Picture Proof

This is picture proof that Pepper watches basketball. She doesn't just get up there for a look. In this picture she watched for at least 5 minutes.


Usually she sits on the floor, but she has found out she can get up right next to it. She touched her nose to the screen, and got shocked... I laughed pretty hard.

That is all. Have a great day.

Of Laundry and Loofahs

Things we do at the laundry to keep ourselves entertained:

• Make up nicknames for each other, such as Raj (as in Raja from Aladdin because the girl's last name is DeLione which means "lion" but a tiger is close enough), mine is Mom (I checked on some people because I heard them shouting, they called me mom, and it stuck), Butch (don't know the story on that one), etc.
• Think of different foods we could send through the Mangle (the giant flat-iron machine) such as pizza in tin foil, crepes, and tortillas with cheese to name a few.
• Push people in the giant dryers while they're unloading them.
• Hide water bottles.
• Ride/push people in the bins.
• Hide in bins and scare people as they put there hand in to get stuff out.
• Sing really really loud

The kitty is doing really well. She likes to watch basketball on t.v. (something she and Doug have in common). Recently she has discovered our dresser drawers. She loves to crawl in the bottom drawer and then magically appear in the top one. We tried closing all the drawers so she couldn't do that anymore, but it just makes her so happy, and it keeps her busy so... we keep them open. She doesn't bite as much as she used to, so I think she's growing up, thank goodness. Her favorite toys are milk caps, Doug's socks, and recently she has been taking my shower loofah out of the shower and carrying it around like a prize. Just as a size comparison I've included pictures:
(That's the kiss that Jenny told me to give her.)
If it seems like I talk a lot about her it's because she's really the only thing that changes, school and work stay the same, besides, she's my baby and I'm allowed.

6 weeks later

4 weeks

9 weeks

It's hard to believe we've had Pepper for 6 weeks already. She still looks like a kitten at 9 weeks old, but comparing to when she was only 4 weeks, there's a big difference. Her face used to be so little! It's weird because she still has kitten fur. Not so much on her head, but everywhere else she's still fuzzy. I think right now she's in the everything-is-a-toy-including-fingers phase... I hope it's just a phase... She has her sweet moments where she'll purr and cuddle... those last for about 5 minutes before she's playing again. She can reach the top of the scratching post we got her, it's about 4 feet high. We put a collar with a bell on her so we can hear where she is. She's good about coming to me when I call her, I've never had a cat do that before.

As for Doug and I. We're still surviving school... and that's about it. My supervisor hired too many people this semester at the laundry, so there's nothing to do (I'm serious, sometimes we'll fold and unfold blankets for an hour just so that we look busy). I still get paid for it though, and shy-anti-social-Lizzie actually made some friends there. It's true, they added me on Facebook. We love our new apartment, the commute to school hasn't been a problem. The ward seems a lot more friendly too. We've already been to another couple's apartment to play games. And they invited us over again tomorrow night for FHE. Things are good.

Happenings

We got all moved in and got all the appliances working. We had a problem with the dishwasher. First it flooded the kitchen floor after a cycle because the tubes in the back were loose. We tightened them and ran it again. No flood! But it didn't drain either... Why? Because they didn't knock out the thing in the garbage disposal when they installed the dishwasher. We did it and now it runs great. We love our washer and dryer. It's the first time I've used a front loader by choice. I never liked the coin-op front loaders in my old apartments. They stunk. So I was apprehensive about buying one. It was a great deal at RC Willey and will turn out being a lot cheaper in energy savings. It said that with a gas water heater it will only cost $13 a year to run the washer 8 times a week.

Plus we got a Christmas surprise. We have been thinking about getting a kitten, but were waiting until we were in a place that allowed pets. On Boxing Day I was just browsing the ksl.com classifieds and found one that had just been posted. I called to see if we could come see the kitten. The lady found her in the backyard under the bushes on Christmas night. She waited to see if the mom cat would come back, but at around 9 she brought the kitten in so it wouldn't freeze. The next day she tried putting it back outside for the mom to come get it, but she didn't. The lady was allergic to cats, and needed to give it away asap. We went and saw it and I adored it. How could you not?


