Thursday, March 31, 2011

Happy Birthday Munchkin!!!

Today is my little sister's birthday.

I remember getting to hold her when she was a baby but I had to sit still on the couch and not try to carry her around. I was only 5 1/2 when she was born so she was like a new doll for me. Of course that wore off when she started walking and had those "clod stomper" shoes...haha.

We had a teenage years of thinking that the other was just not cool enough to be seen with but once we both grew up a bit, we became close and we grow closer every year. This is the first time in a long time that we have been able to see much of each other and it has been fabulous. She inspires me in so many ways!!!

I love you sis, and I hope you have a great day and year!!!

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Happy Birthday Sis!!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Love This Litter

This stuff is the best stuff since sliced bread...Arm and Hammer's Essentials Cat Litter.

I have had to deal with a litter box for the last 15 years or so and can I tell you that I pretty much hate it and do everything I can to avoid it. With that said, recently my cat was diagnosed with diabetes which translates into meaning that she pees a lot (but it doesn't stink because it is so diluted from all the water she is drinking). Upon arrival back in the US, I had decided to try some different options for her litter box hoping to cut down on the tracking of litter. I gave the pine litter a try and it worked great (until she started showing signs of diabetes). I highly recommend the pine stuff, smells great and doesn't track at all. You just have to replace all of it once it goes back to sawdust.

Once the overload on peeing started though, the pine wasn't an option so I switched back to a clay clumping litter....and for some reason, it has been hell ever since. I don't know if it is because her urine is different or if it is because there is just so much of it, but the clay was just turning into a piece of cement hooked to the bottom of her litter box each time, no matter how often I cleaned it out. I was practically breaking the scoop trying to get the litter box clean and it was doing nothing but pissing me off.

So the other day, I saw the corn stuff and decided to give it a whirl. It is super light (even after she pees in it), which is a plus. It smells much nicer than any other litter I have experienced, it controls the odor when she does use it, and it is super easy to scoop. She does track it a bit, but it is easier than the clay to sweep up and it doesn't stick to her feet in little cement clumps like the clay does, which I am sure we are both thankful for.

Anyhow, I highly recommend this stuff and I am completely amazed that I had an entire post's worth to even say about cat litter....haha.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Eyebrows

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Blog Update

Finally got over to my Mom's blog and updated her template. She still had a header image on there that I uploaded in December of 2009 with a Christmas theme so it was definitely time for a change.

I think it looks great, I even went in and labeled a bunch of her old posts so her label cloud would work and look okay.

I hope she likes it.

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Walking Lunges Kick Ass

Theme for March

I just checked and the theme for Shutter Sister's is "letters, symbols and numbers"...and I have until next Friday to get a pic taken as I looked back through what I have taken this whole month and nothing I have works...good excuse though to find something...in fact, the graveyard down the street that I have yet to explore might have something awesome for me.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Limitations

Friday, March 25, 2011

Week 12 MCP Project 52

YomitanPottery

This is my submission for the week. The theme was "from the jewelry box". I didn't do much to this one but auto correct the color and brightness and then added the border.

I love this necklace. It reminds me of a place that I hold very dear to my heart and to all the culture, people and food that I experienced and treasure there.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Snail

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Crazy Couple of Weeks

It has been a bit crazy here...was sick, missed a lot of exercise classes, and then my grandpa died and we had a trip down to our hometown to attend his funeral and be there for the rest of the family. I have not been posting to my two picture project sites but I hope to get back at it this next week...we'll see what I can find.

I need to find out what the themes are and then get shooting. I have some new places to explore, lots of things are starting to bloom, and a big geocache to finish so I am sure I can something awesome to take pics of.

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Parking Peeve

Thursday, March 10, 2011

In Memoriam Grandpa Byrd 1911-2011

My grandpa passed away this last weekend. He was 99 years old. He wasn't my biological grandpa but he has been my grandpa since I was in the 6th grade and the one I have the most memories with. I have found that blood is not what makes you family. Love, time, and support does. Grandpa was definitely my family regardless of our blood.

I am driving to my hometown this weekend with some of my family to go to his funeral. He was loved by a lot of people and I am looking forward to celebrating his long life with them all. Some of them I haven't seen in years.

I have some great memories of my grandpa. When I first met him, he rode a motorcycle and he would take us kids out for rides. My mom has a great picture of my sister (who was in kindergarten at the time) on the back of Grandpa's motorcycle with a huge helmet on. He and my grandma lived in a big house on the outskirts of town that always had a cow in the pasture. We learned after the first one, not to make friends with the cow because it would inevitably end up being dinner at some future date.

He was a wonder with wood...he made all sorts of things out of wood, from clocks, to tables, to frames to knives. In fact, my absolute favorite kitchen knife is the one he made for me for my wedding. He was a logger most of his life and he had some great stories to tell of his years in the woods and mills of Oregon. He worked for every dime he had and did so from a very early age.

He loved his sweets...you could always count on there being donuts, hot chocolate and some kind of candy at Grandpa's house. When we would eat dinner there once a week, my sister and I might get lucky and he would make a virgin grasshopper for us to sip while the grown-ups were having their drinks.

In my family, Grandma and Grandpa were always a big part of our lives. We went to the their house after school and during the summers when our parents were working. We went on road trips and vacations with them. Grandpa had a huge RV when we were kids and he and Grandma would go out to see his big family all over the US in it. They even drove down to Texas to visit us when we were there for a couple of years.

These last few years have been hard for Grandpa. You could tell he had a hard time getting comfortable with the aches and pains that old age bring. He couldn't hear or see much and sleep was something that sometimes eluded him.

My last visit to him was three weeks ago. We had a good visit with him. At the end of the visit, he was sitting in his big chair talking to my sister and I about how he felt bad that he couldn't remember everything and that he was sometimes confused. We tried to reassure him that it was alright to be confused sometimes and that we all loved him nonetheless. He talked about being the oldest of all of us and how he had lived a long life. It broke my heart when he started to cry and tell us how much he knew we were taking care of him. We told him it was okay, that we loved him and we just wanted him to be happy and healthy. I didn't know for sure that it would be the last time I saw him but I am glad that I got the chance to tell him how much I loved him before he had to go.

I hope this weekend will be a great time for all of us to laugh and remember all the fabulous things he brought to our lives instead of being too sad. He was a terrific grandpa who had a wonderfully long and full life, and I know that I will miss seeing him when I go home to visit.

I love you Grandpa!!

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Nekid As A Jaybird

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Mishka's Reading Update

It has been a long time coming but I finally got my book blog updated with my reads from 2009 and 2010. I will try to be better about the ones from this year...check it out if you have time.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Nice and Easy