The Bully, Bullied

Bully Cat, aka Chico, has been the neighborhood bully for years. He's well-known around the neighborhood, and depending on whether he's killed/maimed your cat, he's either well-loved or well-hated.
He's been an indoor-outdoor cat, very well-trained. Or shall I say, WE were very well-trained. All he had to do to be let out was to sit at the door and stare it down, and we'd automatically go open it for him. His life was really sweet!
Until last week, that is. His latest victim was the cat across the street. At 14 pounds, Chico could do some damage to a measely 8 pound cat, and he did....repeatedly. I finally got a call from the distraught owner, begging me to do something with our cat. (sigh) (Why do things like this ONLY happen when Patrick's out of town!?) So on Monday night at 9pm, after hanging up the phone, I went to Walmart to buy everything we'd need to turn this hulking bully into an indoor-only cat.
After much crying and squalling like a girl, clawing at the windows, and scratching at the door, the cat's finally calming down a bit. Until this morning. I awoke this morning to the sound of something knocking on a window. I came out to the living room to find Chico sitting in the sill, but HE wasn't doing the knocking. Sitting on my vegetable box outside, just a few feet away from the window, was a robin. This robin hops along the edge of the box, then flies to the window and flutters against it. Then he'll hop around on the outer window sill, jumping up and down in front of Chico, looking at him the whole time! Chico is going insane! He's jumping at the bird, banging his head against the window, clawing and striking out at....the glass. The bully is being bullied. Nature meets out its own justice!

Oh yeah!

This was done one night this past week; I slept through it, though I'm not sure how! The "singer" is Pete's friend (aka my 3rd son) CJ, with Pete doing the lights and Ryan filming.

Been a while, huh?

It's been 3 weeks since I started back to work; holy cow, I can't believe it! It's been fine. My co-workers did an amazing job while I was out and it didn't take me much time to get caught up, but I haven't stopped running since! This past week was Spring Break, but it sure didn't seem like it!
Monday was spent on the road, returning from our trip to Augusta. We sure enjoyed seeing Mom & Bob, and felt especially honored to have Laura & the girls drive up to see us! I coudln't believe it when I saw her pull up at 11:00 AM! That's IN THE MORNING still! I hated that we couldn't stay longer Saturday, but we had to see Granny. One of these days we won't be in such a rush to leave Atlanta! :)
Tuesday morning was spent at my plastic surgeons' office, and the rest of Tuesday was spent in bed. It seems the trip was a bit too much too soon, though I wouldn't have thought nearly 2 months was too soon! At any rate, the swelling was so bad from the trip that I had to be aspirated Tuesday morning. THAT was a shock! I thought I was doing fine, it was just a scheduled follow-up visit. But once he turned me around to look at my back side, he was NOT happy! I knew I was swollen more so than usual; Monday evening when I got into bed, my butt literally bunched up around my waist! I had to lift my butt up off the bed and push it back down to where it's supposed to be! Whe I explained it to the doc, he called it Ascending Ass Syndrome! LOL At any rate, Dr. Aldea was very unhappy, and so was I as soon as I saw that huge needle and 60cc syringe! He had to stick me twice and got 100 CCs out of my back! I had to stand for this procedure, and after that 2nd time sticking me, I could feel myself blacking out. I told him he'd better hurry up or he's gonna have to pick me up off the floor! He and Patrick got me to the table in time so we avoided a minor mishap. So now I'm back to wearing compression granny-panties to hold in a rolled up towel to apply pressure to my lower back; it's so hard to feel sexy when you're walking around with what looks like a hard-on in your lower back!
Wednesday and Thursday were spent at work. I love that I can work when I'm supposed to be off and claim that time later as comp time! That'll allow me to take time off in April to go to the beach! :)
Friday was spent in Starkville, MS. They call it Starkvegas, and I can see why; that place is happening! It's still a fairly small town, but it's a university town with TONS of restaurants, and it's all spread out so it seems like a huge town. At any rate, we were there for a tour of Mississippi STate University, where Mabry will be attending in the Fall. Her friend Joel gave us such a detailed tour, and I'm so thankful he offered to do that! We had a blast looking at different dumps...er...I mean apartments. Mabry MAY have decided to stay on campus, but I dare not say that for sure!
Patrick left Friday night for his 2 week drill. We met him in Winona, MS for dinner on our way home. He's spending 2 weeks in Massachusettes....in March. Usually it's in some hot Hell hole in the middle of July, so this is probably a nice change for them! Oh yeah, and for those that don't know, he made MAJOR!
Finally, today....last day of Spring Break (kinda), and I didn't do much other than eat, eat, and um....eat some more. I'm sure it's exhaustion that caused me to do that, and I should've just stayed my butt in bed, but stupid me didn't. UGH! Guess I"ll always fight this food addiction, but it will NOT win! I'll go to the gym tomorrow, or at LEAST make an effort to eat right!

