The Callenders

Hollywood here we come!

2010-04-09T06:29:00.001-07:00

Not really but John is going on a Bigfoot expedition that is being filmed for a tv show with (drumroll please.........) Bob Saget! Yes, the dad from Full House! Will update when we know it's gonna air!

Back in DC!

2010-03-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

I do mean to be better about posting more often. Really I do!

First things first! I turned 30 on Friday, had my 10 year anniversary with my company today and am now a part time employee! That last one was my choice and luckily my husband agrees with it. I'll have 1 extra day of a week and am looking into going to school.

I am currently in VA again with Allison and Olivia hanging out for the week. I don't think 16 year old girls appreciate the phrase "babysitter". I guess I'm just the adult with a drivers license! :-) I'll head to Mississippi on Sunday to meet up with John to celebrate my father-in-laws 70th birthday. Now what to get him?

Here is a photo of my girls. They snuggle up next to each other to sleep all the time.

My fur babies!

2010-02-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

Just an updated photo of the girls.

Everyone's gotta love a Birthday

2010-01-17T23:13:00.000-08:00

Today is my co-worker Kyle's birthday. To give him an early celebration to turning 30, I baked cupcakes! Believe it or not there are at least 5 people in my office turning 30 this year, me included. I'll be the third one on March 12. And yes Jessica, I know you will be forever 4 minutes younger than me.

Newport, OR

2010-01-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

So Mom and I drove down to see my Aunt and Uncle in Newport, OR last week. Its about a 5 1/2 drive down there and we did really good time getting there. We had fun seeing Aunt Cece and Uncle Dave, Mary and the twins, David and his family.

Leaving I decided to take a different route than we normally take. I wanted to take 101 up to Lincoln City and than OR18 up to Portland. Well, about 4-5 miles into 18, SNOW!!!!!!! Was totally not forcasted for that area. I had a bad feeling about continuing on especially after someone told me it was snowing in Portland. I turned around but John said if I continued on 101 all the way up the coast we shouldn't run into snow. I decided to give it a try and we did make it that way. Took over 7 hours but oh well. Mom and I decided that when we travel together something is always gonna happen to us. I'll have to post our Petersburg adventure at another time. Here are some photos I took in Newport.

2009-12-22T02:40:00.000-08:00

Tis the season

2009-12-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

for insanity. Seriously, I love shopping but can't stand being around other shoppers. You know the ones I'm talking about, the ones who block the entire aisle with their cart and ignore all the "excuse me please" from other shoppers. The ones who drag their kids with them and either ignore them, letting them run rampant or scream. Thank you Amazon.com! You save my sanity!

O.k. mini rant done. Not much new to update. Just laying here on the bed with a Callie Bear snuggled up on me. John and I were productive today and got a bunch of errands done. I've got to go back to work tomorow :-( My days off went by too quickly.

Grooming Day!

2009-11-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, I love grooming day! John starts by getting a haircut himself, than when he gets home it is Callie and Adabee's turn!

Now, most cats I know would not tolerate the grooming ritual that takes place in my house. First up, The Nail Salon. Callie of course is the more difficult one to clip, usually takes two of us to do it while she hollers her displeasure. Adabee actually loves having her nails trimmed. She sits still and is very well behaved during it.

Next comes the Furminator! I totally reccomend this product for all pet owners. Really helps keep shedding and dander down to a minimum. Both girls love to be brushed. John even uses the vacuum on them which for the most part they don't seem to mind, Go figure. When he started this method, I was sure they would claw him up.

After the brushing, they get a dose of hairball remendy. They love it. Adabee is finished at this point but poor Callie and her long hair go next for what we have deemed The Booty Buzz. The groomers call it a sanitary trim to keep the nasty stuff from sticking to the fur back there. Callie is actually very well behaved during this. I hold her on her back and John does the buzzing.

During all of this, John talks to them. It is the sweetest thing to listen to. He is so gentle and loving! Can't wait to see how he will be when we have kids!

We Back!

2009-11-09T01:54:00.000-08:00

Tennessee was awesome! The fall colors this year were beautiful! I've never seen anything like it. We had a good time with John's mom. Our only hiccup was our time share. We had stayed at this resort before and it was really nice. The unit they gave us this year was just yucky. Dirty carpets, cracks in the wall, rust in the tub, you name it. We ended up finding a much nicer place to stay at closer to town and it all worked out well.

