Attack of the Owl

I know you all have been waiting with bated breath. I have decided to go with the mass majority and get longer curtains. I haven't exchanged them yet, but I hope to this weekend. I am also temporarily without a camera, which means it may be a bit before I can get any new photos up. Travis accidentally dropped it on the lens when we were attempting to get pics of this little guy.

Here's a close-up:

When Travis and I got home from the last crawfish boil, this owl swooped down from the tree in between us and up to the garage. I was trying to get a picture before he flew away (mostly because I couldn't tell what it was and I was getting a closer look in my camera). I had my hands full and kept fumbling with everything so Travis tried to take the camera from me to get the pic. Unfortunately, his hands were a little full too, so he fumbled AND dropped the camera. It still worked well enough to get these photos when the owl swooped down between us again up into the tree in our front yard. The sad part came when the lens wouldn't go back into the camera when we shut it off. =(

Thankfully we got the warranty on our camera so the Geek Squad will try to repair it without any additional charge. Turns out they do more than just computers! If they cannot fix it, then they will just replace it. Supposedly we'll find out by this weekend if they have to send it off for a new one. As soon as I get it back I'll put photos up of the new curtains. Because, again, I know you all cannot wait to see the finished product!

PS - I feel like crap again. What is going on?! I feel like I've been sick for two months!

Nutshell Reference #2

I have come across several instances with the use of the word "nutshell". I am always reminded of my blog when I see these and I want to share them with you. You may have missed #1. It was incognito in a previous blog.

Rachel told me that every time she reads my blog she is reminded of a moment she had in church with her mom. The reverend mentioned "in a nutshell" and Rachel's mom started laughing, but holding it back only made the tears come stronger. Come to find out that she was in turn, reminded of a certain scene from an Austin Powers movie.

My New Do

This weekend was fairly ho-hum for us. We kept busy, but nothing crazy. I know it wasn't quite the weekend yet, but Thursday we watched the movie Juno - IT WAS SO GOOD. I laughed hysterically for the first half. Juno's character was absolutely hilarious. That's another DVD I'll be buying. Friday night we went over to Sara and JR's for a delicious meal of beef stew. Sara's friend Dana came over too, so we hung out over there for the rest of the night. Travis worked on Saturday, so he didn't stay late.

Saturday I ran a bunch of errands. First on my list? My hair appointment! For just a trim, I usually go to some cheap place like Super Cuts. I've never had a problem with those place, so the price seems just right for me. But when I go in for a color change, I go to a nice place. I'm not going to risk the integrity of my hair with just anybody! =D I decided to get highlights again for the summer and I'm attempting to get rid of my layers. It will probably take a few months to do this, so in the meantime, my hair is a little shorter than I had wanted. In the following panel, the first photo is my previous brunette color. The second photo is my new, shorter blond hair, straightened. The third photo is my new, shorter blond hair, scrunched.

I am totally in the car the last two pics. But I was stopped at a stoplight in both... I swear. I have always had blond hair. I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to get used to it again. Nehoo! I ran a couple errands (picked up my new glucometer, grocery shopping, dropped off camera for repair, etc.) and then that evening I went to the movie theater with Sara. We saw the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was pretty good, but I tell you what, that first scene where Sarah breaks up with the main character, is hilarious. There are a bunch of shots where you see a full frontal of the guy. It surprised us every time!

Sunday, Travis and I took Bella to the vet. She was due for her annual visit, but most importantly we wanted to discuss her inappropriate elimination. Turns out, she DOES NOT have a urinary tract infection. That means that it is a behavioral problem. Shoot me. Just shoot me now. The doctor gave us this thing that looks like a Glad plug-in that contains an imitation cat pheromone to promote happy cats in my house. So far so good, but then again it's only been a day since we plugged it in. I sure hope this works, because the last thing I want to do is pill that psycho every morning with Kitty Prozac. She was so mad at us on the way to the vet that she peed in her carrier. Talk about yuck! I can't wait to go a day without smelling cat pee. Seriously.

