About to enter the reception. 

Mr. and Mrs. Keith Peeler 

Keith and Megan at the rehearsal dinner. That is Irene, Doug and Keith's mother, at the table next to them and the side of Kristin Mains' head in the foreground. 

The beautiful inside of the beatiful dome of the beautiful church where Keith is Youth Minister and where the wedding was held. 

This is at the rehearsal. Like I said, questionable quality. 

Well, I have photos from the wedding weekend that I'm going to post (a few now, a few later when our USB cable comes home). Unfortunately, they are few and of questionable quality. It was hard to get good photos at the rehearsal because it was dark, but the flash didn't help much unless it was a close-up shot. I tried using no flash and it helped, but only if my hand was steady and the people weren't moving.

There are no photos from the wedding itself because... *sigh* ...I was ten minutes late to my own brother-in-law's wedding. I THOUGHT IT STARTED AT SIX, BUT IT WAS AT FIVE! If I hadn't been trying to get there early to help out with last-minute things, I would have missed it altogether. I felt so bad that I cried! Anyway, once the wedding had started it would have been obnoxiously loud for me to open the camera case to get the camera out. Then I tried taking some photos after the wedding, but the batteries (both of them) were almost dead. So we got just a few shots from the reception. Nuts!

Anyway, that's the story on the photos.

The other interesting news is that I went back to the sleep specialist yesterday and apparently I have Periodic Limb Movement/Restless Leg Syndrome. I wake myself up with leg movements about 8 times per hour!

Well, this weekend was Keith and Megan's wedding! (keith is doug's brother, for those who don't know) It was great and the whole weekend was like one long crazy party! Non-stop action - we were *so* worn out by the time it was over. Actually, we're STILL worn out! The bride was beautiful, the groom was grinning ear-to-ear, and the wedding and associated parties were too much fun to explain! We only got photos of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (and about 4 from the reception). I'd rather not go into the reasons for that right now, but once we get those photos transferred from Doug's laptop to this computer, I'll post some.

I'm having a hard time getting motivated today because I'm enjoying the peace and quiet so much that I just want to relax and soak it up. But, Doug's back at work and I need to get busy too!

When we left Austin, it was rainy and not too blisteringly hot. We've now come back to gross triple-digit highs and barely a trace of wind or cloud. Only six weeks till Europe where it will be cool and probably a little rainy!

Charlie helping Doug wake me up. When this picture was taken, I was trying very hard to ignore the fact that I had a large cat on my face. 

Well, there's not much going on to talk about right now. But, I haven't posted in a couple of days, so I thought I'd better say *something*.

We've actually been hanging out with friends again lately. Our schedule has been so icky for a while that we haven't really had time to do much extraneous socializing. But this weekend was actually not packed out, so we were able to share meals with a couple of friends. It's nice to see people... :)

Our neighbors across the street have two cats, named Baby and Kitty. Baby has decided that we're her back-up humans. Whenever our neighbors are out of town, we take care of the kitties. Now Baby has decided that she can come to our place and bring us home whenever she wants. We'll go out into the front yard and she'll come jingling across the street and try to get us to follow her back. She's quite cute - a little thing with no tail. And she likes to do these power meows that are like one long string of sound. "MOWwowWOWwowWOWwowWOW!"

P.S. - Did you know that a sleeve is a very good place to stick your head?

Well, I'm feeling *better* today, so I'll go off strike. It's just been a cold or allergies or something. Whatever it was, it got Doug and I both. However, Doug got it less severely and then got better very quickly. Curse my immune system!

I just had a very pointy cat on my back. I'm at the computer (OBVIOUSLY), and that means I'm not paying attention to Cordelia. As this is an unacceptable arrangement, she's been trying to get my attention. She was up in my lap earlier, but eventually left to chase orbs. When she came back this time, I was scooted forward in the chair and leaned forward over the desk. Since she couldn't get into my lap, she jumped up onto the chair seat behind me. This was fine - in fact it was cute. What was not cute was when she proceeded to jump up on to my back, thereby stabbing me repeatedly with her magical fast-sharpening claws.

Oh and now she's back and has just jumped into my lap again. She's so persistent! I hope she does not now believe that jumping on my back will make me open up a lap for her!

I'm sick. I refuse to publish any further posts until I'm well.

More proof that our cats are weird: I got up around 4 o'clock this morning to go to the restroom and when I came back to bed I had a unique experience. I was hot, so I put my feet out from under the covers. Then Cordelia started licking the bottom of my foot! I think she was grooming me. She was just licking and licking and occasionally nibbling. This eventually began to tickle, so I tried to pull my foot away, but she put her paw around it and held it in place. It would have been cute if it hadn't been so strange and if it hadn't been taking place at 4 a.m.!
 
We lived through another wedding this weekend. This one was in San Antonio. We had some time to kill on Saturday, so we went and saw Shrek 2. It was great! I wouldn't say it was any *better* than the first movie, but it was definitely AS good. Puss was great! There were, of course, plenty of digs at other movies and stories and there was actually less potty humor in this one! :)

Bride and Groom with unruly attendants. 

Pretty bouquet. Pretty dress. Pretty bride. :) 

Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Priddy! 

Emma the Flower Girl and Brendan the Ring Bearer 

Wayne and Karen at the rehearsal. 

The wedding. 

Some tidbits...

I missed seeing Jessica Simpson at Petco today by about 2 minutes. The staff was all star struck. I don't have any particular opinion about Jessica, but meeting her in person would have been interesting.

I can't stand System of a Down. If you like this band, please skip to the next paragraph because I'm about to vent. The song writing is pretentious. The vocals are painful. The music is like a poor imitation of someone else's work. Why are they popular!?!

My brother's wedding went well. The couple is now married and off enjoying Disney World! I might post some photos . . . if I can remember how to do it.

One July wedding down, two to go...

I must share with you the entertaining way that I injured myself this morning. It happened while I was in my closet, putting on my shorts (how's that for a great setting). I put one leg through the shorts successfully. However, the foot of my other leg got hooked into the wrong pantleg and I fell over! I have a bruised knot on my forearm (that hit the doorframe, i think) and a teepee shaped scratch on my bum (that hit the corner of a wooden box)! After I was through saying, "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!," I started laughing. If you can't laugh at yourself... well, life won't be so fun. Charlie took advantage of the situation by trying to sneak into the closet past me. No such luck!

I had a second sleep study done Tuesday evening through yesterday afternoon. The overnight part went much better this time. The daytime part was rather torturous.

Hey, it finally stopped raining! And there's not even any rain in the forcast. Watch - we had about 15" of rain in June and now we won't get one drop in July! :o)~

By the way, in case you needed to know, it is not worth it to drive to a shop on the other side of town just because they have the best prices. Especially not when you're in Austin and in order to get to said shop you have to go south on I-35! I just spent 30-40 minutes in traffic to get down to a little shop where we took a couple of pair of pants to be hemmed. I'm pretty sure the gas to go and return twice must have doubled the cost!

I'm planning to enter a fiction writing contest that I found out about. I will have to submit a 1500 word short story and I've already spent a lot of time thinking about what my story will be. I think my most creative juices flow around 11 p.m.

I read this morning that Austin has gotten over 13" of rain in June! Can you believe that? I'm loving the rain - and so is the lawn - but we're all going to wash away if this keeps up!

I went and saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban again yesterday. I still loved it! And I still don't see how they're going to make the fourth book into a movie. I mean, they already had to cut a lot out of book three to make it fit and book four is *much* longer! Well, we'll see, I suppose...

For the record, I am SICK of being tired all the time. It's not that I can't sleep. In fact, some days I'm pretty sure that I could sleep for 24 hours straight. The problem is that when I wake up, no matter how little or how much I've slept, I'm still exhausted and I stay tired all day. And I: am not pregnant, do work out, do eat properly, do take vitamins, do not have thyroid problems, am not anemic, am sure that the medication I take is not causing it, get enough sleep every night, etc.

