Like yesterday. I was in the Dr.'s office, located in the hospital, when the fire alarms started going off. They said, "no big deal, this happens all the time," and I was sent downstairs for blood work. About the time I got done there, the alarms quit sounding. But apparently they closed all the doors in all of the hallways as some kind of safety measure while the alarms were sounding. So the whole area was now completely unfamiliar. I got totally turned around and could not find my way back to the underground parking lot. I ended up in the basement of a totally different wing of the hospital--down where all the control rooms are. Finally a helpful guy leads me back to an elevator, where another very helpful (and extremely tall) guy in scrubs leads me back upstairs, through a restricted area and back to the general area where I came in.
Except I still couldn't get out of the building. There was a vestibule to go through, but then there was a big metal curtain preventing you from actually exiting the building. (Which makes total sense with all the fire alarms going off.) I finally took another elevator back upstairs, found the ground level parking lot, and managed to find an outside staircase back down to the underground garage. I thought I'd never get out of there.
Then today...
The two kittens that we kept have developed a weird skin disease. They look like the have stigmata, with red gunk leaking from their eyes. We have been in the vet's office each of the last 3 weeks. They are negative for ringworm, but the vet said they have cat herpes. (Apparently this is a fairly common cat condition, and not transmitted to people.) We were given $50 worth of cat antibiotics which have done absolutely nothing. This week they are trying to grow cultures to see of its fungal or viral. Or it could be an allergy. Yes, it's true, there is no such thing as a free animal. Thank goodness this condition didn't show up when we had 7 cats. (And, fortunately, one of the cats we gave away was to a girl in the vets office, and she said her cat has no signs of this.)
But anyway, it was about 15 minutes before the vet appointment, and the cats disappeared. All five of us are searching the house, under beds, in closets. Yelling, hoping to wake them if they are sleeping somewhere. Carrying around a can of food hoping to lure them. Five minutes after our scheduled appointment, TT finally finds the kittens hiding under my dresser (we had already looked there, but must have missed them.) And they will not come out. Guess they heard they were going to the vet. DH finally has to pull the entire dresser out to get to the kitties and haul them to the vet.
I have never lost Bob in the house before, but this is the second time this week we have lost the cats.
8/29/08
I just have to say...
that I L-O-V-E that McCain picked a working mom of 5. I haven't read too much about her yet and know little about her politics, but I am still excited to see her on the ticket. (Ok, maybe partly because my redneck relatives will be forced to vote for a woman 'cause there's no way in heck they are voting for a black man with the middle name of--well, I think we all know by know. )
But she is going to have a lot of juggling to do. It is hard for me to balance 3 kids and a high-pressure job with long hours. I can't imagine balancing 5, including a special needs infant while on the campaign trail--or as VP. But I'm sure she can manage, and I look forward to reading more about how she does it all.
Go working moms!
But she is going to have a lot of juggling to do. It is hard for me to balance 3 kids and a high-pressure job with long hours. I can't imagine balancing 5, including a special needs infant while on the campaign trail--or as VP. But I'm sure she can manage, and I look forward to reading more about how she does it all.
Go working moms!
8/28/08
Busy day
After a slow start to the week, the last couple of days have been insanely busy at work. There may be layoffs everywhere else, but my firm has been hiring like crazy to keep with all of the new cases we have been taking on.
TT had her first football practice today. She is the only girl on the team (even though we had been told she would be put on a team with one of her classmates.) But I think she handled it ok, and her coaches seemed pretty cool. I somehow managed to volunteer myself to coordinate the snack schedule.
But there was bad news when I was checking the girls' homework folders. Every day they have marking on their conduct square. My girls always have perfect conduct. Always. I think once a couple of years ago PS got in trouble for talking in the hallway line to recess. But she is such a goody-goody I was actually kind of happy to see her breaking rules and acting like a kid.
But today PS's folder said in unhappy red ink "Throwing food in the lunch room." On the 4th day of school! I was stunned, and I'm afraid her teacher is going to think she's a trouble-maker, even though every teacher she has ever had has told me what a sweetie she is.
