Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The countdown is on...

We leave for Hawaii in about, um, a day. Actually less than a day if you want to get really technical. Aside from the fact that I developed a cold yesterday, a cold that I have fighting so freaking hard not to get, I am still pumped. I think that sun and beaches will be the cure for the cold so it's all good.

We had a fabulous weekend... so fabulous in fact, that it probably weakened my immune system. Hence, the stupid cold.

Ashley got in around 9pm Friday night. We took her out to our favorite Thai restaurant and then headed to Rhett's house for his birthday party where a little game of flip cup indoctrinated Ashley in to the folks of Washington. Of course she was a pro... apparently flip cup is popular in Missouri too.

The next morning we headed out early to ride the duck. It was essentially a land/water tour of Seattle. Awesome. We met some nice folks from Wisconsin so that was fun too. We then headed up in the space needle. Then went to pike place market and then walked to the best sushi place ever. If anyone is ever in Seattle, check out Wasabi Bistro. If you like sushi, naturally. Then we went straight to the Angels and Airwaves/Weezer concert. It was such a high energy/amazing concert. Loved it.

Sunday we got up and threw on our hiking clothes and went into the mountains then to Snoqualmie falls. It was awesome.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend and I'm pretty sure Miss Welch had a good time exploring Seattle too. I actually took a fair amount of pictures but of course have not downloaded them yet. When I do, I will post them. They tell the weekend story better than I can.

Now onto the next journey... Hawaii!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

500th post anniversary

Today my blog is 500 posts old. I may not always feel like I am very dilligent in posting but that is noteworthy.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Happy friday thoughts...

1) It's sunny in Seattle! It turned fall here about two weeks ago and started to get more rainy and um, FREEZING. But today it is nice, crisp, and sunny!
2) Fall color leaves. Love it when they are just pretty colors but haven't fallen yet.
3) Thrilled to see an old friend this weekend. Miss Welch is visiting from Missouri.
4) Plans this weekend include: friends birthday party tonight, and Weezer/Angels and Airwaves concert tomorrow night. Um, awesome!
5) No more lost kittens this week.
6) FIVE days to Hawaii day! YAY!!! :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Run Away Kitty

Monday...
Following an insane weekend of running around, I started a new audit of a new client. A HUGE client, probably one of the biggest ones I have ever had. Tim has been taking me to work because my Arizona plates are um, suspended because I don't have Arizona car insurance. Reasonable since I now live in Washington but apparently it suspends my plates. I know, I know, I have been up here a year and a half! Anyway, poor Winston has been inactive lately. I don't want that ticket.

As a sidenote... I do have a Washington driver's license AND the FJ is in my name in Washington so I am PERSONALLY legal. Just Winston is not. But that is not entirely my fault. The state of Washington is being difficult and even more difficult is the lien holder who 1) never transferred the title to Arizona (WTF? How was I even able to get plates there??!) and 2) never transferred the title to solely my name in accordance with the divorce decree, which, by the way, I can't even tell you how many times I have called them/talked to them/faxed them this information. Ugh. Such a mess. I have been going back and forth with the Washington DMV and the lienholder for literally months now.

Anyway, Winston has been MIA as a result so Tim has been taking me to work. We leave in a week for Hawaii and are absolutely swamped trying to get ready for that and for everything else. So Monday night, I get home late and we are working on stuff until about 10pm. We relaxed for about 20 minutes on the couch until we realized we were both falling asleep and should just go to bed. We go to find the boys (the cats) and only find one. It occurs to us that we are horrible parents... both of us cannot recall the last time we saw Tyson.

Both cats are indoor cats and Tyson especially is absolutely paranoid of anything. Case in point: I was getting dressed one day and placed a shirt on the bed... he jumps 10 feet in the air and runs and hides. He, however, is very athletic and likes to show off his abilities.

We used to let both cats roam the decks so that they could be outside and lay in the sun if they wanted. This was not a problem until Tyson tried to show off his athletic abilities and would jump up onto the two inch metal rail and almost fall two stories down. He had been better lately about it so we had been trusting him more.

Unfortunately, it occurred to us on Monday that in the midst of everything going on, the door had been open earlier in the day for about 20 minutes and we were not dilligent on keeping an eye on him. He must have slipped out, jumped off, and then either slipped (because it was raining) or jumped down two stories.

No idea but at 10pm that night, we were freaking out. We scoured the house, walked around the neighborhood, call 24 hour pet watch since the boys have chips (which, by the way is totally stupid because as we found out, they do NOT act like GPS tracking devices and the only way to find your cat is if they somehow manage to turn up at one of the scanning facilities... and there are only 500 in the whole US). Ugh.

At about 11:30 we decide to go out and look again... keep in mind that it is FREEZING, dark and pouring rain. We pass a raccoon and freak. We look behind bushes, and nothing. We call his name, nothing.

All of a sudden under some stairs, hiding in the very back corner, I see a kitten. It's Tyson. Holy shit.

I say his name and he starts screaming... he is scared shitless, he is cold and wet and dirty, and he is starving. We take him up (he actually was too scared and disorientated to get far-literally he was only about 30 feet away but hidden very well) and give him a bath, food, and water. He purrs the whole time. Now he is happy as a clam after his little adventure.

Needless to say, even though our story had a happy ending, it was seriously scary (especially when we were told that only 4% of lost cats are ever found!) I have never had any cats do that and it was definitely a lesson learned. Here is a picture of the little adventurer: