Updates

** Band Camp **
3 days until Band Camp. I am looking forward to getting away from every one for a while. It will be a nice break from work since I will not have internet connection at all while at camp. Not sure how the boys are going to be able to handle it all, but not my problem.

** Lansing **
J and I spent two days in Downtown Lasing… and I have to say wow, I was so bored. There is nothing to do in Downtown Lasing. We arrived Tuesday morning at 7:30 am, and were unable to check into the Hotel until 4:00 pm. We went to the capitol building, walked and walked and walked I got 20,000 steps by 1:00. Sat at the Lansing Center enjoying the weather. After checking into the hotel we then ventured out to find dinner. We ended up eating at Kewpie’s, which had great burgers. Wednesday we walked the river path to West Lansing and found out that Old Town had a lot more going on the Downtown. Over all we found a bunch of green signs (Michigan Historical Markers), got a lot of exercise, and enjoyed not being at work.




































** Mackinac **

Mackinac was great as normal. We stayed at two different hotels, that we had never stayed at before. Mission Point and Main Street Inn & Suits. Both of which I have to say were really nice. We had nice weather, it was foggy most of the time, it only rained at night. The day we were on the way home, it was really clear and sunny. We didn’t do nearly as much walking as we have in the past. Julie and I went to the baseball game which was a blas
t, Mackinac Island vs. Mackinaw City. Mackinaw City got a former Tiger to come play and Mackinac Island had John Hiller of course.


I have to say I was really bummed that the Grangers were not there this year. I hope to see one of their games soon. I bought a Lilac Tree for my back yard, his name is Fred.













**** Lily ****
Lily is doing really well. She awakes me up every night at 3am and then again at 5am. She has gained what could be considered a lot of weight, but she looks really good. She is not fat by any means; she just finally has some meat on her bones. She has such a great personality, it is so much fun.

Her orange ball is still her best friend. You can tell when she is cat napping or in a deep sleep; when in a deep sleep she curls up in a tight ball. We left her home a lone (Well sort of) while we were in Mackinac. Sue came and watched her. I felt really bad for both of them since Lily didn’t like Sue at all. Sue had to bring Alex over to get her to come out. By the end of the week they were friends. I don’t think I could have ever gotten a better cat if I had tried.









*** Work ****
Right I am really struggling at work. I am so tired of my boss making decisions for other departments which in turn makes them blow up at me. We are looking at buying software that will eliminate my current job, which makes it really hard to site in the meetings and say whether or not the software is good or not. There will be no more programming, we will become administrators of the new software…. Woowhooo doesn’t that sound like fun! Past couple of days I have just been really frustrated with all whole job thing. I have to have one, can’t pay bills with out it. There aren’t many new jobs out there, so I need to be careful about not losing this one. There is so much I would like to tell higher ups about how they are messing things up, but don’t dare open my mouth. I am sick of being the only one who seems to care about our user’s happiness, and doing what is right for them. Not what is easy for me. This is no longer the job I loved to come to every day. I shouldn’t complain, I have been here 9 years, and this is the first rough patch of hating my job I have been through.

Lily

Well its official I now own a cat named Lily. She is the funniest little thing. She arrived at my house April 23, 2008. She was even thinner then when we found her. She is fitting into the family very well. The first night home, she had to sleep touching one of us, you moved she moved so she had a paw on you. Since then she has moved to keeping me up all night. She has to wake at least twice a night. She climbs right on top of you, looks right in your face until you open your eyes and ask her what she wants. Then she is happy and will go back to what ever she was doing. She races around the house, but this only happens when it’s dark. So you can imagine all the noise there is while I am trying to sleep. She loves the bathroom window, and will do what ever it takes to get in it whether it’s open or not.

After spending a night chasing a batter she found, we when out and bought a ball with a bell in it. We also purchased a coiler that has a bell on it, since we lost her one night. J and I ran to the store to get some dinner came home and she was gone. We spent an hour looking for her. Only to find her in the basement in a box. Now with the bell, I can hear all the time.

She is getting better at sleeping at night, but still loves racing when the lights are out. She now likes sitting in the living room window, on the top of the couch. She’ll chase any thing that moves, or that doesn’t move ;) She makes a complete mess of her liter. It has to be just right before she can use it. The first night was a little nerve racking, she didn’t use the liter and we were starting to get nervous about would she. J and I didn’t get much sleep that night. But finally around 3:00 am she jumped off my bed checked on J sleeping on the couch, then used her liter.

