Seven Years August 7, 2009

Seven years ago tomorrow, Rell and I met. In Austin. At a bar. (However, when I retell this story to my children in 20 years, mommy and daddy met at the library) 

 Im pretty sure it was a Thursday night, and as was typical for me seven years ago on a Thursday night, I was downtown on 6th Street with my friend Jodi. It was almost time to go home, but we decided to go into Logans for just one more beer. I mean, we did have to work the next morning! And it was already past midnight, I am sure. So we head into crowded Logans and order a beer. Any of you that have ever been to Logans know that “a beer” is really like 5 beers poured into one massive beer mug….HEAVY! We head to a corner to hang out and Jodi spots someone she is interested in talking to. (Im being nice here….it was late, we had had a lot to drink…it was a boy (a friend of Rells),,,she was flirting…you can picture it) Basically, I am bored with it and leave her to talk and try to go find a seat…I spot a chair at a table…there are two guys sitting there that I don’t know but I don’t care, Im tired and my beer is heavy and I need to sit. So I ask if I can sit down, and low and behold, it was Rell. We talked, we found out we had a lot in common…like that he was moving to Waco in a week and I was moving to Waco in about a month, along with other things. I gave him my number.

And he actually called! It was a Saturday night….we had planned a girls night in. We were all set on the couch, Jodi, Amy, Mandy and I. We had just popped Bridget Jones in for what had to be the zillionth time, and he called. He was headed downtown with some friends and wanted to know if some friends and I wanted to meet up. I said sure, convinced it would be easy to round up the girls and get them downtown….but it wasn’t. They wouldn’t. And I didn’t have his number to call him back. So I stood him up. I was sure I would never hear from him again.

He called a week later. We had a bad connection. We kept losing each other, but finally had a decent enough connection to actually talk. So we planned a date. And we kept the date. He took me to Trudy’s and the Horseshoe Lounge….two of my all time favorite places. He was moving the next day. We talked on the phone a bunch that week. That Friday I was having my wisdom teeth pulled….he came down after the surgery and sat with me. Against doctors orders, we decided to go out. We met up with some of his friends at Baby A’s…Terry and Leslie…..who to this day are some of our best friends….and thank goodness they didn’t hold it against me that I had fat chubby chipmunk cheeks and probably had one too many margaritas.

 Several weeks later I moved to Waco to work for my family business. And Rell and I have been inseparable ever since. (Except for the couple of months he lived in Arizona without me while I prepared to move out here) We’ve moved cross country together…we moved in together….we got engaged… we bought our first house together …..we got married….(best wedding ever)…. …we renovated our house together….I got my first dog ever with Rell….we bought a business together….we sold a house together….we bought our second house together….we work together every day…. He is my best friend.

And I thank my lucky stars each and every day that Jodi drug me to Logans that night and just had to talk to that boy over in the corner. (that boy by the way, was also a groomsman in our wedding!)  Thanks Jodi!

We’re going batty….(and buggy too) July 31, 2009

The other day we had a pest control company come out and spray.  We have been having a SERIOUS cricket problem downstairs.  They’re everywhere!!!  The other day one was INSIDE the couch…how does that even happen?  So, the guy comes out and sprays.  When he is finished, I was talking to him on our front porch and pointed out what looked like mouse dropping to me on our porch.  I asked him about them.  He said, No, that it was bat droppings….our house is stucco and they like to hang off the stucco.  Ewwww gross.  He mentioned that he saturated the walls of our porch with his spray….he said, it wasn’t rated for bats, but that they have found it to be a deterrent…..awesome…two services for the price of one. 

