My So Called Life

Closet Kitten

Jewel frequently adopts a favorite spot for sleeping, and this seems to be the spot for those occasions when she's feeling a little anti-social. You can't tell from the picture, but she's in the top of my closet.

I know I say this every time I post, but life has been crazybusy lately! I cannot believe it is March already. For the record, I started this post about 2 weeks ago, but I was called onto a critical project, and then another one, and so it goes. Last week felt like two because I spent the first two days in Charlotte, NC on a client site. So, updates....

We withdrew our contract on the house we were looking at because there was just too much work to be done. It was a two bedroom with a full basement, and we were planning to buy it with the intention of finishing the basement. In order to finish the basement, we were going to have to dig up the yard with a backhoe, put in a drain, fill in the yard, re-landscape, and rebuild a front porch. That was just going to be too much to fit into my crazy life right now. We are looking at another one that we've been watching for quite some time, so we'll see what happens with that. It's not in our neighborhood, but I think we've about gotten over that requirement.

What else? Well, Dave and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on February 21st. That's pretty freaking amazing. If the past two months have gone fast, the last three years have been traveling at the speed of light. :) I found a great lawyer briefcase for Dave that has a pocket for his laptop, so that was his present. He seems to really like it, and now he has a bag for his "things." Which is good, so maybe I won't have to carry his "things" in my purse now. He really outdid himself with my present. I got a new car! Well, new to me anyway, and for those of you who know what I drove, you'll know that a 98 model would have been new to me. :) Anyway, its a 2003 Camry, and it's the nicest thing I've ever owned. It's burgundy, which is wonderful because I told him I didn't want white or any kind of non-color (non-color = silver, champagne, etc.), those are all nice, but I really needed a color after driving a white car for 10 years. Yes, that's right, the car I was driving was my first car. I bought it when I was 16 and it was 2 years old then. You can see why I'm elated to finally have a new one. The best part is that I didn't have to do the shopping and haggling, and we got a pretty good deal on it. Yay! :)

Work - what can I say? It's just crazy. I have barely been eating lunch most days. I keep hoping it will slow down just a little, but things keep coming up. Dave has been very busy with work, too, which make us both happy.

He had a car accident recently (right before I got a new one), and we are waiting to see if he gets a new car, too. A lady rear-ended him on the off ramp of the Interstate. He was supposed to see the adjuster last week, but he had to reschedule because of the storms. Hopefully he'll get that taken care of this week. He wasn't hurt at all, just the car, thank goodness. I think the accident inspired him to start shopping for a new car for me. Yay. :)

There are lots of church things coming up. We have our annual Ladies' Night Out this weekend, and I'm decorating a table for it. I'm also in charge of the men who will be serving, so that should be fun. :) I'll try to remember to take pictures of my table to post.

On the wedding front, we have two to plan for now. Dave's niece is now getting married in May, and my cousin is getting married in July. I don't have much to plan for the niece - I just have to be there, but I'm in my cousin's wedding and helping with the decorations. I found some good flip-flops to wear with the dress over the weekend, so I'm happy about that. They have enough of a heel that I won't have to have it hemmed. The wedding is outside in the park, and the tallest girl has to wear flat shoes for her dress to fit, so we are all wearing flip flops. They won't show, don't worry. Anyway, they are brown, so I'll be able to wear them with everything.

I SO need a vacation, or three. I might actually get three this year, too, if I do it right. There should be two family beach trips (one per family - my families), plus Dave and I are going to try to take one by ourselves. We haven't had a big vacation since our honeymoon, and I'm ready for one. We really need time to pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. I'm thinking we will try to go on a cruise this fall.

Oh, yesterday marked the official start of Birthday Week 2007 for my sister. She is the only person I know who celebrates her birthday for a whole week. Me? I'd rather skip it, but that doesn't happen.

I guess that's all for now. Until next month, I guess...... :) (Hopefully it will be sooner than that.)

By the way, the date on this post says February 19th, but it's really March 5th. That's how long it took me to write it.

Sips 'n Strokes

I painted this at an art class called Sips 'n Strokes. There is a little art gallery on 280 that has paint classes several times a week; you bring a bottle of wine and $25 and the artist supplies the materials and teaches you how to paint the painting. I really enjoyed it and I plan to do it again. The art gallery is called Wendy LoVoy, and if you are interested in the class, you can see the calendar at www.wendylovoy.com.

It's Only Been 21 Days, People!

I know, I’m way over due with this update, but life has been crazy since the New Year started!

People news first (because there’s actually more of it, for once):
The unbelievable has happened – Dave’s parents finally moved. I say it’s unbelievable because they have been talking about moving and listing their house for the majority of the time I’ve known them – about 7 years, now. They’ve looked and looked and looked for houses, but could never find a house big enough for their stuff, or a yard big enough, or a house that had a place to park the camper. It really seemed as if they just didn’t want to move, and I’ve been saying all along that I would believe they were moving when I saw it happen. It happened. The ended up buying a much smaller house about 10 miles from Dave’s brother; it does have a big yard and a place to park the camper, though. We moved them on the first weekend of the January. Even though they’ve been cleaning out and “downsizing,” we moved 20-something years worth of stuff. Really – twenty years worth of tax records. I, myself, moved the tax records onto the truck, and there was a box for every year since 1987. 1987 PEOPLE! She said she was going to burn them. (Are you asking yourself why she didn’t burn them before they moved? I did, and I asked her, too.)

Anyway, we moved most of the stuff (packed in OUR plastic tubs, mind you – what a great idea!) and they had a moving company move the furniture. I also received an assignment to re-caulk the bathtub, which I wholeheartedly agreed to do because I haven’t had a home improvement project in about a year. I didn’t know when I agreed that I would be doing it THAT day, but it worked out great since I hurt my back somewhere along the way and I really couldn’t lift anything. So, I caulked the bathtub and the boys moved the stuff. When I got home that night, I could not bend over. We had to make an emergency run to the Dollar General for Bengay so that I would be able to move and sleep. It was bad. I went to the chiropractor the following Tuesday and got that fixed.

It seems that caulking that bathtub got my home improvement juices flowing again. I walked around their new house planning all the things I would do to it. Since then, Dave and I have started looking for houses. We know we want one in our neighborhood, and we’d like to have one that needs some work (because those are the fun ones). Several have been put on the market, so we’ve been walking through them and weighing our options. Given the fact that Dave finally got his first paycheck from the state (insert a mini-celebration here!), we feel like we are in a decent position to buy a house and actually be able to make a house payment. We’ve been living for free in my grandparents’ house – courtesy of Jan and the uncles – for nearly a year now so that Dave could start his practice. I love our little house, but it’s just too little, so it’s time to buy our own. We’ve got our eyes on a 2/2 with a basement on a lot on the creek that seems to be in good condition. It needs updating and minor repairs, but we aren’t opposed to that. I really think I’m ready for another project. I’ve been project-less for nearly a year, and I woke up this morning planning what I would do to this house. We’ll see if it works out.

