ONE step forward, TWO steps back.

Today I finally finished the loooong process of registering my car in the lovely state of Georgia. Of course, things didn't go seamlessly at the Tax Assesors office, but I'm registered, I'm alive, and I'm so DONE. I even got to sit next to this character.

 Stripes AND printed pajama pants!

Plus, check out my new plate:

 BUZ. I've always wanted a license plate that spelled something! Buz probably isn't a real word, but I'm counting it.

So with that done, I headed home to do some chores. Yesterday I mentioned that we had switched out Charlotte's litter box for a litter bowl. I was worried today that she still hadn't used it, almost 24 hours after the switch. I decided to take matters into my own hands and took Charlotte into the bathroom, closed the door, and put her in the bowl. I then forced her to pee in the bowl while praising her and telling her she was awesome. So we had a breakthrough! It was kind of messy, and far from perfect technique wise--but surely it was a good sign (foreshadowing).

Not even 10 minutes later, I was texting Thomas about our bathroom success, proudly bragging about making Charlotte pee on the toilet. Then I smelled poop. I jumped up and quickly looked behind the couch, where I saw Charlotte "number two-ing" on the rug while Jack worriedly looked on (he knows better). Of course, I screamed something like "NOOOOO" and chased her off. I cleaned up the mess and took her back into the bathroom to see if she would finish her bid-naz, but to no avail. I knew this process wouldn't be easy, and this has been the only hitch so far. I plan to continue the training, and hopefully things work themselves out. When I texted Thomas about the series of events, he responded "one step forward, two steps back." Get it?! Pee success/poop failure. I thought this was the perfect pun, so I stole it for my post title.

I made Charlotte this poster to help her understand.

Here's a video of the kitty sitting and being smart. She even does a cute little stand up trick that reminds me of a monkey. (I promise I'm wearing pants in the video. They're just covered by the shirt. Cut me some slack, it was bedtime!)

Between doing chores and cleaning up cat poo, I went outside quite a few times. I've mentioned before that we have some kind of crazy neighbors who have a bunch of kids. By my count, there are at least 8 in their gaggle. A while back, we learned from the previous tenants that they claim to home school the bunch. I say claim because I'm pretty sure it's heavy on the home, light on the school. I think it's more like unschooling (which is totally a real thing, there are even groups in Georgia where it's apparently a big deal).

My suspicious were confirmed this afternoon. Every single time I went outside, a bunch of the boys were playing air soft--with extremely real looking guns I might add--decked out in all black, with terrorist masks and everything. I mean, I know that one of the benefits to home schooling your kids is having the freedom to set your own schedule, but these kids are playing all day every day. What kid wouldn't like that school? To each his own I guess...but it is a little unsettling to see gun carrying, suited up teenager swinging from a tree outside your living room window.

Wouldn't it freak you out to see this charmer lurking outside your house? (disclaimer, that's not the real kid)

That picture seems like a good Thursday wrap up to me! Happy almost Friday.

-T, K, J, & C