And We All Remember What Happened To Patches

Acouchi, as you know if you have seen her lately, has gotten really really skinny. She was drinking water non-stop, but her energy levels were fine. I finally took her into the vet. It was a very traumatic experience for both Acouhi and me. Acouchi hates traveling in cars, hates new places and she had to have blood work done. Not fun.

One of the nurses was so mean to me. I told her Acouchi was declawed and she drilled me on where she had her surgery. I don't know! It was before I got her! The nurse demanded that if I was going to have such a painful procedure done on my cat, I should at least know who did it. Again, I don't even know how old Acouchi is. I got her when she was full grown, she had been spayed, declawed and had all of her shots. Which brought the nurse to question number two: When was Acouchi's last vaccinations? Um? Before I got her? Again, the nurse freaked out. She informed me that vaccines are supposed to be given every two to three years (I really did not know this, I thought it was a one time thing). She said that Acouchi had probably caught the feline AIDS virus and would die, and it my fault for not having her vaccinated.

It was a tough situation. I understand that the nurse loved animals, and she was only upset because she thought I was the worst pet-owner ever. Still, I thought she was the worst nurse-ever. Seriously. Who yells at a pregnant women with a dying cat?

The Veterinarian more than made up for it. She is so wonderful! Wonderful with Acouchi and wonderful with me.

The next day I had to take Acouchi back in for a blood pressure test. She was not about that. And then came the waiting. For two days I had to wait for the phone call. The phone call came, Acouchi had to do one more test and the diagnosis was officially made: Hyperthyroidism. It's a very severe case, and it's rare on a cat as young as Acouchi. It can be fatal, but not if it's treated. Acouchi has to take two pills, one in the morning and one at night, everyday for four weeks. At the end of four weeks she has to come in for more blood work, at which time surgery will be discussed. Since she is so young and the case is so severe, the Vet thinks surgery is our best option.

Acouchi has been great at taking her pills. We hide them in tuna and at first she was gulping them down and wondering why she was getting praised for eating a treat. Now she has caught on to the pills and has become an expert on finding the pill in the tuna and eating all the tuna while spitting out the pill. Drek picked up some hamburger meat, we'll see how long that treat lasts.

Acouchi is doing great and thinks treats morning and night are the best things that ever happened to her. Besides her trips to the vet you wouldn't know anything is wrong.

I'm sure her next step will look soemthing like this:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

It is No Concern of Mine Whether Your Family Has...What Was It Again?

Sunday night Drek made dinner. He made Tempura. It was the most amazing stuff I have ever had!! We had carrots, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, shrimp and even bananas for dessert! He is such a great cook.

Yesterday I made Shrimp Scampi. Did you know Hulu has cooking shows? It does. I watched a few Rachel Ray dinners and that's how I made the dinner.

I've been learning how to bake recently. I've made (from scratch) Dinner rolls, bread sticks, hamburger and hot dog buns, cinnamon rolls, orange rolls and last night I made apple cinnamon oat bread. I think I'm getting the hang of this baking thing. Thank goodness Krisling gave me that bread maker for Christmas or I never would have had the courage!! So far, I think the Orange rolls and the hamburger buns turned out the best. One was super healthy; no sugar, only fresh ground whole wheat (that I ground myself) and the other one was slightly less healthy; sugar, butter, white flour, but fresh orange juice that I juiced from an orange myself!

Tonight I am making Chili Rellenos. Wish me luck!!

Book of Mormon Stories That My Teacher Tells to Me.

Our calling in our new ward is to teach the six-year-olds. Ah, back in primary, where I don't ever have to go to Relief Society. Drek is less pleased about missing Elders Quorum, but oh well.

This week our lesson was on the Book of Mormon, it's history and things like that. I decided to make little gold plates. This is how I did it:

I cut out same-size cardboard pieces, using flaps from same-sized boxes.
I then spray painted them gold. "Antique Gold" actually.
We would be using both sides, so I made sure to spray paint all the sides. The next step was to find little rings and pray paint them:

Drek punched two holes in all the "plates". I printed off little pictures and then we took them to Primary! While Drek told the history of the Gold Plates and explained the pictures the children assembled the plates using glue sticks.
Cover:Second Page:
Third page:
The last plate (back and front) was colored on by the children. One girl drew a picture of the Gold Plates, another boy copied words straight out of the Book of Mormon.
And here they are:

I Must Find Out Today. What Makes Jim Dear and Darling Act This Way?

