[pics incl] Heather made mancake. She tried out some “specialty” meatloaf pans but prefers her way better. William assisted. Technically, it is “my turn” to help with dinner, so she made me leave.
This time, instead of mashed potatoes, she made a vegetable mash and asparagus!
Another mancake day: [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2012/08/06/mancake-apprentice/ ]
[pics incl] THIS is NOT a pet bed!!! Someone please tell them! 😉
[ Pet Beds: http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/27/nightwings-pet-bed-box/ ]
I think they’ve discovered my heating blanket is underneath. 🙂
[pics incl] The snow started about 3:00pm on Thursday, 01/30/14 and by 5:00pm
Friday 01/31/14, morning:
Saturday 02/01/14, morning:
[pics incl] Remember our old brown couch? It had previously been Jeff’s parents’ old brown couch; purchased prior to Sheri’s wedding! It’s been a faithful & loyal servant to the Scott clan of people AND cats! It needed to go. It is gone! (FYI, so is that mauve recliner we bought before Courtney was born)!
I don’t feel guilty having “mostly watched” Alfred [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/29/i-helped-alfred/ ] vacuum because I shampooed the carpets when he was done! Got that?! Me! well… and earplugs… and Jeff… because I could only do about 2/3 the room. We replaced our carpet shampooer late, last March. I filled it up to use it and never finished because I had a headache…. [http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/04/08/its-not-a-head-achy/]
Now, we have a new recliner and 6/7 of a sectional, modular couch. Yes, 6/7, one of the pieces is on back order 😉 The missing piece is the LEFT (looking at the couch) recliner with the arm (will fit near fireplace).
Goes with new table eh?
[ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/12/13/new-dining-table/ ]
…Sidenote: I made a comment to the kids; they may have taken seriously! 🙂
“I figured out how to silence all the voices in my head… EARPLUGS! Only problem is, now I cannot hear myself talking.”
We went out for dinner with the Lambrecht’s tonight. [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/29/a-month-ago/ ]
It was nice to get to spend great, quality time with them. Ugh, we were enjoying ourselves and I forgot to take pictures! It’s so heartwarming to know that so many people have reached out to them… and us! Thank you!
Roni found the picture of Jeff feeding Marc… aren’t those matching photos just sweet??? 🙂
[ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/10/marc-is-here/ ]
[pics incl] I dragged some of the furniture out of the room, then sat down and watched. 😉 Now… is there a “thang” that will fold those clothes??? [http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/12/29/a-new-excuse/]
It’s very hard to believe that it’s already been a month. *HUGS*
http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/12/saying-good-bye/
I didn’t speak at his Memorial but the kids really wanted me to stand up and talk about this…
Dalton did not ride home with us every day but he always knew he COULD. He’s had the option for 4-5 years. All of our kids used to ride the bus more often but it started getting too crowded. I know he loved it whenever Heather (the senior), asked him (7th) to sit with her, whenever she was on the bus! Courtney vowed that, as a senior she would NEVER step foot on a bus. Apparently, I had to take that vow with her since, she doesn’t drive!
He also knew the only rule in our cars: the front seat is up for grabs UNLESS Courtney is here. (I didn’t make the rule)! He’d often race them to the front seat and they’d all be out of breath and giggling and simultaneously screech “AWH MAN!” if they’d been beaten (or if Courtney was in the car already 😉 ). We all PLANNED (it wasn’t ALWAYS me driving, sometimes it was Jeff or Heather) on picking him up too, so we planned accordingly for which vehicle (car or truck) & how many kids. (We often have OTHERS too. Sometimes the “others” were friends of Dalton that didn’t want to ride the crowded bus either.) The suburban has the seat warmers, only in front, for cold days!
Sometimes he would CHOOSE to sit in back and play a game/app with William or share music with Ashley. Last year was interesting, because he and Courtney had a PE class at the same time (different classes in same gym). This year, he and Ashley both have the same teacher (different classes).