FREEEEEEDOMMMMMMMMM!!!!

I'M DRAIN FREE!!!! After 5 long, sometimes excruciatingly painful weeks, I got the drain pulled yesterday! I was afraid it was gonna hurt like crazy, but I barely felt a thing. Thank you Jesus, I can finally wear regular clothes!

(Yeah, it's a stupid picture; something on TV caught my eye just as the camera flashed!)

Mabry Rocked the House!

Isn't that top pic cool? Patrick was trying to be smart and take a picture of my boobs, but in doing he got Mabry's face in the necklace I wore to the show. I cropped everything else out (silly man!) 'cause she's the best part of the picture!

Ok, CATS totally rocked! I've never seen it before so I had no idea what to expect. I knew Mabry had a pretty big role, and she really knocked it out! She had several solo parts, including a solo tap/jazz! One entire song was dedicated to her character, Jenny Anydots, AKA Gumbie Cat. She was her usual charming, funny, animated self on stage (as she is off!)! I was so proud of her performance I teared up while the audience clapped and cheered her on! I know none of the extended family could be there, but we have ordered the DVD so perhaps y'all will get to see it one day (at least her biggest part). She just did such a great job, y'all!

Are People REALLY that dumb?

The picture has nothing to do with this post, but I found it on Ryan's Facebook, thought it was hilarious, so I stole it. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog...
I know there are dumb people out there, the proof is in all the silly directions you read on various packages out there. "Product will be hot after heating"; "Do not iron clothes on body"'; or "Wearing this garment does not enable you to fly". All that's well and good (allbeit silly!).
But I would expect that people who get plastic surgery would be a bit more educated, or have a bit more common sense...something! Why, then, did my surgeon write this to me in an email: "Patricia (his wife, my other surgeon) told me you looked good and she pulled one drain out. Please, be extra careful with the remaining drain and bring the output sheet with you next time we see each other". Um....what exactly does he think I'm going to do with that drain? The thing is inserted into a hole HE put in my body, coming right out of the cooter area, and runs about 18" into my body around to my left hip! Does he think I'm gonna just pull it out or something?! That perplexed me, so I couldn't help but reply: "And I'm being very careful with the drain; I have enjoyed only having one. I use it for a jump rope and it hasn't gotten tangled up yet! LOL :)*

Big Weekend!

Each of the kids has had something exciting happening this weekend. Mabry attended the Allie Awards. The Allies are the equivalent of the regional Emmys or Oscars or whatever those awards ceremonies are. Though Mabry personally wasn't nominated this year (that's a sore subject with us!), the play "Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940s was nominated (and WON) for best comedy. Mabry was one of the lead characters in that play, and it certainly deserved the win!

Ryan was planning to attend the Allies, as 2 of his plays (Guys & Dolls and Mid Summer Night's Dream) were nominated for something (neither won). At the last minute, though, he was contacted by his band instructor about joining the I-55 Honors Band. He chose the Honors Band over the Allies, which meant that instead of sitting at a banquet table watching snippets of plays and enjoying a night out with his friends, he chose to go blow his horn with a bunch of other band geeks in the never-ending competition for first chair (he got 7th, which is still great in this Honor's Band!). He spent last night and all day today at that competition, getting home at 4:15. That was a pretty big deal, but an even bigger deal is the Mardi Gras Ball he's attending right this minute! He had all of 40 minutes to put on his tux and get out the door to go to the ball with Alexia and her family. Now this should be interesting, and I can't wait to hear how it goes down. When I asked Ryan if Alexia is his girlfriend, he replied, "I don't think so. I mean, we don't really talk. We only text." (insert confused smiley here) So I'm imagining that tonight, they're sitting at a table, sided by side, not saying a word, but texting each other all night long! I'll let y'all know if there's anything notable that goes on! :)

Finally, Pete had drill this weekend, and it's his first one in his uniform. Oh, is he SO excited!!! And he looks good, too, of course! He texted me this morning to say they were about to put an IV in his arm, though, because he puked during PT. Turns out they didn't need to put the IV in his arm...he was perfectly fine once he threw up! That boy is gonna be in SO much trouble come July when he goes to Basic!