Cats Stealing Your Breath at Night: The Myth Exposed

I slept through my alarm this morning and would have missed my whole day had it not been for Finnigan waking me with a kiss and, by kiss, I mean; by licking my face with his fishy-smelling tongue until I awoke from annoyance.

Despite the fact that he has become somewhat nocturnal, lately and is doing his level best to make my nights a waking nightmare, full of nips at my ears and increasingly aggressive smacks to my face; I'm really quite grateful for that kitten and his fishy-smelling tongue because I have a lot to do, today.

That said, as I am writing this, Finn is sleeping peacefully on the couch next to me, he looks adorable, yet; I am sorely tempted to lick his face until he wakes up. I won't, though; I hear hairballs are a bitch to hack up and, as I've said, I have a lot to do, today.

One of my chores will be to wash the Man-Cub's basketball uniform; he sweated it up pretty good at yesterday's game and would prefer to wear it freshly laundered to his game on Saturday. I know, he's totally spoiled, clean laundry! Before you know it he'll start expecting a hot meal on the table every night. Oh, wait...

Anyhoodle, since I'm on the topic of his uniform, I should tell you that his team won their game, yesterday. The final score, 22-25, doesn't reflect the fact that the team trailed for most of the game, rallying in the final quarter to close a twelve-point gap before winning the game. Exciting. And, I'm not being sarcastic when I say that.

Much of the credit for the win goes to The Fearsome Foursome.

Of course, at the time, they were wearing basketball uniforms, I mean, obviously. Due to the crappy nature of the lighting in the old gymnasium in which their game was played, I didn't get a picture of them, however. Also, I think that they have all grown at least a couple of inches since this particular picture was taken at the beginning of the football season. Granted, the Man-Cub is still the shortest but, you know, he's wiry. Wiry? Aye, wiry.

Extra credit if you know what movie that quote is from. Hint: It also involves men in uniforms.

I'm Thinking of a Four-letter Word that Starts With S

Snow.

This brings to mind a few other four-letter words, most of which can't be spoken in polite company.

Hugh is currently in the yard, blowing out our sprinkler system in preparation for the storm that is predicted to move through the area tonight. In the distance, I can see snow already capping the mountain range and, there is a definite bite to the breeze so; I'm going to give the weatherman the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Yesterday, I pulled up the last of the flowers from my flowerbeds and inched the porch furniture just a bit more toward the center of the porch. I'm not looking forward to crappy winter but, the pot of chili bubbling away on the stovetop is  nice reminder that winter has it's rewards.

In another lifetime, this would be the week that I executed my Annual Stay-at-Home-Mother Project; I would be spending the week baking cookies or cupcakes for the kids' school Halloween parties and putting the finishing touches on their Halloween costumes.

Instead, I am psyching myself up to attend the Man-Cub's first Middle School basketball game, a game that The Teenager will drive us to since she needs a few additional hours of driving time to complete the requirements for her Driver's Education class. Times, they do change.

Although, in all honesty, I do need to put the finishing touches on the Cub's Halloween costume so; the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I read that once; on a fortune cookie.

Time Spent Together is Time Well Spent

Yesterday was jam-packed with fun fall favorites (say that ten times fast, go ahead; I'll wait); as planned, we visited the local corn maze and pumpkin patch where, for the low, low price of $48 we were entitled to lose ourselves amongst the corn stalks before picking our own pumpkins from the million-and-ten pumpkins available in the patch.

For $48, I could have purchased 12 pumpkins from the back of one of the numerous produce trucks parked haphazardly about town but, as Hugh said, that would have lacked the spirit of the season. Also, I don't need 12 pumpkins.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and, roaming through the maze gave us time to enjoy our children (minus The Teenager's new boyfriend who opted not to accompany us, after all) despite the fact that The Teenager also managed to carry on at least six texting conversations while doing so (her ability to multi-task should come in handy in whatever career she pursues. Or, she will end up living in a cardboard box because bosses tend to  frown on employees texting their way through the workday; time will tell).

Anyhoodle, we got some pretty great pumpkins, which will come in handy next week when we carve jack-o-lanterns at our annual carving party.

After traipsing through the great oudoors, we traveled to Neighboring Town for dinner at the Olive Garden before spending yet another $48 for the privilege of standing in line for an hour just to be scared at a haunted house.

That $48, for the record, worth every penny.

And, time spent with my family, priceless, obviously.

This Post is Not About the Cat, I Swear

The kids got out of school at noon yesterday and are out all day, today. When they were younger and I was working at Old Job, this would have meant additional daycare costs and fretting over what everyone was doing while I was at work. Now and days, however, it means that, with the exception of an hour or two that the Man-Cub and I will spend at the store,  I am home with my babies, making plans for the rest of our weekend and resting on the couch.

I'm very blessed.

Speaking of plans for the weekend, barring any unforeseen complications, we will be visiting the local pumpkin patch/corn maze for an afternoon of family fun. We are also planning to take a trip to Neighboring City to have the wits scared out of us at a haunted house; the same haunted house that we visited last year. Well, not the same haunted house, that would be boring, but; a haunted house sponsored by the same group as the house last year.

