Is it really almost March already???

Time is flying as fast as it was last year, it’s crazy! Already we are about to be into March. I’m pretty excited about stuff in the upcoming months. For starters, at my job our dealership is about to become a Mini dealer, and we’re moving the service department from the building we are in to the building next door. The projected date that all of that should be complete is April 1st (we’ll see, though, lots of delays so far), so the next several weeks should be hectic and crazy at work as we all move everything next door. I’m really excited about it, though. Losing Saab and Hummer has been sad, they are both lines that are super popular and our customers are definitely disappointed that we’re not carrying them anymore. However, we sell a whole bunch of pre-owned vehicles and our body shop does really well…so everything will be great. A new building and a new line of cars is going to be very exciting!

Something Andrew and I are looking forward to a lot is our trip to Georgia in April. Zach and Holly are moving their family to Atlanta for Zach’s job, and it’s such a great opportunity for them! We will be going to visit them in the middle of April to see their new place, hang out for about a week…it will be so much fun! Something I am really, really excited about is the Georgia Aquarium. It’s the largest aquarium in the WORLD, with over 8 million gallons of water! I’m super excited to see their exhibits, it’s going to be amazing! Andrew and Zach are both great cooks and so they love and appreciate good food. So we’re hoping to hit up some places featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives for some authentic local fare. The most awesome part? Baby time with Amelia!!!!!!!!!!!! =)

The end of this month has been draining. We recently discovered a stray cat that has been hanging around our building. We saw it in the parking lot one night, and I always try to call stray cats over, I just hate to see homeless animals, it truly breaks my heart. Well, every cat my WHOLE LIFE has always run away. This one ran right up to Andrew, and then halfway followed us home. We saw it around for a couple of weeks, and it was always super friendly. One night I was talking to Andrew as I was driving home, and I was still on the phone as I was walking through the parking lot. There was that cat, sitting on top of an AC unit. It jumped down and started rubbing against my legs and purring. So I stopped and pet it for awhile (we thought it was a boy, ended up being a girl), and she followed me up the stairs. I knew it was going to be raining that night and next day, and I just couldn’t go inside and leave it outside. So I told Andrew what I was doing, sat down at the top of the stairs (she sat by me for over 30 minutes), and began calling people. Operation Kindness was the only open place, they were full. A few animal lovers I called couldn’t take her in for the night, so I just started calling everyone. Finally came to my coworker, who I just knew would say no because she doesn’t want animals in her house, and SHE SAID YES to keeping her for the night. We took old food/water dishes and a litter box and some wet food, put her in the carrier, and drove her to my coworker’s apartment.

I stayed up until well after 1:00 in the morning looking up shelters to call the next morning, sending out some e-mails that people would see first thing in the morning, things like that. Then I stayed up after Andrew left for work calling rescue groups and no-kill shelters. No one was open that time of morning, but I left voicemails saying “I know your message says you’re full and not accepting any animals at the moment, but if you know of any foster moms or ANYONE that might be able to save this little kitty, I’d love to get a call back.” One lady from a group called Cat Matchers called me back at one point, and basically told me I needed to take the cat in, I needed to be doing my part to help. When I tried to explain that the deposit is too much, I already have on cat that I didn’t think would react well, etc, she replied with, “I hear a bunch of I can’ts, but the fact is that YOU CAN help, and YOU SHOULD.” Had me in tears. Not only was I tired and feeling like this little kitty’s fate was in my hands, this woman was trying to tell me I wasn’t being a good person and I needed to take her in.

As the morning went on, no luck came my way, I became increasingly frustrated with some people’s just utter lack of caring about the whole thing. I had to go to work, so I did. At work, I finally began to get calls back that I’d been HOPING for. “Ma’am, we’re all full but I do know of another group you can try…” People who couldn’t help weren’t just telling me that and hanging up, they were giving me other options. It was nice to get these calls. Finally a lady from a dog rescue place I’d called returned my call, explaining that obviously she couldn’t take a cat, but she knew a few foster moms, and gave me their numbers. One lady I reached was the one. She was from an organization called Texas Paw Prints and was also a foster mom herself. I assured her I would take the cat to my vet and get her checked up and cleaned up. When I went Friday afternoon (my coworker kept her another night, eternally grateful!) to pick up the kitty from my coworker’s place, the cat won me over the rest of the way. She was just THE SWEETEST little girl, I couldn’t resist. I talked to Andrew and he agreed that we could try to keep her IF she was disease/flea/tick/bugs-in-general free. Which she was (I found out over $100 later, animal tests are EXPENSIVE). So Andrew took her home, and everything went downhill from there. Poor kitty had been shuffled around, been poked at, all sorts of disorienting things, and now she was being locked up in our bedroom, knowing a big cat was on the other side of the door. So by the time the end of the night came around and we moved her to the bathroom, she was so distraught that she peed all over our bathroom. The foster mom had given us some advice on how to introduce the cats to each other slowly: lock new kitty up for awhile, then lock up Dewey and let them roam around where the other one was and smell each other. Then at night, leave new kitty in the bathroom so Dewey doesn’t feel left out of too much of his place. Well, we never were able to lock up Dewey and switch them out. He FUH-REAKED out and scratched and hissed and was CLEARLY horrified out of his mind. I knew he would react like that: Dewey isn’t your average cat. He’s more than a little bit neurotic and sensitive. So after a long night of him being afraid and her crying through the night and pulling at the carpet and chewing our bathroom door, I was worn out the next morning and just couldn’t do it anymore. After Andrew got off of work, he drove the kitty to Irving to the foster mom. She will give her a home until someone adopts her. And if that baby girl is even HALF as lovable as she was around us, someone will adopt her soon. She’s just too sweet and adorable to pass up. =)

