Dear Chin Sisters, Stop Pooping Already

Kittens are still outside. Kittens dug up my container cucumbers and strawberries and used the containers as a litter box for their runny poop. They, as per usual, did not bother to cover it up.

I'd given up for a while, but I have a new plan of attack. They are getting a mixture of wet lamb-rice food with instant potatoes, Imodium, and pro-biotics (I saw the suggestion of non-flavored yogurt but found some tablets at the store). They'll get it twice a day till this poo thing stops. If it doesn't stop, then it's back to cheap cat food and hello to a short life, I guess.

They have collars now, so people know the naughty kittens belong to a family (why am I parading that fact around their neck now?). I also set up their litter box outside. Hopefully this will stop them from pooping and digging in the exisiting pots (which are now laden with bamboo skewers under the suggestion of a church member). Also, should they ever be indoor cats again, it'll be good for them to still be familiar with a litter box.

Why can't everything I own be as low maintenance as the chickens?

A Rolling Stone

Where to start?

We went to Tyler, Texas last weekend to enjoy a Day Out with Thomas at the Texas State Railroad. The Day Out was actually quite fun - perfectly geared to younger kiddos. It wasn't overcrowded and there was plenty to keep the kids busy. Unfortunately, Moose did not sleep the night before and was melting down about two hours into it. I also had a crazy headache. Our Day Out was more like a Morning Out. Oh well. We still felt like we got our money's worth.

The hotel we stayed in was disappointing - the pool was outside, the tub didn't drain. But I have no complaints about the mattresses. The dog was also awful in the hotel room - she whined A LOT and barked every time a door closed or a person walked by. Ugh, we cut the trip early and were back in Shreveport by 12 noon on Sunday.

I went to Urgent Care upon arriving home. The headache was just awful and wouldn't go away - it was like a stabbing pain that made me gringe so badly I couldn't drive. I was diagnosed with a suspect-case of shingles. My scalp has a red rash, but no blisters. I'm on an antibiotic and pain killer, and the pain stopped completely yesterday afternoon. So, maybe we got to it early enough? Maybe it's not shingles? I don't know, but it sucked.

Oh, and Saturday morning ... my mom had a FIRE IN HER HOUSE. It started in the basement and traveled through the window and torched a chunk of her deck. Amazingly, the damage was minimal and she made it out safely. Her insurance has been very responsive, and she has new floors to pick out now :) She's living in a hotel till Wednesday, but she sounds amazingly NOT STRESSED despite the circumstances. So, thank goodness for all that. I can't believe it wasn't worse. She, of course, waited till Sunday evening to tell us because she didn't want to ruin our Thomas trip.

I started a j-o-b today. I'm tutoring at under performing schools. I had NO students show up today, so I'm off to an awesome start. Since participation is so low at this school, they're moving me to a different school ... so maybe I'll actually w-o-r-k on Thursday. It's just two days a week for about three hours each day. It pays well and Husband's schedule is pretty flexible right now, so we don't even have to pay for child care.

Bean tested for a stripe on his high white belt today and did well at the testing, but then he was called out four times afterward for fidgeting. The ONLY kid called out, according to Husband.

Oh, also, my husband has tossed my sweet kittens outside. Somehow, on Sunday, between when we arrived home and about six hours later, they tracked pooped all over the bathroom and the bedroom carpet and had smeared it around the lid of the litter box and flung a sticky combination of poop and litter onto the door. I tell you, they defy both reason and gravity with their litter box antics. They seem to be doing OK out there - they stick close to the house and are eating well, and I haven't found out where they're pooping yet ... so that could be a good or bad thing. So, now it's two outdoor kittens, a dog, and three chickens.

Chickens are laying an egg a day lately. The white one is certainly in the throws of molting.

Moose continues his reign of the Terrible Twos. You just never know with that kid. I'm getting a little discouraged with his speech ... he's still hardly saying a thing, and we've been going twice a week for MONTHS now. He likes going, though, so I hate to just stop. It's certainly not hurting anything.

So, that's that.

Number Dos

I saw a woman walking two pug puppies last night. There is something about a pug, especially in puppy-form, that just melts me. Despite the fact that I am up to my elbows in poop, if a pug puppy happened upon me, I would just drop everything and love it to pieces.

Up to my elbows in poop? Well, there is the cat with the runs AGAIN. I switched to clay litter, since it does a nicer job of masking the smell and the cats actually make an effort to COVER their poo (not so with the pine stuff). Note that the pine stuff was GREAT with the cat, but these kittens were just lazy about it. Maybe we'll switch back in the future ... because I really hate the stray pieces of litter that not "litter" my bathroom and into the bedroom. Gross.

