Cat-astrophes: Part 1

Remember that Dog-saster story about Cash?  Well this past Friday night, we had another pet panic moment, but this one was a Cat-astrophe.  And I again will hope there's only one.  Like I mentioned a few weeks ago, our family just moved into a new house.  The living room and kitchen area has really tall ceiling and hence, really tall cabinets.

Dear sweet Ginger likes to climb on cabinets, which has always been more of a nuisance than anything.  About a week after we moved in, it struck me to climb on the counters and check out the top of the cabinets to make sure everything was safe and secure.  I found a triangular opening on either side of the over, which is caddy-cornered in the kitchen.  I called in the tall one, who looked down the chute and confirmed 1 - this is a 9+ ft tunnel that drops to the floor from the top of the cabinets and 2 - The other cabinets are screwed into this chute, which means the opening is lined with screws.  We agreed that we needed to seal this opening up before Gigi found herself at the bottom of the chute or worse.

A few weeks passed and we sort of forgot about the opening, until last Friday night.  Ginger was up on the cabinets, and my parents and grandmother were up for the Rutgers game (sigh...just...sigh).  Ginger was sitting on the top of the over cabinet when a moth perched over the opening.  She lunged, airborne over the opening and the she plummeted to the bottom hiney first.  I screamed and everyone stared at me - no one else saw it happen!  Ginger immediately started howling, so Ryan figured out pretty quickly what was going on, but the rest of the family was confused.  I got Ryan the flashlight while I explained the problem.

While he checked on Ginger, I implored him to get a saw and saw her out.  There was no telling what injuries she had sustained, and I was anxious to check her out.  Ryan, however, upon seeing that she was okay, jumping to try to get out, and not laying in a pool of blood like I feared, decided to take a little time to get creative before sawing his new cabinets.

First, he fed a bedsheet down the opening, hoping she would grab onto it and he could pull her out.  Of course, she didn't oblige.  Then he had the genius idea of using one of Alli's pet nets from IKEA (seen here).  He thought maybe if he fed that down the tunnel with a little bit of turkey that perhaps Ginger would be enticed to jump in a cubby hole and be lifted out.

That little brat ate the turkey and didn't set a paw in the cubby.  Of course, by this point I was getting more and more adamant that we cut her out of there.  Ryan asked for one more shot, so I allowed him that.  At his request, I brought him rope from our move.  Using his expert army skills, Ryan fashioned a slipknot, which he fed down the chute.  I heard him say "Come on, girl.  Come on kitty.  That's it.  Stick your paw in..."  Then I saw him scrambling, and Ginger emerged at the top, thoroughly lassoed by her neck and leg.  I snatched her from him and checked her over - she seemed completely fine and had already forgotten about the whole incident.

Needless to say, some of our Sunday was spent at Home Depot getting plywood and officially covering the holes.  It's always an adventure around here...

Pressured for Perfection

Let me share with you a text that I just sent to Ryan:

"I need new clothes!  I need to get our new house decorated to perfection!  I want to be a great employee!  I want to be the perfect mom and wife!  And I want to make fun food and decor for the holidays!  Why am I so tired all the time?"

Do any of you other moms feel this way all the time?  I am pulled in one hundred different directions from the moment I wake up in the morning until the second my eyes close at night.  Most mornings I am scrambling to get myself and my second grader ready for the day in a timely fashion (failure rate: 70%), then I spend the majority of the day at my challenging and dynamic job, and then my evenings are full of cooking dinner, getting homework done, walking dogs, and doing all the things that keep the household running (cleaning, laundry, etc).  When do I have time to do anything else?  Where do these moms find time to interview their kids, put together scrapbooks, and bake cookies shaped like reindeer?

I have a fantastic husband who helps me every step of the way - his mornings, days, and nights look exactly like mine.  Where does the time go?  I don't feel like I give anything the attention it deserves because I'm always spread so thin!

Oh and the guilt.  Do they ever tell you about the guilt when you're a new mom?  Never.  They tell you about the exhaustion, the lack of patience, the weight gain.  But they never even begin to mention that new emotion that you're doomed to spend the rest of your life with: guilt.  "I should be doing this.  I should want to do that.  I should have done this.  I'm not doing that enough."  All.  The.  Time.

