Crazy old Toby... He's always good for a laugh

We have started to let Toby go outside sometimes. In the past, he has been, depending on circumstances, either obviously avoiding any open door or else in a big hurry to sneak outside and run away and be hard to catch. Since we have started allowing him to go outside, recently he has been taking a different approach. He loves to be outside. But only JUST outside the door - and only if the door is open and he can run inside if he gets nervous. If he's enjoying being outside, watching birds, stalking squirrels from the front sidewalk, laying in the sun, or chewing some grass, he will come running in a panic if you close the door so he can't get inside. And then he mewls and whines incessantly! And either the walls are not thick enough or he is a very loud meower. I usually go open it for him because I feel bad that he might disturb the neighbors.

What a wimp... when we had Diego also, Toby used to be the brave one (albeit, the cautious one). I think the bravery was all a show. For some reason, it reminds me of a time Jeran and I went backpacking with some friends. I was so tired and worn out, I didn't think I could make it and had to keep resting and telling Jeran how hard it was, etc. Then Jeran stayed behind for a little bit while I went on with our friends. I complained so much less when there was no caring husband to listen to me complain! The hike seemed more doable, I was less tired. Now let's not psycho-analyze me here, because this is about the cat, but I think of Toby like that. He was either showing Diego that Diego was a wimp to be so scared, or trying to get away from him, or else Diego made him more confident. No there is no one to show off to? Or something. Somehow, Toby's changed attitude and that story seem related to me.

Anyways, some days we've been leaving the door ajar. When it gets warmer and more buggy, something is going to have to change.

La Cocina

More kitchen updates. Sometimes it seems like that is all we do these days. Oh wait, it kind of has been. I have been getting really anxious to make some good progress on the kitchen because we haven't been able to really use it since we started sanding and mudding, and even very much during wallpaper removal. So from about mid-March until now, although the last week or two it has been even worse because we took the stove and microwave out. We've been eating PB & J and cereal and those get old pretty fast.

Jeran has quite a bit of painting and paint prep experience and knows what he is doing when it comes to walls. However, on Saturday, after a few days of prep, I was certain that we were never going to paint and that we would be doing mud-sand-mud-sand-mud-sand for the rest of our lives.

The mudding and sanding went on and on.

And on and on and on!

But finally we got to prime. Although priming is not generally a very exciting step, I was giddy about it because it meant the end of the prep work.

And paint! Now, for the record, Jeran wanted yellow and I wanted green and I gave in. I can't say I love the paint color, but I don't hate it and it is better than white or wallpaper. I expect it will grow on me over time - these things usually do.

And as a sneak peak of the next phase of the project, see the concrete floor in the last picture. We have tile to lay some time, but I'm ready for a little break. I didn't intend to tear up all the linoleum right away, but I started with the under the stove part (so we could put that back for now) and got carried away. I guess it will just be more motivation to get the tile done soon.

Woohoo! Now we can move most of the stuff back in and use the kitchen again! I keep thinking of all the wonderful things that I'm going to bake and cook! Cookies! Casserole! Grilled Cheese!

Last night as we were getting the stove put back in, it occurred to me that I should have made food in the crock pot. Dash it all! Why didn't I think of that sooner!

A-Camping we will go

Last weekend we went camping at Umstead State Park in Raleigh. It was perfect weather, high 85, overnight low of 68. We went with Adam and Mary and Ryan and Lindy and Lexi.

It was so nice and relaxing! We decided to go the lazy route and picked up some pizzas on the way. (Finally some more people that like pineapple!)

We set up our tents, Ryan built a nice fire, and Jeran hung up our hammock. We're definitely taking a stronger rope next time.

We roasted marshmallows and ate smores. I always forget how delicious they are!

We also played some games. We played card games like speed and played Personal Preference. We also played Liar's Dice, which seems to be becoming our essential camping game. Jeran read a lot of his book thanks to his handy headlamp. You really can't beat one of those for reading in the dark.