Travis spent the rest of Sunday working on widening our driveway with our across-the-street-neighbor, Cowboy Willy. (Yes, he really goes by Cowboy Willy.) He dug up the grass on either side and gave the sod to Willy in repayment for his help. Then he spread the remaining dirt in all the random holes in our yard, including those dug up by Callaway in the backyard. That evening, we had Ariel and Robert over for fajitas. There was this awesome deal at HEB: buy the pre-seasoned fajita meat and get the following for free - beans, shredded cheese, Jalapeno cheddar sausages, shredded lettuce, tortilla shells and a 2L of Sprite. Freakin awesome deal. After dinner we watched Sweeney Todd. I've decided that I'm just not made out for musical movies. I like going to the theater to see musicals, but it's just not worth it on the TV. On a fun note, we did try a healthy treat of edamame instead of popcorn during the movie. It was pretty good. It reminded me of roasted Chinese chestnuts that we used to eat all the time when we were little. Ah, memories.

Global Food Shortage

You may have already heard that we are in the middle of a world food shortage. Because of this, Sam's is limiting the sale of bulk rice per person. Costco has made similar limits due to the increased demands for rice.

If you are feeling the strain, or just interested in supporting your local organic farmers, check out Urban Harvest online if you live in the Houston area, or Local Harvest online to find farms in your area. I haven't had a chance to get to any of these farmers markets due to the distance from my home, but I hope to check it out soon!

Personal crappy news ~ For the past several mornings, Bella has been peeing on the floor in the corner of our kitchen. I think its just dumb luck that its on the vinyl flooring and not our carpet. I went to the vet last night to pick up this special lab litter that does not absorb moisture, so hopefully we can catch her urine for a urinary tract infection (UTI) test. This morning, Travis caught Bella redhanded peeing IN Callaway's water dish. IN IT. If she doesn't have a UTI, then I'm thinking she's pi$$ed at the dog. I left the litter box (which was loaned to me by the vet) on the floor in the bathroom. Phage, our only male cat, decided he wanted to mark his territory and pee in the loaner box. Awesome. The house absolutely reeked this morning. I locked Bella in the bathroom with the lab litter in hopes of a lovely sample when I get home tonight. I was reminded of a certain story told by one of the boys in Stand By Me, but instead of people vomiting it was my cats peeing. I know. Graphic. (*Warning! Graphic Material* Stand By Me clip)

Personal great news ~ Travis' Journeyman's license is being mailed to us today!! Finally!

Babies and Kittens

Wow. I am fatigued. I cannot figure out why because I didn't stay up late and I didn't do any strenuous activity yesterday. Eh. Anyhoo! Alexa came over for dinner last night. I made Greek salads with seasoned chicken - so delicious. It really hit the spot. So did the red pepper hummus and pita! LOL! I just need to move into the kitchen. Chris is out of town for several days again, so Alexa wanted to get out of the house and take Blair for a ride. I think he was really worn out from all the activity and new sights because he was in a trance by the time they left. I think he's gotten bigger since the last time I saw him - check him out.

Even Sagira came up to check out all the action.

Eh... still exhausted...

I just might eliminate my cat. JK JK!

Well, it looks like we have an elimination disorder on our hands. One of the cats urinated and defecated on a throw rug in the kitchen yesterday morning. I immediately threw the rug in the wash and Travis cleaned the floor underneath with a cleaner to remove the odor. I made sure to clean the litter box before I left for work, in case this is the problem. Then this morning, there was poo on the floor in the kitchen again! No urine, thank goodness. I don't know what is going on. I think it might be Bella again, but we haven't caught anyone in the act.

