Sweet Jasper

Here he is, napping in one of his favorite spots--the sock drawer in Mark's clothing armoire. It's a beautiful antique armoire, with carved florals on the door panels. Jasper has improved it with the personal touch of claw marks across the top and front of the drawer. He likes M. to leave it open, or at least cracked so he can open it. If it's closed and wants to get in the drawer, he scratches at it repeatedly, thus, the claw marks on it. He frequently kicks out as many socks as he needs, so he can achieve the perfect level of coziness.

M. is giving a talk in Madison again tonight, so L. and I enjoyed a rare evening alone. We have plenty of nights that Mark is gone, but usually Hunter is here. Now I love H. and would never ask him to leave, but there are times I would just like to have mommy-daughter time. I don't ever want him to feel unwanted, though. So, I was tickled tonight when he said he had to leave at 7, so he could go home and watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", with his dad. L. loves Charlie Brown, so I was planning to watch it with her and figured he would be with us as well. I'm so happy for him that his dad wanted to do something with him! And I was selfishly happy to have my girl to myself. We snuggled up with the dogs and Petey (who wants to be a dog) and watched the show together. She giggled throughout the show--the giggle she has that instantly makes me feel happy. It's cute and contagious.

Watching the Charlie Brown cartoon that I watched so many times as a child got me tripping down memory lane. For no apparent reason that I can identify, one of the totally unrelated random childhood memories that it triggered was of going to the grocery store with my mom. I shop at the same store now, though it's in a different location and about 10 times bigger. Anyway, going to the grocery store wasn't particularly fun (though I hate it with a passion now) but I remember the big thrill was having my mom draw moustaches on my brother and I with an ink pen. She always had a pen and a list, and we would ask her to draw moustaches. I have no recollection of why it was such a thrill--maybe because writing on ourselves with an ink pen was a big NO NO, so it was a little naughty. I'm not sure, but I also don't recall having any concern with what others would think about children with ink moustaches walking through the grocery store. I don't recall the ages we were when she did this, or at what age it stopped. I have a sense that we I must have been L's age (8) or younger, though, because self-consciousness rears its ugly head at around that age. Memory is a really odd thing. At least mine is.

Allegrea and I have had another big batch of homeless animals to find homes/foster homes for, so it's been a week filled with tons of phone calls, e-mails, heartbreaks, frustrations, and tiny victories. All this and it's only Tuesday. UGH! It's going to be a long, rough winter with all the animal dumping and displacement that results from the hard economic times. Thanks, rethuglicans. Please consider opening your hearts and homes to adopt an animal that would otherwise be killed. We all need to give a little more and work a little harder during these tough times. For the majority of you with 0, 1, 2 animals in your home, you could do more. A little sacrifice on your part gives the gift of life to a wonderful being who will literally be dead without you. I guarantee that the return on that investment will be more than worth it.