I blame some of this on social media.  When I'm on Pinterest, I'm pinning ideas that I know I'll never get to carry out because I'm to tired/busy.  When I'm Facebook, I'm looking at someone else's highlight reel while living my own outtakes.  And when I'm on Twitter, I'm indulging in sports talk and celebrity gossip (enter guilt).

When am I going to host a Southern Living Thanksgiving?  When am I going to be dressed like I walked out of Vogue?  And when is my house going to be decorated like an HGTV show?  And when am I going to realize that living and being happy means that none of these things will ever come true?  More important than a Southern Living Thanksgiving is one where I'm surrounded by family enjoying themselves (and a Cowboys win).  More important than being dressed like a super model is being there for my child and my husband.  And more important than a pristine and well-decorated museum is a comfortable, homey place for the whole family to relax.

And I need to give myself credit.  Cooking two days out of seven isn't that bad.  The house is usually pretty clean considering the zoo that resides there.  And I do just fine decorating most of the time (I think).

But until I learn the accept the above, this is how I feel most of the time:

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Hog 'til I die...

...but this season might kill me.  My hopes for the piggies crashed with Bobby Petrino's motorcycle in April, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a glimmer before this season started.  That all came to a screeching halt when we lost to ULM last weekend, but the Holloways and Lowes still love those Hogs, so we set up our first tailgate of the year in the rain for Alabama.

We had a pretty great tailgate despite the rain, and Ryan's friend Jake who recently moved to California showed up!  Check out the fashion statement --

All in all, great food, good friends, and a terrible game.

But today is Sunday, and it's a new day.  Go Cowboys!!

Movin' On Up

I've been keeping a secret from y'all.  I'm so sorry to have had to do it, but I'm so superstitious and I didn't want to get my own hopes up along with yours before it happened.  But we have a new Chateau de Lowe!!!

That's right, friends.  We rented our sweet little bungalow (I'm really making that house sound nice, aren't I?) and moved up the road to a bigger new construction in Alli's school district.  I know many of you are scratching your heads right now and wondering how on earth Ryan talked me out of a 1920s charmer off Dickson Street, but he really had nothing to do with it.

Something fabulous about Ryan is that he really does just want me to be happy, so if an old, tiny house that needed a ton of work would make me happy, he was willing to do it.  But after a lot of thinking, praying, and some tears, I decided the best thing for our marriage, our family, and our future was to put the old home reno on hold in favor of something bigger than our current home, still in Alli's school district, and that only needs my decorating imagination.

We've seen a lot of houses over the past year, so once we decided where we wanted to be, everything moved really quickly.  My stipulations were newer, lots of storage, Alli's same school, big yard & outdoor living area, pet area, and neighborhood amenities (I could list a thousand more, but those were the big ones).  Ryan's were outdoor living area, neighborhood amenities, pantry, plenty of space inside, and a bonus room.  We were lucky enough to find a house that meets all of the criteria plus some.  Seriously kids, I have a pool down the street AND a place for the litter box that's not in a single bedroom.  How happy am I??  You'll be getting lots of updates on it as we settle in, but here's a few pictures from the day we closed to hold you over:

Ryan outside the huge iron door - it's so heavy!

Ryan unlocking the door right after closing - he carried me across the threshold!

The best in the business delivering our fridge

So we closed the Thursday before Labor Day, and my fantastic parents and grandmother helped us move all weekend.  We only paused to attend the Razorback game on Saturday.  We are actually mostly unpacked, and I can't wait to share my plans with you!  I have another blank slate to start over with, and I could not be happier about it.  We have a long way to go, but I'm really excited about what the future holds for our family in a new abode.

Home Sweet Home

Quick Inspirations

I don't know if it was our recent Gone With the Wind marathon or the fact that the weather has cooled down a little and we're gearing up for my favorite time of year, but I am feeling especially inspired by all things southern lately.

