Indigo Girl

Renal Disease

My cat has renal (kidney) disease. Sniff. 

I'm going to yadda yadda over all the usual disclaimers: I know she's a cat, not a person. I know she's 14. I know she's had a long, happy life. I know all that.

But we got her when we were newlyweds. I bought all the supplies before we got married and then went to animal control as soon as we got back from our honeymoon. She's part of my family and I love her dearly. Her renal failure is early, so we can give her extra canned food and some Calcitriol every other day and hope for the best. The literature says the average life expectancy in her case is three years, so we could still have a lot of time. Still, I feel the need to take constant pictures of her. It resulted in her eyeing me like this.

"Really?" she asks.

I told the girls over dinner and then found them fawning over her while waiting for their turn in the shower.

We agreed that it was better to have some knowledge that she has a chronic disease that will probably kill her rather than having her suddenly die. This way we have plenty of time for love and special attention and hopefully prolong her life a bit with non-heroic measures. 

E was quite tearful at bedtime. Apparently, I thought Bailey slept with ME on MY feet, but E says she sneaks under her covers and sleeps on her feet, too. 

Button Dusting

We finished the fourth Harry Potter book and are taking a break, much to E and L's dismay. The 5th-7th books get bogged down with political war stuff and there are deaths that still make me cry when I re-read them. They seem a bit old for fresh eight-year-olds and there are so many books that are on our To Read list. We settled on The Secret Garden, but I had to skip over the Little House series, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Boxcar Children, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in Time, Harriet the Spy, Pippi Longstocking and a few others first. It's so hard to choose! 

I wanted to read All-of-a-Kind Family (L got it for her birthday), but I was vetoed, so I'm reading it myself. Not all books hold up to nostalgia, but this one is still utterly charming. I mentioned it on Twitter and there are a lot of us out there because we all started reminiscing about the button dusting and sneaking candy/crackers in bed. I remember being fascinated by the glimpse of Jewish culture and I'm happy to note that there is an E and a C among the five daughters. Unfortunately, I forgot how the father longs for a son and the book's happy ending [SPOILER] is Mama finally having a son so he's not saddled with a lot of inferior girl children [END SPOILER]. Sigh. I will accept it as his culture (he thinks about how he would love a son to accompany him to the synagogue), but I don't have to like it.

I spent some time researching popular names in Switzerland in order to appropriately name the cuckoo in our clock. Matteo? Lars? Alessio? Esteban? I'm a bit partial to Florian myself. E suggested Samantha or Petunia. Obviously, she cannot be trusted with this important task.

We took Bailey, our 14yo black cat, to the vet today because some fuzzy creature is peeing massive amounts and it's probably her. It's in the litter box, so I've been ignoring it and hoping it'll go away. Sadly, it's not and it's gross to clean, so off to the vet she went. She's having a sleepover there in hopes that she'll pee for them. They also gave her a wee bit of sedation and drew some blood because she's lost a pound and when you weigh less than 10 lbs, that's a huge percentage of your body weight. They had to sedate her because she (cat) thrashes violently and she (vet) was afraid that she'd puncture her trachea. She's always been our sweetest and lowest maintenance pet, so I guess she was due. I miss her - she sleeps on my feet or curled up behind my knees at night.

Eight

We had such a good time for E and L's eighth birthday last week. We went after school on Wednesday to get tinsel put in our hair. There were two dozen color choices and we could each choose three. I chose turquoise, dark blue, and rainbow, but I wish I had chosen red, orange, and gold like E. It looks stunning in her hair, like getting sparkly highlights. My stylist put it in with a special tool, so it should last for a few months, she said.

We went from there to a kindergarten pizza party at school. I knew so many people - I was not expecting that and it put me at ease. There were two kids from our preschool, the older brother of one of C's friends at the Y, someone from ballet class, and a younger brother of one of E and L's classmates. C will be in the proficient kindergarten (Ha ha! Proficient KINDERGARTEN? But okay. Whatever.) with L's previous teacher. By the end of the party, I was exhausted after all that extroverted conversation.

Pedicures were the next day and were a ton of fun! First we ate lunch at The Olive Garden (their idea of a fancy restaurant) and then headed to a place recommended by my friend. They loved the wall o' polish and all the different nail designs displayed.

The ladies did the whole shebang - feet soaking, smoothing, lotion and massage. E and L got a free flower design because it was their birthday. (I paid for C's.) I'm so impressed with their artist ability on such a tiny canvases! Everyone wants daily pedicures now and C has asked multiple times for a massage chair. They all had fun pressing the buttons and varying their massage.