Also with poop, our waste water backed up ... into the bathtub and the shower. Super-gross. Thankfully, the plumbers came out yesterday and cleared the line, and we can once again flush and shower. On the plus side, my husband and I got the bathrooms super-clean since, well, there's nothing like raw sewage to warrant a deep cleaning.

ALSO, it's time to clean out the chicken coop ... I think. I am awaiting my copy of Raising Chickens For Dummies, but I'm thinking weekly is probably the way to go with a light cleaning of the place. I need to go back to TSC and get more bedding. I should probably buy a few bags, so I don't have to run to the opposite side of town every week.

So, I'm pooped out.

Oh, I just remembered that I have two poo-filled cloth diapers festering from when we were unable to flush the toilets. Super-gross.

Ugh.

My Hallmark Card

Wednesday night, a person told me that my life was like a Hallmark card. I wanted to break into hysteric laughter, but instead I said thank you (and possibly rolled my eyes). All in all, if you put things into a list of what my life is compared to what it could be, it is pretty good. I wouldn't say Hallmark card, I'd probably say Endless To-Do List. Maybe entitle it Life Interrupted. Seriously, though, I have a lot to be thankful for (or "for which to be thankful," if we don't want to end a sentence with "for," but who talks like that?).

It's funny what people see when they don't hold you to same standards you hold yourself to - I usually just see the last-minute meals out of cans and heaps of laundry. Start seeing what's so good, stop worrying about the short-comings. There's no such thing as perfect.

Moose has decided to stop napping. This is not a good thing. Today he is in a rare mood, and he's napping ... I don't care if he stays in his room and wails for two hours. He is tired and grumpy and needs to go to sleep and leave me alone!

Bean is still doing well in school and should be assigned to his "reading group" by the end of the month. I am hoping he gets in with the higher kids, because everything they are doing right now he covered and mastered in pre-school. I really think he's ready to start reading and stop with the "trace your name" and "identify this letter."

The kittens are growing like crazy. I did take the one to get stitched up. They also gave her an antibiotic. She's not gaining weight as fast as her sister (might have a little something to do with her diarrhea), but she's eating/drinking/playing just fine. Her sister (notice the non-use of names) ate a bunch of leftover Fruit Loops the other day and yacked them up. It never stops with those two. They turn EVERYTHING into a toy and enjoying nuzzling up to us at 5 a.m. Oh, my goodness ...

Husband is almost done with the chicken coop. I'm pretty proud of him. I never thought he'd (a) get on board with us getting chickens or (b) actually build a coop from scratch. Way to go, Husband :)

We are also planning just a Husband-and-Me weekend to Wisconsin in November. A friend of ours is getting married, and we're going to splurge and spend the weekend there. I even have a house/baby/pet sitter arranged for the three days. Bliss! We're going to fly up there, rent a car, and just ridiculously enjoy ourselves. Wisconsin in November? Hey, we'll take what we can get!

Lots of reading and writing to do. First, though, LUNCH!

The In-Laws Are Almost Here & New Kittens

We took Penuche back yesterday and acquired ... two, 3-month-old kittens. Both girls, both black and white ("tuxedo" they call it). They are positively adorable and naughty. They feel right. Penuche never felt right. They have fun with the dog and are playful with the kids. One is sweeter than the other (but the other is still plenty nice - just a little more attitude). They climb all over everything. One of their favorite things is to sandwich themselves between our covers. You can't even tell they're there - just the smallest bumps of air in the bed. I never thought I'd get a kitten, let alone two kittens, but they are so much fun.

My in-laws are driving in (in their nice RV) from California. They should be here this evening! They made it to the end of Arizona the first night, into Amarillo, Texas the second night, and are going to push through to get the rest of the way here. We are excited to see them and show them around Shreveport - hopefully it proves to be a more exciting place than our previous base :) They'll also get to see Bean's school and Moose's school and Bean's karate. Fun stuff. Of course, new kittens are fun too.

What I'm Reading, the Cat, and Other Things

OK, the cat is not working out. She lives almost exclusively in our bedroom/bathroom. I can live with that, and I appreciate that she uses her litter box (and only poops every other day) and uses her scratching box (and not my furniture or fancy bedding). However, she's attacked the dog TWICE with bloody results - completely unprovoked. She hisses at Zulu anytime Zulu is anywhere near her. If her paw can swipe Zulu, then she uses it. She wants nothing to do with the kids, but does not hurt them when they do get their hands on her.

I emailed the shelter to see about exchanging her. I want a cat, but I don't want this cat. I want a cat that loves my dog and kids, and she is not it. I thought I was adopting a lazy, fat, laid-back cat. She is fat, but she's got a lot more spunk to her than I was expecting and she's clearly aggressive with the dog THAT IS TWICE HER SIZE (and the aggression is of far more concern than the spunk). Oh, Penuche, you put on such a good show at the shelter.

Moose and I worked on the yard yesterday, getting ready for my in-laws to visit (it's stuff that needed done anyway, but in-laws visiting is good motivation). We put the strawberries in more appropriate containers and seeded cucumbers, radishes, carrots, and spinach. I also potted two patchouli plants and a eucalyptus plant. The car smelled downright heavenly on the drive home. We also mulched one the beds and mulched around a big oak tree (need more). Does the purchase of plants go against my "No Stuff" challenge? I decided it does not, because it (a) stays outside and (b) enriches life and the environment. They are all things that will decompose safely and not take up space in my house. My challenge, right? I can make up the rules as I go.

I have succeeded in paying off my Kohls card and the statement balance on my Visa. I have given away five bags of things on FreeCycle, and sold a small appliance I wasn't using on Craig's List. I did visit a local consignment shop, but it was a bust. They appeal to an older crowd, so my low-ride pants and formal dresses didn't appeal to them. Fair enough. I tried.

I remain in a deep funk of unknown origins. I am not throwing myself off a bridge (though, we do have plenty of those in Louisiana), but I'm just blah-de-blah lately.

Over at Composting a Life, Laura's writing topic of the day is What I'm Reading? For once, I'm not reading multiple books and am actually just two pages into a new book: Nothing Right by Antonya Nelson. As you can imagine, it's really helping my blah-de-blahs. It's a collection of short stories that I originally read about in The Writer (or was it Poets & Writers - one of those magazines). As I said, I'm two pages in, but I'm loving it. It's been a rich and thoroughly depressing two pages smothered with motherly guilt and angst-ridden teenagers. As someone consumed with both motherly guilt and teenage angst (despite, umm, being 28), it's fair to say that I expect to LOVE these stories.

Recently read, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland was AMAZING. If you are at all a writer or creative-type, you must read it. She's dead but pretty much the most likable and down-to-earth person ever. If I had known about her earlier, I would have put her down in one of those college essays about, "If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?" Her book is a golden ticket of knowledge and beauty.

The Urban Homestead is quite informative but far less personal than Made from Scratch. So, good enough if you want more information on homesteading, but don't expect a lot of love and passion in it. I'm looking to read The Backyard Homestead next (already own it, so I won't be buying it during my "No Stuff" break).

Columbine was also an awesome read -it hits on so many levels, mistakes kids make, mistakes parents make, mistakes teachers make, mistakes the media makes. It makes the world seem like a small place in some weird way. It reminds me of the classic Hiroshima by John Hersey - good, old-fashioned, investigative journalism. We don't have a lot of that anymore.

So, that is that.

Whose is Whose

Painting 1 was mine :)

Painting 2 was Husband's.

I agree that his look more real, but mine are prettier :) I said that from the moment we set them out at home. We had a lot of fun painting them, and I can't wait to do it again.

That said, I am in a major funk. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's time for school to start. Maybe it's time for this heat to subside, but I'm all sorts of mopey.

We adopted a new cat. She looks a lot like our old cat. Her name is Penuche (PAH-NUSH), well, that's the name she came with. Bean is pretty set on it. We mainly call her Cat. Today, Husband came up with Mrs. Nathan Fillion-Grylls (after his two man crushes). Obviously, no one is going to start calling her that. She is five and appeared to be just an obese lazy orange cat at the shelter. After bringing her home, however, I noticed that she's actually quite spunky and affectionate. She was also disgusting, so I took her to get groomed. She looks about 10 pounds lighter (but, no joke, she's still 17.5 pounds). She spends her days hiding under the bed and her nights curled up on top of the bed. Her and the dog are still ignoring each other, but I think they'll figure something out soon enough.

Regarding my hatred of litter boxes ... I bought a Clever Cat Top Entry Litter Box. This is what the shelter switched to recently and said it is AMAZING. I am also using pine pellets instead of cat litter. You're not supposed to flush cat urine and poop ... but let's just say that the pellets are so awesome that you CAN. No dust, fresh smell. Very, very few pellets make it out of the litter box (I've counted like THREE since we got her Wednesday - compare that to clay litter that is a freaking mess all the time). I am also lining the box with bags, so there's nothing sticking ANYWHERE. So far, this is a completely different litter box experience. Thank goodness.