I Googled this and came across a website that said defecation elimination disorders can be caused by social problems between the cats. We have three cats and I feel like the other two are constantly picking on Bella. I can't decide if it is that, or if Bella is completely intolerant of interaction with others. The website recommended separating the outcast to their own space. My problem here is that we don't have a room we can close a door on that doesn't have carpet. Except for the bathroom I guess... Guess I'm going to buy another litter box. She is due for her annual, so I suppose I'll just discuss it with the vet. I REALLY don't want to deal with this.

On a side note, I went to the doctor yesterday for a general check up and she took blood to check my hypoglycemia. I HATE getting blood taken, but I can deal with it as long as I don't watch. My arm is a little sore today. When I was doing my hair this morning, in front of the mirror, I noticed that a bruise formed and is falling down my arm towards my hand. Eeeeeuuuuuuuuwwww!!!!

PoBoys and the Magic Carpet

Ariel really surprises me sometimes. I feel like we go so long without seeing each other and then she will give me a call asking if we can meet for dinner. I do wonder if Robert is behind these invites, but I'm not complaining! The hard part about meeting for dinner is finding a time when we are all available. Ariel is a bartender and her busy time is the weekends, Travis and I have the normal 8 to 5 jobs, and Robert works at a restaurant so his schedule varies each week. We all agreed on Sunday evening, after I spent all day volunteering and then stopped into work for an hour. Phew. We decided to go to a local seafood place, that I think may only serve the fried form of seafood. Travis and I both had PoBoys, Ariel and Robert both got fried shrimp. I decided to try the combo of fish and shrimp. I'm always nervous about ordering fish at restaurants because if I don't like it, I'm out of a meal. (And being hypoglycemic makes that risky business!) I figured it would be safe with the combo, not to mention that Ariel and Robert had an abundance of shrimp leftover. Dinner was pleasant and relaxing. We sat out on the tropical-plant-covered-patio, complete with a water feature/gigantic bird bath... sans water.

After dinner we headed over to the miniature golf course. We don't have a Putt-Putt, but this place is MUCH better. It's called Magic Carpet Golf and it is magnificent. There are all these gigantic creatures placed throughout the course that are VERY FUN for taking photos with. =D Here's Ariel posing in the big, scary tree man:

Robert was attempting this shot from an awkward angle. Travis obviously thought it was hilarious:


I took a picture of us using the timer on the camera, but impromptus are always more fun:


And of course, Puff the Magic Dragon and his two minions.

The customer service was not so great this time. The woman running the putter hut was quick to take our money with no mention of closing time. But then she came after us (while we were attempting to hit our golf balls through the canon and into the castle) to tell us that they were closing and they were just waiting for us to finish, so could we "please hurry up". How rude is that? She should have said something when we bought our entry. Ariel and Robert were super irritated because they both work in the people-pleasing business of customer service. Both agreed that if they said anything like that at closing, they'd get a warning and possibly let go. My guess is this lady is the owner. Every other visit to the Magic Carpet has been magical and this visit was too. Up until hole 15 anyways.

Crawfish Boil Numero Tres

Every time we have great weekend weather like this past one, I have trouble picturing us ever moving away. During the middle of the summer when the heat beats down on you so hard you can barely breathe, I can remember a reason or two to leave. But still, this weather is awesome. Travis' softball team put together a crawfish boil at the local boat club. The water was pretty calm, so the boys took out one of their boats a few times to try out the four new wake boards. (Sheesh.) We got up there around 2 in the afternoon. I soon realized that Ariel only lives a few blocks away so I gave her a call and she showed up half an hour later. One of the guys brought a yard game, reminiscent of horseshoes or bags, but it's with golf balls and a "ladder". It was a fun game that I could actually play. I'm just not very athletic, so it's not often that I get to compete with my friends. Here's Ariel and I giving it a stab. I look confused for some reason.

I got a little artsy on the computer with this next one...

If you look in the upper lefthand corner of this photo, you can see JR's toss (he was yellow) next to Sara's head.