WARNING: FOOT PICTURES.

(I guess I didn't take a picture of C's. Sorry, third child!)

We picked out annuals at the flower store after that. I let them choose and I think we got one of everything. We planted them this weekend and it's going to be a random sea of color, I think. I like haphazard flower gardens and I like neat/orderly ones, so either way was fine with me. This was the first year that E and L were quite helpful and not just "helpful." They planted their own pots as well as my traditional bed of annuals.

Anyway, back to their birthday. I made a chocolate cake for E and bought a pumpkin pie for L (per their request). I'm willing to have two different meals, too, but they unanimously chose pizza. The pedicures and tinsel were their main gifts, but we had a few other gifts tucked away: books, earrings for L, Detroit Tigers hats, and a bow and arrow set for each.

We have acquired a few things from A's grandpa as he has moved from the retirement community to a nursing home. I love furniture with history and there were a few beautiful things that we were lucky enough to be offered. We've moved them to a storage area temporarily until we can either 1. find a place for them or 2. clear out a spot in the basement for them. It was hard for A's aunt to go through all her parents' things - I remember going through my mom's belongings - but I think it is more comforting to pass them on to family instead of donate/recycle/trash them.

My favorite item is the cuckoo clock that they got in Switzerland in 1979 on the way home from visiting A's family in Zaire. A totally skimmed over that when he told me what items we were offered and I was all, "HOLD UP. THEY OFFERED US THE CUCKOO CLOCK?!" He replied, confused, "I didn't know we were cuckoo clock people." Obviously, he was WRONG because we TOTALLY ARE. Every time it cuckoos, the girls and I shriek, "I hear the cuckoo clock!" We are so cuckoo clock people.

(There IS a little cuckoo stopper if you decide you've had enough cuckoo-ing for the day. You simply move a little wire over the door and the cuckoo is dead to you.)

A's aunt also gave my girls his grandma's jewelry box. It's lovely and if they weren't so enthusiastic about it, I would "borrow" it to "store" on my dresser. On the other hand, I'm glad they were thrilled with the clock and the jewelry box and I think his aunt was heartened. It would stink to give your parents' things away and be met with an unenthusiastic reception. L said loudly, "These are my FAVORITE birthday gifts EVER!" and her aunt smiled through her tears.

We moved furniture around and it has made our house seem bigger, so thumbs up. I'm not usually a change-lover - I leave things as they are - but we moved a bookshelf out of our breakfast nook and moved our little table into the breakfast nook and moved our office futon and added a headboard and matching side tables to our bedroom. I felt kind of silly that I'm 35 and just now getting a bedroom set, but Twitter assured me that I am not alone. I would like our bedroom to be a retreat and we need to paint and then it will be. Then we'll probably move, so SIGH. But someday, right?

Karate and Ballet

On Fridays, I have about 2.5 hours to nap. I guard those hour jealously because without them, I wouldn't make it through my shift at work that night. I also try to not plan anything in the time between school pick up (3:30) and leaving for work (6:30) besides general childcare, showering, and dinner. For some reason, if I am doing things before I leave for work, I feel like I've ALREADY been working and that twelve hour shift seems insurmountable. 

This past Friday, after a few hours of sleep, I had to dress C up in her ballet outfit, pick up E and L after their school talent show audition (they have choreographed their own "dance"), and negotiate C's dress rehearsal. It put our home arrival time at 5:50 and I had to leave the house at 6:30. The "But I've ALREADY been working!" feeling is all in my head - I KNOW - but it's so discouraging. Still, it all went as smoothly as possible, considering.

I had started the day watching E get the student of the month award! I had a bit of "Really? You couldn't have passed your math test the same week you got the SofM award so I didn't have to sit through two assemblies?" but who am I to complain about attending multiple awards assemblies for my kid. Her teacher wrote a bunch of very kind words and she was quite proud.

I skipped belt testing this morning so I could be awake for the recital this afternoon, but E and L are now karate blue belts! I expect their advancement will slow a bit as requirements get harder, but if we stick with it, they only have purple and brown belts before they can test for their junior black belts.

We went to C's ballet recital this afternoon and I laughed so hard I made the shoulder of A's shirt wet. Those little kids are GREAT. Some of them know their dances, but most are watching the instructor offstage and following as best they can, some are staring blankly, mesmerized by the audience and lights, and the very best ones just do whatever the hell they want while everyone else is dancing. We watched one dance where a little girl on the end was dancing, but she was not doing anything like the rest of the dancers. She had her own moves. 

