Plastic, rubber, ribbon, string, hair, melon.

Well, not a lot is new. So I'll just bore you with things that are of mild interest.

We're looking forward to the weekend. Last weekend my Dad and brother Michael came to visit, which is always fun, but busy, busy, busy. The Winter Carnival starts Wednesday today and lasts until the 3rd. I'm excited to see the ice sculptures. We are also going to this cool little hamburger place we saw featured on the Food Network. I can't remember the name right now.

Speaking of Food Network. Chris and I have become addicts. So I finally have the desire to cook for us. So tonight I'm making some baked chicken and potatoes. Tomorrow night we are having this Chili Verde stuff. Well maybe modified a little. It needs to simmer forever, though. So I'm actually going to put it all together tonight and then let it simmer on low tomorrow while we are at work.

Kitty News:

If there is one thing I know about kitties...it's they like an Omega Paw Whirly Mouse Jr. The first day I gave it to them I came home that night and couldn't even find it. It took me all weekend to realize that in a fit of playful excitement they shoved it clear under Chris' recliner. Then a couple of days later they actually managed to pull the ball out of it's track! So I put the ball back in and now everyday they play with it until it tips upside-down (which must make it unusable :) ) and then I fix it for them and it starts again.

Most of you already know that Dahlia loves to eat weird stuff. You know...plastic, rubber, ribbon, string, hair, melon, whatever. So yesterday morning I'm getting ready for work and I walk by and notice there are some socks laying in her vicinity. She's very nonchalantly laying there acting innocent. But the long piece of sock string hanging from her whiskers gave her away. I'm very curious how many inedible things she eats everyday.

Turkeys in Eden Prairie?

So today I saw the local turkeys for the first time. I've heard of these mythical creatures for months now and finally I've seen them with my own eyes. They are really big and really ugly. They went for a little stroll around our building and unfortunately I didn't get a picture. Just imagine a turkey...and then bigger and uglier.

Car shopping.

So last Saturday Chris and I decided to go looking at cars. I had received an emailing advertising all of the post-Christmas specials and so it sparked our interest. After driving around a couple of lots we gave up. It was cold and snowing and gross out. The biggest problem being that all the cars are covered in snow...so it puts a little damper on the selection process. Anyways, we ended up just driving to a new area of the cities that we haven't explored and grabbed some lunch at Dairy Queen. While we were eating and reading the paper I found some more ads for cars. Grand Prixs particularly (which is what I've been admiring for over a month now). So we fell victim to their advertising and headed up to Brooklyn Park to see what they had.

We drove home in a 2007 Grand Prix GT. It's slightly used which is good, because it drops the price quite a bit. In fact, when I test drove a Grand Prix for the first time it was in Bemidji and it was very similar to the one we got. It was new but didn't have any of the special features that ours does (leather, sunroof, remote start) and they wanted $9,000 more dollars for it! Can you believe that? I'm sure the market in Bemidji is less competitive so they can charge more but wow what a difference.

Anyways, I love it, love it, love it. Until we get a second "new" car we are sharing this one. So Chris drives it to work most days, because he drives about 10 times as far to work. Lame. :) We need to take some pictures to post and I'll try to do it this weekend.

We are just going to lay low and get some more cleaning done. Last night we got into one of those moods and cleaned until 11:30.

Oh, and we are also going to see "Enchanted". I'm such a dork. Up until last night I thought it was strictly a little girl's movie, but it actually looks really funny.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Home sweet home.

After traveling for 4 days it feels good to be home. We were so anxious to be home that we left East Grand Forks Christmas night at around 9:00. We made good time and made it home before 2:00 the next morning. It was actually a good idea. The roads at that point were really nice and we didn't have any holiday traffic to deal with. And then we got to sleep in our own bed with our kitties.

The kitties have been very cuddly and affectionate since we got back. They are also more cuddly with each other than usual. I have to think that they fought the loneliness while we were gone by curling up together.

Oh, and they ate all of their food! I couldn't believe it. We left two very large bowls of food and they ate it all in 4 days. Luckily, we left the bag on the counter top and they sort of help themselves once their bowls were empty. There was a big cat-head-sized whole in the bag.

Yesterday we have them their Christmas toys. We got them a little catnip mouse that is refillable. "Grandma" Nancy got them the Omega Paw Whirly Mouse Jr. It's definitely a hit and when I left for work this morning they were going nuts with it.

Now that Christmas is over we are looking forward to finding a car. There are a bunch of big sales going on right now, so hopefully we will find something soon.

