yellow and lime green

mmmmm coffee. Cinnamon Vanilla decaf, to be exact. :) That's what I'm drinking as I sit here contemplating what to write about this morning.

Let's see, it's been a week since Manna passed. Maggi is so sad she pooped in her bed. Ok, maybe not. But she did crap her bed. :(

Lil M likes school, but she didn't seem to want to go today. I think she just needed a day off, like I do. lol. But she's there (school) and I'm here (work)... so, I guess a day off will have to wait. :)

T and G are at the house this week... they've been with us since Saturday. She's painting 'her' room (her words) ... and it talking about getting all her stuff from the BF's house except some clothes. She seems fairly serious, since she's a) painting and b) hasn't asked to go back all week. So, let's see. I would like her to get away from the BF, but I'll remain cautiously optimistic until it actually happens. Oh, she registered for college this week. I was SO excited. :) Even told him that she wants to go back to school so that she doesn't have to make minimum wage for the rest of her life. Good girl. :) See... Mommy nagging can sometimes give you a glimmer of hope... again, cautiously optimistic here!!! LOL.

I've got to get a move on with my own classes this semester. Been somewhat out of it and, as usual, very busy. Not focused. But, I've only got one year left and I'll be done!! So. Get 'er done, right?

Did I mention that T's room is bright yellow and lime green??? She picked them. Yellow for her. Green for G. It looks like Lil M's room when we moved in, actually... except, there wasn't lime green on the walls, just in the window treatments. Which, I might suggest T use for her room, now. 

Peace.

And then there were 4

Right now there is just Lil M, me, Maggi and Skippy in the house. That's kind of weird. We've been a 'family' of 5 for 5 years now.

I have no idea what the future holds, but Lil M is already asking for a new puppy or kitty. Sheesh. I doubt we'll get another kitty. We might, but it's fairly unlikely.

Lil M seems to like school so far. :) And is wanting to learn to read, so we've been reading a lot. She can spell cat, hat, dog, a, at... and find them on a page. She can find other words when we spell them and look for them, too.

Yesterday was fairly stressful for me, but I managed. First, Maggi broke her lead. No news there. She does that often. She's still looking gorgeous after her grooming Tuesday. Love that. Then, work was stressful because we've got a release going in this weekend, and it was completely hosed yesterday. Things are better today... but as I sit here and type this, I hear my Lead talking about another issue. Great.

Then, Lil M had a make-up gymnastics session. That was good. But when we got home, I smelled something funny and realized I should check the laundry room... that's where I found Manna. :( So, I got a hold of the Vet and they let me take her there for cremation. 10,000 questions later (from Lil M, who doesn't grasp death, yet), and we get home...

Then, I couldn't find my work cell phone.

Egad.

I looked everywhere. Twice, thrice, 4-times... to no avail. Maybe I left it at gymnastics? Hmm... I run out in the rain to make sure I didn't drop it in the driveway or the road... nope.

Must. sleep.

....

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I received a call from the Vet's office saying they found my phone in the parking lot. It was a little wet, but seemed fine. Well. That's why I couldn't find the dang thing. Alrighty then. Thank goodness they found it. It probably helped that my morning alarm was ringing. :)

I told my boss about the potential loss, and he said it wouldn't have been a huge deal... thank goodness. But I'm so glad they found it. :)

What do you think the odds are that Lil M will convince me to buy a new pet here soon?? LOL

peace.

Manna Fanna

My very beloved cat, Manna, passed away yesterday. She was with me for 18 years, and was the very best cat, ev'a.

She walked through a huge portion of my life with me... college, guys, moves, apartments, house-buying, graduation, cats, dogs, adoption, job changes, fostering, college again... She was a GREAT companion and I will miss her greatly.

Rest In Peace Manna
7/2/1993 to 9/14/2011
May you have all the tuna you could ever want
up there in Heaven with the big Guy. :)

Peace.

A SMALL PEBBLE IN A POND:: In Honor of Awareness, Friendship, and Understandi...

Love this post, so I'm sharing it. :)

A SMALL PEBBLE IN A POND:: In Honor of Awareness, Friendship, and Understandi...

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell.
He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."

"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.

"I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?"

"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called.

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.

The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.

Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up...

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said,
"Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his
trousers.

In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.

Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.



Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.

"How much?" asked the little boy... "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

The world is full of people who need someone who understands. 

Peace.

Today's thoughts

I've been doing a bit of reminiscing these past couple of weeks that Lil M has started elementary school.

Up to this point, Lil M has been somewhat sheltered. I say somewhat because she did attend a daycare/preschool for 4 years and has made friends in that setting and has had teachers. It wasn't a religious school, but her last two teachers were definitely believers and they were great. She did well there.

She learned how to share and make friends and clean up when asked. She learned her ABC's and counting and writing her name. She listened to stories and got to have water days and go to birthday parties. Hopefully, she'll get to continue some of those friendships well into her life.

Time has literally flown by.

I can't believe it was over 5 years ago that we came home together. She's always been a beautiful child. Quiet, 'refined' personality. She can be precocious and definitely silly. She has a fabulous laugh and an infectious smile. She is very caring and gentle. She is a happy girl.

I get to learn more about her every day. Like the fact that she didn't like all eyes on her at her birthday party. It made her uncomfortable. Like the fact that she hardly ever cries, even now. And when she is upset, it feels like it takes an act of God to get her to talk... but she is doing much better these days. It takes awhile, but she is starting to trust that it is truly OK to talk to Mommy when something is wrong. I love seeing her open up and telling me when she is upset. It is a huge step, IMO.

She is stubborn, just like her Mommy. She won't budge unless she wants to. Thankfully, most of the time she wants to. :)

When asked, she says she has two sisters. One older and one younger. (Torrie and Bri). And said if she had another she wouldn't want a brother (go figure, lol)... personally, I think that if given the chance, she wouldn't have to share Mommy at all... :) 

She's been talking about her first Mom recently... and talks about China fairly regularly. I'm going to try to get her into Chinese school here soon. I hope she likes it and she continues to share her thoughts. When asked if she looked like me, she said an emphatic no. She said she has brown skin and I don't. I wonder if she'd say the same thing about Mimi and me... since Mimi has a nice tan right now and I'm still quite pasty white. Ok, no luck there since we're twins, I guess. LOL ;-)

Peace.