Of root canals, Siamese balls, Chinese girls and things

First, on a happy normal note, I have been busily making an 18 ft growing Christmas tree for the kids' Nutcracker, as the old one fell apart at the last performance last year. It looks amazing. It's so good that the school owner gave me a hug when she saw it.

The cats went haywire just before Thanksgiving. I thought I'd get them both fixed at the same time, so I made an appointment Monday before Thanksgiving to get them both in December 9th. There. THAT'S one more thing off my list! WELL.....Tuesday morning I see Spring Roll rolling, and rolling, and rolling....and trilling and .....BACKING UP TO TAMAGO with her butt in the air. Dear God. Okay, so Plan B goes into effect, and I email the breeder to see if what I THINK I'm seeing is what I'm actually seeing. Breeder confirms that yes, her cats do often go into heat as early as 4 or 5 months. Tamago looks VERY confused. Panicked call to vet ensues, and he can sneak in Tamago for a quick nip on Wednesday morning. I worry that Tamago will be sick while we are away on Thursday/Friday, but the vet assures me he'll be fine (and he was..but he's still looking VERY deflated, in more ways than one.)

So, as soon as morning arrives, I see no repeat behavior from Spring Roll. I have no idea WHAT was going on anymore, but she's not doing any of the in-heat behaviors anymore. Oh well...gotta get the boy clipped anyway.So I drop him off and turn around to go to my emergency root canal (performed by the son of an old Baltimore Colts player. MAN, even I had office envy, and I'm not a dentist. He has a digital scanner X-Ray machine FGS!! EVERYTHING else was Zeiss! Man. What money can buy.) I then come home, feeling poorer, but better, and settle into making my pies and cakes to bring to Doug's cousins for Thanksgiving. I have JUST enough time to get it all made.

THEN....Xiaoxiao, who NEVER comes out of her room at all--It's like she's living at B&B--lots of interaction with anyone BUT us--comes home from school, and must have taken a look at the chairs I was staining in the garage on her way into her room after school. She steps on a paint sponge, and tracks hunter green poly stain all the way through my kitchen, to the hardwood, up my carpeted stairs and into her room. ALL that squishiness, and she never noticed. So...I, after I check my feet, to be absolutely sure it's not me, I turn off the apples I am caramelizing for the pies I am to bring up to Thanksgiving, and drag her out of her room, hand her the paint thinner, point to the stains throughout the house, and set her to work on the kitchen floor, and carpet while I hauled out the steam cleaner that I am now thanking God that I bought to clean the cat pee left behind by the previous incarnation of Tamago. I tell her NOT to get the paint thinner on the wood floor as it will take off the finish....but nooooooooo. She's gone and scrubbed the wood floor even after my warning, leaving a pale stripe in her wake. I am having a hard time with the idea that the culture in the city of Beijing is so alien that she's, among many other things, never smelled a solvent before. I have traveled in the orient, and I can attest that all big cities are more alike than they are different. I have come to the fanciful conclusion that she's lied about being from Beijing. She's actually from some small agrarian village tucked in the hinterlands of Mongolia where they have no plumbing, and has never seen a white man before. Needless to say, my apples have gone black with oxidation during their wait in the iron pan. No, I didn't think I'd NEED lemon juice to keep them white! I make the pie anyway. Hey, it was Wednesday afternoon! I was out of time!

So, I get the cat back, the stains are gone (mostly), and we pile in the car to go to Doug's cousins for Thanksgiving (having to get a suite at The Naussau Inn because there is no place to put Xiaoxiao in the house). I am told that replacing the milk with soymilk does not make a good pie. "It just does not have the creaminess". I can't help but reply that "it's better than using tofu", and it actually tastes great (ouch!..but that tofu pumkpkin pie was really awful..blech!). Yes, they keep kosher. Makes Thanksgiving a real pain. Soo..I end up being vindicated when on the next day, Doug's cousin asks me where the pumpkin pie is. She wants to give me back my plate. I say that I already have my plate since the pie was inhaled last night after dinner. "Oh". She did tell me to take my black apple pie and almond apple cake home since they'd be having birthday cake that night (her daughter's birthday) and they didn't need any more desserts. Well..I had to agree about the apple pie. It was rather ghoulish, but it did taste just fine. During all this, Xiaoxiao either has ner nose in her American History book (sent to her by her mom from China) or staring blankly--even with two brilliant college girls in the house. She only lights up at the Nassau Inn, when we passed by the Princeton Dorms, and later, saw some signed pics of some famous Princeton men..and Brooke Shields (her pic, not actually her).

So, Xiaoxiao is gone. Leaving behind all the things we gave her: clothes, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo--but taking my house key with her. Still haven't got it back. I just could not take it anymore. The idea of us partying below her closed door at Christmas (our tree is in the foyer, below her door) just made me feel WAY too weird.

Ugh....are you laughing?

Well, all things ended well. The kids did great as mice in The Nutcracker. My tree was beautiful, and Doug did great things animating my 10 ft. Mother Ginger puppet. All's well, except now we are all sick!