Just took Baby to the vet. She had multiple bowel and bladder problems last night and this morning resulting in pooping and peeing on the floors in the family room and my bathroom. Of course none of these incidents occurred in the litter box. She’s drinking lots of water and not eating much food.

She’s lost 2 lbs since she was last at the vet in early September and weighs just a little over 6 lbs. Not good for a 17-yr-old cat. The vet is doing a bunch of tests and will call me in about an hour to give me the prognosis. She already has thyroid problems, so it could be that or kidney failure or the big C…cancer.

The tests and office visit alone will probably cost around $250. God knows what the resulting treatment will cost. If it’s cancer, I’ll have her put to sleep. Any other problem will be treated, but not with anything more than medication. Dialysis or any other extraordinary treatments won’t be an option for a 17-yr-old cat.

I’ve become numb to the loss of animals at this point. It may sound heartless, but it will almost be a relief when Baby finally goes and I don’t have to deal with aging pets again until many years from now.

*********

So the preliminary diagnosis is cancer. The vet feels we can treat the symptoms and give her a little bit longer to live. I’m skeptical, but am trying some meds to see what happens. I’ll get the bloodwork results tomorrow for the official diagnosis and then will take her in on Saturday to see how the meds are working. I don’t hold out much hope for her to last much longer.

I’m very happy to welcome a new year! While some good things did happen in 2009–Patrick’s engagement to Veronica, visits with family in Seattle and Ohio, inauguration of Barack Obama, Lakers NBA championship and my adoption of two new cats (welcome Nate and Hayes!)–many bad things happened as well–loss of three of my pets (goodbye Puto, Murphy and Loki), depressed economy, deaths of many notables (too many to mention), as well as our nation still be involved in ongoing wars in two countries. Overall, I’m happy to welcome a new year filled with hope for better things to come.

The mood at our New Year’s Eve party last night seemed fairly unanimous that all were looking forward to a new year and the start of a new decade. I think most of that sentiment came as a result of all the deaths in 2009 of prominent people. I don’t know why there seemed to be so many deaths this year, including my loss of three pets. I think that is what did it for me. Life does go on, as we all know, and so we hope for a better day and year tomorrow.

Do need to mention that the party last night was also a celebration of Patrick’s 30th birthday! It’s hard to believe that both of my sons are now in their thirties. Somehow they still seemed like kids when in their twenties. Now they are both adults. Kinda sad, but also wonderful to see both of them mature into such fine men. Happy Birthday, Patrick!

And now I need to get busy cleaning up the mess from last night’s party and figuring out what to do with all these leftovers!

In the tradition of the day, I have given my servants the day off and sustained myself on the leftovers from Christmas…and spent the remainder of the day doing absolutely nothing!

Patrick came over to set up my new HDTV (Thanks for the gift, Patrick!) and now I’m faced with the dilemma of what to do with my old tv. It still works great and I don’t want to just trash it, but I really don’t have a need for a another tv–especially one with a 32″ screen! So I guess I’ll ask around with the hope that I can find someone who wants it. I’ve never been faced with having to get rid of a tv that still works!

I still have to contact both TiVo and my cable company to get the HD part of the new tv working but I just wasn’t up for dealing with that today. So I’ll start with calling TiVo next week to get the process started.

I thought about watching my new Lakers anthology today (Thanks for the gift, Kevin!) but turned on the tv, sat on the couch and promptly fell asleep! Guess my body needed it and made the decision for me as to how I would spend the day.

Woke up in time to watch the Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings in double OT! And by then it was too late to start watching more Lakers. So I’ll save the dvd’s for sometime in January when there are no games and no tv shows on.

Tomorrow I do need to start in on the cleaning for Thursday night’s party. Not a lot to do, but I don’t want to be going crazy that day trying to get everything done. I’m getting carryout food from the Stonefire Grill Restaurant for the party, so I will have very little to do in the way of food prep…and the party food will be delicious! I do have to hit up the grocery for a few items and, of course, the makings for the traditional pork & sauerkraut dinner on New Year’s Day.

