Things that are too good to be true

There are some things that sound awesome that will just never happen. Consider:

1. Winning the Powerball. Or even Scratch-Its. No matter how often or how much I play, I never win anything significant. I think I need to move to Kansas or Iowa--people there seem to win Powerball jackpots a lot recently, even if they are *only* $15 million.

2. Those "free" laptops, iPods, $500 gift cards, Xboxes, __fill in the blank with whatever you might want__. This one might be a little more attainable than winning the Powerball, but the pain and suffering you have to go through to cash in is rarely worth it, unless you're obsessive about canceling trial memberships and you don't care if your credit gets pulled for a bunch of new credit cards.

3. Three cats in my house that get along. For christsake. We've had Max the kitten for, what, 8 weeks now. He gets along with our other two girls separately just fine, but the two girls STILL freak out on each other. Manga's still locked up in our room, with baby gates in the door so that she won't get out and Miji won't get in. Max can climb them though. This leads into...

4. A decent night's sleep. I sleep with a big body pillow. I love it. Manga has realized this and claimed it as her bed during the day when we're not in the room. This is problematic at night when, because she's a cat, the pillow supposedly is still her bed. I swear, I had to shove/push/throw/drop her off of my head/arm/chest/side so many times last night that I can't count them.

5. Pumpkin ice cream. Oh, wait. That's not too good to be true. It exists. There's a local grocery store here that carries Snowqualmie brand of pumpkin ice cream this time of year, which far surpasses anything made by Breyer's, Dreyer's, or any other mass produced ice cream. However, it may as well be too good to be true during the week when it's not our free day. I managed to make a pint of it last the whole month of September since we could only eat it on Saturdays. That's just unheard of from me. One pint of ice cream in the house for a month? That's crazy talk.

Three year anniversary

Sunday was our third wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we took a one-night trip out to Kahneeta--a place I've never been but have wanted to go to for awhile now. On the drive out there, we stopped at the Gap outlet. This was a very necessary trip as I'm shrinking out of all of my beloved jeans and corduroys. After a quick stop at the Huckleberry Inn for a maple bar, we got to the resort around 1:30 and were able to check in before their insanely late official check-in time (4:30!). We checked out the room and then went to the restaurant for a bite of lunch. Marc tried his luck in the casino, then we went to the big, warm springs-heated pool. That was cool--actually, it was very warm. :)

After dinner we just hung out in the room relaxing, which was something Marc desperately needed and I always treasure. Sunday we laid by the non-warm springs pool for awhile before we checked out. On the way out, we stopped at the village area to play mini golf. Marc won by 1. That's what I get for all my trash talking before we started playing. It was an awesome weekend, and it was the first time in awhile that we've really been disconnected from computers and phones for a significant period. It was nice to focus completely on each other. Happy Anniversary to my hunny!

BFL Update

Just a quick Body-For-Life update. I have lots to write about, but I can't get it all down at once.

We're now 4 weeks into the BFL program. I've lost 8 pounds. That leaves me with 8 weeks to lose the remaining 8 pounds to meet my goal. Marc's lost about 12 pounds. It's awesome to watch our bodies transform! And we feel better, too. It was hard last week not to cheat--we had "Staff Appreciation Week" at work, which included lots of non-BFL food. I avoided it though.

More later...

My footwear addiction

It's official. I've turned into a shoe whore. In my younger years, even as recently as a year or two ago, I didn't care that much about shoes. That changed when two things happened. 1. My friends at work introduced me to Dansko clogs. 2. They built an REI just a mile or two from our house. These two things have been my downfall.

Between purchases on ebay and at REI, I've amassed no fewer than 9 pairs of Danskos in the last year or so. Then, back in the spring, we discovered Keens. After tonight's two purchases, I have 3 pairs. That's 12 pairs of shoes in 12 months. Maybe this isn't a big deal to some of the ladies out there, but for someone who maybe bought a pair of shoes every 4-6 months before, it's quite a change. It's even shifted the way I get ready in the morning--sometimes I have to plan an outfit around the shoes I want to wear that day. Sad. But my feet are so comfortable.

