Tag: Family

Cat Barf

Jen told me she found a cat vomit stash in Bellana’s room* and she asked me to clean it up. I took a look and found a cat vomit stash and didn’t think much of it. It took me a few days to get to it. It was nothing a little swiffer mop couldn’t handle in two seconds. I cleaned it up. Boom. Then I saw the actual vomit stash Jen was talking about. It was big. It was chunky. It was spread out over a surprising surface area. It was solid as a rock and stuck so thoroughly to the floor that it was essentially a part of the floor. The two had become one and would not be separated.

The swiffer mop didn’t touch it. Hell, the vomit laughed at the swiffer mop. The scouring pad on a sponge barely made a scratch. The vomit scoffed at the scouring pad. A quart of 409… well, that was a good start. That plus the scouring pad took up a lot of it. When I couldn’t get any more, I had to go at it with a second quart of 409, another round with the pad, and then another round with the swiffer.

Yeah, the vomit is gone, but I may have weakened the structural integrity of the entire house. Next time that cat pukes in Bellana’s room it might be the end of us all.

Beware.

*I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but Patches the Cat likes to puke. She has some food issues that often upset her stomach and she ralphs it up. We didn’t know what was going on so we asked a Vet and after an examination, the Vet told us that she just eats as much as she can as fast as she can and then gets sick. It’s really gross. It’s even more gross because I am the one who cleans it up.

Bellana’s room is probably her favorite puke palace. She’s not terribly picky. She likes the living room too, and just the other day she let off a bomb in the office. Bellana’s room though… yeah, that’s the stuff. It’s probably because Bellana went to college first and her room is empty the most often so it’s nice and private. Patches sleeps in there a lot too, though when Harry’s not around she likes to sleep (and hurl) in his room too. Bellana’s is definitely the favorite though, and with her coming back on Wednesday we want it to be as vomit free as it can be.

Oh, and did I mention that Bellana’s sheets are in the washing machine because Miss Patches dropped a stomach bile bomb on the bed as well as next to the bed and under the bed?

Yeah, Patches sure loves to yack in Bellana’s room.

HoHoHo Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Just because things are offline here for a few more days doesn’t mean we can’t wish a happy holiday to all of you.

We are going to make the best of it in this house today. If everyone else could have an extra great day it will help us along. No pressure, of course. You do you. We love you all no matter what your story looks like.

As the big guy in the red suit is believed to say, HoHoHo! Merry Christmas!

Retail Therapy

It took me 50 years before I had a year where there wasn’t a christmas. This is it, folks. The year without a santa claus for reals.

On Saturday it will be pretty much a normal Saturday. Jen and I are planning on a nice dinner together. Maybe we’ll play some Mario Kart and watch a movie or maybe binge watch some TV or something. We’ll just spend the day together.

I was going to write this post about how I wanted to take my frustrations out on capitalism by buying a new guitar. A Les Paul Junior to be exact. I jokingly asked the love of my life if she would be okay with me buying yet another guitar and to my shock and amazement she said yes! That’s twice she’s said yes to me! Once in the backyard at the duplex when I was on my knee, and then again today. How wonderful!

That’s when she told me she was doing the same thing. Maybe a Nintendo Switch or a PS5. We had a good laugh. I’m not going to buy a $1,600 guitar, especially when it’s only a few months after Jen bought me a much more expensive guitar for my 50th birthday. There is a chance though that I might magically (though probably not christmas magic, given the circumstances) upgrade a pedal or two in the coming days. You know… magically.

Composing Topical Christmas Songs

Now that it looks like we are going to be quarantining for Christmas I feel the need to come up with some topical new Christmas carols*. I’m coming up empty though. The best I have are just parodies and they are awful. Weird Al would be so disappointed in my work.

For example, change “I want a hippopotamus** for Christmas” to “We’re going into quarantine for Christmas.” I told you it was awful.

The only other one I have right now is to change “all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth” to “all I want for Christmas is no quarantine” but that’s just embarrassingly bad.

I think I am going to quit while I’m ahead. Blah. I’m guessing the universe will thank me for stopping before it gets out of control.

*The reason I feel the need to come up with some topical new Christmas carols is because I need to do something to distract myself from the need to just start screaming in frustration. Covid can kiss my ass… again.

**I spelled hippopotamus correctly on the first try. I am pretty proud of myself for that.

One Down, Two to Go

What do I have to accomplish this week?

I need to cook dinner tonight. I’ve got one or two gifts to wrap. We need to figure out a Covid safe way to see Spider-Man. I need to bring the Christmas gifts we got for my niece and nephews to them. Not sure how/when that can happen. We never cleared the snow off the cars on Saturday and now they are covered in blocks of ice. We need to figure out what we are going to eat on Christmas Eve. We need to get Bellana home (though really she’s taking care of that one), I still have some tunes to finish, we have to make sure the kids are all set with their Christmas shopping, we have to not catch covid (omicron persei 8).

Yeah, that’s a start on a to do list.

Damn.

Evening Plans

The to do list for tonight, with Bellana about 1000 miles away and all of us missing her:

  • Jen is making breakfast for dinner.
  • We are watching Beerfest. USA! USA! USA!
  • Play a game. Possibly Mario Kart

It’s snowing today. We were expecting 4-8 inches and so far we have barely a dusting.

With the exception of Bellana being 1000 miles away, this is a pretty awesome plan.

Find My

Yesterday afternoon I kept the Find My app up on my iPhone so I could keep an eye on Harry’s progress as he drove home from school. Today it’s Bellana’s turn. She’s not coming home though. She’s driving a roommate home to the deep south. The app might be up all day today and tomorrow. I have no doubt that she and the group she’s with will be safe and healthy. In these uncertain and crazy Covid variant Omicron days though, I am also nervous. Be careful out there folks.

It’s Friday at 8:40am. I have to punch into work soon. I don’t want to. Harry has a remote final exam today. After he finishes that I am just going to want to hang out with him. I’m really happy he’s here. I don’t want to do anything else besides just enjoy the fact that he’s here.

Eight days until christmas. I have one gift to wrap and one more on route. I am going to be ready this year with oceans of time to spare. On the subject of christmas I feel that I should note that I have done a better job making sure the tree is watered than I ever have in any real-tree-year ever. Look at me, patting myself on the back. HoHoHo, babie.

Happy Friday.

ADDENDUM: Find My tells me that Bellana is currently driving though Saratoga Springs, NY. That brings two thoughts to my mind. First, I wonder if they took the ferry across Lake Champlain. Second, one of the best Rush concerts I ever saw was on July 5, 2008 when Jen and I road tripped all the way to Saratoga Springs to see them at SPAC. I was only in the town for a very short time, but I thought it seemed like a wonderful place. Someday we’ll go back.

Rush 7-5-08 Saratoga Springs, NY 1002
Rush 7-5-08 Saratoga Springs, NY 416