The mosquitoes are improving

This past weekend the temperature finally broke below 80 degrees. It has consistently been in the 80's and 90's since we moved down here, but the weekend my friends come down from apparently cold and wet Tennessee, we get into the 70's. Seventy degree temperatures were actually a nice break from the heat and humidity that I've found in Texas, but at night, it got a little chilly for me. I have the windows open today, and a couple days ago I aired out the house as well. I actually could probably put the A/C back on today since it feels like it's back in the low 80's, but I figure I'll wait until I can no longer stand the temperature. And, I just officially checked the current temperature in Baytown, and we are at 81 degrees. I can't complain about the warmth in mid-October.

I've noticed since the temperatures reduced quite a bit over the past weekend that the mosquitoes have not been attacking me when I leave the house. I haven't attempted to stay outside for a very long time, but the trip to the mailbox and to the car when I'm leaving the house has not been bad at all. I'm thinking about actually attempting to maybe sit outside sometime soon and enjoy the nice weather. I may wait until after I buy a couple citronella candles though just to be certain.

Even with the improvement of the mosquito situation, the fire ant problem has not improved. Last week I went into the garage to move the trash bin outside. I wasn't able to see since it was nighttime and once I realized what was happening, it was too late. Apparently fire ants had discovered something yummy in the bottom of the trash can (I haven't officially blamed Mike for this, but I have my suspicions. I sometimes notice a fast food drink container in the bottom of the empty trash can. Instead of throwing his cup into a trash can with a bag, he thinks it's OK to just put it in the trash bin. I'm sure ants would just love a little high fructose corn syrup to bring back to their mounds.) Once I started moving the trash bin outside from the garage, I started feeling my hand getting stung, and then I felt my toe getting stung. I looked down and had a swarm of fire ants trying to kill me. They failed in their attempt to remove me from this Earth, but I do have 4 lovely blisters on my left thumb, 2 nice bumps on my right big toe, and three formally pussy but now scabbed over blisters on the back of my right arm. I am so tired of that stupid species of ant. I look like I have warts on my thumb with the way they've bubbled up. It's pretty gross and quite annoying as everything I seem to touch hits directly on my ant stings. We really need to hire a fire ant guy. I just don't want to kill the other insects outside. I like the multitude of crickets out there. I think they are cute. And we also have lots of frogs and toads. And I don't want them harmed either.

So currently Mike is in Houston for a 3 day meeting. They have him in a hotel so he doesn't have to drive the hour each way to the location. We had talked about me going out there for at least a day to explore, but with him having meetings all day and then events scheduled with work every night, I chose to stay here with the cats who have thoroughly enjoyed their momma time. I woke up this morning with all three girls sleeping on the bed with me. And I'm pretty certain that at some point I had four cats with me as I tried to move my legs into a more comfortable position, but had many weights on the comforter making it nearly impossible to move.

I don't have any plans for today. I'm trying to hold off on cleaning until a little later in the week so that when Mike's parents come to visit on Friday that there will be the least amount of cat hair floating around as possible. I might make today "wash the dirty sheets" day. That is something I can do in advance of the parent-in-law trip. I've already washed all the dirty towels from when my friends came to visit so that's one thing off the list. I'm not sure what the plan is when Mike's parents are in town, but we have talked about going to the local racetrack down the street and watching a race. Mike has also talked about going to Kemah Boardwalk which we have been to a few times now. I'm sure we will also go into Houston for some good food somewhere. I think they are staying with us this time, but I can never be quite sure. I've always thought since the first time they stayed at our place in Wilmington that the cats were too much for them. Ever since that time when they've come to visit they have always stayed at a hotel. We definitely have plenty of room for them here, but I haven't gotten confirmation as of yet.

I will leave you with a picture of Mike with his birthday gift from me this year and a picture of me with a very happy shark.

Life in Texas is ongoing

So it's occurred to me that I haven't posted in a while when I spoke to my Grandmother this morning, so I thought I'd write today. I guess nothing too interesting has happened since the move, so it's hard for me to find things to talk about. We did get another car...a 2010 Toyota Prius. So now we have two hybrids. I am happy about our purchases. We are taking one step more to helping save the planet, but no, we didn't buy American. It's all about give and take.

Today I turned down my first interview for a job. This was for an analytical position that didn't even require a Chemistry degree. Although they paid decent, I don't want to get stuck doing something I don't like just because it was the first opportunity that paid decent. So I told him to keep me in mind for future opportunities, but I was going to pass on this one. I have a feeling other opportunities will arise. I've already applied to about 5 jobs myself, and this guy found me on Careerbuilder.com. So if I'm patient, I'm sure a good job will come along that I would enjoy. I definitely need to start doing something because this just sitting around the house all day long is starting to get boring.

The mosquitoes haven't gotten any better. We went to Galveston this past weekend, and after 10 minutes of getting bitten by mosquitoes on the beach, I had to leave. And a few days ago while it was raining at the house, these guys were still out searching for blood...and they got me too! I've never heard of mosquitoes on the beach OR out while it's raining. These are probably mutant mosquitoes that have super-mosquito abilities since living around all these oil refineries and chemical plants. I'm just waiting for one cold front to come through and freeze all these buggers off. The problem is that the first cold front may not come for quite some time.

I'm currently fighting a little cold. I don't think I have H1N1. I don't have a fever (or at least not a high grade one). I have some chest congestion and body aches. And I'm tired. But I think today is a little better than yesterday, so I think that if I keep resting, I'll get back to 100% soon.

Tomorrow we have the garage door people coming for the second time in a week to fix our left side garage door...again. One of the wire bands that raise and lower the door keeps coming off of the spool. And since last time they "fixed" this by just putting the wire back on the spool and the problem happened again so quickly, I'm sure there's an underlying issue. Hopefully tomorrow they will send someone who can actually speak some English so I can communicate to the guy better than last time.

So I guess I'm a Texan...

Since my last blog, we have made the two day drive to Baytown, lived in a hotel for 10 days, closed and moved into our new 3800 sq foot home, bought a bunch of new furniture, bought a new car, sold the Honda Civic since it's transmission was about to die, started putting away our stuff, got bitten about 30 times by the ferocious Texan mosquitoes, got my stitches out of my thumb, found out I can't feel anything on that spot that was cut, and eaten a lot of Tex-Mex.

We are liking our new home even though we have a ways to go before it is completely put together. Since our new furniture has been brought in, it's starting to feel whole, but we still have pictures to put up on walls and stuff to put away. The move in was pretty painless, but we had the movers dump out all of our stuff on the floors so they could take all the boxes and packing paper with them, so putting our things away is taking some time. The kitchen is the room I worked on first so that I could start cooking again. It's the only room that's really complete. The rest of the rooms will be finished in due time. I'm not one to rush anything...quite the opposite as I am the ultimate procrastinator.

Mike's 2005 Honda Civic VP started having transmission problems on the way down from VA, and when we brought it in to check it out, the estimate to fix it was going to be around $3000, so instead, we traded it in for a new 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid. This car gets 34 mpg on the highway, and 33 mpg in the city. And Mike has already said he's surpassed those numbers. Pretty good for a large sedan. We are still looking for another car to replace my old Pontiac, but so far have not purchased anything. We are going to be back in the hole again with our new home purchase, and two new cars. I hope I can get a job soon to help with all these unplanned costs. I know Mike really wants a couple flat screen LCD TVs, but right now would be difficult for us to purchase.

We now have satellite TV which gives us way too many channels. On the up side, I've gotten to view some movies I've been wanting to see for a few years now. HBO and Showtime are free for the first 3 months and Cinemax is 1 cent. The downside to all these channels is all the porn. It's pretty gross to be searching for something to watch and then you get to view some girl on girl action. Or on two occasions already, I've fallen asleep watching a movie only to wake up to more girl on girl action. No thank you. I don't think we will be renewing that service.

Packed up and ready to move

We are down to the bare minimum at the house now and we leave for the first leg of our move to Texas in the morning. We are stopping in Birmingham, AL for the night which should be a little over half way to Baytown. If Google Maps is correct, we should be to Birmingham in about 11 hours. On Saturday, it should take us about 10 hours to get to Baytown. The cats are not going to be having fun the next couple days. We did get a tranquilizer from the vet, so we will try those out. This is not the Valium that they had last time so hopefully this one will work better and not have many side effects. Half a day is a long time to be screaming in a car!

On Monday, I was replacing a pane of glass in a french door at our house. This pane has been broken since moving in and we had planned to fix it, then tried to get a new door and when that plan didn't work out, we went back to trying to fix it. I removed all of the broken old glass, took off the trim work around that pane, cleaned up the inside of the wood and got it ready for the new pane of glass. I was being safe and wearing gloves this entire time. Well, once I was ready for the new pane, I had to put in this puddy to make the glass stick so I removed my gloves. After placing the puddy inside the wood, I put the pane inside and was trying to maneuver it into place when it shattered on my right hand. I immediately had the thought that if I didn't get cut by that then I was really lucky. About the same time I started bleeding from my thumb. When I looked down I realized that I had a large flap of skin that was slipping back and forth beneath my other hand trying to grip it to stop the bleeding. I managed to get to the back door and call for help from Mike. Luckily he was home when I was doing this. All the blood and what I had seen on my thumb was making me queasy, so I laid down outside while Mike got together everything to head to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 9pm. Four hours later around 1pm I was discharged and had 11 new stitches in my thumb. They had gauzed and splinted me up and I was unable to take off the dressing until this morning. It looks pretty gross, but it really doesn't hurt. The only time I feel pain or discomfort is when the stitches get pulled or my thumb gets bumped. I get to have the stitches removed 10 days from the accident. I'll need to find a new doctor quick once we get down to Baytown!!!

So, I'm going to close this blog now. We will have no internet starting in about 30 minutes, so I will blog again once I'm an official resident of Texas.

Busy busy busy

Our trip to Costa Rica was a fun time. It was good to see Jamie and the family. Little Allison is very cute. She looks just like her daddy! Nathan is very smart. But he's still very small. He also thinks that the world is his toilet as he showed no qualms about pulling out his penis at any moment and peeing. Probably OK in Costa Rica. No so OK in the USA.

When we returned from Costa Rica, we had one day before leaving for Beaumont on our house hunting trip. We went that Sunday to visit the cats at the boarder's house. Well, upon arrival, the cats were being crated and looked so scared. They were not supposed to be in cages as the room I was told they would be in was a large one. No mention of ever crating them. They also had a bowl full of dry food (something I never mentioned in my feeding schedule) and a bunch of opened cans of wet food but no bowl to put the food in. After apparently insulting the lady who had been taking care of them, we immediately grabbed them up and took them home. Sabrina had acquired an eye infection so we had to bring her to the emergency clinic which is opened on Sundays. Whether the viral infection was present and never came up before, or she got it there, Sabrina's right eye had conjunctivitis. The vet told us that it was probably herpes viral eye infection so she sent us home with instructions to watch her. Since we were leaving the next day, I instructed the cat sitter who was coming by twice a day, that if she was not looking better by Wednesday, that she would have to be brought back to the vet per the emergency vet's instructions. Well, I was comforted middle of the week when I received a phone call that Sabrina's eye looked great. A couple days later I received another phone call with the same information. When we returned home the following Sunday, her eye looked worse than when we left and we had to bring her back to the emergency vet. I don't know if the cat sitter just didn't know what she was looking for, or if she just wasn't looking at all, but her eye was obviously NOT getting better. This time at the vet, they diagnosed her the same way, but sent her home with an antibiotic/antifungal/steroidal eye drop to fend off any secondary infection and help her red and swollen eye to go down. After day one, her eye began looking better. We are 3 days in, and although a little crusty still, I think we are on the right path. She will be on this for another 6 days. Hopefully at that time, once the medicine stops, her eye will be better.

Our trip to Beaumont was kind of a success. I hated Beaumont itself. We got there on Monday morning, drove around some and looked for things to do. We found nothing. There were hundred's of chain restaurants, and tons of Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants that I can't eat at because their food is not vegetarian friendly, so I was not a happy girl. On Tuesday we met with our realtor and looked at homes. We did the same on Wednesday and had narrowed our 20-something home choices down to 4. The houses were very nice and relatively inexpensive compared to the market we are in now in DC. By Thursday morning, I was mad at Mike and he decided to search for other cities to possibly live. He found Baytown, TX. This city is about 50 minutes West of Beaumont and about 25 minutes East of Houston. We cancelled our appointment with our realtor that morning and went out to Baytown. The few houses Mike had found online looked very nice and were even cheaper than in Beaumont. Once we got to Baytown, and looked around a couple communities of new houses, we decided to drive into Houston and eat some dinner. The first restaurant we came to I could eat at. I felt so much relief!! The next day, Friday, we informed our Beaumont realtor that we probably wouldn't be using her and had our relocation company find us a Baytown realtor on the fly. We searched around Baytown by ourselves again, and thought we had found the house we would buy. It was 2200 sq ft, on a little lake, new construction without any upgrades, for $150K. We figured, at that price tag, we would be saving like crazy living there. Plus the lot overlooked the lake which was a nice feature. And the neighborhood is close to everything we would need in the city: grocery store, Subway, Quizno's, etc.

While we were waiting to hear back from our new realtor, we made a search around the area one more time. We went to this one neighborhood a couple interstates stops East which was a more upscale neighborhood, but not as close to the grocery stores and little restaurants. We looked through the 2 homes that they currently had built and were not sold, and we really liked the model home that was in the beginning stages of being put on the market. It was big. Too big. But the upgrades were what we wanted. The downstairs is hardwood, the kitchen has stainless steel appliances that stay, the colors on the walls were nice, the master bathroom has two sinks and a separate jetted tub, the utility room is downstairs near the master bedroom, the house has surround sound built in, underground sprinkler system outside, and the upstairs has 5 other nice sized bedrooms and 2 more baths! In all, 6 bedroom, 3.5 bath 3823 sq ft home. And, if I had a way to make a drum roll I would, for a price tag of $260K. I think we are planning to put in an underground pool in the backyard which, by the way, is already privacy fenced. And is big. I think we did pretty good.

Obviously that is the house we decided to go with. Saturday morning we drove back to the house after taking a night to think it over, met with our new realtor for the first time, and signed a contract. I think that was the easiest commission that lady ever made. But I think she will have her work cut out for her on the back end since we aren't in town to do our dirty work for ourselves.

After signing the contract, we went to this little area on a Bay about 30 minutes away. There were a couple rollercoaster rides, several restaurants and some little stores. All of this overlooked the water. Pretty cool little place. Then we drove down to Galveston. We think from Baytown, it will take about an hour to get to the ocean. What another nice feature of living in Baytown!!! I think we made the right choice, but we'll see once Mike starts having to make that commute everyday.

This week back in Springfield, we had 3 showings on the house yesterday, and already have one scheduled for today. While we were out of town, we had numerous showings, and even an offer, which we ultimately denied after a couple counters. Hopefully one of these people will want this place. There must be something turning this many people off. Or maybe there are just a ton of people in this city so it just appears that we have a lot of traffic, but in reality, when compared to the population in other cities, this amount of traffic is not a lot.

We move to Baytown next Friday morning. The movers will be coming on Wednesday and Thursday to pack us up and start moving us. After cleaning up the place one last time, we will probably leave on Friday morning. A straight shot says it will take us about 21 hours. Yikes! I don't think we've figured out exactly the plan as of yet, but it's looking like the cats will have to be in their carriers the whole trip. I was hoping to get an SUV to let them run around the back, but it may end up being too expensive.

Quick Update before Bed

It's been a very busy last couple weeks. We've torn up the basement, and repainted everything from ceiling to floor. It's been a lot of hard work, and a lot of missed hours of sleep, but I think it's going to be worth it. Our house will be officially on the market Friday evening, just in time for us to leave for our trip to Costa Rica. It will be hard to communicate to our realtor while there, but we will try to touch base once a day or so to see what progress has been made. Our realtor seems to think we will get multiple offers fairly quickly. She also has said she thinks we will end up in a bidding war...which would be wonderful. The quicker we get this place under contract, the quicker we can close and not have to worry about a property in another state. We've already had to do that one before. It's really not that fun!

So Saturday early morning we will be flying from DCA to MIA. Then to SJO. Once we land in San Jose, Costa Rica, we will be meeting Jamie and the family at the airport, picking up our rental vehicle, stopping at Jamie's place to take a look around and then driving to the hotel. All in all after landing, we will probably be on the road for 5 hours. We will see if that estimate is accurate. Mike and I have no specific plans while there. I think it will just be nice to relax for a while after such a hectic last few weeks/months depending how you think of it. Jamie and the family will be joining us at the hotel starting Monday-Thursday for a little mini-vacation of their own. When I talked to her on the phone the other day, she seemed excited just to relax on the beach. I'm not sure how Allison will feel about this plan, but Jamie is all about it.

Once we fly back from Costa Rica the following Sunday early morning, we will be home for that day and then fly out to Beaumont, TX on Monday morning. We will be searching, and hopefully finding, our next home while away. Our goal is to have a contract before we fly back home the next Sunday. It's going to be another crazy couple weeks, but I think they will be productive.

The kitties are going to be boarded together away from home. It's the best idea for us at this time since the house will be on the market and this is really the only way the house can be shown while we are gone. I know they will be scared for a while, but they will all be together, and the room they will be staying in is HUGE! And it looks very comfy as well. There's even a cat tower already in there. Hopefully they will feel right at home quickly. I feel so guilty leaving them.

OK. There's my update. I most likely will not have another update until I return from both trips, but the cyber world may get lucky! Anything is possible!

Anniversary/Independence Day Weekend

On July 3rd, Mike and I had our 2 year anniversary. I had planned to surprise him with a day at the shooting range, but I was informed that he had made us plans to go away Thursday night-Saturday morning. Of course, he didn't tell me where we were going. All I knew was that I was to pack some hiking clothes, a bathing suit and something nice. So, we left Thursday late afternoon to travel someplace. Three hours later, we were in Staunton, VA near part of Shenandoah National Park. We stayed at what was labeled a "small" hotel which was several historic homes turned into hotel rooms. They also included homemade breakfast in the morning, so it was almost like a bed and breakfast, but with multiple houses. They upgraded us to a suite so our room was two times bigger than we could ever utilize with just the two of us. The building we stayed in was built in 1912. There oldest house was from 1809. Pretty neat and historic...and clean!

