3x06 Big Man on Mulberry Street

This is my all time favorite TV show and singer, Moonlighting and Billy Joel, together! I nearly died when this aired on TV....

A lovely anniversary....Tater Mitts explained....

Well, Stu and I celebrated our anniversary in grand style, although it started out a little rough. Stu had purchased a gift certificate to our favorite local restaurant about two weeks ago but alas, as happens so often in our house, we lost the gift certificate. It was for $30 so it was significant. Stu even went by the restaurant the other morning to see if they had a record of our purchasing it but alas, they didn't. We were bummed and were considering not even going to that restaurant for dinner anymore....however, a few hours later, Stu got a call from the daughter of the owners of the restaurant, who is a friend of Stu's. She heard about our plight and talked to her parents and they agreed to honor our lost gift certificate! YAY! So, with lightened hearts, we set off for our destination, with a bottle of our favorite wine brought along (the restaurant has no liquor license so you can bring your own). We exchanged cards and I got a dozen red roses, beautiful! We had a lovely dinner and by dessert we had both dissolved into tears with all the reminiscing we were doing. It was a pretty emotional evening for us, twenty years together is nothing to sneeze at you know. So we ended up at the movies later and saw I Am Legend, which I have to say I was a little disappointed in. I wished it spent more time delving into how he dealt with being alone, instead of turning into a movie about vampires....it was okay though and Will Smith is simply awesome! Wait until video if you must see it though...I am not happy about spending $8 on it.

I have been wanting to tell you about how the Tater Mitts worked out on Christmas Day...well, THEY SUCKED! They are dishwashing gloves with little stones glued onto the palms. They didn't do anything but rip up the potato and turn it into a shredded mess. I had Yukon Gold potatoes with a very thin skin so maybe it would have worked better with an Idaho potato with a thicker skin...I don't know, but after the demonstration, M.A. said I could have the mitts! I think I will try to strip the paint off the garage with them next Spring. So, bottom line is, save your $15 and invest in a basic potato peeler, okay? Here is a short video starring me and the Tater Mitts:

Check out my Slide Show!

Here we are...

Here we are, 20 years later now. It is so hard to believe that we have reached this marriage milestone! Of course it seems like yesterday, gettin' hitched at City Hall. Do you remember how it was raining cats and dogs outside? Heading back to our tiny studio apartment for our honeymoon, the only honeymoon we would have! I wouldn't trade it for the world. You have been my best friend for so long now, I can't imagine you not being my best friend and husband. I can't say we haven't hit a few rough spots here and there but they are incredibly few and far between. Thank you for the last twenty years honey.....I'm surely looking forward to the next twenty! I love you......

Just a little snack...

The dog has been disappearing a lot lately and when I call her she appears from the basement...which is puzzling because this dog usually does not let me out of her sight. Stu found out the reason for her visits to the basement however. Apparently, she follows the cats to the litterbox and then they make a fresh deposit, she is right there with her head in the box OMG!!! Caught like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar, with tons of cat litter stuck to her nose. I'm gonna barf, I swear! My dog is generally a very well-mannered dog but this is definitely her WORST habit, by far. Then she has poo breath and you can't even stand to be in the same room with her....all I hear is "Daisy, get out of here!!!" from my kids. Sheesh!

Today we were at the mall with the kids, hoping to spend some more Christmas money. Lulabell had disappeared into the perfume section and came running over with so much perfume on that there were waves of it coming off her.

Lulabell: "Mommy, do you like how I smell?"
Me (almost knocked over by the powerful odor): Mmmmm, smells good, what's it called?
Lulabell: "Tester!"
Me: HAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH! That's a good one!
Lulabell: Huh? What's so funny?

Peaches was desperate to spend his last $30 in cash (he still has gift cards) and we were in the Penney's men's section looking for clothes. He picked out some pants and tried them on, then sent me out in search of a shirt to go with them. Alas, we didn't find anything appropriate so just bought the pants and then headed down to the toy store, where he spent his last $13.00 on Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Ugh....

The aftermath of Christmas

This is Lulabell working it on her toys she bought for herself today with her gift cards. She was at it about two hours at the time of these pics...Have you tried to open a new toy recently? It is designed to make you insane, I can tell you. If you don't slice your fingers off trying to open the plastic case, you will go crazy when you have to untwist all the twisties....she persevered though. What a gal...

