bananas inspired by banana.

Well, it has been an extraordinarily long week for me. There have been deadlines, difficult accounting issues (please read: FAS 157), and clients seeking answers. Today we issued an audit report/financial statements.......2 days before the deadline. booyah. Anyway, I really wanted to eat a banana this evening and I couldn't help but notice the sticker on the banana. Please see below:

It reads, "please stick on forehead and smile".........I was inspired. I'm not sure if it was the 5 cups of coffee or the 2 cans of mountain dew today, but I thought it was a terribly good idea to do as the sticker told me.......and then some.

*Update - I just re-read this post.......the picture above looks scary......I was actually trying to make a "funny face". Long week, go figure.

Then I thought, "hey, I'm like 'Che' "......I have; 1) a catchy slogan, 2). a banana, and 3). a plant to hide behind. Wait a minute.

Nice, there's my plant.

Ok, now to the eating of the banana.

Mmmmmm, delightful.

Uggh, 10:53pm. Off to bed. Good night.

Franny "Das Wunder Kitty"

Michelle and I awoke this morning to a most peculiar sight. To back track, Michelle and I have become increasing concerned that our cat is, well, three words; "a mad genius". She has a almost too cool demeanor that makes you think she is up to something. Oh sure, she "acts" sleepy during the evening but when the lights turn off Franny (or should I say, "Che" in cognito) goes into overdrive. Case in point. Franny apparently likes to read as she is, well, using the facilities.

Curious, no? But what is she reading???? Interesting, information regarding the latest stimulus bill....maybe she is trying to think up her own stimulus bill - more money for cat nip, perhaps.

My goodness look at that face. Without a doubt she is certainly planning something.

And what would lead us to believe she is trying her own stimulus plan? You might ask. Well, you would brush up on your economics reading. And just as I was thinking this thought I looked at the couch and.....egads, there she was calm as a clam reading my The Economist.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Andrew and I had the pleasure of spending some time with my family this weekend. Saturday, after work, we headed east to my sister & brother-in-law's house. After an uneventful 2 1/2 hour drive, we made it to their house. Lily had just fallen asleep and Ryan was at work, so we visited with Lindsay and helped make some soup. It was a good time. Ryan came home - we all watched a lot of home shows - then it was bedtime.
The next day, brought Church in the morning. After the sermon, we went to pick Lily up from the nursery. She saw me, ran to me, and requested that I pick her up -one of my favorite moments. After Church, Lindsay and Ryan had a meeting, so that left Andrew and I as babysitters. Despite, Lily's initial sadness (she can make by far the saddest face I have every seen, just looking at it made me cry) and her lack luster appetite, she eventually decided she could have fun without her parents there. We built with bricks and blocks, read some books, and played with her doll babies. Then it was nap time. I was a little tired to, so when rocking her to sleep, I decided to just nap with her. I woke up about an hour in, and spent another 1/2 hour just watching her sleep. She is beautiful!
I heard my parents arrive, so I put Lily in her crib, and went down to visit with them. Lily went on to sleep for another 1/2 hour. Almost right after she woke up, my sister and Ryan returned from their meeting. The whole family had some great bonding over some of my Grandma Stipe's jewelry, my old baby p.j.'s and some good children's books. We then all went out to dinner. Lily showed off some of the words she knows - "Mine" and "eat" were the most used. After dinner, we all went our separate ways. All and all it was a great visit, one might say, it was the best of times...
Our drive home, however, quickly became the worst of times...on the outskirts of the town my sister and brother-in-law live in, it began snowing in almost white out conditions. As we got closer to the main highway we take to get to the toll road the snow slowed and then stopped. So as we merged onto the main highway, the air was clear as were the roads - or so it appeared. A little while after merging, we passed a jeep, a very little while after passing the jeep, we saw it loose control and run head on into the 4 foot cement median. At that point we determined, that the road conditions might not have been as okay as they seemed - so we slowed down. About 5 minutes later - we witnessed a truck, traveling in the opposite direction that we were, slip and do a 180, then crash into the median. At that point I officially started freaking out. We had cars (mainly SUV's) ZOOMING by us - you could tell they had not witnessed what we witnessed. About another 5-10 minutes, we noticed that a police car was blocking all the lanes of the highway, forcing all cars to exit. There was also a police car blocking the on ramp, back onto the highway, so we were forced to go down an unknown road. After some failed attempts to get some navigational assistance, we just decided to "head north" until we "ran into" the toll road. It ended up being about a 30-45 minute detour, but we did eventually find the toll road. At this point I considered us home free. The road seemed clear, the air seemed clear, all cars were traveling at normal toll road speeds, and there were no indications of accidents. So we traveled at normal speeds for around 20 miles - at which point Andrew decided it was now safe to use the cruise control. As it turned out, we weren't able to use it long - as it started snowing ever so slightly. Then, white out experience! Andrew made mention of "knowing what happens after this kind of snow" making reference to the previous accidents we had seen.
The snow continued - in white out conditions - and I started imagining every car that past us wiping out and crashing. This made me so nervous, I really thought I was going to throw up. But just as I thought I could take no more, the snow subsided - and eventually stopped and we had finally made it to the south side of Chicago. As we got closer to downtown, it began snowing - yet again. I could hardly believe it - hadn't we had enough already! This snow never got too hard this time, and we did eventually make it home - 3 hours and 15 minutes later - but safe.