 

I swear, that dude sprayed SUGAR WATER on my house…..not only have the bugs seemed to multiply in number and variety since he sprays, we have more bats (and therefore more bat poop) than before!  Last night, a bug the size of a beer bottle dive bombed me the back porch. (thank goodness I had a handy dandy beer bottle in my hand for comparative measurements)  This thing was a huge flying roach  that crunched at supersonic level when I made Rell squish it with his shoe while I was running around the porch screaming like a little girl…a moving target is much harder to hit, right?  So what if I looked like an idiot in front of the neighbors on their back porches….I wasn’t going to let that thing touch me.  Two more in addition to several junebugs hung around that night….all subject to death by Reef when Rell could get to them.  We’ve never had bugs like this before….Im telling you, sugar water!  All this on top of the THREE tarantulas we have seen in our yard…two out back and one in the garage since this dude sprayed.

 

And then there’s the bats.  I had seen the poop…guano if you will (why do bats get a special name for their poop) but had not actually seen a bat until the other day…and all of the sudden, like 30 of them…not exaggerating…we’re hanging from the stucco high on our front porch. OH MY GOD!  Bats!  Apparently, like the tarantulas, they’re good for bugs…..I guess not so much the giant flying crunchy roaches or the junebugs…but other bugs, sure.  Regardless, I am not a fan of having bats hanging around my front door.  Despite however many Jehovah’s Witnesses they might deter from ringing my doorbell, Im just not having it.  They were there day and night.  I researched website…most of them saying that any type of bat deterrent was usually unsuccessful….awesome.   They did suggest turning on the outside lights.  So we tried that one night…..it seemed to work ok, and the next morning, we turned the lights off.  No need for exterior lights In the daytime, right?  WRONG….the bat herd returned while it was still light outside and took up their post of hanging from my porch, peeing down my wall and pooping on my front step.  So that night we turned the light on, and left it on.  The bats have gone away…and have yet to return.  Electricity bill be damned….those lights are on until the bats migrate back down to Phoenix!

 

Oh, and those of you that think maybe the presence of a dog would scare the bats away….because we do bring Maggie Mae out into the front yard at least once a day to hang out while we water or whatever…..the darn dog has no idea that the bats were even there.  This is the same dog that just looks at the birds as they pluck her dog food from her bowl and bathe in her drinking water…..and doesn’t do anything about it!

We’re thinking of getting a new fridge.  There isn’t anything terribly wrong with ours, except that we hate it.  And ice doesn’t dispense from the door like it is supposed to….which totally bummed us out when we moved In and found that out….since that was one of the big ticket features we were excited about in our new kitchen….if you had seen our old house and our old freezer and our old ice trays which we hand filled in the freezer, you would understand.  Anyways, we’re contemplating getting a new one.  However, the other day while I was on Facebook, I saw pictures from a friends honeymoon all over Europe…and I thought to myself, “Hey I would LOVE to go to Italy”  so I presented the idea to Rell…what if, instead of getting a new fridge, we put that money towards a vacation in Italy.  Despite throwing all of my best high school debate tricks into play, I lost the argument…….I did however score a weekend at a resort in Scottsdale….I may have just learned a new trick! Ask for big and unreasonable, come out with small, fun and relaxing.

Sofa Monday July 27, 2009

Our new sofa is finally being delivered today.  Yay!  When we moved in we bought a sofa and chair set from Sams Club….it was affordable, comfortable and casual.  Plain but it worked for our room.  Well, 5 months later, the sofa had worn horribly. The fabric was all nubby and the cushions were getting lumpy and uncomfortable.  The back cushions were sewn to the sofa, so we couldnt even remove them to “plump” them.  Not what you expect after a few months of wear and not so much tear!  I shop at Sams a bunch….for our business and our personal use too.  One day while I was in, I noticed that they still had the sof aset (considerably reduced…grr) so I went out on a limb and mentioned to a manager that I was very unhappy with ou purchase and could we return it…and what do you know, he said yes!  For a full refund.  Very unexpected, but I guess, like my mom always said, there’s no harm in asking. 

