Two Better Than One

We tried to put the new gerbil in the cage with the others one more time. Poor thing got chased and chewed. It was just not working out. One option was to return the new gerbil to the store. That sounded sad. I was getting to like the little girl.

There was one more option. We could keep the gerbil in a separate cage. The other older gerbils were going back to school with Momoko in the fall anyway. This could be our new permanent home gerbil. There was only one problem with this. Our new gerbil would be lonely.

Problem solved. Kit Kat, Momoko, and I went to the pet store. We purchsed the sister of the new gerbil. This sister has read eyes. I thought they would be happy when they got reunited. Nope. The first gerbil was still running away from her own sister. At least we got them a cool wheel to run in.

A Sick Cat

Last night I stayed up very late working on my computer program. Little Kat got sick. He came down the stairs looking for Momoko. I told him she already went to bed. So he went upstairs and pounded on her door to tell her he was sick. Eventually Momoko woke up and told Little Kat to go to bed.

I woke up late for work and rushed out the door. By the time I came home, which was also late, I had a message from Momoko. Apparently Little Kat had stayed home from school today. I never even noticed. He was still up in his bedroom late in the afternoon. He ended up drinking some soup and 7up.

Kit Kat skipped school today. Momoko asked that she do it to come help Momoko tear down her classroom for the summer. Kit Kat is skipping school again tomorrow to help some more. I am taking the next two days off work to help Momoko as well. My job tomorrow is to bring some Chinese food lunch for us to eat. Then I have to move all the heavy stuff into the closet in Momoko's classroom. Fun stuff.

Dentist Duty

I took the day off from work to drive Momoko to and from the dentist. She was getting her wisdom teeth removed. We got there on time. It was supposed to take an hour for the procedure. I knew we were in trouble when we waited more than an hour just to be seen.

I came prepared. I brought my textbook to read. After I read a few long chapters, I figured we were never going to get out of there. That was a problem because we had to pick up Little Kat from school. I had to call in reinforcement. My mom went to pick Little Kat up from school.

Momoko was in pain. So I ran out to get her prescriptions filled. Then I got Little Kat from my mom's. We got home in time for Little Kat to cook us up some spaghetti. After dinner, the family worked hard to wake Momoko up from her nap. Then we watched the excellent movie Secretariat.

Getting Better

I have been totally sick for about a week and a half. Took a couple days off from work. Worked the rest of the time from home. I was very weak. But I am starting to eat again now. Got to build up that strength.

Today was the first day I headed back to the office. I had a coughing fit on the drive in to work. But I made it. It is nice to be out of the house for once. It is also easier to work at the office. That way when I leave, I am done with work. At home people just keep calling me all the time.

I plan to sign up for a new programming class this spring semester at school. I hope the class won't be cancelled due to lack of interest. This is the one I have been waiting to take for a couple semesters.

Little Cough

I had a terrible drive home from work yesterday. There was snow falling, making the traffic bad. And a truck broke down on the road leading out of the office park. Double pain. So today I decided to work from home.

I got up early enough to see Kit Kat leave for school. Normally she leaves so early that I don't see her most mornings. After working for an hour or so, I thought I heard some noise upstairs. I figured it was just the house creaking or something.

Around lunch time I heard a cough coming from upstairs. This was strange. I saw Momoko go to work. And I was there when Kit Kat left for work. Maybe Little Kat was still home. Yup. He said he was still sick. He slept in a lot, then lounged around the house all day.

Deadly Beefaroni

I had to visit my customer's building today. So I did not go in to the office. Momoko had to take Kit Kat to the doctor's. She stayed home as well. We had scheduled to play tennis again today for exercise. However Momoko said her knee was hurting bad.

It took a couple reminders from me to get Momoko to go pick up Little Kat from school. When he came home, he said his leg and back were hurting. Then to add to his problems, he dropped his hot bowl of Beefaroni. Kit Kat had to come in to help him clean it all up. She said she almost died 3 times due to the slick floor with sauce all over it.

This weekend we are hoping to finally attended a football game at Kit Kat's school. It is homecoming. Kit Kat definitely plans to go to the homecoming dance. But she seems to have no interest in the game. Momoko and I both remember the good times going to our high school football games. Kit Kat should at least experience it once. Oddly enough, none of Kit Kat's friends want to go to the homecoming football game.

House Building

Today Momoko and Kit Kat went to Momoko's school to get ready for the start next week. Momoko also went to straighten out Little Kat's middle school issue. He was still not sure which school he will be attending this year.

