Cats and Kids
Sunday’s big event for Lynnaea was a visit from Sarah and Journey. They took her out on an extended bicycle trip. Journey’s over at our place almost every weekend the kids are here, and sometimes even when they’re not (emergency babysitting is o.k. in our book).
The big event for the whole family was the return of Skit-Z, who disappeared for a week after getting hit by a truck… we took the cat to the vet, got him cleaned up, medicated, X-rayed, etc. Spent hours in the waiting room. Prognosis is uncertain… he’ll probably lose his tail, might require other supportive interventions. Of course, that’s if we find him again… looks like one of the kids left the sliding glass door less than fully latched and he managed to slip out through it this morning. Argh. What can you do?
Went shopping at K-mart, bought the kids some clothes, another pair of shoes, etc. and various supplies. There has got to be a shopping gene that is highly associated with the female sex, because there is no other explanation for how long it takes Gunilla and/or the kids to pick out a single pair of shoes!!!
Went to Safeway after that, to pick up some groceries and lunch makings… kids are always wanting to eat out… they want McDonalds, or Burger King… Dennys is acceptable; Subway is apparently the default meal out at their poppa’s, that or rice and beans and potatoes. I wonder how long it is going to take them to grow out of being so picky about what they eat?
The kids are quite amusing… they can’t walk into a store without wanting to buy something. At one point, they were pleading with me to buy some junky toyset, or something else… or “anything!” I kid you not… the point is not the object bought, but the act of buying. I was like, this is not a habit I want to encourage, so I told them: “We buy things when we need them, not just because we’re in the store.” Of course, they immediately decided that they “need” a walkie-talkie, and started coming up with all sorts of reasons. I was like, again, “There is a difference between need, and want. You want the walkie-talkie, but you don’t ‘need’ it. We don’t buy things just because we ‘want’ them.” (well, at least not regularly… I try and keep the wallet damage to a minimum; and keep the purchases inexpensive but worthwhile… junky plastic toys that get destroyed immediately or put on the shelf and never taken off again are a bad investment).
Anyway, between kids, and cats, and meetings (Save All Our Schools on Sunday, the Mayor on Monday morning, Dual Language Immersion program Monday evening, a meeting with the head of the teacher’s union tonight at 6 p.m. with SAOS, school board Wednesday night), life is a whirl of activity.