This is a rare photo: Ariel holding a baby. Logan was trying to escape, but Ariel came to the rescue.

Dinner is served! All the guys hogged the crawfish. Ariel and I had to wait for the second bag to finish boiling to get any!


One of the guys brought his pitbull puppy. He was soooo cute! Couldn't resist the baby-puppy photo op:


Full and ready to go home...

The Eyes of our Home

Travis got Employee of the Month! Not only did he recieve a certificate stating this (woohoo!), but he also got a gift card to Walmart! Very exciting, I know. I asked him what he was going to buy with it - I was figuring tools or something for his truck - but he said curtains. Curtains! Too funny. I felt guilty not buying groceries, because honestly that's what we should of done. But we ALWAYS do the "right" thing. We decided to live on the wild side and buy the curtains. LOL! We bought floor length red for the dining room and short white for the living room. I think the red looks GRAND.

The thought process behind the short in the living room is that we have a futon pushed up against those windows and I do not like how smashed curtains look when they are forced behind furniture. But after we got them up we decided that there is something wrong with them. We can't decide of it's the white or the length. I need opinions - so please help! You know, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe we could wedge a board behind the futon so it doesn't butt up against the wall. Then we could fit floor length curtains behind there without getting mushed. Hmmm...

You may have noticed the lamp lacking from our coffee table. Somehow Travis managed to knock everything off that table onto a lady bug floor light and break EVERYTHING. =( Just something else we'll have to buy, I suppose. The white curtains seems so plain at night - especially when you look over to the right and see the awesome red curtains in the dining room. But I do like how the white becomes almost shear during the day time.

One last thing. Because I didn't want too much solid red in the dining room, I decided to recover the dining room chairs. I bought the fabric while holding the curtains next to it to make sure they would match. I think I focused too much on what it looked like next to the curtains because I didn't even think about the fact that the chairs are white. I'm afraid this cream fabric will make it look dirty, so I haven't been able to get myself to put the new on yet. I really like it by itself so I was trying to think of somewhere else I could use it... still thinking...

Check out the polls I put up on the left side of the screen. Opinions are good. =)

Site Meter

Oo oo! Guess what I found. Site Meter! There is a button in the left margin just below my About Me section. You can click on it to go to a website that shows who has been viewing my page. Pretty crazy, huh? I found it on another blog and it was really easy to figure out. I only used the free version, but it tells me everything I want to know. I can see how many people have looked at my blog, where they are at and when they visited. I don't plan to flip out if I find that someone in Arkansas is stalking my blog, when I don't know anyone in Arkansas. The way I figure, I have my blog open to the World Wide Web without password protection so I expect a random blog straggler to stop by occasionally. I just think it will be interesting to see how many people visit my blog and from where. How cool would it be if some guy in India or woman in South America reads my blog? The Internet is an amazing thing.

I have already found some interesting. I just started this yesterday, so I was surprised to see a visit from someone in Canada. I went to the referring URL and it turns out that they Googled "nikkis nutshell"!!! I couldn't believe that someone would Google my exact blog name. But after looking through the list of other results, I found that there is another person out there with the name Nikki and her blog is called "In the Nutshell". Woh. What are the chances? This Site Meter is taking the internet to a whole new level! Scares me a little to think that someone could find out where I've been on the web... ;)

Silly Bagpipes!

I was driving into work today and a group of bagpipers was playing live on the rock station morning show I listen to. I don't know what it is about instrumentals, but they always make me cry! I couldn't help but laugh at myself tearing up on the ride into work because of a some bagpipes and drums. What is wrong with me? I had to turn down the volume in order to stop crying. Seriously. This is ridiculous. After I was able to listen for longer than five seconds I realized they were playing Travis and my wedding song - Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. Oh geez. I just changed the station after that.

