Ick, WindSparrow. Not the sort of thing you'd want to find at any time, much less first thing in the morning.

Might a covering on the floor help? We use cheap plastic stair runners that we originally got to protect the carpet during our move. We recycled them to protect the carpet from spilled food and litterbox accidents.

Andi, I know you said you didn't want to buy another litter box, but I did get this one--it has a high back and a flip top. Maybe this might stop the "peeing through the seal" issue.

We also had serious problems with Oswald NOT keeping his business in the box, so to speak. I know it's frustrating and stressful. I hope you can work something out that doesn't make you crazy.

I'm a slug this morning. It is one of those days where the list is so impressive that I can't even manage to get in the shower. But I have managed to pre-test Bobby for his Friday spelling test and get him off to school. Then I marked up Brendon's essay for him to redo and reprint and got him off to school. (I felt that his using &*#@ to suggest the subject of his essay swearing was inappropriate in a serious 8th grade essay)

We have a Bar Mitzvah to attend tonight. Brendon's best friend and my dearest friend's son. I'm reading something, but she hasn't sent it to me yet!!! Thanks to discussion here I found out about the multiples of 18 thing. The ceremony is tonight and there is a brunch thingy tomorrow. I'm guessing that I bring his gift tomorrow?

This is also Nascar weekend and we had tickets for all 3 days. Alas, we have 4 tickets going unused tonight. My mother and step-dad arrive tomorrow so Grandpa and the boys can do the races thing while Mom and I relax at home. This means that I have to make clean the house.

Yikes.

I'm actually sorry I wasn't here last night because school and teachers always a favorite subject. Maybe later. Because really, at 10:10 I should be already showered and in the office.

I just spent the last hour printing out my school materials for my next class Business Law. Damn, lots of reading coming up.

I have no advice on the catbox issue, though you have my empathy.

Today is C's birthday. We celebrated last night because she is spending the weekend with her dad. K-Bug is going with her this time, so hopefully this weekend will work out better than the last weekend C spent with her dad.

Andi, I feel your pain. My cat keeps pulling down the liner so he can pee behind it, rather than in the litter. I've started using mini-binder clips to keep the liner in place.

Which doesn't help your problem. A different style of box may be the only answer.

Which doesn't help your problem. A different style of box may be the only answer.

Or, in a cheaper method--finding a large enough cardboard box to cover the entire litter box? Just cut a kitty door in it and see if it catches the problem.

Hmm. I don't have much to add to the cat problem, but I can forsee that this might happen when my kitty grows up. I just changed to crystal cat littler, and he does not like how it feels on his feet, so he sort of perches on the edge of the box to pee. It is perhaps more amusing than it should be.

Regarding parenting/education issues-- I have no idea if this is something she made up, but my old boss was on a tour of our University with prospective students and their parents, and one of the parents asked "who will wake my son up in the morning?" and was upset when the she was told that getting himself up and going to class was his responsibility now.

My mother, on the other hand was REALLY hands off about school, probably to a weird extreme. She would never, for example, have read over my essay like Laura did, because in her brain, that was cheating. Luckily, I never wrote anything innappropraite. I don't think she ever once checked to see if I did my homework or anything, or helped me with any projects or anything. Of course, we didn't really get homework until 3rd grade, and didn't have any take home type projects (map-making, family trees) until 5th or 6th, so I was old enough to do it on my own.

one of the parents asked "who will wake my son up in the morning?" and was upset when the she was told that getting himself up and going to class was his responsibility now.

Good heavens. I was getting myself up for school from 4th or 5th grade on.

It probably helps that I'm naturally a morning person. But, by the time I was in high school, if I'd suggested to my mom that she make sure I got up in time for school she would have laughed herself into a hernia. And then grounded my ass if I'd overslept and missed any school time.

With my teenagers, they are on their own in the mornings, I'm in the office before they wake up. Neither has been tardy yet.

Shoot, even CJ (3rd grade), gets up, gets dressed, makes his lunch, and has breakfast with very little proding. When DH is working, CJ has the teenagers there to keep him on task, but they pretty much ignore him. My mom is upstairs through most of this but she makes sure he gets out the door to school on time (a short two block walk, no streets to cross).

Cheerios

Oh, and we just got quarter grades for both the girls. They both got 3.143 GPA's. C's best grades yet and K-Bugs worst, but with the heavy load she has, we are not complaining about much. The C+ in PE is an issue, but her teacher has already admitted he "goofed".