It started with a gorilla, the need for privacy and cat number 3.

Yeah, that probably doesn't make sense, does it?

Let me explain. A few months ago, the youngest kid was in a rummage sale/thrift shop/garage sale mood. She and a friend were hitting the sales every weekend.

That's where the gorilla came in.

One weekend, the kid came home with a stuffed gorilla. A huge stuffed gorilla. An ugly, huge stuffed gorilla. I mean, this thing is probably three feet tall and fairly realistic looking. Except maybe for the duct tape around the foot.

Being the mom I am, I told her to make sure it got washed before she put it on her bed. And being the mostly-good kid that she is. She did.

Next came the need for privacy. The kid is 17 and a senior in high school. She has a job and does volunteer work. It feels like she's never home! She has a loft bed with a couch underneath and no closet doors, which makes it sometimes look like her closet has vomited into the rest of the room. And she's a bit of a fashionista, so there are clothes and shoes....

So often the door to her room is shut. She's not the kind of kid who freaks out when her dad or I enter the room when she's not home (or even if she is home!), but the door is often shut. Then again, the door doesn't latch really well and is easy pushed open—even if the door is completely closed. Therefore, if the door is shut at 7 a.m., it may be wide open by 10 a.m. and no humans have entered.

And we have cats. Four of them. Yes, I'm aware that crazy people have lots of cats. I still think the cat-to-house ratio should be three. Meaning that at three cats, the people in the house are still sane. At four, they become the "crazy, cat people." That's beside the point.

Anyway, cat number three is somewhere between 8 and 10 years old (I don't remember...must be the crazy, cat woman in me), and was born in our wood pile. The kid was around 8 or 9 the summer hubby paid her $1 for ever stray kitten she could catch. All but one found other homes. One stayed here.

Cat number three has always been tiny. And a bit of a fraidy cat. She very much doesn't like change. So when cat number four was introduced to the mix, cat number three got mad. She took to sleeping in the kid's room, since cat number four wouldn't leave the master bedroom or laundryroom. Of course, that has more to do with dog number three than anything else.

So, cat number three has been sleeping on the kid's bed. The big ugly gorilla has been on the kid's bed. For some reason when the big ugly gorilla showed up, cat number three started pooping on the bed. EWWWWWWWW......

By the time I realized that the cat messes started shortly after the ugly gorilla showed up, this had happened probably five or six times. Now I'm in the process of trying to remove the stink. OK, the kid's room doesn't really stink any more than any other teenage girl's room, but I'm almost positive that the cat can still smell something. And I want that matress disinfected. I considered buying a new one, but she is leaving for college in a few months and I can think of more pressing items to spend our funds on.

Now I'm looking for ways to get the yucky out. I found four "Febreeze-type" recipes at tipnut.com and am looking for comments. Here are the recipes and the URL:

Recipe #1

1 cup fabric softener
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups water

Recipe #2

2 cups water
1 cup fabric softener

Recipe #3

3 cups water
3 TBS fabric softener
3 TBS rubbing alcohol

Recipe #4

2 cups water (warm)
1/4 cup fabric softener
1 TBS baking soda

http://tipnut.com/4-homemade-febreeze-recipes/

Or do you have a better one? I plan to use one today and see if it helps with the kid's room.

Me

Quick note: Check Nichole Bennett's review of Wendy Robert's Dead and Kicking.

I don't do resolutions. No one sticks to them anyway. I do, however, do goals. I have lots of goals. No, really. I have a "you-know-what" load of them. And every December I create ones for the upcoming year.* This year's goals, a little late, are as follows:

• Writing 10,000 words a week. This will finish the current novel and get a solid start on the next. Of course, that doesn't count blog posts, which I also plan to be better at.
• Six new web design clients. This is what allows me to buy all the yarn and books I want.
• Practice a healthy lifestyle. I'm really tired of trying to loose weight, but I do want to be healthy. That means I'll do yoga daily and use my wii for more than just Netflix.
• Homestead my land. Yes, I have land. Yes, I want to do a garden. And hubby likes to hunt. So that's probably going to be among the easiest of my goals.
• Spend time on my hobbies. I want to have a new knit or crocheted or sewn project completed each month. I also want to learn to play the guitar.
• Get serious about my spirituality. My beliefs are eclectic, to say the least. But they are mine and I need to make the time to connect with them.
  

So there you have it. My goals for 2011. Wish me luck!

Me

*Yes, I'm aware of how much that sounds like a resolution. But it's not. Because I said so.