If something's worth doing eventually, it's worth doing immediately

Last Sunday my family gathered in the family room to plan the upcoming week. With people coming and going at different times, attending various holiday events, and meeting with friends, there was a lot to discuss. We all wanted to go up to Colorado (just a 2-hour drive) to visit with my grandparents. It turned out we had two days free for that: Monday (the very next morning) and then Saturday (the day after Christmas). We decided to go that next morning, realizing that we knew that day was free, while it was very likely something might come up making Saturday not free for us.

We went up and visited with Grandma. She's been taking care of Grandpa for the last few years while Grandpa has gradually gotten older and able to do less and less. When I went last year, his hearing was gone and he'd lost his interest in reading. He didn't talk very much, except to bless the food at dinner. So he just sat and watched whoever/whatever was going on. He was getting more and more dependent on Grandma for his basic needs, and gratefully, her health allowed her to take care of him. On Monday when we went to visit, Grandpa stayed in bed almost the entire time we were there. He'd just recently stopped feeding himself, and when he finally did get up and visit us in the living room, he didn't seem to notice us there at first. He did perk up when he saw us, and he smiled at everyone for a little bit. When we put Penny on his lap, he smiled at her and said a little something to her.

I'm very glad we visited Grandpa last week. Yesterday we found out that Grandpa had died. And while it wasn't untimely or entirely unexpected, it is still sad. I am happy, though, that we didn't wait until yesterday to see him. I am happy he got to meet Penny. And I am happy that Grandma gets to rest from her work of taking care of Grandpa.I'm very sad that Grandpa's gone. I feel like the last several times I've gone to see him I've had to say goodbye a little bit at a time. So while 92 is a very good age to live to, it's hard to say goodbye at last. I know I'll get to see him on the other side and he'll be bright and cheery as ever. But I plan on waiting a while before I get there, and I'll miss him before then.

Quandary

I'm having a bit of a dilemma.

We're moving in to Kevin's parents' house on New Year's or just after that. We feel really good about that decision and have made necessary preparations for the move. I've cancelled my student teaching appointment in Boise, Kevin's finishing up his job, my sister is coming up to take my piano, and the ball is definitely rolling.

Now here comes a big road block, one that tears me up inside and I can't seem to find a solution for: our cats are not welcome at Kevin's parents' house.

I had originally thought it would be fine for the cats to just stay downstairs where we'll be living. The litter box would go in the garage, and everything would be fine and dandy. I'd vacuum every couple days to keep things from getting too fuzzy, and no one upstairs would be any the wiser to there being cats in the house.

This was not okay.

Hmm.... plan B. The cats could live in the downstairs garage. They wouldn't ever come inside, but they'd live in the dark, cold garage full time. I'd put their scratching tower in there and probably a nice cozy blanket or two so they could get comfortable. Kevin and I decided if this was what we had to do, we would probably let them go outside once in a while so they wouldn't feel to cooped up.

Turns out this was not okay either.

Cats are just not welcome in their house, period.

I really don't know what to do. The only "compromise" that they're willing to accept is for the cats to live outside full time. The only problem with this is that Howie would run off, and Toby would spend all day pawing at the door, crying and meowing to come in. This is what happens when we let them outside in Boise, and even before that in Provo. I had originally agreed to this "compromise," but once I thought it through, I realized it wouldn't work.

We could find someone to take in our cats for the next 6 months or so while we're living in Washington. But it seems like people who love cats already have a houseful of them, and anyone who doesn't have cats is allergic or hates them.

Anybody want a couple cats for a few months?
Amongst the din of volunteers elbowing each other out of the way to have the opportunity of taking care of our kitties, the prospect looms of having to get rid of our cats.
I won't do it.

I'd rather live in Boise for absolutely no reason (no job, no student teaching) and keep paying what will turn into thousands of dollars in rent just to keep them with us.

But then the nagging thought comes back that, even though there is this huge deadlocked situation that bars our way to smooth sailing, I still feel really good about moving to Washington. I know it's the right thing for our family to be doing right now.

I just don't know how it's going to work.

Meow!

Toby joined our little family in October of 2006. We lived in our tiny little cottage in the middle of a big field, and we had a bit of a problem with field mice. For Kevin's birthday, we went and picked out a tiny black kitten and brought him home. Kevin named him October, and we call him Toby for short.

When we brought him home, he was the size of two of my fists with my pinkie sticking up as his tiny kitten tail. He fit inside Kevin's sweatshirt pocket, and when he got scared, he would run under a coffee table. I remember the day he was big enough that he ran to the coffee table and thunk! He didn't fit under it anymore.