Potato-potahto.

One interesting change from last year will be the size of our party; The Crush will be accompanying us on one- or both- of our adventures as The Teenager has recently upgraded his status from crush to "Boyfriend", just don't say that in front of Hugh  (Or, do; what's one more bloody body in a house of horrors, after all?).

I'm sure we will have a good time.

What else? Let's see.. (really trying to avoid extraneous cat updates, here).. The Teenager's last volleyball game of the season was last night; they won. This weekend, I will wash her uniform and she will turn it in to the school but, not before I get a picture of her wearing it beside her brother who, not exactly coincidentally, will be wearing the same number (11) on his new basketball jersey.

Then, the Cub's basketball games start Tuesday so, I need not worry about jeopardizing the perfect shape of my Bleacher Butt prior to The Teenager starting club volleyball in January  (I wonder what the odds of her being assigned the number 11 jersey are?).

As an aside, all that cheerleading that I did in High School is really starting to pay off so, that was time well spent, obviously.

And, That's all I've got.

In Which I Contemplate Writing a Monthly Newsletter to the Cat

What can I say? My kids are getting older, I'm lacking for blog content. On the other hand, I do still have some degree of pride so, a quick update on the kitten's progress of assimilation into our family will have to do:

At just under eight weeks and one pound, Finnigan is the picture of good health. He's mastered the fine art of climbing onto the couch, is completely litter box-trained, and, as of last night; can finally navigate the staircase in both directions (except for the occasional tumble down the final two stairs, for some odd reason).

He was the hit of The Teenager's team dinner, charming even the cat-haters in the group (they do exist!) and, more recently; has learned how to defend himself against being crushed by Hugh's nocturnal acrobatics (note to other cats in a similar sleeping situation: claws in the back work wonders in getting a large man to roll back to his side of the bed).

Amazingly, the kitten has not drawn blood, once. None of us have reported even so much as a scratch, despite the kitten's recent foray into stalking our heels as we walk past furniture under which he is hiding. He also has an adorable habit of tucking himself underneath our chins as we hold him, with the added (and adorable) habit of gently patting our faces with his paw while purring, contentedly.

He's a keeper, we're thinking.

And, on to non-cat related news.

****CRICKETS*****

Yeah, I got nothing.

That monthly newsletter is starting to look better by the minute.

Yep. I'm still adorable. Thanks for noticing.

Let me get this straight; she won't let you in the house? Dude, you should try being more adorable. I'm serious.

Team Dinner, By the Numbers

-10 pounds of taco meat.

-60 taco shells.

-48 tortillas.

-3 large cans of refried beans.

-2 containers of sour cream.

-1 1/2 pounds of shredded cheese.

-2 heads of lettuce.

-4 large tomatoes.

-1 economy-sized container of salsa.

-2 bottles of extra hot taco sauce.

-1 bottle of mild taco sauce.

-3 "Fiesta sized" bags of chips.

-1 large 7-layer dip.

-3 dozen sugar cookies.

-4 1/2 gallons of lemonade.

-60 minutes to polish it all off with nary a crumb left over.

-31 polite volleyball players making a point of saying "Thank you for dinner, it was delicious!" as they headed out the door.

-31 reasons that I would do it all again.

Preparing for an Invasion

The Teenager's team dinner is tonight. I'm planning a fairly low-stress menu featuring the ever-popular taco bar and a 7-layer dip that has proven to be quite well-liked at numerous Porch Nights. The house is clean, the tables on the porch have been prepped, the promise of a houseful of girls inspired the Man-Cub to shower and The Teenager helped me decorate three dozen sugar cookies last night so, barring really bad weather; we are as ready as we will ever be.

Once this dinner is over, my To-Do list will be fairly clear until the end of the month when my ASTRA club holds its' first annual Costume Ball and, to be honest; I'm looking forward to a little down-time. Not that I don't enjoy doing things for my kids; I just want a little free time to do the things that I enjoy doing this time of year, things like navigating the local corn maze and getting the wits scared out of me at the haunted house in Neighboring City.

Changing topics completely (because I can), this weekend, I ran into an old college friend. Literally. I was entering the gym at The Teenager's volleyball game in a town an hour and a half away when I tripped and fell on him. We hadn't seen each other since before graduation so it took us a couple of seconds to recognize each other but, once we did, it was quite a nice reunion.

And, in further evidence that it is truly a small world; our daughters were suite-mates at volleyball camp this past summer and have kept in touch via texting and Facebook and, of course, we had no idea. Too cool.

Also cool this weekend; my nephew, the Rebel Without a Cause, who was working on a natural gas rig nearby, was able to attend the volleyball games to watch The Teenager and to visit with us.

It's always good to spend time with family and I think The Teenager's serves were extra-wicked good because she was showing off for her cousin, whom she adores.

And, speaking of serving, I guess I should get started on the 7-layer dip; Invasion in T-minus nine hours and counting....