A day in the life of a cat

I know, I know. The speed of my transformation into a cat lady is appalling. Just think what awesome picture posts I'll have when I have human kids, though!

Why aren't you paying attention to me?
Maybe if I sit up here you'll be forced to look at me.

Hmm. That didn't work. Let's try this. Look what I can do!

Muwahahahah! It worked! Attention at last!!!!
Wait, no, don't do that! That tickles!

Hah! I told you I could jump up here to the third shelf!
Um... can you help me get down now?

Yes!!! They forget to close the toilet lid! AT LAAAAAAAST!
That fresh-filled-twice-daily filtered water in my bowl is GROSS!

Okay you can close the lid now!

What?

They'll never find me here!

What is this curious white stuff? I must kill it.

ERMERGERHD! It's a SCHTICK!

Hey, guys! I took care of that pesky paper towel roll for you!

...MUST... GET... ICE CUBE!

...MUST... GET... WHATEVER'S AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS!

Bow down to me, plebeian humans.

Time for another nap.

Halloween Party!

On the Saturday before Halloween, it was fun for us to have a bunch of our friends over, who hadn't yet seen our house. We had a costume contest, pumpkin carving, taco soup eating, and movie watching ("Coraline"). Here's some pics:

Kristi as Prof. Trelawny

Holly and Russell as the bullies from "Arthur"

Joe and me as Shaggy and Velma

Tom and Lauren as Bert and Mary Poppins

Let's see. In other news, my sister-in-law Keren had her baby this past week! His name is Roman James. He's so cute! I love him.
Also, a bunch of my coworkers talked me into running a 10k with them in Moab in December, so we have been training for that the past couple of weeks. It's actually worked out perfectly because we run right after work, like at 5 p.m. so I don't have to wake up early, or come home from work and then instead of relaxing, trying to work up the motivation to go running. So it's been great for me.
And, as promised, here are some pictures of our house! I'll post more as I get rooms "done."  :)

It's a twin home. The neighbor's side starts where the tree is on the left.

Kitchen

Eating area

Keats the (Krazy) Kitty

I didn't feel like I had anything to blog about for a long time, but now I have so many cat stories to share, it's crazy! Yes, that's right. CAT STORIES. Joe and I are now the proud owners of one Keats Hellion Chambers. He is an adorable one-year-old gray, black, and white tabby cat that we adopted last week. We already had the name picked out (well, the Keats part) because I've wanted a dog since forever and we decided we would get a Bassett Hound. Joe suggested that we name future doggy "Byron" and I was like, "Oh, like Lord Byron, the British Romantic poet?" And he's like, "No, Byron the Bassett Hound from Looney Toons." But either way, we both loved the name idea. Well Joe has wanted to get a cat as much as I have wanted to get a dog, and after doing some research, we realized that if you want a cat and a dog, you need to get them both fairly young and get the cat first. So we got a cat for Joe's birthday! And named him Keats, after British Romantic poet, John Keats.

Keats playing with the garbage can

So yes, Keats is adorable and I am so in love with him. But he's a bit psycho. Joe and I keep reassuring ourselves that he's still a kitten and is adjusting to his new environment. Like his favorite pastime activities are to pounce on anything that moves (especially toes and fingers), sink his teeth into squishy things (especially hands, feet, and steak), and challenge the garbage can to a duel. I don't want to get too carried away with cat stories... so I'll limit myself to three:
1) Joe and I were upstairs when we heard lots of commotion and thumping from downstairs. Joe went downstairs to investigate only to find that kitty, after many unspoken challenges to the kitchen garbage can, had finally pounced on top of it and fell in (because it has the flap lid that opens into it when pushed on) and was stuck inside, in need of rescuing.

Keats attacking, and consequently falling into, the garbage can

2) I had just reheated my leftover Texas Roadhouse steak from the night before to have for lunch. I set it on the counter, and then ran outside for literally 30 seconds! When I came back, Keats had jumped up  on the counter, grabbed the steak, and pulled it onto the floor and was devouring it.
3) I hear this is pretty common, but Keats seems to love to drink water from anywhere except his water bowl, even though I keep him in constant supply of clean, cool, and fresh water. Toilets, bathtubs, sinks, human cups, puddles on the floor, etc.

So he's a bit bipolar, hyperactive, and bitey, but I'm sure he'll get better. And he's so cute that I can never be annoyed at him for long. But the saying is definitely true that you don't train a cat, a cat trains you. I've learned that before we leave for work in the morning to close all the bathroom doors, hide the garbage can in the pantry, and put the paper towel roll up on top of the fridge.

