Thirteen Hours Til School (and thirteen other random facts)

Fact #1: Last week, my friend Carlie told me about an app called Merlin Bird ID where you can take a photo of a bird and ID it. You can compile a list of birds you see. I downloaded the app and chased down a few birds over the weekend. 

Fact #2: On Saturday morning, I was ditching my family to go to Chick-Fil-A to get a chicken biscuit and a Coke when I saw some ducks in my neighbor's yard. I pulled over, got out of my van, and tried to sneak up on the ducks to get a photo for my bird app. There were two males and two females, and as I approached them, the boys started trying to get on the girls. The girls were having none of it (and I didn't want to take photos of them mating anyway) so I broke up the festivities and was like, "Shoo, man ducks!" I'm all for baby ducks, but I swear duck sex is never consensual! 

Fact #3: I started drinking soda again while I was in the thick of my herpes outbreak. I have to post this and make a public commitment - I'm going back off soda as of Monday. But gosh, it was a beautiful two week affair! One of my favorite soda/food combinations is the Chick-Fil-A breakfast biscuit and a Coke. I have to have both together. Last week I had a chicken biscuit and Coke for breakfast five days in a row. Don't judge me. 

Fact #4: I was really glad to have the Saturday shift take over at Chick-Fil-A because the same guy handed me my breakfast four days in a row, and I was starting to feel like we were dating.

Fact #5: For the most part, my mouth is okay, but I still have three sores that are lingering. I don't have to use lidocaine anymore, but I have to be careful about where my food touches when I chew, and my mouth still bleeds very easily. 

Fact #6: Last night we slept with our window open because our house was really hot. At 5:30 this morning, I heard cats screeching and moaning. I got up to close the window and I saw two cats mating in front of our truck. I thought, well heck, I'm not going to close the window! I'm just gonna go scare them! So I went downstairs and opened the garage door thinking it would run them off (I wasn't properly dressed to go outside). But no. They just kept going at it with their horrific moaning sounds. 

I tried flipping the outdoor lights on and off. Apparently cats are not deterred by porch lighting.

Finally, I went and got the key fob for the truck and hit the lock button to make the horn honk. That was enough to make one cat lose interest. The other just sat there confused.

(I won't even comment on which one was the male and which one was the female).

So yeah... I spent my weekend breaking up animal sex, so if there's a shortage of ducklings and kittens this spring, we all know why!

Fact #7: Last week we bought a new couch for our living room! 

In the fall I made and sold pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving, and I saved the money I made in hopes that Couch Season at Costco would bless us with a new sofa. 

It did! It did!

I saw the couch at Costco at 1:00 p.m. They had three in stock. I went back with Scotty at 5:00, and they only had one left, and as we were wheeling it away on carts, someone else showed up to buy one. 

I kind of feel guilty that I got the last couch, but I played a fair game. 

Fact #8: Bulk pick-up was two days later, so Scotty and Nicky put the old couch out on the curb, and off it went!

Due to this photo, I vacuumed my blinds the following day.

Fact #9: After the garbage truck left, Zoe asked me what was in the road. I looked outside and saw a lovely pile of crap that fell out of our couch, making me so glad that no one took our couch to their house!

Fact #10: Speaking of birds (all those facts ago), when we got our COVID shots, we got to spin a wheel to see if we could win a prize. Eva won a gift certificate to Tracy Aviary, so last weekend we went and redeemed it toward a family pass. While we were there, I was trying to take a photo of a kookaburra to send to Carlie, when I suddenly got photobombed by a masked lapwing!

Look at that bird's face! You can't tell me it didn't have that planned!

Fact #11: I feel like a hero when I return high-demand library books early. I, personally, have changed the fate of people waiting for books all over Salt Lake County.

Hero. 

Fact #12: Last Thursday, Scotty and I took Nicky and his friend to a play. Nicky's friend told us that we are the most awesome parents ever. I've pretty much let it go to my head and have been walking around for the past three days going, "Yes, we can have a family movie night! Because I'm an awesome mom!" "Yes, you can jump on the trampoline with a sprinkler! Because I'm an awesome mom!" "Yes, you can have dinosaur chicken nuggets for breakfast! Because I'm an awesome mom!"

Fact #13: This awesome mom let her kids eat popcorn in the family room on Friday night, and the bowl got knocked over twice - one time resulting in the neighbor kid's jandals getting full of kernels, and I couldn't even make her eat them because awesome moms don't make other people's kids eat popcorn out of their shoes.