I so wish I had the upcoming week off from work. *sigh* Somehow the Christmas holiday period has gone by way too fast this year.

Today is Christmas Day. And my neighbor is spending his day in grubby clothes repairing his fence. In other words, he has no life!

He is a nasty man who never comes out of his house except to go back and forth to work, cut the grass in his front yard and walk his dog. He doesn’t speak to his neighbors and does absolutely nothing to maintain his home. He’s lived there for 5-6 years and it looks exactly the same as when he first moved in.

I can’t imagine spending Christmas Day all alone with no decorations (he put up nothing this year), no family and no friends. Someone visited him once last summer, but that’s the only time I’ve ever seen anyone at his house other than him. I would feel sorry for this guy–except that he’s sooo nasty.

Oh, forgot to mention that he does go out every Sunday morning to go to church. He’s a member of some crazy-ass church that preaches about damnation, hell and brimstones. Nothing postive, just how bad everyone is. He can’t even vote in the U.S., but felt it his duty to condemn all the gays and lesbians by putting up a sign in his yard last year in favor of Prop 8, urging all to save marriage.

So he deserves the life he has. And I will continue to ignore him and won’t speak to him further, other than to collect the money he owes me for the plants his damn fence destroyed. Unfortunate that we have no choices as to our neighbors.

And so the day is almost here. Christmas Eve was rather calm and quiet. I spent most of the day cleaning, cooking and baking. Patrick and Veronica came over this evening and we enjoyed ham, potato salad and lots of snacks…and then sat around talking and watching “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I still have to wrap gifts but that’s really it for tonight.

Tomorrow I’ll be going to Patrick and Veronica’s for Christmas dinner (lamb!) and watching the Lakers play the Cavs in the afternoon. Tomorrow night I’ll probably just kick back and relax. And then Saturday I’ll start in doing some major cleaning since it turns out that I’ll be hosting a big party here on New Year’s Eve to celebrate Patrick’s 30th birthday!

Just found out today about the party. Don’t have to do too much, but I do want to do a thorough cleaning of the floors, bathroom, kitchen appliances, etc. And then there’s the backyard. Need to clean up the furniture and set up the shade structure. Plus there are lots and lots of leaves from the tree next door to be swept up and cleaned out of bushes and plants. So it appears I certainly won’t be bored this weekend! But at least I’ll have plenty of leftovers and won’t have to worry about cooking!

Hope everyone has a very happy Christmas…and also hope the Lakers win tomorrow!

This past weekend I saw my neighbor outside and told him that he needed to fix his fence that has been leaning over about a foot into my yard. It’s been leaning for months and the recent rainfall made it even worse. So today the leaning stopped.

We are having a windstorm with gusts up to 70 mph. Sometime today the fence fell…right into my backyard and on top of lots and lots of plants. I’m guessing the fence has destroyed my three lilac bushes, two birds of paradise, a night blooming jasmine bush, and numerous potted plants and daylilies. The lilacs cost me $25 each and one of the bird of paradise plants was huge and will cost quite a lot to replace.

I went next door and told him what happened. Can you believe he hadn’t even gone outside to check since he got home from work? He said he will be home tomorrow afternoon and will “take care of it.” God only knows how he plans to fix it. I don’t think he’s bright enough to understand what needs to be done to keep it upright. I also told him he would have to pay for the cost of replacing my plants which he said he would do. We’ll see what happens when I give him the bill.

If this guy hadn’t been such an asshole about this damn fence, I wouldn’t be so angry. The last time he repaired it he ripped out all the iceplant I had growing along the top of the retaining wall *on my side* of the damn fence and threw it into my flowerbed. Then he showed up at my house the next morning to let me know he had done it and to tell me I was not to plant anything along the top of the wall since it was his property!

