Greco-Roman Wrestling The day begins with Precious Angel flexing her muscles and sprinting around the table at 6:15am. She then begins hurdling over the legs and then does a spring board onto the balance beam (the wicker laundry basket) followed by a head first dive into the litter box. Standing up and slowly shaking her head she becomes a target for her opponent, Pumpkin Spice also known as Pumpkin Noodles. Pumpkin slowly circles the laundry basket slinking close to the floor and keeping her eyes glued to her opponent. With a fell swoop she lands on top of Precious and pins her to the floor. Precious is down for a count of two before she takes her rear feet and upends Pumpkin. She then pins Pumpkin to the floor and holds her down to the count of three before they both spring apart and begin circling the mat(aka towel) and sizing up their opponent before the next take down. Precious lightly paws Pumkin's tale and then Pumpkin hunkers down and faster than a speeding bullet she lands on top of Precious and holds her for a count of five. Pumpkin is declared the winner and she leaps onto the nearest chair and then dives down on Precious' back and a new match ensues. This has become a normal morning adventure before they sit by the bed waiting for a response from me and declaring it is time for their morning feast. I have two spoiled to the core kittens who refuse to drink water from the tap. They sniff at it and then sit, stare acusingly at me and then sit near the counter where the Zepherhills water sits and refuse to take their eyse off the bottle until I pour water into their bowl at which point two heads begin lapping water like mad. The next move is to follow me into the kitchen and sit and watch until I open the Fancy Feast and then they beging dancing in circles when they hear the spoon banging against the plates. I place the plates on the floor and two flashes beging inhaling their food. Following their feast they take a few moments to groom their beautiful faces before they sit near my feet and watch every move. They are waiting for me to take the fishing pole out with their fake fish attached. Then it becomes gymnastic time as they stand on hind legs and bat at the fish, grab it and attempt to run before the elastic line reels them back in and finally they roll with the fish on the floor (by the way I had to purchase a second one so that they each have one). Pumpkin is the smart one. She has managed to free her fish twice now by chewing the rubber line into two pieces. Oh the terrorist. I was awoken in the wee hours of the morning yesterday when I heard a crash of stuff landing on the floor off of the table. I then felt a thud on the bed and finally on my head followed by a pat down massage of my fact. I had the television on and in the flickering light I slowly opened one eye and stared into the sweetest most innocent face you have ever seen. Precious stopped in mid-pat and became a still statue and while staring at me her eyes seemed to be saying I am not doing anything why are you looking at me and then she patted my cheek and her eyes seemed to say how can you sleep when something as cute as me wants to play. I just reached up, grabbed her and placed her next to me and slowly stroked her head as her eyes closed and her breathing became slow and regular. I shortly felt a second thud as Pumpkin jumped onto the bed and placed her little terror filled eyes under my hand. I slowly stroked her until she fell asleep with her head on Precious' stomach. They were still there when I awoke around 7. That is the first time tey have done that. I have misplaced the memory card to the camera after uploading images from a shoot and as soon as I locate it I will take pictures and post them. Thanks for the kind words as regards my writing *blushing* Pictures coming soon I hope. Linda

Thanks guys, we had such a great time! We were so stuffed Mom and Dad were afraid to drive home with food coma! Karen thank you for all the support and advice you are amazing! I couldn't have been the support system i was without your help! Mom told me to say thank you to you too. So Gratiam habeo, that's catholic school gratitude! ((((((((((((((Riv))))))))))))))

Ditto to what TeresaVa wrote (I assume your DH works in downtown DC?) DC is a big food-truck city. A couple years ago, there was a gathering of food trucks in a big parking lot offering their food so people could taste what they were about to put on the streets. I recall my response from a co-worker when she asked if I wanted to go: "Are you kidding? I think food trucks are gross. I would never eat at one!" She and another co-worker came back with mouth-watering tales. I blew it! But I have to say I'm not the most adventurous eater... Also, my work hours aren't "normal" ones, so I only see a food truck here and there packing things up. Spike Mendelsohn from "Top Chef" has a food truck (in addition to his Capitol Hill eatery), big-time chef Jose Andres (he's been on "Iron Chef America") has one ... OH: And if you have plans to visit DC, these food trucks are the best thing that's happened to tourists in a long time, I think. Previously there weren't a lot of "grab-a-bite-quickly" places to get food.

Thanks for posting that. I forgot all about it. Its taping now and we'll watch during the week.