Doug and I had another fun date on Friday! Plan A went out the window thanks to *more* rain, but the backup plan came through for us. We did dinner and a movie. We tried to go to Iron Cactus downtown, but there was so much traffic that by the time we got down there we wouldn't have had time to wait and then eat and still get to the movie on time. So we wandered a little and ended up at Hut's Hamburgers where we were seated immediately.

Excellent. The movie portion of the evening was at the Paramount - we saw the original 'Shaft' (1971). It was so terrible that it was great! Doug and I have been quoting it like dorks since Friday. It was a double feature and we stuck around for about half of the second film, which was a documentary called Wattstax. I won't try to explain it because I was rather tired by that point, but it was very interesting.

It is currently pouring down rain. It's an really real thunder storm! We don't get many of those in Austin. We get lots of rain at times, but usually without any good thunder! Of course, this does put a *damper* on my date plan for this evening. Oh well, good thing I have a backup plan!

Funny kitty story (maybe i should just call my blog 'Funny Kitty Stories'): This happened while I was giving the kitties their little spoonful of canned food treat last night. I gave Charlie his, then scooted between the kitchen table and the wall to get to Cordy's bowl. In doing this, I brushed against something on the table (which shouldn't have been there anyway), which sent it and a couple of other things crashing to the floor. This happened right by Cordy and her food bowl and freaked her out so much that she flailed and took off running. Her flailing then upset her food bowl and sent little cat food pellets flying EVERYWHERE! This all happened in about half a second and it was much funnier than it sounds. Both of the cats were totally spooked and I couldn't stop laughing!

Here are some profoundly absurd bits of news (courtesy of world magazine):

Parking power trip
British parking attendants are so zealously enforcing a zero-tolerance policy that it's sparking a public backlash. The New York Times reports that Nadhim Zahawi was ticketed for illegally parking his motor scooter after it was strewn across the street after a traffic accident. As one of London's parking attendants wrote the $180 ticket, Mr. Zahawi sat in a nearby ambulance receiving treatment for a broken leg.
Another man stopped to ask directions from one attendant -- and was promptly ticketed by another. And one former traffic warden, Samson Adeyemo, says he was fired because he only gave out 12 parking tickets a day. The Times reports that parking officials now outrank telemarketers in surveys of the British public's most reviled workers.

Dead zone
Construction workers in Tokyo knew a building they were preparing for demolition was old and decrepit, but what they found must have surprised them. In a forgotten apartment, workers discovered a skeleton reclining on a futon still wearing pajamas.
The man, a former construction worker himself, died 20 years ago and was found near a newspaper dated Feb. 20, 1984. Neither his family nor his employer had inquired after he went missing. One elderly neighbor said he didn't even know the apartment existed.

Doug and I had a fun date on Friday! He tortured me by refusing to tell me where we were going until we were in the car - naughty boy! We went to Austin's Park & Pizza, which, for those of you who do not live in Austin, is a lot like Celebration Station (if that means anything to you). For one price, you get unlimited pizza from the buffet, unlimited rides on all the attractions, and unlimited video games (mostly). We ate lots of pizza (which was just *ok*), played miniature golf (on one of the two courses), rode go carts (on one of the two tracks), rode the bumper boats (and got soaked!), and played lots of video games. We didn't even get to do the other go cart course or the laser tag! It was a LOT of fun!

And furthermore, kitties are cute!

Did you know that dropping a plate on your foot really, really hurts? I found this out last night. I somehow knocked a small plate out of our drain rack in the sink (i was going for the ice cream scoop!). It landed sideways on my foot and ankle and OW! I'm shocked and somewhat disgusted that it didn't leave a bruise. Something that hurts that much should definitely leave a bruise!

So what about this new sales tax write-off that passed in the House yesterday? Being able to deduct sales taxes is fine with me and I have no opinion on the tax cuts for businesses (don't know enough about it), but what's up with giving $9.6 billion to tobacco farmers? Aren't we supposed to be *discouraging* the tobacco industry? You know, lung cancer, all that stuff?

Okay, I've wimped out the past two days with my blog changes. Today you get a real post. That is, if I can come up with something to talk about...

Did anyone read that story about the people in Fort Worth who drowned in the fountain? It was a man, his daughter and son, and another girl. So sad! And I think what was even more sad, but also really sweet, is the 8 year old brother who jumped in to save his older sister and the 14 year old boy who saw the two girls go in and jumped in to try and help. Actually, what's probably most sad is the mother who is left behind. Please join me in praying for her! :(

On a more cheerful note, you can be very excited for Mr. Doug Peeler because he is getting a massage this evening (an Angela Peeler Special)!

More getting crazy with the blog! This time I added a profile and a picture. I just get fancier all the time!

Now I'm off to play with Catherine Christine Johnson who is almost two weeks old and quite cute! :)

Me and my dashing husband! 

Decided to get funky today and change things up. What do you think? And now people can add comments to my posts! :)

Here is an amusing excerpt from an email that I got from an old friend today...

You realize, of course, that kittens grow up to be cats and cats aligned themselves with the enemy at the fall? Not like dogs? Dogs understand the need for human beings to be in charge. Dogs need to love and be loved. Cats need only be and have given over to the mistaken belief that they are autonomous--I suspect, in fact, that the reason we use white mice in laboratory experiments is because of some conspiracy perpetrated on humanity by black cats; but that's just me.

Poor deluded fellow! :o)~

I'm now on a mission to convince a neighborhood stray to adopt us. He looks rather skinny and cute, so I'm sure he needs a mommy to pet him every day!

Well, Doug and I are officially back online. At least until the next heavy rain. We finally got another service guy out here yesterday to check the connection and he said he could find no reason for why the modem wouldn't work. It just spontaneously started working on its own Wednesday evening! Man, who knows...

Odd thing - a little while ago, I saw someone drive by, then back up a bit, put a camera to his eye, and take a picture of something. It looked like he was photographing the space between our house and our neighbors'. Very suspicous! I even went across the street to look in the same direction he appeared to be looking and I saw nothing interesting. Except some limbs we cut down that are across the sidewalk. Hmm...

People are weird.

Hello all! Sorry for the *long* delay in posting. I actually haven't had internet access at home for over a week. Doug accidentally mowed over our cable connection and we're having ISSUES with Time Warner Cable and getting them to fix the problem. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that Time Warner was recently acquired by Satan, who already runs all insurance companies. Anyway, I'm making this post from the library by our house. We'll be having our 3rd service call on Thursday and hopefully I'll be back online at home after that!

Baby updates:

John and Ellen Rees had a girl! Naomi Grace was born on May 27th at 11:17 a.m. She is 20 inches long and weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. Only a 3 hour labor and this was her first child and she was induced - go Ellen!

Brian and Anne Johnson had a girl! Catherine Christine was born on June 3rd at 12:28 a.m. She is 20 inches long and weighed only 7 lbs. 9 oz.! And Anne was at the hospital for all of 22 minutes before the baby was born! 2 pushes!

Well, it was a crazy weekend! We went to Houston on Friday afternoon and had a birthday dinner with Doug's mom. On Saturday morning we drove over to Orange to attend a Saturday evening wedding shower for Keith and Megan. We actually got to be gone from church on Sunday morning so we were able to attend a service at Keith's church. And then yesterday afternoon/evening was entirely taken up with driving back to Austin. Whew!

I'm mildly irritated right now because I just had a run-in with our blower/vacuum. I trimmed *more* bushes on Wednesday of last week and I was taking out the blower/vac to suck up the leaves because they're scattered all over the place. Well, I had trouble getting it all in order to begin with (removing caps and replacing hoses, etc.) and then it wouldn't work correctly. Kept binding up on little limbs and stuff. Darn power tools!

Today is Doug's birthday! Happy 30th Birthday My Love! :)

I love the birthday present I gave him. It's possible that I love it even more than he does (though he does love it too). It's a life-size stand up of Darth Vader that talks. It's quite large and it scares me almost every time I walk into the room and see it because I think there's a person standing there. It also has a tendency to interrupt me...