Like last year, A leaned over to me and said, "I know I'm biased, but I really think C is the best out of all of them." She got to choose our celebration dinner restaurant. I vetoed McDonald's, so we went to The Olive Garden because "It has shell macaroni-and-cheese!" She fell asleep on my MIL's lap when she finished eating and all three kids were exhausted by the time we came home. Right now they're sleeping in heaps of blankets on the floor of their room - inches away from comfortable beds - because it's "like a slumber party!"

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Wednesday the preschool sent home the pecan clusters that I had ordered from a fundraiser and I did NOT open them and eat them all for lunch like I wanted. In fact, I put them in the basement pantry so when A's sister is visiting and it's late and we are peckish, I can whip them out. I also ordered one of those upside-down hanging tomato plants, but it involves planting the seeds eight weeks ago. I might have to buy starter tomato plants from the store. Has anyone ever done the hanging tomato thing? It appeals to me since I dislike gardening and only have a postage stamp sized yard.

I spent a lot of time cleaning yesterday and came to the realization that we need to throw everything in our house away - except for the living things, I GUESS - and then it'll be a lot easier to keep up with the dust and clutter.

C and I left early to pick E and L up from their after school friendship bracelet club so that C could play on the playground. I ran into one of the other teachers as we were walking in and she told me E and L's teacher - who I adore - got a job as a dean in another school and will be leaving in June. It's a great opportunity for her, but maybe she didn't get the memo that she has to stay until C has been in her class, too.

L has been asking me to categorize her body parts. She has my mom's forehead, A's eyes, my MIL's nose, my little toe, etc. Some features are solely hers and she has trouble accepting that I don't know whose eyebrows she has and her arms just look like . . . ARMS. 

A worked late, so I had to endure the (very poorly) made up jokes at dinner without anyone with whom to exchange laughing glances. Then E and L teased C about loving Boris (friend from preschool) AND Zane (friend from real life) and sang, "C and Boris and Zane, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" I laughed and said, "We sang that when I was little!" and they were stunned. Because I'm so OLD, you see.

Our preschool regularly sends home little bags with books and stuffed animals to "visit" and then we have to bring it back so it can visit another kid. I discovered E patiently reading the book with C, helping her sound out the smaller words. What a great big sister.

Don't tell her, but tomorrow we're going to watch her be Student of the Month. Yay!

Initial Pancakes

I made initial pancakes last night for the first time. I don't know why I've never thought of it before. I'm not an idea person; I'm a follow through person. The E and C were hard - maybe I made them too large? The first batch turned out well, but the subsequent batches kept breaking in the middle. Luckily, E was happy to eat the mistakes.

C and I stopped at the neighborhood grocery store after the Y and I was looking at the peppers while the guy was picking out the slightly wrinkled ones. He gave me the five he pulled out for free. I NEVER win contests or free stuff, so I was inordinately pleased. I am STILL pleased when I think of it.

C requested hard boiled eggs for lunch. I asked, "Really?!" and she confirmed it. I don't like hard boiled eggs, but A does and L will eat the white part. Still, I've never made them. It turns out that my MIL gave her hard boiled eggs (C claims to have eaten three) with that cute little egg cup and a spoon to tap the egg and break it. After some quick googling, I was able to give her everything but the cute little egg cup. She peeled her eggs herself and then I bit back my retching while I watched her eat three eggs like apples. UGH. I hope there's an award for encouraging your child to eat something you find repulsive.

I'm a sub par housekeeper, but I'm going to try to regularly deep clean one room a week. Today I cleaned the main floor bathroom. That is all.

Mother's Day Weekend

Friday was a super busy day. I went to see E receive her math medallion at school and then zipped back to preschool for a Mother's Tea which wasn't really a tea at all. As I walked in, C met me in the hallway with my corsage (!) and the (coached) words, "You look very beautiful today, Mom!" She showed me the paragraph she wrote for me and the picture she drew.

 

"My mom's name is Linda, but I call her Mom. I think she's 15 or 16 years old. She is tall and has brown hair and blue eyes. I don't know what her favorite food is - she always cooks all kinds of food for us. She works downtown in an office, too. She likes to go shopping. She plays My Little Dragon with me and she likes to be funny! My mom reads lots of books to me and takes me to the Y - that's fun! My mom taught me how to do a somersault. I love my mom 120!"

