Only In Our House

Cats are supposed to be creatures of grace and elegance. They move with ease and always land on their feet.

Except our cat. Arthur, the King of Klutz Kitties.

Arthur has always been the least graceful cat we've ever met. He regularly misjudges how far it is to a chair or the counter. He trips over his feet when he's running. He tumbles down the stairs. Then, this morning, he was delicately balanced (uh-oh) on one of our wire shelves in the office when he tried to gracefully leap to the floor. But, of course, Arthur can't do that. Instead, he manages to shove a foot between the wires as he pushes off and ends up awkwardly twisting as he launches himself into the air. The result? A broken foot. Our clumsy, graceless cat broke his foot. I've even got the xrays to prove it. Good grief.

So, now we have a cat in a bandaged splint with a cone collar on so he won't chew off the bandage.

Oh, yeah - this is gonna be a fun six weeks!

Top Ten Reasons Geeks Make Good Fathers

Thanks to this blog for this list that really resonated with me. #2 doesn't really apply to my husband, but that's okay. The rest do! (Thank you, Danielle!)

1. LEGOS. The Geek is really more of a Man-Child than an adult. In their minds, they are still 10. They freakin' still love to play with their legos, and have never grown up. I have one friend, WHO WILL REMAIN NAMELESS, that still has legos in his room. He doesn't have kids. Just legos. Of course, my children love legos and Steve will lovingly spend hours playing legos with them.

2. VIDEO GAMES. Due to the whole Man-Child thing as stated in #1, the Geek loves video games. And he's good at them too. My husband is the hit of all the kids' friends because not only can he talk video games, he plays them too. If my children get "stuck" while playing their Gameboys and bring it to me for assistance, all I can do is feebly hold it and say " Mommy doesn't know how to play this." Daddy, however, can beat the game.

3. MATH. A huge plus here. No matter how old they get, Steve can still help with the math homework. My ability to be of assistance is going to last another few years before *I* end up throwing the math homework across the room in disgust.

4. SMART KIDS. Smart Geeks make smart children. Although for the most part, it's great to have really intelligent children, when your just turned two year old is using the word PREPOSTEROUS correctly, it makes for some difficult times as they get older. I literally spend a large part of my time scheming to stay one step ahead of my oldest child.

5. UP ON TECHNOLOGY. The beautiful thing about having a Geek for a parent is that you aren't wondering what your children are doing online. You *KNOW* what they are doing online and you can limit it if necessary.
It's fabulous peace of mind.

6. SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS. Children of the Geeks always have the coolest science fair projects. And you don't have to cajole your Geek into helping. You'll find him fiddling around with the science materials whether you asked him to help or not.

7. TOY ASSEMBLY. You will never, ever have to spend six hours of your life, that you will never get back, trying to assemble some 2,000 piece toy at 3 am on Christmas Eve again. The Geek can do it in minutes flat. Usually without the directions. Whereas I have tried to assemble toys and said "Mommy has to go to the bathroom" just so I could escape and scream into my pillow in frustration, if the Geek is around, he can take it right off your hands. I now just say "Daddy is really good at this, let's wait until he gets home."

8. GADGETS. Never again will you have to wonder what that new electronic toy is that all the kids have. In fact, your Geek will probably already own it. The problem arises when the Geek won't share with the children. "Daddy, I want a digital camera." After the child leaves the room: "I'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a digital camera for him, he's too young." I say "Let's get him a cheap one." Steve looks at me as if I just said Aliens are invited to dinner. " To have it take crappy pictures?" He scoffs and walks away in disgust. No sub-par electronics in this house! How dare I suggest it.

9. SMART IS COOL. Having a Geek for a father instills the message into your children that smart is cool. They idolize Daddy. Hopefully, they'll want to grow up to be just like him.

10. BEING IDOLIZED IS GOOD FOR YOUR GEEK. Course, you have to be careful that his head doesn't get TOO BIG. That's why I blog. Gotta keep his ego in check SOMEHOW.

Countries I Have Visited

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Four

Four jobs you've had in your life:
1. Wendy's
2. Associate at Hancock Fabrics
3. Customer Service Rep for an ISP
4. Instructional Designer/Curriculum Developer

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1. Apollo 13
2. The Red Violin
3. Chicken Run
4. A Mighty Wind

Four places you've lived:
1. Tempe, AZ
2. Champagne, IL
3. Palmerston North, New Zealand
4. Littleton, MA

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. The West Wing
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Lost
4. Mad About You

Four websites you visit daily:
1. CNN
2. For Better or For Worse
3. Yahoo! Groups
4. Boston.com

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Homemade lasagne
2. Twice-baked potatoes
3. My husband's beef stew
4. Melt-in-your-mouth, top quality chocolate fudge

Four places you'd rather be:
1. Kauai
2. Nantucket
3. Moosehead Lake, ME
4. Scotland

Four albums you can't live without:
1. Marc Cohn "Marc Cohn"
2. "Ragtime" soundtrack
3. Vienna Teng "Warm Strangers"
4. Sarah McLachlan "Surfacing"

States I have visited

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