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Cajun Invasion

Life has been busy and I am just not getting to blog much. Whew!
Well, my main topic of the day is the socio-economic impact of all of the Katrina victims that have chose to stay in Chattanooga. Initially, and for the most part of the time since the hurricane, we didn't hear much about the victims that were relocated here. Now, all of a sudden Chattanooga has 3 or 4 new "Cajun" restaurants, a good choice of self-employment for the people who liked Chattanooga enough to stick around. I wonder if this is going on across the south, and in 10 years or so it will be normal and commonplace to see "Cajun" restaurants around town. I just think its weird.

This weekend was a wild and crazy adventure. Friday after work, Matthew and I went and early-voted (Go Ron Paul!), then we went to the wedding rehearsal of my good friend Niki. Of course, as with all good things we are doing, Matthew got paged out to the apartment complex where he was on call and had to fix/replace something and we missed the greater part of the rehearsal. We were able to still make it downtown at the Marriott to the rehearsal dinner, which was excellent and I finally got to meet her new hubby, who was exceedingly friendly.
Saturday Matthew, my Sister and I drove to my work where I put in a whopping 20 minutes of work! We then drove around town and looked at neighborhoods where some houses we thought looked right for us were. Boy, were we shocked to find the best houses in the worst neighborhoods! Of course, those 'bad" neighborhoods are mere blocks away from the very affluent houses, so you never can judge until you drive around and just see for yourself! It is such a process!!!
We went to Niki's wedding (awesome) and then went home.
Sunday we met the realtor (also, exceedingly friendly) and saw 5 houses, only one of which we honestly liked, but it was so small I don't think our furniture would fit right. We went to the mall and found some good clearance sales.
Then we went to Mass at St. Jude's and went to O'Charleys where we were to meet the family we are sponsoring at church.
This is a funny story. I hate to play the race card, but it seems the only conclusion. We planned to meet Bonita and Christopher at 7 at the restaurant and we arrived on time. The hostesses (two of them!) said to go ahead and get a table and they took the other party's last name and said they would bring them over when they arrived. We waited until 7:45 and then finally ordered and left at 8:15. We called them and they said they were at the restaurant waiting for us! The hostesses (the same two) had done the same thing with them, sat them and took our name, but put them on the other side of the place, just 5 minutes after we had left their name with the hostesses!! Can you believe that?! So, my only conclusion is that they assumed we were not together because we are white and they are black. I am so writing them a letter!!!
Monday, work went well and the day was over fairly quickly. I have found out through tips from co-workers that there are a ton of houses in north Georgia. I e-mailed the realtor and he confirmed it.. all of the houses we want are hiding in Rossville and Ringgold. I called the mortgage lady we are working with and she also said you get more house for your money there, and the property taxes are lower, so we could afford more house anyway. I took home about 35 house fact-sheet printouts and we got about 1/2 way through last night. Once we narrow it down more Matthew and I will go and drive by them. Again, it is such a huge process to buy a house, and what a pressure to try and find the best fit for us! I am tired already!

The Southern Conservative: A Taxing Rebate

The Southern Conservative: A Taxing Rebate

Healthy Me

Matthew got called out right as he was clocking out yesterday, so I dropped him off at the other apartment complex and made a trip to Bi-Lo on a solo journey to produce bliss.
We had a great dinner with Matthew's parents on Tuesday night and I was on the hunt for Clementine Oranges, which I had tried that night. I am totally hooked! I also picked up bananas, 2 different salad mixes, a few pears, cucumbers, and I was shocked to find the love of a very distant childhood... YOGURT RAISINS! I almost squealed right there in the store, because I had not seen them before (due to my neglecting the produce section).
We came home and made hot dogs, salads, and oranges for dinner.. it was so good. I enjoy simple meals so much. And I had all these goodies to take to lunch!
Oh, anyway, getting over my hysteria about raisins.. we got approved for a house!!!! I have been scouring the net for the perfect home, but I know we will have to view a lot before we are certain. Whew! How exciting!!