She served me strawberry shortcake and a big deal was made about how the kids were to ask their moms for their preferences and serve them first. You could tell the teachers had gone over it multiple times. I was seated at a table where everyone else was having their kids go into a Young 5s program (even a July birthday!) and this didn't help my No More Fretting Over a Resolved Issue Resolution, but I kept my mouth shut.

After preschool, we went home, ate a quick lunch, changed into casual clothes (the tea was fancy dress), and went back to E and L's school for a nature walk. The walk was fun and I KNEW that I would end up carrying C piggy-back for most of it, but two miles of 45 sweaty pounds plastered to my back was a workout. 

We left school and drove downtown to pick up A's race packet. We parked at the Y and walked through a park (we stopped so C could roll down some hills) and took a walk along the river and over a bridge before getting to the expo. I knew C would make out like a bandit at the expo and she got a ton of candy and granola bars and treats (cotton candy!) before we finally got A's packet. We wandered back to the Y in time to pick up E and L from school.

We came home, made signs to cheer A on, ate dinner, and watched The Prisoner of Azkaban. I was exhausted, but we were up at 0600 the next morning to leave by 7 for the race.  My MIL came, too. If there is one person who thinks more of my children than I do, it's my MIL. She raved about them the whole time we were waiting for the race to start. A ran a great race - he shaved 2.5 minutes off his 10K time from last year and ran just under 9 minute miles the whole way. AND - this is the best part, in my opinion - he finished strong, not feeling like he was going to die. Maybe next year I'll sign him up for the 25K.

This year we only cheered, but L looked through race pictures and wants to man an aid station next year. Maybe we'll do that at our little neighborhood 5K for practice and see if she likes it. 

E and L's teacher ran the 10K, too, and finished first in her 50-54 age group! Their gym teacher finished 24th out of 3000+ people who ran the 25K. They have some impressive runners at their school! 

 We came home so A could shower and then went out to breakfast with his mom. I love how easy it is to go to a restaurant with our kids. E and L can read the menu and place their own orders and everyone behaves appropriately. L and I walked home from the restaurant together. I told her about the first time we thought they were old enough to walk to the ice cream store and how whiny they both were and how we swore WE WOULD NEVER WALK TO THE ICE CREAM STORE AGAIN. This was a pleasant walk - we held hands, critiqued landscaping, and even skipped together for part of it. (I'm sure THAT looked hilarious.)

When we got home, I was banished to my room while everyone else cleaned the house. (We celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday since I wasn't working.) I slept for a while and then finished my book in peace and quiet. It was lovely. When I rejoined the rest of the house, E and L had set up a scavenger hunt for me. I went from clue to clue (all used items from our recycling bin) and discovered the cards they had made for me. They included promises like "I wll make you a cake made completely of frosting!" and "I will give you lots of head massages!" My kids know what I like. I also received a beautiful wooden wind chime that A hung outside the kitchen window.

We met A's mom again for a crazy indulgence of ANOTHER meal out. We went to a local restaurant that has the best pizza ever. (Yes, it does.) I had two glasses of wine and then, later at home, two bowls of ice cream. Happy Mother's Day, indeed.

I stayed off FB for most of Sunday, not because I begrudge anyone a happy relationship with a living mother, but it's hard when EVERYONE is appreciating their moms at the same time. I feel bittersweet regularly in day-to-day life: I'm happy I had such a great mom for 29 years and thankful that I am a mom and I'm happy you continue to have your great mom who babysits for you and takes you out to lunch, but seeing all those pictures of grandmas holding grandchildren and multiple generations together . . . it's hard. I don't have that and I desperately want it. It seems kinder to allow myself to withdraw, feel sad, rage against life's unfairness, and miss my mom without raining over anyone else's parade.

Movie Star

Around lunchtime today, I called the vet because they had had possession of my cat for 28 hours without any communication. The vet said, nicely, that he was being an asshole. The vet tech said that she would like me to please put him in his carrier when I pick him up. He was pissing off the other cats, so they had him all by his yowling lonesome. Honestly, you guys, he is such a lover, but he is more of a homebody than I am (I know!). 

He finally peed for them this afternoon and is happily back at home. He puked as we pulled into our driveway. As per usual, our other cat is hissing and attacking him and will continue for a few days. My animals are dumb.

C wore a kerchief that came from my mom to volunteer in E and L's classroom with me today. It was one of those battles I chose not to fight.

Pphone said she looked" very 50s-movie-star-riding-in-convertible." She got lots of indulgent smiles from people and one of the first grade teachers stopped me to tell me what her son insisted on wearing to the grocery store Saturday morning.

