Happy Birthday, Rachel!!!

This is Rachel and I at the Micheal Bublé concert a couple of summers ago.

Last week was Rachel's birthday, but due to many unforeseen circumstances, we only got to celebrate on Sunday. Rachel and I have been friends for *cough* 16 1/2 years *cough*! Wow, that's a loooooong time. We met at Bethany Bible Institute in Hepburn, Saskatchewan in Sept. 1990. We started getting really close when we played basketball together. My most fun memory of BBI with Rachel was pulling an all nighter finishing a paper and then going to the gym at 6:00 in the morning and practicing with the boys b.ball team. The guys were wondering what we were doing up so early and we said that he hadn't even gone to bed yet, so we figured we'd just stay up. Good times, good times. Rachel was from Brazil and Manitoba (she came from a missionary family), but I think it was around 1994 or 1995 when she moved out to New Westminster, so we got to start spending more time together. Her and I and another friend bought a Jam Pack of tickets (11 games) to the Vancouver Grizzlies (remember them?) in 95/96 and we had a BLAST going to the games. I actually got to see Michael Jordan play live which was one of my greatest thrills in life. Glad I got to share that with you, Rae. Then, in 1996, I got even more lucky and she moved to Abbotsford into a house with myself and two other girls. We had a lot of fun in that house. I still remember being woken up at 2 am and Rachel standing there with roses in her hand and she said, "Do you want to see the roses or the ring first?" It took me awhile to process what she was saying, and when it clicked in that she had just gotten engaged, there were hugs all around. I was privileged to be a candle lighter in her wedding in 1997, right before I headed off to go travelling and then to work in Camden, NJ. Rachel was really good at keeping in touch with me while I was gone and her and Mark even let me live with them the summers in between when I came home. Isn't that nice of the newlyweds? When I decided to come home from Camden, Rachel flew across the country to drive back home with me. Leaving Camden was an extremely difficult decision for me and I wasn't in the best mental state, so Rachel will NEVER know how much that meant to me (even though she's probably sick of hearing me tell her). She only came out a couple of days before we were going to start driving home, so I took her on a whirlwind tour of Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Atlantic City and New York. We had SUCH a great time and we did the drive in 3 days stopping at friends in Chicago, Winnipeg and my parents in Calgary. That was a GREAT road trip, Rae. Thanks for going on that journey with me.

Since then, Mark and Rachel have had 3 beautiful boys whom I love dearly. Again, they have taken me in while I've been without a place to house sit and they never complain or ask me for anything in return. Thank you, Rachel for your amazing friendship. I'm the type of person who needs to vent and discuss things, and Rachel can always tell when I need advice or when I just need someone to listen. I can only hope that I'm half as good a listener as you are, Rae. God has truly blessed me with your friendship.

On Sunday, Natasha and I brought lunch and a cake over to her place and then we went to a movie (In the Land of Women - quite cute). Here's Rachel with her 3 awesome boys.

This is the flan that Natasha picked up. It was REALLY good. Even the boys loved it!

BLOW!!!

Happy Belated Birthday, Rae! I hope you had a great day because you deserve it.

Meeting the Babies

Two of my friends had babies in the last couple of months, so off I went to meet them.

This is Ethan. He is 1 month old and he's SUPER cute! Just a little guy still, and he was soooo tired, so he was only up for a little while after we got there, but I did manage to still hold him.

Ethan's parents are Todd and Nancy. On Thursday, Bren and I went over there for supper and to hang out with the new parents. They are SO relaxed with Ethan. It was very nice to see.

Sleep well, little baby. Daddy has you wrapped so nice and tight and you look so content. God placed you with wonderful parents. I'm excited to watch you grow. It was very nice to meet you, Ethan. I'm sure we'll see you soon.

Then last night I headed out to Vancouver to see my friends Drew and Linda and meet their new little guy. I left home at 4:40, and this is what I saw when I got to Glover Rd.


