Kittle-Cat

I'm kinda upset tonite. Our kitty, Skittles, is under the weather... Well, I shouldn't say our kitty, he's really Ean's cat. Ean has always been a cat-lover! When he was 3, he wore me down and I caved (after seeing a mouse in our basement) and agreed to let him have a kitty. In a conversation with my cousin Tonya, I mentioned this. Tonya is the one to talk to about getting pets! She's helped me find not only Skittles but:

Kota--Mr. Peyton and my 1st dog together. He was a cinnamon colored pure-bred Chow Chow. He was the cutest puppy we've ever owned! He was definitely a 1 man dog and despite our best efforts to socialize him, he stayed true to the typical Chow personality. He was a sweetheart though and a big chicken! lol--scared to death of thunderstorms! He died less than a week after we had Evan, at 13 years old.

Tucker--MY BABY! My 1st baby! Ahhhh, Tucky D! He was my 1st Peke, and the apple of my eye! Tonya even helped me with his AKC registration, naming him Peyton's Tucker Boy. I will be forever thankful to Tonya for leading me his way, as he greatly enriched and blessed our lives for 13 years. (13 seems to be our UNLUCKY number)

I have to also give Tonya the props for Atticus too... Mr. Peyton and I wanted a Lab for years. Tonya had 2 prior to her Chocolate, Mocha, whom I absolutely fell in love with, thru pictures Tonya shared with me of her as a puppy. This and Dietz (one of my client's black Labs who was the sweetest goofball I'd ever met) pushed me over the edge and we made the plunge for Atti Christmas Eve about 5 years ago. Atticus is truly an amazing, wonderful dog. And the most beautiful chocolate Lab in the whole world! His personality (and eyes) will turn even the biggest animal-hater into a pile of mush! Thankfully, he's still with us, I don't even wanna think about the 13 year mark...

But back to Skittles... Tonya called me a couple of days after our conversation saying to me that she knew a guy that had some Himalayan-mixed kittens, that (quote) "I use for target practice, if the dogs don't get 'em". Yeah, nice huh... I often picture a toothless hillbilly in ratty bib overalls sitting on his porch, spitting Red-Man thru pickets shooting his sawed-off shotgun at defenseless kittens. Now that's a real man... ugh!!!!!!! So, needless to say, Tonya goes and gets all the kittens! I told her to save the cutest for us! One friday nite, after Mr. P gets off from work, with an over the top excited Ean in tow, we head across Afton mountain to Staunton to pick up this kitten.

I'll admit, when I get there, I was kinda disappointed. Tonya had told me that this kitten looked like Gizmo from The Gremlins. She said that he had a lot of Persian and/or Himalayan in him. I didn't see any of it... I know, I know, that's not important, but I was not a cat person at all at this time. I was getting this cat strictly for Ean (uh, and the mouse problem too, I won't lie). The least that could come from my graciousness, could be a pretty kitten. This kitten was skinny and not really cute at all. He did have blue eyes, that were crazed looking, but kinda pretty, but I figured he'd outgrow them. And as if his looks weren't bad enough, he was a SPAZ! Gosh, I don't even know if spaz covers it. Tonya had to run around the porch a few times to finally catch him, then he hissed and spit at her, while she informed us that he'd bitten her quite a few times in the couple of days since she'd rescued him. Nice...I thought. But, Ean was gone--hook, line and sinker! He couldn't have cared less that this mangy little thing was hissing and it's fur was sticking porcupine like all over it's body! All he knew was that this was a kitty, his own pet, that he'd been pining for, for a long time! (Especially to a 3 year old) So, into our mini-van we climb, yowling kitten and all and over the mountain we trek back to Orange.