I slept pretty well - when camping, I'm bound to wake up no less than 7-8 times during the night, even with an air mattress. This time, each time I awoke, I forced myself to not open my eyes, check the time, or listen to the potentially scary noises of the night. So I slept very well by camping standards.

In the morning, we packed up and headed home for a busy Saturday. It's great having so many camping options so near!

Kitchen Progress

We have made quite a lot of progress on the kitchen. The wallpaper is basically all gone and we have removed the baseboards and the soffits above the cupboards.

We started the next phase of the project - wall prep. We have done a lot of mudding so far but still have a little more to do. After that we need to sand and then touch up the rough spots again and sand again.

We still haven't decided a paint color. We are torn between tans, creams, yellows, and light greens. Any opinions?

Look what the cat dragged in

So I was sitting outside on the back porch enjoying the nice sunny weather. The back door was open (the bugs aren't too bad yet, the A/C and heat are both off, and our kitchen can't look any worse). Toby had been poking around the back yard area for a while. He is a wimp when it comes to the great outdoors so he would look around and then when he heard a car motor over on the next street or a neighbor outside talking, he would run back inside for safety. Well, one when he ran in, I saw him going crazy over something on the floor in the kitchen.

I dropped my book and ran inside in time to see Toby pick something up in his mouth and dash down the hall and into the living room. When I got there I saw that he had a lizard! Not just a tiny little reptile, but a decent-sized, bona fide lizard. In my living room! He kept setting it down and letting it run a ways before running over and (usually) gently picking it up in his mouth and carrying it to the middle of the room.

As he was doing this, I was trying to make sure it didn't get under any furniture where it would be harder to catch and finding something to catch it with. I finally found a metal bucket and a wrapping paper roll. It took a while and a few tries, but I finally managed to herd the lizard into the bucket without Toby scaring it off in a different direction. I took the lizard out back and let him free in the woods.

Poor little guy. He didn't look too worse for the wear so hopefully he makes it.

Confessions

Following my sister's post listing 10 confessions (which I loved!), I decided to do one of my own.

1. I hate graters. Grating stuff is one of my least favorite cooking activities because it is scary and graters gives me the heebie-jeebies.

2. I still sometimes do the nun thing that I used to do when I was little where, when you're taking off your shirt, you leave it covering all your hair so you look like a nun. Jeran hates it.

3. I like to sing when I am bored and alone, like singing every nursery rhyme I can think of (I know a lot for some reason) or practice singing Row Row Row Your Boat with the notes offset by different amounts.

4. I hate the Waffle House but I have never been there and am determined never to go there. What do I hate most about it? The font they use on their sign.

5. There is something that I really like about cleaning out the sink drain after it gets clogged with hair and gunk, even though at the same time it is one of the grossest jobs I know of.

6. I love that initial feeling of getting into and sitting in a hot car with the windows rolled up.

7. I do not drink nearly enough water/liquids and some days I go without drinking anything. But I am determined to change that! I bought a new water bottle to inspire me and I'm going to try to drink at least 32 ounces a day.

8. I occasionally put headphones on and forget to turn on my iPod and son't realize it until hours later.

9. I sometimes get my p and b confused when writing words and have to sound it out aloud to figure out which letter I should write. "A.. buh.. surd."

10. For some reason, it took me A LOT longer than everyone else to figure out that drying off your entire body with a towel after a shower will really help you warm up a lot. My methods were always to curl up in a ball and wait to get warm or sit in front of a heater.

Wallpaper update

After working on the wallpaper twice (a total of about 5-6 hours probably), here is where I am at:

One sizable section done. The PaperTiger works pretty well, but the wallpaper remover stuff is indispensable. It still doesn't just jump right off the wall (I wish), but at least it comes off in slightly larger pieces.

Another thing that I did the other day was make this wreath. It was pretty fun and will brighten up our front door for spring.

I think it would be fun to take a flower arranging class.