soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur...

Sadly, two of our kittens died the other night. They had gotten separated from their mama for a few hours, and were cold and weakly mewing when Jonathan found them. He tried to warm them up by putting them next to his skin, and using a warm rice bag. He tried to give them to mama kitty but she just licked them once or twice and they were too weak to nurse. They were a week old, and we already loved them, and Jon was pretty broken up about it. They just stopped moving, and it was sad. They were all snuggled into a nest he had made for them, and we had to bury them in the yard. I found a really nice box, from an Aldi's bath gift set, and lined it with paper towels. And please, I know they were "only kittens", but that's not how the heart works, is it? The saddest part for me was how awful it was for the kids. Jonathan hugging sobbing Miss Char, oh my soul.

Mama kitty knows something's up. She cannot count, but she seems to think the three kittens remaining aren't enough. She keeps moving them from in the closet to into the room, she's agitated. We keep it quiet in there, the dogs don't go in there and bother her, and now Jon has a space heater in there, even though that room is really warm. He keeps checking on them, to make sure they are safe and near mama.

(This mama cat is going to get spayed this time for sure, after these kittens are weaned! We tried to do it last time, got all the pre-surgery stuff done, then we kept Mr. Orange Guy, who wouldn't stop nursing, and before we knew it, she was in heat again, and I just knew...and I was right. We simply couldn't do a kitty-bortion, they do those, and wah. So this time, we aren't keeping any kittens, and off to the vet she'll go after we rehome the three kittens. The daddy cat is a wanderer cat, a cat of many homes, mostly the woods, hardly here, we haven't seen him in forever now...)

Anyway. Animals bring joy, too. Just look at these two.

Sunny's face!

Suri's face!


They can be royal pains in the arses, but, they bring so much fun and blessing and cuddling into the house. They sleep in the little girls' room at night, spoiled little princesses, all four of them, ha. (The name Suri means princess) And Sunny, well, it's not original, but she IS Sunny. When she's in trouble, I call her her whole name, Little Miss Sunshine. Oh dear, I'm the crazy dog lady.

Here's what Cam made the other day, with minimal help:

I wish I could say they looked good but I have no idea how they tasted, but alas, sometimes even my will of steel caves when there are cookies aroma-ing up the house. The ones minus the chocolate chips were chewy and heavenly, then I ventured to try just one WITH the chips, and that's really all I had, four plain, and one with chips. Ashley said that oatmeal cookies are healthy, and I just looked at her over the top of my glasses.

Today, we're having meatballs for dinner. Spaghetti for the kids. I love knowing what's for dinner.

The crock-pot is my friend. I bought a piece of boneless pork, for $1.49 a pound, a $12 piece, cut it in half and put it in the crock pot with a marinade of lemon and lime juices, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Then a sprinkling of brown sugar on top. Oh dear, so yummy. It fell apart, and we ate it like pulled pork...some Sticky Fingers spicy barbecue sauce, mmm.

Evelyn and the girls cleaned the laundry room the other day. Now, this is wonderful, walking in there with everything in it's place, I love doing laundry again. But, as with all good things, it's too good to be true, as she goes in there and has a little fit if anything is out of place. Dryer lint, on the shelf, really Mom? What's this doing draped here? ouch. um. That was me. ha. I am trying really hard to keep it clean!

I also cleaned my room that same day. Piles on top of piles, I sorted and got rid of stuff, washed stuff and put it away, vacuumed and cleaned the windows, washed bedding, shined the mirrors, now I like waking up in my room again. I also found good stuff. I am a stasher. Not a hoarder, as I heard my kids saying as they cleaned the laundry room. They shouldn't sling around those kind of terms, because I am so NOT a hoarder. I don't mind throwing things away, I just like getting new things, ha. And I like bargains, and most of the time, the things I buy are very appreciated by someone, sometime. So when I cleaned my room, I good stuff...you know, you come home with a bag with a shirt in it for one of the girls, maybe for their birthday...or something for someone who has a baby someday...so you put it in your room. Evelyn found a huge-0 bag of candy in the laundry room, unopened. I acted like I knew it was in there, it was for Easter. ha. They opened it. Ev said she just wanted ONE PIECE. Well, you know how THAT went. But it was a good prize for all their hard work.

The good part of letting a room get so messy is how rewarding it is when it gets cleaned up.

We need to re-organize and clean the hall closets, next.

See, the kids are going on a huge trip to Norway, a two week trip, in March, over Easter break. They are fundraising for the most part, but with four of them going (plus Kathryn, but she paid for her own ticket, ect.), it has been hard to earn that much, they needed ten thousand dollars. Yes, you read that right. They worked and earned most of it, then we kicked in some (lots), so they have to work it off. I am very thankful they get to go, it's sure to be an amazing experience. Their older siblings have also helped, so they owe them some work too:)

Anne is coming over today, and we have school to do. My little girls helped Kathryn paint her room yesterday. They get so excited about renovation/projects. They helped pick the paint color, and Kathryn said they were actually really good helpers.

I have so many projects I want to do here, but there's never enough time, then there's the money side too. Then I think about eternity, and how short life is, and I want to be content with what I have, and how things are. I think it's okay to improve things and take care of things, and make your house a home, and have it comfy and warm, especially if you're making it nice and welcoming for other people to be comfortable. It's essential to be hospitable. I remember when we first built this house, I could not believe I was going to be living in a huge brand new house. We were in a mobile home with five kids at that time. I was bursting with thankfulness for this house. My brothers and my husband built it, with lots of help from friends. It was a huge project, and our goal was to build a functional house, nothing fancy, and we had to be careful not to go over budget, so the doors are all builder's grade, ect. But I vowed to use my house in the right way, to have an open home, to have it a place where people could feel welcome and comfortable. If it were always spotless and I was always well rested and full of energy, then it would be no problem to be hospitable. But life doesn't work that way. I can't say, "When the stars are aligned in a certain way, THEN I'll be faithful." Nope. Come on in. I will die a million deaths about the towels hanging on the kitchen chairs and the overflow from the Ramen the kids cooked all over the top of the stove, the socks here and there and the coffee mugs on the end tables, but it won't kill me, and please, make yourself at home....