Happy Birthday to Brennen!

Yes, this is a little out of order, but we're all okay with that, right? So many exciting things happening in one week and the blog posts pile up :) Thankfully, Brennen was cool with a low-key birthday celebration--in fact, that was his request this year. It started with an early gift presentation by his sister, who had to do the school-work thing the next day. Although I can't show you precisely the design, rest assured that the new hoodie is one that he specifically requested and is very happy to have in his collection! And also a bag full of candy, nice gifting, Gabby :)

On his birthday, Brennen slept until lunch, awoke, and decided he wanted Mexican food. We loaded up those who were home, ate, and then went to visit Gabby at work--we smelled the pretty candles she was stocking in the Christmas department. After that, we headed home for Brennen to unwrap some gifts and open some very nice cards before his buddies started to arrive. Opening gifts with a curious kitten in the mix was a new experience :) Brennen got an xbox card from his bro and sis (just in time for the party), lots of Smores mix from Buck and myself, and a sweet shiny, green electric razor, too--by request (well, maybe not the green and shiny, that was straight bonus! Ha).

Pretty soon, the house started filling with his friends. They brought TVs and game systems. Our basement looked like Buck and his friends' set ups back in the Cali days, when they'd all get together and game :) We interrupted them for pizza, snacks, and cake . . . but otherwise, they played video games all night long. Wowza! (On a "school night," because homeschoolers can move a school weekday to Saturday instead, lol :)

Buck was in charge of cake decorating this time :) He brought home a chocolate round cake and a white round cake, and he sprinkled the much-competed-over smores mix on top of both . . . sprinkled, bah, he dumped smores mix on top of both! I didn't get a picture of the birthday boy with his cake and a candle for the first time in 17 years! Maybe I should do that with a leftover slice :) Happy birthday to Brennen; I hope it's an amazing year 💙

A Note from Spax

Dear Great Uncle Brother Bob,

As you can see in the background, attempts are being made to provide the blog coverage you are hoping to see . . . but I'm kind of the star of the show right now, and I make sure progress on everything else is excessively slow. I say meow, they all say, "Poor kitty, what do you need?" I jump up somewhere I'm not supposed to, and they say, "Oh, isn't he cute?" (Of course, I am.) I almost disappear into the dryer, toilet, cupboard, dishwasher, and they all gasp, "Be careful, kitty!" and then they cuddle me. Ahhh, claiming total control of the house and its inhabitants was remarkably easy. Oh, look at the time; I need to nap and make sure whoever is holding me doesn't move until I'm done.

(Yawn!!!) Sincerely,

Spax the spoiled kitten

😄

Kitty Construction

Graysen decided the kitten needed a scratching post/climbing structure. He could hardly wait to get finished with school so he could construct his ideas into reality. After a few hours of cutting, connecting, and carpeting--he completed this . . . 

Wowza! This is one fancy kitten! Now when we are away and the kitty is shut into Gabby's room, he climbs to the top of his tower and sleeps in his nest until we return :)

While everyone else is happy to cuddle and play with the kitten, Chauncey is still not so sure. In fact, he's either depressed, on a hunger strike, or maybe isn't digesting the treat night candy he got into (naughty!) very well. His bowl is overflowing with food and that NEVER happens. The kitten has been helping himself when we're not watching . . . so maybe Chauncey thinks it is cat food now? We've put some peanut butter in the dish, and he'll eat the pieces with the PB on them. IDK. Pets are confusing sometimes! Meanwhile, Spax is carefully venturing closer to the giant, furry beast, but has not made friends yet.

Spax is certainly not hurting for toys, it seems he's first on everyone's shopping list to buy for :) He's also super cuddly. He fell asleep like a fur necklace on Noah, who then also fell asleep. 00000000000000000000 Spax just typed that :) His first sentence! Just like a baby, he plays, eats, potties, and naps. He's currently sitting in front of my computer screen so I can't see what I'm typing. Good thing he's little!

And that's your cat update!

