I wore knee high black boots today. Not my favorites, but those died. Need to get new favorites, but I got a cat instead. Or a gutterspout. Or ceiling. Depending on how you count.

Pumpkin has become the Little One or 'ween Kitty. MK is Old Man, Loki is Little Man (or asshole, depending) and Devi is my Baby Girl (or bitch kitty.)

Cortez is my Little Lion Man, because he's very yellow instead of orange. And Switch is generally "the baby" because he's the youngest.

Little Man has become a joke because he's the freaking hugest cat in the house. Though Pumpkin may give him a run for it as she's on a see-food diet despite my efforts (and the rest are on a graze diet. So maybe Loki will be on a Pumpkin diet?)

Side note: Did anyone here ever use Save the Baby (a really old salve for coughs and such)? I had forgotten how amazing it is. My mom was recently very sick, and she dug up an old jar of it. After trying every other cough/decongestant out there, she tried it--and it worked like magic. I remember the smell as being incredibly comforting as a kid because it let me sleep when nothing else did.

Anyway, she later looked for it in pharmacies and couldn’t find it, so I tracked it down online. Very happy to have found it here: [link]

I ordered one for me and one for my mom. I wanted to share for those who haven’t ever tried it. You just rub it on your chest and breathe and sleep. It’s great.

Pix, is that like super vicks?

It is, but it’s a much older recipe:

Since 1874 Lee's Save the Baby has been relieving coughs in children and adults so they can sleep through the night or make it through the day without hacking. Just rub this old-time salve onto your chest and it reduces the impulse to cough, which helps you sleep. The formula has not changed much, and this remedy containing petrolatum, camphor, oregano, rosemary, and balsam oils is still as effective as ever.

Thanks for the support. K-Bug went with me today when I took CJ to the fire (driving toward a fire feels very strange). She got to see how nervous I was after I dropped him off.

And between starting this post and now, CJ came home with one of his ARP buddies. He is going to spend the night over at his place since there is no school tomorrow.

As we waited for CJ to pack up his stuff I got to hear how he was almost arrested. I had dropped him off where a cop was blockading a street near the fire. CJ got half way up the block past the blockade when the cop called him back, threatening arrest. CJ returned and tried to explain ARP, showed his pager with the fire call/address, and the dude still wanted to arrest CJ. He finally told CJ to call his captain, which he did. The cop and the captain had a very terse phone conversation before CJ was allowed to proceed to the fire. Crazy!!!

Wow, just caught up on CJ. Quite a kiddo you have there, Suzi.

Suzi, glad CJ wasn't arrested. Yikes (also, I love that he is sticking up for one of the other dojo kids).

I am tired. Bone weary tired.

Next week Grace starts 13.5 hours/week of applied behavioral therapy. Which will be good for her, I'm sure. But also maddening because it's Another Thing to be scheduled.

I also need to get a turkey (or look for turkey sales) for thanksgiving.

Kat, for what it’s worth, I hope you know you and the family are always welcome at our big urban family Thanksgiving, if you’d like to enjoy the food rather than worrying about cooking it.