a long post about pretty much nothing

I seriously have no idea where the time has been going these past few weeks. I have a feeling that TV is eating up a lot of my time again. I know I should kick a few of the shows off the DVR, but it will be hard deciding which one(s.)

Bells are pretty much the same. We skipped our first scheduled ringing because we 1) weren’t ready 2) one of our members had emergency gall bladder surgery. So our first time will be November 1st. The new ladies are a mixed bag. Giggly lady is still giggly, much to the frustration and annoyance of most everyone else in the group. The other is really catching on quickly and doing quite well. You win some, you lose some.

The second IMA meeting was last Tuesday. Fairly good response by students. The breakfast meeting this coming week is also getting pretty good response. That one I’m definitely looking forward to. Listening to a good fraud story is always a fun way to spend a morning. It looks like I’ll miss our May meeting due to Catherine’s graduation, so I've already started feeling things out for a temporary replacement.

Speaking of Catherine’s graduation, that whole rescheduling thing really threw a monkey-wrench in our plans. That’s what we get for trying to plan ahead. Also, the airfare we paid is ridiculously overpriced compared to what the same flight is going for today. Mad about that. We had dinner with Dad and Cheryl last weekend to talk it out a little with them. We plan to scrap the idea of renting a house. For a few reasons, really. 1) It’s probably getting too late to get a decent one. 2) We only plan on staying 2 or 3 nights. 3) Bab(ies) crying? No thanks. (sorry Evan/Jodi/Caroline) Granted, we still need to find out what everyone else plans to do and where we’ll need to be close to before we confirm anything else. Fool me once… Dad and Cheryl are on their way to Seattle today so hopefully that subject will come up while they're out there. Adam was a hard one to convince, but I think he's on board with going now. I bribed him with a trip to wherever HE wanted to go. Looks like he's picked Baltimore/DC, but we'll see how that turns out.

Adam has been working these last few Saturdays which has shifted his schedule during the week around a little. Starting November 1, he’ll be working from home. This has been a long time coming and I think he’s looking forward to it. From what I recall it’s a 6-month rotational thing. Lucky him – he gets the 6-months with snow and crappy weather to avoid the commute. I don’t think I’d like working from home myself. Too many distractions. And kitties. I’d be tempted to nap with the cats all day long. Adam has set up his desk in the opposite corner from the big desk in the office. I think he plans to close the door so the cats leave him alone. This will crush Connor, who just loves the big blue chair in there. I guess we’ll all learn to deal with the change. I told him, hey, now he can have lunch ready for me every day! He just laughed at me. I get no respect.

We pulled the trigger and went ahead with our Christmas party plans. Date is December 5th, a Saturday, at 3pm. Hopefully the early date will help with weather and conflicts. I’m working on the menu but you can bet it will be nowhere as involved as last year’s was. Just not worth it. And seriously, if we get crappy attendance again I’m done. I love my Dad and Cheryl and Adam’s parents, but if we want to have them over we can invite them anytime and not have to put so much time and effort into it. So there – fair warning.

In kitty news, well, not much is going on. Carly’s still doing well with the litter boxes. Just one major mistake and small oops since we took the plastic back away. Luckily neither mess was on the good carpet, just on the remnants we put underneath the boxes. She’s still as crabby as ever though. I think that’s the way it’s going to be. She hasn’t been so bad during the night lately – usually once around 1 and then again around 3:30. Her new thing is jumping up onto my shoulders when I pick her up so my back and shoulders are covered in scratches from when she freaks out and jumps off. It’s awesome.

Ted is obsessed with being petted now. It’s a monster of my own creation. If I hadn’t trapped him in the cat room and got him into “pet me” mode, we’d still be in “run away” mode. Grrr. It’s a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I’m glad he’s more open to human contact. On the other, it’s TOTALLY ANNOYING. He sits in the hallway/kitchen/living room and howls a lot. A lot more than he used to, that’s for sure. Adam thinks it’s because he wants to be petted. I say, if he wants to be petted he can come over by me and I’ll pet him. Unfortunately Ted sees it differently and still only wants to be petted in the cat room or office when I’m sitting on the floor. Picky, picky.

Connor seems to be regressing as Ted is progressing. It’s a rare thing that he’ll let me pet him. Usually most of my contact with him is him rubbing on my legs. He’s enjoying the fact that we finally relented and turned the heat on. He loves hanging out next to the heat vents. Smart kitty. Except that he rubs his head of them and closes them, thereby annoying Adam. Oh, and negating the whole heat thing.

JC. He’s crazy. He’s been very cuddly at night lately, but has the tendency to steal covers. He doesn’t quite know what to make of all the leaves falling the yard, but sure has a good time chasing them. There also seem to be a plethora of bugs in the house these days to keep his hunting skills in tune.

That's all for now. Hope to be back with another photographic memory soon.