Glumph flob mlaaah, Jim.

A rainy day. I started my new schedule today - 7:30a - 4:00p. I'm humdrum and easily distractible and have laughed really hard about 10 times in the past 5 hours.

My morning routine got pushed back a half-hour, and usually goes something like this:

2:30a: Steven rolls over, says "Mibble mlerf guh guh spam" or something equally incomprehensible, and I laugh and pet the closest cat until I fall asleep again. This morning it was, "Glumph flob mlaaah, Jim. Glumph flob mlaaaah, Jim." Maybe it was "gym."

5:28a: I am in the habit of setting my alarm for odd minutes to shake things up. It goes off (set to 89.7, The Classical Station), usually right in the middle of an ear-piercing oboe trill or a really happy trumpet solo, and I hit snooze in horror. I snuggle for about 3 minutes, and with deep regret, I get up on the wrong side of the bed. I sleep on the wrong side of the bed, so I rarely fail to get out of it on the wrong side.

5:32a - 6a: Yes, I take long showers. Every day, I leap into the shower and begin to wash my face frenetically, saying to myself, "Today I will be ready early!" I never am.

6a - 6:31a: Makeup is applied, clothes are chosen, hair is dried, all while a certain orange kitty drinks up all the puddles in the bathtub, probably in preparation for another peeing-in-the-wrong-spot episode.

6:31a -6:45a: I put my snack (usually muenster or sharp cheddar on crackers) and lunch (today it was leftover mushroom agnolotti in marinara) together and possibly unload the dishwasher, if I have time. Kitties get food and water.

6:45a - 6:50a: I frolic into the bedroom and leap onto S, who is usually facedown with a pillow over his head on my side of the bed, where he usually migrates when I get into the shower, the little heat energy stealer. We generally whisper sweet nothings at each other for a few minutes. 'Sweet nothings' might be read: 'I sing a hope-filled song about how much S wants to get up and eat breakfast with me,' which usually irritates him enough that he vacates slumberland and stumbles to the kitchen, looking like a wild forest man.

6:50a - 7:05a: We sit at the dining room table, eating our cereal. We usually say something about the cats, and I am likely to sing my 'I don't want to go to work' song. I am also likely to make a comment about S's tentacular mane of brown curls, which is reaching inexorably toward the heavens.

7:05a - 7:10a: Shoes get donned, S gets hugged at least thrice, and I'm out the door!