Travis and I dropped off the Murano last night to get the center console fixed and hopefully get the dents repaired. If it rains then they won't do the dents. I will be SO irritated because this is the second time we've brought it in. I know, again, poor me. =) It was weird driving the Neon into work today. I felt so small. It's amazing how use to that car I have gotten. I hope to get that way soon in the Murano. It stresses me out a little...

Anyhoo! I finally remembered to bring in photos from Saturday. When the guys were moving the crawfish to dump out the water, the handle broke on the cooler and a bunch of the little critters went rolling into Lillie's saltwater pool! I think this is about when Travis got pinched by one of them.

See them all crawling around at the bottom of the pool? Lillie had to use the pool net to pull them all out because none of the kids would get in until they were gone.

Lillie has an outhouse next to the pool so the kids don't have to run wet through her house to use the restroom. Plus it's a good place to change if someone pushes you into the pool with all your clothes on... Only problem is the latch is on the outside of the door.

Ahhhh.... lounging by the pool side with Travis and Jenna.



After we ate and the sun was starting to go down, we headed back to Jenna and Seth's house. Alexey and Nadya are looking happy as ever! Jandi loves the camera...

Uh, Seth? It looks like you've got something in your teeth let me get it out for you! That's f***ing teamwork! (Anybody? Anybody? It's Tenacious D time!)

Mmmmm... Chips....

That Was Trippy, Man.

Sara came over last night and we watched the movie Across the Universe together. We figured we would watch it together since the chances were slim to none that we'd be able to get either of the guys to watch it with us. Neither of the words romantic nor musical appealed to them, apparently. I think that I liked it. I'm still deciding. If you haven't heard of it already, it is a romantic musical, with music solely from the Beatles. It took a moment for me to figure out which song it was since they had all been slightly redone.

The scenes that happen during the LSD era of the film are about as trippy as it gets. There were several moments when Sara and I looked at each other in confusion. There were a few cameos that I probably wouldn't have caught if Sara hadn't been there. Sara is a Beatles buff and has done her research on the film. =) Bono has a short part as an LSD-crazed guy on some hippie bus, as does Eddie Izzard (the father from The Riches) who plays the ring leader at a tripped out circus. You know what? I think I did like it. I don't know that I will purchase the DVD, but it was entertaining in it's own realm.

Another Saturday

Travis and I had a another great Saturday this past weekend. I was supposed to volunteer at Moody Gardens, but decided that I had too much to do around the house so I cancelled. I'm scheduled to volunteer this weekend anyhow, so I don't feel too bad about it. Because I skipped out on that, I was gung-ho on getting a bunch of stuff down around the house. I was out of bed by about 9 and proceeded to complete a few chores. Travis was giving me hell a couple weeks ago about the fact that all the photos around the house are from when we were in high school through my Junior year in college. Let's just say it's been awhile since I've changed those pics. I rarely print out photos anymore because I worry that my house is going to be overtaken by photo albums. So I sent a few to be printed through Walmart online and they mailed them directly to my house. Saturday I finally had time to go through and clean the frames and scrape off the old photos from the glass with an Exacto knife. I'm excited to have photos of all my friends up now and current photos of my family members. I think the last pics I put up of my brother he was 11 years old!

Travis was awesome and cleaned, inside and out, the Murano. (Funny thing happens when you Armorall leather seats - YOU SLIDE AT EVERY TURN AND STOP.) He thought he could get some sun by washing the car without his shirt on = his back is fried! I was a little worried because we were invited to go to a pool party up at our friends' (Jenna and Seth) neighbor's house. I figured Travis would just have to hang out with his shirt on for the afternoon. Turned out that we didn't even get in the water. There were so many kids there that we decided it would be best to stay on the pool side. We did have a great time eating hamburgers and eventually the crawfish was out and ready. We went back to Jenna and Seth's for a few hours afterward to play Guitar Hero and a dice game called LCR. I think we made it back home by about 11:30 or midnight. Ah man, I left the photos at home! I'll get back with you later on that...

