Don't Do Drugs

Today was promised to be warm and sunny but turned out to be foggy and cold. We were bored inside so I came up with the idea to get the cats high to give us something fun to watch. Of course, I didn't tell the kids that. I just said I was finally going to make the catnip toys for the cats that I have been promising. 
I dragged my sewing machine out of the basement where it has spent the winter. I had to clean it first so I don't think that's the best place for it. Maybe I should just use it more. I cut out small rectangles and sewed them 3/4 shut. I filled them each up with catnip and then sewed them fully shut. 

        Peter knew something was up but was very civilized about waiting for it. 

           Owen, of course, was the exact opposite. I am surprised I didn't sew his nose to the toys. 

        Once they got the toys, their behavior switched. Peter went at his like a crack addict. 

And Owen just politely rubbed his. Gross to say but they both drooled all over the toys and they are now soaking wet and no one wants to pick them up.  Of course that means Mommy will end up doing it. 

Well, he may be 15 years old and sickly but catnip brings him right back to kitten hood.  It's nice to see even if he does wander around drunkenly for hours afterwards. 

Signs Of Spring

It's still as cold as ever most days but today it made it into the 40's. There are some signs of Spring if you can manage to get outside to see them. 

I discovered these poor crocuses yesterday. I don't know how they managed to bloom but I'm scared that our usual late spring snowstorms are going to hurt them. My tulips are also quickly appearing after a weird absence last spring. 
More plants are appearing right next to the rock hard snowbanks.  The raking we didn't do last fall is also appearing as the snow recedes. 
Spring for Owen means he is an outside cat again. At least he comes home when we call him. Both our cats seem to have a lot of Dog in them. He hasn't left us any dead presents on the steps yet.
Winter being over also means that Peters hair has had time to grow back in. It's still a little short but he looks more like himself these days. 
Declan played outside for a little bit today-in his down jacket. He suddenly loves his sister's scooter and drew out a chalk obstacle course in the driveway. It's probably time to get him his own bike helmet. He doesn't want to keep wearing his sisters flowered one. 

A New Brush With Greatness

Another rare moment on this space-I am posting a picture with me in it. I finally got to meet Survivor winner Bob Crowley so I am putting this out there. He is one of my all time favorite Survivor people and he lives right in South Portland. Since I work at the CBS station it was only a matter of time before I got to meet him. I've talked to him and his wife on the phone setting up various stories but have never seen him in person. We've been doing a lot of stuff with him since he won but this was the first time he stopped by the station. He was so cute and just the same as he was on the show. He was even wearing his Survivor buff as his trademark bow tie. 

It was like a rock star walked into the newsroom. I saw reporters who have interviewed Presidents tripping over themselves just to meet him. He carries around these pictures with him because people are always asking him for autographs. I wanted one but was too embarrassed to ask for one for me so I had him make one out to the kids. I think I'll just hold onto it for safekeeping.  

Springtime In Rangeley

 The kids and I drove up to Rumford to visit my father and then on to Rangeley to return Taz the cat back to my mother. Taz did not travel well and we were all glad to finally get there. He hid for about 8 hours once we got there but then reappeared and seemed to remember  that he lived there. We left the warmer weather(40 degrees) behind as we traveled north. 

Seems that spring in Rangeley is not that much different from winter. They just go straight from winter into summer up there.
 
We woke up this morning to find a little snowstorm getting going. I had decided that we were done with snow so this was an unwelcome surprise. It was snowing while the sun and blue sky were out so that just made you want to scream.

When it is almost April you should not have to travel through a snow tunnel to get in your house.  You should also not have to deal with such bad frost heaves in the road that you get a flat tire going home. 

A little bit of the lawn has appeared right next to the boat and the canoe but it will be a long time before they make it into the water. The lake is still frozen and covered with snowmobile's right now. 
                   Declan decided he was going to scale the mountain in front of the garage.  I wasn't about to join him. 
                                A visit there makes you very glad we have a fireplace.

Mostly Pictures

Sunday morning was the Portland St. Patrick's Day Parade. Declan and I took a trip down to the Old Port to watch because we were the only ones in my house who wanted to go. 

Declan waited very patiently for the parade to start with only a few freak outs over dogs coming too close to him. He kept saying it was Dog Season. He brought along his "purse for boredom". Its full of all sorts of little plastic toys to play with when he gets bored. 

Here come the "band pipers" as Declan called them. I would love to learn how to play them but I think we would have to live far out in the country away from neighbors to do that. 

The Irish dancers performed. I tried to get Grace interested in learning this when she was little but she had no interest. I'm sort of glad because their curly fake wigs were freaky and the outfits are a little over the top. Doesn't seem like my Irish ancestors could afford such elaborate costumes.  That's not to say they weren't great. It's nothing I could ever do. 
Here is my dream dog-the Irish wolfhound. This is as close as I could get to it because Declan freaked when he saw it was taller than him. One day...when Declan moves out. 

