The Cat Dilemma

Once again we find ourselves in the middle of a cat dilemma, only this time it doesn't involve our own cat. For the past year we've been cat sitting "Smokey Joe" for the home owner's daughter. Over time he's really taken to us. He often brings us little gifts, sleeps at the foot of our bed and keeps us company while we're getting ready in the morning. He is a great cat. These last couple weeks the daughter has been staying with us. We don't see her much, but last night she came up and informed us that her parent's had sent her a "nice" e-mail. In short, the cat needs to be gone when they get back (end of July) or they will get rid of him, and most likely in a way that won't make her happy. She went on to say that she understood we couldn't take him (Wymount doesn't allow ANY pets, not even goldfish) and asked if we knew of anyone else that might want a cat. We don't, but if any of you do, let us know. We have a kitty that desperately needs a home.

That said - this situation totally annoys me.
You know when you anticipate something, but avoid worrying about it because it's not your problem? Or because you don't want to make it your problem... this is one of those things. When the daughter was here last October I asked her what was going to happen to Smokey Joe once her parent's came home. I didn't know whether they planned on keeping him or if they hoped we might take him. Either way, she didn't know. She was saddened at the idea of them giving him away, but didn't seem to have a plan for him herself. Really, she would have liked to have him with her, but she was living in California, unemployed and not able to have pets where she was living. 7 months later ... nothing has changed. And now there are some pretty harsh consequences if something doesn't change soon. I feel like I'm the only one worried about it and I hate it.

Everything else I have to say about this situation is unproductive. Bottom line: I don't like it when people shirk their responsibilities. I really don't like it when they try to make it my responsibility. I have a hard time saying "no", even when I should. And I have a really hard time not worrying about something once someone has made me aware of it, especially when it involves putting a cat to sleep without good reason.

Tappings from Below...

Earlier this evening I was minding my own business, surfing the net and it came. A little tap from below. Initially I thought it was my stomach adjusting to the large amount of food I ate for dinner, but then it continued tap, tap, tapping in the same spot. It was subtle, and undoubtedly the baby. What a weird sensation. I realize now this isn't a new feeling. I felt something similar the other day while I was at work. That time it was more like a weird wooshy/floaty feeling in my stomach. To be honest, I thought it was my stomach telling me I was about to poop my pants... minus actually needing to. It's just weird. It's like I have a little submarine floating around in my belly with a horrible navigator - running into walls, etc.. How much room could possibly be in there anyway? So weird.

By the way, dinner was awesome. We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory with Denis and Valerie. Valerie is super woman when it comes to finding all of the good deals in town. Seriously, she's in the know anytime a restaurant has a special going on - and we always reap the benefits. In celebration of 40 years, Spaghetti Factory is offering a lunch/dinner special - 40% off pasta classics every Tuesday through May 26th. Not a bad deal considering it includes bread, salad or soup and ice cream or spumoni for dessert. I highly recommend it. I'm pretty sure we'll be back again before it's over.

Life is good. My stomach is full. Time for some sleep. G'night!

For the masses.. or maybe just those that are interested : )

Today has been another beautiful day. A perfect day to take some pics.

Here is Alex taking part in one of his favorite Sunday activities. This is a weekly ritual. After all, Sunday is a day of rest.


Smokey Joe hanging out in "his" bed with his human slave.


The first glimpse of the baby bump. I'm 18 weeks as of last Saturday - but the pictures don't seem to do it justice. 2 more weeks 'til we solve this baby mystery. I'm leaning towards a brown haired, blue eyed, HAIRY boy, but we'll see.


Alex and his 18 week baby bump.


Us... having a not-so photogenic day. Hard to believe we'll be parents in less than 6 months.


There you have it.
... Now back to our Sunday festivities, whatever they may be.

P.S. Mom, we finished Ben Hur. Alex liked it a lot. So much that he suggested we add it to our movie collection down the road.

"Oh what a beautiful morning..."

Today has been beautiful. Mother Nature must be feeling bad about the little stunt she pulled earlier in the week. 12 inches of snow. It was nice to see the sun out when I left the house this morning. It felt like Spring. This happened once before, but it didn't last. Let's hope this time is different.

I had traffic school this morning at 10. It was strangely enjoyable. The officer conducting it made sure to include lots of video clips and comic relief to keep us (me, plus 70 other traffic criminals) engaged. He even gave us a break halfway through, which confused me considering the class was only 90 minutes long in the first place. Whatever. It's nice to have it over and done with. Now I can continue on with my bad driving habits.

After traffic school I went to Verizon to upgrade my cell phone. I was due for an upgrade today and thank goodness. Mine started to go belly up 2 weeks ago. It rejected the charger one day and was progressively getting worse. We decided to upgrade Alex's phone as well. In the end, we paid a grand total of $50 to upgrade both phones. Not too bad. I'm glad I only have to do it once every 2 years. Dealing with salesmen annoys the crap out of me. The thing is when I'm making a purchase, like a new cell phone, I spend days researching before I go to the store to make the purchase. I do this to avoid being sold something I don't want. The guy today didn't seem to get that. Here's some of today's dialogue:

Verizon guy: "So you want to upgrade your phone. Do you want to take a look around to see what you like?"

