20th Reunion weekend

Yep, I'm old. Or, as my dad so delicately put it when I told him I was going to my 2oth High School reunion, " Aw, Sh*t."

There was a bit of drama in the run up to this fabulous event - in the form of who, exactly, was going to come with me. In the end, Dear Husband was called into reluctant action, but was happy to be told his tour of duty would end when the open bar did.

Before the actual reunion, I had a little mini-reunion with Jen, Stacy and Lori at the Chalet. Frieda was working it that night, and plying us with more drinks than we really ought to have had. (She did reciprocate Katie and Tim's shout-out, BTW). We gals had a fantastic time chatting and catching up with Lori, who we hadn't seen in a while. We also had a sneek peek of Saturday in the form of some other Seaholmites who were also making the pilgrimage to the Chalet. Too much fun.

Friday night there was to be a bar night at Dick O'Dow's in B'ham, but where the mind might have been willing, the body definately was not. Aside from that, I generally try to make myself available to my child and husband for at least a couple of hours a week.

Saturday, I did get a happy surprise in that Stacy, at the last minute decided to go to the reunion. Casey tried to get a last minute reprive, but to no avail. Off we went to Birmingham.

I had a genuine blast. You forget how many people you know, sometimes, and how long some of these folks have known you. At least 5-10 of the folks I talked to have known me since I was 6. I was also really pleased to see how great everyone looked. Yeah, I know this statement is being met with huge guffaws, but truly. No, I'm not going all Melanie-Hamilton-Booth on you, I just figure it means I don't look so old either!! Probably my only regret is that I couldn't keep myself off of the dance floor. Not that I didn't enjoy dancing, or worried about being judged for my usually-over-enthusiastic gyrations, but because there were so many people I missed talking to...should have focused more on that. It was like my wedding - it went by so quickly that I was stunned when it was over. But, those of you who know me well understand that me passing up dancing when there's great music is a virtual impossibility for me. Depending on who's reading this, you'll all either be proud or ashamed of me, as I did manage to control myself enough to pass up on the invites to continue the party at 220. Had to drive myself home, after all.

Turns out that was a good idea, since I got pulled over about three blocks after leaving the parking lot. (Apparently, I missed a no-turn-on-red sign.) Thankfully, the ridiculously child-like cop let me off with a warning. (another reason to always fight your tickets people...if I'd had a record I'm sure I'd have gotten a ticket).

The other advantage of not partying too hard was that I could really enjoy going out to golf with Casey and Ava on Sunday. Still golfed horribly, but that's noting new or surprising!

The summer of bummer

I realized, when giving someone the rundown of what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks, it's really been kind of cruddy summer. Plans cancelled, friends hurt, husband unable to golf, kitty dead, all kinds of household annoyances, cold and relatively rainy summer. Hopefully, this weekend will be a turning point, and we can banish "The Summer of Bummer" for the rest of the season.

Last weekend, we pulled up the parquet on the kitchen floor, trying to prep for a new floor. Guess what we found? More floor. Yep, 60 year old linoleum under about a quarter inch of glue. The wallpaper-happy-glue-crazed prior owner strikes again. We were hoping that by removing the parquet ourselves, we could significantly reduce the cost of the new floor, but perhaps no...we'll have to see. Let the quoting process begin! On a happier note, our garbage men rock, and will take anything away, including overloaded barrels of wooden tile.

Sunday, I took Ava to the water park and beach at Kensington. Here she is, shivering under her towel. 72 degrees and windy isn't the best weather for pool play....

This past week was birthday festival at the Fox house --- Casey and I took off his birthday, the 16th, and mine the next day, and got to do a host of things we like to do - eat out, go see HP movie, go to the zoo, go out to dinner, etc. Very nice. We also managed to be somewhat productive, and shopped for fridge, etc. We're such party animals these days.

Note to my dear readers: Save the date: Saturday, July 16, 2011. Planning ahead for Casey's 39th and my 40th.

Remembering Roadkill (aka Kitty, Big Dummy, Ol' Blue)

For those of you who didn't know, we had to put Roadkill to sleep this weekend. He stared getting sick this spring, and we found out his kidneys were shutting down. As you know, we're not the type to shell out thousands on cat dialysis, and the vet did say that sometimes these things do resolve themselves, so we focused on keeping him happy, and trying to get him to eat food with a lower protein content. Alas, he seemed to be turned off by eating, and kept getting thinner and thinner, no matter what we tried, including his original food. We've been debating what to do for a couple of weeks, as he's been a little bag of fluff and bones. We decided that while he still seemed happy, best to wait it out, love him up as much as possible, and if the time came when he seemed to be suffering, we'd put him to sleep.

Last week, he took a turn for the worse, and stopped drinking. We tried putting some fluids into him (vet gave us a kitty IV), but on Friday night he was laying on the bathroom floor with labored breathing. Finally, Saturday morning, he was barely concious and couldn't stand, so we decided the moment had arrived. We explained to Ava what was going on, and we all cried a little, and hugged and kissed him goodbye. Casey took him to the emergency vet.

We will all miss our big, dumb, slow, huggable love muffin. He may not have been graceful, or brilliant, but he was loyal, quiet, affectionate, and maintained a perfect track record with the litter box, all the way till the end. He was clever enough in his own way...he knew I was a total sucker for him when he sat up, so he'd be sitting up in the kitchen when I'd wake up in the morning, just waiting to be flopped over for a belly rub. Casey had him since he was a little kitten, when the two were almost inseparable, so he's understandably upset, although cheered by the fact that Big Kitty had a very good, and for his breed, a long life. We'll miss him very much.

Ava Fox - youth counselor

Ava may have some issues (as do most kids....and most straight men, for that matter) with being considerate of other peoples feelings, wishes and desires when she's in her normal operating mode, but when it comes to helping someone in distress, she's a little angel.

As evidenced at the pool today. First photo - normal mode, perhaps thinking, "hey, there's a tush!" or "I hope I didn't look as awkward getting out of the pool"

Then, little William, in process of having a meltdown is spotted:

Comfort provided. So proud of my little sweetie.