So, we returned the old sofa ASAP and went to a different store to purchase a new sofa, thinking we would have one that same weekend.  Well, the perils of a small town.  #1, there arent that many stores in which to even buy a sofa, #2, those stores are small and the selection is limited and #3, apparently the stock in those stores was greatly diminished because of the recent Fourth of July Sales.  We found a couch we liked…..ONE COUCH!  Again, not a great selection….and of course, they didnt have it in stock and we would have to wait two weeks to get it (which by hte way, turned into three weeks).  Which stunk because that meant we would have no upstairs couch when my parents came for their visit.  Boo!!  But we really didnt have a choice.  So, we moved the bench from the dinig room table into the living room and threw a couple of pillows on it and that has been our couch for the last few weeks.  Cant wait to move that sucker back into the dining room this afternoon!!!!

Tickie and Mack (mom and dad) came for a visit a the other weekend.  It was so nice to have them here.  We have lived here five years and this is only the second time they have been up.  really though, since I go back to Texas so often, there isnt really a need to come up!  It was so nice to have them…host them in our home…show them the business and around our town.  We also went to Jerome one afternoon.  Jerome is this neat little historic town about 20 miles away that is perched on the side of the mountain.  Its one of the oldest mining towns in AZ and is said to be haunted.  After the mining petered out, Jerome because a ghost town.  Its been revived and is now a tourist attraction and a really neat artist’s community.  And while it is only about 20 minutes away, it takes about 45 to get there because the whole drive is mountain and there are tons of switchbacks and sharp turns….so its a really pretty drive too.  We did that on Sunday afternoon.  They got here on Friday.  Friday evening we went to dinner with Rells parents.  Saturday I showed them work and then we walked around cute little Prescott.  Saturday night we went to this cute little Brick Oven pizza place called Bin 239.  We had been there last time they were here and they requested we go again….thank goodness it was still open!  Sunday we did the Jerome drive and Rell cooked for us.  They headed back to Texas on Monday morning….too short of a visit. 

Our garden is out of control.  Last night we picked a zucchini that was 22 inches long!  we usually try to get to them way before they get that but since everythign is so out of control, this one got lost in the leaves!  We’re also growing spaghetti squash.  and we’ve got a few good ones going.  However, we made the mistake of planting the spaghettis squash next to the zuchinni….and we now are also growing a hybrid spaghetti squash and zuchinni…. I call them squashinni.  They’re big and round like spaghetti squash but colored like zuchinni.  We had yellow squash growing too, but decided to kill it off because of the amount of space these guys take up.  We also have a crazy giant tomoato plant….truth be told, I dont even really like tomatoes..but I better figure something out soon…we’ve pulled about 8 off so far, but soon, I will probably have a crop of about 50!  Our onions seem to be doing well too.  It was our first time to try those.  I cant wait to dig them up.  Our bell pepper plant has produced about 5 bell peppers so far, but I think he is at the end of his run.  He’s getting over shadowed by the tomato…litererally…I cant even find the bell pepper plant anymore beacuse the tomato plant is so big!  My herb arent very impressive this year.  They just havent taken off like in years past.  Ive got basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, tyme and lavender going…but thy’re all very disappointing this year!  Next year we have decided that we need to plan out spacing a little bit better…and seperate the zuchinni and squash into different beds! 

We’ve been getting a ton of rain.  Monsoon season is in full swing.  I think that may be one reason why the garden is doing so well!  It’s put some humidity in the air which I like…I kind of miss my Texas humidity.  Everyone else out here thinks this 10% humidity that we have going on is miserable….they have NO IDEA!  The rain also cool off the evening….the other night it was in the 60s!

The Salomes are headed to Santa Barbara in September to visit the Langs.   The Sims are going to be there too!  We’re really looking forward to our “Salimsang” weekend!  The Rell will be heading to Texas sometime in September for his brothers bachelor party.  Rells grandparents are also supposed to come to AZ sometime in September.  October is Rells brotehrs wedding…then before you know it, it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas, and then 2010…..where did 2009 go?