Me: "No, thanks. I already have a phone picked out. I'm going for cheap this time around, no need for all of the bells and whistles. I don't use them anyway."

Verizon guy: "Well, that's because you've never had a phone with all the bells and whistles. Did you want to take a look at some of the other phones."

Me: "No, thanks. I'll go with the cheap one." (This is where he started to get annoyed)

Later in the conversation....

Verizon guy: "I see here that you had $7 in texting charges last month. We can sign you up for a texting package that will include 500 texts per month, it's only $5 per month."

Me: "No, thanks. I'm old school and don't usually text much."

Verizon guy: "The charges were primarily on your line."

Me: "Yes, I realize that. I have a friend getting married and I've been texting more lately, but it's not something I plan to do regularly."

So he continued on trying to sell me other things - travel chargers, bluetooth headsets, cases, etc.. I know it's his job, but it annoyed me just the same. He finally came to the conclusion that I just wanted the phone (like I said in the first place) and then he switched into warp speed get-her-out-of-here-so-I-can-make-money-on-someone-else mode. He didn't go over the terms of my contract, transfer the numbers from my old phone, or offer any of the other niceties he could have to make it a little less painful. So I asked. This seemed to annoy him even more. As it turns out, the port on my phone was jacked (hence the not charging) so he couldn't transfer the numbers.. but it was worth a try. If nothing else, seeing the look on his face when I asked if he could transfer the numbers was priceless.

The end result.

His:


Hers:


The rest of this afternoon has been semi-wasteful and unproductive. It's consisted of me playing with the new phone, taking naps and fulfilling cravings. Or, at least one craving. I went to Costco yesterday and scrapped part of the list and replaced it with egg rolls and ravioli. Disgusting, I know. I've eaten 6 egg rolls in the last day and a half and I fully intend on eating a few more before the night is done.

Enough about me... what has Alex been up to today??
Well, Mr. Alex has been at school all day. The poor guy had 3 finals today. The first one was at 7 am and he won't be done with the last one until 8 pm. During the couple hour break he had this afternoon he had to meet with a group to prepare a presentation for Monday, sell back some of his books (a huge accomplishment considering he has NEVER sold back any of his books) and eat lunch. I'm sure he's going to be exhausted when he finally makes it back to the house. We may have to do something fun. Or maybe we'll just finish Ben Hur. We rented it this last Monday and only made it halfway through... and it was the wrong half. I thought something didn't look right, but didn't even consider that I had started the DVD on the wrong side. What a moron.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend...

P.S. Just got a call from Alex. He was upbeat and relieved to be done with finals. He thinks he did pretty well, which is great news for both of us.

Easter... food, food, and more food

HAPPY EASTER!!

I realized mid-week that Easter was rapidly approaching. I considered doing something fun, like Easter baskets or coloring eggs, but never got to the point of actually buying the things necessary to do those. Despite our lack of fun Easter activities, we had an enjoyable day. After church, it was sunny and nice so we had a picnic... well kinda'. We put the kitchen table out on the deck and ate picnic fare - hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad. If only the potato salad had been Jack Manis' potato salad. He makes the best potato salad. (Sorry Jack, the secret is out now).


It felt good to get some sun, but we were both quickly reminded that we need to purchase sunglasses very soon. Blue Eyes + Sun = BAD! Our lunch ended abruptly when an unwanted visitor stopped by. I fled. Alex stayed to take some pics (he's more blog conscious these days, always looking for a photo opp.).


After lunch we watched the remainder of "The Secret Life of Bees" (how ironic). I've heard good things about the book. I thought the movie was just okay. Maybe partially because I was in the mood for something lighthearted and cheery. **By the way, I totally stayed home yesterday and did nothing but watch movies. It felt wonderful. My body's been going through some pregnancy blah-ness these past few days and desperately wanted some rest. So I gave in. After finishing up the movie we took a short nap and moved on to the main event of the day - a new dinner recipe! I wanted chicken and Alex is a Chicken Parmesan fan. I went with that. I was worried I might botch it up, but it turned out great (minus the first chicken breast, it was blackened in a bad way). It's always good when a meal goes above and beyond just being edible. Check it out - complete with Green Beans Sorrento and potatoes:


Now that I'm completely stuffed I think I might just call it a night.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

P.S. The Chicken Parmesan recipe came from my new favorite cookbook - The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Everything I've made from this cookbook tastes great. The directions are explicit and east to follow, complete with pictures and extra tips to make things turn out just right. The best part is it gives your guests the illusion that you know how to cook - I love it!!

Serving 6 Months in Prison...

