thank heavens for Creative Thursday!

Jill was otherwise occupied today, so fortunately we planned ahead and had Creative Thursday yesterday. Eva was just thrilled that Jill was coming over, and that was before she found out that Jill had made us homemade cookies! (I was thrilled, too -- Max has been home sick all week and between that and the 3 SNOWFALLS we got this week, I haven't gotten out much or done the things I had hoped...)

Jill arrived with a bounty -- not only her homemade chocolate chip cookies, which one of her Primary children declared to be the best cookies in the world and even asked for some for her birthday -- but also this whole cute basket with darling dishtowels and matching dishcloths and a CD entitled "American Idol & More: All Kinds of Good"! Her cookies truly are delightful. It's a good thing my family knew about them and shared with me or I surely would have eaten them all by myself. I love getting new CDs, and Jill indulges me in this love frequently. And I never knew about cute dishcloths! I've had a love affair with cute tea towels for years now, but now I have cute dishcloths as well! An awesome good mail express delivery.

But wait, there's more! Cafe Rio pork salad for lunch. Yuuuuuummmmmm.

Eva schnockered Jill into coloring with her for awhile and was ever so pleased. She knows a good friend when she sees one.

Max was kind enough to go watch a movie on my bed so we could just talk without interruptions and listening ears. It doesn't matter if we're sharing secrets or just discussing the American Idol results, this weekly conversation is therapeutic for me. Thanks for a great day, Jill!

I sorely needed it to help compensate for today, which was just a lame-o day all around. Eva woke up last night telling me she was sick. She had a sore throat, I gave her medicine and she went back to bed, but still... I fear she might be catching Max's long-lasting sickness.

Max when sick is pretty easy to have around. Eva, however... she was just in a state all day today. Cranky, whiny, just generally a malcontent. (Although, the new Relief Society presidency stopped by to chat and get to know me a little bit, and did she ever turn on the charm for them! She chatted them up and down, asking what their favorite animals were, their favorite colors, telling them some of her fantastical adventure stories, you name it, only to return to her former malcontent self upon their departure. Hmmm......)

I needed to go do a big grocery shopping and had planned that for our pre-nap activity (I know, I'm such a fun mom!), but the visit had lasted longer than expected and Eva was obviously not up for such an outing. So, we watched a little Ratatouille, snuggled and then naptime.

My knees and feet were really hurting -- I swear I need to figure out why I can't even seem to keep up a very moderate walking routine without this pain -- so I laid down to read for awhile. Before I knew it, Eva was crying to get up again. grrrr.

I tried to distract her, Max tried to play with her, but she was not having any of it. Finally I was so irritated I decided we were going to the grocery store, even if it was 5:00. (You can see reason had long since flown out the window.) We got home at 6:45 and I sent Eva inside while I got the groceries.

She then let out a bloodcurdling scream, which honestly did not alarm me, as I assumed she had just seen a little tiny bug or some such. My neighbor was across the street playing basketball and stopped mid-bounce to see what would elicit such a truly amazing response. Are you ready for this?

Yep. A cat was on our front porch. (That is not the cat, nor our front porch, by the way.) A most horrifying creature, a black cat, just sitting on our porch, quietly mewling. This sent Eva into paroxysms of terror, as she screamed for me to make it go away. There really is no way to convey the length and breadth and decibel levels of her screams. She even screamed that she just wanted to "go inside and be afraid". Um.... I don't even know how to respond to that.

Obviously, I shooed the offender off the porch and ushered Eva inside to safety. Max had come down to investigate the problem, as he was afraid Eva had badly hurt herself, judging by the screams. He carried her off and reassured her for the next 10 minutes as I carried in the groceries and put the frozen things away. Shortly after that, Marc got home from a photo shoot and took over comforting duties, having been forewarned by the neighbor of a serious freak-out meltdown in progress.

I don't even know how long this went on. I only know that we must have heard 100 times, at the very least, about how much she does not like cats, how she is afraid of that black cat, and did it go far away? What house does it live in? Can Jack scare it away? We did not know she was in any way afraid of cats, but now we are all absolutely sure that she only likes dogs. She even walked around the family room, and later her bedroom, reassuring herself that all the objects she was seeing in her peripheral vision were only shoes, or stuffed animals. There are no cats in our house, and there will never be any cats in our house, since Marc is very allergic to them.

We all talked very calmly about how nice cats are, even this particular cat, and then reassured her that she was safe and in a cat-free zone, but we all know how well our de-sensitization efforts have gone in the bug arena, so I will not be at all surprised if she has cat nightmares tonight.

I just do not know where this comes from -- we do not model fear of bugs, cats, or much of anything, for that matter. And then I remembered when Lucas was 3 or 4 and wouldn't venture out the front door for fear of seeing a kitten. Or a butterfly. I must be cursed.

By the time she was finally calmed down and in bed and I was able to make dinner, it was 9:30 and Marc and I were both ready for this day to just be over already. All I can say is, thank heavens for the emotional fortification of Creative Thursday!