When I asked “How was school?” or “Do ya’ll have any homework OR PROJECTS?” he knew he better chime right in! It’s only 15 minutes from the school but sometimes he’d hop in even if he knew I was running errands or picking-up/dropping-off a kid in the other direction first. I usually tried to make sure they all were able to talk about their day. We often talked about goals too and he’d tell us about joining the Marine’s; you have to keep your grades up.
One day when we stopped at his house, he said to me, “Do you realize you talked the whole way here? That’s the most I’ve ever heard you.” We all spoke/shouted at once (about ME talking) and he jumped back and FELL out of the car laughing (the car rides low, so it was only inches to the ground). After I made sure he was OK, I scolded him about almost hitting his head, and said I have every right to, because I treat all kids like they are MINE! From atop his backpack with a leg still inside, and totally laughing, “Ok, I get it, YOU can talk!” I said, “Consider me the crazy neighborhood ‘aunt’ that’ll get all over you for bad grades!” So he started introducing me to his friends that way.
We would all often have just plain txt conversations going on “I’m here @ the rock, in truck” “ya’ll don’t dawdle!” “mom is running late, meet me by the door out of the wind” “Ashley left her notebook in class”
or someone “have a mtg w/teach, can u wait for me?”
or he’d call “I got on the bus but it’s way too crowded, are you still here?.” There would often be “funny voices” that accompanied his phone calls… and/or when waiting for others (he’d “voice over” analogies of why they were late). I’d tease him and say “I’m really only here to get YOU, no others are coming, I just love YOU t-h-a-t much.” Even mine would say “She’s really here for you, we are just riding along!”
I cannot even begin to imagine Roni & John’s grief because I only “sometimes” saw him for 15-20+minutes, and I never really realized how hard it would be, just to, NOT include him in my simple daily txt:
“I’m here @ rock, in truck”
[ NOTE: His friends painted the rock!
http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/02/03/at-the-rock/ ]
[pics incl] William snapped a picture on the way to school, it’s 8* out!
[more scenic views:Â http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/12/20/gorgeous-frosty-morning/ ]
[pics incl] “I made a baby in class today, Mommy!”
AND… each of my teachers told me: 1) “I have the attitude of a brain surgeon,” 2) “I have the mind of a physicist,” 3) “I have the tongue of a lawyer,” 4) “I have a work ethic of a cat.”
[NOTE: I actually made her STOP talking, snapped a photo and repeat word-for-word as I documented!]
[ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/26/taken-out-of-context-2/ ]
[pics incl] We have pet beds. Nightwing prefers bags and boxes. [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/10/marc-is-here/ ] The nook he made in the cables wasn’t as comfy as he hoped. William got new snow boots Friday and seconds later there was a cat in the box. Courtney rearranged it and carried it (with cat) to the corner so maybe the lid would remain open. I feared for my life, well, at least my skin, as she carried a cat in a box over me! Today, he napped in the box!
[ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/24/pink-elephants/ ]
[pics incl] It’s really a visual.
[more out of context:Â http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2012/04/27/deja-vu-ashley-vs-andrea/ ]
[pics incl] Tonight, Jeff had Ashley coach a game as head coach. This is something Heather and Ashley need to know how to do … especially if, let’s say “the head coach” might possibly get thrown out of the game 🙂 and they are the only coach left!
She coached a win!
[ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/11/16/basketball-season/ ]
[pics incl] This is NOT Courtney’s first apple; it’s her second! She hasn’t been able to eat apples in YEARS because of the braces (and the drilled holes in her pallet)!
She got her braces off again just before going to Disney World (I have no idea why I do not have photos of this miraculous event?!?!)Â Â I refused to peel & cut them into tiny pieces she can’t choke on, like I did the last time she was old enough to try and eat apples!