Frandini and Her Amazing Dresser Act

About a month ago I began noticing a strange recurrence. For a week on and off, I would notice that my sock drawer was open. I would notice this when I woke up in the morning and when I got home from work. I chalked it up to my forgetfulness - a symptom that comes with every tax season.

One night I was awakened by a pawing noise. This is a frequent noise in our household - we hear it when Fran tries to get into our bedroom closet and when Fran is sharpening her non-existent front claws on a wooden basket we have in the bedroom. But this noise wasn't coming from either of those directions...this was coming from the direction of my sock draw. I look over, in my groggy just waking up state to see a sight similar to this....

Fran looking innocently guilty next to my open sock drawer. So now I know it is not my forgetfulness but our cat's craftiness that has cause this strange recurrence. What I still didn't know was how she was opening it. Our bedroom closet has a space at the bottom that she can get her paw in an push the closet open...but my dresser had no such holes - just the handles.

I was now more attuned to the noise that came before her little sock drawer opening trick, so I woke up a few more nights hoping to catch her in the middle of her trick, but like any good magician - she never gave away her secret. As soon as I would look - after hearing the noise - the drawer was open and she would be batting around one of my pairs of socks.

I wasn't to concerned that Fran was going to "ruin" anything or get her hair all over - as I am with our closet (this is why we now "lock" the closet so that she can't get in.) The baskets I keep my socks in don't leave any room for Fran to wiggle around and make a bed for herself so she wasn't showing any interest in making it one of her hiding places - it just seems like she was doing it because she could. Once it was open she would bat around a little and then walk away.

The night finally came when Fran got a little overconfident. Andrew & I were watching the nightly news in our bedroom. Andrew gave my ribs a good little jab and pointed to the dresser. There was Fran with her paws in the handles - pulling the draw open. I am still not sure I understand the physics of a 15 pound cat pulling a drawer open with no opposable thumbs. In fact I have now seen her preform the act a few times - and I still don't know how she does it.

Well just like any good magician - Fran wanted to expand her bag of tricks. So no longer satisfied with the drawer trick she decided to move on to the doors.

Sure enough - she waited for the right opportunity and busted out her true skills!I was really impressed with this one because there are no handles for her to pull. But I figured she was just able to squeeze her paws in the space between the frame and the door. I was a little more concerned about this discovery - as there are plenty of nice places to make a bed in this section of the dresser. So I started thinking about making a similar "lock" for these doors.

Then I found the secret to this trick. Some of my clothes were in the way of the door closing. So when Fran attempted her trick - the door was already ajar - she just pushed it open. Not that this is not impressive - for her to have seen her opportunity and taken it. But as soon as I realized the trick, I moved the clothes, and fully shut the doors. She has not been successful in the door trick since.

Now for her latest trick...she moved on to the drawer above the sock drawer which holds exercise clothes and bathing suits - a great place for a bed! Knowing that there was no way to prevent Fran from attempting this trick again. I tried to make the trick impossible for her to have success.

Yesterday morning, after waking up throughout the night to Fran's dresser antics - it can get really loud. I decided to do something about it. So before leaving for work, I placed my clothes hamper in front of the drawers.

And this is what I came home to:

I still don't get the physics of it or how it is possible. My next solution is to remove the handles.

I am constantly impressed (and sometimes annoyed) with Fran's persistent cleverness. If there is somewhere to hid in or a height to be jumped, she will find it and try it - from the hiding places of the hole behind our stove to the bedroom closet and from the heights of the kitchen cupboards to the fireplace mantle - Fran leaves no square un-investigated.

She is one impressive kitty kat.