P.S. Or 4th option . . . Chauncey sneaks in and eats Spax's fancy expensive food when we're not looking. I just caught him salmon-tongued! We thought it was odd the tiny kitten was eating three full tins a day 😧

Gabby's Dream Came True

I'm not sure how long it has been since Gabby started wanting a cat . . . maybe half of forever :) Buck fully supported this wish, and several friends have offered to send us home with kittens over the years. Gabby pointed out that I've said yes to every other critter . . . I have my objections about indoor cats, mostly in the irreversible home destruction category, but I also knew it would make Gabby very happy. So, I've been keeping an eye on the humane society page. A few days ago, this little guy popped up--named the same as my eldest nephew--and Gabby couldn't wait to meet him.

At first, she planned to go alone, but then decided she'd like some other opinions. So, Caelan, Noah, and Chase went with her (the boys and I were at their alumni football game and Buck was at work). They all loved this little kitten, who is supposed to be four months old, but cat-knowledgeable friends think he's quite a bit younger (maybe 10-12 weeks?) He played and he cuddled, and he was the rescue center volunteers' favorite kitten. Gabby decided he was the one--and named him Spax after a line of construction screws in the hardware department of the home improvement store where she works :)

Because Gabby had to work that day, Chase took the kitty to his house after dropping Gabby off at the store. He later picked Gabby up and brought her and the much-awaited kitten home (Buck was practically dancing with anticipation!) Graysen spent part of his afternoon building kitten toys; he gathered, washed, and blow-dried chicken feathers. He wove pipe cleaners through an empty paper towel tube, and he put two tiny wiffle balls into the ends of another for the "fuzz puddle" (as Buck calls the kitten :) to play with. Chase added to the treasure trove with some treats, a colorful, jingly pounce toy, and a tiny brush for grooming.

I should note that before this kitty was even a glimmer in Gabby's eye, Buck brought home kitty litter and kitty food--in bulk! And not just any kitty food, this is the fancy fresh kind, pate . . . I don't think I've even ever had pate, lol! While we were talking about Buck's unexpected purchases, Gabby moved a few things in her room to reveal a litter box, a scoop, and silver food and water dishes--somehow, I think they were teaming up for this whole kitten acquisition; they saw my temporary weakness and realized there was no time to lose! :)

So, today is the first day with Spax. Buck isn't feeling well, and when I got up to find him, he was playing with the kitten downstairs . . . he said it made him feel better :) Gabby, Caelan, and Graysen left for church; Buck, the kitten, and I watched church on TV. To my surprise, the zoomy kitty of last night was suddenly exceptionally cuddly. He slept on my arm and hand pretty much the entire church service, between visits to cuddle with Buck. I've since learned that cats his age sleep approximately 18-20 hours per day . . . so, since it is the first day, and the day we will take by far the most photos, you get a collage of sleeping kitty pics to enjoy :)

He and Chauncey aren't quite friends yet. Chauncey is willing, but Spax is hissy about it. You could see the defeat in Chauncey's eyes, when he came back from a trip outside only to find the kitten curled up in HIS bed, ha! He's such a nice dog; he likely recognizes that we will never stop bringing home strange animals to share his space and our attention, but so far, he's outlasted them all :)

Also, the kitten likes my blanket--and Graysen, who is notoriously attacked by cats!--so here are some pictures of that, too . . .

And So It Goes . . .

We began our quest for a new fridge in May when ours stopped cooling. The company we ordered from was out of stock, so we waited until July, without a functioning kitchen refrigerator. When it came in stock and they sent out a delivery team, the team refused to install the new fridge due to a single drop of water at the waterline; we searched for a plumber. A week later, the new fridge moved from our garage into our kitchen, and the truck drove away with our 14-year-old, half-functional Samsung. 

Upon immediate inspection, I realized the new fridge was missing a key component--the top drawer in the freezer portion. I made the first of what would be dozens and dozens of phone calls trying to get the drawer ordered . . . I'll skip all the misinformation and confusion that ensued over the summer.

When parts began to fall off or malfunction (in minor ways; it still worked), Buck got frustrated and spoke to someone as high up the chain as he could. She told him that we could swap the fridge, no problem, as soon as the late October shipment arrived. They proceeded to call Buck at about 8 PM on Friday to announce delivery the next morning between 8 and 10 . . . the only problem was, they didn't ask us if we would be home (we wouldn't, because the boys had an all-day football tournament an hour away). Buck called back and rescheduled to yesterday.