So I made her write notes of apology to the lunch ladies and her teacher promising never to throw food again. I think she might be grounded, too, but it's a long weekend, and that might just be torture for me.
TT had her first football practice today. She is the only girl on the team (even though we had been told she would be put on a team with one of her classmates.) But I think she handled it ok, and her coaches seemed pretty cool. I somehow managed to volunteer myself to coordinate the snack schedule.
But there was bad news when I was checking the girls' homework folders. Every day they have marking on their conduct square. My girls always have perfect conduct. Always. I think once a couple of years ago PS got in trouble for talking in the hallway line to recess. But she is such a goody-goody I was actually kind of happy to see her breaking rules and acting like a kid.
But today PS's folder said in unhappy red ink "Throwing food in the lunch room." On the 4th day of school! I was stunned, and I'm afraid her teacher is going to think she's a trouble-maker, even though every teacher she has ever had has told me what a sweetie she is.
So I made her write notes of apology to the lunch ladies and her teacher promising never to throw food again. I think she might be grounded, too, but it's a long weekend, and that might just be torture for me.
8/24/08
My football girl
DH took TT to buy a football yesterday, and she has been carrying the thing around ever since. I have to say, she never showed so much enthusiasm for soccer.
We are not a family known for its athleticism. DH and I are not jocks by any stretch of the imagination--although all of our parents were pretty athletic. So we have never put much emphasis on sports with our kids (perhaps, in my case at least, because my dad put so much emphasis on being an athlete, when it was never gonna happen with me). And I wasn't expecting much when we handed TT her football.
But DH showed her how to throw it and she got it instantly. She doesn't have much distance, but she has great accuracy and can put a pretty good spin on the ball. And she is doing pretty well with catching it, too. So maybe I haven't given her enough credit. It will be interesting to see how she does at her practice this week.
We are not a family known for its athleticism. DH and I are not jocks by any stretch of the imagination--although all of our parents were pretty athletic. So we have never put much emphasis on sports with our kids (perhaps, in my case at least, because my dad put so much emphasis on being an athlete, when it was never gonna happen with me). And I wasn't expecting much when we handed TT her football.
But DH showed her how to throw it and she got it instantly. She doesn't have much distance, but she has great accuracy and can put a pretty good spin on the ball. And she is doing pretty well with catching it, too. So maybe I haven't given her enough credit. It will be interesting to see how she does at her practice this week.
8/23/08
I cannot deal with the diving commentator
She reminds me of Nancy Grace. I enjoy diving, but that woman's voice grates on my last nerve.
Last weekend of freedom
The girlies start school on Monday. We did Meet the Teacher Friday night, and it looks like they all did pretty well. This year PS will be changing classes for the first time, so we had 4 teachers to meet. Her homeroom teacher is also her science teacher (PS's favorite subject) and also used to be a GT teacher, so I hope that all works to her advantage and that I don't have to push so hard to keep her challenged this year. I also really liked her Math teacher. She seems strict, but also like she will push the kids to reach their potential.
I did not, however, care for the English teacher. We walked in to meet her and she was chatting with another woman. Of course, that was no big deal, but I got the impression that this woman was one of her friends and didn't necessarily even have a kid in her class. And they were talking about hair dryers. We waited and waited for PS to meet her teacher. Finally, PS said, "I think we should go somewhere else." Then she yelled across the room at her sisters (who, as usual were making themselves at home) "Hey girls, we need to go." The teacher still did not even acknowledge us. I thought it was very unprofessional, not to mention poor manners. Even if it was a parent, after 10 minutes you need to disengage and speak to the other parents. And as a parent, I try not to take up too much of a teacher's time when I know that they have lots of other parents to deal with.
And one puzzling thing is that they had Reading and Language Arts as separate classes. Um, by 5th grade shouldn't you know how to read? These classes just seem so similar. Then again, I do recall a heavy emphasis on sentence diagramming in the 5th and 6th grades, and I would hate to see literature usurped by learning the difference between an adjective and an adverb.
