Random Saturday night thoughts

• Sometimes I don't mind if things get messy, because it means I can sit there and re-organize and re-categorize to my hearts content
  
• I want to be a house-wife, from the 50's and 60's....just so I can wear those gorgeous dresses and shoes!  Plus, I know all the music (I grew up on oldies, and have more oldies cd's than anything else), I love the cars, and I collect the classic movies.  Huge fan!  I was totally born in the wrong decade :(  If I had lived in the 50's, I most likely would have learned to Jive.  Oh how I wish I could Jive!!!
  
• I'm borderline obsessed with Lady Antebellum right now...I have their newest CD, and I listen to it almost every day.  I'm so obsessed that Stephan lets me know when they have specials or concerts on TV so I can watch them.  They are coming to Calgary in March, but the tickets are quite pricey.  I keep hearing all these people who are coming for the Calgary Stampede's centennial celebration this year, and I'm hoping that Lady A will also be one of those acts so that maybe I might have another chance of seeing them....and maybe less expensive!
  
• Today, I navigated Glenmore trail in Calgary by myself, without fear, without a GPS, without getting lost or going the wrong way on Glenmore trail.  Glenmore trail always has a lot of accidents, and the ramps on and off are HORRIBLE (I swear, they are the worst ramps in the world!), and so I generally just avoid it.  Plus, I don't know that road well, which is another reason for avoiding it.
  
• I hate driving downtown! Sometimes, it goes ok, IF I've been to the place a few times and I know where I'm going.  But if its someplace NEW....oh boy!! My GPS fails downtown, loses reception all the time and all I hear is "re-calculating", "re-calculating" and then its saying I'm driving down a street I'm not actually on.  And then I drive around in endless circles, usually because construction closes roads.  And oh, the one way streets! Combine construction, and one way streets, and sometimes its IMPOSSIBLE to get where you need to go. So then I get frustrated and l leave to go home...or try to.  If I'm really upset, sometimes I get flustered and then get lost trying to GET OUT of downtown.  I know, its sad.
  
• Anna eats:  the soft part of pizza dough (cooked), ham, apple crumble cake, the apple crumble cake dough batter, ranch dip, eggs, and Maultaschen - a german soup (she eats all 3 parts: the ground meat/spinach filling, the cooked egg dough, and the soup broth).  Weird?
  
  

Anna in action

One of Anna's favorite things is her straw, and her favorite thing to do with the straw is play fetch. Seriously. Stephan taught it to her. He throws it, she chases it, brings it back to him and drops it in his lap and then waits for him to throw it again.

She's now developed such a love for this game that she does it with her other toys. This weekend Anna and Stephan took the game a step further, and he started playing fetch with her toy mouse by throwing it down the stairs for her to chase and return to him.

Here are some shots of her in action:

oh oh

(First of all, I wanted to post this last Thursday on the 17th, but I was having troubles uploading the pics from my new camera. And then I was just busy this weekend. But thanks to everyone for helping me to figure it out! Turns out the pics were too big to upload, so I had to resize them. I'll have to fiddle around with the settings on my camera. They did however upload fine to facebook.)

I have been wanting to put up Christmas decorations. But I've been having trouble trying to find a way that works with Anna. You see, she has figured out how to jump up on the counter and dresser now. She also has a love of plants - both fake and silk. And any decorations. I can't have any in the house now because she attacks them with such zeal that not even the water bottle deters her. She is quite determined.

So I thought and thought...and finally had come up with a solution. I could put a Christmas village up on top of the upper cabinets in my kitchen, out of Anna's reach. Or so I thought. I heard a noise on the kitchen counter, and I looked up from my computer to discover this.....

Discovering the top of the fridge

What's up here?

Guess my hiding spot for my plant isn't safe anymore

Look at me Mom!!

Way up high on the cupboards ... there goes the only spot I had left for my Christmas village

Having fun way up high

Trying to get down. This took a few tries, and a lot of complaining for Mom to help. She didn't get down from the fridge the first time. Instead she went to corner of the cabinets and dangled over with her back legs as far as she could, slid down the face of the cupboards until she got to the end of them and could jump down onto the counter. The 2nd time she made the jump from the fridge down the floor.

Needless to say, she goes up there all the time now. She loves being up high and being able to watch everything.

Weekend recap - weekend 1 of 3 Stephan is home :)

Friday night was a quiet night, we just spent it at home watching tv after we ran some errands. I spent some time working on my course, and on Stephan's immigration application.