 E greeted me with news that she had finally earned her math medallion (100 subtraction facts done correctly in less than five minutes) and lost her new, big-en0ugh-to-last-another-one-or-two-years-coat. Sigh.

Commando Ballet

We dropped off Roland at the vet this morning to get a urinalysis done and if there was any doubt I live a first world country, I think that would erase it. Our vet is juuuuust outside his No Puke zone. Every time we take him there, he starts making disgruntled sounds about two miles away and as we turn onto the clinic street, he throws up everything he's eaten since the beginning of time. Then he backs away from it in disgust and eyes me accusingly.

He is still there, which leads me to think he has spent the day yelling at the clinic staff, not providing a fresh, crystal-free urine specimen. 

C got to wear her recital costume to ballet today since the recital is next week. She was manic with excitement. As we were walking into the Y, I asked, "Are you excited about something?" and she shrieked back, "YES! I'M EXCITED BECAUSE I GET TO WEAR MY BEAUTIFUL COSTUME TO BALLET!" I said, "I wish you had said something earlier," and she shrieked indignantly, "I DID!" We are still working on sarcasm. Four-year-olds are so literal.

Parents came in for the last ten minutes of class so she could go over hair and make-up with us. Last year I rolled my eyes and didn't put any make-up on C, but this year the instructor was gently insistent. I don't even OWN blush! Apparently, my pale child is in a pale dress and the lighting will cause her face to look like a feature-less monster. Honestly, this is why she is switching to karate in the fall. Dance gives me too much cognitive dissonance.

We were also instructed to send our children commando. Those same lights that make them look washed out will show their underwear and make their dresses look all bunched up. How hilarious is that? C is fine not wearing undies whenever possible, but another parent said seriously, "I don't think I can get [my child] to do that."

I made chocolate covered apricots as a teacher appreciation gift and even made them fancy by drizzling melted white chocolate over the milk chocolate. I am not a candy maker, but I could be; it was fun. I had extra chocolate, so I dipped strawberries in that and we ate them for dessert tonight. They were not pretty enough to give as a gift, but they tasted great.

After school, L helped me make cookies for the other teachers. E was finishing her homework since she forgot her homework folder yesterday (choices have consequences!). We're going to set a platter out in the teacher's lounge and I sent enough to share with their classmates at snack time. We were making a triple batch, so she had to do a lot of multiplying fractions. Three-fourths x3 is hard. She figured out six teaspoons of vanilla easily and then I told her that one tablespoon has four teaspoons in it and before I was done, she shouted, "One tablespoon and two teaspoons!" Little smartypants.

A few birthday presents were delivered today and we have a new UPS lady who is terrified of dogs. Seriously. She told me. She always acts like Lucy is one instant away from tearing out her throat. She stands on the sidewalk and calls, "Is that dog in your backyard unrestrained?" or "Do you have control of your dog?" when I answer the door. I feel for her, but it seems like such a stressful job to have if you are THAT scared of dogs. I bet she is cursing my Amazon Prime membership.

As we were finishing up C's bath today, we had this conversation: 

Her: I want to be a mama!

Me: You'll be a great mama! How many kids are you going to have?

Her: (thoughtfully) I don't know . . . (suddenly stern) NOT 100!

Me: Yeah, that would be a lot.

Her: I'm glad YOU didn't have 100 kids!

Snail Nerd

You guys, I took  A VIDEO of the snail, Couscous Ninja. (You can see Betty in the background.) I think his little mouth cleaning the tank is fascinating. And I put a piece of lettuce in the freezer for 30-45 minutes (to soften the membranes) and then took a picture of him eating it. A is doing a very good job of saying, lovingly, "You are so cute" to me, but I'm not sure how much longer it'll last before he's laughing and pointing.

I got done working Sunday morning and was already celebrating not having to work again for an entire week and then one of my favorite coworkers sneaked up behind me and whispered that she's pregnant with her THIRD AND FOURTH CHILDREN! She was telling me before other people because we are going to be twin mom bffs! I love being in on secret pregnancies. If any of you out there have a secret pregnancy, please tell me.

A took C to see the Pinkalicious Musical and that night we went to Karen's birthday party and ate amazing homemade cake and breadsticks. There was other delicious food, too, but man, those breadsticks. Yum.

I did a double class at the Y on Monday morning: weight lifting class (with my pastor!) and then step aerobics. I sent a FB message to my weight lifting instructor and told her, "I can hardly walk today! I'm cursing your name!" and she replied, "You know that's music to my ears!" She's so perky and so evil.