One final note…its the end of an era….the house on Austin Avenue in Waco has been sold.  Sniff Sniff….that’s where I lived when I lived in Waco.  Such a cute little house.  So Many good memories.  But congratulations to Robert and Stephanie for getting rid of it…especially in this market.  The R Brooks family is moving on to BIGGER (thank goodness) and better things……off to a new home in China Springs in just a week or so!! 

 

That giant "hedge" in the back is the tomoato plant

sad Sad herb Garden

This pic doesnt do this rainbow justice..it was teh biggest, brightest one I have ever seen! It was an actual complete arch rainbow

Random Photo Tuesday – Take 2 July 21, 2009

I dont think this is what they meant by “black tie optional”

Russ at Terry & Leslie's wedding.

Random Photo Tuesday July 14, 2009

I saw this on someone else’s blog and thought it was a cute idea…a random post of a random photo…..enjoy!

From my friend Jodi's wedding

Summer Yum June 30, 2009

Orzo Caprese Salad

My sister made this for the family when we were both in Waco a few years back and it has since become a staple in our house….It’s simple, fresh, filling, and fairly healthy too.  When she made it, she served it with a great grilled chick breast that had been marninated in a lemon rosemary marinade.  Sadly, Rell does not eat Rosemary or  chicken cooked in Lemon, so I do not get to serve it alongside that…..but, this goes great with just about everything.  I made it this afternoon for tonight…we’re having grilled garlic herb chicken sausage and I thought this would go great.  It’s also a nice alternative to your typical pasta salad.  I brought it to a BBQ a couple of weeks ago and it got rave reviews.

 

Approx 1 cup uncooked Orzo, cooked, drained and cooled

1 pint grape tomatoes cut in half

1 ball mozzarella cheese cut into cubes

3/4 c – 1 c pine nuts, toasted

Several leaves of fresh basil, chopped

One bottle of balsamic vinagrette.

Combine pasta, tomatoes, and cheese in a bowl.  Add balsamic vinagrette.  How much you add is really going to depend on how you like it.  As the pasta sits, it will absorb more dressing so if you’re going to make this a few days in advance, you might want to add more.  Mix well.  Add basil and pine nuts. 

Variations – I like to make my own balsamic vinagrette (using my hand held imersion blender my friend Kerry gave me for my wedding shower)  Im not one for formal recipies, so basically I put about 1-2T of brown sugar (I use splenda brown sugar sometimes) in the bottom of a bowl or large mixing cup.  Add a couple of squirts of spicy brown mustard.  Add some garlic and salt and pepper, and if you happen to have it around, some diced shallot.  Add about 1/2 tp 3/4 c balsamic vinager…while mixing drizzle in olive oil to your desired consistency….usually around 1 c.  I like mine more balsamic-ey so I tend to go heavy on the balsamic vinegar.  Remember to add your oil to the vinegar and not the other way around or else it is really hard to mix well!

Instead of Mozzarella, I often use feta and it is soooo good!!  I’ve tried it with blue cheese before, because we really like blue cheese….not very sucessful…in fact, yuck.  Also, we’re not big tomato people, so sometimes I leave those out.  I’ve blanched asparagus and chopped it into inch long pieces instead of tomatoes, and that was yum.  we have also tried blanched broccoli….not so yum. 

The Strawberry Muddler

I say this recipe in Bon Appetite Magazine last weekend and fell in love with it!!!  It sounded like such a great summer cocktail, so refreshing….

Prosecco

Simple Syrup

Strawberries

Lemon Slices

Ice

In the bottom of a glass, muddle a few strawberries with about 1T simple syrup (I bought premade syrup at trader joes, but really, you just have to boil some sugar and water together to make it)  Top (cover) with a lemon slice.  Fill glass with ice.  Fill with Prosecco.  Enjoy!  (oh, and you will!!!)

