Three on Thursday

I am feeling extremely uninspired right now. But, I've got a good streak going on and want to post something. Rather than developing any one snippet very well, I'm going to write about three rather roughly.

1. I think I got scammed today. While I was applying my Bare Minerals make-up (ta-da!), the blue wall phone in my bathroom rang and I found myself speaking to a pleasant Paula Dean sounding woman, who explained that she was calling on behalf of the Blind and Handicapped Association and they weren't asking for a donation or seeking out charity, but instead, they were asking me to support the blind and handicapped who worked to take care of themselves. That sales pitch gelled with my need for balance between helping people who are at a disadvantage in life and encouraging self-reliance. She explained that they were selling seven-year lightbulbs, a flag kit and a mop. I actually needed a mop so I told her that I'd get that. For $60. O.K. That's one overpriced mop, but...it's supporting a good cause, right?

Now, normally I am a "No" and hang-up before they can even start their spiel, but the other day, I was reading the blog of a friend who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She has been unable to work and take care of herself for fourteen years because of her disability. With her despair still fresh in my head, I gallantly offered to buy the mop, but once I was off the phone, I couldn't shake the feeling that something didn't feel right. When I described what happened to my sister, Sarah, she said, "Google them."

In the Google search bar, I typed, "Blind and Handicapped selling lightbulbs," and this forum about a 251 area code (which is what my Caller ID showed) popped up at the top of the result list. I clicked on it and it was filled with all of these people who were complaining about a so-called group selling lightbulbs, Flag kits and mops (and air-fresheners, but they weren't offered to me)for the blind and handicapped association that were poor quality and cheaply made. One of the comments was written by someone who claimed to have worked there and she said that it's a for-profit telemarketing company that changes its phone number every few days so the BBB can't find them. The guy running it is supposedly an ex-con. Still, it didn't feel like an obvious scam. I didn't have to give my credit card information and the kind southern woman promised by buying a mop, I wasn't being put on some subscription list with pages of fine print. So...I don't know. I guess I'll wait and see what the mop looks like.

2. I had a stowaway cat in my car for the better part of the day. The two kittens we got are exclusively garage cats. It's a finished garage so it's perfectly comfortable in both summer and winter. They are excellent mousers, killing machines if you want to know the truth, and I've been pleased with our decision to get them. However, the Siamese-looking cat really wants to be a house cat and sneaks inside at every available opportunity and the black cat is in love with the inside of my minivan. One morning, I started backing out of the garage and started screaming when a pair of yellow eyes looked back at me from the dashboard.

Today, after leaving a Chinese cooking class relief society meeting, I headed into town to have lunch with my friend, Sue, and heard meowing. Sure enough, there was Jem standing on all fours right behind me. She had to have been in there since I took the boys to school at 7:30 am. That's the only explanation I can think of unless there is a hole somewhere in the floor of my car she can crawl up through. Since she had been in there for almost five hours, I knew she had to go to the bathroom but I was in town and cats aren't like dogs. They don't seem to go just anywhere, do they? I took a chance and left her in the car while I went to lunch, wondering what I was going to do because I had a choir practice at the college at 2:30. Luckily, Sue and I finished before then and I had just enough time to drive all the way back home, get rid of the cat and get back to the college. I may be paranoid, but I think I got a whiff of cat pee. There were some beach towels in the cargo area which I took out to wash and I'm fervently hoping that the smell (which may be imaginary after all. You know when you're expecting a smell and you can almost produce it?) was really the towels (which were from swimming, so that doesn't really make sense. Unless the cat peed on those). I'm more than a little disturbed by it.

3. It hit me today that Henry is almost five. He's sick today, so I was carrying him on my hip when we went into the library during soccer practice, and I realized that I hardly ever carry him like that anymore. He's almost....too big. All kids eventually reach that stage. After all, I don't ever carry Seth or Sam on my hip anymore. Can you imagine (just got a good chuckle picturing Seth dangling off my hip)? It's odd because I never felt especially sentimental when I got rid of our crib, bottles, exersaucer etc. I don't know if the baby years were more stressful for me so I was less sad to see them go, or if it just happened so fast that I didn't have time to be sentimental, but I am almost to the point where my hips will have become useless. No more child bearing. No more hip toting. Now what excuse will I have?

Seriously, when that thought came, I almost started weeping (the one about no longer having a young child. Not the one about being able to explain my wide hips). Henry's been so little for so long, I suppose I thought it would it would always be that way. Instead, he is disobeying me just like my other boys and growing up.