A bit of joy in an otherwise crappy day.....

Well, it's no secret we're not in the financial situation to spend tons of money on our cars right now. But tell our cars that. Both of them have been having issues, one right after the other.

Isaak's car has been a particular pain in the posterior. The same O2 sensor has been repeatedly going bad in it for the last year. I think we've replaced it a grand total of 4 times now....at $200 a pop. The last time was in October, when he had it inspected. Less than a month later, his check engine light was coming on and the folks at the car place were saying it was the O2 sensor again. We didnt' doubt them, we just couldn't figure out why it kept going bad. Well, they decided instead of putting a standard O2 sensor on it, they'd order a factory part from Saturn this time. The downside was it cost $150 more than the off brand. We agreed to eat the extra cost and scheduled the work to be done.

Well, that work was today. When Isaak came home he had a huge smile on his face, which stumped me. When we spend money we don't have, a smile is not usually the response we show. Then he told me why he was smiling.....the guys at Midas hadn't charged him one penny for the work they did today. When they were all done, they couldn't find the invoice, which they are required to file with all the paperwork at the end of the day. So they decided to eat the cost. This is not the first time the guys at Midas have cut us a huge break like that. They have looked at my car in the past and not charged me a penny. They cut me a huge break on parts during my inspection when I told them we were both out of work. They have been great. Needless to say, they will continue to get our business and our praise for being honest, hard working and decent people. Thanks guys! You were a ray of sunshine in an otherwise crappy day! :)

Kids are amazing....

I already knew that kids in general were amazing creatures, but this past week, I've really taken stock in just how incredible my own child is.

We're working on mastering our bike, as you can see from the photo. He finally has the pedaling part down pat, but still needs a little help with steering.

He's starting to recognize words. He's long been fascinated with the alphabet and spelling words, but now, when we're reading, if I ask him to find a particular word, he can point it out. I don't think I knew how to do that until I was at least 6. I'm shocked.

And the best part of all came on Monday, when we were headed to Cranberry to help some friends get packed up for their move back to Ohio. Connor sang the words to the songs "Indescribable" and "Holy is the Lord" while in the car. I almost drove off the road. I'm used to hearing him sing simple kids' songs, but nothing like this. Have you ever heard the words to Indescribable? Some of them are quite a mouthful!

Children truly are one of God's most wonderful creations. :)

Operation Tame Cat Continues.....

Well, I haven't annoyed all of you with a Zorro story for awhile, so I guess I can tell one now.

As you all know, the feral kitty showed up on my porch last July, skinny and starving and scared to death of anyone and anything. He would sit in the yard while I put food out, then only come eat it after I left and went back inside. Slowly, he started getting more comfortable, coming onto the porch while I was there, but still not letting me get close. Around November last year, he started letting me sit right next to him, but never touch.....if I tried, I usually got the warning hiss and then the warning bat with the paw. When we had to take him to get help for his injured paw in December, we had to resort to trapping him in a humane trap because he would not let us handle him. It was a pain. That was when I began phase two Operation Tame Zorro.

I am happy to report (as you can see from the photo) that Zorro now lets me pet him. At first, it was just letting me touch him. Then he'd pull away. But slowly, I started touching him more, and two weeks ago, I went for broke and just started petting him down his back. He tolerated it, but didn't seem to like it. Two weeks later, and the little furball is now purring when I pet him and he will come to the patio door just to be petted. He still is leery of Isaak, but Isaak can be pretty scary since he's so tall and big. Hopefully if I need to get him to the vet again, it will be as simple as just reaching down and picking him up. That is my next goal....to work on getting him to let me pick him up without getting my arms or eyes scratched out. :)

Music with old friends.....

Yesterday I had the privilege of playing music at the Mother-Son Banquet at Mars Alliance Church. Myself, along with my old friends Gordon Ovenshine and Heidi Burford put together a little trio and performed about 8 songs for the 35-40 people there. It was the first time I've played/sung with Gordon and Heidi since I left Mars Alliance, and that's been nearly 3 years ago. We always had a great time making music together, and yesterday was no exception. It was a great honor to be able to play for the mothers and sons who were in attendance. And what a wonderful idea for the banquet!