Calling the Po-Po

Yesterday was a Holiday for us here at PVH. I dropped Matthew off at work and headed for the gym, I did 25 minutes!!!! on the elliptical (only managed 23 on Friday) and I was so tired! Thank goodness I went early, so I got home shortly after 9 a.m. and picked up my Sister.
Our fave pastime is to drive around. And since Matthew and I are in constant mindfulness of the housing market, my Sis and I drove around, exploring new roads and neighborhoods. It was fun and we were out all day long, but it was a gorgeous day for driving!
We went to use the facilities at Zaxby's in Soddy and she pointed out that there was a SUV with a very large and obscene picture painted on the back windshield. It was hilarious, but illegal. I called in to the police where I got a female to pick up, thank God. When we drove back a few hours later it had been washed off. Silly vandalism, lol.
Had a Dr. appointment this morning and it was a huge ordeal to get blood out of me. Normally I have difficult veins anyway, but two techs , two tourniquets, and an exploratory gouging, ended me up on an exam table with my arm hanging off while the nurse slapped my arm until it fell asleep. I hate how difficult it is. I am glad Matthew was there to really have a sense of what a Dr. appointment involves for me.

Disney Wonder

Well, last night over our Blue Coast Burrito, I was telling Matthew how I had spoke with my sister that day. I told him how she was now backpedalling from her promise of not doing a big vacation this year, the allure of Disney being too strong for her weak willpower. I also re-iterated to Matthew how we were only planning a small trip to Oklahoma in April this year, not some big Disney thing like normal.
Then I got a call this morning. My weak Sister, coercing me into logging onto the Disney cruise site, asking me to get rate quotes. May, right on our anniversary.. she reeled me in without much fight.
We compared the May cruise to the October one, where my nephew will be out on Fall Break from school, and we noticed it was almost $1-thousand less in October for the same thing! It was all but cemented by that time, even though I had not consulted with Matthew yet, I knew he would immediately agree, he is also quite weak.
We have the Disney illness, that even though we swore it off for a year, the first opportunity we see to get back, we become like little children, calling, getting excited, exchanging ideas... it really is pathetic.
So now I guess we will be eagerly awaiting our tax refund (hopefully Bush will get us some extra green with this whole rebate thing) and we will be getting passports.
Funny how the whole outlook of my year changed in just a few moments.

Cranberry Delights

I had to jump and do a quick entry on life from Monday to this afternoon.
Monday I went to the gym and did another record breaking 16.5 minutes on the elliptical, then focused on the arm machines. One day I will be able to have the endurance and strength to stay on the elliptical for over 30 minutes, but I am taking it slowly.
Tuesday I decided to take for myself, as we are all trying to cut down on hours in the office where I work to ease through these slow times. So, I set out to get some things accomplished and I spent the day shopping with my sister. Her (probably best, but I can't say) friend is having her second child after trying and miscarrying many times. She is due any time really, so my sister and I went to Babies'R'Us and bought gifts and mainly necessity items. I am glad she went with me because I am not good at knowing what necessity items means, but we ended up with a lot, and found at Wal-Mart the things we needed to finish up and round out our totals. It was the most fun ever, and I learned a lot about what some of the things you need to have on hand when you have a little baby.. shocking!
Now, it always seems to happen that when I take a personal type day for myself I will get sick. Wednesday I woke up throughout the night in a lot of pain and by time to get up and get ready for work I was out of it.. bladder infection. I called the Dr. and was told to take cranberry pills, which I had. I was agonizing all day at home, and managed to keep my attention diverted on the aquarium.
I emptied it pitcher full by pitcher full, carried it to the bathroom, cleaned all the little pieces and gravel, and re-did the whole thing. I think Matthew came home in shock, but I had just enough energy to do it. And the 4 hour project took my mind off of other discomforts.
Wednesday night it began to snow and we got a full inch. The schools closed, so I was able to stay home and leave whenever I felt comfortable with the roads. I got to work only 3 hours late, but I felt better because of it. Matthew cooked pancakes with real maple syrup this morning and it was the best breakfast ever.. and I hate breakfast!

Because Betty Crocker Said So!