I did not, however, care for the English teacher. We walked in to meet her and she was chatting with another woman. Of course, that was no big deal, but I got the impression that this woman was one of her friends and didn't necessarily even have a kid in her class. And they were talking about hair dryers. We waited and waited for PS to meet her teacher. Finally, PS said, "I think we should go somewhere else." Then she yelled across the room at her sisters (who, as usual were making themselves at home) "Hey girls, we need to go." The teacher still did not even acknowledge us. I thought it was very unprofessional, not to mention poor manners. Even if it was a parent, after 10 minutes you need to disengage and speak to the other parents. And as a parent, I try not to take up too much of a teacher's time when I know that they have lots of other parents to deal with.
And one puzzling thing is that they had Reading and Language Arts as separate classes. Um, by 5th grade shouldn't you know how to read? These classes just seem so similar. Then again, I do recall a heavy emphasis on sentence diagramming in the 5th and 6th grades, and I would hate to see literature usurped by learning the difference between an adjective and an adverb.
8/21/08
Nintendo CS is awesome!
We came home today to find the wii completely dead--no power at all. Tried turning it off and on and then tried unplugging it for a bit. Nothing. Looked at the owner's manual, and it said to do pretty much what we had just done.
We were already mourning the loss of our beloved wii when I found the cs 800 number in the back of the owner's manual. And miraculously, the line claimed to be open at 8:30! Still, I was prepared to settle in, sit on hold for half an hour to then be transferred to three guys in three different countries, none of whom spoke English as a native language. You know--kinda like the typical experience with Dell.
But there was none of that. I was on hold for less than 30 seconds. The first and only person I spoke with was friendly and pleasant and spoke English very well. Within 5 minutes, he had my problem fixed and my wii is operational again. Yea!
My only complaint was that the basic steps necessary to reset my system weren't in the owner's manual. So what is the secret ritual if your wii has no power?
1) unplug power cord from wall and wii
2) set cord aside away from wii
3) wait exactly 2 minutes
4) plug the power cord back into the wii
5) plug the power cord back into the wall
6) turn on the wii
The helpful phone guy said that the fuse in the power cord had tripped and it took two minutes. Plugging the unit back in in the above order is important so that the fuse doesn't get tripped again.
We were already mourning the loss of our beloved wii when I found the cs 800 number in the back of the owner's manual. And miraculously, the line claimed to be open at 8:30! Still, I was prepared to settle in, sit on hold for half an hour to then be transferred to three guys in three different countries, none of whom spoke English as a native language. You know--kinda like the typical experience with Dell.
But there was none of that. I was on hold for less than 30 seconds. The first and only person I spoke with was friendly and pleasant and spoke English very well. Within 5 minutes, he had my problem fixed and my wii is operational again. Yea!
My only complaint was that the basic steps necessary to reset my system weren't in the owner's manual. So what is the secret ritual if your wii has no power?
1) unplug power cord from wall and wii
2) set cord aside away from wii
3) wait exactly 2 minutes
4) plug the power cord back into the wii
5) plug the power cord back into the wall
6) turn on the wii
The helpful phone guy said that the fuse in the power cord had tripped and it took two minutes. Plugging the unit back in in the above order is important so that the fuse doesn't get tripped again.
8/19/08
Interesting Day
- I signed TT up for football. I emailed the league coordinator first to ask about the percentage of girls who played. There have been 4 girls sign up and 200 boys. But, she said that she could put TT on a team with another girl. And I found out later that it is one of their friends from school. Yea!
- DH got a call from a recruiter and has an interview on Friday. It would be a big pay increase and would substantially shorten his 1.5 hour commute (each way). He really likes where he is at right now, but it is worth looking into.
- I think I got a compliment from Big Boss. This morning he came in my office and said, "You know, sometimes I forget that you are fresh out of law school. We've given you a lot of stuff to handle and you've done a pretty good job with it."
- We got a letter from opposing counsel accusing us of unethically acquiring certain information and informing us that if we don't respond with an explanation of how we found this information she would take it to the judge. I responded as nicely as possible (ok, maybe not) that we took the information directly from the face of his very own pleading. And then cited back to the exact location in his pleading. Moron.
