kitty, kitty

These two adorable little white kittens have been hanging around for a few weeks now. They've gone from being terrified kittens hiding and hissing at us from the lantana bush to hanging by the front door and running to meet us (or food more likely). We can't keep two more cats and the no-kill shelters are all full. Plus, we won't give away to just anyone (don't want them to fall victims to animal-testing). I don't know what we're going to do . . . but they sure are cute aren't they?

beautiful

The weather has been beautiful the last two days.

• Monday night Trey, Danielle, her friend, Alison, and I walked down to the pond and feed all of our moldy bread products (there was a LOT) to the turtles and fish.
• Tuesday night Danielle and I jumped on the trampoline while Trey grilled some chicken fajitas.

Work is getting to me this week - very busy - hence being up at 1:12 AM

Ready for mid-October when it slows down . . .

Congrats, Kris

Saturday evening we went to a BBQ in honor of our friend, Kris. He finished his Masters of Social Work this summer. We didn't realize until he told the story that in highschool he was told not to spend his money on college because his dyslexia would prevent him from ever graduating. That comment led to his dream of attaining his Masters and he did it!

Congratulations, Kris, and family.

flood

A few weeks ago a pipe burst at my parents' house and flooded part of the house. Here a photo of the den.

owie

My lips got so burned at ACL and now I have a fever blister on the lower lip (apparently the stress from a sunburn can cause a fever blister). I can hardly believe how much it hurts! I don't dare eat exept with utensils (i.e. no eating ribs or chicken by hand) and I have to drink through a straw. I will definitely be using lip products with sun protection from now on.

ACL #3

Today, Danielle, Trey and I saw Ryan Shaw (wonderful, God-loving soul), the Jelly Dots & Robert Earl Keen. Then Danielle and I came home while Trey caught Devotchka, Amos Lee, Lucinda Williams and Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Grandmama picked up Danielle so I went back to the festival. Trey had met up with his friend, Bill, and I watched Ziggy Marley with them. Bill took off to see another band about half way through. Trey and I ate a quick BBQ dinner there then walked over to the Bob Dylan headlining act; the band was good...then we walked back to the car and it was an easy ride home. We're now sunburned but bathed . . . stiff, sore and tired but we had a GREAT time. Happy 38th today, Trey!!

The Kite Runner

I also finished an incredible book, The Kite Runner, today. It had been on my book pile for about a year when I ran across something that mentioned the movie was coming out this November. I like to read the books before seeing the movies so that moved the book ahead in the pile. It was fantastic and I am looking forward to the movie. The movie trailer is here:
http://www.kiterunnermovie.com/club/blog/ Click on media to see the trailer.

ACL #2

Danielle had a soccer game this morning (have I mentioned how fantastic her coach is?) then we came home for a quick lunch before heading out to ACL. Day 2 was quite warm. We got there in time to park, walk a loooooooooong way to get in and over to the stage right before Raul Malo started. He has such a fantastic voice. Then we headed over to get some Amy's ice cream, to the misters, then to the Austin Kiddie Limits area. We did some activities, including a tile painting activity where all the tiles will be used in a park soon. (The volunteer said it will be a park on the East side so we're hoping it will be the park near our house.) We watched the end of the Sippy Cups in the Kiddie area. The Sippy Cups were great and Danielle had a lot of fun dancing with HEB Buddy when he came out front. We then walked over to catch Steve Earle and ran into Justin, a former IRS coworker. After Steve Earle we decided to come home. It was REALLY crowded but a lot of very nice people were around today.

ACL #1

Last night was the first night of Austin City Limits Festival and I met Trey there after work. Danielle went with Grandmama for the evening. We ate dinner there-really good flautas and coconut shrimp from Saba Blue Water Cafe-then headed over to see a little bit of Spoon. We made our way over to the stage for The Killers and caught Kaiser Chiefs on the way. The Killers were EXCELLENT! I was impressed with how little slick studio work must be done on The Killers' albums; they pretty much sounded exactly the same. Earlier in the day Trey caught Crowded House & LCD Soundsystem.

