The Couch

Shea: "Atlee, if you're going to be on the couch you have to sit on it- not stand."

Atlee: "Hmmm.... I can do what I want to because these are my legs."

Holiday Greetings...

Lamest title ever. But, that's what I've got right now.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed yummy turkey in DC with Rich's family. There was also a butternut squash dish that I brought that we won't talk about or repeat. On the bright side, there were fluffy white dogs, little cupcake sized apple pies and seconds of ice cream sundaes. At one point Bev was filling the kids open hands with whipped cream. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

However, we need to forge ahead now. Thanksgiving is over. The annual Christmas Party is next weekend and I need to make my living room look something like this by then. This is last year. It looks nothing like this right now.


I sure could use a couple of elves or reindeer or something right about now.

Tag, You're It.

Remember how I was all, "I'm so totally doing Memory Monday." And then Monday came and I didn't do anything? How lucky for me that Tracey from Just Another Mommy Blog tagged me for a Meme. If I've understood her directions correctly, the recipient is supposed to first go to their Flicker-esque account and post the sixth picture on the sixth page. I don't have a Flicker-esque account, so I went with the sixth picture in the sixth file in one documents area. It keeps the spirit of the task at least.


It's a Panda butt. Not just any panda butt though- that's a National Zoo Panda butt.

For the second part of this task, the recipient is supposed to go photo #6 on the sixth page of their computer- here I went for the sixth picture in the sixth file again in a different area.

It's a little girl Atlee at the Mountain House. Just barely past 2. So, now I'm supposed to tag six people. So...

Jen

City Mouse

Jenny @ Whilrled Yarn

Daclaren

Betsy

Judi- I can't find the link to the blog you haven't posted anything to in a while and Greeley is screaming. Did I mention the baby was sick?

Still Dog Sitting

Don't you love when you're dog sitting and the dog wags her tail and knocks the baby down a flight of stairs? Yeah, me too.

Atlee

See how the hands are all blurry because she never stops moving? I suspected she couldn't quite keep still, but here's the photographic evidence.

It's Like A Function Meeting...with lots of links.

When I worked at the Mirror Lake Inn, we had function meetings. Can I get a hallelujah from Deanna or Judi? It was just a coordination like meeting between all the departments about what was going on.


This post is kind of like that. I have all sorts of details to convey. I also have a picture of Atlee giving her dinosaur a pedicure. It wasn't quite enough for a full post. Cute though.

The November Book Giveaway:
My readership is small enough that I think I can give a shout out to all my peeps. Hang with me. Or just skim on ahead to something more interesting.

Mouse Department: the Cranky Lincoln guy is a client of my husband's. The Cranky Lincoln Guy was just awarded the 2008 National Humanities Medal by President Bush. Whilst (I do love the word whilst, sorry.) receiving this award my husband was constructing him a closet. I hope I didn't break any confidentiality records here.

The movie Mouse refers to is Buddapest to Gettysburg by Jake Boritt. It's good. You should buy a copy.

Jana: Thank you for all of your warm fuzzy love from the Czech Republic. I tossed around the idea of Jana for a name with Greeley. I just thought hearing that might give you a warm fuzzy feeling. I miss free spa services at the Mirror Lake Inn. Those were occasionally possible for training purposes when I worked with Jana and Martina at the Mirror Lake Inn. (If enough of you click over, they'll have to recognize I'm a legitimate referral system and give me free stuff. Do you hear me Carl?)

SpeedyMac: defrocked as Judi, another MLI friend. She's going to come down to Gettysburg with her husband, Shane and son, Blake, sometime soon. I know she is.

Michael: It takes work?! OK- fine. Welcome to my function meeting. I am truly happy to post more frequently if you -you can hop on over from Facebook now and again.

Tracey: I wish I was going to BlogHer. But we'd need to increase my traffic by about 300%. Oh, wait. I have an idea. You know you want to go out for snooty food with me and drink margaritas by the pitcherful while husbands tend to children.

Next Post, Off to the Races:

So, City Mouse, John A Magee (best middle name ever, Greeley came " " this close to sharing it with you), Mr. Michael in DC: you don't seem to think we could handle a full team of dogs. Well, you're right.