I think I have finally won the war with the squirrels in the backyard. I hadn't been putting any corn out for weeks because the little buggers kept running off with the whole thing. However, Doug picked up a very large nail for me last weekend and sawed the head off so that the cob would fit on it. Now it's nailed into the patio railing and it's still long enough that it goes all the way through the cob. Take that Squirrel Beans! Ha!

One of our goofball kitties, Charlie this time, decided I needed to wake up at 4 o'clock this morning. Our best guess is that he wanted his litter box cleaned out. I spent yesterday morning in pain (thank you endo) and yesterday afternoon doing yardwork, so I forgot to do it. Anyway, 4 a.m., cat stomping on me and punching me (well, mushing, but it felt like punching at 4 a.m.).

He continued to behave strangely all morning. When I got up and went into the restroom, he followed me and started attacking the door frame. Then he nearly bowled me over as I was sitting down on the bed and came charging up there right under/in front of me. And I took a little "nap" after Doug left, during which Charlie came and laid down in front of my face. I have a vague memory of him putting one of his feet against my face for a while...

Well, I'm not doing a very good job of renewing my posting, am I? Here I am though! I just went into the restroom and found Charlie all curled up in the sink. That's not an unusual sight, but he hasn't done it in quite a while. He then proceeded to lay there and "chirp" at me while I was... busy. Silly kitty!

Doug and I watched The Whale Rider this weekend. I loved it! I give it a 10. Doug didn't like it *as* well as I did (he was too busy mocking parts of it), but he still liked it. I also rented All the President's Men, but we haven't watched it yet. Don't know when we're going to have time - it's quite long... (we'll be out of town this weekend) I guess maybe we'll have to watch half one evening and half the next.

And furthermore, trimming trees is hard work!

Hello world! I have had quite a nice morning. I had an insanely busy weekend with pet sitting, so I asked Doug to let me sleep in this morning. I got to sleep late and I still got up in time to check my email and shower and spend some time with God. Now it's lunch time and then back to the house cleaning thing. Ahhh... :o)

Sadly, our neighbors across the street did not have such a restful night or morning. They had a neighborhood cat come into their house through the kitty door and start making noise (playing maybe?). When they got up to investigate, he freaked out and started running around the house and peed on their futon. They finally managed to cage him and took him to the animal shelter this morning. :( Poor Johnny Castle (don't know what his 'real' name is, but that's the one i'd given him)!

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog since April 22nd! I'm so sorry for those of you who actually read it! And now I come back to the site to post something and the whole website has changed - wacky! Anyway, here I am! And, as usual, there's a little kitty sitting by my feet and trying to get my attention. So, to update you on the past few weeks -

I made a day trip to Houston at the end of April so that my mother-in-law (Irene) and I could go to the Houston Zoo - very fun! I've been going to baby showers and birthday parties. Half of my family has a birthday in April, so there was lots of that. MY birthday was in April! I'm still going to BSF every week, although next week is the last meeting for the year! Ack!

Doug and I made a trip to Dallas and saw all of my family. We also spent a lot of money at the Hillsboro outlet mall! Hehehe. We've decided to find a new church (that was actually a hard decision, but we really feel that God is leading us to a new place where we can really feel at home. He's used our time at new community to train us and to help the church and i'm grateful for our time there).

I've been doing a lot of babysitting too. And pet sitting. I've kept quite busy for the past week with a couple of new clients! Woohoo! And now I'm waiting for my multitude of pregnant friends to start giving birth. I'm still singing in the band at church and loving it. I thank God regularly for my flexible schedule! And yesterday I was naughty and FORGOT TO CALL MY GRANDMOTHER ON HER BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I feel like such a doody head!

So I'd better go and call her now... :)

Okay, one funny cat story - Cordelia likes barbecue potato chips. The cats have never really shown an interest in human food, which is good. I don't encourage it. They are not given human food so they don't know what it tastes like. On the occasions that I've offered them something for my own amusement, they just sniff it and then walk away. But not this time. Apparently Cordy really likes barbecue potato chips. She only got one little bit of one and Doug let her lick the seasoning off his fingers, but it she was very excited about it! Strange.

Now I want to post this which is one of the funniest stories I've ever heard *and* it's true. It's from the book Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams (compiled and published after his death). It's a story from a speech to Embedded Systems in 2001.

COOKIES

"This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person is me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I'd gotten the time of the train wrong. I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table. I want you to picture the scene. It's very important that you get this very clear in your mind. Here's the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There's a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It didn't look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.

"Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There's nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies. You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know . . . But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldn't do anything, and thought, What am I going to do?

"In the end I thought, Nothing for it, I'll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, That settled him. But it hadn't because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. 'Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice . . .' I mean, it doesn't really work.

"We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back.

"A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies. The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who's had the same exact story, only he doesn't have the punch line."

Mmmm... not much to say today. It was a full and pleasant weekend that involved a lot of food. For anyone interested:

Branch BBQ on Wells Branch - pretty good. no atmosphere really and there is a tv on that is very distracting, but the food is good. nothing spectacular, but tasty inexpensive barbecue.

Peony Aisan Cuisine on Balcones Dr - quite yummy! we ate family style so i got to try a few different dishes and they were all good! they also offer some different hot teas. we had the jasimine tea and it was delicious! my favorite dish was the vegetable lo mein. it was simple, but tasted wonderful!

Taco Bell - figure it out for yourself. i did try something new though. i had the cheesy gordita crunch (or whatever it's called). it tastes like pretty much everything else on the menu, which (if you like taco bell) means it was pretty good. i did like the combination of pita and hard taco shell. it's kind of like sticking tortilla chips in your sandwich... :)

Last night we had grilled steaks, but that was not a restaurant. I'm really looking forward to cooking for myself tonight!

Ephesians 2:14 - "For [Jesus] himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..."

"Don't miss the one fact we're told about Joseph in Luke's introductory account--he was a descendant of David. How awesome of God to purpose that Christ's royal lineage would come through His adoptive father. We shouldn't be surprised at the profound significance with which God views adoption." -- Beth Moore, "Jesus the One and Only"

Well, I'm still sick, but I'm feeling a lot better today! WooHoo! So, the kitties were, once again, doing something funny a little while ago There is a snake climbing our sliding glass door for some reason. It's out of reach now, but when it was still near the ground, the kitties were trying to attack it through the glass. Charlie kept waving his paw around like, "I'm gonna smack it! I'm gonna smack it!" And occasionally he would smack the glass. The snake (about 1.5 feet long and skinny) was just looking at them through the glass like, "What are you doing?"

Birds are so pretty to look at! Unfortunately, it seems that most are... not so intelligent. For several months now, we've had doves flying into our sliding glass door on a regular basis. Like, more than once per week at some points. Well, today it got nasty. One of them flew into the door so hard that it died! I was extremely traumatized! I called Doug in tears and he was sweet enough to come home and take care of it for me. I wouldn't have asked him to do that, but since he volunteered...

I guess I'm going to have to move our birdfeeder so that it's in front of one of the windows that has screens. We could put a screen on the sliding glass door, but it cuts out a lot of sunlight and I enjoy having such a large, unobstructed view of the backyard and its unintelligent wildlife. I could also attach some flash tape to the door (reflective and scares birds away), but that might scare them away from the feeder as well. The only other option would be bird netting, but it would be a major annoyance to have our patio half netted off! So... I'll move the feeder.

Darn birds! It's only the doves! The pretty cardinals don't do that! The doves also like to bully the other birds and hog the feeder. Grrr...

Our cats have totally lost their minds. I mean, all animals are crazy, but ours seem to be getting more so by the day. Last night is a good example. It started out with me irritating them by setting up a massage table in the middle of the living room and then refusing to let them lay on it. To make matters worse, when Doug came home, he layed on that table and I gave him a massage and neither of us paid the least bit of attention to the cats until we decided it was bedtime.

At that point, we finally fed them a bit of canned food, which didn't really make them happy because they felt we were very tardy in doing so. Then Doug and I got ready and got in bed. It has now become the nightly routine for the two of us to play a game with Cordy and a paper ball for a little while before we go to sleep. We throw the ball and she makes wild leaps into the air to catch it or bat it back at us. It's very entertaining for all three of us, but Charlie finds it detestable.