When Kevin went on his internship in Hong Kong, Toby was my little b

uddy. I'd come home from work, and he was meowing and happy to see me. I'd talk to him as I worked in the kitchen or around the house, and he'd meow back to me.

He likes to snuggle with me when I'm sleeping. When a small kitten, he'd weightlessly pad across our bed and make himself comfortable in my hair that spread across my pillow. Now that he's

huge, it's a little bit painful when he steps across me, and he curls up on my shoulder more than my head--which is good because I enjoy breathing.

(warning, unflattering picture)

I had several miscarriages before having Penny, and during each one, I'd snuggle Toby like the baby I didn't have. I know he's a cat, but he filled a need for me, and for a few years he was my baby and my child. I needed someone small to love, and he filled that void perfectly.

A couple years ago, I remember hearing a cat meowing LOUDLY. I was in the back room, and it sounded like Toby was in the kitchen having a major fit about something. But Toby was right next to me making no noise at all. It turns out that there was a little fuzzball kitten stuck in a tree outside in our neighbor's yard. Kevin went out to investigate, as did several of our neighbors. A little while later, we had another kitten. This one we named Howie.

He is a good friend and little brother for Toby. They entertain and fight with each other, and they keep each other in shape. They run around the house together, and when they're not fighting, they lick each other's faces clean and sometimes even snuggle together to nap.

As a matter of fact, we have Howie to blame for Penny's birthday being a week before her due date. We let him play outside our apartment while we went for a walk on a Saturday. By the tim

e we came home, he was nowhere to be seen. I love the little fuzzball, and in my extra hormonal state (38 weeks pregnant), I was very upset by his being lost.

I roamed around our neighborhood a few times that Saturday looking for him, alternately weeping and calling for him. Then on Sunday, I was really upset and couldn't stop crying, so I left church early to go look for him. I walked around the neighborhood in every spare minute I found, calling for him and looking everywhere I could think of.

We put up a few signs around the neighborhood, but then it rained and ruined them. So that Monday, I went to Kinko's and spent a good chunk of money making full color flyers for our Howie. We walked around our block that Monday evening putting up flyers, and I had painful contractions every so often during that walk. When we got back to our apartment, I peered off our balcony and saw that fuzzy little stinker over in the next parking lot over. I toddled down the stairs and ran (yes, ran!) over to scoop him up.

And then Penny was born a few long hours later.

I didn't grow up with cats, and I never really understood how people could get attached to their pets. But somehow it happened to me.

Growling, Jumping, Baby

Title says it all. Post by Kevin.

Real food

Now I know that when I show a picture of my baby eating solid food for the first time, I'm supposed to have globs of it all over her face, hair, and clothing.
I'm sorry to disappoint.
But these are pictures to mark the first time Penny ate some cereal. I only gave her a tiny bit, and she was happy before, during, and after eating it. So I consider that a success!

Tonight we had some friends over to dinner, and it made me think about a few things.
First of all, if I ever start stressing about my house having to be clean, I need to just invite some people over. It makes a lot more sense to clean things up when people are actually going to use them. For example, our kitchen table. I'd been doing sewing projects on 3/4 of it for about a month now, and for longer than that dust bunnies had been frolicking underneath it. But with only the 2 of us using the table, it never really mattered. Bring in the friends, though, and suddenly it's all spic and span.
I also tried to clean my kitchen as I went along. I was partially successful. I always try to do this when guest come over anyway. One of my parents once pointed out that it's always more appetizing to eat something that comes from a kitchen that looks like it would pass the health code. Maybe that was in response to one of my more... creative... cooking attempts. But either way, when guests come over, I try to have my kitchen clean enough that they feel comfortable eating in my house.
But besides getting all hung up about cleaning, I'm really sad to be leaving my friends I've made here in Boise. People are so friendly here! I think it's just part of the culture here. When you're walking along the greenbelt along the Boise river, people greet each other as they walk or jog by. And that feeling is just compounded in our ward. When we moved in, people reached out to get to know us, and we tried to reach out and get to know other people as well. Also, we took the Marriage and Family Sunday school class, which was a smallish group of about 8-10 couples. We all learned each other's names, which was just a starting point for all of us to become good friends. I'm really going to miss these foks!!