This guy just doesn’t have a clue about how to get along with neighbors whose homes are only about 20-25 ft apart. I guess the old saying is true: What goes around comes around. It’s going to cost him heavy duty to repair his fence now and he can’t let it go since both he and I have pools that must be fenced off by law.

As expected, I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I had planned this weekend. But I did get many things done…and had two great lunches both days!

On Saturday I had lunch with Vanessa at the Stonefire Grill where we enjoyed great tri-tip, chicken and ribs. Spent a lot of the day after Vanessa left talking with relatives–Kevin, Sally, Kelly and Tom. Oh, and I also finished up my Christmas shopping at Kohl’s! That was great in that I got lots of deals, some of which were clothes for me! The sales at Kohl’s were really, really good and it wasn’t too terribly crowded. I only had to wait in line for about 5 minutes.

On Sunday Patrick and Veronica came over and we went to the cemetery to take flowers and a wreath for Mike’s grave…a tradition every year. After cleaning/polishing the headstone–and marveling at the many tacky decorations scattered about Forest Lawn–we headed home. Since all of us were hungry, we decided to stop for lunch at Gin Sushi. Patrick and Veronica ate lots and lots of sushi while I had tempura and some teriyaki chicken. All was quite yummy!

After playing with the kittens, Patrick helped me track down a burned out light in one of the strings on the front of the house, and then I spent a few hours finishing up the decorations on the front porch–garland, wreaths and bows. Got all the crates back in the garage (finally!) and then headed to the grocery for all the fixings for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Don’t have to do too much cooking for either, so I was back before darkness set in.

I also had a very brief conversation with my neighbor to the north, advising him that his wooden fence was collapsing into my yard even though I was sure he already knew this. He said he would repair it this week. (I’ll believe that when I see it!) Meanwhile, just to be on the safe side, I removed all the brick caps that I placed on top of the concrete retaining wall underneath the fence. I can’t trust this guy to not pick up the bricks and throw them into my yard since he ripped out my iceplant that was growing there the last time he repaired the fence. I’ll give him until the end of the year to get the fence fixed. After that I’m calling the city.

Well, time to start in on cleaning–and maybe even a bit of baking. Should be able to get at least one or two batches of magic cookie bars done tonight!

How did it get to be less than a week before Christmas already? I am sooo not ready. Finally made a list of all I have to do this weekend and I don’t know how it’s all going to happen in only two days. Who am I kidding. In reality, it probably won’t. But at least I can try.

I have yet to go to any retail stores (other than groceries and drug stores) so I guess I’m going to have to bite the bullet and head out tomorrow to Kohl’s for some last minute shopping. And I’ll probably go to Target on Sunday, but that’s mostly for grocery type stuff. I’d rather not go to either store, but don’t have a choice at this point.

My primary goal this weekend is to have most everything done around the house so that I can start baking Christmas cookies on Sunday…or maybe a batch or two of magic cookie bars on Saturday night.

I’m off work on Christmas Eve, so can spend some time baking then since I don’t expect I’ll have much else to do until the evening. How nice that will be to not have a frantic day for a change.

I still can’t believe that Christmas is almost here. I think not putting up a Christmas tree is part of why it doesn’t exactly feel like it’s so close. But I’m still glad I made that decision. I’ll just light some pine scented candles if I start to get too nostalgic.

On a final note, our street won an award again this year for having one of the best decorations. I’m not surprised since it really does look nice and I’ve noticed that a lot of blocks just don’t have many people participating this year. Perhaps it has to do with the down economy and the cost of lighting them up. Or perhaps people are getting apathetic. Who knows. Sometimes it is a pain having all these cars in the neighborhood, but I do think it’s a nice tradition. And I’m glad we won again!

Patrick came over on Sunday and helped me get the street decoration up as well as all the lights on the house. I finished after he left, putting additional lights on the hedge and the ficus tree next to the front porch. Also put up garland and a wreath at the front bay window. And that was it. While it didn’t rain on Sunday, it was cold and windy, and I gave up doing any more decorations at about 4:30 pm. I started around 11 am, so I was ready to collapse and warm up.

