Catching up and the ball-less, tail-less kitty...

Did you think I died??? I have been so busy...lots has been going on and this will probably be a long one!!!

First of all, Brad has been really sick, leaving me to do all the parenting stuff on my own. Second, I have been getting up early to walk on my treadmill and I've been going to bed early because of it. Third, I was so behind from the week I was out of work that it has taken me until now to get caught up. And just to make sure I don't forget.... if I leave out the part about my cat... somebody has gotta email me and make me tell it. It is hilarious!

So, let me start at the beginning... Brad, as you may remember, had pneumonia when I was diagnosed with the flu a couple of weeks ago. Well, he felt a little better and really helped out while I was sick all that week, but I am afraid he didn't give himself enough rest to get entirely better. He started feeling bad again last weekend and he went to the doctor again and they said his lungs looked really bad and that if they didn't clear up in a week or so that they were sending him to a lung specialist. I really fussed at him and I made him take it easy all weekend (as much as I could anyway - I mean, he IS Brad, right?) He had some kind of work retreat he had to go to Saturday that he said he couldn't get out of, but we skipped church on Sunday and I took the kids and went shopping and visited mom and dad at the lake for a little while to give him some good rest time. I think he slept most of the day. He has been gradually feeling better this week, using his inhaler and taking the other meds that the doctor prescribed. I guess it was my turn to pick it up and do all the stuff around here while he took it easy. So not a lot of time for computer. I just went through about 100 emails from the past week. Mostly junk of course!

Then there's my treadmill. We spent a lot of money on it so that's one reason that I am motivated to get up and walk each day. The other motivation is my wide caboose, of course. I have been getting up at 5, walking 2 miles (takes me about 45 minutes) and then getting ready for school like normal. I finally convinced Brad to let me take the kids to his mom's in the mornings so I could get to work on time. He still has that sleeping issue that makes me late, so hopefully me taking the kids and not having to wait around on him in the morning will help me get out the door so I won't be late like I have been for the past two months! Anyway, getting up that early has not been easy but believe it or not I have been feeling much better during the day. I am ready to hit the hay around 8:30 or 9... and boy, is it gonna be a butt-buster when the time changes! Anyway, I am really proud of myself and I just hope I can keep it up. I was really sore the first couple of days but now I think my old tired out-of-shape body is starting to adjust. And I am getting a lot of reading done! I have been reading while I walk (since I really don't have to watch where I am going) and I really am enjoying those Evanovich books. They are easy to read and they don't get boring. It really makes the time fly and that makes me not mind the exercise so much.

So, as far as work goes, I am swamped. Me and Becky are in charge of the Outer Banks trip and we had the deadline for the final payment so we've had to start working on finalizing lots of other details about the trip. I often wonder how I got myself into this mess? It is so crazy. Then there's high school registration that we started dealing with today. I always hate that! It is such a mess and nobody ever fully understands the high school's requirements (including them). We are transitioning from one grading program to another and we are having to get more training every Thursday and we are having to reenter all of our grades. This has taken up a lot of time on top of everything else. Honestly, it has just been so busy lately!

So, now for the cat story... this is a good one, y'all! My cat is driving me crazy. Bouncing off the walls and tearing stuff up. He needs to be neutered but the vet said at the last visit that he wasn't ready. So, I decided that this past Saturday was a good day for the kitty to meet the great outdoors. I shut the dogs up in the garage and put the cat on the front porch. He meowed and carried on which worried the kids to death. So Sam kept going out to "check on him". After about thirty or forty minutes, I was in front of the washing machine when Sam came in and said, "Look what I found in front of the door!" I looked and he had a big chunk of kitty fur. I took the chunk and it appeared to have some skin attached so I was a bit worried. I went to the door to find the cat and the first thing I see is a few little spots of blood. Uh-oh. Open the door and there is lots of blood all over the front porch. So then I follow the trail back inside the house and there sits kitty about halfway up the steps with a bloody tail. Apparently Sam had gone to check on him and caught the end of his tail in the door and I guess the kitty pulled the end of his tail off because it didn't break, it just kind of skinned about the last inch of his tail. I panicked and called the vet. They said yeah, bring him in so they can see if anything needs to be done to it. This was Saturday morning at around 9 or 9:30 so we all had to hurry up and throw on our clothes, throw kitty in the carrier and take off to the vet. Lily had on a pink dress, red hose, and pink shoes. Diva. Anyway, sit in the vet for about 30 minutes, he says kitty needs to have the end of his tail amputated to keep it from getting infected, but he's too busy to do it that day. Scheduled the surgery, asked about neutering and he checked and said yes, kitty was ready (hooray!). Start back home with the bloody cat in tow and my cell phone rings. It was Brad's daddy. He sounds a little funny and he asks if I am alright. Yes, why? He said, "Well, I am at your house with the POLICE!!! Your alarm went off and they could reach anybody so they sent the police to make sure everything was ok. Your front door was standing open." So I think to myself... I forgot to lock the front door, left in a hurry, wind blew front door open, alarm goes off, etc. Then I get to thinking about what my house looked like, you know... is there any dirty underwear sitting around in the floor? And I suddenly remember all the blood! And when I left the house I just left. I mean, I didn't turn off lights or tv or anything. So, it basically looks like I was busy cleaning my house when someone kicked in the front door and, oh I don't know, maybe bludgeoned me with an ice pick or something! I felt so bad! I don't know what he said to the police but when I got home Linda had come up there with her garage door opener to help lock up and the cops were gone. I cannot even imagine what it looked like! They probably have been driving by my house to make sure that Brad and I aren't mutilating people on our front porch. Well, alls well that ends well. I picked kitty up from the vet yesterday and he is now a fully castrated feline AND he has about 1-2 inches less of a tail than he had before. And I am sure he is completely terrified of going outside... I mean, who wouldn't be after an experience like that??

So, now I am feeling like life is getting back to normal after several week of not-normal. I am sure ready for my spring break (my job is getting on my nerves) and I am in need of a stress reliever. Maybe I need a nice daquiri and a massage? Sounds good. Or maybe I just need a night of Bon Jovi... right, Carm? Counting down the days until March 16th! Ahhh...