About Me

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I live on 6 deeply wooded acres in the boonies of Middleville, MI. I'm married to an amazing man, Brian. He's pretty much the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm a big animal lover. I have 5 cats; Bella (6), Cognac (3), Georgia (3), Maggie (2), & Auggie (8-9mos.) We recently lost our kittens, Aesop & Amelia, to a battle with Feline Leukemia. I feel the need to mention them. They were amazing beings that showed unconditional love like no other cats I've had. I also have Cheech (9) that I'm fostering. We have two puppies; Charlie & Henry. Having a blast! I'm a dabbler in photography, photo shop, & crafts. I'm kind of a bookworm/nerd/geek. Yes, I have read the Twilight Series. No, I'm not obsessed. I love Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, C.S. Lewis, and L. Frank Baum - among others, obviously.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Good Eatin'

Wow, I haven't blogged in what seems like ages.

Our yard sale was kind of a flop last weekend. I think Sara made around $20... Brian and I made around $9. Nothing to get excited about. We still have a full garage of stuff. I couldn't believe how much baby stuff Sara has. So many things that Natilee never even wore.

Work has been busy, though. It's so hard to think that Brian and I have been married for almost two months... And that we've been back to work for about a month and a half since the honeymoon. Our house is still a mess... But with both of us working 40 hours a week and doing copious amounts of laundry and other house chores, it's a little difficult to get some things put away. I still have wedding stuff lying around. And I have so many ideas for some of the things that I don't want to put it in a box somewhere and never get around to making something. I have a huge wedding shadowbox mapped out in my head that I can't wait to make.

Tonight for dinner I made meat balls and garlic mashed potatoes with green beans, greek pasta (store bought) and cottage cheese as side dishes. My meat balls came together beautifully. I used ground beef, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian bread crumbs, organic tomato paste and sauce, a little bit of salt and a little bit of ground pepper and Tony's creole seasoning. It was so good. I have this thing about me where at times I eat my foods separately... Which is what I mainly did tonight... And by the time I got to my meat balls, I could barely finish the first one... Oh well... That just means I'll have lunch tomorrow. ;)

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Bella's been doing well. She pretty much only hides behind the couch when we have company over... Stranger danger? Cognac feels the need to randomly goose her, too. It makes no sense considering he didn't really do anything like that when Bella first came here. So... Bella in front of couch + Brian on couch wearing shorts + Cognac running up and goosing Bella = Bella freaking out and Brian with freshly made scratches on his aforementioned bare legs. Sigh...

Anyway, here are some pictures!

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Isn't she gorgeous?

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Remember that spider from my last post? Brian and I think we know what it is... We think it's a Banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata) Also, in that last picture our spider, lets call him Manny, had a missing leg. Manny has moved out of the tailgate to one of the rear wheels... And he has grown an eighth leg that is all one color. I'll need to get some pictures as soon as the rain lets up...


Now I'm off to watch some Monk.

Monday, August 17, 2009

"Good Lord Show Me The Way"

I'm currently listening to Alison Krauss. That should explain my post title.

Well, Sara forgot the backdrop for Natilee's pictures. And Natilee is teething and was pretty crabby anyway. So, Sara and I are going to try for later on this week to do Natilee's pictures.

And I ended up getting sick on Friday. So, I was unable to walk in the relay. Thanks, Jon, for walking with Brian.

My Mom, Sara, and Robert came over to my house on Saturday. Robert and Brian ended up going and seeing District 9 and then came back to play some video games.

We didn't end up having a yard sale. Sara had way too many boxes of things for the yard sale and she didn't have enough time to go through them before Saturday. So, we're shooting for next Saturday.

Brian discovered Saturday morning that a spider had constructed a web in the back of the '84 El Camino (tailgate). So, I got this picture:

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I did get a couple of good shots of Natilee enjoying a popsicle while she was over on Saturday...

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Saturday night we ended up having to call the police. Just after Sara left with Natilee, someone came to our front window and pounded loudly (and fast) on our front window three times. Then ran off. At first I thought it was a couple of boxes in our livingroom because that's where we have the yard sale items... But it wasn't. Brian had been in another room and came out and into the kitchen because he thought it had been something that fell in there. I told him it sounded like something hit the window. He opened the front door and saw fresh finger prints on our window. So we called the police, and since the station is a minute from our house, they were over in about two minutes. They checked over our cars and wrote down the information and gave us our claim/disturbance report number. We don't know who or why someone would feel the need to do that. I'm just glad that Natilee wasn't in the house because it could have scared her.