I still need to put up wreaths and garland on the front porch, but overall the house looked pretty good considering we did it all in one day. It looked good until today, that is. For whatever reason the lights on the front of the house won’t go on tonight. The plug seems okay, so all I can figure is that a fuse on one of the light strings has blown. Unfortunately, it’s dark by the time I get home at night so I can’t figure out what’s wrong until Saturday. The street decoration, the garage and the hedge are all still lit, so it doesn’t appear that I am being a scrooge.

Will try to get up early on Saturday and finish up decorating the front porch and see if I can get the lighting problem repaired. Also need to find another timer since the lights that are no longer lit have to be plugged in manually every night. I have at least 3-4 timers somewhere in the garage. Just have to dig around to find one.

Meanwhile, I’ve finished almost all of my shopping! Stopped on the way home tonight to pick up some candy for Robin and will pack up a small box and get it sent off tomorrow. Still have to get a few other items, but know mostly what I’m getting and will only have to go to one store this weekend.

And then I’ll start baking and doing what little cleaning I still have left to do this weekend. Oh, and wrapping gifts. Not sure what the entire menu is for Christmas, although Patrick asked if I liked lamb. Will probably have Patrick and Veronica here for Christmas Eve, so am planning to get a small ham for sandwiches and make some some salads and snacks to go along with the ham. All in all, Christmas should be calm and enjoyable once I get through this weekend.

Tonight is the first night of our neighborhood’s annual Holiday Light-Up. Yet there are no Christmas lights on my house and my curbside street decoration is not illuminated. It has been raining most of the day. I was able to get the crates out of the garage during a lull in the rain and also set up the curbside street decoration. And then the heavy duty rain started. By the time I got back up to the house after it started, I was drenched! And it hasn’t let up since then–about 3 hours ago!

I really don’t mind the rain, but it’s not so good when trying to hang Christmas lights on your house. I’m extremely hopeful that it will let up for at least a few hours tomorrow.

Have been on Amazon for about 2-3 hours tonight finishing up my orders to be shipped to Seattle. It’s all ordered and a good portion has already been shipped according to the email notices I’ve been receiving. Whew! Still have a few more things to order online, but will wait until the weekend to get those done. I’m hopeful that I can get most everything finished online by Sunday night so that I don’t have to worry about whether the gifts will arrive in time for Christmas.

Stopped at Trader Joe’s tonight and picked up wreaths and a poinsettia for the cemetery. Also got a few stocking stuffers. I’ll probably stop by Kohl’s tomorrow night on my way home from work, and Target sometime over the weekend, and am hopeful those will be the only stores (other than the grocery) that I absolutely HAVE to visit before Christmas.

Did I mention that I absolutely love online shopping! If I had plenty of time and could go out during the day, I would be far more eager to go to the mall and other stores. But I just don’t have the time to spend my entire weekend shopping. I don’t have enough time to get everything done as it is! So online works for me. And I’m getting free shipping on everything plus have been able to get most everything on sale as well. The only real extra expense has been the gift wrapping–a small price to pay to be able to sit in my nightgown doing all my shopping!

Emotions tend to run both high and low at this time of year. And today has been a day of shifting emotions for me.

Started off with trying to get all the Christmas decorating finished up in order to get the storage crates out of the living room and back into the garage. Mostly this was stressful since I’m trying to make things look very Christmasy without using a lot of things that I would normally use because of the kittens. I guess things turned out ok, but it’s not quite the same.

Then came the emotional high. The LA Episcopal Diocese elected an openly gay woman bishop today! I was online following the results most of the day as they posted the results of each round of balloting on the diocese’s website. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon (and 7 ballots) that they finally got a majority. Bishop-elect Glasspool has been in a committed relationship with her partner for 18 years and seems to be a very good choice. It will no doubt be the talk of the office at work on Monday. Very exciting…and a bit of a letdown for since I know one of the candidates who came in third, and not really close in the balloting. No doubt she is disappointed and it will be rough seeing her and knowing how she must feel.

