Poor Eggy

Finally made my chocolate chip cookies. They didn't turn out as good as last weeks. I'm not sure what I did different other than leaving the dry ingredients out over night. I had an issue with the eggs. I cracked one egg, mixed it into the sugars and butter. Cracked the second egg and instead of seeing yellow, it was red. There was a half formed baby chicken inside it. I went in the bathroom and cried. I didn't want Jasmine to see me crying over the egg or to realise that could even happen. I was told over and over again by various people that it's next to impossible to have that happen. I just couldn't make cookies after that and I tossed any eggs I had left immediately. From time to time I have fresh eggs but you can't get fresh eggs at 11pm, which is usually when I seem to want to bake the most. I will never get that image out of my head. I emailed the company and told them how upset I was and that I never planned to buy any of their products in the future. I made it very clear I wasn't looking to get coupons or anything from my complaint but just to make them aware of the issue and to take steps to make sure it didn't happen again.

I want to start writing a memoir. Not anything I ever plan to try and publish. It would be for me, eventually for my kids and grand kids. (my kids will be disowned if at least one of them doesn't give me a grand kid) I'm not sure if I want to start it now on my husband's laptop or wait till I can get another of my own. (the internal connection in mine was snapped off, the part that connects the computer to the charger... I've had it fixed once already and it broke within a week, which the guy said would probably happen) For now I'm just going to get one of those tiny netbooks since I only use my computer for internet usage, photography and small games. Eventually, I'd like to have two of my own, a macbook and a dell. The mac for my photography stuff and various other projects I'd like to embark on but would prefer to use Apple products. The dell for games mainly. I could start the memoir on the this computer but I had switching computers halfway through something. It's a very weird pet peeve of mine. I have many.

I'm rich

Tonight was the first night I've ever went out to dinner and left a 300% tip. :) No, I didn't suddenly win the lottery. I had quite a few dinner coupons and our bill came up to only be about 4 bucks. This was with an appetizer, two meals and one kids meal at Friday's. You could say they lost some money on that. Our next meal there will be just as cheap as I have duplicates of all those coupons.

Today is Beth's birthday over at nutwood, pop on over, knock on the door and wish her a happy birthday.

Bad realtor, go sit in the time-out chair

I woke up way later than I should've today so we ended up at my dad's about an hour later than normal. The reason for my late wake up? For starters, I didn't fall asleep till about 10am (I have no idea what that's about) and then came a knock on my front door at about 11am. I don't answer the door if my husband isn't home. Period. If you're coming to my house, chances are you know to call ahead and typically, anyone who stops by unannounced uses the other door since they have a key to it. Usually around that time of day it's a Jehovah or salesman. (yes, they do still go door to door) This person woke up both my kids, in turn, keeping me awake. While I occupied both their little minds with the color and noise of the television, I went to see if the person had left something at the door. (this was about forty minutes later) It was a realtor. I was pissed. My first thought was that they drove by, saw the sign in the front yard that the house was for sale and decided to try and steal my business. My second was that they wanted to look at the house. We talked to our realtor later in the day and it was a realtor wanting to see the house. Apparently, she's not very intelligent as my realtor had just spoken to her a few days prior and told her the house wasn't being shown yet and that we still live here. The woman called my realtor from my driveway and complained that no one was letting her in the house and she couldn't find a lock box. She is damn lucky I did not answer the door as I would've lit into her. My realtor (nicer than I would've) told her again that the house is not being shown and to please not just show up on our front door and expect a guided tour. She needs to schedule an appointment. What ever happened to a little consideration? Because I'm the seller, my time is no longer important? You. Cannot. Just. Show. Up. On. My. Doorstep. I absolutely loathe this process and vow never to sell a house again. Our next house is our last. I don't care if it is suddenly deemed unlivable by the county, I will tear it down and rebuild it, rather than sell anything. This is a nightmare that is only going to get much worse when we are actually showing. And it won't be long. Our realtor has already received phone calls and interest from people who see it as they are driving by.