Keats all tuckered out after losing to the garbage can

In other news, the reason we were able to even get a cat is because we now OWN A HOUSE! It was a long, stressful process to get this short sale house (which had 2 mortgages on it, complicating everything even more because we had to work with 2 banks that owned the house), but now that we are here, it was so worth it! It is about 1600 sg. ft. with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, a 2-car garage, and a huge yard! We love having a garage and newer place than any of our apartments; we're a little overwhelmed by the yard though. Thanks to Joe's parents for help on the loan and to my parents for letting us live in their basement for 2 months! And everyone who helped us move! We are pretty much moved in. The first thing I did with my homeowner freedom was to paint a wall in the living room! Lauren, Kara, Mom, and Joe all helped me paint an accent wall dark teal. I'm really pleased with how it looks. I want to eventually paint the master bedroom, but all in good time. I will definitely post some pictures of the house soon. i just want to finish things up a bit more first.

Mexican Riviera Cruise

I am finally blogging about our cruise last month--I was waiting for some pictures, but I will have to make do with what I have found so far because I need to write about the trip before I forget everything!

So we left Sunday, Feb. 5 and got back on the 12th, so it was a week. This was kind of our raincheck honeymoon cruise, because we had planned to go right after we got married but it fell through. So now, 2 1/2 years later, we got to go! Thanks Mom and Dad Chambers!

We flew to Los Angeles where Lizzi picked us up from the airport and took us the cruise ship in Long Beach--the Carnival Splendor. We boarded and had to wait a couple hours for our room to be ready, but while waiting, I took in the general splendor. I got really excited when we got on because the big lounge/bar area we entered into was all pink and glitzy with colored LED lights every square inch on the walls. I thought it was an awesome theme room! Well, little did I know that that... was just the whole theme of the ship. Everything was pink and purple and gaudy! It was almost nauseating! But cool :) Oh except our room. Our room was coral and seafoam. So, much more classy. :) Anyway, Sunday we just kinda wandered around. There were 12 decks and about 4000 people on board (including 1200 crew!).

Monday we were at sea all day. We went to a meet the captain seminar where they also told us about the highlights of the cruise and detailed all the different excursion possibilities. That evening was a formal dinner so we got all snazzy and had wonderful food at our dining room: the Black Pearl Restaurant. Joe read a lot and I got caught up on some stuff for work that I needed to get out of the way.

 

Tuesday was my birthday and we arrived at Cabo san Lucas. It was GORGEOUS! We saw Los Arcos as we were approaching the shore and it reminded me of the movie, The Count of Monte Cristo. We went ashore using "tender" transport boats and wandered around the shops a bit. We then hired a local to take us to Lover's Beach so we could do a bit of swimming and snorkeling. It was my first time snorkeling, so I was a bit anxious and wimpy at first, but after some patience from Joe, I finally got the hang of it. It was so cool! There was vibrant violet seaweed and neon yellow and black fish. The water was so salty though and I got pretty exhausted after a bit.  I definitely had a good nap on the beach. We headed back to the boat in the late afternoon. That night after dinner, we went to a comedy show and it was lots of fun.

Wednesday we were in Cabo again, but the weather was really stormy and chilly and they didn't let a lot of people go to shore because it was so choppy for the tender boats to travel in. Joe and I stayed on shore and relaxed. I finally got a chance to read The Book Thief. Joe had gotten it for me for Christmas last year and it had been on my "to read" list forever. It was not at all what I was expecting, but I liked it a lot! I also discovered the onboard gym and the plethora of ellipticals within. We checked out and spent some time at the pool and the hot tub. That night, we went to the five star onboard restaurant--Pinnacle Steakhouse. We decided to splurge one night as a break from the normal dining room and to celebrate my birthday. It was FANTASTIC. I had this amazing creamed spinach, filet mignon and lobster that was truly the most amazing thing I think I have ever eaten. Joe had a delicious steak. He had cheesecake and I had this incredible chocolate dessert. We were very glad we had splurged. We had brought a couple DVDs with us and watched on on Joe's laptop in our room, though I fell asleep like half and hour in.

Thursday landed us in Puerto Vallarta. We had decided beforehand that we were going to go on an all day long excursion called the Sea Safari. There were about 20 of us and our tour guide took us on a motor boat to a little town called Quimixto that was only accessible by boat. We walked around and then went on horseback to reach a little secluded waterfall. Joe jumped off a mini cliff into the pool at the bottom and swam a bit. I was not brave enough. I did eat some chips a salsa from the little restaurant at the waterfall while I watched Joe be brave. We headed back to the boat where we rode for a bit and then stopped at a little inlet to snorkel. Again, I was amazed at the amazingly varied and bright colored fish. We got on the boat again for about 20 minutes until we reached a private beach where they had a spread of food including the yummiest beans and rice we have ever had. There were hammocks and we just hung out and lounged there for a couple hours. We then got back on the motor boat and saw some dolphins and humpback whales on our way back to the cruise ship! It was so cool--there were like 20 dolphins in a group that we got to see.

