First Christopher came down with a mysterious cough, we tease him that he needs to quit smoking before it kills him.

Then Bobby gets this coughing/feel like walking death/puking thing that he is still recovering from.

Now Matthew has been coughing/sneezing/running a fever since last night. When I took his temp he told me he had a tiger in his ear (always the right ear) so off to the ped we go this morning. Good news is, he is tiger free, even better news is that he also does not have an ear infection, he has a cold. Bad news is, last night after he puckered up to kiss me last night, he coughed directly into my mouth, so I may be getting it soon.

Completely off topic… please pray for my Great Dane. Poor 100 lb dog is being rubbed on by a 10 lb cat and looking as if she has just been violated in the worst possible way. I hope she does not need therapy after this because she is acting very traumatized. There is a line from a movie I was trying to quote, but I just cannot seem to find it, however this scene from Ghost Busters works too.

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!

Poor Isis, she is involved in a disaster of biblical proportions…. she was touched by a cat. Poor dog.

My freaking hormones are driving me mad insane. I keep crying at everything, some logical, some very irrational things. One of my darling children left the dogs in the house this morning before they went to school. I won’t name names, because it is pointless, but I know I have mentioned on more than one occasion that my Great Dane will tear my house to shreds given the chance that she is “alone”. Normally I am up before the last child leaves the house, but this morning my youngest decided to snooze in an hour later than normal instead of being my 7:15-7:30 alarm clock. By the time I cam downstairs at 8:15 my house was in shambles. Lost were several DVD cases, a bunch of papers, a CD case, my hair brush, more pieces of my area rug, new chew holes placed in my shoes and 2 of my 6 Hypnobabies CDs. Ok, so THOSE were some earned tears, I could buy three new Great Danes in what I have spent on replacing stuff she has ruined. Of course I wouldn’t, but it is just that frustrating to think about.

Of course normal TV shows caused me to cry, then a story about a lactavist who set up a safe place to breastfeed at a gathering after being told she could not shade her and her infant years before.

Other than the hormonal outbursts, the day was pretty mundane, a friend came over to visit, I mailed off a check to the doula I want to hire, played around with the tax program, and pouted about my shoes & CDs. I just don’t have the money to replace any of them right now, and I needed them like yesterday. Tomorrow is another day, right?

A comedian once taught me that you can get away with saying anything about anyone, as long as you follow it with “bless their heart” and it is no longer insulting.

So, my husband is a big old dork bless his heart…

I have three cats, these cats are not very patient with our dirty clothes if they have dirty litter boxes. If you leave a dirty shirt on the laundry room floor (this ONLY happens in the basement) they have been known to use the said article of clothing as their own litter box. This is why I have covered hampers.

Well the other day, DH is laying on the bed complaining that one of the cats has peed in our room. Knowing this would be a HUGE issue if they did, I set my already sensitive nose to high and start sniffing around the room. I cannot smell said offensive smell anywhere so I go smell DH’s blanket, which is clean, and on a whim decide to smell DH’s shirt, which did smell like cat urine. Between fits of laughter DH figured out I was telling him it was his shirt and removed it at lightening speed. He then replies, I kid you not, “no wonder I have been smelling it all day!” I took all my couth to keep from dropping to the floor and rolling around in a fit of hysteria. I can’t explain HOW my darling husband was exposed to a toxic shirt, but I theorize it probably was in a basket of folded or to-be folded laundry assigned to my two oldest children and rather than taking care of it promptly they left it in the laundry room and my kitties though “hey, a new litter box! This one smells better than my own” and then the offending article was folded and placed in his drawer to later be worn and offend the wearer’s senses.

So my husband is a dork, bless his heart and I am sure you will all agree.

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Now playing: Grateful Dead - Truckin’
via FoxyTunes

Nope, not morning sickness this time. The below pictures show what happens each time we leave Isis free in the house. This time I was taking a nap and did not know she got left inside and this is what I come downstairs to. I can’t even express into words how devastated I feel right now. DH is on his way home from work right now because he could hear it in my voice how upset I was.