In addition to receiving his first paycheck, Dave also found an office to rent that is right across the street from the courthouse. He’s very excited because now he has a place to go every day, even when there isn’t anything happening in court. I’m very excited because it’s just an exciting time. I’m so proud of him! I suspect that having an office will increase business, and we all know that a busy Dave is a happy Dave. We shopped for and assembled some furniture, and moved him in the second weekend of January. He’s sharing the building with two established lawyers, so I think this could be really good for him. We also recently completed our quest for guest chairs, so his office furniture should be complete.

I spent last week in Indianapolis where the average temperature was COLD (seriously, lows of 12 and highs of 27 - with wind). I came home just before the Colts fans flooded the city (Go Colts!), but the air was pretty festive by Thursday. Business was good, and I have plenty to do between now and the end of February when I go back again. Indy is becoming like a second home to me – not that I would mind having that Hilton bed at my house. Work is busy, and I like it. I’ve also been cooking out of my new Rachel Ray cookbook (If you don’t know who Rachel Ray is, check your Nabisco products for her face. She’s my favorite Food Network personality). Rebecca gave me the cookbook for Christmas, and I’ve already gotten goo on the pages! That’s a sign of a good cookbook, you know. I’ve also been re-reading the Harry Potter books. Rumor has it that the last one comes out this summer, and I want to make sure I’m prepared for it. I’m up to book four, and enjoying them even more than I did the first (or second) time I read them.

Pet news:
We got a new arm chair for our living room, and when Daddy and Dave moved it in, they nearly had to carry Georgia in it. She jumped on it before it was on the floor. She’s trying to claim it as her own, but Dave is fighting her for it. She had her first raw egg to eat last night, and she slurped the insides up but wouldn’t eat the shell. (I’m not crazy, the shells are good for their teeth and bones, and most dogs will eat them.) We’ll try again soon and see if she eats the shell.

Jewel busted up her chin in a fight (I’m assuming), so we’ve been calling her Rocky. She had a big scab on her upper lip and chin, but it’s gone now and her chin just looks really pink.

Gypsy is her usual miniature self, albeit a little more snuggly since the weather has been cooler. She’s taken to sleeping between Dave and me with her head at the pillows, stretched out like a person. Dave hates it when he realizes it, but she’s so light, he hardly ever knows she’s there. She’s definitely my cat; she follows me around and talks to me during my routine every morning and night.

Squirt has been wearing out his feather balls he got for Christmas. When he finally comes inside in the evenings, he eats first (always), and then plays with the feather balls. We are usually settled down on the couch, and we here him banging and crashing around on the kitchen floor chasing that ball. He may have actually lost a little weight, though, so that’s good. The knot on his side is gone now, but his sore on his shoulder is still not cleared up. He really messed it up while I was in Indy, so we are working on getting it healed again. Dave barely remembers to feed them when I’m away, and since Squirt only surfaces at certain times of the day, I knew he’d never remember to doctor him. I’m about to give up, myself. I can tell that he just licks and licks it, but it really had started to grow hair again. Now we are back to square one. How many times have I said that about this sore? Three, I think. Neurotic cat.

Well, I think that’s enough for now. I’ll post some random, silly pictures I’ve collected soon; and if something serious happens with this house, I’ll post pictures of it, too.

Oh, and Chance the swimmer puppy that I posted about a while back is now up for adoption. His prognosis is good and they think he’s ready for a forever home! That’s so exciting, and it’s a good thing I don’t live closer to him or have a bigger house right now, because I think I might have to have him. I’m sure he’ll find a forever home in no time.

And Happy New Year!

The boys: Nathan, Rob, and Dave.
















The favors: martini glasses with the 007 logo.

















The centerpiece.



























The girls: Me, Rebecca, and Georgia.















A very tired Georgia.

Rebecca and I threw a small New Year's Eve party with a James Bond theme, since it IS 007 this year. The boys griped because we made them dress up, but what girl doesn't like to wear a pretty dress occasionally? Let's face it after highschool, and maybe college, there just aren't that many opportunities - so we created our own. Everyone looked great, and we had a great time.

Poor Georgia didn't make it all night. She did great, but the loud music and general rowdiness got to be too much for her as the night wore on. I ended up locking her in the bedroom with the cats (I knew they wouldn't appreciate a party). They all slept on the bed together until it was over. The next morning, she was just as tired as we were. :) One thing she likes about a party, the food. She stood guard over the buffet and looked at us with sad eyes whenever we came near it. I don't know what all she ate that night, but she was so well behaved.

I made it to bed about three, and that was WAY past my bedtime. Of course, my body didn't let me sleep past 8 a.m. on New Year's Day, so it was a lazy day. Fortunately, I'd planned ahead and done all my chores so I could be lazy. We had a great meal with all the things you are supposed to eat on New Year's: pork, greens (cabbage, thank goodness), and black-eyed peas.

Despite the good food and football, I really think New Year's Day has to be one of the most depressing days of the year. It's the official end to the holiday season, the last big break until you take a vacation (for most people), the return to normality, and just a general time of let-down after the busy holiday season. To sum up: it sucks. And, this year it was on a Monday, and you all know how I feel about Mondays. They suck. :)

So, here I am in my cube on the 2nd of January, and it's time to get on with it. Of course there were changes when I got to work this morning, that seems to be a regular occurrence these days. It's getting to a point where I'm not sure what "normal" is in my work environment right now. Anywho, there was some good news: as of the 8th, I will be a full-time employee!! That means I'm no longer a contractor, I will get paid vacation and sick time, a retirement plan, insurance, and a raise! Yay!! Best of all, I'll no longer have to work through a third party company. I'm very excited since this was one of my personal goals for 2007, and it means good things for my little family.

Oh, by the way, Go Broncos!! (Boise State Broncos, that is.) I was really struggling about pulling for Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, because I think their blue astro-turf is just ridiculous, but I'm a sucker for the under dog (I know, who would've guessed?). With a minute and thirty left on the clock, I rolled over and went to sleep because I knew the game was over and Oklahoma was going to win like everyone thought. I was wrong. As Zabransky said, there was "plenty of magic left" because the next thing I knew, Dave had woken up and was yelling: "They tied the game!" What?! I have to wake up and watch the rest of this?!? I'm glad I did because that was some of the best football I've seen in a long time. I may just have to forgive them for their blue field after all.

That's enough for now.

Oh wait, I forgot to add that I rode my bike up the freakin' Student Retreat hill and I'm very proud of myself! :)

A Belated Merry Christmas!

