Dream Shard Blog: The Scintillating Adventures of Our Household

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Sat
24
Jun '06

Her Royal Plumpness

I called my mom today (it’s her birthday) and as we were about to hang up she asked her traditional closing questions: How’s John? (wonderful) and How’s Kyra? (fat)

My mom was surprised by this last answer and said she thought of Kyra as a slender cat.

Kyra was slender, and we thought she’d always be slender because when we got her we met her mommy cat, who was thin. But then again, her mommy cat lived outdoors and wasn’t spayed (hence why we have Kyra and why her owners offered to give us two more kittens for free, just to get rid of them). Yep, Kyra was slender just like her mom until she went under the knife herself and got spayed. It probably doesn’t help that she lives indoors and doesn’t have many rodents to chase after (not that I’m complaining about that).

So I promised Mom I’d post pictures so she could see our plump kitty Kyra.

Fat Cat

See her tummy hanging out?

tummy 1

Kyra, for whatever reason, loves to lay on her back with her tummy wide open to the air–but she doesn’t like you to touch her stomach at all.

tummy 2

(Warning: The next image is a little scary, but she’s just yawning.)

yawny kitty

And, finally, a picture I caught of the Great Yellow Nemesis. This bushy yellow cat lives somewhere in our neighborhood and can often be seen lazing on our fence line or even on our patio. Whenever Kyra sees the Great Yellow, she freaks out. She paces and meows a lot and doesn’t take her eyes off him until he’s out of sight. This doesn’t ever faze the Great Yellow in the least. He just lounges comfortably until he feels ready to move on to someone else’s backyard.

Below you can see Kyra guarding her precious territory (our house, which she thinks is hers) while the Great Yellow nonchalantly walks away.

yellow cat!

Sun
18
Jun '06

Saturday is a special day

Saturday is supposed to be a day off work. Other times it’s a day of work. Yesterday was a little of both.

We lounged a bit in the morning but by the afternoon we were hard at work. Our mission: to clean the master bathroom.

I’m happy to say we not only successfully cleaned the entire master bath, but we also managed to clean up our bedroom a bit.

I dusted our light fixture for the first time ever since moving in last September. It probably had a couple years’ worth of dust on it.

We had never looked too closely at the light fixtures, and we actually thought they were opaque, covered in a sort of white glaze. Turns out they’re pretty clear once you clean off the dust.

lights1

And here’s our lovely bathroom view now. We can tell that it’s time to clean the shower, or, actually, that it’s way overdue, when it’s hard to see through the glass for all the soap scum. Notice now how nice and see-through it is. That’s thanks to John, Shower Power, and a scrub brush.

master bath1

It feels so good to clean something that needed it. Last night I went to bed way too late and was actually very tired, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off our newly dusted light fixtures. “Look,” I kept saying to John, who was trying to read, “look how clean they are! They glimmer!”

Funny how something so small and seemingly insignificant can make you feel so accomplished.

'

Father’s Day Cake!

You know my husband’s a chocoholic, right? Well, in honor of Father’s Day he got his greatest wish–a chocolate cake.

Behold the cake:

Cake

I made it yesterday, but made John wait until today to eat any.

So today during Sunday School he leans over to me and whispers, “So, um, after church . . . can we have some chocolate cake and open presents?”

And that’s exactly what we did, throwing in some actual lunch in there someplace, too. The cake was good. Very moist, and very rich.

Here’s the recipe, if you want it:

1 chocolate cake mix
1 package instant chocolate pudding
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 bag chocolate chips

Mix and bake according to directions on cake mix box.

I made Perfectly Chocolate Frosting from Hershey’s. Melt 1/2 cup butter. Mix in 2/3 cup cocoa. Then gradually alternate mixing in three cups powdered sugar and 1/3 cup milk. Finally stir in 1 tsp. vanilla.

Sat
17
Jun '06

Mini Spree

I love a good deal.

Love it.

A true good deal is constituted by purchasing a quality item that you very much desire and/or need at a darn good price. Most often good deals are found in clearance racks.

Tonight I visited the ShopKo in Spanish Fork, looking for something specific for my husband. Naturally I didn’t find anything I had hoped but instead came away with an armful of apparel for myself.

But–everything I bought was a good deal. As is customary whenever I find a good deal, I will proceed to enumerate everything I bought and specify how much I saved. Because it still feels so good and I just have to share.

1. Blue shirt made of lightweight, stretchy material.
Reg $12.99. Sale $8.99
Save: $4

2. Tracy Evans black gauchos–look really sharp, wish I had a picture to share.
Reg $26.99. Sale $16.99
Save: $10

Now on to the clearance items!

3. Fall jacket with hood.
Reg $49.99. Clearance $12.49
Save: $37.50

4. Pretty brown scarf belt.
Reg: $9.99. Clearance: $2.49
Save: $7.50

5. Snazzy belt made of bronze plates. Again, wish I had a photo to show you. It’s a cool belt.
Reg: $12.99. Clearance: $3.24
Save: $9.75

Total Spent: $44.20.
Total Savings: $68.75

That’s enough to make anybody grin.

Wed
14
Jun '06

Two loves, too different

Tonight our differences are apparent. John and I are each holed up in separate rooms, watching separate shows in TV.

John’s?

hockey

That’s right. Stanley Cup finals.

And mine?

dance

Um, yeah.

We’re in two different worlds tonight.

Fri
9
Jun '06

Love Thy Neighbor

We do love our neighbors, all of them. Especially the one who is selling her home and is asking $389,000! Granted, her house is a bit larger than ours and the basement is more finished . . . but in any case, if she gets her asking price our home’s value will not suffer one bit.