About that cat. . .

I'm pretty sure she's in the house. The doors were closed, the carrier was in the hall. . .I unzipped it and waited for her to get out on her own. That was about three and a half hours ago, and since then there has been no evidence of cat.

I was warned that she was a fraidy cat. I don't think of myself as very scary, but I guess the cat does.

The cat came with the name of "Cass". I need to morph that into something that works for me. . .and so far, I'm coming up with very little. Let me know if you have the answer.

We'll see if she ever turns up or just disappears like the blogger posts sometimes do.

Let's face it, I'm pooped.

I'm just so tired. I'm tired of my house being in chaos and disarray. I'm tired of my daughter being awake until 10 pm, I'm tired physically.

I made the decision that I'm not getting a Christmas tree--I can't add to the chaos here, which is all it would do. The kids are going to NoNick's house tomorrow, and he keeps them until after Christmas, so they wouldn't be able to enjoy it. So I'm not doing it. I'll do a little one, maybe one of those rosemary trees.

On the bright side. . .

I am getting a cat on Saturday or Sunday. Fortunately, cats are lower maintenance than kids, so I don't think the cat will make me quite as pooped.

And I found a Rudolph nose today, a red nose that flashes. Life is good.

Shameless brag (yes, another one)

I got an email from Thing 1's teacher last week. (That's the daughter.) There's a county contest, which feeds into a state contest, for Reader of the Year. Heh. If you knew my daughter, you'd be putting money on her to win for the state. She's 8, and she's been reading for over 5 years--you do the math. She loves to read, and further, she's pretty daggum good at it. Reads books that I chose not to read. For an example, read her essay, written for the contest. (I wonder if there's prize money involved? Or at least a Border's gift certificate.)

My Reading Autobiography

by Feral Cat disguised as Smart Child

My favorite hobby is reading. I started reading when I was two and a half years old. The first book I remember reading was Madeline. When I read, I feel like I am actually watching the book, and it seems like it’s a free movie in my head. If I had a choice between books and movies, I would choose books. I am interested in different kinds of books. I can’t think of a book I wouldn’t like. I like to read for two and a half hours on weekdays and all of the weekend. I like to read before bed, because it improves my reading skills more and calms me down. Whenever I go on errands with my mom or dad, I always like to take a book in the car. I enjoy having reading for a talent, because it is good for you and your grammar skills also improve. Something bad about loving to read is when you try to read, you always get disturbed, and you are never allowed to read when you want to.

Right now, I like to read Harry Potter, Charlie Bone and the Oz books. I also like to read history books. I have also read, in order: the American Girls series and The Chronicles of Narnia. My favorite book in the Chronicles of Narnia is The Silver Chair. I liked The Silver Chair because it has one setting underground and they get to meet gnomes and the Witch Queen. I have also read Flatland by Edwin Abbott. If you ask me about Flatland, I would say that it was explosively wonderful. Zero, one, two and three dimensions are interesting and make you think. I like to read the Usborne History Encyclopedia. The evolution section is awesome because you can learn about the evolution of man and sea creatures. I like also to read The Number Devil. The main character, Robert, has fun doing math. It calls powers “hops” and calls square roots “rutabagas”. I almost embarrassed myself saying that in math class one day!

Reading keeps you from being afraid in situations that are new, like going to the dentist. My mom told me I read a book called Meet Michael’s Dentist before I went to the dentist the first time. I liked it so much, I wanted to actually bring it to the dentist!

When I grow up, I want to be an editor, because they read books and test them to see if they are any good. If they like them, they give them to the publisher and tell the author, “Your book has been published.” But I’m going to have to learn how to be more picky about what I like in books, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be a good editor.

I promise, I asked her questions and she answered them. I made sure the sentences were complete sentences. (You know I didn't edit for style or content, because she has that split infinitive in there that gives me the willies every time I see it.) But am I crazy, or do I have a ringer here?

Every year on the 4th Thursday in November, I shall blog.

Maybe not so much in between times.

Today was good. Odd, but good. First of all, my turkey was so small that it was scarcely worth preheating the oven. Well, I have the turkey roaster that sits on the counter, but you know what I mean. Second, since my sister has yet to come home for Thanksgiving, since my brother has blown me off for the wife's family (getting married and having two kids will do that to you, I guess), there were just five of us for Thanksgiving dinner. Me, my dad, the two kids. . .and NoNick.

Le sigh.

Quite a lot has happened since last time we talked. That's the irony of blogging--when life makes good blog fodder, I don't have time to blog. When life is boring, I. . .um, I'll let you know when that happens.