Saturday after I got off of work, Andrew and I got to work sanitizing the bedroom/bathroom where she stayed. The floors were Swiffered twice and scrubbed with antibacterial soapy wipes. All towels and the bathmat were removed to wash, as was the comforter she peed on. The shower curtain was heavily Febrezed, and Andrew had bought a new floor rug at the store, so we threw the old one away. Windows were opened (a new experience for Dewey, he was fascinated!), carpet was vacuumed and Febrezed, bedroom curtains and bed were Febrezed…as much of her smell as we could get to was removed. We stayed in the rest of the evening to make sure Dewey started to calm down and relax. When he got it through his thick little skull that there was no monster kitty that was going to eat him in the apartment anymore, he CRASHED and finally looked like he got a real bit of sleep. Poor kitty!



Dewey was mostly back to normal by Sunday afternoon...




...so we decided to go out to dinner with my sister and her family. We went to Tin Star, our second time to go. I just love that place, it’s SO YUMMY!! We’re definitely going to have to go back more often, there are so many tacos I want to try (chicken-fried steak/chicken tacos?? Yes please!!).

I got to go to Ladies’ Night at The Melting Pot this past week, I went with Sara and Robyn. We had a blast. It took them about 45 minutes to get us our table, so the manager bought us a round of drinks: nice!! I hope the next LNO is a menu we love again, because that is just too much fun at a fraction of the price!

I haven’t been reading my book too much. I’m still only a few chapters into Moby Dick. My problem is that I don’t ever read at home, I’m watching TV and hanging out with Andrew. So I only have time to read at work, but this book is tough to read when I’m getting interrupted a lot. The language is such that I need to read uninterrupted and really pay attention, and I just can’t do that at work. So hopefully I’ll get to find time here, soon.

And that’s about it! I’m looking forward to this upcoming three-day weekend so I can sort of recharge my internal batteries, catch up on some zzz’s, and get some things crossed off the To Do list. Hope all of you had a great month of February!!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!! I have to admit, I kind of love this holiday. I obviously didn’t care for it much when I was single, but I just love it now. I also admit that I love the commercialism of it…there, I said it!! I know people say all the time how holidays are “so commercial” and that the true meaning of holidays can get lost. While I believe that can be true, it’s not with me. I love holidays for what they are supposed to be, AND I love the commercialism of them. I love to see hearts and chocolates and teddy bears on Valentine’s Day. I love “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” T-shirts, clovers, and green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. I love fireworks and red/white/blue EVERYTHING on Independence Day. I love pumpkins and ghosts on Halloween, turkeys and cornucopias on Thanksgiving, and I love each and every little commercial thing about Christmas.

But I also love meanings. I feel incredibly patriotic when I hear “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood every year. Sometimes I even get a little teary. Because in those few minutes of the song, I think about how I AM proud to be an American. I am blessed to be living in America, and I always think about that when I hear that song…usually during the “commercial” fireworks. =)

I think Thanksgiving ties with Christmas as my favorite holiday. Partly for the food, and partly because I love coming together with loved ones to eat and think about everything I have to be thankful for.

And of course there is Christmas. I cannot wait to have kids and have a much different kind of Christmas with them than I had growing up. Sure, there were presents and commercialism GALORE at my house as a kid (as there will be at our house with our future children). But my parents sadly never made a point to remind us what Christmas was really all about. The only time I heard anything about the true meaning was when I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, and as a child I had no idea what Linus was talking about. It was my least favorite part of the movie. Now it’s probably my favorite part. It’s a sweet, touching moment.

And I want that for my kids…to be aware of and celebrate the meaning of these big commercial holidays, but to know it’s ALSO okay to enjoy the commercialism.

So a few quick “Did you know?”s about Valentine’s Day. It actually is thought to honor up to seven people, although no one knows much about many of them. Valentine of Rome was martyred in 269 AD (Wikipedia says only that he was a “Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome”). Today, tourists visit the church in Dublin where the Saint’s remains are carried to the high altar for a mass “dedicated to young people and all those in love”. The holiday wasn’t linked to anything to do with romance until the 14th century, when Chaucer wrote a little something to honor the engagement anniversary of King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Apparently he was referring to a different Valentine in his poem, but Valentine’s Day being a romantic holiday seems to have “started” around then.