So, when we started up the game last night, the first throw of the ball ended up in the floor. Charlie darted over and started viciously attacking it. This is extremely out of character. Normally he just lies in the floor and looks at us disdainfully. Since he was actually participating, we tried throwing the ball between them to see who would go after it. This, apparently, pissed Cordelia off.

We threw the ball and it landed in the bathroom doorway. Doug and Charlie and I were all sitting and staring at it when Cordy suddenly threw herself off of the bed and attacked Charlie. After she felt she'd done a decent job of roughing him up, she placed herself between him and us so that she could intercept any further throws. From this point on, the game went on somewhat normally because Charlie quickly lost interest anyway.

After we turned out the lights, I made the mistake of moving. Now, back when Charlie was a "kitten", he was very good at killing monsters. When I went to bed, he would hang out by my feet and keep an eye out for anything dangerous that might be coming to harm me. The problem with this was that he tended to mistake my feet for one of these dangerous beasts. Nothing that moved under the covers was safe.

As he got older, his need for sleep increased to 23 hours per day and hasn't been nearly as useful at killing monsters for the past few years. However, within the past couple of weeks he seems to have found new inspiration. And, as I said before, last night I made the mistake of moving. I stretched out my legs and encountered something that I thought was Doug's foot near the end of the bed.

I quickly discovered that it was not Doug however because it was very sharp. It was, in fact, Charlie the Monster Killer. I pulled my foot back up a few feet and he dove across the bed and attacked it. I could not move my feet for about five minutes because he would grab them and bite them if I did. On the positive side, neither of us was bothered by dangerous beasts while we tried to sleep.

So, apparently, sap never dies. A couple of the boards in our wooden deck (the ones near things that i tend to often, of course) have a yearly habit of oozing sap. Whenever the weather gets above 80 degrees (as it now has) they get all goopy and stay that way until the weather cools down again.

Now, this is not just a minor annoyance if you happen to step in it. It's like an industrial adhesive. You *cannot* get it off. It laughs at soap and water. It goes on nice and thick, so it looks like you should be able to pick it off - especially after it's picked up some dirt and cat hair. However, if you make the mistake of touching it, you will then have some of the stuff permanently attached to your fingers.

It also stinks. It has a very strong outdoorsy odor. I've smelled worse things, but it's not really an odor that I want attached to my body. You might think that after so many years it would run out of sap, but no. I just keeps oozing more and more. I pity the poor squirrel or bird who wanders through it. Did I mention that it's also green (possibly because of paint)...?

Hey guys! Sorry for my long silences - I've been short on time lately. It's not that I've been extra busy, but I've been sleeping later in the mornings and therefore have less time for *frivolous* things like my blog! :oI~

So... we watched All About Eve on Sunday. Have you seen that? It's a Bette Davis and Anne Baxter movie from 1950 that won multiple Academy Awards. It's good! It's over two hours long, but it's entertaining enough that it didn't feel extra long. And I didn't know it before, but that's where the following classic line is from:

"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"

It also contains this quote, which is not famous but I rather like it:

"Margo Channing is a star of the theater. She made her stage debut at the age of four in 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' playing a fairy. She entered, quite unexpectedly, stark naked. She has been a star ever since."

Anyway, if you at all enjoy classic movies, I recommend this one.

Angela's lessons for the day:

1. When buying meat that the butcher has to go to the back and cut (because it's not commonly found in the market of your grocery store), be sure to ask how much it costs first!

2. When enthusiastically slicing carrots, keep your fingers out of the way!

3. It is very difficult to type with a bandaid on your finger!

So, this is kind of funny. On Saturday, I was watering all my plants and I found a small pecan tree growing in one of the pots. [thank you squirrels] I didn't know that's what it was until I pulled it up and a long root and a whole pecan came out with it. So, Doug and I picked a spot near the fence and planted it. Our backyard is almost entirely shaded anyway, but that would fill in one big open area, if it gets big enough. It's a little tiny thing right now, so we put a border of rocks around it to keep Doug from mowing it down.

The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown was showing Turkish Star Wars on Sunday. Doug and I tried to go see it, but we wanted to use these free passes that we have and we found out after we got there that we couldn't use them for that show. That's the second time we've gone to the Alamo downtown and gotten turned away at the door. The first time was on Halloween when we tried to go see a Mr. Sinus Theater and it was sold out. That wouldn't be *so* annoying except that it's in the middle of downtown which means hunting for a parking spot and then walking to the theater... Oh well.

Wow, I've been very delinquent in my postings this week! I guess it's been a busy week. Or an odd week. Or something. Maybe it's because I am so tired and I keep going back to sleep after Doug leaves, so I have to cut things out of my schedule to get all the important stuff done. Maybe.

And now I'm sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, trying to think of something to say. These dry spells are tough. Maybe my story telling abilities are asleep.

Oh, fun news - I'm hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner Party at my house next week. If you live in town and you weren't invited, please don't be offended. It's a *very* small party. And who knows, maybe we'll do this periodically and invite different people every time! Anyway, I'm very excited. I've always wanted to go to a murder mystery dinner show somewhere, but they're so expensive! This way, it's inexpensive and everyone involved is someone I know and am comfortable with! :)

Romans 5:1-2 - Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not much exciting to report today. I made myself a schedule yesterday. It's all pretty and colorful! :o)~ I'm glad I did it because I think it will help me stay on task during the day and possibly get more done. I have a short attention span, so I tend to get side-tracked easily.

Now it's time for lunch...

John 14:27 - (Jesus speaking) "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Angela sooooo sleeeepy........ I do hope to find out in the near future what the problem is with my body that I stay somewhere between tired and exhausted *all* the time. If you would like to take guesses on what is causing the fatigue (endometriosis? allergies? sleep apnea? something else?), feel free. I'll give a cookie to anyone who guesses correctly.

So, Doug and I did go and see Alexi Murdoch on Friday evening and the show was WONDERFUL! The man just has an enchanting voice and he writes very thoughtful lyrics. [sigh] Doug liked him OK based on the EP that I have, but now that he's seen him live, he's a convert and is just as excited for the full cd to come out as I am! If Alexi is coming to your town, I highly recommend checking him out! Heck, just buy the EP! There are only four songs on it, but they're four great songs! You can get it at www.cdbaby.com. (note: this was CDBaby's most popular cd of 2003!)

Isaiah 26:3 -

You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.

I'm very excited - Doug and I are going to see Alexi Murdoch tonight at the Texas Union. Alexi is a relatively new addition to my list of voices I'd love to steal. And he is currently the only male on the list! I discovered him when I heard him playing live on KGSR last year (during sxsw, i think) and I loved what I heard so much that I came home and found him online and ordered his 4 song EP. Now he's working on a full length album - woohoo! This is the first time he's been back to Austin since last year (as far as i know) and I'm pumped about getting to see him play!

For anyone interested - his website is, simply, www.aleximurdoch.com. :)

Psalm 29:11 -

The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.

One of Doug's Chinese coworkers is in town for a while and he brought us some gifts. One of the things was a nice wooden comb! The best part is the English translation of the text on the packaging! All misspellings, capitalizations, missing spaces, and bizarre punctuation are original...

"Brief Introduction of Our Products of this brand wooden comb are with high grade Chince little leaf box, sandawood,nanmu and other natural famous materials, The comb are smooth, clean and good with high temperature and pressure, comb's colour is natural and it feels wess.

"Sui Dynasty famous doctor chao yuanfang points out that comb can prmote blood circulation and keep your hair black. Su Dongpo said that comb your hair and kept sound sleep till next morning. Chinese little leaf box combs are best because of its solid and mild specification. Modem mdeical fungus'growing, stop itching, get rid of dandruff. Peach tree has the saying that it can dispel bad things.Wooden comb won't produce static electricity and have kept you healthy And you will realize that 'comb and comb, but never stop'"

1 Thessalonians 4:17 - After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Funny smell update - I proceeded on Tuesday afternoon to scrub the outside of the screen, but all my scrubbing was to no avail. The smell was still there and as strong as ever.