Right now, though, life is good. I had a really bad sinus infection when I moved into my new house (which is coming together slowly), and when I went to go get the antibiotics for that, I found out I have high blood pressure.

Gee, I wonder why?

160/120, which won me a trip to my GP, which earned me another daily medication--but I had already discontinued the Adderall. I was having a hard time sleeping, and the amphetamine salts just weren't helping. (Having a hard time sleeping even for me.) So I'm still at two. Until I realized that even though I don't feel stressed, I probably am, because I'm taking it out on my body. (Remember the shingles?) Anyway, so I added an anti-anxiety drug. Clonapin. Or something like that; I'm on the generic.

Anyway, back to the giving of thanks.

Actually. . .I will get back with you, because I am tired. So let's just put this at "to be continued".

For the undecided voter

My daughter is participating in a mock election. For the first part--the nomination process, if you will, she had to answer three of four questions. Right now, my heart is breaking for missing homeschooling, because I have missed her enthusiasm for learning.

1. What qualities make a great President? Use examples of past presidents to prove your point of view.

A quality of a president is optimism. Herbert Hoover was almost optimistic when the Depression hit. Also, FDR was optimistic. When he gave out the New Deal, he was optimistic that it would work.

2. What issues do you see in this school that require student leadership? How would you try to solve them?

I do not see anything wrong with this school except the food. There should be more and healthier food and less junk food. It may be crazy, but if they're serving junk food, make it Italian pizza. That's healthy. I have Italian ancestors.