And then a real downer as Soula posted a note on Facebook that their dog, Hannah, had to have emergency surgery today to repair a problem resulting from her tail being amputated last year. Hannah is paralyzed from her midsection on back and thus can’t tell when she is damaging the area where her tail was amputated. Having been through unexpected vet bills at this time of year, I feel very saddened that Kevin and Soula have to deal with Hannah’s problems as well as the monetary costs just before Christmas.

And finally, some good and warm and nice Christmas feelings as I watched White Christmas for the upteenth time. Only this time I had two little black kittens snuggling on my lap while I watched. I’ll never tire of this movie and it was nice to watch it while loving on the kittens.

So the inside of my house is all decorated for Christmas and I’m going to bed feeling nice and sentimental with mostly good thoughts running through my head. The weather is cold and it’s supposed to rain starting tomorrow night. Seems like the right kind of weather for early December. Perhaps I’ll start the first batch of cookies tomorrow. That will make up for the decorations not being exactly the same as in the past.

It’s the beginning of December and I’ve started decorating my house for Christmas. I’d like to get it finished by this Saturday so that it’s not an ongoing project that drags on for the entire month. Since I’m not putting up a tree this year because of the kittens, I think I should be able to get everything indoors finished up by the end of the day on Saturday.

Then I’ll start on the outside on Sunday. I’ll probably put up the wreaths, garlands, etc. and save the lights for the next weekend. We need to have the neighborhood decorations up by next Saturday night, the 12th, so that should give me plenty of time to get everything done…with Patrick’s help.

And then there’s the shopping. Yuk. I plan to do most everything online, but have absolutely no idea what I’m buying for anyone. Will start browsing this weekend and hope I come across some absolutely fantastic gifts for all. Would love to have all the shopping out of the way by the 15th so that I can spend the rest of the holiday season baking Christmas goodies.

I’m hoping December doesn’t fly by too quickly.

Thanksgiving went quite well this year. All the food was done right on time and the turkey literally fell off the bones, it was sooo tender and juicy. Patrick and Veronica spent a big chunk of their day here until Patrick finally began to doze off after being up all night working. Talked with Kevin after they finished their dinner and heard Robin in the background wishing me a “Happy Thanksgiving.” Apparently the ‘orange’ sweet potatoes part of their dinner was a big hit with Robin! Then Vanessa stopped by for a few hours of visiting after her Thanksgiving dinner with her dad. And then I crashed!

Yesterday was a day of doing very little…even though I had plans for starting in on my cleaning and decorating for Christmas. I talked with sisters Sally and Kelly for a bit and then spent the remainder of the day tubing old movies and hanging out on the computer. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Friday day off…and certainly better than waiting in line at some store for a Black Friday sale! I’m grateful I’m not in the position of many whose Christmas is dependent on picking up some ‘deal’ in order to provide gifts for their family.

And then last night both of the kittens slept in my bed all night for the first time. Hayes sleeps curled up on the blankets right up against my body and Nate likes to get underneath the blankets curled up on one of my arms. They’ve both figured out that it’s lots warmer sleeping with me on the bed rather than next to each other on a chair or sofa. And they seemed to have learned that lights out means playtime is over. Nate does want to start playing as soon as the sun comes up (+/-6 am), so they got tossed out then so that I could go back to sleep…especially on a day when I don’t have to get up for work! Hayes wasn’t ready to get up, but I was fairly certain Nate would hang out by the closed door crying if I didn’t put his buddy out as well. Hopefully they will both get used to my hours soon and will stay asleep until I’m ready to get up.

Today I really do need to get at least a few things done around the house. Not sure just yet where to start, but I’m certain that will come to me with time. Meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy another cup of coffee and relax just a bit more before getting started. I do love these long holiday weekends!

