CatPeople

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T00:19:00.003-04:00

Wow...I guess it's been a year since I posted on here. My life has been busy since then. Had a baby...and pretty much stuck on Facebook now! I'm Marcy Wofford on there if anyone wants to find me.

Tilda was Snow White again this year! She's grown a lot...but it's a great costume!

Halloween

2009-11-02T13:24:00.004-05:00

(It was around 80 degrees on Halloween here this year.
Amazing.)

(Tilda scurrying away from the "HOT" pumpkins.)

Tried to get a pic of Lucky sniffing my ears...
he is always so curious.

Minus One

2009-09-21T14:04:00.006-04:00

(Tuffy)

When I started this blog, four years ago (wha???) it was from a suggestion of my friend Ilaiy. I didn't know what to write about except that I had an odd li'l statistic in my life. I had 5 cats. Weird. Hard to admit sometimes and you just know that some people won't understand. Those that know us, though - and have been to our house, have always said that you could never tell we have five. You might actually only see three of the kitties so, I always wondered if we should just tell people we only have 3.

Now one is gone. Missing for 5 weeks now. My good friend, Lori, recently lost her sister to cancer and I can't imagine what she feels. Losing a cat is absolutely NOTHING compared to that. And I often feel down in the dumps and downright depressed about losing this measly cat.

I've posted fliers and ads and put fliers near mailboxes. (My husband, ever the law mindful man he is - - reminds me that it's illegal to put fliers in mailboxes so, I put them in the newspaper slot.) We check the pound - - the website and in person.

And the hardest part for me is the not knowing. If he's dead. (I have a feeling he is. It's just that I can't imagine him hearing my voice and not coming toward the sound.) If a grandma adopted him and is making him fatter than ever. I don't know. I just don't know. And I want to go around and scream for him at the top of my lungs but I guess decorum dictates that I just can't do that.

And the other, really hardest part is knowing that it is my fault. If I hadn't put him out...If I had kept him inside...If I hadn't tried so hard to keep him away from the couch he kept repeatedly peeing on...Maybe he wouldn't have gone so far.

He's gone and it's my fault.

And now when people see us at the store stocking up on cat litter and they ask: "How many cats DO you have????"

I hear my husband say: "Four."

Ouch.....

Baby Woof #2

2009-09-02T09:26:00.003-04:00

We have some exciting news here...just got back from my first sono and I am about 8 weeks along.

Matilda looked at the screen while the sono was happening, pointed and said: "hippo"! And "circle"...that's about what the li'l baby looks like now! ;0)

Baby Hippo, it is then.

4th Weekend

2009-07-07T13:59:00.007-04:00

We had a great weekend over the 4th. We took Matilda to the Children's Museum at Wilmington on Friday. She LOVED it! I almost thought of getting a yearlong pass...

(wish that one hadn't turned out sooo blurry!
She was sooo happy to be there!)

And then went to the Swansboro street fest for the 4th. Matilda wasn't too sure of the fireworks though so we left. She just kept saying: "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" So we scurried home...maaaybe next year???

(Right before she climbed down.
She posed like this by herself.)

She is getting sooo big! Sooo very tall. And really turning into a kid. It is amazing. She will be two in a few weeks...wow!

2009-07-02T15:27:00.004-04:00

Can I just say that I'm _____.

What? Cranky...bored...kind of depressed.

And I don't know why...

No one wants to read blogs about people that aren't happy, right???

Waaah, waaah, waaah - I'm not happy. And I have no reason not to be. I have a great husband, a beautiful, smart daughter that I get to stay home with and....I'm just not happy recently. I'm not happy being ultra busy. I'm not happy sitting at home. I'm not motivated.

And today I'm emotional and hormonal. I am seriously going to need to look into getting some hormone reducing pills (someone please invent them) or something. I can't take it anymore!

And I feel awful - - soooo many people are suffering. Going through much worse stuff than me and I have NOTHING to complain about except the craziness in my head making me feel stressed out, impatient and blue.

Ugh.

Photos like this do make me smile though:

Real Big "Fish"

2009-06-07T23:23:00.003-04:00

Here's me - - posing with a huge weed I pulled from our backyard. Mike said he was going to cut it down and I said: "Oh, you can just pull that." And I did.

I nearly fell over when it popped out, but I did it!! If our fence wasn't there, I would've landed on my arse.

(Those aren't our lovely bushes behind me...that's our neighbors house.)

And, a little helper carrying part of it away.

Weekend Fun

2009-06-01T00:11:00.003-04:00

We headed to Raleigh this weekend to see Elmo Live! Matilda enjoyed it soooo much, I would definitely do it again. She was excited and enthralled. I even teared up because I was so happy she was happy! Such fun!

And filed under "The Kindness of Strangers" -- we stopped at a local pizza place on the way home and Matilda kept asking for "ollies...ollies...ollies". So, without adding a salad bar fee to our bill, our nice waitress brought our lovely, demanding daughter a bowl full of olives! How touching is that?

Leash Law

2009-04-14T21:16:00.003-04:00

I think this might be a controversial issue...but I was just wondering what the consensus was on harnesses for toddlers??

I know that it's a sensitive topic...I'm not sure I understand why. To me, it is a safety issue. I have purchased a stuffed animal/backpack combo with a strap for me to hold on to and I used it once while traveling to see my family near St. Louis. I was just concerned that while toting my daughter through the airport, she might want down to wander on her own and it's just too big of a crowd to let her do that. I used it for a total of 10 minutes maybe. During that very short time, I felt like I got some strange looks...I think I even overheard a comment.

Sooooo, let's just say that you have a rowdy, rambunctious, independent daughter that likes to explore. What do you do? Stay home? Try to keep her from scrambling out of a cart or stroller whilst she is screaming bloody murder?

She says: "Walk, Mama."

So, I let her. And she runs around and away from me with an impish grin as if to say: "Come and get me."

I'm just at my wits end! We were at Target today with my grandma and, needless to say, grandma got very worried. The friend we were with said she'd never Matilda act like this before.

Normally, this would not be an issue because her dad manages her when we're out so that I can browse. He chases her through the store. I know that's tiresome for him, too...

I have no idea what to do. She LOVES her freedom. I want her to explore...just not go too far. I don't know if a "leash" is the answer or not...

Of course she's not a dog - - she's my daughter. My brilliant, energetic, independent daughter.

Really, who am I kidding???? She'd be mad as hell if I had the harness on her anyway. I guess I answered my own question...

Almost a Year Later

2009-03-26T00:42:00.004-04:00

10 Valentine's Days...

2009-02-15T00:21:00.006-05:00

My husband wrote in my card that this is our 10th Valentine's Day together and it really wowed me....

It is an understatement that time has flown for me. I don't think I can remember every year!

I remember the first year. I bought him a Burroughs book and a card. He told me as I was leaving to go home that he didn't believe in Valentine's Day or something foreign to me like that...probably he just didn't get around to getting me something. I'm sure I couldn't hide my disappointment. What can I say? I'm a sap...a sucker for V-day.

Surprisingly, the next year I received a beautiful, romantic delivery at work from Red Envelope.

I'm fuzzy from here until I remember a time at OUR HOME after we were married and he fixed me orange roughy and snap peas that we ate by candlelight.

Then I remember a year in we spent in Oklahoma City. I visited him while he was at training for work and I was pregnant with our daughter. I remember a rose with a sweet note greeting me at the door while I waited for him to get home from school that day...and the excitement we felt about us growing as a family.

And last year was pretty blurry here...our first year in North Carolina...

Then today, we signed more paperwork on our house, had frozen pizza at home and listened to music and danced with Matilda.

It's a beautiful life. The years are flying by...I can't believe it's been 10! (And not just because it's hard to believe we made it through that first one...) ;0)

I wouldn't trade a moment for anything. I'm so grateful to be where I am today. And look forward to 20 hundred million more...

Stimulatin' the Economy

2009-02-13T15:28:00.003-05:00

BIG NEWS over here in the Woof world. We are doing our own small part to stimulate the economy. We bought a house!

I sure wish the tax credit had survived in the stimulus package...that would've been fantastic for us. And it would've made me feel better about our chances of selling when the time comes. But, in our neck of the woods, the market is pretty strong. We have a "transient market" with the military bases nearby, soooooooo...we're testing our luck!

Our new home as of the end of March:

Matilda helps our realtor review the paperwork:

What's that smell?!?!?!?!

2009-02-03T23:41:00.003-05:00

Soooo, I'm not very good at keeping my car clean. But I remember being appalled by some people's cars who had kids. Melted crayons. Fries everywhere. And I just couldn't understand the mess.

But now, with Matilda, there are crackers, cookies, cookie dust...and MILK.

The past few days there has been a horrible spoiled-milk-like smell in the car. I remember telling my sister-in-law that it was like something died inside their. So, yesterday I pulled stuffed animals out and sniffed them. I spot-cleaned the car and the carseat. I left the windows open to air it out. STILL, NO improvement.

Tonight, Mike was pulling out the carseat for a full washing, doing some maintenance and found the culprit inside the trunk.

A dirty diaper I had forgotten to throw away. Seriously. We were out (a week or so ago), I changed Bilda's diaper - - no trash can in sight and I thought I'd throw it away at home.

The car smells a million times better already. And I'm reminded to never, ever judge people until I've walked a mile in their shoes...

Home

2009-01-04T22:40:00.002-05:00

Home is a lot of things to a lot of people.

We got home around 3:30 A.M. Eastern time Saturday morning. It was a looooooong trip home. We stopped and bought a portable DVD player for Bilda so that she'd be entertained. And entertained she was! She didn't even sleep except for 30 minutes or so. She has developed a cough she picked up somewhere along the way and that eventually made for a cranky baby.

Thankfully, we made it home safely. I realize how blessed I am. I think about it all the time. If I had nothing but my husband and our daughter - - I could live contently forever.