3. Why is it important for people to vote? (she opted not to answer this one)

4. Who would you vote for in the 2008 Presidential Election and why? (Please give at least 3 good reasons with details.)

John McCain would be a good president, because when he was serving in the Vietnam War, when he was captured and made prisoner, when he was asked if he wanted early release, and he said "No." That was serving our country. McCain has had 25 years in Congress, whereas Obama has only four years in Congress. McCain wants to let parents choose schools for their children.
~~~
She wrote this essay with very little coaching. I did remind her that she knew of some former presidents, because she has read the American Girls books. We looked at the campaign websites for both candidates; I tried to get her to be skeptical of what she read. But she came to her own decision.

Too bad her aunt's head will explode when she reads it.

Deniece & Denephew

Or should it be Frick & Frack? Or Thing 1 & Thing 2? In any case, that's Deniece, on de left. She's smiling, because she was just freed from the Transitional Nursery, where she had to do 3 days time for "retracting" while she breathed. (Translation: she was working too hard to do it. Chicka can correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. I'm sure she will, since her opportunities to correct me are so rare.) Well, she's not so much smiling because she was freed, it's more because when she was rolled into the room (after the paparazzi let up), her mommy pushed Denephew onto the boppy to hold her.

It's those small victories that make life worth living when you're a twin.

I'm looking at the PeaPod costumes from Party City. Since October is a 3 paycheck month, I just might have to do it.

Spreadsheets

I've started a spreadsheet.

Let me 'splain.

Over the past several years, it's been a running non-joke between NoNick and me that he has some sort of Excel spreadsheet, on which he calculates how short I have been. Did I have a migraine headache one weekend and not help him with the kids? That went on the spreadsheet. Did I go to a Friends of Library meeting? That went on the spreadsheet.

I never actually got to see the spreadsheet, mind you; I only heard about things that were on it. I was busting my rear to keep up with the kids, the homeschooling, the house. . .we were both overworked and overstressed. To me, the concept was alien and offensive, a way of keeping score. Except we both were on the same team. Weren't we?

Obviously not.

But now, when we're really not on the same team. . .I've started keeping score.

I have to.

I know that in a few years, as soon as he can, he's going to ask for a reduction in the money he pays me. It is all about the money, isn't it? (I guess it is; it's a pretty good way of keeping score if one is into that sort of thing.) And when he does, he's going to whip out his spreadsheet to talk about all of the things that I've done.

And I have got to have a way to defend myself against him.

So now I have my own spreadsheet, and I'm keeping score of the times he's inappropriate in front of the children. (Like "Mommy must have taken the brooms"--no, Mommy spent her own money to buy more brooms. Or "Mommy has all of the hairbrushes"--no, Mommy has three. There are approximately 634 more hairbrushes somewhere in the house, because I've bought 637 in the past few years. Find one. I don't like hearing that kind of stuff, but have reacted neutrally in front of the kids.) The times he's late picking them up or returning them. The times he's uses the financial arrangements inappropriately. The times he doesn't show up or call to reschedule appointments we've made to go over things to get this resolved. (Like today.)

So far, I've been 100% within compliance. I have spent more time and energy trying to get my stuff out of his house than I have to get it put away in my own. (I was horribly embarrassed when the cavalry arrived yesterday. I was sick in the bed with a High Fever, and the cavalry brought chicken soup and ginger ale from Whole Foods. Yeah, you read that right, someone went out--unasked--and bought me soup that wasn't Campbells and ginger ale from some boutique bottler. As well as some beef barley soup, some cheese and crackers--not Ritz and Kraft, which is what I had. Anyway, I was so upset that there was a knock at the door when my house looked like 10 miles of bad road, I almost didn't answer. But then I saw there was food. I can stand a bit of humiliation for a good feed.)

And so now, I have a spreadsheet.

Burning answers

Last night I filled up my gas tank. Both conditions--no line, less than $4--were met. As I drove to work this morning, I saw people waiting in lines for gas that fit neither. Why are people idiots?

Tuesday night, the kids were dropped off at about 8:00. Don't think that I'm not keeping a little log book of everything that goes on. I may never ever use it--I hope never to use it. But I know that NoNick has a habit of keeping his own little log book, and so I will need to start that habit. For no other reason but to have as a defense when he starts something. Because anyone who wants to create 20 pages of parenting plan is going to start something.

I can't talk politics here, but I have to say that one set of candidates scares me worse than the other, and it might surprise you which ones. Might not, though. If I were to follow the voting strategy of Emma Gennaro (and a nickel for anyone who knows what that is other than my sister), I'd have to vote Republican, though. Somehow I doubt that will be the deciding factor.

I have spent my first week with sole custody of the kids, and it has been fun. Thing 2 is sick (this would be the Boybarian), but other than that, things are good. They've been in bed asleep on time (hah!) and on time to school (hah! hah!) every day. Dinners have been a little catch as catch can, but mostly good.

I haven't made it to see Denise and Denephew, who had their grand opening on Tuesday. They arrived through the window, but the labor was long, not intense and certainly not productive. Between the two of them, they weighed almost 14 pounds, although the exact numbers vary depending on who is doing the reporting.

Got Gas?

I think I am the only sane one in Atlanta. I haven't waited in 2-hour lines to get gas. I haven't waited in any lines. I haven't driven from station to station looking for gas. I've cut back on my driving, and made a mental note of which stations have gas and when they have it. That way, if this doesn't resolve in the next few days, on Friday when I do need to get gas, I will know where to wait.

Some stations have imposed a max purchase--that seems wrong. They should set a minimum purchase, to keep people from putting 3 or 4 gallons in their tanks at a time. The pipeline doesn't accommodate keeping all however many million of us that drive around here with full tanks, and so the frenzy of topper offers, and fill up our 5 gal gas cans. . .they're exacerbating the situation.

Idiots.

If by Friday, I haven't driven past a station that has gas for less than $4.00 and has a minimal, well-organized line, then I will--wait for it--use teh internets to find stations with gas, and call them to see if they expect to have enough to fill their present line. But I have enough gas to get me to work for the next 3 days, so there is no reason to do anything else before then. If I am wrong, so be it. But if the situation decompensates between now and Friday, it's the end of the world anyway.