The funny thing about both of the summer staple recipies is that both of them have near impossible for me to find ingredients…however, I am sure those of you that live in more metropolitian areas…which is ALL of you….won’t have a hard time finding them at all….Orzo and Prosecco.  Now, I have tried the salad with other pasta than Orzo…and it’s just not the same…iit really needs to be Orzo.  But the drink, I am sure would be just as refreshing and yummy with Champagne if you have a hard time finding Prosecco….I finally found it at the Liquor Store and they had one kind, and only like 2 bottles of it!!!!  Also, I was thinking the Strawberry Muddler would pretty much be great with all  kinds of berries….blue, black, raspberry…or some combination of berries!

 

Cheers!

Miss Maggie Mae June 24, 2009

This is Maggie Mae:

She’s half lab half poodle…and she’s a bit of a strange one.  First of all, she loves to sit like this…this is kind of how I imagine a cat would sit, if I liked cats and therefor paid attention to how they sat.  She winds up in a little ball and locks herself into place by putting her head on her back like this.  She chases her tail…on command…I have it on video.  It’s hilarious.  I will have to see if I can get that video on here somehow.  She also poops and pees on command…her command is “Get Grass” which worked well and made sense in the old house since we had so much grass….not so much at this house since there isn’t a blade to be seen in our yard.  Our neighbors think we’re nuts telling our dog to “Get Grass” when there obviously isnt any grass to be had!  Maggie Mae also likes to sit like a person in the back seat of the car.  If I so desired, I could reach back there and seat buckle her into place because of where and how she sits. 

However, it is not all good times with Miss Maggie Mae….she has caused quite a bit of frustration around our house, usually having to do with her propensity to eat stuff she is not supposed to.  Along with the frustration comes vet bills too, but those, I can handle. (Thank you pet insurance)

Stuff Maggie Mae has eaten and/or chewed to pieces (that I can remember off the top of my head….this is NOT a comprehensive list!):

-Countless Magazines

-One pair of fairly expensive Coach shoes

-one pair of not so expensive flip flops

-one potted plant from Ikea

-tinfoil

-countless tongs/spatulas and assorted grilling tools

-gorilla glue (most expensive vet bill too date)

-beer bottle

-juice glass

-the book Marley and Me carefully pulled from the book shelf (no other books were destroyed in that eating)

-one hallway wall of drywall

-One Home Depot Do It yourself home improvement book

-A book on labs

-4 wooden drawer pulls from the TV Cabinet

-one chair leg

-three dog beds

-one giant pillow that I had had since college (Im still sad about this one)

-one foot stool that looked like a (lifesized) dog from Rells grandmother (she ate the face off this one….this is the main reason we can’t get another dog…too scared that she would eat the face off of it too)

-one cell phone (I was ok with this…I wanted a new phone anyways)

 

But, she’s pretty cute…so I will forgive her….except for the Coach shoes and the giant pillow that I loved….I’m still holding a grudge over those. ….

America’s Pastime June 20, 2009

Rell and I are sitting here watching baseball……I grew up watching football…and then maybe basketball…and then maybe soccer or golf…but never really watching baseball..and Rell is a DIEHARD Rangers fan…and a baseball fan in general.  And we have just gotten into a little argument over baseball.  As someone who has never really watched baseball, can someone PLEASE explain to me why a swing at a ball is a strike the first two times a batter swings at it, but is NOT a stike the third, forth, or eighth time a batter swings at it….I just dont get it!!!!  It’s sort of an argument between us…..

 

also…random point…I LOVE LOVE LOVE our privacy fence…I watered the plants this morning in my robe…could not have done that with our chain link fence….well, I could have, but it would have not been pretty….

Photos that go with previous post June 11, 2009

hanging with will reading the WSJ...ok, ok it's a book about ducks....but he is so smart I am sure that is what he will be reading next

Will playing hide and seek with the couch and fern

Will's new truck from Mack

Cousins hangin'

See how cute out outfits are??

