Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Why Can't I Sleep?

So tomorrow I leave on a little trip. Its a nice little trip the hubby has planned for us in celebration of our wedding anniversary. I'm glad I married him 15 years ago. He's really a great guy. As I ponder the past 15 years I wonder one thing more than anything tonight.....when did our sleeping patterns flip?

Once upon a time I'd fall asleep no matter what was going on in my life... in a matter of seconds after my head hit the pillow, no matter where I was and NOTHING could wake me. Not tonight though, not really in the last month. Or maybe year. I don't know.

But now I think I'm loosing my mind. I lay down, peacefully, and suddenly EVERYTHING itches. Not everywhere all at once, that's too easy. A big toe first, then my arm, then the other foot, then my scalp, then my hands feel like they are being bitten by tiny little critters who are having a square dance on my palms. Now, before you ask whether or not I might have some sort of infestation, trust me, I don't. I've looked. As a matter of fact, I'm on the couch right now and I'm still having random itching.

Now, my dear hubby, Mikey, traditionally is a light sleeper. And by light I don't mean he wakes if I snore, I mean he wakes if I blink. I feel sorry for the poor guy. Insomnia stinks. So of course I try to ignore the itchiness so as not to disturb the dear. Enter a new problem. Noises. Ringing/roaring in my ears. I try to ignore this but ITS TOO QUIET. I want to turn on the tv to drown out that noise. Alas, that would wake the sleeping man next to me. Itching, scratching, TRAIN WHISTLE, ears roaring, cat bellowing for imaginary kittens, random fly buzzing around. AAAHHHH!!!!! WHAT WAS THAT? Oh, it was the remote I just rolled over. Enter giggling fit.

And I go to the couch. Which of course wakes him up, again. And he's frustrated, again. And its my fault, again.

Why? Why is he asleep and I'm not? Why is it that when he falls asleep first, even if I'm dog-tired, the second I hear that he is breathing that deep-sleep-breathing-thing he does, I'm wide awake? What is that???? I hate insomnia.

Good news is, I now know every episode of Fresh Prince and George Lopez. Nick at Nite is all that helps. They've sort of become my friends. I hear Urkle is coming at the end of June.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Welcome

So, the title of my blog might be a bit misleading. yes, I am a cat person, but no, I'm not completely obsessed with them. Some people might argue with me, but honestly, I only have 2. I do, however, share stories about them as most people share stories about their children. I have no children, I have cats. Cats are fun. Cats are easier than kids. You can leave cats for the weekend unattended and nobody really cares. Cats don't go into therapy because you didn't give them enough attention. They do however, get very funny when you don't immediately give them the attention they so desire.

So, why the title then? Well, let me explain......

Once upon a time I walked out of my house and headed toward my car. My car at the time was a bit well worn but I loved that car. It was my first that I purchased for myself. I knew I had been experiencing a small leak in the air pressure on a tire due to a kindly neighbor. The neighbor at the time, was obsessed with all things related to car racing. He had the most amazingly stocked garage that I have ever seen. He told me that my tire was a little flat and he had filled it with air. But this morning, my tire was completely flat and the neighbor was nowhere to be seen. Grr.

Now, when I first got my driver's license, my parents would not let me drive by myself until I proved to them I could change a tire. When I was 16 I was forced to change a perfectly good tire with the neighborhood boys watching me and my parents. This time, Hubby wasn't home so.....on this fated morning, I decided I could change my own tire, dang it! I guess a bit of the teasing those neighborhood boys did while I was growing up made me very indignant over somethings. No one could ever tell me I couldn't do something because I was a girl. Them's fighting words!

I then proceeded to unload my trunk and search for the necessary equipment. I soon discovered that was a complicated task in and of itself. I'm sure many curse words and sweat drops were present by then end of that part. Next I proceeded to do what I thought I should do to use the jack. At some point around 30 minutes later, I gave up and called my dad. By the time he got to our house, I actually had the car up on the jack and was attempting to loosen the lug nuts. I realize now, this isn't the order of things if you'd like to be successful in changing a tire. More about that later.

Well, Dad had brought his handy dandy car jack that was apparently a much easier method than the tangled mess I found in my trunk. We both assessed the situation and decided, since it was already on the jack, we might as well give it a whirl. We got the tire off the car but....soon thereafter, my car fell off the jack and landed on my driveway without the tire. Dad and I both stared in amazement that we had just let this happen.

As I stood there feeling like a fool, I realized that most of my neighbors had been watching this, for quite some time. No one had offered to help, neither before I called my dad, nor after the horrible crashing noise my car made as it landed on the driveway.

Had they not seen my distress? Had they not heard my cries of sorrow? Apparently many of them had heard me because it was apparent that I had become the neighborhood entertainment. This, for obvious reasons, made me rather angry.

As Dad and I finished changing the tire and figuring out what to do I began to mull the whole situation over in my head. Why hadn't anyone offered to help? Was being entertained really more important than being a good neighbor? Were they really staring at me? Jerks.....

Because I have an 'overdeveloped sense of vengeance' I decided that I would get back at those pesky neighbors by becoming something that would frighten their children. And so, the idea of the Crazy Cat Lady was born.

Have I frightened any children? Not to my knowledge. I even tried a few weeks ago when I became MELMART, DEFENDER OF DOGS. Basically, 2 preteen boys were harassing the dog across the street. I yelled at them a bit and then sat on the front porch while they kept cruising past to see if I had left the outside world yet. I went in to test them once and was able to come back out and yell again. This time I told them that I was going to tattle on them to their parents or the cops. While I was secretly wishing the dog would get loose and bite them, I knew that if he did, the authorities would take him away. He's a pretty cool dog. We speak to each other on a regular basis. He told me he doesn't like pesky, unattended kids.....we both agreed that next time, I get to bite them and he can call the cops.

In the mean time...Rico, the dog, I got you're back, or tail, or whatever.