Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Here's why Chris will be a great father someday

The yet-to-be-named cat has found a way to crawl inside our bed. He made himself some holes in the netting/fabric/slash weird stuff that is on the underside of our box spring and he likes to crawl around in there. The problem for us is that it makes a lot of noise; and, for some reason he meows a lot when he's in there--it's like he gets lost.

He did this this morning while Chris and I were trying to sleep. Chris can sometimes be irrationally mad when he gets woken up by the cats (which sometimes worries me--what will he do when it's a baby crying?). He will throw the covers off, stamp out of the bed, mumble incoherently about the "stupid cat," and then take the cat downstairs and lock him in the bathroom until we wake up.

Even with all that, here's why I think he will make a great father. This morning when I went to let the cat out of the bathroom, he was lying on a blanket that Chris had put on the floor for him.

How cute is that?

Monday, November 24, 2008

Help me name "Temp"



So I think this kitten is officially mine (don't tell Chris), and I'm thinking that it's time we stop calling him Temp--as in temporary. The problem is thinking of name that will match Richard Parker.

If you have no idea where Richard Parker came from, allow me to regale you with a tale. When Chris and I were engaged, we drove my car down to Houston from Provo after graduation. After a week or two there, I had to get home to Colorado to plan the wedding--I'm pretty sure my mom didn't want to do it on her own. Since the drive is about 16 hours, I went to Barnes and Noble and picked out an audio book, Life of Pi.

This book is awesome! I found myself making fewer stops along the way; and, when I did stop, I made them quick so that I could listen to the book. I mailed the book back to Houston so that Chris could listen on his drive up for the wedding. We both loved it.

While the book has large religious, spiritual, and philosophical motifs, the most fascinating part was when Pi Patel (the narrator) is trapped on a life boat with a variety of animals: an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and an adult male Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (name taken from the zookeeper in charge of his purchase). The book really is spectacular, even if my description is not.

I'll just say the the name for our cat is very fitting.

But now we need a name for this new cat that rivals that of Richard Parker.

Here's the criteria:


  • A name from a piece of literature

  • First and last name (Johnson not included)

  • Maybe a character with some kind of blindness (the kitten has a film over his left eye)

  • And, not lame

I was thinking Captain Ahab. Didn't he have one eye...or was that one leg? Captain Hook. Oh wait, that was one hand.


Help!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A life in the water


Chris turns the big 3-0 today. For those of you who don't know, Chris was a swimmer his whole life, so I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite pictures of him in the water.


Enjoy.

An adorable beach baby. I'll be happy if our babies look like this.

Chris with his signature stroke at BYU.

On our honeymoon in Jamaica. Hot stuff! I sure do miss that... swimsuit.
Someone stole it from the hotel.

Fly fishing at the butt-crack-of-dawn (official time) in Colorado.

Pure determination...tube wars are a lot of work, you know.
Happy Birthday, honey! I love you lots!!!

Friday, November 14, 2008

You know it's bad when even your sweat pants make you feel fat

And other such musings...

Since we moved here to North Carolina (and perhaps before), I have shifted away from my normal "healthy" lifestyle towards a more "relaxed" lifestyle. What this translates to is about 5-7 pounds of stuff I didn't have six months ago...okay, maybe seven months ago. I attribute this to the craziness of graduation, packing, and moving. Lets be reasonable, it's really hard to eat-in when you sell all of your furniture on Craig's List three weeks before you actually move--thanks for the low price point, honey.

But all of that can only be blamed for any weight gain in maybe April-June. Beyond that, I think I just got lazy. I worked out a lot all summer. There was nothing else to do. I was at the gym for 1-2 hours about six days a week. But I didn't see any weight loss--I must have been building muscle, right? Then, when I started working (even though it was part time), it got harder to work-out and less likely that I would be cooking at home.

All of this would be a non-issue if it didn't mean shopping for new jeans. I hate shopping for jeans. I have bought two pairs in the last three years (one of which cost...oh lets just say "a lot" of money), the other was a great pair of stretchy, wide leg from H&M ($30). My expensive pair are still fabulous and I would still wear them everyday if I didn't have a serious case of muffin top going on when I sit down.

I think part of the reason it is so frustrating is that when you need a bigger size, it means you go up two numbers in the size scale. Chris had to buy new jeans this week (because of a hole in the knee) and his sizes move in ones (i.e. 32-33-34). I could handle that. One number is more manageable. But two? I once watched a show about how sizing is changing in the fashion world to make women think they are smaller than they are. A size 4 in a discount store is really an 8 in a high end store. It's all one big conspiracy.

I'll show them...from now on, I will wear sweats. Take that fashion world. You just lost my business.

At least until I save the money to buy another pair of jeans priced way too high (its because the denim is imported, they say). Well so are the pants from Old Navy, but you don't see those going for $180.

Now you know why I promised my husband that I would never buy a pair of jeans again.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I'm in a fight with google maps

How many times do I have to get lost before I finally get a GPS for the car?

Tonight I had to drive to a party for the cheerleaders at the high school I will be teaching in this year. Yes, I am indeed a cheerleading coach again. Please keep your snickers to yourself. I made the mistake of mentioning to one of the science teachers (who was also the Varsity coach during basketball season) that I had been the cheerleading coach at my last school. I thought I was safe because they were fully staffed. I didn't know that she was retiring. So I'll be coaching the JV girls during the winter season.

Anyhow, I needed to be at the party by 7:30 so that the head coach and I could figure some things out. And because I am still new to the area, I printed a map from google. I always print a map from google.

But google led me astray. It gave me a road that didn't exist. Sadly, I couldn't just call the coach to get directions because my cell phone was sitting on the couch.

So I drove home to get my phone and a new map. I got the party 45 minutes after I was supposed to be there.

This fight might last a while. I have trust issues.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Butter

My plan after church was to bake my Amish Friendship bread that I have been mushing in a bag for ten days (sounds gross, looks gross, but it will taste great). However, I realized that I needed two large loaf pans--I only have one smaller one. However, a friend (the same friend that gave me dough to mush in a bag) said I could borrow her pans. Then I realized that I didn't have the pudding that I would need to mix into the mush. So I decided to scratch that idea and do it tomorrow after a trip to the store.

The next logical thing to do was to make the cookies that I have been promising Chris for the past week. You see, I have a large quantity of plain M&Ms from a project involving only the wrappers, not the candy. Chris and I have done a pretty good job at eating the candy, but I thought it best to use them in some cookies instead.

But I realized that I didn't have butter. Chris was a little bummed out. Especially since this isn't the first time that I have gone to bake something and realized that I didn't have a necessary item.

What do you do to keep track of your inventory?

Because I'm pretty sure Chris might divorce me if I keep making promises that I can't keep.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

We're going steady


Here's the finished product! It only took three trips to Hobby Lobby, many phone calls home, a wonderful friend from church to sew a zipper and waistband, and a lot of anger.


Let's just say that I need a lot more practice on my sewing machine before next Halloween.

But I think we deserve the cutest couple award for our costume. I know you can't tell from the picture, but I am also wearing bobby socks with poodles on them and Chris's class ring around my neck. And Chris is wearing Chuck Taylors to polish off his look.


Chris actually had to wear his costume to work on Friday (he was working in Pediatrics), but it didn't make sense without his arm candy (me).