Steve’s Vet Appointment # 2

So we took Steve in for his second vet appointment yesterday and he is just the picture of health for a kitty his age. He came in at a whopping 3lbs….he still thinks he’s much bigger. Steve has made a great addition to our home and Tubaloo has taken on the job of mentoring him. We will often walk into the room to see Tubaloo holding Steve down and biting him to make him sit still then proceed to lick him all over. Tubba’s also passing all of his bad habits down, including climbing on the kitchen counter.

As Steve gets older, we’re starting to get a better idea of what he’s going to look like as an adult. So far, his fur seems to be getting longer and very curly on his belly and by his ears.  He’s also starting to get stray long white hairs on his arms and legs. Looking at his feet….I think he’s going to be a very large kitty. I’ll keep the blog updated with photos as he grows.

Our New Kitty > Gender Confusion

Nathan and I got a new little kitty on June 18th (See Birthday Present # 2). We decided to name out new tiny critter Coraline, as Nathan had a dream about her wandering Coraline’s dream-world. We spent the next week and a half or so playing happily with our new little girl and getting Tubaloo used to having a sibling. Then the time came to take Coraline to the vet’s office. Coraline got a A+ on her health…..with a bit of a hang-up….which hangs. The vet was checking Coraline out and decided to take her into the back for a better look. The vet, along with a couple of other people in the back, spent the next few minutes analyzing Coraline. Nathan and I sat in the small room, confused. After a few minutes Dr. Young came back into the room, kitty in hand and announced, “well….it’s going to have to be a Cory!” Apparently, our little girl is a boy, and was just too little for us to notice. I must say I was a bit embarrassed. At any rate, we welcome the new kitty into our home, and have renamed him Steve. We will be posting more photos and updates on Steve shortly.

Tubaloo – Our Miniature Saharan Lion

Tubaloo has somehow gotten the idea into his head that he is a full-force Saharan lion. Lately we’ve become his prey…or something. We’ll be walking around in the house and Tubba will come out of nowhere. He then makes a leap at our legs, grabs hold with teeth and claws, and proceeds to try to take us down like a lion taking down a buffalo. Apparently, he thinks that his 10lbs is enough to take down a full-sized human. While Nathan and I are amuses, we’re wondering whether or not this is something that Tubba will eventually outgrow.

Birthday Present # 2 > Kitty!

Okay….so I know that I’m already getting my tattoo for my birthday but I got a sign today that I just can’t ignore. Someone sent me an email today talking about three kittens who need homes. Of the three kittens, one is an adorable little black girl. The decision-maker was the fact that the little girl will officially be six weeks old on my birthday. I asked Nathan what he thought about another kitty and he’s totally into it so we’ll be picking up a baby sister for our Tubba next week!

We haven’t picked out a name yet but will be brainstorming over the next week. Here’s a picture of her. (with her current mamma)

My Birthday Present > Gir!

So…Nathan told me that he’s going to pay for my tattoo as my birthday present. For seven years now I’ve been talking about getting a Gir tattoo so I can look at it whenever I’m having a hard time and giggle to myself. Any time that I’ve wanted to get the tattoo I’ve either ducked out due to fear or didn’t have the spare money. now that Nathan and I are doing so well at work, we can afford it.

At first I really wasn’t sure I wanted to take Nathan’s offer. I though….maybe some other romantic present would be less painful. After thinking about it a little, I think that it would be a great idea to get the tattoo. I think that it’s going to be of Gir the robot sitting, and will be on the back of my right shoulder. For reference, it’ll look like the one below….just without the squid.

Anywho….I’ll update more once I go meet with a tattoo artist and get started.

The Ring

The story of where my wedding ring came from is one that I am excited to get to tell my children when I get older. After Nathan and I got engaged, we quickly told our parents figuring they would pass the word on throughout our families. We also planned on heading down to Roseburg that next weekend to see the family and visit my grandmother (on my dad’s side) who lives in Coquille.

We left to head south on April 2nd after work which means we actually got to my parents’ house around 9-ish. My aunt (Patty)  had been at my parents’ house hoping to get to see Nathan and I but unfortunately left about an hour before we got there. Patty had a care package for me that came from my grandmother. Apparently, my grandmother had saved her wedding ring from her first marriage to my grandfather (my dad’s real father) so that she could give it to me when I was older. As I JUST got engaged to Nathan, now was the perfect time to give it to me.

Here’s the story behind the ring’s origins: My Grandma Pat got married to James Gow (grandfather) back in the 1940’s and used a beautiful platinum diamond ring as an engagement ring. She located the ring in LA when she was still a working student and regularly visited a jewelry store to oogle the ring in the window. She used a simple platinum band as the wedding ring and later joined them together as one solid ring. My grandparents ended up getting divorced when my dad was a teenager and my grandfather passed away long before I was born so I missed out on getting to know him. I feel blessed that my grandmother decided to give me her wedding ring and proud to be able to use the ring as my own wedding ring. I feel as though I get to keep a piece of my family history and have it with me always.