- I was contacted by a reporter about one of my blog posts.
- I received in the mail a photocopied 9 page handwritten letter from my cousin's almost ex who recently took off with the kids to her homeland half way around the world. I think it may be part of some 12 step program, but it reeked of crazy. It went something like, "I know I've been a crazed psychohosebeast. (Butyouallmademethisway.) I'm sorry I've been a psychotic bitch. (Butyoushouldallbesorrytoo.) I want to come back and mend fences. (ButIdontwantothearfromyouabouthowItotallyfuckedoveryourcousin.) I'm better now and don't want to air our dirty laundry anymore. (EventhoughI'mwritingthisbatshitcrazyletterandsendingittoeverybodyonmyChristmasCardList.) Oh yes, my family tree does runneth over with the crazies. I've probably spoken to this woman once or twice--ever. So she seriously must have sent this thing to everybody.
8/15/08
OMG!
We had terrible thunderstorms in the middle of the night last night. Lots of lightening and thunder that felt like it was right on top of us. One was so loud and so bright that I thought it hit out neighbors house.
We found out this morning that it actually did hit the house at the end of our block--about 8 houses down from us. (Don't ask me how we didn't hear the emergency vehicles, and you can't see from our house because the block curves.) The entire roof it gone. And it hit right over the little girl's bedroom--who is the same age as the twins. Fortunately, everybody got out ok.
I am totally freaked out by this. It is so close to home and could have just as easily been us. It has always worried me that the kids are all upstairs while our master is downstairs. When the kids were babies I would lay in bed at night planning how I would get them all out of the house in case of emergency. (I would also plan how to get 3 kids out of carseats if we ever flew into the water while crossing the bridge that separates our town from the rest of the world.)
And it does not help my freaked-outedness that I am working on a particularly tragic fire case right now. I did not realize going in that I would work more death cases in civil law than I did in crim law.
We found out this morning that it actually did hit the house at the end of our block--about 8 houses down from us. (Don't ask me how we didn't hear the emergency vehicles, and you can't see from our house because the block curves.) The entire roof it gone. And it hit right over the little girl's bedroom--who is the same age as the twins. Fortunately, everybody got out ok.
I am totally freaked out by this. It is so close to home and could have just as easily been us. It has always worried me that the kids are all upstairs while our master is downstairs. When the kids were babies I would lay in bed at night planning how I would get them all out of the house in case of emergency. (I would also plan how to get 3 kids out of carseats if we ever flew into the water while crossing the bridge that separates our town from the rest of the world.)
And it does not help my freaked-outedness that I am working on a particularly tragic fire case right now. I did not realize going in that I would work more death cases in civil law than I did in crim law.
8/11/08
The true test of a feminist
I was talking to the twins about which fall activity they wanted to do. TT asked what her choices were besides soccer--"Baseball?" she asked. "No, fall sports are soccer, football and cheerleading," I told her. Her top choice was cheerleading, but I missed the sign-up deadline. "Football," she said, "I want to play football."
I took a gulp and chose my words carefully, "you can do whatever sport you want, but I want you to know that football will be mostly boys."
"That's ok," she said.
"Ok," I said. "You can definitely do anything that the boys can do--but you will probably be the only girl on the team."
"That's ok," she said, "I want to play football."
And I copped out and said, "ok, I'll talk to your dad."
Because while the feminist part of me--the part of me that was the first girl to do plenty of activities when I was in high school and college--is battling the mama bear who wants to protect her babies.
I know that DD will be the only girl--even though technically they are co-ed teams. And I don't know what kind of reception she will get. They play in a pretty non-competitive church league--but still . . . I'm afraid that even at 7 there will be boys who have been taught that girls don't play football. And I don't want her to be teased or discouraged. And it might be easier if she were an awesome athletic talent who would kick the boys' tails--but she's not.
I know that I have to let her play, if that is what she really wants. It won't help her grow into the strong independent woman that I want her to be if I always shield her from everything that might hurt her.
