Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Huzzah?

Hello my darlings!  And welcome to another exciting peek into the world of Chez Cat Butt. 

For those of you who don't know, my birthday is coming up next week.  I will be officially in my LATE THIRTIES.

Huzzah.

So I know that some of you are saying "yeah, but you're just a spring chicken, a mere babe in the grand scheme of Father Time."  Ok, but still.  LATE THIRTIES.

I am having a surprisingly harder time with this than some of my previous birthdays, but sometimes random ages sneak up on you and scare the crap out of you.  For example, when I turned 26.  That birthday hit me hard.  Why?  It took me a while to dissect the psychology, but it finally dawned on me that I was now older than all of my childhood Barbie dolls.  I had established their ages in my 8 year old head, and so the realization that I would never be the successful Veterinarian/Flight Attendant/Model/Jogger/Astronaut that she was....well, it was humbling.

Of course, there are perks to not being Barbie.  Being able to wear flats, for instance.  And also not having the dog chew your hand off.  Hopefully.

Speaking of dogs, check out this monster:


This is Mini (short for Minion), Noel's sister's 95 lb. pit bull.  (That's Brittney on the left - Hi Britt!).  And no, Noel isn't trying to ride the dog.  He's trying to hold her still for the camera because (1) she is a massive chicken-shit, and (2) she wants to love on everyone and will come sit on your foot.  Which is not a flattering camera angle for you or the dog.

Mini here would probably eat most of a Barbie.  But then look scared if you caught her in the act.  She's hilarious.

Also she drooled on my pants leg.  Twice. 

At least she strikes terror in the hearts of potential intruders.  Drawback?  She also scares the crap out of the pizza delivery guy.  Not good.

Meanwhile, for those who are so brazen that they would consider breaking into our home, fear THIS:

 
Or don't.  They won't wake up either way.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Hello Again!

Guess what we now have?  HIGH SPEED INTERNET.  I am beside myself with joy.  This means that I can blog again!  Last time I tried to upload photos on the blog, it took HOURS.  Now it should be super fast!  :) 

So now...on to updates!

Noel's been working in town this entire season thus far, which has been really nice - he's been home on weekends, and we've been able to go on lots of short adventures (photos coming up later in this post).

I've been working in my new job for several months now - it's been quite a change, learning a lot of new terminology and the in-depth parts of our business.  I have a window by my desk, so that's also exciting.  Ok.  So not exactly EXCITING, but at least it's pleasant. 

The house is great!  We've had several parties here, a housewarming and a Halloween party.  The fireplace is awesome!  Too bad it's so warm here that we only get to use the fireplace about 3 times before it's summer again.  :)

The cats are fine, of course.  Spoiled rotten.  I pulled out the electric throw (Rachel, the one you gave me) and half the time I can't even get under it because all 3 of them are camped out there.  So now, on to photos!

Today we went to the Houston Auto Show.  It featured new models that (if you have the scratch) you can go out and buy.  It was an interesting show, but not as awesome as a show we went to earlier in the fall, the O'Reilly Autorama.  It was FABULOUS.  And huge!  We had no idea when we walked in the door that there would be so much there!  They had old cars galore, restored to the point where they practically glowed!

Love the color of this one:


I personally am partial to fins, and they had quite a few examples of some Fin Fabulosity:

 

The engraved bumpers on several cars really impressed us too - it looks like filigree!


And then there was....this:


Want a closeup of the interior?  Of COURSE you do:


I have no words.

(Well, I do, but they're not appropriate for a blog of this quality and respectability).  Noel's comment was "It looks like a rainbow threw up."  About sums it up.

Other exciting and education trips we've made?  The Texas Prison Museum, of course!  The museum focuses on the Wall Unit, which was one of the most notorious in Texas and housed their deathrow inmates for many years.  The exhibits talked about life in the prison and featured some artwork that the prisoners made.  It was seriously impressive stuff, considering it was made out of matchsticks, toilet paper, etc.  If these guys had just turned their hands and creativity to productive outlets, instead of...you know...killing people...



Speaking of killing people (like that delicate segue to the next pic?), they also had Old Sparky there.  Don't know who Old Sparky is?  Let me give you a hint:


Yup.  Old Sparky was the name for the electric chair that signaled the end of the road for 361 of the Wall Unit inmates.  They also featured transcripts of interviews with surviving family members of people who were either executed or who were the victims of the inmates who were put to death.  Surprisingly (or not!) most said that it didn't really help that the inmate died - it didn't really bring any closure.  Anyway, the museum wasn't huge, but was certainly educational.  Main lesson learned?  Don't commit a capital crime in Texas. 

On to other scary and potentially life-threatening events:  Thanksgiving!

This year Noel decided to deep fry the turkey.  I was...concerned.  The deep fryers are not exactly the safest things on the planet.  He had to watch it the whole time, but it came out really great!  Also, it's super fast to cook that way - 45 minutes and I'm not exaggerating.  We had to keep the turkey warm in the oven so I could finish the side dishes, because I wasn't ready yet!


We had a nice first Christmas time in the house too, and put up both trees again before traveling to visit family back east for a week.  We had the fireplace here going some, and of course the kitties helped with the festivities:


Samson really does a great job of holding the wrapping paper down so it doesn't blow away in a gale storm.  :)  Also, yes, his rear quarters are that big.  :)

And now that January has arrived?  It's time for gardening.  No, seriously.  We've been working on the garden already and our first batch of seeds has already been planted.  It's in the 70s here!  Don't hate!

So that's the update from here!  Hope everyone's doing well!