Chapter 161: Surviving the End of the World

 This week started off like it was really going to be winter. There was snow in the yard when I got up for work, but it was too dark to take any pictures so I took a picture of Bear's basketball that he left on the patio. As I descended into the valley to go to work I was sad to see that there was no snow although the snow at home didn't last long and was gone by mid-morning anyway.

On the last day of school I grabbed my jacket and fled my desk for the holidays. Unfortunately the jacket I grabbed wasn't mine. It belonged to the student that had returned after school looking for it . While I tell him I hadn't seen it, it was snug in my bag without me knowing what I had done yet. Sooo, after I got home and figured it out that I hadn't taken a jacket to school, I took it to the SuperMall of the Great Northwest where he was volunteering to wrap gifts as a fundraiser. I haven't been to the SuperMall in a long time. I really feel their choice of Christmas decor is not going to get their customers in the Christmas spirit and make them open their wallets and leave their money. While I was staring at this horrifying scene, Santa came through being escorted to his throne for pictures. What no elves, just ladies in aprons??? That's just not right. I need elves to get me into the Christmas spirit.

While I was at the SuperMall, I bought Nitro a crunchy, crackly kitty tunnel with lights. Of course the lights didn't work...Duh, that's why it was on clearance! Bob decided he was going to try to make them work because he didn't want a "disappointed kitty". Like a cat cares. Pretty soon Bob had his test equipment and soldering iron out making a real task out of fixing a $5 cat toy that essentially worked. I wasn't clear sure Nitro needed flashing lights, but Bob was. In the end Bob accomplished his mission, but Nitro really didn't care about the lights. At all. Surprise!

So. I was making my niece, Payton, a fabric dollhouse. Since I was making it off a picture from the internet, it was a bit of a challenge anyway. The challenge was exponentially increased as I had to dodge sharp claws emerging from the bowels of my sewing machine at unexpected intervals. Nitro actually got his claw stuck in my finger once then pulled it back through the sewing machine. Rather painful if I may say so myself. I think I got him involved with my sewing projects when I was using his catnip laced scratching board as a purse form when I made my seat belt purse. This was not something I factored in when I was choosing materials and decided his cat scratcher was the perfect size for a purse form.

Nitro inspecting the inside of Payton's dollhouse. You know how cats like fireplaces! 

Here Payton's house is completed. The front yard folds up and Velcros closed to make the front of the house. 

I spent a lot of time on this house, and even if Payton doesn't play with it, it was a fun project to make and kept me entertained on many of our dark winter evenings. Well, about 10 of them anyway. 

Since we didn’t have much of anything happening at our house this year, we didn’t do really decorate. Bob got the tree out of the window seat and set it up last week so I did my part and went to the Dollar Tree and bought  $3 of these snowflake ornaments to hang on the tree.

Ta Da! Here’s our fully decorated, attic-trip-free Christmas tree. Normally I put a bunch of bells around the bottom branches as a sort of “kitty alarm” to help me keep the currently residing cat out of the tree. 

Since I didn’t get the Christmas ornaments out this year, I had no bells. As you can see, I need bells. Lots of bells.

 Bob decided he needed to get his old slot car racing set out of the attic and set it up. This reminded him that Carissa also had an electric race car set stashed up in the closet (feel free to take it to your house, Carissa) so Bob went and got that down as well. Here he is getting (playing) his slot car set unpacked.

After Bob got Carissa's train set out and set up on the floor, Nitro decided he just had to see what was going on so, as usual, he got right in the middle of things. As you can see in the video below, he kept being surprised by the car coming around the track each time. Sure doesn't take much to keep a couple of old people entertained, does it?

JoAnn, recognize the Camp Fire candy box? 

This afternoon we went to JoAnn's for a family get-together since Jenna, Payton, and Kyle were going to be here from Oregon. A good time was had by all. For those of you that didn't know, Bob and JoAnn's mom (Grama) bought the girls matching jammies each year starting when we only had Kyanne and Carissa. Kyanne and Carissa chose to pick up and carry on the torch that Grama had carried for so many years by getting jammies for all the girls and one for Payton. They agreed that next year Jenna and Chelsea would  take the torch for a year. And next year there will be one more to buy jammies for since Jenna and Kyle announced that they are once again expecting another baby! Woo Hoo!

JoAnn wanted a picture of the girls with Grampa. It was really hard to tame the squirming masses long enough too get a photo. Since I was sure these animals would only tame for so long, I tried to poach a picture over Chris' shoulder. 

Merry Christmas Everyone! Enjoy your holiday.

P.S. Mom & Dad Keefer, give me a call. I've been trying to call for over a week to all 3 phones and only get voice mail!