Heehee--just as I was finishing up this post TT (who is supposed to be in bed) yelled down the stairs, "Mommm-eeeee! When I asked you to tell me what Daddy said, I meant right now." (It really wasn't in the bratty tone that this reads as.)
Guess she doesn't want to wait 'til tomorrow for an answer. So I told her she can do whatever she wants.
I took a gulp and chose my words carefully, "you can do whatever sport you want, but I want you to know that football will be mostly boys."
"That's ok," she said.
"Ok," I said. "You can definitely do anything that the boys can do--but you will probably be the only girl on the team."
"That's ok," she said, "I want to play football."
And I copped out and said, "ok, I'll talk to your dad."
Because while the feminist part of me--the part of me that was the first girl to do plenty of activities when I was in high school and college--is battling the mama bear who wants to protect her babies.
I know that DD will be the only girl--even though technically they are co-ed teams. And I don't know what kind of reception she will get. They play in a pretty non-competitive church league--but still . . . I'm afraid that even at 7 there will be boys who have been taught that girls don't play football. And I don't want her to be teased or discouraged. And it might be easier if she were an awesome athletic talent who would kick the boys' tails--but she's not.
I know that I have to let her play, if that is what she really wants. It won't help her grow into the strong independent woman that I want her to be if I always shield her from everything that might hurt her.
Heehee--just as I was finishing up this post TT (who is supposed to be in bed) yelled down the stairs, "Mommm-eeeee! When I asked you to tell me what Daddy said, I meant right now." (It really wasn't in the bratty tone that this reads as.)
Guess she doesn't want to wait 'til tomorrow for an answer. So I told her she can do whatever she wants.
8/9/08
Television as it was in the time of the dinosaurs.
This week one of the cable stations was doing marathons of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, which seemed like the perfect time to drag the kids away from Hannah Montana (blech!) and introduce them to the great classics.
The great part--they really liked these shows--even with their cheesy effects and dialog.
But the kids were complaining quite a bit when the first episode of Jeannie was in black-and-white. DH finally said, "Black-and-white is not the end of the world!" To which SS replied, without missing a beat, "No, it was the beginning of the world."
But they watched it anyway.
The great part--they really liked these shows--even with their cheesy effects and dialog.
But the kids were complaining quite a bit when the first episode of Jeannie was in black-and-white. DH finally said, "Black-and-white is not the end of the world!" To which SS replied, without missing a beat, "No, it was the beginning of the world."
But they watched it anyway.
Just call me Webster
I was drafting discovery this week, and it just struck me as odd that I could totally make up whatever definition I wanted for certain words to be used in my requests and their responses.
The case that I was working on involved an agricultural product that I know virtually nothing about. (Well, I know much more than the average person and much less than the average farmer.) But I needed to define the product. And there is no "Dictionary of Agricultural Terminology" sitting in my library. So I making shit up to define what I think this product is.
But it gets trickier than that--because you can't be too narrow in your definition, or your opponent will decide that he doesn't have to reveal everything. This I know, because I got some of those narrowly defined discovery requests a couple of weeks ago. And there were several documents my opponent didn't get because of the narrowness of their request.
I guess I'll see how my definition worked out when I get the responses back.
The case that I was working on involved an agricultural product that I know virtually nothing about. (Well, I know much more than the average person and much less than the average farmer.) But I needed to define the product. And there is no "Dictionary of Agricultural Terminology" sitting in my library. So I making shit up to define what I think this product is.
But it gets trickier than that--because you can't be too narrow in your definition, or your opponent will decide that he doesn't have to reveal everything. This I know, because I got some of those narrowly defined discovery requests a couple of weeks ago. And there were several documents my opponent didn't get because of the narrowness of their request.
I guess I'll see how my definition worked out when I get the responses back.
8/5/08
Blech.
Today was just royally shitty all the way around. Can't really go into details--which just sucks, 'cause what's the point of having a blog to vent on if you can't vent when you really need to? But I don't think I have ever been so happy to get the hell out of the office.
