Tagged!

By my friend, gnightgirl!

An unobstructed view of my face:


Ha!! Just kidding! That's Bette Davis...

Here I am:

Toys

Anyone who knows us, probably knows our cats are spoiled. Best food, filtered water, all the love they can handle. So, of course, we buy them toys....

Toys that get lost...I've bought bags and bags of catnip mice...and not even a day later it's...

"Where the hell are ALL THE MICE???????"

Sometimes I find a pile of toys under the couch. Still...I'm sure there must be more missing mice out there somewhere...

Fast forward to a few nights ago. Mike dropped a Pringles lid in the kitchen. Immediately, a kitty pounced on it and knocked it under the stove. "Crap!" I thought - that's gone under there forever... then I decided to pull out the broiler thingy and...

BAM!! There were at least 13 little mice were under there...

Story from an eating place

Last Sunday we went out to eat at a cozy, local, tasty restaurant, Thara Thai. This restaurant is special. For one thing, my good friends Ilaiy and Gnightgirl introduced us to it. The owner is a wonderful, friendly woman. There is something about this place that makes you feel calm and friendly and you just know the everything is right with the world.

As we were sitting there, an older couple walked in. They sat at a table adjacent to us. He had a ball cap on with teeny, tiny flags sticking out of it. They were so cute! They started talking to us right away.

"What is that you're having?" The man asked.

My husband replied that he was having Pad Thai.

"That's what I want." The man said.

I asked him if he liked spicy food and he said that he did. As he ordered, I piped up - suggesting that he only order mild - - her food is extra spicy. [Ilaiy and Lori would order "Thai Hot" - I'm sure that would literally kill me.]

Our little man told us that they'd just gotten back from a WWII reunion thing in Tennessee. They live in Michigan and were staying over at the Day's Inn. Wanted to rest a while so they stopped over. Walked over to Thara Thai...he'd had Chinese food once and he liked it. His Captain served for 40 years. Was in WWII and Korea. Mike nods. Mike was in the military (three branches). He's a WWII buff.

Mike asks our guy what he did in WWII...

"I was a duck driver. I was at Normandy. Utah beach...."
My eyes immediately burned and got misty. Wow! He made it out alive! Here's a man who fought for our freedom...

He enjoyed his Pad Thai. We ate in silence for a while. He got up a few times and went to bathroom. Said he was eating to fast...he liked it too much! I felt bad for him. I told Mike he better come outta the bathroom soon or...or...I just might barge in there and give him the Heimlich or something...

I told Mike that when he said he was at Normandy - I started to cry.

He said: "Me too!"

We finished eating. Told them to have a safe trip home. Went up to the counter to pay our bill.

"Do you want to get theirs?" Mike asked.

I nodded. And my eyes filled with tears for the second time that night.

Dad's Flowers

As Fall nears, and since today's my dad's birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!), I thought I would post some photos of my dad's flowers that I took this summer while visiting my parents.

My dad has always seemed to enjoy yardwork and such and we had a good time looking at all of his flowers before we left. It postponed our leaving for quite a while. Which, I must admit, I kinda liked postponing. :0)

Dad didn't think his impatiens were doing very well this year.

I'd say they are thriving, wouldn't you?

He called these "paper flowers". They really do feel like a stiff piece of paper.

I liked these little daisies (even though some had died).

Purple "things". My favorite color!



The most important plant! And it's dead!

(dead cat grass)

We'll take more pictures next year, Dad!

Mattoon

Mike's brother had a party at his house this weekend. So, we headed down south:



Here are two sets of brothers jumping on the trampoline. Sweaty, silly, slimy, sexy(?) brothas...

Neil, Brian, Mike, John

Check out this video - it's audio only - but entertaining nonetheless:



A good time was had by all. And everyone got a chance to catch up. On old times and new. We got home around 4:00 a.m. So, yeah - I'd say we had a good time.

When's the next one?

Labor Day Trip

My husband's parents recently moved to Tennessee. They've been asking (and asking) us to come down to their new home...so, we finally went this past weekend.

It's obvious that we love cats and I'm always thankful that I have a husband that's as crazy about kitties as I am. Maybe he gets it from his parents...his parents have five indoor cats (hmmm...that number sounds familiar for some reason...) and many more outside kitties.

Here's a sampling of their kitties:

Mike's niece, Haley (the mini-cat whisperer) and Goldie

Pepper

Tommy

And - last, but not least - the incorrigible but ever cute Tiger: