Cat fight

When Marty sleeps in the bay window, she always sleeps in the small blue bed, never the big leopard print one.  She was sleeping in there this morning but got up to run some cat errands, and while she was gone, Shiloh jumped up there, discovered a preheated bed, and curled up in it.  When Marty returned, she was surprised and displeased to find "her" bed occupied.

 Marty gave me the look of long-suffering and said, "Really, Mom?  Are you going to allow this?"  I told her there are plenty of beds in the bay for everyone and she has to learn to share.

 She didn't like that answer, so she started a glaring campaign against Shiloh.

 Shiloh didn't like being glared at in such close proximity.

She expressed her displeasure.

Meek little Shiloh stood her ground, and Marty ended up (after lots of encouragement from me) settling in the other bed. 

Why not?

I've always loved Jiffy corn muffins.  I just discovered that there's a new "vegetarian" (which is really vegan) Jiffy mix that uses vegetable shortening instead of animal products. It's even the same price as the one with animal shortening.

God bless Jiffy!  Yes, they still show a hunk of butter on the muffin, and yes, it does still say "add egg and milk", but the side of the box offers vegetarian alternatives (which are all vegan):

I made this with almond milk and a flax egg (which is 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water).  Making a flax egg is just as easy as cracking a chicken egg, and it's healthier for you and certainly better for the chickens (Do you know what happens to male chicks in egg factories?).

That is one delicious, cruelty-free corn muffin.  I actually like it better than the non-vegan version!  Those little flecks of flax add a nice texture, and it's moist enough that you don't even need butter.  If you can make a corn muffin that's just as easy and even more delicious for the same price without causing harm to any animals, why wouldn't you?

Room cleaning and mercy taxing

Sarah wants new bedding for her birthday.  Aunt Kathy issued her a challenge: if she can get her horrible pit of a room clean and organized and maintain it for 2 months, she will buy her new bedding.  As soon as I told Sarah about it, she disappeared into her room with a garbage bag.

This is the fifth garbage bag of junk she has extracted from her room. Noah asked me what she was doing and I told him she was cleaning her room.  He said, "Why?"  I told him about Aunt Kathy's challenge, and he said (rather nervously, as he's a serious hoarder), "I like my bedding..."

Later we were talking about something else, and he quoted me the Bible verse about God's mercies being new every morning.  Then he said, "Good thing we don't have Mike Huckabee's fair tax.  We would have to pay taxes on God's mercies!"

Not big fans

I've been reading aloud to the kids from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations for several days.  They hate it.  I admit it's a strange story, but it's well-written, and I rather enjoyed it.  We're going to switch to something a little less...dickensian...but at least I exposed them to it.  Sarah's commentary on the great classic:  "I wouldn't wish that thing on my worst enemy."  Noah's response: "That thing IS my worst enemy." 

This is what it's like inside my brain

Yesterday I returned a DVD to the library.  More accurately, I returned the empty case to the library.  They called me to let me know there was no DVD inside it.  This is not the first time I've done this, or the second, or the third...

So today I have to take the naked DVD back to the library, but I'm also making a trip to Kroger while I'm out that way.  The library isn't open yet when I leave, so I have to go to Kroger first.  I know this will present a problem for my brain, so I write myself a note at the bottom of my grocery list.  It says, cleverly enough, "LIBRARY!!!"

I get all the items on my grocery list, and I see the note to myself.  I know this might not be enough, so while I'm standing in the checkout line, I make up a song whose sagacious lyrics are: "Library, library, library...take the DVD to the library."

When I get home, I'm still singing (and now dancing to) the library song as I put away the groceries and find the note in my pocket and the DVD in the car.