M.A., got her new sewing kit today....you'll remember that I bumbled her REAL Christmas sewing kit, right? So, I hit Wal-Mart and got her a lovely new basket, which is all she really wanted in the first place. Wal-Mart did not hold the treasures Peaches hoped it would and he only bought some hot dogs and Coke One. He is holding out a lot of hope for his Target gift card that his aunt Lisa sent him. I'm sure he will think of SOMETHING he can get at Wal-Mart.

Stu was wildly delighted this morning when his request for a friend from MySpace came through...Alexa Ray Joel, who is the talented daughter of MY all time fave, Billy Joel. He requested her to be his friend on MySpace and she accepted! WAHOO! Stu is flying high now! We also set up a MySpace page for Peaches...which I will post a link to on the right just as soon as I can. Be sure to visit, okay? He is also very excited about his own MySpace.

Farting Bunny

I don't know why but this video makes me very happy....

Christmas Pics

Merry Christmas - we got Tater Mitts!

Good Morning! I trust you are enjoying your Christmas so far? We had a lovely gift opening morning...Peaches took one look at at the pile of gifts and said, "so, Grammy is bringing more gifts, right?" Wrong...Grammy's big gift to us this year is a bus trip to Pittsburgh to see the Lion King on stage in January (YIPPEE!) Stu has spent most of his morning on the computer upstairs sending messages to his friends. He was even sending one to everyone's My Space friend, Tom. TOM?????? For God's sakes Stu!!!! I took a picture of him this morning but I am not sure I will post it...this is a family blog, right? Peaches got money and clothes but by far his favorite gift was the dollar store gloves I got him and forgot to wrap and just handed to him...he has been wearing them all morning! Also, the Spiderman pencils (also from the Dollar store). Lulabell's favorite gift was her High School Musical 2 DVD and her clothes. M.A.'s favorite gift is a toss up between her sewing box and her Tater Mitts! What are Tater Mitts, you ask? Well, just check the picture above...I can't wait to see if they work! She asked for a new clock radio too...and didn't want me to get her a fancy shmancy one, just a basic one. So, to play a trick on her, I got her the teeniest, tiniest alarm clock I could find and gave it to her....she was speechless when she opened it and couldn't decide if I was kidding or not. Finally, she decided it was a joke because the rest of us (who were in on it) were laughing our butts off! She did get a decent clock radio after all. I made my egg strata for breakfast which was quite delicious and also some cinnamon buns that wouldn't come out of the *#@(!)# pan so all we could eat were the muffin tops! GRRRRR! Guess who threw away a muffin pan this morning? Also, my sister claimed that they hadn't gotten our Christmas card yet...WHAT!?!?!!? I mailed that sucker TWO WEEKS AGO! It had the boys' gift cards in it.... I was SO upset..... then 10 minutes later my sister called back to report that the card was in the mailbox! The mail had been delivered very late yesterday and they hadn't checked it. So, that's been our morning so far.....our white Christmas is actually a brown Christmas 'cause it's so muddy, but oh well! More later....

Destroying lives and other holiday delights....

Well, we are once again on the verge of another Christmas Day...hard to believe it is here again. I am doing my best to perpetuate the goodness of the season once again, although I do have my moments of really bad mojo....and I am sad to say that the Mother of The Year award has slipped through my fingers once again. Let me illustrate.

I had taken the kids to the local drug store so they could buy Stu and I some gifts with money they had. They were all excited to do this and I was instructed "not to look mom!" many times. Finally, their purchases made, we headed off into the car to meet Stu for lunch. Lulabell especially was quite happy with what she had bought us and kept exclaiming, "mom, I just know you'll love what I got for you!" I, caught up in her infectious enthusiasm and good will, blurted out, "well, honey, as long as it isn't a stuffed animal, I KNOW I will love whatever you got me!"

Silence....
then, the chin starts to quiver....
the tears start to fall.....

