Ode to my Cats

Thought I would share my thoughts on my kitties different personalities..






The Skinny One..real name is Sherman..AKA as crazy kittie, the annoying one, meow meow, my precious, and before they lost their collars..jingle, jingle ( for the sound the bells make on there collars when they move)
She is more needy when it comes to attention, will meow loudly if you don't acknowledge her when she wants to attention, will purr super loud when she is sooo happy and content, goes into spurts of energy to play, get ready to pounce on the fat one, will sometimes act like a dog and chase her own tail until she gets it, cleans herself constantly, will go outside, check it out and if it's too cold, will come right back inside. Come winter time and we have to fire going in the fireplace, she will just lay in front of the fire and stretch way out.
She also likes to smell everything and pretty much mark everything my rubbing against it. Will only eat cubes or shredded cat food with gravy..
She is the first to explore anything new we have in our house and was the first to try everything out when we got new cat furniture for them!





The Fat one, real name is Tank..AKA as fatty(hubby calls her that..I don't)my precious baby, my kittie, meow, meow and jingles.
She is more laid back when it comes to anything, really..will only play if she gets really ansty or if she put the string next to her so she can grab it..
She is not as vocal and she has a really weird purr..kinda like if her purr has a cold or something..She will eat anything you put in front of her and gets really curious if YOU have anything you are eating..she wants to know what you are eating and will sit there and watch you until you can show her what it is and let her smell it.
She has a longer hair than the skinny one so she really doesn't mind going out when it's cold. She is really patient if she want to go outside..she will just sit near the door until you notice and open the door.
She is more tolerant of me picking her up and and just rubbing and petting her.
Sometime she will allow the skinny cat to play with her by chasing her and turning around and running away..most time she doesn't have time to play and will just bat the skinny one if she gets to close to her.
Her favorite place to be is on the top of the taller cat furniture with one paw between the blinds, looking out the window.

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In other non-cat news:

Have been trying to get back into stampin' and went to my first stamp camp in several years. It was was with my first demostrater who I really liked! Made some cute christmas cards and got the new stampin' up book to see the new stamps.

Gearing up for black friday..it's going to be a crazy and long day..pretty much everyone is working 10-12 hours that day..I'm doing 10 and 1/2, 4:45am-3:15pm..I was hoping I would be off sooner like 1 or 2. But they didn't hire alot of seasonal help..just 6 this year..compare to the 30 they did last year..I don't know how busy will be after the initial door buster gets over with. I just want it over and done with.

tired but accomplished..and no..those two are not connected..

okay..just a bit of updated news on me..been getting a little more hours at work cause of the 3 day sale last thursday that kicked off the LPS sale that ends this Sat. I closed on Thursday and I think it was busy..my mind kinda blocked that off for my own sanity..had to wake up early and get to Sacred Heart before my SIL, S. had her surgery. The surgery went well..but she had a really long recovering time..but at least she is cancer free as of this moment! She is doing well post surgery wise and is taking it easy at home. I had to open on Saturday with a long shift and of course it was super busy..and in the middle of the shift we had some problems with the registers not taking debit cards, credit cards and checks..we were able to get an override with the credit cards and eventually everything went back to normal..I was lucky enough to get off at 4 cause I heard that there was alot of ppl still in the store when the store closes and the employees didn't leave until 11pm!
Sunday I woke up early to head to Fred Meyers and get a roll of plastic and other things and finally got my least efficient windows covered. I also started trimming down my shrubbery.
This week I work like every other day..closing which is always fun..monday we still had a few ppl in the store when we closed but it wasn't that bad..tuesday I started my christmas shopping with the items I could get during the sales and plus the employee disccount! ( can't forget the all important discount!!) and I did a bit more trimming of the shrubbery and I should have it all finished by next week.
I still feel just exhausted from work and how busy it has been..but that's a good thing from a sales POV..we get the hours when we get sales.

Vacation at the Parks..