I have to say I'm not so nonchalant about my Wachovia accounts, although Clark Howard says he's not worried about his money. But he has much more than I do, and doesn't spend as much.

Maybe I made the wrong choice?

Note: if you are an attorney or have any part in the judicial process. . .I'm joking. I am not planning to commit any act of violence against anyone. Not even my son, who was threatened with a rear end alignment if he got out of bed once more this evening, because he's already asleep.

But I swear, I'm still having to deal with NoNick about a billion times more than I want to, and if he could just drop a pair and deal with reality. . .but that statement alone shows that I need to deal with reality. Reality means acknowledging that NoNick lives in some other reality. Not mine.

So, I got the kids Friday. Except we had never gotten through the chore of dividing up the clothing, so I asked him to leave them some clothes on the back door. He agreed, and even said he had. And he did, but they were a bit. . .bizarre.

And there were no pajamas, let alone clothes for the next day.

So we had to meet at his house that evening for the kids to get pjs for their first night in my house. And for whatever reason, he chose to work until 7 and then run errands. So my kids and I were still at his house at 8:00 waiting for him to get there so we could get clothes for them.

Way to transition, right?

Next bits were similar. He said he'd meet me there at 4pm today to go through kid stuff. He wasn't there until 4:30.

Just wait until he's late dropping the kids from dinner on Tuesday. We've agreed that the latest should be 7pm. I dropped them off at 6:50 last week. Any takers on 7:30?

Eight?

Should we set an over/under?

Got Kids?

Tonight, I am sitting in my hallway of my very small house. Without getting up, I can see all four exterior walls. I can also see into the bedrooms of two small children who are having a difficult night.

Neither one of them is good with changes and transitions. My daughter has always been that way; it's part of the potpourri of Asperger's that she got. I think my son's difficulty is primarily the age he is. Both of them had a hard time this week, maybe not harder than mine but they act it out more honestly.

My son is begging me to sleep in the same bed. Unfortunately, I have a couple of hours of chores to do before I can sleep, so that can't happen. If he were to relax and stay in bed, I could get started. But right now I'm having to guard the door to keep him in the bed.

The hardest part--the only hard part, really--of this transition has been seeing them have to adapt. I hope they do better than I did. I was my son's age when my parent's divorced, and it wasn't fun.

I went wild last night. No, really.

Or maybe not.

But I did go blow through $170 at Target. Yeah, just like you wish you could right now. I bought the pillows--including the neckroll--that match my bedding. I bought the pretty hanging file thingie. I bought the extra phone. I bought socks. I bought hangers. I bought things to put on the bathroom door to hang towels on. I didn't buy the towels, because they didn't have ones that were the right color. I bought the nice set of cooking utensils, you know the stainless ones? Rather than the Teflon (I got the stainless steel cookware) or the cheap ones.

See, I found a gift card with $180 remaining on it. In my name, so there was no residual guilt. Makes me feel better about all the gift cards for Home Depot my family had given over the years, that I know not how they were used.

I don't mean everything I say

That would be a good thing. More than once in the first 10 years of my marriage, I said "Murder, yes; divorce, never!"

I reconsidered, though. I don't look good in orange, for one thing. (Plus, orange is the color of the Florida Gators, so I don't want to look good in orange.) And I just never was convinced of the safety of the kudzu hiding place, not since my sister had the nerve to up and move to Houston.

She is fine, by the way.

I don't know why I bothered to put that, since anyone who would care to read this blog already reads hers and knows that even though she has no power, and she is getting somewhat cranky (how could you tell?), she is fine.

I, also, am fine. And I do not mean that in the therapeutic sense of "F-- up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional." I mean I am better today than I was yesterday. And I plan on being better tomorrow. The day after, I plan on slightly stumbling, but then on Tuesday I'll be doing better again.

So, in order to bring the four readers I hope to entice back to reading a blog by me back up to speed, here is 2008 in a nutshell. Ready? Go!

January
Guy that needs a new nickname drops bomb that he has intercepted some emails and Yahoo chats (note: a violation of federal law) and put the worst possible interpretation on them, so therefore wants divorce.

February
Sign collaborative agreement with new nickname guy.

March
Start new job with IBM. Get shingles. Decide to fire lawyer. Get talked out of it.

April

Did anything really happen in April? Or May for that matter?

Let's skip to June.

June
Find out that half of all contractors in my department of IBM are getting laid off. My last day is scheduled for 7/15.

July
Morning of 7/16, I call the only former client of mine I'd consider working for. End up talking to the #2 in the office. Email her my resume, get a return call in less than 5 minutes telling me I'm a "godsend". Something tells me I have a job.

August
After family reunion July 31, start work on August 3. Am not going to blog about work. Suffice to say, t0tlly pwn! the job. Find house, make offer on house. Close on house on 8/27.

September
Spend about $20,000 putting new roof on and new bathroom in house as it had been in less good shape than needed to be. Fortunately the money for this was transferred into cash from investment funds at the end of August, as the other funds which remained in Vanguard will have to stay put until some sort of bounce. Since the Motley Fool and Clark Howard both still like Vanguard, I have hope. If it doesn't recover, I've already lost too much of it to worry about getting out.

Today
Even though I have a case of the common cold, aka "Hacking Death" I rent moving van & move with help [sic] from my dad & less help from new nickname guy. Plus two neighbors who saved my bacon. I am currently ensconced in new bed, in new room, in new house. Same neighborhood.

I think that's the basics, but if I've left anything out, my sister will tell me.

Now to go tell her that I can has new blog.

What happened to the old blog?

Nothing.

There's nothing there that you haven't seen. It was all quiet and minding it's own business when I realized. . .Guy who needs new nickname reads it.

I didn't want to tear it down and trash it, so I just made it private. I never added to it, so never gave anyone reading privileges.

Don't worry. If anyone had reading privileges, it would have been you. I promise.