kitty

[Picture taken in May 2008]

Kitty has been in my family since I was 19, and then W and I took him when we got married in 2004. That's 11 years that this cat has been a part of my life. Before Oliver was born, we decided that Kitty needed a new home. He is old and grumpy and jealous and we didn't think he would do too well with a baby. We were torn about what to do with him - who wants an old, grumpy, jealous cat? I was stressed out about it because I felt like I was the only person in the world he wasn't scared of. Thankfully, my sister-in-law, Britney, and her husband, Ron, offered to take him for us. It was such a relief! They are cat lovers and he is lucky to be there with them and their two other cats in Portland. I miss him but I'm happy he has a new home where he is loved.

a home for chapman

Does anyone want a free cat? He is neutered and loves to cuddle. He seems to be homeless (although you can tell that he did have a home, as he is well groomed and neutered). I am an animal lover and couldn't just turn him away so we took him in for bit, knowing it would only be temporary. He has been with us for a few weeks now. We have put up "found cat" signs but haven't had any calls, so at this point I'm trying to find a new home for him. (We love him but three cats is just too many for us.) He is a pretty young cat and looks bigger in this picture than he really is. Let me know if you are interested in a new little friend.

P.S. We have been calling him Chapman but you could easily change his name as he hasn't been with us that long and doesn't even respond to it yet.

feeling better

Thankfully, Squeak is pulling through. He still wasn't feeling too great yesterday (as you can see from the picture on the left of him laying on W's arm). He stayed "in bed" (on his pillow on our bed) all day. We had to force-feed him water with a syringe again. But then last night he started bathing himself. This morning he tried to jump up on the bathroom sink to get some water (he only drinks running water) but didn't quite make the jump. We lifted him up and he drank. He hasn't done this on his own in almost a week. We were pretty excited. Today he followed me into my office and jumped up on my desk, a favorite spot of his (as pictured on the right). He's going to make it. We sure do love him and we're so relieved that he's feeling better.

christian the lion

If you watch Oprah or CNN, you have probably seen this video. I rarely have time to watch Oprah these days but had a recorded show playing while I was working the other night and she showed this video. Grab some Kleenex, it's a tearjerker.

Maybe more-so for me because my sweet cat, Squeak, is pretty sick right now and we're worried that he might not make it. He hasn't had food or water in two days. We force-fed him water and it just came back up. Poor little guy. Breaks my heart.

the cats in my life

I pretty much love our "boys" (as I affectionately call our cats, Kitty and Squeak). And I think they know it. For example, would I have made them kitty treats in the oven if I did not love them? Would I have added milk, eggs, and oil and baked them at 350? I think not.

Squeak was a fan.

My mom bought them this mix a while back (thanks, Mom). It has organic catnip in it, which is why he liked it so much (well, not because it was organic as much as it was catnip). Squeak actually jumped up on top of the fridge (where I kept it for almost a year before I made it) and and tried to bite it open, as you can see from the teeth marks on the box. That's how luring the cat nip is. How cute is that wale shaped cookie cutter?


It made quite a few.

Squeak loved rubbing against it almost as much as he enjoyed eating it.

Kitty inspected the treat and decided it wasn't for him. Maybe his taste buds have changed in his old age.

But that just meant more for Squeak.

And speaking of kitties, this little girl was our visitor for the past few weeks.

We were thinking about keeping her, but things didn't work out so W's sister, Britney and her husband took her. Isn't she a cutie? I love her little pink nose. She didn't have a name before coming to our home (she was actually a street cat, found on the Portland Temple grounds by Britney and Ron) and we didn't want to give her a permanent name if we weren't going to keep her, so we called her "A Feline To Remember." Kind of a mouthful. I usually ended up calling her "little girl."