We think it is a "she" and that she is about 4 weeks old. Usually kittens stay with their moms until they are about 8 weeks old. That's when they can really do things on their own. We got kitten formula and have been feeding her a bit with a bottle. We are also feeding her a mixture of the formula and canned kitten food. She loves it and gets all messy because she's just learning how to eat from a dish. I was worried for a while because she hadn't pooped at all but she had been eating. Very young kittens can't eliminate on their own and they need stimulation to poop. She seemed old enough to do it on her own, so I was worried she had worms or was constipated or something. But she's pooped twice now! The first time was on the bathroom floor (we keep her in the bathroom at night) and the second time was in the litter box! She's so smart already. I feel like a proud parent of a potty trained kid... even though one success doesn't necessarily mean she's trained. But it is a victory. Mostly she eats and sleeps. She likes to cuddle up close to us on the couch and sleep. That's what she is doing right now. She hasn't caught on to playing with toys yet, they scare her. But she will be a lot of fun.

She still doesn't have a name, hopefully we'll pick one out tonight.

Homeless.

Well, we did it. We got out of our spider ridden apartment. Surprisingly enough, as we were packing and moving I didn't see any... where do they go? I swear they know when I'm home all alone. The other night I grabbed a Kleenex out of the box and just about had it to my nose when what did I see? You guessed it, a SPIDER. Right by my face! Doug wasn't home, but he probably could've heard my scream a mile away. I don't scream much, never at sporting events, not when I hurt myself, not even in Provo traffic. Spiders are pretty much the only thing that will raise a scream out of my little lungs.
That was a tangent I wasn't planning on making. I meant to tell about how we packed up our entire apartment in one day, got it into a 14' U-haul, and two Toyotas, and eventually made it back to our hotel room. Doug stayed home from work today and started packing things up this morning. I got home at 3. His parents came to help at about 4:30. By 6 we were on our way to the storage unit in Spanish Fork where we're keeping our stuff until the condo closes. We get to the storage place around 6:30. Find our unit... with the lock still on it, and the office closed at 6... I panicked. But we got it open and by 7:30 we were done. We still had boxes at the apartment, and we had to clean. So we went back, filled up both cars again (we had returned the U-haul) and closed the door to Cambridge Court for the last time. It was a good feeling. Now it's just a wait until we get to undo what we spent so long doing today. But I don't mind so much. The hotel has a very nice heater.

The End.... is in sight

As the semester is winding down, so are our nerves. Thankfully we don't have much longer to endure. I only have one more 5-page paper left to do, and three portfolios. No more tests until the finals though! We're moving into the condo on Saturday. Couldn't have picked a better time to move... not. Chance of snow, 30 degrees, right before the last week of school... Not complaining though, at least we got it sold (after we held it for a couple for an entire week only to have them bail out on us last minute). I'm looking forward to hot water, a warm apartment, and best of all NO SPIDERS! I'll be sure to check all the furniture and things for spider egg sacs so we don't contaminate the new apartment.
Side note: After watching The Biggest Loser Doug and I want to run a marathon someday.

Gobbled

Tonight we got "Gobbled." So apparently there is this thing going around in the ward (besides pregnancy). You get "Gobbled" and you have to make treats and give them to 3 others in the ward, in the dead of night. We got brownies (not as good as Mom's, but not really complaining). There's a paper with it that has the rules of gobbling. Once you've been "Gobbled" you're supposed to put that paper on your door so you don't get "Gobbled" again. Doug wants to leave it off, so we can get more treats... Sounds reasonable to me.
We're putting our contract up for sale. If someone buys it then we'll move into a condo that Doug's brother bought and wants to rent to us. We'll see how that goes. My only concern is having to move when it's cold. Brrr.
I'm glad that it's finally Thanksgiving break. I don't have anymore school this week. Doug has classes on Monday and Tuesday. We'll both try and work Wednesday, and then have Thanksgiving at the Jaffa's on Thursday. I'm still undecided whether I want to go Black Friday shopping. I can't think of anything I want, well, want bad enough to wake up early (or not go to bed at all) to get.