But I can't help to wish for more. I want to be HOME with my family and loved ones. My only regret about leaving here would be the gorgeous weather...so I wish to bring the NC weather HOME...or I wish I could bring everyone and all the things that remind me of home here. It's hard. I'll have a heavy heart for a while. And my eyes will mist up quickly at just the thought or smell of home. I can smell my mom's house on the clothes I washed there. I found a coffee flavor I want to share with my dad. I want to hang out and talk with my sister. I want to see them WHENEVER I feel like it. I just can't do that right now and it's terrible.

I look to the future and I KNOW I'll be home or, at least, very close to home soon. When????????????? I have no idea.

But what a happy time that will be.

Illin'

2008-12-21T00:08:00.005-05:00

I've been in Illinois for a week now! Woohooooooo!

Matilda and I flew in last Saturday for a "SURPRISE!" 80th birthday party for my Grandma.

I've had sooo much fun already. Grandma was truly surprised (stunned is more like it) and very pleased that family from out of town came to see her.

We helped put up the tree at my parents.

I just got back from Champaign and visiting my good, good friends!

(sorry I got Clint with his mouth full...
of the DEElicious breakfast he fixed us!)

(awwwwwwe)

(A classic Lori face!
Cracks me up!)

Tomorrow, I'm off to Tennessee to visit the in-laws! I honestly can't wait for them to see our little Bilda...

I can has my own LOLcats

2008-12-01T18:15:00.003-05:00

I finally created some pics on Icanhascheezburger. I've been wanting to but never felt inspired until yesterday. I can only dream to make the homepage...I probably won't but stranger things have happened, right? I don't even know if this will help, but if you feel so inclined - please visit my picture links and give them a 5 out of 5 "cheeseburger vote". Enjoy!

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=2744605

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=2744657

Overheard...

2008-11-30T23:39:00.004-05:00

Mike explaining to Matilda that the Disney Princesses on her li'l couch are, as follows:

Cinderella, Snow White and....Bai Ling.

(Photos taken earlier this year...
in the summertime.)

(A strange reference, I know. Most people probably don't know who she is. She's a little known actress. She was in The Crow, she did guest star on LOST once AND was one of the most entertaining contestants for those of us who wasted a small part of our life watching a few episodes of But Can They Sing?)

Aaaaah, and if you're still following me and are dying to know the answer to that burning question: the third Princess is Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T15:37:00.004-05:00

We started our Thanksgiving at Starbucks...for a snack. I made (fake) chicken noodle soup and we're heading to a neighbor's for dessert! Yum!

Another One!

2008-11-24T15:31:00.001-05:00

Germany faces Santa shortage

What is going on with the news? How newsworthy is this?

Kinda cute in a way though...

Weird Headline

2008-11-24T00:27:00.002-05:00

Man Arrested After Woman Says He Shot Her

Hmmm, I think that's a good thing. Also, unfortunately, not that uncommon. I just found it surprising that this was a national news story.

Seagulls...

2008-11-17T23:34:00.004-05:00

We did a little early Christmas shopping on Sunday. (Verrrrry early for me! But my holiday season is starting early this year so I'm in a rush.)

I never get used to seeing seagulls in parking lots here. As we pulled up, I was on the phone with Mike's sister so he and Bilda got out of the car to feed a few birds some snacks. They quickly grew in number...

Cute birdies!

Gay Marriage

2008-11-07T00:01:00.005-05:00

Button stolen from Micah's blog

I cannot believe Proposition 8 passed. I cannot believe that people have decided to tell people who they can marry. If I can't tell a good friend of mine not to marry an Al Bundy type with no job, no car, 5 priors, 2 ex-wives and four kids - - how can we tell GLBT people who they can or cannot marry????

We can't. (We shouldn't.)

And in what way would gay marriage devalue my marriage?

In absolutely no way. The only person with the potential to devalue my marriage is me or my husband. And we heterosexuals have done enough to damage to the sanctity of marriage on our own - the divorce rate being over 50%...and that's a statistic from years ago.

Whom does this effect??? (Besides our GLBT friends.)

NO ONE! It harms no one! There are no "victims". I refer back to the clever button at the top of the page.

It is - - very simply - an equal rights issue. The only comforting thing I have to say is that your day will come. Unfortunately, it hasn't arrived yet. I'm sorry that it hasn't.

Ellen said it best:

"I believe one day a 'ban on gay marriage' will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us."

Me too, Ellen.

New Day - Feeling Good

2008-11-05T11:39:00.001-05:00

For some reason, this song keeps going through my head today:

Michael Bublé - Feeling Good

Wow...

2008-11-05T00:59:00.003-05:00

I am sooooo happy. So relieved to have this election over.

4 years ago, I was pretty depressed at the outcome of the election.

4 years ago, I heard a young candidate for the United States Senate speak and was incredibly moved.

He is my President now. It's so surreal to me. He inspired me then - - he inspires me now. The fact that he has made history by being the first African-American elected as President is truly amazing and transformational for this Country. For me, he's the perfect choice for President...

We have our cake and we'll eat it, too!!

Somebody pinch me! Wait, don't - - I don't want to wake up.

We Voted

2008-11-03T23:21:00.003-05:00

We voted as a li'l family on Saturday, so here's my traditional voting song!

The lyrics have changed slightly...our polling place was out of "I Voted" stickers...which was a little disappointing personally, but very encouraging to think that lots of people are exercising their right to vote. (Or stealing my stickers....nah, I doubt that.)

Follow Up

2008-11-02T10:35:00.003-05:00

You know how I wrote that I was nervous to wear my Obama shirt around here?? Well, I've been surprisingly pleased with my response. I can actually say that I've never noticed any one disapproving of my shirt. For that I am thankful. But I am all the more thankful for the positive looks and comments I've gotten. The overwhelming comment??? Where did you get your shirt??? Well, I got it online from Obama's website. Not expensive at all although it took it a few weeks to ship.

But, yesterday, one of the best responses ever from our waiter at a Chinese buffet. He loved the shirt! Said that it gave him goosebumps. Now, that is a great effect!

It is absolutely thrilling for me to meet an Obama supporter (especially out here in this part of NC). There is an instant bond. And the rarity of it makes it all the more special.

Ironically, here is Mike's fortune from yesterday's visit when we met the enthusiastic waiter:

This campaign has been about HOPE for me. Not only would I have gone to the booth and voted yesterday because I have been discontented - - but I went because I was proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama. No surprise to me, I teared up as I blackened the oval beside his name.

I just can't wait for Tuesday night!

Under the Sea

2008-11-01T08:47:00.005-04:00

We took Matilda to the Hauuuuuunted Aquarium Thursday night and went out trick or treating in our neighborhood last night.

It was a great first trick or treating Halloween!

Lucky waited for the trick or treaters while we went out to see the neighbors we've met.

Pumpkin Carvings

2008-10-30T00:06:00.006-04:00

We carved our punkins tonight. Matilda was verrrrrry curious. She smelled and even taste tested the pumpkins and considered them to be "gooooooo[d]". I kept thinking that next year we won't be carving alone - she tried to grab the tiny saw out of my hand a couple of times tonight. I don't think we'll get by without her at least trying next year...so exciting!

I carved the same thing I've done for years. (A cat - - how ironic!) It is what I know and I'm definitely not an artist...I considered doing a template but just opted out, I guess...I had a little girl to concentrate on!

Mike's pumpkin had sprouts!

"It's all fun & games 'til someone gets hurt."

This is right before Matilda poked the pupil out of
one of the eyes of Mike's pumpkin.

Li'l Taste Tester:

Punkin' Patch....

2008-10-27T23:16:00.006-04:00

We took Matilda to her first pumpkin patch on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I'm sure we got ripped off on the price of pumpkins but it's nice to keep a local place in business, right? I guess you pay for the experience...we got to take a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and pick them out, so...it was nice.

Bilda notices the pumpkin patch

She likes the dirt best of all

We ran into some people I remembered meeting before. It was a family that was in the ER the day that Mike had his appendix out. Their son (and brother) had his appendix out the same day as Mike. He actually got to go first because we sat at Starbucks and Mike ate a cookie after his CT scan and before he knew he needed to have his appendix out. Looooong story...but I remember sitting in the waiting room with them and the little niece wanted to sit by us on the wagon ride back. She was soooooo sweet!

With our friend, Brooklyn

Matilda wanted to stand up and hold hands...
so did Brooklyn

Lost in thought...???

Mooooo[n]

2008-10-24T23:49:00.006-04:00

Our smart, observant little girl noticed the moon the other morning. High up in the window in the kitchen...I was really floored. Floored by the fact that she saw it, knew what it was AND tried to say it. Wow!

Then, we were at the computer tonight looking at kitteh pictures on one of my favorite sites when Matilda realized that my hair tickled her. While we made of video of my tickling her, her keen observation skills became obvious to me again! She was looking at this photo and she imitated it. Without my ever reading it to her out loud:

Over a Year...

2008-10-20T00:46:00.005-04:00

Maybe I won't even post this post, but - - -

Today I realized again that we've been in N.C. for over a year.

Sometimes it's something small:

There's a festival coming up and realize we were here for it last year...

and another street fest...they love their festivals here in October.

and, today - we were at a pizza place in town and I saw a li'l family I noticed when we first moved here. They had the teeeeeeeniest, tiniest baby I think I'd ever seen. I mean, Bilda was pretty small and, hell - she was only about 2 months old when we moved here. But this baby was sooooo tiny. Anyway, we saw them today and I had to comment to them on how she's grown! Her mom said she'd be a year old next month and tears started to well up in my eyes. Another reminder for me.

AND on the way home today, I ordered a warm coffee. I've had them iced for soooo many months now. And believe it or not - it tasted completely different. It brought me back to what seems like an eternity ago. When we were new here and all we knew was to come into town and shop. It was the same drive back to our home from the nearest, biggest (AND SMALLEST) towns in the world in our neck of the woods and the feeling just made my stomach sink and my heart ache.

This has been a good year. It's been a crazy year. It's been emotional for me to leave everyone I love behind. But, I have been happy, too. We have become a stronger, tiny family. We are content just being together.

And that comes from the calm that I have because I know we'll be home again someday.

Though I am still the most impatient person I know. (Besides my little daughter. But even she is gaining a little more patience.)

Wow...

