A Belated Post About Our Vacation

Back at the end of July, Scott and I went on vacation in Destin for a long weekend. We really enjoyed it when we went down there for my sister's wedding, so we thought we'd go there again. The water and beach were so beautiful. Well, with all the oil issues and the storms, it wasn't as beautiful as it had been. There was no oil around, but everything just seemed stirred up. I have made a slide show of the few pictures that we took. It was really windy and hot. That's the one thing I don't like about the beach - that you get all hot and sweaty. Ick! But, I read Sense and Sensibility while we were there and we sat on the beach the whole time, with one short trip to the outlet mall. We had one nice meal out at a place called The Back Porch, which was right on the beach. It was an open restaurant and it was really windy that day. We made good use of the salt and pepper shaker and all the condiment bottles to hold down our napkins and such. The other nights we cooked dinner in. We ate lunch in every day too. We spent as much on our one meal out as we did on our food the entire rest of the trip! I think that Carrie, Bethany, and Shana will appreciate this! I took pictures of the place we stayed so we'd remember. It was called Capri by the Gulf by Harmony Beach Vacations. It was pretty nice. It also was the best price around! I didn't bother labeling my pictures because I felt they were pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy!

Maxwell Can Tell Time

Or may we should call this post "Maxwell Gets Revenge!"

So, last night we had to give all the cats their flea/heart worm medicine. All this requires is squirting a little tube of liquid on the back of their neck. Doesn't sound hard does it? HA! You've never met Maxwell. We always try to start with him. Well, he always seems to know when it's coming. We even tried to mellow them out with catnip. And, we forgot to close the door to the guest bedroom. Under the bed he goes. So, we closed him in and did Sampson and Mathilda. Then, we opened the door and he ran under the bed again when he saw Scott.

You will be shocked at what I did next, it's so mean!

I went into the kitchen and started putting ice in a glass and saying "Maxwell, Ice!" All three cats came running. Maxwell tried to resist and couldn't. I threw them a few pieces of ice, Scott shut the door, and then together we wrestled him to the ground and gave him his medicine. We all managed to escape injury, narrowly.

When we were ready for bed, I did a cat check and couldn't find Maxwell. So, I called and called and he didn't show. I figured he'd hidden under the bed in the guest room again. I closed the door and went to bed.

I thought wrong.

At 4:56 (4 minutes until my alarm goes off), I hear Maxwell in the bathroom in our room doing his loud "I want water; I'm so thirsty I think I might die," meow. It's truly pitiful. I just said "Shhh!" and tried to go back to sleep. (I know you are surprised, but that does shut them up, even through the door, they know the water bottle will follow shortly.) Then the alarm went off and I had to shoo him out of our room.

Oh yes, he holds a grudge!

Cats and Not Much Else

So, while we have been keeping busy, I really don't feel like I have a lot to say lately. But, I did want to give an update. I can't believe we are already seeing signs of Fall! The Lantana that I talked about in the last post is absolutely out of control. Unfortunately, I haven't downloaded those pictures yet, so they'll have to wait. Just imagine that you cannot see even a peek of the HVAC unit.

We got a photography class for our digital SLR for half off through half-off depot. We went this past Saturday. I learned a few things and I hope to build on them. I took some pictures of the cats when we got home. I am not sure if they are any better than ones I have taken in the past, but I did take them without the flash...so I felt pretty good about that.

Mathilda is now 10 pounds! She doesn't really look much bigger, but she is more round. She's pretty sturdy looking, that's for sure. She guards the food bowls. We went out and purchased a second automatic feeder so that she could eat out of one and the boys could eat out of the other. She sits there and watches them eat or lays down right next to them and nudges them. Sometimes we hear hisses or growls and we figure she got too close and is being put in her place. It's about time is all I can say about that. But, there you go. There's not that much else going on I guess.

I have begun making Christmas cards again. It's going faster this year, I think.

Here are some pictures I took this past Saturday:

How much is that kitty in the window?

Grrr...I am SO fierce!

I

I don't know if I have said this before, but Maxwell and Sampson are very long, have long tails, and are also tall. They have long legs. It's not as obvious on Sampson because he is so fluffy and fat, but Maxwell is sleek, so when he walks, it makes me think of a Great Dane. Yep, feline version of Scooby Doo. Well, Mathilda is compact. Her legs are super short, even by normal cat standards, I think. So, I say that while Maxwell is the Great Dane of cats, Mathilda is the weiner dog of cats. Heehee. But, she makes up for it with her feather duster of a tail. It's not as long as the boys' but its much furrier and poofy!