Usually when I get stuck in traffic, it's right before Surrey, but this time it went ALLLL the way back to Langley. In 1 hour, I had only gone 39 kms. I got to know this Chevy in front of me quite well. In fact, at times I wondered if we were listening to the same music because he was tapping his hand in time to my beat, but then I remembered ...


I was listening to my handy iPod, not the radio, so chances of him listening to the same music as me were slim. This is how slow the traffic was and how bored I was ... taking pictures of my iPod (can you see who's playing ... of course ... it's U2!)

Anyways, I finally made it there (only 58 kms away) after 1 hour and 20 minutes (no, I'm not bitter) and I got to meet Adam. Adam is already 5 months old, so he wasn't as little as Ethan, but he was just as cute! He looked a little startled to see me. I think he was saying, "What took you so long? I'm already 5 months old!"

Big sister, Sophie had to get in on the act, too. Sophie's 2 and a half and super sweet. She's got just enough sass in her (reminds me of her Mom .. haha) to make me laugh when her parents are scolding her. I'm sorry, but it was just too cute not to break out a smile. Keep it up, Sophie. You gotta keep your parents on their toes!

Here's Daddy Drew and Sophie watching Lion King. Hakuna Matata!

Out like a light. Sorry it took me so long to meet you, Adam. It won't be another 5 months before we see each other again ... Mommy and I made a promise. I also want to say a belated Happy Anniversary to Drew and Linda. They celebrated 6 years on April 21 and I was very honoured to have been a part of their special day. I met Drew and Linda in Camden, NJ when we all worked for Urban Promise. Good times ... most of them. haha Also, Linda and I drove across the southern States together in July in a car with no air conditioning and we still like each other, so I think that is a testament to our great friendship. :)

Thanks for supper, guys. It was great to see you and your beautiful family.


FYI - it only took me 37 minutes to get home ... no joke ... THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

BONO'S GOING TO BE ON AMERICAN IDOL!!!

T minus 50 minutes. Ok, he probably won't be on until the last minutes of the 2 hour special, but still ... it's BONO ... on Americal Idol!

Oh yeah .. and the Canucks are playing tonight, too. :)

ROARING 20s REUNION

If you or someone you know used to attend Roaring 20s (College & Career) at Northview Community Church, please pass this info on to them. Have them visit http://roaring20sreunion.blogspot.com/ and leave a post on what they're up to now and to find out any new info.

Thanks!

ATTENTION: ALL EX- ROARING 20’s of NORTHVIEW COMMUNITY CHURCH

Many memories were made, many laughs were had, many impacting moments …

IT’S BAAAAAAACK!!!

We are having a REUNION on

Sunday, June 10, 2007
at Northview Community Church
Doors open at 2:30 pm

Come join us for a time of reflection, a time of connecting with past friends and a time of hearing God’s word.

Look forward to:

3:00 pm - Dave’s speaking (Marriage and Parenting Tips)
5:00 pm - B.A.D. Burgers
6:30 pm - Rock the Flock, Skits, Comedy, Drama,
Agent Orange,
Dave's speaking (Spiritual Refresher)
& MORE!!!

Please RSVP at Roaring20sReunion@hotmail.com

If you have any pictures from back in the day, please forward them to the above email address by June 3. We'd also love any current pictures of you and/or your families today.

Please forward this invitation to all Roaring 20s in your circle!! We don’t want to miss anyone!!

Childcare will not be provided
Please make other arrangements for your children

We look forward to seeing you all. - R20s Planning Committee

Random Thoughts

My shin splints are finally gone. Back to running. Part of me is happy about this and part of me isn't. It was nice to have a week off.



My hair is bugging me SO bad. I think it's time to get it cut. Something new .. up and coming.



Yesterday Tiffany puked/pooped up a storm around the house and as I was cleaning it up I thought, "Am I really only charging $8.50 a day for this?"


Someone (Carmen K.) got me hooked on Facebook, so I've been a bit absent from catching up on my blogs. Have you tried this thing? I feel a million times older on Facebook than I do on blogger, but I've reconnected with many people from my past, so it's been fun, but blogger still holds the first spot in the technological part of my heart.



