August 2008

There were 12 posts published in August 2008 (this is page 2 of 2).

Three in a Row

I was awakened last night by a jab in the ribs. “Wake up!” Kris said. “Wake up!”

“Huh?” I said through the hiss of the C-PAP machine. “What’s up?”

“Look,” she said, pointing to her side of the bed. I looked.

“What?” I said.

“Look,” she said. “Look at the cats.” Toto was by her head while both Max and Simon were by her feet. Only Nemo was missing.

“Yeah,” I said. “Three in a row.” I turned over to go back asleep.

“Look again,” she said. I groaned and rolled over to look. “Look at Max and Simon,” she said. I looked more closely, and then I realized what she meant. Max and Simon were huddled close together, and Max was draped over Simon’s haunches. In essence, they were cuddling.

Now I know this is no big deal for many cat owners. Most cats like to cuddle with each other. Not our cats. Our cats may be friendly to one another (with the exception of Toto), but they do not cuddle. It’s just not done. In fact, it has never been done in the fifteen years we’ve had multiple cats. This was the very first time.

“That’s cute,” I said, adjusting the C-PAP mask. I pulled the covers over my head and fell asleep.

In the morning, Max and Simon were still on the bed, but they were no longer cuddling. I’ll probably have to wait another fifteen years to see that happen again.

Piling It On

When I started working from home in March, Kris and I developed a system to encourage me to get some household chores done during the day. We’ve placed a dry-erase board at the top of the landing, and every day Kris writes down her top priorities for me. Most of the time, I this works well. (I don’t always get the chore(s) done, but I do try.)

I had to laugh at this weekend’s chores, however:

  • Pile on bench
  • Kitchen table pile
  • Guest room piles

And this doesn’t even include one of the tasks I have for myself: “office piles”.

Yes, I’m a piler. Anything I don’t get processed gets stacked. Unfortunately, right now I have more things in piles than I ever have in my life. I count eight distinct piles of Stuff I have to process.

If I were efficient at processing piles, this might not be a problem. And if I weren’t so busy right now, that’d also make things easier. But as it is, I feel like I have piles of things to do.