The story of Petie

Many of you know how Petie came into our lives, but some of you don't. I thought perhaps I should share our story, as I think it is sort of special, not the typical "i got this kitty at a breeder, or a petshop, or some kid at kmart was giving them away" kind of story.
in October of 2006, my FIL suddenly passed away. October 3. :( It was unseasonably cold up in the poconos then, probably in the 40's. Not the norm, even for the artic tundra up there. When we buried my FIL, it way a cold, blustry day. As we were standing graveside, infront of the casket, this beat up Monarch butterfly flew (rather warbly like) to the flowers and he stayed there. It did not leave, until we all did. Odd, but it was colder than blazes, maybe it was seeking shelter from the wind?
fast foreward a year, to 2007, october 3.
I find Petie, under Dh's firebird. I pick him up (ok, there was a long process, to extraxt said kitty from the back axle, and a 6 ft woman shimming UNDER said firebird to rescue said kitty but that is a story in of its self) ANYHOW, I gave him some milk, and fed him, and I sat on the deck cuddling with him, the whole time trying not to get attached, because I was not so sure that dh would be very receptive to add another kitty to the three we had. Ok, so as I said, I was sitting there petting him, and inbetween he and I a beat up, Monarch butterfly flew, rather warbly like. I looked up at the sky and I said "all right dad, I get it, we're keeping the cat." So, there it is, the story of how Petie barged into our lives. (He's been barging ever since) lol.
he is dozing next to me, rather happy, since I just gave him some cat food (from the can) which he never gets, but needs for his medicine.
I have enough stoires of Petie to write a book. lol- anyone ho owns at cat- scratch that, any cat that ons a human has enough stories to fill a book.....
p.s.- when he was little, you could radio Moscow with those ears!

Petie + Vet =

DISASTER! On Friday, Petie needed to go to the vet. His eyes were weepy, and the third eyelid was visible. I thought it was just a kitty cold, but.... i wanted to make sure.
I do not have a kitty carrier. (DUH!), so I put a dog leash on Petie, and a death grip hold and mom and I ventured to the vet's. Not so bad, Petie was actually good in the car, he just stood on my lap. (good kitty).
Enter the vet....
since I did not have a carrier, one of the techs put him in a room, so I could fill out the paper work. Mom offered to wait in the room with him. I bring him in, unhook the leash, and walk out. A few moments later I am ready to go sit with him. I look through the little glass piece in the door, and mom just pointed up. Huh? So I look up, and sure enough, there is Petie, perched on the top of the cabinets.-looking all kinds of pissed off, let me add.
I open the door, and went to the counter. I called him and patted the counter, and he came down from his perch. (Good kitty.)
as soon as my back was turned, He hopped right back up to where he was. (bad kitty)
The tech comes in with a step stool to reach him. (apparently not everyone is 9 feet tall like me) so I sit and watch. As she climbs up, petie's ears flatten. I mean, I did not know ears could get that flat. As she reaches for him, he rolls backward, into the corner of the wall, so he is hard to get. (bad kitty) she gets the scruff of his neck, and is sliding him foreword so she can get a better grip on him, bring him down to the counter and take some vitals. I hear this noise, this low guttural growl. Yup, it came from Petie.(bad kitty) MY PETIE. My sweet, bird catching, mouse hunting Petie. Now only did he growl at the tech, but he hissed and spit and I think he would have tried to smack her, but since she had his scruff, he was not able to move the arms real well.she plops his chubby butt on the scale. He weighed in at 10.14. Yowza. Fat thing. all the while, he is growling at her. She decides she has all the information she needs, and she leaves. I think that I can bring some type of comfort to my recently violated kitty, I pick him up and move to the chair I was sitting at. He hissed. He spit. He dug the ever lovin snot out of my hand. I released him off my lap and he jumped up on the counter, just as the vet came in.
If petie thought he was violated before, he was in for a HUGE surprise as far as what would happen next. The tech (a less timid one) came in with the vet. She was trying to hold him still so the vet could look in his mouth. (mistake, big mistake) Petie turned in to a fuzzy chain saw. All the while growling, hissing, spitting, and smacking at anything he can reach.(bad, bad kitty) The tech releases him, and the vet is trying to soothingly talk to him (he was giving her a furry middle finger...)
the tech comes back in, this time, armed with Kevlar gloves. You know, the kind that they use when going after wild dogs? Police training? yup. those. She puts them on, and tries to hold Petie. (activate chainsaw mode again) she leaves the room, and comes back with a towel. They throw that over Petie so he can "hide", all that did was provide him some further ambush.... he is holding him, and out come two buzz saws. scratching and growling... (bad, bad kitty). The tech made a move, and he got her again. this time he snagged her shirt. Now, Petie is on the counter, under the towel, one arm hooked into her shirt, the other one looking for something else to snag. Now, at this point I feel like I should do something to help the already bleeding tech. (he got her arm)I stand up, and walk to where said chainsaws were poking out. now, I know he is thoroughly pissed, and will strike me as, well, so I stretch my arm out, and push her shirt down away from the claw and run for cover. They finish with him, then tech leaves and the vet tries to talk to me over a VERY angry, growly Petie. I asked her if I could have a cardboard box carrier that they had, since there was NO WAY I was going with in a foot of him. The Kevlar clad tech brought in the box, set one very pissed off kitty inside and closed the lid. (phew).
it all boils down to... Petie has a kitty cold. And we found out he has a split personality!

