My Kitty Cats

I realized that while I am always telling stories about and posting pictures of Bella, I don't give my kitties much online-lovin' - and that just won't do! Here they are...

I got Oliver from Animal Control in Kalamazoo in 2004. He is the most acrobatic cat I know! He can jump ridiculously high, which comes in useful now that we have Bella and he likes to stay out of her way! Oliver can be found laying at the bottom of my feet in bed each and every night without fail. He's very vocal, and can certainly get into mischief. When he was a kitten he used to play fetch like a dog! Oliver has been through a lot with me and I love him!


Beyonce came from a rescue. I vowed that the first thing I would do once I adopted her was to change her name, but she's such a little diva that it ended up sticking. Nowadays we call her "skizzy" as a nickname - she is super flighty. I never intended on having another cat, I just came across her at a pet store where they were holding animal adoptions. She had a cold and her owner had had to give her up so she needed some love. As she gets older she's getting cuddlier and cuddlier, and is ironically the more tolerant of the two cats in regard to Bella!

Travis, although not originally a cat person, has developed a little soft spot for the two of them. So much so that he wants his "own" cat. A baby solid grey, short hair with green eyes. But don't tell him I told you so! : )

Good Day Austin

For those of you that have known me for a long time - you may sometimes wonder whatever happened to the little red-headed brother of mine? Well, after a couple of stints in LA he's now kicking it in Texas - rock and roll style. Here's a clip of him drumming on
Good Day Austin.

And not to be biased, because I'd be the first to tell him if he was sucking, but he sounded pretty damn good. I'd say he was the best performer of the group in fact (I didn't think much to the singer, not my kind of thing).

So there you have it ladies and gentleman, Will Eversden. Nice work kid!

A little Christmas spirit...

I'm not the type of person who puts their Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, BUT...
We picked up some Christmas decor this afternoon, and I couldn't help myself! Check out the results...

I'm going to find some classy dried flowers in reds and silvers to replace the regular ones in my green vase on top of the fireplace to finish it off.

More decor and pictures to come! Now that we have our own home, I am very much getting into the holiday decorating! We also bought lights for outside the house weekend, and will put them up just as soon as it stops snowing for a few hours. EXCITING!

GREEN - Better taking care of ourselves AND our planet!

Travis and I wrapped up our weekend with an afternoon of comfort food cooking. We cooked two lasagnas and a Sheppard's pie to portion out and freeze. In the midst of all of this cooking, we realized what a massive pile of food scraps we had accumulated. It was then, on a whim, that we decided that we should start composting.

Keep in mind we know NOTHING about composting.

I ran to the den and excitedly googled "composting." After skimming a variety of websites, we created our own, very basic, compost receptacle. We used a rubbermaid container, and Trav drilled holes in if for aeration. We'll keep it in the basement this winter, and move it out to the back yard in the summertime. We used a base of leaves for moisture, and dumped in our scraps.

Obviously we need to continue the research, to make sure we're doing things correctly. But for now, we feel pretty darn good about ourselves! We are going to be partaking in all kinds of vegetable and flower gardening next year once we get our yards landscaped, and we're convinced we're going to create the BEST COMPOST EVER.

And of course, we're putting our household waste to good use, thus eliminating our disposable waste.If you are already well-versed in composting, please leave me some feedback and tips. I welcome any info I can get my hands on!

Here's a photo play-by-play of our compost creation:

For more info on composting click here.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008