My grandmother was quiet. She has gotten more reserved the worse her memory gets. At first it seemed like she was embarrassed and didn't want to talk for fear of not remembering a word or a time. Now it just seems like she doesn't remember most words. She just watches and smiles. She has two brand new great grandsons, mine and my cousins. They were born a month apart and she sees the other baby constantly. She cannot remember his name however. She doesn't seem to remember many names at all come to think of it. She remembered that there were raccoons on my dad's deck the night before however. Some things stick and others just fade away. From what I hear she has been getting harder and harder to take care of when she's living with my aunt. While we were there she wasn't very combative about things she would normally fight my dad on. I think it was mainly because she didn't want to make a scene in front of us but I have no doubt that if we hadn't been there, she would've fought. For now I think my aunt can handle it on her own but soon she is going to need to realize that she needs help. Whether that means an assisted living facility or a nurse coming in to help, I don't know. I don't know how she does it now without losing her mind.

Obviously, I've fixed the photo issue. I'm just that awesome. :)

I'm neither here nor there

As you can see, I've been messing with the html codes on my blog. I like three columns, I think. However, I absolutely hate how wonky the picture looks at the top. I want it to be in the center of the page. Is it off center to everyone else or is it only on my computer? It's driving me so nutty that I might just revert back to two columns, even though getting it to three was a shit ton of work. I felt like I was looking for waldo, only waldo was in the form of numbers and I had no idea which numbers. For the moment, it can stay. But if I don't get the top fixed, I'm nixing it.

Today (the 26th) was my mom's birthday. We went over there with cupcakes for her. I was happy, I got to try out my cupcake decorating stuff that I bought a month ago. Wow, I just realized that it'd been that long since I'd made any cake products. They turned out ok considering it was the first time I'd ever used a decorating bag for anything other than icing long johns. (donuts) I definitely prefer reusable bags to the ones I used last night. The reusable ones are more of a fabric than plastic and are easier to maneuver and fill with icing. At any rate, my mom had some chocolate cupcakes with pink icing. Happy birthday again mom!

Tomorrow (the 27th) I'm going to my dad's to visit with my grandmother. We haven't been home hardly at all this week and I'm sure my realtor is getting pissed. I haven't been able to return her phone calls until after 8pm, which means we play phone tag. She has our cell phone number and has been told to use it but hasn't. She's also been quite unhappy with the fact that I foster kittens. I've made a compromise and asked that if no one is using a kitten cage, that I use it till my house is sold. (very large cage like you would use for a macaw or ferrets) The kittens can be out of the cage most of the time, although I may put them in it at night when they seem to cause the most damage to the room. Maybe I'll get one for the kids too since they cause constant damage! (damage = mess)

Visiting

This weekend my cousin came to stay the night. He's from Indy and we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like to. We had a total blast. He brought his friend, Nicole with him and she was awesome. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. They'll both be back the end of September and I can't wait. I was uber sad when he left though. :( I would've been happy to keep him here forever. I'd always have a laptop buddy to sit with me at night. I think, no I know, he's more attached to his than I am to mine.

My grandmother is up for a visit. She's not been doing well for quite a while now. They believe she has some form of dementia and it's been very tough on my aunt. My dad drove the six hours to pick her up the other day to give my aunt a break for the week. We plan on going to see her for a few hours sometime during the week. I really hope she's having a good day when we're there.

We're all still recovering from last week's flu. Noses are still running and coughing is still happening. Not so bad for those of us who can speak but those who can't have been sleeping in a swing to help keep things moving and from settling into his chest/sinuses.