The city of Staunton was very small but had a very cute downtown historic district. Everything closed early with most restaurants only open until 9pm-ish. But we were both surprised to see quite a lot of places to eat for such a small city. And there were some pretty nice places too. Since the first night Mike didn't have any specific plans for us, we just went out to dinner to this very nice eclectic place that gets all their ingredients from local growers. They made me a special vegetarian dish of fried green tomatoes, beets, carrot puree, goat cheese, marinated trumpet mushrooms and small onions. These things were not all mixed together but plated in a nice arrangement. It was very yummy.

The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. I ordered the buckwheat waffle with fruit and Mike got the apple and cheese quiche. My waffle was very good and Mike said his quiche was yummy too. We then made the trip out of Shenandoah to a swimming hole that Mike had found online. The drive wasn't very far, but some of the roads we were on were in the middle of nowhere. The directions said to "turn left at the neighborhood watch sign". Yes, that is where we were! After finding the trail head for the hike to the water hole, we got our stuff together, put on our bug spray and started out. The hike was only 1.7 miles so we knew it wouldn't take us too long. 35 minutes later we were at the "primo" swimming hole as the website called it. Since the temperature outside wasn't more than in the mid-70's, and the creek was shaded, I knew this water was going to be cold. And boy was I right. Just putting our feet in felt like they were going to fall off. But after walking around for a few minutes in the water you would get used to the cold. I estimated the temperature of the water to be in the 50's. It was quite chilly. My wonderful husband who had the plan to go swimming, decided against this when he made it into the water up to his thighs, and they told him not to go any further. However, his usually timid wife decided to go for it and swam in the water up to her head for maybe 5 minutes or so. This was definitely the coldest water I've ever been in. At first, my whole body stung. It felt almost like a burning sensation. But after a while, although I knew it was cold, I didn't feel cold. It's interesting how our minds work when we are in uncomfortable situations. I almost wanted to do an experiment to see how long it would be until I started feeling the beginning signs of hypothermia and started slurring my words, but I decided against it. After getting out of the water, that is when I started to feel cold. My jaw started chattering and I started shivering. So just like Bear Gribbell (or whatever his name is on that survivor show) I started doing jumping jacks. And then I put on the clothes I came in with. By the time we started walking back, I was warmed back up and fine. It was quite the experience. And I did something my Marine hubby was too chicken to do.

Once we returned to the hotel, we relaxed for an hour or so and then took showers and went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. It was good, but nothing too spectacular. Then we went to the Shakespeare Theater in town and saw Much Ado About Nothing. It was a cute show even though the first half was spent trying to translate what they were saying. By the second half, Mike and I both were able to understand their speech much better.

We were both very tired so we just went back to the hotel and went to sleep early so we would be able to get up early and make our way back to Springfield so I could take care of the Petsmart kitties around 9am. It only took us a little over 2 hours to get back, so leaving the hotel around 6:30am worked out fine. I was tired taking care of the kitties this morning, and it didn't help my condition when one kitty decided to bite me very hard and scratch up my hand when I put him back in his cage. Not a very nice cat at all. I bandaged myself up and kept on cleaning, although in my head I was wondering if I was going to need to go to the doctor for this one.

After my Petsmart escapades, Mike and I worked on the house after taking a well deserved 2 hour nap. Then we got ready to go watch the July 4th DC fireworks overlooking the city. We went to the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, VA which has a great view of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Capitol. Another 50,000+ people had the same idea. But even with that many people around, it didn't seem overly crowded. No one was pushing and shoving, and we even had space to move around a little bit once we found our spot. And, in my opinion, it was worth the effort. The fireworks display overlooking the National Mall was great. It was a different experience to see fireworks in our nation's capitol. I could picture the British troops burning down Washington in 1812. I'm glad we fought the people to be there. We went to a late dinner after the fireworks show to try and allow the masses to die down a bit on the Metro before heading back, but even after waiting over an hour, there were still Metro trains stuffed full of people. We probably waited to get on a train for 30 minutes before we lucked out and they opened up an empty train that wasn't in use to bring us home. We probably would have been waiting there a lot longer and would have been smelling the people's underarms next to us on the train, if they hadn't opened up the empty one.

Sunday was a work day. We got up ate breakfast and started painting. Around 1pm, a guy I have previously given a couple of my fish to, came over to get the rest of my fish. I figured it was time to break down the tank to get ready for the move. And this guy has 15 huge tanks so I know my fishies are going to a good home. After he picked up the fish, we painted some more and then went to Home Depot to try and set up our new carpet installation. We decided to try a few other places before we go with Home Depot because in my opinion, they have too many stipulations that we don't need. They have a warranty, but we are moving so we won't need the warranty. It costs an extra $0.56 per square foot for them to remove and haul away the old carpet. That will almost double the cost. Anyways, I wasn't convinced this was the place we could find the best deal, so we are still looking. We are getting to the point where we will need to find a place quick though, because we are running out of time. With our trip to Costa Rica coming up in a week and a half, and then our trip to Beaumont following that, we need to get this carpet installed by next week. We hope to get the house on the market by mid-July.

Oh, and my hand that was bitten by that cat, well, it started getting infected. There was a 2 inch diameter around the bite wound that was red and slightly swollen. It was extremely tender to the touch. I had planned to go to the doctor today to get on some antibiotics, but when I woke up this morning, the redness has significantly decreased and the wound is finally healing and not looking pussy. Thank you immune system for saving my hand!

New hot water heater...check!

So the plumbers got to our place yesterday at around 3:20PM. They didn't finish everything until 8:30PM. Yes, it took them 5 hours to finish the job. I'm pretty certain most of that time was spent at Home Depot trying to get our new hot water heater. They called us once, and then we didn't hear anything again for another couple hours, then another phone call. Mike then went down to Home Depot to try and figure out what the problem was, and within 10 minutes was done and the process continued. I'm still not sure what those guys were doing over there for such a long time and not calling us to let us know that there were some snags. It doesn't really matter to me though. I'm just glad that we have hot water again. We had so many dishes that needed to be washed it was ridiculous. And being that I cooked a lot last night didn't help with the overflow of things to be washed.

So, after the initial $95 for the guy to tell us what was wrong and the $350 for the new installation, we paid $445 for this new water heater. And back in November when we had a hot water heater problem, we paid about $250. So, I'm glad to be done with that thing. At least we can say that we have a brand new hot water heater when we put the house on the market.

Waiting on the plumber

We have had more trouble with this stupid water heater. The most recent trouble happened on Friday when I went into the utility room (which houses our washer and dryer, furnace and hot water heater) and there was water all over the ground. This has happened numerous times before and the cause has always been the drain tube for the washing machine has somehow managed to fall from the utility sink to the floor, in turn causing a flood. So I immediately looked to the washer. But the drainage tube was still in the sink. No way the water could have come from there this time. When I looked a little closer, I noticed that something wet (that had a yellow color to it) was dripping out of the exhaust tube from the gas water heater. This was quite strange as this should not have any water involved at all. We called a repair guy and he found that the water heater was leaking and we would need a new water heater. In addition, there was that drip from the exhaust. He didn't know what that was from, but put that problem aside to fix the big problem first. He told us that our water heater was probably still under warranty and that he couldn't do anything else for us that night. $95 out the door.

The next day Mike called the GE manufacturer and had them give us the OK to get a new replacement for free under warranty. We still have to pay for installation. And the new tank needs to be picked up from our local Home Depot. So then Mike started getting quotes for the uninstall of the current tank, bringing that tank to Home Depot, getting the replacement tank, bringing it back here and then the install of the new tank. Quotes ranged from $350-$1000+. The guy that said he would do it for $350 could come out here on Sunday morning and fix everything if we paid him in cash. So, he scheduled the guy for 8AM this morning. Poor Mike got up, waited, waited more. Painted while waiting, called them, called them again, waited more, called again, and still hasn't heard anything from this person. So he started calling other people today. He found another place willing to do it all for $350 and they are supposed to be here between 1-3PM. We are going on two days now without hot water. I showered Friday night, but that was the last time. I'm starting to feel kind of gross especially after taking care of the cats at Petsmart yesterday, sweating around the house, and sleeping two nights now. I refuse to workout during this non-shower period. That would be utterly too disgusting. And yes, I could take a bath and heat up the water on the stove top. But I honestly don't feel like our tub is in good enough shape to take a bath. We would end up with pieces of paint chips all over our "clean" bodies. Mike took a cold shower last night and I'm pretty certain that wasn't too much fun. I don't think I'm brave enough for that one.

Well, after starting this blog about 2 1/2 hours ago, having 3 different cats take turns using my lap as a bed, sanding some spackle, and painting the downstairs bathroom again, the plumbers have arrived. They were a little late, but they at least called 45 minutes out from when they would be here. Hopefully we will have a hot water heater by the end of tonight and will be able to take a hot shower later on.

Skye just jumped up here again, so I must do what my master tells me.

It's raining and cool

Skye is sitting on top of the cat tower cleaning himself by the open window. Surprisingly, that is the only cat I can see at this time. Usually there are at least 3 in my view. I guess all of the kitties are utilizing the open windows to sit and watch the outdoor life.

