OK, not really, but sometimes it seems that way, and you know in this case I am right. I said I wouldn't post about the damn feral cats again but here I am. I caught two of the feral kittens, the only two remaining (not tooting my horn, just saying). I tamed them and my dear friend Sandi took the siamese looking kitten and named him Miagi. He is a wonderful little cat and a great addition to their family. Then we have the other kitten.
We caught her first and she is a dear. However, she seems to not like other people right at first. She warms up pretty quick, but not right away. My mother in law took her first and they didn't get along. Mom works all day and the kitten and she didn't get along...no one to blame, just not a match and bless her (Mom) for realizing it. You can't adopt a pet and be unhappy about it. Plus, I love her (Mom) and don't want her to not like her pet I gave her!! I'd rather find three homes for one kitten than have a friend or anyone ticked about a cat they don't get along with.
I really love this kitten, she has her quirks, but I get her and she likes me. No way we can keep her, my cats hate her. So, I have to find her a good home, which I am happy to do. I posted her on Facebook and Craigslist. Several responses on CL, no matches until today. I emailed back and forth with a nice girl and her fiance interested in little kitty. They came over tonight to meet her. Little kitty was an ass!!! She regresses around other people, but we have seen that she has a wonderful personality when you get to know her. We explained to these nice people that she would regress etc. They still wanted her! We had such a nice conversation, even though I am sure Donald and I came across as total pet dorks. So these nice people go to take little kitty home and little kitty gets away from them before they get to the car! Oh no. We looked for her and didn't find her.
Hours later I heard her crying and she came to me when she saw I had food. I emailed these wonderful people to see if they still want her despite her terrible behavior. I left out she bit the hell out of the girl before she escaped. Bets on if they still want her?
She really is a sweet cat, but for whoever gets her, it will take time.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
You May Not Get Mother of the Year if...
OK let's face it. I adore my kids. I think the world of all of them and I am an advocate for each of them. I love them and I can't imagine life without them. That being said....I wouldn't call myself a kid person. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful people. I am so lucky to have all of them in my life. Again, that being said....no one told me it would be like this. I think most parents would agree....or else they have perfect kids, are on drugs or are completely delusional. Let's be honest. Being a good parent is tough. We say no, we deny privileges, we discipline, we are tough enough to stick to our guns and we don't feel the need to be our kids' friends.
So in that spirit I will tell you why I will not be parent of the year in 2005....let's be honest, if they judge by how strict you are, I will never be parent of the year. I'm tough. This story is just comical.
My youngest was sick. I stayed home for a day with her, I worked from home. She slept on the couch. She was in kindergarten, no big deal to miss school and she was rarely sick. The second day she said she was still feeling bad. I was not pleased to have to work from home again, but if she was sick, what could I do? By 11 AM of that day it was clear I was tricked. She felt fine evidenced by her non stop chatter directed towards me. I had work to do, I had calls scheduled.
Haley could read really well in kindergarten. She could write too. She was driving me crazy, talking me to death when I had work to do. Kids can teach you about perspective in ways you can't see coming. So I was working, had calls scheduled. Haley was camped on the couch. I got her juice, snacks, tucked in and a movie to keep her occupied. I let her know in no uncertain terms that if she had any issues while I was on this call to write them down and NOT come running in my office chattering. Seems reasonable.
I was about 45 minutes into the call. The door of my office opens. I am looking away, but I know the door opens. The child in purple flowered feetie jammies that has rooked me into letting her stay home only to talk my ear off has a note in her hand. I still don't look at the child because she is the child that cried wolf - ALWAYS. Said note is written on very nice floral letterhead. I take the note into my hand, without looking at this nuisance of a child. I read the note while participating in the call.
The note says, grammatically perfectly, "Dear Mommy, (space and indented) I am bleeding on my cheek. (space) Love, Haley Gywnn.
I read the note out of my periferal vision while talking on the call. I get it. I am weak in the knees with motherhood. In that instance I realize what is important even if I don't always know it. I get off the call. Poor Haley has been gently scratched on the cheek by a cat and the sweet child took the time to follow my direction and write her needs down.
Not getting Mother of the Year. But I did get the message loud and clear.
So in that spirit I will tell you why I will not be parent of the year in 2005....let's be honest, if they judge by how strict you are, I will never be parent of the year. I'm tough. This story is just comical.