Project: Lantana Replacement

So, I told you in the last post that we did some replacing of some dead stuff. For the last 3-4 years, we have had lantana around our AC unit and around the mailbox. Well, it was so cold last winter that is all died. So, I went by a local nursery on Friday and got some more lantana for around the AC unit and two black-eyed susans and two purple verbena for around the mailbox. We had to pull up the roots from the dead lantana before we could plant the new stuff. It was like fighting a battle. The roots were long and deep in some places and long and far out in others. Here are some pictures to illustrate:

This is one of the ones from around the AC unit.

Two of the ones around the mailbox were like this - they had grown way out into the yard. Scott pulled this one out a little more then it broke off.

Here is the final product around the AC unit.

Here is the final product around the mailbox. I hope they'll really grow this year and also come back next year.

Catch-up Time

We have been so busy this summer so far! Scott and I have been more focused on spending time together, reading either our Bibles or other books, working in the yard, and exercising in all this beautifully HOT weather we've been having. I find it funny that we have received two comments on how we haven't posted in so long on the very day I was already planning to do a post.

I have listened to or read all the Kathy Reichs books and I am still reading Wuthering Heights and the biography by Julie Andrews called Home. I have been working on that Julie Andrews book for over a year. I have it at work and I read it here and there but it is interesting to read about her. Scott and I did a Sunday morning Bible study (which is something new since we moved into our new building) in the John Piper book Don't Waste Your Life which was really good. I think that we both plan to sit down and re-read the book that goes along with it so that the chapters aren't split up like for the Bible study pretty soon. We are reading and RC Sproul book called Knowing Scripture in our small group that meets every other Wednesday. We are learning a lot of stuff out of that like hermeneutics and the difference between exegesis and eisegesis (which, as many of you will know, is HUGE). It is just a good book that works to try to explain how to read the Bible without missing the important parts but also without misinterpreting the original meaning. Our small group leader Zach says that reading classic literature will make you a better reader overall (which of course will make you a better reader of the Bible), so Scott ordered a bunch of classics and is working through them. He has read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and Treasure Island. If I can ever finish Wuthering Heights, I am going to move on to the collection of Jane Austen books that my sister gave me for my birthday last year after I read a book I borrowed from my friend Lauren called Feminine Appeal. We also worked through a couple's Bible study-type book called After You Say I Do. We weren't really great about doing it so it took us forever and we took a huge break in the middle while we did Don't Waste Your Life. It was a pretty good book and while I thought some of the questions were repetitive, sometimes that's what you need. Someone told me (I won't name the person, but you know who you are) that kissing is repetitive, but no one complains about that (that isn't an exact quote because I have an awful memory, but kissing was the example used). The point is that you can never hear or read some things too many times, the Bible being one of them.

We are currently in a Sunday morning class led by Bob, one of the elders of our church and someone that we consider a good friend as well. (We love his whole family.) We have books of the Bible that we are supposed to read each week then we go over them on Sunday. We are reading a lot of the books that a lot of people have never read like Nahum, Philemon, Haggai, and Habukkuk.

Oh, and I have been listening to all the Twilight books on MP3 in my car lately, preparing for Eclipse to come out in the theaters. Scott and I are going to see it at the midnight showing! I can't wait to see what they did with the movie. I got that novella that Stephenie Meyer wrote called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and it was really good, of course. Stephenie Meyer is a very good fictional writer. She does a great job of describing things in enough detail to give you a really good mental picture and she incorporates some good humor as well. I haven't read The Host, but maybe I will one day.

We are trying to get out and do exercise 2-3 days a week. On days when Scott cuts the grass, I'll either go to the park by myself to walk or stay in and do Dance Dance Revolution or Wii Boxing (or sometimes both). But, usually, we'll go to the park together and we either walk together or Scott will play disc golf and I'll walk with my MP3 player.

We have been doing a LOT of work in our yard (and the inside of our house is suffering because of it). We had to have a french drain put in because our builder apparently value-engineered proper drainage from our yard when they had everything smoothed out to build the house. Well, they put sand down for the grass to grow back in and we have had tons of weeds coming up with it. We've pulled so many weeds and Scott keeps calling the people who spray our yard to come back out because we're tired of pulling weeds. We have pruned our big oak tree by the street. We ordered a compost bin so that we can save money in the future on buying good dirt. We plan to put in some raised gardens in the backyard this fall and we'll need lots of compost. I moved a bunch of stuff around in our front gardens that weren't looking quite how I had planned. We removed all the pine straw from our front gardens and the little one out back and replaced it with shredded pine mulch. Of course while we had all the pine straw up, I weeded and put out a ton of Preen under and on top of the mulch. I decided to do just a few container gardens this year because last year was a bit out of control. Wow, when I list out all we've done it doesn't sound like much, but believe me, it is a lot. Especially when it's 80 degrees by 9 am!

