Furbabies For Everyone!

So I woke up in the middle of the night on Friday (Saturday, technically) and I flipped on my bedroom light so I could dig around in my medicine drawer in the hallway. I realized that my cat Olive was in a laundry basket I had prepped for her last week in hopes that she would actually have her babies in it. Preferable, of course, to my closet on my shoes, the basket of towels in my bathroom, or on my living room rug. Sure enough, she was there with two little white kittens. I was in bed before midnight and this was around 2:30 AM. She had had those babies without making a peep! Everything seemed to be going okay so I turned off the light and wondered how many little kitties would be waiting for me when I woke up. Just the two. All day yesterday I was so thankful that her first (and hopefully last) litter was so small. My mom is probably going to take one of them so that meant I only had to find home for one kitten!

So then I went into the bedroom around 11:00 last night and peeked into the basket and saw a blur of black. What the...?! Sure enough, a third little baby was in the basket with everyone. Is that normal? Do they wait almost 24 hours in between babies? I had read that the wait was usually like 10 minutes to an hour. Usually indeed! So I checked on the little family of four around 11:30 and noticed Olive's stomach was kind of spasming. Within a few minutes I saw a little pouch protrude from her nether regions and watched her as she licked away. There was a tiny paw sticking out of her...with claws! Yowza! I panicked for a moment that I'd have to pull a breach kitten out of my cat's vajayjay by its lone little paw but thankfully nature took its course and the whole thing oozed its way out. Pretty cool to watch a living thing be born. Pretty creepy, too. So then I was worried about going to bed and waking up to even more babies. As of this posting (21 hours later) there are still just the four. Two white and two black. I squished around on Olive's belly a lot today trying to determine if a couple more were hiding up in there. I think we're good. Except now I have to find three good homes instead of just the one. Drats! Any takers?

Trying to come up with names. When I had the pug puppies I named them after classic movie stars. I had a Humphrey, Buster, Bing, Greta, and Ingrid. Any suggestions for these babies? Of course, I can't really tell the gender of these little guys though. I'm pretty sure I could tell with the pugs right away. Hmmm....

Let's Play Catch-up...

So...where to begin? Let's start with basketball. My girls finished the season 3-3 landing us in second place overall. Everyone competed in the playoffs and we came in second place there as well. We played the first game of the day and went into double overtime and won by two (or was it just one?) points. The second game started off strong and we were ahead by halftime but the other team caught up and beat us by two. Alas. I was so proud of them! But so not prepared for the tears that came with the loss. I should have known better.

Moving on to the eCrush. I broke things off with Chris last month. It was a tough decision but I'm sure it was the right one. He is a sweet, sweet man and I hope only good things are in store for him. But that means I must endure more eHarmonizing. The horror! The horror!

And now on to Geronimo, my faithful sidekick of seven years. Simply put, he bit the dust. On the way to work one morning last month my trusty companion (on whom I was depending for at least another six months of faithful service) breathed his last breath and emitted billows of smoke from under the hood. My mechanic encouraged me to start the car-buying experience a little earlier than I intended. So, in the course of one short day, I welcomed Greta the Jetta (still pondering the name) into my little world. So far, so good. But a Jetta was nowhere on my radar.

And Olive, that sweet little stray cat I brought home in September, is a ho. Knocked up, I tell ya! Guess I should have paid more attention to Bob Barker or the posters in my vet's office. Her belly is quite swollen and now I can feel the little furballs swim around in there. Equal parts creepy and cool. I'm guessing within the week I'll have three to six extra mouths to feed. How do I get myself into these situations? Oh well, better her than me!

New Years came and went. My resolutions (if you even want to call them that) are pretty simple: 1) reduce (clutter, waste, and my waist!) and 2) create (art, crafts, journaling, and (ahem) blogging).

That, in a nutshell, is the past couple of months in the life of Courtney.

Lesson Learned?

So today at work I had to make a DHS referral but when I called I got a message that it was closed for Presidents' Day. Later I had to figure out why I still haven't received a bill for my first car payment. Called the bank my loan is through and got a message that it's closed for Presidents' Day. Oh yeah, had forgotten. On my way home from work I thought it'd be a good idea to deposit a check I received last week. Pulled into the checking lane at the bank only to find the blinds closed with a sign posted that it was closed for Presidents' Day. Righto. Don't worry, I came home, marched right up the steps and wondered why I didn't get any mail today.