God's reminder of His promise makes life worth it. Can you see the faint second rainbow? I only noticed it now when I posted the pic. Double reminder. :) Hope you all had a great weekend.

Reliant K ... ever heard of them?

Last week I won tickets to go see Reliant K.

I've heard of them, but can't say I know any of their music. Why did I enter to win tickets then, you may ask. Well, I see a box with an entry form and my hand is drawn to it like one of those sticks trying to find water. I've been bugged in the past because I win things so often, but if you knew how many things I enter and DON'T win, you'd know I really only win about 2% of the time. Also, you can't win if you don't enter, so ...

Anyways, off Bren and I went to the concert last week. We mostly went because the concert was at the Croatian Cultural Centre and we'd always wondered what kind of a venue it was for concerts. Well, we walked in and immediately felt like we were at a High School dance for a few reasons. 1) it looked pretty much like a gym or a hall and there were no seats, 2) everyone was running in and out to the bathroom to primp and preen and take a look at themselves and whisper about who knows what and 3) the place was FILLED with 11 - 17 year olds. It was quite funny. We sat out in the lobby for the two opening bands and watched the teens and pretty much thanked God that we're past that age. Before the second opening band finished, we figured we'd go outside for a few minutes. As we headed towards the door, this little security guard who was half my size came up to us and put her hands up and said something to us. I thought I heard her say, "No ins and outs," but it was quite loud in there so we both said, "Pardon me?" to which she in fact did say, "No ins and outs." Bren and I just looked at each other and started laughing. I've never been trapped inside a concert before. Usually they'll stamp your hand so that you can go in and out, but she looked at us with this serious face and I couldn't help but laugh. I know it's mean, but I could seriously have taken this lady out. I felt like a teenager again and I rolled my eyes and said, "Seriously?" As we were standing there in awe, this male security guard runs up and says, "No, no. It's ok. Parents are aloud in and out."

I'll let you take a minute to stop laughing. Now, Bren and I ourselves are not parents and there's nothing wrong with being called a parent, but it just goes to show what the average age was at the concert and the only reason someone our age would be there was because you were a parent bringing your kid. Too funny. We just looked at him and said, "Thank you," and off we went. It didn't even cross our minds to tell him we weren't parents. It was just our way out, so we used it.

We did come back when Reliant K played and they were good, but again, we didn't know any of their songs. Here they are:

Their sign looked a little rinky-dink and like it was made out of cardboard or something, but it was a fun night. Ok, good for a laugh is what it was. Since we didn't know any of their music, we only stayed for about half an hour and then we hit the road. It was a Tuesday night so I didn't want to be home later than 10 pm ... again, my age showing through ... can't keep up with those young'uns. :)

October Road & Grey's Anatomy (with a line that got under my skin)

Has anyone seen this new show October Road? SO GOOD!!! Like I need another TV show to get hooked on. Crazy, but I am. Remember Donna from That 70s Show? She's one of the main characters. I missed the first episode, but here's the drift of the show. Hannah's (Donna) high school boyfriend (Nick) left town for the summer but ended up staying away for 10 years. While away (and this is where I'm a tiny bit fuzzy), he wrote a "fictional" book, but it was based on a lot of stories about people from his home town. Although he changed the names in the book, apparently his old friends weren't fooled and were none too happy because it didn't paint them in a very good light. Well, 10 years later he returns. Some people are happy to see him, some aren't. When he sees Hannah, he finds out she has a 10 year old son that she says isn't his. Hmmm, I don't believe her. Anyway, it's very well acted, scripted, shot etc. There have only been a couple of episodes and next Thursday (10 pm, yeah, it's kinda late, but I tape it) is the season finale already. I guess they only made a few episodes to see if it takes off. I hope it does because I need to see whether Hannah and Nick get back together or if he gets together with the tart. Ok, she's not a tart but she's too young for him!