Hanging with Robert

New BFFs Cooper and Will in their coordinating outfits

Meeting for the first time

Birthday Princess chowing on her very own cake!

Not quite into what's going on yet

Cooper!

Lilly and her new suit..she kept trying to pull it down to cover her belly!

Ava hanging with her daddy

Princess cookies for Ava

Ava gets her very own cake to destroy

Chair that Aunt Favorite...I mean Aunt Meg..painted for Ava

Will, hanging out after Swimming in an outfit MY dad wore when he was a baby (some 62ish years ago!) Way to preserve Mom!!

Attack Cat....mice, be afraid....be very afraid...

Cutest Golf bag ever....and it's all mine!

Potpourri….A random gathering of thoughts…. June 11, 2009

For any of you reading this that are familiar with Waco……actually there are probably zero people that read this that are familiar with Waco……there is a community Magazine called The Wacoan….it’s mostly advertisements.  But there are some columns about “goings on” around town too.  There is this one guy who write a column called “Random Thoughts While Driving Through Waco” and as I was driving home today from working out, determined to put up a new blog post, I thought about how that is what my blog could be called…..except that I don’t live in Waco ….so I would have to call it Random thoughts while driving through Northern Arizona.  I always have the best ideas while driving…whether it be about something to write on this blog, so craft project, a present for someone, what to have for dinner….you get the idea….but almost without fail, when I get to wherever I am going, the thought has flown out of my head and out the window, only to be remembered next time I am driving somewhere.  Rell and I ALWAYS see people pulled over on the side of the road just hanging out…I wonder if that’s what they’re doing…writing down their great ideas?  We typically make fun of them simply because of where they choose to pull over….I am all for pulling over to talk on the phone or root through your purse, but there is this one part of the shoulder of the highway right by the turn off to our community and people are ALWAYS on that shoulder, just taking care of business….what gets me is that there is a gas station literally 200 yards down the road.  To me, it make more sense to pull into the gas station to make your call, text, blow your nose…whatever…..then, not only do you have a safer way to enter onto the highway again….you can also get a tasty snack and a giant coke!

 

Congratulations to the eleventy billion people I know that are going to have kiddos in the next nine months or so!  I don’t know what it is, but there is a crazy baby boom going on.  You know, I have heard talks on the news stations and in magazines saying that during this economic downturn people are tightening their budgets and their belts, and one of the ways that there doing so is by not having children right now….I tell you what CNN, you need to meet by circle of friends and family…..I can disprove your theory in an instant.  But I am very excited for all of my friends and family that have recently had a baby or will have one in (or two!) in 09.  And extra special kudos to those of you that will have you kiddo right before the end of the year….tax advantage! J

 

I’ve taken up golf…and I LIKE it!  I have wanted to take it up for years and years…like, since High School…honestly, the only reason I probably wanted to take it up then was so that I could be on the golf team…I remember there was something I liked about the golf team…I cant remember what (old age setting in)…did they have a cute coach?  Did they get to miss school more than normal?  I can’t remember…but the desire has stuck.  And it’s strengthened the last few years because Rell really enjoys playing golf. ..And we basically have a golf course in our backyard, so why not take advantage of that?  And I would love for us to have a hobby that we can enjoy together….but the only way I am going to enjoy it is if I’m good…okay, at least decent.  So enter the golf instructor.  I’m taking a few lessons.  Rell has talked about trying to teach me….but I am betting anyone else feels this same way…no one really wants her husband bossing her around, on the golf course or otherwise…so  I am paying to have someone else’s husband boss me around.  Believe me, it works better that way! I seem to be doing pretty good in my lessons…there just never seems like there is enough time to practice.  But really, where is there ever enough time to do anything these days?

