RTT: Cats and Boys and Movies, Oh My!

It's Tuesday so that means it's time to get random! We've got a lot of ground to cover so let's get to it.

My poor cat is on her last legs/lives.  She's an old lady and strangely enough, is eating more now than she ever has before even though she's skinnier than she's ever been.  She is undoubtedly quite sick but we just can't afford the vet bill to have her checked out, X-rayed and likely put down.  So in an effort to stave off the inevitable and save our sanity from the constant caterwauling for food, I've started feeding her second breakfasts and midnight snacks of meat.  This past week she has had well over half a meatloaf and today I found a baked chicken breast that I had been saving for some unknown reason so that shall go to the 'Shut The Cat Up' fund.  I'm actually debating defrosting some ground beef and cooking it up for her.  I might need some help as I've become a short order cook for a geriatric cat.

We are in the beginning stages of potty training with Noah.  He can sit on the potty but hasn't done anything yet.  This week he ran into the bathroom yelling, 'Go potty!' I was pretty jazzed so I followed him in there to get him ready when he stopped in front of the toilet, slightly bent his knees and concentrated.  'Noah, did you just go pee in your diaper?' 'Yes, Mommy.'  Sigh. At least he kind of has the right idea.

Noelle is alternately excited and nervous about starting kindergarten in the fall.  Mostly excited but nary a day goes by when we don't discuss kindergarten and what it will be like.  We've got her kindergarten registration in April and to show that they don't mess around with out of zone families, I have to bring my ID, the deed to our house and three pieces of mail showing our address.  I'm pretty sure that the TSA isn't as stringent as the county school system.

My husband did his fantasy baseball draft Sunday evening and it was still going strong and hour and 45 minutes into it.  I just suppose I'm lucky that he didn't have any interest in the NCAA tourney this year.  Our marriage may not have been strong enough to survive both experiences.

In a complete departure for us on St. Patrick's Day, rather than watching 'Waking Ned Devine' or 'The Secret of Roan Inish' (both excellent films I highly recommend) we treated ourselves to 'Leprachaun's Revenge' on SyFy.  Well, in the interest of full disclosure, he watched it; I immersed myself in a book/Twitter and occasionally glanced up.  This viewing method allows my very succinct review: kryptonite horseshoes defeat homicidal stunted Ents. Call me! I'm available for parties.

We've got tickets to the midnight showing of 'The Hunger Games' with some girlfriends of mine this Thursday and excited doesn't even begin to cover it.  This is going to be so unbelievably awesome that I might be able to stay awake til the movie starts without the IV of Coke Zero.

I really really really wish Gina from My Own Brand of Crazy comes back soon.  I miss her.  Lots.

Thanks for the hints on how to get banner/linky/widget thingies to work! I'm like a fiend now.  A FIEND.

Now you're caught up here, head over to Stacy's for even more random and I'll see you next week, same bat time, same bat channel.

And may the odds be ever in your favor!

Boy did life get weird

Whee! If I'm going to jump back into Random Tuesday Thoughts, I'd best start with the important things first:

So, how exacty does one add one of those nifty link/graphic buttons to a post?  I keep getting a 'Do Not Pass Go/Do Not Collect $200' message every. damn. time. I. try.

Noelle started joking last night that wouldn't it be funny if we talked out of our butts?  Naturally Dylan and I started with the lines from 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective' because we are awesome parents and are way mature though we did decide that she is still a bit too young for that movie so score one for us!  What? It's a classic in my head.

I received an email on Monday reminding us that spring pictures are this week at the kids' preschool.  The parting shot?  Kindergarten Readiness students will be taking their GRADUATION PICTURES.  No matter that it's still winter and the chances of finding anything nice in the stores that they won't freeze their little talking tushies off in are remote at best.  On the bright side, I don't have to get her anything special to wear now.

Related: OMFG, MY BABY IN A CAP AND GOWN!!!!1111OMGWTFBBQ!!!11ELEVENTY

Ahem.

(And I totally went out and got her something special to wear anyway.)
We now have a dance routine to accompany 'Farty Girl'.  It's gonna be such a hit in the clubs.

Noah really likes Phineas and Ferb.  This explains so, so much.

Dylan and I managed to stay awake for the entire Oscar telecast last night which was amazing as A) it was not very good, B) we had seen precisely ZERO of the nominate films and C) could not have possible been less invested in any of the outcomes.  I think we deserve some sort of endurance award.

I opened my gmail listing on my phone and one of the ads from Brad's Deals had the heading '$7 for 2 Set of Baby Boys...' which I thought was quite reasonable given inflation and all. (Full disclosure: it was for PJs but much more funny how it looked on my display. Anyone? No? Very well, carry on then.)

No, seriously, how do you add the fun linky buttons?  Help a girl out!

Now head on over to Stacy Uncorked and link up for more random!

Random Tuesday Thoughts: With a side of 'Rants'

Since it's Tuesday, you know what that means!  Even more randomness than usual around here.  We've got a lot to cover so let's get right to it:

On kids really ARE watching you
Two Christmases ago we got Noelle a play kitchen with pots, pans, a blender, plates, spoons, etc.  This past year we got her some new food to go with the kitchen.  Six months later she is finally starting to play with it.  Which entails putting certain select foods in a 'dutch oven', stirring them with a spoon and then force-feeding me, Dylan and Noah 'lunch' or sometimes 'dinner'.  Force-feeding in terms of her grabbing our chins, yanking our mouths open and shoving the spoon in there.  Except for Noah who is just starting to get the hang of this spoon-food connection so he willingly opens his mouth.  And is very confused when there isn't anything on it but continues to open his mouth when he sees the spoon in the hope that someday something might appear on it.  For the record, we have never modeled this behavior for her so I'm not entirely sure where she picked it up but it's funny.  When she does it to Dyl that is.  It's what she serves that makes me cringe:  french fries, waffles, broccoli and a 'bowl of 'sketti'.  Care to guess what we have for dinner in our house a lot?  I think that I need expand our menu and FAST.