Voila

24 hours ago, I felt like I was going to throw up. I felt like death warmed over. I felt awful. Now, I feel almost fine. Whatever this was (and I still believe it was the flu) it left as fast as it came. I still have a little stuffy nose (nothing really even noticeable) and some junk in my lungs but I feel great. My cat followed me on my multiple trips to the bathroom to dry heave. What a good kitty. He sat next to me at the toilet, followed me to the kitchen for a drink of water, and back to the bathroom, over and over again. I figured he'd be pissed at me since the day before I shaved him. I ended up taking a Phenergran to stop the nausea. It also works as a sedative so shortly afterwards, I was asleep. I just can't believe how good I feel today considering what I felt like last night. I woke up feeling a little ucky but when Shawn got home, I went in Jasmine's bedroom (more comfortable bed) and took a nap. When I woke up, I felt great.

It's all good timing as well. My cousin is driving up from Indy tomorrow afternoon and staying till late Saturday. I'm so excited to have him for the night. He's recently come out to our family as being gay and this will be his first visit since it's been made official. I'm sure he's a little nervous about how everyone will act around him but I don't expect there will be any changes. Most of us suspected for years and I'm glad he's come out and doesn't feel he has to hide who he really is around us any longer.

Still ick-tastic

My room is like a sauna right now. Ick. I have the humidifier on for the screamer. (who is more of a screamer lately than ever) Last night he ended up sleeping in bed with me and Jasmine. That was enjoyable. A seven month old baby had an entire half of a queen bed, while me and Jazz were stuck with the other half. I was worried I would crush him or he would end up laying on the blanket and suffocate. Which is ironic considering I've co-slept with Jasmine since she was born and was never concerned about killing her. I guess since I haven't done it with Evan, I worry more that maybe I'll be overly tired and sleep through things that I normally wouldn't. That wasn't the case though. Every single time he moved, I woke up. And one time I woke up, he wasn't moving and I freaked a little. Surprise, he was sleeping. Jasmine ended up falling off the bed onto the hard tile floor. She climbed right back up and passed back out. Evan slept extremely well, only waking up once the entire night. I'm sure that had to do with the lack of sleep from the day/night before. And I'm fairly certain that we have all gotten some sort of mild flu. My back has been killing me since I started getting sick and now that Shawn is getting it, he's been having aches and pains as well. I've been walking hunched over like a little old lady.

I'm occasionally without a voice as well, which I can only assume is from coughing. It should make my husband happy. Instead of getting yelled at, he'll just get the Marge Simpson glare of disapproval. :) My grandma is the queen of that look. She even makes the "mmmmm" noise that Marge makes when she looks at Homer that way. It's always hard not to laugh when she does it.

Need a sick day

I had the hardest time getting to sleep last night/this morning. My face hurt so badly that I can't even put it into words. And that was even after taking an ultram. And if my husband hadn't stayed home from work today, I wouldn't have gotten any sleep at all. Evan was awake from 8pm till 4am, slept for three hours and then would only sleep for fifteen minutes at a time for the rest of the day. And then he would only fall asleep if my husband held him a certain way, while rocking in the recliner. When he woke up at 7am, he felt like he was on fire so I took his temp., which was 102.6. I told him if it hadn't gone down with some motrin that he'd be going to the doctor. Luckily for him, it dropped almost a full degree within a half hour of taking the medicine. By the time I woke up this afternoon, he didn't feel like he had any fever at all. He even seemed a little better, better color, more smiles, etc. Still not sleeping real great though. He finally fell asleep eating a bottle (of which he's only had half of what he normally eats in a day) only to be woken up within ten minutes by my daughter's idiot cat opening our bedroom door. I would've killed the cat but Evan was screaming so the kitty had to wait. Another day kitty, another day. Evan screamed till he threw up, several times and then promptly fell back to sleep. I very carefully managed to move him into his own bed without waking him. That's where we're at now. Holding our breath in hopes that he stays asleep as long as possible.

My face hurts still today but not quite as bad as yesterday. My throat has been a little scratchy and painful so I decided to take a looksy on down there. Wow. My tonsils are so red that they look bloody in the cervices. Glad they don't hurt as bad as they look. The humidifier is going tonight, maybe we'll feel a little better in the morning. That's if I'm allowed to sleep at all.

Our house is officially up for sale in the AM. Just get it over with already.

