the cat

Obviously today I am labelled House Servant Extraordinaire. When we awoke this morning we found that "THE CAT" had broken into our outside rubbish ~ again (we don't know who The Cat belongs to, but it is always outside and has no apparent owner). The Cat seems to like to do that most nights. Sunday it managed to drag out the chicken tray and eat up the remaining raw chicken juice. I was hoping it would catch a nasty case of something, but apparently it did not, as last night it ate some bread and a few left over fresh green beans I had cooked. Lovely. The crumbs and bits and pieces were ground into the patio and it took quite some time to sweep it up. We know it is The Cat since A) we have actually seen it sneaking around the rubbish, and B) a raccoon or possum would tear the bag apart with it's claws; we find cat-sized nibbles in the plastic at the entry point, not big massive claw marks.

Our problem, I think, will be solved when we buy an outside bin, one of those types with a handle and wheels. Our townhome had none provided, nor a huge communal dumpster. I can understand that, those are usually not asthetically pleasing and are usually pretty foul and disgusting. So it's up to us to buy a small outside bin in which to hide our rubbish from the meandering Cat. Our neighbour moved out last week and I thought about taking hers, I mean she had no need for it anymore. But I figured I would wait until nighttime instead of blantently walking over in daylight and taking it. But as I found out, someone else had their eye on it and did just that, took it in broad daylight. So we are going to have to shell out the cash and buy a nice new pretty one I suppose.

So yeah, cleaning up after The Cat was mess number one this morning. Mess number two (and three, four and five) occured while Clare and I dropped Greg off at work. We came back (only ten minutes later) to find the handiwork of the Jack Russells. And no, it was not potty. I don't know which is worse actually, and I don't understand why they waited to utilise the carpet when they were all taken outside just prior to us leaving. Are they mad about something? Are they getting me back for not giving them people food last night at dinner? Those dogs live the Life of Riley, let me tell you. Why they want to create more work for me I don't know. After scubbing and disinfecting with the Bissell Little Green Machine, they got lectured. And threatened to get new homes. Normally the other two would be crated in the past whenever we would go somewhere. The problem is our rescue dog, Seamus, breaks out of the crate. Even if we tie bungee cords around it. Aoife and Reilly are used to being crated if we go out, but now they have become resistant, and howl and bark when we put them in. So I have been quite trustworthy with our fur children as of late and let them wander free. And look what they do in return this morning. Those darn dogs!

On a brighter note, Greg got the job he really wanted, he is once again Receiving Manager. This time not at Barnes and Noble however. He is working for a locally owned shop that imports beautiful collectibles such as Waterford, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, etc etc. The shop is here in town and the warehouse where he is receiving merchandise is right around the corner, literally. Which is helpful until we get that second car again. Even better, is the fact he gets weekends off and has normal hours. No more twelve hour shifts, some days, some nights, some in betweens. We are not missing the Air Force work schedule at ALL.

Clare is getting extremely antsy for school to begin. We still need to order her new uniforms amd pay the mystery fee of $300 for whatever they use it for. The last school called it a "book and activity fee". Here they just say, you need to pay $300. You gotta love Catholic Schools.

We are all settled into our beautiful townhome and are enjoying it immensely. The tranquility and peacefulness of our surroundings are most welcome. We did some gardening the other day and it is wonderful to not have to go out periodically to yell at bratty kids to stay off my flowers. Our child behaves, why can't others? It's all in the upbringing. Parents just don't care these days.

Anyhow we are enjoying the fact we now live closer to those we know and the concept of having company once again is astounding! We actually had company last weekend and it was such a change. With our moving around the last few years and being far from home, we were getting pretty sick of just seeing one another day after day. We are very thankful things have gone back to normal!

*One more thing to note here. To the guy who left that ridiculous note in my guestbook, and you know who you are, you are clearly a stupid prat. If you don't like what I discuss in my entry, don't read it. And the oh-so-mature link you left to the xxx site was clearly a sign of your "intelligence".*