Do you know how many posts I start out with the word "yesterday"? A lot.

Yesterday was mostly spent with Brittany. Brittany is our neighbor from two doors down. She's about my age and, like me, was also in a beauty pageant and was also a lifeguard for three seasons. She is married and has two little girls.

You know how sometimes you think that your life is hard and then you meet someone who's life is just so much harder and you secretly feel better about your own life? Yeah.

We went and played in the morning. Her daughter is oh-so-cute and Brittany and I had a wonderful time talking. That night I babysat the youngest daughter while her parents went to a seminar. They told me she was really easy to watch. They were not kidding. The kid was an angel. She was perfectly content to entertain herself. We read books, played with toys, and colored. Acouchi even helped look after her:

At first, she chased Acouchi around the kitchen island. Acouchi made sure to stay far enough ahead of her that she didn't touch her, but close enough to keep her motivated to keep crawling. In the end, she even let her pet her. It was so cute!!

But at the end of the day Acouchi still likes to be an only child:

Such An Untimely Death

Yesterday I made a delicious dessert: Graham cracker crust, cream cheese and whip cram layer, followed by chocolate pudding layer, followed by whip cream layer, sprinkled with mint chips on top. All of this was done is a glass dish, covered, and set into the back of our car. We drove to Drek's parent's house and picked up two wooden benches (for our garden, I'm sure Drek will post about them) and Drek's original birth certificate. Hooray!! We then drove to my work, where I has an hour long meeting while Drek cleaned out the car. He even vacuumed!! We then drove down the hill just in time to see a guy on a motorcycle flip over the median. Drek slammed on the brakes, the benches slid, hit our dessert and dessert guts went flying all over us. I had it in my hair and my shirt, Drek had it all over his shoulder, and poor clean Jasmine got dessert guts and glass splattered all over the seats, the windshield, the dashboard, and of course, the whole back seat.

Anyway, we ran to help motorcycle guy. Someone was already on the phone with 911, someone was already talking to him, so I checked him quickly over for blood and a spinal injury (negative on both, although I'm sure he broke a bone) while Drek dragged his motorcycle to the side of the road, out of traffic. We waited until the cops showed up, by then ten people were milling around trying to help, so we left.

There is no news story today, so I assume everything ended up just fine. Pretty lucky for a guy not wearing a helmet. It seems the only casualty, was my glass dish and our dessert.

Rissy got her mission call!! I guessed the language, and was only half the world away on the location.

Congratulations, Rissy!!

Acouchi Went Potty in the Chair

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is it. Hold your breath, cross your fingers. This is the (second to) last stage in Acouchi's potty training. It is the hardest step. So far, she has been flawless. If she takes this next step, I think we're home free!!

In case you are wondering, I'm using this to teach me how to potty train a cat. Notice how I have stacked cinder blocks next to the toilet. That was the first step, it took a month. Then we moved the litter box into the toilet, and now we have taken the litter box away, and duct taped a bowl inside the toilet, holding her kitty litter. The next step is to take the litter away, then the bowl. So, hopefully that will be easy!!

If all goes well, Acouchi will be potty trained by June!! And everyone knows how important it is to potty train the first kid before the second one comes. :)

And here is my baby:
On a beanbag, resting on two pillows.

So, Why Did You Decide To Be A Vegetarian?

Oh, how I loathe that question. I once wrote a paper trying to describe why, but it failed. I think now I can finally put it into words:

My choice to be a vegetarian was exactly that; My. Choice. It was not one thing, one event, or one thought that made me give up meat, it was many things, many thought processes, a lot of research and little events from my whole life combining to convince that becoming a vegetarian was the right choice for me. Notice how I don't say the right choice period. Or the best thing for all of humanity, or that everyone should be a vegetarian. It's a personal choice, if it's not the right choice for you, don't be a vegetarian! I don't mind; I don't like you less or more just because of your eating habits. I do what I want, you do what you want, and we'll all be happy!

And yet, when I tell people I'm vegetarian, there will be a polite nod, a pause and then, sometime later they will ask: So, why did you decide to be a vegetarian? When they ask this question, I have always interpreted to mean: Why should I become a vegetarian? That is why I hate the question. I have always understood that they are asking me to justify to them why they should make the same choice I did. I don't know!! I'm not them!! I don't know their experiences, their life, their thought process. I don't even know if they should be a vegetarian. That's their choice.

