The terrorists are in trouble now!
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Cats and Rats and Elephants
Much to Dev's dismay, I recently added to the chaos that is our life. Rats. Yes, I said rats.
I know, you're thinking of the huge, ugly things you see outside restaurants that have obviously been poisoned because they can't walk straight (either that or they managed to pop the cork on a bottle or two). Or the rat that chews a hole in the dryer hose and makes off with an entire loaf of bread that you had left out to dry in order to make stuffing. And, well... You would be right. But these are pets.
OK, OK, I know, still rats. But they're cute, and smart, and actually make great pets. The boys love them and are a little annoyed with me because I want to socialize the rats a little more before subjecting them to rough hands. And then there's all sorts of possibilities, including mazes.
Let's see, we have Mellie, who is a very light tan, and Spider-Eater, who is the "cow" rat (brown and white). Can you tell DC named them? Both are female and not full grown yet.
Dev's really the only one who has voiced any sort of objection. Nora is mentally preparing changeable mazes and even Papaw is fine once he got over the first flash of "Eugh!"
They actually have a two year old's mentality. If your hand is not where they want it, they gently take it in their mouth and tug you to where you should be in their little ratty world. Brian does the same thing.
Anyway, they have been added to the family of fish (including the several that were still alive in LA and that I brought back with me) and a cat (Who just came back from a five day absence. She must have seen the flyers we posted today and decided she'd better come home.).
Dev, the first box of Christmas stuff is going out tomorrow. It has your GPS. And just remember, it could have been a dog. =-)
I know, you're thinking of the huge, ugly things you see outside restaurants that have obviously been poisoned because they can't walk straight (either that or they managed to pop the cork on a bottle or two). Or the rat that chews a hole in the dryer hose and makes off with an entire loaf of bread that you had left out to dry in order to make stuffing. And, well... You would be right. But these are pets.
OK, OK, I know, still rats. But they're cute, and smart, and actually make great pets. The boys love them and are a little annoyed with me because I want to socialize the rats a little more before subjecting them to rough hands. And then there's all sorts of possibilities, including mazes.
Let's see, we have Mellie, who is a very light tan, and Spider-Eater, who is the "cow" rat (brown and white). Can you tell DC named them? Both are female and not full grown yet.
Dev's really the only one who has voiced any sort of objection. Nora is mentally preparing changeable mazes and even Papaw is fine once he got over the first flash of "Eugh!"
They actually have a two year old's mentality. If your hand is not where they want it, they gently take it in their mouth and tug you to where you should be in their little ratty world. Brian does the same thing.
Anyway, they have been added to the family of fish (including the several that were still alive in LA and that I brought back with me) and a cat (Who just came back from a five day absence. She must have seen the flyers we posted today and decided she'd better come home.).
Dev, the first box of Christmas stuff is going out tomorrow. It has your GPS. And just remember, it could have been a dog. =-)
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Too Quiet...
It's my fault. I take full responsibility. I was so enjoying the fact that it was nice and quiet that it never occurred to me that it was too quiet.
Around here, you know everything is OK when Brian is making noise. If he's making noise, then he's not doing anything he knows he's not supposed to do. It's when he goes into stealth mode that you have to worry.
Stealth mode is how we describe Brian when he has some devious plot. He does things like crawl instead of walk in order to go in under the radar, so to speak. He goes into stealth mode while at restaurants and he wants to get away.
After he's done with whatever trouble he has caused, he comes running back, a pleased look on his face and a message on the answering machine from Debbie Brown saying that he's in her front yard wearing only a diaper and a shirt, shivering but happy. That was Monday or Tuesday, I guess.
Today he came running up, proud to show me that he had done a good job finger painting.
Wait...
Finger painting?!?!?
With glitter glue no less. His face and hands were covered with purple glitter. After a few pictures that will no doubt be posted once Papaw downloads them from the camera, He got tossed into the tub while I went to deal with what was bound to be a mess.
