"You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, butthen, so is high school."

Sometimes I write a post and for some reason or other  it doesn't get published so every now and again I'm just going to publish them as it seems a waste, so here's the first of my belated posts.

I don't have a great recollection of my time at primary school, I'm not really sure why? I remember the big events, marrying my girlfriend of 3 years at the leavers assembly in a mock wedding set up by the teachers (weird) followed by everyone in our year holding hands in a circle while me and my new wife danced at the leaving disco definitely stands out, but the general events have always been a little hazy. What I do remember about school overall though was the uncertainty and the never really feeling comfortable in my surroundings. When it came to getting out of school I was terrible during the secondary years, skiving off lessons and forging apparent notes from my parents. At primary school though I hadn't reached that point so all I had to play with was good old fashioned physical illness because I craved that mythical sick day so much. Back then in the 80's there was a movie knocking about that gave me all the motivation I needed for staying home and doing my own thing, thanks to Netflix Ferris Beuller has been on hand to teach the boys the same life lessons.

Sometimes though there's no need for all the theatrics, This week I had a phone call from the school letting me know that Seth was unwell an could I come and collect him. Although I don't want either of the boys to be unwell. I still get excited about an extra day at home and being too ill to go out means fun in the house when everyone else is trapped at dreaded school. That afternoon Seth pretty much just slept and then went to bed early. The following morning Seth had the tell tale dark rings around the eyes, a classic sign of him feeling unwell. That rare sick day was upon us and i was intending to make the most of it (If Seth was feeling up to it of course).

The first part of the day was spent sofa bound, but there was no complaints here. I don't feel like we get to do this enough as we are always busy doing other things. Cuddles under the blanket is exactly where we needed to be. Plus it gave us another excuse to relive the trials and tribulations of Mr Beuller on Netflix.

It may have been psychological but I was starting to feel a little rough myself, this usually happens with me (strange I know). We needed something tasty for breakfast to set us up for the day so with a little hand from Opeie we made Buckwheat banana and nutmeg pancakes with peanut putter which seemed to perk everyone up.

All the excitement of breakfast was clearly too much for Seth so he made his way back to bed, followed by the hairiest nurse in the house. Polly is adorable and every night when the boys go to bed she goes up with them and sleeps outside their room, like their furry protector. She is very switched on to them being ill and seems to know when things aren't right and this sick day was no different. Polly followed Seth straight up to the top bunk and curled up at his feet, staying there until Seth was ready to come down (She is such an awesome cat!).

We love playing computer games but I'm always wary about the amount of time spent playing, this however goes out the window when the boys are ill. If we are confined to the sofa then I am happy to fully embrace the consoles and our love of gaming. Thanks to our friends Chris and Katie who gave the boys some new games last weekend we were all entertained for the afternoon.

At some point in the day the boys would eventually be wanting to take them selves away from the comforts of the cozy sofa. After lunch we braved it upstairs to the bedroom, because that's where the LEGO is of course. It wasn't the intense LEGO building session that we usually throw ourselves in to but we did manage to make a couple of custom figures for our Marvel Super Hero collection.

It was a day of playing and relaxing and despite the illness loitering in the house I think we all needed it and loved every minute of our stolen day at home. It was back to school the following day and Seth's adventures soon became a distant memory, Thanks to Netflix though Ferris is there for Seth to brush up on his skiving tactics

"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."

After an exhausting day yesterday, both me and Mrs M fell asleep around 8 putting Opeie down to bed. Falling asleep this early never works out well for me and after waking up at 12:30 to turn all the lights off downstairs etc i woke up again at 3:30 after a bad dream and that was me up for the morning. As i lay on the sofa on my laptop i realised what i was doing and started to chuckle. Since becoming a cat owner i have become that guy that sits and watches cute cat videos (much to my surprise).

Polly has become a massive part of our lives and i couldn't imagine not having her in the house now, even though Shes very independent and doesn't like being picked up at all. Shes not the sort of cat that sits on our laps at night and goes to sleep, affection is all on her terms (a little like Mrs M haha), but when she wants some fuss she will come looking for it.

She has no interest in running about outside and even if we leave the back door open she'll step outside for a sniff and then run back in to the warm. Despite not going out she has still made some new friends who visit her regularly through the glass. There's one sitting at the glass as i type this.

Polly has taken it upon herself to be our protector, she will sit on the arm of the sofa with us of an evening and while Opeie is napping she will usually be found close by watching over him. Having Polly about has been great for Opeie, especially as Seth isn't with us all of the time, They have become the best of friends and despite my negative attitude at the start of our cat owning adventure i have come to adore the beautiful yet grumpy little lass.

Now back to my cat videos...

"Cats are connoisseurs of comfort."

I often think about what the pitter patter of a new pair of tiny feet would be like around the house and both me and Mrs M are broody a lot of the time. I didn't for one second think that the next pair of feet in the house would actually be two pairs. For the past few years Mrs M has been going on about getting a cat but over the last few months she was bordering on crazy cat lady status.

Every time she mentioned having a cat, text me a picture of one looking cute or explained how she thinks she's part cat (yes she's crazy), I usually just shrugged it off, that or gave her a list of reasons why not to have one. It's not that I'm not an animal lover I'm just not big on pets for various reasons.

The pressure for a feline sidekick was reaching it's peak though and it was clear that it was inevitable we would at some point be getting a cat. The situation multiplied exponentially when I befriended a real life crazy cat lady called Tabiitha (who has 5 cats), after that there was no turning back.

After finding out about Mrs M's 'lack of cat' predicament, I think Tabiitha made it her mission to get a cat re-homed and in to our house and to be fair it didn't take her long at all. Especially after I received this picture message one morning of a beautiful cat that needed re-homing, even I fell in love with her. We called the owner to arrange a visit and a few weeks back as we were travelling back from a weekend in London we took a detour armed with a pet carrier.

The owners were looking to re-home Polly but had already turned two families away as they didn't think they were the right family for their well loved cat. Obviously because of that we were a little nervous/anxious about the visit. Mrs M had fallen in love and i was really warming to the idea of having a new family member. There really was no need to worry though, we all got on great and spent some time at their home chatting about life (and of course cats).

That afternoon we took her back to her new home. The look on Mrs M's face was priceless and having a cat in the house seems to have really changed her for the better. I also think that coming home to her after a busy day at work is quite relaxing for her. Polly was quite scared for the first week or so which was understandable being taken from her home. I've avoided writing this post until now as I didn't want to spend the first week waving a camera in her face.

She's settled in now and she's one of the family, sleeping at our feet and rubbing noses with Opeie. I was so against having a cat but last week I text Mrs M while she was at work to apologise for all the feline negativity before we got her because I adore how she makes everyone in the house smile and Opeie has clearly got a new best friend which is amazing. She was a little dubious at first when it came to the boys but she follows Opeie about now. One of the things that i think is adorable is that when Opeie wakes up sometimes he is a little teary and Polly responds to him crying by finding him and meowing, it's adorable

Not the tiny feet I had been longing for but honestly I couldn't pick a more adorable fluffy child to fill that void. Polly is one of us now and we feel so lucky to have been the ones to re-home this little beauty. Meeeeeoooooooow!