Grey's was great, too, but don't even fool with me making me think that maybe Derek is rethinking his relationship with Meredith! They've come through too much to break up now. But I guess I'm doing exactly what they want and getting all worked up so that I'll keep watching to see what happens. Not sure what's going to happen with Izzy and George, but I'm pretty sure I don't want them to get together. Didn't Kalie look TERRIBLE last night? Wow! She really looked liked she'd had NO sleep. Izzy's storyline with her daughter was very touching, but I think my favorite was how Alex is taking care of "Ava." So cute. I like that they're making him a little more lovable lately. Now, tell me if I'm just an overly sensitive single person, but there was a comment in last night's show that really bugged me. Not when it was said, but the next morning I thought about it again and thought, "Hey! That's not true." You know when Derek was talking to Dr. Bailey and saying that Meredith was a distraction from getting the Chief position? She turned to him and said, "If it's a choice between work and family, you choose family every time because none of it is worth it if you're alone." Now, the first part I agree with. Choose family/love over your work. Totally. But none of it being worth it if you're alone? So, does that mean that my life's not worth much because I'm not in love with someone and have someone to spend the rest of my life with? Maybe I'm being too sensitive and reading into that statement too much, but I can't agree with that. Anyone have any thoughts on my interpretation?

Ok, am I just too addicted to TV?

My visit with my sister

Last week my sister, who I haven't seen in over a year and a half, arrived in Vancouver.

She's been in Malaysia for awhile and there are a lot of different ethnicity's there, so her look has changed a bit. I barely recognized her. She really likes the saris now ... oh, wait ... that's not my sister. My sister's the one behind that lady. :) haha

It was nice to have no real agenda while she was here and just to chill and take our time everywhere we went. She's lived here before so it wasn't like when an out of town guest comes and you have to show them around. These were the only things she wanted to do: Go to Walmart and get treats for the kids, go to Wendy's for a Jr. Cheeseburger, go to Taco Time for a beef taco and go to Red Robin's for Clucks and Greens (all the really healthy foods - NOT!). Well, we ended up being quite lazy most of the time so we just stayed home and made our own meals, but here we are at Red Robin's. Since we didn't really do much, these are the only two pictures I took.

Brenda and Karen ended up joining us at Red Robin's, so don't worry, we're not those people who sit on the same side of the table even when they're the only 2 at the table. Not that there's anything wrong with that ... ok, it is a bit weird, isn't it?

When she asked her kids what they wanted her to bring them, she realized that they must deprive their kids of things because all her 7 year old boy wanted was his own pack of gum. Too cute! Ok, he was 3 when they left Canada so it's not like he remembers what he's missing out on, but I thought that was pretty cute. The girls wanted a few things, but they weren't too bad either, but it might be because they're all coming back this summer for a couple of months, so they'll get to pick up some stuff then, too.

The first night she got here we went to bed around 11:00 pm, so by 11:00 am the next morning I thought she'd died in the night because who sleeps for 12 hours anymore? When I poked my head into her room she made some weird moaning, stretching sounds, so I knew she was alive. Phewf! She apparently had been awake from 2 - 5 am adjusting to the jet lag. Poor girl, she was up every night at about that time. Only once did I have to go ask her to turn the TV down, and then I remembered that I had ear plugs. :)

We had a great visit and it was nice for it to just be the two of us. I always have to share her when the family's around, so this was great. We walked, we talked, we laughed, we cried, we shopped, we ate and then we prayed together before I drove her to her hotel. She was nervous for her course because as she put it, "Remember when you went to college and there were those married students there that seemed all old and geeky? That's going to be me!" Since this is a leadership course she's taking, I think the people there will all be a little older and on the mature side, so I think she's ok. Hopefully she had a great week. I was praying for ya, Jode! It's nice that I'll see her again in a couple of months so there was no crying when we said goodbye.

On a side note, having her here really put Leroy out (see my post from a few days ago). The first day and a half he seemed ok, and then I think he just wasn't sure what was going on. He stood and meowed at as for the longest time. Especially when Jode was sitting in the seat that I normally sit in. I think her being up in the middle of the night threw him off and plus I was blocking one of his sleeping places with my blow up mattress. I really don't think he liked that. The last day of Jode's visit I couldn't find him anywhere and after I searched for awhile I found him in the master bedroom looking out the window like this.