2008-10-18T17:56:00.003-04:00

I was checking to see if there are any upcoming Obama events here in N.C., and saw this:

Obama was in STL today! And over 100,000 people showed up! It made my eyes tear up...

D.C.

2008-10-14T23:55:00.009-04:00

We went to D.C. this past weekend. A spur of the moment thing. Just decided that we really should go since we're only about 350 miles away and Mike had Monday off for Columbus Day.

It was a blast! We walked and walked and walked and went back to our hotel each night and swam in the pool and crashed.

Of course, we took lots of photos but I'm sooooo bummed because I accidentally erased a whole day's worth of pictures. I've got some recovery software on the way so - keep your fingers crossed for me! I had some really cute photos of Matilda walking around the Air & Space Museum with her hands folded behind her back. There are actually TWO of the Air Museums in D.C. (lucky for Mike). She LOVED it at the first one by the airport - it wasn't very crowded, there was nothing for her to destroy and she could roam freely right next to us.

The next day, we headed downtown to see the sites! It was just amazing to see the places that are such a part of our history and lives as Americans.

(I wish we'd had time to meet up with Wendy and Kristin while we were in town! I was telling Lori that we really should all meet up again sometime....Road trip!)

Mike thought it would be hiLARious
if he took a picture of this picture from the Smithsonian
and told Lori that he took it in an aquarium there.
Guess I just ruined that plan.

Water fountain by the Art Museum.
Made me wistful and think of the "Love & Marriage" Fountain in Chicago.

I liked this guy's choice of a seat.
(Above and below.)

Ice cream break.

Second day of Air Museum - not as exciting for Matilda.
And waaaaaay too crowded.

View from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.

Trying to get a photo with Matilda...but she has her own plan!

View from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument.
I guess that's obvious.
BUT, I wasn't sure we'd make it - so it meant a lot to me!

Michelle Obama Rally

2008-10-07T15:49:00.006-04:00

Wooohooo! Bilda and I saw Michelle Obama speak today in Jacksonville, NC. For once, I can say I'm thankful I live in the middle of nowhere North Carolina because we actually got to sit pretty close. It was amazing.

We also almost didn't make it inside the building so that made our luck seem even better when we got a good seat! The place filled up fast...it was an emotional sight for me to see all the people that showed up! Just incredible. I was thrilled.

She talked a lot about military families. We all cheered and cheered each time a speaker mentioned the military heroes and the sacrifices their families make and gave standing ovation after ovation.

Bilda and I made it through most of the event. Almost near the end, Bilda decided she was going to steal my camera and slam it on the floor....I objected and she screeched, so we booked outta there!

Overall - - it was an amazing day!

Just got a care package from my MOM

2008-10-06T13:45:00.003-04:00

filled with treasures!

It was soooo exciting(!) to open it.

Matilda is napping and she'll explore her treats when she wakes up!

A talking Minnie doll from my parents' recent vacation to Disney World. (YES! My parents vacationed at Disney. They love it there - they love the food!)

THE cutest Halloween card EVER.

Three adorable outfits. The cutest navy/green plaid dress I've ever seen!

And, amazingly, the clothes smell like home. [Sniff sniff sniff.]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, HOME. [Sniff sniff.]

I don't know if I can even wash the clothes, yet!

We LOVE our Grandma MeMe packages!

No one noticed!

2008-10-05T22:40:00.002-04:00

I went out "about town" today in my Obama shirt...and absolutely nothing happened! I was inconspicuous as always! Woooooohooo!

I'm never taking it off now.

I did see a guy selling Obama shirts on the side of the road. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture. Maybe I'll stop by and see him sometime and ask him how many he's sold...

On Tuesday, Matilda and I are going to try to see Michelle Obama! She's going to be here - - in Jacksonville, NC. I guess I'll wear my shirt that day too. (Of course I will, because I'm never taking it off!)

T-Shirt Test

2008-10-05T10:34:00.002-04:00

It's hard to explain why I'm nervous to go out into town today with my Obama t-shirt on.

I think it's because we live in a mostly military town. I admire and respect veterans. I'm married to a veteran, after all.

If I was in Champaign-Urbana, I would rock this shirt with NO problem. But I'm nervous here. I'm nervous to offend people. They are proud of their service and I AM SO PROUD OF THEIR SERVICE and THEIR FAMILIES' SACRIFICE(S). The son of one of my best friends served in Iraq and we are soooooo proud of him. And so thankful he came home safely. I know he's proud of the job he did and would serve again and again.

I love my country. I love my daughter. I love the soldiers!!! And THAT'S why I wear this t-shirt and vote the way I do.

Astounded

2008-10-02T23:48:00.006-04:00

Of course, I watched the debate tonight. I'll leave the reviewing to the professionals - BUT, I do have a few observations about Palin, the mother:

First, she handed her infant to her 7 year old daughter to carry down the stairs from the debate stage. Unconcerned.

Secondly, at her post debate speech I saw the infant barefoot. It's chilly in St. Louis right now, I'm sure.

Lastly, why aren't her school age children in school?

(I guess I could say the same thing about Biden's school age grandchildren, so.......hmmmmmmm. It's only one night????? I don't know.)

Matilda Watches GloZell

2008-09-02T23:07:00.002-04:00

Sooooo...a while back, Fighting Mad Mary posted her friend GloZell's video...then my friend Gnightgirl blogged it...then our friend Wendy posted that she was blogging it from FMM and GNG and wouldn't it be funny if someone posted it from her blog?

Wellllll, lately our Miss Matilda loves watching videos on the computer...she mostly watches bunnies and animals and videos of herself but, as it turns out, EVEN SHE loves GloZell!

And who wouldn't really???

And while I was on GloZell's YouTube site, I found a new favorite of mine:

She is talented!

Bizzzzzzy Weekend!

2008-09-01T22:18:00.010-04:00

We had a ton of fun this weekend...we just went and went and went!

Saturday we toured Tryon Palace in New Bern. You're not allowed to take any pictures inside...waaaaaah! No pictures!

They were pretty nice though. Since we had our own li'l tour guide (Matilda), a nice lady came out and gave us a quick walk-through tour of our very own.

(Flower thief)

(Two flies at the same time!
Ruining both Mike and Matilda's straws.
We just had to laugh...)

She felt like such a big girl!

On Sunday we went to tour Screen Gem Studios in Wilmington, NC...where they film one of my favorite shows, One Tree Hill. It was my hubband's very nice idea chosen just for me! We really enjoyed it...saw the sets...didn't get ANY spoilers...and, again, didn't get to take any pictures inside. Blah!

We turned her seat around for the first time. I don't know who was more pleased and proud...

Peyton's car(s)

Then we headed to downtown Wilmington...they shoot scenes for the show there, too.

Brooke's store...empty!
They should think about actually selling clothes there!

I like how this one turned out:

Matilda met a doggie inside Java Dog...they allow them in there! She was a sweetheart named Junebug.

Today, we had plans of touring the maritime museum but we just were tuckered out. And did a little shopping before we decided it was too hot...we'll save it for another day. Matilda met some nice doggies again though. Who would have ever thought two catpeople would have a dog lover??!?!? We're wishing we'd rethought that now because I'd love for her to have a dog...

That's for another day and time, too!!!

What to Say?

2008-08-29T13:10:00.002-04:00

First of all, it smells of desperation to me...McCain choosing a woman as his VP nominee since Hillary isn't on the ticket. Well, too bad!! It's not going to change the fact that McCain will lead this country backward not forward.

She seems pretty and, darn it, she has a tiny baby with Down Syndrome. [sigh] I truly feel for her...

BUT this choice just seems sooooo desperate.

And their slogan of "Country First"??????? What do we all want? If I'm honest - - my family is first BUT:

We all love our Country! That's why WE want it to move forward.

Obama's Speech

2008-08-29T00:23:00.004-04:00

It's an understatement to say that I really enjoyed his speech.

Wow - I know what an amazing speaker he is and was still blown away...I can only hope that he becomes our President. I won't even dare to let myself imagine it yet...only hope that it can and will happen...and, of course, get out and vote for him on November 4th!

Momo's Re-citing DNC Coverage Continues!

2008-08-27T00:00:00.001-04:00

It was an interesting night.

I thought former President Clinton backed Barack well...

And I like Biden even more now (if that's even possible for me). He's just sooo identifiable, matter-of-fact/down-to-Earth - - you just can't help but like him! His children and wife clearly love him and he is obviously proud of his family. Yes, his speech wasn't as lively as he can be...but it was still very telling, honest and open.

To quote Pres. Clinton's speech tonight:

"I LOVE JOE BIDEN!"

I'll Keep Going...

2008-08-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

I was not sure what to expect from Hillary's speech tonight...it seemed like an insurmountable task - to unify the party. We will see how it worked but I, for one, was very impressed. She did a fantastic job...

I am and have been an Obama supporter - I am a liberal and I have always been a Democrat. I know that I would've voted the Democratic ticket no matter who the candidate was...so I cannot say how this speech will affect die-hard Hillary supporters but I can say that I thought Hillary was brilliant and pulled it all together clearly!

Some of my favorite lines:

"No way. No how. No McCain."

"Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President."

"I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?"

"We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare."

"Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance."

"I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation. We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich gave a rousing speech, too! Loved it!

Political Blog...

2008-08-26T00:32:00.006-04:00

I really don't blog very much about my political views BUT I would say that politics is a big part of my life right now...well, maybe not politics soooo much as I am just very, very interested in this upcoming election and I am hopeful that my candidate will win.

I was very pleased to be awakened Saturday morning at 3:25 A.M. ET by the text message announcing Sen. Joe Biden as Obama's running mate...what a great way to start my morning! I even crazily stumbled downstairs to get online to see if it was really true - I even felt like I was the first to know! And I wondered if anyone had posted it online yet...OF COURSE they had!

I'm so glad that Biden is the VP nominee...he is outspoken and passionate in his work. And we need someone fighting for us out there.

Then tonight, I was pleasantly surprised with Michelle Obama's speech. I'm not surprised that she was open and articulate...or that it was a moving speech - - actually I guess I wasn't surprised at all. The Obamas continually move me.

