Charlie, a.k.a. Chucklebutt

We enjoyed another fairly decent family weekend, though Saturday was a bit much. I had a board retreat early in the morning, so I was bummed about having to set my alarm on a Sat. I had it on my mind so much, that I awoke a little before 6 on Friday morning, thought it was Sat. and I had forgotten to set my alarm, and freaked out. By the time I realized that for whatever reason my brain had ended up on the wrong day, I was too wide awake to get back to sleep. So by Sat. morning, I was extra bummed that it was my second early wake up in a row, on a non-work day.

We had a decent retreat, though it was really just an extra-long meeting, and you know how much I love meetings. :-P The fact that I enjoy the people almost makes up for the meeting, but not totally. I rushed back to town as soon as the meeting ended, because I was already way behind on my normal Sat. chores, which are dominated by the big, long, weekly cleaning of the herbivore room. We also had to get to the library to get L’s next stack of supplementary reading for the next couple weeks of history. Then, at the end of the day, when I was exhausted and ready to sit down…we had to make one of our epic runs to the grocery store.

L went to see the new Harry Potter movie with Grandpa, so she escaped our Sat. night shopping. I HATE grocery shopping with a passion which is why I avoid doing it for as long as possible. Then when we do go, we have two big carts full and it takes another hour to get everything put away at home. It is really an icky task. Someday I will find a way to avoid this task altogether! At least now, though, I won’t have to worry about going again for a few weeks.

After L’s dance class on Sunday, M wanted to run to Barnes & Noble to get a book. He wanted to replace his Hobbit book that Dej borrowed and destroyed (back in high school, I think). He likes to re-read the Lord of the Rings series (starting with The Hobbit) every few years. He really felt that he needed to start his reread that day. We almost skated through B&N without a 40 pound stack of books. That was until I got up to the counter to pay and they explained their books-for-foster-kids program. M always wanders off when I pay in stores. He will never just stand near the register with me, which has proven to be kind of convenient in that I don’t always want him to know the total amount. This was one of those times. Since it was just L & I left to our own devices in front of a big wall of kids books (LOVE kids’ books!), we ended up doing some major damage by the time we left there. I don’t feel bad about it at all.

Children in the U.S. foster system break my heart in a way that few other ‘groups’ can. It is such a visceral response that even the term ‘foster child’ triggers a physical pain in my stomach. It’s a horrible, horrible experience that no child should have to go through—constantly being an outsider, feeling unwanted, not knowing unconditional love, never experiencing security or stability—a complete tragedy.

L and I finished our animal-care chores when we got home and then spent most of the evening sewing. We’re still working on our little stuffed owls, though they are getting close to being finished and looking quite cute!

While we sewed, we turned the TV on to watch a mini-marathon of Paranormal State (which is not supposed to be a comedy but is funny as hell!), and worked on her ability to evaluate things like that as a skeptic. (What else could have caused a strange noise like that? Why, with their ‘definitive’ proof of ghosts and other entities, had they not yet attempted to win the million $ prize offered by Amazing Randi’s foundation?) It’s important to us that she evaluate everything scientifically and approach life as a skeptic with excellent research skills. Starting out by having her watch these overly-dramatized, supposedly true encounters, is an easy way to get her mind engaged in that way of thinking. I initially let her watch them and credulously believe whatever they stated. We’ve worked slowly since then on applying logic, reason, as skepticism. She’s doing a really good job so far with evaluating claims!

All photos are of Charlie, looking so sweet and innocent. Notice his ever-present face scratches. You would think the defense wounds given by the cats he traps and torments would start to make him think twice about doing that, but it doesn't seem to be a deterrent at all! His most recent hobby is unrolling and playing with the toilet paper. Just when Lila outgrew it, Charlie started in. Unlike Lila, he actually eats chunks of it. He is so strange.

I'm still struggling with our cat problems. Charlie and Basil are still tag teaming the other boys, and it's horrible for them. Ivan, Petey, and Jasper have learned to let out a loud scream when they're cornered by the boys. I come running, yell C & B's names, and they know exactly what the problem is. They walk away looking very guilty. When I'm not home, however, there's no one to rescue the little guys when they're trapped. I know they do it when I'm gone, because I come home and find fur clumps and often C &/or B have fresh scratches on their noses. I have tried absolutely everything I can think of, but have seen no appreciable improvement. I'm down to my last available option, which I don't like at all, but can't think of anything better. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to lock C & B in the cat room while I'm at work or if I'm gone for a long period of time. I hate the idea of confining any living creature. It makes me sick to think about it, BUT it also makes me sick to think of how frightened and miserable the other boys are when I'm gone and they have no safe place. I was so hoping that we would have this resolved by now.