It's raining steadily outside but it's a nice streaming rain. It's not very windy and there is no thunder or lightning so I can definitely put up with this kind of rain. With the windows open, and no wind, water is not getting everywhere inside. And it would have been a shame to have to use A/C in high 60 degree weather. I am dreading going outside to feed the ferals today though. It's always so muddy and wet when it's been raining in their feeding spots. The one positive though, will be that the mosquitoes will not be out right now. Tomorrow though, they'll be out in full force. I've been having to use mosquito repellent everyday before going out there lately. And I still come back with at least 2 bites. They usually end up on my upper thighs, face or neck where I don't cover well enough. The cats are worth it though.

I'm on my last week of the 30 day challenge on the Wii EA Sports Active. I am definitely feeling stronger since beginning but the only complaint I really have is that they don't focus on the abdominal muscles at all. They do some standing crunches, but not enough to really have any effect. (Which brings me to something I was just trying to grasp a little better. When do I use Effect vs. Affect? I'm usually pretty good with my grammar usage, but these two really give me grief. Apparently, Affect is usually used as a verb and Effect is usually used as a noun. Does that mean that I used Effect correctly in the last sentence? I'm still confused.) I'm going to start using my ab ball I bought a couple months ago tomorrow in addition to my Wii workout. I decided on tomorrow to be the start date so that I will have exactly one month before my trip to Costa Rica to get my abs back in better shape. Oh, and after the 30 day challenge is completed, there are hundreds of other exercises you can continue to follow each day. I haven't tried any of them yet, but from online reviews I've read, they seem to be just as good. Now if I can just get my ankles feeling better.

Stumpey just tried to get on the top of the cat tower. She jumped up the side and saw Skye, then settled on the second tier. She is now cleaning herself by the open window while Skye sleeps. I love my cats.

Back from Manhattan

So I got back from my trip to NY on Sunday night. The trip was a lot of fun, but I think I've learned that I like DC better. The subways are cleaner, the city is cleaner and there are more trees around. It's just overall a prettier place. But NY does have it's perks. There are lots of things to do and lots of vegetarian restaurants around. But all of the vege restaurants besides one were in other parts of the city outside of Times Square. You can reach every place in Manhattan by subway and walking a couple blocks, but it would have been nice to be able to try more than just a couple places without making a whole trip out of it.


On Thursday night when I got in and got settled, I went to a nearby Asian vegetarian restaurant. I don't really know what I ordered, but it was very good. It was some sort of rolled up soy thing that was tempura battered over seaweed and then smothered with a yummy sauce. It came with broccoli, rice and two spring rolls. And the plating was lovely as well.

On Friday morning, I woke up at 2:45am and got ready to go stand in line for the Fan Pass holders for the DMB concert. When I got to the line, there were probably 30 people in front of me. I got there at 4:10am. They didn't start letting people into the area for the concert until 6am, but the crew started checking names around 5:30am and then we knew things were moving along. When they finally let us in, I ended up behind some tall dude (which always happens) but I was close enough to the stage to see everything that was going on. It started raining early this day, but I brought my trusty rain jacket so the rain didn't bother me. When I watched some of the show on YouTube I actually saw the back of my head a few times. The concert was a great experience. The only down side was that they played one song a total of 4 times, another song 2 times and 3 other songs once each. I guess they were getting the sound corrected before going on live. It was still a good time and I was surrounded by like minded people which is always nice. Lots of hippieish young people. I was in MY crowd.


The rest of Friday I just walked around the city trying to see whatever I could in the rain. I went to another vegetarian restaurant where I got a "bacon cheese burger" and curly fries. It was really good as well. I think if I ate meat I probably would be fat because I wouldn't be able to control myself with all these bad for you dishes. Luckily, I don't consume flesh which saves my soul and my stomach. Later on this night, I went out and got dessert at a nearby restaurant. The Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding with toasted cashews was delicious.


On Saturday morning, I woke up and ate some brunch where I ordered the eggs florentine and potatoes. Then I went over to the Top of the Rock. I took lots of pictures from at the top of the building. It's pretty amazing that so many buildings are built up in such a relatively small space. Central park looked amazingly big from here, but unfortunately, I never was able to visit it.

After leaving the Top of the Rock, I walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This was a beautiful church with lots of architecture. Then I went over to see Marilyn Monroe's subway grate. I went to a grate where the location was supposed to be, so I can only assume it was "the grate". It wasn't labeled though so I can't be sure. After picking up a cannoli, I then went to stand in line for an hour to get 50% off tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera. It was hard making up my mind which show I wanted to see, but since I have never seen this one, and it is a classic on Broadway, I chose it. And the ticket cost me, including taxes and fees, $66. Not too shabby.



After getting my ticket, I went down to the World Trade Center site. I really expected more, but they were just starting on the memorial. It was blocked off so really all you could see was rubble under ground and a blank sky above. It was a pretty sad sight. I then walked over and got a slice of NY style pizza. It was pretty good. I went back to the hotel to relax and change and then headed to the musical for the 8pm performance. The show was great! The costumes and actors were amazing. The voices these people had were beautiful. I would love to see another one. I wish I had more time while there to see more shows.


On Sunday morning, I packed up all my stuff and stored it at the hotel. I walked next door and got a chocolate and banana crepe for breakfast, and then went to the American Museum of Natural History. I got there as soon as they opened at 10am and I figured that I would have time to go across the street to Central Park for a little while after viewing the museum. Well, after an hour went by and I had only moved two rooms, I knew I needed to speed things up. This museum was 4 stories tall! And they had extra exhibits going on in addition that I didn't pay for. I could literally spend all of two days in that place and still not get all the details that I wanted. By 1:45pm, I was rushing around trying to glance at anything I could before rushing to the subway to get back to the hotel. I needed to get back to the airport by around 3:30pm and the subway out to the hotel took 1.5 hours. Luckily, the trip back to the airport took less than an hour so I was able to make up the time I lost at the museum. It's a good thing I got to the airport an hour and a half before my flight though because that place was big and confusing. With international travel, and 8-10 terminals, it was easy to get confused as to where your flight was supposed to take off from. And after getting on the plane, we waited on the flight path for another 1.5 before getting cleared for the runway because so many planes were taking off at that time. JFK airport is insane. But I made it back only a few minutes late.


Overall, my trip was a success. It just would have been better had my husband not missed his flight out there and I would have gotten to spend the weekend with someone I love other than just myself.


In other news, my sister had her second baby on Friday, June 5. Allison was born around 5 pounds and will be a duel citizen of both Costa Rica and the USA.

I'm getting worse and worse about updating this thing

So here it is. The beginning of June and I haven't posted since May 22. I'm becoming such a slacker. But I guess this just isn't the highest thing on my priority list of things to do. Number one, calculated by the amount of time I spend doing things throughout the day, must be sitting on the couch searching the internet while the TV is on in the background. Next in priority would be feeding the feral kitties. And last (and sometimes is VERY far down at the bottom) would be taking a shower. Yes. I am a busy woman these days!



Newest thing to report: I'm leaving for New York City tomorrow afternoon. I got tickets to see Dave Matthews Band on the Today Show this Friday, June 5, so I'll be making the trip out there for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope they put me in close proximity to the guys, but with my luck, I'll probably be in the back behind all the tall people. But at least I will be able to say that I was there. Michael will be joining me on Friday night and then we are going to stay the weekend. I'm not sure exactly what we are going to do just yet, but I think heading to Central Park and going to the "Top of the Rock" (top of the Rockefeller building) will be on the list. I'd also like to indulge in some yummy food since we will be in one of the best cities for wonderful cuisine. There are numerous vegetarian restaurants around, so hopefully I'll get to dine in at least one of those as well. We'd like to go to a Broadway show, but tickets are about $125 each. Michael said he heard that if you go to the ticket booth the day of the show, tickets are half off so we may try that. If not, an Off-Broadway show would be fine with me. I just have to pack something nice to wear.



The EA Sports Active that I mentioned in my last post I'm still using...and it's still changing things up daily and kicking my butt. On Monday it made me do swats and hold them. OUCH! My legs were shaking! I could use some more upper body tension though, as the workout band they sent with the program just isn't tight enough for most of the upper body exercises for me, but I've been trying to double it up so it gives a little bit of a tougher workout. When they make me punch the punching bag though, I'm definitely out of breath. It's a great program and I really recommend it to anyone who has a Wii and is looking to workout at home. And if you have a Balance Board from the Wii Fit, they will incorporate some routines using that. I don't have one so I don't know how they would change things up, but they somehow utilize the board.



I just bought a new set of luggage at K-Mart on-sale for 50% off of $100. It's a three piece set, and I'm sure it's fairly cheaply made, but it will do the job. On my last trip up to Michigan, my smaller luggage got ripped on the side so you can stick your hand through it. So yes, I needed a new one. I could have just bought a small luggage, but those were $25 a piece. I figured, for another $25, I can get two more bags with it. And we'll be needing more bags for our trip to Costa Rica as well.

So, I'm off for now. I'm sure I will write after getting back from Manhattan. Oh, and we are staying at the Westin in Times Square so we will be right in the middle of the action! I'm looking forward to the trip!

