Dr. Jekyll, Katie Cat

Thursday afternoon, Bill came home early with a migraine. It intensified as the afternoon went on. He started out on the floor of the family room, then moved downstairs where he lay face-down in the kitchenette area. I knew he was miserable, so I did my best to keep the kids quiet and out of his way. Around the time I fed the boys dinner, Bill finally felt well enough to go upstairs and climb into bed, where he was able to sleep for awhile. 

Some time after dinner, I went upstairs to fold laundry. Bill was sound asleep, and Katie was sitting with him, keeping a protective eye on him. I took a picture, it was such a cute moment. 

Then night fell. Good Katie was transformed into Naughty Katie. I have had a bad cold for over a week now. I have a cough that makes me sound like an eighty-year-old chain smoker. Bill has been sleeping on a spare mattress in the office so he isn't disturbed by my hacking. This meant he was able to miss out on what happened next. 

Around 3:30 in the morning, I was sound asleep, actually not coughing at the moment. Suddenly, Katie used my head as a landing pad. My guess is she tried to jump up in the transom window over our bed. She got up there, discovered the blind was down and she had no ledge to sit on, so she came right back down and landed on me. This scared her (and me!), so she jumped over to my nightstand, knocked off half the stuff on it, then took off running. 

So here I am. It's the middle of the night, I'm bleeding, there's a mess on my floor, and I can't even see what is going on, because Katie had knocked my glasses down. I had to find those first before I could deal with the mess and my face. It took me a long time to fall back asleep. 

All day Friday, my face hurt. It wasn't really the scratches that bothered me. It was the bruising from the weight of a full grown cat crash-landing on my head. 

She sure is lucky we love her. 

Green Acres

Earlier this week, shortly after I picked up the boys from the bus, I noticed the light to the basement was on. I flipped it off and went about my afternoon. The next day, I noticed it was on again. This time, I thought it was a little strange. The boys rarely go downstairs and Bill was still at work. Again, I turned the light off. 

On Friday afternoon, I noticed the light was on AGAIN. By this point, I was getting frustrated. Who was doing this and why?? I marched over to the stairs to turn the light off and then heard Sam coming up the stairs. He was very excited. 

About a week and a half ago, Bill and Sam planted some seeds indoors to get their summer garden started. Bill put the tray on the window sill in the basement bedroom, to protect the plants from the cats. Sam had been going down there every day to check his plants. On Friday, he was overjoyed to see the lettuce was coming up. 

I love his enthusiasm and the fact that he and Bill can do this together. Now, I just need to train them to turn off the lights when they are done. 

Bad choice of a towel rack

To my dear son Sam,

While I appreciate your attempts to hang up your towel after showering, I feel like draping it across the open toilet seat may not have been the wisest choice. It is true that no parts of the towel had actually fallen into the toilet, but you and your brothers have rather 'suspect' aim at times and I cannot guarantee the state of cleanliness of the rim of the toilet. 

Therefore, I have taken the liberty to wash and dry your towel and hang it back up on its proper spot on the towel rack. I also cleaned the toilet for the 12th time this week. 

I love you. Even when you're gross. 

Mom

That's gonna leave a mark...

This morning, while Nolan was getting dressed, he had a not-so-fresh feeling.  I have a container of kid-friendly, flushable wipes for just such a situation.  However, the container was empty.  I had more wipes in the refill baggie, but Nolan can't pull that packaging open (still doesn't have the best fine motor strength).  Rather than ask me for help, or his dad, or his brothers, or even his cousins (Clark and Miles are visiting this weekend), Nolan opted to use a product in a container he could open.

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes.

He used one of those on his body.  Nolan has sensitive skin.  So if Nolan happens to mention getting a rash in a rather unlikely location, well, that's why.