She reminds me so much of Max, so many little things that she does that Max use to do. Like waking you up in the night, opening Mom’s back door, the way she chases things around the house. She is the sweetest little thing. She is still a little jumpy which after living out doors, having kittens, losing the kittens, and then living in a shelter, who can blame her. It gets better every day. She is to the point where she will greet you when you come home. She loves being with people. Her favorite place to hide is under my bed.

Blogging

I have struggled in the past when posting on this blog. I want it to be grammatically correct, with correct spelling, good flow, and entertaining. This really puts the pressure on. After reading some one else blog I realized that this is not just for all of you to catch up on what I have been doing, but for me to account for my life, relive events as I write them out, and preserve them.

My grandfather use to sit and tell me stories about his family, the war, and all the things he had experienced. I remember my father telling him he should write his memoirs, and him thinking about did he have enough to say to do that. Of course I was way to young to really understand the importance of it all, but now wish he had. He was an amazing man, and a wonderful story teller.

So as I stress about the grammar, the spell, the flow and am I being entertaining, I now realize it doesn’t matter. It’s more about preserving the event, and while all that stuff helps in the preservation, if I let it get in the way…. There won’t be any thing to preserve. I am no longer going to stress about what I have to say or how it is said. I am going to document the important stuff to me.
Some day I might be able to share it with my grandchildren.

Things going on

Thursday night Julie called to tell me to bring the left over dog food to my Mom’s since Sue was over trying to catch a cat that was sitting on her front steps. I got there and my mom, Julie and Sue were walking up and down the street following a cat.

I find out the J and Mom came home to find this cat sitting on her steps, so thinking one of Sue’s got lose they walked her over to Sue’s. Sue looked at the cute little thing and thought it was hers until she went to pick it up and found out it was a mommy that just had kittens. This started a man hunt for the kittens. We walked all over looking for them, then Sue left a cat carrier for the mommy cat to bring her kittens to.

Three days went by no sign of the kitten, but mommy cat stayed in our backyard. After talking with Sue she decided that it would be best to take her in to the shelter before Paul try’s to kill her. Saturday morning Sue came to pick Lily up and take her in to get all her shots, neutered and ready for adoption. Of course by now J has named her Lily, and has asked me to keep her. I have to say she is really smart, acts like a dog, and is really cute. So soon there will be a new addition to my house.

She is able to open mom’s back screen door to let her self in, we showed her the cat carrier and how nice it was in there and she made it her home. She getting all puffed up when Paul comes out side. She is a grey, skinny, female with pretty green eyes. Pictures to come soon.

Last weekend I was full of ambition, and got a ton done around the house. I sanded the bathroom ceiling, then primed and painted it. After that was done I went out and racked the front yard completely. When in back and cleaned out all the edges, bushes and flower areas. I started cleaning up the leaves, and raking the middle of the yard when Julie came to help. We finally decided we should cut down the 6 tress along the back fence.

J and I cut those trees down like normal girls would ;) We started cutting with a small hack saw, when we realized we needed something a little larger. After obtaining several larger saws we started cutting them down again. Since most of the trees lean over the neighbor’s fence we got the Dog lead and hooked it on to the tree as high as we could reach. One of us would cut while the over pulled. Preventing the tree from crashing down on the fence and helping us not to have to saw as much. I now have a pill of trees sitting in my backyard that need to be cut up and gotten rid of.



Sorry for taking so long for the update.... and sorry if it doesn't make any cents. ;)

iPod

So I did it I bought an iPod nano. I have to say I love it, and I am glad I did it. I know I shouldn’t have, I have bills to pay, but I did it and I don’t regret it. It is the pink 3rd generation nano, which plays video. This brings in my new obsession, podcasts; they have great things out there that are free. Being a huge fan of Old Time Radio, it is great to see all the podcasts out there, Our Miss Brooks, Boston Blackie, Father Knows Best, just to name a few. Plus most of your favorite shows have a podcast official and fan based shows. Podcasts that talk about the show “LOST”, or how to train your dog; I could fill my iPod with just podcast and never spend a dime.