My 29th Birthday

    My 29th birthday has come and gone. I'll have to prepare myself for my 30th next year. It was a Friday the 13th and I had to work so that sucked away most of the day. Luckily, the day was very slow until just before I had to leave and a mother brought a gun into her kids school. Don't worry, she wasn't going after anybody, she was just stupid. Anyway, easily dealt with and I was out of there at 4:30. Let me just say that Facebook does its job- I got a lot of "Happy Birthdays". 
  I was trying to think of someplace to go to dinner that wasn't a chain which should have been easy since Portland has about 10,000 restaurants.  I wanted somewhere where a paper kids menu and crayons aren't automatically handed to you when you walk in.  One of my angel children (I won't tell you her name) had a complete meltdown over going somewhere new and we ended up here.  I was so hungry at this point I didn't care. It was an improvement over last year when we went to Denny's. After dinner I had the urge to see some paint so we went here. I admit, the Free Friday nights is what made me want to go. I should have realized in this economy, that many people would have the same idea- The place was packed. I haven't been there in forever. I did my college internship there but sadly, haven't made it back enough. Declan was very intent on seeing the Winslow Homers and once he saw them, he was done. It was a fast trip around the museum and the most fun part was being able to look across the street into Channel 6's newsroom and seeing what they were doing. Pathetic, I know. 
Tim bought me cake-it's really good. The kids were begging for a piece. At least it will get some fruit into them.

Tim also got me a shamrock plant. It will look much less sad once I find the potting soil and actually pot the poor thing. 
Declan decided I needed more "sticks and string" Tim deciphered that to mean knitting needles and yarn.  I like these needles-they are slippery. 

Grace bought me these glamorous 80's earrings-can't wait to wear them. Lucky I got them in 3 colors.  Declan got me the necklace-it says Mom so they won't lose me. 
One extra present to me came while taking these pictures. Peter the Cat was sitting there trying to see what I was doing when Taz walked up. They had a little kiss and Taz moved on. No hissing or growling.  The boys are starting to like each other. 

1 year

I thought I was keeping track of it but my 1 year anniversary of blogging came and went 2 days ago. That means its been over a year since I met Patrick Dempsey...I wonder if he thinks about me?  So this is where I'm supposed to reflect on my year of writing but really, I'm just glad I kept it up. Admittedly, Facebook has hit my blog hard because instead of posting, I obsessively have to know what everyone I've ever known is doing at every second. I only managed 121 posts- I don't know how those people who post every day do it.  One thing I think I might do in the next year of this blog is to let people know about it. I'm sort of shy about telling people about it and for some reason, I don't want anyone at work to know about it.  I'm under no illusions that what I am writing about is fascinating to anybody-my children, cats and crafts are not what everyone is dying to read about.  So now, I'm just going to try to post more. I think during the day I should try to keep a list of possible topics because they will be gone out of my head unless I write them down. For instance, today, I could have written about Girl Scout Cookies, hospital food or the plane that almost crashed but didn't. I'm really going to try to get back on track. I should have some ideas in the next week-for instance...my father is close to getting out of the hospital, my temporary cat is getting along with my permanent cats, parent-teacher conferences are coming up and my birthday is on Friday. Maybe of I get my own camera for my birthday I might have more to post? Just saying...no hints there. 

Mostly Pictures

I'm trying to get back to blogging but it seems there's not much to write about when all you do is work, visit the hospital and come home. I figured starting out with mostly pictures would be a good way to ease back into it. 

As you would expect, we have been spending most of our time at Maine Medical Center. It's a maze of a place but I know my way around it by heart now. My poor mother spends all day here and she is going stir crazy-can't blame her.  My father is improving but everything takes time when you are 80 years old. 
The kids are the same as usual. Declan was doing his Hulk impersonations today. He came around a corner with this on and scared me to death. 

We are babysitting my parents cat, Taz, so he won't be alone up in Rangeley. It's been going very well. My two cats have even gotten over hissing at him.  I should say it was going well until today.  Today,  he saw our vacuum cleaner for the first time and I didn't know that it was his mortal enemy. He hid for about 12 hours and just reemerged tonight. Sorry for the blurry picture but he is still spooked and this was the best I could get. 

I am trying to knit something but I'm not sure I like this. It was intended to be a short scarf or a neck warmer but I don't like the color on the needles as much as I did in the store. It looks too camouflage green for me. I think I will give it a few more rows. 

I also have 40 or so cartons of Girl Scout Cookies on my front porch. Tim is one of the Girl Scout leaders helpers and he went and picked up the whole order for the troop. This is really more of something that Tim has to deal with.  I just wanted to show all the cookies I have access to but I can only touch the 3 boxes I ordered. What was I thinking? 

Where Have I Been?

So where have I been? For the past week and a half I have been at Maine Medical Center with my father. It's a very long story that I have repeated too many times but basically it all boils down to him slipping on the ice and how random accidents can change everything. He banged his head on the ice and has had 2 brain surgeries along with a stroke. He is 80 years old but he is strong and the doctors are encouraged with his progress. Today he sat in a chair and was talking which is something he hasn't done since last weekend. I think he will pull through this but my parents might have to stop spending winters alone up in the deep woods but that is up to them. They left home in an ambulance so my mother has been down here over a week without clothes or her car. Luckily my brother Rick came up this weekend and went up to collect their car, clothes and their cat, Taz, who is now temporarily living with me.  So that's about it. We are just waiting for him to get better. I obviously haven't been up to making my usual posts but I hope to get back on schedule soon. Until then I am enjoying all the cake and pie in the hospital cafeteria-there is a silver lining in everything.