Drek and I had a long talk last night (on a different subject entirely) and I had an epiphany. After bringing up the vegetarian issue Drek suggested that when people ask: So, why did you decide to be a vegetarian? They are asking: What are you accusing me of?

People are, in general, defensive. I blame this on the fact that some people have a superior attitude. When someone says they have made a choice that differs from yours, like "oh, I never go outside on Sunday, it detracts from the spirit." or "oh, I don't eat dead animals, it's just so cruel." People assume they are looking down on them for not making the same choice. Usually, because the people are looking down on them for not making the same choice. And with PETA out there, screaming that meat-eaters are devils for murdering animals, who can blame people?

This came as a huge eye-opener to me. All this time I've been answering: "oh, a lot of reasons." AHHH!!! Very wrong thing to say!!!!!!!! I think a much better answer would be "because I want to." which is both true, and non-accusatory. Drek thinks I should go with "I'm protein-intolerant." which is not true, but very non-accusatory.

So, to those who read this blog, who thought I was accusing of them of not making the same choice I have, I apologize. Really, I had no idea I was accusing you. It was not my intent, nor do I think that my food choices are in anyway superior to yours.

Sincerely, K La

No One Mourns the Wicked

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's really all I can say. It was SO GOOD!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

As Opposed to Hundreds of Years Later, When You're Younger.

The celebrating of my birthday started off a little early. On Saturday when Drek and I went down to his parent's house they had made a birthday cake for me! Unfortunately, Drek and I couldn't stay long, I had to go pick up Jessi from the airport, but he had fun while we were there!

Jessi was my first present. I picked her up on Saturday and didn't have to give her back until the day after my birthday. We had a lot of fun while she was here. On Monday we went to the Aviary and while there my twin cousin called and wished me a happy birthday. It was so good to hear from her!

On Wednesday Drek made a big deal out of my birthday. He kept saying "happy birthday" and kissing me and such. He asked if I wanted me present now or later (later ) and kept asking if I knew what it was. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed!! That morning Jessi gave me Guillotine and we even played it a few times. That afternoon we were supposed to go out to dinner with Rissy and Ismail, then I had to go to a meeting at work, and then we would get back together and watch LOST!! Work called around two pm and asked if I wouldn't come in earlier. It had been dead at the store and they wanted to get the meeting over with. So we changed plans. I made it to work at four, thinking the meeting would take thirty minutes and then we could go out to dinner and then watch LOST. Of course, as soon as I walked into the store, the customers came. The store had been dead for three hours, but once we try to start the meeting, the people won't leave us alone. At least we sold a bunch of stuff. The meeting didn't actually start until five-thirty. Poor Ben and Jessi were bored out of their minds by this point. Anyway, Cherie surprised me with balloons and cupcakes and the funniest birthday card. They all say to me and we had a very short meeting. We were out at six. Alas, it was too late to eat out, so we got take out and headed back to Rissy's house where she had made the most amazing cake (with fresh fruit and fresh whipped cream) and homemade chocolate dipped strawberries, complete with "23" written on each one in icing. Not only did they look amazing, they tasted delicious. It was amazing. Rissy also gave me a present: the DVDs of A Beautiful Mind and Romeo+Juliet, plus The Magic Sword which I cannot wait to watch, with Rissy of course. It was also here that Drek gave me his present. Oh? Did I already mention that he got me Wicked tickets. Oh well. He got me tickets to see Wicked. Squee!! Anyway, the party was wonderful. I had such a great time.

Thursday I had to drop Jessi off at the airport. :( When I returned home I found a bag hanging on my door. Krisling had dropped off my birthday present: The Chronicles of Narnia; both Prince Caspian and The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Oh, and the most delicious chocolate truffle ever. The truffle was a gift all by itself. Even though it was supposed to be Turkish delight (For the movie. You have seen the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, right? Anyway, when Krisling and I went to go see it in the theatre we made sure we had a king size Turkish Delight) I actually liked the truffle more. It was that good.

That night Ilya and Lexi came by to play games. They brought me the most hilarious gifts. I love it when people buy things for Acouchi. Ilya got her this...um...pink thing that um...bounces? Well, it's pink, and it's made out of stretchy things, and when you shake it it goes all blinky with different colored lights. Acouchi is terrified of it. Terrified. This is great news for me and Drek. We hung it on our bedroom door and she is so scared of it that she won't sit outside and meow all night. Brilliant. It works like a charm.