These are a couple of pictures from our Christmas morning. Dave's radio controlled Jeep was a big hit. Apparently he never had a remote controlled car that didn't have a cord when he was little. He promptly ran the battery down. :) Georgia FINALLY got to open that bone she has been checking on every day it was under the tree. :)

We had a great and very busy Christmas. I hope everyone else did, too!

I'm really looking forward to 2007. The plans? Well, in addition to celebrating our third anniversary (Yay!!), we hope to find a house of our own and maybe a new car for me. We both have a couple of personal goals that we seem close to acheiving. The law practice is doing great, even if he has had a couple of scary encounters recently. I'm so very proud of him. He really seems to be growing into his role as a lawyer, and it's a great thing to see. At his request, I gave him a couple of Spanish workbooks for law enforcement personnel for Christmas. With such a large Mexican population in our county, he would be at an advantage if he knew some courtroom Spanish. One of his goals this year is to learn some.

I'm loving my job as much as ever, and I'm looking forward to a couple of business trips in the near future. A business trip means a fresh, new project, and I'm ready for one. There's been a lot of weirdness in the office recently, so I'm really looking forward to a new year here in the cube farm. :)

Happy Birthday to ME!

The pictures above show what my cube looked like this morning when I got to work. My co-workers love me. :) I had to rearrange some of the streamers and balloons because I kept ducking under them to get to my chair.

My sister operates on the theory that you should celebrate your birthday for a week; I have never done that, but I'm getting close this year. This is my third day of celebration. Saturday night we went out to a Japanese restaurant with the family. I got clothes and pajamas and cake. Then Sunday morning, the entire church sang Happy Birthday to me (that was slightly embarrassing), and Dave parents came down and took us to lunch. They also brought me more pajamas and a photo album (I've been quickly filling photo albums since Dave gave me a digital camera for Christmas last year). Sunday evening we had dinner at Daddy's, where I got money and cake. :)

Dave gave me two hand-thrown coffee mugs that I fell in love with at a little pottery shop in Mentone and a coffee table book of 70 years of Life (magazine) photography. The book also included a print of the V-J Day victory kiss (the sailor and the nurse) that we will be framing. Years ago Dave inadvertently started a collection of kissing pictures for me; he's given me two poster sized pictures of couples kissing. When I saw the picture of the sailor kissing the nurse on V-J Day, I knew I wanted to add it to the collection. I think he's been looking for it for a while, and he finally got it with this book because it's a Life magazine photo. The book itself is really cool, but I can't wait to get that picture framed.

I also finished my Christmas shopping and wrapping this weekend, and that's a relief! I bought cat and dog toys for Christmas (since they are my kids) and I left the bag on the dining room table. I kept finding one of the catnip toys in the floor, but I didn't know who was stealing it. Sunday morning, I watched as Squirt dug around in the bottom of the bag for the feather balls I bought for him (he LOVES feathers). Three of them come on a piece of cardboard, so he stole the whole cardboard and ran with them. I confiscated it and gave him one ball to play with, and he played and played. When he got finished with that one, he came back to the bag to find something else to play with. I had to hide it from him. :) I told you he's a Christmas kitten.

I also wrapped a bone and put it under the Christmas tree for Georgia. Now, every time she walks by the tree she sticks her nose deep into it to smell her present. :) She thinks she's very special right now because I started feeding her fish oil capsules Saturday. She's been very itchy with very dry skin since we turned the heat on, and the fish oil is supposed to make her stop itching. She was hilarious when I gave her the first one. She kept picking it up and spitting it out - trying to figure out what it was - until she finally bit into it. Then she LOVED it, and wanted another one, of course. She gets one a day, and these fish oil capsules have been elevated to Very Special Treat status because she takes them to another room to eat them - that's what she does when she has something especially good to eat. :)

I took this picture of her playing football with Dave Sunday afteroon. She is obsessed with footballs. She finally got her own real football last weekend (her granddad gave it to her). She's never been allowed to play with Dave's football, so that makes footballs extra special. She somehow stretches her mouth around it to pick it up, but when it's time to release it, she has to use her foot to pry it out of her mouth. :)

Mr. Li Zard

Last night I was working late in Dave's office. It was quiet, the lamp was on, the overhead light was not, Gypsy was circled up in the other chair. I was working away at my computer and the business cards on Dave's bulletin board kept falling, and the papers kept shuffling around. I thought the vent was blowing them. I was wrong. A movement finally caught my eye and this is what I saw.














Mr. Li Zard had taken it upon himself to rearrange the bulletin board for Dave. I'm not sure how he got in, or how he lived long enough to work in the office with me. I tried to get good pictures of him, but it was hard since he camouflaged himself to match the walls. :)

He played on the table next to the desk the whole time I was working, then he posed for the camera. He started to get frustrated with me while I was taking pictures, and he would turn his head this way and that. I left him there, turned out the lights, and went to the shower. I cannot say what happened after that, but he somehow attracted the attention of a cat because when I got out of the shower he was only half alive. Gypsy and Jewel had relocated him to the living room and were torturing him soundly. I had considered catching him and putting him outside when I first saw him, but I hoped he would have a better chance to survive if he stayed in the warm house. He just made too much noise and got caught. This morning Dave said, "Your lizard friend was dead in the kitchen floor." Oh well. That's the lizard life in my house. They don't live very long here; lizard killing is my cats' favorite past time.

Christmas Cats

That is my sweet Squirt Man under the Christmas tree. He LOVES Christmas time and will spend the majority of the season under the tree. I put it up while he was playing outside Sunday, and when he came in he ate (as usual) and went straight for the tree - like he has Christmas tree radar. He stayed under it all night long.

The other kitties and Georgia have behaved themselves around the tree, so far. Jewel is famous for jumping into the top of it and knocking it over. We cannot have a real tree because I think they would all lose thier minds from the sheer ecstasy of having a real tree in the house (this is the same reason I don't have house plants). It's been up for 2 1/2 days now, and there haven't been ornaments on the floor yet. They all love to steal the ornaments. The first year we had the kitties (no Georgia yet), they undecorated the tree so much (by stealing ornaments and just knocking the whole tree over so they fell off) that after Christmas we basically just had to take the lights off to pack it up. We also found a ton of ornaments under the couch several months later when we were rearranging furniture that year.

We also cannot have glass balls on our tree because balls are too irrestible for furry beasts. Shiny ones attract cat attention so they knock them off the tree, then Georgia gets them because they are balls (duh!). The first year we had her, she crunched a glass ball into a million little bits with her little puppy teeth. Amazingly, she didn't swallow any of it and she didn't have any cuts in her mouth.

