Deck Bloggin'

Yes, people. I'm sitting out on the deck on a warm, sunny and breezy Saturday afternoon. The kids--mine and his--are playing, and the dog is chillin'. The kitties are sitting inside on the window sill, looking out at all of us. It' pretty great.

Doug and Diane have settled in to our home very nicely. It's easy to forget how totally insane young kitties are when you haven't had them in your world for many years. They've completely removed all of the ornaments from the lower quarter of the tree and seem to have an immense disdain for upright picture frames. They are both fearless (unlike Earl who was scared of new people, the doorbell, plastic bags, thunderstorms, etc.) and like being with their people. I am their main "person," and as a result, they follow me around EVERYWHERE. They are practically inseparable and, as much as they love each other, they also frequently and vigorously kick each other's asses. Usually at around 5:00am somewhere near our heads in bed.

This week has been super busy both at work and at home. I'm sure everyone's feeling it. This time of year is always at least 45% more insane than the rest of the year. My main problem is that I'm being meeting-ed to death at work, and as a result, unable to get very much actual WORK work done. I'm actually looking forward to having to work the weeks of Christmas and New Years because no one will be around ergo no meetings. Maybe I can actually get somewhat caught up. At any rate, I'm pretty burnt out on my workplace and could really do with at least a week away from that place. But since our time off policy is absolutely abysmal, any time off I take for the next couple of months (until I get my next paid time off hours disbursement), will be unpaid. In fact, the paycheck I got yesterday included 38 hours unpaid time off (wedding/honeymoon, Geej's walking pneumonia, and Thanksgiving). So, yay!!

The Geej had a big week too. She advanced to the next level in her gymnastics class, had a pajama party/gingerbread house making hoo hah at school on Friday, went to the Trail of Lights preview on Friday night, and went to see a movie this afternoon ("Madagasgar 2"--We've never seen the original, but we were miraculously able to keep up). That's a LOT for her in a short period of time, but luckily there seems to be plenty of holiday candy and sweets to keep her engines on full. This is important since she's got the KITTENS to take care of (and by "take care of" I mean stalk, torment, boss around, tattle on, and torment). She's appointed herself judge, jury, and executioner of the poor felines. They are very patient with her, bless their little hearts.

Let's see...what else. Oh YES, Christmas!! It's coming, isn't it? And I've just barely started shopping. I have no idea what to get most of the people in my life, and my diminished paycheck(s) aren't helping the situation.

Tonight after dinner we're going to pile in the car and partake in the time-honored American tradition of riding around and looking at Christmas lights in the rich neighborhoods around town. Then tomorrow, we head out to BH's work holiday party. That's two hours away. In the middle of the country. With three kids in the car.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

While I'm here, let me post a few recent photos for your viewing enjoyment:

The tree before we put the ornaments on it that the kittehs couldn't help but remove. The Geej thinks she's a present. When I pulled the Christmas tree skirt out of storage, it was COVERED in Earl fur. He used to love sleeping under there and never once messed with the ornaments. Sigh.

There's my little pajama'd reindeer maker (in the middle) at her class's party yesterday.

And here they are--him and her--being nauseatingly sweet and cuddly before going COMPLETELY NUTS.