Day in the Life of an Idiot

 
Image: Rhubarb and Buttercup in the basket by all our fabric piles.

I don't know that I have a huge amount of news to report today, but, if you can't tell, I've been trying to post something every week day. I'm not talking about it as any kind of New Year's resolution, because I suspect that as soon as you label something that, you jinx it. So, forget I said anything. This is just a habit I've been trying to get into.  No pressure. No expectations.

Speaking of things like that, I am currently nearly at a 60 day streak in Duolingo. For those of you just tuning in, I have been trying to learn Japanese since.... what is it now? Forever? Yes, I think since forever. I am no closer now that I was when I started, I swear, but honestly, this has become a weird sort of hobby for me, much like quilting or drawing. Anyway, having a streak for this long is kind of new thing for me. I've stayed at Japanese for a long time, but I tend to not be great at a daily habit. So, this is exciting. Did I also tell you that I found a podcast that proports to teach me Japanese while I sleep? Yeah, I don't really think it will work either, but I also don't see how it can hurt me.

In other news, I just locked our escape artists (pictured above, Buttercup) into the bedroom because we are about to have a handyman come by and.... Ope! He's here. That's exciting. He's going to (hopefully) be fixing a drain we broke mumblely-mumblely years ago. If he can do it, it will be super lovely to have an upstairs bathtub available again. It's our clawfoot. We have another bath, but I have two very long-legged people in this house (or rather, often do, with Mason off at college again,) and the other tub is less comfy for them. I'm fine? But I could probably bathe in a washtub, I'm so short. I make up for my stubbiness by being round, so maybe not.

Tonight is my class, also, which I was smart and prepped BEFORE the handymen came. I mean, I could probably do some now, but it's always so distracting when people are in the house, banging around. Like, just now, trying to remember which circuit goes to which rooms of the house is very ??? in our 100+ year old place. 

But, anyway, it's good that we're getting this done, finally. 

Class will be interesting tonight. It's hard to gauge participation since, while I "assigned" homework, I made it clear that nothing had to be turned in. So, people may have done the assignment outside of Google classroom. I guess I'll find out when I ask. Two out of five people officially turned things in, so maybe that's also not a bad participation rate? If one other person half-assed it, that's 50%.  

Sigh.

How are you? How was you weekend?

 Saint Paul only just now called a snow emergency, which means they won't even start plowing side streets until 9 pm. I just shoveled an additional 7 inches of snow from my sidewalk. Shawn and I estimate that about ten or eleven inches. (25.4 cm or 30 cm) fell in the last day.


Image: the snow covered tree in front of our house. (The little blue sign is our "We protect the Mississippi," thing which really just means that Mason adopted a storm drain when he needed a volunteer project a few years ago in order to get into the honors program in high school. I think his favorite part of that program was getting to name the drain. These are in Rochester, but explain what I mean: https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/funny-storm-drain-names-grate)

So, yeah, it snowed? 

I have not tried to move the car, nor do I intend to. Since St. Paul won't even be dusting off the plows until after 9 pm today, I am parked on the "night plow" side of the street and that's where I plan to stay. Technically, D&D is tonight, but I am hopeful that either we will ALL move to Discord or they can let me "phone it in," as it were.

All this snow started falling yesterday. Shawn was supposed to go into work for her performance review, but that meeting got shifted to virtual so she bailed at around 11 am.  She worked from home all day yesterday, but Mason and I (neither of us who normally have work do to right now) treated it as a snow day and spent the day watching TV (he is re-watching and I'm watching for the first time FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I'd seen FullMetal Alchemist a long time ago, but, even though everyone TOLD me how much better "Brotherhood" is, I never got around to watching it. GUYS, IT'S A WHOLE LOT BETTER.)  I tried to do some quilting, but was stymied by the angry peanut.


Image: Rhubarb (who is actually very sweet these days) loafing in the middle of the quilting hoop.

I should say that even though Willow and Rhubarb still stalk each other around the house, we have mostly settled into a détente. Rhubarb no longer holds any ill-will towards the people. I can't remember the last time she swiped at us with claws out. It's all been play bats. Willow would still like it very much if this interloper would move along, but she's settled back into snoozing under the covers by my legs at night, and otherwise TOLERATING this other cat. Buttercup is still baffled why his two favorite black-haired ladies don't love each other as much as he loves them.

I hope you are all being safe out there, if you are also experiencing snow (and even if you're not.)

When we asked the vet for advice for integrating our cats, we were given a flyer that was written by a behaviorist who had pretty good advice. Some stuff we knew and already were doing and a few other little tricks that might help. However, the funniest part was the suggestion that any time there was a neutral or good interaction between Willow and Rhubarb (formerly known as Clover/Six) we were supposed to give them a treat (make sense) and burble, "Happy Cats!"

So, of course, immediately, Shawn and I started with the somewhat-ironic "Happy Cats!" declaration. 

Mostly, we are being patient. We've had some actual happy cat moments or at least, "I didn't realize you were in my territory because I was sleeping" moments, and continued snapping and hissing. But, the flyer was actually reassuring that integration really can take a long time and that you basically have to go at the pace of the cat who is the most traumatized.

Sometimes that's little loaf:


Image: Rhubarb (a black cat) in a box, being a little loaf.

Sometimes that's big loaf:


Image: Willow (a black cat) in a box, being a big loaf.

This has become our lives. There's been a lot of "Ope! Time for a timeout!" and "Oh, look at you not snarling! Happy Cats!!" around our place, and probably it will continue like this for some time. We want a household where everyone is at least decently tolerating of each other and, as Shawn and I keep reminding ourselves, there's no need to rush since... well, this is basically a lifelong project. There's no deadline. We're in no hurry.

In other news, I adapted a recipe from the Overwatch cookbook to make "bear scat" cookies for my D&D group tonight. For those not reading the D&D/Elf icon posts, basically last adventure we fought a mama bear, so this is just a silly reference to that. There is not bear poop in this recipe, only chocolate, peanut butter, honey, and rice crispies.


Image: round balls of chocolate, peanut butter, rice crispies, and honey.

Happy CATS!!