mamajoan

Yes, I know it's December. But I thought that instead of typing out a whole actual update ;) that I would just copy-paste in a selection of my Facebook posts from November. The primary purpose of this is for me to not lose all the "funny things the kids said/did/wrote" once they scroll too far down my Facebook page. Also, it's a way to preserve my "day in the life" type entries, which I'm not copying all of here, just a selection. There might even be one or two of you who might enjoy reading these....

( Our November, in Facebook status )

I also went back and did one of these for October, back-dated. It's here. Not sure how much patience I'll have for going back much further than that, but we'll see....

Last week I took my cat, Grover, to be neutered -- long overdue, since we've had him for almost 3 years now. A combination of lack of funds and lack of getting-around-to-it-ness had kept it from happening sooner. Well, and there was also lack of urgency as a factor, since Grover doesn't go out and thus has no opportunity to encounter girl kitties (with one exception as noted below), and *knock wood* had never seemed to exhibit the tendency of many unneutered males to pee everywhere.

But then my upstairs neighbor Charles let me know that he'd had to put his kitty to sleep because she turned out to have feline leukemia. Charles occasionally had let her into the basement, and Grover occasionally goes there too, so there was a small chance they could have encountered each other down there. I knew that Melita was fixed, so I never worried about it from that point of view.

Anyway, the odds of Grover having been infected by Melita were very small, but I figured it was as good an impetus as any to finally get him to the vet for his shots, general checkup, neutering, and the FeLeuk test.

( the saga of the reluctant cat )

I really like the new vet office that I switched to after getting dissatisfied with the old one. For one thing, the location right nearby Ruthie's preschool is very convenient. For another, it's a nice old building that is not at all far removed from having been someone's home in the past. And all the people I dealt with there so far -- the vet, two nurses, and two receptionists -- were women, and all very friendly and competent. So far, so good. And here's hoping that it'll be a year until we have to go back ;) and that by then Grover will have forgotten that he has good reason to hate the cat-carrier. ;)

Behind the cut is the update I was writing this afternoon before I got "The Call" from daycare. It basically talks about what we did this weekend (not much) and what I've been cooking and reading lately.

( the update )

And that's how far I had gotten when Ruthie's daycare called to tell me that she had a 102 fever. Not entirely unexpected, since she had been very runny-nosed for a day or so, and actually we were all very late for school/work this morning because I let her sleep in. She was all wheezy and snore-y from congestion. Anyway, so I went and picked her up, and we had to go past Isaac's preschool to get our car, and I was just going to get the car and go home for an hour (it was 4:15) but Ruthie got all upset, "Pick up my bwuh-zoo [brother]!! I'm-a play wif him!" so whatever, we picked him up too.

Then we went home and both kids were totally bouncing off the walls and I was disgruntled. The way I see it, if a kid's going to make me leave work early and disrupt my whole day, she could at least have the decency to act sick. ;P Also we discovered that the cat had barfed up a hairball on Ruthie's bed, which made quite an impression. She followed him around for a bit going "Don't! Throw! Up! Oday? Oday! Don't!"

And later there was the adventure with the mouse. But this post is already long enough so I'll save that for another post.

In any case, since the daycare has that frickin' 24-hour rule, I can't bring Ruthie back there tomorrow, so I'll have to take the day off. And I just know she's going to be totally chipper and fine and not sick at all, and she'll run me ragged. urgh!

( cooking )

Ruthie and Chubby are formulating an interesting love-hate sort of relationship. Ruthie is SO excited that we have a kitty ("ditty") in the house. She talks about him constantly, e.g. at daycare pickup: "we go home and see da ditty!" and every few minutes "I go see what Tubby doin'!" and first thing upon waking up each morning "Where da ditty?" He spends most of his time hiding either under Ruthie's bed or in the closet in the kids' room; and Ruthie spends WAY too much time trying to get at him. When he's under the bed she crouches on the floor looking in at him and making meowing noises at the top of her lungs. When he's in the closet she tries to get to him (there's a lot of random stuff in the way) going "Hi ditty! Meow! Hi!" and patting at him.