My youngest was sick. I stayed home for a day with her, I worked from home. She slept on the couch. She was in kindergarten, no big deal to miss school and she was rarely sick. The second day she said she was still feeling bad. I was not pleased to have to work from home again, but if she was sick, what could I do? By 11 AM of that day it was clear I was tricked. She felt fine evidenced by her non stop chatter directed towards me. I had work to do, I had calls scheduled.
Haley could read really well in kindergarten. She could write too. She was driving me crazy, talking me to death when I had work to do. Kids can teach you about perspective in ways you can't see coming. So I was working, had calls scheduled. Haley was camped on the couch. I got her juice, snacks, tucked in and a movie to keep her occupied. I let her know in no uncertain terms that if she had any issues while I was on this call to write them down and NOT come running in my office chattering. Seems reasonable.
I was about 45 minutes into the call. The door of my office opens. I am looking away, but I know the door opens. The child in purple flowered feetie jammies that has rooked me into letting her stay home only to talk my ear off has a note in her hand. I still don't look at the child because she is the child that cried wolf - ALWAYS. Said note is written on very nice floral letterhead. I take the note into my hand, without looking at this nuisance of a child. I read the note while participating in the call.
The note says, grammatically perfectly, "Dear Mommy, (space and indented) I am bleeding on my cheek. (space) Love, Haley Gywnn.
I read the note out of my periferal vision while talking on the call. I get it. I am weak in the knees with motherhood. In that instance I realize what is important even if I don't always know it. I get off the call. Poor Haley has been gently scratched on the cheek by a cat and the sweet child took the time to follow my direction and write her needs down.
Not getting Mother of the Year. But I did get the message loud and clear.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Another Teenager in the House
Yes, it has happened. Now two of the three kids in the house are officially teenagers. In a couple years they will outnumber us.
I had written blogs about each of my kids birthdays this year, but admittedly I am running late with Megan. She turned 13 a few days ago. Between work, life and her party which is going on now, I'm behind. Megan is the middle child, don't they typically get the short end of the stick? Perhaps, but that is not really the case with Megan.
Megan is my step daughter as most know. She is a great kid, very athletic and smart, although common sense does escape her at times, but I think that comes with the age. She's been my step daughter officially since 2007, although I have known her from birth...that's a story for another blog.
Megan was very much wanted and planned for by her Mom and Dad. They waited longer than most for their baby, but she's worth the wait. As Donald says, they placed their order and waited. In my opinion, having had two kids the other way, this is the way to go! Megan, was adopted and I still remember the day her parents got the call that their precious baby was here and they would get to meet her in a week. That left her parents with one week to do and get everything necessary for a baby. Family and friends jumped into action and the phone chain was amazing. Our mutual friend Sandi called me and I still remember having goose bumps and tears of happiness. Who knew at that time I would have the privilege of being a step mom to that baby...odd how things turn out.
So Megan came into our lives. This child ate, pooped and slept...she was the perfect baby. She slept a lot. I remember thinking, what the heck, my kids don't sleep like that. Plus she trained her parents to put her on the potty to poop before she could walk because she hated soiled diapers. My kids would have sat in it for hours if I let them, slackers. So Megan was a very busy toddler. I remember being around her thinking, that kid never stops. She was very busy, very curious and very sweet and loved by all.
Fast forward to today. Again, two teenage girls in the house now. Wouldn't you know it, none of them are ugly either. As a neighbor with three boys once said to me, I have to worry about three boys (he actually used a graphic term for a body part), but you have to worry about the rest. I see lots of sleepless nights for the adults in her life coming soon...
I'm ever so grateful for the opportunity to be Megan's step mom even though I annoy the heck out of her at times! Happy Birthday girl!!!
I had written blogs about each of my kids birthdays this year, but admittedly I am running late with Megan. She turned 13 a few days ago. Between work, life and her party which is going on now, I'm behind. Megan is the middle child, don't they typically get the short end of the stick? Perhaps, but that is not really the case with Megan.
Megan is my step daughter as most know. She is a great kid, very athletic and smart, although common sense does escape her at times, but I think that comes with the age. She's been my step daughter officially since 2007, although I have known her from birth...that's a story for another blog.
Megan was very much wanted and planned for by her Mom and Dad. They waited longer than most for their baby, but she's worth the wait. As Donald says, they placed their order and waited. In my opinion, having had two kids the other way, this is the way to go! Megan, was adopted and I still remember the day her parents got the call that their precious baby was here and they would get to meet her in a week. That left her parents with one week to do and get everything necessary for a baby. Family and friends jumped into action and the phone chain was amazing. Our mutual friend Sandi called me and I still remember having goose bumps and tears of happiness. Who knew at that time I would have the privilege of being a step mom to that baby...odd how things turn out.