This kittens have been very funny in this cold weather. I open the door for them, they go running toward it, feel the cold air, and stop. They ALMOST prefer using the litter boxes to going out in the cold to potty. Georgia, on the other hand, loves the cold weather and would stay in it as long as I would let her.

About the people:
What can I say? We just aren't as interesting. :) Dave and I had our annual Christmas shopping lunch date over the weekend. I always enjoy that time with him. We got a lot done, but I've still got a few more things to buy before I'll be finished. We gave ourselves a small limit for each other this year because what we really want is a car (for me) and a television (for him), so spending a lot of money on a bunch of other things just seemed dumb. The car and the television will come in good time; what we have now will work just fine for a while longer.

Just a little something that I find interesting: http://tulgeywoodlabs.com/pages/Chance.html. This link tells the story of Chance, the swimmer puppy. A swimmer puppy is one that spends too much time on it's stomach so that its legs become deformed and unusable. This puppy was turned in to a Lab rescue and placed in a foster home. The foster mom is helping it through rehab so it can learn to walk and have a normal dog life. I'm sharing it because it amazes me.

Fun Pictures

This is Jewel E.'s favorite sleeping spot and her favorite blanket. She passed out like this the other night when she accompanied Dave, Georgia, and I on our evening walk. She was outside when we passed the house, so she followed us. We thought she would stop, but instead she just yelled for us to wait up. I had to carry her part of the way because her short, little, cat legs couldn't keep up. She jumped down once we got almost back to our street, and I "walked" her back to the house. Walking a cat is quite frustrating because they stop to sniff things just like dogs, but they aren't as eager to please so they don't necessarily hurry along when you want them to. Granted, she's the most dog-like cat I've ever had, but she's still a stubborn beast when she has her own agenda.















Snooty snout. She's a brown, brown dog with a brown rubber nose (that's a line from a song I sing to her). This beast was so tired after her play date with Lucy the Golden Retriever that she didn't bother to open her eyes while I was taking pictures of her last night.















This picture just cracks me up. For several days in a row, this is how I found Squirt lounging around.















Man of the house. While I was on vacation, I got up one morning after Dave was gone and this is what I found. :) Since Dave rearranged the furniture and moved the recliner to the sitting room, Squirt has claimed it. It was Georgia's when it was in the living room, but now she has the couch. Apparently, she just likes to be in the living room.















Gypsy has so many spots that they all blend together, but if you look closely you can see her jelly beans (those are the pads on the bottom of her toes). She looks like she's saying, "Stop taking pictures of me!"

Weekend Away

We left for our weekend at DeSoto State Park (in Fort Payne) Friday morning. The drive up was going fine, I was the DJ and Dave was suffering through my selection of music without too much complaint. I wasn't paying much attention to the road because I was picking songs, but I happened to glance up just as he merged onto I-20. That's not the way to DeSoto State Park. We drove a couple of miles and turned around to get back on 459, then merged onto 59. As we drove 59 through Trussville, we came upon a wreck that had JUST happened. No emergency vehicles were on the scene, people were stopping in the middle of the interstate and running across the road to help the people in the overturned car. This wreck had just happened. The car was lying upside down, facing the wrong direction, on the side of the road. I freaked out. I started crying and praying and crying, and I couldn't stop. It was so weird because that's not my normal behavior, then Dave said something like, "I guess it was a good thing that I went the wrong way." It occurred to me that if he hadn't inadvertently taken us 10 minutes out of the way, we probably would have been in that wreck. Wow. That's God work, people.

Anyway, it took me a while to shake that off, but we got to DeSoto and drove around for a while until check in time. Rebecca and Nathan got there right after we checked in, and just in time to watch the LSU vs. Arkansas game (Nathan is an LSU fan). That was most of Friday. We had dinner in the lodge restaurant and then we played Taboo and Phase 10. Some things I learned: my sister has memorized all the Taboo cards and Nathan is extremely competitive with a touch of unsportsman-like conduct. That's okay, Rebecca is, too. :) I had a blast playing Taboo, but I got spanked at Phase 10. We played in their room because they had an end room and no one was in the room beside them, so we didn't have to worry about being too loud. We wrapped up around 10:30 because quiet time starts at ten at the lodge.

Saturday, we showed them around DeSoto Falls and Little River Canyon. We took the scenic road to the mouth of the canyon, and it was just a little scary. That was one narrow, steep, curvy road. The canyon mouth park was really cool, and I'd love to take Georgia there one day. It would be great swimming for her. Once we got back to the lodge, we had naps. Dave and I decided to hike up the river and we ended up walking the entire length of the park, and coming out on a dirt road. We walked back on the county roads, and I couldn't believe how far we went. We walked for about an hour and a half. That night we went to Dogtown for dinner at the Mountain Parkway Grill. There were lots of jokes about people with no teeth eating there because it's in the middle of nowhere, but the food was great and it was very inexpensive. I think we'll go back. We played games in our room Saturday night, Spades and Rook and Taboo, and at 10:40 when we were cleaning up our mess, the room phone rang. I knew we were in trouble because all the people that should be calling me were in the room with me. It was the front desk. The man in the room next to ours had complained, he told the lady at the desk that he had put up with the noise the night before but he was fed up. I told the lady that it wasn't us he heard the night before because we weren't in that room. That's the first time I've ever been complained on in a hotel. It made me want to be louder. It was 10 freaking 40 and it's not like we had loud music and crowd noise, just laughter and occasional shouting. Whatever. We sat next to them at breakfast the next morning. :)

Sunday, we hiked another hour and half, but it wasn't as pretty as the trails we went on Saturday. We also went to Mentone and did a little shopping. I finally started my Christmas shopping at the White Elephant store and one of the little craft booths. I got some neat things, and I'm feeling a little more inspired to get my Christmas shopping done now.

We got home around 3, and I worked like a crazy person doing laundry and getting ready for the party at church that started at 7. At nine, after I cleaned up the church kitchen and my own, Dave made me take a bath and wind down. Thank goodness.

My kittens spent the weekend locked in the house, and they were READY to go outside when we got home. I left them enough food, and they didn't run out, but you could see the bottom of the bowl. Squirt yelled and yelled at me until I fixed that situation for him. He doesn't like to see the bottom of the food bowl. Food bowls are supposed to be bottomless. I left him lounging in the recliner this morning. What a life.

Georgia spent the weekend with Lucy the Golden Retriever, and she was very tired when we picked her up. Tired, and ready to go home. :) She and Dave played football with Rob for an hour, then she was done for the night. After the party at church, we let her out of the kennel and she parked herself on the couch. She was in my spot and she wasn't moving - until she decided that Dave's spot was better when he got up. She was snoring like a man.

Now I'm back at work and my email box was scary-full this morning. I better get back to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's Thanksgiving morning and I've already had two Thanksgiving dinners. There are two more to go today. The holidays are a whirlwind kind of year, especially when you have quadruple families. :) That's okay, more love for everyone.

