Valuable Prizes!

Passing the pizza and some chocolate mint ice cream, because why not?

Andy earned the respect of Pixies and adoration of his clients, and therefore wins the Minor League Major Outing Award, for arranging a great trip AND for the skies to dry up so it could happen!   Andy also wins the coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award for the lawn mowing story.

Esperanza wins the Florence Nightingale Award, with a Mother Theresa sash, for tending to the medical needs of one Baboo, then a second Baboo, and (the worst) a post-surgical husband.  We wish Mr. E all the best and a swift return to work.  Still giggling in anticipation of the Moment of Truth, when the ladiez discover it was not that kind of surgery.

The Celebrate Everything Award goes to Sue, whose family had a lovely evening doing just that!  Let's dance! 

Queen of West Procrastination wins the Good Housekeeping Trophy, going so far as to polish the toilet at the old place.  Take that, evil landlord!  Hoping Lil E is settling in, and the teething moves along promptly.  Hooray for the grandparentals, also!

Liz once again wins Accolades for good advice and great friendship.

The Employee of the Week Award goes to Perky Bank Guy, who actually got the problem fixed.  The perkiness sounds a little annoying, but can't argue with the results.  :)

Hugs to those struggling with the fireplacing cancer, increasingly frail elders, and the parade of germs.

Memorial Day: Let Summer Begin!

It is gorgeous here.  As usual, we are not doing anything special for the holiday.  My sweetie will barbeque a bunch of stuff later.  He has just cleared the nasty blackberry vines from our small but wild front yard, which makes me happy because they've been biting me lately when I go to the car. 

In nature news, this morning a giant eucalyptus branch fell off a tree directly behind my office -- not in our yard, fortunately, but in the nature area, maybe 60-80 feet away.  I heard this loud cracking noise, and smash, saw it tumble to the ground.   There is a grove of eucalyptus back there, probably 80-100 years old, planted as windbreaks for a long-ago quarry operation.  That wood is very heavy.  Anyway, it was exciting to see nature in action.

Crabfest W:  Feeling cranky and irritable.  Don't like it.  AW:  Started watching Glee.  :)

Indoor wildlife report:  this group of foster kittens will be here until Thursday -- 3 weeks altogether -- and they remain just cute as heck!  Three will be ready for adoption, having achieved 2 lbs. and a high degree of sociability.  The tiny one, he is growing well and has gained tons of mad kitten skillz!!!   Know I'm writing a lot about kittens, but they are pretty much the best news lately.

Tell us all about it!

Treats and a night out for everyone

Your host is totally derelict, so cheesecake and a night off all around.

Happy Birthday to Esperanza!  Also, Mullet for the surgery misunderstanding.

Good Moving Karma to QWP!

Kudos to Neighbor Lady, and her excellent 6th grader!

Go, Candidate Liz!

Yay for Sue's new dishwasher, delivered early!

Cheers to Miranda, with her secret new adventure!

Winter is hereby banished, even in the tundra!

All the jerks get scorpions. 

Aloha until next week.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an albatross!

Yes, after two weeks of anguish and angst, we have liftoff of a work albatross!  Bye bye, little albatross!

AW:  The buddy system.  Everybody needs an editor.  I got suggestions Sunday night, and in the middle of the night from someone on vacation overseas.  Loyal colleagues, or what?

W:  Daughter is going to be late for work.  Again.  I know she doesn't like the current job, but getting fired seems like a bad career move.  Also, I should just stuff a sock in it, and stop playing the part of the Human Alarm Clock.   

Wildlife report:  Kittens are all doing great!  Tiny is less tiny each day, full of vim and vigor.  The whole bunch are really funny and loving.  Two of the kittens from the last batch have gotten adopted! 

AW:  My beloved has been working out his angst with yard projects.  He just finished about 50 feet of fence on a steep slope -- posts set in cement, cross-supports, shoring up the underbelly to discourage critters and drift of dirt, and fence boards cut to size and angle.   Many trips to the home improvement depot; lots of fun with power tools. 

