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Is this thing on?

Sorry. Three months of puppy and illness and summer and travel and... I always say I need to write more, but I can't seem to manage more than 140 characters these days.

My baby will be a second grader in a few short weeks. That makes me sad. Time needs to stop!

In other news, the "puppy" will be 6 months old this Wednesday. He currently weighs 72 pounds and is gaining a couple of pounds a week minimum. And he's very energetic. He celebrated Independence Day by eating cat litter and finding a spot of mud.

Meet Iggy

This past weekend, the Pop family took a much-needed break from the chaos that is organized t-ball, Tae Kwon Do, pre-kindergarten graduation, an over abundunace of family intrusion, and extremely stressful work life to spend Memorial Day weekend in Mazatlan. This trip was the first time Dr Pop and I took Boy Pop with us to Mexico. I have so many pictures and stories to tell, but I thought I'd start with one of our lunchtime visitors.

Meet "Iggy":

This iguana was hanging out in the bushes next to our lunch table on Sunday. He barely took any notice of the three of us, so I took the opportunity to run and get my camera. Boy Pop and Dr Pop took the same opportunity to try to feed him.

Unfortunately, the birds swooped down and stole every french fry they threw his way. Getting tired of this, the iguana moved from his position in the sun, through the bushes, and under the barrier fencing.

He wanted to get closer to the action:

Boy Pop decided to call him Iggy and proceeded to feed him about half of his french fries and a good portion of his ham sandwich! We got tons of video of the entire process, but for some reason I cannot get it to play right. So you'll have to settle for a picture or two.

Iggy the Iguana hung out with us for a good 20 minutes. He kept waiting for more food. But I think he must have finally gotten full! A bunch of french fries and some ham will probably do that. And yes, I know I should be appalled that my son fed part of his lunch to a wild iguana rather than eat it himself, but on vacation normal rules do not apply.

Iggy was one happy iguana and my kid was ecstatic! I think he wants one for a pet now. Lord help me!

PICTURES!

It was a little-known fact (at least to me) that Bengals love water. Our little guy is very curious about it and has gone so far as to sit in the full water bowl.



The other night, Pookie decided to investigate Boy Pop's bubble bath. He proved to be very interested in the bubbles, leaning way down and swatting at them frequently.

He was very lithe on his feet and only slightly slipped once. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to capture his reaction to being fully submerged. But I was also relieved because he might have scratched Boy Pop.

What amazes me about this cat is how much he has grown in the past month. Of course, he eats like a horse, so that might account for his weight gain. This cat also was meant to be a tree cat. His favorite positions are those where his arms and legs are spread around the arm of a chair or the back of the couch.

And never before have I seen an animal so enamored of belly rubs. He will be sound asleep and curled up, but if you go over to give him little back scratches, he will flomp completely over onto his back and spread his legs without waking to give you unimpeded access to his tum-tum.

Weekend Recap

It was quite a weekend in the Pop household, capped by two different Santa visits for Boy Pop. I'll get to all that later.

On Friday, I took a much-needed day off to take care of some business that I'd been putting off. I also cleaned my house as my maid cancelled on me... Let's see, that makes four weeks since her last visit. You know it's bad when your child notices that the bathroom has been cleaned. AND comments on it. Ugh.

Early Friday evening, Dr Pop, Boy Pop, and I drove up to a nearby suburb and rode on the local Polar Express trainride. It was about a four hour adventure including drive and wait time, with the actual ride itself lasting two hours.

We did have a good time, although I think the ride could be shortened a bit and not have lost any of the "magic" for the kids. If you have one in your area, you really ought to check it out. The Austin one gets sold out every year.

What happened during the ride, you ask? Well, the local girl scouts read the story of The Polar Express aloud, Mrs. Claus handed out bells, Santa handed out candy canes, there was a Christmas carol sing-along, and there was an authentic conductor who punched initials into each child's ticket.

In some spots we were able to see Christmas lights in the distance, too. It was a fun evening, but the Boy enjoyed it the most (that's what getting all hopped up on sugar and candy canes and hot chocolate will do).

The above is a gratuitous pet photo... The cats are starting to get along... Sort of.