This weekend was a fast speed blur, a movie stuck on fast-forward. Saturday I got up early as usual, watched some TV, did some chores, and watched a movie called FIDO, I had netflix-ed. It was so neat and different! I then went down to my sister's house and watched it again with her, pretending I had not seen it before.. so she wouldn't think I was nutso. I came home and did a few more things before noon.
Once Matthew was up and amongst the living, we did a ton of chores and finally made the house decent after the post-Christmas bonanza and subsequent chaos. Mom came up and helped me out on the mopping and bathroom.. shriek!
Sunday we went grocery shopping and bought the ingredients for a dinner I found on BettyCrocker.com. Parmesan Chicken with Pasta rags.I could have done without the pasta "rags", but we followed the recipe and Matthew did an excellent job on the breaded chicken. It was excellent.
Matthew's parents came up and we had a good dinner and time spent with them. Matthew had cleverly and conveniently "forgot" to mention to them the fact that we were no longer pursuing the new house, so I am afraid they came up under false assumptions of seeing the site where our new house would be. Of course this is my fault for not pronouncing the news to the world via this blog, which apparently absolves him from any and all "responsibilities' he might have of informing our loved one's of the things happening in our lives. Silly Matthew! Ugh.
Still no word from Kodak on my replacement camera, I sure wish I had had it with me this weekend!

On Racism

I read a disturbing article on CNN (here) about people writing under Ron Paul's name with racist messages. I contacted one of the administrators of our local meet-up e-mail board and she directed me to this article, as well as a short essay from Dr. Paul. I particularly like it. I even like it well enough to put it here:


A nation that once prided itself on a sense of rugged individualism has become uncomfortably obsessed with racial group identities.

The collectivist mindset is at the heart of racism.

Government as an institution is particularly ill-suited to combat bigotry. Bigotry at its essence is a problem of the heart, and we cannot change people's hearts by passing more laws and regulations.

It is the federal government that most divides us by race, class, religion, and gender. Through its taxes, restrictive regulations, corporate subsidies, racial set-asides, and welfare programs, government plays far too large a role in determining who succeeds and who fails. Government "benevolence" crowds out genuine goodwill by institutionalizing group thinking, thus making each group suspicious that others are receiving more of the government loot. This leads to resentment and hostility among us.

Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than as individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism.

The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence - not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.

In a free society, every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Racism will endure until we stop thinking in terms of groups and begin thinking in terms of individual liberty.

Breaking Records

Yesterday went ho-hum. I went to the gym after work by my lonesome and broke my 12 minute record on the elliptical. I did 15 straight minutes and then my thighs said "Quit it!" So I did 10 minutes on the bike and 10 on my fave arm machine and called it a day. Luckily there was no rain until I picked up Matthew from work. Blue Coast Burritos yet again, as we continue to love their food and financially support their franchise. :-)
Rainy and dreary, the weather wasn't too bad until we decided to go from our car and into the house. I came in with water-soaked shoes and an unpleasant attitude.
It thundered and we had lightening all night, and I woke up in the early morning to pitch dark. No power, I was woke up by the absence of bright, fluorescent aquarium light shining on my face, and I froze and started letting my imagination get the best of me. When it popped back on seconds later I screamed and jumped, because the sudden jolt of light from the aquarium, that sits very near to my head, startled me. Matthew contested that the power had ever went off in the first place, but I proved him wrong when I had to go into the living room and turn the TV off, which always restarts after a power outage. So, there! :-P
Pumpkin hates her anti-biotic and had thrown up a little this morning. I am still worried about her. She had another #1 accident last night on our bedroom floor, but Matthew got the carpet cleaner out and got the mess up, and I made a mixture of baking soda and water and put it in a spray bottle and totally got rid of any smell. I have learned so much from watching How Clean is Your House? on BBC America.

Navy Cats

Did you know that cats were common on ships? Me either!
Check this out!
Cats on Ships.. who knew??

Unfortunately

Maria e-mailed me this fascinating quiz.
I thought for sure I was a Paul-ist (LOL).
My score was:
Huckabee : 37
Thompson : 32
Hunter : 32
Paul : 31
McCain : 27

Try it!

	Mike Huckabee Score: 37	Agree Iraq Immigration Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Marriage Environment Education	Disagree Taxes Social Security Energy Death Penalty Gun Control
-- Take the Quiz! --