So I went to PetSmart yesterday and bought some stuff that's specifically made to get rid of cat stink. Doug hosed the whole area down with it, but you have to wait 24 to 48 hours for it to dry completely before you'll know if you got it all.

It already smells better. The smell is still *there*, but it's not as bad. Once we totally get rid of it, I'm going to start spraying some anti-cat stuff around on our porch to prevent any further smelly events! At least we know now it wasn't Charlie!

Today's adventure was babysitting a 2 year old for four hours. It really wasn't bad - we had fun. Our only major battles were over him refusing to come into the house and refusing to take his socks off. At one point, he said something that I chose to interpret as, "Miss Angela, you're my favorite babysitter!"

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Funny smell update - I nearly drove myself mad yesterday trying to locate the source and get rid of the smell. I pulled everything out of the entryway closet and sniffed it all until I was hyperventilating myself! I vacuumed and mopped in the closet and took all the things out to the back porch. I *could not* find a source for the smell and it was still there!

After all that, I discovered that the smell was actually coming from our front door! It was strongest on the screen, near the bottom. So, I drowned the whole area with 409 and scrubbed till my hands were about to fall off (and i don't even want to THINK about all the nastiness that touched my hands) and the smell was still there!

Then I discovered that the actual source of the stink (i have visual proof this time) was on the outside of the screen! Oy!

John 10:28 - (Jesus speaking) "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

So, Charlie has planted a funny smell somewhere near our front door. We have narrowed it down to the entryway closet, but have not located the exact location yet. In trying to find the source of the smell yesterday, I sniffed both of the kitties and that is how I came to the conclusion that Charlie is the culprit - he posessed the smell. This inspired me to give him a bath and since I couldn't be unfair and have him thinking we love Cordy more, I decided we'd give them both a bath. So, I talked Doug into it and we locked them in the bathroom with us and bathed them.

Due to the breed of cat that Charlie is (Maine Coon), he has waterproof fur. This makes it difficult to actually get his fur wet! However, we succeeded and he was bathed against his will. Cordelia actually took it much better than he did, which was a surprise since she's such a spaz. After we dried them with towels and let them flick their legs around some, I took the hairdryer after them. Charlie didn't like it, but he put up with it. Cordy was terrified of it, so I quit trying. The good news is that they are still speaking to us and they haven't punished us (as far as we know)!

John 6:40 - (Jesus speaking) "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

It's Friiiday! It's Friiiday! WooHoo - it's Friiiday! :) I woke up with another bizarre pain this morning. This time it was... I'm not sure. It was either my right pectoral muscle or a rib. I really couldn't tell. All I know for sure is that it *hurt*! A LOT! All morning I kept yelping in pain because I moved wrong (which constituted about half the moves that i made). Thankfully it's gotten better over the day and is almost completely gone now. Weird. What do I do in my sleep!?!

I went to the grocery store again today, but unfortunately I have no strange tales to tell. Although, when I was going in to the store I did see the same lady that I was in line behind when I was there on Monday. A little odd, don't you think? Also, I bought some vegetarian "ground beef" and vegetarian "deli ham" slices. That is definitely weird. And potentially disgusting. But I think it's worth a try. I can tell you one thing for sure though - do not ever buy vegetarian hot dogs. Gag me!!!!!

Job 19:25-27 -

"I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon
the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes--I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!"

These words came from a man who had lost everything and was being hounded by the few friends he had left... pretty cool.

Like, Hi! How are *you* today? :o)~

Okay, I typed that and now I've been sitting here for five minutes, picking at my toenails and wondering what to write. Obviously I haven't had anything overly exciting happen lately.

It finally stopped raining so I have been able to get some gardening done this week. I finally finished pruning our crape myrtles - I never realized how tiring that could be! It wears your arms out. I also repotted our spider plant. [well, resoiled really - same pot - fresh soil] It is already looking much happier. I think the old soil was totally drained of nutrients! Doug and I bought little basil and cilantro plants a week and a half ago (at least) and they've just been sitting on our back porch, slowly dying, since then. Yesterday I brought them inside and pinched off all the dead and wilty stuff. So hopefully they'll perk up now. I think herbs are more high-maintenance than I'm used to. I also finally finished re-mulching around our roses. I found some interesting things in one of the beds - a few large pieces of broken glass, an old nail...

All I have to say is, "Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Also, "Oooooooh, the pain!"

And, "Naughty uterus!"

Other than that, things are swell! I have hardly gotten any house cleaning done this week because I've had other unusual things pop up. If I don't straighten up our bathroom soon, I think Doug is going to go on strike! (i still haven't unpacked my stuff from our trip to houston this weekend) :oI~

But at least kitties are cute and the weather is nice and we have lots of fun wildlife in our backyard to look at! I need to get a cheap little book on the birds of central Texas so that I can identify all the ones that come to our bird feeder. I know the Cardinals, Blue Jays, Doves (although, not which type), and Grakels (sp?). But there are a couple of others that I don't know. And it turns out that there are *three* thieving squirrels living in our backyard! Cute, but sneaky! :)

Well, in a turn of events, I'm actually itching to get some housework done today, but I have an inbox that really needs to be cleaned out some. Plus there are a couple of business-type emails that I really need to send out. But I want to *clean*! So, the faster I finish this post, the sooner I'll be able to get to cleaning. Oh and I have to go to the grocery store today too because I was gone on Friday afternoon (which is when i usually go). Ack! AND I need to prune that last crapre myrtle before they start growing again!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............................

If it hadn't been three days since the last time I did this, I'd be avoiding it. I'm very tired, mostly because I just spent the last *hour and a half* playing video games! That may not be so outragious for some people, but I usually don't play more than an hour straight. I just got totally sucked in and kept thinking, "I'll just play for half an hour. . . . I'll play for an hour. . . . Just as soon as I clear out these two rooms. . . . Well, I might as well go ahead and finish off this level. . . . Okay, I'll stop at an hour and a half. . . ." Whew!

Do you ever go through these weird spells where nothing tastes right to you? [no, i'm not pregnant!] Maybe it's my body's way of saying, "Hey! I'm sick of all this sugar you're giving me! Why don't you give me some water! And vegetables! What? You think you're still in college? Come on!"

In closing, I'd just like to say that I'm glad that humans don't have to lick their butts to clean them like SOME animals do.

I tried desperately to keep my husband home from work today! My first plan of attack was a backscratch. I almost got him that way one time! I was sitting on the bed and he leaned over to hug/kiss me goodbye and I started scratching his back and he ended up laying on the bed and almost fell asleep. My fatal error was dozing off myself and the scratching stopped and he came to his senses. Curses! But this time I had no such luck - he's onto that trick now and he saw it coming.

My second plan of attack was tempting him with promises of a grey, rainy day spent snuggling and reading and napping, etc. I used all the snuggly, comforting words I could think of (including 'kitties') and he was very torn and tempted... but it still didn't work. Such self control!

My final plan of attack was trying to physically restrain him. You can imagine how well that worked. I tried attaching myself to his body and throwing body parts into the doorway so that he couldn't walk through, but he was able to shake me off. If only I weren't so ticklish! One of the days, Peeler... One of these days! :o)~

I hope this big round of stomach viruses that's been happening is over! I have successfully avoided throwing up for several years now and I would like it to stay that way!

I have a very persistent little kitty in my lap right now. If I sit at this computer for more than five minutes, she *will* come and get in my lap. Even when I lean forward and put my arms on my legs to make it look like there's no room. She is never deterred by a lack of room. That's why she occasionally ends up falling off of things! Anyway, it's rather difficult to type when you're trying to keep your balance on an exercise ball because you have a cat on your lap who keeps moving around to find a better spot and then she lays down and spreads herself out so that she's pushing on both of your arms and then when you don't stop what you're doing and start petting her she resorts to biting the buttons on your shirt! Little nut!