OH MY GOD!!!!
I have just destroyed my little baby girl with my thoughtlessness. She did indeed buy me a stuffed animal for my Christmas gift.....my heart is broken. I actually had to pull the car over to comfort my daughter from the depths of despair and apologize for my heartlessness. Why do I do this???? You see, it was a bit of a joke. Stu and Lulabell both have this insane stuffed animal love thing that I just don't get, you know? I have never been a stuffed animal person. The only stuffed animal I remember feeling anything about was Petey, my monkey, but he was like a real baby...he had a rubber face, jointed limbs, rubber hands and feet and he was heavy, just like a real baby. He got even heavier when I decided to see if Petey could swim, and my mother will be happy to tell you THAT story! So, I always kid around with Stu and Lulabell, pretending to hate their stuffed animal friends, fooling around that I am throwing them away, that sort of thing. In my heart I don't HATE these things...I just prefer to shower LIVING things with love and affection, not inanimate objects. Sooooo, I was not altogether joking when I said I would love anything she got me EXCEPT a stuffed animal, but like any mother, I would LOVE ANYTHING my baby got me for Christmas.....yes, even a stuffed animal. When I said that, I was kidding around (mostly). I have been absolutely sick about this situation and did suggest to Lulabell that she give her gift to her father and find something at the Dollar Store for me....I would be happy with new socks and a candle, REALLY! She seemed to feel better, but I just know I have wounded her for life...

So, after 4 days of intense shopping, I think I am finally ready myself....I prefer to wait until the last minute to get my shopping done as I work better under pressure. This is also illustrated by the fact that most of you will not get any Christmas cards from me until AFTER the holidays...think of them as New Year cards....

Stu is worrying me lately....he is on a quest to acquire the most myspace friends in the history of myspace. It is his constant obsession right now and I beg of you, for my well-being...please use the link to go to his space and sign up to be his friend! It's all I ever hear about. His biggest coup so far has been to be accepted as a friend by Robin Meade! Now, if you watch CNN Headline News in the morning, like we do...then you will know all about Robin. She is awesome and we are all in love with her! She is absolutely beautiful and her personality is the best! In fact, if she weren't already married, and we lived in Utah and were Mormons, I would ask Stu to marry her! I know the kids would want this too....so, yesterday he found out that she accepted him to her private profile! OMG!!!! He was just about to crap his pants he was so happy! So, whom am I to complain? My hubby is a happy guy, it's Christmas and my 20th wedding anniversary is a week away....not too shabby huh?

That's My Home - by Mime David Armand

David's followup mime performance...I LOVE this guy!

Torn

This is one of my all time favorite videos...I can't help but smile every time I see it....

It doesn't suck.....

That's what was wrong with my vacuum...it wouldn't suck. I vacuumed the entire house and when I went to empty the cannister, nothing came out! Usually I have to empty the cannister twice when I vacuum just the downstairs, so I determined that something was wrong. I set about taking the entire vacuum apart and cleaned everything that I could clean. Then I got to the filter and MAN! That thing was 10000% clogged with dirt...no wonder it didn't suck! So, I cleaned the heck out that thing (I should probably invest in a new filter at some point) and put everything back together and wallah! New vacuum that REALLY sucks now! Good job!

We had a two hour school delay today because of the snow, which was WONDERFUL! Stu and I didn't get to bed until after 1 AM last night because we were setting up his MySpace page...I will post a link for ya. It came out pretty nice...so check it out. In fact, you can link to both his and my Myspaces to the right - just double click on the links!

Tornado Destruction

This is a little of what I was talking about in my previous "extreme weather post".

Is it Memorex...or PMS?

Well...it snowed, then it rained, then it iced...then it snowed some more, then the wind started, then the fireman came to tell us not to go outside.....huh? Well, apparently the wind knocked down electrical wires in front of our house, which probably explains the weird sound and light I saw earlier but couldn't identify. It's kinda scary when a firetruck parks itself outside your house for no discernable reason and then starts directing traffic away from your house. Finally, Lulabell took matters into her own hands and opened the front door to say, "hellllllooooo! Mr. Fireman.....is there something wrong?" All she could hear over the wind was "yadayadayada....stay in your house!" Oh my gosh....then the fireman came over and knocked on the door to explain better. Fortunately, we maintained our electrical service, which was good. The weather service is telling us to expect 4 or so more inches of snow today, but things seem to be petering out now...All in all, it's been a bit of a piss poor winter storm. Hrhmph.

Blogging birthday greetings to our dear friend, O in Oakland....who is now a rather ripe age (I won't tell). Got to talk to him last night and all is well. Happy Birthday O!