An Afternoon with Blair

Everything finally worked out this Sunday and I was able to take photos of Blair during my visit! I momentarily freaked out Sunday morning when I realized I had managed to max out my memory card. Problem being that we don't have a computer on which to transfer it all to a disc. Travis came to the rescue and reminded me that he had an memory card from his old cell phone that would fit my camera! Hooray!

I really love the drive to Chris and Alexa's. There are a couple routes you can take, but there is a long and windy road with lots of vegetation and beautiful homes. I chose to take that way on Sunday and fully enjoy my sunroof. This is probably one of the first "joy rides" I've been able to take in the new truck. I was nice and relaxed once I reached their house just in time to take over the baby watch for a couple minutes while Alexa changed. Chris is out of town for five days on a flight and Alexa was ready for some adult time. We went for lunch at a restaurant called BJ's Brewhouse.

Here is Alexa multi-tasking - on the phone with Daddy and feeding Blair.

Alexa calls this pacifier his "button".

After lunch we went window shopping at a few stores: Rooms-To-Go (Alexa's thinking about buying a new couch soon), World Market (has awesome everything) and Old Navy (swimsuit season is upon us!). Alexa was carrying Blair around in his car seat the whole time, so we were ready to head back to her place. We watched a little TV, then went for a walk around her neighborhood. That walk made me feel a little better about all the pizza and ice cream I ate that day. Yikes. Here are a few more pics I took while at her house. We gave Alexa a little time to do the dishes.

Mini-Chris looks even smaller in a newborn hat

Karate Baby

We saw his Angelina Jolie lips in the 4D scan before he was even born!
Smiling at Mommy

His little jumper was so cute! We were laughing at the pocket on the front. Why do babies need pockets?

Logan and Stoopid

We got lucky and there was no cat pee to be found or smelled when I got home last night. THANK GOODNESS. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though...

Last night, we had JR and Sara over for dinner. I made a recipe for lasagna casserole I got from Travis' mom. Yummy! Of course, they brought Logan over and it seems he has developed quite the fear of our little Callaway. We always forget and Sara will set him down. Then Callaway comes galloping around the corner with a chew toy in his mouth and scares the living daylights out of Logan. He starts to shake, lets out a whimper, then tries to climb up Sara's leg. I know we should be more sympathetic, but it is so funny! Sara says he is really good with smaller dogs, so we are undecided as to why he is scared. We're thinking that either he is intimidated by Callaway's size and hyperactivity or perhaps he associates him with negativity because we are constantly yelling at him to calm down or stay down or sit or whatever else so he does not knock over or injure Logan. I think if he could, Callaway with lick Logan's head right off! By the end of the night Logan seemed to be more irritated with the dog than he was scared of him. Check 'em out in action...

Running away from Stoopid

Keeping an eye on him from a distance

"Shove off!" he says.

Aaaaand Callaway is attempting to lick off his head...

WTF?!

This morning, while I was getting ready in the bathroom, our cat Bella peed on the throw rug!!! Right there in front of me!! None of my cats have ever had abnormal urination before. It is a horrendous problem and I am disturbed to think that I may have to deal with this. I'm trying not to freak out since this has only happened once so far. Well, one of the cats did pee on the mop in the closet, but I assumed that was because their litter box was out in the kitchen due to Travis wet-vac'ing the carpet. That was at least a month ago though.

Travis wanted to rub her nose in it like he does with Callaway. I had to explain to him that is not what you do with a cat. I used to work as a receptionist at a vet clinic, so I know there are three common reasons that would cause this: urinary tract infection, behavioral issues (ie - if there are lots of changes at home) or a super dirty litter box. Travis and I are usually pretty good at keeping up with the litter box, but I checked it anyway. It wasn't that bad. Since I don't want to risk anything I cleaned it. I know I probably should have kept Bella locked up in the bathroom to make sure she doesn't go all over the house, but I didn't have time to figure out a way to set up a second litter box in the bathroom.