I took the week off work because it's such a busy time, and I needed a break. I've been trying to make myself update this blog all week, but I haven't been able to convince myself to sit in front of the computer. I think I'm afraid that I will check my work email. That would be a real vacation bummer because I'm sure it's full.

I've done some shopping, got my dress for my cousin's wedding this summer (a size smaller than normal!! ), found some really fun boots that Rebecca made me buy and she picked out a skirt for me, too. Dave knew that I'd been shopping with her from the things I brought home.:) I had my first massage this week and it was glorious. I can see why that becomes addictive. It made my shoulder feel much better. The old water polo injury from my honeymoon had been bothering me, but it's good now. I also saw the chiropractor this week. That man is amazing. I think Dave needs to go to massage therapy and chiropractor school. :) Wouldn't it be great if we had a lawyer/masseuse/chiropractor in the family? Then we'd just need a veterinarian. :)

Dave is doing well with the law practice. We are coming up on the end of the year and I can see his attitude growing and changing. I'll say again that prayer works and leave it at that for now.

We've had quite a few answered prayers lately. We found out that some friends of ours from our church in Gardendale got some great news recently; some things are happening for me at work that could be really good for Dave and I (I won't elaborate just yet). It's been good. We have so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day.

Tomorrow, we leave for the mountains until Sunday. Sunday night I have an anniversary party to host at church and thus comes the return to my crazy life. Vacation will be over so soon. That's okay, I'm better when I have too much to do. Yes, I'm one of those people. :)

Things to Share

This is Jack the O'Lantern. We carved him so that Georgia could have the experience. He turned out a little spookier than we intended.














This is the house of a 93-year-old lady who lives down the street from us. I'll explain in a minute.

We had a busy week last week. Monday night we carved Jack the O'Lantern. My main motivation for carving a pumpkin this year was to see Georgia bark at it once we finished. This was her first pumpkin carving experience, and I was disappointed. She enjoyed eating the pumpkin guts, and she was very interested in the process, but she didn't bark at him. I guess we should not have allowed her to watch us carve him. We should have just surprised her with him. Oh well. Squirt Monster had a grand time playing with the pumpkin seeds afterward. I feel quite sure that I will be finding seeds around the house for a while. We also visited Jan and Daddy to see Daddy's pumpkin because I knew it would be a neat one. He carved a treble clef and a half note in his. It looked great, and while Jack looked like he was carved by an amateur, the treble clef looked very professional. I guess so, since Daddy used a saw blade to carve it. (Note: I fully credit him for my nerdiness.)

About the picture of the taped off yard: the lady that lives there is 93, and she has lived there for a long time. She takes great pride in her yard. Over the summer, she spent quite a bit of money having new sod put down. On Halloween morning, she called Bobby (my step-dad who runs a lawn service and cares for her lawn) and she was MAD because the police would not wrap crime scene tape around her yard for her. You see, she was concerned that the trick-or-treaters would tromp through her yard. And, it wasn’t the local trick-or-treaters she was worried about, but the ones that come from all over the county to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. So, the police refused to help her, and suggested she just turn off her lights to discourage the kids from coming in her yard. Well, as it turns out, she wanted to give out candy, she just wanted them to come up the driveway to the carport. Since crime scene tape wasn’t going to happen, she called around town until she could find something like it. As it turns out, the local hardware store had construction tape. She placed another call to Bobby and had him come wrap her yard with the tape. I laughed all day thinking about this, and I had Dave take the above picture. I really expected someone to roll her yard, but apparently the kids in the neighborhood now are too young to do those things. Had this happened 10 years ago when we were in high school, there’s no way she would have escaped that fate. The kicker? She’s decided she likes the tape around her yard and she’s going to leave it that way for a while.

Tuesday we had trick-or-treaters. I was worried that Georgia would be upset by the kids in their costumes, but she did great. We had barking at the first couple of visitors, but then we were fine. Lucy the Golden Retriever was visiting that night, too, so we had a house full of dogs. I put the baby gate in the front door to keep them from running out, and they stood there most of the night greeting the kids. They were very excited about the little ones. Do you know who wasn't excited? The sweet kittens. Dave locked them in the bedroom because they were loitering at the door waiting for a chance to escape. You cannot imagine the great relief we had on November 1 when I let them back outside again.

Saturday morning I took the kittens to the vet for their annual shots. I had them in two Pet Taxis. Jewel rides by herself, and Squirt and Gypsy ride together. They get along the best, and Gypsy is small enough to fit in the box with him. While we were waiting, we watched the waiting room fill up with people and their dogs. Then a lady brought in three more cats. She had those big cats that sound like men when they howl – and they were howling. We had a cat chorus for about five minutes. Hers would howl, and then mine would howl. Squirt even gave a little growl at one point. I have to credit the dogs though, as none of them seemed to care about the very upset cats.

This was our first trip to the vet for Gypsy’s shots because she was vaccinated before we got her last year. The drill was, I held the front half of the cat while the vet stuck them in the behind three times each. This worked famously for Squirt and Jewel. When it was Gypsy’s turn, she got her first shot and decided she would pass on the next two. I was holding her front end toward me and she neatly curled her behind under her so that she was in a ball and inaccessible to the needle. When we straightened her back out again and he gave her the next shot, she tried to bite him. She got me instead. Witch.

Sunday we took Georgia on a walk around town. She got to swim in the creek and play on the elementary school playground. We let her off the leash on the playground while we were swinging, and she was studying the slides and climbing equipment. She looked at me as if to say, “Can I play on that?” So we did. She LOVES that stuff. She went down the slides and all over that equipment. She loves to jump up and down and keep up with us while we are playing on it. Dave had her running like a crazy dog because he was pretending like he was doing a military obstacle course and she was following right behind him. Crazy kids.

Fall Festival

Saturday night, Georgia made her acting debut in the Fall Festival Worst Talent Show Ever. These are pictures of her in her clown costume before the show. Her act was supposed to include catching balls, a few tricks, and the Hokey Pokey. Dave decided to forgo the ball part of the routine because it got her a little too hyped up. When they came out, he took her on a lap around the crowd so everyone could see her and so she would focus once they got on stage. On stage, she did Sit, Down, Spin, Up, and catching treats in the air. They ended with the Hokey Pokey, which they did twice because the crowd loved it. I think all 200 people were singing the Hokey Pokey for her. She did wonderfully!! Only once did she try to lick a little boy, but that’s because he came in late and sat on the floor on the front row. Otherwise, she stayed right with Dave the whole time and did everything he told her. He got some really good, smelly treats to keep her attention, and they worked like a charm.