Quarantine

Jazz is feeling much better today. Lucky her. Her brother and I aren't so lucky. He is a miserable little ball of snot and I'm in the same boat, except I have the ability to blow my nose and snort the stuff back where it came from. Oh and I can take medication to make the snot stop coming for a short time. He has none of those abilities. He gets saline squirted up his nose, a bulb syringe to snuff out all the snot and tylonel, which he spits out in generous amounts, usually as a spray.

Jasmine didn't have it all that rosy however. She cried in her sleep all night long the other night, woke up before the sun did and then threw up. After she threw up, her fever was gone and she started to perk up. And has been improving ever since. Now she is bouncing off the walls. Lucky me.

My arm won't stretch that far

My poor Jazzy has been crying in her sleep since she passed out at 11. She woke up today not feeling well, sniffly and just like shit. She has a bright red patch of skin on one cheek. I'm not sure if it's part of the illness or from her wiping her nose so much. I don't think it's fifth disease as it's not on both cheeks. Plus, she got the rash at the same time as the sniffles. Poor kid feels awful. I want to make her take some tylenol but don't want to really wake her up. (she wakes up every hour or so and asks for water, which I have next to me for her) I really need to pee but she has a death grip on my arm!!!

Burn calories just by breathing

Someone who shall remain anonymous for her own safety ;) posted about Livestrong and how they have this My Plate feature. I decided to check it out. I can track all the foods I eat everyday as well as any (and I do mean ANY) activity I did that day to burn calories. I actually kind of like this thing. It's easy to use and easy to understand. My Plate

Food + Family = Jamie Happy

Love is a good thing, no matter who is sharing it.

I made those cookies that had to sit in the fridge. They're really good warm (thank you Mr. Microwave) but extremely crunchy cold. I'm going back to my other recipe. I liked the way these cooked and spread out so I'm going to try to tweak my other recipe slightly here and there to end up with the same size of cookies. I also plan on giving the skillet cookie another go, this time cooking it for a few minutes less.

My cousin is coming for a visit next weekend, possibly. We haven't set the date in stone. I'm excited to see him. The last time I saw him was at the end of May. It'll be great to see him and I'll get him to myself for a few hours as he may be staying the night. When a family member comes around that we haven't seen in a while, everyone wants to get a chance to see them. No one gets much one on one time. However, I have the extra bed and rooms. haha suckers. :)

Nom-nom-nom

I just found a recipe for snickerdoodle cookies. I've never had one before. Did you know they are made with cinnamon and sugar??? The two most awesome things to mix together? And they made a frickin' cookie with them in it? Definitely making me some snickerdoodles and soon. I know, I know. Who hasn't had a snickerdoodle? And what the hell is wrong with that person? I was sheltered from the world of baked goods, what can I say? :)

I want my effin' cookies!

I should be enjoying fresh chocolate chip cookies right now. However, I neglected to thoroughly read the directions of the new recipe I'm trying. Turns out after making a massive batch of these cookies, they have to stay in the fridge overnight. Every single time I open the refrigerator, I have to stare at the batter and imagine how good it would taste. :( This is the largest amount of ingredients I have ever used to make any cookies, let alone chocolate chips. Almost five cups total flour. (and I had to use three different kinds) Close to three cups of combined sugars. I almost, almost didn't have a bowl big enough. I hate when a recipe says something along the lines of "use the paddle attachment on your mixer). Yeah, I don't have three hundred dollars to toss into a KitchenAid right now. You know what that means? I had to mix that batch the old fashion way. Elbow grease and all. Someday, I will invest in a KitchenAid, someday. I know, *gasp*, me get a KitchenAid. But you swore you would never own an appliance that does what you can do by hand. Yes, well, I changed my mind. There are some things a KitchenAid does that are a great deal easier to do using good ole electricity. I won't use it every time. I promise. :)

IUD summary

I've been sitting on this post for a while as I wasn't sure exactly if I wanted to do it and if I did, how in depth I wanted to get with it, seeing as how I have family that reads this bloggy thing. Since, however, I was very disappointed to find that there is very little out there on the subject, I have decided to write it based on what I was looking for when I made the decision. I'm talking about when I went for the IUD. You find plenty of informational pages on both types of IUD but very little actual testimonials from real people.

