Saturday morning I woke up too early and got dressed then brought all my stuff upstairs, kissed Dawg “bye!”, then packed everything in the car to head to VT for EZA’s birfdy party and to drive the girls Home. Did I mention I woke up too early? Yah, I kinda was a little groggy despite my yummy iced Americano from ESparks and ended up taking the L.I.E. west instead of east so ended up in Manhattan at Park Avenue during a bike race. Did you know New York City has big, tall buildings? Did you know those big, tall buildings make your GPS lose satellite reception? heh. They do!!! When I finally got out of Manhattan it was smooth sailing to VT.

When I arrived I spent a few minutes with the human kids first, brought in all my stuff except EZA’s presents so he wouldn’t get allll exciiiiiiited, then I rushed into the guest bedroom at which point Ripley instantly started mewing, “Mama! Mama!” at me. Everyone came out for hugs then I gave them a treat, scooped their litter box, gave them fresh water, gave them more love, then headed out into the rest of the house to clean up for the party the next day. I know I kept sneaking back into the bedroom for more cuddle time, and I know I was pretty tired that night, with my feet hurting, but I can’t remember all that I did. … Oh! Yes… The party store. I spent over an hour chasing LLA around the party store while EZA and HLW picked out piñata and goodie bag and treasure hunt items, then we went to the Chinese restaurant. HLW and I scoured the menu for the million yummy things we wanted to eat, then everyone else went outside while I ordered a fountain soda Coke, downed it in 15 seconds, then went outside to play while the food cooked. We had Long Trail Belgian white beer with dinner then after dinner when the kids were in bed Break Boy, HLW, and I looked in the Amish Market bag I brought that contained lots of yummy chocolates. We pulled out the mini chocolate bottles filled with real alcohol (yah, like 1/8th ounce per chocolate) and taste tested. I had the espresso one to counteract the alcohol so I could make it to bedtime without falling asleep where I stood, then I switched to Reese’s peanut butter cups. :smiles: Classy Poppy. (Or is that Klassy?) After bedtime phone call with Dawg I fell asleep, completely worn out, with the girls on the bed.

Had a hard time waking up the next day so I went straight for the caffeine and a shower. After that I was able to get motivated so while EZA was otherwise occupied I snuck to the car and got his presents from the hot, hot car. Let me just tell you that gift bags are not meant to withstand 100+ degree heat, so the bag I had shoved Squishy Bunny into burst open at the seam.

Duct tape repaired the damage and I was able to stuff the bunny back into the bag. We all did prep work for the party, including making honey oat bread with LLA (yum!).

Then the party started: Greeting everyone, refreshments, cake, alien piñata, gifts (his favorite gift: Squishy Bunny Universe-ity Mr. Nibbles Fluffball!), sandbox treasure hunt.

Then I got exhausted from the hot sun and went to lie down for a minute while the party continued. An unknown time later I woke up in a pile of my own drool and the party was winding down after water balloon fights and pool time for the kids. After everyone else took off I poked my head out of the bedroom and hung out with the family to make yummy veggie stir fry over crystallized ginger basmati rice (*DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL*). Then we had another little party of EZA opening the rest of the gifts I bought him, which were mostly alien and robot themed paper, pencils, erasers, rulers, markers, toys, and stickers from Borders, at which I am now a Borders Rewards member thanks completely to EZA. :smiles:

After dinner the kiddos went to bed and Break Boy, HLW, and I watched recorded Olympics then I went to the bedroom for a bedtime phone call with Dawg where we swapped stories about our awesome days. I went to sleep completely exhausted again, with the most important task ahead of me.

I woke up the next morning with kitties surrounding me, got up to take a shower and finish packing that I fit in most of the day before but don’t really remember when, then it was time to go. The girls mewed for the first hour, but after that they completely settled down. Best part — NO drugs were used to get them to calm down. We stopped off at a gas station at the 3-hour mark and had water time. Dawg is obviously psychically tuned to our station because he happened to call me right then when I wasn’t driving to tell me news: OUR APARTMENT IS READY FOR US TO MOVE IN! Yup, that’s right, we now are the proud renters of a top floor apartment overlooking a quiet neighborhood with the cheapest rent I’ve heard of in New York history, AND ALL THREE GIRLS ARE PERMITTED TO LIVE THERE WITH US. WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! During the rest stop I called to make plans with the apartment building owner to meet for lease signing and key exchange then the girls and I hit the road for the end of our journey to Queens.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The kitties absolutely love being here. Too bad they need to move one more time, but I know they’ll love the apartment. LOTS of windows with huge sills for them to bask in, lots of closets to hide in, a long hardwood floor hallway to run and slide down, a huge tub for them to play in, a huge kitchen sink for them to stand in while they drink from the faucet, and lots of doors (seven inside the apartment) for them to hide behind to scare the shit out of each other. :grins:

Up this week: Phone interviews (the one I had today went a’ight, but I prefer in-person interviews), apartment move-in prep, and lots of kitty lovin’ from me and Dawg. :love: :kitteh: :love: