I Heart Faces - Pets Challenge

This is my first time to enter the "I Heart Faces" challenge, and I am entering a photo of my parents' kitten, Jack. He was about seven months old when this was taken. He is sweet as can be, but he is a MESS!



He has a really pointy face and huge ears, but is cute in his own way. Make sure and head over to iHeartFaces and check out other entries for this and other challenges!

Stressed

Man oh man. The stress? I'm feeling it these days. We have two more weeks of school and LOTS to do in that short period of time. Also, we're now looking toward next year and it looks like it's going to be different. We will have a (much needed) new team leader, and she's looking to jumble us all around. My team this year may be a tad dysfunctional, but still, we look out for each other. None of us are happy about being moved without our consent/approval/whatnot. Just annoying. And I'm NOT a fan of change, so I currently am living in Anxiety City.

This is a three day weekend, but with so much left to do, I'm having trouble relaxing and enjoying it.

Oh, but I almost forgot. I teach third grade, as you know, and I like to attend some of my students' extracurricular events when I can. Last night, David had a ballroom dancing match. Yes, you read that correctly; my nine year old football-and-baseball-playing male student does BALLROOM DANCING. And boy, was it adorable. He and his little sister did the cha cha together, and then he did some dances with his instructor. It was the single cutest thing I have ever seen. You people with children: make your kids take ballroom dancing lessons. You will not be disappointed.

Okay, so this was a short, scattered post, but that's kind of how my mind is these days. Hopefully everything will settle down soon. In the meantime, I'm going to go read a book in a hot bath...sounds like the perfect antidote to a stressful few days!

Calvin

Internet, meet Calvin. He is pleased to meet you.

Calvin is my three year old giant grumpy cat. To put it more nicely, he "has lots of personality." He fairly often chooses to express his "personality" with his claws and teeth.

Calvin often expresses displeasure with people petting him, talking to him, picking him up and *gasp* sitting on the same piece of furniture as him. He is a cat that is not afraid to play favorites. To Calvin, I am not Amy, I am HIS PERSON.

I got Calvin at the end of my sophomore year of college as a gift from my childhood best friend, Michelle. She knew I was looking to get a kitten and decided that she was going to get me one for my birthday that May. One afternoon, Michelle called saying that she saw an ad in her college's newspaper (Texas A&M, about an hour and a half away from my college, UT) for FREE KITTENS. I drove down that very evening. Calvin came back to Austin with me in a cardboard box made into a carrier and the rest was history. BFF 4 Lyfe.



At this time, I was in the process of moving from an apartment with three roommates to an apartment with zero roommates. This process was expedited by my procurement of the world's cutest creature. To which my roommate was allergic. Yes, this is a longer, more painful story than I am caring to record here right now. Perhaps for another day. But yes, I did move to my new apartment THAT NIGHT. And, yes, I slept on the floor. But I had MY OWN kitten!

So for my last two years of college, it was just Calvin and me in the apartment. More than I'd like, it was just Calvin because I had Very Important College Things to do, like study. And get drunk. Calvin was always so sweet to me, though, and would follow me from room to room. He spent many an hour sleeping by my feet while I was on my computer, and sometimes he had to get creative about how to stay warm.



Here are some other pictures of Calvin as a baby that are just too adorable NOT to post:

(This was before I went Mac).



And then there was the time that Calvin either tried to off the computer or himself. I'm not sure which.



The point is, now that I'm living with people again, it has become very obvious how fiercely Calvin loves me. He is always by my side and sits on me almost exclusively. He sleeps on my bed and races to see me when I get home from work. He may be a grump, but he is MY grump.