When it comes to behavioral issues, Bella is queen. Back when I was still in college, Travis and I had a roommate named Stefani. At this point Phage was still a kitten. While my sister Ariel was visiting from Illinois (she was still in high school) we went out for dinner. Stefani stayed home to do a few things around the apartment. When we got back, she had locked herself in the bathroom. She poked her head out when she heard us get in and told me to lock Bella up - who was sitting in front of the door staring her down. Confused, I did as she said and came back to find out what happened. Here's the story she told us. When she was closing the hall closet door, she accidentally caught Phage's tail in the door and he yowled. He was okay, but Bella flipped out. Stefani said she kept jumping at her and hissing. After looking over Stefani's legs we determined that Bella had been latching onto her thighs and kicking her shins with her back feet. She was wearing pajama pants that now looked like pirate pants because they were so shredded. She had bruises the size of quarters in her thighs and she was pulling out pieces of claws from the center of each one.

I don't know if you have ever seen a cat attack a human before, but it is SCARY. It is amazing how much damage they can do in just a few short seconds. I didn't know what to do with her! We kept her locked up in our bathroom until we could decide. She didn't seem to be acting any different to me, but we wanted to be safe. Stefani was terrified of Bella and didn't want to have anything to do with her - who could blame her?! Later that evening, Ariel and I were brushing our teeth together in the bathroom with Pyscho. I heard a low growl and turned around to see Bella stalking my sister. I told Ariel to get out, which turned out to be difficult since Bella was between Ariel and the door. Instead my sister opted for the shower and BELLA FOLLOWED HER IN. I was like, "Uh-uh. This is not going to happen again." I wrapped Ariel in the shower curtain and put myself between them. When Bella started to attack me we both started screaming. By this point, Travis must have figured out what was happening and came bursting in the bathroom to murder our cat. Bella shot out so Travis chased after her in hopes that she wouldn't attack Stefani in the mean time. After she was in her kennel I assessed the damage. I had similar wounds to that of Stefani's, but mine were not nearly as severe. I waited until the morning to talk it over with the doctor at the vet I worked at. I was shaken and torn. (ha! no pun intended) I didn't want to euthanize her, because what if there was something else wrong with her? We ended up deciding to have her declawed and go from there. We have not had any such attacks since then, but we are positive Bella is bi-polar. One moment she wants you to pet her, the next she's trying to bite off your hand. Thankfully, without front claws she can't latch onto your thighs to be able to kick with the back legs, which means there is less to worry about. So do you see what I mean about her having behavioral issues?

As for the UTI possibility, at least I know which cat has the problem! If anyone has any recommendations, I'm all ears!

DVR-tastic

I have done basically nothing for the past two nights. Nothing. And it has been awesome. I love keeping a busy schedule, but every once in a while I just need a break. My past couple nights have consisted of taking care of Travis and working on clearing out our DVR. Travis and I have both been sick off and on for the past two months now. Travis took a turn for the worse a few days ago and finally got to the point where he was unable to go into work yesterday. I made him go see the doctor, but it turns out its viral (flu) so there is not much they can do for him. They gave him some medication for the nausea and gave him a note stating that he should not go back to work until Thursday. That's great because Travis is so stubborn he would probably say he has to "man up" and go back into work today. There isn't much I can do for him except make sure he's getting plenty of fluids. Last night he tried to send me 30 minutes away to get a DQ Blizzard. !!! I told him that I love him, but he was going to have to settle for a Sonic Blast because that's only 5 minutes away. He pouted when I called to tell him they don't have cookie dough. Thank goodness they had Reese's!