So Megan came into our lives. This child ate, pooped and slept...she was the perfect baby. She slept a lot. I remember thinking, what the heck, my kids don't sleep like that. Plus she trained her parents to put her on the potty to poop before she could walk because she hated soiled diapers. My kids would have sat in it for hours if I let them, slackers. So Megan was a very busy toddler. I remember being around her thinking, that kid never stops. She was very busy, very curious and very sweet and loved by all.
Fast forward to today. Again, two teenage girls in the house now. Wouldn't you know it, none of them are ugly either. As a neighbor with three boys once said to me, I have to worry about three boys (he actually used a graphic term for a body part), but you have to worry about the rest. I see lots of sleepless nights for the adults in her life coming soon...
I'm ever so grateful for the opportunity to be Megan's step mom even though I annoy the heck out of her at times! Happy Birthday girl!!!
Prius Wars
In this economy it makes sense to save. Despite stimulus, the banks get it, and so do we. I’m not about to give up any more money than I need to. As a result we decided to start the process of getting rid of my leased Camry and getting a Prius. Now mind you, the objective was to pay nothing down, to walk away from the Camry, to get a lower payment and to have a more economical car. The Prius seemed like the way to go, but it could have easily been a Ford, a lower end Toyota or Honda.
Dealers seem to have misunderstood the objective, despite our communication otherwise. I’ll premise this with the fact that every Toyota dealer in town had advertised a level 2 Prius at $249 per month, no down, no first payment and 24 months of service at no charge. We knew the leased Camry would be a crap shoot and we did not do our homework on that first day. What we did do was contact the dealer we dealt with for the leased Camry. They seemed to have treated us right, though they did “inform” us that the last dealer had ripped us off….not sure I believe that, but that seems to be their underhanded way. It’s like going to a new hairdresser that trashes your old hairdresser…you have the business, don’t be an ass. So we went back to Mossy Toyota, Yes, I want to say the name, because you should know how we were treated. We emailed our situation and bottom line days before. We prequalified online with flying colors. We spoke to the salesperson several times. Our objective was clear. We arrived at the dealership, they took another hour to again prequalify us. We drove the Prius. After 90 minutes they offered us a completely lame deal, claiming we owed too many payments on the Camry (lease was up in 2/11). We countered and ultimately walked after the “bad cop” came over to let us know we “beat up” our salesperson and that they simply could not do the deal. He did offer us the deal we wanted, but let us know Toyota (not his dealership) would come after us for anything they felt was wrong with the Camry after the fact. Seriously? You had the facts days ago….do the deal, don’t do it. Don’t waste my time. Mossy Toyota, you’ll get all the bad but true reviews I can go to. www.ratemydealer.com
So we walked from that with a really negative feeling. The following morning, a Saturday, we emailed every dealer in San Diego. Same info, same “demands”, same trade in or leased turn in etc. We got a few calls right away. The first was Toyota of San Diego. As a side note, we would love to buy/lease at Toyota of El Cajon but the city recently passed a ridiculous tax increase, so they were out of the running), OK, so if you are still reading, thank you. I want to reward the great people we dealt with. However, they weren’t at Toyota of San Diego on Mission Gorge. We spoke to someone whose brother also works at the dealership, but the names fail me…so did they. Again, we had spelled out the terms of the deal we wanted. This dealer told us that Toyota had a deal going on that they would pay off the last six months of the lease…..funny…Mossy didn’t mention that. The variable had been the leased Camry. We looked up bluebook and trade in value. Yes the Camry had some bumps and bruises. As a Toyota dealer if they took the car in, they could fix the defects for pennies on the regular market. The idiots came back to us with a bullshit deal. We kindly informed them that we had made our requests known previously and would have never wasted their time if they could not do the deal. They countered a couple times and we stood our ground which lead the “bad cop” to get involved who was kind enough to counsel me on Kelly Blue Book definitions. Their issue, like Mossy was the Camry. I was told I should have “know better” if I read the blue book definitions. I didn’t like that. (sarcasm)
So we were feeling like it wasn’t going to happen. The thing is, we have six months on the lease. But, for a few more days Toyota is supposed to pay the lease of the existing car off. We had gotten a call from Bob Baker Toyota the same day. We told them we would keep them as a back up. We were feeling beat up and defeated. Donald bought his 4 Runner there years ago and we have since heard good things about them. We decided on the way home to stop there. We would spell out our terms, show the Camry, make our demands and give them a few minutes. Truth be told it didn’t start well. We sat there and no one said much to us. Compared to the other places they were dead. We gave them a deadline and luckily someone came to help us. We had emailed with Xavier, but he was out with clients. We dealt with Hector, Hector gave our terms to Patrick, the Sales Manager. Patrick appraised the Camry and came back to us in 10 minutes that he could do the deal exactly as we outlined. They came back with the reasonable blue book value and honored all the other Toyota terms. It took 10 minutes for them to come back to us with the deal we asked for. Bob Baker Toyota, Xavier, Hector and Patrick, you guys are amazing.
