That pretty much sums up my day, and suprisingly de-mossing turned out to be pretty fun. The step-kids came out and helped us (granted they earned $8 and $6 in allowance, but that's pretty cheap labor), and we had a fun time though it was rather back breaking labor. It involved hoe-ing up the backlawn and laying down some grass seeds and watering. I am hoping that I can get the outside of the house looking pretty nice this summer. Of course I am always one for wanting to garden and never doing it - I am sure Bran fondly remembers the garden we planted in MN...
I also posted up on craigslist to see if some people would be interested in joining our online book club. We only have about 5 members who have been regular contributors and I'd like more variety of opinions (we have a total of 17 members, but continuing education has co-opted at least two of them). The times we argue about books are very fun and people I'm not friends with have a bigger variety of opinions anyway. We will see who we get to respond, but (as always) if any readers of this blog want to join just let me know.
Have a tremendous week!
Because real news is just too depressing!
Sometimes when I can't find anything else to write about on my website I end up writing about current events. But I can't find any words to say about current events recently, they are just too depressing. It makes me very sad to see what happens in our world. So in the absense of that, I will update you on my entirely thrilling life.
Scott and I have been shopping for couches. We finally found 'the one' at La-Z-Boy, though it isn't a recliner couch. It is beautiful and comfortable, long and poofy, just what a couple needs. Now it is a little expensive and we are hoping to purchase two couches as we currently have two couches and they both need to be replaced. One because a cat peed on it (probably not one of the ones we have now) and one because it is ugly and uncomfortable. Wish us luck in finding a quasi-matching cheap couch. Don't worry, there will be pictures when we purchase one... or both...
Recently I read the book Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez, I very much appreciated her fresh look at Afganistan. It was amazing to see what another American woman thinks of the culture, especially when she is immersed in it. Deborah went to Afganistan as a way to escape her abusive husband, and ended up assisting (and pioneering) a beauty school. It turned out that beauty salons were very big before the Taliban, and then were closed when the Taliban took over. As every woman knows, beauty salons are a place for women to be together and to be themselves. The novel is a highly recommended read, not necessarily because the writing is wonderful, but because the story is enlightening. Plus I very much like the line "You tell one thousand Afgani wives to sit, they sit. You tell one American wife to sit, she says 'kiss my ass.'" Ha!
Hope you are all having a wonderful week!
I just have nothing to say right now, it's hard to focus on anything outside of work. I have been working a lot, putting in some overtime as we have been, and continue to be, short staffed.
Yesterday I went and spent some time with my madre, we went a got vitamens for me, cat food for the cats (of course), and I was able to eat some dinner with them. It was my mom and Glenn's 5th anniversary, we even watched their wedding video.
Right now I am finishing up watching The Holiday, which I have to say is a little too cheesy for even me. It was decent, just not a great movie, and definetly a 'Christmasy' movie. Doing laundry, and considering cleaning more. But it's 7pm, which means soon I will be heading to bed.
Have a good week! Perhaps I will even post more later.
Scott and I went up to Victoria Canada this weekend and had a lovely little 'mini moon', which is what I have decided to call it. I was able to stay at a lovely resort owned by my company, for cheap. It was a beautiful room and nice place, we even went sightseeing, to the museum and to a pub (it's very English). Unfortunately there wasn't much sun and warmth, which I would have appreciated. Scott enjoyed 'america jr' and we did have fun mocking the country, poor Canada. Though they do have different sausage McMuffins at the McDonalds, which was horrible, I mean the sausage McMuffin is PERFECT, you shouldn't mess with it.
We even caught up on some movie watching (no, not that kind!) with our in-room TV. We watched The Pursuit of Happyness (graded a solid B), and The Good Shepard (graded a B-) and Scott watched Pan's Labryth (to which he said 'eh'). We saw Blades of Glory before we left and it was hilarious!
That's about all that's going on in my life besides my work, work, work!!
A few months ago my mother managed to convince me to start feeding my cats better food. So, prompted by Quizz's bladder infection, I switched them from Iams to Nature's Variety and now I am glad I did. The recent recall has brought out the worst information about the pet food companies, like the fact they are all made in the same factories (albeit probably different ingredients), and that they stuff their foods with wheat gluten. Then yesterday I heard that the dry food recall had started with some Del Monte foods which had been infected by the same wheat. Even though I buy my (relatively expensive) cat food at a speciality store and I had read all the ingredients before, I came home and immediately checked the food, just to be sure. Imagine my surprised when it actually says, on the back, no wheat or wheat gluten as those are not neccessary for cats, instead the mix in whole grains, rice, barley and millet.
So outside of my cats being healthier, having healthier coats, not throwing up as many hairballs, they are also safe from the recalls. I am very excited about not having cats with kidney failure or other problems. Plus, how could you wish anything bad on these cute cats? Ok that's kinda blurry, but here's a clear picture of Quizz-tastic and you can tell he's just as cute as ever. Little Kitty (our name for the orange one, cause we never call him Snuggles) has the personality of Puss-N-Boots from Shrek, especially the cute 'but you don't want to say no to me' look.
Ah, kitties, they are so cute. It's so hard to say no to them, unless it's 3am and they've just jumped on your feet in bed...