Oddities

I realized today that for months, I've been putting an extra 1 cent stamp on my letters, etc. for no reason. My Christmas stamps (that I bought to use on the Christmas letter that never happened) were the current first class rate - yet I've been adding a 1 cent stamp to every letter I've mailed with those stamps since Christmas. Bugger! I don't know why.....

We sort of lost a cat last night - but we found him again. Snow - the more quiet, reserved, mellow of the two - the one who rarely ventures anywhere more than one room away from his bowl of food and his favorite sleeping place - was nowhere to be found at his dinner time last night. I searched everywhere. I enlisted help searching - still no sign of him. Got out the treat jar.....shook it. That ALWAYS brings them BOTH running. Still no Snow. I was freaking out....sure he must be gravely ill and has done what cats do - hides. No matter how sick they are, they hide. J. came upstairs to help look - and we checked the closet, which I'd already done. And there he was....apparently locked in there most of the day and not too sure why or what to do? Poor thing. He was so 'freaked'. He came out begrudgingly, barely moving. Sort of slinking. Tail 'down' and under him, basically. I was sure he really was sick - he went straight under the bed. But J. coaxed him out a bit - 'talked' to him and he finally emerged. He went in and ate a bit, then I brushed him and we 'made up'. He was just PISSED and wasn't sure why he'd ended up in the closet all day. Poor baby. He seems fine now - back to his old self. So relieved. They are both long overdue for a vet visit - but it's so impossible to get them into the carrier - and then it's a miserable trip there and back. And I've been out of the office more than in these past few days - so I was worried about missing work AGAIN....but he's fine and we're back to 'cats as usual'.

I've been in a baking craze lately. Latest is the 'Amish Friendship Bread' - got a 'starter' 10 days ago from a friend and realized last night it was the 'baking day'. I was planning to color my hair - but I'd already sort of messed up the 'adding to' steps during the 10 days....and I didn't want to risk 'wrecking' it. So I baked instead of doing my hair and it is DELICIOUS. Now I have 4 starters sitting on my kitchen counter. Anyone reading this who wants one, let me know. The bread is GREAT. I also made a prune cake - and I know you're thinking 'YUCK' and 'it'll give you the runs'. It is FANTASTIC and no, it won't. The kids LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it and it disappeared in record time. B. is not 'happy' that there's all this temptation around....but I'm having fun trying new recipes. And so far, I haven't gained any weight!!

We have three tomatoes! One of the pepper plants is also really taking off and I'm pretty sure one of the squash plants has blossoms close to appearing! Veggies!! in our garden. It's really fun to 'see' the payoff for the work. They seem to be doing pretty well. We're having a hard time getting the water right on the squash - J. adjusted the sprinkler near them - and then it rained for three days..so they're still suffering from too much water. But the weather was a beautiful 78 and clear today so we'll hope the rain is over for now. We're more than ready for some swimming weather.

Our trip to Mexico is 'on hold'. We actually canceled the condo today - there are dozens of other units in that development available (better units for less $ than we were going to pay - they are having a hard time getting people down there so there are some great DEALS at this point) - and we were going to have to make our 'final' payment which was then not refundable...we weren't willing to do that. The airline is currently not flying from SFO to Cancun through June 4th. So we're waiting to see if that situation stays - which would be good for us because they will refund every mile/every penny that we spent on the tickets if it's their issue that's affecting our flight. So we're sort of giving it some time.....and thinking of other options. A beach seems to be the common criteria/theme. Bahamas? Costa Rica? Or the never-not-a-good-decision Hawaii?? I'll keep you posted.....I just need waves, surf, salty-wind and sun...and umbrella drinks....worst case - San Diego for a few days and then possibly another Southern California destination for a few days. We'll see....