BSF was good this morning. I was super tired going into it, but the discussion perked me up. And the lecture was the best one I've heard in a month or so! :)

I don't feel like coming up with something interesting to say today, so I'll share some Cat Haikus with you...

You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will show you.

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail! Behold,
elevator butt.

I need a new toy.
Tail of black dog keeps good time.
Pounce! good dog! good dog!

Well, I guess I just slept funny on Saturday evening and apparently a night of sleeping "not funny" fixed things. My back didn't really get better all day, but it seems to be fine this morning. Who knows... :)

Our cats seem to have lost their minds (again). It started with Charlie, but now they are both running madly through the house. The funny part is occasionally hearing them slide into things. I love having hardwood floors!

I always sleep with an extra pillow that I put in front of me and curl up with. Last night, I woke up sometime in the wee hours of morning and somehow realized that there was something against my front and my back. [i say 'somehow' because i do not usually think coherently until i've been awake for at least 15 minutes.] My pillow was against my back and I don't know how he managed it, but I was on my side and Charlie was all curled up against my front and I had my arm around him. Cute snuggle kitty! Of course, he counteracted the cuteness by clawing the carpet at 5:30 this morning for no apparent reason! Maybe I rolled over on him...?

A funny story from Friday - I was shopping in the produce section and there were some other people nearby. It appeared to be a mother, father, and two kids. I noticed that the father was hiding a fly swatter behind his back and looked like he was up to something. I looked away when he glanced at me because I didn't want to start laughing out loud and give away whatever this game was. Then I saw him look around and then stick the fly swatter among the produce. I have *no* idea what that was all about. Email your best theory to me at redpeeler@austin.rr.com.

I woke up this morning with a very sore lower back. It's like that's the source of the discomfort, but it extends into my legs (making them feel weak) and up my back. I don't know if I slept funny or what. I took an Advil and it helped for a while, but as soon as it wore off the pain was back. Hey, why not? I'm like a study in bizarre maladies and odd occurrences. [oops, i thought occurrences only had one 'r' - thank goodness for spell check!] And speaking of odd occurrences [or occurences], I'm now paranoid about driving down that stretch of road where the deer attacked my car!

One lightly used uterus - free to good home!
Available immediately - one uterus, 25 years old, slightly dysfunctional. Tends to try and claw its way out through your abdomen for a few days once per month. It's tilted, lumpy, and suffers from endometriosis, which means that it will release menstrual blood into your body instead of sending out like it's supposed to. Otherwise in good condition. Please contact me if you're interested.

I just got back from working out - eeeeeeeeewwwwww... I only worked out twice in the two weeks that Doug was gone and this is the first time I've gone since he got back. Bad Angela! I heard somewhere recently that you don't even start burning fat until you've been working out for 20 or 30 minutes. That would have been nice to know when I started going to the gym almost a year ago! Anyway, I have decided to up my time on the elliptical trainer from 20 minutes to 40 minutes. Today I made it to 35 minutes before I stopped. :)

Did you know that to fly from Austin to Savannah, GA is $350 per person, round trip? To fly from Austin to Rome is only $700 per person, round trip (yes, that is a good deal). What's up with that!?! You'd think that it would be a lot cheaper to fly halfway across the US than halfway across the world. Nutty! I discovered this because we were (are?) considering a weekend trip to Savannah for a family wedding. We also plan to go to Europe sometime this year, so I was trying to see how much that airfare would be. $350 per person just doesn't seem worth it for a weekend trip...

Hello. Hello. It feels like it's been much longer than a day since I posted last. It's not that so much has happened, the time has just passed slowly. I'm going through another exhausted phase, so that makes my days very up and down. I go to the doctor tomorrow to investigate the possibility that I have endometriosis. It's not a possibility that I'm *excited* about, but it would be nice to have an explanation for the outrageous menstrual cramps and back pain and fatigue (maybe it's not just my allergies...)!

I had BSF this morning and it was good. I missed last week (overslept - grr!), so I wasn't able to answer any of the questions during the discussion time this week. It was still nice to be there and hear everyone else's answers though. And the lecture was good. Not as hard-hitting as some are, but Linda's lectures are always good and applicable. We had a guest lecturer for the past two weeks while Linda was on vacation and she was okay, but not great. There are good speakers and then there are great speakers - Linda is a great speaker!

Wow, has it been four days! Well, I've been... busy. Doug is home - yeah! I picked him up at the airport on Saturday and he was tired and still didn't have much of a voice, but was otherwise intact and happy to be home! I missed him so much! :) Sunday was spent avoiding the outside world and was quite enjoyable. We turned the ringer off on the phone and didn't check email or anything!

Yesterday was a bit more like the normal routine, but it was nice and relaxing. Doug spent some time working on his expense report for the trip and I spent some time at Barnes & Noble, but other than that we were just enjoying being home together. :) Today he's back at work and almost entirely recovered from being sick, although jetlag is still a problem. Cordelia is pining - the silly kitty keeps wandering around the house giving these pitiful little whines - I guess she doesn't understand that he's not going to be gone for two weeks this time. Daddy's girl!

So there's the update - now I have go clean. It's amazing how quickly the spotless house got dirty with Doug home...

Sad sad Doug update. He didn't just throw up once - he was up all night, throwing up (or other things) every 30 or 40 minutes! Poor baby! When he called me the next morning (yesterday evening for me), he barely had a voice left! The hotel doctor saw him and gave him an IV of medicine and then some pills and he was feeling *okay* as of late last night. But I talked to him this morning (my time) and it was bedtime for him and he said he was feeling nauseated again. He'd forgotten to take his anti-nausea medicine with lunch, but he'd taken it with dinner. So hopefully it kicked in after I talked to him.

I'm so sad! I don't like knowing that he's so sick and I can't get to him to take care of him! Argh! His flight leaves in 9 hours, so there's still time for his body to get some rest and hopefully feel better. Please be praying for him. I'd hate for him to have to spend his two days of post trip "recovery time" sick! Not to mention all that travel time - yucky! :(

As a fun surprise (although i told him about it last night to perk him up a little), I'm washing and waxing his car. I washed and halfway waxed it yesterday and I'll finish waxing it right after lunch today. That's a large vehicle to wax!

Good news: The airline found Doug's luggage.
Bad news: He's puking.

The airline found his luggage in Hong Kong. It must have slipped off the conveyor belt or something, but it never made it onto the plane. They sent it to Taipei and it appeared in his hotel room yesterday evening (his time). WooHoo! No more washing clothes in the sink! And that means that my gift was recovered too - heehee!

On to the sad part. Apparently his dinner last night didn't agree with him. When I talked to him this morning he said he'd thrown up once and was still feeling sick. Oh please please please just be a passing thing and not food poisoning or a stomach virus! He's flying out of Taipei in about 31 hours and has a total travel time of 21 hours (counting layover time). Not something you want to have to endure while sick! Poor baby! :(

Only 2 days...

HELLO! Hello hello! How are you today? Yes yes, that's nice. Glad to hear it. Woooop! Haha! [i am officially losing my mind as a result of too many hours locked up in this house with only the cats and cleaning product fumes. the upside is that my house is looking great!] I've come to the conclusion that dust is made up of little particles of pure evil that wait for you to turn your back so that they can cling to things.

So, the airport *lost* Doug's LUGGAGE! Either that, or someone stole it! If someone stole it, then there is a Taiwanese man somewhere in Taipei with a bag full of clothes that are too big for him. Curse him (or her)! Thankfully, there was nothing of great value in the bag. Most of the important stuff was in Doug's carry-on. But he lost all his clothes and toiletries and the outfit he'd bought as a gift for me! Grrrr! Poor guy - he's having to wash his one pair of underwear in the sink! He also lost all the receipts he needs for his travel expense report for work. Oy!

3 more days!

Oops, so it's been a few days. Time flies when you're having fun! :o)~ Here's a tip: When your husband is on a business trip oversees, it is not wise to watch movies having to do with airplane disasters. Not even just a few minutes of one. Over lunch, I saw part of a movie ("miracle landing") that made me never want to set foot in an airplane again! Of course, I'm not real fond of airplanes and flying to begin with...

