He's Come A Long Way

Remember the.... cage?

This is where Walter started his career. At the very bottom. The Cage. Then he advanced quickly to my cubical in the back office area, where he would be hidden from visitors.

Well, he liked the back office better than the cage, but it wasn't long before that was also too restricting.

And here he is today. At the top of the corporate ladder. Doing whatever he wants, when he wants.

That Black Cat

About a year ago, just after we moved into our house, the strangest thing happened. I had been working on the house all day and Adam had been at work. We decided to meet somewhere for dinner since we had no food in the house. When we got back home, we found that Walter had shut himself in a bedroom upstairs. The door in that room doesn't swing any direction at all, it would have had to be intentionally pulled or pushed shut. Both cats hovered in a corner, scared of something and a black cat sat in the middle of the empty living room floor like he owned the place. He stared me down for a few seconds and then took off out the open back door. That's right, the back door was WIDE open! So strange. We still have not been able to explain it, and the black cat made me a little superstitious. We just locked the doors that night and went to bed with a loaded gun and sorta forgot about it after a few days. Well, I think he's back.... the black cat. He was staring us down again, only this time he was on the other side of the glass where he belongs. He looks nice enough, but he was staring Adam down for the longest time, and then me. He looks hungry and I feel sorry for him, but I don't really like him.

It's so Pretty

I found this tree skirt at Pottery Barn several weeks ago. I wanted it so bad. But it was too expensive. I wanted it, but even if I could have afforded to spend that amount on a tree skirt, I still wouldn't have just because it was ridiculously over priced. I got a gift certificate to that store for Christmas from Grandma Lois. So as soon as I got back from our trip to NY, I ran to the mall to see if it had gone on sale yet. I got lucky! It was still expensive, but at least it was half as expensive. When the guy rang it up he was like..."wow, this is expensive, I thought it was on sale" I was like... "that is the sale price"...(sad face). But thanks to Grandma Lois I'll have the cutest tree skirt in the neighborhood next year!

P.S. We made it home safely (for those of you who were worried). Walter was so, so happy to see us. So were the kitties. Walter just ran and ran and ran all around the house from the living room where his papa was to the entryway were his mama was and up and down the stairs and into the other living room to see his kitties. When the dog sitter dropped him off, she informed me that all of his Christmas presents were still at work on my desk in a giant box. I guess he's pretty popular there. He also came back to us with more stuff in his suitcase (a box) than what we dropped him off with. He was really spoiled while we were gone. Oh, and one more thing, Adam loves his gun stuff. He couldn't wait to get home to put the accessories on them. Here he is playing with it. There is a hotel across the lake. I always think it would be funny if they had a telescope set up over there and they peeked in on us. There would be a number of times they would see a giant gun pointed at them. Adam likes to point his gun out that window for some reason. He sometimes sets them up with stilts and a laser pointer and then lays on the floor with it.

Guns, Playdough and Worship

Today is going to be an action packed day. We have already spent several hours shooting the guns. Everyone is playing "banana grams" right now, (I refused to play more than one game, but Adam is more patient than I, so he is still stuck playing round....seven or eight I think.) he's going to hate me for that one. It's nearly 60 degrees here, so all the snow has turned to mud. We are going to go three and four wheeling after lunch, so those involved will be VERY muddy. Don't worry, I'll post pictures of the mudders later. I'm the official photographer in the family. Against my will, But someones gotta take them. We are planning to head home in the morning. I am ready to see my pets. I miss them.

Christmas at Mom's

Make a Smilebox photobook

Snowboarding Pictures

Well, this is not going to be a very interesting post, but everyone keeps asking how we are doing and if we are having a good time. We are having a great time, but we are all very sore. We were supposed to be up and out by 8, but that didn't happen. We didn't get to the mountain until about 11. The boys caught on pretty quick. They were flying down the hill by the end of the day. Madeline did pretty good too, but really only when I was hanging on to her ski's and scooting down the hill backwards with my hands on her ski's and her hands on my back... me, bending over and looking between my legs. We could go pretty fast like that. It was very exhausting, so we only did one run like that. Shannon spent the rest of the day with her on the bunny hill, so we will see tomorrow how well she picks it up. We are all soo tired and sore. I think we are planning to go to bed pretty soon here.

Walter is doing just fine. He is staying with our office manager. They get along pretty good. So he went to work with her the few days they had to go into the office and from the sounds of it, he has become fond of the new twins her daughter has there at the house. He likes to sleep in their doorway and keep track of them. The kitties are good too. They are running wild in the house. The neighbors are keeping an eye on them. I hope they manage to stay out of trouble. I'm surprised how much I miss them. I'm so used to having Walter with us all the time. He's always in the back seat since we take him to work every day. So every time we are in the truck, and I hear a noise, I turn around to see what Walter is doing or getting into, only to see a pile of luggage. And whenever we go into a store or a restaurant, I keep forgetting that I don't have to worry that we've left him out there for too long. It's like having a kid, that you are always worried you're going to forget about and leave in the car or something like that. I miss my boy.

Hope everyone else is having a good holiday vacation!

My Bare Christmas Tree (but it's better than last years).

Why did I do that?

Do you remember when I posted about the lazy guy that begs for money off the freeway by my house, and how I can't stand beggers? Well, I still don't like him and I don't think he's homeless OR hungry. But I DID have a little change of heart today for a begger. I know...I'm turning into Santa Clause. Have I mentioned how much fun I was going to make of Christmas this year? There was an old lady, well, she wasn't that old, but she was old to me. She looked so cold, and there was snow everywhere. She didn't have a hat on, and her gloves looked about as insulated as gardening gloves. I hate to say this, but she looked kinda like a younger, sadder, toothless version of my grandma Annie... Wait, she's toothless too. (But she's supposed to be, she's old.) I think that's why I took pitty on her. For once in my life I had cash on me, thanks to an early Christmas. When I handed her the money, I said "normally I would tell you to get a job, but you actually look really cold." That was kinda mean, huh? Saying it now I kinda think it was. But that was me being nice. Let's just say, if she IS a con, she still deserves the money, because she walked all the way there, and then she stood out there for who knows how long. That's a much harder job than what I do everyday, if you ask me. I can't even stand outside long enough to let Walter go potty. I have to wait inside and watch him through a window. Now all I can think about is... I hope she really wasn't homeless and has somewhere warm to sleep tonight.

Tony's First and Favorite Birthday

Make a Smilebox photobook

Thanksgiving Pictures, (don't mind the game/computer freaks)

Lovin' My Dirty Laundry

Only a pet could love you for your messy habits. Walter never complains about dirty laundry, he loves it! Sadly though, some of those clothes are not dirty... well, I guess they are now. Since they got thrown on the floor with dirty clothes and Walter has been sleeping on it for several days.

More from Vegas

Here are a few more pictures of the strip and some of the cars at the show. It's pretty fun here, surprisingly even for people who do not drink, gamble or party. We spent all of yesterday in the desert. Just walking around the strip watching the lights and free shows are pretty fun. The buffets are the best. Rach, the one we went to yesterday made fresh crapes right in front of you, with all kinds of fillings, whip cream, chocolate and powdered sugar! I thought of you when she was making it, there were flames too. They have awesome desserts at the Luxor*, there was creme brule, chocolate mousse, cakes, ice cream and hot fudge, anything you can imagine! And they are served in tiny little dishes so you can try everything and not be wasteful. We are either going to go see Bodies, which I bet you would like trigirl82, or we will do indoor skydiving today or tomorrow.