Schroeder

While I may not be religious, I consider myself spiritual, and really, truly believe that things happen for a reason.

Recently, I was talking to my best friend who was telling me that her parents were getting another cat. I was telling her how having two cats was enough for me, and I would like the next cat I get to be an orange tabby cat.

Well, wouldn't you know it, about a week later a big orange cat shows up on the back porch. Meowing, eating Charlie's food. You open the door, and it doesn't run away, it comes straight up to you, charging you with his head down for you to rub her behind the ears. It attempts to come into the house. Sadly and predictably, we start feeding her, and she stays even longer. She started coming around 4:00. Then she would hang around and meow at the back door. The noise stops and we think she's gone, but when we look outside, she pops out of nowhere like a stalker. Then, we go back to watching TV, and just out of curiosity check the back porch at 11:00, and she's still there. In the morning, we wake up, and she's still there, sleeping on one of Charlie's pillows.

We think this is just temporary, but then she starts showing up meowing in the mornings, too. She sleeps on our front porch. She goes around to the back porch. She rubs up against the front door to mark it but she's kinda big so it sounds like someone's trying to break through our door. I leave the house to go next door and she follows me. She follows Jared. Jared says, "Why is orange cat following us?" We open the door and think she's not around, but then we suddenly see a bolt of orange fur running toward our door.

This has been going on for three weeks now, and one afternoon Jared and I even posted signs around the neighborhood saying we found a cat, but no one called to claim her. The cat may have been an indoor cat because every time we open the door, she's right there and trying to get in the house. We open and shut the door quickly, to get out of the house, to get in the house, to get the mail. It's like we're trying to prevent snow or a swarm of mosquitoes from entering the house. Now, when we need to get something outside, we prepare ourselves, and at the front door, I'll say, "Ready, Jared?" Then he'll squat down, get his little index finger out, and when I open the door to the minimal amount of space I can squeeze through, he'll lean forward, wag his finger, and say, "No, no, no, orange cat. You can't come in!" I'll grab the mail, while saying, "Back, back", squeeze through the small space again, and close the door. I'm not exaggerating. One time we were careless and orange cat ran into our kitchen then back out of the house.

While it sounds like I may be complaining, I am actually happy to have an outdoor cat. I admit - I feed her twice a day, brush her once a week, and will go outside to pet her and rub her tummy. When she's roaming the neighborhood during the day and I haven't seen her for a little while, I'll ask Paul, "Have you seen orange cat?"

For a while, we called her Annie, but this week while brushing her I noticed parts to make her a him. So, we were either going to call him Linus or Schroeder, but he looks more like a Schroeder. He continues to stalk us throughout the day, begging to get into the house. You look out the window, and he's jumped into the flower box to get a better look. You go to the back door, and he's sitting right there.

Paul asks if we're seriously going to "keep" Schroeder. Like he's giving us a choice?

Happy 4th Birthday, One Doggie!

Much to my surprise, Jared woke up yesterday and announced to me that it was One Doggie's birthday. Wow, I did not know! He had already come up with plans, and the pictures with this blog tell the story of the little celebration we had for him.

If you do not know of One Doggie, you can read our previous blog about the trauma of losing him for a little bit to see the role this stuffed dog plays in the boy's life.

First, we had to make a trip to Target, with One Doggie of course. We had to get a couple of things and get One Doggie a birthday present. What do you get a 4-year-old stuffed dog? Come on, you know! After much hemming and hawing, circling around and around in Target, and driving Mama crazy, Jared finally decided that One Doggie was thirsty and wanted bottled water for his birthday.


Then we got home and had to make him a cake out of Moon Sand, out of "safe" eggs of course, because One Doggie apparently has food allergies as well. If you don't know Moon Sand, it's a fine moist sand that sticks together to make shapes and never dries out. We put it in a tupperware bowl and he put it in his toy oven to bake. While it baked, he wanted to make a card for One Doggie while I made a party hat. Why there is a picture of a zebra in the card, I do not know, but it is pretty cute.



When the cake was done, we put in the "4" candle which was purchased at Ralphs approximately 2 months ago because Jared can't wait for his 4th birthday, which is still 5 months away. Then we propped One Doggie up, put on the party hat, and seriously, had to sing Happy Birthday. Outloud. Then, he helped One Doggie pretend to blow out the candle, got his plastic Ikea knife from the kitchen, and cut him a piece.

I guess One Doggie ate too much because then he got a stomachache.

Happy Birthday, One Doggie!

Blog Guilt

OK, so we're not the best at keeping up with our blog. We don't have the time or energy to maintain a daily report of our lives, and if you have kids, you know that a whole lot of the time, not much excitement is going on anyways.

Also, truly, I did not think that too many people look at our blog. But, I was surprised to be at a couple of birthday parties lately where people have told me they've read it and actually found some things kinda funny. So, I guess one of my minor New Year's Resolution is to be better about blogging. Minor. Not major, like me not eating meat anymore (yes, for at least 90 days); that's a whole other blog.

But when I get a chance, it is nice to see other people's blogs and see shiny pictures of their kids. I guess it might be a tad of blog-envy, but growing up Japanese has established a mind-set in me that no one's really interested in what we're doing and I should be "humble". Such conflict. I can only say I'll do my best. "Ganbari masu."

Halloween 2008 - Super Why

This year Jared dressed up as his favorite superhero... no not Superman, or Batman or Spiderman... He dressed up as Super Why! Yes, Super Why with the power to read. Super Why is one of Jared's favorite TV shows on PBS. As you can tell by the premise of the show, Jared is quite enthralled by it.

Apparently, the Super Why costume is THE number one costume for his age group. Seriously! This costume was sold out online at every retailer. We eventually had to give in and pay over $70 on eBay! Yikes! That's a lot of money for a quick 1 hour stroll through the neighborhood for candy. We keep trying to convince him he can wear it whenever he wants just so we feel it was worth the money. But he knows that Halloween is over and the costume continues to sit on the floor. Oh well.

Jared writes his letters and numbers

Jared writes his letters and numbers
Originally uploaded by Paul Mitsui

Jared recently set out to write all his letters (upper and lowercase) and his numbers. We didn't realize he knew all his lowercase letters until he finished. He learned how to write all of the lowercase letters through a video game. Go figure... that's the kids learn things now. Is that bad?

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Lost in Translation

A week after the boy's birthday, we took him to Disneyland. Another blog to follow with the details. During our last morning at the hotel, we left to have breakfast and planned to come back to get our stuff after eating. Upon returning to our room, it was already tidied-up, with a note on the dresser stating:
"I'm sorry. I will come back and finish clean leather [finish cleaning later]...Housekeep"

Then, after we checked out and got to Disneyland, we realized that we left something in the room fridge. Paul called the hotel and asked for housekeeping. After explaining that we left something in and fridge and could we get it back, a very nice lady with a thick accent said, "Excuse me. Can you hold me please?" To which Paul said, "Uh...sure" before the phone was passed onto someone else. He's such a man whore. I've gotta keep me eye on that guy.