The kids have been on my last nerve today...maybe I'm premenstrual or something. Here were their infractions:

SOMEBODY drank my last diet Pepsi...without asking...one of the top indiscretions one can make in my house....I calmly asked who helped themselves to my last diet Pepsi...but no one would own up to it (I had my suspicions....her name starts with L). I was not mad at the loss of my diet Pepsi so much as I was mad at the lying about it. I finally announced both kids had to go to their rooms now until somebody confessed. Peaches was aghast at this injustice and protesting loudly. Lulabell not so much...thereby confirming my suspicions. The other thing I was so mad about was the fact that Lulabell was so willing to let her brother take the fall for her. I therefore told Peaches he definitely wasn't punished but that Lulabell must be confined IMMEDIATELY! She stomped her way up the stairs and it took everything I had not to strangle her on the stairs. She did finally admit to drinking the pop "a little". HAH! 3/4 of it was gone...a little my butt.

Speaking of butts, later on the kids were wrestling and I kept hearing Peaches referring to his sister as "fatty". She kept getting madder and madder and attacking him more viciously. I finally intervened and got into Peaches' face about this. He was a little too nonchalant about the whole thing and was pretty much ignoring me. He was lying on my bed at the time and turned over onto his stomach at one point, with his back to me, with his damn plumber's butt mocking me....well, I smacked that naked plumber's butt, just to get his attention, which I surely did! He is now quietly carrying out his punishment, writing "I will not call my sister names" 100 times.

Man, I hate losing my temper....but sometimes these little people just get the best of me.

UPDATE! 5:00 Snow fall...

These are pictures taken from the same angles at 5:00, after two hours of snowfall...and still snowing!

Current snow situation....UPDATE!

Here are pictures from the front and back doors of my house...after one hour of steady snowfall..time 4:00 PM.

Come on and snow!

This is the current weather; precipitation forecast...come on snow!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

We are are on the verge here....the verge of a big winter storm. I keep going to the Weather Channel to see how close the weather is and right now the leading edge of the storm is just southwest of Youngstown...we have a winter storm warning from now until 1AM Monday with snow totals up to 10 inches expected. However, 99% of the time, instead of 10 inches, maybe we'll get 3 inches...everything always seems to peter out around here. The last time we got more than what was expected was last Valentine's day when we got a staggering foot of snow...it was freaking awesome! I am an extreme weather junkie, I guess you could say. My fondest desire is to be in a hurricane. I don't mean to sound flip about that as I know how horrible hurricanes can be and how many people can die or lose everything. I just mean the buildup to the storm...wondering if it will hit you, how you will react. I even enjoy the storm itself, the booming thunder, scary lightning, pounding rain and powerful wind....it just gets me going, you know? So, we are waiting expectantly here in western PA. M.A. is taking the kids to the movies, Alvin and the chipmunks, which is right up her alley! I get to stay home and....guess what? TYPE! Yay! I will be off tomorrow which is good as it sounds like a nice day to stay home. Maybe we will finish decorating the tree and house...in between my typing (sigh). I should probably get to the video store sometime and stock up, huh?

Stu had a flat tire at work yesterday and I guess I didn't respond as he would have liked as he got pissy again. I had just picked up the kids from school and we were just arriving at Giant Eagle as I had to get gift cards to send out. Stu called my cell and anounced that he was about to take his lunch break and found that he had a flat tire. I asked him if he wanted me to do something but he said he would call me right back. So, I went into the store and waited for him to call. Ten minutes later he did call and announced he was driving to the gas station that is near our house! Now, this seemed strange to me as there is a tire center not a half block from Lowe's...why would he drive almost all the way home on a flat tire, risking damaging the rim, when he could have driven less than 1/4 of a mile to the tire center, where they could have at least put more air in? I pondered this aloud to my husband, who immediately went on the defensive....sheesh...if you needed me to do something, why didn't you ask? And for that matter, why didn't you tell me what you were planning because I would have suggested the closer tire option....but, I was the bad guy once again because I didn't drop everything and rush to Lowe's the first time he called. Stu said later that he misunderstood me...that he thought that when he called the first time that I was DRIVING in the car, and he thought it was pretty crappy of me to continue on to Giant Eagle when I knew he was in trouble with a flat tire. However, as noted, I WAS ALREADY AT THE STORE, PARKED, AND WALKING INTO THE STORE! So, once again, my hubby and I manage to miscommunicate, causing hard feelings. We have GOT to do a little better in this department. The tire appears fine now, but definitely has a slow leak, which we will have to take care of at some point I guess. Just got my cousin's Christmas card which is always quite inventive and creative and I look forward to them every year. This year she has a new baby to show off, and he is quite the little stud. My mom says he has "morgan cheeks" which I guess means that he has the chubbiest cheeks I have ever seen! When my daughter was born, she looked like a little Eskimo baby because of her chubby cheeks. Even on the ultrasound, the tech took a picture of her face and typed cheeks! on the scan because even she couldn't believe the chubbiness of her cheeks! Hoping to get to see this little guy in person around the holidays...we are trying to get over to Canton to see them sometime as they will be visiting, along with my other cousin and his two kids. I hope we can work something out.....