Oh, and for those of you who know Chris' paycheck didn't come last Thursday here's an update. It really did get lost or stolen. The company checked to see if anyone had fraudulently cashed it and no one had, so they canceled the check and issued Chris a new one today. And now he's set up with direct deposit. :)

Ready to Launch.

Since the time I began working at WheretoLive.com our number one customer and priority has been building a website for Century21 Canada. The company has been working on this project for approximately 18 months and it is our V4 platform. So if you included all of the learning and work that went into versions 1, 2, and 3 this product has been 7 years in the making.

Today is the day it will be launched for the public to view. The last couple of days have been long to say the least. I've literally only slept and worked since Monday. But it's all coming together and it's worth it.

Last night the 3 "top dogs" from Century21 Canada corporate came and we presented the site. The presentation went very well and our product is beautiful. We proudly boast that our product is the best real estate website in the world and I really believe that it is. I've worked so closely on the project for the last 8 months that I forget how spectacular it is. Then when it's compared right along side the competition it's amazing how great it is. When making analogies our boss compares this site to a Ferrari. (We have a lot of car people here.)

And then there was a party afterwards. We drank lots of wine and ate delicious appetizers made by "Mom". (Our Maternal Operations Manager who cooks lunch for us everyday.)

When I joined the team a great deal of the design work had already been done by the other designer here, Gabe. However, I've still been able to make a lot contributions and it's very exciting that this will be viewed by such a large audience. Basically, I was in a group of 5 key engineers, which consisted of 3 programmers and two designers. In addition to the technical work, there was endless discussion and problem solving to ensure that every detail of this product was thought through.

So today is a landmark for our company and probably within the hour they will be "flipping the switch" to make the new site live.

www.century21.ca

Everyone at work is definitely on a "high" with all of the excitement, but I'm just ready to go home. I haven't seen Chris at all for the last couple of days (he's already been asleep by the time I get home), but tonight we are going to take it easy and watch some "Heroes" and cuddle with some kitties. :)

The big two four.

▼ This was written last night.

Whew, what a day. White chicken chili...cards...flowers...a new video camera...a new episode of Heroes...Pene got her staples out...the kitties got bathes...watched this funny Charmin commercial with a pink and blue bear...searched Temerity Jane's blog for a funny post she wrote about that subject. Now I feel the urge to write on my own blog.

Tonight I'm at T.G.I. Friday's and I'm wondering in my head, "Should I mention it's my birthday? I mean, they certainly must have some sort of a reward. It's Katie Day darn it. I must be entitled to some sort of chocolate sunday or something right?" But in the end I chose to keep it on the dl. Who wants a plain old sunday anyways? It's Katie Day and I need some cheesecake or something else worthy of the occasion.

So I'm eating my dinner and I kid-you-not the girl in the booth next to us has a birthday sunday delivered. It was a massacre. Total public humiliation. They make her stand-up next to them and then the shouting, singing, hullabaloo starts. I was embarrassed for her and thanking God that I didn't order anything alcoholic which could have blown my cover.

So watch out for T.G.I. Friday's and their false promises of free birthday deserts. They make you earn it.

Pene got cwned.

Look at her lay there…all conked out after her hectic day. It’s not funny…but it sort of is.

I brought Penelope home from being spayed Wednesday evening. After getting home she immediately started picking at her stitches. So an hour later I realized that it wasn’t going to stop, so I had to rush back to the vet before they closed to pick up some “bitter orange” stuff to put on the incision. And it worked really great. All night she left it alone and cuddled and purred and all was well.

Then yesterday morning I wake up to find that she has managed to completely remove her stitches. And you can imagine it was very gross and I don’t deal well with those types of things. So luckily the vet opened in about 10 minutes, so I was able to rush her in.

(On a side note…it turns out that Pene hates the vet. She is the most loving affectionate kitten you could ever ask for and it’s because of her strong attachment to us that she pitches a fit at the vet’s office. I have never heard a cat hiss and growl like that. So it’s just pleasurable to take her there repeatedly.)

So the vet glued her shut and put more bitter orange on it. Now at this point the vet recommends that I keep an eye on her for a while to make sure that she leaves it alone.

And our morning/afternoon consists of:

She licks at it, I apply more bitter orange, she leaves it alone.

30 minutes later…

She licks at it, I apply more bitter orange, she leaves it alone.

30 minutes later…

She licks at it, I apply more bitter orange, she leaves it alone.

And by mid-afternoon her incision is half open again and we are headed back to the vet. This time the vet means business and so my poor, poor Pene got stapled/glued and a cone.

After getting back home she seemed just sort of defeated and slept for the rest of the day.