I’ve said for some time now, that in order for us to add a second cat to our home it would need to be a unicorn of sorts. Specifically young, polydactyl, and preferably orange. In other words, not just a run of the mill kitten. Well as luck would have it, about the time we left for WI, I got a notification that such a kitten was at an adoption center not too far from us. I inquired, but as we were on vacation, didn’t think much would come of it. When we returned to Utah, I still kept thinking about his little orange face so I reached out again only to find out he had been transferred to a PetSmart just down the road. One thing led to another and by day’s end we had 2nd cat. He is a 6 month old orange polydactyl tabby. It was nearly a miss, as when I arrived at the PetSmart his cage had a sign on it that he was already awaiting adoption. I asked one of the employees if they ever took backup applications, only to discover the sign was left over from the prior resident. I’m glad I asked! Here are an assortment of the approximately 1 million pictures I’ve taken since we adopted him on July 26th.
I’ve heard about a lot of people adopting puppies during COVID and I guess we ended up with a kitten. In case anyone was wondering how Theo and Kiki are getting along…well we have our good days and our bad days. Most of the time we have an upstairs cat (Theo) and a downstairs/outside cat (Kiki). I thought we were seeing glimmers of hope and then we regressed. It’s a bit of a turf war and apparently I’m their mediator. I’m glad we have a large house and yard. I really didn’t need any more fights to break up, but the boys are really smitten with Theo and he’s a very sweet, tolerant, playful kitten who is perfect for them.
I’ve found in the current environment of politics and judgement I have a hard time posting what my family has been up to, mostly out of fear and guilt. Normally I’d just post pictures of the birthday party, get together, or outing, but mid-pandemic it all feels different. Every time I think about posting a picture, I can’t help but wonder who will be judging it. I feel the need to add disclaimers “It was a small party, outdoors, with 4 immediate classmates”, “It was a get together at a pool, on a slow Sunday, we stayed 6 feet apart”, “It was a get together with family, we stayed mostly outside, everyone wore masks.”. Half the time I post the photo anyway. Half the time I keep the photo to myself. If you feel like you haven’t been seeing as much from me lately it’s likely you’re right. I try to stay away from hot button topics on the internet and now COVID has even stolen a piece of what I normally enjoy posting. Not fair COVID, not fair. *steps off soapbox*
August was the month that my COVID19 driven anxiety storm hit. I think it was directly linked to figuring out what we were going to do about back to school…or because I cut off all my hair, or because the kitten had a cold, or…who knows…but mostly school. Our district had 3 options: in person, teacher led online, and parent led online (essentially homeschooling). After stewing about it and several discussions of which I will spare you the details, we decided our boys would go back to school in person. One thing I’ve learned from back-to-school this year is that no matter how many options the districts present, you just can’t make everybody happy. Much like hair styles, I’m just glad everyone has options.
This was also the year that Andrew started preschool. I had originally thought that if the preschool was going to require the kids to wear masks, I would just keep sending him to daycare at Debbie’s like usual. Masks are required for K-12 in Utah, but only “encouraged” for preschoolers. As it turned out though, every kid in Andrew’s preschool class showed up on day one wearing mask. It sounds like for the most part the kids in his class (10 kids) have been really good about wearing them. A lot of them probably have older siblings like Andrew and mask wearing is just a thing you do now. Utah’s mask requirements started in July, and my boys have been GREAT about wearing them, but I wasn’t sure what the preschool situation would look like. The first day of preschool went a lot like I expected. Andrew ran all the way to school, got shy, and had to be removed from me like velcro. There were tears on his part, but it’s gotten a bit better each day. It is really nice to have them all at the same building for school and not be running across town every day for daycare.
The older boys have been in school for 2 weeks now. Quite honestly, they’re handling it better than I am! Between a reluctant preschooler and the threat of COVID I’ve spent two weeks walking them to school only to return home on the verge of a panic attack. 
We’ve managed 2 weeks without any cases at the elementary school (that I know of) and my anxiety seems to be easing off a little. The boys have been doing awesome! They are so happy to be back at school and they essentially forget they’re wearing masks. William said due to my “expert craftsmanship” he doesn’t even realize he has his mask on most of the time. Christopher sometimes actively tries to eat snacks while still wearing his mask on our walk home. I guess they must be fairly comfortable! Mostly they are happy to see their friends and seem to really love their teachers. I think school being shut down last spring has given them a greater appreciation for going to school. I am certainly not cut out for homeschooling…at least not homeschooling and working from home at the same time. I hope the first two weeks are a sign of more good things to come. I’m sure we’ll have bumps in the road, and it’s impossible we don’t see COVID cases at some point, but I’m cautiously optimistic and so are our teachers.
August was HOT. Now it’s Labor Day and we’re about to go from a high of 99 degrees to a high of 55 degrees in the span of 4 days. The actual cold front is coming in tonight and residents along the east bench have been warned to tether down their trampolines and anything they don’t want to blow away as wind gusts up to 75 mph could happen in select areas. Thankfully our house is not in the 75 mph track. We did however spent a portion of the holiday weekend packing away the pool for the winter and cleaning up the patio. “Batten down the hatches!” as I told Jason. The fall fertilizer is spread and I’m just hoping my sweatpants still fit for the cold day tomorrow. By the end of the week we’re supposed to be back around 80 degrees after a few unseasonably cool days.
Other first week of September happenings…
Christopher lost another tooth. This time the culprit was a corn-dog rather than a frozen s’more. His teeth have a way of coming out while he is actively chewing. I don’t remember this happening so much with William. My scattered brain set his tooth on a paper towel and promptly forgot it was there. Just as I was certain it had gone out with the morning trash, I found it while cleaning the hallway. I guess it saved writing a letter to the tooth fairy begging for his/her forgiveness.
We canned another 28 quarts of spaghetti sauce. I use half tomato juice from the garden and half store bought. This is probably the best tomato year we’ve had in this house. Jason’s favorite variety that we usually only get a few tomatoes from, has really produced some whoppers this year. The spaghetti sauce from this canning adventure should be enough to last us until spring. Last time I learned the hard way that winter is not a good time for spaghetti sauce canning as I had water running down my walls!
This weekend I re-painted the entryway wall. “Why” you may ask. Because I could. The wall was scuffed up where everyone kicks off their shoes and had quite a few marks that just wouldn’t wash off. I went after it with some fresh paint and it looks 100% better. It’s probably one of those projects that nobody will notice except for me. I think my new strategy for the main floor should just be to repaint 1 wall every month until I have the whole thing redone again. Kids are hard on walls. I’m not going to wait around for them to move out to repaint.
Here are a few pictures just to “document the pandemic”. Our front coat/backpack rack is now our official mask rack as well. It took me a couple weekend days, but I now have enough masks for each boy to get through a full week of school between washings. Small victories right?!?
As always I hope this finds you well. Take some time to relax, be kind to your neighbor, wear your mask and all that jazz. Until next time!
S.~