Here is a picture from May 25. The daffodil greenery was still sticking up in some places and the purple cone flowers were starting to get taller than the daylilies.

I got some geraniums from the Growers' Outlet and planted them in some little mounds I made. But, I was afraid to move those coneflowers. They were not looking great where they were. So, I dug them up...

And I put the two tallest ones between the daylilies and planted three black-eyed susans in the front. I put the two shorter ones on the other side of the front garden where I had dug up a big patch of monkey grass.

This is what it looked like yesterday. The gladiolus are a bit crazy. bit I am happier now that I moved everything around. Can you see the difference after we put out the new mulch?

Yesterday, we actually got up super early to do some yard work to replace some stuff that didn't come back. I'll have to do a separate post with pictures for that one because it's a story in and of itself.

We also had a yard sale! We sat out in our driveway all day and had tons of stuff. Lots of people came by. We made almost $100, which I hear is good for a yard sale. But, it was a lot of work for $100, really. We ended up filling up the entire bed and back seat of my truck with stuff to take to Goodwill. And, I got a really red sunburn for my efforts.

Here's all the stuff we took to Goodwill!

After we left Goodwill, we gathered up our earnings and went over the Petsmart and got the cats a cat condo. It was a long-awaited purchase and I am so glad we got it. I always wanted one for the boys and when Mathilda came along, it kind of became a necessity because she is a climber. Seriously.

Here are all three cats checking out the cat condo on the day we brought it home.

Couldn't resist this adorable picture of Mathilda!

I cut all my hair off and donated it to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. My hair is now...short. Really short. And apparently the talk of my office. It's been about a month now and there are still people just noticing it (people I rarely see, that happens when there are 400 people in your building). Also, people are still talking about it. Someone will say, oh I like your hair so-and-so told me you got it cut. I was surprised at the strong reaction to my change, but it's flattering, so I won't complain. This is kind of funny - the other day I was walking out with a guy I barely know (I don't even know what he does) and he was asking my why I cut my hair and he said it was a huge change - he informed me that my current style was sassy whereas the old one was kind of girl next door. I think that his observation was spot-on but it was hilarious to me that it came from a guy. Anywho. (That's just for you, Josh - because I think of this post every time I say it).

The picture at the top of the post is of me with my short hair (obvi) taken a couple of weeks ago at our church picnic by my friend Amy (thanks Amy!!). The ones above are from the day I had it done.

Yesterday we went to my dad's house and celebrated my sister, Wendy's, birthday and Father's Day. He has a pool and it has been so hot that the pool felt like lukewarm bath water. Crazy. It was fun to hang out at the pool all day and spend time with my family. There are so many good pictures from yesterday that I think I'll just make a Facebook album and link it here later. So, if you read this post and there's no FB album, check back later.

Mathilda is huge. She is between 7-8 pounds. I weighed her one day a couple of weeks ago and by my calculations she was 8.6 lbs. Then, later that same week I took her to the vet to have her eye looked at and they said she weighed 7.12 lbs. I'd get up and go weigh her now, but I hate getting on the scales these days. I've gained about 4 lbs since I stopped doing weight watchers and I have to go back on the wagon, um, after July 4. She is really a beautiful cat. And mischievous.

I have some pictures loaded on Facebook, I think I'll just put a link to that album here so that you can see all the mischief she gets into and I don't have to upload the pictures twice. There are some other repeats from this post in there, but for the most part, they are of our kitties.

Cat Video

This video is hilarious. We took several videos of our cats that night. I had taken a previous video where Maxwell was sniffing the camera and I thought that was the cutest. Maxwell is always so serious, so when he does something funny, I love it. Scott was playing with Mathilda and wanted me to see what was going on. I got kind of close with the camera and Mathilda decided it was a toy, too! I thought it was funny and I hope you do too.

Here is the video where Maxwell was sniffing the camera. I love his little expressions (or rather refusal to look interested). He is all cat for sure. Sampson is in here too. We had the windows open that night and he was more interested in looking outside than in playing or talking to us.

Marcy's Birthday

Since the last time I posted, I have had a birthday. Scott was so sweet to me the whole weekend around my birthday. He gave me a gift each day of the weekend starting on Friday, cooked me breakfast on Saturday morning, and even took me back on Sunday to exchange one of my gifts. What a sweet husband I have. He put so much time and effort to make my Birthday Weekend special, I really appreciated it. I just had to brag on him a little. :)

Grilled Vegetable Salad

A few weeks ago, Scott and I went to Longhorn after church. We do not usually splurge like that, but we wanted steak and left glad that we'd gone. So, it was worth the trip. I got this salad as my side salad (for a little extra); it came off of the "for a limited time only" menu. It was so good that I figured out how to make it at home.

