It's a 4 Ring Circus!

kitty snuggles

This is why scooping kitty litter is worth it.
(right?!?)

hamster recovery

Just got in the door from my niece's piano recital and discovered our cat was babysitting the missing hamster on our stairs.  For real.  So Miss Naughty Hamster has been returned to her cage, where upon careful inspection it was discovered that the wheel attachments have enough of a sliver open to facilitate hamster escape.  It has been remedied.  :-)

I knew that the cat had been following the hamster around the house because of her weird behavior lately, and I also knew from past experiments with our friend the garage mouse that our cat was WAY too wimpy to actually eat (or even bite) another live creature.

On to the next adventure.

a trio of new friends

You already know we can never have enough animal friends over here, right?  Well, my chicas finally decided what to spend their birthday money/hard-earned extra savings on.  A trio of very tiny "robo" hamsters (smaller than dwarf hamsters).


(if you look closely, you can see one hamster in each of the running wheels, the other guy was down in the bottom at the time)

The kids love to put a hamster in their "ball" and see where they'll go.  (Of course, we have to remember to put our kitty in my bedroom!)

scout terrariums

Josh and William got together last week to make terrariums for one of their Cub Scout projects.  I mentioned to Josh that a lot of times people put in little decorations, just for fun.  What do you think he found to put inside of his?  A LEGO Indiana Jones guy with a LEGO Chewie dude.  [eye roll]

In the process we discovered that our cat really likes spider plants.  :-D

Speaking of plants, I erroneously thought that all of my garden order was coming this week, when in fact all I have received so far is some garlic bulbs.  :-p  We've at least had some time to do some other garden-ish tasks, like giving our yard trees some attention.   I need to give the beds around our bushes some today, too.

Spring Break has been wonderful, though.  I'm actually really glad that we decided to not make any trips and just stay close by, because it has been really nice to spend time together with the whole family.

the goings on

What have we been doing this week?  (I have been accused of being rather quiet lately . . . obviously not realizing that they should just enjoy my quiet phases while they last!)

Playing with friends (sweeping the yard?!)

Being a crazy sister

Taking apart the pantry and purging and sorting and reorganizing (I really need more pantry space in this house!)

Being put out by all of the work going on around us

Letting sisters try Lego Robotics for the first time (and to think I told Sadie that she's too young -- this has become a new shared hobby for her and Josh, much to my surprise!)

Practicing being the cutest little muffin (when we're not practicing being the grumpiest little hellion)

Laughing out loud

Being the big brother math teacher

Since our friends, the Elmers, are back in town for about a month, we've taken Terri and William with us to hike around McKinney Falls again last Friday, and also to the Austin Nature Center on Tuesday, to enjoy being outside before the arctic air hit us yesterday.  I've been working on getting Josh passed off on various Webelos badges, and making sure Delaney is ready for her first dance competition on Saturday.  I've also been working on getting all of the kids attired for Easter -- I did find a dress I loved for myself, too bad it was $300!  Getting serious about finishing the fence for our backyard, still working on food storage plans and garden plans (my garden stuff will arrive from Burpee next week!).  Finally, I've been making all of my plans for everything that needs to get done while Ryan is home with us all of next week (thank you Freescale for mandatory quarterly unpaid leave!). 

of cats, teeth, and groceries

{Delaney and the neighbor's cat -- has nothing to do with this post, but I liked it, so, there you have it.}

I took the little girls to their regular dentist appointment this morning (no cavities, yeah!, but Ava has a crossbite already, boo -- before too long we'll be camping at the orthodontist with all of our kids), and on the way home I finally stopped by a new store over there called Newflower Farmers Market.  It was pretty cool, kinda reminded me of Trader Joe's (although TJ will always hold a special place in my heart, sigh).  It's basically a smaller Whole Foods with much better prices.  They had a large produce section, large "natural" health/beauty section, and a pretty good variety of other things (including what seems to be a good selection of gluten-free stuff, for those so inclined).  Also has a good looking butcher section.  Anyway, here is a sample of the deals I got today:

• Oak Farms skim milk for $2.99 (I usually see this for >$4)
• bagged salad for $1
• Kashi Go Lean cereal for $2
• dozen organic-y (free range maybe, can't remember and I'm too darn lazy to go downstairs and check) eggs for $1.50
• boneless, skinless chicken thighs for $2.69/lb

I will be adding that store to my list of places to check in on when I get the chance.

Dear Trader Joe's executives:
Will you pretty pretty please put a store in Austin??  I'll be your best friend forever.

lice theory

(to go along with Ben's germ theory)

I have overcome the urge to strip all of our carpet, replace all of our furniture with plastic IKEA versions, and install a detox shower in our house.  Between our encounters with lice, and the fact that all kinds of nasty flu, strep, and stomach cooties are striking all around me, I feel a wee bit paranoid.

I have still not found a single live bug this round, but have found a couple of eggs here and there on the two girls throughout the week.  I know that it's going around in our area, so I really don't even know if this round was from something in our house or they got lucky and picked something up somewhere else.  My brain is a pile of powder from figuring out where I could have missed something.  I know, I need a chill pill, bad.  Nonetheless, I took advantage of Ryan's presence this weekend and had him totally remove the girls' beds from their bedroom (they're taken apart and sequestered to the garage) and then vacuumed and steamed their carpet really good.  I am planning to paint the girls' room finally while they're out of there, and then sometime soon when Ryan brings our stuff back from CA they will use the beds from out there.  I have psychological issues with their beds here now.  :-D

I ordered a super duper magic lice comb that will come this week.  I also spent a good chunk of yesterday reading about and then ordering some magic lice potions, that will also come sometime this next week.

Lice -- BRING IT.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For those of you who would like to close your ears and sing LALALALALALALALALA really loud when I talk about that, here is a nice picture of my kitty.

She doesn't give a diggity dang about lice.  Or germs.  She sneaks into the bathroom after someone uses the shower, and licks the leftover wet spots.   Mmmm.

kitty watches momma on the computer

kitties love Christmas, too

ho hum

Me and the mini-me
before we headed off to Lego Robotics this am

Kitty kisses that smell like fish . . . thank you, I think.

I guess I better get off my duff and finish getting this room put together (it's going to be a great studio/office).  The piles of stuff behind me are starting to bug me, but this room is dangerous -- I always get sidetracked.

There's the new sewing table with room for my regular sewing machine and the serger.  Wall unit with fabric and lots of other crafty goodies.  Drawer carts with more crafty goodness.  Now I need to finish organizing it and actually pull up the big box of fabric from the downstairs closet to weed through and stick into the wall unit there.  Very fascinating stuff, I know.