Pumpkin's Peril

Yesterday I was pooped, for no real reason, just generally tired. We went and ate dinner at Blue Coast Burrito, stopped by Bi-Lo to get some taketoworklunchystuff, then headed home.
We did some chores, then crashed on the couch to watch TV. Nothing unusual about that.
We went to bed and Pumpkin was especially clingy. I let her snuggle up to me and petted her for about 20 minutes before she got up and left the bed.
The next thing we heard were these horrible deep guttural cries from somewhere in the bedroom. I got up and turned the light on and saw Pumpkin in the middle of the floor looking really ill. She did not want to get back on the bed, and stumbled around until she found the T-Shirt I had wore on Sunday and had never made it to the laundry, and she lay down on it. You could really tell something was wrong.
We assumed her to be working up a hairball, since she is the only one in the house who seems to have that problem. She sat there and drooled, heaved, and stuck her tongue out oddly.
We turned the light off and climbed back into bed, staring down at her, waiting on the hairball that would eventually make us get back up to clean up. But she never did pass a hairball. She kept crying out and it was awful! Suddenly She got up and stumbled out of the room, half-crawling with hind legs that did not want to support her.
We jumped up and turned the light back on to find out she had lost control of her bowels and and done a #1, and a #2 while laying down on our floor!
Matthew went and picked her up and took her to the bathroom, where she just lay on her side, and kept her head on the floor. We cleaned up and sat with her for about 30 minutes before going back to bed.
I know we both thought she might die, she was breathing too shallow and fast, and seemingly could not move her back legs. I prayed and eventually got some sleep.
This morning, Matthew got up first and opened the bathroom door to find Pumpkin up on the counter top, fine and dandy!
I'm going to call the vet today, because she really gave us a scare. We also noticed she has gotten really skinny. I think she stays in the bedroom so much she forgets to eat. But then her sister is also lean, not at all like the other cats which have grown into bowling-ball shaped cats.

Monday... eew

The weekend went by much too fast! After having 2 long weekends back to back I was not prepared for so little rest! Saturday I was not feeling well. I watched TV, cleaned a little, and Matthew got called out to an emergency at work. Then we went out to eat and bought the mattress pad - it's great!
Pumpkin recovered from being outside, and now she wants to go out a lot, although she is easily coaxed back in. All in all, the cats had a good weekend of nice weather and came and went as they pleased.
Sunday we were rudely awakened by another emergency phone call from Matthew's work, but he was able to determine it was something that he could handle better in the daylight, so went back to snoozing. Then at 7:30 a.m. he got yet another emergency callout. I grabbed my stuff and went with him. He dropped me off at the gym close to where he works and I had a full, grueling 2 hours of exercise. I had had all I could possibly endure and was almost too weak to walk out, haha. Matthew came and picked me up and I went back to where he and his Maintenance Tech were working. It turns out they had two big water heaters to change out, thank goodness I had a fresh book stowed away in the gym bag.
After they finished, it was over 5 hours they had worked! And I was most of the way through my book! :-)
We went home and I watched 28 Weeks Later (didn't I vow not to watch anymore zombie movies?)as Matthew snoozed. After his nap, I went up to Mom's and ate a little and chit-chatted. Matthew did not want to get back out of his PJ's so he stayed at our house. When I left to go home I, of course, had to have him come out onto the porch though... to make sure I didn't get nabbed by those stinkin' zombies!
This morning it was back to work. EEw!

My Immeasurable Misfortune

I picked up my brand, new, shiny v1233 Kodak camera from the DHL package pick-up near where I work. We un-boxed it and oooh-ed and aaah-ed, and took a few snaps in the car. I was surprised by the design upgrade from my old v530, a noticeably larger screen, and seemingly more user-friendly zoom button positioning.

After our errands and dinner, we went home and Matthew (of course) settled in on the couch watching "his" shows, since I was on my way to installing the new camera and all of it's upgraded software.