Now it's off to soccer game #2 then back to the festival. Danielle is going with us today and tomorrow.

First homework

Danielle's first homework assignment (due Friday) is to memorize a nursery rhyme as well as draw a representation of the rhyme (what is the term for that - personification??). Danielle will have to present it Friday to the class. I'm thrilled we actually found the school-provided blank piece of paper and finished it EARLY!!

Parents were not allowed to make any suggestions so this is all Danielle's work. The picture representation is:

1, 2 buckle my shoe - the girl with green shoes.
3, 4 shut the door - the purple and pink door
5, 6 pick up sticks - the girl in the purple dress is holding sticks
7, 8 lay them straight - the sticks are lying neatly in the green grass next to the door
9, 10 a big fat hen - the hen is the orange thing on the right.

Trey's early birthday present

So Trey's birthday is coming up on Sunday and so he wouldn't make any plans, Danielle and I went ahead on Monday night and gave him his birthday "cake" and present. (We made him a horrible Japanese cheesecake recipe we found on a recipe site online but he nicely ate it anyway.) For his gift we got the family Sunday passes to the upcoming ACL Festival. As luck would have it, today at work Trey won a set of 3 day passes to the festival! Isn't that funny??!! He traded our Sunday tickets with a coworker that won only Sunday passes so now we have 2 extra passes for Saturday. Trey has invited some friends so it should be a fun (but exhausting) birthday. I'm just glad I didn't decide on the other present option which was booking a beach condo for the weekend!

soccer star!

Danielle's very first soccer game went well and we are happy to report that the very first goal of the game was made by DANIELLE!!! The kids are adorable Tiger Slaps and great players all. Another funny moment was when there was a break and she and the other the players came off the field. Danielle took a drink and when the whistle blew she immediately ran back onto the field into the mix and started playing. It was just great!

Bend it like

the "Tiger Slaps"? Danielle had her first soccer practice tonight and the team chose to call themselves the Tiger Slaps. Their uniforms are bright green and, of course, Danielle looks absolutely adorable out there playing. First game is this Saturday at 8:30 AM! No sleeping in this weekend-lol.

big GRRRRRR

For several years I nursed a Bougainvillea into a nice 4 ft plant on the side of my house. This afternoon the neighbor kids report that they saw a woman pushing her baby in a stroller DIG UP my Bougainvillea and STEAL IT!!!! We now have a big sign in its place shaming the person and reminding them that God was watching them. BUT . . . I was lamenting my stolen plant to another neighbor only to find out that someone broke into his house yesterday. So at least the scumbag didn't break into my house. Of course if someone had done that, I'm sure the dogs would make them quickly regret it.

keeping up with . . .

. . . Susie at Joy and Matt's baby shower Saturday night. Silly me forgot to get a photo of the expecting parents! . . . the Cuernevaca Cup Championships! Also Saturday night was this Yahtzee-themed birthday party for Trey's friend, Chris. We did not win based on our luck or skill but . . .
. . . we did get a little trophy for traveling the farthest to attend.
. . . Leonardo. After Ellie's birthday party Sunday night, Danielle went to sleep so Trey and I had a chance to watch a grown up movie, Blood Diamond. It was INTENSE but very good. It also made us realize how blessed we truly are.. . . the hanging tree frog! After we finished the movie I went to close all the blinds and get ready for bed and was surprised to run into this little guy hanging on our sliding glass door.
Trey ventured outside to get a look at the top of the frog.

. . . "the Watts ;-)" Monday evening Danielle and I went to swim at a friend's house and their neighbor was selling a trampoline for $65. I called Trey and we decided to buy it for $60. Didn't expect that putting together a trampoline would be what we would be doing this evening but it was! I think Danielle likes it - what do you think?



Happy Labor Day weekend!