Exhausting few weeks behind me

The last few weeks have definitely kept me busy. This has been the first week to relax a bit in quite some time. After my MI and Wilmington trips, Dad came into town to help us redue our downstairs bathroom. All last week we worked on that thing (I should say he worked on it while I stared at him for the most part). We had a ton of little set backs everyday, but with all those setbacks came my renewed my Home Depot knowledge. I was beginning to forget which aisle had plumbing stuff in it versus which one had caulk. Ah, Home Depot. The bathroom is still not 100% completed, but all of our problems have now been resolved and it's just a matter of completely finishing it. I still need to put a second coat of paint on the walls, seal the new grout on the shower tiles, paint the ceiling white, install a new medicine cabinet/mirror and put in towel rods. All in all, not too bad. I'll have to take pictures when it's all completed. I have to say I'm pretty proud of how nice that bathroom looks now. It was so disgusting before that I never even wanted to step foot in there.

My 29th birthday was last Saturday. It has now come and gone. It was a fairly uneventful day. I went and took care of the kitties at Petsmart and then Mike took me to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch. We came home, Mike napped and then we went to eat at a vegetarian Indian restaurant for dinner. Then we came home and went to bed. Yep...pretty uneventful.

Yesterday I received the just released EA Sports Active game for the Wii in the mail. This game is all about working out and getting in shape. You pick a personal trainer and they work with you 5 days a week doing an assortment of circuit training routines. So far, my trainer's been kicking my butt. Both yesterday and today I've sweated a good amount, been out of breath, and felt my muscles really work. Today I'm a little sore in places. I think tomorrow is a "rest" day, but I'm looking forward to Sunday's workout. I'm taking the "30 Day Challenge" and during that time you are supposed to burn some allotted number of calories, workout for so much time and I would guess most people would lose weight. I'm not interested in the last part; I just want to get back in shape. I'm tired of my muscles being weak and my fat taking over.

We just bought our plane tickets to Costa Rica in July. We are going to be there from July 18-July 25 to visit my sister, her husband, my nephew and my soon-to-be-here nephew or niece. Jamie's been living there since last September and I'm pretty certain she'll be excited to see some family. Dad is also coming along so it should be a good time. We've rented an apartment on the beach south of where Jamie is living so the drive to her place won't be too much fun, but it will be doable. And my EA Sports Active will get my body a little more prepared for the beach.

(PS...I guess those picture at the top should have been on my previous post since they are from Wilmington and Michigan, but I didn't have them uploaded to my computer yet so they are a post late...sorry)

Back from Wilmington and Michigan

So I've been to Wilmington and back and then to Detroit and back since the last time I wrote. I have an excuse for last week...being at Grandma's and Grandpa's house means not using the computer based on the connection speed being so slow. Yes, they have a computer (HI Grandparents!) but they have dial up. It takes way too long to wait for any one page to pull up that I pretty much avoid the internet while in town. I don't have any good excuse to not have written since April 29 (I think that was the last date). Oh well. Here I am now updating for you few determined followers.

Our trip to Wilmington was fast but fun. We hung out at the beach on Saturday all day long through wind, rain, clouds and sun. And somehow I managed to get burned. I'm still confused as to when I got that burn during the day since the burn lines were along my shorts lines and not my bathing suit lines, but I did burn. And now I'm peeling. It could have been worse but I still hate peeling. Later on Saturday night we went to Circa to eat dinner. We were pretty exhausted so by around 11pm, we left the restaurant and went back to the hotel. Sunday morning we went to brunch at Boca Bay and then went downtown and met Kilby. We walked around the waterfront and then ate lunch at Nikki's. It wasn't as good as it usually is but it was still decent enough. We left Wilmington around 3pm and got home around 8:45pm.

I had Monday to do my normal feral feeding duties and then Tuesday night I left for the metro to take me to the airport for Michigan. My mom flew into town from Kansas as well. (HI Mom!) We all stayed at my Grandparents house and had a lot of "family time". It was actually a fairly good experience. I'd like to think that since my Grandparents had everyday planned out and we didn't have any extra family members (aka the husbands) to try to decide the every day plans, things went smoothly. Mom left on Friday and I stayed until Sunday.

When I returned home yesterday early evening, before I could even put my bags down I saw that my fish tank was extremely cloudy. It was clouded to the point that I could barely see the fish swimming around inside of it. I had absolutely no idea why my husband hadn't told me about this problem earlier since every day that I was gone, I asked about how the fish were doing. He told me that he thought that it must have been from me being gone 5 days and not changing the water!!! OH MY GOD!!! My tank has NEVER been cloudy before and I usually only siphon out 15% of the water once a week. It was bad. I honestly was surprised that the fish could still breathe through all of the junk that was floating throughout the water. I tested the water and the levels were pretty much normal. Then I discovered that my air stone had fallen off of the air tube and looked as though it had disintegrated some. I'm pretty certain that was the cause of the cloudy water. Before I did anything else, I changed 50% of the water. It didn't look that much better, but I didn't want to disrupt the nitrification cycle that was already stable (For those that don't know about aquariums, water from the sink is not compatible with fish. It needs to go through a cycle that produces different types of bacteria to make the tank water stable. If you remove too much water, the nitrification bacteria will also be removed to an extent that will disrupt the cycle and start killing fish. It's not just temperature and chlorine that you have to worry about when starting up an aquarium like I once thought.) So, today I changed about 20% of the water. It's starting to look a little better. I'll keep changing about 20% of the water each day until the cloudiness subsides. In addition to my cloudy fish tank, for a couple weeks now I've been losing guppies. None of my other fish seem affected by this "guppy killer". I don't know what is wrong. I've been looking up fish diseases and trying relentlessly to find a definitive cause of my guppy deaths, but I haven't found one disease that seems to fit. In the mean time, I'm down from 10 guppies to 5. And I'm pretty certain all of those will eventually die. They all look somewhat sick in all different ways. My "sick fish tank" isn't cycled yet, so if I was to remove them and put them in there, they would definitely die. The water isn't currently life sustaining. And through all this, all my other fish don't seem affected at all. They aren't showing any signs of problems. The only thing that I can think that may be the cause is that they all came from the same family. Maybe they have some kind of genetic disorder that didn't show up until they were a few months old. I really have no idea. Some of them are becoming see through, some are losing their bright colors, some look like their spines are starting to bend, some have bright red spots on their backs as if they are hemorrhaging inside, some have split tails and some don't look sick before they die. All that have died though get very lethargic the day before they die. They just sit on a fake plant all day long except to eat. So they are still feeding until the end. If anyone has any knowledge at all as to what be happening in my tank, I would greatly appreciate any advice.

As for the rest of my welcoming home, I was surprised to see that Amigo seemed the happiest that I was back. He greeted me with a happy upright tail and a pounce. I didn't know if he would be scared of me again or if he would remember. Well, apparently he remembered and missed me. He even let Mike pet him while I was petting him yesterday. He usually doesn't let him do that unless he's eating. The rest of the cats seemed like they were happy that I was home, but none were as happy as Amigo I believe. When I finally got some down time last night, I sat on the couch and Skye and Stumpey immediately jumped up and laid with me, one on each side. Skore also gave me some love last night before bed and Sabrina acted like she always does...strangely. Then Stumpey slept with me last night but the other girls didn't. Once Mike left for work, all the girls joined me in bed like normal. I'm sure I will get all of them again for the next couple nights since Mike is going out of town so there will be plenty of space for everyone in bed.

So today I've been washing my clothes and sheets from the spare bedroom as Dad is coming into town today. He should be here around 7pm. There was so much cat hair on the spare bedroom's top blanket. It was definitely a mixture of Skye, Skore and Amigo hair. Amigo is actually sleeping next to me on the couch right now. This is definitely a first. He is progressing each and every day. He's becoming a family member.

Now I must get off here and try not to disrupt Amigo's sleep and get some clothes out of the dryer and put more in the washer. I need to take a shower, feed the feral kitties, go to Petsmart, and go to the grocery store before dad gets here. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to clean up the bathroom a little bit too. But we'll see how far I get today.

Spring or Summer...which one already?

The temperatures we've been experiencing here have been insane. Last week we started out in the 50's and 60's. Then on Saturday we hit 91! Sunday through Tuesday were also in the high 80's/low 90's. Today, high 50's and rain. Come on weather...make up your mind! I'm all for some summer weather but I don't like being taunted by summer only to fall back to spring the next day.

Mike and I did take full advantage of the hot weather this weekend. On Sunday, we woke up bright and early and left the house at around 6:30am. Then we drove to Bethany Beach, Delaware about 2.5 hours away. We set up on the beach and stayed there until a little after 4pm. It was great! The weather was awesome, there were no clouds in the sky, there was just a small breeze and there weren't too many people around. The only draw back was that the water was still too cold to go into. I didn't even dip my feet in, but Mike said that it was COLD. And I took his word for it.

This coming up weekend we head to Wilmington for a quick weekend trip. I really want to see two of my friends in particular: Paul and Kilby. If I get to see anyone else while there that would be great, but those two I would like to definitely say hi to in person. Unfortunately, my good friend Kilby's grandmother was in the process of dying this morning so he told me that he probably wasn't going to be in town this weekend due to her funeral in Wake Forest area. It's unfortunate, but I guess that just gives me an excuse to go down there again fairly soon and enjoy some more beach time! I think that our main goal while in Wilmington is to go to the beach and for Mike to surf. I doubt I'll get in the water, but I always welcome a tan. And last weekend made for a good base for this weekend coming up.

Here are some pictures from last weekend.