It feels like this thing has been inside my body for six months, yet, it has only been since the first week of May. I bled through all of May, all of June and on and off in July. At one point I was earnestly regretting my decision. I felt as if this was going to continue indefinitely. I had been warned by my OB that the first few months are the worst and after you get past that hurdle, the rest is smooth and easy. When you bleed for that long though, it seems like an eternity. With the amount of tampons I was forced to buy, I could've dammed the Mississippi. The actual placement was actually not that painful, probably due to the fact that I took a vicodin beforehand. (which I strongly advise... trust me, you can find some if you want them bad enough) I did feel pretty uncomfortable and ill the rest of that evening and then cramped for several days after but nothing much worse than normal period cramps. I can feel it. I didn't expect that. If Evan is sitting on my stomach and bounces suddenly, I can feel the edges of the IUD hit my uterus. That's very not cool, man. One time I had to pass the kid to my husband as he must have hit it just right and I felt like I was going to be sick. If I'm having trouble going to the bathroom, I can feel it then too. Other than that, I no longer notice it or have cramps at all. I haven't had PMS the entire time and the waterfall seems to have stopped now. I don't know if I'll do it again. I'm leaning towards yes. I think the placement would go smoother the second time as I now know what to expect and what is going to happen. You can tell me till your blue in the face how a procedure is going to go but I don't truly know till I've went through it. I assume you are sugar coating it or I will have it worse than you did, etc. (for anyone who had been searching for IUD information and came across this blog - I almost passed out twice during my placement... it's not unusual for me to pass out however, particularly when I'm really freaked out about something) If you decide to go with an IUD (I have the mirena but had been planning on the paragard) I strongly recommend not turning back once the speculum is in. They use a numbing spray after putting the speculum in (unless your doctor is a complete sadist) and it causes the vagina to get extremely sticky. If (as was my case) you freak out and ask them to remove everything, reinsertion is something straight out of the depths of hell. Honestly, the speculum could've been armed with scalding hot spikes and it wouldn't have made a difference in the pain. They do not use any lubricant as they have to sterilize the area before inserting the IUD and lubrication would make that difficult to accurately do. All in all, I say if you don't want periods, you've never had a uterine infection, and are in a monogamous relationship, go for it. If anyone reads this and is thinking about an IUD and has further questions on my experience, absolutely feel free to email me.

Insane in the mouse brain

Seems we have a showing on Thursday. I'm still not sure how serious the guy is or if he's just checking out houses in our area. I know he plans on looking at another house on our road that is for sale. (the only other house for sale) I'm also not aware if he's using a realtor or not. I should write some of this stuff down and send my own realtor an email. I was a cleaning machine tonight, unfortunately, the screamer wasn't having any of it. I was surprised he allowed me to do as much as I did. I was able to sweep some of the front bedroom. (what a difference having a vacuum that actually sucks makes... we borrowed my moms') I also cleaned off the kitchen counters. Our realtor made a comment that if it isn't absolutely essential, then to hide it or pack it away when it comes to the counters. I'm trying to do what she asks without too much annoyance. I can't help but feel a little offended whenever a remark is made about what we should be doing differently. I know, I know. It's her job and she's trying to make this as fast and painless as possible. It's human nature though to feel a little judged in these situations, in my opinion. Half the time I'm thinking I'm sure if I went to your house right now that all these things wouldn't be done. But then the other part of my brain, the less defensive and slightly more sane part says that she isn't the one selling her house. I will do it to the best of my ability but I still refuse to get rid of my birds. (a "suggestion" that she made)