Michelle Obama just reminded me of one of the main reasons I'm voting for her husband. She mentioned that Barack wants to be President to give their daughters and all children a more promising future. Of course, my daughter's future is the single most important thing to me...I can't wait to cast my vote for HOPE in November.

Coming Clean

2008-08-20T23:15:00.005-04:00

My friend Lori recently blogged her "True Confessions"...before your mind goes into the gutter - these are not those kind of confessions! She is not that kind of lady!

Her blog was about claims she had made and how she had to confess she couldn't quite live up to them - so I started thinking about myself...AND then we did something pretty uncharacteristic and Matilda was just so cute doing it, I couldn't resist posting - it fits perfectly!

So, while I try to feed my li'l family healthy foods and CLAIM that I avoid trans fats and fast food joints like the plague - - we were out running an errand the other night and got the craving for something fast and fried so we stopped at Burger King and Miss Matilda got to enjoy some macaroni (great choice for a kids meal - though not healthiest macaroni product out there) and apple fries and some of her mommy's french fries...she quickly figured out the best part of fries is the KETCHUP! You know, for KIDS!

Ketchup scooper:

1st Birthday

2008-08-15T01:21:00.000-04:00

Our Bilda turned 1 a few weeks ago...I definitely meant to blog this earlier but we went home to Illinois for her birthday (YAY!) and I've been recovering from that AND staying up all night watching the Olympics like a complete nerd!

But what an amazing year it has been. Sometimes I look at her and just marvel at how she has changed. I would say that this year has flown by - but it actually feels like it has been the longest year of my life. With moving cross country and just that fact that Matilda has grown and learned sooo much, each month feels almost like a year in itself.

I feel like she has been around forever...sometimes it's hard to remember a time in my life before her. She is the greatest joy of my life (our life)! Mike and I gaze at her in awe and adoration...and sometimes I think our hearts will just burst!

I cannot even begin to describe how wonderfully she has changed our lives...she is the single most beautiful thing we have ever done...

Happy 21st Mal!!!

2008-07-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

My little sister turns 21 today! I remember the day she was born!

See:

I was (and am) such a happy, proud sister!

You can see it:

From our wedding day...a day before she turned 16:

Graduating high school:

Holding her beloved niece!

She's a beautiful, funny woman!

I love you, Sist!

Happy Birthday!

'Versary

2008-07-19T00:37:00.002-04:00

Five years ago today started the best of the rest of my life!

I could tell you lots and lots of things that happened that day...fantastic things - silly speeches from our siblings, a few things that didn't quite go as planned, lots of happy tears and laughter...it was all such a whirlwind!

And one of the best days of my life...I'd do it all over again and again...these five years have flown by. I hope for 50 million more!

I love!

P.S. Happy future 'Versary to our friends Lori and Jim!!! We wish you all the best!!

My daughter has a first name...

2008-07-17T23:38:00.000-04:00

it's B-I-L-D-A...

I've hesitated using Matilda's nickname on here...and sometimes in casual conversation because it's just a little off (like me!)

Of course, I do often call her Matilda, but I always liked the name Mattie...and I really thought that would be what I called her...but, as nicknames tend to do, it just morphed on it's own.

I think it stems from our kitties' nicknames: Tuffy-Buffy, Lucky-Bucky, Aggie-Baggie...

I.e., Matilda-Bilda-Banana-Fana-Fo-Filda! BILDA. (And many, many variations thereof: Bil-der, Bil-dini, Bil-dooni, Bil-day, Bilda Bear - - another cat thing - - because Mike calls our little black kitties "bears"...and I like to joke that someday we will build Bilda a Build-A-Bear....oh, it could just go on forever...)

So, as I remember it, I called her Bilda just a couple of times as a teeny baby. Mike adopted it also and it has stuck. (Mike's nicknames have morphed, too. From: Hubband, Hubbo, Bubbo - now, Bubby - I never call him "Mike" unless I am talking about him and he never says "Marcy" - - it is always something else. And though I am a very sentimental person, I don't see it as really mushy - maybe it is, but it's just me - - - it's just us.)

I wonder if we will always call her "Bilda"...she has many other nicknames as well: Darling girl, Pie Pie (short for sweetie pie - - who shortens a nickname??? I do.)...I wouldn't be surprised if it changed or morphed again...and I wonder if she will someday be Mattie...or if maybe that's a nickname for someone else to give her...

The 4th

2008-07-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

This was probably the first 4th we didn't visit friends or family...and it was Matilda's first 4th so we wanted to see how she would enjoy fireworks!

Our neighboring town had a little festival with fireworks on Friday night, so we went downtown, had dinner and decided to hang out and wait for the show! Matilda met a new friend...we have been curious to see what her interaction with other kids would be like and it was sooo cute for us to watch!

The fireworks started promptly at 9:00 and Matilda really liked them. Unfortunately, all the waiting around prior to the start of the show had taken it's toll and we skidaddled outta there before it ended. I LOVE fireworks and was reluctant to leave...but our little one was done.

I always seem to get a little sentimental watching fireworks...I love my country...plus I had some young wives behind me with their tiny babies and I'm pretty sure their husbands are probably in Iraq now...I heard one of them singing along with the accompanying music and got misty eyed...

I was also moved to be sharing the fireworks with Matilda for the first time. It is a wonderful way to mark the passing of another year...AND I always, always think of my very favorite place to watch fireworks - - downtown St. Louis - - and couldn't help but wish that I was there.

The next day we were out and about again to New Bern, a favorite place of ours that has a cozy downtown area with shops to visit. Mike likes walking around a verrry old church there...it has some extremely old gravestones...we weren't sure of the name of the church so Mike went over to the the plaque out front and read that George Washington and James Monroe worshiped there while in town...I found it difficult to wrap my brain around that one!

Matilda enjoyed the freedom of walking around and exploring...as we go for our daily walks, I hand her pieces of "nature" as little ways of entertaining her...she loves to explore a pine needle, or a leaf...all new and exciting to her...

We ordered our second coffee of the day, and I realized I needed a picture of my little cafe goers since I took a similar one several months back there...

(Feb '08)

These days, Matilda wants anything and everything we are eating or drinking and she demands it that very instant!!!! I used to really frown upon seeing mothers giving their children caffeine....what could they be thinking?!?!?!? How dare they????? And now, I can entirely understand, I give up and offer my daughter a taste of sweet coffee goodness. She loves it, of course...and as long as Mike can shovel the whip cream in her mouth - - she is contented.

We headed over to a little art park across the street before starting for home...

Our darling little baby has turned into a toddler overnight it seems...she's walking...climbing and starting to have temper tantrums...

All-in-all, another fun-filled weekend for the Woofs!!!!

Father Day

2008-06-20T00:20:00.001-04:00

Father's Day was almost a week ago...but we've been a little busy here and time has gotten away from me. Mike had an appendectomy on Tuesday and had been ill for several days before that.

We did go to lunch on Father's Day and saw this sign:

I found it funny and fitting because it seems like something I would say anyway since I have my own language sometimes and love saying quirky things. (I'm also loving the "Draff" beer...and I will forever call it that, too.)

I'm awake and it's late and I'm thinking of him in the hospital and hoping he comes home tomorrow and that everything is OK because:

If there ever was a man born to be a father, it is my husband. And Matilda is the luckiest little girl in the world to have him as her father. Anyone who knows him would absolutely agree.

When I was younger, I thought of the future often. Of someday having children and worrying that I would be jealous. Because I do love being the center of attention and I knew I wouldn't want to lose that place...even so, I was also pretty sure that someday my feelings would probably become moot when a new "star" was born.

It, of course, has happened. Maybe long before now and without my noticing. But I clearly saw it last night.

We were walking the halls of the hospital as a family. Mike moving gingerly and Matilda holding my finger while wobbling along. And I saw Mike's face as he looked at her - - it took my breath away and I have filed it as a favorite memory. He was more than enthralled - - beaming and proud. She brings him such joy and I love to see him happy. We absorb her movements and milestones in awe and she is the best thing that we have done. The pleasure she brings us is in evident in our faces...and no face is more photogenic and expressive than his.

I love looking at them.

What you won't find in our kitchen...

2008-06-06T14:50:00.001-04:00

I got this meme from my good friend, Gnightgirl...who got it from Fightin' Mad Mary's site. I had actually seen it there the other day, too...but didn't sit down to post it myself until now. Since I think we try to be pretty healthy here, I thought it would be easy! It took me a little while but, here goes!

Hydrogenated Oils – The Woofs won’t eat anything with hydrogenated oils in it. You probably can’t imagine the host of things this leaves off our list. (Certain cakes, ice cream, cookies, chips, coffee creamers, etc.)
Hot dogs – we only eat “fake meat” (vegetarian) hotdogs. I shudder to think about what’s in the real deal.
White bread – or any bread product that has been bleached. I prefer whole grain wheat…unless my husband really, reeeeeeally wants it!
Mono and di-glycerides - Mike really tries to avoid these. I’m not quite as picky…though you don’t like to see animal fat in your bread products…or ice cream…or a lot of stuff! But they put it in there for some reason!
Cookies…or ice cream…unless they are no fat or verrrry low fat and just FOR THE TIME BEING, I’m trying to practice: “what I buy at the store (or rather, what I don’t buy at the store) keeps me eating healthy at home!”
Non-organic milk – I don’t like extra hormones in my milk. When I was breastfeeding, there was a whole list of stuff I couldn’t eat or drink…why wouldn’t we regulate what “goes into” a cow?
Non-organic meat – our meat is either all natural or “fake” (see above).
Soda – we were on a soda phase very briefly. After I had Matilda, I was craving lots of sweets. Soda is waaaaaay to sugary and that was gone after a few weeks.
White sugar** - I am currently trying to eradicate this problem! My husband likes to put it in his coffee and doesn’t like spending more $$$ on the natural stuff…
Stuff with lots of sodium in it - I try to avoid high sodium stuff whenever I can (almost crazily - the doctors' office told me my blood pressure was almost low while I was pregnant!) I add a can or two of no salt added tomato sauce to pasta sauce when I make something…I buy low sodium chicken broth for my soups and add lotsa water to it…my poor husband has even been buying low salted peanuts! (I agree with Lori on the soy sauce though - if you’re going to have salt - go all out!)