Happy Birthday, Marc!

Today is my honey's 34th birthday! In honor of the special day, I got sick enough to stay home from work so that he could watch me nap most of the day. Yeah, I know, I go all out. I'm feeling better now, and even though I felt like crud, it was nice spending the day with my hubby.

Escaping jury duty

I got a summons for federal jury duty. I was due to report in downtown Portland at 8:30 this morning (talk about a traffic nightmare). Fortunately, when I called the recorded message last Friday to verify whether I needed to report, they said that my panel wasn't needed. Hooray! Double-bonus: they were foolish enough to tell me when I would get called again (April 24, 2007), so now I know exactly when to plan a spring vacation. Ha! I've never been called for jury duty before, so in a way, I was kinda looking forward to it. Not so much the hassle around it--getting there, missing work, potentially sitting around all day doing nothing--but for the actual process. I'm sure my day will come.

I'm still fighting off a really annoying sore throat. I have it every morning when I wake up, and it comes back in the evening. At least it hasn't been bad enough to keep me from work. I suck on Cold-Eeze every day, but it's not helping.

The diet/exercise plan is still going strong. I lost a few pounds last week, but then I gained some back. I like to think that it's because muscle weighs more than fat, but that's probably a bit wishful at this point. When I used our little body fat monitor thingy, it did say I was down 1 percent of body fat. That's promising.

This weekend, Marc's deserting me and leaving the country. He and Ben are going up to Vancouver, Canada, to see Claus. Marc's gonna meet with Claus's new boss to discuss some sales possibilities with biological security products. It sounds really promising and exciting! But being left alone means that one thing is sure to happen: I will clean the house. For whatever reason, that seems to be the first thing I gravitate toward when I'm alone at home. I think it's because I don't have someone to hang out with on the couch, and I know I won't bother anyone with the noise (clanking dishes, noisy vacuuming, washers and dryers, etc).

Saturday is our free eating/no workout day, and it should be interesting by myself. I'm already making a list of some foods I'll require when I don't have any restrictions. We didn't have ice cream or cookies last week, so those are at the top of the list. And pizza. And biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

On Sunday, probably before Marc gets home, I'll be down at Saturday Market with my recorder quartet, Piping Hot, for a performance. We haven't played since Christmas down at Pioneer Place. It should be fun. I'll try to refrain from walking around and spending money at the market afterwards.

Updates

It's been awhile. Sorry.

1. The cats are still segregated. Manga seems to get along pretty well with Max though, and Miji actually approached Mange yesterday without any disasterous side effects. Hopefully we'll get them all in one place soon. In other cat news, Max officially likes everything we eat. Add spinach, protein shakes, black olives, and pears to the list. Seriously, we haven't found much that he won't eat.

2. I kinda learned how to wakeboard over the weekend. Our friends Aaron and Robyn have access to his dad's boat at a camping "hideaway" on Lake Merwin. There's a perfect view of Mt. St. Helens from the campsite--it's awesome. Anyway, Aaron talked me into a wet suit and onto a wakeboard. I think it took me 3 or 4 times, but I did actually stand up for a good 15 seconds. It might be awhile before I get to try again--Robyn's due to have her twins in November, which means that it'll be awhile (18 years?) before we see them again. ;)

3. We're on a diet. I've been stuck with 10-15 extra pounds that I'd like to shed. Marc has some extra weight, too. We decided to do Body For Life. We tried it once several years ago but fizzled out. This time we're doing it. It should be easier since we have a good home gym now compard to having to go to the gym before or after work. We just started on Monday, and the program lasts 12 weeks. Almost perfect for our Maui vacation, which is 12 weeks from this Thursday. We're gonna be sexy beasts!!

4. Laura and I finally moved into our new office. We have a bigger space now to share, which is good because the first office they stuck us in was kinda cramped. I just got a call from her actually--her dog broke her finger this afternoon, and her left arm is in a cast up her forearm. What a bummer! I've never broken a bone or had a cast, but I did break my teeth, which I think is enough.