Saturday we slept in a bit and than did some shopping after our usual pancake breakfast (gotta love traditions!). After errands we were lazy and had a nap, before getting ready to head out for the evening to a pub downtown for some drinks with friends. It was a great night, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We actually didn't end up staying to late, we headed home by 11:30.

Sunday was more busy. I had church in the morning, as usual. After church we decided it was time for Anna's first bath and boy, what an experience that was. The poor girl howled and cried so hard, and was shaking and scared that she made both of us feel pretty horrible and mean. She hated it. Surprise surprise. But she survived. Although I don't think the next time will be any better. We plan to bathe her once a month, and she's an indoor-only cat. I think once a month is ok, right? I took a photo of her shortly after her bath, however it's on Stephan's camera and I forgot to get it from him before he went to bed so oops!

After that we headed out to Chestermere to visit some friends from church. Their 8 year old son, Ethan, had had surgery done on Friday on his nose (something to clear out his sinus or tubes or something) and so we dropped in to say hi and see how he was doing. We brought both their kids some treats, plus a little extra for Ethan to make him feel better. We spent the afternoon with them, and ordered dinner. It was a really nice time, as we hadn't had a chance to hang out with them in quite awhile. Stephan especially, as I see them at church sometimes. We didn't stay too late, as we had some work we wanted to get done on the immigration application before bed, so we headed home around 7:30.

How was your weekend?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I know its late it in the day, but its been a very busy day/week and this is the first moment I've had to sit down and write today's post.

Today I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday.


I'm loving my kitten, Anna. She really has become my baby, and I just love coming home to her at the end of the day. To open the door, call her name and have her run to come see me always makes me smile. And to have company now while Stephan is away for work is a big plus.

I'm loving my man, for letting us get Anna :) She's instantly become a part of our lives, and I can't imagine not having her anymore....and yes, its only been 4 days.

I'm loving my new job as a preschool teacher. Today was day 3, and its going great so far. I really like what I do, and I seem to get along well with my co-workers and I have bonded well with the kids. So far its just been figuring out the routine and how things are done.

That's it for this week, its a short list but they're pretty big things to love in my opinion :)

What are you loving this week?

this is how you get attention....

weekend recap - out of the darkness

Well, if you read a few posts ago you know it didn't start out that good...

Plans got cancelled, I got left out and I ended up Friday night sitting at home alone feeling pretty crappy. Well, I guess you never know when to count your blessings. But boy did things change. If I hadn't been sitting at home, I wouldn't have received a message on facebook from 2 friends from Ontario who were in town visiting a family member. They messaged me with their phone number, asking to meet for drinks. Getting there was a nightmare, we met down town so they would have easy access to the c-train. I got stuck in construction traffic, and a 30 minute drive took 1 1/2 hours to get downtown. And then finding parking was a nightmare. But boy, was I happy to see them! My cries on Friday night for my Ontario friends was answered, and it couldn't have come to a better time. Stephan was also downtown, and I picked him up on the way home.

Saturday was a bit of a lazy day. I slept in quite late, and we spent most of the day sitting on the couch and cleaning. We ran a few errands, including groceries and stopping by Chapters. I got a new book on the not-so-nice kings and queens of Europe, its quite interesting! In the evening we went for a bbq at one of Stephan's co-workers, it was a post-wedding party for those who couldn't make it to the wedding (it had been in Ontario). It was a really nice, relaxing evening on the porch.

Sunday I had church in the morning, and then I had to stop by the grocery store to grab something I forgot. While there, I stopped in at petsmart. We had been looking around at cats, and we had found one we liked at another petshop but I thought I would see what was available here. The pets at this petstore are sold via a rescue agency. I found Anna, got to see her for a bit and ask some questions and immediately rushed home to beg Stephan to come look. Well, I guess he liked her too because he said we should bring her home that day. And so we did. We grabbed all the supplies we needed while we were there, and then adopted Anna and brought her home.

She's adjusted well, and is eating, drinking and playing, and is using the litter box (she only had 1 accident, and then its been good since then). She is very playful (I have clawmarks to prove it), but also VERY cuddely. She likes to like on my chest/neck, or half on the back of the couch/my shoulder. And she purrs like crazy. For such a little kitten, she purrs SO LOUD!
We're looking forward to getting to know this new addition to our family :)

And, its amazing how a weekend can flip around. I feel like I was maybe a bit dramatic on Friday, but I was really feeling low. But it feels so great to say that the weekend turned out great. I guess someone was watching out for me :)