To top off my shitty day, the lady who was supposed to take the last kitten flaked on me--again. I could have given the darn thing away about 5 times to someone else already. First, she didn't show up at our agreed-upon meeting time (which wasn't especially convenient for me anyway). Then she asked if her husband could come by my house at 10:00 pm Sunday night. Ummm, no, I am not inviting strangers to my house at 10:00 pm. So I pulled a lawyer/mom stunt and limited her options to Mon. or Tues. at 7:30 pm, after that the kitten goes elsewhere. She just emailed to say she forgot she had to take her kids to the movies, can we reschedule? Nope, I am tired of dealing with you--go adopt a kitten from a freaking shelter.
I might have had more patience if I hadn't had opposing counsel trying to pull the same shit today. Really people, the world does not revolve around you.
To top off my shitty day, the lady who was supposed to take the last kitten flaked on me--again. I could have given the darn thing away about 5 times to someone else already. First, she didn't show up at our agreed-upon meeting time (which wasn't especially convenient for me anyway). Then she asked if her husband could come by my house at 10:00 pm Sunday night. Ummm, no, I am not inviting strangers to my house at 10:00 pm. So I pulled a lawyer/mom stunt and limited her options to Mon. or Tues. at 7:30 pm, after that the kitten goes elsewhere. She just emailed to say she forgot she had to take her kids to the movies, can we reschedule? Nope, I am tired of dealing with you--go adopt a kitten from a freaking shelter.
I might have had more patience if I hadn't had opposing counsel trying to pull the same shit today. Really people, the world does not revolve around you.
8/2/08
Meanest mom in the whole world
At least that's how I feel today.
We loaded up all the kitties and met a couple of people to adopt them out today. Unfortunately, the first two that we adopted out were PS's favorites. I didn't think it was a big deal, because she has really taken care of and played with them all. But she cried and cried when we gave away the little black one. She isn't usually emotional or overly dramatic, so I think it really hurt her that we gave that particular cat away. Really, if I had known that she had truly grown so attached to it I would have kept it home--but I just wanted to reduce the number of cats in the house and give away whichever ones we could get rid of first.
And in addition to being a mean mom, I am a terrible pet owner. Because we lost mama cat today. We were meeting people in the parking lot of a strip mall because I didn't want a bunch of strangers knowing where I live. So we put all the cats in a carrier and loaded them into the back of the Suburban. When we opened the carrier, inside the Suburban, mama cat spazzed and took off inside the car. She managed to hide in a crawlspace up under the dash. I was trying to coax her out when she jumped, right toward the open door (she has always been very skittish around us). I manages to grab her back leg, but she slipped away and took off in the very crowded parking lot. We looked for about 20 minutes (and it was 108 outside today), but could not spot her anywhere. We went back twice, and DH is about to go again, since the store is closed and we think she will be more likely to come out when there a fewer people around.
But I honestly don't think we have any chance of catching her. Even if we find her, I don't think she will come near us--she is very wary of people. So the wild, stray mama has gone back to being a wild stray. I hate to see the cycle start again, since we hadn't had her spayed yet. And there is so much traffic in that area, that I hope she can escape to a neighborhood where she will be a little safer. Sigh--I feel terrible that we lost the mama.
Meanwhile, we are down to three kittens, and I am meeting with someone tomorrow who wants one of them. The problem is that each of my children has declared a different kitten to be her favorite, so no matter which one I gave away, I am likely to have another child in tears. I knew it would be tough when it came time to give them away.
And since this post has been so depressing--a little funny:
We were driving to meet a potential adopter with the kids and the cats all loaded up. PS was drinking with a styrofoam cup and managed to poke her straw through the bottom of the foam cup, leaking Dr. Pepper everywhere (the kids get a max of 1 soda per week. I had to throw that in because I cringe when I see kids drinking soda all the time.) Of course, the carrier full of kittens was right beside her, and she got Dr. Pepper all over the poor kittens. When we arrived to meet the potential adopter, all of the kittens were soaked and sticky and looking like they had just come through a hurricane--poor little things. The adopter, fortunately, wasn't bothered by wet, sticky kittens, so we managed to give one away and took the others home for a bath.