Yesterday, the delivery guys arrived with the newer version of our new fridge, and woohoo, it contained a drawer! The missing, elusive drawer! We've had ice cubes dropping into a tin foil pan and exploding throughout the overstacked food for months!

I peeled all the stickers, I cleaned all the shelves, I put the food back on top, and the magnets on the front and sides. About four hours later, I saw that the freezer was freezing, but the fridge--as I very much feared from frequent checks--was not cooling. At all. In fact, the temperature increased four degrees to 75 during its stint in our refrigerator nook. Buck and the boys were at a movie, so I called the company back, twice. The second time, the man cared enough to do something about the problem.

"Well, we'll just go ahead and swap that out for another brand new one just as soon as--oh, oh dear. We're out of stock. That will be December 10th."

I said, "Find my broken fridge and bring it back, at least it keeps my food cold." So, he spent the next hour, while I was on hold, doing just that. It did take about half a dozen more calls from Buck that evening to actually confirm our "old" new fridge was located, loaded, and ready to be returned to us. They also promised to Frankenstein pieces off of the new, new fridge (that didn't cool) to provide the missing parts our old, new fridge needed.

Delivery was set for sometime between 1 and 3 today. Caelan went to work, Gabby (whose 104.5 fever of the past few days, seems to have burned itself out) went to Chase's (he's illin', too), and I took the boys to their well-child appointments (they got vaccinations, and it took two hours!) In the meantime, Buck got ready to depart for work . . . but then I received a notification that the delivery people are three hours ahead of schedule! Buck ended up being more than an hour late for work waiting for them to arrive. I pulled into the garage as they were figuring out how to remove our back sliding glass door (again).

The customer service guy said as soon as our original fridge was back in our kitchen, we could initiate the process to swap it out for one in the December shipment. We will likely do that. Or we will order a fridge from somewhere else and return this one when the other is set to arrive. Or we will accept the new dings and scratches that a third transport added to its patina, and hope Buck can talk the company into giving us an extended warranty. 

And so, the saga continues . . . ay-yi-yi.

More Action Shots

Well, football season is at its close. The Varsity won a fun game under the lights (Graysen's speaker provided microphone amplification of the senior snapshots at halftime :) One week later, the Varsity played their tournament, minus a bunch of their starters (they were at a volleyball tournament). Graysen popped in as QB for one play and didn't get a chance to even throw the ball. So, the tournament wrapped up a lot more quickly than the boys expected . . . but it was a beautiful, sunny day, and my NGF got some more great pics :)

Brennen had three touchdowns and caught nearly every ball that came his way (I know because Buck and I were the stats people again :) All that's left is the alumni game this weekend, and then the team banquet in a couple of weeks! As another mom said, "The season went by really quickly, but was also really long, and I'm ready for it to be over, but I'm not excited for it to be done."

Treat Night Abbreviated

Well, this year, for the first time ever, we forgot to buy pumpkins. I didn't even consider digging for the three fall decorations that are hiding somewhere in the garage. And I certainly didn't remember to buy candy to pass out to trick-or-treaters. Oops!

What we did do--well, Buck and Gabby went to work. Caelan and Noah went to the college ministry party; I realized when Caelan arrived home, she'd gone as . . . surprise! . . . a princess :) 

I took the boys, for about an hour, to our youth group's outreach/costume party. The teens helped hand out candy, hot dogs, and hot chocolate. Graysen's sweet speaker (which gets a lot of event requests) provided tunes and colorful lights until we left :) They went as two of Ocean's 11 . . . G$ is Brad Pitt.

By 7 PM, they were dropped off in full fancy at the church for the men's Bible study my brother leads. I headed to the grocery store and had it completely to myself! Then I snuck home, unloaded groceries in the dark, and ate my dinner on the couch with only the glow of my cell phone for light, ha! I didn't need anybody ringing the doorbell, setting Chauncey off, to ask for candy we didn't have. Although, I think with all the trunk-or-treats and school and extra-curricular activity candy gatherings, not many kids go out on Halloween anymore. I didn't see any in our neighborhood the times I peeked through the curtains.

My dinner, lol!

I turned the outside lights on at about 8:40 when I knew our kids would start arriving home from their events. Talk about a low-key evening! Happy Treat Night!