Tweedles

We have a new member of the family and I've been so busy that I haven't had time to write about her. I finally found another female Himalayan, five months old with a beautiful pedigree. Her breeder was absolutely delightful, a really nice person that truly loves her cats. I met her at a catshow in Colombia SC. The kitten is so pretty with big blue eyes and tons of coat. Her hair is so soft. She has such a sweet playful nature. She lives in our bedroom and bathroom. She loves napping with the children everyday. I close her in the bathroom at night so that she won't wake me up attacking my toes. She's a blue point just like my first Himmie; her name was Niki, so I named this little girl Nicolette. I call her Tweedles as a nickname, but Drew doesn't like it and he calls her Niki. I guess he's listened to all my stories about Niki and he thinks this cat is the Niki I've been talking about. Today will be her first bath. I like to give them one every week, especially since she sleeps in our bed. Other parts get a sponge bath everyday, and of course all that hair needs to be combed almost daily. Persians require a little more up-keep than other cats, but they more than make up for it in their sweet gentle nature. The absolute perfect house cat, if your willing to bathe and comb them. Oh, and they do produce a few more hairballs than their short haired counterparts.

Bye Bye Boss

I'm having one of those nights where no matter how hard you try, sleep will not come. Maybe it was all the excitement of today or maybe it was Allen getting up to answer the phone at 10:15 and then coming to bed gloating that he'd sold a dog. I had to point out that all he had done was answer the phone. I was the one that placed the add in the first place. I had waited over two weeks for him to make some kind of move toward selling the whopper of a mistake and he'd done nothing. You, see a few weeks ago a friend of his gave him a Boxer bulldog, Boss. Now he's a very sweet doggie and I really like him, but we have so many others and he just doesn't fit in. He looks like a car parked in a garage in our kennels that are built for 10 pound dogs, not 100 pound monsters. And, don't even get me started on cleaning his kennel. It is like mucking out a horse's stall. I'm afraid he'll eat one of our runty little pups or maybe eat Bob the cat. I told Allen not to take him, so of course, he had the man drop him off while I was gone to school. He proceeded to tell me how easy it would be to sell the 100 pound brute, so I waited for him to run an add, make a sign, do something, do anything, just find a new home for him. He eats as much as all the rest of our dogs put together. Anyway, yesterday I was tired of waiting, so I took some cute pictures of him and wrote this nice little add that I posted to three or four free online classifieds. Well I received emails the next day and Allen answered a different call, so now he's all cocky with this I told you so attitude, as if he did anything but bring the dog here. He said "See men like big dogs" and I just had to roll my eyes and tell him that if I'd waited on him to make a move toward selling him we'd have more in dog food than we could ever hope to get from selling him. You know what's going to happen? He'll start taking in every big pure bred dog he can find thinking he can turn around and sell it. Oh well, he's almost completely blind and won't be able to read those free classified adds much longer in the newspaper and I'll just have to accidently skip over them when I read them aloud to him. Okay, I'm just being mean now. It's time for bed.

Thanksgiving 2007

Well today was Thanksgiving and we had a rather traditional meal that turned out very good if I do say so myself, but the rest of the day was not so traditional or so pleasant. Chloe and Drew were absolutely wild. They woke-up fighting. I had to break up a hair pulling, kicking, screaming fight over the building blocks this morning before breakfast. Drew landed himself in the corner where he argued, cried and angrily stomped his feet. I calmed him down by making muffins and letting them help. After breakfast they resumed the fight over the blocks; this time it was Chloe that couldn't get it together and she ended-up in the corner. Next we had to run to Wal-Mart for a few things that I forgot. They continued the fight in the buggy constantly complaining that one or the other one was being mean. Finally I was at the end of my patience and I called Allen to bless him out. Not really sure why I was going to fuss at him, guess I just wanted to inflict a little pain on the only other person responsible for these two little monsters.

After getting home with them and feeding them turkey (I lied and called it big chicken). Drew will only eat chicken, so he thinks turkey and pork are also chicken. They calmed down and watched something on the Disney channel and they were really sweet for a couple hours until nap. I don't even have the energy to discuss how painful nap time was. Chloe was absolutely determined to not take a nap and it was a battle of wills to make her go to sleep. Drew wisely sucked his passy and snuggled with his blankie while Chloe misbehaved.