Did I mention Cady has become the quiet chewer? She has quietly (trying not to draw attention to herself) chomped upon
1.) a Tigger stuffed animal
2.) many, many Tinkertoys
3.) Shea's many socks.
But, to be fair to Cady, this wouldn't be a problem if Shea put his socks in the hamper. I'm just saying.
4.) Various plush Atlee toys
5.) Various Non-plush Atlee toys
6.) The Bathroom Garbage (Ewwww...)
7.) The Kitchen Garbage when an empty can of wet dog food is involved.

Oh- did I get distracted by the dog? That happens these days. Video of the kid riding the evil eyed dog... yeah. I'll work on that.

My brandy new like idea- Memory Monday:

OK- This idea comes out of my brother-in-law and a couple different levels.

1- My brother-in-law (aka Michael in DC) called me out on not posting frequently. Fine, fine. I'll try to better.

2- My brother-in-law (Michael) mentioned in passing that he wished he had a journal or some record of his Mother's thoughts before and after she passed away. For my own children, based on this, I offer this blog. It's the best I can do.

3- This could become an effective way to slap down a family history for the kids. I, for one, will be harassing my poor mother over the holidays... grilling her for family history. Who was that lady and what did he do again? Have you heard the story where my Dad bought my Mom a Picasso, but over the holidays the family maid threw it out into the garbage? That's classic family lore.

4- I'm too lazy to scrapbook. I blog because I'm too lazy to do the snazzy scrap book thing. They all look quite nice, but like a lot of work. Did I mention I was too lazy for the pretty scrapbook thing? Oh- Maybe you are too? Maybe you've been looking for a reason to post outstanding memories? Post them and preserve them on your blog. For your kids. To Laugh At. Eight Years From Now. Because No Matter What Sort of Connection We try to Forge, They'll Still be Teenagers and Mock Us, Because That's What Teenagers Do. Ahhhh- Memories.

5- Memory Mondays. I Need A Badge. Yeah- Happy Hour Sue. I'm Looking At You. Or whoever is willing to contribute whatever I can get. I'm not picky. I just don't want to do the actual work of creating a badge. Fine, I'll try to work on the badge. But that's the best I can say, because I have to throw a Christmas Party in like, 3 weeks. For clients. That definitely means clean bathrooms.

Any thoughts before I call this function meeting to an end?

See the odds of being called on by name when you hang out around here? No, wait! Please don't run away! You'll be back on Monday for Memory Monday, right? We'll all write about our first memory of our mate. No memory of your mate? Open selection of what ever memory you want to share. Now, where's that Mr. Linky information?....

Christmas Party Prep:

Look at how my minions practice. Bwah hah hah hah hah. Does the evil laugh convey?


Comment you. Yes, you. Two Irish Catholic Families should be able to come up with enough comments to keep my vanity salvaged. Thank you.

Off to the Races

I hear competitive dog racing is considering adding jockeys. Never to soon to start training.

November Book Giveaway

Ssshhhh. Listen Carefully. Do you hear it? The sound of tumbleweeds blowing around on my page. The whistling sound as my number of readers drop off? Commenters plummeting? So, what's a girl to do? Depend on the kindness of strangers and give away something.

The Gettysburg Family November Book Giveaway.

Here's the book I'll be giving away. Michael Crichton's Timeline. It's a gently used copy, because I rarely buy myself new books. That's silly.

The rules: Please leave a comment telling me your favorite historical period. No comment, no qualify. You also need to leave me some way to reach you. Comments are open until Friday, November 21, 2008. Random winner drawn on Saturday. I'm willing to ship worldwide. Judging by my numbers lately, your odds are pretty good here people!

True Confessions of a Dog Sitter...

How's everybody doing today? Good. Good.

Perhaps you heard we're watching my parent's dog, Cady, while they're off globe trotting. Mom and Dad are somewhere in Australia. Unless you're reading this a few weeks from now, in which case they're in New Zealand. Or Tahiti- or was it Fiji? In any case, we have their dog for a month.

My husband is not what you'd call a "dog person". Is that how you describe someone who doesn't like any dog that barks, breathes or poops? And family lore is filled with stories of the destruction this young pup has caused. I'm truly not exaggerating when I say she has chewed thousands of dollars worth of things. Think about that people. Thousands of dollars.

