Update, and Halloween notes

The cats sleep on our bed. ;)

I was alllll determined, when we first decided to get them, that our bedroom door would have to stay closed, due to my allergies. 

That ended on about the 2nd day. Maybe third. The last few nights, I have woken up with a cat (sometimes two) nestled up against my legs on top of the comforter. 

It's hot. 

But it's the sweetest and I love it.

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Happy Halloween! We had a "Potluck and Costume Contest" at work and exactly four people dressed up. My costume was chosen because it was easy and I was not in any way TRYING real hard (I wore, at Shawn's good suggestion, a Thrashers sweater and said I was the "Ghost of an Atlanta Sports Franchise," ha ha)... but at least I tried A LITTLE. Not even the guy who concocted the event was wearing a costume. LAME! Everything here is lame. (The food, at least, was decent.)

The kids will trick-or-treat tonight, in our own neighborhood, and I'm hopeful there will be lots of other families out. It's my year to stay at home, woo! Because of the kitties, I'm going to sit on the front porch so I don't have to open the door a million times. They're microchipped but we don't want them getting out! 

Kate fussed that we didn't bother getting a pumpkin to carve this year. I told her, "Yeah, but instead I got you a BLACK CAT."

We Got Our Kitties!

Shawn said that as soon as he read that headline, he knew it was a done deal. ;) He was right. We took the (overly expectant) kids to the shelter on Saturday, and after an extensive tour, meeting every kitty in the place (it's a really lovely, impressive place with nice volunteers), we settled on the ones we wanted. Each kid had found a cat that made them happy.

After that, we made a trip to PetSmart and gave them a whole bunch of our money in exchange for 2 crates, a scratching post/tree, food, food bowls, litter boxes and litter, and some toys. We could have easily spent more than the $250-ish we spent! And we were trying to be conservative! So fun.

So, Ash and Apple came home yesterday and they're just as sweet as can be. Apple hid out under the guest room bed most of the afternoon. They had warned us she would be skittish and scared at first, and she was. (She'd been adopted once before, but sent back to the shelter 6 months later for not using the litter box, a fact that made Shawn very skeptical. Me too, if I'm honest. They told us she had no medical reason for that misbehavior, though, and always used the box while she was AT the shelter. I hate that someone brought her back! I'm sure she was upset and nervous when she saw our crate.) BUT by 9:00 pm, and with a little wet food and a treat to tempt her, we got her to come out and eat something. She was actually really friendly, purring and rubbing and wanting to know us. And this morning she'd used the box! No problems so far!

Ash is a kitten, around 6 months old, and has had his share of issues. An eye infection, but thank goodness he'd just finished his round of eye drops for that! He was also having a kitty cold, sneezing and drippy nose, this past week. They sent us home with a bottle of liquid antibiotic. HA! We haven't owned cats EVER and we're taking medicine on already (liquid, 2x a day)?! I told the adoption counselor I felt sure that if I could get medicine into my 2 kids, I could get it into a cat. She was impressed that we were willing. And it's been fine, using a towel to hold him, aside from a little scratch on Shawn. Only 7 doses left. He's totally friendly and curious and wants OUT to explore.

We had to put them in separate rooms, so Ash is in Alex's bathroom and Apple's in the guest room we had set up as a "cat" room. I really hated locking them in there this morning, knowing we'd be gone all day, but I'm going to go home at lunch and play with them. Tonight maybe we'll try to introduce them to each other, or else open up their doors and see what happens.

It's all so new! And so fun -- when a little creature comes to you and wants you to love it... gosh, is there anything sweeter?

A Beep in the Night

Monday morning at 2:37, Kate tapped me on the shoulder. She'd had a bad dream and needed to be "in the middle" of my bed, between me and her Daddy.

Bad dreams, I allow for a cuddle. Everyone needs a hug after a bad dream. So I let her in. Didn't take more than a few minutes before I was too hot and crowded, though, so I convinced her to come back to her room, and that I would stay in there with her. But I didn't sleep well in there, I'll admit. It wasn't even her fault -- my hands/wrists started throbbing and going numb (wreched carpal tunnel). 

I had just drifted off and was having a pretty weird dream, myself, when my 5:35 alarm started. Drat.

So I was sleepy yesterday morning, but got over it. Thank Coffee. Was greatly looking forward to a better night's rest last night.

2:30 am, though, guess what? Alex tapped me on the shoulder. "Creepy dream," he said, and also that he was hearing a weird dinging noise. I heard nothing, but into my bed he got. My 13-year-old almost-a-high-schooler. His puppy feet touching mine, my arm over his back. Bless it. Still needs that hug, like I said, and everyone gets one after bad dreams. He clenched the covers over his head, in his fists. 

Once again, I got hot and needed to go to the bathroom. In the bathroom, finally, I heard the dinging. More like a beep. I went to tell him I'd heard it, and then started wandering around the house to find the Beep. Downstairs, then back up again, not sure where it's coming from. By this time Shawn's awake, and with his help, we discovered the smoke alarm in the garage was the culprit: battery must be out. Why does this only happen in the dead of night?! (Also, why do they always come to Mommy's side of the bed first? Well, I know why... Mommy's a light sleeper and Daddy isn't. lol.) We'll fix the alarm today. And all the other smoke alarms will get new batteries, too. Alex went back to his room and we attempted to go back to sleep, but never really did. 5:35 came too soon again.

I promise I haven't been serving spicy food at dinner, or letting them watch horror movies or anything.

Watch, my body will wake itself up tonight at 2:30. I just bet.

I want a cat

First, I want to not be allergic to cats. I fear that might be a difficult thing to achieve; however, 17 years ago I relied on a daily Sudafed and managed being allergic to dogs JUST FINE. By the time Shawn and I bought our first house, I'm pretty sure I didn't need the Sudafed anymore, and lived with the dog easily for another 9 or 10 years after that.

Sorry for that preamble.

I've decided I want us to get a cat. ...I think. The kids would love to have a pet again, and I feel like we need to pull the trigger on that sooner rather than later, because they are growing fast and neither one will even live in the house with us (presumably) in 9 years or so! I want them to have that "pet" experience as kids.

We don't feel we can get another dog right now. We're just never home. These days, we leave the house at 7 am and don't get home until, on average, 6:45. This isn't fair to a dog who needs to play and be walked, and, oh yeah, go out to potty! But a cat... you know, they are trained to go potty in a handy box inside the house. It might not smell amazing, but I'm hopeful that kitty litter has come a long way in the 30 years since I've had a cat. Plus, a chore! For 2 kids to learn responsibility!

So, FYI, I've been snooping around on a local cat adoption website. It says that it would be even better to adopt two cats, so they'll have each other and not get bored. Heh. We are going to discuss this at dinner tonight.