I can just picture what's going through his mind ... "What's going on here? When are my master's coming home? Why do these silly girls spend so much time here? Get out so I can have the run of the place!"

He has gotten pretty much back to normal now, so that's good. Tiffany didn't seem to take any notice at all .. but then again she really only moves once a day. Sorry Leroy!

I DID IT!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all who were praying for me and thinking about me yesterday during the Sun Run. I know that it helped. My friend Carmen and I discussed the night before what time we thought we should leave in the morning. I had never done the Sun Run before and had heard about how bad traffic could be and all the people, so I asked Carmen if we had to leave by 5:30 or 6:00 am (yes, that's in the morning) and she politely said, "Uhmm, I think if we leave by 6:30 we should be fine." "Ok," I thought, "she's done the run before, so she knows what she's doing." Did I believe her? Somewhat. So, she picked me up at 6:30 like planned and I iced my shin splints all the way into Vancouver which turned out to be a really good idea. Lately I've been having really bad shin splints and it takes about 10 - 15 minutes for them to stop hurting after I start my run. I also took 2 Ibuprofen to deal with my aching back because usually when my shins stop hurting, my back ache kicks in and continues my entire run. Wow, I sound really old. Maybe the geriatric pets I'm always hanging out with are starting to rub off on me. Anyways, by the time we parked and walked over to the starting line it was 8:00, and this is what we found.So, not such a need to be there too early after all (sorry, Carmen!). We were in the white section and as you can see, there wasn't much activity going on, so we took one last trip to this fine establishment below ... And then headed into our section. I must admit that I was a little nervous. Why? We're just going for a run. No big deal. I've gone for LOTS of runs before. Why so nervous for this one? Ok, it was my first time being timed running 10 km and also because it was a personal goal I'd set for myself 13 weeks ago and had trained quite hard and been quite disciplined at (if I do say so myself), so it was a bit nerve wracking wondering how it would all turn out.

As Carmen and I sat on the curb waiting for the time to pass, more and more people showed up. I don't know how well you can see in this next picture, but the people in the yellow and blue shirts ... ARE KIDS!!! Yes, KIDS! In my section which meant they said they could run 10 km in about the same amount of time as I could. WHAT? How could this be? I told Carmen that I had to remind myself that this was a competition against myself, not against a bunch of 11 year olds. Call me shallow, but it was a bit of a hard pill to swallow. In the end I was honestly happy for them and proud of them for being out there. Really, I was. :)

These were the chips we had to wear on our shoes that calculated our time. I was so nervous that mine was going to fall off and then the officials would have no way of telling how I did. I even looked down on our last turn and thought it had fallen off. My heart did quite the jump, but alas, it was still there.

We got off the curb at about 8:15 and decided it was getting quite full so we wanted to stand up so we were near the front of our group. There were only 2 groups in front of us. They had yellow or green numbers on. This made me nervous again because the gun wasn't going to go off until 9;00, and usually standing more than 15 minutes in a row does a real number on my back, but yesterday, I didn't feel a thing. Again, thank you for your prayers. Here we are getting ready to take our marks ... ok, stand in a big group.

This was the scene in front of us. You can see the green balloons, then the yellow balloons and just in front of that is the start line. Doesn't look too far away, does it? I totally thought it would take us about 10 minutes after the gun went off to get to the start line. Boy was I wrong.

This was the view behind us at about 9:15.

We then proceeded to wait until 9:28 until we started to move ... about 10 feet .. and then we stopped again. We didn't cross the start line until 9:40. Yes, that's right. We had been standing there for 1 hour and 25 minutes before we started running and my back STILL wasn't hurting. Carmen and I both decided on a slow pace to start off with so that we didn't burn ourselves out right away. It was very exciting as there were people all over the streets of Vancouver cheering us on even though they didn't know us. Just before we entered Stanley Park, we passed this apartment building and there were two girls outside (maybe 8 and 10 years old) and they made up this tune and they were singing to us, "You can do it! We know you can!" They were so cute and it actually did totally encourage me. At the 3 km mark I was feeling really good and then the U2/Greenday song, "The Saints Are Coming" came on my iPod and gave me an extra boost (I actually hit replay on that one). At about the 5 km mark I was a little worried because I was feeling really great and was wondering when I would hit the wall or when something would start hurting, but it didn't. My friend, Lori had mentioned that the air quality is better in Vancouver so it might make it easier to run and I think she's right. I had never felt this good. I missed the 6 km and 7 km marks, so I was really looking forward to seeing what the next marks were and was happy to see 8 km. Only 2 km to go!

