Timmay's post is accurate and complete, to his account. What he neglected to tell you is how many times I called him during the day freaking out about the things going on at home....

So the movers show up promptly at 10 AM and Stinker Butt and I were ready to greet them. When 2 older guys, one with a big pot belly and a cigarette in his mouth jumped out of the truck, I started to have some misgivings about how the day would turn out. The movers were very polite and helpful and, dare I say, quick. The house is getting a bit full and we are running out of places to the excesses with whihc the Lord has blessed us. I did my best directing. I started to worry a bit because much of the contents of the truck were outside items like lawn mowers. "I guess they can go on the back patio." The back patio and the front left room became the proverbial dumping ground for the stuff.

So, the big guy asks to use the pot, otherwise known as the lieu, the john, the can, the throne... Anyway, since the downstairs bathroom is nonfunctional at this point and being alone in the house with 2 men I really don't want them trapsing through my bedroom, I tell him to use the bathroom in the hallway but please DO NOT let the cats out of the bathroom.

" Sweetie, we have a pretty big problem...". " What the &*%$," I thought,"all they have to do is put the desk in the room!". "This desk has to go some place else because it doesn't fit through the doorway. Look," as they attempted to tear our molding off the wall. One part of the desk wouldn't fit through the door and since they weren't the putter-together-people of the desk, it had to stay in the hallway until Saturday when the guy came to put our stuff back together. "Well, I guess just leave it in the hallway and my husband will handle it when he gets home".

The next task at hand was to put together the futon, which I really didn't even want to bring to this house. So again I hear a gentle calling from the office, " Hon, can you come here a sec?" So, I climbed back up the steps for the 51st time that day to find out, to my dismay, that the futon is missing 2 vital screws to put it back together. It was and is a big mystery, where are the other 2 screws? So I called Timmay, "Do you know where the rst of the screws are for the futon?" "Well," responded the voice on the other end of the line, "Leon gave them all to me and they were in the drawer next to the dishwasher". There are at least 5 of them, not to mention the other 20 or so in the room. So, I began my hunt for the lost futon screws. "Screw this," I thought as I started to get agitated. After searching every drawer I gave up hope and abondoned the search. "Just leave it and my husband can deal with it".

So, now they are pretty much finished. I closed up the house and go to let out the pets from their respective lock up rooms. The only 2 who show themselves are Stinker Butt and Bubba ( they have become quite the pair). Where were Ella and VV? Now, I started to panic. I searched the upstairs as thoroughly as I could and went downstairs and looked throughout the house. I looked in all their favorite hiding spots, in the guest bed, under the covers, under and behind pieces of furniture, in boxes, etc. Since the front left room was full of stuff, the kitty search in that room was minimal. So, in my state of panic I called Timmay and in about 2 million words per second tried to explain that I couldn't find the cats. I was in the open doorway the enitre time and didn't see them. Timmay sounded irritated, "Did you look for them?" " I'll look some more and call you back.," and with that I pressed the End button as hard as I could. After 2 or 3 rides around the block and another thorough search, I call Timmay back,"See, this is why I can't have children, I can't even take care of my own cats!!" Timmay had become a bit more understanding at this point, which was great because I was freaking out!! "I need for you to come home soon. I need you here," I was almost in tears. I asked Timmay to call the movers and ask if he accidentally let the kitties out. He called me back quickly to tell me that there was only one kitty in the bathroom when the guy went in the first time. Ok, so they had to be in the bathroom, but where...

I got down into the cabinet under the sinks as much as I could. I had already been back there to confirm the wall/space was solid and the cats weren't in the walls. As I started to gently call for Ellie Belly and VV I started to hear purring. I stuck my hand under the space in the back of the vanity between the floor and the wood to feel Ella sniff my fingers. So, I left all the doors open, poured out some new food and left them to it. Eventually VV came out, but I had to grab Ellie and drag her out. I haven't seen much of her since.

The rest of the day would have been a cake walk if the whole cat mishap wouldn't have happened!! Our animals are like our childern and we feel a deep sense of responsibility toward them..we feed them quality food, keep them indoors, give them heartworm prevention and flea control, get them dentals as needed, etc. So this was a very traumatic thing for me. While I realize they are not human, they are still very much loved and cared for by us. So, the missing kitty issue just hyped up my sensitivities fro the events to come later on. Needless to say, by the time the plumber told us what was going on, it was all I could do to contain myself and not cry! My solution to that was to go to the store and get some bug spray and Advil.

Given the events of the day, we decided to go to Boardwalk Billy's for ribs and seafood. We hadn't been seated very long, when an adult sister and brother and their families or whoever were seated next to us. The sister was obviously a regular. Long story short, she was very ignorant and loud bad mouthing her sister and talking about dogs/behavior like she knew everything. I told poor Timmay, " We have to leave now or I am going to say something to her. It's not her fault, really, I just have no tolerance for her mouth after all that's happened today." So, we came home.

Home...I have to laugh. Home always meant a clean bed, a warm shower, safety and love. 2 out of 4 isn't bad I suppose. I have the most important thing, the love of a wonderful man.

Friday was just one of those days when I realized how lucky I am.