I'll be laced with lacy...

LOL...Guess which song Luciana is playing right now.


L. has been very creative over the past couple of weeks. She's been using her clay from xmas to make cat world habitats. She has been working on writing a book--her own version of the Cat Warriors books that she loves so much. She has close to 100 characters that she has named and drawn and has written a few chapters of the book so far. Each can clan lives in a different type of area, and she used clay to sculpt and then paint two of the habitats. These are shown below:














She also made some lovely pictures using some of the craft supplies she got for her birthday.















This year I will remember that I have MLK day off tomorrow, and therefore, I will NOT drive to work in a blizzard and only realize when I see the empty parking garage that I could have stayed home in BED!

We had another date night last night, and Mark had another surprise planned. We went to Madison and went for Thai again. Mark really wanted to go back, and as long as they have the most delectable, to-die-for sticky rice with mango, I am on board. Our friends, Lori & Tom, had just flown in for a few days from CO, and they met us at the restaurant. It was wonderful to see L & T, but more importantly, we got to meet Clover Helene for the first time in person. She is even cuter in person. Her adorable pictures do not begin to do her justice. She is an absolutely perfect baby--every feature is so cute and her skin is flawless. I gladly let my delicious vegan lad nar get cold, so I could have extra time holding the little vegan warrior.

This post is going to take me forever! L. is sitting next to me with M's laptop, and she's distracting me with cute You Tube cat videos. There's a seemingly endless supply of them, and I have to work really hard to resist not becoming the 'crazy-cat-lady-who-constantly-makes-cute-videos-of-her-cats'. I think I'll hold tight with 'crazy-cat-lady-who-takes-too-many-pictures-of-her-cats'. Yeah, that's a little less crazy.

Okay back to last night. Was smart enough to order two sticky rices to go, as we didn't have time for dessert there. We were getting a little short on time and had to make it to the next event. M. managed to tell Lori where we were going, but I didn't hear, so I still didn't know. I hoped it was worth leaving my sticky rice in the car. We went to the play, Blasphemy, at the Bartell Theater. I was even wild enough to join M in getting a drink to take into the Theater. I had a Capt. Morgan's some kind of colada--it was a pretty yellow drink in a bottle, and it looked fruity. It was really quite good, and I was so glad I took it in with me. The play was hilarious and proved to be a good choice, as are about 98% of Mark's surprise outings.

I'm not doing well with sleeping at night again lately--more hormonal joys, how fun. I have been super tired today and kind of muddled through my chores and homeschooling work. I'll have to be more productive tomorrow. I'm finding Sundays a little bit of a challenge (besides my crappy energy level) because Dej has been coming to visit for several hours on Sundays. That will probably be the only day she doesn't work or have classes, so it will probably continue. I need to have more time freed up to hang out with her, so I'll probably need to work on changing my schedule--though not sure where I will find more time.

I took the girls to Old Navy today. L. still had a gift card, and we were hoping to catch some good clearance sales. The girls had fun trying things on and picking out clothes. L. worked very hard to be a little teen and be as 'cool' as she thinks her sister is. It's definitely not my favorite way for her to behave, but she was having fun and feeling quite grown up. As long as she doesn't get jazzy with me, I can let it pass. She tried on a pair of skinny jeans that were really cute, but she HATED them. As soon as she got them fastened, she started complaining loudly that they were TOO TIGHT and she didn't like them. I asked her some questions and was able to determine that they fit her fine, she just doesn't like her clothes to touch her that much. After much grunting and groaning, she removed the pants from hell and said she would never wear skinny pants. I guess she would still rather be comfortable than to look like her sister. Good for her.

We picked up our newest little family member from the Humane Society on Friday. Oh, and I was thrilled to see that they had L's sign hanging in a very conspicuous location. She was quite proud when I pointed it out to her. He's a precious little bright green and yellow parakeet with lots of 'tude. Given the home situation he came from (his little partner didn't make it out alive), I certainly can't blame the little guy for being nippy and full of 'tude. He seems to be feeling quite at home in the bird room. We have not yet agreed on a name for him yet--L. and I are having a bitter argument on what his name should be. She's won the last few naming rights, so I think I'm entitled to a turn. Plus she wants to name the bird Pat. I cannot live with a bird named Pat. I am living with a gerbil named Botswana. The last four bird names she chose: Sky, Rain, Touky, and Mrokia. It is so my turn to name the new baby!

We are in desperate need of temporary foster homes for SIX well-behaved, well-loved dogs. Contact me if you're willing to help out or know of someone who could be talked (or bribed, okay even blackmailed) into helping out.