One of my favorite things during the race was getting the water from the sidelines, taking a drink, crunching up the cup and throwing it on the ground. I don't know why I liked it so much, but it made me smile every time I did it. I guess you see them do it on TV all the time, so it made it feel real to me.

By this time Carmen and I had kept the same pace and we were still together, so that was nice. We rounded the second last turn onto the Cambie Street bridge and saw the 9 km mark. My muscles didn't love the fact that to get onto the bridge it was a slight hill, but I managed. At this point we could see BC place and it's all you can do to hold yourself back from really letting go because you still have a whole km left, so about half way across the bridge as we're coming through the last turn, we started kicking it into high gear (which is hard to do because there are a LOT of people around still either walking or lolly-gagging their way towards the finish line). We crossed the finish line together and did the old high five! Whoo Hoo! We did it and it felt GREAT!!! I did get a little misty eyed, but don't tell anyone, ok?

We then proceeded into BC place to get oranges, water, yogurt and get a bunch of handouts for upcoming runs. I think it would be a good idea for me to sign up for one right now so that I keep up with the running. This is me inside BC place and in case you're wondering, yes, my face CAN get even redder than that (hard to believe, but it can).

This was us after our cool down inside BC place just on the other side of the finish line. Thanks for doing this with me, Carmen. It was a pleasure to run with you. And thanks to Bren, Karen, Natasha and Lori for coming down to cheer us on. How about we all do it next year, ladies?

So, did I meet my goals? What was my time? Well, yes, I met both of my goals. I ran the whole way and didn't stop to walk and my time was under 1 hour 10 minutes. When I remembered to stop my watch after we crossed the finish line, it said this ...

But when I looked in the paper this morning, it said this ...

Either way, I'm incredibly happy with my time and so happy that I met this goal in my life. Some people have said, "So, now a half marathon?" Don't even go there. Maybe one day, but not in the near future I don't think. Maybe a few more 10 kms and we'll see after that. All I can say is that I'm happy the Run was yesterday and not today because it's been pouring outside all day. My body is only mildly sore today, so I think that's good. Thanks again for your well wishes and your prayers. I'm a bit sad because now both of my countdowns are gone and if you know me, you know I love countdowns. Think it's too early to start a countdown for Christmas? haha Just kidding.

Morning of the Sun Run

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes for today. I really appreciate it. I'm nervous/excited/tired/feeling sick/wondering why I'm doing this ... etc. But most of all I'm wanting to get it started and see how I do! My personal goal was to just run the whole thing, not in a certain time, but just to run it all (ok, hopefully under an hour and 10 minutes).

I'll let you know how I do. I'M OFF!!!

Peace out!

Not for the Children's Eyes (or Karen's)

So, it's only 11 hours until my sister comes! I can't wait. Just wanted to tell you that I'll be out of the blog world for the next couple of days. She's only here for a short 3 1/2 days and then I run the Sun Run on Sunday, so I probably won't be back until at least Monday. Have a good couple of days and I'll leave you with this picture I got sent from someone who won't be named but her name rhymes with Bunny if you change the "u" to an "e" and the "y" to an "ie."

The caption on the email read:

Guess who I ran into today?


I know it's not the nicest Easter picture you've ever seen, but isn't it a little bit funny or am I just sick? I'm sure this bunny is trained to play dead. What? They can train dogs to do it, why not bunnies? Karen, if you didn't stop after you read the title of this post, then I'm not taking the blame!

Talk to ya later!