Can you tell I love cats? Love, love, love.

more than you ever wanted to know about me

My friend Crystal sent this to me in email form and I was supposed to respond and email it back to her and others. I've done similar email type things in the past, so I thought I would post this one here on my blog (minus a few things that might not be safe to post for any random person to read. I took out #6 after finishing everything and didn't want to retype all of the numbers.) So there is a lot of random, likely boring stuff to follow. I won't be offended it you would rather do anything else with your time.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:30

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, but I love both.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Transformers and Hairspray on the same night at the dollar theater a few months ago...it's been a while.

4. What is your favorite TV show(s)? The Office, Heroes, Friends (I never saw all of the episodes when they were originally aired so I'm loving the reruns)to name a few... and even though it has been canceled, I have to list Gilmore Girls because I think it's my all-time favorite.

5. What did you have for breakfast this morning? An everything bagel with butter and garlic powder on it because our cream cheese is reserved for a meal I'm making.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? It's such a tough choice, but I'll go with Thai.

8. What foods do you dislike? Ground meat of any kind and mussels come to mind pretty quickly.

9. Favorite chips? These are pretty good.

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don't really listen to cds much anymore, but today I came across one that I loved years ago and I am remembering why. It is Hear My Praise by Kenneth Cope. Such a beautiful cd.

11. What kind of car do you drive? We have two but lately I have been driving our Ranger. I love it.

12. What is your favorite sandwich? Bagel veggie sandwich.

13. What characteristics do you despise? I hate it when someone is rude to a person behind his/her back but nice to the person's face. Basically being fake.

14. What are your favorite clothes? I love wearing pjs when I have days off from school. When I am just hanging out at home doing homework I don't see a reason to get all dressed up. I am all about comfort! But in public, I like jeans, a long sleeved shirt (this time of year) and comfortable shoes. Again, comfort wins over anything cute and flimsy.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on Vacation where would it be? I will say Russia because that is a goal of ours but I would also like to go back to Australia. I am craving so many foods there. Rough, I tell you.

16. Favorite brand of clothing? Ideally, American Eagle. But I will settle for Old Navy to get three times the stuff for the same price.

17. Where would you want to retire? Arizona

18. Favorite time of day? It sounds cheesy, but I love it when W comes home and we can hang out.

19. What is your favorite sport to watch? Does dancing count? No? Okay, baseball then.

20. Pepsi or Coke? Neither. I don't like soda at all, actually.

21. Are you a morning person or a night person? I am such a night person. I love to stay up late and sleep in.

22. Pedicure or manicure? I would take either.

23. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I got all As last quarter in school. Yay!

24. What did you want to be when you were little? I wanted to be "a Veterinarian and live in Virginia." That's what I told everyone. Funny how things change drastically.

25. What is your best childhood memory? So many good ones. My family would often go to "the bike track" and ride our bikes or "the caboose park" and play. Basically spending time with family.

26. Piercing? Just one in each ear.

27. Ever been to Africa? No.

28. Ever been toilet papering? Too many times to count.

29. Favorite day of the week? Saturday. Usually sleep in, hang-out with W, get stuff done. It's a good day.

30. Favorite restaurant? There are so many good ones, but right now I am craving a salad from La Grand Orange. The Sonoma Garden Salad on their menu that I linked you to. My stomach just growled when I read the description, no joke. Too bad it is in Arizona.

31. Favorite Flower? Gerber Daisies.

32. Favorite ice cream? Dryer's Peppermint is one favorite. (I'm noticing a pattern of indecisiveness...)

33. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chipotle.

34. How many times did you fail your drivers test? None.

35. From whom did you get your last email? Becky

36. In which stores would you choose to max out your Credit card? Treasury of Memories, American Eagle, Pottery Barn, Target, and Home Depot, among others.

37. Bedtime? It is rarely earlier than 12.

38. Last person you went to dinner with? If breakfast counts, it was Josh and Laurel last Saturday morning. Dinner would be Jon and Christa.

