Sunday, March 14, 2010

Cat Naps

Sundays were meant for napping ....


... and our feline population has this activity down pat!

The most popular nap spot is, of course, on a bed.



Especially if there is a micro-fiber blankie to stretch out on ---


This is Roscoe, our 22 pound bruiser.

Of course, sleeping alone is no fun.


Clarice and Baggy also like the snuggly micro-fiber blankie.

Dos likes my quilt.  He can usually be found laying on it.



Of course, if you look at him from another angle, you'll
notice that he's not alone either!



That big black blob behind him is actually our largest pussycat!


Goliath isn't very understanding when I refuse
 to share my pillows with him at night!

Lily prefers to sleep on whatever shirts or jackets I have on the sewing center.



It's a good thing that Mardell is cat-napping as well ---


 --- otherwise, Little Sneak might be in big trouble!


Nothing like a nice comfy, quilting machine to sleep on.

We round out the afternoon of naps with the old man, 
our eighteen year old relic, and Zeda, our one-eyed wonder.


They enjoy the sunbeams that stream in the picture window.
Or at least they would if the sun would ever return.

That accounts for everyone except Trey.
(we named our cat long before Sister Two named their baby)

He didn't come home last night and we haven't seen
hide nor hair of him all day.

That usually doesn't bode well.


This is his favorite nap spot ---
but of course, that's after consuming an
eighteen pound brined turkey!

Monday, March 8, 2010

It's a Sickness, Really

Niece One and I both look forward to March ....
but for entirely different reasons.


She is nutso about basketball

and

I am nutso about children's books.

The first week-end in March is the annual
Delta Kappa Gamma book sale.

I look forward to it all year long.

It begins at 8:00, but the line forms well before that.
This year we convinced Ken and Vicki to go with us.


Actually we just convinced Vicki. 
 We had to bribe Ken with the promise 
of Red Lobster.

Naturally, Mardell and I couldn't sleep the night 
before and so we were awake at 2 a.m.

We had to be at their house by 5, so we needed to be up by 4
in order to feed all of the beasties and settle them in for the day.

So we did the logical thing ..... we got up and watched a movie.

Our drive to Cheyenne was very uneventful.
We arrived at this year's location (it seems to move every year) before 7
and a line had already formed.


Vicki and I dutifully got out of the nice, warm car and braved the 
#&^% wind and cold of Cheyenne.


Seriously, it was much too cold to be standing outside.
We really should have our heads examined!

If our kids only knew what lengths we are 
willing to go to in order to provide quality literature for their little minds!

Finally, we got inside and headed straight for the children's section
along with every other crazy teacher.  Damn women anyway.


Mardell snapped all of the photos with her phone.
This was at 8:03.
Unbelievable, isn't it?!


Vicki and I fell into a quick routine.
She sorted one box, while I did another and then we 
moved on down the line.

As we did that, Mardell took them from us and put them in a shopping cart.

I only had to elbow six kids out of the way.


Two sisters about resorted to fisticuffs.
One had found a dog book and proudly showed it to her older sister ....
who promptly snatched it out of her hands.

What is it about older sisters that makes them so mean?
Of course, Sister One was NEVER mean.
Nope, never.
Not even once.


One hour and seventeen minutes later we were checking out.
Their prices went up this year.  
Kids books were fifty cents each for paperbacks 
and a buck for hardbacks.  

We were very successful in our pursuits.
Delta Kappa Gamma was $188 richer when we left.

From there we went to Sam's Club to buy more page protectors.
We seem to go through lots of these in the classroom and this is the 
cheapest place in which to procure them.  Of course, many others things jumped into our cart as well.  I found a nice little box of onion, garlic and shallot sets and a big bag of elephant ear bulbs.  

It was still too early to go to the Slobster (this is what one of our foster children always called Red Lobster and somehow it has stuck through the years), so we were forced to go to Kohl's.

I purchased a stuffed Lorax and the book for my new nephew.
Of course, I had to find a piece of clothing as well.
No self-respecting aunt could show up again empty-handed.

Vicki and Mardell are both purse-aholics, 
so I was subjected to the bag section.


That was the highlight of the trip for me!

I handed Mardell a goofy-looking hat and 
told her she needed one and she immediately put it on.


She can make any hat look good.
Of course, I may be just a teensy bit prejudiced.

Mardell found a new spring bag, so we were all happy.

From there, we went to the Slobster.


As we were gorging ourselves, Ken got a call from
the grand-kids requesting Chick-Filet sandwiches.

Of course, we had to comply .....

and guess what is right next to Chick-Filet?!


And they were having 70% off sales!

Let's just suffice to say that we spent way more than we intended to this week-end!

On our way out of town, we stopped at Petco to buy crickets for Adisa.
We were back in Scottsbluff by 4:30.

It was another perfect book sale day!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Trey's a Charm

Flash back nine months ......


If you will recall, Sister Two was anticipating the big 4-0 and Sister One helped celebrated the milestone by providing 40 gag gifts for the 40 days preceding the big day.


Sister One was ecstatic when she found this mug at a garage sale:




.... and then Sister Two calls and breaks the news that she was both!  

We've had many good laughs over that.

Lots has happened in the past nine months besides Sister's Two's feet disappearing .... 
Sister Two had her gall bladder removed after several severe  attacks and scares,
Mom unexpectedly died after moving in with Sister One (the two events were totally unrelated), and then a few weeks ago, Uncle Jake died as well.  It was more than anyone should have to deal with .... much less while being pregnant, but Sister Two did it with grace and aplomb.

The past week has been especially hard and Sister Two was quite ready for Baby Carter to enter the world, but he proved to be a stubborn little cuss (we're sure that comes from the Carter side of the family) and refused to make his way into the world.  Hitting a washed out road and deploying the side air bags in their fancy new pick-up didn't even scare him out!  

But finally, last night he made his much anticipated appearance.


Meet Trey Allen Carter, born on March 1 at 11:57 p.m.
7 pounds 8.1 ounces
20 1/4 inches long

I could hardly wait for school to be over today so that I could go up and make sure that Sister Two was truly okay.  She assured me that she was, but I needed to see it with my own eyes.

Now, those of you who know me know that I couldn't really give a rip about babies .....
unless they are the furry variety with four legs, a tail and a wet nose!

However, Trey is different for some reason.
He's beautiful and absolutely perfect.


He is a calm, quiet little guy and I swear he is already grinning.
I know, I know, babies don't smile .... and that it's just gas.
This little guy is smiling.

And why not?
He already has a huge fan base.


Niece One looks pretty pleased with him.



Frog Legs showed up and immediately wanted to take him from me.
I was more than a little reluctant to let him go ... which was VERY uncharacteristic of me!


Keith's parents both came up to visit as well, 
so needless to say, the little guy wasn't lacking for attention!


Keith is just as tired as Katie is, and yet he looks great.
Euphoria will do that for you.  

I think he'll be happy to get his family home and settled.


If Trey turns out half as good-looking and half as nice as his dad,
Sister Two will have her hands full when he is a teen-ager!  


Welcome to the family Trey!

Welcome Baby Trey

Just an update to say that sister two did have her baby last night at 11:57! I'll let her post all of the details, just wanted to let everyone know the happy news!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Snow!!


Just when I begin boasting about the beautiful spring weather, Mother Nature decides to play a nasty trick: snow!




Just kidding. They are really fabulously beautiful flower petals from the orchards. But if you squint your eyes a little and stare at the branches long enough, it kind of resembles a light flurry as they gently sail down to the grass.


Wow. They're so pretty, I feel like breaking into a haiku.

This is an exciting week. We finished our book for the pre-school and sent it off to the printer's last night, I booked my first official session as a real photographer(!!) for Saturday morning, AND sister two seems like she might just have that baby today!! Hooray!!

We'll keep you posted!