Spring? Not so fast...

An addendum...

March 19, 2010

Spring?

February 28, 2010


March 14, 2010

Let the Games Begin...

It's Olympics time, and in our house, that means we are glued to the TV keeping track of the medals, the athletes, and Bob Costas's overwrought human interest stories!

In honor of the Games, I've dug up an old video we took of Alex on his first birthday which I set to the Olympics theme. I still get a laugh out of it...

Ice Skating Video

Ice Skating

Alex's cousins from Chicago are in town this weekend and we decided to take the boys ice skating. Cal and Mac have gone a few times before, but this was Alex's first time. He did a great job and enjoyed it...most of the time! Mom's hamstrings got quite a workout from holding Alex up, but she did get to enjoy skating for the first time in years! Cal and Mac had fun too!

Belden

We had to say goodbye to our cat Belden today, and while she's probably the quietest entity in our family, she is no less loved by all of us. Belden had been in declining health the past few months, due to mammary cancer. This type of cancer is basically terminal for cats, and she outlived the 10-12 month time frame by over 6 months. Cancer is a terrible disease to see anyone (or anything) succumb to, it's like they die a little bit more every day as they become less and less like how you know and love them. It brings us comfort to know that she is now at peace.

We had the pleasure of having Belden in our family for 7 1/2 years, and we weren't her first owners. Back in May 2002, I found myself getting my own apartment for the first time without any roommate (my sister was getting married!). I decided to get a cat or a pair of them, and was checking some of the shelters online to see what they had available. This little gray cat named Leokadia somehow grabbed my attention. She was between 3-4 years old and had a sad look in her picture. I just knew this was the cat I wanted. A few weeks later, I had successfully conned my future husband into driving down to the south side to just "take a look" at the cats at the city pound.

We went into the cat area, and lo and behold, she was still there, snoozing away. I asked to see her, she purred and dug her nice sharp claws into my shoulders, I was (literally) hooked, and the rest was history. Matt was kind of concerned and thought she seemed a little lethargic at first, but once she got out of the shelter she was a different cat. Oh, and as a side note, we also got another cat that day, who doubled in weight and now has a blog named after him...

I remember reading an article in the New York Times a few years ago about how house cats evolved from their bigger cousins, and I particularly enjoyed this phrase "With each migration, evolutionary forces morphed the pantherlike patriarch of all cats into a rainbow of species...that led to the most successful cat of all, even though it has mostly forsaken its predatory heritage: the cat that has induced people to pay for its board and lodging in return for frugal displays of affection."

Most cats I've known totally fit that description, including Lincoln. Not Belden, she was like a little dog in her devotedness to me. Following me around the house, snoozing by my head every night. Yet while she was very attached to me, she was definitely not a lap cat, and she did not like to be picked up, but she just loved to be near you. You couldn't ask for a sweeter pet.

I'll miss her dragging our socks and shirts around the house (she even did a blanket once or twice!)

I'll miss being able to count to 20 and have her jump up on the bed within that time period.

I'll miss her lightning fast cat reflexes.

I'll miss how she would try to drink out of water glasses, sometimes knocking them over in the process.

I'll miss seeing her and Lincoln contentedly cuddling next to each other.

I'll miss watching her venture off the back deck and bravely go out into the wilds of our backyard in the summer.

I'll miss watching her defend her turf and swipe at Otto when he would get a bit too friendly and try to "play" with her.

I'll miss her coming to watch Alex's nightly baths, perching on the toilet and staring as if to say "You mean you actually LIKE splashing around in the water like that?"

I'll miss her V-8 engine purring motor.

Goodbye Belden - or Bel, The Bel, Belford, Furd, The Great Sock Thief, The Gray Lady, LGC - Little Gray Cat, as we affectionately called her. You'll always have a special place in our hearts.

(And PS - support your local animal shelters, they have many wonderful animals available for adoption!)

2010: A New Year Odyssey

Happy New Year! I was struck yesterday about how "futuristic" 2010 sounds for some reason. I think I will now refer to it as The
Year 2010...

Last Post of the Year...

Happy Birthday to Baby Neve! She is a New Year's Eve baby, and turned one today!

Ten years ago we partied at Matt and Brian's apartment in Chicago...Party of the Millennium, complete with a flesh-colored 2000 Jello mold (all I can say is never, ever, use heavy whipping cream in the place of Cool Whip in a recipe)

This marks post number 100 for the year! Whoo-hoo!

Let's celebrate 2010!

Post-Christmas II

Link to video of kids and Santa...

Video of Santa's Visit

Post-Christmas

Photos are getting posted, videos to follow! For now, a quick peek!
Check www.30poundcat.shutterfly.com

And then there was one...

Merry Christmas! We put out the cookies, milk and oranges (for Santa's reindeer) and are ready for Santa!

Sweet!

Yum...I love these little red velvet cupcakes! I had so much fun today with my cousins Cal and Mac - we went to the mall and saw The Princess and the Frog!

Sushi Balloon

We went to a Japanese teppinaki-style restaurant tonight for dinner and figured Alex would get a kick out of the show they put on. Er, not really. He was much more taken with the kids birthday party going on at the table across from us. One of the parents was really nice and brought him a piece of birthday cake and a balloon animal dog. Eventually, it unraveled and we tried to coax it into the number "3". As you can see, it didn't really work. But it still means Christmas is right around the corner!

Santa's Workshop

Busy building the days until Christmas comes!
(thanks for the tool box, Aunt Becky and Uncle Caleb!)

And look at that happy dog - Otto loves Christmas too!

I Wish it Was Christmas...

...In five daaaayyyys!

Sweet cover of this song by The Stroke's lead singer Julian Casablancas, it's a new holiday favorite of mine!


And the SNL original...

SNL Christmas Song

Letters to Santa

Only six more days!

Banana...Banana...Banana!!!

It's only fitting that Alex is wearing his Brobee sweatshirt for this one!

The Aggrolites - Banana (Yo Gabba Gabba!)

WTF | MySpace Video
Banana Song by the Aggrolites on Yo Gabba Gabba

And a boatload of bananas in the house around Christmas can only mean one thing: BANANA BREAD TIME!!!

Ho, Ho, Ho, Candy Cane Joe- Joe's

Seriously the best treat we have had this holiday season is the Candy Cane Joe Joe cookie! Made by Trader Joe's, it's basically an Oreo-type cookie with crushed bits of real peppermint in the cream. Grandma G brought a box on her visit last weekend and we have been munching away ever since. And what better way to honor it than by making it into an eight for the calendar? Now, if we just had some eggnog to dunk it in!

Number 9...

Stacked!

We took our holiday card photo on Sunday. We had a few outtakes, and were able to get Otto in the photo only because we used the timer on our camera and didn't have someone taking the picture. He is basically useless if there is a photographer trying to get his attention and will run right out of the picture.

1. Click - camera is in the right position.


2. Click - make sure the snow is out of the way!


3. Click - oops, where is the dog?


4. Click - er, where is the mom?