Weekend Trips

2008-05-28T14:53:00.000-04:00

We had a GREAT weekend. Went lots of places...ate lots of food (our usual for the weekend). I save up allllll my eating for the weekend!

Friday night at dinner, an older lady walked up and said to Mike: "I just want to say 'Thank you'." Mike was perplexed for a moment but soon realized she wanted to thank him for his military service. Mike was in the Navy and was in the first Gulf War. We are in a military town and have tons of Marines here...we usually just think of them first. I almost forgot that my husband is a veteran for a moment!

On Sunday, we toured the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington. One of my favorite shows (One Tree Hill) is filmed in Wilmington and we came across a mural featured in the finale last week adjacent to the battleship parking lot. I was as excited as a kid in a candy store! (I am such a dork!!)

(the words are the lyrics from the Cure song - I Will Always Love You)

I had Mike take this picture of more dorks (taking pictures) as I we drove away....I'm not the only one!

The actual battleship, then:

On Monday, more eating.

Matilda LOVED the fettuccine - - - loved it so much she just sucked the sauce right off the noodles and never ate any of them. We found a very large pile in her lap after we picked her up. I don't think she actually ate one noodle.

She's acting goofy in the picture below - - not upset at all...she kept leaning back and making strange faces.

Then it was off to a local zoo. Matilda loves looking at animals, so we knew she would enjoy it.

The owner of the zoo brought out some animals for Matilda to enjoy. You can hear him cooing in this video! He is such an enthusiastic, nice man.

Guilty Pleasure

2008-05-13T12:42:00.000-04:00

Let's just say that I went to this very popular, retail store over the weekend that we never go to. For many reasons. Some of which I can't completely remember...BUT one I definitely do is that they are usually soooo crowded and the people are so rude that I was afraid I would stroke out every time I went there - so, Target is our normal shopping place (except for groceries).

But, I have to admit I was like a kid in a candy store the other day. Everything seemed so cheap! Earlier in the weekend we were browsing at a new bookstore that opened in our town (finally) and I have been pining for a Crystal Gayle greatest hits CD. We found it there for $18.99. Too much! They had some other choices but none that had all of the songs I wanted. (What is the deal with that anyway??? I think they do it on purpose so you have to buy more CDs.) Mike told me buy it anyway - but I couldn't bear to. Why give them those extra bucks?? I usually buy most of my CDs and stuff on Amazon anyway and figured I'd check there.

The next day we went to a smaller town with a few shops and decided to try their Wal*Mart for my elusive CD. We didn't find it in the regular alphabetized part of the aisle but Mike was perusing the various artists that were on sale dirt cheap and as I was doing the same thing, I asked him if he found it. No, he didn't think he saw anything worth mentioning. Of course, when I looked up he had placed this right in my line of vision:

for
$8.82!!

What???? The exact same CD I had looked at earlier for more than $10 less! WTF?? Wow! What luck! They are THE largest music retailer for a reason I guess...

And we found Matilda's organic biter biscuits I like to get her. Plus, these new

rice treats that she absolutely loves!

AND we found some pjs for her with her favorite characters on them (Sponge Bob and Elmo). Not that she watches them just yet, but she likes her mom's Sponge Bob pjs - she is entranced by his eyes. And she has several Elmo toys and books and she loves his big eyes, too. One thing I don't understand are these 3 piece pajama sets. You can either get a set with two shirts and one pair of pants or a set with two paints and one shirt. It gives me a headache! As I was lamenting this fact, I noticed that the extra Sponge Bob shirt would match the extra Elmo pants and so it was perfect! 3 whole new pajama sets in Bilda's favorite characters!

Also, did I mention that I just happened across my favorite childhood book that I've been wanting to get for Matilda and thought I would have to order online. Just stumbled across it - for $2.50:

Jackpot!!!

I'm sure we'll head back there again sometime. We like to go to this smaller town that is actually closer to where we are living. We'll still have our weekly Target runs...but when we need more Mum Mums (and I'm SURE we will)...we'll probably end up with a cart full of stuff we never knew we had to have!

I Voted 2.0

2008-05-06T16:47:00.001-04:00

I guess ONE good thing about moving to North Carolina is that I got to vote in the ever important primary today. It's always very moving for me to vote - and this election is especially important to me. History will be made in November this year. Even if my man, Obama, isn't on the ballot.

When the lady handed me my "I Voted" sticker, my voice cracked as I said: "Thank you." And an older man there made certain that Matilda had a sticker, too. (Even though he called her a "he". It was sweet of him though...)

Tradition continues:

Big Tub Bather (with guest)

2008-05-04T15:16:00.001-04:00

Calmer...

2008-04-30T19:32:00.001-04:00

I've mellowed out...

And I am just thankful that I have my beautiful, sweet daughter and beautiful, loving husband and bugs are just a minor inconvenience.

We are alive and well and happy and living our life together!

At my wit's end...

2008-04-30T11:15:00.000-04:00

I've been repacking my kitchen again and not for the joyful reason I had hoped (to eventually move HOME).

RATHER, it is because this morning I opened my silverware drawer to find a very large Palmetto Bug more commonly known as an AMERICAN COCKROACH...la cucaracha!!!

NOT my picture. Stolen from Wikipedia.
I could not get a picture of my lovely house guest.

I'm soooooooooooo angry I can't describe it...

It doesn't help that I'm also feeling verrrrrrrry hormonal and cranky and packing up my kitchen again so that I can have it professionally sprayed tomorrow and WASHING ALL OF MY DISHES...is absolutely the last thing I want to have to do.

I can't explain the frustration of packing and facing having to unpack my ENTIRE kitchen again for the third time in six months. Our fault for trying to improve our life, I guess...

This Brady Bunch house has mold, wolf spiders, all kinds of spiders and CUCARACHAS. I can't stand it anymore.

Croatan National Forest

2008-04-27T21:58:00.000-04:00

We visited the Croatan National Forest today...it's just a few minutes from our house. Well, I think it actually surrounds our house/neighborhood and it is the main reason that our cell phone coverage is shoddy...

But, it is beautiful and serene. We went on the nature trail today...It's almost like walking around at a trail back home - except while you're walking and you hear something "scuttering" (a new word I coined today because of my momnesia) - - it's not a giant spider; it's a crab that looks like a giant spider.

Teeeeeny, tiny fiddler crabs.
(Click to enlarge. And even then,
you might not see them too well.
They're really small!)

Bigger crabby swimming
in the water

Dead tree(s?)

Matilda explores her dad's head while riding on his shoulders:

Poison ivy. **I think** You know, "leaves of three" and all that.
Plus, they had an educational chart thingy warning that it was "abundant".
Aaaaaaah! Don't go off the trail!

Mommy gives it a try.

Photo Mike took of nothing in particular
to make me think he was taking a photo of me
while I was taking a "nature break"

Another dead tree

Bilda babbles:

Afterwards, we decided to go to downtown Swansboro and get a coffee. Mike pointed out a kitty...verrrrry close to some duck-chickens (Mike's phrase for the ugly duck things).

(Kitty is on the left. Click to enlarge.)

Duck-chickens are reeeeally attractive:

Awwww, here are some cuties!

Dropping a house in!

A great day! Can't wait for more exploring next weekend!

Coffeeeeeeeeeeee

2008-04-07T15:26:00.000-04:00

I have been hooked on coffee again. We bought a small 5 cup machine and I'm brewing it almost every night, noshing my favorite cookies and sippin' mah coffee. Every weekend, I enjoy at least one trip to Star*bucks. I honestly love their coffee. It has this addictive, beautiful flavor. Or maybe it's their syrup - I'm not sure. At the same time, I feel ashamed to shout out my love since they are a monopoly and I do like to frequent small businesses. I can't help it though. It's kind of like my part-time vegetarianism. Sometimes, animals are too delicious to pass up.

We stopped by Star*bucks this weekend while out shopping and since the drive thru was backed up, Mr. Marcer went inside. I called my mom to chat while I was waiting and was perplexed to see him walk back with a small bag. A bag could only mean one thing - a sweet treat! He rarely ever splurges (without me being there to whine about wanting something) - so I couldn't help but stare at his sack while he walked to the car. Inside was a lovely, cinnamony treat:

I saved it until we got home and enjoyed it (with even more coffee) while watching some of the basketball tournament. It was actually prettier than it was tasty, but still a very sweet thought overall.

And since I'm far, far away from my beloved Kopi, I do like to keep one small part of home with me:

(It almost looks like GNG's handwriting on here!)

I shudder to think

2008-04-05T19:11:00.001-04:00

So, we were at the Brady Bunch house this afternoon, checking things out and measuring spaces...

We let Matilda crawl around on the carpet. Her dad is much more protective than I am and he said:

"Oh, she's got a leaf."

Me: "That's OK."

Hubband: "Well, what if she eats it?"

Me: "Oh, she won't, but if she does - that's OK."

Hubband: "It's not a leaf - it's a dead wolf spider!"

(It looked pretty much just like this one.)

I absolutely abhor spiders! Can't stand 'em. I completely shut down if I think about having to actually **touch** one. I could only shake her hand so that she would drop the spider...thank goodness it was dead.

It's probably my most traumatic moment of her childhood (so far!)

Here I am

2008-04-02T23:18:00.001-04:00

up late again...

I steal every free moment I can...I've been drinking coffee lately so I'm awake! I drink the coffee to combat my cookie gobbling...the caffeine "resorbs" the sugar...or so I like to think.

I can't really complain that the baby doesn't sleep enough. Almost 12 hours! But 7:00 a.m. is a little early for me. How can I say that when, if I was getting ready to go to work - I'd be up by then (barely).

I'll stumble around when I hear her in the morning. Right after her dad gets out of the shower, she starts babbling. This morning, just as I heard his motorcyle whirring, she cried! It used to be that she'd babble a while so I could get my shower. For some reason, I can't (or won't) start my day without my shower first thing.