Little Kat and I took the truck to the store. We spied on some wood for Little Kat to build his mini house in the back yard. He had some real expensive ideas.

We looked at home sheds for sale at the store as well. Little Kat studied their construction to help figure out how to build his own house.

Slow Computer

I came home from meeting a friend for dinner. Little Kat told me that we had a problem. He was planning to go to his same old school with Momoko next week. However he got a letter in the mail from the county stating that he had to go to another school.

Momoko is going to work this problem. In the mean time, Little Kat wanted to review information on his "new" school. He went to his computer and started complaining. His computer was too slow.

I asked Little Kat if he knew why it was so slow. He said it was due to (1) the computer was old, and (2) there were too many files on it. Logically this did not sound correct. I have an even older computer with much more files than Little Kat. And my computer is probably the fastest one in the house.

So I sat down with Little Kat to google the top 10 web pages for making a slow computer fast. One page listed 99 ideas on how to make a computer faster. I took a lot of notes. Little Kat started getting apprehensive. He said he liked his computer just the way it was. He did not want to make the changes recommended by these web pages. That did not seem acceptable. He was whining all evening about his slow computer. It is time to get that PC zippy.

Happy Birthday Dad

I got off work on time again today. Went to visit my dad and wish him a happy birthday. I got him a picture book called Cars of the 1940s. Now I don't think dad is old enough to have had a car from the 1940s. But he does remember them. I think one of my uncles had a 1940s car. And he let dad drive it all the time.

Momoko had told me that Little Kat was coming home from his friend's house today. So I hurried home after visiting my dad. Strangely enough, I found nobody at home. There were a lot of messages on the answering machine for me though. Momoko and the kids went to her school to work on her classroom. They are staying late. That means I need to fend for myself at dinner time. I started out with a nap. Then I decided to get some Dominos carryout. They had a special where you could add cheesy bread and a 2 liter drink for five bucks. I'm in.

On Vacation

Today was my last day at work before my vacation. I get off a week before Momoko and the kids. I don't think there will be a lot of lounging around. There are too many things to do around the house.

I first plan to work on the fence that is falling apart. Got to cut and nail some new pickets on there. Then I must deal with the wall paper peeling off the bathroom wall.

By the time I wrap up my work on the house, it will be time to take a small trip to the beach with the family. Momoko is taking off the last day of school so we can spend it at the beach.

Sick Cats

Yesterday Little Kat came home from school tired. He lay down on the floor and could not get up. So Momoko sent him to bed. He slept right through dinner and all through the night. Kit Kat got stuck cooking us some dinner.

This afternoon I felt really hot at work. And I was tired. This was the work of a fever. I made it home ok. But then I went to bed. The fever had me freezing. I could not get out of bed to watch Glee. Finally I bundled up and went downstairs for some dinner.

Tonight I plan to sleep downstairs in quarantine. No need to get Momoko sick too. It is just not fun at all.

Hard Day's Work

Yesterday I did my best to get out of work before it got too late. I ran to the store and bought some goods. Picked up a window air conditioning unit to try out. Also bought some weed-b-gone.

Spent a few hours in the yard. Cut the grass. Weeded. Watered. Spread out some mulch and fertilizer. The yard is looking better if I do say so myself.

Earlier yesterday I woke up quite early. Kit Kat had not even got up yet. She normally leaves the house before I wake up. I looked at the time and wondered whether she had gone to school. I peeked out the front door window, and saw Kit Kat walking down the street to her bus. She had her rainbow purse in tow, and her purple backpack on her back. All was well.

Home Shopping Weekend

Momoko's real estate agent came back from vacation today. So we went out to look for houses. The first one was in our current city. It was only two levels. The master bedroom had just a shower. I want a nice bath in there. So that, combined with the fact that it was small meant that it was out.

Next we visited a house close to Momoko's school. I liked the separate tub and shower in the master bedroom. The tub was shallow but big big big. There was a sign on the stairs inside saying we had to take our shoes off to go upstairs. Weird. The basement did not flow well. And the back yard was sloped down toward the house. Although the back yard was fenced, the fence was wobbly and even falling down at points. This house was also out.

Finally we returned to an older house that we had seen before. It still had a tree blocking the entrance. The agent initially forgot the code to unlock the key. However Little Kat tried the front door and found it open! This house was huge. The basement had a great sized room with huge built in bookshelves. The kitchen was large. There was a deck over top of a big garage. The top level had massive bedrooms. The only thing I hated was the steep hills on all sides of the house. I don't want to mow that grass. Momoko found a lot of work required on the inside as well. This house is still a maybe.