It actually wasn't a mess, though. We had done a project yesterday involving the glitter glue and the tray was still on the kitchen table. (The tray, for those who don't know, is a huge restaurant baking tray that Nora picked up somewhere and is very useful for clay, glitter, beads, and anything else that is likely to make a mess.) Brian used the tray for his glitter masterpiece, and therefore there was very little mess on the table or the floor. Still a pain to clean up, but not as bad as I expected.
Brian is now clean, though I think there is a haze of purple in the tub. Just the start to a normal day...
Around here, you know everything is OK when Brian is making noise. If he's making noise, then he's not doing anything he knows he's not supposed to do. It's when he goes into stealth mode that you have to worry.
Stealth mode is how we describe Brian when he has some devious plot. He does things like crawl instead of walk in order to go in under the radar, so to speak. He goes into stealth mode while at restaurants and he wants to get away.
After he's done with whatever trouble he has caused, he comes running back, a pleased look on his face and a message on the answering machine from Debbie Brown saying that he's in her front yard wearing only a diaper and a shirt, shivering but happy. That was Monday or Tuesday, I guess.
Today he came running up, proud to show me that he had done a good job finger painting.
Wait...
Finger painting?!?!?
With glitter glue no less. His face and hands were covered with purple glitter. After a few pictures that will no doubt be posted once Papaw downloads them from the camera, He got tossed into the tub while I went to deal with what was bound to be a mess.
It actually wasn't a mess, though. We had done a project yesterday involving the glitter glue and the tray was still on the kitchen table. (The tray, for those who don't know, is a huge restaurant baking tray that Nora picked up somewhere and is very useful for clay, glitter, beads, and anything else that is likely to make a mess.) Brian used the tray for his glitter masterpiece, and therefore there was very little mess on the table or the floor. Still a pain to clean up, but not as bad as I expected.
Brian is now clean, though I think there is a haze of purple in the tub. Just the start to a normal day...
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Election Night
Election night in the Cannon household is something you have to experience to understand. We have both the TV and the radio going, the computer has election pages displayed, and Papaw is sitting tensely in front of the TV chanting "Only sixty more votes. Sixty more."
OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. But not much. Devereaux has been running back and forth between all of the news sources. It's scary that he has the knowledge to predict the outcome of the states before Fox News has declared a winner. He just knows what state votes for which party. He's also busy laughing over the fact that they have not declared Florida yet.
Nora has been bopping around, doing this and that. She keeps one ear on the TV and has cleared the table, cleaned the den, went through boxes of clothes, and last I saw her was sanding on Kate's new armoir. I think she was secretly thrilled when Brian came upstairs because she was running out of things to keep her busy and awake at that point.
I have been painting as we watched TV. Too tired to do it now. Painting itty bitty eyes is way too hard when you're tired.
All told, I'm glad I wasn't here in 2000. Apparently by this point Devereaux was puking from tension.
Dev called today. He wanted to know who had won at 4:30. He also said that orders came down giving them a leave date. I'm not going to tell you that date since I don't want to risk operational security and depending on the outcome of tonight that date might change.
OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. But not much. Devereaux has been running back and forth between all of the news sources. It's scary that he has the knowledge to predict the outcome of the states before Fox News has declared a winner. He just knows what state votes for which party. He's also busy laughing over the fact that they have not declared Florida yet.
Nora has been bopping around, doing this and that. She keeps one ear on the TV and has cleared the table, cleaned the den, went through boxes of clothes, and last I saw her was sanding on Kate's new armoir. I think she was secretly thrilled when Brian came upstairs because she was running out of things to keep her busy and awake at that point.
I have been painting as we watched TV. Too tired to do it now. Painting itty bitty eyes is way too hard when you're tired.
All told, I'm glad I wasn't here in 2000. Apparently by this point Devereaux was puking from tension.
Dev called today. He wanted to know who had won at 4:30. He also said that orders came down giving them a leave date. I'm not going to tell you that date since I don't want to risk operational security and depending on the outcome of tonight that date might change.