I've been stressed lately because we have neighbors. We're one of four townhomes and haven't had anyone around until recently. It's been years since we've lived in an apartment and having neighbors is making me crazy! Mostly because I can't keep my impatient, demanding (sound familiar???) daughter quiet enough. There are just times in the day when the darling girl has to wait. I have to prepare lunch - it doesn't just appear! And I can hear my neighbor talking on her cell phone, so I can't imagine what they think they are hearing...most of the time, my daughter shrieks without notice and sounds as if she's just been stabbed...

Aaaaah, a few more days 'til we're on our own again!

That's the Way We Became the...

2008-03-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Brady Bunch!

We're moving again. "Just up the road" as they would say. To a 70s style Brady Bunch house.

I'm pretty excited. It's a little hectic with an 8 month old who wants my constant attention but we'll get it done, I'm sure. We have to!

We're moving from a townhome to a house, so we'll definitely have more room. We outgrew this place before we even moved into it. (Remember all the cats we have??? Yeah, we're still nuts.)

Matilda and I can go for walks now without having to get in the car to find a safe, non-trafficky place.
Cats will have a screened in back porch to practically live in.
More room!
More carpet to cushion Matilda's head when she falls.
A little closer to the beach.
More room!

Then, after all the moving takes place - my parents are coming to visit! I can't wait!

Hoppy Easter

2008-03-23T14:48:00.001-04:00

From Matilda

Tired out from a hard day:

Banana Eater

2008-03-18T17:18:00.000-04:00

My parents bought Matilda this little food sack/teether thing. It has netting you can put the food in so kids can try all sorts of foods without getting big lumps and choking on them.

I couldn't get her to really try it until I smooshed some nanners in there, let her smell it and - **CHOMP** - she was hooked!

Hard at work

2008-03-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

She's so hard at work - trying to creepy crawl over to my shoes - that she releases an almost imperceptible fart:

Southern Fried Living

2008-02-07T11:44:00.000-05:00

You know you're in the South when:

you can order suh-wheat tea anywhere you go. (They probably think I'm nuts when I order unsweet. Of course, Mike looooooves him some sweet tea.)

You know you're on the Southeast coast when:

You get a basket of hush puppies when you order a meal at local restaurants. Along with all the butter and/or margarine you could ask for to dip them in. That's right - dip your fried crap in butter...(If and when I eat them, I prefer ketchup...)

Neither one of those are my pics - yep, I'm stole 'em from Yahoo images...

Seriously, we wonder why we are the fattest nation AND why we have something like 18 million people with diabetes. I believe it all started here...

I'm getting more used to it in NC...maybe because I'm hoping to move closer to home and I distract my brain by thinking of this as temporary.

I had written this post in my head while lying in bed a few nights ago...now, I'm having trouble remembering everything. But, it went something like this: I love the weather here. Honestly, I feel guilty about how warm it is here while, the other day, my family and friends were covered in 10 inches of snow...and I'm constantly overdressing. In fact, I guess I should/could be in shorts today, but I'm not ready! It's February! What the heck???? I haven't had a pedicure or anything...I'm not ready! But, how can I complain about that? I'm not really - it just blows my mind. My brain is not wired for it!

On the other hand, I'm thankful that I can take my daughter out for walks. That we can go as a family on the weekends and explore little downtowns and shops (that are closed on Sundays because this is the SOUTH and they are good churchgoers unlike us who have yet to find a church...and...we will when we're ready)

I've always abhorred the cold. It is sooo painful to me. I used to run from my car to the store and vice versa. In fact, I think I might be close to having this. Maybe not really, but damn close.

But, I would trade this beautiful weather in a nanosecond, to be home with my family and friends.

In the meantime, we'll soak it up...

Yes We Can

2008-02-04T15:09:00.001-05:00

If I could vote in the primary tomorrow, you know I would! And I'd be voting for Barack Obama. (Our primary isn't until May in NC.)

I was recently e-mailed this new video and I really like it.

I'm HOPE-ful...

Dockwalk

2008-01-22T16:23:00.000-05:00

When the weather is nice, Matilda and I get in the car and go downtown for a walk. I've tried walking around the neighborhood but there aren't any sidewalks and we adjoin a very busy street so it's hard not to get ran over.

So, a few blocks down is the newly erected "dockwalk". It seemed pretty enough. Heck, they have condos right there that start at $599,900

(they have an elevator in each one!) Please call or visit the website and purchase one for me. The elevator seems so exciting!

We took our little walk and came across these:

What are they? A closer look...

Oysters. Yet another reason I probably will never eat one:

They seem attracted to icky things! I mean, what was that pipe carrying? I shudder to think. And why is that pipe still there???

Ironically, there's this sign.

Who would want to?

Granted, the water/tide is low this time of year and no one would have ever seen what was under the water. Except for the lovely new dockwalk they have built, this amateur sleuth...

And her junior detective:

Ode to the Old House

2008-01-04T16:59:00.000-05:00

We sold the house
(got screwed on the deal)
I'm sadder than I can say
(or even let myself feel)

Though it was old, it was sturdy
In winter it was cold
But still warm and inviting
Not often clean
Unless we planned something exciting

Days spent dreaming of our future...just lazing
The water in that town - yellow and stinky
Not fit for human consumption
or even just bathing

Still, I will miss it
I want to live there again
forever
happy
together

Unlike this townhome,
Plenty of room for five cats

Hope the new owners love it,
take care of the bunnies
and enjoy the bats.

Reasons to drive over 2000 miles

2007-11-30T13:36:00.000-05:00

We actually went "home" a week before Thanksgiving...and I'm only posting this a week after Thanksgiving. Things are crrrrrrrrazy with a li'l baby around. I honestly don't know how those "mommy bloggers" do it. Of course, I'm not very organized...and just recently got her started on a routine...but that's another blog!!!

We went home a week early...had an early Thanksgiving at my mom's...and a date night while my sister and her boyfriend and then my parents watched our little daughter. We got to see a band from one of our favorite shows (Dethklok) that includes two of our most favorite musicians, Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller. It was a blast!

I arrived at my mom and dad's just sobbing. Soooooo happy to be in Illinois and soooo sad that it's not my home anymore. Again, a blog for another day (or never)!

hMMMMM, this doesn't seem quite right...

The Littlest Kitteh*

2007-10-31T22:34:00.002-04:00

*Actually, she's probably bigger than two of our kitties, but who's counting?

2007-10-31T22:34:00.001-04:00

Ever since I can remember...

2007-10-24T16:47:00.000-04:00

I been poppin' my collar

Life's a Beach...

2007-10-20T23:26:00.000-04:00

Welllll....not really. I can't say that I'm having a ball out here. Honestly, I really felt like I was in mourning for a while. Wait - it just occurred to me I probably still am...because I'm in denial. I feel like I have to be honest about that.

But, at the same time, I am adapting. I'm trying to look at this as an adventure (as my mother has suggested). I also try to pretend that I'm on a really loooong vacation. So, on that note, I'm posting some pics from our beach visits. If I could go to the beach everyday - I think I'd be smiling all of the time.

Things WILL be looking up...we're going to the beach again today...

Bloglines: 1664

2007-10-12T15:14:00.000-04:00

Uh, that's 1664 posts to read.

I'll get back to you in juuuuuuust a second.

Trip...

2007-10-11T22:37:00.000-04:00

A few stories from the trip out to North Carolina:

First of all, we brought all of the cats and, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, they all made it out here safely. We drugged them on the advice of the vet. He said that cats can get motion sickness so this would help. All in all, it was much easier than I had imagined. I'd heard horror stories from Mike's mom about kitty-$hitty accidents...thankfully, we didn't have any of those. Drugging them was interesting though...the vet had said to give the pills 30 mins. or so before the drive and not to feed them. Maybe just rub the pill on some chicken so that they might be more likely to take it (yeah right!). So, not having some chicken lying around (everyone in the world does, right?), I rubbed the pills in tuna. Of course, they liked that...but I forgot that Tuffy doesn't always take to human food and as I was getting ready upstairs - he puked, lost all muscle control of himself and tumbled backwards down the stairs. I really thought he was dead for a minute. His arms sticking straight out like a dead animal you see on the side of the road. Thankfully, he only fell down the first part of the stairs and landed on the landing or else I'm pretty sure he, uh, wouldn't have made the trip.

Anyhoo, we gathered all the kitties and the baby and finally got me in the car after what felt like an eternity...I kissed the house goodbye and pretended that we were just heading into town for a coffee...

Hours later we stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Indiana.

I'm sure that Mike was worried I was going to extend the trip by eating every couple of hours (like I'm prone to doing) but we kept going and going until we reached Charleston, West Virginia at around midnight or later...I was skeered to death of driving on all the sharp curves and, for the first time, really felt scared of heights. I thought the car would go flying of the road at any second. Mike assured me that I was probably just really tired...we'd see in the morning...

Got a late start the next day...I'd promised Mike that we'd eat at McDonald's as a treat somewhere along the way. I have avoided McDonald's and trans fat for a year or so now - so this was something...And we even let Matilda have a taste...

OK, we were ready to hit the road (at around 1:00 in the afternoon). Those hills (which turned out to be or turned into being mountains) were still skeering the crap outta me. I seriously thought my car would fly off the road and into oblivion or something. But, they were also so beautiful it was breathtaking. Maybe that's why I was so scared. I'm not the best driver to begin with and I'm even worse with distractions. And I couldn't help but look at the beautiful sites I was going by...

(see oblivion out there?)

(We drove through a mountain. Well, two of them actually.
I really loved it - driving through the tunnels was pretty fun.)

As we left the last tunnel, I saw traffic backed up for miles going in the other direction. I called Mike to mention how horrible that looked...how terrible for those people...what if that happened to us???

Of course it did happen to us. Not too many miles later when we were almost to Virginia. We had a very short drive through Virginia - maybe 100 miles or so. And we ended up parked on the highway for at least an hour. But, I think we made the best of it. I changed and fed Matilda. Got out of the car and met a lady that was heading home to North Carolina. She's a foster mom of Main Coon cats...very nice lady. It was a nice way to spend some wasted time...