P.S. Bathing kittens early gets them used to taking baths and supposedly helps tremendously with allergies.
P.P.S. I have never been a big fan of leather seats, but they are great when you have kids who spill sticky stuff all over the car. Just get butt warmers, which are awesome in the winter, and pretty freaking handy when you have PMS, too.
We loaded up all the kitties and met a couple of people to adopt them out today. Unfortunately, the first two that we adopted out were PS's favorites. I didn't think it was a big deal, because she has really taken care of and played with them all. But she cried and cried when we gave away the little black one. She isn't usually emotional or overly dramatic, so I think it really hurt her that we gave that particular cat away. Really, if I had known that she had truly grown so attached to it I would have kept it home--but I just wanted to reduce the number of cats in the house and give away whichever ones we could get rid of first.
And in addition to being a mean mom, I am a terrible pet owner. Because we lost mama cat today. We were meeting people in the parking lot of a strip mall because I didn't want a bunch of strangers knowing where I live. So we put all the cats in a carrier and loaded them into the back of the Suburban. When we opened the carrier, inside the Suburban, mama cat spazzed and took off inside the car. She managed to hide in a crawlspace up under the dash. I was trying to coax her out when she jumped, right toward the open door (she has always been very skittish around us). I manages to grab her back leg, but she slipped away and took off in the very crowded parking lot. We looked for about 20 minutes (and it was 108 outside today), but could not spot her anywhere. We went back twice, and DH is about to go again, since the store is closed and we think she will be more likely to come out when there a fewer people around.
But I honestly don't think we have any chance of catching her. Even if we find her, I don't think she will come near us--she is very wary of people. So the wild, stray mama has gone back to being a wild stray. I hate to see the cycle start again, since we hadn't had her spayed yet. And there is so much traffic in that area, that I hope she can escape to a neighborhood where she will be a little safer. Sigh--I feel terrible that we lost the mama.
Meanwhile, we are down to three kittens, and I am meeting with someone tomorrow who wants one of them. The problem is that each of my children has declared a different kitten to be her favorite, so no matter which one I gave away, I am likely to have another child in tears. I knew it would be tough when it came time to give them away.
And since this post has been so depressing--a little funny:
We were driving to meet a potential adopter with the kids and the cats all loaded up. PS was drinking with a styrofoam cup and managed to poke her straw through the bottom of the foam cup, leaking Dr. Pepper everywhere (the kids get a max of 1 soda per week. I had to throw that in because I cringe when I see kids drinking soda all the time.) Of course, the carrier full of kittens was right beside her, and she got Dr. Pepper all over the poor kittens. When we arrived to meet the potential adopter, all of the kittens were soaked and sticky and looking like they had just come through a hurricane--poor little things. The adopter, fortunately, wasn't bothered by wet, sticky kittens, so we managed to give one away and took the others home for a bath.
P.S. Bathing kittens early gets them used to taking baths and supposedly helps tremendously with allergies.
P.P.S. I have never been a big fan of leather seats, but they are great when you have kids who spill sticky stuff all over the car. Just get butt warmers, which are awesome in the winter, and pretty freaking handy when you have PMS, too.
Free kittens to good homes.
My goal this weekend is to find homes for the kittens. They are 8 weeks old now, and although they are all adorable and hilarious, I am really tired of feeding and cleaning up after 7 cats. I also think they need to be completely weaned from the mama, because she is soooo skinny.
We tried to work the people-we-know network first to find homes, but the only one we have given away is the calico. So last night I put them on Craigslist. I had 7 replies by this morning. (Half of which want the calico--I guess calicoes are popular.)
We have decided that the kids can keep two--one of which will probably be the mama, because I think she will be the hardest to find a home for. Of course, they all have their favorites, but I told them they are going to be stuck with the leftovers, because I will give away which ever ones I can. Besides the favorites are all male, and I would really prefer a female. As far as I can tell the only female is this one:
I love her little spilt face. But she drives DH crazy because she thinks he is a tree.
So here's hoping that not all of the Craigslist responders are freaks and flakes and that I can find good homes for these little sweeties.
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