Well, it's Thursday.  :)

 

I'm here, nursing the first coffee of the day, and walking a little gingerly.  It's a Tylenol morning.  The hip is giving me some pain today.  Not sure what I did...or what I didn't do.   I guess it's just something I'm going to have to learn to live with, like my hands, as the doctor tells me.  I thought briefly of trying to contact my parents to find out if the arthritis was on their side of the family, and what, if anything, they did that worked.  As for me, the Tylenol's doing okay right now, so I'm savoring denial.   Everything still works, and that's all I need.

 

I put up some shelves in Chynna's room last night.  What a project.  They're a bit crooked, but she didn't want to wait to use the level, so that's what she gets.  It's funny how small projects like that that seem like they should take seconds to perform end up taking hours.  First we didn't have the drywall anchors, then everybody went different directions, and we couldn't connect to do the project, then we discovered nobody plugged in the cordless drill to the charger last time it got used and it was dead.  But, one blood blister and a couple of arguments later, finally, success, and the girl got to sleep in her own room after all last night.

 

I had an "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" moment yesterday.  It was actually quite funny (although not so much at the time).  The girl went off to her friend's house after school (yesterday was the last day of school around here, and it was a half day) and was gone when I got home from work.  Colton and I walked in the kitchen to put some things away, and there it was:  a MONSTER PUDDLE OF SOAPSUDS.  I knew right away what she'd done.  The little dishwasher cube things had run out, and sitting above the dishwasher was a brand new bottle of dishwashing *liquid*.   Sodden towels were strewn around the floor, but failing to control the HUGE MENACING PUDDLE, which by now I could see had infiltrated the area beneath the stove, the refrigerator, the door to the laundry room.....   "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"   I screamed.  (It's ever so satisfying in situations like this to just let out a good, red-blooded American scream.)  Colton and I set to cleaning it up.  I went to get a bunch more towels, while he worked on cleaning up with the ones he had.  I came back just in time to hear another "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" as he slid like a comedian on a bananapeel across the slippery soapy floor.  I tried hard to stay frustrated, but it was just too funny.  We were both laughing by the time we got done. 

 

And hey... one extra plus:  the kitchen floor is pretty clean!

 

Have a great day, everybody.  Smile.  It's almost Friday.

There is so much going on in my life right at this particular moment that I can't even breathe, much less tell anyone about it.  All I can say is, finally things are going right (or so they seem), and I'm just not sure how to handle it.  Not sure how to believe in hope again... I'm so afraid to be disappointed. 

 

So instead I'm going to tell you a funny story that happened last week.

 

My daughter decided about two months ago that we needed another kitten.  We have one cat, two dogs, and an outside cat that visits from time to time.  I was really and truly done with having more pets, but when she brought it home (knowing full well what a pushover for kittens Mom is), what do YOU think happened?  About the time I was grumbling, baby Adeline pushed her longhaired calico little face up underneath my chin, curled up in my hand, fell asleep purring, and lo and behold - we had another cat. 

 

Now, as any kid knows, one good thing is good, but two must be better, right?  Chynna and her best friend each took a kitten from the litter (which otherwise would have suffered the Kitten Holocaust, otherwise known as the Humane Society...).  Turns out her friend's sister is allergic to cats, so guess who got Kitten #2?  Of course both are female...

 

Anyhow, I digress.

 

Kitten #2 was quickly dubbed "Emo" by Chynna, because it was taken away too soon and as a result, it cries all the time.  Still, Emo has proven to be quite the explorer.  Whereever I go in the house, I find kittens traipsing along afterward.  Since the dogs think they're attached to me by an umbilical cord as well, it's frequently amusing to watch me try to make my way anywhere, attended by my small fleet of ugly ducklings!  Several times the kittens, slower on the uptake, have gotten themselves shut in places like the laundry room or the bathroom or a closet somewhere. 

 

One evening it was time to go to bed.  The dogs and the big cat sleep with me, but the kittens had been sleeping with my daughter.  We had had a late dinner, and I had just finished clearing up when I flitted around trying to get everyone ready for bed.   Usually I let Chynna deal with the kittens, but on this night, I heard this little  voice 'mewing' from far away.  I opened every door I could think of, calling and calling.  We found Adeline, but no Emo.  I mewed back to her, and each time I could hear this little pathetic 'mew' back, very very faraway. 

 

After about 20 minutes of searching by the whole crew, I threw my hands up in the air, frustrated.  I said to Chynna "Where IS that darn cat?  In the refrigerator?" 

 

My daughter looked at me, and I looked back at her.  She opened the fridge door.

 

Out rolled Emo, who had been perched in the crisper bin.

 

Emo-matoes. 

 

Chilly, but VERY glad to see us. 

 

We laughed so hard I thought one of us would wet our pants.  We were doubled over, holding on to each other for support, while Emo wound in and out of our legs, happy to see us, and no worse for the wear.

 

 

 

Darned if the cat didn't try to get in the fridge again the next time I opened it.  Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice... well, Momma isn't falling for the cat-in-the-fridge trick twice.

 

Smile.  It's Thursday.

Looks like 6-6-06 went off without a hitch.

 

Terribly disappointed I didn't get raptured. 

 

*sigh*

 

Always behind the guy with a pricecheck on the 21st item in the 20 item express line....