My latest edition of This Old House magazine had cottage makeovers chock full of the shabby chic looks I love.

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And then I got the latest Southern Living which was full of fall recipes, Thanksgiving table settings, and tailgate planning galore.

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This little Thanksgiving fan is hosting her first major holiday in November, so I'm already stocking ideas on how to make it perfect.  Step one:  Learn how to cook a turkey.

Down South

Last night was a night of epic proportions.  It was a late late summer (or early fall...seasons around here can be so confusing) Friday night, and I got home around 6:15PM to my little family.  Alli was in the midst of Lego Harry Potter on the iPad, and her daddy can't help but play along.  My sister was off work and home for the first night in a long time, so we had a bit of a lazy night catching up on our good (bad) TV.

About 8PM, I begged Ryan to dig through the boxes that have overtaken our garage (more on that at some point...) to find my all time favorite movie in the entire world, Gone With The Wind.  Alli pretty much heads to bed between 8:30PM and 9PM most nights, but I gave her a pass to watch some of my favorite movie with me.

I was so glad Lindsey was there, but I really missed my mom while I was watching it.  We quote nearly 30 lines from this movie on a regular basis in my family, and it seems like it was always on in the background when I was growing up.  I talked Alli through it a little, telling her what was going on and who the characters were.  She was pretty glued most of the time.  In the first scene where Rhett Butler is at the bottom of the staircase at Twelve Oaks, I informed her who he was, and she replied, "Oh, he's pretty."

Yeah he is.

She enjoyed most of the first part of the movie, but when the Civil War started getting a little too real, it was time for bed.  Lindsey and I stayed up until 12:30 and actually finished the movie in one sitting.  Pretty darn impressive.  I can't ever decide what my favorite part is.  Is it when he bids on her at the benefit when she's in mourning from her first husband?

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Is it when he leaves her on the road to Tara as the Yankees are taking over Atlanta and he's going to join the war?

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Or is it the epic scene where he carries her up the stairs?

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I guess I will just have to keep watching it over and over until I decide - which is no small feat given the 230 minute run time...

I'm so glad Alli seemed to enjoy her first pass at watching one of my favorite movies, and I do hope that one day she remembers watching it over and over with her mama like I do with mine.

Call Her the Breeze

I cannot believe that my little girl is starting second grade tomorrow!  It just does not seem possible.  Surely we should be starting kindergarten, or even first grade?  There's just no way she's pushing eight.

Five words to describe her right now are headstrong, repetitive, compassionate, demanding, and playful.  Alli's favorite foods remain steadfast - she consumes a healthy rotation of chicken nuggets, corndogs, and cottage cheese.  Her favorite show right now is Phineas and Ferb.

She is constantly malcontent with Ryan and I - always wanting more, something else for dinner, and someone to play with her.  She wants to know what's next and is never content with what's right now - I think she gets that from her mama...

She's incredibly smart and funny, almost making you double take with her quick wit.  She remembers things verbatim after the first time she hears them, and she loves to see the same movies over and over.  She is always acting out some TV show she's seen, putting her own spin on it.

She is excellent at Uno and almost cruel while playing it.  Every card she lays down in preceded by a "You look like you could draw two." or "How about we skip you?"  Ryan and I are each so thankful when reverses keep her from going before us.

She is absolutely baby crazy.  It doesn't matter if it's a baby monkey, a baby bird, or a baby baby.  She wants to see them all and she gets the silliest high pitched voice when she talks to them.  I'm eternally dragging her away from perfect strangers and their small children.  Part of this is because she's above and beyond the most compassionate person I know.  She kisses boo boos, she gets bandaids, she hugs, and she comforts.  She's definitely the person you want around when you are blue.  She will stroke your cheek and tell you it's all okay.

She's my little tomboy!  She loves all colors, but she's really drawn to orange and blue right now.  Her having bows in her hair in the above pictures is a miracle.  She doesn't mind being girly, but she really doesn't have time for it.

Seriously - this kid is the light of my and her daddy's life, and we can't imagine a time without her.  Best wishes for a wonderful second grade, Allison Bryanne!!