I was solidly happy with my old v530 for over a year and a half. It performed excellently, and the only complaint I ever had was my own ignorance in learning too late about the sport setting, and getting my only blurred photos at Disney with the Lion King show, because those people MOVE fast.
Other than that one small thing, I was quite thrilled about the v530, it took great shots quickly, and the videos I took were stunning considering it was just a 5mp camera.
That's why I jumped at the chance to pass on my good-n-trusty to my Mom, who wanted her first digital camera for Christmas. This seemed a great deal all around since I had been eyeing my v530's 12mp upgrade for a few weeks.
The reviews I read had been highly favorable and I knew I wanted to stay with the Kodak, because their software is excellent, and I have never been disappointed in my camera.
So, last night I decide to load the software, and I had no problems, then I charged the battery up a little. Then I decided to go ahead and take some pictures. I took some pictures of the cat, the fish, the room, items on the desk... and absolutely NONE of them came out clear.... NONE. Let me repeat, NONE.
I fiddled with each setting, I cleaned the lens, I dropped the mp down all the way through 3mp, to no avail. After over an hour of private cursing and frustrations, Matthew enters with that oh-so-manly attitude that he can solve all of the world's problems just by taking over and holding his tongue in a certain way. I tried to tell him I had tweaked around with everything, cursed, and was almost defeated over it.. but he still had to take another 100 pictures and 20 minutes to conclude that... it stank. Why do some people (ahem.. men) always have to go behind and do for themselves what a sufficiently intelligent person has already tried?? Hmm?
My old camera, which now holds every bit of my loyalty, never needed tweaking. You turned it on, and shot perfect pictures. Every time. Dependable.
Now it seems either we got a complete lemon, or we have to dial in some mystical arrangement of settings... either way.. I am calling Kodak after work. They can have this one back.

I didn't sleep well last night, I kept tossing and turning, and going over in my head the question of why this new, more expensive, high performance camera just couldn't compete with my old-trusty. Maybe it was my greed in wanting the newest, brightest that doomed it. Maybe Kodak sent me a lemon. Maybe that particular camera had it in for me. I woke up even more anxious about the new technology across the hall from me, and how it must've laughed at us all night. Stupid people.
The battery had fully charged, so I un-docked it and took some more pictures. I got one that was semi-decent out of 10, then I travelled into our bedroom and saw our dear Pumpkin, doing that paw movement. That dreaded paw movement cats do after they have done their business. That paw movement generally reserved for the "litter-box area". The paw movement that told me instantly she had peed on our bed.
Our new bed. Our new, 4 inch, heavenly cloud-like foam mattress topper. The same mattress topper I vowed I would only purchase if I also had a waterproof mattress topper. But with all of the shopping, and Holiday commotion.. I never did get around to buying the protective, waterproof mattress topper sitting at Target right now for $34.99 mocking me for my forgetfulness. I am getting that mattress topper this evening. Matthew did his best with carpet cleaner.. but we will see how effective it is when we get home today. Pumpkin got to be outside in the 18-40 degree weather today.

Monday's Emotions

Well, today is obviously Wednesday, but it is my first day back from a long holiday weekend, so I am going to write about the worst/best thing I did on Monday. I woke up around 6 a.m., While Matthew slept and everyone I knew was unreachable, I broke out a Netflix movie I had let sit for a few days on the coffee table.
That was a mistake.
I sat, watched, and ultimately Boo-Hoo-ed my way through the entire movie and had no one to share my experience with! No one to talk to about how this was the best - worst movie I had ever seen!.Ugh. I was a total emotional wreck by the time I was done watching it and so worn out I had to go back to sleep!

I am tired of tragedies in movies. But it was soooooo good.

Long Weekend.. Needed

The loooong weekend was very nice. Saturday Matthew and I volunteered at the Ladies of Charity Thrift Store downtown again and had a good time. We picked up a jacket for Matthew, a vest and sweater, and a long sleeve tee for me. Then we headed to Athens and met with the home dealer and went over everything about the house we will order in detail. Now, we are only waiting on him to find one in the state we can go and see in person. If he can't locate it, we will get a trip up above Knoxville to the factory, which could be neat, too.
Sunday we went to Mass at Soddy, which we clocked it to be almost 15 minutes from door to door. (A lot nicer than our usual 35 minute drive to St. Jude)Not that I am particularly looking for another parish, but three people at St. Jude have come up to me and asked why we never considered joining the Soddy parish. The simple reason is the RCIA program at St.Jude. At the time we were coming into the Church, the Holy Spirit parish did not have an RCIA class. Now, we know at least 3 people who go to Soddy and I think it has become more obvious for us to go there.. but we are still praying about it.
Monday we staked out the "projected" location of the new house. Looks like we may be able to still get out with only one day of dozing. We Hope (at $500/day!) !!!
We saw National Treasure, which was fun and exciting, and a big-grown-up version of The Goonies.
I am Legend scared the poop out of me, it was just creepy.. and I generally like zombie movies.
We also saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which had some endearing moments, but overall a dud.
We rang in 2008 snoozing away, and I woke up with swollen glands, sore throat, and a resonating pain throughout my left ear canal. Yippee, 2008!!!!