The Adventures of Being Me

The airport has the air conditioner running so my counter has a space heater on to keep warm. But still, it is colder outside so I shouldn't complain. Post later. Bye!

I got up and took my my kitties out. Met a new neighbor with his kid (I'm guessing 8 or 9 range) outside while the cats investigated the new patio furniture. The kid came out to play with the kitties, even picking up Precious by the shoulders. He chased and they ran under the patio furniture. He asked why they ran away. I said they were unsure about strangers touching them. How does one explain to a kid that the reason the cat is running away is because the kid is chasing it everywhere. He even jumped up onto his neighbors' patio furniture trying to get to Precious hiding in the corner under the table. He grabbed his parents' cigarette lighter showing off that he knew how to make it work. I told him that kids shouldn't play with lighters cause they can set the house on fire. He said it was an apartment. Ok, set the apartment on fire. After our time was up and Precious eager to get away from this kid, he follows us to the door wanting to see my apartment. No, it's me...

When I came home I heard Precious meowing from the window. I presumed the kitty saw me coming and happy to see me. I open the door and cat is still meowing insistantly. Walking in circles around my legs Precious does not calm down when I pet him. Strange, Precious has never persistantly meowed like this before. Where's Frodo?, I wonder. Precious meows louder and walks down the hall. I bet he is locked inside the bedroom since the bathroom was open. It was very windy today and often it makes the bedroom door slam shut. I let Frodo out and Precious calms down. Poor thing. I sniffed for any putrid odors. I detected none. I placed a bookend up against the door since I will have the windows open more often. Post later. Bye!

Frodo jumped in the fridge while I was cooking. He meowed and I opened the door, but he never jumped out. Later when I was finished eating and packing my work entertainment, I heard clanging and thought it was the dog below us hitting the metal closet door. Then I heard a loud yowl behind me. I forgot Frodo was in the fridge. Good thing I hadn't left for work, Frodo would have suffocated and I would have found a dead Frodo when I opened the door. Bad mommy, forgetting her cat in the fridge. Danger averted. I have been following the pet food scare on TV. I went to the store this week to replenish our after walk snack. The food I get was there on the shelf. Then reading an article on msn.com tonight, it was rat poison that is no longer used found its way into the food. And it is no longer used to kill rats or for cancer patients, this was no accident. Well, my cats have not been acting strange. I alternate between the gravy and slice meat food (that was recalled) and tuna/salmon mean...

Since it is warming up and Easter will soon be here, I put away some of my winter wardrobe and got out part of my summer wardrobe. Naturally I had to try on everything because I have been gaining weight. I have a large pile of clothes to discard. At least I don't have to buy more work clothes for summer. The AC is so cold that we often wear our sweaters over our polo shirts. At summer school once upon a time, the dorms were not AC'ed but the classrooms were freezing. It felt strange walking past the college tour groups in jeans and long sleeved shirt, then change to tank top and shorts covered in sweat. But enough of memory lane. I had to chase down Preicous today when the walk was finished. I heard distant meows but couldn't tell where they were from. Finally after a half hour ready to give up, 10 feet from the door, here comes Precious panting like crazy. He was huffing all the way upstairs and eating his treats (pant, pant, chew, pant, pant). Poor baby. I think we might ...

Last night at work, I learned a portable DVD player from one guy next door and 3 movies from another guy next door are missing from the back room. Sounds like an employee helped themselves to things that didn't belong to them. I told the guy that's why I take my DVD player home along with my movies. People will steal anything whether it is worth anything or not. Ok, I do leave books under the counter often, but few thieves would steal books. Post later. Bye!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my readers. Today I painted my nails green, wore a shamrock necklace, and tried to decide if my green shirt was blue or blue-green. I asked 2 people. One said green and the other bluish green. I think I'm going color blind. In the store it looked green, in my closet looked green, but up against my green shamrock necklace and green nails, it more blue than green. One guy said he was looking forward to pinching me, but then saw me wear green. Drat. One gal asked if I was Irish. Well, part-Irish. Des Moines has a big parade downtown and all the bars serve green beer, plus McDonald's has the infamous Shamrock shake that is very minty. All my friends love celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It is a drinking holiday after all. Post later. Bye!

My coworker receives a phone call from her friend wanting to know if she is overreacting to a situation with her son. At work, she receives a message from her son's teacher informing that her son was lying on the sidewalk down the street and refusing to get up, adding a "I hope he makes it in today". Naturally, the friend rushes over to the school where a parent dropping their kids off had picked her son up off the sidewalk and drove him to school. This kid slipped on the ice and broke his leg (all the way to the hip), a spiral fracture that occurs when the body is twisted until it breaks. Most of his leg is in a cast now. The friend is furious not one single person from the school went to check on him. It is not normal for a kid to lay on a sidewalk refusing to get up. My coworker assured she is not overreacting saying she needs to have a meeting with that principal and play that message the teacher left for her. How awful. Post later. Bye!

I had a good 2 days with my niece. I went to her house Tuesday, packed the car, and didn't see any pillow so I went into the bedroom and grabbed one from her bed. I discovered later it was in the suitcase. Went over to the babysitter where they were in the middle of a diaper change. Talked to the babysitter of our sleepover (my sister already told her about it). My niece was so excited to see Precious and Frodo. I had to explain those are my cats. The babysitter offered one of her nap cots she keeps folded up, but I declined saying we had a sleeping bag. We went to my place and got the stuff out. Precious and Frodo helped themsleves into the suitcase. We had a snack of animal crackers and cranberry juice. She tried to play with the cats tossing balls and waving the fishing poles. Cats were a little taken back by this eager person following them and telling them to catch the ball. While I cooked supper, she played in the bedroom pulling out anything she could get her hands on. My ni...

Winter Snowstorm struck after I came to work. My poor coworker living out of town had a tough going reaching home. Leaving Des Moines meant zero visibility. To make matters worse, the interstates north, west, then east, were closed. Shoppers and sales clerks in a mall on the west side of Des Moines were forced to leave the mall. I called Mommy to check on her. Dad is getting tired of shoveling. They have electricity. Mom was concerned about my brother because towns near him were out of power. In one area 20 miles of utility poles were down, but I forget where. Godforbid Mom call long distance so I called from my cell phone. He has power and safe at home. Sisters are safe at home too. Alas, the airport closes for nobody. Naturally lots of people call to extend their rentals and people postpone their pick up times. One lady complained we charge extra for not returning on time and we force people to drive in bad weather. Yeah well, it ain't fair I have to work and drive home in this m...