Anybody Know the Number for Cat rehab? A Day in the Life...

Gigi(me) and Dante! Thumbs up so far!

I'm sitting here eating chocolate chips from the bag.  But for balance I have a  bottle of vitamin water.  It is probably best that I don't consume any alcohol this weekend...keep my wits(and I'm at the end of them) about me.

This is the weekend I am at my older daughter's house to take care of my grandson while his parents take a mini vacation to Niagara Falls to celebrate their anniversary.  I came here, figuring it's easier to care for a baby on his own turf.  And it's been good.  Last night ran rather smoothly, my Bruins won the hockey game and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals(how calm that looks on paper...last night I was weeping for joy and dancing around like a cat hopped up on nip..but I digress). 

Then at 5am the baby woke.  Wide awake.  It was done. 4 hours of sleep and up she(me) rises.  So we got up.  He had some food and then the purpose for the awakening became clear.  Poop.  Yep.  So we had a talk where I told him from now on poop was not allowed but he negotiated it down to only allowed between the hours of 8am to 8pm.  He's a good negotiator ,that kid.  Because I really think no poop whatsoever is preferable.

Then he went back to sleep at 6:30 am and I was wide awake after drinking several cups of coffee.  A nap when he napped later that afternoon fixed things up and all was going well until dinner.  See, the little girls of mine, well, they usually have some supervision.  But mommy being busy with a  baby, that made for all sorts of interesting possibilities and with a house full of toys from the daycare on the main floor ,cyclones Sophia and Martina spread mayhem and Lego from one end of this place to another. 

Then the cat pooped on the floor.(See why no poop whatsoever would be a GREAT rule?)  Then the dog had to go outside.  But the baby got fussy.  So I put him to bed.  And the entire time the girls are running around like maniacs and the baby who was asleep, woke up.  So we start all over.  Another bottle.  Another rockabye. Another let the baby explore a little because he's just. not. tired. 

But by then I am.  And meanwhile I hear from upstairs, some noises that seem a little loud for the rather small cat that lives here.  But I'm too busy to go see.  Kids need to get ready for bed. Baby is getting fussy.  Ouch I stepped on an electrical cord.  Then a block.  It's getting rough.  If I can just get baby to bed.  If I can just get the girlies to bed.  Sigh.

And finally, all is quiet.  I go upstairs and all kids are sleeping.  I breathe a sigh of relief.  But there is a rather odd thumping from the bedroom. I go in and the cat is flipping freakin' out!  He's ballistic.  And I go in the bathroom and there is the cause of all the craziness.  He had found a stash of catnip!  A rather large stash. Every item along the counter top is on the floor.  There are sprinkles of the pungent herb from one end to the other of the sizable bathroom and the stoned out of his tree tabby is rolling in it like a pig in...mud. Yeah, mud.

Do you know that you can't clean catnip?  You have to vacuum it because it just kind of moves around but the kids are sleeping so it has to wait.  There is catnip on my feet from walking through it and suddenly my feet are very attractive to catzilla.  I'm thinking of staging an intervention!  I'm considering cat rehab.  It is very quiet here now except for kitty.  I'm told that whenever she partakes of the "nip" she has an aversion to closed doors so right now she is heaving herself against and tucking her paws under and rolling around like crazy in front of the bathroom door.  I've cut off her supply so that eventually she crashes.  I'm hoping she does soon...at least a little cat nap.

So, I drank the beer last night to celebrate the win.  But tonight  I just wanted a cookie.  A chocolate chip one ,to, you know, take the edge off.  But I settled for just the chocolate chips.  My teeth hurt from the sugar and pomegranate blueberry vitamin water does not go with chocolate chips but what the heck, I survived.

So.  There it is.  A day in the life...how I long for the quiet days when I went to the bar every Saturday night!  A nice reasonable bar fight is what I need!

One thing to note. While the day seemed all domestic and boring I was approved as a contributor for an international online magazine that is starting in June.  It's a great gig, I get to write two articles a month of any kind about Newfoundland.  I can feature a town, write a music review, interview cool people and get paid a little to do so!  Is that really a job?  Not even remotely!  Watch for information and links to the magazine soon!

There is such pleasure in the kids and the mundane and the ridiculousness of the day that it brings a smile.  I let the dog out a few minutes ago to discover that it's foggy.  It felt good.  I remembered an old love from my early twenties.  I always think of him on nights like this when we first kissed barefoot in a blanket of fog.  I had forgotten him for a long time.  I wonder if someday, twenty years from now someone will mention catnip, or I'll taste a chocolate chip, will the sights and smells and wonder of this simple night come back with the same vivid force. 

I certainly hope so.  Because even memories of the simple nights.  Even those of a silly stoned cat that makes you laugh at the ridiculous, or the rush of a new lovers kisses, bring smiles that make life ever perfect and ever joyful.

Cherish your memories.  They are the markers of your life, the clues to how well you've lived it and how on purpose you've been.  If mostly you smile at your memories, you're on the right track.  I hope you smile.