Immediately, as soon as the drive home that nite, I could tell Skittles wasn't fond of me. Heck, who am I kidding, Skittles pretty much hated me. Still to this day, I'm his absolute least fave here. Anyway, the next day Skittles (who coined his name from Ean's fave candy at the time), hid and scampered all day. He ended up hiding underneath our hutch in the dining room and it took us a couple of hours to find him, then get him out. I must say, I was regretting my push-overness. But, Ean in all his youthful glory, was one proud cat owner! About a week after getting Skittles, we went to the beach for a week. He was alone, in his new home. Something miraculous happened this week--he decided we weren't that bad. Well, I guess Ean, Mr. Peyton and Tucker weren't that bad, he still hated me. We came home to a cat transformed. I was truly expecting to come home to a cat--4 feet up, but he greeted us with meows and rubs. Almost scaring me, I was expecting this demon cat to be fooling us into some sort of surprise death trap, but from our first day back from vacation after having him about 2 weeks, he was King of the House! He tolerated Ean and all his over-loving and began a tremendous keen-ness for Mr. Peyton! He still, to this day loves Daddy! And then came Evan, I remember the day we brought Evan home, Tucker and Skittles peering over into his Moses basket and us chuckling and snapping pics. Skittles, in his typical aloof way, didn't pay much attention to Evan at all, until about the past 2 years. Skittles prefers to sleep with Evy. If Evy's spending the nite at Gramma's, Skittles will meow in the hall, waiting for his bed-buddy. If it's time to go to sleep, and Evy's not already in the bed, Skittles will meow, "It's time, brother", and he's content, once they are both snug in Evy's bed. It's uncanny how he likes Evy, and typical that he still dislikes me! I tell him that I know he doesn't like me, but I like him anyway. I like him because he's turned into this beautiful lion of a cat! He's got long grey hair and he's kept those magnificent blue eyes! I like him because he's a "mean kitty" as I always call him. He's got a personality unlike any pet I've had. He's mean and bossy, making sure all the dogs (even Atti, who out weighs him by at least 110 pounds) know he's the King of this domain. He's funny, loving banana peels and soft dog treats. He's sweet, in still tolerating Ean's "over loving" and his loyal-ness to his master (Ean). I love him because he's made Ean very happy. I love him because he loves us. Yeah, I think he loves me, he may not like me, but he loves me...I think...

Kittle Cat has been sniffing and sneezing for a couple of weeks. He's been shaking his head, as if he's got mites. I got some OTC drops for his (and Atti's) ears and we put those in a couple of nites ago--to HIS dismay, I may LOUDLY add. Well, he's been pretty lethargic for the past 2 days. I didn't think a whole lot of it, until this evening when I noticed I hadn't really seen him all day. Ean found him sleeping outside by the front porch and brought him onto the carport where I was reading. I could almost tell, just by his fur, that he wasn't up to par. Skittles is very particular about his appearance, and has always, always kept himself in pristine condition--well, he was looking a little scruffy. Then when Ean turned him around to face me as I cooed at him, I saw his eye. It looks almost like he's blind out of it. It's swollen underneath. I don't know if he's gotten into a fight with the neighborhood alley cats or if God forbid, he's gotten hit by something. Anyway, I'm worried, as is Ean. I will call the vet, first thing in the morning and hopefully get him in, ASAP!

Please pray that "ole mean kitty" will be ok!

God is Love--Peace Out

Picture of the week

Ok, this should be fun! I've decided to dedicate to my blog, one day a week, as PICTURE OF THE WEEK day... I'm going to pick a picture out of the masses and post it and write a little something about it. Sooooo, here goes

This is Evy in the ER at the Martha Jefferson Hospital. He had swallowed a penny. The saga goes as follows:

Ean started his 1st day of 6th grade at Louisa County Middle School. I was very jittery about this new stage in his life. Not because he was starting middle school, but because of the bus ride he will endure the rest of his school days. He was boarding the school bus at 6:40am that morning and not getting off that un-airconditioned bus until 4:20pm. That's a long day for my little guy. And if that wasn't bad enough, it's the same route I took from 6th grade on, and it wasn't that long ago that I don't remember all the trouble we stirred up to and fro. Gladly enough, Ean survived his 1st day of middle school and actually enjoyed the bus, the driver and the ride! Thank you God!

Allen was into his 4th or so week of training for Embarq, in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He would be gone for 12 weeks... Even though he was able to come home on weekends, that didn't lighten the load or help with the daily goings on here... I had chatted with him about 4:30pm, when he got back to the hotel from class.

It was about 8:00pm and I was on the patio, chatting on the phone. Out runs Evan, eyes bugging out of his head, look of horror on his face, crying hysterically.

"What's wrong"? I practically scream.

"I got a penny stuck in my throat", he is barely understandable. He's sweating, drooling and just plain out freaking! I couldn't believe what I was hearing or seeing! I pick him up and take him into the kitchen and try water, maybe it'll go down. Nope. I try a small crust of bread, I remember getting choked on an ice cube when I was 8 and did the bread thing and it worked. Not this time. I quick call Mom, she runs over. Evan is totally panicking now. I call 911, they tell me to take him myself to the ER because by the time the squad gets here, I could have him up there already. So, out we go...