Friday my family came up to have a party. We had a barbecue in the park across the street from our house. I made shishkabobs, they turned out wonderfully!

My dad can't have sugar, so I made baked whole-wheat sugar-free hamburger and hot dog buns. My cake was fresh fruit with whipped whipping cream on top:
We had a blast!! Lani and Megan made me Andes Candies Cookies that I am pretty sure are the best darn cookies on the planet. Oh, they are so good. The party was wonderful!! I had so much fun.

Can I Keep You?

Oh, the adventures!!

Saturday was conference. I dropped Drek off at the Priesthood session just a little before six and then did something I have never done before: go to the airport alone. I was very anxious about getting lost on the way there, especially since I was already behind schedule, I was supposed to start my journey fifteen minutes before six, not five minutes before six. Oh well.

I make it and parked with no problems. I went into the terminal and at once became confused. Nothing looked familiar. And where was Jet Blue? Not only did everything look foreign, the place was deserted. No travelers, no one waiting for family members, no one at the Delta check-in desks. The only person in sight was the security guy waiting to check IDs. There wasn't even anyone in the security line. After ten minutes of going around this corner and looking around over there, I decided to ask him where Jet Blue was. He informed me I was in Terminal two, and Jet Blue was in Terminal one. I had no idea out airport had more than one terminal.

I quickly fixed my mistake. Terminal one was just as deserted. No one in the security line, no one eating at the restaurants. And then I round the corner. Oh! That's where all the people are; in the line for Jet Blue. Curses. As the clock ticks on the line barely moves. I get more and more nervous. Her flight lands in twenty minutes. Her flight lands in ten minutes. Her flight is landing in five minutes and I am not even at the front of this stupid line!! Finally, it was my turn. I informed the girl that I was picking up an UNMIN (that's airport slang for unaccompanied minor) and needed a gate pass. She was super-efficient, filled out the paperwork and gave me the pass. The plane was landing in two minutes.

I zipped through security in record time. No waiting due to the fact that there were no lines and no one else to check. I raced to the terminal just in time to see the first people come off the plane. I made it!! Jessica, of course, was the last one off (she had to be escorted by a flight attendant). Hooray!! I finally had my Jessi!!

We got her luggage, called her mom and made it out of the airport with no problems. We stopped by MacDonald's to get her dinner (still her favorite. So is Mac and Cheese. Both of these things have been her favorite since she was two). We picked up Drek just as he got out of his session and made it home!! We introduced Acouchi to Jessica and Jessica to her room.

The next day was conference: pretty boring for a twelve-year-old who hasn't had the church as a major part of her life. I tried to make up for it on Monday. We went to the State Library (Oh my goodness amazing!!) and to a most delicious and unique restaurant for lunch. We went to the bird aviary and fed ducks and peacocks (we fed and petted the peacocks a lot. They loved Jessi!!) talked to the eagles and the condors and a magpie played keep-away with Jessi (seriously, those birds loved her. It was odd). Everything went great until we fed the pelicans. We threw them fish from the trainers cart. Also in the trainers cart were rats to feed to the raptors. Jessi could not handle this. Especially since they were baby rats and they had been separated from their mom two weeks too early. We left in a hurry after that.

We discovered this crazy garden place that I can't talk too much about (classified information for the next Saboteur game) but we had a blast there.

We went to get her hair cut (anyway she wanted it cut) and were both disappointed that the place we went wouldn't dye "off colors". We spent the rest of her time here trying to get aqua-marine streaks in here hair, but never succeeded.

We made a Mexican Dinner; I made enchiladas and she made fresh guacamole. Delicious!! The night ended with games and movies.

Tuesday morning was spent lazying around, watching movies and playing games, until I had to go to work. That night was more games and more movies and a trip to the hardware store. Drek stayed home while Jessi and I went out shopping. We found her a new shirt and two new dresses. Wednesday started off great!! We had breakfast and Jessi gave me Guillotine for my birthday. We played it (Drek won) and then we were off on our trip to Liberty Land!! We were excited to go, Liberty Land has a roller coaster and bumper boats and rock climbing and things like that. The Internet said they opened at ten so after being delayed for twenty minutes trying to get a hold of someone that said they were coming we left on our own and made it there at eleven. They were closed. The door said they didn't open until noon. The door lied. They don't actually open until...well, they never opened that day. I'm not sure if they have already gone out of business or just aren't opening until May.

