The future Mr. Whiskers

We have a kitten that is trying to adopt us. He keeps showing up in the backyard and running into the house when I open the door to leave. I even found him in the van one day. And he did NOT get into the van because I unknowingly left two doors wide open for hours on end. So don't even think that.

One day I hear him meowing his head off in the backyard so I go out there to scare him away. But unfortunately he isn't very good at running away. I go out there and clap my hands and yell at him. He ran around the yard a bit but never actually tried to leave. Then he cornered himself behind the wheelbarrow. I bent down afraid he was going to try to scratch the heck out of me but he didn't. I grabbed him and he's so sweet. So so sweet. He didn't try to get away from me or anything. I walked him through the house and set him free in the front yard.

But that was not the last of him.

Connor and I were eating lunch in the back yard and he popped over the fence. Clearly in search of a peanut butter and jelly treat. He was so persistent that we had to go inside to finish our sandwiches. Of course trying to get in the door with a plate in each hand and hungry kitten at your feet is tough to do. Again, I had to walk him through the house and let him go in the front yard.

I felt bad. I wanted to just go ahead and let him eat the sandwich, poor little thing. But I CAN NOT feed him. I think he's persistent now. Wait til he gets a taste of my cooking.

Alarming

I went to CVS yesterday to fill Maddy's asthma prescription. In the back near the pharmacy they have a set of swinging doors, like saloon doors. (Side note: Did they just never close the old west saloon? That type of door design doesn't seem very secure, and their customer base wasn't exactly trust worthy. I believe "gun slinger" was a common adjective. It's curious.) On the door is big sign that says "Do not open! Alarm will sound!" But of course warnings like that are lost on a 3 year old. Not only is the sign two feet above his head but he can't read.

So in true Connor fashion he gave it a great big push with one hand as he walked confindently by. And I'm telling you they are not lying about the alarm sounding. It sounded. Loudly. I only half heartedly apologized because seriously, if you are going to alarm a door you might want to have it latch. At least. Jeeze.

But it reminded me of a time when I was pregnant with Connor. We had gone to the zoo lights with my brother in law and his family. Afterwards we went to Chick-a-lay (as Connor says) and my nephew took the cover off the fire alarm and set it off. So you know, it happens. I know I'm not the only one.

Oh, and just to note... Connor has slept throught the night two nights in a row and woke up dry. I don't think I will have to buy diapers ever again!

Picture drama

After we got back from Disneyland I bought a big, huge collage frame and was going to fill it using pictures from our trip. I had a coupon code for 75 free prints from Snapfish, so I ordered everything I thought I could use. I needed more.

So like a week ago I ordered the 4 more pics I needed from Walmart. Because I am exceedingly cheap I decided to save the 2 fricken dollars for one hour prints and have them shipped to the store. I know it was only $2, but I figured I could wait a couple of days.

Today I went to pick up my pictures. I was disappointed to see that they were damaged. One was folded in half and the other three had been bent. Two separate envelopes, both damaged. I point it out to the lady. She makes a phone call and then comes back and tells me that I have to call the number on "whatever website I ordered them from". I ordered them from Walmart! But that's besides the point. I took my damaged pictures and went home to call customer service. But there is no number, only an email address. Not acceptable.

So I take my receipt I had printed out back to Walmart. Of course it's the same customer service person and I tell her that I would like to speak to a manager about my damaged pictures.

She says "She already told me there was nothing we could do since you ordered them online."
"Well, I'd like to speak with her." I tell her. She calls over the loud speaker for a manager and I step about 5 steps away to wait.
While waiting on someone else the customer service person continues to tell me how there is nothing they can do. But now she has to practically yell because I've moved away and am not even facing her. "We can't give you a refund because you ordered them online!!" she yells at me. I pretend not to hear her.

Finally a manager comes up and I give her my receipt and show her my folded pictures. She takes my receipt and leaves. She comes back like 10 minutes later and hands the customer service rep a copy of my receipt and tells her to refund my money.

HA!

Surprisingly, it is that girl's break time right that very second. She simply must go to break before she can return my pictures. So someone else had to come and give me back my two dollars.

I ended up ordering one hour prints from Costco. At this point I really don't want to wait another week for my pictures. Larry takes me down there with the idea that he would drop me off at the door and then take the van to get gas. I would pick up my pictures and meet him back in the front. But the second I get out of the van and he starts to drive away I realize that I don't have my wallet. Grr. And since he didn't see me running down the Costco parking lot trying to flag down the van I walk over and stand in the shade next to a couple who was sitting on a flat cart with their new flat screen TV.

Costco was pretty busy and I'm just standing there watching the people. In the aisle right in front of us there is a minivan waiting for someone right in the front spot to leave. The guy was taking forever but I really didn't pay much attention. So the guy finally backs out of his spot and before the minivan can pull in an old man zips from the other way and takes the spot. I honestly think he didn't see the minivan waiting. Anyways, the lady lost it. She lays on the horn which is what caught mine and the other couple's attention. Then she gets out and starts yelling at the old guy. I couldn't hear what she was saying but she was waving her arms all around and pointing to her van. I hear him say "I didn't see you." and he starts to walk away. She gets in her van and is yelling out the window at him "I hope your satisfied!!".

