The "Kids"

When we go away, we have a wonderful house and pet-sitter who takes care of everything here for us. Nice to know that our "kids" are treated just as well when we're gone as they are when we're here. I still have last-minute moments of panic before we get on a plane...... what if we don't come back..... who will take care of the cats and Gracie.... but our pet-sitter has instructions for that as well. I'm sure he thinks I am totally out of my mind, but he's learned to just listen to all of my going-out-the-door worries.

I swear that Mickey Kitty has grown since we left last week. He can no longer easily fit under the wicker cabinet that's in the porch. He used to be able to just run under there without his head touching the decorative bottom.... now he has to slowly ease his body underneath-- folding back his ears and inching his way under. Comical, really, to watch him do that.

AngelBoy and ShadowBaby have been following me all over the house since we got home, and Gracie is following my husband around. Every time we've gone out the door since we got home, she's put herself right in the front hallway, in front of the door. We've had to make her move, and make her "sit and stay" so we could get out. She usually doesn't do that on a daily basis, but I guess she's just making sure now that vacation time is over and it's back to business as usual around here.

Mickey Kitty has been coming into the house now, a little bit at a time every day, when I can watch every move he makes. He's already used one of the litter boxes inside the house, so I know he'll be okay with that, but there's so much here that he can get into, underneath, or on top of, so I'm watching him closely until I'm certain that he knows the #1 Cat Rule of the house: "Don't play with anything that isn't yours." Rusty, AngelBoy and ShadowBaby all know that rule very well, and they don't even bother with the greatest temptation in this house: the big Christmas tree that goes up after Thanksgiving. Come to think of it, they don't even touch any of the many table-top trees that I put up all over the house. Very well-behaved cats, I must say. Hopefully, Mickey Kitty will take after his "older brothers." (Either that, or he'll spend a lot of time on the screen-porch.)

Christmas.... right around the corner, I swear it is. By this time, I usually have our Christmas cards made out and ready to be stamped and mailed in December, but I didn't get to it this month. Don't laugh.... card-mailing time comes sooner than you think. Seems to me that once September gets here, Christmas is here and over in ten days flat.

We're talking about maybe having a card party before the end of September. I found the greatest invitations--- with the King of Hearts on the front of them. Had to buy them, of course with the thought of giving a card party. We had to run into Target for some office supplies on Saturday, and I found paper party-napkins decorated with hearts/spades/diamond/clubs.... so of course I had to buy a few packages of those.... just in case we do have a card party, of course.

Then there's the Halloween party. I have all the invitations for that...... as well as gifts for the party bags, and prizes for the guessing contests. So that's pretty well set, even down to the decorations, all of which I saved from last year's party.

Card party. Halloween party. Christmas Open House. Christmas Day dinner party. New Year's Eve dinner. Another year.... it's going faster than we think.