Last night, I found Saffron in the kitchen and he was playing with a mouse. He must have been at it for quite a while because he seemed rather bored with it. I scrambled for something to scoop the mouse up in and finally found a pitcher. I set it in front of the mouse and the dumb animal just sat there. A second later, Saffron came up behind it and just gave it a little tap-tap on the butt as if to say 'Get in there, ya varmint.' Usually when I remove one of Saff's "toys" he spends ten minutes searching for it. It showed just how bored he was of the game when he went and laid down to take a nap. I don't think the mouse lived long outside though. On the outside, the mouse looked fairly intact. Missing a little hair and had a small puncture on his head (probably from a nail, not tooth). I turned over the pitcher outside and heard a thump. I was in grass so there shouldn't have been any thumps. I tossed him on his head, onto the hose. He scampered away... eventually. Tonight, Savannah threw up (thank you for making it to the tile doggy!!!) and as I usually do, I looked at the contents to make sure everything was normal. I just wanted to make sure she didn't eat anything she shouldn't have and possibly injured her insides. She had thrown up what appeared to be a mouse. Ick. I'm just glad it didn't smell. As I've gotten older, some smells make my stomach turn, therefore, I'm always grateful when an animal does something nasty but keeps the stinky on the inside. haha (if Jasmine hides a glass of milk somewhere and I have to empty after days of sitting out... I gag)

One more for the road

I'm getting ready for bed, doing the bathroom stuff. I hear kittens screaming and hissing. I'm thinking one of three things: 1-someone is stuck somewhere and freaking out, 2-a cat is in there that shouldn't be in there, 3-the new kitties and the old kitties aren't getting along so well. I rush in there, mainly expecting to see a cat with it's claw stuck in a piece of furniture. No, they're fighting over teats. Momma cat is standing by the door and there are seven kittens hanging from her. I break up the drinking party but she walks a foot and a half, lays down and lightly mews. Of course, it starts all over again. They're like sharks that taste blood in the water. I told them all tonight that there's only going to be a few more days that the milk bar is open and then I'm taking momma into the general population of the house and the kittens will stay in their room. I can't believe she has teats at all. They all have teeth... sharp teeth! Savages.

The cat whispering dog

Sorry for the short post earlier. I haven't been taking iron pills because I assumed since I no longer bleed 1 out of 3 weeks of the month that maybe I wouldn't need them. I found out at dinner with Beth and Ken that I was wrong when I felt very faint and a little like I was going to vomit. (hence the hasty run to the bathroom guys!) I felt better after a few minutes but knew when I got home that I would be popping a pill. I should feel a lot better tomorrow and already feel some improvement tonight. At least aside from my allergies which are, kicking my ass.

When I have new cats, I try to socialize them with all the animals I have. It makes them easier to adopt out later. I typically use the same dog each time. Tarin is very cat friendly and he's no neurotic therefore, he puts most cats at ease after a few minutes. He absolutely loves cat and kittens even more so. Unfortunately, if they hiss at him, he quickly becomes very scared and tries to make as little eye contact with them as possible. Such was the case tonight. Momma quietly hissed, which put all the kittens on edge (imagine seven tiny backs arched at once) and I had to carry Tarin the rest of the way into the room. He's not a huge dog but he's at least fifty pounds, probably more and heavier still when he really doesn't want to enter a room. The kittens came around quickly but momma needed a little more time. Eventually, everyone came up to investigate him (two tried to find a place to nurse, which caused dumb dog look in Tarin... you know when they turn their head from side to side, that my friends, is dumb dog look), even if they did initially have their backs arched. Momma even laid down with him. He's my cat whisperer, who is strangely enough, a dog. I have a ton of new photos of the kitties, most of which I uploaded to Facebook but will post several on here as well.

Three of the new four. The two closest are siamese.


Jasmine with the whole crew.

This is a flame point siamese. The orange points will come out stronger as she becomes an adult. She is fairly skittish. I've already been bitten, scratched, hissed at and even spit at by this one. Very pretty cat with nice markings. Shouldn't take long for her to come around. Her eyes should stay that pretty blue color. I had many other photos up for viewing but my blogger is being... a big meanie pooh pooh head and suddenly deleted half of them when I pressed the enter key. I'll upload more tomorrow.