Becoming beautiful

No. I'm not referring to myself...it's the weather that is quite wonderful all of a sudden. This past weekend it was in the high 70's and sunny. Mike and I went to Baltimore and hung out at the Inner Harbor all day. It was very nice to be able to wear shorts and short sleeves again. This weekend, it's supposed to be almost 90 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait! I wouldn't mind going to a nearby beach and enjoying the weather, but I will have to figure out what my wonderful husband would like to do.

The picture that I posted above I just think is the cutest thing ever. From left to right there is Sabrina, Skye, Skore, Amigo and Stumpey. This was during breakfast time when they get their one portion of dry food a day. This is by far the highlight of their feedings. For whatever reason, my kitties like dry food much more than they like wet. The only two that will continue to eat wet food until it is all gone are Amigo and Sabrina. The others walk away unenthused. I'm pretty certain little Amigo is gaining weight. He's constantly finishing everyone else's food. But I'm OK with that...for now. I won't be OK with it when he ends up looking like Stumpey.

Next weekend we are headed to Wilmington to spend some time on the beach and visit my old friends. Then the following week I'm headed to Michigan to see the family. It's going to be a good next couple weeks. Hopefully the weather is nice anywhere I go. I don't want to have to go back to the jacket. I had to wear that thing way too long this winter!

Good Friday

Carrie, my sister-in-law just came into town last night. I'm sure we will have a good time this weekend going into DC and seeing some of the sights. Today, if the weather holds off (it's supposed to rain) we are going to go tour the Kennedy Center. We'll probably go get something to eat afterwards. Tomorrow, we are going to tour the Capitol. This will be my third time in 2 years, but I still don't mind going. It's a pretty neat place. I'm not sure what other sights will be on the list to go to, but those two are booked already. It's supposed to rain tomorrow too, so who knows if our plans will change or not due to weather.

Yesterday when feeding the feral kitties, one of the cats at my first stop (a beautiful black and white boy) had been hit by a car. It must have just happened as when I got to the body to move it off the road, it was still warm and soft and there wasn't any bugs around as of yet. He definitely died quickly as his body was pretty much scattered all over the road, so that was a little bit of peace for me. I definitely was broken up about that as of yesterday. He has this one buddy that he always hung out with. Her name is one kidney Kate since she had one dying kidney removed when she was spayed. Those two were always together and would bump heads when they got excited to see that food was there. They were always around whenever I would feed. Now, she'll be alone some of the time. I really feel bad. Stupid people that could avoid hitting an animal chose not to. For what reason, I don't have a clue. The road that they live by is travelled pretty often by truckers. It's a dead end street and it has a winding pattern, but there really is no reason that someone wouldn't be able to avoid an animal there. This loss of a life is truly inexcusable.

When I called the "owners" to tell them what had happened, I could tell they were really upset. The husband who has been caring for these cats for several years knew immediately who I was talking about and he mentioned poor little one kidney Kate being alone now. He was going to go pick the kitty up last night and then bury him. We are all mourning the loss of this beautiful boy.

Since then all I've been thinking about is little Amigo (the stray kitty that stayed with that feral colony that hurt his paw). It could have easily had been him that got hit and I would have been guilt ridden for life if that would have happened. Amigo is really sweet and not feral and doesn't deserve to be outside fending for himself. I'm so glad I got to him in time before some unnatural cause took his life too soon. He's slowly coming around. He's been playing with me when it's quiet in the house and Mike is at work. He also has been coming to eat with the other kitties. He does get scared if he hears a loud noise or sees a quick movement, but he's definitely a good cat. I'm pretty certain he's been using the litter box consistently as I haven't found any random poop or pee anywhere. He's just an all around special guy and I'm glad he's living here now.

This is great for April Fool's Day

I have gotten such a great laugh out of this today. I know those of you that read this don't know Mike's friends, but if you did, you would find this video 100 times more enjoyable! You can thank me for having so much time on my hands for this one.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/93WAP5oGcvELxy8z

It's been a while

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I don't have any really good excuses except I've managed to keep myself pretty busy lately.

The little tabby boy kitty took about a week to start coming around. He stayed up in the box springs of the bed only coming out at night to eat a little bit. It took him several days to pee and then about a week to poop. His first poop was in the litter box which I was very happy about. His first pee was not, but since then, he has been peeing in the litter box too. I'm not sure if he knows this is where he should go, or that it's the only suitable place for him which feels almost like going outside. Either way, I'm not complaining but I'm concerned that he would go just about anywhere if he had constant access to the entire house.

After a week of him being very shy and not coming out from under the bed, one day he started eating treats out of my hand. The next day, he started coming out and letting me pet him. Now, when I call for him, he makes it known where he is and usually comes out for some love and attention. He's still weary of Mike, but with patience, I think he will even let Mike pet him.

Right now he's downstairs in the basement somewhere. I've been letting him out of his room whenever I'm around during the day. He's starting to hate being cramped up in one room all the time. Last night after I said goodnight to him and closed the bedroom door, he started crying and reaching his foot under the door. I felt bad for him but I don't want any unnecessary cat fights during the night or unnecessary pee or poopings everywhere. So, while I'm around, I let him explore, but for now, at night, he's in his room. He's been laying on the bed a lot which is much more comfortable than the box springs and he has the extra bonus of being able to look out the window that way.

The other cats have not taken to him very well. Sabrina has been the best about it, just hissing a little but letting him sniff her. They even touched noses this morning...then she hissed. Stumpey has been growling a lot at him. I'm pretty certain she would swat him if he got close enough. Skye hasn't really been around him that much but I've heard a hiss or two out of him. And Skore. Oh, Skore. I would have expected her to be the most accepting of them all, being that all the cats in this household love her and she's a pushover for all of them. But no. She has been going crazy when she smells this new kitty. She's been growling at both him and us when he's around. She's been hissing and swatting. I've never seen her do any of these things. She's like a wild black tiger! She obviously has a little bit of her mother in her. Luckily she's not beating up the other kitty like her mother did to all of my cats!

I would have expected little tabby boy to defend himself and possibly even be aggressive to these other cats being that he's lived outside for what I would imagine has been all his life. But he's just as docile as can be. I haven't heard one peep out of him except for a cry now and then. I think he really wants to make friends with all of the cats but they are having a very tough time with this change. I don't think he made a very good outside kitty based on the fact that he hasn't tried to show dominance at all over this household. That's probably why at the young age of 1 year old that he's already been bitten by something in the outdoors. I think he'll fare much better as an inside kitty. It's too bad his ear is tipped. It makes him appear imperfect when in fact, he's a pretty perfect guy.

All in all, things are going well. I'm happy about his progress emotionally and his foot is looking much better. He's even starting to walk on it a little more. It still looks mangled, but it's not bloody anymore and it seems to not be hurting him so much anymore either. I wasn't able to get even one antibiotic pill in him, but I guess the shot they gave him did it's job because there definitely is not infection that I can see.

So, it seems my life is revolving around cats lately and that is fine. Between feeding the ferals 5 days a week, volunteering at Fancy Cats Rescue cleaning the cages at Petsmart at least 1 day a week, helping them with other duties (like last week bringing 3 cats to the vet), and trying to socialize this tabby boy, I've been pretty busy. Last week was dedicated to trying to find a free or really cheap crate to put the boy in. After I received one from a very generous lady whose dog didn't fit in it anymore, the boy started coming around and I haven't needed to use the crate. But, at least I have it for the future. And it was free. I also got a free small TV for his bedroom so he would start getting used to indoor sounds. Today was the first time I've turned it off in about a week and a half. Now all we really need in that room is a light so I can see him at night. Right now, the TV in there has been serving two purposes: keeping him entertained and lighting the room at night. But that is the poor man's way to light a room.

I think it's time to stop writing and start eating breakfast. I made some biscuits yesterday and I think my breakfast is going to consist of more biscuits this morning. I've been liking me some biscuits lately. Too bad they are filled with so much butter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I wonder if I am 3% Irish just like Barack.

It's been an interesting last week. I guess the most important event has been the attempted capture of one of the kitties that I feed at one of the feral colonies. This kitty is not feral and probably very adoptable as he's always let me pet him during my feedings. But he was outside and has his ear tipped/clipped (which means he has been neutered so that no Animal Control Officer can pick him up) and hangs around one of the feral colonies. Well, last Tuesday I didn't see him. And then on Wednesday I didn't see him. Two days of not seeing him made me worry a little as he was always the first kitty to greet me. By Thursday I saw him which took a weight off my chest but I immediately noticed he was limping. I looked closer and his right back foot was mangled, bloody and swolen. I knew that I needed to somehow get him to a vet, but I didn't have a cat carrier with me. So, I attempted to pick him up, which actually worked a lot better than I had expected, and tried to just put him in my car. I didn't know how tame he really was. Well, he let me pick him up and carry him, but once I got close to the car, he started freaking out. So I let him go and decided I would try to go home, get a carrier, and go back to try and get him. When I got back with the carrier, he was no where to be found. Every one of the other kitties was still around, but the hurt tabby boy was gone. So, I left the carrier out there and came home to try again the next day.

Friday came and I went out to the site and the tabby boy wanted nothing to do with me. He wouldn't even come close enough for me to pet him. Cats are so smart!! He knew something was up and even though he was hurting, he wasn't about to let me put him in a cage! Then a train came by across the street and blew it's horn and he took off.