I was able to video her while they were practicing backstage, but I only got her entering the stage for the actual show. I promised Dave I would run interference in case she decided to run through the crowd, so I had to turn off the camera once he took her off the leash. It wasn’t necessary because she did great, but you never know. These videos are only a few seconds long, and there isn’t any sound because I took them with my digital camera.
Catching balls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTpLrOr-b_0.
Hokey Pokey (sing the song in your head): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtPApwjDBSA.
Entering the stage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do7-Vb30OZ0.

Georgia only got to go to the Fall Festival for her part of the talent show. We were going to let her stay and socialize with the kiddies after, but she was the first act and the crowd got really loud after she left the stage. She looked miserable with her ears back because of the noise, so Dave took her home.

I had to paint kid faces for the remainder of the evening, and that was a pretty funny job. Those kids wanted every exposed surface of their bodies painted. I had to tell some of them no. The first kid who sat down in front of me wanted camouflage. I said, “Camouflage what? Your whole face?” He nodded. I told him I would do his cheeks. Note, I’ve never painted anything camouflage and it wasn’t on our poster of things we could paint. When I finished splotching him up with green and black, I said, “I hope it looks like camouflage.” Dave said he saw him later and he thought that his paint had just gotten smeared. Oh well. Painting kid faces is interesting, especially when you have a really tiny kid and they pick a big design. It’s fun to try to figure out how to fit an airplane on a tiny kid face - especially when you don’t do airplanes well at all. Hmm. I think most of them got painted just because they like the attention, because they just kept coming back until there was nothing left to paint. Even after all the other booths had been cleaned up, we still had a line for face painting. I finally started telling them they wouldn’t have time to scrub it all off before church the next morning. Dave got a mustache painted on his face, but he washed it off right after. There were some jokes about body painting and leaving that at home, and I think it go the better of him. (Apparently, it made me turn pink, too. I HATE that.) All in all, we had a great time at the Fall Festival. All the kids were cute in there costumes, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Sunday, we took Georgia to the baseball fields to play. She ran herself crazy chasing the football while we were throwing it. She’s not allowed to put her mouth on it, or play with it at all unless we are, so it’s her favorite kind of ball. She goes nutty for a football. She loves the wide open space, that’s why we take her to the baseball field where we can contain her and just let her run. She was running around like a wild thing. We also taught her how to play on the playground equipment at the park. I wish I had taken my camera for that part, because she learned how to slide down the slides and climb back up them again. I think she’d be a good agility dog – because agility courses are basically just playground equipment broken up into separate stations.

The sweet kittens are locked in the house until Halloween is over. Let’s just say that they aren’t so sweet when they are all locked inside together. They are bored out of their gourds, and so they pick at each other. Like children, I guess. I’ve been trying to provide them with distractions, and it works for a minute, but then we get back to hissing and spitting and growling. Two more days…. The good news is that they have all been using the litter box – I was worried about that since they’ve been going out to potty. Let’s all just hope there are no protests before they are allowed to go out again. I think they are trying to get kicked out of the house, too. Last night I caught Jewel E. trying to re-file Dave’s file folders in his office. She was using her sweet kitten hands to pull the hanging folders out of the plastic bin and she was trying to pull the papers out of the folders. I later caught her on the brink of jumping on the counter, and when I scolded her she narrowed her eyes and flipped her tail at me. She hates my guts right now. Oh well, it’s for her safety. As crazy as you may think I am, there is usually evidence of Satanism and animal sacrifices found around our town after Halloween, and I’m just not taking the chance of someone stealing one of mine (especially Squirt!) for such a purpose. Many shelters don’t adopt out black cats during October for that reason, and so mine aren’t allowed outside until it’s over. Plus, the trick-or-treat traffic will be heavy and I don’t want to worry about them getting run over.

I guess that’s all I have to report.

Feathered Friends

I wasn't going to post again until after the Fall Festival, but a funny thing happened today.

Dave called me this afternoon to tell me there was a bird in the house. Yes, in the house! I know, some of you are already thinking, "She shouldn't have left that window open for the cats." Well, you're right. Just last week Dave told me, "I'm going to come home one day and there's going to be an animal in here that doesn't belong." :) How right he was!! (I'm still trying not to laugh while I sit here typing.) While I was out of town, he kept the window closed to prevent this sort of thing.

So, there was a bird in the house. More specifically, in his office where he was going to work. He was slightly freaked out about it. I promptly and calmly told him, "You need to go in there and open the windows, then shut the door so it will fly outside and not into the rest of the house." I'm thinking: keep it contained and give it an escape route. He says, "I can't go in there with it!!" Then he proceeded to give me a play-by-play of the birds activities: he's on the fan! he's on my chair! he's on the bookcase! he's just flying around in there!

Me: "Dave, he's scared and trying to get out. You have to open a window for him."
Dave: "I can't go in there with it!!"
Me: "You have to let it out of the house."
Dave: "How do I get it out of there?!"

Rinse and repeat. Oh, at some point he told me it might peck him. :)

Finally, the bird landed on one side of the room, so he ran in and opened the window for it. It flew right out.

Two things:
1) WHERE were my useless, hunting kittens? Outside hunting, I'm sure. After exiting the open window through which the bird entered the house in the first place. Definitely I'm not allowed to leave the window open anymore. :)
2) Thank GOODNESS Georgia was on a play date today, because I cannot imagine the chaos that would have ensued if she had been there to help her daddy. :)

Side note:
When I related this story to Rebecca via email, this is what she had to say about it:
"I wouldn't have gone in there either . . . I would have closed the door and waited for someone else to come and let it out." Did I mention that Rebecca has a bird phobia? It might not be a full-fledged phobia, but she's had plenty of traumatizing bird (and one bat) experiences. Which is why I knew she would enjoy Dave's story. :)

Why do these things happen when I'm not there?! As long as it wasn't a snake, I think I would enjoy the unexpected surprise of finding an unauthorized animal in the house. :)

Cold Weather Makes Us Snuggly

Okay, so the picture of Squirt is not snuggly, but I had to share it because there are so few good pictures of him. He always runs from the camera or stares right at it so that his eyes are glowing. Dave took this picture of him while he was sitting outside on the sill of the window that I leave open for them. Dave was standing inside the window and he stuck the camera out to take the picture; it turned out a lot better than I expected.

On to snuggling... I took this picture of Dave and Georgia when I got out of the shower Saturday night. Apparently they both had a big day Saturday. The cats have been staying out at night and during the day, but they come in for breakfast and dinner, and they stay longer for naps since it's been cold outside. This morning was one of those rare occasions when they were all inside at the same time. Jewel was snuggled on the back of the couch, Gypsy was following me around as usual, and Squirt was missing. I knew right where to find him. He was under the bed, in the liner of the box spring, right in front of the vent - getting warm as toast. :) Gypsy found him, too, and joined him under there. Gypsy is my number one snuggler and we haven't been to bed without her since the weather turned cool. Now she's even snuggling deep down between our pillows, rather than lying on top of me all night. She's quite the little heater.