I tried and tried to get in touch with Allen in NC. I know, there was NOTHING he could do, but I needed to hear his voice. I needed to hear him tell me our baby boy was going to be ok. I couldn't get him. I ended up calling one of his co-worker's spouse to tell her to tell Allen to call me. I knew they were all out together eating. Needless to say, by this point I was ballistic! When he called, and said they were at a Chinese restaurant in Raleigh I lost it! I know he couldn't help it, but I just felt so alone and needless to say, SCARED to death! As I was pretty much cussing him out, into the ER entrance we skidded.

I got out and went to the carseat to get Evy. His shirt was soaked from drool, he had said NOTHING all the way to the hospital. He was terrified, as were Mom and I! Mom parked the truck as I ran in with him whimpering in my arms. In triage, they asked all the regular questions, then took his blood pressure, then ushered us VERY swiftly into a room in the ER.

I had put Evan down so the nurse could check him over and then she went out to get the doctor. As Evan climbed onto the bed...He looked up at me and said the sweetest (and 1st words since he swallowed the penny). "Mommy, that penny went down into my tummy"... Mom and I both, finally breathed! As he was climbing into the bed and was flipping over from his knees onto his backside, I guess he jarred himself enough to jar the penny out of his throat! Sure enough, the doctor x-rayed him and there it was, big as life, in his tummy!

Whew...what an evening! The doctor said it would pass... I couldn't help but think of the old saying--THIS TOO SHALL PASS. I thanked God for all His marvelous and plentiful blessings on my family and most importantly for saving my precious baby boy! Then I called Allen and told him the good news...and apologized...

God is Love--Peace Out

Father's Day

">OMG! I can't believe I didn't even mention Father's Day or Fu-Fu or anything about it in my last post! It took me a couple of days to write it and by now it's very early Thursday morning, so Sunday seems like a month ago! Anyway, Allen's Father's Day gift for at least the next 3 years is the GODDESS! But Ean and Evy fixed him breakfast on Sunday morning and we all got him cards. We had celebrated w/ my Dad the weekend before, but I did call him and told him that I love him and I hoped he had a wonderful day! Allen enjoyed playing on the Goddess and then like I said in my prior blog, we went to Mark and T's for WAFFLE NITE. We all enjoy that, Mark fixes yummy waffles and we all bring a bunch of toppings and just eat like pigs! Loads of fun (and calories)!

Happy June

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet, no sign to remind one that its fresh, young beauty will ever fade.
--Gertrude Jekyll

Hootie Happenings

Ok, I haven't blogged in a bit, so I'll fill ya in on what's been going on here at Southern Comfort.



Saturday Evy started to complain about his tummy hurting. I didn't think a whole lot of it. Ean is my complainer, my melodramatic one. His headaches are always migraines, his tummy aches are always the flu, he stubbs his toe--it's broken. See where I'm going with this? Evy is the tough one (like his Dad). He seldom complains about stuff, but he does have somewhat of a tender tummy, which his horrible eating habits don't cater to! So, when he said his tummy was hurting, I just figured the 5th chocolate pop tart of the day was the culprit. Well, he got into his bed and took a nap and woke smoking hot with a fever. I gave him Tylenol and about and hour later he was feeling better, but that only lasted till the meds wore off. So went the remainder of the weekend.



We did go to Mark and T's at Stumblinn Farm for dinner on both Saturday and Sunday nites. Saturday night was a lot of fun, we cooked out and sat at the pond and caught up. It had been a long time since we'd spent any time with them. Mark is Mr. Peyton's BFF--and a total trip! The boys, Evan especially love going to their place. There's 91 acres of land to romp and run. There's 2 ponds to fish in and look for for frogs. There's farm animals, turkeys and 2 dogs and a very cool cat. Speaking of the animals there, I have never seen animals love a child that's not "theirs" like the ones inhabiting Stumblinn! Tocoa is Mark and T's border collie. He acts like Evy's protector! It's uncanny! He plays with Evan the entire time we are there and if Evy gets out of his sight, you can bet he's not settle until he finds him! Once when Evy was still in diapers, he was heading out toward the horses, well Tocoa grabbed Evy by the seat of his pants and would not let him go any further! So cute! Evy didn't think so! lol And the horses! OMG, they have 3, 2 of which have more personality than any horse and most dogs I've ever known! Rush (Brush, as Evan used to call him) and Paxton absolutely love Evan and Evan loves them! He's never been shy of them (as is Ean) and I guess they know that he loves them. It's hilarious, when we get there, if we don't "speak" to them in their field, they will neigh until we do! Sometimes speaking isn't enough, and Evy will traipse over and give them the rub on the nose that they are waiting for. As much of a haven as Stumblinn Farm is for us, it holds one of the saddest and most horrible memories of my life. That's for another time though.

