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.