Bella's getting along better and better. She's getting more and more comfortable with the house. And she's even feeling confident enough to get up on the cat tower and play with the kitty toys. :)

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A Mixture of Things

Brian and I have got a busy week ahead of us. Tonight we went to Meijer and did our grocery shopping for this next week. Brian and I have made a menu for our dinner and lunches for the next week. We've decided that Tuesday will be our shopping day.

Anyway, after shopping tonight we came home and I made homemade egg salad for sandwiches. I should have taken pictures because it was delicious. I used 5 hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, thousand island dressing, pepper, and curry powder. Yumm-o!

Bella is getting better around the house. I'm quite pleased with her progress. The vet gave me kitty prozac to give her for the next couple months, and I honestly don't want to have to give it to her. I didn't need her freaking out because I'm trying to shove a pill down her throat. Georgia, however, has taken a few steps back with her behavior towards Bella. Brian, Bella, Georgia and I were laying on our bed the other day. Bella was not in anyway too close to Georgia... Brian was petting Georgia and she was really enjoying it. Out of nowhere Georgia attacked (which means she swatted at her several times - no claws out kind of attack) and then chased Bella into our livingroom. Bella retreated behind the couch. Georgia has since done it again. Bella is getting braver, though.

I came home from work today and all three of them were laying out in the open in the livingroom. So, awesome.

Getting back to Bella for a minute, she's out and about more and more. Tonight for the first time Brian got to see the trick that I taught Bella to do; catching cat snacks in her mouth while I toss them to her. :) Hopefully I can get video some day.

Cognac is doing pretty good with Bella, too. I haven't heard him hiss at her in days. He pretty much just follows her around now trying to smell her butt. He's very intrigued by her.

Cognac was all over me tonight and he was very curious about my camera. Which resulted in this picture:

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And just because she's precious, here's a picture of Bella that I took a few minutes ago...

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Coming up this Thursday my cousin Sara will be coming over. She'll be bringing my Goddaughter, Natilee. Sara loves the pictures that I take and asked if I would take Natilee's 6 month pictures to help her save money. So, hopefully I'll have the time to post an entry and include a few of those pictures.

On Friday Brian and I will be walking an hour for the Relay For Life. I'll also try to get some pictures of that, as well.

Saturday we'll be trying to sell a few items we don't need at a "last minute" yard sale. Brian and I would like to get rid of a few things without having to throw them out. Brian's parents and my Mom will be over, too. It should be a good time.

And sadly... A family cat of mine, Bocephus, was put down today. It was bittersweet. I'm sad to see him go. He was 19 years old. My Dad noticed last night that Bocephus' mouth was swollen. And noticed this morning that it looked like a tooth was infected. He got him to the vet this morning. They ran blood tests on him and discovered that his kidneys could not withstand the anesthetics to put him out to remove the tooth. She said he had a 50/50 chance of waking up. My Dad, whom always has a hard time making the final decision, decided that it would be best to put him down so he wouldn't be in pain any longer.

We got Bocephus when I was 4 years old. I remember being afraid of him because he was a black cat and I remember Robert had to coax me out of the car to come inside. Bocephus turned out to be my best friend when I was little. I carted him practically everywhere in our house. And he became very protective of me as a child. He hadn't been himself in the last few years due to his old age, but he certainly lived a long full life. He had been abandoned and was found under the hood of a car at the old HPS office building in 1990. I will miss him so much.

Currently, these are the only semi good pictures I have of him on this computer...

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Well...

What have I been up to? I haven't posted a blog is soooo long.

Actually, a lot has been going on.

I was recently sick and not working for a couple of days due to a head cold. I must say, that was not fun... Not fun at all. I'm feeling much better... I only sound a little nasally today... So, WHOO HOO...

Last Friday Brian and I attended a Whitecaps game outing with my brother Robert. Every summer HPS provides a free game. All you have to do is show up. The Whitecaps lost, sadly. But it was still a good time. Here are a few pictures...

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On Saturday this past weekend I ventured to my parents house in Hastings and picked up my cat, Bella, to take to the vet and then bring her over to her new home. The first couple days have been rocky... Mainly because Bella can be a nervous wreck sometimes. But she's doing better, even though she managed to get into the crawlspace under the house twice and cut her lip. So, our basement is completely blocked off for the next couple of months until Bella calms down. (The basement was where the cat box was...) Bella needs to learn that the upstairs is safe... Not the creepy crawlspace under the house... She's getting more comfortable every day, though. :)

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Bella, with her poor cut lip.

Brian and I have also been extremely busy with just normal house work and getting organized. I estimate the house won't be where we want it to be for the next month. I guess these things take time. We're also managing our own budget and shopping only once a week. Which is helping with saving money. :)

I'm also trying to get things changed to my new name. Which is taking a lot more time than I wanted it to...

But, life goes on...