Amazingly, she has yet to be scratched or bitten. Really, she's quite gentle when she actually does get her hands on him -- she just doesn't move slowly enough or speak quietly enough to keep from alarming him. ;)

BUT!!! -- he does come out, especially at night when we're lying down in Ruthie's bed to put her to sleep. He comes out and meows, and sometimes jumps up on her bed to look for petting. Usually I end up shutting him out of the room because having him around keeps Ruthie from being able to fall asleep. But the other night he came on the bed and lay down between us while Ruthie was nursing, and she was sleepy enough by that point that she didn't bolt upright; she just lay there and continued nursing and petted Chubby softly and he put his paw gently on her arm, and she went to sleep. So that was nice. And he has started coming around more often while she's there -- usually looking for petting from me, and tolerating some attention from Ruthie until she gets too excited and then he bolts. ;) Still, it's good progress. Yesterday he came up on the bed while I was changing Ruthie's diaper on it, and she was wiggling all over the place. He even held still for a few seconds of smothering (Ruthie basically draping her entire upper body on his head/neck, her version of a hug) before he fled. ;)

And several times lately we've found Chubby sleeping on, rather than under, Ruthie's bed. So I can see the beginnings of a beautiful friendship forming between them, which is nice.

Ruthie will now occasionally, once in a while, say "Isaac" instead of "ah-goo." It sounds so bizarre and wrong coming out of her! And it makes me kinda sad. I'll miss "ah-goo." On a related note, we've been reading Isaac's book The Night Before Kindergarten and I've been having difficulty explaining to him why the parents are crying when their kids are having fun on the first day of kindergarten. "Their noses, so sniffly! Their eyes red and wet!" says the book. "Why are they crying?" says Isaac. "Uh...they're sad because they have to leave their kids and go to work," say I, lamely. I suck. ;)

ok, time to run, more later

Yeah, so, when I agreed to adopt/foster a new kitty, I conveniently managed to forget about the part where kitties keep you up half the night... *groan*

On the bright side, Chubby is definitely warming up to us! LOL.

I had a really hard time getting Ruthie to sleep last night. I decided to do a slightly early bedtime because Isaac was super-cranky, throwing screaming sobbing tantrums (complete with adolescent-esque "You never listen to me!!") and I realized that he was tired. Bedtimes have been creeping later and later since it stays light outside later, and we've been getting up early, so he's been losing out on some sleep.

So I got us to bed about 20 minutes earlier than usual, but Ruthie just could NOT fall asleep. At one point I thought she was close and I had to get a break, so I told her I'd be right back, and went into the living room. It was very quiet for about 5-10 minutes and then suddenly she started sobbing loudly. I went back into the bedroom and sat down on her bed, and she said, "I NOT YIKE THE WIPERS!!" O.o So I womanfully refrained from LOLing ;) and took her out to the living room to sit on the couch. Then I think she might have nursed to sleep, except that Chubby came along all "oh, I see you are sitting on the couch, this must mean that I can haz petting now!" and Ruthie woke right up. *facepalm* So there ensued about a half-hour of meowing and "Dat a kitty! Whass dat? Dat a kitty! He say meow! Meow! MEOW! Da kitty say meow! His name Chubby! Whass dat? Dat a kitty!" Groan!!

Finally I took Ruthie back into the bedroom, restarted the CD, and again lay down to nurse her on the bed. Chubby continued to make himself known but I petted him with one hand to keep him quiet while bracing myself on the bed with the other; and at last Ruthie fell asleep. Whew.

Then I had to go watch the rest of the wild, ridiculous Sox game; and then I tried to go to sleep, but Chubby made himself obnoxious again. We had the paws in the face, the meowing, etc., etc....climbing all over me in bed, snuggling me for a moment, then jumping up to check out another part of the bed, etc....