Disappointed, we drove back home. We convinced Drek to go swimming with us and we all changed into swimsuits. We were off to the indoor water park!! Online they said they would be closed April 6th and 7th so I wasn't worried at all. I should have been. They were closed. So, we drove all the way back home and at this point I am highly disappointed, highly irritated (why do people use the Internet everyone lies about when they are open?) and highly emotional. We dropped Drek off at home, changed out of our swimsuits and decided to go somewhere I knew FOR SURE would be open: Ikea. That's right. My big trip on my birthday and Jessi's last day here, was to Ikea. Lame. Actually, we make it really fun, but still. Lame. We also spent a good portion of the building Acouchi a playground, but that's another story.

Then it was off to work. A thirty minute meeting turned into a two and a half hour meeting and we were FINALLY free to go party with Rissy and Ismail. We had delicious Chinese food and Rissy had made the most amazing cake and cupcakes and chocolate dipped strawberries. We watched Dr. Horrible (Rissy was horrified that Jessi had never seen it) and then it was time for LOST!!!! What a good episode. We came home and collapsed.

Thursday Jessi and I went up to Temple Square. We toured the conference center (a personal tour!!) and walked through the art exhibit. We walked around the temple and talked about church-stuff and finally it was time to go to the airport. The line was much more manageable this time Although there were a lot of people. We wen through security and guess what? They confiscated my pocket knife.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have traveled with that pocket knife since I was fifteen. I have always taken on the plane with me. I have had it in my pocket, in my carry-on bag, and out in plain sight in the bucket. My bags have been searched and my make-up confiscated, but they have never once caught my pocket knife with three blades, scissors and a screw-cork thing. Once, when my bags were searched, I even had a security guy hand me my keys with my pocket knife attached. I was sure I had been caught that time, but no. When I went to pick up Jessi, I had it in my purse.
When I went to drop off Jessie, I had it in my purse again, but this time, they guy caught. I was stunned. Give that guy a medal. I can't believe he found it. I was beginning to think it was invisible to X-ray machines.

Anyway, Jessi got on the plane all safe and sound. I will see her again when she comes out during the summer, but I still miss her. I wish I could keep her.

Unusual and Exceedingly Peculiar and All Together Quite Impossible to Describe

I bet you can't guess what my wonderful husband got me for my birthday from the title of this blog.

What? "That's impossible." You say? "Those tickets have been sold out for months." You say? "They were only on sale for twelve minutes before every last seat was sold." You say? I myself was frantically pushing redial on my phone and refresh on my computer trying to get those precious tickets to no avail. In fact, I had a horde of people (nine, to be exact) frantically pushing redial on phones and refresh on computers trying to get tickets. None of us got even a single ticket. We did this twice. Once for the pre-sale and once for the sale. The task was impossible.

Alas, nothing is too impossible for my most amazing super-husband. After screaming and doing a happy dance over and over again, I finally realized they were tickets for THIS WEEK. That's right, for my birthday, my amazing husband is taking me to go see Wicked. Because he is the best husband in the entire world.

At Last, We Can Retire And Give Up This Life Of Crime

SQUEE!!!!!!

I got the raise!! He didn't even argue. I presented my numbers, asked for the raise, and was like "ok. It's yours." And I was like: "??????????"

So either he agrees with my numbers, or he's planning on firing me.

Alternate Wriggling your Fins and Your Tail.

I love clever April Fools Day jokes. I dare say 04/01 is the Internet's best day. Sadly, by the time I think of a good joke, it is already 4pm on April 1st, and I will have forgotten by the next year. Oh well.

Just as a side note, since BAMC isn't really up and running this year, I have switched to GoodReads. It's a site where you can rate and review books, get suggestions for new reads and recommend books to other people. My sister introduced me to it and I love it!!! You can add books to your "To Read" shelf and then print out that page. I take that page with me to the Library since my worst habit is to have hundreds of books I want to read, but as soon as I get to the library I can't think of one.

Today I went swimming with my sister and my niece. It was so nice to be in the water!! It was also really fun to hang out with my sister. My niece is talking up a storm. I am stunned at how well she can talk!!

Tonight I Drek and I are having some neighbors over for dinner. I am also taking dessert to a couple in our ward who just had a baby. Look at me; being all homemake-y