What's up with you guys?

V. Brief Awards

Esperanza wins the My Little Scorpion Award, for her horrifying tale of a live one next to a Baboo.  ~ shudder ~  This week's Posse features scorpions, which we figure will get all the miscreants in line.

Liz wins the What Was Lost is Found Award, for actually finding the safe deposit box key; with a bonus bouquet for persuading the evil stoopid bankers to waive their intended fees.  Brava!  Congrats also on a good meeting with the Forces of Alienation.

QWP wins the Moving a Mountain Award, and well wishes on all the packing!  This prize comes with complementary boxes.

ETA, because I wasn't kidding about fuzzy brain:  Sue wins the Monumental Misfiling Award, for the auto shop that could not find her regular (non-Arctic) tires while she waited for about 400 years.  Those people definitely get scorpions.

Kittens and chocolate for everyone!

Free Range Early Edition

It's Mother's Day, and while I love moms and am grateful to be a mother to some excellent humans, there's something to be said for limiting the h@llm@rk forced-march kinds of "celebrations."  Discuss, if you are moved.

On the other hand, grandparenting the foster kittens is the best thing that's happened lately!  OMG, the cute is enough to knock a person over with joy.  This batch is not so good with the box as last week's, and also it isn't my bed with which they have had some numerous getting-settled errors, but the cute factor makes it all so forgivable that daughter has suddenly become a cheerful laundry queen. Also, far fewer accidents the second night. 

The Runt of this litter arrived badly underweight, undergrown, and with the words "failure to thrive."  Barky.  Not much interest in food the first night.  It's not that the other kittens dislike him, but he's way small for the pouncing and wrestling they like to do.  Anyway, we're supplementing with kitten weaning formula, doing small frequent meals away from the herd, and so far so good!  He's all perky and eating like crazy.  Like right now, he is on my desk snarfing, wildly purring.

We're going a little rogue with the kitten formula.  The shelter sent him over with some turkey stock that the last foster home cooked, but that obviously was not doing the trick since he didn't want to eat it.  This baby is just developmentally not where his sibs are.  But I think the formula is helping.

What is or isn't helping in your life?

Abbreviated Awards Show

Sweet has pulled every toy off her shelf and dumped it on the floor. I'm in the process of sweet-talking convincing bribing threatening her to clean it up.

Hugs to everyone dealing with unbloggable things, including human stupidity.

Hugs to our nonnie mouses this week, as well as other pixies, dealing with kid stuff and parental angst. See above: I get you.

Hugs to people who keep getting sick and who get rid of headaches only to get a cold.

And because this cracked me right up, despite her misfortune, QWP gets an Elevated Risk of Mullet Award for "... the burnt area immediately below the Remembering What They're All Abouts."

Kittens and supper fairies and dish fairies and working fax machines for everyone! 

It's the Kindergarten Registration Blues

...but not really. Sweet is excited, I'm excited, we're ready. The other mommies were crying at registration today. I guess that's their whine.

My whine is going to be that the kid who didn't speak for two years (remember that?) is going to get in trouble for talking in class. I'm pretty sure of it.

Not to mention the continuing behavior issues.

Pixies, where are your whines this week? Are they old enough to go to kindergarten? Or brand new?

Awards: Kittens For All

In honor of Kathy A becoming a kitten foster grandma, we present kittens prizes for all.

Tabby kittens for Queen of West Procrastination as she helps E rest her tummy from multiple bark incidents.

Black kittens for Sue as she struggles with migraines and meetings.

Orange kittens for Kathy A as she plans her fun reunion and continues her good fight.

Calico kittens to all of those dealing with difficult family members, difficult colleagues,  and non-seasonal weather. 

The Posse is saddled up to Cluestick medical offices that still depend on fax machines for communication.  What year is it?  1995?  No.

See you next week as Esperanza hosts our lovely ceremony.