Making cupcakes with mommy.....

We got a book from the library the other day called If You Give A Cat A Cupcake, by author Laura Numeroff. This woman has written other books, including my favorite, If You Give A Moose A Muffin. In the cat book, a girl gives her cat a cupcake, then he wants to add sprinkles. Hilarity then ensues. After reading it, Connor wanted to make cupcakes. So we did, complete with sprinkles, just like in the book. I think he liked licking the bowl the best, though! And who doesn't? :)

The perils of potty training

Poor Connor. Just when he makes significant strides with potty training, he falls backward....literally.

Our latest milestone in potty training is to have him put his own potty ring on the big potty, move over his stool, remove his own pants and underwear and get on the potty himself. Normally, this goes very well and he's proud of himself when he gets it all done without help. But the other night, in his rush to get on the potty, Connor neglected to put the potty ring insert on the big potty first. Like an accident in slow motion, I came around the corner just in time to see him sit down.....and fall right into the big toilet. His legs were sticking out, and he was yelling for help. Being the weird mom that I am, I momentarily decided whether to take his picture first, or help him out. As you can see from my graphic, I chose the latter of the two options. Something tells me Connor would have held it against me if I'd taken his photo that way.

Thankfully, his little misadventure in toileting hasn't made him afraid of using the potty, so at least that's something. But I'll tell you this....he sure hasn't forgotten that potty ring since!

Calling the Penningtons.....NOT

In these tough economic times, debt collectors are working overtime. And for us, that means extra aggravation.

No, we don't owe debts to anyone. But the people who had our phone number before us seem to owe every Tom, Dick and Harry out there. And to make life more fun, these folks keep taking out new credit, defaulting on the payments, and handing out OUR PHONE NUMBER to the creditors. There was a time when I wanted to give these folks the benefit of the doubt, and assumed that creditors were just calling the last known number for them, which is our current number. These people have not had our number for going on 8 years now, so while it was a stretch, I was willing to assume that was what was happening because the alternative just seemed wrong. We've been receiving calls for over 2 years now, each one more irritating than the next. It has cost me time and money to send registered letters to debt collectors, informing them they have the wrong number and if they call again, we'll sue them. You would not believe the headache we've had to endure for debt owed by people we've never met. Still, I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But last year, we got a call from Giant Eagle video in Cranberry, telling us our video was a week overdue and if we didn't return it, they'd file charges. I had no clue what they were talking about.....and then the guy asked for Greg Pennington. Bingo. The pesky Penningtons....the bane of my existence for the last 2 years. I explained to the guy we were not the Penningtons. I then asked him when they opened their account there, because I really wanted to know if they were deliberately handing out our number. The guy didn't have to tell me, but I think he felt sorry for me, so he told me the account---and the phone number---had been provided just a few weeks ago. Bingo. These folks are deliberately giving out a number they know is not theirs, then defaulting, failing to return merchandise, etc., knowing when the creditors call, they will be calling someone else.

I have no clue what to do about this. The Penningtons are easy to find....one click in the white pages shows their current address and phone number....which irritates me even further. These collection agencies are capable of using the white pages just the same as I am, but they choose to continue to harass me. We are now getting calls from a new agency, so the headache begins again this week. I am running out of patience and money to send registered letters to every place that tries to collect. I think it might be time to consult an attorney.

Jam session fun....

So the other night, I had the pleasure of engaging in a jam session with some old friends from Mars Alliance. I used to be on the praise team there, and I particularly enjoyed playing with my friends Gordon and Heidi. Heidi is one of those people who can find a harmony without any help. Like me, she just goes with what's in her head. And best of all, our voices sound great together. Gordon is one of those guys who can play by ear, too, so he and I can usually have a good time just playing whatever is in our head....no notes required. Gordon went between his guitar and mandolin, I played piano and harmonica and Heidi played the guitar. Considering it was the first time in a long time, I thought we sounded pretty darn good together.