The traditional poem we all know and have seen variations of over the years is from a collection of English nursery rhymes called “Gammer Gurton’s Garland” from 1784, and it goes like this:

“The rose is red, the violet's blue
The honey's sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.”

So there you go. That’s how everything got started, and you can impress people with your knowledge. J

And today is a holiday, as I said, I never much cared for when I was single. Before I met Andrew, I didn’t ever have a single valentine. I was always alone on Valentine’s Day. So for me, this holiday has only ever been mine and Andrew’s. I mentioned to him last night that nothing will ever top our first Valentine’s Day together. He picked me up at my house to spend the weekend with him for the first time. He brought me flowers and we were both dressed up. It was our first time at Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House (now our favorite restaurant) and my first time to step outside my comfort zone and try new foods (I tried a crab cake that came with my bisque, which is now one of my favorite foods). We stopped at Target on our way back to his apartment and bought stuff to make s’mores and we got this Italian instrumental CD I’d been wanting. We used wire coat hangers to roast marshmallows in his fireplace (not the smartest idea, they got hot for our hands and we needed oven mitts) and made s’mores. We danced to some music from the CD and sat and talked quietly while the fire died down. It was absolutely perfect, and it was my very first REAL Valentine’s Day. We first said “I love you” on the 13th…it was all so wonderful. Ranks right up there with getting married, in my mind. And since that wonderful Valentine’s Day, Andrew has always gone out of his way to make me feel loved, safe, and happy. He is now, and forever will be, my one and only valentine. I love you so much, babe. Happy Valentine’s Day!

The weekend

We have had a great weeked so far! Saturday morning I got my hair cut, then was surprised to find out my sister's hair appointment was right after mine, so I stayed around to visit. Then my sister, our hair stylist, and I went next door to Blue Mesa Grill for lunch. So much fun!!

Then Andrew and I hung around at the apartment for a little bit, then went to go pick up my little brothers! We took them to Cheddar's and enjoyed lots of good food and dessert. Then we killed time back at our place before seeing Tangled, and it was just a really great evening with them!

Today we got up and went to the store to get some Super Bowl snacks, and we stopped at Petsmart to get food and litter for Dewey. We also got him a new toy, which he loves!







Now we're watching TV and eating some homemade turkey queso! Hope all of you have a great weekend and Superbowl Sunday!

Snow day!!

I've been braving the ice skating rink that is my route to work all week, but today I put my foot down. I texted my boss and told her I wasn't comfortable getting out again, and she said, "Okay, stay home." So I have been RELAXING all morning. I took a long shower, paid off the last thing that was on my credit (HOORAY!), and have been watching an America's Next Top Model marathon on TV while Facebooking and watching Dewey burrow into the fleece blanket next to me.

I am looking forward to getting some reading done today. I've been devouring books the last year or so. Andrew got me a bunch of books for Christmas, all by Jodi Picoult, and I've been dying to get into them. But first I had to finish a book a friend loaned me by Clive Barker. It was called "Weaveworld" and I was surprised that I liked it! It was about another world and dimension, and those kinds of books aren't usually my thing. I loved Harry Potter, but I'm not really into Twilight or anything supernatural. Clive Barker and Karen Marie Moning have showed me that I can enjoy that genre of books, when it's done right. So I'm excited to check out some other things by them.

I've also decided to "grow up" in my reading. I love Harry Potter and the latest-greatest bestsellers...but I want to go back and read (and in some cases RE-read) the classics. I want to read Jane Austen, I can't remember ever reading anything by her. I want to read some Charles Dickens. Titles like A Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace and all the books my English teachers thought were amazing have been on my To Buy list.

So on my last trip to the bookstore (where, by the way, I found a clearance copy of Santa Mouse: my favorite childhood Christmas story!) I bought Moby Dick. My brains tells me that it's one of "those" books I'd have thrown a fit about having to read ten years ago. But I'm older and wiser and I am super stoked to start reading some literary classics! I just wish I could get involved with a book club that is reading books like this! If anyone knows of one that wants a new member, let me know. :)

I'm excited about this upcoming three day weekeend. For starters, my fabulous husband will be off on Monday with me, and I'm so excited about that! But we are taking my two younger brothers to dinner, and maybe a movie, on Saturday night. I'm SO EXCITED!!!! Since the wedding, I've only seen them at Christmas, and I miss them like crazy! Add to that some sleeping in and the Super Bowl...gonna be a fun-filled weekend. Super stoked!

Well that's all I got! No new pictures, but I thought I'd try to stay on top of blogging. Hope everyone is staying safe and warm! Have a great weekend!!