Thank you to all of the current and former military members.  Freedom is not free.  Thank you for your service.

These are some awesome videos of dogs welcoming their soldiers home.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324

Yay!!  Clara is super skittish so I am so pumped!  Brian took a picture, so I will be sure to add it as soon as I upload it.

I mean completely ate it.  There was some water on the floor and I thudded to the ground.  hahaha  Mortifying.  Even more mortifying was that like 3 employees came over to make sure I was okay (I am- just a bruised ego and probably a big old bruise on my knee as of tomorrow morning) and they offered me cookies so I wouldn’t sue.  Don’t even get me started on this nonsense- it was a freaking accident, but I know that a million people would be ready to cash the heck in.   So thank you to the lovely Panera people who helped me up and thank you to everyone else for giggling quietly and not in my face.  haha

Image from: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Ft1ovRkZOyhdUM:/url?source=imgres&ct=tbn&q=http://jocelynjanecox.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/1013073.gif&usg=AFQjCNG3Enmlr69Ut3HcugFeraT7tChB2Q

I read about this today (a fire at a no-kill animal shelter in Texas):

http://www.centexhumanesociety.com/fire110109.shtml

So I decided that I would like to help and made a $50 donation.  I support no-kill shelters and adopted my own two cats from a no-kill shelter (though not this one.)  If you can help, here’s the paypal link:

http://www.centexhumanesociety.com/html/support.shtml

We went to a Chinese restaurant lounge with my sister and Tina.   It was really fun!

No behavior problems, no talking back, all lessons went off without any snafus (ha- love that word), and the schedule change didn’t disrupt us one bit!  Then I had my class (teaching reading strategies) and that was great too!

My friends Jess and Kevin had a neighborhood/friends party last night so we trekked over.  There were a ton of people there and we had a blast.  So fun!

When Brian and I bought this place, we never dreamed we would live here for so long.

It is small.

It is a loft.

There is no bedroom.

It isn’t in the ideal location, or even one that we really enjoy.

There is no neighborhood bar.

Our friends moved away.

And the list goes on, BUT we got awesome news today.  We got a five year ARM for our mortgage thinking that we would be out by now.  Clearly, we aren’t.  The mortgage readjusted to a LOWER RATE!  WHAT?????  How awesome is that?  I had no idea that could happen.

We are either going to:

A. Pay the additional $ (so it would be the same amount) to the principle

or

B. Put the saved $ in our downpayment account toward our next place

What would you do?  Advice please.

Not sure it was worth it.   I haven’t had the flu in like 10 years and I am not super worried about it, but my mom had the appt. and didn’t need it so I took her spot.  I guess working with kids gives me a decent amount of access to germs, but still, I feel like the flu shot is overkill.  I don’t think that I will get the swine vaccine nor will I get the flu shot again.

Image from: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:y5zl6YHa3rBwHM:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ig9pGc0GfuY/RjPmiwH1jCI/AAAAAAAAACI/iWyhRncCG8M/s320/GERMS.gif

Well, that explains why he is getting so big.  After a bit of research, I learned that these cats can grow to 20 plus pounds, have a distinctive meow, and generally like water.  Additionally, they also grow until age 4 or 5.  Since he is 1 and a half and checks in at 13.7 lbs, we probably have a ways to go.

In related news, Clara has a tabby pattern (apparently tabby is not a specific breed) and has the mark of the M on her forehead.  She also has thumbs, which I think are awesome.

Oscar at 10 months and 8 lbs.

Clara at 1 and a half and 7 lbs.