5. Fall TV is getting closer. I'm looking forward to Lost. I'm also intrigued by that new show Heroes. There are quite a few new shows that look like they'll be worth checking out. I have a feeling we'll be putting the Media Center to good use.

That's it for now. I'm fighting a sore throat, and with my workouts now (okay, just a cardio workout yesterday and weights today--but when you're completely out of shape, that's a lot!), I'm going to bed early.

The cat who likes canteloupe

It's official. Our new kitten is crazy.

First things first: we've pretty much agreed on calling him Max (short for Maximus). Marley was a very close 2nd (thanks, Laura!), but he just isn't "chill" enough for such a laid-back name.

Besides the usual kitten behavior, this kitten is especially nuts. By mistake at first, and then through a sincere curiousity, in the last week we've discovered that Max likes cookies (fresh-baked), cantaloupe, tomato, granola bars, beans, and cornbread along with the requisite tuna and turkey. I've had a cat before that liked canteloupe, amazingly, but I've never known a cat to have a taste for such a variety of human food. It's wacky!

In other cat news, Max and Miji are getting along famously. Manga's still locked away in our bedroom. Now we have to work on reintroducing her to her longtime buddy and the new kitten. I actually went out and bought a couple books over the weekend to try to help me understand what's going on in Manga's head. I recommend anything by Pam Johnson-Bennett if you're trying to understand your cat's goofy, annoying, or bad behavior.

Progress with the cats

Well, Manga is separated from Miji and the baby, since she's been trying to kill Miji lately. We kept her in our room last night, and she snuggled with us under the covers. It's been a long time since we slept with a kitty. (Miji ruined that because she wouldn't shut up in the middle of the night.)

Today, we let the baby come downstairs and hang out with Miji. Though Miji hissed and spat a bit at first, now they're playing like pretty good friends. Every once in awhile the baby poofs up his tail if he gets scared, but they're sharing toys and chasing each other around--playing nicely--now.

So now the question is, how long do we keep Manga separated? And how do we get her acquainted to the kitten? From past experience, we've seen that Manga and Miji usually just work things out all of a sudden one day. I don't know if that will happen this time since there's a new cat now, too.

Wish us luck. At least we have two cats getting along...

I've been so neglectful

I guess a few things have happened since I last wrote.

1. I bought the Pure Beech sheets that Laura recommended in a previous blog. NICE. We're loving them. Along the modal fabric theme, I also bought some modal/cotton blend towels (best I've ever used), and a few modal/cotton shirts from Gap and Old Navy. Love it all.

2. We've seen a couple more movies. Miami Vice was good but a bit slow in a few places. Overall, I'd recommend it. The Da Vinci Code I really liked. I read the book awhile back, and I wasn't disappointed by the movie. (Plus for $3 at the cheap theater where you can eat pizza and drink beer, how can you complain.)

3. We visited a couple of cat breeders today. First we met a guy who raises all sorts of exotic cats--Bengals, Savannahs, Caracals, Bobcats, Lynx. He also had a couple monkeys and lemurs. Craziness. All of his cats were really pretty, and it was the first time we'd seen Savannahs and their Serval relatives. Absolutely gorgeous cats. We walked away without a kitten though. Then we met a lady who breeds Abyssinians. We didn't walk away from there empty-handed. Yes, we got another cat. He's 12 weeks old and breaks the female streak in the house, so Marc's not the only guy anymore. We're keeping our yet unnamed baby away from Manga and Miji for awhile. If you know anything about what we've gone through with Manga freaking out at other cats, you understand why. If you don't know about Manga's fits, you don't want to. She can get ugly, and the wild cat in her really comes out. Anyway, we're really excited about our new cat. We're trying to decide on a good name that starts with "M" for him--to keep the naming streak alive. So far on the list we're considering Maxim or Maximus, Marmot, Marcello, Mugato, Mojito... If you have any good ideas, let us know.