Saturday the other lady that takes care of the cats fed them and said she did not see the tabby boy. She was hoping that she would be able to trap him and bring him to the vet, but that kitty was not around.

On Sunday, I went out to the site pretty late (around 4:30p) and all kitties were very ready to eat, except for the tabby boy which was no where to be found again. I started to really worry about him and was hoping that his foot wasn't infected and he wasn't getting really sick somewhere.

Yesterday, Monday, came and tabby boy was back ready to eat. He let me pet him again and I tried to get another good look at his foot. It was looking like the top two puncture wounds had healed, but he was still limping on it. So I knew he was still hurting. I poured some food out and let him eat while I was petting him. I got the cat carrier ready to go and was petting him when my cell phone rang in my pocket! This noise terrified him and that was the end of trying to get him on Monday.

Today I was hoping that he would be around when I fed, and would allow me to pet him. I also had the other lady let me borrow one of her feral cat traps to try and trap him if he wasn't being friendly. When I got to the site, he was hobbling around and happy to see me. I placed a little food in the cat carrier and after petting him for a few strokes, I picked him up, scruffed his neck, and placed him feet first into the carrier. I felt such success when I closed that door!! I finished feeding the rest of the cats and took him to the vet.

Poor little guy was so scared driving in the carrier. He was scratching the sides of the carrier trying to escape, but he was better than my kitties which would have been screaming the whole time too. Once I got to the vet (which was the other lady's vet that works with a cat rescue group so they give good discounts) they sedated the little boy and took a look at his foot. The wounds weren't full of puss which was a good thing, but his foot was still hairless, swollen and punctured. While he was completely passed out, they gave him two shots (one that was an antibiotic and one that was an anti-swelling agent), they tested him for FIV and Feline Leukemia, they weighed him (he was a whopping 7.15 pounds...3 pounds less than my smallest cat), and checked to see if his foot felt broken. All in all, he was doing pretty well. He tested negative for FIV/FeLeuk meaning he could come home with me, and the vet didn't think his foot was broken.

About 10 minutes after getting him off of the sedating gas, he started waking up. I brought him home, set up one of the spare bedrooms as his "healing room" with a box with towels, good food, clean water and a litter box, and then let him out. He went straight to the box and laid down. Poor little guy is so scared. My cats were interested in the new cat smell for all of like 5 minutes and since then they have left the room alone. The last time I went back in there he was back in the cat carrier huddled in a corner. I'm hoping that by tomorrow he will start being comfortable with his surroundings enough that he will get himself a good meal and a nice drink of water. I'm not sure how the whole little box experience is going to go, but we are going to give it a try. Who knows? Maybe he'll use it the first time. He has a pill antibiotic that he will be on for the next 10 days so I'm definitely going to leave him in that room for that amount of time. If he seems to be not minding the indoors, I probably will not put him back outside. I will have to find him a good, indoor home somewhere.

Now, he needs a name. I think I'll leave that up to Mike since he always tries to rename the cats we already have and they are always dumb names. This way, I won't be stuck with a stupid named cat forever (minus Stumpey who I did not name but is still named a stupid name).

American Idol and life currently

As I watch American Idol, I seriously think Paula Abdul is on drugs. Whether they are prescription drugs, or illegal drugs (or it could be alcohol, I don't know) she is on something. There is no person out there that looks and acts the way she does that is not on something. She seems to have to hold herself up while sitting at times. It's embarrassing for me to watch. Even if she's a good judge they should take her off the air. She is definitely a bad role model for the children watching...although they probably don't realize she is not acting quite right.

This past weekend it was nice and sunny outside. We went to Old Towne Alexandria and walked to the waterfront which, I must add, was not as impressive as Wilmington's waterfront. Then we walked to this Latin fusion restaurant and drank some mojitos. Afterwards we went into the city and ate at one of the many Ethiopian restaurants. I was SO full after eating. It was beautiful over the weekend in the 70's. It was nice not having to wear a jacket everywhere we went. On Sunday, we didn't end up doing anything much except going to the grocery store and to our staple Tex-Mex restaurant. I had a coupon for a free cup of soup (and they actually had one that was vegetarian) and I just ate the chips, salsa and guacamole for dinner. And I ordered an ice tea. There are few times that I drink anything but water when out but I felt feisty that day!

Today I went to the dentist for a cleaning. As always, they commented on how wonderful my teeth are and how well I take care of them. I have always had this one tooth in the front that was abnormal. It has a hole on the side of it that is covered by my gum. The dentists have always told me that if I didn't want to fix it, as long as I took good care to clean it out then I wouldn't have any problems. I've also had a couple dentists tell me that they would fix it for cosmetic purposes, but honestly, I can only tell that it isn't perfect if I intentionally search. So I've always said no to any work being done on it. This dentist told me that she wasn't going to make me fix it and that it was ultimately my choice, but she thought it would be best to fix it so that it wouldn't cause any problems in the future. I remember back when I was a child and they talked about fixing it, they said that eventually the fake part would discolor and you would be able to tell that it wasn't all real tooth. So I asked this dentist about that and she said that with the products they have now a days, that wouldn't be a problem. I think she is probably right since I had to have my bottom front tooth fixed about 5 years ago when it broke and you can't tell where my real tooth ends and the fake part begins. I also remember the color they chose when they were filling that tooth- A1. I'm pretty certain that is the whitest they have. Yay for my naturally white teeth! Anyways, I'm going back next Thursday to fill in the hole in my tooth. I hope I'm making the right decision.

And to those that I haven't spoken to since we got confirmation, we are moving to Beaumont, TX in July. I have mixed feelings about the move but I think it will help us financially. I think the weather will be nice, being near a beach again will be nice and buying a house that we can actually afford and still be nice, will be nice. I think we are going to buy a place that is newer to avoid the mold issue that I've had with this house. I will be looking forward to not having to spray Veramyst in my nostrils on a daily basis.

Michael left last night for Billings, MT where it was a high of 12 degrees today (ha ha!). Poor guy didn't get there until 1 am EST and then is on a plane right now coming back home. He won't be back until after midnight. I'm sure he's going to be exhausted. I hope he doesn't think he has to be at work tomorrow morning as early as he normally does, especially since his boss isn't even going to be there. That made me realize that tomorrow is Wednesday already. Time is just flying by. I can't believe that it's almost the middle of March.

Tuesday in March with Snow on the Ground

Yes...it is March and it snowed yesterday more than it has all winter! We got about 5 inches of snow here....in MARCH! It's supposed to get to the 60's this weekend, so this fluke cold weather is strange. And it's been really cold the last 2 days too. Today I think it made it up to 30 degrees. I'm ready for winter to be over with.

The rest of the New Orleans trip wasn't much better than the few days I previously wrote about. I ended up walking over to Cafe du Monde and got some beignets and a decaf cafe au lait. The coffee wasn't half bad with a ton of sugar in it, but the beignets I was disappointed with. I got them to go so maybe that was part of the problem, but they just weren't that satisfying. Later that afternoon I walked to a building where the 113th Army jazz band were playing. They were really good! Later on that night after Michael was done working for the day, we walked over to a place where Michael could get some oysters and then we went to Emeril's for dinner. Emeril's was really good and I can honestly say that the two really memorable places to eat while in New Orleans have been with NOLA and Emeril's. I also really enjoyed Hip Stix (the Thai restaurant I wrote about in the last post) and will probably list that as a memorable place to eat as well.

As far as the rest of the trip goes, I could have had more fun walking around the fairly clean city of D.C. New Orleans is dirty, stinky and people really disrespect the environment there. I would never want to live there, or visit during Mardi Gras again, if I can help it. I didn't have a good time watching the crazy people trying to grab at the massive amounts of beads being thrown off the floats, the floats themselves were all basically the same, the old penises and boobs can definitely stay in their prospective clothing, the trash produced is just sad and definitely should be regulated better, the food isn't good in the Quarter, and the city is overall just overrated. Sorry husband but that is the absolute truth to the matter.

I was happy to come home, see the felines and the fish, get some love from the felines and get back into a normal routine. I hope our next "vacation" turns out better than this last one. I actually enjoy having a good time while on vacation. Oh, and I tried a generic King Cake and it wasn't that great. I will admit that I still haven't tried a cream cheese filled one from a good bakery (yes, Michael still hasn't gotten me one) but I tried one that was given to us by the hotel and I was majorly disappointed. I did, however, really enjoy all the pralines that we bought at a candy store in the French Quarter. Sugar, butter and nuts put together are always a favorite of mine!

