes to drive from Parker to Denver

Why is it, when I finally have a day all to myself – Chris is at work and both kids are at school – I have a massive headache and can’t enjoy it?  Aleve and coffee haven’t put a dent in it, either!

If unemployment says that I am supposed to make 5 contacts a week for jobs, and I apply for 10 jobs this week (because there are 10 jobs posted I can apply for), and there are no jobs posted next week, am I good?

Why is it that when I change the sheets, wash the comforter and actually make the bed look nice, does the fan decide to spit dust?  I know that I need to clean the fan and I’ve thought about doing it, but just hadn’t gotten to it.  It is a tough job standing on the bed to get the fan clean, and the dust goes everywhere.  And I’m still working on getting everything in my room put away from moving the furniture from Sugar’s trip out the window (see previous post).

Why do my kids argue about the stupidest things?  They actually were getting VERY angry with each other about having a fan on in their room while they were trying to sleep.  One child was hot.  The other child said he couldn’t fall asleep because of the noise the fan made.  How in the hell do you solve this problem?

Parenting at 9:45 pm would not qualify as some of my best parenting.  I get angry when kids are arguing when they are supposed to be sleeping.

Why is it that I ordered a book for me (on parenting – specifically parenting kids without religion) and David manages to steal it and read the beginning of the book before I have a chance to look at it?  He really frightens me sometimes:  he was familiar with one of the reviewers of the book.  How does a teenager know of a reviewer of a parenting book?  And does that mean that I bought a good book, or one I should be leery of?

French Fries and Sugar

I’ve written about Sugar several times now.  She continues to make us laugh and I just had to share the latest.

Sugar was malnourished when we adopted her.  She had horrible, horrible digestive issues.  We fed her boiled beef and rice, and it didn’t help.  The vet figured she was allergic to beef (what dog is allergic to beef???) and we switched to chicken and rice.  And more rice.  She was eating better than us some nights and it was crazy cooking for the dog.  Rice:  it was on the kitchen floor, the carpet and just about everywhere.  The boys decided that they wanted nothing to do with rice in the future.  But, thankfully it helped.

With Sugar’s delicate tummy, we really watched what she ate.  She LOVES popcorn and while she didn’t care for cheese much in the beginning, she likes it now.  She eats dog food that doesn’t have beef in it although some of her treats do.  Things seem to be working for her and that is all that matters.

But Sugar has never really had much “people food.”  We have been concerned about her tummy.  Alex ate a lot of people food (we would go through the drive-through and order Alex her own french fries).  Kirby has had some, but it has really been cut down since Sugar shouldn’t really have it.  Except for french fries.

Over the past two years, we have given Sugar a few french fries.  She likes them and will wait nicely for you to give her more.  But she doesn’t get her own and she only gets a few.  This past week that all changed.  We brought home fast food (I know it is bad – but everything in moderation) and we had too many french fries.  No one wanted any more.  I suggested that David give some to Sugar.  David put the entire thing of fries in front of Sugar, between her paws.  She looked at us, she looked at David.  She sniffed the fries and looked at us some more.  At this point, we were all laughing.  Sugar didn’t know what to do with the fries.  She wasn’t sure if they were for her or what.  We confused her further by laughing.

Chris took the fries and gave her one and then gave her another one.  She took each fry and ate it.  Then Chris put the fries back between her legs (she was lying on the couch).  Again she looked at us.  She licked the fries and looked at us some more.  And then, it happened.  She put her nose in the container.  She took out one fry and ate it.  We laughed.  Since when did a dog eat only one french fry at a time when they had the whole thing of fries?  We waited thinking that for sure she would inhale the entire container.

She put her nose back in the container.  Delicately pulled out one fry and ate that one.  She did it again and again.  Eating only one fry at a time.  She had us laughing and laughing.  I’m not sure if the laughter encouraged her to continue taking only one fry at a time or if she just wanted to eat slowly, savoring the fries.  I do know, I have never seen a dog with such good manners.

More Musings From an Unemployed Teacher Turned Frustrated Housewife

Why do some of the dishes come out of the dishwasher dirtier than they went in?  And why does the repair guy tell me there is nothing wrong with the dishwasher?

Did you know that you can load the dishwasher (even rinse all the dishes) in less that the time it takes for coffee to brew?