Back at home and it took awhile to rest up, get the pics uploaded, call everyone know that I was still alive..The trip started really well..picked up the rental car and loaded up and headed out..just before we got to our first hotel in Packwood, there was a forest fire so we ahd to be rerouted to the other highway on the other side of the forest..my GPs did well with rerouting the directions to the hotel. Finally got to the hotel and rested up..the next day we headed to Mt. Rainer ,I have been to Mt. Rainer before..but I still marvel on how beautiful he looks!!

The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed to our next place in Winlock..on the way there..we headed to Windy Ridge to see Mt, St. Helens. She blew her top back in 1980 and she is till an active volcano.



We arrived at the Bed and Breakfast, which was a very homey 3 bedroom house turned into a B&B. On the beds were these teddy bears..Anne immediately fell in love with hers and wondered if it waas for sell. She asked the owner and she said that if Anne really loved it and wanted it..she would give it to her! Anne really, really loved the bear.



The next day we headed to Johnston Ridge Observatory to the other side of Mt. St. Helens. The Observatory stands right in front of Mt. St. Helens and recorded when she blew..amazingly was that the Observatory wasn't damaged in anyway! But the forest and lakes below it and around it cause some damage. I have only seen Mt. St. Helens on TV..seeing her in real person was just so awe inspiring and just WOW..




After Winlock we headed to Port Angeles and a place called Granny's cafe and motel, which was 10 miles outside of Port Angeles. Both the cafe and motel was really cute. Motel only had 8 rooms and hte cafe had maybe like 5 tables? We headed to Port Angeles to see the Ocean. It was really windy and cold. Anne thought it was too cold and of course I loved it!! To smell the salty ocean wind and feel the breeze..was like heaven to me!




>The next day we headed to the Hoh Rainforest part of the Olympic national Park. We ahd to pass through Forks to get there..Forks for any Twilight fan is the setting for the movie. It's a small little town but had so many Twilight stuff!We arrived that Hoh rainforest and was amazed with all the trees and moss growing everywhere.
We saw a sign for what was called the Rain Forest Monarch .The tallest Spruce ever. You really don't realize our big it is until you have a pic taken with it..It's one huge tree




Next we headed to Hurricane Ridge where you could see the Olympic mountains.




We walked the trails around and kept seeing deers resting in the shade. I must've taken pics of at least 4 deers.



Our last journey was to Elwah..we found out that it was just for camping so we stopped someplace, took pics and went back!



We drove to Seatac to drop off Anne and I headed home. My main worries was I knew that Seatac was a big airport and I thought it would be more confusing to get out. It was so simple that I didn't need to use the GPS if I didn't want to.. : )long drives, sights to see, always doing something..it was all worth it! But i am glad to be home with hubby and the kitties!

my company

Some of you know about a special visitor I was getting from Belgium..well..she is here! Her name is Anne and we met through an email yahoo group and eventually got to emailing each other privately and developed a friendship for several years. This pic is the first time we have actually seen each other in person! Or heard the other's voice for that matter. We had only communicated via emails and postcards when she was traveling.

We spent saturday at the Spokane MAC and Riverfront park just seeing the sights. We even took in a film at the IMAX about the Colorado River. After the hot day in Spokane we came home and Lee made some Salmon and vegetable medley (summer squash, zucchine and onions) on the grill and I made some rice. We had S'mores for dessert. She had never had S'mores before so it was a new experience for her. She was so imppressed with it that she took a pic of it with her camera to show her friends back home about such wonders!

Today we are planning to go to my parents house for a BBQ or some sort of meal. She will get to experience the Japanese culture there. I sure it will be quite the expeireince for her!

