I came down stairs yesterday morning to find my husband and son sitting on the couch, doing word games, and the Christmas tree hanging precariously from the rope holding it upright. It was on an angle, leaning against my window and turned back to front, ornaments all over the floor. How you may ask did it get this way? Why my cat of course. Not Fatty Arbuckle (aka Smitty), the svelte supermodel Baby. How such a wisp of a cat managed to topple a tree single handedly (trust me, Smitty has sworn off all physical exertion so I know she had nothing to do with this) is beyond me. The tree is about 9 1/2 feet tall and was quite securely fastened to my curtain rod. Baby only weighs 8 pounds soaking wet! The math doesn't add up!
So how did this happen? Well the previous night, I went to bed and read. I fell asleep holding my ereader upright as I was pretty exhausted. I fell into a deep sleep but was abruptly awoken at around 12:30 am by husband to tell me that the cat had a mouse. We live in an old Victorian home that was built in 1890. It's beautiful, but we have to put up with the odd mouse. Why he felt the need to tell me that the cat had a mouse was beyond me. My brother-in-law is visiting for a few days (all is good LC and NM). I pretended to go back to sleep but had to listen to the comedy sketch unfolding downstairs . I don't know what they were trying to do, but these two grown men were making serious plans with the cat on how to eliminate the mouse. After an hour or so, I came downstairs and told everyone to get to bed, the cat would finish the deed and we'd hide the body and evidence in the morning. That's when my brother-in-law told me that my husband told him he must have caught 50 mice since we moved into the house almost 7 years ago.
Well first of all, that's a huge over-exaggeration, and second, lets get this straight, it was the cat who caught the mice, not my husband. Why he's trying to steal Baby's thunder is beyond me! My husband is a tall, husky man. He does not have the grace to pounce on mice, nor the stomach to walk around with live mice in his mouth. I put my brother-in-law straight which resulted in us breaking up into fits of laughter, probably due to sleep deprivation (on my part anyway). So we all went to bed, and I listened to my husband snore his way to sleep while I couldn't fall asleep again until 3:30am. Then I woke to the disaster in the living room. Apparently the last throes of the poor mouse's life happened under the tree and Baby's determination to keep the family safe (or her innate instinct) caused her to do whatever necessary to eliminate the villain. So the only thing I have to ask? Why was the tree not put to rights before I got up at 10:30 am? It only took seconds!!!!!!!
Murderess! I had to protect her identity because she is on the lamb.
Even in hiding, she poses like a super model.
Back to my Christmas torture. It actually wasn't that at all. On Christmas eve, my brother and future sister-in-law hosted dinner at my dad's place. I got there, proceeded to make pierogi with my brother and his fiancee, then pigged out on baked salmon and spinach salad. My brother made BITCH'IN salmon and I had two HUGE pieces. I was quite full when I left the table. No cheat there. Then the next day, we went to Christmas dinner at my in-laws place. My father in law went out special to get me some chicken breast and baked it for me. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law, brought a bunch of veggies and salad that I could eat. I pigged out on all the foods I am allowed to eat, and left Christmas dinner VERY satisfied. No cheat there either:)
Nothing makes me feel more loved and supported than the efforts that my extended family made on behalf of my life style change. I didn't even feel the urge to cheat because my whole family made it so easy for me not to. They supported my efforts 100% and not once did someone try to coerce me to do something I shouldn't. Instead they told me how great I looked and continued to encourage my weight-loss attempts. This and this alone made my Christmas one that I could breeze through. This was absolutely the best gift any of them could have given me.
A couple of days ago, I got another big reminder from my 4 year old about why I'm truly doing this. We were watching a show on TV and it mentioned that someone died. He's not even sure what death means, but knows it's bad. He looked at me and said "Mommy, I don't want you to die". That broke my heart. I got a bit choked up and told him I wouldn't die for a long, long time. Since I'm the one who has complete control over my health, I feel like I can make that promise and keep it. I love my life, my son, my husband, my family, more that any food I could ever eat. Like Katie J and Maren have told me, we are gonna rock 2012!!!!!!
Happy New Year from the C's!!!!!!!!!