So many things pulling me in so many directions today.

First, it was an not early enough morning. I was a few minutes late for work. I would have been later if Cheruby hadn't gotten up with me and made me a quick breakfast and packed my lunch. Such a sweetie.

I got a phone call from my brother at work today too. And he gave me some happy news that made me stand up and exclaim loudly for joy! He applied for and was just offered the Manager of Saskatchewan for his company. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! That means he's moving away from evil Calgary. He's moving to Regina, but it's still 400 km closer. I'm soooo excited for him. He was in a bit of shock this morning. We'll see what he says in a couple of weeks when I see him.

I've been having trouble concentrating all day, but managed to get through because work sometimes just gets in my face and doesn't let me not focus on it.

Then Cheruby gave me a message from the Scotia Bank. Apparently, my mortgage payment is overdue. WHAT!?!?! I tried to be calm. We sorted out that they tried to withdraw it from the wrong account and the guy asked me whether I wanted to call my bank to sort it out or if I wanted him to. I was still doing mini-freakouts in between perfectly rational conversation about the situation. I told him that I wanted whatever was easier to fix it. He offered to call and then follow up with me once it was all done. They were going to back date the payment so there wasn't anything in my history about a late payment. I'm feeling more sane and I think I'll call my banker tomorrow.

While I was on hold, I think I got a little tense because I all of a sudden had a horrible pain in my chest like my ribs were rubbing together. It didn't go after stretching and breathing to relax after the call so I made an appointment to see my chiropractor. I was lying on the table resting and trying to make my chest muscles relax so I could be in less pain and it occurred to me to look at my day planner. I swore a couple times. I actually had an appointment yesterday that I missed and a doctor's appointment this morning that I missed. GAH!!! Why have I all of a sudden started missing appointments?!?! Anyway, I'm trying not to stress about it and I'll make another appointment tomorrow. My guilt is really the only thing that I need to get over as it screams, "But you're the dependable one!" Don't worry though, the pillow smothers most of the noise. [grin]

Then wonderful supper from Cheruby, one of my favourites chili-lime kabobs. Mmmm...

And just a few minutes ago I found some mail at the front door. Cheruby forgets to tell me when exciting things happen sometimes. This mail was from some really cool people that I wish I could spend way more time with but they are too far away. I got cool dice in the mail today! Can you say the same? [GRIN]

Every since someone said that it's boring to blog about your pets, I've been seriously trying not to. They bring such joy to my existence every day that it's really hard not to talk about them. Well, you're going to have to suck up the boredom because I laughed for a really long time at these incidents.

Cats, in my house, are not allowed on the counter. Do they go there anyway? All the freakin' time! But they know they aren't supposed to be there so they flee as quickly as possible which is usually much more quickly than I can extricate my from what I'm doing to catch them. I may have mentioned that one of my kiddenz is quite dumb. She's very pretty and that makes up for it, but she's still my dumb one. Her first route of escape was the back porch after jumping down from the kitchen counter. There's no way out from the back porch except back through the kitten where I was now standing. In a very bold maneuver, she ran through the kitchen and down the basement stairs. I have never seen a cat move this fast inside a house. She was a blur. And when a cat launches itself down a flight of stairs going that fast, it's not likely that they are going to touch the stairs at all. The effect is very flying squirrel-like. She was half way down the stairs and still 2 feet above them. It was way too funny. I feared, in between the fits of laughter, that she'd hit her head so hard on the freezer at the bottom that she'd seriously hurt herself.

Then sometime when my dad was here doing work on the house, we let the kiddenz outside. This isn't unusual and they are happiest when their humans are outside with them anyway. My dad and I are working on the new front step and there comes this kitten crying. I thought it was coming from between the houses so the kitten must be at the back of the house. I go to the back, but it gets quieter. I check inside the house, but can hear absolutely nothing. Back outside to the front of the house because I must have been imagining things. Nope, there's the kitten crying again and louder now and from the same direction. As I moved between my house and the neighbour's toward the back, it was getting quieter again so I stopped and called. And all of a sudden it was REALLY loud. Yes, there's my dumb one - on the roof of the neighbour's house. Then she was effortlessly on my roof. And then back to the neighbour's roof. All the time crying because she wanted down. It's hard to decide between rescuing a dumb kitten and laughing at her for a while. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures. Who says cats with no front claws can't climb trees?