The cold makes me snuggly, too. I sleep so well when it's cool outside. Dave freezes to death, of course. The only time that man is cold is while he's sleeping - which happens to be the only time that I'm sweating through my clothes. We've been sleeping with the window open (I think he's going to overrule me and make me shut it tonight), and I have not wanted to get up in the mornings because the bed is snuggly warm. Plus, the sun isn't shining when the alarm goes off. It should be against the law to have to get up while it's still dark outside.

Georgia LOVES cold weather. She's the only one of us that isn't snuggly. In fact, she's a wild beast right now because the weather has energized her. It only makes sense because she's built for the cold, but good grief it's hard to keep up with her when the weather cools off. It gets even harder when the sun only shines while we are at work, so she doesn't get good play time. That means cold, cold walks in the dark after work - which she loves and I shiver through. :) She wants to be outside all the time when it's cold, and she wants us to be out there with her - like we are in the summer. When it's warm. :)

How many times did I write "snuggly" in this post? :)

Fast Cars and Freedom

Fast Cars and Freedom is a great song by Rascal Flatts; you should look it up and give it a listen. It’s also the theme of my weekend.

We’ll start with fast cars. Rebecca’s boyfriend (he has officially graduated from boyfriend-type to boyfriend) and his roommate drive fast cars. They both have Nissan 350Zs. They also both race their fast cars. We spent Saturday afternoon at their house, and the evening ended with Nathan, Rebecca’s boyfriend, taking me for a ride. I am not at liberty to say how fast we actually drove, but suffice it to say it was FUN! I have to admit I was nervous, but not because I didn’t trust his driving. I kept thinking what if a dog or a child or a person runs out in front of us? What if a car pulls out in front of us? It was just slightly nerve-wracking (which made it all the more exciting in my twisted mind). I have to believe that someone who hadn’t actually learned how to race would have killed us both. I’d love to ride with him on a race track where I wouldn’t have to worry about dogs and kids and people and other cars. I don’t think I could ever drive that way, but I can understand why they do it. Oh, and I was praying the whole time.

Now for the freedom portion of the weekend. I spent Friday night and Saturday morning at a Ladies’ Retreat at the Springville Camp and Conference Center. Our keynote speaker was Caroline Jones, who is a consultant with the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU). She spent 10 years as a missionary in Chile, and she had a lot to share about her experience there and her life as a Christian. The theme of the retreat was Fill My Cup, Lord – and I believe I left there with my spiritual cup filled. It’s not overflowing yet, but I’m working on that. You see, when I allow the Lord to fill my cup with his love to the point of overflowing, I will be able to spread His love to the people around me. That’s important to me because I am excited about the way the Lord is working in my life and blessing me and my family. It’s news that should be shared so that other people will know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and be freed from the worries of this world.

I learned some things about myself this weekend. I am a prideful person, I like to worry, I think mean thoughts about people before I really know them, the list could go on and on. Because these things were filling my cup instead of God’s love, the people around me see just me and not my Lord shining through me. It’s only through the grace of God that I can be the person he wants me to be (and the person that I want to be).

I went to two workshops, one about moving outside of my comfort zone and one about managing stress. I needed them both. This post is WAY outside of my comfort zone – which is why I decided to share my weekend with you. Stress and my humanly faults act as a barrier between myself and God. When my heart is full of sin, I cannot pray with a faithful and loving spirit and I do not act with a faithful and loving spirit. This means that I need to confess and repent over and over and over again all day long every day, because I’m telling you that I really struggle! I love to worry, and worrying is the same as telling God that I don’t trust him to take care of me. You know what? He does take care of me. He’s showed me time and again that He will resolve the sticky situations I get myself into, that He will meet my financial and physical needs even when it seems impossible to me, and He answers my prayers when I ask Him with a right spirit. Yet, I still worry because I’m prideful and I like to try to handle everything without help.

The stress management workshop was great. We learned the Theory of the Orange. It goes like this: everyone has an orange (the orange is a representation of your self) and stress affects that orange by putting pressure on it. Stress can apply so much pressure that it has a physical effect on us, often making us sick. Sometimes it gets so heavy that we are disfigured by it – our orange is crushed to pulp and juice and is no longer an orange at all. Then we discussed internal stressors and external stressors. Internal stressors are things that I do to myself (like degrade myself about a mistake I made or worry about my weight or cause conflict, etc). Essentially, when you apply stress to yourself, you are squishing your own orange. External stressors are things that you cannot control (death, accidents, an unexpected bill, sick kids, etc). There will always be external stressors. The lesson we learned is that we should quit squishing our own orange with the things we can change, and we should step back and let the Lord protect our orange from our external stressors. (You see how my problem with worry fits here?) All we have to do is trust Him, give Him our problems, let Him do the worrying for us, and He will. What a load off! If you want to read more about what the Lord will do for you if you let Him, check out Proverbs 3. It’s powerful and freeing.

So why is freedom a theme from the weekend? Because I offered up my selfish burdens and refocused on my relationship with the Lord. I left that retreat hungry for more of Him. I’ve spent more time in prayer in the past two days than I had in the two weeks prior. I’ve been freed from my stress and worry because I got a good reminder that God will handle it for me, and I started reapplying that to my life. The stress headache I’ve had for weeks is gone, and I slept better Saturday night than I have in a long time. I slept so hard that I drooled on my pillow!! That’s not normal (for me anyway).

If I’ve offended you, let me know because I’d love to pray for you. If you want to know more about my relationship with God or how you can have one, too, let me know because I’d love to share with you – and I’ll be praying that God gives me the words because that is also WAY out of my comfort zone.

For Dave

Ladies and Gentlemen, the love of my life finally makes an appearance.

Dave, thank you for that. You are so good to me, and I am not worthy of such praise.

P.S. I fixed your typo. No worries. :)

George of the Jungle

I finally caught Georgia in her jungle (the weed bed behind our laundry room) for a few minutes while she was taking a break from playing frisbee this morning, so I thought I would post these pictures to surprise Amanda. She doesn't think that I read the blog, so hopefully she will be caught off guard a little by this post.

I don't really know who all reads this site, so I will be careful what I say. I know that some of our immediate family "checks the blog" pretty regularly, but I also saw a comment from some guy from another country, and I don't need for him to know all of my innermost feelings.

I will take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about your author, as I notice that Amanda devotes very little time to herself. Amanda is an extremely intelligent person. She is not one of those goofy smart people that you can't have a conversation with, but rather holds a quiet and reserved confidence and intelligence. She loves to read and believes that reading is fundamental. She believes that if there is something to read about a topic, she can figure it out (See "Bathroom Remodel" posts).