I’m actually in good shape for Thanksgiving. Two pumpkin pies are cooling on the kitchen counter, the bread is shredded for the stuffing and the turkey is soaking in the brine mixture. Have to get up at about 6:30 in order to finish putting the stuffing together in order to get the bird in the oven by 8:00 am. We’re eating earlier than normal ’cause Patrick has to work at midnight so I need to give him at least a bit of time to do some sleeping before work. The other parts of the meal should be relatively easy to put together. The only thing that will take any time is peeling the potatoes.

The house is in relatively good shape since I did a bunch of cleaning before leaving for Ohio last week. All I really need to do is vacuum the floors, pick things up a bit and set the table. I’m kind of amazed that things are coming together so smoothly. I guess the suspected gas leak was the only real snag and I’m grateful that was taken care of this morning.

So off to bed to get a few hours sleep before dragging myself out of bed in the morning. At least I have nothing that I absolutely have to do for the next three days and can sleep in as late as I want the entire long weekend!

My neighbors to the south let me know last week that they had smelled natural gas along my yard next to their property. I went outside after I got their message but didn’t smell a thing. I also check all my appliances and my heaters and still didn’t notice anything. I assumed it was just something in the air and didn’t worry about it.

My neighbor called again tonight saying she noticed the natural gas smell again when she returned home this evening. I went outside and, again, there was no smell. We stood in her driveway and talked for a few minutes when all of a sudden the smell started up. And it was extremely strong. So strong that it was scary.

I came in the house thinking I would call the Gas Co. first thing in the morning. The more I thought about it, though, the more worried I became and I decided I should do something now if possible. Turns out the Gas Co. has a 24-hour emergency line. I called them and have someone coming out tomorrow morning.

I think the problem is in the line between the street and my house and don’t think my house is in imminent danger, but who knows. With Thursday being Thanksgiving, I’m really glad they are coming out tomorrow. Hopefully they can fix whatever the problem is and it won’t be an all day thing. I don’t have lots to do at work tomorrow, but I do have to go in and take care of a few things. The dispatcher said they will be here sometime between 7 am and noon. Let’s hope they arrive closer to 7 am.

Have spent the weekend scanning and uploading photos to Facebook. I should have done other things (like cleaning), but sort of got addicted once I got started. Some of the photos are on my FB page while others are on a new McLean family site only accessible to family members. The hardest part has been trying to tag all the folks in the old photos–when there are ten kids in my Dad’s family and the picture is from the early 40’s, it’s really hard to tell who’s who!

Anyhow, I’ve uploaded a big chunk of the old photos as well as the current ones from Kelly’s party and some of Robin swimming in the hotel pool with Kevin. The only thing I had trouble with was the video I took of Robin and Kevin swimming. I’ll keep trying and hope I’m successful eventually.

I did manage to squeeze out some time yesterday to go to the grocery to get all my Thanksgiving fixings. All I still need to pick up is a bag of ice for brining the turkey. Hope to get off work a bit early on Wednesday so I can stop for the ice and get home in time to get started on baking pies and soaking the turkey before midnight!

And I also found some time to water outside! Don’t have lots of plants to deal with, but there are still some that I’d like to keep alive through the winter. I keep forgetting about watering since I no longer have to deal with all the vegetables and also since it gets dark so damn early and I never get home while it’s still daylight. My lilacs seem to have survived the summer heat, so I’m hoping they grow over the winter and give me at least a few blooms next spring.

Well, there’s still enough time to get a few things accomplished this evening, so I’m off to put out the trash and try to get at least a few chores done this weekend so that it won’t be a total loss to Facebook!

Finally I’m able to say something! I’m in a hotel just outside Cincinnati right now, having spent the weekend in Ohio for a surprise 50th birthday party for my sister, Kelly. Everything went off without a hitch and Kelly was completely surprised as she walked in the door at her daughter’s house. She was expecting to drop off her son, Jaden, so that Mandy could babysit while she and her husband, Gary, went out to dinner.