So much for doing nothing on my vacation. My dad made sure I kept very busy with fixing up my house. I even got to use a jack hammer.

Of my previous list, here are the results.

• organize my craft area in the basement - not quite, but I did get some good shelving in the basement to help with the process
• hang pictures of mine and Cheruby's loved ones on the walls - not even close
• fix the back gate and fence - the back gate is fixed thanks to my dad
• clean up the debris in the front and side yards - three quarters done as my dad helped by removing some of the branches from the pine tree at the back and the cedar tree in the front and he completely removed the nasty juniper tree I didn't like and the old rotting bug-infested stump was mostly removed too
• pull some large weeds and bag them so they don't spread their seeds - got a bit started in patches around the lawn, flower beds, and garden and got all the roots dug up for those nasty purple flowers in the front
• collect other flower pod seeds for next year - nope but if the beautiful weather keeps up for a few more days, I might get there
• make some repairs around the house to make it more energy efficient - didn't quite get started on this yet, but I have another year and then some to get it all done to get the rebates
• paint touchups - nope
• organize the back entryway - nope and I think it got messier
• put up the garden hose holder - nope and this one should have been easy
• organize the garage - I threw out a lot of old boxes which has made a lot more room again but the organizing didn't happen
• play video games - sadly not really [pout]
• embroider a picture - yes! I did get some work done on this project
• start Christmas crafts - I ordered them and received them on Friday (I love getting packages in the mail)
• think of a Hallowe'en costume - I did do some thinking but just didn't come up with anything
• go shopping for a broom, shelving brackets, ladders, gutter cleaning hose contraption, saw horses, fabric, and whatever else I want - ooo... I think this one because boy, did I shop! I got a broom, ladder, gutter cleaning hose contraption, and lots of other things I wanted like the first Post Secret book and some stuff at Michaels
  
• schedule a pedicure - no and I feel like I've disappointed one of my staff members on this one as she was really expecting it of me so I'll have to make an appointment for my next vacation in October
• get shelving for the basement - I did it!!!
• finish the edge of my desk and re-affix the leg - [sigh] nope
• Verathane my pine shelves and get them up on the walls - nope
• watch movies - yep, we watched movies, but not very many (just the weekly movie and Nanny McPhee and A Good Year)
• read - I'm almost done reading Good Omens and am very pleased so far

Other exciting things that got accomplished while I wasn't doing the other things on my list were visiting with mom and dad, jackhammering out my falling apart front step and building a new one, removing the bad part of the old chimney, 5 trips to the dump with various wasted from the front step, chimney, and trees (I really like the sound of bricks and concrete echoing off huge metal bins), and ... getting eavestroughing on my house!!!!! Yes, you heard me, Rainbow Roofing be damned as my dad came to my rescue and put rain gutters on my house. I don't think I can say enough how much I love and appreciate my dad even when he starts a fight with my neighbour when he says, "Hi," on a perfectly lovely Sunday morning. He was just being protective of me because I'd been so upset over the whole thing. He threatened my neighbour saying that if he ever made me cry again, he'd have to deal directly with him. My dad had the luxury of saying all the nasty things to my neighbour that I'd wanted to say, but didn't feel that I could and still ever have the hope of having a good relationship. While he made it so that I had to go smooth things out with the neighbour again, I think they finally understood the impact their actions had on me.

So, there are some finishing touches that need to happen like paint on the new front step railings, put up eavestroughing on one side of the garage to ensure I meet all the city bylaws in regard to this matter before they come to inspect it in a month and a half.

I was even sick one day last week and helped Babyface move again. The new location is fantastic though and much better suited to Babyface and family.

I am three weeks away from my next vacation and hope I can keep up some steam to do the last finishing touches around the yard and stuff. And I'd like to get up to visit my folks and hopefully help them with some stuff since they've been so generous with their time and energy in the past two weeks.

And the last thing is that the Fat Brat and Little One slept together while touching for the first time last night. I was infinitely pleased.