I must have fallen asleep eventually, though. And I slept right through Ruthie coming into my bed again, because the next thing I knew it was about 5am and Ruthie was snuggled up with me and Chubby was rustling some papers on my bookshelf. So I sat up and stage-whispered loudly at him to stop it, and he popped out from a pile of papers and meowed all like "what? who, me? what'd I do?" and I was like, "hush!" And I lay back down very carefully, checking to make sure Ruthie was still asleep...and she was...but then as I settled back down next to her, she said, "Meow!" and I was like, oh crap. But she wasn't waking up! She said "meow" in her sleep. LOL!!!!!!

Anyway, long story short, Chubby is making himself right at home. ;) Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he's getting comfortable enough with me to come on my bed with me, and with Ruthie to not flee as soon as he spots her. I just hope he'll let me get some sleep in the very near future. sigh.

( Pictures of Chubby behind the cut )

As you can see, he really isn't chubby at all. I'm thinking of renaming him if the people we got him from don't object.

In other news, this morning I went to register Isaac for afterschool, which turned into a bit of a "thing" because as it turns out the flyer had the wrong date; registration for kindergarteners isn't supposed to start till Monday. But the woman took my application anyway, and it seemed clear that I wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last parent coming in that day. I don't envy that woman the day she'll have had today.

I also noticed that according to my income and household size, I just barely miss the cutoff for a sliding-scale afterschool rate of $99/week instead of $115/week. Ah well. It'll still be a nice big jump down from the $220 that I currently pay for Isaac's preschool.

Today I decided to work from home in order to keep Chubby company and hopefully let him get used to me. I had to go to the office for a morning meeting and to get my laptop, so I got back home around 11:30. I found him hiding in a different spot, which I guess is progress, lol, but he hasn't come out to see me since I've been here. Last night after the kids were asleep and all was dark and quiet, he did come out for some scritching and rubbed his face on some of the furniture and me, so that's progress too. And at some point in the night he jumped up onto my bed, then fled when I lifted my head to look at him. heh.

I haven't been doing much cooking worthy of note lately, but I do have a few updates. I just looked back at my 2008recipes tag and realized that I never posted my second lentil experiment from a couple of weeks ago. I can't recall too much of the details except that it involved green rather than red lentils, and whole-wheat elbow noodles, and zucchini, and curry powder. And it was very tasty, although I decided that I like red lentils better than green. Anyway, I'll call that #34.

#35 was this weekend and was muffins from the recipe I usually make, except that this time instead of the milk I used orange juice, and I substituted applesauce for half of the oil, and added lots of cinnamon. So they came out quite fruity, which was nice. I brought them to the pot-luck yesterday at the home of one of Isaac's preschool friends. And I realized afterward that they were actually vegan! It kind of makes me LOL when something I cook winds up being vegan "by accident."

#36 was a new bread recipe that I made last night, out of Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. This is called "Sandwich Bread," using the whole-wheat variation, half white flour and half whole-wheat flour. I also proofed the yeast before adding it, which I had never done before. The recipe uses over a cup of milk (the other bread recipe I've been making lately uses a cup of water and just a couple tablespoons of milk) which I guess contributes in part to the fluffiness. Anyway, I was highly skeptical because the dough was SO sticky, but it actually turned out GREAT! It rose a lot (perhaps due to the proofing?) and has a really nice texture and flavor. The book said that the whole-wheat variation would not be fluffy, but I sure didn't find that to be the case. I might have to consider making this my new bread recipe, except that the stickiness issue makes it more difficult to whip together while the kids are playing like I do with the other one. But we'll see.

Anyway, that's the cooking update for the moment. Our CSA will be starting up again next week (yay!) so I'll probably start having lots more recipe updates after that. What do you think are the odds that I can convince the kids to eat kale? ;)

* The concert last Sunday went quite well. I hope I shall have a chance to write more about it at some point. (I say that a lot, don't I? sigh.)