posting an update on me

have been wanting to post for awhile now but things have gotten in the way of me posting..One is Facebook and the many apps I have to take care and keep updating (it's alot!) and I discovered Zelda and have been playing Zelda ocarina of time on my wii. I have gotten stuck on a very hard boss and beat all the other bosses save the main dude at the end which you need to beat ALL bosses to get to. I have asked around my work to see if anyone had a wii and played Zelda for me to bribe to beat the one boss for me. Amazing enough, several ppl have played Zelda but not in a long time and one guy who LOVES Zelda and was willing to beat the guy for me, doesn't have a Wii! SO I did something that I never thought I would do..downloaded a "save" from someone else and moved it to my Wii..now I can try and beat the main guy at the end..I feel kinda weird doing it this way..since I would have like to beat the whole game on my own..now on to the things I really want to post about, there are some thngs on the homefront that has happened that is taking the majority of my thought process..two being family members (hubby's side) that things have come up. Number one of the main concern is NaNaw (hubby's grandma) had a stroke a couple of weeks ago, went to the hosital for observation with some memory issues- she talked about her mother being alive, her husband as dead and living somewhere in Ca. She was moved to a rehab hospital under direct supervision..one of the aunts came up- not the crazy one- to stay with Nanaw and visit with her every day which we thought was good for Nanaw. She was finally able to go back home to maybe being in familiar surroundings would help with her memories..but we both the aunts, the crazy one included, are causing problems. It seems that they are angry cause Nanaw had gave the Power of attorney to my FIL when she was in her "right" mind, knowing what would happen if somethng happened to her..my FIL has Nanaw's checkbook sa he could pay the bills for her and give a check to the aunts to do grocery shopping. Both the Aunts are with the grandparents 24/7 and are convincing her that she is okay and that she should have her checkbook back. They are filling her hate towards my FIL, step mother in law, and I think my hubby now ( hubby used to go ever and help the crazy aunt with stuff around the house and listen to her "propaganda" stuff..he stopped doing awhile ago..and she is upset) I have alot of concern with Nanaw and what she is thinking now..Number two thing is we found out that hubby's youngest sister, S. have breast cancer and is going through chemo sessions now. Long story short..she is the one who was a meth addict had her two younger kids taken away by CPS- one being my nephew who my FIL had fostered and adopted him and we usually have him a weekend a year while the inlaws go to a family reunion, the other one a girl who through open adoption got into a couple who has been trying to have a baby for a long time. We got to know this couple and the nephew and his half- sister loves each other and enjoy each other's company. S. is now a recovering addict and what we hear from hubby's other sister, M., is doing well and trying to back on her feet. S. had only communicated to M. via cell phone or txting when she could afford it. She has a computer so we are hoping we could talk with via emails and hopefully get a relationship going..And some concerns with work..it being slower than usual at this time of year..I am used to seeing alot candy, easter baskets and toys going through.. ppl are not shopping like they are used to..I am noticing the only ones who are buying are the seniors on the fixed income, those on welfare, and the lower income families who are spending their tax refunds. They have also been cutting down on hours and having 9 full time workers now have to be on part time.. I know it is bad everywhere and I am hoping that things will be better soon, I hope.

The New Year

As I kinda welcomed the New Year without Lee, yet again cause of work, I have mixed emotions.
My reviews of 2008:

Work

Still at Shopko or some of us workers call it.."the 'Ko". Go to know a few more people and was sadden at some of my fav ppl who quit, got fired, or just got another job. One of the main memories of work and my fav person was during the summertime when the GM manager saw that I was only scheduled to work one day as cashier, scheduled me 3 more days for Lawn and Garden and from then one I had full time hours working outside in the sun! He was one of my fav managers of all time! And of course gearing up for the different sales was always fun. And finally we come to "black friday" which went well and quick but left me in the beginning stages of not really getting into the holiday spirit, which is a retail curse I suppose. But the good news is that some of the holiday help is staying and they are good people.

Friends

I think I have wonderful friends!! In real life and online. I made a few more internet friends thru my blogs, LJ, Myspace, Gaia, Plurk and Facebook. I even got connected to friends from High School! Man that seems like a long time..and what is interesting is that a few of my "friends" all share the same blogs as me! One of my friends share all of my blogs with me!
In the coming year, I am really excited about having one of online friends coming to visit me from Belguim! She is one of rare ones that I send packages to during the holidays.
And of course I have to mention my neighbor, Dusty, bless his heart, when everytime it snows, travels to his brother;s house and borrows the snowblower, comes home and blows not only his driveway but ours as well! He is an absolute godsend! I would marry him if he wasn't married with 3 wonderful kids!