She does this EACH and EVERY time she is alone. Be it when I am upstairs in bed, or when we are gone for 15 hours, or 15 minutes. Our solution was to keep her in the back yard with an invisible fence when we left (weather permitting) and it got turned off because she got stuck under the deck and before we could turn it back on she shredded the wires and now I will probably have to pay another couple hundred dollars I don’t have to repair it.

She has done this with homework, with Bobby’s $100 dress shoes (twice), with bills, with books, with toys, you name it. I am getting to the point where I am wanting to get her on an anti-anxiety medication like Prozac or Xanax for dogs. We tried crate training her, but that make her anxiety worse and she would have GI problems resulting in explosive diarrhea.

View of most of the mess.

Ongoing damage she has done to my floor rug.

Brand new yarn I was going to use to make something for the baby. Was white, now yellow with pee.

What was formerly known as my favorite shoes.

Christopher’s book he was reading for school, in part.

Matthew inspecting the damage.

Matthew laughing at the kitten.

I am off to google ideas on how to deal with separation anxiety, I am tired of dealing with all the damage!

Seems I have been living at the vet’s office lately.

Sabin needed his 3rd kitten shot, rabies shot and microchipping so Wednesday before we picked up Austin from school on his early release day we went to the vet and had him updated. We had lost his records so I had to have the rescue agency fax over his records. He did well, he was pretty nervous though. I decided to make an appointment for Isis for the following day since they were having a sale on microchipping and we found that hers had traveled down to her leg on last scan.

So yesterday, Isis drags me into the office while Austin and Christopher help me with Matthew. We find that she only needs one shot, not two and that her microchip was back where is was supposed to be so that saved us $40. I just got a call back that her heartworm test was clear. My 11 month old baby girl is 91 lbs, holy cow. The vet also mentioned she could stand to gain a little weight, she’s pretty active and thin, so I agree. I totally underestimated her strength and Bobby told me this is why he would not let me take the leash from him when we were at the park for the Dane reunion. I think we need to invest in some sort of special collar or leash to keep her from ripping our arms off.

Sabin decided he was Spider-Cat and made a trip up the dividing wall between the kitchen and the sitting room. He is about as graceful as a bull in a china store and proceeded to knock over my knick-knacks in the process of his little escapade. Matthew the whole time was yelling at him, saying “Sabin, NO!” and “Ditty!! NO! NO! NO! DOWWWWN!” The other two found it hilarious and could not stop laughing. I thought after this little stunt he would call it a night, but no; since then he has knocked over papers on my kitchen island, and knocked stuff off my microwave. Damn cat!

Isis went to the Great Dane reunion for the breeder today and it was a blast!! We got to meet her brother from the same litter and he was SO sweet! We also got to meet about half a dozen puppies and about 80 other dogs for the two hours we were there. Matthew loved seeing all the dogs and playing at the park. Isis loved seeing the other dogs even though she was shy at first. Austin and Christopher had fun playing with the breeders’ grandsons. I loved playing with all the other dogs and it was a battle between common sense and my heart strings. Danes are amazing dogs! Thankfully the rain did not come out, neither did the sun, but I still managed to get sunburned.

Last week I saw a maine coon kitty on Pet Finder that I fell in love with. I could not find out the status of that particular kitty, but the person who answered the phone did say that he had some maine coon kittens that would be adoptable on Saturday (yesterday). It took one look for me to fall in love with this little sweetie. He was SO shy the first time I held him that I worried he would not be a good match for our family since we already have two adult cats and two large-breed dogs.

Two hours after he got here he finally started coming out of his shell and was still pretty shy with us, he was pretty playful with toys.