Amanda gives selflessly to her family - be they the skinned ones or the furry ones. She is always concerned with the problems loved ones are facing. Her empathy is amazing. She is my source of inspiration and discipline. She motivates me to be a better person and reigns me in when I get too far out of line.

For those of you who have had the privilege of meeting Amanda, I am sure that I am not telling you anything that you don't already know. For those of you who just like to read blogs of people you have never met, you are scary and should probably be in prison.

Suffice it to say that the author of your blog here is a special person and I am glad to be spending my life with her. I am the luckiest man in the world because I have met and married the woman that God made just for me. I know that there is no such thing as perfection on earth, but it is hard to imagine a life or a wife much better than the ones I have been blessed with.

So ya'll enjoy reading about what you're missing out on. I'll be spending every day soaking up the memories and living a story more splendid than any fairy tale.

Sleeping Beauties

In case you've been dying for an inside look at my household after 9:00 p.m., this is it. :) We are happily boring. Photographs of the sweet kitten are rare these days, and this one just proves that she only comes inside to eat and nap. I think she's been skipping the eating part lately because she's gotten quite skinny.

Since it's been cool at night, we've been sleeping with our windows open in the bedroom. Squirt Monster has been staying outside at night (because that's when the good fights happen). The other morning, the alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., followed by a bang that made us say, "What was that? What was that?" Then the Squirt yelled in his sissy voice at the window. He jumped up there (banging on the window in the process) to tell me to get up and let him in, since he knew the alarm had already gone off. I told him to walk around to the window that doesn't have a screen, because I hit the Snooze button and wasn't getting up yet. He waited until I got up and opened the door for him. He's such a weirdo. I guess he forgot that he could come in through the window, though he exits the house through it all the time.

Another morning, we woke up suddenly at 5:30 (on a weekend, so we didn't have the alarm set) because Georgia was barking her fool head off. Barking in the middle of the night gets us up quickly because she just doesn't do that unless something is wrong. We both jumped out of bed and ran to see what was going on. She was standing at the back door barking, seemingly, at the porch floor. Upon further inspection, we found Squirt sitting at the door, crying to get in. He's so black that we could barely see him in the dark, but she knew he was there, crying. She's the best cat sitter.

Oh, and Squirts don't like the rain. When I got home from work last night, the door was open for them to come and go, but my Squirt Man was snuggled deep in the pillows on my bed. He stayed there most of the night, and I had to move him at bed time. This morning, it took him a long time to decide to go outside. He stood at the door, taking a few steps out and then running back inside, over and over again. He's been fairly active and amusing lately - normally we don't see much of him at all and when we do, he's sleeping. I think he's enjoying the cooler weather.

Let's talk about my crazy fool of a dog for a minute. Last night it rained steadily all night. She played frisbee at full speed in the rain for at least an hour. This morning I had to escort her into the rainy backyard, stand with her, and make her poop because she doesn't like to potty in the rain. I ask you, what is the difference?

No people news to report this time. We are just chugging along, waiting for a vacation. :)

Blogging from Indy

I'm in Indianapolis this week trying to finish up a form. It's going, but not as smoothly as I would like. Oh well, it never does. It has to be finished when we leave here Friday, though, because the client needs to approve it ASAP. Just another bit of crazybusy work. I'm glad I can say I really like my job. As crazy as it gets, I have fun doing it.

Kudos to Dave who's been doing all my chores since work has been so busy. He's so good to me. I haven't done laundry in three weeks, and he cleaned the house last weekend because I just didn't have time. I intended to fit it in sometime, but when I got home Friday evening he had already done it. I love him. :) Plus, he makes me laugh like a crazy person, and that's always fun.

We took Georgia to the Fire Prevention Parade Saturday morning. Montevallo is sort of famous for having a parade for everything. :) I have to say that the Fire Prevention Parade is probably the neatest one. It's always the first Saturday in October, and they have fire trucks from all over central Alabama in it. It's also the loudest parade. Georgia didn't enjoy the sirens, and she wanted to bark at the band members' hats (I think, she's developed a thing about funny hats), but she LOVED the kids and their breakfasts. We took her because we knew she would have a blast with all those kids and the food and candy everywhere. She ate entirely too much junk, but hey, it was a parade. She loves candy just like kids do.

We also took her to PetsMart in an attempt to find a Halloween costume for her to wear in the Fall Festival Worst Talent Show Ever. Apparently only tiny dogs are allowed to dress up for Halloween this year, because they didn't have anything in her size. Daddy gave me the idea to make her a clown outfit, and I think that's what I'm going to do. She wears a t-shirt really well, so I'm formulating a plan for turning one into a clown suit. It's crazy how much I miss that dog when I'm traveling.

We were planning to dress her up to give out candy to trick-or-treaters, too, but now I'm not so sure that's a good plan. The other day my brother came walking into the room wearing a scary mask, and I thought she was going to bite him. Really. Her hair stood on end and she barked her serious bark at him. Then she did it again when he came in a few days later in a cowboy hat and funny teeth. I don't know why he's wearing a costume every time I see him lately. :) Oh yeah, it's Homecomeing week. Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea to let her answer the door on Halloween since she barks like a mean beast when she sees funny head gear. We'll see what happens.

We also went to Zander's 1st birthday party Saturday night. He's my first cousin once removed. :) That means he's my first cousin's son, in case you aren't familiar with Southern genealogy - I wasn't until my Grandmama explained it to me. Anyway, Zander is a cutie pie, and when he laughs he sounds like a duck quacking. It sounds so funny, I almost think he's faking it because everyone else is laughing. Do one-year-olds do things like that? It was very cute. His big sister, Morgan, was off the hook with excitement at having a house full of kids to play with. That child is beautiful and a fireball, just like her daddy. They are going to have their hands full with her when she starts dating.

Cat news: Gypsy's reign of terror has reared it's ugly head again. I really think she just enjoys getting the best of Jewel E., and it's kind of funny to watch. What's not funny is waking suddenly in the middle of the night with a furry ball of hissing, spitting cat flying at your head because it's running from a terror-inspiring little pygmy. Gypsy is the tiniest full grown cat I've ever seen, but she's a street cat and apparently she knows exactly how to terrorize Jewel. She plays rough. :)

That's all I've got for now. I need to do some reading. I've just started Same Sweet Girls, by Cassandra King. It's really good so far, and it's based on the author's experience at the Alabama College for Girls (now known as the University of Montevallo - for those who aren't local). Cassandra King is also the wife of Pat Conroy, who is probably my favorite author ever. For those two reasons, I couldn't pass it up. I recommend it if you need some entertaining reading.