We're back down to five cats :( OR :) --not sure

My Sweetie-cat (who's now Callie) is still in her new home, doing well, I'm sure. Her new mom has been down with a migraine, and I'm sure that Sweetie/Callie and her new brother Snuggles brought some joy into the migraine misery. I know I love my cuddly cats when I'm unwell. We took Cali, soon to be renamed, to her new home on Sunday, and that went very well. She and her new mom seem to have similar energy levels, and Cali/?? jumped right into exploring her new home. She loved all the deep windows and looked out many of them before Les and I left her. She seemed right at home. I feel very good about both placements and am sure that two people and three cats are much happier. I miss both of the cats, but I'm so happy that they are in a better place! Placements are so bittersweet.

Back to Saturday night...we had dinner at the Woods. Leders, Rob & Jody (they used to live on our street--don't remember their last name), and another couple (a woman Leanna works with and her husband) were there. Leanna likes to entertain and went all out, making vegetarian lasagnas and a vegan lasagna, in addition to salad, fruit, bread, and even vegan desserts! I feel bad that she went to so much effort and got so much for me. I'm pretty used to making due, and it feels a bit awkward to put someone to so much trouble. She's one of the nicest people EVER, though, so that's just her way. Rob & Jody's kids were there, too. Luciana would have preferred having K & E to herself, but she was okay with the others. They played a lot of hide and seek. Apparently the secret to a getting a good fire pit going is a dash of gasoline. John is the fire building pro, so we watched and learned. It certainly got going a lot faster and better than ours do. Ours take forever to get going, but once they are going they're great. Anyway, we had some fun conversation by the fire pit until the big people started to get tired. It was much earlier than the little people wore down--they were still going strong, even though it was past their bedtimes. Dej had to work and didn't join us (not that she would have anyway). She went out with Brandon and some friends after work.

Sunday was just a typical Sunday--full of chores. I managed to injure and really hose up my right hand as I was getting ready to take Cali to her new home, so I didn't get anymore weeding done. It rained off an on yesterday and today, so I probably couldn't have done too much anyway. I'm not sure how long it will be until I can work with my right hand again. My left hand is collassally uncoordinated, so if I can weed with it, it will be slow going. I can't afford to get anymore behind than I already am. I am really stressing about it!

Poor D. had to work Sunday too. The cold realities of the working world are hitting now. She got her schedule for next weekend, and she works both Friday and Saturday nights. She is so not happy about losing her whole weekend. It's not too bad, though, because her last day of school is Thursday this week, so after that, basically everything's a weekend to her. Damn I miss having summer off! She's got a big week coming up: finals, her road test (FINALLY!! We have to go all the way to Portage though), and ACTs bright and early Saturday at 7 am. Who schedules tests for teens before noon?! That is just a dumb, dumb idea. All the ACT tests seem to start at 7, though. As a die-hard NON-morning person, I resent planning like this that is clearly done by those crazy-ass morning people!

L's been on a chess and checkers run lately, so we've been playing a lot the last few days. We played a game of checkers right before reading time tonight, and she almost beat me. She got cocky and wasn't paying close attention to the board, so I got in a triple jump! I usually don't take advantage of opportunities like that, but she's getting too good to leave herself open like that. I bet she won't do it again ;) She's also played D&D for a while every day with Mark. He came home Sat. after going to Mounds with some additional items. Seems he went next door to Hancock Fabrics, which is closing and has everything at 75% off. He came back with three large pieces of fabric--large enough to completely cover the dining room table. He wanted them to make the scenes for their game: a desert, water, and hmmm can't remember the other one--maybe mountains. It's pretty cute. They were both so excited about it.

My brother & family just got a new puppy. I've always thought of him as a distinctly non-animal person. It will be fun to watch him survive puppy hood. This is a picture of the pup, JohnnyCash (yep, that's his name). Doesn't he just look like one of those that's really naughty but too cute to do anything about it (just like my Petey)? He'll have to spend some time with his big cousins, Daisy & Jezebel. They can teach him valuable skills they've already mastered, such as poop eating, chewing holes in couches and walls, eating plastic items like toys and remote controls, and vomitting up the things they've have eaten.