As I said, Evy was funky feeling the whole weekend, then as it usually is, the dreaded bug musta hit me Sunday night. I got into the bed and was FREEZING! I snuggled up the the hot potato (hubster) to no avail. I had to ask him to snuggle, as by this time was I actually shivering. I didn't feel bad though. However, when I got up Monday morning to go help out one of my fave clients I felt bad... ugh! The remainder of the day was pretty much spent in bed. I couldn't take it any longer, so in the late afternoon I willed myself better and by Monday night I was pretty much up to snuff. So on Tuesday we went to the pool with my friend Lisa and her Evan as planned. Lisa and I met when she was Evy's pre-k teacher and my Evan and her Evan hit it off right away! It was awesome hanging out with them at the Hollymead pool. (sidenote--when Mom and I lived in Hollymead, when I was 9, I swam in that same pool) Evy (my Evy that is) had a blast and as he's famous for, sought out a "cool guy" (teenager) and was trying to do the same double and triple flips off the diving board. This sweet teenager, Brian, was even helping Evy learn to dive. Evy hasn't mastered that yet, and boy does it chap him to no end!

Unfortunately today, Evan was suffering with a terrible ear ache! ugh! I hate that, because I know how painful those stupid things are! I guess it was water in his ear, but he's better after pumping him full of Tylenol and Motrin and sweet oil in his ear. We aren't gonna do the pool for a few days.

For some reason, Ean's been exceptionally helpful today! THERE IS A GOD! lol I'm loving it, and hoping it lasts for a little while, at the very least! He helped me cook dinner, even! He must be really bored...

Now for the best happening lately... Harris Teeter Online shopping!!!!!!!!! OMG! I have a smile on my face that can't be slapped off! I ordered my groceries online late last night, paid for them and Mr. Peyton picked them up on his way home from work today! BLISS, I tell you! I don't know if I can put into words how much I completely and utterly DESPISE going grocery shopping... I'd scrub funky, crap stained toilets all day before I'd go to the grocery store. Enough said... So, lemme tell you, this is like a dream come true for me! Where has this been all my life? LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! And if all that's not wonderful enough, Mark's niece (Mr. Peyton's BFF is Mark, remember) works at Teet and told him she can get us a DISCOUNT! OMG! What have I done to deserve all this??? Thank you Lord!

God is Love--Peace Out

Jingles!

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I've said before that we are the nickname family! Yeah, well we're the singing family too! Actually, let me quit lying, I'm the singer in my little family, but if you've got Birckhead blood in ya, you're gonna sing! Especially when you're the least bit happy. We sing while we work, we sing in the car, we sing a lot! I think my favorite thing about singing is making up fun songs about "us"! The absolute best ones are when we replace the words of real songs with our own words!

For example: Remember the song Peggy Sue by the Hollies? Well, I changed up a few words and sing it to Atticus...it goes a little something like this...

Atti Boo, Atti Boo, Atti, Atti, Atti, Atti, Atti Boo

My Atti, my Atti Boo (oooo)

Well I love you Atti, I love you Atti Boo!

Remember the Muffin Man from your childhood? Well, before I cut Allen's hair I always serenade him with my rendition of that fave...

Do you know the Mullet Man, the Mullet Man, the Mullet Man

Do you know the Mullet Man that lives on Klockner Road

--for some reason that's not one of Hubster's faves

Of course there's always silly songs that I make up, usually as I go.

His name is Rascal, they call him Rascal, his name is Rascal, they call him Rascal

(this is for Evy, of course)

I've been belting out, E, E goes to school, school, since Ean started Pre-School.

I have boys, as you know, and my oldest has to be told to brush his teeth, constantly. So just to torture him for having to be told, I scream out:

Brush your teeth, round and round, circle small, gums and all! --doing the motions too--that really disgusts them! HOLLA! I love it! The brush your teeth song started with Barry though! Gramma Birckhead used to have to scream at him to brush his teeth too, so I would make fun of him getting in trouble about it and sing it while he scrubbed his fangs! Of course, I'd have to hide before he finished!

Both of my boys were huge Barney fans when they were little, so you can only imagine all the fun I had with those songs! I remember one in particular that Ean and I would sing and it would piss Evan off soooo bad! I have no idea why it made him soooo mad when Ean and I would harmonize to:

There's cats in the jungle and cats in the city

Some are really big and some are itty bitty

but it would and of course that only made Ean and I sing even louder! And laugh our butts off as Evan would swing his fist at us or kick and scream in the car seat as we sang it coming home from the pool to try to keep him awake! ahhh, good times! lol

So now to the new song I came up with just a few minutes ago! I think it's awesome! Hubster rolled his eyes... This one's for Fat Girl (our #2 cat) and I think it fits her well! See if you can recognize this one.