Very nice end to the day indeed

I picked up four more kittens today. Two siamese, an orange tabby and a dark gray tabby. I took one of my other four to another foster who could keep a closer eye on him. He may have a congenital defect. Time will tell. The first thing the new bunch did was run to my momma cat from the last litter and start nursing. She looked at me as if to say "Gee, thanks a bunch lady. I just got the other four to stop doing this." I'll get some pictures of the newbies later tonight. The flame point siamese may be difficult as she is very white and my husband's camera tends to go bonkers at the sight of white.

We went out to eat with two fellow bloggers tonight. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads my blog, reads them as well. Beth over at http://nutwoodjunction.blogspot.com/ and her husband Ken at http://buckoclown.blogspot.com/. We had a great time. Ken is not what I expected. :) I know he's known as a clown but his blog is usually serious subjects and you don't get to see much of the goofy guy I met tonight. Beth is pretty much what I know her to be. However, we frequently email back and forth so I had a better grasp of her personality. They are definitely a great match. My daughter absolutely loved them both. I think if we'd have let her, she would've hopped in the Mustang with them and took off! We'll definitely have to get together again. Although, next time, I think Ken and Jasmine need more room to run off their excess energy. Yes, as in both of them! :)

Last Litter

This is the litter before this most recent one.
Here is Dharma. Yes, her one eye is a little droopy. She was getting over an eye infection. Her nails are also painted. I had to find a way for the other foster to tell them apart. :) She was a lover.
Ryder, one of the trouble makers.

This is Rylee, the other trouble maker. She was my favorite of that litter. I was sad to see her go. Little monster that she was. Again, she was getting over a cold so her nose was a little stuffy.

Everett, the other lover. He and his sister would follow you around till you sat down and then climb on up onto a lap.

Kade was kind of in between being lovey and trouble. As you can tell, he had a thing for my purse. The only one that was easily recognizable from his siblings.

Kitty Photos

Not the best photos. I hope to get some better ones soon. They need to sit still for a damn minute like their momma did and it wouldn't be such a problem. :)

Two of them look just like him/her. (I haven't been keeping great track of male/female) One long hair (this one) and one short hair.

This is the only tabby. Will have medium to long hair when full grown.

This is my favorite of the bunch based on looks. Will be long hair and is super soft. I feel like it's screaming "Mooooooom, he's touching me!!!"

Momma sitting on a tree limb that came down during a storm. She did awesome on a harness. The only problem I had was keeping her from tangling herself in the leash from rolling in the dirt.

Her eyes are a very striking green color. I don't think I've ever seen any cat with eyes like these. The photos don't do them justice.

Busy busy busy

Been a busy week. Some shopping was done throughout the week. We had to get the kids some clothes for fall/winter. It's fun to buy stuff for them. The clothes are just so adorable that I have a hard time putting things back, even when we have more than enough.

We headed to Chicago yesterday to Brookfield Zoo. Next summer I think we'll go to Fort Wayne or Toledo. They're a little smaller and more comfortable. Brookfield isn't stroller friendly at all and there is a great deal of walking. (we lost our map and ended up getting pretty turned around) Jasmine enjoyed the dinosaurs they had this year and was convinced they were real. We let her believe it. She'll know soon enough that the world isn't what it seems all the time, why ruin fun things for her now? We went into the butterfly house and for the first time in one of those things, I had not one but two of them land on me. They were pretty but the zoo closer to my house has much nicer ones. (but about three hundred less at a time, Brookfield usually has around six hundred flying) We didn't take any pictures. A rarity for us. I was exhausted, and a little cranky so photos were pretty much the last thing on my mind. (I had absolutely no sleep upon leaving for the zoo) Many of you already know that I was so tired that I actually fell asleep on a park bench while Shawn and Jazz were eating. That's a new one for me.

