Alabama Tracks

My sweet and fickle kitty, Flala has gone missing this weekend. My heart is heavy. I’ve cried more than my share of tears and I long to have her return. It has only been one day and I long to have her by my side tonight when I lay down. I want her to lay at my feet as I work tomorrow and I want to feel her silky smooth fur as I pet her belly and legs.

She was my first baby. The first cat that I have ever given a regular bath and taken with me on trips. She would play fetch and bite my toes. The back of her legs were always ready for a scratching.

I want her back. I’m so emotionally spent after the course of the weekend, I want her to cry with. Sure, I have another kitty to love but she isn’t a lap kitty for me like Flala. She too is looking out the window waiting for her playmate to return. I pray for her return and watch and call. Signs have been posted, people talked to, catnip spread out hoping she’ll come up for the food that I’ve laid out.

If you get a chance, say a prayer for my sweet baby to find her way home. I’m not ready for her not to be in the family just yet.

Short on time so here are a few quick ones as of late.

Some amusement for your day. He’s gonna be a ladies man for sure

Samuel, our little casanova

I never thought I would link something by Penn Gilette, of Penn and Teller fame. Penn is a very vocal Atheist and enjoys making it known on his cable show (whose name is a curse word). And yet, this video is something that all people of faith should watch. God has pursued harder cases than Penn and this is a reminder to that fact.

It hasn’t been for lack of wanting to post something lately.  Its been for lack of time.  I’m working part time from home and I barely have time to sit and do anything for me, let alone post a blog.  But the job is a blessing and it is helping a tremendous amount right now.  The past 2 weeks has brought transmission problems with Joel’s car, a leaky sink and faucet, a dead dryer, and a leaking hot water heater.  Very large expenses but even with that we’ve been blessed.  We have yet to figure out the transmission but that will hopefully be within the next week.

At any rate, Ruthie did a funny/nasty today that I had to share.  She has become increasingly more aware of bowel movements to the point that I was set on potty training next week.  That won’t happen now because of deliveries and installations and craziness, but I digress.  So this evening, she came into the dining room where I was and she had her hand down her diaper.  I smelled a funny odor and just as I thought, she had a dirty diaper with which she was playing.  Thankfully, Joel handled it without much hoopla but I think its time to start potty training nonetheless.

For those of you who haven’t heard, she also pulled down a completely unopened gallon of apple juice from the counter the other day sending Lake Apple to my kitchen floor.  Three moppings later, we finally got rid of the stickiness.

Samuel is crawling on hands and knees now and making tracks.  He is also pulling up on everything as well as biting everything.  Today, it was my toes.

I will do my best to post pictures of Christmas and Ruthie’s birthday soon.

Consider this a shout out to all you parents on Christmas day. Song by Sara Groves, btw.

Just this morning….

While she was eating a bowl of cereal with a spoon, I asked her if it was “yummy”.  “Yblem Yblem” she said.  Normally she would say “Its good”.  Not today.

Last night….

I went to check on her and make sure she was covered up and in bed around 2:30.  I found her head and upper torso under the bed with only her waist on down sticking out.  I literally had to pull her out and get her back in bed.

Just now…

The news was covering local dignitaries ringing the Salvation Army bells.  They showed a picture of Walmart.  Ruthie immediately said “Shopping!”.

She makes me laugh.  She makes me smile.  Her vocabulary and cognitive abilities are blossoming in lightening speed.

I’ve been a little bit busier these days with the start of my new part time work from home job.  I’m doing data entry for my old employer - an anesthesia billing company.  I specifically bill for a few hospitals in the West Tennessee area.  I work about 4 hours a day, most of the time when the kids are sleeping.  It definitely cuts down on my fun time.  So as such, here are a few snippets and pictures of our days.

Most importantly, Samuel combat crawled this morning!  Things are about to get interesting.  I’ll be vacuuming more for sure.

The other day I gave Ruthie some premie diapers to play with instead of the ones they are currently wearing.  I figured every girl had to diaper their baby doll.  All went well until we put her to bed that night.  Getting out of bed has been a nightly deal and one that we strive to curtail.  I regress.  We checked on her one evening in an attempt to get her back in bed rather than playing and Joel found two of her premie diapers in complete shreds on the floor.  Note:  The gel in the diapers makes the dry fibers stick to everything.  I made her clean up every last piece.

