Here, Kitty, Kitty!



You'd think that with all of the nice things I've done for animals that I'd have pretty good karma in that area, but NOOOOOOOO! I take in a skinny, matted, stray cat, get him vaccinated and have his mats shaved off, feed him, let him sleep on my pillow at night, and what does he do to thank me? He gets onto the kitchen counters and eats anything he can find. He then pukes it all up in what he seems to view as his own private litter box. MY dining room! Oh, yes. Not only does he puke all over it, he pees all over it, as well. And he has the nerve to look at me with that spiteful expression on his face when I refuse to feed him immediately after he pukes on my floor!

Angry Kitty is bringing out my dark side. I mean, I have yet to find poo on the floor anywhere so he must be using the litter box for THAT. WTH?! I don't get it. I suppose we go get his furry little balls nipped off and see where that leads. There has GOT to be something wrong with this cat. The more research I do on the subject, the less I think it's a UTI. I mean, he's been this way for almost six months! He doesn't drink water excessively and he doesn't cry when he pees. He cries when the other two cats beat the crap out of him, but not when he pees.

MY research has certainly led to some interesting information, though. Apparently, some male cats (the ones who haven't had their furry little balls nipped off) get a kick out of spraying in electrical outlets. And I thought OUR cats were weird! I can just imagine having to tell the insurance company that your house caught fire because the cat was cross and sprayed the electrical socket. It makes me appreciate the quirks our cats have.

Lola will not drink water from a bowl. She will only drink water from her paw. She dips it into the bowl and licks it off. She also enjoys ice cubes in the bowl. She likes to sleep with Perrin at night, even though she is Abby's cat. She rolls over on her belly when she wants to be loved. If she sees a bug on the ceiling, she meows at you until you lift her up to reach it or leave the room. She reaches her paw as far under the door as she can when I'm in the bathroom. She loves to wrap herself in plastic bags. She is the smallest cat in the house, yet she beats up on Angry Kitty several times a day and he has yet to fight back. He growls and whines, but that just encourages her. She likes to have her forehead scratched and rub her mouth on the tip of my nose. She races me up the stairs at night and does a happy dance when she sees me in the morning.

Charlie loves food. It shows, too. He REALLY loves those tiny marshmallows. He frequently sits and stares at me with his big green eyes opened as wide as they will go and his head cocked slightly to one side, like he's trying to figure out what's wrong with me. He likes to stand up on his back legs and touch my butt when I'm in the kitchen. (Typical male.) He chases his own tail and randomly attacks the chaise lounge in the basement. He likes to sit in the tub while I wash my hair over the side of it. He goes crazy for things with feathers, especially Perrin's little feathered rooster. He sleeps with Abby, even though he's Perrin's cat and he avoids Abby like the plague when she's awake. He sleeps on the couch with me until I go to bed, then he sleeps on Abby's pillow. When he was a kitten, he liked to knead my head with his paws while he nibbled my hair, purring all the while. At least, until Heath got sick of the noise and made him stop.

We've only had them for about a year and a half, yet I can't imagine life without them. Those two furry little kittens we brought home together. A brother and sister for a brother and sister. They could have turned ugly with all the man-handling the kids did, but they've been nothing but nice. They have to be two of the most awesome cats ever. Of course, it's hard to remind myself of this when they decide to play tag all over the bedrooms and 2:00 in the morning! I guess I just need to remind myself that it could be worse. They could be trying to pee in the electrical outlets.

Not-so-super Nanny



I've come to the conclusion, not for the first time, that my children watch far too much television. Although, it's one of the things that keeps me sane. My live-in babysitter. I should likely be ashamed, but if the programs they're watching are educational it's different, right? It's investing in their futures. They learn science, geography, foreign language, and countless life skills.

Still, every so often, there are things that make me question my dependence on TV Nanny. When the kids start quoting infomercials, for instance. Abby was taking a bath today and I overheard her talking about her doll's hair. She said it was so smooth and silky, she must have used the InStyler on it. Oh, boy. I've created a monster.

I should just be thankful they aren't in charge of buying things in this house. We'd be buried in Shamwows, Green Bags, Bendaroos, Paperonis, Snuggies, and goodness knows what else. They're convinced that they NEED everything they see on the television. If only I could harness this power somehow... Put myself on the TV whenever I want them to do something. They'd probably actually listen to me for once. With my luck, I'd probably manage to leak through to every television set in a three county radius and be too humiliated to ever leave the house again.

Thus, I must try harder to entertain my children in a more constructive way. In spite of their urges to be DE-structive. Do things the old-fashioned way. Play outside more or make blanket tents in the basement. TV Nanny will have to deal with being used a little less. Not that she works all that hard to begin with. The kids are hardly a captive audience. It's a miracle if they sit still for half an hour at a time. I just hope the Ritalin gives me the edge I need to have a hope of keeping up with them!

Another Day, Another Pill


Now that I've been made aware of my ADHD, quite a few things are beginning to make sense to me. Not the things that keep me up at night like how a television show can have a "mid-season finale", but things that I always thought were just bad habits. Oh, they may still BE bad habits, but I have something else to blame them on now! For one thing, the fact that I probably fund half the year's salary for most of the librarians at the public library with my late fees. I wonder if they'd accept a doctor's note? Yeah, probably not...

I tried the Adderall for a few weeks. Since I didn't notice any changes, I am now on Ritalin. *sigh* It gets tiring trying so many different medications in an attempt to simply function with some semblance of normality. I keep thinking that if the ADHD diagnosis had come up earlier, I wouldn't have had to try all those anti-depressants. Years of medication wasted on a symptom while the cause went untreated. Of course, then I start thinking, what if I don't really HAVE ADHD? What if I just got one of those psychiatrists who tells everyone they have it and hands out meds like candy? I guess if the meds start to work, I have nothing to complain about.

In other news, Mother Nature deigned to grant us one perfect autumn afternoon to visit the pumpkin farm. The kids seemed a bit more cooperative about having their pictures taken. The pumpkin patch itself was a disappointment, though. It was either tiny, lop-sided orange pumpkins or perfectly shaped green pumpkins. We ended up buying our pumpkins at the grocery store this year. Part of me feels like that's cheating, but the kids had no interest in green pumpkins. What was WITH those, anyway? Were they sick? I highly doubt the Great Pumpkin would show up in a patch full of green pumpkins!

Unlike last year's nearly sweltering Beggar's Night, this one was cold and rainy. Yay. The nice part was, the kids didn't seem to notice. They were so excited I didn't hear them say they were cold even once. Maybe the furry costumes had something to do with that. I wasn't sure I was going to get Abby's finished in time since I waited until the last minute to start working on it. I blame the ADHD. I DID get it finished, though, and she looked adorable. The jokes they told were a bit strange since they made them up on their own. At least people didn't have to hear another dumb joke for the hundredth time that night. They got total originals. Total.

I'll try to get some pics up before Christmas, but don't blame me if I don't get to it right away. Blame the ADHD.