All my brothers and sisters were there as well as most of our kids. Both Kevin and Patrick came and Kevin was able to bring Robin, too. We had a great time visiting with all our siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc., etc. And we enjoyed tons and tons of fabulous food that didn’t stop until late morning today after a delicious brunch.

Mandy and her husband, Eric, did a fantastic job of hosting all of us and they both deserve more thanks than I can ever come up with for hosting this motley bunch of relatives. Both Mandy and my sister, Sally, spents tons of time with all the preparations and I thank them both for all their hard work.

There are lots of funny happenings, but too much to go into here–and you probably had to be there to appreciate most of them! I am so glad I was able to be there and am so glad we could do this for Kelly. There were lots of pictures taken and I’ll be posting mine on this site–and no doubt some on Facebook.

Went to Target on Saturday and loaded up on groceries, plus clothes and a new purse for me, plus clothes for Robin. Spent far more than I had planned. Oh well. Then I tried on the sweaters when I got home and decided I really didn’t like them, so I took them back tonight. And, of course, I had to look around while I was there. Found another sweater that I REALLY liked…and tried it on this time. Since it was only $10 and fit so well, I figured I ought to get more than one in a different color. The one I tried on was red and I really liked that one. But I just couldn’t decide on another one, so I got one of all the colors I liked. I now have FIVE new sweaters — red, black, white, brown and turquoise! I mean, how could I not get five sweaters when they were only $10 each? Also found the Febreeze holiday sprays so I’m now all set for Christmas since I bought a bunch of holiday candles last summer when Yankee Candle had their June sale.

Haven’t been to Kohl’s recently, and am trying to stay away until they send me a 30% off coupon. Probably a good thing that I haven’t yet gotten the coupon.

And then there’s the new Nordstrom Rack that opened about a month ago less than 5 minutes from my house. I keep thinking I should check it out. But maybe not.

Nate and Hayes are still adorable–but have also turned into wild little devils! They are now able to jump up or climb onto just about all the surfaces in my house. The only places they haven’t yet been able to get to are the fireplace mantle, the kitchen counters, the refrigerator, and the tops of bookcases. Beyond those spots, nothing is safe…and I totally expect they will get to all of those places as they get bigger. And so, while it lasts, I am using those spots to put anything I don’t want them to get into.

As mentioned in an earlier post, they have chewed up the wire to my Wii remote sensor bar. They love kleenex and I have to be careful not to leave any boxes down low–which means I no longer have a box near my bed, on an end table, or on my desk. Sneezing needs to be preplanned. I used to plug my cellphone into a charger in the dining room. After finding Hayes batting the phone around the floor, I’ve decided to change the location of the charger.

Tonight was the first night coming home from work in the dark after the time change. Normally I am able to open the front door and the kittens are waiting either on the floor or on the back of the couch. Tonight they were waiting for the front door to open and went charging outside. Of course it was dark and they were out onto the driveway before I knew it. And I had my hands full since I stopped at PetSmart on my way home. I managed to grab Hayes before he could get under my car and Nate got distracted by the front flowerbed, allowing me to grab him while he was sniffing the flowers. Going to have to open the door much more slowly in the future.

Both of the kittens are eating like little pigs and are growing like crazy. They go to the vet on Saturday for the next batch of vaccines. I’m guessing they’ll weigh about 2-1/2 lbs each, with Nate rapidly gaining ground on Hayes since he eats all his food and then polishes off whatever Hayes doesn’t finish.

I still have to keep them locked out of my room at night since they don’t understand that they can’t attack my feet under the blankets while I’m trying to sleep. In fact, they don’t understand that I am not just a fixture in the house that can be climbed. I have lots of battle scars on my hands, arms and legs to prove this.

Even with all this, I still love them both and am totally won over when they climb up next to me purring and rubbing their noses on my face. They love attention and could spend the entire evening being petted and loved. And the cuteness factor continues to melt my heart and I quickly forget about all the destruction from earlier in the day.