However, Ashley got a “thang” for peeling apples [no, I do NOT know if she has named it], so she has now peeled two apples for Courtney’s enjoyment.
“I have perfected apple eating.”–Ashley
[Courtney’s braces saga:Â http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/08/01/braces-are-back/ ]
For those of you with satellite/dvr service (you thought I was gonna say Roomba iRobot didn’t you?)… Does it creep you out that the thing MUST update EVERY… SINGLE… DAY/NIGHT?!? I’m afraid one day it will start speaking (or at a minimum, displaying text) and tell me I cannot watch this channel because it’s not healthy or… tell me I can’t go outside 😉
if you haven’t seen iRobot (Wil Smith movie), you probably don’t get this… just go with any good “technology taking over the world scenario.”
AND NOW… I’m slightly suspicious of the vacuum! [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/12/29/a-new-excuse/ ]
There’s a LONG version and SHORT version. Short version: Our cat sniffed catnip and he’s NOT sitting in a pet bed.
I always tell people that a “story” is NOT about lying, it’s about telling the truth, THE WHOLE TRUTH; it’s all in the adjectives! (and/or adverbs 🙂 ). [Another thing I say all the time: “I don’t make this stuff up… I promise, it FINDS me!”] AND, every story needs a beginning, a middle and an ending that wraps it all together! [ Have YOU ever heard my “cat story?” Trust me, you know if you have. THIS IS NOT IT. ]
Long version (cat commentary provided by ME, but trust me…):
I had the brilliant idea to order a newspaper and clip coupons (hand/eye coordination, can I read?, and the whole saving money bit). I thought this through, and turned on the fireplace, dragged the recliner & footstool over, got a grocery bag for the trash, made myself a mug of tea which I set on the fireplace tile, near the WALL. I left the lid off because it was too hot to drink… but I did put it next to the wall, just in case cutting coupons is more treacherous than I imagined. I was set until the cats (Peanut and Nightwing) decided to come and SIT on my newspaper?!?! And then they took turns sitting on the plastic grocery sack. It’s very hard to accomplish cutting coupons from a paper that has a cat sitting on it. Nightwing was obsessed with the newspapers and was grabbing them and sniffing them so much that I commented “It’s almost like they have used catnip ink to write the papers!” [Yes, I said this out loud. It’d be easiest, if you just imagined most of this “story” taking place out loud, because I talk to all animals, as if they are human!]
I would pick up whichever cat and plop him in the pet beds we bought especially for pets! [“these are pet beds, SEE… paws!”] After they had trained me to do this multiple times, I decided a different approach was needed. They needed a reason to stay in the pet beds and my catnip comment from above came to mind. I’m pretty sure we had some… somewhere. I put 2 flakes (think oregano) between my fingers and made a dust that I put in the creases of the pet bed. In the other, I accidentally picked up THREE flakes. 🙂 [“How much of this stuff am I supposed to use? Should I just sprinkle flakes on the bed?”] I went and washed my hands so that I wouldn’t add to the catnip ink smell of the newspapers.
Nightwing walked over, sat near one, decided it smelled kinda nice and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d his neck out to place his head on the edge. Peanut looks up and “why are you doing that? what’s over there making you do that?!” and walks up to Nightwing’s face. This is a first. He stood intently “I know I usually smack the fool out of you if you get close but I MUST know what’s going on, so I am going to sniff you.” Nightwing was completely chill. After a good sniff the entire length of Nightwing, Peanut’s sniff came to the edge of the pet bed. OH MY GOSH! You’d have thought I soaked the beds in catnip stew!! He was rolling in million dollar bills and carrying on like he’d just won the lottery! Nightwing decided to move his head. “Relax man, if you feel that strongly about it, you can have it.”
