5 Reasons Why my Cat Dmitry is Crazy.....

I thought having a kitten would be fun, certainly a new experience, but as I get to know Dmitry, my 4 month old Russian Blue kitten, I've grown to think I might have a crazy cat on my hands. (My friend, Scott, summed it up best by saying, "He's kind of a jerk". - true).

1. There is no such thing as peaceful sleep in my house anymore. I wake up every morning around 4 am to Dmitry licking my eyelids. Now, I'm not sure what is so tasty on my eyelids, but the morning cannot start without this creepy bath.
2. Dmitry runs like he's late for a train when he sees me go into the bathroom. As I unroll the toilet paper, he never fails to grab it out of my hands. This must be the warm up to the "unroll all the toilet paper in all 3 bathrooms" game he plays while I'm at work.
3. Awww....cute kitty does figure 8's between my legs while I'm getting dressed......OUCH!! Damn it! Not cute!
4. Then, I hear Matt screaming at "Meat" as he's affectionately known. Seems attack cat is guarding the stairs and won't let Matt go down. I must escort Matt past the cat.
5. Dangerous kitty game: try to eat the dog's food while the dog is eating. Jack the dog is tall and has a raised food bowl. Meat perches himself on Jack's bowl and tries to eat the dogs food. Good, patient Jack has not killed Dmitry yet.

So, for now, those are my 5 reasons.....I'm sure I'll come up with more, but I have to go see what just crashed in the other room.....

Bus 2, Mom 1 and How I Spent My Allowance....

We caught Ana's bus this morning....! Yay!

Kids are hanging out with their lovely Stepmom this evening so I went to my happy place - the used bookstore - The Frugal Muse. I've become allergic to paying full price for books...plus, my sister would KILL me!

My new books:
Generation T- 108 ways to transform a T-shirt ($5.98) - for Ana, my little fashionista!
Unforgettable Color ($.93) - for Ana
The Not So Big Life ($.93) - for me, I've wanted to read this one, but not for $24.
Nantucket Nights, Elin Hilderbrand ($4.98) - for me, because I wanted to read her other book, The Castaways and that was full price.
Teen Makeup ($.93) - for Ana
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris ($5.98 brand new...$2 cheaper than regular price) - for me, because my mom is reading her other series and even though I don't watch True Blood, I hear it's a good series.
Home, Julie Andrews autobio ($6.98 - hardcover) I jumped up and down inside because I found this one....wanted to read it since it came out!

So, now that my sister is going to kill me, I will pledge to read my books before I buy another one. Really, Jeanne, I will. After I finish Garden Spells!

Queen of the Universe

Rather normal day - missed Ana's bus again...need to call them...they cannot continue to be 7 minutes early without getting a piece of my mind.

Stepmom bought Ana's ridiculously expensive calculator....last of the school supplies to be checked off the list.

Matt really knows how to melt my heart. Tonight, he told me he likes to be with me because he feels different when I'm around. Says it's because I'm a mom and I'm special to him. The other day he was singing a made up song with the lyric "Mom is in my heart". I thought being the mom of a daughter was the best...clothes, shopping, makeup, late night chats....but being Matt's mom makes me feel like Queen of the Universe.

Although, how cynical am I that I'm ready for him to ask me to buy him a new DS game?

Rotten commercials

I feel like I shouldn't have to explain to my son why one would need Vagisil, but advertisers and the people who sell ad space on TV seem to feel otherwise.

Oh geez!

Thinking our cat might be preggers. Darn that little Dmitry!

Update: Totally not pregnant! Seems she's just a little fluffier from eating her kitten brothers food. Dodged that bullet!

New Beginnings!

First day of school. The kids have been excited about this day for about a week and a half--me, all summer. My baby, Matt's in 3rd grade....not sure when that happened....and Ana is in 8th.

Usual morning -- Ana's up and ready, Matt's still in bed. Bellies fed, teeth brushed, shoes on...trudge out to the tree in the front yard for first day pics.....seems they've done this before. Pose for Mom. Let's go.

Ana's got a new bus stop. Hmmm. Watch Ana wait with other kids. I think, if I had made her wear a dress on her first day of school, there would have been a huge fight. Watch (from many car lengths away so as not to look like I'm watching) Ana get on the bus. Watch Ana get off the bus. Huh. Seems the bus driver wasn't supposed to pick them up on that corner. Have to ask her about that.

Still have an hour until Matt's supposed to be at his school. Drive to McDonald's - get standard breakfast (yogurt parfait and coffee). Sit at Matt's school. Watch other kids line up. Matt accuses me of getting him a purple backpack. Tell him it's blue. Nod when he realizes it's blue.

Discover my kid is the kid who tells the other kids they are lucky they didn't get "insert teacher name here". He finds kids he knows. Chuckle to myself that people still call him "Mattman". I stand with other parents who have to go into work late today. Third grade teachers come out and shake hands with each kid. After meeting his teacher, Matt turns to me and smiles, "That's my teacher. I think she's going to be a good one!" Relieved and excited, Matt heads back to his friends. I've been dispatched. I can go. I hope he's right.

The Best Day Ever! but I should have listened to my sister.

Yesterday, showed a lot of promise to be a pretty good day. I was back from my business trip, the kids didn't have any activities to be carted to, and it was warm for the first time, it seemed, in the whole summer.

My nephew and niece, Nick and Sam, were fishing in a "derby" by my parents, and we were going to watch. Ana's dad called in the morning saying he needed to borrow her - she was getting sushi, her favorite date with her dad. Matt and I had our stimulating Anakin flowers conversation.

To my surprise, Matt decided to fish too. As soon as his line was in, there was a fish on the end. Was he excited! There was a wonderful breeze by the water...barely felt warm at all. I haven't been outside all summer, didn't think about the sun too much...I spent more thoughts on taking pictures of the kids and fish, watching the clouds, and feeling the earth under my back as I lay on the ground.

After fishing, Ana rejoined us and we went in the pool. I hadn't been in the pool all summer - even Matt commented that he thought I didn't go swimming enough. I love the weightless effect the water has on my body. I played with the kids and had the best time! I swear, I put on my sunscreen. Later, we had a great dinner with my parents, and watched Mama Mia! twice.

In retrospect, I hear my sister saying as we were putting on the sunscreen, that she didn't "trust" it. Hmmm. Should have listened to her. Today, I look like a scary red clown. I have creepy tan lines around my eyes where my sunglasses were. My skin is tight and I've slathered on so much aloe I'm kind of sticky. However, I still think it was the perfect summer day, for me.

Matt and the Anakin Flowers

So, Matt and I have deep conversations all the time. I usually try to relate the content to something he understands. So today we were talking about how we need to pull some weeds around our house. I explained that we have a responsibility to take care of our home, and that's one of the things we could do to make it look nicer. That lead to a discussion about why there are weeds in the first place.
Matt: Why are they even weeds?
Me: Well, weeds are kind of like flowers that got out of hand and grow too fast until they take over the whole place. They are like flowers with a dark side.
Matt: I get it, they are like Anakin flowers. Anakin, in case you are not a Star Wars fan, is Anakin Skywalker, or who Darth Vader is before he goes over to the "dark side".
Made sense to Matt. Made sense to me.