Today he is a new kitty, he loves to be held, and very cuddly and sweet. He will still run when you walk towards him, but he’s opening up. I trimmed his nails, cleaned his ears, and gave him a bath today and he did very well, he’s pretty trusting. He still does not like the other animals, and the cats don’t like him, but the dogs are quite curious and Isis got a face full of cat claw this morning as a warning she was in his space. He’s not quite litter box trained yet, he has had one accident, but he’s also used his box when we took him to it.

The song I am listening to, in the signature today and the blog title fits today perfectly. I wish I had my camera on me, I would love to share the experience. Maybe today when I get Austin to school I will take my camera and pull to the side of the road and take a picture.

In December, Officer Ken Jordan was killed in the line of duty just blocks from my home while trying to apprehend a suspected drunk driver. The driver decided he did not want another DUI and shot and killed the officer in cold blood. For weeks the bridge he was shot was decorated with flowers, candles, cards, stuffed animals, and frequently visited by his fellow comrades. Every time I would pass that site, I would cry.

Well, I guess today was his birthday, because as I drove by this afternoon I saw a beautiful bouquet of roses, a bunch of balloons and a huge birthday card. I grew up around our men and women in blue; my father worked for the county and we frequently visited the court house and I remember often him introducing me to this officer or that officer and I also got to tour the local juvenile facility and getting to ride in police cars. We all grew up with a huge respect for the law and for police officers.

***

In an unrelated note, my house smells like a cat box. My cat started inappropriately urinating on the dog bed, the cat beds, etc. I though he was just expressing himself in a negative way, until I noticed he was visiting the cat box every few minutes and staying there for long stretches of time with limited results. This made me almost positive it was a urinary problem of some sort and I immediately called the vet and requested a drop-off appointment. They will call me when he’s done and the kids and I will be busy cleaning today and tomorrow. I could not find my cat carrier, so he had to ride on my lap with a leash & collar and in the 10 minutes while he was in the car managed to pee on my leg. He had peed in the cat bed right before we left too.

***

General Matthew Cuteness:

Daddy was changing Matthew and he pulled a big old booger out of his nose, sticks the finger with the booger out at daddy and said “Here Dad, for you”.

~

Matthew likes to make himself burp, especially after he gets a drink, today after finishing my water he makes himself burp and it’s strained and really gross sounding and he said “Mmmmm, Juicy!” I am almost positive he was referring to the sound, not the taste as he had not had anything fruity to eat yet.

He is such a boy!!

***

Forgot to mention, Austin has his first school dance today ::Sniff, Sniff:: My baby is growing up!!

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Now playing: Blind Faith - Had To Cry Today
via FoxyTunes

1. I learned that I have WAY too many songs with hidden tracks, silence or just crazy long on my iTunes, easily remedied by clicking Get Info>Options>Skip when Shuffling, OR in a large batch edit Get Info>Skip When Shuffling>Yes. I know, my anal retentiveness qualities are showing, but I hate having to Fast Forward through songs when listening to my iPod.

2. Dogs are the most annoying creatures EVER, just ask the one who lays in front of me and won’t let me move, or the one who is obsessively licking a bone and will not stop bringing it in the house no matter how many times I toss it out the door. The bone is supposed to keep her from chewing my deck, not enable her to annoy me in the house.

3. Friends are friends are friends. Be them online friends, or real life friends, it does not matter, they are there to pick you up when you are down and it works. After some encouraging emails and phone calls, I feel so much better about my day. I am not at 100% yet, but I think that won’t come until a good night’s sleep.

4. YouTube is EVIL! I watched this today and turned into a bawling puddle of tears… any of the videos they show about Soldiers or Iraq hit so close to home I just have a mini emotional breakdown. I have mentioned how much I LOVE what the Patriot Guard Riders are doing, but this tribute from an Aunt of a fallen soldier touched me even more than the news stories I have seen. I also love the Welcome Home Soldier program too. THANK YOU to our men and women serving our country, and THANK YOU to the men and women who serve those who serve or served! You are just as important as the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen!

Enjoy your cry, I know I did.

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Now playing: John Mayer Trio - I Got A Woman
via FoxyTunes