A bird in the hand....

is worth two in the bush, and it's certainly worth more than one flying around the living room! Tonight, we went to Cabella's with Elise and Keith and Crystal and the kids. I bought a coat, and if we spent 10 more dollars, we'd have enough to use a $10 off coupon, so basically, we could buy a $10 item for free. Arthur chose a cap light (it clips on the bill of his cap) with green led bulbs. I have this wreath on my door:

When we got home and Arthur opened the door, a bird flew straight into his face, turned around and flew into the house! We tried everything to try to shoo it out. I mentioned that it wasn't going to fly from the bright house into the dark night. Our outside light was burnt out, so Arthur put on his new light and went out to try to fix the light. the globe on the light was stuck, so he came back in to help me shoo the bird some more. (It was basically flying crazy circles around the living room). I decided to turn out the light even though the outside light wasn't working because I thought it might be more likely to fly out if it were dark inside. When I turned out the light, the strangest thing happened. The bird veeeerrrry sloooowly started flying straight toward Arthur. It was almost hovering, not flying around crazy at all. It was like it was hypnotized. He very slowly reached both hands out toward the bird and gently caught it in both hands. He carried it outside, but when he opened his hands, it didn't fly away! He'd caught it so gently, he was certain it wasn't hurt. It was just sitting calmly in his hand. I got my camera and snapped a few pictures. Then I even pet the bird! It was like I was petting a dog or something. It didn't jump or act a bit nervous. It didn't flap around or anything, just stared at me. Arthur set the bird in a bush, and it flew away. It was so weird but very cool.

I've been coming home to a lot of strange things in my house. A couple of weeks ago, I came home to find this in my living room:

Arthur was very proud of himself.

Indoor Plumbing- the Bane of the Absent-Minded

My dear friend and former Dean of Women, Ms. V., posted about her indoor plumbing fiasco on her blog. (You can link to her blog from my list of blogs to the right). I, of course, having experienced similar fiascos, had to leave her a lengthy comment to let her know she was not alone in the world of the absent-minded. I thought perhaps I should share my close call with you, my blogging friends, in hopes of offering you some comfort as well.

One day, I was running a sink of water for dishes and got distracted. I thought suddenly, hmmm, what was it I was going to do? I was going to shower! That was it! (well, they both involve hot water, anyways). So I got in the nice warm shower. I got my hair shampooed up, but the water started to get less nice and warm. Hmmm, that had never happened to me in this house. I puzzled. I puzzled long and hard neath the chilly water. I had not done laundry. I had not let the water run long at all before I got in. I would blame my dear hubby, but my dear hubby had taken his shower and left for work many hours before the water had turned cold so suddenly and so rudely. (No, I did not laze around in bed that long! He left for work at 3-ish in the morning). Suddenly, I got a burst of adrenaline! I bolted, quite immodestly, from the shower and quickly turned off the water, which was flowing from the very very full sink into the other sink, which, fortunately, was unstopped. (Another thing to be thankful for: there was no one to see this disgraceful episode). There is a small lip around the two sinks, which kept most of the water off the counter and floor, although some did spill over when I stuck my arm in to unplug the sink. I also got a great deal of water on the bathroom floor since I bolted so suddenly, but no major harm was done. Someday, I fear, I will move to a house with no wonderful lip thingy around the sink, or one with large windows in the kitchen. Then I will learn. I will learn the hard way, like I did with the superglue and the toilet tank repair work. Perhaps I should be Amish, because I do not seem to mesh well with indoor plumbing.

* Note from the author: No pictures will accompany this blog post, for very obvious reasons. :-D