 

We went to Vegas the other weekend.  It was sort of a birthday trip…sort of a business anniversary trip.  Can you believe we have owned this business a year already???  Neither can I!  Time flies when you’re in over your head! J  (not really…just really really busy and sometimes overwhelmed)  So we drove out to Vegas.  There still constructing this crazy huge new bridge that will bypass the Hoover Damn and it is amazing!  And Kind of scary!  We actually have a customer that is doing the hand rail for the bridge and we’re supplying the materials…so I like to say that Yavapai Steel has a hand(rail) in building this new bridge.  I’ll have to see if I have a picture of it that I can post because it’s not some random little bridge….I think it’s going to be one of those important bridges…..as important as bridges can be, I guess.  Anyways…Vegas!  We stayed at the MGM..I liked….we ate at Emerils…I liked (even though it was a fish grill)..we saw Love..I LOVED (more on that later)….we had pooltime with Pina Coladas..I liked…we lost a bunch of money…I disliked….but all in all we had a fabulous time.  It was nice to briefly get away, just the two of us, and do nothing!  As I mentioned we saw the show Love (thanks to Sherry for her high recommendation of the show…I don’t think we would have seen it had she not sung its praises so highly!) and it was amazing.  Rell has seen several Vegas shows and he said it is the best one he has ever seen.  I had only seen one show before this, and it was a comedy show, so totally different…but this was probably the most Amazing thing I have ever seen.  There was so much going on…so worth the ticket price…so worth the $15 drink I had….my jaw was dropped the entire show….the show ended and if Rell would have let me, I would have turned around and bought another ticket…..he liked it so much, that had I asked to do so, he probably would have been on board with it.  If you’re in Vegas, go see this show.

 

I went to Texas the other weekend too….Little Miss Ava Marie Brooks turned One.  Cause for a party!  I headed to Texas and met up with Melissa and Will….ohh cutie cutie cutie Will….it was so good to see him in person…I had not seen him since Thanksgiving.  We had a party for Ava on Saturday…and surprise surprise surprise, Jodi and The Coopster came down to surprise me!  It was so nice to see them both.  We had a great time.  The part was fun too…there were 8 trillion kiddos there….people kept asking when I was going to have a kid, and my standard answer was “why…there are so may here, I’ll just borrow one of these” (Ugh, and don’t get me started on why people think it is ok to ask when you’re going to have kids….hello very personal question…I think I have decided that it is worse that the “So when are you two kiddos getting married?” question..believe me, after being with Rell for seven years, two of those married, we have had our fair share of both of those!)  I digress……

So the party was fun…..I will post some pictures…In fact, I think the pictures are going to have to be a post in and of themselves…..I think between my camera, Melissa’s camera, my moms, and stephs cameral, we probably have about 1000 pictures from that weekend…don’t worry I wont post them all!

 

What else????  Hmm….we got a cat at work….and while I don’t like cats, and am actually allergic, I dislike mouse poop in my office more….we tried mouse bait, poison etc, but then they would die inside the walls and the whole place would STINK for days…..and horrific smells don’t really motivate me to come into work…and I need to go into work!  So, we got a cat…his name is Cat….he tries to sneak into the office all the time.  We try to keep him in the warehouse mostly….the other day I did let him come into my office to rub up on the furniture to spread his scary cat smell around….intended to scare off mice…but apparently it scared my nose too because it started running!  (get it, running…because it was scared?  Okay, give me a break…Im old now…I make old people jokes)  Anyways, Cat is actually pretty cool….we have all these giant racks in the warehouse to store lengths of steel and he just jumps around them like we built them especially for him…his own giant Cat jungle gym….he also sleeps in boxed of plastic pipe caps….which doesn’t seem like it would be comfortable….but since he chooses to sleep there, it must be.  So because of where Cat sleeps and plays, he is the dirtiest animal I have ever seen…he is literally a greasball…can you give a cat a bath???

 

What else?  What else?  I am sure there are other things I was supposed to write about….but I cant remember them…they’ll come to me…while I’m driving…