Friday we were back at sea to head back. The water was pretty rough all day and I got a bit seasick. It was another formal dinner night and then afterward we went to another comedy show.

Saturday was another rocky day at sea.  There was a couples show that we went to, kind of like the newlywed game, but for all couples. That was funny to watch.

Sunday we woke up and got packed and headed off, though we were actually some of the last ones off the boat because Lizzi couldn't pick us up till a bit later. She then drove us back to the airport and we were on our way home again.

All in all, it was super fun and very relaxing. We ate, slept, read, and relaxed a lot and it was fun to spend so much time together.

I'm finally graduated!

Sorry for such a long delay since my last post. Fall semester was kind of a marathon, but now I’m done! I am officially a college grad. I will be walking in April, but I already have my diploma and everything. Just for the final record, I got a bachelor of art in English and a minor in editing—I know I changed majors several times and you have probably had a hard time keeping track J It’s been a long road since I started in 2006 and was majoring in nutritional science. Then chemistry happened and I switched to dietetics. Then… chemistry happened again and I switched to English teaching. Then marriage happened and I switched to just English. Then I took an elective English credit called modern English usage, which I LOVED and found out it was part of the editing minor, hence adding my minor. So 5½ years later… I’m done!

Life post school is interesting. I actually thought I would have more time on my hands, with just a part-time job and no school, but I’ve managed to stay surprisingly busy. I am loving my job still—I work as a book editor at Cedar Fort, Inc. in Springville and it’s my dream job. I am actually working more like 32 hours/week instead of the 20 I started out doing. There is just so much to do and my projects keep me busy and are varied. I get to do anything from copyediting to proofing to doing the page layout, and I’ve worked on all different types of books including cookbooks, young adult fiction, LDS nonfiction, a language-learning book, and a business how-to book. My favorite book I’ve edited so far is a young adult fantasy/paranormal book that I’m recommending to everyone. It’s called “Fractured Light” and it’s by Rachel McClellan.  It should have come out last week sometime (Feb. 8?). Sorry, that’s my pitch for the month. I am hoping a full time position will open up soon, and I’ve also applied to and organization called Teach for America. It is quite competitive, but if I get through the lengthy application process, I will be a teacher in a low-income school district for two years. I will get paid a teacher’s salary and I will get certified to teach through them. I know it would be challenging, but I think it would be a great experience for me too. Teaching junior high English is one of those life goals that I need to cross off my list before I can feel good about settling into a career in editing. I applied to the Las Vegas Corps because that is one of the closest places to go  (there aren’t any available places in Utah) and Joe is familiar with the area, since he served his mission there. It’s not guaranteed they’ll send me there, but they do try to give you your first choice. Other places I listed to go are Detroit, Baltimore, Seattle, and Denver (if I remember right). I’ll keep you updated. My hobbies include keeping up with TV shows “Parenthood” and “White Collar.” I know what you’re thinking. But I find that reading for pleasure has lost its appeal as a past time activity. It’s about the last thing I want to do when I get home from work because I read all day! I’m looking for some new hobbies. Any ideas? I’ve already tried knitting and crocheting. Apparently you have to have something called “hand-eye” coordination to do well in those things. This has also ruled out playing video games and most sports.

If I’ve managed to stay what I call “busy,” Joe has been a Tasmanian devil. He is in two bands (his own, Winters Run, in which he writes the music and is the guitarist, and Enden, a friend’s band, in which he plays bass). He has 1-2 practices a week/per band. He is still working full time at Power Innovations as a electrical engineering technician, but he is also auditing some refresher pilot classes at UVU in the evening, to keep up with that. He has been itching to fly. He still builds guitars in “all his spare time.” He also continues to work on his book he is writing. And speaking of his bands, he has a gig this Friday at Muse Music in Provo at 8 p.m. Both his bands will be playing that night—that’s right. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to come see Joe play both his guitar in one band, and his bass in the other, back to back!

Still waiting to hear back about Joe and the Army. At this point, we just kinda want to know, one way or the other, so we can progress forward with something. We have backup plans, but it’s hard to move on until we officially rule out Plan A. Oh well. We are content with what we are doing right now and trying to be patient. Next post I will write about our cruise to Mexico! I had to catch you all up to speed before I wrote about that though! Till then! Thanks for reading!