It is an insanely gorgeous day outside. Potatoe and I slept late, and then we went for a morning walk after he and his cat siblings had their breakfast. Lots of my neighbors were outside enjoying the cool, bright sunny day, while fixing issues brought about by the storm or walking their dogs. I love chatting with my neighbors.
Now, Potatoe and Trooper are snuggled up by the fireplace, and Storme and Pumpkine are running about, enjoying the outdoors. Trooper has a distinct cry that almost sounds like he is trying to make human words. He consistently only cries for his food, to be let outside, and for me to turn the fireplace on. He will pace around my chair and make his cry, sounding like he is trying to form human words, until I get up and turn the fireplace on. The moment that I grab the key to turn the gas to the fireplace on, he stops his cry and hops into his basket and watches the fireplace light up. Then he snuggles in for a nap.
Myself and all of the fur kids are going to need a bit of a calorie reduction and increase in physical activity. We have gotten into the habit of getting up, eating, sitting, eating, sitting, eating, and then sleeping. One of the items on my to-do list today is to make a healthy menu for the week.
In the meantime, I will be enjoying leftover stew that Brainy Bird made for me yesterday. I eat horribly when the boys are with their dad. I tend to wait until I am extremely hungry, and then I devour whatever I can quickly find. Healthy food is almost never the first thing on hand. Having the stew all weekend will help me stay out of the pantry of processed food.
Brainy Bird’s cooking skills are incredible. I hope that he keeps practicing his cooking in college. I do not think that there will be a kitchen in his freshman year dorm, but I am sure he can find friends to cook for that have kitchens. Brainy Bird is to the point that he can prepare a splendid gourmet level meal for a dinner party. I imagine that will get him invited to the Dean’s house for dinner on occasion.
The crazy week of no power or flushing toilets has us distracted from the college process. Brainy Bird is spending time with his dad this weekend, and then school is closed on Monday, so he will have time to catch up on his college correspondence. He is about a month away from making his big decision on what college he will attend.
At some point during the chaos, Brainy Bird got approved for his first credit card. I was taken back by the fact that he got a $1500 limit. That seems high to me for an 18 year old’s first credit card. We reviewed the purpose of having the card, and the dangers of having the card. He more than gets it. He also has a huge savings that he can pay the card off with when he gets himself in trouble with it. I believe that everyone misuses their first credit card. The important thing is to learn from the mistake, and to absolutely never miss a payment. It will be exciting when he makes his enrollment deposit for college with his own credit card.
Little Chirp should be back in action on the basketball court this week. He has a doctor’s appointment to get cleared to play again this week. He was supposed to have tryouts today for a private off-season league, but this was cancelled because of the chaos brought about by the storm. Little Chirp tried at some point every day the past three days to get a little basket time in, only to find ice on the driveway and unbearable temperatures. He will be thrilled to be officially cleared to play again.
I plan to spend my weekend catching up on the three days of work that I missed while I had no power last week. Things worked out well in that that the boys were already supposed to be with their dad. I find that I love what I do, and one of the few things that makes me dissatisfied with work at times is having an unmanageable work load. I am hoping a weekend of work will make for a way less stressful work week. We will see…