After about ten minutes of me NOT cutting coupons because I wanted to make sure Peanut wasn’t going to overdose, on the literal SPECKS of catnip [“WOW! I’m really glad I didn’t sprinkle flakes all over the beds!”], he settled down and just laid on the pet bed. Nightwing stood up and walked over to the other pet bed. This one smelled nice too, he plopped down and rested his head on the edge. Peanut pops up and rushed over to see why Nightwing was so comfortable in THIS bed. As he suspected, it too had been soaked in catnip stew. As he flipped out, I had the sense about me to reach down with both hands, stop him and catch my mug of tea which miraculously spilled only three drops. The math here is ingenious: the mug weight + tea + tipping it exactly to the point of spilling – 1 = tipping just enough to spill 3 drops while holding a stoned cat in your other hand. It’s a VERY GOOD THING that I had the foresight to place my mug next to the wall!
Nightwing left but threw a look over his shoulder, “Dude, you have a real problem, you should have that checked.” After a few minutes, Peanut got up and collapsed in the middle of the living room floor “I need a nap and RIGHT HERE works.” A few minutes later, he bolts to the kitchen “I NEED A SNACK!”
I got very little done before I needed to go make rounds to go pick up all the kids. [ Have I told you the one about having 2 teenage daughters that don’t drive?!? ] Ashley was first and we needed to wait a bit before getting Courtney and then William. Since I had a captive audience, I regaled her with the catnip/petbed story in the making; right up to the “snack” comment.
When we got home, I went and sat in the recliner, looked over and realized, Peanut is NOT sitting in a pet bed, his face VERY CLOSE to the couch, but eyes wide open. I LAUGHED OUT LOUD! Courtney and Ashley both “WHAT?” “Peanut is watching pink elephants on parade on the side of the couch.” Ashley laughed! Courtney is confused. “Why would you say that?” “Because he is. Pink Elephants… Dumbo, you know.” “YES, I know where the pink elephants are from, but Dumbo was drunk, why would you say that about Peanut???!!!” Ashley and I “Because Peanut is stoned!”
Now, I am telling Courtney, the catnip/petbed story from above, right up to the “snack” comment. She gets it now, it’s actually VERY FUNNY to watch Peanut right now. As, I am telling Courtney, Nightwing grabs all my newspapers and acts all crazy with them, like Peanut has been with the petbeds. “I KNOW! They’ve scented the paper with a puppy attractant so people can house train their dogs!!”
[ see all the previous comments I’ve made about Nightwing being a puppy instead of a kitten! http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/12/20/chinese-cough-syrup/ ].
However, I am telling YOU, the catnip/petbed story, right up to the point that I had to tell it to Courtney.
See…. it’s all in the adjectives. I could have just said “Our cat sniffed catnip and he’s NOT sitting in a pet bed.” AND, you would have no idea why I titled this Pink Elephants. Well, you could guess & be correct, because I set it up that way on purpose, but you lose MY imagery that goes with it.
[ Nightwing : http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/10/marc-is-here/ ]
[ Peanut: http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/06/nightwing-teaches-peanut-to-fetch/ ]
[NOTE 01/27/14: Jeff asked me what I was doing? “Tweaking my pink elephant story.” “What?” A little slower and a little louder., “Tweaking the misspellings on my pink elephant story.” “WHAT?” “The catnip story.” “W-H-A-T?” Now, I’m laughing, “Please tell me I told you about the catnip?!” “Did you sniff catnip?!? Why are you laughing?” Now, I’m hysterically giggling, “OH MY GOSH, you must READ the blog!” “Are you slap-happy? What does catnip have to do with… why… TELL ME WHY YOU ARE LAUGHING?!” “HAHAHA!!! I cant, I need to go find Ashley?” He’s laughing too, “W-H-A-T?” “You must read the blog RIGHT NOW, THEN… add this part to it!”
I had ASSUMED, he 1) knew about the catnip, 2) reads my blog!
I couldn’t stop laughing because THIS makes an excellent anecdote! Ashley (and Courtney) agreed!
I’m debating adding this blog post to “My Cat Story!” ]
