Monday, June 20, 2011

a vacation full of grateful

While I was on vacation, I knew I would not be able to post my daily "five things".  That does not mean, however, that I did not scribble them down on a piece of paper on a daily basis.  The beach is not necessarily my favorite place.  I do not enjoy sand in my netherregions.  So it did me good to remind myself of things I was grateful for.  I brought them all back.  The entire week's worth to be shared with whoever might be amused.  And here it is:

Monday:  arrived safely, I got to hold Callie the whole trip, a yummy supper, great camp site, Steven's thermal invention for the camper
Tuesday:  no major fights among family members, nobody got sunburned, the showers remind me of my grandmother's house, Steven walking the dogs with me, the little blue lights that hang around our camp
Wednesday:  supper at Toucan's, lots of reading time, Avery got to spend time with her grandmother, my kindle finally downloaded a new book, spf50
Thursday:  walks with the dogs, allergy meds, shower got unclogged, I found my book, oversized PJ's
Friday:  bacon, the opportunity to read a good trilogy, no major family altercations, time out in a cool movie theater, my husband taking the shih tzus for their morning walk
Saturday:  watching sunsets on the beach, nobody got sunburned this year, a chance to take a long nap, that the dogs are washable, that I got some cool bumper stickers to "hippy-up" my car
Sunday:  we are home, we had a safe trip, there were no dead rodent presents from the cats, there were no piles of :revenge poop" from TingTing, my talented kid gets to go to Julliard camp in the morning.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

the chipmunk loose in my house

There is a chipmunk loose in my house.  I am grateful he is alive.  There are 4 cats, 2 shih tzus (who think they are secret killer ninja shih tzus but they're not) and a 70 pound dog who has a record of killing a guinea pig, a chicken, and a baby bunny.  fortunately at first, the chipmunk was contained to my son's room.  The kids and I speculate that he came in through a hole leading to the attic but my husband insists that one of the cats brought the chipmunk in.
My husband and I went looking for him last night so we could save him from the evil clutches of the cats.  The chicken killing dog had gone to spend the week at a friend's house (and most probably kill yet another one of their chickens) while we go on vacation. We were unable to locate the poor creature and gave up on the search after a while.
I had fallen asleep on the couch last night and this morning I heard my girl shih tzu barking at something incessantly.  It could only be one thing.  The chipmunk.  She was barking at the floor speaker in the corner of our family room, so I knew she couldn't get to the little guy.  Half asleep I went and got a box so that I could attempt to scoop the chipmunk into it and return him to the much safer environment of outside.  I moved the box.  He's a quick little fellow.  He ran to behind something else on the floor and hid behind it.  *sigh*.  My husband is still asleep and its probably not the best idea to wake him up to engage him in a game of chipmunk chase.  the shih tzus keep running around and looking under the couch, under a table, in the fireplace (one of my shih tzus is not the sharpest tool in the shed but we love him dearly).  Right now the cats seem oblivious.  My cat that likes to bring me dead things is asleep upstairs and only one cat seems to be up and awake and she is mewing at me to give her kitty treats (no she's not hungry.  She has a bowl full of food.  She wants kitty treats.  She thinks she is royalty and I am her lady in waiting.  I am sure she has fired me several times over for not meeting her demands and is puzzled why I still keep showing up for work).
So, we will see what becomes of the chipmunk saga.  I hope we get him out of the house before we leave for vacation.  He is a brave soul to venture into the Dukes household.  Namaste, little chippy.