This isn't our first tour of duty watching this dog either. We watched her last spring when I was still pregnant with Greeley. My Mom and Dad dropped her off with a check for a $100- to cover damage. And then my Mom said, "Just run a tab for whatever she destroys over the $100- because she will." Encouraging words, no? During the month she destroyed just a few items. However, we discovered that she really excelled at cat chasing. We didn't see much of Zoe that month. Unless you count looking a hundred feet up a white pine as seeing your cat.

Cady is also ridiculously strong and likes to lunge when on the leash. One lunge caused me to turn my ankle on the patio bricks, resulting in a visit to the ER and crutches. Ever try to use crutches when your seven months pregnant? I don't recommend it. In summary, we had some experiences with the dog which backed up the family lore.

It pains me to say this. I know Mom left her laptop behind, so she shouldn't be able to read it. (Unless there's free internet access somewhere in New Zealand.) [deep breath] Cady the Destroyer, also known as Cady the Terrible, is better behaved than my baby.

There is complete agreement amongst all six of Mom and Dad's children that Cady would be a pretty good dog with the introduction of a little consistent discipline. She's been sent to doggy time out a few times for chasing the cats, but is catching on pretty quickly. Zoe and Corwin are able to come into the house and eat food- a vast improvement over Cady's last visit. And when she puts her doggy snout near the cat box to smell those oh-so-alluring smells, all it takes is, "Cady, no." and she retreats to some other spot. Oh how I wish I could say the same for Greeley.

Greeley in the last forty-eight hours has: played in the cat box no less than eight times, dumped the dog water, dog food, cat water, cat food on the kitchen floor approximately four times each, climbed onto the dining room table and dumped a box of Count Chocula (a wasteful crime in its own category), picked up the new kitten by his head at least three times, unzipped my wallet and scattered $80 around the dining room. I'm too tired to go on, but I certainly could. We won't even get into Atlee cutting her bangs with safety scissors or pouring little piles of sugar all over the house.

Before anyone leaps to any conclusions, I'm not volunteering for permanent Cady duty. I believe in the previous comments we have a written commitment from my sister, Katrina, for the next round of dog duty. I just needed to confess that Cady the Terrible, Cady the Destroyer, she's got nothing on Greeley.

The Destroyer Arrives Today...

She looks all sweet and innocent, right? She was probably just chewing on that toy in front of her.

City Mice and Lots of Cats...

Welcome fans of the Mouse!

We're very excited you stopped by. If I'd known you were coming, I would have vacuumed the carpet before I took pictures. Well, I would have said I was going to vacuum the carpet. Then I probably would have gone to check my email, made a snack and done some laundry.

Regular readers will recall that I decided last week that three kids, one cat, one punk ass rabbit, and seven fish weren't quite enough. We decided to get a kitten. Regular readers will also recall that my mom's two year old black lab mix is coming to stay with us next week. For a month. She likes to chase cats. So, next week we may be up one dog and down one cat. You should come back next week to find out. Hint hint.

Cats are popular around here. As the preschooler in the faux leopard fur coat illustrates.

We went for a walk last week around the neighborhood with Amy and her daughter, Kaya. Amy's very good at getting us out and about. The idea was to collect leaves to take home and do a craft project.

Greeley enjoyed picking up leaves.

They made crispy rustling noises.

And it was a beautiful day for a walk.

Oh wait. We're digressing. Back to our topic: Cats. Both girls were cats for Halloween.

My mom says all little kids get dressed up as a tiger at some point. I apparently was. And I did see a lot of tigers out and about.

And faux leopard fur jacket kitty-cats. We went trick or treating in Pete and Amy's town on Tuesday. It was cold on Tuesday. Dare I say it was Upstate New York Halloween cold on Tuesday? Perhaps it's just that I've grown soft since leaving the Arctic Tundra and moving to warmer climes.

I mean there wasn't any snow. But there could have been.

The kids managed to cover a few blocks before the frost bite set in.

Perhaps you didn't know that tigers like lollipops?

Because, I assure you, they do.

To cat and mouse fans alike, Happy Halloween! Oh wait. It's too late for that. Happy End of Daylight Savings time to you!