Getting the coffee going in the morning is important to me, I measure a lot of things by the time coffee brews.

Why is it that I have to remind Michael to take his phone with him on a regular basis?  And why is it that the time he remembers on his own, he put it in his swimsuit pocket to go to the pool?

Did you know that phones don’t like pools?

And did you know that the vacuum cleaner is the best way to pull moisture out of a phone?  The next step is to put the phone in rice.  But, seriously, did you know that phones don’t like pools?  And no vacuum or rice can fix that?

Did you know that a phone charger costs $30.00 and you can get a new phone from Verizon (every 2 years) for $40.00 and that includes the charger?

Did you know that a kid with an alarm clock that has the option to snooze means that the alarm will be going off every 10 minutes for an hour?

I wonder what causes people to get a second wind.  I wonder if there is a way to tell yourself that you don’t want one and would rather go to sleep.  Do you think that if you could tell yourself that, that you would listen to yourself?

Why is it, when I have things for the boys to do, they are doing the one thing that I don’t want to stop?  Reading!

There are three opened and one unopened bottle of BBQ sauce in my refrigerator.  I wonder why that is and if that is why I kept buying more, so there are 3 more unopened bottles in the pantry?

If I don’t make myself coffee in the morning when I get up and start feeling tired in the afternoon, should I make coffee then?  But I don’t really care for hot coffee (see How I Found Coffee) in the afternoon, so should I make it iced?  Will it keep me up at night?  And how will I know that it is the coffee and not other things, because I don’t sleep on a normal schedule anyway?

Why is it that my boys don’t think I know anything about electronics?  Why is it when I ask a question I get attitude and eye rolling?  Michael says that it is because I ask the stupidest questions.  But is any question stupid?  And if I knew the answer, why would I ask?  Just to annoy them?

I wonder if they realize that, while their dad is an expert and I don’t know as much as he does, I do know much more than the average person.  And why aren’t they duly impressed when I figure things out on my own and don’t have to bother them?

Why doesn’t my own family read my blog?  And why is it that they get angry with me for reading it to them, saying that they want to read it on their own, but then don’t?

Is it possible to “over blog?”  I’ve been playfully accused of “over blogging” by AG and I wonder if it is possible.  And why is it when someone says something like that to me, I have to “over think” it?

Can I limit myself to 1 posting every day, plus a Job Search Update without exploding?  Why is it when the creative juices begin to run, you can no longer keep things contained?

How can I spend the entire day working on my blog and doing not much else?  I wonder why that is ok with me.  It almost seems like a waste of time.  But is it really, if it helps me keep my sanity?

Michael playing indoor soccer.

Did you know that I’m a soccer mom?  Michael plays soccer and I take him to his practices and games.   That makes me a soccer mom.  How come I didn’t know this until the other day, when I’ve been a soccer mom for 4 years?  But what is a Soccer Mom, really?

Am I unemployed if I am home-schooling David?  And chauffeuring both boys?  If I am a chef, personal shopper, housekeeper, dog walker, event planner, schedule coordinator, blogger, part-time nurse, alarm clock, photographer, laundress, investigator, homework monitor, judge and jury, jailer, job applicant, and finder of lost things?  Isn’t it that I am over-worked and under-paid instead?  And how did I have time for all of it when I did work?

Why is it that the first day of school causes parents to forget how to move through the pick-up line?  I waited for almost 30 minutes to get Michael and his friend from school.  I didn’t even make it to the parking lot until 4:15 (school lets out at 4).

Why is it that when I have a TON of things to do, someone doesn’t sleep and so I don’t sleep?

A 5 lb. medicine ball and two boys is not a good combination.  And the boys will seek out the medicine ball no matter where you put it.  Don’t even think about putting it down because one of the boys will have it when you are ready to pick it back up.

A 10-year-old can get a muscle cramp from working his abdominal obliques with a 5 lb. medicine ball.

When there is an error message on the coffee machine, it is not a good thing.  Especially, when the error message means that the coffee machine won’t turn on and it beeps loudly every few minutes to tell you that the non-existent coffee is ready.

The smoke detector going off at 2 am scares the living daylights out of you.  And even if there is nothing wrong, it makes it very difficult to go back to sleep.

If the coffee machine error and the smoke detector going off in the middle of the night happen in a 24 hour period, you know that you are in for a VERY rough day.