As the old guy is walking past me this other lady comes up to him and says "There's no common nature anymore is there?" I assume she meant common decency. And this other lady hangs out her window and starts yelling at the lady talking to the guy. "Stay out of it lady you don't even know what's going on! You didn't see what happened!" And they start getting into it. Yelling at each other back and forth about it. Whoever was driving the van is trying to drive away and the other lady is following along and the two ladies are screaming full on at each other.

Meanwhile the old guy just went on with his business. Me and the other couple just start laughing and people are asking us what happened and we are telling the whole story to a bunch of people.

Then Larry came back from getting gas and we went in and I finally got our pictures. Quite the drama!

The week in review

Crap! It's been a week since I wrote in here. Dang it. I don't know how time gets away from me.

Let's see, what did I do this week... I can't even remember. My life is like a bucking bronco and I'm just trying not to get trampled. In fact, I've fallen off but my foot got caught in the reigns and I'm being wildly thrown around like a rag doll. Occasionally my head hits the ground and I pass out for a few minutes. That must have been what happened this week. Cause seriously, I thought I was writing every day. lol.

Anyways, so this week...

Monday: I made lasagna. Oh, no wait... that was two weeks ago. I don't remember Monday at all except that I had a math test.

Tuesday: I went to the post office and then out to lunch with Connor. Don't remember much else.

Wednesday: I met Larry for lunch, talked to Nikki, and then did homework. Maddy came home from school bawling her eyes out because she picked out an AR book that was the wrong level. (AR is the advanced reading program. You read a book, then take a comprehension test on it. When you pass 3 tests then you move up to the next level. She is now in level 2.1. That's second grade, ya'll!) I tried to explain that it wasn't a big deal and that I'm sure she could trade it for another book in the right level. She said there was no way she could at all and that she is the only kid who has ever picked a book in the wrong level and she will have to go to another school in order to fix this problem, as it is the worst thing a student could ever do. She literally cried for about an hour over this. Got her calmed down and then went to school.

Turns out that it's not a big deal and you can, in fact, exchange the book for one in the proper level.

Thursday: I went to Target and then stopped at Quiznos so that I could use my coupon for a free sub. Yum. That's basically it.

Friday: So far nothing. I do need to go to Walmart and pick up some pictures I ordered and then come home and fill my collage frames and then rehang all my pictures. Last week we got the super idea to move the computer upstairs. This seemingly simple move has affected every room in the house except for Maddy's room. No joke! We moved the computer into the closet of the spare room. Which meant emptying the closet. Which meant moving everything either into the garage or into the closet in the master. Which meant reorganizing the master closet. I found a bunch of stuff that should be in Connor's closet, which meant reorganizing that.

So then finally the computer goes upstairs. Which left a big gaping hole in the living room. So we needed to move the TV. Which left that wall VERY bare. So we moved a book case from the living room into the family room. Which meant reorganizing the DVDs. And the point of moving the computer was to have all the officey type stuff in one place. Which most of that was in the hall closet. So that got reorganized as well.

Oh and somewhere in there I decided to buy a new light fixture for the downstairs bathroom.

But it was all worth it. Not only does the house look nicer now, I can actually use the computer without Connor sitting on my lap and putting his big round fuzzy head right in the way. Or better, standing behind the chair and turning it back and forth. Or even better yet, slapping at the keyboard and making all kinds of weird changes that I didn't even know you could do, let alone how to fix.

A helper in training

Connor is "doing the dishes" as I type. I have the faucet dripping the tiniest drip it can manage and luckily he isn't tall enough yet to reach the handle so he has to deal with it. I probably shouldn't let him do this but how can a person resist when your three year old ASKS to do the dishes. This is an activity that simply must be encouraged.

He then got the sponge and was "cleaning the table". Which means dragging a sopping wet sponge across the island. He is too short to actually see over the counter so he has no idea that he is really just getting my grocery store ads all wet. But it's sweet.

LOL... He just wiped pretend sweat off his brow and said "phew!". Then while standing on his stool turned to look at me. This allowed him to see the top of the island that he just cleaned. Seeing the puddles of water that he left during his cleaning spree he says, "Wait a minute?! The table is all wet!". He then got down, got a dish towel, and dried of the counter.

"I'm doing great, Mommy!"
"You are doing great."

Just do it!

This is an excerpt from a book called Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

Think about it...

Oh, and by the way... I went to the post office today and have nothing to report. Strange.

Progress report

Maddy got a progress report today.

Reading: 97.5% (A+)
Math: 97.2% (A+)
Writing: 96.2% (A)

That's my girl!! Her teacher wrote "Maddy is a good student." I'm so proud.

But I can't say much because I, myself, have a test tonight. And I can't let my 7 year old show me up! Off to work...