Dealers seem to have misunderstood the objective, despite our communication otherwise. I’ll premise this with the fact that every Toyota dealer in town had advertised a level 2 Prius at $249 per month, no down, no first payment and 24 months of service at no charge. We knew the leased Camry would be a crap shoot and we did not do our homework on that first day. What we did do was contact the dealer we dealt with for the leased Camry. They seemed to have treated us right, though they did “inform” us that the last dealer had ripped us off….not sure I believe that, but that seems to be their underhanded way. It’s like going to a new hairdresser that trashes your old hairdresser…you have the business, don’t be an ass. So we went back to Mossy Toyota, Yes, I want to say the name, because you should know how we were treated. We emailed our situation and bottom line days before. We prequalified online with flying colors. We spoke to the salesperson several times. Our objective was clear. We arrived at the dealership, they took another hour to again prequalify us. We drove the Prius. After 90 minutes they offered us a completely lame deal, claiming we owed too many payments on the Camry (lease was up in 2/11). We countered and ultimately walked after the “bad cop” came over to let us know we “beat up” our salesperson and that they simply could not do the deal. He did offer us the deal we wanted, but let us know Toyota (not his dealership) would come after us for anything they felt was wrong with the Camry after the fact. Seriously? You had the facts days ago….do the deal, don’t do it. Don’t waste my time. Mossy Toyota, you’ll get all the bad but true reviews I can go to. www.ratemydealer.com
So we walked from that with a really negative feeling. The following morning, a Saturday, we emailed every dealer in San Diego. Same info, same “demands”, same trade in or leased turn in etc. We got a few calls right away. The first was Toyota of San Diego. As a side note, we would love to buy/lease at Toyota of El Cajon but the city recently passed a ridiculous tax increase, so they were out of the running), OK, so if you are still reading, thank you. I want to reward the great people we dealt with. However, they weren’t at Toyota of San Diego on Mission Gorge. We spoke to someone whose brother also works at the dealership, but the names fail me…so did they. Again, we had spelled out the terms of the deal we wanted. This dealer told us that Toyota had a deal going on that they would pay off the last six months of the lease…..funny…Mossy didn’t mention that. The variable had been the leased Camry. We looked up bluebook and trade in value. Yes the Camry had some bumps and bruises. As a Toyota dealer if they took the car in, they could fix the defects for pennies on the regular market. The idiots came back to us with a bullshit deal. We kindly informed them that we had made our requests known previously and would have never wasted their time if they could not do the deal. They countered a couple times and we stood our ground which lead the “bad cop” to get involved who was kind enough to counsel me on Kelly Blue Book definitions. Their issue, like Mossy was the Camry. I was told I should have “know better” if I read the blue book definitions. I didn’t like that. (sarcasm)
So we were feeling like it wasn’t going to happen. The thing is, we have six months on the lease. But, for a few more days Toyota is supposed to pay the lease of the existing car off. We had gotten a call from Bob Baker Toyota the same day. We told them we would keep them as a back up. We were feeling beat up and defeated. Donald bought his 4 Runner there years ago and we have since heard good things about them. We decided on the way home to stop there. We would spell out our terms, show the Camry, make our demands and give them a few minutes. Truth be told it didn’t start well. We sat there and no one said much to us. Compared to the other places they were dead. We gave them a deadline and luckily someone came to help us. We had emailed with Xavier, but he was out with clients. We dealt with Hector, Hector gave our terms to Patrick, the Sales Manager. Patrick appraised the Camry and came back to us in 10 minutes that he could do the deal exactly as we outlined. They came back with the reasonable blue book value and honored all the other Toyota terms. It took 10 minutes for them to come back to us with the deal we asked for. Bob Baker Toyota, Xavier, Hector and Patrick, you guys are amazing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)