My Car Smells Like Cat Pee and other neat stuff that happened last week.

I LOve Cats! I really do. I always have and for the most part the more the merrier..as long as there is room for me in my bed. But. It appears someone has decided my house is a good place to dispose of kitties. Either that or they figure out I'm related to Biggest and think this is close enough. At least the last one was courteous enough to drop off a neutered cat but not so the most recent. Then again he is so shy he may be feral but he looks well cared for so I don't know. He may belong to someone around here but I've never seen him before. I have neighbors whose names I don't know but I know what their pets are called. Anyway, it's a pretty tuxedo, he has been skulking about the bushes and challenging my cats, who are spayed and neutered and don't really care as long as he stays out of their food pile. So the other morning I start the car and crank up the heat and a little way down the road we are treated to a warm blast of Eau De Attitude. Do you know what can be done to get the reek of cat spray out of your car when they mark your  front end as their own? NOTHING. You drive along with Middlest smelling her jacket and asking if it's her and Littlest saying "yes". Anyway, I'm not bringing this one indoors. He's free to steal cat food with the raccoons or Biggest can come and get'em.

My in-laws were looking for a house to rent for awhile in town because of my FIL's health problems. They live out in the boonies about 3 hours away and they stayed with us for several days while they searched and waited for the place they found to be ready. I LOVE MY MIL. I really do. She has been awesome to me since day one. She is kind of like Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond without the deliberate underhanded insults.  And she always takes my side. She overheard my husband and I having a disagreement over something I did not finish in our business,  when he thought I should have. Even though he was wrong...but anyway..A few days later at dinner he mentioned he hadn't finished some work on our website that I Really Needed Done and she said, "Oh Really !!! You didn't finish it? : ) Sometimes she rocks. She Is HELPFUL. VERY HELPFUL. She has been a life saver when we have to work out of town. My dishes don't sit in the sink more than half an hour. She hand washes them even though I have a screwy house and s it takes at least 5 minutes to get hot water in the sink upstairs. It's ok, she doesn't mind waiting while it runs down the drain until it gets hot. Before they lived so far away we didn't get to see them much but from time to time we would hear a knock and surprise! They would stop by for a visit.

Now they are only 5 minutes away so they can stop by more often.

Did I mention my septic tank backed up last weekend so we couldn't take showers? That's ok though, my in laws stayed over at my SIL's till we got it cleared up.

I got to call the Marine Corp. this week. Littlest went online and asked for more information about attending college and become a Marine through their programs. I got a letter asking me if I knew my 15 year old was looking into the Marines. She asked if I would call and ask them to please send her information. I called and said, "why yes I do know and she likes to plan ahead." They said they aren't allowed to pursue her yet but when she was a junior she could have at it. I guess she is even too purposeful for them.

Middlest came home the other day and said:

"I had a test in German and my teacher let me draw a picture too as extra credit. "
"Do you want to see it?"





I Got A "C"

 

Did I mention it was Report Card Week!!!!

Middlest's report card IS: A THING OF BEAUTY & She is NOT GROUNDED.

Apparently this is what Littlest has been doing in History.




She Did Not Get a "C"



Littlest takes all the fun out of it by starting to warn me a couple weeks in advance. " My report card isn't going to be good". "I'm Failing everything." "They are probably going to kick me out." **Note: To Littlest anything lower than a C is total and complete failure. There are 3 D's on her report card. The rest are C's and one B. She is not grounded by me. She wants to live up to her own standards.

Last Monday we went to the Writers Reading performance at Littlest's school. She was last to read. I sat in the audience and watched her from a perspective I haven't since the last reading she was chosen for in 7th grade.  She sat with her face at an angle to me and I had a glimpse of the woman she will become. She looked so much older sitting up there. I thought," Look at that. She is growing into herself. This one is beautiful too."
When she walked across the stage I knew she was nervous but she stood straight and she spoke clear. Her words which are powerful and fine filled the room. She had one moment of fluster. Rushed a line but caught it up. She finished to applause and ended the performance. And I had tears in my eyes not just because she is growing and lovely and awesome but because I knew. It really was the end.

When Littlest was making her decision about  not staying at the school she said something to me.

"If I leave you have to take the sticker off your car"

It seems like a simple enough thing. How many of us have those school stickers. "Honor Student", "Varsity Whatever" Or just the name of the school itself.  I joked when she made the statement,
"I don't really have to".
 But at that moment I really knew.
She said "Yes, you do."
I said, "I know that. And it's Ok. Really. "

This decision had to be hers. As easy as it would have been to insist she do one thing or another that statement said it all. She shouldn't be stressed and unhappy and not reaching her own goals because she is afraid of not pleasing me.  She also has the maturity to realize that her grades are important to her future and she doesn't feel capable of handling this school any longer. Not even to the end of the year. Of course the cartoon I found of a girl with her head on a desk with the grim reaper behind her with a bubble saying "please get me out of here" helped me know she made the right decision too. So. Littlest will be leaving her school next week. She has goals that she feels she can't fulfill there. This gives her both more study time and down time to relax. And her teachers told her that if she hated the other school, to call them and they would get her back in. I think that removed a HUGE weight from her shoulders and I love them for that.

I am Very Proud of her performance. I am Hugely Proud and Impressed by her writing. I am Deeply Proud of her for making such a difficult decision with such maturity and foresight. She is an incredible girl.

Meanwhile I started crying at the hearing aid commercial with the old Grandpa wandering around the park All Alone because he couldn't hear. That on top of the hot flashes and such was just enough  so I went to the doctor and Got me Some ESTROGEN!! Oh yes I did. I figured trying to get it to rub off the girls wasn't working too well. I can't wait till my boobs grow back, my hair turns all gold and shiny and my skin smooths out.

That's what happens, right? ; )

I have a busy week coming up. I'll be transferring Littlest, helping my sister out with some stuff and working on an out of office project and then I will be getting my house in order for the MIL because I will be traveling for business next weekend. We are going to throw in a little fun too. If you're good maybe I'll bring you a present! I don't check my blog when I'm away so I might be responding and visiting....even less than I usually do...but I will try to check in whenever possible next week.

Does anyone know where I can get a good deal on a GPS tracker ; )


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