Suze Orman isn't the only one getting her financial house in order
Dyl and I are celebrating another accomplishment.  We've paid off two credit cards completely and have made great inroads on the last one so we are planning to have everything paid off by the end of the year.  This?  Is awesome!  I'm so proud of us!  No snark, just a big ol' YAY US!

You take the good, you take the bad
Since last August when Noah was born, I've dropped 60 pounds.  An entire grade-schooler.  And yes, half of that was pregnancy weight but still, 30 pounds on top of all the baby weight.  I'm pretty damn pleased with myself if I may be so bold.  How could there possibly be any downside to this?  Well, there is a downside though 'backside' might be more accurate.  As in mine is disappearing into 'Flatassland'.  When you are worried about your pants being literally on the ground at work, this is cause for concern.  And let's be honest here, baggy pants do not look good on anyone.  I'm looking at you MC Hammer!  So, why don't I buy some new pants.  That fit?  Well I would but see above RE:  CREDIT CARDS PAID OFF!

Secret, secret, I've got a secret
I've been harboring a secret celebrity crush for many years now on David Boreanz of 'Buffy' and 'Angel' (And also 'Bones' I guess but I don't watch that show )fame which has come to an abrupt crashing end    For now, my dear, sweet, Angel has been revealed to be no better than, oh, Tiger Woods or Jesse James.  Yes, he has been cheating on his wife of 9 years with many women apparently.  One of them even linked to Woods.  Seriously, what do these famous guys do?  Get together in their Famous Manly Club and swap fame-whores phone numbers?  Do they NOT THINK THAT THIS WILL GET OUT?  Why for the love of all that is holy can they not just KEEP IT IN THEIR PANTS?  Or not get married in the first place? I...am just done.  With them all.  Fie, a pox on you!

Hello Captain Obvious!
I've just noticed/discovered that the blogspot template does in fact have a spell check button.  I'm going to pretend that this is a new and exciting thing so please do not ruin my carefully crafted illusion if it turns out that I'm just a raging idiot.

SQUEEE!
The hubs and I are going to the midnight showing of 'Iron Man 2' on Thursday.  My MIL is taking the kids so WE HAZ A DATE. 

And now for something completely different
I've been toying with the idea of a weekly column thingy dedicated to the glorious decade of excess known as the the 1980s.  Also:  the decade I grew up in.  Good idea/bad idea/don't really care.  I might do it, I might not.  But *I* think that it would be fun.  And embarrassing as oh yes, pictures will be shared.  My hair.  That is all that you need know right now.

That's it for Baltimore, Maryland, head on over to Keely the Unmom for even more random fixes!

RTT - The spelling edition

It's Tuesday so you know what that means - time to get random!

"Mommy, spell 'houses'"
"Houses - H-O-U-S-E-S.  Houses"
"Spell 'traintracks'"
"Traintracks - T-R-A-I-N-T-R-A-C-K-S - traintracks"
"Spell 'cars'"
"Cars.  C-A-R-S Cars."
And so it went.  The entire 30 minute drive home.  And you know what I discovered?  Spelling while driving is SO much more distracting then cell phones.  Those seventh graders in the Scripps Spelling Bee?  AMATEURS.  Spell 'australopithicus' while navigating winding back country roads, then you get to claim world champion status.

Speaking of all things ancient, if you keep your shoulders back while walking, your palms face your thighs.  If your shoulders slump, they face behind you so it looks very Neanderthal-ish.  I'm just sayin'. 

From the gospel according to Noelle:  your pajamas bestow different personalities upon you as tonight she is a watermelon. 

I went searching for alphabet noodles for Noelle to try to expand her menu beyond chicken nuggets, fish sticks and tater tots.  And I found them figuring that hey, her obsession with spelling and letters, she'd eat them and all would be sweetness in light.  I showed them to her and she was so excited she kept a box next to her.  Even gave her the option for dinner:  noodles or fish sticks and she chose noodles.  Made said noodles with a butter/cheese sauce, put the plate in front of her and....no.  "I don't eat noodles."  But, she ate broccoli. I...don't get it.  At all. 

There is no 'Lost' this week.  I'm bummed especially since last week's episode was so darn good!  But, Iron Man 2 opens next week and I has a date!  To see it!  Maybe at midnight with the hubby.  On a completely different but kind of similar note, why are the movies from the 80s mostly awesome and the ones now just seem to suck?  Or maybe the actors were better.  And they hadn't run out of ideas yet. Or maybe I'm just nostalgic.  And old.

How is it that clutter simultaneously multiplies and exerts a lethargic effect on all those near?  Is this the real terror we should be fighting? The sight of it just kills my will to clean.  Which is odd since you would think that it would have the opposite effect.  Hence:  clutter.

I really need to keep a digital recorder in the car as Noelle comes up with the most interesting stream of consciousness that I've heard in a while.  Though I was ready to throw both her and her carrot bat out the window as she spent a good 10 minutes of the drive this morning letting me know the type of each passing vehicle.  Usually I wouldn't mind but A) it was Monday B) it was raining and C) it is Maryland.  A + B + C = Dear God in Heaven, What the Hell is Going On?  Is it wrong to really want a beer at 8:30 in the morning?

You should head over to Keely the Unmom for even more randomness!