I will be getting four additional kittens within a few days. I have to set up a day to pick them up. They will be thrown in with the litter I have now. (the litter that refuses to stop nursing) I have some pictures of this litter and the last that I need to put up. I'll try to get to that tonight. This is by far one of the cutest litters I have had yet. They have great personalities too. Absolutely awwable. :)

We found out this evening that we already have someone interested in our house. It hasn't even been put up for sale yet. The guy was referred to my realtor and she mentioned that ours would be up soon and he wants to see it. (without even knowing what we'll be listing it at) Kind of freaks me out that it could go that quickly. I don't want it to take forever but I'd like to have some time to really get used to the idea. It's barely even been a month since I contacted our realtor to get things started.

No butts today

Don't worry mom, this post shouldn't have anything to do with my nether regions or the bathroom at all. :) I am signed up for cake decorating classes for the next four weeks at Hobby Lobby. I'm looking forward to it, even though I'm signed up alone. I think it'll get me more out of my comfort zone not having someone with me, which in a way is good. Stay in that zone too long and you don't know how to get out of it. I'm going to sign up for another class after this one but I'm not sure if I'll take the second part of this course or start the first course on painting. I'm starting to learn more and more about my personality. I greatly enjoy creating things. Whether it be a gorgeous cake that tastes like heaven, painting something that when you look at it, you can TELL what it's supposed to be :), or making scrap books of my kids and foster animals. I wish they had a woodworking class because I'd love to learn how to do some of that. My uncle can take ordinary garage sale pieces and turn them into art. Everything he creates is just that, art. Yes, that is a sofa and it's pretty comfy too but when you take a step back and really look at it, it's art. He's the one in our family that is overflowing with creativity. I keep trying to steal some of it but he keeps it locked tightly away in a safety deposit box at an unknown location. :) Maybe my aunt Jeri will steal some for me. Anywho, I am excited about the classes, so much so that I already bought 28 tips.

Went out to eat at a new place tonight. It's a local one Eddie's Steak Shed. It was good food and pretty large portions as well. No one can top my husband's steak but this was right up there. It had every little fat anywhere on it. That's pretty good for a 14oz sirloin. And they bring you bread fresh. Omigod, I love fresh bread. Apparently so does Evan. It never fails, just as we're about to put the first bite of food in our mouth, he starts fussing so one of us goes hungry till the other is finished and can take him. There was one piece of bread left so I pulled the crust off, handed it to him and told Shawn to watch him like a hawk. He gummed that bread the entire rest of our meal and into dessert. I told my husband 'Watch we're going to have to run him to the ER for a gluten allergy now.' and laughed. I still want to try another place but it's about a 45 minute drive so we'll see when we get around to that. In a couple of months we're going to an extremely expensive steak restaurant. We just want to see if the food really is better or if you're getting screwed out of a lot of money. I wonder if I have to dress up or if jeans is kosher? :)

Common sense comes in small humans

Jasmine follows me to the bathroom.
"What are you doing?"
From her tone, it's obvious she does not approve. I try to find a way to explain but find I'm at a loss.
"You can stay and watch if you want but shut the door already."
She watches as I apply scalding hot wax to my nether regions, the least sensitive of those parts. She questions my application, the heat of the wax and how long I've let it sit. Finally, I bite down, grab one end of the wax and rip. Jasmine seeing what I've done is... horrified but not nearly as horrified as I am when I look down and realize that all that pain with almost no gain. Sure there's evidence of said pain on the wax but it left more than it took. Mmmmkay. Maybe I did it wrong. I re-read the directions, and try again. This time I'm aware of the pain that I'm about to cause myself and hesitate at the last second. This causes more pain and yet, the same end result. Jasmine tells me to use the shaver since it doesn't hurt. I put the lid back on the scalding hot goop from hell and resolve to try it another day, maybe on my underarms but I've learned my lesson about... other regions. And have come to the conclusion that in some instances, a four year is smarter than an adult.