Pet Store

I can’t explain it.  A year ago I'd never believe the things I’d be doing.  Yesterday, for the first time, I walked into a pet store.  It was a new and eye-opening experience for me.  People actually take their pets into the store with them.  I find this incredibly interesting and confusing at the same time.  I can’t help but wonder if these people have other errands to run with their pets or if this is their big outing for the day.  There was an entire aisle designated for pet sweaters and costumes.  I guess I didn’t realize how big the pet sweater/costume market had become.  I steered clear of that aisle and went straight to Nature’s Miracle Urine Destroyer section- another huge aisle full of products I never knew existed.  It was fascinating.

 

Let me start by saying Kratt is not peeing in the house.  He is however treating an egress window-well as an outdoor litter box.  I wouldn’t have noticed if the egress window was not 100+ years old and actually worked, but it doesn’t and therefore I’ve discovered our basement starting to smell like cat urine in a particular area.  I also discovered Kratt has been getting on my kitchen counter to sit behind a plant by the kitchen sink when I’m not watching. My kitchen is off limits. This is war.

They say tin foil helps deter cats.  Whatever it takes.

I’m proactive by nature which explains how I ended up in the urine-remover section of the pet store. I removed the urine-soaked leaves from the window well and saturated both the inside and outside of the window with Nature’s Miracle Urine Destroyer.  I followed up by lying tin foil inside the window well and shoved a wire-border fence against the window to block it.  I take these things very seriously. 

 

This is supposed to be the best.

 

My next step was to contact the ARL (Animal Rescue League) which was another new experience for me and found out they have cat counselors- can you even imagine?  I talked to Veda regarding the kitchen counter situation and she was able to give me some fresh ideas for keeping Kratt off the counter.

I have a Cat Counselor Contact in my phone... go figure.

 

Meanwhile, it’s a snow day in Winterset.  We’ve had a Little House on the Prairie Season 1 Marathon going on all day.  No one can put the little stressors of life into perspective like the Ingalls.

 

Hair, Hair, Everywhere

Conversation with Ross

 

Ross: Mom, why do grown-up’s have hair on their balls and she-shes?

Me: I don’t know, I suppose it’s a protective mechanism from prehistoric-cavemen days.

Ross: Like, for germs?

Me: Yeah, just like how eyebrows and eyelashes protect your eye’s, any opening to your body has some way to protect it from germs.

Ross: Why do armpits grow hair then?

Me: Good question, that is really weird.

Ross: I bet I know why.  When someone is lifting weights and a germ falls into their armpit, as soon as that person lowers that arm, then lifts it again, the hair shoots the germ right back out. 

Me: Possible, I suppose.

Ross: But I still don’t get why people get hair on their chests?

Me: Well, our genetic make-up is very similar to apes and gorillas, of all the animals we are the most similar to them.  Maybe that’s why.

Ross: What? I always thought we were closest to dolphins?!

 

 

Youch

Maisie was so excited to walk home after school Friday that she practically skipped the whole way.  We have concrete steps off our driveway.  She must have forgotten...

 

She was more concerned about a small scratch on her finger than she was her face. 

I told her she needs to pay attention to steps.  The first one can be a doozie.

You Tube

Not sure whether you’ve seen it or not, but there’s a you-tube video of a dad putting his daughters’ hair into a ponytail with a vacuum hose.  Monday morning Maisie didn’t want her hair done. 

 

You may think, ‘no biggie, how bad could it be’, however if you combed through her hair you would notice the hair she chews on, the hair she twists into a sharp point and sticks up her nose, as well the tacky hair in the back that I’m guessing is dried egg.  Thank heavens for hair de-tangler spray.  Not as much for the detangling powers but more for the fact that it’s wet and helps to “refresh” her hair in the morning.  Aka: dilute the other unknown stuff.

 

However, Monday she was fighting us even brushing her hair.  Mike recalled the you-tube video we watched over the weekend and decided to give it a whirl.  I was concerned about the film of drywall dust lining the inside of the vacuum hose, but realized it wouldn’t really matter anyway. 

 

Through the process Maisie giggled, Ross analyzed, I worried and I’m guessing Molly was just grateful her hair is barely long enough to brush... let alone vacuum.   We determined Maisie’s hair isn’t thick enough for this maneuver to work correctly.  Mike gave up while Maisie, feeling as though she just stepped off a roller coaster was able to start her week off in better spirits than she woke up with. 
 

 

Who knew a vacuum could do that?
 

 

 

 

Autograph

Ross brought home a "weekly reader" type paper from school yesterday.  It was all about

Barack Obama. 

 

Ross: "You'll never believe this mom.  Wait until you see what's inside of this book.  Whatever you do, do NOT throw this paper away.  The president actually SIGNED this for everyone in my class."

 

Me: "Your right, we better hang onto this one."

Sunday Smiles

First comes work...

She multi-tasks like her mama.

Then comes play...

Then comes rest...

Sweet, sweet rest.





 

Ross Update

An update on Ross

 

As you may recall from my previous post, Ross threw-up early Monday morning.  Mike stayed home with him that day.  I received a call at 9:00 a.m. that Ross had taken a nasty poop and was feeling better.  Later in the day I receive a text from Mike:

Mike to me: Ross said he has hot burnin farts

 

Tuesday: Ross wakes up with a fever.  I stayed home with him.  He didn’t move from the couch all day.

Wednesday: Ross wakes up fever-free and reluctantly goes to school.  Wednesday evening I unpack his lunchbox and notice he didn’t eat his chocolate pudding or Oreo’s.  Not a good sign…  Moments later he’s barfing in an empty ice cream bucket.  He doesn’t tell stories while barfing this time, only answers my questions during the event.

Me: “Ross, did you swallow some gum this afternoon?”

Ross: “No, I don’t know what that is”

 

Me: “Ross, did you drink all that purple Gatorade?”
Ross: “yep”

Meanwhile, Maisie knowing he’s nauseous at the sight of food makes sure to sit in front of him with an ice cream sandwich, ramen noodles, bananas- basically anything to make his situation worse.  Molly walks around with her head in another ice cream bucket mimicking Ross’ barf sounds. 

What would the world be without sisters?