A few nights after the previous episode, Joel went in to check on her and found about 20 or so wet wipes on the floor and in the trashcan.  Why the child thinks she needs to pull them all out is beyond me.

Samuel’s 6th tooth has made a partial entrance in the last week.

Both kids have had sinus crud since Saturday.  Sleeping has been sporadic as well as eating.  Attitudes have been all over the map.

Chickens are all the rage in our house with Ruthie.  I can’t wait for her to collect eggs and play with Momga’s chickens during Thanksgiving.

Samuel is saying “mama” and “dada” now.  I initially thought he was just starting to play with sounds but yesterday it dawned on me that he knew exactly what he was saying.  He says it on occasion when you approach to pick him up.

And now for the pictures.  Some are not the greatest but I wanted you to see either Samuel’s green eyes, his chompers, Ruthie’s cheesy toothy grin, or them playing together.  Having them so close has been difficult but I love to see them playing together like they are in the laundry basket.  Enjoy.

I really can’t say I was surprised to see McCain lose. If he had, it would have been by a razor thin margin and there would have been explosions of hatred unlike anything this country has ever seen. In some ways it was good for Obama to win.

First, the Republican party deserved to lose. Had Obama really been more moderate it would have been a landslide. The fact that it wound up as close as it did spoke volumes to the mistrust he garnered on the Right. I don’t think too many were voting for McCain as voting against Obama. Why did Republicans lose?

Spending. The cornerstone of Conservatism is small government. You tax only what you need to raise and that’s that. But Republicans with 100% control expanded government by some 40%. Most egregious was Ted Steven’s Bridge to Nowhere and Bush’s Medicare Prescription benefit. Both outraged conservatives. Bush may fear God, but sometimes I wonder if he ever feared his constituency.

McCain also was not a conservative. I still have not forgiven him for the awful Gang of 14 decision. Or McCain-Feingold. Or McCain-Kennedy. The fact that Joe Lieberman endorsed him didn’t help him one bit. Without the solidly conservative Palin, McCain would have lost even more than he did.

Second, Obama is in a historic position. The black community has languished from people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton pulling out the race card every chance they got. Blacks overwhelmingly felt oppressed, even though there was no evidence of such a thing. Obama’s win puts it to bed. I really think Jackson’s tears on Tuesday were because he knows he’s out of a job with nobody to whip up into a frenzy about social injustice. Obama could do a world of good. One of his few bright spots in the campaign was when he noted that fathers need to play a role in their childrens’ lives. Every time the negative aspects of “black culture” are brought up he has been quick to decry them. The gangsta mentality. The illegitimacy rate of black children. Not since Bill Cosby in the 80s has a black man so embodied what could be right for a change. He is successful, appears to be a good father and is now the de-facto leader of the black community. Let’s hope and pray that he channels the enthusiasm around him into real change that I’ve watched a desperate Bill Cosby try to effect for the last few years. This kind of change I certainly applaud.

Third, Republicans appear to have held onto enough Senate seats to prevent a fillibuster-proof Senate. It’s not enough to where a moderate’s departure won’t hurt, but if Mitch McConnell can hang tough on the major issues then we have some hope that the Left won’t be passing their agenda without any sort of balance.

This brings me to the less pleasant part of our election. Read on only if you want the less rosy part of the next four years.
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If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it must be …..

And because Brother apparently has come down with an ear infection, he has felt puny all day.  We didn’t dress him up as a Peanut and thus he stayed attached to Mommy.  Earlier in the day we put a wash rag on his head to help with the fever.  I just found it cute.

I never did get great pictures of Ruthie in her costume tonight.  Some of these pictures are from the day she tried on her costume.  Tonight there was just too much to see and do.  She had no problem getting the hang of Trick or Treating.  She waved and said ‘bye bye’ to everyone.  She “quacked” on command.  I was worried about this because all week she has been completely about chickens.  The hood never came off either.  She walked the majority of the way holding our hands and only the last 1000 feet did she want to sit down on the side of the road and eat her loot.  Watching her little tail waddle as she walked and in some cases ran through the yards was priceless.  I wish I had gotten it on video.  It was a good night and one that I think she truly enjoyed.