I lost my cat and an uncle, how were your holidays?

But other than those two events, I had a great Christmas.

So yes, that title is not me being clever, unfortunately. Punky ran away while we were at my parents' house over the weekend. Saturday night Tim and I got in late from seeing some old friends, and I guess when we came in, she ran out. With all the hustle and bustle of the family Christmas on Sunday, her absence wasn't noticed until about 4 on Sunday when my Dad said, "uh, I hate to bring up a bad subject, but has anybody seen Punky lately?" Everyone except my brother and Stella launched their own search of the house for her. I was so sure she was hiding somewhere and would jump out at us just as we started getting worried. But she was nowhere to be found. And I mean nowhere. So we did a little walking around outside, but how the hell do you find a cat? I feel especially awful because she doesn't have her medicine, so she's probably a goner. I also feel bad because the last time we spent together was Saturday afternoon when she kept trying to roost on my laptop and I kept throwing her off. Tim's really pissed she got the last laugh, because now we will always feel guilty about losing her, as opposed to feeling like martyrs because we gave her a pill everyday and spent 100's of dollars at the vet on her even though she hated us.

So the disappearance of Punky really cast a bit of a pall over our Babymoon, which started yesterday at Kerbey Lane, rather late because Tim had to do laundry, then continued to Wimberley, Blanco and Fredericksburg, where we stayed in the same really cozy Bed and Breakfast we'd stayed in 4.5 years ago. This morning, we were preparing to leave Fredericksburg when my mother calls to say that my Dad's brother, my Uncle Steve, had died. It was sudden and pretty shocking. We made plans to come pick up Stella in Evant later in the afternoon, but otherwise tried to continue with our trip. I have to say, if there's anything good to come out of my Uncle's death, it's that I have totally and completely forgotten any guilt/grieving about Punky. Is that weird or what?

So we continued on to Llano and Burnet in search of antiques and especially the elusive "perfect china cabinet" for our dining room. The perfect china cabinet looks something like this and I'm pretty sure that we are going to spend years trying to find it:

When we got to Burnet my Mom called to tell me not to worry about picking up Stella, that the funeral arrangements were going easier than they thought they would and there really was nothing for them to do until Friday, so as long as we met up Thursday, they'd be happy to keep Stella. So we're still temporarily childless, unless you count Baby Bean, and we do miss Stella and Lucy horribly. But we'll see them soon!

Speaking of Baby Bean, we think we have a name finalized for her. Well I would say we DO have a name finalized for her, but I'm starting to second guess. Again. Sigh. But I'm fairly certain this will wind up being her name. I can tell you in March or April:)

I really would like to blog about Christmas, it was really fun. Perhaps later. I'm feeling sort of grinchy right now and if I don't go do laundry, I'm going to start out 2009 as a nudist.