Callie and Ada Bee were cared for by my good friends Steve and Marissa. Thanks guys for taking such good care of my girls. I know I've turned into a completely dorky cat owner after having said I'd never own cats but when you raise them from such little kittens like we have, dorkiness is a given!

Callie is still on the Pudgy Paws program but we just can't seem to get her to lose more than a 1/2 a pound or so. I've tried switching to a wet food diet because its a low carb that the "experts" recommend. She also has a bad habit of getting on my night stand and flicking the stuff on there off untill she wakes me up. A friend recommended putting tin foil on there and that seems to be working. Most cats can't stand the feel and sound of the foil.

Tennesee!

2009-10-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Smokey Mountains! We are on our annual fall trip to Gatlinburg, TN. Just a quick post to share a couple of photos and more details to come later.

Happy Birthday!

2009-09-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

Happy 43rd Birthday John!

Where to start?

2009-09-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while. Lets start with the car accident.

John and I were on our way to pick up my car which was getting new tires on, when we were hit by some guy in our neighbor hood. We had stopped to let the mail man thru the gate when this bozo started up his truck and kicked it into reverse and into us. There was no time to react other than me screaming that he's not stopping. Of course his truck doesn't have a scratch on it but John's beloved Camry, the car that survived Hurricane Katrina at the New Orleans Airport, was economically totalled.

As a result, we went car shopping! We had been talking about getting an SUV or a truck for a while now but had wanted to wait untill next year. We

started looking and decided on a 2006 Toyota Tundra. I did a nation wide search and it turned out the one we wanted was at our favorite dealership, Doxon Toyota! Unfortunatly the camry did not qualify for cash for clunkers. Even for a 17 year old car, the camry had too good of gas milage. Also, cash for clunkers drove up the price on used cars and dealerships weren't as willing to negotiate price. What can ya do?

Next is my trip to Washington DC. I flew out to give my cousin and her daughters a hand for a week. They moved there from Alaska and needed someone to stay with the girls for a couple of days. We had fun while I was there. We went to the National Zoo and I finally got to see panda bears! They were so cute! You can see more pictures from my Picassa Web Galleries.

We also spent my last day looking at the major sights. We took the metro in to DC and walked everywhere! We started at the Whitehouse, walked to the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean war Memorial and ended the day at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. There's lots more to see and I can't wait to go back!

Not much planned untill next month when we go to Tennesee. The Puyallup Fair started today and I can't wait untill John and I can go!

Panda Bears!

2009-08-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

Andrew and the Watermelon

2009-08-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

My sweet nephew Andrew and his mom planted a small garden this year. Andrew's must haves were pumpkins and watermelons. They started too late to actually get the melons really growing but the pumpkins are doing good.

My mom and sister didn't want to disappoint Andrew about the watermelons. They decided to buy a large melon and place it next to the other tiny ones they have. Jessica and Ira placed it so well it did look like it came off the same vine as the others. Jessica then got Andrew outside and had him "check out" the watermelons. She said the look on his face was worth it! He asked if it was the bugs that helped it grow and she said no. He then said it must have been because he watered it a lot!

The sweet innocence of being 6!

turn down the heat!

2009-08-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

O.k. People who were born and raised in Southeast Alaska just don't seem to aclimate to 90+ degree weather very well. It's been seriously hot lately. I flew up to Juneau for a couple of days to cool off!

Juneau was fun. I got to see a bunch of family while I was there. One of my uncles from Sitka even came over. We had a nice visit.

Here is today's photo. Miss Rachael taken on Easter. She's such a ham!

Just another day

2009-07-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

This of course is my niece Rachael. Doesn't she look a bit like Angelica from Rugrats?

Tonight Jessica and I with our friend Mindy went and saw The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigle and Gerard Butler. It was hilarious! Seriously thought I was gonna pee my pants! O.k. TMI.

John is flying tonight up to Anchorage then on to Portland then the flip side tomorow night. Not much else new to report. I've got to go to work tonight for another thrilling graveyard shift. Why do weekends have to come to an end?

Bumping Lake October 2006

2009-07-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

This photo was taken in October of 2006. I love the fall colors!

My Sweet AdaBee

2009-07-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

Today's photo is one of my favorites. We let the kitties out on the patio and had some flowers and AdaBee loved them! Callie Bear really didn't care one way or another.

Todays Photo

2009-07-20T16:08:00.001-07:00

This one is just a neat arial that I took last time John and I took the 172 up together.

