Lucky

 Today is William's birthday, lucky number 13. He is officially a teenager and quite pleased with this. He got a smart phone, his first. He's carried a flip phone since forever. Evidently, that is the social kiss of death in middle school. They have to put their phones into a box when they enter a classroom and there is always giggles to see that lone flip phone in amongst all the smart phones. 

He was relating his relief to me when called me for the first time on his new toy. 

I observed that middle school is like that, that there are always kids that look for something different in their classmates and then single that difference out to make mockery of. "It's what they do, and kids like that will find something new to make fun of. You simply don't pay attention to their nonsense..."

He said, "Okay then. Let's change the subject."

Anyways, despite the fact that I rained all over his parade, he'll be over for dinner today. Boston Cream Pie. He will be spending the night since he doesn't have school tomorrow and both parental units are working. 

Houdi was pretty sick on Friday night. I couldn't believe it. Tim said, "I heard two cats out there fighting." I said, "When?" He couldn't remember. But there it was. The cat been bit squarely in the butt. (Remember the last time he was injured, it was also in a place one does not normally pet their cat). So it would appear that he's not the aggressor in these cat spats...more like 'full escape mode'. 

But we had to get through the weekend. We got some topical antiseptic and epsom salts, and there was much squalling and hissing and a regular old set to. He was not a happy cat. Amazingly, my oldest put out an APB on facebook, and someone had 6 pills that had been prescribed for their little dog last fall. He donated them to the cause. Based on weight, I've broken the contents of the capsule down into 3 doses. 

The turn around was miraculous, and the festering is gone completely. Much relief about that. He's pretty perturbed about the small rations. His dry food is set out only after he's had his two tablespoons of wet food with his antibiotic dose. He also is not allowed out, which makes him very ornery indeed. 

Interesting to note that as a feral, he's always been standoffish. When he got sick the first time, there was a big change. I slept one night on the couch, holding him on my lap. He's turned into a huge lovey. This time, he seemed to know right away that we were trying to help him and for all the caterwauling and hissing and struggling, he did not try to bite. Most importantly, he did not run and hide when we were finished. He sat in the hall watching me, and in pretty short order, he was sitting on my lap. 

We've got snow here. It looks very pretty. A good wood fire going in the wood burner. 

Quiet day. I need to get moving. I've got a couple cakes to make. 

Gees: I know what I've been meaning to tell you about. 

I found these pickles at the store, and oh, my, are they fine!

The next time that I went to Aldi's, they were gone, and I was disappointed about that. On a whim, I sliced a cucumber into spears and restuffed the jar and stuck it back in the refrigerator. I tried one yesterday. Mmmmmmmmm...I like a pickle that bites back. I bet by the end of the week, they will be perfect. For 75 cents, I got a new jar of pickles!

ANNNNDDDDD...

On top of everything else, the washer simply stopped spinning. It drained, but did not spin. 

I hated to tell the news to Tim. It was one more expense we did not need right now. (although the first bill from the excavator is in and it is less than $4300, which $1700 less than the quote, a nice surprise). Anyways, when I told Tim, he said, "oh, that's nothing. Remember it did that before?" I didn't, but he said, "We just unplugged it and gave it a while, and then plugged it back in." Sure enough...

We just need them to get us through until the move. 

We are buying a new washer and dryer for the new house.