Yes, folks, today is Presidents' Day. And everything is closed. In observation of the holiday, I will refrain from blogging a catch-up post just yet.

"This Is Our Time"

Well, folks, we lost. But only by three points! I was pretty nervous there for a bit. I think we were down by 15 at one point. But my girls rallied and by the 4th quarter we brought the score up to 23-26. And with two seconds left one of my players threw the ball from half court and. it. hit. the. rim. So close! Now that I've done it once, I feel a little more confident about the whole thing. The team we play this weekend is pretty phenomenal though. We'll see how it goes. I might have a little audience of my own, as if there wasn't enough pressure already!

My date was a success! There will be more (hopefully many more) in the future. Tomorrow we're meeting in the happenin' town of Stroud. Should be a fun little get together. Tons of sightseeing, I'm sure! And on Sunday we'll be seeing Cirque du Soliel here in T-town. Don't know the guy well enough yet to know if this is the kind of thing he likes to do, but it's sweet that he likes me enough to give it a whirl.

Have been waiting for months for our AMC Cinema Classics to show The Goonies. Last night I went to see it with my gal pal Val (aka Spud Bud). I did not know a bigger fan besides myself existed. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Val has the 20th Anniversary commemorative hoodie (and t-shirt!), knows all the good quotes, and has part of a scrapbook devoted to her Goonies tour in Oregon.

The countdown has begun for Christmas break. I have never wanted/needed a break so badly. I just hope it doesn't pass me by at warp speed.

Hoops and eDreams

So it's been a little while. Sorry about that. Just got home from my basketball team's third practice. First game's on Saturday morning. I'm a little on the scared side. I'd apparently bluffed my way through the first two practices fairly well but I think it's safe to say that tonight I freaked them all out with my stupendous ignorance on the subject of basketball. At least parents no longer sit in on the practices. At least there's that. But I don't suppose I can ask them to avoid coming to the game on Saturday. It will be a free for all. May the best team win. Chris, my eCrush, says I just need to yell a lot on the court and all will be well. I'm not so sure this will work...

Speaking of my little eCrush...tomorrow's the big night! Date numero uno. Super excited and nervous. Sure it will only get worse over the course of the next 24 hours. If your mind wanders and you happen to think of me, please send good thoughts and luck my way!

eCrush

My friend Carrie has warned me against this. She's a veteran eHarmonizer (?) and has developed some guidelines. Don't fall in love over emails and phone calls (let's call this "eLove") before you meet the guy. Meet him right away, so if there's no connection or chemistry or spark or whatnot, it's easier to move on to the next prospect. Sounds reasonable enough. eLove can only lead to eRelationships and there's no such thing as eMarriage or eBabies. But I'm eCrushin' kinda hard right now. I told myself I was going to do it all differently this time around. Play the field so to speak. So I'm "communicating" with like seven other people but this guy (Chris is his name. He's a self-proclaimed eFlirt.) is blowing them all out of the water so far...

Wish me eLuck that he'll ask for my phone number soon enough so that we can finally meet before my imagination takes me too much farther.

Two, two, shoot two!

I love the city's library system. Today I checked out Coaching Basketball for Dummies; Coaching Youth Basketball; Coaching Youth Basketball: The Guide for Coaches, Parents and Athletes; The Baffled Parent's Guide to Great Basketball Drills; The Basketball Pass Cut Catch Guide; Modern Memory Keeper; and a James Blunt CD.

"Why the sudden interest in basketball, Courtney?" you're probably asking yourself. Well, let me tell you why. For some reason that is still a mystery to me I agreed to coach one of our sixth grade girls basketball teams. Yep, you heard right. Me. Coaching. Basketball. Interesting indeed. I don't even like basketball. I was surprised I lasted the whole first half at OBU's homecoming game last weekend.

My pal Mel told me not to worry. In sixth grade you don't need to worry about teaching them actual plays and all. Just work on the basics. Dribbling, passing, shooting layups, etc. That's when I opened my mouth and asked, "Layups are the ones where you bounce it off the backboard, right?" That got a round of laughs from my friends. Followed shortly thereafter by a better definition of a layup and a promise to make a road trip of one of our games. Great. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted. Which, by the way, is apparently a basketball word too.

The scrapbooking book was to feel a little girlie. Even though it's been awhile, crafting is something I'm good at. No need to school me on any lingo there. And the CD was because I'd been on the waiting list for it for months! Man, I love our library!