The Art Show and the Killer Cat

2000

Let's see.
Thursday night.
My night to sit down and watch mystery. Update the web. Think.
NOT!
My youngest son has things hanging in the art gallery show - three things.
Done BEFORE he brought home the dragon's eye (Oh my God is he talented! And the art teacher's say so!)
So - Mom must leave work early and attend. Of course.
Never mind that I have a 3-day solo class coming up. (As in I teach solo to a room full of design engineers - the Advanced Chip Synthesis class.)
Never mind that I have to research out WBT (web based training) and maybe find an evening class or two and check on consultants and put together a 2-3 hour WBT project on clocks and synthesis.
Never mind that one or two domain names are not yet moved........
And I haven't closed on fulfillment...
And the bindery messed up the posters!!!! And more may need to be sent to RT.
Nope.
Never mind all that.
My older son, newly promoted, and now a manager no less, also must leave work early and arrive. It is expected. It was demanded.
My younger son refused the offer of clean clothes (dress-up version) - refusing to change (since he hates changing in the restroom at school or the classroom - if you ever saw his room, you would wonder at this reaction).
So we will meet him at 5:30PM. We drive home early to miss a 2-3 hour commute up 237.
It's 30 minutes across Fremont to the college.
We meet at my house (my older son and I) and race out to the grocery store that used to be called Lucky's and now isn't, and buy a $35 platter of Buffalo wings. Which my older son threatens to devour. He claims we can just bring a plate of bones and some dip. The wings are safely stashed in the truck.
We also run into Starbucks. Decafe blended (low fat) no whip Grande mocha with a shot of caramel (with Sweet &Low added it is enough to melt your teeth).
Back at the house, my older son chastised me - my attempts at a calendar design are not good enough.
8x10 is now 11x12. Or 121x12. I am thinking. Most of the photos are square! Hmmmm.
And I will go out and design the master in Illustrator 8 - which I have on the G4 but not at work - the PC upgrade has never arrived! And Illustrator 9 has been announced.
Next month I will order upgrades for both systems.
I just loaded the software and it is obsolete! Of course it sat on a shelf waiting for me to load it for 6 months.
You can't do that these days!
Anyway - I was out of practice thinking outside the box - so I will get my butt in gear.
(Troy gets all this design work for free.)
We decide it's time to leave - and the wind is hashing my hair. I grab a scarf - and forget a jacket - so did both my boys - as a result we nearly froze.
My younger one is delighted when we arrive and we climb up from the parking lot to the Gallery. We are early.
We deliver an untouched platter of Buffalo Wings. (Amazing.)
We get an uncluttered and uncrowded view of the art on display. One young man (actually not a teenager - an older student) does knock-you-dead graphics.
I asked him to do a splash page for White Enterprises. He will get back to me.
My son has hung one life drawing that I did not see get framed - done before I got to the art store.
It is a male nude - cutoff back and head and legs - mostly torso - and incredible.
That he is skilled is obvious.
His oils on display are nice - but the later ones he did are at home (and decorating every white wall in the house - I beat him off the space reserved for hanging shelves so I can organize my software) - well, these oils are spectacular.
And the airbrushed dragon's eye is as good as any commercial art I've seen.
The kid is good.
We mingle around and I meet some of his teachers. Turns out he's been bragging about me and the book (Jettison).
My older son does a "stylin'" thing with shades on a scupture.
We both have cameras.
My younger one knows all the women.
Eventually we drift out to see a fibber-McGee artwork - rolling ball, candles, falling 2x4 dominoes, that drop a sign for the art show (It didn;t work but was a good attempt anyway) and then we go in (out of the freezing wind) to watch an award ceremony in the auditorium.
My younger son won $100 for his work.
Pretty cool.
To celebrate - we tear off to the Olive Garden. For dinner.
First, my older one gets me a glass of red wine. And this is a mistake.
On an empty (or very nearly - I don't count the one piece of fudge at the reception) stomach, wine has an interesting effect on me. My face turned red (but I didn't notice).
My voice got loud (both my sons went and sat on the other side of the table).
I ate my salad and drank water.
I had a cup of decaf Cappuccino.
I had ravioli stuffed with Portobello mushroom.
I had a chocolate raspberry cheesecake thing.
During all this we (actually they) discussed a book project.
101 ways to kill a spider.
Yuck!
This was triggered by the spider that had wandered into the truck on the way over to the restaurant. My older son crushed it into the window. This led to other instances of his spider chasing.
Boys can be very graphic.
They have warped senses of humor.
They think this is fun.
I cringe.
I had finished my wine.
My older son drove me home.
After I gave him proper directions to get out of the parking lot.
I slept Thursday night.
But not until we had a small incident - seems the cats had freaked out at a "stranger" in the house.
Ranger earlier had slunk - belly-down - away from my older son when he arrived. Then broke into a low-to-the-ground run. LittleBit had immediately disappeared.
Now, a few hours later, LittleBit climbed into a window - and sent the lava lamp crashing, along with broken glass (a mug) and a spilled puzzle.
I lifted her (holding her upside down calms her) - but she turned and twisted - I hung on - because if she was loose she would leave tracks across my stomach.
I yelped.
My sons ran to help.
My younger one could have grabbed her but the older one was quicker.
But - Littlebit was even faster because this was, of course, the stranger who now had her. She did her flip and claw action (with newly clipped claws) and tore up my son's hand and arm. She had left lighter trails across my hands and arms. I have red streaks. She drew a lot of blood from him.
My younger son having used up all the bandages in the house (and not telling me), we were hard pressed to bandage the older one up. He headed for a sink, we headed into search mode.
Bad for a Boy Scout house! I had Neosporine. My younger one found bandages and scissors.
LittleBit now has been renamed - LittleBi _ch. (The boys hate her. I thought I was making progress.)
Her fate is undetermined - she may go back to rescue or she may have to be declawed.
If I ever find her. She is well-hidden and I only had a glimpse of her this morning (Friday). There is a hole in the back of the sink cupboard - I have a bad feeling.
(She will yowl for attention if out of food.)
Ranger went and hid in the attic this evening.
The dog is in my younger son's room.
The newer kitten has not settled.
She has to be caught to be petted.
She will scratch. She keeps her ears back.
She can't be groomed because she bit the groomer (and clawed her too.)
It takes two of us to trim her claws.
And she has to be hunted and caught to be taken for the monthly nail trimming.
She runs and hides.
Not a very good thing in this house.
My older one called me when he got home last night - so I wouldn't worry.
Funny how fast you can sober up.
The standing joke has now become "Well, I almostgot out of my mother's house unharmed."
Groan!
And this is after he had successfully patched the domain request for Donnamaie.com and helped me find that my commercial site's domain had (at long last - after three weeks) moved to Verio.
I need a simpler life!
Or maybe it has to do with the planets.
Here kitty, kitty, kitty!