multiple choice

So Mike's going to be working nights for the next little while. Leaving me here to share our bed with a six year old who takes up a shocking amount of real estate, needs more than her fair share of the covers and who might snore, just a little bit.

So far things have been going surprisingly well despite my paranoia over things that go bump in the night. Of course I had to go and jinx myself by patting myself on the back for acting like such a big girl. And now Zebby cat has been wearing a hole in the floor pacing back and forth in front of the stove. The only logical conclusion to the question why.... is we are now hosting an uninvited guest of the rodent persuasion. The way I see my best course of action is to head upstairs, get into bed, close my door and hope that;

a) The mouse decides that, snow outside or not, it's just not worth it to stay here.
b) Zebby cat takes care of the problem without feeling it necessary to share his kill with me.
c) They keep this standoff going until morning when Mike can take care of the problem.

Any of these options is good with me. And now I'm off to read Twilight until I can't keep my eyes open any longer. I estimate I might get through a page. Maybe a page and a half.

and there was much rejoicing

This Christmas brought Abby a webkinz, ours is a cute little white terrier looking puppy that she quickly named Fuzzy. Now our annoying lack of highspeed internet here in the sticks means that she can't use her webkinz online, but she does enjoy playing with the dog itself. Also enamoured with Fuzzy, the webkinz dog is Zebby, the real live cat.

Today Abby left Fuzzy unattended on the couch and Zebby saw an opportunity. In a blink Fuzzy was on the other side of the room, in Zebby's mouth. Maya was on top of things though and in very short order she had liberated Fuzzy and returned him to his rightful owner. A very grateful Abby, who had this to say, "Maya is a real hero in here!"

seriously, best cat ever

I haven't had much to say about Zebby since "the surgery that compromised his manhood", but I feel I must let you know how thankful I am for the procedure because now he's gone from pretending our living room is the serengeti and the girls are gazelles just waiting to be taken down, to this:



I like this much better. So does Abby, now that she doesn't require somebody to "cover her" when she moves from one room to another. Oh the freedom!

reunited and it feels so good

Zebby is home. Abby is happy.

shed a tear cause i'm missin' you

Zebby has reached the stage in his life where he needs to have his boy bits taken care of, so he's been vacationing at the vets for the last couple of days. Today we got home from work to Zebby's empty cat carrier.

Abby: Is the cat home yet?
Me: Nope, he has to stay one more night. We can get him tomorrow.
Abby: Can I go to get him too?
Me: I think you probably could.
Abby: I miss that cat.
pause
Abby: I'm going to cry in a minute.

the best cat ever

Can I tell you how lucky we got with this cat. Zippy, our last cat had a notoriously bad temper with just about everyone outside of us and to be truthful he really barely tolerated us most of the time. Now Zebby (yes I know we are wildly creative when it comes to naming pets) on the other hand has been an absolute dream. I have yet to see him take a swipe or even so much as hiss at either of the girls even when suffering such indignities as this.



And enduring the Holy terror that is Maya. Well I may be a little harsh there. She does love him, but in that "love-you-so-much-I-want-to-squish-you-to-death" sort of way.



Even after having Zebby here for three months I am still in awe when I see her patiently putting up with Maya's attempts to ride her like a pony. Which actually happened. Tonight. For like 10 minutes.

new furniture and a compromise

Today Mike and Papa picked up our new-to-us furniture. I thought I might feel at least a pang of sadness as the old stuff headed out the door, but as it turns out no. Not even a little bit. That poor couch has been through hell and back and it doesn't owe us anything. Mike put it at the end of the driveway in the hopes someone would pick it up and save him a trip to the dump. I was pretty sure it was wishful thinking on his part and that was before the rain storm.



I have to admit I wasn't exactly sure about this furniture when we agreed to buy it, but now that it's our living room I really love it. It's also incredibly comfortable and Zebby was clearly happy with the purchase since she slept the entire afternoon away on it.



That is until Maya got up from her nap.



Tonight we had dinner with Robin, Tim and the girls. On the way home, way past the kids bedtime of course, and Abby calls out to Mike from the back row of the van;

Abby: Dad can you close your window.
Mike: I'll close it half way.
Abby: No! I want you to close it all the way.
Me: Abby, Daddy's going to close it half way, that's called a compromise.
Abby: No, Daddy closes it all the way, that's a compromise.

Zebby

Now you're probably asking yourself, what in the world is a Zebby? Well Zebby is the name of the donkey where Grandma Sandi boards one of her horses. Abby is especially fond of him (or her I'm not exactly sure what we're dealing with there). So much so that this is also a Zebby...



Yes, Abby has named her new kitten after the donkey despite some stellar suggestions from her father and Uncle Dave, who helpfully recommended the following, "the cat", Kevin, Ricky and Mittens.

Zebby has been making herself right at home. After a very quick tour of the living room she spent some time hiding under the recliner. Mike fished her out to show her where the washroom facilities were after which she curled up near my desk and slept for an hour or so. Upon waking she spent several minutes in serious combat with "mirror Zebby", the outcome of which was too close to call.