Just another Saturday

It's been a busy and product day today ... for some of us, anyway.

First thing, the man-child finally mowed the lawn. He'd put it off for awhile partially due to laziness and partially due to a sprained ankle. I told him yesterday if it didn't happen tomorrow the poor cat was going to get lost in the grass, not to mention his dad was chomping at the bit to get it done. Andrew caved to the pressure and did his son-ly duty this morning. I was relieved because if he hadn't I was going to have to do it myself and you all know how I feel about mowing. (And just in case you forgot, you can read the sad exciting tale here ). As for the yard work, I figure if I'm lucky I will get one more mowing out of him before I get stuck with the job. After that I'm seriously thinking about getting a second job just so I can afford to pay someone to come and take care of it for me.

After mowing, weed-whacking, and blowing off the driveway the kid (oops, I forgot. He's 21 now, I'm not supposed to refer to him as kid anymore) comes in and gives us some thrilling news. There's a problem in the backyard where the dear dogs are laid to rest. Apparently one of them is channeling their inner-zombie and is trying to escape the grave ... otherwise, known as ... there's a sink hole forming or developing or whatever it is sink holes do, right where one of them is buried. And, how sad is it that I don't remember which dog is buried where? We need to bring in some dirt before it looks like a scene from a horror movie back there. All I can say is I am NOT gonna be happy if I'm mowing back there and discover dog bones and ratty fur flying everywhere. Does anyone know where I can get some cheap dirt?

After the kid man-child cleaned up we set out to run errands. That's one of the things I love most about my boys. Neither one minds being seen out in public running errands with mom and dad. It also helps when there's nothing in the house to eat for lunch and mom is willing to spring for fast food. Mmmm, Burger King. Really that mmm is fake because I don't like BK but it was cheap and convenient. I was also out voted. But hey, at BK they'll also give you a really cool crown to wear, though the man-child really frowned on that suggestion. Geez, where's your sense of adventure kid, did you lose it when hit the big twenty-one? I guarantee you if one of his friends had suggested it, he would have been all over it!

After BK we hit up Home Depot and Walmart. Going to Walmart on the Saturday before school starts probably wasn't out wisest move, it was more of a zoo than usual. Oh well, sometimes you just do whatcha gotta do. As we were walking through the bedding section Andrew had a funny little smile on his face. When I asked what it was about he pointed to a mom and daughter, "Remember how it was that first August  before I went away to school? We had that long list of things to get for my dorm room and then I spent a week packing it all up getting ready to go?" Awwwwww, my man-child is getting nostalgic. Sniff, sniff. Me too. This will be the last year of packing a kid off to college. It all goes by so quickly.

After we got home the two guys continued on with their list of honey-do's. It's really been cool watching my husband and our youngest son bond over doing home improvements this summer. Dale's got a helper and Andrew is learning all kinds of new skills as a handyman. My one regret is there aren't enough funds in the household account to tackle all the projects I had for them. One day we'll get around to replacing the floor in the dining room, and eventually the back porch will get torn down and rebuilt, today though I'm willing to settle for the replacing of the doorknob and deadbolt on the backdoor, and installing a new diverter stem on the shower in the main bathroom.

The door was taken care of fairly quickly but as usual Murphy's law (or, as we refer to it around here, Frazier's law) kicked in and the replacement of the diverter stem did NOT go as planned. Just like the last plumbing fiasco it was apparent the stem did NOT want to replaced. After an hour or so of trying to get the old one to unscrew my husband finally said, "screw this! We're just going to leave it like it is!" So, for now, anyone showering in that bathroom will have to be content with taking a shower-bath instead of a shower. That's ok, if we win the lottery tonight we'll hire a real plumber to come out and take care of it.

Oh, who am I kidding? We're just gonna bulldoze this shack and start all over!

After putting away the plumbing tools the guys moved on to more fun stuff ... working on cars. For some reason guys really like working on their cars. Whatever. As long as the car runs ok I'm good with it but if you boys want to primp and spruce up your cars go for it, just don't look to me for help because I'm busy doing all that woman's work I have to do. Yes, while the guys were going about their tasks I was busy too. I won't bore you with the details, especially since it will quickly become apparent that some of us were working harder than others. You can wonder who.

It's now after nine pm and they're still outside doing who know's what to Andrew's car. Whatever it is, it's included a trip to Auto Zone (after our initial trip to Walmart) and now Andrew is asking where the closest Advanced Auto Parts store is. Ay-yi-ya, see what I mean when I say nothing we tackle around here is simple?

Now where was I? Oh yeah, woman's work. Ok, I'll go ahead and admit it aloud - all I contributed to the day was a  phone call to my mother and a delicious home cooked dinner. Mmm pot roast, potatoes, carrots, and greenie beanies. The rest of my day was spent piddling. I'm the world's best piddler. Seriously. But doesn't the homecooked meal win me any brownie points? 

There was one other piece of excitement today.

Maybe it was because she was freaked out upon hearing that her canine sibling was returning from the grave or perhaps it was just taking advantage of Dad leaving her alone and unattended in the backyard, but Spunky decided today would be a good day to run away from home. Yes, the cat flew the coop. We searched all her favorite hiding spots in the yard - behind the shed, under the tree house, inside the tree house, amongst the weed pile - there was no cat to be found. I decided she must have gotten outside the fence though we still haven't quite figured out how she manages it. She's too old to jump over so either she's squeezing through the gap in the gate or climbing like a monkey. Until we figure out how she escapes she's not supposed to be left alone outside. Dad and I will be discussing this transgression later.

Meanwhile Andrew and I take off through the neighbor's yards looking and calling for the cat. After searching for hours and hours (ok, it really wasn't that long, it just seemed like an eternity, especially when all the worse case scenarios kept running through my head) we finally gave up and come home sad and dejected.

Part of me was MAD! Ungrateful cat. Didn't I just buy you new cat food today? And, treats too! Why did you have to run away? Don't you know it's dangerous out in the world? You might get run over. Or, Stupid Ninja Cat might sense your defenseless-self out wandering and stalk you like prey. You're not used to being out in the world alone, what will you do if some stranger drives up and tries to lure you into his car with promises of candy and .... ok, I've been watching too much TV again. Anyway, you get the picture. The cat is missing and I'm a mess.

Until, she appears out of the blue, coming around from the front of the house, apparently unaware of the angst she's caused.  Or maybe she is aware and just doesn't care. She is, after all, a CAT. Now that I think about it, I think she probably has been planning this for a couple of days ... ever since this affront to her dignity...

What the heck is going on here? What is this horrible green garment you've put on me?

Carp! I gotta get outta here!

Quick, where can I hide?

This is really embarrassing!

If only I can get out of this getup...

Just so you know, I AM NOT PLEASED! I won't forget this so you better sleep with the lights on baby!

She was pretty pissed but in my defense it was Andrew who thought it would be cute to dress her up in a cape, I just took the photos. I guess posting them on Facebook probably wasn't such a great idea ... but, but, but she's so cuuuuuuuuuuute!

Yep, I'm pretty sure today was her getting revenge. That's ok, 'cause Mom's final revenge is blogging about the whole dang thing. So there!

Whew! That's it for my exciting, fun-filled Saturday. Hopefully tomorrow is a quieter day and I'm able to lounge around doing nothing. Probably not though, I've still got a lot of piddling left to do.

ps. in case you're wondering, regardless of why she went on the big adventure Spunky has been put on restriction for her transgression. No TV or internet for a week. I'm sure she'll be suffering from LoLcat withdrawals before the sun comes up. Think good thoughts for her.