Thursday

This morning, as we speak, there is a cleaning woman at my house giving Dereck an estimate. Last night, we discussed how much we thought we could afford to pay per month. And then we discussed putting an ad in the student newspaper for a new student.

The cleaning service wants us to (sigh) pick up before they come. I suppose we will have to ask them to define that: get things off the floor, or tidy or what? Jen, our college student who had the nerve to graduate in December, used to pick up AND clean.

And Erin, our babysitter whom we LOVE, has supposedly been Jen's replacement, but she was in a car accident and has been suffering from migraines, and I feel badly for her, but my house ain't getting any cleaner. If she cancels again today, we are just going to have to replace her, though I think that is what we are heading for already. But I keep her in babysitting money and pay her outrageous amounts of money because she is availabe at the drop of a hat, has her own wheels, and she is a college graduate now, for crying out loud.

I have been having conversations via email with another Jen, about girly things like shoes, clothes, makeup, and cleaning, and how to juggle it all. She is definitely more put together than I am. But today I made an effort: flat ironed the hair, contacts, makeup, and a pink shirt, brown pants, brown over shirt, pink socks, red Mary Janes.

If the Mary Janes weren't scuffed and if I had taken the time to iron the pants, I'd almost look put together today.

Yesterday, I ironed on a cat hair-free surface: the computer chair in our TV room. Burned two holes into it.

So, today I didn't iron. It's a simple as that.

Pets

I have to say: Kittens make everything just a little bit better. I love my adults cats (well, I tolerate Tofutti and I love her in the sense that if anything bad happened to her I'd be sad) and I love my puppy, but I ADORE Rufus. He is just the perfect kitten. Very inquisitive, capable of getting onto surfaces I've seen older kittens struggle with, and very very affectionate. He is all about the people.

I love my puppy, as I said. And I was pining for a dog. And then I had dog shock in which I found out how much like children they are: they are LOUD. And messy. And demanding. And so overjoyed to see us that it's heartbreaking.

And she has started resisting her training, so last night, I locked Rufus in the bathroom, and took Goldie out of her kennel and put her through her paces. But she definitely obeys only for praise, and only when she has her tennis ball. So, I took the ball away, and was more firm with her and less fervent with my praise. In fact, you might say, I was a little pissed. But it's not her fault. It's just another thing we have learned: when you get nasty viruses and are on your deathbed for a week, your dog backpedals in her training.

I am definitely not alpha yet. Oh, but I will be.

But Rufus has actually made me want to spend more time with all of my pets and to pay more attention to them-- the love just radiates. And they are all getting more cream, more bites of tuna and trout after dinner, and generally more sucking up so they won't be too angry about Rufus.