Change of plans

I would like to thank everyone for their ideas on keeping a cleaner house. It's given me a good idea of some areas where I can do a little better with only a little bit more effort. And it will come in handy because....
We're moving. Soon. To Washington.
It turns out that Kevin's job that was going to end in July is ending in January. And while we were contemplating staying here so I could do my student teaching, it just didn't make economical sense to stay in Boise, keep paying rent every month, and start paying childcare just so I could complete a 3-month unpaid internship that doesn't technically have to be completed until 2012.
So after Christmas we'll pack up and go live with Kevin's parents in their basement. I know some in-law basements are scary, dark, spidery storage units safeguarding boxes of dusty school projects, books no one will ever read, and musty Christmas decorations. But not this one. Kevin's parents' basement is an actual apartment with a bedroom, bathroom, and sitting room. It has a big sliding glass door and even its own garage. We will still share the kitchen upstairs, which is why I'm a bit nervous about my cleaning skills. Kevin's mom keeps an immaculate house, and I... don't. I don't want to drive her nuts, so I'll really be working on this.
Somehow this move doesn't stress me out as much as student teaching (or at least the idea of it) did. I'll have to cancel my student teaching appointment, and there's a slight possibility I may be able to do it in Washington. This could turn out to be wonderful, because since there are more Asians in the area (not hard to do, seeing how Boise has essentially none), there may be an opportunity for me to teach Chinese. Yay!
The weather won't be as dreadfully cold as it's been here, and so when it's not drizzling, Penny and I can go on walks again.
It will be really nice for Penny to get to know her A-ma and A-gong. She's a sweetie, and she's starting to notice what's going on around her a lot more and starting to share her personality more. They'll get to know her, and she will learn more Chinese than she probably would otherwise. This will be one of the highlights.
I will miss Boise. We've made some good friends in our ward here, and I've just started a new calling with the Young Women. I was looking forward to getting to know them better.
It's always hard to change plans, but we both feel really good about the steps we're about to take. We've been blessed by listening to the Holy Ghost and trying to follow the Lord's commandments. We've been living frugally, working on a food storage, and putting some money away in savings. We could theoretically stay here until I'm through with my student teaching, but again, it just doesn't make sense to blow our savings on an unpaid internship that doesn't immediately need to be done. I'd been excited for my student teaching, but as I tried to get the details worked out, nothing seemed to fall into place. As more and more challenges arose, I found myself dreading it. And now that we've made the decision to move, I feel like I can do this. It does involve more work and a little more frantic scrambling to get things done, but it feels right. And with God's help, we can do anything.
Even learn to keep a kitchen clean.

Whelmed

Last week I felt like I'd finally gotten a handle on things, so much so that I figured I could try keeping my house a bit cleaner.
Well, that has fallen by the wayside as I've had a bit of a change of plans made for me.
I was all ready to start student teaching at the end of January. I'd contacted my teachers I'd be working with, and we had started discussing curriculum. I felt a little overwhelmed at the amount of work it would take to organize a curriculum, but I had 2 1/2 months and knew I could do it.
Then my school contacts me: "Oh by the way, before you can student teach, you need to complete this 3 credit class starting today and going straight through to the day you thought you'd start student teaching. Happy holidays!"
Wow, talk about overwhelming!
It's actually a really useful class (about curriculum and lesson planning), but it was more than I'd expected to have to do over my holidays. On Tuesday when I found out about this, I was completely stressed and overwhelmed. There are many projects and observations I'll have to do, and now that Penny is my little buddy all the time, it makes it a bit harder to just run off to go observe a class.
So I went through my syllabus and broke everything down, writing down all my assignments and their due dates. I spend Penny's nap times working on school instead of cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or catching up on sleep. I feel very busy, but as long as I keep moving, I know I can do this.
I'm not feeling entirely overwhelmed anymore-- just whelmed.

Messy

Hey everyone reading this,
I've never been a very organized person. I don't like cleaning, and I don't like organizing. But I do like having a clean and organized house. Can you see my problem?
I don't have the money to pay someone to come clean, and honestly, I'd like to have the satisfaction of knowing I can keep my own house. I love those houses where you walk in and see a few carefully placed decorations, see the fruit bowl on the table, and smell sweet candle scents wafting from wherever.
Contrast this to my house. You walk in and see a pile of shoes spiling out of the shoe shelf, blocking your entry to the house. On the couch and coffee table are heaps of books, jackets, Penny clothes, mail, and anything else I've looked at or used during the day. The dining table has a rock-hard orange and grapefruit in the fruit bowl, along with some tomato stems and random fruit stickers. The dishes pile up in the kitchen, and even if all the dishwasher ones are in the dishwasher, there's still a pile of pans that need handwashing. And while my house sometimes smells neutral, I know that often there's a competition of subtle aromas wafting from the sink, garbage, bathroom, and cat litter box.
So I'd like to know your tips and tricks. What works for you? What doesn't work? And don't feel like you have to have an immaculate house to contribute. Here, I'll share one: About once a day I wipe the bathroom counter and sink with TP to cut down on the dust and hair. It makes it look a bit cleaner when I don't have time to clear everything off and thoroughly clean.
But that's one of my few successes. I'd like to hear some of yours!