It's beginning to look a lot like stress now....everywhere you go

Monday saw the kids and I driving up to Cleveland for Lulabell’s eye checkup. The good news is her condition is stable for the moment and we don’t have to return until next April! The bad news? I had to spend 6 hours alone with Peaches and Lulabell who were at each other’s throats most of the trip over the Nintendo DS. You see, Peaches has his own Nintendo but it won’t turn on for some reason. So he asks to use Lulabell’s (and not very nicely either). Lulabell, depending on her mood, will say yes or no. Sometimes she will say no just to mess with him, you know? At that point I step in, but for the most part, I try to stay out of it. The problem is the game they both want to play is Peaches, so if Lulabell wants to play HIS game on HER Nintendo, she has to be nice to him, you see the dilemma here? It is so delicious to be mean to each other, but they kind of need each other, don’t they? Kind of a metaphor for life itself, isn’t it?

So while we were in Cleveland and on our way home, I decided to hit the pop machine in the lobby to grab some drinks for our trip home. The two of them followed and were jostling to be the first to get their own pop. As we were waiting for the pop to dispense, there was a sudden commotion. As if in slow motion I saw Lulabell screw up her face and haul back with her right arm to punch her brother as hard as she possibly could. She let fly with her punch, but Peaches, moving faster than I thought possible, ducked out of the way (Lulabell will have to learn to come at him from his bad side). Unfortunately, he ducked so low that he tumbled over and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Lulabell had swung so hard that when her punch didn’t land, her momentum carried her all the way around and SHE went down in a heap. Like I said, this had all happened very fast, but in slow motion, you know? I was madly trying to get the kids back to their feet when I became aware that both of them had a terrible, disturbing case of plumber’s butt. OMG!

Get up you guys!
(giggling and moaning from the floor)…

C’mon, get up RIGHT NOW!
(in my best mean mommy’s voice)

For God’s sakes, as least pull your shirts down….
(desperate and pleading now)


Recently, Stu and I have not been communicating well and the following conversation confirms this:

Stu: (calling me from the sporting goods store) Honey, do you want a snow slider?

Me: Um….I guess so, but what is a snow slider?

Stu: (disgusted silence)…..you know, a snow slider.

Me: Well, if you tell me what it is, I will let you know if I want one.

Stu: You know, a snow board to go down the hill in the snow.

Me: Well, if it’s a snowboard, I guess I don’t want one because I don’t know how to snow board.
Stu: (aggravated silence)…you mean if we all go as a family, you’re not going to go down the hill with us? (I should point out here the number of times we have gone sled riding as a family……zero).

Me: Well, I can’t because I don’t know how to use those…I don’t want to get hurt.

Stu: (mean now) Oh for god’s sakes, do you want one or not? Why can’t you understand what I am saying?

Me: I guess not, if you’re going to be like that….I’m going to hang up now…bye.

Now, that whole conversation hinged on my knowing what the bleeping hell a "snow slider" is. In my mind I first pictured something you wear on your shoes so you don’t slip in the snow. Then, I pictured some kind of complicated device that allows you to ski across the snow or something. Apparently all Stu wanted to know was if I wanted a new sled for myself. That’s all!!!!!! But because he wasn’t giving me the usual terminology, I didn’t know….and we both go upset with the other person for our apparent lack of intelligence. Sigh…

Had another episode today where Stu got a little pissed at me. We had been saving our gas credits from the local grocery store and had gotten to the point where we could buy gas for $1.50 a gallon! WOOHOOO! So, we let both cars get down to below E and then made our way to the gas station. Now, the policy is you can only get 30 gallons of gas at the reduced price. So, we figured we would fill up one car and then fill up part of the other car, so as not to exceed 30 gallons and to get as much out of the discount as possible. I was feeling a little weird about this as I didn’t think you were really allowed to do this, but Stu was in his commando mode and was bound and determined to do this. So, I got to the gas station first and I thought to myself: I’m not going to pump gas in both cars and have somebody come out to yell at me because what I was doing was illegal. So, I thought I would go in and announce my intentions to the gas station attendant, you know, just to get their "okay". Stu drove past on his way to back up to the pump where I was and rolled down his window as he saw me on my way to the attendant.

