Vancouver November 2010

I traveled to cold and snowy British Columbia, Canada to visit my friend Deb and her family. The region is having the coldest winter in 50 years and record snowfall. Great timing! Vancouver is a beautiful city and I had a great visit despite the freezing temps.

The view from Stanley Park.

A Bill Reid carving at the Museum of Anthropology,

University of British Columbia.

Fortunately Deb had an extra coat for me

since I left all of my winter clothes in Ohio!

Englewood Beach 8-15-10

Just us girls and the furry children.

Happy 13th Birthday, Boys!

On August 1, 1997 I went to the local animal shelter (SICSA in Dayton, OH) to adopt one adult cat. HA! I spent several heartbreaking hours there that day - I wanted to adopt them all! Shelters and pet stores and even zoos make me very sad... I can't stand to see an animal caged. Anyway, I fell instantly in love with two little kittens that were brothers and caged together. I watched them for nearly three hours. They would roll around and tumble all over each other and then curl up together to sleep. Then they would wake up, go eat together and then play some more. They were so adorable and had so much fun together. After watching them I decided that I could not bear the thought of them possibly being separated in the future so I signed the adoption papers and brought home two eight week old kittens that day. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made! They have been awesome pets and I am lucky to have them. They are pretty lucky too and seriously spoiled rotten! :)

The shelter named them Pumba and Pinkerton. Ick! I wanted them to have cool names and names that had meaning to me. I am a huge hockey fan as everyone knows, but this picture shows one of the reasons I named them after hockey players. They loved to roll around and "fight" back then and they still do today. I know that Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are not known for their fighting skills, but they are two of my favorite players and these two cuties deserved names with class and style.

September 1998

One year old best buddies.


October 2003
Six year old snuggle buddies.


July 2005
Eight year old sink buddies. Kinda hard to brush my teeth this way.


May 2010
Playing with their favorite toys a couple weeks shy of age 13.

Cousins

Shelley has been traveling a lot so Elsie has stayed with me a few times. Her cousins stayed under the bed most of the first time. They ventured out a little during her second stay, but she wanted to play which freaked them out and sent them right back under the bed. They would still come out, but they slinked around and avoided her. Yesterday, during her third visit, they finally realized that she is harmless.

Two Down; Two To Go

I found out today that I passed the Audit section of the CPA exam with a very respectable score of 83. Yay! I'll take part three in May after tax season hell is over. :)

My Snuggle Bunnies

This is very cute and fun except when I am trying to sleep at night!

I have never had a picture of snuggle time so this is awesome.

They love their mama. :)

Firefighter Charity Auction

The local IAFF auctioned off dates with a total of 15 single and hot, hot, hot firefighters to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation. This one brought in the highest bid at $750. How can one deny supporting such a good cause after all? :)