Saturday we woke up and got ready to head out and visit Grandma Pat. Mom decided she didn’t want to go to the coast so Nathan and I took dad with us. We made a quick stop at the coffee caboose to get an iced latte for grandma on the way and arrived at her house to find that she was in great spirits. After a bit of chit-chat at the kitchen table it got awkwardly quiet and I decided to break the news to grandma. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her smile so big. She said that she knew there was something else going on when we decided to come visit. 

The rest of our visit was spent talking about wedding plans and listening to grandma share details about her wedding with her second husband (Grandpa Gary). She ran to get a book for me that she has kept on her night stand since she got married. The book was called “The Prophet” and was marked up and highlited by grandma in certain passages that she really liked. Inside the  book was a few other quotes and a list that she’d given Gary before they were married. The list was entitled “Things to know about me before we get married” and had topics of “Strengths, Weaknesses and Expectations”. I have never before heard of someone handing a list like that to anyone. At any rate, Gary still accepted her and, now that I think about it, grandma was pretty smart letting him know everything up front.

Since seeing my grandma, Nathan and I have taken the ring in to be cleaned and resized. (My grandmother is a size 41/2 and I am NOT that tiny). I’ll be posting pictures of the ring soon.

Flobots!

We recently got a chance to go see the Flobots on May 8th at the Hawthorne Theater. Erik was up visiting from Roseburg so we took him along and met  my coworker, Jill at the concert. The opening bands were not as great as expected and seemed more like annoying teenagers than musicians to me.

Once the Flobots actually went on it was great. I’d been listening to their new single “White Flag Warriors” at least twice a day for weeks before the show. It was really awesome getting to see them in action. There’s even a violinist in the band who played throughout most of the songs. From listening to the music I had no idea that there was someone actually playing the violin.

They played some music from their first album “Fight With Tools” but the majority of the concert was from their new “Survival Story” album. If you haven’t listened to it I highly recommend checking out their song “Good Soldier”. It’s very emotional and….well….awesome. Click here to listen to it: Good Soldier

Anywho….long story short…..another awesome concert with good friends and my wonderful fiance.

We’re Engaged!

Okay….so I know that this is a super-late post but…Nathan and I are officially engaged! We went to the John Mayer concert on March 30th at the Portland Memorial Colosseum. We were pleasantly surprised that Michael Franti was the opener for the show. The entire concert was amazing and our seats were perfect. I’ll post photos of the show later.

After the concert we drove down to the waterfront to see the city at night. It was freezing outside and almost midnight but we walked down to the water anyways. I was shivering so Nathan offered to get his coat out of the car for me. He walked back to the car and came back with his jacket but didn’t hand it over. As I was getting angry that he’s not handing me the jacket to help me get warm he pulled something out of the hood of it.

Even though it was freezing and the ground was soaking wet, Nathan got down on one knee and simply said, “Will you marry me?” I think that he was going to say something more but I immediately starting kissing him, so any attempt to be more eloquent was ruined. While I was kissing him I realized that I hadn’t actually answered him. Of course, I said yes.

As soon as I said yes the moment was quickly interrupted with laughter as a bicyclist came hauling ass right by us with their little headlight on. Nathan and I started giggling but continued to hug. Then, as if telling us that the moment is over, another guy on a bike went speeding by.

We got home super late and I couldn’t help but post the news on Facebook. I got a mix of comments as a lot of people said “about damn time” and a bunch more said “why are you awake at 3:30 AM?” Needless to say it was a wonderful night.

Valentine’s in Seattle

So this year Nathan and I spent Valentine’s Day in Seattle. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty much the entire time so we really did do much for sight-seeing. The one place we did visit on the short weekend trip was the Point Defiance Zoo. This is where the majority of the photos were taken. Since it was raining, the zoo was pretty empty, allowing us to be able to see most of the animals without having to fight through crowds.

There was an indoor exhibit for Seahorses which was absolutely beautiful. They had all kinds and the tanks were super clean so it was easy to take great photos of them. Another awesome exhibit was the penguin area. There were a ton of penguins swimming around in the rain. They kept swimming back and forth in front of me flipping upside down and goofing around. It seemed like they were wanting to play with me. Check out the album below to see other pictures from the zoo.

[album: http://www.twonerdsandakitty.com/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/Seattle2010/]

Vet Visit: Taking the Jabs

Today was Tubaloo’s final round of kitty immunizations, we wrapped up the FCRV and Rabies vaccines with the vet, who gave Tubaloo a clean bill of health! Other than being pretty vocal about disliking the car ride to the vets office, everything went super smoothly, and we were thrilled to hear that he’s doing well, now that we got that scab all healed and we know the microchip is no longer about to pop out of his skin. 🙂

The only complaint I’d say is that those shots were supposed to make him sleepy, and he was as wired and crazy as ever all nite!