Family

Family life is okay on my end..my sister moves from Puyallup (which was a short and easy travel) to McMinnville, Or. (which is a longer and not enough bathrooms on the road) Her house is nice enough and it's a qauint and quiet little township. My parents are still in the same house since the 70's even though they did buy a house in Spanaway which they rented out and eventually had to sell cause of my dad. He had since around dec 2007 was diagnosis with Lymphoma ( the non hodgins kind) and had to go on a break from his job so he can do his chemo treatments and go to his dr.'s appointments. He was finally able to go back to work this year after the dr. told him that it was okay to go back.
The inlaws are okay for the most part. I think I am lucky to have good in-laws except for one "aunt" who I really don't know what to do sometimes.

My life

So far my life has been okay..with the exceptions of worring about my dad, not being in the holiday spirit cause I see how much ppl spend on gift, and the stress I feel everytime it snows. Normally I love snow and watching it fall, but this year is different. It was gotten to the point where both Lee and I are constantly looking out the window to see if it is snowing, how the roads are and if theyhave been plowed yet. My stress with the snow comes from if I see it snowing, I expect it will be 6-8 inches and I can't leave my house or go to work.
I consider myself a boring person..my life consists of emails, blogs, work, and watching my fav programs (LOST, Top Chef, etc.) but I feel bad that I haven't played on my Wii in such a long time! Not even the Wii fit! (although Lee and I did Wii bowling today)

Hubby and the cats (yes, in that order)

I am so super lucky to have Lee in my life. He is such a wonderful man and he thinks I have all the answers! (it's a blessing and a curse!!) He is a good provider, worries when I am out and about by myself, funny and always knows what to do and say to get cheer me up or "talk me down". I really don't know what I would do it something should happen.. I know I couldn't provide for myself on my little Shopko check.
The cats..well, what can you say about my cats? I love them to death and I really love getting to know their little behaviours. I love the fact that they always want to be in the same room as me or Lee and will follow you from room to room if need be. I would love to take more pics of them to post but they never stand still to get the perfect pose!

okay..I think that covered my thoughts on 2008..

2009

Please, oh please don't let it snow again!! Not like before and not alot of wet snow to damage roofs and whatnots. I hope this year will go slower than last year and I know it will bring my friend, who even though we have emailed and we know what we each look like, have never talk on the phone or met in person, so it will be interesting when we meet. I just hope I can make a good impression on her and are able to be a good hostess.
I think I will probably still be with ShopKo and Lee with Rosauers. And we may or maynot depending on the money, be going to Hawaii with my sister, her hubby and my folks. And their is talks about going to Okinawa next year before my mom gets to old to travel. But Okinawa is really, really expensive. Just the plane tickets alone are really expensive. But we will see what happens this year and next year.
I hope good things happen when you least expect them!

Tagged

I have been tagged by my friend Jaime to post 7 random things about me. So here it goes.....:

1. I really don't understand the whole hype about cell phones and texting all the time..I understand having a cell phone for emergencies and using them for work..but serious people..you really need to talk and text while shopping, eating, driving, or with other people?
I bought myself and lee a trafone for those "just in case" moments..but I have no desire to text anyone at anytime.

2. I have two cats and I do favor one over the other..each in their own way..the skinny one, cause she likes to play more than the other one and is more vocal and is all about smelling everything. The fat one cause she is more tolerant of me picking her up and doing whatever I want with her, and she is really cute when she "tries" to play!

3. I have never acted my age! To me age is just a number.. I have a lot of friends in all different age levels and I have fun with each and every one of them!

4. I love playing in water and swimming even though I am not a really good swimmer and will not go deeper than my feet can touch the ground with my head above the water.

5. I love creating avatars and naming them..usually the names I pick have meaning that is a part of me. On Gaia, my avatars name is Neeju. That is japanese for the number 12 which is my birthday. I won't go into the names I have for my wii characters! Clever, huh?

6. I love just doing nothing..I'm all about taking life one day at a time and enjoying what life gives you.

7. I am a big hugger..but I don't hug everyone..I like to make sure people are comfortable with it before I give my hugs. And I tend to be more at ease with hugging someone my own size.

okay..I only have two friends and one has already been tagged and has tagged me..so it is all about to the other one to do this if she so inclines..