* Monday was a glorious day both weather-wise and activity-wise. We spent basically the whole day in the back yard, with six(!) other kids coming over to play at various points. The fabulously wonderful wneleh was kind enough to bring us an enormous play structure that her kids have outgrown, and my kids and their friends LOOOOOVED it. She brought it over in pieces, and as we were putting it back together, the kids were literally climbing all over it. It was all "Get down from there! Don't crawl through the tunnel until it's hooked up! Climb down off that! Have a little patience!" LOL. Anyway, this thing is teh awesome. I shall post pix at some point. The kids are lovin' it and it's going to be great for Isaac's party.

* However, the lesson learned from Monday is that it's about damn time to buy a new bottle of sunscreen. I acquired quite the sunburn across my shoulders and upper back, and it is rather painful these last couple of days, making wearing my backpack -- or even clothes! -- somewhat uncomfy. d'oh. Fortunately the kids seem to have gotten off easier (though I keep meaning to ask metafrantic and sandykidd whether Baz got any burned, since he's so much fairer than my kids -- and he was looking quite pink by the time we decided we had better get him inside. yikes).

* Apparently I have agreed to foster for an unknown period of time a kittycat whose people are looking for a cat-friendly apartment (long story). The timing is unclear but it seems we'll be taking custody of "Chubby" within the next few days. I'm excited! and also a bit nervous, but it will all work out somehow.

* Isaac has developed an unhealthy fascination with the Weather Channel widget on my Firefox (it shows little icons in the status bar to tell you the weather for right now, later today/tonight, and tomorrow). He runs over to check it like every five minutes. It is kind of annoying, LOL.

* Ruthie's daycare teacher today said that Ruthie is "such a happy kid," always laughing and cheerful. That was so nice to hear. She is mostly like that at home too, except for the occasional screechy tantrum of course, heh.

* Tonight I made pancakes out of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I've made pancakes before of course, but never this simply from a recipe, so I'll count it as number, uh, 32 I think? (edit #33) Anyway I subbed whole-wheat flour and cornmeal for half the flour, and they came out too dense and the kids didn't really like them much, alas. ah well.

* I finished re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land and then read Grammar for the Soul, a totally delightful little book by a guy who is a friend of my mom's and the dad of one of my best childhood friends. It's basically centered around the premise that the grammar we use affects our mindset and attitudes -- and vice versa -- and that by mindfully changing our grammar we can positively affect our mental/emotional state. Okay, it sounds hokey but it's really a fun, witty, engaging, and thought-provoking book. I really enjoyed it (obviously). Highly recommended.

* And now I am reading Imaro by Charles Saunders, which I believe was recommended by morgan_dhu.

* And of course I have lots more to post about but that's enough for now.

Another good, but grueling chorus rehearsal last night. Should I be twisting arms to get y'all to come to our concert? I feel like I always post about it here but none of you ever come. Maybe it's just not your "thang." That's okay too.

I'm pretty much giving up on my idea to try to find someone to bring Isaac to the concert. It's just too complicated (going to be tricky enough finding one babysitter, let alone two) and I don't think he'd get enough out of it to make it worthwhile. Maybe next year.

Speaking of next year, ( conversations with Isaac about the nature of time )

In other news, a relative of ours is leaving at the end of December to go to Africa for six months on a Fulbright, and is looking for someone to care for her cat while she's away. I sorta kinda told her that we would do it, although we did agree that she'd first exhaust all her other options, particularly in her area (currently lives in Michigan). I'm cautiously excited about the idea of having a kitty again, but also a bit nervous about handling it with the kids -- particularly Ruthie who won't understand that we're "borrowing" this kitty, and who thus might get upset when B. returns from Africa and wants her kitty back. Not sure what to do about that. It could get ugly if she (if we all!) get attached. But we'll see what happens. Maybe B. will find someone else to kittysit and it'll all be moot.

In other other news it is freakishly warm today and there is bright green grass in my backyard. The entire earth is just really confused.

Unbelievably massively adorable kitten picspam courtesy of anime_heart. Oh Em Gee. KITTENS!!!!

Well, it's done. It wasn't my first time doing it, but it was my first time as the sole decision-maker. It's so hard.

I just feel sad and guilty about the whole thing.

There's not much else to say really.