Bright and early Saturday morning, my parents came to pick up the Boy for a day an night out with them. While they were having fun, Dr Pop and I went shopping, then I had a hair appointment. My hairdresser, after touching up my roots and putting in some dark streaks, lopped about four inches off the back and sides of my hair. I'm still a little in shock and not sure how I feel about the new look as I'd only anticipated two inches at most. At least my hair ends are healthy and thick. That's a good thing.

Saturday night marked the night of a much-anticipated fight on PPV... The Mayweather/Hatton matchup. Let me just say this about the two fighters (I admit that much of what I know comes from their pre-fight reality show and their press, but still, I am able to draw a conclusion or two)... I simply adore Ricky Hatton, who appears to be completely unaffected by his press and by his talent and money. He's down-to-earth, jokes around, and enjoys the simple things (like being there for his son).

Conversely, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. pretty much disgusts me. Sit through one interview or watch one show where he throws stacks of money around or discusses the price tag of one of his cars and tell me he doesn't do the same for you. It's one thing to have all that money. But money cannot buy class.

Oh. Hatton lost. Of course. And I cursed and drank a lot Saturday night.

That brings us to Sunday. I woke up with a raging hangover, called my mom, and ended up dragging myself out to the mall to meet them for an official Santa visit and lunch. As we were finishing up, my exhausted child fell asleep, so we just loaded him and his stuff into my car, and I said my goodbyes to my folks as they headed back home and I headed to our house. On the way home, though, the craziest thing happened... The temperature started dropping and by the time I got to the house, it had fallen by 10 degrees. It seems that the cold front anticipated for Monday came a day early.

Have I mentioned how much I love winter? And on top of the good-weather-fortune, we arrived home in time to see the Cowboys come back and beat Detroit. Life can't get much better. We all hibernated inside for the rest of the day, I washed dishes and did laundry, Boy Pop played, and Dr Pop braved the cold to grill us some ribeyes.

And now it is Monday. Have a great week!

Little Genghis Jin Skittlez Eminem Taz Juniorwad Pop the First

Contrary to what the pictures suggest, Talia and new kitten are starting to get along and play more with each other now. And if you're just now playing, Talia is our three year old part-Bengal (brown spotted tabby) and the new one is the silver spotted tabby Bengal. They are both really good climbers, too.

Productive Weekends and the Like

Whew! What a weekend! We still haven't officially named the kitten, but right now the name is "Genghis Jin Skittleshanks Taz, or the cat formerly known as Eminem." We're thinking of just calling him Skittles for short. With a cat like him and his impressive bloodlines, he has to have an impressive name, even if we don't ever call him that. That's what we do, you know. Call our pets anything but their real name. Our Golden Retriever is named Harley Saint Nicholas, but we call him Bubba or Boozer, depending on the moment. Our other cat is named Talia, but we call her Wookie.

Saturday was the day for cat accessory shopping and we made two trips to Petsmart and one to Petco. Then we did all the indoor Christmas decorating. The ornaments are on the tree, the Nativity Scene is up, my little collection of Santas are out, the stockings are hung, Boy Pop has a little tree in his room, there is lighted garland on my banister, and the place looks pretty darn festive.

Saturday was also deep cleaning day since I haven't had a maid in the past two weeks. The kitten peed a gallon on the bed, so we figured it would be a good time to treat the mattress, buy new sheets, flip the mattress, and put on a new dust ruffle. Dr Pop took it upon himself to lift up the box springs and vacuum underneath the bed. I don't think this had been done in the past four years. He filled up the vacuum's canister with just that. He did all of the heavy lifting, too. I just sat there and was astounded by all the cat hair and dust under there. I did pull out all my old beads, though. I really need to start making necklaces again.

We had some friends over Saturday night, so naturally I drank way too much wine. ;-)

By the time Sunday rolled around, we were pretty much too lazy to do anything. I made breakfast and did a little laundry, but that's about it on the day. Boy Pop finally got out of his PJ's at around 5 so he could ride his big wheel to the park. Alas, it was getting too late, so we did not end up making it all the way there. Dr Pop even came and picked us up since it was getting dark and he was worried.

Other than that, Boy Pop and I did not leave the house all day yesterday.

Today was the Boy's 4 year checkup. That wasn't too much fun for him as he had to have two shots, but he was a real trooper and got a Happy Meal with both chocolate milk AND apple juice as a reward. That kid'll be really hyped up on sugar this afternoon!

Now I'm back in the office and have to get to work. Fun for me, lemme tell ya. Ugh. I dislike Mondays...