My past has finally caught up with me and now it's time to pay the price. I didn't realize the implication of these offenses when I committed them, but my eyes have since been opened. The next 6 months are looking bleak as Alex and I will be serving time in "Prison".

Offense #1: The Marriage.

Offense #2: Relocation to Provo.

Offense #3: The Baby.

In Provo, they don't lock you up in a normal facility. They have a special place where all of the procreating offenders are grouped together. They call it Wymount Terrace. For those of you who aren't familiar, Wymount Terrace is the only on-campus married housing at BYU. Alex and I signed a contract yesterday and will make the move in early July. We decided it would probably be a good idea to tour the place to see if it was seriously McNasty before we finalized the contract.

Here's our conclusion: The original section, South Wymount, where our unit is located, was built in the early 60's and doesn't appear to have been updated/remodeled since. From the outside they look pretty harmless. Old, but livable.


This next picture is kinda' misleading. It definitely didn't look this tidy. People's balconies were loaded with stuff. We felt like we were in the projects... the Provo projects.


Inside, the kitchen was cool in a retro kind of way. The countertop was a funky pink/green squares print with a built-in hot plate, gas stove, and a creepy walk-in pantry. It had the feel of going into a remote attic room, with a pull cord single light bulb (no fixture), eerie silence and cobwebs. I never knew a pantry could give me the heebie-jeebies like that... but it had a decent amount of space for food, so I'm okay with it.


Other amentities. Hmmm... There is no dishwasher, washer/dryer or air conditioning in the unit (that's one way to domesticate a person and get them out of the house once in awhile)... definitely not a lot of luxuries. In fact, there aren't any! The apartment walls consist of white cinder block, the floors are covered in utility-type non-plush carpet. The bathroom is tile on tile. Small tiles on the floor, larger tiles in the shower with a small white sink and medicine cabinet. While I knew the apartments weren't going to be super amazing, I didn't think they would be so prison cell-esque. We both had to take a minute to consider if we were up for this type of adventure.

After a long discussion of pros and cons, we decided to go for it. Why? Because there is one huge perk - it's cheap! The rent is $594 per month and includes water, sewer, garbage, cable and phone. We will have to pay for laundry, but there's a laundry facility visible from our front door and it's relatively cheap. We have a corner unit located on the ground floor with a nice view from the front window (grassy lawn vs. people's patio loot). Even though the apartment has it's drawbacks, I feel good about our decision to live there. I think we may even end up liking it. The temple is within walking distance and will make for an excellent outing with baby and give me an opportunity to enhance my stroller pushing skills. Plus, we'll have lots of new married couples to meet, probably in a situation much like ours. Looks like I'll get the BYU college experience after all, minus the going to college part.

Now, if only we could figure out a way to fit all of our stuff in this little space...

Boofs!

The guilt is setting in... time for a quick blog update.

Last week Alex's family came down for a visit. We were so ready for the company, and it sounds like they needed the break as well. We had lots of time to hang out, see the sites, watch movies and do my favorite thing - EAT! We've only been away from Bellingham for a year, but it seems like forever. Sophie is huge now (as in tall). I can't believe how much she's grown. Pretty soon she'll be taller than Maren... and maybe even Austin. Maren is quite the lady and on the fast track to independence. I'm impressed with her ability to stay on task and get things done - a skill I haven't managed to tackle. Austin just makes me laugh. I've had Jamaican one-liners running through my head all day. Teri spent the week filling our freezer and our bellies with yummy home cooked meals. I've had zero desire to cook lately, so it was a welcomed change to have real food again. Teri always makes it look so effortless. I've vowed to do better in the cooking department (*that is, after the freezer is empty). Steve, as always, brought a calming spirit to our home. I don't know where it comes from, but things just seem a lot less hectic when he's here. He's a walking chill pill.



After a week of playing, it was time for the family to get back to business. They left early Monday morning and arrived home just in time to enjoy some sunny weather. We've had a couple nice days here as well. I have a sneaky suspicion we'll get a few more and then Summer will begin. I don't remember much about Summer in Utah, except that it is much like Winter. Way too long, way too extreme in temperatures and MISERABLE! I'm not ready to deal with that, especially with my built-in heater tummy.

Speaking of heater tummy. I saw the doctor last Monday and everything still appears to be going well. I'm feeling much better now that I'm taking meds for the nausea. I may have even gained some weight. The pooch is definitely growing. Again, we got to listen to Baby Booth's heartbeat (around 150/153 beats per minute) and go over any other questions/concerns we had. On our way out we scheduled the appointment I've been waiting for - the ultrasound! Assuming the baby doesn't play any funny tricks on us, we should know what we're having on May 5th. I may even post some pics if it looks human.

Here are a few other pics taken recently. Alex discovered **the "hill" behind our house and decided to do some exploring one day.


**The "Hill" in the Fall (for reference)


.. and the view from the top (*note, the small red square in this first pic is Alex's car parked in our driveway).