CAT POO

Cat poop is quite possibly the worst smell ever known to man.  The good news is that my affection for Pumpkin the cat has been growing over the past few months.  I've been amazed by how gentle she is with Natty-Baby, particularly when the baby is pulling her whiskers or has a handful of the cat's hide in her chubby, little hand.  Despite this mistreatment, the cat still comes over to the baby, while Nat screams with delight.  Pumpkin even popped  (that's 2 p's, not 2 o's) Natty's little hand recently, but it was with no claws, just her little paw.  . .seems like an awfully kind way of saying, "Hey, if you you could please not grab a handful of my face, that'd be great.."  What a smart kitty. 

But the bad news is that this poop incident isn't good for our relationship.  Actually, it's not great for my marriage relationship either, since it WAS Papa Bear who left her in the house all day, while he was at work, when I was still in Atlanta.  What a fragrance to come home to!  You can ask Papa Bear what my mood was like, when I walked in to "Ode de Kitty Refuse." . . oh, and Raid (lovely combination).  See, he had to kill the trail of ants that led to the trash can before I got home too.  Lovely.

LOVE AND EXCESS

I still haven't reported on the insane outpouring of giftage, that was our Christmas 2004, which led right into the insane outpouring of giftage that was our Jan 2005 birthday celebration.  I forgot to mention that Papa Bear's b'day is in January too (in addition to 3 of the 4 kids).  And just in case you're wondering, Buddy's is in November, so pretty much no one is getting anything, until the end of 2005.  It's bizarre really.  I mean, if I had to pack all of the birthday celebration for the whole family into one 2 month period, I think the middle of the summer would have been a better time.  My birthday is in August, but the fact remains, that all of the gift buying, for the year, occurs b/t Nov and Jan, you know, since I don't buy gifts for myself.

O.K. I got WAY off of the subject there.  The point was [supposed to be] that our kids were totally showered with presents by family.  We are fortunate to have so much family in such a concentrated area and like a zillion cousins, for the kids to play with.  The whole holiday/birthday extravaganza is so much roucous fun for them.  And no matter how much we say, "No really.  We don't NEED anything.  Seriously.  Our house is like1300sq ft, and 6 people live in it."  Our families like to love on us, in this way.

I've also failed to mention, that once again, someone from our church (or some group of folks) was exceedingly kind and generous.  They wrapped a bunch of presents a few days before Christmas and sent them over to our house, via the church secretary, who lives in our neighborhood.  I was incredulous, and just kept saying, "Who did this?"  Her repeated reply was, "They've requested to remain anonymous."

So on Christmas Eve morning, when we did our little family Christmas (before heading to Atlanta for the big shebang), Papa Bear and I were totally excited to see what everyone got.  For Bananna and Ju-Ju, it was the mac-daddy Princess and the Pauper castle, with both barbies and the prince.  That one gift was in the financial neighborhood of what I had spent on everything.  There was a big present for Buddy too (playmobile castle) and several little gifts for the baby.  There was actually a sweater for me and bath stuff and Best Buy and Blockbuster credit for Papa Bear.  I feel like this was some sort of inside job.  Some of my friends in the neighborhood had to have at least served as consultants, because everything was too perfect (right size, right color, the toys that the girls are into).  My most baffled moment was when I opened a gift for the baby.  It was a Winnie the Pooh baby, a plush pooh, that makes a rattly sound, when you shake it.  Pooh is holding a tiny, silky blankie.  It's possible that it's a coincidence, but Natty sleeps with a tiny (cloth-diaper sized) blanket.  We call it her "silky."  That one tiny detail made me feel so loved.  I don't think it's a coincidence.

So, having said all of that, I've decided that I may, in fact, never have to buy another gift bag, for the rest of my life.  You see, when Papa Bear and I got married, it was like Christmas morning times 50.  I had wedding specific gift bags for YEARS.  And when we got pregnant (like a month later), the number of baby gift bags was ridiculous, which was cool, because I like to give baby gifts.  This year, since Papa Bear had recently been out of work, we were so small-scale and low-key or more accurately for lots of loved ones "not at all" with the giving, and yet we reaped a harvest of Christmas-time lute, that almost makes us feel silly.  But I have to say, that my heart is softened by this punctuation of the giving, that has characterized the last several months of our lives (as folks took care of us, during the lean months).  I still wonder when we'll be able to give as generously as so many folks have given to us.  But it occurs to me that we may never "catch up" in terms of all that has been given to us.  There may always be extra gift bags in the closet.

P.S.  I can't believe that what has turned into a very serious blog about the generousity of our loved ones is attached to a blog about cat poo.