Photo of the Day

2009-07-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start uploading a photo of the day. Today's was taken in my friend Joan's garden yesterday.

Wine, Wine,and more Wine

2009-07-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

We spent a fun two days up on the Olympic Penninsula tasting wine. As you can see Callie Bear wanted to come too! We visited 6 different wineries between Port Townsend and Port Angeles. It was fun! Check out http://www.olympicpeninsulawineries.org to read more about where we visited. Sorensen's Cellar and Fairwinds Winery were my favorites.

Today I went to a bridal shower for my friend Heather. She actually got married last month in Samoa. We had a good time. Lots of good food and good company.

We are headed out here in a few to see the new Harry Potter with Jessica and Ira. I can't wait!

Back at it.

2009-07-15T03:46:00.000-07:00

I've decided I need to be a better blogger if I'm gonna have a blog. Sorry so long since last updated.

John and I have now been married 1 year 1 month and 21 days. Not that I'm counting or anything :-) This last year has had some rough times but we got thru everything together. I ment it when I said for better or for worse. I look foward to the next year and what it might bring us.

In May, we had our Big Trip of the year. We started out in Missisippi at John's parents house and all of us went to Destin, Florida. John's brother Lee met us there as well as his other brother Bryan and Rebecca and little Sam. When we met them at the airport, Sam had on a t-shirt that said Big Brother. I caught that immediatly and asked Bryan and Rebecca if they had news to share. We will have another niece or nephew this November! I'm so excited! I need to start knitting a baby blanket for this one. I might actually finish one!

The whole family spent a really nice week in Florida together. The white sand beach was wonderful. Here is a photo from my chair on the beach (not the best quality, taken from my phone:

After our week was over, we headed back to Mississippi for a few days. I left before John did because I absolutely had to change out my suitcase contents for our next destination: Las Vegas!

My sister Laura and her now husband Shawn finally tied the knot! They had a beautiful wedding at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. I'd post a photo but Laura would kill me.

After Vegas we headed home. Back to work. yay.

That's all for now, I'll update more in a few days. John and I are headed over to the Olympic Penninsula for the Lavender Festival. We are doing a wine tour while we are there. Should be fun!

new stair rails!

2008-11-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of our staircase remodle. This was the last big project. Almost done!

LOL Kitty

2008-09-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is really our Callie Bear!

Done!

2008-09-12T00:55:00.000-07:00

At long last, the cabinets are done! Next up is granite hopefully on Monday!

Happy Birthday!

2008-09-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Callie and Adabee are 1 year old! September 5th was their first birthday. We didn't celebrate because John and I were both working, but we did get them Halloween costumes. Callie modeled for us:

Doesn't she look thrilled!?!

Kitchen Accomplished....almost

2008-08-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

As I write this, John is at home working on the last coat of paint for our cabinets. It has been a really rough living without a kitchen. The carpenters are coming on Sunday to hang all the doors and shelves and then we will be ready for the granite! The color we chose is called Santa Cecilia (quite appropriate!). Here is what it looks like:

I can't wait for it all to be finished!

Kitty Bath Time

2008-08-24T02:13:00.001-07:00

Tonight was Kitty Bath Time. Or as the cats prefer, Water Torture Night. Ada Bee went first and actually did pretty good. Callie meowed up a storm but that was to be expected. They both got a special treat afterwards. They love tuna but don't get it very often. Here are some photo collages of their night.

Shout out to Juneau

2008-08-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

I believe this says it all :-)

Welcome!

2008-08-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a new blog more focused on John and I. There will be periodic updates of Eric but he hasn't been on any adventures lately. Terri is hiding out in my storage unit and honestly, I don't know which box she's in.

Ada Bee and Callie Bear of course will be present. John and I just adore them. They are such sweet cats. They follow us around like little puppy dogs. Here is a picture of them today just hanging out on their scratchers

They are fat, happy, completely spoiled.

John is in Portland right now on a layover. He'll be home tomorow morning just as I am leaving to work a charter to Chicago. He'll be taking off again as I'm getting home. We will have a few days off together at the end of the week and I'm sure that means some camping. After he gets some work done on the kitchen :).

The kitchen is still not together yet. Hopefully soon. I drove around today for 45 minutes trying to decide where I was going to eat. I ended up at Panera Bread for soup and salad. Don't even want to think about dinner yet. Maybe a PBJ sandwich tonight. Thats one thing I can actually fix here. Callie tries to attack me for the peanut butter.