Soreness

Update on my goals of losing weight and getting fit:
I got a pedometer and it's pretty cool to see what my level of action is from day to day. It differs more than I thought. I went to work on Sat and I thought that I would be walking a lot since I stand when I'm working. No. I only took about 134 steps in a four hour period. Pretty funny. But I walk down to the cul-de-sac at the end of my road, which takes about 20-30 min, and it's about 2,000 steps. Walk on!

Otis the Cat

Anyone want a cat?

He is a really pretty cat, with white, caramel-ish fur and sky-blue eyes. Why do I want to get rid of him, you may be asking yourself. Okay, so after I tell you all the reasons why I don't want him, I'm sure you're not going to want him either. When we first got him, it was different... we lived in a smaller apartment and I knew how much Adam liked cats. He even won a belt buckle for "Best of Show" in an FFA cat contest- pretty impressive if you ask me. We put his litter box in the utility closet, which was the perfect spot to keep Erick safe from it.
And now? I think it started with the hairballs. First of all, it's really crazy to hear a cat in the process of puking up a hairball. It sounds like... well, it's hard to explain, but at first you can't figure out what the heck that noise is. I thought, well okay I'll brush the cat. After the first brushing, I was done. White cat hair everywhere and it was endlessly coming off of him. Otis of course loved it and probably can't figure out why I'm nice to him sometimes and then I can't stand him. He must think I'm really moody. Well, I am driven by guilt and the fact that I really do love cats, so I try to change, but he keeps pushing my buttons.
Like this for example: Ok, our house needed some work when we moved in, but not this.

What was just an inch-size scuff in the paint and dry-wall turned into a foot-long repair job with other little claw marks to cover up also. You can see all the remains of the remodeling that he has been doing.
He also likes to sleep in very soft places, who doesn't? But when it's here, it makes me angry:
I think all mothers would agree with me, and maybe some fathers too. I found him once in the baby's bassinet one morning, the baby was not in there, and I flipped out. I think he got the picture, but cats are pretty selfish. He'll try again.
He is also the original "Smelly Cat". I think the utility closet's door masked the awful stench when we were in the apartment. But the little room we have here not only doesn't have a door, but it has an opening to the living room like a window. You'll just have to use your imagination. I figured out that if we use a certain type of cat food, he doesn't puke anymore, BUT it could be causing him to smell bad. That is what my mom thought might be the problem. My solution would be to just let some "lucky" person have him. Because even though he has some nasty habits, who doesn't? In defense of my friend who gave him to me, she did tell me that he smelt really bad when he went to the bathroom. And it is only when he "goes" that it reeks, but I had no idea it was that bad. So please, if you think you might have a better solution, let me know.

You Belong in the Zoo

Yesterday I went to the Atlanta Zoo with Christine, Katie, James, Shaylan, and my two little ones. It was fun sometimes and then some of the time it wasn't so fun. But I'll recap the trip:

The Exotic Birds

These were interesting, but I wanted the tigers and lions. This was some type of vulture and it had red beady eyes-the better to see their cadavers with. They also had some other crazy looking bird and an owl that had just had a baby. I should have taken a picture of the two workers that were cleaning it's area. One was picking up "stuff" and sweeping off rocks while the other was standing between her and the owl, holding a glass shield for protection. Scary.


Then we saw some giant tortoises from the Galapagos Islands.
Then we saw some little tortoises or those would be some giant blue-ribbon winning vegetables that they were munching on.
And we went by the petting zoo. I read the "Help Us Not Get Hand Foot and Mouth Disease" and that is all it took for me to not let Erick pet anything, so we just took pictures.

We saw lazy kangaroos, as well as a lazy leopard and tiger. In fact, most of the animals were hot and weren't very active in the afternoon. So the pictures leave much to be desired. I had to crop and resize.




The pandas on the other hand were very active. This one paced back and forth, he looked anxious. Are there any known attacks of pandas on humans? Hmmm....

We went by the Komodo Dragon, the otters, through the World of Reptiles, and then we saw the naked mole rats. I was actually surprised to see that they were not the size of rats at all, but of very small mice. But their teeth were super huge.



The orangutans were also a bit lazy.
Okay, so most of the animals at the zoo were lazy, but isn't it hotter in Africa and the rain forests than in Georgia? The monkeys and gorillas were passive enough and then we saw the lion, zebras and giraffes. I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't see the black rhino, and I kept saying to myself, "the rhino will get you..."








The meerkats were very alert, and the elephants were pretty cool, because that is what Erick recognized the most. The flamingos were the end of our journey through the rain forests of the world. Feeling tired yet?













But we were not done. We still needed to experience the best part of the zoo, according to Erick. The train!




























We had a lot of fun, but towards the end of it all, Erick was very tired and very loud(that was the not so fun part). And note the cute little monkey backpack: it has a long tail that attaches to it. It's a "leash" to hold onto, and I was so glad to have it!

Adam thinks he's so funny...