I have now made lists of things that I want to get done (mostly to the house) before Doug gets home and I'm a woman on a mission! I have always been the type of person who works best under a tight deadline and now that I only have a few more days, I'm inspired. I actually stayed up until midnight last night cleaning, just because I wanted to. I need to pick one of these afternoons - Thursday or Friday - to continue my networking. I'm going around to vet clinics and pet/grooming shopes to introduce myself and leave business cards and brochures. Gotta get my name out there and get some clients!

4 more days! (or maybe only 3!)

I really don't have much to say this evening, but I'm posting because I don't want to miss a day. Apparently there are actually people who read this thing! I've just finished watching an old (1938) Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Lady Vanishes. "Spies! Playing the game of love - and sudden death!" It was pretty good! I like the way people spoke in these older movies. :)

I went to Blockbuster today to drop off a couple of movies and rent one or two more. I spent a whole hour wandering around and looking at movies and ended up leaving with nothing. It wasn't that there was nothing I wanted to see, it was just that I couldn't make my mind up about one. I picked up a couple of different movies and carried them around and then decided maybe that wasn't the right one after all. I think it's because I tried going immediately after spending a couple of hours at Barnes & Noble. My mind was already drained and too full of information!

7 more days... We've made it halfway!

Happy Friday the 13th all! Did you know there's actually a name for the fear of Friday the 13th? It's Paraskevidekatriaphobia. Nutty. Anyway, it's very cold here! I was given the misguided information (by weatherbug, thankyouverymuch) that it would not freeze last night, so I didn't cover or bring in any plants. Then I get up this morning and there's ice on the patio and I find out it's freezing right now and we're under a winter weather advisory. We had sleet last night! I'm sorry little plants! I didn't know! Please don't die!

So, oddly, going to my small group last night made me really sad about Doug not being here. I don't know if it's because I knew he wouldn't be here when I got home or what. And to make matters worse, I forgot to take my cell phone with me when I left so I missed a planned phone call from him. Curses! When I came home I had this brief moment where I saw his car in the driveway and though, "Oh good, he's home!" Ugh! Sad! This whole situation stinks (for me)!

8 days to go...

So, it's much easier to keep a house clean when there's only one person in it. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have both people and spend more time cleaning! But this easy cleaning does mean that I have more time to do extra cleaning while Doug's gone. You know, the stuff that you never seem to have time for.

I'm also discovering that without Doug around, our little daddy's girl - Cordelia - is much more lovey toward me. Of course, it's a very demanding lovey-ness, but nonetheless... Earlier, she was all curled up in my lap and insisted that I be petting her with *both* hands AND that I be looking at her while doing it! It was very sweet, but made it hard to use the computer. It also wasn't the most comfortable arrangement since I was sitting on an exercise ball! Cute kitty!

Oh, my wonderful, absent husband had some beautiful flowers delivered to the house today! Pretty red, white, and pink tulips! And they had a very sweet note with them. I love my Dougie!

9 more days...

We've been having adventures here today. Doug's mom, Irene, went for a walk this morning and soon after she left it started thundering. It was full on raining before she made it home, so she got soaked. She went into the garage to put her clothes in the dryer and at some point during the going in and out she left the door open for too long and Charlie sneaked out into the garage. I didn't miss him because all the do during the day is sleep anyway, but I happened to go out into the garage after lunch for some birdseed and there he was! He came running toward the door like he desperately wanted in, but within 30 seconds he was trying to weasel his way back out there. His little white feet were dirty and he had stuff stuck in his fur, so who knows what he was getting into. In the garage, there's no telling! Sneaky little guy!

Last night's adventure had to do with pearl drinks. Irene and I went for Vietnamese noodles and she decided to order a Mango Pearl drink on a whim. The mango part was tasty, but the pearls were a little odd. The straw was huge!

11 more days...

Hey, I made it through my first night totally alone! WooHoo! I'm actually feeling somewhat normal now. I talked to Doug this morning and he has made it safely to Shanghai. He hasn't seen the city during the day yet, but he said that from what he saw in the dark it was beautiful. He got the traditional Japanese meal on the flight from Tokyo and said it's not settling as well as the first round of sushi he had. Raw fish served on an airplane - hmm...

Irene is coming to town today to spend a couple of nights. Ironically, I feel like I could survive okay without the company now, but it will be nice to have someone around anyway. I might feel differently about being alone after I've been here with just the cats all day and there's no Doug coming home from work to relieve my solitude!

Okay, tomorrow I'll try to talk about something different!

Only 12 days until Dougie!

Well, I am now husbandless (for the next two weeks, anyway) and I don't like it! "Home" just doesn't feel like home without him here. *sigh* I've been trying to keep myself as busy as possible so that I'm not thinking about the fact that he's not here and I can't just talk to him whenever I want to.

I did talk to him this morning though. It was 11 p.m. his time and he was tired, but doing well considering he'd just been through about 15 hours of flying and 3 hours of train riding! He said he had his first experience with real traditional sushi and he generally liked it. ("Generally, I like it!") He said some of it was pasty, but most of it was good. You go Dougie! Just keep it far away from me! I don't even like cooked fish...

Only 13 more days till I get to hug my hubby again!

This is crazy - a deer hit my car last night! I'm still kind of freaked out by it. I was just driving down the street (somewhat major road - speed limit 55) and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was a deer headed straight for the side of my car! By the time I even registered what I had seen, the poor thing had hit the back right side of the car. I'm trying to convince myself that it just stunned it and it's okay. I was even afraid to look at the car because I was afraid I'd see something that would convince me otherwise. But it wasn't major. Just a dent. I don't even care about the car though - I'm far more upset about the deer! The only reason I wasn't hysterical is because the deer hit me, I didn't hit it. There was nothing I could do about it and I can convince myself that the deer might be okay. Not much chance of that if I'd hit it head-on. Oy! That must have looked shocking and awful to the person driving behind me! :o(~

Okay - cute kitty story: Doug was holding Cordy this morning and he had her on her back like a baby. She was only tolerating it, really. One of her paws was sticking out toward me, so I started pretending to kiss it and made little kissy noises. She put her paw on my face and pushed me away! This only encouraged me, so I came back and started doing it again. This time she reached over with the other paw and smacked me in the face! "Stop it! You're freaking me out!"

Yipes! I just remembered that I have something I need to work on for one of Doug's valentine surprises. We're having Valentine's Day Part I tomorrow. I guess I'll have to work on that later because I'm about to walk out the door to go to an eye appointment. I got new contacts and I think the prescription is wrong. Gotta go...

I'm feeling pretty distracted and sensitive this week. More preoccupation with Doug leaving the country on Saturday. I'm not really anxious about it anymore, but I'm not looking forward to it either. I like the guy - don't really want him to leave for two weeks, ya know? :)

The good news is that it's cold and rainy here today. I know that most people don't like that, but I do! I prefer overcast days because the sun hurts my eyes and I enjoy rain because the sound is relaxing. Besides, in a few months we'll be begging for rain! The birds seem to be enjoying it too. They're all chirpy right now!

Have I mentioned that Doug and I got a massage table? We both enjoy giving each other massages, but without a table it tends to end in a backache for the massager. I think I'll give Doug a massage this evening - he's been pretty busy at work this week. Don't you wish you were Doug! :o)~

Well, nothing so exciting to report today. Doug and I went and met with another CPA this morning. This guy was totally different than the other one. His office is far less professional, but he seems to have better prices. He talks a lot too. Personally, I didn't like him as well as the first guy, but if the cost is better overall, then we'll probably go with him. Oh well. I don't have to talk to him much!

I'm trying to motivate myself to get busy with my normal routine. I'm having this odd idea that I should be lazy this week because Doug is leaving the country on Saturday. I guess my logic is that I'll have plenty of time to be productive while he's gone. Whatever - the laundry still needs to get done and the cats don't brush themselves. Although it would be nice if they did. The drawbacks to not having opposable thumbs...

