Cat Electric...

One of my cats, Duz, has found a hole in the top of my computer monitor. All the cats like to sit on the monitor where it's warm, but Duz has decided it would be fun to dig round inside to see what treasures might be hidden in there.

When the monitor is turned off, which was most of the time until recently, I didn't think it was a huge issue - though I discouraged it when I was around to see.

This afternoon, I've had the monitor on and several times I've had to 'remove the Duz' from the warm spot because of his treasure hunting. I'm afraid he's going to find something to connect a claw with and will be jolted off the desk - not to mention short out the display.

I'd love to have a flat screen, and appreciate the Duz for his willingness to help with that, but can't afford the trip to the vet that would certainly follow.

Renovations in progress!

I've been working on my template, making some tweaks here and there - making it custom!

Please excuse the dust while we're working.

Thanks!

Who writes this stuff?

This evening I pulled a bag-o-frozen-pasta-dish from my freezer to use a a base for my mostly home-made dinner. This dish is a Bertolli Chicken Parmigiana & Penne Complete Skillet Meal for Four.

It's been a little while since I've used bag-o-frozen-pasta-dish so I read the instructions to make sure I didn't need to add water or something like that. I'm sure I've read the instructions in the past, but maybe I didn't read them all....

STOVETOP PREPARATION

~RECOMMENDED~

READY IN

15

MINUTES

1. Pour contents of bag into 12-inch nonstick skillet.
2. Cover and cook over medium-high heat 15 minutes or until pasta and sauce are piping hot, stirring occasionally. Toss and serve.

Now, I was ok with the piping hot instructions, but almost lost it with toss and serve. Maybe this is because deep on the dark corners of my mind I remember I like to play volleyball. When playing volleyball, one must know how to Set, Hit, Spike and the all important SERVE. There are two ways to serve in volleyball.. one is an underhanded lob that can arch or float over the net and drop with painful precision when the other team is not expecting the floaty serve. This is not the I deliver my volleyball serve. I toss the ball into the air and hit it for all it's worth.

Toss and Serve!

The hot PASTA? What a mess. I laughed out loud and had to read the instructions to Dub. He said that would be kinda messy, and you'd probably achieve more distance if a tennis racket was used. This had me laughing harder.

I understand the need for brief clear instructions, but I'm wondering if in this huge package, they could have found space for another word or three. And it's funny, the microwave instructions to not guide you to toss then serve, but stir before serving. Will the serve police come arrest me if I don't toss before I serve?

Going now, to stir, not sure I'll toss, before I serve.

The Mother of all excuses for not writing this weekend.. pun in tended.

It's been a little while - things have been hectic and nearly non-stop both at home and at work.

On the home front, Aura moved in with her man - we will call him "Mario" for now. Mario sold his condo in Everett, and bot a house in Marysville - which is still a long long way from the community where I reside at the southern end of Lake Washington. We helped move most of Aura's stuff out then in two weeks ago. I don't think any of us knew how much "STUFF" she'd accumulated over the 4 years she's been here. And I'm not even talking about the 6 boxes of unread books (probably more like 8 all told) that were packed and moved. When we were done, there was an empty wall in the pool room (I have a pool table in my living room), a blank spot in the TV room (so then the TV is in the dining room), and the Master bedroom was now empty (I gave it up to her when she moved from Florida, so she could lock herself in her room to work on her book if it was necessary, but so there wouldn't be puddles on the floor. ~ Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! ~)

We cleaned away the accumulated dust and cat hair then re-arranged the furniture in the front two rooms while we decided what to do with the Master bedroom. I have plans to make it an office space or den, somewhere I can go to work from home or where I can write. Neepers computer is in the pool room at the moment, so we've also talked about putting her computer in the office.

Then, all hell broke loose with one phone call on Friday evening ..... Yeah, Friday, April 13th! Buffy called and said that she'd bot a ticket to come home (to stay) and would be arriving on Sunday, April 22nd, and would that be ok Mom? STUNNED. I did my best to contain my shock while we were on the phone and then after we hung up, I sat on the couch for several minutes watching my office plans melt into nothing.

See, when PFC left for boot camp in August 06, he didn't pack his all his stuff, so his room has been mostly untouched (and unusable) since his departure. Sure, he comes home every chance he can, and uses the mess as his base of operations, but there is no way anyone else could use that space... for anything. Before Buffy left for Florida in October 06, we had planned to pack up the rest of the PFC stuff and use his room as the new Neeper space. Having a 10 year old in your room tends to CRAMP your style when you're a social diva like Buffy. So when Buffy left, we allowed Neeper to keep the 'girl' room, and left the PFC mess as it was, as I had a hard time going in there without thinking about how empty the house was and how much I missed my kids. Of course, this was all when we still had Aura in the Master bedroom. Are you following?

SO, this weekend, we decided with Buffy returning we should go with the initial plan and clean out the PFC room (move his desk, bed, TV and bookshelf) into the Master/Office/Den/Guest Room and make the switch to from PFC Mess to Nice and Neat for Neeper. PFC can stay in the guest room when he's home, and when he's not around, it can still be an office or den.

MANY boxes of DVD, VHS, game systems (I think I counted 6 consoles), books, computer CRAP and electronic gizmos later we can see the floor, but the desk(with 2 computers) and bed still need to be moved. Oh, and the posters - the rooms walls are covered with Anime posters. We're going to prep and paint (maybe Tuesday or Wednesday) then look for a new bed and dresser for Neeper to start her bedroom transformation.

So, being a Mom is my excuse for not writing this weekend.

Buffy ~ Mom can I come back home and go to school, I didn't believe you when you said it's tough out here in the real world.
PFC ~ Mom, can you store my stuff for me while I'm in the Marines?

One of these days, I'll be able to start actually writing my book... instead of thinking about it while I'm supposed to be working.