Kittens, Kids and the Whole Kaboodle

It's been quite the interesting time here the past couple of days. To look at this picture of our sweet little kitten -Chino -daughter of our Mamma Cat, Jorge, one would think all is just "peaches and cream."
Isn't she just the epitome of sweetness and innocence though? Especially the innocence, huh?

Well, let me just tell you what this little cutie pie is REALLY like!

I have no idea what she does when she goes upstairs in this house, but suffice it to say, she makes a whole lot of noise! Running and chasing whatever goodies it is she finds, sometimes, the noises coming through the ceiling as I sit here at the computer or in the lounge chair, working on my embroidery stuff, sounds like this little kitten must be rolling some kind of big balls or boxes all over the place upstairs.

Yesterday though, as I sat here, I could hear her coming down the steps -slowly, very slowly but not exactly quietly. What the heck is that simple kitten doing was running through my mind and then, there she was, beside my chair, with this blue thing that I've never before seen in this house -where it came from is beyond me -but she dropped this on the floor by my feet and then, immediately went to work, batting it all about the floor.
Isn't this just the cutest little baby's first Christmas stocking though? Now, not only was this "find" of Chino's a mystery to me, it was also an unknown item to Mandy too! Neither of us had ever laid eyes on this particular item before! Amazing, isn't it, what a three month old kitten can scrounge within one's home?

Monday morning, my son called me about 7 a.m. I answered the phone to hear his voice and he says "Are you awake?"

"Well, I am now," was my swift reply. Actually, I was enroute to the bathroom and had figured on crawling back into bed for a couple more winks but now that I'm talking to him on the phone, I know that won't happen because once I start to chat, the urge to go back to sleep right away kind of fades out of my mind.

"I thought I'd call and invite you to come up to my place and have a cup of coffee," he says.

Well, since Maya was asleep out in my room, downstairs here, Kurtis was still sleeping as were Mandy and Bill too -and who knows when they might be planning to get up, I figured I couldn't just pick up and leave. Mainly because of Maya being in my room, that is. Then I glanced over on the couch and saw she had awakened and come into the living room, so I figured what the heck, we'll go up and have coffee after all with Uncle Clate -except that it wouldn't be just me but that I'd have his sweet but very mischievous niece with me.

So away we went.

Needless to say, Uncle Clate was really surprised when I showed up with Maya in tow. She high tailed it right to the drum set in his "bar room" and began pounding out her particular brand of music for us. Actually, all things considered, she does a half-decent job on the drums -for a kid, not quite five years old ya know.

But then, the drums became old hat to her and she came out to the kitchen table where we were sitting, enjoying a nice hot cup of caffeine. "Take me to see Nina's babies, Uncle Clate," she ordered. And he obliged her too -mainly cause he is a sucker for anything she wants that is within his power to deliver! So upstairs they went to Uncle Clate's room and she was in her element, oohing and ahhing over the two little ones that have survived there thus far.

When they returned downstair, Clate informed me that Maya had decided the kittens had to have names -so she named them. One kitten is now named "Beano" and the other, is "Channel Beaner." Now how on earth she came up with those names -especially the "Channel Beaner" is beyond me -Uncle Clate, Mandy -anyone around here. Clate figures she decided on "Beano" either from watching too many commercials for gas reducton products or perhaps, it was just because it rhyme with Chino -our little kitten here!

Wednesday, Mandy came in the house and announced to me that I might want to check out what her daughter, my sweet little Princess, had been into of mine. And then she pointed to the dining room table. There on the table were two of the table runners I have purchased to embroider -hopefully as Christmas gifts, all spread out and also, both of them had the markings of Maya on them. Maya, armed with a pen, that is!

I apologize that it is really difficult to see her inkings on here -but trust me, they are there! The blue design you CAN see are the tracings I'm supposed to use with different colors of embroidery floss to make the design all nice and pretty -and of course, Christmassy, ya see.
I thought on the blog that perhaps these pictures could be enlarged -not sure if they can or not -but maybe if they can, you can make out her drawings then on this view.
Here's the second table runner she decided needed just a little more "design added" feature. I'm wondering now if when I get around to embroidering these, if I should just pick a color of floss and embroider over her inkwork there -make it a more "personalized" type gift that way -added value, bigger memento factor -all provided by Miss Maya.

This morning, while we were waiting for the time to pass till her van would arrive to take her to school, I suddenly got this ominous feeling -it was very quiet in the house. Yeah, and you know by now quiet, when Maya is loose is not a good thing! Not at all.

Looked around a bit and called out to her and she responded. Ah, she's in the kitchen. Then I see her, sitting on a stool, up at the counter with some unidentifiable item in front of her. What the heck is that anyway? Oh, gee -it's my one lone tomato from my little garden along the side of the house. The only tomato thus far that actually ripened for me.

But wait, what's that other item by the tomato? It's a little bottle of "White-Out" -ya know the stuff you put over typos and then redo your work. Yeah, that stuff. Where it came from, who had even brought it in the house, since we don't really have a need here for a bottle of this stuff, is beyond me but apparently Maya knew it was here!

And she had decided my lovely little tomato needed spruced up too!
Sweet, isn't it?

Well, Maya wasn't quite finished though. Though I thought I had wiped any traces of the "White-out" off her, after we got outside and were ready for the van to pick her up, I glanced down and realized she had a big blob of the White-out -right on the tip of her nose, no less!

I grabbed a piece of fabric that was handy and tried to wipe it off but she wouldn't let me rub hard enough to remove all traces of it and the van was approaching so I grabbed the camera and took these picture of her then.


And then the van arrived and took Maya away for her classes today!

Not a minute too soon either I might add! Heaven only knows what else she might have found and got into that early in the day!