39. What are you listening to right now? Hear My Praise.

40. What is your favorite color? Green


I will leave you with pictures of the boys. I was sitting here typing away and Squeak was laying next to me on my desk. Then I looked up and Kitty had taken his place. I hadn't even noticed. When I

turned to see what Squeak was up to, this is what I saw. He cracks me up. The other picture is of the two of them, Squeak on my scanner and Kitty right next to me on my desk. They're my blogging buddies.


PS Feel free to put this on your blog so I can read random things about you.

a recipe and a new lens

I mentioned last Sunday that I would post my recipe for chicken enchiladas. Here it is.


Here's what I use. Keep in mind that you can make this as fancy or as simple as you'd like. This recipe started off with one I got from my mom, which just had the chicken, cheese, and sauce in the tortillas, and that's good too. I like to add a bunch of stuff for added flavor and fiber and to make it colorful.

1-2 chicken breasts (depending on how many people you are feeding)
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 tomato
1 can of olives
1 bell pepper
1 white onion
1 clove of garlic
a little olive oil
a handful of cilantro
1 can of roasted green chilis
2 cups of shredded cheese
1 package of tortillas
2 large cans of enchilada sauce (our favorite is Macayos but we can't find it here (it might just be an Arizona thing) so we use La Victoria instead. If you know of a really good enchilada sauce, please post and let me know).
Lemon pepper, Italian seasoning, or any other spice you feel like adding.
(avocados would also be good. Yum.)

So boil your chicken for about 45 minutes or until it's cooked. Then shred it up and put it in a bowl. Add one can of enchilada sauce. (I usually add red inside and green on the outside or the opposite. In this case, I used red on the inside and green on the outside, as you can see.) Then add your beans and corn. Cut up a bell pepper and onion if you're going to use those. Put them in a pan with a little olive oil and a (finely chopped) clove of garlic. (I use a garlic press for this.) Then add all of that to your bowl too.

Add tomatoes and olives if you want. Add your seasonings if you want to add some. Add one cup of shredded cheese (or if you are trying to be healthy, don't put any cheese inside and just put a little on top).

**Preheat your oven at 250 at this point**

Spray your casserole dishes with cooking spray. Then mix everything up and put some of the mixture in a tortilla and roll it up. Do this until they are all rolled. Once they are rolled in your casserole dishes, pour your other (green) sauce on top (or another can of red if you like red better).

Sprinkle with one cup of shredded cheese. Add olives and tomatoes if you want. Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes (the chicken is already cooked so this is to basically melt the cheese and warm them).

When they come out, put your chopped cilantro on top (and avocado if you're a fanatic like me).

That's it! These are Dub's favorite. I think your family will like them too.

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Also, we got a new lens! We used our reward points from our credit card. We've been wanting this lens for a while. It is the Canon 50mm f1.4. The nice thing about this lens is that it's great for low-light settings. I hate using a flash unless I absolutely have to, and this lens allows me to take flash-free pictures with poor lighting. Love that. Here is a picture I took of our cat Squeak (I take lots of pictures of him. He's so photogenic. Loves the spotlight. Or at least humors me from time to time.)

I took this picture in the late afternoon. The blinds were closed and the light was off. I am just amazed that I could get such a great shot with such poor lighting. I just adore our new lens. So cool.

Wendel worked a on a garage all weekend. He's amazing. I helped him a little on Friday night but I wasn't feeling too well so I whimped out. He pretty much organized the whole thing himself. He went through boxes and put everything in it's place (after creating a place for everything by building shelves. Side note - the people who lived here before us had a rock climbing wall in the garage. Kind of weird because the garage isn't that tall. Anyway, Wendel took it apart and used the wood to build shelves. I love being married to a handyman!). He is just awesome.

Also, while we were working in the garage on Friday night, the youth in our ward heart-attacked our house. So cute of them.
*(Updated with a picture)*


Wendel took me out to eat last night at the restaurant at Druids Glen (the golf course we went to a few weeks ago). I've been craving their Spinach Salad (with Thai dressing - yum) and garlic mashed potatoes. It was fun to dress up a little and go on a date.

That's all for now. Have a great week!