24 on the 24th

The Handy Husband and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary yesterday!

Happy Birthday Sox

Our cat is old. Handy Husband brought her home 16 years ago, a stray kitten that had been sniffing around the dumpster at his office. She weighed one pound. We never knew her exact birthday, so we let her share Frank's, which is coming up this week. She was the lowly third cat for many years, banished outside with the others when the second cat was peeing everywhere.

But she outlasted them, and as the only cat has become a welcome fixture at the foot of our bed every night. She used to lie on the HH's nice wool sweaters, but I put a stop to that. Sorry kitty, dry cleaning is expensive. Now she shreds up a lovely old towel. Many nights she slinks up to where our hands lie, and nuzzles and purrs until we rouse enough to pet her.

Ernest has appointed himself the cat caretaker. His morning routine (eat breakfast, brush teeth, etc.) is not complete without petting the cat. He has also assumed responsibility for putting the nutritional supplements on her food, for her arthritis. Ernest has tried different combinations to determine that she likes the tuna/chicken flavored powdered supplement, but hates the fish oil.

So in honor of the cat's birthday, here is one of Ernest's favorite YouTube videos:

I Escaped the Bullet

Remember when I confessed to buying reading glasses...well, I have deflected the bullet for a little while. I saw the optometrist and got new contacts which help enough with the close vision that those little old reading glasses have been put away. For now.

Elf Vomit Update

The house across the street is on the market again, "marked down" from 750K to 675K. The elf vomit is gone. It's amazing what fresh paint and carpet will do.

He is 16...going on 17...

I don't talk about Frank as much as I do Ernest... he's definitely quieter, but equally interesting. Frank is nearing his 17th birthday. A month ago I told him he could have a cell phone for his birthday. He's probably the last of his friends to get a phone. We send a shared phone with him when he goes out, but he doesn't have one of his own. Anyway, I said: pick out your own phone and plan and I'll pay a "reasonable" amount. Well, Frank is the opposite of pro-active. So he still doesn't have a phone. And I am searching for a substitute birthday present.

Today he reminded me he wanted a kilt. This has been discussed before. He has Scottish heritage on both sides of his dad's family, and on mine my dad has been a Scottish dance instructor. He wanted a kilt from a family clan, and we found connections to Muir and Dundee. But those aren't mass produced tartans and it's many hundreds of dollars to get one woven. So the kilt issue was on the back burner until today. We found a "sport" kilt (not wool) for a reasonable price...he picked the Braveheart, with a sporran.

Anticipating the picture of him in a kilt, I'm going to have to learn how to post pictures on this blog.