OK, this is getting silly

It's three degrees cooler here than it is at my great-aunt's house in Vero Beach, FL. The calendar says it's fall. Enough of the heat, already!

Baby pictures

I got a new keyboard for the laptop, so I spent some time cleaning up my desk and work space. I was organizing files on a thumb drive and ran across Charcoal's kitten pictures. Coal was my first kitten. We'd had two adult cats, one of whom died a few months before we adopted Coal. Since we still had our adult Siamese, Rylla, we blockaded the kitchen to keep them separated for a while. It didn't last long.

He was with us just a few hours when he acquired his first nickname: Commando Kitty. Needless to say, his tenure in the kitchen lasted less than a week, although he did sleep in there a little longer.

He was, what they call in the South, a mess. He was into everything, all the time, just like a toddler. Like a toddler, he would run rampant over all of us, and just when I thought I was going to lose it, he'd curl up in my lap and suck on my sleeve until he went to sleep. He was definitely my cat, although we were all crazy about him.

Coal went with us to Italy. When we lived in the hotel, he would occasionally go and sit by the door, which meant he wanted to go out. Of course, he couldn't just go outside, but I'd harness trained him almost as soon as we got him. The Italians got a good laugh every time I'd harness him and take him for a walk. We were in the hotel for a month before we moved into our house. Less than a month later, Coal was gone. He went outside one Monday morning, and we found him dead in the neighbors yard before dinner. We think he got a hold of some rat poison; he didn't have a mark on him.

That was just over four years ago. It doesn't seem possible. I still miss him so much. I was wondering just the other day what I'd done with his kitten pictures. My project this weekend is to burn them to a CD, and have some printed.

We miss you, Coal.

Another gray hair

This week I have started trying to get my schedule under control. I haven't been making good use of my time since the kids started school and I had enough last week. It was a simple matter of figuring out what I needed to do and scheduling a time each day for them. My Palm Pilot is my friend!

This afternoon at 1:00 it was time to write, so I came upstairs, booted up the laptop, and got ready to work on my NaNo outline. Good theory, but the document wasn't there. That's when I discovered my data stick with all my back-ups was missing. Back downstairs I went to retrieve it from the computer desk. Of course, there were two there--one for each of the kids. I didn't quite hyperventilate, but almost. I looked everywhere I could think of, twice, before I decided it was more important to get something done. I was reasonably sure one of the kids had accidentally grabbed mine. When they got home, I discovered I was right; Alex took mine and left his. All three sticks were identical, but not anymore. Mine has a spot of White-Out now. Of course, I have now backed up all my files twice. Redundancy is also my friend.

If you haven't backed up lately, please stop and do it right now! Save yourself a gray hair!

Priceless

Eric got home from work Friday about ten minutes after I did. I was looking forward to a little crocheting before I had to start dinner when he decided the pantry needed to be cleaned out. He said he could handle it on his own, but I can't relax if someone is working within earshot.

Long story short, we cleaned out the pantry and the master bathroom closet. I'd already done several kitchen cupboards in the last week or two. It's amazing what you find when you clean. I had four boxes of brown rice and three bottles of dish soap. I threw out herb capsules dated 2005 that I'd bought in Italy. There were two spare bottles of shaving lotion and a set of sheets that never really fit our bed right. We took out three bags of trash, and I'm a little amazed that I have anything left.

It is nice to see the floor of the closet, and it really perplexed Ryan. He went into the bathroom closet and turned in circles, grumbling to himself. I love it when he grumbles.

With the weather cooling, I'm slowing getting my act together. Jean mentioned that she's been reading Body Clutter. I've been staunchly resisting FlyLady, even as I find myself using her methods. I've even picked a room to work on, only to find it's the FlyLady zone of the week! I'm stubborn, but I think this is a clue-by-four. Looks like I'll be acquiring a copy for myself.