Fat Girl in the city, running wild and looking pretty

Fat Girl in the city, Fat Girl's a pretty kitty

If you guessed Hot Child in the City by Nick Glider (from the late 70's I think) you're today's winner!!!!!

God is love--Peace Out!

Loyalties

So, I get a call from my MawMaw yesterday... what a bummer of a call it was...

When my Mom and I were over there last week, I asked MawMaw if she'd like to do a trade. She has this groovy, funky green velveteen chair in her tv room. Her tv room is blue. I have a nice blue chair in my bedroom. I love the funky green chair. It would be super in my new office. So, I suggested that I give her my blue chair for her green one. She was on board! Yippee--I was stoked!

My aunt was in for a little visit with my MawMaw and the rest of the crew for a few days. This aunt and I have never been remotely close. This aunt has a major chip on her shoulder toward me. Truly, I have never figured it out. The only iota of a clue that I have about that is that she knows that JoAnne (my paternal aunt) and I are extremely close and that must bother her. Mind you, this aunt has never attempted to have any sort of relationship with me. One of the most vivid memories I have of her, is at Christmas one year when I was probably 12 or 13, her looking at my cousins and I in utter disgust saying "I hope my kids don't turn out like yall"... (I'm kinda smiling right now, cuz poetic justice hit hard with her 2 kids) Anyho, this aunt is the family "pot stirrer", among other things.

Back to the 2 minute long phone call with MawMaw.
me--HELLO
MawMaw--ANGIE???? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
me--NOTHING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
MawMaw--LAYING IN BED, LISTEN, I HATE TO BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU THIS, BUT I CAN'T GIVE YOU THAT CHAIR.
me--OK
MawMaw--DALTON'S GONNA BE ON THE RADIO TOMORROW.
me--UH HUH
MawMaw--WHAT'S THE BOYS DOING?
me--THEY ARE DOWNSTAIRS.
MawMaw--WELL, LIKE I SAID, I CAN'T GIVE YOU THAT CHAIR.
me--WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
MawMaw--SOMEBODY TOLD ME THAT I CAN'T GIVE ANYTHING AWAY, CUZ THAT'S WHAT JOHN SAID, HE SAID AFTER HE DIES NOTHING IS LEAVING THIS HOUSE, IF SOMEBODY WANTS SOMETHING THEY'VE GOTTA BUY IT AT THE SALE. SO, DON'T BE MAD AT ME.
me--WHATEVER
MawMaw--OK, BYE

I sat there looking at the phone in disbelief. I know you're probably wondering about this "sale". See, in my Mom's family, they have a big auction when someone dies. Nothing is ever left to anyone. If someone wants a family heirloom they have to purchase it at this auction. Then the proceeds from the auction is split between the surviving children of the deceased. Not the grandchildren, either! (let's keep that straight) So, for example, my mother has to BUY items that she's grown up with from an auctioneer after MawMaw passes away, but I guess in someones mind that's all good, cuz Mom will get a 1/3 of that money back... I think it's the most shameful and greedy thing ever. Of course, like in a lot of families, there's favored ones. Needless to say, I'm NOT a favored one in this clan! One of my cousins has my grandfather's easy chair, a stereo and a rad kitchen cabinet from MawMaw--just given to her! I can't even do a tradesy... ugh! I'm so chapped! I'm also hurt! I'm certain the aunt, you know the one with the BIG WART on the end of her nose, has something to do with MawMaw's change of heart. Everything was a-ok, till she came in, wart and all!

So what to do... I wanted to call MawMaw back and say, "hey, you aren't GIVING me anything, we're trading, remember", I wanted to call warty aunt and tell her to stick the chair up her skinny butt sideways. Instead, I've done nothing. I did call my 1 cousin (Tonya), the only family member from my Mom's clan that I am close to and tell her about it and bitch to her about the unfairness and ridiculousness of it all (and felt better too). I, of course, called Mom and raised cain about it! I'm not sure what to do or say, if anything, from here on out to MawMaw. ugh...

My sweet, thoughtful and protective hubster told me tonight that he'd buy me a green chair for my office! Man, I love that boy!

Oh, I asked Mom again, Do you see why my loyalties lie with the Birckheads? Do you see why they always have?

God is Love--Peace Out