The three of us are going to do some music for a mother-son banquet at Mars Alliance next Sunday, so we had a practice session the other night. Considering we haven't made music together in nearly 3 years, we were having great times. The thing I like best about Gordon and Heidi is they aren't obsessed with perfection. We do our best and leave it at that, all the while having tons of fun. We jammed for about two hours. It was so refreshing to just hang out, play some tunes and have a great time. Hopefully it won't be three years before we can do it again! :)

Wake up calls.....

I had to take my dad to the VA again today for a follow-up to his prostate treatments, as well as some dental work. As in the past, while he's getting his treatment, I usually find myself hanging out in the waiting room, surrounded by other veterans. While there are a lot of older vets there, the sheer number of veterans my age, who are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, saddens me. I have seen everything from men missing limbs to a man today who had hearing aids in both ears due to damage from a roadside bomb blast. Even with the hearing aids, he said he is practically deaf in both ears. Talking to these soldiers brings tears to my eyes every time. It's both depressing and enlightening at the same time.

Worse than the physical injuries to our men and women that I see from our two most recent wars are the emotional scars these folks carry. I sat today and listened to a man who served as a medic talk about having to worry about his own life while trying to treat the wounded. While he was allowed to carry a weapon, he was only allowed to use it if the person he was treating was fired on first. There was also another man there who talked about the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality which scares the living snot out of me. I will never think that philosophy is a good one, even in a war zone. But sadly, sometimes that is what it comes to when our soldiers are trying to preserve their lives and the lives of others. It leaves a lasting impression on them, even once they return home.

All too often in our society, war and fighting is glamorized to insure the support of the public. We watch movies like Rambo or even some current television shows about our military and think the hero always wins and none of the good guys ever get hurt. In reality, it isn't so. When we aren't faced with the cruel truth of what our soldiers endure on a daily basis, we tend to forget that war can be hell. While war may be necessary, I am quite certain that it is never as glamorous and exciting as we are sometimes led to believe. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do know that each time I go to the VA, I find my heart aching for these men and women. Anyone who thinks war is glorious needs only to visit their local VA for a shocking reality check.

The no-touch cat.....

Well, I haven't written an update about Zorro (aka: outdoor kitty) for awhile now, so I thought I'd post how things are going with him. The picture is of him and my indoor kitty, Gabe, eyeing each other up a few weeks ago. They do that alot. It's funny.

In the last 3 weeks, I have made what I consider to be significant progress with him. It started a few weeks ago, when he got mighty friendly everytime I took out wet cat food. I'm telling you, that stuff is crack for cats (see previous post). Anyway, he got to the point he wouldn't even wait for me to get it in his dish before he'd approach and start eating. One morning, he rubbed his head against my hand while I was doling out the goodies. It shocked him almost as much as it shocked me. He started to make contact like that on a regular basis, so after 2 weeks of that, I got bold and just reached out and stroked his head. He definitely didn't like it, hissing at me and pulling away. But I was not discouraged. The next time, I decided to stroke his back instead. That worked much better. While he clearly wasn't happy about it, he didn't hiss at me or pull away. He tolerated it for a few minutes and then shot me his "OK, lady, that's enough" look. Just this morning, I got to touch him quite a bit while he was eating. I think it's safe to say that when we are financially able to get him neutered, I should be able to just reach out and grab him, instead of trying to trap him in the humane cage like I'd done before. It will make life a lot easier. :)

Disney on Ice fun......

Our neighbor gave us some free tickets to Disney on Ice (thanks Amy!), so we went down there for the 10:30 a.m. show this morning. I am still getting over whatever this hideous upper respiratory thing is that I've had all week, so I wasn't exactly in the mood for Disney Fun. But once we got there, I was glad we had gone because it was a good show.

Aside from some rude woman, her mother and 4 kids who literally just helped themselves to our assigned seats and refused to move (that's a rant for another time), we had a great 2 hours with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and the gang. My only other complaint was that it was a tad bit too loud, and I saw many kids holding their ears, including my own. But other than that, good times at the Igloo today.......

Puzzle fun....

So this is how we spent our Saturday night. Isaak working a puzzle.....and the cat helping. Yes, you read that correctly. Our cat is a puzzle genius. He mostly wanted to make sure all the pieces were properly killed before Isaak placed them in the puzzle, but hey, that's important, too!