After nap they fought some more before supper and then they ate together and fed their babydolls and were so sweet, until time for dessert. I made their favorite (or at least it is usually their favorite). Strawberry-short cake, three layers of delicious moist cake, strawberries and whipped topping. Drew said "It good mommy" and Chloe said it is "Yucky" without even tasting it. That angered Drew and he began yelling "It good Chloe! You take it back!!" Chloe would not stop saying it was yucky and Drew kept yelling how good it was. I made Chloe leave the table and go to the living room, which hurt her feelings. So, she began telling us that she would just have to go live with Grandma and not have a little brother anymore.

You know it is really funny. No matter how frustrated I become they always manage to do something so sweet that I instantly feel better and the stress is gone. Today it was Chloe getting right in my face, nose to nose, smiling that beautiful charming little smile and then she gave me the biggest hug those little arms can give. Drew had a similar moment at nap. He took out the passy, leaned over and gave me this big wet kiss almost as if to say "Don't worry, I love you Mommy". Thank you God, for my two greatest blessings.

I Take it Back

A month or so ago I wrote a little blog, praising my time management skills, telling how I had saved time by feeding my children supper in the bathtub. Well, I must say that it was not my greatest idea. Last night I was once again running short on time, so I fed them while they were in the tub. Both were munching on some raw bell pepper when Drew choked on a piece and threw-up everything he had eaten in the tub and down the side of the tub. Of course the cat immediately stuck her nose in it to investigate, so I not only had to clean puke off the side of the tub, floor and off the kitty. I didn't let it stop me; we continued with supper and bath, but I made sure everything I gave him was in really small pieces.

Me No Like Brown Pants

Drew is so funny. The other day my mom was in the kitchen cooking lunch. Around the house she dresses very casually with comfort as the ultimate goal. She was wearing a baggy not so flattering pair of cotton stretchy pants. Drew came into the kitchen and looked her up and down and said "Me no like your pants Gandma. Me no like brown pants!"

Kitty Update

I went to my first cat show yesterday. It was so awesome. I've never seen so many beautiful cats. I learned so much. One breeder that I've been talking with was kind enough to take out each of her cats and go over all their good and bad points, just so I could learn to recognize them.

Allen and Drew went with me. They both really enjoyed it. I lost count of how many times I heard Drew's little excited voice say "LOOK, LOOK at that KITTY". I think he loves cats almost as much as I do. Chloe chose to stay with cousin Jamy. I bet if it had been a dog show she would have went.

I'm still looking for the right girl for Simon. I think maybe I'm being a little too picky, but I really want to get a good one, so that I can have a beautiful kitten to take to one of those shows next year. Simon measured up really well with the other cats there. I didn't see one with a better face or coat, but maybe one or two with a little stronger build. Oh well, perfection is impossible.

About a week ago I noticed some crusty stuff on Simon's tail and I was pretty sure it was ringworm; the vet confirmed it last Friday, so I've been dipping them and cleaning everything like crazy. My vet has convinced me to shave them down to make treating it easier. They are going to look so sad with out any hair, but I'd rather do that than give them oral drugs that could have bad consequences. I always thought people with nasty homes or dirty pets get ringworm, but from what I read online and with speaking to other Persian breeders; it is a rampant problem in Persians because of their long hair, and almost all catteries face it at one time (or several times), so I'll just have to suffer through that stinking lime-sulfur dip for the next couple of months and then I'll be so careful not to bring it into my home again. It is in the soil, especially pine needles, so beware. One spore can live for 14 months and then infect you. It is a fungus that lives on the keratin in your skin and hair. Okay that is enough of the yucky stuff; maybe I should have included the ringworm blurb on the Halloween entry.

Trick or Treat

For Halloween Mom and I took Chloe and Drew trick or treating. Chloe was a princess; (the child that never wants to go to sleep and awakens at the drop of a hat was none other than Sleeping Beauty). Drew had a cute little tiger costume that he flat refused to wear. I told him that if he didn't put it on he wouldn't get any candy, but he promptly and forcefully told me "Me no wear, STILL get candy!!!" I decide it just wasn't worth the fight, so he went wearing a Blues Clues tee-shirt and blue jeans. First we went for pizza (fill 'em up before they have access to the candy). Chloe loves pizza and ate two pieces, but Drew obviously wasn't in the mood; he picked all the pepperoni off about half of the pizza and didn't touch a bite of cheese or crust. Finally we started going from house to house. They had so much fun. At the first house a very nice lady was dressed as a witch with scary make-up and fangs, but they didn't even notice; they were firmly focused on the bags of candy that she was holding out. The next couple of house had open bowls of candy and they were told to take what they want. (I had mediate how much they actually took). It was a really fun afternoon; the kids had so much fun. I was really proud of how they remembered to say please and thank-you. When it was all over Chloe asked if we could go again tomorrow.