Since we had guests for the past two weeks, we didn't have much of a chance to keep up with our shows. I LOVE our DVR. Actually, I am upset it wasn't invented earlier. Some of you may know this feeling, but I cannot stand live TV anymore. I get frustrated when I can't fast forward through the commercials, before I realize its live TV. Ugh. I don't even know what time and day the shows are on that I like anymore. I just look them up online then set up the DVR to record for me. Then, whenever I have time to sit in front of the television I can just go through the recorded list. We had so many shows recorded over the past two weeks that there was no memory space left! I think I have it down to about 50% now. The rest of the shows I watch with Travis, so they will have to wait. =( And they are all the good ones - Dirt, Reaper, The Riches.

The biggest highlight lately has been my ride into and back from work in our Murano! My favorite features so far are that the driver's side door lock works (broken in the Neon), the horn works (broken in the Neon), the AC works (needs refilled in the Neon) and the little camera that shows what is behind me when I reverse. The feature I'm not so excited about it the EXTREMELY tinted windows. It is nice because it helps keep out the hot rays of the sun, but I can barely tell the difference between a motorcycle and a light pole at night. I'm hoping to get used to this soon. I don't feel like the truck is fully mine yet because I have not been able to put in all my junk. They are supposed to be replacing the console tomorrow and I don't want to have to take all my stuff out again. Oh poor me. Speaking of, I need to call them today to make sure we're still on for that...

Karate Chop

I got caught up in life and never told you about my visit to the massage therapist a couple weeks ago! My chiropractor had recommended seeing the therapist first, then getting my adjustment. I felt like saying 'duh' when he told me this. But then he said some people prefer doing it in the reverse order. I couldn't understand why. It seems logical to have the therapist loosen up your muscles so that your adjustment is easier and more efficient. But after I got into that dark room with the calming tropical music I never wanted to leave; let alone, have some guy throw my neck and back around a room.

The massage was not painful, like I thought it would be. At least for the most part. She was a small chica, but her elbows found a few knots in my shoulders and worked them out adeptly. I was seriously worried that I would fall asleep and not be able to walk myself out of the room and into the adjustment room. It turns out they have a secret weapon. Have you ever seen, maybe in the movies, when someone gets a massage and the masseuse does that karate chop action on their back? That never seemed like something I would want done to me. Thankfully, my therapist used that on me, I think to wake me up. GREAT IDEA. It woke me up calmly, which is lucky because then I didn't want to rip anyone's head off for waking me up before I was ready. Now I understand why there are some people who prefer getting the adjustment, THEN seeing the massage therapist.

I'm going to start trying to go two weeks between my adjustments. I look forward to the next visit when I'll see that massage therapist again!

Fun with David and Stephanie

Friday

David and Stephanie drove back home yesterday. =( We had a good last weekend with them though. Friday after work, we headed into Houston to go to IKEA. It is very easy to get lost in there, but the "traffic" wasn't that bad. Maybe because it was a week day there weren't nearly as many people as there have been when I've gone in the past. If you haven't been there before, I highly recommend it. I was a little disappointed this trip though. Travis and I were looking for curtains and they only had one package left of the one we liked. We oped to buy a palm for our new green bedroom. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

Saturday

We went to the Houston Zoo on Saturday. The weather was perfect and I'm glad we postponed it last weekend. This was Wednesday's first visit to the zoo. I don't think she will remember it, but she really enjoyed the aquarium. Wednesday wore a super cute dress that Shannon got for her. Here's the photo I took while David and Stephanie were putting on her sunscreen.

Here are some more candids from the trip.




Got all your ducks in a row?

That night after the zoo we had a couple friends over. It sort of turned from a get-together to party, but it was great! After a few glasses of wine, Stephanie finally got the guts to give the singing a try on Rock Band. She was really good AND frickin hilarious.

Travis played the drums.

Oh, and Chris on the lead guitar.

Believe it or not, Wednesday slept through the WHOLE THING. Loud music and all. She almost seemed to fuss when we were inbetween songs.


Why am I so goofy?


I look forward to going home tonight and doing NOTHING. Poor Travis has a softball game, so he's not going to rest. I shouldn't say "poor" Travis. It is his choice to play, right?