We have been home less than an hour and already we are traumatized. But let me back up and start at the beginning.

Kev & I drove up to Seattle with the pooch to spend Mother’s Day with Kev’s mom. The weather was great and Artie loved to romp through the woods and run on the beach. I spent way too much at a local nursery and Kev BBQ’d for us. We ate on the deck overlooking the Puget Sound and Seattle. It was wonderful.

So this afternoon, we pack up the car and the dog and head home. We arrive and are greeted by both Blitz and Wicks. A quick check on the fish and all is good. While checking my email, Kevin asks me the following.

“Do you hear that bird? It sounds like it’s in the house.”

“Nah, that’s outside,” I reply “there’s a whole bunch in that tree over there.”

A few moments pass and this high pitch repetitive chirping continues. I don’t notice Kevin as he gets up from his chair to investigate.

“OH MY GOD WICKS HAS A BIRD AND ITS STILL ALIVE!!!! COME QUICK!!!!”

I jump from my chair and race into the laundry room where the cat door is located. Kevin is pointing at the ground and clapping his hand in a futile effort to drive the cats away. I’m not so squeamish and rush head on into the room screaming “GET AWAY GET AWAY”. Fatty has her claw in the bird and Wicks is biting it. The poor little thing is letting out the most desperate chirping noise. Once I shoo the cats off, I can see it’s just a little chick-a-dee. It’s breathing hard and frozen in fear. I grab a little towel from the dryer and gently pick up the poor little bird. Kevin opens the door and I walk into the back yard and place her on a shelf by the fence. She’s pretty shocked and just kind of wobbles in place. While I’m watching, another little chick-a-dee flies down from the tree next to her, chirps, and flies up back to the tree. He does this several times trying to coax the poor little bird into the air.

But she doesn’t follow.

I’ve seen her hopping around and moving her head but when she tries her wings, only one moves. It’s getting dark now and I know it’s only a matter of time before my cats discover her again but I don’t know what else to do. If she’s still there in the morning, I’ll give her a little tray of birdseed and some water but it isn’t looking too good.

What mean kitties I have. If I was my fish, I’d be worried.

So Josh is Kevin’s hero for solving the mysterious computer problem. Zeus is back up and running (for now). Life will most likely revert to normal now that the planets have realigned and Kevin’s system is whirling away.

High off of his computer success, Kevin asks me, “so when do you want me to work on your computer?”

“Whenever,” I reply.

“OK. So…. are there any files you really want to keep on your system?”

It’s questions like these that make me nervous. I want to keep all my files thank you very much. Any operation that involves destroying my files, I’m just not really excited about. I mean it’s not like I’m getting a new hard drive for pete’s sake. It’s just a new motherboard.

I wonder if Kevin would be horribly offended if I asked Josh to install the new motherboard on my system.

The charity truck came by yesterday and removed four large garbage bags full of old clothing and shoes. The upstairs bedroom carpet is no longer red with swirls of cat/dog hair. Now, it’s just red and my closet is filled with sun dresses and t-shirts (even though it still hasn’t broken 70 here yet.)

Having completed my week of renovation upstairs, I have moved downstairs to the dining room. Not a lot in the dining room aside from a table, chairs and china cabinet. However, it is blue. Not just any blue but a really deep navy blue. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s very pretty but anyone who watches HGTV can tell you that painting a small room a dark color is not the way to go. It makes the space seem very small and closed. Add to that the fact that the room boasts one small window and you have a rather dreary room. So it didn’t take long to decided that this room project would be painting.

Just a couple of words of advice here. Although I’ve only been at it for two days, I feel I have learned a great deal during my painting experience.

First, I must apologize for the lack of pictures. I have been taking them but, alas, Zeus is still non-functional so I have no computer to download them too. Until Kevin gets him up and running, you’ll have to use your imagination. (Don’t worry, I’ll help you out.)

So I started with a dining room full of furniture and blue walls. (Insert mental image here.) The first task was to empty the room. Here comes my first piece of advice. Paint before you move in. This makes life so much easier. Right now, we can’t get into the guest bedroom or bathroom because that space is filled with dining room stuff. Anything I couldn’t move out of the room got lumped in the center and covered with drop cloths. Unfortunately, this included all the dog food so Artie has been eating good people stuff the last couple of days.

After the room was kind of cleared, I applied a coat of white paint over the blue walls. Since I have decided to paint the room a light yellow, I was afraid the blue would peek though so on goes a coat of white. And, I was right. This morning when I checked the room, the walls were a sort of bluish white color. (Insert mental image here.) I’m hoping that the next coat of yellow will totally cover the blue but I’m not too sure.

Today, I’m going to slap the yellow on the walls and see what happens. Wish me luck.

Oh yes, one last piece of painting advice. No matter how much they cry or claw at the door, do not allow your black cats into a room where the walls are covered with white paint. You will only end up with white walls smeared with black cat hair and a very freaked out cat who runs under the bed to spend the next four hours trying to lick the while paint off her back. (Insert mental picture here.)

So I’m off to Home Depot (again) to pick up some painters tape. I’ll post more (mental) pictures here tomorrow so hurry back!

Oh yes, final price for the can opener via ebay?? 40 dollars and 99 freaking cents.

I’m rich! Rich I tell you!

I feel I should warn you that we appear to be having a major computer melt-down here in the basement. Something about a corrupted registry and updating BIOSes. All I know is that I can hear the swearing while upstairs. Over the TV. It’s pretty graphic and is usually accompanied by loud crashes and poundings. I had no idea it took so much violence to install a new chip set. Although I am, by nature, a very curious person, I also have a healthy self-preservation instinct so even though I would love to stick my head down here and ask “how’s it going”, I refrain because frankly, I’m very fond of this head and don’t want to lose it.

So if there is a lag in postings, do not be alarmed. I’m sure all systems will (eventually) revert to normal.

Love Derby. Wonderdul horseys and lots of mint julep. Very yummie stuff. Horsey lost but decided to celebrate with a coupolde more julep anyhtway. Yippee! Dson’t know why peolele don’t drink juleps at noon more often. will be new ploicy here.

Feel a bit funny really. Kevin says should go upstairs and drink some water or will be sorry tomorrow.

Yipee!!