Ethan and Pig

are three today. Three. Wow. three. We made a cake earlier today. I borrowed a cake pan from my friend Megan, and tried my hand. Tried and failed. Two things were awry. 1. I over filled watch of the little cup cake pieces, and they all kinds of cooked together. No big deal right? I could cut them down. OK, #2 is where the REAL trouble started. Let me preface this by saying it is a silicone pan. I turn it upside down on the bakers rack and was going to pop out the pieces. seems simple and easy enough, right? WRONG. I forgot to spray the pan with Pam. My friend Christina was HIGHLY amused by this fact....she informed me, that was a part of baking 101.... back to the drawing board. (OY)
Try #2, I got this:

this is what Ethan did tonight.

nice, huh?

ETA: Beth and Jay stopped by, and jay applied Derma bond!!! Jay and Beth are both EMT's. Phew. Thanks Guys!!!

there are not

many days left, that the leaves will ACTUALLY be on the trees. For the time being, I will enjoy it. We walk home from school almost every day, and today, there was a spot I saw that I just had to stop and take pics of the kids. It was this really pretty maple tree, which was a great shade of gold. If my children were darker, it would have been stunning. by darker, I mean hair color. The little n=boy I watch had dark hair, and his pics came out great.
Yet I digress.
In other mundane-ness, this would mark the first day, that Kimberly has left her socks on ALL day. Shaking my head, b/c she is usually barefoot the minute she gets in the door. goofy kid. Tonight, I made brownies, nestlie toll house pie and dinner. Well, ok, I make dinner EVERY nite, so tonight was no different. Dana is going to pick up ice cream on his way home. YUM.
Tomorrow, we are having dinner with Keith, Jen and Phil. I made my sauce the other day, so we are having "Italian night"- I will make chicken parm, we will have meat balls, sausage, short ribs and eggs in the sauce. Gluttony all around. Maybe I'll save some pie for then.... NAAAAAAHHHHHHH.
Hope your weekend is filled with yummy goodness! :)
And, what post would be complete with out at least a pic of Petie??

I went

to the grocery store, for the fourth time this week... I needed milk and such. Anyhow I have the two little ones with me, and we went home. I get them in the house and I had a few bags in my hand. I go outside to finish taking it the est of the bags. Kimberly came to the door and called my name, so I reached into the back of the truck with out looking. All that was in ther ewas groceries, right? WRONG! It kind of startled me when i put my hand into something fuzzy. Crap, now what? I jumped and yanked my hand out, just too see Petie sitting on his hind feet, with his paws on the back of the hatch. He jumped into the truck when we went inside. (I forgot he was out there)<>
This was almost as funny to see, as him jumping in the pile of leaves I raked up. I swear he is NOT a cat. he is alien... or somethin'....

so, I was

making my homemade pasta sauce tonight. I make it from scratch. Well, ok not like Patti does with the smushing and cooking of tomatoes, and all. I buy the ingredients and then go from there. Yet I digress. I had spaghetti for dinner with the newly made sauce, and while cleaning off the dining room table, I came across Kimberly's new barbie. It didn't belong on the table, so I tossed it on the couch. Fast foreword to dinner clean up and now time to process the jars of sauce, I walk into the living room, on my way to get a dish towel, and this was the site I see:
Lover boy and his new dream girl~! Looks like he has her right where he wants her!

14 Quarts and 3 pints of sauce later, I am sitting with my feet up. petie and his new girl are in his crack den down in the basement, currently toes up form the cat nip high. it's good to be the king, no?

ever have one

of those days, when things are just crazy, and you feel like you are at the end of your rope? That was me on Sunday. It was a day of craziness, and then dh had band practice. Super. I love that Dh plays in a band, and he is VERY good at what he does, but Sunday an extra set of hands would have been fabulous. I made dinner and while cleaning up, I hear a commotion in the living room, and a bunch of giggling. Usually, when all three are giggling, they are up to something.-and it usually isn't a good thing. I was getting ready to yell "hey, what's going on in there" but I decided, save the vocal chords and like a sane person, walk in and see what is going on to cause fits of laughter. Alex greets in at the edge of the living room, laughing and saying "mom, we're the three witches!" "get it three WHHHHITCHES??" (no, I didn't get it) but could not help but smile to see all three of them, with hats on their heads, and pretending to fly around the room. No matter what, they were the cutest little witches!!

Happy Birthday, Baby.

Five years ago today, I was in the hospital, recovering from a c section, and holding a beautiful little girl. Well,ok, not holding, since I had anestesia, I was not aloud to have her by my self for 24 hours, incase something happened. BUT, she was in her isolet, next to my bed, until the nurses wheeled her away. I remember feeling blessed and overwelmed over having a girl. Would I ever live up to being a good mom? Would she like the same things as me? would we get along? Would I botch things up beyond repair? I was good with having a boy, they are a easier breed when they are little. I thanksed my lucky stars after a difficult pregnancy that she arrived, all 7lb 5oz of her, perfect, formed and healthy. We fell into a routine rather quickly, although I thought she would never sleep through the night, it took her until 4 1/2 months to hit 12 lbs. It all worked out just fine. :)
Five years later. man, they went by in a blink. Today I have a little girl with attitude in spades and independance enough for a small country. There is something that melts my heart, everytime I hear it. It's when she calls me Mama. I don't know where she picked that up from, Alex and Etahn do not call me Mama. Dana doesn't call me Mama (excpet if it is hot mama, and that is NEVER in front of the kids lol, I know, I know TMI.) Mama, I scrap wit jew? mama, I love you. Mama, I need hep. Mama, I stamp wit jew? Mama, I can do-it-my-slef! (there is the independent streak) Mama, am I a princen? (princess) Mama, I'm a badadina. (ballerina)~sigh.
mama, you're the BEST cooker, EVER! (only when I cook plain pasta noodles for her, no sauce no meatballs- in that order)
Don't get me wrong, there are day when I would like to pull out every strand of my hair, one by one, but not always. I think that comes with being a mom.
Today, I made her a cake-pink. her favorite color. Then I frosted it purple.(her other favorite color) thought you might like to see her cake- it was Dana's idea to put on 36 candles. And just for the record, I forgot the ice cream for this too!!!

B.R.A.T.

That's right, I said it. BRAT. Petie is a big, fat BRAT. (OK, maybe not so fat)
Yesterday, I made myself a nice ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. My neighbor came over to give Kimberly a card for her birthday, and when I answered the door, Petie scooted in the house. It wasn't long after that, my neighbor left, and there was a "crisis" with Kimberly and a dolly she has. (The dress would not go on) so, I went to her aide, and when I came out of her room I saw this:
the little bugger was eating MY lunch! do I ever eat his lunch? NO!!! Good thing he"s cute.

so, every time

we go some where and Petie sees us outside, he decides he is going to show off. This past Saturday was no different. I put the kids in the truck, and turned around to go back on the sidewalk. When I did, I saw Petie race up the willow tree in the front yard. He scaled the trunk with ease, and then he started to climb out the one branch. It was not a super huge branch, but a small one. The whole time I was watching him, I saw him teeter back and forth the whole time I was thinking I would see him fall and test the whole "cat's land on their feet theory" but that was not the case. He got the the very end, and started back down. I ran into get my camera, so you could see how insane he was, but by the time I got back out, he was almost down.
notice the concentration on his little face...

Once at the bottom of the tree, he gave off this aloof indifference attitude.

that is, until Dana opened up the front door and shook the kitty treat bag... I guess every man has his price, no?