An Early Morning Meditation

Technically, I think I should be giving more attention to my face than to my blog right now. The wookie in me is starting to come out, and even though no one, young or old, keeps their face plucked here, it is just becoming downright embarrassing to me. Still, it is a very crisp beautiful Sunday morning and I thought I would put a few thoughts down before I go conquer my goals for today.
Again we have sun today so my eyes were open at 7:06 this morning. I could have gotten up, but I chose to lie in bed for another hour (it is Sunday after all). Right before eight o'clock, I got up to find the cat had been in the ashes, yet again. He is not looking for a litter box; he just likes to play in the old ashes like children like to play in sandboxes. Of course, he is only eight months old, so this does not surprise me. When I first came, Sam was quite frustrated Caterina was constantly cleaning out the ashes and asked her to please leave them so starting a new fire would not be so difficult. She is coming again this Tuesday, and I am just going to tell her the ashes have to go. It is almost every morning now I wake up to little cat footprints scattered all over the apartment and I really think I am going to kill this cat if something cannot be done to solve this problem. The girls, in the very beginning were totally expecting me to clean up every one of the cats messes, and I nipped that in the bud pretty quickly. Hell, these are not even MY cats! I will never forget Emma saying to me "ooo, Casey look as the mess you are going to have to clean up. Leo turned one of Momma's plants over." Oh my Lord, I was so shocked anyone would address me like that. I am the babysitter not the maid, and to be quite honest, when it is just me and the girls they need to know that they have to help out. I have, of course, talked to them about this and said that, like cleaning the litter box and giving them food, picking up after their messes is just part of having an animal. Told them I was willing to help them pick up a mess, but it was not MY job to do it as they are not even my pets.
Leo is the biggest trouble making cat I have ever come upon. He is constantly into things he is not suppose to be into, and constantly all over me whenever it is time to go to bed. I kid you not, last night I turned over on my stomach, turned out the light, and before I knew it, there was this little creature snoring on my back. Mostly, since I try to sleep on my side, he likes to sleep butted up again my stomach in the natural cradle my body makes. The first time I realized he was down there I turned to move onto my other side and all the sudden this face popped up from my stomach and scared me half to death.
This morning I perfected my egg poaching skills. I dropped two eggs into a pan of hot water, made two slices of toast, added the smallest of small pats of butter to the center of each slice, cut some strawberries and poured myself a glass of milk. It was a great breakfast, and since the girls do not wake up until after ten in the morning on the weekends, I had a nice, pleasant breakfast all to myself. The morning is crisp, clear, and beautiful. There is not a hint of fog, or a cloud in the sky. You can see the gleaming white tower of the Sienese Duomo clearly from Pam and Sam's window, and the day is just beautiful. Half of me wants to get on a bus and go into town, it would be a wonderful day to walk the streets of Siena, but I must stay since the girls have to do homework today, and even if they did not, the bus system is sparse on Sundays and super crowded since less buses run. I am planning on going back to the Market in Siena this Wednesday, so hopefully I will make that work. The weather is forecasting clear skies for the next week and a half; keep your fingers crossed for me!