Thank You

I just want to extend my thanks to Mrs. Bowater, Marni and Colleen for all making sure I had plans for Easter dinner. It's nice to know that the single people aren't forgotten. :)

Easter

"All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning." (Oswald Chambers)

"The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity
to start over no matter what my circumstances."
(Robert Flatt)

"Men point to the sad incidents of human life on earth, and they ask “Where is the love of God?” God points to that Cross as the unreserved manifestation of love
so inconceivably infinite as to answer every challenge and silence all doubt for ever.
And that Cross is not merely the public proof of what God has accomplished;
it is the earnest of all that He has promised."
[Sir Robert Anderson]

In the bonds of Death He lay Who for our offence was slain; But the Lord is risen to-day, Christ hath brought us life again, Wherefore let us all rejoice, Singing loud, with cheerful voice, Hallelujah! Author: Martin Luther

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
John 11: 25-26

Meet my new children

Some of you know that I've been house sitting for 2 1/2 years now. Every once in awhile I will pet sit as well. Somehow, over the course of that time, anyone who owns a geriatric pet in this town finds me (I'll tell you about Morgan, the 16 year old Cocker Spaniel who I had to take EVERYWHERE with me - even to work all day, or Grandma (whose real name I can't remember) who was a 15 year old Multi-poo who was blind and bumped into walls, some other time).

This post is about the two cats I'm looking after right now. I met Leroy and Tiffany a year ago and I've been reunited with them now for the next 7 weeks.

This is Leroy. He's 15 years old and yes, your eyes do not deceive you, he's only got one eye. I can't remember exactly how he lost the eye, but it has something to do with an infection gone wrong.

This is Tiffany (or Tiffy or Grandma as I like to call her). She's 17 years old and this picture does not do her justice. She looks like a robot. No joke. Jennie and Bren can attest to the fact that she looks like that cat on that show Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. It's eerie. When she looks at you, she moves her head really slowly as if she's mechanical and her eyes are a little far apart so they don't look real. You know how cats usually clean themselves so well and look so nice? Well, not Tiffy. I think she's given up. She looks greasy and quite ratty. She also has trouble making it to the litter box almost EVERY TIME. Now, the longest I, myself, ever had a pet was 13 years and it was incredibly hard when he died (RIP, Mikey). I still have a hard time talking to my parents about it because they put him down when I was away for the weekend and I didn't think he was even sick. My point is that I can only imagine how attached these people are to these cats seeing as they're 17 and 15 years old, but are these faces only a mother could love? Last year when I stayed here, they were both a lot more spry and active. This year ... not so much. I think Tiffany's only moved from the bathroom counter that you see her on in this picture 2 times so far. You can see her food dish in the corner of these pictures ... that's because I HAND DELIVERED it to her. I really don't know if she'd eat if I didn't bring it to her because it would take so much effort to get up.

Every morning I have to turn this faucet on so they can both have a little drink ... even though there are 2 other water dishes throughout the house. Ok, I'm making it sound like I'm not a pet lover and I totally am. These are just funny cats with funny rules. Yes, rules. I have 11 pages of notes on how to pet them, feed them, give them their medicine (oh yes, there are meds involved, people) and how to clean up after them. This year the owners have given the vet my name and a DNR order (Do Not Resuscitate, for those who don't watch ER or Grey's Anatomy). That would mean they realize that Tiffy's on her last leg. Just my luck to find her staggering about like a crazy "woman" or curled up one morning not breathing. Why me? I do charge for pet sitting, but I think it's time I called the local pet boarding place to see how much I should really be charging because every time I clean up a stinky hair ball from the floor I really don't think I'm charging enough. I've never used a mortar and pestle for myself, but I find myself using it every morning and evening when I prepare Leroy's food because I have to grind up his pills to mix in with his food. And I'm thankful that Tiffany doesn't have as much energy this year because when I have to put her medication in the form of a cream in her ear twice a day, she doesn't swat at me and claw my arm up anymore. Good times, good times.

But last night as I was watching TV, Leroy curled up on my lap and purred away and Tiffany laid by my head and all was right in the pet world.