Friday

The chilly weather knocked out our swimming plans for the second time this month!
We chatted about what to do instead last night and decided to just go to Katy's and make grilled cheese.

Chan was at Brit's house, Ben was already at Katy's and we had been hosting Evan, who's here for a few days now that school is out for him.  So we set out a little early to gather Chan on the way and pick up some doodads to share at lunch.

Saw this and wondered briefly if Suzette had bought a truck.

At Katy's, the kids spent about 4 seconds deciding what to do and then ran around like crazy people all afternoon.  I love that they can still be so physical and just PLAY.  Katy certainly has the place for active kids.  They played on the swing, the zipline, the trampoline, just ran around and played with Mars.

Inde gave me a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes.

We made a ton of grilled cheese sandwiches and had chips, fruit, cookies, La Croix, Caprisun and picked stuff from the yarden to make a big salad and have fresh herbs on our sandwiches.  Loads of chatter and mostly laughing our heads off at Bird, who is quite the ham at 21 months.  I took pictures, but his mom does not want me to post pics of him or Didda online.  Just trust me, he's SO cute.

After lunch, we lounged a bit while the kids ran around and around then Matt, Katy and I went for a walk and Amanda headed back to her neck of the woods to get ready for the weekend.  We are all headed off together next week!

Right below Katy's house.

Indian pink

Mint, Monarda family

Resurrection ferns

Don't know.  The plant grows like raspberry

That's mostly Virginia creeper, but there were about a zillion poison oak plants in the mix.
I washed everything I had on when we got back, including my shoes.

We had to make tracks back home, our movies were due by 7!  I wish there was a drop box, that would make my life so much easier sometimes.

The blue jays were going NUTS attacking Nia and screaming like all get out when we got in.  We finally went to see what was going on, Nia was under the pine looking up and they were swooping her like fighter jets.  She was sitting ON a baby jay!!  She is SO horrible, I mean the worst kind of dog.  I have looked out more than once and seen her perched on a cat, it flat on the ground and her rear end squishing it's head.  She even drags the cats to where she wants cushion sometimes and THEN sits on them.

Matt took the jay away from her, we thought it was dead and everyone was all teary eyed and then he gathered up the FLAT baby and it became bird shaped again!  It was not wet or damaged, she just sat on it-no mauling.  I wish I knew why she did that...

I lined a small basket with paper towels and we put the baby in it and wedged it back up in the tree.  The parents took over immediately, though they were both livid and tried to kill Cleo when she was making her way to her cat bed in the shed.  That poor cat, I am not sure she's had a good day in her whole life.

We have gone to check a couple of times, debating on if we should bring it in.  It's COLD out there, under 50, I am not sure the parents will snuggle the baby if there are other babies in a nest elsewhere.  I know I will barely sleep, I am afraid to bring it in in case they abandon it totally.  I hope it was not shocked too much by our horrible dog, that could kill it, too.  It was panting for a while, but was quiet and fluffed up last time we checked.  Okay, I can't stand it, I am going back out to check.

Last of January

And so the new year goes, I am still not 100% on the whole '2013' issue, as I seem to have only recently caught up to 2011, which is why when we cleaned out the pantry last week, Chandler was in charge of expired items, I probably would have killed us all with botulism. 'October 2012, that's MONTHS AWAY!'

I have been in a bit of a fugue, not a funk, just feeling a little removed from it all.  It could be any number of things-allergies from the early blooming flowers, the weather being all over the place, the new puppy needing to go potty at all hours, Matt being out of town, meeting new people and doing new things.  I tend to back away from myself and observe at times, particularly when I feel overwhelmed.

Puppy update-it's been 6 days since she's peed inside, she goes right out and to the same spot.  Since her vet visit last Friday, I have been scooping poop and putting it in the trash can, because the vet wormed her again, though she's still as pot-bellied as ever.

When she got to the pound on the 4th, she was 11 pounds.  The vet said she was under 10 when they did her spay on the 17th and this past Friday she was 14 pounds.  They were a little freaked that she had gained 4 pounds in 8 days.  I am not surprised at all, pound puppies are the worst for gobbling because they have had to fight for all their food their whole lives.  It takes a little while to realize there will be more food and until she's sure of that, she will fatten herself up.  Now that her stitches are gone and that belly is really healing, her energy levels are increasing daily.  She will burn it off.  Though I have had to expand her collar twice because her neck is so fat.  eep!

I did our taxes and THAT was awful.  I did them 4 times to be sure, but the days of a fat refund are over, it will be exactly enough to cover half of Ben's braces down payment.  I had planned several upcoming expenses like new tires on the front of the van to be covered by the refund as well as a little boost to the savings account.  So, I had to go back and spend a couple of hours re-working the budget for the year, which stinks.  I am not sure we will be able to get to Disney this fall as planned, but I am sure going to try.  We will still be out of debt-other than Ben's braces-by the end of April, so that will help.  It's just that the house needs some repairs-mainly its needed a new roof for a while.  And only the porch is painted.  I stopped painting when it was apparent we had to replace the fascia boards all the way around and now that's done and they are all painted, so I need to get back on my house painting plan.  At least I picked a good color, we all still like it. 

We came through the weather just fine.  I, of course, had to fret about it.  I had the kids wear socks to bed and keep their shoes and flashlights (with new batteries) right by the bed and pack a change of clothes and their favorite items, I got our toiletries and important papers packed, Matt's glasses and mine, the external hard drive, my Nook, a pair of good tweezers because they really are hard to find.  Then I looked around.  There wasn't anything else I wanted to save.  I am not sure what that means, I guess that everything can be replaced and photos re-printed.  It's just stuff.  I did kind of wish a tree would fall in such a way as to need new roofing without damaging anything else so insurance would help out on the cost.  I guess that was too much to hope for, though the wind managed to take a few more shingles.  I am going with metal roofs from here on out, I am tired of playing shingle shuffle.  Ooo, or a flat roof.  So useful!   Live in a big cube...our underground. 


Today is the end of the month, Ben goes for his final fitting before getting his braces in 2 weeks, it's my half-birthday, I am directly between 38 and 39.  I have decided that for my 50th birthday, I don't want to have a huge travel vacation or the usual.  I just want to not have any cats.  Between the near-constant yowls, the DAYS of work each time getting foster dogs to not chase them, the piles of dead thing guts in the yard, the piles of dead-thing pukes on the steps and welcome mat if they can't actually make to to one of the beds to throw up, the waft of loose hairs that get on EVERYTHING, the peeing in the sink and bathtub, the way they run JUST ahead and then LAY DOWN IN THE PATH while you try to walk, the way they follow us and cry and cry as we walk or bike on the driveway, the way I have to drive AROUND them or stop and wait as they dust bathe in the road, how when I bend over to pick something up, they leap on my shoulders and dig in.  I am just...done with cats.  I won't get rid of the 4 we have, I just don't want to replace them, either.  We will be a dog family.  Of course in 10.5 years, the kids will be well into their 20's and likely we will just be a dog couple.  *sigh*  Good thing I am still crazy about Matt, he's not going anywhere.

I can never see a chickadee without hearing Ben's little voice saying, "Mommy!  Tickadees!"
I still think of them as such.

Birds

We have the feeders up during this cold snap.  I usually avoid feeding the birds because the cats eat a few a year.  I did move the feeders up to the eaves of the house, so far that has made a difference. 

I have been a little snap happy this afternoon, so I thought I would post a few shots.  I was trying to get a chickadee, but they are SO fast.