Things in life tend to be cyclical. And lately things have really started flowing well. Somewhere deep down, I had to know the blissful streak was going to have to be broken. Today was that day.
I suppose it started somewhere in the night...between tired muscles and bones from moving and running errands and being on a bad knee all day and freshly relocated Panther cats, there was not much sleep to be had. I was either waking up to think I should get up and take an Ibuprofen, but don't think I bought any since moving so can't, or wondering what on earth are those cats doing? They were racing around the house, and not at all silent like one would think cats would be. Thump thump thump went the little paws up and down the stairs. Every once in a while amid a quasi dreamlike state, my subconscious heard my conscious yell "Panthers No!" in response to a characteristic pick pick pick sound coming either from the edge of the mattress or somewhere too far away to be anything but carpet. "Buy more scratching posts" my conscious said to my irritated and groggy subconscious. I also heard a few rat-ta-ta-tats followed by a low boom. "Machine gun fire?" "No" "There it goes again." "No way," the sleepy part of the brain argued with the alert part of the brain. I vaguely recalled the realtor saying the military sometimes does exercises in the area. Another soft boom and some rat-ta-ta-tats convinced me all was well and off I dozed again. For a few minutes...until the high pitched mewing started echoing through the house. "mew-mew-mew-meeeeeeeeew" from Aiden "mew" from Harry. Translation -- "Hey where are you it's dark and big and I think I got lost." "Here." Followed by my audible "Panthers No!" "Mew mew meeeew mew meow mew" "mew mew mew mew" Translation -- "yeesh, what's her problem?" "who knows, hey let's play run up and down the stairs as fast as we can."
I got my requisite sleep, which meant the day just started later than I wanted it to. The sun was shining so I opened the curtains and windows, and went to the spare bathroom to bring the fresh lilies to the kitchen table. Why were the flowers in the spare bathroom? So the Aiden Panther cat wouldn't eat them overnight. Plants require supervision and must be locked up when not guarded. I smiled at the fragrance and my pretty flowers, and set them carefully on a cloth so that I wouldn't get a water ring on my brand new kitchen table, and then went to start the coffee pot. While my back was turned, Aiden hopped up on the counter and started eating the lily. "No Aiden," I said, but he pretended not to hear my and took a solid bite of a leaf. I rushed back around the corner, and normally he would hop off and not let me catch him, but today he stayed, mouth firmly attached to the lily. I picked him up, he released the lily, and I turned to place him on the floor. It was at that moment that he reached out with his little picky paw and latched onto the cloth, on top of which the flowers were sitting, and voila, cat wins, the flowers are down. There is now also a vase of water on my new table, dripping off and soaking onto the new chairs, and puddling down onto the floor. Sigh. So I pulled out a new towel and removed the price tags and started mopping it up, which is when I heard the funny sound from my brand new coffee machine. While I was mopping up the flower mess, the coffee machine was spilling coffee and grounds all over the countertop. Turns out I bought the wrong filter.
Once I finished cleaning up those two messes, I sat down with day's to do list, and much of it involved online activity, such as registering for health benefits. That too was a fail as the program wouldn't let me check the boxes I needed...so either the system was down, or my computer stylus which was in the range of the flower vase spillage was ruined. Sigh.
I had a couple of things I wanted to do at work, so I tried to get those things together and head into Anchorage. When I got to the parking lot and rifled through my purse, my access card was right where I put it...the pocket of my winter jacket which I was not wearing on this sunny day. OK, let's just stay late tomorrow and get the errands done today. I managed to get 2 new kitty scratching toys and more food bowls since I don't know where I unpacked the others, and treated myself to a giant Venti Starbucks Latte before going into the garden center at Lowe's. I wanted to get some flower pots, but on the way also saw some patio chairs on sale, so now had 2 chairs, 2 flower pots, and a coffee but was making out ok. A very helpful clerk came to the checkout line and put them all on a trolley to make my last 20 feet from the store to the car easier. Of course, a wheel was stuck when I tried to push it, but pulling worked, but it required 2 hands. So I put the coffee in the flower pot and started to cross the one lane in the parking lot between me and the car. At the first bump, the coffee fell over and poured into the flower pot and the chairs toppled over in front of a car, and of course got all scratched up. At that point, I decided to quit the day and go home.
My friends Sharon and Dave were going to stop by to see the new place, and then we were going to go for Mexican food. I decided to pick up a few refreshments just in case, and while at the grocery store saw the most gorgeous little bamboo plants that would look good on my new coffee table. Surely Aiden wouldn't eat bamboo...would he? I decided to ask the florist and she said she didn't know if they were poisonous or not, so I set it back and vowed to google it at home and return for it if it was safe. A quick good search confirmed that yes...Bamboo is poisonous to cats. I decided I better check on the Lily top, and sure enough, can be deadly to cats. It's official. I am not allowed to have nice things.
However, at the end of the day, I was having the tastiest fajitas ever while sharing stories old and new with Sharon and Dave. I had my first houseguests, who were a little disappointed the Panthers would not come out to visit, and one of my cute little balls of destruction is currently standing on two feet with 2 paws pressed against the screen enjoying the twilight air and mountain view. There are a lot of things about my life that are fabulous, a lot that I wish I could change, people I wish I could bring back. But when it comes to the important stuff, we have so little control. So when the little stuff goes all wrong like today, it just makes me thankful for the things that matter that are ok...family, friends, and the two little cats that make life just a bit more entertaining. The fact that I got myself somewhere to stay with a good view, a nice couch, and that I haven't managed to poison that little cat of mine yet. Then suddenly even today turns into a win.
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