Back on the road again...lots of calls from friends and family and, again, close to midnight we made it into Jacksonville. Woke up the next morning, went to pack up the kitties and couldn't find one. Aggie had wedged herself under the air conditioning unit. I really thought we were going to have to leave her there or have them remove the unit from the wall - but after some careful tugging, I got her out.

On the way through Jacksonville and past Camp Lejeune, I noticed the fence along the road was decorated with messages to soldiers that had returned home. It was a touching site to see:

We arrived at the new place safe and sound.

Oh wait, there they all are.

Who wants cake?

2007-07-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted over here for quite a while...I've been preoccupied with the "main event" in my life right now.

Speaking of that, Mike threw some leftover baby shower cake in the dumpster the other day...and came back inside...

Toys for Troops

2007-06-14T12:11:00.000-04:00

My friend, Lori, whose son Brian is in Iraq, has had such a wonderful outpouring of help that she started a website for her inspirational campaign.

Check it out at: toys for troops dot com

A minute in the life of...

2007-06-04T17:11:00.000-04:00

the "Woofs".

My friend, Gnightgirl, referenced this challenge on her blog. I'll have to admit that my picture wasn't at exactly 2:00 ET (more like 2:00 Central) but I participated!

Mike and three kitties taking it easy on a Saturday afternoon.

Invader #2

2007-05-24T16:16:00.000-04:00

Last week we found a new creature planted in our yard.

I couldn't believe it when Mike told me...it took a while for me to understand that it just wasn't leaving. We think it might have been injured. We heard (through our neighbors) that it hung out for the whole day. Our nice neighbors brought it water and bread and called wildlife organizations to see if they could pick it up.

Of course, we worried about the little goosey. And just after I took this picture from the front door, we headed out to go for a walk and give it some bread and "poof" - - it was gone. No where to be found.

Thanks for stopping by li'l goosey! Hope wherever you are, you're safe and sound!

Invader

2007-05-22T14:36:00.001-04:00

A few nights ago, we heard some growling and hissing coming from the other room. Here's what we found:

Our neighbor's kitty had been lounging on our front porch. It really drives the cats nuts! The curiosity gets the best of them and they meet at the window and explode. And this li'l kitty won't stand down. Instead, it climbed the window menacingly! I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it yet...

Kill Me Now!

2007-05-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

Is what is what I would say if this (Doctor finds spiders in boy's ear) happened to me.

2007-05-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

OK, at least this: 3,500 lbs of bat guano found in attic isn't us.

Unfortunately, we may see more bats in the house this summer. Great timing with the new baby coming and all, right?

We decided to hire a professional. They came out right away and gave us an estimate. I was really encouraged by their earnestness.

Then the representative told us that he couldn't start until August.

I wanted to throw myself on the floor and cry. I seriously had a hard time keeping it together. I told him we had a baby coming in July and this wouldn't work for us - bats in the house with the baby!?!?!?!

He explained it's been a weird bat season - with the unusually warm weather and then the late freezes. He hasn't been able to start on any jobs that were booked this winter. There are only certain times to close a house up or you risk trapping the bats inside and getting even more in the living space. Or they die in there and stink your house up (plus, I guess that's not a very humane thing to do.)

Sooooo...what do we do?

There's no one else that does this sort of work locally. Other places I've checked are just as backed up and would ask twice as much as a local business.

So, we plan to do some even more drastic "barricading" in that room. The room which just so happens to be the room I've planned for the baby because of it's size and...I guess I'm not sure exactly why. The other spare room is currently the Hubband's computer/guitar room so I just figured this was the one. Plus, it's a nice, light tan-ish color that I like. It's just been the baby's room all along in my mind.

And, I guess Baby Woof will be sleeping in our room until this bat ordeal is finished. I'm appalled when I think that I'm even facing this situation - what kind of a mother am I anyway?? A poor planning one, I guess.

I've decided I'm buying this for her crib:

See me and Baby Woof up there? All happy and bat (and cat) free???

No cats stealing baby's breath...

No babies with rabies...

Maybe. :0)

Cat naps

2007-05-02T16:20:00.000-04:00

We have pretty exciting weekends around here sometimes. Lots of cat naps and...naps with cats. They love it when we're home and lounging.

Hubbo with four cats

Aggie and Tuffy

G and Ally

Tuffy and G

Shopping

2007-04-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

I really need to start brining my camera with me while I'm shopping. I have a camera phone - but the cheapskate in me doesn't like the 50 cents/photo charge. Case in point: I missed the pre-dyed Easter eggs they had at the store - I think they were selling for around $3.00/dozen...but I guess we'll just never know because I didn't get photographic evidence.

Here are some items I've seen recently:

Now, I guess bubble gum flavored floss isn't all that weird. I mean, mint flavored is very common. My dentist uses root beer flavored cleaning stuff on my teeth - - but for some reason, bubble gum floss just sounded funny to me.

Here we have a sign I found at my Schnucks. Let me preface this by saying that I loooooove Schnucks. I know it's more expensive - but I have a low key, easy shopping experience there. They have a great selection of things and usually have what I want. They also have a lot of organic products which I tend to buy...

This sign makes it seem as though their meat is never ever natural. Or natural - never ever!! Not at all what they intended, I'm sure. In fact, a closer look at their flyer stated that their meat "never ever" has certain things* added and/or done to it. Mayyyyybe they should think of re-designing their sign...in fact, I think I know someone who could probably help them with that.

*I can't remember exactly what the "things" were. And I threw out the paper that listed it. I'm sure it's good, natural stuff, maynard.

More pics

2007-04-18T15:13:00.000-04:00

I was sitting down last night to watch some TV while my husband mowed the lawn when I got a call on my cell phone. It was him calling. My first though was that maybe he'd locked himself out of the house.

"There's a baby bunny out here if you want to see it."

Of course I did!! I went out (in my pjs and slippers) and saw this:

I just had to take some more pics of the li'l baby...they grew up fast!!

A "boy" and his cat

2007-04-12T15:20:00.000-04:00

The other day, I bought some more maternity clothes for work. The clerk at the store left everything on the hangers and bagged it all up like a dress or a suit.

It turned out to be a great source of amusement:

Cleaning up a pineapple snack:

Baby Bunnies

2007-04-10T15:36:00.000-04:00

are back!

They visited us last year around this time, too. These are a little younger though - I don't think their eyes are even open yet. We didn't mess with them 'cept to snap a few pictures.

They're sooo cute! I could just adopt them all. Of course, I can't and I won't...but I will check on them and worry about them freezing to death. Mike left the baby-mama some carrots last night! (Cute, right?)

Cat Eyes

2007-03-26T15:54:00.000-04:00

These creeeeeeeepy eyes greeted us from the window when we got home Saturday night.

Seriously though, it was really cute to see them sitting there together
but only their eyes appeared in the picture...

Oklahoma City Kitty

2007-03-14T15:41:00.000-04:00

Mike was in OKC (again) for more training (again). Hopefully, it's over now (again).

Anyhooooo, always the "Cat Whisperer", he found some kitties in his apartment complex there. We were able to capture one on camera:

Her name is Goldie, isn't she cute?

Oh, and can't these people take down their Christmas decorations??? It's a few weeks into March!

Oh, and aren't these the cutest, bunny pole thingies at O'hare??

Vent Kitties

2007-03-09T16:51:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken near the end of February - you know, when it was still cold! (HA!)

Positive thinking/living in a dream world is leading me to believe that Spring is right around the corner...it sure feels like it today. I'm going to just start wearing Springy stuff and that'll make it happen, right??? Right.

Anyhoo, our house is about a million years old and even though we actually heat it (my last gas bill can attest to that) - it never quite feels warm and home-y.

Here's proof:

[please ignore my dust bunnies, flying dust, etc. Actually, now that I think about it - there was some dust on my camera lens...]

Love...

2007-03-05T14:34:00.000-05:00

On the flip side of my cranky Verizon calling of last week, last night while I was heading out for a quick errand I decided to pull out some old CDs and sing along. I came accross The Judds - Greatest Hits. I did grow up in Texas after all and I listen to all types of music. Everything from country to rap to rock to whatever. I love everything! So, I'm driving along and I'm belting out these lyrics to "Love is Alive":

Love is alive

And at our breakfast table

Everyday of the week

Love is alive

And it grows everyday and night

Even in our sleep

Love is alive

And it's made a happy woman out of me

Oh, love is alive

And here by me

I couldn't even get through it without choking up...I was just sooo happy. I've always considered myself lucky and felt incredibly happy and amazed that I have this wonderful, amazing husband. But now I also have this incredible person growing inside me...

I'm surrounded by love.

Fitty Bucks

2007-02-28T15:24:00.000-05:00

Before I got pregnant, I had my own idea (read: fantasy) of what it would be like. I'd be "glowing" and happy and, of course, I wouldn't have morning sickness because I just love food waaaay to much. And things don't usually gross me out so, I'd be fine. Right?

WRONG-O. I was sick for a couple of months there. Whiffs of things made me just gag...but was I emotional? Nooooooo...no, problem.

Wrong again.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I'm meeting my girls at Esquire. We have a nice little Mardi Gras meal and we head home. My husband had joined us on his motorcycle in freezing, wet weather. (?!?!?!?) He brought the mail in to me because he didn't want to leave it in his saddle bags. I look through it. "Oh good! Our Verizon rebates." Well, it was just one of the rebates and it was made out to MARICA. NOT my name, but who cares, right? They'll cash it.

I get home and realize that I have all the other junk mail but not the friggin' check. Just my luck! And after thorough searches of my car and my driveway I decide to give Esquire a call. THEY HAVE IT!!! Yayyyyy!!

But, what about the other rebate?? Where oh where could that little rebate be? Since many people in this area have Verizon, I happen to mention something to my friend Amy. She got her rebates back. ALL OF THEM. And it comes up in conversation that I sent my rebates together. In one envelope. All at once. She said the "rules" stated to send them separately. Pfffffffff, I think. They're smart enough to open an envelope and see two, right? The other will come shortly...

Yesterday, with still no sign of the other rebate, I check the status online. Remembering to type my name in as MARICA, of course, I see only one rebate.

