the last couple of days have been hard ones. oh, maybe not all of them, but most of them. we spent monday with mcat at the movies. war of the worlds was pretty good too, though the theater itself kinda sucked. what surprised me was that almost no one was there. we were able to pick our seats even though we only had about 5 minutes before the show started when we got in. maybe it was the holiday, although in cali holidays are movie days for most people. maybe it was the theater itself. for all we know, the imax theater at another mall we go to was full up. regardless, i think there were maybe a half dozen people there besides us. pretty damn sad. after the movie (which we all enjoyed), we went to brusters for ice cream.

kitten certainly fell off her diet while here, that's for certain! and she had no qualms about doing it either. she regained her 2 pounds and probably then some during her 10 day stay. heh. that will change when she becomes a military bratling. ;)

tuesday was quiet, for the most part (well, except the bickering between all the girls started to increase dramatically, a side affect, i'm sure, of kitten's impending departure). she played a ps2 game with taz. we all ate supper together and watched a movie together. we'd already spent way too much while she was here, so there was no going out or anything. but it was nice to all be together. everyone woke up far too late on wednesday, but we all ate lunch together, watched a little pretender dvd. she packed. she snuggled hitomi for awhile. the good-byes were hard, especially for froggy. and had to be done twice as we had to come back and get kitten's medicine for a nasty cough she'd had most the time she was here.

i was fine until it was time to let her go at the airport. i watched her go through the gate, then curled up in saxy's arms and cried. we thought about buying me some chocolate, but i was too depressed even for that. we got in the car, i called her house in cali to let linnorm know she was on her way, and was pretty much quiet.

then saxy's cell rang. she had missed her plane and he needed to turn around and get her. we were in the middle of rush hour traffic, so that was going to be a real trip. i called linnorm's house again and let him we'd hit a snag. her plane left earlier than what he had told us by 10 minutes, and earlier than what i thought by a half an hour. but she was at the gate right around the time she was told to be by the people at the ticket counter, so something happened during the transition of getting told where to board and getting to where to board. we didn't see her after she went through, so i don't know what the deal was. her luggage was on the right plane though. and, while we're trying to figure out how to get through the traffic to turn around, she calls yet again to say the airline had found her a flight and not to worry about coming back. she gave me the arrival time and the airline but no flight number.

i waited until i got home to call linnorm this time. called him at work, told him what had happened and passed on what little i knew about the new flight. then tropical storm cindy hit (cindy strikes me as so wrong of a name for a hurricane or tropical storm or anything else less than innocent) and linnorm called us to say she had just called him to tell him her flight was now delayed. we made arrangements for him to email me when she arrived home safely. in the meantime, i spent the next 6 hours popping on and off the pc - not willing to leave it on with kind of drama cindy was throwing around outside, but not able to sleep until i knew kitten was home safe - watching for that email.

it came in around 4:30 or 5 am. i had to be up at 8 to take taz to a doctor appointment. to say i was pretty dang tired would be an understatement. on top of that, i woke up with one of my nastier storm headaches. the second on this week, although i didn't have to put something over my face to block out painful, dull gray light this time. when i came home, i tried to stay up to avoid what i'm doing now (being awake at 3:30 in the morning), but i was pretty worn out and ended up with a 4 hour power nap in 2 mini-nap segments. i've pretty much had to stay fairly doped up most of the day to keep the storm headache (translated: migraines triggered by changes in weather) at bay.

which reminds, time for another dose of pain killer.

the kids just about back to normal - the bickering scale has gone back down significantly, at least. a letter arrived from froggy's new school today with info on the open house (which is when we'll get her homeroom and bus info), her supply list, and a copy of the dress code. we started sorting through things to see what will need to be purchased in the next month. yes, indeed, school starts august 8 out here. i spoke briefly to kitten trying to find a graphing calculator for jewel (no luck), and we passed on that if she gets discharged while during boot camp for bad knees/hips/whatever she can call us and we'll go and get her (knowing that not only does linnorm's brother not want any more kids in "his" house, but also knowing she has no desire to be there).

kitten's cat, hitomi, is another matter, however. she just might be seriously harmed if she doesn't figure out where the catbox is and stop peeing elsewhere. granted, it's something of a miracle that she's starting to roam around the house at all, considering what a miserable, frightened thing she was when she arrived, but i don't want to have to watch her every minute to make sure she doesn't pee on something unwashable or nonreplacable. we're putting her in the carrying crate at night to keep her from roaming and peeing where she will, and putting her in our room with the door closed so she doesn't keep anyone awake with her cries. during the day she's watched and tossed in the catbox every now and then. on the up side, she's finally eating food and drinking water from the communal cat pet bowls rather than needing her own bowls right by the crate. the kitty spats have also begun, since she's more willing to roam around now. poor vagner has to deal with 2 hissy females right now, and he's been stuck in the middle of the two more than once. fortunately, no actual fighting as of yet, and it all seems to be progressing at a normal pace.

it was a wonderful little visit with my girl. i miss her. and letting go is hard. the fact that i have to do this at least twice more isn't something i look forward too. *sigh*

just as long as none of them leave me any more cats!