Where are you going? he asked suspiciously.

I have to go in here for a minute, I said nervously.

Why?

Um, I have to get something….

He KNEW what I was doing though. When I told the attendant about what I wanted to do, they laughed politely and told me that of course I would not be able to do that…it was AGAINST THE RULES. When I went back to the cars, my husband was waiting there for me with a thunderous look on his face.

Why did you do that? (menacingly)

Well, I didn’t want to get into trouble (my voice trailed off).

What are they going to do, arrest us?

Well, I knew it was wrong (righteous indignation) and I didn’t want to do it!

Oh, brother (eye rolling and head shaking)…..

So, it took $87 to fill up both cars, plus a 5 gallon gas tank to keep at home. If we had been able to accomplish what Stu wanted us to accomplish, we would have saved about $15, but at the cost of a public humiliation, you know? I would just like to take this opportunity to point out the absolute injustice of this 30 gallon gas discount fiasco….there aren’t too many cars that have a 30 gallon gas tank, now are there? So once you use your discount to fill up your 17 gallon tank, what happens to the other 13 gallons of discounted gas? Well, they just disappear, don’t they? What a crock of *#(#)$$! That’s just not right, you know….I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the powers-that-be on that one.

Second verse, same as the first

Good morning! I see you have found my new place...rose-colored for rosebushes, eh? I was so devastated when I thought I lost all of my previous posts - 2 years worth. This blog is like my diary and to think that I had lost everything was almost too much to bear. However, I have since learned that I have NOT lost everything, it just isn't visible to you guys anymore. This means that in the future, if my kids would like to read something I wrote before, they can. It is all still out there floating around in cyberspace, thank God! So, I will just start fresh, knowing that my past is secure.

Last night we picked Stu up at work but before that I decided to look at what kind of X-mas trees they had at Blowe's (that's our name for Lowe's). The trees are outside in the yard center and it was quite rainy and windy last night (although strangely rather warm). So, I spied my tree which seemed perfect. I spun it around and it had no holes or anything, a lovely little Douglas Fir, just a little taller than myself. I decided this was it and looked around for a salesperson. Good luck with that.....no one to be found. I tried to see how much my tree was and it had a tag on it that said 6-7 foot tree, 28.95. Well, I thought indignantly, this is no 6-7 foot tree...surely there has been a mistake. Fortunately, a Blowe's employee happened by and I grabbed them and asked if they thought this was a 6-7 foot tree? No....I didn't think so. Can I get this tree for the price of a 5-6 foot tree? Well, I have to ask my manager. Okay, go ask your manager. So, Eddie went lumbering off to find his manager while I stood in the wind and rain holding onto my tree. What for I'm not sure because it wasn't like there were scores of people waiting to snatch up my tree....I was the only one out there! Finally, Eddie comes back, tells me I can have my tree for the 5-6 foot price (YAY!) and off we go. He trims off the bottom for me and wraps up my tree and we head inside to the cash registers. When we got there Eddie realizes he didn't have the price code for the tree and had to go all the way back to the yard center to get it. (Although Eddie was very nice, he didn't seem that enthusiastic to be the tree guy, you know?) So a few minutes later, Eddie comes back with the code and I got my tree for....are you ready for this? $14.00! YIPEE! So, I'm very happy about my tree. We got it home and put it up in the stand and brought it inside but we didn't decorate it yet. You see, our three cats have never seen a live tree and I wanted them to get used to it before we decorate it. They were very curious and the kitten decided to see how fast she could climb to the top. But we were ready for her....SQUIRTTTT! We squirted her with a blast of water and she came down the tree much quicker than she did going up. So, for the rest of the evening, we were ready to spray her the minute she even got close to the tree. It seems to have worked because this morning, all three are giving the tree a wide berth. So, hopefully, once we decorate it, we will be fine, although I can imagine how dangling ornaments and twinkling lights will tempt the little devils all over again, squirting water be damned!

Well, hello there....

What's going on, you ask? You may have been to the old blog and have seen that it is messed up. I managed to screw up something in the template of my blog, erased some code or something and unfortunately, somehow, screwed things up royally. I decided to start a new blog and this is it. I will be posting things soon, so bear with me, okay?