I have a funny wedgie story. On Saturday, Doug and I were tormenting each other, as usual. He was halfway dressed and was in his closet trying to pick out a shirt. I came up behind him, grabbed the top of his underwear and yanked on them. He saw it coming and clenched to thwart my evil plans. The result of this -- *RRIIPP* I tore a giant hole in the butt of his underwear! It wasn't just the waistband separating from the fabric It's a big hole in the fabric! Who knew I was so strong?!? Or that his underwear was in such bad condition!?!

We were both laughing so hard we were crying and I was on the floor! Thankfully, this event finally helped me convince him that he needs some new underwear. And, I am pleased to announce, he now has two packs of shiny new undies. Okay, so they aren't shiny, but they're new! I'm keeping the hole-y pair as a trophy and reminder of my awesomeness! :o)~

Well, we've had a lovely and relaxing weekend, thank you! We are about to go to a Super Bowl (Superb Owl?) party, but not because we care about the game. We are going for the hang-out factor and because we want to see the commercials. I do like football, but not professional football. I'm a college football fan. Specifically, I'm a UT Longhorns fan ('magine that!). Doug could not care less about football, but somehow he still understands the rules better than I do. I think that must be something in the male genes. I understand the basic rules, but I still don't understand most of the penalties. Isn't the whole point of the game to stop the other players from accomplishing what they're trying to accomplish? I suppose that without rules it would be a brutish and barbaric game (like it's not already) and people would be dying like when American football first became a popular sport. (ooh, that almost makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about...!)

Do you ever feel like your head weighs twice as much as it should. Or like gravity has been turned up and your entire body is being pulled closer to the ground? That, combined with a sharp pain between the eyes and an inability to breathe through your nose make for a great day! :o)~ And don't forget to throw in a few sneezes for good measure - they really help the pressure inside your head!

The good news is that Doug and I are meeting with a CPA at 3 o'clock. While it might not be exciting, it really is good because our finances get more complicated all the time and especially now that I have a business and tax season is coming - we're gonna need some help! We're meeting with one guy today and another one on Tuesday. I guess we'll just pick between the two of them. Unless they both creep us out or something, then we'll keep looking.

I'm pleased to report that I'm feeling better today. I've still been resting all morning, but I think I'll be up and around and productive again this afternoon! WooHoo! Cordelia, however, says that she wishes I were still sick because I'm not paying nearly enough attention to her today!

This morning I finished my BSF study for the week. It was on the book of Hosea - he's one of those confusing prophets. This one was easier to understand than Amos, but more difficult than Joel. Anyway, it's good to have some in-depth study of the Old Testament occasionally. People, myself included, don't give it enough credit. There's more to it than judgement and boring stories. On every page there are evidences of God's love and mercy. Good stuff...

Does anyone else find it annoying to have to go to the bank to deposit checks? I know this is a pitifully lazy complaint, but it's the only thing I ever have to go to the bank for anymore. :oI~

Well, the best way to describe how I feel today is, "bleck!" I've been sick for the past couple of days. Pretty sure it's "just" allergies, but that's still not fun.

My new favorite comic strip is "Get Fuzzy" by Darby Conley. If you've never heard of it (it's carried in the dallas paper, but not austin), check out www.comics.com. This actually takes you to the comics.com page, but you can select "Get Fuzzy" from the "Select a Feature" dropdown menu. It's a really funny strip!

Have any of you every tried to kill vincas (periwinkles)? I planted some several months ago and spent all summer trying to keep them alive. They're supposedly really hardy and everything, but they were pitiful, shrively little things. So, sometime in the fall, I stopped watering them and started waiting for them to die. We're going to till and work on that part of the yard anyway. Well, now the silly things won't die! They haven't been watered by me in months and they've been through several unprotected freezes and they're still going! Until this last freeze, they looked better than they did when I was trying to keep them alive! What's up with that!?!

I'm *so* tired today. I have no real reason - I'm just always tired! I decided at some point along the way that it's allergy related. I can never breathe well, so I don't sleep very soundly. That's my theory anyway - there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong with me!

I took Cordelia to the vet yesterday for her yearly exam and booster shots (no, this wasn't punishment for knocking over the tree). She was a good girl, although she put up a fight when I put her in the carrier and it took two of us to get her back out of it. And then we had to get creative to get her back in there the second time. But other than that, the vet said she's beautiful and healthy. She also said that she'd like us to start brushing the kitties' teeth and that Cordy's food should be rationed so she doesn't gain any weight. The tooth brushing thing should be fun - they really don't appreciate it when people start messing with their mouths!

Woah - it's been almost a week since I posted! How am I supposed to keep my loyal readers this way?!? So, one of my kitties (cordelia) was *very* naughty this morning! Both of them have been temporarily kicked out of our room because that's where the Christmas tree is and they can't keep their paws (or teeth) off of it. This morning, I pulled the door shut behind me as I came out for breakfast, but apparently it didn't shut all the way.

While we were eating we heard this weird tinkling noise and Doug got up to investigate. We couldn't see what she had done, but we knew it was Cordelia because she was doing the, "It wasn't me!" routine. So we formulated a couple of theories and went back to eating. When we came into the bedroom a little while later, we found the Christmas tree on its side! A couple of the more fragile ornaments broke too! Naughty girl!

So, we have this weird little squirrel who lives in our backyard whom I have named Squirrel Beans. (S)He used to come and eat out of our bird feeder, but would fling birdseed everywhere because (s)he was only interested in the sunflower seeds. So, to take attention away from the bird feeder I started putting corn out for him/her. (let's just assume it's a boy from now on) I put a nail halfway into the porch railing and stuck the corn cob on that. He's been coming and binging on corn periodically since then. Well, today he got cheeky! I spotted him out there this morning and then I just noticed that the whole corn cob is gone along with the nail! What's up with that!?!

I just injured myself in a new and unusual way. I was at the grocery store, in the frozen section, and I needed something that was halfway back on the top shelf. In reaching up to get it, I had to let my arm touch the shelf and I burned myself on the freezer shelf! I didn't even know you could burn yourself on cold things! Anyway... had to put that one down for posterity...

Details details details! So many details! I'm planning a launch party (which will be the most awesome ever). I'm trying to get my business advertised and get some clients (my business being pet sitting). I'm doing other things too, but there are so many details floating around in my brain that I can't remember what they are! I only get stressed out if I try to think about it all at once though. :)

But, as Charles Stanley says in Finding Peace, "By the grace of God and with the help of God, I can do this. The Lord is my sufficiency. He is living inside me, and He will make me adequate for whatever task He calls me to accomplish. He will give me the insights, knowledge, direction, strength, energy, vitality, focus, associations, contacts, and all other things that are necessary!"

Well, the painting of the bathroom is complete. There are still some things that need to be done, like cleaning and putting some of the hardware back in, but it is done enough that we can use it again. WooHoo! I feel like I spent the whole last week inside that bathroom! :o)~

I'm finding it quite hard to get back into the swing of things this week. It's mostly the getting up in the morning that I'm having trouble with. I was able to sleep in as much as I wanted for two solid weeks and it's not easy to pull out of that habit! I'm making a committment as of today though - I will get up to have breakfast with Doug and I will not go back to bed after he leaves! Please feel free to ask me if I'm sticking to that.

10 Things I've learned in the past Week:

1. Scraping that popcorn Stuff off of Ceilings is Fun.

2. It is better to set Fire to your House than to try and remove Wallpaper from your Walls.

3. Joint Compound takes far too long to dry.

4. Power Sanders are your Friend.

5. Texture painting is not for Perfectionists.

6. It is worth the extra Time to put another Coat of Primer on top of your wall Texture, even if it's a very thin Texture and you put Primer underneath It.

7. There's no such Thing as a Paint that only needs one coat.

8. Getting Chalk in your Eye from using a Chalkline *hurts*!

9. Removing Tape from latex Paint is an infuriating and evil Task.

10. Touch-up Work with a little Paintbrush is a good Job for a Perfectionist!