Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Solstice '08

We've had a lovely Solstice. (Please excuse the picture quality; I found peanut butter on the lens after this batch of pictures.)

The kids and I each drew a name from a hat about a week ago, and we secretly "elfed" that person until Solstice, meaning we snuck around doing sweet things for our person while trying not to get caught. Of course, we also elfed those whose names we didn't actually draw in an attempt to confuse things and keep others guessing. Leo's elf managed to drop 50 cents in his shoes while he was wearing them, without him knowing and someone kept leaving pennies where Sophie could find them all over the laundromat the other day. Marian kept waking up to candy at her place at the table, and I even heard rumors about some kids sneaking into other kids' rooms to do some sneaky cleaning. Today we revealed our identities. :)



This series perfectly illustrates Marian and Leo's relationship at times:

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We've been going on night drives to hunt winter fairy lights, while listening to "Here Comes the Sun", and we've read tons of stories, done a few rituals, made cookies and cornbread, watched holiday movies, and played in the snow. For five nights we each exchanged one gift, and we watched the sunset's glorious colors from the wildlife refuge last night. This morning we opened our stockings in my bed after Marian finally woke up (at almost 11am!), then stood out on the porch and sang happy birthday to the sun. We shared our family gift (a Viewmaster with 10 different 3D reels!), had a late lunch at Subway, visited the animal shelter, and started some crystals growing at home.

We shared a lovely dinner of homemade chili and sun-colored cornbread for dinner, by the light of our table sun made of orange tea lights. We lit them all, sang, blew them out, and then lit them again so we could enjoy them while we ate.

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We went to the movies tonight, and ended our evening with cookies and hot cocoa, after being driven home by a kind stranger who witnessed our discovery of the key inside the locked car. (Oops!) It was fun and we met some nice people.



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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Bookworm Award

I got tagged with this bookworm award by my friend Allison.

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Here is the rule for the award: Pass it on to five other bloggers, and tell them to open the nearest book to page 46. Write out the fifth sentence on that page, and also the next two to five sentences...The CLOSEST BOOK, NOT YOUR FAVORITE, OR MOST INTELLECTUAL!!


The book closest to me is Contemporary Sociological Theory and its Classical Roots by George Ritzer. Enthralling, I tell ya.

"Thus, humans also have the capacity to create the conditions that constrain them. Through their mental processes people can free themselves, constrain themselves, or, more likely, do some combination of both things."

(That was the end of the section, so I did less than the 2-5 extra sentences.)

I think most of my blogging readers have already done this, but if you haven't, consider yourself tagged. Yeah, I'm lazy. Whatcha gonna do about it?

Newsy Niblets

One of my darling cats went missing for 3 weeks and I was so upset that I barely told anyone about it. I was holding her so close to my heart that I just couldn't share it without my fear of the worst getting too big. (She's nearly completely blind.) I also didn't want to drag anyone through my pain like I have with Penny. I'm glad I didn't.

She came home this past week, perfectly healthy and beyond happy to be home. I still can't believe it! Here she is the night she got home:

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Suki the ancient car has been begging to retire. She no longer goes faster than 40mph and has starting shining her "check engine" light in my eyes. Unfortunately, it would be inhumane to put her through more car surgery at the mechanic, so we're just staying in town until...

--insert drumroll--



...my new car arrives!

I found the car I want in a Taos classified ad, and my sister and godmother went out of their way on a busy day to test drive the car, take it to the mechanic, bargain, and purchase this car for me. (I'll pay them back tomorrow when sis brings the car to me.) Thanks, guys! I owe you!

Here is Susie at my sister's house. She'll get to me bright and early tomorrow morning. Woohoo!

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And, uh... I ordered a dozen new bumper stickers last night. Heh.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Pigeon

A week ago, my friend Steve (who also happens to be the town's sole animal control), showed up on my doorstep with an injured pigeon. It must be a sign of my well-known sucker character that the first place he'd take a bird is to the cat lady's house.

Steve and I had a good laugh and then together named him Jonathon Livingston Pigeon.
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He came to me with a bum leg, and back wound, and an inability to fly. He's been eating and drinking well, and yesterday flew a short low distance (while Marian and I raced to tackle the stalking cat which motivated his efforts) and had slightly more mobility in his bum leg. (No fractures that I can find.)

And best of all? Today he pecked both me and Marian for the first time, so it seems his uncharacteristic docility and trust of humans may be coming to an end--, something I welcome wholeheartedly.

(He deposited that poo just for you, as I moved him around for a better picture angle. Enjoy.)

No Loss in Animal Magnetism

You know, when I started C.R.O.W., I wondered if as many animals would find me in my personal life outside of C.R.O.W. Needless wonderings, really.