Next I am going to have my agent figure out how much I can expect to sell our house for. That might decide whether we can even afford to move and get another house.

Driving with Kit Kat

Today I had to return to work. It was not fair because Momoko and the kids are still on Spring Break vacation. I hurried home after work to take Kit Kat driving.

We decided to take a longer drive today. On the first ride out, Kit Kat successfully hugged the right hand curb. This was good. A neighbor came around the corner and was driving in the middle of the street. Kit Kat's driving made it easy to avoid an accident.

On the second pass around the block, I told Kit Kat to signal a right hand turn out of the local school parking lot. She hit the windshield wiper lever instead of the turning signal one. The windshield wiper phased her and she lost control for a bit. We ended up going over the curb but there was no damage done.

Overall Kit Kat is gaining better control over the car. She says she is more confident. Her acceleration and braking is more smooth. I noticed she also goes above the speed limit on the open roads a bit. Got to watch that. I am hoping Kit Kat gets enough skills so that we can drive all the way to her school in the morning (which is a long 30 minute drive away).

Every Cat is Sick

Yesterday Kit Kat said she was not feeling well. So we put her to bed in the afternoon. She was sick to her stomach all night.

This morning I was supposed to drive Little Kat to school. Turned out he was not feeling well either. So he stayed home with Kit Kat.

Momoko called me today at work. She is ill. She will not be going to work tomorrow.

I myself and not feeling that well. But I got to charge on and get to work. There is a lot to do, and I don't want my vacation next week to be affected.

It is tough times in the Chinwagger household.

Day 3 House 1

Went house shopping again today. First one on the list was close to Momoko's school. The kitchen has a center island. The cabinets were very tallAll the bedrooms had good closet space. There was a big tub in the master bedroom. The master bedroom bathroom also had a separate shower with a seat. Nice.

Now for the bad news. The neighborhood was not the good. The main level had no carpets. The garage was small and smelly. All bedrooms were small. Little yard meant you were close to the neighbors. The basement was unfinished.

Snow Days!

Well, the snow came and the schools canceled classes. We got to start our Winter Break early. The kittens are playing in the snow and Black is slaving at work. I figured I should at least take a moment out of my day to write a post. I have been so busy this semester. I got an "A" in my last class and the good news is that I only have 2 more classes to go. I will be finished by June 15!!! Until then, be understanding if you do not see many posts from me.

Pawn Stars

Momoko stayed home from work today. She had worked real hard this weekend on her college class. Tonight was the last class of the semester. So I drove Little Kat to school today. He was still asleep when I woke up. The old alarm was not set.

Kit Kat and I watched a series on the History Channel called Pawn Stars today. It is a family business in Las Vegas. The show is very interesting. You hear a lot about the history of the items brought in to be sold. There is a lot of bickering among the family. And the main owner does a lot of negotiating with people selling him items.

An All Nighter

Yesterday I worked hard on my last project for the college class I am taking. Luckily it is not due for another week and a half. Momoko was not so lucky. She needed to turn in a paper for her class today. And let me tell you. She was behind schedule. So she bit the bullet and stayed up all night. She got done around 6:00am.

Momoko plans to sleep during the day. She still needs to go to her college class this afternoon and turn in her paper. That means I have to drive Little Cat to school today. We are on schedule for that. And when I get up this early, I normally grab some breakfast on the way to work. I see Burger King in my immediate future.

Our new Brother last printer is pretty good. The jobs pretty out very fast. The ink is dark because the toner cartridge is new. There are only two problems. When somebody prints, my computer sometimes shuts off because the printer draws so much electricity all at once. And our initial toner cartridge is already getting low. Never fear. I already placed an order for a replacement cartridge.

Early Alarm

Yesterday I did a lot of laundry. It seemed easy to be distracted during the day with TV and such. I only spent about an hour working in the yard.

So when everybody went to bed, I went to work. I paid the bills. Then I started studying for my class. We are wrapping up the semester soon.

This morning I had to get up early. Momoko went to the doctor's. So I needed to drive Little Kat to school. I mentioned Grannie Kat's new HHR vehicle to him. He said he did not know about this recent car purchase. Oh man, we need to get out to visit Grannie Kat. Let's start the countdown.