Busy Life

These pictures are from the baby shower I coordinated over the weekend. I made a diaper cake to use for the centerpiece on the food tables, and it was also our gift to the new baby. It turned out really cute, and the mom-to-be loved it. The centerpieces for the tables were little duck ponds: rubber ducks floating in glass bowls of water. The kids loved them! There were also rubber ducks floating in the punch bowl. The cake that my mom made turned out beautifully and it tasted great. I think I’ll consider this shower a success. Next up: Pastor Appreciation Night. I’ll be out of town for that one, but I’m getting everything ready ahead of time so someone can just facilitate it. October is going to be a busy month at church. There’s Pastor Appreciation Night, the Ladies Overnight Retreat, and the Fall Festival, plus various prep meetings for things that are planned for November. Time is going to fly by, but I’m sure it will be fun.

What’s been going on? It seems that Squirt has become quite the fighter lately. It’s not uncommon to hear bone-chilling cat screams from the great outdoors late at night and early in the mornings. There was one this morning, actually, and it was loud enough to freak us all out a little. He came right inside when I turned on the lights. Upon inspection, Dave found another sore on his belly. This one seems to be healing up without any help from me, but I’m still doctoring the one on his shoulder. It looks better, but he’s still picking at it on occasion.

The cats have really been enjoying the cool weather lately. They have a new pet door, courtesy of Georgia. She didn’t realize the screen was shut the other day and busted right through the bottom of it. I decided to leave it like that so the animals can come and go as they please – and they have taken full advantage of it. Jewel E. Cat followed us to Daddy’s house for family dinner the other night. He has a new screened-in porch. With her mastery of pet doors, she quickly learned how to use the pet flap in the screen porch door. That is, until Fat Tasha (my parent’s cat) came onto the porch with her and inspired a fit of panic in Jewel E. to escape the porch. She was trying so hard to get off the porch that she couldn’t remember where the flap was, and she kept butting her head up against the screen at random spots, trying to find the flap. In the midst of my laughter, I picked her up and put her through the flap, thus saving her life for the evening. It was quite funny.

Georgia played with Lucy all day yesterday, and she was still so tired this morning that she wouldn’t get off the bed, so we made it up around her. I thought she would get out once we put the pillows on, but she circled up tighter with plans to stay there under the covers for a while. We left the room and Dave called out, “So, do you want to go visit Lucy today?” I thought she would hurt herself trying to get out of the made bed. Needless to say, it needed to be remade. Georgia is going to be a star soon, too. She and Dave are going to do the Hokey Pokey at the Fall Festival talent show for the kids. We are taking her this weekend to pick out a costume at PetsMart. I just hope she doesn’t get stage fright.

Dave, Dave, Dave – he’s such a kid. Last night we were lying in bed, chatting about the day like we normally do. The lights were out, I was very sleepy, and he was wired from having just finished a motion to continue for court today. He was chattering away about various and sundry things, and I was trying to stay awake to listen. His chatter started to slow down and taper off and I was almost asleep when he busted out with, “So, how about a verse or two of There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly?” I probably laughed for about ten minutes – the snorting, crying, unable to breathe kind of laughter. And yes, I sang There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly for him. His favorite part is how the spider wriggles and wriggles and jiggles inside her. He’s not right.

An update on the honorary member of my household (my sister, Rebecca, in case anyone missed that reference) – she has a new boyfriend-type. I say boyfriend-type because I don’t know if he’s really her boyfriend yet, but they’ve been seeing a lot of each other and he’s met the family. I only mention him to introduce a disgusting and funny story about my sister. He rode in her car last night and when they came in he was talking about the nasty smell in it. Apparently, there were some decomposing French fries in there and he didn’t find the aroma appealing. This led her to tell the story of The Lost Taco.

While she was still driving her old car, she and her Lucky’s coworkers ordered Mexican food for dinner one night. The specifically sent Rebecca to pick it up because she would make sure the order was correct. One of her coworker’s orders included a taco. When she got back to Lucky’s with the food she couldn’t find it, and everyone assumed they had just left it out of the order. A week or so later, her car started to stink. Three weeks later, someone hit her car and she put it in the shop to have it fixed. The guy who worked on it commented on the smell. He thought it smelled like old pizza – and he reassured her that he knew what old pizza smelled like. :) The day after she picked the car up, she decided to clean it out. Guess what she found? You got it, The Lost Taco – it was hiding between the passenger seat and the door. I laughed hysterically while she was telling the story. The new boyfriend-type is glad that he didn’t know her when The Lost Taco story happened. I’m glad I never got in her car during those four weeks. Blech.

There’s been lots of laughter lately. That’s a good thing. I needed it after the last two weeks at work. We just finished the biggest release of the year last Friday night at 8 pm. In the last two weeks, I put in over 100 hours at the office. It was exhausting. I spent last week with the QA team (that’s Quality Assurance, for those who don’t know). QA is the last step in the software development life cycle before the product is given to the client. It is the responsibility of the QA team to thoroughly test the software to assure that it works and that it meets the needs of the client. I am grossly understating when I say that it’s a BIG job. It’s very fast paced and high pressure. Mix in a little frustration and the long hours, and it quickly becomes a hard job. So, I spent last week testing with the QA team, and I was nearly at my breaking point when we left Friday evening. I'm really not cut out for that kind of hours. I just want to say thanks to my QA and coworkers, because I know that I couldn’t do that job full time, and they are great at what they do. Good job guys, and happy 9.0!

That’s enough for now. Maybe this will appease my audience members who’ve pestered me about updating. Really, I haven’t had time until now.