Sitting in the hotel

Actually, I am laying on the bed in the hotel. I need to get up and take a shower and walk over to Cafe du Monde. The trip hasn't been as great as I had expected, and being that this is the last night here, I'm not sure if tonight will make the trip a success. I hope that once Michael gets done working we can decide on a nice dinner somewhere (maybe NOLA or Emeril's since he's been wanting to go there every day since we've been here). I've been very disappointed in my food here up until now. We did eat at a really good Thai fusion restaurant on Saturday night but since then, our meals have been mediocre at best. We ate at this place that catered to me on Sunday where I got a vegan gumbo and black beans and rice dish. They were both extremely bland. I had to add in Cajun spices and hot sauce that were sitting in the middle of the table just to make them more edible. For dinner we ate at a pizza place that was good, but it's hard to screw up pizza. On Monday we ate lunch at this place where you dress your own burger. I had to have them cook the veggie burger on a skillet instead of near the meat. The food here was pretty good and I left full. That night we ate at a tapas restaurant that I had high hopes for, but didn't cut it for me. Yesterday morning I ordered cheese blintzes with strawberries from a place that had gotten pretty good reviews. It was OK, but nothing to write home about. And then last night I ate at an Indian/Pakistani/pizza/burger/fried chicken joint that had gotten good reviews for it's vegetarian food. I was really disappointed in this place. I was expecting a hole in the wall with good food. I definitely found the hole in the wall to be true, but the food (I ordered a spinach and chick pea Indian dish over rice) was not that great. I've eaten some amazing Indian/Pakistani dishes in my time and this was definitely not even close to middle of the list. And now we are to the present time and I don't know what to expect for the food that is going to come. Hopefully it will be better than the last few days.

I'm getting a slight headache so I think I'm going to get off here and take some ibuprofen before it gets worse and then head out to eat some food. The weather has been pretty cold every day here but today it's supposed to be in the mid-70's so I need to bask in the nice weather while it's here.

New Orleans bound

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for New Orleans for 5 days. I'll be back on Thursday morning and Mike will be home Thursday evening. I'm looking forward to being in warmer weather for a few days even though they are calling for rain while we are down there. I'm also looking forward to trying a King Cake (which was promised to me by my husband 3 years ago and I still haven't gotten that gift yet) and also eating a beignet at Cafe du Monde. The last time I ate there, I was 19 years old. Maybe I'll even go so far to have a cup of Cafe au Lait as well. On Saturday night, we are going to the House of Blues to see Better Than Ezra and on Monday afternoon, Cowboy Mouth is playing a free concert at some restaurant. Those are the only two definite plans we have as of now. Mike has to work starting on Wednesday and he has a dinner he must attend on Tuesday night so I'll be fending for myself on those days. I'm sure I will find plenty of things to do especially if the weather is right and I'm able to walk around the French Quarter without rain pummeling me.

So now that I've been procrastinating all morning, I have lots of stuff to do before tomorrow morning. Since I have to take care of the Petsmart kitties Saturday morning, I have to prepare for the trip tonight. I need to feed the ferals, I need to go to Petsmart and get some supplies for my kitties and fish, I need to pick up a refill for my nose spray, I need to pack as much as I can, I need to wash my coat (it has some weird looking white stuff on it....makes me wonder if I got pooped on by some birds sometime), I need to vacuum and clean up a bit and I'm going to try and use up any perishable foods in the refrigerator for dinner tonight. With this last thing on my list of to-do's, I'm going to be baking a buttermilk pound cake. I figure, I can at least bring it with us on the plane and eat it next week in New Orleans if nothing else. I'm sure there are more things to do that will come up as I'm doing everything else.

OK...I'm going to start on the list of things. The first thing that must happen is move Skye off of my lap (he seems to spend the majority of the day there now-a-days), take a shower and get to feeding the ferals. I wouldn't mind a nap right about now either but I guess that needs to wait.

Here I am again...way behind on my updates

OK. The last time I wrote I was on the way to bury my fish. I did this in the backyard and felt really sad about his loss. I feel better now though and hope I buried him deep enough that no wild animals will come and dig him up. I put a rock over the dirt so hopefully that will be enough.

Since last Monday, I have been feeding the two colonies of feral kitties out here. It's hard to call them all "feral" because I'm pretty certain that at least a few of them could be tamed. But, they are all spayed and neutered and seem happy enough outside with their buddies. It's just a shame there are so many unwanted animals that need homes. PEOPLE...SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!!!

This Saturday was the second time I went to Petsmart and cleaned the kitty cages and played with all the cats. They also had a special adoption fair for Valentine's Day, so for 4 hours, the cats that normally reside at Petsmart were open to the public, and about 6 other kitties in foster homes were also brought out to be shown. We had 3 kitties adopted that day. Every Sunday they hold another adoption fair and that next day 3 more were adopted. It makes me happy to know that these cats are finding homes, even if it is a slow process.

So, for Valentine's Day I got Michael a necktie that is a base of blue and has small Marine Corps logos in gold all around it. He's been wanting a Marine Corps tie to wear on Marine Corps special days, and I think this was a surprise to him. I think he likes it, but, since he can't tie a tie, he hasn't worn it yet. I need to get him that tie that has the directions to "how to tie a tie" printed on it. I think he'd still ask me to do it for him though.

Michael made me a play a Jeopardy game show all about me and him. I think he spent a long time on all the questions and creating the game, so that was cute. Unfortunately, I did very poorly on the "game show" and only got about 25% correct. The questions were ridiculously difficult. One in particular was to name ALL the cars he's ever owned. I think I did pretty well with the 5 I named correctly, but this wasn't good enough for a "correct" answer in his rules. He also wanted me to name ALL his roommates from TBS. I didn't even know he had more than one! And the one guy I could remember has a crazy name (Chigqueta sp?). I couldn't remember the guys name, but I remember his face which I think is more important anyways. I'm not good with names.

Since Saturday I don't have any exciting news to reveal. I think today, after I feed the ferals, I am going to wash some clothes and clean the fish tank. Oh, I did receive 10 free guppies last week from a guy whose parent guppies had 75 babies!!! So, my tank is really filling up! I need to set up that bigger one so that I have more room. We haven't decided where to put it as of yet though.

Tragedy

Today I had a tragedy occur. To explain, I must back track to last Tuesday. When I got home from my interview, I found one of my fish (Banded Leporinus...vertically striped black and yellow fish about 6 inches long) had gotten stuck in one of his rocks. He thought he was small enough to fit through the hole, but only his head to his gills and one of his front fins made it. I tried to push him out, but his scales and gills wouldn't allow it. I ended up calling multiple vets trying to get their advice on what to do, and finally decided to take him and the rock, put him in a separate bucket with aquarium water, and go to work. I took my drill and very small bits, and drilled onto the rock. After losing two drill bits (they broke in half after a few tries), I finally made enough holes to stress the rock. I then got out some cutting pliers and pressed the rock in enough places that it broke off allowing the fish to be released. I was ecstatic I saved him, but he was really battered and bruised from trying to release himself for several hours prior to me getting home. I talked to an aquatic vet and he told me to separate him and put in some over the counter antibiotics and artificial slime coat to the water over the course of a week or so in hopes that his wounds would heal without becoming infected. I did this with an air stone, but had concerns since I didn't have a filter in the bucket. After a couple days, the water in the bucket started becoming cloudy, but I didn't think too much of it. This morning, I picked up his rock that I had for him to hide in, and he was upside down. I feel so bad for the little guy. He went through so much only to die anyways. His wounds looks pretty pussy and all I hope is that he died of his wounds and not because I didn't have a filter in his bucket. Unfortunately, it could be a combination of the two since he was already stressed and I had him in a place where the bacterial levels were probably elevated over the big tank. I feel really guilty. I need a quarantine tank so if a fish needs to be separated in the future, he'll have a place that has a heater and a filter and has a better chance of survival. I just hope I did all I could and that he didn't suffer too much. I currently have him in the garbage, but I'm starting to feel guilty about that too so I think I may have to fish him out (pardon the pun) and bury him in the back yard somewhere.

Besides this sad occurrence today, the rest of the weekend was fun. On Saturday I began volunteering for Fancy Cats Rescue. I am now the Saturday morning girl who goes to Petsmart and takes care of the kitties up for adoption there. They have some amazing cats that need homes. My favorite so far is Molly. She is an over-weight calico that loves to be held and petted and will lick your face while you hold her. She's great and deserves an equally great home.

On Saturday night, Mike and I met the rest of the volunteers at TGI Fridays for a gathering. It was nice meeting some like minded people, but I probably would only get along with one of them on a constant basis. Some of them are just slightly over the top about their cats and that was all they could talk about.

I also started feeding a couple feral colonies out here in Springfield over the weekend. I'm going to be feeding them Tuesday through Friday. So, I now have responsibilities again which is nice.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful so Mike and I took a walk to a nearby park, Lake Accotink. There is the start of this trail right in our neighborhood. Well, the hike around the lake was supposed to be 3.4 miles around. We started walking on it at 3pm. It kept going and going and going. By 4pm and no lake in sight anymore, we decided to ask some passersby where we were. Apparently we had gotten on a wrong trail somewhere and had to turn around. We kept walking and walking and finally ended up at a neighborhood. We asked a man with his bike how to get back to the lake and kept walking. We finally made our way back to our original trail and we made it home by 5pm. What was meant to be a casual hour long stroll ended up being a more than 6 mile hike around to nowhere. We found out that the trail we were on was the Fairfax County Connector Trail and goes for many, many miles. I'm not even sure where it starts or stops but we know we could have walked to the Vienna metro stop in Fairfax, VA which would take us about 30 minutes or more to drive to.

Anyways, we were exhausted by the end of the night. I would have slept well had it not been for Stumpey taking up half of the bed, Sabrina taking up the foot of the bed, my husband complaining about being cold and me burning up smashed in the middle of it all! But I survived and now have Skye sleeping beside me on the couch. Life is good. Now I must go bury my fish.