Grilled Vegetable Salad

Salad:

Romaine lettuce-chopped

Feta cheese - crumbled (optional)

Tomato - diced

Red onion - diced very small

Vegetables:

1 squash

1 zucchini

1 bunch asparagus

1/2 bell pepper (red or green)

1 c corn (I used frozen)

1 small white onion (optional)

Olive oil (maybe 1 Tbsp)

Salt

Pepper

Cut all vegetables into 1-inch pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill on grill pan (flat side).

Dressing:

1/2 c olive oil

1/4 c organic canola oil

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1 clove minced garlic (just use the stuff you buy in the jar)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Whisk together all ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. I invested in one of those dressing shakers you buy to go along with the italian dressing packets. Worth it.

Prepare salad. Top with grilled vegetables. Drizzle with dressing.

Make it a meal by adding grilled chicken (pictured).

If you leave off the feta, this is a gluten and dairy free meal.

A Little Mathilda To Brighten Your Day

This is a picture we took of Mathilda the day we brought her home, January 6, 2010. She weighed 1 lb 3 oz.

This is a picture I just took of her today, March 21, 2010. As of last Saturday, she weighed exactly 4 lbs. She has quadrupled in size!

We are still trying to decide what color her eyes are. Maybe we should call them hazel. Our boys' eyes change between yellow and green. And sometimes hers look more yellow than anything, but usually they are this coppery/yellow/green color. I don't know how to describe it. They were grey when we got her.

She was sleeping all cuddled up with Sampson last Sunday night. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?

Maxwell was chilling out on the back of the couch.

Maxwell apparently got jealous and walked over and literally layed down on top of Sampson! I wasn't fast enough to get a picture before Sampson had had enough and bolted.

Having gotten what he wanted, Maxwell settled in with Mathilda at his side. I think they are getting used to having her around.

Later in the evening, we were sitting around watching a movie and Mathilda snuggled up with me. Look how sweet this kitty is!

She is really learning so fast! She has learned that if she comes running when she hears the icemaker, she will get to play with ice. She understands the word "NO!" She knows that if she scratches her scratching post she will get a treat or two or three depending on how we feel if she finishes her treat and then scratches again! We are still working on teaching her not to scratch and bite when she's not getting her way! She really is an accelerated learner! She has made our lives a little bit more chaotic, but we all love her!

Goings On

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have posted and a lot has been going on. First of all, our weather has been...bizarre! The last time I posted, we got several inches of snow on a Friday afternoon, which was all melted by the next evening. The very next weekend was our first warm weekend in a long time, where it got up to about 60 degrees. That weekend was the weekend of our nephew, Sam's, 4th birthday. His birthday was on the 19th, but we went to his party on that Saturday, the 20th. We had lunch at Scott's sister's house and didn't go to Sam's actual party at the indoor pool close to their house. The idea of swimming didn't really appeal to me when it was so cold outside, even though it was indoors. Sam was really excited about his birthday party, his birthday cake, and his gifts. He was all about showing us his dragon castle and his Thomas the Train cake. We got him clothes and a card that made a fire engine alarm sound. The card almost made up for the fact that we only got him clothes. ;)


Here's Sam opening his gifts.

Here's the paparazzi.

Here's Sam smiling while we sing to him. It was so sweet!

Here's a picture I took of SaraBeth and I.

Back to the weather. This past Wednesday, it snowed (hard) from about 8 in the morning until about 3 in the afternoon and was pretty much all melted because it never quite got below freezing during the day. Now, this weekend, it's been high's in the 60s. I went outside today and pruned our bushes out front. Like I said, Bizarre!

Scott and I went last weekend to the North Georgia Premium Outlets in Dawsonville, GA and shopped all day. My main goal was to get a couple of pairs of jeans since I only own 3 pair that fit me and I wear jeans almost every day. I could not find one pair of jeans that I loved. Sad times. But, I got a long-sleeve blouse, two half-sleeve cotton tops, two short-sleeve tops, and two dresses. Scott got several shirts too. No jeans. I didn't even find any dressy slacks I liked. But, since I found two dresses at Ann Taylor Loft that would have cost me $69 and $79 at the regular store for about $70 for bother and I didn't own any dresses that fit me before that day, I still consider the trip a success. Yay us!