Tonight at the store, we were greeted at our car by this fellow, looking much like this:
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His tail was between his legs, he was clearly nervous, but he didn't hesitate when the car door opened. He hopped right in and came home with us, and his excited noise was thrilled with our crumbfull car. The crumbs weren't enough, however.
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This hungry boy didn't take his face out of the bowl for even an instant until it was licked clean.
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He doesn't like cats, but responds quickly to correction. He's very vocal and cocks his head at me when we talk to each other. He's neutered, has a small abrasion on his nose and some mats in his fur, and smells of farm. He's very smart, like almost every heeler I've known. We're calling him Jack. I sure hope we find his people soon. I hope he HAS people.


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Wish him luck, please.

I'll have to blog about the pigeon later. Yeah, you heard me. Pigeon.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Sneaky Photographer and Random Canines

I found these mysterious pictures on my camera one morning. I have a feeling a mischievous young boychild took them.

Gus-Gus.
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Idgie and Gus.
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And My Baby Turned Five.

The girl on her special day.

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And we can't leave out her sister, the wood nymph
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And her brother, the merry sprite
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So, Halloween Happened.

This is from the night before, on our way to the Halloween carnival in the next town. The following night, Leo was ghostly, in addition to dead and gory.

Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter. With an admiring little sister looking up to her.
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The Unicorn Princess and the Dead Cowboy
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--------------------------(Brightest eyes you've ever seen on a dead cowboy, eh?)

The brood.
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Monday, October 27, 2008

SuperMe

How is this possible? This semester I'm homeschooling my three energetic kids, taking 13 upper-level credit hours, and working part-time (writing). But that's not enough, right? No, I'm also getting ready to take the GRE and apply to grad school, I've started a cat rescue (thank goodness non-profit paperwork still doesn't hold a candle to DIY divorce paperwork), I'm writing all the lessons for the UU Sunday school and am responsible for recruiting teachers if I don't want to teach all the classes myself, I'm getting the kids to story time and homeschool group every week (the homeschool group I started is 3 years old now!), I'm still volunteering at the animal shelter,
I'm cultivating friendships (and they are blossoming nicely), I'm incredibly informed about the election (more than ever before in my life) and have already mailed in my ballot, and I recently realized that I've been a single mom for almost 4 years already.

Marian is almost 9 and is growing on the inside every day. She thinks a lot, has an incredible vocabulary, a wicked sense of humor, and a deep love for humorous poetry. Leo is 6.5 and is developing his photography skills (on the sly), is an excellent masseuse, and an avid debater. Sophie is turning five this week and is crazy smart but not academic, incredibly sneaky, funnier than hell, and she pulled a kitten into the bathtub with her today. The three of them are amazing little people and I am honored to spend my days with them and share my life with them.





Now, to lighten things up...


fail owned pwned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The kitten whisperers

Idgie
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Toby
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The Best Blog on the Internet

Although I admit I may be a bit biased.

Still. Check it out!

Best Blog EVER



A Wandering Wednesday

I've spent my evening lost in a cloud of terms like technocratic thinking, the irrationality of rationality, center-periphery differentiation, and juggernauts. I've since surfaced and now my mind is filled with the future, a good one. Hope and promise and warm fuzzies. Sociology is left far behind for the evening.

How in the world have I become such an optimist? It awes me some days, but I'm not complaining. I spent years long ago wishing I could die, and now I'm terribly excited about life. Joyous children, blossoming friendships, and a promising future.

I sometimes miss certain people being in my life. But then I think, "Their loss" and I'm just fine again. My cup is full.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Rest in Peace, Monty

Monty died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday night, after an evening full of snuggles and love. He went peacefully, after sending his last days surrounded by warmth and love.

I called his former owner, and took his body back to her. We wrapped him in a fabric chosen by Marian and a light blanket chosen by his previous owner that he had loved in his younger years. We buried him together in her front yard, and she thanked me profusely for all I had done. Her husband gave me a gift of a large bag of pinon nuts.

I'd hoped his time would be longer, but I know his time was right. It's as though as soon as he knew he was safe and could relax, he was finally able to let go of his weak little body.

Goodbye, Monty. Thank you for coming into my life.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Settling in and Making Friends

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More about Monty

Okay, so he can’t see much or hear at all. His breath reeks, his skin is scaly, his eyes are crazy lopsided, and he walks funny. But you know what? He loves warmth, he loves food, he loves being petted on his neck, head, and chest, he loves the sling and peeking out or snuggling in, he loves napping on laps of any size while wrapped up in something soft. He loves. His tail is rising. And he’ll definitely never win the World’s Ugliest Dog contest.


He growled at the dogs at first, but now is making a friend of Idgie.
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Idgie is very curious and friendly with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets as maternal with him as with the bottle-baby kittens. She likes to give him kisses and notices his every move.
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The kids are very gentle as they provide laps.
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