I decide to give them a call. This is when I realize I have completely lost control of my senses.
I explain the situation to the lady. I had heard that I should've sent the rebates separately, but I didn't...she they'll accept a copy.

"I didn't keep a copy!" I screech. I always, always keep copies of such things. But, I'm tired of cluttering up my life and I trusted them to process it correctly.

Well, the lady informs me that she can't help me. I'm absolutely livid. I'm so used to people saying: "We'll see what we can do..." She didn't say that. She didn't offer me any hope.

So, since I don't have a leg to stand on, I cling to this:

"AND you spelled my name wrong on the rebate I DID receive."

"They spelled it as they saw it on the form..."

"No, they didn't! It was a pre-printed form!"

"Let me look you up...."

[crickets]

"Did you hang up, ma'm?"

"NO!"

"How was your name spelled?"

I wasn't sure which name she wanted. MY name or the name on the rebate. So, I said:

"MARICA".

"That's how we have it spelled..."

"MY NAME IS MARCIA!!"

"Ma'm you're going to need to..."

CLICK.

I wasn't going to hear her say I needed to calm down. I was done. My face was red with embarrassment from yelling at the lady. I never do that. More flies with honey and all that jazz...plus, like I said, most people help. And I'm not normally nearly five months pregnant and surprisingly hormonal.

I felt terrible. I was rude. I was uncontrollable. I was one of those people I despise. AND I WASN'T GOING TO GET MY $50.

I finally calmed down and laughed as I told my husband the story. I said: "I don't think we were meant to get those rebates."

On my way home from work, I went by Valvoline to get my oil changed. It went very smoothly as usual and I paid my bill. Oil changes for me with my synthetic oil run about $49.00. I know it's expensive and I should really just pi$ my money away, but...

The guy says: "Do you have one of our punch cards?"

No, I didn't. And I didn't really remember ever even seeing one.

"Well," he says, "you've been here 17 times..."

punch, punch, punch, punch, punch

"Here you go. Your next oil change is free."

Woohooo! 50 bucks!!!!

Weird

2007-02-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

Svenyboy tagged me. The task? List 6 weird things about me....hmmmm, shouldn't be too hard.

1. I have five cats. Pretty weird I guess. "Above" average to say the very least...

2. I set my alarm for odd times. Lately, I set if for 6:42 a.m. At nine minute snooze intervals, that means at 7:00 (after two snoozes), I can hear the weather report and a bit of news before I face the day. But, really - I got lucky on that combo. I always pick odd times. Usually a time ending in a 7 or a 3 but, you just never know.

3. I record every show I watch on my DVR. I usually say that I do this because I hate pesky, old commercials - which is true. BUT, it's also because I might get a phone call or I might miss something. This way, I can rewind it and "HA, HA, HA!!! That was soooo funny!" and replay it back...

4. I'm superstitious. I knock on wood, I keep certain patterns/routines, I always say "Be careful" to my husband everytime we hang up the phone...OK - I'm not superstitious - I'm OCD...

5. I save the most delicious part of a meal for last or, at least, try to savor the flavor longer...

6. I've run out of things...my mind is a little preoccupied right now....

Thanks for tagging me, Svenyboy!

OKC

2007-02-05T16:57:00.000-05:00

I visited lovely Oklahoma City over the weekend. My husband was down there going to school/training for his job. I can't say it's the most beautiful of cities...but I can definitely say that wherever he is - I can happily be. We had plenty of places to eat and movies to watch and not a moment was boring...

We find entertainment wherever we can and happened to encounter a few locals we found purty interesting.

First, there was this movie ticket counter lady. She wasn't the friendliest person but she amused me to no end. I tried and tried to get a movie of her "quirk" until I finally succeeded. I overheard the guy in line behind us tell his wife: "She's been trying to do that for a while now." I turned around and smiled at him. "Yes!! I have! This cracks me up!!"

That's her sneezing. Mike asked me why, as a germaphobe who runs from sneezing people, I wasn't grossed out by this woman's sneezing. I don't know - it must be the cute, small little chipmunk-like way she does it...

Then there was THIS guy. We had decided we wanted a fast burger and we wanted to check out Braum's. It's this ice cream shop/fast food place/grocery store all-in-one. We got our burgers and sat down to enjoy them. That's when I noticed this guy. All settled in with his bucket of ice cream.

Yep. A whole bucket of ice cream. He was eating it with his plastic spoon. And drinking milk. At first I thought: "Well...OK. He bought a tub of ice cream and wants to have some right now." But he kept eating and eating and eating. Mike didn't believe me at first. "A bucket?? What do you mean, a bucket??" I finally got him to turn around and look. Aaaaaah, what a weirdy this guy...

Always the people watcher, I kept on observing him. I couldn't help but notice he was digging further and further into his bucket. Man! He was eating a lot! Then, I thought I saw a huge ball of ice cream on top of...something. The table? A plate?? Thankfully, the guy got up (to get a tissue of all things...wonder WHY he needed that???) and I rushed over there to click a photo. I headed back to my table just as Mike was signaling that the guy was on his way back...I closed my phone and acted casual....and lost that photo forever. What did he have over there on his table??? It was a melon sized ice cream "snowball" he had scooped onto the lid of his ice cream carton. I mean, he did all that with a plastic spoon????

I kick myself for losing that photo. No one's ever going to believe me.

Then again, maybe no one else finds this as strange/funny as I do. And maybe I'm the weirdo for stalking and blogging this guy.

P.S. No one is safe now that I have a camera on my phone. Not even me...I'm going to end up arrested or sued or something...

Special Treat

2007-01-31T15:33:00.000-05:00

Monday night I was cooking dinner...wait - I'll let you recover from the shock of that one...Mike was out of town and what's a pregnant girl to do??? She gots to eat!

So I was cooking dinner and had a rare treat. Our normally shy, skeeredy cat, Aggie, jumped on the fridge to be queen for a moment. She seemed so confident and cuddly.

Ally just had to join her:

And later in the evening I came across the cutest thing! A kitten 'n a basket!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

And, I know Christmas is loooooong gone but I wanted to post two things about my trip home to see my family. Well, maybe more than two...

I really enjoy seeing my family. And the anticipation of Christmas always makes me soooo excited. My mother always made sure my sister and I had a wonderful Christmas and this year was no exception. It was fabulous. I got everything I wanted.

My mom put up a special new tree:

It's mounted on the wall. The picture may not do it justice, but it was gorgeous. I thought it looked like something out of a magazine.

And look as this cute present I got from my mom.

Doesn't that look like a gigantic piece of candy??? (It was a pair of slippers).

Last, but not least, I have this story and video of my dad. I had asked for a John Denver greatest hits CD and, of course, I got it. I opened it up and announced what it was and my dad was incredulous. "How come no one gets me a good gift like that???"

I brought him his CD tower where he found his own John Denver greatest hits (that I think I bought him several years ago) and many other CDs that he'd forgotten about. It was Christmas many times over for him! So, we put in the John Denver CD and I snuck this video:

Turns out, my dad drove a chartered bus for John Denver's family once and got to sit in the family box during a John Denver concert. Dad said that he didn't stop playing for three hours. He let the orchestra take a break while he kept right on strumming his guitar and singing. How could I have forgotten this story??? Sounds amazing.

Wait, wait - one more thing. Here's a pic of me and my parents' kitty, Archie. We're just two fat cats relaxing and having a great time.

Christmas Redux

2006-12-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

We finally got the tree up Friday night. Well, I should be honest and say that my husband got the tree up. He decorated it all by himself. This was the first year in forever I didn't touch a tree. I was rrrrrreally tired (can I blame the brewing baby for my laziness? well, I'll try...) I had a hard time keeping my eyes open but - by golly - we had a tree!! Yay!!!

I did take a few photos and videos :

Practically, the very moment Lucky saw the tree - he was IN the tree and eating it:

Later in the evening (while I was asleep on the couch), Mike took this video of Lucky hanging out with the (few) decorations we dared put on the tree.

Ally is not quite the ferocious tree killer that Lucky is and I just thought this video was cute. I guess because I love the "people" in it.

MORE TO COME...

CatPeople

Halloween 2010

Halloween

Minus One

Baby Woof #2

We have some exciting news here...just got back from my first sono and I am about 8 weeks along.

Matilda looked at the screen while the sono was happening, pointed and said: "hippo"! And "circle"...that's about what the li'l baby looks like now! ;0)Baby Hippo, it is then.

4th Weekend

Real Big "Fish"

Weekend Fun

Leash Law

Almost a Year Later

10 Valentine's Days...

Stimulatin' the Economy

What's that smell?!?!?!?!

Home

Illin'

I can has my own LOLcats

Overheard...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another One!

Weird Headline

Seagulls...

Gay Marriage

New Day - Feeling Good

Wow...

We Voted

Follow Up

Under the Sea

Pumpkin Carvings

Punkin' Patch....

Mooooo[n]

Over a Year...

Wow...

D.C.

Michelle Obama Rally

Just got a care package from my MOM

No one noticed!

T-Shirt Test

Astounded

Matilda Watches GloZell

Bizzzzzzy Weekend!

What to Say?

Obama's Speech

Momo's Re-citing DNC Coverage Continues!

I'll Keep Going...

Political Blog...

Coming Clean

1st Birthday

Happy 21st Mal!!!

'Versary

My daughter has a first name...

The 4th

Father Day

What you won't find in our kitchen...

Weekend Trips

Guilty Pleasure

I Voted 2.0

Big Tub Bather (with guest)

Calmer...

At my wit's end...

Croatan National Forest

Coffeeeeeeeeeeee

I shudder to think

Here I am

That's the Way We Became the...

Hoppy Easter

Banana Eater

Hard at work

Southern Fried Living

Yes We Can

Dockwalk

Ode to the Old House

Reasons to drive over 2000 miles

The Littlest Kitteh*

Ever since I can remember...

Life's a Beach...

Bloglines: 1664

Trip...

Who wants cake?

Matilda looked at the screen while the sono was happening, pointed and said: "hippo"! And "circle"...that's about what the li'l baby looks like now! ;0)

Baby Hippo, it is then.