The Cat's Meow and Getting Sent To See the Principal

Okay, to start off this post, I need to say upfront that I DO NOT like cats. If they stayed small and never left the kitten stage then I would like them all, however, seeing as how they don't I don't like them at all. The other night James and I were sleeping and at 2:00 in the morning I heard this awful sound. It sounded like a baby or a lady crying loudly. Yes, you guessed it, it was a stupid cat. Yeowling is the only word that I know that fits what it was doing. I am not sure if it is a word ( I just looked it up and it is not a word) but it works for the awful sound that was being made. A few minutes later another cat joined in. The sad thing (for us) is that it was right outside our sliding glass door, which happened to be opened. For 20-25 minutes we kept telling a growling Chancho that it was okay and trying to stop him from barking (remember it is after 2:00 in the morning). The stupid cats then decided to come right up to the wall of our patio. There was no stopping the dog from barking and running to the door then. Luckily he scared them away. As I lay there trying to ignore the dumb animals I thought about the play Cats and how a big shoe is thrown at the cats in the story. I know now why people throw shoes at cats! I was so tempted to take one of James' shoes (not mine, I like the shoes too much) and hurl it at the offending cats! I also thought about how nice it would be to have a soft air pellet gun to shoot them in the bum. The problem with that is I don't like to hurt animals (even if I don't like them). I would have been sorely tempted that night if we had one but seeing as how the only gun we have is a real one I wasn't about to pull it out. Still, I hate cats!

Now, at the beginning of March we took the kids out of school for 3 days. Not weeks or months, just a few days. They have not missed any other days of school this year, nor are they ever late. So, on Tuesday I received a letter that can only be termed 'mean' from the school district. It would seem that in the great state of California kids can not miss any school for any reason unless they are 'sick'. My kids are now considered truant (never mind that we received and turned in their homework for the time of said trip) and I have to go in to meet with Mr. Wavra, the principal. I am also at risk of being charged up to $250 a kid and 60 days of community service (per kid) because of 3 days absence....yes, 3 days! They sent me a pamphlet that California has made up of reasons that are acceptable and are not acceptable for missing school. If the child's parents, siblings or grandparents that are living with them die then that can miss 1 day of school, but only 1. Don't want to do too much grieving....you must choose between the day they die or the day of the funeral. If I happen to be out of town when I die then they can miss 3 days. If, however my parents were to die right now they could not miss any days of school. I can find a lot of flaws with this plan. We have a neighbor who misses so much school because he is 'sick' (I am not sure how sick you are when you are running around all day playing outside) but that is okay because he is 'sick'. Please! So, you can bet the next time I go out of town (next Feb. or March) I will be calling to let them know that my kids are sick. And my parents better make sure that they don't die while the school year is in session (really, they better not die for a LONG time to come), because I don't want to go to jail for going up to Salt Lake during the school year! (yes, you can go to jail) So, I was able to make it through 13 years of school and never once be called to the Principal's office, but at the age of 37 (almost) I have to go and talk about my not being a 'good parent'. Who knew! Now, I have one more problem with this. It seems that a great amount of people in California want it to be okay to teach my 5 year old children about sex and other various topics that are so not appropriate, but I can't take them out of school for 3 days! Come on California!